My Little Pony: The Legend of the Great Crystals

by Sonik

Chapters

Chapter Two: A Rude Awakening
Chapter Three: Outburst
Chapter Four: The Next Day
Chapter Five: The Words' Powers
Chapter Six: Close Calls
Chapter Seven: A New Weapon, A New Friend
Chapter Eight: The Breaking Point
Chapter Nine: Fluttershy's Rampage
Chapter Ten: Telling the Others
Chapter Eleven: Back to School
Chapter Twelve: A Mysterious Occurrence
Chapter Fourteen: Battle at the School
Chapter Fifteen: Soliloquy
Chapter Sixteen: Talent Show
Chapter One: The Arrival (Revised)
Chapter Thirteen: Becoming A Crusader

Chapter Two: A Rude Awakening

Chapter One: The Arrival (Revised)

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daiisshou: Tourai

だいいしょう：とうらい

第一章：到来

Chapter One: The Arrival

Out on a grassy field, six mares had gathered. It was a sunny day, and the Mane Six were sitting on a picnic blanket, enjoying delicious food from Applejack’s own kitchen, and talking about whatever came to mind.

“This food is truly wonderful, Applejack. I just don’t know how you do it!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Aw, shucks. It’s nothin’ really,” she humbly retorted.

“It’s almost as awesome as my flying skill!” Rainbow Dash yelled out, performing loops in the air. The others rolled their eyes.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash. Nothing’s as awesome as you!” Pinkie Pie stated.

“That’s right!” she said, proudly holding a hoof to her chest. “You can’t beat…” she was cut off as a bolt of lightning struck her on the head, knocking her down to the ground. “Hey, watch what you’re doing up there, will ya!?” she belted, annoyed at what had just happened. She then looked confused as she noticed something – there were no clouds. “What the heck?” she questioned. Then, suddenly, another bolt struck right beside her, causing her to jump slightly.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” Fluttershy quizzed.

“I don’t know. If there are no clouds, where is the lightning coming from?” she asked.

A loud crackling noise could be heard in the sky as a rift was torn in the fabric of space. A huge bolt of lightning then struck the picnic blanket, sending all of the mares flying in different directions and destroying the area of the ground where it struck.

“What the…” Rainbow Dash mumbled, getting up, flying towards the crater that had formed. She couldn’t make anything out through the smoke and dust, except for a small blue, shimmering figure. The others awakened slowly and made their ways to the crater. They all questioned what had just occurred.

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

“Is this the end of the world caused by an alien creature that is going to consume our brains and use their power to control us all?” Pinkie screamed, quickly, almost unintelligibly.

Fluttershy looked in the crater, seeing a small figure lying inside it. “Um…girls?” Fluttershy said, almost silently, trying to get their attention.

“Is it dangerous?” Rarity quizzed.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack inquired.

“Girls…” Fluttershy said, still very quietly.

“Step back, it could be hazardous,” Twilight instructed, but received no response as the others were too busy clamoring about what the crater possibly could be.

“Girls!” Fluttershy cried out as she raised her voice, getting the attention of the others.

“Yes, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“There’s something laying in there.”

“Oh?” was all Twilight said as she stepped up to the crater. The dust and smoke had cleared and the child was left there, surrounded by blue flames. His body was scorched, with blood dripping from every orifice on his head and he was wearing scraps of clothing.

“Oh, my goodness!” Fluttershy nearly screamed as she flew down into the small crater, lifting him out. She gently set him on the ground. The group stared in shock as they viewed his tattered body.

“Is it dead?” Applejack blatantly asked. Fluttershy put hear ear on his chest.

“It has a heartbeat!”

“That’s good! We need to get it to a hospital, pronto!” Rainbow Dash shouted, motioning for them to put him on her back. Applejack and Pinkie Pie helped load on the child while Twilight looked back into the crater.

“Alright, let’s g-“

“What is that?” Twilight asked, pointing a hoof down to the middle of the crater. The others trotted over to the crater.

She was pointing at a red book of sorts. On the front was an hourglass mark, with four circles on the edges and one in the middle where the lines crossed. Above that were two sets of foreign characters, separated by a sun shape with a spiral in the center. Around the two lines of text and sun was a rectangular shape, with edges that curved slightly inwards.

“It’s a book,” Rarity obviously said.

“I understand that,” Twilight said, levitating the book up to her face. “I’ve never seen a book like this before…” she said, wandering off into thought.

“I realize that you’re all interested and stuff Twilight, but we need to get this…creature to the hospital, now!” Rainbow Dash stated.

“Okay! Let’s go!” she yelled back as Rainbow Dash quickly flew towards Ponyville. The others galloped after her. “I’ll get Spike!” she told the others, who curtly nodded.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted as she burst into the library. She quickly searched around for Spike. She looked around all over the place, but couldn’t seem to find him. She sighed, realizing he probably wasn’t there.

“Hoo,” an owl called out, causing Twilight to jump.

“Owlicious, you need to stop scaring me like that. Anyways, have you seen Spike?” she asked in a panic. The owl pointed towards the laboratory.

‘What would he be doing in the basement?’ she thought to herself.

“Thank you, Owlicious!” she shouted as she rushed to the basement.

“Hoo.”

Twilight entered the basement and saw Spike.

“Spike!” she yelled as the young dragon turned around.

“Oh, hey Twilight. That was fast; it’s only been about thirty minutes,”

“Yeah, we ha-“ she started as she saw the spotless lab equipment. “Wow, you did a top notch job cleaning this.”

“I figured that this place could use a good cleaning. Anyways, what were you saying?”

“I was saying that we had to cut it short because of a sudden…er…barrage of lightning strikes.”

“That’s weird. I don’t think that there was supposed to be any cloudy weather today.”

“That’s the weird thing: There were no clouds. When the third bolt struck, it left a crater with a child.”

“A child?”

“Yes. It was scorched, badly wounded and was wearing tattered clothing. Rainbow Dash and the others took it to the hospital. I came here to send a letter to the princess.”

“Oh, my. Let’s go upstairs and do that, then.”

The two went upstairs, where Spike got out a scroll and a quill.

“Ready!”

“Ahem,” she coughed.

“Dear, Princess Celestia,

Just minutes ago, a series of lightning bolts struck out in the fields near Ponyville, revealing a child of unknown origin and a book that was with him. I don’t know if you saw it, but it appeared to have come from a rift in the sky. The child is heavily wounded and burned, as well as wearing tattered clothing. He has a heartbeat, but was barely breathing when we observed his injuries closer. He is currently in the Ponyville hospital. We do not know if this creature is dangerous so we would like you to come in case he goes rogue upon waking up.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle”

“Got it!” Spike informed.

“Send it off then!” she commanded. He blew out a flame over the spell, sending it towards Canterlot in a plume of smoke.

“What do we do now?”

“Hop on! I’ll take you to there!”

“Alright!”

The mare burst out of the front door with the dragon on her back and hurried to the hospital.

Rainbow Dash entered the hospital and galloped to the front counter, panting.

“Hello. How may I help you today?” the receptionist asked.

“I need intensive care for this child!” she said, turning her body slightly, showing the youth.

“Whoa…” she murmured, eyes widening. “Alright, we’ll send a stretcher immediately!” she said, going into the room behind her. A few moments later, she came back with said stretcher and motioned the cyan Pegasus to load him on, which she soon did. “You can wait there for a little bit, or go do something until we get him set up,” she continued.

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash complied, walking over to a bench in the main room and sitting down on it. About five minutes later, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie came rushing into the hospital.

“We’re here!” Applejack yelled, alerting Rainbow Dash.

“There you are. Feels like I’ve been waiting forever for you guys to show up!”

“We’re not exactly as fast as you are, Rainbow,” Applejack said.

“Whatever. I got the creature checked in. They’re setting him up now.”

“Wonderful!” Rarity exclaimed as the receptionist came back in.

“He’s ready for you to come in,” she said.

“Good,” Fluttershy replied. The group followed the nurse into a long hallway with many rooms on both sides. She led them to a room far in the back of the hospital, where the boy was situated. He was laying on the gurney, hooked up to a machine that monitored his heartbeat, and a small pouch of fluids that was leaking into his body. He had bandages over most of his body, most of which were nearly dripping with blood. His head was cocked to one side, and he was breathing shallowly.

“I hope that he makes it,” Fluttershy prayed, sitting on a chair. The others also sat on chairs inside the room.

“So do ah, Fluttershy, so do ah,” Applejack reassured, staring intently at the child.

Chapter Three: Outburst

Chapter Two: A Rude Awakening

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Dainishou: Burei na Kanki

だいにしょう：ぶれいなかんき

第二章：無礼な喚起

Chapter Two: A Rude Awakening

Twilight was galloping to the hospital, and about halfway there, Spike was feeling a message from the princess coming on.

“Twilight, stop for a moment, please,” he requested. She came to a stop, and he burped out the scroll, which landed on the ground in front of Twilight. She levitated it up and opened it.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

While I myself cannot make it due to royal business, Princess Luna will be joining you. She should be arriving at the hospital shortly. I hope that all goes well when this child you speak of. I am anticipating the results.

As for the book, I would like you to send me a picture or drawing of what it looks like. While I don’t think I will, I may be able to find others like it in the magic library.

Yours, Princess Celestia”

“I guess that means we’ll meet Luna at the hospital then,” Spike inferred.

“I think you’re right. Anyway, let’s continue onward.”

The other five were now wondering in amazement as to how the child could have possibly survived through his injuries.

“It really is amazing. Anypony I know would’ve died from that level of scarring,” Rarity stated.

“I know, right? I didn’t see a single place on his body that didn’t have fruit punch all over it!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Fruit…punch…?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t like the thought of blood, so I imagine its fruit punch instead! Really…dark, gooey, hot, sticky fruit punch…” she trailed off, her mane and tail deflating into a flat state.

“Uh…Are y’okay, Pinkie?”

“Mhm…”she said, looking slightly depressed.

“If ya say so.”

“How are you all doing in here?” A voice said from the doorway. A nurse walked into the room.

“I’m alright,” Rarity replied.

“Ah’ll be fahne,” Applejack answered.

“I’m good,” Rainbow Dash reposted.

“I’m alright,” Fluttershy rejoindered. During this time, Pinkie Pie still remained silent.

“You don’t look so good,” the nurse informed Pinkie. “Would you like some water?”

“That would be terrific,” she boldly replied.

“Alright. I’ll be back in just a moment,” she stated, walking back out. She returned a few moments later with a large glass of iced water.

“Thank you,” she accepted. She took quick chugs of the liquid and found herself refreshed. “That’s really good water!” she said, her mane inflating. She kept gulping down the liquid at a speedy rate.

“You should slow down. If you drink too much in a short amount of time, your eyes will explode!” Rainbow Dash shouted, causing Pinkie to do a spit-take.

“Omigosh, really?!”

“No. I had you there for a second, though!” Rainbow answered, laughing. The others chuckled at the somewhat morbid humor.

“Nn…un…” a muffled voice shouted. The group looked up to the bed, and noticed the child starting to struggle.

“Call me shocked as a worm struck bah lightning, he’s waking up!” Applejack exclaimed.

Twilight had just arrived at the entrance of the hospital, about to walk in, when a voice from the sky interrupted her.

“Halt, Twilight Sparkle!” the voice boomed. Twilight turned around and looked up to see a carriage.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight yelled.

“We have received word from our sister that a child of an unknown species has crashed upon the grass of the fields,” she bellowed, stepping off her carriage.

“That would be correct. I’m glad you could make it,” she replied, bowing.

“Do you know anything of this creature?”

“Unfortunately, not. The only thing I know is that it was almost dead when we found it, and that it had a strange red book.”

“Oh yes. Do you have the book with you right now?”

“I do,”

“Please, allow us to see.”

Spike lifted the book up, and Luna levitated it. She opened it.

“Hmm…We’ve never seen characters like this before. Maybe it’s the language that child reads and writes?”

“Possibly. I wouldn’t doubt it. Princess Celestia asked me to make a drawing of the front cover and send it to her, so maybe she’ll know something about it.”

“Alright. Shall we head in?”

“Let’s.”

The two mares headed inside, and walked up to the receptionist counter. She looked up.

“Good morning, how may I help y-“ she began to say, but saw Luna.

“N-N-Nightmare M-Moon?” she stammered, stepping back. Luna sighed at this, and Twilight rolled her eyes.

“No, this is Princess Luna. You know, Princess Celestia’s sister?” Twilight attempted to clarify.

“Uh…yes,” the mare stuttered. “My apologies, Princess,” she finished, bowing low, her head behind the counter.

“’Tis fine. We understand. Anyway, we are here about the child that was brought in earlier. May we go to see it?”

“Of course. Right this way,” she said, bringing the two mares to the room the others were in. “Here we are. He is in intensive care, so take caution around him, please,” she instructed.

“Of course. Thank you!” Twilight replied. The two walked into the room.

“We’re here!” Twilight announced.

“Good afternoon, our loyal subjects,” Luna introduced. The group looked at them, and bowed their heads low.

“Ah didn’t think you’d be joinin’ us, Princess Luna. Ah thought Princess Celestia was comin’,” Applejack quizzed.

“Unfortunately, she had royal business to take care of at the moment, so she sent us.”

“Oh.”

“Nn…uh…” the child stirred again. Luna finally turned to face the creature, and her eyes widened.

“What is a human doing here!?” Luna shouted, her horn flaring, pointing at the child.

“You know what it is?” Twilight asked.

“Of course I do! It’s the absolute worst creature that could’ve ever landed here!” she screamed.

“Nn…Ah!” he yelled out, opening his eyes as wide as he could. The first thing he saw was Luna’s glowing horn, pointed at his neck. He put one of his hands to his head.

“Uu…Nani wo okotta? Atama ga itai.”

(“Ooh…What happened? My head hurts.”)

“Silence!” Luna shouted. The child raised his brow at her quick hostility.

“Omae wa dare?” he asked.

(“Who are you?”)

“I said ‘Silence!” she cried out, putting her horn up to his neck.

“Kore wa nani!?”

(“What is this!?”)

“Princess Luna, what are you doing!? Stop!” Twilight ordered.

“No! This is a pest that must be exterminated!” she shouted, levitating the child off of the bed, disconnecting him from all of the machines and fluid sacks. She flung him into the wall, very hard, and jumped back to the other end of the room. He slowly stood up, using the wall as support.

“Ore wa onore shika shiranai sa! Soshite, 'ore to fuzakerareru’ to omou!?” he yelled.

(I don’t even know you, and you think you can mess with me!?”)

He ran towards her, and the book on the table shimmered red. This caught Twilight’s attention, but she quickly looked back at the creature, a human, as he revved up his fist.

“Kitanai ama! Fuzakeru na!” he screamed.

(You dirty bitch! Don't screw with me!”)

When he yelled that, the book glowed brighter. His eyes turned completely yellow and his fist opened. It shot out a large bolt of golden electricity, hitting Luna directly in the front, sending her flying back through the wall behind her, and out into an alleyway. The force of the attack pushed him onto his backside, unconscious. This gained the attention of some nurses, who rushed into the room.

“What happened in here!?” she asked. There was no time for anypony to reply, as Luna jumped back into the room through the large, brand-new hole in the wall.

“Okay, ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted, using a spell to keep Luna away from the child. The nurse slowly backed out of the room.

“Do you understand now why this child needs to be sent to the next world!?” Luna roared.

“Well, to be fair to the child, you did threaten and attack him first, and without reason,” Rarity replied.

“Yeah, no offence, but you had that one coming, princess,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Rarity, could you levitate him back onto the bed and reconnect him?” Twilight requested.

“Of course,” she complied.

“How could you possibly side with that monster!?” Luna called at the top of her voice.

“Well, for one, we don’t know ‘im, or anythin’ about ‘im. And for two, that was completely unjust of you to do that, Luna,” Applejack defended.

“Yeah, you’re just being a real meanie-pants to him!” Pinkie continued.

“He didn’t deserve that one bit,” Fluttershy finished.

Surprised to hear that all of the Mane Six were against her in this situation, she dropped to the floor and hung her head in guilt and shame. The group paid no more attention to her at the moment, giving mind only to the damaged child.

“Is he alright?” Rainbow Dash dumbly asked.

“Ah think ‘e’s just unconscious fer now,” Applejack replied. To her shock, the child opened his eyes soon after she said that.

“Never mahnd. ‘e’s still awake,” she retorted, the group looking back to him.

“Sorry about that, little one. Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, softly stroking his red, blood-soaked hair with a forehoof.

“Wakarirarenai yo,” he replied.

(“I can’t understand you, you know.”)

“I don’t think he understands us, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, walking up to him. “I know a translation spell, so I can cast that on him to make him able to speak and understand our language. The only downside is that it will give him slight amnesia, making him forget events that happened within the last couple hours or so,” she finished, her horn slightly lighting up. The child went to intercept it, thinking it was an offence.

“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit,” she said in a gentle tone, softly batting his hand away. He just stared at her as she touched her horn to his forehead. He went unconscious.

The child opened his eyes and saw the large red book in front of him. It opened, releasing a huge wave of text around him. It entered his body from multiple points, and filled his head with knowledge of the Equestrian language. He suddenly found himself able to form words and phrases and soon after, sentences in his mind.

“What…is…happening…to…me?” he thought. To his surprise his thoughts came out as a visual phrase, the words appearing in front of him, as if there was a giant piece of paper before him. He experimented some more by asking questions.

“Where am I? What am I? What am I doing?” he asked. The same thing as before happened.

“Okay, this is weird. Is anybody there?” he shouted. For a while, no reply came. He looked around for a few minutes, unsure of what to do.

“He-llllllllllllloooooooo?” he drew out from boredom.

Suddenly, there was a flash of red light, and the book was shining. He turned towards it, and a large blast of energy was shot towards him. He tried to run, but found that he was trapped in place. The energy soon consumed him, and he felt an odd sensation. He closed his eyes, the realm around him disappearing.

The child awakened after about five minutes. He looked around the room, and saw the six ponies. The translation spell, having given him more amnesia, caused him to forget everything that had happened since he first woke up.

“Uh…Hello? Can you understand me?” Twilight asked him.

“Uh…Yeah?” he replied.

“Great! The spell worked!”

“Um…Okay. Where am I?”

“You are in the Ponyville hospital, in Equestria.”

“I have no clue where that is,” he remarked.

“Well, you don’t appear to be from here, so it’s only natural that you don’t know where this is,” she stated.

‘Way to point out the obvious…’ he thought.

“So, are you alright?” she asked. He looked at her with a blank stare for a moment.

“You’re pretty dumb, aren’t you?” he stated, emphasizing the word "dumb."

“What?”

“Well, I’m in a hospital, with bandages all over my body, connected to a cardiac monitor, being given intravenous therapy; and I’m surrounded by multicolor horses capable of speech and cognition. Given these facts, I found it idiotic that you asked me the question ‘Are you alright,’” he clarified.

“Well, I guess that’s true.”

“And plus, he did come out of the sky from a lightning bolt, wearing rags and surrounded by fire, burnt nearly to a crisp,” Rainbow Dash added. The child pointed at Rainbow Dash.

“She’s smarter than you are,” he said, pointing back at Twilight. Rainbow Dash stood proud when she heard that, chuckling. The others stared at the child from the insult.

“Why, I never…” Twilight started, but the child interrupted.

“Anyway, who are all of you?” he asked. There was a brief pause before Twilight started answering.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m the librarian here in Ponyville,” the lavender unicorn reluctantly replied. She had a dark purple mane and tail, with pink and violet highlights. She had purple irises, and on her flank was a large pink star with six smaller white stars around them.

‘She seems to be an obviously smart person, who likes to rub her knowledge in others' faces,’ the child thought.

“I’m Pinkie Pie! If you need a party, I’m the one to call!” the pink earth pony continued, shooting a confetti popper out of seemingly nowhere. She was pink all over, with a darker pink mane and tail that was very poofy. Her irises were light blue, and she had three balloons, a blue, a yellow, and then another blue, on her flank.

‘I can tell that she’s going to be the most annoying out of the entire group. She’s clearly insane.’

“You can call me Rainbow Dash! The fastest Pegasus in Ponyville! No, all of Equestria!” the cyan Pegasus boasted. She had a rainbow colored mane and tail. With magenta irises, there was a cloud with a blue, yellow, and red lightning bolt shooting out of it plastered on her backside.

‘Ah, the smart one. She seems to be full of herself. A cocky and arrogant person, probably chock full of stupid little catch phrases.’

“I am Rarity, and I am the fashionista of Ponyville, ” the alabaster unicorn carried on. Her accent was slightly English. She had a royal purple mane and tail, both of which were very curly near the tips. Her eyes were a slightly darker blue than Pinkie Pie, and there were three turquoise diamonds on her flank. The diamonds had small rings in the center, and there were eight lines connecting from the rings to the outside of the diamonds

‘She’s a fashionista? I can’t wait to see how ugly and ragged the clothes that she makes are.’

“Mah name is Applejack. Ah run the apple farm rahght outsahde of Ponyville, alongsahde mah Granny Smith and mah brother Big McIntosh,” the orange earth pony sustained. She had a clear Southern accent. Her mane and tail were light orange, almost yellow, and were tied up in pony-tails. She had light green irises and there were three apples on her flank. The child yawned.

‘Talk about stereotypical.’

“And I’m Fluttershy…” the yellow Pegasus said, very softly, to the point where the child couldn’t make it out.

“What, now?”

“It’s Fluttershy…” she repeated, slightly louder.

“Fluttershy?” he asked to clarify.

“Mhm…” she reassured. She had a pink mane and tail, as well as turquoise eyes. On her flank were three pink-winged and blue bodied butterflies, in a triangular pattern.

‘Someone, get her a damn loudspeaker. One that goes up to 1.21 jigawatts.’

“And we,” started Luna, who had got up and was walking toward the bed, ”are Luna, princess of the night. We command the moon to come forth once the sun has set, bringing night,” the dark blue Alicorn stated.. Her mane and tail were a lighter shade of blue, and had an ethereal effect to them, flowing, with no wind. She also had turquoise irises. She was wearing light blue shoes on her hooves, and a black crown on her head. Around her neck was a black garb with a crescent moon on it. Her flank also had a black background with small splotches surrounding it, and a white crescent moon.

‘She controls the moon? Is she some sort of goddess? She claims to be a princess, so maybe that has to do with it…and she speaks in the third person. Why does she do that? There is a first person for a reason!’

“And what about him?” the child said, pointing at Spike. Twilight turned her body to show his face.

“My name’s Spike. I help Twilight around the library. I’m a dragon. ” the purple dragon added from atop Twilight’s back. He was completely purple, except for where his mouth was, and down his belly and his tail. He had green eyes, and his ears were also a pale-green. He had lime-green scales running down from his forehead to the tip of his tail, which had a spear-like tip. His hands had four claws, and his feet had three toes. There were also two small fangs coming from his mouth.

“A dragon? The kind that breathes fire?” the child asked.

“That’s right,” Spike grinningly replied.

“That’s so cool!” the child raved. Spike smiled.

‘That’s more like it. Maybe we can go burn down some villages or something sometime’ he thought, grinning.

“And what is your name?” Twilight asked. The child thought for a good minute, the others just staring at him, waiting.

“Well?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I…don’t know.”

“You…don’t know? What do you mean ‘I don’t know?’” Luna asked. He had a good ‘-_-‘ face.

“You’re pretty dumb, aren’t you?”

A vein burst in her forehead. She glared at him, her mouth gaping wide at his insolence. She didn’t know how to respond to this question. She smirked slightly.

“You think I’m dumb?” she asked,

“In the sense that you can’t process a simple statement, yes. I think you are dumb.”

“Hmm…are you really in a position to be calling anypony here ‘dumb?’ You can’t even remember your own name!” she retorted.

“I can’t remember anything,” he backfired. They stared at him.

“Nothing?”

“Yup.”

“Twilight, how much amnesia did that translation spell give him?”

“It should’ve only been a couple hours worth of memory.”

“Based off that knowledge, he must have amnesia from another source.”

“Ah wonder what could’ve caused that level of amnesia…” Applejack pondered.

“Do you have any ideas, Princess Luna?”

“Not a clue.”

“Hmm…” Twilight wondered.

“Well, we’re gonna need to call him something, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s right. What could we call him?” Rarity added.

“How about ‘Hairless Ape Creature?’” Pinkie suggested.

“Or maybe ‘Shorty?’” Twilight furthered.

“What about ‘Gash?’” Rainbow recommended.

“’Gash?’” Twilight wondered.

“Yeah. The most noticeable thing about him is the gash on his forehead, so why not name him after that?”

“I like that name,” the child agreed.

“So, ‘Gash’ it is, I suppose,” Twilight sealed.

“I’m sorry, everypony, but you have to leave soon so that we can feed him and tend to his injuries further,” the nurse from earlier said, walking back into the room. “Have the issues from earlier resolved yet?” she awkwardly asked.

“Temporarily,” Luna replied.

“Wonderful.”

“I guess that means it’s time for us to leave for now,” Pinkie restated. The group turned around to the door and exited. Twilight levitated the red book, which Spike caught. Fluttershy remained by the door. She turned around.

“When is the next time we’ll be able to come back?” she asked the nurse.

“It will be tomorrow at the earliest. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. We’ll see you later, Gash,” she said, waving and smiling, turning back around.

“Bye,” he said, waving back, giving his best fake smile. She exited the room.

‘Finally, those annoying ponies left. Now I might actually be able to get some peace and quiet. What is the deal with them? They all seemed so…cheery, happy. Disgusting. How could they live like that, constantly? It makes me feel like I could throw up rainbows’ he thought, trying to sit up.

“It’s feeding time,” the nurse said. He fell back.

'Damn everything…’

Chapter Four: The Next Day

Chapter Three: Outburst

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daisanshou: Yatsuatari

だいさんしょう：やつあたり

第三章：八つ当たり

Chapter Three: Outburst

The Mane Six and Luna walked out of the hospital together, Luna fuming some of her anger.

“Can you believe that child? What rudeness!” she complained.

“Oh, come on, Luna. He’s probably just going through a rough time. His health will improve, and his attitude will get better,” Twilight hoped.

“He’d better. If he wasn’t in his situation, his head would be on a spike in our bedroom!” Luna bellowed, gaining horrified stares from the Mane Six, as well as ponies near the group.

“Princess Luna, I think you’re being too hard on him. Give him a chance!” Fluttershy requested.

“My dear Fluttershy, have no idea what that creature is capable of doing. He could cause mass destruction!”

“How?”

“We can tell. That book gives him power!”

“Hmm…Now that you think about it, when he got really angry and started shouting, the book did start glowing…” she started, but was interrupted by Luna.

“See! It gave him the ability to shoot lightning!”

“I, however, think it was pure coincidence.”

“Ugh! There’s no winning against you, is there!?”

“Again, give him some time, and I can guarantee you that he will change! If you were nearly killed, burnt severely, and had all of your memories stripped from you, you’d probably be in that state of mind, too!” she challenged. Luna stared at her.

“You know what? Fine. We’ll give him some time. But don’t come crying to us when he is burning down your home!” Luna accepted.

“Thank you,” she sighed, rolling her eyes.

“In any case, we must be heading back to Canterlot now. We are anticipating the results of your little…experiment,” Luna bitterly announced. Within a few moments, her chariot arrived, and she stepped in. “Farewell, my little ponies,” she ended. The chariot took off towards Canterlot.

“I can tell that it’s going to be a major problem whenever those two meet,” Rarity thought out loud.

“What kahnd of things could’ve happened to ‘er to make ‘er that negative tow’rds Gash?

“I don’t know. I guess he did make a crack or two about being dumb, but is it really something to want to kill over?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I think he’s hilarious!”

“Of course you would think it’s hilarious. You’re the one who was called smart!” Twilight retorted.

“Girls, let’s not start to argue. We already have enough to deal with at the moment,” Fluttershy requested.

“Hmph,” Twilight huffed. Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Well, I must be getting back to the boutique. I have some dresses to make for very important clientele in Canterlot,” Rarity informed.

“I think my animal friends will be hungry by now, so I should be getting back home soon,” Fluttershy said.

“Big McIntosh has been fillin’ in fer me fer the past few hours, so Ah should be getting’ back to Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack continued.

“I think I can smell the cupcakes from here!” Pinkie excitedly stated.

“I’m gonna go back to practicing my moves!” Rainbow Dash announced.

“And I have a report to write for Princess Celestia!” Twilight avowed.

“Alright. See y’all later!” Applejack yelled. The group split up, each other going to their own destinations.

Twilight had arrived back to the library, and she was writing a message on a scroll, the report to Princess Celestia.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

At the hospital, we met the young child, who Princess Luna called a ‘Humen,’ or ‘Human,’ of which we have named ‘Gash.’ During the entire time that we were there, Luna seemed to be very aggressive and negative towards this creature, without any provocation. When she first saw him, she even picked him up and threw him against a wall using levitation. After this, Gash got up and shouted some words in a foreign language out of anger, and after he shouted one word in particular, his red book glowed, and he released a wave of electricity, striking her and leaving him momentarily unconscious. While I cannot be sure, due to the chance of coincidence, I theorize the book is a spellbook of sorts, and that Gash has the power to release its magical properties in the form of a bolt of lightning.

After he woke up, I used a translation spell so that we could understand him and vice versa. Soon after, we each introduced ourselves. In introducing himself, we learned a shocking fact – he has high-level amnesia. He claims to have forgotten his entire past. This is when we learned he couldn’t remember his name, and named him Gash, after some speculation from the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash, about a long gash right above his nose. Unfortunately, we had to leave immediately after this, so we couldn’t learn anything else about him.

When we first met him, we couldn’t understand his personality very well, as we couldn’t understand him, and the incident with Princess Luna had just occurred. However, upon translating him, it became very apparent that he has a rude, snooty attitude, even to the point of calling I and Princess Luna dumb after asking questions. He seems to be intelligent, as he could easily find fallacies in our statements, and use them to his advantage.

Overall, I would say that this first meeting was a bit of a rude awakening. I can’t tell for sure if it will always be like this when talking with him–if this is just caused by the stress of his situation, or if he is normally in this state of mind-but it is upsetting to see him in this kind of state.

Beneath is a picture of the red book.

I am looking forward to your analysis.

Yours, Twilight Sparkle”

“Okay, Spike! Send it off!” she directed. He sent it off with a breath of fire.

Gash had fallen asleep after eating, and was awoken many hours later by a nurse.

“Excuse me?” she said.

“Yes? What is it?”

“I’m here to give you a bath.”

“A bath?”

“You know, to get all the blood off and to clean the wounds.”

“I know what a bath is. Am I going to be fully unclothed?”

“Yes.”

“Uh…” he began, awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. “I’d rather not…”

“I’m sorry, but it is Equestrian law that hospital patients in intensive care are given daily baths. So in other words, you have to,” she informed. He sighed.

“This officially sucks,” he complained, trailing the word “sucks.”

“It’ll take just a few minutes. Besides, you’re almost fully unclothed anyway,” she revealed. He looked under his sheets, and his eyes widened when he realized she was right. The only things he was wearing were bandages that were covering wounds, what few scraps of clothing that remained from when he first arrived and a towel wrapped around his waist.

“How did I not notice this? And why did you not put me in some sort of hospital garments?”

“Well, you were so badly hurt that we couldn’t risk having to move your limbs. And I doubt we have any kind of clothing that would fit to your body type,” she explained.

“You’re smart. I like that,” he complimented. She smiled.

“It’s what I was hired for. Aside from that, let’s get your bath going.”

“…Alright.”

The mare helped him off of the bed. He slipped and fell, rolling a few times until he found his head crashing into a wall.

“Oh my goodness! Are you alright?” she asked, concerned.

“Oh yeah. I’m just dandy,” he sarcastically remarked, using the wall as support to stand up.

“Well, good,” she said. He stared at her.

“I was being sarcastic.”

‘I guess the intelligence was merely temporary.’

“Oh. In any case, let’s get you to the bathing room,” she said, holding out a hoof.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Let me help you.”

“I don’t need your help! I can walk on my own! Do I really look that weak to you!?” he shouted. She looked slightly hurt.

“S-sorry for trying,” she stammered. They both stood there for a good minute in awkward silence, not looking at each other. “Let’s keep going.”

The two walked through the hallway and into a long corridor that stretched from one end of the building to the other. Gash walked with a slight limp. About halfway down the tunnel-like structure, the mare led him into a room filled with many tubs and shower heads, laid out on the floor in a 3x4 grid. She led him to one of the tubs in the back right corner.

“Alright. I’ll take your bandages and towel off now,” she said.

Gash still looked very uncomfortable, and was hesitant to be naked in front of her. But alas, he took the towel, scraps and bandages off. The nurse levitated the rubbish over into a trash can and put them in. Gash stepped into the tub and sat down, with his legs folded.

“Alright. I’m going to start by…” she started, but was interrupted.

“By giving be a full body rinse, I know. Let’s just get this over with, please,” he begged.

Without saying any more words, she pulled the shower curtain across the length of the tub, and started the shower head. He let the warm water flow over his body, dripping along the scars that lined his body. Once he was completely wet, she turned the shower off and levitated a bar of soap and rubbed it along his body, cleaning the wounds. After washing his body, she lathered shampoo in his hair. Afterwards, she turned the shower back on, and to her surprise, all of the blood came off in a few layers, revealing not gashes or scars, but mere scratches. Her eyes widened.

“Whoa…” she said.

“Ah…” he happily moaned, his eyes closing, as the sensation of having clean skin aroused his senses. “That’s better.”

“H-How…wha…?” she stammered in pure shock.

“That feels nice. Blood creates such a horrible feeling.”

“All of it…came off…and no gashes or scars, either…” she said, amazed.

“I guess that means we’re done,” he said, stepping out of the tub. He took the towel and dried off his hair, then his arms and body, around his manly area, down his legs, and finally his back. He tied the towel around his waist, and turned back around. He saw her staring back at him, so he returned the stare.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” he asked,

“That’s the thing. The only major injury you have now is that gash on your forehead. All the rest are scratches.”

“That means the shower did what it was supposed to do.”

“I suppose so. So now that you’re clean, let’s get you back to your room so you can eat and get back to sleep,” she insisted. He sighed and followed her back to his room.

“Before I forget, the bathroom is that room right over there,” she said pointing to a door on the wall adjacent to the bed.

She left the room, and he, noticing the bloody sheets still on his bed, he stripped them. While getting a new spread, he felt his frustration turning to anger.

‘Why do these horses think I need so much help? I’ve got hands to use and feet to walk on,’ he thought. He started pulling harder on the spread. ‘Damn it, they think I’m weak! They think that just because I was a little damaged and that I'm a child that I was completely helpless! Why do they assume that I’m so damn weak? *Why!?*’ he mused.

He ripped the sheets in his rage. The nurse walked back in, and saw that his body had a small red glow to it, as well as the torn sheets. She showed a clear sense of fear, but decided to speak anyway.

“A-Are you alright?” is all she could ask. He looked at her, with daggers glaring in his eyes, and the aura intensified.

Red lines had formed, starting at the bottoms of his eyes and ended at the bottom of his face. Out of these red lines were lightning bolts that shot out all over his face. Some of his teeth had turned into fangs, and his hair was standing straight up, as if there was a big fan underneath him to blow it upwards. His fingernails had turned into sharp claws.

“Do I look like I'm alright!?” he screamed. His voice sounded like there were two voices put together, one medium sounding and one low, as if it was demonic. She backed against the wall, petrified. “All of you horses have done nothing but look down on me the entire time I’ve been here! Why do you assume that I’m weak!? All of you!? You think that just because I have a few scratches that I’m helpless!”

“I-I-I was o-only trying t-to h-help…” she stammered before he interrupted.

“Do I look like I want your help!?” he bellowed, causing her to start crying. A bolt of lightning struck outside of the hospital window as he said that.

She said nothing more before she galloped out of the room and down the hall, sobbing. Doctors and nurses from other rooms took gazes from out of their rooms to see the broken down mare running off, out the front doors of the hospital.

“What just happened?” one doctor asked.

“I have no clue. There was quite a ruckus in that room in the back. Should we go look?” another quizzed.

“Nah. It seemed to have gotten pretty heated in there, so I think we need to wait for it to cool off,” a final one suggested. Most of the doctors and nurses shrugged before heading back into their rooms.

Gash put on a new spread and sheet before climbing onto the bed. He mumbled something to himself before closing his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

“And now I really need to use the bathroom. Good thing that mule told me it was that room,” he said to himself, dropping off of the bed and walking into the room. He did his business and flushed the toilet, and went to wash his hands. After doing so, he looked in the mirror.

He had dark brown, almost black, spiky hair that covered most of his forehead, parting slightly in the left. It drooped about halfway down his neck in the back, and slightly covered his ears. He had a small nose in the middle of his face, with his slightly rounded mouth hanging right below it. Right above his nose was the gash of which he was named after. His eyes were like half-circles, hazel-yellow and somewhat large, and were positioned diagonal to his nose, spread slightly. He had a round chin that lead down to his neck and somewhat slender frame. Down to where the mirror cut off, he had a flat chest, but as he looked down, his belly curved slightly outwards. He had faintly skinny legs and arms, both of which had scratches running down them. He had small hands and feet, with the palm of his left hand being burnt.

