The smell of antiseptic hit Valgith's nose as the fog over his mind slowly dissipated.

His eyes opened and then quickly closed as the bright environment of the room assaulted his eyes.

A few seconds passed as he didn't move. The only sound he could hear was mechanical beeping to his right and parts of a muffled conversation coming from somewhere in front of him.

He opened his eyes again and let them adjust to the light. He slowly scanned the room he was in. The ceiling and walls were painted white but at the bottom of the walls there was imagery of flowers and grass. A few other small beds were in the room with him but they were all empty. Each of them had a bedstand next to them. He spotted two doors in the room, one of which was in front of him and behind it was the origin of the muffled conversation.

A singular window sat to his right, letting warm sunlight into the white room.
As he looked at the origin of the mechanical beeping, he saw some kind of device that displayed a white line that spiked in rhythm with his heartbeat.

Valgith spotted a few small wires coming out of the machine, a few of which ended up on one of his forelegs.

A moment passed until he realised that something was missing, more specifically his armour and sword were both missing. A quick glance at around the room confirmed his fears. He did not spot his equipment anywhere.

Emotions of rage and worry entered his mind. He quickly got out of bed, the small wire that was attached to his leg was ripped off and the rhythmically beeping machine suddenly started making a constant beeping sound as the line on the monitor went still.

It was only a few seconds that he was able to stand, before one of the two doors to the room was swiftly opened, and two ponies rushed into the room.

A white furred pony with a pink mane and tail. She had a red plus mark on her flanks and she was the first in the room, a look of worry on her face.

The second was a purple unicorn with a dark blue coloured mane and tail, both the mane and the tail had a stripe of purple colour that traveled through the hair. She had a star marking on her flanks. She looked equally as worried as the white pony.

Both of their faces relaxed as they saw him standing next to the bed.

"Oh thank Celestia." The white pony said.

The purple one released a sigh of relief as soon as she saw that everything was okay with the young colt.

"You really shouldn't be up, you drained yourself pretty hard yesterday. You really should go back to bed and rest." As the white pony talked Valgith simply stared at the two ponies.

Talking ponies.

It wasn't the most bizarre thing he had seen but it was up there. Valgith's thoughts drifted to how he looked and if he looked similar to these two. Oversized eyes, small frames and overall non intimidating looks. If he wasn't a pony himself he might even call them cute.

Both of the larger equines had faces of worry due to the small colt simply staring at them. They both exchanged a look and then the white pony took a few steps towards the colt.

"You know that we aren't going to hurt you right? You're safe here." The words cut Valgith out of his thoughts, only now noticing that the white mare had taken a few steps closer towards him.

Valgith looked the white mare in the eyes and asked.

"Where am I?" His gaze unflinching.

"You are in the Ponyville hospital. Do you know where your parents are?" She asked. The question was ignored by Valgith.

"Where is my equipment?" He tried sounding intimidating but the childlike voice that came out of his throat was anything but intimidating to the two mares.

The white mare had a look of confusion on her face as she turned to face the purple one. The purple mare however still maintained the look of worry.

She took in a deep breath and asked.

"Can you tell me where you found that armour?"

He knew where his armour came from, the trade of the chaos dwarves was highly important to all chaos forces. The chaos dwarves made all his armour and weapons after all. But he thought against telling the truth. It would seem that neither of the mares knew who or what Valgith was, and he would prefer to keep it that way.

"I found it in the woods." The purple mares eyebrow raised at Valgith's answer.

"Give my equipment back to me." He demanded.

Her eyes narrowed. "Do you know how dangerous that armour is? It's practically leaking dark magic!" She exclaimed.

Valgith feigned surprise at her words. "Dark magic?"

"Yes, and a powerful kind at that. I find it a bit hard to believe that you simply found it in the Everfree forest."

"I found it in a.... Castle." The statement sounded more like a question.

"What we're you doing that deep in the Everfree? You could have gotten hurt." The purple mares gaze softened.

