The Exiled

Sil opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar landscape, a pleasant breeze shifted his hair and he watched the sky from his spot at the base of a tree.

His gaze shifted at the sound of gentle footsteps, his eyes met the figure of a woman wearing a simple dress that took inspiration from the natural beauty that surrounded them.

He stood up as a smile grew on his face, he felt… content, happy in the simplicity around them. He looked to the woman’s face and his peace was broken.

Her form held a gracefulness only possible through a lifetime of practice, pure white hair flowed gently with the breeze, and pale fair skin seemed to glow in the light, and yet, he couldn’t see her face.

A sudden panic came with the realization, the breeze stopped blowing and the rustle of leaves fell quiet. A strong wave of desire struck through him as he stepped forward, he couldn’t see her, but why? An ache echoed through his chest as the woman simply stood in place, her arms hung limp at her sides like a doll that had been cut from its strings.

She was so close, and yet… he didn’t know who she was, he couldn’t remember her face. He held his breath as he reached his hand out towards her. The moment his hand would’ve made contact her form broke and faded into the wind leaving him alone.

He remembered he could breath as the world around him shifted once again, except instead of the war torn landscape from before he was now surrounded by a vast empty void, he looked around trying to spot anything, anyone, but nothing was there. He opened his mouth to shout but nothing came, he pushed forwards intent on finding something but the scene remained still.

He was alone.

“EEEEE!” a piercing screech ripped Sil from the isolation. He shot up from his bed and spotted Moon looking around with wide eyes.

She spotted him and her wings unfurled before she flew into him wrapping Sil in a hug, “Sil! Where are we? D-Did Tay get us? Was it a trap?! What happened to the Minotaur-” she gasped, “Is Bliss dead? Am I- are y-?”

She was cut off by Sil clamping her snout closed with a hand, “We’re fine, Moon, Tay led me here after you got a whiff of that powder she used on the Minotaur” he shifted her off of himself and placed her back on the ground.

She attempted to continue speaking but he pressed a finger to her snout before she could start again earning a glare, “And before we start on anything else we need to talk, about your…” he trailed off and removed his finger.

Moon's head tilted, “about wh… oh”- she took a step away from him, watching him with frightened eyes, her body tensed up as if she was preparing to take off.

Sil paused confused over the sudden change of mood, “Moon? Are you okay?”

“N…n-no! you can't… why?” her eyes were glazed over with panic and she looked through Sil as she pressed her back against the wall, “I-I’mnot a m-monster” Her eyes flicked to the door and back to Sil.

“Moon, I’m no-“ He was cut off by a paw landing on his shoulder.

“Leave her be” Bliss spoke softly, “she needs a second”

Moon's eyes were darting between Sil and Bliss. Her body was tense and she moved so little it was as if she was hardly breathing.

Sil opened his mouth to protest but was cut off, “Listen to me. You’ll only do more harm if you press her, step outside with me” her tone didn’t leave room for argument and she avoided looking at Moon.

Sil hesitated before relenting and took a step back alongside Tay, they left the room silently, Moon watching them on the way out.

“What was that?”

Bliss stared at him for a moment before sighing, “you two really know how to keep the mood somber don’t you?”

Sil rubbed his head and gave an aggravated sigh, “Damnit Bliss, I’m not playing around with you right now”

“You really are stupid aren’t you?” She shot back, her tone didn’t hold the usual tease.

He glared at her, “how was-“

“She’s been with the ripper for twenty years” Bliss was looking over her paw as she spoke but her voice kept its edge.

“Twenty?” He stared at her, “how could you know?”

Bliss gave him a look, “we have resources, but that’s not important.” She hesitated, “what do you think Tay would do with a bloodsucking pony over the course of twenty years, hm?”

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself.

“There you go, tell me. What would a scientist who rips her own kind apart do with something that’s rumored to have only been seen nearly ten decades ago?”

She stopped looking at her paw and looked to him, “experiment, Sil. And I know that look, it wasn’t light.”

