Let's Try This Again

by HypernovaBolts11

Chapter IX - Traveled

Twilight hauled herself out of bed, her mane in a tangled mess. She blew a clump of keratin away from her eyes, and lifted her hairbrush before her mirror. She heard a faint, high pitched, whistling sound, as though someone was whistling as they exhaled and inhaled. She glanced at the edge of her mirror, still brushing her mane.

She spotted Fangheart, lying against the wall in an uncomfortable position. She wiped her eyes clear, and, satisfied with her mane, turned to face the stallion. She figured it best that he not sleep in too much, and at least invite him to have breakfast. If changelings really ate anything, she didn't know if it was necessary for their survival, but he could at least talk to her while she ate.

She looked her calendar over and darted to Spike's bed, grabbing her bags from a drawer by her bed. She shook the dragon awake and said, "Spike, you need to get up. The others and I are going to the Crystal Empire today." She began lifting various objects from around the room into her bag and strapped her luggage to her back.

Spike groaned and rolled out of bed.

Fangheart's brown eyes snapped open in an instant, and he was standing on all fours before she could blink. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, and his wings were tensed at his sides, prepared to fly an a moment's notice. He whipped his head from side to side, surveying his surroundings for anything dangerous.

He focused his gaze on Twilight, and relaxed. His shoulders slid back as he calmed down, assured that nothing intended to eat him. He smiled at the unicorn, not consciously, but warmly. He couldn't have explained his expression, nor did he realize that he was smiling. "Hello," he said, nearly whispering.

"Hi," Twilight said. She thought for a moment and asked him, "Have you ever taken the train before?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and said, "Of course I took the train. There's no easier crowd to hide within than on a packed train."

Twilight hemmed thoughtfully, and said, "We'd have to buy a ticket at the station, but I'll take care of that." She smiled at the false pegasus and declared, "We're going to the Crystal Empire."

---

Fangheart had shrunk against the back corner of the train car, less than eager to be surrounded by a bunch of ponies who, if provoked, wouldn't fall for his usual defenses, which tended to really on his mother's presence, who would play a pony to vouch for him if things went poorly, or a complete lack of anyone who knew his true identity.

And he knew that he had neither his mother nor anonymity to save him if he screwed up his act. He'd already made plans to forget his own identity, erase whomever the hive had once known, and become Fangheart, another pony. If he couldn't make other ponies believe that he was a pony, he'd never be able to convince himself of such a notion.

Twilight was sitting in another booth, talking to her friends about wherever they were going.

The train's whistle blew, and the car lurched forward.

Fangheart braced himself against the wall and took deep, slow breaths. Every fiber in his being was demanding to move closer to his mother. He said that he'd been on trains, not that he liked them. He swallowed hard as the train picked up speed, hustled and hurried by the steam flowing through its mechanical body.

The train accelerated, going faster and faster as time went by and the landscape of Ponyville scrolled out of the window across from him. He thought it would never end, but a few seconds later, the train stopped accelerating, and maintained a constant speed —or one constant enough that he couldn't feel the difference.

Fangheart slowly stood up and lay down on the seat next to him, keeping his head low. He only stood up when he heard his name, and looked at the group of mares in the next booth. He watched them for a moment, and asked, "What was that?" He took a long look at the group, trying to see if he could name any of them.

Rarity was sitting next to the window, on the side of the table closest to his booth. Twilight sat across from her, looking at him expectantly. To Twilight's left sat an orange earth pony, with a blonde mane that was tied at the end with a red ribbon, and to whose left sat Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie sat across from a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and red eyes. Sitting between her and Rarity was a pegasus with a yellow coat and a pink mane.

Twilight pointed to the earth pony next to her and said, "Fangheart, this is Applejack. She works at Sweet Apple Acres."

"How d'ya do?" Applejack asked him, tipping her hat up a bit.

He bowed his head slightly, not enough warranted by royalty, but enough to convey proper respect. He'd been taught how to function in pony society —even if his teacher's sources had been a thousand years out of date. He'd been taught to speak as infrequently as he could, to never tell more than one story at a time, and to never, no matter what, draw attention to himself.

Twilight pointed her hoof at the cyan pegasus and opened her mouth to speak, but the mare with the multicolored mane had already flown over Fangheart's head, and sat down across from him in his booth. "Rainbow Dash, and you'd better not be here to swipe the Crystal Empire's chances at hosting the games," she said, leaning forward a bit and narrowing her eyes.

Fangheart gulped and shook his head. He straightened his back, trying to convey confidence and trustworthiness.

Twilight pointed to the last pony he hadn't met, the yellow pegasus. She said, "This is Fluttershy."

Fangheart stepped out of his booth and walked over to theirs. He said, "I appreciate the introduction, Twilight, but you still haven't explained to me where it is were going and what we're gonna do there."

Twilight said, "We're going to visit The Crystal Empire to act as the welcoming committee for the Games Inspector. It just so happens that my brother runs the place, so this was more of a favor than anything else."

