Chapters The Warrior's Path: Part 1
I burst through the soot-covered front door. Ashes fly as I break down the door. Lumber beams and thick gray smokes prevent me from progressing through the household. As well as the smell of the smoke which irritates my respiratory system. I muster all the strength I possibly can to work my way through the rubble and debris. The house wasn’t very big. Just a single floor. Luckily, my slender stature was enough for me to weasel my way through the chaos. I found what I had been searching for….my parents. Crushed, and then burned alive, by the debris from the mangled house. The only emotions that I feel are absolute panic and devastation. I remove the debris from my parents, and I hold them close to me dearly. Multiple tears stream down my face. Then in my periphery, there was a small flash of black light. It immediately draws my attention. It was a fairly large black crystal, and, for some odd reason, I felt that the crystal had something to do with the death of my parents. So I put the crystal in my left pocket, and I carried my deceased parents out of, what used to be, our home.
It is 4 A. M., and I have awoken from my slumber. I’ve been having the same dream for month without end. The night my parents died. I lie in my bedcovers motionless. I turned my head to the left, and, on my nightstand, is the dark crystals that I found a couple months ago. I keep it on my person at all times. I finally summon the strength to arise from my covers, put some clothes on, put the crystal in my left pocket, and lazily work my way to the bathroom. Once I enter the bathroom, I take a good, long look at myself in the mirror above the sink. I stare deep into my dark, blue eyes. Then I scan the rest of my person. I run my finger through my medium-length brunette hair, trying to get some stands back into place. I stare harder into my eyes as I turn on the sink and splash some cold water upon my face. I pat my face down with a towel, leave the bathroom, and work my way to the kitchen downstairs. I walk towards a cupboard, grab a glass, and I fill it with some orange juice from the fridge. I take a seat at the table in the middle of the kitchen. I take miniscule sips from my orange juice at a time. I hear someone coming down the flight of stairs, and it immediately snags my attention. It was Joyce Nightshade, a very close friend of both my parents. When she heard about the travesty that was bestowed upon me, she didn’t hesitate to take action. She offered me to stay with her as long as I needed. She was neatly dressed when she came down the stairs. Her long, flowing, black hair was neatly groomed, her mascara was put on with extreme precision, and she wore a suit and tie. She didn’t like all that frilly crap. She gets up every morning at the ass crack of dawn to go to work at Davenport Industries. It was a typical big-wig company, but it was good money for her to make. She takes notice of me sitting at the table with my melancholy and my glass of orange juice.
“What is ever wrong, Axel?”
“It happened again. The dreams.”
“Oh dear. How many have you had?”
“I have ‘em all the time. Every night since a few days after the incident. They never seem to stop or fade.”
Joyce sighs.
“I wish that there was a way that I could help.”
“There is a way. How ‘bout you bring my parents back, Joyce. Can ya do that?! Or how ‘bout this? How about you prevent the tragedy that was placed upon a sixteen-year-old boy?!?! Unless you can do any of those things listed, you’re no help to me!!!”
A tear slowly trickles down Joyce’s face, and her cheeks flush red.
“I…..I’m terribly sorry, Joyce. I didn’t mean to snap. I… I just…..I need some air.”
I head for the front door, but before I leave, I give Joyce a backwards glace.
“I’m sorry,” I say as a small tear forces itself out of my eye.
“I’ll be back whenever.”
I leave the house, and walk along the dampened sidewalk.
I slowly walk down the empty sidewalk. Kicking little insignificant stones further down the sidewalk with my hands deep in my pockets. A slight breeze brushes across my face. It’s a nice breeze. Just like the ones in early September. I kept walking, still kicking the same little pebble. Then the stone was stopped by a dark boot slithering out of a sketchy ally way. Then the boot moved slowly forward with the shady figure wearing it. The person steps out of the shadows and faced me. I expected this character to be creepy looking, but that’s what happens when you assume. He was actually well groomed and dressed to my surprise. He looked somewhat like me but older and more chiseled than myself.
“Come with me,” he said.
I gave him a “what the fuck” look.
“Hold on a damn minute! Who are you?! What do you want from me?!”
“No time for questions, Axel. You just have to trust me.”
My eyes grew large when he spoke my name. He grabbed ahold of my wrist and “escorted” me into the dark ally. At the end of the ally, there was a small flight of stairs, about five to seven steps, which lead into a broken down apartment building. But you cannot judge a book by its cover. Inside the building were the most high tech gadgets and machinery that I have ever seen in my lifetime. Objects that should be in a Sci-fi movie, or way ahead of our time. The stranger turns his attention to me.
“You’ve gotten quite famous, Mr. Stevenson,” he says as he rummages through some files. He continues speaking.
“The tragedy place upon you had made national news.”
“So?”
“So, houses don’t just burst into flames, Stevenson.”
I squint at the stranger.
“What are you getting at?”
“I believe that you are somehow connected to the death of your parents.”
“You think that I killed my own parents?! What kind of sick fuck even has thoughts about such things, huh?!”
“If you didn’t do it, then who did?”
I look at the floor, trying to think of a decent answer to give my new “friend” here.
“I…I don’t know. Wait. Why should I tell you anything?! I don’t even know who the hell you are!”
“Oh, excuse me. Where ARE my manners? My name is Dr. Phil Collins…”
“Doctor? What do YOU specialize in?!”
“I was getting to that, if you’d let me? I specialize in teleportation.”
“Wha…you can’t be serious? You’re fucking with me right?!”
Collins shakes his head no.
I laugh at him…hysterically. Almost to the point of crying. I keep laughing at Collins until he gives me a look of scorn and disgust. I stop laughing with a sigh which decreased in pitch. I look at Collins with one eyebrow raised and a large smirk.
“If you are who you claim to be, then how ‘bout a demonstration?”
“As you wish.”
Collins pulled a pen from his pocket, and he put the pen in, what looks like, a super advanced refrigerator. He closed the door, locked it tight, and pressed some to the right of the machine. Then he pulled the lever on the right side of the “machine,” and then a blue aura of light emerged from the device. In about six seconds time, and machine had stopped. Collins unlatched the door and opened it. A huge puff of smoke, or steam, left the confined space. I walked towards the machine, and I look inside.
“That’s…impossible,” I say, not believing what I’m seeing.
The pen was gone. Not even a trace of its existence remained. I stare at the empty chamber blankly.
“Impressed?” Collins remarks smugly. “It had taken me multiple years to perfect this beautiful work of science.”
“But…uh…where did the pen go?”
“The pen? Check your pockets.”
“Phht. Yeah right. Like it could be…”
In my left pocket, next to the crystal, was the pen that had vanished into the machine. I pulled it out and held it my palm. I stare at the pen. Then at Collins.
“So let us return to the matter at hand, shall we? How did your parents pass away?”
“I told you that I don’t know, but,” I reached in to my left pocket. “I did somehow manage to find this.”
I pulled out the dark crystal from my pocket. It still pulses with some dark energy. Collins gave me a wide-eyed stare.
“Where on God’s green earth did you get that?!”
“I found it next to my parents near the exploded furnace. Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“I’ve seen these types of crystals before. They are filled with an extremely powerful and dangerous energy, and if it were to penetrate your flesh, the results could be catastrophic.”
“Well, I’ve had it ever since the incident. I’ve kept it with me at all times. As a reminder.”
“I’m surprised the fact that it hasn’t corrupted you yet.”
“Corrupted? What could you possibly mean by that?”
“This kind of energy, it’s been infamous for changing people. Changing their personalities and their physical appearances.”
“So it turns people….evil?”
“It appears to be so, but it takes time for the crystal to take full effect.”
That’s why I was such an asshole to Joyce this morning. It wasn’t me, it was the crystal.
“Is there anything about the crystal that I should be aware of?”
“I’m not sure. My research on the crystal isn’t that in depth, but I can help you find they source of where they originally came from.”
Collins gestures at the his large machine.
“You mean the teleporter?”
“Precisely. If you would, please put the crystal inside, and we’ll get started.”
I did as I was told and put the crystal into the chamber. Collins latches the door shut and pulls the lever.
“Hopefully, sending it back to its place of origin will shed some light on this dilemma,” exclaimed Collins.
The emitted its blue aura of light brightly. Then the light dimmed down which meant the machine had done its work.
“Now let us see here.”
Collins looks at a small screen on the teleporter.
“Hmm. That’s curious.”
“What is it,” I say nervously.
“The crystal seems to have been teleported into another dimension. Equestria, I believe it’s called.”
A plan begins to swell within my head. If I were to go to this other dimension, I could probably find more of these crystals. So I put my plan into action.
“Collins,” I sigh heavily. “I need to go to Equestria.”
“Axel, you can’t be serious?!”
I disgustingly squint my eyes at Collins.
“Does this look like the face of uncertainty to you, Collins?”
Collins sighs.
“But I’ve never used the teleporter on a live subject. We’ll have no idea what the outcome will be!”
“Well, we’re gonna find out, huh?”
I utter this next sentence sternly and full of ambition.
“Collins…you’re…taking me…to Equestria…and that’s final. If these crystals are connected to the death of my parents, I’ll find out where they’re coming from.”
Collins sighs heavier this time. Not wanting to do what I asked of him.
“As you wish. You’re a crazy son-of-a-bitch, Stevenson. Ya know that?”
