Change the Heart

by FatesWinds

Chapter 6: Wingless, Trustless

Heart Shield woke a couple hours later, a quick glance out the window told him that it was late in the afternoon. If he wanted to make it to the pony in the forest and still make it back in time so as not to worry anypony again then he needed to leave immediately. Twilight and Spike were out at the moment, so he left a note saying that he was heading out to stretch his wings and that he should be back before nightfall. Satisfied that this should be a sufficient excuse, he ran back to the guest room and grabbed the bag of bits he’d earned from helping around town and went to purchase some supplies. Twenty minutes later, his bag was considerably lighter, and the basket he’d purchased was heavy with all the things he thought the mare in the woods would need. Gripping it tightly between his teeth, he took a running start and pushed off of the ground, beating his wings hard as he flew to the Everfree Forest. This time he flew over it, heading to where he thought the clearing might be. The time it took to travel through the forest from above was cut by almost three times less than the initial travel had taken, and he soon found the clearing from the night before, the odd alicorn, he was relieved to see, had remained where he left her. He swooped down, extending his wings as he neared the ground to slow his fall enough to trot over as he landed. The mare looked in his direction as he landed, and looked honestly surprised to see that he kept his promise, looking away as he reached her. He placed the basket on the ground and sat down.
“I told you I’d be back.”
She nodded once, looking at him with an oddly curious expression. Heart Shield opened up the basket and pulled out a spread fit for a picnic. There were sandwiches and apples from the market, two pies and a croissant from Sugarcube Corner, several different muffins that Derpy had suggested when he asked her advice on what somepony who had possibly never had one would like, and an assortment of fruit, all of which he lay on a sheet he’d purchased. She stared at the food incredulously, looking up at him as if surprised by what he brought her. He motioned to the food.
“Eat, you need to get your strength back.”
She stared at him for several minutes before digging into the food gratefully. As she ate she allowed her thoughts to wander to this strange pony. He seemed truly ignorant of her identity, but concerned about who he’d found. The fact that he’d tended to her injuries and returned as he promised told her a lot about his character, and she fancied for a moment, attempting to use her magic to take control of his mind like she had Shining Armor’s, but quickly pushed that thought aside. She couldn’t afford to use what little remained when she might need it later. Something concerned her though, and that was his claim that those ponies were his friends. They knew who she was, and there was no doubt as to what they’d do if they discovered her. She wondered, as she had thought before, if he was just lulling her into a false sense of security, admitting to herself that though he seemed to be a blissfully trusting pony, she didn’t know how he truly was and this could all be an act.
Heart Shield sat, watching her eat with a slight smile on his lips. She appeared to still be wary of him, but he was glad that she was eating again. He continued his tale from the night before as she ate, and she looked at him with interest as he recounted the first few months in Ponyville. He almost lost track of time, only noticing how late it was when he glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun was setting. He apologized to her that he couldn’t stay the night as he had before, but he would be back in the morning to check on her, as he had an entire day off the next day, and leaned into the basket to pull out the last thing in it, a large blanket that Rarity had given him when he first spent his nights in Applejack’s barn, and placed it over the mare.
“It gets cold out here, though you look like you know that already, and that should keep you warm tonight. Tomorrow I’ll check your injuries, and, if you feel up to it, take you to a place in here that’s much safer than out in the open, nopony goes anywhere near it too, so you’ll be able to recover without fear of them finding you.”
She didn’t answer, though her eyes glanced away from him. He still had no idea what had happened to her, but he’d wait to ask until she was ready to talk to him on her own. He spread his wings and pushed off of the ground, hovering over the clearing for a moment to say goodbye once more before he flew back to Ponyville. Back in the clearing, the mare pondered over this pegasus. His kindness, she decided, was genuine. She reached over and tugged the blanket over her a little further over her body, grateful for its warmth. For the first time since she’d been discovered, she spoke, her voice echoing oddly, so that it sounded as if two left her lips at once.
“… Thank you… Heart Shield,” she murmured quietly to herself.

The next morning Heart Shield returned as he’d promised and, after a quick check over her injuries, declared that so long as they went slowly, she’d be able to make it to the place he’d thought of. She was silent as usual as they made their way there, but within an hour and a half, they reached the abandoned building where Twilight and the others had faced down Nightmare Moon two years ago. She looked surprised at the size of the place, and Heart Shield could see that she was pleased to have been brought here. He spent the rest of the day talking to her, she listened quietly, seemingly interested in what he was saying. When evening came he said goodbye, promising to come back the next day. She nodded in acknowledgement of this for the first time and lay down by the statue that used to hold the Elements of Harmony, pulling the blanket over her.
