Twenty-Second Chapter
Carey wouldn't have been one to call herself particularly brave.
She was frightened of haunted houses and didn't particularly enjoy mountain climbing or amusement parks. She wouldn't go skydiving if someone paid her a million dollars, and never would've even dreamed of waking up as a dragon in a magical foreign land called ‘Equestria’. Perhaps some of her children would've enjoyed something like that– Denver seemed to slowly have the experience grow on her, and Thornton might have liked it under other circumstances– but Carey could safely say she wanted no part in any such thing.
That was what made it incredibly strange when her instincts took over upon seeing her son light himself on fire in anger.
She reacted quickly, wasting no time wrapping a wing tightly around his burning body before she even thought about what she was doing. Not before a wall of fire pushed its way to Thornton, who quickly turned into a kirin to protect himself and moved out of the way before changing back. Of course she wanted to protect her children, but if Carey was in her right mind, she would've picked up Thornton and Denver and ran. Instead, her wing curled tightly around Reece, swaddling him on all sides.
“Let me go!” the kirin demanded as he struggled against her, the smoke rising off of him more ferociously now. It seemed to make the fire more intense, but it didn't burn her at all, strangely enough. It didn't feel much beyond a bit warmer than usual, like putting her feet in front of her space heater on a cold day.
Carey wasn't particularly strong as a human either, but she certainly was now. Her grip on her son was tight, her other wing moving to fully enclose him now. He might have tried to fight against her angrily, but he wasn't going to be getting out of her grasp very easily.
She also wouldn't have called herself smart, even if her kids were extremely bright. But the dragon could pick up on some things. Two of those things were that the fire wasn't hurting Reece, and that it would hurt her other children– and every other creature around them– if he didn't get ahold of himself.
“Not until you take a breath and calm down, Reece,” she told him authoritatively. He didn't seem willing to do that, and fought further, wriggling around in her grasp, but got nowhere. Carey didn't mind too much– she remembered wrapping her arms around her screaming toddlers when they were angry like this before. She could wait his tantrum out if need be.
“Let! Me! Go!” Reece shouted angrily, the fire becoming more and more intense. It still didn't burn her, but a few flames leapt out from the tops and bottoms of her wings, setting alight a few of the books on the shelves. Thankfully, Thorax was able to quickly take care of it, but Carey hated to see it happen.
“You need to calm down now, Reece!” the dragon told him a little more forcefully now, reprimanding him like she would a small child. “Before you burn something or hurt someone! Or yourself! Calm down!”
She was firm, not releasing her grip while Thornton and the other changelings worked on the burning books. Denver backed away in fear and Spike ran off in another direction as Reece glared angrily up at his mother. She glanced back down at him—not angrily, but definitely as firm and assertive a look as she could give him. It worked on the kindergarten and first grade children she sometimes substituted for.
And it seemed to work on Reece now. She kept her wings wrapped tight around him as the flames slowly subsided and the smoke flowing off his fur began to thin out and clear up. Her son went from furious, to angry, to frustrated as he slowly chilled out over the course of a few minutes. Carey finally released him from her grasp when he let out a long sigh of defeat and wore a look of shame on his face. It helped seeing Thornton nod when she glanced at him, silently indicating that he'd calmed back down.
“I'm…sorry,” Reece got out awkwardly, still a little annoyed, rubbing a hoof against the ground as he glanced between his limbs and the wall.
“No one's angry with you,” Carey told him, “but you need to control yourself before you hurt someone. Or yourself.”
Well, someone was going to be angry with him. This was Twilight Sparkle’s school, right? She very much doubted that the purple horse would appreciate coming back to see many of her books burned.
“I'm sure she'll be fine,” Thorax spoke up lightly. Carey turned in surprise until she remembered that he was the same creature as Thornton. “There are plenty of kirins that go to school here… I think?” He rubbed his scalp sheepishly, then continued, “I'm sure she'll understand.” Thornton and Barney both seemed to roll their eyes while Reece’s shoulders slumped a little bit. What was that about?
“See? No one is angry with you,” Carey told him quickly. “Just please try to control yourself in the future, son?”
“Yeah…” he sighed deeply. “I'm going for a walk. Again. I need to clear my head.”
“Be careful though? Maybe you should stay here until–”
“I'll be careful!” he snapped quickly, then closed his eyes and clenched his jaw to take a breath. A second later, he was off and heading to… somewhere. Maybe Carey should've insisted he stay.
