Despite all my pain, despite all my fear, I am lonely no more for my Brother is here.
Ten years after the fall of Discord and the inauguration of the Royal Princess Sisters, Princess Celestia established the School for Gifted Unicorns within the eastern wing of her castle. It was said to be one of the key institutions for the recovery of Equestria, yet it’s true purpose remained shrouded in mystery. Only the Princess herself, and key faculty members knew that Celestia was looking for somepony, somepony that would take up the mantle, and maintain harmony in Equestria forever.
* * *
Olive trotted down the hallway at a brisk pace; he always hated being late for class, it meant that everypony would be starring at him as he walked into the classroom, he hated that attention. Olive never got along with the other ponies, most of them picked on him because of his weak magic. He could use his magic to pick up a quill, anything more strenuous than that was impossible for him. He picked up the pace as he imagined the faces of his classmates glaring at him for entering late. His classroom was just around the corner, and Olive was anxious to get there, he began to gallop as he rounded the corner.
“Well look who it is.”
Well buck. Olive knew that voice all too well. He turned around and faced the voice and found the pony he was expecting. It was Royal Blue along with his two minions, Legionnaire and Glorious Dawn. Of all the bullies that Olive had to put up with, these three were by far the worst. They we’re all decedents of old royalty and felt as though this made them better than everyone else, especially ponies like Olive who couldn’t cast a spell to save his life. Olive tried to run away, being late to class was much better than having to put up with these guys. Yet as he began move he felt himself being enveloped by a blue aura of magic, and was lifted into the air.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Royal Blue asked with a smug grin, “We just wanted to hang with you.”
Glorious Dawn laughed as she watched Olive struggle in Royal Blue’s magic, Legionnaire on the other hoof wore his face stone cold as usual.
“Leave me alone you guys.” Olive said, “I’m late for class.”
Royal Blue exchanged looks with his friends before adding “Really? You too? We’re also late for class,” his evil grin grew, “maybe we should all go in together so that it’s less embarrassing for us.”
Olive found himself being dragged across the floor by the aura of magic as the trio began to make their way towards the classroom. Legionnaire opened the classroom door with his magic and nodded to Royal Blue with a dark twinkle in his eye. The next thing Olive knew, he was launched through the open door and slid along the ground until he came to the hooves of an old pony with a long white beard, who was wearing a old blue cloak decorated with stars and constellations. He looked down upon Olive and gave a warm smile.
“Olive, so happy you could make it. Are you alright?”
At this point Olive was trying to hold back the tears, he had never been so humiliated in his life. He fought back the sorrow before answering simply, “Yes professor Starswirl.”
“Excellent, now please take your seat.” Starswirl lifted his head and noticed the trio of other ponies who had just entered, “That goes for you too, Blue.” Royal Blue and the others gave a simple nod before taking their seats at the back of the classroom. Olive crawled his way into a desk before burying his head in his forehoofs.
Starswirl the Bearded was an old pony, by far the oldest teacher in the school. He had been a personal friend to Luna and Celestia and had gone on many adventures with them many years ago. He was also one of the nicest teachers that Olive had ever known, he always believed in Olive, in fact most of the school faculty insisted that Olive wasn’t fit for this school; it was Starswirl who changed their minds, claiming that there was great magic inside him just waiting to be revealed. Unfortunately, Starswirl was also quite oblivious to things such as bullying. He constantly mistook Royal Blue’s torments as practical jokes and would simply pass by and let them happen.
“Now class, I have a treat for you today.” Starswirl began, “Today we have a special guest, a representative from none other than the Crystal Empire!”
He motioned a hoof over to a beautiful young mare with skin of pure crystal. The lights reflected and sparkled across her radiant skin, she stepped forward and began to address the class.
“Thank you, Starswirl. It is such an honor to be here. My name is Softlight Gem, and yes, I am a representative of the Crystal Empire. Equestria and the Crystal Empire are good friends, and have been working together since the beginning of Luna’s and Celestia’s rule to ensure that harmony is reflected across the entire world…”
Something soft hit the back of Olive’s neck, he turned to find a crumpled up piece of paper lying on the ground. He struggled, but managed to pick it up with him magic levitating it up on to his desk. He opened up the ball and saw what was on the paper; it was a drawing of him sliding across the floor, with a note attached that read, “You make an excellent mop!” Olive Crumpled up the note and discarded it,
“… The Crystal Empire’s unique power can spread magic across the entire world, which is why we must work together to ensure that Harmony remains in Equestria and the Empire…”
Another note hit the back of Olive’s head, he picked it up and opened it. It was another picture of him sliding on the ground and crashing into a bunch of pins, the note attached said, “Next up, bowling! (Bring your own ball)”
* * *
Starswirl’s class had gotten out late like it usually does, and Olive was doing his best to hide amongst the crowd of students leaving the classroom. There was something about being used as a bowling ball that didn’t quite appeal to Olive, and he was going to do his best to avoid it if at all possible. The ball of ponies continued until they reached the end of the hallway, then everypony dispersed in every direction, leaving Olive alone and in the open.
