//------------------------------// // Secrecy // Story: The Winds of Change: Fog of War // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// Secrecy Jason awoke as the first hint of light crested the horizon, his face still against the calming fur of Dash’s chest. He didn’t open his eyes for quite a while, simply trying to enjoy the moment as much as he could. He still didn’t feel great about anything, but with his arms wrapped around his significant other he at least felt calm. None of the previous night’s dread had managed to soak back into his system, instead replaced by a more simple feeling of annoyance that didn’t seem to want to go away. That was probably compounded by the fact that Jason still didn’t know why he had been brought here in the first place. All he knew were reasons that he hadn’t, and the feeling of ignorance only seemed to weigh upon him like a brick. Jason sighed, trying to figure out if he would rather live like this or as a made up pony. They both had their disadvantages, and both ways still made him feel like an outsider. In a way, it was too bad Dash was as attached as she was to his changeling form, because it kept him from trying out different things and looking for something he wanted. Even that didn’t help too much, because even with near complete control over his appearance, he wasn’t sure how he wanted to look. His first idea was to go by what Dash wanted, and he would definitely not mind changing himself for her. In a more literal sense, of course. In some part of his mind, Jason knew that with just Dash and Scoots, possibly some of the others, he felt like he was actually in a place that he liked. Not to complain, but as soon as he left the company of his familiars into the presence of strangers- he didn’t know how to explain it, but besides the fact that he could feel any hatred coming off of their forms. Not that things were as bad, but it was seemingly unrelenting, and it tired him out. Maybe that was why he wanted to go back to earth, to meet up with some people that he knew better than anybody, besides Dash. A place where his every move wouldn’t be questioned by most of the ponies present. Dash tapped him on the head, having apparently woken up earlier. “Just try to think about the good things, Jason.” She murmured, jumping slightly as he moved and pressed his lips to hers. “It’s a little hard not to.” He replied with a slight smirk, reaching around her back to play with her wings. Her breath caught and she struggled to push his arms away, giggling the whole time. “Why do you have to do this when I say something serious?” “It gets my mind off things.” Jason said, moving his hooves down to her lower back and simply pulling her closer until he had their chests flush against one another. “Forces me to try to think about the things I haven’t done to you yet.” “Ooh, I like what I’m hearing.” She replied, sweeping a hoof down one of his cheeks. “Oh yeah?” He pushed his forehead against hers. “We’re coming up on a wedding pretty soon, do you want to figure out what we do during the, say, after party?” “Let’s call it consummation and sound educated.” “It’s not like we aren’t.” Jason replied, giving her a light kiss on the nose. “If you’re going to be the one carrying any foals, I’d rather you get control over the first time as a married couple.” “So long as you figure out a way to make it romantic when I’m in heat.” “Huh?” Jason asked, looking confused. “I kinda get pretty- well, unreasonable with all of the hormones and stuff.” She said, looking away. “And I doubt I’m going to give a shit about romance.” “You never give me an easy task, huh?” “I figure it’ll be more fun to think about that than anything else right now.” “Yeah.” He said, already appearing to think. “So like, the whole week, or…” “No, silly. Just one that we can call the time where we started a life. Disregard the others.” “I guess I’ll try not to think too much about it.” He said, chuckling. “Don’t want to get myself too exited in advance.” Dash giggled, laughter increasing as Jason rolled her on top of himself, kissing her again. “We’d make a great foal.” Dash said. “I don’t care what anypony thinks anymore, they’re all idiots if they can’t tell that I love you.” “Oh man, I love you so much more than you can imagine.” Jason almost growled, leaning up to kiss her again as she met his kiss, shivering slightly as she realized that the covers were no longer there. A soft glow of green wrapped the blankets, comfortably wrapping the pair up as they made out. Dash let her eyes flick to the door, making sure that Scoots was still inside as she felt her wings start to stiffen, beginning to tent the covers as the main door opened, closing less than a second later. “God dammit.” Jason mumbled, not sure whether to find the knocks afterward funny or annoying. He let Dash off to one side, her face red as she tried to hide her wings. Jason didn’t even make the attempt, his glossy black wings spread out mostly under the covers. “Come on