The stars and moon shone brightly in the night sky as Innocentius lay atop the roof of his home. While his parents had gone to bed, he had snuck out for a little late night reading by moonlight. He did this on the weekends sometimes when he didn’t have to worry about school the next day. He enjoyed the cool night air and the sound of nothing but the wind blowing through the nearby trees and the sound of the nighttime critters. All was peaceful until he heard what sounded like arguing from the house across from him. He sighed and closed his book, but now it was time for him to go back into his room.

Before he made it down to his window however, he saw one of the windows open up and saw a white furred and pink man and tail filly climb onto the roof and sit down. Innocentius watched her pull her knees up to her chest and bury her face into them. He had seen this filly a few times before, but never really seen her come out at this time of night. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat, wondering if she’d be able to hear him.

The filly’s ears twitch before she slowly lifts her head to see Innocentius across the street on his roof. The colt gave a hesitant wave with a gentle smile. The filly gave a weak smile and waved back. But clenched her fist when she heard the sound of something breaking downstairs in her kitchen as the yelling continued. Innocentius knew exactly what was going on, as the neighbors he lived next to in his former life did this, but it was far, far worse. Violence was involved. And he had hoped that this filly wasn’t a victim of that. He placed a finger to his lips before he lifted into the air slowly and floated over to the rooftop that the filly sat on before silently landing and then sitting next to her. Another item on his new life list is flight without the need for wings.

The filly’s beautiful deep blue eyes widened as she let out a gasp but covered her mouth so that it was kept quiet. He turned his head toward her and offered a comforting smile “It's scary, I know. But so long as things don’t get violent between them or they turn it on you, it can be fixed over time. They…haven’t hurt you have they?” he asked hoping for the proper answer. “N-No, they haven’t hurt me. At least not seriously. And it is only my dad who gets any kind of physical with me or my mother. While..he hasn’t raised a hand to us, he has pushed us down a few times.” she said as she flinched again at the sound of breaking plates.

“Might I ask what brings your father to such a hostile point?” Innocentius asked as he was genuinely curious as to what could cause so much turmoil in this world in a household. “It's some kind of purple looking powder that my daddy comes home with every few weeks. He takes it into the basement and does something with it. He is there down there for what feels like hours and he comes back all happy and mellowed out. But..if he doesn’t get any more after a while..he gets like..this..” she said as she began to sob quietly.

The colt knew exactly what it was just by the mention of ‘purple powder’. He shakes his head before responding abc to her “It seems your father has an addiction to what is known as ‘Amethyst Dust’. A cheaper and far more dangerous alternative to ‘Sapphire Sand’ which is the purer and higher quality drug. Still addictive, but less of a hazard on the body.” he said as he remembered his father telling him about several cases he has had to deal with involving those very same drugs. “On another dangerous note, it can temporarily boost the magical abilities of unicorns,” he added.

The look on the filly’s face went from sadness to worry for her father’s life as she clenched her hands into fists “I want to tell him to get help…I want to be able to stop him from taking the drug. But…he has threatened to really hurt me or my mother if we went to the authorities about it. Even if we aren’t the ones to say anything, he still promised to make us regret them finding out…” she said as her worry went right back to fear.

Innocentius sighed softly as he knew the kind of predicament this filly and her mother were in. An abusive father and husband held them under his thumb with verbal abuse. And who knew how much longer it would be until physical abuse came into the picture with a drug like amethyst dust which was pretty much this world’s version of laced cocaine and sapphire sand being the purer version. Not only does it cause addiction and violent personality changes, but it wasn’t exactly cheap either. And it would be only a matter of time before this family could be living out on the streets of Canterlot.

Innocentius gave the filly a serious look “Who is the breadwinner in your family? I am assuming it is your mother?” he asked. The filly nodded “She is the one who was able to acquire this lovely house through her hard work. Her name is on it and everything. My dad somehow charmed my mother, weaseled his way in, they had me and that was it from there. He has been on this stuff ever since he met my mother…”. He nodded again “So, not married I assume?” he asked as a plan began formulating in his mind. She shakes her head once more.

Innocentius rubbed his chin as the perfect idea popped into his head “Hmmm, let me speak with my father about this. He has a couple of friends in the royal guard who can do something about it. Once they are made known, they will keep an eye on your house and strike when you and your mother are out of harm’s way. The royal guard doesn’t take too kindly to ponies who take that stuff, especially if they are raising children. We will make sure you and your mother both never have to deal with him ever again. No one deserves to live like that.” he said as he reached up and gently petted her on the head.

The filly leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder for what fke hours. She barely even knew this colt, but she felt…safe. “I never did get your name…” she said with closed eyes. “Innocentius, nice to meet you. And from what I heard, your name is Redheart, yes?”. The filly nodded to his question before scooting in closer to him. Innocentius could feel her shaking still, but it wasn’t as bad as it was when he first sat next to her. This was going to end. The poor girl and her mother had suffered enough.

After a full week of planning and surveillance on the house, a raid was planned for late in the evening when the father of Redheart was normally down in the basement taking the substance. As the guards quietly find their way into the house, Innocentius and his father quietly and quickly get Redheart out of the home and across the street into their house before the guards make their move. The guard certainly appreciated that the doctor and his son were wonderful enough to allow shelter in their home. That way, they could do what they needed to do without worrying about them getting hurt.

Unfortunately, things would not go as planned that night. As the sound of struggling and shouting ensued throughout the house, only one stallion emerged from the front door covered in cuts and blood. But, it wasn’t just his blood he was covered in. “Fuck….” Innocentius thought to himself as he watched from the window of his room with Redheart sitting on his bed wrapped up in the blanket. He saw the wide eyes and angry stallion stomping forward toward his home. He had all the signs that he was on the amethyst dust, it was the only way he could have possibly overpowered three guards, not to mention he had purple veins bulging in and around his eyes.

