//------------------------------// // A Point of Light // Story: A Change of Heart // by ChaoticHarmony //------------------------------// Chapter 8: A Point of Light Just to let everypony know, my little dog died today. It might make my chapters darker than usual, it could even possibly delay them. However, I will try to still release chapters on time. Now enjoy the chapter! She slept fitfully, as if troubled by bad dreams. Her legs twitching violently as she dreamt. She dreamt of a world without anypony else in it. She saw her Needle Wings looking at her with remorse. Then his brother came from behind her, fire lancing out from his horn. Needle was consumed in the fire, screaming her name as he burnt. He lay there smoldering in the harsh rays of Celestia’s sun. Nopony but his brother heard her screams of anguish. He circled around to her front, leering at her. “Looks like he is dead again my dear little Cherish.”, he chuckled evilly as she shuddered from his breath on her neck. She screamed again as she felt fangs pierce her neck. She dreamt of a world without anypony else in it. She saw her Needle Wings lying on the ground in front of her, holding up a ring in his hoof. The words left his mouth. She could think of nothing else to say but yes. She started to hug him, but he was ripped from her grip. He lay on the ground a distance away, a chunk of hide missing from his neck. His brother stood in front of her, his mouth dripping with green fluid. He walked over to the near-corpse on the ground. Smiling to himself, he bent to his brother, baring his fangs as he went lower. Unable to do anything, she merely cried as she watched her love being torn apart. The monster turned to her, fangs dripping with green blood. He slowly approached her with the walk of a predator. Yelling out with lust, he lunged at her throat. She felt the fangs pierce through her hide. She dreamt of a world without anypony else in it. She cradled Needle’s body in her arms, sobbing over what she had done. She wailed aloud with a torn heart. Walking up to her slowly, Bright Light nuzzled her head. “You did what had to be done my sister.” Her voice sounded heavy with sadness. The older of the siblings walked a small distance away, leaving her sister to her agony. “Cherish.” Cherish turned to look at her sister. Green fire crossed Bright’s back, and she turned into the creature that so resembled Needle Wings. Mind numb with the pain of lost love, Cherish could only stare as his lips almost lovingly brushed against her neck. Her mind could barely register the pain of fangs piercing her flesh. She dreamed. And slept a sleepless sleep. 000 Crying out in pain and surprise, Needle fell forward, the hole in the ground rushing up to meet him. How could he have been so stupid as to not watch where he was stepping? Crashing face-first into the hole, he groaned as a dull pain throbbed from behind his eyes. “What’s the matter Needle? Is that hole too deep for you to get out of?” The condescending tone nagged at his ears, and he felt himself being picked up by a stronger-than-steel grip. As he was lifted up, he locked eyes with the unicorn just inches away from his face. Baring his teeth in what he hoped passed for a smile, he plopped down to the ground with a thud. The unicorn had been a pain ever since they had started. First of all, she was slow. He had to keep stopping to allow her a chance to catch up. It frustrated him to no end. Secondly, she was constantly taking the tone, as she did now, of one superior to him. That had also frustrated him. Any longer with this stress-inducing unicorn would have him shoving his head into one of these holes and burying it. The ever-infuriating unicorn plodded ahead of him, looking over her shoulder at him. “You know, we won’t ever find one of those black stones you talked about if you just stand there.” Fuming, Needle Wings set off after her with a quick trot, easily overtaking her. Calling his name, the unicorn trotted to keep up. He ignored her, searching the surrounding country for a stone as black as him. After a few minutes of searching, she plopped down and crossed her front hooves. “I am NOT going anymore today,” She said with a huff, “We won’t save my sister by collapsing from exhaustion.” Anger igniting, Needle whirled back to face her, his horn blooming with green fire fueled by his rage. “Listen you little foal!” He said with a deep anger. “You can stop for tonight, but I will NOT stop searching until I find a stone.” His face was mere inches away from hers. “I will not stop. For any reason.” He turned away from her shocked and hurt face. He plodded off into the darkness, yelling over his shoulder as he went, “I’ll be back in the morning.” The darkness swallowed him whole. 000 As she lay alone in the darkness, Bright huffed angrily.  Being called a foal was one thing.  But coming from this ungrateful beast, it was quite another.  She had saved him from certain death, why was it that he fought her so?  The most plausible answer would be that he was sick with worry over Cherish, but the real question was, why?  He was a changeling, an abomination of nature.  What reason could possibly be behind his concern for her sister?  It didn’t make any sense that one of those emotion leeches would feel anything but hunger and hate when it came to ponies.  Stamping a hoof into the ground, she vented her frustrations on the dirt.   As she childishly tore at the dirt with her hooves, she shook the dust that she kicked up out of her face. Somehow, her anger was increased, and she dug at the ground with a renewed force. Suddenly, her hoof struck something solid. Crying out with the pain that gripped her hoof, Bright began to cry silently. Here she was, lying on the ground, digging at the dirt, when her sister was being held by changelings for reasons that she did not want to fathom. Tears of frustration began to flow from her eyes. Going back to digging dirt, she pursued the cause of her pain. A stone was lodged in the hole where she was digging. It pulsed with a strange inner light, seeming to absorb the blue light cast by her horn. Grinning to herself, she pulled the stone out of earth with her magic. At least, she tried to. The stone just seemed to glow brighter as she cast the levitation spell. Frustrated, she snorted and pawed the dirt away from around the stone. Grabbing it in her teeth, Bright pulled it out of the earth, quickly spitting it out after it cleared the dirt. It tasted terrible. It tasted even worse than those burned flowers that her mother made one time for her when she was sick. Shuffling over to where the stone now lay, she looked into its depths. It pulsated with a sickly green color. “Could this be the stone Needle was looking for?” she thought aloud, “He said it was a black stone, he didn’t say anything about green.” She looked at it for a little longer, tempted to try and use her magic on it again. She turned away from it, and lay down to go to sleep once more, not concerned with what Needle could be doing. 000 As he trotted through the forest, he huffed a sigh of frustration.  That stuck-up little foal would be the death of him, and of Cherish.  Her heart was in the right place, but she just didn’t grasp the import of their finding a portal stone.  She was ignorant in this realm.  He kicked aside a stick in frustration.   Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled back to where he came from, and where Bright was probably sleeping.  He knew that pull, the pull of the portal stone.  He began to quickly trot back to where Bright was, unable to gallop due to the darkness.  While he did have enhanced night-vision, it was not perfect, and he could still stumble and break a leg, or worse.  Then he would never be able to save Cherish from Blade Horn.  That thought above all made him pace himself as he hurried back to Bright’s resting place. He burst into the small clearing she was resting in, blue light glowing from her horn.  Right beside her was the pulsating portal stone, it’s inner light a sickly green.  I can't believe she actually found it on her own. He thought to himself while shaking his head. It seems that she doesn't' know what she is sleeping next to yet. Careful not to wake her, Needle dragged the stone away from her, lest it gain too much magic power and open too early. That would be disastrous for both of them. He lay down next to the stone, further shielding it from the magic of the light. He drifted off, thoughts of saving Cherish floating through his mind. Needle fell into unconsciousness, sighing with relief. How short lived that relief would be.