Love, not War

Mrs. Clarke took a minute to steady herself, eyes closed, seemingly thinking. “Well,” she said, “if I am to be hoodwinked, at the very least I made the right choice in doing so. Very well, I shall forward the message.”

Burning Ash politely nodded, and made as though to get up. Unfortunately, part of his armor caught on the chair, and he toppled forward, stifling a yelp as he crashed to the floor.

“You okay?” Isaac queried as the changeling shakily got to his feet.

“Yep. Fine, fine. Ah… that concludes our meeting. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, and… I hope you have a wonderful day!” Burning Ash concluded, hastily exiting the conference room.

Once he was out, making sure no one was around, he buried his face in his hooves. “Right at the end, I was doing so well,” he whined.

“Relax, you did fine,” Isaac soothed. “If anything, you’re more likable to her now.”

The changeling sniffled a little. “You’re just saying that,” he mumbled, and Isaac motioned for him to follow.

“No, I’m not. Really, you did really well. I’m pretty impressed,” Isaac continued, and Ash smiled.

“Well, at least I’ve got your vote of approval, the Queen can’t really complain if I got that much, can she?” he asked, and Isaac shrugged, feeling as though the Queen very much could complain.

“Never met her, so no idea. Speaking of which… what happens now?” he asked, and Burning Ash tugged at his armor.

“Well, I have to report back to the mothership, now that my job is done, so, um… I guess this is goodbye,” he replied, giving an embarrassed grin. Part of Isaac was reluctant to leave the changeling, as this had been the nicest alien he’d ever spoken to.

“Well, alright. Should I escort you back to your ship, or do you know where it is?” Isaac asked.

Burning Ash whipped out his wings, and began flying, a faint buzzing noise accompanying him. “I know where it is, I’ve got a tracker bug on it. Thanks again for your help, Isaac!” Burning Ash called as he flew away, forgetting that he’d never thanked Isaac in the first place. Isaac chuckled, and turned back to Mrs. Clarke’s door – he could hear muttering on the other side. Cautiously, Isaac put an ear to the door.

“Mr. President. The bio-bomb is a wonderful idea, but let's change who we're aiming at. We're trying to avoid the inevitable, not cause it...” she trailed off, and Isaac paled. Bio-bomb? He’d heard rumors about such technology – explosive shockwaves designed to only destroy animal cells. However, the complexity of the technology involved made such missiles almost impossible to propel - they would have to be dropped. If the United States had figured out a way to launch one at the changelings… the results could be disastrous. He had to warn them! Carefully, so as not to alert Mrs. Clarke, Isaac tiptoed away, making sure he was out of earshot before breaking into a mad dash for his car.

His whole plan relied on Burning Ash being a slow flier – which, from the few seconds Isaac had seen him flying, could well be true. He sped off along the highway, hoping he could reach his neighborhood in time. Ash had crashed the ship in his neighborhood, right? He thought he remembered the crashing noises to be really close, but hadn’t investigated. He drove in silence, becoming steadily more nervous as he failed to spot Burning Ash in the skies above.

Finally turning into his neighborhood, he spotted one of the black ships rising above the treetops just a few yards away from his house. Isaac hurriedly stopped the car, got out, and started waving. “HEY!” he yelled. “WAIT! STOP!” To his amazement, Burning Ash heard him, lowering the ship back down.

The front popped open in a rush of steam, and Ash poked his head out. “What? Did I forget something?” he asked indignantly.

“No, it’s not that! I listened at the door after you left, and Mrs. Clarke lied to us! She was talking to the President, and they’re planning to launch a bio-bomb at your ship! We need to warn them!” he hurriedly informed the changeling.

Burning Ash stared at him for a moment, then patted a space beside him in the cramped ship. “Hop in,” the changeling ordered, and Isaac obediently climbed in, curling himself around a toolkit in the diminutive space. The floor of the cockpit was carpeted, surprisingly, and Isaac felt strangely comforted by the familiar texture.

“You better not be lying about this, Isaac. And I’m not just saying that to intimidate you, okay? The Queen is a scary good lie detector. If she finds out you’re making this up, and I brought you all the way up here… I dunno what she’d do to you, but it wouldn’t be pleasant.” Isaac nodded.

“I’m not lying, so I have nothing to worry about,” he replied, and Burning Ash grinned.

“Heh. Let's hope so,” he chuckled, and pushed a joystick forward. The ship roared to life, and sprang off the ground, Isaac watching intently as they soared off into the sky.

A few minutes later, and Isaac was getting dizzy with vertigo. He was so high up, he could see the curvature of the Earth, and he was starting to hyperventilate. Noticing this, Ash looked back at him. “You alright? You seem a little pale, are you not getting enough oxygen?” the changeling queried, and Isaac stared at him, wanting nothing more than to be off this ship.

“I… I’m afraid of heights…” Isaac mumbled, and Burning Ash stared back for a moment before turning back to his console.