“He'll be okay, Mom,” Thornton told her as Barney gave her a look that communicated the same sentiment. “He just needs to cool off. Literally. When I turned into him, I felt how fast I was getting angry at everything. In just a few seconds. He's probably controlling himself better than we could.”
“Maybe I should go after him?” Carey wondered aloud. “If he gets angry again, I should probably–”
“He'll be fine, Mom,” Thornton assured him. “I know he’ll try harder. Let's just stay here until he gets back, okay? Following will just make it worse.” Carey sighed now, but listened to her son.
Was her heart pounding? It felt like she just finished running a marathon, that was scary. She couldn't believe that happened to him… and that she was able to step in and help Reece to calm down. Did that make her fireproof? A quick inspection of her wings showed no damage, and she didn't feel hurt in any way. So then that was two new abilities she had, including her now sensitive hearing.
“I know we both would rather be at home though,” Thornton commented as he laid down on the ground, Barney pressing up against his body. “I don't like being here.”
Her son was right on that.
Thornton got up a few minutes later to help Thorax and the other two changelings with the books. Carey watched them work beside Denver while the yellow pony she saw before came out to help them, explaining how she smelled the smoke from her classroom. Thornton seemed to want to be near her, and Barney talked to her like he was an actual person again. Then she came over to Carey.
“Um, excuse me? Ma'am?” she started quietly, shyly. “I don't mean to intrude, but Barney was telling me that, uh, he thinks you should spend more time with your foal? Thornton? I'm sorry. I know it's none of my business. But Barney wanted me to tell you that.”
Was she not spending time with him? Carey felt like she was, but then figured he could always use more affection. She didn't waste time making her way up to Thornton and rubbing his back. He responded by sighing in what looked like relief.
“Yeah, I'm okay, Mom,” he told her before she could even think to ask. “No, you don't need to spend time with me. I'm fine.” Mixed messages were what she was getting.
“Well when we get back home, we should do something together anyway,” she told him. “Or maybe we could find something to do here! We could go into town once Thorax helps you figure it out. He seems knowledgeable, right?”
“Yeah.”
Not enthused by that, it seemed. “Are you worried about anything, sweetie?” she asked casually. “I know it's been especially tough on you…”
“Not really,” Thornton answered back in his nasally voice, eyes closed. “I can read everyone's mind, so there's nothing to worry about. Except for being hungry all the time, but I'm getting used to it.”
“Well, if it helps, you can sit and sleep next to me, if you want,” she offered. “I don't mind. I have two wings.”
Thornton sighed again. “Dad and Barney are better for that,” he said flatly. Ouch.
“You know what I mean, Mom,” he added. “It's not just love. You and Reece and Denver kinda are all obsessed with getting home. And I am, too, obviously. But Dad isn’t really, so there's more positivity coming off of him, and that helps more.”
Huh? Howard didn't care about going home? As far as Carey saw, he seemed just as focused on it, probably more so than anyone else. Was this about the little conversation in the library yesterday?
Thornton opened his eyes again, his sigh now slightly frustrated. “That's what's annoying,” he said. “I can tell something's going on, but can't exactly put it all together. You can though, and Dad can, but I can't figure it out. And I know you're not gonna tell me, and neither will he.”
“I genuinely don't know what you're talking about, Thorny,” Carey said as she shook her head. “What do your father and I know?”
Another sigh came. “Nothing,” he said. “Doesn't matter. Just annoying.” Thornton turned his attention back to the books with that, talking to Thorax as he did.
She tried to listen to everything the greenish yellow creature was telling her son, but it was tough to keep up with. All of this reformation stuff Thorax told Thornton about seemed to almost go over his head. It definitely went over Carey's. She watched a look of slight annoyance make its way onto her son's face when he tried to ‘share his love’. Apparently he was supposed to automatically transform once he did, but nothing happened.
“Hmmm, that's strange,” Thorax said aloud. “It should be natural to all changelings… what hive did you say you were from again?”
“I don't have a hive,” Thornton replied simply. “Can I at least make sure I'm not gonna feel like I'm dying going into town, or just passing near it?” he asked. “How do I do that?”
“It's pretty tough blocking out the emotions of other creatures,” Thorax admitted sympathetically. “I don't think I know any changelings who can do it. When I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the emotions around me though, I try to just pick the strongest trail to focus on. It helps the rest of them blend in. It's much easier if some creature is near you. You can even close your eyes and let them lead you.”