Gash walked back into the room and laid back down on the bed. He looked up at a clock on the wall, and it read 10:37. He got into a comfortable position on his side and dozed off.

Meanwhile, the Mane Six had gathered at the Golden Oaks Library after a hard day’s work. At the same time that Gash was having his outburst, his book was showing odd behavior. The entire book was glowing, but one page in particular had shined.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s shining!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Is it dangerous?” Applejack quizzed.

“I don’t know what’s going on. Let me open it,” Twilight answered, levitating the book over to her. She flipped it open to a page near the front of the book. On the right page, there were a few red lines pulsating with light, and she also noticed red lines on the left side of the page as well, near the top. The other text was sea-blue.

“These characters…they’re glowing. What does it mean?” she asked. “I can’t read any of these. Can any of you read them?” she inquired, passing the book to Rarity. Lightning struck outside, and the thunder boomed.

“Unfortunately, I can’t,” she revealed, levitating it to Pinkie Pie.

“That’s a big no-no for me!” she shouted, throwing it to Applejack.

“Ah can’t read this. I do notice that there's more of these red words on the other page, though. Maybe they're related,” she noted, handing it over to Fluttershy.

“I can’t understand what this says. I’m sorry,” she whispered, giving it to Rainbow Dash.

“These letters are all chicken-scratch to me,” she finished, flinging it back to Twilight.

“Hmm…these characters are strange, and it happened so suddenly. Do you think this might be connected to Gash in any way?”

“Possibly. It is his book, anyway,” Rarity wondered. “It makes sense, I suppose,” she added.

“I guess that we can ask him about it the next time we see him,” Rainbow Dash suggested. The group agreed on this. Applejack looked at the time. It was 10:37.

“Well, lookie how fast tahme has gone bah. Ah think it’s tahme for me to get home and hit the hay,” she said, yawning. This earned a collective yawn from the group.

“I guess that it is getting pretty late,” Fluttershy added. The group stood up and walked out the front door, stopping for a moment in front of the door. Just then, a mare galloped by, sobbing. It was raining now.

“Hey! You alright?” Rainbow Dash shouted, earning exactly no attention from the mare as she continued on. “Huh.”

“I wonder what happened to her?” Pinkie thought.

“Hmm…I can’t say. I hope it gets better for her, though,” Rarity stated. The group yawned once again.

"So, girls, I think that we should go to the hospital at around two o' clock tomorrow afternoon to go check up on Gash. What do you say?" Fluttershy requested. The others nodded.

"Sounds like a plan!" Twilight said. “Well, I’ll see you girls later. Good night!” she said, walking back inside.

“Night!” the collective shouted, each going towards their homes to get a good night's sleep.

Twilight walked up the stairs to the second story and saw Spike had already fallen asleep, laying in his basket with his favorite blanket. She smiled, walking over to him and softly nuzzling him, before walking to her own bed and jumping into it. She set the book down on the table next to her and got cozy on the sheets. She covered herself and closed her eyes, falling asleep shortly afterward.

Chapter Five: The Words' Powers

Chapter Four: The Next Day

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daishishou: Yokujitsu

だいししょう：よくじつ

第四章：翌日

Chapter Four: The Next Day

It was about 2:30 in the afternoon, and Gash had just woken up from a good nights’, and mornings’, sleep. He was still slightly groggy, but he got out of his bed anyway. He went into the bathroom and washed his face and hands. He noticed that all of the scratches on his body had completely disappeared, leaving only the gash on his forehead, which hadn’t healed even a sliver. He could hear the clinking of metal inside his room, so he dried himself quickly, assuming it was a food cart. He went back into the room. When he saw the cart, his mouth started to water.

All sorts of different foods were loaded onto the multi-story cart. On the bottom rack were all sorts of fruits and vegetables-apples, oranges, peaches, pears, lettuce, celery, carrots, asparagus, and much more-and on the middle rack were various breads and grains, including rice, wheat, barley, and many others. What really caught his attention was on the top rack-fish. Trout, bass, yellowtail; so much tasty food! He saw the fish and his eyes widened, the drool from his mouth dripping down from his chin and onto his towel. The stallion gave him a plate.

“Go on. Fill the plate up with whatever you want,” he told. Gash gladly accepted as he loaded his plate with fish, fish, and more fish.

“Whoa, there. You might want to get some fruits, vegetables and grains to balance out that meal,” he said, but Gash had already started devouring the mound of fish on his plate.

“Yah,” he started, his mouth completely full, small bits of yellowtail and bass flying in multiple directions, ”I’ll git some in a minute. Jusht let me enjoy dis fish firsht, 'kay?” he said, obliterating multiple pounds of fish with his teeth. After thirty seconds of constant nomming on the fish, his plate was left with nothing but bones. The doctor just sat there, his jaw almost literally touching the ground. He used a hoof to lift his jaw back to its’ normal position.

“Wow. Nice appetite. Gonna top that off with some fruit?”

“Ooh yeah,” he said, taking three large slices of wheat bread off the cart. He loaded on slices of various fruit and vegetables on the bottom slice, covered it, and then topped it off with even more fish. It was a huge sandwich-nearly half the size of his head.

“That’s only a little gross,” he sarcastically remarked.

“It’s getting all of the major food groups in one meal. It’s easy, quick, and filling!” he shot back, stuffing his face with food once again.

“You’re gonna make yourself sick, eating that much food.”

“You know what? Screw the rules. I have fish. Lots of fish. Delicious fish!” he chanted, pausing for a moment before devouring the rest of the monolith.

“I think you’re liking that fish too much. Maybe you should lay off for a bit,” he suggested, but was answered with fish being slapped on his face. He grinned at this.

“Fine. Don’t come crying to me when you’re throwing up for hours on end,” he sighed, rolling his eyes, walking towards the door.

“Wait!”

“What is it?”

“Can I get a glass of milk to wash this down?”

“Pfft. Sure,” he agreed, walking out. A minute later, he walked in with a pitcher of milk and a glass, even served on a silver platter.

“I said a glass of milk.”

“You seem to enjoy eating lots of food, so why wouldn’t you enjoy drink a lot as well?”

“Because getting drunk isn’t my priority.”

“I see what you did there. Ha. Ha. Ha. Anyway, drink up,” he demanded. Gash filled his glass up to the brim and drank it quickly, placing the glass back on the platter, looking back at the doctor.

“Is that it?”

“Is it what?”

“Is that all you’re going to drink?”

“I thought that was obvious.”

“Well, I thought you were just being funny with the drunk joke.”

“Well, it looks like my attempt at humor has failed. But seriously, that’s all I’m going to drink. You can take it away now.”

“Very well,” the doctor said, taking the milk away.

“Well, now that’s over with. I wonder what I could do no-“ he started, but suddenly had a terrible feeling in his stomach. “I should’ve listened,” he said, covering his mouth, rushing to the bathroom. He lifted the seat up and began to throw up.

“Damn everything once more…” he miserably stated, continuing to throw up.

“Twilight! Princess Celestia sent a message for you!” Spike shouted.

“Okay, okay. Give me a minute, okay?”

“Alright,” the young dragon complied, as Twilight rose from her chair, ending her reading. She walked into the bathroom. She did her bathroom duties and washed her hooves before reentering the main library room. Spike was sitting on a couch near the stairs, clutching the book and scroll. Twilight levitated the scroll over to herself and opened it, reading the contents.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I have thoroughly examined the content of your report, and a few things are rather shocking to me.

Firstly, it surprises me to learn that a human has stepped foot, or in this case, fallen into this world. These creatures haven’t walked this planet in more than a thousand years, and I and Princess Luna have not had pleasant experiences with these creatures. With your description of his attitude, it spells to me that he could have a rather explosive temper, so I would be careful around him, as to not make him angry.

Secondly, I have do not believe I have ever seen a book like this. However, the characters on the cover look slightly familiar to me, but I cannot recall where I have seen them before. What I can say is that they are foreign characters, and appear to have magical power, based off your description of how the book reacts to the boy, Gash’s, temperament. I will search for a script with characters of this language, but I cannot say that I will find any.

Thirdly, I suggest keeping Gash and Princess Luna from meeting. Ever since she arrived back to Canterlot, she’s been ranting and raving about the ‘atrocities’ and ‘dishonor’ that he has caused upon her. Based off of their first encounter, I believe it could easily turn into a fight with spilled blood, with his apparently rotten attitude, and nopony wants that. She clearly has an intense grudge against him.

Finally, I would like to meet this child soon, to receive proper judgment of his character and abilities. It does not have to be immediate, but I would request you and the other Elements of Harmony to join us, as a safeguard for Gash and Luna.

Yours, Princess Celestia”

“I guess that means we’re going to Canterlot in a few days?” Spike asked.

“Most likely. It seems that the princess knows quite a bit about Gash’s species. Maybe she’ll teach us a few things about hi-“ she started, but was interrupted by a knock at her door. She opened it and saw the other Mane Six members standing at the door.

“Good afternoon, girls. I suppose we’re going to the hospital now?” she asked, earning nods from the five. She levitated Spike, who was still holding the scroll and book, onto her back and walked out of the door. The group began to trot towards the hospital.

“I received a letter from Princess Celestia, and I would like to read the contents to you all,” she stated.

The group quieted down and allowed her to reread the scroll’s contents. The contents of the scroll shocked them, as they didn’t expect the princess to know anything about Gash’s species, or the characters in his book. It saddened them to think that Gash could be so hot-headed and violent, but they kept walking along. Within five minutes, the group had arrived at the hospital and walked up to the front desk. The receptionist recognized them from yesterday and immediately led them back to the room. Gash was lying in his bed, reading a book he found in the drawer in the table next to his bed.

“Gash, we’re back!” Twilight announced from outside the room, receiving not even a slight response from the boy. They walked in and all eyes widened.

“Oh, it’s you guys again,” he sighed, placing a flower on the page as a bookmark. He closed the book and set it back in the drawer.

“Whoa…” the group collectively gasped, noticing the boy’s healed body.

“Yeah, I know. My body’s already healed. Don’t ask how or why, because I don’t know,” he said.

“That’s amazing!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Absolutely incredible!” Rarity called out. The others were still in shock.

“H-how…wha?” Rainbow Dash stuttered. “It takes me weeks to heal a broken wing, and your entire body is healed in a day!’

“I already told you, I don’t know how.”

“It’s still astounding that you were able to heal that fast.”

“I guess. I don’t see the big deal. If vasoconstriction can occur fast enough for the platelets to immediately start binding the skin back together, then it’s just going to make it heal faster. It’s simple science.”

“I didn’t understand a single word of that sentence,” Rainbow Dash stupidly stated. She braced herself, as she saw that look in Gash’s eyes as he stared at her.

“You’re pretty dumb, aren’t you?”

“How did I know that was coming?”

“You probably noticed a pattern of some sort. Now, let the smarter people talk,” he insulted. Rainbow glared at him, but let it slide.

“Um…I guess that means we can bring you out of the hospital?” Fluttershy asked.

“We’d have to talk to the receptionist,” Twilight informed.

“Well, since he’s completely healed, and he’s proven that he can walk with little difficulty, and because he doesn’t appear to have any major internal injuries, yes, he may leave.”

“Yes! Finally! I can get out of this boring hellhole!” Gash shouted. The group looked at him with shocked eyes and hung jaws. He noticed the faces of the group and tilted his head. He found this behavior quite annoying, and it happened quite often.

“What is it? You seem to like having a face that just says ‘What the hell?’ Are you really surprised that easily?”

“You aren’t supposed to use that word! It’s forbidden language!” Twilight remarked.

“’Forbidden language?’ Are you kidding me?”

“No! You are never supposed to use that word!”

“How about ‘Damn?’”

“That’s even worse!”

“’Crap?’”

“Okay, that’s not as bad, but you still shouldn’t say it.”

“’Shit?’”

“Where have you learned such fowl language?”

“It’s part of my vocabulary.”

“Well, I would refrain from using it in public. That kind of language would get you smacked here.”

“Pfft. If someone tries to smack me, I’ll break their leg,” he said. The Mane Six looked at each other, as if to say to each other “Is this child serious!?” After a moment, Fluttershy changed the subject.

“So, how about we get you out of here? I’m sure it’s very boring and bland here,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Let’s go out in the hall to discuss this,” Twilight suggested. The group agreed and followed her into the tunnel, closing the door behind them.

“Is this kid for reals?” Rainbow Dash asked, loudly. The others shooshed her.

“What horrible language and threats! Are you sure that he should be released, Fluttershy? He’s going to explode in somepony’s face, and it’s going to give all the more reason for the princesses to put him down!” Rarity asked.

“I’m sure that he just needs a little more time to adjust. I’m sure the premise that he’s in an unfamiliar world with none of his memories is still bothering him. He just needs a few days to get comfortable with his surroundings, and he’ll be fine!” she insisted.

“I’m just worried that he’s going to say or do the wrong thing to the wrong pony. The last thing we want is a fight!”

“Don’t worry, Twilight! He will change! He will end out good!”

“We’ll take your word for it, Fluttershy. We just want you to be careful.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Good. So now for the next question: Where is he going to go? We have six options here.”

“Him living with me is out of the question. With my house being hundreds of feet above the ground and made out of clouds, he’s going to die if he tries.” Rainbow Dash stated. The group nodded.

“He seems to have a humongous appetite, so living with me and the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner is probably a no-no. I mean, look at the plate on the table next to him! It’s a pile of bones and crumbs!”

“Speaking of which,” the doctor from before started, catching the attention of the Mane Six, “he really enjoys fish. He downed at least thirty pounds of it earlier. I’d suggest trying to get him to eat smaller portions.”

“So, yes. Living at Sugarcube Corner is a bad idea.”

“I refuse to allow him to live at the boutique. There are simply too many delicate, expensive fabrics and cloths there for me to risk the chance of him burning it with his little electricity beams,” Rarity said. “I would think this goes with Applejack and Twilight as well. He could burn down Sweet Apple Acres and the Golden Oaks Library, which is something we don’t want.”

“Do ya really think he’d do such a thing?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t think it’s a risk that we should take.”

“Ya make a good point, Rarity. That leaves it up to Fluttershah,” she said, looking to Fluttershy. “It’s your call.” Fluttershy took a moment to think, and quickly came with her decision.

“Yes. I will allow him to stay with me. Even if the princesses think he has a violent temper, I want to prove them wrong! He has the power to be good inside of him, and all he needs is a little bit of compassion towards him to bring it out.”

“Is that your final answer?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.”

“Very well. He will live with you for as long as he needs to.”

“Wonderful,” Fluttershy said. The group walked back into the room.

“Alright, Gash. We have come to a decision that you can come out of the hospital, and that you will live with Fluttershy until you don’t need to anymore. What do you say?” Twilight proposed.

“Sure. Anything to get me out of this hel-boring building.”

“Wonderful! Let’s go then,” Twilight exclaimed, walking over to him. She pulled the sheets off of him, and noticed that all he was wearing a towel. She tried to pull it off, but Gash held it down.

“Hey! Whaddya think you’re doing!?”

“Taking this towel. It’s hospital property.”

“Well, I’m not going out into public with no clothes! Even I have standards!”

“You’re making it a big deal.”

“It is! I don’t want anyone to be able to see my…well, my you know what.”

“Hmm…That may be a problem. Rarity?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Do you think you could make him an outfit to wear? Something basic, perhaps?”

“Hmm…Probably. I’d need his measurements. Do you have a measure?”

“I’m sure that we have one in storage,” the doctor informed. “Let me go check,” he said, walking down the hallway, into the corridor. Rarity followed him.

“It will be a challenge to make the clothes to his size, but I’m sure that I will be able to do it with time.”

“So, Gash, is there anything else you can tell us about yourself? Like age, hobbies, etc.?” Twilight inquired, attempting to make conversation.

“Well, by the way my body looks, I estimate that I am somewhere around thirteen to fourteen years old. The only thing I can tell you about hobbies is that I love to eat fish. But I don’t think it counts.”

“I wouldn’t count that. Can you remember anything about what you like?” she asked, receiving another stare from Gash. “Don’t say it. Don’t say it!”

“That was probably the single dumbest question I’ve ever been asked. I thought that it has been made clear that I have amnesia, and cannot recall anything from my past. Yet, here you are, asking me a question-about my past. Do you have any brain cells?”

“I already stated that it was a stupid question, but you still insulted me anyway! Do you have any dignity!?”

“My dignity lies at a clearly higher level of intelligence than you are capable of!”

“You think that you have a higher level of intelligence than I do? You have no idea about anything in this world! You know some higher level vocabulary, but you know nothing about how this world works, the history, the physics, anything!” she argued, and the aura from the previous night appeared around Gash, and the book had begun to shimmer once again.

“You say that because you lack the basic cognitive ability to understand that the only place I’ve been in this entire world is this one room, the hallways of this hospital, and a bathing room! Your argument is invalid, you brainless bitch!” he shouted, leaving Twilight completely silent as tears began to form in her eyes. He was taking very deep breaths to calm himself. The other ponies in the room were completely stunned, as if time had stopped all together.

“W-Well, I’ve misjudged you. I-I thought that you h-had good in you, but I was completely wrong. Princess Luna was right. You are nothing more than a monster! You are the worst creature that could’ve ever landed here! You are nothing more than a smutty. Little. Bastard!” she shouted, crying. She levitated the book out of Spike’s claws and slammed it on Gash’s face. She ran out of the room, and out of the hospital.

“Twilight, wait!” Rainbow Dash tried, but was too late. She glared daggers and knives at the child, who fell back into the bed.

“If I would just leave my damned mouth shut…” he trailed, closing and putting his hands on top of the book, which had stopped glowing, and sighed. Fluttershy didn’t know what to say or do, so she just looked away.

“Well, it certainly seems like he has a knack for making mares run off in tears,” the doctor said, Rarity also entering the room with the measuring tape.

“What happened!?” she asked.

“Twilight and Gash had a bit of a…disagreement, and it got really heated, and unfortunately ended in horrible insults,” Fluttershy tried to explain.

“Are you kidding!? He called her a bi-“ Rainbow Dash angrily started, rising slightly off the ground.

“Okay, you can stop there! I don’t need to hear the details. Let’s just calm down now,” she insisted. Rainbow Dash dropped back to floor, taking deep breaths.

“Alright. Are we all calm now?” she asked after about fifteen seconds.

“Yes.”

“Excellent. Anyway, let’s get your measurements now, darling,” she said, as Gash set the book aside and jumped off the bed. He took a few steps and looked towards her. She levitated the measuring tape around his waist, arms and legs, and measured the length of his arms, legs and feet, writing down the measurements for each on a scrap piece of paper.

“Wonderful! I shall go to the boutique and get started right away! I’ll be back soon!” she called out, walking out.

“Alright, so that’s taken care of. What next?” Gash asked.

“Oh, yes! Yesterday, all of us, as in myself, Rarity, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Applejack, gathered at the library to talk, and while we were talking, your book suddenly started to glow. Do you know what happened?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, I did get pretty angry last night at a nurse…Maybe it had something to do with it? I don’t know.”

“One page in particular was glowing, and certain characters on the page were glowing.”

“Hmm…Let’s see…” he said, flipping through pages of the book. “Was the page near the front or the back?”

“The very front.”

“Okay…” he continued, flipping back. He flipped over the page with the characters, but quickly flipped back.

“Yes, those characters!”

“I can read the red characters, but not these blue ones,” he started. “Strange. On the left page, it says “The First Spell. Za-ke-ru. Zakeru. On the right page, it says “The Second Spell. Ra-shi-ru-do. Rashirudo.”

“Spells? Like magic?”

“I’d assume so.”

“I wonder what they do?” Fluttershy questioned.

“Not a single clue.”

“Hmm…I guess we’ll just have to wait and figure it out later,” he said, yawning.

“Are you going to sleep?”

“Nah. I’ll just read that book I was reading earlier until she gets back. Speaking of which, how long will it take her to make the clothes?” he asked, pulling the book out from the drawer, opening to the page he was at before.

“Maybe half an hour.”

“’Kay,” he replied, beginning to read.

By the time Rarity got back, almost an hour and a half had passed. Gash had finished reading the book and had fallen asleep by then.

“I’m back! Sorry it took so long. I was having trouble finding extra fabric to make these with. Gash?” she asked, but he was asleep.

“Gash, wake up. Rarity’s back,” Fluttershy informed, nudging him. He opened his eyes and yawned.

“Wow, it’s about time. Let’s see what you’ve got for me,” he said, sitting up.

“Alright. Here it is!” she said, pulling it out of her saddlebag.

It was a single blue piece, with three holes, one on top for the head, and two on the side for the arms, along with small sleeves, about four inches long each. Attached to the top of the fabric was a white ribbon, with a small, yellow pendant in the center. There was one big hole on the bottom for the legs, almost like a dress. There was a small white shirt that went with it, which was sleeveless. There was also a small, grey pair of shorts to be worn under the mantle. The shoes were completely blue on the outside, and completely white on the inside, and seemed to have socks attached directly onto them.

“Hm. Let me try them on,” he said, holding out his arms. Rarity levitated the group of clothes over to Gash, who walked into the bathroom. Several moments later, he came out, wearing all of them.

“You made me a dress?” he asked, holding the bottom up.

“Don’t be silly, darling. It’s a mantle! Small differences in the two, but I don’t want to bore you with the details,” she said, giggling a bit.

“Okay. I like this. It’s really soft and comfortable. What’s it made out of?”

“I’m not quite sure what it’s made out of. I just found that fabric hung in a closet and decided to use it. And the brooch was there, too, so I decided to pin that on.”

“Alright. So I guess that means that we can finally leave?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I believe so. Are you ready, Gash?” Fluttershy asked.

“Indeed.”

“Alright. Let’s get out of here!” Rainbow Dash enthusiastically yelled, flying out of the room. The others followed.

“Are you checking out now?” the receptionist asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’m going to need you to sign this sheet,” she said, pulling out a sheet of paper. “Sign here, here, and here,” she instructed, handing the paper and a quill to Gash. He wrote his name on the sheet in completely foreign characters to the receptionist.

“I can’t read that,” she informed. Fluttershy looked at the strange characters. They looked like scribbles and smiley faces.

“ガッシュ,” they looked like.

“I’m sorry. Let me write his name,” Fluttershy apologized, writing his name in Equestrian characters on all three lines.

“And while you’re at it, write your name here,” she instructed, pointing to a line. She did so.

“And you are good! Have a nice day!” the receptionist told, the group walking out of the hospital.

“Ah!” Gash said, shielding his eyes.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m wonderful. I’ve only been temporarily blinded.”

“Okay, no offense, but you can cut the sarcasm. It’s really starting to annoy us,” Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Hey, I’ll talk how I like to talk, ‘kay? ‘Kay,” he shot back. His eyes got adjusted to the light fairly quickly, and he took his hands off of his eyes. When he looked around, he was met with stares. He tiredly looked around.

“Yay. More stares. From everyone. Perfect,” he sarcastically remarked, slumping slightly. He stood straight again and cleared his throat.

“Uh…Hi?” he loudly spoke. The silence was agonizing for him. They were still staring at him. He looked back.

The ponies got closer.

“What are you?” one pony asked.

“Where do you come from?” another asked.

“I don’t kno-“ he tried to say, but was cut off.

“Are you a threat?”

“Why do you stand on two legs?”

“I don’t-“ he tried again, but was once again cut off.

“Should we fear you?”

“Can we trust y-“

“I said that I don’t know!” he yelled, causing all of the ponies to backpedal. He said. “C’mon. Let’s go,” he told, as Fluttershy stepped up.

“I’m sorry, everypony, but we’re very busy right now. I’m sure that all of your questions will be answered in due time,” she said, leading Gash down to one end of the street. The other four followed. He turned around.

“I think we’re good. You can go off now,” he said.

“We’re just followin’ yah tah make sure that yah get home safely,” Applejack informed.

“Suit yourself,” he said. Fluttershy lead him to a large red building with a tall, red flagpole and a red flag. It was all red.

“What is this place?”

“This is the Ponyville School. I thought it would be a good idea to enroll you!” Fluttershy told.

“Seriously?”

“Yes. It’s a good way for you to learn more about the history of Equestria, as well as other skills.”

“Whatever,” he said, as Fluttershy brought him in. School had been out for almost an hour, so it wasn’t interrupting a class.

“Good morning, Fluttershy. What brings you here today?” a light-purple pony with a pink mane and tail asked. She had green irises and three yellow smiley faces on her flank.

“I’m here to enroll a student.”

“Wonderful! Let me get you the papers,” she said, opening a drawer on her desk. She pulled out a paper. “Alright. Read this and sign it, please, handing the paper and a quill over to Fluttershy. “Where is this little one?” she asked. Gash walked up to her.

“Why, hello there! I’m Ms. Cheerilee, and I’ll be your teacher. What’s your name?”

“I’m known as ‘Gash.’”

“Well, Gash, I’m sure you’ll like the classes. Everypony here is nice, and the lessons are interesting.”

“Wonderful,” he apathetically said.

“Um, Cheerilee?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes?”

“I’m done.”

“Wonderful. Gash, could you sign this as well?”

“Uh…that’s a bit of a problem. I don’t know how to write your language.”

“No? That’s not a problem. This chart,” she said, pointing to a poster on the wall, “is the Equestrian alphabet. Your name is Gash, so your name would be spelled ‘g,’ ‘a,’ ‘s,’ ‘h,’” she said, pointing to the corresponding letters. He wrote the characters down on the sheet. He handed it back to Cheerilee.

“Wonderful! You can start tomorrow. You’ll need quills and inkpots to write with, and paper to write on.”

“Duly noted.”

“Wonderful. Is there anything else you need, Fluttershy?”

“Um…Do you have a chart of the alphabet that I can borrow?”

“Yes,” she said, pulling out a mini-sheet of paper. “Here you go. It has all of the letters, as well as the sounds that each of them make and combinations.”

“Great. Also, what time does school start?”

“9:00 A.M.”

“Okay. Thank you!” she said, waving to Cheerilee, walking out the door with Gash.

‘Yay. I get to deal with annoying children now, and I have to wake up really early. Everything I’ve always wanted.’

“Now, let’s go home,” Fluttershy stated. Gash nodded and the group walked again. On the way there, they passed by the library. Twilight saw Gash through a window, and he noticed her. He gave her a somewhat sinister grin, and she scowled back, shutting the blinds. They stopped at a quill store. Fluttershy quickly went in and bought some quills, inkwells, and paper. The group immediately began walking again once she exited.

By the time the group arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage, it was past sunset.

“Gash, why don’t you head inside and get comfortable, and I’ll come inside in a minute?”

“Alright,” he complied, opening the door. He entered and shut the door.

“Alrahght. Ah’ just want yah tah be careful with what yah say around him, Fluttershah. There’s something more to this chahld than we can see from first glances, and Ah don’t think it’d be smart tah learn what it is,” Applejack warned.

“I understand that you’re all worried about me, but don’t. I’ve got this all under control.”

“Alrahght. Stay safe, now,” the group said, as they headed to their homes for the night. Fluttershy walked in, and the clock read ‘7:49.’ She didn’t find Gash downstairs, so she looked upstairs and saw him laying in her bed, asleep. She smiled and walked over to him, kissing him on the forehead, pulling the blanket over him and tucking.

“Good night,” she whispered into his ear. He smiled slightly, and she walked back downstairs. She saw her animals staring up at her, some making their noises to her, as if to ask ‘What was that?’

“Everyone, that was Gash. He’s going to be staying with us for a while, alright?” she asked. The animals nodded, although there was a very distrustful, white rabbit looking unimpressed. “You all look hungry. Let me get you some food,” she said, pouring all sorts of nuts and fruits and vegetables into bowls, laying them along the floor. When they were all done, she collected all of the bowls and washed them in the kitchen sink, setting them on a rack to dry.

It was 9:13 by the time she was finished, so she decided that it was a good time to go to bed. She went into a small closet, pulling out a pillow and blanket, and laid down on the couch. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, awaiting the beginning of a new day.

Chapter Six: Close Calls

Chapter Five: The Words' Powers

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daigoshou: Kotoba no Chikara

だいごしょう：ことばのちから

第五章：言葉の力

Chapter Five: The Words' Powers

The night had passed in Equestria, and it was now morning. Fluttershy had just finished feeding her animals, and looked up at the clock noticing that it was 7:45-almost time for Gash to go to school for the day. It was his first day of school, and she had packed a saddlebag with the quills, ink and paper that she bought the previous night. She also packed bandages in case he got hurt, as well as coloring utensils. She walked up the stairs and was shocked at the fact that he was already awake, and was looking at the chart of the Equestrian alphabet Cheerilee had given them the previous night.

“Good morning, Gash. Did you sleep well?” she asked as he looked up at her.

“Meh.”

“Meh?” she wondered in return, not knowing what it meant.

“It means ‘sort of.’”

“Oh. How long have you been awake?” she quizzed, as he looked up at the clock.

“7:46…about seven hours now.”

“Oh, my! Did you get any sleep?”

“The words ‘sort of’ imply that I did get some sleep. That was a dumb-“ he started, but attempted to be slightly more polite to his “guardian.” “That was…an unnecessary question.”

“I suppose it was. Were you up studying?”

“Mhm. I’ve got this whole chart memorized, so now I should be able to read your language easily.”

“Good. You must be a very quick learner,” she inferred.

“Guess so.”

“Anyway, school starts in a little over an hour, so it’s time for us to get going.”

“Alright,” he said, pulling the sheets off of him, jumping off of the bed. He grabbed the red book off the nightstand next to the bed and followed her down. She handed him the saddlebag.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a saddlebag. I’ve put all the school supplies you should need in there, as well as bandages if you hurt yourself.”

“Okay,” he said, looking inside the pack. He saw the supplies, as well as a second pocket inside. He took his book and slid it inside, assuming that’s what it was meant for.

“And I believe that we’re ready. We’ll pick up breakfast at Sugarcube Corner on the way.”

“Sugarcube Corner? I think I’m going to start throwing up rainbows if the cutesy names continue,” he said, causing her to chuckle a little.

“I guess it is a somewhat corny name. Nevertheless, it’s a bakery, and Pinkie lives and works there. We’ll get you a muffin or something like that.”

“Very well,” he said. She smiled and walked out of the front door. He followed.

As the two entered Ponyville, he was met again with stares from ponies as they went along. This irritated him a lot, and he gave scowls to some ponies, but he decided to hold in the better part of his frustration.

After about an hour of walking, they came up to Sugarcube Corner. It looked like a giant gingerbread house. The actual woodwork was a tan color, but was littered with brown wooden strips and pink windows. On the right side of the house was a small flower garden. The roof of the house was almost completely chocolate-brown, but had white, frosting-like gutters and another small window. There were pink and light-brown spots littered all over the top, like gumdrops. From the right side of the arched roof was a small protruding brown beam, which had a wooden pony holding a red and white striped candy cane. Out of the roof came a cylindrical shape, starting with a small tan section with windows coming out of four places along the side, which was covered in a balcony, of which looked like a cupcake, topped with pink frosting and three purple candles, each of which had a yellow flame-like structure.

The two walked up the purple steps and entered the door. Gash’s eyes widened as he looked around the bakery. He saw cupcakes, normal cakes, muffins, doughnuts, eclairs-anything and everything sweet that he could’ve thought of was probably there. He and Fluttershy walked up to the counter and rung a bell.

“Coming!” a female voice said, as a cyan earth pony came in from a back room. She magenta eyes, and her mane and tale were the same color, both of which were whirled. She was wearing a yellow apron, of which had pink feathers shooting from the sides. She wore two purple earrings, and there were three cupcakes, with dark brown bread, pink frosting and cherries on top on her flank.

“Why, hello there, dearies. What can I get for you today?” she asked. The two browsed the muffins section and picked out what they wanted.

“I’ll take a banana nut muffin,” Fluttershy told.

“And I’ll have a chocolate chip muffin,” Gash said. She put the two muffins of choice into a small brown bag.

“That will be five bits!” she informed, as Fluttershy pulled out the bits from her own saddlebag.

“Two, three, four, five, oh my. You put six bits down.”

“I know. Keep the change,” Fluttershy smilingly said.

“Thank you very much! Have a nice day, Fluttershy and…”

“Gash.”

“Alright. Have a nice day, you two.”

“You too, Cup Cake!” she said, as the two walked out of the store. They took their corresponding muffins out of the bag and began to eat.

The two quickly approached the schoolhouse, where multiple fillies and colts were entering the school. Cheerilee was at the front door, greeting the children.

“Good morning, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle.”

“Good morning, Ms. Cheerilee!” they chanted, entering the school.

“Good morning, Gash. Are you ready for your first day?”

“Hope so. Was up all night studying that alphabet.”

“You were up all night?”

“Sort of. I got some sleep, but woke up early and pulled it out,” he started, pulling the chart out of his bag, “and studied and memorized it. I think I’m good when it comes to writing this language now. So, here,” he finished, handing the chart back to Cheerilee.

“Wonderful! Head inside and class will start soon!”

“Alright.”

“Have a good day, Gash!” Fluttershy said, as he walked into the building. Immediately upon entering, he was met with stare after stare. He was once again having that feeling of frustration. He walked over to a desk and sat down in it. There were whispers and murmurs throughout the crowd of young ponies.

“Howdy!” a southern-accented filly shouted as she walked up to Gash.

“Uh…hi?” he attempted, looking at the filly. She was a pale-tan color, with a magenta mane and tail and orange eyes. Unlike all the other ponies he had seen, this one didn’t have anything on her flank. In her mane, there was a pink bow. She was an Earth Pony.

“Mah name's Apple Bloom! What’s yours?”

“I’m called ‘Gash,’” he bluntly stated.

“Gash…That’s a weird name!” another filly stated, standing next to Apple Bloom. She was orange, with purple eyes, mane and tail. Once again, this one had nothing on her backside. She was a Pegasus. “I’m Scootaloo, by the way.”

“And I’m Sweetie Belle!” yet another filly shouted from his other side, nearly toppling him over the edge of his seat.

He looked at her, slightly annoyed, but shrugged it off. She was a white unicorn filly, with a lavender and light-purple mane. Her eyes were green, and she didn’t have anything on her backside, either. He noticed a trend with these three: They were all annoying, young and had no mark.

“Uh…okay…” he uncomfortably said, pulling out a quill, inkpot and ream of paper. He opened the ream and put a few sheets on his desk, putting the rest into his bag for a later time. He also grabbed his book and put it on the desk. Ms. Cheerilee walked in, standing in front of the classroom.

“Good morning, class!” she loudly said.

“Good morning, Ms. Cheerilee!” the group of colts and fillies chanted back.

“Today, we will start off by continuing our study on cutie marks! But first, we have a new student today. Would you please come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself?” she asked, gesturing for him to come over. He felt so awkward in the situation, but decided to go up anyways.

“Uh…hi. I’m Gash,” he said in a monotone voice, staring straight in the middle of the classroom.

“Wonderful, Gash! Is there anything that you would like to tell us about yourself?”

‘God damn it. I knew this question would come up sooner or later, but not this soon. How do I answer this with no memory?’ he thought.

“Uh…” he scrambled for words. “I really like fish?” he said, unknowing of what to say.

“Fish? Okay, that’s…odd, but no judging. How about where you come from?”

“Well…I don’t know.”

“No?”

“Nope. A few days ago, I just kind of…appeared in this world,” he informed, gaining a collection of gasps and stares. He was about to vent his frustration, but was met with more questions.

“Are you going to eat us?” one asked.

“Are you a monster?”

“Do you have any reason to be here?”

When he heard that question, he looked to where it could be from and cocked his head. This filly was pink with a light-purple and white mane, and was wearing a crown on her head. He lifted an eyebrow.

“I mean, you look nothing like us,” another one, sitting right next to her, said. She was all gray, with a silvery mane.

“Yeah. You totally don’t fit in here,” the pink one said. His anger was rising, but kept his cool.

“Now, now, class. He may be a bit different, but he is here for the same reason you are. We will not discriminate against him. Do you all understand me?”

“Yes, Ms. Cheerilee,” the class sighed. They still stared at him. He looked at Cheerilee.

“Help me out, here,” he whispered.

“Gash, why don’t you take a seat, and we’ll get started?” she asked. He simply nodded and returned to his seat. Cheerilee flipped the page on a board of poster paper, revealing a picture of a pony with no mark, and a pony with a mark.

“So you all know that you get a cutie mark that appears on your flank upon finding your special talent. However, sometimes this isn’t the easiest thing to do; as there are a very wide amount of things that you can do that would be special to your own individual preferences. You could be struggling with something like carpentry, when you could really excel in singing, for example…” she started.

She continued on for about two hours, ranging from the topics of cutie marks, to math (basic skills, such as addition, subtraction, short multiplication, short division; Gash already knew this), to reading and writing practice (which Gash gladly participated in). Gash’s notes had filled up two full pages worth of notes, of which he put into his bag.

Recess time had come around for the day, and everypony had gone outside, except for Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who appeared to be jotting down scribbles on a sheet of paper.

“How long does recess last?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Alright,” Gash said as he grabbed his book and went out.

