The Pieces Lie Where They Fell

by Evilhumour

Chapter Twenty Eight: Vix-Lei, Page Turner, Wind Breaker, Night Blade

Chapter Twenty Eight

Vix-Lei

Vix-Lei quickly learned that distance on a map was not a steady thing when travelling through the backwoods. Steep ditches that had caught Night and Page by surprise and sent them tumbling down the sides, thick spots of growth that had forced her and Wind Breaker to wiggle around the trees that had grown far more closely together than in any normal forest, and then there was the hidden swamp that had caught them all by surprise. Even Xvital wasn’t amused when she’d fallen in, and she was waterproof! She was still a cat, she guessed.

After that little bath, they had called a halt to dry themselves off, with both her and Rex refusing to move on in wet clothes. While sitting around and doing nothing for an hour or two, they did get to see Night as a big ball of fur, which sent Windy into a fit of laughter… only for Night to then push the griffon back into the swamp. When he had resurfaced and shaken the water off himself, it had taken one of Page’s shields to keep all of them, especially Night Blade, from being drenched all over again.

After they finally got dried, it was noon and tummys were rumbling. And it seemed that Night had drafted Page to make lunch, proudly boasting that she was the best cook he knew despite her tendency to spice things up a tad.

Vix-Lei had to admit that the salad was very good and that Night was right to stop her from adding any more spice. Thank the gods that Rex had the foresight to filter the water from the swamp so they would have something on hand to drink, both during their meal and the rest of their trip or their mouths would have had burned. Night had not been joking about her love of spices; if anything, he had been understating it. Xvital had already made plans to make some rigged bets with Page eating spicy peppers when they got to the frontiers, and Page was looking very eager to try some of the more insane ones as she had been forbidden by the matron from growing them so as long as she was in Canterlot.

“With the kinds you like? You are going to love the Dragon’s Breath peppers,” Xvital told her. “They were named that for a reason.”

Page’s eyes widened at that with her tail wagging in excitement and Night letting out a minor groan. “Remind me to have a mountain between us when you try one,” he said. “If only so it can act as a fire shield.”

Page just smirked. “Don’t worry,” she promised. “I’ll make sure to be looking away from you when I have it.”

Night Blade sighed again. “I have heard that one in the past,” he snarked. “Then you decide to be all kissy and I have to live like a seapony for a week.”

Vix-Lei cracked up at that, while Rex just shook his head in a resigned manner. “Entertaining as this is,” he commented, “We should probably be moving on again. I believe our clothes are dry now.”

Page pouted at him, but gave no argument as they began packing up their things again, with Vix-Lei putting her now dry skirt into her pack, Rex sliding his vest back on and checking on Wind’s hand bird thing... whatever it was called. Very soon they were on their way again, staying to the rim of the swamp with Xvital leading the way by climbing the trees to get a sense of where they were.

They began to break into small talk; namely she took it upon herself to make some conversation happen. “So Nighty, that sword of yours,” she tilted her head towards the bat pony. “It has a name, right?” She’d be surprised as all Tartarus if it didn’t as Night seemed to be one of those serious fighter types that would name their weapons. Not like her who had done it on a whim and kept at it.

“Yes, it’s called Determined Point,” he said, sliding his short sword out of its sheath and spinning it in the air before holding it horizontally across his chest. “It was a gift, of sorts, from my brother Deep Blade for my tenth birthday and actually helped me get my talent emblem. It has been in the Blade family for a long time and it was the youngest Blade that got it, to prove that they can match the elder Blade.” Night let a small sigh out before shaking his head. “And yours?”

Ah, finally! “This here is Lady Kabonk, my fun hammer,” she said, flicking out her squeaky hammer and doing a small spin with it overhead as not to hit anytaur. “And this is Senor Hardhead, my hammer hammer.” Holding her other hammer in her good hand, she smacked a tree at random, causing an ahuiztoless to fall out of it with a shout that was certainly profanity before she landed on all five hands. “Just in case I really need to bonk some heads.”

