Truth or Forgiveness

The royal chariot flew through the air at break-neck speeds, making the many, many hour long walk to the Grand Chasm complete with in the hour by air. The expanse of the grand city of Canterlot was soon in view and not much longer, it landed at Canterlot Castle. Its seven occupants began to pile out on to the landing platform, the purple unicorn lifting out a tan unicorn with magic. Twilight began to carry the unconscious Naruko to the medical ward of the castle, her friends falling in behind her. After checking her friend in, the girls watched in silence as the doctor examined their friend. A few minutes later, he declared that she was perfectly fine, but would most certainly need some rest. As he left, the good doctor said that he notify the princesses of their arrival.

The six mares continued to watch Naruko as she slept, still cuddling with the strange doll she was insistent on bringing. Not long though, two regal alicorns walked into the room, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Celestia was the first to speak.

“Welcome back my faithful student and little ponies. I take it you mission was a success?”

“Not exactly, Princess,” said Twilight nervously.

Celestia looked at her with confusion. “Explain,” said Luna simply.

“Well, we did make sure that the seventh Element of Harmony was taken care of. Just not how we planned it. You see our friend here, Princess?”

Celestia and Luna looked up to finally notice the unknown mare that was sleeping in the room. “Yes, and now we are wondering who she is.”

“She’s our new friend Naruko!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “She’s awesome! Do you know where we found her? She was living in the Grand Chasm! Can you believe that?! Ooh and she is the bearer of that big bad Element!”

Both princesses were aghast at Pinkie’s words. Neither of them could believe what they were told. To think that this strange mare lived in that desolate landscape as well as being an Element bearer. “Is this true, Twilight?” asked Celestia.

“As strange as it sounds, it’s completely true. In fact, Naruko is still wearing the Element.” Twilight motions towards the necklace that was still wrapped around Naruko’s neck. Princess Celestia trotted forward to examine it.

“Remarkable,” she says after a moment. “This is the seventh Element’s true form. It is quite beautiful. Though, I suppose it must go with the rest for safe keeping.” Celestia then lit her horn and began to cast a levitation spell on the Element. As soon as she did so, Naruko’s eyes suddenly opened and she jumped off the table with amazing speed. She landed near the back wall and growled defensively at the solar princess. Everypony in the room were surprised by her actions.

“Oh my,” said Celestia.

“Thou dare to growl at our sister?! Thou shalt pay!” shouted Luna. Naruko’s response was completely unexpected.

“Just try it you blue coated freak!!” Naruko growled.

This stopped the lunar princess cold, never having one of her ponies react as such to her. Twilight walked in between the two of them, hoping to defuse the situation. “Now, now. There’s no need for harsh words. Naruko, there was no need to address Princess Luna like that! And Princess Luna, Naruko is new to all this and is in a strange place; she didn’t know.” Everypony began to calm down with that, though Naruko was still in a defensive position, until she began to wobble.

“Woah!” she groaned as her knees began to buckle. Rainbow Dash was immediately by her side, keeping her up. “Thanks Rainbow.”

“No problem! I never let my friends fall.” The rainbow-mane pegasus then helped Naruko back on to the hospital bed. Naruko then laid back down with her ‘guardian’, but stayed awake to find out what was going on.

“Well, after all that,” Naruko began, “can somepony please tell me where I am and what’s going on?”

“You are in Canterlot, my little pony,” Celestia answered. “I am Princess Celestia and the ‘freak’, as you put it, is my younger sister Princess Luna.”

“Eh heh heh heh,” Naruko laughed nervously, while blushing, embarrassed by her words. “Sorry about that. I was just surprised is all. It’s nice to meet you Celestia and Luna!” The girls gasped at her. “What? Did I do something wrong?”

“Naruko, you need to show the Princesses some respect,” scolded Rarity.

“No I don’t,” she replied. The others just stared at her like she was crazy. “I only just met them. Why would I show them any respect? Just because they are princesses? HA! That means very little to me.”

“B-b-b-but they are the PRINCESSES!!” screamed Twilight with a twitching eye. Celestia and Luna were watching with true interest, but waited for Twilight to finish her rant. “They raise the sun and moon! They deserve your respect!”

