Honor the Dead
by BinaryTroll
Pre-read by Honored Service
Chapter 24: “Faffing about.”
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"I'm sorry, WHAT?"
I sighed. "I knew this was a stupid idea."
"Why do you think I would be a good candidate for queen?" Vi asked, pacing. Her wings buzzed. "I'm not even royal."
"So? You're intelligent, you don't let your emotions get the better of you," I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder at the crowd of changelings. "They love you." The changelings cheered. "So why not?"
"I'm not ready for this!"
I smiled grimly. "I wasn't ready when I killed for the first time, and look at me now." I spread my arms. "I'm an assassin, someone who kills for a living."
"But what if I fail?"
"You won't fail. If you do it'll only be a small one. You won't live long enough to regret making a big one."
Vi scowled. "That's reassuring."
I shrugged. "It's worked for me so far."
"Did it ever occur to you that ruling and assassination are two completely different things?"
"Alright, there goes that. Remember it's your decision. I reckon you'd make a great queen, but that's just me. And Joel. And Shyv. And the swarm of changelings you'd be ruling over.”
“Stop trying to persuade me.”
I put my hand to my chin in mock thought. “How about... no.”
Vi's wings vibrated into a blur before settling back under her carapace. “I will. But on one condition.”
“What?”
“I want to see the world, I was chained to a queen and stuck in this hive for...” Vi blinked and shook her head. “I don't know how long. The one time I left the hive I almost died. I want to right the wrongs of the last queen and do something with my life.”
I grinned and felt Joel and Shyv stepping up beside me. “Well, I think I rest my case.” I looked out to the crowd of changelings. “So, which one of you scrubs feels like taking command while we're gone?”
Most of the changelings looked towards a taller changeling that was near the center of the swarm. She stepped forward, her head high. “I will. But only until you come back Viridi.”
Vi looked at the other changeling and smiled with tears in her eyes. “Thanks Cae. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Cae smiled back. “I think I do. Have fun Viridi, I'll keep us safe until you come back. I hope you find what you're looking for.”
Vi stepped forward and the two embraced. It was a heartwarming moment and I could see tears welling up in the eyes of the changelings. I sighed inwardly, no tears came to me, as usual. I looked at the smiles and remembered the two changelings I killed.
I suddenly didn't feel so warm.
“I just have to fuck everything up, don't I?” I asked myself quietly.
I walked off, towards the supply closet. My footsteps echoed around me as I strode down the hall. Something about the vault felt suffocating all of a sudden. I sighed and ignored it.
I kicked the opening handle and the door opened with a small puff of steam. I stepped into the supply closet and searched for anything that would be useful. I found a backpack, 12 bottles of purified water, 6 Blamco Mac and Cheese, 8 Dandy boy apples, 4 bottles of Nuka-Cola, 2 boxes of Cram, a box of Insta Mash and 10 Pork n' Beans. I stuffed what I could carry into my pockets and carried the rest back to our little party.
“You got enough stuff there Wards?” Joel asked with a laugh.
“Shut up and grab something.” I said through a mouthful of Dandy boy apples.
Vi looked over her shoulder at us and her eyes widened. She stepped over to us. “Here, lemme help you with that.”
Vi charged a spell and shot it at the huge pile of shit in my arms. The boxes shrank to the size of peas.
I looked down at the miniature boxes that rolled around in my hands. They were as light as peas too. “Well, that makes my life easier.” I stuffed the boxes and bottles in my pockets and took out the ones that I had originally put in there. “Anyone up for some food?”
“Sure.” Joel said, so I tossed him a bottle of water and some Pork n' Beans.
“Anyone else?” I asked, prying the lid off a can of Pork n' Beans with my teeth.
“Can I have the cans once your done?” Shyv asked.
I shrugged. “If you can think you can stomach it. These things are covered in dust. Also, how do you know these are called cans?”
“I've seen them around, quite a few younger dragons like hording them. And I've eaten solid rock before, I think I can stomach a little dust.”
“'K den.” I said, tipping the contents of the Pork n' Beans can into my mouth.
The five or six thousand year old food didn’t actually taste too bad. It just tasted sort of sloppy, like a cross between baked beans and something that wasn't quite pork. In other words, it tasted just like I thought it would, except better.
I took a swig of the water and sighed. “Man, you don't realize how hungry you are until you've eaten something thousands of years old.”
“Isn't the saying 'You don't realize how hungry you are until you're eating your best friend?'” Joel mused, screwing the cap back on his water bottle.
“That's a saying?” I asked, downing more water.
“Apparently.”
I shrugged. “The more you know.” I dusted off the empty Pork n' Beans can and handed it to Shyv. “Here you go.”
She took it and crunched it in her mouth. It made a horrible squeak as she carved it up and chewed on it.
I stepped back and tapped my ear. “Jesus that's loud.”
She swallowed. “I gotta eat something.”
“Fair enough.” I turned back to Vi and Joel. “Well then, lets do this.”
Vi tapped the button on the vault control panel and the huge gear rolled away from the door. She inhaled deeply and smiled. “I miss fresh air.” She said, stepping out into the cave.
Shyv stepped out too, stretching her wings. Joel followed and I brought up the rear. We turned and waved goodbye to Cae and the rest of the Changelings, and I was again hit with a wave of sadness.
