Outcasted Hero

"Where are you ya big idiot? Don't you know that we all need you here ?" Chrysalis said as she and a search party of ponies and changelings came back from the Everfree Forest. It has been a month since David had disappeared after running out of the arena and since then ponies and changelings alike have been scouring both the Equestria and the Everfree Forest for any signs of him but to avail.

"Judging by your expression that you didn't find him today either?" Celestia asked as Chrysalis walked back to her new hive that had been finished two weeks ago.

"No and I'm starting to get really worried about him. I know that he can take care of himself but the look on his face when he ran out. That can't mean anything good, and then there's poor Lily, she hasn't stopped asking about him since that day and goes back to crying whenever I have to tell her that we haven't found him." Chrysalis replied as she hung her head down.

"I know, I might have only just met the filly but I've come to care for her as well but not as much as David did. He was her way of forgetting about the pain of losing her parents as much as she is a way for helping him deal with, well, everything. I just wonder where he could have gone off to." Celestia stated calmly as they neared the hive.

"I wish I knew but-" She was interrupted the her captain came running towards her and Celestia.

"My queen we have found David." The captain informed them.

"What!?"
"What!?" Chrysalis and Celestia shouted at him. "Where is he and how did you find him?"

"We found him during our training in the courtyard. A stray shot from one of the drones went off course and stuck a wall near the entrance. When me and captain Armor went to assess the damage he was right there but something was off about him." The Changeling captain said as he tapped a holed hoof to his chin.

"Different how?"

"Well if I had to describe it in one word he seemed...hollow."

"Hollow?"

"Yes, hollow. The colors in his eyes seemed lifeless and he was unresponsive to anything to we have to say though that could probably be attributed to the barrier that he has around himself. Hasn't dropped since we found him, even when Lily tried." The two rulers were shocked to hear this and proceeded to the training courtyard. When they got there they saw a large group around the doors and knew the captain was telling the truth. The group parted when they saw them and they turned the corner to see that David was indeed sitting in a hole in the wall and looked to have been there for quite awhile judging by his appearance. His arms and legs looked to be thinner even with his suit on and could see that his eyes held no life to them. In front of him was Lacy, Bonbon, and Lily as they we were trying to convince to come out.

Lily turned around as she noticed the others become quite and spotted Chrysalis and Celestia heading towards them. "Aunt Chryssy we need your help. We can't get daddy out and I think there is a force field blocking the way."

Chrysalis and Celestia looked at each other for a moment, "Everypony we are going to need you to get behind cover." Celestia said as she and Chrysalis charged up their magic. The group ran behind the wall but stayed near the entrance so that they could peek around the corner to see what they going to do. As soon as they thought the everypony was going to be safe from any harm they shot their magic and the barrier that kept them separated from David. As soon as their magical energy got near the barrier a fiery orange beam shot out of the human and out more into the barrier yet there still seemed to be no real reaction from him as if this was more involuntary. Neither ruler relented with their attack as they put energy into the blast.
The barrier wasn't relenting to their combined assault as more magic was being poured into it than they could dish which surprised the alicorn and changeling queen. They were almost out of magic when a two pink, a blue, and small toxic green beam impacted the barrier as Twilight, Cadance, Shining Armor, and surprising enough. though also not, Lily trotted up beside them. With new determination both rulers stood up and fought against the barrier wit all their might. The sound of something breaking could be heard as the shield started to crack, which soon began to spider web as their magics were concentrated to the center of the original crack.

