//------------------------------// // Eat Me // Story: The Changeling That Bugged My Heart // by sIDsleeper //------------------------------// Chapter 7. - Eat Me As Lantern approached the pool of water under the wall with the glowing stones, he put his torch down just short of the waters edge, then looked into the mirror surface of the pool. The looming darkness made it hard for him to get a good look at himself, but he could see the outlines of his face thinned a little since the morning of the Royal Wedding when he’d last seen himself in a mirror. He lowered his head so the bowl would fall into the water. The bowl filled and quickly sank to rest under the surface of the shallow pool. After gathering up the little bowl filled with water, he sat on his haunches and drank from it, then drew another bowl worth of water and set it down on the ground between himeself and the pool. He would pick it up later on his way back, he thought. Taking the torch, he pushed ahead into the untrodden parts of the cave. After a few minutes of walking he arrived to a section where the cave narrowed into a series of small tunnels. An eerie feeling came over him, and a little alarm went off in his head. There was at least a dozen tunnels in the wall, and even more on a higher shelf to his right. He didn’t have enough time to check all of them. The maximum amount of time he could explore, was set by his torch. Being a pegasus, he had a great sense of direction, so he would have no problem getting back to the pool and then to Archive in the dark, and in the worst case he could make some sparks of lightning to momentarily light up his surroundings, should the need arise. He decided to use the torch to its fullest, and try to see where the tunnels went. He set up a system before braving the claustrophobic holes. Starting from the left, he would take fifty steps into each cavity, and if he didn’t reach the end, he would turn back and try the next one. The first three hole were no longer than ten paces and had nothing at their ends. The fourth and fifth ones went a little further, but they merged at the end making a long hairpin shape. The sixth hole had a barely noticeable downwards slope to it, and there was a tiny vein of water trickling down in the middle of the circular tunnel. Moon Lantern walked down the tunnel exactly fifty steps, where it opened up to another spacious cavern. The hall was too big to be entirely lit by his torch and had giant pillars of stone that reached into the darkness to the ceiling above, almost like a subterranean forest. The damp air was permeated by the smell of fungi, and on closer inspection he discovered that the pillars had rotten wood debris around their base, and on those grew all kinds of mushrooms. “Jackpot! An all you can eat buffet.” he exclaimed in giddy anticipation of food. Lantern went closer to the mushrooms and snapped a few of them off the decomposing logs and deposited them under his good wing for later consumption. He put the nearly spent torch on the top of a boulder, and by the last precious light he quickly stuffed as much of the mushrooms into his face as he could before the flame gently sputtered out as it reached the saliva coated part of the stick. Still munching on the rich taste of the mushrooms he decided there would be no point in trying to feel around for more in the dark. He could always come back with Archive for more once she could walk again. He started to climb up the tunnel he came from in the dark and making his way back to Archive. By the time he reached the exit of the tunnel he was sweating like a horse. “I’m not in shape.” he commented to himself while trying to catch his breath. In a few minutes he reached the pool, but his head started to hurt and the small glowing stones in the wall seemed to be dancing before his eyes. His feet started to shake and he felt weaker and weaker with every step. Before he could reach the water to have a sip he collapsed and fainted. He woke up in a swirl of fog. He was still next to the glowing wall and the light it gave off gave the place a creepy feeling, when suddenly he saw a shape moving in the fog. “Archive! Sorry I took so long, I must have exerted myself more than I thought and I seem to have fallen asleep.” The shape stepped closer, and suddenly threw something at Lantern. The object sailed through the air then hit the ground with a metallic clang and bounced the rest of the way before it came to a halt at Lantern’s foot, making a loud thumping sound that got deeper with every bounce. It was a Guard helmet, scratched and dented to a point where it would be impossible to wear. Lantern recognised it. It was his helmet. “Moon Lantern,” said the shape in a familiar voice, before it stepped out of the fog. Rusty Sickle stood there in his full Guard's armor, scorn on his face and deep hatred in his eyes. “Decorated soldier of Their Majesties, Hero of the Changeling Invasion, who fought until the bitter end. Your funeral was quite the spectacle...traitor.” Lantern froze in place dumbfounded. He looked at his friend and opened his mouth to speak, but he never got the chance. “SILENCE!” shouted the earth pony. “Your words are useless. You have betrayed the Crown, your family, and me.” In silence, Rusty turned and walked back into the fog where he came from, but just as Lantern lost sight of him, another figure stepped out of the fog. The regal form of Princess Celestia, standing at her full height and her wings flared. She looked down upon Lantern with a stern expression on her face. "I am disappointed in you. Your crime is beyond any forgiveness, and you shall be punished accordingly." she said coldly. Shackles and chains appeared on his legs and wings, and a heavy collar on his neck, that brought him down to his knees. "The same goes for your little friend over there." she pointed to the side, and Lantern saw Archive in matching bindings and a ring around her horn, with two Unicorn Guards standing on either side of her. Fear gripped Lantern at the sight of the bound Nymph. Anger and pain flooded him, but the sheer amount of fear dominated both of those feelings. Another voice spoke up and Lantern turned back to where Celestia stood just seconds before, only to see his mother. "And even now, your heart beats for that MONSTER!" she shrieked, then closed her eyes and turned her head away in disgust and continued "You're no son of mine." Lantern felt like his heart was stabbed, and tears started flowing freely from his eyes, still unable to utter a single word. Her mother faded from view, and the swirling fog all around him seemed to be spinning ever faster. A loud cackling sound echoed around him, and the fog fused into a single point, and became...him. His other self stood in front of him, a shit eating grin plastered on his face. "How's it going, pal? Sucks, right!? Well, it's kinda your fault. She's gonna rot in a dungeon because of you... because of your Love!" Lantern growled at ‘himself’ "I don't love her!", but as the words left his mouth, he felt his stomach drop and he started to feel sick. His other self laughed loudly. "Are you seriously trying to lie to me? Is it that hard to understand? Should I spell it out for you? I. AM. YOU." he sneered. "She WILL die because of you!" "I won't let that happen." Lantern flared up. "Then FIGHT!" The chains and bounds disappeared and a spear fell from above, embedding itself in the hard rock of the cave floor. Lantern grabbed the spear, and in one fluid motion swung it at his other self. The apparition deftly blocked the blow and without hesitance returned the strike. They went at each other fiercely, like ancient dragons fighting over a hoard, stabbing, striking, slashing countless times, and matching the other's hits with a block or dodge each and every time, when suddenly Lantern stabbed his opponent squarely in the chest with a rising strike. He wasn’t prepared for the strike to actually connect. As the spear sank into the fake Lantern, time froze around them. Lantern looked at the tip of his spear, which penetrated his other self. There was no blood. Then he looked at his face, just a few inches from his own. The accursed thing smiled at him and whispered: "Fight!" Lantern felt pain in his chest, and the world around him lurched, his vision blurred then faded to complete darkness. In the dark, he could hear a quiet voice: "Lantern, fight!" It was Archive's voice. Her normally cheery, chirping voice sounded so distressed. Lantern wondered why. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and his eyes flew open just in time, to catch the hardly digested mushrooms flying out of his mouth onto the floor in the company of some stomach acid. He kept retching and coughing for a few seconds before he realised Archive was lying behind him, her hooves clutched around his midsection, and she was crying and sobbing into the fur on his back. Lantern wiped his maw with one of his hooves, and used the other to shakily take hold of Archive's hoof and gently lift it to his face, where he placed it just under his old scar. Archive brushed her hoof along the scar, tightened her grip around Lantern, buried her face in his back and kept on crying.