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Reciprocity: A Metro 2033 and MLP Crossover

by MrSing

Chapter 13: Chapter 13: I Met You at a Sinister Hour

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I Met You at a Sinister Hour

I let out a content murmur as I turned over, finding myself brushing against the mane of another changeling. Nestling up against them I relaxed and found my mind wandering back to days long past, when I was but a nymph.

I remembered the warmth and softness as I lay next to my Sisters and the Nurses sang their songs into our minds. I could still recall the days that Mother came by and smiled at us. The love and safety enveloping me like a warm bath as she picked me up and appraised me.

I weakly opened my eyes, finding myself facing the back of Yuri’s head. Skittering away and quietly jumping from the bed on the wooden floor I felt the comfort of my dream evaporating as I remembered where I was and why.

Through the window I could see the last bit of the sun peeking over the fort’s wall, illuminating the bare contents of the room. Against the wall facing the sunset stood a small table with a single drawer that contained nothing worth taking. To the right of that was a plain wall that only had a small painting of a far off coastal city that was hung there in a misguided attempt at livening up the place. The remaining walls contained a wooden door and the bed I had just jumped off respectively. It seemed these soldiers abhorred extravagance. A trait I could only nod approvingly at.

The room was tainted in a faint green light as I poured my focus and magic into my horn. On que, my Sister and Brother who had draped themselves over Yuri’s legs and stomach opened their eyes silently and stared at me.

My Sister rubbed the sleep from her face as she let out a theatrical, but silent, yawn. ’Ah, good evening you two.‘ She leaped out of the bed with so much grace that the blanket beneath her did not even wrinkle. ’Say what you want, the prey makes for an excellent pillow.‘

Brother’s eyes peaked over Yuri’s legs as he blinked drowsily. ’Indeed, indeed. Speaking of, I think it’s high time we finalize our planning.‘ His mind was already spinning at full force as his body was just starting to catch up.

’Ugh, you and your details,‘ Sister let out a sigh as she walked to the window and stared at a few early stars.’Don’t our Warriors say that a plan is the first thing that dies in the action?‘ She turned to me and grinned. ’Baby Sister and I are changelings of action! Champion slayers!‘ She threw a few exaggerated punches at me which I deflected with a grin. ’No plan survives us! We think on our hooves. You just give us the general idea and we’ll get it done.‘

’Well, the general idea has changed. So if you’d stop mucking about and listen, I’d appreciate it. Agreed?‘

Sister actually paused at that. She sat down on the ground as she stared at Brother. ’Wait, really? Why? The plan was good, right?‘ She looked at me, but I shook my head.

’It was good, I started But that was until the dungeon.‘ I shuddered thinking back at being trapped alone in that forsaken place. Luckily, Brother bailed me out.

’Until we escaped from Canterlot’s dungeons.‘

’You’re afraid the Princesses will ambush us? I wouldn’t worry too much about it, really.‘ Sister stretched her legs. ’We’ve seen neither hide nor hair from them. They probably figured we would die in the snow. Which we almost did, mind you.‘

I shook my head. ’It’s not about them. It’s about the human.‘

Brother pointed his hoof at the Infiltrator. ’Do you have an inclination of how much power you need to overwhelm a magical nullification spell? Especially one made by the Princesses themselves, yes?‘

’A lot?‘

’A lot times thousand.‘

Sister’s eyes flew wide open. ’That is a lot!‘

I patted Yuri’s head. ’And it all came from one prey. And he isn’t even worse for the wear.‘

’Indeed, indeed. By my, admittedly, rough estimations a mere ten of these thralls could easily sustain our Hive for the duration of their lifespans.‘ Brother put his front hooves together as he sat down. ’Theoretically we could survive, even thrive, without needing to hunt for meat or search for fruit.‘ He buried his head in his hooves as he sighed. ’The consequences would unimaginable, not?‘

’Brother, Sister, you keep saying there are problems, but all I hear are good things.‘ The Infiltrator offered us a smile. ’I mean, am I crazy or are these humans the best thing ever?‘

There was a slight pause as the quietness of the night filled the room. ’Why are you alive, infiltrator?‘ Brother stared at her with his red eyes.

’Well, uh-‘ She scratched her head. ’To infiltrate prey strongholds and find or create weaknesses for the Hive to exploit. It’s pretty clear cut, really.‘

’And why, yes, do you do this?‘

’Ah, come on Brother,‘ the infiltrator hissed irritated, ’you’re smarter than me. You know it is so the Hive can have magic and food. Stop playing dumb!‘

I put a wing on my Sister’s back. ’It’s important.‘ She sighed and relented, bidding the changeling to continue.