Valgith took a deep breath before opening his mouth.

"I somehow found myself in that forest. I have no Idea how I came to be there. I spent a week there before I found the castle."

Small frowns could be seen on both of the adult ponies in the room as they listened to the colt talk.

"I found some kind of hidden room in the castle and behind it was the armour and a sword. I decided to wear the armour because I thought it looked like it would help me survive in the wilderness. I didn't know it was a bad thing to do so." Valgith tried his hardest to appear innocent as he explained his story to the two mares.

Both of the mares exchanged a look, before the white one spoke up once more.

"You're safe here. No pony will hurt you here. I hope you know that." She gave the colt a gentle smile.

Valgith simply nodded at her.

An awkward silence settled into the room for a few moments. Neither of the two mares knowing what else to say. Fortunately the silence was broken by Valgith.

"So, I assume that I will not be getting the armour back?"

"No." The purple mare answered.

"Besides I can't give it back to you even if I had it. I sent it away." She stated.

Valgith wanted to yell as loud as he could but quickly got his emotions back in control.

"You sent it away? Where?" He asked, a hint of anger could be heard in his voice.

Oblivious to the frustration and anger of the colt in front of her, the unicorn answered him. "To Canterlot."

Valgith's eyebrow raised a bit at the name, he had never heard of this Canterlot place.

"By the way, what happened to that sword you mentioned? I didn't see you with it when I found you." The purple mare asked, a questioning look formed on her face.

"I put it back where I found it. I didn't have anything to carry it with after all." The purple mare nodded at his words before the room fell into silence once more as she seemingly slipped into deep thought.

This time the silence didn't last long as the white mare spoke up.

"Alright Twilight, the visiting hours are coming to an end and the colt needs his rest."

While Valgith wanted to object and tell the two mares that he wasn't a child he hold back his tongue and looked down at himself. He noted the fact that he had a childlike voice and the fact that he was smaller than the two and came to realise that he was in fact a child. A small groan escaped him as he realised he would have to go through childhood again. At least he wouldn't have a bad childhood the second time around. At least if he had anything to say about it.

Braking out of her thoughts, Twilight nodded at the white mare and turned to leave before turning her head to look back at Valgith. "Oh, I forgot to ask your name."

The white mare looked at Valgith as well, expecting him to answer.

"I go by Valgith D'avenirr. Just Valgith is fine." Both of the mares had a look of confusion on their faces.

"Valgih D avenir?" Twilight asked.

Valgith sighed. "You can call me Val if that is simpler."

Twilight nodded. "I'll come by tomorrow to check on you." She stated before leaving Valgith and the nurse alone in the room.

For a moment Valgith wondered why the ponies were so nice to him, before he was ushered back to bed.

"I forgot to introduce myself, I am nurse Red Heart." The white mare stated. "There's some food for you on the bedstand next to you if you get hungry. I have to help a few other patients. So I have to excuse myself." She turned to leave before quickly looking back at Valgith. "Oh, and I advise that you stay in bed."

Valgith nodded and the white mare left him alone in the comfortable bed.

Silence filled the room as he was left alone with his thoughts.

'Why was I asleep?' He thought.

He guessed that the transportation, him acquiring a new body, the constant telekinesis spell that he had been casting and the short battle with the wooden wolf like creatures, made him collapse in exhaustion. It would make a mortal man collapse, but not him. It was impossible, the constant flow of chaos in his body should have destroyed all humanity that once stirred within him. He shouldn't feel mortal needs anymore. He shouldn't be able to sleep or even feel tired.

A growl from his stomach ended his thought process. He looked at the bedstand next to him, a tray sat on the wooden piece of furniture. There was a sandwich, an apple and a glass of water laying on the tray.

"When did I eat last?" Valgith thought. "I'm sure that it was decades ago. But why do I suddenly feel hungry once more?" Valgith's brow furrowed in confusion.

Nothing made sense. This situation that Valgith found himself in was something completely out of his league.

