The Ballad of Xyclone

Deep in the Everfree Forest, early morning

I woke up at about 6 a.m. that next morning. I was awake before Lyra for once. I wearily trotted out of our tent and to the campfire. I was surprised to see both Rarity and Applejack lying there, fast asleep. They were hugging each other tightly. I smiled; I wondered if they told each other their true feelings for each other. I decided not to wake the two little lovebirds up; I didn't want to ruin their beautiful moment. Instead, I just pulled out another marshmallow to eat and I just thought about other things. Seeing Applejack and Rarity like that made me think about the relationship between myself and Lyra. I wanted to tell her badly how I felt about her; I was growing more in love with her every day. I wondered if she still felt something for me, because whenever I complimented her, she always blushed and acted flattered. For some reason then, the image of the changeling I battered the previous day randomly popped into my head. I know he was the bad guy, but that still was no reason for me to hurt him so badly. I just wished there was a way for me to apologize to him.

All of a sudden, I heard rustling behind me. I turned around to see what it was, but I found nothing. As soon as I turned back around, I heard it again. I once again whipped around to see what it was but still nothing. Then, as I continued to search for where the sound was coming from, I heard another whoosh from the other side of me. "What the heck is going on?!" I screamed as I turned back around again.

"YAAAHH!!!" I heard someone yell from behind me. I jerked my head around to see that Twilight was once again swinging a giant log at my head. I ducked just in time.

"Jeez, Twilight, you have the worst aim ever!!" I heard someone else yell. I turned around, seeing Bon-Bon sitting there, a malevolent look on her face, also wielding a large tree stump.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing?!" I screamed at both of them. "You could've hit me!"

"That's the point," snarled Bon-Bon evilly.

I gazed at her with a confused look on my face. Suddenly Twilight blindsided me, cold-cocking me on the back of the head with the log. It made a loud crack upon impact and split in two. I groaned as I collapsed to the ground with a thud.

As I began to regain consciousness a few hours later, I heard Lyra's soothing voice: "Xyclone?! Xyclone, wake up! Oh, please, wake up!"

"Oh..." I groaned. "What...happened?"

"Oh, Xyclone! You're okay!" cried Lyra, hugging me tightly. "Thank Celestia you're okay!! I was so worried!"

Suddenly, I felt intense pain in the back of my head. I touched it with my hoof and felt bandages and something wet. I brought my hoof back to see blood on it. "Ow...my head...what the hay happened?"

"Them," growled Lyra, pointing to Bon-Bon and Twilight. They were both glaring at me unstably. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike were all yelling at them, but the two psychopaths weren't paying any attention. Lyra then trotted off to yell at Bon-Bon. "And you! Who the hay do you think you are?! You could've killed him!"

"Exactly," said Bon-Bon, smiling malevolently.

"WHAT?!?!" screamed Lyra.

"He's the ENEMY! I just don't get why you can't see that!"

"He ain't done nothin' wrong!" Applejack spoke up suddenly.

Bon-Bon ignored her and turned back to Lyra. "Lyra, I've known you all my life! I've seen ponies walk all over you, bullied you!" Bon-Bon turned to the rest of the ponies. "In case you all didn't know, Lyra was made fun of a lot as a filly." She turned to me and spoke in a mocking tone. "But Xyclone's stupid, undeveloped mind would never have guessed that. He probably doesn't even know what it feels like to be bullied. I bet he used others as his slaves."

I started fuming. Bon-Bon returned to Lyra.

"Anyway, I supported you through those hard times! And that's what I continue to do today! I'm trying to protect you! I'm trying to protect you from this..." Bon-Bon once again gestured at me in disgust. "This monster, this evil cretin—"

"HEY!" I yelled suddenly, shutting everyone up. I'd heard enough of Bon-Bon's rambling. "You think you know me? Huh? You think I'm the bad guy? You haven't the slightest idea about what I've been through!" Struggling to get up, I started walking toward Bon-Bon.

