//------------------------------// // Ch. 6: Ignite // Story: Nightingale, Neither Snow Nor Hail // by TundraStanza //------------------------------// --- June 30th, 20X5, Somewhere in Arizona... Nightingale woke up and groaned. An annoying beam of sunlight had fallen right on her eyes. She turned over and tried to pull a blanket up. However, all she found was something hard. She blinked in confusion, when her hoof was patting the back of a car seat. She sat upright and tried to stand, only to fall backward. A couple separate pains reminded her that her tail and left wing still existed. Something groaned and wiggled underneath her. When she rolled over, she caught the sight of a familiar black sheen. She scrambled back and off her brother. "Sorry, Crystal." Her ears flopped down. "It's okay." He shifted his legs around to sit up. "I've literally been stepped on before. Compared to that, this is nothing." She slowly nodded back before looking around the vehicle they were in. "Did all of that really happen?" "You mean the Everywhere Man kidnapping us, or Mystique and Sapphira rescuing us?" He tilted his head. She blinked twice. Her eyes turned blue and then green. "All I got from that sentence was the X-Men reference." "Never mind." He waved his hoof dismissively. "Are you feeling alright?" "Just a bit tired." She yawned. Her wings swung open once before folding at her sides. "What about-" The back door of the van opened up abruptly. When Nightingale and Crystal looked, they saw a curious face. They were pretty sure it was Smolder that they had briefly met the night before. But the front of the dragon's mouth seemed a bit brighter red than it was. Was she wearing lipstick? "Oh, you're up. Good." Smolder nodded and moved to the side. "There's some food inside the house if you want." "Sure." Nightingale trotted out. "I'm not really hun-" Crystal stopped short when Nightingale glanced back at him. "Er, yeah. Thank you." "Don't mention it." Smolder smiled. "Watch your step." Their hooves clip-clopped upon impact with the brick-laid driveway. Nightingale looked around, speechless at the size of the house. Maybe it was because she had lost some height. Either way, she walked along until she heard a high-pitched, squelching noise. She looked down and yelped at a scorpion scuttling right in front of her. "Oh, one sec." Smolder walked up and spat at the poison-tailed arachnid. It erupted in a plume of fire before it screamed to death. She smirked. "There we go." "What the hay?" Nightingale's feathers shook. "I didn't think scorpions could get that big," commented Crystal as he walked up. "Actually, that was one of the smaller ones." Smolder shrugged. "Just keep an eye out for them and you won't have to worry." As Smolder opened the door, Nightingale scrambled to get inside as quickly as possible. Crystal walked briskly to follow. Smolder looked amused before stepping inside and shutting the door behind her. --- 9:00 AM... It was sort of beautiful in a grotesque way. One minute, Nightingale's plate was piled with bacon, eggs, and grapes. The next, the plate was empty. Stray pieces of food were covering the table and her face. Without a word, Crystal pushed his half-finished plate toward her. Nightingale devoured that portion as well. Krusty simply chuckled. "You get enough?" Nightingale brushed her face against a napkin. "Yes, thank you." Smolder walked over to the table, munching on a bacon slice in her grasp. "Good, isn't it?" "Now that we've got a moment to breathe, how about the open we floor to questions?" Krusty made single sweeping motion with his hoof. "I'm sure we've all got a few for each other." Crystal nodded. "You gave us names, but we don't really know each other that well. Who are you guys?" Smolder swallowed and smirked. "Officially, we're not really anybody. There's a bunch of rag-tag teams of Equestrian creatures searching for any more of us that happen to be lost or captured. I'm Smolder the interference." Krusty puffed up his chest. "And I'm Krusty the recon. We're the Equestrian And Rescue Squad, because we've got the E.A.R.S. on land, waters, and the sky." Nightingale blinked twice. "You're called 'ears'?" Crystal shrugged. "Eh, I've heard of worse acronym names." Krusty faked a gasp. "Ah! You find it lacking? Smolder, my darling catch me. I think I might faint!" He proceeded to land, back upon the floor. "That's fair, kids." Smolder waved dismissively. "I'm not completely satisfied with our group name either. But since we look awesome, we might as well douse ourselves with cheese every now and again." Krusty quickly pulled himself back to his seat. "Our turn! What can you tell us about yourselves?" Crystal set a hoof on the table as if to hold his head. "I was homeless for several years." Nightingale twiddled her feathers. "I like singing and playing the piano. Well, I used to play the piano." Smolder's eyes practically twinkled. "Really? That's awesome! Did you ever play Moonlight Sonata?" Nightingale chuckled nervously. "Once for a recital, but I wasn't happy with the couple mistakes I made." Smolder exhaled and looked up. "Aw, man. I wish I had been there to hear it." Crystal looked at the dragon's boyfriend. "When you found us, you called us both changelings. What did you mean by that? Night's a pegasus." Krusty held out a front limb, hoof-side up. "Last I checked, pegasi can't change their contact lenses just by blinking. Also, your sister has fangs." Nightingale gasped and felt the inside of her mouth. Her tongue ran past where she thought her canines were. They seemed... bigger than they once were. "I mean, I guess I kind of do." "Hey, welcome to the club." Smolder grinned. "Fangs are badass." Crystal looked down in thought. "Huh. I can't argue with that." He shook his head. "But wait, how'd you turn into a giraffe?" Smolder glanced at Krusty. "And here I thought showing off was my part of the rescue ops." Krusty waved dismissively. "It wasn't like that. Our friend here didn't know