• Published 15th Jul 2019
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The Centurion Project - TheEighthDayofNight



Elias "Rubrum Aquilae" Bright, the former leader of the Legio I Americana, on the run from his past, finds himself thrown into the conflicts of Equestria.

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Chapter 28: Scarred

Luna tried to massage away the migraine that was pounding away at her skull. The cleanup effort of the botched wedding, botched invasion, and then the make-up wedding was a monumental effort, one so significant that she had never gotten the opportunity to clean up. Gore still stained her normally pristine fur as she trudged toward her bedroom. After they had ensured the changelings had been evicted from Canterlot by Cadence and Shining Armor, she had immediately begun tasking the guard forces to find the replaced ponies, as well as hunt down any changeling stragglers that had escaped the love spell. It hadn’t taken long to find a massive pod room beneath the castle, filled to the brim with thousands of ponies, many of them replaced guards. By the early estimates, a full half of both the Lunar, and Solar Guards had been replaced, with only a few select members of the Royal Guard vanishing. Those were largely just their informants however, and they had only succeeded in distracting the elite force long enough for the invasion to take place. Either way, the effort was successful, and it demonstrated a complete, and utter failure in preparedness. They would need to shore up their illusion detection defenses if they wanted to prevent a repeat event.

Even as she walked the castle halls, ponies from all over Equestria were streaming in to Canterlot to contribute to the cleanup. Doctors and nurses poured in by the dozen, creating makeshift hospitals in the streets to free as many ponies from the pods as quickly as possible. Some of the ponies had been replaced for weeks, and would be bed-ridden due to the nasty changeling venom that kept them docile within the pods. Luna shuddered at the thought of breathing goo for weeks on end. Celestia had told her that it was awful for the few minutes she had experienced the sensation when she was captured, and to sustain that day after day… Luna was glad for the fresh support of the doctors.

In addition to medical staff, a host of other ponies; maids, carpenters, farmers laden with surplus food, and even the humble ditch diggers poured in as repairs were made in and around the castle. Luna had been surprised to hear that the most intense violence occurred around Elias. With the human being such an unknown factor, the changelings had marked him, and any with him, as kill on sight. Otherwise, they prioritized capture, content to siphon love from her subjects as they preyed on the city. Still, there were bodies to bury, blood to clean, and damage to mend. Mass graves were dug outside the walls for the changelings, while the bodies of fallen ponies were carried away in the hastily prepared coffins, shipped away to their homes so that they might find proper rest.

It was with this depressing thought, Luna turned the corner, and quickly spotted something very wrong outside her door; or rather, someone. Elias leaned heavily against the wall, a spear in one hand as he visibly teetered on the verge of passing out. White bandages covered every inch of his body, including his face, which was partially hidden under his still blood-soaked helmet. The plume was matted, its normally pristine blue stained black with blood. His armor was in rotted tatters, with much of it simply gone as it hung from his frame, and on a second glance, Luna noticed that Elias lacked his normal shield. He looked off without it. A quick whiff of the air found that the hallway reeked of blood, despite being clear of any gore. The first part of the castle to receive repairs had been her quarters and the hallways surrounding them. The source of the smell was obvious as the blind human turned to look at her. Thick pads of gauze were wrapped over his eyes, leaving his mouth partially obscured as he spoke.

“Evening Princess,” he said quietly. He then chuckled weakly, clutching at his stomach as he did so. “Or at least I think its evening. Can’t really check the time, now can I?”

Luna was torn between a need to sweep the human off his feet to force him to rest, or to yell at him for being up in the first place. She also vaguely wondered how he knew that it was her, but she shoved that thought aside.

“Why are you not in the infirmary?” she asked him forcefully as she approached. “Your wounds are significant, and you need bed rest.”

Elias shrugged and his blinded eyes faced forward again.

“Scalpel needed the beds for the ponies he’s dragging out of those cocoon things. He’s full to the breaking point, so I made myself scarce.”

“And the reason you are not resting in your own room?” Luna asked.

Elias flinched at the question.

“It’s too quiet in there,” he responded. “So, I gave Scalpel the extra space. It has a working stove and running water, so the doctors can get anything and everything for their patients. It’s a recovery room for the time being.”

Luna sighed, and rubbed her forehead as she approached her bedroom door.