in.” Jason said, realizing that annoyance had won out slightly. “Sorry about that.” Celestia said as she walked in, a blush spread across her face. “Usually it’s just Luna in here with me, I’m not used to knocking on doors inside the castle. I can come back later if you want…” “Chances are that would have ended if I heard Scoots wake up anyway.” Jason replied, waving her off. “Go ahead and say whatever you want.” “Ah, well in any case I still feel a little guilty. You two don’t seem to get a lot of time together when there aren’t other things going on.” “We’ve only got two more guys to kill, then it’s smooth sailing.” Jason said with a grin. “It sounds like a lot, but it just seems to me that if we’ve completed the first thing and only gotten stronger in the process that things will at least become downhill. I’m not saying the worst is behind us, but it may well be.” “Glad to hear things are looking up, at least a little. Twilight tells me that you’re looking for a way to get back to America, correct?” “Yeah, I guess. I miss the people that I used to know, and they probably think I’m dead. Body wont have shown up, I’m sure.” “Why’s that?” “Dunno, I showed up here though.” “I suppose.” “Anyway, I just miss everything I used to know and do, and even if stuff develops quickly here I’ll never do a lot of stuff I did once.” “Hey Jason.” Dash asked, tugging at his shoulder in thought. “What?” “When you dream, we pop into places you’ve been, right? Experiences that you’ve had?” “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” “So then even if you can’t go to these places, you can always just relive them as vividly as the first time.” “Oh man, I’m so glad you thought of that. My god, what a relief.” Jason looked like his face was about to break, with as large of a grin as he had breaking out upon it. “And I can show you four, and I’ll get to do those things, andohmygodthankyousomuchforthinkingaboutthis!” “Jason, calm down!” Dash said with a laugh, putting a hoof to his chest. “I can’t, I hardly even know why this makes me so happy, but- Wow!” He laid back on the pillow, the goofy grin sticking on his face. Celestia laughed, pulling out a few pieces of paper and handing them over. “I can’t say I’m happy that you’ll be leaving Canterlot, but I would like to congratulate you again on both the gold stars and your union in general. As much as you don’t think ponies like one or the both of you, I’m sure you’ve become role models for at least a few youths by now. “Hey Dash.” Jason said, elbowing her gently. “You think we’re more recognizable than the Wonderbolts?” She paused, a smile breaking across her face as well. “I’ve succeeded at becoming more recognizable than Spitfire.” She said, as if not believing it. “That’s crazy.” “And speed wise, how far do you think you are ahead of them now?” Jason asked. “At least by three times the speed of sound.” Dash said quietly, looking at her hooves. “My god, I never even thought about any of this.” “Why did you want to join the Wonderbolts, exactly?” Celestia asked. “Fame? Fortune?” “A little, but what troubled me was that I wouldn’t really find something to set myself apart outside of Ponyville. I wanted to be something unique, where ponies would look back and I would be in the history books, at least for something. Immortality, in a way.” “And that’s what makes all of this worth it, to a certain extent.” Jason filled in, receiving a small smile from Dash. “Just insane…” She whispered, shaking her head slightly. “Actually, that’s what some of these papers are about.” Celestia said, taking out a stack of papers. “Those ones there are just ultimatums, if you don’t want to deal with any of this.” “What are these things that need our permission?” Jason asked, looking at the paper Celestia had already handed over. “Mostly things that are in reference to you two.” “Like what?” “A whole bunch of ponies gathered around with contracts for deals for Team Green Bean trading cards, action figures… But there are some book deals in here, on the war and otherwise.” “Why do those need my permission?” Jason asked. “A few ponies wanted to interview you on things, there’s hardly anything known about Rainbow Dash or you in particular, Jason.” “Ah. I’ll probably kick the toys, that seems kinda disrespectful. Can’t get mad at them for trying to make money, but seriously.” “Foals really took to little stuffed animals of Luna while she was gone, and she seems to have enjoyed the fact that she wasn’t ever forgotten or feared as a princess.” “I’d suppose so.” Dash said, watching Jason get up and stretch his legs. “So Jason,” Celestia started, “Why do you have such an aversion to government?” “Yeah, why is that Jason?” Dash asked, poking him in the side. “How about I just start from the beginning, alright?” He asked, watching them both nod. “Years ago, there was a guy named Adam Smith that kind of vocalized the way a completely free-market system should be. He said that the government should only do two things. Fight