The Travels of a Lone Changeling (Private)

Flail frowns. He puts on a familiar disguise just like her, her then studies her walking movements and mimics them as well, he starts laughing just to have it come out as Moon's laugh, he freezes as she does quickly changing into the brown pony from before, with wings.

He swears he heard an eagle... Oh wait, there. Flail looks to the trees above, "So YOU'RE the bird I've heard so much about." The bird tilts his head looking at him with... Rather intellectual interest, it freaks Flail out as he simply goes back to hauling his cart, he sees the trail ending and spreading out, Ponyville comes into view as he sighs in relief, only to get a subtle glare from Moon who turns back to the view, 'I have a terrible feeling about this...'

Griff, seeing as he has finally been noticed, spreads his wings and flies only to land on a tree a few meters ahead, still keeping the pair in sight and still trying to act like a normal bird that just got a little curious. A little too curious, even. either way, he now had his eyes locked on the pair below.

"Maybe if I fly to Ponyville before them and meet them there.... or I could just walk with them for the last few meters to the ponyville..." he thought while watching the pair moving.

((Scouting patrol))

Further down the trail, there was a dark figure looking over to the group. And for a dark figure, it was literally so as it was a clay regular-sized pony mare made of the ground they all walked upon that stood close to the edge of the trail rather than being in the way of any possible passerby. Despite being made of clay, however, it was rather well detailed as it was made to match the proportions of a well built mare and even had an old armor design upon it covering her upper body and head. The tail was simple in design, but it held well even though it technically shouldn't.

There was nothing particularly unusual about the figure, with one exception... It wasn't always standing there and, although it left no hoof-prints, looked like it was made very recently. It was nonetheless as still as still could be... For now...

Moon looked up at the eagle then at Flail. She was confused as to why the changeling talked to the eagle. She sighed slightly and moved her head to grab a little pocket knife from the inside of her chestplate. She flicked her head and sent the pocket knife flying at the eagle. She didn't even notice the clay figure because she was trying to hit the eagle.

She didn't want to mess with anything else in this forest and picked up her pace to an almost gallop towards the town as it came into view. No delays. Deal with this changeling, don't get caught, and get rid of that damn eagle. She ran through a mental check list. "Alright Flail. We can go to my dad's old store to discuses the fact that you are a changeling." She kept her voice low when she said changeling, not wanting any passerby to know.

Flail glances back nervously at the slowly receding forest, nodding absently at Moon's voice he sees the statue making him raises his eyebrows, "Moon, who put that here? Is it a memorial?" Staring at it slightly with a curious gaze as he pulls his cart along with little difficulty, the roads are much smoother than that of the Everfree. The Eagle was nowhere to be seen, since the knife was thrown he had worried for the bird, hoping to the Light she missed.

Flail continues to eye the Statue until it is out of sight, curiosity raking his very being at the new addition to the small village, for it appeared to be of EXCELLENT quality, he follows Moon nervously into the town, hoping not to cause a scene...

Griff notices the knife flying at him so he moves a little to the side, catching the knife's handle with his talon, spinning the knife once and stabbing it into the branch he was standing on before returning a mean look at the Moon.

After looking at the pair for another couple of seconds, he flew down and landed on top of the Flail's cart and finally decided to speak:

"You really want to make sure everything is safe, huh, Moon..? If that is even your real name," he said and chuckled, still being in his eagle form.

The clay statue would remain as it was while Flail looked at it and the others had their little scuffle, but if he or any of the others did not get the feeling of being watched before from somewhere else, they might be feeling it now as once they were far ahead enough past the statue... it would slowly begin to turn its head all the way to the back, and then the rest of the body as well. The clay figure, feeling that this unorthodox group might not be regular travelers, began to quietly walk after them, always ready to stop still if any of them so much as tried to look far to where it was in the darkness of the night...

Moon was confused at what Flail had asked. She looked at the statue. "Hell if I know. I'm from Canterlot not form Ponyville." She said looking back forward. It's odd. She was pretty sure she didn't see that statue when she came into the Everfree. She could, of course, be wrong and be blind like when she can't spot the cookie jar in the cabinet. She giggled a little to herself.

