//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: A black rose with holes // Story: Unknown Innocence // by MrPescanova //------------------------------// Chapter 4: A black rose with holes “No way man! I don’t understand why Princess Celestia was so kind letting you stay with..that….thing” Shining Armor pointed with a hoof to Volcano, who was lying on the grass sleeping aside Heynriik. “I know that is difficult to understand Shining, but c’mon give him a chance, he’s not so bad at all..” “HE NEARLY KILLED ME AND CADANCE DON’T YOU REMEMBER!?” Shining put his angry face in front of Heynriik’s, the young human sighed and stood up. “Look, my mother lets him stay with me if I look for him and make sure that he doesn’t harm anypony, if he does something bad again, you can blame me, but until that happens, don’t worry dude” Shining Armor lowered his head and sighed, he looked up to Heynriik and smiled. “Well ok, but…how are you going to take care of him? I mean…do you even know what it is? What he eats or what to do with him? Because I don’t think that he likes to be in the castle’s garden all the day..” “I asked to my mother and she said that it was a Horseacus Beastilis, some kind of primitive earth pony that had evolved in a different way and that rarely appear in Equestria” “Good, that answers ONE question!” “And about his diet….he looks like a pony, right? So i guess he eats the same kind of food as us" “If you say...anyway, I still can’t imagine Volcano being treated like a pet, he gets angry easily and it’s VERY big compared to ponies, even with you Heynriik!, and you are enough tall” Heynriik blushed a little for his friends compliment and stroke Volcano’s mane with his hand and turned to Shining again. “I think I have an idea…but it’s a little crazy one!” Heynriik said with enthusiasm to the white unicorn. “What it is?” Shining asked with intrigue, Heynriik smiled and say. “I can ride him” Shining Armor gasped and widened his eyes in surprise. “WHAT!? RIDE HIM!? ARE YOU CRAZY RIKI?! YOU WANT HIM TO KILL YOU, RIGHT? DID YOU EVEN THINK HOW FAST HE IS? THAT YOU COULDN’T STAND MORE THAN 5 SECONDS OVER HIM? THAT YOU CAN..” Heynriik stopped Shining’s terrifying speech with a hand on the unicorn’s mouth. "I know it isn’t a very clever thing, but I know somepony that can help me” Shining moved away Heynriik’s hand of his mouth with his hoof and raised an eyebrow. “And what kind of crazy pony will help you with that?” “His name is Smart Gear and is some kind of......inventor that works for the royal guard, he makes weapons, armors and a lot of weird stuff for them, maybe he can make me something that can help me to keep over Volcano without falling”. “Are you going to see him now?” “Well yes, he have a workshop on the castle’s basement, he doesn’t shows up very much on the castle and is all the day there” “Wait, how do you know him then? Have anypony told you about him? Or it’s because you are hiding something, Riki?” The human kid laugh a little and put his arm over Shining’s neck. “Let’s say that sometimes I do tests with some of his experiments and things that he creates" “Why? Did he reward or something?” “Oh! No! I don’t need rewards, I did it because some of them are awesome and funny, I had good times playing with them” “I don't think it's a good idea knowing how......impish are you” Shining looked at him worried. “Don’t worry Shiny, I’m always careful” “Okay, then I see you later, I have to….meet with….ehem..Cadance” Shining Armor rolled his eyes and rubbed his left front hoof with the right one, Heynriik looked at him and chuckled. “You’re going in a date with her, right?” Shining blushed after hearing that, he started to feel nervous. “Wha- what? No! i- it’s not a d- da- date! We j- just are going t- to spe- spend some time t- tog- together!” “HAHAAHAH don’t worry Shiny I’m not mad with you, after all, it’s pretty clear that you like her since you two meet each other..” “Th- that’s not true we are…just….friends..” Heynriik shrugged and saw that Volcano was awake. “Oh! Hi big boy!” Heynriik said to the big black equine who was with an emotionless face, Volcano nuzzled his head making him smile. “Well at least he had awake with good mood..” said