"I'm sure they've seen stranger things on the train," changeling Midnight said to the reluctant kelpie. "You'll be fine."
The group trotted onto the station platform, the kelpie followed low to the ground. Thunder procured the tickets while Midnight once again massaged Elegiac's back.
"Why do you need to do that, again?" Mirage asked him.
"It relaxes her," he chirped. "And right now, that's how she needs to be."
"Didn't this thing like... Kill a bunch of ponies last time?"
"What?!" Thunder asked, returning just in time to hear it.
Midnight took a couple deep breaths. "That... That's not important." He put more effort into his shoulder rubbing.
Thunder stamped his hoof down. "No, I'm pretty sure bringing a predator aboard a train full of ponies is a bad idea!"
The changeling gave a brief glare to Desert before turning a calm snout back to the pegasus. "She didn't know any better back then..."
Thunder looked from the kelpie's half-worried face to the unicorn with the spear. "Alright, we'll take her back but if there's any trouble, Desert will take care of it."
Mirage's head popped up from his spear inspection. "What? Why me?"
Gravity put a claw on his shoulder. "I'm with Thunder on this one, hon. A little fish like that should be no problem for you."
"You never saw her all those years back, babe!"
"Would you guys stop worrying so much!" Midnight yelled, flailing his hooves into the air to break it up. "If she wasn't different from then, we..." A realization cut his sentence short. He quickly went back to massaging Elegiac's back. "...we need to get on that train. Sooner we get on, the sooner we get back to Canterlot."
"Pretty sure that's not how trains work," Thunder said.
"You know what I mean!" Midnight picked up the pace, keeping at least one hoof on the kelpie as the group moved onto the train.
The twin zebras appeared at the edge of the forest. The city of Appleloosa was now before them. They scanned the horizon for any semblance of refuge from the vines that had destroyed their previous home. The only place the town could afford was an old, abandoned barn house.
They opened the door together, cautiously. Both heads scanned the barn at the same time, turning together from right to left.
"It's dusty and dark," Lesser noted as they trotted inside.
"With not a soul to be found," Superior added.
"It's just us... Again."
Lesser's head rolled around on its own, scanning for anything interesting. Superior's head had drooped to the ground.
"Think they'll find us here?" Lesser asked. Superior's grip on his hoof loosened. He turned quickly to see her sad state. "Didn't you hear me?"
The changeling queen bore her true form without flinching.
Lesser had seen this profile only once before: The visage of a changeling that had lost all it cared for. It was like looking into a mirror to the past. He looked down at his changeling hoof, free of her touch.
"We conquered the Oasis," he chirped.
Superior's ears flinched at the extra syllables, but she did not speak.
"We can stop Gorman..."
The queen lifted her head, but only to glare at him. The look sent another mirrored memory back to his head. The pain was overwhelming.
A tear ran down Lesser's face.
"I'm sorry," Superior said.
The twins embraced in the dark. They closed the door of the barn with their magic, hoping to never be discovered.
Not again.
The three-eyed changeling flew to the cave its master had talked about, eager to do his bidding. Gorman stood at the far end, alive and better than ever. His chest wound seemed to be fully healed, but his armor was still slightly scarred. The wretcher galloped to his side and placed the sword at his feet.
"It still needs one more to be fully functional, sir."
Gorman took the blade and sheathed it. "I believe I had asked Gunter to take care of this endeavor," he growled at it.
"I... I... I thought you had given him the week off..." He hesitantly turned and began to trot away. "I'll go... And get him."
"Wait!" he called to the triclops. "I need you here. It's probably better this way anyways."
He eagerly galloped back to the griffin. "What do you need, sir?"
"Every weed has its root, yes?"
The triclops crooked his head. "Right..."
"Good. Now answer another simple question. What is the first thing you remember, your earliest memory, of Advantage. Perhaps you had seen them when they were small?"
The triclops thought for a while. "I remember... I remember Advantage speaking to us of power beyond worth. I remember her fixing my horn." It smiled. "She always saw my eye as a blessing."
Gorman scratched his chin. "Who is she?"
"Advantage, of course!"
“Advantage is not a ‘they?’”
He shrugged. “Well, they don’t really care what we call them.”
“Of course.” The griffin shook his head. “But you still haven’t told me much about their early days. Surely you can remember something about where the twins came from.”
The triclops crooked his head. “Twins? Advantage is one being...”
“But of course they are twins! They’re two zebras!”
“What does that have to do with anything?” he asked with a genuine look of confusion.
