//------------------------------// // Part V - Chapter 5: Closer Ties Than These // Story: Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky // by PortalJumper //------------------------------// Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky Part V - Chapter 5: Closer Ties Than These * * * "Get down!" Sun yelled as he lit his horn up with burning silver light. Fluttershy, to his relief, dove to the ground even as the words left Sun's mouth. The Changelings above them hissed at the sight of the light before diving towards him, fangs bared and wings buzzing. One of them vanished in a burst of teal fire before manifesting Fluttershy's form, a wicked grin on its new face as it peeled off to target the pony it was copying. "Oh no you don't!" Sun cried out as he let loose a ray of magic that slammed into the creature's side. The Changeling spun through the air before landing with a sickening thud against the mud, its copied form disappearing in another burst of teal. The beast struggled to its hooves, compound eyes bearing down on Sun with pure malice as one of its cohorts slammed into Sun's ribs. Sun and the Changeling scattered across the ground in a heap, with the Changeling coming out on top of the pile-up. It raised its hooves up over Sun's head, who only barely dodged the first set of stomps before kicking up with his hind legs to try and throw the monster off. Sun bucked and kicked viciously, but this creature was far sturdier than its emaciated frame made it seem, and it refused to budge even as it illuminated its own horn with bright teal light. "Cover your eyes!" Fluttershy called from behind Sun. He slammed his eyes shut just in time, but even still could see the dull red of a bright flash of light through his eyelids. The Changeling on top of Sun screeched and howled in pain as it fell off of him, an opportunity he immediately capitalized on to roll away from it and get back to his hooves. With clear eyes Sun could see the faint traces of sparkles in the air, as well as the two Changelings they had been fighting currently writhing in pain, clutching at their eyes as the rolled and shrieked. A quick bolt of magic to the already injured one was enough to dispatch it, followed by taking his dagger in his magic and sinking it into the skull of the other one. "Where's the third one?!" Sun asked before receiving an immediate answer. A large splash of swamp water was followed by Fluttershy shrieking in pain and terror. Whirling around Sun saw the last Changeling dragging her down towards the waterline by her hair, which had come undone in the struggle. She beat and kicked at its face as hard as she could, but what hits did connect didn't faze the beast in the slightest. Sun ran hard to the creature, leaping atop Fluttershy to add more weight and keep her from sliding any further. The Changeling pulled and tore clumps of her hair out with its mandibles as it tried to keep dragging her, before turning its attention to Sun. This time, though, he was ready for it, and quickly rolled off of Fluttershy as the Changeling leapt forward. As the bug-pony sprawled out from its missed tackle, Sun got to his hooves and ran for the beast. Sun had his hooves up just as the monster turned its giant compound eyes to face his, the light from Sun's horn glinting and glittering against its multifaceted surface, before a swift, solid stomp turned the eye into an empty, bleeding gore pit. The Changeling shuddered and struggled for a moment as Sun ground his hoof into the eye socket before finally falling still, a low rattling breath escaping its lungs as Sun pulled his hoof up with a squelch. Sun breathed heavily, looking down at his handiwork, before a low, soft sobbing pulled him back into the moment. Fluttershy was behind him, curled into herself and rubbing a hoof across her scalp where the Changeling had torn her hair out. She sook and shuddered with deep, keening sobs, enough that Sun could feel his stomach twist into knots at her misery. Approaching gently, Sun laid a hoof onto her shoulder only to be rebuked as she whipped a hoof at him. Fluttershy pointedly averted her eyes as Sun backed up and sat down. "Fluttershy, it's over, it's just me," Sun said, as softly as he could. "They're all dead, you don't have to worry anymore." Fluttershy slowly lifted her head, just enough that one of her big, teal eyes could scan the area. Sun lit his horn up just a bit more so she could see everything, a gentle smile on his face. "See, nothing to worry about," Sun repeated. "Can I get closer, or do you still need space?" Fluttershy slowly got to a sitting position, keeping one hoof to her scalp as she