Rainbow Dash flew in front of the stallion and sat down in her own seat. She said, "And if we don't get it right, The Crystal Empire won't get to host the games." She sounded like one of those crazy salesponies whose only goal in life seemed to involve selling useless stuff.

He said, "Well... This all sounds important. What exactly was your brother's name? I don't think we talked at all about your family since our first meeting."

Twilight answered immediately, "Shining Armor, and he's married to Princess Cadance."

Dozens of alarms went off in Fangheart's head. Almost every word in that sentence meant bad news for any changeling, but him especially. His mother had spoken spitefully of those two ponies and their weapon against changelings, and often spoke of weddings as buffets placed atop giant mousetraps.

He nodded, keeping his cool as best he could. "And I'm here because it was convenient, and Spike was distracted enough by his cake?" he asked.

Twilight nodded.

Rarity's eyes focused on the him, and, through either quick thinking or spite, said, "Well, I'm not sure dragging him along was the best plan, Twilight, but it's a good idea for him to meet your family. You two make a cute couple, and I'm sure your brother won't find him objectionable."

Both Fangheart and Twilight turned to Rarity, speaking in unison, "It's not like that!"

Everyone at the booth stared at them, giving them the sense that no one believed them. They weren't a couple, and, now that they thought about it, creating an alibi in advance would have been a nice idea.

Twilight sat up, and requested that Applejack and Pinkie stand up. She made her way out of the booth, and said, "Be right back, just need to sort a few things out."

Fangheart smiled, stepping out of her way, and said, "Okay, good luck."

"I meant both of us," she added, gripping him in her magic, and dragging him along with her. She only took him into the next cart, closing the door behind them with her magic, and set him down in front of her. "Okay," she said. "We need to get our stories straight before we tell any lies."

Fangheart cocked his head a bit, and said, "But we didn't lie."

Twilight nodded. "Not yet, we didn't. But it'll be unavoidable at some point in the future, so let's say..." she trailed off, looking down a bit, thinking. She sat there for a while, leaving Fangheart with little to do. After a few seconds, she said, "Okay, if anyone asks, you're unemployed, and just happened to be wandering outside the library when you collapsed of exhaustion, and I'm just taking care of you until you can get back on your feet."

He nodded, and pointed out, "Not a word of that is a lie."

Twilight nodded, "That's why it's such a good story. Now, if anyone asks you for more specific details, avoid them until I can come up with more."

---

Fangheart rolled his eyes just before the six mares all fell over, landing on top of one another, the train screaming to a halt. He jumped, adrenaline coursing through his body as the deceleration felt to him as extra weight, and he steadied himself against the table with his hooves.

When the train stopped, the conductor poked his head through the front door, and said, "Crystal Empire, ladies. Watch your step leaving the train." He opened his eyes, and backed up when he spotted the aforementioned mares, all of whom had collapsed, and were groaning at various volumes.

Applejack said, "Probably should'a watched our step while we were still on it, too."

Fangheart's heart pounded furiously, and he whipped his head from side to side, trying to locate and assess any threats. He found none, and only stopped looking when Twilight walked over to him.

She asked, "You sure you've been on a train before?"

He nodded frantically, and swallowed hard before standing up. "Yeah, I've been on a train, just... never had to worry about the fight or flight response," he told her, and stumbled out of the train car, onto the station floor. He slumped down against a pile of luggage, and panted for a moment.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at the grey pegasus, and muttered to Twilight, "Are you sure that your boyfriend is even a pegasus? Handling acceleration is the first thing I learned at Junior Speedsters Flight Camp."

"He's not my boyfriend, and he didn't get invited to Junior Speedsters," Twilight told her.

Pinkie Pie had grabbed a pastry of some sort from under a counter, and stuffed in her mouth as she turned around. Her eyes went wide, and she spoke with her mouth full, her lips still stained with pastry, "Wow. The Crystal Empire looks crystalier than ever!"

Fangheart looked up from the floor, and his chest went still as he looked. He sat there for a moment, his jaw dropping to the floor, and he said, "Wow." He stood up, and darted towards the group of six. He took a liking to the place almost immediately. Everything felt charged with energy. The walls, the ground, the ponies, all brimming with love.

Everything shimmered brilliantly. The flowers glittered in the sunlight. The ponies all had a certain luster to them, vibrance and strength filling the whole city. He could feel a warmth in the place, a soft, but all encompassing source of love, which grew stronger as they strode towards the palace at the city's heart.

To him, it felt like a hearth, glowing, homely, warm, and comforting. It was like the palace itself was radiating emotion, like the city itself was in love with its citizens, and their love for it thickened the air with the sweetest fragrance to any changeling, that which was love.

If his mother could only see it, she would have...

He froze mid-stride, his hoof a mere centimeter off the ground, his train of thought slamming to a disturbing halt, much like the very engine that had brought him there. He pinned his ears back, and wore a humbler demeanor, remembering. He sniffled a bit, and looked down.

His reflection stared back up at him, showing not Fangheart, but him, for who and what he really was. He stared at the apparition of a black, vile, venomous creature, who could only stare back up at him, never blinking its cold, poison green eyes. He wiped his hoof over the changeling's face, and shook his head, trying to wish the image away.

