//------------------------------// // Part 1: Chapter 6 // Story: Broken then Healed 2 // by Tohshi //------------------------------// Chapter 6 A brisk knock interrupted our peace. As Lyra struggled to disentangle herself, she shouted, “One minute.” The door clicked open and Twilight sat there with a forced smile on her face. Something or someone was riding on her back. Twilight asked, “Do you mind if I come in? I have to introduce someone and ask a favor.” “Please do,” Lyra said while motioning with her head to enter. As Twilight passed her, Lyra froze up. Shock filed her face. “Is that what I think it is?” “Yes,” Twilight answered. Her horn glowed as she gently picked up the sleeping form from her back. Slowly she set the strange black pony on the floor. The little filly had maroon red hair that was very striking with her glossy black fur, wait that wasn't fur. “Wake up, Little one. Come on Nympha, we are here.” The small changeling stretched away her sleep. She batted her eyes open and revealed her gorgeous ruby eyes. She was an inch or two shorter than me when standing straight. “This is Princess Nympha,” Twilight said. “Daughter of Queen Chrysalis. She is going to be staying with me for the foreseeable future. I was hoping that Lilac here would be her friend.” “Why do you have Chrysalsis' daughter?” Bon Bon asked. She seemed to be fighting an urge to either run or smush the cute little changeling in hugs. “Chrysalis asked for peace,” Twilight stated. “She said her people were starving and that she could no longer even take care of her daughter anymore. So in a show of trust she offered for one of us princesses to look after her daughter for her, while we all work out a more sustainable treaty. And Princess Celestia asked that I be the one to look after her.” “Won't she just suck you dry?” Lyra asked. “They don't have to do so,” Twilight assured us. “They can feed off the ambient love in the air, which leads me to my favor. Can Nympha stay with you? The castle doesn't have enough people to really have enough love in the air to feed her, and you are the closest ponies I trust for this.” “I don't know,” Lyra said. “I mean, how can we trust her.” As their conversation continued, Nympha moved over to the couch and was looking up at me with pleading eyes. I motioned for her to join me on the couch, which she did. Twisting once to find the perfect spot, Nympha curled up next to me with her head resting on my flank. “I know this is allot to ask of you, but she is too young to use mind magic, and hopefully we will be able to teach her why that isn't an acceptable thing to use,” Twilight explained. “And outside of her ability to transform she is pretty like a normal unicorn or pegasus filly.” “I still don't know,” Lyra said. “I don't know if I am up for the responsibility of this magnitude. I don't want to risk war with the changelings because I am not a good enough mom.” “That or the risk to our family,” Bon Bon stated. “If something were to happen, and Chrysalis decided revenge was in order.” “I am just two blocks away,” Twilight said. “Also I can set up an enchantment around the building to make sure Chrysalis can't come within half a mile of it.” “How can you do that?” Lyra asked. “I don't know any warding spells that you can pick only one pony to be warded from.” “She shared a bit of her mana with me, and I can use that to make a ward that keeps out her signature,” Twilight explained. “I will put up all the measures I can to keep you safe.” “What about the townsfolk?” Lyra asked. “I know some of the town would be willing to forgive the changelings and give them a second chance, but what of those who won't. How will we protect Nympha from that?” “I have an amulet which will help her keep her disguise up,” Twilight explained. “As long as she wears that no pony will find out she is a changeling.” “I think we should do this,” I said. “Look at how fragile she is. How sickly she looks. I don't think she was being properly taken care of before. And you gave me a home, despite not knowing much of me. We should do the same for her. Everypony deserves a home.” Bon Bon rubbed her head against mine, her smile was contagious as she beamed at me. Nympha seemed to perk up as Bon Bon did so. Bon Bon said, “I am proud of you, Lilac. Your right, this little filly needs a home, and what kind of ponies would we be if we didn't at least help her find one.” “Okay,” Lyra relented. “We will do so. But