The poor colt tried as hard as he could, but he couldn't block the noise, or smell. He knew his parents were dead, and his older sister had promised to keep him safe. He could hear her cry in pain every time the stallion behind her moved, and the others grinned in anticipation.
One broke away and moved towards him.
"Don't worry little guy. We won't let her live with this much longer."
Then a hoof plowed into the colt's face.
Ciuin strode along the path. He was a grey-brown colour, with a jet black mane pulled into a ponytail with a pair of braids hanging in front of both of his ears. He carried himself in a way that most would call militaristic, but had a slouch, as if he was waiting for something to happen. All around him night flowers bloomed and small nighttime creatures ran through the fields.
For most it would have been described as beautiful, but Ciuin was not a fan of beautiful, or love, or anything else that stirred pride, joy, happiness, or laughter. He was not cold-hearted per se, and he had deep moral based values, but mentally he was frozen. He let little if anything show through, and when he allowed it to, it was punctuated by punches or kicks.
As he trotted along, he noticed a small sign.
"Ponyville-5 miles"
Fluttershy slowly trotted out of town. There was a specific herb she needed and it only bloomed at night. The timid mare kept her view to the ground, fearful of what she might see in the dark.
This also meant she didn't see the two shadows slip out behind her, nor the two awaiting her in another 5 steps. She started when a voice rang out.
"Well well well, lookit what we got here boys!"
As Fluttershy looked up, she realized she'd been surrounded by four terrorising looking stallions.
"Uhm, I'm just trying to get a plant for my animal friends. It's to help relax them after they get hurt. If you don't mind, just letting me on my way?"
At this one of the stallions behind her laughed. "Oh yeah? You help those that are hurting? Well, me and the boys here are hurting real bad." the stallion said, staring pointedly at Fluttershy's flank.
The mare shrank towards the ground.
"Please, I just want to help-"
"Oh I think you can help us just fi-*GURGHK*"
Ciuin knew trouble when he saw it. Some fool mare had wandered into a trap set by four ponies. Stealthily moving closer he caught what was being said.
"Please, I just want to...
Keep him safe. I'll do anything you want, anything! Just don't hurt my little brother!"
"Anything? Well then, maybe we can find some part of you to 'accomodate' us." the stallion grinned sickeningly as he flipped the young mare over and...
Ciuin pulled his tactical axe and threw it with deadly accuracy into the back of the stallion’s neck. His three 'friends' didn't even realize what had happened until after the Scoltspony had slammed a hunting knife into a second's throat. Realizing what was happening, one of the two stallions still alive pulled a small saddleknife. Ciuin grinned at the twit and dropped the stallion in seconds.
"Please....don't hurt me!"
It was the final one. Ripping his tac-axe out of the neck of the first pony, he trotted casually up to the sobbing mess in front of him.
"Please? I do believe that the lass here said that too...AND WHA' WAS YOUR ANSWER!?" Ciuin roared as the slammed the axe head into the pony's head.
Removing it and wiping it on the grass to rid it of excess blood he turned to the mare. She was staring at the carnage in front of her with the utmost horror.
"Are you alrigh' ma'am?"
The yellow pegasus looked up at him for a mere second before collapsing onto the blood covered ground.
Without a word, Ciuin removed his 9 hoof long tartan and wrapped it around the mare's unconcious form and lifted her onto his back.
'Righ', let's get the lass into town.'
Uncommon sights were one thing in Ponyville, but this was pushing it to the brink. A dark coloured stallion riddled with dried blood came in with a bundle on his back. After trotting around the silent town for a time, he came across a house made out of a tree that still had lights on.
'A library. At least the pony inside is awake.'
He trotted up to the door and knocked rather loudly three times. Waiting thirty seconds with no answer, Ciuin knocked another three time, more loudly than before.
"I’m coming!" yelled a female voice from inside.
As the door swung open, it revealed a lavendar coated unicorn mare. The mare face immediately became worried as she saw the blood stained stallion.
"Oh my! Are you hurt? Here come inside."
"I'm fine, lass. You have cold water, no? Go wet a rag with cold water please." Ciuin half asked, half ordered.
