Chapters As the mysterious aura faded, I fell a painful distance onto my side. Through blurred vision, all I saw was fire. Fire, and many silhouettes. Fighting each other, winning, losing, mourning.
And so much death.
“Reiss!” called a voice behind me. “Remember your enemy!”
I shakily got up, my side surging in pain. I recognized the figure in front of me; a unicorn, with light-colored fur and a flowing, dark mane. I stood aback.
Do I have to kill her? I thought.
“Reiss! Now!”
Reluctantly, I took form of the one in front of me. A fire-like sensation flooded over my body, starting at the tip of my muzzle, tracing down my barrel, ending at the flare of my tail.
I scraped my new hoof against the grass, lit red by the destruction around me. I can take her, I assured myself, take the strike and leave.
I charged, ash, flying into my face as my vision darkened.
Contact.
Between
Only a couple days passed since that day. A day that I grew to hate.
Everybody treated me as if I was I hero. They would give me hoof bumps and tell me that I was the exact thing I was not.
I was no hero.
I lay on my bed, even though I knew calling it that would be a great overstatement. It was just a loose clump of hay inside an adobe that I couldn't count the many times I had to fix it due to rain.
I eyed an elegant-looking box near the entrance of the adobe. It had some sentimental value; my mom crafted it before being called to serve under Queen Chrysalis nearly ten years ago. If only I could look at it without remembering that day, I thought.
"Fluorescence," I called, "no one's around. You can come out now."
The lid of the box creaked open. A pair of lightning-blue eyes scanned the area around the box. When I assumed she figured it was safe, she opened the lid of the box the rest of the way, revealing a red mane with a salmon stripe through it, atop a white-ish coat that was vaguely yellow.
"It stinks of leather in there," she announced, for maybe the fifth time this past couple days.
"Oh, huh, I wonder why," I said. I gestured to the racks of dried leather I had at the opposite side of the adobe, and her expression turned sour.
"That's animal ," she said.
"You drink their milk," I retorted. "You're a pony, for Chrysalis's sake! Not a cow."
Fluorescence scowled, the top of her muzzle crinkling. I suppressed a smile. She looked kinda cu—
I shook the thought out of my head. She was the enemy! Hostile-like. Grr! But I couldn't help it! She looked absolutely ado—
"So, you promised me you would take me home," she reminded me.
"Yeah," I recalled. "After, you know, I almost killed you."
"Just so you know, it's extremely hard to play dead for forty minutes. And while my people were all being slaughtered."
"I had to get out of there. I would be expected to 'kill' again, and I'd be in a crappy situation."
There was silence for a moment. Then Fluorescence started, "Why didn't you k—"
"... suspected that he would back out," A coming voice said, "but he stood his ground like a stallion should!"
"I had that same thought," said a recognizable more husky voice. "My son... he's finally a full-grown changeling..."
My eyes widened, and panic made my heart race. "Crap!" I hissed. "Back in the box, hurry!"
I didn't have to remind her a second time. She hopped back inside of the box and closed the lid in a blink.
"... What did you say, son?"
Crap, crap, crap... was the only word I thought for the next instant. I looked around me. I needed to find something that wouldn't seem suspicious, something to support what I said.
Then one interesting thought came into my head. It would arouse suspicion, but not in the way of the current situation. I jumped atop my haystack and put my hooves over my crotch.
"Son? What's the— oh." My dad's face glowed in an unnatural hue of red, and he adverted his gaze to the door frame. "J-just finish up whatever you're doing in there quick. We have a meeting coming up in five minutes." He stepped out of the doorway.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"So," the voice said, "what was up with your son? And why are you blushing so intensely?"
"Er..." my dad's voice stammered, growing more distant with every passing second, "he's... experiencing difficulties with nature..."
I sat up, cheeks somewhat burning. When I verified their voices were gone, I said to Fluorescence, "I'm going to be gone for the next hour or so. If you get out to get fresh air, please make it quiet."
"All right, boner-master," she responded.
I scowled at the box. Then I slowly made my way out the adobe, making sure my hoofsteps were heard.
We had no overly-formal place to hold meetings. It was all out in the open, much better than in a cramped adobe like we'd done before. A bonfire was spread in the center of surrounding seats, forming a half circle. These would seat maybe sixty, and we only had about thirty attend meetings regularly. But, an unusually large amount of changelings were crowded around the bonfire. And even more unusual: minors were attending this meeting.
They're holding a public meeting? I thought. It's probably to celebrate the victory against the ponies.
"Everyone!" called a voice from behind the bonfire as I took a seat. "I would like to welcome all of you to this meeting! As all of you probably know, we have seized our first victory against the ponies!"
There yelled a cry of celebration around me. I usually didn't participate in these, but everyone looked at me oddly afterward, as if the sight of me place a bitter taste in their mouths.
"But, this is no celebration. You may drink yourselves to sleep afterward, but right now, we plan for our next attack."
There came a light groan from the minors in the crowd in the half-circle of seats.
"Seriously? Isn't that what the adults are supposed to do?"
"What? We aren't going to have a feast? My father said there would be food!"
"Oh, there will be food, all right," the voice behind the bonfire said. Behind the flames, an awfully skinny changeling popped into view. He had possibly the fewest holes out of all of us, though he was older than most of us in the crowd. He wore a grin, an evil little thing that sent a shiver down my spine. "We feast on the ponies' love."
The minors shut up, and started considering the utter quality of love, "Like a treat that you never tire from," as one of them said.
But this phrase only made me more nervous. There would be casualties. Obviously. But, no matter what I hunted or who I went into battle with, I could not kill my target. Every time I would try, I would freeze, as if turned to stone. I was lucky I didn't freeze while going up against Fluorescence.
Stay down and play dead, I had told her through the warfare, unless you want to be killed.
"When will we be commencing the attack, Evras?" a pony called, pronouncing his name in a way that rhymed with Mardi Gras .
His evil smirk grew uncomfortably wider. "In two days."
Uneasy chatter came from the crowd.
"But... even if we were victorious, we had a lot more casualties than last time."
"Excuse me, Evras!" called another from the crowd. "That isn't enough time to recover. We lost most of our soldiers in this last battle! The only ones left are the ones like that clopper Reiss over there!"
I raised my head. That son-of-a-monkey called me what?
