-Attention! I just want to make this clear this is my FIRST story I've ever tried to work on and post in a place like this. I apologize for any errors that there might within the document such as the names of characters, misspelled words, or anything like the sort. I'm not very imaginative and, since that's what it takes to be a great writer as well as literary expertise, I'm hoping to change that. Please feel free to comment, review, or get critical on me about this. It would be appreciated. Oh and if you see this '****' anywhere in the document it means I'm switching from a scene with one character to another. Sorry if it bothers you and I hope you enjoy it

Sincerely,

BV-

Chapter 1- The Cave

Darkness. It was a cold, damp, and dark place. No light was present to give him a better look at his surroundings. The stranger passed a hand in front of his face and only felt the flow of air it created. Feeling the floor he laid on revealed to him a few details. The texture was rough, damp and hard beneath his fingertips. At least he knew that he was lying on a stone floor; likely in a cave. The steady drip of water echoed in his ears before he confirmed his environment.

Now for the time.

He had barely thought of checking his wristwatch before noticing the absent weight that came with the watch. The young man dimly remembered taking off his watch…but what had happened after that? He pushed his torso from the floor with his elbows. Sitting up too quickly proved to be a bad move; it felt as if a sharp knife had begun stabbing repeatedly into his head as soon as it became vertical with the floor. A sharp intake of breath through gritted teeth ensued from his mouth as the painful hammering in his head continued.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed before the pain resided while the young man gently cradled his head. He had slowed his breathing down drastically when the episode began and gradually had taken deeper breaths as the white lights of pain had clouded his blackened vision. Using his fingers he searched for the wall of the cave, after the pain had at last let go of him, before he attempted to stand.

Standing up gave his body something to do while his mind went to work on figuring a way out. Since his sight was useless, as well as his sense of smell, relying on his touch and hearing was the only plan he could use at the moment. It was blind luck that his fingers met the slightly smoothed surface of the cave wall before acting upon his instinct to travel along it. Keeping his hand sliding along the wall helped him to keep his footing. Though the floor of the cave was a bit rough it still had indentations where the water had worn away the stone the most. He stopped after feeling an absence of stone in the wall with his hand reaching emptiness.

Was it a hole?

Placing his head around what he supposed was the hole, while keeping his right hand flat against the wall so he wouldn't lose it, he felt something. It was faint but it was a draft. If he hadn't been looking for the draft he would have easily missed it and would probably have spent even longer in this place. There was no way to tell time and time was not something the young man could waste. If, wherever he was, the outside was dark it would make things a bit more difficult. Traveling in the dark cave was dangerous but traveling in the dark in an unknown area?

Not an option.

Once he found himself in the new tunnel he placed his right hand flat against the wall on his right and stretched his other hand to the wall opposite. Reaching a bit more he estimated that the tunnel was just a little more than his arms outstretched. Raising his hands to the roof of the tunnel left him exhaling a sigh of relief. He had been a bit worried that the tunnel was a bit too short but, once standing up from his crouched position he had taken after entering, the young man found that the tunnels height was about nine foot. The idea of his headache starting up again was not something he wanted to experience any time soon by bashing his head against a low hanging stalactite.

Traveling along the tunnel for a while, it might have been a few minutes at least, before hitting another tunnel with its own draft. This draft was stronger than the last one. It looked like, whatever circumstance had brought him here; he was nearer to the outside than what he had thought. He was still careful but he picked up the pace, a burning desire to find an exit overriding his common sense. A glow had begun to fill the other end of the tunnel he was traveling along.

Sunlight!

The light, though hard to see after being surrounded by darkness for an unknown time, was welcome to his eyes as he traveled the rest of the way to the cave mouth without using the wall as his guide. A cool breeze swept up and flowed over him; the stifling feeling of the cave washing away. The early morning light slowly crept along the land as the sun rose in the sky. The forest the cave stood high above was a place unknown to him as well as the landscape. Scanning the farther landmarks revealed to him a large mountain….with a city resting on it?

Peering at it closely confirmed that the place was built on a mountain but he could not pick out clear shapes. Another settlement was nearer to his location. It was a bit smaller but he could pick out the colors of some of the buildings now. Passing through the forest was the best way to get to the small town. Gazing at the mountain that was so far away was the only thing his eyes seemed to be drawn to.

