Blueberry POV

We travelled through half the night, getting as much distance between us and the farm as possible, even though neither of us believed that any pony would follow us. We stopped once, so Zitrus could medicate himself. Unlike me, who knew nothing about healing, he said that he was, while not a professional, pretty experienced with first aid. He started by taking a swig of healing potion, and then got into position to jerk his limb back into its socket.

I watched him doing it, all the while wishing I could do something, anything, to help him. The activity looked very painful, and the face he made confirmed to me that it very much was. When he was done, he swallowed the rest of the healing potion with greedy, uninterrupted gulps.

Afterwards we continued our march, Zitrus limping along on three legs. We were both tired, but I did my best to support him anyhow. I suppose… Was I worried about him? This question dogged me incessantly as we waddled on. Sure, Zitrus was the first pony in a long time... if not the first ever, who had really spent time with me. The chats with him were nice and he helped me a lot with myself, giving me a feeling of being alive again.

Even though he nearly got us killed, I thought to myself and smiled on the inside, even as my actual face remained dead as ever.

I looked at Zitrus walking at my side. His flame-coloured mane was vibrant… even in the dark. I wasn’t sure if I viewed him as my friend, but I did care about him.

Like I said, we walked for half the night, until we found a tall overhanging rock which gave us shelter for the rest of the night. It wasn’t going to rain or anything, but it gave us a feeling of protection.

Zitrus didn’t even set up his tent. We both just layed down and not long after, fell asleep.

When I woke up the sun had already risen high. I tried to blink away the sleep in my eyes and looked around. I was initially confused by my surroundings, but then remembered what had happened.

I looked behind me and saw Zitrus still lying next to me, with a little space in between. He was a calm sleeper; barely made any sound or movements. Only the rhythmic rising and falling from his chest gave away that he was still breathing. I wanted to let him sleep a bit longer, since his hurt leg could use the extra rest but as soon as I stood up, he woke up too.

Half sleeping, he rubbed his eyes with his healthy hoof. “Morning”, he said.

“Morning”, I responded and stepped out from the protection of the rock.

The sky had some clouds here and there. I was thinking back to the times when the whole wasteland was always covered in clouds. Never a chance to see the sun or the stars. I was thankful that wasn’t the case anymore. Back then, clouds covered the entire sky at all times. Back when the Pegasi had used the clouds to block themselves off from the wasteland. That all had changed short after the death of the Goddess. As far as I had heard it was all thanks to a unicorn called Little Pip. Or, the Lightbringer, as most call her now.

Soon after, Zitrus came up behind me and we both got on our way again. Walking side by side in a peaceful silence again. Zitrus was still on three legs, but it was going way better already. Kind of impressive what healing potions could do.

“I have some questions about your invisibility spell, Blueberry”, Zitrus asked. I turned my head to him. I didn’t say anything, and he took the hint that he could go ahead.

“How does it work? I mean can you turn everything and anything invisible forever?”

I shook my head. “No… I can only turn creatures invisible, together with whatever they wear. And like a normal unicorn would cast spells, my spell also takes energy. Which means I cannot turn invisible forever. With time it gets tiring until I eventually have to stop casting. This also happens faster the more ponies I turn invisible or the further away they are.”

Zitrus just nodded and thought about my words. “When you turned yourself invisible that first time, I didn't even know you were invisible. Guess I forgot during the heat of the moment that you could do that... But even when you told me that you were, it still was impossible for me to tell where you were. Is there a way to tell your location even if you’re invisible?”

My expression stayed neutral like always. But I didn’t answer right away. To be fair Zitrus’ question was understandable. But being able to turn invisible was the most powerful spell I had. Telling some pony how he could guess where I was, even when I was invisible would make this skill mostly useless against him. It would be like giving away your weak spot. How much did I really trust this stallion...?