"Xyclone, dear, please save your energy..." warned Rarity. "You're injured..."

"NO!!" I yelled. "She needs to know this. You all need to know this." I turned to speak to everyone, not just Bon-Bon. "When I was younger, I was a victim of bullying as well; harsh bullying; Bullying that was so intense, you'd be amazed at how I'm even still alive. I was made fun of for pretty much everything except for being alive—wait, no, scratch that, I was bullied for that too. I was joked at for my name, I was joked at for the clothes I wore...you know, it would be easier for me to say what I haven't been made fun of for. It eventually just became too much for me; I crumbled under the pressure. I began...'harming' myself, if you know what I mean."

"H-How so?" squeaked Applejack.

"I tried to commit suicide numerous times...but in elaborate ways. I tried starving myself, I tried to get myself ran over...several horrible things. The starving thing was probably the most painful; I was eventually just skin and bones. I still find it hard to believe, that I survived that."

"You remind me of Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash said abruptly.

"W-What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Scootaloo's had problems with depression before," Rainbow continues. "She's tried killing herself in the same ways you did. It's because her parents abandoned her when she was just a baby."

"Oh, w-wow..." squeaked Fluttershy then. "I never knew that about Scootaloo..."

"Whoa, me neither," I said.

"W-Well, what happen'd, Xy?" asks Applejack.

"What?"

"How'd ya git over yer depression? Did ya git over it?"

"Yeah, I eventually got over it. I became very introverted; I never talked to anyone, never sat next to anyone. I figured if I avoided them, they'd go away. They did; the bullying finally stopped. But it left me traumatized..." I realized how much I had trailed off and returned to Bon-Bon. "So there ya go, Bon-Bon; there's my happy life of using others as slaves." As I started walking back up to her, I scoffed. "You still think I'm the bad guy now?! Huh?! You still think that avoiding others in fear of them tearing you down if you say a single word is a quality of a sadist?! Well, if your idea of a bad guy is someone who tries to starve themselves because of pressure from bullying, then I guess I am the worst enemy Equestria has ever freaking seen!" By now, I was a mere inches away from Bon-Bon's face. All she did was glare at me. "What do you have to say about that?!"

Suddenly, she held out her hoof, as if to shake it with mine.

"Aw, I knew you'd come around eventually!" I said happily, holding out my hoof to her as well.

Right then, Bon-Bon raised her hoof high up in the air.

"Uh...w-what are you—?"

Before I could even finish, Bon-Bon slapped me harder than I had ever been slapped before right on my cheek. The impact was so great, I slid back a few feet.

All the ponies gasped. Lyra couldn't believe her eyes. "BON-BON!!!" she screamed.

I felt my face and groaned painfully. My cheek was as red as an apple. I could already feel it swelling up. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" I cried as Bon-Bon trotted up to me menacingly.

She had a crazed grin on her face. She kneeled down to me and whispered in my ear: "You shouldn't have come here, Xyclone..." She stepped back a little, then she rammed her hoof into my face again, on the exact same cheek she slapped me. All the ponies collectively gasped once more as Bon-Bon began to repeatedly punch me over and over again viciously.

"Bon-Bon, stop!!"cried Lyra.

"He's already hurt enough as it is!" reciprocated Applejack.

"Bon-Bon...please...stop...!" I groaned in between punches, Bon-Bon refusing to listen to reason.

"We've got to do something!" yelled Derpy.

"Yes, but what?!" exclaimed Octavia.

"Yeah! Whoo-hoo!" cheered Twilight. "Go, Bon-Bon! Kick his flank!"

"You're not helping!!" screamed Rainbow Dash at Twilight.

Bon-Bon was not letting up on her assault on me. "Stop! Please!" I whimpered.

