The scouting team continued east. The team discovered that the rivers that flow through Hayiopia have caused the center of the wastes to turn into great plains. They followed north of the wastes until they spot what looks like more ruins some way into the desert. No doubt in their minds it's the ruins of Ranedh, the old Saddle Arabian capital. The ponies were right, little remained of the once teeming capital. The team entered the ruins and began their search for anything useful. About an hour later, Memory Clash was searching through some crates in one the few standing buildings when he caught something in the corner of his eye. He perked his head up to see and...

"Eep!"

The small figure darted away before he could get a good look at it. He called the others and followed it. It ran over to one of the unchecked buildings and went inside. The team followed the sound it was making. Three of looked round a corner to see. They couldn't believe their eyes. A little unicorn filly was pawing at a door. She was white with a brown mane and tail. Her eyes were clenched shut so they couldn't see what color they were. She was also a blank flank. Her dress that she was wearing was grand red and white silk and studded with gems, but it was worn, a little dirty, and the gems were dull as well was a little scratched.

"LET ME IN LET ME IN THERE'S MONSTERS LET ME IN MONSTERS MONSTERS!"

The three of them looked at each other. 'What do we do?' was the expression on their faces. Each of them shrugged. Changelings have deep voices, even on the mares, and have a echoing monotone in their natural form. That's good for intimidating, not so much here. It also doesn't help that they have long sharp fangs and a crooked horn. They turn to Smooth Talker, a mare who has the most pony like voice. She also handles most of their negotiations. They figure that changing form wouldn't be the most helpful. She'll be more scared but it's best to comfort her to their natural form so she can adjust.

The filly stopped screaming. She was laying on the floor, tears streaming on her cheeks and sobbing quietly. Smooth trotted up to about seven feet of the filly, then stopped.

"Hi there."

"Eek!"

The filly moved her hooves on top of her face and buried herself in them. Her breathing became deep and hollow between sobs. Smooth looked back at the corner. Memory was looking round it, he gestured to 'move on' with his hoof. Smooth turned back to face the filly, took a deep breath, took one or two steps closer to her, and got down to the floor.

"Hey."

"mhmm."

"W-what's your name?"

"..."

"If I tell you mine, will you tell me yours?"

The filly uncovers her face a little. She looks right at Smooth with her hazel eye. Smooth continues.

"Mine is Smooth Talker, yours?"

"M-m-mine i-is B-B-Berry B-Blossom."

"Oh, well that's a beautiful name if I do say so myself."

"D-do you think so?"

"A pretty name for a pretty little filly."

Berry pricked a little smile and sniffed.

"Do you really mean that?"

"Well of course she does." called Memory coming around the corner.

Berry's smile dissolved and she began to cower again.

"No no no, it's okay, he's a friend." Smooth reassured.

"Really?" asked Berry.

"Yes"

"Hi, my name is Memory Clash, it's nice to meet you Berry."

"N-nice to meet you too."

"Berry, where are your parents?" Memory braced for the worst.

Berry pointed her hoof at the door.

"In there." she said.

"Why are they in there?" Memory asked.

"Hiding."

"Why?"

"They're scared."

"Of what?"

"You."

"W-" Memory wondered if he needed to ask, "why?"

"They think your monsters."

'Thought so.'

"Monsters come by every now and again, they look like big plumb wolves." Berry stares down at the floor, "When they come, sometimes one of us disappears."

'Plumb wolves? Diamond dogs? Those-..., sometimes words can't express my feelings. This is one of those times.'

"One of US? There's more of you?"

"Mmm hmm." noded Berry.

"How many?"

"Lots, I don't know how many."

"That's okay Berry."

"You're not like those other monsters are you?"

"Of course not silly filly." interjected Smooth. "Do they look like monsters to you?"

Smooth pointed at some of the others who rounded the corner. Each one put on a sheepish smile and waved back with their hooves.

"Welllll..."

"You don't have to answer that Berry." said Memory.

Noises start coming from behind the door.

"Shh." sushed Memory.