He then lowered the mare in his tartan to the flow gently and un-wrapped it. She was a dainty looking mare, butter coloured coat, pink mane, and three butterflies for a cutie mark.
'Well, I'll jus' keep mysel' preoccupied 'til tha' other lass gets back.'
Ciuin pulled his tac-axe back out, and then began to clean it with a small 2 by 3 inch rag.
Twilight quickly retrieved a small towel and began to wet it, praying to Celestia that the stallion wasn't too hurt. As soon as she was done, she ran back to the room to see her friend Fluttershy laying motionless with blood on her coat while the stallion cleaned an axe. Mind racing, Twilight quickly released a spell.
Ciuin had nearly finished cleaning the tac-axe when he was slammed into a wall.
"What did you do to my friend!" the lavander unicorn yelled.
Flexing his rather well built willpower, Ciuin snapped the control the spell had over him, and then picked up the small wet towel the bewildered mare had droped and moved to the butter coloured ones side.
"I helped her, though I'm sure it doesn' look that way to you. She's jus' passed out, probably from the shock or summat. Before you ask, she was attacked on the path outside town. I stepped in and fixed the problem though. M'name's Ciuin."
Ciuin explained rather emotionlessly.
As Twilight listend to the story, she noticed that niether Ciuin nor Fluttershy were physically injured but still had blood on them. "Wait! How do you mean you fixed the problem?!"
"Same way you fix any other problem, I removed it from the eqaution ” he said with a smirk. “ Ah, your friend's coming to."
Fluttershy slowly got up from the warm cloth below her. Looking down, she noticed it was a blue black and red plaid pattern.
"What happened?" the mare moaned as she shook her head. Suddenly everything that had transpired flooded back to her. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she curled up into a ball, falling into a fitful slumber. Ciuin folded his tartan back around her and lifted her onto the couch before pulling a small pillow down and settling on the floor.
"Hate to intrude, lass, but your friends tired, and I'm tired. I'll jus' sleep here." with that Ciuin closed his eyes and let sleep over take him, however light it was.
*CRASH* Ciuin was up in seconds as the libraries front door was thrown open. Focusing his latent earth pony magic in his fore hooves, he balanced on his hind legs and drew his tac-axe into his right forehoof and a combat knife into his left. Milliseconds later Twilight was down the stairs as Royal Guards came in and slowly surrounded Ciuin.
"Sir, drop your weaponry and come in quietly!"
"Y'know, mate, I'd be a lot more inclined to the offer iffen you didn' have a spear pointed at me." Ciuin replied calmly.
Hearing a noise off to his left, Ciuin saw that one guard was about to prod his tartan with a spear. Swinging his axe around he cut the sharpened end off and kicked it away.
"An' don' touch my tartan, lad!"
Suddenly the tartan shifted as Fluttershy began to awake. The stressed mare soon found herself behind a strange stallion and a bunch of Royal Guards. She also remembered that this stallion saved her.
"Excuse me, but if you could all put your weapons down...."
"Don't worry Miss Fluttershy, we won't let this killer hurt you!" reassured the head guard.
Suddenly a younger, lower ranking guard threw himself forward, lunging with his spear. The colt guards’ inexperience threw his aim off though, and the spear went wide and straight for Fluttershy.
Suddenly there was a loud cracking as the spear haft broke and Ciuin decked the guard across the jaw.
"If you can' aim the damn weapon, then don' attack you tosser!"
The non-lethal move had also meant Ciuin dropped his weapons, and when he'd finished yelling at the colt guard he found three spears at his throat.
"How does it feel, eh? To have the life of another in your hooves? Not that pleasant is it?" Ciuin probed.
At this point the three guards were shifting nervously.
"I thought so. You're no' trained killers. If I was a murderer you'd all be dead, and so would that purple mare, and this custard coloured one behind me. Now bugger off." As Ciuin finished he swept a hoof across the spears and started gathering his belongings while the guards backed off.
"Miss Sparkle, what should we do? You messaged the Princess after all." The guard asked.
