//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 // Story: Friendship Abroad // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Marie wondered if her future self might’ve wished for better chosen first encounters with magic. Nearly dying in a dirty cave hadn’t been great, and now there was a freezing cold muddy pond. At least whatever strange property kept the night from getting dark worked underwater too, though it didn’t let her see through mud and slime as well as simple darkness. Once Silverstream was satisfied with their catch, she returned them to the surface, with another surge of magic much like the first. Marie’s clothes hadn’t been moved, and a few minutes later she was damp and muddy, but dressed. She’d left the jacket off, relying on the slits she’d cut in her blouse to give her wings a little more time to breathe. It was colder, but the light smattering of rain was nothing like the night before. She hardly even felt a little rain when she’d spent so much time submerged. As before, Gallus had taken a few steps closer to the water, where he gutted and washed each of the fish using a camp hose. Those claws didn’t just look sharp, and he processed each catch with the precision of someone who’d been doing it their whole life. But Silverstream remained beside Marie, grinning proudly at their job well done. “Did that help?” she asked, curious. “Do you think you know how changeling magic works now?” “I…” She hesitated. She had experienced two separate instances of magic, and she knew from watching Ocellus that a change was possible. Maybe if she just… “I could try,” she muttered, looking down. “But… I’m feeling pretty worn out now. Maybe I’ll practice tomorrow.” “Might be a good idea,” Silverstream said. “It is late for a pony. You humans seem more like ponies to me than like predators, so probably you’re pretty tired.” She would’ve been right, before. Marie didn’t even know what time it was right now. But she wasn’t about to refuse an obvious excuse to get what she wanted. “Yeah,” she said, voice weak. “Tired. I’m pretty tired.” Then she spun on her heels, suddenly facing away from the water. A single figure emerged from the connected string of camping trails. She could sense the curiosity and suspicion from them even before her eyes settled on him. But just as with the magical creatures, a person seemed to light up the world they were standing in. Bright yellow reflective vest, green grass at his feet, and an oversized flashlight in one hand. “Oi! You there!” He flashed it through the gloom, towards where they were standing. Marie felt the air behind her ripple, and heard the splash right as brilliant white light blinded her, and she shielded her eyes with the back of one arm. “I see ya there young miss!” he said, hurrying to close the distance between them. He leaned forward, muttering something briefly into the top of his vest as he went. “Got an unattended child here. Best be sending another officer.” He lowered the flashlight a little, no longer pointing it at her face. Marie kept backing away, glancing once to the side, where Gallus had been. There was still a pile of freshly-gutted fish, half filling the decorative basket they’d stolen from the house to carry them in. But the huge bird himself was nowhere to be seen. Did they abandon me? She tried to feel around for them without looking, and this time she had a little more luck. There was at least one set of emotions in the water, nervous fear and a little guilt. She was bloody fast, jumping like that. “You come from one of the campsites, miss?” The officer kept trying to get closer, and she kept her arm up over her eyes. But if he walked even a little bit to the side, he’d see the wings behind her. “Y-yeah!” She wasn’t a very good liar, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try. “Just from over there! I’ll… I should probably get back. My mum don’t know I’m gone, she’ll probably be missing me.” The officer nodded. “Come on then, why don’t we walk back together. I’d like to have a word with her.” Bloody hell. The trail through the various rental cabins and campsites, all of which would take her more than a few steps from the water and her new friends. If she walked away, this policeman would quickly realize that she wasn’t really camping here. If he got within reach, he’d notice her wings. Maybe he would think she was wearing a costume or something, but the eyes… those would be harder to dismiss. Maybe I can make a run for the water. “Y-yeah…” She started walking backwards towards the trail, though mostly it was sideways along the water.  So long as she stayed close, she could get away. She just needed him to look away from her… “Real bad time to be off on yer own,” he was saying. The officer wasn’t shining the light in her face anymore, and hadn’t gone for his baton. He didn’t think she was a threat. “Have you heard what’s been goin’ on in the rest of the country? Floods up an’ down the coast, thousands stranded without power. Like those hurricanes yer always hearin’ about in the tropics, ‘cept we ain’t in the tropics. Time like this, safest place for a girl like you is with her family. They’ll be closing this campsite tomorrow morning. Good warning to get that packing up done, I say.” At least he liked the sound of his own voice. He liked it so much that while he was watching her, he didn’t notice Gallus sneaking up behind him. The bird crept through the sand, reached up right behind the officer, and yanked on his boots with a single, decisive tug. The poor man went down with a yelp and a gasp, his flashlight tumbling out of his hand and splashing into the water. “Get on, Merry!” Silverstream yelled from beside her, emerging from the water dripping wet but on four legs again. Marie didn’t even think about her fears this time, just leapt to the side and flung her arms around the hippogriff. Whatever fear she might’ve felt about heights or slipping off mid-flight was forgotten as they shot up into the air, trailed by confused shouts and the flash of the torch all the way. “That was exciting!” Silverstream said, not actually turning her head back to talk. She wasn’t flying as fast as Gallus had earlier, just