//------------------------------// // The game changed // Story: Translucent Heart: Tales of a half breed // by Harmony Split //------------------------------// Chapter sixteen: The game changed My wings burned with the effort of getting to Lavender's shop. I felt my muscles protesting from the effort, some of my feathers falling off from the rough treatment I was putting them through. The wind lashed against my face, the water impacting my skin like lashes of a whip. I welcomed it, all of it, but especially the pain. The pain was my wake up call, my penance for being so stupid, for thinking I could finally let my guard down, for trusting her like I had. I had no idea what I would find when I got to the shop, but that didn't stop me. I knew she was alive, I just knew it. I knew it because the possibility of things being otherwise would have caused me to give up. I couldn’t even consider such an idea. If I did, I would have cratered myself into the ground at full speed. On purpose. The black smoke in the distance almost caused me to do it anyway. I knew it was from her shop, I simply knew. Her shop was on fire, the changelings had set her shop on fire. I doubled my efforts, pushing my wings beyond the point of simple exhaustion, beyond the point that tears and ruptures could be felt in my muscles. In truth, I didn’t feel any of them. I could feel nothing at that moment. It was almost as if my heart had simply gone dead as soon as my eyes took in the smoke. The smell hit me next. It was the smell of burned pastries, of burned cupcakes, of a burning future. My love, my foal, everything. It was the smell of all of it burning to the ground. The rainwater was causing me to cry out as my body made impact. They were stings that taunted me with the pain they caused. They should have been putting out the fire, that’s what rain does, is it not? Instead, they were hurting me, and worse, impeding my efforts. I saw the shop burning from the side door. No doubt a kitchen fire. I didn’t even slow down, at the last second I wrapped my right wing over my face and pushed forward with my right hip. My body crashed through the front window with the speed of a train impacting a house. I collided with the tables, my head saved from the worst of it as I felt my shoulder dislocate from the impact. I shot up, grateful and lucky that my wings still worked, “LAVENDER!” My shout was almost drowned out by the sounds of fire. I could smell nothing but burning pastries, I could see nothing but smoke, I could feel nothing. Nothing at all, not even the heat of the fire. “LAVENDER!” I shouted again and again, my lungs filling to the brim with smoke and heat. I couldn't shout anymore, my coughing stole that right from me. I was deaf, dumb, and blind. However, I could still feel. So I did that. I landed, pain shooting up from my dislocated shoulder. I blew it off and started walking, welcoming the pain, the pain meant I was still awake, still alive, still had a hope to find her. Suddenly, a blue magical aura surrounded me and yanked me out of the shop. My shouts of ‘no’ went unheeded, unheard, unspoken as I couldn’t speak. I simply kicked out, feeling the pain of my shoulder shooting through me once again. “Relax!” A voice shouted from my side as I felt three ponies run up to me. They were each there for a different purpose. One of them wrapped a mask around my muzzle, to give me oxygen. The other saw to my eyes, and the last went to my hurt shoulder. I kicked the first one off me. It took everything I had not to use my magic against him, not to transform, “Lavender!” I cried again, not letting them come near me. “There’s nopony else in there!” the first one shouted again. “No,” My eyes went wide with tears as my mind went to what that meant. “No, there’s nopony else in there, dead or alive,” he corrected. She must be… home… she has to be there... I bucked the unicorn in the face and took off as quickly as I could. It wasn’t fast, and it hurt so much worse than on my trip over there. But I had seen that none of the rescue workers were pegasi, and only the one in charge was a unicorn. By disabling him, I was home free. Quickly, I put all the power I had left into my wings. I could already see the house in the distance, or at least I believed so. I went as fast as I could, but two pegasi flew directly into my way and my choices were to crash into them or crash into a roof. Both were bad ideas on a good day, and this was not a good day. Sadly, as to avoid them, I crashed straight into the next roof. “Ouh, I think that must’ve hurt,” one of the blockers giggled as they stood at the hole I made in the roof. I could tell by the sounds of his voice that he was a stallion. “Let’s hope we didn’t kill her, the queen’s got plans with her,” the other one, this time a mare, replied. “It’s such a shame that we can’t kill her, Electric,” the stallion laughed as I looked up. I really just wanted to buck them into their muzzles, maybe kill them. I assumed that they were the ones who set Lavender’s shop on fire, and I was kinda right. “I think it is more of a shame that Lavender was late to work today. Would’ve been fun to burn her and their