did. Sun could see a thin trickle of blood coming off of her head, leaving a streak of crimson in her pale pink mane. Fluttershy slowly nodded, and Sun gently scooted closer. "Here, lemme see," Sun said as he carefully lifted Fluttershy's hoof off of her head. She sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, and Sun could see why; not only did she have a large bald patch, but some of the skin had been peeled up from the force of the pulling. "How bad is it?" Fluttershy asked, her voice thick like she needed to blow her nose. "Honestly, you got off pretty easy," Sun answered. "You have some of whatever that stuff was you used on me? You have a bit of your scalp pulled up here from where it was yanking on your hair." Another choking sob fell out of Fluttershy's mouth as Sun explained what had happened, and she fell forward into his chest as she began to cry anew. "I can't d-do this, I j-just can't do this…" Fluttershy moaned into Sun's shoulder. "It's okay, you did fine," Sun said, rubbing a hoof across her back in slow, steady circles. "Have you ever been in a fight before?" "N-no, never," Fluttershy answered as she clutched tight to Sun. "Then I'd say you did great for a first time," Sun replied. "Whatever that big flashing light was really helped me out." "I-it was the first thing I c-could think of," Fluttershy said. "Just s-some phosphorous, magn-nesium, and a flint." "You did a lot better while panicking than I did my first time," Sun said, pulling Fluttershy back and looking her square in the eye. "You'll be okay, this sort of thing just takes some time to get used to; frankly, I'm still trying to get used to it myself. Now, I need to know if you have anything to fix your head; it'd be a shame to lose such pretty hair because we didn't heal your scalp in time." Fluttershy's gaze flicked between Sun, the bodies behind him, and the ground in between both of them, before she nodded and pointed to one of her many bags and pouches. "The moss and plaster is in that pouch, inside a small ceramic jar," Fluttershy said, wiping her nose as she returned her hoof to her head. "There's some words you have to say to make it work, though." "Right, more of this natural magic probably," Sun said as he pulled the jar out. "Some of the more complicated spells I've studied had words associated with them in the old language before modern Equestrian, but I've never had the power to cast any of them." Sun gingerly set the jar down in front of Fluttershy, who opened it with her free hoof. She pulled the moss off of the top, exposing the thick, greenish paste underneath it. "So, first, you need to apply the paste to the wound," Fluttershy said. Sun dipped his hoof into the jar, taking out a big dollop of the paste. It smelled vaguely herbal, with a twist of something sweet that he couldn't recognize, and the smell got more intense as he gently rubbed the paste onto Fluttershy's scalp. "Does that hurt?" Sun asked, hoping he wasn't pressing too hard. "A little bit, but that's just part of the process," Fluttershy answered. "Now, you need to press the moss onto the paste and hold it there while gently massaging it into the wound." "Okay, that sounds like it would hurt," Sun cut in as he placed the moss onto her head. Fluttershy placed her hoof on top of Sun's own, gently moving it back and forth. "Okay, now I need you to repeat after me," Fluttershy said. "These words were passed down by my father to me when he taught me how to do this, so please be careful about who you teach this to." "Right," Sun replied, not entirely sure how he'd be able to replicate this process within the very specific ingredients that were indigenous to this area. "From the earth comes life," Fluttershy intoned, taking a pause. "From the earth comes life," Sun repeated. "From life comes pain," Fluttershy continued. "From life comes pain," Sun repeated. "From pain comes wisdom." "From pain comes wisdom." "From wisdom comes age." "From wisdom comes age." "From age comes death." "From age comes death". "From death comes the earth." "From death comes the earth," Sun finished, slightly disturbed by the macabre tone of what was supposedly some kind of healing magic. "Now just repeat that until you feel the paste get warm under your hoof," Fluttershy said with a wince. "And maybe ease up on the rubbing a bit." "Right, sorry," Sun quickly apologized as he continued the chant. The words slowly stopped meaning anything other than just the noise of saying them, and it was at that point when he felt the moss under his hoof grow warm. He quickly pulled back to see that where the paste had once been was now a thin, shiny grey-green patch