Another growl from his stomach reminded him that it wanted food.

Valgith's horn lit up in a blue aura as he picked up the apple. He noticed a small ache at the base of his horn from casting the spell but he didn't think it was anything serious. He inspected the apple for a few seconds and then took a small bite out of it. His eyebrows raised slightly as he chewed, the taste of the apple was unlike any other he had eaten in the past.
The flavour of it hit his taste buds just right. The apple had just the right amount of sweetness and tartness that enhanced the flavour. It was the best apple he had ever eaten.

Valgith quickly ate the apple to the core. He then deposited the leftover core and stalk of the apple back to the tray. The sandwich lit up in his magical aura and he brought it in front of him. He noticed that the sandwich had flowers in it. A questioning look crossed his face as he lifted the upped bread slice to reveal yellow flowers in between the slices of bread. He gave a quick sniff of the food in front of him and grimaced at the smell. He returned the sandwich back to the tray and picked up the glass of water.

He took a small sip out of the glass, however he didn't swallow it but allowed himself to swirl it in his mouth for a few seconds. Not noticing anything wrong with the water he proceeded to drink a bit more of it before putting the glass back on the tray.

Valgith decided that he wouldn't be lying in bed, wasting time. He decided to check the other door in the room, opening it he was greeted with a bathroom, made fit for smaller beings like himself.

He noticed that the place had plumbing. In the cities he had visited before, plumbing was mainly only in wealthy cities that belonged to more technologically advanced races, like the dwarves or humans. Most of the backwater towns that he had visited didn't have plumbing. He guessed that this Ponyville place he currently was in, had a decent amount of wealth.

He noticed a mirror above the sink and decided to look at his new self for the first time.

The creature that greeted him in the mirror was a small pony. A dark blue coat, black mane that fell in front of his left eye and a dark blue horn that protruded from his forehead, the horn slightly curved backwards and it wasn't as long as Twilight's horn. A visible scar could be seen on his face. It started from his chin, and went vertically across his face, travelling through his mouth, leaving a small gap where anyone looking at it could see a part of his teeth. The scar continued up towards his left eye where it ended on his brow.

His gaze lingered on his scarred lip for a moment before he opened his mouth and noticed that while he was in the body of a herbivore, he had a few teeth that looked like they belonged in a carnivores mouth.

"Hmm, an omnivore, if I had to guess." Valgith mumbled and he closed his mouth. His sight drifted over to his eyes, the right eye was a dark red while the left was completely black. A mutation. The black eye gave him a special kind of sight.

He turned and let him see the rest of himself in the mirror. Two leathery batlike wings rested on both his sides. He also noticed that only his biggest scars were visible. One on his back that traveled between his wings all the way up to the middle of his shoulders, where in his old body his trapezius was, and another that went up his front left hoof and stopped at the knee.

He had a few other minor scars but it looked like his fur obscured them.

Valgith noticed that he did not have an odd marking on his rump, like the two mares he had talked to had.

"I wonder what that means." Valgith turned and checked his other side for any odd markings and saw none.

He then felt the urge of mother nature calling him and he finished his business in the bathroom.

He entered the room he woke up in, and walked to the window on the other side of the room. He saw that it seemed to be day but then the sun started slowly falling under the horizon. Then from the same direction the moon rose high into the sky.

Valgith could do nothing but stare in shock at the spectacle. His jaw nearly hit the floor. He had never seen anything like this. Numerous rules of existence itself were shattered right in front of his eyes.

All he could do was stare at the moon in silence. The longer he kept looking at the moon, he could see minor details that differed from the mannslieb he remembered.

It took him a few moments to recover from his shock. He decided that the best course of action was to shove that information into the deepest parts of his mind and ignore it for now.

His thoughts drifted back to the conversation he had with the purple mare called Twilight and the fact that she didn't know about his weapon when he mentioned it.

"Perhaps it may still lie in that forest." Valgith thought. "I can focus on retrieving my armour later, first I need to find my sword."

