//------------------------------// // Where we stand, where we lay // Story: The Changeling That Bugged My Heart // by sIDsleeper //------------------------------// Chapter 2. - Where we stand, where we lay Moon Lantern woke up to a disturbing silence and realised the Changeling wasn’t near him. After his sleep, he felt much better. His pains had subsided considerably and his headache was gone, and with it, the repressing fog over his mind. His Guards' training kicked in as he felt his brain start to gather information about his surroundings. He knew information was key, and the time he had alone, he needed to spend to get as much of it as possible. He had to assess the situation he was in. Step one, physical condition. He tried to move his limbs one by one. Every muscle aching, stabbing pain in the left fore and hind leg. Both legs were most likely broken. He knew that the fact he could feel pain in his legs was an indication that he wasn’t paralyzed. Yes, pain was good. It would help him keep track of the state of his injuries. He found that his right wing was unobstructed by whatever it was that kept his body bound to the cave floor, so he extended it slowly. The wing spread effortlessly which he noted with slight surprise. His left wing though, was hurt badly and was forcefully extended in front of him, pinned to the ground. Probably the work of the Changeling. The flight muscles twitched slightly as he gave it a gentle tug. Could be a sprain. Step two, surroundings. Between the adrenalin induced coma and the sleep he had, he lost his sense of time. The air in the cave seemed to have warmed up a bit, which meant it was probably daytime in the outer world. He couldn’t feel the movement of the air around him, so he was either far from the entrance of the cave or the entrance had caved in. He tried to sniff around, but apart from the musty smell of the cave, he couldn’t make out anything interesting. His eyes could hardly make out the shapes of rock formations in the looming darkness. As he was straining his eyes to see better, the silence was broken by the distinct shuffling. That could only mean the Changeling was on its way back. Step three, enemy. The Changeling was not coming from the same direction as last time. He could see the glow of its eyes stabbing into the darkness, heading for him with a slight bobbing motion. The Changeling was injured too. As it got close to Lantern, it stopped in the same spot as before, then shook itself and Lantern heard the sound of clanking pieces of wood hitting the ground. It came closer to him and dropped something next to his snout. Lantern touched it with his nose. It felt spongy and damp. Before he could ask what it was, the Changeling said “Moss...eat it!” Lantern looked into the glowing eyes and asked “Am I a prisoner?” “Yes…” answered him the bug-pony, but after a second or two of pause it added “and no.” “Make up your mind!” the pegasus snarled at it. “Both answers are true to your question, and one of those is obvious. If your question is stupid, how do you expect me to not give a stupid answer?” sighed the Changeling. Lantern’s eyes widened at that. He didn’t know the Changeling could speak Equestrian that well. It certainly gave no indication of it so far. He assumed from the one to two word answers it gave before, that it couldn’t talk too well, but did understand what he said. “Ah? Surprised you?” chuckled the Changeling a bit before giving a pained gasp, after which it settled down to catch its breath and to let the pain ease a little. Moon Lantern pointedly ignored the Changeling’s pain and shook off his apparent surprise and tried to make sense of the Changeling’s words. He was a prisoner, yet he wasn’t. He couldn’t understand it, so he asked again. “How am I not a prisoner?” “I’m not keeping you here,” stated the Changeling with a playful tone. “But I can’t move, you’ve tied me up!” said the Guardspony with a hint of anger in his voice. “You were thrashing about screaming on the cave floor when I came to. After you passed out, I used my resin to stop you from worsening your injuries. You broke both of your left legs. I had to form a splint around those, and I had to pop your dislocated wing joint back in. I can let you go anytime, if you think you won’t make my work go to waste.” Lantern felt a little pride swell up inside of him. His assessment was almost spot on. “W-wait, did you say you’d let me go?” asked Lantern with a confused stare. “Sure. You pose me no threat, and I have no intention of hurting you,” replied the Changeling. “Ok, now I’m officially lost. First you try to kill me in Canterlot by breaking my neck, then you drag me along with that headlock when you get blasted out of there, and now you treat my injuries, give me food and water, WHAT THE BUCK IS THE BIG IDEA!?” Lantern screamed at it. “That wasn’t me!” said the Changeling turning its gaze down and away from him and spitting under its breath “It was that fool of a Princess, Chrysalis.” “What do you mean it wasn’t you!? Your little Queen wasn’t even-” “She’s no Queen of Changelings!” the Changeling cut into Lantern’s raging angrily. “She has the Gift of the Queens. She could’ve become the sixth Queen, but that fool let the power go to her head and in one fell swoop she probably destroyed everything we’ve worked for. We never wanted to attack Canterlot, and because of her, now w-we’re d-doomed.” cried the Changeling, breaking into sobbing and burying its face under its holey hooves. Lantern was taken aback by the Changeling’s outburst, and didn’t know what to do with the crying bug, so he tried to call out to it. “Hey...stop crying! Hey...hey!” After a couple minutes the Changeling calmed down enough to look up at him. Lantern took the opportunity to speak again and try to steer the conversation in a different direction. “My name is Moon Lantern. You can call me Lantern if you want. Do you have a name?” “It’s Arc Hive,” said the Changeling, still sniffling a bit. “But you can call me Archive.” “Is that supposed to be a joke?” groaned Lantern. “No, that really is my name,” told him Archive seriously. “Then...Archive, would you get this thing off me? I can help you light a fire with the wood you’ve brought.” “Sure, but how did you know I’ve brought wood with me...can you see in the dark too?” “The sound of it when you dropped it was enough. Where did you get it? From what I gathered about our little prison, there shouldn’t be an exit on this level.” “Oooh, you’re good! Yeah, while you were nailed there, I’ve explored a bit,” said Archive while getting up off the ground to break the resin from around Lantern’s body. “We appear to have fallen into some kind of sinkhole.” The resin broke from Archive’s touch easily, setting the pegasus free. Archive helped him fold his injured wing after he rolled onto his stomach. The resin splints on his legs held surprisingly well, considering how easily Archive broke his bindings. They set about to start a fire the old fashioned way. When the twigs caught fire, Lantern could see how badly Archive was injured. A hind hoof crushed, broken wings, cracked carapace and an unnatural bend in the horn. The bug looked miserable. He felt a pang of concern for the thing. “How the buck could you worry about me, when you’re that battered? It takes some major balls to ignore those injuries,” he felt his respect for the changeling grow greatly, and a sudden determination took hold of him. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll help as much as I can.” Archive’s cheeks developed a slight green tint on the dark chitin. “I-it’s not as bad as it looks. As long as you’re ok, I’ll heal with time. Also, I’m bound by the Ancient Law to not let a pony die.” Lantern scooted closer to the fire and looked into Archive’s eyes. “Tell me about that Ancient Law of yours.” “Oh, ok. But before that...I don’t have ‘balls’...I’m a nymph...that is, a f-female.” said Archive bashfully. Lantern picked up his piece of moss and started to stuff it into his quickly reddening face, while diverting his eyes off the blushing changeling.