The Host of Insanity

Fwoosh! BOOM! CRACK!

I couldn’t differentiate one sound from another, the ringing in my ears made it hard to hear anything let alone tell if my spell had worked. The thing that ended up confirming that my spell had worked was the sudden scream of the fillies followed by whimpering and crying as well as the searing pain and heat.

That did confuse me a little, If my spell worked correctly, why was I in pain? My spell should have made a wall or shield of some sort to block the blast.

It wasn’t until the barrage upon my senses stopped and I could finally register what had happened. What I found was both a relief and an annoyance. The spell misfired in my adrenaline fueled haste and instead I had become the shield, shoving the fillies behind me and my cape as the fireworks were lit and exploded in my face. The damage as far as I could see seemed minimal, the armor doing it's job well in protecting its wearer. The only problem was, I couldn’t feel myself from the chest up, almost like I wasn’t there. I looked up from my kneeling position, that I had gone into at some point, to see the fillies rushing to their loved ones, except for a certain, orange pegasus with purple hair that was standing in front of me, staring like I was some freak at the circus.

“Scoots! Get away from that stallion! He’s way too dangerous for you to handle!” Yelled the cyan pegasus...why did all of these ponies seem so familiar, I wasn’t sure, but I thought that I knew them somehow.

“Why, he hasn’t done anything too bad? As a matter of fact, he just saved Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and I, so he should be rewarded for his efforts!” The filly yelled back.

When the filly had her head turned away from me, addressing five other ponies that I just couldn’t manage to make out, I reached out and grabbed her hand. It wasn’t a forceful grab, it was one filled with thanks and appreciation. At first she yanked her hand back, startled by the sudden contact, then she saw my, what I hoped was a, soft smile, she smiled back and pulled me up by my outstretched hand. I got up, wobbly at first but the one called Scoots helped me along the way towards where my bag and guitar were. The cyan pegasus stood there, malice in her eyes, in her fighting stance, as I reached for my crushed guitar with sadness in my eyes. My bag however was still intact thankfully, that blast would have torn it apart, so I guess I had something to thank the pegasus for.

With a nod of my head and the removal of my hood, burnt from the explosion, I headed towards the amassing crowd, led by none other than Pinkamena Diane Pie. Suddenly, my head felt fuzzy again, just like in the hospital, this time though, I had Scoots to lean on so I wouldn’t collapse. My body wanted to run, and it took all of my concentration to not let that happen.

“You are under arrest for attempted assault upon the Elements of Harmony.” Yelled a gold clad guard with a spear.

“Technically, I never had the intention to do anything except run from Pinkamena, but whatever, I’ll do my time as long as it's no longer than three days, I have things I need to do.” I replied smartly, receiving the butt end of the spear to the face for my comedic efforts.

“Hey now! There is no need to be rough here! He never even came close to harming us, he just startled us enough to escape the room while we were admittedly blocking the only other exit.” Said the purple unicorn, causing the guard to back down, albeit cautiously.

The same unicorn walked up to me, saying, “We thank you for your assistance...hmm...hey Applejack, isn’t this the same pony that helped your sister that one night three days ago? He seems to fit the description quite well.”

“Huh, ah guess so Twi, he sure does seem mighty close to lookin’ like what mah sister said. Is it the same pony Applebloom?” She asked the yellow filly, pink bow swaying in the evening breeze.

“Yeah he does! Ah never got to properly thank ya mister! So, thanks for the save, it’s much appreciated!” She said, running up to me and giving me a quick hug.

“Your welcome, now if you wouldn’t mind, I believe I would like to see a doctor of some sort, I’m not quite feeling myself at the moment...” As I said this, I felt a massive headache wash over me.

I clenched my head and, as I was escorted towards the hospital, saw Pinkie looking at me with a look of terror on her face, tears accompanying the whiteness her face became. I sent her a look that made it seem like I knew more than I was letting on, hopefully she would come to my room later and I could explain my earlier actions.

(_I__..__I_)

The doctors told me it was a minor concussion and that I could leave in a day or two. The guards confiscated my weapons and armor, thankfully Rarity was nice enough to make me clothes for when I could get out of these appalling rags the hospital had placed me in. The longer I stayed in the hospital, the more knowledge I gained about these ponies and their habits. My memories began coming back. I knew all about Twilight and the other Elements, I knew about Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo, Angel, Winona, Tank, whatever Rarity’s cat’s name is, Gummy, Owlicious, everypony and every animal in this town I knew at least a little bit about them, and I had no idea how. I remembered doing some research about this town and the Elements for the mission, but the things I knew were personal things that nopony but a select few could possibly know, and it was strange.

The doctors had managed to shed me of the crowd, all of them were gone except for the CMC and the Elements as well as the mayor. The CMC hugging me every chance they got, later being torn off by their siblings, except Scootaloo who simply hung onto my right arm, eyeing me carefully. I smiled at the filly as warmly as I could, something inside me nearly squealing in joy at her touch.

