The sun mercilessly beat down upon us as we made our way along the trail leading out of the woods. The trees slowly gave way to large open plains, and shelter swiftly became less abundant.
Soon I was sweating profusely as I trotted next to Evergreen. Yet even though the stallion was carrying most of our belongings, he seemed to suffer far less from the oppressive heat.
I nudged him and nickered. “You’re carrying more than me and have a darker coat, yet you seem to be bothered by the heat far less. What gives?”
He chuckled and looked at me. “I’m simply more used to this weather and conditions than you are. I assure you that I’m sweating quite a lot under these saddlebags.” He replied. I, however, still thought he had some tricks for keeping cool.
Thankfully when night fell the temperature dropped along with it, and I decided that I hated cold places more than warm places for certain now. Evergreen told me that the reason for the large fluctuations was that it was autumn, and that day and evening temperatures tended to shift a lot this time of year.
Whoever designed these season things needed to be kicked in painful areas. Shivering, I grumbled about the weather while Evergreen set up our tent and build a firepit near it. This drew my interest and I moved closer to watch him as he worked.
“Why do you put those stones around the wood anyway Evergreen?” I asked the earth pony while he placed rocks in a circle around a heap of dry grass and twigs.
He smiled looking at me for a second. “To control the size of the fire Bluebell. Like I did in the camp near the stream. It’s the smart and safe thing to do really.” That sounded logical to me.
I knew from experience that fire couldn’t devour water or stone. Luckily our hive only had an incident involving fire once in my lifetime. Fortunately, our queen knew how to fight it with water back then.
“Ah, that makes sense then,” I said and waited for him to light it. After he did I stared into the flames and allowed my mind to drift back to that very day.
The fire had first appeared from a mound of old leaves and nesting material that we kept in one of the side tunnels. In our generally dry hive, the flames didn’t have much trouble spreading, setting more and more things ablaze within minutes.
Panic spread swiftly alongside the heat and smoke and only increased when a few of us couldn’t escape and were overcome by the racing flames. We tried spitting resin slime at it but that only seemed to fuel the fire.
Then our queen, Femora had shown up leading a group of warriors carrying huge bowls of water. She called to us over the roar of the flames, telling us to stay under the smoke and where they poured it flames died away. I would never forget the sights or smells from that day.
I felt somepony nudge my cheek and blinked realizing it was Evergreen. “A bit for your thoughts?” He said, and offered me that delicious warm smile of his.
Smiling back I shook my head. “I was thinking about my former home.”
He nodded and poked the fire pit a few times with a stick to rouse the flames. “Regretting that you left little filly?” He nickered while he focused his attention on me again and gently ran a hoof along my back.
I snorted. “No, I’m happy that I left that horrible place. There was nothing left for me in that hole. Besides with the way you’ve been treating me you are far better company than anypony there ever was.” Yes, he was sweet and I appreciated it more than he might know.
I knew what I didn’t regret. And that was traveling with this amazing stallion, he had gone far out of his way to help me while not even knowing me. And asking for nothing in return, I wish I could give him something, anything to show him my genuine appreciation.
Then it hit me, I had something.
Brushing my cheek along his own took him by surprise, bringing my lips onto his however immediately snapped him out of his stupor. There still was a faint hint of that disgusting coffee in his mouth, but I didn’t care. It was him and that’s all that mattered.
The emotions he fed me at that moment would go straight to my hips I’m sure. But hey a mare was allowed to indulge in a vice at least once in awhile, right?
Our kiss broke and Evergreen smacked his lips a bit. “That sure was something else, what did I do to deserve that sweetheart?” He asked, going back to lightly caressing my neck and back.
“For being a great stallion that cares about my well-being and looks after me.” I purred and felt my cheeks heat up. Doesn’t hurt that you look pretty handsome either, I didn’t tell him that part.
He chuckled and softly bumped my nose with his own, I could taste a rather interesting emotion coming from him. “You are without a doubt, a pretty sweet mare yourself Bluebell.” He whispered giving me a soft kiss.
I giggled and got to my hooves, trotting towards the tent with a swaying gait. Then looked over my shoulder. “Let me show you how sweet.” I nickered in a sultry voice, meeting his eyes and flagging my tail at him.
Evergreen did not need a second invitation.
I startled awake during the night when a loud crackle followed by a deep boom broke the silence. I squeaked in terror and huddled against Evergreen even more tightly than I already was.
