The Shaded View

by FluxerCry

Chapter 4: Rough Draft and Final Submission

Wooden Pillars of screaming oak continued to rise up in the distance, everlasting, no matter how long I walked amongst them. The frozen faces for which the oaks were named glowered at me from their wooden bodies, and I imagined the disapproving leer of every changeling in the hive behind me. I tried instead to focus on the trail laid out before me, but looking down all I could see was Tamite’s dead body, entombed in stone somewhere deep, deep beneath my hooves. I could still hear, long behind me, the risen voices of the mob come to see me off; Chants of “exile” shattering the otherwise still night air.

I would have flown, flown away from it all, but my wings had been clipped. All I could do was walk ever further from the only home I’d ever known; a home I’d never had the chance to give back to.

All at once the voices behind me grew louder, and I turned my head to see the mob had now taken chase. Panic struck me at the sight and I began to move faster, until my hooves flew beneath me as if they weighed nothing, yet the burden of my wrong-doings kept them from leaving the ground. As I ran the oaks I passed gained their own voices, wings, hooves, pursuing me with growing bloodlust, and the chant behind me changed from “exile” to “traitor.”

“No” I screamed, my own insignificant voice lost amongst the combined efforts of those behind me. “No, no, no!” in the distance, betwixt the chanting trees, I could see an object taking form as I drew near. The form grew wings, hooves, a horn, sharp fangs, emerald eyes. And then that form, too, began to mouth the bloodthirsty chant.

~

I burst awake in a flurry of sweat, tears and gasps. It was dark, but I was used to that; we all were. I must have slept for a long time; as a changeling I had an innate sense of time, and right then that sense was telling me it was early evening.

I had already rolled out of the ball-like position I usually slept in, and the throbbing in my forehead combined with the blurry sight of a bedpost suggested I had done so in a way that had caused my head to make rough acquaintance with the aforementioned bedpost. I was rather thankful for that.

As I stood shakily and the last remnants of my dream fled my now-conscious mind I trailed my eyes along the length of the leg to the bed it belonged to, and from there to the unconscious changeling in its embrace.

“Tamite…”

My hoof brushed against his, causing him to stir. That wasn’t my intention, so upon doing this my tongue began to wag of its own accord.

“Oh—I—uh…”

The pointless stammering did nothing to slow Tamite’s ascension into consciousness. He tried to move his body, but that elicited a painful groan and nothing more.

Gathering myself, I put my words to proper use. “Hey, Tamite, don’t move okay?”

Seeming to remember now the condition he was in, Tamite ceased struggling to move his body and instead twisted his head to face me.

“Mantodea,” His voice croaked. I froze as he said my name. No doubt he was remembering everything that had happened to put him here, and what came next was completely up in the air.

Tamite cleared his throat weakly. “H-hey… look at you.” He put on a ghastly impersonation of a smile. “Waiting at my bedside in a hospital. Those books are making you more like a pony in everything but shape.”

I visibly sagged in relief. Tamite hadn’t mentioned the fight. I should have expected as much from Tamite; he knew I didn’t feel very good about it, and I doubt he wanted to add to that. Tamite was very understanding in that way; I think the pony folk called it “empathy” or something like that.

“I had to carry you here yesterday. I must have gotten you to the hospital and passed out,” I explained.

“Shut up.” The words lacked any sense of authority due to Tamite’s weak voice. “You were worried about me and you know it.”

I just smiled gently. A few moments passed, and Tamite averted his eyes.

“Well” He spoke up, “if you’re just here to look at me like that then I’m sure you have more productive things to do.

I stopped smiling and looked to the side, realizing that by doing so I was probably just making him feel more like what he was: weak. He brought up a good point though.

“I’ve sort of been thinking about that.” I looked at the ground, observing the way the dust moved around my hooves when I waved them. “I… well, I feel like I need to start really giving back to the hive, the way they want me to—”

“You’re not going back.” I didn’t need to look at Tamite to tell he was staring at me very firmly. “Especially not after this. They’d kill you.”

“I don’t plan on going back to the magic wing” I assured him, “I just… I feel like I need to start taking my training more seriously.”

I was hoping Tamite would say something, but the silence said enough. I tore my gaze from whatever pointless speck of dust it had been following and instead focused on Tamite. I needed to look at him for this.

“Tamite… what if I were to kidnap a pony?”

Tamite’s mind would likely need time to properly chew on the implications of what I’d just said; I know I gave my mind plenty of time to do so. Tamite never chewed much before swallowing his food.

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I think the root of my problem is that I just can’t imagine it in my head, I just can’t turn into something I’ve never seen or been around—”

“Mantodea.”

“If I could just spend time with one, learn how they think, maybe I could finally—”

“Stop.” Tamite had barely whispered the word, but it struck me just as hard regardless, and I obeyed. I was expecting perhaps he would be angry, or confused, but the look in his eyes told me something else. The look—the quiet disbelief—in his eyes told me that he was afraid.

“Listen” he continued, as if trying to calm a rampant drone. “If you went through with this and the hive found out, they’d kill it, then they’d kill you. But forget that even, what if it escaped? Our whole invasion could be jeopardized. Your training isn’t worth all that.

