The fight with the bugbear was over and I was peacefully sleeping, delving deeper into my dreams before being brought back to reality by a raspy voice, hissing in my ear. When I woke my eyes were still half closed and my sight was blurred because of this, but when I looked towards what I thought was only a tree, but later realized that the tree was in the background, and that the foreground was dominated by skeletal “Anubis.”

In its hands it held not only something similar to both an axe and a staff, but also a kopesh. On his back, he had draped over it a strange and mystifying cloak. It was the source of the raspy voice that woke me, and as it continued muttering, I continued watching it. Of a sudden, he moved backwards and before I knew it, he had phased into the tree. The temptation to get up and go up to it was incredible, but still resistible. Trying to take my mind off of the matter, I tried to go back to sleep. Sadly, before I succeeded, she appeared once more.

“Hello Max,” she called, voice surprisingly soporific and soothing.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and once they were open, I found myself staring at the purple mare who was lying down, right next to me. Evan was the only one of the three of us that was still asleep.

Raising a bony claw, I curled it up and rubbed it against my eye, prompting myself to wake up. Again, I stared at Nightmare and licked my lips before the words finally came out.

“What do you want Nightmare?” I heard myself mumble, anger an obvious undertone. “I’m trying to sleep over here” She wasn’t amused.

“Well, like I thought, Discord was incredibly jealous at the meeting with the Game Masters.” She mumbled, displeased. “He took it a bit far though, and even claimed that I was cheating by summoning a God. I almost got disqualified for it but thankfully another one of the Game Masters summoned an undead priest from the Anubians, and since he was undead, I was allowed to stay,” she revealed, sighing as her words stopped.

“However, as punishment for bringing a deity into the game, I’m no longer allowed to assist you until after the gala.”

I was honestly hoping that she’d be able to help me, and make it easier for me to find what I am. Sadly, her expression didn’t seem to be one of jest, so she was serious about what she said. With no other choice, the two of us laid our heads down on the hammock, and I’m not sure about her, but I was definitely starting to drift off again. Just before I could though, something cold and thin fell on my nose, and brought me back into the real world again.

“Hm?” I grumbled, slightly annoyed that my sleep was disturbed by something that appeared to be a poster.

Taking it in my claw, I stretched it out and squinted my eyes as I focussed on it, trying to read it.

“Griffin the Griffin, famed leader of the Griffin Pirates,” I heard myself mumble as my eyes traced the words.

Unfortunately, I have never been interested in pirates, and as such this poster didn’t excite me in anyway. My nostrils were fuming when I rolled it into a ball and tossed it away. I watched as the wind picked it up and blew it away; far away; out of my sight. Once more, I placed my head gently on the ground and sighing, I closed my eyes, expecting another distraction to come this way and wake me up again. Thankfully, I don’t think it came, and if it did, then it didn’t do a very good job.

----------

It took a while, but eventually Nightmare decided that -- after the Game Masters said it was OK -- to tell us the very basics. According to her -- and later confirmed by me -- Evan and I could shape shift. When we tested this, following Nightmare’s instructions to the letter, we turned into the thing I dreaded the most. We became ponies.

I guess Evan must have thought about ponies really harder, harder than I was thinking about humans and as such, the two of us shape-shifted into two, separate ponies. The only real bright side to this was that we were no longer conjoined and we could go our separate ways. With Crash and Burn -- I finally learnt the names of the siblings -- we headed back to where we met the bugbear, and I headed towards a counter behind which a blue pony was apparently selling hats.

“Hello,” he sang, happier than any other pony we’d seen. “What can I get for you?”

“Nothing, we’re just looking around,” I replied, somewhat hesitant to leave the hat stand. “Do you want a hat Evan?” I asked.

Turning to face him, I found that he wasn’t behind me anymore, and that instead, he was at another stand buying fruit with the money he summoned. Somehow, he managed to hold it in his hoof.

“Thank you sir, have a nice day!” I heard the pony behind the stand call out as Evan walked away. Throwing me a peach, he watched as I stumbled and just barely managed to catch it in my hooves, proving to me once again that I will never understand how hooves work.

