Some Romantic Tales of a Love-Struck Changeling and a Nerdy Pegasus

Story 2: Recap and Rejuvenate

At the end of the street stood the tall apartment building that Carbon and Lilo liked to call home. Situated among a community of dirty and cheap apartments, their home was quaint, quiet, and modest, lacking in all sorts of decor in replace of affordable utilities and and minimal comfort. Grime covered the outer walls of the complex, the scorch marks of the changeling bombardment still present a month after the terrifying invasion. At least the building still remained intact, of course, although the same couldn’t be said about several buildings that lay around the complex.

Canterlot’s clean up crews still had not managed to make their way to the city’s poorer communities, instead all of their focus shifted onto the buildings damaged in the city market and the rich communities. Work went where money flowed first, and since the rich district had the money that’s where the work went to first. Citizens not so fortunate to own the big houses or the large pieces of land were given the short end of the stick and forced into the refugee houses or hotels that were set up until their homes were repaired.

As such, the street that Carbon and Lilo trotted down was left desolate and ruined. The cobble stones were broken and cracked, left stained where changelings collided with them just as much as the unsightly holes that marred the buildings. It much resembled that of a ghost town, long abandoned after a battle tore through and left everything in its wake to rot.

The ground underneath their hooves cracked as they took each step, although even with the desolation around them they hardly gave notice. Lilo trotted, wrapped up under one of Carbon’s wings with her chitin pressed into his fur with her head carefully tucked up against his neck, allowing herself to be lead along by her fairly warm coltfriend. Her soft chitters brought a smile to Carbon’s face, something beautiful amid the silence that took hold of the block around them.

“Carbon, do you think the apartment’s going to be cold when we get back?” Lilo asked.

Carbon looked up towards the apartment complex that grew larger and larger as they approached. Originally painted white, the apartment still retained some of its brilliance even if years of weather and grime took its toll on the walls. The windows were dirty and reflected the sunlight that streamed across the building, glinting should anypony take too quick of a step. Even so, smoke rose from the many chimneys situated at the top of the roof, alerting everypony that there were indeed residents that also called this place home.

“Yeah, but I can throw some logs in and try to heat the place up,” Carbon replied. “Nopony’s been in there for a while now.”

They pushed through the front doors of the apartment and headed straight for one of the stairwells. Nopony sat at the reception desk to the complex, although this wasn’t anything new to Carbon. The pony who was supposed to be sitting up front mysteriously disappeared for hours at a time, hanging out in the back room doing Celestia knows what. Carbon never asked into it, he never needed to speak to them anyways, it only created a bit of a problem when ponies were forced to wait in the lobby for a few hours if they wanted to apply for housing.

They made their way up and around the stairwell, climbing past the first level, then the second, third, and finally the fourth. Carbon pushed the door open that led out of the stairwell, holding it open for Lilo to walk through before he walked through himself. The hallway leading down towards their apartment was left open to the chilling air with a railing set up on one side. Metal wires twisted around in spirals to make up the balusters, covered in dirt and had potential to rattle of anypony were to kicked at them.

Near the end of the hallway Carbon and Lilo stopped at dirty door to one of the apartments. Carbon reached back into his wing and pulled out a key, then inserted it into the keyhole and twisted. The lock clicked and Carbon pushed open the door to the apartment, again holding it open so that Lilo may pass through. He smiled when looking inside, warmth creeping into his body as he felt like he finally returned home after an extended and rather unwanted business trip.

Carbon and Lilo’s apartment was comparatively small with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a small living room. The living room sat at the front of the apartment, filled with two couches that sat perpendicular to each other in front of the fireplace. A small table was next to one of the couches while a large coffee table lay in front of both of the couches, slightly dusty from the lack of use. A huge map of Equestria hung over the fireplace while a bookcase full of a multitude of colored books—most labeled as history or chemistry-related tomes—stood next to the map and fireplace. The kitchen was small and neatly kept, and both of the bedrooms and the bathroom had their doors closed.

Lilo pranced into the center of the living room and stopped at the fireplace. She blinked, stepping forward and sticking her head inside before immediately yanking it back out as she devolved into a coughing fit. Carbon smiled sheepishly and shut the door behind them.

