Chapter 6
Splinter Shell
"Why does this keep happening?" Crunch asked, shaking his head confusedly. Derpy's sudden departure was a surprise, just as it was before. "Seriously, what did I do wrong?"
Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes and sighed. It was obvious to Crunch that she knew something he didn't. As he looked at the others, though, he saw similar looks, save for Twilight's look of similar confusion.
"I'll go and get Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said. "She has a knack for finding Derpy."
Crunch's friends agreed, and as Fluttershy left, a pang of intense pain flashed into Crunch's core. He tried to tough it out and wait, but his knees began to wobble weakly from the pain and the weakness that it brought with it.
“I’m… I’m getting’ kinda tired…” Crunch said. “I’m just gonna take a nap…”
Crunch sank slowly to the round and Twilight realized that the situation was much more urgent than she realized. She began placing ponies in different areas of Ponyville, telling them to round up animals as fast as possible. Crunch watched her, his mind clouded by exhaustion, but still was confused at her concern. He barely knew her. Why would this pony, this creature infamous for the hatred of all changelings, be helping him stay alive?
As suddenly as Derpy leaving, Crunch felt an intense wave of pain in the core of his body. He gasped in the pain, everything coming into sharper focus with the adrenaline rush that came with it. The adrenaline rush was short lived, though, as it wore down within seconds and simply caused a dull pounding in his head. His blood roared through his ears, blocking sound out. He saw Twilight getting more desperate and yelling to the others, but he could not hear a thing.
Crunch felt himself drifting off into sleep, and bit the inside of his cheek to stay awake and focused. He felt his semi-sharp teeth penetrate the flesh of his cheek, and he tasted his blood seeping over his tongue, but he kept biting. It was his lifeline. His ears were still useless, but the roar had died down to where he could hear the slurred and distant voice of Twilight. He could barely make out, when he strained his ears to listen, “Don’t leave us, please don’t leave us."
Crunch wouldn’t leave. He couldn’t leave. He’d finally found a reason to live. He’d finally found a friend.
Derpy's search for the Ursa Minor was proving... less than successful. She’d gone to the cave that the Ursa and its mother used to reside in (and the cave the entire town was warned to stay away from), but it was empty and abandoned. Flying around and looking for a big animal was plan B. So far, it was to no avail. The biggest thing she had seen was an abnormally large squirrel, and she was fairly certain it was the leftover work of Discord. She went around it. Far around it.
Aside from that huge squirrel, there was the odd regular squirrel and a ton of birds. None of the animals were big enough to show Crunch just how…
Derpy stopped. She thought and realized she had no clue why she was doing this. At first it was some sort of blind rage, but now, she was simply passing time. She felt kind of guilty for leaving Crunch at a time when he could actually die, of all things. He had insulted her eyes again. After all, he had said that she was going to scare the animals off. It had to mean that her eyes were… Her eyes had…
Oh, Derpy, Derpy, Derpy… Derpy thought to herself, facehoofing. Again, she had taken a turn for the stupid and almost destroyed the town. It was reasons like these that people resented or felt pitiful for her, and the eyes were just the icing on the cake. She was emotion led, and when things got tense, she got, well, dumb.
Derpy turned back towards Ponyville with a calm mind, merely looking forward, and dreading at the same time, to apologizing to Crunch. She neared the edge of the Everfree, but stopped when she saw a blue blur speeding towards her in the distance, as well as Fluttershy hurrying towards her. She got a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach and landed at the very end of the woods. Rainbow Dash screeched to a halt after landing and Fluttershy delicately followed suit.
Derpy opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but Rainbow Dash beat her to it.
“I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t really care. All that I’m saying is that Twilight and the others want you back at the library. Something to do with that jerk Cranky, or whatever his name is.”
“I was just on my way back.” Derpy said. She saw behind Rainbow Dash and saw yet another pony running towards them. Applejack hurried to inform the crew of Crunch’s problem and Derpy paled.
“Crunch… You mean that he’s dead?” Derpy asked, her voice shaky. If Crunch was dead and it was her fault..