I give Collins a little smirk, and he gives me one right back. I take a large breath and walk into the teleporter. Collins closes the door and latches it shut behind me. I could hear the beeping of the buttons which meant that Collins was locking in the coordinates to where I needed to go. I patiently stood inside the tiny, claustrophobic, chamber; hoping that I would live through this. Then I heard a loud click, and, before I could blink, the same blue aura of light blinded me and enveloped my person instantaneously. But the blue light eventually escalated into white, and that was all I could see. Nothing but white.
The Warrior's Path: Part 1
I regain conscienceness, but I can’t muster up the strength to even open my eyes. So I just lay on the ground until I regain the strength to arise to my feet. I slowly open my eyes, and I push myself up with my hands. I thought that I had been seeing things. Like that my fingers had vanished, as if by magic. I rub my eyes, and I look at my “hands” again. I stare at my “hands” for a good thirty seconds in complete shock and awe. Then I try to look at the rest of my person. I look at my feet, and, just like my hands, my feet were missing and replaced with, what looks like, hooves. And I seem to be covered in blue fur from head to…..hoof. Then I glace at my posterior. I stare blankly at my long, flowing, brunette tail. My heart races rapidly, and my pupils shrink to miniscule size in absolute panic. I franticly try to find any reflective surface so that I can get a better look at myself. In my haste to find such a reflective surface, I notice that I’m ten feet deep in a twenty foot wide crater. I look towards the sky, and I see a trail of fading smoke leading into the clear blue sky. I had eventually grown tired of standing in a gigantic hole in the earth. So I give myself enough space for a running start to try and get out of the crater. I attempted to escape many times, but when I almost get to the top, I can’t grip the edge of the crater to pull myself out because I don’t have any damn fingers. I squint angrily at, what used to be, my hands. After a few more feeble attempts to escape, I gave up.
“FUCKIN’ SHIT!!!” I scream in absolute anger at the top of my lungs.
So I just accepted my fate and lay in the massive hole. I look at my new “hands” again, but this time, my hands just randomly caught aflame. I spring up and run around in the crater screaming bloody murder, flailing my arms around, trying to get the strange blue fire off of my “hands.” I stop running franticly, I take deep breaths, and I focus my mind. For some reason, the strange fire wasn’t burning my “hands” at all. From the looks of it, it seemed that I had complete control over the blue fire that cloaked my “hands.” Then I begin to ponder how this is even happening in the first place. I didn’t have powers before I entered the teleporter. Then it struck me like lightning. The blue aura that the teleporter emitted when it was active; perhaps I absorbed some of the aura, and, as a result, my fur turned blue, and I had received special powers. I stare at my flaming blue “hands” once more. Then, just as fast as it appeared, the blue fire disappeared and had left nothing but tiny blue ember that danced gracefully in the sky. I wanted the flames to return, so I plant my “feet” firmly on the ground and stick out my “hands.” I close my eyes extremely tight. I grunt and strain, just waiting for something to happen. I can feel sweat pouring down from my face and onto the dirt below. As I’m struggling to make the blue flames reappear, I get a weird feeling on top of my head. I simple ignore it for the time being. But the sensation upon my head grows more and more intense. I open my eyes, and I can see a blue light emanating around my head, but I can’t quite pinpoint its exact location. The weird sensation continues to grow even more intense until it is released in the form of a beam of light that shot into the side of the crater and sending me flying towards the other side of the crater. I slammed into the other side of the crater pretty hard. I rub my head to ease the pain, but then I feel something unusual upon my head. It felt like a point stick, but it had to be more than that. I try to process this thoroughly. I had been turned into a pony with an unusual point stick emerging from my skull. My eyes widened and my pupils shrink when I came to the conclusion of what I had actually become. I wasn’t just a pony; I was a unicorn! I thought that unicorns were just creatures of myth and fairytales. From what I already know about unicorns is that they can use their horn for magical abilities. Perhaps I could use my new abilities to escape from this crater. I got back onto my “feet,” and I sprint towards the hole that I made in the side of the crater so I could use it as a base lift to jump out of the crater. I do just that, and I grab ahold of the edge. I can feel myself slipping off because I can barely grip a damn thing without fingers. I slip even further, dreading of falling back into the hole. I close my eyes tightly, and I try to focus all of my energy as I am clinging to the edge of the crater. The strange sensation had returned, but it was not as intense as last time. I slowly open one eye and then the other. I am cloaked, from head to tail, in a blue aura that lifts me up and out of the crater. I laugh hysterically at the feet I had just accomplished.
“HA! THIS IS FUCKIN’ GREAT!!!” I say ecstatically.
I float, at least, ten feet above the earth and many feet away from the crater.
“Now… how the fuck do I get down?” I say questioningly to myself.
Then all of a sudden, the blue aura, that surrounded me, vanishes, and I fall, face first, onto the grass about twenty six feet away from the crater. I rub my head, but it never eases the pain the way I want it to. I try to get a feeling for my surroundings as I try to find something useful in the distance. But I find absolutely nothing….so far. I look a little bit harder, and, straight ahead of me, I see, about seven miles away, buildings in the distance. So I make my way towards the buildings with no hesitation, totally unaware of what I’ll see and or do once I’m there.
The buildings become more vivid the closer I get to them. I keep advancing further, hoping to find some answers. Before I enter the town, I see a sign on the outskirts of the town. I run towards the sign posthaste. The sign is relatively small, only coming up to my mid-thigh. I get down on bended knee in order to read the sign. “Welcome to Ponyville” the sign read.
“Ponyville?” I say questioningly.
I stand back up, take a deep breath, and I enter the town. When I walk in, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: Ponies, ponies everywhere. And no two ponies were exactly the same. They were all different in size, coat color, mane and tail color, and etcetera. Some ponies had wings, signifying that they were pegasi, some had horn which meant that they were unicorns, and some ponies didn’t have anything. They were just…regular ponies. I am, simply, blown away by all of this, and I can’t help but admire such diversity. Such things put a smile on my face, but the other ponies didn’t seem to share my emotions. In fact, the other ponies give me some questionable look, and some even smirk and giggle in my general direction. This makes me feel uneasy. Did I do something wrong? That simply can’t be. I, literally, just got here. There is no possible way that I could’ve made a bad impression already. I look at the ground as I walked, trying to avoid any unnecessary eye contact. Then a sea foam green coated unicorn with a light blue and white mane blocks my path. I go around her, but she persistently stays on my tail. I go into a fast walk with my hooves by my sides, but she trots at a faster pace as well. I had gotten tired of her shit, so I turn around and face her. I try to be as calm as I possibly can.
“Is there something that you want from me?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Why do walk like that?”
I look down at my legs, and then I looked at how the other ponies around me walked. They walked, well, like ponies; on all four legs. And myself; I walked on my hind legs like I was still in the human realm. So to prevent further questions and criticism about the way I walk, I conform with the rest of the ponies. I lean forward slowly until I fall, and my arms catch me. Before I knew it, I had been standing on all fours, but my legs were a little shaky.
“Now that’s more like it,” the sea foam green unicorn smiled at me. “Now let’s put those new legs to the test! Walk around for me, if ya will.”
I thought that walking on all fours would be a cake walk, but, boy was I wrong as shit. I was about as successful walking as newborn Bambi. I could barely take a couple steps without falling on my face. The sea foam green unicorn puts a hoof up to her mouth and giggles at me. After many failures and blunders, I finally get the hang of walking on all fours. I became so good at it that I escalate into a graceful trot.
“Hey, look at me! I’m trotting!” I exclaim with a smile.
The unicorn gives me a wide grin. I stop trotting, and I face her.
“What was with that first part?” she says. “It looked like you’ve never walked on all fours in your life!”
“That’s because I haven’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m…not…from…here…exactly,” I say uneasily.
The unicorn raises an eyebrow
“What do you mean? You’re not from Ponyville?”
“HA! Not even close.”
“Well, where are you from exactly”
I sigh deeply.
“As it turns out, I’m not even from this universe.
The unicorn gave me a wide-eyed stare.
“You mean…..you’re NOT even from Equestria?!”
My eyes grow wide, and my pupils shrink when she said “Equestria.”
“What did you just say??? WHERE ARE WE???”
The unicorn gives me a look of fright and uneasiness.
“Eeequestriaaaa???”
My pupils shrink even further. That giant, super-advanced fridge actually worked on me, to my surprise. I was exactly where I wanted to be. The unicorn looks at me curiously.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. Well, at least not anymore. Sorry for freaking out on you like that,…..I’m sorry. I didn't catch your name."
She smiles at me.
“My name is Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings.”
“Well, Lyra, it is fantastic to meet you!” I say with a smile.
“So what’s your name?” Lyra asks.
“Like I said before, I’m not from this universe so….”
Lyra cuts me off.
“You never did tell me where you came from. Care to explain?”
“Certainly. Well, I came from a universe where there are the creatures called humans, and…..”
Lyra gives me a large grin, and her sunset orange eyes pierce through my soul. This makes me nervous and uneasy.
“What? Did I say something?”
“You’re…….HUMAN?!?!”
“Yes, well, I was...until I entered Equestria.”
Lyra’s grin grows immensely, and then she gets all up in my face.
“What are they like? That explains why you were walking on your hind legs earlier, huh? Did you have…HANDS?!?!...”