“Uh, sorry, Lilo,” Carbon said. “I haven’t cleaned the chimney out for a while.” She turned to face him and he suppressed a chuckle. “You have a bit of… soot on your face.”

Lilo wrinkled her snout and tried to looked down and see the soot that was on her face. Unfortunately for her, those big eyes of her took up way too much of her face and all she was able to see was the tip of her nose, which was indeed covered in soot. She, however, was not able to see that the rest of her face was covered in soot as well, dulling her black and shining chitin.

“There’s a couple of rags in the bathroom that you can use,” Carbon said, smirking.

“My nose itches,” Lilo said. Her whole face contorted before she let out a tiny sneeze.

Carbon laughed and stepped forward to boop her on the nose. He managed to get some of the soot on his hoof, which he simply looked at for a moment before setting his hoof back down. He then gave her a nuzzle on the cheek towards the bathroom.

“Come on, go get cleaned up,” Carbon urged. “I haven’t cleaned these couches since I bought them!”

Lilo pouted at Carbon for a moment before she trotted off to the bathroom. She shut the door behind her, then walked over to the mirror and immediately blanched. Her entire face was dulled and absolutely covered in soot, and when she waggled her ears she saw tiny puffs of soot launch into the air. She blinked a few times, then turned the nozzle to start letting water pour into the sink.

“Of course there’s soot in the fireplace,” Lilo mumbled to herself, grabbing a towel from the rack and soaking it in the water. “Why didn’t I think of that? It’s not like smoke just wisps through the chimney cleaner than cool winter air.” She brought the rag up to her face and started wiping the soot away. “I need to get this curiosity thing of mine situated. Ohhh, something’s shiny or there’s a dark corner, let’s go and investigate it.”

“Are you talking to yourself in there?” Carbon called.

“No!” Lilo replied back. “I’m not talking to myself! I’m just… singing?”

“You’re singing? I didn’t know that you sang?”

“Um, I sing sometimes, I think. Just because my voice is funky doesn’t mean that I don’t sing!”

“What? I wasn’t accusing you of having a funny voice!” There was a crash from the sound of wood tumbling out of a crate. “Damn it.”

“Carbon, are you okay?” Lilo asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Carbon said. “Hey, can you sing me a song?”

“What!? You want to hear a song?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Lilo gulped and shuffled her hooves a little bit, setting the blackened towel down. Most of the soot was gone from her face, leaving her face shiny and as polished as ever. She took a deep breath and quickly thought of a song. It was the only song that came to mind at the moment, and she had no idea whether or not Carbon had heard this one or not. It was pretty popular for her to sing when she was back with the hive in the Broken Leylands.

“If you’re happy and you know it clap your hooves!

If you’re happy and you know it clap your hooves!

If you’re happy and you know it

and you really want to show it

if you’re happy and you know it clap your-!”

“Are you really singing the Happy and You Know it song right now?” Carbon asked.

“So what if I am!” Lilo said.

“I thought you were going to sing me a song?”

“That is a song.”

“That’s a song that ponies sing when they’re younger.”

“I sang that to my changeling foals all of the time!”

Lilo perked her ears when she heard a groan from the front room. She giggled and started washing out the rag that she had used, managing to get most of the black soot out of the cloth after a few rinses through the water. The rest would have to be cleaned in the washing machine. She chittered and left the rag in the sink, turning and walking for the door.

When Lilo stepped out of the bathroom, she was met with the crackling of the fire from the fireplace and Carbon already sitting on the couch. Her eyes lit up and she bounded over to him, quickly meeting the warmth of the fire just as she climbed onto the couch. He had a spot open for her, a tight little nook tucked right up underneath Carbon’s wing. She snuggled into him and lay her head against his neck.

Together Carbon and Lilo’s eyes fell onto the fire. It’s brightness attracted their attention, the flames licking up in a flurry or yellows and oranges and reds. The crackle and pop of the wood was soothing to their ears. It was interesting that such a destructive force was so enticing and beautiful, able to grab pony’s attention even to the smallest degrees. The bright colors drew eyes from all directions and the roar gathered all ears to listen in.

