Old Mare Celestia

The group remained silent, Light Flare looking up at the starry sky and the changelings going about their business, although they couldn't help but glance at her from time to time. Tweezers averted his eyes from his map to her, still thinking of her words, she was only there because she couldn't stay in Sproutville anymore. He had to force himself not to smile at that, it was obvious to him because she had joined them, their visit had probably awakened something in her that had been asleep for a long time. Just tips? The changeling was looking forward to finding out how long it would be before she broke that rule.

Shell was the only one who didn't bother to hide that she was seeing Light Flare, a permanent frown on her face. She had punched Tweezers in the jaw, nearly broken it, denied them her help, and despite all of that, he had accepted her, and she seemed to take it more as a disgrace. Although a part of her still believed that she was not the Princess of the Sun, she could not deny all the evidence she had seen so far, and that only made her more suspicious of her. In her eyes, anycreature who has the ability to help others and chooses to ignore the suffering of the innocent would never be trustworthy.

"I already have our route" Tweezers said from his position, drawing the attention of his two companions.

As Sting and Shell approached their leader, Light Flare barely gave him a sidelong glance, turning her attention to the stars. Tweezers glanced at her before focusing on the map in front of him, pointing to a specific point.

"First we'll travel to Dodge City, from there we'll take the train to Appeloosa, refuel there with our contact, and take the train back to Ponyville..."

"Ponyville?" Sting said with a raised eyebrow.

Light Flare quickly looked away from the stars and focused on the three changelings, who were paying no attention to her at the moment.

"Yes, Ponyville, any problem?"

"Yeah, it's extremely guarded," Shell said with a frown. "And I don't know if you remember, but you need passes to get in."

"I have Government Changeling approved official passes."

"And what about her?" Shell asked, gesturing to Light Flare, who turned her gaze back to the sky, but kept her attention on the conversation.

"I'll figure something out, don't I always do it?"

"The last time you said that, we almost ended up getting eaten by a hydra in the Colosseum."

"It was only once, Sting, it won't happen again" Tweezers said with a roll of his eyes, returning his attention to the map. "Anyway, from Ponyville we'll go to Hollow Shades, from there we will go north and follow the pass through the mountains and head to the base. Now get things ready, we're leaving in twenty minutes."

Sting and Shell looked at each other for a few moments before they started packing up the few things they had outside. Tweezers looked at his companions for a few seconds before focusing on Light Flare, who had stopped paying attention to them. Seeing that the mare gave no sign of wanting to speak to them, he gave a small sigh before putting the map away in some saddlebags that he had next to him. Once they were ready, the group started to walk away, with the unicorn getting up for the first time and following from behind, not getting too close.

The four of them advanced through the Dead Forest, and after almost half an hour, emerged from its lifeless trees, heading for the desert that surrounded all of the changeling territory. None of them had lights on, their eyes dark-adapted, hiding them from prying eyes in case somepony, or someling, followed them. Light Flare paused for a few seconds to take one last look at the distant and almost indistinguishable form of Sproutville, sighing and following the changelings responsible for breaking her out of her rut.

They had traveled all day, marked by the watch Tweezers kept in his saddlebags, coming to a patch of desert littered with rocks, some small and some larger, large enough to offer cover from any potential storm that might rage in the wild, uncontrolled desert weather, with a few dead trees here and there, most fallen to the ground, lacking strong roots to support their weight. After half an hour spent among the rocks, the changeling leader decided that it was time to camp and get some sleep, so he approached one of the largest rocks, near which there was a skeletal tree that if it managed to stand up, and deciding that they were far enough away from the Hive, they built a fire to cook a small supper.

After gathering some firewood from the fallen trees, they lit the fire, on which they placed a small cauldron that they took from their luggage, all this done by the changelings, since Light Flare stayed lying on one side doing nothing, just watching the stars. Contrary to what might seem due to his size and his always frowning face, it was Sting who began to cook with the few vegetables he had, potatoes, carrots and two or three onions, while his companions walked away and rested a bit. After a while, a fairly pleasant smell filled the air, making the great red changeling smile, if there was something that filled him with pride, it was his cooking, even more than his strength.

"I hope you're hungry, because my vegetable stew is ready" he announced proudly.

"Finally, I was hungry," Shell said as she looked away from the sky and walked over to their luggage, taking out four plates, the last one after a moment's hesitation, and corresponding spoons, approaching her friend with a smile. "It's a shame we don't have peppers, it's delicious with them."

"And that's why I asked our contact for a ration of peppers," Tweezers chimed in with a small laugh as he approached too, smelling the aroma of stew. "Smells great, Sting."

