Heartbeat

by Vietmane Veteran

Chaptre Two

Author's Note:

*Unsquare noises followed by triangle shaped noises* What? Ignore that. How you folks like the story? I can't figure out how to use tags!

[Note: Ponyal = Personal]

Voices drifted to her ears. She stirred. She tapped her horn. She still could not feel. She listened to what the voices were saying. ". . . And its eyes, Darling, they were the worst!"

"Ah believe what yous saw, Rarity. Did yah tell anypony else?"

"I'm not sure if anypony would believe that there are zomponies around now. *Ugh* Those eyes will haunt me forever."

"We should get Twilight on this. She'll be able to find it and stop it before it does any harm."

She felt like crying. She was going to be hunted. Red blurred her vision. She reached up and wiped her eyes. She realized that she was crying blood. Which would stain her light skin. Which would amplify her frightful appearance. The hay bale beside her moved up. Wait! She looked up to see the orange hooves of the shepherd. And beyond her was the Unicorn. The Unicorn pointed with her hoof and screamed! She quickly got up and ran for the door. She darted around the red horse and ran for the orchards. She had to get away. Barely a day into her new life, and she was despised. She supposed that this must of been what zebras felt when they came to Equestria. Now she felt guilty. Well, part of her. The part that owned a zebra.

She stopped. Did she need to eat? She could eat some while she was here, but if she didn't need food, she'd unnecessarily weigh herself down. She turned to solve the problem to pick the apples, and saw another problem heading for her in the shape of the red horse. She turned and ran again. Run Run Run. Either she had unending endurance, or she was damaging her body without knowing. Run Run Run. Is that a- Yes, silly, it's a house in a tree, part of you had one. Up the ramp, through the door, past the ponies, into the upper area by using the ladder- and her path was blocked!

She observed the distance from the window to the ground below. Unless she had full pony strength, she would break something.

"What was that?"

"What was what, Sweetie Belle?"

"Something just went upstairs!"

"*Gasp* *Buzz* A crusader visiting where it all started! Let's say hi!"

"Hold on, Scootaloo. They ran past us without much noise, so they must be a foal, and something was chasing them. As adult ponies, it is our responsibility to see what was the problem, and try to solve it."

"And if we cahn't?"

"Well, then we hide up here."

She moved her head through the hole in the ground and withdrew once she noted their appearance. Did they know not of what she was? Or did they not see her clearly when she entered? "Do not go searching for a monster that is not without this treehouse. The monster is within. Would you spare us your hateful stares? You! With the bow! Your kin are in pursuit of us. Can you calm them?"

"What do y’all look like?" The ladder creaked. She was coming up!

"No, no, no, no, no! Do not come up! You will see our face, and you will fear us at once! For we are a hideous thing, and we beg you not to gaze upon us!" The ladder creaked again, and the hoofsteps returned to the floor below.

"Are you a colt or a filly? You sound like a colt."

My face surely had heated in that moment. "As do you, Winged One! Don't be rude to a higher up!" No, we shouldn't be rude. "Sorry. I'm a filly. Do you know how to use these? I see that you use yours for flying, but I don't know how to work the muscles." With some difficulty, I lowered my right wing down the hole.

"Um, wings should not be that floppy. You might have a broken shoulder."

"Um, girls, why is her wing all bloody?"

Truth or lie? Truth, we should always be honest! "I cry blood. And I've been crying a lot." . . . A lie would most likely of sounded more truthful. And saner.

"Wait, y’all said my kin were after y’all? I'll get right on explaining to them!" Hoofsteps leaving the house. The white one and the orange one were left.

"Pray tell, what is the purpose of these feathered wings? Surely, things our size should not be able to fly with them. Are they like our forelegs?"

"Well, usually Pegasi can fly with their wings. Mine are a bit weird, so I use them to give me a wicked boost on my scooter! I can do all sorts of tricks, like-"

"Scootaloo, don't get off track." Scooter? What is a scootaloo? Scooter seems to be an object, so is a scootaloo a skill or trick performed with one?

