The Red Moonby Teku SenpaiChapters2 - Rhyme Time3 - Shockwave4 - Two is Better than One5 - All them Ponies1 - Aw Hell2 - Rhyme Time[ 2 ] The Silent Flare Ignites Chapter Two – The Silent Flare Ignites “Ugh, what the..?” I awoke to a peaceful setting. My whole body felt weird and tight, like my skin had gotten sewed one size smaller. Skin… Skin? What skin? I didn’t have any skin… Well, I did, but that’s not what I was looking at through my squinted eyes. “Fur? What the hell?” My eyes burned as the dry air agitated them. I shut my eyes, not risking permanent blindness. Why the hell did I have fur? If I recall before losing conscious, I was slung up into a changeling cocoon or something by Chrysalis. If anything, I’d expect to be a bug pony of sorts. But no, I was a regular stallion. Damn, this dream is just getting weird. Oh yea, I forgot. It’s a dream, nothing really happens out of logic. I let out a breath of frustration and looked around. I wasn’t in the castle anymore, or anywhere near it for that matter. If I had to guess I’d say I’m in the middle of the Everfree forest. Why the hell? “Oh, good. You’re up.” “I’m what?” I asked, dazed. My vision was still murky and unresponsive. “You know, up. Being awake? Returning from slumber?” “Psh, I knew that. I’m not stupid. Geez…” my voice sounded the same at least. “Now, we’ll have to get to work immediately. I was shut down my Celestia for the second time! If you had finished the transformation before she showed up, then I would be in control by now.” Can’t forget Chrysalis’ voice, now can I? And wait a second, “in control”? Why’d she say “in control”? “Chrysalis, I’ve got a few questions to ask…” I opened my eyes and turned my head towards Chrysalis, who was lying down behind me. My eyes still burned, but it was tolerable now. Anyway, before I could begin the inquiry, the information my eyes were sending to my brain was quite odd. I had a much broader field of vision, and I could see a long muzzle where my nose should’ve been. What the hell am I? “Umm, you had questions?” Chrysalis looked at me slightly impatient. “Oh yea, I did.” I took in a deep breath and asked my first question. “What am I?” “Well, you used to be a human. You should know that though, but what was your name again? Josh? Joe? Jared? I can’t remember, but one could say that you’re a pony now.” “A pony? I’m a pony?” I reached into my inner chi and felt a flow of something brilliant. I couldn’t quite describe it, but it was quite calm. It resembled water following a path. It flowed freely, but was contained within me. The tranquility brought peace to my mind. Until Chrysalis thought it’d be funny to poke my snout. “Are you alive? You’ve been rocking your head back and forth for a few minutes with that stupid expression on your face.” “Me? What? I what? What?” Chrysalis sighed, “You are a pony now. During the changeling process, normally the victim would morph into the default look of a changeling and be connected to the hive mind. For some unknown reason though, you took the shape of a pony, even if I modified the cocoon to allow you to retain your mind and thoughts.” “I still have my own mind right?” “Yes.” “Why am I a…” something on either side of me fluttered before everything went calm again, “…pony?” I looked to my left side and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then I quickly swiped my head the other way to check my right flank, nothing. Just a cool-looking cutie mark. Hmm. I checked my left flank again, this time taking a look at my whole body. In my current sitting position, I had my forearms, or rather, fore hooves planted into the ground in front of me. My hind legs were underneath me and were kept warm by my stomach. I was indeed, a pony. However, what Chrysalis failed to tell me, was that I was a pegasus. A crimson pegasus. A crimson red pegasus with a kickass cutie mark. And an equally kickass dark grey tail with yellow highlights. I assumed that my mane looked just as awesome. “… I’m a pegasus? Why didn’t you tell me? You know Chrysalis, you could’ve said ‘pegasus’ instead of just ‘pony’. That kind of information is important.” I was still inspecting the left side of my body and felt the oddity of my back muscles. It felt so weird and nothing to what I was used to. What I was used to? What am I used to? I don’t remember anything before this dream. It was so aggravating how I couldn’t recall simple memories. “I didn’t tell you that you are a pegasus for a simple reason. That reason, is that you’re not a pegasus. You, my fine ally, are an alicorn.” “Hmm? Say what? An alicorn? Don’t I need a horn to be an alicorn and possibly the ability to, you know, wield magic?” My words were bathed in sarcasm and disbelief. “Jake, you are an alicorn,” Chrysalis retorted with a serious look on her face as she took her right hoof and brought it a little ways above my forehead. She then tapped on something that was protruding from it. Every tap shot a jolt of pain down my body. Wow that was quite painful… Not as painful as the cocoon experience, but it was something along the lines of hitting your funny bone on something hard. Wait, what? What’s a funny bone? Where did that analogy come from? What’s wrong with me..? I shook my head and shivered. It hasn’t even been a whole day yet and I’m an alicorn in Equestria. But damnit, it was a dream. That really sucked a lot. “Can I, uh, cast spells?” “Yea, I guess you could if you knew how to.” “Ha, it can’t be that hard. I’m sure I’ll figure out how in no time whatsoever.” “Based on your power level, I’d say the same.” Power level… why did that sound familiar? Ugh, this was incredibly annoying. “How about you teach me how to use magic?” I smiled my best grin and stared at Chrysalis convincingly. She waved her hoof, dismissing the notion, and said, “No. Not yet. You could still be recovering from morphing or something.” “Recover? From what? I feel fine!” I jumped to my hooves and bowed my head low and flared out my wings unevenly. I flashed a grin at Chrysalis again and simply waited for a response. Several minutes passed but my confidence didn’t falter. The Changeling Queen must’ve seen this too because she eventually let out a sigh of defeat and got up onto her hooves. “Fine. We’ll start magic training tomorrow. I haven’t the motivation to complete any tasks at the moment. Goodnight.” “What? It’s nighttime? But I just woke up! Come on Chrysalis, don’t be like that.” Chrysalis ignored my begging and continued on her way towards a tree that had fallen over, creating a mound of dirt before it. Why would she walk over to a mound of dirt? Maybe that’s where she slept. I continued to gaze in the direction of the Changeling Queen as she approached the mound. Chrysalis simply walked behind it and sank into the Earth. “… what?” I was at a loss. How did Chrysalis do that? Where did she go? I started to make my way towards Chrysalis when I noticed how lop-sided I was walking. “Ew, I’m gonna have to change that. Hmm, that’s probably why she didn’t want to teach me magic right away. She knew that she’d have to teach me how to walk and fly first.” I lowered my head and sighed. Whatever, I guess we should just wait tomorrow anyways. I lied back down on the cool earth and laid my head on my front hooves. This is a weird dream. The more I thought about it, the less this felt like an actual dream though. What if this wasn’t a dream? What if I was a real pony? Ahem, alicorn. What would Derek do without me? I was kind of his only friend. Damn, I feel pretty bad about Derek. I raised my head up and tilted it slightly. What if, now this is just a thought, but what if Derek was actually Chrysalis the whole time? Holy crap, that’s scary. Derek and I did so many stupid things together. I don’t believe it. Derek couldn’t have been Chrysalis. That’s impossible… Or was it? Damnit brain, STOP. Sorry. I put my head back down and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately, I had just recently been awoken from my slumber. I won’t be able to sleep again for a few hours or so. Geez, what time is it? I surveyed the area around me and saw that I was the only pony around. I was the only animal around, to be honest. The eerie lonesomeness made me uneasy. “I don’t feel so safe, which way did Chrysalis walk again?” I asked the question to myself, looking around in confusion. “Well, she walked towards a fallen over tree with a mound of dirt in front of it. That should cut a few directions out of the picture.” But, no. There were so many trees that had collapsed with mounds of dirt around them. I’m never going to find the way Chrysalis went. Damnit. Well, since Chrysalis walked to a mound and disappeared, I can guess that if I do to, then I’ll go where she went, if I found the right mound… This is really irritating. What if I just called for her? Yea, that’d work. I sucked in a deep breath and held it. Wait, I can’t shout. It’s in the middle of the night. Like a balloon, I slowly let the air leak out of my barely agape lips. “Well, if I can’t find her and there’s no one around, I might as well practice walking.” I’m not going to lie, saying it out loud made it sound so much easier than actually thinking about it did. I stood upright on my legs and took a step forward. Huh, not so bad. It was as if my muscles were already used to walking as a quadruped. A quadruped… have I been anything else besides one? Maybe I was some tall monster with two arms and three legs? That would’ve been cool. While I was in thought, I was mindlessly trotting in a circle around the sunken patch of dirt that I had rested in not too long ago. Well then, it seems I have walking down, how about I run? I was still walking, so I simply just picked up the pace by a little and enlarged my circle. I was trotting along finely, kicking up dirt every now and then. To be completely honest, it felt kind of good to jog around in a circle. I started to see my vision spin so I slowed myself to a slow canter before falling to my haunches. Alright, I’ve got walking and jogging down, but I’ll have to rest a bit and get my mind straight once more. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.. Exhale… My breathing grew steadier and slower with each exhale. Soon enough, I found myself in the sweet embrace of sleep. Oh, sweet sleep. It’s just like being dead, but you frantically hallucinate and at the end, you wake up again. Haha, everyone’s a zombie then. That’s pretty cool. When I awoke, the air was warm and the air was fresh. Probably because I was in a forest. In the dirt. I let out a long, well spent yawn and opened my eyes. I blinked a few times before swiveling my head from side to side. This isn’t where I fell asleep. Where am I..? I heard a soft snoring to my right followed by a yawn. I took a gander in the direction and saw that Chrysalis was sleeping peacefully right next to me. Did Chrysalis come and get me in my sleep? I guess so. What else would’ve anyway? I scoffed quietly and continued to stare at the Changeling Queen. Her mane was a mess and there were holes in her horn, and all throughout her hooves. For a second, I was tempted to poke my hoof through one of the holes on her hoof but decided against it because I might wake her up in the process. I looked forward again and then looked directly above me. It appeared to me that we were in some kind of dugout or cave. The room was a simple enough room: a simple circle. However, the opening to leave the room was directly overhead. The only way in or out would be to fly. Well, not necessarily, I guess you could fall in, but the only way out would be to fly. I tried to stifle a yawn, but it was futile. The yawn was a louder yawn and I smacked my lips a few times before laying my head back down. I poked my hoof at Chrysalis’ body and whispered, “Chrysalis? You still asleep?” To my surprise, her body was ice cold. My eyes narrowed and I was immediately at my hooves. “What the fuck? Chrysalis? Uh, hey Chrysalis?!” Worried thoughts were flying through my brain crashing into each other leaving me standing there stupidly without a single idea of what to do. Chrysalis moaned and shifted her body slightly to get comfortable. I sighed with relief and sat back down next to Chrysalis. Only then did my brain cooperate. Maybe Changelings were just naturally ice cold. Maybe that’s why they live in these warm holes. The air was so warm and snug. “Mmf, what? Wha joo wann?” Chrysalis groaned and half opened her left eye and gazed at me like a drunk. I simply looked back with a soft and gentle expression before remembering what I was doing the night before. “Uh, if you don’t mind, maybe a little bit of magic practice?” I grinned hopefully that she’d comply in my favor. Chrysalis simply blinked a few times before standing up. She let out a few high pitched squeals as she stretched her legs out. My eyes gleamed at the chance to finally learn magic. She put a hoof on my shoulder and drew in a breath. Chrysalis sighed before looking me straight in the eyes. Hmm, I was pretty much eye level with Chrysalis. That was interesting, sort of. I thought ponies were smaller. “Yes, fine. I’ll teach you magic. However, I am still tired and want to sleep. Therefore, in the meantime, you must find a name for yourself because I have no idea whatsoever regarding what to refer to you as. You are no longer human so I’m going to wait for you to choose a name for yourself.” Chrysalis then returned to her spot in the dirt and flopped back to the floor, snoring almost instantly. Wow, that changeling’s got some massive sleeping issues. Well, it must be difficult for her sleeping schedule when she’s tried to take Equestria twice, and failed twice. Eh, can’t blame her. That kind of stuff must be tiring. I deeply inhaled before exhaling slowly and with control. I had to think up a name for myself.I looked back at my flank and took into account what my cutie mark was portraying. I had a special talent… and I didn’t even know what it was. How dandy. Anyways, the cutie mark is two clashing swords. One is on fire and the other is consumed in what seems to be electricity. To be honest, it looked pretty awesome. I really want to use my magic and perform a spell. ANY spell. I was getting anxious to the point where I couldn’t contain myself. I scoured the small room in search of something I could use and came across a few rocks. Welp, better than nothing. I jogged over to rocks and lay next to them, eyeing them intently. I just lay there, staring the rocks, not knowing what to do or expect. I guess that I could try picturing the rocks doing something. I reached into the depths of my mind and imagined the rocks stacking themselves up one on top of the other. Nothing happened. I snorted and blinked a few more times before eyeing the rocks again with even more intent. Once again, I imagined the rocks stacking into a tower. Nothing. This sucked so much. I wish I had appendages that jutted out from my hoof. I could just grab the rock and throw it or something. I imagined my hooves becoming something similar to the claws that griffins had. My hooves immediately caught fire and the hole was illuminated in a great yellow orange light as I screamed as loud as I could. “Wuhh? Whutter you doin?” Chrysalis immediately woke and blinked a few times and noticed the sudden brightness of the room. She brought a hoof to shield her eyes from the intense light and heat. Unfortunately, her hooves were holey. The light flowed through her hooves and invaded Chrysalis’ eyes. It all happened so fast. As fast as the fire started, it went out and the light in the room vanished. My fore hooves have been replaced by same claws that griffins had. These claws however, were the same red crimson hue as my fur. They didn’t have fur on them, but they were the same color. I sat back on my haunches and observed what just happened when an idea nudged itself to the front of my brain again. My eyes grew wide with excitement and the edges of my lips curled up. I looked in Chrysalis’ direction and squealed “MAGIC!!!” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and moved to sit next to me. She raised her hooves in front of my face and kept them there. After a short wait, her hooves glowed green and were replaced with claws, just like mine, but with a dark greener color instead of my crimson red. My mouth was agape and I just stared at Chrysalis. “I can morph? It wasn’t even that hard…” “So it seems. You must have a thing for magic. Even if you haven’t mastered anything else, I can tell that it’ll be pretty easy considering how you’ve maneuvered yourself when your hooves were morphing. You were running and jumping around the whole place.” I blushed slightly and replied, “Yea… um. You saw that?” Thank the lord my coat was crimson red. No one will be able to see my blush. Ever. “Of course, I was in the middle of it all.” Chrysalis snorted and looked at me. “Ahem, anyways… Magic?” “Yes, magic… Let’s leave the room first, it’s getting stuffy in here.” Chrysalis then morphed her claws back into her trademark holey hooves and took to the sky. She floated up until she was out of the entrance hole. I sat awestruck at how easy it seemed for her to morph and to fly. She didn’t even have to think about doing any of them. It was all like a force of instinct or something like that. Wait, how was I supposed to get out? I never actually used my wings for flight yet and I’m not entirely sure if I could actually do it. I gulped nervously and trotted directly under the hole above me and unfolded my wings. My wingspan was pretty incredible. It looked bigger than the pegasi in My Little Pony. My Little Pony… boy, where am I getting all these memories from..? Ugh. I shook my head, relieving myself of the thought and continued. Well, then again. I’m kind of a big pony… so, yeah. Anyway, back to the task at hand: Flight. It’s easy, birds can do it. Why can’t I? With my wings still unfolded, I tilted them so I can get a glance at them from every angle I could. Yup. Flight. Piece of cake. With a deep breath, I raised my wings and brought them down fast. I was immediately off the ground and shooting upwards. Shit, too much. How do I stop?! I continued to jet upwards, past the hole that led down into the little room. Ah, this isn’t going to end well… “Okay. So, I’m going to have to banish you temporarily while we get the repairs done around here.” Chrysalis was staring down at me with annoyance in her eyes as well as slight sympathy. I simply hung my head low and remained on my haunches, accepting the punishment being thrown at me. I can't say I didn't see this coming. After all, I did kind of hit the ceiling of a cave network. The cave then crumbled and filled everything with dirt, and yea. Not the best of accidents if you ask me. You wouldn’t believe how long it took to dig out every last changeling. And me. “Although you’ll be in exile for probably a month, I won’t leave you completely helpless. Err, by the way, did you come up with a name for yourself?” I brought my head up and stared at Chrysalis for a second, tapping my jaw with a hoof. “Yes, I have. I decided on ‘Silent Flare’.” “Silent Flare? Really? That’s kind of ironic…” “Well, yeah.” I began to blush again out of slight embarrassment but still approved of my self-appointed name. “Even if the flare I caused earlier wasn’t the most silent there could be, it sounds much better than ‘Loud Flare’.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and scoffed before continuing. “You have a point. Anyway, Silent Flare, your exile begins now.” She smacked the ground with her hoof in emphasis of her last word. She then dug her hoof into the ground and drew an arrow with it pointing to the east. If you follow this direction and not ONCE, stray away from the path, you will find yourself in the small village of Ponyville. There, you will be a normal pony, or at least try to in essence, and fit in with the local population.” “Yes, ma’am.” “Be off then, Flare.” Without another word, I turned and began walking. I wasn’t all too sad, just regretful. I still didn’t get the hang of flying, but I was determined to find out on the trail to Ponyville. Once I was out of Chrysalis’ eyeshot and earshot, I looked around and flapped my wings. Not as I had done earlier in the tunnels, but much more gently. I was gently lifted off and I could feel myself hovering almost a yard off the ground. This was amazing. I was flying! Well, floating, but who cares. I flapped slightly harder and ascended. I continued to flap until I was above the tree tops and saw nothing but the forest canopy. “If I’m going to find Ponyville, I’ll have to find it from the air. I’m not walking through that dense forest just to get to a village. I might die.” I then tried to adjust my wings, while in flight, so I could accelerate forward. I partially did it. I flapped, shooting the air under my wings behind me, but in doings so, also lost the leverage that kept me afloat. Therefore, I displaced myself forward, but began to plummet down. My eyes grew wide and I frantically flapped my wings trying to stabilize myself. My unsynchronized flaps only aided in my crazed descent. Before long, I felt tree branches whipping at me and leaves sticking themselves in my mane. Once the branches finished tearing at me, the momentum that I had lost was quickly regained as I continued my descent and smashed into the dirt with a loud thud and a ear piercing snap. “Yep, that hurt,” I hissed as I tried standing back up. My left hind leg was badly out of shape and I could see a bone piercing the flesh. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. That hurts. Whoa, that hurts.” I felt a slight burn and tingling sensation as I continued to stare at the mangled leg. After a few seconds, a few turquoise sparks started to emit from the punctured area of the leg where the bone was protruding. The sparks became much more violent and flashed until I could see electricity with the same turquoise color flowing up and down my entire leg. The bone slowly made its way back into my leg and with another crack, the leg was correctly shaped and in place. The electricity continued on for a few more seconds before moving to the rest of my body. The electricity began to spark and curve, shooting out excess teal energy occasionally. I felt my cuts being mended as the electricity bounced up and down the entirety of my body. The electricity then began dying out, becoming sparks once more and then finally dispersing completely. That was cool. My eyes were wide and I was looking around as if someone else saw what had just taken place. “Anyone else see that?! No? Just me? Okay.” I stomped my foot on the ground and started digging up dirt with my hoof for no reason at all. “I might as well try flying again. I guess my body heals itself? I dunno. Probably.” I took one last glance at my leg and wobbled it, feeling no pain. I walked in a small circle for confirmation. Still, no pain. Sweet. With a simple shrug, I began to flap my wings again, slowly elevating myself into the air. Not wanting a repeat of the plummeting to my supposed death, I remained a yard off the ground and experimented with aerial maneuvers. “Hmm, so if I do this, I’ll move forward, and if I shift my wings like this, I’ll move backwards.” Respectively, I curved my wings and continued to flap. I remained off the ground, but still moved forwards and then backwards. I continued to experiment and soon after, figured out how to move to the left and right and then simply turning in midair. Feeling confident, I took in a deep breath and flapped my wings harder, ascending faster than last time. I quickly transitioned into flapping my wings to move me forward, and it worked. I flew in the direction that Chrysalis had pointed me in and I could start making out the edge of the forest. A few seconds later, I started to see building with hay roofs dotting the land. It seemed like a pretty peaceful, yet bustling town. It was, to say the least, just how I imagined civilization in a utopia. Reducing my flapping rate, I slowly descended back to the ground at the very edge of the forest next to a small tree cottage. Hopefully, someone lived here. I landed and trotted to the door and knocked on it three times. “Hello? Who is it?” There was a very soft and feminine voice inside. A mare must live here. Huh. “It’s… um. Silent Flare?” I wasn’t entirely comfortable with throwing my name around just yet. I was slightly hesitant to say it out loud, but it escaped my lips none the less so the only way to go now is forward. I waited for a response and soon enough there was one. “Silent Flare? I’ve never heard of him before…” “Uh, yea. About that, I’m kind of new here and I was hoping to find some ponies to get acquainted with.” “Oh, I’m not sure.” The door cracked open and a yellow mare poked her head out. Her pink mane flowed down her head perfectly and her eyes were the perfect shade of cyan. I was standing there awestruck as the mare simply stared at me, it was obvious that she’d never seen a stallion as large as me before. What could I say, I was tall and, well, large. I shook my head to snap out of my daze and continued. “Well, I just came from the Everfree forest. You see, there was an incident and I was forced to leave the people I was with, and I spotted this town so I – “ The door swung open and the yellow mare immediately grabbed me and pulled me inside. She then flung me onto her couch and shut the door. This mare, is strong. That’s all I can say. “The Everfree? Are you hurt? How long have you been out there? Are you hurt anywhere? Did I already say that?” The mare began bombarding me with questions when in all actuality, I was still trying to get over the fact that she had just picked me up, a pony more than twice her size and weight, and flung me onto her couch. I took in a deep breath, recalling her questions and answered. “Yes. No. I’m not sure. No. Yes.” The mare then backed up a little to get a complete view of me. Her eyes grew wide and she immediately galloped out the door. I was in a massive state of confusion and didn’t know what to do next, so I stayed on the couch and waited patiently. I started surveying the living quarters that I was in and found a small white bunny stomping on the table next to the couch I was on. His face was clearly saying that he was unamused. “Hi there, little guy. How’re you doing?” The bunny continued to stomp his foot on the table, creating a steady beat that I couldn’t help but bob my head to. “You know, you’d do well in the music industry.” The rabbit then leaped up and kicked me in the face before attempting to scamper away. My eyes sent out a pulse of blue energy that enveloped the whole room and added a blue hue to everything. Without thought, I grabbed the bunny, which was in mid-air and falling in slow motion. I brought the bunny to my snout and stared into its eyes. The pulsating blue in the room soon faded and the poor rabbit tried squirming around. I continued to stare at the bunny with death in my eyes. The door then barged open and the yellow mare walked in. She froze in place as a purple unicorn mare entered the room beside her. “Uh, hi.” That’s all I managed to stutter before the yellow mare began shaking and leapt at me. She swiped the rabbit out of my grip and landed safely on the other side of the cottage. “You don’t touch Angel! Do you understand!” she then began to stare at me intently. I, honestly, didn’t know what she was doing. She was just standing there staring at me. I got uncomfortable and spoke up, “Um, what are you doing?” My opposition immediately gasped and put her hoof to her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Okay, so by now, I’m kind of confused. This yellow mare snatches the bunny out of my hand, stares at me uncomfortably, and then apologizes. I honestly don’t know how to react to such a situation. Therefore, I stand there awkwardly. I have absolutely no idea what to do. Luckily, the purple unicorn that returned to the cottage with this yellow pegasus was here to save me from the silence. “So, what’s your name?” she spoke up. I turned to the speaker and replied shakily. “Si- Silent Flare… but, you know, Flare's fine.” “Silent Flare you say… I haven’t heard of anypony with such a name. Are you new to Ponyville?” “Actually, yes. I just came through the Everfree forest and stumbled upon this town. I’m just trying to make acquaintances as of now.” Twilight’s eyes sparkled and she smiled the widest smile I’ve ever seen. “Friendship!” “Um, Twilight?” Twilight’s face was locked in its mega hyped state. It was quite creepy to say the least. Twilight’s face then turned grim as she looked me up and down before saying. “How are you an alicorn?” “I’m not too sure.” I gave a weak smile and broke eye contact with Twilight, quickly finding the floor a very interesting subject to look at, "I woke up in the Everfree forest and I was an alicorn somehow..." “Hmm, very interesting. Anyway, I assume you’ve met Fluttershy?” Fluttershy? Was Fluttershy the yellow mare? I looked up to see her walk up to me shyly. “Um, hi. My name’s Fluttershy, nice to meet you.” She pushed one of her hooves in front of her in an attempt to shake hooves. It was quite obvious that she was extremely shy, but if someone saw how she leapt at me earlier, they’d say otherwise. Her extended hoof was shaking like a house in an earthquake. Noticing her discomfort, I quickly extended my hoof and grinned happily, “Hi there Fluttershy, nice to meet you. Don’t worry about earlier, it’s fine.” “Yes, um. Okay.” The poor mare was hiding behind her mane, shielding her face from prodding eyes. She looked down at her rabbit in one hoof, which had another annoying expression on its face. I swear I want to just take that rabbit and throw it. I don’t care where, I just hated it. I then looked back at Twilight who was staring at me like a cat ready to pounce. She started circling me, her eyes scoured my whole body and stopped at my flanks. Her eyes went wide and she immediately froze in her tracks. Psh, what a pervert. Twilight’s facial expression didn't change at all and, in all honesty, was worrying me quite a bit. I gulped audibly, not knowing what to do so I eased myself away from Twilight and started making my way towards the door that had been left open. When I finally made it, I said with a nervous smile, “Well, it was really a pleasure in meeting you two, I hope to see you later. Bye now.” Fluttershy was looking at me and Twilight was still frozen solid, her eyes gazing off into space at the spot where I used to be on the couch. Without giving them a chance to respond, I turned and opened the door before hiding behind it, quickly shutting it behind me. I let out a relieved sigh and began to gallop towards the town nearby. "Maybe he was in a hurry..." Fluttershy turned to Twilight and suggested. Fluttershy's statement snapped Twilight back to reality with which she responded, “I’m not sure. He said he was from the Everfree though. We should help him, especially because of who he is. If what I’ve read is correct, then we can't risk having him as an enemy." “Who is he anyway? Nevermind, we’ll let him explore the town today on his own before officially introducing him to anypony. Let’s meet up with the others before we move in to talk to him. Well, that is if you think that’s a good idea.” Fluttershy said quietly and trotted into the kitchen of her cottage. I needed to find some openly willing ponies to shelter me. I didn’t want to be outside, exposed to the elements and what not. Plus, I needed somepony to teach me how to use magic, fly properly, and explain my unusual flame and electricity powers. I was walking aimlessly in thought, not noticing that I was half a second from colliding with a turquoise unicorn mare. We collided, inevitably, and she dropped what she was holding. It looks like she was just holding a box full of candy. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there! I was just – ” she started, but I cut her off and put a hoof in her mouth. “No, no. It’s my fault. I should’ve seen where I was going, but I ended up running into you. My sincerest apologies.” After apologizing, I removed my hoof from her mouth and she just started smiling openly. Her golden eyes were gleaming and sparkling as she began to bounce lightly. “Would you like to come over sometime?” 3 - Shockwave[ 3 ] The Memory Chapter Three – The Memory This sandwich, to say the least, was the best sandwich ever. It was the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. Ever. It was so delicious that I asked for seconds, and seconds for my seconds, and seconds for my seconds for my seconds, and… well, now here I am eating seconds to my seconds to my seconds to my seconds. The sandwich was a plain and simple daffodil sandwich, but DAMN it tasted amazing. Okay, I’ll stop with the sandwich now. “How many of these are you going to eat?” the cream colored earth pony asked me after dropping another plate of sandwiches on the table. “I donf knor.” “It’d be better if you just finished what’s in your mouth before you spoke, you know.” She rolled her eyes in annoyance. I gulped down the food that I had been chewing ever so diligently and replied, “I don’t know. This is some good stuff. Why are you always here with Lyra anyways?” I took another bite of my sandwich and eyed the mare before me. Her blue and pink mane curled at its ends. Her just-as-blue-and-pink tail curled at its end as well. It was kind of cool. “Huh, I thought you’d know who your food supplier is.” Her bold turquoise eyes bore into mine as she continued, “I’m Lyra’s roommate, or housemate if you prefer. The name’s BonBon. You’ve never told me your name yet. Lyra just invited you in and asked me to start stuffing you.” “Oh, heh heh. My bad, my name’s Flare. Silent Flare. It’s quite an honor to meet such an amazing sandwich maker.” I took another bite from my sandwich and closed my eyes, letting the flavor tickle my taste buds. Ah, this was just serene. Well, it would be if the back of my throat was screaming at me to get up and get some water. The bread was, unfortunately, quite dry. Even if the daffodils were crunchy as well as juicy, the bread was drier than a desert. I finished chewing and looked back at BonBon. “You wouldn’t mind it if I asked for a glass of water, would you?” BonBon’s face wasn’t amused at all. “You know, you have hooves too, and wings. Oh, and what’s this?” BonBon scoot closer to me and tapped my horn, “And a horn! Wow!” I understood where she was going with her pathetic sarcasm. “Yea, yea, I get it. I’ll get it myself.” Satisfied with my response, BonBon backed up some to let me get up. “Um, but where do I get it from? I don’t really know my way around the house at all.” “Oh, it’s not a big house; just a basement, first floor, and second. You’ll find it in no time.” BonBon then spun around and trotted away. Wow, all these mares and how they trot was just utterly tantalizing. I don’t think I needed water if I could just stare like this for a while. BonBon must’ve had a sixth sense or something because without turning her head she scoffed, “That’s not where you’ll find the water.” Damn. BonBon left the room leaving me to chart out this foreign land. “Hm, it can’t be too hard. Can it?” I cantered around the dining room in thought, trying to find the most reasonable place that water could be. Without a second to spare, my brain uploaded its first thought: bathroom. “Aha! There’s water in a bathroom!” I trotted to the bathroom with my head held high with confidence. “BonBon thought she could outsmart me? Ha! How wrong she is. But, um. Where’s the bathroom.” Damnit. Not this cycle again. Screw this. I began to trot around the room once more and looked to the hallway to my left. So, there was a living room and a single hallway that branched off of it. I dashed to the mouth of the hallway and studied what I saw. Down the hallway were two bedrooms on either wall. At the very end of the rather short hallway was a door. Bathroom. I galloped down the hallway and blew right through the door. My throat was as dry as it would ever be now, which meant that I needed water right now. Right. Now. Well, I did blow through the doorway at the end of the hallway, but I fell. I didn’t expect the bathroom to be sunken deeper into the ground, or to be pitch black, excluding the light coming from the door above me. “Ugh, what the? What happened? Is this the bathroom?” I started coughing and unsettling some dust bunnies laying around as my vision became dense with dust. Wow, there’s so much dust around here. You’d think that Lyra and BonBon would treat their bathroom with more respect. I couldn’t see anything at all. It was just too dark in here. Alright, I need a light. What do. My eyes shut in hard frustration. I thought for a second and after a few seconds my eyes shot open and a grin appeared on my face. “NIGHT VISION! Too perfect!” I shut my eyes again in concentration trying to make my eyes adopt night vision. “NNggg… ugh.” This was some tiring work. Magic’s hard. I gave up and opened my eyes. The whole place was lit up in a shade of cyan. Oh, snap. Who just used magic to see in the dark? ME. This was too cool. I just gave myself night vision! That’s awesome. What wasn’t awesome though, was the fact that I wasn’t in the bathroom. I was in a dusty cellar or something full of old furniture. There were sticky cobwebs littering the tables and chair frames. I know they’re sticky because I got some on my hoof and it didn’t come off until I set my hoof on fire like I did inside the changeling tunnels. Before I could make sense of anything else someone spoke up behind me. “… What the hay are you doing down here?!” The voice behind me made me flinch. I was in trouble. I started turning around while saying “Well, I was trying to – ” With a scoff, the voice immediately shrugged off my excuse. “Don’t worry about it. Just – ” Lyra’s voice was cut off and her lower jaw was frozen in its mid-sentence state. Her eyes couldn’t be any more narrow and she slowly brought a hoof up and pointed at me before screaming. “YOUR EYES! YOUR EYES, FLARE!” I immediately panicked. I didn’t even know what was going on, I just started looking around the room frantically, trying to find something like a mirror. Finally, I found a rather large mirror up against the far wall. It was slightly cracked, but other than that it was relatively clean. I galloped to it and peered at my counterpart. What I saw was equally awesome as it was terrifying. The entirety of both of my eyes was cobalt blue and cyan flames were extruding outwards from them, licking the side of my head all the way up to my ears. I was frozen in terror and awe. I think my brain was overloaded for the second time ever. I started swaying before Lyra was by my side, letting me lean against her much smaller body. I put a hoof around her shoulder to stabilize myself. Lyra on the other hoof was trying to avoid the flames emitting from my eyes. I looked back at the mirror and the completely cobalt eyes stared back. What had happened? I didn't want this. My eyes didn’t burn, but they turned me into some kind of monster and Lyra knew it. She was avoiding the flames like a plague. At least she was still considerate enough to be there to stabilize me. I shook my head and continued to stare into the mirror. I glared at the image before me and imagined the cobalt blue disappearing into my original eyes and the flames going out like a candle running out of fuel. Almost immediately, the cobalt blue in my eyes faded back, except for the cobalt in my irises. The cyan flames took slightly more time to completely disappear. Once my eyes returned to normal, the cyan flames immediately went out like a fire deprived of its fuel. Lyra was looking into the mirror with the same expression I had had on. We were both frozen with awe and terror. After a moment I spoke up, “Well, that was… um, cool?” Lyra’s eyes were still narrow and her voice was evidently shaky. “Yea, cool. Let’s get out of the basement. I need to use the bathroom.” When Lyra said “bathroom” my ears perked up and I grabbed Lyra and picked her up. “Bathroom? Where?!” “Whoa Flare, didn’t know you wanted me this much.” My eyes went wide and heat started resonating from my cheeks. I set Lyra down and ran a hoof through my mane and chuckled nervously. Lyra then scoffed and raised an eyebrow before slowly walking