//------------------------------// // Chapter 13, Pain // Story: Mechanic Hearts And Postage Stamps // by Ebony Runwick //------------------------------// It was just another day, just like the one before, and the one before that, and before that, before that, and that one, for hundreds of years. Soon ‘just another day’ becomes a curse, and that’s when the sadness sets in. How does it feel when days blur into months, months to years? Ebony walked out of her lair, a bit later than usual. It was noon now, and she’d just now dragged herself out of bed. The mare walked towards the living room to go outside and get the mail, but was greeted by a strange sight. Adhesive and Circuit, snuggled up by the fireplace, which was lit with a warm glow. She tilted her head, examining the two. They were so happy, curled up in each other's arms. So, utterly, happy… and she was alone. Tears began to well in her vision, her green gaze fogging up due to excess moisture. The hybrid covered her mouth with a hoof to stifle a sob and galloped out of the room. Up the stairs and out of the laboratory. She needed to be alone, it was the only thing the mare knew how to do anymore. Circuit slowly stirred, his eyes flickering open at the sound of hoofsteps. He slowly pulled himself out of the little nest he’d made with Adhesive, making sure the other stallion was still fast asleep before he headed upstairs. He didn’t really know where he was going, or why, but something in his gut told him that was where he needed to go. The gray stallion winced slightly as his hoofsteps creaked loudly on the stairs, quickly making his way up the rest of them. He didn’t have to worry too much, Adhesive was a rather deep sleeper after all, but he still didn’t want to make too much noise. The mare was gone, the only sign that she was infact there were a few hoofprints and a single, solitary crimson feather on the ground. The wind whipped around sending chills into the air, it was a wonder the feather hadn’t blown away. The only thing keeping it there was the poor little thing was stuck in the mud from rain the night before. The ‘pegasus’ cursed under his breath, darting back into the house. He jotted down a quick note for Adhesive, leaving it by the fireplace before darting out after her. “I swear to Luna you better not being doing anything stupid…” He muttered to himself as he trotted along, trying to ignore the wind as it occasionally whipped through his mane. The mare had taken flight, making it impossible to track her, the wind whipped her face and her mane behind her as tears stung her face. She beat her wings mercilessly, flying south towards the Everfree forest. On the edge, tucked between mountains and the forest, far from the eyes of the ponies of Ponyville, there was a mansion. A huge spanish style manor with red tiled roof and yellow adobe walls. The entire complex was surrounded by pale adobe walls topped with wrought iron spikes, the path leading to the door was gravel and flanked by cherry blossom trees. To the right, a small pond stood surrounded by a garden and in the middle, a beautiful white painted wood gazebo. Despite the fact that he had no way to track her, Circuit still tried, just wandering about aimlessly for a while till finally the cold, bitter wind drove him back into the warmth of his house. He forced himself to go back to bed, curling up next to his still sleeping coltfriend. After all, if something was wrong then Ebony would tell him, right? Besides, this wasn’t the first time this had happened, and every other time she’d come back. So he’d just have to wait. Adhesive woke up about another hour later, he sat up and stretched with a loud yawn. “Circuit, Circuit wake up, I think we overslept. Ebony hasn’t made breakfast, oh Luna, did we miss Ebony’s Breakfast?!” He shot up in a panic at the loss of good cooking. Circuit let out a soft grunt, snatching up one of the pillows so he could shove it into the other stallion’s face. “It is way too early for you to be yelling so loudly…” The gray ‘pegasus’ groaned as he sat up, pulling the pillow away. “Besides, I don’t think Ebony’s here. She left sometime last night.” His coltfriend did a 360° turn to look at Circuit. “She what?! Where, when, how!?” “Woah woah, relax, this isn’t the first time it’s happened. She probably just needed to be alone or something. I don’t know where she goes.” Circuit shrugged. “I never ask, she never tells, s’just the way it works.” Adhesive sighed