Running Desire

by BlindTeller

Chapters

• And so it begins!(Again) New Chapter 1
• The Room
• Getting to Work
• Days in the Orchard
• The Journey Begins
• Journey Across the Desert
• Oasis and The Hive

And so it begins!(Again) New Chapter 1

Oops accidentally unpublished this one, sorry bout that!

First a Big thanks to all of you who have kept with me even though almost a year's gone by since I first vanished! Second, those of you against this, don't freak out yet. I'm just putting out the first chapter of the rewrite so that everyone can have some knowledge on both stories before deciding on one or the other

The sun was setting, and the clacking of a train on rails could be heard, along with the faint sounds of the train's steam engine puffing away at its never ending chore of dragging tons of steel loaded with passengers to their next destination. Here I was, sitting in a cart with all of my friends on that very same train. To my left stood a Diamond Dog, as big as mountain and made of tougher stuff than the train we were on. On the right, a tiger as fierce as the forest she was born in, and twice as deadly. We all shared a smile before I drifted back to my first memories here in Equestria.

aaaand, cue epic music!

It all seems like so long ago, there was once a time where I lived among you all, on earth. I was just some nobody barely scraping through college and working part time at the local cafe. Life was nice, to an extent, but I couldn't help but always feel like something was missing. Of course physically there was something missing, my left knee's mobility. Yep, at a young age I had finally gotten the hang of riding my bike when I went right down a hill and crashed onto my knee. It had been smashed in several places and getting a replacement was out of the question as I was still growing.

Anyways that's besides the point it all started on a fateful Monday morning, an hour before class was to start. A headache, yep that was the signal, I should have known that something would happen to me, I never got headaches on Mondays, unless it was from a hangover, which I might have had those a little too often, okay maybe the headache wasn't the signal but still. My day started like all the others, my 20 alarms strategically set on my phone were to wake me up every five minutes starting two hours before school had finally all been put to rest, and I stood very tired and very irritated at the front of my bed. Oh it was so tempting to jump back in and go back to sleep that day, but alas my school credits were on the line and skipping was never really a good idea if I wanted to keep up with my studies.

I forced myself through my morning duties, shower, brush my teeth, get appropriately clothed for the day, and eat some breakfast. I walked out my front door and looked back at the small shack I was living in. It was a small but homely 500 square foot affair, and it got the job done. There was electricity, a stove, a fridge, bed, and desk and the outside of the house looked rather charming. It reminded me of the house from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life in a way. I smiled at it before continuing on my way to school and that's when it happened. Oh wait, no it's not, but you don't really wan't to hear all the boring stuff that happened in between anyways, seriously nothing like me bumping into a guy with coffee and having it spill all over my groin area happened anyways (yes it did) Shut up!

The event took place in homeroom, I had just taken my seat when everything froze, and when I say everything I mean everything, even the spitball that was a few inches from hitting me in the face had frozen. Then I heard it, a voice, soft as a feather yet stronger than the iron walls of Mordor in it's conviction.

At last, I've found you. It was chilling, and I found myself unable to move or respond Now come, we need your strength seedling, and with that I was no longer on earth.

*   *   *

An apple, but not just any apple, it was a large red one, and it look so very delicious. I reached out for the apple and instantly realized two things. First, the Apple was on a tree and there was no way I could reach it while laying down like this, and second, that my arm looked oddly like a small white log with a few holes drilled through it. That's when I screamed the most manliest of manly man screams I could muster, although it was rather high pitched and seemed to consist of an alien voice, it was most certainly not my own, and yet still very manly, like me. No, wait, I was actually screaming like a little girl and the voice I heard come from my mouth made me scream louder. Soon I was out of breath and gasping for air, while simultaneously trying to calm myself down.

You're okay, you're fine, who cared if your arm looks like a stump, it cant be that bad can it? I paused and looked at my arm again as well as the other one, they both looked remarkably like Swiss cheese in color and hole-i-ness (that's not a word) "Stop it! Can't you see I'm in emotional distress!?" Oh great I was shouting at my imagination now, okay okay breath calm down and breath. I decided I would try to sit up, maybe the rest of me was still in good shape after all, it couldn't get that much worse...right? I stood and immediately toppled over myself and slammed face first into the ground. I glanced at my body and was shocked to see it was no longer the human body I once had, I looked something like a horse, and yet my skin was hard and shiny, it almost reminded me of an insect's. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a less panicked part of my brain told me that white was a rather unusual color for an insect. Thanks brain, that's good to know, too bad not all of us can think like you with the current state of affairs!

So, after twenty minutes of calming down, and attempting to learn how my new body works later, I found myself standing underneath the apple tree, observing my surroundings. I was on a flattened part of an upwards slope and I could see nothing but barren looking hills around me. Okay think, I'm some sort of insect horse thing, and I'm under an apple tree in a barren landscape, what should I do? In a matter of seconds I opted for climbing the hill that I was currently on, a high vantage point would help me in assessing the situation at hand. Looking up the slope I started with my front right hoof then my back left hoof, then front left, and back right. I repeated the process until I found a comfortable rhythm to my movements. I started to struggle even more when I neared the top of the hill, the slope had been a lot steeper than expected, and climbing it was probably not recommended for someone who only just learned how to walk with their new legs. I was gasping for breath as I pulled myself up the last few inches of the hill, and instantly I gasped in wonder at what I saw.

A Town! What luck to be so close to civilization without even knowing it. Upon further observation though, I began to grow confused, why were there so many horses roaming the streets, and why did they all seem to be wearing clothes.

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" I said to myself as I continued to stare in bewilderment at the town below. In the distance I saw an apple orchard and what appeared to be more of the horse-like creatures harvesting the trees of their apples. It was insanity, at least to me, an entire civilization of horses that knew enough about agriculture to harvest apples, and if those tracks weren't man made they even knew how to construct rail lines as well. No way they would have gone this long undiscovered on earth, the only options were I was insane or I was on another world. Wait, that voice from earlier, what did it say again? it needed my strength? why me, surely there were tons of people way better on earth than me, right? I sat there on that ridge for hours, thinking over what I should do, and wallowing in self pity for the strange, confusing, and rather scary experience I had been put through. I never heard the hoof steps that slowly approached me, nor the grunt that was shortly followed by an exploding pain in the back of my head. My sight blurred out and I quickly found myself descending into the voids of dreamless sleep.

*     *     *

Inside a Wooden house outside of Appleloosa stood Two stallions. One was yellow and sported a fiery mane of orange and yellow with a tail much the same. The stallion also wore a faux leather vest and hat that fit his style perfectly. The other was a deep brown with an even darker brown mane and tail, and on his face a stylish mustache could be seen. This stallion wore a blue vest and black hat, a sheriff's badge adorned his vest and gave proof of his authority. They both stood in front of a chair staring at the white changeling they had captured, neither of them felt scared, in fact while they looked at the changeling they felt at peace. They had tried several times over the past few hours to kill the changeling they had captured, but had been unable to bring themselves to do it. So they had settled for securing it to a chair and then securing the chair to the floor using bolts, nails, and an excessive amount of wood glue.