“Why don’t you just pick them up and toss them across Canterlot mountain?” Xvital snarked as she dusted herself off.

“Eh, that means I have to get in close to pick sometaur up, spend time winding up for the throw and then judge how high the arc needs to be,” Vix-Lei shook her head. “Not worth the effort.”

“What is worrying is that I strongly believe you are not joking here, Vix-Lei,” Rex said, taking a step backwards as she spun her hammers in small circles.

“I’ll never say,” she grinned and winked at the diamond dog before looking at Xvital. “You named your dagger?”

“Nah, not my thing,” Xvital shrugged as she walked with them on the ground. “I’m not exactly the most creative when it comes to names - I’d probably just call it something like Edge and my knuckle busters Lefty and Righty.”

“I see; you got any ideas for yours, Windy?” Vix-Lei asked the griffon who blinked before tilting his head in thought.

“Not really,” he said slowly as he tilted his head to look at his crossbow and bolts. “I haven’t really thought of it. Any ideas?”

Both she and Night scoffed at this, shaking their heads. “Windy, it doesn’t work that way,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“It has to be either you or the original owner that names your weapon,” Night said, flashing a small smile at her, no doubt feeling good about this.

“He asked for ideas, guys, not excuses,” Xvital said with a playful grunt but Night proved to be his grumpy self and missed the joke… but Xvital also proved to be her usual oblivious self to miss that Night wasn’t a jokey type of guy.

Night grumbled again but some things you just couldn’t fix right away. Getting him to loosen up was something she was so going to get done.

Page Turner

As it turned out, Xvital’s estimates had been way off, and as the sun set, they found themselves making camp again in the ruins of some old town. Both Wind and Night were given straws to see who would make their supper, with the griffon losing the draw. And it was for the better as Night only knew how to make the bare basics of breakfast, let alone a dinner meal for six.

Wind had made a pasta dish with a lot of seasoning from his various wine bottles which actually tasted quite good; although the fact that Wind tasted the sauce far too often was worrying and she wondered if she would need to take a bit more drastic steps in helping him get off the habit. She just wished she’d read more about this sort of thing…

Xvital hadn’t changed up the shift roster nor did anyone really ask to move ahead of someone else. She could tell Night wasn’t going to offer his help again due to how it went last time and it would be wrong of her to try and coddle him by going right before him.

When it was finally morning again and Night had made his simplistic sandwich breakfast, Wind Breaker had scoffed at how easy Night was going. His words started off another fight which had led to Xvital stepping in again against Night which left the nox pony in a foul mood again.

If we’re meant to be the new Virtues, Page thought to herself as she watched this, no wonder the old ones barely interacted with each other beyond the quests and missions that the goddesses gave them.

A few hours after they broke down camp and were on their way again, Xvital scampered down the treetops to tell them that they’d finally found a normal road.

“About time,” Vix-Lei said as she leaned against a tree and bent a leg upwards to rub her hoof as the rest of them meandered around, with Wind Breaker and Night before saying they were going to scout ahead. “My dooohoofs are killing me,” she giggled, looking nervously at Rex who simply rolled his eyes to show he took no ill will from it.

“Hey, guys, I think I found something,” Night called out, trotting back from the forest section he was investigating. “Xvital, is there one of your kind’s hideouts nearby?”

“No, why, what did you find?” Xvital asked as she loped past Night and down where he came from.

“It looks to be some sort of hidden bunker; it was covered by grass and vegetations; I almost dismissed it as a hill when I accidently put my hoof through the roof,” Night said as he took the lead from Xvital, with everypony right behind them. After a few minutes of walking through the forest with NIght on edge to find the hidden bunker again, they reached a clearing in the forest to see the false hill. “This side,” Night said, taking them around the hill to a sheer wall of creeper vines. He began tapping the side of it with sounding like wood. “You hear that, right? That’s not dirt,” he said taking a step backwards, examining the wall.

