Easy Access, the Story of Quill

by Graphite Quill

Act. 2 The Harbinger of Freedom

I could feel my wings bristle under the illusion magic as we walked towards the mass of escaped ponies. My magic seems to be responsive again which makes me believe it was the throne that was causing my magic to go haywire, but I still don't understand how I was able to use it at all. Regardless I have it back now which is going to make things so much easier, even if it still feels odd compared to before all the changeling shit. I should really look into a way of getting myself checked out, maybe the ponies have a way of detecting abnormalities in a unicorns magic? I can't say I know what is normal where magic is involved.

"Somethings coming!" "THEY FOUND US!" "EVERYPONY RUN" Voices and screaming broke me from my thoughts. It seems they finally noticed our approach and decided to do what scared ponies do best. Word spread fast and before long ponies started to sprint down the tunnel, more and more joining them along the way.

Charging my horn I yelled, "STOP," and to my confusion a shield wall rose in front of the ponies trapping them between me and their only escape route. There was more screaming from down the tunnel as ponies continued to flee. The ponies on my side beat on the shield while a few separated from the crowd to stand protectively in front of everypony else. I had meant to use my magic to amplify my voice but I guess my magic is still doing whatever it wants.

"I'm not a changeling! I'm sorry for scaring all of you but I need to talk to you." I stated calmly.

"Why should we believe you!"

I studied the earth pony stallion, he was one of the few that stood in front of the rest. The others that had joined him stood silently, most shaking from fear or exhaustion. None of them were a real threat to me judging from their sources but regardless I didn't want to let my guard down. "I know you're all terrified and have no reason to believe me, but I am here to help. I was a prisoner as well but I wasn't kept in the pods like you all so it took me more time to get here." Quickly turning to my magic sight I looked around and smiled. Bingo. With a yelp of shock three of the forty or so ponies levitated over to me and were slammed to the ground. More screaming from the ponies didn't distract me from my spellcasting at I dispelled the magic of the three changelings. There were gasps of shock in the crowd and some muttering but I ignored it all while I held the three down by their throats.

"There are changelings among you and I can help you find them. If I were one of them, why would I force them to show their true forms?"

The same earth pony from before spoke again seemingly mollified. He seemed like their impromptu leader. "You seem far too powerful to be be some average unicorn. If you aren't one of them then what are you? Not many have the kind of power you've shown us. I mean Tartarus, I'm not even a unicorn and I can feel magic coming off of you in waves."

Should I? No, I'll come up with some 'I'm an alicorn' bullshit lie and show off my wings later if they get suspicious. For now an ultimatum should suffice. "I'm stronger than the average unicorn but that's all I am. If you don't want to believe me then fine, I'll just release these three and go on about my business and leave you all to figure out who is real and who is an imposter." I paused for dramatic effect to let the thought sink in. "Or you could accept my offer of help and I can put an end to your pest problem." When I finished my speech I looked down to see the changelings laying unmoving on the ground. Woops, I forgot I was strangling them. Loosening my grip I knelt down to make sure they were still breathing. Thank god they were, otherwise I'd actually feel really guilty.

The ponies had huddled together to talk while I tended to the changelings. The leader spoke up again. "What part does she play in all this?" He said pointing the the mute mare that has stayed by my side ever since her release.

Good question. "Another survivor. She was awake when I made my escape so I brought her with me." They returned to talking amongst themselves so I turned to the mare in question. She was calmly watching the ponies discuss my offer and occasionally glancing at the changelings. "Anything you want to add to the conversation?" She just shrugged. "Didn't think so." I said with a sigh.

-=-=-

After a lengthy talk about the changelings and an explanation about what exactly they are, the ponies were split between being completely terrified of them and hopeful that more were like the ones that set them free. The earth pony told me that Thorax had explained very little about what was happening and only said that they should keep running and that any changelings that might be among them were not on the side of the rebellion. Good news for me I guess, the three I captured were likely spies among his group. If we ever caught up with the rest of the ponies I'd have to carefully watch for any more. The ponies took to the mute mare immediately once they decided to accept my offer of help, and annoyingly enough they seemed to perfectly understand her gestures. They were having full on conversations with her while I tried, in vain, to decipher what she was saying by using the others responses as a guide. Might as well have been watching Fluttershy speak with one of her animals.

