Drifter

I crept deeper into the small hole in the tree as I watched the guards pass.  My plain of going to the mountains was cut off as I was spotted and now every damn pony in the area is on high alert even Canterlot.  I turn I went into hiding and will be hiding until this all blows over and it shouldn't be to hard with my most favorite disguise.  I am currently a black and purple parasprite and am able to hide almost any were do to my small size.  Plus no pony really cares if they see me for to them I am nothing more than a annoying insect.  The guards soon pasted and I came out of my small little hole and started off in the direction of the city that I was in but sadly still have no idea where I am or what city this is.  I flew around for a while and soon found the answer to my question when I found a sign that said "Welcome To Ponyville".  What little hope I had of this blowing over soon was now gone as all changelings knew that this is the home of the elements of harmony.  I let out a yelp that only a parasprite would understand as I was grabbed by something.

"Oh aren't you just the cutest little thing!  But I don't believe that I have ever seen a black one before?  I think that maybe you should come home with me and I can take car of you, and feed you, and I shall name you?"  The strange white unicorn with wild blue hair and purple sunglasses said.  She looked as if she was in deep thought before another mare came by and tapped her on the shoulder.  The unicorn turned and looked at her and a large smile then grew on her face.

"Oh hey there Fluttershy look at the cool bug I just found!"  Then she practically threw me in her face and also was squeezing  fairly hard and kind of started to hurt.  The yellow pony jumped back in surprise and hide behind he large pink mane.

"Um that's very nice Vinyl but um I think that your hurting him ... and um I saw him come out of a tree and um if you don't mind um could I have or um at least um ... could um I see him?"  Said Fluttershy in a very shy and quiet voice.  It also seemed to make seance how she got her name.  Vinyl then hung her head.

"Ah I was so close to completing my bug collection too..."  She said as she handed me over to Fluttershy and then turned to leave.  I sat there looking up at her and she was still trying to hide behind her mane but was also looking at me.  She then gently picked me up and held me closer to her face and then she started to speak to me.

"Oh I'm so glad that I was able to save you.  I know that Vinyl is really proud of her collection but I just couldn't stand watching her take you and I knew that if I didn't that she would kill you."  She said and put me in her mane and made sure that I was tucked in and wouldn't fall then she took off and started to fly.  She soon landed and put me down on a nearby tree.  "Ok now little guy be careful and make sure to watch out for Vinyl."  She said and then took off again leaving me by myself.  I looked around and found that there was nopony or anything for that matter any where near me.  I let out a sigh and sank down on the tree and returned to my true form.

"Hey over there I found it!"  I looked over and for what had been a small group of guard's going in the opposite direction must have turned around and seen me. But I guess I didn't think that they would be coming back this way any time soon.  I then turned back into a paraspite but as I started to take off turned back to a changeling and fell flat on my face.

"Oh shit!"  I said as I picked myself up and started to run in the apposite direction.  For some reason it had not dawned on me that it had been almost five months since I last feed and had no energy left and actually now that I think of it I don't know why I didn't have any hunger pains.

"Stop you!"  Said one of the guards that where chasing me.  I didn't care to look back for it wouldn't be long before I wouldn't be able to run any longer.  I then found that my stupidity must have really wanted me to be caught for I somehow tripped on thin air.  Once again my poor face got the full blunt of the impact as I slid a whole three feet before coming to a stop.  But before I could even get up the guards jumped on top of me and knocked all of the wind out of me.

"Ha we got you!"  Said one of the guards.

"You shouldn't have tried running away from us you just made it harder on yourself."  Said the other and then they picked me up and brought me back to the other guards and then we started to head for the prison.

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"Put him in that one and stay in here just in cause the two of them decide to start talking I want to know what they say got it."  Said the warden to the guard that was escorting me to my cell.

"Yes sir."  Said the guard and threw me into a dark cell before closing the door and posting right in front of it.  I then looked around the room and in the other cell's to try and figure out what he meant when he said if we started talking.  As I looked around the room I didn't seem to find any other changelings just one drunk pony that kept talking about fruit punch.  I then felt something touch me and jumped to the corner of the cell and hissed at the other how had obviously been the one to touch me.  The figure then stepped back words until it hit the wall and got as close to the wall as physically possible.  I then noticed for the first time a set of glowing purple eye's and now I realized that it was the same female from earlier.