I want all the protections you can enchant on this house, also you need to be here or with Nympha as much as you can.” “I intend to,” Twilight stated. “I am really proud of you Lilac. I love how big your heart is.” Blushing I buried my head from view in Bon Bon's thigh. I mumbled, “Thank you.” Nympha rubbed her head up against my flank in a comforting pattern. I looked down at her. She seemed to be smiling at me. “So one little hiccup I didn't mention,” Twilight said. “Nympha can't speak.” “Why? She looks only a bit younger than Lilac,” Bon Bon asked concern filled her voice. “Is there something wrong with her?” “I don't know,” Twilight said. “Chrysalis would only say that she couldn't speak and she dodge every question about that. As far as I can tell, Nympha isn't hurt in anyway, but I really don't know changeling physiology all that well so I could be wrong there. Also she is much younger than she looks. Changelings hatch at a much bigger size than ponies are born at. She is less than a year old. That said, I don't think it is a age issue. Changelings hatch at the same mental and physical maturity as a five year old pony.” “Hmm,” Lyra said. “Well I guess that is just one mystery that we will have to solve later. It's just about diner time, did you want to stay for some Twilight?” “I'm sorry I need to return to the castle for a bit,” Twilight said. “I have allot of paper work to do, and I need to get all the enchantments worked out ahead of time. Oh and I need to check on Lilac's and my pet project.” “Pet project?” Lyra asked. “What are you working on?” “Oh it's a surprise,” Twilight said. “I will tell you all tomorrow. Oh and Lilac, dear, don't worry about it, I figured out a solution to our problem.” Her words of encouragement did little to steam the sudden torrent of emotions. Tears started to run down my checks. Nympha covered me in a blanket, and Bon Bon tried to nuzzle my head to help calm my sudden storm. Images of Annabelle dead on the street ran through my head. It hurt my chest to think about it. “What's your project?” Bon Bon asked of Twilight. "Lilac doesn't seem to be too happy about it.” “It has to do with Lilac's birthplace,” Twilight answered. She motioned at Nympha and shook her head. “As I said I will explain tomorrow. Sorry I have to make you wait.” Lyra's eyes had lit up with excitement. She was about to say something when Bon Bon interrupted, “Okay, tomorrow. Though you should be going don't want to be up too late.” Lyra's head sank. Lyra said, “Yeah don't want to be up too late or anything. I am gonna go make dinner.” “Lyra, baby,” Bon Bon called as Lyra disappeared into the dining room. “Try not to make too much of a mess.” “I'll try, but no promises,” Lyra called back. A large bam filled the house. “Sorry.” Bon Bon sighed, and shrugged her shoulders. The three of us sat in quiet for a while. Nympha hadn't moved from my back and was a strange pony sized blanket. She was strangely lighter than I had expected from her size. Still though worry ate at my stomach, I felt helpless about Annabelle, and guilty that I wasn't doing anything. I tried to put my fears and guilt aside and just rest. I concentrated on my breathing exercises which were much harder with a filly laying on you, but still they helped and I half way dozed off. “Dinner is ready,” Lyra called from the dining room. Nympha must have been startled as she jumped severely at that. Bon Bon caught her in air and placed her down next to the couch. I slide off the couch in a very lazy way and we went into the other room. “Nympha, why don't you sit here next to Lilac,” Bon Bon instructed as she pulled out a chair for the little changeling. We both clambered up into our chairs and Bon Bon had taken a spot next to Nympha on the other side. A large sauce pot sat in the center of the table, with a forked ladle held over it by Lyra's amber magic. Scooping out a modest serving for Nympha and a slightly bigger one for me, Lyra placed the spaghetti on our plates. Large chunks of mushrooms were mixed into the tomato sauce, along with small pieces of onions. I slowly filled my belly with the delicious food watching Nympha eat. She had little in the way of table manners, doing little more than shoving her face into the food and slurping it up. I giggled as she came up to swallow and a noodle stuck to her nose. I tapped my nose with my hoof, and Nympha noticing the noodle, just licked it into her mouth. I ate my