wars, protect negative liberties, and a few other things.” “What are negative liberties?” Dash asked, looking confused. “Like what, they’re things I don’t have?” “They just don’t take anything from other people. Like arms rights or free speech. But what I love about my country is that the government has laws placed on itself by the people. When America was founded, after a crappy constitution for ten years where the government was just too weak, they drafted the Constitution. The express purpose was to keep the government in check, and it specifically notes in the Declaration of Independence that if the government fails in protecting the rights of the people and defending them, that it can be replaced.” Celestia, for once, looked slightly slack jawed. “You’re saying that people purposely limited their own power, and that something they created hundreds of years ago still works?” “Yeah, I suppose I am. In any case, the rules on government were still not enough, and a bill of rights was added on to ensure free speech, the right to bear arms, and things like that. Those are both supremely important to the American ideology, and they pretty much decide everything in a document that only takes up a few typed pages. But everything had a reason, like when the founding fathers created gun rights. They really wanted to make it harder for a corrupt government to occupy areas of the country if it so decided to.” “And has that ever happened?” Dash asked. “No, there was a civil war because of several large disagreements and hostilities mostly by one side, but besides that the country has had surprisingly few large domestic issues. It’s quite the democratic success, no matter how much people try to downplay its historical significance.” “It still is?” Celestia asked. “I’ve only read to the early eighteen hundreds, but it’s mentioned to the year two thousand. This country had trouble when just half of the leadership was gone a thousand years ago, I’m surprised that the consistent changes in leadership hasn’t broken down.” “Well you know Washington? First president?” She nodded. “It could have broken if he didn’t let go of the presidency. That’s what happened in a lot of other places. People just don’t let go of power once they have it.” “And yet that’s central in the system. Giving it up, I mean.” Celestia filled in. “Thus the existence of a constitution, the people have the leverage to replace the government. Or make it really hard for them to rule.” “Yeah.” The princess trailed off. “And you’ve got tons more population than we do.” “It’s pretty crazy that it even works, huh?” “A little. Is most of the world democratic?” “No. A lot of democracies fail.” “How come?” Dash asked, tapping at his computer and pulling up a picture of the world. “See these places here?” He asked, pointing to Africa and parts of Central America. “A lot of democracy comes down to money. These places usually don’t have the personal income levels to see it through, people are too willing to give up rights for promises of food and the like. Countries like these in the Middle East and Russia have a lot in the way of natural resources, so their governments never need to develop a middle class or their economy and it becomes hard to support different government. Evidently that doesn’t work out too well either.” There was a pause. “I wish I had an American flag, I miss seeing one of those waving around in the wind.” “Patriotic still?” She giggled. “I have a million things to be proud of. No matter how much I complain, we’re still the most well off country in the world.” “Really?” Dash asked, still looking at the map. “Yeah." Celestia laughed, making the other two jump at her sudden outburst. “I find it funny that I manage to learn something from almost every conversation I have with you.” “And I realize that somehow somepony always manages to get you talking about something like this.” Dash mumbled. “What are you really going to do? Stop me?” He asked, grinning. “I’m worried that one day you may never stop.” She said, giving him a serious look. “Fine, let me humorously do something different.” He said, stretching again. “I wonder if I can still walk on two legs.” “Proceed.” Dash said, waving him on with a grin. Jason reared up, sticking his arms out to either side as he took a few halting steps forward. Dash chuckled, and he could feel blood rush to his face. “As if you would be able to do this very easily.” “I’m not the one that decided to do it.” Dash responded, still giggling away. “I know you two are eager to get back, but I’ll need to meet you in a few days so that you can both sign the treaty.” Celestia said, “And I can collect any of those rights at that time.” “Oh, alright. We’re actually planning on getting wed before something else happens, so you may have to check with Pinkie.” “Don’t worry, I know about the wedding. I’m planning on attending, if that’s alright.” “No, of course!” Jason responded. “I’d want you there.” “Do you want it here in Canterlot? I could have