The sound of hooves clopped against the stone coming closer before stopping. A voice was heard, but I couldn't understand what it was saying. Water cascaded over a small ledge calming me as I sipped wine from a small glass looking over a lush forest as the sun rose. Looking at the mare next to me I smiled as she continued to stare at the scene laid out before us. “It's beautiful” she said, her eyes still taking in all they could. “I couldn't agree more” I said looking back at the view. The oranges and reds swirled together in a dance that only the Greatest Artist could make. “T_an_ y_u fo_ t_k_ing m_ h_r_” a broken voice said making me look back to see a mix of light grays and blues. Looking forwards again I looked at a small creature from over the limbs of a crossbow 'aim breathe in breathe out release' sounded in my head before I pulled the leaver, the blunt bolt flying forward before rebounding off the small rabbit's head it falling forward without a sound. “Yes!” I said quietly before approaching my kill. “Having rabbit tonight!” I said with a smile as I raised the rodent's corpse up by it's ears a small amount of blood dripping from a tear in it's skin where I had shot it staining the white fur. “Darn, I was ho-”
Pain shot up from my side making me open my eyes and roll onto my back with a groan. 'That makes thirty two' I thought holding my side hoping the small pressure would make the pain fade quicker.
I sat up, and looked to see a stone that was poking above the rest. Glaring at it I mentally marked it down along with the others. Unusual color catching my eye near the cell door, I looked over to see a small wooden tray with half a loaf of bread, a slice of cheese and finally a red apple sitting on top of it.
'Same as every day' I thought as I crawled over to it, making an attempt to keep from agitating my wounds. I started off with a bite of cheese and bread as per tradition saving the sweet apple for dessert.
It had been four weeks, at least I think, since my run in with the Prince, and I still hadn't recovered. My sense of time was skewed since there were no windows in the dungeon the magical torches on the walls keeping light to the area. My only guess at weeks was the guard schedules, Sundance only coming down on occasion anymore, and though not to play cards. Instead we talked a bit, I finally telling her more about myself and the misadventures out in the world. Her time down here was seemingly shortened by the incident with Blueblood, leaving less time than before for chatting or whatever we would do.
Either of the Princesses would come down to check on me every so often, at least once be it either Celestia or Luna. The Lunar Princess seemed more happy about my injuries than her sister, though I believed that it was due to Prince Blueblood having to walk around with a stub where his horn had once been, meaning he stayed in his room much more than normal leaving the rest of the castle to their business.
Silently I wished the Princess would allow me to return to the bonfire, the memory of it's warmth calling making me sometimes imagine the feeling for a while before I shifted and pain bought me back to reality. The lack of any kind attention from the medical staff had me assume that they would be having me recover naturally, as either part or the whole of my punishment for ripping off the Prince's horn.
'You'd think they'd at least have someone come in here to make sure there's no internal bleeding' I thought lifting my shirt again to look at the angry red bruise. I silently wondered if I could die of internal bleeding or if it had stopped and the blood was just sitting there not going anywhere.
A chuckle escaped me as I thought of it. 'The Princesses coming in one day only for there to be a bloodstain. Getting pissed thinking I killed myself only for me to show up and explain what happened' The chuckle tried to evolve into full blown laughter, but the pain in my sides made it stop as I started coughing the uncomfortable tightness radiating from my chest with every contraction.
'Next time they come down here I'm going to ask them about this' I thought holding a hand to my chest wondering if I could manage to get back to sleep.
“He seemed to be sleeping when I went in to give him food” Sundance said, standing before Princess Celestia. “I tried to get his attention, but he didn't respond... Is he going to be alright?” she asked worry working it's way into her voice.
Celestia had been surprised when Sundance had asked if she could have more shifts in the dungeon, directing the question straight to her instead of her superior officer. When prompted on why, the guard answered with a “Because he's my friend” which surprised her even more, but the princess was happy that Wanderer was making friends, even if he was supposed to be being punished. The mare's schedule change was supposed to take effect the next week the princess having asked the guard's superior and after the miscommunication about Blueblood, Sargent Almond Sweets was all to happy to do anything the Princess asked of him.
“I understand, I will go down and see if I cannot talk to him soon, if there is nothing else you may return to your post” She said, trying to use her own calm exterior to settle the pony's nerves, which seemed to work, to some degree, as the mare started to bow before correcting herself, standing up at attention and saluting.
“Thank you for hearing me your majesty” she said her face stone-like similar to the other guards before she turned and marched off, a little more spring in her step.