“I suppose I can’t scold you for giving your space to those in need, but why are you here Guardsman? You should not be on guard duty in your condition.”

He shrugged again as she stood before him. A closer inspection showed Luna that no attempt had been made to clean or mend his blue steel armor. Horrible rents painted black with blood covered the armor, and Luna noted a few that she hadn’t been able to see before. She would be impressed at his fortitude if she wasn't nearly enraged that he wasn’t currently trying to pull a guard shift in his state.

“Captain Nightshade needed someone on the position,” Elias said. “We’re stretched thin, and everyone who can is out hunting changelings, so the guards who are able to stand are being assigned to the normal positions around the castle. Something about providing a sense of security, I wasn't paying attention." He shrugged a third time. "I fit well enough into that category, so she gave me the easy duty, brought me here, then left. This section of the castle is blocked off from anybody except guards and princesses for the time being, so I just have to stand around, and attack whoever doesn’t fit into one of those categories.”

“And how do you know that I am not a member of the nobility with a voice altering spell?” Luna asked playfully.

“A member of the nobility wouldn’t have gasped like I shot their dog when they walked around that corner,” Elias responded smoothly, his sightless eyes facing her as he grinned wearily.

Luna snorted.

“You can hardly blame me; you should not be up Elias, and I will not let you remain as you are.”

She opened her bedroom door, then calmly levitated the human inside. Due to Celestia’s failed attempt to brawl with Chrysalis, they were already going to be leaving a few weeks later, so Luna saw no issue casting a few minor spells to help her contain the human, who was already trying to squirm free. Whether a result of his injuries, or from what was likely a drained well of energy, said struggles were weak, and Luna was easily able to disarm, and dis-armor the human. His blood-soaked tunic quickly followed, though Luna took care to not obliterate the garment like she did last time.

“What are you doing?” Elias asked, his voice showing only the barest of traces of irritation.

“You can perform your duties just as well from my side while you rest,” Luna responded.

To serve her point, she levitated his sword belt into his hands as she set Elias down on her bed. Before the human could make any attempts to rise, Luna joined him, curling around his body as she levitated over her dragonfire candle and the host of letters she would be working on. Her horn then fell dark as she began conserving her magic once more, sure that she had easily caught up to Celestia’s earlier use.

Luna set to work quickly, her hoof working at lightning speed as she put the quill to paper. Only after the first letter was written and sent did she realize that she hadn’t heard any further words of protest from Elias. She looked down to the human to find him snoring softly, the sound music to her ears as she smiled widely. Even covered in bandages like something out of a horror story, the human looked positively adorable as he slept. Luna briefly wished she could recall Book Binder and Night Flash and have them curl up with their adopted son, but unfortunately, the two had remained unscathed enough that they were deployed on the changeling hunt. If Luna remembered the initial reports correctly, they were somewhere near Appleloosa, and would return in a few days.

Elias snorted in his sleep, and Luna felt her heart melt when he cuddled tighter against her side. The human’s face momentarily twisted in a scowl, but when Luna rubbed his back with her wing, it shifted into a content smile as he sighed and relaxed against her body. That smile vanished, as did Luna’s when a loud knock echoed at through her door. Elias scowled as he shifted in his sleep, and Luna covered his body with her wing as she called softly to the unwelcome intruder.

“Come in, and do so quietly.”

Nightshade opened the door with a nasty snarl across her face. The thestral had heavy bags under eyes, and a look of pure rage decorated her golden eyes as she looked at Luna.

“Where is Guardsman Bright? He said he could handle a guard shift, and yet he’s not at his post. When I find him I’m going to give that lazy human a piece of my hoof up his a-“

“That is quite enough Captain,” Luna whispered harshly.

She lifted her wing to reveal Elias, his bandaged face twisting in discomfort at the sudden lack of his blanket. His left hand weakly reached out to snatch the feathered limb back, while his right clutched his sword belt as if his life depended on it. As his fingers found her feathers, Luna let the limb fall back over the human. He let out another sigh and his snores quickly resumed as Luna smiled down at the sleeping human. She then looked to Nightshade, who was staring at the covered human in shock. Luna lightly cleared her throat, and the thestral’s eyes found hers.