"Oh it's you."  I said with some sorrow in my voice for I felt bad for hissing at her and for a changeling to do that to another is actually very offensive.  Fortunately she picked up on that and came out of the corner and sat only a few feet away from me.  "Still not talking I see."  I said trying to start some small talk with her so that I could hopefully kill the time.  She shook her head to answer my question.  I looked over to the guard for some reason and noticed that he was watching us and when he saw me he turned back to his position.  I looked back at the female.  "Well we are going to be here for a while so you might as well start talking."  I said trying to get her to talk but sadly for me she just shook her head to say no again.

"May I ask you your name?"  I said and in response she nodded her head and started to write in the dirt on the floor.  After she finished she lifted her hoof to let me look.  it slept whore.  I gave her a confused look before asking her my next question.  "That can't be your name that is an insult or title not a name."  She shook her head again and tapped the floor right in front of her and pointed to the word again.  "You know that if you like you can change your name now.  I killed the one who claimed to be your master and he tried the same for me too but well we both know how that ended."  I said and she looked down at the word again and wiped it away and then started to write many more words but all of which she wouldn't let me read for she would get mad at me and push my face away so I could not see.  I then sat there for about five minuets before she tapped my shoulder and let me look at her writing.

It said.  *I know that he is dead and I am very happy for his death but I do not have a name for I am a whore and the name fits me well.  I am no changeling that any other would car to look at and the others in the cages always made fun of me and called me by this name as well.  You were different at first for you weren't mean to me but when I tried to follow you, you simply yelled at me and told me to leave you alone.  You made your intention's clear to me then and now that you try to talk to me and ask me about my name your intentions are now different than before.  Why is this?* When I finished reading what she wrote I felt guilty for the way I had been treating her and I sat there looking back and forth between the words and her.

"Listen I'm sorry that I offended you but it is ok for us to talk one another for ..."  I hesitated before saying the next part for I am far more friendly then most any other changeling, and this was about as close as I would like to be at playing nice with others.  "... I-I ... listen you are very nice to me and I am not nice to you but ... I'm trying to be nice and you are making this really hard.  But I don't want to be mean to you because you are so nice but it is really frustrating that you can't just talk to me or some thing."  I said and even worked up a little sweat.  She looked at me and the the ground and erased her previous writing before making more and once again wouldn't let me see until she was done.  When she was done I looked at the few words that she had wrote.

*I do not talk because it hurts to.*  I looked up to her in confusion and before I could ask she started to write again and I thought I should wait just in case she was already answering my question.  I looked at what it was she had written and was startled by what she had written.  *The master didn't like my voice and said that he would cut out my tongue if I ever spoke to him without changing it and he even put a caller on me that would shock me if I spoke.  I haven't spoken in nine years.*

"But you still have your tongue yes?  So can't you still speak if you would like?"  I asked her and apparently had caught her off guard for she stepped back.  She then opened and closed her mouth and it seemed as if she was trying to speak again but couldn't.  Which didn't make seance for I saw her tongue and had heard her speak in a disguise so she know how and she shouldn't have any problems.  She then sat down again and started crying but wrote two more words in the dirt.

*I'm scared.*  Was all it said and I felt really bad for making her do something she has been living in fear of for nine years.  I then both in pity and instinct went up to her and hugged her and try'ed to comfort her.  To my surprise she hugged me back and quite tightly for that matter and started to cry even more.  Her sobs where heard by the guard who in turn also looked on in both concern and confusion.  I gave the guard an icy glare and he averted his eye's and left us alone.  Before I turned my head back to he she had let go and had returned to the far corner of the cell.  I wiped away the words from the dirt and then went to join her.

"Are you alright?"  I asked her tilting my head for some reason but I didn't know why I did.  But in turn when she looked up at me she started to laugh.  It was very weak and very hard to hear but I could easily tell that's what it was.  She sat back up and looked at me again and then brought her face very close to mine.  Thankfully she bypassed my l snout and went for my ear's.  I felt her mouth move up and down as she was trying to speak again and she tickled the top of my head.