Lyra spits out words at a million miles an hour, throwing multiple questions at me about what being human is like. She also tells me about how she always wishes that she could be a human. She also had a strange fascination with hands. Perhaps it was a fetish or something. I had absolutely no idea. The more questions she asked, the more she got up in my face. We were eventually muzzle to muzzle, and I just about lost my shit. But I keep calm and collected.
“Lyra?”
“Yes?”
Lyra grins at me eagerly, waiting for me to say what I was about to say. We’re still muzzle to muzzle. She stares at me with her sunset orange eyes wide open. By the look on her face, it’s as if she wanted me to say something in particular. But I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it. Then she looks at seductively. She walks forward, while still muzzle to muzzle, towards me. I slowly backpedal away, but she’s still right in front of my face. While I’m backpedaling, I stumble over myself, and I fall onto my back. My head had whiplashed onto the ground, and I flinched. With my eyes closed, I rub my head to try and ease the pain. I slowly open my eyes. Then my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at what I saw. It was Lyra. She was on top of me, looking at me seductively while biting her lip.
“Lyra? I’m frightened.” I say apprehensively.
She puts a hoof on my mouth.
“Shhh. It’s alright. Just let it happen.
“No! I will not “just let it happen! Get off of me!”
“But…but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me, and I….”
“Lyra, get…off…of…me…please,” I say sternly.
“I….”
Lyra starts to say something. She looks ashamed and disappointed in herself at what she had done. Then, as I requested, she gets off of me and backs away slowly.
“I…,” Lyra starts again. “I’m sorry. I…don’t know what came over me. I…I…”
Lyra starts to sob. Just watching her cry almost made me cry. Lyra sits down, points her head towards the ground, and she continues to cry. I haven’t known Lyra for very long, but I can’t stand to see her like this. I put a hoof on her right shoulder, and she looks up at me. Tears still flow down her cheeks. I look at Lyra warmly to signify that I’m not mad at her, and I make direct eye contact with her.
“Lyra, it’s alright. You need not worry. I’m not mad, but you do need to control yourself. I don’t know why you find humans so fascinating in the first place. We’re not that great.”
“Yeah, but I’m still so sorry. I just…”
I put a hoof lightly on Lyra’s mouth.
“I said it’s fine, Lyra.”
I give her a warm smile, and she gives me one right back.
“Thank you for making me feel better…umm….haha! Silly me. Out of this whole thing, I never bothered to learn your name.”
“Well, I’m not from Equestria so I don’t have a pony name.”
“Have you thought of one yet?”
“Not……really,” I say disappointingly.
“Well, you should take some time, and give yourself one,” Lyra says with a smile.
I put a hoof up to my chin as I pondered what kind of name that I would possess. I wanted my name to be original. I squint my eyes harder, trying to come up with a legitimate name. I think about all the things I’ve done since I entered Equestria. Then I remembered the blue aura that randomly enveloped my hooves when I was stuck in the crater. Aura. That sounded pretty cool, but the sounded bland by its lonesome. So I tried to come up with a second part to my name. I start to think about how I entered Equestria in the first place. All I remember is the teleporter flashing me with its blue aura of light, and I woke up in a crater. Then I remember the huge line of smoke that that lead into the sky. Perhaps that was my doing. Maybe I fell out of the sky like a bolt of lightning from a thunderstorm. The word “storm” had caught my attention. So I put the two words, that I picked, together, and they sounded pretty pleasing together. It was also very original for someone like me. I turn my attention back to Lyra, and I give her a little smirk. Then she gives me a look of confusion and uncertainty.
“What is it?” Lyra said. Did you finally come up with a name?!”
I give Lyra a look of confidence. Then I stand, on all fours, in a heroic pose like I had just slain a massive dragon or some other foul beast.
“I dub myself…..AURA STORM!!!”
Lyra smiles, and stomps her front hooves in a celebratory fashion.
“That’s actually a REALLY good name…, Aura Storm.”
“Why thank you, Lyra,” I say cheerfully.
“Since that’s taken care of, how about I show you what Ponyville has to offer?”
“That sounds like an absolute delight!” I exclaim gleefully.
“Alrighty then. Let’s get goin’!”
The Warrior's Path: Part 1
The buildings become more vivid the closer I get to them. I keep advancing further, hoping to find some answers. Before I enter the town, I see a sign on the outskirts of the town. I run towards the sign posthaste. The sign is relatively small, only coming up to my mid-thigh. I get down on bended knee in order to read the sign. “Welcome to Ponyville” the sign read.
“Ponyville?” I say questioningly.
I stand back up, take a deep breath, and I enter the town. When I walk in, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: Ponies, ponies everywhere. And no two ponies were exactly the same. They were all different in size, coat color, mane and tail color, and etcetera. Some ponies had wings, signifying that they were pegasi, some had horn which meant that they were unicorns, and some ponies didn’t have anything. They were just…regular ponies. I am, simply, blown away by all of this, and I can’t help but admire such diversity. Such things put a smile on my face, but the other ponies didn’t seem to share my emotions. In fact, the other ponies give me some questionable look, and some even smirk and giggle in my general direction. This makes me feel uneasy. Did I do something wrong? That simply can’t be. I, literally, just got here. There is no possible way that I could’ve made a bad impression already. I look at the ground as I walked, trying to avoid any unnecessary eye contact. Then a sea foam green coated unicorn with a light blue and white mane blocks my path. I go around her, but she persistently stays on my tail. I go into a fast walk with my hooves by my sides, but she trots at a faster pace as well. I had gotten tired of her shit, so I turn around and face her. I try to be as calm as I possibly can.
“Is there something that you want from me?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Why do walk like that?”
I look down at my legs, and then I looked at how the other ponies around me walked. They walked, well, like ponies; on all four legs. And myself; I walked on my hind legs like I was still in the human realm. So to prevent further questions and criticism about the way I walk, I conform with the rest of the ponies. I lean forward slowly until I fall, and my arms catch me. Before I knew it, I had been standing on all fours, but my legs were a little shaky.
“Now that’s more like it,” the sea foam green unicorn smiled at me. “Now let’s put those new legs to the test! Walk around for me, if ya will.”
I thought that walking on all fours would be a cake walk, but, boy was I wrong as shit. I was about as successful walking as newborn Bambi. I could barely take a couple steps without falling on my face. The sea foam green unicorn puts a hoof up to her mouth and giggles at me. After many failures and blunders, I finally get the hang of walking on all fours. I became so good at it that I escalate into a graceful trot.
“Hey, look at me! I’m trotting!” I exclaim with a smile.
The unicorn gives me a wide grin. I stop trotting, and I face her.
“What was with that first part?” she says. “It looked like you’ve never walked on all fours in your life!”
“That’s because I haven’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m…not…from…here…exactly,” I say uneasily.
The unicorn raises an eyebrow
“What do you mean? You’re not from Ponyville?”
“HA! Not even close.”
“Well, where are you from exactly”
I sigh deeply.
“As it turns out, I’m not even from this universe.
The unicorn gave me a wide-eyed stare.
“You mean…..you’re NOT even from Equestria?!”
My eyes grow wide, and my pupils shrink when she said “Equestria.”
“What did you just say??? WHERE ARE WE???”
The unicorn gives me a look of fright and uneasiness.
“Eeequestriaaaa???”
My pupils shrink even further. That giant, super-advanced fridge actually worked on me, to my surprise. I was exactly where I wanted to be. The unicorn looks at me curiously.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. Well, at least not anymore. Sorry for freaking out on you like that,…..I’m sorry. I didn't catch your name."
She smiles at me.
“My name is Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings.”
“Well, Lyra, it is fantastic to meet you!” I say with a smile.
“So what’s your name?” Lyra asks.
“Like I said before, I’m not from this universe so….”
Lyra cuts me off.
“You never did tell me where you came from. Care to explain?”
“Certainly. Well, I came from a universe where there are the creatures called humans, and…..”
Lyra gives me a large grin, and her sunset orange eyes pierce through my soul. This makes me nervous and uneasy.
“What? Did I say something?”
“You’re…….HUMAN?!?!”
“Yes, well, I was...until I entered Equestria.”
Lyra’s grin grows immensely, and then she gets all up in my face.
“What are they like? That explains why you were walking on your hind legs earlier, huh? Did you have…HANDS?!?!...”
Lyra spits out words at a million miles an hour, throwing multiple questions at me about what being human is like. She also tells me about how she always wishes that she could be a human. She also had a strange fascination with hands. Perhaps it was a fetish or something. I had absolutely no idea. The more questions she asked, the more she got up in my face. We were eventually muzzle to muzzle, and I just about lost my shit. But I keep calm and collected.
“Lyra?”
“Yes?”
Lyra grins at me eagerly, waiting for me to say what I was about to say. We’re still muzzle to muzzle. She stares at me with her sunset orange eyes wide open. By the look on her face, it’s as if she wanted me to say something in particular. But I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it. Then she looks at seductively. She walks forward, while still muzzle to muzzle, towards me. I slowly backpedal away, but she’s still right in front of my face. While I’m backpedaling, I stumble over myself, and I fall onto my back. My head had whiplashed onto the ground, and I flinched. With my eyes closed, I rub my head to try and ease the pain. I slowly open my eyes. Then my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at what I saw. It was Lyra. She was on top of me, looking at me seductively while biting her lip.