unborn foal,” the mare laughed and at those words, I just couldn’t hold myself back anymore. With a growl I leapt at them, but they quickly sped out of the way. “Ah, ah, ah! You wouldn’t dare kill us as long as we have Lavender, right?” the stallion said. “What?!” I shouted. “And she’s not home,” they giggled. Changelings, by their nature, feed on love. We leach off those in love like a parasite, like a sickness, growing stronger and stronger by it. If these fools made one mistake, it was not realizing a fundamental truth I didn’t even know at that time. While feeding on the love directed to others is fulfilling, feeding on love directed to you is a step beyond. Green magic surrounded my form, surrounding my body with energy and hatred, enough to cause them both to take a small, yet noticeable step back. “Where is she?” I asked with no small amount of venom in my voice. “Oh, that’s the funny part of the story,” the mare laughed, “She ran off after we told her that you joined the queen’s ranks. You know what the best part is? She seemed to believe us!” I snapped. And I didn’t even care about the consequences. Before they could react, I shot a blast against them. Not my most powerful, but with delight I saw that it burned them. It was the power of the love Lavender and I shared. Screaming, the mare went down and the stallion did the worst thing he could think of. He attacked me. That was his first mistake. He did so by flying directly at me into the hole I had made into the roof. That was his second. He wouldn’t get a third. I took his attack, he lashed out at me with his teeth. He clamped onto my dislocated shoulder with ease. What surprised me the most, or would have if I thought about it anyway, was that it didn’t hurt. Either that or I simply didn’t care about something as pathetic as pain right then. My left hoof found his jaw in less than a second to bump him away, followed by a blast that was slightly more powerful than the last one. With surprise, but also a smile, I noticed that he burned completely this time. The smell of charred flesh filled my nostrils this time around. It was the smell of victory. Of course, that still left the main issue. I flapped my wings to test their condition. They hurt, a lot, but I could still fly. With three more beats, I flew out of the hole and went looking for his partner in crime. She was trying to crawl away along the ground, seeking whatever sanctuary she could away from the one that had hurt her so. My bulk landed on her front hoof with a rather satisfying snap. I heard her scream, I saw fear in her eyes as she looked up at me. That only served to fuel my fury, everything was red, as red as the fire had been at Lavender’s shop. I brought my hoof up and was about to slam it down upon her skull. I stopped. It wouldn’t help me find her. That had to be the first thing, that had to come first, nothing else mattered. I placed my hoof down and leaned next to her ear, “I’ll ask you one time only, where is Lavender?” My voice left no doubt that was it, it was answer my question or die. “I can’t disobey the queen,” she stammered. I sighed, “At least tell me your name before you die.” “E-E-Electric Blue,” the mare quivered, “Please, don’t kill me. I only do what she or Nightjar tells me!” “Nightjar?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “The stallion with me. He is one of her commanders,” she whispered, as if she was afraid to tell me, “Oh no! she knows that I told you.” Well, he was one of her commanders. I knew what would happen next. But somehow, I didn’t care. Turning around, I was about to spread my wings and take off again before a thought crossed my mind. I turned back to the mare, seeing a look of pure fear in her eyes as the queen teased her with her fate. “Tell me, and I’ll kill you before she does. My way will be a lot quicker.” “2950 Celestia Boulevard!” The mare screamed out as the queen’s punishment was delivered in force. My hoof came down next, cracking her skull and ending her suffering. I couldn't help but feel a bit bad about her. If she had told the truth, she was in the same state I was at my time with the hive. Simply a mare to play for the queen and the other changelings. At least she would never suffer again. My journey to the named address was slightly more cautious, that they had her alive was a sign that they wanted to keep her alive. However, they were also expecting me. I knew both of those things, as there was not a doubt in my mind that they would be expecting me. It was the only reason not to kill her, after all. To get to me. That made me angry. That was the deal, I was hers to use as long as Lavender stayed safe. Why had she done this? Simply because she lost her connection to us? It had to be more than that. I knew I was getting close when I saw two more ‘pegasi’ making their way to me. Pegasi, yeah right. To their credit, they seemed smarter than the last, or at the very least informed of my temperament. They simply flew to my sides, escorting me down below. I followed as there was no reason not to, after all, it was where I needed to go anyway. My jaw almost hit the ground when I saw two more pegasi in