//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Haven's Secret // Story: The Student and the Time Traveler // by Hidden Brony //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did. Chapter Two Haven’s Secret There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest. -Confucius Twilight         Twilight waited with bated breath for Tuesday to come again. Change was just so interesting to be around! He listened to her talk about everything and didn’t complain. He even listened attentively when she went on a tangent about her theories on Starswirl’s Permanent Time Travel spell!         It was currently friday, and a few days ago, Rainbow of all ponies had breached the idea for a sleepover at the library today. She had explicitly told Twilight that this one was going to be off the books, meaning that Twilight couldn’t rely on a book for all the activities.         To say that Twilight was panicking would be an understatement.         “Twilight,” Spike said. “You need to calm down. You’re about to have a panic attack!”         Twilight stopped where she was and began the breathing exercises Celestia had taught her after the ‘incident that shall not be named’ involving Smarty Pants. Breathe in... Breathe out... You are in control. You will not panic. When she had calmed down, she smiled at Spike, “Thanks, Spike. I just don’t know what to do!”         “Have you thought of just winging it?” he asked. “Get ideas from your friends and decide spur of the moment?”         Twilight gasped, “But Spike! Everything has to be perfect! If this isn’t perfect, we’ll get in an argument. If we get into an argument, they won’t want to be my friends anymore, and if they don’t want to be my friends anymore then Princess Celestia will take me away from Ponyville and I don’t want to leave!”         Spike facepalmed, “Twilight, listen to yourself! None of that is going to happen!” There was a knock at the door. “That’s one of them now. Just relax and don’t overcomplicate anything.”         But contrary to what Spike said, when he opened the door, it was not one of the Elements. At the door was a panicked cyan stallion.         “Uh, hi Change,” Spike started, confused. “You need something?” Change frantically nodded his head, handing Spike a piece of paper. On it was written Need help. Now.         Spike’s eyes widened, and he ran into the library, “I’ll get Twilight! TWILIGHT!”         “Yes Spike? You don’t need to-” Twilight started chastising him.         “No time! Change is at the door and-” Spike tried to begin.         “Change is here?” Twilight asked excitedly.         “Twilight, listen! He gave me this!” Spike handed over the paper. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she ran to the front door.         “I’m here. Where am I needed?” Twilight asked. Change nodded and, after indicating for her to follow him, he ran to the West, towards the Everfree. Twilight followed close behind. She paused, uncertain, at the border of the Everfree, but Change’s pleading look made up her mind. Within minutes, they reached a clearing where a stallion lay, motionless. Blood was running down his black coat, and it was starting to pool around his body. If he was alive, it was barely.         Twilight gasped when she checked him over. He had dozens of lacerations over his body, multiple broken ribs, a broken leg, and what looked like a sprained wing. She had never seen anypony this injured before. “He needs to get to the hospital!” Twilight exclaimed. Change nodded before scribbling a question in the dirt. Teleport?         Twilight shook her head, “Puts too much stress on the body, we need to run him back, and fast. My magic can only stall the bleeding for a few minutes.”         Change nodded, gingerly picking up the injured pegasus. His face was a mask of determination as they ran back through the forest, him carrying the pegasus and Twilight using her magic to make sure he didn’t bleed out or fall off Change’s back.         The streets of Ponyville were nearly devoid of any ponies due to the late hour, but the few that were there quickly moved out of the way of the three ponies sprinting towards the hospital. They burst through the doors of the hospital, and Twilight yelled, “We need a doctor, here! It’s an emergency! Code E!”         Everypony in Ponyville knew what a code E was. That pony had been injured by an unknown entity in the Everfree, and subjected to who knows what venoms and magical maladies. Within seconds, the stallion was picked up off of Change’s back, and rushed to the nearest room.         Change threw a pouch full of easily three hundred bits on the counter, starting to write something. The receptionist pushed the pouch back at him, smiling, “Emergencies are free of charge.” Change shook his head and put the piece of paper on the counter. The receptionist stared at it in shock. He was never here. * * * Spike         Spike sat in the library, worried for Twilight. He worried about Twilight, he worried about Change, but most of all, he worried that Change had hurt Twilight. He had no reason to distrust the stallion, in fact he had nothing but the opposite. However, he also hadn’t known the stallion for long, and his first impression could have been completely wrong.         