towards the entrance to this dusty prison. Her flanks were swaying side to side even more seductively than BonBon’s. Wait, no. Flare, calm down and focus. Focus on the task at hand. I shook my head violently. I need to get out of the basement to drink water. I quickly followed in behind Lyra as she made her way up the steps to the basement door. After maybe 10 seconds of walking, Lyra and I were right in front of the bathroom door. It was ironic how the bathroom branched off from the living room. The living room which was right next to the dining room I was in. I could’ve sworn that I even came in here while I was trying to think up where the bathroom would be. Facehoof. Oh well. I get a drink now so it was all worth it. “What are you doing?” Lyra looked at me with an eyebrow raised. My mouth was open and staring into the bathroom, breathing heavily. Lyra on the other hand was already inside and eyeing me. “You just want some of these goods don’t you? I didn’t know you were that desperate, Flare.” She grinned and then winked at me. My face was overcome with redness and heat once more, not that it was visible but still. I started stuttering like a complete idiot, “I- I- what? No! I- uh.. what? Never! Why would I want any of them? By which, uh, I mean that, uh, you probably don’t like me like that.” I coughed a few times and cleared my throat before closing my eyes and scolding myself for being so stupid. Lyra just started to giggle and said, “That was a joke, Flare.” I looked back up at Lyra whose tail was flicking around playfully. “It- what? Joke? Oh. Well that’s, ahem, that’s good.” I nodded and drew in a few breaths. “Great.” Lyra giggled again and shut the door in my face. I sighed and clonked myself on the head. Stupid, stupid. Brain, why? Damn, I’m thirsty. I let my tongue flop out my open mouth and started panting. “Water… Must. Drink. Water. “BONBON?! WHERE’S THE WATER?!” I heard BonBon’s voice come from a room upstairs, “The what?” “THE WATER.” “The what? Speak up.” “THE FUCKING WATER BONBON. WHERE IS IT?” “Hey! There’s no need to use such profane language, Flare.” I heard the clip clops of hooves as BonBon made her way downstairs. I was glaring intently at where she would be when she was at the bottom. When she got the first floor she gazed at me with slight annoyance. My glare was doing absolutely nothing to falter her stance. BonBon rolled her eyes and waved off my death glare. “The hell did you want, Flare?” “Water.” “… You’re still looking for water? Flare, that was like half an hour ago.” “I, uh, got stuck in the basement. Lyra found me and I was about to get some but she went to the bathroom.” BonBon raised an eyebrow. “You couldn’t get water, because Lyra went to the bathroom? What does the bathroom have to do with getting water?” It was obvious that the cream colored mare was confused beyond reason. “The water’s in the bathroom, isn’t it?” I returned her confusion and tilted my head to the left slightly. “Flare, you idiot. The water’s in the kitchen. Why the hay would you need to do anything with the bathroom to get water.” BonBon’s eyes were monotonous and told me that she was kind of irritated. I sat down and thought about what she had just said. There was water in the bathroom, but I guess that water would be kind of disgusting. In the kitchen? Where was there water in the kitchen? The sink? That’d work. I got up and held my head high, “I knew that…” I walked towards what I had thought was the kitchen and huffed. “That’s the dining room Flare. Do you even know what you’re doing?” “I do. I was just, uh, making sure you knew where the kitchen was too.” My pathetic excuse caused BonBon to sigh and roll her eyes at my stupidity. I turned to the last door in the room that could lead anywhere. This better be the kitchen. When there was no retort from BonBon, I grasped the door lever in my hoof and pushed it down. Behind it, was the kitchen. “Sweet Nectar, there’s a sink in here. WATER.” BonBon rolled her eyes again and strode up next to me before slapping my face with a hoof. That hurt. A hoof is pretty hard, that’s for sure. I felt my jaw with my own hoof and felt around for a little bit. “That hurt, you know that, right?” “It was meant to. We’re not as uncivilized as you might think we are, Flare. We have our own water dispensers that give us filtered water.” BonBon then trotted up to a box with a faucet on it that was next to the sink on the counter. “Oh.” My brain’s need for water kicked in and I galloped to the box, knocking BonBon aside. I stuck my head under the faucet and pulled on the small lever. The glorious sparkling water seemed to fall into my mouth in slow motion. The perfect, cooled liquid. I started gulping the water down, anxious to relieve the discomfort in my throat but the more I drank, the more I craved it. I continued to consume the water with an unending want for it. Well, after being knocked aside, one could assume that BonBon was furious. Which she was. She lowered her head and started pawing at the ground with her left hoof. She was imitating a bull ready to charge. I, however, was completely unaware and happily drinking water. I was more vulnerable than a pony lost in the Everfree. BonBon took off and leaped at me, taking me by complete surprise, and tackled me to the floor. She then leapt up and pinned me down before I could do anything. The second part of her assault made me wonder about her. BonBon slowly shifted her pin and then just lied on top of my body. My size was nothing of an advantage against this mare. “Uh, BonBon. What are you doing? I’m thirsty. I need water!” I began to wriggle and squirm around but wow, BonBon knew how to keep a pin in place. My efforts were futile while BonBon just remained atop me smiling slyly. Sensing my discomfort in such intimate situations, BonBon grasped the opportunity and tapped her hoof to her chin. “You know, I’ve never really had such a large stallion around me before. I wonder if you’re as talented as you are big.” Her sly smile persisted as she winked at me. My mind raced as I tried to figure something out before this mare did anything I didn’t want. BonBon then leaned in and did the unexpected. She licked my muzzle. My eyes went wide and my first escape attempt formulated in my mind without any actual thought at all. “LYRAAA! HELP ME!” I yelled at the kitchen door. Lyra thought I was just playing around and kidded, “Oh? Do you need help out of the p – knock knock knock – you made while drinking water? Don’t drown.” There was a knocking on the door while Lyra was in mid-sentence. It sounded like she was going to say “problem”. Did she know that BonBon was causing me trouble in such a way? She couldn’t have, she had a mocking tone to her voice. What if – lick. My aggressor had licked my muzzle once more and her expression became seductive. “No BonBon! Get off. Stop it. I DON’T WANT YOUR GOODS.” BonBon leaned in to give me another lick, this time on my neck, when the kitchen door swung open. Lyra and a little purple dragon were standing in the doorway. BonBon’s tongue was extended from her mouth and centimeters from my shoulder. Her gaze however, was at Lyra and the purple dragon. Immediately, BonBon jumped off me and cantered to the door and pushed past Lyra and the guest before making her way back upstairs with a light giggle. I was still on my back with my legs in the air when Lyra turned to me with wide eyes. “So you must be Silent Flare?” the purple dragon spoke up and crossed his arms. “Already getting intimate with the mares around here, eh?” “What? No! It wasn’t like that.” I tried to refute the purple dragon’s argument, but before I could Lyra threw herself at me and wailed, “How come you don’t treat me like that?!” “No, get off. Lyra! Get off.” I pushed Lyra off and she smirked playfully. I wasn’t too amused, but I dropped the issue. Lyra’s tale was swishing around again. I quickly got to my feet and sighed before turning to the miniscule dragon and asking, “How do you know my name? Do we know each other?” Now that I was standing, it gave the purple dragon an actual chance to scale me up to size and appearance. “Hot Rubies, you are one big pony. No wonder Twilight wanted me to come get you.” “Twilight? Wait, the purple unicorn mare? She what?” I’m going to run out of reasons to blush soon if this keeps up. What’s up with the mares of this town? “Well, yea. That’s her. She lives in the giant tree down the road.” I blinked a few times in disbelief that this baby dragon belonged to that mare. Oh well, I guess that kind of stuff tends to happen once in a while. “Well then, my fine purple friend, we shall go to Twilight’s house.. But, er, what’s your name?” “Mine? Ha! I’m spike! The vicious fire breathing dragon of Ponyville!” Spike brought his claws up and bared his teeth in an adorably menacing way. I couldn’t help but let out a soft “aww…” “Hey buddy, nothing cute about this fearsome dragon. Now let’s get going, we should have already been back my now.” “Alright then, Lyra I’ll be out with Spike here.” “Sure thing, Flare.” Lyra grinned and ushered us out of the house before shutting it behind us. “So, then Spike. Shall we make our way down the dangerous path of adventure towards your mare’s treehouse?” “It’s not really a treehouse… It’s just a house made out of a big tree. And she’s not my mare, Rarity is.” “Rarity? Who’s that?” I lowered my head to eye level with the dragon before asking. Spike turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know who Rarity is? How dare you! She’s just the most gorgeous pony in all of Equestria.” Spike’s eyes started to dilate and he began to float a foot off the ground with little hearts circling him. This was getting kind of awkward. I quickly popped all the floating hearts around Spike and pulled his tail down until Spike’s feet were back on the ground. “Ahem, we were heading to Twilight’s?” “Huh? What? Oh yea!” Spike and I continued down the path, but it was pretty hard to follow Spike when my normal walking pace was more than double the speed of his. I let out an aggravated sigh and looked at Spike for quick second before pondering a thought. “Whoa! Wha – hey!” Spike yelped as I picked him up and tossed him onto my back. I then spread my wings out and flew up into the air. “Alright Spike, where to then? Spike?” Spike was just sitting on my back at the base of my neck with large pupils and an open mouth. His arms spread out wide and his mouth curved up into an open smile. Spike then shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. “Wow, this is what it feels like to fly? It’s so nice up here…” “Yea, I guess so, but Spike. Weren’t we going back to Twilight’s tree?” “Well, yea. We were, but I wanna experience this just a little bit more. It’s really nice.” I started flying around, opposed to floating. I soared above Ponyville and looked down at all the buildings and roads while Spike was enjoying himself. It was a pretty cool town, considering its size and population. The town was larger than the average town and I could see ponies everywhere bustling around in the early afternoon. Before long, I spotted a humongous tree standing alone amidst the road. This must be Twilight’s tree house. I slowed my flap and lowered myself to the ground. “What? Flare, come on man. I was enjoying that.” “I know you were, but I didn’t know what to do, so I just continued along with what we were doing before you started going all high.” “But, why?” Spike’s pleading eyes made me turn my head away. “Come on bro, we gotta see Twilight, remember? You told me yourself that she wanted to see me.” Spike groaned, “Right, fine.” The dragon looked on either side of me and nervously coughed a few times before saying, “Uh, could you help me down? You’re a little bigger than the average pony around here.” I looked back at Spike and then my gaze fell to the ground. I guess it was a slightly intimidating fall for something of his size. I smiled and lowered my right wing to create a slide. Spike must’ve known what I was doing because as soon as my wing looked able for being a substitute slide, he hopped to his feet and slid down. His feet hit the dirt with a perfect landing. “Alright then, let’s go see Twilight.” I scoffed and looked back at Spike in amusement. Spike ran ahead of me and pushed through the door. Not knowing whether to knock or not, I simply just followed behind the dragon and invited myself in. Let me tell you this first-hand. If you thought the tree was massive from the outside, then you had a another thing coming. The interior looked so much more massive than it probably did from the outside. There was a nice wide open space with a few comfy sofas off to the side. In the very middle of the room was what looked like a statue on a pedestal, but I couldn’t make out what it was supposed to be of. Along the walls were built-in shelves, each stocked to the brim with multi-colored books. “Whoa Spike, this place is pretty neat.” I let my eyes wander for a bit to realize that Spike wasn’t in the room. “Uh, Spike? Where are you? Spike?!” “Yea, Flare! I’m down here.” The voice came from behind a door next to the far left shelf of the library. I trotted towards the door and opened it before looking down the stairs. It would be pitch black if the candles on the walls weren’t there. Thank God for light. I actually kind of wished that the candles weren’t there so I could set my eyes on fire again. That was pretty cool jazz. It would’ve been pretty sweet to show Spike too. “I’m coming down Spike.” “No, don’t come down, I’m coming up.” Twilight’s voice was followed my Spike’s, “We’re coming up in a second Flare, go sit on a couch or something.” Hmm… what are those two doing..?" Dismissing my curiosity, I strolled over to the sofas and lied down on one of them. It was a little small but I made do. My discomfort was steadily growing, but I endured through it. Soon enough, I heard hoofsteps come up the stairs. Twilight strutted through the basement door and took a gander at me. “Ah, if it isn’t Silent Flare. I must commend you on what a nice cutie mark you have. It reminded me of something that I had read two weeks ago in a book about Equestrian history. But aside from that, I’d like to welcome you here. This is my house and the library of Ponyville.” Twilight grinned widely with pride. Spike got off Twilight’s back and plopped a pile of books down on one of the reading tables. “Need some help Spike?” I tried to get my way out of the conversation I was having with Twilight. To be frank, it was kind of awkward and it made me nervous the way Twilight eyed me from time to time. Like how she was right now. What did I do to Twilight? Wait, she said something about my cutie mark just a little bit ago. I looked back at my cutie mark real quick to see if anything happened. It was the same as ever. Two swords crossing. One engulfed in flames, the other bathed in electricity… I was in a dark castle. Everything was a shiny black and fires were set atop braziers all around the room. I was sitting atop a throne and two tall ponies were before me. The one on the left had a white coat and a flowing mane with a multitude of colors. Her tiara and chest regalia were both a bright gold. The pony on the right had the exact same set up, but her coat was a dark blue and her mane and tail resembled the night sky. I began to hear myself talking, unable to control anything about the situation. “Princesses Imera and Nychta, I must decline on your offer once more. I will not change the social hierarchy of my empire. You and your meddling Equestrian ponies have done quite enough damage to my society. Leave now and I will spare your lives. The two princesses weren’t about to back off without a fight and each of their horns began to glow, bright gold and night blue. I continued menacingly, “I shall state this once. Causing a quarrel here would leave you two in mortal danger, not to mention dampen your subjects’ morale. I advise thee to vacate my vision.” “We shan’t retreat at a moment of this sort. We shall fight you until you agree upon our terms and merge the empires.” Princess Imera was at the brim of her anger. “We demand thou return our subjects to us. We can negotiate terms for peace. Please Lord Dunamis, it isn’t necessary for the blood of our own kind to shed by its own hands.” Princess Nychta tried her shot at persuading me to not use violence. “We cannot become one! Our empires differ too greatly. Additionally, I do not want to merge the empires. Equestria and Ippari are rival nations and I refuse to aggravate my people. Leave now or I’ll have to chain you two in my subterranean penitentiary.” The two princesses still didn’t back down despite the ungodly threat. They both materialized energy blades on either side of them. All of the alicorns in the room knew that regular weapons of the ground wouldn’t do any harm to them. So basically, weapons that weren’t composed of pure energy were completely useless in a situation like this. I shook my head slowly and said hotly, “Such foolishness.” I charged up my horn and waited for the princesses to make the first move. Small curves of energy would shoot off it every now and then. For a few long seconds, the room was completely motionless and silent barring the sparks and electricity that would go off from my magic. Before I knew it, Imera teleported next to me and swung her blade at me. The blade swung at my neck and found its target. There was a loud thunderclap and bright flash of electricity as Imera’s sword deflected and evaporated into thin air. I let out a sigh and kicked Imera’s front legs so she’d be forced into a bowing position. My horn glowed cyan and black electricity enveloped the white alicorn. She was frozen in place and unable to do anything. I foolishly let my guard down while dealing with Princess Imera because soon enough, Nychta was charging me at full speed and tackled me to the ground. My concentration broke and Imera was released from my magical grip. Nychta got back to her feet and stood next to Princess Imera who had stood back up as well. The two lowered their horns and shot magical sparks into a large ball of pure energy. I spread my wings and flew up. My fire-enveloped wings lifted me up and trailed fire behind me as I swooped to the other side of the room before landing. My eyes glowed a deep cobalt blue and I released a pulse that ran across everything in the room. Princess Imera and Nychta immediately slowed down and entered a state of slow motion. I strolled over to them and sat behind them. The energy ball that they were creating was still being matured by the two alicorns. I tapped the ball with my still vibrant horn and leeched all the energy from it, causing it to disappear almost instantly. I then moved myself forward before sitting down at the point where the ball was. “Girls, please. You cannot defeat me. This is your last chance, I advise you two to leave once my time field has been depleted of its magic.” Soon enough, the pulsating blue enveloping the room lost its color and disappeared completely. The two princesses immediately slumped down and started breathing heavily. “No. We must save our subjects. We’ll never concede to your wickedness, even if it kills us.” Princess Nychta was gulping in air desperately. Princess Imera then raised her head and glared at me. I yawned lazily and looked back at them with a bored expression on my face. “Honestly, I’ve never done anything wicked. I fail to comprehend any reason you might have for believing that I am a villain.” I then blinked a few times before continuing my talk. “Are you going to leave, or not?” Princess Imera slowly got to her hooves and spoke, “No. Even if you over power us like you do, you must still be aware of the Hundred-Thousand’s Curse.” A slight smirk found its way to her lips. My eyes widened slightly. “You wouldn’t dare utilize such unstable magic, Imera. You can’t possibly pull off such forsaken and powerful magic alone.” Nychta took in a deep breath, ready to accept her fate. “She won’t be doing it alone.” Nychta got to her hooves next to Imera and stared at me with intent. I stood up to intimidate them into bluffing. I was a whole head taller than them and my mane, tail, and wings were ablaze. I spread my wings and yelled out, “YOU WOULDN’T DARE USE SUCH A CURSE.” I flew up and attempted to fly out a window just to be locked in by a barrier spell. It wasn’t strong enough to contain me, but my progress would be slowed dramatically. I turned back towards to see Imera and Nychta enveloped in a blood red glow. The glow extended out an appendage that wrapped around me and held firm. I was helpless against the forbidden magic as it quickly dragged me back down to the mass that had enveloped the two noble princesses. “NOOOO!!” I fought the magic as best as I could, but before there could be any actual noticeable resistance, everything in view faded to a rich red and I felt my body start tearing apart. 4 - Two is Better than One[ 4 ] The Mane Six Chapter Four – The Mane Six I awoke to a faint chatter nearby. I couldn’t quite make out any of what was being said, but I knew that it was talking. There were four voices, I think. I can’t tell for sure, my head hurts and I feel nauseas. I smacked my lips a few times and cringed at the same taste of morning breath. Ugh, I’m hungry. Who’s here? I shifted slightly in place and sat up, blinking a few times. A yawn escaped my lips and I stretched my hooves upwards and began to make baby dinosaur noises before shaking my entire body and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I looked to see what I was sleeping on not too long ago to find a purple bed sheet and a pretty comfortable mattress. I bounced up and down and few times on it to chase the creeping sleep away. Although the bed was just perfectly soft and springy, it was slightly small. Geez, everything’s slightly small to me. Am I the only big pony around? I laughed at my joke. Yea, I’m lame. I had no idea where I was. Damn it, why do I always have trouble with other people’s houses and getting around in them. I cantered across the room and began pacing. Every time I met an endpoint to my patrol, I would look around and survey the room, taking in any knowledge about it that may be useful. Alright, so. After a few minutes of pacing back and forth, I’ve come to the conclusion that this room was something of an oval with one door at the front of the room. I slowly walked to it and opened it, releasing an orchestra of creaks. Damn it. The voices down stairs immediately went quiet and Twilight’s voice spoke up, “Spike? Is that you?” Spike? What? Was Spike still up here? I turned my attention back to the room and backed up from the door. I steadied my breathing until it was practically inaudible. Now the only thing audible would be Spike’s snoozing, and the sudden clip clop of hooves on stairs. I dashed to my bed and hopped back in it and shut my eyes almost all the way and waited. Sure enough, Twilight came in the room and looked in the direction of a baby crib next to the bed. There was a pile of blankets in it that appeared to be just any old regular mound of blankets. However, to Twilight’s trained eye, this was easily discernible as Spike. Hmm, Spike was right next to the bed the whole time? Since when? One would think that I would’ve noticed that in my little patrol of the room. Twilight then shifted her gaze and began to stare at my form in bed. Her expression was gentle and slightly sympathetic. Why was Twilight sympathetic? What did I do wrong? The purple unicorn edged closer to the bed and whispered in my ear. “Hey Flare, it’s time to get up. Everyone’s here.” Her hot breath tickled the insides of my ears and my head twitched a little before I gave up the act. I opened my eyes and yawned again, pretending to have just woken up. “Nyup. Nyup. What? There’s what?” “Hurry on downstairs please. We’ve got to talk.” Twilight then turned and began walking out the door. I turned to Spike and debated whether to wake him up, but I decided not to. He probably had a rough day or night and needed the extra sleep. I got out of bed and bowed my body forward, stretching out my shoulders and back before flaring my wings out to stretch them out too. I then cantered in place and took in a few sharp breaths. Alright, time to go downstairs. I wonder what they have to eat. I trotted down the stairs and looked in the large main room to see who was here. Remember when I heard 4 voices? Yea there weren’t four ponies. There were seven ponies in the room. Right when my left hoof touched the main floor, Lyra had jumped on me and was hanging by my neck and sobbing, “Where were you? You’ve been gone the whole day! I thought something bad happened to you! You could have – ”. I tuned Lyra out and looked up at all the other ponies in the room. As expected, all of them were looking at me with raised eyebrows or curiosity. “Um, hi. My name’s Silent Flare.” I then looked back at Lyra who was still sobbing into my shoulder and ranting on about how I could’ve died or something. I sighed and peeled her off my shoulder and set her down on one of the sofas. Lyra then lay there for a few seconds before sitting up and looking at me with murderous intent. “How dare you not take sympathy for me! I was so worried that something had happened to you.” “Sorry, Lyra. I was here at Twilight’s and something happened. Before I knew it, I was upstairs on Twilight’s bed.” Lyra’s mouth fell open and it just stayed like that for a little bit. Lyra then put a hoof to her mouth and started crying. She must’ve taken what I said in a completely different way. I didn’t know what to do so I began to inch my way back upstairs. I didn’t want to be seen as any kind of complete jerk. Before I could even make it halfway up the staircase, Twilight spoke up and broke the awkward silence. “Look, Lyra. Nothing happened. He was here and then he just fell over unconscious. I just put him up in my bed because leaving him on the floor in here would’ve been rude.” Twilight then turned to me and asked, “What happened?” To be honest, I’ve got no idea. I stared at Twilight from up on the stairs and took in a deep breath and brushed a hoof through my mane. Was there any logical explanation for what had happened? Logical? Wasn't I in a dream? I completely forgot about that. Why should I care about anything that’s happening? I strolled back downstairs and plopped myself down next to Lyra on the sofa and put a hoof around her shoulder and hugged her close. “I’m sorry, honey.” Lyra opened her eyes with shock and looked to see who had hugged her. She was stuck in place for a little bit before she threw her arms around me in response and said, “Its – sniff – It’s okay.” “Ahem. Sorry to break up this romantic moment here for you two, but Flare? You didn’t answer my question.” Twilight looked at me impatiently and snorted. “What question?” “I asked you what happened.” “I don’t know. I just… I don’t know.” “Flare, be serious! I need to know what happened if you want me to help you!” This time, I had seriousness woven into my voice, “I. Don’t. Know. I looked back at my cutie mark and that's the last thing I remember.” Twilight just took a step back and sighed. “Alright, girls. We’ll have to figure this one out alone.” A feminine, yet punk pony spoke up and pointed a hoof at me. “Who the hay is this whackjob anyway? Why do we need to worry about a pony like him? Sure, he may be big but I say we tell him to go away.” She crossed her arms and huffed a little. I looked up and shrugged before saying. “This ‘whackjob’ is Silent Flare. Nice to meet you. You are?” The pony shook her rainbow colored mane and replied, “Rainbow Dash. Psh, how do you not know me? I’m only the fastest in Equestria.” “I guess I don’t keep up with that stuff. You never know.” I eased my hold on Lyra and stood up off the sofa. Lyra just lay down over the spot where I was and began to sleep. That poor soul. Anyway, I strutted up to Rainbow Dash and looked down at her. Okay, so. My size really is intimidating when I’m right up next to a pony that’s half your size. Apparently, Rainbow Dash knew this too. “Hey, no need to get up all close. Back up.” I smirked and simply sat down where I was. I had no intention of backing up. Plus, there were three other ponies in the room who I had yet to get acquainted with. So now, I knew Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Oh, and Lyra. The remaining three were kind of unique. The one on the very left was orange and had a blonde mane and tail. She had freckles and a hat on. Her front hooves were crossed and she eyed me skeptically. The mare in the middle had a snow white coat with a curled purple mane. I nodded in her direction and she closed her eyes and looked away. Finally, I turned to the mare at the far right. Her light blue eyes were as jittery and happy as could be. I can’t picture ANYTHING that could possibly be happier than this mare right now. I don’t even know. She had a poofy pink mane and a slightly darker pink body. She was bouncing up and down, as if trying to hold in an urge to do something. Twilight introduced the six mares before me by name after I had finished looking each of them over. “So. In order, that’s Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and finally me.” “Ah, it’s quite a pleasure to meet you all.” I grinned enthusiastically and raised a hoof. In my complete and utter dismay, all of them left me hanging. They just eyed my hoof and then looked back up to my face. I rolled my eyes and my grinned dropped. “Nevermind then. So much for friends.” “Come on Flare, you don’t have to give up on friendship just yet. These are nice ponies and they are my best friends.” “Alright then Twilight. We should play a quick game to get to know each other better, right?” Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof and then slowly nodded in agreement. “That would seem like a good idea. It could help us get to know each other.” I rolled my eyes. I had already said that, but I wasn’t going to start a fight over something as measly a reason as that. I remained seated on the floor as the remaining six ponies that were awake in the room began to formulate a circle with me. Oh goody. “I’ll start!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly. “I just love games and parties! You know, when Twilight said that there was a new pony in town, I just had to meet him. I couldn’t wait so I was the first one here! I even beat Twilight to her library. I mean, isn’t that funny?” Rainbow Dash stuffed a hoof in Pinkie’s mouth and looked at her annoyed. “Ermmph.” (oops.) Rainbow pulled her hoof from Pinkie and continued the little talk circle. “I don’t see how this is a game, but everyone should already know everything about me. I’m the best flyer in Equestria and soon to be captain of the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow Dash flashed a smile of confidence and I couldn’t do much but nod and commend her for her amazing dreams, even if I don’t know what the Wonderbolts are. They sounded like a pretty nifty group. So, good on her. The unicorn with the white coat spoke up next. “I am Rarity. I own the Carousel Boutique and am the best fashion designer in Ponyville.” Rarity’s face turned slightly grim and she continued. “Soon, I will be the best in ALL of Equestria.” Wow, these ponies had some pretty impressive dreams. I've never known anypony so damn ambitious. “Everypony knows me as Applejack. I own the Sweet Apple Acres over yonder and supply the greatest Apples in all of this here Equestria.” Applejack sat straight up and held her head high. She obviously took great pride in her apple trees. My stomach spoke in my stead regarding the apples. “Did you bring any here? I’m famished.” “Eh heh… Sorry, ah didn’t. Didn’t see the point in bringin’ apples to Twi here’s meetin’ at seven at night.” Hmm, so it was in the evening. Alright. I guess I wasn't knocked out for more than 12 hours, so that’s good. I guess. I nodded slightly depressed because I felt my stomach pulling at my throat demanding food. I put a hoof over my stomach and gestured for the next pony to go. The next pony was Fluttershy. “Um, you know that I’m Fluttershy and you know that I live in the cottage at the edge of Ponyville. I have nothing to say. I’m sorry.” I couldn’t stay mad at Fluttershy or even start to get mad. She’s just too kind. Plus, why would I get mad at Fluttershy for something as ridiculous as this? The thought was so stupid that I banished it from my mind for good. I sat quietly and patiently waited for the next pony to speak up, but every pony in the room was looking in my direction. Was it my turn? I shrugged and drew in a breath for speaking, “My name’s Silent Flare and I am a recent addition to the fine town’s population. I used to live in the Everfree, but was driven out by, uh. By, um, unforeseen, uh, events. I will reside in this humble town and work my part like the average working citizen. It’s an honor to meet all of you. Lastly, I don't know anything about my past and Twilight keeps staring at my cutie mark for no reason.” I bowed my head low in respect and let out a small sigh of accomplishment. Twilight was looking at the ceiling, trying to hide a little embarrassment that accumulated on her cheeks. “Hey Twilight, aren’t ya goin to take a turn too?” Twilight looked at Applejack and immediately responded, “Oh, no. I’m not included. Everyone knows everything about me.” She chuckled nervously and went to her desk in the corner of the room, next to the basement door. She began writing something down and then turned back to the small circle, “Just a second.” Twilight finished up what she was writing and trotted up the stairs and into her room. After just a few seconds, everyone heard a small boyish yelp and then a large belch. Twilight returned downstairs and plopped herself down where she was before she had gotten up. “So, what next?” I don’t think anyone was ready or planned for what to do next because we all began staring off into space and let out a soft “Hmm”. But of course, Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Why don’t we play ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’?” Her grin was plastered on her face and not even a bulldozer could take it off. I smirked gently at how completely energetic the pink mare was. She was bouncing again and out of nowhere, she pulled out a large poster of a pony, which lacked a tail. She reached into her mane and rummaged around a bit before she pulled out a tail with a pin at the end of it. “Where did she just get those from?” I was in complete confusion. The pony wasn’t even a unicorn and she had done more magic than I ever would. “Oh, that there’s just yer average Pinkie Pie. That’s just how she is.” Applejack had leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “Ah, alright. I get it.” In reality, I didn’t get it at all. Pinkie Pie was just so random and bizarre. Pinkie Pie had already taped the poster up on a wall and was holding the tail out at me and said, “Since you’re the new pony, you should go first!” “But, I- I, uh, don’t even know how to play.” I tried to get myself out of this and remain a passive spectator but Pinkie Pie wouldn't allow it. She grabbed my hoof and dragged me about 5 yards from the poster. “It’s easy! Just spin around until we say stop, and then pin the tail on the pony!” I chuckled nervously and walked into place. I looked at the poster and breathed in slowly. Inhale. Exhale. Suddenly, something white draped over my eyes and obscured my vision. What… “Uh, Pinkie? What just happened?” “Well, you have to be blind-folded silly. It wouldn’t be fun if you weren’t.” I heard a few giggles behind me. Yea, yea. So funny. I began to spin around and the ponies in the room barring Lyra began to countdown from ten seconds. I continued to spin myself in a steady pace. I wasn’t about to start spinning fast enough to be considered an energy generator. Soon enough, the countdown reached zero and I immediately stopped myself. In my mind, I pictured the room I was in and way I was facing. I imagined the poster’s whereabouts and turned myself to it. I walked up to the poster and with the tail in my right hoof, raised it to the flank of the poster. I drove the tail into where I thought it should’ve gone and backed up a few feet and took the blind fold off. “Wow, I suck at this game.” I had just nailed a tail into the basement stairs door. It was dead center, but it wasn’t where it should’ve been. I let out a sigh and looked back at Pinkie. “Pinkie, I suck at this game.” I brushed a hoof through my mane and continued. “You wouldn’t mind if I lied down now would you? I’m kind of tired.” My stomach let out a whale’s plea for food and everyone heard it. Damnit stomach, why. Fluttershy cantered up to me and took my hoof in hers before leading me to where I suppose the kitchen was. I looked back at the other five ponies to see what their reactions would be. They didn’t care, they were gazing intently at Pinkie Pie spinning and were counting down to zero. I turned my head back to look forward just as the top of the doorframe wanted to shake hands with my horn. The thunk wasn’t too loud, but it was easily audible throughout the tree. Wow, that didn’t feel too good. Fluttershy was immediately behind me to lay me down in the doorway. “Oh my gosh. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to.” “Whoa, that hurts. Ow, ow, ow. My horn. Ah, damnit. Don’t worry about it Fluttershy, it’s fine. Wasn’t your fault. It’s fine.” I was massaging my temples and taking in steady breaths to ease myself. Inhale… Exhale. Inhale… Exhale. Alright, I think this would be a good time for a nap. My body went limp and I started snoring gently. “Alright the camera’s rolling? Are you ready?” a manlly voice asked. “Yea, daddy! I’m ready.” It was me. I was riding a bike. My dad was over in the drive through with a camera in his hands. “Watch this daddy! I can ride bike!” I proceeded to hold my handle bars and pedal along merrily. I was smiling and happy. Nothing could change my mood. My dad started following behind me and cheering me on. I began to pedal in circles and then pedaled faster. “Vroom! Vroom vroom! Daddy look! I’m a racecar!” I leaned forward on my bicycle and pedaled as fast as my tiny legs would let me. “Wow! You’re doing well there Jake. What do you say we take those training wheels off and see how fast you can really go!” A feminine voice spoke up, “No, Jake. Don’t do that. Your dad is just jealous of how well you ride.” That was Mom. She was a little shorter than Dad, but they were a couple. I was laughing and rolling around happily. Dad continued to film me as I raced towards him, attempting to hit his shins. “Yaaaah!” my war cry made my Dad look away from his wife and down at me. “Oof. Ouch, buddy.” I ran into his shins and continued to try and pedal through them. My dad walked out of the path. “You just made the big, bad beast angry! Roarr!” I started giggling and screaming in delight as my dad began to chase me around playfully after giving my mom the camera. I was having fun. These were good times. I liked this time, it was full of fun and curiosity. I didn’t have a single reason to be scared or to feel unsafe at all. Whoa, what happened. Was that another dream? Within a dream? I’ve never heard of a dream within a dream being real before. I shook my head and coughed violently. I felt an uneasy feeling in the back of my throat. Why do I keep having these weird dreams? And where am I? I tried moving, but my forelegs and hindlegs were strapped down to something. “What? I don’t understand.” I continued to cough wildly as I heard Twilight’s voice behind me. “Alright then, Dunamis. What are you doing here?” Dunamis? Who was that? Wasn’t I him in that one dream I had? I coughed again trying to remember. “I don’t know who you’re talking about, Twilight.” My voice was raspy and weak. “Oh, I beg to differ. I knew you’d return. I read it in the Book of Equestrian History vol. 23. I know exactly who you are. I notified the Princess and in any minute, she will arrive and destroy you again.” I was still in utter confusion. I had no idea what the hell Twilight was talking about. My name is Silent Flare, and I was in a dream. A dream. Oh. It’s all a dream. I forgot about that, again. I didn’t know what to do so I remained silent. “Until the princess arrives, you’ll be stuck in here. Don’t you dare try anything or I’ll freeze you.” A door above suddenly creaked open and light flooded into the dark room. Who I assumed Princess Celestia was walked down the stairs and turned to Twilight. Her mane was flowing and ethereal and her coat was white and flawless. “Release this stallion, Twilight.” “But, what? Princess, didn’t –” “Twilight, please. I ask you to release him. I’m going to escort him to Canterlot where Luna and I can confront him peacefully.” “Yes, Princess.” With that, Twilight undid all my straps with her magic and Celestia gestured me to follow her up the stairs. I didn’t know where any of this was going, but I knew that I didn’t want to go to Canterlot. It sounded like a horrible place of tests and wicked science. I shuddered slightly and continued to follow Celestia, looking for opportunities of escape. Twilight walked back up the stairs behind me and after a quick exchange of words with Celestia in the common room, Twilight headed off to bed. Celestia opened the front door and the two of us walked silently in the dead of night for a while until we were at the edge of the Everfree Forest. “Um, Princess, what are we doing here?” Princess Celestia simply turned her head to me and her whole body emitted a green glow. Chrysalis… “Chrysalis? What are you doing? Why’d you do that? Were you Celestia the whole time?” Chrysalis ushered me into the forest before explaining herself. “I got worried about you so I sent a few changeling to scout for me, they morphed into common everyday ponies and were always looking after you whether it was through a window, or simply on the streets. When they saw you go unconscious in the library tree, they came and told me. I showed up as Celestia so Twilight would let you leave with me. There’s no doubt that Princess Celestia is really on her way to see Twilight and you, so we must leave quickly. I can't afford Celestia to take you." “Leave? To where?” I had little to no idea what was going on, even with Chrysalis’ explanation. “Just, follow me. We’re heading back to the hive.” Chrysalis told me. “Oh okay, it’s fixed?” “Not completely, but it’s manageable. Now, I don’t want another episode of what you did, understand?” I blushed slightly and replied, “Come on Chrysalis, I can fly properly now. You can trust me.” Chrysalis sighed and continued walking. I followed behind, making sure that my pace didn’t exceed hers. I started thinking about Ponyville once more. I sort of missed Lyra and BonBon, even if I just left there. Ponyville didn't seem too bad a place to live in. There were overdramatic ponies who I felt most friendly with. Oh well. Soon, Twilight’s going to tell them that I’m some bad pony or something and everypony in Ponyville will hate me. I can hear them already. “We trusted you! How could you do this to us?” Sigh, hearing those words would hurt me pretty badly. I didn’t even know what was going on. Why would Twilight just strap me down and start calling me Dunamis anyways? I was about to ask Chrysalis when she turned around and looked at me. “We’re here. Make yourself at home.” I thanked Chrysalis and immediately walked to one of the mounds and walked behind it. Huh, there was a hole behind it. Oh, so these holes were the entrances to the tunnel systems. That made sense. I was about to slide down into the hole, but Chrysalis’ voice caught me off guard and I slipped and fell in. “Jake! I told you not that mound. It’s this one! Damnit, Jake!” I kept sliding down until I emptied out and hit the ground. Ugh, my butt. I shook myself to get any loose dirt off my coat and mane. That was a fun ride, but where am I? I heard a slightly distorted noise coming from somewhere but I couldn’t figure out where. “Et ouf th whr.” “What? Who’s there?” I spoke up and looked at the tunnels on either side of me. “Et out the wau!” “I can’t understand what you’re saying!” “Get out the way!” “The way? Why? There’s no –”. WUMP. Someone had landed me and drove me to the ground. My face hit the ground hard and my brain rolled around in my head. Oh my gosh, my face hurts. Ah, and my back. Ooh, my back hurts. The attacker quickly got off me and looked down upon me. I looked up to see Chrysalis, slightly annoyed. Scratch that, she was very annoyed. “Um, hi? How are you on this fine evening?” I smiled weakly and looked back down and examined the dirt. My back was still hurting and I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t. “Hey Chrysalis, is something wrong with my back? I can’t get up.” “Yes, it does look kind of broken from my perspective.” “… oh, that’s nothing. Nevermind then.” “Nothing? Your back is clearly broken! You’ll be impaired for life.” “No, I won’t. Just watch.” I lay there patiently, awaiting the cyan glow of sparks and electricity. It was obvious that Chrysalis was getting impatient and expectant. After all, she didn’t know that I produced healing electricity. Or maybe, I just auto-heal myself with it? I still need to find out. Soon enough, sparks began to jump out of my back and a cyan curve of electricity pulled on my back and with a loud crack, snapped it into place. The electricity persisted and then did a full sweep of my whole body to find any other injuries. When the electricity found none, it killed itself and went out. I got up onto my hooves and shook my head once more. I then glanced over to Chrysalis with a smug grin on my face. “I was going to be impaired for life? I can’t see that happening Chrysalis.” The Changeling Queen simply stared at me like I had grown a second head or something. Her expression quickly changed to excitement as she examined my back closely. She couldn’t find any trace of my recent injury. If somepony hadn’t seen my injury, they’d believe that I never had it. Chrysalis backed up and thought for a second, she then picked up a stick with her magic and launched it at me. It punctured my chest and flew past my ribs. Holy, fucking, damn. That shit hurts like hell. “What the fuck Chrysalis?! Why the hell would you do that?!” I was gasping for breath and I was holding in the pain and urge to scream. That stick might’ve been not too big, but it hurt. It hurt a lot. As anticipated, the sparks started jumping from my right rib and began to push the stick out of from between my ribs. The stick hit the floor in a bloody mess and the hole that the stick had made in my side began to close as the electricity bounced around before dying out once more. “Chrysalis… if you do that again… I’ll “accidentally” cause the tunnel another wreck.” “Chill out Flare,” Chrysalis’ expression turned sly, “or is it Dunamis?” “Why the hell would my name be Dunamis?! I don’t even know who that is. I had a dream about him once and there were these two princesses who called him ‘Lord Dunamis’. I have no idea what’s going on.” “Sure, whatever you say. Anyways, let’s get out of this mound, it’s the wrong one. This is where the worker changelings reside. The changelings or beings of higher importance sleep in a different mound.” I thought about what she had said for a second, “You regard me as a being of importance? Hmm.” “I need you Flare. It’s simple as that. If I don’t have you, then my plans won’t work out.” “Plans? Come on Chrysalis. You can tell me. Why do you need me so much?” Chrysalis continued ignored my question and simply flew up and out of the hole that she fell on me from. I sighed and followed suit. We swerved around the tunnel until we came through the opening at the top. Chrysalis then ushered me to a different mound where we entered. You know, I’ve got no idea how the changelings can tell these mounds apart. I really am completely lost. They just instinctively return to their respective mounds after the day comes to an end like it’s completely normal. When Chrysalis and I reached the end of the slide, she immediately turned to the right and three holes in the ground later, we found ourselves in the same looking area that I woke up in yesterday morning. Or was it this morning? I can’t quite remember, today’s been a slight blur on my mind. I’ve been in one too many situations that were awkward or just confused the hell out of me. Chrysalis broke my internal rant by asking me a question that I didn’t know entirely how to answer. “So, have you used magic yet?” “Magic? Oh, um. Not really, no.” “Oh, but weren’t you just so excited to use it earlier?” I shifted uneasily in my spot and replied, “Well, yeah. But. I, I don’t know. I just. I’m not sure. It doesn’t feel natural using magic. I set my eyes on fire once to be able to see in the dark. It was cool, but it made me feel uncomfortable. It’s as if what I saw in the mirror was something out of a nightmare. Does that make any sense at all?” “Hmm, not really. Are you sure you don’t want to learn magic? Because if you don’t want to, then that’s fine by me.” Chrysalis sounded like she just crossed one chore of a list of many. “No, no magic for now.” I lied down in the dirt and set my head on my front hooves. “No magic today.” I drifted off into the abyss of sleep willingly. There were no craze ponies holding me down or me going unconscious from a randomly timed hit on the head. I went to sleep of my own accord and dreamt of happy thoughts. I truly felt safe and at home within the Everfree. 5 - All them Ponies[ 5 ] Failure or Opportunity Chapter Five – Failure or Opportunity After being sent to bed by Princess Celestia, Twilight couldn’t press the issue with Silent Flare anymore. She knew that the alicorn was in the custody of the Princesses, but she couldn’t get over the fact that maybe they wouldn’t be enough to hold him down. After all, if Twilight had read everything about that prophecy, and she did, she knew that that same alicorn was the one that overpowered Celestia and Luna multiple times. Finally, the one point that finally eased Twilight’s tense muscles was that this alicorn had no idea what was going on. He didn’t know who he was or where he was. Twilight rolled over on her bed, getting comfortable under her sheets before releasing a sigh. Her stress dissipated and she felt the dark abyss edging closer to her, ready to consume her until morning. Twilight didn’t fret; she could finally rest in peace. That, my friends, was a big, fat lie. A knocking on the library’s front door made its way into Twilight’s room and bounced around the walls. The flustered Twilight groaned and stepped out of bed. She cantered down the stairs lazily as the second knock rang through the air. Twilight continued to descend slowly and soon enough, she was at the front door ready to give the disrupter a piece of her mind. Twilight took a deep breath and opened the door and began, “Well, go away!” Twilight immediately sat back and covered her muzzle with her hooves. “Princess? I’m so sorry. It… I just… I’m sorry.” “There’s nothing to be apologetic for, dear Twilight. I am merely here on account of your letter. You’ve told me that this alicorn, Silent Flare, was present. No?” Celestia gracefully entered the room and finished her statement before making herself comfortable on one of the sofas. Twilight shut the door and looked back at the princess. She was obviously confused. She knew that Celestia had already come by to pick up Silent Flare. Why was she here now to do the exact same thing? Twilight began, “Um, Princess? You already came by and took him.” She let out a nervous chuckle and waited for an answer from the solar princess. Princess Celestia maintained her royal composure but assured, “Dearest Twilight, I’ve only just arrived here in Ponyville. How could have I already collected this alicorn?” “But, you were here not twenty minutes ago and reassured me that you would take him and confront him together with Luna.” Twilight couldn’t understand what was happening. She knew for a fact that she had given Flare to Celestia. She suddenly gasped and widened her eyes tremendously. “Oh, my gosh. What if he cast an illusion spell on me and then just escaped on his own?” “Twilight, clarify your words. Are you saying that you no longer have the alicorn?” “His name is Silent Flare, and yes Princess. I no longer have him.” Twilight let out a sigh of failure as she stared at the ground. Her eyes began to water and a few tears made their way down Twilight’s muzzle. She let out a shaky sigh and looked back up at Celestia. The Princess was staring down at Twilight with a grim expression. “If you’ve lost him, then where would he run to? He must know that you are acquainted with every pony of Ponyville. Surely, he would be wise enough to know that this place wouldn’t be safe for him.” “Well, Princess. There was one pony that cared tremendously for Flare. I believe that he, too, cared for this mare in such a way. Maybe we could ask her?” Princess Celestia’s gaze fell upon Twilight, who squirmed a little in place as response to the tension that was building. Celestia then diverted her eyes to an arbitrary location and hummed in thought. Without looking away, Celestia asked, “Do you know of this pony? What’s her name?” Twilight looked up and wiped the wetness from her eyes, transferring it to her left forehoof. “Yes, the mare’s name is Lyra. She lives with BonBon a few blocks from here.” Twilight’s voice was shaky and her sniffles were quite audible. “Alright then, Twilight. For tonight, we shall rest. Confronting a pony at night will not do any good at obtaining needed information. Please return to your resting chambers, I will make myself comfortable with these sofas.” Celestia remained in place and looked to Twilight. Twilight’s gaze locked with Celestia’s for a moment before Twilight spoke up, “No Princess! Please, I insist you use my bed. It’s much more comfortable than these sofas down here.” Twilight stared at the Princess with plea, but Celestia shook her head, “No Twilight. Your bed must nourish the owner. I am quite content with sleeping on these sofas. Don’t take any heed at all.” With that, Celestia picked up a few sofas in her golden aura magic and placed them in a square so all the cushioning pointed inwards. Putting all the sofas together gave Princess Celestia enough room to sprawl herself out generously without any discomfort. Twilight was still hesitant at the Princess’s notion, but didn’t refute it for a second time. She simple bowed and made her way back up the steps, careful as not to wake Spike. The light downstairs went out with a click and soon enough, Twilight was in her bed and under the covers. She had failed the Princess. The thought didn’t leave her for a good hour or so. Only when exhausted, did Twilight finally manage to get sleep, if any. I stretched my hooves out and let out a yawn. I shook my head a few times and shot out my wings to give them a nice good stretch as well. My wing muscles were pretty tense; I’ll have to do a mega stretch on them. I got up onto my hooves and stood my full height. I opened my wings up and pointed them at the sky, making sure to keep pulling them upwards before I slowly lowered them towards the ground. I then curved them inwards and wrapped them around my belly. I tugged on each one and held my wings like that for a solid two minutes or so. I let out a deep sigh and yawned once more. I like this morning. Ah, another beautiful day in the depths of the Everfree, even if I just got back last night. I took a moment to look around to see that I was still in the dugout deep within the caves. I looked up, and sure enough, the exit. However, the exit wasn’t not blocked. There were changelings buzzing around above and I couldn’t help but laugh a little. I don’t even know what was funny. Just seeing black, bony, bug ponies buzzing around was funny I guess. I don’t know. Either or, I flared my wings out and began to flap them. I flew out of the hole, making sure not to bump into any of the changeling minions going around. I had no idea where to go within these tunnels, they were too extensive and sophisticated for the average pony. Luckily for me, I wasn’t the average pony. I was an alicorn. Unluckily for me though, I still didn’t know how to get out. I just trotted along a tunnel until I saw another hole to the my top right. If there was a hole on the ceiling, then it led upwards. Right? Right. I followed the tunnel up, and up, and up. It twisted and turned and made sharp angles, but it still continued to go upwards. The buzzing of changelings behind me began to dull and fade away entirely as I continued up the tunnel. This tunnel was long. I will tell you that right now. I’ve never been in any other tunnel that was this long ever in my life. It kept going on and on. After about fifteen minutes, I’d assume, of trotting down the tunnel, guess where I am. Still in the tunnel. Still trotting along. “Ugh, I hate this place.” My patience began to wane and I knew that I needed to find the exit fast. I hate this tunnel. It was starting to stink too. Like animal feces or something. I began to gag and cough so I stopped and flipped right around. I’ve gone too deep. Time to bail. I escalated my trot into a full out gallop. The smell was traumatizing. It was the smell of utter filth and disgust. Nothing could compare to such a smell now. If you think you’ve smelled some bad stuff, you haven’t been down this tunnel. Even though I was far enough away from the stench to smell it physically, I could still smell it mentally. The stench continued to nag at my thoughts until I shook my head. Oh, that stunk horribly. I was sick of being underground. It sucked. I could swear that I was sweating underneath my coat. I appreciated the warmth that it provided, but it was poorly lit, humid, and it stunk. I gave up and began clawing my way upwards. Yes, I began clawing at the dirt that made the ceiling of the tunnel with hooves. I continued to dig away and push myself upwards into the dirt with my wings. I flapped profusely, forcing my hooves to work overtime. After about twenty seconds or so of groveling through the dirt, the little dirt left between me and the open air collapsed inwards. I continued pushing until I felt the nice breeze and smell of trees. Only then, did I set myself on the ground and shake wildly, sending loose dirt everywhere. I’m out. That worked. I looked around, to find that I was in the middle of nowhere. “I have… absolutely no idea where I am. Well, at least I’m out.” Knowing nothing better to do, I flew up above the trees and scoured the entire area. Ponyville could be seen to my right just a little ways, but I couldn’t find anything to help me direct myself in the direction of the changeling hive. I let out a low hum and lowered myself back onto the ground that I had burst out of not too long ago. I closed my eyes, focusing on my ears and straining them. I was trying my utmost to hear anything that could point me in the right direction. Sure enough, all the straining pulled off. I heard a faint noise that as indescribably and my left ear swiveled around and twitched to hear it. The faint noise continued on its own and began to fade out, so I began to gallop in the direction I had heard it. I was anything except quiet. Man, I was ripping through the foliage, desperate to return to civilization. I slowed my gallop into a quiet trot and continued to hear for anything that could help. It was the noise again, but this time it was more defined. The sound was a low buzzing, like a bee. Changelings. I continued off towards the sound and was sure to look around as well, trying to pick up any sight of the bug ponies. Desperation began stacking itself up in my mind like a failed game of Tetris. I had no idea where Chrysalis or her minions were, and I was stuck somewhere in the Everfree. The Everfree… I liked the Everfree. Why did I not want to be here? A sense of nostalgia roamed through the air and I let the feeling overwhelm me and fill me. It was such a good feeling. Unfortunately, I broke the nostalgic aura and perked my ears up once more, trying to detect anything audible. The buzzing was back and it filled my ears, sending knowledge to my brain. I was off once again, galloping towards the sound. This could very well be a trap, but hey. I kind of didn’t like being completely alone. I felt better with other things around. Like… like a manticore? I halted myself right outside a clearing with multiple fallen over trees that had mounds in front of them. This is where I should be. I was about to completely forget why I stopped outside the clearing and dive for a hole. In the middle of the clearing, a manticore was grooming itself and lapping at its paws. Truth be told, this manticore was pretty big. If you have a good imagination, and you can picture how big I am, then you should be able to know how big almost ten times my size is. The mass of this beast literally took up the whole clearing. I bet branches from the upper levels of the trees gets caught in its mane, it’s so big. Inha- ha- hale…. Ex-exhale… My breathing was suddenly labored and it was hard to stay silent in doing so. I must’ve failed horribly because the manticore had stopped lapping at its right paw and was eyeing the tree I was hiding behind. Shit… No please don’t. Don’t come towards me. I looked back into the clearing and made eye contact with the manticore for a whole second. The connection was broken when something pulled me to the right and dragged me across the dirt and shrubbery. I continued to be dragged along until I fell into a through a hole. What was going on? I looked to my left to see my ponynapper was Chrysalis. She was gulping air and it was easily discernible that her breathing was labored as well. That manticore was huge. “So… Chrysalis. Do you get any beasts that big? What was it?” I asked through breaths. Chrysalis continued to breathe deeply, but her breathing became much steadier. As soon as she had her breathing completely under control, she looked at me and said, “That was a manticore. That’s the biggest one I have ever seen. They shouldn’t be down here.” It was obvious that Chrysalis was worried. She probably couldn’t take on a manticore at all, let alone a mega manticore. I sighed and ran a hoof through my mane, “So we have absolutely no way to get rid of it? Dang it.” Chrysalis continued to eye me for a few more seconds before looking down at the ground. This was a storm that we had to wait out, unless I could do something about it. I went a little ways back up the hole and waited a couple seconds patiently. After I heard nothing, I continued to travel up the tunnel. After repeating this process a few times, I made it to the very end of the tunnel. I poked my head out of it and scanned the open area before me. I didn’t see anything at all. The manticore had just vanished into thin air. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn’t question it. I slid down the hole and landed next to Chrysalis. I looked to her and said lazily, “The thing just ran away. That boring waste of nature.” Chrysalis looked to me then back at the tunnel that I had slid down. She then used her wings to create a low, buzzing sound. Changelings poked out of holes and started popping out of every nook and cranny around. The buzzing became so intense that I had to flatten my ears to prevent deafness. Chrysalis then flew up to the tunnel to the surface and I simply followed. When we were out, I pulled Chrysalis to the side and said, “I’m going back to Ponyville. It’s too busy around here and I don’t know what to do to pass the time.” Chrysalis just laughed and said sarcastically, “Yea, Ponyville. I’ll take you. Just wait.” I rolled my eyes and clicked my tongue, “I’m serious Chrysalis, and I’m going to go see Lyra and BonBon. I don’t think that they know that I’m here. I want to make sure they’re alright.” Chrysalis’ stopped laughing and sighed. “Why do you have to go back there? You will be hunted every second that you are there. You do understand that, correct?” I simply nodded and continued to stare at Chrysalis with a grim expression. Chrysalis then returned my nod and said, “I will permit this, however, you mustn’t go now. It is daylight and somepony might see you. Leave at night, with the cover of darkness.” I was bored. I had absolutely nothing to do to pass the time. I saw the first orange hues make their way into the sky as the sun set. I sighed annoyingly and scratched my ear with a hoof. I was above ground and in front of a random mound of dirt. I couldn’t find anything to do so I slowly lowered my head onto my hooves. I might as well sleep. Oh how I loved sleep. It was something that I could always look forward to in a day of awesomeness or chaos. It didn’t matter. I shut my eyes and yawned quickly. I steadied my breathing and let sleep take hold of my body. “Hey Derek. Derek. Derek! HEY RETARD.” It was me. I as a human. I was calling out to another human who was laid out across a couch. The human on the couch, Derek, simply rolled over and placed his pillow over his head. I rolled my eyes and moved towards the front of the couch and picked up a little device off the table with multiple buttons on it. I pointed the device at a large black screen and pressed down on a red button. When the screen sparked to life, I sat down on Derek and watched it until Derek squirmed uncontrollably. I got up off the poor soul and ripped the blanket from his grasps. “Derek. Get up.” “Nerr. I dern’t werner.” “Get up Derek. GET UP. GET UP.” I hopped up onto the couch and began jumping on Derek’s back as I continued to chant “GET UP. GET UP.” I heard a few pops from Derek’s back as he flailed his arms around. “Alright. ALRIGHT. Get off me, Jake.” I jumped one last time before falling to the ground next to the couch. Derek sat up straight and tilted his neck side to side, letting out an orchestra of crackles and pops. “Ha, that’s it?” I scoffed at Derek’s pathetic pops and sat back down on the couch and diverted my attention to the screen. “Oh, you’re so funny," Derek snarked and continued, “what’s on TV?” He began to pick the sleep from his eyes and stretched his arms up, yawning. I yawned as well, damnit. That shit was contagious. I replied boringly, “Nothing interesting.” I began switching channels and calling off the contents, “News, news, weather, boring, boring, cartoons. Eh, it’s not My Little Pony or Adventure Time. More news, boring, boring. Ah, this sucks.” I pointed the device in my hand at the TV again, but Derek spoke up. “Lemme see the remote. I bet I can find something we can watch.” I shrugged and passed him the remote. “Alright Derek, while you look for something, I’m going to the bathroom.” I then proceeded in getting up off the couch and casually strolling across a room and into a hallway before coming up to a door. I pushed open the door and yawned while stepping inside. I looked at myself in the mirror real quick and scoffed at my appearance. I had a dark brown to black hair color with yellow highlights streaking down the strands. My build wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t fat. I wasn’t exactly scrawny either. I guess it could be considered an average build for a man that doesn’t eat like a pig or go through intense workouts. I looked to the toilet on the floor and proceeded in doing my business. When I was finished I walked over to the sink and washed my hands. I peered at my clone in the mirror while washing away and looked at my eyes closely. They were a shade of brown lighter than my hair. I finished up washing my hands and turned around to dry them off on a towel before walking back out into the living room, where Derek was reclining on the couch. I made my way to the couch before turning to see what was on. It was an old episode of Adventure Time. “Derek, we already watched this episode. Didn’t we?” Derek simply shrugged and said, “Yea, but why not watch it again? There’s nothing else to watch.” Derek did have a point. I just sat silently and continued to watch the episode. I woke with a start and looked up immediately at the dark purple night sky. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s around 8pm. I looked back down at my hooves and closed my eyes, imagining Jake’s body from my dream. I felt the “water” inside me drain ever so slightly and I saw my outline as an alicorn change into that of a human. I opened my eyes once again to see the last wisps of flame from my magic die out. I felt my hand and each appendage jutting out of it. I pulled my hand to the front of my face and looked down at myself, I was a human alright. What I didn’t understand though, was the fact that I wasn’t a crimson red anymore. I was the same color as I was in my dream. Well, as far as I knew, I was the same color. I had garments on as well. I wasn’t wearing them when I was an alicorn. I was wearing jeans and a grey t-shirt. I must’ve morphed to have clothes on? I’m not too sure. There wasn’t much light from the stars. I knew that I wasn’t red however. I took in a deep breath and spoke quietly. “So, I’m Jake.” It was almost evening, and the sun was lazily hiding behind a few hills. The vibrant orange and red sky reflected the time and Twilight knew that she’d be leaving with Celestia to look for Lyra any minute. Twilight sighed and backed up from the window and trotted back into the main room of her library. The rest of the mane six were there patiently waiting. Spike was there too, but he didn’t like what was going on so had hidden behind one of the sofas. Twilight looked at each of her friends individually before speaking up. “Alright, you all know why I asked you to come here, right?” “Right. You called us here to hunt down that one stallion dude.” Rainbow Dash was floating above the group and had her hooves crossed. She was less than amused at this ‘Silent Flare’ guy. “Yes, Dash, but not as menacingly as you put it. I just need you all to keep an eye out for him. If you find him, come back and tell me because we really need to catch him.” Applejack spoke up unconvinced, “Wah do yeh want us to do this here spyin’ thing again? It isn’t too kind and ah don’t feel too comfortable in doin’ it.” “We need to keep an eye out for him because he isn’t just an alicorn.” Twilight sighed nervously. “He isn’t an average alicorn? Darling, what is that supposed to imply?” Rarity was as hesitant as Applejack in going around spying. “Well, you see.” Twilight couldn’t even begin to explain that Silent Flare was actually an evil warlord from ancient Equestria that had been condemned. Thankfully, Celestia had spoken up in Twilight’s stead as she descended the stairs. “The alicorn pony you all know as Silent Flare, is actually the most powerful pony that ever existed. His name is Lord Dunamis. He was the grand monarch of most of the Equestrian land back almost 5000 years. His level of power exceeds Luna’s and my own. We must contain him before he can realize that he has an unbelievable amount of potential.” Everypony, even Spike, gasped and looked at Princess Celestia in shock. The ponies knew that Celestia was one of the most powerful beings in existence. Now, they had just heard of somepony that exceeded Celestia’s power twofold. Even Twilight was in a shock at the immense amount of power. Spike was one to speak up and slice the silence, “Flare’s that powerful? Whoa, that’s awesome!” Spike was prancing around happily at how his friend was powerful. Twilight looked at Spike’s enthralled state and was less than amused, “Spike! Flare is a villain. How could you feel happy for him if this villain is much more powerful than Princesses Celestia and Luna combined?” A thought then formulated inside Twilight’s mind and she turned back to Celestia. “Princess, do the Elements of Harmony have any effect on him? Surely they must if he is a villain.” Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I am not certain that the Elements will have an effect on him. The Elements were a legend while Dunamis was in power. There were only bits and pieces of information about the Elements. It wasn’t until 2000 years later that they were unearthed in a dig site. If we ever get the chance, then we will have to see. Twilight’s hopeful expression drooped and she eyed the floor. To recount her knowledge, the ponies of this town will have to keep an open eye out for Flare, or Dunamis. If they don’t find him soon, then he might return to the villainous Lord Dunamis and conquer Equestria once more. “We should get going now.” Twilight spoke to his friends. “Princess, we’ll be going to Lyra’s house. Spike you’re coming too.” I walked around, trying to find Chrysalis. I didn’t dare go into the tunnels in my human state. I pulled aside one of the changelings that was going back into a hole. I had to morph back into Silent Flare to convince him that I was actually, the same pony that was always here. I changed back into a human and asked the changeling to get Chrysalis. The changeling simply nodded and dove into a nearby hole. Within seconds, Chrysalis appeared behind me and called out. “So, I see that you can morph into the human that you were before. How? I was led to assume that your memories were... out of reach.” I shrugged and looked back at my hands. “I don’t know. I had dreamt of Jake a few times and well…” My voice trailed off and I looked away from my hands and back down at Chrysalis. I was at least half a yard taller than her now. Chrysalis simply nodded in understanding. “With your permission, I’d like to go and check up on Lyra and BonBon now.” The Changeling Queen before me stared at me and gave a slight nod, “Go.” I nodded a few times before morphing back into Silent Flare. I wasn’t about to run all the way to Ponyville as a human. It felt comfortable to be one. I felt as though I could walk and run normally, but I couldn’t fly as one. As Silent Flare, I flew up and above the forest canopy like I have before. I set my eyes ablaze once more and scanned the area for Ponyville. I saw it not too far away on my right and I began flying in that direction before dousing the flames in my eyes. Lyra and BonBon were in their common room, gazing at a lit fire in the fireplace. The only thing that was audible was the crackle and sizzle of the wood and the sniffles of Lyra. She was legitimately depressed that she couldn’t find Flare. BonBon knew this as well. She was sad too, but Lyra took it harder. After a long wait and uncomfortable silence, BonBon decided to shatter it. “So, um. Do you remember anything about being with him last? Like where he was or what he was doing…” Lyra picked her gaze up off the tissue in her hooves and looked at BonBon. After a few seconds, she gazed back at the tissue and said, “Well, I was in the library with Twilight and her friends. I was so happy to see him when he came down the stairs and I hugged him. He sat with me on the sofa.” Lyra’s eyes lit up slightly and she added, “He called me ‘honey’!” She sniffled once more and then drooped back down. “He’s gone now.” BonBon regretted bringing Flare back up again. She just couldn’t help Lyra out. She was in a severe depression and BonBon couldn’t help her best friend out. It was such a horrible feeling of failure. An idea then popped up into her mind. “Well, uh, Lyra. How about we go check out the next Human Convention? Together.” The last word drooled out of her mouth slowly and regretfully. BonBon never went with Lyra to any of the Human Conventions, even if they were held in Ponyville. BonBon let out a shiver and returned her nervous stare back at Lyra for the impending response. Lyra sniffled a few more times before looking up at BonBon. The smile on BonBon’s face made her like kind of uneasy and nervous. Lyra couldn’t help but let out a light laugh before asking, “Are you sure? You never went, ever. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m not even sure that I want to go anymore.” BonBon’s eyes grew extremely wide at the last sentence. Lyra didn’t want to go to a Human Convention? SINCE WHEN. THIS WAS LYRA WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. The one and only pony that is so famous around Ponyville for being the most obsessed with humans, and here she is not wanting to go to the next convention, which by the way, is held in Ponyville a week and a half from now. BonBon was surprised at her friend’s indecisiveness. Normally, Lyra would snap up any chance to do or have anything to do with humans before there was even a chance for competition. BonBon lowered her head in defeat. She couldn’t convince Lyra that it was fine. She couldn’t convince her that everything was going to be okay. Lyra was never sad like this before in her life. BonBon thought about the situation and found that it all went back to Flare. Flare left, causing Lyra to feel like this. This whole dilemma was all Flare’s fault. BonBon’s faced overturned into a scowl and she stared at the couch she was on. How could Flare do such a thing? Lyra brought him here, to her home, and she clearly felt some kind of connection with Flare. However, Flare completely ignored Lyra and devoured sandwiches and probably emptied the water in our water cooler. He didn’t even say goodbye properly. He just left. BonBon got up from her spot on the couch and trotted upstairs, leaving Lyra alone with only the company of the sizzling fire. Lyra didn’t mind though, she barely took notice. She was so exhausted that she was about to just fall asleep on the couch in front of the warm aura. Before she could, however, a knocking on the door attracted her attention. She composed herself the best she could and went to answer the door. “Who would come to my house at such a late hour?” I had landed right at the town’s edge and was hidden behind several trees that separated the actual town land from the Everfree. I could feel the coldness of night slipping through my fur and chilling me. I shivered and blew out a breath of hot, wispy air. The barely visible cloud before me told me that it was getting cold. Damn. From where I was, I couldn’t make out a path to Lyra’s house. I had no idea where I was. I looked around to see if I could find any useful landmarks, but it was too dark. I wasn’t about to set my eyes ablaze again either. The light would undoubtedly attract attention, even if it was late at night. I crept out of my hiding place and start trotting down the path and made my way into the city. If I recall correctly from my flight to Twilight’s house with Spike, Lyra’s house is down the road from Twilight’s. Spike said that. Okay, it can’t be that hard. I looked around for Twilight’s giant tree home. It was kind of impossible to miss. That is, if it was daytime. Fucking damnit. I should’ve just came during the day. I took a risky chance and allowed my eyes to become the deep blue. I looked at the ground and then at a hoof before realizing that the flames from my eyes don’t give off light. They obviously are brightly colored themselves since they’re a bright cyan, but they don’t let off any light. It’s like seeing a fire in an endless abyss where nothing reflects the light. Awesome. What’s more is that I can see everything as if it was clear as day. Is this what all alicorns do when they aren’t normally able to see in the dark? With perfect vision, I trotted along the streets, occasionally ducking into an alleyway or rolling up into a ball to hide the bright flames from my eyes. Luckily, ‘occasionally’ wasn’t most of the time. I probably only did so twice, and they were to random sounds that I heard. I continued to trot along and after a while, I found the giant tree. The giant tree. What I really meant was the motherfucking hugeass tree of no return, ‘cus this tree is like no other. Anyways I swiveled around from the entrance and trotted away from it. Lyra’s house couldn’t be too far away now. As I start to think about it, Lyra is probably the only pony I can trust in Ponyville now. Wait, no. That can’t be right. Twilight probably still believes that Celestia took me to Camelrot or whatever. That, my friends, is the perfect cover. I trotted more casually around, attempting to find Lyra’s house, like I said a billion times already. After a few minutes, I noticed a light coming from around a corner. It was a dim light, but it was there. I immediately glued myself to the house on my left and edged towards the intersection. I turned my eyes off and slowly poked my head around the corner. The light was coming from another corner a little ways down the road. This time though, it wasn’t dim. It was a bright light. A light that was bright. I took in a deep breath and muttered, “Camo mode.” I then galloped across the street and flattened my figure against another building. Trust me, it’s hard to flatten yourself when you’re a foot or so short of being as tall as a small market stand. Eh, whatever. I shimmied closer to the second intersection and took in a few deep breaths once more. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale… Exhale… I steadied myself and poked my head out from my shelter. What I saw immediately made me retract my head and widen my eyes. Damnit. Twilight’s here. I slowly took another deep breath to calm my pounding heart. Why my heart was racing, I haven’t a clue. When my heartbeat dropped to a mildly tolerable level of pumping blood, I peeked at her again. I noticed Celestia wither her this time. They were just about to knock on the door. A familiar door. The door that opened into Lyra’s home. The exact same home that I was trying to get into. Damnit. Those two won’t make this easy for me. I looked back at the street I was on to make sure nopony was lurking around. Confirming that no one was around I began to edge myself out of my hiding spot, just to see Celestia and Twilight go through the doorway and have the door shut behind them. Well, gee. That didn’t ruin my plan at all. I huffed a bit and galloped as quietly as hooves on stone could and pressed up against Lyra’s door. I strained my right ear to listen on what was going on inside. The voices were very faint and required maximum concentration to hear. In this situation, my concentration was maxed out tenfold. I was trying my utter best to hear in on what the mares inside were saying. “Princess Celestia, what brings you here?” I heard BonBon’s voice ask. The voice that I could assume to be Celestia’s replied, “I am here on account of a missing pony. I understand that he used to reside here with you and Lyra.” I heard a grunt and then Twilight’s voice spoke, “Yes, his name is Silent Flare. Do you two know anything?” There was the longest and most painful silence ever. I had to endure it too. It became agonizingly anxious to know what was going to happen next. All I heard was a random outburst that I couldn’t make sense of. It began, but the voice was shaky and quite often interrupted with little sniffles and hiccups. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Twilight then spoke once more, “So you’re saying that Flare wasn’t here? And the last time you saw him was when he was at the library. There was a subtle ‘uh huh’ and then another outburst. “He’s such a jerk! He left me here all alone and didn’t even say ‘goodbye’! I never want to see him again!” I could hear Twilight humming in thought. I could also picture BonBon shooting a dirty look at Lyra. That was something funny to think about. Celestia then asked, “BonBon, do you know anything of this alicorn’s whereabouts?” “No, Princess. Lyra was the one with him most of the time. I simply made him sandwiches to eat because she asked me to.” I heard a rustling and then hooves hitting the floor. “Thank you my little ponies. Now, before we keep you up any later, I advise getting some rest. I once again apologize for intruding on such a late hour.” With that, the hoofsteps grew louder and louder until I finally realized that they were making an exit. I’m not going to lie. I fucking panicked. I looked around frantically to find something to hide behind. Without any more options, I simply spread my wings and shot them down wards. I flew up with insane acceleration and idled in midair before gently floating back downwards. I saw the Princess and Twilight leave the house and begin walking down the street. I let out a heavy sigh and continued to descend slowly. When I knew that they were far enough away for me to land without attracting any attention, I did so. I pulled my wings in close, and quickly closed the distance between the ground and me. Moments before impact, I spread my wings once more and flapped a few times to land softly. I looked down the street at where Celestia and Twilight walked off before quickly making a 180 and trying my luck on the door lever. It wasn’t locked. I pulled the lever down and eased the door open. The door itself didn’t make a sound, but I forgot that hooves do make quite a bit of noise. I hissed and drew a sharp breath before continuing in before shutting the door quietly behind me. I entered the living room and looked around. Lyra and BonBon hadn’t taken any notice of my quiet, yet audible, hoofsteps. They were too busy gazing at the fire to notice my sudden intrusion. The fire’s heat radiated around the room and painted an orange-yellow tint on everything in the room. I imagine this being what a true home felt like. Well, excluding the sorrowful faces on the two mares before me. I took a deep breath, once again before speaking up. “I’m so sorry Lyra.” My voice obviously scared the living daylights out of the two ponies because they jumped up. They literally jumped up off the couches and into the air. When they both landed, they each turned to see my head hung low and a look of regret on my face. I didn’t want them to be mad at me at a time like this. I didn’t know that Lyra would be shocked and broken like this either. BonBon immediately got up and made her way to me. She then took her hoof and drove it into my face. I closed my eyes preparing for the strike. Instead, all I heard was a metallic clang. I opened my eyes and BonBon’s hoof was touching my fur, but sparks were flying around. I sighed and took BonBon’s hoof in mine and pulled her aside. I lowered my head and pulled her onto my back before trotting deeper into the room. BonBon was motionless through the ride, but I could feel her whimpering. The amount of sorrow that this room had was more than enough to create tensions that Celestia herself would have a hard time breaking. I lowered BonBon on her spot on the couch and cantered slowly to the second couch Lyra was on. I sat like she did, like a human, and took in a deep breath. She was shaking and looking away. It was obvious that she didn’t want to see me, so I thought up something real quick. My body began to engulf itself in flames, which scared BonBon who was looking at me. Lyra didn’t know what had happened though. After going through the morph, the fire died out and I extended a finger and tapped her shoulder. Lyra turned ready to punch my face in like BonBon had tried not too long ago. She stopped mid-swing and simply gasped. The ball of blankets in her lap began to shuffle and move about, but Lyra quickly clamped it down. I heard a young, boyish voice from within the blankets. “Hey! Lyra, let me out! What’s going on? I heard Flare’s voice.” I set my hand on the ball of blankets and stroked what felt like Spike’s back spines. I then said, “I’m not Silent Flare. My name’s Jake.” The blankets immediately fell quiet and motionless. Lyra even loosened her grip on the cloths some. Spike then popped his head out and looked up at me. His eyes went wide and his head immediately sunk back into his blankets. “What’s that?! LYRA.” Lyra remained quiet and BonBon spoke for her. “That’s him. That’s Flare.” “No it isn’t! Flare’s a red alicorn. That’s a monkey thing!” He then jumped out of the blankets and ran over to BonBon and pointed at me. “That isn’t an alicorn. That is a naked monkey thing with clothes on.” BonBon gazed at me expectantly and I understood immediately. My body was once again engulfed in flames, which beckoned a yelp from Spike. After only a couple seconds, the flames dispersed and me, in the body of Silent Flare, sat on the couch. I gazed at Spike and remembered something that I wanted to show him. My eyes once again disappeared into a sea of cobalt and the cyan flames licked the sides of my head once more. Spike was even more intimidated and scared and jumped up onto the couch and hid behind BonBon’s head. Needless to say, Spike’s reaction to my eyes was spot on with Lyra’s when she first found out about them. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Lyra looked over and saw my eyes and snorted. “Big deal. He has glowing eyes. Get over it Spike.” Spike came out from behind BonBon and walked up to me. I returned my eyes to normal and picked him up. At first Spike was resistant, but I easily overpowered him and put him next to Lyra. Spike, then gasped, as if remembering something important. “Oh my gosh! Flare…” “It’s Jake… Silent Flare was a name I made up when I couldn’t remember my real name.” “Alright them. Jake, Twilight told me to stay over will Lyra until you came back. She wanted me to tell you to go meet her at her tree. Let’s go!” Before the Spike could make it to the door, I pulled him into a crushing bear hug. It’s not me showing affection for him, not now at least. It was me preventing him from going anywhere. Spike was squirming around and I eased my hold on him just a little so he could breathe. “Spike, I can’t go to Twilight.” Spike spat out a few red fur strands and looked up at me. “What? Why not? She said Pinkie was going to throw your party.” I sighed and recalled the events that happened on the night before Chrysalis came to save me. “Okay, umm… Spike, remember when you first brought me to Twilight’s house and I went unconscious?” “Well, yea. But what does that have to do with anything.” “When I woke up, I met Twilight’s friends. You know, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and your girlfriend." Spike’s cheeks were a rosy red and he scratched the back of his head, “Aw shucks. Rarity’s not my girlfriend, but that would sure be nice.” Spike started to doze off to Lalaland again. I sighed and yanked his tail. He yelped and a stream of fire escaped his mouth. When we glared at me, I continued. “Anyways, when that was all over, I fell unconscious once more. When I woke, Twilight had me strapped to a table and started calling me a weird name like Dunce or something. She wanted to send me to Camelrot.” “Uh, it’s Canterlot.” “Yea, Canterlot. Whatever.” I put Spike down in between Lyra and me as he looked up and put a claw on his chin in deep thought. He finally shrugged slightly and said, “I guess we shouldn’t tell Twilight then.” “Yea, don’t tell her. However Spike, I don’t want you to lie to her either. She’s your owner after all.” Spike winced slightly when I said ‘owner’. “Owner? No dude, Twilight’s just a pony that I’m an assistant for.” To me, that was darn near the same definition as having that pony as an owner. I sighed and lifted Spike up once more and set him back on BonBon’s couch. BonBon watched and listened to our conversation and finally said, “I won’t tell anypony either. You can trust me Fla- err.. Jake.” She smiled and set her head down, ready to sleep. Spike then climbed up on top of BonBon and curled up into a ball before dozing off himself. I was left with Lyra. I looked over to Lyra and tried to think up something to say. When I couldn’t think of anything, I simply turned back into the human Jake and put my hand through her mane. It was quite obvious that Lyra was pleasured by this. I heard a low hum, almost a purr, and she pushed her head up into my palm. I scoffed a little before saying, “Didn’t know you wanted it that badly.” Lyra immediately slapped my hand away with her hoof. She then glared at me with a smirk. I began to laugh and nudged her playfully. She then jumped up and leaped at me. I caught her midair, but her weight made me put her back down in front of me. Okay, so, ponies are heavier than they look. They are pretty compact, but they’re not the lightest thing in the world. Lyra looked into my eyes, but as you know, I was uncomfortable with the intimacy. So to fix the problem, I just pulled Lyra in for a hug and simply held her tight. I sighed and squeezed tighter before saying, “I’m sorry.” Lyra pulled away and looked at my human face. “You know Jake, you look different.” Well, hahaha. So funny. It’s not like I’m a human now or anything. Cough cough. Although my sarcastic side tried to reply, I pushed it away and asked, “I do?” “Yea, you’re a human now. Jake, you’re so stupid.” I rolled my eyes and said, “Well my bad.” I set Lyra back down and lied down. My entire length took up pretty much the whole couch, but Lyra made do. She just hopped up onto my chest and lied down with her face a few inches away from mine. I put my hand in her mane and laid my head back on the armrest. This was just a perfect scene. The fire was crackling and warming everyone. BonBon was on the other couch with Spike and I was over here with Lyra. Nothing could ever break this moment up. That is, except for a hollow knock on the door… The door blew open and Twilight barged in. I instinctively flattened myself into the couch, attempting to go undetected. Twilight then looked around the living room. Spike and BonBon had woken up and Lyra hadn’t even shut her eyes yet. All three of them just looked over at Twilight with annoyed expressions. Spike spoke up, “Twilight, I told you that I’d tell you if Jake got here.” “Jake? Who’s Jake?” Twilight was quizzically suspicious and began looking around. I don’t think I could hold up this gimmick for long. The dancing fire in the fireplace helped conceal me with the dark colored couch with all the dancing shadows it casted. Spike shook his head and quickly corrected himself, “I meant Flare. I said that I’d tell you if Flare got here.” Twilight snorted and continued her search, “Spike, are you sure you aren’t hiding him anywhere. I feel a massive amount of magic in this very room.” Spike gulped audibly and waved his hands in front of him. “No, I’m not! Twilight, come on. You know me. I’m not hiding Flare.” Twilight’s gaze continued to scour over the room. At one point, she made eye contact with and locked on. She raised an eyebrow at first, but soon after smirked slyly and looked back at Spike. “Alright, as long as you’re not hiding him here. Just tell me when he comes.” She then used her purple magic to fix the door on its hinges and scampered out. Spike wiped away sweat from his forehead and looked to me. I was pulling myself out of the cushions and lay back down comfortably with Lyra still on my chest. I feverously stroked her mane as Spike spoke to me in relief, “Whew, she didn't find you. That was a close one.” I quickly shook my head and gulped, “No, she knows.” 1 - Aw Hell[ 1 ] Bad Luck Jake Chapter One – Bad Luck Jake MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. I lifted my head up off the itchy pillow and shook my head violently. My dark brown hair shifted with each shake of my head before falling back into its natural flow. My head fell back onto the old pillowcase as I looked at the wall on the far side of the room. Before I could fully wake up, I felt an annoyingly uncomfortable feel come from the depths of my mind. I hate these kinds of things. I can never really figure out what’s wrong, but you know that something just is. It’s kind of like when – MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. My alarm began to go off once again so I shifted in my bed and glared at it with the most annoyed expression that I could muster. I was hoping my all-too-serious demeanor would immediately halt the annoying screeches of the alarm, but I couldn’t hold the expression for long once I saw the digits going across it. My eyes slowly went wide and my mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe it. I finally figured out what was wrong about this Monday morning. I haven’t even noticed the surplus amount of painful light that was flooding into my room until I was already sitting up in my bed, eyes with shock. “… It’s… No, it can’t be," I rubbed my eyes and peered at the clock once more. "It… It’s… FUCKING 9:20?!” I shouted in utter disbelief, rattling the loose, weak furniture scattered around my dusty room. I immediately shot up onto my feet and ignored the clouds of dust that blew upwards and swirled around my knees. I went into a frenzy looking for my trusty pair of jeans. Once spotted, I dashed to them and began to slide them on. I got one leg halfway through before I slipped and tumbled onto my side and crashed into a wall. “Yep, that felt amazing. Just awesome,” I shut my eyes and held them like so for a while, hoping to redirect the blood away from the lump that would inevitably appear. Alas, the expected lump began to form on the right side of my head. I can already feel it taking shape without even bringing a hand up to feel it. I kept the shirt that I slept in on because I was simply too late to properly get myself ready. As one could assume, I was late for work. My name is Jake; I am 24 and am 20 minutes late for work. Scratch that, 21 minutes late. I started muttering to myself as I made my way out of my room and into the kitchen saying disappointedly, “Can’t have breakfast.” I stopped myself in front of the bathroom and looked at the door hesitantly. After pondering a certain thought for no more than a few seconds, I decided against taking a shower either. Great, I tried going to bed early last night just to wake up late this morning and be forced to skip two things that I looked forward to in every morning since moving out of my parents’ house. I zoomed out of my apartment and slammed the front door behind me, quickly making my way down the hall and towards the 16th floor’s common room. I sprinted across the compact room and stopped right in front of the elevator. I started tapping the down button in rushed anxiety. The abused button sparked to life acknowledging my call. Naturally, I would understand that my apartment sucked a lot which means the elevator does too, but the crappy cubicle was taking all the time that it possibly could to reach my floor. What the hell happened? Yesterday it worked fine… Fucking damnit. After a solid 5 minutes of slamming the button, I knew that my elevator just wasn’t going to work for me today. I groaned in frustration and turned my attention towards a stairwell through a doorway next to the elevators. The idea was like alcohol on an open gash, but I knew that I had to. With an aggravated sigh, I kicked off and ran to the open doorframe, well aware that I’d have to descend 16 floors. I stopped at the doorway and seriously debated whether to just wait for the elevator and make up an excuse as to why I was 4 hours late to work, or take the stairs and risk some fatal condition that’s connected to descending 16 flights of stairs. The more I pondered the thought, the more completely stupid it sounded. I dismissed that idea and started descending down the staircase three steps at a time. This rotten building was probably built in early 1900s or something; it was horrible on multiple levels. I swear this apartment is the worst apartment in all of California. As my legs continued the descent on their own in auto-pilot, my mind began to wander to thoughts of starting a petition against apartments like this one. As I was half a flight to the 10th floor, my foot slipped on a patch of moss that was hidden on a step and I landed on my right foot awkwardly. I heard what sounded like a disturbing tearing as my body attacked the floor in front of the 10th floor common room doorway. Normally, when one falls, his or her eyes will shut in fear of something happening to them. To some, this is valid, to others, not so much. For me… my eyes closed shut so I didn’t know what happened during the fall. As I felt my collision with a wall steady out, I sat motionless for a few long seconds before shooting my eyes open. I looked back at my foot, which didn't seem to be bent out of shape, but the tearing noise I heard earlier was real. I knew for a fact that I heard a tearing sound right as I twisted the hell out of my ankle. Grasping my ankle, I closed my eyes, silently grieving. I heard the awful tearing once more and winced, but realized that I hadn’t torn anything this time. My eyes scoured the tenth floor common room and landed on someone in one of the sofas, ripping what looked like mail. My fear was almost instantly replaced by confusion and then annoyance. I scowled and turned my gaze back to my foot and wobbled it around. I didn’t feel anything wrong with it, but I should probably be cautious with it just in case. I huffed and resumed my descent down the steps at a significantly slower rate, one step at a time, keeping an eye out for any more moss that could become ninjas and send me tumbling. After a whole 7 minutes or so of painfully slow descent, I made it to the lobby. The ground began to tremor slightly so I sat down patiently. Ah, it’s one of those mornings that let you know that you’re in Cali. Oh, how I just loved earthquakes. Cough cough, not really. After the tremor subsided, I wiped away the sweat beads on my forehead before exiting the structure. Right outside the doorway into the apartment I searched for my next objective: my car. Soon enough, there it was; right in front of me hiding in plain sight. Well played car, well played. I took a deep breath and went on the incredibly long voyage to reach it, which was roughly 5 yards away. I strolled to my car like it was worth the time it took to get there and instinctively continued on to the driver’s side door and yanked on the handle. The door yielded and opened to me. Damnit, I left my car unlocked again last night. Oh well. That seemed like a regular thing for me these days. Eh, whatever. I hopped into the driver’s seat and reached for my keys, which were supposed to be in my pocket. Supposed to be… A few long seconds went by as tumbleweed began to roll about inside the car. I checked my left pocket and then my right before melting down onto my steering wheel making sure not to accidentally sound the horn. “My keys…” I shot back up and straightened my back. “You know what? I’m done. Nope, that’s it. I’m fucking done. Nope.” I let out an aggravated yell and turned to kick my car door open with rage fueling my muscles. Unfortunately, my car must go to the gym often because instead of the car door yielding, my leg did and so did all the rage with it. There was a sudden numbness and soon after, a shock traveled up my leg before dispersing. Defeated by my own car, I let out a sigh, but I didn’t falter. I decided to set a handicap by cracking the car door open ever so slightly. Inhale… Exhale… I adjusted myself in my seat so that I was facing the car door. I performed a slight bow like the ninjas did in the movies and brought my leg to my chest before screaming, "Fus roh DAAAH!!" and kicking my car door open. The door shot off its hinges and flew across the street jumping occasionally similar to the jumping of a rock that someone throws when they skip rocks on a lake. The window cracked and shattered to pieces as the door tumbled and rolled. The scrap of metal ended its path of cacophony and deterioration up against a newspaper booth, sending newspapers flying. Just kidding. In all actuality, the door flew open enough to make it look “dislocated”. As if the loud crack that could be heard all the way down the street wasn’t enough, the door moaned in its currently abused state. A small part of me wished that the door really had flown across the street because the moaning of this car door was getting more and more annoying the longer I had to put up with it. A few people on the sidewalk began to notice my ordeal and stared before continuing on their paths. One of these people was Derek. Oh, thank the mighty lord of heaven and earth. “Nice warcry. I bet kids from Nebraska will be talking all about it during lunch,” Derek kidded with a grin on his face. I couldn’t help but scoff and smile too. After the short silence he continued, “But seriously, what happened? Your car door looks like shit. What’d you do to it? And what happened to you head? That lump looks pretty vicious.” “Umm. My car and I had a little exchange of fire.” I pointed at my pathetic limp and shrugged half-heartedly. “Huh. What about the bump?” “Bump?” I brought my hand up to feel the abnormality on the right side of my head, “Oh, that? I was rushing this morning and I kind of hit a wall. Sideways.” Before Derek could make a snide joke about it, I spoke up again. “So, uh. Wanna help me out with this door?” I pointed at the awkward looking door angle. Derek probably just noticed the sound because right when I pointed to the door, he covered his ears and complained, “Damn dude, that shit’s annoying. I’ve heard babies whose cries didn’t sound this bad” I rolled my eyes and repeated myself, “Are you going to help out or not?” Derek peeled his hands away from his ears and let out a sigh. “Sure, why not?” He casually walked past me and stood right behind the door, next to the hood of my car. I began to mobilize as well, but Derek held up a hand and stated, “You’ve fought well, Sir Jake, but this is my battle alone.” Well, I did have my battle with the car door and in all honesty, kicking the door open felt pretty awesome. “Sure thing.” Derek focused his eyes on the car door and squinted at it like the car door was some ancient rival or something. He leaned back and pivoted on his left foot while simultaneously raising his right. He then shot his right leg forward, sending his foot into the door’s metal frame. The impact dented my car deeply and swung the door shut. I stood on the sidelines pretty impressed. Unfortunately, the moment of victory was short lived as I turn to Derek and smirked. “I think we’ve beaten my car up enough today. Either way, I’m going back up to my apartment. I’ve been screwed over too much already. Oh yea, what time is it? I kind of forgot my phone in my apartment along with my keys.” I patted my pockets to confirm my claim to Derek. Derek nodded slowly in reply to the first half of what I said. After asking for the time, Derek halted his nodding and looked up towards the sun, not directly mind you. As if deep in thought, he gazed back to the street, looking at the shadows of random objects: poles, cars, people, etc. After what seemed like a good five minutes, Derek turned to me with the most confident look on his face, “I’ve got no idea.” My expression of anticipation was frozen on my face. “What?” Derek put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. “I have no idea,” he repeated himself. I just stood there dumbfounded. “Are you serious? What were you looking at then?!” I shouted at him, trying to scold him. “I saw a butterfly when I looked up at the sky and followed it around with my eyes.” Derek smiled a big, toothy grin as he finished his observation. I sighed before shrugging once more. “Eh, whatever. I wasn't going to work today anyways,”. I turned to the entrance doors of my apartment when I heard Derek’s voice behind me, “You’re not going to work? Why not? It’s such a gorgeous day to stand behind a cash register and take orders by people who’d like ‘fries with that’!” “I don’t feel like explaining. Long story short, the day sucked so far, and I need to unwind.” “Already? Pft, well in that case, I’m coming with you,” Derek said and began to march to my side. “Uh, no you’re not. I’m sure you’ve got your own crap to do. As a matter of fact, what were you doing before I asked for the help?” “Well, to be completely honest, I wasn't doing or going to do anything. I literally have this whole day off, so I decided to just walk around the city until I was bored.” “You knew you had nothing to do today, and you decided to start walking the city… at 9 in the morning?” Derek just gazed at me, thinking, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. This motherfucker had a phone, what the hell. He could’ve just told me the time. As I was thinking, I must’ve had an annoyed look on my face because Derek noticed it. “Um, Jake? Something wrong?” I simply shook my head and smiled. “Nope. Nothing at all.” That son of a … “It’s not nine in the morning Jake. It’s almost ten.” “Hmm, almost ten?” I nodded slowly in understanding and looked at Derek again as he hid is phone away in his pocket. “You know Derek, I’ve wasted enough time today. I’ll be in my apartment for the rest of the morning… and afternoon… and night. If you ever need me, then hit me up.” With that, I turned, and made my way into the lobby doors of my apartment and headed to the stairwell. Damn, this shit again. “That’s a lot of stairs you got there.” I didn’t even turn to see who was talking. “Derek… what are you doing here..?” With a scoff Derek replied, “I already told you, Jake. I’ve got nothing to do. We might as well play Blops2 at your place if you’re going to stay in your room the rest of the day. Amirite?” I contemplated his suggestion for a quick second before groaning, “Fine, sure. Why not, but I’m player one.” I continued to gaze at the intimidating stairwell leading up and began to take in a few sharp breaths as I prepped myself for the immense workout this would be, “Alright Jake, you got this. It’s not too far up. Don’t be such a wuss, it’s only ten floors. You coming Derek?” Inhale. Exhale. In between my breathing Derek replied, “Why not just take the elevator..?” Inhale. Exhale. Inhale… Exhale. “We’re not taking the elevator, unless you’d care to waste the rest of morning waiting for it.” “Ah, you’re so funny Jake,” Derek raised an eyebrow sarcastically and smugly strolled to the elevator and gently tapped the up button. I was too confident that the elevator wasn’t going to come down. “I’ll meet you at the top then buddy.” Inhale. Exhale. I closed my eyes and focused on my inner chi. Inhale. Exhale. I heard a small yelp and an ever so slight green glow. Before I could turn to ask Derek what had happened, a familiar sound reached my ears. DING. … what. I turned my head the rest of the way and looked for Derek. What the hell. Derek was no where to be found and the elevator door had reached the lobby and began opening. I didn’t know what had just taken place. Derek was nowhere to be seen and the elevator was here and open. I looked towards the lobby door and wondered if had just left for some random reason. I looked back at the elevator to see the person in question was standing inside it. The doors were open. He had one eyebrow raised and a smirk plastered onto his face. … This kid… “How the hell did you get the elevator to get down here so fast and where the hell did you go?” “Ahaha. You sound like the elevator doesn’t work or anything.” Derek completely ignored my second question but I let that drop. I glared at him, “That’s because it doesn’t. Dude, seriously. How’d you get it to work?” Derek’s smile persisted and he crossed his arms. “Magic.” “Yea, whatever.” I walked towards the elevator as the doors began to close. “Better hurry there, Jake.” “Just hold it open for me…” “Eh, not sure if I’m up to doing that for ya. Your face after climbing up 16 floors worth of stairs would be priceless if it’s as I imagine it.” “Dude…” I broke out into a run and dove at the elevator. Well, thank God that the elevator’s quality still sucked. Even though the doors took way too long to close, I still didn’t make it. Well, I halfway made it I guess. The door closed in on my torso, right under my arms. I felt the pressure of the doors close before they reopened to allow me entry “AAAND HE’S SAFE!” “Shut up, Derek.” Derek smirked and held down the button with “16” on it. The doors of the elevator closed and I could feel the elevator rising. Damn, it felt faster than I thought it was. There were a few jolts and jerks on the way up which worried me slightly considering the fact that the elevator probably hasn’t traveled this fast in 20 years or so. Yes, that was a complete guess. Anyway, the elevator’s speed began to decelerate as we approached the twelfth floor where there was a heavy jolt and the elevator just stopped all together. It didn’t get taken into gravity’s grip and crash down. It just, stopped. “… What the hell?” “Uh, in retrospect, I’d say taking the elevator wasn’t the greatest idea.” “Hmph. That’s why I was going to take the stairs. Nice going, Sherlock.” “Well damn, my bad Jake. Why didn’t you tell me that something like this would’ve happened?” “Ugh, just drop it. We’re stuck in here so we might as well try to call someone at the very least.” Derek nodded and stared at me expectantly. "What are you looking at me for? You have the phone." Derek continued to stare at me, but his expression changed to slight confusion, "I do?" Un. Fucking. Believable. I saw Derek pull out his phone outside in front of my apartment and now he doesn't even know he has a phone. "It's in your pocket, dumbass." He reached for his pocket but pulled out nothing. "Nope. No phone." I glared at Derek as my blood began to boil. Steam escaped my nostrils and I decided against kicking Derek in the face. I simply sat down in the corner of the elevator and pulled my knees to my chest. Derek, on the other hand, was still standing and was pacing back and forth "Dude, just calm down. We’ll probably be in here for a while," I attempted to calm him. “Yea well, when the elevator starts working again, I want to make sure that I’m up for it.” “Whatever you say,” those were the last words I muttered before losing myself in the abyss of seductive imagination. BOOM. pew pew. CRACK. KABOOM. pew. pew pew. BOOM. KKKSSHHH, CRASH. BOOM. My body jolted up and my eyes shot open as the cacophony around me became unbearably deafening. I covered my ears up and waited for my head to stop throbbing from the massive explosions and war going on outside. Wait... war? I looked down at myself to see that I was still in my t-shirt and jeans, but I wasn’t inside the elevator anymore. What the hell happened and where am I. I feel like shit. I looked around me and shook my head a few times trying to dismiss the cloud of obscurity from my thoughts. “Ugh, what the hell.” What am I doing here? Where is here?” I was looking out of a shattered window. Down below, was a massive amount of what looked like bug ponies. The more I thought about it, the more the bug ponies began to look like changelings from my favorite show, My Little Pony. I squinted as I registered this information. There were even regular ponies and guards that were running around amidst the destruction. I didn’t know what to make of it so I continued to watch with confusion, anticipation, and slight amusement. Before long, my curiosity had brimmed and I looked behind me to take a good look at the room I was in. Huh, I could swear that this place looks familiar. I turned my body away from the window and sat cross legged on the floor gazing at the overturned pews scattered around the room and steps that led up to a large chair, probably a throne of sorts, that was overturned as well and had a few burn marks generously placed across it. I hunched my back and dropped my head into the palms of my hands. “Where is this..? UGH.” I just couldn’t recall where I was. This was one bad case of Presque vu and it made me more annoyed with every minute that passed. Oh fuck it. I turned my attention back at the scene that was unfolding out the window. I looked at some of the buildings and a humongous maze with statues. Some of the statues still stood upright, but others lay on their sides or were broken into multiple pieces. “Oh… I know where this is. Hmm. I’m actually inside the world of My Little Pony, of Equestria.” I looked back at the room I was in, “I must be in the castle then.” With a little more thought, I brought together two and two… and two, “I’m in the throne room!” I finally figured out my whereabouts and smiled confidently. What the hell was I doing in the throne room of Canterlot Castle? This must be some kind of dream. A really wacky dream at that. Brain, why are you doing this to me? I sighed and, once again, redirected my attention to the clamor outside. The detail of all the ponies and buildings was superb. It was to the point that I could see every strand of fur on the ponies or the sparkly shine of the guards’ armor. It was pretty intense. “Damn, this quality is just outstanding. What kind of dream has this kind of definition?” I concluded my verbal thought as a feminine voice behind me spoke up, “Ah, hello there. Like what you see?” Huh, whoever the lady behind me was, she was pretty quiet. She entered the room without making a noise. I turned around to see Derek standing behind me with green eyes and slits for pupils. Whoa, totally not strange in any way or anything. “Um… Derek? What’s up with your eyes? And have you seen a woman in here? I heard a woman’s voice just a little bit ago.” “You mean me?” the feminine voice came from Derek’s lips and I stood awestruck. Well, technically I sat awestruck. Anyways, back to the point: Derek was a girl? What?! When did that happen?! “Uh, Derek. Were you always a – ” “NO, YOU FOOL. I’M NOT DEREK. Hmph, you are a stubborn creature. Tell me, what do you call your species?” “Wait, what? If you’re not Derek, then who are you?” I squinted at Derek’s form in disbelief but maintained eye contact. Derek’s body slowly emitted a green glow and he began to change. After the change and “Derek’s” body stopped glowing, what stood before me was the Queen of the Bug Ponies: Chrysalis. “Aren’t you like, a villain or something?” “Well, in the eyes of the ponies, yes. Don’t let my appearance fool you. I am not your enemy. We can be the best of allies there could be.” “I’m not sure where to go from that. From my knowledge, you were a pretty nasty villain… Are you sure you’re not set on destroying Equestria or anything?” Chrysalis scoffed and sneered, “Of course not. Why would I do such a thing? Equestria is where everything thrives after all.” I let up on my glare and just sat there staring at Chrysalis. It took me a few minutes to digest everything that happened since I was in this dream. Oh, that reminded me. “Is this a dream?” “Why, of course it is. It’s your dream. Plain and simple,” Chrysalis tried to put on her most reassuring smile, but I found it quite unconvincing. Whatever, this can’t be real anyways. Even if Chrysalis’s expression is saying this isn’t a dream, it must be. After all, I was talking to Chrysalis. “Alright then, Chrysalis. I’m willing to become your ally during any future events that may ensue.” I tried my best to sound formal, but Chrysalis’s innocent smile twisted itself into a nasty sneer the moment the words left my lips. Her horn glowed in the same green that had enveloped Derek not too long ago. I felt a tingling sensation and what looked like a green membrane start to grow around my body. “Um, Chrysalis, what are you doing? I thought we were allies…” “Oh yes, we are. That’s why you’ll retain your mind and morals. Unfortunately, you are without the ability to morph. If we are going to be allies, then you’ll need to acquire that ability as soon as possible.” Without giving me a chance to respond, the green sac that I was held captive in was levitated and glued to the ceiling with what looked like glue or something in the same shade of green as the sack was. “You’ll have to persist through the process however. It’s quite unfortunate that you must endure this.” “Wait, what? Chrysalis… what’s going to happen? Endure what?” My eyes began to grow wide with sudden anxiety. “You’ll be acquiring the ability to morph, like I’ve said previously. It’s just quite unfortunate that you’ll be under massive amounts of pain. If it could be done without the agony, I’d have it that way for you. Until you have fully gained the ability to morph, you’ll be under constant pain, whether it’s the sensation of having a cut, or a broken bone. You must endure it.” Without another word to her explanation, Chrysalis turned and strutted towards the door. This is just great. In my own dream, I’m captured and hung upside down from the ceiling. The Queen of the Changelings just told me that I’m going to be in a constant state of pain too. Brilliant. "By the way, I'm human," I called after her. In acknowledgment, the Changeling Queen fluttered her wings, but nothing more. That’s when I felt the skin on my right arm peel back, revealing the raw muscle underneath. Another minute later, I felt my left shin break. The agony was excruciatingly painful and I was fighting the urge to scream as loud as I could. Frankly, this would be a battle that'd I would lose. My spine cracked not five seconds later and I was left in an awkward fetal position. Pain was shooting throughout my body and my brain was being bombarded with pain signals from everywhere. I left a few short gasps and gulped down as much air as I could. As expected, my brain got overloaded with pain and my vision faded to black while my nerves went numb.