"I jus' don't get it sheriff," the yellow stallion started "why can't we kill it, it's not like we haven't killed them before, why now of all times can we not bring ourselves to kill this one?" The other stallion stared at the changeling a few more minutes before sighing and looking away.

"I'm not too sure Braeburn, but there's definately something different about this one" The Sheriff sighed before walking to the door and opening it, there was a hallway leading to another part of the building. "You watch it fer now, I'm gonna try an' figure this out in my office, come get me if it decides to wake up". With that he left, leaving Braeburn alone to stand guard over the White Changeling behind him.

"jus' you wait" Braeburn said glancing at the changeling, "just cause you're not dead yet, don't mean you won't be soon enough!" he threatened to the unconscious changeling. While looking at the changeling Braeburn felt his hate for it dissipate and soon a spark of something else began to appear, and with it the stallion began to worry.

The Room

Yay for Chapter 2!

Darkness, that was it and it was everything. Even if I could move a hand in front of my face, I wouldn't be able to see it. I started to panic a little, after all I've only been in a place this dark once, and that was a cave with the lights turned out, and trust me it was not the most pleasant experience of my life.

Seedling, at last you have arrived! It was that voice, the one from before. Why is she calling me Seedling anyways? No, rather where is she, and where am I in proximity to her? Where I am matters not, where you are is a little settler town known as Appleloosa. Wait was she reading my thoughts? uh quick, don't imagine how sexy she must look with such a voice! NO stop it you fool! The voice only laughed in amusement before speaking again There isn't much time left so I will tell you what you need to know, when you find yourself able, make way to the village of Oasis, there you will find the next step to your journey. The darkness began to lift and I found myself in a room on a chair. In front of me was a visage of a tall white bug horse that seemed to smile at me before disappearing and being replaced with a yellow horse staring at me with a look of what I guess could be called hostility, though it looked rather forced. Its physical form looked a bit masculine, so I guessed it to be male.

Suddenly I started to remember everything that had happened earlier before I blacked out. Looking down from my position on the chair I could see I was still the strange bug-horse hybrid thing, and my legs still had holes going through them. I looked back at the yellow horse and tried to move off the chair and realized I couldn't. It was then that I finally felt the tight sensation of a rope strapping myself to a chair for the first time in my life, and probably not the last time either. The stallion's face changed from one of forced aggression to concern, which made me confused. Maybe it had something to do with the fact the I was now hyperventilating, starting to cry, and overall having a terrible mental breakdown. hmmm, nah.

Seriously, I was not having a good day, first I was ripped from my world, forced into this weird body, and then I was kidnapped by a horse in cowboy clothes. But hey, at least I know what to expect from now on right?

"Calm down now partner, I ain't gonna hurt ya" I stopped and looked at the stallion in front of me. He had moved closer to me and was wearing a look of serious worry on his face "I jus' want to ask you a few questions 's all". Yep I'd officially gone insane. This horse, this yellow horse wearing a cowboy hat and leather vest was talking to me. I started to laugh with tears freely flowing from my face, I had finally done it, I had gone insane and now I was in a world of talking horses. Nothing will ever be the same again, all my friends, my family, all of it gone!

SLAP

A sharp pain spread across my face, and everything stopped. Instantly I had been forced to calm down with just a slap. "Why're you so scared, I already said I wasn't going to hurt you!" My eyes moved back to the stallion in front of me. His concern had been replaced with frustration and slowly sorrow "sorry, I just hurt you anyways didn't I?".

"No" I said feeling a bit moved for some reason "I needed that, thanks". I was still a bit disturbed by my voice but not to the same degree as before. I closed my eyes and tried to think, what would be the best way to go about this? "Why am I tied to a chair?" This seemed like a good starting point, and I could also get some information this way.

"Oh, heh well funny story, we sorta captured you so we could kill you, but for some reason we couldn't do it so we tied you to a chair instead?" The stallion looked rather nervous telling me that, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit more freaked out.

"You want to kill me?" I asked with genuine fear in my voice. "Why? what did I do?" The stallion looked a bit taken aback before lifting a hoof to his chin to think. Looks like I've got a real genius on my hands here.

"Uh, we captured you, cause..." He looked stumped, which was not a good sign for me, there could be a huge number of reasons for wanting to catch me. Maybe they didn't like the movie I was quoting earlier on the ridge. "Oh, we capture you because you're a changeling who came to steal our emotions!" and with that I felt like I had just lost a few points of my IQ. I just stared at him trying to gauge whether or not he really believed what he had just said, I mean really? Who ever heard of a bug that can use leech life? oh wait. That's besides the point, it's not like I was in some children's fantasy show, why would anything like that ever even exist in the first place?

"Okay, let me get this straight" The stallion looked at me as I began to speak "You think I'm something called a 'Changeling' and that the only reason I'm here is to steal your emotions?" The stallion thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. "You're serious?" I asked once more for confirmation, and again he nodded. I started at him for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter "no...*gasp* way!" I couldn't help but keep laughing even when the stallions face turned red in embarrassment.

"Then what the hay are you and why ARE you here?" I stopped laughing and looked at the stallion. We stared at each other for a few minutes, and I could see him growing increasingly nervous.

"No clue" I answer simply causing him to fall over and then look at me in irritation "I'm not sure what a changeling is, but I'm most certainly not whatever that is" I could tell he was starting to get annoyed with me, and that's when I noticed it. A delicious sweet sweet smell in the air, and I could taste it as well. In fact it almost felt like I was eating something, but instead of eating through my mouth I was just absorbing something from the air. The stallion was looking at me in confusion now, probably because I was trying to lick the air clean of it's delicious flavors, and then suddenly, it was there, a name in my head. I looked at the yellow horse in front of me "Your name is, Braeburn?"

The Stallion froze in place and stared at me before getting up and running out the door. I could hear him shouting for a Sheriff Silver Star on the way out. Shortly after he had ran out the door a wave of the sweet smelling air food hit me before disappearing altogether. "well that was different" I said to myself before looking around the room. It was empty, devoid of all amenities save for a single mirror on the wall to my left. That's when I saw my face for the first time. A face that looked to be carved from the purest of marble, and sculpted to an insane amount of detail. Piercing green eyes lay underneath a short jagged horn that looked to be ivory. My face protruded into a muzzle and at my mouth, two perfectly smoothed fangs protruded from what would normally be my upper lip, in fact they looked to be part of my shell-like skin. My chin ended in a point before curving back up and heading back to my body. From the sides of my head, there protruded two spikes of white, one on each side and both pointed behind me. They reminded me of ears and probably served as such.

Before I could finish being amazed at how alien I now looked, a grey stallion followed by Braeburn burst into the room from the door in front of me. I looked at them confused at what all the fuss was about.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW HIS NAME?" The grey one shouted at me, instantly I recoiled, or at least tried to when I felt something snap, then the room started to rotate forward. Oh wait, that was just be falling backwards over the now snapped into pieces chair. The grey stallion walked over to me and put his hoof above my face, threatening to smash it down on me. "I said, how?" at a complete loss of words I simply stared before feeling a sudden pain in my facial region. The bastard had actually smashed me across the face. I would most definitely be feeling that one for a few days, if they didn't kill me first that is.

