//------------------------------// // Discoveries // Story: Stolen Fire // by Tzelael //------------------------------// Stolen Fire by Tzelael Chapter 2: Discoveries __________________________________________________________________________ “Thanks for helpin’ me with the apple cart, Big Mac. I didn’ expect to run out of apples so soon at the stand!” “Eeyup.” Applejack and her brother trotted down to the Ponyville marketplace. Each of them hauled a cart of apples stacked just above the rim. While they trotted across town, the two couldn’t help but smile a little at how well their business was doing today as they approached. An enormous crowd seemed to be gathered around the middle of the road. The ponies in the crowd milled about aimlessly and never really stopping at any of the shops. Applejack tilted her head at what she saw. “Guess I oughta set up shop. Thanks again for the help, Big Mac! I’ll see ya back at the farm!” “Eeyup.” After Big Macintosh left his cart in front of the stand, Applejack set up hers on the other side. She took a deep breath with her eyes closed, smiling as she turned back to walk into the stand. “I get the feelin’ that today is gonna be a great– What in the hay happened here?!” Her jaw dropped instantly as she saw the side of her stall, the support beam bent and very nearly broken. “Now ain’ that the weirdest thing. Why didn’t I catch that earlier? Or Big Mac? Horseapples, who cares?! Okay, AJ. Just calm down. I’m sure someone here can explain.” She trot down to where the ponies were pacing in a confused fashion. “Maybe they’re just as lost as I am, but I suppose it couldn’t hurt to ask them.” At the center of the group, she saw a pair of town guards, and figured they might be the best ponies to ask. “Howdy there, sirs.” Applejack tipped her hat to the guards as she drew nearer. “Listen, my stall got damaged by somethin’. I was hopin’ ya could tell me what it was.” The first guard cleared his throat, tilting his head to signal the other guard to handle the crowd. “To be honest, Applejack,” the guard muttered, “I don’t really know what happened. We thought we were just going to calm everypony down after an argument of prices, but then...” He took a deep breath and tried to reassure himself that what he saw did, in fact happen. “...Then I saw a pony get launched twelve feet into the air from the middle of the crowd into your stall.” “Launched? Like, he was kicked or somethin’?” “It was more like he was swatted into it." "Oh." Applejack's eyes widened at the realization that such damage was done with minimal effort. "We went in to investigate, and in the middle of the crowd we saw this stallion. The last thing I remember clearly about him was that he was big, certainly looked strong enough to kick somepony like that as far as he did, and... I didn’t like his looks. Something about him just felt... Wrong, you know? It's just a gut feeling, but you learn to trust that in this line of work.” “Uh-huh. You said you didn’ remember anything clearly after that?” “No. The next few minutes from there were kind of a blur. After that, I saw Fluttershy walking off with him, an–” “Fluttershy?! Around a pony like that?! And you just let her go?!” “We had to handle the situation here. Everypony doesn't really know what happened here either, like they've got amnesia or something. We just got through transporting the pony that got slammed into your stall to the hospital. We’re trying to calm them down, but they all feel like something is off.” Realizing that her friend may very well be in danger from a pony that was not only rather strong, but also apparently aggressive, Applejack turned toward Fluttershy’s cottage. “Thanks for your help, officer, but I think I should head to Fluttershy’s now.” She started galloping down the road, shouting back at the guard. “Oh! And if you see Big Mac, tell him where I went and to keep an eye on the shop! He can’ be too far from here!” **** Tearing through the roads, Applejack’s sense of urgency overtook her. There was some sort of monster of a pony on the loose who was not only strong, but also had some kind of weird power to mess around with ponies’ thoughts and memories. “Who knows what that thing could’ve done to Fluttershy by now?!” Every worst case scenario circled through her head. “The thing mighta turned Fluttershy into some kind of destructive rage-monster, or it coulda forced her to eat her animals, or it mighta killed her!” Each new thought of what this creature could have done to her friend quickened her pace, though before she knew it, she was in front of the cottage. Applejack took a close look at the cottage. The house itself looked fine, and nothing seemed broken. She didn’t hear any screams yet, though what caught her eye were the animals. All of them were outside, and none were particularly close to the house, some even standing on the fence to avoid it. She gulped, knowing that if the animals weren’t going near her cottage, something was definitely wrong. She gingerly approached Fluttershy’s home, and as soon as she got past the fence, she felt a chill run all over her body, though she quickly shook it off. Trotting as quietly as she could, she finally reached the door. She knocked on it gently, to avoid attracting the attention of the stallion-creature that was almost definitely