//------------------------------// // eleven. he. folklore. // Story: he. she. we. // by Shinzakura //------------------------------// Tonight has been a hell of a night: I get a hug from Katie, and then I black out. I come to and find Moon, in her full alicorn glory, slamming into something that looks like a mutant version of my old friend, and then maneuvering so I can see her ass. Yes, I tap dat ass, I have no problem saying that. But I can’t help but wonder why she did that. I find out a few minutes after that, and needless to say, my world is thrown for a loop – not. Seriously, I live with a shapeshifting, formerly-demonic pony goddess; do you really think that finding out the girl who’s like a kid sister to me is an alien and Moon’s other best friend is the child of Russian spies would throw me that much? I could take all these ideas and make them into a novel, but the best I would get is some book publisher’s editor telling me to stick to journalism “because it’s my strength,” quote unquote, when he means “What the hell are you doing, bringing this fanfic crap to me?” So now, I’m sitting at the Denny’s in Garden Grove, drinking horrible coffee and being the fourth wheel in the world’s most bizarre Girls Night Out that ever occurred. Right now, Katie’s telling us about her past and that an organization that I thought was a charity turned out to be the biggest illuminati conspiracy that ever existed. Ewige Blumenkraft, indeed. «Don’t even think it,» she tells me over our mental link. «Story of the year, hon,» I remind her. «I am a hack, in case you’ve forgotten.» «She’s kinda like your little sister, in case you’ve forgotten,» she reminds me, and that’s more than enough to settle the discussion. With something this big, there’d be no way I could shield Katie from all the good and bad, and more importantly, if they come after her, that might give the government an excuse to start peeking closer to home…. I hate it when Moon’s right like that, but hey, what can I do? Meanwhile, Katie’s still verbally exploding, and it’s pretty obvious that she has an ax to grind with these folks. “Yes, the HIVE’s public focus is on public education, but their real reason for existence is to watch over me and the others – apparently to our grand family, we’re ticking time bombs.” The look of anger and sorrow on her face is enough that I want to walk over and hug her, because I hate seeing her like that. And as the little voice in the back of my head – the little voice that isn’t my girlfriend, that is – tells me that I was briefly contemplating making it worse for her, I tell it to shut up. Moon asks if Katie wants to talk about it, and Katie’s response is heart-wrenching, at least for me: “Not really, but I don’t have a choice. You have to understand something: to my family, these genes are a curse – none of us want them, and it’s a billion times worse if you’re a throwback like me. The HIVE ensured I was an only child because I was born. It freaks me out to know that I turn part insect, that I’m not biologically even a full member of the human race, and that somewhere along the line of my ancestors got busy with a…whatever it is! “Look, here’s what I know, because it’s been passed down in the family. The first of them – and yes, I’m using ‘them’ as I don’t consider myself a changeling in the slightest – appeared from your world when a portal accident happened. From what our history says, it killed the queen, and the senior-most nymph was forced to morph into a queen to save the few changelings that came with her. With few options, Sinead – that’s what our family history says she renamed herself in the human world – passed herself off as a young widow with children, and settled down in County Kilkenny. Eventually she married a blacksmith who raised her ‘offspring’ as his own; she also had more with him as well.” Something about that doesn’t parse with me, so I ask: “Is that even possible?” Moon gives me a look that implies I should know better. “With magic, anything’s possible, hon.” “Yeah, provided that you have the right kind of magic,” Katie interjected. “And given that changelings were well ahead of the curve when it came to knowledge about the damage caused by inbreeding, well, it’s not like Sinead could have mated with her ‘sons.’ So instead, she practiced a little-known magic technique that allowed changelings to have children with other species. Likewise, as her children grew older, they did the same. But there’s a price to be paid for that: over the course of generations, changelings became more human and had less ability to change into other species. Yes, you’ve heard the legends of changelings, but they were already present, and that did not make life easier for my ancestors. “About the 15th century or so, the clan finally realized that only ‘queens’ – girls that were strong enough to manifest the old powers, but not in any great capacity – had any of the transformational or magic abilities. Aside from that, everyone else in my bloodline are just carriers, waiting to pass on until they – very much unintentionally – breed with a distant relative or a human with really recessive genes. In either case, a throwback is born; in the latter