“Yes, there is a way to tell where I am, even when I’m invisible. But it’s very situational. Being invisible doesn’t mean you have no effect on your surroundings. So, for starters, you could try to hear where I am.

Even the slightest sound, like flapping my wings, can give me away. But of course, in the middle of a battle you often overhear such things. But that’s not all. The best way, really, is to look where I walk. Look for trampled grass, shifting dust or hoofprints in the dirt. But again, this requires a lot of attention which you often lack during fights.”

Zitrus nodded. “What about other alicorns? Are they able to tell where you are when you are invisible?”

“No”, I answered. “When we alicorns were controlled by the Goddess, the unity was a big help but now… Only the green alicorns can do it with the help of their mind reading skill. Not even another blue sister would know where I am.”

Again, Zitrus gave a nod. He then took some time to ask the next question. “What about the other alicorns? I mean, can I tell where a purple alicorn will teleport, or are green alicorns always able to read your mind?”

Again I was unsure if I should tell him. But this time I didn’t think too much about it. I already told him many secrets about my race, might as well also tell him the rest. Even though I know it was stupid, I just WANTED to trust Zitrus.

“Indeed. My purple sisters often teleport to the place where they’re looking. Even a well-trained alicorn still does it. They don’t have to, and can even teleport to a place not in direct line of sight. Like behind a wall. But the best guess you have is to just follow her sightline, and soon you might see her appear where she’s gazing. It is kind of similar when you jump. During the jump you look at the place you want to land. It gives you the feeling of control.”

“My green sisters with their shield and mind reading abilities are different. First, the shield is not unbreakable. Dealing enough damage or a big blow will break it. It is not easy… But Hellhounds, for example, can break through it with ease. Their mind reading ability you can envision as hearing minds. When a pony talks, you hear their voice. For Greens, the same way goes with the mind. But just as you can whisper your voice instead of talking aloud, you can also “whisper” your thoughts. It is like thinking but they cannot understand you. That’ll make it harder for them, or even make it impossible for them to mindread. This whole “thought-whispering” technique requires training though. Then you can shut your mind from them, as long as they don’t catch you off guard.”

This was the best explanation I could give. I could have gone into more detail, but they would have been unnecessary. This was already more than enough. Again, we walked in silence next to each other, on our way to Dusty Village.

“When I turned you invisible on the farm, you had your chance to shoot both of those ponies while they were looking for us. Getting rid of the problem right away. Why didn’t you?”, I asked Zitrus after a while.

He gave a small smile but didn’t look at me. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it just felt… wrong. First off, why kill them when we had such a high chance to escape? And second, I don’t think that they deserved it. Sure, they attacked us but they didn’t do it out of bloodlust or anything like that. They were just like us. Travellers, or inhabitants of the farm. Protecting their lives…”

A small part of me didn’t understand Zitrus’ words. Why take risks while there were two ponies trying to get you? But, for the most part, I had to agree with him. They weren’t out to kill us. They started out by talking to us, and then probably got spooked into attacking. Ponies do stupid things when they are panicking. Because, in the end, they didn’t know who or what we were. You cannot differentiate a raider from a traveller just by their voice… Because both could lie and just say they mean no harm.

“Why didn’t you turn me invisible right from the beginning?”, Zitrus asked me.

I didn’t want to answer that. It was not an answer I was proud of. But giving no answer would not make it better. “It… didn’t really occur to me initially…”, I then replied.

Zitrus didn’t say anything for a while. I felt bad. I felt like I had left Zitrus behind to die. Even though I didn’t in the end, the feeling kept nagging at me.

“Thank you for saving me back there”, Zitrus finally said.

I did not reply to it, but on the inside, I was thankful for his words.

Author's Note

A bit of a boring chapter I would say but neither less important. It tells a bit about the abilities of the wasteland alicorns. (Even though some very little parts do not 100% fit with the actual lore...)

And like always, thank you for reading. Leave a comment if you like. Positives and negatives are just as welcome. They all help to improve the story.