Chapters Chapter 1: The Begining
As i stood there tears flowing from my eyes and a knife firmly held in my hoof i thought back to how all this began. My name is Silver Steed and ever since i was born i have been abandoned. My birth mother left me and my brother to my aunt. It seemed okay from the begining. I mean i lived with a middle class family in canterlot. My family was made up of me, my brother Trusty, My mother Sugar Sprinkles (who was really my aunt),and my father Brawny charger. My life was really good and i was happy with my family until i turned 9. Ofcourse when i turned 9 i was made to attend school in canterlot.
My first day of school i was really nervous and anxious at the same time. I really wanted to make new friends. The school bell rang and i went to my class room. We were greeted by our teacher at the door and she showed us where we would be sitting. When we were all seated our teacher contiued up to the whiteboard. She sat down at her desk and started calling out our names. Everything went fine and then she called my name.
¨Silver steed?¨
¨here¨ i answered quickly. All of a sudden i could hear laughter behind me and colts whispering.
¨what kind of a lame name is that?¨
¨Yeah i know right¨ they continued to laugh at my name.
¨stop it!¨ i shouted back.
¨what are you going to do about it?¨ the pegasus answered. I would later come to know him as Storm Crasher.
¨alright both of you stop it now!¨ our teacher yelled at us. We both looked at our teacher and then we remained silent.
The day continued as it should have and i spent most of recess and lunch talking to my older brother Trusty. When the school day came to an end we both headed home together. When i was at home i would spend most of my time playing together with my brother or playing with my toys alone in my room. I eventually got into a routine of waking up in the morning, heading of to school and then coming home and playing. The first weeks of school went like it should have. But one day during our recess i was playing alone and Storm Crasher and his friends Lightning Dasher and Strong charger came up to me.
¨what are you doing? playing alone because you have no friends? weirdo.¨ Storm Crasher said to me.
¨I do have friends but they are playing with other people right now¨ I answered him.
¨Yeah like anyone would like to be your friend¨ Storm Crasher quickly replied.
At first i was a bit schocked at his reply. I had never had anyone insult me before. I didn't say anything back. I just sat there thinking for a moment. Storm Crasher took this as a opportunity and took one of the toys i had brought from home.
¨hey thats mine. Give it back!¨ i shouted at him.
at this point they turned and walked away essentially stealing my toy. I tried to talk to a teacher but none of them listened. So ofcourse i talked to my brother. At the point when i talked to my brother i was really upset about this.
¨Don't worry brother ill get it back for you¨ he smiled at me and then walked of to find Storm Crasher and his friends. My brother returned about 10 minutes later with my toy and i asked him how he got it back. He didn't want to tell me (although i later learned he had threatened them with a rock). I was really happy and i thought my problem was solved. I really thought this would be a one time kinda thing but ofcourse i was wrong. A couple of days later i once again ran into Storm Crasher. I tried to be polite and said hello to him but he just picked up a big branch and charged at me. I got really scared and started to run from him. But it was to no use after about five minutes he caught me in a remote location of the schools playground and he started hitting me. Eventually he gave up and i went back to class.
¨Oh my celesstia what happened to you Silver?¨ my teacher almost shouted.
i looked around the room and saw that Storm Crasher was there and a feeling of terror gripped me.
¨ i..i fell and hurt myself¨ i lied just to be sure Storm Crasher wouldn't do anything stupid.
I then went back to my desk and continued my school day. When the school day finally came to an end i went back home where my mother scolded me for not being careful. At this point i was very upset. I immidently went to my room and cried myself to sleep. This would not be an isolated event like i had hoped for this would continue for weeks, even months.
The summer past quickly and school was back in session. Week after week i would get bullied and beaten by Storm Crasher and his friends. I had given up hope of ever making any friends. But one day i got an invitation to a birthday party and i saw this as my oportunity although i was a bit hesitant first. I decided to attend the party and try to make some friends from the class. I didn't know the birthday colt very well i had only talked to him a couple of times and he was a really nice guy.
I arrived at the party early as my mother escorted me there. And as fast as i went inside i wanted to leave. I didn't want my mother to get angry at me so i pretended to enjoy it until she left. Right after she left i ran into the closest bathroom and locked myself in. I had seen two very big problems directly when i arrived. First of all Storm Crasher and the rest of his mean friends were there. And secondly there was balloons everywhere. I hadn't really thought about the probability of there being balloons since i had had a phobia of them since i was very young. After about 30 minutes i decided to go out and be brave. Right when i entered the main room where the rest of my class mates were i regreted it. Right when i entered they started to pop the balloons and i fled for the bathroom just to find it occupied. Ofcourse with my luck Storm Crasher's friend Lightning Dasher saw me and noticed that i was crying.
¨Hey Storm! the weirdo is over here crying. come look at this!¨ Lightning Dasher shouted to Storm Crasher who came over and saw me crying. It didn't take long for him to realise what i was crying because of. And so they decided to toture my by popping as many balloons as possible around me. I panicked and had to flee the party. I spent the rest of the evening sobbing on a bench outside their house until my mother arrived. I ofcourse lied to her and she couldn't see that i had been crying. The next day in school i got bullied by all my class mates. And so started the worst time of my life. I had no friends, And my whole class was mocking me.
I snapped back to reality and saw that i was still holding the knife in my hoof. I took a deep breath and moved the knife over to my other front leg. I made a quick cut along the length of my leg. As i leaned back and watched blood starting to pour from the wound i remembered back to my childhood once again.
