My Little Pony: The Silvermane

White... It extended on endlessly into the distance, creating a never ending room. Not many things existed in this place... Except a very annoyed looking human, who was sat on the ground with his legs folded, naked as the day he was born, except for several chains wrapped around his body and shackles on his wrists and ankles, restricting, but not stopping his movement. Across from him floated what could simply be described as a floating mass of Spaghetti, with a pair of comical googly eyes attached to it.

The reason for Paul's annoyance was the fact that he had been playing a game of 'go fish' with the flying spaghetti monster soon after he had released the beast, thinking that it would be an easy way to pass the time, and it would also help keep his mind off the fact that a murderous wolf man now had control of his body... He had not expected the blasted creature to be so good at the game...

"Got any... Four's?"

"Go fish my son... Do you have any ace's?"

Paul growled and threw the cards into the air, his anger reaching boiling point as he realized he was going to lose again, and did what any sore loser does... Give up and be moody...

"Fuck you and your meatball's, asshat..."

"Getting angry is not the way to react in such a simple game my son... You should do something for the sake of doing it, and having fun doing so..."

Paul rolled his eyes, knowing deep down that the flying spaghetti monster was right... Not that he would ever admit it, so he just shrugged and looked around, deciding to ask a question that had been bothering him for a while.

"So... Why are you around anyway? You like my imaginary friend or something? Cos up till this point, the only room mate I had doesn't talk to me and keeps trying to steal my body..."

The flying spaghetti monster seemed to consider Paul's words as it used its spaghetti tentacles to tidy away the playing cards they had been using and concealed them somewhere inside its form.

"I am a part of you my son... Something your mind created from memories and images in order to help you cope with your mental breakdown thanks to the actions of the one's known as Twilight Sparkle and Celestia..."

"whoa whoa whoa! Mental breakdown? When the hell did that happen?!"

Paul frowned at his present company, not sure how to take the knowledge about his mental state, even though he could not really argue, since he had no other way to explain why he was having an internal conversation with such a strange being...

"When the effect's of the spell within the amulet changed your physical form, it also attempted to rearrange your mind, my son... Upon realizing that your mind was being tampered with, precautions were taken... One of which involved creating a few entities inside your mind to help you cope with it, and to help you combat the foreign influence."

Paul listened in silence as the creature across from him spoke, nodding his head slowly as he raised his left wrist, idly looking over the steel shackle and chain attached to it.

"So what you are saying is... That I have lost my marbles...?"

"No... While you did not have a full bag of them to begin with, you have not..."

The spaghetti monster visibly shook, its form seeming to blur and flicker, before slowly starting to fade away, cutting off its speech. Paul sighed and stood up, his chains rattling and clinking against each other with each movement, the man standing with his eyes set dead ahead as he heard a new set of foot falls approach.

"Took your time Fido... Take these chains back and give me back my body mongrel..."

Paul's only reply to his words was a low, vicious growl from behind him, as the shadowy form that lurked out of the corner of his eye stood behind him. The chains covering Paul's body and the shackles around his wrists and ankles came free, moving with a life of their own as they snaked down his form and down his legs, moving behind him, chaining the beast, just as he had been... For now...

The Everfree forest was as it's name said, very much free, with the weather happening naturally without the control of weather ponies and the local wildlife, both dangerous or otherwise, looked after themselves without assistance... And, on this particular early morning, where Celestia's sun had only just risen and Luna's moon had finished its descent, a certain man awoke with a start...

He was nude, cold, aching all over and for some reason he felt ill, his stomach issuing loud, disgusting gurgling noises as whatever he had eaten in his other form seemed to be disagreeing with him.

Paul looked around groggily and noticed two things that made him wish he had not woken up... One was the ruined remains of the once proud manticore, its body torn apart, missing both its wings, its tail and its front left leg. Blood, gore and fur was coated on nearly everything in the small clearing, being splashed on the tree's and soaking into the grass and soil as well.

