Chapter eight: Green Sting, Black Rage.
Demonheart groaned softly and his eyes cracked open. It took him a moment to remember the events following his now weekly date to the Healing Waters spa and resort. His bandaged hind legs felt restricted as he moved them from under the covers. He’d been forced to take the bandages off while he had his treatment and Aloe had retied them perhaps a tiny bit too tight. It wasn’t that he minded so much but they were starting to pain him. Aloe was a physical therapist, not a nurse. He was in a spare bed in Fluttershy’s home. Acting more on sheer bravado, he’d asked if he could spend the rest of the day and, consequentially, the night at hers. She had quite readily accepted. The pair had made their way back to her cottage after a slightly amused look from Rarity.
They’d spent the night in relative silence, most of the talking it seems coming from Angel. The bunny had stopped bothering them after a particularly scathing admonishment from Demonheart after he threw a carrot at Fluttershy. Which was when she’d become aware of his interesting ability to not only understand every word said to him by an animal, but to respond in their language. She’d been fascinated to say the least.
But now? Now he was lying awake in the peaceful confines of Fluttershy’s cottage with gentle sunshine flowing into the room through the window. Due to spacial confines, the spare bed was set up in Fluttershy’s room. He took a deep breath and stretched, the bed creaking underneath him, then looked over to the peaceful form of Fluttershy. A gentle smile crawled across his face at her peacefully content face and relaxed form. As quietly as he could, he slid out of the bed and padded over to her. Her bed was directly in front of the window, so sunlight streamed in but never really touched her face. He brushed the pink mane out of her face tenderly before nuzzling her cheek. The affectionate gesture roused her and she stretched out like a cat, curling her spine and stretching out her legs, her wings following suit soon after before she yawned and cracked open her eyes.
“Mm? oh… is it morning already..?”
He nodded, suddenly shy.
“Y..Yes, it is…”
He smiled nervously.
“I um… I wanted t..to say goodbye before I left t…to go to Sweet Apple Acres… A..And to thank you f..for letting me stay.”
A demure smile flitted across the groggy mare’s features.
“Mmm, my pleasure… It was n..nice having s..somepony over…”
She sat up and hugged him gently. His eyes widened and he sat stunned for a moment before blushing and hugging her back.
From outside, a large form watched for a moment, before snorting and turning away.
~*~
It was late morning by the time Demon finally arrived at Sweet Apple Acres to find Rainbow Dash still working with Applejack practically standing over her with a club telling her to work. Demonheart blinked in surprise. For a moment before AJ saw him.
“Demon! Finally! Somepony who knows how to work.”
She looked at his perplexed expression, then back to Rainbow who was glaring sullenly at him, then back to Demon.
“Uh… Okay, am Ah missin’ something?”
Rainbow huffed and turned her back on the stallion. Demonheart hesitated.
“Uh… what is… She still doing here?”
AJ smiled.
“Well, Ah figured that a full day’s work is a full day’s work, and since Rainbow didn’t really do too much in the way of helpin’ and more in the nature of complainin’ She could help for the rest of the mornin’. Ain’t that much longer to go Rainbow then ya can go.”
Rainbow shrugged moodily and walked away. AJ frowned.
“Ah’m worried about her. She ain’t actin’ right.”
Demonheart felt a recurrence of the guilt that had plagued him since he won his race with Rainbow and he looked to the dirt.
“T..that… might have been my fault…”
He sighed as AJ looked at him.
“What? Coz ya won a race? Don’t be silly sugarcube. She’ll come round.”
~*~
Rainbow was in a foul mood.
She hated manual labour. She hated kicking these stupid trees. She hated being on the ground instead of in the air where she could be doing tricks. She hated the sunny weather. She hated the clouds in the sky taunting her, she hated the birds for the same reason and right now she was starting to hate apples.
But most of all she hated that cheating thief.
She didn’t know what he did, and she wasn’t sure how. Whether it was a potion or some charm put over him by a unicorn before the race or something, maybe even something from Zecora, but he shouldn’t have found it so easy to break out into a similar situation to the Rainboom state as she’d started calling it. It simply wasn’t possible. It had taken her years to perfect the Sonic Rainboom, and here this big oaf was not only achieving something that seemed similar, but defeating her in a race AND having the audacity to save her straight after!
“Stupid thieving, faking, cheating, feather brained, big nosed, fat headed-“
She stopped for a moment as she lashed out with a vicious kick to the trunk of a tree.