"What did you say, buckface?" grunted a changeling from the crowd. "If you haven't noticed, I actually watched my comrades fall in front of me! You haven't even seen the battlefield, you little son of a—"
"Enough! " Evras screamed. "You two can be dismissed from this meeting. Unless you think you can handle this, then sit your ass down and be pleasant little foals for me, okay?"
The two groaned, and sat in their seats, looking away from each other. The one who called my a clopper was in punching distance, but I decided against engaging in offense. I stood no chance in a fight.
"Anyway," Evras continued, "We are going to attack in two days. We will slowly draw the ponies out of their village and pick them off one by one. We will have the veterans go into the village and start the uproar. Since we have a new adult here, I will place the honor of the first command on Reiss, the alleged 'clopper'."
My heart stopped. I remembered the look on Fluorescence's face when I'd nearly killed her, a face that still haunted me to that day. I remembered the battle field, seeing my comrades fall. I remembered the pools of blood that made my guts twist in every which way.
I can't go back out there, I thought.
"E-Evras," I stammered, heart thumping in my chest like a rabbit's, "what roles would the first command take?"
The smirk reappeared on Evras's face. "Good question. The first command is to stir the village to draw out the easily-provoked. In order to do that, you, Reiss, must take the life of a random citizen. The town will already be stirred up by your visit, and this casualty would be the final straw on the camel's back. You are to lead them back in battle, and then the army will pitch in, taking the kill, and feasting on whatever love lay in the town."
There was greedy chatter in the crowd. They seemed to be licking their lips in preparation for a town full of love to suck.
But the crowd was muted out for me. I sat there, in horror, freezing like I did whenever I needed to go for the kill. I need to kill someone? I thought. Of course, they're just nasty creatures, living together but apart, doing disgusting things for sustenance. But, can I really do it? The memories of the battlefield smacked me in the face again. No... I can't. I can't do anything in battle.
"Evras," I said, unusually calm and decisive, "it's an honor to be granted this sort of role. Truly." I gulped. "But, I think that someone else would be more qualified than me to lead the first command."
Evras raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Are you not instilled with honor and energy from your first kill, after years of not being able to harm a fly?"
I shrugged. Where is this confidence coming from? I asked myself. "I don't know, sir. But, it's not anything that I really want to do either."
"Hm..." Evras grunted. "What role, do you think, would suit you best for this upcoming battle?"
I hesitated. There's no way I'm going to be in the body of the army, I thought. Perhaps...
"Evras," I addressed, "I would like to be reconnaissance. A scout."
A mutter waved through the crowd.
Evras raised his eyebrows. "A scout? I don't recall there being a scouting regiment in our previous attacks..."
"That's why I'll be your first," I said. "Me learning the patterns of the ponies in the town nearby may help us in our battle. I will report to you, or if you're not in charge, the head—" Me separating him from his role made his nostrils flare. "—what I find."
Evras' nostrils shrunk to a regular size. He closed his eyes and leaned to one side, head down.
A flash of tentative relief surged over me. Is... is he actually thinking about it? I wondered.
Evras opened his eyes again and looked at me. "Fine. You will have your scouting regiment. Do you want other people to join you?"
"You'll need them for your attack force." I almost sighed of relief when I said that. "Like it was brought up before, we had many a casualty this past battle. Plus, if I get discovered, that's only minus one."
And I'm no good at combat, either, I almost said.
Evras gave me a skeptical eye. "Can I trust you won't conspire against us with the ponies?"
I bit my tongue. I couldn't necessarily promise that. But, this was only a nagging paranoia. It's was an odd question to ask here anyways.
"Evras, why would you ask that? I won't betray you."
Even though I couldn't have known it was a lie or not, it still felt like one.
He still eyed me suspiciously. Then he eased off it and took a deep breath. "All right. You get what you want. However, if you do betray me—"
"The punishment is death," I finished. "I understand that."
Evras nodded. He seemed a little peeved that I was negating his power over the meeting. "Now, let's talk about about the army's maneuvers. Joshua..."
I don't know how I managed to do it, but I slipped out of the meeting without disturbing anyone.
Except my dad.
"Son? Son!" he called, galloping toward me.
I stopped and held my breath. I hope that he didn't take anything the wrong way, I thought.
"Look," he said, his flickering silhouette on the ground the only thing I could see; a brawny, holey one, "I'm sorry they called you that. But you see, you're at an age where you have those urges—"
"That's not why you're really here, is it?" I asked. I could tell my dad was avoiding an obvious subject.
He sighed, the same way he did when he had explained to me that my mother had gone. "Why did you want to be a scout?"
I was about to take a glance at him, but I couldn't look at him without him being even more suspicious. "I'm no good at combat, dad. My form was sloppy when I took down F—fluffy pony there. I had luckily landed a strong enough strike to take it down."
My dad's silhouette nodded. "I see. Son, I'm proud of you either way. You will be a great asset to us."
I'd half expected him to try to convince me to join the army, at least. Him saying that shocked me. "How... how could you say that? I mean—"
"You're a grown changeling now, Reiss. I can't have any control over you any longer. As much as it pains me."
That's when I risked a glance at my dad. When I looked at him, flashes of memory came to me. I remembered us hunting, him teaching me how to read the Equuic language, his patience, his almost never-ending love. He was always assertive, but not in an aggressive way. But, there was always that depressed glint in his eye, a glint I recognized in everyone in this village.
We are changelings, he'd once said. We are the representation of emptiness.
"Thanks dad." I blinked back stinging tears. Then I changed the subject. "So, how did word get out that I was... you know..."
"Oh!" my dad yelped. The subject definitely caught him off his guard. "Um... Steins, as you know, is a loudmouth. I tell him one thing, and he projects it like a plague of sound."
"So you told him I was masturbating?"
"What could I have done? Your mother..." His voice faltered. "You know what, do whatever you want." He waved his hoof, gesturing to my adobe. "But whatever you do, you will still be my son, and I'll always love you."
Never before had those four words stung. And I was sure they were going to sting more in the future.
I walked in through the doorway of my adobe, but I didn't lay down to sleep. I snatched the leather off the wrack, from a cow that one of my friends had slaughtered, and laid it out on my hay pile.
I walked over to the box and knocked against the fine wood. "Fluorescence," I whispered, "come on out."
The white-coated mare slowly opened the box lid and slid out almost like a liquid. She must be very agile, I thought.
"Wassup?" she asked, yawning.