fill and soon after the two of us were ushered off to bed. I had to share with Nympha due to the lack of a bed for her. I didn't mind, she was really cute and sorta clingy. I didn't think that she had slept alone before. It took longer than usual for me to fall into slumber, but for the first time in a long time I didn't have nightmares. The next morning I woke with the dawn. I found myself entangled in Nympha's grasp, which was far snugger than I would have guessed. Slowly and gently I eased myself out and shoved a pillow into her arms. I ventured out into our little living room. Bon Bon sat on our dark brown couch, her coffee sitting on the small table in front of it. Three bookshelves filled allot of the empty space in the room, along with a comfy little armchair, which was my favorite places to read a book alone. The rest of the empty space on the wall was filled with my art. I was sorta embarrassed that Lyra and Bon Bon insisted to frame any of my work that they felt was in anyway special. “Morning,” I said. “Good morning,” Bon Bon said. “How did you sleep? Sorry for having to have Nympha sleep in your room.” “It's fine,” I stated. I climbed up into the couch next Bon Bon. “I slept well for once.” “Well, that is good,” said Bon Bon. We sat in peace for a while enjoying the morning. Bon Bon and I read to pass the time. My book was a daring tale of suspense and romance with plenty of sword fighting and monster well rodents of unusual size in it. Rarity had recommended it to me one day when she had been visiting Twilight. I quite enjoyed the book and this was the second time I had read it. Nympha shuffled out into the room and was shaking the sleep from her head still. The sleek black of her chitin shined in the morning sun which filled the room through the many windows. She scrambled up to join us on the couch. “Good Morning,” Bon Bon said. “Did you sleep well, Nympha?” Nympha only nodded her response. Her voice still ever elusive. She curled up next to me, staring at my book intently. Her eyes weren't moving with the words and she seemed to not be reading just staring. “Can you read?” I asked. I received a shake of her head as answer. “Do you want me to read to you?” An excited smile filled her face. Small glistening fangs flashed in her mouth as she did so. Her eyes had light up and she looked at me with one of the cutest faces I had ever seen. She nuzzled her head against my side. Starting from the beginning, I read my book to Nympha. She stayed alert and attentive for the entire time I sat there reading. About an hour latter, Bon Bon extracted herself from the couch. “Are you two hungry for breakfast?” Bon Bon asked. “Yes please,” I said. Nympha nodded in excitement. I continued to read to Nympha and Bon Bon disappeared into the dining room. Bon Bon called us to the table some fifteen minutes later. She had made up a pot of oatmeal and was serving each of us a bowl of it. Nympha jiggled and bounced in her seat waiting for her bowl to be given to her. Bon Bon added some brown sugar and raisins to the top of each of our bowls. I stirred my oatmeal, and Nympha tried to mimic me. She was grasping the spoon between her two hooves and trying to stir in a clumsy fashion. I helped with my magic, so as to not make a mess. My attempts of minimizing messes was proven futile when after stirring the oatmeal, Nympha buried her head into the bowl. Slurping and munching, she devoured her bowl. I took a much more steady pace, and cleaner. Half way through my bowl there was a knock at the door. Bon Bon walked over and opened the door. She said, “Good Morning, Twilight. Come in, come in.” “Morning,” Twilight said. Her voice was ragged, like she hadn't slept the night before. “I need to talk to Lilac, and I brought over the amulet for Nympha.” “They are both in eating breakfast. Care to join us?” asked Bon Bon. “Hmm, Breakfast does sound good,” Twilight said. The two of them walked back into the dinning room through the open door. Twilight's eyes had bags under them, and her gaze kept darting away from me every time I caught her looking my way. She picked at her food and slowly ate the oatmeal plain. “Don't you want raisins in it?” I asked. She always wanted raisins, they were good for you as she would say. A sense of dread built its way up my throat. Something was off, and Twilight was hiding something. After a bit, Twilight deposited her empty bowl onto the counter. She took an ornate