case, it’s arguably better than whatever birth defects a child like me would have been born with. For the longest time, marrying a queen was considered a feather in the cap of someone of changeling blood; maybe if I lived several centuries back, I could have been an actual queen. “Anyway, the ‘HIVE’ was created when it was discovered that Portuguese serial killer Luisa de Jesús turned out to be a queen; reputedly she went mad and murdered about thirty babies because she thought she could bring them back as changeling soldiers so she could rule the land. After that, several nobles of changeling blood then created the HIVE where most lived, and tasked them with tracking any queens – who were thereafter labeled ‘throwbacks’. Throwbacks have been shunned since, and from that point on, any couple that has one cannot have another child for fear of upsetting the balance, and as for me? I might be allowed to adopt.” My heart wrenches at that, and now I know why she sees me as a de facto big brother – because she’ll never have another sibling. It’s probably also why she’s grown so close to Moon: the need to be close to her “sister-in-law”. I can see the tears in Moon’s and Pumpkin’s eyes; hey, girls are just like that. As for me, well…the room must’ve gotten smoky all of a sudden; I’m sure the HVAC’ll clear it up shortly. “Katie,” I tell her with all seriousness, “you should’ve told me sooner. I would have helped you – I’ll certainly do what I can to straighten things out with your fiancé.” To my surprise, she waves it off. “It’s okay, North, really. The HIVE tends to be a pain in my life, but a manageable one; plus, they pay for my house, so it’s not that bad. Plus, part of me wonders if Beau was a HIVE agent and not just dating me for my dazzling looks.” She then wiped her tears and said with a smile that genuinely makes me proud, “So I’m a throwback – so what? It defines what I am, but not who I am. I am Kathryn Nguyen, human…with a little extra, and that’s who I want to be, so that’s who I will be.” “Well said,” Moon tells her. Then, without prodding, she goes into our life story. As she does, she reaches over and takes my hand for comfort; I know that after all this time, telling others who and what she really is, is most likely a terrifying experience for her. She probably feels as though she’s risking her friendship with them, but I know better. The look in Katie’s eyes is one of hidden awe, and from what she told me of Pumpkin’s past, well, she probably needs more friends than just her sister. Especially that freak. Swear to God, she’d probably give Destiny a run for her money. And no, I wouldn’t want to see what those two would do together. Finally, it’s over, and it’s Pumpkin that provides the needed levity: “Wow, I’m the daughter of Russian spies and I think I’m the most normal girl at the table.” Then after that it’s hugs and kisses and vows of eternal friendship, Kind Hearts and Coronets. Meanwhile, I’m still stuck here drinking this Goddamn terrible coffee. But I can see the exhaustion in my girl’s eyes as we all get up so I can pay the bill. We’re going to be sleeping in this morning, and tomorrow’s going to be a new day, or whatever the hell those cheesy motivational posters say. God must hate me. Or at least not want me to get some sleep, because I feel the brush of feathers in my face. “Not tonight, hon,” I mumble. “I’m exhausted.” I turn around to see her gorgeous eyes glowing softly in the dark. “Sorry, can’t sleep,” she tells me. “Circadian?” I ask. I know once in a while she has a hard time sleeping during the night; must have something to do with being a goddess of the night or something. “No. Guilt.” That makes me sit up; it’s definitely going to be one of those nights. “Wanna talk about it?” “No, but you’re going to make me, aren’t you?” she asks. “I’d never make you, hon.” “Which is your way of telling me to spill,” she replies; she knows me well. “I feel bad for Katie. She has to live with the genetic history of being one of those monsters…except that it sounds more like they were trying to survive than just being soul-sucking beasts. Furthermore, she has to live her life in a very harsh manner, and being watched practically every single moment. That’s not fair.” “Well, what can you do, Moon? Seriously, we’ll always be there for her, and I think there’s not much more than that. I mean, what are you expecting to do, march into the local branch of the HIVE and tell them to leave her alone?” She cocks her head as if in thought, and I realize I may have just made a very big mistake. The kind that starts wars. “You know, that is a wonderful idea!” She leans down and kisses me. “I knew there was a reason I love you.” With that, she settles in for sleep and now it’s going to be me who’s going to have the sleepless night. What have I done? “No,” I tell her, trying to keep my head up from the table. “You’re not going to win this,” she gently tells me as she sets the bacon, eggs, French toast, and freshly-squeezed orange juice in front of me. It’s a subtle-as-a-sledgehammer signal to keep my strength up, because I’m not going to win this argument. “Hon, you do realize you’re talking about breaking into a non-governmental organization’s