I gestured to the leather on my hay stack. "I'm getting you out of here. Tonight."
"Wait," Fluorescence said, her voice round, "now?"
I nodded. "Yes, now. I'll be gone for longer with the new role I was given this meeting." I grabbed the sheet of leather and threw it on the ground in front of her. "Put that on."
Fluorescence opened her mouth wide, as if about to shriek, but she slowly closed it again and assumed a rather cute look of disgust. "I am not wearing that thing!" she hissed.
"Oh, yeah, you are."
"Isn't there something else I can wear? Like, cloth?"
"No cloth around these parts. It's desert. We'd have to import. And the market isn't so kind toward changelings."
She took that frustrated look again, that cute, scrunchy nose making me smile a little.
I'm done trying to suppress it, I thought, Fluorescence is downright adorable!
"Fine," she sighed. "I guess it is a life-or-death situation here."
Then I remembered something that almost made me have a nervous breakdown. Her smell! I thought. Changelings could smell her if she got too close. I'm surprised my dad didn't catch a whiff of her.
And, we would be passing in close quarters with other adobes. It sucked having to sneak around with a pack of pony-tracking dogs.
"One more thing," I said. I didn't know if it'd work, but I grabbed an old water pouch and went outside.
The night sky glistened with so many stars that it never ceased to amaze me. There were many constellations my mother had taught me about, teaching me mythology simultaneously.
I shook my head of the thought. Dammit... I thought. Not here... not now... I can't afford that. I managed to keep back stinging tears as I took in my surroundings.
I rushed the direction opposite the adobe. About two hundred yards away was a river. It wasn't big, but it meandered all the way to the dragonlands. It was used for multiple purposes, mostly for drinking and cooking, sometimes bathing or other sanitary needs. But I was about to do something very frowned-upon.
I set down the water pouch. I quickly and nervously glanced around, making sure no one was looking over where I was at. Then I took my position, and did number one into the pouch.
Yep, I was going there.
I kicked the stinking pouch toward the river, and carefully picked it up by the side. I spilled some of the contents out, and put the mouth of the pouch in the river. Rinse, and repeat. It took seven repetitions until I got the product I wanted.
I trotted back to my adobe, holding the sling strap of the pouch. When I trotted in through the door, Fluorescence was peacefully studying my stuff, which was fortunate. However, she was about to be less fortunate.
I dumped the contents of the water pouch onto her.
She shrieked, but managed to make it soft. She turned to me and glared. "Why did you have to do that? And why does it smell funny?"
I smirked, keeping laughter back. "It is... let's just say it's a natural cologne. I distilled it with water to the point that it didn't smell like you had soiled the bed."
Her face afterward was priceless. Her eyes went wide, and she pranced in place, probably trying to resist the urge to shake the peewater all over the place. She mouthed something that I couldn't really decipher, and then returned to her glarey-state.
"I will get you back for this," she promised in a hiss.
I shrugged. "Remember, I'm kinda saving your life here. You'll be thankful."
"Not when remnants of your testosterone are all over me." She snorted. "I swear to Celestia..."
I tilted my head. Celestia? I thought. I've heard that name only a couple times...
"Anyway," I said, "We need to make this quick." Before Fluorescence had time to respond, I flung the leather rain fly over her. It was relatively thick, but it managed to drape over her eyes and over her hooves. The shadow of night should take care of the rest, I thought.
Fluorescence sighed. "All right... let's get this over with."
I nodded, and trotted to the doorway of the adobe. I checked left and right for any sign of changeling activity. Beside candlelight and silhouettes of changeling families, no activity whatsoever, and thankfully, no one was on the street.
"It's clear," I confirmed. "Come on!"
We carefully made our way through the meandering street. I couldn't tell whether or not I was quiet enough because my heart was thumping in my ears. If they catch us, it's over, I reminded myself, which wasn't exactly helping. I was doing everything in my power to keep myself from running.
I adverted my attention to the adobes that we passed by. They were all lumpy and lopsided, like a light-hearted illustration. But they were all in shades of grey and brown, and, of course, they didn't seem they were bouncing up and down, and side to side. Dim, yellow light came from nearly all of them, some with laughter and clinking of ceramic mugs, others with the shrill laughter of children playing with one another.
But there were more than a few with no light at all. This would be odd normally, but I had a feeling these were the homes of the fallen soldiers. I couldn't imagine the pain their relatives went through, when they entered their home, the lack of their loved-ones' presence haunting them.
I winced at the thought. That was another aspect of death that lead me to my cowardice. I knew for sure that those individuals' friends and family would mourn. I couldn't live with inflicting a shockwave of pain, the worst pain of death.
Like the letter we'd received two years back, I thought. Then I closed my eyes so tight I thought I saw light. "Keep it together," I mumbled to myself.
"What?" Fluorescence asked.
"Hey, Reiss! Clopper!" said two slurred voices behind me.
The next time someone calls me that... I promised to myself, angry. "What do you want?" I inquired, voice cracking.
"Where do you think you're going?" said one of them. He had a nasally voice, that was remarkably high for its masculine nature.
"I'm determining where to set up my scouting base," I explained, feeling a sudden pang of guilt when I realized Fluorescence was still along with me.
"Oh, so you're heading to the village, eh?" a lower voice hiccuped. "Sure is a long way. You'd be back here by dawn—"
"And I have no problem with that whatsoever," I said. "Don't wait for me."
One of them sighed. "Well, careful with your guy friend there," the nasally voice slurred. He sniffed. "He sorta smells like stale piss."
"Oh," the lower voice cut in, "is he a clopper too?" They both shared an uneven laugh.
I ground my teeth. "Goodbye, you two," I grunted. Fluorescence speedwalked out of that place before I took the opportunity to pummel them.
We were past the far reaches of the village when Fluorescence asked, "Scout? You're a scout, now?"
I sighed. "I guess. I couldn't opt out of this battle. We're so low in number that it would be treason."
Fluorescence flipped the leather over her head onto her back and scowled. "As if."
I scoffed at her ignorance. "And who saved you from certain death?"
She shut up. For ten seconds, then she asked a very peculiar thing, "How many of your numbers were vanquished?"
I raised an eyebrow at her. Why would she care? I asked myself. "Eighty percent. Eighty percent of our army died this past battle."
She took on a look of pity. "I... I'm sorry you lost so much of your guard. And, you're going to battle us again?"