“Lyra? I’m frightened.” I say apprehensively.
She puts a hoof on my mouth.
“Shhh. It’s alright. Just let it happen.
“No! I will not “just let it happen! Get off of me!”
“But…but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me, and I….”
“Lyra, get…off…of…me…please,” I say sternly.
“I….”
Lyra starts to say something. She looks ashamed and disappointed in herself at what she had done. Then, as I requested, she gets off of me and backs away slowly.
“I…,” Lyra starts again. “I’m sorry. I…don’t know what came over me. I…I…”
Lyra starts to sob. Just watching her cry almost made me cry. Lyra sits down, points her head towards the ground, and she continues to cry. I haven’t known Lyra for very long, but I can’t stand to see her like this. I put a hoof on her right shoulder, and she looks up at me. Tears still flow down her cheeks. I look at Lyra warmly to signify that I’m not mad at her, and I make direct eye contact with her.
“Lyra, it’s alright. You need not worry. I’m not mad, but you do need to control yourself. I don’t know why you find humans so fascinating in the first place. We’re not that great.”
“Yeah, but I’m still so sorry. I just…”
I put a hoof lightly on Lyra’s mouth.
“I said it’s fine, Lyra.”
I give her a warm smile, and she gives me one right back.
“Thank you for making me feel better…umm….haha! Silly me. Out of this whole thing, I never bothered to learn your name.”
“Well, I’m not from Equestria so I don’t have a pony name.”
“Have you thought of one yet?”
“Not……really,” I say disappointingly.
“Well, you should take some time, and give yourself one,” Lyra says with a smile.
I put a hoof up to my chin as I pondered what kind of name that I would possess. I wanted my name to be original. I squint my eyes harder, trying to come up with a legitimate name. I think about all the things I’ve done since I entered Equestria. Then I remembered the blue aura that randomly enveloped my hooves when I was stuck in the crater. Aura. That sounded pretty cool, but the sounded bland by its lonesome. So I tried to come up with a second part to my name. I start to think about how I entered Equestria in the first place. All I remember is the teleporter flashing me with its blue aura of light, and I woke up in a crater. Then I remember the huge line of smoke that that lead into the sky. Perhaps that was my doing. Maybe I fell out of the sky like a bolt of lightning from a thunderstorm. The word “storm” had caught my attention. So I put the two words, that I picked, together, and they sounded pretty pleasing together. It was also very original for someone like me. I turn my attention back to Lyra, and I give her a little smirk. Then she gives me a look of confusion and uncertainty.
“What is it?” Lyra said. Did you finally come up with a name?!”
I give Lyra a look of confidence. Then I stand, on all fours, in a heroic pose like I had just slain a massive dragon or some other foul beast.
“I dub myself…..AURA STORM!!!”
Lyra smiles, and stomps her front hooves in a celebratory fashion.
“That’s actually a REALLY good name…, Aura Storm.”
“Why thank you, Lyra,” I say cheerfully.
“Since that’s taken care of, how about I show you what Ponyville has to offer?”
“That sounds like an absolute delight!” I exclaim gleefully.
“Alrighty then. Let’s get goin’!”
The Warrior's Path: Part 1
Love at First Awkward Entrance
I accompany Lyra as she shows me the wonderful things about Ponyville. She shows me the various types of shops, and other places that ponies like to hang out at. While on my tour, Lyra and I passed by, what looks like, a bakery.
The building is visually pleasing with its array of colors and its unusual architecture. Then I turn my attention to a path of stepping stones leading up to three steps that lead into the building. At the beginning of the stepping stone path, there was small sign, just like that one outside of Ponyville. “Sugar Cube Corner” the sign read. Lyra turns to me.
“Ya wanna go inside?” she asks me.
“Let’s,” I reply to her.
We walk towards Sugar Cube Corner, and, as we heading for the front door, I could see a reflection of myself in a window to the left of the door in my periphery. I gallop hastily towards the window. Now I am able to get a good, long look at myself at long last. I was already aware of the fact that I had blue fur, brunette mane and tail, and a horn that stuck out of my skull, but this was the first time I was able to look at my eyes. They weren’t blue anymore. My eyes had changed to a blood red color (for whatever reason). I just let this little detail pass by because I had been through so much shit today that I didn’t bother to give a single fuck. Before Lyra entered Sugar Cube Corner, she saw me looking at myself in the reflection in the window. Lyra approaches me subtly, and she stands by my right side.
“What are you doing, Aura Storm?”
I ignore her but not on purpose. I’m just fascinated and entranced by my pony form. Lyra puts a hoof on my right shoulder, and she shakes me like an infant.
“Aura!” Lyra screams.
“Huh? Ah shit. Sorry Lyra. I’m just…getting a better look at myself.”
Lyra raises an eyebrow, and she gives me a little smirk. Then I continue to speak.
“I know. I know it sounds weird, but since I came to Equestria, I haven’t actually gotten…a good look…at myself.”
Lyra still holds the same look she gave me before.
“Humans are weird.”
I can’t help but laugh at the comment she made, and it didn’t take long for Lyra to join in on the laughter. We continue to laugh for a good couple of minutes. Then the front door to Sugar Cube Corner opens slowly. The opening door immediately catches my attention, and I stop laughing. Lyra hadn’t noticed that I had stopped laughing, so she continues. Coming out of the open door, is a light gray mare with a dark gray mane and tail. She didn’t have any wings or a horn. She was just a regular pony. My eyes grow wide, and my pupils dilate at the sight of her. She was absolutely gorgeous. She wore a pink bow tie, and she had a dark pink treble clef on her posterior. I jerk my head in rapid haste to look at my posterior, but it was blank. What could that mark possibly mean? I drop that subject, for the time being, and I turn my attention back to the gray mare. I can’t help but admire her beauty and elegance. Lyra had stopped laughing a little bit after the gray mare left Sugar Cube Corner. Lyra looks at the gray mare, and then she looks to me. I could feel her eyes upon me, but I don’t pay any attention to her. My eyes are completely glued to the gray mare.
“Aura, are you alright?” Lyra asks.
I don’t respond to her. I kept my eyes on the gray mare, without blinking. Lyra waves one of her hooves in my face in order to try and grab my attention. I can see her hoof as clear as day, but it fails to snag my attention.
“Aura?!” Lyra shouts at me.
I barely even hear Lyra yelling at me. I have become too infatuated with the gray mare to even acknowledge Lyra’s existence. Lyra looks at the gray mare, then back to me again. Lyra had finally processed what was happening. She saw that I have become immediately attracted to the gray mare as soon as she stepped out of Sugar Cube Corner. Lyra raises an eyebrow.
“OOOOOOOOOOOO. Aura likes Tavi,” Lyra said childishly.
I instantaneously jerk my head towards Lyra, and I give her a look of confusion and yearning.
“What did you say her name was?! I asked Lyra, hoping to get as much information about the gray mare as I possibly could.
“Oh, her? Her full name is Octavia Melody, but she also goes by Octavia, and some of her friends call her Tavi, but she’s not too fond of that nickname. You should go and talk to her.”
I shuttered at the thought, and my eyes grew wide at the thought. I was never good at talking to girls, even in the human realm.
“I…..umm…ehh…I…don’t…know,” I stutter vigorously.
“Awe, come on! Don’t be such a little filly!”
I squint at Lyra angrily, trying to summon up the courage to prove her wrong.
“Fine,” I said sternly while squinting at her.
I look back at the gray mare, but she was gone. I look for her from where I stand, and then I run to the spot where she had stood previously. I do, eventually find her. She sat at a table on the other side of the door of Sugar Cube Corner.
“Well?” Lyra said impatiently. “What are you waiting for?! Go get’er!”
Lyra pushes me, fiercely towards the gray mare named Octavia. Lyra pushes me hard enough that I trip over a stepping stone leading to the front door of Sugar Cube Corner, and I land; face first, onto the ground right next to where Octavia was sitting. I had just made the most awkward entrance imaginable. With my face in the dirt, I could feel Octavia’s eyes upon me.
I try to arise to my hooves with some dignity, but I fail to do so by, somehow, tripping over my hooves and land in the dirt again, face first. With my face in the dirt…..again, I can hear minute giggling coming from my left; coming from Octavia. I turn my head towards her, and I look at her shyly. She was giggling at me with her eyes closed, and her hooves up to her mouth. Watching her laugh made me smile a little bit. She slowly stops laughing, and she looks directly into my blood red eyes. She quickly turns her head away from me and blushes. I can also see a little grin illuminating from her face. She tries to hide it but I can see it as clear as day. I keep looking at her while still on the ground; hoping that she would turn her head and face me again. She glances at me with her head still turned away. Her cheeks are still flushed with the pink pigment of flattery. I slowly get up, without any failures or slip-ups this time, and I walk over to the chair from where Octavia was currently sitting. I look directly at her again; still hoping that she would look away from that wall and onto me. I can see her grin slowly starting to fade away. Then she slowly turns her head until we lock eyes. Octavia slowly starts to blush again with that same look of flattery. I can feel heat radiating off of my cheek which meant that I was blushing as well. Instead of continuing to gaze into her picturesque violet eyes, I assemble the confidence to say something to Octavia.
“Umm…do you mind if I umm…sit here?” I stammer.
Octavia nods at me, her confidence steadily growing.
“Yes…umm…of course.”