We started walking down the tunnel as a group once I lowered my shield and at first everypony had kept their distance from me and the changelings I was dragging along. However curiosity got the better of them and they started surrounding us and asking tons of questions. The mute mare of course stayed by my side forcing me to deal with their questions as well. The changelings had been bound together in stone thanks to my magic and I kept a constant draw on their sources. I was hoping depriving them of their magic would cancel out their hive mind, plus it had the unintended effect of keeping them asleep. I had to keep checking to make sure they were still breathing because I'm not sure if keeping them empty of magic would kill them. Creatures created by magic tend to not fare well when their magic is taken from them, at least that's what stories from my world say. I don't think I could ever kill another sapient being on purpose, and I'd feel pretty bad if I did by accident. Sure I used to hunt back on earth and I owned a few guns for home defense but I'm not a murderer.

I had been lighting the way for everyone because the few unicorns that were in the group I traveled with were about to drop from exhaustion. They all were, but the difference between the three tribes was obvious. The earth ponies were tired but looked good enough to keep going for a while, and the pegasi were a little rougher but still not as bad as the unicorns. When I suggested we stop and rest most of the group agreed but the groups leader, the same earth pony from earlier, said we should keep moving in case we were followed. I managed to get him to agree to let everypony rest after I told him the tunnels were sealed behind us. We were all laying down to relax with my shield wall blocking the path to our rear. My spellwork allowed some to relax enough to get some much needed sleep. Unfortunately they were unable to sleep for long as a loud rumbling and crashing noise could be heard from further along the tunnel. They started to panic about what that could have been and me with my ever present wisdom decided to tell them my opinion. A cave-in.

I was getting tired of being underground so I decided that we should get going and check out what happened. Not wanting to be left behind they followed my lead. After another half hour of walking my light spell illuminated a dead end. A solid wall of boulders and dirt blocked the path. Sometimes I hate being right. Ignoring the sobbing and hopeless feelings around me I noticed a small twiggy bush in the debris. Bushes don't grow in caves.

"Everyone stand back."

-=-=-

I could still hear the ponies talking about the hole I created for us to escape the tunnel even while we were setting up a temporary camp for the night. It was a few hours from dusk when I blew through the rubble so we traveled to the road and gathered what little bit of wood there was for a fire. Magical fire didn't actually produce heat so it wouldn't help against the frigid air at night in this desert. The unicorns and earth ponies worked together to stack rocks into a short wall around the camp to work as a kind of wind break. The power behind the hooves of earth ponies is terrifying, they were taking turns bucking rock walls to break off smaller pieces to work with. One of them accidentally left a fissure in the wall that was at least twelve feet high and a foot deep. I offered to put up a shield around us but apparently some of them were still traumatized by the changeling pods and were extremely claustrophobic now. I could understand how that might make them feel trapped again.

Much to my annoyance the camp was rather small for the amount of ponies in the group, at least in my opinion. Basically everypony was going to have to sleep side to side if they wanted to stay close to the fire. Being the herd animals that ponies are this was completely acceptable for all of them but annoying for me. I'm not really into the whole cuddle pile thing, if I'm sleeping next to someone I'd prefer it to only be us two. Once night hit I immediately went to a wall and lay down against it hoping the ponies would stay closer to the fire. I was mostly right. The mute mare walked up to me gesturing at me and after she saw the obvious confusion on my face she facehooved.

"She's saying you might get cold laying against the rocks." One of the nearby ponies said.

"I'll be fine here, I don't like crowds."

After some more gesturing the mute mare lay down next to me. "She said since you're being stubborn she'll help you stay warm." The translator said with a giggle. Sighing in defeat I just lay my head down and closed my eyes. I felt a wing drape over my back soon after. It was actually really nice and warm so I didn't bother making a big deal out of it. Not long after that I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

Author's Note:

No herding in this story, Graphite is firmly monogamous, and no the so far unnamed mare will not be taking Luna's place. I've got a full weekend off so I decided to try to crank out a chapter before I went to sleep. It's just after 3am for me and I need to do stuff later so I'll edit later. Peace fellow pones! {T}

Comments

[Ali della Morte]

Another new chapter? That was quick

[Graphite Quill]

11142878
The last one was sitting mostly finished for a while. This one is nothing special, not much happened so I had it typed up in a couple hours. I could have continued it for a few thousand more words but I decided to basically make it just a filler chapter.

[Ali della Morte]

11142880
As for any fixes the chapter, this was the only thing I noticed. I might have found more if my attention wasn't divided 3 ways.

"I know your all terrified

you're

---

If you ever want help with proofreading, I'm up for the task, especially with this story.

[Wickedkingken]

I'm glad to see this story continue

[tsaukpaetra]

Surprising everything has gone so smoothly.