//------------------------------// // Bottled Up // Story: Bastion Goes to Fight Camp // by Wise Cracker //------------------------------// Doldrum’s flight back to the bunk was slow and sluggish, mirroring his thoughts. Nopony cares. It doesn’t matter. No matter how strong I get, it’s never enough. No one really wants me. He set down once he got to the bunk, ready to plop down on his bed and hopefully sleep off those darker thoughts. He usually felt better after a nap. I gotta stop thinking like this. Even if it is true. He stepped through the open door. Bastion stood in front of him. “Oh. Hey, Doldrum. Didn’t see you there,” Bastion started. “How did the test go?” Doldrum took a deep, slow breath in, and glared at the changeling. “Uh, are you okay?” Bastion asked. Doldrum let out a deep sigh to try and calm himself down. Don’t freak out. He doesn’t know. It’s not his fault. He shouldn’t know. “No,” Doldrum replied. “But the test went okay, I guess. Just not okay enough. What are you doing here?” “Getting my things for swimming class.” Doldrum tilted his head. “Can’t you just… turn into a fish for that?” “Well, yeah, but… I don’t want to.” For a moment, Doldrum’s thoughts lightened, and he wondered if perhaps he’d been misjudging the changeling. “Oh. You mean like a handicap for training?” “No, I just don’t think I should do that kind of thing in front of ponies.” No. No, he had accurately judged the changeling. “Right, of course.” He walked forward, out of Bastion’s way, and moved towards the bed. “Aren’t you going to go swimming, too?” “Not right now,” Doldrum replied. “I need a nap. Maybe I’ll come down later.” “Did you cheat at the test? Is that what’s wrong?” Doldrum froze. “Excuse me?” “Look, it’s fine if you can’t do some things, you know. There’s no shame in admitting it. But that’s no reason to break the rules or make it unfair to everypony else.” Doldrum’s hooves quivered as he touched his bed. I’m not gonna get any sleep now. No one cares. He thought back to what Starlight had told him. Perhaps he needed a little pick-me-up. “You really think what I do is cheating?” “I mean, nopony else can do what you do,” Bastion argued. “It’s not really fair to them. And nopony in camp can change shape, so why do you keep asking me to?” “Because you can.” Doldrum turned around to face him. “And if you’re not going to, why are you even here?” Bastion winced. “Well, I… I wanted to make some new friends, on my own. And I wanted to get stronger.” Doldrum narrowed his eyes. “You really want to fight better?” “Yes.” “And you don’t see the problem with what you’re doing? At all?” “No, what are you talking about?” Doldrum snorted. He doesn’t know. But he has to. He’s supposed to be super smart, right? Maybe he can’t see it. Maybe he’s like me. Maybe he needs it. “How about a fair fight, then? You and me, right now?” Doldrum asked. He grabbed his bag and walked outside, gesturing to Bastion to follow. “What do you mean?” “You saw me and Live Wire fight on day one. Wanna do the same thing? We can settle once and for all whether it’s fair to fight me or not.” “I don’t think that’s possible,” Bastion said. “No? Here, take your pick.” Doldrum tossed the bag of trinkets on the ground, unzipped. “Grab whatever artifacts you want, you know how to use them already anyway.” “And you?” “I’ll fight unarmed. Does that sound fair?” Bastion took a step back, but the boy’s eyes betrayed his thoughts. The changeling was already scanning the weapons, calculating a plan based on the terrain, estimating strategies. He wanted this, and it showed. “Fine. I’ll take the Lightning Rings, the Ice Amulet, and the Wind Belt. I don’t need wands. But don’t complain when I beat you fair and square, okay?” “I won’t.” Bastion was decked out to full capacity with the trinkets. He made sure to test them all, to make it fair. Then he braced himself, and thought long and hard about his first move. Okay, first thing I have to do is create some distance. He’s three paces away from me, so I’ll use the Wind Belt to make that five. Then I’ll pelt him with the Ice Amulet to make him flinch as he rushes back into range, and that’ll create the opening to zap him with the Lightning Ring. He tensed. Fwoomp. He felt the air on his ears, and his body shook. Doldrum was already in striking range, arm extended. He’d punched the air right next to Bastion’s ear. “You get three hits for free. I’m going to start hitting you for real after that.” Bastion quickly jumped back, readying the belt. “W-what the… you weren’t that fast before!” “Sure I was. But I have to pace myself, so I go slow when there’s a crowd. I can’t take on dozens of ponies just like that. But one on