but nodded. “Fine, but if she’s not back by tonight we’re going to look for her alright?” He didn’t wait for an answer, the stallion had already made up his mind. Four Hours Later _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The mail stallion yawned, he pulled himself up off of the cozy nest on the floor that he and his coltfriend had made by the fire and looked around. “Babe..” Adhesive said groggily. “Is Ebony back yet..?” “Nhn…” Circuit groggily shook his head as he lifted it up from their little nest, his dark gray mane sticking out wildly. “Trust me…” He broke his sentence with a yawn, rubbing at his eyes to try and get the sleep out of them. “If she’d come back, we would’ve heard her.” The white stallion jumped up, his green mane sticking everywhere from sleep. “We gotta find her! She’s never been gone this long!” He galloped to the kitchen and slammed a satchel on the counter before grabbing things and stuffing food, warm clothes and anything else you’d need for survival. “Where would she go? Any ideas of where she went?” “If I knew then I would’ve gone after her already love..” The ‘pegasus’ followed his coltfriend at a much slower pace, still trying to wake himself up fully. “Relax, she probably isn’t far. Even if she is, she’s a strong mare, she can protect herself. I’m fairly certain I’ve seen her break the arm of a stallion twice her size.” He let out a soft snort at the memory. Stamp’s brows furrowed before nodding. “True… But we’re going anyway! Hey, do you still have Lucky’s number? He and his brother drove us to your Grandma’s house the other day. Runs a pub downtown that we like?” “Yeah, I have it….Somewhere….” He flicked his gaze around the room, taking in the little cluttered spots. One of which probably held the number they were looking for. “Er...Gimme a sec will you? You can finish packing the bags while I’m looking.” The stallion nodded and quickly stuffed a survival knife, sheath and all in the bag. “Hey honey, do you want to take your camo knife or the pink one?” “Neither, we don’t need to take knives! You’re acting like she’s lost in the woods or something, she’s probably just somewhere in town.” Circuit let out a huff, rolling his green eyes. “I’ll just pack both then~!” He shrugged and threw both knives into the bag before throwing it over his back and securing it. “Mk, done, c'mere and get yours.” The stallion grabbed a similar pack before heaving it onto his coltfriend’s back. “Dear Celestia, what did you pack in this thing? Rocks?” He grunted as he adjusted the pack slightly, shifting the weight a bit so he wouldn’t collapse under it. “Is all of this really necessary?” A glare from the green maned stallion silenced him. “Just call Lucky.” He muttered, shoving a small piece of paper with a few scribbled digits on it. “You’re lucky you’re cute..” Circuit grumbled, shifting his bag again before taking the paper. “Let’s just go find her before I collapse under the weight of this thing..” He huffed, snatching up the phone so he could dial the number. “Lucky And Pixie’s Dive In Pub, Lucky speaking.” A stallion’s voice crackled over the line as the caller picked up. “Hey, it’s Ebony’s friend Circuit, the one you drove around a while back? Ebony vanished sometime last night and we were wondering if you could help us look for her, if you’re not too busy that is.” There was a sound of rustling and a door shutting before the stallion spoke again. “She’s gone? What do you mean? Did she leave a note?” He sounded worried, very worried. “No, she just wandered off. It’s not the first time it’s happened so I’m not really worried, but Adhesive is freaking out about it, so…” “Well I can understand that, but she usually leaves a note… Maybe you didn’t look hard enough, did you look on the fridge? That’s usually where she leaves them.” “......Hold on.” Circuit shoved the phone into Adhesive’s hooves, shouldering off the bag as he made his way into the kitchen. He let out a loud curse as he looked over all the notes on the fridge; some even looked to be a few years old. ‘Son of a- Hold on let me see if there’s one from last night!” The stallion searched through the piles of notes and came across a smaller, newer one. ‘Adhesive and Circuit, I’ve gone home for awhile. I’ll let you two be all happy together in peace, I don’t know when I’ll be back…’ The rest of the note is almost scribbled and at the very bottom it looks like it has water damage, like the writer was crying or something. But