He put his ear to the door. After some rumbling, he heard voices.

"But that's my daughter out there, and your niece Orange!"

"Brother, listen to what I'm saying, you WILL not get in the way of me and my daughter, not now or ever, DON'T even try me!"

"Apple, calm yourself, she's my niece as much as your daughter, I love her immensely, you know that, but what will it accomplish if you bring those dogs here?"

"I would rather die by their paws then rot away in here while my daughter is out there!"

"App-"

"Bagh, if he wants to go die then so be it."

"Gravel, this is not you time to speak."

"Go and die, see what we care. Just don't think we'll let you back in that easily."

"*sigh* Apple, Flower, I'm afraid he's right."

"Afraid, afraid, AFRAID that's all everypony is afraid, afraid of what? With our numbers-"

"There's too much to lose brother!"

"Lose what? Our fifty pounds of rotting food? We need to take stand and that's what I'm going to do!"

"Goodbye brother."

A loud slam followed by the sound of heavy hoof stomps.

"Quick, disguises up!" called Memory. When he turned to shout, thought he noticed not every changeling was present but had no time to confirm that. He threw up a unicorn disguise and backed away from the door. The door flew inwards to reveal two unicorns, a stallion and a mare. They both wore clothing of wealthy merchants, however their clothes are worn out like Berry's. The stallion's horn is poking out of his turban. His coat is a dark-grayish orange and his tail is jet-black, so is his short and well kept gotie. He staring right at Memory with his brown eyes. The message, fury. The mare bares a striking resemblance to Berry. The coat, the mane, the tail, and the eyes all look alike. Her look at Memory is no better. The mare has a dagger gripped in her magic. The stallion has a crescent sword in his. Berry had a face of confusion from the changelings' transformations but as soon as she saw the two ponies, her face lit up.

"Mommy, daddy!"

She leaped on the mare, embracing around her. The mare dropped the dagger and embraced Berry.

"Oh sweetie, we thought we lost you!"

The stallion wasn't as moved however. He slammed Memory against the wall opposite.

"Who are you? What have you done to my daughter? If you so as much as laid a hoof on her, I'll kill you right here, right now!"

The sword comes across Memory's neck.

"WELL!"

"That's Memory, daddy!" called Berry "He's nice!"

"Memory? That's a little odd name for a pony, don't ya think?" The stallion seems to ease up although, his brow is still low."He didn't hurt you did he?"

"I didn't- ekk"

"Let her speak."

"No, he didn't daddy."

Memory gasps as the sword begins to ease up on his neck.

"Ya, I was scared at first, I thought they were those monsters, but then Smooth talked to me and I felt alright." Berry is now pointing at Smooth who's tried to put on a smilie. Memory, for the first time, got to look around. He first checked himself, his unicorn is brown and he saw that his tail was jet black. He checked his cutie mark, it was a spy glass over a plain map with a red dotted line leading to a red 'X'.

'Humh, lucky guess.'

He looked at Smooth. She was also a unicorn, she was grassy green, her eyes were hazel, and her mane was red. Her cutie mark was that of a sextant. Memory glanced at others. They were a assortment of the three different kinds of ponies. Memory could swear the there should be mor-

"Well, I apologize, you can understand right, Memory?" The stallion is no longer pinning Memory against the wall.

"Hmm, oh yes of course, if I had a daughter as beautiful she is, I would be on edge as well."

"I'm glad. My name is Apple and that's my wife Flower. We're the Blossom family."

"Pleasure." Memory outstretched his hoof. Apple shook it firmly.

'He's used to this?'

"What's your business here anyways?"

"We're on a scouting mission for our... settlement, on account of the cutie mark."

"Well I'm merchant, on account of my cutie mark." Memory looked Apple's mark. It was that of chest with gold bits in it. The chest was in front of several bags. "Pardon, but didn't you say you're part of a group?"

"Yes we are."

"Oh, sweet Celestia! Do you have room for more?"

"Uhh, nnn."

"Please, we're desperate, our food won't last long and our water is rancid!"

"Ehh."