“shit” he leaned against the wall, “your right, why wouldn’t I… fuck”

She chuckled dryly, “give her time, let her start, not you. And hope you didn’t mess up to big”

Bliss pressed off the wall and started down the narrow hallway of the two story house they were in, “I’ve got some marks to do today, feel free to greet anycreature that’s here just don’t leave the house”

Sil gave her a blank nod but she didn't look back, a short while later he heard the front door open and close behind her.

‘Twenty years’ He bit the inside of his cheek, ‘what am I supposed to do?’

He looked to the door to their room and fought the urge to just walk in, ‘Bliss is right, thats not something you can just talk through, I need to give her time’

He ran his fingers over his knuckle and stepped away before turning to the hall, ‘let’s meet the guild, specially if I’m going to be working with them’ he spared one last glance at the door before making his way down the hall towards what smelled like food.

It didn’t take long for him to find the shabby kitchen, a cat cooking what smelled like bacon and toast glanced up at him with a blank expression.

“Is the Thestral with you?” They asked.

Sil found himself staring at them, “are you wearing… a maids gown?” He asked with a hint of confusion at the strange apparel, especially considering the quality of the dress.

They nodded, “Yes, is the Thestral coming? The food is nearly ready.”

“I…” he shook his head, “n-no, I’ll be bringing it to her, uh?”

“Ignorance, you can call me Ancy for short”

He found a small smile on his face, “well it’s nice to meet you, Ancy” he paused and looked over their dress once again, “do you mind if I ask why you’re wearing that?”

Their face kept its neutral appearance as they began to place the meat onto a plate, “Bliss told me to wear it while cooking and cleaning”

“… and that’s it?”

They placed the plate with bacon to the side and a few slices of bread found themselves nearby soon after, “Yes”

“I’m assuming you are a thief, right?” He grabbed the plate that was handed to him as Ancy moved around the counter and started getting food for themselves.

Once again the answer was simple, “I am”

He waited for them to continue but nothing came, “well I’ll just… get Moon's plate” he said awkwardly, moving after her and getting a place for himself and Moon.

“There will be a debrief this afternoon, will the thestral be able to make it?” They spoke up before Sil could leave the kitchen.

He looked back over his shoulder, “I think so, she just needs time”

Ancy nodded, “very well, you can go now”

Sil took his leave then with a nod, ‘not sure if that went good or bad’ he sighed, biting into a piece of toast as he walked back towards the room.

Once he arrived at the door he hesitated and listened for any noise, he couldn’t hear anything moving around inside. He closed his eyes before knocking lightly on the door, “Moon? I’ve got some food for you so I’m coming in”

He slowly pressed the handle down and slid the door open before stepping in, he found Moon curled up on her bed, her body tensed at his presence but she kept her back to him silently staring at the wall.

Sil didn’t say anything as he took her plate from under his own and set it on the chair that served as a nightstand to her bed. He opened his mouth to talk but decided against it, instead moving to the dusty bookshelf that took up part of the room.

He scanned the titles and to his surprise they seemed to cover more magical topics from ‘The Realm of dreams’ to ‘categorizations of magical energy written by starswirl the bearded’

He was silent as he looked eventually landing on one labeled ‘the mysteries of dimensional travel written by Celestia’

‘Celestia, isn’t that the princess of Equestria?’ He slid the book from its place and brushed the dust off the large tome, ‘a book written by a foreign ruler, I’m surprised something like that would be down here’

He walked back to his own bed and laid back, the window that sat over it provided a dim light coming from the cavern the underground city was in, he blinked, ‘now that I think about it, where’s that coming from?’

He glanced out his window and followed the light to the far-off ceiling of the cavern, the entire thing was lit up by a gentle blue glow and on the ground level he realized the lamp posts held the same light. ‘How did I not notice that before?’

He chuckled to himself and shook his head before returning to the book, ‘I’ll have to look into it later, maybe Bliss or Ancy knows what’s making the light’

He opened up the book to the first page skimming over the introduction.

“The mysteries of interdimensional travel, which I will be referring to as Dimension hopping, are something which I have studied since my time under my mentor, Starswirl the Bearded. This tome will serve as an introductory lesson for the advanced course of theories of magic.