Over the next few weeks, he made it a habit to visit her every day, whether it was to just spend time with her or to bring food and more bandages. Her ankle healed quickly, and, as the weeks passed, he declared her wing well enough to lose the splint. When he removed it, the mare gave it a few experimental flaps to test it out, and expression of pure bliss came over her as she determined it back to working condition. Heart Shield half expected her to have flown off the next time he visited, but there she was, waiting for him like always, which he attributed to her leg and ribs not having fully healed yet. The next day though, when he landed in the entrance carrying some more sandwiches, they seemed to be her favorite things besides Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s pumpkin pie and Derpy’s recommended triple chocolate muffins, he found her hunched in the corner of the building, coughing and cringing as her leg was curled up into her. She had come down with a fever, her whole body was burning up and her eyes were glazed and unfocused, and she appeared to have fractured her leg more from slipping on it while she went to the corner, her splint had broken off.
“Wait here, I know somepony who can make something for your fever, but you need to let me fix your leg first,” he said to her, glad that despite how badly the fever had progressed, she still listened to him. He winced as he looked at her leg, it wasn’t just fractured anymore, judging from the odd angle and her screams when he touched it, she had broken it. Heart Shield was glad that he had brought the first-aid kit today, setting her leg quickly, ignoring her screams, wrapping it tightly between splints. She pulled her leg back to her, whimpering in pain. He placed his forehead against hers before rushing as fast as he could to Zecora’s cabin.
“Zecora! I need your help badly! There’s somepony with a terrible fever, and in pain from a broken leg. Please, can you make something to help her?”
“I shall make them with much haste, your expression tells me there is no time to waste,” the zebra replied, hurriedly pulling plants and powders off of her shelves, working quickly while he shifted from hoof to hoof tensely. It took mere minutes for her to whip up to potions, putting them in a small basket for him. “Make sure both are drunk by the black pony, do not worry for your secret is safe with me.”
Heart Shield was startled that Zecora knew about the mare, but he knew that her promise to keep his secret was something she would keep. He thanked her and took the potions, flying as fast as he could back to where the mare lay, curled up in the corner. He ran over to her and pulled out the potions, lifting her head and told her to open her mouth. She did so without question and he poured the potions into her mouth; she gulped down the both of them without spilling a single drop. Her shivers continued, but her eyes became more focused and within half an hour her temperature had gone down to a reasonable level, though her body still was still racked with shakes. He lay down next to her and put a wing around her. She smiled gratefully at him, though winced as it touched her leg.
“That needs to be seen to,” he said. “I need to bring somepony here who can help.”
“No!”
It was the first word she had said to him. She looked desperately at him. “Nopony, please…”
Heart Shield shook his head. “It’s not up for debate. Your leg is broken and I need a unicorn to set it properly and heal it. I know you don’t want anypony to come see you, and that you’re scared, but your leg is going to take months to heal, and you can’t stay here and risk getting sick again. I won’t let anypony harm you, but you have to trust me and let me do this.”
She tried to sit up to protest more, but the movement made pain course through her entire body, and she eventually relented. Heart Shield thanked her and stood up, spreading his wings. He looked back at her, smiling a little. “You know, I’ve been taking care of you for over a month and I still don’t know your name.”
“Chrysalis,” she said weakly. “It’s Chrysalis…”
He nodded to her. “Wait here, I’ll bring some help quickly Chrysalis.”
Chrysalis nodded weakly and watched him take off, flying as fast as he could to Ponyville. As much as she didn’t want anypony to know about her, she had to admit that Heart Shield was right, deciding to put her faith in a pony, just this once.

Heart Shield knew just the pony to go to for help, landing in front of the library and slammed the door open. “Twilight! I need you to come with me to the Everfree Forest, it’s an emergency!”
Twilight jumped, spilling ink on the letter she was writing, but quickly cleaned it up and hurried over to him. “Heart Shield, calm down and tell me what happened.”
“Somepony needs your help, she’s at the old castle ruins, the ones where you and the others beat Nightmare Moon. Her leg is badly broken and her ribs are too. Please Twilight!”
