//------------------------------// // Hopeless // Story: Hard To Find The Right Words // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// “Palisade, stop doing pushups on Puff, you idiot!” “He’s not breathing!” “GET OFF OF HIM! Much better- haaah- phoo- haaa- phooo-  haaa-” *Cough cough cough.* *Wheeze.* “PUFF!” “Did you completely forget the first aid courses? Heart massage without mouth to mouth...” “Sorry, I didn’t pay much attention. I never thought this would-” “No excuses, you’re going through them again, and this time stay away from any and all questionably legal substances. That settled, Palisade, I hate to repeat myself. What the hay happened?” “I- I-” “Puff, can you speak?” “Croak, miss Blade-hoof.” “That’ll have to do. What happened?” “Mister Star Trail sent me to check on miss angry, and when I saw the re-cep-tion-ist desk empty, I read the mes-sage that you were slee-ping in a cell, and looked for you. One cell was cracked open, so I went in and saw miss Pali-sade-” “He saw me eating the changeling out.” “...” “...” “I… see. Is that true, changeling?” “Yes.” “Did you make her do it?” “At first, no.” ”Luna damn it, Palisade! What were you thinking?!” “I wasn’t-” “CLEARLY! And you could have killed Puff.” “I am fine, miss Blade-hoof.” “Luckily. If the changeling’s screaming didn’t wake me up you’d be dead.” “I am sure mister Star Trail would find another ass-is-tant.” “That’s not the problem, Puff. Think of your mom, what would she think if you got choked out by some stupid horny earthpony?” “Do we have to tell her all that?” “Thankfully not! Palisade, back to the front desk.” “I can-” “You’ve done enough. Go. Stand. In. The. Damn. Lobby!” “Yes, ma’am.” “And don’t give me the puppy eyes. You’ll need all your begging power for Commander Crest tomorrow.” “Yes, ma’am...” “If you don’t help the changeling enslave the whole city overnight...” “...that was unnecessary, Bladehoof.” “You don’t have any right to talk anymore, Palisade. Be happy that I don’t shove you in the cell next to hers. I guess my eight hours of sleep will have to wait a week or two more.” “...yes, ma’am… sorry, ma’am… I won’t do it again, ma’am...” *Click.* “Puff, you can go tell Star Trail things are fine.” “Yes, miss Blade-hoof.” “Oh, and remind him to send the message to Canterlot immediately. Whether they make a public case out of this bug, rend her brain for information with magic, or just dissect her is not my business, but the sooner they take her away the better.” “Okay.” “And if even a friend attacks you, Puff, don’t hesitate next time.” “ But I want to protect ponies.” “Sometimes you have to protect them from themselves.” “Mhm, I’ll be off then. Have a nice day, and please don’t yell at miss Pali-sade anymore.” “I doubt she’ll even remember it tomorrow. She’s like that.” *Click.* “So, changeling, we’re alone again.” “Don’t bother trying to sound sinister. I don’t care anymore.” “What happened?” “Does it matter?” “I suppose it doesn’t, I’m chaining you to the wall anyway, so if you just twitch wrong you’ll have a new hole. I was just curious.” “The earthpony wanted some excitement in her life. She offered to feed me some of her lust in a way which would ease my pain and give her the adventure she craved.” “I’m guessing it didn’t work as planned.” “You think?” “Hmm, that was without the usual amount of venom and sarcasm. Aaand done, shackled. I’ll be keeping the key on myself, so don’t even try some mind control stunt on anypony again.” “I won’t.” “That sounded almost believable.” “Do I have to spell it out for you? I’m done. My life doesn’t matter anymore.” “The complete one-eighty sounds even less believable.” “Bat, your words can’t hurt me. Your weapons and acids mean nothing. I am finished. I drained enough lust from that mind controlled moron to be able to recover from half of my body missing, but...” “You are still lying here -well, sitting chained to the wall- and able to move only your mouth.” “For regeneration, we need some healthy part to rebuild from and a lot of energy. I had more than enough of the latter, but I am too damaged all over for proper healing to work. With how limited the resources of the Hive were even before the massacre in Canterlot I am now just a burden. I will never be able to recover, I know that well enough. I was a warrior, and my body was made for that. The best shape I’ll ever be able to achieve again if I’m ‘lucky’ is a slowly limping cripple unable to transform.” “You deserve that.” “...” “Anyway, I saw the results of your attempt to escape, and Star Trail will be sending the message about you as soon as he can. You can try your sob story on Commander Crest tomorrow. I’ll be sure to watch.” “Do what you want, bat.” *Slam!* “Argh- oww- grrgh...” “Hmm, a hoof to the face does sometimes help.” “...” “And no, that’s not what I want. What I want is to see you slowly roasted on open flame, but this is what I’ll have to settle for.” “I don’t care. Changeling Sixteen is now just a rank for someone new to take. My value for the Hive is gone, and with it my care for you or anyone else.”