2 - Rhyme Time[ 2 ] The Silent Flare Ignites Chapter Two – The Silent Flare Ignites “Ugh, what the..?” I awoke to a peaceful setting. My whole body felt weird and tight, like my skin had gotten sewed one size smaller. Skin… Skin? What skin? I didn’t have any skin… Well, I did, but that’s not what I was looking at through my squinted eyes. “Fur? What the hell?” My eyes burned as the dry air agitated them. I shut my eyes, not risking permanent blindness. Why the hell did I have fur? If I recall before losing conscious, I was slung up into a changeling cocoon or something by Chrysalis. If anything, I’d expect to be a bug pony of sorts. But no, I was a regular stallion. Damn, this dream is just getting weird. Oh yea, I forgot. It’s a dream, nothing really happens out of logic. I let out a breath of frustration and looked around. I wasn’t in the castle anymore, or anywhere near it for that matter. If I had to guess I’d say I’m in the middle of the Everfree forest. Why the hell? “Oh, good. You’re up.” “I’m what?” I asked, dazed. My vision was still murky and unresponsive. “You know, up. Being awake? Returning from slumber?” “Psh, I knew that. I’m not stupid. Geez…” my voice sounded the same at least. “Now, we’ll have to get to work immediately. I was shut down my Celestia for the second time! If you had finished the transformation before she showed up, then I would be in control by now.” Can’t forget Chrysalis’ voice, now can I? And wait a second, “in control”? Why’d she say “in control”? “Chrysalis, I’ve got a few questions to ask…” I opened my eyes and turned my head towards Chrysalis, who was lying down behind me. My eyes still burned, but it was tolerable now. Anyway, before I could begin the inquiry, the information my eyes were sending to my brain was quite odd. I had a much broader field of vision, and I could see a long muzzle where my nose should’ve been. What the hell am I? “Umm, you had questions?” Chrysalis looked at me slightly impatient. “Oh yea, I did.” I took in a deep breath and asked my first question. “What am I?” “Well, you used to be a human. You should know that though, but what was your name again? Josh? Joe? Jared? I can’t remember, but one could say that you’re a pony now.” “A pony? I’m a pony?” I reached into my inner chi and felt a flow of something brilliant. I couldn’t quite describe it, but it was quite calm. It resembled water following a path. It flowed freely, but was contained within me. The tranquility brought peace to my mind. Until Chrysalis thought it’d be funny to poke my snout. “Are you alive? You’ve been rocking your head back and forth for a few minutes with that stupid expression on your face.” “Me? What? I what? What?” Chrysalis sighed, “You are a pony now. During the changeling process, normally the victim would morph into the default look of a changeling and be connected to the hive mind. For some unknown reason though, you took the shape of a pony, even if I modified the cocoon to allow you to retain your mind and thoughts.” “I still have my own mind right?” “Yes.” “Why am I a…” something on either side of me fluttered before everything went calm again, “…pony?” I looked to my left side and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then I quickly swiped my head the other way to check my right flank, nothing. Just a cool-looking cutie mark. Hmm. I checked my left flank again, this time taking a look at my whole body. In my current sitting position, I had my forearms, or rather, fore hooves planted into the ground in front of me. My hind legs were underneath me and were kept warm by my stomach. I was indeed, a pony. However, what Chrysalis failed to tell me, was that I was a pegasus. A crimson pegasus. A crimson red pegasus with a kickass cutie mark. And an equally kickass dark grey tail with yellow highlights. I assumed that my mane looked just as awesome. “… I’m a pegasus? Why didn’t you tell me? You know Chrysalis, you could’ve said ‘pegasus’ instead of just ‘pony’. That kind of information is important.” I was still inspecting the left side of my body and felt the oddity of my back muscles. It felt so weird and nothing to what I was used to. What I was used to? What am I used to? I don’t remember anything before this dream. It was so aggravating how I couldn’t recall simple memories. “I didn’t tell you that you are a pegasus for a simple reason. That reason, is that you’re not a pegasus. You, my fine ally, are an alicorn.” “Hmm? Say what? An alicorn? Don’t I need a horn to be an alicorn and possibly the ability to, you know, wield magic?” My words were bathed in sarcasm and disbelief. “Jake, you are an alicorn,” Chrysalis retorted with a serious look on her face as she took her right hoof and brought it a little ways above my forehead. She then tapped on something that was protruding from it. Every tap shot a jolt of pain down my body. Wow that was quite painful… Not as painful as the cocoon experience, but it was something along the lines of hitting your funny bone on something hard. Wait, what? What’s a funny bone? Where did that analogy come from? What’s wrong with me..? I shook my head and shivered. It hasn’t even been a whole day yet and I’m an alicorn in Equestria. But damnit, it was a dream. That really sucked a lot. “Can I, uh, cast spells?” “Yea, I guess you could if you knew how to.” “Ha, it can’t be that hard. I’m sure I’ll figure out how in no time whatsoever.” “Based on your power level, I’d say the same.” Power level… why did that sound familiar? Ugh, this was incredibly annoying. “How about you teach me how to use magic?” I smiled my best grin and stared at Chrysalis convincingly. She waved her hoof, dismissing the notion, and said, “No. Not yet. You could still be recovering from morphing or something.” “Recover? From what? I feel fine!” I jumped to my hooves and bowed my head low and flared out my wings unevenly. I flashed a grin at Chrysalis again and simply waited for a response. Several minutes passed but my confidence didn’t falter. The Changeling Queen must’ve seen this too because she eventually let out a sigh of defeat and got up onto her hooves. “Fine. We’ll start magic training tomorrow. I haven’t the motivation to complete any tasks at the moment. Goodnight.” “What? It’s nighttime? But I just woke up! Come on Chrysalis, don’t be like that.” Chrysalis ignored my begging and continued on her way towards a tree that had fallen over, creating a mound of dirt before it. Why would she walk over to a mound of dirt? Maybe that’s where she slept. I continued to gaze in the direction of the Changeling Queen as she approached the mound. Chrysalis simply walked behind it and sank into the Earth. “… what?” I was at a loss. How did Chrysalis do that? Where did she go? I started to make my way towards Chrysalis when I noticed how lop-sided I was walking. “Ew, I’m gonna have to change that. Hmm, that’s probably why she didn’t want to teach me magic right away. She knew that she’d have to teach me how to walk and fly first.” I lowered my head and sighed. Whatever, I guess we should just wait tomorrow anyways. I lied back down on the cool earth and laid my head on my front hooves. This is a weird dream. The more I thought about it, the less this felt like an actual dream though. What if this wasn’t a dream? What if I was a real pony? Ahem, alicorn. What would Derek do without me? I was kind of his only friend. Damn, I feel pretty bad about Derek. I raised my head up and tilted it slightly. What if, now this is just a thought, but what if Derek was actually Chrysalis the whole time? Holy crap, that’s scary. Derek and I did so many stupid things together. I don’t believe it. Derek couldn’t have been Chrysalis. That’s impossible… Or was it? Damnit brain, STOP. Sorry. I put my head back down and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately, I had just recently been awoken from my slumber. I won’t be able to sleep again for a few hours or so. Geez, what time is it? I surveyed the area around me and saw that I was the only pony around. I was the only animal around, to be honest. The eerie lonesomeness made me uneasy. “I don’t feel so safe, which way did Chrysalis walk again?” I asked the question to myself, looking around in confusion. “Well, she walked towards a fallen over tree with a mound of dirt in front of it. That should cut a few directions out of the picture.” But, no. There were so many trees that had collapsed with mounds of dirt around them. I’m never going to find the way Chrysalis went. Damnit. Well, since Chrysalis walked to a mound and disappeared, I can guess that if I do to, then I’ll go where she went, if I found the right mound… This is really irritating. What if I just called for her? Yea, that’d work. I sucked in a deep breath and held it. Wait, I can’t shout. It’s in the middle of the night. Like a balloon, I slowly let the air leak out of my barely agape lips. “Well, if I can’t find her and there’s no one around, I might as well practice walking.” I’m not going to lie, saying it out loud made it sound so much easier than actually thinking about it did. I stood upright on my legs and took a step forward. Huh, not so bad. It was as if my muscles were already used to walking as a quadruped. A quadruped… have I been anything else besides one? Maybe I was some tall monster with two arms and three legs? That would’ve been cool. While I was in thought, I was mindlessly trotting in a circle around the sunken patch of dirt that I had rested in not too long ago. Well then, it seems I have walking down, how about I run? I was still walking, so I simply just picked up the pace by a little and enlarged my circle. I was trotting along finely, kicking up dirt every now and then. To be completely honest, it felt kind of good to jog around in a circle. I started to see my vision spin so I slowed myself to a slow canter before falling to my haunches. Alright, I’ve got walking and jogging down, but I’ll have to rest a bit and get my mind straight once more. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.. Exhale… My breathing grew steadier and slower with each exhale. Soon enough, I found myself in the sweet embrace of sleep. Oh, sweet sleep. It’s just like being dead, but you frantically hallucinate and at the end, you wake up again. Haha, everyone’s a zombie then. That’s pretty cool. When I awoke, the air was warm and the air was fresh. Probably because I was in a forest. In the dirt. I let out a long, well spent yawn and opened my eyes. I blinked a few times before swiveling my head from side to side. This isn’t where I fell asleep. Where am I..? I heard a soft snoring to my right followed by a yawn. I took a gander in the direction and saw that Chrysalis was sleeping peacefully right next to me. Did Chrysalis come and get me in my sleep? I guess so. What else would’ve anyway? I scoffed quietly and continued to stare at the Changeling Queen. Her mane was a mess and there were holes in her horn, and all throughout her hooves. For a second, I was tempted to poke my hoof through one of the holes on her hoof but decided against it because I might wake her up in the process. I looked forward again and then looked directly above me. It appeared to me that we were in some kind of dugout or cave. The room was a simple enough room: a simple circle. However, the opening to leave the room was directly overhead. The only way in or out would be to fly. Well, not necessarily, I guess you could fall in, but the only way out would be to fly. I tried to stifle a yawn, but it was futile. The yawn was a louder yawn and I smacked my lips a few times before laying my head back down. I poked my hoof at Chrysalis’ body and whispered, “Chrysalis? You still asleep?” To my surprise, her body was ice cold. My eyes narrowed and I was immediately at my hooves. “What the fuck? Chrysalis? Uh, hey Chrysalis?!” Worried thoughts were flying through my brain crashing into each other leaving me standing there stupidly without a single idea of what to do. Chrysalis moaned and shifted her body slightly to get comfortable. I sighed with relief and sat back down next to Chrysalis. Only then did my brain cooperate. Maybe Changelings were just naturally ice cold. Maybe that’s why they live in these warm holes. The air was so warm and snug. “Mmf, what? Wha joo wann?” Chrysalis groaned and half opened her left eye and gazed at me like a drunk. I simply looked back with a soft and gentle expression before remembering what I was doing the night before. “Uh, if you don’t mind, maybe a little bit of magic practice?” I grinned hopefully that she’d comply in my favor. Chrysalis simply blinked a few times before standing up. She let out a few high pitched squeals as she stretched her legs out. My eyes gleamed at the chance to finally learn magic. She put a hoof on my shoulder and drew in a breath. Chrysalis sighed before looking me straight in the eyes. Hmm, I was pretty much eye level with Chrysalis. That was interesting, sort of. I thought ponies were smaller. “Yes, fine. I’ll teach you magic. However, I am still tired and want to sleep. Therefore, in the meantime, you must find a name for yourself because I have no idea whatsoever regarding what to refer to you as. You are no longer human so I’m going to wait for you to choose a name for yourself.” Chrysalis then returned to her spot in the dirt and flopped back to the floor, snoring almost instantly. Wow, that changeling’s got some massive sleeping issues. Well, it must be difficult for her sleeping schedule when she’s tried to take Equestria twice, and failed twice. Eh, can’t blame her. That kind of stuff must be tiring. I deeply inhaled before exhaling slowly and with control. I had to think up a name for myself.I looked back at my flank and took into account what my cutie mark was portraying. I had a special talent… and I didn’t even know what it was. How dandy. Anyways, the cutie mark is two clashing swords. One is on fire and the other is consumed in what seems to be electricity. To be honest, it looked pretty awesome. I really want to use my magic and perform a spell. ANY spell. I was getting anxious to the point where I couldn’t contain myself. I scoured the small room in search of something I could use and came across a few rocks. Welp, better than nothing. I jogged over to rocks and lay next to them, eyeing them intently. I just lay there, staring the rocks, not knowing what to do or expect. I guess that I could try picturing the rocks doing something. I reached into the depths of my mind and imagined the rocks stacking themselves up one on top of the other. Nothing happened. I snorted and blinked a few more times before eyeing the rocks again with even more intent. Once again, I imagined the rocks stacking into a tower. Nothing. This sucked so much. I wish I had appendages that jutted out from my hoof. I could just grab the rock and throw it or something. I imagined my hooves becoming something similar to the claws that griffins had. My hooves immediately caught fire and the hole was illuminated in a great yellow orange light as I screamed as loud as I could. “Wuhh? Whutter you doin?” Chrysalis immediately woke and blinked a few times and noticed the sudden brightness of the room. She brought a hoof to shield her eyes from the intense light and heat. Unfortunately, her hooves were holey. The light flowed through her hooves and invaded Chrysalis’ eyes. It all happened so fast. As fast as the fire started, it went out and the light in the room vanished. My fore hooves have been replaced by same claws that griffins had. These claws however, were the same red crimson hue as my fur. They didn’t have fur on them, but they were the same color. I sat back on my haunches and observed what just happened when an idea nudged itself to the front of my brain again. My eyes grew wide with excitement and the edges of my lips curled up. I looked in Chrysalis’ direction and squealed “MAGIC!!!” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and moved to sit next to me. She raised her hooves in front of my face and kept them there. After a short wait, her hooves glowed green and were replaced with claws, just like mine, but with a dark greener color instead of my crimson red. My mouth was agape and I just stared at Chrysalis. “I can morph? It wasn’t even that hard…” “So it seems. You must have a thing for magic. Even if you haven’t mastered anything else, I can tell that it’ll be pretty easy considering how you’ve maneuvered yourself when your hooves were morphing. You were running and jumping around the whole place.” I blushed slightly and replied, “Yea… um. You saw that?” Thank the lord my coat was crimson red. No one will be able to see my blush. Ever. “Of course, I was in the middle of it all.” Chrysalis snorted and looked at me. “Ahem, anyways… Magic?” “Yes, magic… Let’s leave the room first, it’s getting stuffy in here.” Chrysalis then morphed her claws back into her trademark holey hooves and took to the sky. She floated up until she was out of the entrance hole. I sat awestruck at how easy it seemed for her to morph and to fly. She didn’t even have to think about doing any of them. It was all like a force of instinct or something like that. Wait, how was I supposed to get out? I never actually used my wings for flight yet and I’m not entirely sure if I could actually do it. I gulped nervously and trotted directly under the hole above me and unfolded my wings. My wingspan was pretty incredible. It looked bigger than the pegasi in My Little Pony. My Little Pony… boy, where am I getting all these memories from..? Ugh. I shook my head, relieving myself of the thought and continued. Well, then again. I’m kind of a big pony… so, yeah. Anyway, back to the task at hand: Flight. It’s easy, birds can do it. Why can’t I? With my wings still unfolded, I tilted them so I can get a glance at them from every angle I could. Yup. Flight. Piece of cake. With a deep breath, I raised my wings and brought them down fast. I was immediately off the ground and shooting upwards. Shit, too much. How do I stop?! I continued to jet upwards, past the hole that led down into the little room. Ah, this isn’t going to end well… “Okay. So, I’m going to have to banish you temporarily while we get the repairs done around here.” Chrysalis was staring down at me with annoyance in her eyes as well as slight sympathy. I simply hung my head low and remained on my haunches, accepting the punishment being thrown at me. I can't say I didn't see this coming. After all, I did kind of hit the ceiling of a cave network. The cave then crumbled and filled everything with dirt, and yea. Not the best of accidents if you ask me. You wouldn’t believe how long it took to dig out every last changeling. And me. “Although you’ll be in exile for probably a month, I won’t leave you completely helpless. Err, by the way, did you come up with a name for yourself?” I brought my head up and stared at Chrysalis for a second, tapping my jaw with a hoof. “Yes, I have. I decided on ‘Silent Flare’.” “Silent Flare? Really? That’s kind of ironic…” “Well, yeah.” I began to blush again out of slight embarrassment but still approved of my self-appointed name. “Even if the flare I caused earlier wasn’t the most silent there could be, it sounds much better than ‘Loud Flare’.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and scoffed before continuing. “You have a point. Anyway, Silent Flare, your exile begins now.” She smacked the ground with her hoof in emphasis of her last word. She then dug her hoof into the ground and drew an arrow with it pointing to the east. If you follow this direction and not ONCE, stray away from the path, you will find yourself in the small village of Ponyville. There, you will be a normal pony, or at least try to in essence, and fit in with the local population.” “Yes, ma’am.” “Be off then, Flare.” Without another word, I turned and began walking. I wasn’t all too sad, just regretful. I still didn’t get the hang of flying, but I was determined to find out on the trail to Ponyville. Once I was out of Chrysalis’ eyeshot and earshot, I looked around and flapped my wings. Not as I had done earlier in the tunnels, but much more gently. I was gently lifted off and I could feel myself hovering almost a yard off the ground. This was amazing. I was flying! Well, floating, but who cares. I flapped slightly harder and ascended. I continued to flap until I was above the tree tops and saw nothing but the forest canopy. “If I’m going to find Ponyville, I’ll have to find it from the air. I’m not walking through that dense forest just to get to a village. I might die.” I then tried to adjust my wings, while in flight, so I could accelerate forward. I partially did it. I flapped, shooting the air under my wings behind me, but in doings so, also lost the leverage that kept me afloat. Therefore, I displaced myself forward, but began to plummet down. My eyes grew wide and I frantically flapped my wings trying to stabilize myself. My unsynchronized flaps only aided in my crazed descent. Before long, I felt tree branches whipping at me and leaves sticking themselves in my mane. Once the branches finished tearing at me, the momentum that I had lost was quickly regained as I continued my descent and smashed into the dirt with a loud thud and a ear piercing snap. “Yep, that hurt,” I hissed as I tried standing back up. My left hind leg was badly out of shape and I could see a bone piercing the flesh. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. That hurts. Whoa, that hurts.” I felt a slight burn and tingling sensation as I continued to stare at the mangled leg. After a few seconds, a few turquoise sparks started to emit from the punctured area of the leg where the bone was protruding. The sparks became much more violent and flashed until I could see electricity with the same turquoise color flowing up and down my entire leg. The bone slowly made its way back into my leg and with another crack, the leg was correctly shaped and in place. The electricity continued on for a few more seconds before moving to the rest of my body. The electricity began to spark and curve, shooting out excess teal energy occasionally. I felt my cuts being mended as the electricity bounced up and down the entirety of my body. The electricity then began dying out, becoming sparks once more and then finally dispersing completely. That was cool. My eyes were wide and I was looking around as if someone else saw what had just taken place. “Anyone else see that?! No? Just me? Okay.” I stomped my foot on the ground and started digging up dirt with my hoof for no reason at all. “I might as well try flying again. I guess my body heals itself? I dunno. Probably.” I took one last glance at my leg and wobbled it, feeling no pain. I walked in a small circle for confirmation. Still, no pain. Sweet. With a simple shrug, I began to flap my wings again, slowly elevating myself into the air. Not wanting a repeat of the plummeting to my supposed death, I remained a yard off the ground and experimented with aerial maneuvers. “Hmm, so if I do this, I’ll move forward, and if I shift my wings like this, I’ll move backwards.” Respectively, I curved my wings and continued to flap. I remained off the ground, but still moved forwards and then backwards. I continued to experiment and soon after, figured out how to move to the left and right and then simply turning in midair. Feeling confident, I took in a deep breath and flapped my wings harder, ascending faster than last time. I quickly transitioned into flapping my wings to move me forward, and it worked. I flew in the direction that Chrysalis had pointed me in and I could start making out the edge of the forest. A few seconds later, I started to see building with hay roofs dotting the land. It seemed like a pretty peaceful, yet bustling town. It was, to say the least, just how I imagined civilization in a utopia. Reducing my flapping rate, I slowly descended back to the ground at the very edge of the forest next to a small tree cottage. Hopefully, someone lived here. I landed and trotted to the door and knocked on it three times. “Hello? Who is it?” There was a very soft and feminine voice inside. A mare must live here. Huh. “It’s… um. Silent Flare?” I wasn’t entirely comfortable with throwing my name around just yet. I was slightly hesitant to say it out loud, but it escaped my lips none the less so the only way to go now is forward. I waited for a response and soon enough there was one. “Silent Flare? I’ve never heard of him before…” “Uh, yea. About that, I’m kind of new here and I was hoping to find some ponies to get acquainted with.” “Oh, I’m not sure.” The door cracked open and a yellow mare poked her head out. Her pink mane flowed down her head perfectly and her eyes were the perfect shade of cyan. I was standing there awestruck as the mare simply stared at me, it was obvious that she’d never seen a stallion as large as me before. What could I say, I was tall and, well, large. I shook my head to snap out of my daze and continued. “Well, I just came from the Everfree forest. You see, there was an incident and I was forced to leave the people I was with, and I spotted this town so I – “ The door swung open and the yellow mare immediately grabbed me and pulled me inside. She then flung me onto her couch and shut the door. This mare, is strong. That’s all I can say. “The Everfree? Are you hurt? How long have you been out there? Are you hurt anywhere? Did I already say that?” The mare began bombarding me with questions when in all actuality, I was still trying to get over the fact that she had just picked me up, a pony more than twice her size and weight, and flung me onto her couch. I took in a deep breath, recalling her questions and answered. “Yes. No. I’m not sure. No. Yes.” The mare then backed up a little to get a complete view of me. Her eyes grew wide and she immediately galloped out the door. I was in a massive state of confusion and didn’t know what to do next, so I stayed on the couch and waited patiently. I started surveying the living quarters that I was in and found a small white bunny stomping on the table next to the couch I was on. His face was clearly saying that he was unamused. “Hi there, little guy. How’re you doing?” The bunny continued to stomp his foot on the table, creating a steady beat that I couldn’t help but bob my head to. “You know, you’d do well in the music industry.” The rabbit then leaped up and kicked me in the face before attempting to scamper away. My eyes sent out a pulse of blue energy that enveloped the whole room and added a blue hue to everything. Without thought, I grabbed the bunny, which was in mid-air and falling in slow motion. I brought the bunny to my snout and stared into its eyes. The pulsating blue in the room soon faded and the poor rabbit tried squirming around. I continued to stare at the bunny with death in my eyes. The door then barged open and the yellow mare walked in. She froze in place as a purple unicorn mare entered the room beside her. “Uh, hi.” That’s all I managed to stutter before the yellow mare began shaking and leapt at me. She swiped the rabbit out of my grip and landed safely on the other side of the cottage. “You don’t touch Angel! Do you understand!” she then began to stare at me intently. I, honestly, didn’t know what she was doing. She was just standing there staring at me. I got uncomfortable and spoke up, “Um, what are you doing?” My opposition immediately gasped and put her hoof to her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Okay, so by now, I’m kind of confused. This yellow mare snatches the bunny out of my hand, stares at me uncomfortably, and then apologizes. I honestly don’t know how to react to such a situation. Therefore, I stand there awkwardly. I have absolutely no idea what to do. Luckily, the purple unicorn that returned to the cottage with this yellow pegasus was here to save me from the silence. “So, what’s your name?” she spoke up. I turned to the speaker and replied shakily. “Si- Silent Flare… but, you know, Flare's fine.” “Silent Flare you say… I haven’t heard of anypony with such a name. Are you new to Ponyville?” “Actually, yes. I just came through the Everfree forest and stumbled upon this town. I’m just trying to make acquaintances as of now.” Twilight’s eyes sparkled and she smiled the widest smile I’ve ever seen. “Friendship!” “Um, Twilight?” Twilight’s face was locked in its mega hyped state. It was quite creepy to say the least. Twilight’s face then turned grim as she looked me up and down before saying. “How are you an alicorn?” “I’m not too sure.” I gave a weak smile and broke eye contact with Twilight, quickly finding the floor a very interesting subject to look at, "I woke up in the Everfree forest and I was an alicorn somehow..." “Hmm, very interesting. Anyway, I assume you’ve met Fluttershy?” Fluttershy? Was Fluttershy the yellow mare? I looked up to see her walk up to me shyly. “Um, hi. My name’s Fluttershy, nice to meet you.” She pushed one of her hooves in front of her in an attempt to shake hooves. It was quite obvious that she was extremely shy, but if someone saw how she leapt at me earlier, they’d say otherwise. Her extended hoof was shaking like a house in an earthquake. Noticing her discomfort, I quickly extended my hoof and grinned happily, “Hi there Fluttershy, nice to meet you. Don’t worry about earlier, it’s fine.” “Yes, um. Okay.” The poor mare was hiding behind her mane, shielding her face from prodding eyes. She looked down at her rabbit in one hoof, which had another annoying expression on its face. I swear I want to just take that rabbit and throw it. I don’t care where, I just hated it. I then looked back at Twilight who was staring at me like a cat ready to pounce. She started circling me, her eyes scoured my whole body and stopped at my flanks. Her eyes went wide and she immediately froze in her tracks. Psh, what a pervert. Twilight’s facial expression didn't change at all and, in all honesty, was worrying me quite a bit. I gulped audibly, not knowing what to do so I eased myself away from Twilight and started making my way towards the door that had been left open. When I finally made it, I said with a nervous smile, “Well, it was really a pleasure in meeting you two, I hope to see you later. Bye now.” Fluttershy was looking at me and Twilight was still frozen solid, her eyes gazing off into space at the spot where I used to be on the couch. Without giving them a chance to respond, I turned and opened the door before hiding behind it, quickly shutting it behind me. I let out a relieved sigh and began to gallop towards the town nearby. "Maybe he was in a hurry..." Fluttershy turned to Twilight and suggested. Fluttershy's statement snapped Twilight back to reality with which she responded, “I’m not sure. He said he was from the Everfree though. We should help him, especially because of who he is. If what I’ve read is correct, then we can't risk having him as an enemy." “Who is he anyway? Nevermind, we’ll let him explore the town today on his own before officially introducing him to anypony. Let’s meet up with the others before we move in to talk to him. Well, that is if you think that’s a good idea.” Fluttershy said quietly and trotted into the kitchen of her cottage. I needed to find some openly willing ponies to shelter me. I didn’t want to be outside, exposed to the elements and what not. Plus, I needed somepony to teach me how to use magic, fly properly, and explain my unusual flame and electricity powers. I was walking aimlessly in thought, not noticing that I was half a second from colliding with a turquoise unicorn mare. We collided, inevitably, and she dropped what she was holding. It looks like she was just holding a box full of candy. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there! I was just – ” she started, but I cut her off and put a hoof in her mouth. “No, no. It’s my fault. I should’ve seen where I was going, but I ended up running into you. My sincerest apologies.” After apologizing, I removed my hoof from her mouth and she just started smiling openly. Her golden eyes were gleaming and sparkling as she began to bounce lightly. “Would you like to come over sometime?”
3 - Shockwave[ 3 ] The Memory Chapter Three – The Memory This sandwich, to say the least, was the best sandwich ever. It was the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. Ever. It was so delicious that I asked for seconds, and seconds for my seconds, and seconds for my seconds for my seconds, and… well, now here I am eating seconds to my seconds to my seconds to my seconds. The sandwich was a plain and simple daffodil sandwich, but DAMN it tasted amazing. Okay, I’ll stop with the sandwich now. “How many of these are you going to eat?” the cream colored earth pony asked me after dropping another plate of sandwiches on the table. “I donf knor.” “It’d be better if you just finished what’s in your mouth before you spoke, you know.” She rolled her eyes in annoyance. I gulped down the food that I had been chewing ever so diligently and replied, “I don’t know. This is some good stuff. Why are you always here with Lyra anyways?” I took another bite of my sandwich and eyed the mare before me. Her blue and pink mane curled at its ends. Her just-as-blue-and-pink tail curled at its end as well. It was kind of cool. “Huh, I thought you’d know who your food supplier is.” Her bold turquoise eyes bore into mine as she continued, “I’m Lyra’s roommate, or housemate if you prefer. The name’s BonBon. You’ve never told me your name yet. Lyra just invited you in and asked me to start stuffing you.” “Oh, heh heh. My bad, my name’s Flare. Silent Flare. It’s quite an honor to meet such an amazing sandwich maker.” I took another bite from my sandwich and closed my eyes, letting the flavor tickle my taste buds. Ah, this was just serene. Well, it would be if the back of my throat was screaming at me to get up and get some water. The bread was, unfortunately, quite dry. Even if the daffodils were crunchy as well as juicy, the bread was drier than a desert. I finished chewing and looked back at BonBon. “You wouldn’t mind it if I asked for a glass of water, would you?” BonBon’s face wasn’t amused at all. “You know, you have hooves too, and wings. Oh, and what’s this?” BonBon scoot closer to me and tapped my horn, “And a horn! Wow!” I understood where she was going with her pathetic sarcasm. “Yea, yea, I get it. I’ll get it myself.” Satisfied with my response, BonBon backed up some to let me get up. “Um, but where do I get it from? I don’t really know my way around the house at all.” “Oh, it’s not a big house; just a basement, first floor, and second. You’ll find it in no time.” BonBon then spun around and trotted away. Wow, all these mares and how they trot was just utterly tantalizing. I don’t think I needed water if I could just stare like this for a while. BonBon must’ve had a sixth sense or something because without turning her head she scoffed, “That’s not where you’ll find the water.” Damn. BonBon left the room leaving me to chart out this foreign land. “Hm, it can’t be too hard. Can it?” I cantered around the dining room in thought, trying to find the most reasonable place that water could be. Without a second to spare, my brain uploaded its first thought: bathroom. “Aha! There’s water in a bathroom!” I trotted to the bathroom with my head held high with confidence. “BonBon thought she could outsmart me? Ha! How wrong she is. But, um. Where’s the bathroom.” Damnit. Not this cycle again. Screw this. I began to trot around the room once more and looked to the hallway to my left. So, there was a living room and a single hallway that branched off of it. I dashed to the mouth of the hallway and studied what I saw. Down the hallway were two bedrooms on either wall. At the very end of the rather short hallway was a door. Bathroom. I galloped down the hallway and blew right through the door. My throat was as dry as it would ever be now, which meant that I needed water right now. Right. Now. Well, I did blow through the doorway at the end of the hallway, but I fell. I didn’t expect the bathroom to be sunken deeper into the ground, or to be pitch black, excluding the light coming from the door above me. “Ugh, what the? What happened? Is this the bathroom?” I started coughing and unsettling some dust bunnies laying around as my vision became dense with dust. Wow, there’s so much dust around here. You’d think that Lyra and BonBon would treat their bathroom with more respect. I couldn’t see anything at all. It was just too dark in here. Alright, I need a light. What do. My eyes shut in hard frustration. I thought for a second and after a few seconds my eyes shot open and a grin appeared on my face. “NIGHT VISION! Too perfect!” I shut my eyes again in concentration trying to make my eyes adopt night vision. “NNggg… ugh.” This was some tiring work. Magic’s hard. I gave up and opened my eyes. The whole place was lit up in a shade of cyan. Oh, snap. Who just used magic to see in the dark? ME. This was too cool. I just gave myself night vision! That’s awesome. What wasn’t awesome though, was the fact that I wasn’t in the bathroom. I was in a dusty cellar or something full of old furniture. There were sticky cobwebs littering the tables and chair frames. I know they’re sticky because I got some on my hoof and it didn’t come off until I set my hoof on fire like I did inside the changeling tunnels. Before I could make sense of anything else someone spoke up behind me. “… What the hay are you doing down here?!” The voice behind me made me flinch. I was in trouble. I started turning around while saying “Well, I was trying to – ” With a scoff, the voice immediately shrugged off my excuse. “Don’t worry about it. Just – ” Lyra’s voice was cut off and her lower jaw was frozen in its mid-sentence state. Her eyes couldn’t be any more narrow and she slowly brought a hoof up and pointed at me before screaming. “YOUR EYES! YOUR EYES, FLARE!” I immediately panicked. I didn’t even know what was going on, I just started looking around the room frantically, trying to find something like a mirror. Finally, I found a rather large mirror up against the far wall. It was slightly cracked, but other than that it was relatively clean. I galloped to it and peered at my counterpart. What I saw was equally awesome as it was terrifying. The entirety of both of my eyes was cobalt blue and cyan flames were extruding outwards from them, licking the side of my head all the way up to my ears. I was frozen in terror and awe. I think my brain was overloaded for the second time ever. I started swaying before Lyra was by my side, letting me lean against her much smaller body. I put a hoof around her shoulder to stabilize myself. Lyra on the other hoof was trying to avoid the flames emitting from my eyes. I looked back at the mirror and the completely cobalt eyes stared back. What had happened? I didn't want this. My eyes didn’t burn, but they turned me into some kind of monster and Lyra knew it. She was avoiding the flames like a plague. At least she was still considerate enough to be there to stabilize me. I shook my head and continued to stare into the mirror. I glared at the image before me and imagined the cobalt blue disappearing into my original eyes and the flames going out like a candle running out of fuel. Almost immediately, the cobalt blue in my eyes faded back, except for the cobalt in my irises. The cyan flames took slightly more time to completely disappear. Once my eyes returned to normal, the cyan flames immediately went out like a fire deprived of its fuel. Lyra was looking into the mirror with the same expression I had had on. We were both frozen with awe and terror. After a moment I spoke up, “Well, that was… um, cool?” Lyra’s eyes were still narrow and her voice was evidently shaky. “Yea, cool. Let’s get out of the basement. I need to use the bathroom.” When Lyra said “bathroom” my ears perked up and I grabbed Lyra and picked her up. “Bathroom? Where?!” “Whoa Flare, didn’t know you wanted me this much.” My eyes went wide and heat started resonating from my cheeks. I set Lyra down and ran a hoof through my mane and chuckled nervously. Lyra then scoffed and raised an eyebrow before slowly walking towards the entrance to this dusty prison. Her flanks were