“Lead hooved, Self Righteous, plague feathered, flea bitten lice ridden-“
Another vicious kick. Her stream of insults stopped at the sound of a pony clearing their throat and she turned around, fixing the stallion before her in a fierce glare. Demonheart flinched.
“What do you want?”
He flinched at the venomous tone.
“I wanted… I wanted to say I’m sorry.”
Rainbow snorted.
“Yeah, right. Like I’m supposed to believe that!”
“It’s true!” He replied earnestly, “I really am sorry.”
He let his head hang, looking at the ground.
“I let my emotions get the better of me. I was frustrated because I wasn’t allowed to work even though I knew I could. It didn’t help that I really didn’t want to talk to anypony either. Then… then of course you came by a..and… well…”
He wriggled uncomfortably under Dash’s severe gaze.
“I let my frustration turn to anger and it got the better of me… I… I’m sorry… I m..meant you no harm… I promise…”
Rainbow, to her credit, tried to maintain her gaze, she really did. But against her will she found it softening, becoming more and more gentle till eventually she averted her eyes completely.
“Pff, yeah whatever. I get it.”
Demonheart looked so downtrodden at the response it tugged at Rainbow’s heart.
Aw jeez…
She sighed.
“We’re cool. I wasn’t very nice anyway.”
He looked up and smiled a heartfelt genuine smile.
“Thank you…”
~*~
Big Mac was quiet.
To be honest that wasn’t much of a change. He rarely spoke as it was and almost never more than a few words at a time. He was a deep thinker, but not much of a talker. Despite this he never really appeared aloof to anypony, although that may have been because everypony knew everypony in Ponyville.
Either way.
He was very quiet. He was also very still. The barn around him was also quiet bar from the occasional creak as the wind made the barn shift a little. It was quite windy that day, but the weather pegasi had assured Ponyville there was no need to panic, it would just be wind.
He was waiting.
~*~
“I’ll take that Miss Applejack…”
Demonheart was already hitching himself to the cart by the time he said he’d take it, so AJ didn’t really have much of a choice but to let him. In no rush, since they were on the last part of the orchard that needed to be done, Demonheart plodded through the trees slowly, panting softly in exertion. He was glad that the day was clear and his work was almost finished. He was hoping to finish up that day. After all, the less time he spent here, the more resolve he’d keep in leaving.
He’d had his mind set on leaving since he started working off his debt, but now he wasn’t so sure. He was second guessing his thoughts, ideas and decisions more and more the longer he stayed at Ponyville. The new revelation that he’d developed a crush on one of the inhabitants of said town complicated things further. He’d gotten more and more focused on his thoughts the longer the day went on, stuck on the ponderous decision he was faced with.
The idea that he had a crush on somepony simultaneously concerned and excited him. He felt like a little foal in a candy shop with a pouch full of bits sometimes, and others he felt like the world was falling apart around him. It was certainly a new situation for the stallion. Sensations he wasn’t used to plagued him and he frequently found himself waking in a cold sweat from nightmares he’d rather not talk about. He wasn’t sure whether he should dance in the fields or sit in a dark corner and cry his eyes out. In short, he was confused.
A shadow fell over him and he looked up at the sky, noting with a faint sliver of curiosity that the weather pegasi were preparing the next day’s storm. All the more incentive to finish up that day. He’d gotten used to being clean and quite enjoyed the freshness of it all, and having muddy hooves didn’t really appeal to him. The current predicament safely stored away in his mind, He trundled into the barn with his payload.
The door abruptly swung shut behind him and he started in shock, unable to turn around due to the restrictions of the cart. Hurriedly unhitching himself, he spun around and peeked around the cart. The darkened barn made it difficult to see anything, but he recognized the voice of Big Mac. Something was off, wrong about it. Something Demon couldn’t quite place.
“Where were ya this mornin’?”
A slight frown of confusion creased Demonheart’s brow.
“I… I guess I was with Miss Fluttershy… She let me stay at her home for the night after the spa, Miss Applejack said it was okay…”
“Applejack said that did she?”
Demonheart swallowed heavily. He didn’t like where this was going.
“Um… Miss Applejack said I could see her s..so long as it didn’t interfere with my work… and I did have the day off yesterday…”
“Ah know. AJ got Rainbow in to help. Ain’t never heard such a racket.”
The dark silhouette like shape that made up Big Macintosh was barely moving as it spoke and Demonheart was getting more and more nervous. He didn’t like the dark. He wasn’t afraid of it, but he disliked the dark for more… personal reasons.