His musings were cut short by a knocking at the door. He opened it to reveal a perplexed looking Rarity. “Spike?” she asked, obviously confused, “Do you have any idea why Twilight almost ran me over getting an injured pony to the hospital?”         “Change came by,” Spike rubbed the back of his head, “Said he needed help. Beyond that, I have no idea.”         “Change?” Rarity asked.         Spike facepalmed, Rarity hadn’t met the stallion yet! Of course she didn’t know who he was! “He’s a mute stallion from out of town that Twilight made friends with. He has the hugest crush I’ve ever seen on her, and she’s completely oblivious.”         “Ah, so that was the stallion carrying the injured pony, then,” Rarity thought out loud. “Cyan? White hair? Horseshoe cutie mark?”         Applejack spoke up from behind Rarity, “Woah! Injured pony? Ah missed somethin’, didn’t ah? How’s an injured pony involve Change?”         Spike looked behind Rarity to see Applejack walking up to the library with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. * * * Twilight         Twilight had no idea who this mystery stallion was, or how Change knew he was in the Everfree. There were so many unanswered questions already, and this just brought up more of them!         She paced back and forth, thinking important thoughts, when she noticed a piece of paper on a nearby table addressed to her. She unfolded it to see Twilight. Be back sometime tomorrow. I have something important to do. Don’t let him leave if he wakes up before I return. Change.         She groaned. Of course he left. * * * Change         Change felt kinda bad for leaving how he did, but he needed to get to Haven. He didn’t know why Warden was in the lair of a manticore, but he had an idea. Boss was going to want to know he was injured. Now. Change knocked on the tree, allowing access for himself. He barely paused to close the secret door, charging into the clearing. He whipped his head around, checking if Boss was out and about. Seeing nopony, he knocked on Boss’s door.         Change knocked every few seconds until Boss opened the door, “CHANGE! What is so important that you can’t wait five damn seconds?” Change scrawled into the dirt. “What do you mean Warden’s- that can’t be good. Will he live?” Change nodded. “That’s something at least. Where did you take him?” More scrawling. “The hospital? Change! You should know better than that! We can’t have any of us on record!” Scribble scribble. “You what? That was... forward thinking of you. I didn’t expect that from you. Brick, maybe, but you don’t seem like the bribing type.” Change gave Boss a flat look. “Look, Change, we don’t have anyone we can send to watch over him. We’re going to have to assume he’s compromised and move.”         Change shook his head. “Change, we don’t have time for this! We have preparations to make. We can’t be seen in Ponyville again.” Change glared at Boss, and scribbled into the dirt. “You’ll...” Boss’s voice trailed off as he read. “You wouldn’t, Change. You wouldn’t dare. She’d kill you too.” Change’s glare remained unchanged. Boss sighed, “Fine. He’s your responsibility. Check in in a week. If he doesn’t wake by then we move without him.” Change nodded, erased his writing, and left to return to Ponyville.         “And Change?” Boss called after him with an unusually cold voice, “If you ever pull something like that again, I’ll kill you.” Change whirled around, shock and hurt clear on his face. “I’d rather have to kill you with my own claws than know that you went to that monster to give us up. I agree that I gave up on Warden too fast, but if you think I won’t sacrifice one of this family for the well being of the rest of it, you’re wrong.”         Change left before Boss could see the tears. * * * Twilight Sparkle         Twilight was sitting in her library, curled up with a good book in front of the fire. She paused for a moment and watched how the flickering flames in her fireplace caused shadows to jump around. She sighed in contentment. Her life couldn’t get any better.         Life proved her wrong within seconds as Change walked up next to her and placed down a steaming cup of tea. He smiled at her, before laying down stomach-to-back with her, placing his head on her shoulder to read her book with her. She sat there for a minute, just enjoying the feeling of his closeness.         Eventually she decided it was time for bed. She lifted her head and nuzzled Change, who had fallen asleep, and extracted herself from the sleeping stallion’s grip. She levitated him while walking upstairs, and after placing him in his usual spot next to her, climbed in herself. She snuggled up next to him, and let sleep claim her.         Twilight’s head snapped up, and she looked around the room in panic. Blue walls, green ceiling, purple sheets. She sighed in relief. She had just fallen asleep in the strange stallion’s room. But what was that dream? she thought. That was too weird.         