Sometimes it was possible to look into the flames and see different shapes dancing around. The logs may be situated to look like a burning house, or the flames may engrave moving pictures in the wood to capture a face, so long as ponies carried the imagination to see such things. Perhaps that was what drew so many eyes to the violent flames, eager to see the shapes that moved around before them in such a beautiful display.

Carbon ripped his eyes from the fire when he felt Lilo snuggle in closer, her chitin rubbing on his neck. He tightened his wing around her back and kissed the top of her head.

“Feeling any warmer yet?” Carbon asked.

“Mhm,” Lilo replied with a chitter. Silence took hold of them for a moment. “Carbon, do you think the changelings will be okay?”

“The changelings?” Carbon asked, his ears perking up. “What do you mean if they’ll be okay?”

“I remember how angry the crowd was at Queen Chrysalis’ trial,” Lilo said. “The eyes that were staring up at me when I was on stage defending her, the nasty look that Princess Cadence gave us, the dissent that the crowd had when the changelings were on stage.” Lilo sighed. “What’s going to happen to them?”

Carbon bit his lip. “I don’t know, Lilo. The princesses are instigating bills that admit changelings as full Equestrian citizens, so they’re allowed to have equal opportunities.”

“Equal opportunities?” Lilo asked, shaking her head. “Ponies aren’t going to so easily forgive an attack on Canterlot. We hit their capital city, attacked their princesses, captured the Elements of Harmony, and then rounded up their citizens like we had won. It was really only error on the Queen’s part and… she really didn’t expect that our own food source was possible for our undoing.”

“But if the princesses are approving these bills, it’s still possible that all of this hate that is being directed towards the changelings could disappear. Ponies respect and love them, more so than most of what they have, so it may convince them otherwise.”

“Even so, there are still those who wouldn’t agree with the princesses. With Chrysalis as one of the princess’ advisors, she’s bound to help ease many of the pony’s uneasiness, but not much could be said about the others.” Lilo looked up at Carbon with concerned eyes. “I remember wandering the Broken Leylands, Carbon. I remember the cities, and the ponies, and the desolation and hatred that was left to us because of our nature. We feed on the love of ponies like parasites, we’re monsters in their eyes because we don’t have the same natural characteristics as they do.”

“Natural?” Carbon asked. “Natural to them, maybe. Lilo, there will always be ponies who are opposed to something that everypony else is proud of or enjoys. Some ponies don’t like zebras because they aren’t like ponies here in Equestria, some don’t like unicorns because they think they’re all snobs. Even if everypony doesn’t take well to changelings now being a part of Equestria, there are still going to be plenty of ponies who support you, including me.”

Lilo smiled and nuzzled her head into Carbon’s neck. “You’ll always be there to protect me, won’t you? Just like when we first met and at the brothel?”

“Of course I will,” Carbon replied with a smile as well. “No matter what anypony says about you or makes you out to be, I’ll never let their words influence what I really think of you. We’ve only know each other for a month, but already I trust you and love you more than anypony I could imagine. We’ve been through more stuff together than most friends will go through their entire time knowing each other.”

The two of them fell silent, letting the crackle of the fire fill their ears. The flames no longer drew their attention, however; that was to be shared amongst themselves. Lilo nestled as much as she could into Carbon’s fuzzy coat, and Carbon wrapped her up as tightly as he could in his large wing. Finally alone together in the safety of their own home, they had a time to rejoice in each other’s company.

Carbon shifted around, stirring Lilo from the trance she was in taken from the serenity of the apartment. She looked up towards him and caught his eyes looking down at her.

“I was thinking,” Carbon began, “the days are still warm enough here that there isn’t any need to really bundle up yet, which would mean that the community pools and such over next to the high school are still going to be open. What do you say that we go for a swim?”

Lilo cocked her head and looked down at Carbon’s broken leg. “Carbon, wouldn’t water get into your cast if you did that?”

“Oh no, they make waterproof casts now,” Carbon said, wiggling his broken hoof. “I could easily go in the pools as much as I could take a shower. So long as I don’t exercise this leg too much, I should be fine.”

Lilo stared at the cast for a little longer, then glanced up at Carbon for only a moment before hurriedly looking away. She shuffled her hooves and buzzed her wings underneath the blanket that was made up of Carbon’s feathers. The pegasus titled his head, confused in Lilo’s sudden bashful behavior.