“Yeah,” Xvital said with a distracted voice as she began to tug the creep vine down to show an old fashioned cottage wall. “If that’s here then that must mean..” she said as she sauntered to the middle of the hill and tugged the vine down to reveal a door. She then turned to look at them and shrugged her shoulders. “Normally I don’t go poking my head into abandoned, lost places like this but after the week I’ve been having, I don’t see how things could get weirder.”

Placing her hand on the doorknob and with a grunt as she forced open the door with her shoulder, they walked into what seemed to be a den of some sorts that dust covered white sheets over everything.

Page couldn’t place her hoof on it but she swore she had been here before but that was impo-

She froze as she turned her head to see a very familiar looking shape in what had to be the living room. With her horn glowing to remove the sheet, she saw an extremely familiar looking couch that was in the exact same spot.

“No, no no,” Page said in awe she removed more and more sheets, using her magic to rearrange the furniture and let out a gasp of shock and awe. “It can’t be,” she whispered softly, turning her head to see Night was behind her, supporting her.

“What is it, Page, what’s wrong?” he asked her, eyes darting around for any hidden danger.

“I was here before, when I talked to the Stern Warden, I mean Fluttershy,” Page said as she turned to face the rest of them. “This was her house, guys, do you know what this means?”

“I do believe it means we have discovered the lost city of the Virtues,” Rex said in wonder, looking around the cottage. “This is the discovery of the century.”

“Think of all the stuff I could sell on the market; genuine artifacts from the city of the Virtues,” Xvital said, eyeing some of the belongings of the late Fluttershy.

“Only issue, beyond the morality of it, is how you will able to prove it,” Night pointed out, causing the ahuizotless to pout.

“You are not selling Fluttershy’s things, regardless,” Page said sternly as she gave Xvital a look. “This place… this is history come to life.” She looked around. “Besides, I don’t know if she has any relatives still alive today, but if she does, this would all rightfully belong to them.”

“Gah, if the Magi of Stars had relatives, would you return all of the Lost Scrolls to them,” Xvital asked with a bit of snark in her voice.

“Yes, actually,” Page said with a smile on her face as she began to dust the room before blushing as she realized what she was doing. Working too long in the Great Library had made her into an instant cleanup mindest. “It is the right thing to do.”

Xvital scoffed as she walked into the kitchen before turning around as she sat down on the couch with a plop, sending out a massive wave of dust up. “Okay, here is the plan guys; half of us are going to go into Sunny Town and pick up supplies while the rest of stay here and see if we can find anything about the Elements.”

“Sounds good,” Vix-Lei as she picked up an old trinket. “So who’s going?”

“Rex, Wind and…” she paused, rubbing her chin with her tailhand. “Night, tag along with, okay?”

Night flashed her a suspicious look before turning to face Page. “Will you be okay, Page?”

“Yes, NIght, of course I will be okay,” she said softly, pulling him into a kiss on the lips to ease his worries.

“Come along, gentledogs,” Rex said as he retrieved the map from Xvital. “Let us head out so we can be back here shortly.”

As soon as the guys were gone, Page turned to Xvital who already had her hands up.

“Rex is the smartest of us, so I can expect him to get us a good deal. Wind is a griffon and won’t cause too many head turns like Vix-Lei would get, and I’m giving Night something to do which should make him and you happy, right?”

Page looked up at her before sighing and nodding her head. “Yes, Xvital, but maybe you could have told Night this?”

Xvital scoffed, shaking her head as she began to root around the room. “Please, Night doesn’t seem the kind of pony to like pity so if I told him, he’d just get pissy again.”

“Yeah, no offense Page,” Vix-Lei said as she squatted low to check out some of the drawers. “But I can kinda see Night not being the type of calf that likes to know he wasn’t picked last to spare his feelings.”

