Different

Screaming; the last thing I expected to wake up to. I bolted up from the bed trying to figure out where the screaming was coming from. In the rush of things, I had completely forgotten that the very second I had fallen asleep I had been forced back into my true form. I made my way over to Twilight's bed as the screaming had come from her.

"Twilight? Are you ok?" I asked, my mind set back into protection mode.

Twilight shot up in pain while holding her side. I could tell that there was something wrong with her stab wound. Before I had a chance to see what was wrong with the wound, and before remembering to change back into pony form, the door swung upon. I completely forgot about the royal guard that was standing outside the door.

The guard saw Twilight screaming with a changeling hovering over her. I knew how bad this looked but did not have time to react as the royal guard ran into the room and pinned me down. The royal guard then levitated a strange metal pipe directly towards my chest and looked as though he was about to use it.

Twilight acted quickly through her pain and used her own magic to take this strange new weapon away from the guard. She was able to speak through the pain, "Wait! I know this looks bad, but he is on our side. He was just making sure I was ok."

The royal guard, still standing on top of me, looked back to Twilight in pure confusion. "Ma'am, this is a changeling."

Twilight glared at the royal guard. "I am well aware of what he is. He was just trying to make sure I was ok. I think there is still a fragment of the knife I was stabbed with inside me. I woke up screaming because whatever is inside me woke me up from severe pain. Get off of him."

The guard, still confused about the situation, did what he was told. His job was to listen to royalty after all. He gave me a serious glare before walking up to Twilight to take a look at the wound. I used this time to quickly go back into pony form before any other guards made their way inside.

After seeing that Twilight was bleeding again through her bandages, it was decided that she would be sent to the medical bay. I tried following them, but the guard had told me to stay in the room and wait for Celestia. I could tell that this guard did not like being told to not kill a changeling, but I did not want to die so I called it even.

I sat back on the bed, waiting for something to happen. I had seen that as soon as Twilight was ushered to the medical bay by the guard a different guard had taken their spot outside the door. I was worried for her, but all I could do was sit and wait.

Celestia had heard about the commotion and came into the room a few minutes later to check and see what happened. To her surprise, I was sitting alone, and Twilight was gone. She walked up to me, and I quickly got off the bed and bowed to her. "Good morning, Princess Celestia."

She seemed puzzled that a changeling would bow to her and was slightly thrown off. "What happened here? Where is Twilight?"

I looked up to her while replying in a calm manner, "It would seem as though a piece of the knife she was stabbed with yesterday was still inside her. She woke up screaming and was taken to the medical bay. I was told to wait here for you and not do anything else."

She raised an eyebrow, "So you had nothing to do with it?"

I simply looked back up to her and replied, "No, I was going to help check up on her but was quickly stopped."

Celestia looked back down to me after thinking about the situation. "Very well, follow me. We are going to go check up on her." With that said, we left the room and started our walk through the castle. The medical bay was not too far away from where the rooms were. As I was walking through the castle, I looked around and noticed the large amount of guards constantly patrolling the halls. Seems they were not playing around when it came to security. A good number of them were holding metal pipes similar to the one that the previous guard was holding to my chest. As we were walking, my curiosity had gotten the better of me.

I looked up to Celestia for an answer, "Princess, what are these things that your guards are carrying instead of their normal spears?"

She grinned, "Those are newer weapons we came across while doing testing with a top secret item that sends us to a different world. They are called rifles, with the smaller ones being called pistols. They are capable of firing a small but powerful projectile at an enemy from great distances. The bigger the rifle, and the bigger the projectile size, the greater the distance we can kill and enemy from. How it works is you take a large metal barrel and load a projectile into the rear. You then attach something to the back end of the barrel that sends a small pin into the back of the projectile. This is done via a lever type system. There is a lever that comes out from the bottom of the barrel that you squeeze which activates the internal mechanism sending a small firing pin into the projectile. The projectile is made of multiple parts consisting of a metal case, a thing called the bullet, and an explosive powder which ignites inside the barrel sending the bullet forward at high speeds. I'm talking speeds that are fast enough to send this tiny projectile miles away. Though, smaller things like the pistols won't shoot as far, but will still do serious damage at close range. The back of the rifle has a wooden stock that you rest on your shoulder, allowing you to place your cheek on top so that you can aim down the top of the rifle. There is also a place underneath the barrel where the projectiles are loaded. These rifles have built in prongs that you use for aiming, though the more powerful ones have these large telescope things used for aiming. The system can be used with hooves as we did alter the systems in a way to allow earth ponies access to the lever system."

