//------------------------------// // Invitations // Story: A Bleeding Heart, Painful Past // by Redwolf15 //------------------------------// Invitations I woke up in a forest, but it wasn't the Everfree. I don't need to look around and notice that the trees are different, that the scents have changed, or that it I am now under a tree instead of in one. None of those facts are how I knew that I wasn't in the Everfree any more, I knew because I just did. Don't ask me how that works, it's just that feeling you get when you know something is different. Well, saying I was no longer in the Everfree any more wasn't precise, I was still there, still asleep in that tree. But now I'm somewhere else, I'm in our world. The world Fenrir and I built, the world we built in our mind. It is a vast world of green, creatures run wild, hunting, scavenging, caring, doing whatever they may do without humans interfering. In our world there is no such thing as human, only animals. Except me. I stand and dust myself off, I come here time to time on my own free will, but this time he summoned me. And if he summoned me here, he definitely has something on his mind. Not too surprised, this day has had all kinds of surprises. I walk, it doesn't matter which way I go, either way, we'll run into each other sooner or later. I follow the sound of laughter, laughter of a young child. I stop at a tree line where a house is built in a clearing. In front of the house is a small boy playing with his father. They're running around, laughing and chasing each other, not a care in the world. A woman with skin as white as snow sits on the porch, watching them as they have fun. And she smiles. I watch a while longer, a small smile comes to my face, I and see the innocence in the smile of the young boy. A shadow comes beside me. I turn to the the cause of the shadow, and beside me stands a great wolf. He's no giant, but he was a little bigger than a dire wolf, and even though dire wolves died off thousands of years ago, they grew big. I turn back to the house and family of three. But it was gone, no trace of there ever being anything distinctly human, now there was only a clearing. "You need to be careful." He says. "I don't trust them." "I'm not surprised that you wouldn't. But it's fine Fen, these people aren't like that, they're different." "Different? HA! They aren't different. They're the same as any other, ready to stab you in the back the moment you give them everything. And what of that Twilight girl, do you really feel that way? Or have you forgotten?" I'm silent for what seems like the longest time. "Do not think that one day has wiped away the pain of three years. I'm not going into that again. And I hope that bitch is rotting in hell now." "So why do you trust them?" "Because this is a new beginning for us. For five whole years it has been nothing but running, hiding, hunting, and killing. But look where we are, we're not there any more, we've been given a second chance, we can pick up where we left off, we don't have to run any more. I'm not saying that I'm going to put all my faith and trust in these girls, but I'm going to do my best to move on." "... You really think that we can trust them? That we can move on?" "Trust them, maybe. Move on, yes, I believe that we can." Fenrir sighs and lays down. "Alright, I'm in. Besides, in one day we were able to reach the top of the food chain, and you are right, this forest does seem nice." I sit down and lay against him, my hand brushes through his fur. "That's a good boy." We sit there for a while, listening to to birds, feeling the wind and sun, taking appreciation in our world, our paradise. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'd like to wake up now." "There's one more thing." I face him, and he actually had a look of concern. "How did we get here? Why were we sent?" "I don't know. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't care. Maybe someone finally heard our tears." "Maybe..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I smell something, something good. I open my eyes, in the Everfree again, in the same tree I fell asleep in. I see a small white rabbit underneath. Well, others saw it as a rabbit, I saw it as breakfast. I quietly stand up and crouch on the branch I was sleeping on, waiting for it to move right under me. I jump down and land in front the little guy. There are two things I love about a good hunt, the second best thing is the fear in the prey's eyes as it realizes it's been hunted. Which is exactly what I see in the rabbit, fear. It turns around and bolts away from danger. I run after it. The first best thing about a hunt? The chase. The rabbit is fast, but not fast enough. I have fun toying with it. The moment it looks like I'm about to grab him, something 'trips' me and I lose my footing, giving him the false sense of safety. We run and run, little bastard, I've given him less credit deserved for him, faster than I expected. But I'm still faster. We come to a small cottage near the forest, he runs around back with me in hot pursuit, I'm loving every second of this. I come to a skidding halt as I'm about to run into a familiar pink haired woman with yellow wings. "Hey Fluttershy," I lightly pant putting on a friendly smile. "Have you seen a little white rabbit ru-" Before I got to finish my question is see the furball hiding behind Fluttershy for safety. And somehow giving me dirty looks. Was it possible for a rabbit to do that? "Oh, hello Riff." She greets in her timid way and picks up the rabbit. She doesn't look at me in the eyes though. "I'm sorry, did Angel bother you?" "Uh... no no, not at all, I just scared the little guy is all." 