I tried to argue, but Tamite cut me off before I could even start. “No, don’t talk about it. Don’t even think about it. And do not—” Tamite stared very sternly into my eyes and repeated himself for emphasis “—do not tell anyone about this. Okay?”

Some part of me still wanted to argue the points I’d thought I had planned out in my head, but even as I searched my mind for those points I found myself with nothing. Tamite clearly wasn’t going to back down, and it would be very hard to do without his support…

“Okay.”

“Good,” Tamite concluded. “Now, if you’re on your way out, I think I could use a little more mabone here.” He prodded the still-gaping crack in his exoskeleton, crusted at the edges with drying mabone.

“I’ll tell the doctor to give you a fresh coat on my way out,” I assured.

The rest of the hospital’s rooms were empty of patients, as they just about always were. At least, all save for one other, indicated by a closed door. I tried to steer clear of that as I walked past, knowing full well who was inside.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the doctor anywhere else in the hospital. That meant there was pretty much only one place I could find him, and that was the one place I wanted to avoid.

Okay I thought, maybe I can just wait for him outside the room. That pursuit quickly proved fruitless however as my patience soon ran short, leaving me pacing and gritting my teeth in front of the door.

I briefly considered just leaving. The doctor would check up on Tamite eventually. I couldn’t bring myself to do that either though, leaving me stuck between a rock and a hard place. I had to do something though.

It occurred to me that for all I knew, Thoris wasn’t even conscious—it wouldn’t surprise me—and all I needed to do was speak with the doctor quickly. Simple enough.

My hoof quivered at the door as I raised it to knock. It was already part-way open though, so I simply ended up opening the door myself, and I was greeted with two sets of eyes.

Okay, so Thoris was conscious. Good to know.

“Ah” the doctor greeted me, “you. I was just going to check up on the patient you brought in.”

Despite the awkward nature of being in the same room with Thoris at the time, I tried to make the best of the situation and get it over with as quickly as possible. I relayed Tamite’s request as quick as I could, tripping over myself once or twice as I did.

“Indeed,” the doctor acknowledged, “We’re going to need a good bit more of that once we’re done with your other friend here.” That drew a wince out of me. The doctor squeezed past me and out the door, leaving me alone with Thoris, who had never stopped staring at me since I’d walked in.

There were bandages over most of his face. I don’t know if not being able to see the injury helped or hindered my resolve, but either way it was crumbling fast. I didn’t want to wait around for it to fail entirely, so I turned to leave the room.

“Mantodea.”

That stopped me alright. I could have ignored him; his voice was weak and muffled by bandages, and it wouldn’t be all that hard to believe I simply hadn’t heard him. I couldn’t ignore him, though—I’d done enough to him already. I shakily flicked an ear to indicate I was listening, but otherwise I was absolutely frozen.

“I…” Thoris gurgled, and then coughed. He hesitated, likely out of pain, but continued regardless. “I thought you were going to kill me.”

“…”

I fled that hospital faster than I’d ever fled anything in my life.

~

I lived in a part of the hive known as the Everfree quadrant; as you might expect, it resided beneath the Everfree forest. The hospital was in the training quadrant, a few miles away. Despite that, I was still flying at full speed by the time I got home.

I hit the door head on, not slowing my pace a bit and not stopping to close it behind me. I had two rooms in my house: one for sleeping and one for whatever the hay else I wanted. The first room after entering was the one I slept in; there was a chair, a space on the floor to curl up and sleep, and a cabinet for weaponry. I was more interested in the other room though.

Carrying my momentum from the first door all the way into the second, I burst into the other room. In this room, a bit more crowded, was a pile of books. They were piled up on the floor, as their shelf space was taken up by little mabone carvings, facing me like an army. There were effigies of many things, including dragons and mythical creatures, but most prominent were carvings of changeling warriors.

I knew what I wanted. I picked off a carving of myself from the shelf, reared back, and threw it with all the might I could muster at the wall. Being made of fully hardened mabone the effigy was tough enough to easily withstand the blow, and it fell noisily to the floor. UI didn’t pause to watch it as I picked off another statuette of my likeness and hurled it at the wall to join the other. When at last there was nothing left to throw I slammed my head against the wall and fell.

I landed amongst the books, which scattered across the room, pages turning as they flew. By the time it all settled down I lay panting heavily in a broken, semi-conscious heap. An educational text lay open in front of my eyes, which barely managed to focus on it. The title read: Changelings and Pony Culture Adaptation.

“I’m sorry Tamite,” I sobbed. “I have to do something. I have to…”

Changelings don’t cry. Those emotions—sadness, fear, heartbreak—those belonged to ponies. Changelings don’t cry… so why was I finding myself on the verge of tears? My eyes were glazed. I could feel them spilling over…

I felt useless. No… I felt worse than that. I was a burden. All that the hive asked of me was that I hunt for them, yet I turn around and injure likely one of our best magic wielders. I’d do everything I could to make up for that, but first I had to stamp out the problem at the source. And if I had to do something a little dangerous to get that done, then so be it.