Shining that was moving away of him scared. “I- I see you later Ri- Riki” “Bye Shiny, and don’t forget that Cadance likes though guys!” Shining Armor opened the entrance and got off the royal gardens, Heynriik was alone with his big black horse with red mane and eyes, or at least was what he thought until he heard his name coming from a grey unicorn with golden armor. “Sir Heynriik” He turned and saw Silver Shield, his protector and bodyguard. “Oh good day Silver, why are you here?” Heynriik smiled to him but Silver was staring at him seriously. “As you know, my job is look for you and make sure that you are not in danger, that implies being at your side all the time” Heynriik put a confused face at that sentence. “Yes…I already know….why you say?” “Because I want to know WHY YOU RAN AWAY WHEN I WAS TALKING WITH THAT GUARD AFTER BREAKFAST!?” The unicorn yelled at the young human who was stunned about the fast changing mood of his bodyguard, when he recovered Heynriik looked at Silver Shield with innocent eyes. “Hey relax Silver, I just couldn’t wait to see Volcano, I didn’t wanted to worry you!” Silver sighed and smiled at him. “Alright, alright sorry to being mad at you, I just was worried” Silver got close to Volcano who was staring at him with his big red eyes, but the unicorn didn’t cared. “But, I don’t understand what you see in him” Silver tried to touch the big horse with a hoof but Volcano roared him and went in a fighting pose. “VOLCANO” Heynriik yelled at the big horse that lowered his ears and stopped looking angry, then Heynriik pointed with a finger at him and then to the grass, the horse was obedient to his human boss and sit on the ground. “Wow….it seems that you are the only one who respects" “Well, yes but i....want to change that" Heynriik rubbed Volcano's head with his hand, the horse closed his eyes and relaxed. "I want to prove that he can be good, that i as anypony else can be his friend, like me, Volcano is one of his kind, in the forest he was....alone, angry, confused, i felt sad for him, like...” "Empathy?" Silver Shield said interrupting him, Heynriik turned to the grey unicorn and blinked in confusion. "What is....empathy?" The royal guard trotted calmly to Heynriik, he stroked Volcano's mane carefully to don't harm him. "It's when you identify with somepony else who is suffering or having a bad time" Heynriik scratched his head and looked at Silver, the pony rotated to meet with the human. "You felt bad for Volcano because you are alike him, somepony of a different species living in a world that don't fits with him, i'm right sir?" "Yes, i guess it's that..." Heynriik blushed at the same time that he looked uninterested on what Silver just said. “Sir, you really have a great sense of kindness as a brave heart for doing this” Heynriik blushed harder, it was rare to see Silver talking to him in that way. “Well as you know….my mother always says that I have to be nice and tolerant with everypony, even with the ones who look different” Silver moved away while showing admiration to him. “You have to feel lucky sir, there’s no many ponies that can live in this castle and say that their mother is no less than Princess Celestia” “Yeah, the only bad thing maybe is that I have to live in the same place as Blueblood’s…” “You two still being mean with each other, right?” “It’s not my fault! He’s always saying that I’m a bastard, that I shouldn’t be living here, that I’m a big ugly hairless ape without manners…he has no right to say all those things!" “Don’t worry sir, it’s not a secret that all servants, guards and near all the ponies that live here are sick of his attitude” Heynriik changed his face from anger to happiness, he opened his mouth to say something to Silver but closed it before he said anything. “You want to tell me something, sir?” Silver asked raising an eyebrow. “Well, I wanted to ask Smart Gear if he could make me…something to help me…..ride Volcano” “You want to ride him? I think is a dangerous idea sir..” The grey unicorn look untrusted to Volcano that was still sit without doing any sound or move. “It’s not so difficult, in fact when I meet him, I returned to Canterlot riding him, it was awesome! But my spine hurted a