I fell into a light, dreamless slumber that night until a voice cut through the tranquil silence. “Time to wake up.” My world shook, and I soon found myself back in the land of the living. Artificial light burned my eyes. I squinted and tried to wipe the drowsiness away, only to find that I was still in my restraints.
I tried to stretch my body to find my limits. A pressure around my chest held me firmly to the cold bed, and another belted my waist down. My wrists and ankles were tightly cuffed as well, the bindings digging into my skin. Only my head was free to swivel and crane as much as I wanted.
“I see you’ve discovered your new restraints,” the doctor noted.
I used what little freedom I had to look up and throw him a glare. He held his ground, unphased, and strode to the door. “I believe it is ready, Miss Sparkle,” he announced as he opened it. Three mares appeared on the other side. I recognized Twilight and Applejack immediately, but I could barely recall the white unicorn with them with the long, curled, purple mane. She still had a faint bruise over her temple where I remembered a fist connecting to at one point, and a knot formed in my stomach as memories resurfaced of storms and mud and rage. The look on her face proved that she hadn’t forgotten, either.
A quill and a notepad floated close to Twilight, humming soft purple lights. “So,” she started, and the quill began scratching on the paper. “We have a few questions for you. If you choose to comply and answer them, then this little chat of ours will be over in no time. Okay?” I didn’t respond; instead I only shifted underneath my restraints. Twilight hummed in thought. “How’s about we make you a little more comfortable?”
The straps over my body grew warm and started shifting. “Twi, are you sure this is a good idea?” Applejack asked. I didn’t hear a response; I could only assume she nodded.
The restraints floated lazily off my body and nestled themselves next to me on the bed. I cautiously sat up, skeptical of my newfound freedom, and felt something metallic digging into my wrists. Short cuffs had me tethered to the bedrails. I realized I was still barely covered and scooted as far back as I could on the bed and crossed my legs, trying to hide as much of my body as I could.
“I think it would be best to start with the simple questions,” Twilight chirped, flashing me a practiced smile. She leaned forward, and the paper and quill mimicked her. “Do you have a name?” Her eyes were eager. My teeth were grit, and my mouth was sealed shut. A small migraine burned in the back of my head as I stared between the three of them.
Twilight’s smile faltered, but she tried to keep her optimism. “Where are you from?” she pressed. I still kept silent. I wasn’t sure why; maybe that in all the ponies I’ve met since I’ve been here, Twilight was the last one I wanted to talk to after waking up here. Her smile flattened out as she pressed her lips. The curiosity in her eyes had died out and were replaced by a small flicker of agitation. “What exactly are you?” she demanded.
“Maybe it’s one of them changelings again,” Applejack offered, keeping her skeptical eyes pinned on me. “Kinda makes it difficult nowadays to know what’s real and what ain’t. Y’think there could still be some lingerin’ around after the wedding?”
“I don’t think so,” Twilight shook her head. “We may not know much about them, but so far they only seem to be able to mimic what they can see.”
“Which only begs the question, where would a changeling even find such a grisly creature?” Rarity added.
Twilight looked back to me with steely determination. “This silent treatment isn’t going to get you anywhere,” she pointed out. “We know you can talk. The longer you hold off our questions, the longer we’re going to be here.”
I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. My eyes connected with hers for a second, and I shook my head. “I want my clothes,” I finally said.
It caught them off guard, to say in the least. They had a stunned look in their eyes, almost as if they weren’t expecting me to actually talk. Twilight recovered quickly, and the curious spark reignited in her eyes as the quill began scratching away feverishly. Applejack readjusted her hat and gave me a look.
“Er, beg yer pardon?” she asked.
“My clothes,” I repeated, trying to curl up tighter. “I want them back.”
“Ah don’t see what that’s got to do with anything,” Applejack pointed out. Rarity’s face was turning slightly red as her eyes began to widen, and her lips were pressed tightly together. “You’re just dodgin’ questions now.”
“I’m not,” I swore. “It’s a little taboo for people to not wear clothes, and it’s making me really uncomfortable being near naked. Not to mention it’s a little cold in here.”
