//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Answers & Feels // Story: Unknown Innocence // by MrPescanova //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Answers & Feels It was late afternoon; Heynriik was lying on his bed reading one of his favorite books, “Daring Do and the Faust’s orb” he pass the pages with his hands looking all the dangers that the treasure hunter avoids, finally he finished the book, Heynriik closed it and leaved on a little table at his side, he put his head on the pillow and looked up the wall above him. “Boy, I’m so excited about what happens on the next book…” He sighed and placed his hands down his neck, he was tired before a really long day, but this wasn’t like the other boring and casual days, no, this was special, today happened something that maybe he will remember for the rest of his life. “Chrysalis….and I thought my name was strange…” Heynriik couldn’t take off his mind the changeling mare, her sharp fangs, holey hoofs, blue mane and tail, jagged horn, insect wings and her eyes, her lovely big and dark green eyes. “I don’t understand” Heynriik said to himself. “Why ponies are scared of her? Why they hate her? She’s kind and a good pon- I mean changeling, and she didn’t done anything bad”. Heynriik had spent a lot of time with her on the summer market, they eat some ice creams, played some fair games, and they about themselves, she was on the same age as him, also she was Amanthis's daughter, the changeling queen that he saw a few days ago, making her a princess, but she didn’t liked being called “Princess Chrysalis” because it sounded a bit awful and egocentric for her. They talked about him too, he told her that indeed he was adopted by Princess Celestia when he was just a baby and that he lives In the castle since she found him, Heynriik told Chrysalis about his cousin Cadance, his best friend Shining Armor and Blueblood, he said that he’s always a jerk and maybe it’s the worst pony that he ever met. Chrysalis was very interested about the humans and where they were from, Heynriik said that he didn’t know anything about the human kind and the little he knew was for the legends and stories that his mother Celestia told him. “She’s awesome, a bit shy, but awesome after all” He moved his hands to put them on his belly. “Also, how dare Blueblood to treat her like that? I don’t care what he says, you can’t do that to somepony just because it’s different to you” Heynriik closed his eyes picturing Chrysalis and the things that they did today on his mind, maybe they met each other hours ago, but it looked like they were friends for years. “I want to spend more time with her…..really, I don’t know why but when I was with her I felt….good, very good, and she seemed to enjoy being at my side aswell, she was looking to me all the time, being kind and confident…..maybe because i’m the only one here that didn’t ignore her…” Heynriik opened his eyes and sighed, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard some knocking the door. “Who is?” “It’s me sir, can I pass?” Silver Shield responded. “Ok, you can pass Silver” The unicorn opened the door and walked inside Heynriik’s bedroom. “What do you want Silver?” Heynriik asked with a bit of fear on his tone, he felt that nothing good was going to be heard from Silver’s mouth. “Your mother, Princess Celestia, wants to talk with you in this instant on her room” Silver showed a very serious tone, he knows that this kind of situations appear always when Heynriik does a mischief or just gets on trouble. “Y- you know abo- about what my mo- mother wants to t- talk?” Heynriik said, but he knew perfectly the reason of the call. “No, she only told me that she wants your presence right now on her room” “Ok, ok, I’m going now…” Heynriik jumped out of the bed and walked until he reached Celestia’s room, he knocked twice on the door and waited for a reply. “Go inside my son, we have to talk seriously” Heynriik heard Celestia’s voice, he opened slowly the door and saw his mother, but not only her, there was Blueblood too with some wounds on his face and body, he started to think on the words that he had to say so he could explain what truly happened between his fussy cousin and him. “Well, Heynriik” Celestia said looking with disapproval. “Blueblood here told me that you two had met on the summer market, then you got angry with him and hurted him” Heynriik gulped and lowed his head. “All that I want to know is, what it’s your excuse for this” Celestia said in a more concerned voice. “I…I can explain it mom, please!” Celestia raised an eyebrow, Heynriik sighed and saw Blueblood chuckling as looking at him with a malicious grin. “It’s true that i stroked Blueblood but was because he was bullying Chrysalis! When I saw him, I fought with him to defend her, then he and a friend that was with him runned away” Celestia looked to Blueblood with disappointment, he started to sweat nervously. “That’s true Blueblood? You