Shadow Equestria: The Poisoned Curse

You know when you have those kinds of falling dreams? The ones where you think that there's going to be a big SPLAT when you end the dream... Well, right now, that's not a dream for me.

I'm actually falling through some sort of void-darkness and I have no idea how this happened, the last thing I remember is seeing the purple fog and then a bright light. I have no idea how long I've been falling, I have no idea how fast I am going, the one thing I do know is that I have a gut feeling that the fated SPLAT will be coming soon.

"Speak of the devil and he shall come" I think to myself as my eyes finally register color, all I see is a giant mess of green before I hit the ground... Hard... Hard enough to knock me back into darkness.

Lyra... ten minutes ago

I can't believe it, I can't even walk through ponyville now without being laughed at... at least they don't go and say something stupid like "humans never existed..." because the archeologists have already uncovered ruins in the mountains near Gryphonia that there was an ancient race of humans that once lived there.

At least I can take a walk through the everfree without being bothered, everypony else is so scared of the place that they don't come anywhere near here... I don't see what's so scary about the place... just because they can't control it doesn't make it evil. at least I can find a place to sit and play my Lyre in peace.

Lyra... Now

"ooohhh..." I groan loudly as I recover from the impact, I feel a heavy amount of weight on me and at first I think that a log fell on me or something. As I start to recover my senses I find out that there's actually a creature on top of me... I amazingly lift the hulk off of me with my sheer strength and boastfully declare to the beast that I am far stronger and that it should leave before I get angry... or at least... that's what I'm going to tell my friends... sadly enough, I scrambled away in a panic thinking that I was going to die there.

After bravely scrambling over to the nearest tree to hide behind I finally steady my breathing as I look around the tree at the creature that fell on top of me. Needless to say I was shocked, actually, I was more than shocked... I was convinced that I had the most amazing find ever! The thing I looked at didn't look like any creature recorded in the everfree yet.

I thought to myself about how I could possibly use the discovery of this strange creature to help Bon-Bon out with the house. So, purely out of the interest of discovery science and not a single ounce of fearful curiosity, I crept over to the creature. It hadn't moved from where it had fallen so I assumed that it was unconscious, I took a closer look and noticed that it was wearing some sort of fabric all over it's body... well, it was either that or it had REALLY short fur... Although it had a long mane that reached down to it's shoulders, it's mane was black and each strand had a kind of silver color at its tip. I was really hoping that its mane wasn't poisonous or something like that. I began a curious look over its body and noticed that it was definitely wearing clothes, so I assumed that maybe whatever it was... it was actually an inteligent being.

That was when I noticed the cuts, there were several that had torn through the clothes and revealed bare skin and bleeding wounds. Fortunately, most of them weren't bleeding heavily and a few even looked like they had already stopped bleeding. The thing that confused me the most was its face,it had a shape similar to mine... sorta... but its face was completely white with what looked like paint on it, its face felt like it was made of some sort of clay or stone so I guessed that the creature had a really strange face. What was really curious about it was that it looked like its eyes were slanted shut and it had no mouth... it also had a marking on it's forehead. As I went to touch the mark I recoiled because the creature started to wake up.

Hikaru

"Oh my head..." I blinked a few times as my eyes adjusted to the light, oddly enough everything seemed brighter than usual... it must be noon. It took a lot of effort to finally get up in a sitting position and I definitely grunted in pain somewhere on the journey up. I placed my left hand against my head to try and get rid of the headache that now accompanied me sitting up.

In order to get an idea of where I was I began to look around for something I could climb on to get a good view of where I was, Fortunately I was in a forest so I could easily climb one of the trees to get a good view. As I turned to my right I saw something I never thought I would in my lifetime... A green horse... Not just a green horse though, a green horse with a horn on it. When I noticed the horn I also noticed something else, it was examining ME. horses normally, in my experience, look at you then decide whether to run or not, but this thing was studying me. I failed the first rule of all of my missions... Never be seen.

I saw this thing's expression change to something akin of a fight or flight expression and I prayed it was flight because it was too close for me to use any of my techniques effectively. The last thing I was expecting though... actually I can't even say it was the last thing because I WASN'T expecting this at all... The creature made some sort of high-pitched squeal and lunged at my midsection with a look of joy on its face. Since it took me off guard I can't really say that I could blame the creature for being able to knock the wind out of me but the vice-like grip it held me in was surprisingly strong. After several seconds it finally let go and began to prance around like a horse would when they were happy. I think from the sound of its voice that it was female, she kept saying something about "Greatest discovery ever..." and "gonna be able to help with my house..." Both of which made me think that this was a very bad idea, I slowly began to reach for my kunai pouch so as not to draw it's attention.

"... you speak?" The partial question caught me a bit off guard, I tipped my head to the side, my hand's progress to my weapon had been halted by my curiosity. She made a loud sigh before asking her question again.

