The sun was on its descent, the sky a mix of orange and purple. A few clouds lazily floated by, a gust of gentle wind making the trees shake. A lone kid sat on the beach, watching the sunset. The ocean lapped at the sand, almost touching the kid’s feet.
I pulled my feet closer to myself and sat there silently, a few kids splashing in a final game before they left. I pulled the jacket closer and stared off into space.
Maybe the kids were right, I am a monster. I mean… I could get them all sick, why should I try to play with them? I don’t want to hurt them. I sighed and looked at the darkening ocean. I’ve always heard drowning was a painful way to go, it’d probably suit me just fine. For a moment, I didn’t do anything and sat there, running a hand through the rough sand.
I got up and slowly made it to the ocean waters. It was freezing and I nearly chickened out right then and there. It was getting close to the middle of August and the waters were getting chilly. I gulped and went deeper, the water rising up to my stomach. I started breathing fast, going deeper till it was almost at my chin.
Someone screamed behind me and I heard a loud roar as a large wave surged for me. Before I could blink, it crashed into me and I was pulled under. I fought for the surface but something was forcing me down. My chest burned for air and I struggled for a few moments, my eyes burning from the water.
Not exactly how I... I trailed off, my eyes closing and I could feel myself sinking deeper and deeper.
Suddenly I heard a whoosh as flames erupted around me. I whirled around, the ocean gone and I was back in my house. It was being eaten alive by the flames, my only escape blocked. I tried to run but my legs wouldn’t move. I looked down and saw they were chained to the ground. I bent down and struggled to move them, my entire body moving in slow-motion.
The fire, however, was alive and heading my way. There was nothing I could do and stopped. I took a deep breath, trying not to cough as the fire slammed into me. I yelled in pain, my skin blistering. I cried for help, no one around. I thrashed about and felt my hands being held, sudden shackles forcing them to be still. I stared at the ceiling. “Haven’t I been through enough!?” I yelled at the top of my lungs, using the last air I had managed to get before slumping forward into black.
--**--
I took a deep breath, everything slowly coming back. I heard a faint hum of a machine to my right and tried to open my eyes. My right eye was still swollen shut and my left could only open a little before it shut, the light to bright. I grunted in pain and tried to move. My hooves felt heavy and most of what I did feel was in a cast.
There was something wet on my forehead and I could just see the faint outlines of a cloth. There was movement off to my side and slowly turned, the world spinning.
“Easy…” Nurse Redheart murmured, a smile on her lips as she checked a few things. “Welcome back Leon, you gave us quite a scare.”
I grunted and tried to get my mouth working. “Ugh…”
She took the cloth off my forehead and put a new one on, it was nice and cold. “You have a mild fever… seems you picked up something.”
“How is she?” I croaked.
“The filly?” She hesitated before walking out of my sight before returning in a moment, holding a clipboard. “Her fever broke yesterday… She was malnourished and can’t keep anything done really, so we’re giving her small helpings of soup and water. Seems to be holding. Her body is healing slowly, there was a lot of damage over time. She had a some infections but I think we got the most of it. There were quite severe markings on her neck…” She raised an eyebrow.
I coughed and tried to move but was stop by a strong hoof from Redheart. I groaned and nodded, conceding. “She was grabbed by the throat…”
“I see… I thought as much…” She looked at the filly and my head fell that way. Sparkling was sleeping peacefully, the bags under her eyes mostly gone. What I could see of her coat that wasn’t bandaged was clean and groomed. Her mane was the same. “It was quite the challenge getting her to relax long enough to do it, but with Fluttershy here, we got her to calm down enough for us to give her a bath.”
“Thanks…”
“No problem, now we just gotta get you back to normal.”
“Heh, how bad was I?”
“Both of you were malnourished, so we’ll probably feed you the same when you’re strong enough. Few broken ribs, your wing was fractured in a few places. If that stab wound was any lower, it would’ve punctured your lung. But we got all the cuts and bruises, along with the stab wound closed and cleaned. We weren’t sure if we could break the fever though, you were thrashing about pretty bad.”
“Ah, I see…” I looked around and saw the window. It must’ve been two or three in the morning, the moon high in the sky. “W-what time is it?”