"Whoops, sorry. Anyways, some Pegasi do use their wings in place of their forelegs. Um, you want me to see if I can set your shoulder, or whatever? Also, what kind of monster are you?"

"Don't come up here with us! For we are the dead come alive."

"Cool! Zomponies! Who's your necro?"

"My . . . Necro?"

"Necromancer! You know, the guy who used dark magic to forcefully bring you back from the dead. Oh! Or are you the infection type? You know, where it's a sickness that affects the brains of living things? Or are you- *Mph hmm Mph-* *Pleh* What?"

"Does she sound like a Necromancer's servant to you?"

Shouting from outside. The family. Fast hoofsteps up the ramp. "But she's not dangerous! Ah swear!"

"It's just trying to trick y’all! Zomponies are servants of Dark beings! We have to destroy it!"

"Eyup!"

Time to jump. We sprung up from the hole. We didn't have much space, so we simply lept from the window. Down, down. "OW!" We could feel! We could feel the grass, the air, our hunger, our burning muscles, our body, the pounding behind our eyes! But the pain! We took off, stumbling, stumbling. Faster, faster! Use the wings like legs! Shouting behind us! In our defense and declaring our demise! Far enough now, hide behind the tree!

We collapsed against the tree, our lungs burning! Need to relax, need to calm down! Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep. . . breaths. Okay. We need an apple. *Bonk* Oh, how chanceful was that event? We pick up the apple, mouth open to take a bite. A worm pops from the apple. Gross! No, awesome! Awesome? Which part of her liked a grimy thing such as a worm? Him. Him? Eww! There was a colt in her mind! Eww? Colts are yucky and muddy. All of us have played in mud! Well, then colts are stinky. Hey, I've wrestled with my pigs before! What's bad about being stinky? Who's talking? We lost track. We shouldn't even need to break apart our union. So what if one of us is a colt? This is the body of a filly! Sharing it with a colt seems . . . I don't wanna say the word. What word? Does it matter? We all have a common goal: find Father.

But Father left us! So, now what? Find the Brother! Yeah, with all the fuzzy animals! I didn't know colts liked fuzzy animals. I didn't know that fillies liked playing in mud. STOP SEPERATING! We need to stay as one mind. One body, one mind, one voice. Alright, but if one of us want to be the leading mind for a short time, then we allow that. Agreed? Agreed.

Now, we need to get to the road before the family finds us. We are a horrid thing, and thus we need to find a way to disguise ourselves. Or we play hide and seek with everypony in town. But should be show just our wings, just our horn, or cover them all? Why? Because we look like a nightmare alicorn. What's a alicorn? They are the Princesses of Equestria, the land we are in! I came from the Unicorn kingdom. UNION! Not Legion, united in thought! If we break apart, then we will never function! Maybe we should make our way to the cookie place. Why? I got a feeling that there is a kind baker there. How? Just a hunch. Or maybe an impression sent by Celestia! Who? One of the rulers of Equestria. No, she is the only ruler. What of Sombra? Who? What of Chrysalis? Again, who?

We should stop this thinking! United! We're just chatting. And as long as we are one in purpose for the body, our minds can say what they want. What about that bit about who gets main control earlier? I meant as in, if one of us has an idea to share or wants to go swimming or something. FOCUS! SHUT UP! OUR HEAD!

"Hello. Are you a collaboration of memories strung together and given a form to control? Oh, sorry. I should introduce myself. I am Maud. As you can see, I'm very excited to meet you." We look up to the face of a gray mare with a lovely mane. No, it's drab. She's drab. She looks like she might be a Pie! Pie? My family!

"Can you help us get to town?" Wait, we didn't agree to speak! Don't matter does it? Yes, it does!

"I'll let you finish your internal debate on ponyal politics first. After all, forms of government are very important, even if many creatures don't agree."

"How did you know about us?"

