//------------------------------//
// Dark Thoughts. 
// Story: Equestrian Eeveelution. 
// by Symphonicdysonince 
//------------------------------//

I kept running, my paws thudding against the hard packed earth. After an hour of solid running, I was starting to breathe heavily. But I wouldn't stop, not until I got back to Ponyville. I tried to focus on the burn in my legs to keep my mind off of what I had done.

I shouldn't have bothered.

"You should've told someone you were leaving."

Rainbow'll know where I am. I glanced at a road marker as I passed it by. According to it, I'll be running passed Chestnutville in about another two hours, which I remembered being roughly a day's walk from Ponyville.

"Yes, but she won't know why. What if she's so worried about you that she can't do her rainboom for the wedding?"

I panted out a snort. They won't hold it for another couple of days. Not until they finish trying to find out if there are any other "mana bombs" still in the city. If Rainbow does worry, she'll just fly out to find me. I frowned, staring down at the road. I'll just tell her I'm going to let the others know that she'll be longer.

"How? You can't talk to ponies."

I don't think she'll care. I sniffed. She'll just be glad someone's thinking about that. She wouldn't care about me.

"Now, don't say that. Rainbow cares about you. Plenty of people care about you."

That just makes my fuck up worse. I... I could've seriously hurt Zann and Lulu and the foals. I didn't know if they were far enough away before I... I stumbled over a dip in the road.

"You should slow down or stop for a rest. You've been going pretty hard for a while now..."

I'll rest when I get there. I stubbornly kept running. 

"You're going to seriously hurt yourself like this, Leo. You're too..."

"Too what?" I started speaking out loud, gasping my words out around my panting. "Too stupid? Too careless? Too reckless?"

"Too important. You're more important than you know."

"HA!" I barked. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on it! I'm not important. I'm just... not. I just do what I'm told, like the pathetic, worthless pet that I am." I sniffed. "I can't even do that right..."

"Leo, stop this! You know that you're better than that!"

"If I was," I sadness turned to anger, "I wouldn't have blown a hole in the Princesses front fucking YARD!" I tried to take a sharp corner at speed, and tripped. I rolled off the road and down the steep drop the road was avoiding. I ended up on my back in a briar bush, its thorns digging into my skin through my fur. I tried to move my legs to wiggle my way out, but the traitorous things refused to move.

So I lay there, catching my breath, my weight pushing me further into the bush. "Maybe I should find the thickest part of this crap around Ponyville, and move into it." I wheezed. "It's better than what I deserve."

"Oh, Leo... Do you really think so lowly of yourself? You... You should be focusing on the good that you've done."

"Like what?"

"Like being the proud mother of three eggs that will hatch into adorable little mini Eevees. Like being the only creature Rainbow willingly confides in. Like being able to introduce a taste of your old world to this one."

"Eggs that won't hatch, she confides in me because of our soul bond, and I brought over a treat that I'm sure somepony's already thought of." I groaned.

"Oh sure, ignore the lining for the clouds..."

"Murderers like me don't deserve silver linings," I sniffed, "just silver bullets."

"Havoc damn it! You have to know that the others killed other changelings during that fight, right?"

"Yeah, by accident." I felt more tears start to well up in my eyes. "I went out of my way to kill those poor changelings. I... I took pleasure in killing them! I-I'm not a murderer..." I started to cry. "I'm a monster."

"NO YOU'RE NOT!!" I was shocked into silence. "You're not anything like that, trust me. You just... found a terrifying new ability that the companies back on earth would never risk showing to their target audience. I'm sure if you talked to Eros, she'd tell you all about those types of moves, and how to control them.

"Now, there's a pony coming, you're going to let him take you to the local pound, and then they're going to take you home. No more running for today, okay?"

I sniffed. "... 'Kay..." I heard the pony nearby, and started wiggling to get out of the bush. The noise just made it easier for the unicorn stallion to find me.

