Scarlet

by Skijarama

Hatred

Were it not for Scarlet’s muffled hysterical cries of grief, the room would have been left in total silence. Lens stared on at the sobbing mare, his back sore from its prior impact with the wall, and his eyelids heavy from the sleep spell that Scarlet had cast on him mere minutes ago. He just sat there, utterly dumbfounded and at a loss.

His eyes fell on the spot where Protea had been. Despite the fact that no sound had been able to enter the room from outside since the moment Scarlet closed the door, the changeling filly’s wails still echoed loud and clear in his ears. Some small part of him shriveled up and shrank away from that echoing howl as if he were being accused of some heinous crime.

“You let this happen,” that miserable voice seemed to whisper to him. “You didn’t do anything to help. You let Scarlet drive Protea away!”

Lens shook his head, dismissing the notion. He had been knocked out cold. Any and all say he had in the situation had been lost the moment that happened. He couldn’t be held accountable for what happened afterward.

“But what about before…?”

Lens shuddered. It was true. He could have done so much more to prevent this, yet he didn’t. Maybe it had been his shock or his own love for the broken mare in the room that caused him to hesitate and put forth such a pathetic attempt at mediation. Ultimately, the reason did not matter. All that did was the end result.

And the end result was that Protea was gone. Running away, probably never to be seen by either Scarlet or Lens ever again.

“No.”

Lens growled deep in his throat, a flicker of fire building up in the back of his skull and driving him to his hooves. “I refuse. I won’t let it end like this. We’ve come way too far and been through too much for this to be how it all ends!”

Mustering what little strength his still-drowsy mind had at the moment, Lens marched up to Scarlet’s side. Her face was hidden from view, buried in her blankets, and curtained off by her red mane. She was still sobbing uncontrollably, and her entire body was being ravaged by horrible tremors.

Lens opened his mouth to speak, to reprimand the unicorn before him for lashing out the way she had, but nothing came out. The longer he stared at her, the longer he took in the shuddering, devastated wreck that had once been Scarlet Frost, the more he realized that now was not the time to be angry with her.

Lens reached out and gingerly rested his hoof on her back. “Hey,” he called out to her, his voice barely rising above a whisper. “Scarlet.”

She didn’t say anything. She pushed away from the bed and turned to instead bury her face in his chest. He felt the dampness of her tears soaking into his coat, and he could feel the convulsions in her body. Again, his words died in his throat, and his forelegs slowly drew around her in a comforting embrace.

For what felt like an age, he held her, letting her weep and sob and cry into his chest. All the while, he ran his hoof over her mane in a feeble effort to calm her down and bring her back to a place where she could at least talk. His other hoof wrapped tightly around her, holding her close and slowly running up and down her back in a comforting manner.

Finally, after an indeterminable number of minutes, Scarlet’s cries tapered off, leaving the two of them in silence yet again. With stiff, sluggish movements, the mare pulled back to look into Lens’ eyes, revealing that her own were red, puffy, and bloodshot beyond belief.

Lens’ heart withered at the sight, but he maintained his composure. “One of us has to,” he figured.

“...That was a very bad thing you just did,” Lens eventually told her, his eyes narrowing in disappointment.

Scarlet looked away as if in shame, though the scowl appearing on her face said she was feeling every other emotion except for that. “Don’t you dare lecture me, Lens,” she said in a hoarse croak. “She- ...It was a monster. The fact that I let it go is more than it-”

The fire in Lens’ skull returned with fury at hearing her speak in such a manner. Before he could stop himself, Lens lifted a hoof and brought it across Scarlet’s cheek, hard. The resounding smack that filled the air killed Scarlet’s words in her throat while her head lurched off to one side. Her eyes went wide, bulging in their sockets while her jaw fell open in abject shock as if she could not comprehend the fact that Lens had just hit her.

Of course, he could scarcely believe it himself.

“She is not a monster,” he rebuked without hesitation, grasping both of Scarlet’s shoulders in a firm grip and glaring daggers into her eyes. “She is a scared, frightened child, one that trusted and cared about you, and you just sent her running in one of the most horrible things I have ever seen you do.”

Scarlet blinked a few times before the fire returned to her eyes. “You can’t be serious,” she rasped, brushing his hooves aside and standing up. She took a few shaky steps back. “She’s a changeling. How can you even say any of that about her?! She LIED to us!”

Lens grit his teeth together, following her to a standing position. “Can you blame her?! After what just happened?!” he argued, stepping forward. “I’m honestly amazed she decided to tell the truth about it at all, considering how you reacted! How brave did she have to be to show her true face to you, Scarlet?!”

“She tried to take our daughter’s place!”