“Princess I… did he ask to do this?”

Luna shook her head.

“No Captain, but it would not do to let one who fought as hard as Elias did to stand guard. He is at his physical breaking point, and that will only further add to his emotional strain. I brought him inside and removed his armor to let him sleep.” She looked down at the snoring human. “He needs it.”

Nightshade sighed and nodded.

“He’s not the only one. Princess, I came here for two reasons, well one really, but now that I’m here…”

“What do you need Captain?” Luna asked, cutting through the rambling.

Nightshade took a deep breath.

“Princess, I just wanted to apologize for my complete and utter failure. The fault for the invasion rests solely at my hooves.” She glared at the floor as her ears pinned themselves to the side of her head. “I should have noticed the changes among the guards, I should have better prepped for something like this, and… I didn’t. Ponies got hurt because of my failings, and I’m sorry for failing my duties.”

Luna opened her mouth to reply, but she felt Elias shift under her wing. His blind face poked through the feathers and he sightlessly stared at Nightshade. A hard frown was on his face as he and the thestral stared at each other. Sniffing loudly, Elias cleared his throat, then he spoke slowly as he woke up fully.

“It’s good to be sorry Captain, but it’s better to start learning from the mistake. What are we looking at in terms of casualties?”

“Wounded?” Nightshade asked. “Counting all of the ponies put in pods; four hundred Lunar Guards, six hundred Solar Guards, and well over a thousand civilians. Dead?” She flinched at the word. “Three civilians, and ten Solar Guards. We got lucky.”

Elias nodded.

“That we did. I imagine the changelings are licking uglier wounds than we are, but it doesn’t matter what their doing, what matters is what we’re going to do. Feeling sorry only helps so much, use it as a catalyst to improve everything. More detection, stronger guards, better awareness for missing people. Never be unprepared again. Learn from the mistakes now while the casualties are negligible. Thirteen ponies? I know that by myself I killed at least double that number in changelings.”

Nightshade snorted softly.

“Four times actually. We tallied the bodies. You killed at least fifty-two that we can directly confirm that were you, but that number could easily be doubled if we tried harder. We found dozens of bodies in your wake.”

Elias shrugged the stat away.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s a minor victory that doesn’t matter to anyone who knows what they’re doing. We need to focus on the fact that we almost lost.”

He turned to look up at Luna.

“Speaking of, how did we win? I remember something weird passing over me, but I had no idea what it was.”

“Shining Armor and Princess Cadence used the power of their love to drive the changelings away,” Luna responded. “It manifested in the form of a bubble shield that largely pushed the invaders back into the Badlands. The changelings that managed to remain in Equestria’s borders will not do so for long.”

Though she couldn’t see it, Luna had no doubt in her mind that Elias was staring at her as if she had sprouted a second horn. The human grumbled something under his breath, then disappeared back under her feathers.

“Sorry Princess, but I’m too tired to be dealing with more nonsense right now. I’m going back to bed.”

“Oh no you don’t.” Nightshade said.

She moved fast, grabbing Elias’ foot as she dragged him away from Luna’s grasp.

“You have an appointment with the Doc. He says he found someone to speed up your healing regimen.”

Elias groaned loudly as he was dragged across the bed, and Luna felt pleased as a peach that he reached an arm out to try and stay at her side. She knew it was likely due to blood loss, but the human was actively craving physical affection. A silver lining to his horrific injuries. Nightshade was stronger however, and she forced Elias to stand at her side as she pushed him toward the door.

“Quit being a baby Guardsman, you can get your snuggle buddy back when we’re done,” Nightshade said with a wink back at Luna, who blushed lightly.

Elias sighed and rubbed at his forehead.

“Fine, but I need help finding my armor. And my clothes,” he tried to shoot a glare at Luna, but he was a few inches off as he sent a nasty look at her nightstand. “ponies keep taking them, and I still don’t know why.”

Luna scoffed.

“You were wearing a nasty, bloodstained tunic, and it smelled. I would not allow something so vile to touch my bed sheets.”

“Is that why you’re still covered in blood?” Elias responded.

Luna blinked, then looked down at her fur. Sure enough, she had completely forgotten that she had never cleaned up; the human had completely distracted her. She flushed red with embarrassment as she realized that she likely stunk as badly as he did. She glared at the human, who was smiling at her right shoulder.