one? In a fair fight? I have a lot of power to spare.” Bastion shivered. The way Doldrum was talking at the start of a fight, that bragging, it didn’t sound right. It didn’t sound like a brag, it sounded friendly, almost. Taking the hint, Bastion took a deep breath in and let loose a wind blast. Doldrum had a hind hoof to his gut already, but at that close range, Bastion was forced to let the shot go. It drove his opponent back a step, but more than that, it allowed Bastion to ride the blowback and create more room. Okay, I’ve got the distance. I can start pelting him from here, even if it doesn’t go perfectly to plan. With that, Bastion started shooting ice balls at the Pegasus, aiming for the head, the chest, trying to clip his wings, anything. Doldrum dodged every single one. The ice wasn’t quick enough at ten paces, too much of a wind-up and a predictable angle of attack. The third lunge from Doldrum, Bastion saw coming. He lowered his body and pounced with one single flap of the wings, closing the distance like a crossbow bolt and rolling into a kick aimed right at the head. Despite his better judgement, Bastion flew up to dodge the attack, purely on instinct. Looking down, he saw Doldrum smiling. He made me fly up. He wants me to fly up. Trying to go for fifteen paces this time, Bastion set back down. “Why do you keep trying to make me change shape? Why do you want me to fly? Is this some sort of trick?” “I told you why. It’s because you can. Why don’t you want to use the power you have?” “Because it’s not fair to other ponies! Look at you! You’ve got Pegasus super speed, you’re stronger than a lot of Earth ponies, and you’ve got artifacts for magic! I’m surprised you haven’t sprouted a horn yet!” “So?” Doldrum asked. “You’ve got wings, and a horn. You can fly, and you have magic. The only thing you don’t have is Earth pony strength, and you can change shape to get that. You can do way more than I can. Besides, I don’t have any artifacts on me right now. You do. Do you think it would be fair to use them against me, if I can’t defend against that?” Bastion growled. “Yes. You’re a cheat, and a bully. And it’s about time someone showed you what it feels like.” Bastion revved up the Lightning Rings and let fly. One bolt went wide, Doldrum easily sidestepped it. Another went too high, barely grazing his mane. The third one connected, though, hitting him right in tip of a wing. There. Right there, that’s the opening. Bastion rose up and stood on his hind hooves to keep up the pressure, firing at double time. Bolt after bolt, lightning ball after lightning ball, he kept on peppering Doldrum’s hide with the magical assault. He kept on firing, even when Doldrum started to twitch, even when the rings around his arms started to feel heavy. Even when his magic was starting to feel depleted, he kept up the pressure. Doldrum was still up, gritting his teeth but not buckling in the slightest. Lightning magic was faster, easier to land a hit with from afar, but it didn’t do a lot of damage against a Pegasus. There was only one option left: a continuous stream. Doldrum was already back on all fours when Bastion unleashed a single beam of lightning. It hit, but Doldrum blocked it with a hoof and started walking awkwardly towards him, fighting the current. Bastion’s breath started to grow short, the exertion was getting to him. Then he heard a squeak. Wait, what? Something stabbed into his back, three spots in between the shoulder blades ached and burned, and it wasn’t long before Bastion started to feel dizzy. The lightning onslaught hadn’t fazed Doldrum at all, but something had damaged Bastion in the process. What? A booby trap? How? I checked it. He tried to ignite his horn, and found it working, but his lungs ached and almost clenched in his chest, denying him air. “W-wha… c-can’t… breathe…” Bastion collapsed and rolled onto his back, wheezing for air. He didn’t see his opponent approach him, but he heard it: slow, calm hoofsteps, not even a hint of a wobble. “You wanted a fair fight,” Doldrum said, looming over him. “You got your wish. This is what happens to me every time I try to fight fair. This is why I don’t run. I’m not strong enough. I’m… impure.” Bastion saw the hoof rise up, right above his snout. From that perspective, it looked like a killshot about to happen. Doldrum shook his head. “And so is everything I make. You should have been paying attention to how I pace myself. You might have noticed I never shoot faster than I have to.” Bastion kept his eyes open, even as he gasped for air. “I-I’m… sorry…” “Good.” Down came the hoof, and thunder filled the boy’s world. Doldrum wiped his eyes. The blast