“Two thirty in the morning,” she paused, “you’ve been here for a week.”
“A-a week?”
She nodded. “You were in rough shape… It was a hit and miss a few times.”
“Oi…” I stopped and thought for a moment. “Wait… i-if I’ve been here for a week… how long was I captured?”
“A month.”
My eye widened. “I-I couldn’t tell… when there’s no way to track the sun, time is a really hard thing to keep track of.”
“I can imagine. Didn’t help you forced yourself to do most of it without sleep.” She had me answer a few questions, just to see how much I recovered. It seems I was going alright and I should be out in a week.
Apparently Princesses Celestia and Luna were in town, having heard of my capture and escape. Not sure why but I had a feeling Twilight was responsible. They were probably discussing what to do with Sparkling. I wonder what Celestia will say about the changelings. Apart of me wants to go after them… but I know they’re long gone. Chrysalis is no fool. Even on the off chance I could lead them back, there won’t be any point.
As Redheart was wrapping up, my body decided then it was a good time to voice its complaints. Everything hurt and I was still so… tired. I yawned and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.
“That’s enough for tonight. We can continue this later.” Redheart was turning to leave when she paused. “Oh, also… I suggest thanking a certain pony that never left your side.” She said with a smile.
I turned and saw Dash asleep in a chair, her head resting against the wall next to my bed. A few books were stacked on my nightstand and a blanket was draped over her.
“No matter how much we tried to move her, she’d wind up right back there. So we stopped after the third night.” She shrugged and headed to the door. “It’s not my place to say, but it was… quite admirable… and adorable.” She teasingly added at the end. “Goodnight.” She was gone and the door clicked shut.
I sighed and looked at Dash. Her chin rested against her chest which raised and lowered slowly with each breath. I hissed as a pang of guilt shot through me. I knew that she’d be by my side, Element of Loyalty and all… but seeing her like this… I didn’t realize how much she’d devote to being with me.
Which made me realize how bad I screwed up. Not only did I get kidnapped, I let them go with all those fillies and colts. I did manage to rescue Sparkling however, so that’s a plus. I pulled a sword on the girls and nearly got Derpy hurt. Just by being here. I would’ve put a hoof over my face but that took too much energy.
I’m sorry I couldn’t save you all… My nose started running and I sniffed. The door creaked open and I opened my eye again, quickly trying to wipe my nose.
The female changeling stood before me, silently watching. Before I could even move, she was holding a hoof to my lips. “Peace Leon.” She whispered as she lowered her hoof.
“Says the one that kidnapped me.”
“I regret what happened but the Queen wanted to speak with you. I didn’t know her plans were to detain you.”
“Of course not, you only made sure I followed and took me to see her every day for a month.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry; but you must understand, you can’t say no to her.”
“I did.”
“And look what happened.”
I grunted. “So what do you want? To finish me off?”
“No, I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Then ask and get the hell out.”
She nodded before turning around and walking over to Sparkling. I growled and leaned forward, almost blacking out from the pain. She rested a hoof against the sleeping filly’s mane and brushed it. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you defy the Queen? What good did it do you?”
“Because the Queen may have kidnapped me, but I had ponies to protect.”
“The Elements?” She raised an eyebrow. “I doubt they need your protection.”
“No, you used Derpy against me, I wasn’t going to let her get hurt. I could never live with myself if that happened. Then I found out you’ve been brainwashing and feeding off children. I had to rescue them.”
She rolled her eyes. “I still don’t see the big deal.”
“They were children, literally at the end of their ropes. And you pretended to be their parents.”
“We made them happy, gave them food, shelter and protection.”
“Under lies and deceptions.”
She glared at me. “We are changelings, we feed off love. As you yourself is an example, we can’t get love by asking.”
“No, but you seemed to do fine before the whole Canterlot thing.”
“Because we’ve been feeding off orphans for years. You do not understand how long we were preparing for that assault.”
“Oh, I can imagine it was quite a while.” I rested against the pillows. “The fact is what you’re doing is wrong.”
“By trying to exist?”
“Not what I meant. I’m pretty sure there are ponies somewhere that would willingly give up love for you.”
“Would you?”
“No.”
“Exactly my point.”
