The Fractured - Farcture-verse

Many meals of incredibly dry hay followed. Not in massive amounts, but at least it was something. The ring on my recently discovered horn and the crystal high above were relentless in sucking up my magic, my physical energy along with it. The hay did little to replace any of it.

Add to that was the noise. It was a never-ending hiss of rain which grew in intensity then weakened only to rise again. It was slightly muffled, so I could easy to tell it was outside. It reminded me of some of the storms I’d listened to while hunkered down in a few of the older places I found abandoned.

It lashed at the outer hull of the ship, even causing it to creak to one side away from the strongest blasts of wind. It was a storm which I could swear, whoever was steering the ship, was constantly steering us into. It was the only explanation for how long it lasted without any reprieve. It also made sleep very light, not that it wasn’t already thanks to my low energy and the throbbing of my injuries; my eye in particular.

The headache I was cultivating was set to be one of the greatest ever felt by human or ponykind in all of history.

The only benefit of the constantly raging storm was the minotaur didn’t come visiting while it continued to buffet the ship. At least, I thought it was the only benefit considering it was also freezing in the cages, even with an actual fire horse nearby. That was until I spotted a pale mass of feathers lurking in the darkness.

I braced myself against a bar of my cell, one of the furthest away from Aria. Not my fault, the cage floor provided little purchase for hooves whenever the ship lurched to a side. Setting that annoyance aside, I squinted at the mass of feathers. It was piled against the wall at the end of the walkway between the cages. What it was or how it had come to be there, I wasn’t exactly sure. I was so tired I tended to slip into sleep for a few moments, only to awake what felt like seconds later with everything going on outside.

I shivered. It was so much colder on this side of the cage, closer to the feathers. Bitterly so. I let out a shuddering breath only for it to taper off into a weak whistle. I mentally cursed myself for doing so as it stabbed into my aching head. What I didn’t expect, was for the mass of feathers to move at the whistle as well. A bird head, draped in slick, pale plumage, snapped up from the mass of feathers and stared straight at me.

My jaw fell and I let out another shivering gasp. “S-Sickle?”

“What?” came a sleepy mumble from Aria’s cage.

Sickle didn’t jump to me as she had on previous occasions, at least not at first. She appeared to be fixated on something. What it was, I struggled to understand in the gloom of our prison. But when she finally did, she slipped through the bars of my cage and rubbed her head against mine. She was an amazingly slender bird after all.

After a quick reunion session, Sickle hopped away. I frowned as I watched her flutter up to the door lock then wrap her body around it as best she could. She perched awkwardly there for nearly a minute. When she finally hopped away, I was greeted with an odd sight. In the pale blue glow given off by my horn, I caught a strange shimmer of something clear now encasing the lock.

Whatever this bird was doing, she was clearly focused on continuing to do it as she moved to the lock on Aria’s cage. I couldn’t exactly inspect the lock for my cage. It was above my head and I was rather unsteady on my feet with the storm still shaking the ship. It wasn’t until Sickle had moved on from Aria’s cage to that of the huge pony the minotaur had called Pyrus that we discovered at least what she was doing.

Aria, balancing on her rear hooves, rose up and tapped at the lock of her cage with a forehoof. She sounded just as baffled by the bird’s antics as I was. “Ice?”

My brow furrowed as I watched Sickle working on the lock of Pyrus’ cage. What was this bird up to?

Evidently, Pyrus was just as interested in these strange events. He stood watching the bird intently but didn’t utter a word. When Sickle moved away from the lock, Pyrus approached. I watched as he carefully touched the lock with his nose then immediately snapped his head away from it as if burned. He stared at the lock for a moment, then a knowing smirk graced his snooter.

The huge pony took a step back then turned on the spot. Taking care to keep his eye on the lock, he tapped a rear hoof twice on the floor, eliciting a spark from the metal. With the spark came the most terrifying thing I had seen in this world since the approach of the dragon. The entirety of Pyrus’ hoof and fetlocks, up to almost his knee, erupted in flames. My jaw hit the floor.