As dimension hopping is still a topic that remains mysterious even to myself do not be afraid to conduct your own experiments under the supervision of an instructor-“

Sil readjusted his position on the bed as he fell into the book, ‘This was written for a course? Strange that a princess would write something for a school, I’d think they’d be more focused on other things’

He read through the book at a steady pace, eventually he came to a chapter titled ‘catalysts and portals’.

“- The only way I myself have witnessed dimension hopping is through the use of a portal in the form of a mirror to serve as a way line between realities, sadly the subject I witnessed using such means vanished and the portal was destroyed from the other side, thus I have no way of confirming if it was truly successful or not-“

Sil sighed, “not much help there, but I don’t think I came through a mirror anyway” his mind wandered to the nightmares he had been experiencing and he felt a sense of isolation creeping into his chest before he pushed the thought away.

He closed the book and let it lay on his chest, “Not a mirror, I was sent away… right?” He stared at the ceiling.

“Did I do something? Or was It something else?” He ran his fingers over his knuckles, “then my memories…”

He sighed and a movement caught his eye. Moon at some point had slipped out of her bed and was stealing a piece of his food he had forgotten about, not realizing she had been caught she returned back to her bed silently.

“You know I could get you another plate” He spoke up, looking to Moon who had returned to her position on the bed.

She remained silent and Sil stopped himself from pressing, instead just letting his eyes wander back to the ceiling in thought.

“You hate me” she said finally in a low tone, more as a statement than a question.

“That’s not true, Moon” he looked back to her as she sat up onto her haunches.

“I can smell it you know” she whispered narrowing her eyes at him, “your blood”

He hummed, ignoring the implication, “Is that how you knew Bliss was there that morning?”

She ignored him and jumped off the bed, her eyes were angry, “I’m still hungry too, I always am I j-just…”

She trailed off, her voice breaking before she shook her head and returned her eyes to him, “It just happens, one second I’m scared then I’m-“

She looked down at her hooves in disgust, “I’m a monster” she whispered, “Tay knew it too, she’d lock me in a room with creatures, cats, Minotaurs… ponies” she muttered the last word, “she’d starve me, forcing me to stay close to them. Then once I got sick, she’d tell them.”

She scoffed, “‘She needs blood to survive’. They were always confused, then once they realized-“ she paused and looked at him, “Monster, beast, psycho”

Her hoof trailed to her throat, “some of them would try and kill me, but it didn’t work” a tear was in her eyes, “every time I’d wake up in a pool of blood, and the worst thing”

Her eyes grew sharp, “I enjoyed it. The taste in my mouth was the most amazing thing… and the more I had it the harder it was to not just-“ she gestured aimlessly and fell silent for a moment, “some of them were my friends” she continued “they trusted me, offered themselves and I couldn’t stop.

Then every time, Tay would come in and congratulate me. Tell me how interesting it was to see how the blood affected me, how I fed on them was so efficient”

She choked as a tear trailed down her face her snarl returned as she looked at her hoof, “I’m a monster, and you hate me”

Sil was silent for a moment, watching her as she looked at her own body in disgust, “Moon…”

She met his eyes despite the tears, “You aren’t a monster, and I don’t hate you”- He sat up on his bed and watched her as her eyes grew annoyed, -“You’re my friend”

“SO WHAT?!” She shouted, “It’s only a matter of time before I need to…” she shook her head, “even if you don’t hate me, I’m a monster.”

“You didn’t kill that cat” he said catching her eye once again, “you aren’t a monster, it’s just who you are”

“Just who I am!?” She hissed, “I drink blood, Sil, I need it to survive, I can hear your heartbeat and smell you from here-“

“And?” He shot back, “not once during these last two weeks did you hurt me, in fact you saved my life, twice!” He shook his head, “I can’t understand what you went through with Tay, but I can tell you that you are not a monster, and no matter what you need to survive you are still my friend”

She faltered, her eyes falling, “then what will you do when I need blood?” She whispered.

“How often do you need it?” He asked.

She gave him a hesitant look, her ears hanging low by her head, the tears had stopped but still threatened to start again “every three weeks, then I get sick” her voice was still a whisper.

