Alicorn Song

Alicorn Song

Chapter 2

Lu...Lu?

Celest slowly awoke, keeping her eyes closed as she stretched herself. The light of the morning sun was warming her coat through the window her bed stood under, and she could hear the sound of birds greeting a new day. She reminded herself, as her brain began to work properly, that she would have a lot to do today.

First of was her apartment. The owner was quite upset with her for being late with her rent last month, and he surely wouldn't be happy to hear that she was moving out for good. The young mare didn't care though. It hadn't been a great place to live to begin with, and she had only moved in there because it was the only place she could afford after her parents had kicked her out.

Working as a biology teacher at the local high-school didn't pay as much as she would have wanted, but she enjoyed her job. Of course, having earned the title of professor of biology, she could have worked at a university on the mainland, but she didn't want to. Acorn island was her home, and she was dead set to make a living here.

Rolling over to the left side of the bed to get up, Celest finally opened her eyes. The sight that greeted her made her scream so loudly, that she was sure that it could be heard on the mainland. There, only a few inches away from her face, were two teal eyes, looking into hers.

The dark purple mare these eyes belonged to gave out a yelp of surprise herself, as she jumped back and actually attempted to hide under the table like a scared foal. A moment later, Candy Cane came rushing into the room, a baseball bat floating next to his head as his eyes scanned the room frantically.

When he spotted their guest, he relaxed visibly while Celest herself had almost jumped out of the window in surprise.

        “Everything alright?” he asked, amused. It took a moment before his cousin could get her breathing under control enough to answer him.

        “Y...Yes... She just startled me.” she replied, pointing a hoof at the mare who was still trying to hide.

        “Well, she woke up this morning and seemed to be looking for you. No idea why, but I showed her the way here.”

Celest looked at the mare who, despite her considerable size, looked more like a lost foal to her at the moment. She had been looking for her? But why? Had she woken up while she had treated her wounds yesterday and wanted to thank her? But why was she staying silent then?

Candy seemed to read his cousins mind as he leaned the bat against the wall and began to scratch his head with a hoof.

        “You see... She isn't really talking. I only assumed she was looking for you because she kept pointing at the bandage around her head. Other than that, she's been quite oblivious to what's happening around her. Do you think she could have suffered some brain damage from whatever inflicted that wound?”

Celest got out of bed and cautiously trotted closer to the mare. It was quite obvious that she would have to change the dressings soon, since the ones she had put on yesterday were bleeding through.

The big purple mare shrank back as the white Unicorn reached out with a hoof to touch her. That got her thinking. It wasn't too unlikely that the impact of whatever had inflicted that wound had caused some temporary amnesia. That would also have explained the mares reaction, and her wish to be close to her. If she had really woken up while Celest had treated her last night, then she was somepony familiar.

        “Shhh.... It's alright. Come on out. I'm not mad at you.” Celest cooed and, to Candy Canes surprise, she actually emerged from under the table. Celest carefully examined her, while the mare sat perfectly still in front of her. Only occasionally she flicked her tail or twitched one of her ears. All the while, Celest was talking to her in comforting tones, reassuring her that everything was alright.

Candy Cane could only stare in amazement. When he had shown the mare the way up here, she hadn't dared to get closer to him than two Pony lengths, but she seemed to trust his cousin. No matter how the young white mare prodded the much larger Unicorn, the mare just sat still and endured everything.

        “OK, I think that should be all. I guess it's as you said Candy. Whatever hit her, messed up her brain. Only time will tell if she'll ever be alright again.” Celest finally concluded, sitting down in front of the mare once more. The feeling of her own nightgown made her aware of the other mares lack of clothing though, and she looked over to her cousin once more, asking him to bring one of his mothers old dresses.

        “I don't really think that any of them will fit her. I mean... just look at the size of her...” he said, eying the mare from horn to hoof.

        “Then get one of her pregnancy dresses. I know for a fact that they should still be up in the attic.”

The young stallion trotted off after that, grumbling about mares, while Celest looked into the frightened eyes of the mare in front of her.

        “So... Do you have a name?” she asked, not really expecting her to answer. That she actually did, surprised her.

        “Lu... Lu...” the mare said in a surprisingly soft voice for such a big Pony, looking as if she was straining to remember something.

        “Lulu? That's your name? Mhmmm... Certainly strange, but not the worst I've ever heard. Celest said, putting a hoof her chin. She was quite aware of the fact that Lulu was most likely not this mares real name. She guessed, however, that it was at least a part of it...

OooOoOoOoOoOoOo

Textbook had assembled each and every soldier, mercenary and guard he could in such a short amount of time. The wall behind him showed a projection of subject number ninety fives file. The parliament was already on his case for what had happened last night, and he could only assume that an investigation would take place in the near future. He just had to take care of this before then. It was the only way he could possibly do some damage control.

        “OK Gentlecolts, listen up! This is your target.” he said, tapping the photograph of Luna that was displayed on the wall behind him.