“No, she did not!” Lens snapped, marching up until he was right up in Scarlet’s face. “She didn’t even know about Crystal until after I met her! She just wanted somepony to look after her! And if you could calm down for one fucking minute and think, then maybe, just maybe, you’d be able to see that!”

“SHE’S A CHANGELING!”

Lens’ pupils dilated. “And?! What’s your point?!” he shouted, anger and incredulity fighting a war in his mind. He just couldn’t wrap his head around this. “It’s pretty damn clear that she isn’t at all like the other changelings you’ve seen! She can talk, she can cry! She was willing and able to show herself to you even though she knew you would despise her, something her cursed counterparts wouldn’t even be capable of comprehending, much less doing!”

Scarlet inhaled sharply through her nostrils. In a flash, her horn snapped into life with magic, and Lens found himself being thrown back across the room from a burst of magic. He grunted with effort, barely keeping his hooves under him.

“CHANGELINGS MURDERED OUR DAUGHTER, LENS!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, stomping forward with tears in her eyes again. “I couldn’t care less what sob story they feed me! I can never forgive those creatures for what they did to me and my family! I can never, ever forget how that demon tore out my little girl’s throat!”

The wave of energy finally died down, and silence fell over the room again, save for Scarlet’s heavy breathing. She crumpled to her haunches again, lazily wiping a hoof over her face to dispel her tears. There were more to replace them the moment she lowered her leg. “...You weren’t there, Lens… I don’t expect you to understand how I feel... What I had to see. What I had to watch.”

Lens took a deep breath, fighting to calm himself down and get his raging emotions under control. After a few seconds, he nodded to himself before approaching again. “You’re right… I wasn’t there. And in this case… I think that might be a good thing.”

Scarlet glanced up at him in confusion. “What?”

Sighing, Lens flopped down onto his haunches in front of her, deciding to try a more diplomatic approach. “Look… I told you before that I wish I had been there to help you,” he began with a sigh, his ears drooping. “I never got to know our daughter and that… that’s always going to haunt me. I wish, more than anything, that I could have been there to help you raise her and see her growing up.”

He looked down at the floor, one hoof wandering up to hover over his softly aching heart. “If I had been with you, maybe I could have helped save her… hell, maybe she would have met Prim, and the two would be good friends at this point…”

He looked back up to Scarlet, his ears rising and his eyes narrowing with conviction. “But I wasn’t there… and as much as that pains me, it also means that I didn’t get to see how she died… and it means I can think about this more logically.”

Scarlet blinked at him a few times before shaking her head. “You cannot be serious…”

“Listen to me,” Lens said in a soft voice, gently taking one of her hooves and squeezing it between both of his own. “Listen. You hate changelings, and you have a very good reason for it. But it’s still a fresh wound… if this were a military operation, you would be removed from your post due to being emotionally compromised.”

The mentioning of military procedure seemed to have the intended effect. Scarlet’s ears drooped, and she looked away. She mouthed uselessly for several seconds as she tried to find her words. When at last she spoke, her voice was quiet and timid.

“B-but… how can you dismiss how she came to me?” she croaked. “As a child, only a little older than Crystal… she must have felt that I was still grieving…”

“Maybe she did,” Lens shrugged before giving her hoof another squeeze. “But don’t forget how much she’s lost, too. How many families has she been through?”

Scarlet closed her eyes.

“More than one. And no creature in this world deserves that kind of pain,” Lens went on, his expression softening. “If she was pulled to you by anything you were feeling, it wasn’t because she wanted to replace Crystal… it was because she just wanted a family…”

Scarlet winced, her breath starting to shake again. “But… her form…”

“Remember the Apple family?” Lens countered softly. “They recognized her because that was how she appeared to them. It wasn’t a choice she made in Swanrun just to try and pry at your feelings… that’s just who she is.”

Scarlet took a deep breath before pulling her hoof away. Opening her eyes, she sluggishly rose to her hooves and dragged herself over to the window to peer out at the cityscape beyond. “...It doesn’t matter,” she mumbled in resignation, all of the hope having long since fled her voice. “Even if you’re right about her, it doesn’t matter… she’s gone. It’s over...”

Lens frowned, taking a step forward. “No, it’s not,” he said in open defiance with a sharp shake of his head. “Because I am going to go out there, find Protea, and bring her back so we can talk this through like reasonable ponies.”

Scarlet turned back to him, her eyes wide in bewilderment. “W-what? Lens, you can’t go out there-”

“Yes, I can,” Lens shut down her argument with three simple words. He stepped closer and put his hoof on her shoulder. “You’re not in any condition to be going out there right now. I am. So you just stay here, rest, calm down, and pull yourself together. When I get back, we’re going to sort this out, and then we’re going to escape this city. Together.”