I pull out the chair, but before I sit down, I look at how Octavia was sitting; she was, pretty much, standing on the chair with her hind legs, and her front hooves were on the table so that she could enjoy a glass of, what seems like, hot apple cider through a bendy straw. So I tried to sit on the chair just like Octavia did, but with all four hooves on the seat. Sitting in the chair wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. While sitting on the chair, I could see Lyra past Octavia. Lyra flicks her right hoof in a “go on” gesture, and I can see her mouth the words “go on” as she is flicking her hoof. So I put a hoof up to my mouth, and I clear my throat and this instantly draws Octavia’s attention.
“Umm…..hello. My name is Aura Storm. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
I try to be as formal as I possibly can. Octavia raises an eyebrow with a straight face. I almost broke into a nervous sweat. Have I done something wrong already?! So I decide to cut the crap and say what I came over here to say.
“Alright, I’m just going to get to the point. Honestly, Octavia, I find you attractive, and that’s all I have to say.”
Octavia blushes even harder than before with her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. I had probably just made thing extremely awkward between us. I sigh light so that Octavia can’t hear it.
“I should probably go,” I say disappointed in myself. “I don’t want to make thing anymore awkward than they already are.”
I leapt from my chair, and I slowly walk my way over to Lyra with my head pointed at the ground in melancholy.
“Wait!” a voice said.
The voice came from behind me, and there was only one pony behind me at the time; Octavia. I turn around swiftly, and I could see Octavia leaping from her seat and running towards me.
“Now hold on just a moment!” Octavia exclaims while running towards me.
She stops right in front of me, and she continues speaking.
“How dare you run off before giving me a chance to respond!” Octavia says sternly.
I raise an eyebrow, eager to hear what she had to say. Octavia starts to speak again.
“You’ve got some guts saying that kind of thing up front. I like that.”
“You like what?”
“I like stallions that are not self-conscience about what they do or what they say. If I wasn’t so busy, I would LOVE to get to know you.”
“What are you busy with?”
“Oh, I’m a first chair cellist for the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra, and I have a performance in a couple of hours. So I need to get ready for that.”
A couple of things had crossed my mind. One: What the hell is Canterlot? Two: How can she play the cello with NO FUCKING FINGERS?!?! That baffled me the most, but I just decided to drop that subject, and I decided to ask her the first one.
“Umm…what’s Canterlot?”
“It’s only the capital of Equestria!”
“Really? Where is it?”
Octavia gave me look like I was physically deformed.
“You’re not from here are you?” she asked.
“No, I’m not, but I don’t feel like talking about it. It’s a little complicated,” I state uneasily.
Octavia squints her eyes at me, trying to squeeze some answers out of me. I glance to my left, then I glance to my right, without turning my head, and then I look back at Octavia.
“So where is the general location of Canterlot?” I ask.
“If we back away from Sugar Cube Corner, we can see it from there,” Octavia said.
Octavia and I back away from Sugar Cube Corner, and then Lyra decides to stop watching from the sidelines and join us. The three of us back away from Sugar Cube Corner until Octavia says something.
“Stop! Right here is fine. Look over there!”
Octavia points to a large mountain in the distance, but it looks like something is clinging to the mountain side. It looks like a city with a castle at its epicenter, but that couldn’t be possible. Then Lyra puts in her two cents.
“See that city clinging to the mountain side, that’s Canterlot!”
“That’s…..impossible,” I say absolutely stupefied.
I have never seen such spectacular architecture in all my life. Canterlot was truly a sight to behold.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Octavia said. “But only the rich, talented, and powerful are allowed into Canterlot”
“Are there any exceptions to entering Canterlot?” I ask Octavia while beholding the glorious city of Canterlot.
“There is one way,” Lyra mentions. “You have to be of extreme importance to her highness, Princess Celestia.”
“Who’s Princess Celestia?” I ask.
“Wow! You really AREN’T from here,” Octavia comments with utmost certainty.
“Yeah yeah yeah. We all understand the fact that I’m not from here! Now can you please continue?!”
As I had requested, Lyra continues her little speech on Princess Celestia.
“Well, basically, Celestia rules over all of Equestria, and she raises and lowers the sun. While her sister, Princess Luna, rules the night and raises and lowers the moon.”
“How long as Celestia been in power?” I ask.
“Somewhere over a thousand years, I believe, but don’t quote me on it.”
“That’s impossible! There is no possible way that anyone or anything could live that long!”
“Well, Celestia and Luna are alicorns so…”
I interrupt Lyra to ask her, yet, another question.
“What’s an alicorns?”
Lyra and Octavia look at one another. Then they both face palm themselves, but since they didn’t have hands, I guess it would be called a “facehoof” or something. The Octavia addresses me.
“In simple terms, alicorns are unicorns and pegasi mixed together. So they have, both, wings and a horn. They also have extreme longevity. This explains why they live so long.”
“How does one achieve alicorns status?”
“You either have to be of royal blood, or you have to do something brave and noble for all of Equestria.”
“Like what?”
“Like saving Equestria from certain destruction.”
“Oh,” I say disappointedly.
Well shit. There goes my shot of becoming an alicorns. Oh well. Like someone like me could become an alicorns.
“Aura Storm!” Octavia exclaims, attempting to snag my attention. “I best be going.”
Octavia walks towards me until our muzzles are only mere inches from each other. She looks at me seductively. We look eyes; her violet eyes pierce through my soul, and I can’t help but blush. I can see her blush, as well, while she bites her lip a little bit. Then Octavia starts to speak again, and she puts a hoof on my left cheek.
“Maybe I’ll see you around, Aura Storm.”
She slowly removes her hoof from my cheek, and she starts to walk away. She keeps walking until I possess the will to say something.
“Octavia, wait!” I shout after her “Why be unsure to see me again? Why not be certain?”
Octavia raises an eyebrow in curiosity.
“What are you getting at, Aura?
I sigh lightly.
“What I’m getting at is that I want to see again. So would you like to go on…a date…with me?”
I’m hoping that I won’t regret what I had just said. Throwing my emotions out there was pretty risky. Now, I patiently wait for Octavia to respond. I look at Octavia, and she gives me a small grin. I thought the worst; I thought that she was going burst out in laughter, but she does something else.
“Aura Storm…,” Octavia starts.
I feel a bead of sweat trickle from my forehead, and it runs down my cheek, falls off of my face, and splashes subtlely, onto the dirt. I try not to let my face express the emotions that are boiling and festering inside of myself. Then Octavia continues, and she says something totally unexpected to me.
“I would love to go on a date with you,” she says proudly with a smile.
I have a mixed feeling of astonishment and absolute relief. All of the negative emotions that swelled within my soul had just instantaneously vanished in one feld swoop after hearing Octavia say “yes.” I respond to Octavia, trying to keep my shit together, and try not burst with positive emotions.
“Fantastic,” I say with a smile. “Shall we work the detail on a later date?”
“We shall,” Octavia responded. “But until then…”
Octavia puts her right hoof on my left cheek, and she caresses it. I close my eyes, and I except her affectionate touch. I nuzzle into her hoof, and I absorb some of its warmth.
“I’ll see you around, Aura Storm,” Octavia says while, slowly, sliding her hoof off of my cheek.
I open my eyes, and I became a little blue when she stopped caressing my cheek. I had grown accustomed to her touch, and I longed for it. Octavia turns around, and she walked towards a hot air balloon. That must be the only mode of transportation to get where she was going, Canterlot. I watch her pay for the flight, enter the balloon, and I watch her slowly drift upwards towards Canterlot. I continue to watch the balloon as it gracefully drifts higher and higher towards its destination. I close my eyes, and I sigh happily.
“You did it, you son-of-a-bitch,” I say subtly to myself.
I open my eyes, and I watch the balloon become an insignificant little speck the further it flew away from Ponyville. Then I hear hooves approaching from behind me from my left side. I didn’t bother to turn around because I already knew who it was; it was Lyra. She sits beside me, and she watches the balloon fly towards Canterlot with me. She nudges my left shoulder with her hoof, and my body flows with the motion of her hoof when she pushes off of me. I can see Lyra looking at me in my periphery, but I don’t turn to her. I can also see her smiling gently at me.
“Way to go, Aura Storm! Honestly, I didn’t think that you would do it.”
“I didn’t think that I would do it either, but I did,” I say while glancing at her with my head still facing towards the drifting balloon.
As I continue to watch the balloon that Octavia was soaring in, I can see the beautiful Equestrian sunset descending behind Canterlot.
“It’s getting pretty late,” Lyra stated. “We should get goin’.”
“Going…where exactly?” I ask.
“Home. Now let’s get goin’.”
Lyra starts to walk towards her destination, but she stops when she realizes that I’m not following her. Lyra turns around and faces me. I am still sitting in the exact same spot I was before with my muzzle pointed at the ground. Lyra walks over to me.
“What’s wrong, Storm?”
I look at Lyra with extreme melancholy with tears building up in my eyes.
“But…..but I don’t have a home anymore. I have…NOWHERE to go! No one to turn to. I…..I don’t know what to do!”
I look back to the ground, and the tears that I had been building have been let loose. One by one, my tears fall onto the ground, and they produce miniscule wet spots on the earth. I continue to wallow in my own self-pity. Then I feel a hoof being placed upon my right shoulder. I look up with a stream of tears stained on both of my cheeks, and I see Lyra smiling at me warmly.