He stirred, half-awake and pulled me closer to him, his scent calming me. “What’s wrong beautiful?” He mumbled just before a bright flash illuminated the insides of the tent. Followed almost immediately by another peal of thunder.
I whinnied in fear again and closed my eyes tightly, ears instantly flattening against my head. “W-What is t-that?” I stammered, tears running down my cheeks as I started to shiver.
Fully awake now, Evergreen nuzzled my mane and planted soft kisses along my ears. Which in all fairness did soothe my nerves rather nicely. “That’s just lightning followed by thunder sweetheart, it’s storming after the hot day.” He calmly reassured me, earning a shaky nod in return.
His gentle hoof, gradually, caressing down my belly soon made me forget about the terrible weather, as Evergreen made me focus on something quite different and once again reminded me how great he was.
The next morning I trotted next to Evergreen as we resumed our journey to Summerglade. Had I been too eager to invite him for a night of innocent pleasure like that? Was it too soon?
It’s not that I really regretted my choice, oh sweet mother no. Evergreen had been a patient and gentle lover. But part of me dreaded how the stallion would think about me after last night.
I must have looked troubled or agitated because he soon sidled up next to me and tenderly nuzzled my cheek. “Hey, what’s bothering you filly?” He asked kindly, and I flattened my ears. Suddenly finding the dirt road especially interesting.
He raised my chin and looked at me. “Bluebell, what’s the matter sweetie? Is this about yesterday?” I nodded. “Bluebell that was spur of the moment love, you felt playful and heck I’d be lying if you didn’t get me excited too. So whatever is brooding in that pretty head of yours, don’t worry about it.”
“But—” I couldn’t finish that sentence however since Evergreen swiftly nipped at my flank eliciting a gasp from me.
“Yes, and a very attractive one at that.” He quipped while I was sure that the heat of my blushing could ignite the grassy plains around us.
If all ponies were like Evergreen, then surely my hive had been totally wrong in their method of harvesting love from ponykind. Because if I kept being fed like this every day I would become a very bloated bug in no time!
We moved on and after an hour or so I could see the silhouettes of what I thought to be structures becoming visible in the far distance.
“That there is Summerglade,” Evergreen said and I nodded, I had expected pony villages to look completely different from our changeling nests. But I was still very impressed seeing it for the first time.
In a silly moment, I nipped at him playfully before giggling, breaking into a gallop towards the settlement, after the initial surprise wore off he chased after me, soon he was right on my tail snickering. “Come back here you tease,” he yelled.
Entering Summerglade I was in awe, I saw numerous ponies milling about in a bright sea of moving colors. My base instincts kept insisting that I had found the banquet of a lifetime.
Luckily I was a somewhat rational changeling and not one of those Locust. Though I had to admit that my former nestmates had been little better than them.
Besides, Evergreen kept me filled up with love pretty nicely, so I was not exactly craving for a snack at the moment. Yet the sight still left chomping at the metaphorical bit.
We slowly cantered into central Summerglade and were welcomed with genuinely kind smiles by its inhabitants. There was what ponies called a market I believe because I saw various ponies behind a kind of table in the distance trying to sell their wares.
Noticing me looking Evergreen gave me a nudge and passed me a small satchel I could carry along my barrel, he also gave me a pouch with a few bits. “Why don’t you take a look at the market see about getting us some fresh vegetables, while I go arrange a room at the inn over there?” He asked.
I smiled softly and nodded. “Sure thing, and afterward I will catch up with you at the inn.” He nodded in agreement and trotted off towards the building to our right that was a ways off.
While Evergreen did that I made my way to the market on the lookout for a pony that sold carrots or maybe radishes, I kinda liked those I had recently learned. I soon found a mare that sold red and white radishes. Yet, for some reason, she mentioned she was out of bananas, apparently those were popular.
I overheard a conversation near me that caught my attention, however, two pegasi were discussing something that my hive considered taboo but which held my personal interest.
“Hey, Skydancer?” The stallion in question said to the mare next to him. “According to these directions they gave us, Respite should be a few days travel to the east by hoof or only a day or so flying.”
I saw the mare nod and ruffle her wings a bit in excitement. “That’s great Drizzly! We’re going the right way then. Come on Sure Stroke sweetheart we’re leaving.” At her call, a young pink pegasus followed her and the trio trotted off.