Author's Note
Note this story is heavily inspered from real life situations take from my own life. If anyone that reads this find this to disturbing i do apologise.
Chapter 2: Trouble?
The next morning i woke up early as i always did. I think it was 7 in the morning. I got out of bed and went downstairs. When I entered the kitchen I saw my brother sitting at the table eating breakfast. I didn't say i word to him we just nodded to each other and continued with our morning rotuines. "good morning" me and my brother say in unison as our mother enters the room. She just looks at us and sighs. She was looking horrible this morning. Her mane was a mess and she looked like she hadn't sleept at all.
"umm...we are going on a field trip today with the school and i need you to sign this.", I hand my mother a piece of paper and she signs it.
"Well I'll cya later little brother", my brother says as he exits the kitchen and proceeds to get his backpack and set of to school.
I sigh quietly as i see my brother walk out the door leaving me alone with my mother. She turns and looks at me with a strict face.
"if you are going on that field trip today i want you to be careful and always listen to your teachers"
"Yes i will mother" I answer sounding a bit annoyed. "ofcourse I will be careful how dumb does she think I am" I think quietly to myself. I finish my breakfast and go get my bag. Im about to head out the door when my mother stops me.
"and where do you think you'r going?" she asks me sounding a bit mad.
"Im heading of to school?" I answer her.
"Not on your own"
I sigh loudly "You know I don't like it when you follow me to school"
"wether you like it or not you'r not going alone"
I open my mouth to say something but i quickly give up. "Fine...can we go now?", She nods and we head out the door and start to walk to my school. There is not a lot of ponies out on the streets this early in the morning. I look over to the other side of the road and there I see him Storm Crasher. He is walking on the other side of the road on his way to school with his mother. I try to pick up the pace so he won't see me. Too late, he sees me and calls out my name. I freeze in fear and don't know what to do. Soon he and his mother is on our side of the road and our mothers are talking to each other. I try to get my mother to finish the conversation so we can move on but she won't listen. Storm Crasher is looking at me with his smug smile trying to make me feel uncomfortable. He is succeeding in doing just that as the more he looks at me the more uncomfortable I feel.
"That sounds like a good idea" my mother says. I snap back to reality and realize what our mothers had been talking about.
"Good we will come around after Storm comes home from school". Both our mothers nod in agreement and then me and my mother continue to walk. It took me a minute for the reality to sink in. My mother had just invited my bully to a play-date at my house. I start to feel horrible and I can't stop thinking about what will happen. My mother looks at me with a frown.
"You never listen to me when im talking, Do you?" she is starting to sound a bit upset. I shake my head trying to disagree with her but that dosen't help. At this point i zone out and stop listening while my mother continues to scold me for not listening. Finally we arrive at the school and i feel so relieved.
"Oh well got to go now mom I'll cya later" I say as i rush off to meetup with the rest of my class. As i enter the class room I see that most of my class is standing around a table looking at something. I try to get a view of what they are looking at but I don't see anything. But as soon as our teacher enters the group disperses and I can see what they had been looking at. Lightning Dasher had gotten his cutie mark and he was showing off. I tried to not pay attention to it since I didn't want to think about cutie marks since I didn't have one.
Everypony is now walking over to the many different tables in the class room to sit down. I look for somewhere to sit and decide to take the small table hidden away in the corner of the class room. As i walk over to it and sit down our teacher begins to speak,
"Alright so before we can head of on our little fieldtrip there are a few ground rules we need to cover" our teacher Ms.Dream says.
Now ofcourse at this point i zone out completely and stop listening. All that is going trough my head is whats going to happen today after school...what is storm crasher going to do to me? what can he do to me?. Then a thought strikes me. "if we are at my house he can't do anything against me" I think to myself as a smug smile starts to spread across my face and suddenly im no longer dreading whats going to happen this afternoon.
"So does everyone understand the rules?" MS.Dream asks as i start listening again. "Yes MS.Dream" everypony answers in unison.
"Good then let's get going" MS.Dream finishes her little speach and starts to lead us out of the class room and out onto the schoolyard.
After about what seems like an eternity of walking we finally reach the forest where our fieldtrip was going to be. As we enter the forest and arrive at the spot where they always held this fieldtrip every year we are greated by another teacher. It's our gym teacher. I never really did like him. Although that was quiet obvious since im not the most athletic pony.
"Alright so today we are going to be doing something very fun" he announces loudly.
There is a bit of an awkward silence after this as we don't know if he is expecting us to ask what or hes just going to tell us. After about a minute he finally continues.
"We are going to be doing woodcarving today"
"great something really boring with dangerous tools" i mutter quietly to myself hoping no one could hear me.
At this point the usual happens where our teacher proceeds to tell us how we can and can't use knives and what the punishment for playing with the knives is. The punishment is detention or suspension from school. After this everyone is given a small pocket knife we are supposed to do woodcarving with. As soon as i recieved my knife i walk off to the outskirts of the groupe so i can be alone with my thoughts.
As i sit down ontop a rock as far away as i can get from my class without breaking any kind of rules about going to far away from the groupe. I start to talk to myself in a low tone incase anyone passes by.
"Why does it suck to be me so much?"
"Because you are a whiny annoying idiot" the respones comes from behind me. Although i couldn't see the colts face im still sure who it is. Storm Crasher.