inside. “Fluttershy?” she called through the door. She attempted to sound calm, collected and casual, but her voice was tinged with fear for her friend. She knocked on the door again, hoping she just hadn’t heard it the first time. “Ya in there, sugarcube?” No response. Applejack pressed her ear against the door. She heard the muffled voice of her friend, followed quickly by the most unearthly growl she had ever heard. She was unable to really discern what it was, but since it was growling and all the animals were outside, she was able to hazard a guess at what it belonged to. “No time to lose.” Applejack turned quickly, rearing her legs and kicking them through the door. The buck swung the door open, broke the lock and sent chips of wood flying off the door, which slammed into the nearest wall with a loud crash. Pivoting forward, she rushed in to rescue her friend. “Fluttershy, are ya alri–” Applejack stopped mid-sentence and creased her brow in wonder at the odd and entirely unexpected scene before her. Fluttershy stood in place, one of her hooves pointed at a set of charts with crudely-drawn pictures of animals, labels identifying each one, including a rabbit, a dog, a tortoise, an owl, a cat and an alligator. She looked in shock at her friend and her now broken door. In front of her was a strange stallion with grayed fur, a white mane and a cutie mark whose meaning Applejack couldn’t begin to understand: He turned and stared at Applejack with his mismatched eyes. Applejack shuddered slightly when it made eye contact, but shook it off. She directed her attention at her pegasus friend. “Fluttershy, what’re ya doin’?” she asked in total bewilderment. Fluttershy, equally confused, tried to explain the situation, though she tripped over her words when she tried to speak. “I, uh... Well, I was just... See, he’s, well...” “Slow down there, partner. Some ponies at the marketplace told me that there was some kind of crazy super-pony who slammed somepony else into my stand. Why don’ we start from there?” “Well, okay. It started with my trip to the market...” **** “So ya took him in and now you’re–?” “Trying to teach him how to speak. I think it would help him avoid misunderstandings later on.” “Right, since I imagine growlin’ at folks often sends the wrong message.” “Well, actually, I kind of took him in for another reason...” Fluttershy then coated her voice in an extra layer of honey for her next sentence, everything she said almost sounding like baby talk. “I wanted to get a good look at his body. He seems to have all kinds of weird bumps and scars, and since the doctor wouldn’t look at him, I figured I should, though I’m going to wait until he’s asleep to do it.” She wore a big smile the whole time she talked. Applejack stared back with a blank, irritated expression on her face. “Alright, but do ya really have to talk like that?” “Well, while he doesn’t understand what I’m saying, he can follow the tone of my voice. If I sound cheerful, he won’t suspect me of planning to invade his privacy. It’s for his own good, anyway. I think he might be hurt really badly, and, well, animals of any kind can be stubborn when someone tries to look at their wounds.” “Yeah, I know, but–” Applejack stopped herself, then sighed with frustration. “Nevermind.” “Look, just promise me one thing, okay?” “Alright, shoot.” “Promise me you won’t tell anypony. Especially not Pinkie Pie. You know how she is when there’s somepony new, and ponies seem to act really weird around him. I don’t know why, but they get really mean and violent when he’s close.” “Yeah, and ya don’ want Pinkie throwing a party where a whole crowd of ponies might get him hurt, though I heard somethin’ else weird that happens when he’s nearby. Somethin’ happens to ponies’ memories of what happened when he leaves.” “What?” “Ponies that were near him can’t really remember what they did when he was close, why they did it, or even what he was doin'. They just remember that he was there and something was just wrong. They can't explain it, like it was somethin’ instinctive. I think even your animals feel it right now.” “I see.” Fluttershy looked outside, then back at Applejack. “So... Do you promise to keep this a secret?” Applejack sighed again, thinking about it. After her pause, she replied. “I can promise not to talk about it. But it ain’ gonna stay secret for long, ‘Shy. Ponies are already talkin’ 'bout him, and it won’ be long ‘til others start gettin’ curious.” Fluttershy listened to what Applejack had to say, pacing back and forth. When she stopped, she gazed at the stranger. This whole time, he just sat there and watched his host fret. Fluttershy took a deep breath and looked back at Applejack. “You’re right... What do you think I should do?” “Get him healthy and MAYBE try to teach him to talk, but don’ keep him around here longer than ya have to. Folks’ll get too curious, and if they act the way they did around him before, he could get hurt, or worse.” “Okay. Thanks, Applejack.” “Not a problem, sugarcube. If somethin’ goes wrong, ya’ll give me a holler and I’ll come a-runnin’, ya hear?” “Okay...” “Alright, I’d better head back to the stand. Not sure how much longer Big Mac can hold the fort there.” Applejack snickered and tipped her hat, then looked at the door. “Oh, and I guess I owe ya a new lock. I’ll be