"Just a hunch." Yep, she is a Pie! The Pie Family is psychic? No, we have senses! You mean more than Sensation? How far are you in science? In what now? We will all talk later. For now, back to Maud. She may be our best chance of . . . I don't know, but she's not screaming and running away like the others. "Are you ready? I have an extra cloak you can wear. You may want to fold your wings." We attempted to. Our efforts resembled that of a chicken that had water poured on it. Why would you do that? Curiosity. "Hmmmm. Maybe Rarity can help with fixing your wings. Stay still." Maud draped a cloak over us. For an Earth Pony peasant, she certainly was skillful with the use of her hoofs. HEY! For an Earth Pony Peasant?! FOCUS! . . . Please stop yelling. Sorry.

Maud started to walk off. She followed, stumbling after Maud. Hoof after hoof, trying to keep balance- Ow. She fell over onto her face, pinning her wings under her in the process. Maud turned around and opened her mouth to say something.

"It's with Maud! Maud, don' let it get away!" WHAT?! How did they already find us? No, let us go! Maud grabbed her and lifted her up. Wait, what? Maud threw her up-and-over the trees! She readied herself for the pain of crashing into a tree, but somehow, she landed in one by the road without getting hurt! How? Pies can do many a great and marvelous works. More of that Pie Sense nonsense? Kinda. We are a line of Earth Ponies, so we have immense strength. FO- Focus, please. We need to decide now; do we travel to the bakery, or do we travel to the animal place? Bakery. Besides, we need food. Onwards! Onwards? Shut up, I'm trying to have fun here.

So, she went 'onwards' to the town. She staggered through the streets, constantly worrying about the family from before. Two were driven by fear to capture her, and the third might of turned to see things their way. She hid whenever a new face popped up. It was just like hide'n'seek. But instead of hiding from her friends, she was hiding from a town's worth of potentially harmful ponies. And dragons. And dragon deers. And... Yaks? What? When most of her was alive, creatures didn't mingle much beyond their own tribe. How many moons had past her bye that bug-deer were a species? And something was also very familiar about them. . . Something about how their skin shone like shells. Something. . . awful. But no matter how awful those things might have been, she was probably much more frightsome. Ah! There's the bakery!

She crept inside. Shouldn't we avoid going into spaces with only one exit? Not with this place. Ah, who?! A yellow filly with a pink mane bounced over from one of the tables. "Hiya! I'm Little Cheese! Nice to meet chya!" She stared into Little Cheese's face. Her cheeks flushed. WAIT, NO, NO, NO, NO! That's a fellow filly; that kind of thinking is taboo and disgusting! I'm sorry, I can't help it! She's cute! Stupid colt! "Hey, you all right? You must be hot under that cloak. Com'n, I got a soda we can share!" Little Cheese grabbed her hoof and pulled her into a booth seat.

"Uh . . ." What do I say?! Hey, why do you think she's cute? Is it her mane? I don't know! We need to kick his mind from us, I can't even speak. Oi, emotions are a powerful thing! Especially love! That's not helping me become unflustered!

"Com'n, have a sip. Please? Wait, can you drink soda, Miss BogeyMare?" Bogey? Yuck! No, BogeyMare. That's the name of the thing under the bed. We thought that was called a monster.

"Why did you call me BogeyMare?" Ey, the confusion took away your being flustered! Shut it!

"When I brought you to my seat, your hood slipped off. Wait, are you Miss BogeyMare's daughter? Or did you shrink since I last saw you? Or am I just getting you mixed up with her?" . . . She's seen the BogeyMare? Maybe? What is this filly? Pretty. I mean-! Shush. Just, shush.

What do we say? "I'm not the BogeyMare, nor am I related to her. I am a monster, but you shy not from me. Tell me, where did you inherit such bravery?"

"Huh? It's not bravery. You look nice!" STOP MAKING US BLUSH. I'm sorry! "Not used to complements? Wowzie. That's a first. Then again, I thought you were related to Miss BogeyMare, and many ponies are scared of her. . . Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Hey, what's your name?" Coal Pie. Miss RazzleBerry the Second. Flaps. Cream Scoop. Sandy - STOP! UNION! Stop screaming! We can't use all our personal names. What should our Unified name be?

"I- I don- don't have one. Do you think you could help me find one?" Really? Stuttering? I do it when I get nervous! No, you don't. When I'm speaking and nervous!