“Interesting,” Twilight trailed. “So there are more like you. Is there anything more you can tell us about your species?”
“Look, just give me my clothes,” I groaned.
“We will, but first I just have a few—”
“Oh, for Celestia’s sake!” Rarity shouted. Her face was ruby red, and she snapped her attention to a counter with linens resting on top. They sprung to life and flew across the room, unfolding themselves in midair before landing over my lap.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had pent up and relaxed slightly, adjusting the blanket over my legs with what little mobility the cuffs gave me. My eyes flickered up to hers before breaking away almost immediately, and I muttered a quick “thanks” under my breath with a nod of the head. She turned her head and huffed, eyes glued to the ceiling and face still burning.
“Well…” Twilight carefully started after a small silence. “Now that that’s covered, perhaps we can move on to answering some of my—”
“I want to talk to Lyra,” I cut in.
There was a pause, and Twilight gave a short, incredulous snort. “Oh no. That’s not happening. I don’t know what you did to gain such a large influence on her, but I think it would be best if we kept you two separate for a while.”
“Hey, I didn’t do anything to her,” I swore. “All we did was talk. She chose my side by herself.” My mind trailed off. What was I doing talking about ‘sides’? All it was doing was deepening the very divide Lyra was trying so hard to close. The back of my head burned, and the cuffs prevented my hands from investigating it.
“I find that hard to believe,” Rarity commented. Her blush had calmed down, but she still refused to look at me. “From the times we met and all the stories I’ve heard, you hardly strike me as much of a charmer.”
“I wasn’t trying to charm her. We just talked,” I stressed. “And… it was nice. It was the first conversation I had in a long time, and it made me realize that maybe I was just going about this wrong way.” I paused, trying to gauge the mares. Applejack and Rarity seemed unsure, either of themselves or where I was going with this. Twilight was watching me closely with scrutinizing eyes. I couldn’t bring myself to meet hers. “Look, winter is coming up in a couple of months,” I sighed, “and there’s no way I can survive out there. I figured if ever there was a time to bury the hatchet, now would be as good as any.”
“So, you not raiding my family’s farm was supposed to some sign of good will?” Applejack demanded incredulously. She leaned in to press her point. “Do y’all even realize how much you stole from us?”
I flinched as my brain rattled inside my own head. Why are you letting them talk to you like this? the voice demanded. They are a bunch of horses; why should you explain yourself to them?
Shut up, I bit back. It’s hard to think when you’re talking.
You saved one of them, the voice continued, its tone escalating. If nothing else they should be praising you!
I grit my teeth and looked off to the side, as if doing so would help me focus on the migraine. I said shut up. I’m trying to work my way out of this, and I can’t think straight with these headaches.
“Was that what the field trip was?” I snapped back to reality. Rarity was staring at me with a quizzical face, like she was piecing together a puzzle in her mind. “Just some stunt you were trying to pull to get on our good side?” she continued. I hesitated, unsure of how to answer, and that was all she needed.
She threw her hooves on the foot of the bed and stood up on her hind legs, leaning in as close as she dared. A fire raged in her blue eyes. “So help me, if my Sweetie Belle doesn’t pull through because of your… popularity stunt…”
“I didn’t ask them to follow me!” I defended. The other mares flinched back as the tempers rose, but Rarity stood her ground unphased, her eyes threatening to burn through me. “I didn’t ask for any of this! They were suppose to escape with the rest of the school while I fended off the wolves. By the time I realized they were following me, we were too deep in the Everfree. I tried to get them back as fast as I could.”
“The wolves?” Twilight pressed.
Applejack managed to tug Rarity away from the bed, and I took in a few breaths to try to calm myself down. “Timberwolves,” I corrected. I watched as the quill scratched against the parchment. The noise was grating, like it was etching against my ears. “They attacked at the field trip,” I explained. “And another time when the foals and I nearly reached Ponyville.”
