It's been a little over a month now since she arrived. And all she ever does is sit on that hill staring at the mountains. Maybe this was her way of coping, or maybe she just didn't want to try. This one never talked, and her form seemed of one as a statue.
And that was fine with me. In a way, she reminded me of mah brother. Both of them had a lot of similarities, as well as many differences. To me, they were both the same kind of apple on the outside, but different tasting on the inside.
...okay if you take what ah just said the wrong way ah'll buck you into next harvest season.
But back to her, as ah said before she arrived here a little over a month ago, but the poor girl was so banged and torn apart that none of us thought this creature would survive. She was immediately rushed over to the hospital, where many of our doctors spent days upon days to keep her alive. She was in and out of surgery more times then ah wish ah could count. Once they finished, she was good as new!
Well physically at least.
When she woke up her eyes showed no sign of life in them. Like she was still asleep, but awake at the same time. It brought a chill down through my spine to my tail. At first ah feared her, we knew nothing of this creature and I would do anything to protect my family.
But what ah saw next changed all that, she looked at her hands for a few moments, which ah thought at first were claws just like Spike's, before ah saw her whole form begin to shake.
"...why am I still alive?"
Those were the first and last words she ever said. She began to cry into them. Ah don't know why, but after that, ah wanted to protect her.
A few days later after that ah took her back to the farm, she seemed to follow me so it was okay. Twilight originally wanted to take her to Canterlot for the princesses to see, but ah told her it might not be a safe trip for her since she just got out of the hospital. That might have been a dumb excuse but somewhere in me told me that she would disappear the second ah looked away. The sad part was that ah did seem to lose her on the way to inform the family.
I panicked looking for her; searching every tree and barn in hopes nothing happened to her. Luckily though I found her on that one hill, watching the sunset go down past the hills, she was so mesmerized with it I thought it did some good for her.
But that thought soon vanished when she didn’t move from the hilltop. No matter how many times ah pulled her to the house or somewhere else, if ah took my eye off her for a split second she was gone at a moments notice, and back on that hilltop.
Just staring across the horizon. Ah soon gave up with the idea of trying to force her; Ah don’t think ah could ever figure out what was going through her head.
At least, ah thought ah wouldn’t.
One rough day ah had at the farm after dealing with some terrible cargo and a few swindlers trying to make a profit off our apples, ah sat next to her and began running my mouth off. Ah don't know why but I just needed to vent, ah was angry at those ponies, ah was angry at myself for almost being tricked, and ah just needed to release.
So there ah was, talking about my problems to someone who just stared off into the horizon, flailing my hooves as if ah was going for a dramatic affect. But you know what, it felt good. Ah could never vent my feelings like this to mah family; ah never wanted them to worry about the farm or mah problems.
But with her, it felt really nice. After ah finished venting she didn’t say anything of course, but it felt like she did listen, and that was good enough for me.
It became a daily thing for me, after working ah would go up to that hilltop and talk about mah day, even if it was just about work or my friends, she always seemed to listen, but never talking or judging me.
And ah liked that.
Ah don’t know if what ah believed was true or not, maybe she wasn’t really listening. Maybe I was just making a fool of myself. But that didn’t really bother me.
Now ah just didn’t leave the poor girl starving if you were wondering. Every day ah would leave a small basket of apples and a couple of water bottles. Every now and then ah would make a pie or a sandwich, but ah would only see a few bites in those, while the apples she would only leave the stem and seeds left.
Rarity of course, being 'generous' and all, took up the challenge of making her some clothes. Now at first they were all fancy clothes for events like the Gala and such, but none of those were really comfortable from what ah noticed for just sitting and relaxing. So ah 'convinced' her to make some average n' loose style clothes for her. Boy that day there was a lot of shouting about looking your best and so on.
Ah'm not saying she didn’t look good in those dresses, even made my cheeks redder then the juiciest of apples. But ah knew she wasn’t comfortable sitting on that hilltop wearing those.