“Go to your healing session Guardsman!” she shouted. “Captain, ensure that he returns to my quarters so that I may punish him for his insolence.”

Nightshade gave her a goofy grin, but saluted and grabbed Elias gently by the arm as she guided the blind human to the door. As they left, Luna gave herself a sniff, then recoiled in disgust. She quickly penned a letter to the cleaning staff requesting fresh sheets, then she got to her feet and sprinted into her bathroom, more than ready to scrub herself clean.

*****

Elias stared at darkness as he waited silently. Around him, the sounds of ponies retching told him that he was in the infirmary, or at least somewhere being treated as an infirmary. He had been told that the effort to free everyone from the pods would take days, and the longer it took, the more severe the aftereffects. As a result, the pods were being given around the clock treatment as the doctors and nurses of Canterlot worked at a furious pace to get everyone free. It was one of the reasons Elias had excused himself as soon as he had come to. Though it hurt like hell, he could move enough to free a bed, and he wasn’t at any risk of dying, so he didn’t need it. A part of his mind knew that Scarlet was hidden somewhere in that army of pods, and he would be damned if he let the pegasus suffer anymore than he already had.

Elias felt someone tap on his knee, and he did his best to approximate the source of the tapping.

“Yep?” he asked quietly.

“Elias, next to me is Doctor Horse, from Ponyville,” Scalpel said slowly. “He’s a specialist in healing spells, so he’s going to be helping me remove your bandages so that you can see again, alright?”

Elias snorted.

“My ears are working fine Doc; you don’t need to talk like that.”

Scalpel sighed, and Elias imagined that the unicorn was rubbing his forehead.

“Same thing, different day with you,” he grumbled. “Go ahead Doctor, and don’t worry about hurting him, he won’t tell you if he’s in any pain.”

Elias grinned in the direction of the pony’s voice.

“Aw Scalpel, you have been listening,” he said mockingly.

Elias heard Scalpel grumble as he moved away, then he felt another tap on his knee.

“Elias, I am Doctor Horse, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Pleasure’s all mine if you can get me at least one eye back,” Elias replied. “I’m not big on being led around; I’d like to walk on my own, thank you very much.”

“Let’s see if we can’t get both of your eyes back, hm?” Doctor Horse replied. “Please lie back, I don’t want to accidentally graze anything as I’m removing your bandages.”

Elias nodded silently, then felt behind him as he made sure that he wouldn’t fall off the bed. Doctor Horse helped him by guiding his head down, then by lifting Elias’ bandaged legs onto the bed. The unicorn moved around the bed, then tapped an uninjured part of Elias’ arm.

“Alright Elias, I’m going to start with what I’m told is the lighter of the two wounds. I want to make sure you can see out of at least one eye by the end of today, okay?”

Elias nodded.

“Alright Doc.”

Elias twitched nervously as he felt hooves gently pulling away the bandages on the right side of his face. As he slowly pulled back the gauze pads, Doctor Horse said;

“You may wish to close your eyes. It’s awfully bright in here, and it might irritate them if you get flooded with light all at once.”

Elias nodded and closed his eyes, watching the light grow under his right eyelid. Doctor Horse clicked his tongue, but Elias could almost hear him smile as he gently touched a hoof to Elias’ face.

“Well, that one isn’t so bad at all. I think we can even get rid of the scar. Doctor Scalpel did a marvelous job.”

Elias slowly cracked his eye open, blinking rapidly as he let it adjust to the light of the infirmary. A yellow unicorn with glasses smiled back at him as the pony prodded at his eyebrow.

“Not bad at all,” Doctor Horse said, his horn lighting up.

Elias felt a warm sensation pass through his face, and then Doctor Horse clapped his hooves together.

“Good as new!” he proudly declared, levitating a mirror to Elias’ hand.

The human took it, inspecting his eye carefully. The changeling’s sword had managed to miss it, and as the remains of the cut sealed itself, Elias was able to confirm that it was good as new; the blue of his eye was its usual simmering self, though he was fairly proud to note that there was less rage hiding just below the surface. He snorted as he set the mirror down. Book Binder would likely tackle him if she ever heard about the full extent of his wounds, and honestly, Elias was becoming less and less resistant to the idea. It was a... good feeling. Or at least Elias thought it was. That was positive, right?