that arranged…” Jason looked at Dash, before she spoke. “If it’s alright, princess, I’d rather keep it small. I don’t need to have everypony there, just my friends and Scoots.” “I understand.” Celestia finished, giving the pair a slight bow. “You know where to find me if you need to use that fertility spell.” “Of course.” Dash said, giving a nod. “Feel free to contact us if something goes wrong.” “I seriously hope I won’t need to.” She said with a laugh. “I feel as if I’m overworking the pair of you. The rest of your pay is in the bank, I’m sure it won’t be hard to verify who you are.” “Thanks, princess.” Jason said, waving goodbye as she walked out the door. ___________________________________________________________________ Dash fell backwards onto their cloud couch, letting out a massive sigh as she sank in. “Finally home again!” She yelled, sliding her hooves around excitedly, watching as Jason walked up one of the walls and onto the ceiling, pushing a square piece of wood into the ceiling and packing cloud around it to make sure it stuck. He immediately went down again and grabbed the router, pulling out a tube of something and walking up again. Long story short, he held it to the board for a couple seconds and let go, watching with a slight grin as it stayed stuck. “It’d be nice if I had a generator, I don’t like having to power all of these things all the time.” “At least I can help out on that front.” “Oh no you don’t, not until I teach you what to do on- I dunno, a calculator?” “Thanks for having high standards of me.” “Hey, you did pretty well concentrating, but that was only moving things. And not anything big, at that. I’m not sure what you have the capacity to do, but it’s almost definitely not anything huge. Maybe teleportation over short distances or a small illusion spell, nothing like me slowing time down.” “I can’t say that disappoints me.” Dash replied, looking around the room excitedly. “Teleportation would be awesome!” “Yeah.” Jason confirmed, sitting on the couch next to her as Scoots came trotting back down the stairs. “Jason, does that mean you can teach Scoots stuff too?” Dash asked, watching the foal’s ears twitch. “It might.” He replied with a smirk. “I’m a little against making either of you too dependent on it, seeing as I might not last forever.” “But Jason!” Scoots whined, “I wanna do magic like Dash!” “I’ll teach you Scoots, I just want to wait until I work out the kinks with your mom, okay?” “So long as you come through with it dad!” “Don’t worry kiddo, I’d love to give you something like that. Especialy if it gives you a little more ease in defending yourself if you need to. But it might not always be there.” He warned. “I know, it’s not a big deal!” She exclaimed, launching herself onto the couch between them. A long silence ensued as she wormed her way in between the pair, making herself warm from their combined body heat. “You want to see if Bon Bon will let us play a few songs?” “Oh, so much.” ____________________________________________________________ “Octavia, what happened to that saxophonist?” Jason asked, watching the gray mare sigh. “Well it’d be nice if you gave me some warning one of these times, I could have told her about it.” “What’s her name?” “Melody.” “I don’t get how you ponies get these names and take so long to figure out what your cutie marks are.” “It’s all a conspiracy, Jason.” Dash said, waving her hooves around as she tested out the base drum. “Whatever, we can play a song without her.” “Jason!” Bon Bon yelled, hopping onto the stage. “I told you if you preform here that I was going to pay you, so how much is fair?” “I’ll take two bits.” He paused. “I don’t want to be too expensive.” “Jason, I’ll do a hundred.” “No, as far as I’m concerned your payment is giving me a place to play.” “Just- ugh, you make me feel so guilty!” “Fine, I’ll do a hundred.” “There we go. Deal.” The mare walked off, shaking her head in annoyance. “Jason, what are you doing?” Dash hissed, trying to be quiet. “You’ll see…” He replied cryptically, striking a chord as the assembled ponies cheered. Jason watched the results of the song, an explosive cheer rising out of the audience. He saw Scoots cheer from a vantage point on Lyra’s back, easily above crowd height. “Do you ever do anything Jazzy?!” A pony yelled, looking a little more angry than Jason figured was really necessary. “Yeah, I guess.” Jason replied, coming up mostly blank for things to play without a saxophone. “I have one thing, kinda. Jazz guitar, I suppose.” He said after a moment, grabbing a couple of papers and handing them to the others. “Oh, I’ve been looking at this.” Octavia said. “How am I gonna do this part with a bass though?” “I think I can get it to sound right, hold on.” Jason grabbed her overdrive unit, reaching up to strum a string as he adjusted a few dials. “No…” “Jason-“ Octavia started, looking at the crowd. “Wait, I can get it.” He said quickly, messing with the dials some more. “Almost there, I did this once