BOOM.
I wake up with a start, at first scared that something is breaking in. Eventually I consider that it's safe. Nothing going on.
BOOM.
I dive back into my cloud before i realize that there is a pattering of rain. So this is thunder. It certainly is loud.
I sit up, struggling to keep my mind from spinning out of control, a river of odd sensations and experiences flying through them. This has happened more and more often lately. I wanted to talk to Lemon about this, let her know how I was feeling, yet I could not. She was on a business trip out of the city. She said that she would be back in a week. Tonight. Anytime now, actually. I try to go back to sleep, but between my anxiety to see Lemon again and my building sense of foreboding, I cannot, so I settle myself to control my memories. They feel... good. I can't understand why. I can't describe it. I wonder if I want to.
The door creeps open and I stick myself into my cloud, watching as a guard peeks his head in, making sure that everything was safe. I watch him from a distance, noticing it's the same guard that pokes his head in. I wonder how I realize that. Maybe it's the bat wings. Or at least, I think their bat wings. They certainly aren't fluffy pegasus wings- I should know, considering that I have three pairs of them.
As the door closes, I continue to mentally debate my condition. Two branching horns and six wings? Since when has any pony has that? Maybe I'm a freak, a mutant- perhaps even corrupted by demons. I've heard tales of them- fanged beasts that come from both the pits of Tartarus and the alternate realm.
I hear a swish, a splat, and a eerie thwump. Diving into my cloud, I peer out while I see a shadow outline against my door, and a pool of red liquid begin to pool up. My nose registers a sweet, tangy scent, yet I cannot draw a name for this smell. I feel... attracted to the red liquid. But fear stops me in my tracks as the door opens.
It reveals a mare with a dark blue mane, hooves stained with blood. Her cloak blocks my view of her face, but her white and blue tail reminds me of...
My mind almost freezes with fear. Here, then, was a rival- an assassin here to steal, kill, and destroy. Steal Lemon's spells, destroy her heart and kill me...
I silently, using a power that I never before tapped into, cast a spell that bound to the door. A spell of barring. The pony pauses as she detects the magical discharge, but continues on as she reaches the door, disabling the locks and casting open the door.
Except the door wouldn't open, thanks to the spell.
The pony growled before looking around. She locks eyes with me for a second before turning away. "I can sense your presence, Afflicted One... scared and confused. I cannot answer your questions until I am sure that it is indeed you I am talking to..."
Questions? Can this pony read my mind? I don't move a muscle.
"I come bearing bad news concerning your... master? Friend?" She paused. "Perhaps... mother? The prophets tell me to bear this news, and I do not disobey the prophets." I can hear the frustration in her voice as she tells me this. "Yet this news will only be imparted if I am talking the one who I think I am." I decide that she's telling the truth and stick my head out of the cloud, tilting my head slightly, although remaining silent.
I cannot see her expression, but it is anywhere from admiration to disgust. Her face is in shadow. "Excellent. I am glad to see that you are not as shy I thought you might be. My apprentice said so, but I was unsure." She sighed. "So that I may stop calling you she or it, what are you called? Do you have a name?"
I debate telling her the truth, or even talking at all, but I decide as this pony was sent by the prophets, that she was trustworthy. "Mockingjay..." I murmur.
She frowns as she looks at me. Perhaps she was not expecting me to answer. I do not know. I start a question. "Was your apprentice also cloaked?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes, indeed. I believe you have met before? He wanted to ensure that you were... well... stable. I wasn't sure. Besides, one as different as yourself might not be mentally stable."
I thought about that. She is right, I might not be sane...
Wait a minute. Who was this pony telling me that I was insane? She must be trying to unhinge me. I don't know. I decide to only extract fact from these, and to suppress my emotional thoughts for later. I didn't know I could do that. How interesting.
"What is it that you want?" I ask, a tone of sharpness in my voice.
The pony smiled lightly. "My name is Colgate, and I come bearing news concerning your master... news that you might find disturbing..."
My mind goes on high alert. "Concerning Lemon? What is it?"
Colgate smiled lightly. "You see... Lemon was called upon to take a special mission. A quest, almost." Her smile fell off of her face. "We were ambushed by the House Earthborn. They came in with steam engines the size of a house and cannons mounted on them. They assaulted us with flames that streaked out of gu-"
"But... what happened to Lemon?"
Colgate remained silent.
"You... you mean to tell me... tell me... she's..."
She nodded once before turning away.
My eyes grew wide as I comprehend what she means. Looking for any way out of this.
"Lemon wanted me to have anything that she had left... I do not know why myself, honestly." She smiled. "I wish not to disturb you."
Something is definitely wrong here.
Running along the paved, wet ground outside.
