Time seemed to stand still. We stood there, neither of us saying a thing. I keep looking back into the mirror, moving my body around to different angles seeing these things attached to my back. No emotions or thoughts came to me. I forgot about everything; the pain in my eye, the house I was in, where I was just a couple hours ago. It was all lost to me. Suddenly a voice pierced my soundless thoughts.
“This is what they did to you.” He spoke softly, but I still flinched at his voice, as if he was yelling at me.
“They… who are…they?”
“The ponies in the facility we escaped from. They have altered you as they altered me.”
I looked at him. He had moved slightly closer, his head still hanging low. “What did they do to you?”
He let out a sigh. “They took everything from me.” He flung off his robe, exposing his body. Where his horn should have been was just a stump of what was left of one. His ears had been clipped to a very small size, and he had no mane. His wings were missing from his back, and he had many patches of hairless skin. I watched as he looked up to me, his eyes looking paler then earlier. “At least you still have wings.”
He walked away, curling up into a ball on the ground sending dust flying up around him. My eyes drifted off of him, and I started to focus on my surroundings. There was one single light hanging from the ceiling. There were family pictures of ponies with thick layers of dust on them. I had seen those pictures before. I quickly glanced around the walls, and found no windows, just one door leading outside. I smiled. I don’t know why I did; maybe it was because I was in somewhere familiar. I relaxed a little, and felt the metal on my back go into a resting state against my body. They felt cold against my sides. I did not like it. In fact, I hated it. I choose not to think about them, it had already been a crazy emotional day and I was too tired to want to add more to it. The idea of just sitting down and not thinking appealed to me.
It was almost another hour before the changeling left his emotional coma. The sound of him moving around awoke me from nap. I slowly opened one eye to look at him. He had moved close to me, and he was sitting up, looking down at me, he began to speak. “I had awoken only a little bit before you.” He sounded better than before.
I stretched and sat up. With a yawn, I looked at him.
“I was very dizzy when I awoke. I could only leave my room because there was a body keeping the door from closing.” His eyes stared off into the difference as he recalled his story. “I walked out, and everything was very dark. Luckily, even though they took my ability to change forms, I could-“
“Wait, you can’t change?” I asked, interrupting him.
“I wish I was lying. But sadly, I am not. I don’t know if removing my horn and wings prevents me from doing so, but something tells me it was their goal.” He showed no emotions talking about it now; he acted like he didn’t care at all.
He continued his story, and I found myself dozing in and out. “Anyway, I could still see in the dark fairly good… bodies occasionally…big circular room… dead pony wearing… something in his hoof… placed it in the… security office… security cameras … empty rooms… about to give up … got to yours.”
My ears perked up. “Mine?” I asked.
“Yup, you got lucky.” He said, a hint of humor in his voice. “I could barely make out your body. I turned on the lights for that room, and watched you closely to see if you were breathing. You were, so I began to turn on lights in the hallways that would lead you to the elevator. As I was doing that, I caught a glimpse of something else moving in the darkness. Something seemed off about it, and I wanted no part of it. So-”
“You saw it too?” I butted in, leaning forward as I asked.
“I guess so. I think it looked like a pony, but it just seemed…wrong. When did you see it?”
I told him about what I saw as the elevator was rising. Talking about it sent shivers through my spine.
“Seems like we both saw the same thing.” He said. “This brings me to the next part. I saw it, and quickly finished lighting the hallways. I switched back to your camera, and a pop up appeared asking for some kind of override.”
“Security override” I thought to myself, almost in the same voice as the female computer.
“I pushed yes, and watched as the door opened. I figured I had done enough, and left.”
“So you just left me?” I asked, feeling slightly irritated by the thought.
“Look, I was just as weak as you probably were. I gave you a fighting chance, and look, here you are.”
I wasn’t sure what to respond with. I understood his logic, it made sense. I was also mad at him, he was only assuming I would go the right way, or that figure wouldn’t find me.
“Let us not worry about it. It wouldn’t benefit either of us.” The changeling said with a yawn.
I readily laid my head down and closed my eyes. I was exhausted, and ready to sleep. He lay down as well, and asked one last question before he allowed himself to sleep.
“What is your name?”
Barely opening my mouth, I responded sluggishly. “Legion.”
“I’m Lux, nice to meet you…” he replied, just as tired as me.
Slowly, and peacefully I drifted off, my mind revisiting my past once again.