that was impossible, Ebony never cries, at least, not that the two stallions were aware of...The stallion took the note out back into the living room, grabbing the phone from his coltfriend again. “Right okay, I have a note here. It says that she’s ‘gone home for a while’ and that she ‘doesn’t know when she’ll be back’. It almost looks like she was crying while she was writing it….” There was a string of curses from the other line and then some Irish being spoken, probably to Lucky’s brother. “Okay, we need to find her, Pixie and I are gonna do what we can with support but we can’t leave the pub I’m sorry. I have a pretty good idea of where she lives though, near the northern border of the Everfree Forest, just before you get to Ghastly Gorge.” The stallion on the other end pulled his head from the phone for a moment and shouted something else in Irish before sighing. “Listen, I gotta go, call me if something comes up or you need help, I’ve known this mare since Pixie and I were colts, saved our lives even-” More yelling from somewhere else. “-Yeah yeah! I’m coming you block head! I gotta go now, don’t hesitate to call.” The line went dead as Lucky hung up the phone. Circuit let out a soft sigh, returning the phone back to its original spot. Or at least, close to its original spot. He wasn’t really paying attention. “Looks like you might’ve been right Adhesive….C’mon, looks like we’re heading over to the Everfree Forest.” He shoulders his pack again, lightly flicking the other stallion with his tail before making his way out of the house. His coltfriend galloped up to him before looking at Circuit. “What’s the plan? And why the Everfree Forest, do you think that’s where she went? You’ve known her longer than I have so…” The green maned stallion trailed off and adjusted his saddlebags, his lips pressed into a furrowed line. “Lucky said she lives near there, and to be honest?” He shot the earth pony a grin. “I have no plan, I’m more of a….Wing it and see what happens kinda stallion. I’m sure we’ll be fine.” He gently bumped his hip against Adhesive’s. “Don’t worry about it so much.” Adhesive nodded before smiling at the grey ‘pegasus’. ~A Few Hours Later~ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Ugh… We’ve been walking for hours..” The mail stallion complained half heartedly, really only trying to start up a conversation. Both had fallen into a silence after an hour or two and it was making the forest even creepier to Adhesive who shivered slightly in the wind. “I told you we should’ve taken a cab, but noooo….” The ‘pegasus’ dragged out the word ‘no’. “You insisted we walked.” He continued to grumble for a bit before letting out a soft sigh. “Sorry...I didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m just tired...I’m sure we’ll find her house soon…” His coltfriend nodded before looking up with wide eyes. “Look!” He exclaimed before running up to a small clearing, it was long and narrow and smack dab in the middle was a road. Said road was made of thin slabs of rock that had been carefully placed in a brick pattern. “Well at least we know we’re going the right way…” Adhesive turned his head to another larger rock carved with symbols. “Runwick Manor… Two miles…” The arrow pointed to their left. “Runwick Manor huh…..? Ebony certainly never told me about this place…..” Circuit hesitated as he stared at the sign, his brow furrowing. “Are you sure we should continue Adhesive? I mean...Maybe she doesn’t want us going here for a reason?” Said mail stallion bit his lip but shook his head. “No, I think she’s hurting but doesn’t want to intrude on us. I don’t know why, but I just have a feeling…” Then Adhesive took a determined step forward and began to walk the two miles to the ‘Runwick Manor’. A few minutes later the path was blocked by a large pale adobe wall and directly in front of the path? A gigantic wrought iron gate that curled and folded in on itself, the wall itself was topped with spikes made of the same wrought iron. Past the gate loomed a continuation of the road with cherry blossom trees flanking either side, after that was the house. Well, to call it a house would be a complete understatement, it was more of a palace with how large it was. The manor was spanish style yellow adobe on the outside with red tile roofing at the top of the three floor gigantic home, large french style windows with a criss crossed pattern and beautiful crown molding all over the finish. At the end