"Did you doubt me, boss?"

With a wry smile, Sting filled the plates of his companions, and after hesitating a bit, he filled a third. With a small flash of red magic, a horn appeared on his head, enveloping the plate in a magical aura and drawing it closer to Light Flare, who looked away from the starry sky upon noticing it, eyeing the food for a few moments before focusing on the cook, who looked back at her.

"If our boss agrees to you being among us, then you have the right to eat our food."

Light Flare watched him for a few more seconds before wrapping the plate and spoon in her own magic, nodding at the changeling, who nodded back. Focusing back on the cauldron, he filled a plate for himself, noticing Tweezers' gaze out of the corner of his eye.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just like that you're accepting her."

"Make no mistake, boss, I still think it was a bad idea, but..." Sting shrugged, preparing his plate and looking at Tweezers "...you're the boss."

With that, he walked away and sat down next to Shell, starting to eat. Tweezers looked at his two companions before looking at Light Flare. The mare was focused on the silhouette of the moon, although from time to time he took a spoonful to her mouth. A small smile graced the changeling's face before he sat down next to his companions and began to eat too.

The hours passed slowly, and the three changelings took turns standing guard, as Tweezers did not want to risk being spotted by any wandering Hive patrol. With the fire out, the only thing that illuminated the night was the brightness of the moon and the distant stars, which Shell watched. It wasn't long before she had to wake up her friends and Light Flare, who, true to her attitude of the day before, made no sign of offering to stand guard. Despite the fact that her captain seemed to have faith that this behavior would change, both the mare and Sting believed that at the slightest opportunity, the unicorn would walk away from them forever.

Shell shifted her gaze from the stars to Light Flare, regarding her with a frown. Even though she knew it would be useless, she made sure that she was asleep before activating her base instincts and tries to analyze the mare, looking for any sign of that sentimental concealment spell, trusting that it would be weakened during sleep. After a few frustrating minutes, the changeling mare gave up, growling as she turned her gaze to the heavens.

"Couldn't resist, could you?"

Shell widened her eyes before looking at Light Flare, who had turned her head towards her, looking at her with a raised eyebrow, showing no signs of anger. After a few minutes, the mare shrugged, looking away from those pink eyes and different from those of a common pony, more typical of a thestral or felines, in the back of her mind, she wondered how she managed to change her eyes compared to the first time they saw her, a little less than a week ago.

"Until now I thought that no spell could be hidden from my sight, until I met you."

Light Flare watched Shell carefully for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders and turning to her saddlebag shortly after to start rummaging through them.

"And you're the first in a long time to force me to put more effort into my cloaking spell, so we're even."

Shell glanced sideways at the mare, and though she wasn't entirely convinced, she felt a small flicker of pride that she had been the first in many years to detect her spell. Light Flare managed to pull out a pot of tea, then eyed the changeling with a questioning look.

"Can you give me some water?"

Shell watched Light Flare for a few seconds before nodding and getting up, approaching the traveling bags they brought with them and, after rummaging around a bit, grabbed a canteen and handed it to the mare in her magical aura. The unicorn caught it in her own magic, filling the kettle with water before handing it back to the changeling and placing the full kettle on the pile of dead wood. Lighting her horn with a little more power, the fire erupted, coming to life, keeping the kettle on top of it to heat the water.

"You like tea?" Light Flare asked as, without taking her eyes off the kettle, she managed to get two cups out.

Scowling at the mare, Shell nodded slowly.

"Yes..."

Light Flare nodded, placing the cups on the floor, waiting to be filled. After a few minutes, the water began to boil, so the mare took the kettle off the heat, filling the cups. Putting the kettle down, she turned to her saddlebags and pulled out a good-sized bag, from which she in turn took out two tea bags, leaving one in each cup, and after grabbing two spoons, she handed one to Shell, who caught it gingerly in her magic. The changeling mare stared at the cup for a few moments before glancing at Light Flare, who had focused her gaze on the moon.

"Why?"

Light Flare gave Shell a sidelong glance before shrugging.

"You offered me your food, I think it's only fair that I offer you my tea."

Shell watched Light Flare for a few more moments before sighing and taking a small sip of her tea. Despite her initial reservations, it was pretty good, so she decided to relax, if only for a few moments. Silence filled the campsite, broken only by the newly lit fire, but as the minutes ticked by, the changeling frowned, her hearing becoming more acute. The crackle of the fire was loud, but her ears seemed to pick up another source of heat from somewhere else, with a fainter sound.