'This is a bit troubling though' Princess Celestia thought remembering her own attempts as visiting the Wanderer. While his attitude had changed very little, his actions were much calmer stilted almost, most likely from not wishing to aggravate his injuries, and no matter the time between visits, even with her sister visiting sporadically, he didn't seem to be improving at all. It worried her slightly, though if worst came to worst, bringing him to that bonfire of his in the Everfree Forest seemed to be an option and firing magical attacks at him, from how he explained it, seemed to aid in that as well.
'I suppose it's worthless to worry on it now, I told Sundance I would visit him later, and I will' Celestia thought, turning back to the dessert from her midday meal.
“Listen to the wind blow!~ Watch the sun riiiise” I started the song, it having worked it's way into my head hours ago though I couldn't seem to remember it all, hoping that maybe singing it out loud would help jar my memory.
“And if you don't love me now. You will never love me again! I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain! And if you don't love me now! You will never love me again! I can still hea-” I continued only to start coughing as something caught in my throat making pain once again rack my chest. I silently wished either for some relief to the pain, or at least a computer to look up the lyrics to the song so I could simply listen to it and get it out of my head.
A sigh escaped me as I took shallow breaths looking over to the bug infested hay I had been extremely tempted to get rid of earlier, it now looking so very comfortable. I bit down on the temptation, instead heading towards the my backpack I used as a pillow and the discarded coat I had used to cover myself.
Laying back down on my back, I let out a sigh, the stones not overly uncomfortable, though by no means comfortable. I heard a pop echo up from my back followed by a minuscule amount of pain as the bone set in place making me smile and wish I could pop the rest. Instead I lifted my hand and started popping my fingers one by one pressing them to my palms with my thumbs.
I closed my eyes letting out a content sigh as I noticed the pain had drifted, if only a little.
Breathing echoed in my ears. My breathing, sounded as the world around me was silent. Looking out over a dark crowd, nervousness ate away at my stomach uncomfortable at all the eyes on me. Glancing to either side of me I saw that there were other children lined up, all dressed in different things, varying from what looked like a reindeer costume to one little girl wearing a dress. Something touched my hand making me look to the other side as I saw another little girl, her clothes colored similarly to candy canes as straight blonde hair fell down around her face resting on her shoulders. A small amount of confidence came to me as I saw her smile, a small blush playing across her cheeks. Taking her hand, I gave mine to the boy next to me, remembering part of the play. Together we all started to sing, “Sil-”
“Wanderer!” a familiar voice sounded making me jolt awake with a gasp and look at Princess Celestia with wide eyes.
A sigh escaped me as I realized where I was and put a hand to my forehead. “Don't... do that” I said moving the hand to my chest, pain racking me from the sudden intake of air. Allowing myself to calm, I looked at her changing my position carefully before rubbing my eyes, trying to clear them of sleep. “What is it?” I asked finally.
“Sundance was worried about you, and with the state of your wounds, I cannot help but worry with her” She said making me realize the door had been opened and she was standing actually fairly close to me. “Why are you not healing? The swelling in your eye alone would've gone down in the first few days. What's wrong?” she asked as I raised a hand over the swollen optic organ.
“How convenient” I said letting the hand fall as I made an attempt to get to my feet. “I was going to ask you about that as well when you visited next” I said grunting as I got up leaning against the wall. “All I can think of is since I'm still technically undead, I need something to actually heal me as most of my bodily functions don't work”
The Princess' eyes narrowed in concentration before looking at me, “That makes sense, but you eat food, and, by assumption, release it, correct?” She asked, uncomfortable about the latter question.
I nodded still leaning against the wall. “I was wondering on that as well though. I'm used to eating food so I keep doing it, but seeing as how nothing's going on with this...” I said motioning up and down my chest. “I can only assume that was from habit and that I don't actually need to eat anymore” I said before looking back at her realizing what else she had said. “Sundance was worried? Why?” I asked making Princess Celestia raise an eyebrow.
“She said you were friends” the princess replied simply, sounding as if I should know the information already.
A hand went back to tug at my beard before stopping deciding to stroke it instead. “You ponies have very strange definition of friendship. Personally I wouldn't name someone I played a few games of poker and shared a couple of stories with friends, but she seems like a nice mare” I said nodding. I shook my head “Sorry, back on the whole 'I might die of internal bleeding or something'” I said making the Princess' eyes go wide. “Sorry, like I said I was thinking about it earlier”
“Right” she said looking me over, worry working it's way into her features. “Anyway, do you have any ideas on something that would heal you? Healing magic is, not such an easy solution in a case like yours” she said motioning over my body, “It would take a lot of time and energy to heal internal wounds”
I shrugged, “Sans taking me to the bonfire and letting it heal me, the only thing I can think of is Estus.” I said shaking my head. The princess looked at me confused making me sigh. “I don't know exactly what estus is, there were thoughts it was liquid fire, bottled at the bonfire in a special flask, but I don't know” I said shrugging. 'Unless you count the fandom wide joke of it being Sunny Delight' I thought shaking my head.
