//------------------------------// // Foe or Ally? // Story: Translucent Heart: Tales of a half breed // by Harmony Split //------------------------------// Chapter nineteen: Foe or Ally Purple Star made no move to sit down, the blade still held up high. "She asked you to sit down," High Spirits hissed, and Rosewing joined in. I had no idea what suddenly made me the leader, but they stopped as I raised a hoof, “Purple Star, if we were your enemy, I could've killed you days ago without you expecting anything. I assure you that we simply want to live here in peace." Purple Star looked at me, her gaze burning into my eyes before she sighed and sat down, but notably, her blade stayed high. Well, better than nothing. I sat down across from her and gestured for the others to do the same. High quickly fixed the door in her magic before she sat down in front of it. Rosewing sat down where she could see everything, and Lavender took her spot directly at my side, snuggling up next to me. "Want the full story, or do you have any questions?" I asked Purple Star. "What are you, exactly?" She asked. "Well, maybe you've seen that I have a cutie mark in my changeling form. I'm a so-called half breed, the child of a pegasus and a male drone." "Why do you fight other changelings?" "To protect my family, and to be free," I replied and rested one hoof against Lavender’s belly. Purple Star’s eyes went wide as she noticed the movement. I could practically see the question burning into her eyes as her mind processed the information. "Yes, it's mine. Changeling mares can breed with both genders." "Interesting," she said with a blush. I noticed that her blade slowly lowered, but remained in her grip, "Listen, Purple, we have no interest in hurting anypony. Until now, the Queen used us; but no longer. Now some kind of civil war is going on. We’re some sort of threat to her, she’s trying every trick in the book to get to us, but I won’t let it." "Why are you all mares? Or are these just your disguises?" Purple tilted her head. "We are mares. We have no real rank or status in the hive, we're just in the way of the Queen as the only real mare that gets accepted by the hive. They use us, hurt us, and then try to get rid of us," High cut in, and I was thankful for it, since I had no real experience with the life of a mare in the hive. She used me as a Captain, but I was just her toy. “Why don’t you… why don’t you start from the beginning?” Purple said. “Are you sure?” I asked, “It’s a really long story.” “Yes. The short version is fine if you can summarize it,” the sword that refused to go down told me she was serious about this request. I sighed and collected my thoughts, "I hope you don't mind that I skip my birth and a few years after that. I was still a filly, around eight or nine years old and living a completely normal life. My mom cared for me and I was happy. At some point I started to feel strange, sometimes filled with power, but I never told my mom anything. Then, one night, the Queen captured us. She revealed my true self to me." “What about your mom?” “She was a normal pegasus and caring, she tried to keep everything away from me.” “Was?” “She’s dead, as far as I know,” I replied, my voice shaking slightly, but I quickly got a hold of myself. “What happened then?” “I worked for the hive, I simply had to. The Queen used me for most jobs around ponies, since anti-changeling spells wouldn’t work on me at all. This all went on, and she even gave me the title of a Captain and put some changelings under my command. Until the wedding,” I trailed off. “The wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor?” Purple asked with wide eyes. I nodded, “I was part of the attack, but as you know it failed. The spell hit me, but I survived.” “Most didn’t,” High Spirits added. “I took it as a chance to get free from the hive, and even found a place to hide for a bit, but the Queen found me again. You basically know the rest until today,” I ended. I had no idea why I cut the details about Berryshine and my escape out, but I felt better without talking about it. “So, if I’m to believe you correctly, you all somehow managed to escape the Queen’s control and are just trying to live your lives in peace masquerading as ponies?” “It’s not a somehow,” Lavender replied, “Aurora and I cut the bond to her the moment we decided to live on our own, to create a family,” she smiled. “Aurora?” Purple Star asked. “My real name is Aurora Blue,” I replied. “And the rest of us found good, or at least acceptable ways to deny the Queen acess to us,” Rosewing added. “And kill ponies,” Purple Star said as she looked right at me. I wanted to reply to that, but it was Lavender. Her wings shot open and she growled as her disguise dropped, “Don’t you even dare insult my