Login

Things Are Rarely as They Seem

by Orcus

Chapter 9: The Request

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

"Mom, please can Mr. Brittle stay in the house with us?" Peach Blossom asked her mother for the fifty-seventh time that night, her her voice as high in pitch as her vain hopes.

"No," came her mother's fifty-seventh response as she trotted through the house at a mild pace. "He stays in the barn."

"But whyyy?" her daughter continued to whine as she follower her through the living room and into the kitchen. "We have a spare bedroom. It's much more comfy than laying in a barn."

"I won't let him sleep on one of our beds, spare or not, because a creature like him is bound to dirty it up," Persica spoke from over her shoulder, brushing her mane back as her head spun around. "And besides, he hasn't complained at all so far about sleeping in the barn. Never fix what is not broken, Peach Blossom."

One whole week had passed since Persica had discovered Habeas and allowed him to stay, and things had started to visibly settle down quite a bit. Habeas helped out around the house, he worked as diligently as he could with what injuries he had, and Persica's treatment toward him had lessened in terms of coldness; now the worst she tormented him with was the occasional bout of dry sarcasm. It was clear that his strength was returning, though slowly, and he was still nowhere near what he needed to be in order to go off on his own. His wings did however lose their shredded and tattered appearance, and they would most likely regrow to their full height and regain their usability within the next month or so.

"Before I go to bed, can I at least bring him that last slice of peach cobbler?" Peach Blossom went on, pointing a hoof to the remains of the dessert her mother made that night, currently sitting on a square, metal tray in the counter. "I think he deserves to have a sweet treat, since he's been so helpful for you."

"No." Persica shook her head. "You know you should have been in bed over half-an-hour ago, Blossom. A school night's still a school night, and I've already been generous by letting you stay up this late. Brush your teeth and get to bed, dear."

Peach Blossom frowned and looked away with a pout on her young face. "Yes, Mom..."

Persica's good eye watched her daughter begin to trudge off to the stairs; her head hung low and dejected. The mare could never stand seeing the precious filly become cloaked in sadness, and witnessing Peach Blossom so sullen by her stern words gradually took its toll on the soft spot of her mind, until she finally acceded to the demand set forth with a grumble. "If you're so distraught about it, then fine. I'll take it to him," she sighed.

"Really?" Peach Blossom immediately smiled from the stair she stood on.

"Ugh... really," her mother confirmed, shuffling over to the table, scooping up the cobbler and dropping it onto a plate in her hoof. "I'll tuck you in when I get back inside," she said again, making her way to the door.

"Thanks, Mom!" Peach Blossom shouted in an overjoyed way, before hurrying to finish the last of her night duties. Mumbling a curse to herself under her breath, Persica left the house and walked through the night-laden area of dirt and short grass between there and the barn, before inevitably reaching it. When she entered it with a squeak of the door's hinges, Habeas Brittle, near-perfectly concealed in the darkness within, lifted his chitinous head from the hay pile he was upon and saw the shape of the mare.

"Oh, um... hello? I-is there something you want, Miss Persica?" he anxiously asked her after a few seconds. Walking up to him, Persica laid the plate bearing the dessert on the floor in front of him.

"I made a peach cobbler a little earlier, and there was one last piece left when Peach Blossom and I were finished with it. I figured you should have it," she quietly told him. "For all the help you provided around the house."

"Thank you for this, Miss Persica," he instantly said, bowing his head in gratitude after getting a good look at it.

"You're welcome, changeling," she returned. Soon after saying that, her head took a chance to look upward and her eye caught sight of the old plow that hung from the ceiling, suspended by several thick ropes that held onto it tightly and safely. Persica had been thinking to herself about her plans for its use for the past three days, and just being where she was now caused her to inhale a deep breath. "Before I leave you again, is there something I may speak to you about?"

"Yes, of course," he said. "What is it?"

"There's a little hobby I've been wishing to pursue for some time," she began. "I've been wanting to make a garden, but I've not really found the time to plow and till the part of the field with all the other activities that need being done around here."

Habeas's webbed ears perked upward in interest. "Your daughter told me about that! Wait... what is it you're asking of me?"

"What I want to know is if you can pull that plow up there. It would help me out greatly if an extra, ready hoof would be here to do just that, and you're the only viable one available." Persica said, pointing to the large piece of equipment dangling stably several feet above them. "I only wish for you to accept if you think you're strong enough. Because if you hurt yourself doing it, I don't want you to stay here even longer for it."

