Between

by Takarashi282

III - Scout

The sun was directly over me, its glossy haze descending on the valley. At first, I didn't know what was going on, but as my vision cleared of a dream-like haze, I remembered everything that happened prior.

I wanted to punch myself in the gut. Dammit, Reiss, you fell asleep! I yelled internally. I slowly stood up in the hot summer blaze, and I studied the town once again.

The square was riddled with ponies, making a sort of warawara that could be heard from maybe a mile away; chatting and laughter, scraping of tools on earth and the rolling of wheels and clanking of cargo on an unpaved road.

I found myself amazed once more. Not entirely in a good way. The noise is obnoxious! I thought. Back in my village, we all lived separately, minding our own business until combined business came.

But this... this was a disturbance in nature!

I shook my head from its befuddled state. Weaknesses in design, I forced, The uphill slant into the valley, obviously.

But no matter what I thought of, I ended up being sidetracked, almost intentionally. I couldn't let Evras know everything about the town! But I couldn't come back with nothing.

"Woah, wait!" A faint voice called, masculine and gritty from the streets below. "What in Celestia's name is that?"

Only then did I realize that the pony was referring to me, pointing up to the hilltop and looking as if he'd seen a beast.

I ducked behind the Joshua tree and cursed under my breath. Yes, Reiss, you're a changeling, I confirmed. Reality check: they hate your guts. I risked a look past the trunk of the tree. I sighed out of relief when nobody climbed up the hill to investigate.

I considered any possibilities. I can't go down into the town now, I thought, But I can't return with this less information. I'd figured we could do something with the grain supply, but that would require breaking into the town's ranks, and we wouldn't succeed.

Most of us don't go looking for a fight, I remembered Fluorescence saying. ... And they have enough ponies to act out of defense, I finished. Sending a small party anywhere would be suicide. Even Evras' plans to send in the first command to do the job is flawed in that way.

I crinkled my muzzle. Actually, Evras' plan is screwed up in every way possible.

I looked behind me. I could find my way back... however, that was a bad idea. Without water in a hot, summer desert climate, and given x-distance, I would have heat stroke and most likely die before I reached the village. Whichever way I looked at it, I was stuck in this town until I had resources and a way back.

A phrase popped into my head: "I have no problem with that," I had said to those jerkwads back at the village.

Dammit! I yelled at myself. Why didn't I think this through? My face went slack for a second. Probably because I was twitterpated.

I studied over the town again. I had to go down there sooner or later, whether I liked it or not. Death wasn't a priority for me. Then an idea sparked into my mind. Maybe... I felt a sort of heat wave travel from my front to my back. The body of the pony I'd turned into felt stiff and heavy, but it would suffice.

I climbed down the face of the hill down into the Valley-of-Almost-Certain-Imprisonment.

From sort-of-afar, the town looked big. From inside the streets, though, its ginormousity made me feel one hundred times smaller. I honestly felt intimidated by everything, alien-ess and cultural bias aside.

I took a deep, long breath. 'Kay, I thought, Chinks in the armour of this holy-crap-huge town—

"Hey, Braeburn!" came a voice behind me with a vague southern accent. "I thought you had business with the buffalo tribe!"

I continued walking.

"Braeburn? What's up?"

A jolt of lightning surged through my body in an uncomfortable snap. He was talking to me.

I bit back a curse. "Ah, it was delayed on short notice." I clamped my eyes shut. I was lucky enough to see the guy and hear him talking, though not that much. If the accent mask didn't work...

"Ah, okay," the voice acknowledged, with no discernible change in tone. I held back a sigh of relief. "So, what're you gonna do in the meantime? Me and a couple friends are goin' to the bar and grab an apple cider or two."

"Ah, no thanks," I said, keeping back a gag. "I'll just check on the orchard."

"Oh, right. You are, in fact, an Apple, are you?"

I couldn't tell if he was insulting me or asking a rhetorical question, so I took it as such and continued through the town.

Beside the uphill advantage, there was hardly any way to best this town. I checked the town twice, thrice, so many times I couldn't even count. We could take out the silos, but that would require going around the town, and the town was huge. It would take quite some time to pull that off, and it required going through the town. There were barbed wire fences that I'd overheard were closed overnight at any street going in and out of the town. That wasn't much of a problem, because of our flying abilities. But there were active guards out night and day.

I grimaced. What the hell were you thinking, Evras? I thought. This is officially suicide.

"Gh! Dammit! Braeburn! Help!" a voice gurgled.

I recognized that voice immediately. I turned, and there she was. Fluorescence. And, three more ponies. Two were there, I guess for support, and the one in front of them both was holding a rope.

That's when I realized Fluorescence had that same rope tied around her neck.

I did what I always do in front of these things. I froze. Time seemed to have stopped, and fear instilled itself in me again. That's right... I thought. Time started to quicken, and she struggled in slow motion, wide, pleading eyes staring at me.

I couldn't leave this alone. I had to do something. The problem is, I didn't know the character I was disguised as. I could look out of place. And I didn't know what they'd do to me, after they'd discovered that I was a changeling.

I sneered. I... I had to do it.

"EYES HERE, MOTHERBUCKERS!" I screamed, as the heat wave once again sweeped over me. The three's eyes widened. Before they could call out any orders, I was already on them. I focused on loosing the noose around Fluorescence's neck, and wrapping all the killers up. I lit my horn, and it happened.

Except one slipped out before it tightened.

"You changeling bastard!" yelled the one that had held the noose. He came at me so fast, that before I could blink, I was already on the ground. He put his hoof across my neck and leaned on it, cutting off my air. I gurgled as time slowed down again. Those wide eyes, full of malice, and fear.

