5 Years After the Battle of Canterlot
"Hey, Thorax!" Apple Bloom greeted the changeling king as she opened the door to the Apple Family home. "Glad y'all could make it to the party."
Thoax smiled. "Of course, Apple Bloom. I wouldn't miss the birthday of the great saviors son for near anything."
Apple Bloom grinned a tad uncomfortably at the comment. She found it so formal and awkward for every pony to keep calling her some great hero or savior. Over the years following Prince Sapphic's defeat, though, most of the residents of Ponyville and the surrounding areas had gone back to just calling her their friend, but the changelings never quite dropped the title of "Savior."
It's true that it was because of her that the changelings could be accepted in the whole of Equestria, but it still seemed unnecessary to address her so.
Regardless, she stepped aside and let her new friend inside. As she closed the door behind him, she noticed the little form squirming between his clear wings on his back.
"Oh, I see you brought your daughter along." She commented reaching out to boop the little bug like creature on the nose.
She giggled, and scrunched her muzzle up, her forked tongue escaping her lips instinctively licking where she'd been poked.
"Yup." Thorax answered, letting her down off him. "She's supposed to be studying back at the hive, but she wanted to see Carrot, so I figured, since it's been awhile, she could take a break and come with."
"Well I know he'll be happy to see her."
Apple Bloom motioned for the little one to go and see the birthday boy, and she happily trotted off to find her him. Once she was out of sight, Apple Bloom looked back to Thorax.
"How are things in the hive right now anyway?" She asked. "Things going any smoother since they chose you as king?"
The changeling shrugged. "It's slowly getting less Chaotic now that we no longer have to steal love from ponies. In fact, now that we're so open about sharing the love around, I've discovered that we can--"
***
"Pleeeease can I open my presents now, dad?" The small anthropomorphic colt pleaded with the much taller saiyan in front of him.
"Now, Carrot, we talked about this." Goten told his son as he finished restocking the fridge with drinks. "No presents till after dinner."
Carrot's green eyes fell at this and a grumpy expression crossed his features, shadowed by his long black hair draped over his face. But even if his pouty face was hidden behind that curtain, the way his ears twitched and his tail swished, as well as the obviousness of the little tike's crossed arms gave away his displeasure.
As Goten was about to say something about patience and the importance of it, the clip clop of small hooves sounded through the doorway. Both he and Carrot turned to see a tiny changeling stumble in and excitedly wave a hello.
"Ocellus!" The little quarter saiyan half pony called in excitement. Maybe now with his friend here he wouldn't be so bored.
"Hi, Carrot." Ocellus replied with the same amount of enthusiasm but at a lower volume.
Goten smiled and watched his child conversation with his friend; hard to believe that he was turning five years old already. Well, technically six, but he figured being conceived in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber didn't quite count.
Apple Bloom had told him once that Carrot reminded her of her late big brother, Big Mac, with his red fur and green eyes. It was a little strange for there being such a big change in color from his mother, but he wasn't totally familiar with pony genetics yet, and just accepted his little boy as he was without asking many questions. Not like it was a big deal anyway.
"Hey, Carrot." He said, kneeling down to be more eye level with the kids as they turned to him. "Why don't you go join the other kids outside, ok? Dinner will be done soon, and then--"
"Ok!" Carrot happily complied, almost dragging little Ocellus along with him.
Goten chuckled as he stood back up; he didn't even have to say anuwaunything anuwaunything out presents. It was good he had a friend like Ocellus; Thorax's daughter always managed to make Carrot smile.
***
The two kids quickly found their way to the field where the other children of the other guests were out and about. Sounds of tag, play fighting, and laughing shrieks filled the air, but all that was noise to Carrot. With Ocellus in tow, quite literally, he shouted a greeting to the other kids.
"Hey, guys! Look, Ocellus is here!" He called out as they turned to him.
The noises died down a bit as the Colts and filly that they were approaching focused on the changeling. Ocellus quickly shrank behind Carrot at this, which earned a curious look from the birthday boy.
"Ocellus, what's wrong?"
"They're...they're all looking at me like that again.." She quietly replied.
At first, Carrot didn't know what she was talking about, but before he could ask to clarify, one of the other colts spoke up.
"What is she doing here?"
"What do you mean? She's here to play." Carrot answered.
"Not with us, she isnt!" The pink filly of the group exclaimed.
Carrot looked at her confused. "Why not?"
Instead of getting an answer, the other kids began to disperse atskctvthis make themselves distant from the duo. The anthropomorphic toddler became a tad upset at not getting his answer.
"Hey!" He shouted after them, prompting them to stop answered turn around. "I asked you why she can't play with us! You guys always do this when Ocellus is here!"
"Carrot...it's ok...maybe we can go play over--" Ocellus tried to suggest, tugging Carrot's shirt a little with her holey hooves.
"Nuh uh, it's not ok. I wanna know why you guys are always so rude to her?"
There was a bit of silence, and no one spoke for a few seconds. Then, the oldest colt, a white coated pegasus with a dumbbell for a cutie mark, stepped forward.