little” “Wait, you have already ridden him?” Silver asked with a serious tone. “Yes, but as i said, i wasn’t very comfortable, if he had…something over his body to keep me balanced, it would be more easy” Heynriik looked down and sighed. “But like you are my bodyguard and you're always looking for me, you're not going to let me do that, right?” He crossed his arms and looked innocently to Silver Shield, he put a hoof on his chin and then nodded. “You have my permission” Heynriik looked up to him and hugged Silver. “THANKSTHANKSHANKSTHANKS”. “Wow wow, relax sir” Silver released him from the hug. “You can visit my brother now, but only if you let me be at your side” “Ok Silver, I swear that I won’t get out of your sight” Both started walking out of the gardens, when Heynriik realized something and looked at Silver Shield confused. “Wait, Smart Gear is your brother?!” Silver laughed about how much he lasted in notice what he just said a few moments ago. “Exactly” “How it is possible? I didn’t know it until now” “Well, he tried to enter to the royal guard, but seemed that he is more skillful with his mind than with his hooves, so he decided to be an official builder and designer for the guard’s weaponry and equipment”. “Are you mad between you two or something? Because he didn’t had talk about you when I visit him” “No, sweet Celestia! We don’t hate each other!, it’s just that our jobs make us stay away, and we don’t have much time to see each other” Silver explained to him. “In fact, I think this is the first time I’m going to see him in months!” He said excited. “Then let’s go dude” Silver looked at him seriously expecting rectify that. “I mean….Silver” Heynriik righted his words, Silver smiled. “That’s better” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smart Gear was sleeping over a broken couch on his workshop, tables full of papers with new weapons and techniques for the manufacturing of armors required by the royal guard, inventions and all kind of machines spread on the room, some broken, others dirty and inside of boxes, and a toolbox with oxidized tools. “A little step fo’ the pony kind…but a big jump fo’ ‘Questria…” Smart Gear’s dream was stopped when he heard some knocks on the door, he stretched his body and stood up. “Who’s there?” He said rubbing his head and yawning. “It’s me Gear, can I pass?, I wanted to ask you something important” The brown unicorn recognized instantly the voice of Heynriik. “Oi! Yeah Riki ya can pass!” He opened the door and let Celestia’s son enter to his workshop. “You were sleeping again, right?” The young human asked. “Ya kno’ perfectly how busy ‘n’ tired makes ma job, dude” Heynriik looked at all the mess that were his workshop and chuckled. “Sure…” Heynriik said ironically. “Nevermind wha’ ah said, what’s bring ya he-“ Smart Gear didn’t end his sentence, because he saw a grey unicorn with a royal guard armor behind Heynriik, he approached to him with steady look. “Silver, wha’ the?, what are ya doin’ here? Oh! Ah kno’! ya are sorry fo’ forgetting me in all this time RIGHT?! Ya wanted to see your nerd and freak brother!?” Smart Gear put his face in front of his brother’s, Silver smiled and just said. “It’s good to hear your Manehattan’s accent again Geary!” Smart Gear sighed and gave him a regretful look. “Sorry to yell like tha’ bro, it’s just…it been so long time without seeing ya...Silvy” “I missed you too, but due to this pesky colt right there, I couldn’t visit you” Both stared tearing. “Hey! If you two aren’t going to hug, then I think I have to go and return when you remember the reason why we are here, Silver!” Heynriik said joking, both unicorns looked at him. “We are stallions, dude!, we don’t hu-“ Smart Gear was hugged then by Silver. “You don’t say?” Heynriik said crossing his arms and laughing. “Now that we had ended our regards, Heynriik?” The human kid nodded and talked to Smart Gear. “Smart, I wanted to ask you if you could make something that makes me stand sit over Volcano’s body without falling” “Hmmmm…..let me think ah second..” Smart Gear sited on the floor and scratched his head thinking. “Eureka! I think I have somethin’ fo’ ya!” Smart jumped and stroked fast Heynriik’s hair until it was a