Dreams ~Chapter 4, Part 9~

    "Dad, what is she talking about," Blue confronted Motley.
    "It's classified," the latter answered.
    "Classified...?" Where had he heard that before?  
    Blue took a step back.  "Did you ever find out what happened to Emerald...?"
    His sister lowered her head.  "No...  I'm considered a non-enchanter, so I'm not allowed to leave this area.  I asked Dad about it, and he says it's 'classified.'"
    But that couldn't be true.  He remembered his conversation with Ocean. "So, to this day, Emerald is still...?"
    "Yes, he's still there.  He was marked and convicted as a traitor, and that was his punishment."
    "Why doesn't Iridescence know this?"
    "Because we fear she'll try to break him out, too.  And if she gets caught doing that, Motley will try to break her out, and, who knows, maybe you'll try to break him out.  We want to end the cycle before it starts."
    Motley had lied to his daughter about it being classified.  They simply didn't want Iridescence to find out.  In this case, he didn't want Blue to find out.
    Blue looked at his sister.  Poor thing.  I don't want to hide the truth from her, but it's better that way.
    "...Why are you staring at me like that?" Iridescence mumbled with discomfort.  
    "L-like what?"  Please don't say 'bloodthirsty...'
    "Like you're pitying me..."
    "Really?  Err, sorry.  I was thinking about something else," he lied.  Blue knew how frustrated it made him when his family and the Outlanders kept giving him that same sympathetic look.  Now he understood their side of it.
    "Tenebrous talked to me for a little bit after you were taken into custody," Motley said, changing the subject.
    "To both of us," Iridescence corrected him, snapping into the present.  "He said all three of us would be allowed to stay with the Enchanters, if you decide to."
    So that's why you're here, Blue realized.  "Yes, he told me that, too."
    "...Well?  What do you think?" their father pressed.
    "...It depends on what you two want."
    "All of my friends are with the Non-Enchanters," Iridescence said.  "At least, what's left of them is..."
    Blue faced away, aware of his pitiful expression this time.  "And you keep telling me to leave the Enchanters, too."
    "But think about it some more," Motley said.  "All of your old friends will be here.  Ocean Shade, Saffron, me, your sister..."
    Something tells me he's speaking for himself.  "I'll think about it; I just need more time.  I can always visit any place, regardless, right?"
    "Right," the mare agreed.
    "As for now, well..." Blue turned to Bice.  "I'd like to go back home, if that's okay."
    "Sure thing," the green unicorn answered.  "Come on, you two."
    Motley seemed reluctant, but he and Iridescence followed Blue and Bice back to the smaller field.  Sasha and Xanthous were there, conversing with Aquamarine.
    "...And then, I put them back together?" Sasha confirmed, her eyes shining.
    "That's right.  Once you can pinpoint where the break is, fitting it back together is the easy part," the other unicorn replied.
    "We just need to make sure it stays together until it heals.  You can use a storage spell for that," Xanthous explained.
    "Did someone break a leg?" Motley chimed in.
    "You're back!" Sasha beamed, forcefully nudging Blue's face.  "You were gone, for, like, ever."
    "I managed to get myself into trouble," Blue confessed, "but it's over with now.  And I got my memories back, too!"
    "I heard!  Xanthous told me all about it."
    "Xanthous..."  He walked past Sasha to face the golden stallion.  "You should've warned me to be careful around Saffron..."  Remorse returned to Blue at full throttle.
    "You're right," he admitted.  "When I told her you were here, she seemed really happy.  I didn't think a warning would be needed."  He thought about it.  "To be fair, you've grown a lot since you and Saffron have last seen each other.  Perhaps she expected your height to be closer to your father's."
   "I see..."  Blue cringed as he remembered Umber sizing him up.  Desperate to change the topic, he blurted, "Do you live here, Xanthous?"
    "I go where I'm needed," he responded rather vaguely.
    "He's a jack of all trades, master of none," Motley elucidated, a hint of playfulness in his voice.
    "Better than a master of one," Xanthous finished the expression, returning the tone.
    "Touché."
    The golden unicorn used magic to rearrange a stack of small tree branches that he, Sasha, and Aquamarine had been gathered around.
    "Use your eyes, not your horn," Aquamarine scolded him.
    "R-right," he muttered, dropping them.  "Hmm...  Oh!  Here, Blue.  Take a look at this, if you will."
    "...The sticks?"  The winged stallion tilted his head.
    "Yeah!  There are a bunch of broken up branches here.  You have to find all of the pieces of a single branch and put them together."
     "It's part of training to be a medic, right, Aquamarine?"  Sasha bounced between them.  "Blue, you should try it!"
    "Th-there's so many," Blue pointed out. "It's impossible."
    Xanthous laughed again.  The friendly sound brought Ocean to mind.  "You could probably pull it off, but it's hard."
    "Nonsense!" Aquamarine huffed.  Her eyes flicked from one piece to another.  After a few seconds, she lifted two with her magic, turning them until the ends matched, and put them together.  The end of one side was still broken off, however.
    Blue was intrigued.  He studied that end, making a mental image of the shape and inverting it.  The pegasus returned his gaze to the pile.  He knew what he was looking for, and wanted to find it.  It had to be there, after all.
    And, there it was.  The splintered tip was practically highlighted with how obvious it was.  He nuzzled through the top of the stack, gripping the missing piece in his teeth.  
