Tenacious Love

CHAPTER TWO:

NOW WHAT?

   In a room with no window, a single lamp, one bed and one door the changeling woke up with a weak groan. She felt a little stronger for some reason, but she was still to weak to be able to do anything. She lifted her head up from the pillow, a sharp pain in her side from colliding with a tree after beeing blasted out of Canterlot with that spell Princess Cadence and her fianceé casted.

   The sound of locks came from the other side of the door. After a few clicks and knocks the door opened to reviel a white pegasus mare with pink mane and tail coming in with a tray topped with a plate and cup. She had blades fastened on her wings that she splayed threateningly as she approached the changeling. She set the tray down in front of the changeling, who looked down at it for a minute. On the plate was a small stack of pancakes and the cup was filled with what must have been orange juice.

   "Don't try anything, changeling." The mare said. The changeling looked up at the mare weakly. "You try anything other then what I permit you to do, and you'll be dead before you can change."

   "You do know what I am, right girlfriend?" The changeling asked weakly. The mare blinked at the sound of the changelings voice, it was definitely female and surprisingly gentle and sweet for what she was.

   "Yes, I know what you are." The mare replied.

   "Then you'll know that this..." she gestured to the plate with a shaking hoof, "...won't do me much any good."

   "If you don't want it, I can always take it back." The mare countered.

   "No, I love pancakes..." The changeling said. She slowly pulled the tray toward her, she picked up the fork next to the plate and began digging away at the pancakes. The mare watched as the creature devouered the contents of the plate, then drank the orange juice.

   After the plate was cleaned and the cup was emptied the mare took the tray and began to back away from the changeling to the door.

   "Hey!" The changeling called. The mare stopped in her tracks, staring suspiciously at her. "What's your name?" The pony blinked at the changeling. Why would a creature like her be interested in the name of a pony unless she wanted to seduece her? "I just wanna know the name of the pony who still treeted me nicely even though you're holding me prisoner."

   The mare said nothing, she just backed out of the room and closed the door, the locks clicked a few times and then there was silence. The changeling smiled weakly as she layed her head back down on her pillow, her thoughts trailed to a name she realy liked she had came across a few years ago when she was feeding off a stallion, Tenacity.

~~~

   Bubblecut heaved a sigh as she turned her head to the ceiling, her thought swirling all around what she was doing. Am I doing the right thing here? She asked herself. She carried the tray of empty dishes down the hall into the kitchen and placed them in the sink with the ban she used to cook the pancakes and began to wash them. Bubblecut finnished cleaning the dishes and put them away, then she trotted away toward her room and collapsed on her bead face first in her pillow, forgetting she still had her wingblades on.

What the hell am I doing here? She asked herself. Okay, let's recap, I was given orders from Princess Luna to find changelings. I go to get Wild to help and he's out hunting with his pet so I go alone. I find one changeling and I bring it home and it turns out this one's a she and she doesn't seem like any other changeling I've ever faced. Have I missed anything? No? Okay. She sat up in her spot and rolled her eyes up at the heavens. Great! Now I'm thinking like Wild.

   As though on cue, a knock came from the front door. Bubblecut let out a long sigh, she unfastened her wing blades, hopped off her bed and stopped at the doorframe to wait. After a minute the knock came again.

   "Bubblecut, it's Wild. Are ya gunna open up, or... do I need to get Sharpy?" She definitely did not Wild's pet to get involved in this, there was no telling what that animal would do. She trotted toward the front door and opened it, a green unicorn with a bright blue unbuttoned vest stood at the door. His was head tilted to the side, his teeth bare in a dumb grin and his yellow mane was very well stylized. "Well, alright then." He said, his head shaking left and right with his words.

   "Hey Wild." She said.

  "Hello my fellow equine friend! And just how are you today, beauty of a pony?" He asked. She blushed at his compliment. "Well, alright then! And you've cooked pancakes this morning. Yummey!"

   "Wild this realy isn't the best time to..."

   "You mean because of the fact you have a prisoner locked in one of your spare rooms?" He stated while turning his head to a random direction.

   She blinked. She opened her mouth to ask him 'how did you know' before he interrupted her. "How long have you known me?" He asked to counter her unspoken question. He had a point, Wild Animal was the most unpredictable pony she had ever met and somehow he knew things that seemed imposible.

   "Get your flank in this house, Animal." She ordered, he did so with a 'well, alright then' and trotted inside. Bubblecut closed the door and, even though they did not live in a populated area, locked the door behind her, then she turned to face her friend with a soft glare. "What do you know?" He raised his brows as if he missed the question.

   "Oh right. The prisoner." He said, his head bouncing with his words. "Only the fact that she's a changeling." He turned his head away as he spoke then focused just his eyes at her. "Do you like her?" She blinked.

   "What?" She replied.

   "Oh, nothing." He raised his hooves up. "It's just the fact that, assuming she's weak from the magic spell that drove them away from the castle, you had the perfect opportunity to just kill her then and there, yet you bring her to you home as your prisoner. Is it because you like her?"

   "No!" She replied. "You know me, she's badly hurt and I couldn't in good conscience just kill her like that. So I brought her here."

   "And you tended to her wounds and fed her breakfast, but you do know she can't servive if she doesn't feed on love, right?" She looked away then nodded faintly. "So, unless you have love to give to her in some level she's going t..."

   "I know!" She barked.

   "So, you're killing her anyway?" He asked.

   "What else am I gonna do?" She asked.

   "Oh, you can do a number of things. Let her go, fall in love to feed her..."

   "Okay, shut up, Animal." She interrupted. "I can't just let her go." Wild walked up and placed both hooves on her shoulders, she looked up at him, a pleading look in her eyes.

   "You'll figure something out. You always do, and that's why you're named 'lieutenant'. And, no matter what you decide, I'll be by your side, is that clear?" Before she had a change to respond, he spoke, "well, alright then," and with that he turned and trotted off toward the door.

   "I don't have to ask if your lips are sealed in this matter, do I?" She asked. He turned his head back, raised his hoof to his limps and motioned his hoof acrossed his lips as though zipping his mouth closed, then trotted off. She sighed. even though he was an unpredictable pony, he was the most trustworthy friend she had. She knew he would not tell anypony about the changeling in her house.

   He unlocked the door then trotted out, humming to himself as he bounced toward the Everfree where his home was. She watched him as his bright colors shrinked into the distance until he was out of sight then she closed the door and walked back to her room. She let herself collapse on her bed then after a minute she reached up and flipped on the stereo to listen to a solo played by Octavia. As she listened to the music she sighed and buried her face in her hooves and she through her head back, letting out a heavy moan. "Now What?"