She nodded and grabbed a medical book from the shelves, following him outside. They went as fast as they could to the forest, not fast enough in Heart Shield’s opinion though. He flew down next to her, gliding close to the ground. “Get on!” He was glad when she hopped onto his back without question, wrapping her hooves around his neck as he shot into the air, flying as fast as he could into the forest.
“How did she get injured?” Twilight shouted over the rush of wind.
“It’s a long story,” he answered, raising his voice so she could hear him. “I’ll tell you later!”
By this time they had reached their destination, Heart Shield landed as neatly as he could and Twilight hopped off of his back. He ran into the building, leading her to where Chrysalis lay, her eyes shut as she tried to focus on anything other than the pain in her leg. Twilight skidded to a halt, staring at the Changeling Queen. Heart Shield turned to her.
“What are you just standing there for?” he cried. “She needs your help right now Twilight!”
Chrysalis’s eyes shot open at the name and she stared at the pony Heart Shield had brought. It was Twilight Sparkle, the meddling unicorn who had ruined her plans. He had brought her one of the few ponies who she counted as a dangerous enemy. He had betrayed her! She was a fool to have fallen to his tricks, his kindness was all a ruse, leading up to this moment.
“You!” Twilight’s eyes narrowed angrily and her horn began to glow as she built up her magic. Heart Shield wanted to help her?!
Heart Shield saw the anger – no, hatred – in her eyes and the magic building in her horn, and quickly moved in between her and Chrysalis, shielding the latter.
“Get out of the way!” Twilight shouted at him. “Do you have any idea who or what she is?!”
“Twilight, stop! She needs your help!”
“I AM NOT HELPING THIS MONSTER!” She shoved him aside with her magic, aiming her horn at the creature who had locked Cadence up, used her brother and sucked him dry to get rid of his protection spell, and attacked Princess Celestia. With a flash of light, she fired a large beam of magic at the Changeling Queen.
“Chrysalis! Twilight no!” Heart Shield pushed off the ground, shooting forward as fast as he could to reach the injured pony before Twilight’s spell hurt her. He just barely made it. Twilight’s attack slammed into his back with full force. He cried out in pain as his body took on the magic meant for Chrysalis, falling to the ground in a crumpled heap when Twilight ended the spell, shocked that her friend had jumped in front of her magic.
“Heart Shield!” she heard Chrysalis shout, the changeling roughly getting to her hooves, stumbling over to him, collapsing next to him.
Chrysalis nudged him, jerking as she saw the burns smoldering on his back, both wings singed with most of his feathers burnt away. She glared at Twilight, sparks of magic covering her horn. “YOU CURSED PONY!” she snarled. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” A green bolt of magic shot out of her horn, heading right at the one who had harmed him.
Twilight quickly formed a magic barrier around herself, Chrysalis’s spell ricocheted off of the bubble and slammed into the roof, blasting a two foot round hole in the ceiling. “N-no! I didn’t mean to- it was an accident!” the unicorn stammered, being pushed back as the Changeling Queen fired bolt after magical bolt at her.
“You call me a monster, but take a look at what you did to him and see who the real monster is!” She pointed her horn at Twilight Sparkle, a large ball of magic forming at the tip.
“Chrysalis… s-stop…”
The ball vanished as she looked down at the injured pegasus, shocked. Twilight lowered her barrier and ran over, taking a few steps back as Chrysalis glared at her again. The Changeling Queen lowered her head, nudging his shoulder softly.
“Twilight… didn’t mean to…”
“Why did you do that you foolish pony,” she murmured. “You had no reason to do that…”
“Of course I did. I had to protect my friend, didn’t I?”
“Heart Shield,” Twilight said, coming over, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean for you to…”
He got to his hooves shakily, wincing at the pain in his back and wings. “It’s okay, nothing a little soak in the spa won’t fix,” he joked.
“Idiot,” Chrysalis muttered.
“Your wings-.”
“Are just a little singed. Spike’s lit them on accident before, this is nothing.”
“You have that reversed, he singed just the tips.”
“Twilight, stop. Just remember why I brought you here. Please, heal her?” Heart Shield pleaded with her.
Twilight bit her lip but nodded, bringing the book over and held it open, flipping through it with her magic to find the right spell. “This will itch for a few seconds,” she mumbled to the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis’s leg and chest began to glow purple as Twilight focused her magic. Chrysalis fidgeted as an irritable itching sensation covered her body, but, as Twilight Sparkle had said, it lasted only a few seconds. “There, try standing on it.”