"We'll do anything! We're tired of those diamond dogs raiding this place! We need a real place to stay!"

"Well... we'll need to speak to the rest of you."

Apple's face went placed.

"Oh, ya, they're not going to be easy."

"Well, try."

Apple went back into the door and Memory followed. Inside, Memory saw that the door was more like a back way in. The main way in was boarded up. In the center of the room on the floor, was two doors that seem to lead to a cellar. Light was coming in through the missing ceiling. Apple pounded on the doors.

"Brother, open up!"

Silence.

"Brother!"

"Why should we let you back in?" called a voice.

"Gravel, let Orange let us back in!"

"Why? So you can let those dogs in too?"

"GRAVEL!"

"Apple, brother, I want to believe in you, but how can I? With so much to lose, I got my hooves tied."

"I hear you need food, we have some." Memory called.

"Who's that!" called what can be named Gravel.

"A friend." Memory answered.

"Why should I believe that?"

"Because he hasn't killed us yet." Apple answered.

"That's believable Gravel, and we do need food." added what can be named Orange.

"If they do have food, it'll just be poisoned."

"Don't you have a way to tell with your magic?" asked Memory

"What if is magical?"

"Then surely you'd be able to tell, yo-... us unicorns seem to have a spell for everything."

Silence

The quiet was broken by hoof steps and a click. Then the door were enveloped by two different auras and opened. Two unicorn stallions emerged. One was a bright orange and had a brown tail. He had green eyes. Memory could tell by his clothing, that he was also a merchant.
His face was clean shaven. The other stallion was grey and his tail was a greyish white. He had teal eyes. He was dressed like a minor noble pony rather than like a merchant. He also had a medium length beard. Both had weapons in grasped in their magic. The orange one had a crescent sword and the gray one had a short spear.

"You say you have food, well let's see it." said the grey one in Gravel's voice.

The changeling picked up lots of goods from Foalis Foalba with some gold that they collected from Griffonstone's ruins. It was hard bargaining with them but they got what they wanted. The team were carrying the stuff in their saddlebags. Memory motioned for the team to hoof it over. They trotted forward, laid their saddlebags of the floor, and removed the contents. Inside was a assortment of baked goods, fruits, and vegetables. The baked goods had begun to stale and the greens were no longer fresh. Gravel put down his spear and scanned the food, and again, and again, needless to say, he was at it for awhile. Then Orange had enough.

"Oh for goodness sake! Here, I'll try!" He swiped a cookie and took a bite. Then he ate the whole thing. "Oh, it's been forever since I had anything decent!"

"That's not all brother, they say there's a place we can go to." said Apple.

"Well umm..." Memory tried to add something but...

"Now hold on brother, they might have brought us food in our time of need, but that doesn't mean that we're just going to pack everything up to go Celestia knows where just on their word."

"Thank you Orange." said Gravel.

"Orange, what choice do we have?"

"My husband is right we can't stay here." added Flower.

"I know Flower, but there has to be something else, this is just too perfect."

"Come on Orange, you can't be considering this can you?" said Gravel.

"*sigh* Apple, if we agree and something is wrong with this, you must understand that you will be the one taking the responsibly for this."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"You, what's your name?" Orange asked Memory.

"It's, Memory Clash."

Orange cocked his brow. "That's an unusual name, for a pony at least."

"It's just from where we come from."

"Hmm, where is this place you say we can go to?"

Memory is aware that Foalis Foalba fell because, the team had set up camp east of the city and saw it fall. "W-well you, see
t-there's s-something you should kn-know-..."
"Memory, there you are! You guys just disappeared on us and we've been looking all over for yo-, what's going on here?"