mess. “And what it is?” asked Silver. “It’s a ol’ artifact that the ponies used long time ago when they wanted to domesticate ‘n’ use big creatures like young dragons or timberwolves fo’ his own advantage. “Do you have it?” asked Heynriik amazed. “Well…no..but don’t worry pal! I have a book that explains how to do it” Heynriik looked down in frustration and looked again to Smart Gear. “When you can have it?” “It’s not very difficult, ah can make it in two o’ three days” He said safely. “Ok, then in three days I’ll return, thanks Geary!” Heynriik and Silver where moving to the door when Smart Gear called his name. “What!?” the human asked annoyed. “Aren’t ya forgettin’ somethin’?” Heynriik smiled at him and stretch his fist and chocked it with Smart Gear’s hoof. “Brohoof!” Both said while Silver raised an eyebrow unknowing what’s going on. “Bye Riki, and you too bro!” Heynriik and Silver went away of the workshop, the unicorn looked at him curiously. “That’s our salute” Silver nodded and both followed walking. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I’m sorry Heynriik, but Shining Armor haven’t returned to home yet”. Said Twilight Velvet, Shining and Twilight's mother to the human. “Ugh…okay, thank you miss Velvet, goodbye”. She nodded and closed the door, Heynriik walked away looking down with a bit angry. “It seems that Cadance and Shiny are getting a really good time together..” He sighed and looked at the sky. “I wish I could find my “special somepony….” He looked forward and started walking on the Canterlot’s streets. “….but I don’t know who would love me when I’m so…..different”. His expression changed when he heard somepony saying one of his favorite words. “ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM! WE HAVE ALL KIND OF TASTES AND LOOKS!” He saw the summer market, a street market that is in Canterlot every year on summer, and on one of the shops was Hot Taste, the most nicer ice cream maker and the favorite of all colts and fillies. “Well, I guess I can think on that stuff later, now it’s time for ice cream!” He got near and saluted Hot Taste “Hello Hot Taste!” “Hiya sir Heynriik! What do you want this time?” Hot Taste asked with sympathy. “I want triple one with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry!” “HAHAHA always thinking in big right? okay” Hot Tasted lighted his horn and moved skillfully three balls of brown, yellow and pink to put it on a cone. “Thank you, and have a nice day!” Heynriik paid him and walked happily with his tricolored ice cream, he moved his tongue up and down over it. “Ah! this is delicious!” Heynriik walked for minutes until he finished his ice cream, when he was returning to the castle, he heard a noise and turned his head to a dark alley, there was three figures, a white unicorn, a blue earth pony and the third one was unfamiliar. The unicorn and the earth pony were laughing and surrounding the third one, Heynriik could finally recognize one of them, he ran fast with anger flowing on his veins. “BLUEBLOOD!” The white unicorn and the earth pony turned and saw the human. “Well, hello my sickly bastard cousin, what brings you here?” Blueblood said with an evil tone. “What are you doing to that pony?” Heynriik approached to them slowly, with closed fists. “Pony? I’m sorry to tell that you are wrong cousin, because she’s not a pony, it’s a monster” Blueblood and the earth pony laughed maliciously making Heynriik get even more angry. “ARE YOU BULLYING HER RIGHT?!” “Bullying? We are doing what it’s right! She’s should be far away of Canterlot! This is not a place for creatures like her!” said the blue earth pony. “You are always damaging and making fun on those who aren’t royalty or are just different to you, why Blueblood?” Heynriik said staring with his green eyes at Blueblood’s blue ones. “Because i'm better than them, Heynriik” Heynriik got his face red like never before. “THIS TIME YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!” Heynriik moved fast and grabbed Blueblood from the head and launched him strongly to the blue earth pony, making both hit the ground. Blueblood and his friend stood up and tried to hit Heynriik with their hooves, but the human dodged and kick them on the belly