“Aura Storm, you are NOT alone,” Lyra assures me. “You’ve got a friend in me, and you’re bound to make even more friends while you’re here. You haven’t been here for more than a couple of hours, and you already have a date! It’s quite impressive actually! Octavia’s not usually the pony for dates, or even socializing for that matter. She’s the up-tight, snooty kind of pony, but she saw something in you that made her change perspectives for the amount of time that you were with her. You pretty much achieved the impossible, and you should feel proud of yourself, Aura Storm.”
I start to cry again, but these weren’t tears of sadness; these were tears of joy and relief. I have never felt such happiness and/or acceptance in all of my natural life. I wipe the tears from my eyes, and I speak to Lyra
“Thank you…so much, Lyra. I have never met anyone who is as compassionate and caring as you are.”
Lyra blushes a little it after hearing the compliment that I had given her. Then she overcomes her flattery, and she speaks to me.
“You don’t have to thank me, Aura. You made me feel better when I was low, and I wanted to do the same for you when thing got you down.”
“Still, thank you. I greatly appreciate it.”
Lyra smiles at me gently.
“You are very welcome, Aura.”
Lyra gazes at the sunset in front of us.
“It’s getting even later,” Lyra says. “C’mon! Follow me, and you can stay with me at my house.”
I grin at Lyra, but I don’t respond. Lyra ventures towards her place of residence, and I followed after her.
The Warrior's Path: Part 1
` Lyra and I walk side by side as we make our way towards her house. As we walk, Lyra turns to me and speaks.
“What did you mean back there? When you said you didn’t have a home anymore. Did you have a home in the human world?”
“I did. I lived with my parents. That is until they were killed. Then I lived with a family friend for a couple months after the incident.”
Lyra gives me a wide-eyed stare.
“Your parents were killed?! By who?! By what?! Who would ever do such a thing to you?!”
“I can’t be certain, but I have this feeling in my gut that I was a dark crystal that I found near my parents, the night that they died, buried underneath some burning rubble.
“Doesn’t that seem a little…I don’t know…strange to you, Aura?”
“Of course it does, Lyra. But I can’t give a legitimate reasoning for it. Why me?! That’s the ONE thing that I can’t put my hoof on!”
“Well, do you think that it DOES have something to do with you?”
I scoff at Lyra in disbelief.
“If it did, I wouldn’t understand why. Perhaps, if I’m lucky, I’ll find some answers while I’m here.”
“Well, I wish you luck with that, Aura Storm.”
I raise an eyebrow and smile at Lyra, and then we laugh a little bit. Lyra starts to speak.
“We should be coming up to my house shortly, and we’ll get settled from there.”
“Well fantastic!” I exclaim. “It’ll be nice to get some well-deserved R&R after the crazy fucking day I’ve had today.”
Lyra chuckles a little bit.
“I don’t blame you, Aura.”
We continue to walk towards Lyra’s house, but then it had gotten really dark rather quick. I turn around, and I look behind me, and I can still the sunset. But I had jinxed it; the same darkness that cloaked the sky above our heads had also blocked out the beautiful Equestrian sunset. They looked like rain clouds at first, but they didn’t look like clouds at all. It looked more like smoke; pitch, black smoke. But nothing was ablaze because Lyra and I couldn’t smell anything burning. I turn around, and I look at Lyra. Lyra was about to say something, but, before she could, a massive gust of wind swept through Ponyville, and it nearly took Lyra and I off of our hooves. We manage to stand our ground against the massive strength of the wind.
“WHAT’S GOING ON?!” Lyra shouted over the wind.
“ISN’T THIS A NORMAL THING?!” I replied.
Lyra squints at me angrily.
“OH YEAH! STUFF LIKE THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!!!” Lyra remarked in a sarcastic tone.
“ALRIGHT! I WAS ONLY ASKING!!! Don’t need to be a bitch about it,” I mumble under the wind.
“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!?!”
“Umm…NOTHIN’! Umm…I SWALLOWED A BUG ER SOMETHIN’ AND I UMM....CHOKED A LITTLE BIT!”
Lyra squints her eyes angrily at me again. Lyra was about to make another bitchy remark, but something else grabs out attention; a large tower of the black smoke starts to form only mere feet from where we were standing. The tower of smoke stood, at least, 30 feet high. Lyra and I look at the tower of black smoke with jaws dropped and blank stares. Then, out of the black smoke, a face emerges from the base of the tower. It was a gray stallion unicorn wearing glistening steel armor. He also wore a tiara/crown type thing and a red cape with white fur on the outer edge of it. He also possessed strange eyes; he had red irises, but his scieras were not white, they were light neon green. Flowing out of his eyes was purple and black colored…..stuff. He had a strange horn for a unicorn; it was curved slightly upward, and, from halfway up to the tip, it was colored red. His mane and tail were as black as the smoke he spawned from, and it moved completely on its own. He also had big menacing fangs that completed his intimidating and frightful appearance. The stallion walks out of the smoke with a bloodthirsty grin. I saw the stallion, instantly as a threat, and I put myself into a combat stance the best I could in my pony form. I lock angry stares with the unicorn, and then I look at Lyra with my head still pointed at the unicorn. When I get a good look at her, I turn my turn towards her in curiosity. For some reason, Lyra was in a bowing pose trembling where she stood, terrified beyond belief. Then she utters two words softly in terror.
“King Sombra.”
After hearing Lyra say those two words, I assumed that this couldn’t be good. I look back to the dark unicorn, King Sombra, and I see him squinting malevolently at me with a sinister grin. I had almost become just a frightened as Lyra, but I manage to keep a straight face. I resume my battle stance, and attempt to oppose the threat at hand…er I mean…hoof. I wait for Sombra to make the first move, but he’s just standing there with the same menacing look on his face. Then Sombra turns his attention to Lyra. He squints his eyes a little bit harder, and his grin grows larger and more intimidating. Then his horn becomes cloaked in a mysterious, black aura; just like the smoke behind him. Lyra and I look at Sombra with blank stares, and our pupils shrank. Then, in a single, massive burst, Sombra lets loose a monstrous beam of dark magic…..right at Lyra. I couldn’t let Lyra be harmed after all she has done for me. So before the beam of dark magic could made contact with Lyra, I push her out of the way, and the beam had hit me instead. The beam had impacted me on my left side, right in the rib cage. The beam had a combination of sharpness and burning sensations piercing through my fur and flesh. The beam had made so big of an impact on me that I get sent flying back about fifteen feet, or so, before I make contact with the earth again. After I impact the ground the first time, I bounce off of the ground, and I fly, a good, five to seven feet until I slide on the dirt, and I construct a pile of dirt on my right side and almost buried myself. Lyra slowly arises to her hooves after I had pushed her out of the way of Sombra’s magic. She slowly opens her eyes, and she turns to me at where I lay.
“AURA STORM!!!” Lyra screams.
I was too weak from pain to move even a hair. The only thing that I have the strength to do is open my eyes. My vision was that equivalent of an intoxicated person; everything was blurred out and moving about. From where I lay, I can see Sombra walking towards me with the same look he gave Lyra just moments ago. He stops right where my hooves lay limp. Then his right hoof becomes cloaked in the same black aura, and he raises his hoof as if he were about to punch me.
“GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU MONSTER!!!” Lyra shouts angrily.
Sombra lowers his hoof, and he starts to turn towards Lyra. But before he can fully turn towards Lyra, he is hit with a beam of fluorescent green magic. He doesn’t get sent flying like I did; he just vigorously slides across the dirt until he stops himself. The sinister grin he wore earlier had vanished, and it was replaced with, an even more sinister, look of furiousness. He turns to Lyra with his new emotion attached to his face. Then his horn becomes encased in the black aura, and the earth begins to tremble. Before Lyra could have time to react, she becomes caged in a hallow prism of black colored spikes. But these spikes didn’t seem very “earthy;” they were, in fact, very lustrous. This may have been a strange coincidence, but the spike radiated the same kind of light as the dark crystal I possessed in the Human Realm. That couldn’t be possible. I couldn’t figure it out because I only once piece of a gigantic puzzle. If these were the dark crystals that killed my parents in the Human Realm, then Sombra could be the one supplying them. Therefore, Sombra would be responsible for the death of my parents. After this assumption, my pupils shrank immensely with fury. Ultimate revenge was the only flowing through my mind at this point, but I was still too weak to put my thoughts into actions. After Sombra had dealt with Lyra, he turns his attention back to me, and my pupils shrink even further, but this time, in terror. He walked backed over to where I still lay. His bloodthirsty grin had begun to return back to his malevolent face. He stood where he stood the last time he approached my; at my lifeless-looking hooves. He makes direct eye contact with me, and he squints his eyes harder, and his grin grows wider.
“DON’T YOU DARE HURT HIM!!! KEEP AWAY FROM HIM!!!” Lyra shouted with tears building up in her eyes.
Lyra’s words didn’t seem to stop Sombra from attempting to achieve his goal; whatever it may be. Sombra raises his dark aura covered hoof, and he swings it straight at my face. My pupils dilate greatly, and adrenaline courses through my little pony veins. Using his own momentum against him, I deflect the punch away from my face, and I counter, rapidly with a punch of my own while still lying on the ground. This makes Sombra stagger a little bit, but it’s enough for me to attack again before he recovers. Then I use my back hooves, and I kick him directly in the muzzle. Blood flies from his nostrils as he flies five feet away from me.