He looked around the playground and saw a few tables to sit at, as well as some trees with green leaves. He debated with himself which on to sit at. After a few moments, he decided to walk to the tree

He opened the book, hopefully being able to find more readable words. After about ten minutes of carefully examining many pages and finding nothing, he closed the book and closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree.

“Hey, you!” a snobbish voice yelled out. He felt a rock hit him in the arm. He opened his eyes and looked at his assailant, who was now standing over him.

“What?”

“You think that you can just come here and try to take over my school? Well, don’t even think about it!” she said, punching his chest, using her other hoof to hold one of his shoulders.

“Get off of me.”

“What?”

“I said, ‘Get off of me.’”

“Why should I? You know you don’t belong here. I just want you to know!”

“It’s about to get real ugly if you don’t get your nasty face away from me in the next five seconds.”

“Was that a threat?”

“One…”

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” she said, smacking him across the face.

“Two…”

“I said, ‘Stop ignoring me!’” she yelled at him, smacking him harder on the face, causing his head to twist slightly.

“Three…”

“You worthless piece of trash! I’m the one who rules here! You’re just some nopony who is coming here to show off! You don’t belong here. You’re an outcast, a flea on society! Why don’t you just leave already! Nopony here cares about you anyway!”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Gash shouted, lifting her up and throwing her away from him. He stood up. “You think that you have any power over me? Compared to me, you are nothing more than a worm! A nymph!” he cried. A small crowd of fillies and colts was now surrounding the two. It had suddenly begun to rain.

She ran up to him and bucked him in the chin. A few drops of blood dripped from his mouth, and he started to glow with the red aura. She gave him another buck in the stomach.

“You little bitch!” he roared. His book was glowing now, and he noticed this. He opened the book and saw the red words glowing. A group of local townsponies had gathered on the other side of the fence. She gasped.

“What did you just call me!? I, Diamond Tiara, will have you sleeping for days for that!” she said, revving up for another buck. He was ready this time, though, so when she tried to, he jumped over her. In the time it took her to turn around, he had kicked her in the stomach, causing her to fly into the tree. She coughed out a little blood.

“What’s going on here!?” Cheerilee shouted, walking up to the scene.

“ I don’t care who you are or what your status here is, and I don’t care! Your think that you could compare to my complete supremacy! These words will shatter you!”

Diamond Tiara turned around from the tree, looking in complete fear toward him.

“That’s enough!” Cheerilee attempted to intervene, but it was too late.

“The first spell: Zakeru!” he incanted.

His irises and pupils faded out of his eyes, as they glowed a whitish-yellow color. He opened his hand and released a small wave of golden electricity out at a quick pace. She tried to stand and brace herself, but the electricity hit her too quickly. She cried out in agonizing pain as she collapsed, unconscious. She had large burn marks running down her mane and coat, and there was a small pool of blood surrounding her. There were numerous cuts and scars running down the length of her body. He fell onto his backside, and his eyes returned to their normal state. It was raining harder now.

“Whoa…that was cool…” is all he could say, shocked at what had just occurred. The crowds of ponies gasped at the assault that had just occurred.

“Gash!” Fluttershy yelled out, jumping over the fence and galloping over to him. The rest of the Mane Six did the same.

“What was that!?” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Electricity…?” Twilight stammered. “That’s what those words are! They give you the power to shoot electricity from your hooves!” she exclaimed.

“Huh. Well, that could prove to be useful. And they’re called ‘hands,’” he said, the aura fading away from him.

“You simply can’t be serious. You just shocked that filly! Is she alright?” Rarity asked, very concernedly.

“She’ll be fine. Anyway, she started it, and she got what was coming. Not my fault that she was that stupid. It’s a shame, really,” he started, “for she could’ve been doing something more intelligent, such as not wasting my time. Her loss,” he said. They looked at him, shocked.

“Yah just got into a school fahght, and that’s all yah can say!? Yah could’ve just killed ‘er!” Applejack cried out. She looked over, and found that Diamond Tiara was still breathing, albeit heavily.

“But I didn’t. What’s the big deal? She’s expendable, anyway,” The group once again looked in shock.

“How could you say such a thing, Gash! That’s horrible!” Fluttershy yelled at him.

“Let me put it into simpler words for your simple minds. When one of you ponies squishes and kills an insect, such as an ant or mosquito, doesn’t that show just how valueless life truly is? We are all playing a game and nothing more. If that shock would’ve killed her, it wouldn’t have had any impact on society. She isn’t contributing anything, anyway,” he explained. They were beginning to cry.

“Th-That’s h-horrible!” Twilight stuttered. “What’s wrong with you!?” she cried, pinning him down to the ground. Her horn was flaring with purple energy. “You have no right to say such a thing! If you would’ve killed that child, it would have had an impact on society. Think about the family of Diamond Tiara. They would’ve been crushed if she would’ve died! Now what do you think!?”

“I still think the same, because I don’t care about her family. I don’t know them, therefore they are completely irrelevant to my life. Anything that they feel towards me is completely meaningless. If something happened to her whole family that would’ve caused their deaths wouldn’t get my head to turn, because they have no role to play in my own life. If I were to die right now, for any reason, nothing would change. No one would care.”

The group of ponies that had amassed around them was shocked and speechless at how a child this young could possibly think in this kind of mindset. The rain was pelting them now. There were a few balls of hail, as well. The ponies were starting to head for the schoolhouse, not wanting to stay in the rain any longer. Even the other Mane Six went inside. When they had all assembled in the school, they looked out the windows to see the battle.

“I see now. You’re living in your own little fantasy, where it’s all about you. You, and nopony else!” she said, jumping to her back hooves and releasing a beam of energy into him, knocking him backwards. She fired more beams. “Why don’t you think about somepony else for a change!” she screamed, firing the beams at a faster rate.

“Why should I think about anyone else!? To me, they are all meaningless! Just more stones for me to step on to progress through this vague existence we all live in!” he shot back, turning into his demonic state-the claws, the fangs, the voice and the glowing eyes. He was once again beginning to glow.

“Once again, the first spell: Zakeru!” he shouted, releasing another wave of electric energy.

It was able to combat the many beams of purple mana that were being sent his way for a time, but wasn’t able to compete against it forever. After about twenty seconds of shooting the electricity, it died down, and he found himself being hit with multiple beams of energy. He was being hit multiple times; rips, scratches and burn marks were appearing on his clothing. Blood was dripping off of multiple, small wounds in his arms and legs.

‘I can’t take this for much longer. How do I combat this? The first spell, Zakeru won’t work, as it dies down after about twenty seconds of firing. She seems to be able to create a near infinite amount of these purple lasers. What can I do!?’ he thought, still being pelted by the purple lasers. ‘Oh! That’s right! That other spell! Maybe it can help me!’

He picked up his book and flipped it to the page with the next spell on it.

“I don’t know what you do, but I’m counting on you to work!” he shouted, the red characters roaring at him to cast them.

Twilight stopped casting her spells, and instead started to charge up for a large one. The glow around her horn became huge, and she had a fierce look on her face. She wanted to defeat him here, and now, as she believed he was a detriment to their harmonic society. He stood up against her, and held the book up in front of him, the words clear.

Twilight let off the huge attack and fell to the ground. It was a large, purple-black sphere with what appeared to be a tail in the back. It traveled slowly, but could easily kill him if he let it strike him. He took a deep breath.

“The second spell: Rashirudo!” he cried. Thunder cracked the sky, and lightning rained down upon the makeshift battlefield.

Two tall, white frames shot out of the ground. The area in-between the frames turned completely yellow, with a rippling, electrical pattern all across it. In the center of the shield was a large, red, protruding sphere that broke through both sides of the barrier. This red sphere was surrounded in the center by a darker-yellow ring, which shot off into two lightning bolts down the sides of the shield.

Twilight’s spell hit the massive shield, which bent under the incredible force of the spell. It looked like it would’ve broken it, but the shield bounced back into place, sending the purple explosion back at Twilight. When it traveled back, the sphere was covered in a small layer of electricity. Twilight’s eyes widened when she realized that she had lost. She hung her head, knowing that she didn’t have enough energy to move out of the way.

“Twilight, move!” Rainbow Dash shouted from inside, but her voice didn’t reach.

With the miniscule remainder of her magical strength, Twilight cast a barrier around her. The sphere hit the shield, which immediately began to crack. The sphere lost some size and strength in the shield. After a few seconds of pressure, the barrier shattered, and the sphere slammed into her with great force. She flew back from the force of the attack, and when she hit the ground, she rolled, causing her mane and coat to become muddy. Gash sat down on the muddy ground, taking deep breathes, as that barrier was difficult to conjure and took a large amount of his strength.

“Twilight!” the Mane Six shouted as they hurried outside to Twilight’s aid. She was bloody and breathing heavily, but her eyes were still open, if just barely. She stared at him.

“Are you alright!?” the group gasped.

“Why…” is all she could say.

“What?” Pinkie asked.

“Why couldn’t I defeat him…he’s going to kill us all if we allow him to stay here…” she choked, coughing a little blood. “Girls, get him. Tie him up. Do whatever you can. Just don’t let him escape,” she finished, passing out.

“Twahlight…” Applejack muttered, looking back with daggers. “That little varmint is gonna get it when Ah get mah hooves on ‘im. Rainbow, we’re leaving it up to you to catch him.”

“On it!” she said, flying straight towards Gash. He saw her coming and picked his book up, but couldn’t get up in time. She slammed into him, sending him flying high, over the schoolhouse.

He quickly caught his balance in mid-air and flipped his gravity so he could land on his feet. When he landed, he did a few rolls and ran the other way. He was very quick, and took huge strides. He was practically jumping as he quickly traveled down the street towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Rainbow quickly caught up, and flew up to his side.

“Hey, stop!” she shouted, but he didn’t listen. She sighed. “They’ve always gotta be so tough…” she mumbled to herself as she picked up her speed. She slammed into him once again, sending him flying even further forward. “Hey, no fair!” she cried. He turned around in mid-air and faced her, his book open.

“Zakeru!” he chanted, shooting the spread of electricity around her, causing her to seize control of her wings, and fall. She landed face first into mud.

“Ugh…my head…” she said, her eyes rolling slightly as he flipped back around and continued running.

After twenty-five minutes of constant running, he had reached Fluttershy’s cottage. He stopped, panting heavily, as he had little energy left. He sat down at the side of the cottage to catch his breath, and laid down.

“Hey, you! Get back here!” Rainbow Dash said as she caught up to him. She saw him lying there, clearly worn out, and landed in front of him. “Now I’ve got you!” she growled, walking up to him.

“Go away,” he said.

“No. You’ve done some bad stuff, and now it is time for you to pay for your negligence.”

“Damn it. I thought the one ‘Zakeru’ I shot at you was going to be enough to let you know that I wasn’t planning to altercate with you further. Is it that difficult for you ponies to recognize patterns?”

“Don’t bring up that stupid ‘you’re dumb’ crap again. We’re all sick of you. Quite frankly, we all want you dead now. Come with me, and this will be much less painful,” she offered, speaking directly in his ear. He put one hand on her shoulder. She lifted her eyebrow at him, as he leaned in to her ear.

“Zakeru,” he whispered. She was expecting a bolt of lightning, but got nothing. She jumped back. “What the hell? Why didn’t any electricity come out?”

“You must be too tired to use it,” she inferred.

“Damn!” he muttered to himself. She approached him again.

“This is the last time I’ll make this offer. You come with me, or I’ll make this a slow, painful death for you.”

“And I say to you, ‘No!’ Why do you care so much!? They’re both still alive, so there should be no consequences!” he shouted, the book glowing again. He looked at it.

‘I think I’m noticing a pattern. I think the book reacts to strong emotions. That would explain why the ‘Zakeru’ I tried to use a moment ago failed. I didn’t have enough emotion in my feelings to release it. But now that I am strongly feeling, it’ll come out! I need to get out of this situation, now!’ he thought, standing up.

“We’re going to kill you to insure that you cause no more harm to anypony in this society! You are a major threat, and I won’t have that!” she shouted, flying at him. He held his hands out, and he pushed him against the wall behind him. She was baring her teeth, growling at him.

“Obviously, I’m not getting through to you. Let me explain in a simpler way!

Zakeru!” he incanted again, hitting her with a second beam of electricity. She stumbled back again, falling out of the pain.

He looked around, looking for an escape route. He was thinking about using an alleyway in town, but he saw a horde of ponies coming. He looked to his left, and saw the forest. He turned left and headed towards the great mass of trees. He quickly entered the forest.

Rainbow Dash woke up a few minutes later, wearing her red and gold Element of Harmony.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you alright!?” Twilight asked, still dirty and bloodied from earlier. The other Mane Six were wearing their elements as well.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just got a good shock on me,” she said, standing up.

“Where’d he go?”

“I was out at the time, so I didn’t see where he went. But I can tell you that he probably escaped into the Everfree Forest.”

“Do you think we should chase him?”

“Nah. He’ll probably get killed by a Manticore or a Timber-Wolf in there. If he does come back, we know what to do,” she assumed. The Mane Six all nodded and started back towards Ponyville, with the exception of Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, are you coming?” Twilight asked.

“I think I’ll stay here for now. I’ll go back into town later,” she informed.

“Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”

“I’ll be fine. He wouldn’t dare come back so soon. He’s too smart for that. I need to feed the animals, anyway.”

“Okay. Stay safe. If you see him, immediately come towards town!”

“Alright,” she said and the others left.

“Why, Gash, did you have to turn out this way? You could’ve been such a wonderful child, but you decided to walk the other way,” she said to herself, shedding a tear. She headed inside to feed her animals.

She entered the house and placed his saddlebag upstairs by the bed. She fed her animals, and after laying down, she cried herself to sleep, mourning for what had become of Gash.

Chapter Seven: A New Weapon, A New Friend

Chapter Six: Close Calls

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Dairosshou: Hiyarihatto

だいろっしょう：ひやりはっと

第六章：日やり法度

Chapter Six: Close Calls

“Spike! Spike!” Twilight shouted, bursting into the library.

“What is it?” he answered, looking at her. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “What happened to you!?”

“Gash happened. He went rogue, and I need to send a message to Princess Celestia, now!” she cried out. She levitated a quill, inkpot and scroll to him.

“Gash went rogue? That sucks,” he muttered.

“Okay, here’s the message,” she started.

“Ready!”

“Dear, Princess Celestia,

It is to my disdain to tell you that our ‘friend,’ Gash, has gone rogue. Just earlier today, he attacked a filly at the Ponyville Schoolhouse, and when I tried to stop him from continuing, he attacked me. Given, I did attack him first, but he came close to killing the filly and me. We believe he has fled into the Everfree Forest. We do not know what he will do next, so we request your assistance. While he does not know the Everfree, I postulate he will head towards the old castle for shelter by instinct.

We now know what his red book does. It has magical power-when he incants the words in it, different lightning effects are created. He has two spells that we know of: “Zakeru,” which shoots a wave of lightning, and “Rashirudo,” which creates a shield that can reflect magical blasts.

I believe it is in our power to stop him. He is a detriment to our society, and he clearly doesn’t have a place within it. I request your immediate reply.

Twilight Sparkle”

“…Got it.”

“Send it off.”

Spike sent it off in a green breath of fire and looked sadly at the ground. He looked out the window and grimaced, closing his eyes. A few minutes later, he belched out a royally-sealed scroll. He gave it to Twilight, who promptly read it.

“To my faithful student,

It saddens me to hear that Gash has demonstrated such terrible actions. I will be sending troops to Ponyville immediately, and I and Princess Luna will be joining you shortly after.

I have not found any script with the text on/in his book. This leads me to believe that it is completely foreign to this world. Its magical properties are something I haven’t heard of. It’s definitely a spellbook of sorts, but not like the ones from this dimension. I’ll continue trying to remember other places I’ve seen this writing, but at this point I don’t believe I will find anything.

I request that you and the other Elements of Harmony also come, as your assistance may be required in defeating Gash. I will also leave it up to you to decide his punishment, as I do not know enough about him yet to determine a proper procedure against him.

Your Princess, Celestia”

“Okay. So I guess that means that we’ll gather the Elements together now?” Spike asked.

“Yes. Then we will probably come up with a battle strategy.”

“Should I go?”

“No. It’s too dangerous. I’m not going to risk you in a battle you have no place in,” she explained. He gave a soft smile and hugged her.

“Stay safe.”

“I will,” she said, walking through her front door.

Gash had been wandering the forest for about an hour at this point, and he hadn’t found anything resembling civilization. There were no signs of water or edible food anywhere, and to top it off, it was dark and gloomy, which made him feel uneasy. He was searching bushes for berries, but couldn't find anything.

“Is it so hard to find some god damned food in this place!?” he cried out in frustration, punching a tree really hard and knocking it over. “Or at least some drinkable water or a path to follow?”

He kept walking for another five or so minutes before coming across a path, one that would lead him deeper into the forest. He rested for a few minutes, exhausted, before continuing down the path.

After following the path for another three or four minutes, he came up to a cliff. He looked down, and attempted to determine the length of the fall, but couldn’t. He grabbed a stone and threw it down, and it hit the ground after about three seconds. He calculated this to be about a forty meter drop. He looked around for another way down, but couldn’t find one.

‘How the hell do I get down there?’ he thought.

He saw small pieces of rock coming out of the rock face and a few, small piles of rubble down at the base of the cliff. He assumed these used to be platforms that these horses would climb up and down that had eroded over hundreds of years and had collapsed. He also saw a orange mound of…some sort of matter with a red pillow-looking material. He was trying to decide whether or not he should trust using these small, bulging pieces of rock to climb down or to find another way.

“Hmm…Fuck it,” he cussed, turning around and lowering his legs down, hanging to the ledge by his hands.

He looked down between his legs and saw the first platform to his right side. He inched his way across the ledge to where he was directly over the small rock he had seen. He took a deep breath and let go, putting his legs together. He felt his legs land on the platform, and quickly lost his balance. He fell to the side, turning around in the process. He put a hand up and grasped the ledge, cussing that he was going to have to parkour his way down this ledge. He turned around and grasped his other hand to the ledge. He looked down again and saw the next platform was to his left. He took another breath and started to swing left and right. He gained some momentum and let go, just barely getting his fingertips on the ledge. He swung his other hand up and grasped the ledge. He looked to see his next platform was to his right, so he started swinging again. He let go after a few more swings than last time and landed on the ledge with his feet. He put his hands out to balance himself, trying to calculate his next leap. While he was thinking, the platform under him began to crumble. He didn’t notice at the moment, so he just kept thinking. A few moments later, the platform collapsed and he fell.

“Oh shi-“ he said, but landed on the orange mound he had seen prior.

It was soft, and warm and broke all of the impact damage from the twenty-or-so meter fall. Relieved, he got up and looked at the pillow-like fur, and saw two furious, small eyes looking at him, as well as bat wings. It was alive, and it was angry. He stepped back a few steps, but it got up and roared at him, baring its’ fangs.

“God damn everythi-“ he started, but was cut off when he was swatted away by the beasts claws, leaving small scratches on his mantle. His book glowed.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, releasing the wave of electricity over the manticore. When it ended, the beast showed signs of burns, but it had relatively no impact. “Damn!”

The beast roared once again and ran towards Gash, who had little time to make any movements. He was head-butted by the manticore, and sent flying back into the forest behind him. Noticing he was in a forest, he looked around, seeing branches all around him. The beast continued toward him, lunging. Gash was prepared this time and jumped to his left, rolling as he hit the ground. The bat-lion rain into the tree and Gash saw this as an opportunity to strike.

“Zakeru!” he cried again, but instead of aiming at the beast, he aimed above to some branches.

The branches fell from the tree, landing on the manticore’s back. It howled in pain before shaking the branches off and turning around. It showed signs of fatigue from the pain shown on its face, but launched itself at Gash again anyway. He rolled to his right and circled around to the manticore’s backside. He jumped on top of the manticore, holding onto its mane, and it ran deeper into the forest, futilely trying to shake him off all the way. Seeing this as a free ride, he held on, until they came across a raging river. When that happened, he decided to dispose of this creature. He put an open palm on the beast’s neck.

“Zakeru!” he cried, jumping off of its back. The electricity surged from his hand and struck it right on its neck, knocking it out.

“Alright. So I have a river, and there’s no way to cross it. What do I do?” he asked himself. He sat down on folded legs, pondering the solution.

“A raft wouldn’t work, as it would be torn apart…Could I jump across?” he continued to ask himself. He tried to judge the distance, but because he had no actual means of measuring, he couldn’t.

Gash continued to ponder ways to get across the huge river for minutes. He was beginning to feel frustration until suddenly, purple waves rippled across the surface of the water. He arched a brow to this and stood up. It confused him as to what it could’ve been, until a giant, purple snake-like creature rose up from the surface of the water. On instinct, Gash opened his book and charged for a ‘Zakeru.”

He looked up at the creature and saw it had a light-purple middle-belly section, and the rest, up to the head, was a darker purple. Two slender arms with hands that each had a thumb and three fingers protruded from its body, which came out to a large snout. It had a neck-beard at the end of its lower jaw and two different colored mustaches on its upper jaw-an orange one and another, shorter orange one with a curly purple extension on the other. It had two fangs on each jaw and a purple tongue It had two nostrils, of which were pointing up and had light-purple swirls on them. There were two googly-looking eyes and flipper-like ears, almost like Spike’s. A long, orange mane protruded from the top of its head and went a little ways down its neck, and was curly near the end.

“Zake-“ Gash started, but was interrupted.

“Why, hello there!” it said, in a flamboyant voice. It almost sounded like it had a homosexual-flare to it.

“Uh…hi?”

“What might you be doing here?”

“I want to cross the river.”

“Oh, you do! Well, I can help you with that. My name is Steven Magnet, by the way.”

“Okay, Magnet.”

The serpent dove underneath that water, and took its sweet time getting into a position to where Gash could jump across. His head rose back up.

“You can cross now!’ he said, diving back under.

“I knew that, you dumb-ass,” Gash muttered to himself before jumping across.

Midway through crossing, however, he lost his balance. After trying to regain said balance for about five seconds, he failed, and fell off into the river. Magnet saw this and slightly panicked, before swimming after Gash.

Gash was struggling to get above the surface of the water and breathe, and was starting to panic as he desperately gasped for air. He couldn’t hold on to his breath any longer and breathed out, allowing water to fill his lungs. He felt something grab him as his conscious faded out.

The troops Celestia had promised had made their way to Ponyville and gathered at the Golden Oaks library, waiting for Celestia to arrive to give instructions. The Mane Six had gathered, even Fluttershy, for this. Minutes later, the two princesses arrived at the library, stepping off their respective chariots.

“We are here!” Luna’s voice bellowed.

“Good afternoon, Princesses Celestia and Luna,” Twilight, who had cleaned her wounds and coat, wearing many bandages, said, bowing. The rest of the battalion and Mane Six also bowed. They all wore faces of determination, except for Fluttershy, who appeared to be sulk.

“Twilight Sparkle. I have come in response to your letter. This child, Gash, has disappeared into the Everfree, yes?” Celestia asked, in a much more serious tone than normal.

“That is what I believe has happened. It’s the only possible place he could’ve escaped to. I think he would’ve gone to the old castle, by instinct to find shelter.”

“Alright. Let’s come up with our battle strategy.”

“Alright. We should split into three groups. One group of guards led by Princess Celestia, one group led by Princess Luna and the Elements of Harmony with a few backup guards, for extra protection. We’ll invade from the front and split up once we get inside. One group of guards will stay and search the main castle; and the other two groups will search the outer wings. Wherever he is, a Pegasus/Alicorn will alert the other groups, who will gather to the designated spot. We’ll battle until he is defeated. In the case that we can’t beat him with our own power, we’ll use the Elements of Harmony to trap him in stone,” Twilight instructed.

“That sounds like a good plan. Shall we get going now?” Celestia asked, looking at the guards and Mane Six.

“Let’s kick some electric human butt!” Rainbow Dash yelled out, as a huge roar of approval was given by the guards. They traveled towards the Everfree, with the exception of Luna and Fluttershy, who stayed a little behind.

“We told you, didn’t we?” Luna asked, her brows furrowing.

“Huh?”

“We told you that this child was a monster. But you kept saying that he would change. This should teach you to believe in your Princess,” she bragged. Fluttershy remained silent, tears forming in her eyes once again. Luna looked at her and cocked her head in confusion. “Fluttershy?” she asked. Fluttershy mumbled something, but couldn’t be heard by the Princess. “Fluttershy?”

“I don’t need you to tell me what I already know,” she flatly stated, walking away, a few tears flowing. This left Luna even more confused, but she could tell that Fluttershy was upset about something and dropped the subject. The groups marched towards the Everfree.

“Hey, are you okay!?” a crazed Magnet shouted, pushing on Gash’s chest. A geyser of water erupted from his mouth as he began to cough.

“Ye…” he continued to cough. He sat up and coughed the remaining water out of his lungs. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem!” the sea serpent said. Gash looked and saw he was on the other side of the river.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to cross a river.”

“One that no one should have to experience.”

“I guess. Anyway, I need to continue onward.”

“Are you sure that you should be-“ Magnet started, but Gash was already running down the path.

Another minute or two later, Gash came across a bridge, and on the other side was a large fortress or a castle. The bridge looked unsteady, but Gash hadn’t come this far to be defeated by a bridge. He walked up to it and cautiously stepped on it, feeling it slightly bulge under his weight. He hesitated to take another step, but finally did.

“Maybe this thing is sturdy,” he said, beginning to walk across. “This was way easier than I tho-“ he started to think out loud, but the cables on the bridge snapped, sending the bridge careening into the rock wall in front of him. His head slammed into the rock, giving him a minor concussion. “God…damn…it all,” he cussed, dazed. After a minute, he came back to his senses, looking up the face.

He began to climb the rope, but the ladder, once again, shifted under his weight. He could see the rope breaking higher up and started climbing much faster, using the boards of the bridge to jump, giving him larger boosts. He could tell he wouldn’t make it in time, so he thought of ways he would be able to save himself.

‘Grab onto a ledge and climb the rocks…No, this rock face is too smooth. Maybe use ‘Zakeru’ to blast a chunk out? That’s too risky. There’s a very low chance that would actually work…’ he thought, but had run out of time.

He needed to act fast. Panicking slightly, he looked around, but still couldn’t find a solution. He came up with an idea right as the rope broke, hoping it would work. His book shined, pulling it out of a pocket on the inside of his mantle. He aimed his hand at the wall below him.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, as the golden barrier appeared below him.

He fell but shortly after landed on the condensed electricity. He was expecting to be shocked by the substance, but found that it was more like a rubber surface. He could bounce on it, which allowed him to use it as a trampoline to gain height. He bounced higher and higher until finally, he was able to grab the ledge of the ground above and pulled himself up.

“Is there anything in this world that isn’t out to kill me?” he asked, as a pair of wooden-wolves rushed out of the bushes around the fort, growling loudly. “Damn. Everything!” he cried, glowing.

The wolves jumped at him, but he slid slightly to the left, grabbing one by the tail. He spun a few times, gaining momentum, as he threw the large piece of bark down the chasm. A few moments later, he could hear the sound of twigs snapping at the bottom. He turned his attention to the other one, which was in midair, having jumped towards him. He ducked and it flew overhead. In an instant, he punched his fist upward, hitting the wolf in its stomach, sending it flying toward the sky. He opened his palm.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, as the wave of electricity was surged from his hand, hitting the wolf completely. It howled in pain, but was soon silenced as it exploded into hundreds of tiny pieces. Gash panted as it rained wood and leaves from the dead timber-wolf.

Relieved, Gash looked at the large fort that was in front of him. It was in a state of utmost disrepair-There were shattered windows and glass all over the place near the front, and the entire upper half of what appeared to be a foyer was ripped off, with holes in the cerulean cobblestone walls. Large trees grew out of the sides, and there was a large, brown door at the entrance. Gash walked up to it, feeling the rugged carving.

“Wow…what the hell happened to this place? How old is it?” he questioned, putting his hand on the doorknob. “Well, I guess there’s only one thing to do now,” he muttered to himself, opening the door of the castle, walking in.

Chapter Eight: The Breaking Point

Chapter Seven: A New Weapon, A New Friend

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daishichishou: Arata na Wepon to Arata na Tomodachi

だいしちしょう：あらたなウェポンとあらたなともだち

第七章：新たなウェポンと新たな友達

Chapter Seven: A New Weapon, A New Friend

Gash had entered the castle, and it looked even worse on the inside than it did on the outside-windows on the walls were shattered, their frames torn and bent in many different ways. Glass littered the ground underneath. There were pillars lining the edge of the room, and some of them were completely collapsed, the rest cracked. Vines grew down from these pillars, creating a lot of overgrowth. The floor was the same cobble that the castle was built out of, and there were many small cracks protruding from one large crack running down the center of the room, which lead into an alter of sorts. The alter had a large, marble-like base, which came up into a short, trapezoid-like shaft which led to another ring of marble. In the center of the ring was a tall, cylindrical pedestal, of which had a large, white ball on top of it. Out of the pedestal protruded six wings, each of which had a cup shape at the edge of them, as if something was supposed to go in each of them. This whole alter was completely covered with vines. Around the alter on the ground were two rings in the ground, of which looked purposely designed, and not cracks.

The next-most obvious thing about the room was that a large amount of the timber-wolves were lying around the room, apparently sleeping. There had to be thirty-five to forty of them. Gash slowly and softly walked around each of these wolves and up to the alter. He pushed some of the vines away to closer examine the structure. He didn’t find anything useful, so he walked to the back of the room, where a large, purple throne sat. There was another large crack from the alter to the throne, presumably the same crack from the other side of the room. The seat itself was cracked and chipped, but otherwise looked to be in good condition. He walked up to it and sat down, unknowing of what was about to happen.

When he sat down, the seat pushed down, like a switch. A large, white glow erupted from the cracks in the floor, and lead into the alter. Gash stood up and jumped to the side, hanging from a vine growing out from the ceiling. The alter shined a bright, white as the rings on the ground began to shake. This caused the entire room to quake, waking any of the wolves that had not yet awoken. The two rings began to collapse, creating stairs leading to a lower area of the castle. Gash dropped off the vine, to find many growling timber-wolves looking at him. He looked across the crowd, and assuming he would be fighting them, pulled out his book. He opened it to the page with the ‘Zakeru’ spell and worked out an attack strategy.

‘Because there are stairs leading to the next floor down, there has to be area underneath. I should be able to fire ‘Zakeru’ into the cracks in the floor and cause it to collapse. From the amount of cracking in the ground, it should collapse completely in one or two blasts,” he thought, concentrating his negative emotions into his book, which glowed.

“Zakeru!” he cried, releasing the electricity into the largest crack.

The resulting explosion caused the cracks in the floor up to the alter to split open and collapse, dragging a good twenty-five or so wolfs down with it. There was a huge drop, and Gash assumed they fell to their death. The remaining wolves were on the other side of the alter, out of reach. They backpedaled out of fear, running out the door, howling.

“Hey, where ya’ going, cowards!” he shouted, shaking his fist. “Eh, whatever. The only thing to do now is to go downstairs,” he said, tucking his book into the internal pocket of the mantle and jumping to the stairs.

He underestimated the distance between the throne and the stairs, and hung to the edge of them. He looked down the chasm below, which was seemingly bottomless. He shrugged and pulled himself up. He dusted his mantle off, sidling down the rest of the stairs. At the bottom was a long hallway, with many rooms on both sides. He cautiously walked down the hall, checking each room along the way. Most of them had rusted weapons and shields in them, which lead Gash to believe this was an armory of some sort in the past. Partway down the hall, he started to hear a faint sobbing sound, of which was feminine. He pulled his book out and more cautiously checking each room. The crying got louder as he walked the hall. As he walked up to one room, the crying was clearly coming from inside. He took a deep breath and walked into the room.

Laying there was a black, insect like creature, laying on overgrowth. It looked somewhat like a pony, about the size of a young teenage filly. Its mane and tail were blue, with dark-green highlights. There was a light-green shell on its back, and growing out of it were two light-blue wings, which looked like they would’ve belonged to a fly. There were a few dark-grey spots on its neck. It had two small fangs out of its mouth, and had two large, green eyes. Its irises were dark-green and it had two giant pupils. It also had a horn, which was very jagged compared to that of a pony's, and its ears were splayed back against the head. There were many wounds and scars along its body, which oozed light-green blood. It turned its head towards Gash, and its eyes widened. It panted heavily and crawled backwards, away from the human. He walked up to it.

“No! Stay back! I...I’ll bite!” she threatened, baring her fangs, but obviously was bluffing. Gash was unsure of what to do, so he tried playing the nice route for once.

“Uh…I won’t hurt you?” he tried, putting a small grin on his face. She felt slightly better knowing that, but still trembled. That was until she saw his book, when she started crying a little harder.

“No, please…stay away…” she sobbed. “I don’t want to die…” she mumbled.

“Are you…alright?” he struggled.

“Do I look like I’m alright!?” she snapped.

“It’s a few scratches and cuts.”

“Are you serious?” she asked, rolling over.

He walked in front of her, and saw a huge tear along her other side, which was completely scab covered. He put a look of disgust on his face. While this was completely repulsive to him, his eyes focused on something else. There was a book next to her. He reached out to grab it, but she smacked his hand away.

“Leave that alone!”

“I’m just curious,” he said, shoving her hoof away.

She continued to struggle, so he put his book down and held her arm. The tears had created a puddle under her face. He grabbed the book and lifted his own. The book was a lemon-yellow color, and had the same design that was on Gash’s spellbook. He looked confusedly at the bug-girl.

“These two books-They have the same design on them.”

“Uh…uh huh…” she nodded, scared. “Will you hurt me?” she said, her voice cracking, becoming tiny.

“No.”

“Do you promise?” she asked. He hesitated for a few moments, but grinned at her.

“Yeah, why not.”

“Yay!” she cried, jumping to him, hugging him. It looked very painful for her, but she felt happy, so she ignored the pain, Gash was uncomfortable, as the green blood dripped onto his body. He lifted her up and put her back down.

“As for the book…” he started, but was interrupted.

“Can you read that red one?”

“…Yes,” he said, dragging the ‘s.’ “A few words.”

“Then…you’re a demon, too?” she asked. He gave her a surprised stare.

“D-Demon? Please explain what you mean,” he stammeringly requested, unable to speak properly at the moment.

“Yes. Every thousand years, one hundred inhabitants of the newest generation of creatures in this world are picked, by the gods, to fight in this great battle. They are known as ‘Mamono,’ or ‘Demons.’”

“But…I’m not from this world. I come from a different world altogether, if I have what little facts I know about myself straight.”

“You’re not from this world? Do you know how you got here?”

“Nope. I apparently fell out of the sky and was just kind of…there. I have amnesia, so I don’t know much about my past…”

“Well, that sucks, and defies the logic that I have been given… I don’t know how else to respond to that, so I’m going to continue with my explanation. Okay?”

“Please, proceed.”

“To win this battle, you must be the last remaining Mamono with a book. When the book of a Mamono is burned, that demon is removed from the battle.”

“What happens to them?”

“I recall my mother telling me that those Mamono disappear from this world, to a place that is unknown. I don’t remember what she told me about that. It was years ago.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“The winner is said to be granted any one wish they want. It can be anything-if they wanted something small, like world peace, they could have it. If they wanted something huge, like to be the ruler of an entire galaxy, they could have it. The only problem is, is that the Mamono aren’t told that they are participating in this battle. It is said that they learn of the battle and find their book through the strings of fate.”

“Wow…I guess that means that my ‘strings of fate’ lead me here to learn about this…” he pondered. “You seem to be educated about this topic, and you said that the Mamono learn of the battle through their own experiences. How did you learn of the battle?”

“My mother, Queen Pillaria, is a highly educated mare. She knows a lot of information about many things, and this just happened to be one of the things she knew a lot about. I don’t know where she gained her knowledge of this.”

“You’re…a princess?”

“Indeed, I am.”

“In that case, what the hell are you doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? Shouldn’t you be at your home!?” he shouted at her, some concern in his voice. She started to tear up.

“I don’t… like to talk about it…” she trailed, sniffling, looking to the side and releasing her tears. His mouth opened slightly, but he didn’t say anything for a while.

“I’m sorry…” he sympathetically said.

“I-It’s fine. You didn’t know…” she said, rubbing her eyes. After a minute of awkward silence, she spoke again. “Well, now that that’s over, I have a question for you, as well.”

“What?”

“Where did you come from to get here?”

“I came from a small village on the other side of the woods after I was chased down by them. I would’ve gone anywhere, so after following a path in the forest I ended up here.

“Was that village full of ponies?”

“Yes. Have you been there?”

“The damn ponies chased me out. They hate any race of creatures that aren't their own. It proves how close-minded they are. I didn't even do anything while I was there! I just walked into the town and they ran me out!" she growled.

“Really?"

“Yes! Did the same happen to you?”

“Not exactly. I got in a few fights, and then was chased out. The thing is, I was always the one being attacked first. They blamed me for trying to kill them, but I was doing little more than protecting myself. A bunch of overreacting, little prissy bitches, they are.”

“I second that.”

“Anyway, I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to beat that monster’s ass.”

“What!? You can’t! You’ll be killed! I barely escaped with my life!”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, standing up, walking toward the door.”

“One last thing,” she added. He stopped and turned his head. “What’s your name?”