“No, I don’t reckon that’s it. He almost is, though. He needs to get some critters and get their emotions and such. He’s awfully tired, and we’re worried he may not wake up if he goes to sleep.” Applejack said. Derpy breathed a ragged sigh of relief, her hooves shaking.
“I don’t suppose you fine ladies are talking about that new changeling in town that’s so infamous?” came a voice from beneath them. Derpy looked down and saw a small flap of dirt was lifted up, with a small white stallion in a steston-style cowboy hat. His mane was a strawberry-cream mix of red and vanilla stripes. He was surprisingly well groomed for someone who was underground.
“Yeah, but, uh… Who are you, and why are you in the dirt?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Ah, of course- proper introductions. Forgive me, I’ve been, oh, underground, one might say, for a while. My name is Shell. As to why I was underground, well, some things are left mysterious for a reason.” He said smoothly. “Anywho, I happen to be well-learned in the magical-creatures category. I believe that this changeling is running low on emotions, correct?”
“Yeah.” Derpy said. “Can you help?”
“Help indeed.” Shell said, a smile flickering on his lips. “I’m more than able to give away some of my emotion to save another.”
“You would do that?” Derpy asked, confused. “You’ve never even met the guy.”
“Not of any importance now. Take me to him.” Shell said, stepping out of the hole. As he closed the lid, a small rumbling tremored beneath them. “Oh, and don’t bother looking for that hole. You’ll never find it.”
"How do we know we can trust you?" Applejack asked apprehensively.
"Because you don't have a choice." Shell said simply. He looked at her calmly but demandingly.
"I s'pose you're right... Come on, I'll take you to him." Applejack said, jogging off towards Ponyville. Shell followed behind, hovering with wings Derpy hadn't noticed earlier.
"I'll go tell Twilight and Crunch." Derpy said to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. She sped off after them, quickly passing them. The library came into view quickly and she managed to stop and not crash through the window. She landed and burst through the front door. She looked right at Crunch and hurried over to him.
"Oh, Luna's Moon, are you still here?" she asked, tears filling her eyes.
"No, I'm pretty sure I'm in Canterlot." Crunch rasped weakly, rolling his eyes. Derpy smiled and nuzzled his limp body.
"We're getting you help. A friend is coming right now." she said. As she finished the sentence, the door opened once more. Shell and Applejack walked over to Crunch, Shell looking less apprehensive than the latter pony. Shell stopped in front of Crunch and looked him over, like a shopper looking over a used item to see if it's worth the price.
"I can help him." Shell said. "But I need all of you to be gone."
"Sure, whatever you need." Derpy said. "You heard the guy! GET OUT!"
"No need to rustle any jimmies, darlin'. We're leavin'." Applejack said. Twilight and Applejack left.
"You too, dear." Shell said.
"Right, right. Sorry. I'll just go now." Derpy said hurrying out the door.
"Alright, let's see here... stage three of emotional degrading... Easy fix." Shell said. "You'll be back sucking souls in no time, pal."
Crunch was silent as Shell worked his medicinal magic. He pressed down on different points of Crunch's body, relieving pain with every touch. Finally, he put his hoof on Crunch's horn and a green light flowed like water between them,. Crunch felt the weakness lessening, and the pain was entirely dissolved. Shell back off and motioned for Crunch to stand. Crunch obeyed, his legs feeling powerful. There wasn't a problem at all with him, not even a little bit of a shaky leg.
"See? Easy fix." Shell said, tipping his hat. "The name's Shell."
"Crunch." Crunch said, holding out a hoof. Shell awkwardly bumped it like he wasn't used to the motion, but Crunch ignored that. "Why did you help me?"
"You get right to the point, don't you?" Shell said, chuckling lightly. "Well, I'm always willing to help another one."
"Another one of what?" Crunch asked, but Shell had already opened the door and let the others in. His question was lost in a flurry of hugs and a few tears. He soon forgot it too. He was simply glad to be back to regular life. It was short-lived death, but it was horrible seeing the looks on other ponies' faces and feeling their fear. Next time, he wouldn't be so careless. From that point on, squirrel stew was going to be more of a common meal.