//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20 
// Story: Veil of the City 
// by BlueyWaifu 
//------------------------------//

As far as Faltic wanted to believe, he didn't exist in the world.

Since waking up in the morning, Faltic had begrudgingly gotten out of bed, shut the curtains to the window, and completely hidden himself under blankets and pillows on the ground. Not even the lights in the room were on.

If all went well, Faltic would vanish into nopony knowing his name, hopefully sooner rather than later. First, Restel had stormed off, wanting nothing to do with Faltic, and with a justified reason as to why. Second, Klaven had disappeared into the night, leaving him no explanation, and hasn't been seen since.

It had crept into Faltic's mind that it might've been for the better that those other changelings didn't want anything to do with him anymore. They had their own lives, and with a new reputation for manipulating the lives of others sticking to Faltic, it was starting to become a concept that reasoned itself into the truth in Faltic's mind.

The only other changeling with a sliver of a chance to talk to was Cyril. She was the closest, and to Faltic's knowledge, she hadn't disappeared. Yet.

Heaving a long sigh in the process and pressing his face to the ground, Faltic's mind brought up the prospect of acting upon the thought of talking to her. What wasn't mustered up was the motivation and strength to get up, until it was forced, despite the sluggish opposition of melancholy. Something had to be done.


*****


Cyril found herself standing in front of her room's window overlooking the street down below. As the morning had progressed, dozens of ponies began to populate the sidewalks of the city, with carriages whizzing by on the streets.

Though, her mind lingered on her very definitive actions of the previous day.

The unexpected sound of a faint knock on the door drew Cyril from her thoughts as she sighed, half expecting to already know who was at the door. Who else would be coming to her at this time?

Approaching the door, Cyril peeked through the peephole, spying exactly who she assumed it would be: Faltic in his Enthrall disguise. It was time to affirm her actions.

Taking a brief moment to shift herself into her Whimsy disguise, she then finally opened the door, only halfway to not leave Faltic to believe he's welcome in.

"What?" Cyril said, perhaps too harshly.

Faltic's ears pinned themselves to the back of his head at the sudden attitude. It took just a second, but Faltic managed to gather the courage to speak. "I wanted to say... I'm sorry."

Cyril shut her eyes and drew a long inhale of air, before releasing it slowly. "I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to. I've told you this."

Drooping his head slightly, Faltic rubbed his foreleg with the other. "Yeah, I know. But if there's anything I can do or say-"

Cyril's hoof shooting up between the two halted Faltic's speech immediately. "Stop. Faltic, what you can do is go to Restel. What you can say is your apologies to him. There's nothing I can do, as I'm not involved in this anymore."

Faltic's posture continued to slump as Cyril's unchanging tone from their last interaction continued to berate any remaining hope, if any at all.

Eventually, Faltic managed the ability to speak again. "Right. I'm sorry. I'll go. Don't even know how I'm going to do that." Faltic muttered his last words to himself. And with that, Faltic began to turn hoof, putting his back to Cyril and taking small steps back to his next door room.

However, Cyril found herself lingering on the door, watching the defeated Faltic put distance on her. She put a hoof to her chin in thought.

Harsh. Very harsh.

A second thought chimed in. But it's true!

"Faltic-" Cyril's voice called out before her train of thought could continue. Faltic stopped, looking particularly glum as his head swiveled to look at her. "What?"

Cyril kept her eyes averted from Faltic's. There was some slight internal panic as she had acted on impulse to call out his name. One idea in particular led to it.

"Don't forget to water that flower," She simply said.

The out of the blue subject change left Faltic perplexed for a moment as his mind had to shift into a new mindset. "Uh, I don't forget to. I leave it by the windowsill for sunlight too." As he responded, Faltic pushed his room's door open and held it ajar with a foreleg.

Awkward as it may have appeared, Cyril knew it was time to wrap this up. "Good. Thank you." Holding the handle to the door, Cyril efficiently pulled it shut, her hoof still holding the handle as she changed back into her natural changeling form.

Once again, she drew in a long breath, and heaved out a sigh.