Would he find out where he was by traveling there or to the smaller town? The young man sat down outside the mouth of the cave as he contemplated the distance between him and the mountain city. Even if he had begun traveling the moment he came out of the cave he would never make it to that place before dark. This place, since he was unfamiliar to it, was probably not a safe place to travel at night. A sigh escaped his lips as he groomed a hand into his hair—

His hair…it felt strangely…longer than before.

Surprise then confusion crossed his face as he explored the strands a bit with his fingers. It was slightly coarse. Maybe he had been in that cave for more a day? A few days? A week maybe? These questions kept coming to his mind as he felt against his scalp for the root of a hair. After taking a hair in between his index finger and thumb he pulled the hair from his head. The young man expected to see his normal brown hair.

But it wasn't brown; it was blue.

It wasn't just blue but a dark blue. He had not remembered ever dying his hair a different color. It just hadn't suited him as he was growing up. Why was it this color? A sudden realization had dawned on him and caused him to drop the blue hair when he noticed something else. What were once hands were no longer hands; not entirely. The basic shape of his hands could be noticed when he looked at them but something had caused his hands to grow larger and…beastly. What once had been nails had become long black claws, curving into sharp points. Short hairs covered the majority of his hands before growing gradually longer as it traveled up his arms. The young man's throat tightened as the words he wanted to ask were impossible to find as his large paw-like hands began to shake.

What's happened to me?

He closed his eyes tightly while his breathing sped up; trying in vain to calm it. His quivering arms refused to stop shaking no matter how much he focused his thoughts on the action. The knuckles on his strange hands turned white as the youth squeezed his claws into the insides of his palm; drawing the dark blood inside his veins. This can't be real!

Then why could he feel the pain?

It was with great determination that the young man unclenched his blood soaked claws from his palms. Staring at the small puddle of blood gathering in the hollows of his new hands gave him another thought; a mirror.

He needed to look at his face…or… what was his face.

His mind began to work again as it latched onto something that didn't have it looking at this alien appearance of his. Speaking of his appearance…the only thing he seemed to be wearing was the new, long, and blue fur along with the remains of his blue jeans. Peering at, what used to be, his jeans the legs had become ragged and torn to make room for his new body. He snapped his head back up to keep himself from looking at his body any further. But he did know that the jeans had become shorts and were just a tad bit tight on him.

The cave happened to have a trail, though faint, leading from it to the surrounding forest. It led down into a section of a small forest with patches of sunlight shining through the thick leaves of the trees. The newly transformed teen kept to the shadows; one part in reaction to being in a new place and the other to keep himself from being seen by anyone. His ears caught the sound of rushing water off of the trail to his right before lightly treading on the leaf litter upon the ground. It was a small creek with clear water reflecting the sunlight's glare.

The male noticed the sound of bird song wasn't present in the forest. It had been quiet the whole trip into the wood and there was still an absence of animal sounds. Going to a small pool of water, after peering through the bushes and smaller trees growing next to the creek before deciding it was safe to come out, he knelt down on his knees as he got a good look at himself.

It still came as a shock.

There was barely a trace of his original face left. His face, like his body, was covered in blue fur. It resembled that of a wolf except for the eyes; his eyes were cat-like and yellow. Long, pointed, canine ears took the place of his small round ones. Reaching up to his face he held the short muzzle that supported a black wolf-like nose in his palm; feeling the fur lining it. The inside of his mouth was similar to a dog; pink gums and throat with white, large, fangs when he opened it with his fingers. After taking a deep breath he examined his upper torso.

The young man remembered how small he was compared to his brothers and sister. What once had been small thin arms were now a knotted mass of muscles as thick as a young oak. The fur around his shoulders hung low and over his chest. It was like he was wearing a long, furry, scarf around his shoulders. His chest and shoulders were broader than it had been as well; flat and powerful.

This would have been an ideal body for him if he hadn't looked like he did.

Below the hips and to his legs were also well built. Feeling along his stomach he could feel a hard formation of muscles underneath his fingertips. The legs were just one step from being a wolf's natural legs if it hadn't been for the broad, four-toed, humanistic foot attached to it. Each toe was tipped with a sharp black claw. The two middle toes reached farther than the other two toes; almost a half-length longer in fact. It was most likely that these feet, since they were like a wolves/dogs, was meant to give them extra traction as they ran and gain even faster speeds.