"Watch him, but he has a very valid point. We'll just wait for Princess Celestia to show up."
Ciuin set about wrapping his kilt around him again as the custard mare shuffled nervously next to him.
"You do realize tha' you don' have to follow me 'round, righ'?" Ciuin offered.
At this the mare nodded.
"But you're still standin' righ' nex' to me..."
Again the mare nods.
"So wha's up then, lass. Obviously you've got somethin' to say."
"It's just....I want to thank you....but what you did...."
"Was a bit hard to stomach? Listen, lass. There are some things in the world you can' reason with. If it means they die, then they die. There's naught to do when somepony threatens another."
His voice wasn't cold exactly, but precise, as if it was that cut and dry.
"I know wha' may make you feel better. Is there a sweeties shop nearby?"
Fluttershy nodded once before speaking. "My name is Fluttershy by the way."
"Ciuin."
'Tossers are followin' me. Hope tha' jumpy lad doesn' do anythin' stupid again.' Ciuin thought as he walked into Sugar Cube Corner. He walked straight up to the counter and ordered some chocolate. He then brought this over to Fluttershy who was sitting at a table.
"Uhm, if you don't mind me saying, you don't seem like you're a happy pony." Fluttershy ventured.
"I don't see the point in it. Why try to act like the world is a nice perfect place. It's a mess."
"But, then why are you being nice to me?"
"No 'fense, lass, but you aren' the first pony I've taken through this routine."
"So you have saved other ponies?"
"Aye."
"But, I thought you said the world was messed up and you didn't believe in good?"
"I believe that I hate seeing ponies harm others for fun. I decided I'd stop it. That's what I do now." Ciuin replied with a tone of finality.
"But..."
Before Fluttershy could go on, Ciuin whipped out his tactical axe and slammed it into the table, causing the timid mare to jump in fright, and attracting a great deal of attention.
"See these notches in the handle, lass? In ol'er times warriors would mark their kills intae their weapons. It was tae signify their prowess of killin'! These notches though? They're tae show all the ponies Ah've saved! The small ones are for stallions or others that could 'ave defended themselves, the middle sized are for those tha' couldn', an' those se'en really bloody large ones? Those are to signify fillies or colts!" Ciuin's accent had grown thicker as his anger pushed through. "Now I'd appreciate if you didn't question my motives for what I do." He finished much more calmly.
"I'm sorry... I didn't realize...."
"Most don'. Equestria's gen'rally so safe, ponies don't realize that they can be attacked, an' most don' have any preperations for if they're. I shouldn' have yelled at you either, that was unfair of me. I'm jus' a little edgy after the guards this morn."
Suddenly the front door bust open as a rainbow maned pegasus mare busted in. She had a bit of a bulge to her belly and she led a blind pegasus after her.
"Alright, who’s the jerk yelling at Flutters. I'm gonna wipe the floor with him!"
That's when the blind pegasus spoke up. "Dash, I don't think you should be fighting with your 'condition', no?"
Rainbow wasn't listening though. Her eyes had locked on the stallion sitting across from her best friend and started to drag Tailwind after her.
'Oh, this is boun' to end well....'
"What the hay is your problem! Nopony yells at Fluttershy and gets away with it, and what's more is I found out you killed ponies infront of her! What is wrong with you!" Dash yelled.
"Do not presume to know how the world works, lass! If you want though feel free to go wander the roads at nigh' an' when the first group of miscrean's finds you just bend right on ov-*crack*"
Ciuin turned his head to glare at the stallion that had just struck him. The glare alone would have cowed most ponies, but this one was blind.
"I understand the dangers of the roads, and I understand you have your own reasoning for your actions, but if you dare speak that way to my wife again, I will sort things out!" Tailwind roared.
Ciuin tried to figure out what shocked him more. The fact he'd actually been hit, the idea of who hit him, or that he realized he had stepped far out of line. 'What is going on, usually I'm not this confrontational?'
"You're right, I was out of line. And lass, I wouldn't have killed the lot of 'em wi'out a damn good reason." Ciuin reasoned.
Dash then turned to her best friend. "Is this true Fluttershy?"
