//------------------------------// // Chapter Six, Mariachi Changelings: Risk take. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Kuril- “It’s nice to meet everyone, I’m Kurilian La Perm or just Kuril. Due to the jerks that are also a part of this place known as Airship Mauled, I’m the current acting mayor.” Why was everyone giving me innocent smiles? Sekhet certainly couldn’t do innocent if she tried. She was a goddess of war that can do war in any form, which obviously includes mental and or prank wars. I wouldn’t be surprised if she could fight political wars either. Maries was the only one that wasn’t smiling at me and she was looking at the changelings hungrily, I should get started on lunch soon. “Welcome to our little town, where there is oddness to be found! We have an inn, a restaurant and an incomplete train station. Also no Maries, you can’t eat them… they haven’t done anything yet to warrant it. Speaking of doing something, there’s something very familiar about your group.” I rubbed my chin in thought, where have I heard of The Shapeshifting Siesta before? Oh right, that thing that happened in Klugetown. That place isn’t exactly safe to raise a child, but my daughter would have probably fit in somewhat now. I’m just reaffirming the fact that Palicoast was definitely the right place to have my child. “Familiar good or familiar bad?” Asked Clypeus in a slight worried tone, he and his band mates were putting away their instruments in the carriage. He was a purple colored changeling. His friends were blue, yellow, green and Mr. Huge was red. “I’d say a middle ground, both good and bad. You have good music, but…” I made all the changelings wince except for Kevin, who just gave them a blank look. “You’re the reason changelings are banned from Klugetown, after one of you did something with a shrew if I recall?” “Yeah, that fiasco was all Tarsus’s fault.” I gave him a stern look and he gulped while rubbing at his neck. “Won’t happen here I swear it, you have my word or else we’ll disband because of a certain idiot we can’t play without!” “Hey! How was I supposed to know that her favorite food was pickles?” There was a story there about the blue male changeling Tarsus, but it didn’t sound like the one the papers talked about. “What went on after that could have happened to anyone and what we shared was special! I even wish I could go back and do right by her, but the mercenaries that were hired by that guy would be out for my blood if I went anywhere near my belle now. I’m a lover and not much of a fighter in the slightest, even if full to bursting with shared love.” “It’s kind of like a love story…” Start Green female changeling called Labrum. “One that ends in tragedy.” Finished the yellow female changeling Labium. “With no one dead thankfully.” Both of Labium and Labrum intoned in unison like Maries tended to do at times. “It certainly helps him play sad songs at least!” The two of them looked like twins given how similar their features are aside from their colors, Mr. Huge nodded with a frown on his face at their words. Seemed like they all knew the real story. “Well we’re not going to judge you based on your past actions here. We’ll judge you on what you do in the here and now.” That was quite fair of me, I wondered why Jade wasn’t doing anything. She was usually more talkative, right now she was just sitting off to the side waiting for something. Oh dear, what happened? Jade wants to talk to me alone, given how she flicked her tail and ears at me while staring intently. “It is a bit fortuitous that you’re here, do you do cuteceaneras for ponies?” “Depends. Will they scream while grabbing pitchforks and torches at the sight of us?” At Clypeus’s question, I simply pointed to Fizzle. She just looked at us and shrugged before going back to her discussion with Tail Marie. “Okay, we’re in! We don’t need much pay, as long as we get to play our music for you without horrible unexpected interruptions.” “We’ll discuss business and what you’ll play at the party later Clypeus, why don’t you get yourselves settled in. Apparently I’ve got some business with my daughter. A daughter that none of you are to go near with any funny ideas, understand?” I flicked out the claws on my hands and Clypeus nodded vigorously. I quickly pulled my claws back in my fingers. “Good, glad we came to an understanding, I hope you’ll come to The Witch’s Fare for lunch. I promise the food is good, even if it does nothing for you.” -Kevin- The Shapeshifting Siesta guys were really interesting specimens of my kind, what was also interesting was how the younger cat seemed to take my words with some form of amazement. All I did was tell her exactly what I was doing here. It was quite logical, so why was she so surprised? Anyway the band was setting up at the nondescript inn, the residents here were idling about and the mayor was taking her daughter into the restaurant. She was protective of her offspring, a logical sentiment for a mother to have. I sometimes don’t get people or even other changelings. Why hide what we are? Someone will eventually figure out and it causes negative consequences for changeling kind as a whole. I just walked around as I am and speak plainly, so far I’m having more luck than my entire hive combined in receiving love without having to steal it. So really, the methods currently employed by the hive are quite inefficient. Is it really so hard for other changelings to be like me? Or like these changelings who I’ve noticed don’t suffer from love sickness, which is an extreme lack of love in a changeling. Speaking of food, I could sense love in the air between five individuals. The cat, the chimera and the pony… that’s quite an odd combination. One way love for the chimera the cat is friends with, two way for the pony and cat as of right now. “You don’t seem so big to me Big McLarge Huge.” That was the one they were calling Sekhet, she was the size of an alicorn. Yet, there was no horn on her head and she had paws like a cat despite being pony like. “I can show you what big is really like.” Mr. Huge gave her a questioning look and then she grew to enormous proportions beyond that of Mr. Huge’s stature. I mentally noted she was dangerous and powerful, that size alteration was quite real and without using the amount of magic a changeling would have used to do something similar. I also took note of the other dangerous thing around here, the chimera. They seemed quite tame which is odd. Much of this place feels odd, yet there’s a certain kind of logic to how so many disparate parts worked together. I would do well to not overstep my boundaries here, but I find this place fascinating since it is constructed with two crashed airships. It seems to still be in the process of being built and welcoming all kinds of beings, which seems like a prudent thing to do. Many beings coming together to share a common goal with various skills, that goal being mutually assured survival. I approve, this place was certainly