I turn aroud to ask him what he wants. But as i turn to face him im met with a unpleasent sight. Storm Crasher is standing there with his pocket knife drawn. At this point i get a bit nervous although Im sure he is not crazy enough to try and attack me with a knife id rather not risk it so i decide to not say anything in response.
"Well has the little idiot gone mute now?" he asks mockingly.
I don't say anything and just wait for him to continue.
"Well as it seems like your listening to me i will make this short. When you arrive home today you will tell your mother that you don't want to see me. But your going to have to say it so it looks like your the one bullying me."
"And why would i do that" I ask him trying to act as if i don't care
"Well because if you don't and i found out you told your parents sometime like that im bullying you. Well then i will come after you and really hurt you. But if you just do as i tell you to i will leave you alone"
My heart almost stops for a second. Is he serious? would he really leave me alone if i did what he asks me to? I start to think for a second that he must be lying. Finally i come to the conclusion that i don't have a choice it's do or die on this.
"I guess i don't have a choice so fine" i sigh at the thought of having to do this.
"Good then i will leave you alone for now. But remember if i get to know you told somepony about this your a dead colt"
I shiver at the last thing he said before he walked away.
"Did he mean dead literally? would he go that far? Surely not" i think to myself.
I spend the next couple of hours thinking about my life and about my future. After about two or three hours we head back to the school. As we approach the schoolyard i can already see my mother standing there waiting for me. I walk over to her and we start to head home. As we walk home from the school i start to prepare myself to do what Storm Crasher asked me to. Finally i build up enough courage to do it.
"umm...mom?"
"Yes what is it?"
"I don't want to meet Storm Crasher today." I sigh in relief thinking this would be the end of the discussion.
"Why not sweetie?"
Ofcourse she would't let it end there. I get myself ready to continue.
"Well i just don't want to. I dont like him"
"What do you mean you don't like him?" She asks sounding a bit worried.
"He is mean to me for no reason" as i say this i feel a bit worried about what my mothers responce will be.
"Now that i don't believe. Such a sweet colt being mean?"
Im shocked by her answer. Does she really not believe it. I get a bit nervous as i continue the discussion with her.
"Yes he is really really mean"
"Okay so what has he done?"
at this point i hesitate to continue as Storm Crasher threat echoes inside my mind.
"N...nothing" I say feeling defeated.
"Did you just try to lie to me young colt? Because that sounded like a lie. You can't just say that ponies are mean and then say that they haven't done anything so which is it?"
I sigh as i answer her.
"He hasn't done anything."
"So you lied to me" my mother is now starting to sound angry.
As i get ready for a scolding of a lifetime i see the door to our simple house and i feel as if i have been saved from a fate worse than death. Ofcourse i was foolish to think my mother would dropp the scolding just because we were home. As we enter the house the scolding begins for real. She starts to scold me for being a liar and for not telling the truth. During the argument she gets so mad that she starts to scream at me. Once the argument is finished i go upstairs to my room without a word. Lock my door behind me and lie down on my bed crying.
"I hate my life"
Chapter 3: It Gets Worse
I wake up the next morning feeling like crap. I get out of bed and just sigh because another day has begun. As I walk out of my room Im met by my brother. We look at each other for a second before I turn to talk away. But just before I get the chance to leave my brother speaks.
"I head the fight you and mom had yesterday and I just wanted to say that if anyone in school messes with you just tell me and I will help you."
I nod at him and walk down the stairs and into the kitchen. As I go about my regular morning routine my mom comes into the room. I say nothing and pretend she is not even here. She is the first to speak.
"I talked to Stroms mother this morning and you know what she told me?" I didn't answer and pretended that I didn't hear her.
"She told me Storm had come home crying yesterday because you bullied him." I froze in place and my whole body went cold. I knew what was about to happen and I took a deep breath and got ready to speak.
"I.."
"Not a word from you young colt.I thought I had taught you better than to be a bully.I want to know why you bully him. Is it because you want attention?! is it!"
At this point she was screaming like a mad mare. I decided to say nothing I just took it and kept quiet. The scolding continued until I had to leave for school but just before I left my mother told me that this discussion would continue when I got home. I felt better when I was walking to school because I got some alone time. When I was almost at school I heard a voice behind me. Before I managed to turn around I was tripped and fell to the ground.
"Nice going dork! hope you had a nice fall"
The voice was ofcourse none other than Strom Crasher himself.
"Yes yes very funny" I responded in an ironic tone.
"Yeah I thought so. Anyway how did it go? Did you do as I asked?" He asked sounding really curious.
"It went good for you I guess. Now my mom thinks im bullying you"
"Great! Oh and by the way our deal is off"
"What! You can't do that! It's not fair"
"So what? What are you going to do?Tell your mom? like she would believe you"
And with that the discussion ended and Storm walked over to me. I got up from the ground and got ready to walk away when he suddenly kicked me right in the stomach. I lost my breath and fell back down to the ground and stayed down. At that moment Storm started to walk away. By now I had started to tear up a bit. After about five minutes I finally got up from the ground and started walking the rest of the way to school.
I entered my classroom and everyone stopped to look at me. I walked over to my desk silently and sat down.
"Ah Silver Steed so nice of you to join us" My teacher Mrs.Bumble said in her cold harsh tone.