the squirmed and pulsed. One particularly violent contraction caused a squirt of blood to trickle down Fluttershy's head, which she quickly wiped away from her eyes with another patch of moss. "Thanks for the help," Fluttershy said, wiping the tear stains away from her eyes. Her voice still had a quiver to it, as though she was trying not burst into tears again. "Sorry you had to see me like that, I'm normally a lot more composed." "And that's why you bolted when we first met?" Sun asked. "You leveled a horn at me and started making demands, I think I could be forgiven for being jumpy," Fluttershy countered. "Not to mention that you're the first pony I've seen in years." "Years? How long have you lived out here?" "I'll tell you later," Fluttershy replied as she started fishing through her bags. "As thanks for saving my life and all that." "Yeah, I think we could both use some rest," Sun agreed as Fluttershy pulled out a few small candles from her bags. "What're those candles for?" "They're made out of oils and herbs that insects and Shifters hate the smell of, so they'll help keep us safe and relatively comfortable while we rest," Fluttershy answered, lighting the first candle with a small piece of flint. The scent was unlike anything Sun had smelled before; it was sweetly acidic, with a twist of earthiness that was similar to the smell of the soil they were standing on. Fluttershy placed all of the lit candles in a rough perimeter around the little spit of land they were on while Sun laid out their bedrolls. Sleep came faster for Sun than he thought it would. The sweet smell of the candles, the idle lapping of water, and the far off calls of birds made for an oddly soothing soundscape. The only thing that stuck out was Fluttershy, who he could intermittently hear softly crying throughout. * * * Fluttershy woke up long before Sun did, mostly because of the sheer stress from the attack preventing her from actually getting to sleep. The plaster had absorbed into her head, but the bald patch left behind still stung. She knew that she wasn't going to get any sort of meaningful rest, so she simply took to relighting the citronella candles and foraging for a little more food. When Fluttershy came back to their make-shift campsite with some wolfswood berries and watercress, Sun was up and rolling his bedroll with a nervous look on his face. A smile spread as he heard her coming, one that she only half-heartedly reciprocated. "How're you doing?" Sun asked. "Better," Fluttershy answered, a bit taken aback. "I got a little more food, if you're hungry." "You'll have to show me what's good out here," Sun replied as he looked through the small pouch, his illuminated horn making Fluttershy's eyes ache. "I come from a desert, so it's pretty slim pickings as far as plants are concerned." "What's a desert?" Fluttershy asked as she rolled her own bedroll up and reattached it to her packs. "You know how this place is nothing but ponds and water and trees and bugs?" Sun asked. "Uh-huh," Fluttershy answered. "It's basically the exact opposite of that, save for the bugs," Sun answered. "Nothing except sand and sunshine as far as the eye can see, with blistering days and freezing nights." "That would drive me insane," Fluttershy said, a but of a chill running down her back as the pair started moving back into the water. The teal lights lit as soon as Fluttershy stepped in, and intensified when Sun did. "You'd get used to it, I suppose," Sun admitted. "I grew up there, so it really wasn't that bad unless it was dark." "Are there at least animals where you're from?" Fluttershy asked. "Mostly small lizards, nothing like Scale-Tooth. Plus we had a lot of beetles and stinging bugs, as well as the odd mouse." "I'm guessing there wouldn't be things like frogs or fish, if there wasn't any water," Fluttershy said, moving some scrub out of the way and letting Sun go past. "What's a fish?" Sun asked. "Oh, they're these lovely water-dwelling creatures," Fluttershy explained as she started looking in the water to try and find one. "They're covered in scales, they breathe water, and they're perfectly adapted for this environment." "You mean those slimy, muscular tubes that have been bumping into my legs every ten feet?" Sun asked back with a grimace. "Yeah! Here, come see this one," Fluttershy said before taking a big gulp of air and dipping her head into the water Illuminated by the tree roots under the silt, Fluttershy saw a medium sized muskellunge tending to its eggs nestled into the roots. It quickly turned to the side to bring one of the eyes in its narrow face to bear on Fluttershy, nervous but waiting. "Hello, I