"C-cold."  She said and quickly pulled her head back and then covered it with her hoof's.  I gently rested mine on top of her's and rubbed them trying to get her to come out of her little shell.  She slowly lifted her head and looked up at me and I greeted her with a warm smile.  She seemed to be a little more relaxed but her ears where still flat against her head and she was looking at the guard in pure fear.  The guard that she was looking at took a step back.

"Why is she looking at me like that?"  He said looking at me for he must still think that she is mute.

"She is scared of you and she is also cold.  Do you by any chance have a blanket?"  I said answering him and in return he didn't say anything but did bring back a blanket for her.  "Thank you."  I said as he gave me the blanket and he said nothing to me but went over to the chair that he had pulled over so he could watch us.  I gently covered her with the blanket and she instantly took the corners of the sheet and pulled them over her head making only her snout visible.  "Are you warm now?"  She said nothing but simply exhaled out oh her noise and even spat dust into my face.  I then positioned myself so that I could lay down next to her.  "May I please share the blanket with you?"  In response she nodded her head and I didn't hesitate to get under the blanket and she even came a little closer to me as well.  Luckily she didn't see that by doing that my face had turned red.

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"Hey you two wake up we don't have all day."  I opened my eye's to see three guards looking down at me from outside of the cage and since they weren't inside I closed my eye's again.  "Ok that's it you asked for it."  Then without anymore of a warning icy cold water was being sprayed on us by a high pressure hose.  Both of us jumped up in fright and we both cowered in the corner and continued to be sprayed.

"Warden stop that I wanted to speak to them not torturer them."  Said a female voice but I could not see who it was for I could not open my eye's because of the water.

"Y-yes princess sorry princess.  Stop the water."  The water stopped but the pain and endless cold did not.  My body heavily shock from the cold and I looked to my left to try and find the female but she was not there.  Instead I found her flat on the floor and blood coming from her head.  She wasn't moving and I could not see her breathing ether.  I went to her quickly and checked for a pulse and was relived when I found one.  I gently picked her up and held her close to me to try and keep her warm.  Her head hung down to the side and the blood had started to drip to the floor.  I could hear the other pony's outside of the cage talking and heard some shuffling.  But I did not care for them at the moment for my attention was focused on her.  I blame myself for her injury's for if I had not listened to the guards and now she was hurt.  Never before have I been so affected by some'ling being hurt and this wasn't even a fetal injury, or at least I don't think it is.  I then felt them tugging at me trying to get me off of her and or just trying to get to her I'm not sure nor do I care.  I simply stared at her for the longest time until one of them finally got her away from me and they started to tend to her injured head while another one of the guards was yelling at me and trying to blame me for what had just happened and he was right.  It was my fault that she got hurt but he was the one who had sprayed us.  Anger built in me and I stared into his eye's pure hate radiating from them and he froze still and simply looked back at me.  I then jumped on top of him and punched him in the face many times before I was pulled off of him and cuffed to the wall of the cell.

"You bastard!  You did this I have killed may and never have I met some'ling that I have wanted to kill more than you!"  I said struggling to get free from the cuff's and continue beating on the downed guard.  When sompony sat in front of me blocking my view of him.  I then realized that it was one of the pony princess's but not just any it was Celestia herself and I even saw her sister Luna and student Twilight in the back of the room next to the door that lead to the other room of the prison.  She gently put a hoof on my shoulder and looked at me as if she had only seen me yesterday.

"Please clam down Night I know that you didn't mean what you said you were just a little upset and said some things that you didn't mean.  I'm sure that he meant no harm to you or your friend Night."  She said to me then took her hoof off my shoulder but was still looking at me.

"No..."  I said and she in response wore a look of concern on her face.  "... I meant every word I said to him and I will kill him the instant that I am free.  He harmed her when she did nothing to him.  She was punished because I didn't care to listen to the guards and she still slept.  When he sprayed her she was not already awake and did not try to move to of the was.  When the water hit her, she relayed on instinct and curled into a ball and had her head slammed into the wall or cut on a pipe or something because of him."  I looked back over to the purple female and saw that there was now a lot of blood and a lot of other things as well.  I hung my head in shame and tears started to build up around my eye's.