As the rest of the ponies in the room were talking about possible compensation for my actions, I was thinking back as far as I could, trying to find out how I knew so much about these ponies. I hadn’t realized I was still staring at Scootaloo until she subtly squeezed my arm, causing me to snap out of my trance. She looked into my eyes, seemingly into my soul. Her expression was simply one of worry, her smile combined with her slightly tilted head asking if I was okay. With a comforting smile that portrayed that I was alright, I looked back at the group of ponies in the room, the fillies jumping around yelling about superheros and the like.

Shaking my head I asked, “Hehe, those two are certainly dreamers aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they're normally the brains of our little crusades, my ideas barely made it to the drawing board.” Scootaloo replied with a sad smile.

“Oh really? They couldn't have been that bad. Tell me some of your ideas.” I continued, determined to get her out of her emotional stupor.

“Well, there was shark wrestling, spelunking, cliff jumping, skydiving, rockstars-” She began.

“Rockstars eh? Well maybe I can help you with that.” I said, a grin forming on my face.

“Hey Mayor Mare, do you think somepony could fix my guitar?” I asked.

“Your what now?” A confused look plain across her features.

“The stringed instrument I was carrying with me here, the one that was broken from the unfortunate accident that involved the setting off of fireworks in my face.” I said, giving a look towards Rainbow.

“Oh that thing? We aren't even sure what it was supposed to look like, let alone how to reconstruct it,” She said sadly, but upon seeing my defeated expression she continued, “But, if anypony could do it, Vinyl Scratch could.” Smiling at my happy expression.

“Alright then squirt, after my guitar gets fixed, I'll perform a couple of my own songs for you.” I said, drawing a couple stares from the ponies in the room.

“So, where does Mrs. Scratch reside? Somepony please tell me it's close for, I’m not in the best condition.” I said, changing the subject.

“I think she actually lives here in Ponyville, I can check the records, see for sure.” Said the mayor before leaving with a nod of her head.

Upon her leaving, the Elements looked at me strangely. They each shared a glance, slightly nodding in the direction of the trio of fillies in the room. Much to the chagrin of the children, the Elements ushered them out of the room and to their respective homes. All except for Scootaloo who simply hung her head slightly and left on her own, her eyes never leaving the ground.

“Does that child have a home?” I asked, offering a sad look in her direction.

“No, her parents were part of a conspiracy to overthrow Princess Celestia so they were tried and exiled from Equestria when she was just a filly.” Answered Twilight.

“Does she know this?” I continued, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“No, not entirely anyways, but enough about her, who are you, where did you come from, why did you come here-” She would have kept going if Rainbow Dash hadn’t shoved her hand over Twilight's mouth, stopping her spiel abruptly.

“My name is Deuce, I came from the Everfree Forest where I have lived for as long as I can remember, I came here for personal reasons involving my current situation.” I answered, their expressions changing as I spoke.

“Wait, wait, wait, you lived in the Everfree Forest!?! As in the most dangerous place in all of Equestria?” Asked a disbelieving Rainbow Dash.

“Thats quite a claim Mr. Deuce, however in order for us to believe this, we will need some proof.” Said Rarity.

I stood up, ignoring their sudden exclamations and slightly hostile stances and unbuttoned my shirt carefully as to not disturb my broken ribs. The girls averted their eyes, all except for Rainbow who was seemingly ogling at my muscular figure.

The girls kept their eyes hidden, blushes forming on their faces when Rainbow blurted out, “Hot!” Before clapping her hands over her mouth and blushing profusely.

Curiosity eventually taking over them, the rest of the Elements, in turn, looked at my shirtless figure and though their reactions were at first similar to Rainbow’s, one by one they began noticing the hundreds of scars across my frame. Fluttershy began to cry, followed closely by Rarity who was beside herself. Applejack simply took off her hat as a sign of respect and Twilight placed a hand over her mouth before taking notice on the symbol on my chest. Rainbow just looked on, an unreadable expression on her face.

“What’s this thing here? This symbol, what does it mean?” She asked, pointing to the yin-yang on my chest.

“That is my cutie mark, it represents my wish to acquire balance, balance between body and mind, good and evil, light and dark, balance between all opposites so to create true harmony.” I said, having thought about the meaning for a long time.

With that, Twilight’s eyes went wide with what seemed like realization when she suddenly sprinted out the door, yelling something about writing a letter to the princess. Her friends soon followed her. Upon their departure, I called the nurse.

“Yes Mr. Deuce? What is it?” She asked monotonously.

“I was wondering where the child Scootaloo went after being escorted home earlier.” I replied.

“Oh she went to the town orphanage, it’s a couple houses south and west of the library.”

“Okay then, thanks.” I said before sending her off and turning off the lights and going to sleep.

Hey, where is PInkie? I thought as sleep shrouded my senses.