had knocked him back. “Live Wire,” he greeted. “What are you doing?” The Unicorn had appeared with a flash of light and a peal of thunder, and with enough force to drive a wedge between the two colts. He’d even gone right into a battle stance. “Well, it’s swimming lessons today, and I forgot my goggles were still back here. So did the grown-ups, I guess. What are you doing? Did you try to fight Bastion?” Bastion merely wheezed in response. “What did you do?” Live Wire asked. “Did you infect him or something?” Doldrum growled. “I am not contagious. He wanted a fair fight, so I gave him one. Now he knows how it feels. I let him use my trinkets, and he overdid it.” “Not cool, Doldrum,” Live Wire said, ears crackling with static. “You have no right throwing that in his face.” “He threw it in mine first,” Doldrum retorted. “He doesn’t belong here if he wants to keep this up.” Live Wire shook his head. “That’s low, dude. Just because he’s changeling-” “No. Because he’s a pretender, a fake.” Bastion wheezed and coughed, barely getting out a “Stop” before rolling clumsily over the grass, the fits of coughing making it impossible to even stand up at this point. Doldrum looked on. It was all too familiar: too fast, too much, and that curse of his kicked in. “Think about it. He keeps saying he wants to get stronger, but he never uses his strengths. He never shapeshifts, he never flies and casts, he wants to pretend to be an Earth pony and I’d bet he wouldn’t even use super strength if he had it. Instead, he uses you and me to do the dirty work, and he just tells himself he’s getting better. He’s not a strategist or a warrior: strategists use everything they have, and warriors build up what they don’t. You wouldn’t put up with that kind of thing from me, no one would. So why should I put up with that from him?” Live Wire looked at Bastion, who was still struggling to breathe. “Take it back.” “I can’t,” Doldrum said. “He got himself into this, he can get himself out.” “I’m not kidding, Doldrum.” Live Wire took a step forward. “Take it back. You can’t do this.” Doldrum snorted. “You can’t stop me, even if you wanted to.” “Normally, no. But you’re not thinking straight. I can take you on easily right now.” “Is that a challenge?” “No. That’s a warning,” Live Wire took another step. “Take it back. I’m not gonna ask again.” “Okay, then I won’t have to tell you again: I can’t.” Doldrum’s ears perked at the sound of metal hitting the grass. The low whine of a magic discharge started to come from Bastion, and much to the Pegasus’s surprise, Bastion got back on his hooves. “I said: stop!” He coughed, and a single blobby blast of green erupted from his horn. When it was passed, Bastion was breathing normally again. He was a bit wobbly, but he was standing. “He’s right, Live Wire. I started this. I was gonna prove a point. I wanted a fair fight. And I’m gonna get it.” “See?” Doldrum said, smiling. “Just a friendly match between the two of us. Get out of the way, Live Wire.” “You’re crazy. This isn’t you talking, either of you.” “Then stop us,” Doldrum said. Live Wire grunted and pointed his hooves at the pair, standing right between them. “Don’t think I won’t. I can take on both of you if you’re this nuts.” “Suit yourself.” Doldrum lowered his body for a pounce. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He froze. That was Sage Cracker’s voice, and it had come from close by. The stallion walked to Live Wire and gestured for him to lower his hooves. “Alright, let’s all calm down for a moment. Obviously something’s going on here, someone probably touched a nerve and said some things they shouldn’t have. Are we going to work this out like reasonable ponies, or are we going to make this into a problem?” Sage tossed a glance at each boy, one at a time. “Well?” he asked when he’d taken in the situation. “You should know by now I’m pretty good problem solver. Is this going to be a problem, or are we going to talk?” Doldrum’s ears twitched when he heard the noise of the other two counsellors galloping towards them. With a resigned grunt, he sat down on his rump. “Fine. I guess we can talk.” Bastion was in trouble and he knew it. He’d agreed to fight, he’d pretty much instigated it. All three of them were kept at a reasonable distance from each other for now, each with a grown-up next to them. Starlight was the one with him, Sage was with Doldrum, leaving Sunburst with Live Wire. “Alright, so…” Sage asked. “How did this start?” “It was my fault,” Bastion said. “I thought Doldrum was cheating, or being a bully, and I called him out on it. I didn’t know he had a breathing problem.” “Did he tell you?” Starlight asked. “No.” “Then