’So, tell me, Sister, what use are you when we don’t need love for our magic?‘

The Infiltrator’s ears drooped as her face turned blank. ’I, uhm, I would-‘ She fell silent.

’And what of the others, yes?‘ He pointed his hoof at me. ’Our scouts, warriors, hunters? Purposeless!‘ He grimaced as he unfurled his wings. ’It’s quite something. To have no purpose. To have no meaning in life but counting down the days until you die.‘

My Sister looked painfully overwhelmed as she sat down. ’Well,‘ she said, ’we could still steal love to keep ourselves, you know, busy.‘

I shook my head in denial as Brothers muttered his answer. ’No, no, no. You can’t just pretend to have a purpose, agreed? Furthermore, remember that every time we invade or steal we take a tremendous risk. Look at what happened with the ponies, yes? Could you send out a Sister to gather love or hunt with the risk of her dying? Can we invade for nothing when it can lead to losing a war? To entertain ourselves? We only do what we do because we must.‘ He flew up over the human. ’With these creatures, that need does not exist. Without a need, there is no purpose.‘

Brother towered over the human, looking down at his peaceful sleeping face. ’Our race has a purpose on this world. When a species’ numbers grows too large, when their magic spells or tools get so strong they might get out of control, when tyrants and gods rise, we are there. We are right there to suck the life out of them and set them back to zero. To take all their power for our own. And when we are done, we leave. We disappear into legend and let them to rebuild themselves so we can do it all again later.‘ The changeling unfurled his wings as he jumped from the bed again. ’We parasites keep them from killing themselves, yes?‘ He put his front leg over his heart. ’But we do it for ourselves. Not for them! Only for ourselves. I'd rather have the prey destroy themselves a thousand times than hurt one sister in helping them. If it were not for the fact that we need them.’

The sun disappeared behind the fort’s walls and the light fled the room. It was as dark as it could get. ’Why don’t we just kill it?‘ Sister asked, her voice was calm. Like she was talking about the weather. She bared her teeth as he looked at him. ’It would be easy.‘

’Kill him and you might as well slit the throat of the Hive. We need him,‘ I answered. ’Maybe there is a middle way?‘ I suggested. Brother and Sister’s ears perked up as they looked at me with curiosity. ’How about we get just a few humans and use them to heal us? You know, just enough to get back on our hoofs?‘ I swirled my hoof in the air. ’Not enough to keep the Hive going, but as more of a,‘ I fluttered my wings as I searched for the word. ’A backup?‘

’That-‘ Brother paused as he ran the numbers in his head. ’That might be acceptable. Yes, yes, a compromise.’ He looked at the resting human ’But the prey won’t like it.‘

’Well, than it is a good thing we can just take from it what we want,‘ Sister concluded with a smile. Her wings buzzed excitedly.

Warmth spread through my cold body as I looked at the pride on their faces.

I flinched as I heard a loud creak coming from the bed. Yuri sat up and greeted us with a smile and a “morning”. It always surprised me how easy Yuri woke up. He just opened his eyes and he was ready to go. It was efficient, just like how changelings were.

He stepped out of the bed and stared at me, before he approached me and kneeled down. For a moment I was afraid that he had somehow heard us, but that was obviously impossible.

’What?‘ I said curtly.

“Your shawl isn’t on right. Just let me-“ He moved his hands to my side to adjust the cloth, but I recoiled backwards out of his reach.

’I know how to wear a shawl!‘ I snarled at him as I magically tightened the fabric around my neck.

“Okay, okay.” Yuri held his hands out in a placating gesture. “Someone isn’t a morning person.”

’It’s evening.‘ Brother piped up as he started to make the bed.

“Just an expression,” Yuri murmured as he began to methodically clean his weapons on the table, even the rifle that he had claimed was now useless without “ammo”.

As I watched him work with the heady oils, sticks, and rags, I felt strange. I was angry, and had let it slip again. But why? I didn’t understand. I wished I was as simple as the weapons Yuri was working on. Every part had a clear purpose, was in balance with each other. It was a strange device to me, but I could see that everything about it made sense. There were no hidden parts that moved in cryptic ways for enigmatic reasons. It was pure, in a way.

