Colors

Pixie has a new habit. He'd sit outside, right where the stone house would shade him and simply watch. The world itself became a bit dimmer. The blues of the sky seemed to wash everything in a gray. Even yellow, once burning like the sun now blended into the world around him. Music felt flatter as well, every time he'd pull up his guitar and pluck those strings there wasn't that rich chorus that yelled out. No, the sound was now an unsalted cracker. He hated it. Wondering what he could fix to make it go back to now it was, before promise week. Before he got his cutie mark. So he ate his feelings up, making sure they'd go away. Maybe he'd forget them? Then will the moon shine again? Closing his eyes he felt the breeze try to carry him away, and even though he wanted to go, he stayed.

New ponies occupied Memory’s house. A slight change to see those windows click on and beam light like they used to for what felt like a forever ago. Mayo wasn't there anymore, Pixie knew better than to ask where she was. Today they took apart her house, nail by nail. First a pile of wood panels, then an empty space. Washing her away from the scene. Were there other dogs to wait, like Mayo? What would happen to pickles when he's… he swallowed the thought. Then, there was an unfamiliar sight, Picpuck, walking down the road. With no strength to wave at her, the colt kept still.

“Hey,” her distant voice called him back down.

“Hi,” Pixie answered,

“You're just sitting here, again?”

“Yeah,”

“...May I join you?”

“I guess…”

She dusted the stone porch before she sat, but it just stirred the dirt around. Besides him she rested, blowing out a soft whistle.

“So why are you sulking, did you get into a fight with mom?”

He shook his head…

“Not very talkative today, are you?”

He nodded.

“...Why are you so sad?”

“How did you know?”

“I'm magic,”

Pixie narrowed his eyes at her, “no you're not, you're not a unicorn”

“Mayhaps, yet you didn't answer my question,”

Pixie stalled, “Don’t know”

“Hm, well what do you feel? ”

“Like- if I was a girl I would really want to cry but I don't got nothin to cry bout’ or- like… I dunno, it's nothing,”

“If you were a girl? Boys cry too,”

“No they don't,”

“Yes they do,”

“Nu-huh,”

“I'm- We are not starting that.”

That got Pixie to giggle, “It’s kinda fun,”

“Little debater aren't cha? If there was a spot open on the council I would say you should go into that,”

“I'm not smart enough for that…”

Picpuck pushed on his shoulder, making the colt go off balance.

“H-hey!” He protested,

“So learn. Learn how to reason, you learn how to learn, even if it's hard.”

“It's not hard for other ponies, I don't know why I gotta do it,” Pixie replied, grumbling

“One you don't know that, and two there will always be a pony to out play you, you just use the cards that you have,”

“What does that even mean?”

“Do what you can.”

“I can't do much,”

“But you can always do something, right? So use what little you have, in ways you don't see others using it, ya know?”

“I don't?”

Picpuck sighed, heavily. like she was making a show out of it. It wasn't from being tired, no it was… silly.

“You play games don't you?” Picpuck asked,

Pixie nodded.

“It's kinda like that, life is one big game,”

“...Hey Picpuck,”

“Hm, yes Pixie?”

“...What is your cutie mark?”

“That's off topic but um… It's a gavel and a mushroom,”

“Do you like it?”

“Oh,” She hummed, “I see what this is about,”

Pixie adverted his gaze, yet her hoof gently took his face, tilting his face up to meet her eyes, before she took it away.

“You know Dad and Genesis are a rare pair, both have cutie marks,

“Same with me,

“Half of the ponies here never get their cutie marks, or only get them in their adult years. I mean a late adult. Those kids who do get em, some choose to cover them up, others don't until they finally accept their faces,”

“Wait, I don't gotta wear these!”

“...You didn't choose to wear those?”

“When I got home Mama put me in them,”

She snorted, then laughed.

The first time Pixie heard her really laugh, The feeling possessed her for that perfect second. It was loud shriek-like but its brightness made color come back just for a moment. It was blinding, kind of like the sun, but not burning.

“She did the same to me, when I got mine-” Picpuck answered, “I think I was 12? How old are you now? Oh sh-” She stopped herself, “Shoot! Convergence Night is coming up soon,”

“11,”

“You got another whole cycle and a half, Pixie,”

“I… I guess, I'm excited to be an adult, really!”

