The Changeling Scholar

Chapter 1-...Is No Longer a Mystery

3 y⃗e⃗a⃗r⃗s⃗ l⃗a⃗t⃗e⃗r⃗

  That place was a war zone! I thought while flying with a couple of friends of mine. We were running from some Parasite Changelings, but they were really fast. Me and my friends decided to separate and hide as the Changelings gained on us, so they'd have a harder time catching us. One of my friends shapeshifted into a tree, and another into a lizard.

  I had joined a small resistance of other Changelings who's homes, no entire kingdoms, were destroyed by the Parasite Changelings. We had a decent hiding spot for a couple of months, but, who knew the Parasite Changelings were such good trackers? It was only when the boulder I was hiding behind turned into a Parasite Changeling that I remembered they were also good shape shifters.

  "AHHHH!!!" I cried as the Parasite Changeling lunged at me. I shapeshifted into a normal pony, a white Pegasus with a golden mane and vibrant green eyes, and confused the other Changeling for a moment. I kicked it in the face then launched myself into the air as it tried to recover. Sadly, this Changeling recovered quickly and it grabbed the leather satchel that was around my neck. I jerked to a stop in mid air and almost fell out of the sky. "Give. That. Back." I said as I tugged against the strap.

That was a huge mistake. I overestimated the strength of the strap and it snapped. My guide to the Changeling races (which has been in the satchel) slipped, er, flew out of the satchel and hit me in the head. How it knocked me out, I have no idea, but I fell out of the sky. I hit the ground with a thump and the Changeling I had been "battling" landed next to me. My vision was blurry and the edges of my sight was darkening. The Changeling started to approach me when a strange sound (almost like a loud, annoying, whirring) filled the air, then flying projectile-thingies flew through the air and started hitting the ground and areas around the Changeling, but not actually hitting it.

  The Changeling panicked, shape shifted into a squirrel, and scurried away. The strange sound stopped and so did the projectiles. I could barely see now. I was surprised I hadn't passed out already, and I kept conscious long enough to see an unfamiliar outline block the sunlight from above.

~~~~~~~~~~

  The first thing I noticed was that I woke up on a comfortable bed. At least, comfortable by my standards. For the last couple of years, I'd been sleeping on a ledge of rock in an underground cave, which is where the resistance's hide out was. The second thing was the smell of cooking meat, and the third thing sounded like someone was humming. Humming? I thought to myself. I slowly opened my eyes to see a decent-sized room with weapons hung up on the walls. There were tarps and cloths blocking what looked like windows, while candles lit up the place. I looked around a little and saw there was a table next to me with a glass of water on it.

I was about to reach for the water with my Magic when I realized I was still in my normal-pony form. I tried to shapeshift back to my true form but my head ached and I couldn't imagine myself as a Changeling. I started to panic a little and I staggered to my feet, making more noise than I intended.

"Whoa!" Came a masculine voice from my right. I looked over and saw... wait.... a human?! Aren't those extinct? I'd read about them in books and I've seen pictures, but all the books I read said their race died off a long time ago. Yet, here was one, walking towards me on two legs. "You have to be careful, you hurt your head pretty badly, which is surprising, I mean it was only a book that hit you." The human knelt next to me and forced me to lay down.