So when ah go to grab of what's left of the food ah brought her earlier, ah bring her a pair of clean clothes, two towels, and some soap. She'll usually wash herself at the nearby river on our farm, don’t know why she doesn’t use the shower, maybe they don’t have them wherever she's from. At least since the river is on our land ah don’t have to worry about peepers spying on her.
Ah remember one night Applebloom and her friends came rushing into the house as if they saw a ghost. And the three soon started shouting all at once, in full panic. Ah couldn't understand much of it but ah was able to make out three key words from their shouting.
Girl. River. Scratches.
Mah heart sank as ah quickly rushed passed them and out the house, heading towards the river. Mah mind was racing with a million thoughts. Ah was 'fraid that a timberwolve or some everfree forest creature attacked her while she was bathing.
As soon as ah reached the river, ah was quickly relieved to see her just washing herself. But that soon changed when ah finally saw her bare back. The scratches that Applebloom and the others were talking 'bout were the scars this girl had. They covered her entire back, from her neck all the down to where her tail would be if she had one. And these looked much older then just the ones she got when she arrived. And from what ah saw when she moved that she couldn't reach much of it. Ah realized...
Somepony hurt her.
It broke mah heart.
Ah didn't know how long ah stood there. But hot tears began rolling down mah eyes. Mah hooves were burning, ah wanted to hit something, or somepony. Ah wanted whoever did this to her to pay. Ah wanted every last one who might have hurt her, all of them de-
Ah soon felt something wrap against my neck, gently stroking my back.
Mah thoughts immediately stopped. She was trying to calm me down. She must've turned around and saw me, and realized how angry ah was becomin'. Ah don't know where those dark thoughts came from, and that scared me. But as quickly as they came, they quickly vanished because of this girl.
Ah soon wrapped my fore hooves around her and cried into her shoulder, not wanting to let go out of fear she'll disappear.
After that night, ah was haunted with nightmares. They were always blurry and dark. But ah would see a shadow standing above me, standing just like her. This one bigger than her though, and the creature stood there, with something that looked similar to a whip. After what felt like a eon the creature would raise it's arm, and bring down the whip.
Ah felt no pain, but ah could hear the screams. The screams of agony, screams begging for forgiveness, screams of pleading for the pain to stop. Only for more pain to be brought. Ah couldn't stop it. It always ended with my view moving in a different perspective, helplessly watching as the girl was whipped over and over, unable to do anything.
Ah would wake up in cold sweat, shaking. Ah began checking outside my window, making sure she was still there. And every time ah was thankful to see her.
So after the month we would go on our usual routine, and usually after my talks about my day I would wrap her around a blanket and head off back to the farm. Mah nightmares always the same though, ah was never able to talk about them, in fear of bringing something personal up.
But today was different.
When ah turned around after reaching our home ah noticed that she was standing there, still holding the blanket ah wrapped around her. The poor thing only made eye contact to the ground, but she still seemed to follow me. Ah smiled knowing why she followed; ah opened the door for her.
Ah watched her as her movements stopped right before entering, her body was slowly shaking, but ah got behind her and gently nudged my head against her, slowly pushing her in. She didn’t seem to stop me in anyway, just accepted my gentle pushes.
Once finally in and closing and locking the door behind us, Ah slowly made my way to my room up the stairs, her following me slowly. Once in the room, Ah put my hat along with my hair bands off to the side.
Slowly getting in the bed, ah patted the other side until she finally understood and got in as well. She moved uncomfortably around, guessing she got used to sleeping in a awkward position on that hill. Letting out a little chuckle ah gently pulled her into my embrace, her head right under mah chin.
The poor girl was still slightly shaking, but soon it stopped and all ah could hear was her light breathing. Ah smiled knowing she was going to rest easy. And I knew for once too...
That the nightmares wouldn't come tonight.
"Ah'll protect you."
Author's Note
This was sitting in my folder forever. I have so many unfinished projects and rewrites I have to work on. Anyways thanks for reading! Let me know if there's any mistakes or anything.