"I...Im sorry I tripped and fell on my way to school" I mumbled quietly
"It's the third time this week you are late. I want to talk to you after class. Understood?"
"Yes Mrs.Bumble"
After this the class went on as usual with Mrs.Bumble talking and drawing on the chalk board. I ofcourse drifted away into day dreaming. I came back to reality when the bell rang. Everypony exited the classroom exept for me and Mrs.Bumble. She motioned for me to come up to her desk.
"So Silver this is the third time your late this week. You know i have to talk to your mother now"
"NO PLEASE DON'T!..please don't tell my mom" I was starting to tear up a bit
"Those are the rules and I have to obey them and you know that"
"O..okay can I go now?" I asked in a very sad tone
"Yes you may leave now"
I walked out of the classroom now on the brink of crying. I looked for the closest bathroom and locked myself inside of it. While I was in there i cried and thought about how badly my mom would shout at me. But the worst was that I knew that she would not let me explain anything. When I came out about ten minutes had passed and I decided to go and get some lunch. As I walked to the luch room my thoughts drifted away in a failed attempt to make myself feel better. Upon reaching the luch room I was Storm standing blocking the entrance forcing other ponies to give him their bits that they were going to buy luch with. I quickly decided to skip eating and go back to the classroom and wait for the next class to being. As I walked back i thought about what I could possibly say to explain to my mom that I was late because Storm beat me up. I didn't come up with any way to explain to her. When I finally reached my classroom I sat down on a bench and waited. About twenty minutes passed and the rest of the class had slowly started to return to away our next lesson.
"I heard he got beat up by Storm" I heard a filly in my class say to another one.
"Yeah what a coward he is if he just takes the beating. But i guess that is why he has no cutiemark" The other filly replied and they both laughed.
I knew that they were talking about me and I felt worse than I already was feeling. Although this made me angry I didn't feel like starting a fight so I just let it go and tried to ignore them. About five more minutes passed and Mrs.Bumble finally came back and let us in into the classroom. We went back in and walked over to our seats and sat down. Class quickly continued and like normally I began day dreaming. I day dreamed about a reality where I wasn't beaten and bullied. I know it was just a day dream but it seemed like paradise to me. Eventually the school day ended and I waited for my mom to come and pick me up. When she finally arrived Mrs.Bumble walked over to us.
"Hey would you mind if I have a little chat with you about Silver really quickly?"
My mother shook her heard and followed Mrs.Bumble back into the classroom leaving me outside. It felt like and eternity before my mom came back out. I was now very nervous and decided to ask my mother what they had talked about.
"So...what did Mrs.Bumble want to talk about?" I asked nervously. She didn't answer and we just started walking back home not saying a word to each other as we walked. When we finally reached home and walked through the door like I had expected all hell broke loose and the shouting began. We argued for a long while bus as I tried to explain that Storm had beaten me up mom snapped and slapped me quiet hard. I said nothing and just started to run up the stairs. When I got up to my room I slammed my door shut and locked it to prevent my mother from being able to walk in. I was so angry that I began to throw around my toys and other stuff before I finally collapsed on my bed and sobbed as I wondered why this was happening to me. This continued for several years and I never forgave my mother for how she treated me. But everything would get a lot worse I just didn't know that yet.
Chapter 4: Changes
The first school years of my life were a living nightmare. When I turned fifteen I changed school and started attending highschool. I was as nervous as I had been when I begun primary school. I woke ip early to get myself ready and did my usual morning routine. I began by showering and then I headed downstairs for breakfast. When I entered the kitchen I was met by my brother. He was now unemployed and we had drifted apart during the last couple of years. We said nothing to each other as usually. After a quick breakfast I went upstairs and fetched my saddlebag and once I had picked it up I walked downstairs and out the door and began my long walk to my new school. As I walked a thought struck me. What if I would meet someone in my new class that would be like Storm and try to bully me. The thought was quickly crushed as I remembered what had happened to Storm almost two years ago.
It had been a late evening and Storm had been walking home from a friends house when he decided to take a shortcut through an alley. It wasn't by bad luck that I found him that night. No I had been following him and when he went through the dark alley I had made my move. I had struck him down from behind with a bat and I beat him badly with the bat. He never found out who assaulted him. Ofcourse at the time it felt good but later I started to feel bad about it and several times i thought about turning myself into the canterlot police and confess to my armed assault but I never did. But he never bullied anyone again after that.
I had completely lost myself in my memories and when I snapped back to reality I had reached the gate of my new school. I stood there for a moment and read the school sign just to ensure myself I was at the right place.
The sign read "Canterlot Public HighSchool for Pegasi, Earth Ponies and Unicorns."
I looked at the giant wood gate for a second before I opened it and went inside. As I walked in the first thing I saw was long corridors with clean white walls and a stone floor. It kinda reminded me of a hospital. I saw a piece of paper that had been stuck onto an announcement board on one of the walls. I walked up and read it. It was a class list detailing which class you belonged to and which class room you were supposed to be in. Only then did I realise that I was late for my first class. I ran through the corridor until I found my classroom. Luckily the door was still open and I walked in quietly trying to not draw attention to myself.
"I assume you are Silver Steed. Am I correct?" I heard a voice ask. It was my new teacher Mrs.Harsh
"Yes Im Silver" I answered in a casual tone trying to sound like I didn't care.