of the road, it looped in a circle in front of a raised area that was covered by a bit more roof and columns that sheltered the door. Said door was obscured by how far away they were but it was definitely impressive. That’s when Adhesive noticed a small device on the side of the gate directly on the wall. It was a callbox, without hesitation, the stallion pressed the big red button with his hoof. “Hello? Who isssss thisssss?” A slightly hissed stallion’s voice crackled over the speaker. “If you’re wrong about this and Ebony gets pissed about us being here, I’m leaving you to face her wrath.” Circuit hissed in the other stallion’s ear before turning to the callbox. “It’s ah….Circuit and Adhesive. We’re looking for Ebony, is she here?” There was a muffled noise from the other end before the voice answered again. “Yesss, the Missssstresssss issss here, sssshe’ss in a ssstate of sssadnesss, pleasse, come in I will explain once you’re inssside.” There was a click before the gate swung open with a low creak. Adhesive turned to his coltfriend and shrugged. “He seemed nice.” Circuit just shrugged in return, slowly making his way past the heavy looking gates. The two stuck close as they walked down the long path to the house, a heavy and cold wind picking up as they did. He hesitated slightly at the large mahogany doors, slowly scanning over the many carvings of Princess Luna that adorned it. “Do we just...Walk in or….?” They were answered by the door creaking open loudly to reveal a small changeling in a tuxedo, he seemed to be the butler. His eyes were solid cyan, and his mane was the same color but more insectoid and well kept. “Hello, pleasse, come in.” The butler pulled the door open wider and moved to the side in a welcoming gesture. This revealed the foyer, sandalwood floors, two sets of white marble stairs one on each side of the room which flanked a hallway. On the ceiling was a crystal chandelier that accompanied fine murals of changelings and Princess Luna on different occasions. Some murals even had pictures of the lady of the house, in the thrall of battle or helping other changelings. The walls were beautiful blue and grey imported wallpaper with silver columns that were painstakingly carved to perfect detail. “...Woah…” The green maned stallion murmured as he walked inside slowly, marveling at the immense home. “Holy crap…..How did I never know this place existed..?” The gray stallion muttered as he slowly entered behind Adhesive, his eyes just as wide as the other stallion’s. He allowed himself a few moments to simply gawk before forcing himself to concentrate on the matter at hand. “Er, right um...Where is Ebony exactly Mr…?” The changeling bowed. “Buggy, pleassse ssssirsss, jussst call me Buggy.” He turned and began walking down the hall, which was flanked by two statues of changelings covered in real armor and holding very real and very sharp weapons. The changeling turned to a door made of stained oak and grasped the metal handle with magic, his curved horn glowing. “Now, thisss might not be pleasssant. The Missstress iss, upssset. I do not know why, but I can guessss, ssshe ssspeaksss of you both fondly which iss why I let you in. Perhapsss you can cheer her up…” With that he opened the door, the room was obviously a parlor, though lavish. A large stone fireplace to the right against the wall lit and roaring with flame, armchairs and a plush couch flanked by end tables and a coffee table of walnut to match. The walls had a pleasant wallpaper and the carpet beneath their hooves was soft and comfortable. Draped on the far armchair lay Ebony, her hooves crossed and her head buried in them. Soft sobs emanated from her form and she looked smaller and sadder than usual. It was a sorry sight, her crimson mane and tail were in tangles and her wings and fur were unkept. This was vastly different than usual, the mare was always well groomed and took pride in her appearance. Always making sure to look her best even if she wasn’t wearing anything that day. “Ah...Hey Ebs…” Circuit muttered loud enough for the mare to hear, simply saying the first thing that came to mind. He let out a soft hiss as the stallion next to him gave him a harsh jab in the side. “Quit it, you know I’m no good with these things…” He whispered harshly to his coltfriend before turning back to the yellow colored mare. ‘How’s it ah...How’s it going…?” The mare’s head shot up, her face still covered in tears. Her green orbs were