“Mister Legis? My name’s Fruit Crunch.”
The colt paused, trying not to read anything into the fact that he’d gotten that sentence out without Lex reacting. In his fantasy, the older stallion had immediately been glad to see him, smiling and praising him as soon as he’d recognized him. But now that he was actually speaking to him, Lex was simply giving him a blank look, as if not sure how to react. I probably just surprised him, Fruit Crunch reassured himself. Any second now, he’s going to grin and say he remembers me.
But as the seconds dragged out, Lex’s silence became more pronounced, and Fruit Crunch found himself growing more and more nervous. Why isn’t he saying anything? He shifted his weight for a moment before realizing he was fidgeting and forced himself to stop, not wanting to look dumb in front of the pony who had saved everyone. Hopefully Lex hadn’t seen that; they were far enough away from the lights of the campfires that maybe he’d missed it in the gloom. “I, um…I was there when Silhouette attacked,” he started, not wanting to sound like he was bragging. “I was the colt who-”
“I know who you are,” interrupted Lex, his voice flat. “What are you doing out here?”
Fruit Crunch couldn’t help but grin, taking Lex’s recognition as a compliment. “Oh, well, I saw you run out this way and thought maybe there was something wrong. Because if there is, the leader of the Night Mare’s Knights is here to help!” He crouched slightly, making it clear that he was ready to quite literally leap into action at Lex’s say-so. Although there wasn’t any sort of visible enemy or emergency happening that he could see, he’d heard Lex mumbling something to himself as he’d approached him. He hadn’t been able to make out the words, but he just knew that if a big, powerful wizard like Lex was out here in the middle of the night talking out loud, then it had to mean that something major was happening!
But Lex only scowled in reply. “Nothing is wrong,” he snapped, eyes narrowing. “And I don’t require any assistance. Go back to the camp and go to sleep.”
“Aw, c’mon!” Despite Lex’s words, Fruit Crunch didn’t lose his excited grin, his imagination working overtime as he thought of all the awesome magical stuff that Lex might have been doing. “I bet I can do something useful!” Numerous stories and comic books filled his mind with all sorts of possibilities that he could help with, making him almost prance in his enthusiasm. “Like, like, if you’re going to cast a spell to change some animals into powerful guardian monsters, I could catch some for you! Or if you need to draw a magic circle on the ground to open up a mystic portal to another realm, you could direct me and I’ll do it for you! Or if you were going to use a drop of blood in order to summon the spirits of the dead, you could use mine instead! Or-” His eyes widened as another possibility occurred to him. “Oh wow! Were you communicating with the Night Mare herself?!” The thought dazzled him, and he felt his heartbeat quicken. “Because me and my friends are-”
But he didn’t get a chance to finish as Lex suddenly took a step closer, his head leaning down to put his face right in front of Fruit Crunch’s. “I’ve heard enough of your nonsense,” he growled, his voice overflowing with displeasure. “Be quiet this instant.”
Fruit Crunch recoiled in shock, his excitement falling away as his ears folded back so hard they almost touched his head. “I…I’m sorry,” he whimpered, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong. “I just wanted to help.”
“I don’t require help,” snorted Lex dismissively. “Least of all from a child.”
The way Lex said “child” hurt worse than anything Spit Polish had done to him, and Fruit Crunch felt his eyes starting to tear up. “B-but I stopped Silhouette…”
Lex’s lip curled, as though the memory angered him. “Your intervention should never have been necessary. That Silhouette was able to present as much of a threat as he did is a testament to my having failed to take the proper precautions, and nothing else.”
“So…so you’re not…proud of me?” It was all Fruit Crunch could do to get the words out, feeling as though he was trapped in a nightmare.
“Of course not!” Lex looked outraged by the prospect, glaring at Fruit Crunch as though he was insulted by the idea. “Children don’t belong on a battlefield! The fact that I couldn’t do anything while you and your friends fought on my behalf is a source of shame for me, not pride! The very idea that you’d think otherwise-”
Fruit Crunch couldn’t bear to hear anymore. His heart breaking, he turned and ran away from Lex as fast as he could, sobbing.
Lex frowned as Fruit Crunch lurched away from him, irritated beyond all measure. This is the last thing I need right now! He already had to deal with the mess that was his relationship with the girls, to say nothing of his upcoming meeting with the princesses; disciplining an unruly colt wasn’t a priority at the moment.
But the little brat had insisted on pushing the issue, refusing to leave after Lex had told him to go back to the camp. Instead, he’d started spouting those ridiculous ideas about how he could be of assistance, something which the events of the last few hours had left Lex with no patience for. Fine, he’d decided, I’ll rectify his misperceptions right now!
The way Fruit Crunch had cited how things had ended with Silhouette as justification for further involving himself in potentially dangerous scenarios was exactly what Lex had been afraid of. The stupid child actually thought that it was okay for him to place himself – and likely his friends as well – in danger again for no other reason than because they’d all turned out fine last time. Worse, he expected that Lex would actually encourage that sort of behavior! That was an attitude that needed to be firmly dispelled before he learned the hard way just how wrong it was.