I turn to her. "If that is the case, then why did you kill the guards?"
"The guards? They went rouge. They were planning to kill you and Lemon when she returned... unfortunately, the deed had already been done."
Anxious to see her friend
"Then show me proof of Lemon's words."
"Is the word of your master not enough?"
Master? What is this pony talking about...?
"Lemon isn't my master... she's my friend." She flew out of her cloud to glide in front of the door. "And this door is barred to any but her!"
She laughed- an evil, accursed cackle. "Your words betray your ignorance." She smiled. "Ah, I see her game now. Program the creature to accept her as a mother rather than a master to slave away for. I doubt you even know what you are."
My ears perk up.
"I say that you are a fine example of an alicorn mockery."
What?
"What do you mean, alicorn mockery? I'm no mockery of-"
"But indeed you are. Ever wonder why you have four pairs of legs? Six wings? Three warped horns?" She grinned as she approached, a demonic smile that revealed madness. "Let me tell you something. I trust you are intellegent enough to understand. You are nothing. You are the patched up remains of over twenty different ponies, stitched together with threat and reanimated with magic! You are nothing more than a zombie, a mere servant, and, honestly, you shouldn't even have a mind!"
I mentally recoil under this onslaught before I comprehend what she said.
And, for a moment, I cannot truly accept this, although something in the back of my mind tells me that she is right. That it all works. It all fits together. The patchwork body. The random wings and horns. The somewhat serpentine construction of my tongue. It is the only logical option, now that I think about it.
A mockery of life.
Coming inside
And suddenly, I am dashed to the ground, pinned under the weight of another pony.
"Magic dies with its caster," cackled Colgate. "And your death will be quite painful as you feel every part of you die simultaniously. I wonder how it will feel to die over twenty times, as all of your souls are rended out of you? Will there even be anything left?"
My eyes widen, and I try to get away. But as I see the the magic on her horn, and the grin on her face, I know that it is too late.
Lemon's eyes widened as he saw the dead bodies of two of the guards, as well as the door slightly ajar. She dashed in, spells ready. She gasped as she saw Colgate standing over a stunned Mockingbird, magic ready. There was only one thing that she could do.
She let loose with her magic, blasting Colgate off of her friend, yet she was too late as Colgate shot once, yet the force of the blasts that she used destroyed knocked the shot off, instead piercing her through her stomach. She didn't notice, apparently. She ran over to Mockingbird, embracing her, sobbing. She glanced at Colgate. Her breathing was slow with a ragged hole punched through her chest. She turned back. "I'm so glad your safe."
Mockingbird started sobbing, too, as she embraced Lemon. Then something Colgate said came up in her mind again. "Lemon... while... she... was here, she said... that... you were my master and that I was some sort of... zombie. An Alicorn Mockery, she said..."
She knows.
Despite all of my efforts to the contrary, she now knows.
"Lemon...? Did I say something wrong?"
It is time to impart to her the truth... but how?
[hr
I sit back to listen as Lemon sighed. "I... I... I had lost all of my family. A raid by House Earthborn. That's what drove me to become a necromancer, I guess. If I was going to be alone, then I alone I would be."
I think about this, picture it in my head. Making it one or two sentences. A sad, lonely necromancer...
"I eventually rose through the ranks to become one of the highest necromancers in the entire cult."
I edit my sentence. A powerful, sad, and lonely necromancer...
"I received an order from the cult. Three special orders. They named them Alicorn Mockeries, and the power of the Laughing Mare flowed through them. I had some left over parts, and, I thought, maybe I would have one to myself... a guardian, a servant... perhaps something to talk to in the evenings, even if it won't respond."
... created a monster so she wouldn't be alone...
"And... when I cast the spell... I guess something happened. I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with the lightning storm. But I guess it granted her sentience, and, eventually, sapience... and she became you."
... but something went wrong, and that monster became me...
I sigh. "So... what am I to you? A servant? A guardian?"
Lemon looked at me, tears in her eyes. "No... I created you to be the family I didn't even get to say goodbye to... someone who cared... someone that I could never had..." A tear dripped down her cheek. "Someone that I could relate to, to talk to, to teach from and learn from..."
"A friend...?"
"A friend."
Things are starting to make sense now, yet, there is one thing...
"How do you know for a fact that I truly am undead, as you say?"
Sobbing, she pointed at my belly, and my eyes widen.
A large, gaping hole is visible there, leaking a red liquid. Yet I did not even notice it until Lemon pointed it out to me.
And this is the proof I needed.
And, suddenly... we are embracing again, sobbing for each other more than for ourselves. I, sobbing for Lemon's loneliness. She, sobbing for me. And these facts bring us together. And I accept what I am.
A mockery of life.
A friend until death.