Sil thought for a moment before nodding, “then that settles it, you can use me, we can make sure you stay healthy and you don’t have to worry about anyone else knowing”

She gave him an incredulous look, “b-but I can’t… what if I go too far?”

“You won’t”- she started to talk again but he cut her off, -“and I’m able to help you stop if you need to, if I can walk off a Minotaur that shouldn’t be a problem”

She went silent and sat down staring at the floor, “you don’t hate me?”

He smiled and stood up walking over to her, he kneeled down and wrapped her in a hug, she tensed but didn't go against it “of course I don’t Moon”

It was silent for a moment before she returned his hug, at some point she had started to cry again.

His mind wandered to the image of Tay, the table he had been strapped on, and her casual voice as she told him what she had planned. ‘Next time… I wont let her walk away’

————————————————————————————————————————

Sil and Moon looked up from the bed they were sat on as a knocking came from the door.

“The briefing is starting soon, come when you are ready” the monotone voice of Ancy spoke from the other side.

“Alright, we’ll be there” Sil said in a raised voice, a few moments later he heard padded footsteps walking away.

“Was that… Ignorance?” Moon asked, it had taken a while for her to regain her cool but she was mostly back to her normal self.

“Mhm, just call them Ancy”

“Them? Are they a boy or a girl?” Moon asked, glancing at the door as Sil stood up, she stood on the bed and hopped off with a flap of her wings.

“No clue, they were wearing a maids dress when I saw them at first though”

Moon nodded and went silent, she hesitated following Sil to the door, “do you think Bliss…”

“No” he stated, “she’s an ass and even if it was in her favour she’s kept us safe, even knowing about your…” he trailed off trying to find a good was to put it, “...needs”

She watched him for a moment before giving him a trusting smile, following him out the door and to what they assumed was the living room. Bliss was lounged across on of the seats, she stopped talking with Ancy who was standing nearby as she caught sight of them.

“Good to see you didnt break red-eye” she quipped sitting up on the sofa, she gestured to another sitting across the table from her, “take a seat, we need to make sure you understand the plan for tomorrow”

Sil coughed and stared at her, “T-tommorow?! We just got here! He-”

He was waved off, “yeah yeah, but a deals a deal, plus-” she gave him an innocent smile, “I helped you two out, only fair you return the favor right?”

“Thats not fair at all!” Moon exclaimed, “Its not like we had a choice!”

“I fail to see your point” Ancy spoke up, regarding Moon and Sil with her blank gaze, “You are here, Bliss helped you, and as far as we are concerned you being here means you’ve agreed to the deal provided, yes?”

Moon frowned, “N- I mean, ugh Sil!” she gave him a pleading look.

He gave Bliss and Ancy his own annoyed look, “They’re right, we cant just walk out of here anyways even if we wanted to” he sighed and focused on Bliss, “But still, why so soon? You cant be telling me you banked your entire operation on us agreeing”

She gave him a coy smile, “Oh but I did, its just my thing. Feel free to ask Ancy if you want, she was just as confused as you two are” Ancy nodded in confirmation after getting a look from Sil and Moon.

Not sure how to continue Sil walked over to the opposite sofa and sat down with Moon, “fine, whats the plan?”

______________________________________________________________________________________________

“It is safe right?” Moon asked nervously, regarding the bottle holding a dark purple fluid with a cautious stare.

“Of course! I’m the resident drug expert around here, my word is as good as you’ll get!”

Sil gave Bliss a look, “I’m not sure drugs and magical potions are the same thing Bliss”

She rolled her eyes, “Listen, I got this from a trusted source who’s never failed me in the past”- she looked to Ancy, -”Isnt that right?”

“You are correct, the source is also of zebrican descent and has experience in making such potions” she looked to Moon, “We have also tested the potion ourselves and can confirm it is harmless aside from a sense of fatigue and confusion once it wears off”

Moon looked to Bliss, “Why didnt you say that in the first place?!”