I looked back at her after taking in what she had told me. "Why, knowing what I am, are you telling me this?"

She simply looked down at me, giving me another grin. "Because I know that you have two options. You are to either never making it out of this castle alive, or you will be fighting for us. I watched the footage from the train and must say that we could use those fighting skills in our ranks. Despite what you are, you were able to take on nine changelings essentially by yourself."

The realization suddenly hit me, "The royal guard from earlier had one of those things pointed at my chest. Twilight was luckily fast enough to pull it away from him."

Celestia looked forward as we continued down the hall, "Consider yourself lucky."

A few minutes passed as we had finally made our way back into the medical room. The royal guard that escorted Twilight to the medical bay looked up and saw me standing next to Celestia. "Princess watch out! There is a changeling next to you!" As he said this, he lunged across the room, once again tackling me to the ground.

Celestia watched as I was tackled once again. She looked down at the guard before he could do anything. "Guard, get off of him. I am well aware of what he is and as of right now he is under my protection, unless he does something to show that he needs to be taken care of."

The guard once again gets up confused and angry. "If I am to protect royalty, I need to know these things."

Twilight looked up from her bed at the guard, "I told you earlier not to mess with him, why would you tackle him again?"

The guard looked back to Twilight, "I didn't think Celestia knew also. I was just doing my job protecting her."

Twilight looked back at the guard with a sideways glance. "Do you think that one changeling could really take on Princess Celestia?"

Celestia looked at the guard and added with a cheeky grin, "Yeah, do you think I am unable to protect myself from one changeling?"

The guard looked defeated and was at a loss for words. "Princess, but, he, and the thing, I...." He hung his head low and simply stood post. "Understood, Princess."

The medical practitioner working on Twilight had walked back in from grabbing some tools. Luckily, they were not in the room at the time meaning no one heard the guard call me out as a changeling. We stood in a side room waiting for Twilight to get surgery done to remove the fragment embedded inside her. Celestia was able to see my genuine concern for her safety as I was pacing around the room.

Celestia looked down to me, "You can relax, she is in very good care. The medical personnel here are the best in their respected positions." A few seconds of silence passed before she came to a sudden realization. "You know, you are more protective and caring than my own guards are. You really care about her wellbeing, don't you?"

I looked up to her mid-pace, "I care about everypony's wellbeing. My job is to protect my friends. Whether or not she sees me as a friend doesn't matter to me, as long as she is safe." I calmed down and sat in one of the chairs in the room.

"You are either a really good actor or are actually genuine. My tests are going to help me figure this out." She sat down, watching me very closely. I knew that she was still having a very hard time coming to terms with the fact that I might actually be on her side. I go against everything she knew about changelings. From the way I am protective about ponies, to the way I didn't even flinch when attacking and killing my own kind to protect royalty.

A long silence filled the waiting room and was finally broken when the medical practitioner came in to give us the news. "Twilight is going to be just fine. The knife fragment did do some damage, but we were able to successfully remove it and stitch her up on the inside. She did have a case of slight internal bleeding as it would seem the fragment shifted inside her as she rolled in her sleep. Luckily it embedded itself into her ribcage instead of going further through and into her lungs. She is going to need to take it slow for the next few days as she heals up. You guys are now free to leave with her."

I let out a huge sigh of relief as I knew that it could have done more serious damage. Celestia and I walked in to the medical room and checked in on her, helping her down from the bed. She was patched up but was still walking sideways. It was clear that the medical practitioner had given her some very strong stuff. We ushered Twilight back to the room that we had been sleeping in and laid her back on the bed.

Celestia, after making sure there was a guard watching over her, walked outside of the room and ushered me to follow her. It would seem as though my testing was about to begin. I walked alongside Celestia as I had been guided into what looked like a large throne room. Sitting in one of the thrones was Princess Luna. The thrones were also being guarded by two royal guards.

I had been halted to stand directly in front of the two princesses. I took my bow and waited for something to happen. Celestia looked upon her sister, "This is the one brought in by Twilight yesterday. He is the one we will be conducting the tests on. He actually seems helpful, but we need to know for sure."

