First Chapter
The Metamorphosis
T r a v e l e r s
by
Nightjar
Pain. Of course he had to feel pain. It's not like he hadn't had enough of it already. I'm gaining consciousness. Why, in the name of Tartarus, am I gai— A sudden jolt went through the upper half of his spine and decided to explode in his brain. Vigil let out a mix of a whimper and a growl as his body tensed up, causing him even more anguish. You know what, Universe?, he mused in his head, Forget it. I'll just have to except that you hate me enough to let me die painfully. He let out a stinging sigh and opened his eyes.
He was looking into the crown of a weeping willow and, though the leaves blocked the view to the outside, the canopy was still holey enough to let through some rays of sunlight which played on the tree's bark and the vegetated soil. This sight propagandized tranquillity.
"If you wanted to make me feel better you should have taken the pain away. With this, you're just mocking my throe and my struggling to stay alive." He cleared his throat and continued with a higher pitched voice.
"Oh, Vigilance! You don't have to writhe in agony. Just look! Look around and see the beauty of nature. Take in its soothing presence and calm your heart. You won't need it that much longer anyway. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath and let go. There won't be sorrow nor happiness, no right or wrong. There will only be existence and infinite contentment. My flank!" With the last sentence, he dropped the voice and just gave a frustrated sigh. Which hurt his throat.
"Who is there?", a female voice rang through the dome of foliage and his eyes widened.
Of damn course! Did anypony ever tell you that you're incredibly vindictive, Universe? That's not a good trait!
"Hello? Trixie heard you and she demands that you show yourself!"
Did she just...? Oh my gosh, she did. Vigil tried to move but that only lead to grunts and twitches. As the hoofsteps approached him there was only one thing he could do. He closed his eyes in concentration and thought of a pony. A pony he was very familiar with since he was born as said pony.He used his magic and let it fuel that image and soon he felt—a hit to the head and lost consciousness.
»ʔ҉ʕ«
It was cold. Despite the slight heat, he felt on his face. He opened his eyes just a crack and noticed the glint of a campfire a few paces away. Behind it he could see a small wooden caravan with a weird contraption attached to one side. He glanced around a little bit more.
Okay, I am not under the willow anymore. Then he noticed something surprising. His body didn't hurt that much anymore. He looked down and found that he was bandaged and his right foreleg was splinted. And he was bound. Vigil tried to use his magic but suddenly felt very dizzy. What did she do to me?
"Don't try to escape! Trixie made sure you can't use your magic. Her vast amount of knowledge in every field of magic gives her the ability to control your bodily functions!" Said showmare emerged from behind him to stand in front of him. Oooohhh! Theatricals!
"Ignoring the fact that that sounded like the long version of 'I will use your body in any way I want.', could you please stop speaking in that way? It's grinding on my brain and I really like my brain. The effort is just lost on me since – and I think you can understand – I surely won't applaud you and adore you for keeping me captive." He deliberately ignored the evermore squinting eyes and growing frown as he spoke.
Eventually the blue unicorn let out a frustrated groan and, with an eyeroll, turned around to sit on the other site of the fire.
"Though, nevertheless, thanks for taking care of my injuries. And kudos for the drama. It's astonishing how you keep it up even now: Letting your face only be illuminated by the flickering light of the flames and casting a threatening, wide-eyed glare so full of hatred. Really, nopony would dare to set you off in any way. Though the twitching somehow kills it for me because that indicates that you're straining to control yourself which indicates that you have self-control which again means that you don't want to hurt and thus it gives you an if not likeable but at least reasonable flare and destroys the whole 'You're at my mercy'-act. But all-in-all you are doing better than—."
"Shut up! Just close that damn trap of yours and stop making sound! Just! Shut! Up!" Trixie had jumped onto her hooves and her face was now closer to the campfire. The heat hurt her eyes and reflexively she turned away and blinked rapidly to re-moist them.
Vigil just shook his head. "See? That's what I meant. You can't sustain the show. You really have to work on your endurance."