Apparently, they were short on a few changelings as Black Shadow and a few others are standing in the doorway.
Memory looks around. Flower is shielding Berry, Orange and Apple are frozen, and Gravel... is reaching for his SPEAR!
Memory casts a changeling spell, daze. Gravel loses focus and Memory leaps for the spear. He takes the butt of the spear and bashes it into Gravel's temple. Gravel loses consciousness and collapses. Orange draws his sword and charges at Smooth. Memory uses the spear to block the sword and the spear snapped in half. Orange goes to swing at Memory but, Smooth casts daze and, without his focus, Orange loses his sword and it flies into some empty crates by the wall. Memory takes the butt's half of the spear and bashes it into Orange's right inner shoulder, his foreleg gives out and he collapses hollering in pain. Memory looks at Apple. Apple is just staring at him. Memory drops the end of the spear. The others look around confused by the sudden change of events, but they take no further action.

"What are you?" Apple asked.

Memory let out a sigh. "I was hoping to do this more subtly, everypony undisguise." and so they did.

Apple's eyes are wide open and he bares a deep scowl. "What do you want?"

"Well, we'd like to help."

"HELP! How would any of you help?"

"We meant it when we-"

"You." Smooth interrupted.

"I meant it when I said that there's a place for you to go."

"And why in the name of Celestia would we go to where you say to go."

"Th-there's... not a... s-snowb-b,ball's ch-chance in... tar,tious." Orange added, grunting between his clenched teeth.

"We'd sooner rot here, than go to your place." Apple went on.

"Well I'm sorry, but the closest pony held settlement is two hundred and fifty miles south, though the wastes!"

"Well I guess we'd better get started then!"

"Why do you hate us so?"

"WHY? Well let's see, you drain us of love until we're husks-"

"That's just a myth!"

"Oh so you don't feed off love!"

"We do but we don't leave you as empty husks!"

"Why should I believe that!"

"Because we didn't do such a thing to Berry-"

"Don't ever use her name again love suckker!"

"Well I'm sorry for my anatomy!"

"Apology declined!"

"Why? We didn't choose to be this way!"

"You invaded Canterlot to make slaves!"

"We wouldn't do that! Besides, we were starving and nopony was helping!"

"And what good have you ever done?"

"Well for starters, we gave you food!"

"And what did you do to it!"

"Gravel scanned the stuff for like fifteen minutes and he didn't find anything!"

"So what, you all should have died in the wastes!"

"BUCK YOU!"

"You're all nothing but monsters!"

"But their not daddy!" called out Berry.

"Sweetie, just stay out of it." said Flower.

"But mommy, daddy is wrong, they're not monsters!"

"Princess, how can you look at them and say that?" Apple asked.

"Daddy those bird things scare me but you see them all the time when you work!"

"Berry, griffins don't feed off ponies."

"But the bird things eat meat."

"Ber-"

"She's right you know." Memory said. "Think about it, we're full on love right now, we don't need you. So why did I not knock you down when I had chance? It's because we care for your lives, humbly."

"I-I-I..."

"I s-say they make a solid case." Orange intervened, "Memory, if we g-go to this place of yours, what awaits us?"

"You'd be under our queen's protection."

"W-well, brother, I th-think it's set-settled. Let's inform the o-others."

A bright flash suddenly happened.

"Mommy, Daddy look, I got my cutie mark!"

"Sweetie, that's great, let me see!" said Flower.

Berry's new cutie mark is a white dove with a olive branch in its beak. It's the universal symbol for peace and diplomacy. After celebrating, Apple helps Orange to his hooves and helps him down the stairs. They tell Memory to stay behind while they break the fact that he's a changeling to the others.

"How could you be so sure of these changelings?"

"Ya, I don't trust them."

"Now listen, what are we all?"

"We're merchants."

"Right, and we meet all sorts of creatures and what do we do?"

"We... do business."

"And, we do our business civilly."

"Right."

"So, we're gonna bring him in now and I want us to be civil about it."

"Fine."

"Okay, I guess we can civil."

Apparently, the building is a large, no strike that, huge underground bazaar and there's around six hundred unicorn merchants and minor nobles, as well as some pegasi workers, who were in here when whatever happened, happened. None of them know what the disaster was exactly although, some of the nobles say there was souring relations the world over. Something about some nations knew things they weren't supposed to and Celesia intervened, threats were made and then everything went quiet. Everything was a top secret that they weren't told about. Also a pegasus mail pony said he was outside when it happened.