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oh, first, you should put up your hood. Here, I'll do it for you!" Little Cheese leaned across the table. Isn't Little Cheese leaning a bit far forward? Maybe? Uh, oh! Little Cheese somehow managed to lose her balance and fall flat across the table. With her face down, she moved her right hoof and pulled the hood up over the head her. Little Cheese then waved her arms around as she tried to get back up. Little Cheese's hooves came into contact with her torso. Then, somehow, in some way that she could not grasp, Little Cheese hopped from being flat on the table to sitting in the seat. "Hearts beating in your chest. Make you special from the rest. Hey, that rhymed! *Giggle*" Hearts? Check our internals. 2 hearts. Sorry, I put in the second one. That laugh . . . so beautiful. Laying down a line now; you will not flirt with her! I wasn't going to! "Hey, Heartbeat! That's a pretty name! How 'bout we make it yours?"

"S- Sure! Heartbeat. Makes me feel pretty." . . . Did I really just make say that? Yep! Heartbeat heard hoofsteps come down the stairs. Do we run? No, kind baker, remember? A pink pony bounced down the stairs.

"Hiya, Little Cheese! Who's your friend? Or did I just guess them?"

"Her name's Heartbeat. Mom, don't throw her a party."

"Whaaaaaaaat? Why?"

"She looks like Miss BogeyMare. And things didn't go well with her party."

"Hmmmmm. Okie Dokie Lokie! Mommy's gotta trot some errands! I'll be back!" She bounced out the door, tail waving up and down in farewell. "Oh, hi, Applejack, hi, Rarity! What brings you here? Uhuh. Okay. Alright. One seccooooond." The mother brought her head into the doorway. "Hey, Little Cheese, I wanna tell you something, and it's okay to be scared. Your friend there? Take her hoof and RUUUN!!!"

Little Cheese was quick to obey. She grabbed Heartbeat by the hoof and galloped up the stairs. She headed for a window and dragged a confused Heartbeat behind her. She jumped out of the window! They landed on a pile of hay outside. How could that be set up in advance? Pies are known for being ready! Wait, that wasn't Coal. No, that was me, Flaps. As I said, Pies are known for being ready. And for being rock farmers.

"Wahoo! Where should we run? Ooh, I know! Let's visit Gummy!" Little Cheese pulled Heartbeat beside her, giggling as the two of them moved quickly. STOP THINKING ABOUT HER THAT WAY! I'm sorry! I can't help it! Well, she is a pretty filly. Can you blame his colt mind for falling for her? . . . No. Who's Gummy?

As the odd pair ran through town, creatures hardly batted on eye at them. Changelings! That's what they were! But they were prettier now. Awesome looking instead of their grotesque black shells. With all these different creatures, maybe Heartbeat could fit in. But the Changelings made themselves look friendly. Heartbeat doubted she could do that even with a dress and makeup. Makeup? What happened to being yourself? Makeup is gross anyways. What? Why? It's a fake face and it's sticky.

The pair reached the animal place from before! Yes! Uh, oh. The animals all gazed with suspicion and fear. One rabbit even had hate in its eyes, and scampered off to a hut when Heartbeat looked at it. But where was the likely brother? "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Huh, I guess she's not here today. Must be with Discord. Follow me, Gummy's in the lake!" Little Cheese exclaimed, her beautiful voice full of excitement. STOP IT! SHUT UP!

"Where is she? Is she a fish?" Heartbeat asked.

"Nooooo. But he is in the water! Try to spot him!" Heartbeat leaned closer to the water. Could she swim? Most of her knew how to swim, but parts of her had drowned. Where was Gummy? And what was the purpose of the green stones in the water? Oh, those were eyes. Big, pink eyes. A sense in her told her that behind those eyes laid a brilliant mind, perhaps even surpassing that of Father's. That's stupid! It's an alligator! What's that noise behind us? "NO! Don't hurt her, stay back! Please?"