back later, ‘Shy. Take care!” She closed the door behind her as best as she could as she left. Fluttershy took a deep breath, and stepped in front of the chart. She pointed at the crayon-drawn cat. “This is a cat.” She tapped the picture with her hoof. “Ca-a-at.” “Grraaghk.” “Caaat.” “Grraaght.” “You’re getting closer.” **** Night fell on what had been a long day. Fluttershy's attempts to teach the stranger speech had been slow-going. He had didn't growl as much, though so far had only been able to correctly pronounce– or rather, imitate– vowel sounds. Dinner came afterward, though Fluttershy had to feed all the animals outside first, since they still refused to come in. Afterwards, she prepared a meal for herself and her guest. Nothing too complicated, simply sliced apples with flatbread. The stranger seemed content to only eat one slice and took only the smallest piece of bread. "Guess you're not that hungry," she said as the stranger put it down after one bite. He didn't seem disgusted by it. In fact, he actually seemed completely satisfied. She didn't eat much herself, as she only went through one piece of bread and a few apple slices. "I guess it's hard to eat when there's a lot on your mind." The stranger tilted her head, a soft "Mmm?" rumbling in his throat. As the night grew deeper, they gradually became too tired to stay sitting upright. Fluttershy stretched her legs and yawned. Her guest sat at the table, wobbling back and forth like tall grass in wind. Occasionally, he would straighten up and blink two or three times, trying to force his eyes open to stay awake. "I think now's a good time to head for bed." His head jerked towards Fluttershy. She gave him the gentlest smile she could as she slowly stood back up and inched toward the staircase. "Come on... It'll be okay." Taking each step in the staircase slowly, she bent her head down and waved her hoof toward him. The stranger apprehensively complied, moving just about as slowly as Fluttershy did up the staircase. He nearly tripped on the third stair, his right foreleg jerking to the side and throwing him off balance. The yellow pegasus rushed down and held her hoof out to him. He glanced at it for a moment, then reached his foreleg out to take her hoof. With a smile on her face, Fluttershy pulled him up to his feet, led him up the stairs to the bedroom and opened the door for him. The stranger approached the bed and prodded it with one hoof. The mattress sunk under his hoof. He ran his foreleg down the bed, interested in the soft blankets draped over it. He looked back at Fluttershy, tilted his head in a gesture toward the bed while his left foreleg twitched slightly. Fluttershy simply nodded. The stranger crawled on top of it and curled up into himself. Fluttershy pulled a chair out from the corner of the room and gently set it next to the bed, near the stallion's muzzle. She waited, watching him sleep for about half an hour, then decided to get a better look at his disfigurements and see if there was anything that could be done to help. She gently reached for one of the seams dividing one color of fur from the others, pulling it back with all the delicate precision one would handle a stack of glass wine flutes with. She faltered for just a moment upon hearing the sleeping stallion groan, his right foreleg twitching slightly. She jumped in place for a second, regaining her composure after taking several deep and quiet breaths. “Calm down, Fluttershy. He’s just dreaming.” She pulled the fur back once more, revealing both the gray skin she saw before and dark silk threads lined up beside each other along a seam. She winced when she got a better look at the threads, realizing that these stitches were crusty with dried blood. Driven to determine whether this was true of the rest of the seams, she searched through each of them, finding the same bloodstained stitches in each dividing point between different coats of fur. “Poor thing,” she whispered, fixed on the last set of stitches she found, woven around the top of his head. She absent-mindedly ran her hoof over them. She had ultimately aimed to stroke his mane, however, she unintentionally woke the stranger from his sleep with a start. As he rose, he bellowed a howl that nearly caused Fluttershy’s bones to jump right out of her body, though she quickly composed herself after she saw the look in his eyes. She saw beads of water in his eyes, though never actually running down his face as tears. She slowly reached her hoof over to him, hushing him and stroking his mane. “Shhh... It was only a dream,” she reassured him. The stranger wheezed deeply as he leaned back against her, a mournful groan in the back of every breath. Fluttershy cradled his head in her hooves She rocked him back and forth, trying to soothe his frightened shivers. “Hush... it’s okay, I’m here. Nothing’s going to hurt you.” She leaned her head down and nuzzled up against the stallion. His massive, quaking form slowly steadied at her touch. He drifted back to sleep and remained absolutely silent as he curled up in Fluttershy’s hooves. She smiled down at him, though exhaustion made her head and body heavier and caused her to slump. While her eyes were weighed down, they remained open long enough to catch a glimpse of the full moon before they closed and sent her off to sleep.