*****


With his brow scrunched slightly, Faltic watched as the disguised Cyril disappeared behind the door. Although her stern and unchanging attitude towards him was eating away at him, the perplexity of the subject change to the flower held him up. It distracted his mind, in a good way, and allowed him to feel like he hadn't just laid on the hard ground for nearly an hour. The soreness felt nonexistent.

Stepping back into his room, Faltic shook off the Enthrall disguise and reverted back to his natural changeling self with a swirl of green flames. The room was just as dark as he had left it.

Something had to be done, and something was. Unfortunately, it was about all Faltic could think about doing. Ironically enough, the previously mentioned flower sitting on the windowsill had no sunlight, as the curtains were drawn shut earlier for a moment of sulking in a dark room.

Mumbling to himself, Faltic dragged his hooves along the ground as he made his way towards the window. Staring at the flower, Faltic spoke to himself. "Sorry I made it dark in here."

Deciding to remedy that immediately, Faltic reached both his forelegs for the curtains, and pulled them open. However, instead of sunlight pouring in and being greeted by the sight of Manehattan, a figure of a pony hovering just outside the window, casting a shadow into the room as Faltic drew the curtains open.

Faltic recoiled heavily, jumping back a couple steps and briefly yelling in shock.

Through heavy breaths, it only took a moment to recognize the garnet coated, black maned pegasus hovering outside.

"You're freaking joking," Faltic said aloud, marching back towards the window and the pegasus on the other side that had nearly scared him into toppling over.

Swiftly popping the window open, Faltic set his hooves on the frame, talking loudly to the pegasus hovering outside. "I swear I'm going to throw you out this window, Klaven. What the hell are you doing?"

Slowly flapping his wings, Klaven gradually inched past Faltic and into the room from the window. Klaven was panting as he spoke. "Hang on... let me land."

Faltic stepped aside, allowing Klaven in. As soon as Klaven's hooves touched the floor, he reverted back into his original changeling self with a wisp of green flame. Faltic noticed that Klaven's translucent wings were drooping by his side, and his face was stricken with sweat.

"For the record-" Klaven began, catching his breath before continuing. "Sweating is disgusting. When I changed into a pegasus to fly through Manehattan, I was drenched."

Despite the attempt to bring a neutral air to the conversation, Klaven saw Faltic's scrunched brow as he was glaring, silently demanding answers.

"I'm sorry for leaving unannounced," Klaven admitted.

Faltic's stern expression dropped as he hung his head, sighing. "No, it's okay. I wouldn't want to be around me either."

Klaven slowly made his way for the nearest bed, and took a seat on the edge of it. Gradually, his panting was subsiding. Faltic's self deprecating tone was concerning, and the impulsive desire to help him took over. "Hey, I came back."

"You left. Where did you even go?" Faltic quickly asked back, hardly lifting his head to meet Klaven's eyes.

"It's a bit of a story. But, I went back to the Hive overnight. I couldn't stand seeing you and Restel like this, so I thought I had to do something," Klaven began to explain.

Faltic sighed in response, dragging a hoof along his face. "Ugh, well, I don't see how going back there would help. There's no one there for me."

Klaven was quick to put Faltic's deterrence away. "Restel is there. And we talked about you." Klaven folded his forelegs across his chest.

It seemed to grab Faltic's attention, as now his head was up, and his ear twitched at the mention of Restel. However, that glint of hope dissipated quickly. "So you went there to vilify me with him? I don't imagine he had anything nice to say."

Klaven hesitated, and averted his eyes, looking away briefly. "Uh... well, not entirely."

Before he could continue, Faltic interjected, grunting with what sounded like frustration. Faltic's hoof pressed to his forehead as he turned and idly walked towards the window. "Knew it." Klaven decided to remain quiet, opting to let Faltic's emotions flow. Instead of approaching the window, Faltic planted his forehead onto the wall, shutting his eyes. "I didn't mean for any of this. I didn't want to be alone. I wanted my friend. I'd change what I did if I could."

Despite some aching soreness in his body, and lack of sleep, Klaven stood up and made his way towards Faltic. With a moment's hesitation, Klaven put a hoof on Faltic's shoulder. Yet still, his head remained on the wall.