how were you supposed to know?” “I should have noticed.” Starlight Glimmer shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t notice it, either. I guess in hindsight it makes sense. Magic-linked respiratory difficulties, huh? Can’t get rid of that without getting rid of your… well...” “It’s tied to my cutie mark,” Doldrum said. “I, umm, I feel things, and some of the things I feel, my body can’t really handle. It’s psycho-something, my head tells my lungs some bad things, basically. It’s triggered by speed. Any speed, really. It’s pretty mild when I’m on a train, I’m really fast on the short range, but anything on my own power faster than a trot and longer than ten paces, I just shut down. I’ve had breathing problems since I was five, and, well, the doctors said they couldn’t fix me. They said it’d go away with time, if I didn’t fix myself first.” Starlight took the hint, and shot a glare at her colleagues. “Right. That’s why you wanted to do artifact magic. That’s how you can fix yourself: by refining that weakness out. But because you haven’t yet, anything with your essence in it has those… problems.” “Exactly.” Doldrum nodded. “I started the fight. I got angry about the test thing, and, you know, everything. I said some things I shouldn’t have.” Silence fell. “You were right, though,” Bastion piped up. “I have been holding back. And I really shouldn’t, not if I wanna win.” “Then why do you?” Doldrum asked. “Chrysalis, I guess. I mean, I thought I wanted to be ready to fight Chrysalis if I have to, but now that I think about it? Turns out I’m more scared of turning into her.” Sage nudged the boy. Reluctantly, Doldrum nodded. “I… I can understand that, kind of. I’m sorry I made you choke.” “Don’t be. I should have paid more attention to how you pace yourself: you’re more efficient than I am. It was a good strategy, I’m gonna have to remember that.” The Pegasus’s wings flared up. “And I wasn’t gonna land that last hit, you know. Honest. I just wanted to… I just wanted to feel a little better, and make Bastion see things the way I see them.” He looked at the adults, head down in shame. “I wasn’t planning for him to choke, either, most ponies can’t get that far once their throat starts tickling.” “I know,” Bastion replied. “I saw your hoof coming down. I know where it was gonna land. If you really wanted to hit me, I probably wouldn’t have seen it coming in the first place.” “Good, so that’s cleared up. Live Wire, do you have anything to say?” Sunburst asked. “No,” said the Unicorn. “I think you’re both crazy, and I was right to get in between you when I did.” Sunburst arched an eyebrow at him. “But… in hindsight, I probably should have tried to keep my cool a little more, especially when I’m already a little de-volted from that test.” “That was a good Thunderstep, though,” Doldrum said. “I couldn’t even dodge that one.” “Thunderstep?” Sunburst asked. “Well, yeah.” Doldrum pointed to Live Wire. “He teleported right on top of Bastion, and he blew me back with the same spell. I’ve seen Royal Guards do that, I know what that is. That’s a Thunderstep, isn’t it?” Sage Cracker nodded in appreciation. “Congratulations, then, Live Wire: you managed to teleport. That’s some good that’s come out of this, I suppose. Alright, if we’ve all cleared the air here, I don’t think we need to drag this out any longer than it has already. I suggest we all get our things, head to the lake, and get started on that swimming lesson already before someone snatches our spot. Can I trust that there will be no more fighting without supervision or permission?” Bastion nodded, Doldrum followed suit, and Live Wire soon joined in. “Good. Let’s go then, boys, daylight’s burning.” Starlight watched on as Sage was coaching the boys through some basic swimming lessons. Bastion had learned to swim in Ponyville, but he was definitely late in that department. Sage Cracker was in the water with the three boys, keeping a close eye on any errant twitches, wheezes, or electric shocks, or any combination thereof in any of the colts. He was distracted. Starlight had Sunburst alone, pretty much. And they had just gotten past a bit of a scare involving children. There was no better time to talk, and there likely wouldn’t be. “I think I need to make a confession.” “What?” Starlight’s ears perked. She hadn’t said anything. Sunburst was the one confessing. “Umm, about before. Way before, when we were kids. Do you remember what happened the day I left Sire’s Hollow?” The day her heart broke, the day she lost the only friend she’d ever had, the day she’d sworn to make sure no one would ever have to feel that pain again? “Maybe? It depends on what you