amulet out of her bags which lay at the feet of her chair. It had an ornate golden chain that was centered with a small topaz that shined with a hint of magic. Using her magic she attached the necklace to Nympha's neck, which hung loosely for a second till it tightened to fit snugly around her neck. As it did so Twilight's aura was dissipated in a unusual fashion, causing slight sparks of magic to erupt from the aura and a slight crackling sound. “The amulet has several enchantments on it,” Twilight explained. Her voice was still melancholy. “The most important one is a booster for her transformation magic, which should allow her to hold a disguise for much longer at little effort. Also there is a magical protection to prevent it from falling off or being pulled off by anyone but Nympha, that and should prevent a slew of unwelcome spells from affecting her. I made it last night. Nympha can you try shifting your form to a pony fill of what ever kind you feel is most comfortable.” Slowly a green flame engulfed Nympha and she was replaced by a cream colored unicorn filly, whose mane and tail were the same maroon as Nympha's original mane. Her Ruby eyes had changed slightly, making them resemble a cat's far less now. The smeared oatmeal contrasted very little with her fur and she held a big smile, revealing normal pony teeth. “Good,” Twilight said. “I think we should give her another day or two of getting used to that form before we take her out around town still, just to be safe. If you need anyone to look after her, all six of us elements plus Spike know what is up with her.” “Thanks,” Bon Bon said quietly. “She isn't too much trouble so far at least. She's just a normal filly, if a bit affectionate.” “So on to the more...” Twilight said, pausing for a moment. The look of worry intensified on her face. “Lilac, I am afraid that Annabelle isn't in the best of places right now. I need you to come over and confirm somethings for me. Lyra should come, too.” “I will go wake her,” Bon Bon said. “Who is Annabelle and is it that serious?” “Yes,” Twilight stated solemnly. She clammed up after her soft spoken word. “Annabelle is Melody's sister,” I stated quietly. “She wasn't doing so well last time we checked on the spell, before my hospital stay.” Bon Bon retreated from the dinning room and a few minutes later a crazed Lyra rushed into the room, her hair still a tangled mess of bed head. Lyra said, “You opened another window? Come on lets go and see it.” “Yeah we did,” Twilight said. “There is a situation, we should go and discuss our options after we check up on it. Spike is there watching in case it gets worse. I did figure out how to make the view more of a portal but right now I only know how to drag something through to our side, not send anything.” “Still that's progress,” Lyra stated. She engulfed me in her magic and started towards the door. “No time to waste, lets go.” “I'll just teleport us there,” Twilight stated. Pop! Twilight, Lyra and myself found ourselves out side the room that held the viewing spell. Lyra was a bit extra green and wobbled on her hooves for a moment. I fared much better, though a spike of nauesea did find my stomach making me thankful for having not stuffed myself too much at breakfast. “Give me more of a warning next time,” Lyra stated. “Sorry,” Twilight said quietly. “Still we're here.” We entered the room; Lyra taking a large glance over the whole room. Nothing, save the view itself, had changed since I had last been here. Annabelle could be seen, inside a dark basement. She was shifting through some boxes but I couldn't tell what else was up beyond that. “Some people grabbed her last night while I was working on the amulet last night,” Twilight explained. “She didn't seem very happy about that and fought them the entire way into the car. I don't think she is there by choice, nor do I think those people are supposed to be the ones to have her, one of them hit her.” Looking more closely, I could see the faintest of bruises on Annabelle's arms. My worry grew into panic. Someone had stolen Annabelle. I couldn't watch her get hurt. I started to shake. I said, “How big of a thing can we bring over to this side?” “Pretty much anything given enough energy,” Twilight stated. “I think I could grab about twenty to forty kilograms of stuff.” “Is that enough to grab the girl?” Lyra asked quietly. “I am pretty certain Bon Bon is going to kill me, but we can't leave her