A dull pain resonated from his palms where he had pierced them. Opening his palms for a moment had reopened the wound and new blood flowed. The teen had taken his tongue and licked the wound clean of blood before he knew what he had just done. A bitter smile forced its way on his face.

"I really am becoming something else," Even his own voice shocked him. It was a little deeper than it had been; almost rich but there was a hint of something wild in the way he spoke. This body was just full of unexpected things. But there was one thing that wasn't unexpected; his appearance wasn't normal and wouldn't be treated understandably. Even if he had come to accept his face it was still terrifying and, most likely, people would attack him or drive him away. He didn't know how or why he was like this but he was going to find out if this was some sick joke or an unknown disease.

And his best chance was that mountain city.

Glancing up at the sun he estimated he had at least six hours or so of sunlight left. Sitting down had caused his legs to go numb after a while; stretching his new arms and legs he again got back onto the trail leading into the forest; keeping to the shadows as he had before. Unbeknownst to the young creature a shadowed creature with four legs followed at a distance behind him before flying off on tattered wings.

Green fields turned to sand as the winged-being flew west towards the San Palamino Desert. After scanning the deserts own unique mountain it finally found another of its kin; nestled in the shade of a rock outcropping while the sun baked the sands. The huddled black creature watched as the newcomers four hooves touched down on the rocky ledge.

"State your business." The other male creature's echoing voice demanded; sounding like gravel grating against each other.

The male, after folding his beetle-like translucent blue-green wings to his back, nodded in understanding. "I am Wisp. I have news for the Queen." Wisp gestured in the direction he had flown from with his muzzle. "Something just appeared in my sector. I need a replacement to look after it until I return." The voice was raspy and held the echoing quality of its species.

"My name is Ward." Ward walked closer to Wisp; holding out the spike protruding from his head to his brethren's. "Show me what you found."

The two creatures are called Changelings; creatures that fed off the love of other beings and converting it to food. Taking the appearance of a loved one while feeding off the love and affection from friends and family was how Changelings managed to survive. In other words 'parasite' is what comes to mind when thinking of Changelings and there are many of them. Besides being able to fly, and change their appearance, there was one other special feature; Memory Touch.

All it requires is a touch from a Changeling to another of its kind. It was a simple and effective way to give detailed reports.

When Wisp touched his horn to Ward's it had felt like an eternity. Memories that had been gathered in hours were transferred to Ward in less than a heartbeat but Ward felt what Wisp had felt in his stead. Ward had his eyes closed as he received the data; breathing in deeply before opening his eyes again. The memories had been focused on one dark blue creature standing on two legs.

The stranger had been making his way out of the forest and towards Dodge Junction.

Ward nodded to Wisp. "You may go now. My replacement will be here soon to relieve me. I'll wait for him and update him." Ward, after saying what he would do, laid back down in the shade of the rock outcropping; waiting for the replacement.

Wisp wasted no time in lifting off of the ground towards the south where his home lay. The winged-being made great speed away from the San Palamino Desert towards the south of Equestria. Land underneath him slowly changed from trees and fertile lands to barren wastelands and twisted trees as he moved further and further away from the mountains and valleys. The Badlands were free of life; dead shrubs distanced far apart. No creature lived in that lifeless place…at least not ordinary creatures.

As Wisp traveled further into the Badlands a large obsidian structure came into view; The Hive. It was the new home of the Changelings. Two Changelings in dark blue armor plating along their flanks, legs and heads guarded the twin obsidian doors that led into the palace. More Changelings flew around the palace itself; making sure no one could get close to it without being spotted.

The creature, like many of his fellow Changelings, was pitch-black in color. Born with the same holey insectoid green-blue translucent wings he came at a dash down the hall; being admitted earlier by the guards of the palace. Air flowed past his slender body and passed through the holes of his legs causing him to go faster with less resistance. Large glowing arctic-blue eyes, along with similarly fanged muzzles, could be seen from the semi-darkness of the halls as he approached the Queen's Royal Chambers. Wisp breathed heavily as he waited for the word.

"Come in." A female, echoing, distorted voice called from within the chambers. The Changeling hesitated only for a moment before getting shoved from behind by someone before the doors closed silently behind him. At the end of the room sat a large bed of dark silken sheets embroidered with the Queen's insignia; a pair of black tattered wings on a sickly green field. On that bed was the Queen herself; Queen Chrysalis.