She got shakily to her hooves, expecting the sharp sting of pain to run up her leg as she put her weight on it, but nothing happened. She had been healed. She looked at the unicorn harshly. “Now him.”
“I-I don’t know if that spell-.”
“I don’t care!” she shouted. “You did this to him and you’re going to fix it!”
“Stop that,” Heart Shield chided. “It’s my fault this happened, not either of yours.”
“This is because of her spell!”
“Which happened because I brought her here not knowing that you two had a history. And because I jumped right into the middle of it, now stop blaming her for my actions.” He looked at her steadily until she was forced to look away.
“Heart Shield,” Twilight said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”
“And you, stop apologizing,” he said, looking at her. “This is nopony’s fault but my own.”
“But-.”
“Twilight-.”
Heart Shield stopped, feeling something at his back. He looked over his shoulder. Chrysalis had her head bent, the tip of her horn glowing.
“What are you-.” Twilight began, her horn glowing in case the changeling was trying something.
“Trying something different for a change,” Chrysalis interrupted. Her horn glowed brighter. Heart Shield’s burnt wings glowed with the same green color as her magic. Twilight took a step forward, her horn glowing brighter. “Stay back Sparkle,” Chrysalis warned. “I’m trying to do something you can’t!”
Twilight took a step back, watching her warily. Heart Shield, meanwhile, watched his wings. Chrysalis closed her eyes, focusing her magic. Heart Shield’s wings glowed brighter, until he was forced to close his eyes. His wings tingled uncomfortable, and he started to squirm.
“Keep still, this is hard enough without you moving and messing up the spell,” Chrysalis grunted.
He listened, though it was hard to keep still. His whole body felt like ants were crawling over him. The uncomfortable feeling grew to unbearable heights, then, suddenly, vanished, the glow too. He heard Chrysalis breathing hard and opened his eyes. She was doubled over and looked exhausted, but glanced up at him.
“That…” she panted, “took up almost all of what I had left from Canterlot…”
“You mean what you drained from my brother,” Twilight narrowed her eyes at the changeling.
“Look at your friend and tell me if what I took was worth it,” Chrysalis shot back.
Twilight glanced at Heart Shield, then did a double-take. “Heart Shield…?”
“What? Did I turn green or something?” He looked himself over. Still blue, still four legs, the same height, no extra head, his wings back to normal. He stopped and stared at his wings. They were fully extended, as long as they always were, his feathers were all back, not even a hint of a singed piece.
“H-how did you-?” Twilight began.
“Do you think that I wouldn’t have some of the same powerful magic your brother and Mi Amore Cadenz-.”
“Her name is Cadence.”
“Fine,” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes, “Cadence. Do you think that what I had taken wasn’t like what they used to get rid of me and my changeling army? What sent me all the way here and left me weak and broken?”
“What Twilight means to say, is thank you, Chrysalis,” Heart Shield said, stepping between them before their past led to another fight.
Chrysalis looked away, her wings buzzing uncomfortably. “You took care of me for the last month, and took a spell meant for me, this was the least I could do.”
He looked at her, hearing something in her voice. “Now that you’re healed… what are you going to do?”
“Oh the usual, find my changelings, build up our strength, destroy the Princesses-.”
“WHAT?!” Twilight stared at her in horror. She healed the monster that had caused so much devastation for her to attack Canterlot again?
“She’s joking Twilight,” Heart Shield said. “She’s not going to do any of that.”
“How do you know that? You weren’t there! You didn’t see what she and her kind did to my brother, to Cadence, to Princess Celestia, to all of Canterlot!”
He turned his gaze on Twilight. “No, I wasn’t, just like you weren’t here the night I was in the forest. Like you didn’t see Chrysalis laying on the ground with a snapped wing, fractured leg, broken ribs, all beat up from landing here. You didn’t see how scared she was when she saw me, or how she didn’t want to eat at first because she didn’t trust the food I gave her.”
She blanched, stepping back at his words. “You said you got lost after-.”
“I lied,” he admitted. “Wouldn’t you if you found somepony who looked at you as if you were a giant manticore and she a small filly? If you found somepony who was too scared to say a single word to you, who grew terrified at the voice of somepony else?”
“I-.”