Celestia then said something that shocked everyone in the room. "Guards, leave us in privacy." The fact that she was telling her guards to go away did not seem like a good thing. The guards were also confused by this, but they were trained to do what they were told at the very second they were told what to do. The royal guards protecting the throne galloped out of the room.

After watching the doors close, Celestia walked up to me. Luna had followed close behind. "Ok, changeling, show us what you look like."

I quickly did what I was told to do as I did not want this to go bad. If I just followed her orders, I would be able to make it out alive. I dropped my disguise and stood there in front of them. They both stood there in confusion before Celestia spoke out. "Interesting, I did not know that changelings could come in different colors."

I decided to let her know why, "Actually, I am blue due to a birth defect. At least, that's what I believe it to be." This was enough to suffice as her face changed to that of understanding.

"So not only are you a rogue 'reformed' changeling, but you are telling me that you were born blue because you think it is a birth defect?" Celestia said, looking around my body to observe and study my form. She had noticed the stitches that were previously hidden by my fur. She had also noticed that my right ear was still missing its tip. This showed her that my ear being missing in pony form was not due to me choosing to, but rather by an accident.

I spoke out again, "I still do not know if it was a birth defect or if it was something different. I am not sure if it is true, but I have always believed that maybe I was this color due to not being a full changeling. I have always been different from the rest of the hive in not only looks but personality. I think that I might actually be a half-ling, but never knew for sure."

Celestia paused, "A half-ling? I have never heard of such a strange hybrid before. We can find out later what you really are, but for now we are going to keep saying it is a birth defect as it makes more sense to me."

Luna spoke out suddenly, "Well sister, thinking about it, it does actually make a little bit of sense. Look at bat ponies for example. They are a hybrid between bats and ponies. I understand the genetics is complicated but from a scientific standpoint I do not see a pony and changeling hybrid as being impossible."

This made Celestia think a little. "Well, we will get to that later. I am curious about his intentions, skills, beliefs, fighting ability, and a list of many other things. I want to see if he really is on our side and how useful he can be." Celestia looked down to me. "I first want to see your attention to detail. I want to shapeshift into Twilight as best as you can from memory."

I looked back up to her slightly confused, but again figured it would be best to give the princess what she wanted. I transformed into a look-alike of Twilight. Both Celestia and Luna started looking over me to see if I missed any details. Upon closer inspection, Luna had pointed something out. "Sister, it would seem as though as long as he has stitches in, they will also show in all of his forms. Same for the ear too it seems. Seems he is no good at transforming into other ponies anymore unless he can learn to hide his injuries. That would take some serious magic though as he does not have the body part anymore. Other than that, he is almost a perfect copy of Twilight."

They paused and looked at each other before looking back. "Ok, Try turning into Fluttershy but cover your ear with your mane."

I thought for a second about what Fluttershy looked like and did so. I covered my ear with my now long pink mane. I then covered my stitches by growing the fur a tiny bit longer than usual. This covered the stitches and hid the ear injury completely. Celestia and Luna once again went around to see how well I had captured Fluttershy's image. Celestia spoke out once more, "That is more like it. I can barely tell you apart from the real Fluttershy. That is, other than the fact that you got the butterfly colors wrong. They are blue with pink wings, not pink with blue wings."

Luna let out a small chuckle at this mistake. "Seems he still needs a little practice. This tells me that is not used to transforming into others because that was a rookie mistake if I have ever seen one."

I transformed back into my true form as they had finished looking over me. Celestia once again stood in front of me. "Ok, for your next test, Luna is going to test you from inside your mind. I know this sounds strange, but my sister here has the ability to go into your deepest memories as you are asleep. There is nothing you can hide from her when it comes to your past."

I stood there, trying to process this new information. Celestia continued. "You are going to follow her. You will be placed into a chamber that will fill with a gas. This gas will put you into a deep sleep giving Luna the best working conditions."

With that, Luna had started walking back towards the doors. I quickly shifted into my pony form and followed close behind. The guards using this time to go back inside to protect the throne, blissfully unaware of what had just happened inside.