My Sister and Brother could help me. I only had to ask them to read my mind. To hold a mirror to me to reveal the inner workings and mechanisms that drove me. I looked at my Brother who was meticulously removing wrinkles from the sheets and my Sister whose one eye was enraptured with the ritual of Yuri’s cleaning. I raised my head high and breathed in the oils. I was going to ask them.

“Okay, I’m going to ask them. How about you, Dozor?” Yuri was staring at me expectantly while he stuffed everything into his backpack.

Blinking my eyes rapidly I met his gaze. ’Pardon?‘

“What we’ll get for breakfast. Or dinner, I guess. Food. What we’ll get for food.” He pointed at my Siblings. “Uchenik’s taking some bread and butter and Pizdabol,” he looked uncomfortable for a moment and turned his head to Sister. She merely nodded with a greedy smile. “She wants raw eggs. For some reason.”

’Don’t care. I’ll have whatever is convenient.‘

Yuri gave me a bemused expression and warned me that he couldn’t be blamed if it turned out to be gross. I solemnly accepted the responsibility for the quality of my meal.

As the door closed behind him with a small creak I turned my eyes toward the window again. The sky was really beautiful this time of night. The heavens seemed to twinkle like the bottle Yuri carried with him. A beautiful tapestry that seemed chaotic at first, but the more you looked at it, the more you could see the hidden patterns. With a small delight I found that a certain cluster looked like a changeling after a few minutes, and another resembled Mother’s horn.

It was strange how one could see patterns like that if one tried hard enough. Was I truly uncovering them or were they merely a trick of the mind?

Closing my eyes a long sigh escaped from my mouth as a realization dawned. We had just sent down the only one in our group who couldn’t speak any Equestrian language to order breakfast.

With a flash of green I donned my disguise again. After a quick explanation I was out of the door and rapidly began to descend the stairs before the human could mess something up. Passing a number of doors and paintings of poor taste I suddenly slowed down. My ears turned and twitched until I was sure; singing was coming from somewhere.

Breaking out into a jog I reached a pair of large oaken doors that led to the cafeteria we had been shown yesterday. With an ear pressed against the wood I listened intently.

There was definitely singing going on in there. A choir of rough voices rose up and down in a strange melody I had never heard before. And was that-

A large hand rested on my shoulder, engulfing it entirely. Letting out a less than dignified yelp I sprang up and turned around, shaking it off me. Bongard, the mountain I had fought with, looked me straight in the eyes. His broken arm was encased in some sort of plaster and resting in a sling that hung from his neck. His other bandaged arm was still near me, hovering over my shoulder. He looked like he could crush me easily.

Thoughts sparked through my head like bolts of lightning as I looked at the brute. With a flash of magic he could be blinded, then I would have to try for the broken arm. My heart beat like crazy, we would be compromised and would have to push our way into the cave. Biting on my cheek I concentrated on the spell. The moment he tried to strike would leave him most vulnerable.

“You need to pull it open,” he said.

“What?” The tension left my body in such a rush I had to lean against the door so my legs would not give out.

“The door. You can’t push it open.” He let his arm rest near his side again as he stood up. Dear Mother, I had not even noticed he was leaning down at first. Without the rush of magic in my veins he seemed even taller.

“Oh, of course.” I gave him my broadest smile as my paws blindly scrambled to find the door handle behind me. “Well, off I go.” Sweat was starting to form on my brow as the damned handle managed to escape my frantic search.

Finally the handle was in my grip, but as I prepared to leave, the bull spoke. “You used magic yesterday.”

I halted and closed my eyes. Like a fool I had let my emotions get the best of me. My fear had made me suspicious and now that brute was trying to corner me. I wasn’t some scared little bunny, I was a changeling! I opened my eyes. Time to act like one. “What of it?”

“I fought your kind before. Not many of them used it. The ones that did, didn’t use the sort you did.”

“Most Diamond Dogs wouldn’t have been able to beat you,” I faked a smirk. “I’m just better.”

“It’s a good thing.” He ignored my jab. Not much of an ego to work with. That could be a problem.

“Winning worked out pretty good for me, yeah.”

“Changing your style, I mean.” He gestured to his broken arm. “I wasn’t ready for something new like that, so you beat me. A good fighter is like water, always changing their style to suit the fight. Staying the same when the fight asks for something new is bad. It makes you lose.”

Great, somehow I looked like someone you could spout your personal philosophies at. “I’m busy. If you’ve got something to say, say it instead of wasting my time.”

“I wanted to thank you for the lesson.”

I thought about it for a moment. “So, did you get me something as a gift or payment?”

“No.”