"Because she's a freak." He said, stopping in front of Carrot. "Just look at her; my dad says anypony that looks like thay can't be trusted. He says that these change...chan...weirdos are nothing but monsters."
"Take that back!" Carrot shouted, probably too loudly, as the other surrounding fillies and colts began to encircle the group to see what was going on. "She is not a freak! She's my best friend!"
"Your best friend?" The colt scoffed in disgust. "Guess that makes sense, since you're a weirdo too. You're not even a pony!"
"I am too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
At this point, the two were pressing this heir muzzles against each others in something akin to a deadlock between two bulls trying to prove their dominance.
Ocellus squeaked from behind Carrot, poking at him trying to defuse the situation. "Carrot, maybe we can just--"
"You shut up, freak girl!" The colt pointed at her.
"Stop calling her that!" Carrot demanded, obviously very angry now.
"Make me!"
Without hesitation, the little anthro did just that and shoved the older colt back with a hard push. He rumbled back a few feet, but rolled back onto his rear and stood up. He too was now huffing angrily, and letting out a grunt he rammed his head straight into Carrot, knocking him over onto his back. The colt then reared up and brought his hooves down on the quarter saiyan pony hard.
"Hey...leave him alone!" Ocellus cried from a few feet back. When the colt refused to stop and kept wailing on poor Carrot, she tried to pull him off her friend.
All she got for her efforts was a hard headbutt to her muzzle and a vicious look from the white furred young stallion, his amber eyes flaring in anger at her touching him with those gross looking legs. He pushed her down next and prepared to do the same angers he'd done to Carrot.
But he was intereupted, quite suddenly, by a loud yell, a flash of yellow light in the corner of his angry vision, and then a hard punch to his side which sent him flying across the field and nearly into a couple other foals.
Ocellus, tears in her bug green eyes looked over at her friend, and was immediately surprised. His normally long curtain like black hair and tail were now golden and no glowing in color and spiked upwards as if he'd been shocked with electricity.
"I'm done letting you pick on my best friend!" He shouted defiantly.
The white coated colt tried to get up, but sat back down instantly, crying from the pain the anthro had inflicted on him. His cries were quite loud, and would surely attract attention, Ocellus thought.
But while she had been thinking about the parents being the ones who might hear these cries, something else had heard them first.
It happened pretty fast; a few growls and howls, shrieking kids running away towards the house, and fast moving blurs of brown and green rushing out of the forest on the edge of the field.
Timberwolves.
They'd heard the wounded pony's cries, and figured it was a good opportunity for a free meal.
Ocellus shrieked as one of them ran right by her. It quickly met it's end as Carrot's small fist busted it's face into a million pieces.
"Stay away from her!" He shouted at the beheaded wooden creature as its body reformed and scampered away, whining.
Ocellus cried out again and pointed in the direction of the colt who'd antagonize them. Carrot followed her hoof, and shouted aw him getting dragged away screaming by his hind legs by two of the other timberwolves.
Carrot considered letting them take him; it would serve him right for being such a meanie to his best friend. But a pleading look from her convinced him to save him anyway.
He started to run towards them, ready to pound the timberwolves into dust, but suddenly stopped and fell to the ground face first, gripping at his chest. His hair and tail returned to their normal black color before he even hit the dirt and he didn't get up again.
"Carrot! Carrot!" She screamed. "Help! Somepony please help!"
She watched in horror as the one child was quickly dragged away still screaming bloody murder, and her friend lay face in the dirt, breathing hard and slowleemingly still grabbing anyway his chest underneath him, groans of intense pain interspersed.
She began to openly cry and scream, overwhelmed by what was happening. Then, a wood of air flew by, then another, and another. She opened her eyes air not her gain to see a blur of green and white dash over to the timberwolves dragging the colt away. She recognized him as soon as he stopped to break one of the wolves in two over his knee. It was Piccolo, the Guardian of Equestria.
Following behind him was Carrot's dad, and he too grabbed one of the wolves and broke it apart instantly.
The last figure was undoubtedly Apple Bloom, Carrot's mom. She knelt down worried over her son, picking him up and calling Piccolo over. The namekian was there in all instant, and placed a hand on the boy. His expression was one of disbelief and worry, and he and Apple Bloom took off into the sky headed in what looked to be the direction of Ponyville.
She barely had time to let out a squeak as this all happened, and before she knew it she was on her father's back, headed back home.
"Dad....daddy?"
"Oh, good, you're awake, Ocellus." Thorax sighed. "Are you ok?"
She nodded, and looked around. She must've blacked out, because instead of a field, she saw sky and far below were the hive lands where her home was.
She gasped as saw he remembered what had saw he cared her so much. "Daddy, where's Carrot?"
***
Goten sat next to Carrot's hospital bed, hand over his face and breathing ragged. Apple Bloom stood beside him, hand on his shoulder, and looking down with the same concern at her son, listening intently to the machines he was hooked up to, especially the heart monitor.
Neither of them could believe what the doctors had said after they'd taken him into the emergency room. They both had thought transforming into a Super Saiyan was impossible for a non-fusion non-humanoid saiyan hybrid. And yet their son had done it...and the form had strained his little body so much...
The doctor had said...he'd just suffered a heart attack.