The idea of sneaking out at night to retrieve his sword was tempting. But Valgith wasn't a fool. He knew what dangers could lie in the dark forest.

Valgith started running basic plans of action in his mind. He tapped his hoof to his chin in thought.

A few minutes passed by until he formulated a simple plan.

"I can't just run away, they would make search parties looking for me. The best course of action would be to play along with what they think of me. If they think I'm a child then I will just try and pass off as one, until the attention on me lessens and I can search for my equipment in peace." It was a simple plan but it was a decent one for what he could think of in such a short amount of time.

He turned away from the window and went back to bed. He saw that the bedstand had a drawer in it, opening it he saw a few books and comic books that laid inside.

His horn lit up as he picked up the first book in the pile and brought it in front of him. On the cover was a yellow coated mare with a black mane. The title of the book read Daring Do and the sapphire stone.

Valgith raised an eyebrow at the cover. The mare was grasping a vine, in the waters below her was some kind of lizard that reminded him of a Kroxigor. The mare, he assumed was Daring Do, wore a shirt and a hat. Valgith pondered the usefulness of the clothing when the ponies had fur. A stylish choice maybe?

He opened the book and began reading.

___

The night turned to morning and a certain purple mare awoke in her bed.

She got up from her bed and greeted her still sleeping assistant.

"Good morning Spike. It's time to get out of bed." The only response was Spike mumbling into his pillow and saying something that sounded like 'five more minutes.'

Twilight only smiled as she turned and headed towards her kitchen, where she decided to make breakfast. She was going to make pancakes today, it was the weekend after all.

In her process of making breakfast her thoughts drifted to the day before, to what she found in the everfree and the colt that she and the rest of her friends had found. A slight frown made itself known on her muzzle as she thought about him. What horrors the poor colt had gone through, simply imagining somepony doing that to somepony else was enough to send shivers down her spine, much less do that to somepony as defenceless as a colt.

Though the dark armour he wore was also worrying. Was it some kind of dark artifact? Was it mind controlling the colt? Did it force him to do things he didn't want to? Or was she currently overthinking too much?

Twilight was broken from her thoughts as spike entered the kitchen.

"Morning Twilight." The still half asleep dragon greeted her, rubbing his eyes a bit.

Twilight pushed her worries out of the forefront of her mind as she responded.

"Good morning Spike, I made pancakes." She offered a few of said food to the groggy baby dragon, who took a few and placed them on a plate he had picked up.

"So... What's on the to do list today?" Spike asked while coating his pancakes in syrup.

"Princess Celestia said she was going to be visiting the Ponyville hospital later today. She wanted to personally talk with the colt we found in the woods yesterday. She also wanted me to accompany her. Otherwise we don't have anything planned."

"Princess Celestia is coming here? I'd think you would be worrying and overreacting about it." Spike questioned as he broke multiple food etiquette rules by shoving pancakes down his throat.

"Well I did, but it should only be a simple and quick trip to the hospital. The Princess asked to not make a big scene about it."

"But?" Spike simply asked.

A look of worry flashed through Twilights face, a look Spike was all too familiar with. "I just can't help but worry, it's supposed to be a quick and simple trip. What if something goes wrong?"

Spike rolled his eyes as he simply went back to devouring his pancakes.

_________

Valgith had read through half of the Daring Do book he found when the sun started rising above the horizon.

He had noticed that while the book did grab his attention in a few parts he noted that it was very tame. At least compared to the books he had read back in the fated place. This book was all about thrilling adventures where no one died or was horrifically maimed. It seemed that this was a children's book.

Valgith was currently laying on his stomach with his legs tucked underneath him, in the white hospital bed. He had the book open on the bed.

Noticing that the sun had risen, his horn lit up as a blue aura surrouded the book and he placed it back in the bedstand.

He could hear approaching hoof steps walking towards his door. The door was quietly opened and the head of nurse Red Heart poked through the crack. When she saw that Valgith was awake she stepped into the room.