I nodded. "Evras, the leader of the party, is very desperate to wipe your town out. He actually was going to put me on first command, to kill one of your ponies to stir them up and drive them toward us."
Fluorescence's eyes widened. "Why are you leading me back there, then? I'm most likely going to die there, undo what you did for me."
"I have the sense that Evras has been driven mad over the years from battle," I said. "The changelings might boot him from his position and scrap the plan. But, I'm not so sure. Our first gloria against you has given them more moral. They will most likely drive into battle because of that."
Her eyes fell to the earth. "Your little village there is going to be wiped out. Without your guard, and I've no doubt we can fend them off, I don't think the townsponies will show any mercy."
I sighed. "Our own pride will be what brings us down," I pieced together. "I've never thought that it would be this soon—"
Once again, an abrupt flash of my mothers face came into my mind. Her gentle smile, her beautiful eyes, her warm embrace...
I stopped in my tracks. "S-shit..." I managed, as tears started to dribble down my face.
Fluorescence stopped for me, but, of course, didn't say anything reassuring. She turned her face away from me. And then she spoke.
"I never figured..." she started. "You... you are a lot like us. Nothing like the stories I've heard from my kin. We always thought you were heartless, parasitic, and bloodthirsty and love-thirsty. But, walking through your small village reassured me... there are families, friends, and emotion. Even seeing you spontaneously bursting into tears has set that confirmation for me."
I managed a chuckle. I adverted my gaze toward the ground. Should I tell her? I thought. I took another look at her, nervousness starting to flare inside of me. Would she understand?
I stamped my hoof against the ground. I went for it. "It wasn't that spontaneous," I started. "My mother—" I started to choke up again. "S-she was called for service under Queen Chrysalis. My father said he tried to convince her not to go, but she wouldn't listen. T-to serve under our greatest leader is a huge honor. She c-couldn't let it down.
"But then... two years ago, my father and I received a letter." As if I couldn't cry any more, I was about ready to sob. "'Condolences to Caesar and Reiss,' it said. 'Ramona, the mother of this family, died in a great battle in C-Canterlot.' That's all it said. There was no praise, there was no sympathy. Just 'condolences'.
"If you want to know why I didn't kill you, here's why: I know how it feels to mourn. I know that impact of death, that feeling that is worse than itself. I can't do that to anyone, even if I was convinced they were my mortal enemy."
I broke down right in front of her, sobbing like a little foal. I felt pathetic doing this, but for some reason, I couldn't stop. It was like holding back a broken dam.
Then, Fluorescence did something that surprised me. She hugged me. She was damp and smelled vaguely of urine, but regardless, she hugged me, just about as tight as my dad had on that day. When she pulled away, her eyes looked glassy.
"To tell the truth, I don't understand the pain of death," she admitted in a soft voice. "I'm fortunate to have close friends and family members still around. But, even if I'm two years late..." She smiled lightly. "... I'm here to mourn with you."
I stared at her for a second. Then I managed a small smile. "Thank you," I said. Then I stood. "But we need to get you back to your town. Besides, I wouldn't want you to be separated from your loved ones any longer."
She looked back up at me and nodded. "Yeah," she agreed, and stood back up. "We've got a long way to go."
I looked ahead of me, the broken ground and sagebrush of the badlands stretching over the horizon. "Maybe longer than you expect. You see, I'm not really familiar with this area."
Fluorescence shot me an adorable determined look. "Well, good thing I know this area soundly. I've been in three battles before this one in this common area. I could most likely walk home in my sleep."
My smile grew. "Well, you aren't sleeping until the sun's about to rise."
"If that's the case," Fluorescence said, "maybe you can tell me more about yourself to me, and I to you to pass the time?"
I considered it, but when I found that I'd told her my deepest and darkest secret, I nodded. "Yeah, that would be great."
She smiled in the cutest way that I thought was possible, and we started walking.
"So," I said, "I had my turn. It's your turn, now."
She nodded, and adverted her gaze to the ground. "Hmm... where to begin..."
The east horizon was bluing when we arrived at her town. Fluorescence said it was a small town, with a population of only one and a half thousand people.
I couldn't believe her. We had had eight hundred civilians before the latest battle, and we managed to cram them within two or three acres.
And the population seemed to match the number of buildings there. They were all very wealthy-looking ones, wood-built, towering from one story to about three stories. They were decorated in a good mix of color that shone in flickering streetlamps, sun-bleached yellows and oranges and reds prominent.
My jaw dropped to the earth. "How can you say this is not big?" I echoed my thoughts. "This is freaking humongous !"
Fluorescence nodded from side to side. "As compared to your village, yeah."
I took a second look around the town, catching windmills and long cylinder-like things sticking out from the earth—grain silos, as Fluorescence told me.
"Your town doesn't look all that combat-oriented," I blurted a thought. Fluorescence raised an eyebrow at me. "I-I mean, with being in our territory, I thought you might have strong defenses and a high military-type thing going on."
"We only act out of self defense. We never—" Fluorescence picked at the earth for a moment with a pained look. "Most of us never go looking for a fight."
I had seen that look before. When I came about the subject of war and how she got in, she would be very vague and put on that expression. Should I pretend to be ignorant? I asked myself. I don't want her to feel so uncomfortable. I studied her expression once more. Whatever she was hiding, it was way less open than my continued mourning about my mother.
A ring started in my ears as I spoke again, "You don't like being a military forward, do you?" As soon as I said that, I became lightheaded, as if I had made a big mistake.
But all Fluorescence did was sigh. "I don't... ah... I..." Her expression gained in intensity, to the point where I was intimidated by her. She sighed again. "You are correct," she said bitterly, "I don't like doing what I'm doing. Especially after what I saw in your village. I was forced to be in the army, to attack you. I am a unicorn with abundant skill in magic. Light magic, including electricity. I can blind my opponent, and/or electrocute them. It's a very effective offensive tactic. What quote-on-quote underground army wouldn't recruit a pony like me?
"But I had no interest in the army, then and now. What happened was... I was kidnapped. I was forced in training at the expense of my life. I'd tried escaping multiple times regardless, but before they could beat me to death, they decided to let me live.
"I 'got my head straight' at that point, or, that's what they'd tell me. I was done resisting and complied with training. I was one of the best in hoof-to-hoof combat in my troop, as well as magic. But I was reluctant to use my abilities.