I watched in a twisted mix of horror and morbid curiosity as Pyrus turned his hoof about. And, I swear, I’m not making this up, it looked as if much of his leg was now criss-crossed in a spiderweb of tiny orange rivers. The things even appeared to flow from where they first appeared near his hip, all the way down to his fire-engulfed hoof. And yet, the weirdest thing was, his flesh appeared otherwise unaffected by the flames.

It was completely mesmerising. Even the colour of the fire began to change! Starting with yellow, it shifted through orange and even green before intensifying into a deep blue.

Seeming happy with the state of the flame, Pyrus drew up his leg then lashed out with his fiery hoof. It struck the frozen lock with a dull ‘crack’. It was such a lacklustre sound for what it accompanied. Simply put, the lock exploded sending fragments flying. Thankfully, none of them hit me. I sighed. Finally, something went my way in this world!

With the lock obliterated, Pyrus turned and pushed his way out of his cage. This led him to standing in front of my cage. Looking at his hooves alone, they dwarfed mine. Taking in the rest of Pyrus’ body as he towered before me, I gulped. I felt so tiny. Sure I wasn’t very tall as a human, but as a pony in the shadow of this giant, I was probably considered a foal. Seriously. Were all male ponies this big? Because he was clearly a male pony from what I could see. The only equivalent I had for him horse-wise from my human life was to compare him to a Clydesdale.

I shook my head then squeezed my eyes shut and did my best to turn away. Crack. Pyrus’ hoof smashed the lock of my cage. I opened my eyes to find him standing there with a hoof holding the door open for me.

I swallowed heavily, taking a moment to carefully rise onto my three legs. I can’t say I was graceful on them, but, with a little effort, I managed to hobble my way out to the walkway between the cages. Pyrus gave me a short nod then let the door swing shut. He left me standing there while he moved on to the door to Aria’s cage.

The whole ship shuddered with the sound of wood grinding against something. I stumbled. Reaching out with a leg I no longer had for balance, I fell and hit the floor. I lay there for several long seconds, oddly grateful for the walkway between the cages being wood instead of the metal bases of the cages themselves.

When I recovered, I found myself with my nose pointed deep into the spot I had first seen Sickle. If I had to describe what I found first, it was that the spot was absolutely freezing. Not only to breathe in, but to touch. There was a clear layer of frost covering a small part of the floor where it met the wall. The wall itself was another story. Instead of frost, the wood was coated with ice, much like my door lock. Incredibly hard ice from what I found when I accidentally knocked my horn against it.

The wood didn’t even sound like wood. Instead, it gave a dull thud similar to the sound of striking a stone. And trust me, it felt like stone, as my horn clearly let me know. This was how I also learned how sensitive a unicorn horn can be as the unintended strike left my eyes watering. Great! Another point of pain for my body. Was this ever going to end?

I heard another loud crack followed by the grind of a metal gate shifting. I turned to see Pyrus pushing his way into Aria’s cell. Aria, of course, wasn’t yet on her hooves. I spotted Sickle in the gloom nearby, her body pressed to the floor and wings spread out. Exactly why didn’t become clear until after she abandoned her task and returned to press herself against the wall beside me.

I watched Aria cringe back as fire surrounded one of Pyrus’ forehooves. He held it up, letting his flames grow as he readied himself then slammed his hoof down. His hoof struck with the terrible crack of one of his door kicks, sending fragments of frozen metal flying. Thankfully, both he and Aria turned their heads away to shield themselves.

When Aria rose from the floor, I could see the results of Sickle and Pyrus’ work. The chain attached to Aria’s metal collar now ended a few links above the floor. How did I forget about her chain and collar again? Wow this bird and pony combo was effective! I noticed Pyrus turn his head to the dragon confined in the far cell as he pushed and held open the door to Aria’s cell with his body.