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It took three hours for them to fix her head it turns out that the water blast had in fact hit her head against the wall and even dented the wall.  They said that her skull is not cracked or anything but she would have a large bruise.  Celestia had the guards leave and also had her student go back to her studies for she wanted to talk to me herself but did want Luna to be there.

"Are you alright Nightshade."  She said as she sat next to me watching me closely.  I didn't respond to her and kept stroking the purple females head but not were she was hurt.  But the funny thing is I don't even know her name yet I have such strong feelings for he I think that I even like her see how I reacted.  Celestia put her hoof on my shoulder and Luna sat down beside her sister so she may hear better.  "Nightshade she is going to be ok it was just a little bump on the head, that's all."  I looked up to her but brought my head back down to the female.

"I know."  I said and Celestia then got comfortable for she was most likely going to be talking with me for a while.

"You know Nightshade after all these years you haven't even said hello to me nor have you meat my sister Luna"  She said trying to get a conversation going.

"Hello."  I said

"It has been a while since I have gotten a chance to see you and that's all you have to say to me and what of my sister I thought that I had taught you good manners?"  I looked at her and then Luna.

"It's nice to meet you Luna."  I said and then dropped my head back into place.

"I know that you are sad Nightshade and that you are most likely still mad at me for leaving you but if I didn't he would ha-"  I stopped her.

"He would have taken me as he took her.  He would have threatened to cut out my tongue because he didn't like the sound of my voice.  He would have used me as a sex slave to get money.  He would have put me on display and shove me in a small little cage full of other unfortunate souls that were unable to get away from his collection.  He would have done all of these things and more dear mother yes and he did all of these things to her!  She hasn't spoken a single word in nine years she has been called whore and been referred as one so many times she thinks that it is her real name.  I tried to get her to speak and she broke down crying before I could get her to simply say the word cold."  I didn't care to look at there reaction's but guessed that they were not happy one's.

"Nightshade I-"

"You what mother you where trying to look out for me?  I don't know if saying that you need to go now and not giving that five year old more reason than that before throwing them out the bucking window!  I've lived all of my years thinking that you didn't love me and where just trying to fix your mistake.  I thought this until this wake job of a unicorn puts me in a bucking electric chair and tell's me all this shit that I didn't want to hear!"  I said as I cut her off. I was now looking into her eye's and saw that she was now crying herself.  I simply let my head fall back down to the female.  Luna however went over to her sister and tried to comfort her.  Celestia pushed her away.

"No sister he is right it is my fault for what I did to him I could have simply taken care of this stupid unicorn but I was scared that I would loss him and in the end I still did."  I now felt bad again and lifted my head to look at the mare I thought of as my mother.

"You did not loss me mother you never did for I still felt you love long after you threw me but I had no way of defending myself and no idea how to survive with out you to feed me.  I did what I had to and did may bad things that you would not be happy with but in the end my kind was the backstabbers that you said they were for they gave me to that unicorn and thought nothing of it.  But most of all I feel the love that you have for me now and it is far more powerful than I had when I was younger."  With that Celestia's head shot up and looked straight at me.  I did not smile but she knew me well enough and could tell I was happy.  She hugged me tightly but was sure not to hurt the female.  Luna also came and joined us in the hug.

"Nightshade will you please come to Canterlot with me just for a little while I just want to see you for a little while.?"  She asked me.

"Yes I."  I said but I felt the female move and I got mother to let go so I may check on her.  I saw that she was awake and was looking at straight at me.

"Nightshade I will come get you in a few minuets I need to get something for you and now another for your friend here.  Luna I will need your help please come with me."  She said and then they both left the room leaving the female and I alone and very quickly I felt very uncomfortable.  She simply looked into my eye's and had a weak but very present smile on her face.  She then started to get up and I helped her so that she not fall.  When I got her standing her smile grew and she came close to me and licked me on the check before going to the door and leaving me alone.  I sat there for a while and my face was as red as a fresh cherry.  Celestia soon came in and laughed when she saw me for she most likley knew what had happened and then lead me out of the room.