The Discovery
Jason arrived at the house slightly after Dash. There wasn't any real race, but if there had been, he would've stood no chance. His side gave a twang of pain, as if to prove his point. As soon as he got inside, he dropped his disguise, much to the confusion of Dash.
"What are you doing?"
"Well I kinda hate not being myself, literally, and I also wanted to see the status on the wounds." He looked at said wounds, and winced. They weren't as bad as before, and had started to heal, but were nowhere near finished healing. The fact that he was healing let him know that he was receiving love from Dash, probably in the form of friendship. "Have I ever told you that I love having you as my friend?"
"Huh?"
"The fact that you're my friend gives me the energy to function and heal, so thanks for sticking with me."
"Oh, well I'm just happy I can help." She smiled. Jason decided to touch his side. He recoiled with a hiss. Dash jumped. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I guess. Apparently these aren't exactly fast healing injuries."
"I wish I could help..."
"You kinda are though..." They stared at each other, goofy grins on their faces.
"Rainbow Dash!" Someone yelled. Jason sighed.
"Do you want to get that or should I?" He asked.
"I probably should, my house and all..."
"Oh yeah, that makes sense I guess." Jason muttered angrily about not having his own house anymore, as Dash got up and opened the door.
'That sounded like Scootaloo.' She thought, and walked to the edge of her cloud yard. Sure enough, Scootaloo was down below, looking up at her. "Hold on Scoots!" she yelled down. She turned to Jason. "Hey, it's Scoots if you didn't already know."
Jason facehoofed. "If she says something about, you know," he gestured to himself, "bring her up." he transformed back to his Alternis form before Dash turned around and jumped down.
Dash reached the bottom, seeing a very impatient looking Scootaloo. "What is it Scoots?"
"I know something important about Alternis." she whispered. "Come closer" She looked around, before continuing. "He's a changeling." Dash wasn't sure whether to feel mortified that she knew, or laugh that she was acting this way. She managed to pull off a mortified expression, and looked to Scootaloo worriedly, trying not to laugh.
"We need to speak in private about this. Here. Hop on, we'll speak up there in my house. Privately."
"You mean I get to see-- I mean yes. Privately." Scootaloo jumped on top of Dash, and she took off. She slowly flew up, trying to figure out a usable plan. By the time she arrived, she had one to use. She landed, and Scootaloo jumped off.
"So lets go in there and come up with a plan." She opened the door, and walked in, looking for Jason. She saw him. "Where's the real alternis?" She yelled at him. He looked confused, and tried to ask her silently what was going on after he noticed the form of Scootaloo behind her. She winked at him. Jason seemed to get it.
"What do you mean? I am Alternis!" He shouted back.
"No you aren't, you're a changeling." She was finding it hard not to laugh. Jason dropped his disguise.
"You may have found out about me, but you'll never find Alternis! Ha ha ha!" Dash growled.
"How could you, you MONSTER!" She pounced on Jason, and pinned him to the ground. She punched him on the unharmed side of his face. Scoots was smiling wildly.
"Go get him Dash!" she yelled from the sidelines.
"Where is he?" Dash punched him again. He laughed harder.
"I'll never tell you!" He squirmed under her weight. Evidently they were good enough actors to fool Scootaloo.
"Tell me!" Another punch.
"Fine! Fine I'll tell you!" He took a breath. "I ate him. He tasted like hay." He said with a strait face. Dash burst out laughing, much to the confusion of Scootaloo, and allowed Jason to get up.
Scootaloo looked between the two of them worriedly. "What are you doing, Dash, kill him, he ate your friend!" They burst out laughing again. Scootaloo seemed to get even more confused, if that was possible.
"Scoots," Dash started, "There never was an Alternis. It was always him." She gestured to Jason. She noticed the look on Scoots's face, and tried to explain further. "He's not a regular changeling. He's already saved my life, and I've only known him a day. He pretty much killed himself trying to save me also." Jason crossed his arms and smirked.
"I seem to remember that the reason I almost died was because you beat me up AFTER I saved your life." He chuckled. Dash stared angrily at him.