I sighed and got a hoof to rub my eye. “Once again, we’ve come to a stand still. Is that the only thing you wanted to ask?”
“No.” She hesitated for a brief moment. “Why did you go back for the filly?” she asked in a whisper.
I opened an eye and looked at her carefully. “You can’t be serious.”
“Very. You could’ve escaped without half these wounds. But yet you chose to go back and endanger yourself to save her.”
“Obviously you haven’t heard of me, I’m stupid like that.” I licked my lips. “But I had to save her, because she would’ve died soon.” Before she could say anything, I interrupted. “You weren’t showing her the same kind of attention you were the others. She looked pretty bad when I got there and every time she came back, she had new wounds.”
“She made it harder on herself.”
“Did she not surrender love either?”
“It was hard to steal love by impersonating somepony that was dead.” The changeling dead-panned.
“Oh…” I guess that made sense… but it made me even angrier. “So you tried to steal love by using her dead parents?”
“We didn’t know at the time-”
“Do you have any idea how traumatizing that must’ve been?!” I said, a little loudly.
“Shut up!” The changeling hissed as she stomped up to me. “The world is not an easy place to live. You have to grow up fast or you die.”
“Heh, you sound just like Chrissy.”
Her eyes turned cold. “I am nothing like the Queen.”
“Oh? I can see her in you, you know. The way you argue things. That’s totally a Chrissy thing.”
I could hear her fangs grinding against each other. “We know all about how you came to be, Leon. Do not look down at us.”
“So what? I killed myself… I think I know a thing or two about the world being rough.”
“Or you were just too weak to live in yours.”
“Funny, I seem to be doing just fine in yours.”
“For the time being. We are the least of your worries. Just wait till the other nations learn of your existence.”
“Oh, I’m shaking in my boots.”
She grinned and headed towards the door. “If you think we were a challenge, you’ll learn soon enough. Not all nations play as kindly as we do.” She turned to look at Dash. “Be careful who you show affection to. Not everypony can be protected.”
“Get out.”
She turned and left, the door shutting behind her. I sighed and leaned heavily against the pillows. I closed my eye and could feel my body starting to drift off. She’s right though...
--**--
Sunlight streamed in from the window, hitting me right in the eye. I turned my head away from it but I heard somepony giggle. I moaned, wanting to go back to sleep but opened my eye. Fluttershy was there, smiling at me.
“Good morning…” I muttered.
“Good morning, how are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked.
“Like I died… again… For the third time or so.”
“Oh, I can go get Nurse Stable…”
“I’m fine, how’s Sparkling?”
Fluttershy faintly smiled. “Slowly getting better. She actually just finished breakfast.” She moved out of the way to show the filly awake and sitting up on her bed, looking at me.
“Hi…” She said quietly before looking at her sheets. “T-thank you… for saving me…”
“It’s not a problem, glad I could. How are you feeling?”
“A lot better, Ms Fluttershy and everypony has been helping me…” She fidgeted, her eyes flickering up to mine before back at the bed. “S-sorry you got hurt because of me.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad you’re okay.”
She looked at me and went to say something else but stopped when the door shot off its hinges and streamers flew into the room with a loud bang. She yelped in fear and nearly flew off the bed. Fluttershy and myself were right behind her.
Pinkie appeared behind her party cannon. “Oops, silly me. I forgot that I packed the cannon extra tight. Sorry everypony~!” She hopped into the room and Fluttershy gave her a small look.
“Hey Pinkie,” I said and waved a hoof.
“Hiya Leon!” She bounced over. “How are you? Better?”
“Mmhm…”
“Goody! Means I can throw-”
“No parties just yet,” I interrupted.
“Aww… No fun…” She pouted and hooked a hoof over. “Still gonna throw a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party for Sparkling.”
“I’m not sure that’s…” I stopped as she gave me the puppy eyes. I sighed. “Alright, alright…”
“P-party?” Sparkling squeaked.
Pinkie was next to her. “Well of course you need a party! You’ve been stuck in a nasty ol’ dungeon for like ever! You haven’t mingled or had any friends! And everypony needs friends! I mean, can you imagine living without your bestest friends~!? I know I couldn’t!”
“Pinkie, maybe we can have a low key party…” Fluttershy offered. At the look on Pinkie’s face Fluttershy eeped. “I mean, till she at least gets better.”
