Revenant

by Zimprus Nalune

Arrival

A long while later, Pyrite and I finally came to a dirt road, which we followed until the trees and bushes thinned out and we officially exited the forest.

“Ponyville isn’t too much farther,” Pyrite said, her first sentence since I had told her my name. “We just have to keep along this road.” She stopped walking and took her leg off of my shoulder. I gave her a confused look.

“Coming?” I asked, taking a few more steps along the road. Pyrite rolled her eyes.

“Of course. I just thought I should give you a chance to shapeshift.” She made a ‘go on’ motion with her injured leg, but I stood where I was with a blank expression.

“One problem with that…” I began slowly. “I… don’t know anyling to change into.”

Pyrite gave me a dumbfounded look before facehoofing.

“Can’t you just use your imagination?” She asked. I shrugged in reply.

“Okay then, give me a minute,” I said, closing my eyes and slowly creating a disguise to change into.

I knew that changelings usually shapeshifted into either a pegasus or a unicorn to keep some of their abilities, only turning into an earth pony when they had to. However, I wanted to keep all my abilities, so I drew a mental picture of a pony with bat-like wings and a horn. With that done, I gave my disguise a flame-like mane and thick tail. Next were colors, which were rather simple. The coat, part of the mane closest to the head, and several streaks in the tail were all colored black. The serpentine eyes and the rest of the mane and tail were colored a bright red.

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. A ridiculously easy disguise to make, but it would do. Keeping a mental image of my disguise, I again summoned my magic, willing myself to become the pony I had created.

Change.

I felt a wave of warmth flow over my body, starting at my hooves and disappearing once it reached the tip of my horn. I felt my body change, warping into what I wanted to. I felt slightly warmer as a black pelt replaced my carapace. My wings felt heavier, yet stronger. I felt the slight weight of my new mane and tail. The familiar feeling of my fangs pressed against my lower lip faded. My head simply felt… different. I opened my eyes, noting how the world seemed just a bit less sharp.

I looked at Pyrite, who’s jaw had dropped. I smirked. “Simple, but it’ll work, won’t it?”

She didn’t respond.

“What?” I asked. “Ponies can have wings and horns, right? Pega…corns?”

Pyrite snapped out of her state of shock and glared at me. “They’re called ‘alicorns’, and the only ones alive are princesses.” I shrugged in response.

“Well then, you think of something.”

Pyrite looked at the ground for a moment, deep in thought, before looking back at me with a small smile.

“Simple,” She began. “You remember the clearing we met in?” I opened my mouth to correct ‘met’ with ‘fought’, but Pyrite cut me off. “Like I said before, I was searching for signs of ancient cult. While I can’t say you were one of them, since all records I have say there weren’t any alicorns involved, I could say that I found you in what’s called the Everdeep Castle, which isn’t too far away from where we were. According to history, it was an old alicorn castle, so it makes sense.”

I raised my eyebrow. That was actually a good explanation. “Alright. That works for me.”

I walked back over to Pyrite and wrapped her leg around my shoulder once more, and we continued on to Ponyville.

***

As we neared Ponyville, I got a good look at the many buildings, at least on the edge of the town. Most seemed to be at least two stories high, timber-framed with thatched roofing. As we entered the town itself, I saw that the vast majority were a very light tan, but here and there one was painted a different color, be it green, pink, or something else.

As Pyrite and I began heading deeper into town, we occasionally received an odd look from a pony or two that were milling about. I tried to ignore them, focusing only on the road in front of me. Pyrite steered us along the roads, towards where I hoped was her home so I could drop her off and get to feasting.

Since she was the only one putting any real focus into walking, I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander, flicking from pony to pony. There was a strange feeling in the air, something odd yet… strangely enticing.

Eventually we stopped in front of a blocky building that dwarfed the rest of Ponyville. It too was painted a light tan, but the other thing I noticed was a large red cross emblazoned near the top. As my eyes looked it over, my head began to throb softly...

“Here we are,” Pyrite announced. “Let’s go, I need to get my leg looked at…” She began walking forward once more, but I stayed where I was, forcing her to hop backwards in order to keep me as a support. “What’s the problem?”

I gave her a flat look.

“I’m fairly certain this is not your home,” I began. “So what is this place.” My sentence came out more like a demand than a question, which was exactly how I wanted it to.

“It’s a hospital,” Pyrite explained. “Ponies with serious injuries come here to get healed, sometimes stay for an extended period if spells can’t fix them.”

“Uh huh. And how do I know this isn’t a trap?” Pyrite sighed exasperatedly and rolled her eyes.

“If I wanted you found, would I have reminded you to shapeshift? Would I have made a cover story for you?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but shut it almost immediately. Pyrite had a good point, she could’ve exposed me at any time. She could even do it right now if she wanted. But maybe she was just keeping me hidden until whatever group she was a part of could get their hooves on me…

“Revenant,” Pyrite called, snapping me back to reality. I looked her straight in the eyes. “I’m not lying to you. This is not a trap, I promise.”