"You didn't have to tell her that. I don't want to let people know that I was wrong about something." Scootaloo finally got the courage to speak.
"So you never killed anypony or ate them?" She asked nervously. Jason laughed.
"No. No ponies." Dash shot him a look. He shrugged, as if to say, 'I'll tell you later'. "Anyway, Scoots, how about you don't tell anyone about me, because honestly, I barely escaped last time, and I don't want to go through that again." Jason said, and then walked off, muttering something about not having enough to eat.
"Oh yeah, sure." She looked crestfallen. "Sorry for wasting your time Dash." Dash's smiled, and moved over to scoots.
"But what if he was a changeling and I didn't know? You would've saved me if that had been the case. You were just trying to protect me."
"Thank's for not getting mad Dash!" She looked around. "Your house is so cool!"
"The coolest, Squirt. No pony's house is more awesome than mine."
"Hey look!" Jason yelled from the kitchen. "I stuck a heavy duty knife handle through my hoof, and it works!" he sliced the air a few times. "Welcome to badass town, population, me!" Dash laughed.
"I thought you said you don't put random things through your hooves in your free time?" she teased.
"Well, um, you know what, I have no clever retort for that question. So there." He paused, "But realistically, a knife isn't random, I at least attempted this with a purpose." He looked around suspiciously. "You never know when you're going to need to stick a knife handle into your hoof, you know."
Dash snorted. "I guess you're prepared for the knifes in hooves competition."
"Hey, I'm bound to be found out eventually, and a few knives at my disposal couldn't hurt my getaway chances." Scootaloo, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, had decided to speak up.
"Hey, Alternis!"
"My real name's Jason."
"Oh... Well, hey Jason!"
"Yes..." He thought he knew where this was going.
"Can you, um," She scuffed her hoof along the ground, "you know, turn into me?" Bingo.
"Ugh, what is it with everyone wanting to look at themselves? You ponies are all just a bunch of narcissists at heart." Scoot looked disappointed. "Hey, I was still going to do it, you know." Green fire covered his body, leaving another Scootaloo in its wake.
"Hey Dash," Jason said with Scootaloo's voice, "Remember how I said that being a mare is weird?"
"Ya I guess..."
"It still is." He eyed Scootaloo, who was excitedly examining his new form, much to his annoyance.
"Wow." She said, smirking. "We could confuse so many people with two of me!"
"Sorry to rain on your parade, but I can't exactly be running around as you. That would be too obvious, and the townsfolk would probably kill me if they could."
"But you're not evil!"
"They don't know that, and they'll never be able to trust it from my mouth." Dash tried to say something, but Jason cut her off. "They probably wouldn't trust you either, and would say that you'd been put under a spell or something, so I really can't win." he looked at her. "You know I'm right. If I get caught, I'm not bringing anyone else into it, and that's final. I go down alone."
Dash shook her head. "You know, I'd like to argue with you, but you're probably right. I'll still try to help you though." She sighed. Scoots looked between the two of them, unsure of what to do. Dash noticed her. "Hey Scoots, I guess I better take you home. Hop on."
"Oh, wait, take me to Sugarcube corner, that's where the Crusaders tend to meet when I'm not there."
"Sure thing Squirt. Remember, this is a secret. DO NOT tell anyone. " Scootaloo jumped onto Rainbow's back, fluttering her wings in the process. She walked out the door, sending an apologetic glance back at Jason. He tried to smile, but grimaced instead.
"No worries Dash, you can count on me!" They disappeared as Dash jumped off the cloud.
Jason turned around, steadily getting angrier at the sheer odds stacked against him. He couldn't win, he could only prolong the inevitable, which was either another session of running or actual capture, which was probably more likely this time, considering the ponies were prepared. The funny part was that even though he was innocent, his claims and evidence, even witnesses, would mean nothing. He punched the wall. His hoof went strait through it with only a little of resistance. He sighed, looking at his hoof. "FUCK!! SHIT! GOD DAMMIT!" Jason continued his steady stream of profanity, not even noticing Dash's entrance.
"Dude! Calm down!" Jason jumped, and looked over towards her angrily, before his face softened.