"Can you speak? Like... Can you understand me?" I nodded and this seemed to please her, she sat down in front of me and clacked both of her front hooves together in a way that I never thought horses could move their appendages.

"That's so great, What are you?" A look of realization crossed her face as she finished her question so she rephrased it, "Are you a human?" I was incredibly happy I had my keaton mask on because of the bewildered look I had on probably would have made her laugh at me, so I settled on a simple answer.

"Yes I am." I don't know what I was expecting her reaction to be, but nearly leaping several feet into the air from a sitting position with no visible means of exerted effort was definitely on the Did-Not-Expect list. When she finally reached the ground again it seemed that she could tell from my body language that I was a little uncomfortable with what was going on, which was certainly understandable since I was in a place that I had no information on. That was also when she decided to ask me another question.

"So, what's your name?" It took me several seconds before I decided to respond, I didn't see any immediate danger from using my real name... I also knew that I should've stabbed myself for speaking without really thinking.

"My name is Hikaru Hyuuga... what about you?" She clacked her hooves together again several times before she gave me her answer.

"My name is Lyra Heartstrings." She had a giddy smile on her face that was replaced with a look of confusion when she asked her next question, "How can you talk without a mouth?" She winced a little as I did a facepalm, it honestly stung my hand a little when I slapped my mask but I didn't let her know that.

"I do have a mouth..." I deadpanned, "I'm just wearing a mask..." She gave a gasp of recognition before continuing her questioning.

"Oh yeah... Like a Nightmare Night celebration? but... I've never heard of anypony who would wear a Nightmare Night mask at any other time of the year." I held up a hand to silence her.

"It's a part of what I do, unfortunately I have no idea where I am or why... The main reason I'm not panicking right now is because creatures similar to you are not unfamiliar to where I'm from so, any information you can give me would be really helpful." She nodded a few times before she began to give me a few details about the nearby area, about how we were in a place called the Everfree forest... a place where plants grew naturally and the animals were untamed by ponies, I interjected at that point and told her that it wasn't so inherently evil just for those reasons... which she then explained was the reason why she had been here in the first place. Once all the relative information was cleared up I finally asked her about the local population, it came as no surprise to me that she said that most of the population were ponies or other creatures from my land's myths. I actually had laughed when I heard that the locals might be scared of seeing me, when she asked me what was so funny I told her that it was my job not to be seen and that I could easily get through her town without being noticed.

"Hold completely still so I can get a good look at you, if this works I will be able to get through town without causing problems." She was strangely compliant as I walked around her, I felt kinda awkward as I circled around her backside... I strangely felt like I was looking at something I shouldn't have, I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as I continued my inspection. When I finally got around to her front again I quickly used my transformation jutsu to make myself look like her. I had to stifle a chuckle when the smoke cleared because this Lyra creature was looking at me like I had just blown her mind.

"...I...how...But... You..." she sputtered, it took a lot of my willpower to keep from laughing.

"I know this may be strange..." I began, fortunately MY voice coming from HER mouth snapped her back to reality, "...but I'm just using an illusion, actually... guessing from your reaction I should probably do something a bit more subtle." After changing back she raised a hoof to stop me and ask a question.

"Can you take off your mask? I would actually like to see what you look like..." She bent one of her hooves behind the other as she continued, "... you sound like you're a really nice person and I want to see the real face of a human... it's kinda... been one of my lifelong goals... to see a real human... not just a depiction of one..."

Once again, against my better judgement, I decided to ponder the thought. This pony hadn't shown any sort of hostility toward me... and I was being given information crucial to learning more about this world. I slowly lifted my hands to my mask, the look of anticipation on Lyra's face made me think of a child opening their birthday present. Her look changed to one of concern as I took off my mask, her next sentence stung a little but I knew I had to let it go because she didn't know about my lineage.

"Oh no... I had no idea you were blind..." She quickly hugged me as if she thought I needed some sort of pity party.

"Miss Heartstrings, I'm not blind... It's just how my eyes look. I can see just as well as you can." Then I thought about it for a few seconds as she turned her gaze up to me with confusion. It was at that very moment that a plan formed in my head.

"Miss Heartstrings... I'm going to make myself look like a pet from your country... I'm also going to use the way my eyes naturally look to help me keep an eye on the town without any of your kind growing suspicious of me." The look of curiosity helped me form the next part of my plan, "I will need you to make the others of your kind think that you have a new pet that you want to take care of but you are concerned about my condition." she nodded in understanding so I proceeded to take a few steps back and used my transformation jutsu to turn into a black and white cat.

Now, while I was planning to simply ride on her back into town with all the locals giving those little 'aww's that everyone does when they see a cute cat, I did not plan on her squealing again and pulling off a convincing act of thinking I was just another adorable cat. So, without any further delay, we set off into town to let me learn more about the local population.