A Change of Heart

by ChaoticHarmony

Circle of Light

Eyes wide in the dark, Cherish lay on the cold stone floor of her cell, too terrified to move. Sometime after she had woken up from her haunting dreams, she heard the sound of steps on the floor. After calling out, she was answered with only a harsh laughter, like a chalkboard being scratched with a sharp hoof. So now she lay there, darkness pressing against her vision, and cowering from things she could not see. Even after being in her cell for what seemed an eternity, she still felt oppressed by the darkness, as if it was sucking away from her the will to live.

She shuddered as she sat in the darkness, the memories of the dreams flashing through her mind. She had never experienced pain like that in a dream before. She cried softly as the ways that Needle had died were replayed in her mind over and over again. Cruel laughter assaulted her ears once again as her observers listened to her sobs.

Another night like that, Cherish thought to herself sullenly, and I don't know if I will still be me anymore.

Blade Horn paced around his room, furious at his brother for not being faster. Needle Wings was never this slow when returning back to his world. Blade stabbed his horn into the wall in anger, wincing when a small crack spread up the wall. The castle’s cleaning crew would give him pains for that. For people who worked for him, they complained about a lot of things to him.

The entire reason he took Cherish here was to make his brother want to hurry. After all, Needle Wings knew of the brutality of the changelings, and how their world affected the pony mind. If his foolish brother didn’t hurry, that little pony would be lost, and he wouldn’t be able to see that pain in Needle’s eyes as he devoured her emotions in front of him. Blade felt a smile grow on his face. Tormenting his brother would be the most fun he’s ever had, even more fun than attacking him. However, Blade Horn was tasked to kill him, so Blade couldn’t leave him alive, even though it would be fun to watch Needle slowly die on the inside. At least he would have the small pleasure of ending both the pony and his brother.

Hearing sobs with the magic of the cell under his room, his grin widened even further. It seemed that that little pony was enjoying her stay here. He pulled his horn out of the wall and resumed his pacing. He would only get pleasure in consuming her emotions if his brother was present. The joy of his plan coming to fruition brought a small skip to his steps. He decided it was time that he visited his guest. The grin on his face still present as green fire flew around him in a column, sending him to the cells below.

Phoenix Wings jumped slightly when he felt the first drop hit his face. He hated the rain; it always cooled his fire that spread from his wings as he flew. Rainbow Dash might be able to do something like a Sonic Rainboom, but she could never match him and his light-giving fire flying. Now he sat down on the ground, forced down by the rain pelting his wings like small stones. He loved adventure, but this is not what he had expected to face.

Phoenix Wings was your general fun-loving pegasus. His coat was a brownish-red, with orange gradient around his muzzle and hooves. His mane was a short-unruly mess, contrasting with his streamlined tail. Orange streaks ran down both his main and tail. When he was flying, he looked like a flash of fire crossing the sky. His cutie mark was that of a flame, curled within wings, shining from between the feathers.

He always knew he would love fire, ever since he was a small colt, he had felt an inner heat. One day, he dove into a burning building to save a small filly stuck inside. Coming out of the window, his coat was aflame, but he held the small filly with his wings curled around her to protect her from the fire. Landing on the ground from 3 stories up, not to mention being on fire, absolutely ruined Phoenix’s wings. In the days of recovery, when the bandages were finally removed from his coat, Phoenix was astounded to see his cutie mark reside on the blackened skin.

His next few years on the ground were terrible, the worst ever years of his life. His wings, ruined by the fire, were unusable, and he was stuck on the ground in the village of Ponyville. It was there he met an earth pony that studied pegasi. The earth pony, pitying Phoenix, took him in and began to work on a metal sling to allow Phoenix to fly. Also in ponyville, he met Cherish, another earth pony who took his breath the second he saw her. He never worked up the bravery to ask her out, and now he might never get the chance. Imagine that, a pegasus that was brave enough to jump into a flaming inferno was not brave enough to ask his crush out. Once his wings were fixed, with the help of the earth pony engineer, Tinker, he was able to fly again. However, even with his new freedom, Phoenix felt himself drawn back down to ponyville, searching for Cherish.

When he heard that she was taken, his whole world seemed a little bit colder, with less color. After hearing her sister Bright say that she was still alive, how could he not want to go along?

Shivering in the cold rain, he had to remind himself that it was all for Cherish. He wanted badly to go into the clearing where the monster and Bright rested and get out of the rain. Unfortunately, he was secretly following them, something not easy with wings that light up with golden light every time he went fast. It was a good thing that they wanted to take it slow, or at least Bright did. More drops pelted his back as he lay there beyond the edge of the clearing, and he had to stop himself from crawling just a little bit into the clearing. There was no way that they would appreciate his help, and they would send him away just like all the others did.

Grinding his teeth angrily, he shook the water from his mane, fighting the urge to sneeze. If this is what adventure was, he didn’t want any more of it.

Needle Wings twitched and shuddered in his sleep. Cherish consumed his dreams.

He dreamt of a world with no changelings. He dreamt that he wasn’t a monster, but was a pony. He dreamt that Cherish was standing in front of him, a smile on her face as she answered his question with a yes. She threw her hooves around him, sobbing with joy. Needle reached up to pat her on the back. As he did, she went limp, and crumpled to the ground. Behind her, he saw Blade Horn licking his blood-red lips, a malicious grin on his face, horn aflame. The blast of green fire was all he saw before blackness.

He dreamt of a world with no changelings. He dreamt that he wasn’t an abomination, but that he was a pony. He held Cherish in his hooves, sobbing over her body, the look of fear forever frozen on her face. Looking further down her face, he saw the two holes that flowed red with blood. Her blood. He wiped the blood from his own lips, horrified with what he had done. His brother appeared next to him, grin etched on his face. “Why my little brother, I will end your pain.” Hate dripped from every syllable. Needle didn’t even move as his brother’s horn lit with green fire. Needle welcomed the black void of death, willingly walking into its embrace.

Tearing his way out of the dream, Needle howled into the night. The dreams seemed so real to him. Lighting his horn, he looked towards the stone, pulsing with that evil green light. The sun began to slowly rise over the horizon, turning the stone to a black as deep as midnight. Needle sat there, tears running down his face as he waited for the day to begin.