"I don't..!" *CRACK* another hit to my face sent me sprawling across the room. The rope that once bound me had unwrapped from around me, but there was no way I would be getting up after being hit that hard twice in the face. I looked at the stallion with total fear in my eyes before trying to scoot further away from him. I felt the back of my head tap against the wall, and I realized I was backed into a corner, with the only possible escape being on the opposite side of the room from me.  I started to whimper "p-please no more!" I cried out, flinching when he moved towards me. I closed my eyes and waited for another bone breaking hit to land. *Smack* this time there was no pain, in fact there wasn't anything but a thud as something hit the floor. I opened my eyes and stared in shock at Braeburn who was standing over the now unconscious grey stallion. He looked at me for a few seconds with sorrow in his eyes before bending over and dragging the Sheriff out of the room and closing the door behind him.

I watched the door warily for a few minutes, there was shuffling and then a click of a lock before I felt an incredible pain overtake my face. I looked at the mirror and noticed there was red flowing from a crack on my cheek. Not a cut, no my skin looked cracked. "What am I?" I asked myself before looking away from the mirror and down at my body. "What happened to me" my thoughts drifted back to my dream, Oasis village huh? well as long as it's not a prison I don't care where I go. With that I started to practice walking about the room, if I was going to get out of here I would need to learn how to use this body and quick. From what the voice told me in my sleep Oasis Village will be my first step to getting home, I hope.

Getting to Work

Three days, three days had passed and the door had never been reopened, or at least it felt that way. What I had noticed during that time though was that I never felt the need to eat or drink, in fact it felt like that sweet smelling substance in the air was keeping me alive the whole time. Judging by the fact that a human can survive no more than 3 days without water, I would have to say I'm definitely not a human anymore, and whatever I am is either built like a camel, or has no need for water to survive. The first was unlikely, I hadn't discovered any lumps, bumps, or growths that my body could use to store water in, but the second sounded impossible to my scientific mind. Then again my scientific mind also thought it was impossible to do what I was doing right now, and that was transforming into several different things.

Honestly, the discovery must have been a fluke, or it was inevitable, after all it was only when I was severely bored that I had discovered this ability of mine. I had been imagining random things, and during one of my daydreams I had wondered what it might have been like if I had been transformed into a horse like one of the ones I had seen earlier. That was when a flash had appeared leaving me feeling a bit warmer than before. I looked at the mirror and had discovered that I had transformed into one of the horse creatures except that I was white and my buttocks was lacking those strange markings that I had noticed earlier. Of course when I realized the refection I was looking at was real, I began to wonder. My thoughts turned to me as a human, of course nothing happened. Maybe I was a horse the whole time, after all such a creepy insect thing was not very likely to every exsist in the firs- A flash interrupted my thought. A look at the mirror showed my form from earlier had come back. With a sigh I began to think of something else, maybe I could be a tiny purple dragon? A flash of light and a look in the reflection later showed me a small purple dragon with curved green spikes coming from it's back.

"Dude, that's creepy" My voice had changed as well. "What the, is that my voice?". I laughed a bit before switching back to my insect like form. Maybe this didn't have to be as boring as I thought it would be. A duck, then a cat, mouse, moose, sheep, and a goat. All of their forms came easy and all of them lasted a few seconds before I decided on something else. A lizard, a dog, crab, spider, and finally a fish. Of course the last one didn't turn out so well for me as my choice of fish was of the gold persuasion, which as well all know, is not fit for breathing out of water. That was probably the shortest of all the transformations.

I must have been making a lot of noise because at some point there was a loud thumping from below me soon followed by someone yelling "Cut it out with all that racket up there!" So like the complete gentleman that I am, I promptly ignored them and continued transforming into whatever I saw fit. Moose! Cow! A bush! wait a bush? Nothing was out of my reach, at one point I had even transformed into a toaster, which oddly enough seemed to have what looked like a grey skin of some sort stitched around the outside. That one was probably the freakiest of all my transformations so far and closely rivaled the gold fish in 'least amount of time spent in that form'.

Soon enough I had become bored with the new game of mine, and decided on taking another nap. After all naps are an  important part of ones healthy diet, and time spent not napping should be used to eat and not do work accordingly. I suddenly felt like somewhere out there, a man in an orange space suit was smiling upon me, this caused me to suddenly worry. Maybe I should actually do something about the situation I'm in right now, Immediately after that I thought I saw that same mans smile turn to a frown and I felt so much better about myself. I decided that looking over the room once more I might get some hint as to what I could possibly do to free myself. I stood up from my spot in front of the mirror only to hear something shuffle at the same time. The noise had come from behind the mirror, or rather what appeared to be a mirror. My mind had finally made the connection and now I felt like a total idiot for not realizing it sooner.

I stared the mirror down before suddenly charging at it. Angled my head downwards hoping that my horn would be enough to penetrate what I hoped to be a two-way mirror in disguise. Upon impact I closed my eyes, heard a shattering noise and found myself to be immobile. Turn's out it was actually just a normal mirror and my horn was now jammed very well into the wall. Now that I think about it, the shuffling did sound an awful lot like someone getting up, which I had just done, why was I born so stupid? The shatter must have gotten someone's attention as I heard rapid foot steps from elsewhere in the building getting closer. I felt myself blush under how humiliating it would be to be discovered this way and began to struggle against the wall, all the while the sound of steps got closer and more rapid.

The struggle against the cursed wall continued until I heard the door open, at which point I stopped struggling before sitting down and letting out a sigh. Soon enough I heard laughter from behind me before a familiar voice spoke up.

"I was wondering what all that racket was about! What's wrong did your reflection look at you funny?" It was Braeburn, the yellow horse from earlier. Even though I couldn't see his face I could tell from his voice that he was trying hard not to burst out laughing even harder than he already had.

"It's not funny" I said with a little pout, surprising myself with my own laid back attitude. "I wouldn't laugh at you if you got your head stuck on a wall" The moment of silence led me to believe he was giving me a deadpan expression. "Okay maybe I would a little, but I'd still help you". I heard him laugh again before he moved closer to me and started to pull at my shoulders. With a loud pop I was released from the wall and thrown back onto something rather soft, There was also a grunt from somewhere. "Thanks for that" I said before sitting up and rubbing my head and looking around for the yellow stallion, only to find he seemed to no longer be in the room.

"C-care ta get off me partner?" I heard some say below me. Looking down I saw Braeburn's face looking back up at me, and he looked to be struggling to breath. Immediately I hopped off of him and allowed him to breath once more. "he he, Thanks" He said getting up and smiling at me. I was taken aback by his kind demeanor towards me after our first meeting but shrugged it off as nothing.

"So, about that whole horn stuck in the wall thing..." I started before being uninterrupted by him chuckling again.

"Don't worry bout it, never did understand why we put that mirror in here in the first place" He smiled looking over to the remains of the mirror. I followed his gaze and looked upon the pieces, good it seems like he wont mention that humiliation at the moment. "What got you so worked up about it anyways?" I quickly snapped my attention back to the Yellow stallion before muttering to myself, trying to think up and excuse for my sudden attack on the mirror.