Carey had no idea what that all meant, but it was interesting hearing it. “So basically your advice is for him to try and ignore it?” she asked. “How does that work?”
“You're not a changeling, so the best comparison is tuning out noises when everything is conflicting. They're still there, but if you focus on one, the rest will fade into the background, unless it's a very loud sound. But the strongest emotions are creatures closest to you.” He turned to Thornton again and said, “Try it! Right here! You can sense a bunch of creatures just a the school! Just focus on one of them, and see what happens!”
Carey watched her son close his eyes again, and then, a few seconds later, open them to smile. “It kind of works,” he admitted. “A little bit.”
Carey smiled, too, and rubbed his back with a wing. He let out a moan of contentment and shivered, sighing deeply. At least one of her sons was feeling better. Maybe there was another kirin for Reece to talk to with help on his anger. Or he could come to this school while they waited to go home. It was a school about friendship, after all.
“It's not gonna be a cure,” Thorax finished. “I can tell you that much. You can't completely block out emotions. But it should help you feel better. It would be even better if you reformed though. I'd try reciprocating affection in your case, as a start, and see if that changes anything.”
But being back home would definitely be preferable. Everyone knew that. Even her husband.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
1,087 users online
1,505,501 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
To be honest, I'm a bit worried about Reece the kirin,he is pretty easy to get raged.A walking napalm,that's may cause some questions ,you know. Hope to see more chapters:D
Hmm, what kind of hives does Thorax say if there is only ONE hive in the MLP? Which used to be ruled by Queen Chrysalis.
A Carey perspective chapter, nice. With all the help Thornton is getting, I do hope Reece also gets some advice. I imagine it's frustrating for someone as strong willed and disciplined as him to literally burst in flames over his anger every day or so.
I wonde if Twilight could do with a Map of the shcool which puts sall glyphs or coloured areas etc for enviromental excursions?
That reminds me of a quote from One Piece. How does that go... Something like...
Hmm... I'm fairly sure that a Kirin like Autum,n Blaze would just tick him off even faster, so she's out.
If only it were that simple.
I feel like Thorax is completely missing the fact that Thornton has been a changeling for literally less than a week.
He needs to give the most basic descriptions, and possibly even give thornton a demonstration on how it feels to have love be drained from you (possibly through sharing his memory of how he reformed by using magic) so that Thornton has a frame of reference.
"It should be natural to all changelings" doesn't help when you've been a changeling (and therefore had the ability to even do any of this emotion stuff) for a few days at maximum.
11802537
I mean imagine trying to explain basic human ,behavior emotions and instincts to something that isn’t human .
That’s kinda what it’s like for thorax . He’s trying to explain things that come naturally to his species to something else.
I'm pretty sure changeling shouldn't get overwhelmed by many emotions... The assault on the capital would've never happened if that's the case they would've been catatonic from the mass of strong fear and hysteria. Why doesn't Thorax know he's an 'alien', especially since he has family from other races, he keeps bringing up his hive. The weird crush he has on Fluttershy feels weird and stalkerish, but can be explained by being able to feel her kindness.
11809636
But they were changelings their entire lives. They were used to dealing with the emotions of others, possibly trained for it. This sensory overload from having a new sense is a real thing in real life. I've heard that people who get cochlear implants can have a really difficult time adapting to being able to hear. You need to learn to cope with the new sensory input, and your brain needs to develop the neurons to properly deal with it. Both take time
11802537
This. So much.
11802537
I totally agree!
Seriously, though, there does seem to be a mental disconnect going on with Twilight---
She NEVER mentioned once to Thorax that Thornton and his family aren't native to Equestria, and were transformed into the various creatures they are when they arrived????
That's, kind of, like an EXTREMELY VITAL piece of detail that she should have told him--given how life-saving and critical that bit of intel would be....
At least Carey probably remembered that Spike mentioned the Dragonlands were full of volcanos and such and subconsciously understood that Reece's flames wouldn't harm her. Speaking of Spike, why the fuck is he running for!? He at least would also know that he couldn't be hurt by a Nirik and Carey could have certainly used his help in shutting that shit down simply by telling her to grab her flipping-out son rather than leave her to figure it out on her own!
11832792
You should already know what the Twilight character is like when he’s excited about a project, he usually counts the situations in broad strokes to continue his research until the details become more important and come to the fore