wife! She was under the control of the Queen, her toy! She did it because the Queen gave her false facts and clouded her mind!” Purple Star quickly pulled back and raised her blade, while I simply laid a wing on Lavender’s back, causing her to slump back and bring her disguise back on, “Sorry, dear,” she whispered and nuzzled me. “That’s.... that’s not entirely true,” I said, eyes closed as I looked down. “Aurora, no!” Lavender shouted. “No, she needs the truth. If we’re asking for her trust, we can’t lie to her,” I replied. “What is the truth?” Purple Star asked, her voice betraying none of the emotions she must have been feeling. “I did kill a pony. Yes, it happened while I was working for the Queen, but it was my choice to do so. The Queen had told me someone was about to blow our cover, a reporter. I snuck into his office and found out that not only did he have pictures, but he had them of Lavender,” I hugged her tighter, “I took his life, I did it willingly to protect her from being found out.” “Thank yo-” “And I’d do it again.” Purple’s eyes went wide at that, but, notably, she lowered the sword, “I would do the same for Wave Night.” “Now that you know, what are you going to do?” Rosewing asked. “I’m still a Lunar Guard. I… I won’t arrest you… for now. But I have to talk with Luna about it;” Purple said with a small smile. “Princess Luna?” High Spirits asked, wide eyed. I could feel that she was about to do something dumb, and I had no intention of letting her hurt Purple Star. With a flicker of my magic, I restrained her against the ground and glared at her, “Don’t do anything stupid. She’s not the enemy, and if she’s got to talk with Luna, let her do it!” “But they’ll kill us all!” High shouted. “She won’t,” Purple said, “I’ve known Luna for a long time, and she knows what it’s like to be controlled, or at least act for another one. She will listen to you, maybe punish you all; but she won’t ever kill or seriously hurt you.” The sudden knocking startled us to the core, and Rosewing opened it, just to reveal Wave Night in her full armor and two short blades in her wings. “Night, weapons down, everything is okay,” Purple smiled at her, and Night looked around, focusing on all of us before indeed lowering her blades. “I have… one stipulation before I agree to this,” I said. “What?” Purple asked as Night stood by her side. “I want your assurance that no harm will come to any of us by the princess.” “She wouldn’t!” “You may be her friend, but that doesn’t make her mine. I consider you a friend, Purple. If you leave here, if you report us, things may happen beyond your control. I want your assurance that we’ll be alright doing this,” Notably, my hoof fell upon Lavender’s stomach when I said that. She noticed my actions and my reasons, I’m sure my words of ‘I’d do it again’ still rang in her ears, “Fine… you have my assurance, on one condition. You take responsibility for all the actions of your group while we await her word.” “They won’t do anything, isn’t that right, High Spirits?” I shot her another glare. “But we will protect against the Queen’s hive if they threaten or attack us!” Rosewing replied. “They’re your friends, Aurora. That doesn’t make them mine. I consider you a friend, Aurora. I want your assurance," Purple Star said, using my own words against me. The fact she called me a friend even after all this gave me pause before I nodded, “You have my assurance, as long as we can still protect our family.” “That’s fine, as long as no ponies die or get hurt,” Purple said back with a smile. “What did I miss?” Wave Night asked. “Changeling attack, I’ll fill you in on the rest of the details later,” Purple said with a kiss to Night’s cheek before turning to me, “I couldn’t see it before. I want to see your cutie mark as a changeling, and what else is different. I also would like to see your natural form.” “Wait, what?” Wave Night asked. “You’re doing this to show Wave everything so you don’t end up fighting with her later. So she’ll see with her own eyes?” I asked with a smile, and she nodded, “Clever, but it will only be me, keep the rest out of it.” "Thats fine," Purple replied. With a sigh, I dropped the disguise of Morning Dew, causing Wave Night to shriek and quickly raise her blades. Purple shook her head at her, unsurprisingly, Wave didn’t relax. Once my disguise was down, Purple slowly moved closer, looking at me closely. Her gaze went over my buzzing wings, over my cutie mark, and then to my eyes. “Your eyes are somehow different. I can’t point on what exactly it is, but they are different from any other changeling I’ve seen before,” Purple whispered. I tilted my head in curiosity. I had never noticed that they were different before. Putting it aside for a moment, I put my natural disguise back