Page sighed, knowing full well that they were both correct about this. With nothing she could do about Night, Xvital or those watching them outside the cottage at the moment, Page simply joined in the rummaging of the cottage to see if they could find anything that would be able to help them.

Wind Breaker

It wasn’t that long of a walk, once they found their way to the road. Wind Breaker had to admit it was kinda nice being out in the wilderness, being completely free and unattached from everything. He hadn’t had much time to really think about it but he was free now; he might still have his debt but the government couldn’t track him down anymore and force him to pay it back.

He could do anything he wanted to do, go almost anywhere he wanted to, and if Xvital was willing to help him, he could become anypony he wanted to be. He just wanted to fly up in the air and shout out in joy but that wouldn’t be too smart and could get them caught.

“So how will we do this, Rex?” Night asked, causing Wind Breaker to look over to the bat pony. He wasn’t sure whose idea it was exactly it have Rex walk in the middle of them but it was a good idea.

“Simplicity should be our main goal with minimal interactions so we are not spotted and information is passed to Canterlot,” the diamond dog said before tilting his head, flicking an ear. “With that said though, we should spend some time gathering information which means…” He trailed off, turning his head to look at him.

“What, Rex?” Wind Breaker asked, feeling a bit nervous. “What is it?”

“The best way I know of to gather information is to go the location where the lips would be the most loose,” Rex said with Night letting out a tiny hiss.

“What, where?” Wind Breaker asked, feeling his face heat up a bit as Night was preening over the fact he knew what Rex was talking about and Wind Breaker didn’t.

“He is speaking of a bar,” Night sniped at him, shaking his head. “Which is a stupid idea because you have your addiction and we don’t need you to get into a drunken state.”

“Hey, I said I don’t drink to that state!” Wind Breaker said, almost jumping over Rex to get at Night but the diamond dog was having none of it.

“Behave,” Rex growled at them, holding them both back. “We need to work together in this town which means we cannot fight amongst ourselves. Wind Breaker, I trust you to not overindulge yourself and Night Blade, I trust you that you will supply excellent support in case something does happen as well as be able to converse with the ponies of Sunny Town as you have been no doubt been taught how to talk to others?”

“Ye-yes,” Night said skittishly all of a sudden, looking away from Rex. “I’m sure I can do that...”

Wind Breaker raised an eyebrow at Night losing all of his confidence out of the blue, but felt it wasn’t worth poking that hornet's nest.

“Good,” Rex said, wagging his short tail. “Now let us be on with it; we are here.”

Turning his head, Wind Breaker saw that they were in a tiny town. There were a few buildings laid out in a small sprawl from the road with a lot of them two stories tall which made Wind Breaker think the ponies here lived above their shops or in the back of them.

He could spy an inn, a general store, a small police station, a healer’s place and a few other very non descript buildings. There were a few ponies walking around, giving them welcoming nods and friendly smiles as they made their way into the town. It didn’t seem like that these ponies were aware of who they were which was good. Maybe they were safe from Canterlot and the monster that took over Gentle Step.

“Come on, let us see what we can learn,” Rex said with a smile on his face that was matched by the one his beak and Night’s face. “I have a good feeling about this.”

Trotting down the road with the three of them smiling and greeting the Sunny Town ponies like they were old chums, Night held the door open at the inn for Rex and him before they walked over to the bar.

“Hello there, cuties,” a mare with a white coat and an orange mane said next to a stallion with an orange coat and a blue mane. “I’m Starlet and this is Roneo; we own this inn and I’ll be your server today.”

“So best to tell her your poison now or she will get creative,” Roneo chuckled, nuzzling the mare who batted him away playfully and told him to stop with just as much mirth as before.

“Then again, she does do good work on the fly, with our dear Starlet being a foremost barmare,” a third pony said walking up beside them. He had a brown coat and an orange mane, and held out his hoof to Night. “Hello gentleponys, my name is Gladstone and it is a pleasure to meet new ponies in our dear little community.”