Scarlet stared at him long and hard for several seconds, her gaze searching his for any sign of weakness or hesitation. She would find none, as he felt none. He was sure of his course of action, although he would be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid that he might fail. Protea had quite the significant head start on him, after all. He’d have to give it his all to catch up to her.

Finally, the mare nodded and looked away. “...Just be careful, Lens,” she choked out, her face hidden by her mane. Lens did not miss the brief sparkle as a tear fell to the floor, however. “And come back to me… I can’t do this alone.”

Lens was quiet for a moment, lifting a hoof up as if to reach out to her. Eventually, he set it on her back before rising to his hooves. “Alright… I’ll be back soon.”

---

Primrose had barely stopped running ever since she fled the room, terror of inciting Scarlet’s wrath driving her to run harder than she had in years. She tore through the common room of the inn and back out into the open streets of Newcanter. Remembering the increased patrols, she had then ducked into the alleys and ran for all she was worth.

And all the while, she cried.

“I’m all alone again,” she thought to herself over and over again, despair tearing into her heart. She had been afraid that Scarlet would find out sooner or later, and she had always known that it would be a very difficult time for both of them.

After learning about Crystal, though, Primrose should have known that this would be how it would end. The fact that her head was still on her shoulders was a miracle.

After some time, she came sliding to a stop in the middle of a four-way intersection in the network of back alleys. She staggered over to slump against a nearby wall, her lungs burning with fire and the desperate need for air, her legs throbbing with pain and agony, her stomach churning in revulsion as her own negative emotions flooded her system.

Slumping down between a few old barrels so her back was to the wall, Primrose allowed herself the luxury of her magic, something she seldom used, to prise open her saddlebags and extract the lamp. She settled it into her hooves and looked at it, catching sight of her reflection distorted in its many-faced surface. She turned it this way and that as she struggled to get her breathing and her sobs under control.

So close… she had been so damn close to finding out what it had all been for. Why her parents had been murdered, why she had run for half of her life… For the first time since that horrible night, it had felt as if the end was in sight. There had been hope. Hope for answers, hope for safety, hope for her life.

But now…

Choking down another sob, Primrose briefly looked around to ensure she was alone. Then, with a quiet whimper, she allowed her disguise to flicker away, and Protea emerged back into the world. Her eyes fell on the lamp, and her stomach churned with disgust at the wretched creature she saw before her. The face of the creature that had caused Scarlet so much pain…

The dam broke, and Protea began to openly sob again. Shivering and curling up into a ball, she held the lamp up to her chest, sniffling all the while. “I’m… I-I’m s-so sorry, m-mom…” she blubbered out, tears running down her cheeks as an all-too-familiar pain stabbed her over and over again in her poor, abused heart.

Suddenly, the sound of a wooden door opening reached her ears, followed by a feminine voice echoing down the alley. “Hello? Is somepony there?”

Protea’s heart leaped in her throat, and she was quick to snap back into her disguise. Moving quickly, she stuffed her lamp back into her saddlebags and got up to her hooves, her ears perking up to listen in.

There were ponies coming. Two of them, if she had to guess. They were muttering to one another under their breaths as they drew closer, their words slowly coming into focus.

“They’re quiet now,” the second pony, a stallion, muttered. “Do you think you scared them off?”

“I don’t think so,” the mare replied. “I hope not. It sounded like they were in trouble…”

Primrose sniffled, her eyes lowering to stare at the ground.

The mare spoke up a moment later, raising her voice to call out over the empty alleyway. “Hello? I thought I heard crying!”

Primrose took a deep breath, fighting to maintain her composure. Slowly, she stepped out from behind the barrels and into view, keeping her head down.

She was met by the sight of a mare and a stallion, both looking to be in their mid-to-late thirties. The mare was a rich yellow unicorn with a dark teal mane and tail, the former she had tied back into a ponytail, and a pair of reading glasses that were balanced on her muzzle. The stallion was a silvery grey pegasus with a black mane and tail, both of which were long and somewhat unkempt.

The mare jumped at the sight of Primrose, her hoof flying up to her chest. “Oh… oh, dear. Uh, hello, there, little girl. Are you alright? Are you lost?” she asked, nothing but kindness and worry in her voice.

And in her taste. Primrose’s tongue shifted around in her mouth at the familiar flavor, but she chose not to act on it for the moment. She shook her head. “N-no, ma’am… I’m not lost…” she said, not technically lying. She had no idea where to go or what to do, true, but she knew exactly where she was. And she knew she couldn’t stay here.