Otherwise, Fruit Crunch might very well end up the same way that Cloudbank, Thermal Draft, and the others had.
Lex had fully intended on driving that point home later, once the more pressing issues had been dealt with, but Fruit Crunch’s insistence had given him little choice but to begin imparting it now. It was a bother, but at least it’d give him something else to focus on besides how much of a mess he’d likely made of things with the mares in his life. That and completing a task – even one this unimportant – would be a source of mild satisfaction in and of itself.
Except now the colt was fleeing before he’d been able to confirm that the point had been sufficiently driven home. With a sigh, Lex focused on Fruit Crunch, his horn glowing purple as a matching aura wrapped around the colt, lifting him up off the ground and carrying him back toward Lex. It was difficult – the child was heavy and kept thrashing impudently – but the distance was short, and Lex managed to suppress a grunt of effort as he plopped the earth colt on the ground in front of him. Fortunately, the fight seemed to go out of him when he touched down, crouching in place and facing the ground as he shuddered for some reason. “Now,” Lex began sternly, intent on making sure the child knew to run away from danger in the future, rather than toward it, “look at me.”
For a moment Fruit Crunch didn’t obey, and Lex was about to repeat his command when the boy finally looked up, and the abject misery written all over his face gave Lex pause. Tears were running down his face, and his body shook again with what Lex realized now were sobs, his ears still folded back. “I’m s-s-sorry!” he hiccupped. “I’m r-really s-sorry, Lex!” The outburst was accompanied by a fresh round of sobbing, Fruit Crunch burying his face in his forelegs.
The sudden change in the colt’s attitude was enough to leave Lex reeling, trying to figure out what was happening. He’d expected Fruit Crunch to be recalcitrant and surly at the suggestion that he’d done something wrong – after all, that was how he’d always reacted to criticism when he’d been young – and so the subdued attitude and even the sudden attempt to flee hadn’t been surprising. But this was something else again. “Stop crying!” he ordered, a little too quickly. “Stop it right now!”
“I c-can’t!” wailed Fruit Crunch.
For a moment, Lex was completely at a loss, just staring at the weeping foal. He briefly wondered if he was faking it, trying to elicit sympathy in order to escape a lecture, but the flood of tears coming from the colt's eyes didn’t seem like something that could be done on command. Which meant that in all likelihood, he was crying as a result of being rebuked.
The thought sent a spike of guilt through Lex, the emotion particularly sharp in the wake of the knowledge of how Sonata would react when she found out what had happened with Aria. Why does this keep happening?! raged Lex silently as he listened to Fruit Crunch’s pitiful cries. Why does every attempt I make to relate to somepony else always go wrong?!
But he didn’t have time to indulge in self-loathing as Fruit Crunch’s sobs slowly tapered off. “I’m really sorry, Lex,” he moaned again, rubbing his eyes. “I swear I didn’t mean to make you so mad.”
For a long moment Lex was afraid to speak, certain that he was only going to make things worse if he did. But he knew he had to, otherwise there was no way he’d ever figure out why this had happened. “What…” he began slowly, before pausing and trying again. “Why were you under the impression…” Another pause as he tried to phrase things correctly, “that I would be pleased that you fought Silhouette?”
A flash of confusion crossed Fruit Crunch’s face. “B-because I won,” he stuttered. “Because I protected everypony. I thought…I thought that’d you’d like me if I was brave like you are…”
It was almost a full minute before Lex spoke again. “Fruit Crunch,” he said slowly. “My prerogative…my purpose here is to safeguard everypony. To keep them away from danger. That includes you. If you’re in situation where you could get hurt, regardless of whether or not you actually do, that means that I’ve failed.”
He stopped again, trying to think of how to further explain his reasoning, but he didn’t have a chance as Fruit Crunch slowly stood up. “W-wait…” he said, voice wavering. “So…so the reason you’re so mad is because you were worried about me?”
“Yes.” How was that not obvious?
A shaky smile crossed Fruit Crunch’s face then, and he wiped a foreleg across his nose before he continued. “And…and you don’t hate me?”
“Of course I don’t!” Lex almost shouted the words, unable to help but become upset at the implication.
Fruit Crunch started to take a step forward, hesitating and leaving one foreleg raised as he swallowed. “So does…I mean, I know you said that you want to be the guy who protects everypony, and I get that. I do. But, besides that…do you think…” His eyes watered, and he bit his lip before he continued. “Was I…against Silhouette…did I do a good job…?”
Lex silently turned the question over, replaying the last few minutes over in his mind before answering. “I think that the way you conducted yourself was admirable,” he admitted.
That was all Fruit Crunch needed to hear, and he threw himself forward, wrapping his forelegs around Lex and hugging him as hard as he could.