“It is nice to meet you as well,” Night said, smiling broadly at this stallion, shaking his hoof. “This is Wind Breaker and Rex; we’re new here.”

“We hope you like it, mister Blade,” Gladstone said, patting Night on the back.

“Light Ciders for me and them,” Wind Breaker said with something tickling the back of his head but he couldn’t place his talon on it.

“Coming right up,” Starlet said with a smile before disappearing behind the bar to fetch the drinks. “So what brings you three out here?”

“Not much,” Night said, still smiling. “We’re just travelling outwards, right guys?” He bobbed his head at Rex and Wind Breaker before taking the offered drink. “Thank you, Starlet.”

“Likewise,“ Rex said before holding the bottle out to Night and Wind Breaker to clink it. “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” both Night and Wind Breaker said and taking sips of it.

Instantly the blood in Wind Breaker chilled and he looked at Rex and Night Blade. “Guys, we need to get out here,” he whispered under his breath as soon as they were alone. “This isn’t Cider and she claimed to be a barpony.”

“Come on Wind, just because she got the drinks wrong doesn’t mean we’re in danger,” Night said in a low voice, shaking his head and taking another long drink from his bottle.

“Night, you are smiling, in a good mood, and we’re actually getting along,” Wind hissed, feeling his heart race as he began to feel something like intoxication. Curling his talons up to fight it back, he pressed the issue. “And that Gladstone knew your name.”

Night and Rex froze, with the both of them putting their bottles down. “Shit,” Night swore, looking nervous. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here, now,” he said as he pushed himself away from the counter, with Rex and Wind Breaker right behind him.

“And here we were hoping that you three would be staying a while longer,” Gladstone said with Starlet and Roneo on either side of him. They then shed their pony bodies to reveal darker forms and Wind Breaker knew that things had just gotten a lot worse.

Page Turner

They had spent a good twenty minutes exploring the first floor before coming to the conclusion that any documents would have faded long ago and that the second floor was not to be tempted as it would cave in and that they should begin to settle in for the night.

As she finished unpacking her pack, there was a knock on the cottage door. Xvital and Vix-Lei tilted their heads as it was far too early for the others to show up.

“Who could that be?” Vix-Lei mused out loud, shifting on her hooves. “Ain’t this place really out there and not known?”

“By all the dust, yeah,” Xvital rubbed her nose as the person on the other side of the door knocked again.

“Do you think we should answer it?” Page asked hopefully as she getting tired of this.

“I don’t-” Xvital began but Page decided to use her magic to open the door to settle the matter. Instantly, three ponies walked into room; they were three earth ponies with two mares and one stallion. The stallion had a grey coat and a black mane, while the first mare had a light grey coat and a dark red mane and the second had a green coat and a mossy green mane.

“Hello there,” the stallion said, flashing a far too wide smile. “My name is Grey Hoof, these are my companions Mitta and Three Leaf, and you three, Xvital, Vix-Lei and Page Turner are coming with us.”

“What makes you think that’s going to happen?” Vix-Lei asked as she pulled out Senor Hardhead only for Mitta to grow a dark horn and hit her with a bolt of green magic, with Three Leaf doing the same to Xvital. Grey Hoof tried to do the same to her but Page was in no mood for it.

“Alright, who are you three?” She snapped as she saw them drop their disguises and found herself frowning even more. “What manner of changelings possesses that kind of armour?” She demanded, already angry at what the answer could only be.

“I don’t think you know exactly how much trouble you are in, criminal,” Grey Hoof, or whatever his name was, narrowed his eyes. “Who are you to demand such things?” he glowered, but kept the two nymphs in line behind him from advancing.

Page dropped her own disguise with their eyes going wide as she let her connection to the hive reach outwards towards them. “I am Lamella,” she snarled as she was proven correct to who they were, or who they were descendants of. “Now tell me, who you are and what is going on, now,” she barked, unable to keep her anger at bay.