She looked at the clock. Ugh, it’s only seven. She looked outside to see the sun on its descent to nighttime. Standing and stretching, she suddenly saw something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look, she saw Change curled up in the corner, shaking.         Twilight quietly made her way over to him, only to find that he was quietly sobbing. She didn’t know why he was crying, or how long he had lain unnoticed there, but seeing him in that state hurt her. She felt him stiffen when she hugged him, but he didn’t pull away.         Within minutes, his sobbing subsided and his breathing evened out. Twilight smiled, he’d fallen asleep. Hopefully his dreams weren’t full of whatever it was that put him in this state.         “It’ll be okay, I promise. I won’t let anypony hurt you.” * * * Change         Change was running. It didn’t matter how long he was running, or how fast he ran. Every time he looked back, he saw those cold golden eyes piercing him from the darkness. The world around him thrummed with the words “I’ll kill you.” Those words echoed around him, tore into his soul. So he ran, he ran away from the pain, from the hurt.         Suddenly he heard a voice call out of the darkness, “It’ll be okay, I promise.” He saw a lavender light in front of him, and he sprinted for that light with all his strength. The closer he got, the less afraid he felt, the less those eyes could be seen when he looked back. Eventually, he reached the light.         He looked around in confusion, what had formerly been darkness was now a sunny summer meadow. Inside this meadow was Twilight, and she walked up to him and hugged him. He stiffened at her touch, but slowly relaxed. He heard her say, “I won’t let anypony hurt you.”         The rest of his night was spent in the meadow. * * * Twilight         The strange stallion spoke up weakly, “Poor guy. Wonder what got him in that state?”         Twilight whipped her head to look at this stallion. He had woken up? How long had he been awake? “How long have you been awake?”         “Long enough,” came the weak reply. “I’ve never seen him in that state, nor have I seen him calmed down that fast. Usually we need to wait for Beatrix to calm him down, he must like you. A lot.” He looked out the window and frowned, “What day is it today?”         Twilight frowned as well, that was an unusual question to ask, “Friday, why?”         The strange stallion frowned even more, “Gonna need to talk to him when he wakes up.” He yawned, “Musta used healing magic. Always takes a lot out of you.” He yawned again, “Wake me up when the kid’s awake, kay?” His eyes were closed before she could even reply.         Twilight frowned, she hadn’t gotten to learn much, but what she did confused her. First, this stallion knows Change. Second, this stallion knows someone named Beatrix. And third, he’d most likely been injured to an extent needing healing magic at least once before.         The nurse knocked quietly at the door before entering, “Visiting hours are over, I’m sorry but both of you have to leave now.”         Twilight thanked the nurse for informing her, and levitated the sleeping Change onto her back. She paused as she was leaving, “Nurse Redheart? He was awake for a while. I didn’t get much out of him besides the fact he knows Change here, someone named Beatrix, and that healing magic ‘always takes a lot out of you,’ so he most likely had been injured sometime. Maybe he’s in the records somewhere?”         Nurse Redheart smiled, “Thank you, Twilight.”         Twilight nodded and left the hospital. She noticed all her friends were outside, except for Pinkie, for some odd reason. She did a double take, “Where’s Pinkie?”         Rarity chuckled, “Just went on a bathroom break. Poor thing’s been trying to meet Change since you brought him up, but always barely misses him.”         Rainbow snickered, “He looks comfortable.”         Twilight gave her a flat look, “Says the pony resting on Applejack’s back.”         Rainbow blushed and rolled off Applejack and onto her feet. Applejack had a quiet chuckle at her expense. “Guess ah’m comfy, she does it so much it don’t bother me anymore.”         Twilight smiled, “Well, I’d wait for Pinkie, but Change needs a place to sleep. I’m taking him to the library. Say hi to Pinkie for me, would you girls?”         Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Wait a minute, we came here to see you and figure out who this strange stallion is. You can’t just leave!”         Twilight shook her head before looking back at Change fondly, “Something was bothering Change, I don’t want to risk waking him up after how hard it was to get him asleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”         On her back, Change shifted around. * * * Change         When Change opened his eyes, he was confused. This wasn’t his house in Haven. His panic rose. Where am I? Did she find me? Damn it! The events of the past day caught up with him, and he calmed down.         