"Then, there came a point where I absolutely had to. The previous victories we had over you imply that I have your kin's blood on my hooves. As the battles continued, I grew more arrogant, and a grudge was slowly nurtured inside of me against you. But for some reason, I was not oblivious to my foe. I saw traces of companionship, what I would call disgusting and offensive. Through that window, though, I saw concern. I saw fear. I heard pleas for life. But, I was like a war machine."
I didn't notice my heart was racing, and I'd taken a few steps back from her. She was a cold-blooded murderer! I thought, my head throbbing with my heartbeat.
Fluorescence caught my gaze. She sighed once more. "I can see why you're afraid. I wouldn't blame you if you turned around and left right now. I killed plenty of your kin, and now I should be held responsible."
I swallowed a cannonball down my throat. As much as I wanted to hit the ground running, I couldn't. I felt so many things at once that I couldn't make a decision to do anything, much less talk. But as my mind started to clear, I realized I had nowhere to run; I wasn't paying attention to the path.
"W-why, then," I started, my voice hoarse, "didn't you add me to those numbers you killed? You sound like you could've done away with me."
Fluorescence nodded. "You said you can't kill, but your speed and agility were top notch when I engaged you in combat. I thought, surely, my life was taken from me then. I was so astonished that I had been bested, and your words put me into a shock. I complied, because I didn't want to die. To be completely honest, while you held me captive, I was greatly considering doing away with you and run. But as my thought process was cleared when you took care of me, even inside that small, woodcraft box..." Her voice faltered. "Anyways, like you said before, I need to get back to my village. But, I need to remember to lay low."
I was put on edge when she'd hesitated. I didn't wind down until a moment after she said that. "Actually..." I searched around the area. We were on high ground, overlooking the town, with a single Joshua tree at the crest of the hill. Probably... I thought. "Like you said, you need to lay low. I can't opt out of this upcoming battle, as I've said before. I will scout this town, find its weakness, and I hope to Chrysalis that Evras' plan will be denied. But I'll do my best to protect you from the, ah, quote-on-quote underground army."
Fluorescence shot me a confused look. "Why... why would you do that?"
I shrugged, though there was a nervous stirring inside me that made me sort of nauseous as I said, "Because I li—" I caught myself before I finished that statement. "I have a job to do. And I wouldn't want to have my hard work tonight be wasted—at least, not this soon."
She'd cocked her head at the unfinished statement. Then she nodded. "That's understandable. I'll be careful."
I nodded back and cleared my throat. "Now, if you don't mind, I am going to play as you alleged stalker and find weaknesses in your defense, m'kay?"
She giggled with a nervous edge. "Yeah. Good luck with that."
I nodded again and turned for the Joshua tree.
"Oh, and Reiss?"
"Yeah?"
She adverted her gaze to the ground once more. "Thank you... for, you know, not killing me and all."
I managed a small smile. "No problem."
Fluorescence looked back up at me again and smiled. "I'll leave you to your work then," she said, and then she walked down the foot of the hill, and broke to a gallop in the main avenue.
For probably the millionth time, I wasn't sure I was right to keep her alive.
The sun was directly over me, its glossy haze descending on the valley. At first, I didn't know what was going on, but as my vision cleared of a dream-like haze, I remembered everything that happened prior.
I wanted to punch myself in the gut. Dammit, Reiss, you fell asleep! I yelled internally. I slowly stood up in the hot summer blaze, and I studied the town once again.
The square was riddled with ponies, making a sort of warawara that could be heard from maybe a mile away; chatting and laughter, scraping of tools on earth and the rolling of wheels and clanking of cargo on an unpaved road.
I found myself amazed once more. Not entirely in a good way. The noise is obnoxious! I thought. Back in my village, we all lived separately, minding our own business until combined business came.
But this... this was a disturbance in nature!
I shook my head from its befuddled state. Weaknesses in design, I forced, The uphill slant into the valley, obviously.
But no matter what I thought of, I ended up being sidetracked, almost intentionally. I couldn't let Evras know everything about the town! But I couldn't come back with nothing.
"Woah, wait!" A faint voice called, masculine and gritty from the streets below. "What in Celestia's name is that?"
Only then did I realize that the pony was referring to me, pointing up to the hilltop and looking as if he'd seen a beast.
I ducked behind the Joshua tree and cursed under my breath. Yes, Reiss, you're a changeling, I confirmed. Reality check: they hate your guts. I risked a look past the trunk of the tree. I sighed out of relief when nobody climbed up the hill to investigate.
I considered any possibilities. I can't go down into the town now, I thought, But I can't return with this less information. I'd figured we could do something with the grain supply, but that would require breaking into the town's ranks, and we wouldn't succeed.
Most of us don't go looking for a fight, I remembered Fluorescence saying. ... And they have enough ponies to act out of defense, I finished. Sending a small party anywhere would be suicide. Even Evras' plans to send in the first command to do the job is flawed in that way.
I crinkled my muzzle. Actually, Evras' plan is screwed up in every way possible.
I looked behind me. I could find my way back... however, that was a bad idea. Without water in a hot, summer desert climate, and given x-distance, I would have heat stroke and most likely die before I reached the village. Whichever way I looked at it, I was stuck in this town until I had resources and a way back.
A phrase popped into my head: "I have no problem with that," I had said to those jerkwads back at the village.
Dammit! I yelled at myself. Why didn't I think this through? My face went slack for a second. Probably because I was twitterpated.
I studied over the town again. I had to go down there sooner or later, whether I liked it or not. Death wasn't a priority for me. Then an idea sparked into my mind. Maybe... I felt a sort of heat wave travel from my front to my back. The body of the pony I'd turned into felt stiff and heavy, but it would suffice.
I climbed down the face of the hill down into the Valley-of-Almost-Certain-Imprisonment.
From sort-of-afar, the town looked big. From inside the streets, though, its ginormousity made me feel one hundred times smaller. I honestly felt intimidated by everything, alien-ess and cultural bias aside.
I took a deep, long breath. 'Kay, I thought, Chinks in the armour of this holy-crap-huge town—
"Hey, Braeburn!" came a voice behind me with a vague southern accent. "I thought you had business with the buffalo tribe!"
I continued walking.
"Braeburn? What's up?"
A jolt of lightning surged through my body in an uncomfortable snap . He was talking to me.