I rose from the floor in an attempt to hobble toward Aria, a smile gracing my snooter for the first time in what was probably a week.

Then I heard it. My attention snapped to the exit door of our prison. A gryphon strode in then, noticing us out of our cages, abruptly stopped. The gryphon didn’t remain in place for long. He flared his wings and let out a terrible shriek from his beak. “Hey!”

Even before the next words escaped the gryphon, Pyrus had turned his back on the dragon he couldn’t so easily help now, snatched Aria up and held her, much to her sudden look of protest, tucked under his front leg. Her words of complaint weren’t what reached my ears.

“Pets esca—!” the gryphon shrieked, his head cocked to the door even as he tried to keep an eye on us.

It was the last we heard from that gryphon as a loud bang reverberated through the ship. The ship lurched violently to the side, the floor tilting dangerously. The gryphon was thrown at the nearest cage, his head becoming lodged between two bars. I tried to scrabble at the floor with my hooves but found no purchase as I skidded backwards. My legs still flailing, I peered anxiously over my shoulder. There was Sickle, perched in the middle of the ice she was spreading through the curved, outer wall of the room.

A sound like fire consuming a vat of gasoline erupted with a fwoosh! My attention snapped back to the middle of the room in time to catch sight of Pyrus, his body engulfed in flames, as he kicked off from the floor. Even Aria, who was still tucked under a front leg of Pyrus, was wrapped in flames. My eye grew wide and jaw dropped in terror, watching as the flaming mass of pony sailed past me.

Sickle screeched. I caught a glimpse of her fluttering plumage before Pyrus’ flaming rear left hoof crashed into the ice-covered wall. His leg buckled with the impact, sending cracks through the ice and the wood. The rest of his body slammed into the wall and burst straight through. Where once was wall, I could now see the tops of trees as they reached for the ship.

Gritting my teeth, I scrabbled at the floor, flailing my legs in search of purchase. No matter what I tried, I could feel myself continuing to slip backwards, gaining in speed as the ship continued to list to the side. A mass of feathers and bird slammed into my face, blinding me from everything in the room and knocking me from the floor.

With Sickle wrapped around my head, I tumbled backwards and through the hole in the side of the ship. Thankfully, I didn’t crash against the broken edges of the hole as we passed. I closed my eyes at that point, not that it really helped. We were still falling and the rain was now striking my body with a thousand tiny needles. I felt Sickle shift from my head. I bit my tongue when her talons suddenly grasped the loose hide of my neck and shoulders.

There was a jolt. I swear my tongue was bleeding now. My back probably was too as the tips of Sickle’s talons suddenly pierced my flesh. That first jolt was followed by several weaker ones. Not that they stopped my hide from stinging any less. Seriously, was this world’s hatred of my body ever going to end? It was an answer I was soon to get, not that I would like it. At least the jolts made it feel like we weren’t falling any faster.

The needle-like rain was quickly joined by the sting and crack of what felt like hundreds of sharp branches striking and tearing at me as we fell. The only solace came with the fact that they helped to slow our fall even further. Not that it was a great thing. It was honestly an eternity in my mind before we reached the ground. We landed with a heavy thump and crumpled in a heap together. Sickle and I lay there simply trying to catch our respective breaths after the craziness of what probably, in truth, lasted only a few seconds.

Please world, can I go home now? The novelty of this place is long gone.

* * *

After a few minutes to gather myself both mentally and physically, I forced my aching body to sit up, unintentionally dumping Sickle onto the ground next to me. Sickle let out an indignant squawk, ruffled her feathers at me and shot me the best glare she could muster. I leaned forward and rubbed my cheek against her head. Seriously, this bird had just rescued me for the second time I knew of since landing in this world. It was the least I could do to show my gratitude. Hopefully I would be able to thank her properly with some kind of reward.