The Changelings respected their Queen like the air they breathed; they needed her and, in their own way, loved her. Wisp got down on one bended leg, with the other leg extended, before going into a deep and respectable bow. 'Your Highness. Thank you for the audience on such short notice. I am eternally grateful for your patience and kindness."

Queen Chrysalis smiled without humor before speaking again in that strange, echoing, out of synch voice; moving her head in an upward motion. "I am kind. Thank you. Now…" The queen stood up from her bed, her slender body similar to her subjects. Legs, wings, hair, and tail full of holes. Instead of the artic-blue eyes she instead had large ova green eyes; glowing brilliantly in the semi-darkness. A small black crown with blue, rounded, jewels sitting on four points was levitated to the long locks of teal mane atop her head. The black twisted horn atop the queens head glowed a sickly green once again as she used her magic to bring a black comb to smooth out wrinkles in her holey teal colored mane. "Tell me why you left your post at your own…discretion?" A small flick of her equally teal colored, and holey, tail was the only indication of Queen Chrysalis's barely suppressed irritation.

Changelings that left their post were given fairly harsh punishments handled by their superiors or the Queen herself. One rumor went around that the queen would expose the poor Changeling to the elements for one full day and night. The Badlands has very little rain, full sun exposure, and dead vegetation. If it wasn't bad enough that the sun by itself could kill or dehydrate a Changeling to death the temperatures at night were bad. The night air could reach well below freezing. Wisp had come back on patrol one night to find frost developing on the palace exterior. Queen Chrysalis had only granted Wisp this audience on two possibilities; either what Wisp had to say was important or was an emergency situation.

"I was making my usual rounds in my sector when a strange creature made its appearance down from a cave in the moun—." Wisp started and was interrupted by Queen Chrysalis.

The Queen had taken her eyes from her reflection and stared through her mirror at Wisp with those glowing green oval eyes. "A cave?" It was a quiet question but Wisp was able to tell from Queen Chrysalis's posture that she was riveted and silently making a point to tell more about the cave in question. The comb that she had been brushing through her mane slowed and stopped as Wisp had mentioned the cave.

Wisp, having the permission to stand up after the greeting was over, nodded softly. "Yes Your Majesty. It's located just east of here; on the other side of the Badlands next to the Haysead Forest not far from the bog. It wasn't a very high place. Pretty easy if anypony decided to walk up the path leading to it. When I replaced the day shift they hadn't reported anything unusual." Wisp had talked to the Changeling of the day shift and nothing that male had said mentioned anything about what he saw this morning.

The Queen had snapped him back into reality by clearing her throat audibly.

Wisp made a quick bow of his head. "My deepest apologies Your Majesty, my mind wondered." He cleared his throat and continued with his report. Wisp explained the event of the creature sitting on the ledge looking out to Equestria, to the event down by the pool of water, and the eventual journey the stranger was taking towards Dodge Junction.

Queen Chrysalis, moving to lie back on her bed, was silent for a few minutes. Her twisted horn glowed once again as she levitated a scroll from a cubicle in the wall along with four small weights. The Queen, after laying the paper flat on the widespread bed, placed the small weights on the corners to hold it down before the glow of her horn faded. After studying the approximate location of the new visitor on her map she looked back at Wisp.

"Do you have an idea of whatthis…visitor was looking at specifically?" Wisp joined his Queen at her bedside and looked at the map she was staring at. After a few moments thought of the ledge he was sitting on when the stranger came out of the cave before it had looked off to Equestria…

"Besides Dodge Junction…the closest locations would be Appleoosa and the southern part of the Everfree forest; Ponyville territory. Possibly farther cities but I didn't see where exactly." Wisp had pointed to the cities with the tip of his holey hoof before finishing.

The Queen was silent for some time before she made a dismissive gesture with her hoof.

"Good work. Was it Wisp? I would like you to come back in a few hours after you've had some rest. Tonight you set out to follow our visitor; see what he's up to and if he's willing to help our cause."

A cruel smile had developed on Queen Chrysalis's face as the guards opened the doors to let Wisp out. This could be exactly what she needed to find food aplenty for her subjects and a royal new home for herself.

My name; what is my name?