Bvroom A small explosion was felt through the room as everypony was blown back from the blast. They all got up with the help of those that were waiting behind the door of the training yard. As soon as Chrysalis and Lily were up they rushed into the crevice and tackled David to the ground as they embraced him. When he didn't return after some time Chrysalis pulled back to see him staring blankly at the ceiling. It was then that she got a better look at his appearance and saw that his ribs could be seen through his skin and it appeared that his body had lost mass all around.
"Does anypony have enough strength to teleport us to the Ponyville Hospital? We need to get looked at pronto if he's been here this whole time without food and water." Chrysalis asked to the group now gathered around them.
"I believe that all of you have worn yourselves out but I'll be more than willing to do it though why not treat him here?" Luna asked as she walked into the having finally gotten the news of the discovery of David's whereabouts.
"We have no time to ask questions. He's been down here for over a month with nothing, we need to get him treated now!" Chrysalis replied angrily which caused Luna to take a step back away from the queen before lighting up her horn. In seconds they were in the lobby of Ponyville General and had doctors swarm them soon after. They looked over everypony to see what was wrong until they spotted the weakened form of the feared human and got him onto a gurney. Chrysalis and Lily followed them as he was put into a room and hooked up to IVs filled with various liquids that were foreign to the both of them.

The doctor, a brown earth stallion, came in to give him a formal check up which took the better part of an hour. When he was finished he stored his equipment in their respective receptacles before turning to Chrysalis and Lily would had been watching to whole time.

"So how is he doctor?" Chrysalis asked when he walked up to her.

"He should be fine for the most part. Despite having gone through a month without any sustenance he seems to be surprisingly fine. We'll have to keep him for at least a week as we pump the nutrients back into his system after that somepony just needs to make sure that he eats regularly and he should be back to normal in no time." Chrysalis breathed a sigh of relief at hearing that David should be fine. "Now if you'll excuse me I must go check on the other patients but you are than welcome to stay here."

"Thank you doctor." The stallion nodded before leaving the room. Chrysalis walked over to the bed and helped Lily climb on it. Lily laid on his lap and snuggled up against him and Chrysalis grew worried when he didn't respond to her touch. That worry dissipated soon after as she saw him look down to Lily and run his fingers through her mane which drew a purr from the little one.
"I've missed you daddy." Lily said as she readjusted herself so she could hug his stomach.

"......I've missed you too sweetie." He finally said after a bit of a delay. Chrysalis could feel the fear that he was feeling and she knew what the cause of it was.
Getting up on the bed herself she laid next to him. "You have nothing to be afraid of David." She felt him tense up after she said that and he looked towards her with the fear more prominent in his eyes.
"But-" He began only to be cut off by a small, holey hoof. He looked towards the owner of said hoof and shrinked back as Lily gave him an intense glare.
"No, no more running away daddy. When you get scared you run away, but brave ponies don't run when something bad happens or they are in trouble. You told Auntie Chryssy that you will fight for her but then you run away when somethings happens and you think everypony will hate you." Lily started up as he looked away in shame has he knew that Lily was right. "Daddy you have let me and Chryssy help you when you're sad. I don't want to lose you because I love you and Aunt Chryssy does too. I will always love you daddy, even if you turn into a monster." David could only clench his fist has Lily finished but made no other move even as she nuzzled his cheek.
When Lily looked back at her father her ears fell back when she saw tears run down his face that he was trying so hard to hide at the moment. She looked to Chrysalis for answers but saw that she too was doing nothing but staring at him worryingly. Lily had learned enough over the years to know that there were somethings that there were some emotions that hatchlings couldn't feel and although she could feel his anger, sadness, and his hurting, she couldn't also feel something else as well. It was a small trace but she could tell that there were lots of it inside of him at the moment.

"Why are you so jealous of us David?" Chrysalis asked out of nowhere. The catch question caught the man by surprise as his eyes flew open and his tears seized.

"W-wh-what?" David's confusion was clear as day but the queen knew he had heard her.

"You heard me mister," She said as she looked at him with narrowed eyes and poked a hoof at his chest. "Why are you so jealous of are seemingly perfect lives that would make you wish that you didn't exist at all?"
David lowered his head until his hair was covering his eyes. "Isn't it obvious?"

"No it's not, do you mind telling me so I can understand better?" She asked angrily.

