Foxfire's Tail (Re-Written)

“What in the?!” One of the owners of the laughter asked, watching as the fires engulfed the mares. Foxfire shifted into her other form as something most peculiar began happening to Rainstorm: for starters, a small black horn made itself apparent on her head, and her delicate feathers burnt off to reveal thin blue membrane hiding beneath.

“What is that thing?!” Cried another voice as the pelt seemed to melt off the once-pegasus, revealing black skin and eyes with no sclera, pupils, or anything. All the eyes were had been a single hue of cyan, and nothing but.

The small, black horn began to glow a soft green, and the mouth of the thing that Foxfire clutched opened wide, revealing small fangs of its own. Then, as all went white for the duo, the flames of blue turned to the same emerald hue and swallowed them up like a snake. Many more Royal Guards emerged from the shadows of the cloudhouse, only to find nothing left of either the once-alicorn or the once-pegasus.

“...fire…” Echoed a soft voice, the word ‘fire’ being the only clear thing that could be discerned. Foxfire struggled to open her eyes, and her body ached all over. She wanted to move, but was unable to do so. Her hind legs were hit hardest by the pain, the area between them feeling as though stretched to unimaginable lengths.

“Fox...fire…” The voice echoed once more. The mare struggled to move her limbs, her wings being just as nonresponsive, only producing a weak moan of pain that sounded very hoarse.

“Foxfire…” The voice echoed again, this time much clearer than it had been. Foxfire let off another weak moan, this one accompanied by a grunt of pain. At last, she forced her eyes to open, only to close them shut as a much-too-bright light assaulted her vision. She gasped in a short bout, seeing that the light was so bright a hue of red shone through her eyelids.

“Foxfire!” Cried the voice. The mare recoiled in shock, jerking her head a little bit as the voice sounded like a deafening boom of thunder and so hurt her ears. Foxfire opened her eyes once more, and when she did, the bright light above seemed to have died down enough to not blind her. Colorful splotches still danced, though, in front of a canvas of grey rock walls and floor.

“It...hurts…” Foxfire moaned, her voice so hoarse she had to force the words out of her throat. She was still unable to move her limbs, but the pain she still felt was numbing away to an afterthought.

“Shhhh. It’s alright.” Cooed the voice. A feeling of a muzzle nudging her neck hit Foxfire, and it felt soft, almost like velvet.

“No...it’s not…” Foxfire responded, narrowing her eyes as the splotches ceased dancing about for the time being. She still felt as though she were being stretched wide enough to be effectively split in two, and her limbs and wings still failed to respond.

“Shhhh.” Cooed the voice again, and once more, Foxfire felt the velvet touch on her body. It moved to her shoulders, sending a soothing vibe throughout her pain-wrecked nerves.

Foxfire let off another weak groan, summoning all of her strength simply to rise her head off of whatever it was she had been laying on. She looked down, still forcing her neck to support her aching head, to find a strange green substance underneath her holey hooves. In fact, the substance made a perfect circle around her, and when she forced one of her hooves to move, she noticed it felt oddly like silk.

The weakened once-alicorn turned her head to the right, only to see a black pony with holes in her legs. This one had thin wings like insects, tinged pink, and eyes of cyan that only served to further add a bug-like appearance. A small black horn was on its forehead, and it had a light yellow carapace and ribcage. A tattered mane of pink was on its head, clinging to its form.

“Who...what...are you?” Foxfire groaned, squinting her eyes as she let her head fall onto the green, silk-like substance she couldn’t move from.

At once, the form was enveloped in green fire, and before too long, a familiar pegasus mare stood in its place. “That was...my true form, Foxy.” The form known as Rainstorm replied, a soft grin on her face. “I’m a changeling.” She added before nuzzling the wounded once-alicorn’s neck.

“Change...ling?” Foxfire groaned, eyes closing as the word bounced about in her skull. What did it mean, especially to one like her? Would it have something to do with controlling those abysmal flames in spite of not having any such notification in the form of her single-mask cutie mark adorning the flank of her other self?

“Yes, a changeling.” Rainstorm replied, a frown etched onto her muzzle. “You’ve...never heard the term before?”

“No...I haven’t.” Foxfire answered, the word still present in her thoughts. She felt weaker than ever; even more so than when her former tormentors bashed her with shovels and hooves, motionless limbs and useless wings serving as testimony to that fact. If anything, she felt like she was on the verge of dying, or at least passing out again.

“A changeling who knows not of the basics that makes her being up?” Asked a feminine voice not belonging to Rainstorm. It sounded noble, high-class...frightening. “It’s a shame, really.”

“M-My Queen!” Rainstorm yelped in surprise, bowing down and shifting into her other form in the process. In walked a tall mare, one who towered over her menacingly, with a dark violet carapace and ribcage, ragged gold mane, and eyes which had two irises, each different shades of gold, adorned alongside cat-like pupils and canvases of violet sclera.

Her wings, frail and bug-like, had holes in their margins, and so did her lanky legs. Her horn wound like a staircase between base and tip, and her fangs were longer and sharper than Foxfire’s had ever been.