wide in shock and she looked from one stallion to the other completely shocked and confused. “W-what… h-how….how did you f-find me…?” She looked at Buggy then, and began to chirp and buzz her wings in a strange way. The butler did a few similar actions before making a buzzing sound and bowed before ducking out of the room and shut the door. “We called up Lucky and he told us where to go….Remind me to thank him later…” The second part was addressed towards the stallion next to him. “So ah...Wanna tell us what’s going on maybe…?” He spoke, turning back to Ebony again. Her eyes flitted around the room, as if she was contemplating how she’s react. “I’m just…. I'M JUST LONELY!!” She burst out before hiding her face in shame. “You two are so happy together and I’m glad I really am, but I miss having somepony who cares about me… Who holds me, whispers sweet nothings to me and just… wants to be with me… I’m lonely… It’s stupid and petty, I didn’t want you to see me this way, I didn’t want to make you feel guilty…” Ebony looked at the ground, tears falling freely from her green orbs. “I...I’m sorry I…” The gray stallion stuttered over his words, uncertain of how to best comfort the mare. While yes, he’d experienced plenty of loneliness in his life, it was never loneliness like this. Honestly, up until he’d met Adhesive, he’d never even desired a romantic partner that much. He’d had Ebony and his work, and that’s all he’d needed. “I don’t…” He looked at Adhesive for help, his eyes wide. Circuit’s coltfriend was on the verge of tears himself, how long had she been alone? He’d only recently learned that Ebony was over a thousand years old… Luna have mercy… How long had she been alone?! “E-Ebony, it’s not petty in anyway shape or form, you have a right to feel, and a right to feel alone and want companionship.” He walked over to her and knelt by the mare’s side. “Ebs, how long have you been on your own?” Adhesive asked cautiously. She lifted her head and looked in his blue eyes with her own green ones. “One thousand, three years, six months, eight days and seven hours.” The pegasus replied immediately, such a precise calculation as if it was nothing. The golden mare then turned and laid her head on her hooves and stared at the fire letting out a long sigh. Circuit cautiously made his way over to Adhesive, lightly resting one of his hooves on the mare’s shoulder. His own heart ached for the mare, as it was hard to see his best (and for a long time only) friend in such a state of sorrow, though it wasn’t visible through his mask of awkwardness and discomfort. He didn’t say anything, figuring he’d leave the talking to Adhesive. The ‘pegasus’ was fairly certain his words wouldn’t do much to help anyways. “And it’s not just that… not just romantically lonely… but everypony I’ve made friends with… they wither away and die with time… They leave me alone, one by one, every time.” She looked up directly at the two of them, right into Circuit’s eyes. “Please, promise me you won’t leave me, I can’t take it anymore.” The white stallion turned his blue eyes to Circuit, looking for his coltfriend to respond. “I…” The stallion looked between Ebony and his coltfriend, unable to meet the mare’s eyes for very long before he looked away. His ears pressed flat against his head, pressing into his mussed up mane. “Ebony you know I can’t promise you that….” His voice was soft as he spoke, filled with all the sorrow his face couldn’t seem to convey. “I...I’m going to die one day and there’s nothing any of us can do about that….I’m sorry…” He gently squeezed Ebony’s shoulder, trying to offer the pegasus a small amount of comfort. “I-I can’t stay with you forever Ebs….But I can promise I’ll be by your side till the my life finally ends…” The mare nodded before pulling her best friend into a big hug, her tears began soaking the fur of his shoulder but he really didn’t give two shits. Adhesive smiled brightly before joining into the hug, wrapping his own hooves around his coltfriend and his best gal pals. “Ebony… When we’re not here… Just try to remember us how we were alright? Happy and laughing, hanging out with you and having good times, together.” The mare nodded into Circuit’s shoulder, sniffing softly before glomping Adhesive into an equally big hug as before. Circuit let out a laugh as he hugged them both tightly, glad to see that the mare seemed to be cheering up again. He hated seeing those he cared about be so sad, especially since