mean.” “What do you remember?” “I remember we were trying to flex our magic that day. You were, at least. We stacked a few books on top of each other, and the tower fell. You stopped them from hitting me. And then you got your cutie mark in a bright flash of light. Your parents sent you away that very same day.” “Sounds about right,” he said with a groan. “It hurt, you know. It hurt a lot,” she said. “I think I ended up a little…” Sunburst blinked. “A little what?” “Damaged. After that, I mean. Things didn’t go so well for me after that. I got caught in my own head and, well, not to break up your confession or anything, but…” She sighed. “I’ve been in a bad place for a long time because of what happened. I almost did some pretty monstrous things, in fact.” “I can imagine.” “Wait, what?” “I didn’t end up in a good place, either. Canterlot, it didn’t work out for me. I couldn’t keep up with the rest of my class.” “But Princess Celestia called on you.” “For my grasp of theory, yes, but not practice. I never got my degree.” Starlight’s mouth fell open. “But your cutie mark, your talent! I heard your parents say you had a talent for solar magic, that you had the same kind of power as Princess Celestia!” “Well, that might be true, but they forgot to mention Princess Celestia’s power isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” He snickered mirthlessly. “I’m good at buff spells, making others stronger. On my own, I’m nobody.” “But you taught Bastion how to do prismatic spells?” “Yeah, a light-based spell. Those are easy with my talent. Animation magic, bringing stuff to life, that’s easy with my talent. Everything else?” He leaned back. “I’m book smart, Starlight, and that’s it. I can do magic just fine if somepony can just explain it to me.” He took off his glasses and wiped his nose. “But in Canterlot, everypony does magic, but no one can explain magic. I’m not so sure if anyone in Equestria can explain it, come to think of it.” Starlight’s heart was pounding. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. But you were a prodigy, everyone in Sire’s Hollow knew you. You were gifted, you had so many friends.” “Ah. So you don’t remember, then.” “Remember what?” He looked her right in the eyes and smiled. “You were my only friend, Starlight. I wasn’t gifted: I was a gift. That mare who owned the dress shop? She asked me to teach her son magic, so I did.” “Oh, yeah, that painter kid. What was his name? Green Door?” “Durian Green,” Sunburst corrected. “And his talents were about as overrated as mine.” “Oh, I don’t know,” Starlight joked. “He never made anything too bad. It’s just that his paintings always looked uglier every time you looked at them.” “Then there was that silver-haired girl, I forgot. Silver Tina?” “Argent Tina,” Starlight said with a chuckle. “Oh, her I remember. She cried when you left, too.” “She cried over everything, Starlight, she was a drama queen. And her parents wanted her to go Canterlot, too, so they got me to be her little prep school.” “Right. Everyone wanted to get better with your help. They didn’t want you, just what you had to offer,” Starlight concluded. “Sounds kind of familiar.” “Everyone except you. To everyone in Sire’s Hollow, magic was a path to power, to Canterlot, to fame and riches. But not to you. You never cared about how popular a spell was or how prestigious it was. You only ever wanted the spells that suited you, and you played around with them like toys. You’re the only pony who kept magic fun for me. You’re the only pony who wanted to do magic because you liked magic, and the only pony who liked me, and not my magic.” Starlight blinked, and wiped her eyes. “Darn mosquitoes flying so close. Why are you telling me this?” “Because we haven’t seen each other in so long, and the way we bumped into each other was a little dicey. I don’t want you to think I’m something I’m not. You’re more powerful than me, you always were.” “Maybe. But you were always smarter.” She chanced a look at the water, where Sage Cracker was showing the boys a proper backstroke. “Is that where you met him?” “Canterlot library,” Sunburst replied. “He was doing research on the theory of pure will magic and psionics.” “Oof, the really weird stuff.” “You’re telling me. We were thirteen, I think, fifteen tops at the time, and I was struggling hard with my studies. He was one of the few ponies who could explain to me what I was doing wrong, and how to correct it. Unfortunately, by then I’d already fallen behind a lot, so it didn’t bring me up to the same level as the other high wizards.” “He was supposed to be in my place, wasn’t he? In Canterlot, I mean? For the meeting?” “Yup.” “So