"How good of you to join us. Now take a seat"
I sat down as far back in the classroom as I could. Mrs.Harsh continued to talk. After she had introduced herself we did a few exercises to learn each others names and after that our introductory day ended. As I walked through the corridors heading to the gate I heard someone shouting my name.
"Hey Silver" I turned to see who it was.
It was a mare from my class. Her name was Star Charmer and she was joined by two other ponies called Foggy and Icy Night. Star Charmer was a dark gray unicorn, Foggy was a gray pegasus and Icy Night was a dark blue Earth Pony. I turned and looked at them as they came closer. I was a bit paranoid when they trotted over to me.
"Yeah what do you want?" I asked trying to hide the uncertanty in my voice.
"We just wanted to ask if you wanted to hang with us?" Star Charmer asked.
"Um sure Star" I replied a bit dumbfounded by what they had just asked. Nobody had asked me to hang around with them before.
"Cool by the way call me Raven" She said in a friendly voice.
I nodded
"Oh also these two ponies are Foggy and Ice Night but you can call them Gloomy and Bones"
I just nodded my head as the two ponies introduced themselves a bit better.
Two months passed and not much happened. I spent almost everyday with Raven and the gang. We became good friends. We listened to music togheter and talked about our lives and hobbies. It turned out all three of them had been bullied by Storm just like me. One day after school we decided to look around in some shops around Canterlots marketplace. We decided to check out a newly opened fashion botique. Raven headed in first of all and we followed her after a couple of minutes. As we found Raven in the botique she was looking at a small bottle.
"What is that?" I asked her
"It's a new thing called coat coloring"
"Cool" was the response from the rest of us.
Raven turned heard head and looked at us.
"We should try it"
"Yeah totally" Gloomy and Bones said and looked at each other and then all three of them looked at me.
"Sure I'll give it a try"
We took a bottle each and headed to the counter to pay for them. They costed us about 15 bits each. It was kinda exspensive so we hoped that it would be worth the money. After we had exited the Botique we all agreed to walk our separate ways home and try the coat coloring. When I got home i hurried into the bathroom and stayed in there for about an hour. I had tried to follow the instructions on the coloring bottle and as I looked at myself in the mirror I saw that the coat coloring had worked. My coat was now black. When I exited the bathroom I got a bit nervous about what my mother would say. But she had stopped caring at all about what I did. I went to sleep early somewhat exited to meet my friends in the morning.
The next day I meet up with Raven and the gang. All of us now had black coloured coats.
"Cool" Gloomy and Bones both said at the same time.
"I told you guys this was a good idea" Raven said looking at all of us.
"So what do you wanna do now guys?" I asked.
We spent about ten minutes trying to decide what to do since it was the weekend and we had no school. Finally we decided that we would go down to the Canterlot square and hang around there. When we had walked for about five minutes Raven just suddenly stopped and spoke.
"You know what guys? I just realised that Silver dosen't have a nickname and we should give him one"
"Yeah" Gloomy and Bones both agreed with Raven.
"Hm..okay let me think" Raven muttered and began thinking for a couple of minutes.
"Ah i've got it! From now on your nickname is Dusk" And with that it was decided. From that moment forward they would always call me Dusk when they spoke to me.
Chapter 5: The Sleepover
As I awoke I felt like crap. Mostly because today was a school day and I was tiered from the weekend. But I was also feeling a bit sick. I yawned as I got out of bed and rubbed my eyes with my hoofs. Time for the same morning routine I thought to myself. So as usually I showered and after that went down to eat breakfast. When I entered the kitchen my brother was eating breakfast at the table and reading the Canterlot News.
"Good morning" He said in a cheerfull tone
"Morning. What are you doing awake at this time?" I asked him
"I'm starting my internship today." He answered me sounding really happy.
I nodded my head and then sat down and started eating my breakfast. When I was finished and doing the dishes my brother walked up to me and just hugged me.
"Have a great day lil brother" He said and then got his saddlebag and walked out the door off to work.
I didn't think about it much instead I decided to skip school today and prayed my parents wouldn't notice. I knew mom wouldn't notice because she was working. Dad however was still sleeping. I decided to take the risk and decided to stay home. I walked upstairs into my room and put on some music and laid down on my bed. As I laid there on my bed and listened to my music I felt sad for some reason. I don't know why but I felt like crying a bit. I was close to start but I instead got up from my bed and went over to my bookshelf and took a look at my music collection. The Pony Banshee's, Equestrian Ghosts and Eternal Night were a few of the cd's I had in my collection. I picked up The Pony Banshee's and decided to listen to it. It was sad music with lyrics talking about the end and paradise. Suddenly I heard a knock on the front door. I went downstairs and opened the door.
"Oh hey Dusk I knew you would be here" It was Raven speaking.
"Oh hi Raven. Um were you looking for me or?"
"Yeah I thought we could hang for a little bit" She was obviously skipping school just like me.
I invited her in and we went up to my room where my music was still playing. We both sat down on my bed. She was the first one to speak.
"Ah I love this song. It's one of my favorites" She said as a new track started playing.
"Yeah it's a good one" I replied
"So I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to sleep over at my house on friday. My parents are working so it would just be you,me,Gloomy and Bones.
"Sure that sounds like fun" I replied sounding somewhat happy.
"Okay good well see you on friday then" And with that I followed her downstairs and she left and walked in the direction of the town square.
The week was really un-eventfull and passed quickly and finally it was Friday afternoon. I stood outside the school gates and waited for the rest of them to show up. After five minutes of waiting Bones and Gloomy showed up. We small talked for a bit untill Raven showed up.
