Enchantè

                                                            Secrets Revealed

Lorewise sat out on his son’s veranda, smoking his pipe. He tried to imagine what his son was going through right now, and then he remembered what it was like when he had declared himself to Willow. The two situations could not have been more opposite. He and Willow’s relationship had the blessing of both sets of parents, while Pawise’s choice was not only questionable, both he and his wife had doubts he truly was in love. Lorewise now believed his son thought he was in love, but having never met the fair young pony he had no way of knowing how she is as a person.

He sighed. I guess my son will soon learn, he thought to himself, though he could not blame the young lady if she told him she wasn’t in love with him.

“Love at First Sight” only happens in fairytales, written by fanciful authors with no real grasp of reality. True love, experience had shown him, takes time. A seed is planted and then hopefully it grows.

Pawise has ever been the impatient one, his father knew, but this time he hoped the pain would not be too great for him. He would have spared him all this if he could, but he knew he could not protect his child forever, though Celestia knows he’d tried.

While he sat musing, the evening had come. There was an undeniable excitement in the air, as he observed ponies apparently getting ready for the party. His opinion of Ponyville had not changed very much, but he could not deny the overall sense of peace he observed from its inhabitants.

Whatever they have going on in this town, it must be working for the poor fools. The strongest personality he had met had of course been another Unicorn, but even she was giving away her profits. And yet…and yet they are happy. He couldn’t understand it, so he filed it away for later consideration. As he looked, he saw his wife trotting merrily up to him, her mane perfectly coiffed and resplendent in her new gown.

He rose to meet her. “Aren’t you ready yet?” she asked. Lorewise smiled down at her. Rare indeed were the times he wasn’t happy to see her.

“There’s still time. I’m just waiting for our son to come back from his ‘adventure of the heart.’

“What do you mean?”

“I sent him to go declare himself to his ‘belovèd.’

Willow stared at him. “Why did you do that?”

Lorewise met her gaze. “It’s better for him to know now than find out at the party. I told him so, and he agreed.”

Willow looked at him a moment more, sighed, and said, “No, Lore. This wasn’t a business arrangement, which had a deadline that needed to be met. Our son thinks he’s in love, yes, but that young lady probably needs more time.”

Lorewise grew silent. He looked away, and finally said “So I’ve sent my son to get his heart broken. For nothing…”

“Oh, Lore…” She rushed inside, came around to him and hugged him tight. “It will be alright. He is his father’s son and he’s strong enough to weather this storm. He learned that from you.”

Lorewise hugged his wife, and then wiped away a tear. “No. He has his emotional strength from you. As do I…” As they sat and embraced each other, Pawise came walking in.

“Son!” they both said at once. “What happened?” his mother asked.

“What do you mean, ‘what happened?’,” he said. Both his parents exchanged puzzled looks.

“Didn’t you go talk to Fluttershy?” his father asked.

“Oh! Oh, uhh…yes! Yes I did!” His parents waited.

Finally his father said, not without some irritation in his voice, “Well? What did she say?”

The creature started to sweat. If he failed this mission, he didn’t know what his Queen would do to him, but he knew he didn’t want to find out. “She…said…'okay’?”

His parents looked at each other again. “‘Okay’? ‘OKAY?!’ You tell her you love her, and all she says is ‘OKAY’?!” his father bellowed.

“Lore!” his wife said. Turning to her “son” she said, “It’s alright, she probably was not ready to tell you how she truly felt.”

“Yeah, that’s it!” the Changeling replied. “No, wait…we’re getting married!”

“WHAT?!” his father yelled. Willow just stared at him.

“I don’t think you are yourself right now,” she said.

The Changeling’s borrowed face took on a look of absolute terror. “How did you know that?!”

“You’ve had a shock, and you’re not thinking clearly. Why don’t you go lie down?” she gently said.

“Yeah…yeah I’d better lie down. Good idea!” He cautiously walked past them as they both continued to stare at him.

“That’s the bathroom,” she said as he opened the first door he came to.

“Right! I knew that!” He slowly opened another door, peeked in, gave a sigh of relief, and then went inside.

“We’ll be just outside dear,” she called out to him. Turning to her husband she whispered, “Let’s go.”

Lorewise looked at her and whispered back, “We can’t leave him! He’s not well!”

Willow took him outside before replying.

“That’s not our son.”

Pawise awoke on his side. The creatures had bound him very tightly for the trip through the Forest, but must have removed his restraints once they’d thrown him in here. A bowl of water and some stale bread lay next to him. That gave him some hope, as they were obviously not planning on killing him just yet, but they’d put some kind of nullifier spell on his horn.