I looked about then frowned. Once we figured out where we were, other than in a forest during what felt like a monsoonal storm. My frown deepened. We would have to find Aria as well. Not to mention Pyrus. He was the one to physically break us out after all. Not to diminish any of Sickle’s work weakening the locks, chain and wall even the slightest. She was the key hero in my escape after all.

I peered up, hoping the somehow flying ship hadn’t spotted us in either our fall or landing. I doubted anyone would spot us from above, there was too much foliage even for me to glimpse the sky. I scrunched my snooter. Didn’t stop the rain from reaching us though. The plants I could see in the pale blue glow of my horn, apparently my horn was still active, looked like nothing I had seen before.

Of course I didn’t recognise anything. This was a completely different world populated by sentient quadrupeds who could fly or fling magic, sometimes both. Even self-immolation without injury was a very real possibility. By the night, there were even what I assumed were wooden sailing ships which could fly! And here I was, sitting in a mud puddle, injured far more than I ever thought possible with a clearly intelligent bird by my side surrounded by a strange forest which kept everything rather dark.

One good thing, even if my horn was still somehow emitting light, my energy wasn’t being drained as drastically as before. No matter which way I looked, there was no trail of pulsating light shooting off in search of the crystal back on the ship. I sighed with relief. At least the minotaur and his gryphons wouldn’t be able to track me that way. Small victories in a world which was clearly against me, I guess.

“Well,” I said, shifting my gaze from Sickle to my single front hoof. “We should probably be moving.”

Standing up was a peril I wasn’t looking forward to. Pony hooves weren’t exactly the best at gripping when compared to human toes. I would even give everything beneath the stars to have fingers and hands again. At least with them, I’d be able to crawl my way out of the muck. Still, I pushed forward.

Once I was finally on my hooves, albeit shakily so, I looked to Sickle, as I hopped for my first hobbled step, and asked, “Any idea where Ari-iiiiiiiiii!”

SPLAT!

My entire undercarriage was back in the mud. I snorted in annoyance then restarted the slippery job of regaining my hooves. Now that much of me was liberally covered in mud, doing so became a far more difficult task; one which was made harder with every return to the puddle which inevitably followed.

All right, this sucks. I was already sick of landing my snooter and chest in the muck. Curse that dragon. It didn’t help that my depth perception was all but destroyed. That minotaur can go rot for all I care. It was clear that, with all I had been though, this world hated me. There was just no other way to look at it.

Also, I was sure Sickle was laughing at me.

And, just to rub it further in, the world decided to prove me wrong as a set of mud-splattered pale purple hooves splashed into view. I rolled my eye up to peer past my sopping mane. There was Aria staring down at me. It was difficult to tell what she was thinking. Her expression was rather blank as Pyrus loomed into view over her.

Just from looking at them, it was clear how they had survived the fall. Even with the driving rain doing its best to strip the muck from their coats, it was still easy to see they had landed in a large puddle of mud, not unlike my own. The remaining streaks of filth ran in rivulets from the very tops of their ears, all the way to their hooves.

I blinked at that and frowned. Pyrus, the still slightly sizzling pony, was now standing on three legs. No, he wasn’t missing a leg, he was just keeping his rear left one gingerly raised even when he wasn’t moving about.

I let loose a heavy sigh, my chin still in the mud as I muttered, “This world can rot.”

“Sounds like you’re finally seeing this place from my point of view,” said Aria. “Equestria was never kind to those it deemed unworthy of living here.”

“Nice to know,” I said, studying the very tip of my nose. It was easier than trying to get to my feet and failing yet again.

My reward for giving up on getting up? Pyrus. The stoic pony limped his way to my side. His hooves hissed whenever they touched the wet ground. I caught a glimpse of dry, cracked ground whenever his hooves rose from the mud. He was baking the ground itself with every step. Wow this horse was interesting!

