//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Failing Facades // Story: Welcome To My Life // by PinkiePiedPiper //------------------------------// Welcome To My Life Chapter 6: Failing Facades Soft, muffling snow continued to drift gently down, ever adding to the thick blanket enveloping Ponyville. The sounds of the playground faded in the ears of the two young ponies as they traversed town, headed in the direction of the library. Arcana walked happily, enjoying the sight of their world dressed in white. She loved the way small strands of snow looked lining the tops of thin branches or the crosspieces of lampposts. Bastion, on the other hand, kept shooting glances over at his current companion. He wondered if she had ever seen snow before, even though he knew he had. Often, he would have memories arise, memories of sledding and snowball fights, but he did not think he had ever done either of them. It was almost as if he was remembering parts of a movie that he never remembered watching. He was broken from his reverie when he noticed he was looking straight into Arcana’s magenta eyes. He stopped in his tracks almost immediately. “Well?” Arcana asked. “Well what?” he replied unsurely. Arcana smiled. “I asked why you were staring at me.” “I was not!” humphed Bastion, who resumed walking at a faster pace than before. “I was just thinking about stuff.” Arcana giggled and trotted up beside him. “Alright then, what were you thinking about?” “Nothing.” “Sure,” she replied sarcastically. “It’s true!” he defended. “Ok then.” They walked in silence for only a few steps, when Arcana posed another question. “What’s your cutie mark mean?” “Whaddaya mean?” “What do you mean, ‘what do you mean’? it’s a perfectly reasonable question.” He paused for a second, debating whether or not to comment on the orange sword equipped with flaming dragon wings emblazoned on his posterior. He himself could only guess at its true meaning, but he knew part of it was his ability to dracomorph. “I.. I don’t know,” he stammered unconvincingly. And as such, she was not convinced. “You don’t have to lie about it,” she replied, “I’m just curious.” “It’s a secret,” he clarified. “Ooohhh, so you DO know…” “Sort of.” “Why don’t you just tell me?” “Because it’s a secret!” he replied, growing annoyed. “Well, why is it a secret? And how did you get it before anypony else in class if you don’t even know what it means?” The incessant questioning was making his blood rise. He stopped in his tracks and collapsed to the ground, trying to stem the draconic forces swirling about in him. He curled himself up in the shallow snow, trying desperately to calm his temper. Arcana, fully in the dark about what was happening, opened her mouth and was about to yell for help, when a purple claw pushed against her lips. Looking down, she saw something that was in a fluctuating state between a dragon and a pony, while maintaining the overall look and colour scheme of Bastion. Shocked into silence, she continued to look into his pained red eyes, full of fear brought on by his current predicament and his fear of discovery. Focusing on Luna’s words about being the master of himself, replaying them over and over in his mind for over a minute. A gentle poke on his shoulder, accompanied by a quiet “Bastion” from Arcana prompted him to open his eyes. He was a pony again, and all just pony. He got up slowly, lifting himself out of the puddle where it had recently been snow. His hot blood dried him out quickly. He looked at Arcana, who was still in shock. “A… Arcana? Are you ok?” he asked nervously. Snapping out of her state, she shook her head lightly, as if clearing her head from a trance. “Yeah, yeah I’m ok, I guess.” “Please… please don’t tell anypony.” Arcana was not sure exactly whether or not she could keep this a secret. This was something really big. A pony, a PEGASUS pony, which could turn itself into a dragon! It was revolutionary and new, different from any story real or fiction she had ever heard of before. It was then that she saw the look of utter helplessness and fear in his eyes. She now knew why he never fought back, never placed himself in stressful situations; never answering questions in class or playing with other foals. If news of this ever got out he would be literally ruined! Only travelling circuses and science labs would be in his future. So she gave a small smile and replied with the only thing she knew would ease his worry. “Sure, what are friends for?” Now it was Bastion’s turn to be taken aback. “Friend?” he asked cautiously. “Sure, why not?” she responded, growing more confident and jovial. “Everyone’s gotta have friends, right?” “I guess-” “It’s settled then, friend! Hoofbump?” she offered her hoof to him. He quickly raised his hoof and clopped it against hers. “Hoofbump,” he agreed. “Now that THAT’s over with, let’s see about getting you home, you know, before something else weird happens!” The two laughed as they resumed the trek to the library, where Bastion lived. * * * * * It was not long before the two of them arrived at the tall treehouse in the middle of Ponyville. “See ya later, Bastion,” Arcana said as she turned to leave. But Bastion, not wanting his new friend to leave so soon after meeting her, replied, “Wanna come over and play for a bit first? It’s not like you have any homework to do or anything…” “Well, when you put it that way, sure!” she responded with a small jump. “I’d love to come over!” Pushing the door open, he remained outside, waving his hoof while bowing, “After you.” She giggled, “You’re so silly, Bastion!” She trotted in, knocking the snow from her hooves and gave her scarf and mane a shake. Bastion