She looked up at the eagle as it landed on the top of Flail's cart. She raised an eye brow at it, but then stopped once it started talking. To be more specific, it said her name. How did this eagle know her name? "O-of course that's my real name! W-w-why would you think it's not!" She stammered out. She was confused and scared. What or who is this eagle and why did it think Moon wasn't her real name.

Flail whipped around seeing that same eagle on his cart, now that alone made him happy that the bird hadn't died, he was even more surprised when it began talking to Moon, he felt an over excessive amount of surprise and curiosity from Moon, it tasted tart and bubbly.

He unhitched himself and began slowly moving towards the back of his cart tilting his head at the bird, "You have pony emotions."

The eagle chuckled at both ponies and then decided it's time to introduce himself. "Oh where are my manners," he began. "My name is Griff. I know that you're Moon and you," Griff looked towards the thestral "are Flail. Am I correct?". Griff chuckled again at the surprised ponies' faces. "And yes, before you ask, I HAVE been sta... no wait, following you for the past half an hour."

The eagle then spread his wings, flew off the cart, landed a meter away from it and suddenly a big cloud of grey smoke covered the eagle, after it disappeared, there was a unicorn with a large scar over one of his eyes and wearing a big dark-green torn cloak and what looked like a dark-green re-painted Lunar Guard's armor with two middle-sized swords strapped on it.

Griff then bowed in front of the pair: "Griff at your service," he proudly said and chuckled.

The clay statue following from behind was no more, seemingly having disappeared. But now, further ahead, were two clay figures of mares on the sides of the trail. This time, they were seemingly looking at the direction of the group more deliberately and with a defensive stance each. The pegasus, whose wings were holding up nicely, hah them flared open as if getting ready to charge while all four legs were slightly spread out. The unicorn was on a low stance with the horn pointing at them, one of standard practice for guards on alert. As quietly as the first one, they remained immobile... though wary.

Moon stared just like she stared at Flail before. "Is that lunar guard armor?" Is was literally the first thing she saw. Dark-Green? Bleh. "Where'd you get that?" She got more hostile towards the pony. She got into an attack position, grabbing her sword with her mouth.

"How dur yur know mah name," She asked, her words muffled by her sword. She took a step forward towards the pony. "Where ya get that armor from?" She growled a little at the pony. A pony why knew her name, and was following them. Looks like she had a reason for throwing that knife at him after all.Ahe didn't even see the statues farther down the path.

Flail peers at Griff's smiling face, amused slightly at his powers, but again also very curious, "Nice to meet you my uh, feathered friend..." He scrunches his muzzle in thought, 'Does he know...?' He thinks to himself as he adjusts his satchel.

He looks to Griff, "Well the obvious question is do you need something? I have potions if you are looking to buy..."

He takes a glace at Moon before doing anything else.

Griff chuckles and stands back up, looking at Moon first. "First of all.. that lunar armor was given to me by a friend of mine who worked as one. Before he lost his dear life by sickness, he wanted me to have it. He more or less.. 'ordered' me to keep it. I would've sold it already otherwise. As for your name.. as I mentioned before, I have been following Flail around for a good amount of time before you showed up, and I heard it when you two introduced each other." he says and smiles at Moon before turning to Flail.

"I do not need any potions of any sort, but I am offering protection during your travels... for a fee, that is. I do not require a high price, but a little gold will do for the little protection you will need." He says to Flail. "And Moon, I will not attack you, so please put your weapon down. " Griff added.

Moon glared at at the pony for a moment before standing up straight, putting her sword back in it's shaft. "A fallen soldier is remembered by all guards." She took off her helmet and held it to her chest. "I apologize from my outburst." She put the helmet back on and walked around the pony. "Come on Flail. We still need to discus somethings."

She walked down the path, passing the statues. She stopped suddenly and back up a few steps to look at the statues. "Interesting. I didn't know these statues were here." She closely examined them before turning back to Flail. "Come on. Let's go. And you," She pointed to Griff. "I'm protecting him. Why were you even following him?"

Flail seems a bit too curious with the statue's, "Hold on Moon, look at this." Flail begins examining every inch of the statue in high detail sprouting out his observations out loud, "Very detailed... In fact, much too detailed, either a master stone carver to be sure, magic, or some combination of both! It's... It's a perfect statue, they both are!" He turns his head to the side looking at the Pegasus statue, "Just who made you eh?"