“Well if it isn’t our favorite sliding buddy!” Royal Blue’s voice came from directly behind him.
Olive hung his head, “Leave me alone you guys, I’m not playing your stupid bowling game.”
Olive hadn’t noticed that Glorious Dawn and Legionnaire had moved around in front of him, surrounding him, Royal Blue approached from behind. “Actually we’ve been talking about that.” The three bullies circled around him until Royal Blue was in front of Olive. “We’ve decided that you don’t have to go bowling with us.” This caught Olive completely off guard; this wasn’t like them, unless of course, there was a catch. “That is, if you’d be willing to do something for us.” And there it was.
Olive didn’t like where this was going, they were up to no good and he knew it. Yet still he reluctantly asked, “What do you want me to do?”
Royal Blue approached, his smile looking all the more menacing, “Legionnaire has left his Alteration book in the Canterlot Caves. If you go down there and find it, we promise to stop messing with you for the rest of the year.”
This was by far the dumbest deal Olive had ever heard of, “Are you CRAZY? Nopony is allowed in the Canterlot Caves!” Olive looked down to see that he was already wrapped in Royal Blue’s magic; he was lifted into the air.
“Well if you won’t do it then we can always go back to bowling!”
Olive struggled to break free of the aura of magic, but it was no use. Instead he shut his eyes tight and let out a wail, “STOP!”
“HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!”
Olive opened his eyes and turned along with the trio of bullies to see the pony who had spoken up. Before them stood a pink unicorn mare with a short purple mane, her purple eyes were shooting daggers at Royal Blue and his gang.
Glorious Dawn was the first to speak up, “What do you want, Wild Flower?”
Wild flower took another step forward, “I said, leave him alone!” Olive had never seen Glorious Dawn so enraged before, she looked like she was ready to tear the mare to pieces. Royal Blue on the other hoof simply smiled.
“Aw come on now,” he said, “We were just having a bit of fun with him.”
Wild Flower wasn’t amused, “Put him down! NOW!”
He shrugged, “As you wish.” The magical aura around Olive dissipated and he plummeted down to earth, he hit the ground with a small thud. Royal Blue continued, “Olive was just going to do a small favor for us.”
Wild Flower took another step forward, “Well he’s not going to!” Royal Blue turned around to face Olive, who was still lying on the floor.
“Come on, Olive, you’re not going to make this girl fight all your battles for you,” Olive winced, Royal Blue’s words made him feel pathetic, “You do this one thing for us, and we’ll leave you alone!”
Olive looked away in embarrassment; he never wanted anyone to have to save him, he just wanted to be left alone. He wished that he could be a brave pony, a pony who could stand up for himself. He looked to Wild Flower, who was standing tall in the face of these bullies; even her bravery wouldn’t make the bullying stop, only he could make them stop. He sighed; this was by far the dumbest thing he could even imagine. “I’ll do it.” Olive said.
Everypony turned in surprise; one by one a smile formed on each of the bully’s faces, Wild Flower could only stare.
“Excellent.” Royal Blue began, “Meet us in the courtyard, tonight. Be there!” Royal Blue along with his entourage turned and walked away. After a brief moment, Wild Flower approached Olive.
“You didn’t have to do that you know?” She said simply. Olive couldn’t even look up at her; instead he just sat there, his head heavy with shame.
“Yes I did.”
* * *
Luna’s moon was high in the sky, covering the courtyard in a blanket of white light. Olive was sure that nopony had seen him sneak out, but he was remaining cautious nonetheless. It was strictly forbidden to be off school grounds at night Ahead of him Olive could see the silhouettes of Royal Blue and his gang stationed around the courtyard fountain.
“You made it.” Blue said as Olive reluctantly approached, “I almost thought you chickened out!” With out hesitating Royal Blue turned around and started to walk towards the front gate. “Come on! The cave is this way!”
The four ponies traveled across the courtyard and to the gate at the far end. The gate was then enveloped in a blue field of magic and swung open; Royal Blue led the group through the gate before closing it behind him.
Beyond the castle walls were the streets of Canterlot, which was nothing more than a newly found village. The homes were all dark and there were no ponies about, the group continued on undetected. They traveled down until they reached the face of the mountain, which the village was built upon. Royal Blue led them along the mountain face until they came upon a small hole that tunneled down into the mountainside.
“Alright Olive, this is it. You find the book and bring it back!” Olive gulped; the shadows were so dark that he couldn’t see five feet in front of him. He turned to face Royal Blue who seemed to all too eager for Olive to step into the dark cave.
“I-I don’t want to do this.” Royal Blue gave Olive an unamused grunt.