making both fall to the floor, they rose again and looked at Heynriik who got a victorious face. “You barbarian!, auntie Celestia will punish you when she knows about this!, let’s go Deep Sea”. Blueblood and Deep Sea runned away and disappeared on the distance, Heynriik turned and saw the pony that they were disturbing. He looked at her, she was black, with holes on the hooves, insect legs, blue mane and tail, with a jagged horn on her head. Heynriik moved slowly without harming her, she was lying on the floor crying and hiding her face with her hooves, then the black pony lifted her head and got scared when she saw Heynriik getting closer. “No! Please, don’t have fear on me…I don’t want to hurt you” Heynriik put a hand on his shoulder in trust, the cheese legged pony didn’t move at any moment, Heynriik got closer and closer until he was just in front of her face, he stared at her eyes, they were colored with a beautiful dark green, the most beautiful eyes he ever saw. He stroked down gently her mane and smiled, she wiped out her tears and returned the smile, then the black pony looked around like trying to see somepony else. “Did you make run away the other two?” she asked with a shy tone on her voice. “Yes, I kicked their flanks out when I saw they were molesting you” Heynriik said in a heroic tone, the black pony blushed and hugged him strongly, then she kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for saving me!” Heynriik blushed and offered his hand to help her stand, she was a bit tall than Cadance but not more than him, both keep staring at the eyes in silent. “Who are you?” asked the black mare. “My name’s Heynriik, and you are…” She put a hoof on his chest and rubbed it while looking at him curiously. “I’m Chrysalis” She nuzzled him, making him blush again, she moved in circles over him looking every part of his body. “You are….amazing…I never saw anything like you…what are your species name?” “I’m a human…and you are a changeling, right? I saw somepony like you a few days ago” “Yes I’m a changeling, and it seems that everypony hates me for that!, I’m alone since I came here..” Chrysalis started to cry a little, Heynriik put a hand on her shoulder and other on her chin lifting her face. “You…you don’t have family? Or friends?” Heynriik asked with concern. “No, my family it’s far away of Canterlot and I tried to make friends, but the ones who aren’t scared of me, are ignoring me or even disturbing me as you have saw, actually I don’t get out of the castle but today I heard there was a special market or something like that, so I went to saw it but I was stopped by those two colts” Heynriik opened his mouth in amazement. “Do..do you live in the castle too?! How is it that we don’t meet each other before?!” Chrysalis gasped at him. “How it is that you live in the castle, Heynriik?” Chrysalis asked with interest. “Well it’s because my mother is Celestia, and I live there since I was a baby” “Yo- you are Celestia’s son? But you’re human…I’m sorry but it’s a bit strange” The changeling mare was confused, Heynriik laugh and responded. “I’m adocted” “Oh I see….that explains it” “What about you, Chrysalis? Why are you in Canterlot?” Heynriik asked to her. “Well, my mom told me if I wanted to stay this holydays on the Canterlot’s castle because she is a Celestia’s friend or something, I don’t know why but I didn’t care because I always wanted to come here and see how it looks like” Chrysalis looked down and sighed. “But it isn’t the charming city that I thought..” Heynriik put his arm on her neck and grinned. “Don’t worry Chrysalis, I’ll be your friend and I’ll be at your side every time you need it” “Thanks...Heynriik” Chrysalis smiled and blushed a little, Both, human and changeling moved out of the dark alley and walked together on the streets. Chrysalis was all the time looking at his eyes, she didn’t look anything that wasn’t him, Heynriik noticed that and asked nervously. “Wh- why are you looking me like that?” “Your green eyes….they are lovely” Heynriik blushed and looked away a bit. “Ehm…thanks for the compliment” Chrysalis laughed aswell Heynriik, he saw that they were near the summer market again. “Hey Chrysalis….do you want an ice cream?”