Heartbeat spun around to see what the commotion was. She saw all the animals running for her, and she could feel her fear rising, she could feel her hearts pumping so hard. Then the sound of a waterfall! The alligator landed in from of her, having lept from the water. Part of her was so scared, so scared, so scared, so scared! RUN!!!!!!!!!! She galloped for the edge of the forest. She was still being followed! Faster, legs, faster! They are still behind us! STOP! Calm down and think! CALM DOWN! Yelling isn't helping!

"Stop, please! It's me! Gummy stopped them! Please, stop running!" Little Cheese is the one chasing us? Why? Because we ran off. That's it, slow down. Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep . . . breaths. Little Cheese bent down and scoop up some mud. "Sucking mud! Sucks up moisture. Draws prey to water, but also works for cuts and tears!" She gently put it on Heartbeat's face, dabbing it wherever the red tears had streaked. After she was done, she tossed the mud. She leaned towards Heartbeat and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "There. Feel better? Why's your face all red? Oh no! Is it allergies?"

Inside Heartbeat's head was a torrent of thoughts. Why did she do that?! Does she like us?! What age have we woken to that filly foolers are this young?! Calm down, it was only a mother type kiss. 'Kiss and feel better', as the saying goes. Flaps isn't saying anything. Finally! Is he okay? "N- no. I m- mean- me- m- Beans! I mean, y- yes, I'm al- all right. Why- Why- Why- Why- Beans! Why did you kiss me?" Why are you taking over? Quiet, you.

"It's what my mom and dad do to make me feel better. Kiss on the cheek, then rub it in!" Little Cheese reached over and rubbed Heartbeat's cheek, causing another flush of the face.

"Ru- Ru- Rub it in?"

"I used to try to rub away their kisses, so they told me that I was just rubbing them in. Let's ty to get to my home. Uh. . . DO you know where we are? It's getting late." Heartbeat gazed around. She had run far and fast. How much time actually passed? Is it nighttime already? No, the area just gets dark fast. "Camp out! I have no tent on me, but we can make mats using the leaves! We're not too far in, so this is a safe zone! Gather some sticks please! We're going to have a fire! I'll make our mats!"

EEEEEE! <3 She is just so cute! Oh, no. That kiss just made you crush on her more, didn't it? Listen, brute; that kiss had no meaning beyond comforting us. Brute? Pegasi are brutes, Earth Ponies are ruffians, and Unicorns are perfection. Sticks! Gather sticks before we get into a fight with ourselves! "Um, I don't think we have enough balance to pick up sticks." Idiot! We have a horn. It's just like an Earth Pony to forget such an essential fact. Wow. You are a snob, RazzleBerry. Fun fact, if she is stupid, you are also stupid by extension. Heartbeat tried to use her horn. Nothing happened. Who is stopping us from using our magic? I demand to know! I think we all are trying different methods to use the magic.

"I got the fire going! Com'n, let's have S'mores! I don't have any pears, so we can't do Sum'Yums. Com'n, sit by me!" By the Princesses, stop it already! Your emotions are very nauseating. SHUT. IT. Just let him have his crush. Are you okay with this sort of taboo?! Love is love, even if I don't approve of it. Plus, a satisfied group is a happy group. What?

"S'more? Sum'Yums? What are those?" Oh, that fire is lovely! So delicious. Wait, delicious? Gah! The flames 0f the fire had drifted to Heartbeat, where they started to seep into the skin. Her blood felt hot and she felt just a tad stronger. She stopped trying to feel the heat flow through her, and the fire went back to normal.

"Hey, don't fill up on the fire! S'mores, remember? Here, I got one ready for you, since your hooves are so shaky. Open wide!" Heartbeat obeyed, and in return a hard-bread sandwich with chocolate and melted sweet was put into her mouth. Oh, it was delicious. Not as filling as the fire, but tastier.

Heartbeat and Little Cheese spent the evening eating S'mores and just enjoying each other's presence. Eventually, Heartbeat fell asleep.

3 more days passed in this manner of style as they tried to navigate the Everfree; with Little Cheese being an embodiment of joy and strength to Heartbeat, and Heartbeat enjoying every moment. Flaps took the main amount of control during these days, and despite what the others kept telling him, he kept his hopes up. Maybe, just maybe, this was an age of where radical ideas were a reality.