"Faltic, look. I talked with Restel, and it wasn't all bad," Klaven started. Subtly, Klaven could see Faltic's eye open, appearing glossy.

"What do you mean?" Faltic's voice was unsteady. Klaven didn't acknowledge it.

Klaven spoke softly as he explained. "Restel said he'll talk with you in person. Reluctantly, but he will. You have a chance to apologize to him."

The air was silent. Faltic, despite the opportunity to talk to Restel again, was completely bewildered as to why Restel would even want to see him again, let alone talk to him. Finally removing his head off the wall, Faltic turned to look at Klaven, who still had a hoof on his shoulder.

"When? Where?" Faltic asked.

Before he began, Klaven sucked in some air through gritted teeth. "He said tonight. At the campground. You know, the one we hung out at all night a while ago."

Once again, Faltic was quiet, and looked away from Klaven. A mixture of many emotions vied for control in Faltic's mind. However many different paths they tried to lead him down, all of them had the same end goal of making amends with Restel.

Taking Klaven by surprise, Faltic turned his body fully, facing Klaven and wrapping his forelegs around him into an embrace. Klaven heard Faltic sniffle once, and decided to return the hug.

Faltic murmured from Klaven's shoulder. "If you tell Restel I'm acting like this, I'm actually throwing you out the window."

"My lips are sealed."


*****


The sky had long since lost daylight as it had completed the transition to night. Luna's moon shone in the sky, adorned all around by the dots of stars. The night was cold, and a chilling breeze flowed through the air. On the outskirts of Manehattan, nothing was deterring Faltic from continuing down the dirt path leading to the campground where Restel would be.

The skyscrapers that typically surrounded oneself in the city had been replaced by foliage and trees lining the seemingly endless dirt path. There was no need for a disguise, as the natural changeling color was well disguised in the darkness, and that there weren't any ponies around anyway.

Starting the trek was simple, as Faltic's pace was steady up until now. It wasn't the temperature or how late it was slowing him down, it was his mind. Faltic's hooves occasionally dragged in the dirt as he closed the distance. What felt like hundreds of different things to say to Restel were all fighting for control in his mind. What sounded the most genuine? What sounded apologetic? What sounded right?

Halting only for a moment, Faltic approached a fence connected to a wooden lodge. With it being so dark, only the silhouette of the building was hardly visible. Idly, Faltic's wings unfurled as he buzzed his way over the fence and came to land on the other side, officially entering the campgrounds. Having entered, Faltic had a rough idea as to where exactly Restel would be.

As expected, Faltic approached a fork in the path immediately after clearing the fence. One went left, one went right. A sign stood in the middle with directions, but Faltic already knew which way to go.

Campsite. Right.

Slowly, Faltic's hooves dragged him to the right as he proceeded down a new direction of dirt path and trees. Visual familiarity passed on either side of Faltic, as this is where he and the other two were swapping stories of the invasion not too long ago. A memory that Faltic did not want to become bittersweet.

Faltic's legs halted.

The first sight of tents appeared. Upon further examination, there was a dim light shining from the other side of one of them that faintly trickled its way into view. A long, cold breath drew into Faltic's nose before being exhaled through the mouth, a visible trail of his breath lingered in the air.

Well... go on.

Begrudgingly, progress was once again made towards his destination. Coming around the corner of the tent, Faltic came across the sight of a lit lantern sitting on the ground next to a circle made of rocks. Near the lantern, there was Restel, pacing back and forth in the grass.

Immediately as Restel spotted Faltic, his pacing ceased, and his eyes fixed a stern glare towards Faltic. A huff of air exhaled from Restel's snout.

Faltic tentatively took his next step, and attempted to choose his next words carefully. "H-hey... Restel." Faltic's words fell flat, and were unsteady.

Restel stood silently, only offering Faltic a single raised brow in response.

Seeing as how Restel hardly offered a reaction, Faltic began to break down. "Look, I... I didn't want to be here alone, I wanted you here, I-" Faltic took a breath as his words started coming out all at once. "I went and messed up the notices because I care about being with you and, and I really-" Another pause for air, this one sounding unsteady. "-can't do much on my own without you."

Faltic stopped himself once he felt a lump work its way into his throat. He wanted to continue, but didn't want to look more like a fool in front of Restel.

