//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Eight - Reminder // Story: Retcon // by Beige //------------------------------// Retcon ran the plan through her head one more time; she would go into the room with the kelpie and try to talk with it. The door would be locked shut behind her if the kelpie didn’t immediately attack. With Sparkler and Gurney watching through the viewing hatch, Retcon could then signal them when she wanted to be teleported out, assuming of course the kelpie didn’t get aggressive. It was a good plan. How could it go wrong? Sparkler had posited one suggestion; that unicorn teleportation magic might not work on changelings. After a quick test in the hallway, this concern was determined to be unfounded, but the thought that an oversight as simple as that could occur rankled with Retcon. “How likely is she to attack?” she asked. “It’s hard to say,” Gurney said after a moment. “She usually talks with ponies first before attacking, though not always. To be frank she’s pretty upfront about her intentions. How did she react when she saw you last?” “…She waved at me?” “Hmm. That’s a bit weird.” “Does she attack you when you go in?” Gurney chuckled. “She won’t dare.” “Why not?” Raising a brow, the griffon lifted a claw and extended his talons. “Bird beats fish.” After retreading the plan one last time, Sparkler lit her horn to ready the spell. Gurney checked the viewing hatch and unlocked the door. Steeling herself, Retcon stepped inside. The room was made of the same impossibly flat rock she had seen around the Institute, ‘concrete’ she had been told. Set into the floor was a large pool of water. Small dots of light shone beneath the surface, highlighting various dark shapes that she couldn’t quite discern. She glanced over her shoulder as the door clanked shut. The faint violet light through the viewing hatch indicated Sparkler was watching. Retcon released the breath she was holding, and gingerly stepped closer to the pool, stopping several paces short. She didn’t want to get any closer. The surface of the water was relatively still. Invitingly still. “Hello?” she called out, her voice reverberating around the flat room. A ripple played across the pool near the corner, spreading out across the surface from there. A distorted shadow moved just beneath, rising to meet it. The top of a head emerged slowly from the water. It had the form of a pony, a sea-green coat with a long, shiny and very dark teal mane, and narrowed icy eyes. The breath caught in Retcon’s throat. She stood her ground, keeping her wings under control. After a moment, those terrible eyes widened. The kelpie vanished under the water, followed by the flick of a fish tail as it retreated. Retcon’s heart pounded in her ears. The water exploded at the edge of the pool closest to her. She yelped, jumping back as she was hit by the splash. Blinking furiously, she could make out the shape of the kelpie at the poolside. Propping itself up by two equine forelegs, it looked like a regular pony from the top down to the middle of the barrel, below which it’s coat gave way to the lower half of a fish, with scales of sea-green. Two dorsal fins were visible fluttering around it’s scaly flanks as the kelpie lifted itself partway out of the pool, but the rest of the tail was submerged. A light violet aura sparked around Retcon. Without taking her eyes off the kelpie, she raised a forelimb up by her side. Wait. “Changie!” the kelpie called, revealing her vicious teeth. “You came to see me!” Retcon lowered her forelimb. After a moment, the aura around her sparked out. “Yes,” she replied carefully. “You wanted to talk?” “Yes! Yes! Talkie chit-chat!” The kelpie seemed to bounce in place by the poolside. “Come in and swim!” “…I’ll stay out here if it’s alright.” The kelpie pouted. “Aww. Oh, ‘cos you’re fluffy. Fluffy dry slow.” “Right… What’s your name?” she asked, trying to be diplomatic. “Kelpie is kelpie. Changie is changie. Easy peasy.” Umm, no name? “Well, my name is Retcon.” “Reh-tuh-con?” The kelpie blew a raspberry. “Sure youse not gunna swim? It’s warm, air always cold.” The tip of her fish tail flicked across the surface of the water. “I’m good, thanks.” Bet it’s a trap. I’m not trusting something with teeth like that. “Gurney said you wanted to make a deal, right? We talk, and you tell Gurney where the… the Unseelie Court is.” The kelpie pulled a face. “Yes, I said.” “So we have a deal? You’ll tell him?” “Yes, yes, I said.” She put a forehoof to her chest. “Promises.” “Alright then.” That’s the formalities, I guess. “What did you want to talk about? The kelpie cocked her head. “About?” Retcon tried to keep her expression neutral. “Yes, what about? What do you want?” “Want? Oh, want to speak with changie!” The kelpie’s wicked teeth flashed as she grinned. “I see you around with the ponies, always a pony.” She gasped. “Are you being secret?” “Am I-” Retcon stopped herself from taking a full step back. “No, I’m not being secret. I just like this form. The others know I’m a changeling.” “They know?” The kelpie tilted her head the other way. “I don’t get.” She’s really hard to talk to. …I wasn’t like this, was I? “Yes, the ponies here know what I am.” “That’s not how it works.” The kelpie sank further into the water. “Ponies shouldn’t know. Is that why you’re here? Did you get catched?” Where is this going? “No, I… I talked with the ponies. We just talked.” Enough of me. “How did you end up here?” The kelpie’s expression brightened. “I found little river through trees I did! It went a long ways, away from mean beasties. And then I found ponies. Very big and tasty. Better than rabbits and chirpie birds, easier to catch too.” She pouted. “Only got two before loads of ponies and land-birdie showed up. They put me to nap and I wakes up here. I get out though, one day, just you watch ‘cos I will!” She had been told the kelpie was carnivorous, but the glee with which it spoke of eating sapient beings made Retcon’s skin crawl and her stomach churn. “You’re planning on escaping? How?” “Dunno. I watches though. I find a way. Smart kelpie, see.” The kelpie bonked herself on the side of the head with a hoof. “You must watches