“There hasn’t been a single case of timberwolves moving that close to Ponyville in years,” Twilight pointed out. “They’ve always stayed deep in the Everfree. Why would they change that now all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. This was going nowhere fast, and the growing headache wasn’t helping. “Why is it so hard for you to just trust me?”
The scratching stopped for a second. A deafening silence fell on the room like a blanket. Twilight locked her eyes on me.
“You want to know why I don’t trust you?” she asked slowly. “Maybe because in the short couple months we’ve known you, you hospitalized Rarity, constantly stole from Applejack, and threatened to and nearly succeeded in killing one of our best friends!” Twilight accused. She slowly trotted up to the end of my bed, a righteous fury burning inside her eyes. “You’ve done all these horrible things, and then all of a sudden, you stop, and Lyra and Zecora are out in the streets talking like you’re some kind of misunderstood saint. They completely ignore everything we try to tell them, everything we saw, and expect us to just trust you in spite of everything you’ve done.
“Your very existence is a crime against all laws of magic. It’s as if you’re not even from Equestria, and I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that.” She leaned in close, resting her forelegs on the foot of my bed. “You want to know why I don’t trust you? It’s because you’re one of the most violent creatures I’ve seen and you don’t make any sense. You’re no better than any of the other beasts that come out of the Everfree.”
I lurched forward as far as the cuffs would let me go. My face stopped inches from hers, our eyes locked. “I don't exactly remember a red carpet welcome either,” I growled. “I wasn’t the only 'monster' that night.”
The room was silent. The quill had stopped scribbling halfway through Twilight’s rant. Nobody spoke a word.
The door silently squeaked open, but it might as well have been a siren. Behind Twilight, a small, yellow head with a long pink mane slowly pushed itself out. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy apologized before retreating slightly back behind the door. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“No,” Applejack said carefully as she looked between me and Twilight. She turned and flashed her friend a warm smile. “Not at all. What’s up, Sugarcube?”
Fluttershy slunk into the room. “I was sent to tell Hunter his lunch was coming soon,” she explained. “If you’re not too busy, of course,” she added quickly. The tiles suddenly became very interesting to her. She pawed at the floor with one of her hooves and tried to make eye-contact with me.
The three mares paused and looked at her. “Hunter?” Twilight echoed. “Wait, do you mean…” Her voice trailed as her eyes fell on me.
Fluttershy nodded almost excitedly. “Yes, the human.”
“Er, human?” Applejack repeated. “Ya lost me, Sugarcube.”
“Wait, darling, you haven’t been attending that poor Lyra’s rallies, have you?” Rarity asked with concern.
She retreated behind her long mane and looked up to Rarity. “Maybe a few,” she admitted softly. “Was I not supposed to?”
“It’s fine,” Twilight said, waving it off as she trotted to the door. The quill and parchment followed. “I think we’ve gotten as much as we can out of this meeting. Let’s leave the… human?” Fluttershy nodded. “Right,” Twilight continued. “Let’s leave the human to his meal. Come on, girls. Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner; my treat.”
Rarity followed close behind with her head held high. “Some sweets do sound delightful right now. The air here is a little too bitter for my taste,” she huffed.
Applejack hesitated, scanning over me with a scrutinizing eye. “Y’all go on ahead without me. Ah wanna ask this fella a few more questions.” Twilight paused, but after sharing a look with Applejack, she nodded in understanding and trotted out of the room with Rarity in tow.
Fluttershy watched her friends pass with a lost look in her eyes. She looked to me as if for answers, and I huffed and shook my head. I could see a conflict raging behind her eyes. Her ears flattened, and she turned and called to her friends. “Wait, we need to talk!” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Applejack closed the door behind her, muffling whatever else she might have said.
The room was thick with an uncomfortable silence. I didn’t dare break it. I shifted on my elbows, and my eyes tracked the mare as she moved across the room to pull up a chair next to me. She straddled it and leaned forward with her forelegs resting on its back.
“Applebloom’s been spinning quite the tale ‘bout you lately,” she eventually said.
I leaned back and exhaled. “So, you did talk to the foals,” I commented without looking at her. “What have they been saying?”