I bit back a curse. "Ah, it was delayed on short notice." I clamped my eyes shut. I was lucky enough to see the guy and hear him talking, though not that much. If the accent mask didn't work...
"Ah, okay," the voice acknowledged, with no discernible change in tone. I held back a sigh of relief. "So, what're you gonna do in the meantime? Me and a couple friends are goin' to the bar and grab an apple cider or two."
"Ah, no thanks," I said, keeping back a gag. "I'll just check on the orchard."
"Oh, right. You are, in fact, an Apple, are you?"
I couldn't tell if he was insulting me or asking a rhetorical question, so I took it as such and continued through the town.
Beside the uphill advantage, there was hardly any way to best this town. I checked the town twice, thrice, so many times I couldn't even count. We could take out the silos, but that would require going around the town, and the town was huge. It would take quite some time to pull that off, and it required going through the town. There were barbed wire fences that I'd overheard were closed overnight at any street going in and out of the town. That wasn't much of a problem, because of our flying abilities. But there were active guards out night and day.
I grimaced. What the hell were you thinking, Evras? I thought. This is officially suicide.
"Gh! Dammit! Braeburn! Help!" a voice gurgled.
I recognized that voice immediately. I turned, and there she was. Fluorescence. And, three more ponies. Two were there, I guess for support, and the one in front of them both was holding a rope.
That's when I realized Fluorescence had that same rope tied around her neck.
I did what I always do in front of these things. I froze. Time seemed to have stopped, and fear instilled itself in me again. That's right... I thought. Time started to quicken, and she struggled in slow motion, wide, pleading eyes staring at me.
I couldn't leave this alone. I had to do something. The problem is, I didn't know the character I was disguised as. I could look out of place. And I didn't know what they'd do to me, after they'd discovered that I was a changeling.
I sneered. I... I had to do it.
"EYES HERE, MOTHERBUCKERS!" I screamed, as the heat wave once again sweeped over me. The three's eyes widened. Before they could call out any orders, I was already on them. I focused on loosing the noose around Fluorescence's neck, and wrapping all the killers up. I lit my horn, and it happened.
Except one slipped out before it tightened.
"You changeling bastard!" yelled the one that had held the noose. He came at me so fast, that before I could blink, I was already on the ground. He put his hoof across my neck and leaned on it, cutting off my air. I gurgled as time slowed down again. Those wide eyes, full of malice, and fear.
Throughout this time, however, I was completely calm. Even though I was on the brink of asphyxiation, I felt like I could do anything.
I need to get this guy off me, I thought. I didn't know what I was imagining, but a burst of darkness surged from my horn, knocking him a few stories into the air. Before I could process what was happening, he landed on the ground with a sickening crunch!
I slowly got up, and everything hit me right there. I fell back down again, in denial, at first, then it all rushed over me at one moment. I gagged. Have I... I thought. My stomach churned once again, and I chucked it up. ... I did.
Feeling lightheaded, I looked at Fluorescence, and with the look she had, I was sure it was over. She look absolutely frightened, almost more than she did when she was near death. Sweating, I gasped, "I'm sorry... I... I wasn't in control."
The background noise started picking up again.
"We have a changeling over here!"
"He killed a citizen!"
Fluorescence's expression changed to a troubled one. She put a hoof in front of the other, rubbing her foreleg almost nervously. She glanced at me, then back to the ground. When she looked back up at me, she mouthed something that I couldn't figure out until a few seconds later.
Go.
I nodded, and upped myself and ran southward, the direction we came. But before I could even move, a line of guards came from an intersection and cut me off. I turned and ran the other way, but it was too late; guards had blocked that way off as well.
This is it, I thought, I'm going to die here. It's over.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the guards to capture me, when somepony ran into me... yet, it wasn't an offensive maneuver. I cracked open my eyes. Fluorescence was in front of me, hugging me. The guards behind her stopped in their tracks, narrowing their eyes to study just what was going on.
"Girl, get away from the changeling!"
"He's going to be your next victim! Run!"
Her embrace only tightened. "I'm not leaving you behind, Reiss," she whispered. She broke the hug and walked to the center of the street.
"F-Fluorescence!" I called to her, but she held her hoof up to me, motioning me to stop.
"Is this what us ponies are?" she asked the guards. Except, It wasn't only the guards. She turned to the entire audience there. "Prejudice, afraid? You may think you have every right to hate the changelings. But hating a whole race for an attack that some of them didn't even participate in? That's a whole new level of cowardice!"
Ponies in the crowd started to murmur amongst themselves.
"And trust me, I know a hell of a lot of cowards." She placed her hoof at her chest. "I was one of them. I was driven by a learned hate, but also fear for my life. That scene you saw today. I was driven by fear since day one with the alleged 'underground army'. They threatened to kill me if I didn't work with them. And they damn well could've. But, Reiss," –She gestured to me– "he saved me from those monsters. Believe it or not, he's not a killer.
"And now, you want to kill him because of somepony else's transgression. That's the most cowardice that I've ever seen. So, do the brave thing. Give him a chance! Do not kill him because he's a changeling! Dammit, give him a benefit of a doubt!"
There was silence all around. Even I didn't dare make a noise.
But the silence was quickly broken by one of the guards.
"Take both of them down!" the guard said. "They're a threat to the peace!"
Then a black arrow pierced through his chest, and he collapsed.
My eyes widened. Shit... I cursed, Not here... not now!
Black arrows soared through the air, faster than I could follow, and hit many-a-foe. Guards, and innocent bystanders. The changelings were high above the ground, grey aura surrounding their weapons. But then, I caught eye of one of them aim their arrow at me.
"Reiss!" Fluorescence yelled. Before I knew it, I was off my hooves, and on the ground again.
Shunk!
Fluorescence caught my eyesight again. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she smiled sadly, followed with a black arrow stuck in her side.
Everything went mute. Her limp body hit the ground, rolling, the black arrow snapping beneath her. I slammed against the ground as another arrow came and pierced my leg. I didn't even bother to respond to the pain. Where... I thought, ... where did this go? One second, I'm scouting... the next... I shuddered, the background noise and pain coming to me again. Death... so much death.
Beside me, a changeling landed next to me.
My dad.
"I wish I could unsmell what I did back there." he said. He was choked up.
I grunted. The pain was getting to me. "So you did smell her..."
My dad nodded slowly. His breathing was erratic. He clamped his eyes shut. "Damn it all. Just..." He opened his eyes, and stared into mine. "... Just deny this all! Just say that you didn't do this! Please!"