"Aw damn... Reminds me why I keep the hairy fucker chained up..." He whispered under his breath, trying not to wake up the second thing he had seen... A small pack of timber wolves, six in total, all of varying sizes, lay around the clearing asleep, all seeming quite content with themselves.

Paul gulped and slowly began to get to his feet, doing his best to keep as quiet as possible when you are a six foot tall man with the balance of a three legged donkey that was drunk and a stomach that at that moment sounded like an old boiler sputtering its dying gasps. He stood up and swayed slightly, his right leg aching painfully when he put weight on it.

He did his best to ignore the pain and took a step forward, heading towards the tree line... And stood right on a previously unseen pine cone, causing a loud crunch to fill the clearing as his bare foot took the full brunt of the object jabbing into his skin...

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-!"

Ponyville was unnaturally quiet that morning... The usual hustle and bustle that would be happening throughout the town was none existent, with all the houses and shops being locked up tight, some even having the windows boarded up. In this apparent ghost town, within the local library tree, sat six mares, a dragon and an owl, each either scared, annoyed or just plain confused in the case of the dragon and owl, both of which had not understood the reason for the girls, or the rest of the town for that matter to be scared.

"Ok, Twi... Let me get this strait... You and Princess Celestia used a spell to turn this guy into a pony... Something YOU told me could not be done... He goes crazy at his welcome party... And then a manticore attacks, he turns into this wolf-thing and runs off into the woods with the other monster...?"

Spike asked the lavender mare, who at the present moment was pacing back and forth, her mane frazzled and her left eye twitching, not even seeming to have heard the young dragon speak. The drake sighed and looked around at the other five girls in the room... Rarity was fast asleep on her 'fainting couch' near the front door, the dress maker having stayed up with the others all through the night, Pinkie Pie was currently in the kitchen, from which every so often a loud clatter, followed by cheerful giggling could be heard and finally, there was Applejack and Rainbow Dash who were trying to comfort a terrified Fluttershy...

Spike could not help but feel a great sadness fill him as he saw the fear that had gripped the yellow pegasus mare, the kind of fear that made her shake continuously, jumping at the slightest noise or touch.

"Aaaaaaaaaand... DONE!" Shouted a cheerful voice from the kitchen, and after a few seconds Pinkie Pie skipped into the main lobby of the library where the others were, a tray of seven cupcakes in one hand and a small brown bag in the other.

Each cupcake on the tray was a different color, which matched up to one of the mare's in the room and one dragon. Pinkie placed the tray down on Twilight's desk under the stairs and hummed happily to herself as she made her way to the door... Only to be stopped as a magical aura surrounded the pink party mare, lifting her off her feet.

"Pinkie, where do you think your going?! We need to figure out what to do..."

Twilight's voice was shaky as she spoke, her eyes darting from the pouting, magically held Pinkie, to her other friends, looking tense as ever as she did so. Applejack sighed and took her hat off, placing it gently on Fluttershy's head, who quickly moved her hands up to the brim of the stetson and tugged it down further on her head, trying to hide under it.

"Well I think it is mighty simple twi'... We go find Paul and we bring the varmint back here so he can explain..." Applejack said lightly, taking a long stretch as she spoke, getting some life back into her muscles after a night of huddling in fear with her friends.

"Yeah! Me and AJ may of been dazed for like... A split second, but I don't see what got all of you spooked... 'Oh no! Monkey boy suddenly got hairy and pushed a manticore into the woods! Whatever shall we do while he is being mauled?' Yeah... Not really scary Twilight..."

Rainbow Dash's mocking tone made Twilight's left eye twitch, but decided to bite her tongue for the moment, not wanting to start an argument in the group. Pinkie Pie cleared her throat loudly and drew the attention of the room.

"Silly Twilight... I was on my way to go wait for Pauly Wally! He should be waking up anytime now if the script is anything to go by..."