Doctor Horse moved around the side of the bed once more, dipping into Elias’ blind spot.

“Give me just a moment Elias, and I’ll have this side fixed up just as good.”

Elias gave the pony a thumbs up, then scanned the infirmary as the unicorn went to work. It was full to capacity, but Elias suspected that it wouldn’t be so for much longer. A multitude of nurses ran pell-mell between the beds, quickly delivering buckets for vomiting, and returning just as quickly to collect them. IV’s hung on poles by each bed, and the ponies that weren’t pitching their guts to the ground were resting calmly, tucked under multi-colored quilts with what looked like apples on them. Somepony’s donation likely.

It took a second for Elias to realize that the sound by his head was gone, as was the bandage. He blinked stupidly as he stared at the ceiling with both eyes, then he turned, smiling widely at Doctor Horse.

“What do you know?” Elias said in an unusually cheerful manner. “Both eyes back, just like you said Doc. I guess a thank you is in order.”

Elias’ good cheer turned into confusion as the pony looked at him with horror written all over his face. Elias blinked, then tilted his head as he looked at the unicorn.

“You alright Doc?” Elias asked. “What, is there a bad scar or something?”

Doctor Horse shook his head slowly, then spun around and sprinted away from Elias’ bedside. The human winced and held his stomach wound carefully as he sat up, staring in confusion after the fleeing pony. Several of the nurses stopped in confusion as well, staring after the pony’s retreating brown tail, then they looked to Elias, who stared back in confusion. They gasped loudly and quickly set about their tasks, casting him nervous glances as they intentionally avoided eye contact. Elias briefly considered rising from his bed to ask what the issue was, but something made him decide against it. Instead, he laid back, staring at the familiar ceiling as he began to silently count the stone tiles. He reached fifty-two before Scalpel was at his bedside. The unicorn gasped softly, but unlike Doctor Horse, he didn’t flee, and he didn’t look at Elias like he was some kind of monster. The unicorn instead began gently prodding Elias’ face with his hoof, making notes on a clipboard as he asked a series of questions.

“Elias, do you feel any tightness in your face?” Scalpel asked quietly

“No, is there something wrong?” Elias asked carefully.

Scalpel tsked, and levitated over a black bag, from which he pulled a number of tools, poking at Elias’ cheek.

“I don’t think so, but I haven’t exactly seen a case like this, so I’m going to send a letter to Princess Luna. She should know if there’s any problems.”

Scalpel levitated a small flashlight in front of Elias’ left eye and clicked it on.

“Do you see anything abnormal?” Scalpel asked, covering Elias’ right eye with his hoof.

Elias shrugged and stared at the pony.

“Define abnormal,” Elias responded sarcastically, “because if we’re going by the human standard, that list will be long.”

Scalpel snorted and shook his head.

“I think we can safely cross off impact of the mental state.”

The unicorn then sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Elias, I need to move you somewhere more private, and I’ll you why when we get there, it’s just… look, you have a nasty scar now and it’s going to scare ponies. I’m going to cover up your left eye, then you and I are going for a walk, okay?”

Elias immediately felt suspicion return to the forefront of his mind, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at the pony.

“What does it look like?” Elias asked cautiously.

Scalpel paused, the bandages he was intending to use floating in the air next to his head. The unicorn then sighed.

“Elias, I say this as your friend, but just… trust me? I don’t know enough about what’s happened to make an accurate diagnosis, and once you see it, you’ll have questions that I can’t answer. We just need to get you somewhere isolated, have the princesses look at it, and then we’ll go from there, okay?”

Elias scowled at the pony, and he was briefly tempted to force Scalpel to show him, but part of his mind relished the excuse to see Luna again, so he silently nodded and laid back as the bandage drifted over, re-covering the left half of his face. He heard a soft pop, what he assumed was Scalpel sending off the letter, and then the stallion was helping Elias off of the bed. The nurses still gave him glances as they walked past, but they were tempered now, and Elias wondered what could be so bad about a scar on his eye that hadn’t even affected his vision.

