Raindrop had to collect things from her home. Again.
Given that Sentinel hadn’t known to pick up her pack, all of her supplies were sitting out at the entrance to the Diamond Dog tunnels. It was too far for her to fly on a whim, and it was just easier to go back home and get the things she needed.
Digging up an old, frayed pack, she slipped it over her haunches and began to place things into it. The first thing to go inside was the Seeker Stone. It was glowing blue, and the swirling mist in it seemed to be glowing brightest towards the west; the Everfree Forest.
Next up were food items, another blanket, a pillow, and a Cloudsdale Chaser, a magical instrument that was attuned to Cloudsdale. It always pointed towards the pegasus city, and at this distance, could be used for orientation.
Deciding that she had everything she needed, Raindrop stepped out the front door, closing it behind her.
The young pegasus spared a thought for Shine. He hadn’t been home either of the times that she had been there. Huffing faintly to herself, she turned around and went back inside, picking up a piece of paper and a hoof-pen, and writing the unicorn a note.
The sun was beginning to sink below the horizon when Raindrop closed the door again, and she sighed faintly. She considered just walking back inside and going to sleep, but the big house Shine and her shared seemed so empty without him there. She wouldn’t get any sleep at all in that big bed all alone.
Instead, Raindrop kept to the ground, heading down the main street towards the local inn. She would be able to drink herself stupid to make herself feel a little bit better, and sleep in a bed that wouldn’t remind her of Shine.
The inn was as crowded as always when Raindrop pushed through the doors, meandering over to the bar, squeezing between patrons sipping cider from mugs to place her hooves on the counter.
“What’ll it be?” asked the large-chested stallion behind the counter.
“A room for one for the night, please,” Raindrop said, pushing a hoofful of bits across the counter with her nose
The innkeeper nodded, took the bits, and then returned with a key, sliding it over to her, “Room 15, enjoy your night, ma’am.”
Raindrop nodded, taking the key and heading up the stairs in the back of the inn and to the long hallway. Room 15 was right at the end.
The pegasus was pleasantly surprised to find that her room had a large bed and a small couch to laze on. Raindrop had never had cause to stay in an inn before.
Dumping her bag on the bed, and slinging her bitpurse over one of her wings, she left the room and locked the door behind her.
Downstairs, a cloaked figure was also buying a room for the night, face hidden behind his hood. It wasn’t uncommon to see ponies dressed up like that in inns. A rich pony slumming it for the night, someone who didn’t want to be recognized, or just someone who liked their privacy.
Raindrop didn’t even take notice of the figure as she came downstairs, but the hooded pony definitely took notice of her. He paid for his room, and then turned to follow her without so much as a thought towards checking his room first.
Raindrop wandered the dark streets of Ponyville, with no set destination. The nightlife of Ponyville was all around her. Ponies playing with glowsticks or sparklers, couples laying in the warm grass stargazing...After the events of Nightmare Moon, it seemed a collective consciousness had arose in the pony populace for them to appreciate the night more.
The pegasus found herself at a cider stand at the edge of town, buying three bottles and then meandering off to the lakeside to stare out over the water. The full moon shone bright overhead, and cast sufficient light for her to see all around with no problem. And so she sat, gently sipping cider from one of the bottles while staring out over the water, watching small nocturnal animals coming down to drink, breaking the still surface of the water with the ripples of their actions.
It was peaceful, and peaceful was what Raindrop wanted at that moment. After the tenseness of creeping through a Diamond-Dog infested tunnel system and whatever it had been that she had done to herself with her changeling blood, she just wanted to relax. Wanted to relax and forget about all of her troubles.
In reality, she wanted to go back to a time when she could curl up with Shine in front of a nice, warm fire. But those times seemed a lifetime away now. They had one of the Elements of Harmony. They need all six. And their bearers. And by the time they found all of that, she’d already be a full-blood changeling. Or whatever it was that would happen to her.
Raindrop took a hefty swallow of the cider, and then set the bottle aside gently, stepping down to the shoreline and staring into her moon-lit reflection. It was murky and hazy with only moonlight to see by, but she could definitely see her own eyes. They looked normal. Pink.
Focusing for a long moment, she let her eyes change, turning green this time, back to what they looked like before she had ‘fixed’ them. But inside, she knew that wasn’t the case. She hadn’t fixed them, per se. She had merely changed them. Pink eyes felt like a lie now, like a mask she put on to blend in with other ponies. A facade. The green eyes were her true eyes. At least, for now.
Shuddering, she focused, and changed her eyes again, back to pink, not wanting to look at her own accusing gaze any more. After a few moments, she scrunched up her nose, and then changed her eyes to blue, and then red. It almost terrified her the ease at which she had picked up the trick to changing her own body. the first time had been hard, but now, it was as easy as pulling off a complex flight maneuver.
Thoughtfully, she stared down into the reflection, and focused on changing her eyes again. But this time, she focused on a cats eyes. Immediately, the entire lakeside became more vivid, more bright. The pegasus blinked, stunned a little by the intensity of the brightness after the gloom of only moonlight, and then cast her gaze around. With a cats eyes, she could see pretty much as far as she wanted; from the lakeside, to the gloomy streets of Ponyville where the lamps didn’t shine.
She also saw a Royal Guard in full armour watching her from the shadows.
Panicking slightly, Raindrop turned back to her reflection and changed her eyes hastily back to pink, backpedaling away from the water and trying to act as though she hadn’t seen the guard watching her from a distance. A wave of dizziness hit her as she straightened, and she scrabbled at the grass and soft silt on the side of the lake before falling bodily into it with a yelp.