The custard coated mare nodded, tears began to fill her eyes. "They...*sniff....they tried to....*sniff*" then the mare threw herself into Rainbow Dash. "They tried to rape me, and....and...and I....couldn't move or anything...I...I..just....."
Watching this mare cry caused something to twinge deep inside Ciuin, but he shrugged it off and slid the chocolate back over to her.
"Eat it. It's good for calming the mind, and then if you want I'll walk you home."
'Why the buck did I offer to walk her home?'
About ten minutes later Ciuin found himself trailing after Fluttershy as she led him towards her house.
"Why don't you smile Ciuin?" Fluttershy suddenly asked in just above a whisper.
"Hmm? You say somethin'?"
"Uhm, yes. I was asking why you don't you ever seem to smile. I mean, you don't have to answer, I was just wondering. Sorry." the mare said as she cowered slightly.
After another five minutes Ciuin spoke up.
"I've jus' seen things...."
Fluttershy accepted this for the moment.
'Well, glad tha's over with.' Ciuin thought. He'd come inside to make sure Fluttershy was okay when the mare threw her hooves around his neck and started crying, thanking, and apologizing all at the same time. This had gone on for ten minutes before the mare had fallen asleep again. After that he made to leave.
Exiting the front door, he heard a voice sound off. It was one of the guards.
"Sir, I've been told to keep you in Ponyville."
"Outstandin'! I don' plan on listenin' to somepony like you though." Ciuin growled.
"Oh really? Well then you'll find you listen to me a bit better."
Ciuin looked to his right to find none other than Princess Celestia standing there. Not that it deterred him any.
"An' what makes you think tha' I'm inclined to listen to you?" Ciuin retorted.
"I don't know, what makes you think that a statue of you on the moon wouldn't look nice?" Celestia replied cooly.
Ciuin narrowed his eyes at the Princess before answering. "Wha' do you want?"
"I want to know you are not a threat to my little ponies."
"An' how do I go abou' proving that?"
"Tell me what made you the way you are." Celestia said simply.
"No..."
"Fine, then I have no choice to hold you until such a time that I deem you safe to be released."
At this a couple more guards had shown up and started moving towards him. Eyes flashing dangerously, Ciuin whipped his tac-axe out.
"Come near me with those chains an' I'll make a nice necklace for the princess with 'em!"
Just then Fluttershy stepped out from her house.
"Um, Princess Celestia...I know I'm just a regular pony, but if you want...since I know Ciuin isn't a bad pony...he could stay here until you deem fit...if you don't mind." she squeeked.
Suddenly Celestia's features softened. "That is a wonderful idea Fluttershy. Ciuin, you are ordered to remain within Fluttershy's care until I deem it safe to release you. Enjoy your stay in Ponyville."
"So if you move slowly like this, they don't get startled, because in the wild predators move fast." Fluttershy explained.
Ciuin thought it made perfect sense. If you planned to bring down your prey, you wanted surprise and speed, so of course moving slowly and right out in the open would put the badgers’ nerves at ease.
As they got closer, the two ponies saw three baby badgers and their mother.
The babies quickly ran up to Ciuin and started playing amongst his hooves.
Fluttershy thought it was cute, but Ciuin of course showed no emotion.
Try as she might, Flutterhshy had not gained any ground over the past month of Ciuin's stay. Sure he was a bit more sociable, but he still seemed to lack emotion.
In the meantime, the three kits had made a game out of crawling up his legs.
"So, Flu'ershy, I though' you said badgers mated for life. Where's the da'?" Ciuin inquired.
"Oh, he actually passed away. A stray timberwolf had shown up and he died fighting it off."
Ciuin felt a twinge again; he'd been getting them a lot lately. But like the rest, he pushed it aside and ignored it, despite promising to check up on this badger family more often.
"Angel Bunny, have you seen Ciuin. I was going to head into town and I figured that Celestia wouldn't mind me bringing him along for once." Fluttershy questioned.
The small white rabbit shook his head.
The stallion in question was busy watching the badger family again. The two older badger kits, twin brothers, where playfully jumping around while the youngest, a female, crawled over her mum's back.