"How about the fact that I've ruined lives and have been seen as a monster for as long as I can remember. No matter where I go, what I do, there is always something that happens that leads to the rumors of the Demon. I am nothing but a magnet for trouble, big and small, and there's not a damn thing I can do anything about it. I'm jealous because if not for my existence then maybe things could be better for everyone. I'm jealous because despite the troubles thrown at all of you you can get a reprieve no matter how short it may be. I don't know what happiness anymore and I don't think I ever have. Despite what I may say I'm not really, I've never really been happy but I guess there is something that's telling me that I should be happy even I don't know what it is. That feeling comes out more often when I'm around you two though and whether or not the feeling is false I don't want to lose it. Maybe things would have been better if I had just let myself be killed when I saved Lily, maybe then she wouldn't have put up with me as father, maybe-" CRACK David's head snapped so sharply to the left that he thought his head had been smacked off.

After regaining his senses from the shock the sudden slap had put him in he felt the pain hit him full force and his face started to swell. He put his down once again so that none could see his face as he knew who and why they had hit him and what he would see when he looked towards the culprit.

"Look at me." Chrysalis commanded though he did make a single move. "I said look at me dammit!" She growled angrily. "Dammit David Herrera look at me or so help me I'll make you wish that you were dead!" She shouted which caused him to scoot away from her before slowing picking his head up to look at her. It was just as he thought after he was slapped as a very angry Chrysalis was staring at him. He had to fight the urge to get off of the bed and run as he looked upon her anger at such a close range.

"I don't know you think you are but it's not like we've had it easy before you showed up. Both the ponies and us changelings have had our fair shares of problems that we wish would go away but they don't. Your daughter is right about your habit about running away from these things and it stops now. Then there is this whole thing about you not feeling genuine happiness. If that were true that how come I can feel it overcome your sadness. False emotions only mask the real ones in a thin blanket that even a foal could see pass so don't even try pulling that crap. You have us to look to for help and you know that but you refuse get any because of your damn pride and arrogance. To make sure you understand that I'll start to offer punishment whenever you try bottling up certain emotions until I say otherwise, do you got that?" David could only sit there as his entire body was trembling and he was scared out of his wits as Chrysalis bared her fangs at him when their faces were an inch from each other. He snapped out of his trance when he heard her release a threatening growl and he rapidly nodded his as he tried to get as far away from her as possible.

David ignored what pain he felt when he fell out of the bed and backed away into a corner and used the blanket that had fell with him to cover himself up. It was then that Chrysalis reeled in her temper and realize what she was doing to the one she loved. She looked around the room and was surprised to find nopony had entered the room during her rant, or at least that was until she saw piece of Celestia's mane sticking out in front of the window at the door. She found Lily had also exited the room as she was nowhere to be found before turning back towards the shaking bundle.
She was about ready the break down herself at seeing him like this as she realized that for moment, she treated him just has her mother had treated her own subjects, including the threat of bringing physical harm to the one she was threatening. She stepped off the bed slowly so as not to alert him of the whereabouts of her presence. When she was close enough Chrysalis laid a hoof on his back which caused his shaking to become violent and she could hear soft sobbing coming from within the bundle. She used her magic to turn him around and was hurt to see that he was trying to put up his barrier again and again as she did. When that failed he just proceeded to further wrap himself within his cotton shield.
"David, sweetie, could you please look at me?" Chrysalis asked in a calm, soothing, almost motherly voice though he didn't remove the blanket but instead pulled it closer. Deciding to wait she brought him back to the bed and hooked everything that had been dislodged when he fell before pulling him into a hug. In an effort to help calm him down she started to hum him a lullaby as she rocked them back and forth. She notice it working as his shaking calmed down until it stopped completely. She proceeded to unwrap him once she felt him go limp in her grasp and laid him down carefully on the bed. Once David had been tucked in she laid by him and waited until sleeps embrace took hold of her. The last of her thoughts before her dreams took her was how she hoped tomorrow went better seeing how today was supposed to be a happy now that they had found him.

"I'll make sure you get all the love need when you're better, that I promise." Chrysalis sleepily mumbled before falling asleep.