"I uh, thought it was a two way mirror?" Crap that was the exact reason too! I mentally slapped myself in the face for trying to use that stupid reason as my brilliant excuse. The stallion simply chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah, we don't got any of them fancy Manehattan interrogation rooms out here, but we make do" I looked around the wooden room once more and shrugged. I'd never been to an actual interrogation room so if it looked any different than the one we were in I wouldn't know. "Anyways it's been three days now and you still haven't tried anything so The Sheriff and I reckon we let you out, but keep you under a close eye" I looked at him in surprise.

"Wait, the sheriff, as in that gray horse tha-"

"Pony" My eye twitched as I was interrupted again.

"What? I asked confused by his interruption.

"You mean pony, horses are native to Saddle Arabia, and you don't see them in these parts too often"

I stared at him before shaking my head and continuing my thought from earlier

"So the pony that punched me in the face last time we met agreed to this?"

"Well" Braeburn started "only cause you're gonna be workin' the orchard with me." I looked at him trying to process what he just said. So after being locked in a room for three days they decided on forcing me to do manual labor, all because I don't look like them? Man these ponies are either really racist, or whatever species I am has always been a problem in the past, which would still be racist.

"Fine, when do we start?" I asked suddenly feeling very lethargic about all this.

"Well, it's almost sundown, so I figured today I'd take you on a short tour before taking you ta my cabin near the orchard!" The stallion seemed to be a little excited about this, as his eyes seemed to brighten up and he couldn't stop moving.

"Very well then, lead the way if you would" I said with a smile, though on the inside I could tell that tomorrow would probably be a living nightmare of work. Braeburn nodded before walking out the door and waiting for me to follow. I hesitated at the prospect of leaving but quickly got over my nervousness. I jumped the threshold between room and hallway before giving a smile and following Braeburn out of the building.

Days in the Orchard

Thunk!

Apples fell from the sky and into the baskets behind me. It had become a rather simple task, bucking apples that is, and after a few days I had all but mastered the very act. I still remember when Braeburn first showed me how and expected me to do the same.

"C'mon partner I know ya can do it!" The yellow stallion had said with a smile, trying to encourage me no doubt. The first time I tried it I had managed to stick my legs into the trunk a whole 6 inches before I meant to, and by doing so all the force nearly snapped my legs, or at least that's what it felt like. After a few tries I had finally managed to knock down one measly apple, which was rotten, and probably about to come off anyway. With a sigh I sat down and looked at the tree, glaring in frustration. I imagined it burning, after all just cause the Mythbusters couldn't do it doesn't mean I couldn't. All trees will cower under the might of my gaze!

"You're gonna hurt yourself if ya try an think on it too hard" My attention snapped to Braeburn who gave a playful smirk "Maybe you oughta try shiftin into an earth pony?"

"A what now?" the image of a giant stone horse was prominent in my mind.

"An earth pony, you know, like me?" I gave the stallion a once over before giving a shrug. I guess he would probably know more than I would about this world anyways. With a flash of green light I soon found myself as a white pony with a green mane and tail, and soon found myself poised to give another swift kick to the tree. I tensed up stood on my forelegs and felt my hind legs explode backwards.

Thunk!

A few apples fell from the tree and into the baskets that Braeburn had set up.

"Ha ha! I did it Brae!" I celebrated the moment by doing a little jig before losing my balance and tripping over myself, at the same time. I looked back up at Braeburn who was looking at me with a smile and a hint of a blush. What was he all embarrassed about? I guess I had just made that much of a fool of myself, meh whatever. Laughing I stood back up before giving the tree another few hits, clearing all the branches of their apples.

Today had been nearly the same as that day, Braeburn had left me to cover one part of the orchard which had confused me at first until I realized that he had decided to trust me not to escape. Of course I wasn't stupid, even if I had wanted to escape I knew well enough from my tour through town that I probably wouldn't be welcomed anywhere. By the way, rocks still hurt no matter how thick your skin is. Anyway it was a little past noon when I heard three strange voices coming from a few bushes in the orchard. The voices sounded a bit familiar, they definitely weren't pony voices though, instead these ones were of higher pitch and carried a certain buzz to them.

Curiosity got the better of me as I started to walk towards the bushes, careful to avoid making any noise. I had decided on keeping my pony form in case what I was hearing were actually just those of other farm hands. Braeburn had asked me to stay in pony form around them so as not to distract them from their work, not that it really helped from what I could tell. Creeping through the bushes led me to a small clearing where a strange sight took my breath away. Three black bug-ponies stood in the middle of the orchard, talking in high pitched chitters, barks, and whines. They looked like me! No, wait, their shells were black while mine was white and they appeared to be a bit smaller, but still they looked to be the same species as me. What did Braeburn call me that one time, a changeling? Maybe that's what these three were.

While thinking I didn't realize that one of them was now looking straight at me with wide eyes, the other two soon followed the first's gaze and noticed me too. I realized they were all staring at me before giving a small laugh and backing away. Before I could flee I felt three hard shelled bodies land on top of me, stopping me from going anywhere and also knocking the breath out of me at the same time. They got off of me and dragged me back to the clearing before throwing me down on the ground like a sack of potatoes. A series of high pitch chirps went off before silence ensued. I opened my eyes and realized they were waiting for me to respond.

"Uhh, what?" I asked clearly confused as to what they were saying. One of them frowned while the others looked at me like I was an idiot. The one in front of burst into a ball of green fire before being revealed as another pony.

"What are you doing out here pandoran?" it asked me in a distinctly male voice. Wait pandoran, as in Pandora?

"Umm, I'm not to sure what you mean by that..." I said feeling as confused as ever "if you mean what I'm doing now, well Braeburn asked me to help buck these trees, and if what happened yesterday is anything to go by, we would then go home, eat dinn-"

"That's not what I asked, I mean what is a Pandoran doing this far out from the hives?" I heard the other two snickering, but I chose to ignore them and continue with my conversation.

"The hives? I'm not sure where you're talking about" The stallion in front of me sighed while the two changelings behind him burst out laughing.

"I see, so you're not in a hive, either your Queen abandoned you, or you're a defector, which one is it?" He asked me starting to look a little hostile.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure we don't have a queen where I came from, but I'm most certainly not a defector, I'm pretty sure I was never a part of any sorta 'Hive' to begin with" I sat up and released my transformation. "First thing I remember is waking up on a hill in this form"

As soon as I dropped my transformation all three changelings instantly hit the ground trembling, did my breath smell bad or something?

"A Pandoran Liberator?" one spoke in a fearful voice from the back.

"I thought they had all died out" the other said, wait died out, how?

"Wait, what's a Liberator?" I asked the one in front of me who had been talking to me the whole time. Something else clicked and I looked back at the other two changelings "and why can I understand you now?"

The one in front of me slowly stood up before answering me

"Forgive me for disrespecting you sir, It's hard to put into words but a Liberator is Someling separate from the hive entirely, we thought you couldn't understand us because you weren't expecting anyling else to be here, uh, sir!"