Something about the scene tugged at the stallion's heartstrings, reverbrating deeply and affecting emotions Ciuin had long since thought dead and gone. He felt something damp on his cheek and brought a hoof up to it to catch a bead of moisture.
'Wha's this? Am I...cryin'?'
Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Ciuin turned and headed back towards Fluttershy's cottage.
'Oh my, I hope he didn't run away. Celestia wouldn't like that at all!' Fluttershy thought as she started towards town.
Suddenly a familiar shape came out of the woods.
"Hey there Flu'ershy. Headin' into town?" Ciuin called.
Fluttershy stopped until Ciuin drew closer. "I was heading into town, yes. I was actually wondering, as long as you weren't busy, do you want to come with me?"
"Will Princess Stick'n'er'bum mind?" Ciuin questioned.
This drew a giggle from Futtershy, something that Ciuin had taken to enjoy hearing although he didn't understand why.
"I don't think so. As long as you stay by me we should be fine."
"Alrigh' then."
Ciuin knew he was being stared at, he also knew he'd be the base of quite a few rumours around town. Everypony wanted to get a look at the 'murderer' that had 'saved' Fluttershy.
For the most part their visit into town was going smoothly, that is until Fluttershy headed towards a fruit stall and Ciuin watched the stall owner suddenly raise the price.
"Oh, my, I guess the price just went up. Well then Miss Fluttershy, the usual?"
Fluttershy merely nodded and was about to hoof her bits over when there was a sudden grating noise and Ciuin spoke up.
He was leaning against a wall sharpening his combat knife of a whetstone.
"Funny enough sir, I swear tha' the prices just went up for this mare."
"Well, demand went up." the stall owner lied gesturing to the ponies in the direct vicinity.
"Righ', I'm sure." Ciuin moved forward and stabbed the knife into the stall, then dragged the stall owner halfway across his cart. "Well then, it seems demands gone down all of a sudden." Ciuin noted as ponies moved back from the area. "So how abou' gettin' tha' price back down, an' if I catch you tryin' to rip off Flu'ershy again, I'll be back. Tha' work for you?" he asked as he patted the stall owners cheek.
"Of course!"
"You didn't have to do that Ciuin." Fluttershy squeeked as they headed back to her house.
"No I didn't, but it made me feel good knowin' tha' it's one less scumbag to deal wi'." he replied.
"Do you ever relax at all, or just calm down and ignore the problems around you?"
"No, lass, why?"
"You should come to the spa with me sometime. I think it'd be good for you." Fluttershy offered.
"The spa's for lassies and fops. I don't go to 'spas'. Anyway, I'm gonna head into the woods for a spell. Be back in a wee bit."
With that Ciuin trotted off into the foilage to find his badger friends.
'Friends? Wha's comin' over me?'
Fluttershy watched as Ciuin moved into the woods, then trotted up to her door and opened it to find none other than her dad. 'Oh no!'
Ciuin was watching the badgers, wrestling with feelings that he thought didn't exist. It was hard, and he was completely new at figuring these kinds of things out. Suddenly he felt something tap his leg.
Looking down at the thing, he realized it was Angel Bunny. "No' now Angel, I'm no' in the mood for your shenanigans."
Instead of a dirty look, or a thrown acorn, he received a desperate, almost pleading, urgent look from the rabbit as it motioned for him to follow. Curious as to why the rabbit was acting funny Ciuin set off after it, quickly finding himself in full gallop. As he exited the woods and neared Fluttershy's house, he could hear yelling.
Pulling his tac-axe, Ciuin slammed the front door open and saw a stallion standing over Fluttershy, whose lip was blleding.
Enraged Ciuin flew forward, grabbed the stallion by his throat, and slammed him into a wall. He pulled back his right hoof, readying his axe for the swing when Fluttershy cried out behind him.
"Please! Don't hurt my dad!"
Ciuin froze. He wanted nothing more than to end the stallion he'd pinned, but something in him made him want to listen to Fluttershy even more.
"That's right. Hide behind you big stallion friend, slut!"