Four sets of eyes stared at Pinkie Pie for a few moments as a silence fell on the room, which hung awkwardly in the air. The one to break the silence was, surprisingly, Fluttershy, who spoke quietly from under Applejack's borrowed hat.

"Um... Do you think Paul is-is ok?"

Rainbow moved to Fluttershy's side and gently wrapped a wing around her friend, frowning alittle as Fluttershy flinched at the contact.

"What was that Shy? You haven't really spoken since we got back and all but..."

The yellow mare shook her head and slowly pulled up the stetson just enough so her eyes could just be seen under the brim as she looked passed them all and stared at Pinkie Pie.

"Do you think that Paul is ok...? I know he didn't mean to... To scare us like that but..."

Pinkie Pie responded as she usually did, with a huge, happy grin and giggled.

"I am sure Pauly Wally is just super duper! I bet he is having no trouble getting back to Fluttershy's cottage..."

Paul, unlike popular belief at the time, was not being 'super duper' at all, as he was at that moment being chased through the forest, dodging any tree that got in his way clumsily, as he tried to escape the six very annoyed looking timber wolves that where chasing him down, easily keeping pace with the injured creature that had awoken them...

The man gave several sharp, heaving coughs as he ran, his leg muscles, especially in his still hurt right leg burned, and his lungs felt like they wanted to abandon the soon to be eaten ship. Paul groaned as he noticed the tree's were beginning to thin out, which could only mean...

"Yes! Fuck you wol... Oh god... Blurgh!"

Paul skidded to a stop at the next tree in his path, before vomiting up a mix of bile, undigested meat pieces and what he could only guess was a lung. He stood, head against the tree, his mind emptying for those short moments,  as he tried his best to regain his breath and take a damage report.

'Lungs... Feel like they are full of fire. Legs... Feel like lead and my right foot and leg in particular hurt like a mother fucker... Looks... Dashing as ever and no amount of monsters or wooden wolves can change... Wait...'

Paul's inner monologue stopped instantly as he spun around, his eyes growing wide as he found the six wolves surrounding him, each set to pounce at any moment. He reacted in the only way he knew how... He yelled out at the top of his lungs, turned, and quickly, and awkwardly, scrambled up the tree he was next to, making it to the lowest branch just as the wolves began to claw at the tree trunk, glaring up at him with their green bale eyes.

"Ha... Ha... Yeah! Fuck you! Stupid wolves... What ya going to do now?!"

The wolves looked up at Paul blankly, before the largest of their number, who had decided enough was enough, moved to the tree trunk and sunk its teeth into the bark with a loud crunching sound. Paul froze as the timber wolves soon followed their leader's example and started to chew and bite away at the tree trunk, making the entire tree shudder, leaving Paul with only one more course of action...

Pinkie Pie bounced along the path out of Ponyville, humming happily with her eyes closed, not worrying about what was in her path. Following close behind the pink mare were the other element's of harmony, each glancing around nervously, as if expecting the worst to happen at any moment.

The sight of the six mares walking through town had at least had one good effect on the town, as the ponies of Ponyville slowly worked up the courage to leave their homes and go about their daily business, even if they were later then usual doing so...

Twilight, looking alot calmer, tried her best to look like she was in control of the situation, although she knew deep down she was just as lost as most of her friends were, except Pinkie Pie it seemed. Fluttershy walked close beside Rainbow Dash, gripping her friends arm firmly, hiding behind the rainbow maned mare as best she could, gaining an eyeroll from Rainbow Dash and Applejack both.

Rarity let out a small yawn which she muted with her left hand, moving it over her mouth as she yawned, the white unicorn having only been awake a short while now, and was still feeling the fatigue of the previous day on her.

"I do not see why all of us need to be here to wait for the brute... Surely you agree with me Twilight, darling?"

"I do agree that this is alittle much, but what if we need to do something? What if he is still a were-p... Um... Were-wolf? We should..."

Twilight found herself bumping into Pinkie, who had stopped dead in her tracks, the party mare's left ear wiggling as her right hoof twitched rapidly.