Gorman let out an exasperated sigh. “Then how do you explain two heads as one being?”
“Advantage,” the triclops replied with the smug satisfaction of a child answering a math problem.
Gorman shook subtly. “Go get Gunter. We are done here.”
The wretcher scampered off.
“And tell him to bring the tail!” the leader called after him.
Midnight sat Elegiac away from the others on the train. They sat facing each other, the rumbles of the train satisfying her needs for a back massage. The others sat across the aisle, Thunder and Gravity taking the window seats while Desert slept with his spear on his lap next to his girlfriend.
“This is much more relaxing than you had made it sound,” Elegiac said, her fluffy ears bouncing up and down. Her smile turned to face the others for a moment. “And they thought bringing a killing machine aboard a train was a bad idea?”
“It’s been far too long,” changeling Midnight said calmly. “The legends of the ‘Drooling Oasis’ didn’t die as fast as your appetite, it seems.”
The kelpie shook her head. “I wasn’t talking about me.” Her gaze returned to the others, focusing on Desert. “That one there has more of an ‘appetite’ than I could ever had hoped to have.”
“Desert’s not that bad...”
“Maybe not now... But there was a time when all his thoughts burned with an unquenchable flame.” She shook her head. “Not a single figure could be trusted. He thought of ways to kill everyone he met.” She turned back to Midnight. “...Even you.”
The changeling smirked. “To be fair, I kinda deserved it back then.”
Elegiac giggled. “There is a reason I called you ‘Betrayer.’ Coming into Advantage’s hive and trying to fix everyone before you even knew what you were dealing with.”
Midnight nodded. “And then leaving just as quickly. Never even met you. Only knew the monster you became.”
“Advantage cared for you, Midnight.” She crooked her head. “Why did you turn your back on them?”
“Destiny called me elsewhere.”
“And last week?” she prodded.
Midnight sighed. “Advantage hasn’t healed enough to look... Well, let’s be honest, those twins look they’ve been dug out of a rockslide. From a volcano. That led into a bramble patch.”
Elegiac’s look stopped the changeling from continuing. "We can't all look perfect."
"And that's fine. But Equestria isn't ready for scary."
Her ears stopped bouncing with the train's rhythm. Her brow furrowed. She leaned in, claws first. "Really?" she whispered.
Midnight winced as the breath chilled his neck.
"Is there a problem here?" Thunder asked, having moved next to their seats to stare down the kelpie.
"We were just having a chat about life in your little country..." Elegiac put herself back against her seat. The ears remained still. "Do you think Advantage is too 'scary' for it?"
Thunder turned to the changeling. "Want to wake up Desert, Midnight?"
"Keep him asleep," he replied, not glancing away from the kelpie. "Elly, we both know you're only here because Advantage demanded it." He shook his head. "But that doesn't mean you can't fit in."
She crossed her clawed fins. "Advantage can't, so I won't." She glared at the changeling. "And there's nothing you can say to convince me."
Thunder took a step back. "I'm gonna wake Desert up."
"And then what?" she growled.
Midnight turned. "Thunder, wait!" He grabbed the pegasus's wing with his magic. "She doesn't mean it."
"What would you know?" Elegiac snarled.
The changeling turned back to the kelpie, letting go of Thunder. "That's a good question." He looked over the kelpie, taking the time for a breath. "Much like Advantage, your fangs belie an inner wisdom."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she growled.
"You're not the Oasis anymore, I know... But you were once. Surely you remember some of the history of the--"
"No!" she snapped. She gulped as the changeling smiled.
"You'd better get comfortable on the train, Elly." He shook his head. "It's not stopping for a long time."
"It's an overnight ride to Canterlot," Thunder clarified.
"True, but now's not the time to use 'day and night...'"
They glanced outside the train's window, back toward the cursed and broken celestial bodies still in perfect stalemate.
The vines coiled around every building in Appleloosa. The abandoned barn was no exception. Advantage held each other inside, listening to the vines creaking around the wood outside. Their heads turned to the closed door, alert for any movement. The slithering creaks made way for streaks of twilight as the door was pushed open.
A silhouette trotted through the light. A green pegasus carrying one of the missing tails in a bottle trotted up to the changeling king and queen without any fear behind his brown eyes.
"So, you are Advantage?" he asked the mass of limbs in front of him.