The world around me began to grow dark and silent. I lay there, a sniveling useless wreck as I whispered apologies that would never be heard. Eventually those too died out, and I slipped into a dream no more restful than the last.

“Traitor,” The voices screamed.

“Traitor, traitor… murderer.”

~

My wings took me high above the Everfree forest. It was dark, so my black exoskeleton hid me well against the night sky. In the far distance I could see a pony settlement growing more detailed, while the contorted scowls of the screaming oak passed by.

“Stupid,” I whispered to myself.

All I needed was to study these creatures myself—from afar, of course. Only so much you could learn from a book, right?

“Stupid.”

It was a stupid idea. I was desperate though; to do something, pull my own weight. If all I could do for my hive was cause chaos from within, I might as well be a traitor and a murderer.

“Stupid.”

“Shut up,” I told myself.

The settlement was nearing in the distance, and I could now see the last stretch of barren land separating it from myself. A bit closer than that, though, was a small cottage on the very edge of the forest. Intrigued by the structure, I veered off my planned course to fly a bit closer.

The cottage was made from a large tree, and around it were smaller structures containing smaller animals.

“Wonder which one the pony lives in,” I scoffed.

The cottage had a very large backyard and in it was what looked like a very poorly constructed tent, and a fire surrounded by ponies. Confident in the night sky and the ponies’ weak night vision to hide me, I approached and made my landing just behind the treeline.

There were four ponies; three small ones and one bigger one, standing outside the tent around the fire. The stupidity of ponies never ceased to leave me with a hoof to my face. There was a perfectly sound-looking structure right beside them with more than enough room for all four. But instead they chose to stay outside in the cold, trying to stay warm around a crude fire. How these dull creatures managed to eradicate nearly my entire race a thousand years ago was beyond me.

“Just watch,” I commanded myself quietly. If I wanted to succeed in my learning I had to understand these things. “This is what you have to be. This is what you have to do…”

I tried t listen more closely, swiveling my ears in their direction, but the first sound I heard was much closer than I’d expected. I scrambled back as a thump came from my side, causing me to trip and hit my head noisily on the ground.

All went silent but the sound of my breathing, but in a few moments the thumping continued. Climbing to my hooves, quietly, I pushed past the undergrowth towards the rhythmic noise. It was coming from the other side of a tree, which shook a little with each thump it made. The source was a small pony with beige fur, a short red mane, and a bleeding head which it repeatedly slammed against the trunk in front of it.

My breath caught as I watched the creature. I’d never actually seen a pony before. I guess I was expecting one to look somewhat like a changeling, just… uglier. There was nothing ugly about this one though. In fact, it was almost kind of cute.

That’s not to say I was in any way attracted to it, but there was a beauty to the creature, like a bird or a flower. Still, my instinctive hatred of the species kept me eager enough to watch the creature smash its own face in.

I noticed the pony was saying something, but most of it was muffled by the repeated thumps it made. I tried to listen closer.

“—loo,” I began to make out. “Her name is—”

The pony’s head snapped towards the bush I hid behind at a startling noise from my direction. My own head snapped downwards as I too heard the noise—a menacing growl emanating from my gut.

“Damn Celestia,” I cursed silently. It had been some time since I’d last fed. My eyes shot back up to meet the pony’s. A brief flash of determination ran through me at the eye-contact; if I could do this, perhaps my next meal would be my own. I had no choice now. Before the pony could make a sound I grabbed it and stuffed my foreleg into its mouth, muffling any possible cries for help. Using my other leg to hold the pony up, I buzzed my wings and began to fly back to the Everfree forest.

Everything Tamite had said to me ran through my mind once more and just then I began to truly agree with him. This was stupid. This could get me killed. But what choice did I have now; the pony had seen me. Standard protocol demanded I took it prisoner. That’s all I was doing really.

Only instead of taking it to the guard, I’d be taking it home.

Author's Note:

This chapter hereby marks the end of The Shaded View. One day I will cut half this fic's content and rewrite the other half, then return to it under a new premise, but until then, this is it. I thank anyone who was kind enough to follow this, and I hope you enjoyed what I had so far.

Comments

[Cerulean Voice]

Oh. That's upsetting
It seems like it's just getting to the real juice of the story! Damn man, I really wanna see this continue
What's the reasoning?

[goddamnAnimal]

...well thats a shame. It was fun while it lasted though.
If you ever continue this or need any help with upcoming projects let me know, ya dig?

[Unknownlight]

Huh, already?

Damn. Well, don't be too long! I was interested and I want to know what happens next!

[FluxerCry]

3579975
Because of a review I got.

It's not the review itself that made me chose to end this here. Usually I would have taken the criticism to heart (as I have) and chosen instead to make the next chapters far better. However, the review made me think a good deal about where my story's at, and I realized that it has deviated so far from what I'd originally intended to do that what I'd originally intended to do is no longer present. As a result, I have decided to rewrite this story under a whole new premise once my writing skill has improved in the suggested areas.

[Cerulean Voice]

3584342
...Well, shit.
Hmmm. So, a hiatus tag, then?

[FluxerCry]

3584528
... Y'know, I could have sworn I'd put a haitus tag on this.