“I-” the drone stuttered in complete shock. “M-”

“No,” Page stalked forwards, her wings buzzing in fury. “You do not have the right to say that, none of you traitors do!”

“High talk coming from someling like yo-” the nymph called Mitta was silenced when Grey Hoof used his magic to clap her mouth shut.

“Ruby Shell, silence,” the drone snapped at the nymph before turning to face Page, bowing his head slightly. “I am Captain Memorizing Gaze, Secret Protector of the Hidden Guards, as was my father and his father before him,” he said in a clear tone, matching her eyes.

“So that was what your ancestors got for betraying Queen Chrysalis to the ponies and damning the entire Hive to extinction?” Page could not keep the bitterness out of her voice; if there was somepony that she could blame for the current state of the changelings, it was them.

“My ancestors betrayed a Queen that launched a suicidal invasion that not only failed as all the generals said it would, but one that refused to try and pacify the mourning and vengeful Equestrians,” he said just as hotly back into her face, showing he had some spine in him. “You know that Chrysalis was planning on using her child as a means to claim the throne of Equestria in some twisted fashion. You know that it would have resulted in a direct war to kill us all off. They did what they felt was right to save our race at the cost of being exiled from the Hive.”

“And thanks to them, we had a thousand years to enjoy our Hive’s slow death instead of a bloody fucking quick end ,” Page snorted, shaking her head. She then forced herself to stop and control herself; it would do her no good to just feed into this ugly shouting match. The emotions were turning vile and she didn’t want to be left gagging for a month because of this drone. She looked at Vix-Lei and Xvital and turned her attention back on the drone, eyes narrowed. “Are they going to be fine?”

“Of course Lamella,” his usage of her real name caused Page’s chitin to itch and the urge to smack him across the face rose. “Standard minor knockout spells; we were going to place you three into cocoons to bring you back to Canterlot.” He then blinked and peered at her. “What is going on here, Lamella?”

“First off, do not call me that, you, of all changelings - especially given what you and your two brothers were meant to be for the Hive - have the least right to address me like that,” Page snapped before she shoved her anger back down. “And…” she stopped, getting her head in order to properly explain all this to him. “We, the six of us, were contacted by a spirit called Balance that told us some evil creature has taken over control of the government. It also told us we’re the latest bearers of its Elements that the Virtuous Six had and we’re currently on a quest to get the last two awakened so we can stop Gentle Step, who we believe that this creature has overtaken.” Page then realized how utterly insane and stupid it sounded when she said it like that.

“Normally, I would dismiss such accusations out of hoof,” Memorizing said with a roll of his eyes, causing Page’s blood to simmer again. “But as it is coming from you, I will keep an eye on her. If she really has been subverted, I will take proper measures to stop her. Know that you will have the full support from the Hidden Guards if you cross paths with my Guards in the future, no matter what happens.”

“Good,” Page said, refusing every instinct telling her to thank him; her anger at the offspring of their Hive’s greatest traitors too great to overcome at the moment even if he was risking a lot on his end.

His guards looked like they wanted to ask her that question but Memorizing simply looked at them and they straightened up as proper Guards should do. That was good as getting that question from regular changelings was bad enough; having it from them would just set her off again and she wouldn’t be able to control her anger this time.

“Until next time, La-Page Turner,” he said, bowing his head again as they began to leave the cottage with Page holding her breath until the door was closed.

With a loud sigh, she rested her head against the door as she tried to get her emotions in order. She felt her heart racing and her mind trying to point out something she was missing but she couldn’t place her hoof on it...

“So you’re a changeling?” Vix-Lei’s voice from behind her caused Page to yelp and jump in the air. “Makes a ton of sense, eh kitty cat?”