That thought had crossed the monstrous teen's mind more than a few times along his travel through the forest. Memories that should have been trivial to his old self now were out of his reach. It was hard for him to describe it. It was like someone had traced the outlines of a painting and had started painting it before stopping to move onto another one; leaving the original incomplete. A deep, throbbing, pounding began in his head as he chased after the memories. The harder he tried to remember the worse the pain.

The memories that were, more or less, complete gave him something. Softly clutching his head with his right paw-like hand as he moved along he went over what he knew.

He could remember that his family, the faces of his parents and siblings blotted out, were middle classed; not too poor or rich. The house was…gray with white curtains. A mini-van sat outside a rolling door garage…a medium sized dog...and yelling. Two voices; one female and one male arguing with each other about something. As he tried to remember what the reason to the argument was white hot pain encroached on him.

A growl of irritation escaped his animalistic lips as he forced himself to remember; the pain threatening to overwhelm him. Sheer will kept the teenager from fainting on the spot as bits of the memory came back to him.

He found himself huddled in the corner of a small space. A narrow slit of light fell across the wall to his right. There was something he was gripping in his left hand. Putting it up to the slit of light he could see it was a patched, blue, buttoned-eyed elephant. It was his little sister's stuffed animal. His sister's name was... Abbey. She was no more than a toddler with golden hair. Then it hit him.

He had come in here to get this elephant.

Abbey had said she was playing in their parent's room and had left her toy in here after her bath. Being her older brother he had gone to retrieve it and then the adults had come into the room.

"Did you put the boys and Abbey to bed?" A soft spoken but strong voice asked. The soft scrapping of feet on carpet announced their mother. Creaking temporarily entered the silence as their mother took her time to answer.

"Yes. Abbey didn't want to let go of— so I let them sleep together." The teenager strained to hear the one word of her sentence of who Abbey had been holding onto. It was as if someone had put beeswax in his ears; smothering the sound of that one word. Was it his name? It had to be.

A sigh escaped his father; slightly muffled by, what the teen assumed, a hand covering his mouth. "Have you thought about it? What we talked about the other day?"

A stab of hot white pain was inflicted inside his head; making air hiss in between his teeth. Something…was wrong. What was he not supposed to know?

His parents had not stopped talking; acting as if they hadn't heard the noise. "Chris…I don't think we should—"

But Chris, his father, interrupted. "Margaret. You know something is different about him. Unusual things have been happening lately." Chris had begun counting down on his fingers. "Strange accidents, a fight that sent that kid to the hospital, and the river."

River? What happened there?

A groan escaped the teen's mouth before clutching his head tightly in between his hands; unable to hold the memory together any more. The slit of light faded as the closet was washed away to be accompanied with the sound of someone screaming a name:

Brandon!

His eyes flew opened. A need for oxygen controlled his actions as he sat up abruptly; greedily sucking in air to his lungs. For many minutes he sat there, trying to slow his racing heart. The pain had started to fade once his hold on the memory had begun slipping. A crunching noise broke his concentration as his ears flicked up; trying to catch the source of the sound. After a few moments the mystery was revealed.

The crunch had been because of his fingers.

During his time unconscious he had been leaning his back against the trunk of a tree; his hand had been resting on an exposed tree root. The razor sharp claws on his right hand had closed down with crushing force; causing the bark and wood to splinter in his grip. Loosening his hand caused the splinters to fall free of the root, littering the ground. The teen, in curiosity, closed his monstrous hand once before opening it again.

There was no cut or bruise where there should have been.

He hid his beastly face in his equally beastly hands.

Chris and Margaret, he couldn't bear to call them his parents in this state, had been discussing something. Whatever they were talking about he knew deep inside it was about him.

But why couldn't he remember any of those 'accidents' or a fight? Then Chris had mentioned something about a river. What could have happened there that had a grown man worried?

This puzzled the teen to practically no end. But another piece of his shattered life was returned to him. The name he had heard before the memory had ended, Brandon. He was positive that was his name. It wasn't much but at least he had something.

"Brandon." He whispered to himself; feeling the familiarity resound within his mind. Looking up through the canopy, after removing his large hands from his face, he estimated the time and was sure that he had at least a few hours left of sunlight. After a little while, with a small grunt, he stood up on his legs a little shakily; taking long strides. Tree branches whipped him every now and again on his arms and legs.

Getting out of the forest was first priority above all else.