Luna had led me through the castle down a spiral staircase. This staircase led into room that looked like a strange sort of lab. In the middle of this lab was a large glass encasement with a bed in the middle. I was ushered into the encasement as the door was shut securely behind me. The room did not have any royal guards, so I was left only under Luna's supervision. "Ok, changeling, I want you to simply lay down and let me do my job." With this said, the encasement filled with an invisible but powerful sleeping agent.

I laid there on this bed and fell asleep very quickly. I didn't even try to fight it as my body fell limp and I had been ripped back into my true form. I was sent into a very deep sleep, not sure what to make of the situation.

I looked around in this dream of mine. I looked to see that I was back in the middle of the hive. This was a place that I had not been to in a very long time. I looked around the hive as many changelings were walking around. They did not seem to notice me which was strange because I was usually the center of attention in every room due to being a different color.

I walked around the hive, confused about why my dream had placed me here. Suddenly, I saw Luna walk into the hive through one of the walls. I looked up to her very curious about the situation. "Princess, why did you bring me here? Surely this was your doing as I never dream about the hive. I dream of things such as music or imagining life had I been born as a pony instead. What are you looking for?"

Luna simply held up her hoof and pointed into a separate room. I looked to see what she was pointing at and had seen that this was not a dream, but rather a memory. I looked into the room and could see a younger me sitting in a corner. I had been surrounded by some drones who were making fun of me. I did not like being reminded that my childhood was so filled with anguish and mental abuse. I looked up to Luna was who watching everything unfold.

"Luna, I don't understand. Did you just put me to sleep so you can dig into my memories to see specific points in my life? Why not just ask?" I said, following her around the hive.

She simply looked down and led me through a portal on the wall. "Because, I need to see for myself what makes you who you are." She walked through the wall and into a different part of the hive. I could once again see myself, now older than in the previous memory.

I saw my past self in a training room. This was where I was taught how to fight. The room was filled with changelings of all sorts of birth defects. Even out of this group I was still the most unique as the others had simple things such as being born without wings or missing limbs. Luna watched as my past self destroy a fake fighting pony. I looked back up to her, not sure what she had to say about the situation. I simply looked at the scenery taking place.

Luna had once again started walking through another portal. This portal led into a part of my memory that I had always wanted to forget. We were taken into what looked like a village. This village was on fire as the hive had taken control and started killing anyone in sight. Luna found my past self walking in the streets. I looked away from the scenery as this was one of my darkest days. My past self watching ponies being killed for the first time, some running out of burning building while on fire. A changeling general had come up from behind me and whipped me with a long metal chain.

Luna walked closer to this, not ready to see what I was about to do. She had also seen that I was looking away from my past self which only made her grow more curious. The changeling general had been yelling at me to do my job and kill these ponies for the queen. My past self had finally had enough of being hit. My anger at the realization of what they wanted me to do to helpless ponies drove me to fight. The changeling general went to whip me one more time, but I had turned around to catch the chain. I then quickly, while holding on to this chain, flew around the general. I had tears in my eyes and had successfully wrapped the chain around the general's throat. I had then lifted the general into the air. Just before I was about to choke him to death, I had come to the realization of what I was doing. I had been so filled with confusion and anger over the fact that we were being forced to murder innocent ponies and it was simply too much for me to bear. My past self had refused to harm a single pony but was about to kill my own general.

The surrounding changelings had stopped fighting and were looking at me, furious about my actions. Two of the bigger changelings had pinned me to the floor and the changeling general had gotten back up. This general started beating me viscously with the chain for a few long seconds before he had stopped. He simply glared back to me and said, "Looks like we have ourselves a traitor. Chrysalis will be finding out about this. Drag him back to the hive and place him into the dungeons." With that, Luna was watching as my past self was dragged all the way back to the hive. My body now unconscious as the beating ended up giving me a concussion.

Luna had seen that I was still hiding my eyes from the scene of me being beaten and dragged for refusing to kill a pony and attacking a general. She walked up to me, "It is ok, I understand. Seeing an outside perspective of you being beaten can be a very hard thing to watch. Let's go to the next memory."

I watched as the world around me had been shifted back into the hive. More specifically, we were in front of Chrysalis's throne. I had been kneeling down in front of the hive as Chrysalis was walking up to me. "Stand up Chakor, you do not deserve the respect of bowing down to me. You are a weak member of the hive, even for a defective bug. You are a pour excuse of a drone and a waste of an egg. You are the prime example of something so broken that you don't even deserve a swift death. You are a cretinous slum of a lack of backbone, forever waste of pony-loving gollapitating poor excuse for a changeling. You are hereby banished from the hive, never to return ever again!"