        “Subject number ninety five, name Luna. She was one of the first we caught. She's about eighty years old, very powerful and more than just dangerous. It would be good if you could capture her alive, but it's very unlikely that she would just come quietly. Our main objective is to take her out. Any questions?” he declared, while Lunas data was scrolling down on the wall. It was hardly necessary though. Every Pony in the room had received a copy of her file.

        “Yes sir. What the hell is she, and how did she manage to escape in the first place? I mean, according to this, she was kept in a mark 9 vault. These things can withstand an atomic blast.” a middle aged Earthpony asked from the middle of the room. Before Textbook could answer him, a one eyed mercenary, who stood at the back of the room, chuckled mirthlessly.

        “It doesn't matter what she is. I'm getting paid to put a bullet through her noggin, that's all I need to know.” the black mare said, taking a drag of the cigarette in her muzzle. Smoking was, of course, prohibited here but Textbook seriously didn't want to mess with some of these Ponies. That mare, Firestorm, was one of them. From what he knew about her, she was a veteran of the last Changeling war, and had survived behind enemy lines for two weeks with a broken wing before she had been extracted. Rumor had it that she had actually eaten the remains of her fallen comrades to survive.

Still... He felt as if at least some explanation was in order. Every bit of intelligence he gave these Ponies would raise their chances.

        “She is a mutant of sorts. We call them Alicorns. They combine the magic of all three tribes in them, and are very hard to kill. If you want to “put a bullet through her noggin”, as you put it so eloquently Ms. Firestorm, you should better bring armor piercing bullets and be a superb sniper. Small caliber rounds have proven pretty ineffective against an Alicorns bone-structure. The most you will achieve is to make her angry, unless you hit the eye. Her magic is a further problem in that regard. Anything slower than supersonic bullets has no chance of getting through her magical protection. Please check page 11 for more information about her magical strength.” he explained, and the sounds of rustling paper filled the room for a moment. Then a collective gasp filled the air, as the gathered Ponies read the information.

        “This has to be a mistake! Over two million bells magical power? Even a thousand Unicorns can't muster that amount of strength!” one of the Unicorn soldiers called out, much to the agreement of everypony else in the room. Everypony... except Firestorm. She hadn't even opened the file he had provided, and just smirked at him out of the semi darkness of the room. Her cigarette rolled from one corner of her mouth to the other, and Textbook could not shake the feeling that she was actually looking forward to fight this subject...

        “No matter how you look at it, this is a suicide mission! Just look at the pictures on page 12! She's deflecting a fucking tank shell!” another one of the soldiers pointed out, and almost everypony in the room turned a page to look at an image of Luna, a tank shell suspended in a silvery magical glow in front of her.

        “So what?” Firestorm spoke up, excitement gleaming in her one golden eye.

        “So she can deflect tank shells and has more magical power than a fucking nuclear reactor, so what? Even one of those monsters has to sleep, I presume. Not to mention that she has only a certain field of vision. Shoot at her from her blind angle and she'll drop just like any other Pony. So we have to bring armor piercing rounds? No big. I never fire anything else.” she declared, turning slightly to reveal her battle saddle. One of the rifles mounted on it was actually a mobile howitzer!

OooOoOoOoOoOoOo

Candy Cane stared at the mare, who called herself Lulu, as Celest did her best to put his mothers dress on her. Sure, it was a little short on her legs, but otherwise it fit. He had chosen the biggest one he could find, which had ended up being a white dress with pink flowers on it, that went with an equally pink belt.

Sure, it all smelled a little dusty due to the long time it had been in storage, but Lulu seemed to actually like it. Once Celest had finished putting the dress on her, the mare didn't seem able to stop smiling.

A few moments later, a loud rumbling sound could be heard, and Lulu dropped to her haunches almost immediately. Of course Candy knew what she wanted, even before she opened her muzzle and pointed at it with one of her hooves. It was almost noon, and there was no telling how long it had been since Lulu had eaten anything. Good thing he had already prepared a meal downstairs. Nothing fancy, of course. Just a few toasts with jam and honey, together with coffee and herbal tea.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOo

An hour later Candy Cane was staring at an utterly empty fridge, his jaw hanging loosely open. He had filled the damn thing yesterday after arriving at the place, and there even had been several bowls of leftovers from last evenings dinner. Now, it was all gone and Lulu lay curled up like a cat on the back porch, taking a nap in the sun.

        “What... the... fuck?” he mumbled, while Celest was doing the dishes behind him. She sighed softly as she looked over at him.

        “Well... it looks like she's been famished. No wonder, really. I mean, she's so thin I can actually count her ribs!” the white mare said, while floating a freshly cleaned pot out of the soapy water and placing on the sink to dry after washing off the bubbles.

        “If this goes on, I'll be broke by the end of next week...” Candy declared, closing the fridge and getting ready to go shopping once more. It was then, when he passed the living room and the door to the back porch, that he saw Lulu sitting upright and staring right at the sun. Tears were running down her face uncontrollably as she cried silently. Rushing to her side, Candy put a hoof on the mares shoulder.

        “Hey... Lulu... What's up? Why are you crying?” he asked in a concerned tone, unable to make sense of it all. But the mare just shook her head.

        “Don't... know...” was all she said...