"I didn't think you'd be awake this early. Did you sleep well?" The question gave Valgith pause, was he supposed to sleep every night? He had gone so long without the need for sleep that he had all but forgotten how often he used to sleep.

'Did children have to sleep every night?' Valgith thought. He felt weird calling himself a child once again, when he hadn't been one for decades.

"Yes, I slept well." He courtly replied.

Red Heart nodded and walked to the foot of the bed Valgith was laying on.

"Now, I need to make a physical examination to see if you are healthy. It's nothing to worry about. Just relax on the bed and I'll do the rest." Thinking that it would be better to allow the mare to do what she had to, Valgith simply laid on the bed as she went on her inspection.

She poked Valgith in a few places all the while asking if she was hurting him. She brought some kind of device that she placed on his chest, a metal circle that had a tube extending out from it, which split halfway. She put the small tubes over her ears as she seemed to listen to something. She nodded, and then switched to checking his eyesight. As she looked into his eyes Valgith could see visible discomfort on her face.

"If you don't mind me asking. What happened to your eyes? They aren't... How should I say this? They aren't normal." He could hear the slight discomfort in Red Hearts words as she inspected his entirely blackened left eye.

"It happened in battle." He simply responded. Though it did not improve the mood of the mare in front of him. In fact it seemed to make it worse.

"Battle? There hasn't been fights this gruesome in Equestria for hundreds of years." A deep look of worry seeped out of her.

'A place without conflict? How would a place like that even exist? Do they not know what is currently happening in the rest of the world?' His brow furrowed a bit at the thought.

"Could we continue on with the inspection?" Valgith steered the topic away from his scars. Red Heart nodded and did a few other checks of his body as well as inspecting his wings and horn.

"Well it looks like you are otherwise completely healthy." She nodded as she finished scribbling notes on to a notebook she had brought with her.

In times like these Valgith was glad he didn't have any noticeable mutations, it would have been hard to blend in with others if one had an unnatural amount of limbs or eyes after all.

"Looks like you will be getting out of here later today." A small smile appeared on her lips, not a sinister or even a fake smile that Valgith was so accustomed to seeing, but a genuine smile.

It made Valgith feel weird, like something was wrong. He didn't like that feeling. But deep down in his most guarded parts of his heart he felt a spark of something.

"Are you hungry? I can go and get some breakfast for you." Valgith yet again wondered why these ponies were so kind towards a total stranger.

"I could do with another apple." Thinking about the apple he had yesterday he felt his mouth water a bit.

Red Heart nodded and she left the room, leaving Valgith alone with his thoughts yet again.

'What should I do after leaving.' Valgith pondered. The thought of retrieving his sword was itching at the back of his mind. But eventually he yet again decided against it. He had no armour, no weapons and a very limited amount of magic. So he decided to gain a bit more strength and get more comfortable with casting spells in this new body before heading back into the forest.

Red Heart was only gone for a few moments until Valgith heard her hoofsteps returning.

She held a tray with her mouth. In which two red apples rested atop it. Valgith raised his left brow at the sight. An action which was not seen by Red Heart as his mane covered that part of his face.

She walked to the bedstand next to his bed and laid the tray down next to the old tray. Valgith noticed a small frown on Red Hearts muzzle as she saw that the sandwich hadn't been eaten.

She picked up the old tray and balanced it on her back.

Valgiths horn lit up as an aura of dark blue surrounded one of the apples, he brought it closer to him. It floated in front of him for a few seconds as Valgith inspected it and then he took a bite out of it.

Looking back at the white mare he saw a that her face was full of astonishment. Valgith wondered if he had done something wrong until she spoke up.

"How are you even able to cast spells? It would normally take close to a week before anypony suffering from magical exhaustion could cast spells again."

'Anypony?' Valgith's eyebrow raised slightly at the word.

"I guess I'm different." Valgith had a few ideas why he was, but he wouldn't exactly want to run his mouth and tell everyone how he was different.