"Sir? you don't need to call me that," I smiled at him before sitting down "and like you're right I wasn't expecting anyo- er anyling else to be here, it just that this is all kinda strange and any informa-"

"Hey! Where are you!" Braeburn called, and the three changelings in front of me clearly heard it. Before I could get another word in they all snapped up and flew through the trees' away from Braeburn. Just as they were out of sight on the other end of the clearing a familiar yellow stallion popped his head through the bushes. "Oh, there you are, c'mon it's time to go back to the house" I looked at him for a second before glancing back at where the changelings had disappeared too. He followed my gaze before looking back at me with a look of concern "What's wrong? why aren't you disguised right now?"

I stood up and transformed back into the white pony form I had become accustomed too.

"I'll tell you when we get back to the house, I'm starving right now!" I said with a smile. Hopefully Braeburn would be able to help me process some of this new information, and maybe even point me in the direction of these hives. Of course Oasis village still came first in my list of priorities, but the hives also sounded like they might be able to present me with a ton of information.

Back at Braeburn's house I sat in the dining room watching him eat before stuffing some of the apple variety of foods down my throat. It seemed that I could still eat foods and taste them, which I was glad for as everything was incredibly delicious but I never felt the foods fill me up, and after a while I found myself unable to swallow more food for a few hours. Instead of the food, the sickly sweet scent drifting around the room filled me up. Maybe I'd be able to learn what the scent was at the Hive, or even Oasis. My thoughts were interrupted by Braeburn clearing his throat, clearly trying to grab my attention.

"You said you'd tell me what was wrong over diner" He asked looked at me expectantly. I smiled before nodding and opening my mouth.

"I need to leave soon" I said deciding to be blunt about it. He looked at me like I was crazy, but before he could say anything I continued to speak "I had a dream the other day, a Voice told me that I needed to go to Oasis Village, that the next step to my journey could be found there." Braeburn's face had gone pale and he sat in silence. "Braeburn?"

"Why there of all places?" He asked, the scent in the room suddenly hit me like a wave, I had to fight it back to keep it from overtaking me. "You don't even have a name and you're gonna go to a place like that?" He looked up at me worry clear in his eyes.

"I do have a name though, it's-" Braeburn's hoof slammed down on the table.

"You have a name! How come you never told me?" He asked exasperated.

"You never asked" The look of anger and embarrassment that he displayed would keep me laughing for days. His hoof smacking me in my shoulder would not.

"Fine, what's your name then?" He asked with a glare.

"Ha ha, Sorry for the late introduction" I stood up and did my best to give him a bow before standing up straight "My name is Volo, a pleasure to meet you Braeburn".

The Journey Begins

"What the heck sorta name is Volo?" Well then that was kind of insulting.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked immediately on the defensive "I mean I'm not really from around here so I know you guys have a different naming scheme than I do but still, that doesn't mean that it's a-" I stopped mid ramble realizing that Braeburn was smirking at me. Oh the realization was terrible "meanie, I don't like people who mess with me" I said sitting upright and crossing my forelegs.

"Ha ha, calm down now partner I think it's a good name, just wanted to mess with you for pulling this on me is all" He stood up from the table and walked over to me to pat my back "Besides we can't all have names as great as mine" he said with a laugh.

"Whatever Mr. Apple" I said getting up to move out of the dining room. The house Braeburn lived in was rather nice, portraits decorated the halls, displaying pictures of what I assumed were his family. There were also a few dressers, cabinets, and tables here and there that held little ornaments, like silverware, plates and pans, little marbles, and even a bowl full of what looked to be turquoise stones.

"Hey!" I heard him call out after me, "Mr. Apple was ma father, don't call me that" With a smile a looked back and stuck my tongue out at him before scampering off. Last night Braeburn had put me in the guest room, which was rather nice. I stuck with the general theme of his house, as there was a large oak dresser and desk both of which contained or held little interesting items on them. The bed looked like it barely fit through the door as it was ridiculously big. There was easily enough room to hold three or four ponies, of course I was always bad at putting things to scale so maybe it could only hold one? well whatever three to four sounds more impressive so lets go with that.

"What'd you have to go runnin off for?" I turned and faced the stallion with a smile.

"Sorry Brae, I was full and ready to go to sleep" He looked passed me and to the bed, suddenly his face sported an incredible blush and he looked away. I wonder why? "Hmm? whats wrong, you look so red, are you feeling sick?" I stepped closer and held out my hoof to see if I could help in some way.

"Ah, no that's!" He stumbled over his words while taking a step back from me. I took another step forward and he took another step back, this was silly.

"Let me help Brae" I gave him my best puppy dog face to persuade him into letting me help, after all, what kind on perso- no changeling would I be if I didn't try to help the stallion that was giving me a room to sleep in. If I didn't know better I'd say Braeburn's face had grown redder than red itself. "That's it Braeburn come here!" I said  sternly before trotting behind him faster than he could react and pushing him into my room. I forced him onto the bed and tucked him under the blankets before looking at him again. "You rest here and let me go get you some water for now, oh and an ice pack too!"

Braeburn could only watch as I left the room to grab items needed for a sick pony.

*   *   *

"Okay I couldn't find an ice pack but I did get a cup of..." my voice trailed off as I found Braeburn asleep in the bed, he didn't looked to be flushed anymore and with a strategic placement of my hoof on his forehead a lack of fever was confirmed as well. "That's good" I whispered to myself glad that he wasn't sick, this threw into question what he was all red for but it was probably nothing anyways. I realized with Braeburn sleeping in my bed I would have to find someplace else to sleep. I couldn't take his bed it would feel weird, and the only other thing to sleep on was a large chair, not the ideal sleeping surface. I looked back at the bed and smiled to myself, there was still enough room for 2 more after all.

*   *   *

Braeburn awoke early that morning and at first he couldn't remember why he was sleeping in his guest bed. Lets see, Volo an' I were eating dinner, he ran off I followed him and then he somehow was convinced I was sick and forced me into his bed. Braeburn sighed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before realizing there seemed to be something wrapped around his torso. Looking down his heart almost stopped, the white changeling was nuzzled into his side and didn't seem to want to let go. Braeburn pushed at Volo's arms to try and get out of this very compromising position but instantly stopped and he heard mumbling from Volo.

"Please don't hurt me" Volo mumbled, Braeburn's spirits fell, he must be dreaming about the tour of town he had given him the other day. "Just because I'm a banana fudgesicle doesn't mean you can eat me!" Braeburn choked out a laugh before stopping himself, at least he knew that Volo wasn't bothered that much by the townsfolk. Suddenly Braeburn felt a wave of tiredness wash over him, maybe a few more minutes of sleep would be nice.

*   *   *

"Braeburn Breakfast is ready!" I shouted from the kitchen of the house. I was lucky today, I had somehow been able to wake up before Braeburn had and get myself out of bed without waking him, he would also never know that I liked to cuddle in my sleep. Instead of waking him up I went downstairs to the kitchen to see if there might be anything for me to snack on. Even if I didn't 'need' to eat food it still freaked me out not to so I still tried to eat every once in a while, like, three times a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I wonder if I had to worry about extra calories from the substance in the air that I fed on. When I had entered the kitchen, much to my dismay, nothing had been cleaned up from last night, though I suppose that was my fault for forcing Braeburn into my bed and then falling asleep next to him.