    Aquamarine's eyes lit up.  "That's it!"  She took it from him with magic, then reattached the branch to make it whole again.
    "That's my boy!" Motley gushed.
    "I can't believe it," Xanthous stated.
    "Good job, Blue," Aquamarine congratulated him.  "If you to want be my assistant, you're hired!"
    "Hey, now!  I thought I could be your assistant," Xanthous laughed, feigning jealousy.
    "Oh, please.  You're never here when I need you," she teased.
    Blue felt a little proud of himself.  Even Bice seemed impressed.  But Iridescence just stared at him, her eyes two moons and her muscles tense.  "Iridescence...?"
    "You..." she breathed.  "You have..." the sentence faltered.  "Y-you..."  The purple mare backed away from him, shaking her head.
    "What's the matter...?"
    Motley frowned.  "Iridescence, calm down.  Nothing bad's going to happen."
    "I don't believe you," she hissed at her father.  She shook her head again.  "Blue, go home!"
    The pegasus flinched.  "W-what? Why?  What'll happen to me?"
    "Nothing," Motley assured him.
    Tears formed in her eyes.  "This proves it...  Y-you...  You're just like them..."
    Blue began to panic.  Another memory struck him out of nowhere:
    "If you don't leave at the end of this week, I'm going to kill the little brat for sure next time," Titian threatened.
    "Please, we're trying as fast as we can," Cerise begged.
    "Mommy, what does he mean...?" Blue whimpered.
    "Don't worry, sweetie.  Go play with Sasha, alright?  Let us grown-ups settle things."
    "B-but what about Iri...?"
    "Coral will make sure she's okay."
    "But I want to play with her instead...  She never comes out!  It's not fair...!"
    "You insolent brat," Titian snapped.  "You're lucky I don't kill you, too!"
    Blue started crying.  He didn't understand what 'kill' meant, but he knew from his tone that it was something awful.  
    "Blue, find Sasha. You'll be okay as long as you're with her...  I promise," Cerise soothed him.
    Sasha stood beside Blue.  His high-strung emotions died down to mere confusion.  He gave her an appreciative nod, then turned back to his sister.  "I don't understand.  Who am I like?"
     The purple unicorn sniffled, forcing back tears.  "Blue, go home, and never come back here!"
    "Calm down and explain yourself, please," Blue instructed.
    "If you don't leave... They'll...  They'll..."  Iridescence let the tears fall.
    "Now, now, Iridescence...  There's nothing to worry about," Xanthous said.  "He's just a pegasus.  Alright?  Nothing more."
    "How dense do you think I am...?"
    "Iri, what are you hiding...?" Blue pressed.
    She breathed deeply until she formed proper sentences again.  "Piceous...hates...pegasi, Blue...  Moreso than Titian hates unicorns."  She shifted her attention over the completed tree branch.  "Do you honestly think...he'd let you stay with the Enchanters...for no reason at all?"
    Blue realized his sister was being unspecific on purpose.  She wanted him to put the puzzle together himself.  "I'd assume it's because of Analogous's spell," he admitted.  "You and I are the last descendents in his bloodline."  He considered the matter farther.  "But neither of us can use magic..."
    She was calming down, if only a little.  "...That's where you're wrong."
    "Iridescence, don't say anything else," Motley interrupted.  "This conversation is over.  Blue, don't listen to her; she's but a child; she doesn't know what she's talking about."
    ...She and I are the same age, and neither of us are children, Blue silently rebutted.
    "Aquamarine did say that magic still flows through the body, even if a horn is broken off," Sasha pointed out.  "So, in theory, Iridescence can still use magic."
    Is that what Iri meant when she said I was wrong? Blue wondered.  "But if that's the case, why ask me to stay...?"
    "You still don't understand..."  Iridescence tried to continue, but her father cut her off.
    "You don't want to lose your brother, do you?" Motley said, almost pleadingly.  "This is the only way you'll get to see him.  If you scare him away, that's the end of it."
    "If they take him away, that's the end of him!"
    "Take me away...?" Blue repeated.
    "They're not going to take him away...  They let him go earlier, didn't they?" Motley reminded her.
    "They took everyone else," she cried.  "If they find out about this, Blue will be..."
    "They won't find anything out," Xanthous reassured her.  "A foal could put those sticks together...  It proves nothing."
    "A foal, you say?  No offense, but you were really struggling," Sasha giggled.  Blue could tell she was only trying to lighten the mood.
    "Well, hey...  I'm the master of none, remember?" Xanthous grinned, but his heart wasn't in it.
    "Listen," Motley sighed.  "Blue, don't mention anything you see or hear unless you're certain others have noticed it too.  Alright?  Stay out of trouble, and you'll be fine."
    Blue heard that before, too.  "I don't know what they meant.  But you can't mention anything you heard to anybody.  Do you understand me?" Ocean had said.
    "...Alright," Blue swore.  "If it's that important."  He looked at the torn branches.  "But...what does that have to do with this?  Aquamarine didn't have any trouble finding the right ones here..."
    "That's simple," Xanthous said with that same smile as his son's.  "She's magic."  Then he laughed, and Motley joined in, followed by Sasha and Aquamarine.
     Blue and Bice exchanged a clueless look, and Iridescence said nothing more.