"I can't believe that someone would actually offer you their barn to sleep in," Vanellope grinned at Ralph. "You must've done a good job."
"Well, not everypony's mean," Ralph figured. Honestly, he was surprised too. They trotted to the front door of the farmhouse and Vanellope knocked. As soon as she'd put her hoof back on the ground, the door opened and the farmpony greeted them.
"Ralph! It's good to see you again," he smiled, shaking first Ralph's hoof and then Vanellope's. Vanellope's cloak nearly flew off, but Ralph fixed it for her. The farmpony, seeing the gesture, winked. "I take it this is your marefriend?"
"What? No," Ralph blushed.
"Yes," Vanellope contradicted. "I am. I was hoping that maybe we could both stay in the barn?"
"You're welcome to sleep in the house, if you like," the farmpony offered to her. Internally, Vanellope shuddered at the thought of staying in the night in a strange stallion's place.
"No, I'd prefer to sleep with my special somepony, if that's alright with you," she declined, hooking a foreleg around Ralph's. She would've lain a wing over his back if she wasn't hiding them, and if he wasn't too big for that.
"Alright," the stallion chuckled. "But no hanky-panky!" They both blushed bright red at that. "Have you had dinner yet? I can make something for the two of you." They nodded, accepting the offer, and stepped inside.
"I have never been more full in my life!" Vanellope declared, sprawled out on her back in the barn.
"Me neither," Ralph agreed with a chuckle. Vanellope rolled onto her side and looked at him.
"Want me to tell you my story now?" she suggested. "You did want to know it." Ralph nodded.
"If you want to tell it."
"Well, we're alone, so I figure I can tell you without anyone eavesdropping," she replied, and moved closer to him so that she was curled up at his side. Anypony looking in on them would assume them to be any normal pony couple, rather than a princess on the run and a dangerous pony who'd destroyed a town.
"When I was a little filly, I inherited the castle and became Princess of Candy Cloud after my father died. My mother was already out of the picture. Some say she was a servant. But I like to think that she was the leader of the Wonderbolts and that I'm the result of a union of two of the greatest racers ever." She giggled. "Anyway, when he died, it was more like he went flying one day and never came back. I was too young to know better, of course. So for years, I lived with the hope that one day my daddy would come home and be King. I didn't like being Princess. I mean, can you imagine trying to lead a whole city and run the daily Sugarcube Races as a little filly? But he never came back." She sniffled, and Ralph nuzzled her mane. "And then, one day, another stallion came into the city. He was the exact replica of the lost King Candy. His mane was grey and everything. I was sitting on the throne- my throne- when he came into the castle. He greeted me as Princess Vanellope, his daughter. I got up off the throne and ran to greet him. I was just so happy to have my dad back, you know? But then his horn glowed green, and it's never done that before. His magic wasn't green before he came back, it was pink. Whatever the spell was, it made everypony around us freeze. It was just me and him. I was scared, so I stopped. And then he b-broke my wings. He slammed me to the ground and stepped on them.I'll never forget the sound they made when they broke. Or how much they hurt. I loved flying. And then he-" Her voice hitched and she swallowed thickly. "He threw me in the dungeon. Whenever I'd remind the guards who I was, they'd ignore me. They said I was a changeling, a liar, that I'd done something to the real princess and that I'd be freed when I told them where she was. Every day, they asked me that. But everyday I just told them the truth. They never believed me. But what they said, about me being a changeling and disguising myself as the princess, gave me an idea. When the guards weren't looking, I started working on a disguise spell. I changed the colour of my fur and my mane and hid my wings. I even changed my cutie mark from these crossed flags to a lollipop. Nopony suspected a thing." She smirked, but her eyes were teary.
"It's amazing that you managed to break out," he finally said. "Not many ponies would be able to do that."
"He did put a magic-suppressor ring around my horn but it was one of those designed for unicorns. I don't think they expected an alicorn who was so small to be able to perform strong magic. The ring broke when I made my disguise, so teleporting out after that was easy. Of course, that first day I learned how much of a strain it was keeping the disguise on all the time. So I snuck into my room, got one of my old necklaces, and enchanted it with the spell. I made up a whole new identity for myself. But I soon discovered that I couldn't stand seeing that imposter every day, and that it wasn't going to work." She frowned at the memory. "When word got out that the changeling had escaped the dungeon, the guards started performing checks on every resident and visitor to see if they were her. So I jumped from a cloud and hoped that my wings would work. Obviously, they didn't."
"And then you fell onto me," Ralph finished for her. Vanellope sniffled and pressed her face into his side. Ralph held her as she cried silently, reliving the memories of being a prisoner. For the first time, Ralph saw scars on her body. The fur had grown over them, and he could only see them because they were so close, but they were there all the same. How anyone could do something so horrible to such a sweet little mare was beyond him. It was repulsive.
"Don't worry, I'll get you home and punish that imposter," Ralph promised. "He won't ever be able to hurt anypony again when I'm through with him. He'll just be a bug squished on the surface of the earth." Vanellope smiled and giggled.
"Thanks, Ralph," she murmured, lifting her head away at last. Ralph looked into her teary eyes, now full of the hope that was ever-present around him. "But how will we get back to Candy Cloud? I can't fly and even if I could, I don't think I'd be able to carry you. I might be able to, but not at this size." She looked down at her smaller hooves.
"Did he try to take your magic from you?" Ralph asked.
"Yes," Vanellope confirmed. "He didn't entirely succeed but I was a bit bigger when I was first imprisoned. Not your size but bigger than a filly. And bigger than this. How'd you know that alicorns get smaller if their magic is stolen?"
"I thought everypony in Equestria learned about Princess Luna's return," he pointed out. "She was really small when the Elements took the power of Nightmare Moon from her."
"Well, excuse me for being imprisoned when that happened," she snorted.
"How long were you imprisoned?" he wondered.
"I don't know!" she snapped, and got to her hooves. They were shaking. She stepped away and made as if to bolt, but Ralph put a hoof over her shoulders.
"Vanellope," he said softly. And she fell to the ground and sobbed, her hooves over her face while her cape splayed out over her wings. Ralph lay beside her, his hoof a comforting weight on her back. The crying went on for several minutes, long enough for Ralph to become teary-eyed as well. At last, Vanellope looked up at him.
"My hero," she said softly, and kissed him. Surprised, he kissed back.
From the farmhouse, the farmpony looked out one of the windows and saw the kissing pair in front of the fire. He frowned. They had better not begin doing anything more than that. King Candy wasn't paying him enough for that.