“I don’t know my actual name, but I’m called Gash. And you?”

“My name is Chrysalis,” she smilingly answered. He turned back to the door. “Oh, and good luck!”

“I don’t think I’ll need it, but thanks anyway, I guess,” he smilingly replied, walking out, down the hall.

At the end of the hall was a very large, circular room, with three layers of circular platforms leading up to a small pedestal, of which had many cracks in it. The room itself was incredibly dusty and cracked. Out of this pedestal was a sword. This sword was the only piece of steel equipment he had found that wasn’t rusted. The part of the blade that was coming out of the ground was dark red, and it slowly progressed in lighter shades of red toward the hilt of the blade. The hilt itself was a black, rectangular prism, and a white cylinder was growing from the center of the prism. Out of the center of the cylinder was a white handle. There was a strange, yellow looking pattern coming off the very back of the handle, which had many notches and nicks in it.

Gash walked up to the blade and studied it for a few moments. He touched all the different parts of the blade, but nothing seemed to happen. As if he were some video game character, he put his hands upon the handle. He pulled up on the blade, expecting nothing to happen, but to his surprise, the blade began to lift from the pedestal.

The slit in the pedestal of which the sword was jammed into began to glow white, and the entire room lit up with white. He dropped the blade and shielded his eyes. When the glow died down, Gash uncovered his eyes and saw a blue pattern had erupted on each of the tiers. On the middle tier, right under the pedestal, there were just straight lines. On the bottom tier were seven circles, each of which were glowing white, light-blue, dark-blue, green, orange, purple and yellow, in that order going to the right, with the white glowing ring directly behind the pedestal.

The dust in the room began to float and came together, forming a sheath for the sword. It was a simple sheathe, with golden lines going from the base to the opening, on each of the creases. Gash lifted up the sheath and placed the sword within. The sheath had small leather straps, which he used to clip it onto his mantle. Looking down while doing so, he noticed his book was glowing.

When he finished hooking up his sheathe, he pulled his book out of the internal pocket. He stared at the book, confused as to what was going on. He opened it, but the words on the pages with his previous spells looked the same. He flipped further and found that a page a bit later on was glowing. He flipped to that page and found new words had been glowing. He grinned.

“A new spell. Wonderful!”

“So-ru-do Za-ke-ru-ga,” he said. He put his negative emotions together and shouted the words. “Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cried, but nothing happened. He looked confused. “Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cried again. Still, nothing happened. “What the hell?” he asked. He thought for a few minutes, and got an idea. He started saying ‘Sorudo’ really fast.

“Sorudo-Sorudo-Sorudo-Sordo-Sordo-Sord-Sord-Sword!” he shouted. “It sounds like ‘Sword!’” he ecstatically shouted, drawing his blade.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he shouted. His hand released a yellow wave of energy, which was transferred into his sword, which glowed yellow. It extended to a greater length. The blade itself looked like a series of lightning bolts put together. There were two colors the blade was-white on the inner area of the blade, and golden on the external area. On both sides of the white area, in the center were a light-blue ring, of which had a dark-blue lightning bolt in the center.

“Oh, that is so damn awesome. Now I can decapitate those stupid wolves in style!” he said, placing his book back into his pouch.

He put his other hand on the blade, giving it a few practice swings. After fifteen seconds, the blade turned back to its normal form. He placed it back in his sheathe. He looked back to the pattern on the ground, examining it. He couldn’t determine what it was, so he left it for the moment.

“Now, that Chrysalis girl said that her foe was on the left wing…” he said, trying to determine which hallway lead to the left wing. “Damn this terrible sense of direction…”

He took a minute to figure it out, and quickly entered the wing. He ran down the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large, spiral staircase that lead to another, apparently large room. He climbed the stairs as fast as he could, but found himself tired by the time he got there. After resting for a minute, he carefully ascended into the next room. He looked around a wall and saw a huge timber-wolf lying there, with a dark-brown book on the ground right beside it. Its eyes were open, so sneaking up on it would get him no where.

“Who goes there?” he asked, standing up and stretching. The sound of wood cracking filled the room.

‘Damn, he saw me…’

“Reveal yourself now or face my wrath!” he roared.

“Well, here goes nothing…” Gash said, walking into the room. When the wolf saw him, he tilted his head in confusion.

“Who are you?”

“I am Gash, and I will be your foe,” he said, pulling out his red book, forcing his emotions into it.

“Juron!” the wooden demon shouted, as vines came from under Gash, wrapping around him and lifting him up.

“Zakeru!” Gash cried as the electricity surged and destroyed the vines. He landed on the ground, as he charged another spell.

“Juruku!” the wolf howled, as multiple apparently-living trees shot up from out of the ground around him. The trees’ limbs spread out around Gash, trying to hit him. He countered this.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he shouted, drawing his blade and transferring his energy into it.

Once the sword had transformed, he placed his book in his pocket and started slashing away at the trees. He started advancing toward the brown-booked demon, but was hit back multiple times by the branches. He began noticing a pattern-when the branches were slashed, they took a certain amount of time to regenerate. He ran back, the ‘Sorudo Zakeruga’ running out of time. He let the vines accumulate in mass numbers, and they tried to reach him. The vines didn’t reach him at the very back of the room, and once he had waited for about a minute, he slashed all of the vines at once.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cast, the blade once again transforming.

He slashed the mass of vines and walked forward, slashing the entire group multiple times until he reached the trees themselves. He swung his sword back, gaining strength for a strong slash. After a moment of concentration, he spun around, obliterating the trees in front of him. The wolf turned toward him, surprised, and attempted to cast a spell. Gash, one step ahead, slashed the wolf, causing his spell to cancel out. Gash dashed toward the beast and slashed once more, but the wolf dodged to the left, jumping at Gash. He pushed Gash to the ground and began scratching at his cloak and face. This hurt Gash, as a few scars and scratches formed down his face. He got incredibly frustrated and started casting spells, his body emanating the red aura, turning into its demonic form.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, blowing the demon off of him.

“Zakeru!” he incanted once again, hitting the demon back towards the wall.

“Zakeru!” His electricity hit the wolf and forced it back against the wall, writhing in agony.

“You think…that you really have this amount of power over me? You are a weakling. A child, helpless on the verge of his death by my power. What makes you think you can really stop me?” the wolf growled.

“Says the dumb-ass who has been doing little more than throwing spells out at random, hoping for them to hit. You have no sense of marksmanship, and if you don’t get serious right now, I’m going to kill you where you stand! Now, get up and fight me!” Gash cried, his book glowing.

The wolf’s book also glowed, but in a different way than before. Before, it was just a slight shimmer, barely noticeable through the murk coloration of the room. Now, however, it was like a miniature pillar of light growing out of the book. Gash noticed this and inferred that a large spell was coming his way. He charged up for his spell, but waited for the timber-wolf to cast his spell so he could make a proper judgment as to what to do.

“Raajia Jugaro!” he cried.

After a few moments, a huge, green, thorny and vine-like stem with a faded-pink flower with a small hole in it rose up out of the ground. The flower swelled up in size, and the hole in the center of the flower began to expand. Many brown spheres of dirt began shooting out of the opening. Gash, thinking fast, released his own powerful spell.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, releasing the shield, which was much larger than it normally was.

“A shield? Really!? Ha! Your puny little barrier will crumble under the power of my spell!” he bluffed. Gash chuckled.

“This shield doesn’t operate like a normal shield, you jack-ass,” Gash muttered.

The rocks hit the huge barrier, and after a few seconds of struggling, the dirt balls were launched back at the wolf, coated with a small layer of electricity. The wolf had no time to react to this, and was hit by some of the rocks, his book sent flying away.

“It sure looks like my barrier ‘crumbled under the power of your spell,’ huh?” Gash started, lifting the defenseless wolf from its neck. “You weak, worthless piece of garbage!” he shouted, throwing the wolf against the wall.

“Zakeru!” The bolt of lightning slammed into the wolf, shooting out of him and into his book, setting it ablaze.

“No! I…will not let you…win! I command the power of the crystal within to give me more strength!” the wolf cried.

‘The…crystal within?’ Gash thought, confused.

The book shined brightly, as if to give one last wave of resistance. Moreover, the wolf itself glowed with a bright, white light. It stood up; multiple branches and leaves falling out of its ‘skeleton.’ Gash jumped back, as he could sense another spell coming.

“Ganzu Teojugaro!” the wolf cried as multiple, smaller flowers grew in front of him, releasing huge waves of seeds at Gash.

“Rashirudo!” he cried, releasing the shield.

He found himself panting, out of breath. He didn’t know where this sudden tiredness came from, but he shrugged it off and sat down with his back leaning against the shield. He thought he was safe, so he closed his eyes to rest. He then felt his skin being pelted with seeds.

“What the hell!?” he shouted, seeing seeds bounce off the wall behind him, and directly into him. “I guess I can just cast another ‘Rashirudo’ for this…” he said, opening his book.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted.

Instead of another shield appearing in front of him to block the bullet-like seeds, the shield behind him grew to a much more massive size. He looked at this, but found himself too tired to sit up, and fell over.

‘If I cast ‘Rashirudo’ while another is still active, it expands the surface area of the shield. Got it,’ he thought, breathing heavily. ‘Why am I so damn tired!? I haven’t exerted very much physical labor at all! Maybe the spells drain away at my body’s energy. It’s the only thing that makes sense.’

The shield behind him fell, and he rolled over to see the wolf lying there, presumably dead. Gash sat there for a few minutes, regaining strength after the battle. When he was strong enough to stand up, he got up and walked over to the demonic wolf. He drew his blade.

“To make sure you don’t come back…” he said, lifting the blade skyward. “Rest in pieces!”

He swung it downward, slicing the wolf in half. In the center was a large, red…mass of some sort of substance. He touched it, and found that it was like a tree sap. Unexpectedly, the red substance glowed and expanded over the wolf’s severed body. Gash jumped back, assuming it was dangerous to be around. It shined bright and exploded, covering a large area around the wolf. Gash was still in its blast radius, but was far enough away that his face and mantle were merely covered in soot. He coughed out, wiping his face and cloak. He looked at the area where the wolf exploded, and there was a white crystal lying there, as well as a burn mark on the ground where his book used to be. He walked over to it and touched it, automatically feeling a large burst of energy. He lifted it up and held it out in front of him. He didn’t know what this crystal was or what its properties were, but it gave him energy and he liked it. He placed it in another pocket on the inside of the mantle and headed back down to the ‘Pedestal Room,’ as Gash called it.

The area around the pedestal was still glowing, and he saw the gem he had in one of his mantle’s pockets glowing. He lifted it out and headed toward the top tier of the platforms. He could see a white glow emanating from the slit where the sword once stood; He placed the crystal down and drew his blade, replacing it into the stone. The white jewel shined bright as it lifted off the ground, disappearing in a flash of light. It reappeared in the column of white respective to its own color. It flashed and Gash felt a giant surge of energy flow through his body, as if he had been revitalized. He felt no fatigue on his body from the battle earlier, and he felt great. The crystal dropped to the ground, shimmering. The pattern on the floor of the room vanished. Gash removed the blade from its pedestal and sheathed it once again, walking over to the crystal, lifting it up. He once again noticed his book shining.

“Another new spell?” he asked, lifting his book out of the pocket, setting the treasure on the ground.

He opened the book and on the page opposite of the ‘Sorudo Zakeruga’ spell were a few more characters, except instead of these ones glowing white, not red like the others. He also couldn’t read these characters, although the color of the text gave him a pretty big hint as to what to do. He lifted the crystal off the ground and put nearer to the book. A radiance shot out from the white gem over the characters in the book, turning them light-gray He found himself able to read these characters, as if the trinket translated them. He read the words.

“The fourth spell: Ji-ke-ru-do. Jikerudo,” he said, becoming excited once again. “Jikerudo!” he shouted, with emotion. He waited for a few moments, but nothing happened. “What the hell? Jikerudo!” he cried, receiving the same result. “Am I doing something wrong? Why isn’t it working?” he asked. ‘One more time: Jikerudo!” Still, nothing happened. “A useless spell. Okay. I’ll need to work on getting that one to function,” he told himself, walking into the hallway leading to Chrysalis’ room.

“I’m back!” Gash declared as he walked into the room. Chrysalis looked at him in shock.

“You…won?” she asked.

“I did. Piece of cake,” he bragged. She was still staring at him, her mouth agape. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“You…won! You won! Ha-ha! I knew you could do it!” she said, standing up, trotting over to him and hugging him.

“Was there any doubt?” he chuckled, rubbing her mane playfully. She was giggling happily, but she was suddenly hit with a jolt of pain in her side.

“Oh…oh…ow…” she moaned. He quickly noticed her pain and slowly lowered her to the ground.

“Are you okay?”

“Just…a cramp. I’m fine,” she admitted.

“Can you stand?”

“Yeah…just give me a moment to catch…my breath…” she panted. He gently rubbed her side, which made her feel better.

“Thanks,” she smiled, looking up at Gash. He helped her up. “Was there anything…strange about that wolf?” she suddenly asked.

“…Not really. When I beat him, I sliced him in half, and there was this red…sap, I guess? It exploded in my face, and what was left was…” he started pulling the gem out, “…this white crystal, which seems to have magical properties. When I first came in contact with it, it replenished my energy. It felt great. Here, you try,” he said, passing the crystal to her.

“Wow! That does feel good!” she remarked, as some of her injuries healed.

“And it healed you a bit,” Gash informed, pointing to her scabby side, which had turned back to the black

“Whoa…this gem clearly has a lot of power,” she stated.

“But that’s not all! From the time that I left and came back, I’ve learned two spells,” he informed. Her eyes widened.

“Two!?”

“Yes. Maybe I should show you my spells.”

“That would be awesome!” she squeed. He smiled.

“You’re cute,” he admitted, rubbing the top of her head. She blushed.

“Thanks,” she cooed.

“So, shall we go?” he suggested.

“Sure!” she agreed, as they went towards the pedestal room.

“So, in here, I unlocked my first new spell after drawing…” he began, drawing his blade, “this sword. The other spell I learned was when I put that crystal to my book.”

“Cool! Will you show me the spells?”

“Yeah,” he said, drawing his book.

“The first spell: Zakeru!” he shouted, releasing his wave of electricity into the back wall. He held it out for the full twenty seconds.

“Wow! It’s electricity!”

“That’s my element, apparently. Anyway, I can hold the surge of electricity for up to twenty seconds.”

“Cool! What else do you have?”

“The second spell: Rashirudo!” he cried, releasing the shield.

“A shield!”

“That’s right. This shield will catch an enemy’s projectiles and send it back at them, with electricity surrounding the projectiles.”

“That’s a rather…unique shield.”

“I can do more with it. Just watch,” he said, charging for another spell.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, causing the shield to increase in size.”

“It got bigger!”

“Yes it did. I don’t think I can cast multiple at once, because every time I try, it just makes the shield bigger.”

“Hm…” Chrysalis took a moment to think, but she didn’t know what to say. “Interesting. What else is there?”

“The third spell: Sorudo Zakeruga!” he shouted, causing his blade to glow and change. “This spell makes my sword stronger, and that’s pretty much it.”

“Okay! So, you’re a swordsman, too?”

“I am now.”

“Hee-hee…” she giggled. Gash cancelled his spell.

“You said you had one more?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how to use it. It’s called ‘Jikerudo,’ but every time I try to cast it, it does nothing.”

“Hm…strange. Maybe it’s conditional.”

That’s my guess…” he said, not knowing what else to say. They sat there for a moment, just staring at nothing.

“So…do you wanna explore the other area of the castle?” Chrysalis said, breaking the silence.

“Well, unless you want to stand here forever, I’m down for that.”

“Wonderful! Let’s go!” she said, him nodding. The pair went into the right wing of the castle.

This wing of the castle was like the other wing, in that there were lots of rooms with lots of rusted weapons and shields. There were a few rooms with dusty, old books, but they were in a language neither of them could understand. They came up to a large spiral staircase, like on the other side. It led up to another large room. This room had more timber-wolves in it, but was slightly different than the room on the other side. There was a throne on top of stairs in the back of the room.

“Lord Pokkeiro?” one of the wolves asked.

“’Lord Pokkeiro’ is gone. I, Gash, am now your lord!” Gash shouted across the room.

“What do you mean that he’s gone?” one growled.

“He’s dead. Sent to the other world. Kicked the bucket.”

The wolves all looked at him, eyes wide. One spoke up.

“All hail Lord Gash!” it cried. The rest chanted.

“All hail Lord Gash! All hail Lord Gash! All hail Lord Gash!”

“Hell. Yes. Chrysalis, we get to be pseudo-lords.”

“This is going to be so awesome!” she said, the two walking to the throne.

Gash sat down, with Chrysalis sitting next to the throne. Gash sat back in the throne, relaxing. Chrysalis lay down on the ground. After a few minutes, she fell asleep.

The three battalions lined up in front of the castle after traveling through the forest.

“Do you all understand your mission?” Luna shouted. The group chanted.

“Yes, my princess!”

“Divide and conquer!” she roared, the three miniature armies marching into the castle.

“Whoa! What happened to this place?” Rainbow Dash asked, surprised.

“I’m going to bet that Gash did this,” Twilight asked.

“Ah wouldn’t doubt it.”

“Everypony, be careful,” Celestia requested. The groups agreed and traveled down the stairs, one pony at a time.

When they got to the pedestal room, Celestia and Luna both gasped, looking to each other. They mouthed words to each other, of which nopony could understand.

“Are you alright, Princesses?” Twilight asked.

“…Yes. We are fine,” Luna replied. “Let’s go,” she ordered, with her army going to the left wing.

“We’ll stay here in the main castle, while you search that area,” Celestia said, motioning to the other wing.

“Okay!” they agreed, them and their guards going to their sector.

Gash was sitting there on his throne. He had set up a system for the wolves to be on his guard-two on each side of the door, with three rows of three in front of him. He could hear the sound of footsteps and voices coming from down the stairs. He got up off of his throne and softly nudged Chrysalis.

“Chrysalis,” he said. “Wake up. It’s Showtime. They’ve come to battle, I assume.”

“Oh…” she said, her face turning into a frown.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Let’s do this,” she said, with a hint of melancholy in her voice. They stood in front of the throne as the group of ponies entered the room. Gash cleared his throat.

“Hello, one and all! Welcome to my castle!” he shouted, as he drew his book.

Chapter Nine: Fluttershy's Rampage

Chapter Eight: The Breaking Point

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daihasshou: Ichitenki

だいはっしょう：いちてんき

第八章：一転機

Chapter Eight: The Breaking Point

“Rainbow Dash! Go and alert the others!” Twilight shouted. The rainbow-maned Pegasus saluted and quickly flew back the way she came.

“Wolves! Seize them!” Gash shouted, sitting back down on the throne.

The thirteen timber-wolves stood up, growling. They slowly began to walk towards the small group of mares and guards. Twilight’s horn shimmered with purple energy as she shot one of them back. The others started assaulting the wolves as well, bucking them and punching them. Pinkie Pie even had a cannon that she used to blast them away. One wolf managed to pin Applejack down.

“Darn! Somepony!” she cried, being slashed across the face a few times.

Rarity lifted the timber-wolf up with her magic and threw it out a window. Twilight further used this tactic to lift three other wolves up and throw them out of multiple other windows.. One hung on, however, and lifted itself back up. Not knowing, Pinkie Pie was now pinned down from behind, being scratched and clawed.

“Hey! Get off!” she cried, lifting herself up and bucking the wolf into the air. Twilight destroyed the beast with a blast of magic.

“We can’t…” she huffed, blasting another wolf, “…keep this up forever!” she admitted. “Fluttershy! Can you help us?” she shouted.

She got no reply. She turned and saw the butter-colored mare cowering, her head tucked into a wall. She frowned when she saw this.

“Guards! Cover me!” she shouted, galloping toward the mare. The four guards that were with them entered the fray, stabbing at the wolves with their steel spears. She crouched in front of Fluttershy, softly rubbing at her mane. “Come on, Fluttershy,” she softly pleaded. “We can’t do this without your help. We promise that you won’t be hurt. Please?” she begged.

Fluttershy turned around, her face still hidden behind her mane. When Twilight cleared the shy mare’s mane from her face, she saw that it was completely wet with tears. There was such horrid despair on her face, like a tacky, tattered blanket. It was almost frightening for Twilight to see her friend in such terrible condition.

“A-Are you okay, Fluttershy?” she stammered.

“Why?” is all she could ask.

“What?”

“Why does everything have to be this way?”

“I…I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“Every single time we’ve had a conflict with someone or something, it’s always ended up in a fight, like this. Why does it have to be this way?”

“It’s the best way to preserve harmony, Fluttershy. I can understand why you’re so…hurt by it, but it’s the best thing we can do to stop this kind of madness,” Twilight explained, hugging the mare.

“…Okay. I’ll fight. Just give me a moment,” she gave in, taking a few deep breathes.

“Alright. We’ll be waiting,” Twilight said, turning around and running back to the fight.

Six more of the wolves had been vanquished, and things were looking up for the group. There were only three left. Gash looked over to Chrysalis and saw her with her back turned to the battle, just blankly staring into the wall. He got up and kneeled down next to her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, putting one hand on her right shoulder. She looked at him, giving a faint nod.

“I’m fine…” she said, looking back at the wall.

“Something’s bothering you. I can tell. What is it?”

“I was never one to fight. It always ends up in me getting hurt! All my life, I’ve been running, trying to escape from this hell, but it always keeps catching up! I’m so tired! Tired of being insignificant. Tired of being so weak…” she trailed, letting a few tears fall from her eyes.

“…Fine,” Gash said, standing up.

“Huh?”

“Stay back. Let me handle this,” Gash protectively stated, opening his book, holding it to his side.

“But…!”

“No. If you don’t want to fight, don’t. I’ll take care of this problem,” he said, a gust of wind blowing his spiky hair around. Chrysalis could only stare at her savior, as he stood in front of the throne. The last of the wolves had been defeated, and the group of ponies was waiting at the other side of the room.

“Gash! Just give up now, before you end up hurting yourself!” Twilight demanded.

“It looks like I’ll have to dirty my hands after all,” he sighed, the book glowing.

“Hey, watch out!” she shouted.

“Zakeru!” he cried, shooting a bolt of lightning at the mares. They dodged out of the way, before Twilight started shooting beams at him.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, the giant defense shooting out of the ground.

The group split into two sections, going in opposite directions, with two guards and three Elements in one group, two guards and two Elements in the other. He cancelled the spell, as he noticed they had split up. Seeing this as a great opportunity, he cast another spell.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cried.

“A new spell!?” Twilight shouted. “Everypony, stop!” she cried as each pony came to a sudden stop, one guard falling over from the inertia.

Gash drew his blade as it transformed into the magnificent blade of electricity.

“A sword!? You can’t be serious!” Twilight exclaimed. Gash turned towards her and had a grin on his face. He tucked his book into his mantle.

‘You appear to be the smartest out of the entire group. You’re going first,’ he thought, dashing down the steps, launching himself quickly at her.

He took a swing at her, but she ducked under it, shooting a blast of magic. Gash jumped over it and took another swing. She avoided the blade and kept shooting more magical beams at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rainbow Dash fly back into the room, and she was flying towards him at a downward angle. Smirking, he jumped back, catching her off guard. She landed on the ground, stumbling on her hooves. He used this opportunity to slash her up the side with his blade, sending her flying into a wall. He cancelled the sword spell, sheathing the foil.

“Zakeru!” he cried, shooting her with his electricity, knocking her unconscious. There was a small scar running down her side where the blade hit, and smaller burn marks running down her body.

“Rainbow Dash!” they all shouted, Pinkie Pie and Rarity running to her.

The two were being shielded by two guards, both of which had small, grey barriers around them. Gash simpered, drawing his reddened blade once again. He ran towards them, quickly side-hopping in front of them. His speed caught them off guard, and he used this opportunity to swing at one of the guards’ barriers. It was apparently weak, as it shattered under one swing of his blade. He swung at the guard, who used his magic to unsheathe his own blade. The two clashed for a moment, and the other guard used this as an opportunity to land a hit. Gash saw this, however, and immediately jumped back, causing the one guard to hit the other with his blade. The grey stallion shouted in pain as large wounds had opened up in his front legs.

“Gotcha,” Gash said as he charged a spell. At this point, the guards had split up from the mares, which were standing in front of Rainbow Dash, checking to see if she was okay, leaving them wholly defenseless.

“Zakeru!” he yelled, his lightning encompassing the two guards. He held his lightning out as the two collapsed, unconscious. He shifted his body to face towards Pinkie Pie and Rarity, and let the electricity shock them until they fell. He knew they were unconscious, and piled their bodies all in that one spot.

“Five down, five to go,” he muttered, turning around. He saw the mares and stallions approaching him at a quick pace. He smugly smiled.

“Fluttershy! Now!” Twilight shouted, as Fluttershy quickly flew up to him.

She landed on the ground in front of him and locked eyes with him. He didn’t know what she was trying to do, so he decided to humor her. In an instant, her stare intensified, locking Gash momentarily in place. He raised an eyebrow, and quickly caught on to what she was attempting. He closed his face in to hers, intensifying his own stare. It was their own kind of battle.

“Is it working?” Applejack whispered to Twilight.

“They appear to be in a stare-off. I’m sure that with the power of Fluttershy’s stare that she’ll win,” she swished to the orange mare next to her.

As soon as she said that, however, Gash gave a soft growl and his eyes glowed red, narrowing. Fluttershy tried to overpower his gaze, but found herself losing concentration, causing her stare to soften. He immediately saw this as his opening, and swiftly moved his head closer to the mare, terrifying her. She took a few steps back as he took a few forward. She was horrified, and ran to the very back of the room, where she trembled in her corner. The two other mares were shocked.

“Fluttershy’s stare…lost?” Twilight bewildered, staring at the mare.

“Unbelievable…” Applejack added, her mouth dropping.

Gash rolled his eyes, but speedily observed the two were too shocked by this stupid act of attempted bravery by the mare to pay attention to him. He understood this as an opening to attack.

“Zakeru!” he shouted.

The other mares and guards had no time to react as they were surrounded by his electricity. He yawned as they shuddered under his current. He could tell that it wasn’t doing much damage to them by the fact that they weren’t falling. He increased the level of power going into the spell. After a few more moments, they all hit the ground, all unconscious, except for Twilight.

“Y-Y-You…” she growled, trying to stand up, but didn’t have the energy to. “You monster…” she grumbled.

“Oh, I’m the monster? I’m not the one blaming others for protecting themselves, and then acting like they were a murderer. The monster here is you, Ms. Twilight,” he blamed, walking to the other side of her.

“There were other options…you didn’t have to hurt her so badly,” she said, referencing the incident a few hours ago with Diamond Tiara.

“When someone hits you, you hit them back harder,” he said, charging for one final blast.

“Zakeru!” he clamored, shooting the ground in front of her; the electricity still hit her.

The resulting explosion launched the five ponies into the already existing pile of ponies. He was breathing heavily as he stumbled back up to the throne, sitting limply on it. Chrysalis looked merely in awe at him, as he closed his eyes, beginning to regain his strength.

“I-Incredible…” she mumbled.

“That was… nothing,” he stated, still breathing heavily.

“You defeated them all! It was a ten-on-one battle!”

“They’re all fools. A crowd doesn’t change that fact. They made incredibly obvious openings for me to attack them, so I did.”

“You can read their attacks so easily. How?”

“I just do. Maybe it’s instinct. In any case, I’m going to rest for a few minutes to regain my strength.”

“Okay…”

Five minutes passed, and the two battalions had gathered outside of the room where Gash was. Celestia and Luna were preparing themselves for the inevitable battle by practicing short breathing exercises. Luna turned toward the two mini-armies.

“Alright. Everypony, please be on guard. While we believe that we’ll have more than enough power to defeat him if he hasn’t already been defeated, he’s still dangerous. We don’t know what kind of power he is capable of releasing, but we can tell from experience that it is a vicious power. Stay at attention,” she requested.

The two armies nodded, being led into the room by the royals. They lined up in two equal groups, in 5x5 grids. Celestia stepped forward from her army.

“You must be Gash,” she assumed, Gash opening his eyes after having accidentally fallen asleep. He looked over the groups, everypony with spears or lances at their side. He sighed.

“You are well informed.”

“Before we start, is there any way to negotiate with you?”

“Why? So you can put my head on a block? So you can subject me to torture? So you can put me in a prison cell to rot forever? No thanks,” he answered. She sighed, knowing this would be the answer she received.

“Do you really want to fight us?”

“If you don’t leave me alone, I guess we’ll just have to. Let it be known that the last group that tried fighting me didn’t go so well,” he said, pointing to the piled up ponies to his right side. Celestia and Luna both gasped.

“You did that to them!?” Luna growled, charging her horn.

“Their own stupidity led them into that state. The only competent one out of all of them was the yellow one…Fluttershy, I believe,” he said, pointing to the mare in the corner, shuddering.

“Grr…”

“Why are you like this?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t know. Why are you ponies so persistent in trying to defeat me?”

“Because you are nothing more than frothy, Dismal-dreaming baggage!

“Luna!” Celestia shouted, poking her sister in the side. “Language!”

“Sorry.”

“Anyway, are we just going to sit here asking questions, or are we going to battle this out?” Gash asked, standing up.

“If this is what you truly want, fine. Be that way,” Celestia moaned, charging a weak spell from her horn.

Gash drew his book as Celestia shot the small beam at him. He ducked. She shot another one, and he side-stepped. She shot one more beam, which jumped over, high into the air.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, shooting his electricity. It fell over Celestia and Luna, who both shrugged under the spell.

When the spell was finished, Gash dropped back to the ground in front of them. He expected to see signs of moderate damage and pain, but was surprised to see only small scratch marks.

“Wha…”

“Is that the best you’ve got?” Luna provoked. He grinned, narrowing his eyes slightly and chuckling. He drew his blade. This shocked the princesses.

“So, you really did draw…” Celestia marveled.

“How could you lift that blade?” Luna asked.

“I put my hands around it and pulled it out of the pedestal.”

“But that means-“ Luna started, but was interrupted.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cried, his blade transforming, placing the book in it’s normal spot.

“Fall back, sister!” Luna instructed. Celestia jumped back, letting her wings carry her to the center of her battalion. Luna did the same. “Guards! You may attack!” Luna informed, as the mass of black, grey and white ponies charged Gash.

Gash ran forward, swinging his blade towards the guards. In the first few swings, he managed to hit some guards, but found himself being surrounded on all sides by the horses. He tried to swing around to hit them, but found himself being struck multiple times by their steel blades, piercing the mantle and skin, letting blood drip down. He jumped up, canceling the spell. He thought he would have a few seconds to decide his next move, but found that multiple blades and energy beams were headed his way.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, releasing the shield from the wall nearest to him.

The weapons and magic were repelled off of the barrier, back into the crowd of guards. This severely injured a lot of them, needing them to be placed away as to not be in the way of the others. His shield faded away, but he saw the lunar princess headed straight for him.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, his electricity meeting Luna’s dark-blue energy, creating an explosion.

Luna flew through the explosion, catching Gash off guard, she nailed him in the chin with a fore-hoof and he flew up toward the ceiling. He snapped his head back to see the princess aiming for his neck with her horn. He put his right hand out in front to block it, and found himself shouting in pain as he was impaled. Blood splattered along the ceiling and was dripping down her horn. He delivered a swift kick to her stomach and she doubled-up in pain. He took his good hand and slammed into her face as a fist, sending her flying back to the ground. He dropped back to the ground in front of Chrysalis, who had been backed up into a corner by a few guards. He drew his blade and swung it, knocking them back, but not doing any real damage. This confused Gash.

‘Wait. I just slashed you with a sword, and no wounds or even scratches occurred. How does that work?’

“Gash!” Chrysalis shouted at him from behind, putting a “hoof” on his shoulder.

“What!?”

“Are you alright?” she asked, pointing at the large wound in his hand.

“It’ll be f-“ he started, but felt a beam of energy strike him in the leg. He collapsed down to one knee. “Damn!” he shouted.

He looked up to where the energy came from, and saw Celestia standing atop the steps. He saw a mass of guards approaching as well.

“Shit!” he muttered to himself, trying to figure out what to do.

He could see a light from the corner of his eye. He turned around, and saw Chrysalis’ yellow book glowing with intense energy.

“Chrysalis…?” he asked. He could see tears streaming from her eyes, with her fangs bared.

“Gash…” she started, “I promise…I won’t be a hindrance any longer! I won’t be a weakling!”

“If you don’t want to fight, don-“ he started but was cut off.

“No! Please, Gash…Let’s fight together…” she suggested, looking up at his face. He grinned..

“Alright. Let’s do this!” he shouted.

“Poruga!” she cried, releasing a light-green beam of energy from her horn towards the guards in front of her.

“Zakeru!” Gash yelled, as his energy knocked Celestia back. He felt a tug at his mantle, and looked back to see Chrysalis holding it.

‘What is she-‘

“Poruku!” Chrysalis cried. A large, white explosion of dust surrounded the two. Celestia used a wind-spell to clear the dust, and saw a catapult with Gash sitting in the launcher.

“Where’d that come from?” Celestia asked.

“I’m asking the same questi-Whoa!” he started, but was launched from his position to the other side of the room.

He face-planted straight into the wall, his body peeling itself off slowly due to gravity. He hit the ground and quickly turned around. There was another large explosion of white dust as Chrysalis flew over the mass of guards with her fly-wings. She landed besides Gash and helped him stand up.

“What the hell was that?”

“I used my ‘Poruku’ spell! It lets me transform into whatever I want to!” she explained.

“That’s handy.”

“It really is,” she giggled.

“Hey!” a voice rung out through the room from across.

Gash and Chrysalis turned their attention to where the voice came from, and he saw the six mares he had defeated earlier standing in a line on top of the stairs.

“How the hell!?” he loudly asked, frustrated.

“Healing magic is very useful,” Celestia said, her voice coming from right behind him. He tried to turn around, but found himself stuck. He could feel her grip tighten around his middle-torso as he began to struggle.

“How did the yellow one get there!?”

“You were so caught up in fighting that you didn’t notice her moving over to them.”

“Damn it all!”

“Now!” she shouted.

He looked towards the six, struggling harder, as they lifted off the ground, closing their eyes. They arranged in a circular pattern in midair, with Twilight in the front. The necklaces they were wearing were glowing, shooting out outlines of the patterns on their jewelry. After a moment, Twilight opened her eyes, which were glowing white, and her crown shined with an alabaster aura. Then, a giant, double-helix rainbow shot from the center of the group, heading straight upward before arching back down toward him.

‘Shit! What do I do? What can I do!?’

“No! I will not let you hurt Gash again!” Chrysalis shouted.

“Poruga!” she cried, shooting Celestia off of his back. She jumped in front of him, throwing her book to the edge of the room.

“Chrysalis! No!”

“Poruku!” she shouted, transforming into a wall in front of him.

The rainbow attack slammed into her, giving him just enough time to dodge out of the way before it destroyed the wall, shooting her off to the side in a bloody mess. He stood there, looking at what had just happened. He saw her bloodied form, laying there in a pool of her own blood. He took a step towards her, but was cut off when the giant rainbow bounced from the place it had hit, in another arch towards him. He snapped back to reality from his trance.

“I will not allow this chance that she has made for me go to waste!” he muttered forcefully to himself as the rainbow hit the top of its arch.

‘What can I do? It’s way too powerful for me to fight it with ‘Zakeru’ or ‘Sorudo Zakeruga,’ or to block it with Rashirudo! What can I do against this!’ he thought to himself. ‘Wait…that other spell! Maybe it can do something!’ he finished, putting all of his strong emotion into this new attack. He looked up at it, with a hopeful-looking smile. Celestia saw this.

“What are you-“

“The fourth spell: Jikerudo!” he howled, his book shining in his mantle, giving an ominous-looking glow on the front of his body.

“You had another spell!?” Celestia cried out, trying to hold him back again.

It was too late, however, as he aimed his hand upward, towards the oncoming blast of rainbow-colored energy. A small, pale-yellow sphere shot out of his hand. The sphere quickly surrounded itself with two rotating rings of light, one blue and one red. The entire spell was surrounded by a transparent, metallic-yellow aura. The spell hit the giant force and was absorbed by the blast, doing nothing to it.

“Oh, shit. It’s over…” he weakly said to himself, letting his head hang down, awaiting his impending fate.

Before the blast could strike him, however, it stopped. He looked up at it, wondering what happened. It had become surrounded in an electric-yellow aura, and was re-twisting itself back into its double-helix.

“What happened!?” Celestia shouted. “Why did it stop?”

There was no time for an answer, as it arched back up into the air, away from him. He saw all the spears, lances and other weapons that the guards had lift off of the ground and out of their grips and rustle in their sheathes, attempting to draw themselves; the guards struggled to hold them within. The weapons all had the same glow around them as the harmonic energy beam did. They all collided and bunched up in midair, giving off a much stronger radiance than the individual blades. The double-helix of pure energy shot straight towards the weapons, colliding with them and obliterating them in an instant. The massive rush of energy stopped once again in midair for a moment. The guards couldn’t hold back their weapons as their magic was cut off and their hooves violently knocked away. The blades floated in midair.