“Ya like her dontcha?”
Demonheart started and looked back to the silhouette, barely realising he’d zoned out.
“E..Excuse me?”
The shape lurched forward.
“Ah said, ya like her. Shy.”
Demonheart gulped and nodded.
“I… I guess… I mean, she’s n..nice, kind.. quiet.. G..gentle..”
The shape continued moving forward and Demonheart began backing away.
“T.. Is there something wrong..?”
Big Mac growled and stomped heavily down on the long trailing tail of Demonheart’s, earning a yelp of pain and surprise.
“Ah’ll say. Fluttershy ain’t some regular mare.”
The strong forehead of Big Mac found Demonheart’s none too gently and Demonheart once again yelped, again in pain, although with shock mixed through it. He hadn’t seen Big Mac like this before.
“I… I don’t…”
“Shut. Up.”
The black Pegasus fell silent, trembling under the gaze of Big Mac.
“Ya ain’t gettin’ it. Ah told ya to stay away from her. Ya shoulda known better than to run cryin’ to AJ. She ain’t got the right to go underminin’ mah authority. Now are ya gun’ leave Shy alone or what?”
Demonheart cringed away from the big workhorse and whimpered. On one hoof, Demonheart hated confrontations and just wanted this to be over. He wanted to be out of the dark, away from the menacing glare of the stallion before him and well, well away from the town that had caused him so much strife. On the other hoof however, his heart was screaming at the farmer in pure rebellious rage. He didn’t want to give in because he knew that’d mean he’d never see the beautiful Fluttersh ever again. The choice apparently, was made for him when Big Mac grunted.
“Ah’ll take ya silence as a ‘no’. Ain’t gunna be thinkin’ that way fer long.”
Demonheart opened his mouth to speak but a powerful blow to his midsection cured him of that thought in an instant. Whilst his body screamed at him in pain and he gasped, trying to get his breath back, his mind kept telling him that Big Mac wasn’t putting much behind the strike, otherwise he could have seriously injured him. He felt a shove and he was on the floor. A series of wracking coughs hit him and a splatter of blood made its presence known to him within his muzzle and his eyes went wide. He felt the full weight of Big Macintosh pressing him into the ground.
“Now what were ya gunna say there thief?”
~*~
Applejack wasn’t sure what made her go and check up on Demonheart. Perhaps it was that he’d taken longer than was strictly necessary to drop off his load of apples, maybe it was just that she was worried he was pushing himself too hard on his hind hooves. Whatever the case, she found herself wandering towards the barn with curiosity burning in her chest.
Hope he ain’t been hidin’ anythin’ from me. He best not be hurt or nothin’.
The barn came into view and she paused for a moment and smiled.
Ah’m so glad she’s still standin’. Celestia knows she’s old.
She watched the barn for a while with a smile on her face. A smile that faded as she heard a Celestia almighty roar and a cry of fear. Her eyes went wide.
That was Big Mac’s voice! What in tarnation could scare him though!?
She raced forward towards the barn, which was now full of noises it seemed. Thuds, the sound of heavy things hitting other heavy things and just as she reached the door a splatter of apple pulp and juice sprayed out from the crack between the doors, splattering her with its sweetness. She spluttered for a moment before trying to open the door.
Locked!? Oh for the love of…
Frantically she shoved at the door, then pulled, then shoved again. The rattling of the lock must have caught the attention of whatever was inside because the barn went quiet. A quiet moan of pain issued from the slits, cracks and occasional hole in the wood of the barn and Applejack panicked, starting to shake the door frantically. Eventually she gave up all pretenses of subtlety or opening it without destroying the door and simply turned and bucked it down. Just a she did so there was an explosion of wood beside her to her left and a blur shot past her, a streak of red and an animalistic growl later and it was gone. Ignoring the thing that just left, she rushed over to her brother, lying prone on the ground. His lip was busted up, he had several cuts on his head and a few longer ones across his torso and, strangely enough, bite marks on several areas of his neck and legs, his forehooves peppered with small wounds, circular in nature and evenly spaced. He was bleeding quite profusely.
“Big Mac? Big Mac!”
Applejack, not quite knowing what else to do, started yelling out for Applebloom. It was Rainbow Dash that came to her call and, subsequently, left in a hurry heading directly to the Ponyville hospice to fetch emergency services.
Demonheart was nowhere to be found.