“Just your thanks?”

“Yes.” The giant showed no remorse for his thoughtlessness.

“Great.” I smiled. “I appreciate it. No, really, I do.” I pointed a claw at the door. “But now I really have to go. So, bye.” With a quick pull and a jump I was through the door and slammed it behind me. Leaning backwards against the wood I let out a sigh. Mother, what a weirdo. Was he on to me? We couldn’t leave soon enough.

As I was calming myself I became aware of the smell of cheap liquor assaulting my senses along with another barrage of the sounds that passed for singing in this place. I was standing in a bar, because of course there was a bar on the military base. Little else could be expected from the Minotaurs.

And in the middle of it all stood Yuri, sans breakfast, poorly imitating the already slurred songs of our hosts. As he spotted me he freed himself from the inebriated choir. "Dozor! This place is great!” He smiled as he lifted me up with surprising ease.

I didn’t return his enthusiasm. ’What in Tartarus do you think you’re doing?‘

He set me down somewhat awkwardly and brushed the dust from my shoulders. “Well, you know,” he started, “I came down here and tried to order by drawing some pictures. The guys thought it was funny, they ordered some drinks and there you go. I didn’t even need to pay.” He didn’t have the decency of looking very ashamed of himself.

’The guys?‘ I raised my paws in frustration, ’The guys! Do you hear yourself? These creatures are not our friends, Yuri. Forget about breakfast, we need to get ready and leave.‘

The human looked at me before he quickly glanced behind him at the Minotaurs who merrily spilled their ale over the ground. As he turned back he put his hands together in a strange gesture. “Come on, Dozor, just one more song. I promised them.”

’Well, I suppose one song wouldn’t-‘ A huge grin grew on his face as he grabbed me by the shoulders.

“Thanks Dozor, you’re the best!” I found it hard to suppress a smile as I felt the wave of childlike giddiness radiating from him. “Do you want to join in? Singing is good for the soul.”

’Don’t push it, human. Go have your fun.‘ I paused for a moment. ’And be quick about it.‘

He gave me a mock salute and a “yes ma’am”. I couldn’t help but give him an incredulous smile; not quite believing that my human would fit in so well with the soldiers who were welcoming him back into their fold with open arms. After managing to shush the majority of the drunkards he began.

It was some romantic song about falling in love with a dark eyed female. It surprised me how gloomy the spirit of words was, next to its optimism, about suffering and fire beneath darkness. About a desperate desire to be brought to a land where there was no suffering or violence. How love had ruined the singer and plunged them into despair and ecstasy. I had never heard anyone singing about love like that. Marrying bitter sadness and happiness like that. Themes that were never meant to be next to each other were combined almost naturally.

The refrain was simple however, mostly “nanana-ing” after the tune of the song. Few bothered to stop as Yuri initiated the next lyrics of the song. It was a tide of false voices swelling and receding with the mood of the bar. Even though there was little harmony, and the voices were obviously never meant for singing, I could see a certain raw beauty in it. The voices found an entire new way to sing that I had never known.

Carried by the melody my thoughts drifted back into the past. To the great gatherings that were held yearly in better times. Songs in the Hive were harmonious. With the clearest voices and the most pure tunes being used. I remembered the rush of losing myself into the thousands of voices singing as one. We sang in praise of our Mother for her care, and for our Brothers and Sisters their work. And for our Father and the great sacrifice he had made for all of us. We sang rarely for anything else.

Strangely enough I found myself taking a liking to this song, despite its poor execution. It felt somewhat like coming home.

My eyes fell on Yuri again, as he balanced waving his arms around like a mad conductor, keeping his beer in his glass, and singing the next part of the song. We had contemplated killing him a few minutes ago. He wouldn’t be here if we had just done it. He would be lying dead and cold in his bed, never speaking again. The thought disturbed me for some reason. He was just cattle, it shouldn’t have been any difference to me if he never danced again, or talked about his home and his hopes and dreams for it. If he never called me by that silly nickname “Dozor” or ever gave anyone a scarf like mine again. A lump grew in my throat as I imagined it all. I shouldn’t care.

I plucked the words from his head and joined in. The pure tone of my voice mixing in with the raw emotions in his. The tide of voices receded for a moment as if to make room for mine. Minotaurs fell silent to search where the new voice was coming from. And for a moment only our two voices were mixed. Then the flood of other voices came roaring back in.