I looked up at him, raising an eyebrow weakly.
"We... we could start over again! Get that arrow out of you! We can be just as we were... father and son!" He stifled a sob. "PLEASE! I... I CANNOT LOSE MY FAMILY LIKE THIS!"
I was extremely tempted to say what he wanted me to say. But, all I knew was Fluorescence was dead... if not, she would be soon. But, thinking about her, her final words popped into my mind. Fear of death is the same concept, I thought. Hell, this is all driven by that fear. The prejudice, the grudges, the everything! I looked down to the ground. I... I can't be a coward! I won't go back there! I clamped my eyes shut. I'm sorry, dad.
"I..." I croaked, "I CANNOT DENY WHAT I DID! THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF FEAR, DAD! FEAR OF REJECTION, FEAR OF DEATH! I WILL NOT LIVE WITH THIS FEAR! NOT ANYMORE!!!"
I looked back into my dad's eyes, vision blurred with tears of my own. He looked at the ground with dead eyes.
"Then, I'm sorry..." he sobbed. He raised his bow to my head. "I know, and you know, that black arrows are poisoned. This way... this way you won't feel the excruciating pain." He knocked the arrow. "Goodbye, son..."
Shunk!
"Mom? Mom!"
I bounded to the front door, where my mother was waiting. She smiled, slightly but sadly.
"Reiss..." She bet over and hugged me, with her army gear on that smelled of sweet roses. I sniffled in her arms, tears in my eyes.
"D-do you have to go?" I asked, trying to keep back the tears.
Mom nodded, taking in a shaky breath. "Yeah. Mommy has to go, sweetie." She started crying. "And... mommy probably won't be back... for a long time."
Her hesitation freaked me out. She was normally upbeat and nice. But now, she was just sad.
"Listen to me, sweetie," mom said. "When the time comes, you'll do something great. And... and through some miracle you will continue to do so. I've seen you do it... I know you can do it."
"... Ramona?" My dad appeared behind me, voice shaky with tears. Mom looked up, looked at him the same longing way she always did. I always thought that she was just missing him already... but it was something more...
"Dad?" I asked as he paced about the adobe.
"Hmm?"
"Who are these ponies you and and Steins keep on talking about?"
My dad's eyes widened. "You... you've been eavesdropping?"
I shrugged. "What does it matter?"
"It matters, son." My dad took in a deep breath. "Ponies, huh? Well, they're icky creatures living beyond the village. They threaten our way of lifestyle. They eat all vegetation, not meat and such. They live in groups and are loud. And I daresay they are all motivated by sexual drive. Most importantly, though, these are our natural nemeses. They try to take our land for theirs, and kill many of us while they're at it. They have killed many of our kin. But now is the counterattack." My dad placed his hoof over his heart. "We will reclaim our land. We have to."
No, they're not, dad! I thought. I grew in size, to match my current height. You've been deceived from the very beginning.
I felt vertigo. I was completely still, but yet, it seemed I was flying upward at hundreds of miles an hour. Everything appeared to be glossy around me, almost surreal.
But then, just like that, the vertigo suddenly stopped. I was able to move now, like I was void of gravity. I spread my tattered wings to stop me from front-flipping.
In front of me, there was a silhouette. It was solid, and had a feminine figure. It stood tall above the earth—or whatever she was standing on—taller than any pony I've ever seen. Atop the crown of her head was a cone-shaped thing, like a horn.
Her voice echoed off the emptiness around her as she proclaimed something in a language that sounded vaguely like Latin. Then, she finally said, "Reiss, I am grateful you found the truth out."
My ears twitched. That voice, I thought, could that be... no. She just can't be her... my mom...
I knew I was lying to myself. I felt connected to her as if I'd been with her my whole life, and she had the figure of her.
"Are you surprised, my little pony?" She looked down. "... Son."
I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was seeing a ghost. I was unsure whether to be angry at her, or relieved that she was there. "Mom..." I whispered in near unbelief.
The light started to drift overhead, and I could see her smile. "Yes. I'm happy to see you again."
I couldn't help but smile now. A tear dribbled down my face. "Mom..." I looked around me. "Does this mean I'm gone? I mean..."
"For the time being, yes."
"Huh?"
"Reiss, I have something to tell you. Something that you and your father have semi-figured out through your lives."
My heart sank. I did not like the way she said that. Could my dad... be dead? I thought.
The area around us dimmed. To either side of me, there floated a diagram. No, I thought, a map. It was rather labyrinth-like, with a circular design and many streets diverging and converging again. In the center there seemed to be a four-tipped star with blunted edges. A building? I thought.
But I remembered the map. It was in a book I think... the four-tipped star in the middle of the labyrinth was a castle. The Crystal Castle to be precise.
She was showing me a map of the Crystal Empire.
"Thousands of years ago," my mom started, "Discord took the world, leading it into a slue of slavery and fear." The area darkened further, the map turning red. The map quickly shrunk, and a group of white dots appeared, far away from the Crystal Empire. "There were freedom fighters who fought against him, but we haven't got enough time for that lecture.
"Aside from the freedom fighters, there was another deviation of common understanding." The map zoomed out even further, showing the entire Equestrian continent, but along with several others I did not recognize. Red dots grew in seemingly random areas like sparks in fire. I imagined rounding up all the red dots and putting them in one place. That was only a little less of thirty percent of the world. "These ponies were called the 'Discordians'. Ponies who actually worshiped Discord as a god.
"They became part of Discord's army, and they fought valiantly. But when the fateful day came, when Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's reclaimed the throne, the Discordian numbers fell dramatically." Almost half of the red dots faded from the world map. "Some died in battle. Most casualties were caused by execution. But what happened to the remaining half? They wandered in the wilderness and dwindled into nothing. All they were was a shell. A shell that could take form as other existing ponies, and feed off of love."
Us, I thought. The changelings. So my dad was onto something.
"Now," my mom continued, the display fading, and light started seeping through again, "you are on the rise. You are gaining personality, a sense of purpose and a reason to live. You are no longer empty husks anymore. Now it's time for you to live once again."
The air in front of me glowed and started to hum. Suddenly, a mirror appeared out of thin air.
"Look into the mirror, and tell me what you see," my mom ordered.