The sound of him beating on and kicking the front door made Redheart cry out in fear as she hid more under the large blanket “Please no..nononono!!” she sobbed as she started to fear for her and her mother’s life at this point. Innocentius could hear his father shouting downstairs for the juiced up stallion to leave while he did his best to prevent the door from being busted down. But the colt knew very well that wasn’t going to help much. So, he decided it was time for his backup plan.

The colt walked over to his dresser and pulled out a secret compartment he had made himself before pulling out a rather large syringe filled with a dark orange liquid. He pulled the needle protector off before flicking the needle, priming it to be ready to push the liquid into the stallion right when it entered his body. He quietly opens his window and positions himself over the entry of his home before lifting the syringe up to strike. He lets out a slow quiet breath before dropping down on the stallion’s shoulders and hamming the needle into his neck, smashing the plunger down as the liquid flows into the stallion’s body.

While it was a direct hit, it seemed that the amethyst dust was overhauling his physical capabilities as the orange liquid was supposed to have a near instant effect on his body. The stallion was supposed to drop like a sack of bricks while still conscious. However, the stallion reached up grabbed Innocentius by the arm, and threw him down with great force, causing pain to rack through the colt’s body as his vision blurred in and out. The stallion pulled out the needle and growled in anger before leaping on top of the boy and began to mercilessly plunge the dagger he had been using as a weapon to fight off the guards.

The first stab of the weapon felt like fire running through his body. The boy let out a cry of pain as he struggled under the weight of the large stallion who kept on stabbing him over and over. The colt kept fighting for his life until his body just suddenly gave out as it went limp. The look on his mother’s face was one of pure shock and terror as she screamed bloody murder as she saw her son being murdered right before her. She ran out the front door, pushing her husband out of the way with tears in her eyes. He was confused as to what was going on until he saw just what had become of Innocentius.

A look of pure loss and sadness slowly formed over his face as he saw Innocentius lying in a pool of his own blood. His mother kneeled beside him with her head buried in her son’s chest as she sobbed uncontrollably and so loud that it had woke the whole neighborhood. His father slowly walked out before falling to his knees next to his son. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His son was dead in front of him, taken away by a monster who had tried to run away from the scene, but the drug that Innocentius had injected into him had finally completely paralyzed him for at least the next few hours.

“Innocentius…my son…MY SOOOOOOON!!!” he cried out in anguish as his heart began to break along with his wife’s for the loss of their son. Redheart had watched the whole thing from Innocentius’ bedroom window, tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she covered her muzzle, a pained look in her eyes as she gripped the blanket that she had around her tightly. The neighbors gathered around as they witnessed what had played out. All was quiet except for the wailing of his parents. The faces of his neighbors filled with sadness to see a child murdered in such a cruel way.

But, Innocentius would not be taken tonight. Just as the last bit of his blood was about to leak out of his body, it suddenly began to flow right back in. And just as all the blood is pulled back into his body, the stab wounds start to seal up rather quickly as if they were never there to begin with. His parents and neighbors watched in shock and surprise as his eyes shot open and his chest pushed into the air as he took in a sharp gasp before sitting up like he had been shocked with fifty thousand volts of electricity. The colt grabbed at his chest where he had been stabbed multiple times as the pain stayed with him for a few moments before vanishing.

Another one of the last few items on his new life list is rapid regeneration. No matter the wound, he’d recover from it, even if he lost a limb, it would grow back like new, even if the brain was destroyed. So long if there was a part of him left, it would become whole once more. However, it didn’t make him immortal. Just harder to kill. Similar to a certain mouthy merc’s healing factor. But he made sure to include NO immortality. He didn’t want to live forever after all.

Innocentius looked around at all the shocked faces who had just seen him not only spring up like he was sleeping, but he somehow pulled his blood back into his body and his wounds were sealed close like they weren’t even there! “Is Redheart and her mother alright?” Innocentius asked as he looked around before seeing the paralyzed stallion lying on the ground completely unmoving but very much still awake. He let out a sigh of relief as he looked up towards his window to see Redheart staring down at him with tears flowing down her face, her eyes wide with shock as she saw him come back from death as well.

Innocentius looked around as he noticed the group of witnesses who stared at him like a bunch of fish along with his parents. The colt sighed and rubbed the back of his head “Alright everyone. You saw everything. But could you all please keep what you saw a secret? I’d rather not be hunted down and used for some kind of test subject. Please?” he asked as he clapped his hands together and lowered his head.

“Well, while you won’t be used as a test subject, I am afraid…that I saw the whole thing happen, young one.” said a motherly voice as several guards led the source through the crowd. Innocentius knew exactly who it was once he heard the sound of metal horseshoes clanking against the stone walkway of the road he sat on. His eyes shifted to the rather large, amazonian alicorn who looked down at him with a worried gaze, but soon changed to curious once she saw that he was not hurt in the slightest.

Innocentius looked towards the house and then back at Celestia “You want to send your guards in after their friends. The ones that were to take him in haven’t come out…and I don’t know if they are still alive.” he said before standing up, nearly collapsing back onto his knees as this was his first time regenerating, his parents quickly grabbing at their son to prevent his fall.

Celestia sends her guards in the check on the others while two more stay behind and bind the stallion up and carry him off “So tell me, young one. Just how are you alive right now? Let alone fully recover from such an ordeal? Just who and what exactly are you?” she asked with an arched brow while folding her arms under her enormous bust.

“Can we..discuss it elsewhere at another time, possibly…?” he asked with a nervous chuckle.

Author's Note

Aaand here you go, guys. A prologue and three chapters. That is as far as I am going. If y'all like this idea, I will most certainly be continuing this one.

May the darkness grant you peace.