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Chapter 1: Enslavement2,303 words
Chapter 2: Depravity3,243 words
Chapter 3: Chances2,530 words
Chapter 4: Shelter1,825 words
Chapter 5: Interrogation2,111 words
Chapter 6: Exploration2,724 words
Chapter 7: Culinary Discussions3,282 words
Chapter 8: Afternoon Stroll3,306 words
Chapter 9: Next Morning3,219 words
Chapter 10: Meeting1,681 words
Chapter 11: Improvise3,968 words
Chapter 12: Businessman1,575 words
Chapter 13: Knight-errant6,318 words
Chapter 14: A Fresh Start1,908 words

Chapter 14: A Fresh Start

Roses are Red: Chapter 14

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Lilo’s eyes slowly opened, revealing a glimmering white ceiling above her traced with intricate flowers and vines. The vines wrapped around each other in spiral patterns, weaving in and out of the variety of flowers that smiled down below them. Their smiles were met with a skylight that had been placed in the middle of the room, allowing for a healthy quantity of light to radiate into and illuminate the entire room. The sun was lowering itself in the sky, announcing that the night was fast approaching.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

She was alive. Lilo saw the light from the sun; heard the heart rate monitor; felt the sheets that had been laid over her. Her whole body ached, and she blinked as her thoughts raced through her mind. She had not woken up in that cage beneath Zumas’s brothel. She had not woken up to find that she had a searing hole blasted through her limbs.

Lilo bolted upright in bed, nearly tearing several of the tubes that had been hooked up to her body. A unicorn nurse, who was holding a large clipboard in her magic, took notice of Lilo, and after her eyes widened for just a moment, she dropped the clipboard and bounded over to the changeling. She laid her hoof on Lilo’s chest, gently pushing her back onto the bed.

“Y-you should lie back down, miss,” the nurse said, her hoof shaking slightly when Lilo had been pushed back against the bed. “Your c-condition is still in bad shape.”

“Where’s Carbon?” Lilo asked frantically, looking at the nurse.

“Carbon?” The nurse levitated the clipboard back over to her and scanned over its contents. “Oh, um, he is j-just in the next room.”

“Can I see him?” Lilo stared at the nurse with her large eyes.

“I-I’m sorry, miss, but you can’t-”

Several knocks on the door echoed into the room and the nurse froze. Her head snapped back towards the door, then she looked back at Lilo and tried to give her a half smile. She set the clipboard on the desk that sat between Lilo’s bed and the heart rate monitor.

“Please excuse me for a moment,” she said.

The nurse trotted to the door and opened it, and after giving a sharp gasp, she stepped out of the room quickly. Lilo’s ears perked towards the door as she heard several voices speaking to each other beyond. Her brow furrowed when the minutes dragged on, and she tried to lift herself up out of the bed again only to find that more pain was coursing through her body, forcing her to remain lying down. Her gaze shifted from the door to the window on the far side of the room, allowing for her to look out onto the entire city of Canterlot.

Lilo’s eyes widened. She knew exactly where she was.

The door to the room pushed open, allowing for the nurse to enter again, shortly followed by Princess Luna and Queen Chrysalis. Lilo’s breath caught in her throat, and against the rest of her body’s wishes, she lifted herself up into a sitting position and lowered her head at Chrysalis.

Chrysalis interrupted Lilo by laying one of her hooves across the changeling’s chest. She offered a hopeful smile, sending anxious flutters through Lilo’s heart.

“There is no need to apologize,” Chrysalis said, “not now. There is somepony that you need to see.”

Lilo’s eyes drifted to behind Chrysalis, regarding Princess Luna warily. The princess stared at the changeling back, but her face remained vacant of any expression aside from the dark bags underneath her eyes. Chrysalis moved her head enough so that she could obscure Lilo’s view.

“No, somepony else,” she said. She slowly rose to her hooves. “Do you think you can walk?”

The nurse lifted her hoof to protest, but she found it pushed back down by Princess Luna as she shook her head. Lilo moved her hooves, cringing as she felt sharp pangs from her cracked chitin pierce through her body. She slouched against the bed once again, looking sullenly at Chrysalis.

“I... I don’t think I can,” Lilo said quietly. “N-not without help, at least.”

Chrysalis took the bed sheets and slowly slid them off of Lilo’s body. Her eyes traced over her subject’s wounds, and she paused. Lilo saw something flash through Chrysalis’s eyes, and she saw the corners of her lips droops.

“This never gets any easier,” Chrysalis muttered. She then sidled up to the side of the bed and began to gently pull the tubes hooked up to Lilo off of her body. “If you are able to lift yourself out of bed, I will help you walk to our destination. It is not far.”

Lilo nodded, and she lifted herself from the bed once again, wincing as she heard her own chitin cracking in several places. She slid her body sideways once she was sitting upright, then pushed herself off of the bed onto all four of her hooves. She immediately slumped against Chrysalis while her legs shook violently to support her own weight. Chrysalis lowered her head and brushed her muzzle against Lilo’s cheek.