“Oh yeah,” Xvital groaned as she propped herself up on the sofa’s arm. “One thing though-ooo, nope, not standing up right now,” the ahuizotless whimpered as she slid back onto her butt. “Why didn’t you guys tell us about this?”

“Wha-I-huh‽” Page squeaked, her wings flickering out in confusion. “You girls aren’t… you know?” She gestured to her face, aware that she was still in her true changeling form.

“What are you talking oh nopity nope nope,” Vix-Lei grabbed the wall to lower herself back down, with her other hand holding her stomach. “What are you talking about Page; the fact that you’re a changeling?” She asked in true confusion, turning to Xvital for some support.

“Yeah; I don’t get it; I mean I’ve got no beef with you changelings,” Xvital waved her tail hand dismissively. “I don’t think Vix-Lei has any problems with you either, right?”

“Noooope,” the minotaur said shaking her head. “I mean, I guess I can see why you’d be so surprised with what you living in the second most anti-changeling city in the whole world.”

“I-I-I,” Page was desperately trying to get a grasp on this situation but Xvital came in again.

“So why didn’t you two tell us about it; I mean it could have really helped us out if we knew you could sense people's emotions like a Timber Wolf does for blood.”

“Because revealing that I’m a changeling-pony halfbreed is extremely dangerous for me to do and what do you mean you two?” Page frowned at this, wondering who this second person was.

“You and Night, who else?” Xvital snorted in annoyance with Page doing her best not to blush at the comment.

Unfortunately for her, both the minotaur and ahuizotless saw it and gasped.

“You haven’t told him‽” Vix-Lei practically shouted, with Page doing her best to hush her as if Night could hear her somehow.

“No, he doesn’t know I’m part changeling!” Page shot back with Xvital stirring again.

“How is that even possible, aren’t you two dating?” Xvital asked her with shock written across her face.

“Again, telling people that I am part changeling would be extremely dangerous for me, and I don't know how Night would react if he were to find out.”

“Are you kidding me?” Vix-Lei laughed, shaking her head. “You’ve got him wrapped around your little… er, that phrase doesn’t work if you don’t got fingers.”

“What she is trying to say is that you really don’t need to able to taste emotions to see how much that colt loves you,” Xvital said shaking her head. “I mean, I am no changeling and even I can see how much he loves you that the idea of him rejecting you is loco.”

“Look, girls, I appreciate all the advice, but please, I need some air right now.”

“You should tell him the truth,” Xvital said, tipping her head forwards.

“You’re crazy, I don’t even know how to tell-” she was cut off as the door opened, revealing a familiar face staring at her. “Night?” she squeaked in surprise.

She felt a wave of emotions from him, all too overwhelming and too quick for her to pick apart but then Night settled on rage, seething rage and hatred. With a curl of his lips forming a snarl and eyes narrowed, he hissed a single word at her.

“Monster.”

Night Blade

Night was doing his hardest to fight back the effects of the damn booze and these damn changelings, focusing on his anger to push away all the happiness that the changelings were no doubt pumping him with. Rex had stopped reaching for his pockets in the off chance he’d blow them up, and Wind was doing a good job at using the bar stool to swat them away.

He never thought he’d be happy that Wind Breaker knew his booze that well to spot the fake. He pulled out his sword and was doing his best to fight back, causing the changeling to dance back. Wind had grabbed a bar stool and thrown it as his changeling before tackling it over to prevent it from using its magic on him. Rex had also gone for close fighting, jumping on its back and the changeling doing its best to buck him off.

While Night might be expected to be at something of a disadvantage fighting something that had magic, he was good at fighting unicorns. Using his wings to take to the air and get behind it, he could see the changeling was really getting frustrated, its magic swipes becoming clumsy. Soon he’d be able to disarm it and help Rex or Wind Breaker.

All of a sudden, the changeling in front of him stopped and tilted its head. Night froze, his sword hesitating from completing its strike to knock the changeling unconscious.

