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.