something I’d never tell Chrysalis about. -Jade- Mom had me scaling and fileting fish. She knew I wanted to talk with her and was making me do this as her way of giving me some time, just so that I could think about some of what I wanted to tell her and or discuss. Mom hardly ever got the chance to do any parenting with me, she really cherished these moments quite a bit. On the rare times I turned to her for guidance, she was caught flatfooted when I asked for her help or advice. “Okay, what is it my little tom cat, what can mommy do for you?” There were very few times that Kuril ever got to ask that of me and I wouldn’t begrudge her that. This was a time she actually had some serious mothering to do and she did it surprisingly well. It always left me feeling a bit horrible about being completely capable of taking care of myself, at least in this life. “To start off… how do you know if you’re in love with someone?” My words obviously shocked mom quite a bit, she wouldn’t tell me about my other parent and I wasn’t going to ask her about that. Though this question may as well have been asking about the other parent of Jaded La Perm. “I understand familial love thanks to you. I might even get friendship given how many I’ve dragged into living around here. This question is important to me and I wanted to discuss it… mommy.” “Working on lunch can wait it seems, this is really quite important.” Mom wiped a tear from her eye and placed the fish fileting tray off to the side and wrapped her right arm around me. “What led up to you asking me this Jaded?” “Well Fizzle kissed me on the cheek…” She gave me a warm smile and it got even bigger than that when I continued. “She also did it twice with tongue, I don’t know where she could have learned to kiss like that. She almost suffocated me the first time and the third time she was being quite gentle. She may have been a little afraid of hurting me in her enthusiasm at that point.” “She was pretty excited about doing some form of magic again I take it?” I snorted at mom’s understatement. “Hey, if you were a unicorn that lost what made you what you were, you’d be pretty excited too! Her horn is what makes her what she is, to her. It may even be a unicorn’s whole world, but it doesn’t make her ‘who’ she is.” “Who and what?” I asked. “Exactly! I think she might slowly be realizing the difference and is coming to terms with that by finally turning away from what she was, to finding who she is as a person. She’s trying to accept things.” Mom looked me in the eyes while continuing to talk to me. “We’re helping her with that. Since you’re both so close to one another, she wanted to show you how she feels about all we’re doing for her. She feels like she’s useless without her horn and we’re proudly proving her wrong!” “She was quite happy that I helped her earn her mark. In a more intimate way.” I really did like Fizzle, but I was concerned about several things. “I’m concerned about whether or not she wants us to be more. I mean a lot of good things are going her way today. She’s had one of the best mornings in her life, one she’ll never truly forget.” “I don’t think that’s a really big concern. You’re old enough to date now and I, as a parent, sadly have to acknowledge that fact. Though I think she could have just hugged and kissed, licked and or nuzzled you on the cheek all three times. What she did was going a little bit too far for a month long relationship of being friends… I’ll just have to lay down the law with her like I did Maries.” Mom started to rub my back soothingly as I listened to her. If that’s what she felt was the right thing to do, no complaints. “Though this makes things a tad awkward because I kind of see Fizzle as another daughter, Jacky too for that matter. I’m a bit iffy on Maries and whether or not she’d accept me mothering her. She certainly accepts Sekhet as a superior.” “Mom, can you get back to the subject I originally wanted to talk about please? I don’t even know how to date or have ever been on one really.” Why wasn’t she taking me a bit more seriously? And now she's laughing. “Why are you laughing?” “I’m sorry for laughing, but it’s just… I seriously didn’t think you’d be coming to me about something like this Jaded.” Mom started rubbing me behind my right ear. “I can hardly imagine you dating by the book, much less wearing a dress.” “You know I’ll never wear a dress mom.” Was she seriously trying to distract me from the topic of my original question about love? “Never say never Jaded! Wouldn’t you want to pretty yourself up for a date? I think Fizzle would look really nice in a tuxedo, I don’t honestly know what Maries would wear if you dated her.” Mom certainly had a point, Fizzle would look good in a tuxedo as much as she would a dress. How would a dress even work with a chimera? I however didn’t like dresses and would never wear one for any extended period of time! I’d rather go nude, which was thankfully a thing you could do here in Equestria. I had fur covering my whole body for a reason! “Fizzle would look good in either a tuxedo or a dress. If we do end up on a date, then I’m never wearing a dress or prettying myself up for it.” Quite frankly the standards for the beauty of outer appearances were pointless in the end. When all is said and done the person will eventually know what you look like without makeup anyway, plus it was rather expensive habit to form. “If she can’t accept me as is, then why bother dating?” “It’s about making an effort to strengthen a connection Jaded. If you truly love someone, then you’ll do some pretty bizarre, insane and or crazy things just to make them happy or keep them safe.” There was a sad, wistful look on mom’s face. “Even if said things are really stupid, it builds character and good memories.” “I have enough character as it is mom.” She snickered at my words. “True, I guess there’s nothing better than being yourself.” Mom seemed kind of sad that I wouldn’t do girly things, but then she grinned at me. “Why if you were to put on makeup and a dress, then you just wouldn’t be my daughter anymore. You might just give me a heart attack, would you really do that to your poor dear old mother?” “You’re not that old mom.” I received a sharp stare from her and I didn’t flinch. “You need to take risks when it comes to love Jaded, to open yourself up to someone else completely and utterly is a big one. To learn them inside and out as well as they do the same to you.” She inhaled, trying to calm herself. She pulled me close. “Romantic love requires that opening of yourself, which can lead to the possibility of forever losing someone that you can hardly live without. For when they do go away… they take large chunks of you with them. We took that risk, I and your other... parent. They were a stranger in a strange land that I had formed a strong bond with. I was hurt by it terribly when it ended… then you came along my kitten. You're really in love... when you never want to be separated by anything.”