“You’re right Fluttershy, we have to wait till she get better.” Pinkie nodded, the matter settled. “Oh! I better go get Leon some breakfast before they put it away.” And just like that, she was gone, leaving streamers everywhere.
“I-is she always like that?” Sparkling asked in a hushed voice.
“That’s Pinkie for you…” I leaned forward, the dull pain in my head slowly receding.
Fluttershy was there in an instant. “You should lay down, you were hurt pretty badly…”
“I’m doing better…” I protested.
“I’d listen to Fluttershy, her instincts were correct.” Princess Celestia said as she stood in the door with a little smirk.
Everypony bowed in the room, Sparkling blue eyes wide in shock. Celestia smiled and motioned for us to rise before walking over to the filly. “Hello little one, what’s your name?”
“S-sparkling… Shield…” she whispered.
“It’s nice to meet you, my name is Princess Celestia.”
Sparkling went to bow and Celestia rested a hoof against her head. “There’s no need to bow.” She sat down gracefully on the floor next to the bed. I realized how tall she was… she was still almost level with Sparkling. I heard movement off to the side and saw a pair of guards flanking the door. “How are you feeling little one?”
“A-a lot be-better! T-thank you…”
Celestia smiled. “It’s my pleasure but I’d recommend thanking the doctors and Fluttershy. They were the ones that helped.” Sparkling nodded dumbly. Celestia smile quickly turned into a frown. “I know this is gonna be hard, but can I ask you a few questions?”
“O-of course Princess…”
I faded in and out of the conversation at this point, Celestia asking Sparkling questions about the hive, Chrysalis, her parents. I wanted to listen, but my brain was still fuzzy. They must’ve put me on some serious painkillers… I chuckled to myself and didn’t hear Celestia call my name till the third time.
“Leon?”
I blinked and rubbed my eyes for a moment. “Huh? Oh, uh… sorry Princess. I was lost in my own world for a moment.”
“It’s fine… I understand you’re still recovering but I need to get your view as well.” She said, holding a hoof up to her mouth to cover a smile.
I nodded and told her everything I could remember, save the meeting with the female changeling last night. I was surprised how impartial it sounded, I thought I’d be furious and upset. I guess I’m becoming a bit more cynical. Go figure.
After I was done, we all sat in silence. I looked at Celestia and she looked back. I had a feeling she knew what was on my mind. “Princess?”
“Hm?”
“We’re not going after the others, are we?”
She blinked slowly. “What do you mean?”
“The other fillies and colts.”
She was silent for a moment before she seemed to age before me. I could see the thousand plus years in her eyes. “It would appear so yes…”
I sighed. “I thought so…”
“What do you mean we’re not?” Twilight asked, walking in with Princess Luna right behind. She turned to Celestia. “There are innocent fillies and colts being abused.”
“How?” I asked.
“Huh?” She looked at me.
“How are we gonna get them?”
“Well, we have Sparkling lead us…” She trailed off as Celestia shook her head.
“She doesn’t remember and neither does Leon.” The sun goddess stood and I could see why some ponies feared her. A burning desire for revenge bloomed into her eyes as she glanced at Sparkling. “I sent several ponies to comb the forest once I heard of Leon’s kidnapping and they haven’t found anything. Chrysalis is no fool. She would’ve left the moment these two escaped, on the off chance that they could lead us back.”
Twilight looked crestfallen and everypony avoided looking at her. “Oh… those poor fillies…”
“I know… I feel the same way you do.” I said. “What are we going to do Princess?”
She sighed and shook her head. “There’s nothing we can do…” Luna whispered.
“But, on the bright side, Leon is back and did save Sparkling. For that, you have my thanks Leon.”
“It was nothing, was the least I could do…” I faintly smiled.
“Breakfast~!” Pinkie’s voice carried down the hall as the bubbly pony hopped back in, carrying a tray on her head. She set it on my lap and smiled. “Oh, and I ran into another pony that was wondering if you were awake.” She said with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.
“Uh…?” I asked, confused.
“Hey Leon, how you feeling?” Dash asked, standing there with a grin.
