A Rainbow Only Seen Once

by fare67t

2 - To Gaze Upon the Leylines

Author's Note:

Hey everyone!

Sorry for a later then usual chapter upload, I've been busy with a few things in real life, namely trying to apply for places around town and also taking care of a sick relative.

To make up for lost time, I've made this chapter slightly longer then the last one (even if not by much).

Hope you enjoy~

The sight of some form of skull floating around, even if it may not even be there, certainly didn't set the changeling mare's mind at ease, nor did the unease she felt upon gazing at it. The almost smoke-like apparition she saw floated around, its shape pulsing and shifting while still retaining the general shape of a skull. However, other then it moving around a little, it didn't really do much of anything that she could see, which only further increased the changeling's uneasiness. Every time the colorfully painted drone blinked, the smokey phantom seemed to inch slightly closer to the eye-patch wearing old-ling, as if the general malice of the other drone were pulling it in. Deciding that she was probably just seeing things and/or not used to her newly reformed eyeballs, the changeling gently shrugged it off and stood up, preparing to run away from the rather mean sounding old-ling in case they decided to spring at her. However, as the eye sockets of the apparent "skull" apparition started to gently glow a rather foreboding red, the drone could ignore it no longer.

"...U-Um...I'm being serious here, there is actually something there..." the mare drone said, nudging her hoof in the air to indicate the apparition slowly drawing closer to the old-ling. Despite her sensing the malice her apparent attacker was giving off, she still felt a strange need to help them out and/or warn them of potential ethereal danger. Perhaps it was a symptom of her recent basically forced reformation, or perhaps she was just a kind soul deep down, but she definitely didn't want to see some creature potentially get hurt and/or die in-front of her. "Even if you don't see it, you should still get away from it..."

The eye patch wearing drone blinks, once more looking behind him as he whipped around 180 in a rather swift motion, the pair of keys attached to hip via a strap jingling softly. The roughed up drone's eye twitched in annoyance at having his time wasted, as he once more saw nothing in the direction the colorful changeling pointed at. The old-ling bit their lip and grumbled to themselves, trying their best to not turn around and explode on the mare in-front of them, instead somewhat gripping onto a miscellaneous rock that was under their right front hoof.

"So then missy, if this 'ting of yours really does exist, then wot exactly does it look like, eh?" the worn out looking changeling asked of the colorful drone, not even turning around to face her. The colorful drone perked up slightly, her chance of potentially saving the rough changeling finally showing itself she thought to herself.

"Um w-well...It kinda looks like a sort of...skull...cloud...? It's hard to explain, but its some kind of strange misty...thing that looks like a skull, and it's heading towards you...I think" she replied, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes as if to focus in on the apparition with her vision.

"Ah, I see..." the eye patch drone replied back, his more serious tone of voice making the colorful mare perk up slightly. A smile slowly grew on her face as she began to slowly canter towards the other changeling, her tail swaying behind her in apparent hope. She raised a hoof in the air as if to reach out and touch / comfort the old-ling.

"So then...you believe m-"

She was cut off suddenly by the eye patch wearing drone spontaneously bursting into a fit of laughter, the colorful changeling putting her hoof down and blinking in surprise. The old-ling tipped over to the side, falling onto the hard ground as they clutched their barrel, their guts wrapped up in hysterics as they continued to laugh intensely. The more and more the eye patch wearing old-ling continued to laugh, the less and less confident and happy the colorful drone felt, her hopes of her fellow changeling understanding her worries dashed from her. Eventually, the old-ling stopped their excessive laughter, taking a few moments to catch their breath once more before letting out one final soft chuckle and shaking their head.

"Hehehe...A floatin' skull, eh? Ye sure that's not jus' you seeing yer future there, Nim?" Then, without any real warning, the eye patch wearing old-ling whipped around and leaped at her, the sudden movement causing their keys to fly off of their hip and over into the rocks nearby. Despite basically being blind before, if there's anything that "Nim" could call her special skill, it's having a good reaction time. She managed to dodge to the side at the last second, causing the old-ling to go flying past and headbutt the rock directly behind her at high speeds. Thinking that perhaps their encounter was over, the colorful drone simply stood there and watched the other changeling slam into the rock, letting out a tiny giggle as they did so. Just as she was about to clamp her hooves to her mouth in surprise of hearing herself giggle, the old-ling sat up and rubbed their head as if nothing had ever happened, causing her face to drain of color.

"Ye think a little ole rock is gonna keep me from givin ya what you deserve, eh?" The old-ling stood up and turned their head to look at her, gritting their teeth in obvious pain from hitting the boulder combined with anger. They dug their hooves into the dirt and bent down slightly, signaling they were about to try and strike again. Seeing this somewhat telegraphed motion, the drone referred to by the old-ling as Nim started to slowly turn around, preparing to do the probably very smart thing and run away, especially when she saw the eye patched drone pull a chitinous knife out of their waist holster. "...c'mmere you little...!"

Grasping the almost naturally formed knife in their mouth, the blackened changeling leaped at her once more, arcs being carved into the air as they swung at her, the green-shelled changeling barely managing to avoid being cut by their blade. As the changeling swung their weapon at her, the colorful drone noticed that every charge at her, their blade came closer and closer to grazing her underside, which made her eyes dart around a little bit in worry. She continued to jump left and right, keeping away from the imminent danger being thrust and swung at her, meeping under her breath at every near-miss. Just when she thought she was gaining some headway in escaping, her newly reformed bug wings suddenly spazzed out of her Elytra, causing her to veer to the side in midair and smack into the outer wall. The colorful drone slumped to the ground in a lump of pain, gritting her teeth and squirming trying to get up once more. The eye patch wearing old-ling smirked as they saw her crumble to the ground, slowly cantering over while spinning the chitinous knife around in their mouth to have the blade point forward.