The energy beam pulsated rapidly over the next few moments, before splitting off into multiple, smaller sections, directly towards the weapons. Each weapon was annihilated, but the beams were so close to the ponies that they continued onward. The frightened guards were all crushed and vaporized under the pressure of the spell, leaving nothing left of them. The remainder of the beams shot down, into the floors beneath where the ponies were, destroying it and leaving many medium-sized holes in the room. The ponies dropped down to the ground from the spell, falling to their haunches from exhaustion. They had expected for that spell to have destroyed Gash, so they looked to each other with fulfilled faces, except for Fluttershy, who had been crying softly to herself, staring at the floor.

“ Princess Celestia! We did i-“ Twilight happily started, but was mortified when she saw Gash standing in front of the solar princess, in the exact same state as he was before the spell. “H-How…W-Wha? Why?” she stammered, unable to comprehend what was in front of her. When the other five saw this, they all collapsed down to a laying position in disbelief.

“That spell has proven to be more useful than I thought it originally could’ve been,” Gash said, breathing heavily now.

‘It appeared to have magnetic qualities. When it hit the rainbow-blast, it did nothing for a few seconds, but after a moment, it turned bright-yellow. It immediately shot towards a group of lances and spears, seemingly made of steel or iron, which had the same glowing effect around them. It magnetized the beam and the weapons, but not the ponies. Maybe this spell can only work if there is both magic and metal in the same area,’ he postulated.

“You should’ve been completely liquidated! How did you survive!”

“I used my other new spell.”

“You mean you gained two!?”

“You really are dumb,” he started, limping towards the other end of the room. “You literally had to put two and two together, but still couldn’t do that,” he continued, walking nearer to Chrysalis.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Celestia asked, running up to him from behind. He jumped out of the way, drawing his blade.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he moaned, channeling his electricity.

He was hunched over from his fatigue, and could barely stand, but still jogged toward Celestia. He swung the sword as hard and fast as he possibly could, hitting her square in the chest. She shouted as blood shot from her mouth and flew into the wall behind her.

“You will not continue any further, human! Your terror ends here!” Luna shouted from behind.

“Oh, shit! I completely forgot about her!” he shouted, turning around.

He tried to slash her using the momentum he would have from his spin, but Luna saw this coming. She crossed her horn with the tip of his blade, increasing its size with her own spell. Gash’s fatigue got the best of him in this situation, as his spell faded and his blade was knocked from his hand, also knocking him off balance. Luna took a few steps back and galloped straight towards him, impaling the right side of his chest. His eyes faded as a large volume of blood shot out from his mouth, all over her back and the ground. His yellow irises were all that were in his eyes as Luna swung around, throwing him off her horn and into Chrysalis’ body, which in turn flew into the wall..

He attempted to move, but every time he tried, more pain shot through his body and blood gurgled in his mouth. He could barely see what was going on around him, but could faintly hear voices and footsteps approaching him. Luna growled, lifting him off the ground with her magic, squeezing him hard. He weakly cried out.

“Now how do you feel, knowing that you’ve lost?” she asked, pulling his face close to hers. A tear dripped from her eye. “Knowing that you’ve caused the deaths of more than twenty ponies?”

‘Is this what pain is? This feeling of the life being squeezed from me?’

“Now you know what others feel like when you’ve hurt them. Do you have any idea now!?” Twilight asked.

‘What are they saying? I can’t hear…’

“And to think that he would even side with a changeling. Despicable!” Luna shouted, slamming him into the ground, more blood spilling to the ground from out of his mouth.

“W-Wh…”

“What was that!?”

‘What am I doing? This pain…This…fear…What is this other feeling I have? I feel…’

Tears started flowing from his eyes, the clear droplets sliding down the side of his face and onto the ground.

“Is he…crying?” Rarity asked, in mild disbelief.

‘It burns…did I really do those…monstrosities?’

“Maybe he fahnally understands what real pain is now,” Applejack suggested, tilting her hat down over her eyes.

‘Does what I do really affect others? Does it…really feel like this?’

“So, what do we do with him now?” Pinkie asked.

“There’s only one thing to do…” Celestia started, walking toward the group. Blood was dripping down from her chest, but otherwise, she didn’t seem to be in any pain. “He needs to be put down.”

“Understandable,” Twilight agreed.

‘Could this pain be…sorrow? Guilt? This weakness…this…torturous feeling…’

The tears escaping from his eyes began coming out in much larger volumes. Fluttershy had once again started to cry as well. Celestia’s horn was glowing with a dark-red energy, as she charged up for a much stronger spell than normal. Fluttershy looked at this and had a thought.

‘Maybe she doesn’t realize it, but he is at the beginning of change. He just needs a little more of an influence…Just a little more…’ she thought, already knowing what she was going to do.

Celestia’s spell had reached its maximum strength as she pointed her horn down toward his body. She took a deep breath before the energy started to spiral around her horn.

“No!” Fluttershy shouted loudly, ramming into Celestia.

She stammered over to the wall, her horn releasing the red energy. The dark-red magic shot through the wall, expanding rapidly as it broke the wall into thousands of tiny pieces. The magic traveled onwards for a while, creating a massive field of destructive magic that fizzled out. Fluttershy lowered her head and body down to the ground, to where Gash’s head was. She tilted his head. The rest of the ponies all gasped.

“What are you doing!?”

“Gash…”

‘I can see a light…it’s yellow. It’s calling out to me…’

“I know that you have done some very bad things, but I know that deep within, you are ready to change,” she began, letting her barrage of tears loose.

‘It’s crying…I can hear it…’

“It had to come to this for you to be able to realize that you truly felt guilt and sorrow for what you’ve done…to nearing death…to swallow your pride and learn…”

‘Her pleas…they’re strong…I can almost make them out now…’

“S-So please, G-G-Gash…” she sobbed, barely able to make her words. “We can start all over…from a clean slate...”

‘It’s the yellow pony…Fluttershy…She wants to 'start again'…’

“Fluttershy…” Gash moaned. “I’…m…sorry…” he let out. The tears were starting to cloud his vision.

“You could hear my voice…what do you say? Let’s…try this whole thing from the start once more.”

“I…want it…” he groaned.

“I knew you would!” she happily cried, lifting his head up into her arms.

“I…didn’t ever think that what I was doing had impact…Please, Fluttershy…Forgive me for being such a heartless fool,” he begged, looking into her eyes.

“O-Of course…I do forgive you,” she said, pulling his head to her chest.

He finally let the entirety of his emotions loose. His tears drained into her warm fur as he loudly cried, putting his arms around her. She cradled his head in her forearms, shooshing and nuzzling him.

“I never wanted to hurt anyone! All I've wanted was to be able to live in peace, but things that happened to me just kept pushing me further and further back! I just wanted…to know that I was cared for…I just wanted…someone I could truly call a friend-someone who would look out for me; someone who would be there when I needed them the most...Fluttershy…could we be…friends?” He pleaded.

“Of course,” she said, sniffling. “I’ll be your friend…” she smiled, rubbing her hoof through his hair. He beamed in her fur, slowly pulling away. Their eyes locked together.

“Thank you…” he gratified, closing his eyes.

“You’re very welcome, sweetheart,” she said, planting a small kiss on his forehead, pulling him back into a warm hug.

“Fluttershy…How could you do something like that? He’s still-“ she started, but was cut off.

“Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness,” she smilingly stated.

Twilight had a flashback to right after she first met the Mane Six after moving to Ponyville. They were traveling through the Everfree Forest, and had come across a manticore. They had tried to fight it separately, but that had failed. When they tried to group charge the beast, Fluttershy jumped in and stopped them, and then revealed to them that the manticore had a thorn stuck in its forepaw. When Twilight questioned Fluttershy about how she knew about the thorn, she replied with the exact same statement: “Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness.”

She looked at her friend, and then back to the Princess. She smiled.

“A wonderful answer as always,” she nodded. “Princess?”

“A rather…unexpected move from you, Fluttershy. We guess that we really were doubting your abilities to change him, when we really should’ve been supportive of it the entire time. For this, we give our humblest apologies,” Luna stated, giving a bow to Fluttershy.

“I understand. After what Twilight told us about you and Princess Celestia having bad experiences with humans in the past, it became a little clearer as to why.”

“Twilight told you of that?” Celestia asked, looking to Twilight.

“When you sent me the reply to that letter yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to share it with the others.”

“I understand.”

“So, what do we do with Gash?” Twilight asked, looking to him. She looked past Gash and saw the severely hurt changeling. “Oh, I completely forgot about her!” Twilight shouted, pointing to the changeling.

“Oh, the changeling?” Celestia pondered for a bit. “Well, she appears to be a friend of Gash, so…I think it would be a good choice to help her out, too. It would be unfair to give help to only Gash.”

“Okay. But, back to my other question-What are we going to do with Gash?”

“Well, I think we should put him back in the hospital, along with that changeling, to heal. I believe that he was living with you, Fluttershy?”

“That is correct.”

“I think it would be in our best interest to let him stay with you, then. I believe that you have what it takes to change him completely to good from his bad ways.”

“I’ll gladly bring him back in,” she complied, nodding and smiling. She looked over the changeling, and then the sword.

She gently set Gash’s head down on the floor, unclipping his sheath. She walked over to the blade, placing it in its sheath, then walking over to Twilight.

“Twilight, I think that you should keep this for now, until Gash needs to use it, if ever.”

“Okay,” she said, putting the sheath around her body.

“And also, if that changeling has nowhere to go…I guess I can take her in, too. She doesn’t really seem to be that dangerous.”

“Are you sure about that? We can understand Gash now, but the changeling? We think you may be stretching your burden, Fluttershy,” Luna said.

“Well, I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“Very well. The changeling shall be under your roof.”

“Excellent!”

“So, how about we get out of this murky castle?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Celestia agreed. The rest nodded.

Celestia gently levitated the changeling and her book over to the group. The rest of the guards that were still alive after the battle also joined them. Celestia’s horn glowed, and the group was teleported to the front of the Ponyville Hospital. Celestia levitated Gash and Chrysalis onto two guards’ backs and ordered them to check them into the hospital.

“Fluttershy, I’d still keep an eye out on them, even if they don’t seem dangerous. Do you understand?”

“Of course, my princess.”

“Wonderful. I will be sending chariots for the rest of the guards immediately. We shall be taking our leave now. I hope to see real improvement with Gash soon,” she said, stepping onto a chariot with Luna. “Good-bye, everypony,” she said, the chariot departing.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“Yes?”

“You’ve demonstrated kindness I’ve never seen before in my life, and it’s really opened my mind up to many more different ways of thinking. I think that we can all say that we’re proud of you,” she said, smiling. The rest of the Mane Six nodded and cheered for Fluttershy’s success.

“Oh, it was nothing, really,” she smilingly humbled herself, the rest of the group chuckling.

After all the guards had gone back to Canterlot, all of the Mane Six except for Fluttershy departed for home. Fluttershy walked into the hospital.

“Hello! How may I help y-Oh, good evening, Fluttershy! How are you?” the receptionist asked.

“I’m doing…very well right now. Is Gash available to be seen?”

“He’s asleep right now, so unfortunately not. Come back tomorrow morning if you want to see him.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you!” she said, smiling.

She walked out of the hospital and went on her way back home. When she got home, she was exhausted, so she fed her animals, and immediately passed out on the couch, not even getting a blanket or pillow. It had been a long day-She had witnessed the extent of Gash’s current power, teamed up with the Elements and the Princesses against him, and in the end, still managed to start something new with Gash and the others. It was a day of sorrow, trial, and eventually happiness for Fluttershy, but she fell asleep, thinking in the back of her mind that it had been a really good day.

Chapter Ten: Telling the Others

Chapter Nine: Fluttershy's Rampage

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daikushou: Furattaashai no Bousou

だいくしょう：フラッターシャイのぼうそう

第九章：フラッターシャイの暴走

Chapter Nine: Fluttershy’s Rampage

It was now the next morning after Gash had once again been put into the hospital, this time under greater injuries than the last time. He had just woken up, and it felt like intense pins and needles, all of which were jabbing relentlessly at the large wounds in his hand and shoulder. He coughed out multiple times, each time in excruciating pain. He opened his eyes; he could tell he was in the same room he was in the last time because there was large patchwork on the wall. All he felt he could do was lay there in this pain. After a little while, a doctor came in with a food cart and Gash immediately shot up, hearing the clanking of metal across the floor. He looked at the cart and saw all the things he wanted, but didn’t find himself very hungry.

“Food’s here!” the stallion pushing the cart said. “Oh, it’s you again,” he said, narrowing his eyes at the young human.

“Oh, hi,” Gash replied, drying his mouth from the blood. He sat up in pain and held his head forward, putting the cloth to his nose.

“You put up a pretty good fight. Too bad it had to be against a school filly and an Element of Harmony.”

‘Wonderful. More reminders of what I did to make me feel even more terrible.’

“Have you anything to say about it?”

“I’d rather move on,” Gash said, picking up a plate.

“Do you think it’ll be that easy for all the ponies that witnessed the event to move on from what they saw?” the doctor asked, Gash filling his plate with various foods. The main dish, of course, was fish.

“Of course not. It’s never that easy,” he answered, not looking at the doctor.

“She’s still in here, you know.”

“Will you just shut up about it already!? You think I don’t know all of these things already!?” Gash shouted, a few tears dripping down from his eyes.

“Jeez. Calm down, kid.”

“How am I supposed to stay calm when I have this lingering thought of pain and sorrow in the back of my mind?” he shot back, falling back in his bed.

“Pain and sorrow? I thought that the only things you felt were arrogance and strength.”

“It’s…different now. Things have happened.”

“In two days?”

“I’m living in a crazy world right now,” Gash said, chomping down on his fish. “A world where things rapidly change. Now, can we change the subject?” he asked, the doctor, like last time, being covered in fish bits.

“Fine. How’d you get those?” he asked, pointing to Gash’s two large wounds, now covered by large bandages.

“I’d rather not say. It’s pretty gory and dramatic.”

“Okay. So, I’ll just leave this cart here to fulfill your…dietary needs, and I’ll come back in a while.”

“Can you help me to the bathroom first?”

“Eh…sure,” he complied as Gash set his now bone-filled plate on a table.

Gash sat on the edge of his seat in considerable pain as he winced. The doctor put one hoof around his waist and another under his legs and slowly lowered him to the ground. The sudden shift in body position quickly caught Gash off balance, nearly falling over; he had to use the stallion to balance him. After a minute, he finally stood straight.

“You good?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Slowly,” the doctor let on, beginning to walk slowly towards the bathroom.

After Gash had done his business, the stallion helped him back to and onto his bed. He left the room and Gash lay there for a while, falling asleep eventually.

Multiple hours passed, and Fluttershy walked into the hospital.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy. How are you today?” the receptionist asked.

“I’m alright. Yourself?”

“Same! How may I help you?”

“Is Gash available?”

“Let me go see.”

The receptionist walked to Gash’s room to see if he was awake. He was lying there with his eyes closed, so she asked the question.

“Gash, are you awake?”

“Huh?” he replied, his eyes shooting open. “Yeah. What is it?”

“Fluttershy is here to see you.”

"Bring her in.”

“Alright.”

The receptionist and Fluttershy came back a minute later. Fluttershy thanked the receptionist and walked to Gash’s bed, looking over his body. He looked up at her and saw a serendipitous smile on her face, to which he smiled back.

“Good afternoon, Gash. How are you feeling today?”

“Eh, it still hurts, but it’s mainly soreness now. Thank you.”

“’Thank you,’ for what?”

“For caring,” he said, not taking his eyes off of the butter-coated mare.

“Things like that don’t need gratitude. They’re a given,” Fluttershy humbled herself, softly rubbing her hoof through his hair. He closed his eyes in comfort and lay back in his seat.

“Point taken,” he said, grinning. “So, what brings you here today, Fluttershy?”

“I came to ask about that red book of yours. When I got home yesterday, there was this pink one on my doorstep in a basket addressed to me. I was wondering if you knew anything else about this?”

‘Do I tell her about it or hold off? Well, given that my knowledge is still limited, it shouldn’t cause any problems. Still, I’ll ask about it.’

“You found the book on your doorstep? Did it say who it was from?”

“This card,” she started, pulling out a folded piece of white paper,” was with it. It’s really unsettling,” she finished, handing it over to Gash. He unfolded it and saw the words written in red ink. This already creeped him out.

“Dear the holder of this pink book:

You will soon find a dark fate ahead of you. Be warned, for your days are soon limited. The shrill sounds of your own screams will deafen you beyond your minds own comprehension. Your blood will color the world red…

Death Blast”

“Who the hell?” he whispered to himself.

“I have no clue who this ‘Death Blast’ is. What could this mean?”

“It’s a death threat.”

“A-A-A what!?”

“A death threat. This ‘Murder Blast’ wants you dead. I’d go and tell Twilight and the others right after you leave.”

“I-I will…definitely,” she stammered, horrified.

“So, back to your original question. I know a little about the books from what Chrysalis has told me.”

“The changeling?”

“Yes. She has a book as well.”

“Ah. Do tell, if that’s okay with you.”

“Alright…let’s see…Well, every thousand years, one hundred inhabitants of this world are destined to fight. Over the course of their lifetimes, ‘fate’ will lead them to the book and their knowledge about the battle. They will fight through battles until all but one of these spellbooks are burnt, and the remainder will be the winner. Supposedly, the winner is given the opportunity to have a wish of any magnitude granted. That’s all I know.”

“So, that means…I’m going to have to fight?” she shied away.

“Yes. That is, if you can read characters in that book.”

“I-I can read one word in here. It’s-“ she started.

“Wait, don’t-“

“Zeruku.”

“No!”

It was too late, however, as Fluttershy’s book shimmered with a pale-red energy. Fluttershy’s eyes flashed with a malicious, dark-red as her body started to change. Her mane changed from its normal state to spiky and unkempt, bristling at the top and wrapping around her neck, body and book, like armor. The hair surrounding her book retracted towards the inside of her mane, hiding it. Her face turned into an ugly state, with wrinkled lines all around and two crimson lines running under each eye. Two long, needle-like fangs grew from the top of her mouth, down through her bottom jaw, piercing through her chin; the rest of her teeth turning into shorter fangs. Blood dripped from the long fangs as a sheer crackling sound could be heard. Her legs were coated in a metal material, with spikes growing out of her hooves. Her cutie mark had changed from three butterflies to three butterflies ripped into multiple pieces.

“Fluttershy?” Gash asked. “Are you okay?”

There was a loud roar from the now-changed Fluttershy as she stared at him with blood-lust.

“Yes…this power is amazing…I’ll be the one coloring the world in red with this power…” she evilly snarled, turning to the wall. “I’ll destroy them all…” she menaced, backing up towards the bed.

“Fluttershy, what are you talk-“ he tried, but the thought remained incomplete as she burst through the wall, giving a deep, demonic howl. Nurses and doctors rushed into the room.

“What happened?” one asked.

“Did you do this again?”

“We just fixed that wall!”

The nurses and doctors asked and complained away as Gash tried to comprehend what he had just seen.

‘Fluttershy…a demon? That’s so…ironic, knowing her kind, caring personality…’

“Gash!” a voice cried from the doorway. Chrysalis limped into the room, her wounds having healed most of the way.

Chrysalis observed the mess in front of her. She tried to come up with reasons this could’ve happened, but she only came to one conclusion. This was the work of a demon.

“Gash! A demon!”

“I know! It’s…Fluttershy…”

“F-Fluttershy? The kind, yellow mare?”

“Yes…”

“We need to stop her!”

"But...I can't...hurt her!"

"I understand your feelings and all, but this can end really badly if we don't do anything to try and stop her!"

"But...!"

"Ponies can get really badly hurt! It could be disastrous!"

"Oh..." he sighed, not wanting to comply. “I’m kind of stuck here…” he said in attempt to make an excuse.

“Climb on my back!” Chrysalis ordered, walking over to the bed.

“Are you sure? I think that with my weight and your injuries that this would be a bad idea-“

“My injuries don’t matter, and you couldn’t possibly be that heavy. Now, on!” she demanded, grasping Gash in her magic and placing him on her back.

“See, no problem!” she said, walking towards the hole in the wall. “Got your book?”

“I do!” he said, looking to the red book within his mantle.

“Then, let’s go!” she said, slowly cantering out the hole. The doctors looked on to the scene.

“That boy brings nothing but trouble,” one said. The rest were speechless as to what had just happened.

Chrysalis trotted as fast as she could down the streets of Ponyville, trying to locate the almost-possessed Fluttershy. The first thing the two did was go to locate Twilight. They went to the Golden Oaks Library to see if she was there. All the way there, they were given weird stares, some of curiosity, some of intense fear from visions of Fluttershy. Gash knocked at the door.

“Coming!” Spike’s voice shouted, and a few moments later, he opened the door. “Uh…Hello, Gash and…a…changeling…Twilight!” he shouted, not knowing that Chrysalis was friendly. A minute later, Twilight came out, prepared to protect herself from the ‘hostile changeling’ as Spike told her.

“What do you wa-Oh, it’s Gash and Chrysalis. What are you two doing out of the hospital?”

“It’s…Fluttershy. Something’s happened to her,” Gash stated, almost darkly.

“Oh, no! Is she hurt!?”

“No…” Gash informed, pulling out his spellbook. “She was able to read one of the books, and when she did, she went berserk! She gave me this note that came with the book she found. It was on her doorstep,” he told, handing Twilight the note.

When Twilight read the note, she looked horrified at first, but that look quickly turned to that of intense rage. The angry energy was nearly visible around her; it was very transparent.

“Who would dare to even think about giving a death threat to an Element of Harmony!? This pony is in a whole lot of trouble when we find it!” she raged, but quickly calmed down, thinking about the situation. “Anyway, where is she?”

“We don’t know. That’s why we came here,” Chrysalis said. “We were hoping that you would know.”

“That’s unfortunate, because I don’t.”

“Maybe if we ask some of the townsponies, they’ll know,” Gash suggested.

“That’d probably be the best-“ Twilight started, but was cut off by a screaming pony coming from down the street.

“Help! There’s a giant monster! It’ll kill us all!” she screeched, running past them.

“Hey, wait!” Gash shouted, catching the attention of the pony. She turned around to answer them, but when she saw Gash and the changeling, she fainted on the road. Gash limped over to her, softly shaking her head.

“Nuh…ugh…” she muttered, coming to. She took a look up at Gash’s face, and hers paled. She slowly backed away from him.

“Where is this ‘giant monster’ you’re speaking of?”

“Oh…my…there’re monsters everywhere!” she exclaimed, getting up and running away.

“Hey, wait up!” he shouted. It was too late-she was already gone.

“Looks like everyone’s going to be afraid of me, too,” he muttered in a frustrated manner. He limped back to the changeling and got back on. “I’ll guess that Fluttershy is that way,” he postulated, pointing to the direction the mare came from.

“That sounds reasonable enough to me,” Chrysalis agreed, starting to trot off to that direction.

“Wait, Gash! Should I tell the princesses?”

“Nah, I don’t think it’s necessary. She’ll run out of energy for the spell sooner or later, and she’ll probably go unconscious, seeing as it’s her first time,” Chrysalis informed. Twilight nodded, taking a step forward.

“Will you need my help?”

“Probably not in this scenario. Her spell will fade before you can do anything that productive. You should let us calm her.”

“Okay. Stay safe. Oh, and Gash, do you think you’ll need your sword?”

“No. A ‘Zakeru’ should knock her out, if it comes to that.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“I’ll make sure of it. Chrysalis, let’s go!” Gash demanded. The changeling filly trotted off towards the direction of Fluttershy.

The unusual pair found themselves near Sugarcube Corner, where the now rampaging Fluttershy was terrorizing the townspeople. Around the area, Gash could see multiple, long slash marks across buildings, as well as ponies lying around who had tried to obstruct her path, but were met with large claw marks along their bodies; blood gushed out of their wounds as they lay unconscious. Everypony was now in buildings, staring at the from The two approached the berserker, who turned towards them.

“Oh, Gash!” she howled, giving a maleficent grin. “Come join me, won’t you!?”

“No, Fluttershy. You need to calm down. Now.”

“But, why? I finally have all of the power in the world! No one can look down at me now!” she cried, spinning herself in circles.

“Because, I’ll have to shock you if you don’t. And I’m sure you don’t want that,” he assured, staring her down. She looked back at him once again,

“You think that you can stop me with one of your petty lightning bolts!? I’d like to see you try!”

“No! Why don’t you just hand over the book, and we’ll be on our way?”

“You just want to take away this power. You only want this power to yourself!”

“That’s not true! Fluttershy, I-“ Gash started, but found himself shutting up when she lunged at him.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted as the golden wall appeared in front of him.

“Rashirudo!” he once again incanted, making the shield larger. He thought he was safe for a moment, but that thought was dashed when Fluttershy leaped over the shield. She sent herself straight downwards at them.

“Poruku!” Chrysalis cried, creating a net above her using her mane.

Fluttershy landed in the hair, and then Chrysalis threw her into a building to her side. She trotted to the opposite end of the street, waiting for the dust to settle from the crash. Before it could, though, Fluttershy came charging through the debris. Gash sighed, charging up for a spell.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, releasing the electrifying, yellow energy over Fluttershy.

He turned his head away, not wanting to see the results of his power over his savior’s body. After a moment, he turned his head back, to see cracks in the metallic armor she had sported. She gave a soft moan as she turned away from them.

“Fine. If you’re going to be so persistent, I’ll go somewhere else!” she roared, running quickly down the street.

“No! Come back, you coward!” Gash insulted. He expected Fluttershy to come back, but she kept on running. “She kept going. C’mon, we need to follow her,” Gash informed. He looked down at Chrysalis and saw the pain of fatigue on her face. “Are you alright, Chrysalis?”

“Just…a bit…tired,” she said, her legs all shaking. She took a step, but immediately fell to the ground.

“Chrysalis!” he shouted, jumping off. He put a hand on the back of her head. “Are you alright!?”

“So much…pain…can’t…continue…” she gasped, breathing heavily.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” A tomboyish voice asked from above them. Gash looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying towards them. “Who was that?”

“That was…” Gash started, taking a moment to breathe, “…Fluttershy.”

“Fluttershy!? No way!” she retorted.

“She read one of the books,” Gash explained.

“One of the books?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“One of these books,” he clarified, showing her his.

“Oh…And it turned her into…that?”

“Yeah. It’s crazy. Anyway, we need to stop her before this gets out of hand.”

“I’m on it!” Rainbow Dash agreed, starting to fly off.

“No, wait!” Gash ordered, grabbing her tail.

“What?”

“Alone, you stand no chance. You need the help of another book reader.”

“Then, come on!” she demanded, floating impatiently in midair.

“Well, I can’t exactly walk or move at any decent pace,” he informed, struggling to stand up.

“Well…I guess you’ll just have to tough this out.”

“Or, we could do the easier thing and let me ride on your back.”

“Really? That’s so degrading!”

“What other options do we have to go on? There’s no other way we can catch up,” he let on, causing her to growl lightly in frustration.

“Grr…Are you sure?”

“Yes! Now, be quiet, and let’s go!” he said, patting her side. Her face dropped, and she finally knuckled under. He got on her back, and looked back to Chrysalis.

“We’ll be back soon,” he let out, her nodding. With that, the cyan Pegasus dashed off towards the beast, slower than normal because of the extra weight.

Partway through their flight, Gash noticed she was going in a direction away from Ponyville-toward her cottage.

“Rainbow Dash! She’s leading us to her cottage!”

“Oh, really? I hadn't noticed!" she sarcastically remarked.

Gash shuddered from the sheer force of the wind as they flew. It was incredibly cold; how Rainbow Dash could stand the frigid temperature was beyond his imagination. He ducked his head down into her mane, to prevent the wind from getting into his eyes. After half a minute of flying, he could feel the wind’s force lessen. He lifted his head up and saw a normal Fluttershy lying in the middle of the pathway, with the pink book a few feet away. Gash got off and walked as fast as he could over to her. When he got to her, he fell to his knees, wincing from the pain in his chest. Rainbow Dash soon flew over.

“Is she alright!?” she worriedly asked. Gash flipped Fluttershy onto her side, placing his head on her chest.

“She’s breathing fine. I think she just needs rest. Her cottage should be just up ahead, so let’s take her there,” Gash postulated. Rainbow Dash nodded, lowering herself once again.

“Lift her on!” she requested.

Gash put all of his current strength into his arms, carefully lifting the pink-maned mare off the ground, onto the cyan Pegasus’ back. She slowly rose off the ground, making sure not to drop the sleeping mare on her back. He squatted and picked her book off of the ground.

“I think we’d better take this one slowly,” Gash said, slowly beginning to walk in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.

Rainbow Dash nodded, taking it nice and slow in the direction of the animal-house. It was almost agonizing for Gash, as she was walking at a faster pace than he would’ve liked. Still, he trudged onward, and after a few minutes the two found themselves at Fluttershy’s cottage. Gash opened the door and the two walked inside. Rainbow Dash set Fluttershy down on the couch in the back of the room. Gash sat down at the end of the couch, putting his head in his hands.

“Hey, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It’s just the fact that she now has to worry about being attacked out in the blue.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rainbow Dash, go get Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack and Chrysalis and bring them here. I’ll answer what you mean then.”

“Uh…Alright. I’ll be back in a little while with them.”

“Wonderful.”

With that, Rainbow Dash shot out of the cottage towards Ponyville. Gash sadly looked at Fluttershy and the mess that they had gotten themselves in. With all of his strength, he lifted her up onto his back, barely able to stand. He walked over the stairs in intense pain, and took incredibly weighted steps up the stairs. At the top, he dropped to one knee, barely conscious. With his remaining energy, he walked her over to the bed and laid her down, looking over the mare in mixed emotions.

He was worried for her safety because of the chance of another Mamono attacking her, and the thought of her getting hurt led him to anger. He was also sad, because he knew that one day, she was going to have to fight either him or another demon. She would be unable to do anything because of her shy personality, and she would need to rely on the monster that the book turns her into in order to have any chance. Gash was completely torn on how to truly feel about this situation.

With all of these emotions in tow, he staggered down the stairs, limping all the way to the couch and collapsing on top of it. In the last moments of his consciousness, he silently prayed that there would be a better solution to this untimely problem.

Chapter Eleven: Back to School

Chapter Ten: Telling the Others

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijisshou: Yojin wo Katatte Iru

だいじっしょう：よじんをかたっている

第十章：余人を語っている

Chapter Ten: Telling the Others

Gash had been asleep for a while now, and he was in the middle of a dream, or rather, a nightmare. It was raining, and he was apparently fighting against a shadow figure in heavy rain. There was no sound, and the world around him was black and white, the only color being on Gash’s clothing, which consisted of a long, open, dark-gray robe with a light-blue undershirt, as well as black sweatpants, all of which were ripped and torn. He had no shoes on, and his feet were bleeding from running on the ground beneath him.

They were battling in a rural-looking town, which had apparently been completely deserted, as the buildings were falling apart; some where completely fallen. None of the buildings had any detail-There were no signs, windows, doors, anything. There were no other people or creatures anywhere as Gash and the dark mass fought on the pavement.

Gash had just been struck by a blackened crystal-like object, sending him flying back into a building, completely collapsing it. Gash lay under the rubble, his consciousness slowly fading out. He could see the rubble being removed from around his body, and he could suddenly feel an intense chill running down his entire body. Once the stone had been cleared from his body, standing above him was the shadow. It kneeled down to him, and for a brief moment, it opened its eyes, which were completely white with gray rings in them. It then kneeled down and stuck its hand on Gash’s face, releasing a dark energy all around him. Fire began to surround him, and his consciousness faded immediately when the silhouette’s eyes released a blinding, white light.

Gash was suddenly awoken from his sleep when a loud knock at the door startled him. He rolled off the couch, moaning in pain. He pushed himself off of the floor, using the couch as support. He stumbled over to the door, opening it slightly to see who it was. When he saw that it was Rainbow Dash with the rest of the Mane Six and Chrysalis, he opened the door completely to let them in. He walked back over to his spot on the couch, motioning to Chrysalis to sit next to him. The others sat at random spots around the room on the floor. He looked to Chrysalis. They all looked at him as he glanced around the group of ponies in front of him.

“So, what did y’all bring us here for?” Applejack finally asked, after multiple moments of Gash thinking about how to start.

“I brought you all here to discuss the books and what they really are,” he answered, pulling his book out. Chrysalis stared at him, as if to ask ‘Are you really going to give out this information?’

“Whatever do you mean by that?” Rarity asked.

“At first, you may have noticed that they are like spellbooks, and this is because they are. When I read the words in the book, I can use various electrical powers. When Chrysalis reads the words in hers, she can transform, etc. etc.”

“Speaking of which, you two have the exact same books, except the color is different. What is that about?” Twilight asked.

“I was just about to get to that. Although, I think that Chrysalis can explain this better than I can,” he inferred, knowing of Chrysalis’ greater knowledge of the subject. He turned to her, and she looked hesitant.

“Are you sure you want this information to be spread?” she doubtfully asked.

“I don’t see any harm in it.”

“Uh…okay. It all starts with mythology. Hundreds of thousands of millions of years ago, there was nothing in the universe. It was a barren, vast collection of nothingness spread out over a huge area. At some point in the universes existence, there came a goddess of light, of which designed the universe to her liking. She spread out planets and stars all over the vastness of space, grouping them together to create galaxies, nebulae, and all of the other things that exist in the expansion. On one of these planets, she decided to fabricate her own…experiment. Her own test. She began by putting water and plants on the rock. Then, she put trillions of little organisms of various shapes and sizes on the planet, wanting to see where this would bring her. Over billions of years, these organisms evolved into creatures like insects, gryphons, ponies, etc.”

“Where is this leading us?” Twilight quizzed.

“I was getting to that!” Chrysalis shot back, causing Twilight to flinch. “Over time, she was glad that creatures were able to flourish on this beautiful planet, but she got bored with the normal way they were living. She then began to become very aggravated, because the life she had created wasn’t doing anything or evolving past a certain stage. This aggravation led to insanity for the goddess, and she created a new…game, for lack of a better term, that they could play to switch things up. She devised a series of challenges for the inhabitants to experience. At first, this ‘game’ had many variants, ranging from things like strength, knowledge, and ‘heart’ tournaments, to survival of the fittest, to creating a bond with someone close to you and working with them. There was one thing that all of these had had in common: They were all centered on fighting with one another, and they were all bloody and murderous.”

“That wasn’t very nice of her!” Pinkie cried.

“What a total sleaze!” Rainbow Dash agreed.

“Well, she did this in her darkest moments, and she was clearly not thinking straight. Anyway, this trial, which is now ‘commonly’ referred to as the ‘Millennium Battle,’ was hosted on this planet every thousand years by the goddess, with different sets of rules each time.”

“So, what does that have to do with our current situation?” Twilight asked, confused by the explanation of mythology.

“At this moment, we are in the middle of a Millennium Battle.”

“What!?” They all shouted in disbelief.

“No way!” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Surely, you must be telling a lie!” Rarity asked.

“I’m telling the truth.”

“In that case, what are the rules of this battle?” Twilight questioned.

“There are none. It’s basically a free-for-all match, and there are no limits on what the creatures of this battle can do.”

“There are no restraints, or anything?”

“The only restraint is that you are most likely going to be attacked by another Mamono.”

“What’s a ‘Mamono?’” Pinkie Pie interrogated.

“’Mamono’ is another way to say ‘demon.’”

For a moment, they all stared at her with different expressions on their faces. Twilight and Rarity had looks of complete horror on their faces, while Applejack and Pinkie Pie were completely stunned at this information. The only one who didn’t seemed very moved by this information was Rainbow Dash, who raised a question.

“What do you mean, ‘demon?’”

“…I don’t quite understand what you mean by that.”

“Are you trying to say that spawn of Tartarus itself have come here to live on this planet?”

“Uh…that’s not what I had in mind. The actual term for the ‘demons’ of this battle are the ‘Holders of the Books.’ I just call them demons, or more commonly Mamono, because that’s what they’ve always been called up to this point.”

“I see.”

“You say ‘Holder of the Books.’ Does that mean-“ Twilight started, but was cut off by Chrysalis.

“Yes. I and Gash are both Mamono.”

“But, Fluttershy does as well!” Rarity shouted.

“She’s a Mamono as well.”

“No. That can’t be possible! She’s so kind and caring! She would never participate in such a battle for ruffians!”

“As hard as it may be to accept the reality, nothing can change the fact that Fluttershy is a demon.”

“It’s just so…surreal that somepony like her would have to fight like that…” Rarity trailed.

“That meanie-pants goddess! Let me introduce her to my party cannon!” Pinkie Pie cried. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

“What in tarnation is that girl thinkin’, choosing Fluttershah of all ponies to fahght?”

“Well, she doesn’t administer the battle. She just put the books in this world and left it to the inhabitants to figure out what they do and mean. It was by complete chance that Fluttershy was able to read that book.”

“Speaking of the books,” Twilight started, “what do they mean?”

“What do they…mean?”

“You say that the Holders of the Books have to battle. When I say ‘What do they mean?’ I meant to say ‘Why are they important?’”