US headquarters, right?” “Of course,” she says, sitting down with the same thing in front of her. “And for the record, we’re not breaking in. We have an appointment at two with Dr. Padraigh Molloy, the CEO of the US Branch. Apparently you’re interviewing them to kick off their new ‘tablets for everyone’ initiative.” I’m a little peeved at that. “Oh, you did not just—” “No, actually, while you were asleep, Cherry called. It seems that Diego was supposed to handle that assignment, but he came down with a bad case of pneumonia, and since they can’t get ahold of anyone else, so she wanted to know if you could do it. I told her that I’d ask, but you’d probably say yes. So, go team Technon?” I stab my fork down on the home fries; they’re probably perfectly spiced as they always are when she cooks, but that’s not the point. “Hon, you didn—” “She is your little sister,” Moon says in an even tone. “Maybe not by birth, but she sees you that way. She needs you, North – she needs her big brother to stick up for her. And believe me, I know what it’s like for a little sister to need their elder sibling, more than you can ever know.” “Really? Because I never really needed Don, save for when I was getting into fights!” I tell her. I should know; I lost quite a few of them when I was younger and didn’t end up hospitalized because he showed up in time. “Because if that pastel-maned bitch had ever given a fuck about the little sister that she was ostracizing, I wouldn’t have been born,” she says relatively calmly, but I can feel the power radiating from here. I tend to forget that Moon’s not a “complete” person, but the magical equivalent of a transporter twin (and that was never my favorite TNG episode to begin with.) So I suppose that things that normal people would brush off – even normal ponies – are that much more important to her, because she only has that frame of reference. “Okay, fine. I’ll do it, but you can’t expect me to like this. Especially if we have armed guards shooting at us by the time this is all over.” She rolls her eyes. “Oh, please, love – you should know by now that once we get there, the biggest threat in that building is going to be me.” I really don’t like how that sounds. “Pleasant afternoon t’ ye, Mr. Shores,” Dr. Molloy says, offering his hand. He’s got that full Irish brogue that reminds me of that dick Eddie and it’s all I can do to not beat the shit out of him right then and there. But then again, I do know some nice Irishfolk; Katie’s mother Mary is one of them. Actually, probably the only one I know, now that I think of it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Doctor,” I tell him as I shake his hand and lie through my teeth. “Ah, please, call me Paddy,” he says as he gestures us to the nearby sofa. “And who might this charming young lass be?” Moon speaks up, offering her hand, while she holds an expensive camera she probably just genned up in her other. “Selene De Lune, Technon staff photographer.” He kisses her hand and now I really want to deck the smarmy guy. From his flaming red hair to his green eyes, he seems very much the ladykiller type. The tan and slightly muscled body probably drives all girls crazy, and for him to have earned a doctorate and not be much older than me, well, maybe I’m feeling a little jealous. «A little, truth be told, but I love you for that.» Sometimes the mental link lets her know some things I’d like to keep to myself, but…at least I’m glad to know my little alicorn cutie only has eyes for me. “So, how’d ye like to start off this interview?” he asks as we all sit down by the couch. Unsurprisingly, Moon wastes no time. Setting aside the camera, she looks at him and says, “I’m going to make this easy for you: don’t ever bother Kathryn Nguyen again. She is under my protection now.” He looks at us with a curious glance that we can patently tell is faked; he must spend a lot of time in front of the mirror pretending to be surprised. He’s also slowly sliding his hands towards one of his waistcoat buttons; I’m guessing it’s one of those cheap “superspy” alarm buttons you can get at one of those “As Seen on TV” stores. “I’m sorry, I do—” Moon cuts him off. “Don’t bother pressing that button; it won’t send a signal and furthermore, I turned off the brains of all your guards in the building save for the one stationed behind the hidden door in your coat closet – him I’m letting listen in on purpose.” She then turns to the closet door and adds, “You can bring your gun if you’d like, for all the good that it’ll do you – which is none, for the record.” Paddy looks fit to be tied, but calls to the door, “Eamon, we’ve got guests, boyo!” The closet opens and a man who looks like he’s former military comes in. He’s dressed in a suit, but it looks as much a uniform as a police officer’s blues or camouflage. He then turns to Moon, and his eyes aren’t friendly anymore. “So, one of you finally decided to slip the leash and become a queen. Tell me, are you one of the Canadian ones, or just one we hadn’t registered?” Moon gets up from her seat and gives him a smile. “Oh, I don’t think you’re ready for that information, boyo.” She then turns to our new arrival and says, “Ditch the throwing spikes; you