Red Heart paused for a second, as if realising something.

"Ah, of course. I somehow forgot about you being an Alicorn. We don't get many Alicorn patients here. I guess it slipped my mind." She had an apologetic look on her face as she talked.

'Alicorn?' Valgith was yet again met by more information that he didn't know. 'I really need to find a library to read up on all these new creatures.'

"Speaking of Alicorns, Princess Celestia informed us that she would be visiting you today. She should be here in about half an hour."

'Princess Celestia?' Yet another unknown piece of information, Valgith thought that this was all the more reason to find the nearest library and read up on everything about this world.

"Why would a Princess visit me?"

"Well, you are a Prince are you not?" This question threw Valgith for a loop. Him? A Prince? How would anyone come to that conclusion? Was it the way he looked? For all he knew it could be any reason under the sun.

He really needed to find the nearest library.

After a second of silence his thoughts raced on ways to make this an advantage for himself. He could say that he was a Prince of a far away land. It could prove to have it's own advantages. But it would come with a few disadvantages as well, politics being the main disadvantage. Valgith never really liked politics, he preferred to research magic instead.

There were a few things that would stick out in his lie if he were to say that he was royalty. Like the fact that Valgith had no idea how royalty acted, especially equine royalty.

In the end Valgith didn't think it was the best idea to say that he was royalty. The negatives outweighed the positives.

"No, I am not royalty." The simple answer caused a confused look to be thrown his way.

"What do you mean? Aren't all Alicorns royalty?" Red Heart asked.

"Apparently not." Red Heart took a second to look him over, as if trying to see if he was being truthful. After she was done she sighed.

Red Heart excused herself and left Valgith alone with his food once more. A few minutes passed as he savoured the rich tasting apples.

When he was finished Red Heart entered the room once more and smiled as she saw that he had eaten.

Valgith heard more hoofsteps behind the door that Red Heart had previously entered from. He heard multiple ponies walking towards his room. Multiple of them sounded armoured.

When the clear sound of armoured hoofsteps entered his ears he jumped out of bed and approached the only safe exit that he could think of. The window. He stood next to the window, trying to look interested at the sights beyond.

Nurse Red Heart's eyebrow rose at the sight of the colts actions but then she turned her attention towards the door behind her when it opened.

A male pony with white fur walked into the room. He wore gold plate armour that covered a good portion of his fur. His helmet completely covered his mane and a white ploom stuck out atop his helmet.

"Announcing the arrival of Princess Celestia." The armoured pony firmly stated.

Not even a second after he guard had spoken a tall white pony stepped into the room. Behind her stood Twilight with a clipboard and quill floating in the air next to her.

The white pony stood higher than any others in the room. Valgith had to look upward just to see her properly. Her coat was a pure white, her multicoloured mane flowed as if there was some kind of magical wind that only effected her mane, two great wings rested on her sides and a long pure white horn jutted out of her head. Valgith spotted the image of a sun on her rump.

The second thing he noticed about the Princess that stood in front of him was the aura she emitted. Waves upon waves of pure harmony seemed to radiate from her. It made Valgith sick, then the sickness turned to a feeling of peace and comfort. Then the sickness surfaced again. The same feelings kept repeating themselves over and over while he stood next to the window. His vision blurred from merely standing in the same room as her. The absolute purity that emanated from her didn't seem to effect anyone else in the room except him. Nor did it seem that anyone else even saw the magical aura that she emitted.

"I've said this before Iron Shield. You do not need to announce my presence everywhere I go." The sweet and motherly voice that the Princess spoke in had a similar effect as her aura.

"I apologise Princess, but everypony should know when you arrive so that they will be ready to bow before you." The Princess simply smiled and shook her head gently.

After the guard spoke Valgith finally got control of himself, if only a little. The waves of sickness and calm still continued but he could hide it.

Now that he had gained some control back he finally spotted that Red Heart was bowing before the Princess. Valgith however did not bow. Instead he simply chose to stand next to the window and not move a muscle.

