Pearl's Travels 1: Hollow Shades

by Makitk

20

While the sisters had gone through their morning ritual, a fourth Changeling had arrived at the cubicle's doorway. She scraped her throat after I finished talking, to draw the attention of three of us; Oval too occupied with getting some breakfast in.

"Matron!" Breeze voiced excitedly, hurrying on over to the new arrival. She stumbled halfway over by somehow crossing her forelegs in front of one another, and ended up landing on her face and sliding to a stop...

Matron smiled down at her and used a hoof to stroke the top of Breeze's head. "Breeze, how many times did I tell you to watch where you put your hooves?"

Breeze closed her eyes at both the stroking and admonishment, and I shook my head at it a bit. "She does a lot better once she's actually woken up, if my experiences with her are anything to go by; she helped me fly down yesterday after I took a bit too high a leap up."

Matron gave a nod at that. "She's a good flyer, but a little overenthusiastic," she chuckled, while Breeze picked herself up from the ground.

Matron wandered into the room with Breeze practically bouncing after her, and I noticed an immediate change in Blaze's demeanor. While she had been dismissive and stern toward Oval earlier, now she was far more meek and modest as she moved to meet Matron halfway.

"Good morning, Matron," she offered with a dip of her head.

"Hello Blaze," Matron returned the greeting, then turned her attention to me. I felt like I should stand up and moved to do so, but Matron shook her head at me. "Let me have a look at your leg first."

I flopped back down at Matron's words, and she approached me while her horn started to glow green. The resin cast around my leg split in half, then started to dissolve as if the air had finally taken hold of it and was trying to make up for lost time.

My hoof was dry in moments, and Matron carefully looked it over. "Turn your hoof a little, tell me how it feels."

I looked down at my right hoof as well, tilting it forward. The muscles felt a bit tense as they had been stuck in the same position for too long thanks to the cast around it, but there was no pain.

I mentioned this to Matron, who told me to move it some more. We spent a while with me moving my leg around in every direction it would go in while Matron watched me closely. She finally pulled away after I was starting to feel my muscles get tired.

"It looks like it healed fine, little one," she offered to me in a kind tone. "All that's left is for you to walk around on it so the muscles get their strength back."

"It's only been two days since she sprained it, and she's a strong one, Matron," Blaze offered. "When do you think she can do her sparring match over again?"

Matron frowned a bit at Blaze, but then reached out with her right hoof to brush it lightly against my left cheek. "If she takes it slow today, she'll be fine by tomorrow. Her leg is fine. I hope you're not the one she has to fight, dear?"

"Ah, no, Matron," Blaze answered. "I had thought about putting her in with Oval; she hasn't fought in ages."

Oval half choked on her breakfast and quickly plugged the vein she was drinking from to turn to the rest of us. "I never agreed to that, Matron!"

Blaze snorted. "You need the training as much as little sister."

I glanced between them, but then Matron chuckled and I put my focus back at her, idly noting how Breeze was leaning into the larger Changeling's right side with her eyes closed.

"Can you believe these girls, little one?" Matron suggested, and I shrugged as response.

"I've come to enjoy their company, Matron," I answered truthfully. "They helped me get a new look on life."

Matron smiled up at Oval as she joined us, and gave her a nudge in the chest with her right elbow. "What have you been filling her head with, hmm?"

Oval frowned at the nudge and nudged Matron back in the shoulder before moving to pull Breeze away from her. "Nothing, I swear! Come on, Breeze, let Matron stand on her own."

"I'm sure Oval made her far more lazy than little sister already was to begin with," Blaze remarked dryly.

"I've actually been running around far more these past days than I had back before I came here," I revealed, noting Matron was having far too much fun with all of this.

"See? I'm totally innocent here," Oval suggested, sitting down with Breeze in the alcove the latter had been sleeping in before.

"Well, I did have to rescue you and her from a spot up there," Breeze muttered, pointing up in the direction we had flown down from just yesterday evening.

"She was doing fine on her own," Oval threw back again. "You were more worried about her abilities than little sister was herself, I believe."

"If anything, I now know how to take off and land without breaking a leg?" I offered up, standing up from where I was still laying on the ground and carefully putting some weight on my right foreleg again. It felt a bit weak, but I could at least use it again without the silly cast around it.