I knew the other races sang too, often about the most banal of things. I had sometimes even joined in on them when my disguise required it, but I couldn’t remember a time my stomach bubbled with excitement like now. It had none of the solemn and respectful loving nature of changeling songs or the compulsory need to keep up appearances for other races. It felt free and wild.

Far too quickly the song ended, though the soldiers managed to drag it out quite a bit longer then intended. Yuri approached me with a pleasantly surprised expression, but fortunately he decided not to make a big deal about it. ’Let’s go,‘ I ordered.

We picked up my Siblings sans breakfast, telling them we would leave. Sister complained a bit about my perceived paranoia, but after Brother stoically agreed we prepared to make our departure.

Standing next to the exit was a Minotaur of average build. He was staring blankly into the hallway until we entered his view. Pushing himself away from the wall he made a beeline towards our group. I felt my heart get stuck in my throat as he approached us. What did he want from us? Had we been detected? I cursed myself as I bit down hard on my cheeks. That giant Minotaur had seen right through me and now we were done for!

I almost jumped up as I felt the disguised paw of my Sister resting reassuringly on my shoulder. With a chipper smile she broke away from us to meet the creature head on. “Evening. Murdock must have sent you.” She held out a paw, which he shook as he confirmed her suspicions.

My ears drooped as I relaxed. Of course, Murdock had put a Minotaur out for us as a guard, or more likely as a watchdog, so we wouldn’t cause any trouble. He had even said as much. I took a moment to reorient myself as Sister started to butter up the guard with small talk.

Walking out the cold bit me as snow flew into my eyes. With a shiver I tightened the shawl around my neck. My poor Sister and Brother just had to suffer the cold without even the meager protection I had, but they did our Hive proud by not complaining, so I held my composure too.

“Nice fight yesterday,” the guard said as he broke free from the Infiltrator for a little. I gave him a noncommittal nod. “A lot of bulls didn’t think you would last ten second, but I had faith all along. I know a fighter when I see one.” He gave me a wink as he pulled out a pouch, fat with coins. “Made a pretty penny of it too.”

“How nice,” I muttered.

“You know, I made another bet.”

“What sort of bet, yes?” Brother spoke up.

“Can we get in on that?” the Infiltrator said as she jealously eyed the guard’s money.

“Ah, but you already are.” The guard chuckled as he led us around a corner to a rather large building. A supply store, judging by the neatly written sign in front of it. “I have two big ones riding on at least half of you getting out alive.”

It amazed me that my face could fall even more than it already had. “Wow. That sure is generous of you.” I looked the supply store over as we had finally endured enough of the bitter cold to reach it. It was ordinary. Indistinguishable from any other building save for the sign in front. It was a wise decision. If an enemy did invade the fort the buildings anonymity would somewhat protect it.

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to offend.” He held the door open, letting large tendrils of snow ride into the building on the wind. From inside came an angry shout to close the door as we hurried inside.

Shelves lined with non-perishables, canned goods, and dried spices rose up to meet me. Several pieces of dried and smoked meat adorned the ceiling. Behind a glass counter displaying several pieces of hard bread stood a Minotaur whose small stature seemed to be wholly overcompensated by the anger on his face.

I immediately took back anything nice I had said about the building. It seemed that the Minotaurs had taken the “store” part of “supply store” far too literal. With only a single Minotaur watching and a plethora of blind spots provided by the shelves, this place was just begging to be robbed. Now that I looked even better, there seemed to be price tags on the food stuffs. What kind of backwards base was this?

The human seemed to be somewhat dazed by the smells and the sights, as he stared with wide eyes at the variety of foods. I nudged him with my elbow, which brought him back to his senses.

“Good evening, Zuy,” our escort greeted the Minotaur behind the desk.

“Good evening? Fuck off with your good evening!” The one named Zuy leaned over the counter, which was quite a feat since it nearly reached his chin.

The guard held up his hands mockingly as he rolled his eyes. “I’m so sorry for being polite, Zuy.”

The bull nearly exploded. “Polite? Polite!” he shrieked. ”You son of a bitch! You think I don’t have eyes in my head? I can see that rabble behind you being dragged into my store again. You think I’m made of food or something?”

“Well, you can technically be eaten. So that would be a correct assumption, yes?” Brother piped up from out of sight behind one of the shelfs he was browsing.

“Who said that? Who the fuck opened their trash hole in my store? Was it you, you skinny dog shit? Say that again!” Our escort had to hold back the store owner from flying over the counter.

“Calm down, bull. The sergeant wants us to act our rank to outsiders,” he calmly reprimanded the shop owner.