“YES YES YES!!!” Lyra cheers franticly from the sidelines where she was imprisoned. “GO STORM!!!”
Then, while still on the ground, I stick out my hooves, and I point them directly where Sombra lies weakened. I had no idea what I was doing, or what the outcome would be, but it just felt like a natural reaction to be doing in this situation. Then my hooves become encased with the same blue aura that I encountered in the crater outside of Ponyville. I close my eyes, and I try to let whatever happens, happens. Then I feel a strong gust of wind blowing in my face; it must’ve been for the charging aura. I clench my teeth in pain and fury, and I open my eyes and see something totally unexpected; my vision had been drastically altered. Everything was a dark blue color, but Sombra’s and Lyra’s outlines were a faded blue; almost to the point where I cannot see them. But I can see something, though; a red, fiery orb emanates from Sombra. Then I look to Lyra, and she emits the same type of orb but of a different color; it was a shy blue color. I have no idea what is happening here, but I’m not gonna complain. My whole body had, almost been cloaked in the blue aura that my hooves were giving off. Then the charging aura left my hooves in a sudden explosion, and it shot at where I was pointing with my hooves……right at Sombra. Before Sombra has a chance to regain strength and rise to his feet, the massive beam of blue aura hit Sombra dead on with unrelenting force, and it sent him soaring into the side of somepony’s house.
“STORM, WHAT THE HELL?!?!” Lyra shouted furiously.
I rise to my feet, and I respond to her.
“WHAT?! WHAT DID I DO?!”
“That was MY house!!!”
I look at the good-sized hole in Lyra’s house that I slammed Sombra into.
“You’ve got to be shitting me, Lyra?! Out of the homes in Ponyville, I, somehow manage to hit yours?”
“YES!!!”
“WELL, SCREW YOUR HOUSE! DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID?! HOLY CRAP!!!”
I stand up on my back hooves as if I were human again, and I look at my front hooves; they were emanating a light blue smoke that the blast of aura had been produced from my hooves. I take some time to be completely stupefied at what I had done. I was aware of the fact that I possessed powers, but I wasn’t aware that I could do something like what I had just accomplished earlier. I have so much to learn of what I’m capable of doing with my new-found powers and abilities. I turn my attention back to the gaping hole in Lyra’s house that I had blasted Sombra into. Then, Sombra slowly emerges from the whole in the house with scratches, bruises, some good sized pieces of wood penetrating his flesh in non-vital places, and small amounts of blood oozing out of his wounds and other various parts of his body. He also wore and extremely pissed-off look on his face. He thought that taking me out would go smoothly for him, and I thought that as well and that brought up something to my attention; why did he want ME so badly? Out of all the ponies here, Sombra has his sights set on me. I didn’t get it at all. What kind of impact could I’ve made in HIS life? I’ve only been here for FIVE FUCKING HOURS!!! Then Sombra’s pissed-off look turned back into his bloodthirsty grin he wore previously. Then his horn becomes covered in the black magic that he possessed, and a black…..portal….thing started to form on the dirt. Out of said portal, rose a massive scythe that could’ve belonged to Death himself, and it, too, was encased in the dark magic. Sombra looked at the scythe, and it spun around lengthwise in the air, and then he looked back at me with the same evil grin. I had a hunch that he was using his magic to control the scythe. With a massive scythe under his control, he sprinted towards me with a scream that increased in volume and intensity. My pupils shrank immensely as he bolted towards me, and I just stood there like a deer caught in headlights.
“MOVE, AURA STORM!!!” Lyra yells with tears swelling in her eyes.
But I just stood there, motionless. Lyra looks at me with her jaw dropped and tears overflowing her widened sunset yellow-orange eyes from where she was imprisoned. As Sombra approaches me, he gets his scythe prepped for swinging, but he turns it around with the back end facing me and the blade facing him. At this point, I was more confused than scared. Using his magic, he swings the scythe, and he hit me across all of my legs and sweeps me off of my hooves until I’m airborne for a couple of seconds. Then, while I’m airborne, Sombra raises his scythe, and he brings it down and the back end of the blade makes contact with my skull. Blood rushes forcefully out of my cranium. I thrash onto the intensely, and I lay flat on my stomach, sickened from pain to do anything at this point. I slowly opens my eyes a little bit, and I see Sombra walking towards me with the same bloodthirsty grin he has worn many times during this whole venture. Before I slip into unconsciousness, I can see Lyra reaching out for me from her imprisonment about 30 feet away.
“AURA STORM!!!” Lyra cries out, but her voice fades away as I lose blood and mental focus. I can also hear dark, malevolent laughter as I slip into the dark void of unconsciousness.
I regain consciousness, slowly, but I keep my eyes shut. I try to recover some of the energy that I had lost after my little quarrel with Sombra. I can feel my head pulsing vigorously as blood runs down my face due to the massive blow that Sombra struck me with. I try to ease the pain by rubbing my head, but I can’t move my hoof to do so. I open my eyes rapidly in sheer terror, and I see that all four of my legs have been restrained by shackles attached to a wall. Then I turn my attention to my new surroundings; I wasn’t in Ponyville anymore. I was in, some sort of, medieval torture chamber. I try to free myself of these shackles, but I fail. Even with full strength, I don’t think that I would’ve broken the inch and a half thick iron shackles. I hang my head in failure and disappointment. Then I hear the clopping of hooves coming down a dark, eerie hallway that was faintly lit by tiny torches on the walls of the hallway. The clopping of hooves grew louder and louder until they, eventually, reached the chamber where I was being held prisoner. Emerging out of the darkness was Sombra and….some other pony. It was an extremely tall mare with a dark gray coat, piercing green snake eyes, and dark blue-green mane and tail. She also had some peculiar physical features; her horn was extremely crooked, she had holes on various parts of her body, even in her mane and tail, and she had huge, thin, bug-like wings. How the fuck is she supposed to fly with those things anyways?! They also had holes in them, like the rest of her body. And another thing; she many bug-like qualities. It’s as if a bug and a horse had sex, and they gave birth to…..whatever the fuck this thing is. She also had a very slender stature, which, probably, aided her in flight, and she also had long, menacing fangs like Sombra’s, but a little bit longer. They both look at me with big, sinister grins smeared on both of their faces, as if they were planning on doing something with me…..or to me.
“So is this the one you were talking about, Sombra?” the mare asks Sombra whilst looking at me.
“Indeed he is,” Sombra replies.
I’ve never heard Sombra emit anything from his voice, besides evil laughter, and his voice was just as dark and intimidating as he was. His voice was deep and rough-sounding. It matched his physical appearance and his personality perfectly. Then the tall mare scoffs at Sombra and rolls her eyes while walking towards me.
“This can’t possibly be the one we’re looking for.” The mare says while she scans me with her eyes. “He doesn’t look so tough.”
I snarl at her, wanting to prove her wrong. All she has to do is release me so that I can beat the living shit out of her.
“Don’t underestimate him, Chrysalis,” Sombra says. “I thought that way as well, but he did put up quite a fight in my attempt to capture him. Also, according to legend, this stallion is the only one with the powers to stop us.”
“Legend?!” I asked questioningly. “What fucking legend?!”
Sombra walk over to me, and he stand next to the tall mare named Chrysalis.
“Legend tell of a great warrior that fell from the heavens above, and his mission was simple: protect all of Equestria from anything that might harm it. You being in Equestria was no accident; ‘twas destiny. I killed your parents and left the crystal as your motivation to find your way here,” he explains.
“Then why not just kill me then! Why not let me die with my parents?!”
“That’s because we’ve got some quite special in store for you, Axel.”
“My name…..is Aura Storm,” I say somberly.
“It matter not! You’re here. That’s all that matters!” Sombra says with that same stupid grin on his face.
“Why does it matter? I’m here, aren’t I? Why not just finish me off already?!”
“Well, that wouldn’t be very enjoyable then, now would it?”
“So if you’re not going to kill me, then why am I here?”
“You possess a special and powerful kind of magic, and we tend to syphon it out of you, and or corrupt you with dark magic and changeling venom so that you will be under our total control. With your help, you will either fuel Chrysalis’s vast changeling army, or you will become our super weapon who commands the changeling army. Either way you look at it, you’re aiding us in taking over Equestria.”
I snarl at Sombra. Then my look of anger transforms into a look of curiosity.
“The fuck’s a changeling?”
“Changelings are shape-shifting creatures that can take the form of whoever you love most,” Chrysalis starts, “and we syphon that love out of you. That’s what we feed on, how we survive. Luckily, for us, Equestria is an endless supply of love,” Chrysalis states.
“So you’re a changeling, I take it?”
“I’m not just a changeling; I’m the QUEEN of the Changelings, and it is my job to provide my subjects with food. That is why we migrated to Equestria . Now, we’re just waiting for the proper moment to strike.”
Chrysalis puts a hoof under my chin, and she raises my head.
“And since you came along, our time will soon come!”
She removes her hoof from my chin, and she walks back to Sombra’s side. Then Chrysalis turns her head towards Sombra.
“Shall we begin?” she asked.
Sombra glares at me creepily.
“We shall!” Sombra replies.