"Oooooooo! My Pinkie sense is going wild! Something bad is going to happen!"

Pinkie looked wide eyed ahead of the group, at the tree line, before tilting her head and raising an eyebrow.

"Can anypony hear that?"

The rest of the mane 6 stayed silent as they listened out for any noise, but for a few moments it seemed like all was quiet, until the faint sound of somepony... Or someone... Shouting out in a panicking tone.

"... God! Jesus! Buddha! Any god help me!"

All the mares were dumb struck, not understanding what kind of pony would be dumb enough to be in the Everfree forest at that time in the morning... But soon all six of the girls let out a collective sigh and simply said one word.

"Paul..."

"Aw come on... Celestia! Luna! Princess Twinkle Sparkles! Help!"

Paul clung to his branch like a scared kitten trapped in a tree, as the six timber wolves took it in turns chewing at the now visibly damaged tree trunk, which had began to groan and wobble ever so slightly.  The alpha male of the pack looked up at Paul and growled, before giving him what he could swear was a smug look...

The man closed his eyes and sighed, not wanting to see what was going to happen... So he instead went to where he would at least not have to feel himself being mauled, his mind...

Paul soon opened his eyes and found himself back inside the pure white room, a smile on his face as he stood up and clapped his hands, rubbing them together as he did so.

"Right... Where's that floating main course... I need something to pass the time..."

"He isn't here... It's just you and me numb nuts..."

The man froze and slowly turned around as he heard the shockingly familiar voice... One he knew only too well... There before Paul stood, for lack of a better word, himself... Although this Paul was fully dressed, a black, plain t-shirt and jeans clothing his body, and his eyes were the same crimson as when he was turned.

"Um... And you are...?" Paul rolled his hand around in a circular motion, but this just caused the other 'Paul' to scoff.

"My god your a dumb fuck aren't you? I swear your mother dropped you on your head as a child..."

"Hey! That was one time... And the doctor's told her it did no long term damage..."

The other, clothed Paul sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he did so, not moving at all.

"Ok, if you can grasp this I will be amazed... I am you, well... Kind of... I am your conscious..."

Paul, still looking like he had fallen out of the abuse tree, hit every branch on the way down, and then landed in a butcher's shop, smirked.

"Oh wow... You must fucking hate me, huh?"

Paul's conscious simply shook his head, before opening his crimson eyes and glaring at Paul.

"No... What was your first clue? The fact your a complete ass to folks who are trying to help you? Or how about the whole 'I hate Twilight Sparkle' thing you have going on?! The poor girl already apologized... And we both know she did not drag us here on purpose... Christ Paul, you are a mess... Your an emotional cripple right now, with the manners of a ferret on crack..."

Paul flinched at his doppelgangers words, knowing deep down every word was the truth, but he would be damned if he would admit it...

"Hey, fuck you alright... Yeah, maybe I have been abit... Testy, since I got here, and ok... I might have a 'small' problem with Sprinkles..."

The man's conscious was in his face in a second, grabbing him by his neck, lifting him effortlessly off the ground as he did so.

"There you go again... Making excuses, insulting a pony who was only trying to help... You sicken me... And that's saying something since we are technically the same person..."

Paul gasped for breath, not having much success, before giving up and hanging limply in the grip of the thing before him, his blue eyes gazing into the crimson eyes before him.

"You... Know what-what we lost coming here..."

His conscious sighed and dropped Paul, who landed on his ass, giving a low groan as he did so.

"Yes, I do know what we lost... But we both know what she would of said... 'I am sorry Paul, I am happy you feel that way for me, but... You know I love someone else? Right...?' Could you of really handled that? Could you take the pain of her never loving you back?"

Paul sat in silence for what seemed like forever, his eyes downcast as he was lost in his thoughts, while the copy of him stood in silence. Soon Paul looked up at his Conscious, his bright blue eyes slightly reddened as tears ran down his face, but not once did the calm look on his face change.