'Bullshit' "So is this where you live?" I ask here looking around. She's wering the same Yellow sweater and long green skirt from the other day. "There sure are a lot of animals around. Are they all yours?" I ask looking around. There were all kinds of animals around, she could open up a petting zoo. "Not all of them, most are friends from the forest that I look after. But others stay with me, including Angel." "Wow, there sure are a lot..." She's still doesn't look comfortable around me. Like she's scared. It's evident that she likes animals, which probably didn't look good for me when I killed those lot the other day. "Listen, I really am sorry if the things I did yesterday frightened you. But for the past five years it has been nothing but running and fighting for me, each day I had to kill to survive, and the last three of those five has been the worst. Those were the years that I went through a lot of pain and suffering." She's silent for a while. "What kind of pain?" "The kind that doesn't heal. I was excluded from society, for being a monster, from the rest of the were-wolves for having... different backgrounds, hunted to control or copy me." I say in a melancholy tone that carries every burden of truth. There's a gloomy silence for a while. "I was laughing stock in flight school." "'Scuse me?" I turn to her to see our eyes meet for the first time. "Mm-hm. All the other kids laughed and made fun of me because I was the only one who was afraid to fly. They all laughed and made fun of me, making me unsure and insignificant. But it was thanks to my friends that I was able to get past it. Especially Rainbow Dash, she was the only one to stand up for me, it's also thanks to her that I was able to find my place helping animals." She gives me a friendly smile. "You know, I have a similar story, but without the happy ending... " "Do you think you can tell me what happened?" She asks. "I don't know, it's pretty terrible." "Please, I'd like to help." "Okay Fluttershy," I give in. "But still down and cuddle that bunny, 'cause this isn't going to be easy to sit through." He doesn't say anything, but I can tell Fenrir is pissed with me now. I sit in the grass and wait for Fluttershy to do the same. "I suppose it starts out with me trying to find two very imporatant people..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "... And so, I gave up on everything. I no longer trusted anyone, I couldn't my reason to fight or to live anymore, all I could do was run and cut myself off from the world." She's in tears when by the time I've finished the story. The bunny is trying to comfort her the best he can. But I think he doesn't know he needs the comforting more, me, or her. She sniffs back a tear before speaking, "How- How could she do that? After all that time... And she... she... " She couldn't finish, she just kept weeping. I move closer and put my arms around her to comfort her a litttle. "Listen," I say softly. "You have to promise me to never tell anyone else." She pulls away and looks up at me, tears stream down her face. "But -" "No!" I cut her off before she can object. "I hate my past! So that's where I'm leaving it, in the past. I'm not bringing it with me here in the present, or tomorrow, or next week, and no time in the future. My past is dead and buried, and I'm moving on." "Okay," she says meaningfully. "I promise." "Riff!" I turn my attention to a familiar voice. Twilight. And she was running towards us. "Hi, I've been looking for you everwhere. I have something to tell you that I think you'll really-" She stops and notices Fluttershy's state. "hey, Fluttershy, what's wrong?" It looked like she was about to tell Twilight the truth, but then she quickly catches herself. "Riff just told me a story is all." thank you Fluttershy. "What story is that?" She eyes me suspicously. "It's called Romeo and Juliet, a classic piece of lierature but with a tragic ending to it." "Oh, so what's it about? I might be interested." "There are these two families that hate each other, but their children love one another. I won't tell you how it ends if you hate spoilers." "I'd love to hear about it, maybe you can tell me about it some other time." Twilight says reasured. "I- I should be tending to the animals now." Fluttershy gets up and walks off hastely. "Was the story that sad?" Twilight asks looking a bit worried for her friend. I simply nod my head, eyes locked on the direction Fluttershy went. "Anyway, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" I ask her pulling myself off the ground. "LAst night I recieved a letter from Princess Celestia. Her guards already reported what happened yesterday, and she wanted to know who it was." Uh oh. "When I sent her the letter explaining that it was true that you killed it by yourself she replied back saying that she'd like to thank you personally. There'll be a banquet in your honour. Isn't that great?" "Isn't." I reply bluntly. "Pardon?" "It isn't great." "What?" She asks taken aback. "Why not?" "Because I hate things like that." I stand up and walk off to the town. "Too many people, too much formality, and the perfect chance for people hunting me to capture me. Trust me, its happened. "Oh come on, It's not going to be that bad." She begins pleading for me to go. "No!" "Oh come on. The Princesses just want to meet you and thank you formally." We start getting into an arguement as to why I should go until she asks one very insightful question. "Besides, who's hunting you?" Her qusetions gives me pause. 