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". Next Chapter: The Journey Begins Estimated time remaining: 26 Minutes