“Well, what’s wrong, then?” The stallion asked a bit more carefully, craning his neck down to get a better look at her. “We heard crying a minute ago…”

“Oh, dear,” the mare remarked after a moment, her eyes wide. She lifted a hoof to point at Prim’s body. “Honey, do you see how skinny she is?”

“I see,” he replied before offering Primrose a tiny smile. “What’s your name, little filly?”

“I… I…”

Primrose took a step back, a small war breaking out inside her heart. On the one hoof, she needed shelter and safety sooner rather than later. Getting off the streets would be her best bet for that, and if these ponies were offering, she would be a fool to refuse them. But at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to introduce herself or even contemplate going with them, not with the wounds left in Scarlet’s wake still so fresh.

Sadly, she was not afforded enough time to properly consider her options.

“Her name is Primrose,” a new, frighteningly familiar voice interrupted them from above. Primrose’s eyes snapped wide open, her blood turning to ice in her veins. Terror filled her body, every fiber of her being shrieking at her to run away, to duck into the alleys and try to flee. She had to get away from him.

But no matter what her panicking mind said, she couldn’t make herself move. Slowly, she turned around to stare at the pegasus that had spoken.

Silent Edge was perched on the edge of a nearby roof, smiling down at them with smug satisfaction.

“Silent…” Primrose choked out, facing him directly and backing up a few paces.

Silent Edge unfurled his wings and dropped down from the roof, coming to a soft landing approximately ten feet in front of the cowering nymph. He stared at her for a moment before gazing at the mare and stallion she had just bumped into. “My apologies for the disturbance, you two, but this filly is of great importance to some ponies up in the castle. I am here to retrieve her.”

“She is?” The stallion asked with a raised eyebrow. Primrose could taste his skepticism and his doubt. “How so? And to who?”

“That is not your business,” Silent rebuked with a slow shake of his head. His eyes fell on Primrose, narrowing impatiently. “Now… are you going to come quietly, child?”

Primrose opened her mouth to cry out in defiance, to tell him no, absolutely not, to warn the ponies behind her that he was lying and that he was out to kill her. But something caused the words to catch in her throat. She looked back at the two who stood behind her, her vocal cords constricting when she saw their confused faces.

If she resisted, if she fought back, then those two would almost certainly leap to her defense… and Silent would slaughter them. Just like he had murdered her brothers, her father, her mother, and almost every other family she had been accepted into over the last five years. She could see it in the air around them. She could taste it on her tongue. They were confused, scared, and uneasy, but both of them were more likely to take the side of the quivering, terrified filly than the predatorily-smirking Nightblade.

“I can’t let him kill anypony else,” she decided after a moment, swallowing heavily. She turned back to Silent and looked into his eyes, her knees going weak below her. “I’m sorry, mom… I just can’t do this anymore...”

“As long as you leave Scarlet and Lens alone, then yes...” she finally stated, closing her eyes in defeat. “I’ll come with you…”

Silent blinked in surprise before slowly nodding. “I see… Come, then,” he stepped forward and placed his hoof on her back. The touch made her cringe and shiver in disgust and revulsion, but she did not resist as he began to guide her away.

“Wha… H-hey, hang on, a second!” the stallion went to protest. Primrose’s eyes widened her heart rate spiking.

“Stay away!” she snapped without looking back. She heard the telltale scrape of his hooves on the paved floor of the alleyway, signaling that he had stopped. Taking a deep breath, Primrose turned her head just enough to look back at him from around her mane. “Leave us alone. It’s none of your business…”

Whatever effort to defend her the two ponies back there might have made died with those words. The stallion took a few steps back and nodded in understanding. Sighing, Primrose lowered her head and closed her eyes.

As Silent Edge led her away to somewhere as of yet unknown to her, she thought back to Scarlet, and of the time they had spent together. How safe that mare had made her feel, how happy she had been traveling with her… and how all of it had been ruined because of what she was.

A single tear ran down Primrose’s cheek to splatter against the paved stone below.

“I’m sorry, Scarlet…”

Comments

[The Voice in the Water]

Oh Prim. I just want to give the poor girl a hug.

*Slow clap* Way to go Scarlet Frost. Way to go.

[JMP]

Well, Lens is going to have a hell of a time finding her now....

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Damn it Scarlet...

[tom117z]

“You let this happen,” that miserable voice seemed to whisper to him. “You didn’t do anything to help. You let Scarlet drive Protea away!”

Scarlet did knock you out, so still mostly on her.

She also needed that wake-up call Lens just provided.

[Your resident Night Owl]

ugh why i loved the trio, why Scarlet why!

[MixMassBasher]

I like how Lens becomes a voice of reason and the tensions rise as Prim is under Silent's custody. Though I wonder what where the names of the pair that Prim met or is that not important?