'That's right. I'm not being hunted anymore. I don't have to worry about that.' 'So that means you're going?' 'Hell no! I still have two more reasons to not go.' "Sorry Twilight, but I really don't want go even if I'm to be awarded with a mountain of gold that could buy me a continent. Besides, I'd rather not be the center of attention." "SURPRISE!" My heart skips a beat as we turn a corner to be greeted by the entire bloody town with Pinkie Pie at the front. "Christ Pinkie, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I yell as I try calming down. "Oh course not. why would I try giving you a heart attack on your surprise welcome party? That'd just be silly." I look around the street to see a banner spelling out 'WELCOME,' a long table with food and drinks, and various decorations around like steamers and ballons. Crap. I'm being lead through the massive group of people by Pinkie Pie, introducing to them all. She's got a titan's strength. Sure I could break free easily, but she's strong for even a human. And a girl no less! After I've met everyone in town I finally get a chance to get myself something to eat. And that part about meeting everyone else is not an exageration, I met everyone! Although it's not like I got a chance to actaully meet them, she just kept pointing to someone, told me their name, and then went straight to someone else before I could even remember it. I pick up a cupcake and begin eating it. "Wow, mah sister was right, you are big!" I hear a voice lower down. I find myself to come face to face with three girls. One had red hair with a bow tied in it, and a yellow shirt under overalls. Another had hair that looks like it must have been combed a hundred times a day with a combonation of two purple colors, she wore a dress with purple ruffles, she had a small white horn on her head. The next girl was quite the opposite as the previous. She had a tanned orange tee-shirt, purple shorts and matching colour hair that doesn't even look like it's heard of a comb, and two small orange wings. They stare at me longer. "Can I help you?" I finally ask. "You're th' new guy right? Riff?" The with red hair asks. I nod my head. "Why are yeah wearin' mah brother's clothes? Don't ya have any of your own?" I look at my clothes, forgetting that these don't belong to me, they're Applejack's... brother's. "Wait, your brother's?" She nods her head. "Ah'm Applebloom, Applejack's sister." She says with a cute smile. "And I'm Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister." The one in the dress says. "And I'm Scootaloo. And we're," "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" The shout at the same time. "Uh, nice to meet you." I rub my ringing ear. "So why are ya wearing mah brother's clothes?" Applebloom asks again. "Because mine were burned." "Why were they burned?" Scootaloo asks. "Because someone didn't like me." What? You thought I would tell three little girls a dragon lit me on fire? Yeah, right. "Why didn't they like you?" I stare at the three of them for a while. "You three ask a lot of questions, don't you?" Before they could answer, or even worse, ask another question, Applejack and Rarity come over. "Hey there Riff, enjoying th' party?" Applejack asks. "I've decided I hate questions." I answer back. "Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asks having an idea as to why I'd say that. "But Rarity-" Her little sister begins. "No but, get going." With a groan the three leave unsatisfied. "Nice kids." I comment and eat another cupcake. "So how ya likin' the party?" Applejack asks. "Not too bad. I appreciate what Pinkie's done, but I don't much care for it." "Speaking of parties, Twilight told us you don't want to go to the one Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are hosting for you. Why not?" Rarity asks. "Hate those things." I say bluntly. "Oh you can't mean that, isn't there any way that we can convince you?" "Nope." "Oh come on, don't be like that." Applejack chides. "It'll be fun." "And just think of the glamour." Rarity adds. "I'd just feel like I'll end up causing a scene." "But wouldn't you want a change of scenery darling? Enough of this, lone wolf buisness, as you've seemed to put it." "Beside's didn't ya want to start somethin' new in yer life?" I look at the two ladies, as much as I'd hate to admit it, they're right. I do want to start a new life. I pour myself a glass of punch. "Fine, I'll go to the stupid party." I say glummly. They perk up with enthusiam. "Really?" Rarity asks hoping I'm telling the truth. I nod my head reluctantly. "Oh goody. But if you're going to attend a party held by the Princess where you're the guest of honour, we have got to get you into better clothing." "Seriously? What's wrong with this?" I ask pulling the red plad shirt. "No offense to Big Macintosh, but what is right with that? Besides you need your own clothes, those are just to borrow." I tried looking for an excuse, but alas, they were right again. "Fine, I'll get new clothing." Rarity's eyes sparkled like diamonds. "Really? Oh this is just perfect! Come, we best get started now!" "But I-" "No but's." She says to me just like how she did for her little sister. I try thinking of something to say, but I can't find anything. I turn to Applejack to help me out. She wore a smile that was evident that I would get no help from her. I grudgingly drank the last of the punch and walked with Rarity to where ever it is she was taking me. God I wish another dragon would appear. Then I'd at least have an excuse.