made them too obvious.” He looks at her oddly, then to his right shirt cuff, and there, just barely on the edge – meaning I wouldn’t have seen them if I hadn’t looked – is a trio of them. “How’d you—” he asks as he sets them down on Paddy’s desk. “You don’t have the chops to handle me,” she tells him, putting him in his place. “Have a seat next to your boss.” As he does, she looks at them both with a calm, even glance. “I’m going to say this one last time: Kathryn Nguyen is off your list. She is now, and will ever be, under my protection, and I give you my personal assurance that she will not change from a throwback to a queen. She has no interest in her current skills.” “Tell that to the man she injured in Chicago,” Paddy says, then grins with that look that wants to make me toss him out the nearest window. “Oh, I know all about you, Miss De Lune. She did it for you. Well, you know what? That’s all bloody nice that she cares for ye, but that’s just one step closer t’ having us to put her down. And believe me: I take no pleasure in that.” “That won’t happen,” Moon says coldly, and I can tell this guy should have made his funeral preparations. “Lassie, you don’t know what you’re dealing with here.” I’m going to enjoy every bit of what Moon’s going to do to him. “We operate a little above the law, because we have the safety of humanity at stake! And that’s more important than your bloody friendship with Miss Nguyen. So, I’m going to ask you to leave, and guess what? You’re on our watchlist too, Miss De Lune, especially after trying to pull this little stunt. I now own you, and you’d best—” Her eyes flare, and the rollercoaster ride’s ready to begin. “Nopony owns me,” she snarls… …and a second later, I’m glad I used the restroom just before we came up to Paddy’s office. Because, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that I am the first civilian on the moon. Though, as I see the other two void their bowels from utter shock, I realize I’m going to have to contest this claim. The two Irishmen are probably in dire need of Irish Spring right now and the looks of horror and fright on their faces fills me with a malicious little glee. A second later I see what they’re looking at, and I have to wonder if I should be joining them in terror. Standing there is not my Moon. Instead, a proud alicorn of dark blue stands there, her mane and tail the same color, but diaphanous and filled with stars. Her eyes are blue, and unlike Moon’s, more normal. Her cutie mark isn’t the purple and cyan I’ve been used to, but instead a straight black and white. And as I look at her, at once I see both an ageless being of countless millennia and a very petulant and angry teenager. I know why they fear her. This isn’t Moon – this is Princess Luna, and she is not happy by any stretch of the imagination. She unfurls her great wings, and though there is no sound in space, I can hear the ruffle of a thousand feathers all shouting in rage at the two men across from me. “FOOLISH MORTALS,” Luna snarls. “DOEST THOU KNOWEST THINE PERIL NOW?” The two seem to gather the presence of mind to nod, and “Luna” grins, but it’s a wolfish one, one the spider wears as it watches the fly come closer. “HEAR US NOW AND HARKEN OUR WORDS: THOU WILST LEAVE KATHRYN NGUYEN BE. SHE IS UNDER OUR AEGIS, AND WE WILL BE MUCH AGGRIEVED IF THIS IS NOT HEEDED. DOEST THOU KEN?” The two, neither one a fool, decide that fighting a lunar goddess is probably not good for their future career or life prospects, and agree to abide. “THEN BEGONE,” she intones, “AND HOPE THAT WE NEVER HEAR OF ANY MALFEASANCE FROM THOU OR THINE!” And a blink later, we’re back in the office, and…both men stink. Which is a given, considering they just used themselves as toilets. I reach in my pocket and pull out my digital recorder. “So, should we take a five minute refresher before we start the interview?” I ask with a wide grin. The drive home on the 405 is, as always, a mess – which is good, because it gives me time to talk to my sweetie. She’s been quieter than normal, and part of me wonders if it has to do with the Luna cosplay she did. For a moment, my subconscious thought it was real, so I can’t imagine how two humans with changeling ancestry who were raised on tales of “Luna the Changeling Slayer” had reacted to their own ancestral boogeyman – boogeymare? – showing up. Finally, as we pass the 105 interchange, she speaks. “North…am I a monster?” I glance at her and she’s looking at me with tears in her eyes. I reach out to her and caress her face. “No, never. You were only trying to protect Katie, trying to save the ones you love. There’s no shame in that.” “But I did it using fear, North! I didn’t try to assuage their guilt, I threatened them! They fear Luna, and with good reason! I have her memories of those times: she literally tore Queen Calyx apart in front of hundreds of changelings. I know why she did; she had a good reason to do so, else the changelings would have laid siege to the town of Baltimare, and their guards weren’t ready – it would have been a bloodbath. Furthermore, Calyx was an unbridled monster; I doubt you’d ever find a more ruthless and cunning monster than she. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that Luna – I – murdered a changeling queen in front of her subjects, and Katie and her family are all descended from those changelings…and I used that fear against them.” “But that’s not your fault,” I tell her. “You weren’t born then, and that’s Luna’s cross to bear. Furthermore, you said she did it to save her fellow ponies, and while I don’t know much about the military, I do know enough to know that hard choices like that are the norm, and they’re not meant to be pretty or easy decisions. The best that I can tell you is that you protected your friend today, and if that makes you a monster, then there’s no sense of right or wrong in the world.” She snuggles up against my shoulder. “What would I do without you, North?” “What would I do without you?” I reply back and I know that’s truer than anything else in this world. Without Moon, I’d still be a damaged and bitter man, forever pining over Rachel’s loss. Without Moon, I wouldn’t have some of the friends I do, or many of the changes in my life that have come about because of her. And I wouldn’t be very much in love with the most unique girl I’ve ever met – and given that I can now count a spy kid and a changeling queen amongst that number, I’m still sticking to that. A thought hits me, and I start moving the car towards the place I want to go. I think Moon’ll appreciate the change of scenery. A little later, we’re at the Point Vicente Lighthouse in Palos Verdes. My parents, separately, of course, used to come here for an amusement park that used to be here once; Marineland, if I recall correctly. But now it’s gone, replaced by ludicrously-priced houses, and some reminders of the old park at an interpretive center not too far away. As we sit here, with not a person around, watching the sun go down, with a basket of French bread, brie and some wine, she’s leaning on me again and I’m enjoying the sea breeze. Just little moments like this between me and the woman I love, reminding me why this world is a much better place than it used to be. “North?” I hear a voice call out. Shoulda known it was too good to be true. I turn, and there Katie is, with no sign of how she got here. I’m not going to ask how she knew we were here; now that I know what she is, questions like that really don’t faze me as much as they used to. Moon looks at her. “Fly or teleport?” She smiles. “Right – as if you think I’d willingly deal with traffic in SoCal if I could just bypass it and my stupid wings did more than just ‘look pretty’ or some shit? Actually, I parked on the other side of the lighthouse, so I wouldn’t disturb you.” The smile fell from her face as she said, “I just had a bunch of techs from the HIVE come over to my place and remove all the bugs. Said it was the chief’s orders. Did you have anything to do with it?” “You tell me, Queen,” Moon states enigmatically. “Moon, we went over this. I’m no queen. I don’t even want to be a throwback, much less a queen! I want to be a normal girl with a normal life and all that jazz. I have zero interest in commanding armies, sucking everyone’s emotions dry, or any of that other stuff.” Moon nods. “Have you ever seen a changeling queen? A true one?” “Only some drawings, and given how they were, I don’t expect them to b—what the fuck?!” Moon transforms again, and what I see before me makes me even queasy: an alicorn, as if designed by Kafka. The horn is bent and pockmarked; the legs are pitted, scarred and inexplicably have holes in them, as does the reddish-purple mane, tail and wings. The eyes are similar to Moon’s, but a very unfriendly blood red. The carapace is similarly colored, and the muddy brown chitin of the exoskeleton seems to be tailor-made for blending with the Earth. My mind immediately recalls Katie’s “throwback” form and suddenly the “holes and spots” motif she had going on made a hell of a lot more sense: closest I’d been able to figure previously was that changelings looked naturally like oversized ladybugs or something. “This is Queen Calyx,” Moon says in a voice that sounds nothing like hers. “She slaughtered hundreds of thousands of ponies, because she was intoxicated by – possibly even addicted to – the emotion of fear. She brought it upon my people, and she let it dictate her actions. We were forced to take her out before she wiped out the town of Baltimare. “Over all my years, I’ve never met a changeling I could trust, much less a changeling queen. But that’s changed,” she says as she returns to her normal form, walking over to embrace Katie. “You call yourself a throwback, Katie, but you don’t realize how wrong that is: you’re a queen, because you are as regal and noble as one. You risked yourself to protect me when you didn’t need to, and you never intended to inflict harm on North. So, stand proud, Queen Kathryn. The changelings of Earth once more have a queen they can be proud of.” “I…I don’t know what to say,” Katie commented, “other than thank you. Thank both of you. I can be free now because of you two.” “Hey,” I say, wrapping my arms around her. “Isn’t that what big brothers are for?” I can feel her sob into my chest, and as I look at Moon, she’s nodding in appreciation. Hey, sometimes I get things right.