The only sound was the steady pace of his wolf-like feet hitting the ground for most of the trip. A few times on the hike the teen was sure he had seen something move in the shadows. Paranoia seemed to be getting to Brandon after hearing or seeing nothing of wildlife. Brush would move every now and then farther down the trail.

Were the animals running from him?

It would make sense. Anything that looked like a threat was usually avoided by animals. Their instincts are what keep them alive when it comes to survival after all.

Time passed and he didn't know how long he had hiked but saw the tree line of the forest up ahead highlighted by sunlight. He didn't hesitate and raced toward the light, bursting out of a bush that had stood in his way. Leaves slowly fell from the air before scattering over the ground before the teen got his bearings. A brown dirt road was off to his left heading into two directions.

Looking at the road Brandon noticed the southern end of the road entered a bowl created by a chain of mountains. He had come from a cave on the outer part of the mountains before he got here. The northern part of the road led to a town. Thinking back he had forgotten one thing;

How was he going to go into town like the way he was now?

The thought had come across his mind once he had looked into the pool of water but had eventually trailed off when he had traveled through the forest and gotten another memory back. Traveling in broad daylight in the state he was in was not something the monstrous teen wanted to take a swing at. Looking at the town again he noticed there was a bit of the forest appearing to branch towards the town.

Brandon, without a moment's hesitation, leapt back into the forest; clearing the bush he had stumbled through earlier. It was decided. He would get as close as he could to the town by means of the forest and wait until night had fallen.

Surprise, after noticing the distance he had cleared the bush, made his eyes widen before an idea struck him. Glancing at his open palms with the claws spread he hooked himself onto a large oak tree. Giving a slight tug pulled away a bit of the bark but held his hands. Brandon pushed downwards with his legs to raise him off the ground as he began to climb; crawling up the tree like a large dark blue spider.

Looking down at the ground thirty feet below him made him smile softly. Maybe this new body wasn't as bad as he originally thought. The teen reached the top of the tree where the branches met before branching out to catch the sunlight. A thirty foot gap stood between him and the next tree. Ten feet could easily break the neck or any other bone in the body of a person.

But he wasn't a person anymore…not entirely.

Once he had taken a deep breath he backed up as far as he could before pushing off the trunk of the tree, feeling the air whistle through his fur. The teen instinctively braced for the landing as his palms and feet touched the rough bark of the opposite tree. It was impressive but he could do better…he knew he could do better.

An exhilarated smile crept on the monstrous teen's face as he climbed up the few inches of the tree to start again. Again Brandon leapt and, this time, he landed on branches as thick as his broad shoulders. Running along the branch to get a good leap he couldn't quite make the other tree. He hadn't made good enough contact with the tree to leap properly. Something flashed in the corner of his eye; making him grab for it. It had been a thick branch from other trees; the forest canopy was full of them.

Grabbing the tree branch as he fell stopped him from falling over thirty feet to the ground. A sigh of relief escaped his lips before he was presented with another problem.

There wasn't another branch to get to and this one was barely able to support, what he supposed, was a heavy body. Choosing, what might be considered deadly in a few moments, to start swinging on the branch; swinging his legs far forward before retracting them to swing backwards. Repeating the motion gradually gave him more and more momentum as he began to swing up and around like he was in gymnastics. The spins were gradually gaining speed as he swung; the thick skin on his palms protecting him from splinters.

In his spinning world he could see a branch higher up above him and straight ahead. If he could just time it…

As his body swung down to start another rotation he let go. Air rushed passed his ears as he gained altitude to sink his claws into the thick tree branch above him. After a quick look down at the branch he had been stuck on he climbed atop the thick branch; perching on it as he looked through the distant trees. Faint colors could be seen through the tree line.

The town wasn't far now.

Minutes of swinging from branches like that of a jungle gym and leaping from others brought Brandon steadily closer and closer to the town. After staying as far as he could to prevent his discovery, but close enough to get in and out without being seen, he rested high up in the branches of one great oak tree. Each tree he had passed seemed to have stood for centuries undisturbed. Maybe it was a forest preservation project?

The youth could remember seeing oak trees where he had lived and none of them were this big. Oak trees would get tall and thick but to be as thick as these wasn't something he could get his mind wrapped around. Most trees this large were cut down for lumber and firewood. Either this town had enough money and reputation to keep lumber industries at bay…or something else entirely. Brandon didn't know what that other reason might be but he wasn't going to dwell on it. For right now the plan is to wait until the sun had set before starting out again.