“Oh. That’s a good question. The books are important because they are practically the essence of a Mamono. The books have a power that is determined by the feelings of a Mamono. When Gash gets angry, his anger can be turned into a spell, for example. They are directly influenced by the emotions of the user. The other reason they are important is that they are the one thing that keeps a Mamono in the battle itself.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rainbow Dash queried.

“When the book of a Mamono is burned, that Mamono is eliminated from the battle and they disappear. This battle continues until there is only one left.”

“Where do they go?” Twilight wanted to know.

“That is something I do not have the answer to.”

“Oh. What does the final holder get for winning?”

“It is said that the winner is allowed to be granted one wish of their choice.”

“Anything?”

“Yes. It could be something small, such as immortality or getting infinitely rich, or something large, like galactic domination.”

“…That sounds incredibly dangerous. What if a bad holder won?”

“If that happens, we’d all better pray they don’t wish for something that will screw the rest over.”

“That thought scares me. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t think anyone does, Twilight.”

“I have a question,” Rarity let out.

“Yes?”

“How long has this battle been going on for?”

“This individual battle has been going on for about fifteen years, although it has only just started to pick up in pace in the last week or so.”

“That sudden?”

“Well, a Mamono do not know that they are a Mamono at first. As I have said, they have to learn about it on their own. Most demons don’t learn about this battle until they are about fifteen or sixteen years old, some even later than that. This, in turn, makes it so the battle doesn’t immediately begin once the participants are born. I was lucky, in that my mother knew all about this mythology and the battle, and she was able to pass off this information to me when I was but a nymph.”

“Who’s your mother?”

“Her name is Pillaria.”

“Pillaria!? The queen of the changelings!?”

“You are well informed.”

“Does that mean-“

“Yes, I am a princess. But don’t make it a big deal, please. I never liked that kind of attention, and I still don’t,” she informed, looking away from the ponies, who were all struck by this information, like arrows.

“Isn’t being a princess fun or anything?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Not really. It’s just high expectations and responsibilities. There’s nothing fun about that.”

“What about the power you have?”

“Listen. I can understand that you’re interested and all about me being a princess, but I really don’t like to talk about it,” she told, looking down to the ground. “All it brings are bad memories,” she stated, her ears splaying against her head, letting a few tears drip out from her eyes.

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know,” she declined, wiping at her eyes with a tissue. The rest looked at her with concern.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m fine, see?” she quizzed, giving a light smile. The others looked to each other and gave their own faint smiles as well.

“Well, I’m glad that we know this information now. Surely it can help us to fend off these other demons,” Twilight assumed. The others nodded in agreement to her statement.

“Is there anything else about this that we should know?”

“That’s pretty much everything that I know about the topic at this moment,” Chrysalis informed.

“As for this topic, that may be the most of what we know right know. There’s also another problem that we’ve come across,” Gash said, pulling out the mysterious letter. “Fluttershy’s book came with this letter,” he finished.

“What does it say?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Gash proceeded to read the contents of the letter, which horrified the entire group, except for Twilight, who got chills instead.

“Who would dare to send this kind of message to our dear Fluttershy? That’s just horrible!” Rarity scoffed as Gash handed the letter over to Twilight.

“This guy is cruising for a major bruising!” Rainbow Dash shouted, pounding her hooves together.

“Yeah! Let me blast him away!” Pinkie chanted, pulling her cannon out of seemingly nowhere. Gash and Chrysalis both stared that this.

“Did she just-“

“It’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Don’t question it,” Twilight said, shaking her head.

“Twahlight, we need to send a letter to Princess Celestia!” Applejack roused.

“I’ll make sure of it once I get back to the library,” Twilight informed. “Meanwhile, is there anything we can do at the moment?”

“I don’t think so. For all we know, this ‘Death Blast’ may not even be a real pony. He might be another pony using that name. We also don’t know where he is or what he looks like, or even if it is a pony, so we’re pretty in the dark. I think that the best thing we can do at the moment is let Celestia and Luna take care of it once they are informed,” Gash said.

“Oh. Well, I’m hoping we can track this guy down as soon as possible. This is unacceptable,” Rarity huffed, gaining agreement from the others. There was silence for a few moments, before Gash spoke up again.

“And I guess that’s everything that I came here to let you know about. If anything else comes up about either of these situations, we should let each other know immediately,” Gash suggested.

“Definitely. As for the rest of us, be wary of this ‘Death Blast.’ He could be under our noses at any moment,” Twilight inferred, standing up.

“Oh, and just for word of warning,” Chrysalis started, once again getting the attention of the others. “If you see another Mamono, steer clear. Most are vicious or volatile, and they can and most likely will kill you if they learn that you know of the battle.”

“That’s…rather unsettling.”

“I know. It’s frightening, but as long as you are conscious of what you are saying and where you say it, you should be fine.”

“I understand. Shall we be on our way, girls?” Twilight asked, getting nods and replies from the others, who all stood up, making their ways to the door. They all walked out, except for Twilight, who turned back around.

“Is there anything else you need, Twilight?” Gash asked.

“Do you think we should tell Fluttershy about what happened?”

“I think that would be a bad idea. Just knowing the fact that she caused so many ponies such serious pain and injuries would probably crush her inside. The general public doesn’t know that it was Fluttershy, so I think it’ll be best if she doesn’t know that it was herself, either.”

“I see. Do you think that Fluttershy will be alright in terms of a physical standpoint after using the book?”

“She’ll be fine. She passed out from using too much energy from the spell, and the worst that could happen is she has a headache when she wakes up,” he reassured.

“Are you sure?”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Okay.”

“See you later.”

With that, Twilight was out the door and off to the library to send a report to Celestia. Gash sat back on the couch, relaxing.

“So, what do we do now?” Chrysalis asked.

“Well, I’m going to fall back to sleep. You can do whatever you want to,” he let know as she yawned.

“I think that sleep sounds nice. I’ll go with that as well,” she stated, folding her legs underneath her, resting her head on a pillow that was sitting on the armrest. She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. Gash nodded, also laying his head down on a pillow, shutting his eyelids.

‘I hope that the information we just gave them will come to some sort of use…’ he thought as he took the train to Snoozeville.

Chapter Twelve: A Mysterious Occurrence

Chapter Eleven: Back to School

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuuisshou: Fukkou

だいじゅういっしょう：ふっこう

第十一章：復校

Chapter Eleven: Back to School

It was now the next morning, and Gash had been awoken by the sounds of deep moans and panting from within the cottage. He groaned as his right shoulder was still sore, but not as much as the last few days. He looked over to the small kitchen within the lodge and saw Chrysalis inside, filling bowls with food using her magic, apparently for the animals. A thump could be heard as his frame hit the floor, with him groaning in pain.

‘I should really learn to sit up, instead of rolling off of the damn couch…’ he thought as he flipped over to his side, then using the couch as support to rise.

“Good morning, Gash!” Chrysalis yelled, putting more bowls on the ground. Animals of all sorts soon rushed to the bowls, chowing down on the food.

“’Ai. What time is it?”

“It’s 7:00 in the morning."

“Alright. Were you the one who I heard moaning?”

“What? No. I think Fluttershy woke up earlier, though.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Gash said, walking up the stairs. His limp had disappeared, and he was walking at a normal pace once again. There was still a soreness, however.

When he got up the stairs, he was shocked to see a much disheveled Fluttershy laying there on the bed. Her fur was completely wrinkled and she reeked of nausea. He viewed upon her shaking form and many light-brown stains near her mouth, most likely being puke stains. He walked up to her, carefully putting his hand down on the back of her head. She opened her eyes slightly and looked up at him, and her eyes looked sickly with illness.

“Fluttershy…are you alright?”

“I feel…terrible…my head hurts…a lot…” she said, looking like she would regurgitate if she said anything else.

“You don’t look so good, either.”

“What…happened yesterday?”

“You…fainted on our way home from the hospital. Yes, that’s what happened…” he lied, in order to preserve her sanity.

“I fainted? Why wo-“ she started to ask, but felt a rising lump in her throat.

She put a hoof to her mouth to stop the spitball from coming out. Gash, thinking on the spot, rushed downstairs and returned a few moments later with a large, wooden bowl. He slipped the bowl underneath her head, and she immediately released her upchuck within. Gash turned his head in disgust, not wanting to see the vile mass of solids and liquids. After a few moments, the horrendous sound being emitted from her mouth ended. She pushed the bowl away.

“Thank you, Gash…”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything I could get for you?” he offered.

A glass of water, perhaps…”

“Okay. I’ll be right back with that.”

As Gash descended the stairs once more, Chrysalis was walking toward him. He cocked his head slightly, stopping at the filly’s actions. She walked up to him, whispering in his ear.

“How is she?” she quizzed.

“She’s very ill,” he answered, continuing his walk to the kitchen.

“How so?”

“She’s shaking a lot, and she’s also throwing up. I believe she also has a headache,” he stated, filling up a large glass of water. He began his retreat back to the sick mare. “Do you think this has anything to do with her demonic transformation?” he whispered, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

“Most likely. She was fine yesterday up until that point, so that seems like the thing that would make the most sense,” she answered.

“Ah,” Gash sighed, walking up the stairs and over to Fluttershy. He gave her the glass of water, which she took sips out of.

“T-Thank you, Gash…” she gratified. Gash gave a small grin, nodding.

“No problem. Is there anything else that you need?”

“Um…n-nothing that I can th-think of at the m-moment…”

“Okay. In that case, I think I’ll get ready to go to school,” he informed.

“W-Would you like me t-to take you there?” she offered, picking her head up off the pillow.

“No. For today, you should just rest yourself until you feel better,” he declined, stroking his hand through her soft mane.

“A-Are you sure? I could-“

“No. You need the rest.”

“Oh…alright. Are you l-leaving now?”

“Pretty soon. Which reminds me: Where did you put my school bag?”

“It’s under the c-couch,” she told, laying her head back down on the pillow.

“Okay. Thanks,” he appreciated, leaving towards the stairs. He looked back at her as she was falling back asleep.

Gash descended the stairs and walked to the couch. He kneeled down, looking under and found the saddlebag he was looking for. He pulled it out, clipping it around his mantle as he stood back up.

“Where are you going?” Chrysalis asked.

“I’m going to school.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. I assume that you can take care of Fluttershy while I’m gone?”

“I think I can handle that.”

“Wonderful.”

Gash checked to make sure he had everything he needed-paper, quills, inkpots, etc., and realized he didn’t have his book on him. He searched around the couch, but couldn’t find it.

“Chrysalis? Where’s my book?”

“I put our books behind the couch, so that if any demons barged in, they wouldn’t be able to find them immediately."

“Okay,” he understood, reaching behind the couch, grabbing his red text. He walked towards the door, taking a deep breath as he approached it.

“See you later, Gash,” Chrysalis hoped, waving.

“See ya’,” he said back, opening the door and walking out.

As Gash was walked into Ponyville on his way to school, he was immediately met with stares by the townsponies. The stares ranged from horrified to cautious to even angry. He found himself feeling rather uncomfortable. He was becoming a tad nervous over time as he walked. After a little while, the feeling he got was turning to frustration, and soon he found anger rising. Eventually the feeling got unbearable, and it began to show when his face scrunched and his fists clenched. Still, he held his anger down beneath the surface and attempted to calm himself by taking deep breaths.

Eventually, he found his way at the school. He stopped before it, taking deep breaths, preparing for the inevitable awkwardness that was going to ensue when he entered. After a few moments, he entered the large, red building. When he got in, he noticed there was nopony there except for Cheerilee, who was sitting at her desk, looking over some notes for her instruction. She looked up at him, and to Gash’s surprise, she didn’t look the least bit horrified or angry, but confused.

“Gash? You’re back?” she curiously asked.

“That I am. I apologize for my…outburst a few days ago,” he said, walking over to the front-leftmost desk in the room.

“About that…why did that happen?”

“Let’s just say that I hit a…rough patch in life, and leave it at that. I don’t really know the details as to why I was like that. Now, however, I’m feeling a bit better, so that shouldn’t happen again,” he explained, setting his bag down on the desk, pulling out some paper, a quill and an inkpot.

“Okay, I understand. By the way, class doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes, and you’re the only one here. You can go outside for a little bit while the other students are on their way, if you’d like.”

“No, thanks. The towns…ponies just stare at me when I’m out there, and I really dislike that, so I’ll stay in here.”

“Alright.”

Over the next ten minutes, as students arrived at the school, they noticed Gash sitting in his desk. The mere sight of Gash frightened them, and thus they started filling up the seats furthest away from him. He sighed, expecting this result. As the others entered, this pattern repeated over and over. Eventually, there were only seats near him, and the remainder of the foals were terrified to sit anywhere near him. He once again sighed, looking out the window to his left. Cheerilee noticed this and spoke up.

“Class, I understand why you’re feeling so uncomfortable near Gash, but he’s not any threat to you anymore, so please, take your seats,” she requested. Hearing this from Cheerilee gave them no reassurance, but they still took their seats to start the day with hesitance. “Okay, let’s begin!” Cheerilee announced, and the class started their normal day.

Over the course of the day, he could almost literally feel the tension in the air around him, and it distracted him from the lessons that Cheerilee was giving. This bothered him a bit, but it wasn’t too major of a setback, as he knew most of what she was talking about already-the math and the science. He was still able to concentrate enough to jot down some notes, but he couldn’t get enough focus to take good information. She gave them a worksheet that covered the information for homework.

Soon enough, recess came, and Gash was thankful that he would get some time to himself again. That’s what he thought at the time, but that thought was dashed when he heard a voice from behind him.

“Hey!” she called. He turned around as saw Scootaloo standing there.

“Uh…hi?”

“That was some pretty crazy stuff you pulled a few days ago,” she said.

‘Oh, please, no. Don’t start talking about that,’ he thought, not answering her.

He turned back around to look out the window. This was a haunting memory for him, as the scene replayed in his head every time it was brought back up. It was like a terrible nightmare that wouldn't ever go away. He shut his eyes, letting a tear fall from his left one.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m sorry, but could you go away? I don’t feel like talking right now,” he stated, almost rudely.

“Uh…yeah, whatever,” she awkwardly accepted, walking past him and out the door.

‘At least there’s no one to bother me no-‘

“Gash?” Cheerilee asked.

‘Damn.’

“Yes?” he answered, not looking away from the window.

“Are you going to stay inside during recess, too?” she quizzed.

“I was planning on that. I don’t really have anything better to do,” he explained.

“Why not go outside and try talking to the other ponies?” she suggested.

“Why should I? They’re all afraid of me,” he deadpanned.

“Well, shouldn’t you at least try?” she attempted.

“I’ll try later. Right now, I just don’t feel like talking to any…pony,” he answered with a sigh.

“Okay…”

After twenty minutes, the ponies all came back inside and class resumed like it normally would. The awkwardness immediately shot back up, and he got that feeling of uneasiness again. Cheerilee began to teach some history of Equestria, but Gash couldn’t concentrate enough on it to get any information out of it. This began to frustrate him, as he didn’t know anything about Equestria’s history and was legitimately interested in learning it.

Over the course of the next four hours, the subjects changed from history to social studies to reading and writing to grammar. The entire time, Gash still couldn’t concentrate on the class during the entire period, and it drove him partially insane. When the teaching was over, it was lunch time, and he continued his stay within the classroom.

“Gash?” Cheerilee once again asked.

“Yeah?”

“It’s lunch time,” she informed.

“Well, that’s a shame because I didn’t bring anything to eat.”

“You didn’t?”

“Nope.”

“I think I brought an extra apple today,” she said, pulling a small paper bag out of her desk. She opened it and lay it down on its side. Out rolled two shiny, red apples. “Indeed, I did. Would you like one?” she offered.

“Eh, sure,” he accepted, getting up and walking to her desk. He picked up the apple, giving a slight bow to her.

“You said you’d go outside this time.”

“I did, didn’t I?” he asked.

“You did.”

“Fine, whatever,” he said, walking out the door.

When he got outside, any activity that had been happening stopped as he walked across the field. Stares were fixed on him as he trudged along to the tree, which had burn marks on it from the battle with Diamond Tiara. He sat down, taking a bite of the apple he had been given. He pulled the book out and started to read along the unreadable pages, wondering if there was anything else could be able to read. In his peripheral, he could see the others staring at him as he lazily sat back against the small tree. He looked up, seeing their stares. He could sense a pattern coming on.

“What?” he asked loudly, looking around the group. “Is my presence really that disturbing?”

There was a deadly silence, with only mumbles among the small groups, and he found it agonizing. He felt even more awkward now that he had asked that question.

“Well!?”

There was an even greater silence now than before, and when he realized he had put himself in the situation as awkward as this one, he got up and went back into the classroom.

“How’d it go?” Cheerilee asked, hoping for a positive answer.

“Not so well. They just kept staring at me, and I hate it!” he pouted, slumping back in his desk seat when he got there.

“Did you even try to talk to them?”

“Yeah, and they just responded with silence. It was just too unsettling, so I came back in.”

“Oh…well, lunch lasts for another ten minutes.”

“That’s fine. I can just draw or something.”

Ten minutes passed and lunch ended. Gash had an entire sheet of paper with random doodles of abstraction. Right before class resumed again, he threw the paper to the trash can, bouncing it off of the wall.

Class resumed, and the last subjects of the day-spelling, basic health and basic safety-were taught over the course of an hour and a half. Gash still had the same problem as before. Once again, she gave them another worksheet.

Class ended, and the fillies and colts went home. Gash got up, walking out of the classroom. He decided to run back home today to make the time he was stared at minimal, and he found that it worked, as he only felt mild frustration. Thirty minutes later, he found himself back at Fluttershy’s cottage. He entered the lodge and found Chrysalis lying on the couch with a blanket folded over her, reading a book. She glanced upward, seeing him.

“Gash, you’re back!”

“Yes, I am.”

“How’d it go?”

“Not so good. The entire time they were staring at me and I was constantly uncomfortable. I hated it!”

“I’m sure that it was just a one-day thing. It’ll be better tomorrow.”

“I hope so.”

A few minutes passed and Gash remembered Fluttershy’s condition.

“How’s Fluttershy?”

“She’s still the same as when she left, unfortunately.”

“Oh. That bites the big one.”

“Yeah. It’s just that her body wasn’t used to the book’s power, and it completely threw off the chemistry of her body.”

“I can understand that. That makes me wonder: When I first used the book’s power, why didn’t I get sick like that?”

“Well, generally, that kind of thing only happens when you have a full-body transformation like Fluttershy’s. I’ve never heard of a demon who used elemental powers that got sick by using those. The worst that I’ve heard happen to an elemental user is that they go temporarily unconscious until their body gets used to the strength of the spell.”

“Ah. That makes much more sense,” he said, walking over to the couch. He sit down, pulling out the homework he had been given.

Over the course of the rest of the day, Gash did his homework, ate, lay down, read, and did other various things. When it came time to sleep, he put all of his stuff away and went up to check on Fluttershy, who was already asleep. Chrysalis was already asleep by then as well, and she had all of the animals fed. With nothing left to do, pulled the blanket over himself and fell asleep.

The next day, Gash woke up, ate some eggs that Chrysalis had made, checked on Fluttershy, made a sandwich with jelly and went to school. Today, the same thing that happened the day before in Ponyville and at the school had repeated itself-unbearable stares and not being able to concentrate on his schoolwork. It was clear that the foals of the school were still bothered by his presence and were scared by him, but he suffered through the entire day. When he got home, Chrysalis was once again reading on the couch. The same events unfolded-Gash did the homework assigned, read, and eventually fell asleep.

Over the next few days, he found himself going to school with more and more anxiety each day, not looking forward to it in the slightest. After the third day, he left the school early, at the end of the lunch period, and found himself spending less and less time there each day. After a week, he started leaving during the recess, and eventually stopped going at all. Chrysalis understood why he stopped going, and didn’t question him much after she figured out why.

During this entire time, Fluttershy had been recovered well, and it shocked her to find that he was skipping school. At first, she thought it was a temporary thing, and that he might’ve been sick or something of that nature. However, she noticed that over the span of another week, he was clearly not willing to go, as he just stayed home and read whatever books she had in her bookshelf. She found this to be disappointing, but didn’t say anything.

Gash had also begun to put on weight out of laziness, and he found himself with a much rounder belly than he had before. His arms and legs were also larger, but of fat, instead of muscle. His laziness led to his overall hygiene plummeting-he had bad breath, smelled bad, and got no sunlight.

His attitude began to drop as well: He became more snarky and rude, and he treated Fluttershy and Chrysalis more like servants instead of friends. They could both notice it, but neither said anything about it.

After nearly two weeks of him staying at her cottage and being lazy, Fluttershy finally decided to speak up about his truancy. She approached him slowly as he was reading a book in the morning, and she spoke to him.

“Gash? Will you go to school today?” she asked.

“Nah. I’m good right where I am,” he replied.

“Are you sure? I can take you there…if you’d like,” she offered.

“I’m positive. I like it right here, where there’s nothing to bother me, and nothing for me to be annoyed about,” he hinted.

“Is there something that’s bothering or annoying you?” she inquired.

“Whenever I go there, the only thing that happens is that they stare at me and make me feel uncomfortable, and that makes me not able to concentrate, which frustrates me. It feels hostile.” he explained.

“Well, I’m sure it’s just them getting used to you being back. Surely they’ll start trying to be your frien-.“ she started, but was cut off.

“No! The same thing happens every single time I go there! They stare at me, and the sequence of events I just told you happen! They’re scared of me, Fluttershy! I can tell by their body language that just my very presence makes them shudder in fear! They clearly don’t want me there, so I’m not going to go! And plus, I’m already smarter than all of them! I know everything already! They’re jealous because I’m smarter than they are! Why should I have to waste eight hours of my day and try to make friends, just for me to go somewhere where I’m only feared and hated!?” he lashed, making her step back in shock at what he said.

“I-…But…” she stammered, having no way to respond to that. She lowered her head and walked away.

Over the next few weeks, Fluttershy took what Gash had said and thought about it for a while. She really had no idea as to how to counter that question, so she thought about certain punishments that she could give him.

One day, Gash woke up and had eaten breakfast and was going to get a book from the shelf, but found the entire thing had been emptied of its contents.

“What the hell?” he asked himself, going upstairs to ask Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy?” he requested.

“Yes?” she answered.

“Where are all of the books?” he demanded to know.

“I’ve decided that until you start going back to school and making friends, the books are off-limits,” she explained.

“Of course they are,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I guess I’ll just find other things to do, then,” he stubbornly added.

‘I guess I’ll just draw then,’ he thought to himself, going back down the stairs to find his schoolbag, but couldn’t find the bag anywhere in the room. He searched the cottage top to bottom, but no matter where he looked, it wasn’t there.

“Damn,” he muttered to himself. “Smart.”

Gash once again went back up the stairs to ask Fluttershy.

“Okay, where’s my schoolbag now?” he quizzed. He was me with the same type of response.

“Until you go back to school, I’m keeping it from you,” she answered.

“Ugh!” Gash yelled in a defeated manner, throwing his arms up in the air. He went back down the stairs. He just lay down now and fell to sleep.

There was nothing to do for the rest of the day. He literally just lay there for the entire time. The next day was the same. He ate, and did nothing else. The next day was the same as well.

After these few days, he was drowning in the feeling of numb boredom. It became unbearable.

‘Damn it all. She got me,’ he thought, going upstairs

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to school.”

“Wonderful!” she exclaimed, pulling his saddlebag out from behind her bed and handing it over to him. Gash walked down the stairs and to the door.

“Have a nice day!”

“Whatever,” he mumbled, walking out the door.

Gash decided to attempt to run to school in order to get past the stares, but found himself tiring about three fourths of the way there. He took a moment to catch his breath.

‘Why am I so tired all of a sudden?’ he thought, walking the rest of the way.

The days events unfolded the same as they did every time he got there. Cheerilee greeted him, he sat down, class started, etc. The same feelings and the same frustration from before conquered him, and at the start of the lunch period, he found himself picking up his bag and beginning to leave.

“Leaving so soon, lardo?” a voice menacingly asked from behind. Gash locked up, not looking forward to this moment in the slightest.

He turned around and saw Diamond Tiara standing there. Looking over her body, she was completely healed, but he could’ve sworn that she was more buff now than he was later. He sighed, not looking forward to this confrontation.

“Uh…hi, Diamond Tiara…” he awkwardly announced, keeping a nervous smile upon his face.

“Yeah, hi. Where do you think you’re going so early, fatty?” she menaced, stepping toward him.

“Uh…home?” he said, taking a step backwards.

“Oh, I don’t think so. You think that after the shame you’ve caused me that you’ll be just leaving, tubby? Oh, no, no, no.”

“Listen. I’m sorry about all the pain I caused you. It was wrong of me to do it and I apologize.”

“I don’t want your apology. I want-“

“My blood? Revenge?”

“Precisely. You’re going to be wishing that you had never crossed me in the first place!” she yelled, galloping toward him, turning around to buck him.

Thinking quickly, he jumped out of the way and ran backwards toward the school house. The attention of the school foals was now focused on them once again as Gash weaved his way around her bucks and head rams. Not seeing where he was going, he got caught up against a tree. This gave Diamond Tiara the opportunity to give him a buck straight to the chin, sending him flying backwards through the tree’s branches. In midair, he gained his balance and landed on his feet, stammering forward. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and turned back around. Diamond Tiara was flying toward him. He put up his fists in front of his face in order to block her, but her hoof slammed right into the top of his nose-right on the gash.

“Ow!” he cried out, falling backwards to his backside.

He lifted a hand and put it on the spot, which was now releasing a fresh load of the warm, red liquid all over his face. His pupils had contracted and he was gasping in pain. He was immobilized.

“Ha! I’ve got you now!” she yelled, out, preparing for another attack.

“Stop it, Diamond Tiara!” another feminine voice yelled.

“Yeah, that’s enough!” one more said.

“The violence ends here!” the last one stated.

Gash was confused as to what was happening, as he had faded out of reality momentarily when the pain in his head seized control over his body. His eyes focused back into reality and he saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing in front of him, blocking Diamond Tiara’s path.

“Huh?” Gash sounded out.

“What do you blank-flanks think that you’re doing? Get out of the way!” Diamond Tiara yelled out.

“No! He clearly wasn’t pickin’ a fahght, but you were trahyin’ to force him into one anyway!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Yeah! That’s so uncool!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Leave him alone!” Sweetie Belle protectively shouted.

“What’s it to you!? Didn’t you see what he did to me!?”

“Yeah, we did! But you were the one who was beatin’ up on him first!” Apple Bloom retorted.

“He shocked me!”

“Ugh…” Gash moaned out of pain, pulling a small rag from his bag, wiping it all over his face and holding it against his wound.

“We understand that! But it was something that you could’ve prevented by leaving him alone when he told you to!” Sweetie Belle stated.

“You don’t understand the pain I’ve been through in the last month and a half. You can’t-“

“What’s going on here?” Cheerilee shouted, gaining the attention of all of the fillies and colts.

“Diamond Tiara was beating up on Gash!” Scootaloo shouted, pointing to the now sitting up Gash.

“Diamond Tiara, is this true?”

“Well…”

“Yes,” Gash said, managing to get on one knee, still holding the bloodied bandage to his forehead.

“Diamond Tiara, go inside. We’ll discuss this in a few minutes,” Cheerilee strictly said.

“But-“

“No. Inside, now.”

Diamond Tiara looked fiercely at Gash, before storming off toward the schoolhouse, mumbling to herself. Gash had now managed to stand up, and was now applying a bandage to his wound.

“Gash, are you alright?” Cheerilee asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he assured, holding out the blood-stained rag to his side.

“Good,” she happily stated, looking over the three fillies. “And thank you for stopping Diamond Tiara, girls.”

“Of course!” they shouted in unison, causing Gash to take a step back from the volume. Cheerilee went back to the classroom where Diamond Tiara was.

“Wow…Thank you,” Gash said, shocked at what they had just done.

“No problem,” Scootaloo accepted.

“But…why?”

“Ever since Dahmond Tiara’s come back from the hospital, she’s been actin’ really, really hostile toward everypony. When we saw her attackin’ you and makin’ you bleed hard, we knew she took it too far,” Apple Bloom explained.

“Yeah! She’s been nothing more than a jerk since forever! She crossed the line this time!” Scootaloo agreed.

“We know that you did some pretty harsh things to her, but she attacked you with no reason! That’s just wrong!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Wow…I don’t know what to say…”

“They always say that friends should stick together, no matter what!” Apple Bloom chanted. This made Gash think for a moment.

“We’re…friends?” he asked.

“Of course!” they shouted in his face, causing his ears to ring.

‘How they could ever call themselves my friends after how I’ve treated everyone is incomprehensible to me. Maybe this is a sign. A sign that I should stop being so lazy and try to actually put myself out there for others like they have for me. Fluttershy and now these three have done nothing but be friendly and nice to me, so maybe I should try to stop being so rude and actually be a good person. Maybe if that happens, they’ll all stop staring at me like I’m some monster and accept me.’

“Well…thanks for being willing to be my friends. It means a lot to me, truly!” he happily said, smiling.

“No problem!” they all said, once again together.

School came to an end a couple hours later and Gash went back home.

“I’m home!” he announced as we walked into the cottage.

“Oh, good afternoon, Gash. How was school?” Fluttershy asked.

“It went…alright today, to be honest.”

“That’s wonderful news!” Fluttershy announced, walking up to Gash. “Did you make any friends?”

“Actually, I did! It was great!”

“That’s great! I’m glad to hear that everything’s starting to get back on track for you,” she said as Gash walked over to the couch. He sat down, relaxing.

Fluttershy looked at Gash, smiling, grateful that he was able to actually make friends. She was worried that after the events that had transpired a month and a half ago, he wouldn’t be able to get any response out of the school fillies except for fear, but that completely vanished and was replaced by a wave of happiness that splashed over her.

‘Now, everything can finally go back to normal,’ she thought, as she went off to do her normal, daily routine.

Chapter Fourteen: Battle at the School

Chapter Thirteen: Becoming A Crusader

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuusanshou: Kuruuseedaa ni Natte Iru

だいじゅうさんしょう：クルーセーダーになっている

第十三章：クルーセーダーに成っている

Chapter Thirteen: Becoming A Crusader

It was the next day, and Gash had just woken up and was getting ready for school. He had eaten the breakfast that Fluttershy had provided him-scrambled eggs, an apple and some orange juice. It seemed strange to the child that one like Fluttershy-who believed wholeheartedly that animal life was incredibly precious-was completely fine with sacrificing it in eggs. When he had finished eating, he let his curiosity speak.

“Hey, Fluttershy?” he asked.

“Yes?”

I’ve just noticed: You’re making me eggs-essentially the unborn fetus of a bird, and you seem to be completely fine with killing it. What’s up with that?” he curiously quizzed.

“Well, Gash, some of my chickens lay unfertilized eggs, which means that there is no embryo inside. It’s not killing anything,” she explained.

“Ah…What’s a chicken?” he inquired.

“It’s a fairly large, white bird…most of them are cultivated and lay eggs for consumption, like this,” she added.

“Ah,” he understood, nodding. She smiled at him.

“The more you know,” she said. “Speaking of knowing more, are you ready for school?” she gently questioned.

“Yeah,” he answered, standing up and stretching. He put his saddlebag around his side and started toward the door.

“Would you like me to walk you there?” she softly interrogated.

“Ah…sure. Why not?” he accepted. The two made their way out the door and off to the school.

Fluttershy and Gash walked through the small wooded area separating Ponyville from her cottage. As they walked through the village, they ran into the same problem Gash had every single day. Gash sighed and they continued walking. She saw him walk faster and faster and was falling behind.

“Gash, are you alright? You seem angry all of a sudden,” she worriedly asked.

“I don’t like it when others stare at me, so I’m walking as fast as I can in order to get away,” he quickly said, increasing his pace once again.

“Oh. I’m sorry,” she sympathized.

“It’s alri-“ he started, but was cut off by a small cloud of dust in his face. “What the f-“

When the dust had settled, he saw Diamond Tiara running forward away from him. He stopped for a moment, closing his eyes and sighing. He muttered a few words to himself unintelligibly and just continued walking.

“Gash, are you okay?”

“Yeah…I’m fine…Just give me a moment,” he sighed out loud, walking.

‘Something’s wrong with him,’ she thought. ‘I wonder what it is…’ she pondered, trotting up to him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Fluttershy, I am. I just need a second to myself,” he reiterated, continuing to walk.

“Um…okay…” she awkwardly replied, slowing her pace.

It was soon too late for that thought as they approached the schoolhouse. Gash looked up, sighing once again.

“Um…we’re here, Gash. Do you want me to walk you in?”

“No, it’s alright. Thank you, though,” he appreciated, walking to the front doors.

“Oh, okay…Have a nice day, Gash!” she yelled out.

“Alright. You too,” he said back.

When he stepped in, he ignored all of the stares, going straight to his desk. He took out his paper and writing utensils and sat back, waiting for the class to start.

“Heya, Gash!” Apple Bloom called out from behind him. He instantly turned around in his seat.

“Oh, hey Apple Bloom,” he addressed her.

“How are you?”

“I’m alright. Yourself?”

“I’m alrahght as well!”

“So, we noticed that you don’t have anything lahke a cutie mark on your body,” she started.

“We?”

“Me, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle,” she clarified.

“Ah,” he understood, allowing himself a second to remember what cutie marks were about.

“And we were wondering if you had any ahdea what your special talent was,” she finished.

“Well, I have a feeling that if I can even have a special talent, it will have something to do with electricity, as that is what I seem to excel in,” he explained.

“Ah see. Do you think you can get a cutie mark?”

“Well, seeing as it’s something that ponies alone have, I’d say that I probably can’t. What were you having in mind?”

“Ah was just a little curious,” she explained.

“Is that so? In that case, your curiosity should’ve been soothed,” he told, nodding his head.

“Okay. Thank you, Gash!”

“No problems.”

The first class subjects flew by as Gash managed to concentrate and take decent notes on the material, which satisfied his intellectual tastes. Recess soon started, and he walked outside. He debated between staying at school and going home.

In staying at school, he would certainly become more educated and have time to talk to and get to know Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo a little more. He would also be making Fluttershy happy by staying and fulfilling his not-vocalized promise of making friends. The obvious cons were that he would have to deal with the uncomforting stares that plagued him wherever he went. He would also probably have to face Diamond Tiara again, and after what happened the day before, that was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

In going home, we would be able to cut off the now suppressed feelings of anxiety and discomfort that being there gave him. He would also not have to meet Diamond Tiara that day. He worried, however, that going home would disappoint Fluttershy and limit his education even more than what had been taken from him during his bout with depression over the last few months.

He looked between the two options-the schoolhouse or his new home-but couldn’t come to a decision. He took a moment to think about the incident yesterday with Diamond Tiara. She had injured him and paralyzed him pretty badly for a few moments. In a deeper context, he realized that if they ever were alone, she would attack him and he would have to defend himself. He could tell that his ‘Zakeru’ strikes were becoming a bit more powerful. If he ever needed to use them against Diamond Tiara again, they would surely kill her; if he didn’t use them, she would surely kill him.

It was a difficult decision, but he didn’t have to make in as his thoughts were interrupted.

“Hey, tubby!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

‘Fucking damn it!’ he thought.

“What now?” he asked, frustrated.

“I’m still angry from what happened yesterday, you know.”

“Yeah. If you would leave me alone, it wouldn’t be an issue for you.”

“Well, I just need to emphasize my anger with you. If you can’t tell, I’m quite the livid type right now.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t clearly obvious.”

She growled, lunging at him. He thought he already knew how this would go down, so he dodged to the left. She pushed into the ground, turning herself toward him and launching. She hit him in the stomach, causing a little blood to be coughed. He grabbed her by the front legs and pushed her in front of himself.

“Do you really want to do this again? Because right now, I’m not really feeling like screwing with your stupid crap today.”

“What, too chicken?”

“Do you really believe your petty insults have any impact on me? Because they don’t. In fact, your insults make you look dumber than you actually may be. So I suggest that you stop before this gets ugly.”

“Oh, now you’re trying to mock my intelligence? Well, those words only make you look like a stupid fool!”

She broke her fore hooves away from him, revving it up to slam it into his jaw. He saw this coming, so he put out his fist to block it.

“Ooh…bad move.”

He lifted her up and threw her away from him as he ran toward her flying body. He used the schoolhouse’s structure to his advantage and parkoured his way up on top, jumping off the roof. He then grabbed her in midair and threw her into the leaves of the tree. She fell through the branches, but never actually touched the ground as she was hanging by leaves and sticks. Luckily for Gash, she had no injuries, and was only ailed by her dirty coat. Gash landed in front of her, pulling his book out.

“Now, if you don’t stop attacking me, I might just need to shock you,” he threatened, earning a wide-eyed, frightened stare from the filly. “And I don’t want to have to do that, because it makes me look bad. Do you want that?” he asked, earning a horrified nod from the pink filly. “I thought so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home now,” he announced, putting his book back in its pouch and walking towards the end of the yard.

“Wait, Gash!” Scootaloo shouted. Gash turned around.

“Uh…Yes?” he answered, stopping and turning around.