“Bottling fire?” she asked putting a hoof to her chin. “Where have I heard that before?” she asked herself quietly.
I raised an eyebrow, confused. “What is it?” I asked only for her to shake her head.
“Something I'll look into later. Come, we will take you to your bonfire, you've been punished enough with this” She said making me raise an eyebrow again as she walked out of the cell beckoning me to follow her.
I silently thanked God that my legs weren't trying to give out on me as we made our way through the castle, the guards and servants paying their homage to the Princess and for the most part ignoring me, though it was not as though I minded. Receiving bored glances rather than the looks laced with contempt or malice.
Curiosity got the best of me “Are we going by chariot?” I asked Celestia who had opened a door leading outside answering my question by simply showing me the mode of transport which was in fact one of the golden chariots pulled by two of the pegasus guards. “Ah, fair enough” I said as the princess smiled.
After both of us loaded into the carriage, Celestia asked the guards to take us to the Everfree Forest and we were off. Flying above Canterlot watching clouds roll past underneath us. I decided to sit towards the back of the carriage leaving the front for the Princess.
“So how have you been doing recently?” she asked, obviously trying to make some kind of small talk.
I nodded my head back and forth. “Better than expected unless you were talking about the last few weeks, which have actually been quite painful as you could guess” I said chuckling. “I must admit though I'm being treated better than how I thought. While I didn't expect to be tortured, I didn't also didn't expect to make friends with one of the guards” I finished shrugging.
Celestia looked down at me with wide eyes. “Why on Equus would you be tortured?” she asked making me shrug.
“Back in the day where I come from, they would sometimes torture prisoners, or torture one while others watched to keep the others in line and from trying to escape. Though like I said I didn't expect that from someplace like this” I said holding my hand over the world rolling past us. “The guards have been surprisingly civilized though, I expected them to be much more... punishing” I said waving a hand in circles as I tried to think of the right word.
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked watching the hills roll by as we neared the forest.
I put a hand to my chin. “Well from what I understand, military from where I come from treats deserters and betrayers worse than their enemies in most cases. Some soldiers going out of their way to make their imprisonment a living hell, beatings, rotten or in some cases no food at all, things like that” I said looking up at the Solar Diarch. “While I didn't expect anything too bad, I wasn't surprised when I was left alone with Blueblood in the dungeon, thinking that after his track record he would be unable to order guards” I finished turning to look and see the ground approaching.
A quiet “hmm” sounded from the Princess as we landed, “Well, I am glad to hear that they haven't treated you too badly, even if you are imprisoned for deserting” she said watching as I got up and carefully stepped off the golden chariot before following me. “Now I have to ask, when you have recovered, can I expect that you'll willingly return to your cell?” she asked making me arch an eyebrow.
“Princess, I mean no offense, but wouldn't it of made more sense to ask me when I was still in the cell or have much fewer ways of escape?” I asked only for her to furrow her brow at me. I put up my hands defensively, “Alright, alright, you have my word” I said nodding.
“Thank you” she said before starting off into the forest prompting me to follow. “It may sound strange, but I just wanted to make sure” she explained looking around at the forest, a serene look falling on her face.
I shrugged, continuing to walk to the bonfire, anticipation growing at the memory of the warmth. A shiver ran down my spine as I looked around the forest, memories of the bloatheads popping into my mind before the thought of the manticores, cockatrices, and timberwolves that lived in the forest normally made me wish I had some kind of weapon. Looking down at my hands and feeling my torso waves of pain radiating from where I had touched making me let out a quiet sigh. 'Not as though I would survive an encounter with a manticore in this condition' I thought looking to the princess instead as she looked around at the fauna with a smile. 'Seems she's my only defense if something attacks us' I continued as we started off the path towards where the clearing that held the bonfire was.
As we continued walking much to my surprise a bird came over and started tweeting to the princess who started singing in turn making my eyes go wide. 'The hell is this?' I asked as the pair continued singing, the princess gaining more of a foalish spring to her step forcing me to walk faster to keep up.
With the quickened pace we arrived at the clearing within minutes Princess Celestia saying goodbye to the bird as it flew off. “I can't say I expected something like that from you” I said walking past the princess to the bonfire and sitting down in front of it the warmth caressing my skin making the pain fade quickly. “From Fluttershy, by all means” I said throwing up a hand “but, while it doesn't surprise me that you love animals I didn't expect you to start singing and bouncing like a foal, let alone with company”
A blush ran across her face from embarrassment as she turned away. “I can have fun too you know” she said indignantly.