He climbed out of bed and remade it. This bed is too nice to be a spare. Walking downstairs, he sees Twilight sleeping on the couch. Knew it. She gave me her bed? I would have been happy with the couch, myself. He smiled and walked back upstairs. After writing a short thank you note, and some quick searching, he grabs some spare blankets out of Twilight’s closet.         He returned downstairs and draped a blanket over Twilight. He smiled fondly as she snuggled up with a smile on her face. If I’m going to be a guest, I won’t be a freeloader. He decided, heading into the kitchen. A cursory searching of the pantries led to pancake mix. Breakfast? Looking at the clock, it was eight in the morning. Breakfast. * * * Twilight         Twilight woke up slowly, feebly fighting a losing battle to keep in the realm of dreams. When she inevitably woke up, she felt warm. The sound of pans clanging came from the kitchen. Pans clanging? I sent Spike to Rarity’s, who’s in the kitchen? When she went to get up, she noticed she had a blanket on. That’s why I felt warm, she thought. Smiling, she thought, Change must have given me a spare blanket.         Twilight levitated the blanket into the air and folded it, placing it on the back of the couch. She went to investigate the noises coming from the kitchen, forming suspicions in her head as to the source of the noise. Her suspicions were somewhat confirmed when she saw Change trying his hardest to put out a fire in a pan. She looked on in confusion before seeing the box of pancake mix. When Twilight realized that Change had caught pancakes on fire, she couldn’t help but giggle.         Change turned around, and upon seeing Twilight was mortified. He quickly tried to hide all the evidence of his mishap, causing Twilight to giggle even more. She levitated more supplies to them. “Here, I’ll help,” she giggled. “Maybe with our combined abilities, we can avoid burning down the library.” * * * Change         Change and Twilight sat at the table, eating burnt pancakes. With their combined culinary abilities, they were able to make just enough edible pancakes for the two of them to eat. Twilight broke the companionable silence, “I guess neither of us are good cooks, huh? Good thing I have Spike around.”         Change chuckled silently. Damn it, it annoys me that I can’t even laugh anymore.          Twilight suddenly remembered, “Oh, and the stallion you found in the Everfree wants to talk to you when you’ve woken up. I guess that’s now huh?”         Change’s whole demeanor changed. No longer was he the friendly, happy Change Twilight was used to. This was a whole new Change. He seemed old, tired, but despite all that, still angry. She wasn’t sure what to think of that.         He stood up, and started clearing dishes unusually robotically. Twilight grabbed the plates in her levitation and smiled sadly at him, “I’ll get it. You go, it sounded important.”         Change nodded and grabbed paper, ink, and a quill. He turned to Twilight with a questioning look on his face. She nodded. At least I can ‘talk’.  * * * Warden         Change and Warden had been sitting in their current positions for the last five minutes, neither willing to breach the topic on hand. Finally, Warden broke the silence. “How much did you see, kid?”         Change shoved a piece of paper at Warden. What were you doing dragging a body into a manticore den?         Warden flinched. “I’d hoped to not have to answer this question for years, if ever. Kid, just let it go. This is not a path you’ll want to go down.”         Change tapped the paper for emphasis.         “Kid, please. I don’t want to have to be the one to tell you this,” Warden pleaded.         Change scrawled onto another piece of paper. How many?         “Kid, don’t. Drop it,” Warden continued pleading. “Don’t go down this line of questioning. It brings nothing but pain.”         Change scrawled another note, tapping each word. How. Many. Have. You. Killed.         Warden hung his head, “Thirteen.”         Change’s mask of fury melted, and he broke down crying.         “Kid-” Warden reached for Change, only to be batted away. He looked into Change’s eyes and saw what he had never hoped to see. Change’s eyes were filled with betrayal, and worse, hatred. Warden had to face the fact that Change, who was like his little brother, would never forgive him for what he’d done.         Another note was pushed into his chest. It was simple, just a tear mottled note with one word on it. Why?         Warden sighed in defeat, “Boss’s orders. I’m sorry kid. This was one thing I had hoped you’d never learn.”         Change looked into his eyes with the most lost expression on his face. He backed up, shaking his head. Warden opened his mouth to say something else, but Change had whirled around and sprinted out of the room. “KID!” Warden called after him. “WAIT!”         But he was already gone.         Warden sighed and pushed the nurse call button. When Nurse Redheart walked in, he started with the heavy stuff. “I’d like to report a murder.”