“Oh!” He threw up his hands. “Oh! Sergeant Murdock wants me to act my rank, huh? Well, that would be a lot easier if it hadn’t been a month since the last time we got fresh supplies from the capital and if my last batch of chickens hadn’t frozen yesterday.” He pointed at a small pile of chicken meat presented on a plate in the counter. It had a small sign with ‘In memory of Daisy¬. 5 bits per 100 gram’ on it.

“And you!” he poked our guard in the chest. “You keep bringing in groups of these dumb fucks that want to go die in that damned cave and use our food to get there! How am I supposed to keep this base supplied when I get no new food and the food we do have goes to assholes?”

Our guard chuckled awkwardly as he patted the owner on his shoulder. “Come on. It’s tradition to give anyone that goes down the cave a last meal. Have a heart.”

“Eat shit, because you sure aren’t getting any of my food.” He ducked behind the counter and pulled out a small basket of eggs. “See these? They are the last eggs in the entire damn area. May as well be the last eggs in the entire world considering this damn winter never seems to end. Do you honestly expect me to give one of these to some-“

The supply store fell silent as the owner’s eyes slowly fell on my Sister with deadly gravitas. My Sister that had nabbed one of the eggs. She blinked as everyone focused on her.

“What?” she said as she prepared to break the egg above her mouth.

“Don’t you do it. Don’t even think about doing it!” The owner’s face was turning purple as he tried to destroy my Sister by staring at her. “You bitch, I can see you thinking about it. Stop it!” Our escort was covering his eyes in desperation as he made pleas to some god to protect my Sister.

“I’m not skipping dinner,” she said as she cracked the egg open, letting the yolk run into her mouth. I nearly felt Yuri throwing up in his mouth.

“You unbelievable shit! You better uneat that egg right now or I’ll fuck you up!”

Sister thought it over for a minute as she swirled the egg around in her mouth for a moment. She simply shrugged and spit the contents messily back into the shell. With a smile she reached it out to the shop owner. Yeah, the human was definitely considering throwing up now.

The next few moments were kind of hazy, at least until I noticed the human falling face down next to me in a pile of snow. Closing my eyes and slowly opening them, I saw my Sister’s disguised legs poking out from the snow in front of me.

Brother, who had had the good senses of leaving the shop beforehand to escape Zuy’s rage, helped me up. Shaking the snow off of me I helped my Brother free our Infiltrator. Our escort came out of the shop, shaking his head as he pulled the human to his feet. The door slammed shut with a loud bang behind him.

“That could have gone better, no?” Brother said as he dusted of our Infiltrator, who was trying to regain her balance.

“I’ll say,” our escort sighed. “I had bet it would have taken ten minutes before he would throw us out. What a senseless loss of bits.”

“You’ve got a problem,” I said.

“Don’t worry, I can win it back easily.”

Brother put a hand in front of my mouth to stop me from retorting. “Perhaps it would be best if we simply went about our mission, indeed? It would seem little can be gained from staying here.” He pointed at the mountain looming over the fort. “Besides, we have supplies of our own.”

“Well,” the guard thought for a minute before rubbing his hands together to drive out the cold. “I suppose that’s okay.” He turned and gestured for us to follow.

As we approached the mountain buildings quite suddenly cut off, along with the light of the lanterns. Only two sources of light lay in front of us across the field of snow we traversed. Even the light of the stars on the moon were blocked out by the giant natural wall that towered above us. No guards or defenses were pointed towards the mountain, making the shift between camp and wasteland unexpectedly sudden.

A tapping on my shoulder made me face my Brother. With a smile he handed me a can of, well, canned peaches. My face flushed with embarrassment as my tail started to wag in joy. Biting off the top of the can and spitting it out I started to gobble up the sweet goodness and drink the thick syrup. It was not as good as changeling goop, but it came very close.

The human looked somewhat bemused at his meal as I felt waves of nostalgia coming from him. With his trench knife he had opened his own can of mushrooms.

’You know,‘ I started, ’You could have made less of a show of your distraction.‘ I looked at price tag on the can. Mother’s love! Twenty bits? Stealing from that greedy jerk was almost a public service.

Sister laughed between gulps of cold tomato soup. ’Sure, but Brother is a real novice when it comes to stealing. I trained him a little in Canterlot, but he’s quite hopeless. He needed that advantage.‘ She winked at me. ’Besides, everyone loves a good show, right?‘

’I don’t know about that,‘ Brother spoke up. ’I think I have some talent for stealing, it was quite exciting, yes? Indeed, who knows, with some training I might become proficient enough so you no longer need to publicly embarrass yourself. Though I doubt that would temper your behavior, no?‘ He smiled deviously at our infiltrator.