there. Can you pull her over here, Twilight?” “Yes,” Twilight said. “But the spell to do so is going to take some time to bring up. I am going to need your help to power the spell. That should stabilize the spells strength and allow for a greater mass allowance, minimizing the risk of the spell.” “What risk?” I asked quietly. Images of the various times spells had blown up in my face came tumbling through my head, thankfully most of them tame but the thought of that happening to Annabelle scared me. “Well if she is too big the spell may fail or a piece of her might be left behind,” Twilight stated. “But based on what you've told me about humans and my calculations that shouldn't be a problem. Still it doesn't hurt to be safe. We should start, I don't know how long Annabelle is safe.” Lyra nodded, and I did as well. Twilight's horn light up, slowly building up to a blinding level of light. A large purple dot formed in the screen spell. Strange symbols and lines floated in the spell. Lyra's horn lit up as well as she poured energy into the spell though at a much slower rate than Twilight. Beads of sweet formed on both mares brow. “Good keep that rate steady,” Twilight said. “Should only be another twenty or so minutes of this till we can pull her over.” “Twenty minutes,” Lyra exclaimed. “I don't know if I can hold this rate for that long.” “Just do your best,” Twilight responded. The scene on the screen moved with Annabelle. She had finished pushing the boxes around and had made a makeshift ramp. Grabbing a broom she climbed up her ramp, which held her weight but barely. Using the broom, she broke the ingress window. Her ramp barely held up to the sudden movement, and the noise must have alerted someone upstairs because Annabelle's head shot in the direction of the stairs. She pushed herself through the broken window, leaving several large cuts on her as she did. Once free from the window, Annabelle broke into a mad dash away from the building, cutting across road and alley to escape from the house she had been captive at. Someone must have been following her because she would look back and redouble her efforts every so often. Slowly the orb in the view point grew till it was nearly the two feet across. Lyra had fallen to her knees but still pushed magic into the spell. A person could be seen gaining on Annabelle, someone I didn't recognize but whose face held all the information I needed, a face of rage and hate. Grabbing from my pool I pushed my own magic into the spell, hastening its growth. “Lilac, we have this,” Twilight stated. “Your not supposed to be using magic yet.” “Your not gonna make it in time,” I said firmly. “We can't let that man catch her.” Twilight dropped the subject, knowing that she couldn't stop me without disrupting their work on the spell. The orb was growing much quicker with my additions, and soon was three feet across. Annabelle, noticing that her pursuer was nearly at her sped across a road without looking. I swear I could hear the resulting crash and cracking sounds. My world slowed to a snails pace. Twilight's horn grew brighter than I thought possible, as both of us poured more magic into the spell, my own horn starting to grow hot with light. A purple aura engulfed the crumpled form of Annabelle who had been tossed by the impact, and was still in the air. For a moment she hung there, suspended in Twilight's magic before she moved into the orb in the picture obscuring her from sight for a moment till with a loud pop she came out of the orb into the room. Gently Twilight placed her onto the floor. Her left arm was bent at an awkward angle, clearly broken, and her right was much worse off, barely to be said to still be attached. Her legs were not much better off, and multiple lesions covered her body. Blood started to pool around her. Miraculously she still was breathing albeit in short pained gasps. “Help her, please,” I pleaded of Twilight. My vision blurred as her injured form laid out on the floor swam in my eyes. “I don't know how much I can,” Twilight stated. “I just don't know enough about human biology to heal this. I can give her some time though.” Her horn lit up once more, though much more gently than last time. A warm glow covered Annabelle and the bleeding stopped, and her breathing eased slightly. “That's all I can do for now,” Twilight said. “I am going to get help though. Be right back.” With a pop Twilight disappeared from the room.