He saw a few guards that accompanied the Princess, they all looked exactly the same. Two of them stood still, guarding the outer side of the door. The door closed before he could see further out.

Valgith could see the first guard that had entered to room had taken post next to the door. The guard eyed Valgith. He could swear that he saw the guards eye twitch when he didn't bow.

In this awkward silence Red Heart left the room, taking the tray with her. Leaving only a guard, Princess Celestia, Twilight and Valgith in the white room.

Valgith looked up at the tall Alicorn in front of him. A warm smile could be seen on her muzzle.

"Hello Valgith. It is good to finally meet you. I have heard quite a bit of you from my student, Twilight." She spoke in a gentle and reassuring tone.

As she spoke he heard the sound of quill on paper, this seemed more of an interrogation than a simple visit.

"Where are your parents? They must be worried sick searching for you." The princess questioned.

No one in this room could expect the brutally honest bluntness that left the little colts mouth when he answered.

"They are dead." Three simple words broke the smile on Celestias face. Her face changed into a look of shock and then into sadness.

The quill stopped mid sentence as Twilight looked at Valgith with a face of sadness.

"Do not pity me. They both died long ago. I have all but forgotten them."

"I am sorry but I cannot help but feel sad that such a tragedy would happen to someone as young as you."

A minute passed in silence as the Princess and Twilight tried to regain their composure as Valgith stayed quiet.

After a bit more time passed it seemed that Twilight and the Princess regained their composure. Then the silence was broken by Valgith.

"I'm interested to hear why you would visit someone like me."

Celestia had a small motherly smile on her face as she answered.

"I simply wanted to see the Alicorn colt that suddenly appeared in the Everfree forest."

Valgith wasn't that dumb. He knew the Princess had an ulterior motive for being here. Perhaps she wanted to see him herself, to see if he would be a threat to her subjects. Or to confirm her suspicions of him being a creature of chaos. Or perhaps to question him on his equipment.

A few other theories floated in Valgiths mind as he stayed quiet. He felt like the Princess was staring into his very soul when she looked at him.

"Well, now you've seen him." The pure bluntness of Valgith caused the motherly smile on Celestia's face falter a bit.

However Celestia quickly regained that smile and she asked.

"Do you happen to know anything of the armour that you wore?" A question that Valgith had expected.

"No, I do not."

Celestia took a step closer.

"Are you sure?"

As she approached the feeling of sickness strengthened. It felt like Valgith was about to vomit up what little food he had eaten.

"Positive." His voice sounded weaker. He could feel parts of his fur becoming damp with sweat.

'Was this her plan? To somehow torture me with her aura?' Valgith had a hard time even thinking straight. His body told him to get as far away from the tall mare as he could.

The motherly smile switched to that of worry as Celestia looked closer at Valgith.

"Is something wrong?"

Valgith could not take it, he had to get out of here. The only clear escape he could think of was the window behind him.

Valgith took a step backwards, moving closer to the closed window. In response Celestia took a worried step forward, inspecting the colt.

As the Princess took a step forward Valgith had jumped backward, he willed his wings to open, to push himself away from the approaching Princess and build up more speed. He was in the air for only half a second until his back impacted the window behind him.

The last thing he saw before he fell was the looks of complete shock on everyone in the room.

The window shattered as Valgith fell through it. He could feel pain on his back as he fell from the second story window.

Valgith spread his wings as he tried to slow his descent but it was for naught. His back impacted the ground hard and he felt that something on his back lodged itself deeper into him.

Valgith grunted in pain but quickly got back up on his hooves. He quickly picked a direction to run away from the Princess and her sickeningly pure aura.

He saw a dirt path that led into the nearby town so he decided to take the opposite way, away from the town and back into the forest.

As he started running he could hear worried shouts coming from behind him. All the while the sickness at the bottom of his stomach grew worse.

He could feel warmth spreading from his back as it travelled down to his hooves.

His leathery bat wings flapped as he ran, giving him small bursts of speed.