"I... think I'll be able to move the plow," he said, staring up to the object with a newfound interest. "It shouldn't be too much of a problem. My back legs work fine enough. It's just the front ones I'll have to be careful about."

Persica bit her lip before forming it into a flat smile. "For doing this, you... have my earnest thanks, changeling," she spoke gently. She turned around and was beginning to walk toward the exit, when Habeas's voice spoke up.

"Oh, Persica, there's one thing I wish to say as well," he said. In turn, Persica stopped and looked at him.

"Yes?" she asked. "What is it?"

From where he laid, Habeas pawed at the ground with worry, though still confident in what he wished to share. "I got a good look at the two armor casings sitting in the living area when we cleaned the house that one day," he said again, thinking of what minor feature of the house he witnessed out of the corner of his eyes when they tidied it up a week ago. "I never thought to talk about, but it's been eating at my mind. Seeing them really tells me who you were, before settling down with your daughter."

"What is it you're getting at, changeling?" Persica asked, the brow over her good eye rising and voice lowering.

"You were... a knight once, weren't you?" he asked. "A royal one from Canterlot, right? I can see how. You have fancy armor, you can wield a simple pitchfork with the deadly efficiency of your spear... you're a warrior anypony would fear to face in combat." To this, Persica gave him a look that expressed only uncontainable, entertained hilarity at his words. Her cheeks began to bulge as she desperately sought to keep her emotion in, and just as Habeas thought her head was going to pop, she suddenly burst into a tremendously loud fit of mirthful laughter that echoed through the barn like violent thunder.

The laughter caught Habeas off guard, and his expression became utterly unnerved. Persica eventually stopped after a short time went by, and she wiped away some tears that had begun to form around both of her eyes. "No! No, I was no knight, changeling. Never was one, never will be. What I was, was... something else. I was something that delved into activities others would consider, er... 'dirtier', if you know my meaning."

"I do not know of it," Habeas responded, regaining his composure. "Could you please inform me?"

"Some other time, maybe," she chuckled with an easy gesture from her hoof. "For now, I think it's best if we all get some shuteye. You especially..."

"This isn't a matter you can simply speak of, then put off," Habeas returned with an adamant tone, truly wishing to know more. "Please, tell me."

"Some other time," the mare repeated, her voice starting to become annoyed.

"But-"

"Goodnight, Habeas," Persica bid a final time, silencing him with a glare his way and opening the barn door with a small creak as she did so. Turning to it, she was taking her first step out of the building until four more words broke through the air, all coming from Habeas again.

"You said my name," he softly spoke. Instantly looking back to him, she spied a small smile that had come over his face, and in spite of its pure warmheartedness, Persica found it quite bothersome.

"Yes, I suppose I did," she mumbled. "Let's not make a big deal of it."

Instead of faltering from her comment, Habeas's grin only grew wider. Now heavily irritated, Persica finally took this chance to leave the changeling before he could start speaking again, and the barn door loosely shut behind her in a clap of wood. His day made with this conversation, Habeas thought about this positively delightful shifting of events.

Persica might be tough, stubborn, and no short amount of terrifying at times, but Habeas knew that she was slowly warming up to him. He was proving to her that he was indeed a trustworthy creature, and he felt a sweetly warm, fuzzy feeling glow within him from the idea of changing the mind of a pony who so greatly once wanted to kill him.

And yet, something bitter still hung over Persica like a looming shadow. Something darkly foreboding and a little bit... melancholy, somehow. Due to their instinctual habits, all changelings possessed a powerful, innate sense of empathy when it came to detecting the emotions of other beings. From what he could gather and assume, a horrible and wretched event had happened to her in the past, but Habeas had no discernible thoughts on what it could be. That scar she had did, however, give him some vague hints.

The idea remained in his mind, but his stomach rumbled when the smell of the peach cobbler again caught his nose. With a turn of his head he looked at it lying on the plate that sat over the ground like a puddle in front of him. Savoring every bite of it, he ate the incomparably delicious and love-filled treat and then soon after went to bed.

Next Chapter: To Start a Garden Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 19 Minutes
Return to Story Description

Login

Facebook
Login with
Facebook:
FiMFetch