“Cheers,” I mumbled, taking a bite out of the delicious fruit. “What are we going to do now? The gala isn’t for another four days.” I watched as Evan slowly ate the luscious, red apple he held with his hooves.

“Well,” he started, not turning to face me. “If you’ve ever heard of this place, you’d know that Equestria has quite a few heroes. If I recall, there’s Echo, the Diamond Dog, and Griffin the Griffin,” he announced, as if everyone would find his words interesting.

“Oh, and did you hear?” he started again, much to my despair. “Someone stole a priceless skeleton from an exhibit along with its possessions!”

My sole reaction to his words was one of utter amazement, and I showed it by spitting out the fruit he so kindly gave me, and returning it rather facetiously, right in his face.

“Did you say skeleton?” I cried, shocked.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, slightly confused. “Some other things were stolen as well. I think they also took a kopesh, a gauntlet, some sort of cross between an axe and a staff, and a robe. you know the priceless crap”

“Evan,” I started, eyes wide and mouth drooped. “You might not believe this, but I saw those things last night! It was some sort of skeletal Anubis wasn’t it?” Evan’s face was drained instantly, and he stared at me with mortified eyes.

“Huh,” he muttered, trying to sound calm. “So there’s a zombie in Canterlot -- that’s nice...” Evan looked like he was ready to piss himself.

While I stood with my friend, enjoying the distraught expression on his face, Crash and Burn trotted up to us holding a poster in their hooves. Once they stood in front of us and we could get a good look at the poster, I saw a name that I remembered from a different poster.

“Griffin the Griffin’s tour needs Unicorns or magic users who are adept at telepathy,” I read.

“Sounds interesting,” interjected Evan, poking his head in my face to get a better look at the poster. “Where did you two get this?”

The brothers replied by simply lifting their hooves and pointing behind them at a small desk with a pile of fliers on top of it. Countless ponies ran towards it all in the hopes that they can get one of the fliers and apply for the job. Apparently, this Griffin is extremely popular.

“Well Max,” began Evan, licking his lips as he spoke. “This Griffin will be at the gala, so there’s a good chance we can meet him and ask if we can join him! Why don’t you shapeshift into a Unicorn to have a shot at being his helper?”

“Maybe...” I mumbled, contemplating the matter carefully. It seems like a decent idea, but who knows what we’re not being told.

Together, the four of us set off for Canterlot Castle and when we were no more than fifty or so yards from the entrance, we could see what resembled a screening process. Before ponies were admitted into the castle, they were scanned by the numerous Unicorn guards working outside. The castle itself was surrounded by a large, round, vibrant force field -- no doubt for the purpose of keeping unwanted ponies out. Once a pony was presumably deemed safe, the guards then opened a very small portion of the spherical shield and the ponies would step through slowly, making sure to not seem suspicious in any way.

However, not all ponies are deemed safe and luckily for us, we got to see one of them get rejected by a diligent and very buff Unicorn. When this impostor was scanned, his face turned green and of a sudden, his stomach fluids gushed out of his mouth and crashed onto the floor. Now that his concentration was broken, his appearance changed and as far as I can tell, he was a black insect, riddled with holes in its body. Instantly, he turned and ran off only to find the guard pursuing him. The two of them disappeared into an alley and naturally, I was intrigued. Motioning with a hoof to Evan, Crash and Burn, I ran off, leading them into the same alley.

“Leave me alone!” cried the creature as the guard beat him with a stick.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Changeling!” I can’t of anything that guard could have said that would have been more offensive.

“Oh so you think he’s a monster?” I mused, smirking devilishly as I stared at the angered guard. “Well, you ain't seen anything yet!”

Before the guard was fully facing us, Evan and I reverted back to our two headed, fire deity form, and we were breathing smoke down, enveloping him in it. His jaw dropped and he stared at us, incredulous, slowly backing away from us.

“I...I’m sorry,” he began, sweat dripping down his face. “I’m sorry Mr.Hygon!” be rambled, using the name we picked up a little while ago. Which I feel used to. Still insults me.

He didn’t stand a chance.

With a single claw, I not only ripped his neck open, but I also threw him at a wall, breaking his skull.