would be ever so grateful if you could say hello to a friend of mine," Fluttershy said, bubbles flying from her mouth as she talked into the water. The fish made a quick flutter of its mouth and flaring of its gills, followed by a quick bob up and down. Fluttershy pulled up and took a breath, turning to a very perplexed looking Sun as she did. "She wants to say hello," Fluttershy told Sun, "but be very careful; she has eggs nestled in the roots that she's tending to." "You got all of that just from ducking your head in the water and blowing bubbles?" "Here, it'll be easier if you just see for yourself," Fluttershy answered. "You're gonna want to take a breath." With a curious face, Sun took a deep breath with Fluttershy and dunked his head under the water with her. Fluttershy carefully maneuvered his head until his horn was illuminating the muskellunge, that carefully fluttered its fins in response. "This is a friend," Fluttershy said quickly. The fish flared its gills and gave a short series of bobs up and down which Fluttershy returned with a smile and Sun with a wide-eyed look of wonder. He then raised a hoof with a small wave before surfacing for another breath. "See, they're not so mysterious," Fluttershy said. "Just make sure you step around her." "And you can just understand her?" Sun asked. "It's more like getting a really good feeling about what she meant," Fluttershy answered. "It's a bit harder with animals that don't make noises to really understand them, but I make do." "That really is incredible, you know that, right?" Sun said. Fluttershy could feel her face get hot and could feel the dragonflies in her stomach. "It's nothing, really. I mean, you could probably figure this out with enough practice." "Could you teach me?" Sun asked, catching Fluttershy completely of guard to the point that she nearly tripped over a root. "Don't you have some big, world-saving mission to do?" Fluttershy asked incredulously. "You don't have time for me to teach you, it could take months." "I mean, we have time, and outside of problems with the Changelings it's not like we're doing much more than walking for the time being," Sun replied. "You could at least teach me enough that I could tell animals that I mean them no harm." Fluttershy looked down to the water, eyes scanning across the glowing roots as she thought intensely. Sun did have a point, and not just the one growing out of his forehead; they did have at least a few more days of time to kill before getting to the Vale, and if they ever got separated it would be beneficial for him to know some of what she did, if only so he could protect himself. "I suppose I could give you a couple of phrases, but it's not just knowing how to say it, it's getting the intent across too," Fluttershy relented. "Animals are far more empathic creatures than ponies are, and they pick up on feelings a lot more than we do." "Then I will abide by you," Sun said with a bow of the head. "However you teach me, I will listen." "And you have to promise to not talk like that to them, that'll set them off immediately," Fluttershy retorted. Sun gave a quick snort of laughter, and Fluttershy couldn't help but chuckle back, as much as she tried not to. * * * Time would not stop blending together for Sun as he and Fluttershy trekked through seemingly endless and entirely random copses of trees, patches of bog, and the odd wild animal that Fluttershy, and eventually Sun himself, would have to ward off. The only thing that was keeping Sun from completely losing his mind was the Fluttershy's lessons in animal-speech, which were going slowly but surely giving him better insight into how Fluttershy was able to live seemingly alone for so long. He found that the animal-speech really was more about intention and projecting the right feeling rather than actual speech. His initial attempts to mimic Fluttershy's hisses, growls, and grunts only caused animals to run from him, as he couldn't project the type of personality that he wanted to get across. The sounds, however, helped a lot, as well as having Fluttershy to vouch for him whenever he'd accidentally upset an animal he was trying to communicate. "I just wanted to say thank you for all of the help that you've been giving me these last few days," Sun said, one of many such praises and thanks he had given to his guide. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it half a day, much less this far." "I will admit, it has been refreshing to have another pony to talk with," Fluttershy replied. "You can only have so many conversations about where fish are or needing to get ticks out of fur before it gets repetitive." "That's something I actually wanted to ask you," Sun said. "Why did you decide to move out here? It can't have been for your health, given that everything about this place is kind of inimical to habitation by ponies." Fluttershy went quiet for a moment, and Sun got the distinct impression that he might have crossed a boundary. "You did say you'd tell me a few days ago," Sun continued, "but if it's a sore subject then you don't have to if you don't want to." "No, no, it's not that, it just that I've… I've never really tried explaining it before," Fluttershy answered, kicking at the water with her hoof. "Well, I won't judge," Sun said. "Just as long as you didn't kill somepony and get driven into the swamp in exile, I'll be good." Fluttershy fell silent and stared out into the middle distance with a furrowed brow for a moment, and Sun found himself secretly hoping that he didn't just hit the nail on the head. "I… I don't really get ponies, Sun," Fluttershy began. "I can't ever get a good read on ponies personalities, and whenever I try to have long conversations with them I'll usually wind up saying something that just makes me look bad or makes them uncomfortable." "That's not so bad, really," Sun replied. "I was kind of a shut in for most of my life, so it took some getting used to for me as well." "That's the thing though, I wasn't a shut in," Fluttershy continued. "My parents were kind, my brother was always supportive of me even if he was as lazy as gully-dirt, and ponies in the village I grew up in knew me and liked me, I just… didn't like them." "You don't seem like the sort to just not like ponies, if you want my opinion," Sun replied, ducking under a branch as he did. "Maybe I'm not explaining it right," Fluttershy said, looking down and rubbing the bald patch on her head. "It's not like I chose not to like ponies, it's just that I couldn't relate to them. Everypony I knew just felt weird and scary to me, so I just never tried to get to know them. The animals were my first friends, and they were really my only friends, so when I got old enough to go out on my own I just left town, went to the swamp, and never looked back." "That's it? You just up-sticks and left everything behind?" Sun asked, taken aback at how simple her explanation seemed. "What about your family, they must've cared about you more than that?" "Oh, they did, and when I told them what I was going to do they tried to stop me, but I just couldn't handle living around ponies anymore so I… I left. I left in the middle of the night and that was… that." Sun was about to make another comment when he noticed a single tear start to fall from Fluttershy's eye, and wisely held his tongue. "Well, I can't say it's what I would have done, but you do you," Sun replied, nudging his shoulder into hers. "I mean, I basically uprooted my life back home to go on what turned out to be a suicide mission to save the world, so I really have no room to criticize anypony else's lifestyle choices." "Thanks," Fluttershy said, wiping the tear from her eye. "It's nice to get that off of my chest, even if it's something I haven't thought about in… goodness, probably ten years." "Ten years? Jeez, you're older than I am at that rate. Why is it that every companion I've had on this journey is older than me." "You had another companion?" Fluttershy asked, making Sun's heart skip a beat. "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you about Starlit," Sun hastily stated. "Who's Starl—" Fluttershy's question was quickly cut off by a yelp of surprise as she, shortly followed by Sun himself, fell forward off of a sudden drop off that, given the sheer lack of light, neither of them had noticed. Mud and water splashed and splattered as the pair of them tumbled end over end, hurtling down the drop and slamming against trees and roots and rocks the whole way. Sun finally came to a stop when he collided face first with a cypress, slamming his forehead hard enough to briefly black out and go numb. When his eyes shot open he felt a crippling pain in his head and saw nothing but mist and silver, floating lights as far as he could see. There was no sign of the hill they had fallen down, just flat marshland, and when Sun rolled over and looked at Fluttershy she was staring at him in horror. "Sun, your horn!" she cried. Sun's hooves shot up to his head, and where he expected to feel the familiar bone coming from his forehead, there was instead blood pooling from where it had once been. Looking frantically in the much darker water below with only the silver lights to guide him, Sun saw a familiar, burgundy, spiraled piece of bone floating in a pool of crimson. * * *