"Ohh...!" moaned Rarity as I saw her frantically searching for something to aid me with. She suddenly looked up at her forehead, remembering her horn. "Oh!" she exclaimed. Tilting her head down and aiming her horn toward I and Bon-Bon, Rarity generated a force field to barricade me from Bon-Bon's rampage. The flash from the force field took Bon-Bon by so much surprise that it blasted her into the air. She landed headfirst several feet away. Twilight immediately stopped her cheering. Although, no one paid any attention to either of them; all the ponies galloped over to me to see if I was alright.

"Oh my dear Celestia!!" wailed Lyra as she knelt down and ran her hoof across my battered and bruised face. I was unable to speak; All I could do was groan painfully. I liked the feel of Lyra's hoof on my cheek. It was so soft, so soothing. I suddenly felt something wet. I opened my only eye that hadn't been punched closed and saw that Lyra was crying again. She abruptly got up then, a fiery blaze of hatred and tears clouding her eyes. She turned to Bon-Bon, who was still halfway buried in the dirt after being thrown away from me by Rarity's force field. "WHAT IN THE WIDE WORLD OF EQUESTRIA DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!?!" roared Lyra at the top of her lungs. Birds and animals scattered from the booming sound.

Bon-Bon slowly undug herself. "I was only trying to help," she said, groaning from the painful impact of landing in dirt.

"HOW?!?!?!?!" continued Lyra. "BY TRYING TO MURDER MY BEST FRIEND?!?!?!"

"I thought I was your best friend..." said Bon-Bon, almost mockingly.

Lyra froze for a moment, her face twitching. I'd never seen her this pissed off before; It was frightening. She turned away from Bon-Bon, covered her face with her hoof, and let out a huge stressful sigh. What happened next blew my mind. When Lyra turned back around, she gave Bon-Bon a taste of her own painful medicine and slapped the living hell out of her. It even looked like she slapped her harder than Bon-Bon slapped me! Bon-Bon was once again sent tumbling several feet.

"Ow..." muttered Lyra, holding her hoof. I could see that it was throbbing and covered in blood. I didn't know if it was Lyra's blood or Bon-Bon's blood. She walked over to Bon-Bon's new landing spot as she struggled to get up. "You think I wanted to do that?" the turquoise pony asked, tears beginning to flow from her wistful golden eyes. "You think I want to hurt you? You're like a sister to me, Bon-Bon..." her voice trailed off. She returned to her assertiveness. "Give me ONE good reason why we shouldn't kick you or Twilight out of this group!!"

"Because you need us," said Bon-Bon, smirking evilly. Twilight's an alicorn princess now, remember? She has powers that the rest of us don't. And you need me, Lyra. You know how I have an extensive knowledge of castles and labyrinths? I could help you infiltrate Chrysalis' kingdom. And by now, we must be getting close. I'm afraid you really don't have a choice."

"What are you talking about? We can always get somepony else here to guide us through!"

"I'm in an alliance with Twilight," Bon-Bon continued, gesturing towards Twilight as she got up and approached Lyra. "If you kick us out, Twilight can alert the royal guard. They can arrest you for treason and imprison you for the rest of your natural lives. We're staying, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Bon-Bon began cackling madly, quickly being joined by Twilight.

"What happened to you, Bon-Bon?" sniffled Lyra. "We used to be the best of friends; I could trust you! Now you're...NOW YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A SADISTIC, SOULLESS MONSTER!! WHY—"

"Lyra...leave her alone..." I said all of a sudden.

"X-Xyclone??" she replied, turning around to see me starting to get back up.

My legs wobbled a bit as I slowly got back up on my two feet—er, I mean...four hooves.

"X-Xyclone, please just stay d-down," stammered Fluttershy, worried. "You're very hurt. You need to—"

"No!" I snarled through gritted teeth. I didn't even notice my horn starting to glow as I took one shaky step. I also didn't notice one of the bloody scars on my face clear up as I did. I looked up and fixed my eyesight on Bon-Bon. I then continued to make slow steps towards her as the wounds on my face slowly disappeared.