what’s Sage’s story, then? Do you know?” “You mean why does Princess Celestia consider him ‘inadequate’ for her purposes?” “That, too. But more importantly: how’d he get that way in the first place?” “Same as me, you might say. He was good at the theory, but not the practice. Ponies came to him for advice, he gave it, and then he, well, he burned out. His horn got a little scorched from exhaustion. So he didn’t get sent to Canterlot like me.” That didn’t take much figuring out. “He was sent to Alherda.” “Yeah, and that did not go well for anyone involved. The hospital’s okay, the staff are fine, but when you stay there, you end up with Alherda teachers, too, and they tend to make things a lot worse. I think Sage saw some things and heard some things that made him retreat back into himself. He’ll tell you he was always a loner, but I don’t think that’s true. What I do believe when he tells me: after a while, by a stroke of luck, he found one form of magic that was well-documented but not very popular, something he could work with and expand upon.” “Chaos magic.” “His horn got better, but by then he didn’t need it anymore. He decided to drop most of pony magic entirely and focus on what he knew worked. As for Celestia, well, Sage and her don’t see eye to eye on most things. She asked him for advice, he told her some things that, allegedly, he’s been trying to tell her for years, but she doesn’t think he’s right about that, so she kind of ignores the other stuff, too. Personally, I say it’s overblown: he turned out okay, I think? It could have been worse.” “A lot worse, yeah.” “Like you?” She froze. “You said you almost did monstrous things. What sort of things did you do?” “Nothing monstrous, not yet. But I got close, a lot closer than I’d like to admit.” Sunburst shuffled closer to her. “Look, Starlight, it’s okay. I kind of figured there might have been some frictions. I heard from your parents that things didn’t go so well about a year or two after I left.” “You contacted my parents?” she asked. “I didn’t, but my parents and yours, you know how it goes. They let me know a few things, but, obviously, I wasn’t in any position to really help. I didn’t want you to feel worse because of me. I figured you were stronger than me, so you’d work it out in the end.” “Well, I did, kind of.” She chuckled. “You know, it’s funny, but I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Sapphire Gaze. She’s the one who offered to join you for this thing, in my name.” He shrugged, in that dorky way she’d missed for at least a decade. “I’m not complaining if you aren’t. And you haven’t answered my question. What monstrous things?” Starlight covered her eyes with her hooves. You have to tell him. “Promise me you won’t be mad?” “I promise, whatever you’ve almost done is nothing compared to some things ponies in Canterlot have actually done.” “Okay. Here goes. How do you feel, in general, about, umm, stripping away cutie marks?” The rest of the day had gone by peacefully. The boys had enjoyed their swimming lesson, Bastion was getting the hang of the back stroke now, even if his light and webby wings got in the way a bit. Still, as the day wound down, worry crept in. By the time they’d gone to bed, he’d resolved to deal with that worry, rather than let it grow any more. “Hey, guys?” he asked. Doldrum yawned. “What?” “I’ve been thinking about something, and I’m not sure who to ask. Could I run something by you for a little bit?” Live Wire sat up in his bed and lit up his horn. “Sure. What’s wrong?” Bastion sat up, and waited for Doldrum to do the same. “About the whole, you know, me holding back thing. And Chrysalis and all.” “You don’t have to explain it, you know,” Doldrum said. “We understand.” “No, you don’t. Not really, I mean, because, umm, I don’t think I really understand it either. There’s something going on with me and her, and I think it might be important.” “What is it?” Live Wire asked. “There’s this dream I’ve started having. We did this class project in school, a lemonade thing. I think the sound of the bottles might have made me remember something, or make me dream something. Does that make sense?” Live Wire looked to Doldrum, who nodded. “Sure. I get nightmares, too.” “That’s the other weird part,” Bastion said. “I’m not sure if it’s really a nightmare, either.” He clenched his eyes shut and sighed, thinking. “It always starts the same: I’m down in the Hive, but it’s a room I don’t know. There’s glass bottles filling holes in the walls, which is impossible, because we weren’t allowed to have glass in the Hive. But I’m standing there, looking at the bottles, and there’s this weird swirly stuff in all of