Luna watched as I was once again dragged by two changeling guards all the way through the hive. As I was being dragged away, all the other changelings had been throwing random things at me. Once I was out of the hive I could be seen flying away. Luna watched in disgust at the changelings were very snobbish in attitude. The landscape around us once again changed.

Looking around, I could see what looked like the streets of Manehattan during the middle of the night. I wondered why she had wanted to see this part of my life. Luna started walking into an alley way and it was at that point that I knew where she was going. I followed close behind as she found her way to a large dumpster. This was the part of my life when I was homeless. She fazed right through the walls of the dumpster and could see my past self asleep. She seemed interested in the way I had made this dumpster my home. Past me had completely cleaned this inside of this large container and had the walls and floor lined with a blankets and pillows. The top of the dumpster had been locked from the inside to prevent anyone from opening it and seeing a sleeping changeling. The inside had also been kept smelling nice and gave off a feeling like I turned the inside of the dumpster into a small pod bed. Outside of the dumpster in the alley was a bunch of large metal sheets configured in a way that made a tiny rain shelter which helped to prevent any rain from getting inside this makeshift home.

I walked up next to Luna, "I did the best I could with the life I was given. Despite how this looks, I was way happier here than I was living in the hive."

She looked back to me, thinking a few minutes before responding. "What you did with your life is exactly what I came looking for. I can see your life was filled with pain and heartbreak as they tried forcing you to do horrible things, but instead of breaking and going along with it you chose instead to try life over again. The fact that you managed to suffer most of your life but were still able to find happiness shows me that you are strong in soul and spirit. You might be more of a pony than you think. Most ponies couldn't do what I have seen you do and still come out happy. I see why you go out of your way to help others as you do not want anyone to go through what you did. I have seen all that I need, it is about time to wake up."

After she finished speaking all I could see was a huge flash of light. After seeing this blinding light, I had woken up. Something about this had caused me to sit up and bash my head into the glass. I rubbed my head and looked around the room to see that I was awake again. Luna had already made her way in front of the encasement. As she opened the case up, I had been hit with fresh air from the castle room. This was enough to bring me back to full consciousness.

Luna looked back down to me, helping me off the bed. "It is about time I tell my sister about these findings. You have gone through so much in your life but are still willing to protect those around you. Change back and follow me back to the throne room."

I transformed back into my pony form and followed her back up the spiral staircase. As we were walking, I looked out the window and noticed that hours had passed, even though it only felt like minutes. After a small while of walking, we had made our way back into the throne room where Celestia was talking to Twilight who was once again awake and walking around. I had noticed the guards were standing outside the door instead of by the throne once more. I was led back to directly in front of the throne where I stood and waited for the next test.

Luna had started whispering something into Celestia's ears. Celestia then stood up and started walking towards the door. "My sister and I are going to discuss her findings. You will stay here with Twilight and wait for us to get back."

I watched as they had finally closed the door. I then turned to Twilight, "What happened while I was out?"

Twilight walked to stand next to me as she was responding, "We spent the past few hours talking about my tests. I gave her all of my findings about you. You being the first reformed changeling was interesting to Celestia. I was able to convince her that she did not need to worry about you being the enemy. What happened with you and Luna?"

I looked down in response, "She had put me into a deep sleep where she then forced me to look back at my past. We came across things I never wanted to see again."

Twilight and I sat looking at each other in mostly silence as we were patiently waiting for the princesses to come back with the results of my fate. The anticipation had screamed louder than the silence of the room ever could.

After what seemed like hours of waiting, the door finally opened. Celestia and Luna had arrived, but they also had someone else with them. Twilight looked up in surprise at the pony they had with them. This pony was a white male unicorn with a two toned blue mane and tail. He had a shield for a cutie mark.

"Shining? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked, running up to this pony.

Shining started carefully hugging her. "I heard that my sister had been injured and needed to check and see if she was ok. Are you ok?"

Twilight hugged back, "I am fine, thanks to my friend here."

Shining then looked at me, glaring deep, "Ah yes, this changeling. Celestia and Luna just told me everything that happened."