on. The body I was raised in. In a quick flash of green, I was Aurora Blue again, the white pegasus with the light blue mane and tail. “Ahh, you don’t know how much better that feels,” I sighed, ruffling my feathers, “This is my natural body.” “I… I… I,” Wave Night mumbled. “I’ll explain it all later,” Purple repeated as she turned to Wave, a small smile upon her face. Wave simply moved to Purple’s side, her stance was tense, her demeanor on edge, but she said no more. She simply kept her gaze upon us all, not trusting us. “Morni-Aurora, I’m taking a big risk here. My duty requires me to detain you and take you to the authorities. I’m not going to do that, I’m going to talk to Luna directly, see what she wants to do about it. If in that time you run, or you switch to a new form, I’ll be arrested. I’m trusting you here, because even after everything, I still consider you a friend,” Purple said. I gave Lavender one last hug and stood up, “I’m trusting you with our lives, and that of my unborn daughter. Our accord is sealed with trust, and truth,” I said as I walked over to her, my hoof outstretched for her to shake. A smile came upon my face as she didn’t even hesitate, the full opposite to Wave Night, who quickly took a step back as I approached her wife. “I don’t ask you to like or accept me. But I ask you to trust me in this case,” I said to Wave Night. “Who says we can’t do both?” Purple asked with a small wink. “I’m not exactly blind. The years teach you to see the truth in others eyes,” I replied dryly. “You’re right. I don’t like you, and I don’t want to accept you. I don’t even trust you, but Purple does, and that’s enough for me,” Wave said with a shrug. “Come, we got a long flight to Canterlot,” Purple said to Wave. “And you’ve got one hell of a long explanation to catch me up on what happened before I got here,” Wave said back. They made their way to the door and I sighed, swapping back to my Morning Dew disguise, “Come on,” I turned to the others, “We’ve got a lot to do if we want to survive here. Lavender, we need more protection spells over the windows and doors. Rosewing, go to the market and bring us some supplies. High, I need your help to get us free from work for a few days.” They all go up to do what was instructed of them, all but one. High Spirits kept on eye on our two guests, watching, waiting for them to take flight. “High!” I hollered, snapping her out of her spying. “They’re gone, we should get out of here,” High stated. “No. I gave her my word, and we do what I said. We’re waiting for them to come back,” I replied. “Aurora, they’re going to tell Princess Luna about us!” “So what? Should we flee and give them the biggest reason possible to follow and kill us? If we flee now, Luna will suspect that we just tried to fool them. She will punish Purple and her wife, and we are doomed to death! Start thinking!” I shouted. “She’s an alicorn, only the Queen could hope to take on an alicorn!” “We won’t take her on. We will wait here, try to survive, and do what I promised,” I said, and moved to go on before Lavender stopped me. “I’m staying with Aurora. You can go if you want, High. But I’m staying because I trust her.” High’s eyes widened, “Are you dumb? Especially you, carrying an egg, should know better!” “I’m staying with them, too,” Rosewing added. “What?” High asked. “You’re right, High, Princess Luna is an alicorn, she’s powerful, and has powerful friends. I don’t think I need to remind you who our enemy is. I think Aurora is right on this call, we need her help if we’re going to win. Otherwise, the Queen will continue to pick us off, one at a time. Just like,” Rosewing didn’t finish that sentence, she didn’t have to. High Spirits looked like she was visibly struck. Her demeanor changed at that, “I… I still think this is a bad idea, Aurora. But… you’re our leader, I’ll trust you on this one.” And again. What did I do that made me the leader? “I told Purple I’ll take full responsibility for everyone, if Luna demands a pound of flesh from us, I’ll give her mine.” “Aurora, no!” Lavender shouted. I don’t know how I became their de facto leader, but it wasn’t a responsibility that I would shrink from, “Hey, relax, I don’t think it will come to that.” “Think?” Lavender asked. “I know it won’t come to that,” I replied. “I hope you are right, because I will protect you as my mate,” Lavender said, and I could feel that she wasn’t joking. “Heh, that reminds me,” I started, focusing on her, “You called me your wife before?” “Did… did that bother you?” Lavender timidly asked. “Not at all,” I replied with a smile before leaning in and nuzzling her, “I like it, to be honest.” She nuzzled back, smiling at me. “Salutations are in order!” Rosewing said with a smile, “So, for now we just bunker down and wait for