he was an emotionally stunted potato that couldn’t seem to comfort others properly. He slowly pulled himself from the hug, discreetly wiping at his eyes. “C’mon you, somepony has an incredibly huge and amazing manor she has to show us around. I still can’t believe you haven’t shown me this place before, and here I thought I was your best friend~” Circuit teased lightly, trying to keep the mood light. Ebony narrowed her eyes slightly and gave him a light punch on the arm. “Oh shush.. I was gonna show you at some point… Just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Besides, I didn’t want you to feel bad.” Just then there was a loud knock on the parlor door, before the golden mare could say anything it burst open to reveal another changeling. This one had solid purple eyes and darker purple mane and tail. She wore a large smile and was about the size of a teenage filly. “Sis! You didn’t tell me we had guests!” “Sis….?” The gray stallion blinked at the mare, slowly looking her over. “You have….A sister…? When did that happen and why was I never told about this?” He turned his gaze on Ebony again, raising an eyebrow at her. Ebony facehoofed before letting out a long sigh. “Not biological… adopted… I kinda found her as a foal abandoned by the hive and took her in…” The changeling bounced into the room, much like a certain pink pony with curly dark pink mane and tail. “Yupperdoodles! Sissy here saved my life, and now I’m here! And it’s great! She even paid for my college, now I’m gonna be a rocket scientist!” Adhesive blinked, a rocket scientist? Really? Damn…. Now he was beyond confused, I guess it’s true what they say, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. “I...I see...Well hello then Miss….?” He raised a questioning eyebrow at the bubbly changeling. She stuck her hoof out almost hitting him from the force of the action. “T’laki Nankai Chichina! Call me Chichina!” Circuit jerked back slightly as she stuck her hoof out before slowly taking it. “Pleased to meet you Chichina, I’m Circuit and this,” he gestured to the stallion next to him. “Is Adhesive.” His coltfriend smiled brightly, waving at the changeling. “Great meeting you, uh, so what now?” Ebony got up slowly, trying to smooth her mane and fur with her magic. It worked, mostly… “I believe you were promised a tour.” ~Two hours later~ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Alright Ebony, you’re house is cool and all...But how much longer?” Circuit let out a whiny sounding groan, flailing one of his hooves dramatically. “I’m about to die from starvation and exhaustion here. The tour has been nice, but can we at least sit down for a few minutes?” “You’ll be able to sit in a minute, this is the last room… But it’s the most important. Be mindful about what I’m about to say. Only a few ponies other than myself have been inside this room. In fact I can count them with one hoof, an idiot who broke in through the top floor down. Thought there were valuables in here, I bit his throat out.” She said it so nonchalantly that it sent a shudder of fear through Adhesive’s body. “Er….Right. Got it…” Circuit immediately perked up, his weariness vanishing at the thought of facing Ebony’s wrath. He nodded respectfully to Ebony, gesturing for her to lead the way. “Let’s go then, shall we?” The mare nodded before murmuring some strange incantation that send a shiver through Adhesive’s spine. The stone doors, adorned with carvings of changelings with scythes, said scythes were down and served as locks on the doors. The lock, slid upwards and the changeling carving moved as they took a different position, holding the scythes outward instead of across the door. “This room is very special, it holds my greatest treasure.” The hallway behind the wall was also made of stone, though little alcoves in the walls held statues of yet again, changelings. Each one was carved to be different, some male, others female. Some eyes closed, others open, some with wings open or closes, all were at least slightly different. Adhesive stuck closely to his coltfriend, feeling like he was walking into a tomb. He turned around to look behind them at a few of the carvings, when something moved. Behind him, a spectral form in the shape of a changeling looked at him. It was crawling out of a statue, and it looked exactly like the statue. The only difference was the eyes of the ghost were blank and dead, but also full of wonder. Adhesive yelped in fear before the