’Sure you’ll be a good thief one day with practice, my dear Brother. And Diamond Dogs can fly if they have a song in their heart and just believe.‘ She said in a singsong voice while she did a pretty good impression of a wide eyed puppy. ’Don’t worry, Brother, I’ll always be there to embarrass myself for you when you need it.‘ She saluted him with a stone face. ’It’s my sworn duty and pride.‘ She broke out in a grin and stuck out her tongue as Brother rolled his eyes.

The human stopped devouring his the mushrooms for a moment. “Wait, you guys mean this is stolen?” he managed to complain with a full mouth.

’Quick on the uptake as always, Yuri.‘ I sighed as I threw the now empty can in the snowy wastes. ’Did you really think we had lugged all that food with us and didn’t tell you? What do you want to do about it? Go back and pay that jerk with money we don’t have for food that we need that he should have given for free in the first place? Look at you, you haven’t even stopped eating.‘

Yuri looked somewhat indignantly as he put another handful of mushrooms in his mouth. “Well, the can is open now. No sense in wasting the food.”

’Well, don’t whine about it then.‘

Finally we had reached the entry of the cave. Two large brassieres filled with blue flames that gave of no heat, nor responded to the vicious wind and snow, stood on either side of the entrance. An arc was cut out of the dark natural stone. It was a simple thing, with no markings or ornate designs.

“There it is.” Our escort stopped a few meters away from the entrance. “Tell the boss that I said hi. And good luck to you. Remember, I have some coin counting on you.”

“You’re not coming with?” Sister asked.

“There’s not enough riches in the world to bribe me to get in there.” He gave us a quick salute before he turned around and walked back towards the barracks, hugging himself for warmth. His shape quickly disappeared in the falling snow.

’Watch the first step, yes? The book claims it can be strange.‘ Brother warned me as I went past the threshold. When my paws hit the ground, I understood what he meant. The rock beneath me felt like it was subtly shifted a few degrees, though it was even with the one outside. Disoriented, I nearly walked into the wall left of me before catching myself.

My Sister and even my prepared Brother suffered the same fate. Though the former was more vocal about it. Strangely enough, my human did not seem phased.

Yuri looked around while a strange mix of emotions radiated of him. “This place feels strange. More solid.” The human stood a bit taller and seemed more at rest as he stroked the walls with his gloves.

“There you lot are.” Murdock stepped around a corner with a lantern illuminating his stern face. “Well, what are you waiting for?” He gestured impatiently to follow him as he stepped out of sight again.

The tunnel opened into a large chamber. From four chains on the ceiling hang more of the strange blue flames that gave off no smoke, nor seemed to need any fuel. Every part of the walls was covered by giant stone plates on which many, many names were written in the runes of the Taurus. A few of them had been struck through deliberately, but most remained untouched.

Next to Murdock, holding a ladder that reached the ceiling, stood a stocky bull with stone working tools in his hands and a dust mask covering his face. He gave us a nod and went up the ladder until he reached a bare spot on the stone tablets and started to hack away.

“He’s been getting a lot of practice lately,” Murdock said with a halfhearted smile. “He’ll be done in no time.”

“What’s he doing?” Yuri whispered to me as with ever clang the Minotaur disrupted the silence of the cave.

I translated the question, being somewhat curious as to the reason myself.

Murdock stood up straight as he clasped his hands behind his back. “It’s customary for us to record the names of all who traveled down into the cave. As a sort of way to remember them. A monument to their stupidity.” He pointed to one of the destroyed names, surrounded by many untouched ones. “When you get out of the cave, you get to strike yours through.”

I let my eyes wander over the many stones, until I saw a particularly big and new one. With many names, all untouched. ’Brother, Sister, over there. Those names.‘ I directed their sight with some anxiety.

’Indeed. I see them, yes.‘ Brother answered. ’It was to be expected, I fear.‘He shrugged. ’Nothing we can do about it now, no?‘

I bit my cheek as I studied the rest of the chamber, finding nothing else of importance. The awkward silence punctuated by the strikes of the chisel on stone seemed to stretch out into hours, until the sergeant spoke up. He had been staring at a certain spot on the wall for a while now. “You know, my son used to be a soldier here a long time ago, before I transferred here.” The sergeant followed one of the unstricken names with his finger. “All I ever wanted to do was protect others, but so many are just too damn stubborn. They go their own way, even if it kills them.” He gave me a sad half-smile. “I can’t work up the energy to get angry about it anymore and I stopped crying years ago. What’s the point anyway?” The sounds stopped. The sergeant sighed as he righted his shoulders, the sternness creeped back into his face.

