Chapter 17
As it turned out, human mothers were not easier to fool than Changeling Queens. Despite lacking magical senses, despite lacking every kind of magic so far as Ocellus could tell, the woman she knew only as “Mom” had barely even listened to her convincing list of excuses.
“You could’ve been killed,” she kept saying, as they rode together in one of the largest mechanical carriages Ocellus had seen yet. But there was no way to enjoy the experience with the hand wrapped tightly around her wrist and the constant anger and frustration the woman radiated like a cloud.
Maybe Chrysalis hadn’t been such a bad parent after all.
“I always told you they were trouble,” she said, when they exited the metal box and were walking down the street. Ocellus had a few new bandages on her body from where the medical people had stuck her with needles and taken blood, but otherwise they hadn’t tried to keep her. Maybe because they hadn’t found anything meaningfully wrong with her, despite her claims to a fall. “It was a mistake to let them visit outside the house. That Helen girl should’ve stayed where she belongs.”
She didn’t actually try to reply, every time she’d done that before the woman just got angrier. So she kept her eyes on the ground, looked appropriately submissive, and walked in silence.
It’s a good thing they didn’t have you, real Marie. They were way cleverer than pony doctors—you never could’ve hidden from them. Ocellus herself couldn’t be sure if her own powers had been enough to hide completely, but they had sent her home with Marie’s mother, so that probably meant they’d been fooled.
Probably.
To Ocellus’s surprise, she felt a response this time. The presence of another mind at such a great distance was tenuous at best, with none of the lighter emotional information present. Only something as distinct and intentional as actual words could reach through from so far away, and even then her voice sounded feeble and weak.
“Ocellus, am I hearing you?”
“Yes!” She perked up, breaking her little illusion and nearly tearing free of the woman’s hand.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“N-nowhere.” She forced her face back into the mask, eyes down.
“Not to school,” she said. “Closed on account of the national emergency. So you get off on that one, if only by a hair.”
She was barely even listening. “Are you safe? Did you escape the forest?”
Pause. “Yeah, we’re safe. I don’t know where we are. I think your friends broke into someone’s flat? Seems safe enough, so long as no holidaymakers show up to use it. Probably won’t at this time of year, but… Christ this is weird. Feels like I’m just thinking to myself.”
“You aren’t.” They stopped in front of an ugly brown building with several front doors in a row. Eyes watched from the nearby windows as they approached, and the woman finally let her go as she unlocked three separate bolts, fingers shaking every minute.
Then they were inside, and she yanked at Ocellus’s sleeve, pointing. “You know where you’re going.” It wasn’t a question, but Ocellus didn’t know where she was going.
From the commanding tone, she guessed this was the discipline that Marie had feared her mother would bring down on her. She’d been right. “Uh… yeah. I know.”
“Then go. I’ll think about giving you supper, if you can come up with a convincing apology.”
Ocellus wandered up the steps, frowning as she took in her first visit to a human dwelling. It was considerably less impressive than their medical facilities, with a strange half-rotten smell about everything and lots of empty-looking containers everywhere. The stairs themselves had been so stacked with square containers that she could only pass through a single aisle to the top floor.
The woman at the bottom was still watching her, hands on her hips. “Don’t get smart with me, young lady. Go.”
She opened her mouth, then felt the surge of anger from below and just shut it again. Where would an angry human want her disobedient spawn to go?
The nearest door was propped open with so many blankets and oversized bags that she wasn’t sure she even could’ve shut it. But on the other side of the hall was a sudden transition, where the layer of filth on the floor ended and she could see soft carpet. There was pink furniture inside, and a few dresses hanging in the closet.
Marie’s room. She hurried inside, and was relieved to feel the anger from downstairs ebb slightly. “You stay in there until supper, and we can talk about how long you’re grounded. But you come out for anything that isn’t the toilet and I’ll lock it next time.”
Ocellus shuddered, feeling her sympathy for the young human grow just a bit. She knew she was going to suffer this when she got home, but she went anyway to help us. No wonder their love had felt so strong when they arrived in the middle of the storm.
Good thing, too. I’m going to need every drop of magic I can get.
Ocellus took in the room in a single quick glance. However strange humans might look, the way they lived didn’t appear that different. A bed against one corner, clothes in the closet, and a desk packed with books and papers. This was what she used for whatever school had apparently been canceled.
“Oh, that reminds me! A message came back from… the place you’re from, I think? The others seemed excited about it. You know a ‘Twilight’?”
“Yeah. What did she say?”
Marie told her, apparently reading directly from the scroll. Her accent was easier to understand now that they were communicating directly, though there was still an obvious taste of something alien.
Alien, yet also a changeling now too, at least a little.
“You said they put you back with my mum?” Marie asked, as soon as she’d finished reading everything.
“Yeah.” She went through the whole story as quickly as she could, about being driven into the makeshift cloth buildings and the interviews that followed. But there hadn’t been any violence, and she wasn’t hurt, so the story didn’t last that long.
