• Published 14th May 2012
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A Change of Heart - ChaoticHarmony



A story about a Changeling

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Flames of Green

Chapter 12: Flames of Green

He came every day now, always the same way. Always coming with the flash of blinding green fire. He always felt her head, as if checking her for fever. Then he had poked her with his sharp horn, which had been aflame with green fire. She had always yelped at it digging into her side for what seemed like eternity. However, with it had come the feeling that she could feel nothing, and she soon began to welcome it. When she started to do that, he always pulled away, and the emotions always came crashing back into her.

She was lying on the floor after another of his visits. Her eyes felt as if they were crying but there were no tears. She had no more to shed. She knew that she was going to die here, without anypony with her. Every day she spent here was spent in an unfeeling numbness. Her life now was a place devoid of feeling, and filled with a pressing darkness on all sides.

In her world of darkness and green fire, Cherish knew exactly when her dreams took her. Instead of being dark, they were filled with dark shapes tearing at Needle Wings as he rushed to her through green flames cast from the sides. Instead of being silent, they were filled with her love crying her name as his flesh was torn away from him by the dark figures. She had always woken up screaming, but now all she did was shake from the nightmares, voice long hoarse from her screams. She missed the screaming now; it helped her feel alive, like she was still there. She preferred the pain to the cold, numbness that grasped her body for most of the time.

A small voice had kept screaming in her mind ever since she had accepted her fate. Don’t give up faith Cherish. You of all ponies should know that Needle would never leave you here! She always ignored this small little voice. She had long ago given up her hope that anypony would save her from this pit of darkness.

The only thing she was left with in her world was her memories, faded with age. She always found herself sorting through her mind, recalling her days as a filly. She always escaped to the world of memories, finding comfort in its nostalgic grip.

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She was crying behind the shed in the schoolyard. There was nopony else out there, just her and her broken doll at her feet. Those mean colts! Why did they have to break you Alice? What did you do to them? She nudged her small broken friend, I bet they did it because they didn’t have a dolly. Sadness washed over her when she thought that. She felt sad that the colts didn’t have a dolly of their own.

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She smiled at the naivety of her younger self, back before she got her cutie mark. There may be kindness in everypony, but that doesn’t mean they always wanted it in them.

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She sat in front of the three colts that had broken her doll. At their feet was a doll for each of them, colored just like their coats. She looked up at them hopefully, hoping against hope that they would like them. The lead colt picked his up in a hoof. The impact of the doll hitting her in the face shocked her. The next thing she felt was two more impacts from the other two hitting her sides. The next thing she saw after she removed the doll was a trio of columns made of green fire.

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She was jarred out of her recollections by twin columns of fire, but this time it wasn’t Blade Horn coming to taunt or jab her again. Above her were two large changelings dressed in glossed dark-green armor, horns alight with the fire that brought them here. Grabbing her with a spell, they dragged her behind them, not caring when she whimpered in pain. Even though she whimpered at it, she welcomed the pain and light. She welcomed the change, even though she knew what it meant.

She could hear birds in the distance, though their whistles sounded harsh, like everything in this world. She heard screams coming from the rooms that they passed, but she was dragged along too quickly to be given more than a glance. The only thing she really saw was Needle’s face framed in her mind by green fire. He had saved her, at the cost of his own life here. He had given up everything to save her that one day, and now it will be for nothing.

She was finally dragged in front of the evil changeling. He had a small, cruel smile on his face as he prepared his spell. “It looks like my brother has finally arrived for the party.” He leaned in closer to her, baring his teeth, “Time for my plans to come together, with you at the center my dear Cherish.”

A flash of green filled her vision, and was replaced with darkness.

000

They stumbled onto jagged rocks as black as night. The group stood still, braced for an attack, letting their eyes adjust to the lack of light. Silence greeted them. Something is wrong here. This place should be bustling with changelings and the silence should be rent with screams. Needle thought uneasily, his horn still alight in fire. Even if this is the outskirts, there would be guards at least.

“Where is everypony? I thought we were jumping into the lion’s den here.” Phoenix said with a cocky tone. “I thought we were going to be fighting for our lives every step of the way.” He walked down the steps that lead up to the portal gate, wings out. Even though his tone was cocky, Needle could still hear a quiver in his voice as well as see his tense way of walking. Smirking a little to himself, Needle followed him and Bright followed suit.

As they walked through the normally bustling town, they shivered with the feel of unseen eyes. Needle sent out a wave of green fire in the form of a detection spell. Nothing was there, but Needle still sent out the spell once in a while. Every time he sent it out, nothing was detected, but he knew something or somepony was watching him. The buildings, normally lit with green torches, were dark and cold although, that could be because of their terrible occupants. The market stalls were abandoned, with small, black parasprites nibbling at the slices of meat on the counters. After seeing what kind of meat it was, his companions gasped and vomited to the side.

Needle hadn’t been through the town for some time now, but he still knew where his family’s house was at and therefore where his brother was. In his mind, he kept going over how he would attack his brother. In magic and in physical combat, Blade Horn was the better, but he was slow moving, and he tended to keep his attacks strong and unrelenting, meaning he became tired faster. Needle knew that he had to outmaneuver his brother if he was to any chance at saving Cherish.

As the town square came into view, so did a light-blue figure who was lying on the ground in the middle of it. It was Cherish. Needle felt his heart break at how thin she looked, and how pained her expression was, even in sleep. At least, he hoped she was sleeping. He leapt ahead of his companions, racing to her side. Ropes of green fire wrapped around his body and pulled him to the ground painfully. Needle struggled in vain against his bonds as he watched his brother walk out from the shadows around the square. His brother walked up to him with a cruel smile on his face.

“Hello my dear little brother. I see you’ve brought an audience to witness your execution.” Needle looked over his shoulder and saw his two companions being wrapped in green fire as well. His brother leaned in to his face, “But before I execute you, I think I’ll need a snack. A good execution always makes me a little hungry.” He began walking over to the figure in the center of the square. “This little morsel has been tempting me for days now. I think it’s time I enjoyed it, don’t you?” Needle struggled against his bonds, rage cancelling out any other thought. He watched helplessly as his brother bent almost lovingly towards Cherish’s neck. A small yelp issued from her, and then was gone.

Cherish was gone from him, forever.