"Xyclone!" Lyra gasped. "Your wounds! Th-They're healing!"

"Step...away...from Bon-Bon..." I growled at her, ignoring her comment. My focus was on one pony, and one pony only: Bon-Bon. Lyra slowly stepped out of the way as I approached Bon-Bon, who was smiling smugly. When I stopped walking, my horn stopped glowing. All the wounds on my face were completely gone. The only injury that remained was the massive head wound I had obtained from when Twilight clocked me in the back of the head with a tree stump. I glared at the monster that lay before me. I said nothing; I just stood there staring at Bon-Bon.

"Well, would you look who it is!" mocked Bon-Bon, chuckling crazily. "If it isn't the dumbest moron Equestria has ever seen: Xyclone!"

Infuriated, I still said nothing. My eye twitched slightly.

"Oh, what's the matter?" Bon-Bon teased. "Stupidity got your tongue? Or are you just not speaking 'cause you're afraid I'll kick your flank again?"

I looked down at the ground; I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. "I don't exactly know what the heck your problem is..." I said once again through gritted teeth. "But I am downright sick of it. You better change it or I'll change it for you."

"Ooh, I'm soooo scared!" Bon-Bon ranted on. "Oh, please! Not only are you a doofus, but you can't fight for jack squat! Heck, you couldn't hit the side of Applejack's barn, even if you tried! You're such a weakling! It's no wonder you were made fun of as a...'hoo-mann', or whatever the buck you were!"

I closed my eyes once again, phasing out Bon-Bon's...'criticism'. Memories of the times I was bullied began playing through in my head. Suddenly, I felt that snap I felt before I mangled that changeling scout the other day. But this time, it was worse. I felt my blood begin to boil. Something was happening; I had no idea what it was, but I liked it. It was exhilarating! Right then, my hair turned bright red and my laid-back mane flared out upwards, knocking off the bandage that was wrapped around my head. My now bright-red-and-yellow mane flowed through the wind, making it look like my head was on fire. My eyes, my clothes, and even my cutie mark turned bright red as well as the intense flame of rage and hatred flowed through my body.

"And another thing—" Bon-Bon froze when she saw my transformation into Rageclone.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I roared as I tackled Bon-Bon to the ground (again) before she could say another word. Everypony gasped (again). I began treating her like I did with the changeling; I pummeled and battered her into the ground.

"Xyclone, dear, stop it!" I heard Rarity say. "Calm down, darling! I know she's mean, but please! Stop!"

I couldn't hear her. Rage had taken control of my body, filling me with an intense bloodlust I had never felt before. I was intent on damaging Bon-Bon severely. "I...WILL...KILL YOU!!" I shouted out loud.

"Xyclone...! I'm...sorry!" begged Bon-Bon. "Please...stop! I...didn't...mean it!"

"IT'S TOO LATE FOR THAT NOW!!" I yelled at her.

I reeled back my hoof, gearing up for another punch. Then, when I threw my hoof back in, Bon-Bon put hers in as well, blocking me and separating us. We both rolled backwards and then onto our hooves again.

"Oh, you wanna dance?!" yelled Bon-Bon maniacally. "LET'S DANCE!"

"Bring it, Bon-Bitch!" I replied angrily. The two of us started circling each other, sizing each other up.

"You can't win," taunted Bon-Bon. "You can't defeat me. I'll have you know that I studied Mixed Pony Arts for 3 years!"

"We'll just see about that!" I said. Moments later, we both charged at each other. We tackled each other to the ground and began wrestling in the dirt, splattering our coats with sod. During the fray, I looked up and caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash's wings unfurling as her face turned red, biting her lip. Inside, I let out a chuckle. Heh, wingboner, I thought. Dash *likes** this, doesn't she?*

Whichever pony had the upper hoof switched a lot during the fight. First it was me, then it was Bon-Bon, then me again, then Bon-Bon again, then me, then Bon-Bon, me, Bon-Bon...it was very confusing after a time. "APOLOGIZE!!" I screamed at Bon-Bon, biting her ear.