I walked out into the sunlight slumped, not even noticing the sun shining. My eyes flashed white, but I didn't even notice, I just kept walking. I looked back at my friends, Shyv was shielding her eyes with her wings, Joel was blinking rapidly but Vi seemed relatively unaffected. She fell into step beside me.
“Where's Canterlot in relation to here?” I asked, keeping my eyes straight ahead.
I saw her point with a hoof out of the corner of my eye. “North-north west. About three weeks journey on foot.”
I changed direction slightly. “Is there any food on the way?”
“Well, there's the Everfree. We have to travel through there, but besides that, we have a backup hive close by to Canterlot. Unfortunately it doesn't have any food you can use.”
“Right, so why is your main hive all the way out here?”
“It isn't. This is a stronghold hive, a last fallback. A vault if you will.”
I laughed. “Yep, it's certainly a vault. So how are you surviving?”
“We store large amounts of emotional energy in the hive, mostly love.”
“You feed off other emotions?”
“Yes, changelings can feed off a wide variety of emotions, it just so happens that love is the easiest to store and one of the most powerful as well as being less negatively affecting than hatred or anger. Love is also a sustainable resource, and is one of the few emotions that is truly infinite. I can probably sustain myself on the friendship you have with Shyvanna and Joel, but only just.”
The scientist in my brain was neatly stacking away all this information for further use. “That's kinda cool.”
Vi looked at me, confused. “Cool? You think that my feeding habits are cool?”
“Uh, yeah. I honestly don't know why ponies are so disgusted by the idea of you feeding off emotions. I mean, come on if one's love for someone is infinite, why do they care if you take some? They should feel happy that their love is quite literally feeding someone.”
“I never thought of it that way.”
“And I'm willing to bet most ponies haven't either.”
At that point Joel and Shyv had caught up to us. “Yo, so what's the plan?” Joel asked.
“We walk. A lot.”
“Fun.”
Shyv spread her wings and took off, quickly ascending into the sky. Vi watched for a second before buzzing her own wings and following.
“Uh, the fuck just happened?”
Joel shrugged. “Stuff and things.” He looked to the sky, watching the two ponies loop gracefully round each other. “Damn, they're good.”
I sighed deeply and looked at the ground. “I wish I could join them. I've always wanted wings.”
“Yeah.” Joel said absentmindedly.
My thoughts returned to the two changelings I had killed. They would never fly again, not in this world at least. I slapped myself. I need to stop dwelling on things. I made that promise seven years ago, I intend to keep it.
“What was that in aid of?” Joel asked.
“Eh, scumbag brain.” I replied.
“I know that feel.” He said quietly, looking at the sky again.
I followed his gaze. Green and red flames clashed in the sky, shaping themselves into mock weapons and beasts. On opposite sides a half dragon and a changeling circled gracefully, each trying to win the mock battle. Eventually they both ended up blasting each other with massive walls of fire.
“That makes me want to never see fireworks again. Ever.” I commented, my eyes locked on the swirling flames.
“I know what you mean.” The flames dissipated, leaving the two ponies floating on their own in the sky. “That was one hell of a light show.”
The two spiraled upwards and came to halt side by side in the air. After a small debate they dived down towards us, racking up incredible speed. They seemed fairly evenly matched in speed.
“Uh, Joel?”
“Yeah?”
“I think they're going to crash into us.”
Joel narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, they seem to be- FUCK! Dive!”
I dived to my right, rolling back to my feet. I could feel Shyvanna blaze past behind me as the wind from her passage almost tore my coat off.
I turned around to see Shyvanna and Vi land gracefully a few meters behind us. “Holy shit, that could have killed me!”
The girls grinned back at me. “Problem?”
The only way to win is not to play. I flipped them off. Meh, close enough.
They laughed and came back to join us.
“Any particular reason why you feel like mashing my bones into a pulp?” I asked, walking north-north west again.
“It's just a bit of fun.”
I tried to come up with a non hypocritical answer. I failed.
We walked in silence for the next hour or so, until I thought of a question. “What's it like to fly?” I asked, not really caring who answered.
“It's amazing, there's a freedom to it that you can't really have when you're stuck on the ground. You look down and can see the world sprawled out below you and it feels like you're a god.” Shyvanna answered.
“But how do you use your wings? Birds have tails for balance and hollow bones. Even their heads are streamlined to make it possible for them to fly. Sure, you have a tail, but you cant really move it and it certainly isn't made to help you fly.”
She shrugged. “I'm not really sure. Most pegasi are extremely light, but besides that the only real explanation I have is natural magic.”
“Magic, the magical solution to everything.” I muttered.
“Speaking of magic, how do you control it?” Joel asked.
It was Vi who answered this time. “It's partly instinctual, many unicorns can naturally use telekinesis from birth, just as changelings can naturally mimic others shapes from birth. But then there is higher order magic, that has to be learned or created. And example of this is love possession, a technique that Queen Chrysalis was particularly skilled in.”
“She used that on Shining Armor at the wedding. That probably wasn't her best idea.” I remember, remembering the third episode I ever watched.
“Yes, and it led her down a path that almost destroyed us.”
“I meant, how do you actually control it? Like, the higher order stuff.” Joel interrupted.
“It's like walking, you think about it and then you do it. Your brain handles most of the finer details. But I'm not the best person to ask about this, I only snuck into a magical theory lesson for a few hours so I didn't get caught.”
“Magical theory. I'm so studying that when I get to Canterlot.” I said, thinking of all the interesting subjects it could bring up.
“Nerd.” My friends said in unison.