So the first step is getting it off. If he could use his magic, he could get free. He looked around. In the dim light, he could just make out he was in a cell. It was some sort of cave, probably underground if the lichen and damp was any indication.

As he tried to break the spell, a soft voice said, “Who’s there?” It was coming from the next cell over. He knew that voice!

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes, I’m Fluttershy. Who are you?”

“Fluttershy! It’s me, Pawise! Are you hurt?!”

“P…Pawise? No, I’m not hurt, but...do I know you?”

Pawise started to feel uneasy. “Yes…don’t you remember? We started dating about a week after I got here.”

“Oh my…that can’t be true” she said. “I’ve been down here for quite some time and…I haven’t been on a date in a long time before that.”

With these words Pawise’s uneasiness turned to full blown horror. “No…no it can’t be. It…it was the Changeling all along.” Suddenly he was revolted. “I kissed a Changeling?!”

“Oh,” said the soft-voiced mare, “Why did you do that?”

Pawise’s cheeks burned red. “I…I thought she was you.”

“Oh my.”

“I’m so sorry.”

There was a long pause, and then she replied, “It’s alright, you didn’t know. Was she kind to you?”

Pawise took a moment and then said, “She was the sweetest, kindest and most beautiful mare I have ever met. I would do anything for her.”

“Because you thought she was me?”

“Because I thought she was you.”

There was a long silence, and then he could hear her crying softly. “Fluttershy? Please don’t cry. I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

“That’s not it,” she sniffed. “It’s just that you seem so sweet, I wish I had met you.”

Pawise didn’t know what to say. Things had become far more complicated, besides the fact they were both now prisoners of an insane Changeling Queen.

Finally he said, “Tell me what happened. How long have you been here?” After a few more sniffles, she began.

“It’s hard to keep track of the days, but I think I’ve been down here almost a month. It was late one night right before a scheduled rainstorm, and I was out tending my animal friends. The promise of thunder always makes them nervous, so I was spending a little more time with them outside than normal. Suddenly I heard what sounded like a poor creature in pain, out in the Forest! Now, I never go in there at night if I can help it, but the poor thing needed my help.  So I ran in, and started looking for it. It wasn’t where I’m sure I first heard it, but deeper in the Forest. So I followed the sound. A few minutes later I found it: a little bunny like Angel, just sitting in one spot and crying. I walked up to it, and tried to soothe it, but then it stopped crying and just…looked at me in a way I’ve never seen an animal look at me. Then…then it turned into a Changeling, like the ones my friends and I fought in Canterlot so long ago. I screamed, and then there were more of them! I tried to fly off, but there were too many of them and they surrounded me. I tried then to use my Stare, but they covered my eyes and took me here. My…my eyes are still closed somehow…I can’t see. I could only hear somepony laughing and then…then the pony’s voice changed to mine! I don’t know why I’m here, but I know my friends are in danger…and I can’t get out.”

Pawise was glad he could give her some bit of good news. “As far as I know, your friends are fine, but I think I know why the Queen chose you and not the others.”

“Why?”

“Because of Discord.”

“Discord?! But he’s my friend, he wouldn’t help her!”

“That’s…that’s just it. He is your friend, and the only one that could stop her now. And…it’s my fault he’s not doing so.”

“YOUR fault?”

Pawise felt crushed, but she had to know.

“She told me. Discord thinks he’s going to lose you… Because of me. Because I…because I fell in love with you…fell in love with somepony I thought was you, she was able to…to USE your friendship to keep him occupied.”

Pawise stopped for a moment, then went on. “This is all my fault. She’s going to announce “our” engagement at the party tonight, and the resulting emotional surge will give her all the power she needs to take over Ponyville.”

“What…what party?”

“Pinkie Pie and Applejack’s welcome party for me. It’s blown up into a full formal engagement, and just about everypony in Ponyville is going to be there at eight o'clock tonight.” Fluttershy was silent, thinking about all he’d said.

After a few moments she quietly spoke. “It’s not your fault.”

“What?”

“It’s not your fault. Nopony can know when they’ll fall in love, it’s that mean Changeling’s fault! She took advantage of us for her own gain. We have to stop her!”

Even in the midst of their danger, and though he knew she meant it only as it referred to their immediate situation, he still loved the sound of her saying “we.”

“Okay, first we have to get out of here, and warn the others. And I think we only have about two hours left to do so.”