Bliss grinned, “It’s less fun that way” her blue eyes flicked to Sil, “The potion should keep you two linked for three hours”- she sat up and leaned over the table between them that had a layout of Tay’s lab, -”And if this map is correct, we should have more than enough time to get in and out before it wears”

“Remind me again why you need directions if you have a map?” Sil spoke up as he looked it over himself.

“Reassurance mostly, and we may find ourselves in a situation where pulling a map out to decide left or right could lead to us captured, killed, and turned into lifeless drones”

“Which would not be good” Ancy offered earning a glance from Moon and Sil.

Bliss spoke up again before either of them could speak, “And once we’re out we’ll be meeting at the docks, luckily for you two I was able to find a nice Pegasus captain willing to smuggle two creatures into Equestria”

At that Moon stared at her with wide eyes, “D-did you say Equestria?” Bliss blinked as a giant grin grew on the Thestral’s face, “omigosh! SIL! WERE GOING TO EQUESTRIA!?” She had began to frantically shake Sil back and forth by the shoulders.

Ancy frowned, “Is the location a problem?”

Moon gasped and rapidly shook her head, “nononono its great! ama-”

She was cut off as Sil wrangled her and held her mouth closed, “It wont be a problem Ancy, thank you” he couldnt help the smile that had grown on his own face from Moons reaction.

Ancy just nodded and returned to scanning the other papers that were scattered around the table for the fith time that night.

Bliss was giving them a bemused smile, “Well I suppose that means the only thing thats left to do is to start!” She stood up with a stretch and exaggerated yawn, “Sil, I recommend going to bed now, especially if you’re going to be keeping up with me tomorrow” she looked to Ancy, “And you, run the plan by Red-Eye one more time before heading to bed, dont try and pull an all nighter or I’ll drag you back myself”

“Yes Bliss” she responded simply before turning to Moon, “Are you ready to go over the material again?”

Sil and Bliss walked out of the room, once they were out of earshot Bliss faced him, “How did your talk with Moon go?”

“It went… well”- he hesitated, -“if I’m being honest though, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to help”

She rolled her eyes, “let me give you some advice, you don’t need to ‘help’ just be there. That’s more than enough”

He met her eyes, “I’m not trying to come off as rude-“

“But why am I helping?” Sil nodded and her gaze wandered the hall, “…I’m not sure” her voice was more… open than usual she didn’t seem as guarded as she had before, but in an instant her smile was back.

“I heard you talked with Ancy, How’d you like the dress?”

He watched her for a moment before shaking his head, “they said you told them to wear it, not sure I understand why but I don’t think I’ll get an answer” he glanced back down the hall from where they had came, “though I did realize you don’t have much of a ‘guild’ here, specially seeing that there’s only you two”

She nodded, “this job was… less popular with the rest of the guild, could say us two are taking a little break to do this”

Sil frowned, “Why would you take a job that gets you kicked from your ‘thieves guild’? From the gear I’ve seen you use I’m assuming there’s benefits to sticking with them”

She opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself, her smile faded once again, “…Y'know I really shouldn’t be this trusting should I?”

Sil gave her a confused look, “what do you mean?”

“You two of course, I picked you up from the street, led you to our home, all while not even knowing what you even are.” She looked at him with a curious expression, “you’ve got this strange draw to you”

Sil watched her carefully, “If you think I’m doing something, I can tell you I’m not.”

She was facing him more directly, “and how am I supposed to know for sure, hm?”

He felt himself growing tense before her face broke into a grin, “don’t worry, I may not know what the hell you are but I’ve got enough experience to know when I’m being manipulated” she shrugged to herself, “or maybe I just have a death wish”

She watched him in silence for a few moments before turning back down the hall, “and to give you an answer… suppose I’d just rather go out being helpful than going out a thief” she stated over her shoulder.

He watched her silently as she rounded a corner, listening as her paws walked up the stairs and into what he assumed was her room.

Sil let out a small breath he didn’t know he was holding, “she can be scary sometimes” he wandered down the hall where Bliss had gone and came to his own room toward the base of the stairs.

He stepped in and found his bed, laying down with a sigh he looked out of the window to the light blue glow breaking through the cavern outside, “those lights really are pretty” he said aloud to himself as his mind began to wander.