Purple to get back?” “That’s the plan for now. Canterlot is a half day of fast flying away, so if everything turns out well, they should be back tomorrow or the day after,” I said after a few moments of silence. “We should hurry and take care of what we need before the Queen strikes again,” Lavender stated. High Spirits and Rosewing nodded. High went outside to head to the weather station, while Rosewing headed to the kitchen, making a list with everything we would need. Lavender gave me a gentle kiss before going to her task and reinforcing every window and door in the house. It wouldn’t stop a dedicated attack, but that wasn’t the point. The point was just to give us enough warning to respond to any attack. At most, we’d have to last here for two days until Purple got back. I had no doubt the Queen already knew the authorities would be here soon, Purple’s presence when we killed the two changelings would have seen to that. That reminds me... “I’ll deal with the bodies,” I said, just to be reminded that I had no idea where High had put the one that was outside. The small one inside was easy enough, although the blood was leaking into the carpet. Using my magic, I picked him up and carried him out to the backyard. From there, it was a simple matter to relocate some dirt and drop him into the hole. “Hey, Lavender, did you see what High did with the other one?” I asked when I came back inside. “I think she destroyed his body and the blood outside.” “She did WHAT?” my eyes went wide. “She destroyed his body and the blood. It was the quickest and easiest way,” Lavender replied softly. Knowing where this would go, I walked outside to the front yard. Sure as heck, it stunk of burnt flesh. There was a flash burn on the ground, the sign of the extreme heat that was all that remained of the larger changeling that attacked us, “That numbskull,” I said, facehoofing. Magic wasn’t really an option to deal with this one. Not disguised as a pegasus anyway. Purple might be going to get princess Luna, but there wouldn’t be much even she could do if we revealed ourselves willy nilly right now. With a sigh, I went and retrieved the garden hose and started to spray down the area. “Wow, that stinks,” a passing earth pony commented. “Yeah, burned compost. Nasty stuff,” I replied with a forced smile and a shrug. “Is that what that huge commotion was about earlier?” “Sorry,” I forced a laugh, “Few experiments gone wrong, we got it mostly cleaned up.” He looked at me with a disbelieving glare, but didn’t say more on it. The pony simply continued on his way. After a few minutes, Lavender walked outside and joined me, “Hey, lover.” “Hey, wife,” I said back, earning a blush and a kiss on the cheek from her, “Did you finish already?” “Yep, every entrance and access point has a magic seal over it, so unless they simply destroy the house, we should be alright.” We both paused at that. If she wanted to, she could do just that. “We both know that she can’t afford to kill you. You’re too important to her,” Lavender tried to erase my concerns. “But we both know that nothing would stop her from you,” I shot back. “Aurora…” “I’m not worried about me, I couldn’t care less if I make it through this or not. It’s you that needs to live,” I practically sobbed the words. She smacked me on the forehead. “What?” “Don’t… don’t ever say that. Don’t… I couldn’t… I can’t do this without you,” She was crying, really crying. I quickly leaned against her, nuzzling her neck, “We’ll endure this together. It was just a thought. I want you and our filly to survive, and I would give my life to ensure that.” I was hugging her, squeezing her, but she wasn’t returning the favor, “Stop saying that,” she mumbled the words. I pulled back, “What do you mean?” She looked me in the eye, there was the last emotion I’d ever expected to see in them: anger. She was mad at me. “You keep saying that, you keep saying you’re ready to die, you’ll take responsibility, you’ll give your life for mine. You act like your life doesn’t matter, that if you died I could go on, that I could do this without you. You’re wrong. Your life does matter, it matters to me. I… I need you alive, Aurora. I can’t… I can’t,” she turned and ran back in the house, a trail of sobs left in her wake. “You know that was dumb,” Rosewing greeted me with some bags on her back. “She’s important, I’m not,” I simply replied. “You really are dumb. She loves you, more than her own life, and you keep saying that you’d throw your life away for her? You’d better start listening and do everything to protect your family, and that also counts for your own life,” she said with a glare before passing me and going in. “Isn’t it noble to sacrifice yourself to protect those you love?” I called out. “It’s more noble to live for them.”