Respite? That was Queen Euphoria’s domain wasn’t it? Surely her village of Caretakers would welcome me in? The Caretakers were one of the five great hives and were known to promote coexistence between ponies and changelings. I knew I had to get to Respite too if I had any hope of making it on the surface.
I had never known that Euphoria and her subjects lived that close to my own hive. Elated by this new knowledge, I quickly purchased the vegetables that we needed and galloped towards the inn. I needed to tell Evergreen I had found a place I wanted to go.
Arriving at the inn I saw Evergreen was already waiting for me. And after exchanging a short nuzzle he showed me the room where we would be staying. I excitedly told him that I had overheard two ponies talking about a friendly neighboring village and thus wanted to visit Respite.
He agreed, perhaps, a bit too easily with the idea. “You’re not even going to ask why I specifically want to go there?” I laughed and sidled up to him in front of some sort of complicated indoor firepit in the corner.
He shook his head. “Nope, if you desire to go there I’ll gladly escort you. I once visited there and am not surprised you chose that place to go to filly.”
I gave him a puzzled look and asked. “Not surprised I chose Respite? Why?”
He smiled softly at me and caressed my cheek. “You know why, sweetling.” Swee— He knew! But, how had he figured it out?
I sighed and flattened my ears. “How did you know, Evergreen?” I asked him, my voice barely a whisper while I felt ready to cry.
He never stopped smiling or making low soothing noises while he gently rubbed my back. “A couple things in the past few days were a mite suspicious and had me wondering dear. But secondly, the fact that you admitted it yourself just now silly mare.” Oh sweet mother, I was an idiot.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. I stood up and prepared to leave turning around before I felt Evergreen lay his hoof more firmly on my back, nickering. “Where are you going?”
“Obviously, our travels are over now that you’ve discovered I withheld the truth from you.” That was at least the logical outcome in my mind.
He turned my head with his hoof and kissed me passionately. It was sudden enough that my mind needed a second to process it. Before I could object he pulled me down to the soft rug with his hooves wrapped around my barrel.
He looked at me a moment and nickered softly. “Show me the truth little lover before getting yourself worked up worrying over worst case scenarios.” I blinked but hesitated for only a moment, no more secrets.
Green flames washed over my form as my pony disguise fell away. Beige color replaced by black, my mane turning a darker shade of blue and finally two small fangs protruding from my upper lip. Bluebell made room for Lithera once more.
“Still beautiful,” he breathed kissing my jaw. “Now tell me about yourself.”
I closed my eyes and nodded. “My given name is Lithera, I fled recently from a hive near where I found you because we mistreated ponies from Hoofstead and it disgusted me.”
While he listened his eyes wandered to my cracked horn and I felt his hoof probing tentatively along my torn yet healing wings. “And who did this?” He asked as I tasted an anger that wasn’t directed at me.
“I ran into a patrol on my way out, they got my horn and wings while I struggled to escape. I hid in older tunnels for a few hours before I could break free to the surface.” I replied, giving my wings a gentle but useless buzz.
“I will need to tell a guard about those ponies when we reach a bigger settlement next Lithera. So was I just food for you then?” He asked, which stung a bit but it was a fair question and I needed to be truthful with my stallion to make clear I thought differently now.
Sighing I shook my head. “At first yes, but you surprised me completely with your genuine kindness and care for me. And I came to see you in a different light, I do care for you Evergreen and won’t deceive you again.”
He nodded without hesitation and traced my lips with kisses. “I believe you Lithera, or do you prefer Bluebell? If you didn’t care you would have left me after I sent you to the market, is there anything more I should know?” He had a point there.
I shook my head again and felt strangely relieved that he didn’t flinch away from or even mind my true form. “Just that I am glad to have met you that day and wish to spend more time with you. And call me Bluebell please,” I said, changing back to the matching pony disguise I had grown to enjoy.
As I rest my head against his chest enjoying the comforting sound of his heartbeat he caressed my mane again and responded. “Thank you for coming clean about all this sweetheart. I will gladly travel at your side a while longer.”
I smiled and nestled my head under his chin, basking in the warmth of my companion. If I could help it I would never be dishonest with Evergreen again.
As we went on our way again the next morning I felt a little stiff but satisfied. I would no longer need to hide anything from my stallion anymore. Yet he had told me that sadly our next stop was Hoofstead on our way to Respite.
Thinking about that village filled me with guilt, my hive had done terrible things to those ponies. I just hoped that I could handle facing them eye to eye.