Throughout this time, however, I was completely calm. Even though I was on the brink of asphyxiation, I felt like I could do anything.

I need to get this guy off me, I thought. I didn't know what I was imagining, but a burst of darkness surged from my horn, knocking him a few stories into the air. Before I could process what was happening, he landed on the ground with a sickening crunch!

I slowly got up, and everything hit me right there. I fell back down again, in denial, at first, then it all rushed over me at one moment. I gagged. Have I... I thought. My stomach churned once again, and I chucked it up. ... I did.

Feeling lightheaded, I looked at Fluorescence, and with the look she had, I was sure it was over. She look absolutely frightened, almost more than she did when she was near death. Sweating, I gasped, "I'm sorry... I... I wasn't in control."

The background noise started picking up again.

"We have a changeling over here!"

"He killed a citizen!"

Fluorescence's expression changed to a troubled one. She put a hoof in front of the other, rubbing her foreleg almost nervously. She glanced at me, then back to the ground. When she looked back up at me, she mouthed something that I couldn't figure out until a few seconds later.

Go.

I nodded, and upped myself and ran southward, the direction we came. But before I could even move, a line of guards came from an intersection and cut me off. I turned and ran the other way, but it was too late; guards had blocked that way off as well.

This is it, I thought, I'm going to die here. It's over.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the guards to capture me, when somepony ran into me... yet, it wasn't an offensive maneuver. I cracked open my eyes. Fluorescence was in front of me, hugging me. The guards behind her stopped in their tracks, narrowing their eyes to study just what was going on.

"Girl, get away from the changeling!"

"He's going to be your next victim! Run!"

Her embrace only tightened. "I'm not leaving you behind, Reiss," she whispered. She broke the hug and walked to the center of the street.

"F-Fluorescence!" I called to her, but she held her hoof up to me, motioning me to stop.

"Is this what us ponies are?" she asked the guards. Except, It wasn't only the guards. She turned to the entire audience there. "Prejudice, afraid? You may think you have every right to hate the changelings. But hating a whole race for an attack that some of them didn't even participate in? That's a whole new level of cowardice!"

Ponies in the crowd started to murmur amongst themselves.

"And trust me, I know a hell of a lot of cowards." She placed her hoof at her chest. "I was one of them. I was driven by a learned hate, but also fear for my life. That scene you saw today. I was driven by fear since day one with the alleged 'underground army'. They threatened to kill me if I didn't work with them. And they damn well could've. But, Reiss," –She gestured to me– "he saved me from those monsters. Believe it or not, he's not a killer.

"And now, you want to kill him because of somepony else's transgression. That's the most cowardice that I've ever seen. So, do the brave thing. Give him a chance! Do not kill him because he's a changeling! Dammit, give him a benefit of a doubt!"

There was silence all around. Even I didn't dare make a noise.

But the silence was quickly broken by one of the guards.

"Take both of them down!" the guard said. "They're a threat to the peace!"

Then a black arrow pierced through his chest, and he collapsed.

My eyes widened. Shit... I cursed, Not here... not now!

Black arrows soared through the air, faster than I could follow, and hit many-a-foe. Guards, and innocent bystanders. The changelings were high above the ground, grey aura surrounding their weapons. But then, I caught eye of one of them aim their arrow at me.

"Reiss!" Fluorescence yelled. Before I knew it, I was off my hooves, and on the ground again.

Shunk!

Fluorescence caught my eyesight again. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she smiled sadly, followed with a black arrow stuck in her side.

Everything went mute. Her limp body hit the ground, rolling, the black arrow snapping beneath her. I slammed against the ground as another arrow came and pierced my leg. I didn't even bother to respond to the pain. Where... I thought, ... where did this go? One second, I'm scouting... the next... I shuddered, the background noise and pain coming to me again. Death... so much death.

Beside me, a changeling landed next to me.

My dad.

"I wish I could unsmell what I did back there." he said. He was choked up.

I grunted. The pain was getting to me. "So you did smell her..."

My dad nodded slowly. His breathing was erratic. He clamped his eyes shut. "Damn it all. Just..." He opened his eyes, and stared into mine. "... Just deny this all! Just say that you didn't do this! Please!"

I looked up at him, raising an eyebrow weakly.

"We... we could start over again! Get that arrow out of you! We can be just as we were... father and son!" He stifled a sob. "PLEASE! I... I CANNOT LOSE MY FAMILY LIKE THIS!"

I was extremely tempted to say what he wanted me to say. But, all I knew was Fluorescence was dead... if not, she would be soon. But, thinking about her, her final words popped into my mind. Fear of death is the same concept, I thought. Hell, this is all driven by that fear. The prejudice, the grudges, the everything! I looked down to the ground. I... I can't be a coward! I won't go back there! I clamped my eyes shut. I'm sorry, dad.

"I..." I croaked, "I CANNOT DENY WHAT I DID! THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF FEAR, DAD! FEAR OF REJECTION, FEAR OF DEATH! I WILL NOT LIVE WITH THIS FEAR! NOT ANYMORE!!!"

I looked back into my dad's eyes, vision blurred with tears of my own. He looked at the ground with dead eyes.

"Then, I'm sorry..." he sobbed. He raised his bow to my head. "I know, and you know, that black arrows are poisoned. This way... this way you won't feel the excruciating pain." He knocked the arrow. "Goodbye, son..."

Shunk!

Comments

[NobleValor]

Okay, you earned an upvote from me on the use of the word 'twitterpated', but earned the favorite on how the chapter ended.