The Strange and Abusive Tale of Defect Reject

He woke up coughing and sputtering blood and wheezing for air as he looked around himself as best he could with both eyes black and blue. He couldn't see anyone else around him as he coughed up a little more blood and noticed it was raining and thundering around him. He opened his mouth and let the rain flow in and washed the blood out best he could before he vomited on himself a little releasing more blood upon him. Well... at least he was alive and it was raining he thought as he kept wheezing for air, somehow... somehow he was alive, despite what had been a beating that should've killed any changeling... or pony else.

He kept trying to stay quiet just in case some changelings were close by as he tried to look around best he could... he didn't think he recognized the place he'd run to. The vegetation was to green and alive to be anywhere close by... he had gotten free from the changeling kingdom! He was a free changeling! He never had to be beaten again harmed or "Unnnnnnnnngh" he grimaced in pain as he was thinking this. He had to survive this first... just because he wasn't dead didn't mean he wasn't in the clear. He looked over his body noticing large cuts bruises and just felt some places bleeding since the rain was washing it away.

He tried rolling over onto his front but let out a loud yelp of pain as he panted from the sharp stabbing pain in his right side, that wasn't going to work. He thought about what he could do until he suddenly realized he was a changeling. Maybe... maybe he could change into somepony... anypony else and that might work. He had gotten a little better at transforming over the years, while he still took about 10 seconds to actually transform he could actually hold a transformation for about five minutes. It seemed each year that went along he was able to stay transformed for another 40 seconds or so, nothing truly game breaking but it helped a bit. Until he passed out from exhaustion that is. Suddenly that plan seemed to be lacking a lot of intelligence... if he passed out from exhaustion that might be the final straw and his body could give out... plus he wasn't even sure if changing would help... he might just be in another ponies skin with the same wounds.

He laid there for a second while he tried to figure out what to do, while the rain had helped him initially and still would for a while in case some changelings did come this way it wasn't going to help him not catch pneumonia. He sighed as he tried his left side and that seemed to hurt a lot less then his right side. He applied a little more pressure on it as he flipped himself and slammed his right side against the ground and screamed in pain and sucked in air from a sudden shock while breathing rapidly. He grimaced in pain and kept sucking in breath, well... that had sucked. A lot. But at least he was on his stomach now able to pull himself forward as he moved his legs and tried to pull, while feeling a sharp pain in all four of his legs and letting out another loud yell.

Well... that wasn't going to work as he looked down at his broken legs and body, he could heal this but he'd need fresh water and food. He just needed to find a way to move to a place that was quiet and away from any changelings, or ponies or anything that might try to kill him. He tried to shake his wings off a little bit since they were muddy after having lain on his back for... how long had he been unconscious? He looked around it looked like it was still night but... was it the next night? Had he been asleep for a full day? Wait... his wings... did... did they still work? He tried flying with his wings lightly... ever so lightly that way he didn't hurt the rest of his broken bruised and battered body. And was able to lift himself off the ground! When Queen Chrysalis's guards had been attempting to beat him to death they must've missed his wings since he was on his back!

At least he had some good news among everything that had happened recently, or in the past seven years! He was free and able to get himself albeit slowly and carefully with the rest of his body aching in agony and pain somewhere safe and where he could recover. But he'd have to fly low and slow... he could tell even when he's first lifted that it was draining his energy quite fast... the sooner he found a place to rest and recover the better. He started to fly forward slowly and carefully, grimacing in pain whenever his body touched the ground or hit a tree when he stumbled a bit while flying. It was tougher to keep his body in the air then he'd been expecting... but at least he was making progress. He flew further and further away from the ravine as it connected and the forest came more together up hill. It was calm here, it helped relax his weary body a little bit.