Isaac could almost see the lightbulb going off in the changeling’s head as he tapped at buttons and dials with his hoof. Finally, the transparent screen faded to black, and two words flashed: Autopilot set. “There!” Ash proudly announced. “If you can’t see that we’re high up, you won’t be afraid anymore, right? Just pretend we’re in a really small room.”

Isaac gave a weak chuckle. “Right…” he mumbled, trying to find a more comfortable position before giving up and laying back on the floor. He already did feel better, now that he couldn’t see outside their little ship. “Are all changelings as nice as you?” he asked, mainly to further take his mind off of things.

Burning Ash blushed green, and looked away. “Well, I mean, yeah, we’re all mostly pretty good, uh, in fact, I think a lot of the other changelings are nicer, and smarter, and flat out better than I am-“ Isaac stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No matter what anyone says, you’re the friendliest changeling I’ve ever met. Don’t think of yourself as any less,” he finished. It was the longest sentence he’d said to the changeling since they met, and for a moment it was silent in the cockpit.

“…Thank you,” Ash quietly whispered.

They traveled on, talking about anything and everything they could. Isaac learned quite a bit about changelings: That most of them had no set gender, their societal structure was mostly hive-based but not hive-minded, and that ‘love’ constituted anything from a hug and a kiss to warm feelings in their general vicinity. “Seriously? If someone so much as feels good around you, you can feed off of that?” he asked at the last one, cocking an eyebrow.

Ash eagerly nodded. “Yep! It’s like… we can smell it, or something, I don’t know how to describe it properly. But yeah, any feeling of attachment in our general area – that’s a viable food source. Mind you, I’m not saying we just go around feeding on every good feeling, because actual love – that’s the stuff. It’s like – it’s like the difference between a prince’s meal and a pauper’s, you know?”

Isaac laughed. “Fair enough. So, how does a… well, I don’t think ‘victim’ would be the right word. How does it feel to get fed off of?” he asked.

Burning Ash shrugged. “We changelings don’t feel anything, except we get hungry if our partner takes too much. From what I hear of those of us who were around when we left our home planet, it doesn’t feel like much of anything – though, it’s been a while since then, so maybe something got lost in the retelling? I dunno…” Ash trailed off, lost in thought.

“So, it’s not magical love or anything?” Isaac asked.

Ash looked over at him. “Of course it’s magic, all love requires magic, that’s how it works. Didn’t you humans learn anything?”

Isaac furrowed his eyebrows. “Not saying magic’s fake, but I’ve never seen any evidence of it on my planet. I don’t think it’s really a thing.”

Burning Ash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right, that’d be the day. A magic-less species – ridiculous. You’ve probably got some magic, it’s just hidden, or something,” he rebutted, and Isaac decided to drop the issue.

Thirty minutes later, both Burning Ash and Isaac were half-asleep from boredom. “Man, this is taking forever,” Isaac yawned.

“Yeah… autopilot can be pretty slow, it has to play everything safe…” Ash mumbled in response. “Hey, Isaac?” the changeling asked.

“Yeah?” Isaac replied.

“I heard from some of the higher-ups that we changelings were already known before we got here, like we were in a book, or something… is that true?”

Isaac went wide awake. “Uh…” he faltered. Did he really want to tell the truth? Well, lying would only get him in trouble. “Alright,” he sighed. “Truth is, there was a TV show called “My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic” that’s been on the air for a while, and you guys appeared in it. Some changeling named ‘Queen Chrysalis’ hijacked a wedding in order to feed on the love of the groom of Equestria’s Princess of Love, Princess Cadance, and invaded the city the wedding was being held in with an army of changelings. Long story short, you guys… were the bad guys. That’s probably why everyone back home is freaking out,” Isaac finished.

By this time, Burning Ash was now wide awake as well, and looking at him. “D’ya think… I’m evil?” he asked quietly.

Isaac viciously shook his head. “Dude, you’re nicer than a decent portion of humans. You’re not evil at all.”

Burning Ash smiled at him. “So, uh, if you did meet this ‘Chrysalis’, hypothetically speaking, and she, ah, didn’t do those things… would you still be mad at her?” he asked, and Isaac looked at him askance.

“If she didn’t do the crime, I can’t punish her for it. Besides, some of those ponies totally deserved it. That Princess Celestia, for one? Should’ve been punched way more. She’s… she’s a nightmare,” Isaac shuddered.

Ash stared at him. “So, wait, this ‘Princess Celestia’… she a tall, white pony, with wings and a horn?”

Isaac nodded. “That’s the one. Never liked her.”

Ash made a thoughtful hum, buzzing his wings in tune. “You sound like you’ve met her,” he observed shrewdly.

Isaac, taken aback, stared at him. “…Alright, I have,” he muttered. “I don’t want to talk about it, alright?” he added, seeing that Ash was about to ask something else.