already.” “This song?” “No, adjusted a dial.” He replied with a chuckle, shaking his head as he strummed her bass again. “There, you’ll just have to move your hoof pretty fast.” “Can’t say I’m not used to it by now, with all the guitar lines you’ve gotten me to do.” “Heh, I guess.” Jason looked over the crowd, smiling to himself. He'd have to replace the piano with guitar, but it's not like there was much of that. “Here goes.” Another cheer, he'd somehow thought that a sudden change like that would leave some ponies confused. Jason shifted and noticed a light orange pony take a few steps onto the stage, setting down a saxophone case as she stared at the crowd of overjoyed ponies. Jason allowed the crowd another brief respite, congealing with the other two on the new member. Melody stared at Jason and Dash almost like they were ghosts, before she watched Jason outstretch a hoof for her to shake. She grabbed it with both hooves, shaking it like there was no tomorrow. “It’s an honor, both of you.” Melody switched to Dash, who looked like she was rather enjoying the attention. “Both of you, I’m so glad Octavia asked me to do this. Sorry I’m late though, I didn’t know that you were planning anything, and-“ “Look, I’m glad you’re in the band and all, but you don’t need to treat us like…” Jason paused, struggling for the right word. “Heroes? Saviors?” “Like more than a couple of band members.” He finished. “Really? You two pretty much saved the country, how is that not something to treat you well over?” “Well…” Dash began, before Jason cut her off. “Just- normal ponies, alright?” “Fine, sure.” She said, still acting a little too nervous. “So, which song are we playing first?” “I think we’ll play this one, then this one.” Jason said, showing her a piece of paper. “You’ve practiced them?” “Of course, I wouldn’t dream of screwing this up.” Jason sighed, watching her quickly prepare her instrument and give it a few test blows. “Ready?” Jason asked, getting an affirmative nod from the mare. “Good. I’ve been waiting to play these.” He finished, lining up a hoof before he strummed off the beginning of Keith Richards' iconic guitar riff. Jason threw a motion to the others, giving them a big grin. He spun his hoof, signaling that he wanted to run right into the next song before the crowd even calmed down. Octavia wasted no time, quickly strumming off the iconic notes to the Pink Floyd classic. “Wow.” Jason mumbled. “Just- wow, I love playing this stuff.” The ponies began to break up as they realized that the show was over, a few coming over to get autographs that Jason was sure were worth more than they would be as just musicians. A few minutes later he found himself accepting a bag of bits from Bon Bon, which made him grin a little. Dash only scoffed, as if thinking he was actually going to accept it. “Dash, you want a burger?” Jason asked, hearing a grumble in the affirmative from the mare. He chuckled, waving Lyra over with the order. She returned a few minutes later, with some food that he handed to Dash, watching the hay crunch as she took a bite. “Keep the change.” Jason said, plopping the entire bag down in front of Lyra. _______________________________________________________________________ "I have to say, I love doing that." Jason said, pulling the bedcovers over himself. "Playing music, I mean. Not the crowd part, necessarily." "Then why do you always go somewhere populated?" Dash asked, giggling. "I do better under pressure." "Fair enough, I guess." Dash looked to the side, picking up Scoots by a hind leg and tickling her now exposed tummy. "What'd you think Scoots? Up to expectations?" "I- hahahahaha. STO- hahahahahahaha." "Just give me an opinion, squirt. It's not that hard." "I- hahahahaha so evil haha." Dash let the foal down, who took more than a few moments to regain her breath. "I loved it. It was some of the coolest stuff I've ever heard." "Some of?" Dash asked, annoyed, watching the filly stare in horror. "I'm just kidding, to bed with you!" "Aww..." "Come on, it's way too late for you to stay up, especially with school tomorrow." "And that thing with Rumble, right Scoots? Dinner?" Jason asked. "Yeah. Well actually, his brother gets back tomorrow, so maybe not. But probably?" She shifted her hooves on the ground, barely meeting the gaze of either of her parents. "Could I- you know, stay here tonight?" "How come Scoots?" Jason asked, getting out of the bed and kneeling next to the filly. "I just get lonely, and sometimes I get scared about things and I'm not here so-" "Eventually you're going to have to sleep by yourself, Scoots." He said. "But what if Rumble-" "Whoa woah woah. Not for a long time, I hope." "But-" "Listen Scoots." Jason began, sitting against the side of the bed and pulling her over as Dash leaned against his other shoulder. "I know you like him and all, and I'm sure he feels the same, but there's a thing about young love, alright?" "Yeah..." "Kids tend to feel like they're in love when they may not be, like