Trixie scrunched up her face and suppressed the urge to scream. She took several deep breaths and eventually calmed down. She slowly walked up to her captive and sat down in front of him.
"Why were you hurt?"
"Playing twenty questions? Why not. Well, you see, the Power of Love decided to show up during an inconvenient moment and thought it a great idea to beat the mind out of me." Whoa, bitter much? "Now it's my turn. What are—. No, wait. What is your profession?"
Trixie wore a lopsided frown in combination with a lifted eyebrow. It suited her perfectly and got the point across. "Don't play games with Trixie. She knows that you made up this rubbishy stuff to upset her. She can assure you; it's working. Anyhow, she doesn't really care what hurt you so the next question is: Where is the rest of your group?"
Now frowning, too, Vigil gave a huff and answered in a hurt tone. "At first: I don't play games. Don't you read the newspapers? Second: You still are talking that weird way! Is that your way of torturing? Third: Why do you assume I'm in a group? Again I have to ask: What about the newspaper? And finally point number four: Do something with your mane and tail. You're an attractive mare and I can imagine that this only will increase that trait."
Trixie was about to say something impolite but was caught off-guard by the last statement. Not missing that he insulted and complimented her at the same time. It wasn't often she was called attractive. Though what was wrong with her mane?! And why was she complimented that rarely?!
"Oh and fifth: You haven't answered my question."
She was at a loss for words. This changeling was unbelievable! This was not the way things had to work! In desperate need to let off some steam, she smacked him up the head. Even though she had to bend her leg in a weird way to accomplish the task, the 'Ow!' of that guy was deeply satisfying.
"So now you're going for physical torture? Well, that's a step back. Psychological torment is way more artfully and cruel. While the physical one can do some mental damage, too, it won't be as severe as the direct approach."
Trixie was tempted to slug him again but instead bit on her tongue and thought. "Then where did the 'Power of Love' come from?" Heh. How did I think of that one?
Vigilance blinked. "Ooohhh! That's a great question! Well, I'll just assume that you don't like the newspapers and tell you a little bit. So," he cleared his throat, "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there lived three princesses. Two were destined to rule the empire, for they were granted the divine sway over the celestial bodies, su—"
"Come to the point.", Trixie decided to interrupt.
"No. So, where was I?" Trixie rolled her eyes in annoyance and had to restrain herself from growling. "Oh, yeah! Sun and Moon! Well, let's continue. But what did the third princess do? Well, she actually lived up to that title and did nothing else than meeting friends, go to parties, do the occasional courtesy visits and spreading love with that being her special ability as an alicorn.
As it is proper for princesses – at least the ones who don't own that title as a symbol for pseudo-humility – she fell in love with a commoner and national hero and the 'prime'-princess, as benevolent as she had to appear, approved of the relationship and soon the date for the wedding was set.
At the same time the kingdom which was called by its citizens The Hidden Realm, has been stricken with famine and disease. The rulers of that kingdom abandoned all rights of their status to help their subjects but it wasn't enough. Soon they themselves were in great plight and had nothing to give. Though to save his wife, the king transferred all his remaining virtue to the queen and thus gave his life for hers.
The queen mourned over her loss but for the sake of her husband's sacrifice, for it to not become naught, she looked for ways to save her nation.
And she found one as her eyes fell onto Equestria. She stopped at nothing to accomplish her plans and even took the princess of love as captive and took her place. As the day arrived at which her plan was about to come to fruition, the worst possible thing happened: she was revealed. Luckily she was able to gather enough strength to even take on the embodiment of the sun and thanks to the fact that the other one was occupied otherwise, she successfully could back up on plan B and spread the most of her energy resources to her subjects and gave the order to attack." Here Vigil stopped for a dramatic pause and looked directly into the eyes of the enraptured Trixie.
"And then the Power of Love decided to show up during an inconvenient moment and thought it a great idea to beat the mind out of me."
It took a while but then he was rewarded with another smack onto the head.