In Sheep's Clothing

by RattPitt

Chapter 6

I've been walking for three days straight. I feel like I'm about to be dehydrated. It's a good thing changelings can go without water for a long time. I think it's got something to do with the insect in our blood.

I see a massive city on the horizon. It's easily at least twice as large as Vanhoover. I pick up the form of Blue Skies once again. I walk towards the city. Maybe somepony will give me a ride to Canterlot. A nearby sign names the city Las Pegasus.

I walk into the city and inside a small bar. It's nearly empty. Only three other ponies are inside, including the barkeep. "Mornin'." She says once I step inside. "Not a lot of mares come by here."

Not a lot of mares go to bars, I think. At least not to Fermented Apple in Canterlot. "Could you give me directions to Canterlot?"

The mare nods. "Yeah. Normally, I'd point you to a taxi service, but they've closed all travel to Canterlot. You can't go there directly from here. Haven't been able to for a couple of days." She scratches her ear. "Dunno why. Something's going on there, I think."

"I really need to get there."

"If you're desperate, you can just walk there." She says. I try not to sigh. I can feel a headache digging into my head. "Are you just gonna get directions or are you gonna buy a drink?"

I could have used one a week ago. Better late than never. "Whatever's going to get me drunk." I say. I give her a small sack of bits from my saddlebags. She fills a few cups up and slides them to me. The rest of the night is completely fuzzy.

---

I wake up in a dirty white room with a bad hangover. I can smell some vomit coming from somewhere. I pull my head off the pillow. A look around tells me I'm in some low budget hotel. How did I get here?

A door opens behind me. "You're still up?" A voice asks. I turn to it to see a stallion standing in a bathroom. I blink. Dammit. I know exactly what happened last night.

I crawl out of bed with some difficulty. I fall flat on my face and stand up. "Are we still in Las Pegasus?" I ask him.

"Yeah." He says.

"We had sex last night?"

"Yep."

"Let me guess. If I try to leave now, you're going to try to kill me or something?"

"Yep." He gives me a creepy smile that wouldn't be out of place on a serial killer's face.

I sigh. "I don't have time for this." I drop my form and reveal that I'm a changeling.

The panicked look on his face is worth the hangover. He jumps back into the room and hits his head on the sink. He stops moving after. He's still breathing. The idiot just knocked himself out. I return to my previous form and leave the room laughing.

---

I travel east out of the city. Canterlot isn't in my line of sight anymore. I know where it's at, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Two days go by before I end up in a place with any sentient life. The place I end up? A small desert town. The sign at the town's entrance calls it Dodge City. If this is a city, then Canterlot is its own country. I don't know where Dodge is on the map. I'll just ask the first pony I see for directions.

The first I see is a mare. "Excuse me?" I ask. The mare turns towards me. She's an earth pony with a large red mane and tail in contrast to her white coat. She sports a pink ribbon around her neck and a pair of cherries as her cutie mark. She wouldn't be out of place in a brothel. "Is Canterlot near here? I've got some business there. I think I might be lost."

"You're a ways away from Canterlot, friend." She says. "You're in Dodge."

"Yeah, I saw it on a sign. Is that Canterlot over there?" I point to a large mountain to the east.

The mare looks at it. She turns back to me with a smile plastered on her face. "Oh, no. That's near Baltimare. Canterlot is north of here." She says, gesturing to the north with her head. I look in that direction. I can barely see a tower or two on the side of a mountain in the distance.

"Is there anyway to get to Canterlot from here?"

"You want to leave already?" She asks. Her emotions are hard to identify. They're there, but terribly blurry, for lack of a better word. The closest emotion I can identify out of her is sadness. It's impossible to tell exactly which kind. She's being subtle with her body language. "Well, I'll help you out." She says with a sigh. "Dodge is south of Canterlot, but you don't want to go straight north, unless you wanna go through the Everfree." I know enough about the forest that I want to stay as far away from there as I can. "There's a train that sometimes goes to Ponyville. Next one's due in a few days."

I almost want to hit something. The news is terrible, but she's putting it in such a nice way. I like her so far, so I force that thought out of my mind. I don't even know where the thought came from. "How long would it take to walk to Ponyville?"

She shrugs. "Around a week."