I have no idea what they’re planning on doing with me, but I have a gut feeling that this cannot end well for me. Sombra then looks at Chrysalis.
“You start, Chrysalis,” Sombra said.
Chrysalis gives me a bloodthirsty grin, and I can feel a large pulse in my neck constructed by fear and adrenaline. She approaches me with her bloodthirsty grin still in place. She licks her lips and her viscous fangs in one fluent motion with her tounge. She takes her left hoof, and she jerks my head towards my right shoulder. Then she brings her muzzle to my left shoulder. I was at an absolute loss by this. I had no idea what she was doing.
“Hey! What the hell are you…..”
My sentence was cut short when Chrysalis sinks her fangs deep into my flesh. The force of the bite was so powerful and unexpected that I couldn’t help but let out a blood curdling scream. The intensity from the bite grows, as do my screams of anguish. After ten agonizing seconds of having the Changelings Queen’s fangs buried beneath my skin, she slowly drew them out like King Arthur when he drew Excalibur from the stone. Chrysalis gives me a look of intimidation and seduction as she licks her fangs clean of my blood, and…..some other, green substance. Then Sombra addresses me.
“Do you feel it? The Changeling venom coursing through your veins. The effects will become apparent shortly. Now it is time for me to do my part.”
I hang from my shackles with my head pointed to the ground as I breathe heavily through my mouth with my eyes locked onto Sombra, trying my best to bare the pain. Then Sombra uses his dark magic to summon an object that appears before our eyes. The object was a dark crystal, of the exact same size and shape, like the one I found in the Human Realm. It glowed with the same dark aura as mine did as well. I stare blankly at the crystal, then at Sombra.
“Remember this?” Sombra asked, “This is the very crystal that changed your life, almost, three moons ago, and, now, it will change your life once more!!!”
Sombra uses his magic to thrust the dark crystal deep into my abdominal region. The force of the blow was so powerful that all of the air expelled from lungs, and made it very difficult to breathe. Every second that passed, Sombra would drive the crystal deeper and deeper into my flesh with the bloodthirsty grin that he always likes to wear. I clench my teeth with extreme vigor to cope with the pain, but the pain overwhelms me, and I can’t help but let out a scream even more blood curdling then the last. Then Sombra uses his magic to forcefully jerk the crystal out of my body. Following the crystal, came large quantities of my blood that flowed from the crevasse in my body. I felt faint, and I thought I was going to blackout from blood loss. Sombra and Chrysalis stare at me; waiting anxiously to see what the outcome of their little experiments will be. Chrysalis turns her head to Sombra.
“You said that this would work, Sombra!” she said sternly.
“Patience is a virtue, my dear Chrysalis,” Sombra said replied but didn’t look at her.
“Looks like your efforts were in vain, Sombra,” I say with an eyebrow rasied, breathing heavily.
After I said that, I start to twitch uncontrollably for a few seconds. I look to my left, then I look to my right without moving my head.
“What the hell was that?!” I asked in confusion and curiosity.
Sombra’s bloodthirsty grin with eyes squinted returns to his face.
“Now it begins,” he stated with the grin smeared all over his face.
I try to respond to Sombra, but my involuntary twitching prevents me from doing so.
“What the….FUCK is goin’ on?” I utter softly to myself.
Then an extremely sharp pain splits me, directly in half. Then, in an instant, the pain grows immensely. It feels as if I am slowly being cut in half by a chainsaw. I scream bloody murder like I was being eaten alive. Seconds later, it feels like in being ripped in half ever so slowly. I can feel my body stretch as id somepony was doing just that. Then, as soon as it appeared, the body-splitting pain left, and I hang limp to try to recover. Then, I hear a forceful “THUD” hit the ground. In the upper left corner of my vision, I could see a pony lying on the ground. Was this pony here earlier? Had he or she been lying here this whole time, and I hadn’t noticed until now? The pony starts to get up slowly with his or her eyes closed, and rises out of the dark, blurry haziness of my periphery. It was a unicorn stallion, and he…..looked….just like me. But there were some key differences between us: he had a dark gray coat, like Chrysalis, and his mane and tail looked like Chrysalis’ too, with holes and everything that a stereotypical changeling should look like. The stallion’s eyes had been closed this entire time, but after he rises, he open them widely; his eyes, too, were like Chrysalis’. Then he went into a light chuckle, but then it escalated quickly into a dark, malevolent laughter; almost like Sombra’s, but not as deep and powerful, but intimidating nonetheless.
“Excelent,” Sombra said while looking at the stallion.
“But Sombra, this isn’t what we’d planned at all!” Chrysalis exclaimed.
“I understand this, Chrysalis, but we can also make do with this,” Sombra replies while still looking at the stallion. Then he continues to speak.
“In attempting to do one thing, we’ve managed to do something else something far beyond our expectations; we’ve created our own weapon instead of infecting Aura Storm to do so.”
“But how is Aura Storm not infected?” Chrysalis asks.
“Of that, I cannot be certain, but I can be certain of one thing; we’ve managed to acquire what we wanted if not more.”
“So what do we do with Aura Storm? Can I kill’em, Sombra?!” Chrysalis asks excitedly.
Then Sombra gives me the same stupid smirk he always does.
“You can. We have no use for him now. Go and dump him in the Everfree Forest. The timber wolves could use a little snack.
“And if he, somehow, manages to survive the timber wolves?”
“Then I want him to watch as we lay waste to all of Equestria, and I want him to know that this little endeavor wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for him.”
Then, out of this whole thing, the unicorn stallion finally decides to say something.
“Your majesties, I would love to do the honor of…taking out the trash,” he said sinisterly while looking at me.
The stallion possessed Sombra’s intimidation and his crooked grin.
“Yes,” Sombra said with his crooked smile, “This is going to be…..delicious.”
“Sombra,” Chrysalis exclaims, “We need to come up with a name for our little…..creation,” she said with a little smirk.
“Ah yes. How foolish of me. Did you have any ideas then, Chrysalis?”
“I…..I didn’t. Do you?”
“That…I do!”
Sombra walks to the dark gray stallion.
“Your name is, and forever shall be, Aura Shadow.”
The stallion, named Aura Shadow, gives Sombra a pleasing, sinister grin.
“Now may I begin your highness?”
Sombra looks back to me with his same, tiresome grin.
“You may…..Aura Shadow.”
Shadow quickly turns to me, and he walk in my general direction with the same, stupid grin that Sombra never gets tired of wearing. As he walks towards me, his hooves burst aflame….just like me. But Shadow’s “flames” were a hue of light green. It seemed that Shadow had possessed my powers, and I was pretty sure that he’d possessed Chrysalis’ and Sombra’s powers as well. Shadow was the super weapon that Chrysalis and Sombra wanted to turn me into. I shared Chrysalis’ confusion from earlier on how I wasn’t infected and corrupted by the Changeling venom and dark crystals. I had so many questions, but didn’t want to ask them to ponies who were trying to end my life. Then, in an instant, I had been released from my shackles, and I collapse onto the unforgiving floor below. I lay here like a slug with Aura Shadow’s hooves next to my face. Shadow gets on bended knee, and he raises my head with his left hoof. I can feel blood running out of my abdominal region and in between my left shoulder and my neck.
“I’m…going to enjoy…every minute of this,” Shadow says with that stupid smirk, “Having you look at what you helped create as my King, Queen, and I lay havoc on all of Equestria. Well, that is, if you survive the timber wolves.”
“Like hell you are,” I ensure.
Then I spit blood into Shadow’s face. Shadow just laughs malevolently.
“And how do you purpose on stopping us, hmm? You have powers, yes, but you…don’t…quite have a grip on them yet. But they were strong enough to protect you from being infected. I do wish you luck on finding somepony who’s knowledgeable about our powers. Now, if you don’t mind, my king has asked of me to dispose of you, and after that’s done, we shall begin on making out preparations to take over all of Equestria.”
I cough up some blood.
“I….won’t….let you.” I grunt out.
Shadow gets in my face, and he grins and squints even harder.
“I bid you farewell,…..Aura Storm.”
Then Shadow use his magic to lift me up. He stands up on his hind hooves, and he brings his right hoof back. Then, with unrelenting force, Shadow punches me right across my left cheek. As he makes contact with my face, I go into unconsciousness instantaneously. Nothing but pitch black.
I manage to regain consciousness. I open my eyes slowly but my vision is distorted and blurry. I have absolutely no idea where I am. Then I remembered what Sombra had said:
“Go and dump him in the Everfree Forest.”
Somehow, I had a feeling that I was there. Then Sombra had said something after that, but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it. Then I hear snarling and growling from all directions of where I lay. My eyes rapidly open, and, all around me, giant wolve made of….wood; timber wolves. I couldn’t help chuckle a little bit reguardless of the dangerous cercumstance that I was in. It was very punny. Giant wolves, literally, made of wood. My smile disappears instantanesously as the giant wolves creep upon me, ready to feast upon my open wounds. Then large blasts of green smoke envelop the wolves and myself. The wolves shake and rattle, and they just randomly disassemble and collapse onto the earth. Running through the smoke, was a mare wearing a large cloak to cover her face. She offers me her hoof to aid me in rising to my hooves.
“Very injured you seem to be. I will take you, and you’ll stay with me,” the mysterious mare said as I slowly slip back into the dark void of unconsciousness.