He flew slowly for about 5-6 miles just trying to put as much distance as he could between Queen Chrysalis and himself, he was done being beaten, harassed, tormented and presumably lied to. He winced in pain from time to time as he was flying his body getting more and more tired, flying was putting a bigger strain on his body then he had thought it would. He needed to find a place to rest he thought while he was panting and sweating a little, this probably wasn't doing any favors on him for recovering either he thought sadly. Just then he heard a noise in the bushes and looked up to see a rabbit scamper about nearby a briar patch when it suddenly noticed Defect Reject and scampered into the patch, into an area he wouldn't have noticed otherwise. It looked like a small opening where the rabbit could easily fit into but himself... he wasn't entirely certain about himself, if he could it would be a pretty safe place to recover for a while he thought. It was well covered and looked like it was pretty big from the outside.

It couldn't hurt to try... but it was most likely going to be excruciatingly painful. He knew he couldn't get in their except by crawling... not unless he wanted to destroy his wings... he sighed as he got as close to the briar patch as he could and let his body slowly to the ground. He let out another small yelp from the pain on his legs, he needed to crawl through this... on all four broken legs somehow then he'd be safe enough where he could rest and heal up. He could do this! He moved his right front leg forward and hissed in the pain from it but bit his bottom lip as he continued with his left front leg afterwards. Then his right back leg, then the left back leg. Right side, left side, right side, left side, getting a few more cuts in new places, reopening some wounds that had already healed and just cutting a little deeper from still open wounds as he continued past the briar thorns.

Each foot forward was like a fresh new wave of agony hitting him, putting pressure on his broken and limp body inching forward little by little he looked forward though and saw an opening in another 30 or so feet! He'd already gone 50 feet he could do this, he was really glad he'd seen where the rabbit had gone into or he'd never have seen the opening. He should be safe enough here, for now at least time to recover and think about what he wanted to do next. But he needed to actually make it first, and he still had another 10 feet to go, his body was aching, begging him to please stop it couldn't take it any more he was putting to much of a strain on his old wounds and opening new wounds. Right as his body couldn't take it anymore though, he made it, he'd made it further then he thought he could've his body had held out and it was going to be okay!

He looked around himself and let out a small gasp. It was beautiful.... their was a sparkling lake in the middle of the briar patch, fresh grass and berries all around him and everything looked... looked so alive! Their was animals all around too, birds, rabbits, foxes, bats, bears and some animals he didn't even recognize here. Most of them were sleeping, he hoped he didn't startle any of them when they woke up... or try to eat them. He somehow didn't think he had to worry about that to much though since all the animals were sleeping in groups close to one another, it seemed like everything was pretty peaceful here he thought to himself as he dragged his body a little further to the water and took some giant gulps from it. He cooled his throat and fixed his quench which he didn't even realize he was so thirsty, but it made sense since he'd pushed his body so hard. He eased his body into the shallow parts of the water keeping his head above since he couldn't really swim at the moment and going in to deep would kill him.

He washed all the mud, dirt, grass, blood, ooze from his body and gunk off while he relaxed for a second just looking at how beautiful it was here. He saw some herbs that should help relax his body from the pain for a while too as he pulled his body back out after 30 minutes and grabbed long leaves that could serve to stop the bleeding. He also grabbed twigs and did his best to make a makeshift cast for his legs. Nothing he could really do for his ribs sadly except let time take it's toll as he crawled slowly over to a berry bush and ate some berries to keep up his strength. He munched on the berries, and some grass for a while just thinking back upon the last 48 hours of his life... he had survived... barely, but it meant a new start. He could do whatever he wanted now, and while his wounds would take a long... long time to fully recover he had time now. He was a free changeling.

He noticed the morning sun start to peak it's head past the darkness of the night, he didn't want to bother any of the animals so he found a patch where no one was and laid down. Watching as the animals started to wake and stir and notice him but leave him be, even the bears and foxes whom could make a quick lunch of him left him be, even with all the animals differences none of them wanted anything but to be peaceful. It was truly a blessed place he thought as he double checked all the herbs he'd applied and make shift cast as he ate some of the herbs to let his mind drift into a peaceful sleep. He'd stay here for a while with all these animals he thought wearily... recover, try to figure out what to do next and after that... find a pony town that would accept him as he was and what purpose he had in life. It was a nice thought... and for the first time ever he drifted off to sleep with a big grin on his face. He was lucky to be alive.