“What is it,” the changeling dealing with Wind, Starlet, hissed at his changeling. “This griffon may be a shrimp but fucking dammit is he weighty!”

Roneo, or whatever its real name was, tilted its head towards the changeling dealing with Rex before the two changelings stopped. “Well that happened,” Gladstone said with a huff.

“What is going on here?” Night growled, eyeing the oddly dressed changelings. He never knew a changeling could have stuff, let alone armour that seemed well kept…

“We’ve got orders, Nighty,” his changeling grinned. “Our leader just finished dealing with your mares,” they snickered at this, with the blood draining from Night’s face. “We don’t need to deal with you three anymore.”

They might have said more, but Night wasn’t there, he was already out of the bar and flying as hard as he could back to where Page was. This was his greatest nightmare coming true and he was cursing himself for thinking he could trust Xvital or Vix-Lei to keep Page safe. He wasn’t sure what Wind was squawking, he didn’t care, he just had to make sure Page was safe.

He never flew faster in his life and yet he felt he was moving at a snail's pace, hating himself for not training his wing muscles in the past. He could feel his heart screaming in his chest with horrible things that they were doing to Page flashing through his head.

He just needed to go faster, faster, faster!

Finally he reached the cottage, almost crashing into the ground as he landed, desperate to make sure Page was safe. He could hear her voice, with his heart beginning to slow as he reached for the already turning doorknob.

“You’re crazy, I don’t even know how to tell,” the door opened and he saw a changeling wearing Page’s necklace and her Element stare at him, her blue eyes widening in surprise. “Night?” it squeaked in surprise.

Night felt his heart drop at this before he realized that this is what those fucking changelings meant, that they had taken Page and were stupid enough to try and fake being her.

“Monster,” he hissed with all the rage he could muster before he tackled it through the doorway and smashed it into the coffee table, bringing his hoof into its face again and again. “WHERE IS SHE‽” he roared as he smashed its face, Night’s rage building as it dared to try pull away. He slapped its hooves away, grabbed its head and slammed it into ground. “I SAID, WHERE IS SHE‽” he shouted again, snapping his wing out as he was dimly aware of someone behind him. The tumble and pain noise told him that it was dealt with for the moment, Night wrapped his hooves around its neck and started to squeeze. “I WILL KILL YOU IF YOU DO NOT TELL ME WHERE I CAN FIND MY LOVE PAGE TURNER!”

He felt it try to reach for his neck and Night’s rage was at its peak now. He brought his hoof up to smash its skull in when he noticed that it was his own necklace dragging him down, tugging at his neck.

That… that didn’t make sense. The only way for it work like that would be…

Night looked at the changeling he was on and suddenly, everything about Page made perfect sense. Why she refused to ever see a doctor, why she was good with foals, why she was so pleasant and happy all the time, why that changeling came back to her in Canterlot, and so many more things fell into place. In the next second, his rage-narrowed vision cleared up and he saw Xvital and Vix-Lei cowering in fear in the corners, Wind Breaker was gasping for breath behind him with Rex standing over him and under him was… was… was...

Night’s entire body began to tremble as his mind slowly made the connections he did not want to. Looking at his hooves covered in blood, in her blood, he let out in a tiny whisper, “My goddesses, what have I done?”

Comments

[nickle241]

i didn't have any expectation on the secret, but i certainly wasn't expecting that. quite a diverse group they have here, its not often that writers use changeling hybrids. kind of ironic that none of the new elements are members of the main tribes, really wasn't expecting that outcome.

[Evilhumour]

8245707

Glad I could surprise you on one of Page's secrets.

And it's quite balanced group too, half fliers, half not.

[nickle241]

8245935
one of? oh this has to be good.

[Evilhumour]

8245940

[Copper Springs]

Oh snap! I had figured that Page was a changeling, but I didn't think she would be such an important changeling that she could order drone changelings around. Also dang, Nigh can be brutal.