"Hey guys let's start heading to my house" She said as she came from around the corner.
"Where were you Raven?" I asked curiously as we began walking.
"I'll tell you late Dusk" She replies with.
I nodded and we walked the rest of the way small talking a bit. It took us ten minutes to walk from school to Ravens house. When we reached the door she pulled out a key from her saddleback and unlocked the door.
"You three go ahead and wait for me in my room I just need to lock the door."
We walked into Ravens room and sat down on the floor and waited for her. Her room had black painted walls and the walls were decorated with a lot of posters. On the floor three mattresses were laid out. Raven walked in and joined us after having locked the front door. The next few hours passed quickly. We walked and listened to music. We even read poetry and lastly we ate dinner. When we were done eating and doing the dishes it was about nine o'clock in the evening. We walked back into Ravens room and sat down when I remembered what I had asked her earlier today and decided to ask her again.
"So where were you earlier today Raven?"
She looked up at me before starting to talk.
"Okay so I have something special planned for tonight"
We all listened as she got ready to tell her story.
"Okay so I was walking around the town square earlier today not wanting to go and attend class. So there were a few colts around there that decided that it would be funny to shout mean words at me. So I decided to walk into the Canterlot Public Library knowing that they wouldn't follow me. So when I was in the library I wanted to go and find a book or two that we could read today because I know how you guys love a good scary or depressing book. I was walking around the library when I saw a part of the library I had never been in before. It was furthest back in a corner of the library. So as I decided to go over there and see what kind of books that were there I only found one book."
And with that she paused and pulled out a book from her saddlebag. It was a thick book with a black front cover and the only visible words were "Necromancy and other superstisions". All three of us looked amazed at the book while Raven sat on her bed smiling a smug smile.
"So anyway I rented this book from the library and I sat around for a bit in the town square reading for a bit. I came to chapter three which was called Ghosts & other Superstision. In the chapter it talked about the dead rising from their graves during a full moon if you have a unicorn that can perform a simple spell listed in this book."
Me,Bones and Gloomy looked at Raven thinking that she couldn't possibly want us to do what we thought she wanted us to do.
"So I thought we could give it a try just for fun since it's a full moon tonight."
The three of us looked at each other and then back to Raven. And all at the same time we nodded.
"Good then we better get moving"
And with that we walked out of the house and locked the door behind us and after that we started to walk torwards Canterlot Cemetary. I had a feeling that this would be a very bad idea.
Chapter 6: The Cemetary
"This looks like as good of a place as any" Raven said already sitting down.
The rest of us did what she had done and sat down next to her. We were on a small hill in a remote corner of the cemetary. We could see far over the rows of gravestones. We were also sitting with our backs to the cemetary wall and a couple of oak trees. Me, Gloomy and Bones were looking at the surroundings when Raven cleared her throat to get our attention.
"Well my gentlecolts before we begin I want to read you all a poem"
The three of us instantly redirected our attention to Raven as she began.
"As we trott along in our lives. Never forgett whats important. Remember your friends,Remember your pain and remember that you are mortal."
We clapped our hooves as she finished
"Thank you. And now back to the reason we are here"
Her horn started to glow as she levitated the book off the ground and up to her face. She flipped through the pages until she came to the right page.
"Okay before we begin if anypony wants to backout do it now"
We shook our heads to say that all of us wanted to proceed.
"Good let's continue then" She scanned the pages of the book and mumbled something we couldn't quiet hear.
"Domine exaudi me. Mortuos excitare vos dicimus. Obsecro ab nobis" Raven spoke strange words from the book while casting some sort of spell. And when she was finished. Nothing. Nothing had happened. She finished and started to look around.
"Meh like I thought it's fake" she sighed loudly
Suddenly we heard wings flapping and it was followed by a dark booming voice.
"What are you doing here!"
All of us jumped and Raven got scared and out of reflex she shouted
"RUN"
And we did as she said. We ran out of fear. It was dark and we couldn't see where we were running. I tripped over a gravestone and fell to the ground. Raven and Gloomy stopped and shouted for Bones to slow down. That's when it happened. Bones quickly turned his head to look at us while he was still running. He tripped over a gravestone and disappeard into the darkness. The only thing we heard was a loud crack and a thump. I quickly got up on my hooves and we ran torwards where Bones had been.
When we got to the gravestone he fell over the only thing we saw on the other side was a dark hole.
"Raven use your horn to light up the hole"
She used an Illumination spell and we all took a few stepps closer to the hole. When we looked down my heart stopped for a second. Bones was lying down in the hole in a puddle of blood. Raven screamed and started to cry. I was panicking and then Gloomy jumped down into the hole. He started to shake Bones body violently.
"Wake up Bones! Stop screwing around and get up! WAKE UP!" he shouted while shaking the body of his best friend
We didn't even notice when a Canterlot guard arrived to see what was going on.
"Whats going on here? I heard screaming" He sounded confused and started to walk over to the hole. When he saw what had happened he jumped down into the hole and tried to drag up Gloomy to me and Raven. Gloomy didn't offer much resistance and was quickly dragged up and placed on the ground next to Raven who was now lying with her face down into the ground crying and screaming. The guard hurried over to me and tried to talk to me. I was having a panick attack so I couldn't answer when he tried to speak to me.