“We only just met Twilight and titles mean nothing to me. Even if they do raise the---,“ Naruko stopped abruptly, her face suddenly contorting in confusion…massive confusion. “Wait a second . . . THEY DO WHAT?!?!?!?!? HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!?!?” Naruko screamed.

Now the others were really confused, just as much as she was. Twilight then went into lecture mode. “Princess Celestia is the ruler of the sun and raises and lowers it every day. Princess Luna does the same with the moon every night. Why do you ask? How did you think it worked?”

Naruko’s right eye began to twitch. “You are breaking my scientific mind Twilight. The planet orbits around the sun as well as rotates itself. While the moon is in a synchronized orbit around the planet. That’s how the days happen; it’s all gravity. Nopony controls them…right?” Naruko asked sounding scared. The Princesses stole a glance of confusion from each other.

“I don’t know where you got such a ludicrous idea, Naruko, but we do in fact control the sun and moon respectively. It has been that way for over a thousand years. Before us, it was a group of very powerful unicorn mages who performed the task for generations.”

Again, Naruko had an uncontrollable twitch. “I am gonna let the lie for now. Don’t feel like adding a brain aneurism to my fatigue. *Sigh* So what am I doing here, and what is this around my neck?” Naruko asks pointing to the Element of Harmony.

“That would be the artifact we told you about,” explained Twilight. “And you are here because you collapsed back in the chasm and we couldn’t just leave you there. This is the hospital ward of the castle.”

“Oh. Well thanks girls. But why am I wearing the artifact?” Naruko then put a hoof to feel the charm and her eyes widened. “And why is putting out so much magic power?”

“I am surprised you can sense the power of the Element,” said Celestia. “And as much as it confuses me, the seventh Element of Harmony has chosen you as its bearer. Now the only question is, what does this Element represent?”

“I think I know,” whispered Fluttershy who raised her hoof in response. All eyes fell on her and she shrunk back.

“Don’t be shy, sugar cube,” encouraged Applejack. “Come on, speak your mind.”

“Um, okay. I think that it’s the Element of Trust.” They all looked at her confused. “Think about it. What was the last thing Naruko said to us before she saved us?”

“’Trust me’. Of course!” proclaimed Twilight. “Fluttershy, that’s brilliant! Naruko is the Element of Trust.” All eyes returned to the mare on the bed, whose head was tilted to the side, looking confused.

“Um, I have a question,” said Naruko. “What the hay is an Element of Harmony?”

“The Elements of Harmony are Equestria’s last line of defense. They represent the true friendship and harmony of the land. There were six of them: Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, and Magic. But now, there is a seventh: Trust,” explained Princess Celestia. “You and your new friends represent them. Rarity is generous, Applejack is honest, Pinkie Pie is laughter, Fluttershy is kindness, Rainbow Dash is loyal, and my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, is magic. And you, my little pony, are trust.”

“Wow. That is a lot to take in. Definitely cool, though,” responded Naruko.

“Yeah it is!” announced Rainbow Dash. “But now I have a question.” She turned to face Princess Celestia. “What the hay, Princess!! Why did you send us to a deadly chasm filled with monsters?! We could have been killed!”

Princess Celestia looked appalled. “Wha-what? What do you mean filled with monsters?”

“Yes, indeed, Princess Celestia,” said Rarity. “That dirty canyon was filled with ghastly creatures who tried to make us their next meal.”

“Princess?” began Twilight. “Would you happen to know about a drakon named Igneel?”

Princess Celestia and Luna’s eyes bulged. “How dost thou know of that foul creature? Those records are restricted,” said Luna.

“They know about him, because he nearly ate them,” said Naruko matter-of-factly. “And based on your confusion, neither of you seemed to know that every monster ever banished to the Grand Chasm was still alive and well. Especially Igneel. He was the worst to deal with.”

“What dost thou mean ‘deal with’?” asked Princess Luna.

“Well, I made it my personal mission to protect anypony who traveled through the chasm that I called home. Though, whenever it came to seeing Igneel, very few ponies believed me and met their doom by his hoof. That reminds me, what happened to big, scaly and ugly?”