It didn't take long to clean up the food that had been left on the table and the dishes were a quick snap. After cleaning the mess up I started on making a new one, today it would be pancakes, and they would be awesome. Eggs, milk, flower, sugar, all of it went into the mixing pot and soon the batter was cooking away on a griddle. It still fascinated me that these ponies had been able to invent gas-powered stoves and even more so knowing that it used a spark-plug to ignite the gas. Once the pancakes were ready and Braeburn had been summoned we sat down at the table. I couldn't help but smile as Braeburn sat amazed at the pancakes in front of him.

"You made these?" He asked, I smiled and nodded before picking up a fork with my hoof and cutting into the pancake with it. I gave pause as I realized what I just did, I picked a fork... with my hoof... whatever. I continued onwards ignoring the obvious slap to the laws of the universe and ate my pancakes in peace. Braeburn who must have been tired of watching me eat decided he would try the pancakes. It was weird how he acted like they might be poisoned, I've been here for days now and he seemed pretty trusting of me with everything else. Braeburn took a bite of the pancake before him before his eyes widened in surprise "It's really good!" He started to eat the rest of the pancake and soon took a few more off the stack I had made.

"Hehe Thanks!" I said, happy to have my work appreciated, I'm glad I was able to do something nice for him before I left. The other thing I had done this morning was find a map of the surrounding areas. It seemed that I was in a country called Equestria which I had never heard of before. What really confused me were all the familiar names for cities. Las Pegasus, Manehattan, Baltimare, it was ridiculous, and the fact that they were all made into horse puns really confused me. Maybe the primary species of this world were ponies like the ones in this town. Hopefully some of them were more like Braeburn and didn't instantly hate me at first glance. Something told me that it wouldn't be the case. Fortunately the location of Oasis was also on the map, unfortunately for me I would be needing a compass to make my way there. I wasn't able to find one with the map so I just had to hope that their might be one elsewhere in the house. With all the stuff Braeburn has on display a compass should be here somewhere. Still, I felt guilty having to get what I needed this way, maybe if I just asked him he would help me out? "Hey Brae..."

I noticed he had been looking at me with a slight blush, which increased when I made eye contact with him. It finally clicked in my mind, and it made me feel all the more guilty. Somehow I had made the stallion fall for me, not that it grossed me out or anything, in fact he was kinda cute, but that wasn't the point. I was just contemplating stealing from this guy, he hadn't done anything to prove that he wouldn't help me and here I was thinking he would try everything in his power to lock me up. "I should leave soon" I finally said pulling out the map I had found earlier "I found this map, and I really should be leaving before something bad happens". I saw his face shift down to the map then back to me he looked a little bit sad, but otherwise was able to cover up his feelings quite nicely.

"Why, what bad thing might happen if you stay?" Braeburn asked, it occurred to me that he hadn't realized it himself, the day of the tour there had been plenty of ponies that gave Braeburn a mean look behind his back.

"The townsfolk" I said bluntly not wanting to dance around the issue. "You know they don't want me here, and it's only a matter of time until they do something"

"No, I won't let them, the Sheriff and I will..." He sounded desperate.

"No Braeburn, it would be better this way, and I know you know it too" I smiled at him "and don't worry it's not like I'm disappearing forever I'll come visit some time again okay?" His ears flattened and he looked at me for a few minutes before finally speaking up again.

"Give me your word" He said looking into my eyes. I blinked before holding my hoof up and crossing my chest with it

"Cross my heart, and hope to die" he looked at me for a couple more minutes. I didn't mind, I knew he would need sometime to think before I could finally go.

"All right, what do you need to get going?" He asked me while getting up from the table.

"A compass and maybe a bag if you have one" I smiled inwardly, at last I could start on my journey and figure out why I'm here in this world. Braeburn left me standing in the kitchen while he went off to search for what I needed. I picked up the dishes and started to clean them as well. I noticed a pad of papers with a pen and decided I would leave a thank you note for him to find after I was gone.

I stood at the front door of his house with a saddle pack on. The compass he had found me had been carved out of a dark wood and looked somewhat Tribal in origin. It hung around my neck with the help of a black string. Braeburn stood before me with a smile.

"Look at you!" he started happily "you look like a traveler now, don't you?" I laughed and nodded, itching to go, but goodbyes would have to come first.

"Listen Brae, It might be a while before I come back, so I wanted to give you something to remember me by until I get back." This might be the worst decision I'll ever make, ever I thought before continuing on "So close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you too"

"What are you?"

"Close em!" I said before he could interject. He closed them and I smiled before taking a step towards him and gave him a peck on the cheek "Thank you" I said before running off following the compass north. I didn't look back, now I was on my own and I only had a couple of days to reach Oasis. Nothing would distract me from my journey ahead.

*   *   *

Braeburn stood in shock as he watched Volo go. As Volo disappeared on the horizon Braeburn turned back and went into his house, his heart beating like mad. He walked into the kitchen and was surprised to find it perfectly clean. On the kitchen table was a letter written on his note pad. He walked over to it and picked it up to read it.

Dear Brae,

Thank you for all you've done for me and for giving me a chance on the day you found me.

If it wasn't for you I'm sure that Sheriff Silver Star would have smashed my head into oblivion which

would not have been fun for me. Oh right as thanks for letting me stay with you for these past few

days here's the recipe for those pancakes I had made you this morning. I'm glad I got to meet you

-Volo

Journey Across the Desert

What was I thinking? I had been following the map ever since leaving Appleloosa but I hadn't accounted for the massive distance that I would have to trek to get there. Maybe this is how the old settlers felt when moving along the western frontier of North America. Seriously, it's already been like a whole a hour since I started my journey ,how come I haven't gotten there yet? In frustration I arched my back and stamped on the ground.

buzz

I spun around to see what horrid abomination made that noise. There was nothing there, and I wish I hadn't turned a full 180 as I could now see Appleloosa in the distance. Even worse, Braeburn's house was still somewhat visible, I turned around and continued north. Looking back would bring temptation and make the journey harder to complete. That would be the last time I look back when setting out.

buzzy buzz

Once more I spun around to see what hideous creature had managed to sneak up on me, dang it! I just looked back again, and Appleloosa was still there in the distance. With a sigh I turned back and continued on my journey north. Every once in a while a stray breeze would roll a tumbleweed past me giving a reminder that this place was desolate and it was now more than ever that I hoped I wouldn't really need water that much.

Buzz buzz BUZZ buzzy buzz

Nope I'm not falling for it again this time I will simply ignore it and continue to walk down my lonely road towards oasis. Of course there was no road and I wasn't really feeling that lonely yet, but it's the notion that counts right?