I chuckled laying down next to the fire and looking up at the sky with my hands resting behind my head. “Oh I don't doubt that, I just didn't expect it to be similar to a Disney movie when you did.” I said with a smile on my face.
“A what movie?” I heard her ask as she turned around to look at me again.
I let my eyes close, “Disney, it's a production studio where I come from. Mainly making children's entertainment they had a number of movies involving old fairy tales, one centering around someone named Snow White. She is known for doing things like you just did, singing with animals and other such things” I explained enjoying relaxing on the earth which was soft compared to the stiff stone from the palace dungeon.
“Snow White?” I heard her ask, “What was her fairy tale about?” she continued wit her question while I remembered what I could of the tale.
“Well” I started trying to remember the tale though for some reason I could only remember the original, having read it more recently than having seen the movie. After a moment, I started telling the story of Snow White, and how she had been sent from her home by her jealous step-mother, how she met the seven dwarves and the two times she was tricked by her step-mother only for the dwarves to thwart her and the third where they made her a glass coffin only for a prince to ride by and ask for it and how the prince had married Snow White.
“Then when the queen arrived at the wedding she was so stunned to see Snow White that she couldn't move, so they had shoes made of iron made and left in the coals before being placed in front of her. They forced her to put on the shoes and dance until she fell down dead” I said, having sat up while telling the story looking at Princess Celestia who sat across from me in front of the fire.
A pensive look was on her face as she looked into the fire having finished the story. “That is a very strange tale. Why did the prince want to marry her when she was only a child? Why did one of the dwarves not stay behind to watch the little girl?” she started asking before looking to me for answers.
I could only shrug my shoulders. “That's just how it was written. I can tell you why about the marrying children bit, the story was from back before marrying children and arranged marriages were seen as wrong, so while it's strange and wrong to us, it was fairly normal to them. Though from how I understand it they waited until they were at least ten before children were married off” I said putting a hand up to my chin and tugging at my beard. I shook my head, “Either way I suppose.”
Princess Celestia nodded before getting up from where she had been sitting. “Well by the fact that your eye is no longer nearly swollen shut and you have returned to acting with energy. I assume that the bonfire did the trick and you have recovered” she said smiling down at me.
My stomach churned when I looked up at her, though not entirely an unpleasant feeling, and nodded. “To be honest I had recovered when I first sat down” I said looking down and feeling where the bruise had been only for no pain to echo up. “So I just felt like telling a story” I said sticking my tongue out.
Celestia rolled her eyes, “I suppose it is time for us to leave then” she said turning to the clearing's exit and the exit of the forest.
I let out a sigh as I looked at the bonfire cherishing it's warmth for a moment before getting up and nodding. “Then let us be away and return me to my punishment” I said sticking my thumbs in my belt.
“Don't sound too enthused now” she said as she started forward looking back at me with a smile.
I stuck my tongue out at her again making her chuckle.
“I am glad that you decided against fleeing again” Celestia said as the chariot flew through the sky, my legs dangling over the back swinging them back and forth in the open air.
“Why's that?” I asked looking back at her, “Were you getting tired of looking through the forest for me after only two days?” I joked only for her to shoot me a serious look.
“While that may be true, that's not the reason I say that.” She said looking back forward. “You are an interesting being Wanderer, I would prefer if we were able to be friends rather than enemies or even simply the princess and guard of when you are returned your position.”
I looked back at the princess with a smile on my face, “Aww, I feel the same way Princess! Does that mean I can call you Celestia instead of always referring to you by your title?” I said the smile growing wider as she looked back at me and giggled.
“Only if I can call you by your name instead of 'Wanderer'” she replied with a smile of her own.
“I don't really care what you call me, as long as you don't call me late for dinner” I said laughing as she gave me a confused look. “Me and food have been on a first name basis for years!” I explained patting my stomach, though there wasn't much of it left after going through hoof-camp.
Princess Celestia rolled her eyes smile returning to her face as she looked back towards the approaching castle.
I turned to look back at the shrinking town, internally surprised that we had gotten in and out with ponies really paying much attention.“If you really want to, you can call me James. At home the few close friends called me by that, since it was my middle name, so yea” I said scratching the back of my head as the town grew smaller and smaller, the residents I had been watching earlier as we passed, now too small to see.
“Very well then James” she said, my name rolling off her tongue strangely, sounding like she was saying a new word. “We are going to be landing soon so you may wish to bring your legs back onto the chariot” she finished making me turn around to see the castle walls coming up quickly.
Putting my hand on the decorative side for support, I hoisted myself to my feet and leaned on my arms as I rested them on the rim waiting for the jolt as the pegasi landed in the grass.