“You killed him!” said Pinkie.

Naruko’s eyes went wide. “I WHAT!!!!!”

“It was quite ingenious,” responded Twilight. “That magic of yours not only fossilized Igneel, but also killed every other monster in the entire Chasm. There was a cave behind the drakon and your magic flew into it.”

“That-that’s not possible!” exclaimed Naruko. “The Earth Dragon Roar is not powerful enough to do that kind of damage. Unless…” Naruko lowered her head to look at the necklace around her. “This. That power I felt; it was the Element. It supercharged my spell.” Naruko was silent for several moments, her face unreadable. Then out of nowhere, “AWESOME!!” she yelled.

“I knew I liked her,” said Rainbow Dash thoughtfully.

“Indeed,” Luna noted. “Now wait, though. What is this ‘Earth Dragon Roar’ thou speakest of?”

Naruko shifted her legs uncomfortably. “It’s kinda hard to explain.”

“You can trust us, sugar cube,” said Applejack. “Just as we trusted you.”

“Oh it’s not you girls that’s the problem. It’s them,” Naruko said pointing at the princesses. “I trust you girls fully, being the first to offer me true friendship, but I only just met the princesses and I am not really comfortable around them. No offense Celesta and Luna, but my family just has had some bad dealings with royalty and governments before. They didn’t end very well, so none of us really put too much trust or respect in authorities. It’s not you, it’s us.”

Luna glared at the young unicorn, but Celestia smiled warmly. “We understand completely, Naruko,” she said. “So let us remedy that. Why don’t you tell us about yourself and this strange magic of yours? We promise that we will not tell a soul.”

“Weeelll, alright. If my friends trust you, I suppose that should be enough for me. But I got my eye on you two,” she warned. Celestia only nodded, while the girls were beginning to look worried. “Alrighty then. Well, my name is Naruko and I hail from a land that is far from Equestria. I have been on my own for many years, but I do have family. They just happen to be spread out pretty thin so that we rarely see each other. I called the Grand Chasm my home for… what year is it?”

“It is the month of August in the year 1874 AD. AD meaning ‘After Discord’ of course,” said Celestia.

Naruko blinked once, not knowing what that meant, but shrugged. “Okay, then well as I was saying I called the Grand Chasm home for three years. Within that time I decided to uncover the secrets of the chasm and to protect my fellow ponies who entered there. I fought tooth and hoof in there to protect others. That is what my cutie mark represents: my ability to fight. I am a warrior, a soldier, a guardian. Oh and I am also fifteen now, I suppose.”

“What???” exclaimed the group. Naruko was only fifteen years old?! That was something none of them could tell. She seemed much older than that. She was pretty young compared to the other Element bearers. The youngest was Twilight, who was 17 at the time, then came Pinkie who was only a few months older. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were all 18, leaving Fluttershy the oldest of the group at age 20.

“Hold on a second! You mean to tell us that you have been living in that monster infested hole, fighting to survive on your own since you was only twelve years old?!” asked Applejack who was completely stunned.

“Yep. As you have seen, Applejack, I can handle myself quite well. I did have an excellent teacher.”

“And who was that darling?” Rarity asked.

“Remember that dragon I mentioned that stayed with me for a while? She was my teacher; she taught me how to be strong as well as use that unusual magic you saw. You see, what you saw was…dragon magic. The reason I didn’t want to tell you this is because this magic is incredibly ancient and very few dragons exist that know it, let alone teach it. Even fewer now that this kind of magic exists.”

“That magic of yours was different from any I have ever seen,” remarked Twilight. “Especially that rune circle. Your magic must be pretty strong to allow you roar like that.”

“Um, actually…The roar itself was me. The sand twister was the magic.” And once again, stares of awe and confusion. “Let me explain. Dragon magic is far more complex than any other form of magic, as such it has a certain requirement to be able to use it fully.”

“What is required to perform this magic?” asked Luna.

“You must let the magic merge with you; you have to let the magic flow through your very being. Gaining dragon magic does not just give you power, it changes you. To use this magic, you must, basically, become a dragon.”