"NEVER!!" retorted Bon-Bon.

After the tussle had dragged on for several minutes with no signs of stopping, Lyra finally got fed up. "Come on, guys, that's enough! Break it up!"

Nothing happened.

"Guys?!"

Still nothing.

"Guys..."

Still nothing happened.

"GUYS!!!" screamed Lyra finally. Bon-Bon and I froze in between the midst of punching each other. "THAT...IS...*ENOUGH!!!* Have you two forgotten our goal?! We're supposed to inspect Queen Chrysalis' castle to see if she really has returned, and if she is, we're supposed to defeat her!" Lyra separated Bon-Bon and I with her magic. She lowered her voice slightly. "We don't have much time," she continued. "We need to do this fast so Xyclone can get back home..." her voice trailed off as a tear fell from her glorious golden eyes. "...As much as we'd all dislike that..."

Home! I had forgotten all about it! So much had happened since I had come here to Equestria...I'd grown attached to all these ponies...I didn't really want to go home...

"...And as much as I hate to admit it," Lyra continued. "Bon-Bon's right. She does actually have an extensive knowledge of castles and labyrinths."

Bon-Bon grinned smugly. Seeing this, Lyra got up in her face.

"But trust me," she growled. "The minute we get this over with, you and I are THROUGH! Is that clear, Bon-Bon?!"

"Crystal," snarled Bon-Bon angrily.

My body cooled off and returned to normal. My hair and clothes layed back down and went back to their bright blue-and-yellow hue. As some of the ponies began to walk ahead again, Pinkie came hopping quickly by us out of nowhere, singing. "On the road again! Just can't wait to get on the road again...!" In just mere seconds, she had passed everyone and was far ahead of us. I never understood how she'd even heard of that Willie Nelson song.

As I started walking with them, Bon-Bon suddenly yanked me aside. "Okay, you listen here and you listen well," she growled crazily. "If you ever pull anything similar to what you just did to me..." she giggled psychotically. "I'LL SLIT YOUR THROAT IN YOUR SLEEP! DO...I...MAKE MYSELF...*CLEAR?!"*

"C-Crystal," I gulped.

"GOOD!" squeaked Bon-Bon, letting me go. I galloped frantically to catch up to everyone and to escape Bon-Bon's wrath. Then I heard Pinkie say something with an uneasy tone in her voice:

"Uh, g-girls...?"

"What is it, Pinkie?" asked Rainbow Dash as she flew up to her.

Pinkie's voice was shaky. "I-I think we're h-h-here..."

As the rest of us caught up, we stared in awe at the hulking structure that was Queen Chrysalis' castle.

We had finally made it.

The castle was massive, a lot larger than what I was expecting. "Um, w-was her castle th-this b-b-big when you guys were here l-last?" I asked, my voice trembling with fear.

"N-No..." replied Applejack, gulping.

"It seems that somepony's been doing some...redecorating," went Rarity.

"W-Well, m-maybe she's not here," said Fluttershy all of a sudden, in denial. "Maybe s-someone else lives there now..."

"S-Someone else, huh? Look!" said Octavia, pointing to the bottom of a long entrance walk-up, where Queen Chrysalis herself stood, barking out orders to her armies of changelings.

"It's her!" whispered Lyra frantically, hiding behind one of my hind legs again. "It's Queen Chrysalis!! I've never seen her so close before!"

I looked around for a safe spot to set up a camp that was out of her view. I found one behind a collection of high brush and trees."There," I whispered to everyone. "We can set up a camp there for the time being."

We quietly set up camp, so it took quite a while. We had to take our time in order to keep from alarming the changelings. When we were finished setting up, we all just sat there in melancholy silence for the rest of the day until we went to bed.

Things just got real serious.