Buzz buzz

Still not looking I don't care what you are or if your going to kill me, I will not turn around again. Suddenly the buzzing started and wouldn't stop, and slowly but surely I started to lift off the ground. Fine fine I'll turn around just don't take me away and kill me! I was surprised to find that I was now hovering in place, and to my further surprise it wasn't something carrying me either! With a turn of my head I noticed my wings were now buzzing furiously to keep me lifted in the air.

"Since when?!" I asked myself utterly stunned, I suppose the wings had always been there, I guess it never really hit me until now that I could actually fly with them. I'm not entirely sure what I did to start them up but at least I know it's possible to fly now. I looked in the direction of Oasis and waited for my wings to take me forward, and I waited, and waited. How do these things work anyways, maybe like a helicopter? Leaning forwards caused me to accelerate confirming my suspicion, it was odd though, I could have sworn that the other changelings had wings as well, why didn't they use them when Braeburn startled us that time? Oh well I'm sure it didn't matter that much after all, they seemed pretty flighty at the time (Ha ha that was terrible).

*   *   *

A days flight had passed by and with it I had gained more knowledge on how to use my wings. I'm not sure how to describe using them, it kind of like shrugging your shoulders but it's also not. You could only understand if you had the wings yourself. After the days flight I realized it was probably about time that I land and look for a place to spend the night. Of course here was a new part that I would get to learn, how to land. I looked down to the ground as I slowed to a hover above it. "Maybe if I-" my wings suddenly stopped and I felt myself drop to the ground. After a moment of pain, I opened my eyes and found myself on a rocky outcropping overlooking much of the landscape. Around me were dunes, cacti, and other rocky mountains littering the land. small shrubs that looked to be barely alive grew in small patches around the base of each rock. In the distant west the sun was beginning to set, casting the sky into a colorful array of oranges reds and yellows that left me in awe. The temperature started to decrease leaving me wondering what I would do to keep warm throughout the night, it might have been a good idea to ask Braeburn for a fire starter or something like that.

I sat down on the cold stone and took my saddle pack off and began to look through it, maybe there was something warm for me inside it. To my surprise I found a rather nice wool blanket that would easily be able to wrap around me. It was a dark green in color and lacked any significant patterns other than those of the weave. I wrapped it around myself and enjoyed the warming sensation that spread throughout my body. At least I would be able to sleep comfortably tonight. I continued to rummage through my saddle bags and only found the map to Oasis. I looked at everything I currently owned and smiled. A blanket, saddle pack, map, and compass, definitely not the worst items to be left with. Considering all I needed to eat was that sweet stuff that floated through the air I felt rather confident. Of course I had no Idea what the sweet stuff in the air was but it also seemed to be out here, even if it was in trace amounts that only filled me a little bit.

*   *   *

I awoke early the next morning and gasped at how chilly the morning air still was. The sun had just barely risen and it was still plenty cold from the heat-less night. Looking around I found nothing had changed during the night and the desert was still as much of a desert as always, just less hot right now. Soon enough my blanket was folded up and placed back in my saddle pack which I then placed on my back. By the way, a saddle pack is a really awkward thing to put on only using hooves. The straps that connected underneath me constricted my movements a little bit and I was lucky that the packs did nothing to interrupt my wings' movements.

One brief look at the compass later and I was hovering in the air again heading towards my destination that lay in the distant lands ahead of me. Today the desert flew past me, archways of stone, dunes that seemed taller than mountains, and plenty of cacti and desert shrubs that dotted the landscape. At one point I thought I saw a dot of water surrounded by palm trees but dismissed it as a mirage, wait was that a flying bison? nah. At one point I saw a large spire like mountain that stretched high into the sky, it looked way to tall too fly to the top of so I decided to land on one of the few flat surfaces it offered. Looking up I confirmed it's peak was beyond the height of any clouds that were in the desert, and way to high for me to reach anytime soon. I looked in the direction of Oasis and gasped at the sight in front of me. A Lake in the middle of the desert and surrounding it were buildings of all kinds. From the distance I couldn't see any movement but I figured that was definitely the place. Looking east I noticed that the sun was beginning to set again. Tonight I would have to sleep out here again but that shouldn't be a problem with Braeburn's blanket at my side.

I set myself up on a wide ledge that overlooked Oasis in the distance. As the sun set and the stars started to populate the morning sky I smiled to myself.

"Almost there, maybe tomorrow I can start getting some answers as to why I'm here" I said to myself before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

*   *   *

"Seedling, awaken". I opened my eyes and found myself in a dark area surrounded by clouds of purple and black.

"Who's there!?" I shouted out not realizing where I was or who it was that had awoken me. The clouds before me separated revealing a very tall changeling that was the same color as me.

"Seedling at last, we meet, though I wish it were more face to face" The white changeling before me spoke. I realized it was the voice that had awakened me on the first day I came here.

"You're-" I started before being cut off.

"Seedling, I'm sorry but there isn't much time so any questions you may have will have to be answered by the others," I held my tongue but felt a little annoyed for not being able to speak. "Listen to me very carefully the place you are headed to Oasis is in terrible need of your assistance, I wish I could help you but all I can say is that you're very capable of doing this job and that you must believe in yourself in order to complete it" She looked at me with sorrow before speaking again "I wish I could tell you more, and I know what I have said tells you nothing but I can't say anymore without putting you in terrible danger". I felt my stomach drop, what did she mean danger? What was it that I had to do in Oasis that I might think I'm not capable of doing? I had so many things to ask but the dream was starting to fade, and the changeling along with it.

"Wait I need to ask you!" I shouted at at the disappearing image, she frowned and bowed her head to me before disappearing completely and leaving me standing in the dark. I found myself standing at the edge of the cliff I had fallen asleep on last night. The sun was in the sky and behind me Braeburn's blanket was sprawled out in the dust. I looked around and sighed before packing up the blanket. Today I would reach Oasis and maybe then I could get some answers from who ever it was I would meet.

Oasis and The Hive

I looked down on the lake from a nearby ridge. It turns out that Oasis was kind of a dump from what I could see. The buildings lay mostly in ruin and little huts were crammed into every corner they could fit in. What surprised me most though was not the state of decay, but the ridiculous number of creatures that inhabited this 'town'. Just from a glance I could see so many types of creatures of mythology and lore that I never imagines could ever actually exist. There were gryphons, minotaurs, tall dog like creatures that stood on two legs, spider folk, otters, zebra, ponies, and changelings too!

"Guess I won't have to worry too much about wearing a disguise here then" I said to myself with a smile before lifting off and heading to the nearest street. I drew a few glances from the others that walked the streets but I didn't expect to get the reaction I got from any changelings walking the streets. Once one saw me it let out a few loud chirps that drew the other changelings attention. Soon I found myself surrounded by changelings, they were all whispering too each other some bits I could make out.

"what's...liberator...hives?"

"...mission is he...need help?"

"here to...the attacks?"

I could never make out what any of them were saying completely but I could tell that my presence here must be somewhat unusual if it brought this much attention from the other changelings. I did another look over of them and realized none of the others were white as well. In fact they all looked the exact same except for small groves in their shells that reminded me of scars.