Looking around and concentrating on the distant crackling, Shell made another worrying observation, in the sky, quite a distance from them, there was a point of orange and reddish light, typical of the light produced by the fire, and it was fast approaching. Alarmed, she set her teacup aside and stood up, heading towards her companions.

"Tweezers, Sting, get up! Now!" she yelled as she shook her leader.

Tweezers blinked as he was jolted awake, trying to focus around him and looking at Shell, who had started shaking Sting.

"Shell...what's wrong?" he asked her, still with the effects of the dream, but waking up quickly.

"Something is coming!" shouted the mare as she pointed to a point in the sky.

Tweezers, rising to his hooves, followed Shell's hoof, his eyes widening as he saw the large creature approaching.

"Shell, create a shield around us!" he yelled as he got into a defensive position, watching the creature.

Sting, who had managed to wake up, looked at the fire creature, imitating Tweezers as Shell lit up her horn, creating a dome around the group, including Light Flare, who barely looked disturbed and continued to drink her tea.

"What do we do?" Sting asked as he watched the creature get closer and closer.

"Nothing at the moment, if it's a wild animal, either it will ignore us, or it will give up when it sees that it can't get past the shield."

"And if it does?" Shell intervened doubtfully.

"She's not even going to try."

The three changelings focused on Light Flare, who seemed too calm.

"How are you so sure?" Tweezers asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I know her well, and of all of us here... she will only be interested in me."

The three changelings looked at each other doubtfully before looking at the creature, which had already gotten quite close. She circled them a couple of times before landing on the branch of the nearby dead tree, cawing with a power that almost seemed like a roar, and allowing the group to get a good look at her. She was a kind of bird, a huge bird, the size of an adult pony, with predominantly red feathers, and around her neck there was a ring of orange fire, further highlighting her head, crowned by three columns of fire that moved with force and contained power. She slightly spread wings were the same bright red, though the lower feathers seemed to be alight with flame. Her tail was different from that of any bird, it were three tongues of fire that reached almost to the ground, crackling and moving slightly. Tweezers took a long look at the bird before his eyes widened in comprehension.

"By the old gods... it's a phoenix."

"A phoenix?" Sting asked without taking his eyes off the bird. "I thought they were extinct."

"And that they were smaller" added Shell, adding a little more power to her shield, just in case.

The phoenix swept her gaze over the changelings before focusing on Light Flare, who had her back to her. Her golden eyes gleamed with power before she opened her beak and let out another squawk, one that sounded very furious. Tweezers eyed the bird warily before slowly shifting his eyes to the lying mare.

"Are you absolutely sure it won't try to break the shield?"

"Yeah, she's not interested in any of you."

The three changelings looked at each other doubtfully before looking back at the phoenix, who once again roared that mighty caw.

"He seems angry" Shell said uneasily.

"She" emphasized Light Flare, taking a sip of tea. "And I already knows she seems angry, but you don't have to worry, she'll get tired and leave."

"Are you sure about that?" Sting asked, not trusting her words at all.

"Yes, that's how it's been for centuries, over and over again... Sometimes I wonder if one day she'll get the point or she'll continue like this for the rest of eternity" the mare muttered to herself.

After an incredibly tense few minutes, the phoenix finally let go of her furious chant, spreading her wings before taking flight, darting away and, with a powerful flash of light, vanishing, confusing the changelings somewhat. Shell held the shield up for a few more moments before shutting it down, at which point she looked at Light Flare, who didn't seem the least bit affected by what had happened.

"Okay, what was that?"

Light Flare glanced over her shoulder at the changeling mare, turning her attention to the distant moon.

"A memory from my past that I can't get rid of."

"Is that thing going to follow us all the time?" Sting asked doubtfully, his gaze on the last spot the bird had been.

"Yes, but she knows how to stay hidden when necessary" answered Light Flare with a shrug. "If she showed up here it's because she knows you're not a threat to her. So don't worry about her showing up in the middle of some city or something."

Tweezers looked at his two companions before stepping forward with a slight frown.

"You should have warned us."

"And how would I know then if you know how to act quickly in the face of a possible threat?" Light Flare asked looking over her shoulder at Tweezers, her eyes sparkling for a second with some amusement. "Congratulations, you have passed the test. Some tea to celebrate?"

Tweezers stared at the mare, who had stopped paying attention to him and looked at the teapot. After a few moments, she put it back on the fire, ignoring Sting's annoyed growl as he lay down again. Despite the shock, the pale green changeling was relieved that it had been just that, a shock. Dropping onto his paws, he settled down to rest a bit before starting off again, and if he was being honest, the idea of tea wasn't such a bad idea.