how to make himself fly. So, I gave him a pass." "Seriously?" She raised her brow at the unicorn-changeling. "Well, I don't know much about my innate power set." Crystal shrugged. "I haven't had this complete body for more than a few days." "That simply won't do." Krusty stood up. "Even if you don't need your powers right away, it's good to understand what you're capable of. Come on." Krusty walked around toward the back door. Crystal and Nightingale looked at each other with uncertainty. After a scratch and a shrug, they got up and followed the yellow changeling. Smolder tossed the paper plates in the trash before casually walking behind them. Nightingale briefly glanced back. "Where did your driver go? Uh... Simon, was it?" "He's still sleeping." Smolder shook her head. "Driving all of last night really screwed up his internal clock. He'll be fine." "Alright, if you're sure." Nightingale scampered to catch up with the others. --- They stood apart a few paces in the backyard. A large tarp was set up to provide shade. Smolder had grabbed a large recliner chair and lied back. Nightingale stood by, watching the other two. "Now, contrary to popular fiction, shape-shifting magic isn't about thinking really hard." Krusty tapped his head. "Otherwise, changelings would be changing forms every tenth word in a conversation." "Okay..." Crystal slowly nodded. "Then, how does it work?" "It basically boils down to desire." Krusty lowered his hoof to chest-level. "If you really want to hide in plain sight in a desert, become a rock." The yellow changeling disappeared in blue fire. A red block of sandstone took up his spot. "You want to distract some stallions with their own hormones?" Blue fires changed the rock into a unicorn mare with long eyelashes and a thick mane. "Or maybe you just want to give them a good scare." One more burst of blue brought forth a screaming, animatronic fox with a hook for a paw. "Chitin!" Crystal lifted his front hooves in a panic. After a few seconds, he looked carefully at himself. He was still black and full of holes. "Um, why didn't I turn into a rock?" "Aye, ya didn't desire hiding." The robot pirate deadpanned with his one visible eye. "Fearing something ain't the same as wanting it." He shifted back to his default changeling self. "Let's start with something about the same size as you. Say those soulless suits tried to kidnap your sister again. Make yourself look like her to distract them and lead them away from the real one." "Turn into Night?" Crystal glanced over at her. "Hmm, alright. I'll try." He looked up and breathed deeply. He tried to still his mind to anything that wasn't his sister. He wanted to hear her sing again. He wanted to protect her like she did for him. He... saw green fire flash all over his field of view. As quickly as it appeared, it stopped. He blinked twice. There was something tickling his shoulders. He reached up a hoof to brush it away. He gasped when it felt like he had lightly tapped his arm. When he turned to look, a familiar set of feathers fluttered. He laughed when he flapped the two wings by himself. Nightingale tilted her head and squinted. "Is that really what my mane looks like from the back? I should let it grow longer." Her doppelganger looked over. "Oh, sorry!" Crystal returned to himself, but forgot about his current elevation. The ground quickly reminded his face. "Ow..." A small dog quickly ran up and licked Crystal's face. Smolder lifted her head a bit. "Honey, when did you get a dog?" "I didn't." Krusty shook his head. Crystal stood up and wiped the new spot on his face. "Night? Is that you?" The dog's eyes widened. She sat up and covered her muzzle with both front paws. Then, a green flame replaced the dog with a familiar pegasus filly. "I was just worried that you had hurt yourself. I wanted to make you feel better and I wasn't even thinking about how to do it. Next thing I know-" "I knew you had some changeling in you." Krusty smirked. "You just need the right motivation." He nodded. "Keep practicing. You both did great for your first day." "Eh heh heh." Nightingale idly scratched the back of her head. "Thank you, Krusty." Crystal smiled a little. "No problem, Kin." Krusty shook his hoof dismissively. --- 11:30 AM... Nightingale wanted to contact her parents. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite remember what any of the phone numbers were. They were all saved on her cell phone back where she left it. Why would she have ever needed to manually recall them? She sighed as she rested her head against the armrest of a couch. "I'm sure they're alright," insisted Crystal, sitting next to her. "But they're going to be worried." Nightingale's ears flopped. "Mom was knocked out before those men took us away. Dad was at work, so he doesn't know what happened." "We'll find a way for you to see them again." He held out a front hoof along the top of the couch. She turned herself around and hugged him. He gently patted her on the back. At some point, Simon had wandered into the room and plopped himself into a nearby chair. He sipped on a can of energy drink. He then used a phone app to flip through channels on his TV. There was a blurb about an unusually high flu outbreak in a small town in Colorado. With a flick, that was quickly changed to an over-the-top argument on a "Reality" show. "Want to see if their freezer has any ice cream?" Crystal smiled. Nightingale hopped down. "I'll go ask." Crystal lowered himself to the floor to follow her. "Bottom of the fridge. Pull out the top drawer after you open the outer one." Nightingale nearly jumped at the guy's voice. "Oh! Uh... thank you, Simon. Also, thank you for the rescue." Crystal nodded at him. "We appreciate it. I hope we can repay the favor." Simon shook his head. "If you find a way back to your magical birthplace, send me a souvenir. Otherwise, don't worry about it." He resumed his channel surfing. Meanwhile, the two quadrupeds resumed their quest for frozen sweets. ---