“What’s going on?” we heard a trembling voice sound from behind.

Turning, we saw the face of another guard, mortified after seeing the brutal murder of his friend. He looked ready to brick himself, but sadly, Evan was in an oddly sadistic mood.

“You’re not getting out of this one...” teased Evan, slamming a claw into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust up and dropping the anvil he just summoned, having it land on the spine of the guard; the cracking of bone was music to our ears.

“Serves them right for picking on defenceless creatures,” I heard someone mutter as Crash and Burn picked up the injured creature and I incinerated the bodies that were lying dead on the floor. Once the evidence of our little incident was erased, the five of us set off to a camp that we set up in the alley.

--------

“Camp Max,” Evan grumbled, displeased. “What a stupid name, why did we call it that?” he complained, setting the Changeling down on a bed and letting Crash and Burn tend to his wounds.

“Because I am your superior,” I explained, grinning as I grabbed a coke from the vending machine we summoned some time ago.

“So, when are we going to Canterlot?” Evan asked. “We can’t go today, we have to take care of this guy.”

Evan’s question went unanswered for some time and after a while, he seemed to have forgotten about it completely. I still wasn’t sure how to answer him, but I knew he had a point. As much as I want to go to Canterlot, we can’t just leave this Changeling here.

Of a sudden, whilst we stared at the odd creature, its eyes came open, its mouth opened wide letting out a yawn, and the second he saw me a scream sharper than the most formidable of rapiers pierced my ears.

“Please don’t hurt me!” it begged, gluing its back to the wall in a futile attempt to get away from us.

“We’re the ones that saved you, we’re not going to hurt you,” replied Evan, tossing the befuddled creature a can of pepsi.

“Th...Thanks,” he stammered, staring confused at the can. “My name’s Lucky, I’m a Changeling.”

“Nice to meet you Lucky,” I declared, shaking his hoof with my claw and opening his beverage for him. There’s something you can’t do with hooves. Or is it i mean his hooves look like can openers so why not.

“Why did you come here?” I asked, sipping my coke, pondering just where I’ve heard the word “Changeling” before.

“Queen Chrysalis she was one of the only Changelings i heard allowed in the castle. I didn’t think that the guards would retaliate with that much brutality.”

“Well Lucky, if you’re trying to get into Canterlot, you might as well stick with us. We’re going to the gala and you can tag along with us if you want.”

“Would you really?” he asked, ecstatic, eyes bright as he danced around, flapping his insect wings furiously.

“Sure, why not.”

Evan summoned another gala ticket and handed it over to Lucky. Luckily, Evan still remembered what the ticket looked like from our incident with the bugbear.

“Hey guys,” Crash called out, standing at the entrance of our camp. “You might want to come see this.”

Moving over to where he was, Evan and I arched our necks, peeping over the top of the hedge that blocked the entrance and his the inside. From where we were we could see that immediately outside, there were a bunch of guards, ready to fight.

“It came here, I saw the Hygon bring the Changeling here. There were two ponies with them too, they’re working together. We definitely need to be alert!” commanded one of the guards, running off after completing his speech.

Seems like now, they’re after me too.

“Lucky, stay with burn for a while,” I demanded, pointing to the annoyed pony.

“Do I have to?” he begged, eyeing the Changeling carefully.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned.

“He looks like he’s seven at the most!” Burn retorted.

“You don’t like kids?”

“It’s not that -- well it is a tiny bit -- but I also have no idea how to look after Changelings,” sighed Burn, collapsing on the bed.

“Oh, it can’t be that bad!” interrupted Evan, scoffing. “I heard that they eat regular food too.” Burn just nodded before sighing again.

“All right, it’s decided then,” I confirmed. “Lets all get some shut eye for tomorrow.”

After that, I climbed into a tree that Evan summoned and curled up like a cheetah on one of the higher branches. It was comfy, and I have to say that whenever I sleep like that, I feel as if I’m safe in my bed back on Earth; warm and cozy; and most definitely human.

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great chapter edited by ickhart made some additions myself but I give him most of the cred for this. where would a writer be withought his faithfull editor Next Chapter: chapter 3. thieves of the night Estimated time remaining: 5 Minutes