“But how?” she asked. “I’ve tried everything I can do, and I’ve still been down here all this time.”

He couldn’t keep the emotion out of his voice as he said, “You are not alone anymore, Fluttershy. WE will think of a way.” Both fell into silence.

After a few minutes, Pawise asked, “Are the bindings over your eyes physical, or is it some sort of spell?”

“It’s definitely a spell.”

“Okay, then it’s probably the same sort of nullifier magic she put on my horn.”

There was surprise in her voice. “You are a unicorn?”

“Yes, didn’t I mention that before?”

“I’m sorry, no, you didn’t. It’s perfectly fine. I just can’t see, and I thought you were another pegasus.” There was another pause.

Finally he asked, “You don’t like unicorns?”

She laughed, a sweet sound that dispelled the gloom for a moment. “Of course I like unicorns! Two of my very best friends are unicorns. Well, technically one of them is an Alicorn now, but we’ve all been friends a long time.”

She sighed. “I wish Twilight was here. She knows just about everything there is to know about magic, she would know a spell to break this spell.”

Pawise had zoned out in euphoria as soon as he’d heard her say, “of course I like unicorns!” but came back to the present when she mentioned Twilight.

“Break the spell…break the spell…that’s it!” He jumped to his feet. “Don’t you see? Nullifier magic works because the pony is trying to break the spell! If we deny the spell its source, it will dissipate on its own!”

“How do you know that?”

“Professor Stonespire’s Advanced Classes of Applied Magic, two years” he said. “I studied at the Royal Academy in Canterlot.” He smiled. “I’m guessing the Changeling Queen didn’t know that.”

“But how do we do this?”

Sounding just like his professors, he said, “The method is simple in theory, but difficult in application. You want the use of your eyes, I want to use my magic. Clear your mind, concentrate on your other senses, everything but your sense of sight. I will withdraw my magic until there’s nothing left for the spell to affect.”

She sounded scared. “I…I don’t think I can do that. I’ve been in the dark for so long, all I can think about is trying to see, and get out of here.”

Snuggling as close as he could to her from his cell, he said, “Listen to me, Fluttershy. The Changeling Queen had to have imitated you perfectly, in order to fool your friends for so long. That means even though you and I have never actually met, you are still the most wonderful pony I know. You are braver and stronger than you realize, you CAN do this. Think about your friends, think about the animals that need you, think about everything but trying to break the spell. You can do it!”

“My friends…my animals need me. I’ll try!” With that they both fell into silence; she concentrating on hearing, feeling, touch…while he thought only of her. After a few minutes, he could sense the magic getting weaker, but it wasn’t enough! He had to make this work, for her sake.

Then inspiration hit him, and he began softly to sing.

One day as Sun was rising and the flowers soft with dew,

A pony went a-roving, to see some sights still new.

He left his home, he went alone, though others called him back,

He sought a trail where Moon had sailed,

‘Til he found that which he lacked.

In Forest old, through ways untold he found a laughing stream,

And seeing there a Maiden Fair,

Whose eyes were like a dream.

“Wither do you wander?” asked the Maiden seeing him.

“This is no place for Mortal Folk, you cannot stay within.”

“Long have I sought,” said he “and thought,”

“I’d never find my way,”

“You are the One for whom I’ve come,”

“Please send me not away.”

“I cannot be your Fate,” said she “for Mortal you remain.”

“So I before you soon will fade,”

“When Sun fills sky again.”

And as she spoke the sunbeams broke,

Then hastened her from sight,

In vain he sought the One that brought,

His Darkness to the Light.

Yet on the ground he searched and found,

A flower from her mane.

Now home he stays no more to stray,

He knows they’ll meet again.

“That was beautiful,” said Fluttershy. “I…I think it might have worked. I can see…a little. How is your horn?”

“I’ll try a small spell,” said he. His heart beating rapidly, he slowly willed his horn to ignite. For a few moments nothing happened. Then, almost imperceptively, the pebble he was looking at started to shake, and then slowly lifted into the air. “There’s still some residue, I can’t use my full power. But” and here he stood and concentrated on the lock to his cell, “it may be enough.” There was a click as the lock opened, and he gently pushed the door. He was free! Quickly moving to her door, he did the same to her lock. Slowly, leading her by one hoof, she came out of her prison. He waved a hoof gently in front of her face. “Can you see me?” he asked.

“Just barely,” said she. “I think…I think if we get out of here, and away from the source, the spells will be completely broken.”

“Then stick close…we’re leaving this place. Now.”