Ciuin snapped, he swung the axe down and Fluttershy screamed.
The Royal guard entered to quite the odd scene. Fluttershy was crying into the side of Ciuin, and there was another stallion pinned to the wall. There was an axe driven into the wall next to its head, and the handle held the unconcious beast up. After some work, they'd managed to remove the wedged in axe and drag the unconcious stallion off.
"So tha' was your da' huh? I'm sorry abou' tha', and I'm sorry I scared you into thinkin' I was going to kill him."
Fluttershy was still shaking like a leaf.
"You said you wen' to the spa to relax, righ'? How 'bou' I take you there. You can relax an' try to forget all b'ou' wha' happened."
The pegasus nodded slightly.
"Please Ciuin. I know you want me to relax, but I don't want to be alone."
"You'll have the Lotus sisters here...."
"But..."
"Fine, lass, I'll come in and get a 'spa treatment then. I still think it's weird..." Ciuin sighed as he started to remove his kilt.
Elsewhere a pair of yellowed eyes stared out of their wooden sockets at a small family of badgers. This was the family that had brought his mate death. This was the family that was going to pay, down to the last kit.
A.N. Woohoo, so let's see. Emotionally frozen stallion-check, Fluttershy-check, coming out of your shell-check, dad problems-check. Yea, looks abou' righ'. Oh and promised shitstorm on the way- definite check!
Big thank you to Blackice(my editor) because the poor lad had to dig through the brogue and nationality spelled differences to find the truly buggered up stuff. Hope you guys like it!.
"Doesn't that feel good?" Fluttershy asked.
Ciuin had to agree, it felt great to let the warm waters seep into his coat and work on his tense muscles. But there was something nagging at the back of his head.
"Well? Is the spa just for 'lassies' now?" Fluttershy giggled.
Slowly Ciuin felt his left cheek twist up into a half smile.
"I can see that you know."
Ciuin straightened out his mouth. "I was jus' stretchin' the muscles." he covered.
"Come on. Just smile a little, for me? Please?"
The mare was irrepressible.
Ciuin slowly let both corners lift up in a contented smile. He hadn't felt like this in forever. But still, he swore something was wrong somewhere.
"Um, can I tell you something Ciuin?" Fluttershy squeeked.
"You jus' did, but go ahea'." the stallion actually joked.
"It's just....you've been around for a month now...and I kind of... have this crush on you."
While Fluttershy explained this Ciuin's sense of unease grew. Something was terribly wrong.
Not even hearing Fluttershy's announcement, Ciuin bolted from the spa, only grabbing one thing...His Tactical Axe.
The small female kit cowered against the base of the tree. The mother badger was laying dead off to the side. One of her brothers laid dead not far off, and her other brother was bravely facing off against the timbrewolf.
The wolf snapped at the nuisance that wouldn't die. She snapped at the thing, but it dashed in between her legs and bit at her ankles.
Twirling around she swept a wooden paw at the beast, but still didn't manage to hit it.
Ah, but the path to the small one was clear. Turning her attention, the she wolf suddenly felt something bite at her back legs again. Instead of turning, the she wolf kicked straight back and clipped the badger kit.
Turning, she bit down on the poor creature and shook it until it stopped moving, then threw it against a tree with a dull thud. It moved no more.
Moving towards the final kit the she wolf smiled as her retribution was at paw.
*thunk*
Ciuin was barreling throught the under brush and made the clearing in time to see a she timbre-wolf close in on the final badger kit. The lively little girl that had so much life as she played with her mother and brothers....who now laid dead on the forest floor.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Ciuin screamed, throwing his axe wildy. It hit blunt side on the wolf, but got it's attention. Charging forward he tackled the wolf and drove a hoof into its muzzle.
"NO!"
And another.
"NO!"
The she-wolf recovered and bit into the crazed stallions hind right leg, for all the good it achieved.
Screaming in pain, not physical but mental and emotional, Ciuin laid into the she-wolf.
"NO!"
"NO!"