Although, this ground-drying ability wasn’t what Pyrus had in mind for helping me. Oh, no. Instead, he bent down out of my sight. I didn’t need to see him to know what he did next. He pressed his head against my rear. My head and ears shot up in alarm. The rest of my body stiffened instantly. Okay. I’m a mare now. Even if I was a stallion this would’ve been considered a rather personal interaction.

Thankfully, his contact with my back end didn’t last long. With a strong heave of his neck, Pyrus’ head forced me forward, out of the puddle and onto my incredibly rigid legs. I don’t doubt the look on my face was priceless. The teasing chuckle from Aria told me without words. My body, even after Pyrus had stepped back into view, was still rather shocked by the whole thing. It was several minutes before my muscles even dared to slacken to any degree.

Yeah… that was something, all right. Don’t judge the newly transformed who are yet to truly become accustomed to their new bodies. Maybe you would understand if it happened to you?

Now that I was standing and away from that infernal puddle, I took the chance to look over my companions, Pyrus in particular considering I had only seen him through the gloom of the cells on the ship until now. He still had some yellow-orange fire about him, specifically licking at his fetlocks and actually in place of a mane and tail. It was an interesting look with his mostly charcoal coat.

It was about that time, when I realised I was staring and, even though it was uncomfortable, I decided introductions were in order. Not that we needed to know his name. The minotaur had said it. I frowned. Wait, that didn’t mean Pyrus was his name. It could’ve just been something the minotaur had forced on him out of spite. Much like when he had called me broken.

I turned the question to Pyrus. All I got was an emphatic nod. Pyrus was indeed his name. So, I pressed forward with my stalled introductions and gestured with my wing to Aria. “This is Aria Blaze.”

The Stallion arched an eyebrow at that.

“And her name’s Chromia,” Aria announced before I had the chance to speak again.

I caught a snicker from her and glared in return. I turned to the stallion and did my best to correct Aria. “I’m Monochrome.”

I sighed in annoyance and let my head droop along with my ears. Looking up at the stallion, I said, “Thanks, Pyrus.”

Up went his eyebrow again. His focus on me didn’t last long. I was thankful for it being so brief. His huge, muscular form towering over my rather petite one was incredibly intimidating. The fact he couldn’t speak made him even more so.

It was also Pyrus who started us walking toward what we hoped would be the edge of the forest. Well, he began walking. Aria and I simply fell in with him. Even if we were a strange little group, it was probably better for us to stick together.

What followed was a long journey. One I tried to help us through by being my inquisitive self. I know it was probably annoying, but I wouldn’t say I was used to having travelling companions on my usual journeys.

Ignoring the unusual state I was in, I was still incredibly curious about things. Whether they were the strange plants we passed or something about ponies or other creatures in general. Pyrus was his stoic silent self during all of the mental musings I decided to air.

Aria, I can easily say, wasn’t so tolerant of my continuous questions and observations. I could see it was grating on her. Her shoulders were tense, much like her jaw, and, whenever she looked my way, she did so with a scowl of annoyance. Her sense of pity over my injuries was lost long ago in the forest behind us.

As I kind of mentioned earlier, keeping company wasn’t really something I had to do very often. Normally, as with Aria when I had helped her as a human, I would say little. There wasn’t much to talk about, especially when the other person didn’t talk back. But here… everything was just too fantastical for my brain to process without voicing it to all who could listen. It was when I wanted to know more about how Pyrus could exist while emitting flames from his body, that I realised I had pushed things with Aria a little far.

“He’s a what?” I asked, wondering if I had heard her correctly.

“A Nightterror,” Aria replied. “A rare type of pony from when I was last here.”

She gave a little shrug. “There were lots of different pony types back then. Pegasi, Unicorns, Sea ponies, Earth ponies, Sirens, Alicorns—”

I frowned. “Sirens? Like the singing fish women from fantasy tales who lead men to their doom using their voices?”

The glare Aria turned on me was so horrifying it was nigh indescribable. Thankfully, between my damaged right eye and ever-weak left eye, I barely noticed it.