disturbed a defenseless mare as our guest on the castle?” Blueblood tried to look innocent but Celestia was staring at him expecting an answer. “Well au- auntie Ce- Celestia…i….she…PLEASE DON’T PUNISH ME I’M SORRY!” Blueblood fell over Celestia’s front hooves crying and shaking his body, Heynriik smiled victorious. “Blueblood, you can leave, I will talk with you later” Blueblood stood up and walked out the room lowering his head in shame, Heynriik grinned and looked to Celestia, but she was still looking serious. “I didn’t have finished with you, Heynriik” The human kid looked at her confused. “But, I already told you why I did that!, what do you want mom?” “I want you to promise me, that you won’t use violence as solution anymore” “But…but..he wa-“ Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder and looked Heynriik sadly. “Please, my son, you know I never teach you to be like this” Heynriik lowered his head; he knew that she was right, even if he did it with his hateful cousin. “Ok mom, I promise you that I won’t be violent again” He said shyly, Celestia smiled and stroked her hoof over Heynriik’s hair. “Good colt!” “Hey! You know that I don’t like that!” Celestia chuckled while Heynriik recomposed his hair. “I’m sorry Riki, but I couldn’t resist! You’re kind of cute!” Heynriik blushed and crossed his arms. “I’m not cute…” “Well, Chrysalis thinks that you are” Heynriik gasped and turned to Celestia. “Yo- you talked with her?” “Yes, she told me that you two had been all the day together, but it’s strange that she didn’t tell me that Blueblood had disturbed her…” “She’s a little shy, and maybe was scared too” Heynriik wanted to know the truth, why she was here? And why he didn’t saw her on the castle? He feels that Celestia was hiding…something to him. “Mom, why I haven’t saw Chrysalis on the castle until today?” Celestia opened her mouth to answer but she stopped and rolled her eyes nervously, then she sighed and finally said. “She got some….problems to integrate in Canterlot’” Celestia relaxed and continued. “Changelings have a very bad reputation on Equestria, that’s why when Chrysalis came here, she didn’t got out of her bedroom very much, every time she got out of the castle, she returned sad and crying because all the ponies that she was meeting where ignoring, insulting or treating her bad” “I tried to help her, but it was impossible to convince the rest” Celestia approached to Heynriik and smirked. “That was until she met you, Heynriik, she told me that she was very thankful with you, to help her, to be his friend when she was alone” Celestia hugged him and whispered to his ear. “I’m very proud of you, Riki, you had grown so much...." Celestia released him and turned slowly. “Can I leave now?” “Yes you can, dear” Celestia said in a clam voice, Heynriik turned and closed the door gently, after that, She lowered his head and closed her eyes. “I should tell him but….that would break our deal” Celestia sighed and let a small tear fall on her face. “I’m so sorry to lie you, my son….” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heynriik and Chrysalis where at the gardens, enjoying the sun’s light and the clear sky above them, Volcano was sleeping peacefully beside them. “So what you did?” asked Chrysalis to Heynriik. “I throw him a little stone and ran away to make Cadance, Shining and Twilight safe, he followed me until I fell to the ground, then he got close to me and stared angrily, I was really scared” “Wow what happened? Did you fight Volcano? Because I can’t understand how you treat him so well after all that happened…” Chrysalis looked at him confused, Heynriik chuckled and did a gesture to the changeling to take a sit at his side that she accepted. “Well Chrissy, what I did was….” Heynriik got interrupted by a holey hoof hitting him on the shoulder. “HEY!” “You know that I don’t like you or anypony else calling me “Chrissy”, it sounds ridiculous!” “Ok, ok, I’m sorry Chrysalis, in fact you`re right, you are a princess and everypony should treat you in the best possible manner” She blushed and smiled. “Hem well…..thanks for your….kindness…” “Like I was saying, what I did was got up and look at him in the eyes, I can’t explain why, but I felt like if he didn’t want really to hurt me, Volcano just was standing in front of me without making any move” “Then I talked with him, I stared at his eyes, I don’t know how but I saw…sadness and loneliness on his eyes, I tried to tranquilize him, I told him that I had that feel to, the feel of being the only of your kind and alone” “But you aren't truly alone, Heynriik, you had family, friends, a home…” “Yes I know Chrysalis, but what I mean it’s that I’m the only known human in all Equestria, most of ponies thought before I got here that humans were myth, that they didn’t really existed” Heynriik sighed and looked at the sky. “And now here I am, in Canterlot, being the adoptive son of a sun goddess and living like royalty, when