"NO!" *creak*
"NO!" *Creak*
"NO!" *Crack*
"NO!" *CRACK*
With that final blow, the entire wodden skin of the wolfs face shattered into a sappy mush.
(This is possible objectional material in red. It could possible raise the rating for the whole story, but I don't exactly want that. You can skip it if you want it has gore and obviously implied rape. You have been warned.)
Ciuin turned and saw the badger mum.
His father layed, blood pooled out from a knife in his chest.
The first downed badger twin.
Mum, a cruel red smile carved across her throat.
The second twin.
His sister lifelessly stared forward, beaten, bruised, and bloody. Blood and foreign liquids pooled around her flank.
And the little badger lass, cowering, lost, and alone.
He cried for them to come back, for them not to leave him, but they didn't answer his cries. He was alone.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ciuin screamed in outrage as he struck a tree. "No no no no no."
The stallion was now sobbing as something curled into his chest. It was the badger lass. The two stayed there for Celestia knows how long, suffering the same terrible wounds.
"Now, now Fluttershy. Ah'm sure he's out here somewhere. Ya said he liked ta watch a family of badgers right? Well let's go that way, mayhaps he just needed to think." Applejack offered to the mare, who's cheeks were crusted in tears.
Fluttershy just nodded weakly.
'Maybe he did just need to think. Maybe I just moved to fast for him. Wait, I know that smell!'
Fluttershy wrinkled her nose at the smell that brought a coppery taste to her mouth. Rushing ahead of Applejack into the clearing the poor mare found herself retching horribly. The mother badger and two brothers were dead. So was a she-timbrewolf.
Ciuin layed in the middle of the carnage sobbing uncontrollably, apologizing to the young badger that he held as it sobbed just as hard.
"I tried, I tried to help, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Fluttershy immediatly rushed to his side, seeing his badly mangled right hind leg and sap covered fore hooves.
Giving quick orders to Applejack, Fluttershy set about getting Ciuin ready for travel.
Ciuin awoke to the rythmic beeping of a vitals monitor. What he was doing in the hospital was beyond him, but he had a small bundle of fur laying across his chest. It was the badger lass.
"Gradh." Ciuin smiled, "'Cause you are love, jus' like my sister was."
Ciuin suddenly heard a small squeek off to his right. Looking over he saw Fluttershy, who was now blushing due to her accidental eavesdropping.
"How are you doing Shy? I'm sure I make quite the sight, eh?" Ciuin chuckled, catching himself by surprise.
Fluttershy moved forward suddenly and threw her hooves around Ciuin's neck, crying softly.
Ciuin felt another pang in his chest. He recognized it this time though. Regret. He had scared this perfect lass and he wished he had done anything but.
"How do you do it lass? How do you deal with your da'? How can you be happy?" Ciuin sobbed, every hurt of his life bubbling to the surface under the embrace of the custard coated mare.
"It's ok. Just let it all out. You don't have to be alone anymore. I'll be here as long as you need me. I won't ever leave." Fluttershy assured the stallion.
"I wan' to but I don' know wha' to do. I've spent my whole life feedin' off of vengeance and hate, but it jus' hurts so much. I jus' wan' it to stop hurtin'."
Fluttershy pulled back from Ciuin's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "I do it because I know I have friends that love me. Ciuin, I love you. I love you more than anything in the world and I want you to know that there is nothing in the world that will ever change that."
The mare then leaned down and kissed Ciuin full on the lips.
Ciuin hugged the mare tight against his chest as she curled against him.
"I love you, Ciuin." she said as she closed her eyes.
"I love you too."
With that said, Ciuin fell into a slumber, but was not haunted by the faces of those he failed.
It was just Fluttershy's beautiful smiling face.
A.N.~This is not going to my editor simply because I decided that rather than a whole chapter, this would just be a sub chapter. This will be the bridge that allows me to go from point a Ciuin to point b Ciuin and explains why and how he changed.
And it is D'aaaawwwww tastic.
I cried.
Chapter 2/3 will be a full chapter that is all 'bou' the lovely couple.
GRadhis Love in Scots-Gaelic. It was also what I decided Ciuin's sister's name would be.