Shining had let go of Twilight and started walking towards me. "You are telling me that this changeling took on nine of his own brothers to protect you?"

Twilight ran up next to him. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

Shining looked down assuringly to Twilight, "Don't worry, Twilight, he might be a changeling, but he did a lot to make sure you were protected. That takes determination and courage that I did not think a changeling was capable of. Luna had also told me about what his past was like. Based on what I know about this changeling, I can see that he is nothing like a normal changeling. He is more like a pony that just so happened to be born in the wrong body. He risked his life to save my sister, that makes him good in my book." As Shining said this, he reached out a hoof towards me.

It took me a second to realize what he was trying to do. I grabbed his hoof and gave him a firm hoofshake. He nodded his head in an approving manner. "I saw the video recording. You can really hold your own in a fight. You might be a changeling, but we can really use your skills in combat. My name is Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire and commander of the Royal Guard."

I looked up to him respectfully, "My name is Chakor, though it might be easier if you call me Blue as that is what most ponies know me as at this point. Also, I do not see how a changeling could fit in the ranks of the royal guard. Especially with the guards finding out that there would be a changeling in their ranks."

Shining chuckled before continuing, "No, you would not be part of the guard. At least, not right away. You would simply be someone who helps the guard by giving us vital information. You know how the hive works, you can tell us the ins and outs of how they fight. This would give us a strategic advantage. With the whole train ambush incident, it would seem that we need all the help we can get. This war will be happening much sooner than we had originally thought."

I nodded to him, "Sounds like a plan. Though, I still feel that the guards are not going to take me seriously as most of them are probably going to think that I am going to give them false information."

Celestia spoke out, "I know this will be hard for the guards to hear. Us having a changeling helping us against the hive does not sound like something easy to believe. I assure you though, you will not be harmed as long as you do not harm anypony. Keep in mind that once we tell the guards, word will get out through the normal population too. Everyone is about to know about you. Hearing that you are reformed might make it easier for them though. Ponies are not going to get along with you or accept you in the beginning but as long as you act the way you have been they will eventually warm up to you. With that said, we have one final thing we want you to see. Twilight here is going to take you out into town to show you something."

Twilight then started walking to the door, "Come on Blue, lets go before it starts getting too dark."

I trotted up to Twilight, unsure where we were off to. I followed her, watching carefully to make sure she did not hurt herself more. We left the castle doors, and I was met with amazement. I had not been up to Canterlot before, so to see the huge capital was more than enough to take my breath away.

I had always known that this place was huge, but I did not think it was anything like this. The streets of Canterlot were nothing like the streets of Manehattan. Everything about this place screamed culture and class.

Walking around this huge city was something to truly behold. I am glad to be looking at it through the perspective of a pony. It was a good thing that these ponies did not yet know what I was. The walk was so filled with pretty sights and lots of waving ponies. They did not seem to have a care in the world. This told me that they were either not aware of the war arriving soon or were so prepared that they didn't even need to show it.

We eventually came up to an area of Canterlot that did not seem to be part of the main city. We took a turn down a dirt road and came to this large open area, far away from the rest of the town. I looked around and noticed that we were at a cemetery.

Twilight turned to talk to me, her emotion fading from glee to sorrow. "Blue, I want you to take a good look at the cemetery in front of you. Here in front of you lies nearly one hundred ponies. Every grave you see in front of you today was a result of the day the changelings had first attacked. Every pony here died on that single day from your hive and their actions. This is the side of that day that the changelings have never seen. Go around and take a look at these tombstones. I want you to read them and understand the impact of that day."

I paused for a long while, looking out at the large cemetery, amazed at how many lives were taken. I had always known that it was a large number but seeing it in person was completely different. The atmosphere of this place filled with sadness and anger for the hive. I walked around, taking note that it had been split up into two different sections. Upon a thorough walkthrough, I had noticed that one of these sections was bigger than the other. Turned out that the two sections were adults and children, and there were a scary amount of children buried here. As I was walking around, I noticed that there was a pony walking into the children section. This pony was a grey pegasus mare with what looked like blonde hair. She had what looked like bubbles for a cutie mark. Upon a closer inspection, while still a good distance away, I could tell that this pony had a wall-eyed stare. She had made her way up to a small tombstone that was in the shape of a muffin.