With a chuckle he turns back towards the group, Moon was asking Griff something about following him, he wouldn't have minded so much if Griff would have just walked up to him, he would have loved company in that horrid forest. He begins walking slowly towards the group, but pauses and goes back, placing his hoof on the shoulder of the Pegasus, "Very life-like.."

Neither one of the statues would do anything at first, though they were technically regarding Flail in his proximity. Much like a changeling, they assessed his behavior, but so unlike a changeling, he would not notice for it was not magic but a supernatural force making it so. No matter how hard any of them tried, all they would gather from the clay figures is that they were made of clay... until the one he was touching purposely turned its head to look at him, and then crumbled; Leaving the other one as it remained.

Griff frowned and looked at Moon. "In my defense, I was following him long before you met him. 'Covering his back' I could say... in case if anything attacked him, I would defend him and ask for payment afterwards. Besides, he was lonely. He could use some friendly company, don't you think?" Griff says and smiles at Moon, then notices Flail standing by the statues, one of them turning it's head and crumbling. Griff dashes past Moon and hurries up to Flail, stopping next to him, ready to assist if something were to happen.

Moon rolled her eyes at Flail. "Maybe you're cautious about statue to much. They're just statue after all." She said over her should at Flail. She turned back towards Griff. "I don't think friendly company would ask for money." She would have said more if he hadn't ran past her and to Flail. She turned at looked at the broken statue. "Oh great...What did you do know? How did you even break the statue?!" She said, somewhat annoyed, as she walked over to them.

Flail stands there flabbergasted as the statue crumbles in his hooves falling to the ground, he looks over shakily at the second statue expecting it to give him a stare and crumble, Griff rushed to him followed by a irritated looking Moon, he collects himself and takes a few breaths.

"A-stupid statue..." He goes to the other one getting a disproving look from Moon and a worried look from Griff, he puts his hoof on this one, much gentler mind you, "What is this?" Why did they crumble at his touch...?

This time, the unicorn clay figure also moved, but rather than simply stare at Flail, it lightly slapped his hoof away, and then crumbled, becoming one with the soil once more as though it were never there. For the time being, nothing else of note would happen. There were no more figures ahead... but the one that was following them eventually caught up, merely staring at them. There was nothing about its pose that suggested it would act aggressively though as it merely sat down as if waiting for them to move on.

"...This is starting to slightly creep me out now.." Griff silently said, noticing the clay figure sitting behind them. "...and this might be a very stupid idea right now." he adds and makes a few steps towards the clay statue behind them. "Hello?" Griff calls out, hoping the statue will respond in the least violent way possible. He then turns back at Moon and Flail "...Perhaps the best idea is if we continue moving... we're almost at Ponyville. I can keep the watch on the one behind us. I don't really trust it that much..." Griff starts blabbering to himself, worryingly looking at the statue every few seconds.

"How? How did you break the statue," Moon asked, with a slight ting of curiosity. She opened her mouth to say something else but the words died, as she watched the statue slap Flail. It took her brain a minute to comprehend that the statue moved and crumbled. "How...?"

She turned to Griff. "I...uh. Yeah. Flail get you cart strapped back on. We're heading to Ponyville slightly more faster then expected." She grabbed her sword with her mouth, unfolding her wings and flapping them so that she was in a low hover.

Flail simply nods watching the statues dissapear from sight, he hastily runs to the cart strapping the thing back into place, he begins trotting quickly after Moon, whose shifty eyes look out for more statues while Griff keeps his eyes on the one satute. Changelings can't sweat, but knowing Flail he would fall over and accept his rocky fate if these ponies weren't here, secretly thanking them both he begins pulling along faster, "No more statutes!" He exclaimed as he began picking up a bit of speed.

The clay figure of the mare simply stood still for a moment, watching what the group before it was doing. After a short while, it moved again, not too quickly or slowly, to urge Griff to keep moving along with the others with its hoof, ultimately simply pointing at the others. There would be little point in Griff staying behind for long as the figure was neither aggressive nor would it pose a threat if fought against. Nonetheless, it kept watching and waiting.