“A lot of things,” Applejack said, nodding at nothing in particular. “Mostly how you’re actually a ‘nice monster’ and how you helped them find their way home after the field trip.” She sighed and leaned forward, staring off in the distance. Her brows furrowed. “It’s gettin’ real hard telling what’s the truth and what ain’t these days, and Ah don’t rightly appreciate that.”
“Would you really believe me if I told you?” I asked. “Your friends seem pretty dead set on their thoughts about me.”
“They have their reasons,” Applejack defended. “And Ah had mine. That is until y’all came back with the foals after everypony coulda swore you foalnapped them.” A pause filled the air. I was too curious to see where she was going with this to interrupt her.
“Y’know, Ah actually talked to Miss Cheerilee after they all got back,” she continued, putting her full attention on me. Her deep green eyes bored into mine, as if they were searching for something. “Wasn’t expecting them to get back so early; Ah was just passing by in the park. She was a little frazzled; the other adults had to do a headcount for her. That was when we found out we had five fewer foals than we started with, mine and Rarity’s sisters included.
“Now, an interesting story was floatin’ around about you,” she directed a hoof at me. “And it’s got me more turned around than a stampede in a twister.”
My brow furrowed. “What kind of story?” I asked.
“Miss Cheerilee overheard you talkin’ to Zecora, and by the sound of it, you were willing to risk yer life to get the foals out of there. Some of the foals even pitched in; made it sound like it was some over-the-top ‘monster battle royale’.” She studied me, looking for some sort of reaction.
I took in a breath and slowly let it out. “Did you believe it?” I asked after a short pause.
“Not at first,” she admitted matter-of-factly. “Y’all ‘visited’ my family’s farm more than enough for me to get my own image of you. Ah trust you ‘bout as much as Ah can lift ya, and Ah found it hard to believe that you suddenly became some saint with a sound sense of right.” She forced a short laugh. “You can only imagine what was going through my head when Lyra tried consolin’ me, saying my sister was probably with you.”
I didn’t share her laugh. Lyra and Zecora had been sticking their necks out enough for me. Just thinking about all that they could have been going through because of me was enough to make me feel guilt-ridden. I slumped in the bed, and Applejack seemed to take note.
“But then you came runnin’ into town with the foals, causin’ quite a commotion while you were at it,” Applejack continued. “After we got you all wrangled up, Applebloom started spinning her side of the story, along with some of them other foals. Ah don’t reckon anypony else paid them much attention, what with Twi writing to the princess and Rarity stayin’ next to her sister night and day, but Ah learned the tough way to listen to my little sister every now and then. And they started painting you in a new light. They went on a wild spiel, saying you were some alien from space that got stranded from yer family.”
Eh, that’s mostly true,” I interjected. “The whole ‘alien from outer space’ bit was just a story I made up for Snips and Snails. They all seemed to enjoy it, but it wasn’t exactly true.” A memory popped into mind, and I turned to face Applejack. “Oh, could you tell Scootaloo that for me? She was doing her report on me, and she was taking notes the whole time I was talking, and I felt kinda bad feeding her the misinformation. I mean, I know there’s no way Cheerilee can really check, but—”
I trailed off as Applejack stared at me with a raised eyebrow. The smile that had unknowingly formed quickly faded. My lips pressed together to stop myself from saying anything else, and my eyes suddenly found the ceiling to be very interesting. “Sorry,” I eventually said. “Did they say anything else?”
“Just that they thought you were some sort of hero.” I blinked and sat back up to look at Applejack. She was serious. “They said you gave up your only chance to go home to help them return to theirs. And then…” Her voice trailed. I could see she was agitated, even if only a little. She stood up from the chair and started pacing the room. My eyes followed her as she moved.
“And then Ah started doubtin’ myself,” she shook her head. “With all the times we ended up buttin’ heads with each other, Ah was pretty confident Ah had you figured out. Ah figured you were just a no-good varmint trying to steal an easy meal; a smart one, mind you, but a varmint nonetheless. I knew Pinkie was just making tall tales saying you could brainwash ponies or use ‘Everfree magic’. If you could, you’d’ve used it a long time ago on me and my family so you could steal our harvest easier. Ah figured you were just spinning sweet lies to Zecora and Lyra, trying to get them on your side.”