This wall-eyed mare sat down in front of the tombstone and placed down what looked to be an actual muffin. I could hear her from the distance as she started talking to the grave. "Hey again Dinky, it's me again. I brought you a muffin that I got at a friend's birthday party. I know that blueberry is your favorite." She had paused, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "I know that we will eventually meet again, I just... don't know when that will be."

I sat down and listened in from a distance as she continued, "I am sorry that I was not fast enough to save you. I just hope that... when we do meet again... you will forgive me." She stopped to clear her face. "No, I have to be strong... for you. Speaking of strong, I was finally able to do something I planned on doing for a long time. I was finally able to become a royal guard. I might not have been able to save you, but at least now I can save others from the same fate. I have to... I can't put myself through telling myself that I was not good enough anymore. I swear, the next creature I see trying to hurt anyone will not like what Derpy has to give them."

She stopped and looked up at the sky. She had gone from crying to smiling as she looked back down at the grave. "You know, it's funny... I spent all this time worrying about not being there for you, but now... I can tell that you are up there watching over me. Thank you, Dinky, thank you for keeping an eye out for us from the other side. Just remember, the door is always open for you. Please continue to bring peace to those who don't survive. Please continue to be my cute little muffin. I hope you are playing nice with your ghost friends... I can't wait to one day meet them and join in your games."

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, she stood up tall. "I hope you enjoyed this talk, as we both know that I needed it. I need to go back to work now. Mommy starts her first shift today."

As she got up and turned to fly away, I could see that the very moment she faced away from the grave her eyes had been filled with held back tears. I knew that she wanted to let it all out, but she knew that she was being watched by Dinky. She just had too much heart to get caught crying at this cemetery.

I watched as she flew away, drops of tears falling as she couldn't keep it all in. I had sat there in silence, stunned at what I had just witnessed. I had started crying due to what I had just seen.

Twilight had come from behind me, sitting down next to me. "It's ok, Blue, I understand that you did not have anything to do with the death of anyone buried here. I can see that you have seen more than enough here. Let's get back to the castle." I wiped away the tears from my face, standing up and following. I turned to look at the muffin tombstone one last time before stiffening up and following Twilight back to the castle.

The walk back filled with silence as most ponies had already closed shop for the day. The eerily empty streets just another reminder of the silence from that day. Granted most ponies were just inside, but to see such a large city with only a few ponies walking around hit me hard.

Once we had entered the castle again, we had made our way into a new room. This room had a large table in the middle covered in food. This was just what I needed as I had to clear my mind from the events of today. Celestia, Luna, and Shining were already sitting down. They had been waiting for us to get to the table before giving out the meal. This medium sized feast filled the room with a lovely aroma of food. It seemed strange though, just a day or so ago I felt as though I was going to die, but here I am eating dinner with royalty. This life really does lead to the strangest of places.

Celestia spoke out, seeing that I was being quiet. "So, I assume the point got across from the cemetery? Don't worry though, you are here now. You can actually help. You have something that makes you unique and strong. You have the ability to help us stop this from happening again. I know from what my sister told me from your memories that you have seen this destruction. I see that now you had a chance to see both ends of this type of mindless destruction. Blue, you are here now with the ability to do great things. I have never seen anypony quite as powerful as you. Your spirit and soul speak louder than words ever could. Here you finally have a place to stay and finally just be who you want to be."

The room filled with smiles as everyone had agreed on this. This was enough to cheer me up. She was right, I finally had a home. I finally had a purpose in life. I thought about what she had just told me for a very long time.

The meal was some of the best food I have ever had, even in comparison to the meal I had with the Apple Family. It tasted better with the fact that I finally had something to look forward to in life. The atmosphere of the room clouded with new beginnings and great awakenings. I knew the road before me was still a rough one, but even water can clear a mountain with enough time.

After the meal, Twilight and I had gone back to the same room we were in the night prior. I used this time to shower up and freshen myself up for the next day. I knew that the next day would be the start of a new life for me. I had a busy day ahead of me, but I was going to simply stand up tall and do my best.

I made my way back into the bed, getting relaxed after I took some more pain medicine. Today had been such an emotional rollercoaster that I had almost forgotten about my injuries. After the door was closed and secured for the night, and Twilight had laid down in her bed, I transformed back into my true form. I looked up at the ceiling and smiled, drifting off to a normal sleep. I was actually excited for what the next day held for me.