"Stay here and don't move" He said as he galloped away to fetch more guards. He returned after about five minutes with six more guards. I had now collapsed next to Raven and Gloomy and was crying aswell. One of the guards quickly ordered the others to take us to the guard station. Two guards grabbed onto me and Raven and began to try and get us to walk with them. When they tried to help Gloomy he lashed out and screamed and kicked. The guards had to have three ponies grab onto him and drag him with them down to the guard station. Neither me nor Raven could move we were just barely conscious as they walked away with us.
We were sitting down on a couch in the guard station. Several guards tried to talk to us but got no answers. Raven and Gloomy were still crying hysterically and in a state of shock after two hours. The captain of the guard entered the room and trotted up to me. I wasn't crying anymore as he attempted to speak to me.
"What's your name son?" He asked me
"S...Silver Steed" That was all I managed to say.
"Okay Silver here is whats going to happen. We are going to keep you three here untill tomorrow morning and then we will ask you some questions okay?"
I just nodded. After he was done explaining what was going to happen the three of us were put into separate cells for the night. I fell asleep on the bed still traumatised. I awoke when I heard a guard scream for help and then I heard the sound of hooves running through the hallway. I heard the hooves coming closer again and I looked out into the hallway. What I saw was three guards run past carrying Gloomy. He wasn't breathing.
Chapter 7: Interrogation
I woke up with the sun shining through the window and on my face. I heard hoofsteps coming closer and then my celldoor was unlocked.
"Slept well?" I heard a guard ask. I turned to face him. He was smiling. Probably trying to cheer me up a bit.
"I have never slept worse in my life" I answered him.
He was starting to look a bit uncomfortable now.
"Anyway. The captain wants to ask you and your friends some questions so please follow me" He started to walk down the hallway and I followed him. I looked around in the hallway before I turned my attention back to him. I cleared my throat and then I asked him.
"What happened to my friend Gloomy?. I saw some guards rush away with him." Of course I already knew the answer.
"Nothing. He just felt a bit sick. Anyway well soon be at the captains office." He avoided my question and that was more of an answer than he knew.
Before I knew it the guard stopped.
And with that the guard wandered back down the hallway and left me standing alone outside the office. My head was spinning and I felt a bit weird. I took a deep breath and then pushed the door open and walked into the room. As I entered the captain motioned for me to sit down on a chair in front of his desk. There were two chairs in front of the desk one empty and on the other sat Raven. I felt a bit better when I saw her. She turned and looked at me. I could see that she hadn't slept and that she had been crying a lot. I walked over and sat on the chair next to her. As I sat down the captain cleared his throat to get our attention. Both Raven and I turned our heads and looked at him.
"Alright. So I just want to ask you some simple questions really quickly if that is okay?"
We both nodded.
"Okay. So let's start with what is your names"
"S...Star Charmer" Raven answered almost whispering.
"And you?" He looked at me
"Silver Steed" I answered him.
"Alright" He was writing down our answers on a notepad.
"Do both of you live here in Canterlot?"
"Yes" we both answered
"Okay. So what were you doing at the cemetery in the middle of the night?"
"We were out there reading horror poems" I told him
Raven looked at me trying to figure out why I had lied but she didn't say anything.
"Alright. So can you tell me what happened last night from when you left home until we found you?"
I told him everything that happened and he wrote it down. When I was done he stopped writing and looked at us again.
"Okay so before I let you go do you have any questions?"
"What happened to Gloomy?" I said before Raven had a chance to ask.
The captain sighed. "I am going to be honest with you. Your friend tried to kill himself. He tried to hang himself wit his bed sheets but he failed. He is now at the Canterlot hospital.
I could see that Raven was upset by this. So we got up and left the office. When we were out in the hall we were shown the way out of the building by two guards. The streets were still empty since it was really early in the morning. As we walked the streets home we didn't say anything to each other. We reached my home first. As Raven was about to leave I broke the silence and spoke.
"Um if you ever need to talk I am here for you"
She ignored me and just walked away. I turned to open the door but it opened before I could grip the door knob. I stepped to the side of the entrance and out of my house came a Canterlot guard. Confusion stuck me for a second then I realized he must have informed my mother about everything that had happened. When the guard had passed me I tried to sneak quietly into the house. As I was about to walk up the staircase I heard my mothers voice from the living room.
"Silver come in here. I want to talk to you about last night"
I took a deep breath and with my head hanging down in shame I started to walk towards the living room where my mother was waiting.
Chapter 8: Confrontation
My mom looked at me as I entered the living room. I could see the anger and disappointment in her eyes. I stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at her.
"You wanted to talk to me?"
She nodded and then proceeded to get of the couch and walked over so she stood face to face with me. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and then she spoke.
"Care to explain to me about last night?"
I looked her straight in the eyes and then I spoke.
"We went to the cemetery to read horror poems and then we heard something that startled us so we ran and then Bones tripped into a grave" My eyes were starting to tear up a bit from just talking about it.
"You do realize what you have done?" She asked in a harsh tone.
I shook my head.
"I haven't done anything"
Suddenly she raised her voice and screamed
I was shocked from what I heard and raised my voice in return.