front of the door. One I recognized almost immediately: High Spirits. “Wow, you look like shit,” she said with a laugh. “You should see the other two,” I replied back with a deadpain expression. They recoiled at my comment, no doubt informed of how I dispatched two of their number with such ease despite my condition. “So I’ve heard. Let’s see, I believe introductions are the right way to start this off. This here is Silver Speed, and the two next to you are Steam Roller and Rosewing.” My gaze never left High Spirits. I didn’t even acknowledge the existence of the others, “Where. Is. She?” the words left my muzzle though grunts of indignation. “Lavender’s safe, Aurora. Relax before you drop dead on us.” “Why should I?” “Because we’re not all your enemy,” High Spirits said with a smile, causing me to pause. “What?” the stallion behind me suddenly shouted. High Spirits sighed, “Rosewing, would you show Steam Roller our plan?” Rosewing didn’t talk, the pale yellow mare simply shot the stallion where he stood with her magic. He didn’t even scream when he died. “What the hell is going on here?” I asked. “The queen didn’t just lie to you. She is building her hive once again, but there are a few mares that decided to opt out. We found ways to ignore, or at least weaken her presence enough so that she can’t kill us. We just didn’t use it until now,” High Spirits frowned, “Mares were always only servants for the hive, and most of us just wanted a family and a life. Just like Lavender and you,” she added with a smile. I was more confused than ever before, “Where is she?” “Inside, she’s sleeping. We saved her from Nightjar and the others. Sadly, there are still a few left in this town that are serving the queen. And next time, spare the mares. Electric Blue was one of us,” High Spirits looked at me with a sad expression and I swear, for a moment, I saw a tear running down her muzzle. I didn’t know why I said what I said next, “I did, the queen was going to torture her to death, I put her out of her misery.” Rosewing scowled at that, “I told you that she wasn’t ready, High! I told you that she wasn’t strong enough to keep the connection to her weak enough! Now look what you’ve done!” The atmosphere changed at that, “Don’t you think to tell me that it is my fault! She wanted to be a part of the plan, and I’m surely not happy that my mate is gone!” I perked up at that, “Hey, we are on the same side, from what I’ve figured out, so let’s save all our anger for the Queen.” They paused in their bickering and then the strangest thing happened. High Spirits walked up and hugged me, “Thank you,” she said. I was taken aback by that, “For what?” “I’ve… I’ve seen the queen punish one of us to death before. It’s,” she was crying at that point, “If she had to die, I’m glad you made it quick.” “There’s just one problem,” I said, “She didn’t have to die. Why did you…” “I’m sorry,” she replied, wiping a tear from her eye, “We had to keep up the facade. I had to go through with the queen’s plan. I know I probably made you worry, I’m sorry.” I nodded in understanding, although there was one thing I still needed an answer for, “Why us? Why did you risk so much for us?” Rosewing took that one, “Like she said, we’ve all learned to keep the queen out to one degree or another, but you two did something we thought was impossible. You two severed the connection totally. If we ever want true freedom, if we ever want our own lives, we have to learn how you did that.” “I… I don’t know what to say, I have no clue how we did it.” “We’ll talk about it later, I think you have a certain mare waiting for you,” Silver said. My head did a double take as I realized that they had all moved to the side. My heart skipped a beat as I went to run forward, only to stumble when I tried to place weight upon my dislocated shoulder. High Spirits caught me in her wing and helped me up, “No need to kill yourself,” she said with a smile. “Can you blame me?” I asked. There was a haunted look in her eye as she took in my meaning, “No.” Together, we walked into the building. High Spirits doing her best not to cry from her loss, me doing my best not to cry from the pain of my wounds. Pain that was picking now to remind me just how injured I was… again. She’s going to kill me. The thought almost made me laugh. If I wasn’t sure it would hurt like hell, I would have let myself laugh. As we walked into the door, my heart almost stopped when I looked upon the most beautiful face I could ever see in my life. “Lavender.” She wiped a tear from her eye as she smiled at me, “You… you numbskull.” The next I felt was her smell in my nostrils and then her weight as she jumped on me. I didn’t care about my injuries at that moment, I simply loved her being near me. I didn’t know if the tears hitting my coat were mine or hers, I didn’t care either. They were our tears, “I love you, I love you so much,” I sobbed the words out. “I love you, too,” she cried and cried. That is settled. Leaves only one thing. “What’s the plan now?`” I asked High Spirits, who was smiling at the display. I nodded in agreement before smiling at Lavender, “Looks like our family just got bigger.”