The Messenger held his hand out and the document float up into the air. "Now it is official." The parchment warped, ripped, and fractured before Lero’s eyes, as if it was coming apart on an atomic level. As the swirling cloud of particles that was once the contract began to collapse, the Messenger spoke again.
"Bellerophon Michealides," it said, a note of satisfaction in its dry voice, "you are hereby bound by word, Wyrd, and blood to your promise. You shall have your cure in exchange for your loyalty and servitude to the Lady. Upon the 7th birthday of your eldest daughter, you will enter the Lady's ranks and serve her dutifully until your dying breath. Thus I, the Messenger, do witness and attest."
The Messenger closed his fist and the cloud was gone. A smile grew on his face. "But before that, there is something you must know, Ridire." It leaned down until its face was level with the human's. There has already been an incursion. The Messenger reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled something out. He handed that something Lero, who felt his blood run cold. It was strip of pink linen, worn from many years of use and dirty from weeks of activity. Lero's eyes widened. It was just the right size for a child's bow. A bow a certain yellow filly wore in her red hair.
Into the Hedge
is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Changeling: The Lost crossover fanfic by BadWolf9510 based upon Divided Rainbow and Xenophilia.
For years, Lero Michaelides has enjoyed a peaceful life in Ponyville. He has a home, a job, and a loving family. Even after the Swap turned his world upside-down, he held onto that peace with every ounce of will. Lero’s future looked tough, but he knew that he and his mares — old and new — could weather it together.
But there had been always something that haunted him. Something in his past that had followed him to this new world. A force that even the Royal Sisters had learned to fear. It was something that Lero could not fully remember, but had always on the edge of his reason.
A face, a voice, a whisper in his ear...
Mo ridire...
Now his past has finally caught up to him. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have been taken by a twisted evil. Lero and his herd must journey together into the heart of a nightmarish and confront a force beyond all rational thought and morality.
Lero will have to confront his past and his sins as they all journey Into the Hedge.
Is currently missing from the internet.
Into The Hedge contains examples of the following tropes:
- 100% Heroism Rating: Once they all learn that Lero's going to rescue the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Lero is showered in esteem, praise, well-wishing, gifts, free meals, everypony admires him... with the singularly notable exception of Honeydew.
- Arcadia: Lero knows that they need to rescue the Crusaders before they reach here, or they may never come back to Equestria at all.
- Asshole Victim: Diamond Tiara. Bad as she is, though, ALL the ponies are rightfully horrified at what happens to her.
- Bilingual Bonus: Irish seems to be the Fae’s native tongue.
- Black Eyes of Evil: The Lost has jet black sclera set against electric blue irises, which initially shows he is in control of their shared body. After Lero returns to the Hedge and his nature as a changeling begins forcibly reasserting itself, Lero develops the eyes permanently.
- Blood Oath: The Messenger has Lero bleed onto his contract with the Lady to make it binding.
- Blood-Splattered Warrior: The Lost is certainly not afraid to become this.
- Brought Down to Normal: Twilight and Rarity. Justified in that the Hedge is an entirely different reality and even in its own canon is known for interfering with non-fae magic.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: Not that our heroes actually bring their own cell phone into the realm of the Fae, but at one point The Lost still reminisces about other abducted humans trying to use their phones… which didn't work.
- Changeling Tale: While not involving any of Queen Chrysalis’ buglike changelings, this trope is still very much in effect... played in the most classic sense possible when "Silk" abducts the Crusaders and leaves fetches behind to cover her tracks.
- Cold Iron: The Lost wield a dagger of this against a number of hobs.
- Dead Fic: Marked as "Cancelled" by the author.
- Deal with the Devil: The pact Lero forms with the Lady: in exchange for a cure to the Swap, he will re-enter the Lady's service on the day of his first daughter's seventh birthday. For the record, Herd Bellerophon still hasn't figured out how a human man and his pony sweethearts can conceive a child. Arcadian changelings are also notoriously prone to fertility issues even when mating with humans, as their damaged soul impedes the metaphysical process of procreation.
- Declaration of Protection: Rarity towards Lero, Rainbow Dash towards Lero, and Princess Luna towards all the ponies she rules.
- Determined Defeatist: Lero, after Luna convinces him to lead her into the realm of the Fae.
- As well as the True Fae (though we haven't seen them yet), a number of hobs, and Changelings (Lero's kind, not Chrysalis's).
- False Memories: The Swapped Fives' rewritten memories and the Bewitchment which Discord cast on nearly the whole rest of the planet.
- Good Is Not Nice: The Lost, in VERY stark contrast with the regular Lero. Although just as loving and protective of towards his friends and family, he has no compunction about killing enemies.
- Happily Married: Although the members of Herd Bellerophon haven't taken any official nuptial vows, this is still the nature of their relationship, even Rainbow Dash, the "newest" member, (who hasn’t moved into their house yet.)
- Insistent Terminology: "Fae-touched" individuals like Lero are never referred to as changelings, due to the Cross Cultural Kerfuffle that would cause, since Equestrians use that name for their own resident species of love-draining bug-ponies.
- Interquel: Into the Hedge takes place at some point between Chapter 25 and 26 in Divided Rainbow.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: It's heavily implied that The Lost does this to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's fetches, when he sends everyone else at the house ahead to Sugarcube Corner.The Lost paused. "You put up a silencing spell around the library, didn't you, Princess?"Luna knew where this was going. "Aye, We did.""Put one up on the basement too, if you'd please." He opened the door. The faint sound of clattering chains came up from the basement. "I may be quite loud when I ask them."
- Letter Motif: Lero, Lyra, Luna, the Lost, the Lady.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: The band of heroes who unite to rescuing the abducted Cutie Mark Crusaders are comprised of all the adult members of Herd Bellerophon... and Princess Luna.
- Mythology Gag: When Lero comforts Twilight and Rarity over their magic being gone, he mentions that other mages have had similar problems. He is referring to the canonical effects that the Awakened suffer from being in the Hedge.
- Narnia Time: Kyria reveals that the Fae-Lands don't operate on the same clock as Equestria. Unbeknownst to Herd Bellerophon, months have passed back in Equestria during the days they've spent in the Hedge.
- Polyamory: Since this is a Xenophilia story, polygamous herds are an established pillar of pony society.
- Recursive Fanfiction: Of both Divided Rainbow and Ask the Swapped Ponies, which are, themselves, recursive works of Xenophilia.
- Repressed Memories: The Lost. He embodies everything Bellerophon Michaelides sought to forget about his time in The Lady's world. Even going so far as to strengthen Lero's Mask to the point he forgot that's what it is.
- Rock Monster: The Garganstone, a living hill that wakes up to assume a human-like form.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Seems to be something of a naming convention among the Fae. There's the Lady, the Messenger, the Lost, the Silken Harpist, the Dollmaker...
- Spider Swarm: A mass of "several large spiders" serve Silk.
- The Soulless: The "Cutie Mark Crusaders" that return from the forest. They go about their daily lives on an emotionless autopilot. Although they're not quite so unresponsive as to put up with schoolyard bullying, as Diamond Tiara can attest to...
- Swapped Roles: Since the story takes place right in the middle of Divided Rainbow, the Swapped Five are still, well... swapped.
- Trapped in Another World: Lero Michealides' situation to begin with as a resident of Equestria, but he warns his traveling companions that this may befall them as well, once they pass beyond the Hedge. And as of Chapter 5, it does.Lero: This will probably be a one-way trip.Lyra: Now you're just making this sound fun.
