A Change of Heart

by ChaoticHarmony

Deep in Darkness

Deep in the woods, animals began to surround Needle Wings. Curious as to what this black-shelled, insect-like creature was, they began to sniff at it, nudging it with their noses. Feeling the wetness of their noses, Needle struggled with sleep, attempting to break its hold on him. The animals darted away from him as he struggled to awaken, green fire sparked along his body, the lingering magic attempting to keep him in a slumber. As his struggle intensified, so did the fire that arced around his body. The heat from the fire charred the forest floor with black lines of soot. In a final flash, the fire web broke from Needle’s body, and shot into the sky with a thundering noise.

Needle’s eyes slowly opened, and he looked around. Cherish wasn’t there. With a rush, the memory of green fire slammed into him. Falling to his knees, the pain of the memory sliced through his mind and heart. He remembered the last sight his eyes had seen before blacking out. Blade Horn had attacked him, and he took Cherish through a green portal conjured from his horn.

They had her again.

Needle fell to his knees and let out a yell of anguish, green fire erupting from his horn and blinding him. So absorbed in his despair, he didn’t see the ponies around him in the clearing. One came forward, her horn lowered at him. Looking through numbed eyes, he barely recognized her as Cherish’s sister. Before he could say anything, a blast of magic cut off his screams of despair.

She opened her eyes into blackness. Feeling her face, she dimly recalled the green fire that was launched at her. As that thought crossed her mind, she began to panic. Needle would never hurt her, not even if he had to die of hunger. She trembled with fear as the darkness pressed on her from all sides, every step echoing back to her. Suddenly, a grating, cruel laughter rang out from the darkness. Suddenly, a green fire crackled to light in front of her. It illuminated the face of her captor.

On the verge of tears, she asked hesitantly, “Needle Wings, is that you?”

The cold, mocking laugh that rang out chilled her to the bone. “Needle Wings, is that you?” The voice mimicked in a sing-song voice that sounded like gravel tumbling down a rocky hillside. “No, you silly little foal. I’m not your precious Needle Wings.” The changeling said with a voice full of spite. “My brother is probably still under my spell. I used almost all my power to put him down.” He walked away from her, cackling as she let out a wail for her Needle.

Suddenly she felt a heat from behind her, and she turned around to see her captor just inches from her. Shuddering violently, she couldn’t move from her spot, held fast by green fire bonds. Surprisingly, they held no heat, and felt as cold as iron. His rotten-smelling breath washed over her face as he smiled at her. “Sleep well little Cherish.”

Her cell was brightly lit as he erupted into a column of green fire. It seemed all the blacker when the fire finally disappeared.

She finally had him, the monster that took her sister away from her. She finally has the chance to exact her revenge upon that monster that took her other half away. She burned with a strange curiosity, walking towards her house. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed by her curiosity, and she turned onto the path that lead toward the cage. Bright Light slowly walked up to the cage, her mouth working around the question that she yearned to ask.

Her eyes met the sad green ones behind the bars. “Are you here to end my pain?” The creature said with unmistakable sadness.

When she shook her head, he looked even sadder. “I am not here to kill you just yet.” She said with anger. “But I’m here to ask you a question.” He didn’t look up or even acknowledge her words. Heaving a sigh, Bright Light plowed on with her interrogation, “Where is my sister now?”

The pain that was in his voice tore at even Bright’s angry heart. “She is with my brother. He is probably enjoying her emotions right about now.” Tears were dripping down his face. “I wasn’t able to save her again. I deserve to die.”
The words barely registered in her mind, as she fell to her knees in sadness. Tears began leaking from her already cried-out eyes. She cried out with the grief of losing her sister a second time. Then she realized what the second thing the monster had said. “What was that you just said?” She leaned closer to his face, heedless of her own safety.

“I said that I couldn’t save her. I said that you should kill me right now. My life matters nothing without her.” The creature before her wept pitifully.

“So, you were trying to save her?” Bright Light’s eyes widened in shock. She stumbled away from the cage, confused about how she felt towards this creature before her.

“Yes. And in the end, it didn’t matter anyway.” He lay down on the hay bottom of his cell, sobbing into his hooves. Looking at the pitiful creature, she remembered a spell she had cast on her sister. She shot up with the memory, and she turned to the creature.

“Would you help me save my sister?”

“Would you help me save my sister?”

Narrowing his eyes, he glared at the unicorn before him. He couldn’t believe the cruelty of these ponies, he thought that his race was evil. “This is a cruel joke to play on me. Don’t try to get my hopes up. I know that she is lost.” He lowered his eyes. “My kind has no mercy.” His mind flashed with images of Cherish being torn apart by his family, then another of Cherish being held by her brother, her struggling growing weaker as he sucked her emotions from her neck. It was too late, there was no way that anypony could save her now.

The unicorn shook her head. “No, she is still alive.” She stepped closer to him. He backed away further into his cell, fire blooming on his horn in warming. The dark-blue unicorn stopped up short. “I cast a spell on us when we were just little fillies. It is a life-detector spell.” The unicorn held a hoof to her heart. “I cast it on us because our pet dog died. She was devastated, and was asking me questions about life and death.” Needle couldn’t care less about her back story. The only thing that was consuming his thoughts was the fact that Cherish was still alive.

She needed him.

The fire that still resided on his horn burned with a larger intensity than before, growing until it started to touch the ceiling. A column of flame erupted around him, incinerating the cage he was contained in. Once the flame faded, he was surrounded by unicorns with horns aglow. Growling deep in his throat, he prepared to leap at them. The dark blue unicorn stepped up to him, his growl intensified. She visibly steeled herself, and she touched him. That one touch shattered his rage, and his fire calmed.

The unicorn led him with a hoof on his shoulder to a building. When they were inside, Needle’s eyes widened. This was Cherish’s house, where she nurtured him back to health after he saved her from himself. After sitting down behind a table, the unicorn gestured for him to sit down across from her. Still uneasy and anxious to start, Needle sat down where she pointed. She looked into his eyes, and expecting the worse, Needle tensed.

“My name is Bright Lights. I am Cherish’s sister, if you haven’t guessed that.” She extended a hoof in greeting. “What’s yours?”

Taking her hoof hesitantly, Needle shook it. “I am Needle Wings. But your name for me, monster, works for me as well.” He shook his head. “Cherish helped me see that however evil I was in the past, I can change. And I mean to. You won’t call me a monster one day.” He let go of her hoof, and drooped to rest his head on the table.

She subtly wiped her hoof on the carpet next to her, thinking he wasn’t looking. He knew how strange his hide felt. She then leaned closer to him, forcing him to look up at her. “We must make haste if we are to rescue my sister.” She said with a force that said there would be no resting. “We must go now, if we are to have any chance to save her. Can you make a portal?” When he nodded, she led the way out of the door, into the sunshine.

And into their quest.