"Don't you dare break a leg," Blaze grumbled. "You're already behind on your training."

Matron grinned up at Blaze and pulled her into a hug. "Always the strong one."

"Oi, get off!" Blaze grumbled, struggling to get out of Matron's hug.

I chuckled at their antics, but moved to walk around the room a bit to test out how much weight I could put on my right foreleg and generally get the blood flowing through the limb again so it would stop itching so much.

Not having the weight of the cast on it helped already; I felt I was limping less than I had the previous days.

Blaze, Breeze, Burst (Oval), and Matron let me walk around, instead focusing on their own family dynamics. Matron was clearly enjoying her time with the girls, and it was clear each of them respected her like a maternal figure, even if Blaze and Oval were far more rebellious toward her than Breeze was.

To be fair, Matron was giving them a harder time than she was Breeze. I was reminded of that in-joke Burst and Blaze had told me about.

Breeze had mostly managed to appear sturdy enough, like all the other Changelings around, but her struggles to wake up fully, her tripping over her forelegs earlier, and the way she had fallen to a far more timid demeanor once Matron wandered into the room had made me realize there was much I didn't know about her.

I kept walking in circles, going counter-clockwise around the room, getting my leg some exercise while I did my observing and pondering.

The conversation at hand, or hoof, was that of what Queen Chrysalis may have in mind with us Hatchlings, mostly because Oval was feeling homesick.

"We've been here for weeks now, and I thought I was going to go home yesterday after my teaching session was over," Oval sighed.

"A lot of siblings are wondering when we are going to get rotated out," Matron agreed. "I remember the first week here when there were a lot more rotations."

"That brings up a question little sister asked me the other day, Matron," Oval started; "do you know if any of us went through the gateway to the other world?"

Matron glanced in my direction as I passed her by, but I made a point to continue my rounds.

"I think there may have been a few, yes," Matron answered Oval. "We weren't as organized in the first week or two. Most of what we were told was that we needed to set up a training center here, so we were still working on the details when the first Humans were starting to get brought in."

Blaze snorted. "Say what you will about our family, but nobody wants to pick up the leading roles when it comes down to it."

"Well, there's that alicorn poser," I suggested as I wandered by.

"Iridium is a special case," Matron chuckled. "She worked her way up to a fairly high position up in Manehattan's society and is loathe to let go of the respect she feels she deserves as a result."

"But she's not an alicorn while in her usual guise," Breeze muttered. "That's just her trying to be special in front of the Hatchlings."

"Yeah," Blaze agreed. "She's got her focus in all the wrong places."

"Like you?" Oval wondered with a grin.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blaze threw back with a frown.

"Well, all you seem to be able to think about is when you can toss little sister and me into some mock fight so she can show how good she is at dodging," Oval pointed out. "Have you failed to notice how she's grown already while staying with us? She can fly relatively well now. I'd say leave the fight for what it is, and just push her on over to the magic room."

Blaze turned to face me and held out her right forehoof in my path, so I stopped walking to look back at her. "You think you're ready to learn magic, little sister?"

I sat down on my rear and looked between them all. Oval looked excited at the prospect, giving me a warm grin. Breeze shrugged a little as I turned my attention on her. Matron just raised her eyebrow at me, and I could not figure out what she was thinking.

I closed my eyes a moment, took in a breath, and then gave a slow nod. "My leg feels fine," I offered up to Blaze, opening my eyes again to see her stare at me intently.

"I think I can dodge most attacks, especially now I feel a bit more comfortable about my wings," I decided. "I wouldn't say I know what to expect, but I think I'm ready to give it a go. Worst that could happen is that I get a bolt of energy to my flank, right?"

"Or get your wings singed," Breeze suggested calmly.

Blaze shared a look with Matron, who gave a slow nod.

"Well, Matron thinks you're ready," Blaze offered with a growing grin. "I'm going to enjoy watching you mess up your magic training, Hatchling."

I snorted in Blaze's direction. "Psh, I'll show you."

"I certainly hope you will," Oval cut in. "I'm betting on you to do better than Blaze here on her first day learning magic."

I smiled up weakly at Oval's show of support, while Blaze turned back to her sister and mockingly punched her in the shin.

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[tsaukpaetra]

Weird, just found ourself wondering how closely this group aligns to the mane six...