"You done?" Restel asked, finally speaking up. Faltic, understanding he has little talking power anyway, nodded his head in response.

Restel held his head up firmly, staring directly at Faltic with glaring eyes. "Good, because I'm not sugarcoating anything. I'm mad, I'm upset, confused... why? You knew I'm an essential to the Hive, you knew I'm a caretaker for Skeps, whom I've lived with my whole life, and yet you still go and do that. You're damn lucky Cyril helped me find someone to look after him. I shouldn't even be out here, let alone seeing you again."

Faltic's head gradually slumped lower and lower, but he retained eye contact with Restel. An apology is all he could think of saying. "I'm... really sorry."

Restel's hoof came up and dragged along his face. "Don't say sorry again, it's not going to do anything. And let me say: I'm done. I'm not scouting anymore, I'm out, I'm staying at the Hive where I should've been this whole time. Sure I may have been happy and whatnot during Manehattan, but I was still worried out of my damn mind for Skeps. You know how much crap he gets from any other changeling?"

Again, Faltic wisely chose to stay quiet, opting only to nod his head once more in understanding. Changelings being the brutish colony they are, Faltic could imagine how unrelenting they'd be against Skeps.

Though, something in the back of Faltic's mind rushed to the front, forcing him to speak quietly. "Please, if there's... anything." Faltic lifted his head slightly, but couldn't find any more words to say after that.

Restel held a hoof up and closed his eyes, signaling for Faltic to stop. He reopened his eyes and began again. "Like I said, I'm out. I'm staying at the Hive and that's that. You'll have Klaven, it's not like he's a stranger. And hell, good luck with Cyril." Restel ended off his sentence with a brief chuckle, but with no smile on his face.

The cold night air was still and silent again. Restel was done talking, and Faltic was struggling to find any words to bring into the mix. After a moment, something did come up. "So... you wanted me out here to berate me some more?" Whatever amount Faltic had lifted his head earlier vanished, and his head drooped once again.

Restel looked confused for a moment. "What? No." There was a brief pause before Restel continued. "Well, not entirely. Shut up." Again, Restel paused. This time, he exhaled a sigh, his breath showing in the cold. "So, yeah I hate you right now, but, I'm not unwilling to eventually forgive you."

This time, Faltic lifted his head all the way up, tilted with confusion. "Why?"

Restel coolly explained. "Skeps is... alright. I mean, I hate not being there for him and I was worried sick. And what you did was seriously messed up, so let me have a moment to be rightfully mad about it."

There was still some confusion in Faltic's understanding of Restel's words. After a moment of stuttering to find the right first word, Faltic was able to talk. "Hu- wh-... so you're... okay?"

"Faltic, I'm going to give you ten seconds to get out of here." As Restel spoke, Faltic noticed a small crack in his voice, though it didn't deter him from continuing. "I won't be a stranger, a shut in in the Hive. If I find the time, I might come visit."

Faltic was wordless, standing still in the dirt momentarily before swiftly closing the distance between him and Restel, wrapping his forelegs around him tightly. Though Restel didn't react initially, he did offer one foreleg around Faltic's back.

"You're at five seconds before I actually punch you," Restel said, the uneasiness in his voice becoming more apparent.

"Thank you," Faltic said quietly. "Plus you're crying," Faltic added, ignoring the fact that he was about to as well.

"Three... Two..." Restel counted down. Once he hit two, Faltic released from the embrace, and quickly turned hoof, scurrying away, disappearing beyond the trees and into the darkness of the night.


*****


The moon still hung in the dead of night as Faltic returned to the Pegasus Cloud hotel. At the very least, the coat of his Enthrall disguise offered the bare minimum protection against the cold, which didn't start affecting him until now. The time it had taken to traverse the distance back to the hotel had allowed Faltic to get over his melancholic emotions. He didn't want Klaven to see him in such a state. The lobby was empty, the only company being a faint humming sound coming from somewhere. Proceeding forward, Faltic absentmindedly climbed flight after flight of stairs to the eighth floor. Down the paisley patterned carpet hallway, Faltic stopped in front of the correct door that was his and Klaven's.