"I am shipping you of to Canterlot Cadet school first thing tomorrow morning." and with that the discussion ended. As quickly as I could I turned around and ran upstairs. I went up to the attic and hid in a corner where I collapsed onto the floor in tears. The crying continued for over an hour. When I was done crying I wiped away a few remaining tears and then I stood up on my four hooves and walked over to and old closet in the corner of the attic. I retrieved an old knife from the closet. It was stained with old blood from the previous times I had been using it and never washed it. I had put the knife there so I could use it when I wanted to inflict pain on myself. I took a quickly look at the knife and then I took a firm grip of it in my left hoof. The tears started to flow again and I took a deep breath and moved the knife over my right front hoof. I made a quick cut along the length of it. As the blood started to slowly pour out of the wound and onto the floor I whispered to myself.
"Cadet School" I sighed
The next day I awoke early. I yawned and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I looked at the clock on my nightstand 7 it said. I stayed in bed and just got lost in thoughts for a while. Cadet School was the first thing that came to my mind and I was instantly reminded of yesterday. My brother had been sent to Cadet school about a year ago and I had refused to think about it. He had sent me a couple of letters describing his time there. Hell on Equestria he had called it. The few times he had been allowed home to visit he refused to talk about it. And now mother wanted to send me there. I had never really understood why she had sent my brother there. She had said it was because he lacked discipline but I guess I would find out when I meet him there. It would be nice to see him again. It had been three months since I last met him. Finally I decided to get out of bed after about ten minutes. I went about my normal routine of showering and then eating breakfast. As I was eating breakfast mom entered the kitchen. She saw that I was busy eating and decided to speak.
"I am going down to the town center later so you will be alone for a while"
I just nodded and she left the kitchen. I sighed in relief as she had not noticed the new scar on my front hoof. I finished my breakfast and went back upstairs and read some while listening to music. After a couple of hours I heard as she left the house. I kept reading for a while but was interrupted when somepony knocked on the front door. I walked downstairs and saw a bunch of letters on the floor. It had been the mail mare delivering our mail. I checked trough the stack of letters and found one addressed to me. It was from my brother. He always sent me a letter every other week. I got excited and ripped the envelope open and began reading. The letter was really weird and nothing like the letters he usually sent me. It was really short and ended with "I hope we meet again". The letter confused me a lot but before I could think about it for to long mom came back home. I hurried upstairs and hid the letter in my room like I always did since she hated that I got letter from my brother. She called my name from the kitchen and I walked down and into the kitchen where she was unpacking groceries.
"You called?" I asked
"Yes I need to talk to you about something important" She answered and sounded a bit annoyed. I sat down on a chair at the kitchen table and got ready to listen to what she had to say.
"I have now singed you up for Cadet school. You leave in two days."
My heart sank as she said it. I knew there was no idea to argue so I kept quiet.
"You can go and say good bye to your friends but tomorrow you are spending the day at home."
I sighed and then opened my mouth.
"I am going to go say good bye now"
She nodded and then I gout up and walked into the hallway and then out the door. I decided to say bye to Gloomy first and headed to the hospital where he still were. It took me fifteen minutes to finally get to see him after arriving at the hospital. A nurse showed me the way to his room and then left. When I entered he was awake. I could see that he was happy to see me.
"Hey dusk" He said sounding happy.
He was in a hospital bed and he looked terrible. He had shadows around his eyes from not sleeping and I noticed that he had been crying but I decided to not bring it up to not make him feel bad.
"Hey Gloomy how are you doing?" I replied genuinely sounding happy.
"So what brings you around here then?"
"I wanted to see how you were doing." I told him
"Okay at the moment" He looked at me and saw me frowning a bit.
I take a deep breath and sight "I am actually here to say bye because I am being sent to cadet school in two days." I see that his smile shrinks
"That sucks. Have you told Raven yet?"
"Nah I am going to tell her after I am done here" We both remain quiet for a bit thinking of what to say. After a bit Gloomy changes the subject and we spend the next twenty minutes talking about music and other things. I glance at the clock and see that it had just turned two. I tell him that I need to go to talk to Raven now so I say goodbye and set out to get to Raven's house. During my walk I think about a lot of things but mostly I think about the fun times I have had with Raven and the others. And I even think about the fact that I have developed a crush on her. When I finally reach her house I stand there for a good five minutes before I actually knock on the door. As I knock Raven's mom opens the door and lets me in. I walk to Raven's room and knock on the door.
"Come in" I hear her answer from inside.
I open the door and walk in.
"Oh hey Dusk. How are you doing?"
"Not to good" I tell her.
"How come? you not feeling well?" she asks looking confused.
"I just came here to say Goodbye to you"
Raven looks shocked and even more confused and then she asks me
"What do you mean goodbye?"
I look her right in the eyes and I tell her "I am being shipped of to Cadet School"
"For how long?" she asks quickly
"At least three years" I tell her sounding sad.
She goes quiet and then she gets up from her bed and walk over to me so she is standing face to face with me. I get confused and am about to ask her why she is standing so close but before I can even ask her she kiss me. I freeze from surprise and confusion and before I can ask her why she did that she speaks.
"I...um have had a crush on you for a while and I might as well tell you now since you are leaving". I can't believe what she was saying.
"To be honest I have a crush on you too" I tell her and I see that she begins to smile.
"Um...since I will be leaving for a while would you maybe want to um...go on a date with me?" I ask her nervously.
"I would love to" she answers. I look into her eyes and extend my hoof out to her and she grabs it in her hoof and after that we walk out of her room and she tells her mom that she is going out. After that we leave her house holding hooves as we go on our date.