"Sorry, I guess the whole, 'I can't win' part of this scenario finally sank in." He shifted back into Alternis.
"Hey, guy, it's not that bad." She walked over and gave him a hug. Jason was unsure what to do, but after a moment, he put his arms around her, a single tear running down his cheek.
"It's just--"
"Shhhhh" She looked like she was fighting herself over something, before she spoke up. "Hey, you said earlier that you hadn't killed any PONIES, and basically you made it pretty clear you were only talking about ponies."
"So you want to know why I specified ponies?" He sighed.
"Well, only if you want to tell me." She replied. He nodded.
"I've killed three humans." She gasped, pushing him away.
"But, why would you--"
"Listen to what I have to say, and only ask me about it when I'm done with the story."
"Okay, fine."
"Okay then. I lived in a city with a population about that of Equestria. Now, everyone here is generally provided for under an economic system that in theory should never work. Anyways, the fact that some people live in pretty crumby conditions where I come from causes crime. Generally speaking, this is why most crime is in cities, where the most poor and homeless people are. The point is, some of these criminals hold people up in alleyways and other secluded spots at night, and take their money, or even try to kill them. Two of the men I killed did this to me. One had a gun, which is one of those weapons I told you about earlier that uses that explosive. He took my money, and then decided to shoot me, so I shot him first. The other one was much the same scenario, but he had a knife and tried to stab me because I didn't have money on me, so basically I killed that one with his own knife. The last one was a druggie, and was trying to beat me up, so I pushed him over, and his head hit a rock. That one may not have died, but I guess I have to assume he did." He paused, sighing. "So there you go, three deaths, all in self defense."
"Oh... I had no idea."
"Yeah, I still relive those in dreams sometimes. I can never forget the looks on their faces when..." he trailed off, looking at the ground.
"I guess I can't even imagine how you got through all of that. I don't think I would've made it past the first one."
"Kill or be killed, I guess, although I wish it didn't come to that." He sighed. You kinda never really get used to it." he sighed again. "I saw every single member of my family killed in front of me. Although after all of this, I don't really know why I kept going, at least until I got here."
"Why until you got here?"
"Well I have a friend who knows everything about me and STILL wants to be my friend, and I guess that's better than I ever had before."
"You didn't have friends before?"
"I did, they just weren't GOOD friends. Not like you." Jason, eager to change the subject, looked around, noticing that it had become dark outside. "What time does it become dark here?"
"Oh, um, like five, I think."
"Well I guess I'm gonna turn in then, today really took it outta me." Jason turned from Dash, and walked up the stairs, into her guest bedroom. He laid down on the cloud bed, pulled the blanket over him, and stared at the ceiling. His brain was a flurry of activity; there was no way he could hope to get to sleep, even though he was ridiculously tired. He heard a noise by the door and opened his eyes. Even through the darkness, he could quite clearly see the silhouette of Dash in the doorway. He would have to see if he had better night vision as a changeling.
"Um, Hi."
"Hi?"
"Yeah, I'm only gonna say this once, but you look like you need somepony to keep you company." Jason was shocked by the sudden turn of events, never pinning Dash as the sentimental type. He could only nod before Dash climbed onto the cloud bed next to him. She stared a him. "Never been in a bed with a mare before?" She smirked. He nodded. "Better make the best of it..." She smiled and wrapped her fore hooves around his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped a fore hoof under her and pulled her closer. "You're so soft..." She gave a contented hum and drifted off. Jason, however, was still unable to sleep. The warmth of Dash next to him helped put his mind to rest, but he couldn't stop thinking about capture by the Equestrians. Resolving to prepare for all he could in the morning, he finally managed to find sleep.
I'm not sure whether or not the auther's note space actually works, so if you have to read this twice, so be it.
Notes: I'm just going to say that basically I screwed up the blank day on the last chapter. It will be Wednesday the 12th if it occurs, not Tuesday. Also, for those of you that enjoy when the Ponyverse is screwed with, man are you going to love the story eventually. Shit gets fucked up. I think that's about it. Oh yeah, and this was one of the first chapters without a cliffhanger.