“Then what's your problem,”

“What if I can't…” Hesitant he was, he remembered their conversation about saying the right things to the right type of ponies, so he thought his word through,
“What happens when a pony don't like their part?…”

Picpuck then stood beckoning for him with a hoof. His sudden cut off in conversation was frustrating, yet Pixie followed behind her as she moved towards the gate. Pixie's breath sharpened as she placed a hoof on one of those crystals. It rippled against her hoof, sending out gentle waves that went though Pixie’s body.

“Uhh, Picpuck I'm not allowed-” Pixie began,

“I'm sure we can make an exception,” Her voice answered,

The gates opened, revealing the endless sea of sand. Pixie stayed by her legs, looking around…

“What if a monster sees us?”

“Have you ever learned about spiders?”

“They are gross bugs with way too many legs! And that doesn't have anything to do with what I said-”

“...ah” she was a bit taken aback, “Technically right, they are predatory arachnids, they live in webs, able to find where their prey is once taken in, be it by smell, sound, or in this case vibration.

“About 150 years ago, Selene placed this ‘web,’ on a the outskirts of the village, up to the Nest, this progressively got bigger until it took up the entirety of the sacred land,

“About 15 minutes or so there's a pulse sent out from the floor, all the way to the outskirts, if there's something unusual in these pulses, like a creature with too many legs, or a pony that is not marked as… safe, to Selene, then we are notified, then we notify the nearest checkpoint, and they continue out to see what exactly sent our web, off.”

“How does Selene know what ponies are safe or not?”

“Originally, ponies would use their blood,”

“What!”

“It's only a drop!” Picpick soothed, “Anyways, Selene would imbue that blood into the gate, yet with how many ponies in the village the gate became a bit cramped. Somewhat in the last 50 years, they imbued a charm in the mask we wear,”

“Ohh, So like? Our faces make us safe?”

“Exactly, but it only works if you're on the ground, things that fly, well, there's a reason why we still have ponies survey the area,”

“Okay,” Pixie nodded, “Why weren't we taught this at school, or when we were walking?”

“It's more of a council thing, or at least the ponies who work with that, your job was to explore, and adapt.

“Let’s say if your cutie mark was protective it would be less effective if there was not any danger, for example.

“You can't force a cutie mark, yet we can try to make it a Science,”

“Wait, won't they know… I'm… I haven't got my face yet?”

“That's another downside, the pulse which marks my mask as safe is hiding you, it is not too big of an issue, I mean, who are we going to talk to?”

“Jack!” he chipped,

“Not for long,” She nearly sang,

Only then did Pixie slow down his pace, weakly following behind her high trot. She turned around, stopped, making Pixie stop too. Her hoof went, touching the porcelain face she wore, moving it Pixie heard a snap, as she moved the false face away. So, Pixie screamed. The pure flash bang of sound had Picpuck in a bit of daze.

“Hey! Hey! It's okay! We're immediate family, we can see each other's face,” she seemed a bit annoyed having to explain it.

“Oh Yeah-” Pixie stopped a second after she said that.

She placed her mask on her back, hooking it with a black chain on her pocket. Her fur was pink, she had a mark on her cheek right under her eye. His sister wore makeup like Mama. There wasn't a point to it, no pony was going to see it so that fact perplexed Pixie, it must be a girl thing. She had yellow eyes, bright yellow eyes that stared directly into Pixie's. Air filled her cheeks as she glanced around, she placed a hoof firm into the sand and turned around.

“Why did you do that?” Pixie asked, continuing to follow her,

“We’re family,”

She continued up a mountain, Pixie could feel his vision blurring, as he did his best not to focus on his hooves moving below him. It was… dizzying, but he refused to stop her, even as he felt himself darken in and out…

Then it was pitch black.

“Pixie?”

Her voice echoed like a siren, sometimes louder in the right, sometimes screaming in his left. In and out, he felt sick… like he was going to hurl, but there was nothing he could throw up… he felt his body be lifted… and set down… all he could do was feel afraid, like he was teetering on sleep.

After a few moments his eyes readjusted.

“Pixie!” Picpuck shook him, not helping with the bile, “Selene and all that is holy, don't scare me like that!”

She sounded mad… livid, he could have sworn she had mother's voice…

“I'm… sorry.”

Her eyes started like mothers as well but they softened. Only for her to slump down sitting. She let out a sigh, closing her eyes…

This place was strange. It didn't have a roof, it was like a circle, with many windows, and pillars that reached out… a c shape, that had an opening looking straight from a cliff… his eyes focused, seeing the vast empty dessert… he could see Jack's house, that looked like a button in a clutter drawer. Then the empty houses they passed by, and another place… One on the very far side of the landscape. There was a giant thing, a pinwheel, rotating like a moon. The whole area could be covered by his little hoof if he reached it out. Pixie stood up, taking steps further towards the opening, a sense of vertigo washed over him. His eyes widened as if to catch the detail.