“Why don’t you stay and finish the rest of the day off, since you’re already here?” she asked, walking to his side. “I don’t think she’ll bother you again today,” she whispered, nudging at him.

“Okay…Even if she doesn’t, isn’t every…pony scared of me already? I just gave her another beating! Now it’s going to get worse!” he exclaimed.

“It’ll be fine. You didn’t even hurt her!” she told, pointing towards Diamond Tiara.

Gash turned around to see her walking off toward the school house, her head hanging low and pouting rather loudly. She was trying to pull leaves and sticks out of her mane and tail as she walked. The other schoolfoals were shocked at first, but soon they were pointing and laughing at her as she had once again been shamed by Gash. Gash was a tad confused on how to feel.

'Wha…?'

“They aren’t even a little scared about what I just did?”

“You were able to make her go away without actually hurting her, so instead of the others being shocked about what you just did, they’re laughing,” a voice came from behind. “However, you could’ve still handled it in a nicer way, but it’s still decent progress,” she continued. Gash turned around and saw Twilight standing there, with a small grin etched onto her face.

“Well, uh…Thanks, I guess?”

“You’re welcome,” she smilingly replied. The sight of a smile on Twilight’s face shined a chuckle and a grin of his own.

“Now, why don’t you go back to school now? I’m sure that you could learn a few things or two there,” she remarked.

“Uh…yeah. I think that I’ll do that. See ya, Twilight.”

“Bye!” she said back, walking away.

‘That went better than I thought it would.’

“Well, I guess I will stay,” he said to Scootaloo, who smiled at him.

“Awesome!” she shouted, dragging him backward toward the school house.

School went well for the rest of the day for Gash. He could tell that the schoolfoals were becoming a little more comfortable around him, which greatly pleased to Gash’s well being and sanity. When he was getting ready to go home, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom all approached him.

“Hi, Gash!” they all shouted, causing Gash to recoil in his chair a bit.

“Oh…” he said, slouching back to a comfortable position in his seat. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Wanna come hang out with us for a bit?” Scootaloo offered.

“Yeah! We have something special planned for you!” Sweetie Belle informed.

“So, what do ya say?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Uh…sure, why not? Just let me pack up first,” he accepted.

“Awesome!” Scootaloo cried.

Gash packed up his school supplies into the pack and was led outside by the three exuberant fillies, who brought him to a small wagon with a scooter attached.

“A cart? What’s this for?” he curiously quizzed.

“Get in!” Scootaloo ordered, getting a slight head tilt from Gash.

“”Uh…Alright,” he complied, lifting himself up into the pseudo-car. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle also hopped in, motioning for him to sit down.

“Gash, sit down and hold on!” Sweetie Belle demanded.

“Okay,” he fulfilled, sitting down on the wagon. He put his hands on the sides and gripped it tightly.

“Are you all good back there?” Scootaloo asked, stepping onto the scooter. She was now wearing a helmet that was purple with orange flames running along it.

“Yeah!”

“Mhm.”

“Yup!”

“Alright! Let’s roll!” she shouted, flapping her tiny wings. The cart suddenly propelled itself at an incredible rate, shooting through the town.

“Holy crap!” Gash shouted, nearly lifting off of the seat. He resituated his hands to the front end of the cart and held on with all of his might to not fall off.

The town rolled by at an intense pace, as buildings and ponies zoomed by Gash’s vision. This amount of sheer speed was amazing for Gash, but he could swear that it felt like his face was being torn off from his head. He didn't even care that he was being stared at anymore. This was just completely exhilarating!

Six or seven minutes later, they were riding through an apple orchard and soon arrived at a tree-house of sorts. When Scootaloo stopped the scooter, Gash went flying forward, straight into the tree. He slid down and flipped around, looking very dazed. He attempted to stand up, but found that he was falling over on his face more and more.

“Gash, are you alright?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yeah, I’m…” he started, but suddenly had a sensation in his throat. “On second thought, give me a moment,” he requested, running off into the apple orchard.

The three could hear a vomiting sound in the distance, and they felt concerned for their human friend.

“Is he okay?” Scootaloo wanted to know. Before the question could be answered, Gash came back through.

“Alright, sorry ‘bout that. I needed to take care of some business real quick,” he “explained.” They just stared at him for a moment, which confused Gash.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” he asked.

“Um…Yes, actually. Rahght on yer chin,” Apple Bloom described.

“Ah,” he understood, squatting and picking a leaf up from the ground. He wiped his chin using it and threw it in another direction. “Thank you,” he gratified, looking back toward them. “Anyway, what is this place?”

“This is our tree-house! Come inside! We have a surprise for you!” Sweetie Belle called, climbing up the stairs leading into the house.

“Ooh!~ I like surprises,” Gash cracked.

The clubhouse was a bare-brown color with a slightly darker roof. The door leading inside was a dark-pink color, with a heart cut into the top. Above the door was a small, basic window that was separated with a little-white divider, with a small pane of glass on both sides. A yellow patio went around the right side of the house, stretching around the back side. On the sides of the small tree-bound cabin was another window, of which didn’t have any glass on it. Gash walked up the stairs with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

The inside of the clubhouse was the same color as the outside, and had a small, beige carpet at the doorstep. There were purple drapes over the windows and a small lantern hung from the ceiling. There was a large banner with a pony standing on its hind legs above a podium that Sweetie Belle was standing at. Scootaloo manned two large, taiko-like drums and Apple Bloom was just standing to the opposite side of the podium. Sweetie Belle pulled a large manifest from beneath the podium.

“What’s this? A club of some sort?” Gash asked.

“Exactly! We’ve been trahying’ to get our cutie marks for a long tahme now, and we thought that it’d be cool to let you join the club! We’re its founding members, and technically, its only members.” Apple Bloom explained.

“Ah. So, what do you do around here?”

“Well, let us show you some of the highlights of the clubhouse, should you choose to join us!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Alright.”

“That is where we do our roll call,” Apple Bloom started, pointing to the back of the room where Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle we at. Sweetie grunted and Scootaloo used a pencil to check off a line on a sheet of paper on the wall, of which had the three’s faces on it.

“I see,” he got as the two fillies quickly dashed over to a table that Gash could’ve sworn wasn’t there when he first entered the clubhouse. There was a plate and a glass on it.

“That’s where we eat our lunch,” she continued, as Sweetie Belle pretended to eat food on the plate and Scootaloo pretended to pour water from a pitcher.

“Okay,” Gash said, as Scootaloo rapidly shot out from the table and onto a stool in the back-left corner of the room. The lamp was hanging overhead.

“Sometahmes, we sit here and think of great ahdeas!” she further explained, as the lamp made a dinking noise and turned on.

“Wow, you guys have this really planned out!” he exclaimed, impressed at the way the clubhouse was run.

“Thanks! Sometimes it can take us a while to think of new ideas to get our cutie marks, but it’ll be worth it in the long run once we do get them!” Sweetie informed.

“Wow, you three are really into this,” he observed.

“Yeah, finding our special talents is at the top of our to-do lists, and we work hard all the time to fulfill that goal!”

“Well, I’m sure that if you concentrate on what you enjoy, you’ll eventually find something you’re good at,” he enlightened.

“That’s what everypony says to us…” Scootaloo mumbled.

“So what do you say, Gash? Do you wanna join?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sure, why not? What’s the harm?” he accepted.

Scootaloo softly and rhythmically tapped the drums four times, and then started banging on them in a 1-2-3e-4e-1e-2e-3-4-1e-2e-3e-4e-1 pattern, slyly smiling the entire time. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were knocked off balance, and looked at Scootaloo with mild frustration when she tapped the drum one last time a few moments later. Sweetie Belle began to read the large scroll.

“We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Gash to join us as a brother, friend, confidante, ally, guy-pal, chum of chums…” she trailed off.

“Ahem!” Scootaloo coughed.

“Well, you wrote this,” Sweetie Belle said back.

“Oh, huh. Yeah…” she awkwardly realized.

“…homeboy, amigo, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” she continued, ruffling through the script. “Oh, yes here. And fellow Cutie Mark Crusader! You are solemnly sworn in, here, this day, in witness of your fellow sisters, friends, confidants, compadres…” she once again trailed.

“Congratulations!” Scootaloo shouted. “I’ve gotta remember to revise that,” she mumbled, throwing a cape with streamers and confetti out at Gash. The three outgoing fillies all giggled at this.

Gash caught the cape, looking over the design on it. The design was the same as the banner that hung above, but now, looking closer, he could see the pony on the cape wearing a cape of its own. On the other side were the words “Cutie Mark Crusaders” in gold, all-caps letters.

“Oh ,cool! A cape to go along with it! This is great!” Gash joyfully expressed by giving the three a group hug. They were all happily laughing at his sudden glee. “Thank you all!”

“Heheh…no problem!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

“Yeah! We’d always be willing to help out a friend!” Scootaloo cheered.

“Once friends, always friends!” Apple Bloom chanted.

“Let me tell you three something: Your friendship truly means a huge amount to me, and I’m glad that I’ve gotten the chance to meet you,” he told, letting tears of happiness roll down his face as he laughed.

The three continued to laugh and hug for quite some time before Gash softly broke the hug. Gash didn’t know what it was that he was feeling, but it was a new emotion to him. He could feel a warm, fuzzy sensation around his body as he felt a strength that he hadn’t ever felt be brought into his heart. A huge whirlpool was spinning eagerly with a vast euphoric entity within his body, and it was a truly magnificent feeling.

“Whoa, Gash! You’re glowing!” Scootaloo informed as she and the others stepped back from him.

“I am?” he asked, shocked. From within his mantle, he could see his book shining brightly within. He pulled the book out to see the emitted light in its true glory.

“Your book is…glowing?” Sweetie Belle said, confusedly. Gash opened the book to the page that was glowing the brightest and saw new words revealed on the page.

“The fifth spell: Gi-rei-do. Gireido.”

“The fifth…spell? You have magic, Gash?” Scootaloo asked.

“Uh-huh…Haven’t you seen me use it? Don’t you remember the fight I had with Diamond Tiara a coupIe months back?”

“We heard about it, but we didn’t know that you used magic,” Scootaloo answered.

“Huh. I’m surprised you didn’t see it. Practically the whole town was watching.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah. And then the fight broke up and we went on our not-so-merry ways for the day,” he lied.

“Wow…Ah didn’t know that! What kahnd of magic do you have?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Electricity.”

“That’s a pretty rare tahpe of magic you’ve got there. Ah don’t know anypony else who’s ever had electric magic. Can you show us?” she asked.

“Well, I would, but I’m pretty busy for the rest of the day. I’ve got homework and exercising and other things to do for right now, so maybe later?” he suggested.

“Okay! Does that mean you’re leaving?” Scootaloo asked.

“That’s what I was planning on,” he informed.

“Do you want a ride?” she offered.

“Nah, I need to get in some jogging today, and this would be a good chance to do so,” he informed, tying the cape around his neck and putting the book in his mantle. “Thank you much for the offer, though,” he gratified, giving a low bow.

“Bye!” they all shouted as he walked toward the door.

“See ya tomorrow!” he shouted back, running out the door.

Gash travelled back to Fluttershy’s cottage in large bursts of jogging and taking short breaks between. When he got home, he did his homework and then did the other exercises Rainbow Dash had taught him the previous day. On top of that, he added sit-ups to his repertoire. The rest of his day was spent learning about various kinds of animals that he’d never seen-different kinds of birds and insects, and even a bear.

Before he went to bed, he was reading his spellbook, pondering what the new spell ‘Gireido’ did. He hadn’t heard of a spell like it yet, and he didn’t know what kind of sorcery it would bring. He set his book down on a table next to the couch and fell asleep, covering himself with the blanket. He noticed something, though.

“Fluttershy?” Gash asked.

“Yes?” she answered, coming to him.

“Where’s Chrysalis at?”

“She said that she was going on a shopping run.”

“Oh. This late at night?”

“Well, I think that she noticed the fridge was almost empty, so she went at night so we’d have food in the morning.”

“Oh, alright.”

With his worry gone, Gash tucked himself into the makeshift bed, making himself comfy. He soon fell asleep, awaiting what the next day would bring him.

Chapter Fifteen: Soliloquy

Chapter Fourteen: Battle at the School

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuushishou: Gakkou de Tatakau

だいじゅうししょう：がっこうでたたかう

第十四章：学校で戦う

Chapter Fourteen: Battle at the School

It was early the next morning. The sun had barely begun to come up above the horizon and Fluttershy woke up, seeking water, as her throat was dry. As she walked down the stairs into the main room of her home to get some water from her kitchen, she noticed that Gash was awake. A next to him was dimly lit as his eyes scanned across his spellbook. She cocked her head and approached him, keeping her hoof steps as quiet as possible so Chrysalis wouldn’t wake up.

“Um…Gash? You’re awake early,” she whispered in her lowest voice. He looked up at her with a tired look upon his face.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep,” he explained in a soft voice.

“How long have you been awake?” she asked.

“About two hours, maybe two and half. I’m not quite sure when I woke up,” he answered.

“I see,” she mumbled. “Would you like me to help you fall back to sleep?” she kindly offered.

“You can do that?” he quizzed. “How?”

“I can sing you a lullaby,” she suggested, softly pushing a fore hoof under his head. She sat on her haunches and smiled at him.

“A lullaby?” he inquired.

“Yes, Gash. It’s a song that has a soothing tone to it, and is supposed to help calm yourself,” she informed.

“Oh. Well, I suppose that’s alright,” he accepted. With that, Fluttershy started to sing her tune.

"Hush now, quiet now; it’s time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now; it’s time to go to bed," she sung.

The tune calmly cooled Gash’s senses as he felt his anxiety swirling around in his heart before alleviating into a warm sense of serenity that wrapped around him. He could feel a sense of drowsiness that he longed for drown out the stress that prevented him from sleeping the past few hours away. A yawn escaped from his mouth as he felt his eyes become heavier. Fluttershy continued her tranquilizing melody.

“Choo-choo off to sleep, the exited day behind you. Choo-choo off to sleep, let joys of dreamlands find you…”

Gash couldn’t maintain his consciousness as the theme finally blocked out everything that brought him his daily strains, creating a mental barrier in his mind that prevented them from attacking his sense of serenity. He soon found himself putting his red book on the table behind him with one hand as he pulled the plaid cover over his body, bringing the much needed warmth that finally allowed him to shut his eyes and drift off into the world of his dreams.

Fluttershy slowly retracted her hoof from under the boy’s head and used it to rub his shaggy, brown hair. He cooed in his sleep as he almost curled up on the leather couch. She smiled, bringing her head up. She reached herself over to the candle behind him, blowing it out and letting the darkness of the night consume him. She felt at ease, knowing that he was at a much calmer place within his mind.

She walked up the stairs leading into her bedroom and walked through a small doorway into a kitchen. Then, she pulled out a small glass out of her cupboard. The sound of her tap turning on quietly filled the small room as she slipped the glass under, allowing it to fill with the clear substance. Turning the small lever on the counter next to the sink, she removed the glass out of the sink and set it on the counter; a towel found its way into her hooves as she dried them off. The glass was lifted from the top as Fluttershy took a sip of it, relinquishing in the wet feeling that couldn’t elude her throat any longer. Once she finished, she rinsed the glass off, placing it on a small rack next to the miniscule basin. Now finished with her momentary tasks, she wandered back into her bedroom, allowing herself to rest on the cotton sheets that covered her mattress. She quickly fell asleep, falling into her own dreams.

Gash was walking alone in a small, rural-looking town. He looked down at himself and saw that he was wearing little more than ragged pieces of cloth around his body, strewn about with no fluidity in the white and brown tatters. There were torn, blistered straw sandals on his feet, of which dug into the soles. Dirt and dust lined his skin. His eyes had visible rings under them; his hair was long and shaggy, coming down to his waist.

As he was walking down the cobble street, he encountered strange stares as other people walked by with their light-green and yellow straw umbrellas that shielded them from the pelting rain. Gash had his hands over his head in futile attempt to not get wet. There were visible tears rushing from his eyes as he started running, trying to escape the hell he was living in.

Gash saw a crack in between two of the wood and paper houses that he could hopefully find shelter in. Seeing this as an opportunity to get out of the harsh rain, he immediately went there, attempting to fit his frail body inside the opening. He struggled and struggled, not being able to fit his weakened form into the tiny space.

Suddenly, he could feel a tug at his clothing, pulling him away from the much-needed shelter. He turned and looked at the beings that took him. He saw nothing in these three people. They were but mere silhouettes that stalked him, creating a cloud of darkness around him that completely blocked out all of his senses.

Gash tried to shout for help as the shadows mercilessly beat him down, but no sound could escape his throat. He continued to be bashed and cut all along his body, failing to provide any sort of defense for himself as he collapsed to the ground, curling himself into a ball. His head instinctively was wrapped into his hands as he cried. He almost felt his life force draining away as he gave a final, silent prayer to his gods and goddesses, wishing for a more peaceful life wherever he should next be reborn.

Before the darkness could kill him off; however, a light shined through, reaching Gash’s body, giving him one final spec of hope that he could survive this encounter with fate. He opened one eye to look at his assailants, and he saw that there were lights shimmering out of their figures, eventually destroying them. The light shone through into his body, spreading all across his mutilated form and overtaking him.

Gash found himself waking up in a cold sweat, shooting straight up in his bed as he grasped his head in what felt like a terrible pulsing sensation in his forehead. He felt confused through the pain, like he had been experiencing something he had already seen before. The feeling in his head was horrible, and he couldn’t explain what had just happened to him in his dream.

“Whoa…what a dream…” he sighed, rolling his eyes upwards.

He brought his hand back down and looked around the cottage. Chrysalis was still sound asleep and he could hear her slow, soft snoring. The clanging of pans and the clinking of glasses in the kitchen rung in his ears, signaling to him that Fluttershy had awoken and was making breakfast. He smiled.

His eyes searched around the room until he saw a clock on the far wall. He focused his vision in on the clock and viewed that it was 6:45, a couple hours before school. He silently nodded his head as he twisted his body off of the couch, heading toward the kitchen.

“Good morning,” he said as he stretched and yawned. Fluttershy, not hearing him coming, nearly jumped when she heard him.

“Oh, my!” she cried. She gasped, turning toward him. “Oh, good morning, Gash,” she returned. “You scared me.”

“Heheh…” he chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright. Gash, I’m almost done with breakfast. Why don’t you go get ready for school while I finish?” she suggested.

“Okay,” he agreed, shrugging his shoulders a little.

Walking back into the living room, he opened up his saddlebag, making sure that everything was in there. There was paper, quills and the homework he had finished the previous night. He found that there were no inkpots in there, however.

“Huh, I’m out of ink. Oh well,” he sighed.

He flipped the cover back down on the bag and stood back up, stretching another time. When he finished, he stepped over to the small table in the center of the room, sitting down and relaxing before Fluttershy came back in. She placed a plate of eggs and an apple in front of him, as well as a tall glass of milk.

“Thank you,” he appreciated, giving a small bow to her.

“You’re welcome,” she smilingly said to him.

Gash ate his breakfast quickly, chowing down on the eggs and munching on the apple, chugging on the milk. He placed his glass down with a loud exhale as he took a few deep breaths. Fluttershy graciously took his plate and glass into the kitchen and washed them. Coming back out of the kitchen, she noticed that Gash was staring at her.

“Um…do you need something, Gash?” she asked.

“Yes, actually. I’m out of ink,” he explained.

“Oh, that’s not good. Let me see what I can do…” she trailed, thinking for a moment. “Well, I don’t carry my own inkwells, so the best thing that I can think of is…”

“Yes?” Gash asked.

“Here, let me go get you some bits so you can buy a couple inkwells,” she requested, walking up her stairs and bringing back a small bag of bits. “This is twelve bits. That should be enough for two inkwells.”

“Thank you,” he gratified, accepting the sack as he walked over to the couch. He placed the sack into his saddlebag and finished preparing to go to school.

“Is that all that you need?” she asked.

“I believe so. I have paper, quill and my homework, which is all that I should need…” he informed, lifting the saddlebag up off of the ground and over his shoulder.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked.

“Yes. I’ll get going.”

“Oh, okay. Have a nice day, Gash!”

When Gash arrived at school (having bought inkpots on the way), he assumed his normal spot in the classroom. As the classroom filled up, he saw that the other Crusaders had arranged themselves around him. Scootaloo sat behind him, Sweetie Belle sat to his right and Apple Bloom sat behind him, to the right. After exchanging their greetings, class started soon after.

Today, the class learned about how to read and write basic sheet music, as well as the notes in some of the basic chords. Gash thought this lesson was the most interesting lesson he had been taught thus far in the class, as he enjoyed the complex terminology and the structure of the music. It was just something about the way the symbols managed to all flow together while still being able to confine complexity into small characters on the page that sparked his interest. Overall, he rated that lesson as great.

Fluttershy was still at home, doing chores around the cottage in attempt to tidy some of the clutter that had accumulated after the past few months. She had already finished feeding the animals and she was reorganizing her books on the bookshelf. Chrysalis was helping by washing the dishes in the kitchen. Glancing over from the shelf, she noticed that Gash’s book was still sitting there on the end table where he had left it earlier that morning.

“Hmm…Well, I do need to run a few errands in town anyway…” she thought out loud, continuing to reshelf the books. She set a few books she had checked out of the library for Gash in a small stack in front of the other books. “Maybe I should stop by the school to give Gash the book back…” she mumbled.

Once she finished with the books, she quickly ran a dust cloth over the tables. After she ended doing that, she placed the dust cloth in a basket that had a few other dirty towels in it. Then, she pulled out the rented books from the bookshelf and collected Gash’s spellbook.

“Umm, Chrysalis?” she called out. The changeling poked her head out of the kitchen, cocking her head slightly.

“Yes?” she asked.

“I’m going to run some errands.”

“Okay!”

Fluttershy walked out her front door, journeying into Ponyville.

The other lessons, being basic order of operations problems and basic physics/chemistry had concluded, and it was now time for the recess period to begin. Gash went outside and sat under the tree, per usual, and was soon joined by the Crusaders. Together, they started creating plans to make their marks.

“Well, I think that you should start with things that you’re good at. What are they?” Gash suggested.

“Well, Ah’m good at livin’!” Apple Bloom stupidly stated. Gash lost his focus as his brain tried to process what she had said.

“Uh…” he started, unsure of what to say. “I’m pretty sure that any creature that’s alive is good at living. I meant to say things that you enjoy doing that you’re good at, like a hobby or sport.”

“Ah know. Ah was just makin’ a joke!”

“Well…Wa. Ha. Ha,” Gash laughed in the dumbest voice he could muster. The other two Crusaders giggled at his silly chuckle.

“Well…Ah did fix up mah sister’s old tree house. Maybe Ah’m meant to be a fixer-upper kahnda’ pony!” she exclaimed.

“You mean a ‘carpenter?’” Sweetie asked.

“Yeah! That!” she shouted.

“You fixed up that tree club all by yourself?” Gash seeked the answer.

“Mhm,” she confirmed.

“That is truly impressive. If that isn’t a ‘special talent,’ then I don’t know what is,” he applauded. A blush formed on her face as she turned her head.

“Aw, shucks Gash. You’re too kahnd,” she humbly stated.

“Well, if you have a special talent, you should be recogni-“ he started.

Right then, he felt a great uneasiness around him. He felt like there was someone-or something-watching him and his every movement, which made his stomach churn. A deep gulp slid down his throat as he cut himself off in the middle of his sentence. His eyes immediately shot forward; he lost all of his focus on the conversation. He shot up to his feet, immediately looking around for the source of his sudden anxiety. He looked around the tree, still seeing nothing.

“Gash, you okay?” Scootaloo asked, feeling a sense of mild concern.

“You don’t feel that?” he shot, not looking at her.

“Feel what?” she confusedly questioned.

“That feeling...” he accidentally began to shout.

Suddenly, laughter could be heard echoing throughout the playground of the school. It rung through everypony’s ears as the creepy sound made them flinch slightly. Gash narrowed his eyes slightly.

‘A demon.’

“Who’s that?” Sweetie Belle asked, pointing her hoof to the entrance of the school.

Approaching Gash was a gray Pegasus mare. Her eyes were a deep cerulean color that resembled the color of skyflowers. Her mane was a blood-red rose color, likewise with her tail. On her flank was the picture of a single red rose, of which had silver trails leading down the petals and the stem. There was one silver petal that was detached from the flower, of which was hanging slightly above. With her she carried a hibiscus colored book, of which had the patterns and markings of a demon spellbook.

“Get back,” Gash demanded.

“Why-“ Apple Bloom started.

“Get back!” he shouted, forcing the three fillies to recoil backwards.

“What’s going on?” Sweetie asked.

“I think I have a challenger,” Gash explained.

“A challenger? What do you mean?” she questioned.

“It doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is that you three get out of here, now!” Gash ordered.

The tone in his voice had a seriousness the three had never heard before. Not thinking twice, they ran off toward the other end of the schoolhouse.

“You were correct when you said that you have a challenger,” the mare confirmed, opening the book and setting it on the ground in front of her.

“Hold on. Not here. There’s too many-“ he started.

“No. We will fight where we stand now, no objections,” the mare declined.

“Oh? And who says?” he interrogated.

“I am Silver Rose, from the Rose family of ponies,” she introduced.

“Okay, Silver Rose. Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?” he asked down to the mare in frustration.

“The bringer of your end,” she coldly stated as the book glowed.

“Rozugaron!” she cried.

From the ground in front of her erupted multiple, large plant roots. They looked much like normal roots, except that there were strings of metal that were coiled and spiraled around them. At the tips were solid metal spikes, of which looked like they could easily impale skin.

“I’ll just cast a ‘Rashirudo' and block i-“ Gash started, reaching for his book. Reaching into his mantle, he noticed that he couldn’t find his book. “Why can I not find it?” he asked. He looked down into the mantle. “It’s not there!” he shouted, eyes growing wide.

Before he could do anything else, he felt a deep pain in his left shoulder. He yelped in pain before two more vines shot out of the ground toward him. Looking up at them, he could tell based off of their movement that they were aimed for his head and his upper torso. He looked over to the vine in his shoulder and saw that it wasn’t piercing as far as he thought it would-it was but a flesh wound. There was only a trifle amount of blood that dripped from the small opening, which surprised him. He pulled the vine out of his shoulder, then used it to tactically block the creeper that was headed for his chest, sending it toward the other, which knocked it off course into the other vine. All three spiraled into the ground, creating a small cloud of dust and debris. Silver rose had a look of shock for a moment, but that look quickly turned to cockiness as she approached him.

“I’ll admit-I’m impressed. Any other creature that would’ve faced that attack would be a pile of mush by now,” she boasted. Gash smirked, standing up from the tree.

“Thanks, I guess. Well, to be honest, that attack was telegraphed. I could tell based off of the position of the vines where they would be heading for my chest and stomach. It was so easy to guard that attack. Try again with something more challenging to dodge,” he shot back.

“Grrr…” she growled, a scowl forming on her face. “Alright. If you want something bigger, here you go!” she shouted, putting more energy into the book.

“Ganzu Rozugaron!” she shouted.

Three small, metallic flowers rose up from the ground in front of her, each the exact same size with the exact same physical details. There were six petals on each flower, each of which was a few meters in length. In the center of the petals was a large, cannon-like opening that contained six smaller chambers that spun rapidly.

In an instant, the flowers started to shoot miniature bullet-like projectiles at Gash. For a moment, he dodged the bullets, but soon found that this strategy was pointless as he was pelted by the shells. Many small wounds littered his body as he jumped behind the tree, using it as shelter. In the next few moments, he contemplated his next move.

The idea of jumping out into the frenzy of projectiles was a suicidal move. Gash realized this in an instant. He took a few seconds to try and think of an idea, but the recognition of reality hit him-there were no other strategies he could implement. Without the use of his book, he had no power to repel the attack. Even if he could get close to the Mamono, she would probably use a body-enhancing spell and stop him in his tracks. Knowing that he couldn’t do anything, he stood there behind the tree, waiting for the spell to die down.

“Hey, you coward! Why are you hiding! This is a battle!” she roared out. “If you won’t come out, I’ll make you!” she bellowed. Her book shined once more.

“Rozugaruku!”

Metal vines shot out from the ground around the mare, encasing her entire body in overgrowth that drowned out her entire form. Growing out of the vines were her four hooves, of which were dark pink and steel. Spikes grew from her hooves. Next to appear from the creepers was her head, which had a thorny coat, with a long thorn bulging from her forehead. It resembled that of a horn. The mass of vines that was in between her hooves and head tightened, creating a thick, heavily armored torso covered in thorns and roses. There was a single metallic rose growing behind her left ear.

The crowd of horrified ponies looked on as Silver rushed forward into the tree, completely uprooting it and sending it flying skyward. A cloud of dirt covered the surrounding area as Gash was lifted off his feet and also thrown into the air. Before he could see anything through the billow of dirt, he was hit from the right side, sending him flying back toward the school. When he landed, a horrible crunch sound was heard as he landed on his right wrist, causing it to bend in a direction it was not meant to bend in. Gash could make no sound as he bounced on the ground, rolling and finally coming to a stop right outside the door to the school.

Soon, Cheerilee was at the side of the child, looking down in terror as she saw his damaged form. She looked over his body, and the sight of so much injury over a child made her want to throw up. She could barely stand violence as it was, and this was horrific to the gentle-hearted mare. Looking up at the playground, the disastrous appearance of the uprooted tree that had landed tens of feet away made her eyes nearly bulge out of her head in shock.

“W-What is happening!?” she cried out.

Gash turned his head upward to her, attempting to get back to his feet. He accidentally put all of the pressure of the push on his right hand, causing him to immediately recoil and shout in pain; he dropped back down to his stomach. He looked at his wrist, noticing that it was bending in the wrong direction.

“Damn it all!” he painstakingly muttered. Using his left hand this time, he struggled to get back to his feet, finding it very difficult due to an intense cramp in his right hip.

“Gash, are you alright!?” she demanded.

“Cheerilee!” he shouted, grasping her by the collar with his right hand.

He looked deep into her eyes, as if to beg something from her. There was a rage, a conflagration raging in the blond. She had never seen eyes like this before in her life, and she had seen some very angry parents and guardians that had demanded answers from her. This was nothing like that, not even comparable. This was greater, vastly superior to those times.

“G-Gash…?”

“You need to go and find Fluttershy, now! When you get to her, ask her for the ‘red book!’ She’ll understand what you mean!” he ordered, gaining a wide-eyed stare from her

“But-“ she started, but was cut off.

“No! We don’t have time for ifs, ands or buts! You need to find her at this moment! You will not argue with me!” he detested, pushing her toward Fluttershy’s cottage. “Go-“

Before he could say anything else, he was hit from the left and sent flying toward the crowd of students that had assembled. He slid along the grass, leaving a trail of dirt as the green plants were uprooted in mass. He stopped right in front of the group, causing them to all gasp, save for Diamond Tiara who relinquished in his pain and grinned. He tried to lift up his head, but dropped back to the ground as he entered a sub-conscious state.

Silver Rose was now standing in front of Cheerilee, looking her dead in the eyes. She saw the same thing she saw in Gash’s eyes, except this had a much more malignant feel to it, as if it was piercing her soul. The rage she saw was terrible, and it locked out her legs. She was trapped from fear, and she felt helpless to do anything.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she spat, causing Cheerilee to recoil backwards onto her haunches from fear. “If you think that you’re going to run, think again. You’re not going anywhere!” she yelled, putting a hoof on Cheerilee’s head and pushing it into the dirt. Cheerilee screamed out of pain as she felt intense pressure in her head.

Upon the scream of agony, Gash’s sub-conscious mind reentered a state of consciousness as his eyes opened wide. He looked back to Silver Rose, who was still crushing Cheerilee. When he saw this, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

‘She’s hurting Cheerilee!’

‘That coward…’

‘She’s hurting *Cheerilee!*’

‘That monster…’

“She’s *hurting** Cheerilee!’*

‘That bitch!’

All of these thoughts floated around in his head as a rage greater than that of any he had felt before came through. This rage was one not of his own selfish frustration, but one of a greater feeling. One that could not be put into words. One that was impossible to express. His body shined bright-red as he forced himself up to a kneeling position.

A deep, guttural growl was projected as he stood, up, launching himself at the demon. He landed on the ground halfway there, taking another huge bound at her. With all of he strength in his left arm, he yanked it back and thrust it forward, punching Silver Rose on the side of the face and sending her flying off in another direction away from the school. His hands had multiple scratches along them from the thorns. Immediately after, he ducked down to Cheerilee.

“Hey, are you alright!?” he shouted, shaking Cheerilee. She looked up at him, giving a pained nod.

“Yes, I am…” she gasped, lifting herself to her legs. She took a few deep breathes before looking Gash in the eyes. “You…saved my life. Th-Thank you…” she said, astonished.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Can you still gallop?” he asked.

“I should. She only attacked my head, and I have a headache now, but I think that’s all that happened,” she explained.

“That’s good. Now, go and find Fluttershy and fast. I don’t know how hard I hit Silver Rose, so she may still be conscious. I’ll need to hold her off. Remember to ask her for the ‘red book,’” he told.

“Okay. I’ll be back as soon as I can!” she promised, turning tail and galloping off into Ponyville.

“Good!” he yelled, sitting down against the schoolhouse. He took a few deep breaths before closing his eyes momentarily to rest.

It wasn’t more than ten seconds before he felt the ground underneath him tremor. An enraged Silver Rose emerged from the ground underneath Gash, sending him into the air. She leaped upwards toward him, smashing him downward with her head. With a swift movement, her body turned into a drill, shooing down into the ground and burrowing. There was a crater in the ground of which he lay in the center of. It took all his strength to push himself back to his feet. He could suddenly feel the ground shift underneath him once more, telling him that she was ready to strike him once more. He tried to jump out of the way, but failed as he tripped over pebbles and dirt, causing him to be sent skyward once again. She leaped up at him, slamming him down with her hoof. He hit the ground in another crater.

“Won’t you learn that you can’t win? I think it’s clear to everypony that you’ve lost,” Silver Rose bragged. “You could never stand against my strength. You were such a disappointment,” she said down to him as he attempted to stand. She jumped down into the crater, throwing him out toward the generality of foals.

As he landed, his body fell limp as blood ran from all the wounds he had accumulated. From his shoulder, both sides of his hips and his mouth were the streams of warm, red liquid as small pools formed on the ground, staining it, as well as the colt’s and filly’s memories. They all looked on in horror as he couldn’t move, bludgeoned and beaten.

“Hm-hm-hm…Ha! It looks like I can claim my victory now,” she bolstered, cackling.

“O-Oh…? A-And what makes you think you’ve w-won?” he stuttered, looking up from the ground at her.

“Enough of your talk. It’s clear that you’ve lost. Now, hand over your book before I finish you off for good,” she demanded. Gash just chuckled at this.

‘Time to buy some time.’

“S-Sorry,” he slyly remarked, a small grin appearing on his face.

“What do you mean ‘sorry?’” she asked, frustrated.

“I don’t h-have the book with m-me,” he shot at her.

“You’re an idiot,” she insulted. When he heard this, Gash’s slyness quickly turned to anger as he scowled at her.

“Oh, r-really? B-Because I can g-guarantee that I have infinitely m-more knowledge th-than you,” he mocked.

“For one like you that claims that he knows so much, he seems to have forgotten that having your spellbook with you at all times is the most important thing you can do.”

“Okay. S-So the one day that I leave my spellbook at home marks me as an idiot? Just look at yourself.”

“Oh? And by that, you mean…?”

“You came here t-to fight me. ME. Of a-all the creatures you could want to fight, you choose me. A peasant. A weakling. Why would you do that, when you know there might be a demon of greater challenge for you to fight? It seems incredibly idiotic to me,” he put down, looking back at the group. “R-Right guys?” he desperately said to the others. “Play along,” he whispered to them, looking over each and every one of the foals. To this, they all looked around at each other, nodding their heads and saying ‘yeah,’ and ‘totally.’

“Oh, is that so? I happen to think that knocking out the inferior is the better tactic, and then saving the skilled for later on. It seems simple to me.”

‘Damn.’

“Well, it appears we have conflicting viewpoints.”

“It seems that way. In any case, I have places to go, ponies to meet up with, so I’ll just be killing you now.”

“Really? Only a coward kills another.”

“Oh, is that so? I know from experience that it takes a lot of strength to kill others.”

Upon hearing this, Gash’s left eye twitched.

“W-What?”

“Killing is a great art of this world. It marks the strength of a pony, measures the brevity of one’s sanity, and defines their character as one of power, one of courage. It shows that they are a creature of many forms, that they have the wit to succeed in battle. Or, in my case, the stealth it takes to conceal one’s body into the shadows...”

“You’ve…killed others before?”

“Yes, I have. It’s quite fun.”

When he heard this, Gash let his head sink to the ground.

“The joy of seeing another’s blood on your hooves…”

His left fist scrunched up.

“...creates a delightful sensation that arouses the senses.”

His body glowed with red aura.

“There’s no better feeling that one can get other than that. It’s truly wonderful.”

The ground cracked out from underneath where he was laying.

“It causes a feeling of true beauty that makes one feel pure and charmed.”