She stopped at the side of my bed and returned her attention to me. “And then the field trip happened, and everypony is paintin’ you in different colors, and they’re all different from the snake Ah’ve known for the past couple months. When Twi asked if Ah wanted to help with this little interrogation, Ah was more than happy to oblige; figured Ah’d finally be able to prove just which story was the truth. And then you started talking… and Ah found out none of them were true.
“You’re not just some varmint,” she explained. “But you ain’t a saint either. Wouldn’t go near as far as callin’ you a hero. You’re still a thief, but Ah reckon you might have a heart after all.” Another pause. She looked me over expectantly again. When I didn’t press, Applejack took it as her cue. “Ah think you’re just some poor fella who’s down on his luck and making a whole lot of poor decisions along the way.”
A short laugh managed to break free from me. “That’s the understatement of the century,” I grumbled. “Tried to save one of the foals after the ambush, and look where I am now. I should’ve pointed them to Ponyville the moment I knew they were following me.”
“Why didn’t you?” Applejack pressed. She strode across the room back to her chair.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted.
She snorted, “Well, that’s a lie if Ah’ve ever heard one.” I threw her a look as she sat down, but she was unphased. “Why did you decide to help them?” she asked. “Or anypony on that trip, for that matter.”
“It’s… complicated,” I started.
“Ah have time,” Applejack explained as she leaned back.
Your princess told me to, I wanted to say, but my doubt held me back. Would she believe me? It sounded so farfetched to say; I could barely believe it happened, and I was there for the deal. Applejack seemed to be trusting me, even if only barely. Would dropping the weight of the princess’ deal break whatever flimsy bridge was forming between us now?
“When we got the tip about the field trip, Lyra and Zecora wanted me to jump for it and help,” I eventually said. “They figured it would give me a chance to prove who I really was to everybody. And if we’re being honest, I didn’t really care about proving my character to any of you; I didn’t feel like I needed to. But I decided to go along with it anyways because they wanted me to.
“But then, the night before the field trip, I invited Zecora over to where I was hiding; just to hang out.” A faint smile broke my face as my thoughts drifted back to that night. “And she brought some extras with her. I didn’t trust them at first, but she did, and that was enough for me to at least try. As the night went on, we all eventually became good friends, or I’d like to think we did at least.
“After being here for so long, I almost forgot what it was like to be able to talk and laugh with other people, and it got me thinking. If these strangers were willing to give me a second chance despite everything they’ve probably heard of me, then maybe I could try giving the rest of you a second chance, too.” I looked the mare in the eyes. “I watched over the foals on their field trip, not because I felt like I had to, but because I wanted to. I wanted to believe you ponies weren’t all as crazy as I thought.”
I raised my hands as far as the cuffs would allow. “Although, I probably shouldn’t have been too hopeful in hindsight,” I added.
“And that’s the truth?” Applejack asked after a pause.
“The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but,” I nodded.
Applejack nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer, and without a word she stood up from the chair and moved to leave. She opened the door and paused, looking over her shoulder at me.
“Ah’ll tell my friends you were tellin’ the truth, and Ah’ll see what Ah can do about you getting yer clothes back, too.” She hesitated, and the steely look returned in her eyes. “But after that, we’re even,” she continued, pointing a hoof at me. “You may be telling the truth now, but that doesn’t mean Ah trust you just yet. You’re still a low-down thief in my book. But while Ah have mah doubts, Ah think ya might be able to turn things around for yerself.” She hesitated. “Don’t make me regret sayin’ that,” she added.
I sighed and nodded, “I’ll try my best.”
She lingered for a moment, her eyes focused on something only she could see. She let out a breath and shook her head. “Thank you for keeping my sister safe,” she said quietly. I blinked, and the door closed behind Applejack before I had a chance to respond, leaving me alone to my thoughts.