trotted after her, doing the same while thinking to himself that the day had gotten much brighter for him lately. But what, or more accurately, who, he saw around the table made him freeze. It was not Twilight, his mother, or Trixie, Arcana’s mom, as the two frequently visited each other. It was the three princesses of Equestria, Luna, Celestia, and Cadance, alongside Prince Shining Armor. He had learned about them in school, and from his mother, but he had never met them in person. There were two other ponies there, too. They were older looking than the other mortal ponies in the room, the mare with white and light purple streaked mane and tail, and a white coat with a hint of grey, and the stallion was blue with a darker blue mane. He noticed that Arcana had already stooped to a bow, and he quickly did the same. “Good afternoon, your Majesties,” they chimed in unison. Celestia laughed demurely. Luna smiled in recognition. Twilight gaped in horror. Celestia responded, “And a good afternoon to the two of you, too!” Luna called out, “Good to see you in person, Bastion! Have you been well?” Bastion and Arcana both stood up, and he ran over to Luna to give her a hug. Arcana migrated to her mother’s side. “Yes, Lu- I mean, Princess Luna!” She scooped him up onto her lap and gave him a hug. He really liked her, she was soft and smelled nice. “Come to the library to find a good book for the holidays?” Luna inquired. “No, I just invited my new friend over to play for a while.” He looked directly at Twilight, “Is that ok, Mom?” All 4 royalty, along with the two elder ponies froze, and the room went silent as their gaze followed over to Twilight, who was in the process of backing into the kitchen. “Ummm… er- hehe,” she stammered supremely awkwardly. Her feigned smile dropped, along with her head. “I guess I have some explaining to do. But it’s a long story.” * * * * * “So your mom never told the princesses, her brother, or even her parents that you were born?” The two young ponies had been requested to go to Bastion’s room while the adults had a ‘chat’ with Twilight. Trixie had left, but had said that Arcana could stay and play if she wanted. That had been three hours ago. Bastion lay on the floor, back legs sprawled behind, one hoof supporting his chin, and the other wheeling a toy train back and forth with bored disinterest. Arcana was reclined on his bed, flipping through comics featuring superheroes she had never paid attention to, in the middle of situations she had no context for. “I guess not,” he said with a sigh. He gave the train a push, which sent it far beyond his current reach. He dropped his head and sighed. “Don’t leave until the coast is clear. Being bored by myself sucks worse than this.” “I wasn’t gonna leave,” she protested, dropping the comic to one side and rolling off the bed to the floor with a thump. She was now on her back, facing the wall opposite of Bastion. “So you never knew your uncle and aunt are royalty?” “Nope.” “Or even who your grandparents are?” she continued incredulously. “Nope,” he said in the same semi-conscious monotone. “That must have sucked for birthdays.” “That had crossed my mind.” “Is it because they didn’t like your dad?” she asked. “Shoot, I don’t even know who my dad IS!” “I don’t think I like him.” “Me neither.” She rolled over and stood up, turned and faced him. “At least there is a bright side to all this!” He flopped his head to regard her, “And what’s that?” She raised a hoof in the air triumphantly, “At least this Hearth’s Warming Eve will be the best one ever for presents!” He thought for a moment. “That’s probably true, but there’s still one problem.” She lowered her hoof, and asked, “Which is? “I’m still bored.” Letting herself go limp, she flopped onto her side. “Me too.” * * * * * “So you absorbed the essence of a human that looked like a pony you had a crush on from Discord’s scale… and then you had a baby that looks like him, but is him? Do I have this straight?” Shining Armor summarized. Twilight nodded, “Pretty much, yeah.” The crowd of adult ponies still sat in there places around the table, all of whom had felt immediate betrayal that she had never before mentioned him to any of them. Her mother had cried, but that was hours ago. Cadance had gotten up to tend to her young foal, Prince Vita, her handsome alicorn child who was a vibrant green colour with a mane and tail of dark blue. Being an alicorn, he aged only a fraction as much as any other pony. He therefore looked only about 1-2 years old, despite being 6. “And there isn’t anything wrong with him because of this?” he continued. “No,” she lied expertly. Her mother, Velvet, asked the next question. “And how long did you plan on keeping our second grandson a secret?” Twilight perked up. “You mean… you aren’t angry with me? You don’t hate him?” she asked hopefully. “Of course we don’t!” Velvet exclaimed, as the group got up. They all went over to Twilight, who was crying with happiness and relief, and gave her a huge group hug. Her father, Night Light, broke up the embrace. “Now where is that grandson of mine! We have some catching up to do!” He trotted over to Bastion’s room door, and gave it a knock before opening it. He then gestured to the other ponies to come over and opened the door fully. Inside, were the two young ponies, sleeping side by side on the floor, both with comic books draped over their faces. The group smiled as they regarded the pair, and Luna grabbed the blanket off of Bastion’s bed with her magic and placed it over them. Twilight shut the lights off and magically removed the comic books. “We can meet him tomorrow,” Velvet said. “After all, what’s another day, right?”