spectre dove into the floor, disappearing. Circuit let out a startled squeak, clutching at Adhesive as the other stallion yelped. “Don’t scare me like that you idiot, I almost screamed.” He hissed softly, unwilling to raise his voice any higher. Something about the place just felt so still and quiet, almost sacred. It felt wrong to further shatter the thick silence that swamped the room. “B-b-b-but… T-there w-was a g-g-ghost…” The smaller stallion murmured softly, clinging to Circuit. Ebony spoke, not even turning back to face the two. “Yes. Adhesive is right, that which you saw was most likely a ghost. Many of them are here, yes, this is the Runwick Crypt.” The green maned stallion gulped. “C-c-crypt…?” Ebony nodded, still not turning around. “These changeling figures here, they’re not statues, they’re gravestones. Likeness of those who passed, their ashes and bones are inside the rock itself. It is a special kind from our homeland that can be melted and poured before solidifying. Tis a sacred rite of passage into the next life, but many stick around from time to time to check up.” “Wait wait wait….” Circuit blinked at the mare, his dark green eyes wide. “You just have ghosts occasionally floating through your house and you’re...Chill with that? I mean, it’s your house so your life, but personally I’d be terrified.” He flicked his gaze around the crypt, shuddering a bit. “Are they nice ghosts at least? Like, they won’t murder us or anything for being here, right?” The golden mare nodded. “All of them were my friends in life, and now guardians of this place as a kindness to me in their deaths. I did not put them to this task, many volunteered. Many still have family here they wish to protect…” She murmured as a spectre came out of a statue next to her and twirled around her in a deadly but beautiful dance. The mare murmured to the spectre a few strange words, the same language that she’d used to open the door before. The spectre disappeared after looking directly at the two stallions in front of it and Adhesive could’ve sworn it had bowed to them… “I told them who you are, they respect your status among the living and send their greetings in the old tongue.” “Right ah…..Hi…” He gave a little awkward wave to the statue the spirit Ebony had spoken to came from. The stallion gently nudged the yellow mare, shooting her a slightly panicked look. “I have no clue what I’m supposed to do or say here, help me.” He hissed, his gaze turning slightly pleading. “Just act respectful, we’re not quite there yet…” The hybrid murmured softly before continuing on. The hallway widened before opening up into a large room, almost the size of a ballroom. The walls and decorations were made of the same stone as before, while the floors were made of polished marble with darker crags running through it. Dead ahead steps rose from the ground up to a raised platform where three much larger statues stood. They were not made of the same stone as everything else, but carved of pure obsidian. On the far left of the platform was a changeling alicorn, her face smiling and her eyes closed in peaceful silence. To the far right, made of much paler stone was a pegasus stallion, he looked strong with a kind and loving face and his wings were outstretched towards something in front of him. In the middle, was a much more modest sized statue. It was the most detailed though, made of pale obsidian kind of like the stallion to the right but much more white. He had a spiky mane and tail, a thin but chiseled face and soft eyes which were closed. His wings were too outstretched to something in front of him, in fact, all three were looking at something in front of them. The mare walked forward, and with a small flap of her wings she gracefully landed onto the dias. Adhesive followed slowly, gulping and looking at the statues in awe and also a small sense of fear. He looked before the large figures and to the objects in front of them. Three carved boxes all made of obsidian. Three… coffins… each covered in different writings and at the top, drawings beautifully painted to be what he could only imagine to be cutie marks. “These are what I wanted to show you, who I wanted to show you… These are my parents.” She gestured to the figures on the left and the right. “And this, is my fiancee…” the golden mare murmured gesturing to the middle coffin. “Fiancee…? I...I never knew you had one…” Circuit muttered as he slowly looked of the coffins, allowing himself