“That’s right,” she said. “Now, can you take a few steps?”

With Chrysalis acting as her crutch, Lilo took a few unsteady steps forward to the door. Each step shot agonizing jolts through her legs and back, but she pressed on until Chrysalis had to open the door for them to continue. Outside the door, a group of nurses and doctor’s passed by them, chatting amongst themselves while one held a clipboard in their magic. The white walls burned Lilo’s eyes, the sunlight’s reflection bouncing off of them as it passed through a few open windows. After a moment, they turned sharply right, then came to a stop at the door next to Lilo’s room. Chrysalis’s horn lit up, and she pushed the door open.

Carbon lay in the bed in the far side of the room, an oxygen mask covering his muzzle while tubes were connected to his unbroken foreleg. His other leg was wrapped up in a cast that spanned all the way up to his shoulder, which wore a flexible splint. Medical tape was wrapped around Carbon’s head. His eyes were closed, resting peacefully to the rhythmic beats of the heart rate monitor next to him.

A sob caught in Lilo’s throat, and she nearly stumbled onto her face when she tried to bound over to Carbon. Chrysalis righted Lilo, and after giving her subject a sharp glance, led her slowly over to the bed. The trip across the room was tormenting, almost as if each step was longer than the last. His bed could not approach fast enough for Lilo, and it took all of her might to not break into another gallop. Each step towards the bed burned her legs, but she didn’t care as she was brought closer and closer to Carbon.

Once they were at the bed, Lilo collapsed next to Carbon with her forehooves sprawled across his chest. She buried her face into his side, muffling her sobs so that they were barely loud enough for anypony else to hear.

Princess Luna and the nurse shuffled in after Chrysalis and Lilo, taking their places next to the door. The nurse walked up behind Lilo, making sure that she had enough of a distance between herself and the changeling queen. She coughed, and scanned over the clipboard she once again held in her magic.

“He’s... He’s in stable condition,” the nurse said, “but he is currently in an induced coma. During transport to Canterlot Castle, Carbon experienced a condition known as status epilepticus, having a seizure that was caused by a cerebral aneurysm.” The nurse flipped one of the papers over on the clipboard. “His medical records state that he has a history of high blood pressure, and has been prescribed calcium channel blockers to help regulate blood pressure. We’re thinking that combined with the adrenaline rush and neglecting to take his medications was what caused the aneurysm.”

Lilo lifted her head slightly and asked, “H-he’s healthy, though, right? He’s going to be fine?”

The nurse flipped over another paper on the clipboard. “Because his broken foreleg was not treated immediately—and because it had suffered prolonged use after it was broken—he will permanently walk with a limp. Other than that, however, he will be just fine.”

Lilo smiled even as tears continued to flow down her face. Carbon was going to be alright. She was going to see him again, with his eyes open and full of intelligence and happiness. They were going to go on more dates, visit more beautiful monuments, and dine on delicious food. She was going to have somepony sleep by her side, snuggling up next to her and protecting her from the dangerous memories that could slip into her dreams.

Carbon had risked his life in Equestria when he flew onto the stage after Lilo during Chrysalis’s trial. What he had done was considered an act of treason according to Equestria’s laws, but he ignored them regardless, instead throwing all of that away so that he could help her defend the mother she had looked up to her entire life.

In the alleyway Carbon had risked himself again, ignoring the malicious warnings from Zumas’s thugs and rising up each time he was knocked down in an attempt to protect her. His foreleg was broken for his attempts, and Lilo thought that Carbon would accept defeat after that.

However, contrary to what she thought, Carbon had come back for her in force, infiltrating Zumas’s brothel and attempting to escape with her upon his back. He defended her and himself against the nasty Falchion, and then again when Zumas was upon them, ready to blast his magic through their heads.

Carbon had done everything in his power to keep himself from losing her.

Princess Luna stepped forward, taking her place next to Chrysalis’s side. She cleared her throat.

“If it is any consolation to you,” she said, “the owner of the brothel, Zumas, has been taken into custody and is currently occupying one of the cells down in Canterlot Castle’s dungeons.”

Lilo didn’t respond, instead keeping her head buried against Carbon’s chest. Princess Luna sighed, and after procuring a letter from underneath her wing, placed the letter on the nightstand next to the bed and left the room. Chrysalis soon followed, rubbing a hoof upon Lilo’s shoulder before departing. The nurse remained a bit longer, watching Lilo lie against Carbon, before she, too, left the room.

The sun began to set behind the treetops of the Everfree Forest, plunging the entire land of Equestria into an orange and yellow haze. Lakes and rivers shimmered and reflected the sunlight, while the many red rooftops of Canterlot darkened. Even the thin clouds that hung over the Everfree were touched by the sun’s light, shifting and changing colors to all sorts of beautiful oranges and pinks. Lilo’s sobbing had long since stopped as she stared beyond Carbon’s bed and out the window.

“I love you, too, Carbon.”

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading.

Thank you Redracer for editing.

If you have any questions about the story, feel free to send me a message or ask in the comments section below.

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