The black body rose from the ground on six strong, queen-sized legs. Four wings rested behind two necks stemming from the torso. On the left neck, the head of a large, male changeling crooked curiously at the pegasus. On the right neck, the head of a changeling queen stared through him. Between the heads, the two extra limbs jutted from their chest, interlocked as always.
"Aren't you scared of us?" the male head that was Lesser asked, his voice deeper and cracklier than before.
"Gorman sent me to give you this," the pegasus said without blinking. He extended his hoof with the bottle in it. He quickly withdrew it. "But only if you promise to help us kill that griffin Midnight keeps around."
"That is not an option, runt!" the queen head that was Superior yelled in her own crackly voice.
"Well... Why not?!"
Lesser's neck cracked as his face grew more impassioned. "What do you think, you little worm?! You think we like seeing our friends... Our family led astray and slaughtered by your boss?!"
"Only because of your influence on her group!" the pegasus snapped back. "Killing her wouldn't be a problem if you and your students didn't want to raise the dead all the time!"
"We value life above all else; something neither you nor your leader understand!"
The pegasus held the jar over his head. "But what would you do if I destroyed this little tail then?"
Both heads glared at the pony. "You do not want to find out, Disadvantage..."
Disadvantage smirked. And threw the bottle to the ground, breaking it.
Advantage shook subtly as the tail writhed and sank into the wooden floor.
"You could have just said 'yes' and been one tail richer!" he chastised Advantage. "Should we track down that fragile jar of--"
Disadvantage felt his forelegs and hind legs grabbed by Advantage's magic. His disguise was ripped off, revealing the triclopean wretcher.
The queen, horn aglow stared into the floating, writhing changeling's three eyes. "We warned you."
The triclops's screams could be heard beyond the overgrown walls of the barn. The real Disadvantage shook at the sound. Gorman put a claw on his shoulder.
"It's time for Plan B," he said. He flew into the air, and Disadvantage went around the front to watch through the cracked door.
"Just remember what Gorman said, Hunter," the pegasus whispered to himself. "Advantage is just another beast that doesn't have a clue what it's talking about."
The griffin crashed through the rotting barn roof, landing on the surprised twins' back. With a quick slash of his blade, their horns were cut off. He leaped from their screaming mouths sword-first into the pool of ooze that was once the triclops. The remains attached themselves to his weapon, reinforcing it with their power.
"That should do it," the shaking Hunter said quietly. "That sword should be the ultimate weapon now." He tried to steady himself.
The blade and Gorman's crown glowed as the sword erupted in green flame. Advantage, unfazed, moved their extra arms to grab him. The griffin rolled just out of their reach and with a flick of his wrist the blade grew to twice its original length. Gorman rose to his hind legs, his wings spread to keep him balanced as he gripped the elongated hilt with both claws.
Hunter couldn't even understand what either party was saying over the sound of his heart racing. His breaths tried to keep up with the tempo but fell short. The male head of Advantage seemed to be yelling something at Gorman. The griffin rolled his eyes before lunging forward, his blade swinging wildly as though it weighed nothing at all. He had disappeared from Hunter's line of view, but the screams told more of a story than his eyes could have.
"My arm!" Lesser's voice cried out.
"Give us that sword!" Superior growled.
"Gladly!" Gorman said in a smug tone.
Hunter heard the sound of metal hitting changeling carapace... Several times. He closed his eyes and covered his ears to hide from the screams. Then the screaming stopped. The pegasus opened his eyes and peeked through the door again.
Superior appeared, missing an arm but otherwise seemingly unhurt. She saw Hunter out of the corner of her right eye.
"Why can't I feel you?" she asked. Her eyes closed, and her body collapsed.
Hunter pushed the door more open and trotted inside. Gorman stood over the fallen queen victoriously. He shrunk his sword back down and turned to him.
"Every memory our 'friends' gave us put these two together," he gestured toward the oddly small pile that was Advantage, then quickly gestured to another pile on the other side of the room. "So I put two and two together... And took them both apart!"
Hunter gasped at the realization. The other pile stirred as Lesser's head rose from its misplaced half.
"I am still here!" the male half coughed.
Gorman walked over, sword in hand.
"Where are you?" Lesser asked in his raspy voice.
Hunter flinched as Gorman finished him off.
"Come on, Gunter!" the griffin said, walking back outside. "Two down, one to go!"
Hunter said nothing and followed him outside. A slash of Gorman's sword on the door frame intensified the vines' creaking. As they took flight, Hunter saw the barn collapse under the plants' weight from above. His heart was still racing. He couldn't believe Gorman had done it.
Advantage was dead.