His mouth opened wide as a yawn escaped him.

Traveling through the forest, he didn't know how many miles he had traveled, had made him a little tired. A soft grumble came from his stomach as it demanded sustenance. Brandon glanced down at it before rubbing it gently. Missing meals would probably become a norm for him if he avoided towns. His journey could not be made without food every once in a while. Leaning his back against the trunk of the tree, he closed his yellow cat-like eyes. Taking a short nap would make the time go faster and give him time to make additional plans for the trip.

"Finally." A raspy, echoing voice muttered. Wisp had been following the newcomer for the last couple of hours on the ground, something he doesn't do if he could fly, almost losing him a few times in the silent chase. Wisp had relieved Ward a few hours ago; coming in time to see the blue creature fall on the ground. The two had watched while he writhed for a few minutes on the ground wondering if, the creature their queen had plans for, would die.

"What happened?" Wisp had asked Ward; keeping his arctic-blue eyes on the creature as his beetle-like wings buzzed against his flank.

Ward shook his head softly. "Don't know. I was following him like you requested and he started slowing down. He had been clutching his head between those…" Ward seemed to struggle putting a word to use. "…claws, grunted, then collapsed against the tree." Ward tilted his head slightly as he watched the creature, not seeing him move or breathe. "Think he's dead?"

The creature, as if he was answering Ward's question, growled again before crushing the exposed root he was holding in his state of unconsciousness between his claws; making the two Changelings jump.

Wisp had chuckled in amusement. "Does that answer your question?" Taking a few cautious steps, just out of reach of those claws, toward the creature he examined it a little more closely. It reminded Wisp a lot of the Timberwolves native to Equestria; savage and fierce. Wisp lifted one of his holey, black, hooves to his chin in thought. What was this thing? It didn't resemble anything like his sources of food; Unicorns, Pegasus's, or Earth Ponies. It was capable of speech so maybe it would know—

"Well. I think I'm finished here. I'll be heading back to The Hive now." Ward's words had interrupted Wisp's thoughts. Ward glanced at the strange creature on the ground before opening his tattered beetle-like wings. "Good luck Wisp."

"I may need more than that." Wisp said softly to himself as he remembered the fading black dot of Ward disappearing into the distance. The slowly dimming sun bathed his target in a warm orange glow. The Changeling knew, though his target was asleep at the moment, he was still unpredictable. Luckily he could keep a better eye on him from the treetops.

Wisp, picking out a tree a good distance away, flew to the top of the branches. His hooves carefully touched down; not wanting to wake his mission objective. A small gap in the leaves gave Wisp a good place to keep an eye on the strange creature.

"Wisp, what's your report?" Queen Chrysalis's voice whispered from around his neck. The Changeling glanced down to the small amulet he wore around his neck; it shone with a dark green color as his Queen spoke to him. It was a small oval green gem the size of a large cherry. It was set in a gold-wrought bezel to hold it in place. A small loop had been designed on the amulet to allow it to be hung around a neck with a chain.

The amulet was designed to give a connection to Wisp and his Queen. Before Queen Chrysalis had sent him on his way he had been given this amulet and simple instructions; keep the target in sight and report every few hours or when something occurred.

"The target is asleep in a tree. We're at the edge of Haysead Forest right outside of Dodge Junction. I'm in another tree not too far from him keeping vigilance." Wisp whispered to the amulet.

Queen Chrysalis was silent for a little while before speaking again. "And the visitor? Anything happen when you and Ward changed posts?"

Ward wasn't at The Hive yet. Wisp nodded his head slightly; though he knew his Queen couldn't see it. "Yes. Ward had said the target had been acting strangely." Then Wisp had gone into detail about what had occurred during the objective's time of unconsciousness and what had happened after he had woken up.

Wisp, after the report was finished, listened as a soft chuckle emitted from the amulet. "What a strange creature. At least he will be useful. When he goes into that state again…contact me. It sounds like our guest will need guidance along the way."

"Yes Your Majesty." Wisp bowed his head in respect as his Queen's presence left him. The same curiosity Wisp had when he switched places with Ward came back in full force. Was this a new species of mythical creature? And if not…where had this creature come from if not from Equestria?