“You think they don’t know you were a fake?”
“Probably not,” Ocellus answered, settling down on the edge of the mattress. It was much softer than she’d expected, and she quickly spread out, letting the soft cloth wrap around her. So far from her friends, it was nice to have something comfortable. “I don’t think they were looking for changelings. They were mostly worried that I was—that you were hurt. But when they couldn’t find anything, then sent me away. I didn’t see your other friends again.”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine. Helen's family has so much money they can make any problems go away. You should be more worried about yourself. Your transformation-thing was really convincing to me, but… it seems too good to believe that they wouldn’t notice anything. Did mom say anything about what they told her?”
“No.”
“Weird. Well, uh… watch your back, I guess. Hopefully your magic is just too perfect.” But she didn’t sound like she believed it.
Ocellus had no idea what that meant, and she didn’t ask. “Twilight Sparkle wants us to stay hidden and let Equestria worry about the diplomacy.” That was probably for the best, given the trouble they’d caused in just a few days.
I did plenty of that myself with you, Marie. But she didn’t send that message—how was she supposed to tell the girl that she should’ve let her die? Sometimes the smartest choice wasn’t always the best, and this felt like one of those times.
“The leader, I think… Smolder? Yeah, her. She says we’ll just hide here for now until you can get back to us. But I told them that might not be right away. I don’t know where this is, and I’m guessing you’re grounded.”
“If grounded is being told not to leave this room, then yes.” Ocellus sat up from the strange human bed, picking up one of Marie’s books at random and letting it fall open on the desk. It was all almost entirely numbers inside, arranged into regular patterns and groups. Math problems.
She’s just a filly, give her a break. She doesn’t have to learn all this at her age.
But Ocellus was letting her instincts think for her, and that was a mistake no changeling should make. Just because Marie and the other humans looked adorable and helpless didn’t mean they really were.
“Yeah, so it might be a while. And I don’t know how far away we are. They said it took them hours to get here, and you guys seem pretty fast.”
“That won’t be a problem.” Ocellus pulled over the human chair and sat down, beginning to finger through some of the other books. There was bound to be something on culture here with so many of the thick squares to look through. Something that would help her imitate Marie more convincingly. “I could open the window and fly to you when it gets dark.”
“No you bloody can’t,” Marie snapped, her fear and anger suddenly so strong that it managed to cross the connection between them. “She’s got an alarm on my window, and all the doors. You can’t just open it, or she’ll know! If I come back after that, she’ll bloody kill me.”
She sighed, pushing aside another uninteresting book. “I can wait a little bit. Have you tried going fishing with Silverstream yet? Letting her use her pearl on you is the quickest way to learn what it feels like. If you figure it out without me, then we can switch back real quick.”
“I think we’re going as soon as it gets dark,” Marie answered. There was a long silence from her side, then. “I heard that the floods might kill hundreds of people. The telly said they weren’t as bad as anybody thought, but… it’s still going to destroy homes all over the country. Did you do this?”
“You read me the letter. Twilight doesn’t even know, and she’s one of the smartest magical experts in Equestria. But I know ponies—they don’t like killing. I’m sure if they knew humans had died, they’d be heartbroken.”
But if they didn’t know already, they would probably learn soon. Twilight’s letter had suggested they were beginning diplomatic contact right away. What that would look like, and how it would work, Ocellus could only be glad was being left to others. Let smarter ponies than her solve those problems.
“Don’t make her upset,” Marie begged. “I know she’s harsh, but she’s my mum. She’s the only family I have left. Please don’t make her hate me.”
Why do you care so much, if this is how she treats you? But Ocellus didn’t send that. Unlike the new changeling, she knew exactly how to send a thought, and how to keep one to herself. She was no young drone anymore. “I’ll do what she says. Locking me up in here might be an… advantage, in a way. Less chances to be discovered as a fake if I’m stuck in here all the time.” Assuming I don’t completely lose my mind before we can switch back.
“I’ll tell Smolder and the others you’re okay, and try to learn when we go fishing. You… probably shouldn’t tell my mum that my phone broke. We’ll just have to hope she doesn’t call you while you’re grounded.”
Ocellus wasn’t sure about what that meant exactly, but then, she didn’t really understand very much at all of how these humans did things. Hopefully I get a chance to spend more time with her human friends. Equestria could probably use the diplomatic help.
Gritting her teeth, Ocellus gathered up a handful of the books she hadn’t looked at yet, and carried them over to Marie’s bed to start searching. If she was going to be locked in prison, she’d make her time count for something.
There, that book looked promising. “Photographic World History, WW2 to Present.” Here we go. Let’s see what you humans on your little island are like…
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Waaaaaait, are you saying Equestria isn't so insistent on teaching math? If so, then dang, where was Equestria when I was at school? Could've done without a lot of those math classes!
More seriously, though, I wonder if Ocellus has simply misgauged how old Marie is in relation to herself and Equestria's standards. Hmm...