they're being too easy with their feelings. I'm not doubting how you feel, I just want you to be able to think about it and know that you're feeling the right way. That's not to say that things might get in the way of whatever goes on, but that should be where things get decided. I knew people that would break up over the stupidest things, which really showed that they didn't care enough about each other to get over whatever it was. That's not to say you can forgive everything, but make sure you're not overreacting or doing the opposite. I know how that ends up, trust me." "Sure dad, I'll try." "Sometimes I feel like whatever I say won't change much." He said with a chuckle, getting up and climbing back into bed as the others joined him. "G' night." "Night." Dash said, mirrored by Scoots. Jason's eyes hardly stayed open for a second, and his mind remained awake for only a little bit longer before he was out, descended into dreamland. _____________________________________________________________ Jason's eyes shot open, checking that the moon was still comfortably above the horizon before he slowly extracted himself from Dash's perpetual hug, moving Scoots next to her and making sure they remained snug in the blankets. He nodded to himself, quickly descending down the stairs and into the kitchen, shivering at the nighttime cold. Presumably that was only compounded by the beginning of winter, with the snow he could clearly see floating past the window. He'd have to raise the house later so that it wouldn't cool off quite as much. One glass of water later he was out the door, gliding downwards through the snowflakes that so readily attached to his chitin and melted. A few backwards beats of his wings and he slowed down, coming to rest on one of the branches in Twilight's tree. He followed it to a window that she never seemed to lock, pulling the circle open and hopping carefully inside. He dared not let his hooves touch the ground, worried that the steps, as silent as they were, would still wake the sleeping mare. Jason floated over and scanned the books, translating this way and that as he looked for something useful. He pulled out a few, lowering himself to grab another before he turned around and glided over the railing of the second story. He froze in his tracks as the sound of running water from the bathroom made itself known. Jason took a look at Spike's basket, eyes going wide as he realized that the dragon wasn't there. The door opened and Spike locked eyes with Jason through the dark, presumably with the night vision to do so. "Hey spike." He said, Twilight's body matching the voice perfectly. "Figured I'd do some midnight reading, seeing as I've been getting a little behind." "Twilight, I thought you were asleep?" Spike glanced at the bed, messed up covers concealing the real Twilight. "Alarm spell, totally silent to other ponies. Or dragons, I guess." He giggled. Oh man that was weird. Spike pulled an expression that made Jason think that his acting had been off, or he'd said something wrong. He still had to find a way to keep Spike from asking Twilight about this later though, and went downstairs to grab a few more books. He didn't like Twilight's body, it felt a little too brittle for his taste. Nothing like Dash's. "Gotta make Spike's question seem in place, can't really make him think it's a dream very easily..." He whispered to himself, forming wings and waiting a few minutes before taking off, littering books on teleportation around Twilight's bed as if she had gotten up and actually done some research. She wouldn't have any memory of getting up, but that could be more easily passed off then an ungrounded question from Spike. "What? Wings?" Spike asked, looking at him through the dark. Damn, it had sounded like he'd fallen back asleep. "Yeah, I just grew them. Weird huh?" "Huh?" He asked. "Is this a dream?" The words he was looking for. "Depends." Jason said, teleporting in front of the basket as he transformed into a male version of Twilight and floated the books back from Twilight's bed. "Do you want it to be?" And with that he teleported outside and transformed back, three books still in tow as he flew away. That was entirely too close. The worst he'd had to deal with was whatever that silly owl was that Twilight had trying to molest him. He'd been a lot more careful after that, making sure whatever he did stayed secret, and ridiculously quiet. Jason watched Everfree trees move by below him, slowing down and landing in a clearing that already had a good inch of snow in it. Funny, he'd thought the weather didn't carry over. Jason set down a book under a nearby tree, reading through a few pages before he found where he'd left off. He read the passage several times, his mouth mimicking the words his mind deciphered. He'd made a pact with himself to get stronger, and he was going to follow through. "Just another day." He mumbled, standing up straight and making his arm flare with green flames as his horn began to glow.