I feel something in me break. I want to just sit down and cry my eyes out. "Shit..." I say under my breath. "Shit."

"I'm sorry." The mare says. "Something important in Canterlot?"

I nod. "Yeah. It's pretty important." That's got to be the understatement of the year. "I don't have anywhere to stay until then."

"I've got a room or two that's open. You can stay with me." She says with a smile.

"Thanks." I look up at her. "I never got your name."

"Cherry Jubilee." She holds a hoof up. "What's yours?"

I tap her hoof with mine. "Blue Skies."

---

A few hours later, the two of us are picking cherries in her orchard. That mare's got a way with words. She could get even the Princesses to work for her.

I clear a tree of cherries with help from my magic. My thoughts are locked on Canterlot. What will happen if I don't get there in time? I doubt Equestria will still be a diarchy. It'll probably move to a... What did Tranquus call it? Anocracy? Something like that.

"Y'okay, Blue? You've been awfully distracted, looking up at Canterlot and all." Cherry says. Her voice is deeply ingrained with worry.

Oh. She noticed. I nod forlornly. "Conflicted. I don't know how I'm feeling, Cherry. I'll know for sure when I'm at Canterlot." I admit to her.

"I don't exactly understand, but I won't ask anymore if you don't want me to." She replies softly. I wish more ponies were this kind to me.

I return to picking the cherries. "Thanks, Cherry."

"Anything for a friend." She says.

I blink. She's my friend. She's the first real friend I've had in years. Maybe that's not true, but she's the first I've ever had that's never sent me on a mission that might kill me. I want to stay here in Dodge, but I have a role to fulfill in Canterlot. There's somepony out there that would say 'screw destiny,' but that won't not me.

I could just let Tranquus do whatever she wants in Canterlot. It would come back to bite me in the ass. If I stayed here in Dodge, it would also come and bite Cherry's ass. I'm not going to let that happen.

---

Days pass. Keeping track would have been painful, so I don't even bother. The only problem with that is that I'll have no idea when the time's going to come. I've come to regret that decision.

There's a knock on the door. I quickly take the form of Blue Skies again. Cherry Jubilee pokes her head into my room. "Blue? The train's going to stop by soon."

I look up at her from the bed. It's not as soft as the one in Canterlot. It's far more comfortable. "Thank you, Cherry. I'll visit you again sometime." I step out. My injured knee buckles. I almost fall on my face.

She rushes to my side. She's wearing saddlebags. "You need help, Blue." Part of me wants to object. The rest of me wants to agree. "I'm going to help you to the train."

I respond with a grunt. It's getting incredibly difficult keeping up this form. If she finds out that I'm a changeling, I don't think she would want me in her house.

---

She helps me to the train by acting as an extra set of legs. A few other ponies give us strange looks, but this doesn't stop Cherry. I respect that.

Something comes to my mind that I haven't thought of before. "How am I going to get on? I don't have a ticket." I say to her.

"I already bought you one." She says. She opens up her saddlebags and takes out a ticket. I take it with my magic.

"I owe you." I say. "I'll see if I can get you an invite to the castle."

She jumps back a bit, but quickly rushes to my side again. Did I not tell her I worked at the castle before? I don't think so. "T-There's no need for that." She says.

The engine bellows out smoke. It's ready to leave the station. "Then I'll visit you again." I jump on the train. "That's a promise. I'm not one to make promises, but it's going to happen."

The train starts to pull away. Cherry and I wave goodbye. I feel like a soldier headed off for war. It's what's happening to me in a way.

---

During the train ride to Canterlot, I have my own room. I take advantage of it and revert back to my changeling form. Somepony could easily walk by my room and look in at me. I fear that it will happen, but I don't expect it to. There aren't many ponies on the train.

The ride itself is no more than 4 hours long. It feels like it's lasted the entire day. The fact that this is my first time on a train might be part of that. The fact that I'm going to Canterlot and will probably die there is most of it.

The train grinds to a halt. I look out the window. We're at Canterlot. I return to my form as Blue Skies and exit the train. Everything seems to be normal, though the amount of guards is noticeably smaller than normal.

I enter the castle. The first thing I notice is the stench of death hanging in the air.

Comments

[Luminous Spark]

Five new ones! Fuck! I need to make time for this.