The dirt road underneath his hooves quickly changed to fresh grass as he ran off the well traveled path.

As he kept running he heard the sounds of approaching hoofsteps.

Valgith quickly glanced behind him and saw two armoured guards following him.

Valgith fixed his gaze back in front of him. He was nearly there, if only he could get past the treeline he could hide away and not have to deal with the Princess.

With every step he felt the sickness traveling up his throat. He needed to get to the forest, he needed to lose the guards, he needed to escape.

Valgith ran past the treeline, passing by gloomy trees and fauna. But he couldn't hold the sickness inside of him forever.

Valgith turned his head behind him to see if the guards were still following. As he expected they had gained some ground on him. Now that they were closer he noticed that while they both looked nearly exactly the same, one of them had a horn while the other didn't.

Valgith's coat had turned a darker shade as it was entirely wet with sweat. Likely due to the sickness and the awkward running.

Valgith tripped over an exposed root that poked awkwardly out of the dirt. His stomach hit the ground first.

The moment his stomach hit the ground Valgith felt the bile exit his stomach.

Valgith had trouble seeing anything in front of him. It was like he couldn't move his head. He felt another round of vomit exit his mouth. Splattering across the dirt and his front hooves.

Both of the guards stopped a few meters behind him. Neither said a word as they simply watched Valgith clear his stomach.

The third round of vomit didn't look natural. It was a black, viscous sludge that clung to his lower jaw as it splattered on in the dirt. A slight sizzling sound was heard as the black sludge seemingly melted the ground underneath it.

The smell that came from the sludge was unlike anything the guards had ever smelled. The scent of vomit, gore and rot clung to their noses.

Both of the guards took a step back in a mixture of worry and horror. They covered their noses with one hoof as they simply watched the spectacle in front of them.

After vomiting the black sludge Valgith felt like he could finally move his head, if only a little. He turned his head to look back at the two guards that had been following him.

Both of them took a step back as they saw the face of the small colt they had been chasing. Black veins could be seen through his fur that raced all across his face. The entirely black eye had turned a tinge of green and his right eye, which normally had a red iris had also turned a sickly green colour. The white of his right eye had black veins running all across it.

His mouth had a bit of the corrosive black sludge dripping from in between his teeth. The guards also noticed that the colt had a bunch of sharp canines in his mouth.

A line of tears trailed from his eyes, no doubt due to the vomiting.

The area was near silent, the only sound that could be heard was the panting of the colt as he tried his best to recover from his sudden sickness.

Both of the guards did not approach and stayed silent as he colt breathed deep.

'Armour.' The only thought that ran through Valgith's mind was that he needed his armour back. He didn't know why but he felt like he would feel so much better if he was wearing it.

"Uhh... What do we do?" Valgith heard one of the guards speak to the other.

"We bring him back of course." The unicorn guard deadpanned.

"Hey colt, why did you run?" The earth pony asked, offering a hoof towards Valgith. "And what in Celestias name was that."

"Question him later dumbass, can't you see he's hurt?" The unicorn looked Valgith in the eyes and asked. "Can you walk?"

Valgith responded with a grunt as he ignored the offered hoof and stood up on his own.

Through shaky breaths Valgith responded. "I'm fine."

Valgith looked down at his hooves and noticed that his dark fur had patches that were a darker shade. He inspected the darker patches of fur and noticed that it was blood. His gaze slowly crawled up his leg and up to his back, where he saw a giant shard of glass lodged in between his wings, in the same spot his old scar was.

"Great." He mumbled.

"Let's get you back to the hospital." Valgith slowly followed the two guards. He was too weak to run, and if he did, he knew he would just be captured again.

As the group headed back towards the hospital, they failed to notice that the black corrosive liquid started to slowly move deeper into the forest.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
I was supposed to post this before Christmas but a lot of stuff came up and I couldn't finish it in time.

If you see any spelling errors please inform me and I'll fix them.

Anyway, happy new years everyone!