Her odd eyes glanced at the once-alicorn who still lay on the silk-like substance, back turned to her and legs splayed wide. “Is this the stray you’ve been tasked to find?” She asked, eyes narrowing.

“Yes...she is the stray of the hivemind. She’s not going to be moving for a while, Your Highness.” Rainstorm replied, her wings twitching uncomfortably.

“I’m...still awake…” Foxfire groaned, her voice raspy and dry. Pain shot through her neck as she spoke, forcing her to wince and grunt afterwards.

“Why is that?” The tall changeling asked, arching a brow as she turned back to look at Rainstorm.

“She...laid four eggs recently. Big ones too.” Rainstorm replied, shaking a bit as she spoke.

“She...made a brood? You know damn well only a queen or princess can make a brood and build a hive!” The taller changeling hissed, eyes aglow in fury.

“But what if she’s a queen or a princess herself?” Rainstorm countered swiftly, body flattened against the ground in a submissive manner.

The taller changeling’s eyes widened for a moment. “As preposterous as it sounds, that’s the most likely explanation. Did you find anything else about Princess Silk?”

“No...only the last image the hive had seen of her burning in flames alongside a unicorn stallion with a gold-and-red mane and grey pelt, while she had the form of an earth pony with a brown mane and beige pelt.” Rainstorm replied, shaking her head.

That depiction alone played out in Foxfire’s mind, and tears streaked down her face from her closed eyes. Rainstorm saw the tears in the corners of hers, and turned to look at the once-alicorn.

“What is it that bothers you?” The taller changeling asked, brow arched at the sight.

Begrudgingly, Foxfire opened her eyes and blinked them. “Rainstorm...how did...how…?” She rasped, more tears filling her tired eyes. That dreadful image played in her mind once more, and more tears were coaxed from her eyes as a result. “How...did you see my parents...die?”

The eyes of the other two changelings widened in that instant.

“How…?” Foxfire asked again, scrunching her eyes shut and letting more tears flee from her eyes. Her wings rose, pain resonating through their thin frames, trying to force them back down. The image played once more, followed by what transpired after.

The village burning. A vicious murder. Running away. The darkness of exhaustion.

“How...did...did they say...anything in that...image?” Foxfire asked, shifting her forelegs. They too rang with pain, telling her to stop moving, but she didn’t comply. She forced herself to sit up, but her body shook greatly as a result. “Did...they say anything...before they went?” She asked again, opening her bloodshot eyes and turning her aching head towards Rainstorm.

Rainstorm was silent for a moment. “They...told each other they loved one another, and...hoped you’d live. They said...they loved you, and...wanted to help you more than they had. But...they couldn’t take it anymore after villagers surrounded the house and wanted to kill them, so...your mother...burned herself and her lover alive...in a final embrace.” She said, a tear sliding down her face.

Foxfire’s eyes widened, and her jaw worked up and down, but she couldn’t form words. Tears kept streaking down her face, hitting the silky green substance without a sound.

“They...wanted you there with them...so you wouldn’t suffer...” Rainstorm said, another tear falling down her cheek.

Foxfire’s pupils and irises shrank to meager dots. “I...was supposed...to die?” She asked, her wings falling slack against her sides.

Rainstorm nodded slowly.

Foxfire looked down at her own body. The ugly holes in her forelegs, the red carapace, the thin wings with meager feathers...she shook again, raising her head hesitantly to look back at Rainstorm. “I...I want to be the filly I was, not this...freak.” She said, the words of her former classmates in their final moments ringing true in her mind.

She was a freak unfit to live, unworthy of life. Why, then, had she been allowed to live, after all the awful things she had done? Her heart shot pain as it beat in her clenching chest, almost as if it were dying within her body.

Rainstorm embraced the shaking mare in her holey forelegs. She fell silent.

The taller changeling spoke up. “I’ve known your father...through the images my younger daughter sent to the hivemind. Once he became a unicorn, that was that--he couldn’t go back to being an earth pony.”

“I...can’t change?” Foxfire croaked, another tear making its way down her face as she looked towards the taller mare. “I...can’t be a filly?”

“Sadly, no. Not anymore. I can hear your mother...talking to you when you were younger.” The taller changeling replied, shaking her head.

Foxfire heard her mother’s voice, soothing and soft, telling her things were going to be alright. And here, that had been stolen away from her by cruel ponies. That memory was more than enough to force a shrill shriek from her throat, one of agony and guilt. She stopped, feeling magic grip her, and force her into that bleak world of sleep.

That world which greeted her with painful images of that horrible blaze, of her mother and father sharing their last testimonies together. Of...her mother revealing her true form, black bodied with dark brown carapace, beige mane and eyes. Of her mother’s horn lighting up, her flames engulfing the house.

That god-forsaken image as the woodwork collapsed on the two, holding them to the floor, long before the fires devoured their bodies, rendering them nothing but ash.

And in that image, her mother said her last words.

“Be safe and strong, my child. I love you.”