There were several moments of silence at this revelation. Nopony could understand what they were just told. “Soooo,” started Rainbow Dash, “you’re a dragon?”

“Well, partially. I have heightened senses, special tastes, and a few other tricks. I can also alter my body to have dragon features, but it requires a lot of magic to do so. The roar just comes naturally, though.”

“Can we hear it? The roar, I mean,” asks Twilight.

Naruko shrugs in response. “I don’t see why not?” She instantly inhales and let loose a terrifying roar. So terrible that the guards standing watch outside the room burst in to protect their princesses. The leveled their spears at Naruko and charged forward.

“Wait! Stop!” cried Princess Celestia, but the words went unheard. The guards were on Naruko in seconds. It did not go how anypony expected. Naruko suddenly back flipped and used her hind leg to kick the spears of the guards straight up. Using her left foreleg, Naruko contorted her body into a spin and once again brought her hind legs towards the guards and kicked both of them into a nearby wall. The two stallions collapsed into a heap, leaving a small crater in the wall where they impacted. Naruko turned back to her friends her were looking at her in surprise and shock.

“Sorry about that,” Naruko said folding her ears back. “Force of habit.”

“Perfectly understandable,” said Celestia whose face betrayed her words. Even in all her years, she had never seen such moves by a pony, especially not one of little age and with injuries. Before anypony else could talk, the doctor returned to the room, but he looked a little worse for wear.

“Hello once again,” he said trying to be cheerful. “Oh, your majesties. I am glad you’re here. Can I speak with the two of you and you six,” he said pointing at Twilight and her friends. “In private.” The ponies looked at each other, but followed the doctor out of the room. Naruko watched with curiosity at what would be happening right outside her room.

“What do you need to speak with us about Doctor Hindsight?” asked Twilight once the door was closed.

“It’s your friend in there, Miss Sparkle. I was going through some of the medical results from the test we conducted and, well…”

“Come, now Doctor,” prodded Celestia. “What is the matter?”

“It’s her entire body, Princess. No matter where we looked, we couldn’t find a single part on her that didn’t have some kind of wound! She has bruises, cuts, scrapes, and scars out the bucking wazoo!!”

The girls were aghast at the doctor for his language, but more so for what he was telling them. “Is it really that bad Dr. Hindsight?” asked Fluttershy.

“I will give you an example Miss Shy. Her back… there is no saving it. Miss Naruko’s entire back is one hundred percent scar tissue; every nerve is dead. It’s like it was mutilated time and time again for years on end. I bet I could jab our thickest needle in her back and she wouldn’t even feel a thing. But that is not even the worst of it,” he says with a sour look.

“Then what is, dear doctor?” asked a very frightened Rarity. All of the mares were close to tears after hearing about Naruko’s grave injuries and now truly wondered how she could be so strong.

“The worst problem is that not a single one of these injuries is recent!” Bug-eyed mares all around! “Some of these scars are over a decade old, but, as far as we can tell, none of them have happened with the last five years. Which means…” he prodded to Twilight.

“Which means that none of her injuries could have happened while she was staying in the Grand Chasm. All of these injuries happened while she was still a little filly!!” she finished. Even Princess Celestia looked sick from that. It was truly a horrifying thought.

“Tia?” asked Luna. “Dost thou think it was fair Naruko’s parents that did her harm?”

Princess Celestia was silent for a moment. “I think we should not jump to conclusions, not yet anyways.” She turns to the Mane Six and begins again. “I want you girls to look after Naruko. She has obviously been through a lot and could definitely use some good friends right about now.”

The girls turned to one another and then back to princess. As one, they nodded in confirmation. “Don’t worry, Princesses,” said Twilight. “We will be sure to make her comfortable.” Princess Celestia and Luna accepted this and then made their leave, allowing the girls to return to the room. Upon entering, they found Naruko had once again fallen asleep on the hospital bed, clutching her toy tightly in her sleep. The guards she had so easily beaten were also still passed out in yonder heap. The girls smiled warmly at the sight of their friend at peace, but once again there was a nagging voice in their thoughts. But this one spoke not of fear of Naruko, but for her. What have you gone through, Naruko? What happened to you?