He hated it. He hated himself. He hated that thing that was only worried with itself. It only thought of one thing when it saw this place, food. It demanded of him to march towards the nearest pony, hit them over the head, and drag them away from their home, from this love the city felt for them.

He sniffled again, and slammed his hoof down on the monster's face, trying to dispel the apparition. He grunted, having hurt his hoof, forgetting that it was fur and flesh now, not chitin and slime. He frowned at the thing, and looked away. He shook his head, and ran to meet the others, determined not to think about changelings, their ways, or himself until he died.

His mother, all because of his mother. This was all her fault, for making his father drink that compatibly potion.

He shook his head, and ran through the doors of the salon just before they swung closed. He shook his head violently, and stammered, "G-go away." He slumped against the wall, and said, "N-no."

A hoof touched his shoulder, and he curled up into a little ball. "D-don't... Don't look at me," he murmured. He could smell it, the love, the pity, the disdain.

Twilight's voice asked, "What's wrong, Fangheart? It's okay."

He began to shiver, unable to find any difference between himself and that monster. All he wanted was to take, to steal away what made this place so perfect, what made it whole. He whimpered, and said, "It's... It's too much... I-I'm a monster... I... I take what I can't understand and hate what I am for it, but I can't stop."

He heard a dozen or so voices go silent. He sniffled, "I can't... This place has too much, and everything in me tells me to take it. I don't want it, but th-that thing, it can't... I can't stop being a monster."

A soft voice spoke from behind Twilight, "What's going on?"

He looked up, and wiped his eyes clear of tears. With bleary eyes, he recognized the destroyer, the one alicorn who was said to kill hundreds in an instant. He stood on shaky legs, and lowered his head. He took a deep breath in, and said, "It's nothing. No one is hurt, and it's nothing to bother you with, your highness."

Princess Cadance said, "I'm willing to assume that you're here with my sister in law."

He nodded, and said, "I... I'm sorry for my outburst. It's been a really difficult week." He bowed, having forgotten to do that.

The alicorn lifted his chin up, and said, "No need for such formalities, we're practically family. I'm sure that your week will get better."

Twilight slapped a hoof to her forehead, and groaned. She said, "Cadance, he and I aren't any more than friends. Why does everyone continue to assume, just because I have a friend who happens to be a stallion, that he and I are romantically involved?" She then lifted up a hoof and said, "Don't answer that."

Fangheart closed his mouth, having been about to answer her question. He turned to Cadance, and said, "I do hope that you don't mind me asking this. I've heard so much about the changeling attack, and I simply must know. How did you defeat Queen Chrysalis's army so dramatically?"

Twilight's left ear twitched once, and she immediately stepped between the two, telling the stallion, "I'll explain that to you later. It's a very long story, and my sister in law and I have a lot to do by the end of the day. I'm sure that you can find some way of occupying yourself while my friends and I are meeting with the Games Inspector."

Before he could blink, the unicorn had pushed him out the front door, and he whipped around to speak to her.

Twilight covered his mouth with a hoof, and whispered, "Are you trying to get yourself in trouble?"

He shook his head, and pushed her hoof away from his mouth. "It's called small talk, and I have plenty of information about the invasion from my mother. I was her confidant, so her most crippling defeat was all I heard about in the time since it happened," he explained. "I also heard a lot of prisoners talking about a..."

He closed his mouth, realizing that it would get him arrested if he spoke any more. He bit his lip, and asked, "Twilight, are you sure I'll be safe on my own?"

"You've been by yourself before," she said.

"Yes, for all of one night, which ended with you dragging my unconscious body into the library," he confirmed.

Twilight blinked, and asked, "You were alone for eight hours? Your mother died eight hours before we met. You said the guards killed her. You had just escaped when I found you?"

He nodded and said, "I informed you that she'd died the previous day."

She shook her head clear, and said, "We'll talk about this later. Why don't you go visit the barracks and run some laps with my brother, just tell him that I sent you. Cadance will be in here if you need anything." She then ran back inside, closing the door behind her.

He sighed, and turned to look at the castle. He forgot about his fears all at once. Like warm butter, they melted under the sight of such grandeur. He knew that in all of the years his mother had spent building up the hive, it would never be as beautiful, as breathtaking, or nearly as clean as this palace.

He began to walk towards the palace, slowly, so as to look around. The first thing he noticed was the cleaning operation. No crystal pony who was able bodied and not still a foal was cleaning. They scrubbed their windows, the flowerpots, the very street upon which he trod.

He knew that ponies didn't share a mind, but they all had the same look on their faces, wider smiles than any changeling could physically make. Their eyes all beamed with eagerness, excitement, jubilation so intense that he could barely help himself from consuming some of it.

He knew that this was a city out of time, cut off from the world for a thousand years, and to its residents, not a single day had passed until they'd rejoined the world. They were brimming with energy, magic flowing through the ground beneath them, as though they were saturating the earth with emotion.

The whole thing seemed cruel to him, that his mother would never see it.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Wait, since when did he start blaming his mother? Heart influence?