My heart skipped a beat as she came over. “I’m doing a lot better hehe…”
She blushed faintly and I quickly looked at my food and shoved a mouthful in. Thank you Pinkie…
I could feel everypony’s eyes on us and I’m sure Dash could as well, if the blush and grin on her face said anything. She leaned forward and whapped my snout.
“Ow! What was that for?” I rubbed my nose.
“For drawing your sword on me when I was trying to help and for not telling me those were changelings! What in the hay were you thinking?!”
“Well it’s not like I could’ve said anything. If I did, they could’ve hurt Derpy. I didn’t want to take the chance.”
“I doubt that, they aren’t even home. Dinky and Rumble nearly set the whole thing on fire in a cooking accident. They’re having the entire place remodeled and they’re staying with Carrot Top.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah, ‘oh’. If you would’ve told me, we could’ve taken them.”
“I’m not sure about that… the female, she was scary good with magic. Like, Twilight scary good with magic. And I barely beat the brother in a hoof fight.”
Dash paused for a moment and sighed. “It’s never easy with you, is it?”
“Coming from you, no, no it’s not.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, her eyes narrow as we were snout to snout.
Pinkie pushed us apart. “Okay, okay, let’s calm down… No need for shouty pants.”
Me and Dash both glared at each other before turning away and everypony laughed. I sighed and rolled my eyes as Princess Celestia got up and smiled. “As much as I want to stay here and help, sadly, me and Princess Luna must depart. I’ve neglected my royal duties for long enough.” She turned to Twilight. “Twilight, would you like to accompany us?”
“Of course Princess.” Twilight smiled and the three of them went to leave.
A thought popped into my head. “Wait, Princess.”
She paused and looked over her shoulder. “Yes?”
“Why did you want Shining Armor to test my sword skills…” I trailed off, realization dawning on me. “You had a feeling something like this would happen, didn’t you?”
She blinked again, Luna’s face going neutral. “Perhaps… perhaps not. Maybe I felt it’d be good for you to learn, just in case.” She smiled. “Goodbye Leon, I do hope you feel better.” She said before stopping at Sparkling and gently nuzzled her cheek. “And you too little one.” The three left, Twilight and Celestia talking about something.
Sparkling’s jaw was unhinged and she held a hoof to where the princess had nuzzled her. “Well that’s vague enough to be a hint.” I murmured to myself as Pinkie hummed something.
Fluttershy and Sparkling whispered between them and Fluttershy disappeared for a moment, returning with a wheelchair. She helped Sparkling in it and she called my name. “Leon?”
“Yeah?”
“I-is is alright if I take Sparkling to go see Nurse Redheart?”
“Uh… yeah… I’m not really sure why you asked me. Not like I’m in charge of her or anything...”
Fluttershy smiled and they left too. I watched them leave suspiciously, my brain trying to handle everything at once. “Is anypony else getting the feeling something happened when they weren’t paying attention?”
“Oh yeah, well, Sparkling sorta said she wanted to stay with you, since you did save her from the mean ol’ changelings. Everypony thought that’d be a good idea so she’s like your daughter now!” Pinkie said.
“Oh, I see… WAIT WHAT?” I asked in shock.
“Yeah, you saved her and there was a big argument about putting her back up into the orphanages… but she asked if she could stay with you.”
“...Well then…”
“Is that bad?”
“No, it’s just…” I looked down at myself. “I can barely take care of myself, let alone a filly…”
“Don’t worry about it; you’ll have Fluttershy and Auntie Pinkie to help! And I know Rarity would love to help as well. Oh, maybe even Applejack could help when she’s not busy.” She turned to Dash. “What about you Dashie?”
“Oh… uh, yeah, sure.”
“Yay! That means everypony will help you out so you’re not alone~” Pinkie grinned at me.
“Thanks… I guess… I’ll do my best…”
“That’s the spirit!” She grinned ear to ear before something chimed in her mane. “Oh no!” She pulled out an egg timer from her mane. “They’re gonna be burnt!” And just like that, she zoomed out of the room, the egg timer hitting the floor.
Me and Dash stared at it. “Should I even ask?”
Dash shrugged. “Better not.”
It was an awkward few minutes, neither looking at the each other. Finally, Dash rolled her eyes. “Well I guess since you’re not gonna say anything, I will.”
