Snow, Sleet, And Secrets

I don't know how long I was out for, but when I was able to open my eyes, the room was dark. The only light came from the fireplace in front of me thanks to the very small fire burning away, barely more than a kindling flame. I slowly moved my eyes to scan the room and the memories came flooding back. The Changelings, the fight, my loss, the stallion. The stallion!

I raised my head to look around, but then my sense of feeling came back. It felt like my whole body had been run over by a chariot, and then backed over with said chariot when the drivers thought they may have lost some luggage and backtracked. Very slowly, I reached up with my uninjured foreleg and felt the left side of my face. The medical square was still there, and so was the tenderness of my new stitches. My neck didn't fare any better as I tried to look back at myself. My chest hurt too, very badly. A fire was beginning to burn whenever I inhaled, and even though it would falter with my exhales, it continued to grow now that I was awake. I let out a soft groan as I settled back into the cushion of the couch.

"Bet you feel pretty terrible," said a calm voice.  I managed to hang my head off the edge of the couch and look over at the recliner. The white pony from before sat there, gently rocking back and forth with a book in one hoof and a glass of liquor in the other. He idly sipped from his glass, and I heard the clink of ice cubes.

I groaned at him again for an answer to his question.

The stallion waited a long time to speak again.

"Would you like something for the pain?"

I gave a swift nod in response. The stallion set his glass down on the arm of the chair, reached over the side, and returned with the bottle of brandy he had used to clean my wounds. He held it out to me. "I know it's not much, but I don't have any real medicine in the house."

I reached out for it with my right foreleg, grimacing as I did; the action caused me to stretch my back, which really hurt. But I took the bottle from him and partook of a small sip.

"Thanks," I croaked out, the action of talking making my whole face hurt. The stallion didn't reply. I took another sip of the drink, and the cold liquid burned its way down my gullet. The stallion did the same with his own drink.

I licked my lips. "...What's you name?" I asked through my teeth.

"Pardon?" he asks, moving the book aside and looking directly at me.

"Your name," I repeated. "What's your name?"

The white stallion stared at me for a few seconds, and then those seconds dragged on into a minute. He opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it again. A hissing wheeze comes out, and he clears his throat.

"Ahm, sorry. It's been a few years since anypony asked me that."

"A few years?" I asked him. "How long have you been out here?"

The stallion looks up at the ceiling. "...About six now? I think. It was real tough for the first part, but since the Crystal Empire reappeared, I can go in and trade things when I really need to." He nodded to himself. "...My name is Clandestine. If it's a bit too wordy for you, you can call me Clad."

I nodded at him. "Clandestine. I'm Lavender Comet. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but it's still nice to meet you." Clad didn't answer, but he did turn back to his book. I adjusted my position so I wasn't putting too much weight on my leg, but doing so sparked the fire in my chest. "So, why are you out here, all alone?"

"I don't talk about that," he stated curtly. "With anypony," he added.

"Is it because you are out here with nopony to talk to?" I asked him.

Clandestine sighed, then slightly turned his head to acknowledge me. "I'm out here all alone because I don't like interacting with others. I like being alone."

I cock my head at him. "For somepony who likes being alone, you sure know a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you knew just what to do when you found me," I said. He huffed and returned to his book. "What were you doing out in a blizzard, anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Comet," he replied. "I was out foraging for food."

"Food?" I repeated. "What kind of food can you find out here?"

"Rock candy, Evergrew roots, the occasional ice truffle." Clad rolls a hoof in the air. "I scrounge what I can get. Evergrew roots are pretty good, and they grow in huge bunches right beneath the dirt. Harvesting them doesn't hurt the tree and they regrow in about six weeks, so If I keep tabs on five trees at the minimum, I won't starve."

"How much do you eat?" I asked offhoofedly.

"I get by with four roots a day, with the rare treat of finding an ice truffle or hunk of rock candy," Clad answered. He reached over the edge of his recliner and brought up a small object. "This is as big as I can find them, but I find a lot." he said as he tossed me the root.

I reached up and caught it, hissing as I did. The root was so puny, almost five inches long and barely an inch thick. This would barely be three mouthfuls, and he lived on four of these a day? No wonder he was so thin.

"Go ahead and eat it," he said, bringing my thoughts back to myself. "I have a few extra saved up, so you should be able to stay fed until the blizzard passes." With that, he turned a page and sipped from his drink, emptying the glass.

I was about to say something, but my stomach rumbled just then. Not making an actual noise, but I felt it. I thanked him accordingly and looked back at the root in my hooves. Mentally shrugging, I raised it to my mouth and took a small bite.

The blandness of the root caught me off-guard; I was somewhat expecting it to taste like mint or something, but no. It was just a very tasteless chewy piece of stringy plant fibers that held a bit of a spicy aftertaste so faint you couldn't even tell it was there. Thinking about it, How would rock candy taste? Or one of those ice truffles? If it was anything like this root, then it must have been a very long time since Clandestine had eaten anything with real flavor. There really wasn't anything out in the snowplains to cook with, or to do really. Just survive, I suppose.

My mind drifted back to the Changelings. I cleared my throat as soon as I finished my mouthful to get Clad's attention.

"Hey Clandestine, can I ask you something?"

"What?" he answered, not looking up from his book.

"When you fought with those Changelings, it seemed like... Well, it seemed like they were scared. I've never seen a Changeling scared of anything." Clandestine took in a breath and shifted in his seat. "Were they scared of you?" I asked.

"Of course they were scared of me," he said. "And they still should be. This isn't the first time I've dealt with them."

"Say what now?" I straightened up, ignoring the pain. If Clandestine had tangled with the bugs before, he could help us. "You've fought them before?"

"It's rare, but every once in a while a few Changelings cross paths with me," he said, still reading. "The Changelings know where I live, and try to stay away, but there are always those few that don't get the message."

"And what message would that be?" I questioned.

Clandestine read a few more sentences in his book before looking over at me. "The message I have clearly presented to them is that in this section of snowy wonderland, I am the alpha. I will fight to defend what's mine, and I don't give a damn who I fight. Their so-called queen already knows this, and she's not happy."

"You have Chrysalis after you!?" I nearly yelled.

"Faust no," he replied, his ears twitching in irritation. "As if she's really going to make an appearance for a little nuisance like me."

"You never know," I said.

"Yeah, well..." Clandestine returned to his book. "Buck her, and buck the rest of them."

"If the Changelings bug you so much, have you ever..." I rolled my hoof, "considered moving to the Empire?"

"No," he said sternly.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Drop it Comet," he replied. "I don't talk about my past."

"I wasn't asking about your past."

"You were leading up to it."

I shook my head. "I was just asking why you haven't moved into the city."

Clandestine grinds his teeth for a second before looking over at me. "I go into the city every once in a while to trade what little treasure I find out here for a bottle of liquor or two. I don't have any interest in moving because out here, this house is mine, and mine alone. This life here is mine, and even though there isn't much more to it than eat, sleep, and find more things to eat, it's still a life worth living. I will not abandon what I have made of myself!"

When his voice rose, I felt a shiver run up my spine. It was almost like I wasn't talking to a pony, but rather I was listening to a terrifying force. And that force was something to be reckoned with.

Clandestine Huffed a few times before closing his eyes. "...I apologize for that. I do not like to talk about myself. I don't like to talk much in general."