“Where are we?” he asked,

“The nest…”

“What's that?” He pointed to the distance,

“The gathering of the sun's embers, we call it,”

“We call it that?”

“New Bird, It's called, it's a city,”

“A city…?”

“Um, well, it's like… our village, but denser, where the outsiders live,”

“All of them?”

She laughed, “They are all over the place, to be honest, that's just one of many cities,”

Pixie sat down looking at the blinky lights on the pinwheel. Picpuck stood up and walked over to his side sitting down.

“...I wanted to bring you here in the beginning,”

She started as Pixie stayed silent,

“Your part, doesn't really matter, because at the end of the day, the world moves on, and that's a scary fact, but it's comforting… you know?”

“How is that comforting,”

“Because it lets you make up the things that matter to you,”

“...That doesn't make sense,”

She shrugged, “you'll get it, one day,”

Picpuck saw the distance in his expression, the way his brows wrinkled as he chewed on her words. The winds whistled as sand swept throughout the Nest. She forgot how the wind felt on her fur, the strange feeling of warmth, the light based on her cheeks. It was chilly to bare the outside world in this way. It wasn't unpleasant by any means but it became unusual to be sure.

“I thought you got Sun sickness, so I brought you someplace shaded,” she let slip,

“...No, it just happens sometimes,”

“That’s concerning,”

“Mama says it's normal,”

“She’ll say a lot of things,” She paused, “are you eating?”

“Yeah,”

“How much?”

“I- donno-...”

It was so easy to hear it in his voice, the way he shifted, how he grew further away. He didn't want to tell her, and everypony is entitled to their secrets, even the small ones. This wasn't too uncommon,

yet it still felt sickening to see… to watch. Pixie looked thinner, his plump baby fat was little to none, he was getting awkward, and lanky, like some mangy street cat… like she had. He was quieter than before, he was rotating around with the moon instead of being grounded, and he was drifting, further each day. She knew it wasn't uncommon, the little time she spent here she's seen it before, some smaller than others.

“Okay.” she said,

The energy was thick in the Nest. So many times have ponies come on trial here, so many moons had she sat in the awning next to her fellow council mares. Her eyes drifted towards the opening, the silver stand, the bare throne that was elevated high, so often did she direct its decorations… for her. Pillows and cloth veiling the goddess, as she continued to let her mind wonder elsewhere. Despite her being their “guide” their goddess did little to interject, she rarely spoke, always daydreaming. At first Picpuck thought she was in deep thought; when she was called down she only answered back in vague tones. She wasn't perfect.

The way she acted, or how she fidgeted with her hooves, she daydreams. Even how she clears her voice. It became too common, too many little details Picpuck couldn't just push under the rug, she was touchable despite how far she tried to make herself be. At least, there had to be, had to be a reason for this theory Picpuck created, because the latter of it being wrong was… terrifying. How could a god so forgiving allow her people to suffer so? Why would she lock the world out if there wasn't something to hide. If she acted so commonly like a mare instead of a god, there had to be a reason for it, right?

“Sis?”

“Hm?”

“You got quiet,”

“Ah, becoming more observant, aren't you?”

“I am?”

“Just a bit,”

Picpuck placed her hoof on the colt’s head ruffling up his colored mane. Only until he started swatting at her hoof did she bring it to her face to muffle her laugh.

“Stooaap! I'm not some little colt anymore, I'm almost an adult!” He whined,

“You’re still my little brother, ya know?”

“I guess,”

Picpuck laughed again, looking back at the clearing, “Don't be sulky, you'll go under the sand if you get anymore heavy hearted,”

“...I'm… it's hard…”

“Nothing with meaning is ever easy, Gotta suck it up, even here,” she felt her voice softened, “focus on what makes you happy, even if it'll go away,”

She knew she should take advice herself, but she didn't want that shadow to eat Pixie up as well. Pixie didn't say anything, his ears pinned back as he looked at New Bird over the horizon. All she could do was wish he wasn't too far to reach just yet.

"But the going away part is why it's so hard..." Pixie replied.

Author's Note

Small note here

This next chapter "Bliss," I'm in a bit of a slump in, the middle part I have gutted and re-wrote so many times.

I came to the conclusion, that I'm still learning how to write stories. And I need to work through how to write this in the way I imagined, so I'm giving myself one last week and if it's still not good enough, fuck it we ball. 🫡