“Are you alright?” Carbon asked.

“Oh yeah, just fine,” Lilo said quickly. “We’re going swimming and everything tomorrow, which should be fun.”

“Well, yeah, it does,” Carbon said, looking her up and down, “but you don’t seem quite as enthusiastic about the whole idea as you are trying to be. Do you not want to go?”

Lilo shook her head frantically as her head snapped back to look at Carbon. “Oh, no! I really want to go. It’s just…” She trailed off and shrunk under his gaze. “I, uh… I never learned out to swim.”

“You don’t know how to swim?”

“There aren’t very many pools or lakes out in the Broken Leylands!”

Carbon chuckled and squeezed her with his wing. “Well, I can totally teach you how to swim. I swam all of the time when I was younger. Would go to the pool sometimes and spend four hours just swimming around and doing laps, or sometimes I would head to the parks and swim in the little lakes and explore what lay beneath them. It’s really not too hard once you get used to it.”

Lilo nodded her head, although she still looked uncomfortable. “What if I drown?”

“You won’t drown!” Carbon said, chuckling again. “I’ll be right there with you and make sure that you’re alright.”

“But what if I’m too heavy?” Lilo asked, looking down at herself.

“You won’t be too heavy,” Carbon said with a roll of his eyes. “Come on, don’t be pulling the fat trap on me already.”

Lilo’s head snapped back up to Carbon once again, but this time she didn’t look confused or flustered. Her snout was scrunched up into a pout and her eyes narrowed, and Carbon both felt and heard the buzz of her wings under his own wing. He made a sound between a grunt and a squeak and immediately decided that perhaps he had not picked the right choice of words. If he could make it to the bedroom door without this leg of his tripping him over…

“What’s this about a fat trap?” Lilo asked. “Are you saying that I’m fat, or do you think I’m going to lure you into a false sense of security when I put on a nice dress and ask if my flanks look fat?”

“Uh, neither!” Carbon quickly said, retracting his wing and bouncing his eyes between the bedroom door and Lilo.

“Then why would you insinuate that I would pull a fat trap on you?” Lilo bared her teeth a little.

“Would I do such a thing?” Carbon asked in the most innocent voice that he could muster. “You see, I never insinuated anything! I was just being a little cautious, you know?”

“So you need to be cautious of these fat traps when you’re around me?”

Carbon was left speechless, the bedroom door now looking more and more promising. He shifted a little on the couch and his muscles tensed. Lilo stared at him with her piercing glare, her changeling eyes searching him even if it wasn’t initially apparent. She was going to make a move on him like a serpent would a rabbit, Carbon knew, and he needed to make a dash to escape.

“I think I need to check on something in the bedroom gotta go bye,” Carbon said as quickly as he could muster, his wings spring out.

Carbon shot from the couch and headed straight for the bedroom door. The initial escape was easy enough, no way could Lilo have predicted that Carbon would make a move like this. You’d think a stallion of his stature would stay and face his problems rather than run from them with all of his talk about being there to protect Lilo. However, even with his head start he still didn’t account for the fact that he had a broken leg, or the fact that it would cause him to trip over his own hooves and land flat on his face. He promptly groaned.

He felt the thump of Lilo’s hooves reverberate across the floor on either side of him, and already it was apparent that she stood over him. Running again didn’t seem such a viable option this time, especially since he felt the pressure of one of her hind hooves on his tail. He rolled over onto his back, his forehooves tucking up under his chin as he came face to face with a rather amused changeling.

“You deserved that,” Lilo said.

“Yeah, I know,” Carbon replied sullenly.

Lilo giggled and plopped herself down right on his chest. She smiled down at him, and slowly he smiled at her back before both of them broke into a fit of giggles.

“I love you, Carbon,” Lilo said, slowly leaning down and giving him a kiss.

They kissed for a while, their lips boring into each other’s as if the week they spent in the hospital had rid them of all of this precious time they could have been sucking each other’s face. Carbon’s wings spread out on either side of him while Lilo’s buzzed excitedly, and when they did finally break from their kiss, they saw each other’s love and lust in their eyes.

“But don’t you dare try to run from me again, mister,” Lilo added playfully before she lowered her head to kiss Carbon’s neck.