Author's Note

CONSIDER THIS A MID FIC RESTART!

Meaning...I'll keep the old chapters, but I'm gonna pick up from here and move on best I can.

Moths

"Oh god!" I screamed, dropping through the canopy of the Everfree, sticks and branches snapping off as I was flung towards the ground. "God damn it--" I landed with a heavy thud, my legs flung over my head as I laid chest first in the mud. "Kiri, fuck you!" I flopped down onto my stomach and covered my head. "How hard is it to land normally?!"

Kiri growled at me and flew off. "Get them out! I don't want them there!" She huffed and flung herself through the canopy and into the sky.

I pushed off off the ground as Rouge fluttered down next to me. She took a deep breath and fell flat into the undergrowth. She sighed heavily and forced her wings to her back. "Henry, I hurt so bad." She dug her hooves into the dirt, smearing mud on her tufts as she did. "Henry, I hurt."

I pushed up and whirled my jacket off. It clung to my wrist as I tried to pull it off. "Hold on." I unbuttoned the cuff and yanked my jacket off. I swung it around and threw it gently over Rouge's back. She mumbled softly and went slack as I scooped her up. I held her close and hugged her up in my arms. I turned around until I could get my bearings. "Rouge...I'm sorry--"

Rogue puffed her cheeks out. "Why? It's not your fault your stupid friend kidnapped you." The ring of fluff around her neck started to puff out. "Its not your fault I nearly tore my wings. Its hers--"

I reached down and kissed her nose. "You didn't have to come."

Rouge stared up at me with a slightly hurt look. "You came after me."

I looked away. "Not by myself." I swallowed hard. "I had to whine to Kiri until she got mad at me." I shook my head and walked along the cut down path towards my old cabin. The soft ground crunched loudly as I walked. "Rouge, I love you." I held her close, our first meetings flooding back as I walked along with her in my arms. "No matter what happens next, remember that."

Rouge looked up at me. "Henry, what's wrong?"

I licked my lips. "That guy in Prance, that kid, you. I feel like its not going to work." I spotted my cabin, the lights out and porch littered with leaves and sticks. "He's gonna try and get me to go out, and its just not going to work." I rubbed Rouge's side. "I just don't want to get in your way. I didn't want to lose you, I still don't, but I just want you to--"

Rouge reached up and pushed her hoof straight against my mouth. I leaned back and braced myself in the dirt. "Shut...up." Rouge shook her hoof. "We're going to back to Prance, you and me."

I rubbed my mouth and looked around. "You know I don't work with crowds, it just won't work. I don't want that guy getting in my face and yelling at me either." I set my foot on the edge of my porch. "They seemed like nice people, but I'm just not ready to go deal with all this. I tried Rouge--"

"Try harder." Rouge stared up at me. "You've seen the others, you know how hard I had to try to be better than them!" She leaned her head up to me. "Henry, I'll find a way. I left once, and I regretted leaving you every night. Now you want to do the same?"

I stared down at her, my eyes started to burn. "Rouge, you know I'd never try to hurt you."

Rouge nodded slowly. "Then stay with me. I'll ask Jan if he can find us someplace to stay that's not with him." She looked up at the trees. "It wont be much, I don't make much and I don't--"

"I'll find work, I'll work until my hands bleed." I held her close. "Just don't ask me to go back to that guy.... He's going to put me somewhere I can't handle and I'll lose it." I walked up onto the porch and looked around. "I don't know why, but I can't handle it."

Rouge smiled at me. "I trust you'll get better. Maybe not in a way any of us would expect, but you found a way to Prance while getting carried by a half dragon, I trust you'll find a way-- Oh no." Her ears fell back as she looked towards a window.

The front door burst open to a galloping herd of moth ponies. "What the fuck!?" I stumbled back and hit the railing with my back. It gave way and sent me tumbling into the bushes. I felt a stick skewer my hair and a rock wedge right into my spine. "Balls!"

The stampede slowly petered out and the herd gathered up around my head. They were barely lit, but the squirmy ponies stood close enough for me to see them clearly. A mothpony with a lantern on a stick walked over and leaned in. He was a soft beige with brown fuzz. He had a number of different colored accent dotting his flank and neck. "Henry, you're back. Hi."

I frowned hard and went slack in the bush. "Hi Shrewd...what's up?"

Shrewd smiled nervously and looked around the other ponies. "Uh, nothing. Kinda moved in. I hope you don't mind."

I sighed heavily. "I kinda do. Why did you start squatting exactly?"

A pink fluffed mare leaned over. "There's a bunch of ponies cutting down trees in the forest, they keep planting new ones but the open space is dangerous." She trotted in place. "The house was safer...and the dragon wasn't that mean until we started sleeping inside."

I smiled at her. Rouge huffed angrily and looked up too. "Aw, I'm sorry. I know that feeli--" I stopped dead and locked onto some far of speck of dust. "Prance."

Rouge shifted in my arms. "Henry, no!"

"Rouge...." I looked down at her. "Didn't you get a grant for trying to move into Prance?"

Rouge groaned loudly. "Henry...they're not civil!"

I kept on staring. "Rouge...."

She cringed hard. "Henry...it'll be horrible."

I rubbed her back. "Please? You were worried about them--"

"Indirectly!" Rouge huffed loudly. "I just-- I don't-- Where are we going to put them all!?" She pointed a hoof to the crowd. "Anyplace with enough space will be wide open and you'll panic!"

I looked up over the lantern lit crowd. They looked worried, mixed in with a few chatting ponies nervously whispering. I looked to the pink mare. "Rouge...I've gotta try, just like you tried."

Shrewd coughed into her hoof. "What happened?"

I smiled at the lantern lit pony. "Prance."