too, youse outside! You can get us out maybe! Ooh, I show you in the trees where the ponies goes! We can be super team, have ourselves food forever!” It took every ounce of her concentration not to broadcast her thoughts with her expression. “I… don’t think I can do that.” “Aww,” the kelpie pouted again. “Look, that all sounds… nice, but…” Retcon exhaled deeply. Here’s where it could go wrong, but I don’t see why I should lie. “I can’t get you out. The others out there,” she gestured with a forelimb, “they’re my friends.” “Ponies… friends…” The kelpie mulled over the words. “But I’m your friend too?” Retcon blanched. “Um, yeah?” “But then… friend also with ponies.” She struck the water with her forelegs, annoyed. “I don’t get! The ponies put me in here! Not friends!” “They put you in here because you ate two of them!” “Kelpies eat ponies, is the way of the things.” The kelpie sank until just her head was above the water. “If ponies don’t wanna be eaten, they should stay away.” “Didn’t you follow the river as close as you could to a pony town to find more ponies to eat?” The kelpie pulled a face and looked away. “Might’ve,” she said glibly. “Aren’t there other things you can eat?” Retcon lowered her tone of voice, trying a more friendly approach. “Fish and stuff? They feed you here, you don’t have to eat ponies.” “Just like you, right?” the kelpie snarled abruptly. “‘Cos you must be getting all your love from fish too.” Retcon felt the blood drain from her face. “Look at you,” the kelpie gestured, spitting. “Youse fat with love. Fat and greasy! Where you gettin’ all that from, huh? You being picky and choosey? You asking food nicely? No! You take from the pony ‘cos you hungry, like alls the changies do!” She drifted right up close to the edge of the pool. “You drains the life from ponies like all changies does, so you don’t says what kelpie can eat.” Retcons’s eyes were wide, pupils as pinpricks. A muscle in her face twitched. That’s… “That’s different-” “Ha! ‘Different’ so she says!” Those horrific teeth flashed as she barked a laugh. “Different how? Different not at all! I eat the flesh, you eat the mind, so’s what? Still the pony suffers ‘cos they not strong enough to stop us! That how the world works! What world you livin’ in, Ret-Cohn?” “It’s different ‘cos I don’t get a choice!” Retcon yelled. “You thinks I-” “And you can shut up while I’m talking!” The kelpie shrank back, submerged up past her mouth, her eyes narrowed dangerously. Retcon snorted hotly, finding herself standing much closer to the edge of the pool than before. “I get one source of sustenance and that’s it. I don’t like it, but I don’t get a choice. But you,” she sneered, “what I would give to be able to eat fish, or rabbits, or birds or anything else! Something that’s not smart, that’s not thinking. You know how great that would be if I wouldn’t have to steal energy, from the people who have given me everything?” She stomped a hoof, blinking the moisture from her eyes. “I d-don’t get that choice! I have to steal from my friends, but I don’t kill anypony, and I do what I can to not let anypony suffer. You just kill ‘cos you enjoy it! Don’t you dare say that’s the same thing!” A dreadful stillness settled over the two. Becoming aware of the predatory creature she had just shouted at, Retcon took a step back before she dried her eyes with a shaking forehoof. The kelpie still hadn’t moved, though she was now looking down at the water. Eventually she rose up to her neck out of the water and, still averting her eyes, said, “I don’t really wanna talk with you anymore.” Retcon sniffed. “Yeah.” The kelpie made piercing eye contact. “You like the ponies. Why?” Retcon paused as she was about to turn away. “Well, why shouldn’t I? They’ve been kind to me.” “Not been kind to me.” “You’ve not been kind to them. What do you expect?” “What does you expects me to do?” the kelpie asked. “Stop eating ponies!” How hard is that!? “Be nice! Just, be kind and don’t hurt anyone. It’s not hard. ‘Cos if other people like you, then it didn’t matter how different you are.” She sniffed sharply. “But if you’re mean, they’re not gonna want to be around you. It helps you to be nice to everyone else.” Pausing for breath, she shook her head and glanced away. “Or, whatever, do what you like.” The kelpie was averting her eyes again. “Tch.” She suddenly sunk under the water, leaving nothing but ripples across the surface from a few scant bubbles. Retcon exhaled after a moment of silence, feeling exhausted. Taking a step back, she opened a wing. Almost immediately she was enveloped in the sparkling of a violet aura. She felt the sudden yanking at her stomach and the bright flash of light of teleportation, followed by the momentary nasty disorientation as the room changed abruptly around her. She was back out in the hallway of metal doors with Gurney and Sparkler. Gurney looked concerned, glancing between her and the unicorn. Sparkler’s eyes were red around the edges. “Thanks,” said Retcon, rubbing the side of her head as her headache subsided. “She, um, she said she’d uphold her deal, but… I think I… Maybe don’t ask just yet. Don’t think she’ll be in a good mood.” The others didn’t respond. “What?” she asked. Gurney glanced back at Sparkler. “Erm..” “I can watch through the hatch, I’ll listen in with a spell too, and you can raise a wing to say you want to leave.” Retcon felt like hitting herself in the face as she remembered Sparkler’s spell. Sparkler took a step closer, moving hesitantly in to embrace her, but Retcon pushed her gently off. “Don’t… Please.” “Retcon?” She couldn’t quite look the unicorn in the eye. “Just, don’t.” Her throat was closing up. “I don’t wanna take-” “Oh for goodness sake, don’t be stupid.” In one swift move, Sparkler pulled her into a tight hug. Retcon froze, eyes wide. Almost immediately, she felt a familiar warmth blossom in her chest. She wanted to panic, to pull away again, but it was too comforting, too sweet. It was for her, a gift freely given by a friend. Closing her sodden eyes, she allowed herself to be held. “I’ve got you,” Sparkler muttered softly into her green mane, as Retcon began to sob into her shoulder. “I’ve got you.”