“Oh joy…” I muttered. “I love interrogations…”
She looked me in the eye. “What is wrong with you?”
I raised an eyebrow. “You know why I did it.” I crossed my hooves.
“I know, no matter how much I try and get it through your thick skull-”
“Well excuse me for trying to protect Derpy!”
“But you didn’t! All you did was get yourself hurt!”
“At the time, I did what I thought was right.”
“...I understand that, but can’t you admit you did the wrong thing?”
“Wrong how? I saved Sparkling, I’d call that a win.”
“You nearly died, you almost attacked us, and…”
I wonder if she could see my heart cracking with each jab because she trailed off and looked away. But she was right, I did something really stupid and it nearly cost me my life. I’ve never said I was a smart person, but damn, when I screwed up, I screw up royally. I glared at her, refusing to acknowledge the building wetness in the corner of my eyes. “And what? Anything else you’d like to accuse me of?”
“Leon… something happened to you while you were there… didn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
She walked up and rested a hoof against mine. I ignored my heart fluttering for a moment. “This isn’t you… You’re defensive, you’re snapping at everyone… Almost as if you’re afraid of something.”
I chuckled. “I’m terrified…”
“Of what?”
I glanced at the sheets. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me Leon…” she whispered. “It matters because you mean a lot to me…” Her cheeks turned slightly pink. “I mean, you’re a good friend… I don’t like seeing you so…” She paused, trying to find the right word.
“What does it matter though Dash? Why should I say anything? All it’ll do is cause you to worry.”
“Exactly! It’s better if somepony knows your pain.”
“I disagree…”
She growled deep in her throat. “Dang it Leon, why won’t you ask for help?”
“Because I’ll get you hurt okay!” I snapped and she got blurry as tears rolled down my cheeks. “Just by knowing me...” I gestured at myself and Sparkling’s bed. “Look at me, I barely made it out of there… but she survived longer than I did. This entire thing was because of my ancestor that I don’t even know. Everything's gonna try and kill me because of him, no matter if I’m anything like him.”
I angrily smacked the bed. “Think about it… everything that’s happened… The secret meeting, the changelings… They even threatened that they were the least of my worries. Too much has happened in such a short time, I can feel the pressure building up inside. Celestia knew what would happen, she wanted me to learn how to protect myself so she sent Shining Armor to give me a practice fight. Hell, she even let me keep my sword!” My head hit the headboard. “There’s so much she’s not telling me… but what can I do? I understand that some things have to be kept a secret, that’s the nature of things… but at least a little knowledge or a warning would be nice.”
No matter what I do, I’m judged for something I have no control over. I’m not like my ancestor alright? I don’t want war… I don’t want anypony to get hurt because of me… but everypony is going to get hurt Just because they know me or are close to me. I have powerful enemies… and there’s nothing I can do about it.” I paused and sighed, wiping my eyes.
“You want to know what happened? The changelings… broke me Dash. That’s what they did. They made me realize I really should’ve just stayed dead. Every day was torture, physical or mental. Chrysalis is an expert at what she does… there were times I thought I’d break and just give in to my… urges. I wanted to… but… something stopped me. Each time was worse… and towards the end, I knew I’d lose that fight.” I whispered. “Then, when we escaped, I did everything to protect Sparkling… but I’m no hero. I realized that. Saving Fluttershy was a fluke, the manticore just underestimated me. I should’ve died there. I had lost a lot of blood… I’m surprised I didn’t.”
“You wanna hear something funny? All these stories I hear of you or the girls saving everypony made me think that I could. Sure, I’m not as fast or strong as you… but I thought I could give it a try. And look what happened… I failed spectacularly…” I gestured at myself once more. “Look at the great and mighty hero now… barely alive.”
I took a deep breath and before I could continue, a pair of hooves wrapped around and pulled me forward. She forced me to rest my head on her shoulder as she held me tightly, not saying anything.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice rough.
“I’m sorry…” she whispered, holding me close.
“Heh, there’s nothing to be sorry about. You didn’t do anything…”
“I’m sorry for everything…” she said and nuzzled me gently.
I’m not sure what happened, but the tears wouldn’t stop. I held her tightly as I cried and she gently rubbed my back.