I'm wondering if Marie's mum might be...I hesitate to say abusive, so...excessive, maybe? I mean, I got that she's overprotective, but...I don't know. I just know that something about it doesn't feel quite right. I sense there's probably more going on there than has yet to be revealed, though, so we'll see.
Welp....hope Ocellus doesn't contract the humans are dangerous beasts disease, cause that shit's contagious as fuck in these kinds of stories.
Prepare to see the dark side of humanity.
Im starting to really dislike her mom.
Still unsure just what Maries mother is like, except for all the keep the outside world away from inside and then brutalise the inside as well make her look like she want to be seen as superior in every way and cant be if her daughter is this useless little sod who cant get straight A* accross all 12 subjects by age 10 etc..
Refuses to accept she isnt god. Very nasty. Needs isolating in a nice quiet enviroment far away from society as its through and through and trying to , help her ajust, would mean a rewrite so great, would be a totally different person.
Marie's mother needs quite a lot of therapy. Let me guess, abandoned by her husband, parental abandonment issues, wants the best for her daughter but has absolutely no idea hot to go about it, so tries to control everything. And in the process screws up hard.
I wonder how she'd feel if she could realize what she's doing?
Welp. If I wasn't worried before, I sure am now.
I got a bad feeling about Marie's mum... hoarder, abusive, dominating,,, any redeeming factors present? Not to my knowledge at this time. CPS should pay a call, or the UK equivalent...
Yeah, sounds about right.
Marie's mother definitely has some issues. Of course, Ocellus is about to learn about far worse horrors of mankind. Still, out of the Student Six, she's probably the best one to handle this information. She knows how easy it is for good people to do bad things when ordered to. I just hope her magic reserves hold out.
9390456
Well, at least Earth has enough of a magic field for her magic to still work. If this was Mars, they’d be in even worse trouble.
uuuuuuhhhh.....
Here we go
She could have transforms into a fly, so she can get through the air vent, without setting off the alarms.
Am I the only one who doesn't see Marie's mom as in the wrong here? Leaving the house when you're told not to IS a ground-able offense you know, especially when it's a school night or very bad weather.
9391109
I think it's more that Ocellus is an Unreliable Narrator in this scenario. She's viewing human society from Marie's perspective, and that perspective is...well...a kid. Anything a kid might view as unfair, she's going to view as unfair, and that includes a lot of stuff that is reasonable when viewed more objectively.
9391587
I can definitely see that from the story's perspective... it's the other comments that confused me. After all, WE are adults that should understand what Ocellus isn't, right?
Well, she's not exactly wrong about that.
Being grounded does sound like a good opportunity for some human world research.
Photographic? As in "History of photography" or as in "History shown via photographs instead of text"? If the latter, I hope it has enough text to give context to the images.
I also wonder how far she gets before having to take a break, a lot has happened in the last century of ours.
Marie's mom strikes me as a hoarder, controlling, and possibly paranoid? I can only guess that some sort of trauma regarding her husband makes her intent on keeping Marie "safe" and away from "bad influences." Of course, her illness is so great she doesn't realize she's harming her instead.
9391109
So far her mother has not crossed any line but Marie, and by extension Ocellus, is terrified of her which isn't a good sign. Plus, her house is objectively a dump so that may also be a sign of a deeper problem. It's not the grounding as such that raises concerns, it's all the other things.
9390325
I have a feeling that even Chrysalis would be appalled if shown only the worst aspects of that two-sided coin of humanity.
Given the title of that book, I don't think Silverstream should be let to look at it.
(or even Fluttershy)
9390969
Maybe, but supposing 'Mrs. Marie' goes up to her daughter's room when Ocellus the 'fly' is still out?
9392789
Unless she use a ball with make up to cover that up.
9392871
I cannot make sense of what you're trying to say.
9391109
Didn't Marie leave the house (with permission) to hang out with friends, and then (lie about) staying at a friend's house when the weather turned bad? Sure, she didn't actually stay at that friend's house, but she did take shelter from the storm with that friend.
You very love Ocellus,don't you?
And now the conclusion~
Ocelus, how was the light read ya had there?
*keep pressing refresh button*
WW2 till now? @I got a good feeling about this!@
9390319
Well, I mean we can be. But I too sometimes get annoyed when a non-human jumps right to that. While we're warlike, we also have philosophers, poets, artists, etc.
9393545
Like how the escaped prisoners would make dummies of themselves to try to fool the guards that they were still in their cells, much as had been used in Alcatraz.
9509020
That still doesn't make sense.
I'm glad to see that Marie has such a caring, loving Mum.
"Diplomacy" is going to be interesting considering the British first response to the sighting of magical creatures. Maybe Twilight should worry less about Equestrians doing something rash and more about their new encounters doing something rash.
I didn't mention it earlier, but something strikes me as really messed up about the whole thing where Ocellus goes to the hospital in Marie's stead for an injury that basically did kill her.