"Whoa, there, lil' fella." He soothed. "It's okay, you're okay. I'm jus' gonna pull ya out of there, so ya jus' stay still for me, okay?" I sighed, and stopped struggling. He quickly untangled me from the thorns and floated me up at eye level. "Cute lil' feller, ain't ya? Wonder what kind of dog ya are. Hmm?" He leaned in after spotting my collar, using the light from his horn to read the tag. "Ponyville, eh? Yer a long way from home, ain't ya? C'mon," He cushioned me in his magic and carried me towards the town, "I know jus' the ponies ta help ya get home to yer Rainbow Dash."



[Vince]

I finally returned to our suite, the guard closing the door behind me. I looked around the main room, frowning at the unlit candles. "Leo? You in here?"

"She's not here." I heard Conner croak out from where we left him. I made my way through the suite to Conner's resting place. "She left a note, said she was going to look at the crater?"

I hopped up beside the Sylveon. "Hey, good to see you're awake. How ya feeling?"

"Sore." He chuckled. "Which contrasts nicely with the overwhelming euphoric bliss I felt when I evolved."

I lay down and cracked out a yawn. "Learn any new moves?"

"Yeah. Draining Kiss, Sweet Kiss, Disarming voice and Fairy Wind." One of Conner's ribbons rose up and placed itself on my muzzle. "Please, Vince, I'm still tired from my evolution. I'll share more once the rest of the pack get here. Where are they, anyways?"

"They're still cooing over Luke's kid. He hatched sometime shortly after the invasion." I pawed at the ribbon. "Is... Is this flesh?!"

Conner tilted his head at me. "... Yes? Why wouldn't they be?"

"Dude," I shivered, "that's freaky."

Conner shrugged with a sigh. "It's what it is. Now, What's this about a crater?"

"Oh, well..." I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. "So, there was a large explosion near the university."

"I think I remember that. Collapsed the tunnel I was in on me."

I nodded. "Yeah, turns out that that was a mana bomb. Or, that's what the Princess thinks it was. It made a huge crater outside Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Lulu and Zann told us that they were caught in the edge of it and that's what knocked them out."

Conner frowned. "Wasn't Leo with them?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "We think that she was near the center of the blast, but we don't know for sure. She's pretty shook up about it."

Conner lay back in thought. "Why'd they try bombing the university, though? I mean, I get why they didn't blow up the palace, that's where their Queen was, after all. But why not go after the barracks?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe they wanted to get rid of the Circle so that they couldn't banish their summons? Luke told us about some crazy summon that he had to fight."

"Really?" Conner shifted to get into a better position. "What was it?"

"Dunno, some sort of bipedal electric cat."

"Heh," Conner half chuckled, half coughed, "he should've used dig or bone rush on it."

"I think he said it had a held item?" I tried to remember. "I don't know what, I was too busy cooing over his kid."

"How'd Lulu take it?" Conner asked. "I mean, ours haven't hatched yet..."

We were interrupted by the return of the rest of the Pack and our mares. I settled back as I let the others gush to, at, and over Conner's new form and about Luke's kid. I paused to look over the Pack.

Geez, Leo and I are the only ones unevolved. I frowned in thought. I should've evolved by now, what with all the powdered gems I've eaten.

"You do know that Applejack's stopped feeding you the charged topaz, right?"

I've been making my own! I smiled proudly. Still, what's taking it so long?

"Hey, guys?" Rainbow called out over the din. "Anyone seen Leo? She's not here."

"You do remember you have a Soul Bond, right?" Twilight snarked.

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded, "but I don't like using it if I don't have to." Sighing, she closed her eyes and focused. "Huh. She's just past Chestnutville, moving toward Ponyville."

Twilight did a double take. "Wait, seriously? Why would she run off like that?"

"Eh." Rainbow shrugged. "She's probably going to let the weather team know that I'm going to be longer up here."

"How would she be able to do that?"

"She's a smart Eevee, she'd probably point at the calendar or something." Rainbow settled into her bed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she decides to stay in Ponyville. I mean, she was pretty close to the mana bomb when it went off. She'll need some time to calm down from that."

I joined the evolved Eevee cuddle pile to try to sleep, but I couldn't help wondering. It's not like Leo to run off like that.

Right?