A fiery plume of red energy shot up from the ground as rocks and dirt lifted up into the air. Crimson sparks of pure rage flew out from his body. The area around his body became darker as lightning cracked the sky. Dark-blue lightning bolts struck the ground, causing any grass underneath it to be completely obliterated. He clenched both fists as tight as he could, disregarding his broken right wrist. He grasped the damaged wrist and twisted it, making a horrible cracking sound as it spun back into place. His teeth were completely fangs, and his body had turned completely blood-colored, save for his eyes, which were entirely white. His now silver-streaked hair was raised up, as if he was standing in a wind tunnel.

“You bastard!” he roared with murderous intent.

“What’s this!?” Silver Rose demanded as Gash stood up to his feet.

His body seemed to be on fire as the violent energy swirled around him, creating a rippling effect around him. The energy could literally be heard as it pulsated.

“How can you still stand!? I will not tolerate this!” Silver cried.

She launched herself at him at full force. Gash didn’t even bat an eye as he put his right index finger forward. She ran into his finger, but it had no effect as he easily stopped her. A ring of black energy erupted from his left fist and brought it backward. As he launched it forward, a cracking sound could be heard as his fist landed straight into her chest, causing her to fly back into a building. He walked forward, the ground shattering under his every step.

Silver Rose dropped off of the building as she deformed into her normal self. When she got back to her hooves, she looked up and all she could see was the crimson red of Gash’s aura. Before she could react, she found herself being picked up off of the ground and thrown in another direction. She bounced off the ground a few times before sliding to a stop. She shook her head and looked to where he was, but saw nothing there. In an instant, she felt a swift jab enter her side, knocking the breath out of her. The next moment, she was struck on the face and sent careening further into town. His body transformed into a veil of red mist as it traveled at lightning speeds down the street.

Silver hit the ground and came rolling to a stop in front of Cheerilee and Fluttershy, who were galloping in the direction of the school. They both stopped and looked in horror as a red cloud appeared in front of them, turning itself back into Gash’s enraged form. They didn’t know this was Gash, and just his presence made them lock up in fear.

Upon Gash seeing them with his spellbook, his anger level decreased dramatically as the aura died down. His body still had a dark-red coloration in it, but it wasn’t as noticeable. His teeth, hair and eyes were also back to normal. The wounds he had suffered during the battle had all been removed from his body.

“G-Gash!” Cheerilee shouted. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” he said. The demonic intonation in his voice was there. “The book, please,” he demanded.

“Is it still necessary?” Cheerilee asked.

“In order to burn her book, I’ll need it. So yes,” he clarified.

“What will burning her book do?” she questioned.

“It will remove all of her magical abilities,” he explained.

“I see. Here,” she said, throwing the book over to him.

“Thanks. Now for you,” Gash said menacingly, looking down at his opponent. “It’s time for some payback.”

“I don’t think so,” she grimly said, looking up at him with a smile.

“Huh?” Gash confusedly asked.

“Gouganzu Rozugaron!” she shouted.

“Get behind me!” he ordered. The two looked at him in shock, but didn’t dare question him as they galloped toward him.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, raising his shield.

In front of the barrier was the same flowers from the ‘Ganzu Rozugaron’ spell that had been cast earlier. The only difference was that instead of shooting six smaller bullets, it shot one large cannonball.

The cannonballs collided with the shield, which tried to repel them. However, as more and more cannonballs hit the barrier, they didn’t fly off; they stayed attached. The pressure of all the cannonballs caused the shield to crack and ultimately break. A wall of cannonballs dropped down in place, nearly flattening Gash as he recoiled backwards. More and more cannonballs came at him, and he cast more spells.

“Zakeru!”

The multitude of electric shots wasn’t enough to repel the mass of artillery headed his way, so he tried a different approach.

“Jikerudo!” he shouted.

The magnetized sphere of energy shot from his hand as he was hit from a few of the shells that flew at him. In an instant, all of the shots that were currently out were encased in a golden glow as they all came together in one giant clump, creating a barrier in front of Gash.

“That was perfect, Gash!” Fluttershy cheered.

“Have you always been able to do this?” Cheerilee asked.

“Maybe! I don’t actually know!” he shouted, caught in the excitement of the battle. “Sorry, we’ll have to continue this conversation later!” he yelled, flipping his book to the newest spell. “Now, since I have some time, let’s see what you do!” he commanded, the book glowing.

“The fifth spell: Gireido!” he bellowed, putting his hand out.

A multitude of golden, spiky balls shot rapidly from his hand out in rows of five. The spheres were about the size of a soccer ball, which was the perfect size for this occasion. They were spread out about a meter apart, and they traveled at nearly the speed of a slowly moving carriage. Every three seconds, a new row was sent out from his hand.

The spheres slammed into the mass of cannonballs, canceling out the ‘Jikerudo’ spell and causing them to fall to the ground and disappear. Once the cannonballs had disappeared, his spiky balls continued onward. Silver Rose, apparently having cancelled her spell, didn’t expect his spell and was immediately hit by the mass of spikes. Her book flew out of her fore hooves as it was struck by one of the orbs, causing it to catch fire.

“No!” she cried.

Gash cancelled his spell, seeing as he had won the battle. He walked up to Silver, who had dropped to the ground.

“Your blood shall stain the ground where you do lay,

for the pain you have caused must be repaid;

and the sorrow you have brought shall be claimed

with screams of agony that are the same.”

Gash’s verse caused a look of intense fear in the mare’s eyes as he lifted her up from the collar, growling with murderous intent.

“Wait! Please, don’t kill me!” she cried, gaining a raised eyebrow from Gash.

“Why shouldn’t I?” he shot back.

“Because, I…I…” she tried to say, but chocked up from lack of air.

“Well?”

“I…can’t…breathe…” she gasped. With furrowing eyebrows, he threw her back down to the ground.

“You know what? You’re blood is not worthy of my hands,” he said, cracking his knuckles.

“I-I-…” she tried, but still need breath.

“What?”

“I’ve seen another creature that looks like you,” she revealed, gaining wide eyes from Fluttershy and Cheerilee.

“What!?” he shouted. “What do you mean?”

“I saw it just on the base of Canterlot Mountain. It looks like you, except not like you,” she tried to explain.

“What does it look like!?” he demanded.

“It has a rather short, pink mane and green eyes. It seemed to be wearing a light-blue, large piece of clothing over its body and a dark-gray piece of clothing over its legs. On its hooves were light-green shoes. It stood on its hind legs like you, and its skin is the exact same color,” she explained.

“I see…Why are you telling me this?” Gash asked as she began to sparkle. Her voice started to become echo-ey, and it was a bit harder to understand her.

“I fought this creature. By its voice, it seemed female, but I couldn’t tell. I lost and ran away. In any case, it was ridiculously powerful. If you see it, beware.”

“I see…Thanks, I guess. I’ll make sure of it.”

“One more thing.”

“Huh?”

“It called itself ‘Mizuko.’”

“’Mizuko,’ eh?”

“Yes.”

Before any more conversation could happen, the sparkles around her swirled around her body, causing it to elongate vertically and fade out of existence. Gash just stood there, thinking about what she said.

“Gash? Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“If what she said is true, there is another human running around in Equestria. I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing, so I think we should ask Twilight to send a letter to Princess Celestia,” he suggested.

“That’s a good idea, Gash,” Fluttershy said.

“I know. And Cheerilee?” he asked.

“Yes, Gash?” she answered.

“Can I take the rest of the day off? I’m really tired,” he questioned.

“Yes, you may.”

“Thank you.”

Chapter Sixteen: Talent Show

Chapter Fifteen: Soliloquy

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuugoshou: Hitorigoto

だいじゅうごしょう：ひとりごと

第十五章：独り言

Chapter Fifteen: Soliloquy

Gash and Fluttershy had just left from the battle scene of the school, and they were now making their way to Golden Oaks. The words he had heard Silver Rose say couldn’t be eluded in his mind.

‘It looks like you, except not like you.’

‘Rather short pink mane and green eyes.’

‘Ridiculously powerful.’

‘It called itself Mizuko.’

All of these thoughts distracted him for a moment as he let his mind process what had just happened. He had trouble remembering what had happened before his dark transformation just a few minutes before, as if it caused some kind of memory loss. He could remember being hit multiple times, but he couldn’t remember where, nor what kind of injuries he had been afflicted with. He couldn’t remember anything that was said between them, which frustrated him. On the flipside, he now knew what the spell ‘Gireido’ did, which made him happy.

Before long, Fluttershy and Gash arrived at Golden Oaks. Fluttershy knocked at the door, which was quickly opened by Twilight. She saw the two and gave a small smile.

“Hello, Fluttershy and Gash. What brings you two here today?” she asked.

“We need you to send a message to Princess Celestia immediately,” Gash explained.

“What? Why?” she interrogated, stepping aside and motioning for the two to come in.

“I just fought a demon named Silver Rose at the school, and she disclosed some important information,” Gash told.

“A demon!? At the school!?” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yeah. I won, though, so it’s okay,” Gash said.

“Oh, that’s good. Was anypony hurt?” she questioned.

“I can’t remember. The only thing I remember is that I flew into a rage and started beating some serious as-“ he started, catching himself. “Some serious butt.”

“Oh. Well, I suppose I would’ve heard about it if anypony was seriously injured, so I guess that everypony’s fine, which is good. Anyway, you said that this demon, Silver Rose, let out some heavy information. What did she say?” she inquired.

“Can you take this down on a scroll?” he requested.

“Yes,” she answered, levitating a scroll, quill and inkwell to in front of her. “What did she say?”

“She said there was a demon that she had fought on the Canterlot Mountain that looked like another human,” he began.

When Twilight heard this, she gasped. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t say anything about it.

“Please continue,” she requested.

“She reported that this demon, who she said called herself ‘Mizuko,’ was a very powerful Mamono,” he went on. He waited a few moments for Twilight to finish writing before she looked at him, edging him to go on. “She said that Mizuko has pink hair and green eyes. She said that she was wearing a light-blue shirt or coat of some sort, as well as dark-gray pants. She had light-green shoes on her feet, and perhaps her hands as well. The reason I believe that it is human is because she said that it stands on two legs and that its skin color is the same as mine. The only other detail that I have been let upon by the demon is that Mizuko sounded female, but she said that she couldn’t tell. For the sake of our purpose, I suggest we simply refer to Mizuko as ‘she.’” he finished slowly. A minute later, Twilight had all of the information down on a scroll.

“Alright, I got it all down. Here,” she said, handing over the scroll.

Gash looked the script she had written and thought that it was good. He handed it back to her, giving a medium bow.

“Thank you. It is good,” he complimented.

“Wonderful! Spike?” she called out. The baby dragon wandered into the room with a dust cloth in claw.

“Yes, Twilight?” he served.

“We need you to send this scroll to Princess Celestia,” she demanded softly.

“No problem!” he agreed, putting down his duster.

She handed the manifest to Spike, who breathed an emerald flame over the scroll. The smoke that erupted from the scroll swirled around multiple times before exiting from the window.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” Gash shouted.

“I’m sending the letter to Princess Celestia…” he trailed with a confused look on his face.

“But you just burned the scroll!” Gash stated, putting a hand against his face.

“Oh, that,” Twilight started. “That didn’t burn the scroll. Right after I hatched Spike, Princess Celestia infused special magic into his flame breath that connected him directly to her, which allows him to send various things to her via the breath. He just sent the scroll over to her. He can also send other things, such as materials, such as cloth and wood, as well as items such as pencils or books. We’ve never had the need to send anything other than scrolls, so we don’t. Do you understand?”

“I do understand. That’s an interesting little ability you’ve got there. Have you ever sent anything by accident?” Gash asked to Spike.

“Well…not really. I can decide when I want to use ‘special flames,’ as I call it, and normal fire,” he explained. “I don’t really know how to explain it. If I get scared or surprised, I usually end up using my special flames by accident.”

“I see. So, how do you get letters back from Celesti-“ he started, but was surprised when he saw Spike start to cough. “Hey, are you alright?”

Spike’s cheeks puffed up as a small stream of smoke was blown out of his nostrils. He released a loud belch and more smoke was burped out, which coalesced into a scroll, of which had a golden seal on it. Gash just sat there with his mouth open as the scroll landed in his outstretched, open hand.

“Well…that’s…unique. A magical, burping, purple, talking dragon. Are there any other things that you can do?” he asked.

“Aside from being cool? Nah, I’m just me,” he stated, gaining chuckles from the generality.

“Nice. So, let’s see what’s in this scroll,” Gash said, removing the seal and opening the scroll.

“Dear, Twilight and Gash,

I have heard rumors about another human being in Equestria. Now that my suspicions have been confirmed, I fear for the safety of our nation. Based off of my knowledge, humans are a mainly dangerous, vile and cruel species of creatures. For this reason I have sent out search parties to look for ‘Mizuko.’ If she is spotted, we will immediately detain her and bring you, as well as the other Elements of Harmony to Canterlot to question her. Until then, be wary.

Princess Celestia.”

After he finished reading the scroll, he nodded his head in agreement, thinking that this was the best thing that Celestia probably could have done.

“Makes sense to me,” he said as everypony nodded their heads. “So, is that all that we had to do here?”

“Well, I have some books to return,” Fluttershy admitted, opening her saddlebag with her wing. She lifted the two books out and winged them over to Twilight.

‘How the hell do they even do that?’ Gash thought.

“Oh! Thank you, Fluttershy,” Twilight gratified, giving the books to Spike to reshelf.

“I think that’s all we have to do here,” Fluttershy said, looking over to Gash.

“I think so,” he agreed.

“Well, I’ll let you two be on your way, then,” Twilight allowed, waving to them as they headed out. “Bye!”

“See ya!”

“Until next time.”

“Sister, is something the matter?” Luna asked out.

She had wandered around the castle for a while that night, taking her duties as Guardian of the Night seriously. It was during this stroll she had felt strong waves of frustration coming from her older sister. Following the emotions, she found Celestia staring out into the Royal Gardens from her bedroom’s balcony. She had pushed the door to her bedroom open and now Luna stood behind the Princess of the Sun. A deep, heavy sigh came from the Solar Goddess, and she nodded.

“A message came from Ponyville this afternoon, Luna.”

“And?”

“Gash appears to have been attacked by a Book Wielder. Somepony named Silver Rose. I’ve ordered the Guards to look into her background for us,” she informed. Luna placed a hoof over her mouth in shock.

“Is everypony alright?”

"Yes, thankfully. But, there was more. Silver Rose, before fading, told Gash about a second human-like Mamono that she spotted on Canterlot Mountain,” Celestia said with an angry tone to her voice.

“Oh, dear. This is most unpleasant news. First Gash and the books appeared, now there are ponies gaining their own Books of Power! And a new human has appeared in the heart of Equestria! This is just like all those years ago…” she trailed. Celestia nodded solemnly.

“Yes, exactly like a thousand years ago. I fear Gash may have something to do with it this time.” Luna frowned at that and shook her head.

“Tia, ‘tis nopony's, or human's, fault for the Books appearing. It has happened before, and now it happens again. Gash’s appearance is not his fault, from what we can tell. Just like him…”

“Never speak of that… monster… again, Luna!” Celestia’s voice rose several decibels, and she turned to Luna with a blazing fury in her eyes. “He is the reason we fought Discord and Sombra! He forced me to imprison you on the Moon!”

“It was not his fault, Sister! He was a stranger in a new and terrifying land, and all he wanted was peace and friendship! If only we had done more for him, we could have saved him!”

“No! He did not deserve our friendship or to be saved! He, and all other humans, are vile and spiteful monsters!” she bellowed. Celestia’s rage made Luna shiver in fear, but she rallied quickly.

“And what of Gash?” Luna demanded, and Celestia’s fury dimmed slightly. “Do you think he is evil? That he must be punished for being what he is?”

“He turned on the ponies of Ponyville and betrayed their trust!”

“They treated him like an outsider and a beast, and fell into the embrace of evil because of it! He took the path of vengeance because of his Book, and the ease of its power! Just like me, sister!” Luna’s voice had not risen, but as she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes and she sunk to the floor and wept. Celestia immediately regretted raising her voice at her sibling and rushed over to comfort her.

“Gash hurt Twilight and Fluttershy, Luna,” Celestia said softly.

“He repented when he saw his errors,” Luna replied with a sniffle.

“We gave kindness to ‘him’ once, and betrayed us.”

“Gash is not ‘him’, Tia.”

At that, Celestia looked up and out the window at the star studded sky, and the calming glow of the moon. She nuzzled her sister and lay next to her. She said nothing, but her expression told it all. Luna, seeing this, wiped her eyes dry with her foreleg, and returned the nuzzle.

“I know you miss him, Tia, and how much his actions hurt you.” At this, Celestia finally let her own sadness appear, and shed silent tears while Luna comforted her in the light of the moon.

The next day, Rarity had taken a trip to Rambling Rock Ridge because she needed gems for some dresses she was working on for a client. She had just gotten off the train and was traveling to a location she had been to many times before when she needed to search for gems. She had no trouble getting there and she immediately began to search and dig for the jewels. She carried a large box on her back to put the jewels in.

Around this area, there were many large, spiked rocks that had erupted from the earth’s barren surface, many of which had lots of crystals in them. Unfortunately for Rarity, she didn’t have any spells that were strong enough to crack the rocks, which was a shame; having that ability would save her loads of time. For nearly an hour and a half, she searched around, but found nothing. She found herself confused, as this area was usually teeming with valuables.

“Radisu!"

Suddenly, a blast of white energy exploded into a rock behind her, knocking her forward quite a ways. She screamed from shock as she flew through the air quite a ways, rolling on her side when she landed. Looking back in complete fear, she was pelted by rocks, some of which pierced into her skin. Her coat became dirty as she cast a tiny barrier over her body to reflect the stones.

“What has happened!?” she cried out as the rocks stopped flying.

Looking on in fear, she lifted herself back up to her hooves. She took a step back, her eyes widened from the experience.

“Wh-Who’s there!?” she shouted, taking up a half-baked battle stance.

There was dead silence. She felt mortified, thinking that after what had happened, she could potentially be meeting her end. Whatever it was clearly had the potential to kill her.

After about a minute of no answer, she reluctantly took a few steps towards the split open rock. With every step she took a double take out of paranoia that she would be attacked. Deathly quiet roamed the lands around as a hollow clop was created from her hoofsteps. The wind breezed along as tumbleweeds spun across the orange ground, creating a creepy ambience.

As she got to the rock that had been split down the middle, she looked inside. A huge amount of gems lined the inside, creating a light show of greens, blues, reds, yellows and many other colors. At the bottom of the hollowed out rock was a purple book, of which had the same strange markings that Gash’s book did.

“A book…?” she confusedly asked to nothing, lifting it out with her levitation. “It looks like Gash’s.”

She opened it and glanced upon the white text. There were no readable words to her as she slowly flipped through the pages. Eventually, she came upon a page that had some purple text.

“This text is of a separate color,” she said to herself. “I can read it, as well.”

“Shizaruku.”

The book glowed as her mane started to separate into multiple strands that weaved around themselves. She felt her hooves plant themselves into the ground. Her mane had knitted itself into a giant pair of scissors.

“My mane! It turned itself into a pair of scissors…” she blatantly stated as she took a few steps around. “Can I use this for something?”

She walked around with her mane still in its spell form and tried going up to a rock. Without even thinking about it, the giant pair of hair-scissors cut through it, slicing it into two clean halves.

“Oh, my! This can be very useful for my dress making!” she cried out as she began stuffing gems into the box she was carrying. Eventually, her mane turned back into its normal, curly self.

For the next fifteen to twenty minutes, Rarity collected gems from the rocks she had cut. Once she found her box completely full, she decided to head back to the train station and go back home.

Once the area had been cleared, the same figure that had attacked Applejack emerged from the shadows of the rocks. The creature was merely a silhouette, with no noticeable features except for the fact that it was very tall and had white eyes.

“Well, it seems that generous Rarity with a lack of folly has been deceived into the game. A misery to be fallen to the ground is a deficit to the minds of the unwary souls that plague against the land once beautiful. For that she may be one of success, she may be one of great power. She understands little of strength, nor of brawn or power to fell thine enemies,” it said.

The voice still had a metallic sound that resonated through the ridge, just as it did when it struck out at Applejack. It walked around as it spoke to no one, observing the ridge.

“For once a great land alone from life hath become one of woe, I jump not at the idealistic of the great powers that attempt to enrich the land. For the lies that have been placed in this mind of insanity be the sirrah that causes others to bleed to their own satisfaction of the insane mind, I hath bring it to my own opportunity to once again strike down the brightness of the sky.”

“The powers executed upon dark fall upon the eyes of the loved, but the abused speech does leave the soul to break into the pieces of the divinity. The caitiff asp known once before that tried to desolate the heavens doubted the estate of the mind once pure and mellow, bringing upon the wrath eternal from these sullen terms.”

“My abhorred ability that failed before passing to a safe realm could not calm the minds of the two deceitful, mustered cherubin, but only cause the destruction of sanity for a sacrificed soul awakened.”

“The ability in the censure from the sun to the moon was found lacking in the chance brought forth to the resurrected light of my power since forgotten. The ones I have brought to be cozened to hath passed the battle former into the present, to be intervening the great quarrels that occur in frequent.”

“To the one the sirrah calls his friend shall be the next target to my idle play. She is weak, unable to ward off the spirits of those with great ability, or even the smallest of abilities. Her being is to be menacing, allowing herself to release the true mental condition. She is one to be played with, to be brought into my light now festered.”

Once the creature finished soliloquizing, it disappeared in a flash of light.

Chapter One: The Arrival (Revised)

Prologue

Watashi no Chiisai Uma: Ooki na Kouseki no Monogatari

わたしのちいさいうま：おおきなこうせきのものがたり

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Jomaku

じょまく

序幕

Prologue

"Okay, children! Gather 'round! It's story time!" a mature male voice sounded out.

Everyone in the room put down their toys and dropped their conversations and came around the adult, sitting all near him. There were creatures of various kinds in the small play room, ponies, changelings and griffons mainly. They were all young and small.

"What story will you be reading us today?" an excited griffon called out, causing many different conversations to uproar from the littl'uns. The adult observed them and enjoyed their enthusiasm.

"Okay, calm down, young ones!" he ordered, making everyone quiet down. They all stared intently at him. "Today's story is a story of many elements. It is a story of the connection of hearts. It is a story of much negativity, showcasing hardship, anguish, betrayal and cruelty; however, it also tells of triumph, victory, honor and courage. The entirety of the story is all based off of true events, from things that happened in a distant past to a relative yesterday. It contains an excellent message on friendship and protection, of which I want you all to take and learn from," the grownup recommended.

"Ooh, ooh! I have a question!" an eager changeling shouted.

"Yes, little one?" the creature softly answered.

"How long is the story?" she asked.

"This is quite the lengthy story, so I suggest that you all get comfortable where you are," he suggested, pulling a book from the shelf.

The book had strange markings on it, and when the adult opened it, it started to glow. The adolescent creatures all oohed and aahed at this sight.

"That book is glowing!" an enthusiastic unicorn yelled.

"Yes it is, young one. This book contains many truly awesome things, It operates on the power of the heart, which is what this story is based around. I want you all to pay close attention to how the heart is represented in this story. You could all learn something wonderful from this tale," he explained, looking over each of the children's faces. They were all smiling at him, anxious of what today's telling would ensue. "Alright, let us begin. This is the Legend of the Great Crystals."

Chapter Thirteen: Becoming A Crusader

Chapter Twelve: A Mysterious Occurrence

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuunishou: Kikai na Shuttai

だいじゅうにしょう：きかいなしゅったい

第十二章：奇怪な出来

Chapter Twelve: A Mysterious Occurrence

It was now about an hour later, and Gash had finished his homework for the day. Fluttershy had gone outside to spend time with her animals. Gash now was sitting on the couch, reading a book like always. He had been reading for about forty minutes, and was quite indulged in the novel.

It was about an adventurer named Daring Do, who, in this novel, is suffering from multiple leg breaks after she failed to climb a cliff without any harness or rope and fell. She had been gaining a lot of weight, and once she was finally able to start moving again, she learned that she couldn’t climb or do any kind of adventurous moves like she could before. She was suffering from a bout of mild depression because of this. However, she gains inspiration from a pony from a tribe out in the wilderness, who even after being beaten and tortured by other members of the tribe, rose above their power and defeated them in battle. This gave her the inspiration to work out and become strong again herself. This made Gash think a little bit.

‘Wow. That is cool. Hmm…I’m getting fatter by the day. Maybe I should start working out myself…’ he thought, contemplating the decision for a moment. ‘Well, if this whole Millennium Battle is what Chrysalis is making out to be, I’m going to need to be in top shape in order to successfully fight off any demons that attack me. The only problem is figuring out the place to start…’ he continued, putting a hand up to his chin in thought. He put a bookmark in the novel. ‘Maybe Fluttershy will know!’ he finished, getting up from the couch. He went outside to seek Fluttershy’s assistance.

“Fluttershy!” he called out. The butter coated mare trotted around the corner of her cottage.

“Yes, Gash?” she softly asked.

“As you can see, I’ve been putting on weight over the last couple of months. I was wondering if you know where I could start for an exercise routine,” he explained.

“Um…” she mumbled, thinking of a place to start. “Maybe you could ask Rainbow Dash for her advice…if that’s okay with you…” she suggested shyly.

“That sounds good. Do you know where she is?”

“I would look around the sky above Ponyville.”

“Okay. Thank you,” he said, walking off towards the village in question.

Gash was now entering Ponyville and was searching the sky above for the mare that he was told to look for. He had finally been able to suppress his frustration to a comfortable point to where he could walk around with minimized discomfort, though the stares still did bother him. He walked around for about thirty minutes without finding a single trace of the rainbow-maned mare. He was just about to give up and go home before a voice stopped him.

“Oh, hey Gashy!” Pinkie’s voice rung out. He turned around to meet the pink mare with hope in his eyes.

“Oi, Pinkie. How are you today?” he asked.

“I’m super-dundiddily-riffic!” she informed, looking cheerfully to him. “How about you?”

“I’m doing well myself,” he stated.

“Wonderful! So, what are you up to?”

“I’m looking for Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, you are? Well, I can help you with that!” she let know.

“You can? How?” he quizzed. Pinkie took a rather deep breath. She just stood there for a moment, which confused Gash. “Pinki-“

“Rainbow *DASH*!” she shouted out very loudly, Gash stepping back in surprise. He just stood there, shocked at the volume of her voice. A few moments later, Rainbow Dash landed next to her.

“Whaddya need, Pinks?” she asked.

“Gashy-washy is looking for you!” Pinkie informed.

“Oh?” she said, looking to Gash. “You need me?”

“Uh…yeah.”

“Well, what’s up?”

“I want to lose weight, but I don’t know where to start. I was hoping that you’d know.”

“Looking to shed some pounds, eh? Well, you’ve come to the right pony then!” she yelled, walking toward him.

“Cool. Where do I start?”

“Start by running.”

“Okay,” he said to her. She stared at him intensively for a moment, which confused Gash.

“Well? Go!” she shouted, catching Gash slightly off guard.

“Pfft…Okay!” he yelled back, running in the opposite direction. She soon followed.

“I don’t know about human posture, but when a pony runs, they keep their back straight! I’m going to assume that you want to stay straight up and down!” she cried, running right next to him.

She lifted off the ground and motioned around his hunched over body. He quickly corrected his stance. Many ponies were watching as Gash was matching Rainbow’s pace on foot. It was an amazing, yet strange sight for the ponies.

“Like this?” he asked.

“Yeah, good! Now, turn left at that corner!” she instructed as the two approached an intersection. He followed her directions and swung around the corner.

“Alright, where to?”

“Just keep running straight now!” she yelled, flying to the front of him and touching down on the ground.

The two kept running straight for about ten minutes. It was awesome for Gash, as the wind blowing past him almost made the fatigue and burn he was feeling go away. He could still feel the lactic acid straining at his legs, screaming for him to stop. Still, he pressed onward.

“How are you doing back there?” she quizzed.

“I’m starting to feel tired now!” he answered, now struggling to keep up with her pace. She slowed so that he could catch up.

“That means that you’re starting to get acid build-up! Work through the pain! That’s the key to getting stronger!” she yelled at him.

This pumped him up as he increased his pace, running past the rainbow mare. He turned around and ran backwards, grinning at the mare. This surprised her for a moment, but she was knocked out of her trance as Gash unknowingly was approaching a mare and stallion who were pushing a cart with foals inside.

“Gash, watch out!” she shouted.

It was too late, however, as he run back-first into the cart, sending it flying into the air, as well as the two foals within.

“Kuso!” he shouted, falling backwards on the ground, his head hitting the dirt with force.

(“Shit!”)

“No, my babies!” the mare shouted, looking up at the flying foals.

Gash flipped himself onto his belly and observed the two foals. Quickly thinking, he pulled out his spellbook.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, releasing a diagonal shield that caught the two youths.

They bounced off of the shield, back towards Gash and Rainbow. Rainbow flew up to catch one of the foals, while Gash jumped backwards as fast as he could to catch the other. Luckily, he got there just in time to catch the small child, once again falling to his back.

“Gotcha!” he exhaustedly said, setting the foal back onto the ground. Rainbow Dash quickly glided back to Gash, who was panting on the ground.

“Gash, are you alright?” she asked, landing next to him.

“Y-Yeah…I’m…huh…fine!” he informed, kicking his legs up in order to get back up to a sitting position.

“Oh, my goodness! Are the babies okay?” the mother asked, galloping over to them.

“Yeah, I think so!” Rainbow let know, picking up the other foal and giving both back to the pair.

“Thank you very much!” the stallion gratified as Rainbow helped Gash up from the ground.

“Yeah…no…huh…problem!” he panted, turning back to them. They looked at him and then to Rainbow.

“Is he that same guy who-“

“No, not the same guy.”

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you again!” they both said, walking over to their cart and putting the two back in.

“Well, that was surely a close call, wasn’t it?” Gash asked.

“Yeah, too close for me. But hey, now that that’s over, let’s keep going!” she suggested. Gash nodded, running again. Rainbow soon followed.

After running for another ten or so minutes, the two finally came to the edge of town opposite of Fluttershy’s cottage. They had approached a meadow, and Rainbow led Gash out into it. They walked for a couple minutes before Rainbow stopped.

“What are we doing out here?”

“Well, you’re going to do some stretches now. Go!” she quickly instructed.

Gash lifted his left leg into his adjacent arm, stretching his quad out. After holding this position for about five seconds, he did the same with his opposite leg and arm. When he finished this, he stretched his arms above his head, locking his fingers at the top point. He bent himself over ninety degrees into a low bow, stretching his back and arm muscles. He lifted himself back up to a straight back and then rotated his hands to behind him, stretching his pecks.

“Okay, I think that’s enough stretching for now,” Dash told as Gash released the stretch, letting his hands lay free to his sides.

“Alright. What’s next?”

“Push-ups! Go!”

Gash got to all fours and started pushing downward and upward, giving his arm muscles a good workout. His back was arched in a downward-dog position. He soon felt pressure on his back, which pushed him down into the ground.

“What the hell, man?” he complained.

“Keep your back straight!” she instructed.

“You could’ve just said that!” he stated with frustration, lifting himself back up.

He continued the exercise, but Rainbow found he had continued to do the same mistake.

“Lower your back!” she instructed as Gash slightly lowered his back. He was still too high. “Lower!”

“How low do I need to go?”

“Lower!” she chanted, gaining an eye roll from Gash. It looked more like him dry-humping the ground instead of a push-up at this point. She observed his frame, and then figured out the real problem. “Stop!”

“What?”

“Put more distance between your fore hooves and your back hooves!” she yelled. Gash did exactly as he was told, and found himself in a much more comfortable position.

“Wow, that feels much better! And they're called hands and feet.”

“Okay. Bad posture doesn’t do anything for you except hurt you! Anyway, continue!” she instructed.

Gash did more and more push-ups, and found himself quickly tiring after about twenty. He did a few more, but found his limit there and collapsed to the ground. He panted, looking back up to Rainbow Dash.

“How…” he huffed, “was that?”

“Much better! I think that could serve you well as a routine if you added in a few other exercises!”

“Arright,” he slurred, standing up, sweat dripping off of his forehead and out of his armpits. “Is that it?”

“That’s it for what I can probably teach you. I can teach you things like pull-ups and other various stretches, but that’s pretty much what you would do for a main exercise routine. I’m usually free in the mid-afternoon if you need more coaching.”

“Alright! Thanks!”

“Now, run back to Fluttershy’s! Stat!” she ordered.

“Okay!” he chanted, beginning his trek back to Fluttershy’s.

Meanwhile at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was busy apple-bucking trees in the southern field. She was nearly finished for the day, but before she could finish, she could suddenly hear the sound of footsteps around her. They were very loud, and sounded almost metallic. She could hear them coming closer and closer.

“Who’s there?” she asked out, looking around everywhere for the source of the footsteps. She could hear a low-pitched laugh around her, which forced her to brace herself. It was almost haunting, and had a tone of dark, mysteriousness.

“Only a friend…” it sounded out. She could only guess that it was male, as it sounded muffled.

“A friend? If that’s so, come out!” she demanded.

“But, of course, honest Applejack…” it creepily rung, walking out from a tree behind her.

“Gouradisu!” it yelled, causing a light-gray shine to emerge from its book.

Applejack turned around to see the silhouette of a tall human in front of her. A blast of pure-white energy slammed right into her before she could make out any features of the figure. She was sent back into a tree, immediately falling unconscious. Her body had become smaller after the blast; it was almost like it eradicated her very flesh. Oddly enough, she still had her entire coat of fur and mane somehow. There was a scent of burnt apples all around, and the ground where the white blast had hit left a large crater.

The silhouette walked up to her, placing his hand on Applejack’s forehead. It glowed with dull-gray energy. Her body glowed with a light, almost dirt-brown energy as a vicious aura erupted from her chest, creating a dirty cloud of fawn dust above. The soot soon condensed itself into a rectangular prism shape, and features showed up on both covers-an hourglass shape with circles at the vertices and a row of odd text along the top of the structure. Once it had fully condensed, it fell to the ground next to Applejack. The figure set its hand down on the book, releasing raw, tea colored energy into the book. Its book once again glowed.

“Doruku,” it whispered, causing the umber book to shine with a sepia glimmer.

When this glow died down, it set its hand on Applejack’s forehead once again, leaning forward toward her ear.

“Now, Applejack, element of Honesty, thou shall share the same fate that the rest of thy precious Elements of Harmony shall meet. I command thou to fight in this battle fierce; defeating those weaker than thyself. Shall thou be defeated, I commend the soul to the world of Demons, where you may reign free over thy spiritual form. May the light and dark goddesses guide your battle, to create a perfect world with demons and ponies alike. Celestia knows it’s but a dream to me…” it commanded, sliding the book under her body. He rose.

“Gigano Orujio Radijio!” it rang, releasing another wave of white energy into the mare, surrounding her and seeping deep into her skin, recreating the savory flesh as it was before the original assault.

In an instant, the being disappeared in a flash of light to an unknown location, waiting to find its next prey.

“What in tarnation just happened?” the mare asked, lifting herself off of the ground.

She checked her surroundings, and didn’t find any kind of oddities, except for a crater right next to her body and a few buckets of singed apples. The only thing that she found off about herself was that she was unusually sore. She looked under her body and saw the book.

“Where in the world did this come from?” she sheepishly asked, lifting it up from the ground. She opened the book and flipped through the pages. “It looks lahke Gash’s book…” she trailed, eventually flipping to a glowing, dark-brown page. “Huh, I can read this.”

“Doruku!” she unintentionally shouted.

Involuntarily, she lifted her fore hooves off the ground, slamming them back down into the soft dirt beneath. Dirt shot out from all around the hooves, wrapping around the limbs. Suddenly, the ground around her cracked, splitting in multiple directions around the mare, knocking down trees from sheer force around. Out from these cracks shot masses of mud that wrapped around her buff frame, creating a gross, murky armor that reeked of ash and dust. Her mane turned into a spiky, rough plate that covered her entire back, creating spikes of cracked mud that shot all along her side, running down her flank and around her legs. Her tail shot straight up, turning into a singular, spiky ring that wrapped around the entirety of her body, orbiting the mare.

“What happened?” a voice yelled out from behind. She turned toward it, and was faced with Big McIntosh.

“Ah…Ah don’t know! Ah read a word out of that book,” she started, pointing toward the light-brown book, “and Ah turned into this!” she informed, her voice having become slightly more mature.

“How did that happen?”

“Ah have no clue!” she shouted in a panic.

“Calm down, Applejack,” the older stallion instructed. Applejack breathed deeply multiple times.

“Now, tell me exactly what happened.”

“Well, Ah was out here apple-buckin’ when all of a sudden, Ah here a voice! The next thing Ah know, Ah’m laying on the ground with that book!”

“That’s weird. Do you think you were attacked?”

“Ah don’t know…” she muttered.

Suddenly, the dirt that had amassed around her body shot off in a huge wave in every direction around her, causing Big Mac to recoil from shock. When he finally regained his stance, he looked over to Applejack, who was now unconscious again.

“What in the world…?” he wordlessly asked, staring at her.

He fell out of his trance as he lifted her and the book up onto his back, carrying her back to their barn.