Chapter Text
Scott was a unicorn hybrid.
They were rare, extremely powerful, and very much sought after for their magic, so he spent most of his time disguised as a regular human.
Because, why would he tell people that he was one of the rarest hybrids out there when most servers would snatch him up in a heartbeat to force him to use his magic?
Though, this was another reason.
He had just left the cabin to go looking for wolves, in fact he was pretty sure he still had the bones in his hands, when he had caught his reflection in a pond he was passing.
Now, keeping up a disguise 24/7 was hard work. It was tiring, hiding his horn and tail and ears and changing the color of his hair from its natural teal to a blond that fit his human disguise better. There were days when it made him so tired that he would find a corner of whatever server he was on just to hide in a hole and get a night's rest with out having to constantly use magic. He was pretty sure it wasn't healthy for him to use that much magic constantly but he didn't care. Better to get chronic magic exhaustion than get captured by evil people. (Not that he thought any of his current friends would do that, old habits die hard and he was pretty sure some of them would be mad at him for hiding this for so long.)
Throughout the current Life Series, he hadn't taken a break to rest without a disguise, so it had fallen off. Luckily, he was alone in the woods when it happened.
Or maybe he was unlucky. Because unicorns and unicorn hybrids had a magical charm that was on at all times unless they consciously choose to tone it down. He normally covered his up with his disguise, which was now completely dropped on accident. And a unicorn's charm at full strength can effect the unicorn/hybrid who cast it.
So now he was here, kneeling by a pond and staring at his own reflection because of a stupid bit of magic he wasn't immune to despite it being a natural part of himself.
He couldn't even tone down the charm the normal way because he was too busy being stuck because of it.
He sighed, he'd just have to wait until night came and made too dark to see his reflection and hope that he was recharged enough to put up his disguise and leave.
…
This was boring.
You'd think being forced to watch your own reflection because of a spell would make it more bearable, but no. This was torture of the upmost degree. He didn't even think he looked that good. Seriously, and the fact that he knew of some hybrids who'd willingly do this is insane.
He didn't know how long he's been here, he left at like… 10 in the morning? Goodness he couldn't remember, stupid charm.
Maybe if an animal jumped into the pond and disrupted the water he'd be able to draw back and turn around in time.
He was starting to feel sore from staying in the same position for so long.
Stupid, stupid magic.
Why even have a magical power if you aren't immune to it? What were his ancestors thinking?
He just couldn't of hold out with his magic until he was by the border, could he? He just had to drop the disguise while he was at risk of seeing himself! Oh, when he gets out of this, he'll find a way to counteract his charm, he swears.
His knees hurt so much, and he was definitely pushing onto his hands to much.
"Scott?" Someone called from across the pond.
"Uh, hi! Can I get some help here?" He replied.
The sound of footsteps grew closer, "I, uh goodness you're a-" now that the voice was closer, he could tell that it belonged to Scar.
"I know, just. Can you disrupt the water here?"
A hand reached down into the water shaking away his reflection as splashes rippled across the surface.
Scott bolted up and whipped around to make sure that he was no longer facing the pond.
"Oh, goodness! Can you be more careful? You almost stabbed me with your horn!"
"Oops! Sorry. I just didn't want to get trapped again. Welp! It's been nice seeing ya! I need to uh…"
"Hold on now!" Scar butted in before Scott could come up with an excuse, "I want some explanation! You're a hybrid!"
Goodness, Scott was in a pickle. If he told Scar, if Scar told the others… what if they were mad at him for lying all these years? Like, every other hybrid was open about it, they'd all known Tango was a blaze since they'd met him, Cleo was clearly a zombie, Grian and Jimmy had told them all upon meeting them that they were avians, Gem was very open about being a faunis, Skizz was an angel and everyone knew it, heck, even Impulse didn't hide his hybrid attributes and he was a demon for crying out loud!
If this got out, people might be mad at him for lying, hurt that he didn't trust them enough to tell them, this was a very large breech of their trust too!
Goodness, he was trapped!
Wait, he'd seen other hybrids use their charm to get out of situations before. He was basically radiating enough of it to convince a wither to go to bed and stop attacking mobs. He could use it to get out of this!
How did the others do it?
"Um… you're going let go of this, leave, forget this ever happened and not tell anyone what you saw!" He snapped his fingers.
Scar just blinked at him, "no, I'm not. I want know what's going on, I didn't think anyone else was hiding themself!"
"Dammit, I've never been good at that," he muttered, "Wait, 'anyone else'? You're a hybrid too?"
Scar smiled, "indeed! Though I never saw the need to hide it, it's Cub who told me to keep quiet and I normally do what he tells me. But now, I guess the cat's out the bag, or should I say, the vex is out of the pajama man!"
It was Scott's turn to blink, "the what?"
"You know, pajama man! The magic guy with the finger waggle that summons vexes and and the floor alligators?"
Scott burst out laughing, "do you mean an evoker, Scar?"
"Yeah, the ee-voter or whatever."
Scott laughed harder, "Oh, Scar. Never change."
He wiped his eyes which had become decidedly moist, "so, you're a vex hybrid?"
"Yep! Me and Cub used to get into all sorts of shenanigans in the server hub! Scammed a lot of people we did, then someone decided to get a little vengeful so we joined Hermitcraft and hid our species. But that was years ago! I don't know why Cub is still so sure on keeping it a secret."
"And here I thought I was bad at charming. That explains it!"
"Charming…? You tried to use charming magic on me?"
"Well, what was I supposed to do? I didn't want you to know I was a unicorn hybrid and I didn't know you were a vex hybrid! And charming magic is kind of our thing."
"So you're a unicorn hybrid?"
"I thought that was obvious, I mean, I have a horn and tail for void's sake!"
"I'm sorry, I'm not a hybrid expert! I don't know these things!"
"I have a horn! That's like meating Cleo for the first time and not realizing that she's a zombie when her skin is green!"
"I… may or may have needed to be told that Cleo was a zombie by Cub before I realized it. But that's not the point! What just happened, why did I need to disturb the water, where have you been and how have been hiding this? I mean, it's not like you hybrid features are intangible like a vex is."
"Unicorn magic. I used it to disguise myself but it's pretty exhausting to do so. I normally need to take a break from using it every few months or else the disguise will just fall away. I had a break before joining Past Life and didn't realize that I needed a recharge so soon so the disguise just kinda failed. I kinda… ended up trapped by my own charm and forced to watch my reflection since I first arrived here."
"I'm sorry, you got trapped by your own charming magic?"
"Look, not all hybrids have the luxury of charm immunity like vexes do."
Scar started laughing, "but you said that charming was a unicorn's thing! How can you not be immune to your own magic!"
"I really wish I knew, Scar, I really wish I knew."
It took a few moments for him to calm down.
"So, I'm assuming that you want want me to keep this quiet?"
"Yes please!"
"Then I'll keep it quiet. It's up to you to tell others, not me. Same thing goes for my little secret," he winked, "you should come back, Etho cooked lunch for the crew."
Scott nodded. He didn't rest nearly long enough to be able to hold his disguise for the rest of the season of LIFE, but he could hold until he found a time for proper rest.
"Will do that, but I need to disguise again first so you go ahead."