probably my true family and those of my kind are far away of Equestria” Chrysalis hugged him and nuzzled sweetly her face over Heynriik’s face. “You don’t have to get paranoid by that Heynriik” She released him and stared at him with her big dark green orbs. “I’m sure that one day you will find more humans, you just have to wait” Heynriik sighed and stood up. “You’re right Chrysalis, but….it’s not that easy, when I ask my mother, she never tells enough to make clear where I could be from” “The only interesting thing that she told me about humans was that centuries ago they were like barbarians that landed on Equestria with their boats, to attack ponies and loot their places, stealing anything that was made of gold or had value for them" "That’s not sounds very….soothing” said Chrysalis that was uncomfortable for hearing that. “Yes, and I want that to be false, furthermore, that’s supposed to be a thousand years ago! Maybe humans had changed a lot since then.....” Heynriik scratched his head thinking; he snaped his fingers and pointed Chrysalis. “And I know where we could find information about humans” “Oh really? Where!?” asked Chrysalis excited. “On the castle’s library, it’s the “Starswirl Hall”, a section where there’s a lot of strange books about magic, history, and mythology” Chrysalis stood up and looked to Heynriik while trying to hide a blush with her mane. “Ca- can I g- go with y- you? I mean..if you want…” “Of course! Why not? the Starswirl Hall it’s huge and I will need help to find what I want!, what could make you think the opposite, Chrysalis?” Heynriik asked worried. “Well, it’s just that…..i want to repay you for saving me from those colts, it’s the least I can do”. Heynriik smiled and put a hand over Chrysalis neck. “Then, my dear changeling princess, let’s go to the library!” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Did you find something over there, Heynriik?” asked Chrysalis that was in front of a large bookcase, while Heynriik was searching on the other side. “No! Nothing! There’s books about griffons, dragons, minotaur, hydra, cockatrice….even windigos! But no one about humans!” Heynriik sit on the floor, hopeless and surrounded by books. Chrysalis moved to the other side of the bookcase to meet with Heynriik, she patted his back with a hoof trying to comfort him. “I’m really sorry Heynriik, we have been looking for hours and we didn’t get anything related with humans” “No, don’t be sorry Chrysalis, it’s my problem not yours, I’m very grateful for your help” Both stoop up and looked each other, when suddenly they heard the sound of the library’s doors being opened. “Wh- who’s there?” Heynriik asked. “Heynriik it’s you?” he was answered by the sweet voice of Princess Celestia, she showed her head first on the end of the corridor and smiled to them, then she got close to her son and the young changeling mare. “Hello there my dears! How are you doing in this evening?” Celestia asked with her typical charming smile. “We`re fine mom….more or less” Celestia looked around and saw a huge amount of books scattered on the floor. “Hmmmm…. you two seem to have problems to find something…” “Yes majesty, we have been trying to find any book that contains information about humans….” Said Chrysalis lowering her head in sadness. “….But we didn’t find anything” Heynriik ended the sentence showing sadness on his face too. Celestia put a hoof on his chin and then looked away with her eyes closed; finally she looked to Heynriik and Chrysalis. “I have something….that can help you a bit, Riki” Heynriik gasped and exploded in happiness. “Oh really?! What it is?! Please tell me!” Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder to calm him down. “I will show it to you dear, but you have to come alone with me” Celestia looked at Chrysalis. “Why, majesty? What it is?” Chrysalis asked. “It’s something that was with Heynriik when I found him” Chrysalis nodded and looked at Heynriik. “Well, then….I see you tomorrow Heynriik?” “In the royal garden after breakfast, as always Chrysalis” Heynriik and Chrysalis said goodbye to each other, He and Celestia got out of the library and started walking together. “Where are we going, mom?” “To my room" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia opened her room’s doors and both went inside the room; Heynriik looked at all the beautiful decoration, the huge bed where she sleeps and the desk where she reads all the mail. Celestia moved to her desk and glowed her horn to open one of the drawers; she levitated a silver amulet, an old brown colored letter, and a map to gave them to Heynriik. “I always tell the servants to don’t clean in that drawer” Celestia said while getting closer to Heynriik, who was looking curious at the three things. “Wh- what are those things mom?” Heynriik asked confused. “This things where with you when I found you in the river aside of Canterlot” “You found me on a river? How?” Celestia sighed and sat on the floor. “Sit down Riki, it will take a while to tell you everything” Heynriik did as she said and sat in front of Celestia. “Ten years ago, after I raised the moon….” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Then I took you to the castle, since that day I decided to take care of you as my son” Heynriik was with a poker face, he didn’t know what to say or think, he sighed and calm down. “So….i ended here because somepony wanted to save me from something that wanted to hurt me?” Celestia nodded and stood up. “I’m sorry, but this amulet, the map and this letter written by that ”Airon Volkaer” it’s all that I got” Heynriik stood up and hugged strongly his mother, for him she was still the only mother that he knows. “Thanks mom, this helped a lot, believe me” Celestia returned the hug and released him, then she looked at a window and saw that was time to set the moon. “Well, it’s late dear; you should go to the bed now” Heynriik nodded and headed to the doors. “Goodnight…..mom” “Sleep well, my dear son, and don’t forget that I will always love you, no matters where your from or what you are, you're still my son” Heynriik closed the door and walked to his room, Celestia had let him take the amulet, map and the letter aswell, he looked at the amulet and the triple spìral triangle. “This symbol…..i don’t why but it seems familiar to me….but I never saw it before...” Finally he arrived to his room, he left the amulet at a table aside of his bed. He took a look at the map, like Celestia said before it showed an unknown continent, some parts of it were with names like “Iberii”, “Roma” or “Gallia”, and on a corner was an inscription in a strange language that he couldn't decipher. "I would like to know what says here......" He said looking at the rare letters, it wasn't equestrians of course, in fact more than letters they were like symbols. Heynriik put the map aside and looked at the letter, it was writted in perfect equestrian. “This Airon must be a human too….but, how is he related with me? hummm....” Heynriik wiped out these thoughts and sighed, he left the letter with the amulet and looked again at the map. “This place……I would like to go someday in the future…I want to know how the humans…are” Heynriik grabbed the amulet, the letter and the map to placed them inside a drawer of the table, He lay down on the bed, closed his eyes and before get to sleep, he remembered the dream that he had a few days ago, the one where he was in a baby form and with other two humans. "Jorgard.....it's how humans name their place?.....i want to go there..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in some place far away of Equestria… There was a huge building made at the border of a mountain, all made of grey stone and decorated, the roof connected to the own mountain, with a nearly endless line of stairs that went up to the mountain and leaded to two big doors with a couple of symmetric dragons in front of each other. Inside of this outstanding building, was an old man, with hoary long hair, blue eyes and a beard covering his chin, he wears a large white coat, brown leather shirt, leather boots and pants made of fur. He is inside a room full of bookcases and shelves, most of them with dirty books, covered with spider webs or dust. This old man it’s sitting on a chair, writing a book with a plume full of ink on a desk with a small torch up of his head lighting him, he feels tired, he have been waiting for years for someone in particular, but that person didn’t appear yet, he’s starting to loss any hope, and due his age he can’t wait any longer. He puts the plume on a glass, grabs a large wood stick with the head of an eagle on the top and gets up of the chair, he walks until he is in front of a curved triangular door with a hole in the middle, he inserts the wood stick, making the eyes of the eagle glow a blue light. The doors opened slowly and the old man walks inside, he encounters with a big room that was full of paintings and drawings on the walls, these showed scenes of warriors wearing a crimson colored armor with golden borders and helmets of the same color, they were armed with all kind of weapons, swords, axes, two handed swords, hammers, and all of them where fighting against an enemy in common, dragons. These dragons showed some fighting against them, others burning villages or chasing people and others just flying over a green mountainous landscape. The old man lifted his head up and looked at a huge hole on the roof that lighted the center of the room, where was three round steps that ended on a rock, in that rock was a golden trident nailed on it. The trident reflected the light above him and emanated an invisible energy, making it look like something divine, it had a description in a strange language at his handgrip. The old man stayed quiet looking at the trident; he sighed and looked at the sky through the hole on the roof. “Someday, Heynriik, you'll return home...."