//------------------------------// // Guest/Alternative Chapter -- Aftershock // Story: My Little Changeling -- "I" is Magic // by Wing Dancer //------------------------------// Twilight gasped as Chip’s disguised body smashed into the storefront window, and fell like a rag-doll to the ground. “Chip!” She rushed up to him glancing horrified that the open wounds caused by the glass. “Chip? What’s that? His pet name?” Sweet spat, the anger in her voice welling up. “I knew that you two knew each other! You should have seen how eager he was to meet you! I don’t even know why I helped him here!” She began yelling more at herself, hot tears streaming down her face, “Why would I ever think that any colt would really be friends with me!?” Twilight was taken aback by the sudden outburst, and a little angry at this mare for trying to smash Chip’s face in, but something in the mare’s voice said she needed help. Twilight wasn’t much for speaking when confused, but this was a desperate situation that could get even worse if she didn’t do something, so she did the first thing that came to her mind. “What do you mean? How do you know him?” She asked. “How do I know him? What do you think? Do you know what I do for a living?” She threw her face up to Twilight. “I escort! Do you think that I just ran into him and suddenly we’re sharing a room in a hotel?” Twilight blinked. So they did go to a hotel room and stay the night. But why would Chip even consider-… “Wait, did Chi-er, Redberry ask to- well, ask for you to…?” Sweet hesitated in her angry tirade at the question. “What? I mean- no… I offered. It’s how I get my clients. Nopony just starts speaking to mares like me on the side of the road unless spoken to. I invited and he… accepted.” When she stopped speaking, she seemed suddenly aware of the crowd that had gathered around the bloody scene. “I- I’ve gotta go," she said, and nervously ran off. “Wait!” Twilight cried after her, but the mare known as Sweet Strokes had disappeared, leaving Twilight in the middle of the road with Chip, surrounded by broken glass. Twilight sighed as she returned her attention to Chip. Assessing the situation, she realized that the city guard would be there soon if they weren’t already, and that would mean problems if she and Chip were caught. She began shaking his shoulders, looking around for any signs of the guard. “Chip. Chip wake up, we have to go!” * * * There was a muffled sound. Chip knew that sound, that voice. It was calling him. But why? There wasn’t anything here, nothing going on. Just darkness and muffled noises. He felt a strange movement, a shifting he would call it. Back and forth it went. He didn’t like it. And it seemed to get worse as the voice that called him got louder and clearer. Aching pain began to reach his consciousness, making him aware of his body, which he could now feel was slumped on something rough and scratchy. It felt like his home back at the hive. “Chip,” the voice called out again, this time clear enough that he could understand it. “Dangit, Chip!” Before he could respond, his body felt like it was turning inside out as it was shoved through a straw. The pain of the strange phenomenon forced his eyes to open and his lungs to desperately suck in a fresh batch of air. What he saw was a light. It wasn’t very bright though, and it dangled from a wooden surface towards him. A ceiling. Chip shook his head as he tried to sit up. “No, don’t move.” A purple unicorn whom he’d just remembered whispered. “Twilight?” He looked at her confused, “What happened?” “Shhh! We’re at my parents house. Don’t make a sound.” “What?” “I said be quiet!” Confused, Chip just lay his head back down. Where had they been? Why was his face hurting now? There was a mare, he remembered, that one from the hotel… Chip gasped as his memory returned in a flood. Twilight was suddenly looking Chip over, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” “Where did Sweet go?” Chip could feel Twilight’s anxiety transform into annoyance and slight anger. She pointed a hoof at his face. “You’re going to explain to me what happened later. For now, let’s just get you better.” “But- But I made her angry! I don’t even know what I did! I can’t just leave her mad like that!” Twilight pushed Chip’s shoulder back down to the floor. “Be quiet! And I’m sure she’ll be fine. She ought to be used to it in her line of work anyway.” The words came out less than apathetic towards the mare. “But what happened?” “Oh, I dunno! You tell me!” Twilight stopped herself, covered her face with her hooves and let out a exasperated sigh. “Ugh… Chip, just please stop talking while I take care of your injuries. We’ll figure this out later, okay? I promise.” “Okay.” Chip didn’t want to argue. Twilight was giving off strong scents of stress, annoyance, and worry, and he thought it would be a bad idea to add to that. So he laid down and let Twilight tend to his bruises and cuts. This is not how he had hoped their meeting would go. * * * In an alley, tucked deep in the more questionable parts of Canterlot, sat Sweet Strokes. Her head hung low, turned away from the main road. She didn’t want to be seen like this. She didn’t want to feel like this. It hurt. “I was a fool. And I was played like a fool,” she told the darkness. Though, she couldn’t bring herself to admit it, it was true that she had asked for this when she saw the bright eyed stallion wandering the streets. The unicorn was right. She had asked for it. But how could he do that to her. Why were there ponies like that in the world. Ponies that put on façades, flashing them at all, leaving them destitute in their wake. She had seen a glimmer of hope. A pony that had been concerned with her for once instead of himself. A pony who asked questions, wanted to get to know her, and acted friendly from the moment he saw her to the moment he said those self-condemning words. She hated it. She hated him. And yet, she couldn’t help but feel that those moments he gave her were genuine, that he was truly a friend to her. The conflicting thoughts confused her, twisting and pulling at her emotions until she didn’t know what to feel. What was she thinking? That he would just suddenly think her the best mare he’d ever met? That after only a night they would be closer than someone who had obviously known him for a while? Why were they even pretending not to know each other? It was obvious on the face of it! And if he was so eager to see her, why would he pay to “have fun”, as she had put it? Did he even know what sex was? Did he even know that she was a prostitute? A mare who threw herself at other ponies for money? A mare who had been thrown out, left without a bit to her name, and dragged into the dirtiest pits of Canterlot’s prestigious “business” class? Sweet released her frustration on an empty juice carton, flinging further down the alley into an indiscernible pile of refuse. “RUAAAGH!” The alley gave a quick echo back. Nothing else responded. Nothing answered her questions. She sat back down and tried to work out what had happened through tears. “I’ve got to deal with this.” Her panting began to produce small wafts of steam. It was getting dark. Nothing made sense to her anymore. Well, not nothing. She knew that her love was foolish, the silly notion of “love at first night”. But she also knew he made her feel good. She felt worth something for the first time in years, only for that to be taken away the moment his marefriend came into view. But if he was planning on meeting her, if he was so eager to see her, why on earth would he accept an offer to stay the night with another mare? It made no sense! Not unless she meant nothing to him after all, but that obviously wasn’t true! “Maybe he really is as childishly innocent as I thought he was. Maybe he really has no idea what sex was, or what any of this escorting business is,” she thought allowed. It made sense. It would explain his willingness to “have fun” and his asking her questions. He acted as if it was just a simple sleepover with friends. “UGH!” Sweet wiped her hooves over her face, trying to grab her frustration through it and throw it the same way she threw the empty carton. As much as that theory made sense, it just seemed so unlikely. What kind of stallion, that big, that handsome, training for the royal guard had never had a frisky night with some mare? A droplet of water hit her muzzle. She looked up to see a dark grey cloud engulf the entirety of the sky. “Well, that’s just great.” Looking down to her bags, she remembered that she had enough money for a good night’s sleep, thanks to the stallion she know wanted to forget. Sighing, she slipped her bags on and walked to the cheapest hotel. If she was going to use this money, it should at least be used wisely, as much as she would have preferred throwing it all out to forget. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”