With that, the stoneworker descended his ladder, gave us a salute, and wandered out the way from which we had come. Our fake names now adorned a spot among the many others. Only Yuri’s real name was on there, not in the runes of the Taurus’, but in those of the humans. They looked as much out of place as the human did.

I reflected on how much of a waste this tradition was. Names! How could you remember anyone by a mere name? Even putting down their ranks or jobs would have been better. At least it would have told us something about the creatures. These words were nothing more than a meaningless sea of letters, telling nothing about who had gone down here before us or what they’d been like.

If a changeling wanted to alert another specific one, all they needed to do was think of them. If they wanted to talk about them, everyone just knew who you meant. No need to share finite names or having to give overly long introductions.

Names never seemed more than yet another barrier the other species had set up between themselves. How limited the rest of the world was in being forced to use a few words to identify themselves with. I almost felt sad for them.

Though I did have to admit that I had grown somewhat fond of “Dozor”. Not only because it had been given to me outside of any disguise, but also because it was appropriate and descriptive. Dozor was how the human saw me. But ultimately the name would be meaningless for anyone else outside of our little group.

“So, here it is.” I was shaken out of my thoughts as the sergeant spoke. On the other end of the chamber, hidden out of sight by mere virtue of looking completely unremarkable, was a wooden door.

Eight oaken planks with two across and a black iron doorknob was all there was to it. There was not even a lock on it. “That’s it?” Sister asked.

“That’s it,” the sergeant echoed.

“Do not be fooled, yes? The real defenses of this place lie beyond it, indeed?” Brother said as he tapped on the cover of his ancient book.

“I can see at least one of you did their homework.” Murdock gave Bother a nod. “This old thing is mainly here to keep out the wind. We wouldn’t want the monsters to catch a cold now, do we?” He stepped in front of the door and grasped the handle. “But all jokes aside. Very few things ever make it out of this cave.” As he opened the door everything seemed to grow slightly heavier, like some kind of tainted air was seeping out beyond the threshold. Sounds seemed to travel just a bit more sluggish and all light felt a tad more dimmed.

“It’s quite something, right?” The minotaur did not look back as he spoke. “You can still turn around, if you want. There’s no shame in it.” We did not answer, nor did we need to discuss it with each other. Instead we grouped together and did some quick last checks of our equipment and supplies. The bull took that as enough of an answer. With a stone face he stepped aside and let us pass into the oppressive dark.

As the last one through, I spared a glance behind me. The sergeant seemed especially old now as he was framed as a frail sillhoutte in the blue light of the chamber. For a moment it seemed like he was going to speak, but he merely nodded at me. The door closed and we were engulfed.

After a mere moment three flashes of green lit up the cave, followed by the soft green glow of as many horns. Quickly thereafter a weak beam of manmade light joined them. Three changelings and one human stood inside the cave, and we briefly studied our surroundings.

The darkness behind the gate almost seemed like a solid mass pushing against the light of our horns. The air was strangely oppressive, making every breath take just a noticeable measure of effort. We could not rest in this cave, everything we did had to be done with intent. Yuri stood still, exuding anxiousness. His face, tinted pale green in our light, jerked side to side as he saw shadows springing in and out of existence.

As Sister led the way, followed by Brother with his snout buried in the book, Yuri and I lagged behind for a moment. ’Are you still good to go?‘ I asked.

“Yeah!” Yuri responded a bit too quick and loud. “Yeah,” he repeated somewhat calmer. “It’s just,” he gestured wildly with his arms, “I can’t believe we’ve made it this far already. I mean, we’re almost there.”

’Almost.‘

Yuri grinned with some visible effort. “I guess I’m a bit nervous. I haven’t seen my station for far too long. You understand. I can’t wait to see my friends again too. I can’t wait to introduce you to them all. You’ll love them, I’m sure of it.” His smile grew smaller. “Everything probably worked out all right while I was gone.”

The human stood like a lost nymph, with the beam of his light pointed towards the ground. With a smile I approached him and gestured for him to put forth his arm. I bit down on his sleeve to guide him. And he followed.

Next Chapter: Chapter 14: A Brother to Changelings Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
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