them. Then Chrysalis comes up behind me.” “Does she hurt you for breaking into the room?” Live Wire asked. “No. She pats me on the head, and tells me it’s okay. She says my mom is gone, but that doesn’t matter. Three other drones show up.” He gestured to his left, eyes still closed. “On my left, I don’t know from where, because there’s only one way in or out.” He opened his eyes, and felt a shiver go through his wings. “But then in the dream, Chrysalis grabs one of the bottles and uncorks it. She tips it over and this swirly stuff gets stuck on her hoof. The drones put their heads back, open their mouths, and they all get a little drop of that stuff.” He shivered harder, and he hugged himself. “And then my mom’s there. My birth mom. Three times.” “You mean they turn into your mom?” Live Wire asked. “No. I mean they don’t look like her, they don’t smell like her, I remember they’re not her, but they are her. Everything I’m seeing tells me they’re the same, but everything I remember tells me they’re not. After that, Chrysalis tells me I can get more moms, new ones, better ones. I don’t know what I say to that, but whatever it is, she never likes it. I start crying, and Chrysalis, she… she just rolls her eyes at me. Then she grabs me and points to another bottle. An empty one.” Doldrum’s ears folded back. “Oh. Yeah, I can see where that’s going. That’s rough.” “What?” Live Wire asked. “What’s wrong with the empty bottle?” “The empty one is for you, isn’t it?” Doldrum asked. “Chrysalis threatens to bottle you next.” Bastion nodded anxiously. “I don’t know why that dream showed up. We never had glass at the Hive, I know that didn’t happen. But I’m still scared. I don’t want her to bottle me. I don’t want her to bottle anyone.” “You don’t want to think everything you are can be bottled, you mean.” He blinked, and nodded at Doldrum. “Yeah, that too, I guess. I mean, there has to be more to me than just some swirly stuff in a bottle, right? I can think for myself, not like my… not like my mom did.” “Of course,” Live Wire offered. “I’m not just a cutie mark, nopony is. It’s the same thing: even if you take away what’s inside, you still have experience and memories. Those change who you are. Whatever’s in the bottle is more like a picture, tops, a freeze-frame that never changes. You’re different now than what you were a few days ago. If you were in a bottle for those couple days, it’d be something different in there.” “You can fight better, for one thing,” Doldrum said. “Yeah. I guess that’s true. It’s just weird that it got in my head like that. I didn’t even notice what I was doing.” Doldrum snorted. “Are you really worried Chrysalis will come around and bottle you or something?” He shivered. “No. Maybe, not exactly. But I think whatever she plans to do, she’s going to want to hurt me while she’s at it. My uncle got under her skin, and I’m the closest thing she has to payback after she killed him.” “Then that’s settled,” Doldrum said. “If Chrysalis comes after you, if you can’t beat her, we’ll do it for you.” Bastion blinked. “Wait, what?” “Sounds like a plan,” said Live Wire. “But she’s a monster,” Bastion argued. “You can’t just fight a monster and hope to win.” “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Doldrum replied. “And it would help get me into the Royal Guard,” Live Wire added. Bastion looked back and forth at the two colts. “But…” “You don’t get stronger just so you can fight alone, Bastion,” Doldrum said. “You get stronger so you can help when someone else has to fight, too. You’re one of us now, and you shouldn’t have to worry about that kind of thing. We all have issues, but yours is the only one we can punch when it shows up. So, umm, I’m up for punching, or blasting.” Live Wire nodded. “Exactly. There’s three of us, and only one of her. I’m sure we can handle anything she might try.” Bastion chuckled. “Thanks. Maybe I am just being silly. I’m not that important, not anymore. My uncle was way smarter than me, and she killed him. She probably doesn’t even think about me anymore. And even if she is, as long as I’m pony country, I’m safe. You’re right, there’s only one of her, and lots of ponies who would fight her. I guess I shouldn’t be worried.” He lay back and sighed. “Sorry I woke you up for that.” “Don’t worry about it.” Live Wire switched his horn off. “We’ve had bunkmates with nightmares before. It usually goes away once they figure out we’re scarier than anything they dream of.” Doldrum chuckled. “Uhuh. Usually.” Bastion closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep. She can’t take away everyone. She won’t take away anyone. Everything will be okay. I can relax. The End.