Instantly, she swallowed water, and began to cough. Several long, long moments passed before a pair of strong hooves tugged her up out of the water and onto the bank again.
Raindrop cough again, and retched slightly for a moment, panting in air and then laying her head on her hooves with a groan. It felt like she had a hangover already.
“Alcohol and swimming do not mix,” Sentinel stated with a frown.
Raindrop waited several long moments to collect herself before she lifted unsteadily into a sitting position and stared at the stallion. “Really? I hadn’t noticed. Are you stalking me?”
Sentinel snorted in response, flicking water and mud off his hooves. “You wish. Celestia ordered me to guard you.”
“Well thank you for saving me from the terrifying lake, I am forever in your debt,” Raindrop snorted, standing up and taking a total of two steps before she crashed down on her stomach heavily, groaning.
“How much have you had?” Sentinel asked, staring at her for a long moment.
“Not even half a bottle!” Raindrop protested, rubbing a hoof against her temple and then rising to her hooves again, locking her legs together and waiting to see if she got dizzy.
The guard laughed softly, shaking his head. “Can’t handle your cider, huh?”
Raindrop bristled, rounding on him, her eyes narrowing. “You really mustn’t like the current arrangement of your facial features.”
“No, it’s not that. I just doubt your ability to affect them in any great way,” the guard teased.
The pegasus snorted, and took a swing at him with a hoof.
“Swing and a miss!” Sentinel chimed as he smoothly bobbed his head back out of the way, causing the mare to overbalance and sprawl untidily on her side.
“I hate you,” Raindrop stated, staring up at him.
“My heart bleeds for you,” Sentinel stated, picking her up roughly and setting her back down on her hooves. “Now, can you kindly move yourself away from the water? It’s going to make me look really stupid if you drown on my watch.”
“Why are you even following me?” Raindrop asked, huffing as she picked up her bottles of cider and began to walk back towards the inn, not even sparing a glance for the guard.
“I guess she thought you might do something stupid like drown in the lake?” he answered with a thoughtful sound. “She is a remarkable judge of character, you know.”
Raindrop snorted derisively at him. “Tell her to find someone less...obnoxious to guard me.”
“And you were just starting to grow on me, too,” Sentinel simpered.
The mare spared him a look of pure venom as she pressed her way through the front doors of the inn. Sentinel followed silently, watching her ascend the stairs.
The guard moved over to the counter, and pushed across a royal writ with Celestia’s seal on the front. The innkeeper handed him a key, and the guard moved after Raindrop.
Sentinel caught her just as she fumbling with the key and keyhole, having trouble lining it up, it seemed.
Raindrop scowled, hitting her hoof against the door once or twice in frustration, and then trying to fit the key back into the hole.
The guard shook his head for a moment, and then stepped over, snatching the key from her and inserting it into the hole neatly. “Jeeze. Maybe you need to lay off the cider.”
Raindrops backhand strike with her hoof caught him across the brow before he could duck out of the way, and she harrumphed at him as she pushed the door open, stepping inside. She tried to close the door with a hindleg but ended up overbalancing again and ending up sprawled on the carpet.
“...Are you...okay?” Sentinel asked uncertainly, head tilting slightly to one side.
“Perfectly fine!” came the muffled response from the floor.
Sentinel shook his head again, and then stepped into the room, nudging his nose under the mare to help her to her feet.
“I’m going to hit you again,” Raindrop said weakly, as the guard pushed her into the bed, staring at her.
“I’m beginning to assume that is the normal greeting fashion for your family,” he said, deadpan, and then leaned closer to her, frowning. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“What do you even care?” she spat, swiping at his nose with a hoof, not really intending to connect.
Sentinel neatly tilted out of the way, before stating, “Celestia told me what you are.”
“I’m a dirty, filthy changeling, remember?” Raindrop asked, huffing and rolling over onto her side, turning her back to the guard.
“No, you’re not,” Sentinel said with a frown, his voice softening a little bit. “Look...I’m sorry for the way I treated you...it was wrong of me. I should have...I don’t know. Asked you or something, first?”
“Oh hello there, you seem to be a changeling, are you?” Raindrop asked, her voice laced with sarcasm.
“I’m not sure if you’re defending my actions or insulting me,” Sentinel stated, mystified.
“Neither am I,” Raindrop admitted with a sigh and a shake of her head, rolling back over to face him. “Look. I understand why you did what you did. You thought I was a changeling. I didn’t bother to correct you.”
“Indeed. And I am apologizing for that. I feel bad about the way I treated you,” he stated, his ears splayed backwards, his expression placating.
“Duly noted. I forgive you, I guess. But me and you? We’re never going to be friends. Now get out of my room before I beat you senseless,” Raindrop said, deadpan, pointing a hoof at the door.
Sentinel chuckled at that, shaking his head. “Sleep well, Miss Raindrop.”
“I hope you have horrible nightmares,” she responded as she rolled back over, pulling the pillow under her head.
The guard just shook his head as he stepped out of her room, removing the key from the door and throwing it onto the bed before closing her door and heading for his own room.
Raindrop for her part stared at the wall for a long, long time. There was a peculiar buzzing in the back of her mind, like the start of a migraine. It could have been the cider; but something told her it was the changes. She wasn’t a lightweight when it came to cider; she had drank Shine under the table on more than one occasion. And the only other thing it could possibly be was fooling with her eyes. So even her own changeling blood exerted a toll on her body when she used it.
Raindrop sighed to herself and pulled the pillow closer, trying to imagine it was Shine’s body she was lazing against.
Tomorrow, she had to find the Element of Generosity.