coasting along above the rooftops. “I’m glad that one didn’t have the thing they used on Smolder. Anything that could break a dragon’s scale would’ve been really bad if it hit you.” Marie rolled her eyes. “You mean a gun? I’m eleven, Silverstream. He wouldn’t have used it on me even if he had it.” They’d already left the lake behind, but she hadn’t heard the sound of anything following them but shouts. “I’m more worried that he might’ve got a picture or something. Ocellus still looks like me, and Security Services already interviewed her once.” She trailed off, adjusting her grip on Silverstream’s back. The hippogriff was a little smaller and more graceful than the male, which meant her size worked out better for riding. She didn’t seem to be struggling with her weight either. Yet for once, Marie’s own wings didn’t feel trapped. The air flowing around them made her want to spread them out, try a little of this for herself… Until she looked down. They were perhaps two hundred meters up, high enough that the rooftops and trees down below seemed like sharpened spikes. Why don’t I learn that on the ground, before I find out if I can do it? “Couldn’t get the fish,” Gallus said, skimming along beside them. His voice seemed pained, frustrated. “It was either dinner, or her.” “I’ll make do with leftovers,” Silverstream answered, without bitterness. “We almost never got very interesting food living at the school anyway. I’ll just have to eat things with… legs.” She swallowed, and Marie could sense a wave of disgust from her. The thought made her queasy. Why should you care? Eagles eat rodents and fish just as easily. “Thanks for taking me,” Marie said, not needing to yell quite so much thanks to their slower speed. “I’m sorry I ruined your fishing trip.” “There’s always tomorrow,” Gallus said wistfully. “And there’s that settlement of humans nearby. You’re human, maybe you could get some food from them like you did before.” “I, uh…” She blushed, gripping onto Silverstream’s back a little tighter. “After tonight, they’ll probably be on the lookout for someone who looks like me, dressed like me. I probably shouldn’t make their job easier by going into town.” “Right.” They didn’t have much further to fly—what would’ve taken two hours to walk was only a few more moments in the air. Marie couldn’t tell their stolen cabin apart from many identical others, but that didn’t matter. The creatures she was traveling with had distinct emotions that weren’t quite duplicated by any humans. She would’ve known that Smolder the Dragon was in that house even with her eyes closed. “Bloody hell, I left my jacket back there,” Marie realized, her voice bitter. “I should’ve put it on right away.” Now that the shock and adrenaline was wearing off, she was starting to feel the cold again. There are blankets back there, anyway. I can be warm. It was what she had asked for, being part of their world. Now if she could only be brave enough to see if she’d actually learned anything… Marie’s human mother didn’t harass her again for the rest of the day. In some ways, the human reminded her of what Twilight Sparkle might’ve been like, if she took away all the friendship, all the kindness, and all the organizational skill, and left only the desire to teach and lecture. But poor Ocellus wasn’t bored with the experience, because her mind was elsewhere. She had finally found a useful book, and she had been reading. If she had a way to contact her friends without going through Marie, she would’ve already done so. We’re in danger. I had no idea we were in so much danger. She hadn’t actually gotten much past the end of what the textbook called “WW2.” If these were the ancient days, when changelings simply wanted to harvest from the lands they lived in, and Ocellus had been sent in to see how valuable they might be, Ocellus would’ve been the loudest voice begging to turn around and leave. This is too dangerous. This was the secret to why she had never heard of humans before. It wasn’t that their lands weren’t interesting, or that there might not be valuable resources here. It wasn’t that their brilliantly clever inventions wouldn’t have interested the ponies back home. It was a warning, a warning put in place for their protection. And now Equestria is here with us. It attacked the coast of their country with huge waves of water, flooded humans out of their homes, killed them. If nothing else, getting Equestria invaded because of their term project would probably set a record for the worst things could possibly go. Ocellus and the others could go into the history-books, right before humans burned the whole library. Looking across the table at Marie’s mother, she no longer saw her as delicate and cute, even with the edge pudge on this particular human. She could still see the text of the history book flashing in front of her, along with the pictures of the front. This is what they show their foals. Why? If that was the war of seventy years ago, she could only imagine what might have happened after that. Most of the book was still left to go! But then the meal was over, and the woman had sent her to bed. Ocellus lay awake on the soft bed, with the textbook still open in front of her. She was so distracted that she almost failed to hear the little rapping sounds on the window. But she did hear. Ocellus frowned, crawling over to peek outside. Right on the other side of the glass was David and Helen, Marie’s human friends. They were crouched in the plants, looking in at her. David held up his magical pad—the thing Ocellus now knew was called a “phone.” There were words written on it. “There’s no alarm on the bathroom window. You can get out that way.” Some part of her wanted to ignore them—to curl up and sleep away the things she’d just read. But she would still be here in the morning—unless she intended to leave Marie to her fate. It doesn’t matter what people in a book did, or even what she’s like. Changelings used to be bad too, didn’t they? Maybe… they just need some friendship lessons. It seemed like something Twilight would’ve said. It would have to do. “I’m coming,” she mouthed, before opening the door a crack and creeping away down the hall.