We stayed still for a moment, neither of us moving an inch. Finally, I sighed and relented. “Let’s go. The faster we get this done, the faster I can get that love you promised.”

Pyrite smiled. “I may be able to fulfill that promise as soon as we get inside. I don’t know how close changelings have to be to ponies to absorb love, but…” She trailed off as we walked inside the hospital.

We walked through a small corridor before coming to the main lobby. Pyrite guided us to the front desk and began talking to the pony behind the counter.

I looked around the lobby, noting all the ponies that sat on the various chairs and benches. The room was pristine and smelled strangely. However, something I couldn’t see quickly grabbed my attention.

The feeling I had outside was multiplied in here, and I realized that it was the ponies’ love and affection for one another. That explained why I felt drawn to it. Now that I knew what love felt like, my instincts kicked in, and I felt all being drawn towards me, rejuvenating me and leaving a taste of what could only be described as goodness in my mouth.

Pyrite finished her conversation with the pony behind the counter and nudged me towards the doors at the back of the lobby. We headed through them, going deeper into the hospital. Despite Pyrite’s promise, I still felt nervous about all the ponies here.

Pyrite abruptly turned and we entered one of the many rooms that branched off from the main corridors. I helped her up onto a large table that was pushed against the wall, which proved to not be too hard. I then stood over by the window next to the table and began waiting for… whatever it was we were waiting for.

Before too long, another unicorn, a brown coated stallion wearing a long white coat, came into the room. I briefly paid attention to him as he began examining Pyrite’s leg even as he struck up a conversation.
To my surprise, Pyrite continued to cover for me. She said that her injury was due to a bad fall, and that I had apparently heard her fall and came to investigate, eventually helping her back to Ponyville. The doctor seemed to believe her completely.

“Thank you for bringing Ms. Dreams back here,” the doctor said, snapping my attention back to him. “She would have likely been in much worse condition if you hadn’t helped her.” He held out his hoof. “Doctor Quickfix. You are…?”

I panicked slightly. I didn’t have a cover name! That was so stupid of me!

Think Revenant, think!

Night Wing…

The whispery female voice went through my head once again. I briefly wondered where it kept coming from, but put that aside when I realized I had a new cover name to implement.

“My name is Night Wing,” I said, unable to stop myself from smiling slightly as I shook the doctor’s hoof. It wasn’t my new name, rather it was the sudden flow of goodwill I consumed though the physical contact, which was much easier than taking it in from the ambient emotions.

“Though of you don’t mind me asking,” the doctor began, releasing the hoofshake. “What were you doing in the Everfree forest, let alone the Everdeep Castle?”

I chuckled. “I was trapped for a long time. I’m suddenly free, and there’s an injured pony one floor up.” I gestured to Pyrite. “Seems the blood of a virgin was required to free me.”

The doctor chuckled for a moment, thinking I was making a joke. I kept a straight face, which was rather hard to do once he stopped chuckling and shifted awkwardly. He coughed into his hoof before speaking again.

“Yes, well…” he said slowly. “Ms. Dreams will be in our care for a short time until we can determine how severe her injuries and treat them appropriately.” I glanced at Pyrite, who had her face buried in her hoofs. I couldn’t help but crack a grin.

“Need me to stay here, Pyrite?” I asked in a slightly joking tone.

“No Night, I don’t need you to foal-sit me,” Pyrite replied, face still buried in her hooves. “You can roam around Ponyville for a while. The doctors, hopefully, won’t take too long.”

“We won’t,” Quickfix piped up, looking over a few sheets of paper he had pulled out of his coat. “The hospital’s not that busy today, so we should have her either fixed up or bandaged up in short order.”

“There you go,” Pyrite said. “When you get back here, check with the receptionist. She can tell you what room I end up in.” She made a shooing motion. “Well, go on!”

I walked back out into the hallway and headed through the corridor back to the lobby, where I sat down for a short while, consuming the ambient love and affection while I decided what to do. So far the ponies seemed nice enough, but I couldn’t help but be a little on edge. Though there really wasn’t anything I could do about it right now, so I would have to bear it.

I had a strange compulsion to actually check on Pyrite later, one that I couldn’t shake off. With a sigh, I decided to follow my original ‘plan’ before coming back to the hospital. My decision made, I lingered for just a bit longer in the lobby before heading back out into Ponyville.

I began to wander through the streets, noting how just about every building followed the same construction and colors I had when first arriving. The greatest deviation I passed was a house seemingly made out of sweets, but that had been all so far.

I noted that the love and affection in open Ponyville wasn’t nearly as filling as that in the hospital. I still managed to gather a decent amount, however, due to the sheer amount of ponies present. The taste was also much different, much milder.