“Are you going to go down there? Or am I going to have to throw you down there?”
Olive clearly wasn’t getting out of this. He returned his gaze back to the dark cave; he could only imagine what he would find down there. His body began to shake and his heart started to pound in his chest. With a deep breath he finally managed to put one trembling hoof in front of the other and began his descent into the cave.
* * *
The details of the cave were finally starting to become visible, Olive wasn’t certain if there was some light source somewhere in the cave, or if his eyes were adjusting to the darkness. The walls and floor were a soft blue and were decorated by many clusters of crystals; he could see his reflection in most of them. He paused and stared at the reflection in one of the bigger crystals; the pony on the other side of the reflection looked lost, confused, scared. Damn. This was easily the dumbest decision that Olive had ever made.
He looked around the section of cave that he was in; he could see dozens of tunnels that branched off in multiple directions. He tried to find the tunnel that he had come down, but every passage looked the same as all the others; he was lost.
Fear gave way to despair. Olive galloped over to each tunnel desperately trying to find the one that leads home. None of them looked right. He collapsed to the ground, tears streaming from his eyes. He was lost, and nopony was here to save him. The shadows seemed to slither towards him, surrounding him, embracing him. He cried, wallowing in his pain, in his fear, he was alone, he was always alone.
Crack
The sudden noise caused Olive to jump a little; he looked around for the source, but saw nothing. He stood, shifting his gaze to each of the tunnels surrounding him. His eyes finally fell upon the same large crystal that he had been gazing in; he saw his reflection, and behind it a large pair of glowing red eyes.
Olive turned and saw the eyes glaring at him from the shadows. He turned tail and ran, letting out a terror filled scream as he did. He galloped down into a tunnel that seemed to go deeper into the cave; the tunnel was long and winding, and was growing darker and darker every second. Olive’s heart was pounding in his chest, his entire body filled with shear terror; his legs seemed to be moving on their own, carrying him deeper and deeper into the shadowy tunnel.
He rounded another corner in the tunnel and came face to face with two more sets of glowing red eyes. Olive skidded to a halt before turning around to dart down the tunnel again. The first pair of red eyes were already there, waiting for him. He was surrounded. The eyes moved in unison, creeping closer and closer. Olive looked desperately for an escape, but there was nothing. He fell to the ground and buried his head in his hooves.
“HEEEELLLLPPP!” He cried. No one answered; tears were once again streaming down his cheeks. The eyes moved in closer; Olive shut his eyes tight, he was waiting for the eyes to pounce, for the eyes to tear him apart; he waited, and waited. Nothing. Then suddenly laughter filled the tunnel. Olive looked; from the shadows emerged Royal Blue, Legionnaire, and Glorious Dawn, their eyes all glowing red.
“Wow! I can’t believe he cried!” Glorious Dawn cackled.
Royal Blue approached “I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to fall for this!” A new fount of tears emerged behind Olive’s eyes. “I’m sorry Olive, but you can’t go crying to mommy when you’re lost in a dark cave now can you?” The bullies began to circle around Olive, “What? Did you really think that we would leave a textbook in someplace like this? HA! You must be stupider than you–”
Olive watched in horror as vines suddenly sprouted from the ground and entangled themselves around the bullies. The vines wrapped coiled around Royal Blue’s throat and lifted him up, pinning him and the others against the tunnel walls.
“I KNEW YOU WOULD TRY SOMETHING LIKE THIS!”
Olive turned to see Wild Flower standing where Royal Blue was standing, her eyes filled with fury, her horn glowing.
“I KNEW YOU WERE UP TO NO GOOD!”
She bowed her head as the vines lowered the three ponies off the walls and onto the floor, the vines still binding them in place. She turned her attention to Olive, who was still lying on the floor. “Are you alright?” She asked. Olive nodded.
“I’M GOING TO MURDER YOU!” screamed Glorious Dawn before a vine coiled around her jaw like a muzzle. Wild Flower offered Olive a hoof, and he took it, letting her help him up onto his hooves.
“Come on,” she said, “lets get out of here.” She dropped her magic and released the captive ponies from their binds before turning and heading down the tunnel. Olive started to follow her before she stopped, her ears twitched curiously. “Do you hear that?” She asked.
Olive listened; he could just barely make out a light hum coming from the end of the tunnel. Royal Blue perked his ears up, also trying to distinguish the strange sound. The hum began to grow and started to vibrate across the crystal walls. A brilliant flash of green illuminated the entire tunnel revealing dozens of blue eyes flying in their direction. Another flash of green and Wild Flower let out a yelp in surprise as a large black insect collided with her and tackled her to the ground. Olive then felt the impact of a body colliding with him, he fell to the ground, his head hitting against the hard rock. He could hear the screams of the other ponies echo in his head as the whole world faded to darkness.