swaying side to side even more seductively than BonBon’s. Wait, no. Flare, calm down and focus. Focus on the task at hand. I shook my head violently. I need to get out of the basement to drink water. I quickly followed in behind Lyra as she made her way up the steps to the basement door. After maybe 10 seconds of walking, Lyra and I were right in front of the bathroom door. It was ironic how the bathroom branched off from the living room. The living room which was right next to the dining room I was in. I could’ve sworn that I even came in here while I was trying to think up where the bathroom would be. Facehoof. Oh well. I get a drink now so it was all worth it. “What are you doing?” Lyra looked at me with an eyebrow raised. My mouth was open and staring into the bathroom, breathing heavily. Lyra on the other hand was already inside and eyeing me. “You just want some of these goods don’t you? I didn’t know you were that desperate, Flare.” She grinned and then winked at me. My face was overcome with redness and heat once more, not that it was visible but still. I started stuttering like a complete idiot, “I- I- what? No! I- uh.. what? Never! Why would I want any of them? By which, uh, I mean that, uh, you probably don’t like me like that.” I coughed a few times and cleared my throat before closing my eyes and scolding myself for being so stupid. Lyra just started to giggle and said, “That was a joke, Flare.” I looked back up at Lyra whose tail was flicking around playfully. “It- what? Joke? Oh. Well that’s, ahem, that’s good.” I nodded and drew in a few breaths. “Great.” Lyra giggled again and shut the door in my face. I sighed and clonked myself on the head. Stupid, stupid. Brain, why? Damn, I’m thirsty. I let my tongue flop out my open mouth and started panting. “Water… Must. Drink. Water. “BONBON?! WHERE’S THE WATER?!” I heard BonBon’s voice come from a room upstairs, “The what?” “THE WATER.” “The what? Speak up.” “THE FUCKING WATER BONBON. WHERE IS IT?” “Hey! There’s no need to use such profane language, Flare.” I heard the clip clops of hooves as BonBon made her way downstairs. I was glaring intently at where she would be when she was at the bottom. When she got the first floor she gazed at me with slight annoyance. My glare was doing absolutely nothing to falter her stance. BonBon rolled her eyes and waved off my death glare. “The hell did you want, Flare?” “Water.” “… You’re still looking for water? Flare, that was like half an hour ago.” “I, uh, got stuck in the basement. Lyra found me and I was about to get some but she went to the bathroom.” BonBon raised an eyebrow. “You couldn’t get water, because Lyra went to the bathroom? What does the bathroom have to do with getting water?” It was obvious that the cream colored mare was confused beyond reason. “The water’s in the bathroom, isn’t it?” I returned her confusion and tilted my head to the left slightly. “Flare, you idiot. The water’s in the kitchen. Why the hay would you need to do anything with the bathroom to get water.” BonBon’s eyes were monotonous and told me that she was kind of irritated. I sat down and thought about what she had just said. There was water in the bathroom, but I guess that water would be kind of disgusting. In the kitchen? Where was there water in the kitchen? The sink? That’d work. I got up and held my head high, “I knew that…” I walked towards what I had thought was the kitchen and huffed. “That’s the dining room Flare. Do you even know what you’re doing?” “I do. I was just, uh, making sure you knew where the kitchen was too.” My pathetic excuse caused BonBon to sigh and roll her eyes at my stupidity. I turned to the last door in the room that could lead anywhere. This better be the kitchen. When there was no retort from BonBon, I grasped the door lever in my hoof and pushed it down. Behind it, was the kitchen. “Sweet Nectar, there’s a sink in here. WATER.” BonBon rolled her eyes again and strode up next to me before slapping my face with a hoof. That hurt. A hoof is pretty hard, that’s for sure. I felt my jaw with my own hoof and felt around for a little bit. “That hurt, you know that, right?” “It was meant to. We’re not as uncivilized as you might think we are, Flare. We have our own water dispensers that give us filtered water.” BonBon then trotted up to a box with a faucet on it that was next to the sink on the counter. “Oh.” My brain’s need for water kicked in and I galloped to the box, knocking BonBon aside. I stuck my head under the faucet and pulled on the small lever. The glorious sparkling water seemed to fall into my mouth in slow motion. The perfect, cooled liquid. I started gulping the water down, anxious to relieve the discomfort in my throat but the more I drank, the more I craved it. I continued to consume the water with an unending want for it. Well, after being knocked aside, one could assume that BonBon was furious. Which she was. She lowered her head and started pawing at the ground with her left hoof. She was imitating a bull ready to charge. I, however, was completely unaware and happily drinking water. I was more vulnerable than a pony lost in the Everfree. BonBon took off and leaped at me, taking me by complete surprise, and tackled me to the floor. She then leapt up and pinned me down before I could do anything. The second part of her assault made me wonder about her. BonBon slowly shifted her pin and then just lied on top of my body. My size was nothing of an advantage against this mare. “Uh, BonBon. What are you doing? I’m thirsty. I need water!” I began to wriggle and squirm around but wow, BonBon knew how to keep a pin in place. My efforts were futile while BonBon just remained atop me smiling slyly. Sensing my discomfort in such intimate situations, BonBon grasped the opportunity and tapped her hoof to her chin. “You know, I’ve never really had such a large stallion around me before. I wonder if you’re as talented as you are big.” Her sly smile persisted as she winked at me. My mind raced as I tried to figure something out before this mare did anything I didn’t want. BonBon then leaned in and did the unexpected. She licked my muzzle. My eyes went wide and my first escape attempt formulated in my mind without any actual thought at all. “LYRAAA! HELP ME!” I yelled at the kitchen door. Lyra thought I was just playing around and kidded, “Oh? Do you need help out of the p – knock knock knock – you made while drinking water? Don’t drown.” There was a knocking on the door while Lyra was in mid-sentence. It sounded like she was going to say “problem”. Did she know that BonBon was causing me trouble in such a way? She couldn’t have, she had a mocking tone to her voice. What if – lick. My aggressor had licked my muzzle once more and her expression became seductive. “No BonBon! Get off. Stop it. I DON’T WANT YOUR GOODS.” BonBon leaned in to give me another lick, this time on my neck, when the kitchen door swung open. Lyra and a little purple dragon were standing in the doorway. BonBon’s tongue was extended from her mouth and centimeters from my shoulder. Her gaze however, was at Lyra and the purple dragon. Immediately, BonBon jumped off me and cantered to the door and pushed past Lyra and the guest before making her way back upstairs with a light giggle. I was still on my back with my legs in the air when Lyra turned to me with wide eyes. “So you must be Silent Flare?” the purple dragon spoke up and crossed his arms. “Already getting intimate with the mares around here, eh?” “What? No! It wasn’t like that.” I tried to refute the purple dragon’s argument, but before I could Lyra threw herself at me and wailed, “How come you don’t treat me like that?!” “No, get off. Lyra! Get off.” I pushed Lyra off and she smirked playfully. I wasn’t too amused, but I dropped the issue. Lyra’s tale was swishing around again. I quickly got to my feet and sighed before turning to the miniscule dragon and asking, “How do you know my name? Do we know each other?” Now that I was standing, it gave the purple dragon an actual chance to scale me up to size and appearance. “Hot Rubies, you are one big pony. No wonder Twilight wanted me to come get you.” “Twilight? Wait, the purple unicorn mare? She what?” I’m going to run out of reasons to blush soon if this keeps up. What’s up with the mares of this town? “Well, yea. That’s her. She lives in the giant tree down the road.” I blinked a few times in disbelief that this baby dragon belonged to that mare. Oh well, I guess that kind of stuff tends to happen once in a while. “Well then, my fine purple friend, we shall go to Twilight’s house.. But, er, what’s your name?” “Mine? Ha! I’m spike! The vicious fire breathing dragon of Ponyville!” Spike brought his claws up and bared his teeth in an adorably menacing way. I couldn’t help but let out a soft “aww…” “Hey buddy, nothing cute about this fearsome dragon. Now let’s get going, we should have already been back my now.” “Alright then, Lyra I’ll be out with Spike here.” “Sure thing, Flare.” Lyra grinned and ushered us out of the house before shutting it behind us. “So, then Spike. Shall we make our way down the dangerous path of adventure towards your mare’s treehouse?” “It’s not really a treehouse… It’s just a house made out of a big tree. And she’s not my mare, Rarity is.” “Rarity? Who’s that?” I lowered my head to eye level with the dragon before asking. Spike turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know who Rarity is? How dare you! She’s just the most gorgeous pony in all of Equestria.” Spike’s eyes started to dilate and he began to float a foot off the ground with little hearts circling him. This was getting kind of awkward. I quickly popped all the floating hearts around Spike and pulled his tail down until Spike’s feet were back on the ground. “Ahem, we were heading to Twilight’s?” “Huh? What? Oh yea!” Spike and I continued down the path, but it was pretty hard to follow Spike when my normal walking pace was more than double the speed of his. I let out an aggravated sigh and looked at Spike for quick second before pondering a thought. “Whoa! Wha – hey!” Spike yelped as I picked him up and tossed him onto my back. I then spread my wings out and flew up into the air. “Alright Spike, where to then? Spike?” Spike was just sitting on my back at the base of my neck with large pupils and an open mouth. His arms spread out wide and his mouth curved up into an open smile. Spike then shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. “Wow, this is what it feels like to fly? It’s so nice up here…” “Yea, I guess so, but Spike. Weren’t we going back to Twilight’s tree?” “Well, yea. We were, but I wanna experience this just a little bit more. It’s really nice.” I started flying around, opposed to floating. I soared above Ponyville and looked down at all the buildings and roads while Spike was enjoying himself. It was a pretty cool town, considering its size and population. The town was larger than the average town and I could see ponies everywhere bustling around in the early afternoon. Before long, I spotted a humongous tree standing alone amidst the road. This must be Twilight’s tree house. I slowed my flap and lowered myself to the ground. “What? Flare, come on man. I was enjoying that.” “I know you were, but I didn’t know what to do, so I just continued along with what we were doing before you started going all high.” “But, why?” Spike’s pleading eyes made me turn my head away. “Come on bro, we gotta see Twilight, remember? You told me yourself that she wanted to see me.” Spike groaned, “Right, fine.” The dragon looked on either side of me and nervously coughed a few times before saying, “Uh, could you help me down? You’re a little bigger than the average pony around here.” I looked back at Spike and then my gaze fell to the ground. I guess it was a slightly intimidating fall for something of his size. I smiled and lowered my right wing to create a slide. Spike must’ve known what I was doing because as soon as my wing looked able for being a substitute slide, he hopped to his feet and slid down. His feet hit the dirt with a perfect landing. “Alright then, let’s go see Twilight.” I scoffed and looked back at Spike in amusement. Spike ran ahead of me and pushed through the door. Not knowing whether to knock or not, I simply just followed behind the dragon and invited myself in. Let me tell you this first-hand. If you thought the tree was massive from the outside, then you had a another thing coming. The interior looked so much more massive than it probably did from the outside. There was a nice wide open space with a few comfy sofas off to the side. In the very middle of the room was what looked like a statue on a pedestal, but I couldn’t make out what it was supposed to be of. Along the walls were built-in shelves, each stocked to the brim with multi-colored books. “Whoa Spike, this place is pretty neat.” I let my eyes wander for a bit to realize that Spike wasn’t in the room. “Uh, Spike? Where are you? Spike?!” “Yea, Flare! I’m down here.” The voice came from behind a door next to the far left shelf of the library. I trotted towards the door and opened it before looking down the stairs. It would be pitch black if the candles on the walls weren’t there. Thank God for light. I actually kind of wished that the candles weren’t there so I could set my eyes on fire again. That was pretty cool jazz. It would’ve been pretty sweet to show Spike too. “I’m coming down Spike.” “No, don’t come down, I’m coming up.” Twilight’s voice was followed my Spike’s, “We’re coming up in a second Flare, go sit on a couch or something.” Hmm… what are those two doing..?" Dismissing my curiosity, I strolled over to the sofas and lied down on one of them. It was a little small but I made do. My discomfort was steadily growing, but I endured through it. Soon enough, I heard hoofsteps come up the stairs. Twilight strutted through the basement door and took a gander at me. “Ah, if it isn’t Silent Flare. I must commend you on what a nice cutie mark you have. It reminded me of something that I had read two weeks ago in a book about Equestrian history. But aside from that, I’d like to welcome you here. This is my house and the library of Ponyville.” Twilight grinned widely with pride. Spike got off Twilight’s back and plopped a pile of books down on one of the reading tables. “Need some help Spike?” I tried to get my way out of the conversation I was having with Twilight. To be frank, it was kind of awkward and it made me nervous the way Twilight eyed me from time to time. Like how she was right now. What did I do to Twilight? Wait, she said something about my cutie mark just a little bit ago. I looked back at my cutie mark real quick to see if anything happened. It was the same as ever. Two swords crossing. One engulfed in flames, the other bathed in electricity… I was in a dark castle. Everything was a shiny black and fires were set atop braziers all around the room. I was sitting atop a throne and two tall ponies were before me. The one on the left had a white coat and a flowing mane with a multitude of colors. Her tiara and chest regalia were both a bright gold. The pony on the right had the exact same set up, but her coat was a dark blue and her mane and tail resembled the night sky. I began to hear myself talking, unable to control anything about the situation. “Princesses Imera and Nychta, I must decline on your offer once more. I will not change the social hierarchy of my empire. You and your meddling Equestrian ponies have done quite enough damage to my society. Leave now and I will spare your lives. The two princesses weren’t about to back off without a fight and each of their horns began to glow, bright gold and night blue. I continued menacingly, “I shall state this once. Causing a quarrel here would leave you two in mortal danger, not to mention dampen your subjects’ morale. I advise thee to vacate my vision.” “We shan’t retreat at a moment of this sort. We shall fight you until you agree upon our terms and merge the empires.” Princess Imera was at the brim of her anger. “We demand thou return our subjects to us. We can negotiate terms for peace. Please Lord Dunamis, it isn’t necessary for the blood of our own kind to shed by its own hands.” Princess Nychta tried her shot at persuading me to not use violence. “We cannot become one! Our empires differ too greatly. Additionally, I do not want to merge the empires. Equestria and Ippari are rival nations and I refuse to aggravate my people. Leave now or I’ll have to chain you two in my subterranean penitentiary.” The two princesses still didn’t back down despite the ungodly threat. They both materialized energy blades on either side of them. All of the alicorns in the room knew that regular weapons of the ground wouldn’t do any harm to them. So basically, weapons that weren’t composed of pure energy were completely useless in a situation like this. I shook my head slowly and said hotly, “Such foolishness.” I charged up my horn and waited for the princesses to make the first move. Small curves of energy would shoot off it every now and then. For a few long seconds, the room was completely motionless and silent barring the sparks and electricity that would go off from my magic. Before I knew it, Imera teleported next to me and swung her blade at me. The blade swung at my neck and found its target. There was a loud thunderclap and bright flash of electricity as Imera’s sword deflected and evaporated into thin air. I let out a sigh and kicked Imera’s front legs so she’d be forced into a bowing position. My horn glowed cyan and black electricity enveloped the white alicorn. She was frozen in place and unable to do anything. I foolishly let my guard down while dealing with Princess Imera because soon enough, Nychta was charging me at full speed and tackled me to the ground. My concentration broke and Imera was released from my magical grip. Nychta got back to her feet and stood next to Princess Imera who had stood back up as well. The two lowered their horns and shot magical sparks into a large ball of pure energy. I spread my wings and flew up. My fire-enveloped wings lifted me up and trailed fire behind me as I swooped to the other side of the room before landing. My eyes glowed a deep cobalt blue and I released a pulse that ran across everything in the room. Princess Imera and Nychta immediately slowed down and entered a state of slow motion. I strolled over to them and sat behind them. The energy ball that they were creating was still being matured by the two alicorns. I tapped the ball with my still vibrant horn and leeched all the energy from it, causing it to disappear almost instantly. I then moved myself forward before sitting down at the point where the ball was. “Girls, please. You cannot defeat me. This is your last chance, I advise you two to leave once my time field has been depleted of its magic.” Soon enough, the pulsating blue enveloping the room lost its color and disappeared completely. The two princesses immediately slumped down and started breathing heavily. “No. We must save our subjects. We’ll never concede to your wickedness, even if it kills us.” Princess Nychta was gulping in air desperately. Princess Imera then raised her head and glared at me. I yawned lazily and looked back at them with a bored expression on my face. “Honestly, I’ve never done anything wicked. I fail to comprehend any reason you might have for believing that I am a villain.” I then blinked a few times before continuing my talk. “Are you going to leave, or not?” Princess Imera slowly got to her hooves and spoke, “No. Even if you over power us like you do, you must still be aware of the Hundred-Thousand’s Curse.” A slight smirk found its way to her lips. My eyes widened slightly. “You wouldn’t dare utilize such unstable magic, Imera. You can’t possibly pull off such forsaken and powerful magic alone.” Nychta took in a deep breath, ready to accept her fate. “She won’t be doing it alone.” Nychta got to her hooves next to Imera and stared at me with intent. I stood up to intimidate them into bluffing. I was a whole head taller than them and my mane, tail, and wings were ablaze. I spread my wings and yelled out, “YOU WOULDN’T DARE USE SUCH A CURSE.” I flew up and attempted to fly out a window just to be locked in by a barrier spell. It wasn’t strong enough to contain me, but my progress would be slowed dramatically. I turned back towards to see Imera and Nychta enveloped in a blood red glow. The glow extended out an appendage that wrapped around me and held firm. I was helpless against the forbidden magic as it quickly dragged me back down to the mass that had enveloped the two noble princesses. “NOOOO!!” I fought the magic as best as I could, but before there could be any actual noticeable resistance, everything in view faded to a rich red and I felt my body start tearing apart.
4 - Two is Better than One[ 4 ] The Mane Six Chapter Four – The Mane Six I awoke to a faint chatter nearby. I couldn’t quite make out any of what was being said, but I knew that it was talking. There were four voices, I think. I can’t tell for sure, my head hurts and I feel nauseas. I smacked my lips a few times and cringed at the same taste of morning breath. Ugh, I’m hungry. Who’s here? I shifted slightly in place and sat up, blinking a few times. A yawn escaped my lips and I stretched my hooves upwards and began to make baby dinosaur noises before shaking my entire body and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I looked to see what I was sleeping on not too long ago to find a purple bed sheet and a pretty comfortable mattress. I bounced up and down and few times on it to chase the creeping sleep away. Although the bed was just perfectly soft and springy, it was slightly small. Geez, everything’s slightly small to me. Am I the only big pony around? I laughed at my joke. Yea, I’m lame. I had no idea where I was. Damn it, why do I always have trouble with other people’s houses and getting around in them. I cantered across the room and began pacing. Every time I met an endpoint to my patrol, I would look around and survey the room, taking in any knowledge about it that may be useful. Alright, so. After a few minutes of pacing back and forth, I’ve come to the conclusion that this room was something of an oval with one door at the front of the room. I slowly walked to it and opened it, releasing an orchestra of creaks. Damn it. The voices down stairs immediately went quiet and Twilight’s voice spoke up, “Spike? Is that you?” Spike? What? Was Spike still up here? I turned my attention back to the room and backed up from the door. I steadied my breathing until it was practically inaudible. Now the only thing audible would be Spike’s snoozing, and the sudden clip clop of hooves on stairs. I dashed to my bed and hopped back in it and shut my eyes almost all the way and waited. Sure enough, Twilight came in the room and looked in the direction of a baby crib next to the bed. There was a pile of blankets in it that appeared to be just any old regular mound of blankets. However, to Twilight’s trained eye, this was easily discernible as Spike. Hmm, Spike was right next to the bed the whole time? Since when? One would think that I would’ve noticed that in my little patrol of the room. Twilight then shifted her gaze and began to stare at my form in bed. Her expression was gentle and slightly sympathetic. Why was Twilight sympathetic? What did I do wrong? The purple unicorn edged closer to the bed and whispered in my ear. “Hey Flare, it’s time to get up. Everyone’s here.” Her hot breath tickled the insides of my ears and my head twitched a little before I gave up the act. I opened my eyes and yawned again, pretending to have just woken up. “Nyup. Nyup. What? There’s what?” “Hurry on downstairs please. We’ve got to talk.” Twilight then turned and began walking out the door. I turned to Spike and debated whether to wake him up, but I decided not to. He probably had a rough day or night and needed the extra sleep. I got out of bed and bowed my body forward, stretching out my shoulders and back before flaring my wings out to stretch them out too. I then cantered in place and took in a few sharp breaths. Alright, time to go downstairs. I wonder what they have to eat. I trotted down the stairs and looked in the large main room to see who was here. Remember when I heard 4 voices? Yea there weren’t four ponies. There were seven ponies in the room. Right when my left hoof touched the main floor, Lyra had jumped on me and was hanging by my neck and sobbing, “Where were you? You’ve been gone the whole day! I thought something bad happened to you! You could have – ”. I tuned Lyra out and looked up at all the other ponies in the room. As expected, all of them were looking at me with raised eyebrows or curiosity. “Um, hi. My name’s Silent Flare.” I then looked back at Lyra who was still sobbing into my shoulder and ranting on about how I could’ve died or something. I sighed and peeled her off my shoulder and set her down on one of the sofas. Lyra then lay there for a few seconds before sitting up and looking at me with murderous intent. “How dare you not take sympathy for me! I was so worried that something had happened to you.” “Sorry, Lyra. I was here at Twilight’s and something happened. Before I knew it, I was upstairs on Twilight’s bed.” Lyra’s mouth fell open and it just stayed like that for a little bit. Lyra then put a hoof to her mouth and started crying. She must’ve taken what I said in a completely different way. I didn’t know what to do so I began to inch my way back upstairs. I didn’t want to be seen as any kind of complete jerk. Before I could even make it halfway up the staircase, Twilight spoke up and broke the awkward silence. “Look, Lyra. Nothing happened. He was here and then he just fell over unconscious. I just put him up in my bed because leaving him on the floor in here would’ve been rude.” Twilight then turned to me and asked, “What happened?” To be honest, I’ve got no idea. I stared at Twilight from up on the stairs and took in a deep breath and brushed a hoof through my mane. Was there any logical explanation for what had happened? Logical? Wasn't I in a dream? I completely forgot about that. Why should I care about anything that’s happening? I strolled back downstairs and plopped myself down next to Lyra on the sofa and put a hoof around her shoulder and hugged her close. “I’m sorry, honey.” Lyra opened her eyes with shock and looked to see who had hugged her. She was stuck in place for a little bit before she threw her arms around me in response and said, “Its – sniff – It’s okay.” “Ahem. Sorry to break up this romantic moment here for you two, but Flare? You didn’t answer my question.” Twilight looked at me impatiently and snorted. “What question?” “I asked you what happened.” “I don’t know. I just… I don’t know.” “Flare, be serious! I need to know what happened if you want me to help you!” This time, I had seriousness woven into my voice, “I. Don’t. Know. I looked back at my cutie mark and that's the last thing I remember.” Twilight just took a step back and sighed. “Alright, girls. We’ll have to figure this one out alone.” A feminine, yet punk pony spoke up and pointed a hoof at me. “Who the hay is this whackjob anyway? Why do we need to worry about a pony like him? Sure, he may be big but I say we tell him to go away.” She crossed her arms and huffed a little. I looked up and shrugged before saying. “This ‘whackjob’ is Silent Flare. Nice to meet you. You are?” The pony shook her rainbow colored mane and replied, “Rainbow Dash. Psh, how do you not know me? I’m only the fastest in Equestria.” “I guess I don’t keep up with that stuff. You never know.” I eased my hold on Lyra and stood up off the sofa. Lyra just lay down over the spot where I was and began to sleep. That poor soul. Anyway, I strutted up to Rainbow Dash and looked down at her. Okay, so. My size really is intimidating when I’m right up next to a pony that’s half your size. Apparently, Rainbow Dash knew this too. “Hey, no need to get up all close. Back up.” I smirked and simply sat down where I was. I had no intention of backing up. Plus, there were three other ponies in the room who I had yet to get acquainted with. So now, I knew Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Oh, and Lyra. The remaining three were kind of unique. The one on the very left was orange and had a blonde mane and tail. She had freckles and a hat on. Her front hooves were crossed and she eyed me skeptically. The mare in the middle had a snow white coat with a curled purple mane. I nodded in her direction and she closed her eyes and looked away. Finally, I turned to the mare at the far right. Her light blue eyes were as jittery and happy as could be. I can’t picture ANYTHING that could possibly be happier than this mare right now. I don’t even know. She had a poofy pink mane and a slightly darker pink body. She was bouncing up and down, as if trying to hold in an urge to do something. Twilight introduced the six mares before me by name after I had finished looking each of them over. “So. In order, that’s Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and finally me.” “Ah, it’s quite a pleasure to meet you all.” I grinned enthusiastically and raised a hoof. In my complete and utter dismay, all of them left me hanging. They just eyed my hoof and then looked back up to my face. I rolled my eyes and my grinned dropped. “Nevermind then. So much for friends.” “Come on Flare, you don’t have to give up on friendship just yet. These are nice ponies and they are my best friends.” “Alright then Twilight. We should play a quick game to get to know each other better, right?” Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof and then slowly nodded in agreement. “That would seem like a good idea. It could help us get to know each other.” I rolled my eyes. I had already said that, but I wasn’t going to start a fight over something as measly a reason as that. I remained seated on the floor as the remaining six ponies that were awake in the room began to formulate a circle with me. Oh goody. “I’ll start!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly. “I just love games and parties! You know, when Twilight said that there was a new pony in town, I just had to meet him. I couldn’t wait so I was the first one here! I even beat Twilight to her library. I mean, isn’t that funny?” Rainbow Dash stuffed a hoof in Pinkie’s mouth and looked at her annoyed. “Ermmph.” (oops.) Rainbow pulled her hoof from Pinkie and continued the little talk circle. “I don’t see how this is a game, but everyone should already know everything about me. I’m the best flyer in Equestria and soon to be captain of the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow Dash flashed a smile of confidence and I couldn’t do much but nod and commend her for her amazing dreams, even if I don’t know what the Wonderbolts are. They sounded like a pretty nifty group. So, good on her. The unicorn with the white coat spoke up next. “I am Rarity. I own the Carousel Boutique and am the best fashion designer in Ponyville.” Rarity’s face turned slightly grim and she continued. “Soon, I will be the best in ALL of Equestria.” Wow, these ponies had some pretty impressive dreams. I've never known anypony so damn ambitious. “Everypony knows me as Applejack. I own the Sweet Apple Acres over yonder and supply the greatest Apples in all of this here Equestria.” Applejack sat straight up and held her head high. She obviously took great pride in her apple trees. My stomach spoke in my stead regarding the apples. “Did you bring any here? I’m famished.” “Eh heh… Sorry, ah didn’t. Didn’t see the point in bringin’ apples to Twi here’s meetin’ at seven at night.” Hmm, so it was in the evening. Alright. I guess I wasn't knocked out for more than 12 hours, so that’s good. I guess. I nodded slightly depressed because I felt my stomach pulling at my throat demanding food. I put a hoof over my stomach and gestured for the next pony to go. The next pony was Fluttershy. “Um, you know that I’m Fluttershy and you know that I live in the cottage at the edge of Ponyville. I have nothing to say. I’m sorry.” I couldn’t stay mad at Fluttershy or even start to get mad. She’s just too kind. Plus, why would I get mad at Fluttershy for something as ridiculous as this? The thought was so stupid that I banished it from my mind for good. I sat quietly and patiently waited for the next pony to speak up, but every pony in the room was looking in my direction. Was it my turn? I shrugged and drew in a breath for speaking, “My name’s Silent Flare and I am a recent addition to the fine town’s population. I used to live in the Everfree, but was driven out by, uh. By, um, unforeseen, uh, events. I will reside in this humble town and work my part like the average working citizen. It’s an honor to meet all of you. Lastly, I don't know anything about my past and Twilight keeps staring at my cutie mark for no reason.” I bowed my head low in respect and let out a small sigh of accomplishment. Twilight was looking at the ceiling, trying to hide a little embarrassment that accumulated on her cheeks. “Hey Twilight, aren’t ya goin to take a turn too?” Twilight looked at Applejack and immediately responded, “Oh, no. I’m not included. Everyone knows everything about me.” She chuckled nervously and went to her desk in the corner of the room, next to the basement door. She began writing something down and then turned back to the small circle, “Just a second.” Twilight finished up what she was writing and trotted up the stairs and into her room. After just a few seconds, everyone heard a small boyish yelp and then a large belch. Twilight returned downstairs and plopped herself down where she was before she had gotten up. “So, what next?” I don’t think anyone was ready or planned for what to do next because we all began staring off into space and let out a soft “Hmm”. But of course, Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Why don’t we play ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’?” Her grin was plastered on her face and not even a bulldozer could take it off. I smirked gently at how completely energetic the pink mare was. She was bouncing again and out of nowhere, she pulled out a large poster of a pony, which lacked a tail. She reached into her mane and rummaged around a bit before she pulled out a tail with a pin at the end of it. “Where did she just get those from?” I was in complete confusion. The pony wasn’t even a unicorn and she had done more magic than I ever would. “Oh, that there’s just yer average Pinkie Pie. That’s just how she is.” Applejack had leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “Ah, alright. I get it.” In reality, I didn’t get it at all. Pinkie Pie was just so random and bizarre. Pinkie Pie had already taped the poster up on a wall and was holding the tail out at me and said, “Since you’re the new pony, you should go first!” “But, I- I, uh, don’t even know how to play.” I tried to get myself out of this and remain a passive spectator but Pinkie Pie wouldn't allow it. She grabbed my hoof and dragged me about 5 yards from the poster. “It’s easy! Just spin around until we say stop, and then pin the tail on the pony!” I chuckled nervously and walked into place. I looked at the poster and breathed in slowly. Inhale. Exhale. Suddenly, something white draped over my eyes and obscured my vision. What… “Uh, Pinkie? What just happened?” “Well, you have to be blind-folded silly. It wouldn’t be fun if you weren’t.” I heard a few giggles behind me. Yea, yea. So funny. I began to spin around and the ponies in the room barring Lyra began to countdown from ten seconds. I continued to spin myself in a steady pace. I wasn’t about to start spinning fast enough to be considered an energy generator. Soon enough, the countdown reached zero and I immediately stopped myself. In my mind, I pictured the room I was in and way I was facing. I imagined the poster’s whereabouts and turned myself to it. I walked up to the poster and with the tail in my right hoof, raised it to the flank of the poster. I drove the tail into where I thought it should’ve gone and backed up a few feet and took the blind fold off. “Wow, I suck at this game.” I had just nailed a tail into the basement stairs door. It was dead center, but it wasn’t where it should’ve been. I let out a sigh and looked back at Pinkie. “Pinkie, I suck at this game.” I brushed a hoof through my mane and continued. “You wouldn’t mind if I lied down now would you? I’m kind of tired.” My stomach let out a whale’s plea for food and everyone heard it. Damnit stomach, why. Fluttershy cantered up to me and took my hoof in hers before leading me to where I suppose the kitchen was. I looked back at the other five ponies to see what their reactions would be. They didn’t care, they were gazing intently at Pinkie Pie spinning and were counting down to zero. I turned my head back to look forward just as the top of the doorframe wanted to shake hands with my horn. The thunk wasn’t too loud, but it was easily audible throughout the tree. Wow, that didn’t feel too good. Fluttershy was immediately behind me to lay me down in the doorway. “Oh my gosh. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to.” “Whoa, that hurts. Ow, ow, ow. My horn. Ah, damnit. Don’t worry about it Fluttershy, it’s fine. Wasn’t your fault. It’s fine.” I was massaging my temples and taking in steady breaths to ease myself. Inhale… Exhale. Inhale… Exhale. Alright, I think this would be a good time for a nap. My body went limp and I started snoring gently. “Alright the camera’s rolling? Are you ready?” a manlly voice asked. “Yea, daddy! I’m ready.” It was me. I was riding a bike. My dad was over in the drive through with a camera in his hands. “Watch this daddy! I can ride bike!” I proceeded to hold my handle bars and pedal along merrily. I was smiling and happy. Nothing could change my mood. My dad started following behind me and cheering me on. I began to pedal in circles and then pedaled faster. “Vroom! Vroom vroom! Daddy look! I’m a racecar!” I leaned forward on my bicycle and pedaled as fast as my tiny legs would let me. “Wow! You’re doing well there Jake. What do you say we take those training wheels off and see how fast you can really go!” A feminine voice spoke up, “No, Jake. Don’t do that. Your dad is just jealous of how well you ride.” That was Mom. She was a little shorter than Dad, but they were a couple. I was laughing and rolling around happily. Dad continued to film me as I raced towards him, attempting to hit his shins. “Yaaaah!” my war cry made my Dad look away from his wife and down at me. “Oof. Ouch, buddy.” I ran into his shins and continued to try and pedal through them. My dad walked out of the path. “You just made the big, bad beast angry! Roarr!” I started giggling and screaming in delight as my dad began to chase me around playfully after giving my mom the camera. I was having fun. These were good times. I liked this time, it was full of fun and curiosity. I didn’t have a single reason to be scared or to feel unsafe at all. Whoa, what happened. Was that another dream? Within a dream? I’ve never heard of a dream within a dream being real before. I shook my head and coughed violently. I felt an uneasy feeling in the back of my throat. Why do I keep having these weird dreams? And where am I? I tried moving, but my forelegs and hindlegs were strapped down to something. “What? I don’t understand.” I continued to cough wildly as I heard Twilight’s voice behind me. “Alright then, Dunamis. What are you doing here?” Dunamis? Who was that? Wasn’t I him in that one dream I had? I coughed again trying to remember. “I don’t know who you’re talking about, Twilight.” My voice was raspy and weak. “Oh, I beg to differ. I knew you’d return. I read it in the Book of Equestrian History vol. 23. I know exactly who you are. I notified the Princess and in any minute, she will arrive and destroy you again.” I was still in utter confusion. I had no idea what the hell Twilight was talking about. My name is Silent Flare, and I was in a dream. A dream. Oh. It’s all a dream. I forgot about that, again. I didn’t know what to do so I remained silent. “Until the princess arrives, you’ll be stuck in here. Don’t you dare try anything or I’ll freeze you.” A door above suddenly creaked open and light flooded into the dark room. Who I assumed Princess Celestia was walked down the stairs and turned to Twilight. Her mane was flowing and ethereal and her coat was white and flawless. “Release this stallion, Twilight.” “But, what? Princess, didn’t –” “Twilight, please. I ask you to release him. I’m going to escort him to Canterlot where Luna and I can confront him peacefully.” “Yes, Princess.” With that, Twilight undid all my straps with her magic and Celestia gestured me to follow her up the stairs. I didn’t know where any of this was going, but I knew that I didn’t want to go to Canterlot. It sounded like a horrible place of tests and wicked science. I shuddered slightly and continued to follow Celestia, looking for opportunities of escape. Twilight walked back up the stairs behind me and after a quick exchange of words with Celestia in the common room, Twilight headed off to bed. Celestia opened the front door and the two of us walked silently in the dead of night for a while until we were at the edge of the Everfree Forest. “Um, Princess, what are we doing here?” Princess Celestia simply turned her head to me and her whole body emitted a green glow. Chrysalis… “Chrysalis? What are you doing? Why’d you do that? Were you Celestia the whole time?” Chrysalis ushered me into the forest before explaining herself. “I got worried about you so I sent a few changeling to scout for me, they morphed into common everyday ponies and were always looking after you whether it was through a window, or simply on the streets. When they saw you go unconscious in the library tree, they came and told me. I showed up as Celestia so Twilight would let you leave with me. There’s no doubt that Princess Celestia is really on her way to see Twilight and you, so we must leave quickly. I can't afford Celestia to take you." “Leave? To where?” I had little to no idea what was going on, even with Chrysalis’ explanation. “Just, follow me. We’re heading back to the hive.” Chrysalis told me. “Oh okay, it’s fixed?” “Not completely, but it’s manageable. Now, I don’t want another episode of what you did, understand?” I blushed slightly and replied, “Come on Chrysalis, I can fly properly now. You can trust me.” Chrysalis sighed and continued walking. I followed behind, making sure that my pace didn’t exceed hers. I started thinking about Ponyville once more. I sort of missed Lyra and BonBon, even if I just left there. Ponyville didn't seem too bad a place to live in. There were overdramatic ponies who I felt most friendly with. Oh well. Soon, Twilight’s going to tell them that I’m some bad pony or something and everypony in Ponyville will hate me. I can hear them already. “We trusted you! How could you do this to us?” Sigh, hearing those words would hurt me pretty badly. I didn’t even know what was going on. Why would Twilight just strap me down and start calling me Dunamis anyways? I was about to ask Chrysalis when she turned around and looked at me. “We’re here. Make yourself at home.” I thanked Chrysalis and immediately walked to one of the mounds and walked behind it. Huh, there was a hole behind it. Oh, so these holes were the entrances to the tunnel systems. That made sense. I was about to slide down into the hole, but Chrysalis’ voice caught me off guard and I slipped and fell in. “Jake! I told you not that mound. It’s this one! Damnit, Jake!” I kept sliding down until I emptied out and hit the ground. Ugh, my butt. I shook myself to get any loose dirt off my coat and mane. That was a fun ride, but where am I? I heard a slightly distorted noise coming from somewhere but I couldn’t figure out where. “Et ouf th whr.” “What? Who’s there?” I spoke up and looked at the tunnels on either side of me. “Et out the wau!” “I can’t understand what you’re saying!” “Get out the way!” “The way? Why? There’s no –”. WUMP. Someone had landed me and drove me to the ground. My face hit the ground hard and my brain rolled around in my head. Oh my gosh, my face hurts. Ah, and my back. Ooh, my back hurts. The attacker quickly got off me and looked down upon me. I looked up to see Chrysalis, slightly annoyed. Scratch that, she was very annoyed. “Um, hi? How are you on this fine evening?” I smiled weakly and looked back down and examined the dirt. My back was still hurting and I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t. “Hey Chrysalis, is something wrong with my back? I can’t get up.” “Yes, it does look kind of broken from my perspective.” “… oh, that’s nothing. Nevermind then.” “Nothing? Your back is clearly broken! You’ll be impaired for life.” “No, I won’t. Just watch.” I lay there patiently, awaiting the cyan glow of sparks and electricity. It was obvious that Chrysalis was getting impatient and expectant. After all, she didn’t know that I produced healing electricity. Or maybe, I just auto-heal myself with it? I still need to find out. Soon enough, sparks began to jump out of my back and a cyan curve of electricity pulled on my back and with a loud crack, snapped it into place. The electricity persisted and then did a full sweep of my whole body to find any other injuries. When the electricity found none, it killed itself and went out. I got up onto my hooves and shook my head once more. I then glanced over to Chrysalis with a smug grin on my face. “I was going to be impaired for life? I can’t see that happening Chrysalis.” The Changeling Queen simply stared at me like I had grown a second head or something. Her expression quickly changed to excitement as she examined my back closely. She couldn’t find any trace of my recent injury. If somepony hadn’t seen my injury, they’d believe that I never had it. Chrysalis backed up and thought for a second, she then picked up a stick with her magic and launched it at me. It punctured my chest and flew past my ribs. Holy, fucking, damn. That shit hurts like hell. “What the fuck Chrysalis?! Why the hell would you do that?!” I was gasping for breath and I was holding in the pain and urge to scream. That stick might’ve been not too big, but it hurt. It hurt a lot. As anticipated, the sparks started jumping from my right rib and began to push the stick out of from between my ribs. The stick hit the floor in a bloody mess and the hole that the stick had made in my side began to close as the electricity bounced around before dying out once more. “Chrysalis… if you do that again… I’ll “accidentally” cause the tunnel another wreck.” “Chill out Flare,” Chrysalis’ expression turned sly, “or is it Dunamis?” “Why the hell would my name be Dunamis?! I don’t even know who that is. I had a dream about him once and there were these two princesses who called him ‘Lord Dunamis’. I have no idea what’s going on.” “Sure, whatever you say. Anyways, let’s get out of this mound, it’s the wrong one. This is where the worker changelings reside. The changelings or beings of higher importance sleep in a different mound.” I thought about what she had said for a second, “You regard me as a being of importance? Hmm.” “I need you Flare. It’s simple as that. If I don’t have you, then my plans won’t work out.” “Plans? Come on Chrysalis. You can tell me. Why do you need me so much?” Chrysalis continued ignored my question and simply flew up and out of the hole that she fell on me from. I sighed and followed suit. We swerved around the tunnel until we came through the opening at the top. Chrysalis then ushered me to a different mound where we entered. You know, I’ve got no idea how the changelings can tell these mounds apart. I really am completely lost. They just instinctively return to their respective mounds after the day comes to an end like it’s completely normal. When Chrysalis and I reached the end of the slide, she immediately turned to the right and three holes in the ground later, we found ourselves in the same looking area that I woke up in yesterday morning. Or was it this morning? I can’t quite remember, today’s been a slight blur on my mind. I’ve been in one too many situations that were awkward or just confused the hell out of me. Chrysalis broke my internal rant by asking me a question that I didn’t know entirely how to answer. “So, have you used magic yet?” “Magic? Oh, um. Not really, no.” “Oh, but weren’t you just so excited to use it earlier?” I shifted uneasily in my spot and replied, “Well, yeah. But. I, I don’t know. I just. I’m not sure. It doesn’t feel natural using magic. I set my eyes on fire once to be able to see in the dark. It was cool, but it made me feel uncomfortable. It’s as if what I saw in the mirror was something out of a nightmare. Does that make any sense at all?” “Hmm, not really. Are you sure you don’t want to learn magic? Because if you don’t want to, then that’s fine by me.” Chrysalis sounded like she just crossed one chore of a list of many. “No, no magic for now.” I lied down in the dirt and set my head on my front hooves. “No magic today.” I drifted off into the abyss of sleep willingly. There were no craze ponies holding me down or me going unconscious from a randomly timed hit on the head. I went to sleep of my own accord and dreamt of happy thoughts. I truly felt safe and at home within the Everfree.
5 - All them Ponies[ 5 ] Failure or Opportunity Chapter Five – Failure or Opportunity After being sent to bed by Princess Celestia, Twilight couldn’t press the issue with Silent Flare anymore. She knew that the alicorn was in the custody of the Princesses, but she couldn’t get over the fact that maybe they wouldn’t be enough to hold him down. After all, if Twilight had read everything about that prophecy, and she did, she knew that that same alicorn was the one that overpowered Celestia and Luna multiple times. Finally, the one point that finally eased Twilight’s tense muscles was that this alicorn had no idea what was going on. He didn’t know who he was or where he was. Twilight rolled over on her bed, getting comfortable under her sheets before releasing a sigh. Her stress dissipated and she felt the dark abyss edging closer to her, ready to consume her until morning. Twilight didn’t fret; she could finally rest in peace. That, my friends, was a big, fat lie. A knocking on the library’s front door made its way into Twilight’s room and bounced around the walls. The flustered Twilight groaned and stepped out of bed. She cantered down the stairs lazily as the second knock rang through the air. Twilight continued to descend slowly and soon enough, she was at the front door ready to give the disrupter a piece of her mind. Twilight took a deep breath and opened the door and began, “Well, go away!” Twilight immediately sat back and covered her muzzle with her hooves. “Princess? I’m so sorry. It… I just… I’m sorry.” “There’s nothing to be apologetic for, dear Twilight. I am merely here on account of your letter. You’ve told me that this alicorn, Silent Flare, was present. No?” Celestia gracefully entered the room and finished her statement before making herself comfortable on one of the sofas. Twilight shut the door and looked back at the princess. She was obviously confused. She knew that Celestia had already come by to pick up Silent Flare. Why was she here now to do the exact same thing? Twilight began, “Um, Princess? You already came by and took him.” She let out a nervous chuckle and waited for an answer from the solar princess. Princess Celestia maintained her royal composure but assured, “Dearest Twilight, I’ve only just arrived here in Ponyville. How could have I already collected this alicorn?” “But, you were here not twenty minutes ago and reassured me that you would take him and confront him together with Luna.” Twilight couldn’t understand what was happening. She knew for a fact that she had given Flare to Celestia. She suddenly gasped and widened her eyes tremendously. “Oh, my gosh. What if he cast an illusion spell on me and then just escaped on his own?” “Twilight, clarify your words. Are you saying that you no longer have the alicorn?” “His name is Silent Flare, and yes Princess. I no longer have him.” Twilight let out a sigh of failure as she stared at the ground. Her eyes began to water and a few tears made their way down Twilight’s muzzle. She let out a shaky sigh and looked back up at Celestia. The Princess was staring down at Twilight with a grim expression. “If you’ve lost him, then where would he run to? He must know that you are acquainted with every pony of Ponyville. Surely, he would be wise enough to know that this place wouldn’t be safe for him.” “Well, Princess. There was one pony that cared tremendously for Flare. I believe that he, too, cared for this mare in such a way. Maybe we could ask her?” Princess Celestia’s gaze fell upon Twilight, who squirmed a little in place as response to the tension that was building. Celestia then diverted her eyes to an arbitrary location and hummed in thought. Without looking away, Celestia asked, “Do you know of this pony? What’s her name?” Twilight looked up and wiped the wetness from her eyes, transferring it to her left forehoof. “Yes, the mare’s name is Lyra. She lives with BonBon a few blocks from here.” Twilight’s voice was shaky and her sniffles were quite audible. “Alright then, Twilight. For tonight, we shall rest. Confronting a pony at night will not do any good at obtaining needed information. Please return to your resting chambers, I will make myself comfortable with these sofas.” Celestia remained in place and looked to Twilight. Twilight’s gaze locked with Celestia’s for a moment before Twilight spoke up, “No Princess! Please, I insist you use my bed. It’s much more comfortable than these sofas down here.” Twilight stared at the Princess with plea, but Celestia shook her head, “No Twilight. Your bed must nourish the owner. I am quite content with sleeping on these sofas. Don’t take any heed at all.” With that, Celestia picked up a few sofas in her golden aura magic and placed them in a square so all the cushioning pointed inwards. Putting all the sofas together gave Princess Celestia enough room to sprawl herself out generously without any discomfort. Twilight was still hesitant at the Princess’s notion, but didn’t refute it for a second time. She simple bowed and made her way back up the steps, careful as not to wake Spike. The light downstairs went out with a click and soon enough, Twilight was in her bed and under the covers. She had failed the Princess. The thought didn’t leave her for a good hour or so. Only when exhausted, did Twilight finally manage to get sleep, if any. I stretched my hooves out and let out a yawn. I shook my head a few times and shot out my wings to give them a nice good stretch as well. My wing muscles were pretty tense; I’ll have to do a mega stretch on them. I got up onto my hooves and stood my full height. I opened my wings up and pointed them at the sky, making sure to keep pulling them upwards before I slowly lowered them towards the ground. I then curved them inwards and wrapped them around my belly. I tugged on each one and held my wings like that for a solid two minutes or so. I let out a deep sigh and yawned once more. I like this morning. Ah, another beautiful day in the depths of the Everfree, even if I just got back last night. I took a moment to look around to see that I was still in the dugout deep within the caves. I looked up, and sure enough, the exit. However, the exit wasn’t not blocked. There were changelings buzzing around above and I couldn’t help but laugh a little. I don’t even know what was funny. Just seeing black, bony, bug ponies buzzing around was funny I guess. I don’t know. Either or, I flared my wings out and began to flap them. I flew out of the hole, making sure not to bump into any of the changeling minions going around. I had no idea where to go within these tunnels, they were too extensive and sophisticated for the average pony. Luckily for me, I wasn’t the average pony. I was an alicorn. Unluckily for me though, I still didn’t know how to get out. I just trotted along a tunnel until I saw another hole to the my top right. If there was a hole on the ceiling, then it led upwards. Right? Right. I followed the tunnel up, and up, and up. It twisted and turned and made sharp angles, but it still continued to go upwards. The buzzing of changelings behind me began to dull and fade away entirely as I continued up the tunnel. This tunnel was long. I will tell you that right now. I’ve never been in any other tunnel that was this long ever in my life. It kept going on and on. After about fifteen minutes, I’d assume, of trotting down the tunnel, guess where I am. Still in the tunnel. Still trotting along. “Ugh, I hate this place.” My patience began to wane and I knew that I needed to find the exit fast. I hate this tunnel. It was starting to stink too. Like animal feces or something. I began to gag and cough so I stopped and flipped right around. I’ve gone too deep. Time to bail. I escalated my trot into a full out gallop. The smell was traumatizing. It was the smell of utter filth and disgust. Nothing could compare to such a smell now. If you think you’ve smelled some bad stuff, you haven’t been down this tunnel. Even though I was far enough away from the stench to smell it physically, I could still smell it mentally. The stench continued to nag at my thoughts until I shook my head. Oh, that stunk horribly. I was sick of being underground. It sucked. I could swear that I was sweating underneath my coat. I appreciated the warmth that it provided, but it was poorly lit, humid, and it stunk. I gave up and began clawing my way upwards. Yes, I began clawing at the dirt that made the ceiling of the tunnel with hooves. I continued to dig away and push myself upwards into the dirt with my wings. I flapped profusely, forcing my hooves to work overtime. After about twenty seconds or so of groveling through the dirt, the little dirt left between me and the open air collapsed inwards. I continued pushing until I felt the nice breeze and smell of trees. Only then, did I set myself on the ground and shake wildly, sending loose dirt everywhere. I’m out. That worked. I looked around, to find that I was in the middle of nowhere. “I have… absolutely no idea where I am. Well, at least I’m out.” Knowing nothing better to do, I flew up above the trees and scoured the entire area. Ponyville could be seen to my right just a little ways, but I couldn’t find anything to help me direct myself in the direction of the changeling hive. I let out a low hum and lowered myself back onto the ground that I had burst out of not too long ago. I closed my eyes, focusing on my ears and straining them. I was trying my utmost to hear anything that could point me in the right direction. Sure enough, all the straining pulled off. I heard a faint noise that as indescribably and my left ear swiveled around and twitched to hear it. The faint noise continued on its own and began to fade out, so I began to gallop in the direction I had heard it. I was anything except quiet. Man, I was ripping through the foliage, desperate to return to civilization. I slowed my gallop into a quiet trot and continued to hear for anything that could help. It was the noise again, but this time it was more defined. The sound was a low buzzing, like a bee. Changelings. I continued off towards the sound and was sure to look around as well, trying to pick up any sight of the bug ponies. Desperation began stacking itself up in my mind like a failed game of Tetris. I had no idea where Chrysalis or her minions were, and I was stuck somewhere in the Everfree. The Everfree… I liked the Everfree. Why did I not want to be here? A sense of nostalgia roamed through the air and I let the feeling overwhelm me and fill me. It was such a good feeling. Unfortunately, I broke the nostalgic aura and perked my ears up once more, trying to detect anything audible. The buzzing was back and it filled my ears, sending knowledge to my brain. I was off once again, galloping towards the sound. This could very well be a trap, but hey. I kind of didn’t like being completely alone. I felt better with other things around. Like… like a manticore? I halted myself right outside a clearing with multiple fallen over trees that had mounds in front of them. This is where I should be. I was about to completely forget why I stopped outside the clearing and dive for a hole. In the middle of the clearing, a manticore was grooming itself and lapping at its paws. Truth be told, this manticore was pretty big. If you have a good imagination, and you can picture how big I am, then you should be able to know how big almost ten times my size is. The mass of this beast literally took up the whole clearing. I bet branches from the upper levels of the trees gets caught in its mane, it’s so big. Inha- ha- hale…. Ex-exhale… My breathing was suddenly labored and it was hard to stay silent in doing so. I must’ve failed horribly because the manticore had stopped lapping at its right paw and was eyeing the tree I was hiding behind. Shit… No please don’t. Don’t come towards me. I looked back into the clearing and made eye contact with the manticore for a whole second. The connection was broken when something pulled me to the right and dragged me across the dirt and shrubbery. I continued to be dragged along until I fell into a through a hole. What was going on? I looked to my left to see my ponynapper was Chrysalis. She was gulping air and it was easily discernible that her breathing was labored as well. That manticore was huge. “So… Chrysalis. Do you get any beasts that big? What was it?” I asked through breaths. Chrysalis continued to breathe deeply, but her breathing became much steadier. As soon as she had her breathing completely under control, she looked at me and said, “That was a manticore. That’s the biggest one I have ever seen. They shouldn’t be down here.” It was obvious that Chrysalis was worried. She probably couldn’t take on a manticore at all, let alone a mega manticore. I sighed and ran a hoof through my mane, “So we have absolutely no way to get rid of it? Dang it.” Chrysalis continued to eye me for a few more seconds before looking down at the ground. This was a storm that we had to wait out, unless I could do something about it. I went a little ways back up the hole and waited a couple seconds patiently. After I heard nothing, I continued to travel up the tunnel. After repeating this process a few times, I made it to the very end of the tunnel. I poked my head out of it and scanned the open area before me. I didn’t see anything at all. The manticore had just vanished into thin air. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn’t question it. I slid down the hole and landed next to Chrysalis. I looked to her and said lazily, “The thing just ran away. That boring waste of nature.” Chrysalis looked to me then back at the tunnel that I had slid down. She then used her wings to create a low, buzzing sound. Changelings poked out of holes and started popping out of every nook and cranny around. The buzzing became so intense that I had to flatten my ears to prevent deafness. Chrysalis then flew up to the tunnel to the surface and I simply followed. When we were out, I pulled Chrysalis to the side and said, “I’m going back to Ponyville. It’s too busy around here and I don’t know what to do to pass the time.” Chrysalis just laughed and said sarcastically, “Yea, Ponyville. I’ll take you. Just wait.” I rolled my eyes and clicked my tongue, “I’m serious Chrysalis, and I’m going to go see Lyra and BonBon. I don’t think that they know that I’m here. I want to make sure they’re alright.” Chrysalis’ stopped laughing and sighed. “Why do you have to go back there? You will be hunted every second that you are there. You do understand that, correct?” I simply nodded and continued to stare at Chrysalis with a grim expression. Chrysalis then returned my nod and said, “I will permit this, however, you mustn’t go now. It is daylight and somepony might see you. Leave at night, with the cover of darkness.” I was bored. I had absolutely nothing to do to pass the time. I saw the first orange hues make their way into the sky as the sun set. I sighed annoyingly and scratched my ear with a hoof. I was above ground and in front of a random mound of dirt. I couldn’t find anything to do so I slowly lowered my head onto my hooves. I might as well sleep. Oh how I loved sleep. It was something that I could always look forward to in a day of awesomeness or chaos. It didn’t matter. I shut my eyes and yawned quickly. I steadied my breathing and let sleep take hold of my body. “Hey Derek. Derek. Derek! HEY RETARD.” It was me. I as a human. I was calling out to another human who was laid out across a couch. The human on the couch, Derek, simply rolled over and placed his pillow over his head. I rolled my eyes and moved towards the front of the couch and picked up a little device off the table with multiple buttons on it. I pointed the device at a large black screen and pressed down on a red button. When the screen sparked to life, I sat down on Derek and watched it until Derek squirmed uncontrollably. I got up off the poor soul and ripped the blanket from his grasps. “Derek. Get up.” “Nerr. I dern’t werner.” “Get up Derek. GET UP. GET UP.” I hopped up onto the couch and began jumping on Derek’s back as I continued to chant “GET UP. GET UP.” I heard a few pops from Derek’s back as he flailed his arms around. “Alright. ALRIGHT. Get off me, Jake.” I jumped one last time before falling to the ground next to the couch. Derek sat up straight and tilted his neck side to side, letting out an orchestra of crackles and pops. “Ha, that’s it?” I scoffed at Derek’s pathetic pops and sat back down on the couch and diverted my attention to the screen. “Oh, you’re so funny," Derek snarked and continued, “what’s on TV?” He began to pick the sleep from his eyes and stretched his arms up, yawning. I yawned as well, damnit. That shit was contagious. I replied boringly, “Nothing interesting.” I began switching channels and calling off the contents, “News, news, weather, boring, boring, cartoons. Eh, it’s not My Little Pony or Adventure Time. More news, boring, boring. Ah, this sucks.” I pointed the device in my hand at the TV again, but Derek spoke up. “Lemme see the remote. I bet I can find something we can watch.” I shrugged and passed him the remote. “Alright Derek, while you look for something, I’m going to the bathroom.” I then proceeded in getting up off the couch and casually strolling across a room and into a hallway before coming up to a door. I pushed open the door and yawned while stepping inside. I looked at myself in the mirror real quick and scoffed at my appearance. I had a dark brown to black hair color with yellow highlights streaking down the strands. My build wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t fat. I wasn’t exactly scrawny either. I guess it could be considered an average build for a man that doesn’t eat like a pig or go through intense workouts. I looked to the toilet on the floor and proceeded in doing my business. When I was finished I walked over to the sink and washed my hands. I peered at my clone in the mirror while washing away and looked at my eyes closely. They were a shade of brown lighter than my hair. I finished up washing my hands and turned around to dry them off on a towel before walking back out into the living room, where Derek was reclining on the couch. I made my way to the couch before turning to see what was on. It was an old episode of Adventure Time. “Derek, we already watched this episode. Didn’t we?” Derek simply shrugged and said, “Yea, but why not watch it again? There’s nothing else to watch.” Derek did have a point. I just sat silently and continued to watch the episode. I woke with a start and looked up immediately at the dark purple night sky. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s around 8pm. I looked back down at my hooves and closed my eyes, imagining Jake’s body from my dream. I felt the “water” inside me drain ever so slightly and I saw my outline as an alicorn change into that of a human. I opened my eyes once again to see the last wisps of flame from my magic die out. I felt my hand and each appendage jutting out of it. I pulled my hand to the front of my face and looked down at myself, I was a human alright. What I didn’t understand though, was the fact that I wasn’t a crimson red anymore. I was the same color as I was in my dream. Well, as far as I knew, I was the same color. I had garments on as well. I wasn’t wearing them when I was an alicorn. I was wearing jeans and a grey t-shirt. I must’ve morphed to have clothes on? I’m not too sure. There wasn’t much light from the stars. I knew that I wasn’t red however. I took in a deep breath and spoke quietly. “So, I’m Jake.” It was almost evening, and the sun was lazily hiding behind a few hills. The vibrant orange and red sky reflected the time and Twilight knew that she’d be leaving with Celestia to look for Lyra any minute. Twilight sighed and backed up from the window and trotted back into the main room of her library. The rest of the mane six were there patiently waiting. Spike was there too, but he didn’t like what was going on so had hidden behind one of the sofas. Twilight looked at each of her friends individually before speaking up. “Alright, you all know why I asked you to come here, right?” “Right. You called us here to hunt down that one stallion dude.” Rainbow Dash was floating above the group and had her hooves crossed. She was less than amused at this ‘Silent Flare’ guy. “Yes, Dash, but not as menacingly as you put it. I just need you all to keep an eye out for him. If you find him, come back and tell me because we really need to catch him.” Applejack spoke up unconvinced, “Wah do yeh want us to do this here spyin’ thing again? It isn’t too kind and ah don’t feel too comfortable in doin’ it.” “We need to keep an eye out for him because he isn’t just an alicorn.” Twilight sighed nervously. “He isn’t an average alicorn? Darling, what is that supposed to imply?” Rarity was as hesitant as Applejack in going around spying. “Well, you see.” Twilight couldn’t even begin to explain that Silent Flare was actually an evil warlord from ancient Equestria that had been condemned. Thankfully, Celestia had spoken up in Twilight’s stead as she descended the stairs. “The alicorn pony you all know as Silent Flare, is actually the most powerful pony that ever existed. His name is Lord Dunamis. He was the grand monarch of most of the Equestrian land back almost 5000 years. His level of power exceeds Luna’s and my own. We must contain him before he can realize that he has an unbelievable amount of potential.” Everypony, even Spike, gasped and looked at Princess Celestia in shock. The ponies knew that Celestia was one of the most powerful beings in existence. Now, they had just heard of somepony that exceeded Celestia’s power twofold. Even Twilight was in a shock at the immense amount of power. Spike was one to speak up and slice the silence, “Flare’s that powerful? Whoa, that’s awesome!” Spike was prancing around happily at how his friend was powerful. Twilight looked at Spike’s enthralled state and was less than amused, “Spike! Flare is a villain. How could you feel happy for him if this villain is much more powerful than Princesses Celestia and Luna combined?” A thought then formulated inside Twilight’s mind and she turned back to Celestia. “Princess, do the Elements of Harmony have any effect on him? Surely they must if he is a villain.” Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I am not certain that the Elements will have an effect on him. The Elements were a legend while Dunamis was in power. There were only bits and pieces of information about the Elements. It wasn’t until 2000 years later that they were unearthed in a dig site. If we ever get the chance, then we will have to see. Twilight’s hopeful expression drooped and she eyed the floor. To recount her knowledge, the ponies of this town will have to keep an open eye out for Flare, or Dunamis. If they don’t find him soon, then he might return to the villainous Lord Dunamis and conquer Equestria once more. “We should get going now.” Twilight spoke to his friends. “Princess, we’ll be going to Lyra’s house. Spike you’re coming too.” I walked around, trying to find Chrysalis. I didn’t dare go into the tunnels in my human state. I pulled aside one of the changelings that was going back into a hole. I had to morph back into Silent Flare to convince him that I was actually, the same pony that was always here. I changed back into a human and asked the changeling to get Chrysalis. The changeling simply nodded and dove into a nearby hole. Within seconds, Chrysalis appeared behind me and called out. “So, I see that you can morph into the human that you were before. How? I was led to assume that your memories were... out of reach.” I shrugged and looked back at my hands. “I don’t know. I had dreamt of Jake a few times and well…” My voice trailed off and I looked away from my hands and back down at Chrysalis. I was at least half a yard taller than her now. Chrysalis simply nodded in understanding. “With your permission, I’d like to go and check up on Lyra and BonBon now.” The Changeling Queen before me stared at me and gave a slight nod, “Go.” I nodded a few times before morphing back into Silent Flare. I wasn’t about to run all the way to Ponyville as a human. It felt comfortable to be one. I felt as though I could walk and run normally, but I couldn’t fly as one. As Silent Flare, I flew up and above the forest canopy like I have before. I set my eyes ablaze once more and scanned the area for Ponyville. I saw it not too far away on my right and I began flying in that direction before dousing the flames in my eyes. Lyra and BonBon were in their common room, gazing at a lit fire in the fireplace. The only thing that was audible was the crackle and sizzle of the wood and the sniffles of Lyra. She was legitimately depressed that she couldn’t find Flare. BonBon knew this as well. She was sad too, but Lyra took it harder. After a long wait and uncomfortable silence, BonBon decided to shatter it. “So, um. Do you remember anything about being with him last? Like where he was or what he was doing…” Lyra picked her gaze up off the tissue in her hooves and looked at BonBon. After a few seconds, she gazed back at the tissue and said, “Well, I was in the library with Twilight and her friends. I was so happy to see him when he came down the stairs and I hugged him. He sat with me on the sofa.” Lyra’s eyes lit up slightly and she added, “He called me ‘honey’!” She sniffled once more and then drooped back down. “He’s gone now.” BonBon regretted bringing Flare back up again. She just couldn’t help Lyra out. She was in a severe depression and BonBon couldn’t help her best friend out. It was such a horrible feeling of failure. An idea then popped up into her mind. “Well, uh, Lyra. How about we go check out the next Human Convention? Together.” The last word drooled out of her mouth slowly and regretfully. BonBon never went with Lyra to any of the Human Conventions, even if they were held in Ponyville. BonBon let out a shiver and returned her nervous stare back at Lyra for the impending response. Lyra sniffled a few more times before looking up at BonBon. The smile on BonBon’s face made her like kind of uneasy and nervous. Lyra couldn’t help but let out a light laugh before asking, “Are you sure? You never went, ever. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m not even sure that I want to go anymore.” BonBon’s eyes grew extremely wide at the last sentence. Lyra didn’t want to go to a Human Convention? SINCE WHEN. THIS WAS LYRA WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. The one and only pony that is so famous around Ponyville for being the most obsessed with humans, and here she is not wanting to go to the next convention, which by the way, is held in Ponyville a week and a half from now. BonBon was surprised at her friend’s indecisiveness. Normally, Lyra would snap up any chance to do or have anything to do with humans before there was even a chance for competition. BonBon lowered her head in defeat. She couldn’t convince Lyra that it was fine. She couldn’t convince her that everything was going to be okay. Lyra was never sad like this before in her life. BonBon thought about the situation and found that it all went back to Flare. Flare left, causing Lyra to feel like this. This whole dilemma was all Flare’s fault. BonBon’s faced overturned into a scowl and she stared at the couch she was on. How could Flare do such a thing? Lyra brought him here, to her home, and she clearly felt some kind of connection with Flare. However, Flare completely ignored Lyra and devoured sandwiches and probably emptied the water in our water cooler. He didn’t even say goodbye properly. He just left. BonBon got up from her spot on the couch and trotted upstairs, leaving Lyra alone with only the company of the sizzling fire. Lyra didn’t mind though, she barely took notice. She was so exhausted that she was about to just fall asleep on the couch in front of the warm aura. Before she could, however, a knocking on the door attracted her attention. She composed herself the best she could and went to answer the door. “Who would come to my house at such a late hour?” I had landed right at the town’s edge and was hidden behind several trees that separated the actual town land from the Everfree. I could feel the coldness of night slipping through my fur and chilling me. I shivered and blew out a breath of hot, wispy air. The barely visible cloud before me told me that it was getting cold. Damn. From where I was, I couldn’t make out a path to Lyra’s house. I had no idea where I was. I looked around to see if I could find any useful landmarks, but it was too dark. I wasn’t about to set my eyes ablaze again either. The light would undoubtedly attract attention, even if it was late at night. I crept out of my hiding place and start trotting down the path and made my way into the city. If I recall correctly from my flight to Twilight’s house with Spike, Lyra’s house is down the road from Twilight’s. Spike said that. Okay, it can’t be that hard. I looked around for Twilight’s giant tree home. It was kind of impossible to miss. That is, if it was daytime. Fucking damnit. I should’ve just came during the day. I took a risky chance and allowed my eyes to become the deep blue. I looked at the ground and then at a hoof before realizing that the flames from my eyes don’t give off light. They obviously are brightly colored themselves since they’re a bright cyan, but they don’t let off any light. It’s like seeing a fire in an endless abyss where nothing reflects the light. Awesome. What’s more is that I can see everything as if it was clear as day. Is this what all alicorns do when they aren’t normally able to see in the dark? With perfect vision, I trotted along the streets, occasionally ducking into an alleyway or rolling up into a ball to hide the bright flames from my eyes. Luckily, ‘occasionally’ wasn’t most of the time. I probably only did so twice, and they were to random sounds that I heard. I continued to trot along and after a while, I found the giant tree. The giant tree. What I really meant was the motherfucking hugeass tree of no return, ‘cus this tree is like no other. Anyways I swiveled around from the entrance and trotted away from it. Lyra’s house couldn’t be too far away now. As I start to think about it, Lyra is probably the only pony I can trust in Ponyville now. Wait, no. That can’t be right. Twilight probably still believes that Celestia took me to Camelrot or whatever. That, my friends, is the perfect cover. I trotted more casually around, attempting to find Lyra’s house, like I said a billion times already. After a few minutes, I noticed a light coming from around a corner. It was a dim light, but it was there. I immediately glued myself to the house on my left and edged towards the intersection. I turned my eyes off and slowly poked my head around the corner. The light was coming from another corner a little ways down the road. This time though, it wasn’t dim. It was a bright light. A light that was bright. I took in a deep breath and muttered, “Camo mode.” I then galloped across the street and flattened my figure against another building. Trust me, it’s hard to flatten yourself when you’re a foot or so short of being as tall as a small market stand. Eh, whatever. I shimmied closer to the second intersection and took in a few deep breaths once more. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale… Exhale… I steadied myself and poked my head out from my shelter. What I saw immediately made me retract my head and widen my eyes. Damnit. Twilight’s here. I slowly took another deep breath to calm my pounding heart. Why my heart was racing, I haven’t a clue. When my heartbeat dropped to a mildly tolerable level of pumping blood, I peeked at her again. I noticed Celestia wither her this time. They were just about to knock on the door. A familiar door. The door that opened into Lyra’s home. The exact same home that I was trying to get into. Damnit. Those two won’t make this easy for me. I looked back at the street I was on to make sure nopony was lurking around. Confirming that no one was around I began to edge myself out of my hiding spot, just to see Celestia and Twilight go through the doorway and have the door shut behind them. Well, gee. That didn’t ruin my plan at all. I huffed a bit and galloped as quietly as hooves on stone could and pressed up against Lyra’s door. I strained my right ear to listen on what was going on inside. The voices were very faint and required maximum concentration to hear. In this situation, my concentration was maxed out tenfold. I was trying my utter best to hear in on what the mares inside were saying. “Princess Celestia, what brings you here?” I heard BonBon’s voice ask. The voice that I could assume to be Celestia’s replied, “I am here on account of a missing pony. I understand that he used to reside here with you and Lyra.” I heard a grunt and then Twilight’s voice spoke, “Yes, his name is Silent Flare. Do you two know anything?” There was the longest and most painful silence ever. I had to endure it too. It became agonizingly anxious to know what was going to happen next. All I heard was a random outburst that I couldn’t make sense of. It began, but the voice was shaky and quite often interrupted with little sniffles and hiccups. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Twilight then spoke once more, “So you’re saying that Flare wasn’t here? And the last time you saw him was when he was at the library. There was a subtle ‘uh huh’ and then another outburst. “He’s such a jerk! He left me here all alone and didn’t even say ‘goodbye’! I never want to see him again!” I could hear Twilight humming in thought. I could also picture BonBon shooting a dirty look at Lyra. That was something funny to think about. Celestia then asked, “BonBon, do you know anything of this alicorn’s whereabouts?” “No, Princess. Lyra was the one with him most of the time. I simply made him sandwiches to eat because she asked me to.” I heard a rustling and then hooves hitting the floor. “Thank you my little ponies. Now, before we keep you up any later, I advise getting some rest. I once again apologize for intruding on such a late hour.” With that, the hoofsteps grew louder and louder until I finally realized that they were making an exit. I’m not going to lie. I fucking panicked. I looked around frantically to find something to hide behind. Without any more options, I simply spread my wings and shot them down wards. I flew up with insane acceleration and idled in midair before gently floating back downwards. I saw the Princess and Twilight leave the house and begin walking down the street. I let out a heavy sigh and continued to descend slowly. When I knew that they were far enough away for me to land without attracting any attention, I did so. I pulled my wings in close, and quickly closed the distance between the ground and me. Moments before impact, I spread my wings once more and flapped a few times to land softly. I looked down the street at where Celestia and Twilight walked off before quickly making a 180 and trying my luck on the door lever. It wasn’t locked. I pulled the lever down and eased the door open. The door itself didn’t make a sound, but I forgot that hooves do make quite a bit of noise. I hissed and drew a sharp breath before continuing in before shutting the door quietly behind me. I entered the living room and looked around. Lyra and BonBon hadn’t taken any notice of my quiet, yet audible, hoofsteps. They were too busy gazing at the fire to notice my sudden intrusion. The fire’s heat radiated around the room and painted an orange-yellow tint on everything in the room. I imagine this being what a true home felt like. Well, excluding the sorrowful faces on the two mares before me. I took a deep breath, once again before speaking up. “I’m so sorry Lyra.” My voice obviously scared the living daylights out of the two ponies because they jumped up. They literally jumped up off the couches and into the air. When they both landed, they each turned to see my head hung low and a look of regret on my face. I didn’t want them to be mad at me at a time like this. I didn’t know that Lyra would be shocked and broken like this either. BonBon immediately got up and made her way to me. She then took her hoof and drove it into my face. I closed my eyes preparing for the strike. Instead, all I heard was a metallic clang. I opened my eyes and BonBon’s hoof was touching my fur, but sparks were flying around. I sighed and took BonBon’s hoof in mine and pulled her aside. I lowered my head and pulled her onto my back before trotting deeper into the room. BonBon was motionless through the ride, but I could feel her whimpering. The amount of sorrow that this room had was more than enough to create tensions that Celestia herself would have a hard time breaking. I lowered BonBon on her spot on the couch and cantered slowly to the second couch Lyra was on. I sat like she did, like a human, and took in a deep breath. She was shaking and looking away. It was obvious that she didn’t want to see me, so I thought up something real quick. My body began to engulf itself in flames, which scared BonBon who was looking at me. Lyra didn’t know what had happened though. After going through the morph, the fire died out and I extended a finger and tapped her shoulder. Lyra turned ready to punch my face in like BonBon had tried not too long ago. She stopped mid-swing and simply gasped. The ball of blankets in her lap began to shuffle and move about, but Lyra quickly clamped it down. I heard a young, boyish voice from within the blankets. “Hey! Lyra, let me out! What’s going on? I heard Flare’s voice.” I set my hand on the ball of blankets and stroked what felt like Spike’s back spines. I then said, “I’m not Silent Flare. My name’s Jake.” The blankets immediately fell quiet and motionless. Lyra even loosened her grip on the cloths some. Spike then popped his head out and looked up at me. His eyes went wide and his head immediately sunk back into his blankets. “What’s that?! LYRA.” Lyra remained quiet and BonBon spoke for her. “That’s him. That’s Flare.” “No it isn’t! Flare’s a red alicorn. That’s a monkey thing!” He then jumped out of the blankets and ran over to BonBon and pointed at me. “That isn’t an alicorn. That is a naked monkey thing with clothes on.” BonBon gazed at me expectantly and I understood immediately. My body was once again engulfed in flames, which beckoned a yelp from Spike. After only a couple seconds, the flames dispersed and me, in the body of Silent Flare, sat on the couch. I gazed at Spike and remembered something that I wanted to show him. My eyes once again disappeared into a sea of cobalt and the cyan flames licked the sides of my head once more. Spike was even more intimidated and scared and jumped up onto the couch and hid behind BonBon’s head. Needless to say, Spike’s reaction to my eyes was spot on with Lyra’s when she first found out about them. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Lyra looked over and saw my eyes and snorted. “Big deal. He has glowing eyes. Get over it Spike.” Spike came out from behind BonBon and walked up to me. I returned my eyes to normal and picked him up. At first Spike was resistant, but I easily overpowered him and put him next to Lyra. Spike, then gasped, as if remembering something important. “Oh my gosh! Flare…” “It’s Jake… Silent Flare was a name I made up when I couldn’t remember my real name.” “Alright them. Jake, Twilight told me to stay over will Lyra until you came back. She wanted me to tell you to go meet her at her tree. Let’s go!” Before the Spike could make it to the door, I pulled him into a crushing bear hug. It’s not me showing affection for him, not now at least. It was me preventing him from going anywhere. Spike was squirming around and I eased my hold on him just a little so he could breathe. “Spike, I can’t go to Twilight.” Spike spat out a few red fur strands and looked up at me. “What? Why not? She said Pinkie was going to throw your party.” I sighed and recalled the events that happened on the night before Chrysalis came to save me. “Okay, umm… Spike, remember when you first brought me to Twilight’s house and I went unconscious?” “Well, yea. But what does that have to do with anything.” “When I woke up, I met Twilight’s friends. You know, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and your girlfriend." Spike’s cheeks were a rosy red and he scratched the back of his head, “Aw shucks. Rarity’s not my girlfriend, but that would sure be nice.” Spike started to doze off to Lalaland again. I sighed and yanked his tail. He yelped and a stream of fire escaped his mouth. When we glared at me, I continued. “Anyways, when that was all over, I fell unconscious once more. When I woke, Twilight had me strapped to a table and started calling me a weird name like Dunce or something. She wanted to send me to Camelrot.” “Uh, it’s Canterlot.” “Yea, Canterlot. Whatever.” I put Spike down in between Lyra and me as he looked up and put a claw on his chin in deep thought. He finally shrugged slightly and said, “I guess we shouldn’t tell Twilight then.” “Yea, don’t tell her. However Spike, I don’t want you to lie to her either. She’s your owner after all.” Spike winced slightly when I said ‘owner’. “Owner? No dude, Twilight’s just a pony that I’m an assistant for.” To me, that was darn near the same definition as having that pony as an owner. I sighed and lifted Spike up once more and set him back on BonBon’s couch. BonBon watched and listened to our conversation and finally said, “I won’t tell anypony either. You can trust me Fla- err.. Jake.” She smiled and set her head down, ready to sleep. Spike then climbed up on top of BonBon and curled up into a ball before dozing off himself. I was left with Lyra. I looked over to Lyra and tried to think up something to say. When I couldn’t think of anything, I simply turned back into the human Jake and put my hand through her mane. It was quite obvious that Lyra was pleasured by this. I heard a low hum, almost a purr, and she pushed her head up into my palm. I scoffed a little before saying, “Didn’t know you wanted it that badly.” Lyra immediately slapped my hand away with her hoof. She then glared at me with a smirk. I began to laugh and nudged her playfully. She then jumped up and leaped at me. I caught her midair, but her weight made me put her back down in front of me. Okay, so, ponies are heavier than they look. They are pretty compact, but they’re not the lightest thing in the world. Lyra looked into my eyes, but as you know, I was uncomfortable with the intimacy. So to fix the problem, I just pulled Lyra in for a hug and simply held her tight. I sighed and squeezed tighter before saying, “I’m sorry.” Lyra pulled away and looked at my human face. “You know Jake, you look different.” Well, hahaha. So funny. It’s not like I’m a human now or anything. Cough cough. Although my sarcastic side tried to reply, I pushed it away and asked, “I do?” “Yea, you’re a human now. Jake, you’re so stupid.” I rolled my eyes and said, “Well my bad.” I set Lyra back down and lied down. My entire length took up pretty much the whole couch, but Lyra made do. She just hopped up onto my chest and lied down with her face a few inches away from mine. I put my hand in her mane and laid my head back on the armrest. This was just a perfect scene. The fire was crackling and warming everyone. BonBon was on the other couch with Spike and I was over here with Lyra. Nothing could ever break this moment up. That is, except for a hollow knock on the door… The door blew open and Twilight barged in. I instinctively flattened myself into the couch, attempting to go undetected. Twilight then looked around the living room. Spike and BonBon had woken up and Lyra hadn’t even shut her eyes yet. All three of them just looked over at Twilight with annoyed expressions. Spike spoke up, “Twilight, I told you that I’d tell you if Jake got here.” “Jake? Who’s Jake?” Twilight was quizzically suspicious and began looking around. I don’t think I could hold up this gimmick for long. The dancing fire in the fireplace helped conceal me with the dark colored couch with all the dancing shadows it casted. Spike shook his head and quickly corrected himself, “I meant Flare. I said that I’d tell you if Flare got here.” Twilight snorted and continued her search, “Spike, are you sure you aren’t hiding him anywhere. I feel a massive amount of magic in this very room.” Spike gulped audibly and waved his hands in front of him. “No, I’m not! Twilight, come on. You know me. I’m not hiding Flare.” Twilight’s gaze continued to scour over the room. At one point, she made eye contact with and locked on. She raised an eyebrow at first, but soon after smirked slyly and looked back at Spike. “Alright, as long as you’re not hiding him here. Just tell me when he comes.” She then used her purple magic to fix the door on its hinges and scampered out. Spike wiped away sweat from his forehead and looked to me. I was pulling myself out of the cushions and lay back down comfortably with Lyra still on my chest. I feverously stroked her mane as Spike spoke to me in relief, “Whew, she didn't find you. That was a close one.” I quickly shook my head and gulped, “No, she knows.”
1 - Aw Hell[ 1 ] Bad Luck Jake Chapter One – Bad Luck Jake MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. I lifted my head up off the itchy pillow and shook my head violently. My dark brown hair shifted with each shake of my head before falling back into its natural flow. My head fell back onto the old pillowcase as I looked at the wall on the far side of the room. Before I could fully wake up, I felt an annoyingly uncomfortable feel come from the depths of my mind. I hate these kinds of things. I can never really figure out what’s wrong, but you know that something just is. It’s kind of like when – MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. MEEP. My alarm began to go off once again so I shifted in my bed and glared at it with the most annoyed expression that I could muster. I was hoping my all-too-serious demeanor would immediately halt the annoying screeches of the alarm, but I couldn’t hold the expression for long once I saw the digits going across it. My eyes slowly went wide and my mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe it. I finally figured out what was wrong about this Monday morning. I haven’t even noticed the surplus amount of painful light that was flooding into my room until I was already sitting up in my bed, eyes with shock. “… It’s… No, it can’t be," I rubbed my eyes and peered at the clock once more. "It… It’s… FUCKING 9:20?!” I shouted in utter disbelief, rattling the loose, weak furniture scattered around my dusty room. I immediately shot up onto my feet and ignored the clouds of dust that blew upwards and swirled around my knees. I went into a frenzy looking for my trusty pair of jeans. Once spotted, I dashed to them and began to slide them on. I got one leg halfway through before I slipped and tumbled onto my side and crashed into a wall. “Yep, that felt amazing. Just awesome,” I shut my eyes and held them like so for a while, hoping to redirect the blood away from the lump that would inevitably appear. Alas, the expected lump began to form on the right side of my head. I can already feel it taking shape without even bringing a hand up to feel it. I kept the shirt that I slept in on because I was simply too late to properly get myself ready. As one could assume, I was late for work. My name is Jake; I am 24 and am 20 minutes late for work. Scratch that, 21 minutes late. I started muttering to myself as I made my way out of my room and into the kitchen saying disappointedly, “Can’t have breakfast.” I stopped myself in front of the bathroom and looked at the door hesitantly. After pondering a certain thought for no more than a few seconds, I decided against taking a shower either. Great, I tried going to bed early last night just to wake up late this morning and be forced to skip two things that I looked forward to in every morning since moving out of my parents’ house. I zoomed out of my apartment and slammed the front door behind me, quickly making my way down the hall and towards the 16th floor’s common room. I sprinted across the compact room and stopped right in front of the elevator. I started tapping the down button in rushed anxiety. The abused button sparked to life acknowledging my call. Naturally, I would understand that my apartment sucked a lot which means the elevator does too, but the crappy cubicle was taking all the time that it possibly could to reach my floor. What the hell happened? Yesterday it worked fine… Fucking damnit. After a solid 5 minutes of slamming the button, I knew that my elevator just wasn’t going to work for me today. I groaned in frustration and turned my attention towards a stairwell through a doorway next to the elevators. The idea was like alcohol on an open gash, but I knew that I had to. With an aggravated sigh, I kicked off and ran to the open doorframe, well aware that I’d have to descend 16 floors. I stopped at the doorway and seriously debated whether to just wait for the elevator and make up an excuse as to why I was 4 hours late to work, or take the stairs and risk some fatal condition that’s connected to descending 16 flights of stairs. The more I pondered the thought, the more completely stupid it sounded. I dismissed that idea and started descending down the staircase three steps at a time. This rotten building was probably built in early 1900s or something; it was horrible on multiple levels. I swear this apartment is the worst apartment in all of California. As my legs continued the descent on their own in auto-pilot, my mind began to wander to thoughts of starting a petition against apartments like this one. As I was half a flight to the 10th floor, my foot slipped on a patch of moss that was hidden on a step and I landed on my right foot awkwardly. I heard what sounded like a disturbing tearing as my body attacked the floor in front of the 10th floor common room doorway. Normally, when one falls, his or her eyes will shut in fear of something happening to them. To some, this is valid, to others, not so much. For me… my eyes closed shut so I didn’t know what happened during the fall. As I felt my collision with a wall steady out, I sat motionless for a few long seconds before shooting my eyes open. I looked back at my foot, which didn't seem to be bent out of shape, but the tearing noise I heard earlier was real. I knew for a fact that I heard a tearing sound right as I twisted the hell out of my ankle. Grasping my ankle, I closed my eyes, silently grieving. I heard the awful tearing once more and winced, but realized that I hadn’t torn anything this time. My eyes scoured the tenth floor common room and landed on someone in one of the sofas, ripping what looked like mail. My fear was almost instantly replaced by confusion and then annoyance. I scowled and turned my gaze back to my foot and wobbled it around. I didn’t feel anything wrong with it, but I should probably be cautious with it just in case. I huffed and resumed my descent down the steps at a significantly slower rate, one step at a time, keeping an eye out for any more moss that could become ninjas and send me tumbling. After a whole 7 minutes or so of painfully slow descent, I made it to the lobby. The ground began to tremor slightly so I sat down patiently. Ah, it’s one of those mornings that let you know that you’re in Cali. Oh, how I just loved earthquakes. Cough cough, not really. After the tremor subsided, I wiped away the sweat beads on my forehead before exiting the structure. Right outside the doorway into the apartment I searched for my next objective: my car. Soon enough, there it was; right in front of me hiding in plain sight. Well played car, well played. I took a deep breath and went on the incredibly long voyage to reach it, which was roughly 5 yards away. I strolled to my car like it was worth the time it took to get there and instinctively continued on to the driver’s side door and yanked on the handle. The door yielded and opened to me. Damnit, I left my car unlocked again last night. Oh well. That seemed like a regular thing for me these days. Eh, whatever. I hopped into the driver’s seat and reached for my keys, which were supposed to be in my pocket. Supposed to be… A few long seconds went by as tumbleweed began to roll about inside the car. I checked my left pocket and then my right before melting down onto my steering wheel making sure not to accidentally sound the horn. “My keys…” I shot back up and straightened my back. “You know what? I’m done. Nope, that’s it. I’m fucking done. Nope.” I let out an aggravated yell and turned to kick my car door open with rage fueling my muscles. Unfortunately, my car must go to the gym often because instead of the car door yielding, my leg did and so did all the rage with it. There was a sudden numbness and soon after, a shock traveled up my leg before dispersing. Defeated by my own car, I let out a sigh, but I didn’t falter. I decided to set a handicap by cracking the car door open ever so slightly. Inhale… Exhale… I adjusted myself in my seat so that I was facing the car door. I performed a slight bow like the ninjas did in the movies and brought my leg to my chest before screaming, "Fus roh DAAAH!!" and kicking my car door open. The door shot off its hinges and flew across the street jumping occasionally similar to the jumping of a rock that someone throws when they skip rocks on a lake. The window cracked and shattered to pieces as the door tumbled and rolled. The scrap of metal ended its path of cacophony and deterioration up against a newspaper booth, sending newspapers flying. Just kidding. In all actuality, the door flew open enough to make it look “dislocated”. As if the loud crack that could be heard all the way down the street wasn’t enough, the door moaned in its currently abused state. A small part of me wished that the door really had flown across the street because the moaning of this car door was getting more and more annoying the longer I had to put up with it. A few people on the sidewalk began to notice my ordeal and stared before continuing on their paths. One of these people was Derek. Oh, thank the mighty lord of heaven and earth. “Nice warcry. I bet kids from Nebraska will be talking all about it during lunch,” Derek kidded with a grin on his face. I couldn’t help but scoff and smile too. After the short silence he continued, “But seriously, what happened? Your car door looks like shit. What’d you do to it? And what happened to you head? That lump looks pretty vicious.” “Umm. My car and I had a little exchange of fire.” I pointed at my pathetic limp and shrugged half-heartedly. “Huh. What about the bump?” “Bump?” I brought my hand up to feel the abnormality on the right side of my head, “Oh, that? I was rushing this morning and I kind of hit a wall. Sideways.” Before Derek could make a snide joke about it, I spoke up again. “So, uh. Wanna help me out with this door?” I pointed at the awkward looking door angle. Derek probably just noticed the sound because right when I pointed to the door, he covered his ears and complained, “Damn dude, that shit’s annoying. I’ve heard babies whose cries didn’t sound this bad” I rolled my eyes and repeated myself, “Are you going to help out or not?” Derek peeled his hands away from his ears and let out a sigh. “Sure, why not?” He casually walked past me and stood right behind the door, next to the hood of my car. I began to mobilize as well, but Derek held up a hand and stated, “You’ve fought well, Sir Jake, but this is my battle alone.” Well, I did have my battle with the car door and in all honesty, kicking the door open felt pretty awesome. “Sure thing.” Derek focused his eyes on the car door and squinted at it like the car door was some ancient rival or something. He leaned back and pivoted on his left foot while simultaneously raising his right. He then shot his right leg forward, sending his foot into the door’s metal frame. The impact dented my car deeply and swung the door shut. I stood on the sidelines pretty impressed. Unfortunately, the moment of victory was short lived as I turn to Derek and smirked. “I think we’ve beaten my car up enough today. Either way, I’m going back up to my apartment. I’ve been screwed over too much already. Oh yea, what time is it? I kind of forgot my phone in my apartment along with my keys.” I patted my pockets to confirm my claim to Derek. Derek nodded slowly in reply to the first half of what I said. After asking for the time, Derek halted his nodding and looked up towards the sun, not directly mind you. As if deep in thought, he gazed back to the street, looking at the shadows of random objects: poles, cars, people, etc. After what seemed like a good five minutes, Derek turned to me with the most confident look on his face, “I’ve got no idea.” My expression of anticipation was frozen on my face. “What?” Derek put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. “I have no idea,” he repeated himself. I just stood there dumbfounded. “Are you serious? What were you looking at then?!” I shouted at him, trying to scold him. “I saw a butterfly when I looked up at the sky and followed it around with my eyes.” Derek smiled a big, toothy grin as he finished his observation. I sighed before shrugging once more. “Eh, whatever. I wasn't going to work today anyways,”. I turned to the entrance doors of my apartment when I heard Derek’s voice behind me, “You’re not going to work? Why not? It’s such a gorgeous day to stand behind a cash register and take orders by people who’d like ‘fries with that’!” “I don’t feel like explaining. Long story short, the day sucked so far, and I need to unwind.” “Already? Pft, well in that case, I’m coming with you,” Derek said and began to march to my side. “Uh, no you’re not. I’m sure you’ve got your own crap to do. As a matter of fact, what were you doing before I asked for the help?” “Well, to be completely honest, I wasn't doing or going to do anything. I literally have this whole day off, so I decided to just walk around the city until I was bored.” “You knew you had nothing to do today, and you decided to start walking the city… at 9 in the morning?” Derek just gazed at me, thinking, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. This motherfucker had a phone, what the hell. He could’ve just told me the time. As I was thinking, I must’ve had an annoyed look on my face because Derek noticed it. “Um, Jake? Something wrong?” I simply shook my head and smiled. “Nope. Nothing at all.” That son of a … “It’s not nine in the morning Jake. It’s almost ten.” “Hmm, almost ten?” I nodded slowly in understanding and looked at Derek again as he hid is phone away in his pocket. “You know Derek, I’ve wasted enough time today. I’ll be in my apartment for the rest of the morning… and afternoon… and night. If you ever need me, then hit me up.” With that, I turned, and made my way into the lobby doors of my apartment and headed to the stairwell. Damn, this shit again. “That’s a lot of stairs you got there.” I didn’t even turn to see who was talking. “Derek… what are you doing here..?” With a scoff Derek replied, “I already told you, Jake. I’ve got nothing to do. We might as well play Blops2 at your place if you’re going to stay in your room the rest of the day. Amirite?” I contemplated his suggestion for a quick second before groaning, “Fine, sure. Why not, but I’m player one.” I continued to gaze at the intimidating stairwell leading up and began to take in a few sharp breaths as I prepped myself for the immense workout this would be, “Alright Jake, you got this. It’s not too far up. Don’t be such a wuss, it’s only ten floors. You coming Derek?” Inhale. Exhale. In between my breathing Derek replied, “Why not just take the elevator..?” Inhale. Exhale. Inhale… Exhale. “We’re not taking the elevator, unless you’d care to waste the rest of morning waiting for it.” “Ah, you’re so funny Jake,” Derek raised an eyebrow sarcastically and smugly strolled to the elevator and gently tapped the up button. I was too confident that the elevator wasn’t going to come down. “I’ll meet you at the top then buddy.” Inhale. Exhale. I closed my eyes and focused on my inner chi. Inhale. Exhale. I heard a small yelp and an ever so slight green glow. Before I could turn to ask Derek what had happened, a familiar sound reached my ears. DING. … what. I turned my head the rest of the way and looked for Derek. What the hell. Derek was no where to be found and the elevator door had reached the lobby and began opening. I didn’t know what had just taken place. Derek was nowhere to be seen and the elevator was here and open. I looked towards the lobby door and wondered if had just left for some random reason. I looked back at the elevator to see the person in question was standing inside it. The doors were open. He had one eyebrow raised and a smirk plastered onto his face. … This kid… “How the hell did you get the elevator to get down here so fast and where the hell did you go?” “Ahaha. You sound like the elevator doesn’t work or anything.” Derek completely ignored my second question but I let that drop. I glared at him, “That’s because it doesn’t. Dude, seriously. How’d you get it to work?” Derek’s smile persisted and he crossed his arms. “Magic.” “Yea, whatever.” I walked towards the elevator as the doors began to close. “Better hurry there, Jake.” “Just hold it open for me…” “Eh, not sure if I’m up to doing that for ya. Your face after climbing up 16 floors worth of stairs would be priceless if it’s as I imagine it.” “Dude…” I broke out into a run and dove at the elevator. Well, thank God that the elevator’s quality still sucked. Even though the doors took way too long to close, I still didn’t make it. Well, I halfway made it I guess. The door closed in on my torso, right under my arms. I felt the pressure of the doors close before they reopened to allow me entry “AAAND HE’S SAFE!” “Shut up, Derek.” Derek smirked and held down the button with “16” on it. The doors of the elevator closed and I could feel the elevator rising. Damn, it felt faster than I thought it was. There were a few jolts and jerks on the way up which worried me slightly considering the fact that the elevator probably hasn’t traveled this fast in 20 years or so. Yes, that was a complete guess. Anyway, the elevator’s speed began to decelerate as we approached the twelfth floor where there was a heavy jolt and the elevator just stopped all together. It didn’t get taken into gravity’s grip and crash down. It just, stopped. “… What the hell?” “Uh, in retrospect, I’d say taking the elevator wasn’t the greatest idea.” “Hmph. That’s why I was going to take the stairs. Nice going, Sherlock.” “Well damn, my bad Jake. Why didn’t you tell me that something like this would’ve happened?” “Ugh, just drop it. We’re stuck in here so we might as well try to call someone at the very least.” Derek nodded and stared at me expectantly. "What are you looking at me for? You have the phone." Derek continued to stare at me, but his expression changed to slight confusion, "I do?" Un. Fucking. Believable. I saw Derek pull out his phone outside in front of my apartment and now he doesn't even know he has a phone. "It's in your pocket, dumbass." He reached for his pocket but pulled out nothing. "Nope. No phone." I glared at Derek as my blood began to boil. Steam escaped my nostrils and I decided against kicking Derek in the face. I simply sat down in the corner of the elevator and pulled my knees to my chest. Derek, on the other hand, was still standing and was pacing back and forth "Dude, just calm down. We’ll probably be in here for a while," I attempted to calm him. “Yea well, when the elevator starts working again, I want to make sure that I’m up for it.” “Whatever you say,” those were the last words I muttered before losing myself in the abyss of seductive imagination. BOOM. pew pew. CRACK. KABOOM. pew. pew pew. BOOM. KKKSSHHH, CRASH. BOOM. My body jolted up and my eyes shot open as the cacophony around me became unbearably deafening. I covered my ears up and waited for my head to stop throbbing from the massive explosions and war going on outside. Wait... war? I looked down at myself to see that I was still in my t-shirt and jeans, but I wasn’t inside the elevator anymore. What the hell happened and where am I. I feel like shit. I looked around me and shook my head a few times trying to dismiss the cloud of obscurity from my thoughts. “Ugh, what the hell.” What am I doing here? Where is here?” I was looking out of a shattered window. Down below, was a massive amount of what looked like bug ponies. The more I thought about it, the more the bug ponies began to look like changelings from my favorite show, My Little Pony. I squinted as I registered this information. There were even regular ponies and guards that were running around amidst the destruction. I didn’t know what to make of it so I continued to watch with confusion, anticipation, and slight amusement. Before long, my curiosity had brimmed and I looked behind me to take a good look at the room I was in. Huh, I could swear that this place looks familiar. I turned my body away from the window and sat cross legged on the floor gazing at the overturned pews scattered around the room and steps that led up to a large chair, probably a throne of sorts, that was overturned as well and had a few burn marks generously placed across it. I hunched my back and dropped my head into the palms of my hands. “Where is this..? UGH.” I just couldn’t recall where I was. This was one bad case of Presque vu and it made me more annoyed with every minute that passed. Oh fuck it. I turned my attention back at the scene that was unfolding out the window. I looked at some of the buildings and a humongous maze with statues. Some of the statues still stood upright, but others lay on their sides or were broken into multiple pieces. “Oh… I know where this is. Hmm. I’m actually inside the world of My Little Pony, of Equestria.” I looked back at the room I was in, “I must be in the castle then.” With a little more thought, I brought together two and two… and two, “I’m in the throne room!” I finally figured out my whereabouts and smiled confidently. What the hell was I doing in the throne room of Canterlot Castle? This must be some kind of dream. A really wacky dream at that. Brain, why are you doing this to me? I sighed and, once again, redirected my attention to the clamor outside. The detail of all the ponies and buildings was superb. It was to the point that I could see every strand of fur on the ponies or the sparkly shine of the guards’ armor. It was pretty intense. “Damn, this quality is just outstanding. What kind of dream has this kind of definition?” I concluded my verbal thought as a feminine voice behind me spoke up, “Ah, hello there. Like what you see?” Huh, whoever the lady behind me was, she was pretty quiet. She entered the room without making a noise. I turned around to see Derek standing behind me with green eyes and slits for pupils. Whoa, totally not strange in any way or anything. “Um… Derek? What’s up with your eyes? And have you seen a woman in here? I heard a woman’s voice just a little bit ago.” “You mean me?” the feminine voice came from Derek’s lips and I stood awestruck. Well, technically I sat awestruck. Anyways, back to the point: Derek was a girl? What?! When did that happen?! “Uh, Derek. Were you always a – ” “NO, YOU FOOL. I’M NOT DEREK. Hmph, you are a stubborn creature. Tell me, what do you call your species?” “Wait, what? If you’re not Derek, then who are you?” I squinted at Derek’s form in disbelief but maintained eye contact. Derek’s body slowly emitted a green glow and he began to change. After the change and “Derek’s” body stopped glowing, what stood before me was the Queen of the Bug Ponies: Chrysalis. “Aren’t you like, a villain or something?” “Well, in the eyes of the ponies, yes. Don’t let my appearance fool you. I am not your enemy. We can be the best of allies there could be.” “I’m not sure where to go from that. From my knowledge, you were a pretty nasty villain… Are you sure you’re not set on destroying Equestria or anything?” Chrysalis scoffed and sneered, “Of course not. Why would I do such a thing? Equestria is where everything thrives after all.” I let up on my glare and just sat there staring at Chrysalis. It took me a few minutes to digest everything that happened since I was in this dream. Oh, that reminded me. “Is this a dream?” “Why, of course it is. It’s your dream. Plain and simple,” Chrysalis tried to put on her most reassuring smile, but I found it quite unconvincing. Whatever, this can’t be real anyways. Even if Chrysalis’s expression is saying this isn’t a dream, it must be. After all, I was talking to Chrysalis. “Alright then, Chrysalis. I’m willing to become your ally during any future events that may ensue.” I tried my best to sound formal, but Chrysalis’s innocent smile twisted itself into a nasty sneer the moment the words left my lips. Her horn glowed in the same green that had enveloped Derek not too long ago. I felt a tingling sensation and what looked like a green membrane start to grow around my body. “Um, Chrysalis, what are you doing? I thought we were allies…” “Oh yes, we are. That’s why you’ll retain your mind and morals. Unfortunately, you are without the ability to morph. If we are going to be allies, then you’ll need to acquire that ability as soon as possible.” Without giving me a chance to respond, the green sac that I was held captive in was levitated and glued to the ceiling with what looked like glue or something in the same shade of green as the sack was. “You’ll have to persist through the process however. It’s quite unfortunate that you must endure this.” “Wait, what? Chrysalis… what’s going to happen? Endure what?” My eyes began to grow wide with sudden anxiety. “You’ll be acquiring the ability to morph, like I’ve said previously. It’s just quite unfortunate that you’ll be under massive amounts of pain. If it could be done without the agony, I’d have it that way for you. Until you have fully gained the ability to morph, you’ll be under constant pain, whether it’s the sensation of having a cut, or a broken bone. You must endure it.” Without another word to her explanation, Chrysalis turned and strutted towards the door. This is just great. In my own dream, I’m captured and hung upside down from the ceiling. The Queen of the Changelings just told me that I’m going to be in a constant state of pain too. Brilliant. "By the way, I'm human," I called after her. In acknowledgment, the Changeling Queen fluttered her wings, but nothing more. That’s when I felt the skin on my right arm peel back, revealing the raw muscle underneath. Another minute later, I felt my left shin break. The agony was excruciatingly painful and I was fighting the urge to scream as loud as I could. Frankly, this would be a battle that'd I would lose. My spine cracked not five seconds later and I was left in an awkward fetal position. Pain was shooting throughout my body and my brain was being bombarded with pain signals from everywhere. I left a few short gasps and gulped down as much air as I could. As expected, my brain got overloaded with pain and my vision faded to black while my nerves went numb.