Popping the door open with his keycard, Faltic was greeted to a lit room with another changeling lying face down on the first bed, facing the door. It was Klaven, and his head rested just on the edge of the bed, a book on the floor before him.

"Klaven?" Faltic asked.

Immediately, Klaven's head popped up, looking utterly dazed as his eyes blinked rapidly. "Huh? Faltic?" Klaven reached up and rubbed his eyes.

Faltic stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him before dropping his light blue Enthrall disguise. "Were you trying to stay awake?"

Klaven yawned, shaking his head briefly. "Yes, and apparently I did a terrible job. I feel like I just blinked."

Faltic proceeded to walk further into the room, passing the bed that Klaven was laying on, and making his way for the vacant one. "What were you staying up for?" It felt like an obvious question, but Faltic asked it anyway.

Klaven sat up and stretched. "You. I wanted to know how it went. Are you alright?"

Rather than climbing onto the bed, Faltic only stood beside it. "Yeah... I'm fine. We talked, and he's staying at the Hive."

Klaven was looking attentively at Faltic, nodding in understanding. "Ah."

"But, he said if he ever found the time, he might come here to visit. Who knows how that'll work out," Faltic stated, recapping the night in his mind.

"At least it wasn't all bad," Klaven said, offering Faltic a little smile.

That smile quickly shifted into a look of surprise from Klaven. "Oh! Faltic, I've got to show you something." After saying that, Klaven hopped from the bed and began digging through the nightstand's drawer. Faltic looked at Klaven, confused by what he meant. "Show me what?" Faltic asked.

"Aha. Here." Klaven tossed a card towards Faltic, which he caught in his hoof. Upon a short examination, Faltic recognized what it was. "This is uh... a keycard?"

Klaven nodded happily. "Mhm. C'mon." Gesturing his head towards the door, Klaven trotted for it, already shifting into his garnet unicorn disguise.

Hurrying to catch up to Klaven, Faltic followed behind him, reapplying his Enthrall disguise before meeting Klaven at the door. Klaven opened it, and hurried into the hallway, with Faltic closely behind him.

"Klaven, what is this all about?" Faltic asked in an almost hushed voice. It was too late at night to be talking normally, and with potentially so many asleep ponies on the other side of the doors.

"Just go in and see for yourself. I want you to look at the window," Klaven said, mimicking Faltic's quiet tone.

Klaven had led Faltic to the door of Cyril’s room. Hesitantly, Faltic raised the card that Klaven had given him a moment ago, realizing this was for her door.

With a quizzical look to his face, Faltic eyed Klaven as he unlocked the door, slowly stepping inside. As expected, it was dark, with nothing immediate to see.

Wait, isn't Cyril in here?

As the thought struck Faltic's mind, the door behind him closed, causing him to turn around quickly, just to stare at the closed door.

The window? What does he want me to see there?

Turning back around the face the room, Faltic tenderly began proceeding forward, making sure his hoofsteps were quiet, as to not wake up Cyri-

The one bed in this room was empty. Faltic craned his neck, scanning the room to look for Cyril.

She's just... not in here.

Cyril not being present only raised his confusion and curiosity. Though, Faltic decided not to linger on it too long. Klaven mentioned the window, and that's what he set his eyes on next. The curtains were drawn shut, pulled over the lip of the windowsill.

Faltic approached the covered window, grabbing onto the curtains and pulling them open. Just as suspected, an eighth story view of Manehattan's night scene struck Faltic's eyes. However, something just beneath him caught his attention.

A potted flower sitting on the windowsill, previously concealed by the curtain. The same one Faltic had given Cyril in the past. The soil appeared damp, recently watered. Just beside it was a yellow square note. 'See you tomorrow' was written on it.

The sight held Faltic's attention for several seconds before lifting his gaze to return to Manehattan's night.

Though he couldn't feel it, Faltic was confident that the coldness outside couldn't affect the warmth he felt in his chest at that moment. Everything outside was still. Hundreds of stars hung in the sky, and some twinkled, accompanied by Luna's moon providing the dim light to see the cityscape before him.

Faltic exhaled a sigh of content, smiling to himself.

"Thank you."