As they left the infirmary, a letter popped into existence beside Scalpel’s head, and the unicorn read it swiftly, guiding Elias back toward Luna’s room. The blue alicorn met them outside, and Elias briefly noticed that her starry mane looked wet, something that seemed odd as it continued to flow.

“Come,” Luna said. “We can look at the damage in comfort if nothing else.”

Elias tsked as he walked into the room that he had been in only a short while ago.

“Princess, did you redecorate?” he joked. “It’s been so long, and the place has changed so much.”

Luna snorted and smiled, then seemed to catch herself, and gave him a deadpan look as she sat him on the bed.

“If that is your best attempt at a jest Guardsman, you will have to try harder.”

Elias shrugged as Scalpel dragged a chair before the human and sat down in it.

“Made you laugh, didn’t I?”

Luna rolled her eyes, then sat down next to Scalpel as the unicorn set down his bag of tools. She tsked softly as she looked at the right side of Elias’ face.

“His injuries seem on track for healing. It was the left eye that had the abnormality yes?”

Scalpel nodded, looking toward the bandages covering Elias’ face. His horn lit up, and Elias blinked as the white drifted away from his eye, allowing him to see fully. Luna frowned and prodded Elias’ cheek with her hoof.

“That’s what Doctor Horse found when he removed the bandages,” Scalpel said. “As far as I can tell it’s just a physical change. Elias said he didn’t feel or see any different, but I’m out of my depth here.”

Luna nodded.

“You were wise to contact me immediately. Have you checked on his other wounds yet?”

Scalpel shook his head.

“No Princess, I haven’t. I don’t even know what caused this one to react like it has.”

Elias looked between the ponies in confusion.

“Can someone fill me in here?” he asked. “What’s wrong with my face?”

Luna ignored his question, and she pressed a hoof on his shoulder, guiding him to lie down. Elias frowned silently at the ceiling, and as the ponies moved onto the bed to look at his other wounds, he felt himself drifting away to sleep. The blankets were incredibly soft, and he had two of his friends right next to him, all soft and warm…

Elias hissed in pain, brought back to consciousness violently as Luna jabbed a hoof into his leg. He swatted away the offending hoof with one hand as the other clamped down over the throbbing injury. Elias glared at the alicorn.

“What was that for?” Elias asked.

Luna gave him a sympathetic look, then guided him to lie back down.

“My apologies Elias, but I am without my normal means to analyze your wounds. We can not risk altering your mental state with a numbing spell either, so you must endure while Steel Scalpel and I asses them.”

She gently took his hand in her hoof and guided it away from the wound, then Scalpel prodded at it again. Elias bit his tongue, and tensed up to prevent himself from smacking the unicorn. The pain didn’t last long though, and once it was through, Scalpel replaced the bandage on his leg wound. The unicorn frowned as he looked at Luna.

“Princess I don’t understand. That wound resists healing magic, but once healed leaves no noticeable scarring.”

Luna nodded.

“Indeed, take a look at the wound in Elias’ hip while I question him about my theory.”

Luna obscured his view of the ceiling as her green eyes stared down at him. Elias felt another bandage peel away, but felt no pain as Scalpel prodded the wound.

“Tell me Elias, the changeling that caused many of these wounds, what was it like?” Luna asked.

Elias frowned in thought for a moment before answering.

“Physically speaking, it was the same as the rest, but it wore blue armor and used actual weapons.”

“The weapons,” Luna seized upon, “what were they like?”

“One was a sword,” Elias replied simply. “It had this green energy around it, but otherwise it seemed fine. It hurt like any other cut.”

“And the other weapon?” Luna asked as she motioned for Scalpel to move to a wound on Elias’ other leg.

“An axe,” Elias replied. “It had this black glow around it, and it hurt like hell when it hit. The sword cut the right side of my face, while the axe cut the left.”

Luna disappeared from his view, and she tapped a wound on his left leg.

“And this cut? Which weapon cause it?” she asked.

“The axe,” Elias responded without looking.

“And this one?” she asked, tapping his gut.

“The axe again,” Elias responded, his irritation rising. “Can I ask what point you are trying to make here Princess? I have about a hundred different cuts, what difference does one nasty looking weapon do?”