I did as she said. And what I saw shocked me. A pony stallion was in the reflection, with a long brown mane and a grey-ash coat stood in my reflection. No horn, no wings. He followed every movement I did; tilting my head to the side, pitching slightly in the anti gravity; everything I did, he did.
"Wha...?" I mumbled.
"The time will come when you shed your dark skin and become what you really are." My mom smiled. "However, that day is not today, nor is it near. But I'm not joking around when I say that you are different than what you used to be."
I nodded. "Right."
She nodded back. "Now, we are out of time. It's not your time to die yet, Reiss. That is a long time away. I will send you back down to Equestria. Your girlfriend is in danger. She doesn't have much time until the black arrow's poison takes her."
My eyes popped wide open. "B-but she's not my girlfriend!"
My mom smirked. "Yet."
I blushed redder than red. "Yep, you're definitely my mom."
She smiled. "I will miss you, my son. I love you."
I smiled. "Love you too."
A teardrop shimmered down her face as vertigo suddenly hit me again. This time, though, I was falling to fast. It felt like I was never going to reach terminal velocity. I saw my lifeless body, black arrows burning from it, zoom toward me. Before I could brace myself, I came in contact.
I sat up swiftly, effectively scaring some of the townsponies around me. I looked to my side.
I wished I didn't.
There lay Caeser, head smashed in, shot with dozens of white arrows. I held back my rage. It simply wasn't time for that. Never would be a time like that.
We didn't receive word of Evras' attack being stopped, I thought. Then my eyes widened. No... this can't be...
"I always knew you were a traitor, " gurgled Evras' voice.
I turned. There he was, with an arrow sticking out of his chest, pinned to the ground.
I galloped toward him and placed my hoof on his throat. "How many died?" I demanded.
All Evras did was laugh.
I put more pressure on his throat. "How. Many?"
"All of them!" he rasped. "I led the entire village to battle. Those who resisted died."
I took a step back in disbelief. My village... I thought, ... was wiped out? Anger bubbled up inside me. "You son of a bitch !" I kicked him in the side, misplacing the arrow just enough to have him wail in pain. I took a step back before I had the chance to put him out of his misery. I need to go, now, I thought, taking a deep breath.
"Hey," I called to the townsponies. "Where's the hospital around these parts?"
As I've heard, almost everything here was ran by earth ponies. Even the hospital.
They were not going to get the black arrow out of there without magic.
My hoofsteps echoed in the hall, more constantly as I picked up the pace. I was told that she was taken to the very back of the first floor, and the hallway was longer than long. Finally, I burst through the doors of the room. The doctors nearly went self defense on me when I explained what was happening.
"I can use magic to remove the black arrow and its poison," I said. "So you need to trust me."
"How can I trust you?" one of the doctors sneered. "You little—"
"That's enough, Ember," said another doctor. "We need every chance we can get." She turned and looked at me. "You say you can remove the arrow and its poison?"
"Yes," I confirmed. "I can."
"If I may ask," said Ember in a peeved tone, "what relations do you have with Ms. Fluorescence here?"
I shrugged. "I was her captivator." I lit my horn before any of them could say anything to me. A grey aura surrounded Fluorescence. Her right side, I remembered, and sure enough, there the stub was. The aura faded around her whole body and surrounded the arrowtip.
I grimaced before I did it. "Be ready to dress the wound," I said as I tugged the arrow out. It was harder than I expected, but at the end, it popped out of the wound, resulting with me being a sweaty mess. I pulled the poison out with it. I wasn't too keen with blood, so I had one of the doctors help me dispose of it before I got sick. The doctors wrapped layers of bandage over a large gauze pad and pinned it together with a safety pin.
Now, the moment of truth, I thought. I was nervous beyond all belief. I was afraid my heart was going to pop from my chest when the doctors finally reported back to me.
"She's going to be okay," they concluded. "She'll have to be bedridden for the next week or so."
I sighed out of relief. "Good, good."
The doctor, Ember, walked to my side. "So... captivator, huh?"
"Nothing illegal; I was doing it for her life."
He scoffed. "Nothing illegal? I've heard of the likes of you. Using sex as a motivator."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm pretty sure I've heard the same from my race to yours."
"Pft. As if. But you can go back to your village now."
"My village was wiped out."
"Well, good for them."
My eye twitched. "Hey, doc. Do you, y'know, want your ass kicked?"
"This conversation is now over," Doctor Ember blurted.
"Hmph. Yeah, it'd better be."
We sat in silence for about two seconds.
"So," Doctor Ember started, "would you mind telling me of your misadventures here?"
"I wouldn't call them misadventures," I said. "But fine, I'll tell you."
"Reiss?" a weak voice said. "Reiss, wake up."
I cracked my eyes open. In the small room, I had settled down on the glinting tile floor and... took a nap, I guess. Fluorescence was on a stretcher in the almost over-sanitary, white room, her cute eyes half-open. She managed a smile. "Come here," she invited.
I obliged. I walked over to her and stroked her mane. She nuzzled against my hoof.
"So, how long have I got in here?" she asked.
"'A week or so,'" I said, quoting the doctors.
"Ah," she acknowledged. "That's too bad. I wanted to ask you out sometime this week."
I blushed and crossed my forelegs. "Well, this could be considered a date..."
"Are you kidding?" she said. "Lying in a stretcher and recovering from an arrow wound is not fun at all."
"Hmm..." I put a hoof up to my chin. "We could break you out," I joked.
"Please don't pee on my again," she played along.
"You almost sound ungrateful," I said.
We shared a light laugh, and boy, did it feel good to laugh again. When we calmed down, the nurse walked in and nearly dropped what she was holding.
"H-how...?" the scared nurse stuttered.
I smiled. "Well, I guess I'll be going, before I give the nurse more of a heart attack."
Fluorescence nodded. "Okay, but... before you do..." She was blushing a bright red. She pushed herself from the stretcher and our lips met. I personally didn't know what to do. I'd never kissed anyone before. I just decided to follow her movements, between lip lock and lip lock. When we broke the kiss, my heart fluttered.
She smiled. "See you, Reiss."
I stumbled back in awe. "I see you too—er, I mean, bye!" I walked out of the room, the nurse looking as if she was about to faint.
Though many things horrible that day happened, despite all of them, I felt happy for the first time since the past week. I had done my job, I got her back to her village, and possibly put a stake through the heart of the underground army.
And was it worth it? Yes, Fluorescence, it was.