“Okay, okay, not talking about it. Got it. Can do,” Ash hurriedly answered.

A few minutes later, a red light flashed on the console screen, and Ash hurriedly sat up. “We’re here!” he announced, and Isaac shifted himself into a vaguely sitting position, head bumping against the ceiling of the cockpit. “I’m going to turn the visuals back on, if you don’t mind, we should be close enough to the queenship that you won’t feel too dizzy,” Ash warned Isaac, who nodded.

The screen cleared, and Isaac stared around at the expanse of stars. “Wow…” he breathed. He was in space.

“Feeling alright?” Burning Ash asked, and Isaac nodded.

“Much better, thanks,” he answered as the changeling mothership got closer.

Up close, it was even more impressive: No seams or junctures were present, the whole ship looking like one smooth piece. Ash brought the ship into one of the pockmarks, which immediately closed up around them, surrounding them in pitch darkness. “This is normal, just so, um, you know,” Ash spoke, startling Isaac.

There was the sound of rushing air, and Ash looked over to the left. Following his gaze, Isaac was surprised to see another hole opening in the odd area they were currently in, the light shining through it reminding him of the exit to a long, dark tunnel into warm sunshine. “Alright, everything’s decompressed, we can come out now,” Ash chirped, and opened the cockpit. Isaac was instantly greeted with air that smelled as though it belonged in a mountainous valley, not in a spaceship.

“Nice air quality,” he complimented, and Ash chuckled.

“Yeah, not like the awful stuff you have down on your planet. Seriously, what’ve you been putting in your air? Kerosene?” the changeling asked, and it was Isaac’s turn to chuckle.

“Not… quite,” he answered, and Burning Ash looked at him curiously before deciding to drop it.

“Okay, so, the other changelings are going to be pretty nervous to see you, at first. But, um, I think if we explain to them why you’re here, they’ll let you through,” Burning Ash instructed, and Isaac nodded. He could only hope that the changelings would receive his warning in time.

They exited the hangar to find a series of corridors, steel doors lining the walls and even the ceiling. Strangely, gravity was in full effect here, though Isaac was surprised to find that it was slightly less than what he was used to. The whole thing was decorated with pulsing green tubes that occasionally flashed with some color: Sometimes blue, sometimes green, and most of the time red or pink. “Those transport emotional magic around the ship. Quick way of remembering which emotions are which colors: Blue’s bad, yellow’s good, green’s a mix, and red’s strong,” Burning Ash informed him, noticing where Isaac was looking.

Of course, the first few changelings who saw him screamed and ran. “Hey, wait! He’s friendly!” Burning Ash bellowed after them, but they were already gone.

“…Let’s just get to wherever your queen is, so we can tell her,” Isaac sighed.

“Right. Well… this way,” Burning Ash directed, setting off down a corridor.

“So, what’s this ship made of?” Isaac asked along the way, mainly to make conversation.

Burning Ash shrugged. “Dunno, but it keeps out the missiles, so I can’t complain.” As if to check whether his statement still held true, Ash looked out a nearby window at planet Earth. Isaac turned to look as well, taking in the breathtakingly blue-and-green sight before him. “Nice place, isn’t it?” Ash remarked, noticing his stare.

“Yeah…” Isaac breathed, barely able to form a sentence. It wasn't every day you saw stuff like this, after all.

“Hey… what’s that little black dot there?” Ash asked, pointing out the dot in question. Isaac squinted at it. It was centered over what looked to be New Mexico, and slowly getting bigger.

“Is that…” Isaac began, but was unable to finish his sentence as a green alarm began flashing. Intercoms sounded, the harsh electrical crackle permeating the blaring of the alarms as a monotone, sybilline whispering voice gave what appeared to be instructions.

Burning Ash’s eyes went wide as he listened, and he promptly ran for it, yelling over his shoulder “I’ll be right back! Stay there!”

Isaac looked back and forth, unsure of what to do. Ash had told him to stay there, but that missile was getting awfully close… The intercom continued to issue instructions of some type, and Isaac thought he detected a note of panic in its voice, despite the linguistic differences. As Isaac anxiously watched out the window, a bright blue force field expanded around the ship, getting closer and closer to the incoming missile…

Which phased right through as though it weren’t there.

“Screw it, I’m outta here,” Isaac proclaimed, panicking as he ran down the corridor in what he presumed was the direction to the far end of the ship. Hopefully, he could either make it back to the hangar in time to pilot a drone ship, or maybe just get far enough across the ship that he’d be in a safe area.

Of course, he never made it. There was a great echoing BOOM, and the hallway behind him shook as though caught in a massive earthquake. With the screech of tearing metal, the space behind him collapsed, pinning Isaac to the floor with a chunk of debris. As the ringing slowly faded from Isaac’s ears, the last thing he was aware of was the grayish-black, tiled floor below him. The last thought that flashed through Isaac’s mind was how clean it was.

And Isaac knew no more.