“More than that,” Aria spat icily.

I glanced up at Pyrus. Unsurprisingly, he said nothing. Looking to the bird hovering above my head, Sickle gave a wary chirp. I should’ve heeded their warnings. Instead, I pressed on, asking, “What makes you so sure about what Sirens were supposed to do? They’re just myths from drunk sailors bored at sea.”

“I’m one, you dingus!” Aria seethed. “Sirens use their crystals to enhance their voices and adjust the emotions of others to feast upon. We do NOT cause the doom of others!”

I froze in my tracks and quickly put my third hoof down, lest I fall. My head turned toward Aria like that of a jolting clockwork toy. The look I gave, along with the time it took for me to speak again, stole away a touch of Aria’s anger, replaced by grimacing concern.

“So, should I wait for you to ensnare me with your wondrous voice?”

Aria’s concern was instantly incinerated at what I had intended as a light-hearted jab. Why wouldn’t it be true? I was the living embodiment of myth and legend right then. Her voice lashed ferociously at me as she snapped, “I can’t!”

I only blinked a second, not realising the hornet’s nest I had poked.

“Sure you can,” I said. “That’s what Sirens are supposed to do and you just told me you’re a Siren.”

She abruptly stopped and turned her head to face me. I could see the rage burning in her eyes and the strain in her jaw as she clenched her teeth. Maybe I pushed that a little far. I had no chance to correct myself as Aria unleashed another verbal strike. “Do you see a crystal hanging from my neck? Do I look like a depiction of what ponies call a monster?”

I shrank a little from her anger. Yep, definitely pushed her a little too much. “N-No…”

“Of course not!” Aria continued to fume. “My crystal was shattered when I was last at Canterlot High by some purple Alicron in human form, named Twilight Sparkle, and her friends! It was the last night I saw my sisters! Without my crystal I’m just a regular pony! But I doubt you know what that feels like.”

I couldn’t help but cringe. “Sorry. I didn’t—”

She glared at me before stamping a forehoof. I swore I heard the ground crack beneath her, even with it still being sodden from the rains, before she spat her rage at me. “I didn’t ask for your pity.”

“I-I wasn’t trying to—”

Pyrus hobbled up between us, doing his best to keep us separated. He eyed me for a few seconds, making sure I was paying attention to him, then shook his head. I guess that was his way of telling me to keep my mouth shut and drop the subject. He was right. My head sank and my ears flattened in humility. Pyrus was absolutely right.

From then on, much of the journey through the forest was conducted in relative silence. The anger I had unintentionally fuelled in Aria was more than enough for me to take time to think about my words. When I wasn’t thinking about keeping my balance and how much my hobbling was slowing us down, of course. I stole many glances at Pyrus as we continued on. Even with his broken leg, I was still the greatest burden on our progress.

It was thoughts like that which dragged me back toward the melancholy I had endured in the cages on the minotaur’s ship. Truly, this world hated me. It was the only explanation for everything it threw at me and how much of a burden I was becoming to those around me.

By the time we reached the outskirts of a small village, not only had another day passed and my melancholy had started to spiral into darker territory, but I was so tired from having to hurl my front leg forward to stop myself falling from every step that I was now several lengths behind Aria who had stalked out ahead.

Pyrus, however, repeatedly hung back, keeping Aria in sight while trying to silently encourage my huffing and puffing self onward. I took back the idea that the ring on my horn no longer had an effect on my energy. The damage was clearly already done, for when we finally caught up with Aria and stood beside her on the crest of a hill overlooking the village, most of which reminded me of old European townships, the last of my energy slipped away.

My eyelid drooped as I swayed on the spot. I tried to steady myself by throwing out my front right leg for balance. And down I went. My eyes were closed even before I hit the ground. I was so tired that the thump of my body as it finally fell prone in search of rest didn’t even register in my mind. I simply passed out.