"Well I was out and about when all of a suddenly everypony froze and was looking behind me. I turn around and I saw what looked like a second sun. I ran in here then the ground shaked like a ursa major picked up the whole building and shook it, what happened next was a colossal boom blew everything away."

After hours of talking, the majority of them agreed to leave south west to Foalis Foalba and the rest followed. The scouts headed east. They were also given spears in case of bandits. Night fell, so they set up camp. They all sat around the fire eating the little food they kept.

"Smooth, you did a excellent job back there with Berry." Memory started.

"Memory, thank you and all that but, you're the hero here. The way you handled Apple back there was far more than what I could do."

"Nah, besides that was Berry who really handled that. Which, couldn't have been done without you."

"Ya, but you saved me from Orange."

"Only for you to save me right back."

"Hmm, well then I guess we're even then."

"I guess we are."

"I don't know, but it sounds like you both deserve praise for fixing my blunder." said Black Shadow.

"Ya, you both were awesome." added another named Lay Low.

"Black, don't put yourself down like that, I should have known you weren't there." Memory said "If you keep thinking like that, you'll end up hating yourself. The same thing happened to my brother I swear."

"Memory it's just th-"

A whirling sound followed by a loud cracking one interrupted Black. His eyes went wide and he dropped his stalk of asparagus he was nibbling on. He then keeled over the log he was sitting on revealing a stone axe in the back of his head. A howling was heard in the forest north of them.

"Bandits!"

They rushed for their spears. Axes were flying at them. The team grab their spears and charged into the bushes. The quite night was now filled with howls and hisses. Memory was with Lay, he saw a diamond dog ready to throw his axe. Memory sends his spear right through its chest. He yanked it out.

"Behind you!" yelled Lay.

Memory turned to see another one about to slash him with an axe. Memory borght round his spear and parried the swing with it. The dog then slammed its body into Memory, off guard he lost his spear. On the ground now, he saw the dog about to bring its axe down on him. He goes to cast daze but it's too late, the axe is coming down upon him. Then Lay got between him and the axe. The cracking sound of Lay's chitin shattering was deafening. Lay screamed but with his magic, he sent his own spear into the dog's own chest. It let out a long howl and then collapsed on top of both of them. Memory was now pinned under Lay and the dog's corpse, unable to move.

"Lay, speak to me!"

Lay was heavily wheezing. Changelings are unbelievably good healers. They're able to regrow entire limbs in about a week. This does not mean much on the battlefield since they will still have that injury for a while and not every wound can be recovered.

"Lay! Come on, say something!"

"M-memory, I-I don't think I-I'm going to m-make it."

"Don't say that! You're gonna pull through and we're gonna go and have more adventures together!"

"N-no, t-his w-wou-nd i-is too d-deep. B-but hey, I w-went like a-any c-change-l-ling sh-should, f-for the h-h-hive."

"Come on stay with me and next time we'll name a mountain after your mom like you wanted."

"Th-that's o-okay, i-it's not th-that im-import-ant, w-wh-what i-is th-that wh-wher-ever you g-go and wh-what-ever you f-find, just remem-bore wh-what's it f-for." Lay draws in a deep breath. "FOR THE QUEEN!"

Lay went limp after that. Memory has tears down his head. He kept shaking Lay with his forehooves, begging for him to keep going. A burst of love filled the air. He's gone. Memory went numb. He didn't know Lay all that well but still, he was a fellow changeling. A fellow changeling who just saved his life.

Memory didn't know long he had laid there. It felt like hours. Smooth then found him.

"Memory, what happened, we chased them off and we've been looking for half an hour."

"..."

"What's wrong?"

"L-Lay" he was taken back by how hoarse his voice was.

"O-oh, I see... well, come on hero, let's get you out from under here."

"No, Lay is the real hero."

The team buried the dead, even the dogs, and went east until they reached the ocean. There was a unicorn city state called Wineyburg. After that the team headed back to the colony to report their findings.