Suddenly, a wall of pink appeared in front of me.

I blinked for a moment before realizing I was startled, then recoiled accordingly. I then saw that the wall was actually an entirely pink earth pony, the sole exception being her sky-blue eyes. She smiled widely at me, completely oblivious to the fact she had scared me.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie!” she introduced herself rather loudly. I waved weakly, and she giggled before starting to bounce in circles around me.

“What’s your name? Where are you from? You’re an alicorn aren’t you? Are you from Canterlot?” She stopped smiling and bouncing for a moment, gasping hugely with a shocked expression before her smile returned wider than ever and she stood directly in front of me.

“Are you a prince? What are you prince of? I bet you’re prince of the night! Oh wait, that’s Princess Luna! She used to be a real meanie-pants, but them me and my friends used-“

“STOP!” I yelled, holding my head as it ached in response to the mare barrage of questions. The pony giggled again before continuing to speak.

“Sorry, I just get super-duper excited whenever I meet a new pony, because then I get to throw a party for them!” She seemed like she was going to go off again, so I held up a hoof to signal her to stop.

“My name is Night Wing, yes I’m an alicorn, no I’m not a prince. And who’s Princess Lu-“

A brief stab of pain went through my head, accompanied by images of a large, black alicorn with a starry mane, and several golden necklaces and a tiara. I winced at the beginning, but when the images finally faded, I began talking without realizing it.

“Oh right, Princess Luna!” I smiled. “You said you and your friends used something on her… the Elements of Harmony, right?” Pinkie nodded rapidly.

“Sure as sugar!” Pinkie giggled slightly. “At first, we were all like ‘Grr!’, but then we were all ‘Oh no!’, and then Twilight was all like, ‘Friendship!’, and then we were all like ‘Rainbow!’ and Luna was all ‘Nooo!’, then she turned into a filly!”

I nodded slowly. Her story seemed a little far-fetched, but I knew it was true, even if I didn’t know how.

“Okay, Pinkie Pie…” I began, but she cut me off.

“Just ‘Pinkie’ is fine!” She gave me an earnest smile.

“Okay Pinkie, I should be going,” I started inching away from her. “I have some… food I want to pick up.”

With one last nervous smile, I started walking away from Pinkie, hoping I wouldn’t run into her again.

“Wait!” Pinkie called. I turned to look at her.

“The market’s that way,” she said matter-of-factly, pointing behind her. I blinked.

“Right…” I said slowly. “Well… thanks…”

I quickly trotted away, hoping to find someling who wasn’t as… excitable as Pinkie. I glanced behind me to see her bounce off, probably to scare another changeling in disguise.

I slowed down to a walk once I was certain that I was far away enough from that pony. Despite her excitability, she had pointed me in the right direction, as I noticed that stands were beginning to show up, becoming more frequent as I walked further into what was apparently Ponyville’s marketplace.

Eventually I came to large, round plaza that was bustling with ponies. They came and went, usually arriving with empty saddlebags and leaving with an assortment of fruits and vegetables.

Off-hoofedly, I noticed that there was little to no affection, not even goodwill, in the air. Everything was business in the market. Frowning, I decided to move on to another part of Ponyville. I started moving through the crowds to the opposite side of the market, but something, or rather someling, caught my eye.

What seemed like a purple and green lizard was weaving between, and underneath, the many ponies in the area, a bright red apple clutched in each claw. Strangely interested, I began following it, confused that even though several ponies noticed it, they actually greeted the reptile, which it returned in passing.

I followed the lizard until it hopped up on the back of, and began chatting with, a purple unicorn mare. She was actually smiling as she talked to it, like it was a friend of hers.

Suddenly the lizard pointed right at me, and the unicorn followed his pointing. When she caught sight of me through the crowd, her eyes widened, then narrowed. She started to make her way through the crowd towards me, moving much slower than the lizard on her back had.

I started to panic. The absolute last thing I wanted was another crazy pony to ‘talk’ to. Thinking quickly, I spread my wings, jumped into the air, and took off. I circled over the marketplace a few times, searching for the unicorn. I saw her on the ground, still searching for me.

With a small smile, I took off back towards Ponyville hospital. I had had enough sightseeing for one day.

Comments

[nobodyreallyimportant]

so, you turned into some sort of bat-fire-alicorn-thing and that few people noticed? you were ON FIRE! that makes for the best disguise.

[PointlessGizmo]

You nailed Pinkie's character in this chapter. Great job!

[Shadow-Dancer]

From a castle in the everfree and recently awoken Alicorn that must be a fool proof coverstory gullible ponies.

[KvAT]

5058939
Yeah, a bit sus if you ask me. Though they didn't just outright bow to him, which is a boon for the moment.