"Um, Excuse me?" I asked a bit nervously. The noise of them chattering instantly stopped and all eyes were on me. "What's going on?" I asked a bit intimidated by all the attention I was suddenly receiving. A larger changeling stepped out of the crowd and up to me.

"Forgive us Liberator" It started with a bow "it is a rare thing for someling like you to be seen here" He, I decided it was he based off his voice, stood up strait and looked me in the eyes once more. "What can we do for you Liberator?"

I blinked and spaced out. I suppose getting to the hive was my top priority, but seeing this town in ruin made me want to help out a bit too. No answers must come first, if I can see a way to help then I'll do it later.

"Can you take me to the Hives? I need to speak with someon- err someling in charge" The changeling in front of me nodded and chirped loudly at the others who all quickly went back to where ever they came from. He turned to me and smiled.

"This way Liberator, I'll take you to see Lady Lumina" The changeling lifted off and I followed him into the air. We flew over Oasis and off in the direction of the desert. After a minute of flying I noticed a series of large gaping holes in the desert which we were flying too.

"The Hive's underground?" I chirped to the changeling over the wind, he looked at me confused before nodding.

"Was your hive in a cave then?" he asked me back "It's not often that a changeling hive is built in a mountain". Realizing that I should probably do my best to not seem suspicious I nodded and decided to not ask very many questions about the hive. If anything I would probably be able to figure that stuff out on my own at some point. The changeling nodded to one of the holes that was closer. "That's where we're landing," he shouted over the wind "once there I'll take you to the audience chambers, stick close and try not to get lost!" He suddenly started to drop out of the air, quickly approaching the desert earth beneath him. I held my breath and noticed he stopped short of the ground and was going in close. Not wanting to be outdone I stopped my wings and went into a free fall. I spiraled downwards and moments before hitting the ground flared my wings back to life sending me rocketing back into position next to him. He looked at me with a smirk before we entered the caverns below. As we entered the cave I was amazed at what I saw, the hole looked like it had been torn into existence. Tunnels and platforms dotted the walls and at the bottom hundreds of changelings could be seen walking about on what might as well be streets. Hundreds more flew between the many holes in the walls making the hive look very active. I wondered what all of them were up too to keep it this busy.

"This way Liberator" the changeling I had followed called out from a platform. At the mention of my title I noticed more than a few changelings look my direction and stopping whatever they were doing. I noticed that none of the changelings were white like I was but more than a few had different appearances. Some were taller and bulkier and others seemed the size of children. I ignored their stares and landed on the platform I had been called too. As I got closer to him I noticed that the changeling I had followed had a certain feel to him almost like another appearance. "This tunnel will lead us straight to the audience chambers, and I've already sent word ahead that you requested an audience, Lady Lumina should be there waiting for you, if you'll excuse me I have to get back to my duties" He spread his wings ready to take off.

"Wait, what is your name?" I asked, so far this changeling seemed friendly enough maybe he could help me out again while I was here. He looked at me curiously before tilting his head to the side.

"What do you mean, I don't have my name yet I'm still just a drone" I gulped and curse my lack of knowledge of this world.

"In that case where can I find you in case I need help again?" I asked hoping he wouldn't look any deeper into my mistake. He smiled and nodded to the cavern we had flown through

"If you need help you can ask it from anyling in here, you needn't trouble yourself over finding me each time" I looked at him a few more seconds before sighing.

"Very well, thanks for your help then"

The changeling nodded and took off leaving me on the platform. I turned around and entered the tunnel following it down. The tunnel was lit by white crystals that seemed to be set into the stone at the roof of the tunnel. The rock indicated that the tunnel had been carefully chiseled out which left me confused. How did creatures without hands have the ability to carve this place out of the ground. I admired the walls and floor as I traveled farther down the tunnel. I gasped when the tunnel opened up into a large stone cavern. In four corners large greenish blue crystals gave off enough light to keep the room well lit. In the center of the Cavern was a large pool of water that was crystal clear, A stalagmite over top the pool dripped water into it every few seconds.

Across the room was a staircase that lead into another cavern that I couldn't see too well. I heard hoofsteps coming closer and decided I would step closer to the pool to wait. I continued to look around the room as the steps got closer. I heard a loud swoosh and then the hoof steps were gone. I looked back at the cavern and nearly had a heart attack when I saw a large moth like creature hovering gracefully before me. No wait it was a Changeling but it looked very different from the others For instance it was almost pure white. Instead of the usual size of the others this one was much larger. Its eyes were pure black and its muzzle was shaded yellow. Black spots adorned its rather fluffy coat but I could tell there was still an exoskeleton below that fur. Large antenna stretched from its head and gently curved forwards. The beat of its wings slowed and it descended landing on it's out stretched legs in the shallow lake. As soon as it landed it's wings folded upwards and behind itself making its appearance look much smaller than I originally though it was.

"Greetings Liberator, I am Lady Lumina it's a pleasure to meet you today" I stared at the Changeling before me. This was Lady Lumina, she reminded me of a tiger moth how could she be the one in charge around here? I looked at her confused which must have drawn her attention "Oh, what's wrong? Are my antenna out of line again?" I continued to stare before laughing to myself and giving her a smile.

"Sorry er Lady Lumina, I wasn't sure what to expect as it's my first time meeting someling like you!" She blinked and looked at me confused, crap confusion wasn't a good sign.

"I don't understand Liberator where you not born under Queen Pandora, it is to my knowledge that she has plenty of healers under her command, am I wrong?" Well then, it looks like my cover was going to be blown already, I had no idea what I was getting myself into by coming into this place pretending I was one of them. I should have been upfront about myself sense the beginning.

"I'm sorry to Disappoint you Lady Lumina but I've only met my first changeling a few days ago, in fact I've only been like this for a couple of weeks now" She stepped closer and seemed to be examining me.

"Perhaps a head injury of some kind? No I should have detected something like that immediately, a type of poison or disease that erases memories? Nothing like that exists that doesn't kill you shortly afterwards though, oh I know a mental breakdown caused by stress? no he's Pandoran he eats stress like me and everyling else" I sat silently as she continued to examine me and ramble on about what she might think is wrong with me. I guess I should have expected something like this, it's not likely that anyone would believe me right off the bat, I'm just glad I didn't tell her that I was from another world and that a strange voice was speaking to me every so often. If that didn't land me in the looney bin then god knows what would.

"Listen, Lady Lumina, nothing is wrong with me, well at least not mentally I don't think" I stopped and looked back to what had happened to me so far, maybe I was crazy? Hmmmmm nah. "Anyways this place is still rather new to me so I'm sorry to say I'm not entirely sure what I even am let alone what the rest of you are" she looked at examining me in every way possible with those deep black eyes.

"Very well, you speak what you believe to be the truth and so I will help you with what I can" She turned around and spread her wings, taking off and flying up to the cavern at the back of the room. "We should move to a more comfortable room, come, follow me" I blinked and nodded before taking off after her. Hopefully I will start to get some answers soon and hopefully this healer won't think of me as insane, though it'd be fine if she thought I was simply a little bit insane, after all I think I might be. I spread my wings and hovered up to the cavern above us, landing behind her and following as she lead me down another tunnel.