a moment to admire the craftsmanship before forcing himself to concentrate on the matter at hand. While the coffins were beautiful, it wasn’t really the time to admire them. “I ah….If you don’t mind me asking...What happened to them…?” Adhesive nodded, running a hoof delicately over the mother’s coffin. “I-I didn’t know…” Ebony let out a long sigh before answering. “A long time ago, I didn’t age this way… I aged normally, my first few years of life that is. Eighteen years about, I was born, I grew older and older. He… my fiancee, h-his name… w-was…” It was as if his very name was hard for her to say, she’d been that hurt by his passing. “Blaze, his name was Blaze…. Blaze Ironhoof. Our fathers were old war buddies, fought for Princess Luna in a war against the Yaks. That meant Blaze was around a lot, we became childhood friends and he even hung out w-with… with my…. With my b-brother….” “Brother huh…? You sure didn’t tell me a lot about yourself, did you..?” The gray stallion joked weakly, though his tone was far less jovial and teasing than usual. After all, now wasn’t really the time to be making jokes. Circuit lightly tugged the amre off to the side so they could sit somewhere, figuring it’d be better if they were sitting. “Tell me about them..? All of them, if you don’t mind?” “My brother’s name was Gameflight, we didn’t really know what his cutie mark was, though a healer told us it would come with time… He enjoyed games, he’d come up with these amazing stories… My little brother was so full of life he could light up the room with just a smile, I loved him, so much. I was his big sister, it was my job to protect him… all of them, and I failed…” The mare hung her head in sadness before sighing and continued slowly. “Everything was great in my life, we had two rulers, both Celestia and our beloved Luna. I had two parents who loved me with all their hearts, an amazing little brother, and a stallion who loved me with all his heart and soul. And I loved him too, with every part of my being I loved him… but our town sided with Luna when things were getting heated between the two sisters… W-we were s-sold out…. By a vicious, conniving, ugly, egotistical, traitorous little slut who didn’t deserve to live.” Her eyes clouded over with rage and the green orbs that everypony knew were turning blood red as the mare bared her fangs in fury. “I see….” The ‘pegasus’ cautiously draped on arm across her shoulders, wanting to give the comfort that he could, but not get his arm torn off if the mare decided to turn her anger on him. He knew she’d never really intentionally hurt him, but better safe than sorry, right? “Continue…” The hybrid shook her head to clear it, her eyes returning to normal. “Right… Her name was Mint Bow,” Ebony spat, eyes narrowing. “She was a local bully who made Blaze, Gameflight and I’s school life a living nightmare for years until I stood up to her. That b*tch sold us out to some Celestia loyalists among the royal guard for twenty pieces of silver to save her own skin, left her family to burn….” The golden mare sighed before continuing. “It didn’t take long after that, the guard showed up at dusk two days later, they began dragging ponies out of their homes… Slitting their throats, throwing others in chains, murdering children, stallions and the women… they’d throw into chains or…. Or … w-worse…” Her knees shook as she relived the horrors of that night, memories the changeling hybrid had repressed for hundreds of years. Adhesive rushed to her side and helped her sit down onto the stone steps. “It’s okay… That was a long time ago, you’re okay, nopony is going to hurt you okay?” Ebony nodded slowly, her eyes wide and she shook slightly still. Circuit left Adhesive to do the comforting, as said before, it wasn’t really his forte. Honestly, he was still trying to process the load of violent images Ebony had just dumped upon his mind. “Right I ah...I think that’s enough for one day, don’t you? Why don’t we all go have like, some tea or something and relax for a bit? Maybe talk about something a little more pleasant?” Ebony nodded before resting her head on her hooves and making a clicking sound with her tongue, then rubbing her wings together. Buggy entered the room almost immediately and looked at his Mistress sadly. “Iss ssshe okay?” Adhesive nodded. “She will be… I think…” The changeling nodded gloomily before shaking his head and smiling. “Well then, let me esssscort you to your roomssss.”