Luna sighed, and she and Scalpel helped Elias sit up. He was quick to notice several ugly black marks across his body where some of his wounds should have been. Of note on his body were three of the black covered wounds, one on his left leg, one across his stomach, and the third in his side where the changeling horn had been. Elias felt numb inside as he ran a finger across the wound on his leg, quickly recognizing the feeling as the chitin that covered the changelings. The hard, black material melded seamlessly with his skin, the pink flesh not at all discolored. Elias softly rubbed at the wound on his gut, finding the same thing. The wound on his hip was in an identical state.

As Elias discovered his wounds, Scalpel and Luna watched him silently, each with sympathy written clearly on their faces. For some reason, that irritated Elias, even going so far as to make him angry. He didn’t need sympathy, he needed answers. Elias ran his thumb along his cheekbone to scratch his nose, but froze when his thumbnail momentarily rubbed against more chitin. His anger flashed defensively as panic raced to the forefront of his mind. Doctor Horse had run away, the nurses refused to look at him, Scalpel isolated him away from everyone else. It all clicked. He just had to confirm it.

Elias glared at Luna and Scalpel.

“What happened to my eye?” he growled.

The ponies exchanged a look, but neither answered. Elias felt his face twitch as his anger flashed up further.

“What. Happened. To. My. Fucking. Eye,” Elias repeated slowly, doing his best to keep his rage from his voice.

Scalpel flinched at his tone, while Luna sighed and laid a hoof on his arm.

“Before we show you, I can safely say that it is nothing more than a physical abnormality. I can detect no magic in you now, just like I couldn’t detect any before. You are still completely human in every way, shape, and form. This kind of magic takes hours of exposure to provoke any serious changes to a being, and with your magicless state, it would take even longer.” She sighed again. “I believe it was the severity of your wounds that caused the changes as they are, but be reassured that they will not grow any worse from where they are now.”

Elias couldn’t help but feel slightly relaxed at her words. Her voice was soothing and calm, flying in the face of the building rage in his mind. It tempered the winds of anger, and Elias exhaled loudly as he stared at his hands.

“Show me,” he said, his voice only slightly angry.

Luna gave him a small smile, then nodded toward her dresser. Scalpel rose nervously from his seat and he trotted over to the piece of furniture, quickly retrieving a hand mirror before returning, cautiously handing over to Elias. The human momentarily hesitated before directing the reflective surface toward his face, but as he did so, he felt fear creep into his being.

A thick, black scar ran down from his hairline, splitting his eyebrow in two as it ran down his cheek, ending on his chin. That wasn’t the worst part, however. His eye… Elias peeled back his eye socket with two fingers as he looked at the pure blue orb. It had changed completely, and instead of his normal human eye with its blue iris, a changeling’s eye stared back, with a slitted, white iris bisecting it. The eye blinked in time with him, and as he looked around with it, he realized that it felt like normal, it was simply different. It was the eye of an enemy, of the enemy. The bugs had almost taken his best friend away, had nearly killed Luna. And now… Now he was like them, at least partially. Another mark of failure. His failure.

Elias flipped the mirror over in his hands as he handed it back to Scalpel, not looking up as he felt the energy drain from his body. He was incredibly tired, and the urge to curl up and never move again had never been stronger in his mind. He did his best to not let it show, but by the way Luna was looking at him, Elias could tell that he had failed miserably. Now that he knew, he couldn't just get the image of the way the nurses had looked at him out of his head. He was already an oddity that attracted stares, but now everyone would fear his mere presence . That cut his core, and Elias couldn't quite figure out why.

“A monster inside and out now, huh?” he asked bitterly, the words feelings right.

Luna scowled at him, but her gaze quickly softened.

“Neither of those things are true Elias. You are a hero. These scars were earned in the defense of me, my ponies, and my kingdom. I, nor anypony else could ask more from you.”

The words bounced off of Elias’ wall of mind-numbing self-hatred. He took a deep breath, and tapping his leg gently, he assessed that he had enough strength to find somewhere to curl up in a ball to sleep. Elias suppressed a grunt as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Meet you in the infirmary for my next healing session?” Elias asked Scalpel.

The unicorn nodded sadly.

“Tomorrow Elias, bright and early as always.”

The human nodded and walked around the two ponies numbly. He couldn’t feel anything as he cracked open Luna’s door and slipped out, his mind wandering as his feet carried him to some unknown destination.

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