“Twilight, put aside whatever happened between you and Chrysalis, look at it from my point of view. I never met her before that day, and I never knew who or what she was, all I saw was somepony who was hurt badly but was so scared of me and so scared of your voices. Twilight, she was alone in the Everfree Forest since the wedding, injured badly. If she was somepony else and you stumbled on her, if you knew from her expression that she was terrified to the point where it would have made her injuries worse, wouldn’t you have done the same? I didn’t tell you all the truth because I knew that if you heard about this unknown mare in the woods, you all would have insisted on going to see who it was. And after what just happened, don’t you think I made the right choice? I would have gotten in the way of you and the others because all I saw was somepony who needed help and who was being attacked by my friends.”
Twilight fell silent, wincing as he spoke as if each word was a blow to her chest. “I… I guess… that I would have done the same… if the tables were turned and she was somepony else.” She turned her gaze on Chrysalis. “But that doesn’t change things Heart Shield, and you should know that. She tried to destroy Canterlot, she would have moved on to all of Equestria! She is not a good pony!”
“I just fixed what should have been an irreversible action you caused,” Chrysalis said. “Yes we wanted Equestria, but that’s because you ponies have so many feelings in your land, feelings we need to feed on to survive! We were alone and fading away, while you and everypony else go about your happy little lives, not caring what happens to the creatures of the darkness!”
“You would have drained us all dry!”
“Yes!” The Changeling Queen glared at Twilight, her echoed voice cracking for once. Twilight was startled to see tears in the eyes of the powerful queen of the changelings. “I would have gladly drained every last ounce of love out of each and every one of you! You happy little ponies have no idea what we were going through! My people were dying, starving and wasting away, and not a single one of you even knew we existed! We are the last of our kind! We saw what you and yours did to beings you knew nothing about. Discord! What did he do other than make the world around him his little bag of pranks? So what if he changed you and your insignificant friends into his Elements of Chaos? Do you think he would have left it like that forever? He’d have tired of it eventually. But you and your Princess Celestia never gave him a chance, because you feared what he could do. You imprisoned him in stone! And don’t forget about Nightmare Moon. Now she was an excellent example of what you ponies would have done to us had we shown ourselves in any other way. Your Princess banished her own sister in the moon for a thousand years rather than help her! Nightmare Moon was born of jealousy, all you ponies never once gave little Luna any thanks for her night, but we did. And our words never reached her from our land of darkness while yours were never even thought of!
“Given how you ponies have treated those you don’t understand in the past, how were we to trust you wouldn’t do the same to us? So yes, I imprisoned Cadence, I fed on your brother and I ordered the attack on Canterlot! When you all see us as monsters, what choice did we have other than to become monsters?”
Chrysalis turned away from Twilight Sparkle and forced back her tears. No sense in letting anypony see any other side of her, but a glance at the pony who had shown her kindness broke down the walls she had built.
“Yes, I would have gladly drained all of you of your love and strength for my people to survive,” she said, her voice shaking, “but not now. For one, you have cast out every last one of us, and with what little strength we now have, there isn’t any point in trying again. For another, while you and your friends treated us as the monsters you see us, somepony looked past that.” Chrysalis let out a shaky sigh, “The time of the changelings has come and gone. What more can we do other than fade away from this world?”
“Don’t you see Twilight?” Heart Shield asked. “She’s not the Chrysalis you knew.”
Twilight looked from him to the Changeling Queen. Her horn began to glow and Heart Shield found himself incased one of her magic bubbles. He slammed his hooves on the edges, shouting inside it, but no sound was heard from where she and Chrysalis stood. Chrysalis, distracted by Heart Shield’s sudden containment, noticed the glow now pointed at her too late to react. The discharge from Twilight’s horn hit her square in the chest, engulfing her in a pure white sphere that suddenly shrank, blinking out of existence. Twilight turned her eyes onto her friend, looking at him regretfully. He was slamming his hooves on the bubble harder, obviously screaming angrily from the inside.
“I’m sorry Heart Shield, but I can’t risk everypony’s safety just because you think she’s changed. You don’t know the real her, and you’re acting like she’s spelled you like she did my brother.” Her horn began to glow again. “I’m sorry to do this to you, but Princess Celestia’s requested that, after the events of the wedding, anypony who isn’t acting like themselves should be brought to her to see if they’re controlled or a changeling. Please… try to forgive me, I swear I’m doing this to look out for you.”
Heart Shield’s bubble turned white and, like Chrysalis’s, blinked out. Twilight Sparkle stood there, staring at the space where her friend had been. She knew that this was what she was supposed to do, that this was what Princess Celestia had asked everypony to do, but it didn’t feel like she had done the right thing.
“I’m sorry…”