"ehehe...looks like yer not going anywhere soon, missy~" The old-ling loomed over the colorful drone, stepping on her back legs with one of their hooves to ensure she couldn't get up easily, letting out a slightly muffled devious chuckle as they reared their head back and puffed out their wings, preparing to lunge forward and stab the weakened bug.

The colorful drone squirmed more under the hoof of her attacker, shutting her eyes tightly and preparing for the inevitable pain should she fail to break free from his hold. The eye patched old-ling thrust their natural weapon downward, fully intent on puncturing the color bug beneath them and/or possibly killing them. However, just before the sharpened tip of the chitinous blade made contact with her slightly furred side, the old-ling was tackled at high speeds off of her, the sound of which was heard quite audibly to anyone nearby. The vibrant changeling's ear twitched as she heard the sounds of her attacker being tackled off of her, feeling the weight and pressure of their hoof leaving her legs. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around quite frantically, sitting up to get a better view of her potential savior.

"...H-Huh, wha...?" the drone says in a daze, blinking her eyes a few times and shaking her head to fix her vision. While she didn't really see who it was that saved her, she did manage to catch a glimpse of them fleeing / flying back into the hive via one of the various open holes; a flash of black, red, and purple catching her eye as it withdrew into the walls. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but upon looking over in-front of her and seeing the eye patched old-ling starting to get up, she decided to just take the stranger's random act of kindness and flee. Upon turning tail and running away, the drone practically tripped over the discarded pair of keys laying to the side next to where she was. Without even really giving it a second though, she picked them up and hung the key-ring around her horn rather comically, quickly sprinting off and around the corner / out of sight before the old-ling had a change to get up and see her fleeing. Just as she ran around the corner leading to another portion of the hive's exterior, another old-ling walked out of the hole she just passed by, blinking and looking in her direction just in time to see her vanish. The blackened drone raised an eyebrow and simply stared at the air in which the vivid changeling used to be for a moment, blinking and quickly whipping around upon hearing the groans of their downed eye patched comrade.

"A-Are you okay boss?! Should we go after h-" They were cut off rather abruptly by a hole-filled hoof being firmly pressed into their muzzle, the gruff old-ling standing up and grumbling in anger to themselves.

"Bah, let her go fer now...we'll get her eventually..." The eye patched drone squinted in annoyance in the direction the colorful drone fleed in, their eyes teeming with an unseen fire as they huffed and whipped around, storming off into the hive in a fit of rage. The other black changeling drone blinked and meeped as they were being left behind, quickly buzzing over to the eye patched one to catch up, vanishing into the hive with them as they tried to calm the gruff old-ling down.

---

The rather vibrant colored changeling slowed their gallop to a halt, panting rather heavily and looking over their shoulder to see if she was being followed at all. Upon seeing no one, she decided that she was sufficiently far enough away from her attacker to rest and relax, walking over to the rather steep wall that lined the outside of the hive and slumping down onto the ground against it. Finally, she had some peace and quiet to fully recuperate from suddenly being transformed into something else, even if what little she has seen of herself, she liked. Letting her head tilt back and rest against the wall, she looked up into the sky to watch the clouds, her pink colored mono-eyes taking in all the wonders of the daytime sky while she rested. Being able to see things so clearly is a privilege that most ponies up and forget about, as they were born able to see in color and from far away. However, to some creature like a changeling, being able to see in full color or beyond is one of the greatest gifts you could have given, especially to one that was 100% blind to colors and possibly depth such as this one. As the clouds slowly rolled by in the rather blue sky, she simply gazed upwards in slight awe, her cheeks flushed a little as a smile slowly formed on her face. All the relaxation and comfort of finally being able to see the sky for what it is caused the colorful drone to very slowly nod off, her eyelids fluttering a little as they slowly began to close.

However, just before the changeling could truly fall asleep in bliss, her newly reformed wings fluttered open for a split second, what was left of the sky in her sleep-filled vision now appearing much different in her eyes. Just before her eyelids fully closed, she meeped and quickly opened her eyes, staring up at the sky with a look of both confusion and wonder. In her vision currently, the sky was exactly the same color as she had seen previously; however there now existed what appeared to be several multi-colored lines / stems of sorts in streaking across the sky, or as she put it in her head: bunch of cracks in the clouds. The veins pulsed different colors as some form of light flowed through them, some of them appearing to leave the badlands where the hive was situated with a less bright light, others returning back / flowing towards the hive with a more vibrant glow. She noticed that one of the lines that left the hive for the other parts of the world had a very pink tint to its color, perhaps overflowing with all the love that was released by the changelings reforming prior.

The colorful drone blinked and tilted her head to the side, very much so confused by the sudden sight she was seeing. Deciding that she probably wouldn't ever figure out what they were, she sighed and shook her head, her wings buzzing behind her for a moment. As her wings buzzed, she blinked and looked down to her side, a small patch of grass and a flower suddenly sprouting under her barrel. The changeling meeped and jumped up, careful not to step on the growing plants, looking at the flower as it sprouted slowly. After the little flower finished growing, a small green mist seemingly floated up from the end up it, flying through the air up towards one of the lines running through the sky. This only served to confuse the drone even further then she already was, raising an "eyebrow" and tilting her head all the way to one side. She simply stood there, lost in deep thought as she tried to process what she was seeing, her multi-colored tail swaying behind her slowly. Then, it hit her: what if these strange lines she was seeing in the sky weren't just a fancy display of lights and colors? What if they had a much deeper meaning, as the flower basically gave part of its essence to them?

What if, she was somehow seeing the life force of the planet itself, and all its inhabitants?