"Yeah... I would of supported her even... Whats that gushy old saying? 'As long as the person I love with all my heart is happy... Then I am happy...' So yeah, it would hurt, it would tear me up... But at the end of the day, I would of stood by her..."

Paul's conscious gazed at Paul for several moments, his cold, crimson eyes gazing over the battered form before him, before kneeling down, so his face was level with that of Paul's.

"You need to wake up... We will continue this talk later, but I leave you with these words... These ponies seem like good people, and I want you to be nice to them, even if it pains you to do so... They only want to help..."

Paul was unable to respond, his eyes staring at the ground as he let out a shaky sigh, his mind reeling from the heart to heart he had just had with a deeper part of himself...

"Will he be ok...? I mean, hay, maybe he is hurt worse then he looks... He's even crying... So uncool..."

Paul groaned as he heard a voice, one which he had come to attach to a nickname that fit it's owner perfectly.

"Go-good morning to you too Skittles..." He grumbled, not opening his eyes as he tried to relax, his whole body still hurting, but not as bad as before he had climbed that tree...

"I reckon' he is gonna be just fine... Tough son of a mule, that much I can say..."

"Ooo ooo! Do you want some breakfast Pauly? I made cupcakes!"

Paul chuckled despite himself, recognizing both Applejack's, then Pinkie Pie's voices. He slowly opened his eyes and found the world around him to be blurry and slightly dark.

"Huh... I don't remember rubbing myself blind...?"

He joked, earning a pair of giggles from the pink blob to his left and the blue blob floating above him, along with groans from the rest of the multicolored shapes that he was having trouble focusing on. He sat up from his lying down position on the forest floor and rubbed his eyes with his hands, as well as blinking once or twice, before smiling as his vision returned...

Paul's smile dropped into a frown as he saw the looks he was getting, with concern from Twilight and Pinkie, Suspicion from Applejack and Rainbow Dash and disgust from Rarity. The one look that hurt him the most was from the butter colored mare hiding at the back of the group, her fear filled eyes hurting Paul more then any wound that the manticore could visit on the man...

"I... Ok, listen... I am going to say something... And I am not going to repeat myself..."

He took a deep breath to calm himself, before looking over the mares again, making sure they were listening before he continued.

"I am sorry... For being an asshole, for insulting some of you... And to be honest, not being very grateful for all I have been given. I am a sarcastic kinda guy by nature, that won't change... And neither will the fact that I turn into a-a monster every so often..."

His eye's found Fluttershy's and for a moment he saw the fear in them increase at the mention of his other side. He sighed, his eyes glistening as he growled, not even noticing the hot tears as they slid silently down his cheeks anew.

"I wish I could be normal, I never want to hurt anyone, or anypony as it now is... But I know that I have no choice, but I guess that's just how the story goes huh? Once a monster, always..."

He was cut off as Pinkie Pie tackled him to the forest floor, hugging him tightly, to the point of Paul actually starting to loose his breath.

"Pinkie, what the fuck are you..." He froze as the mare looked up at him, her baby blue eyes looking up at him with sorrow, tears running down her face as she kept his gaze.

"I don't think your a monster Paul... And no matter what anypony says... I will always be your friend, and friends help each other!"

Paul blinked, gazing at the party mare in shock, before looking up at the others, noticing that each were looking away, shuffling in place. He sighed and rolled his eyes before a small smile graced his lips.

"Ok... I haven't showered in a few days, I am naked, and I feel like I just went ten round in an asskicking contest against a giant... But if you lot are going to hug me, just..."

He was unable to finish as Fluttershy walked over to both him and Pinkie Pie, knelt down, and joined in with the hug, shaking slightly as she did so.

"I'm sorry Paul... I am your friend too... If that's ok with you that is..."

Paul felt his heart melt alittle at the shy mare's words, his smile growing as he returned the hugs to the two girl's in his arms, chuckling lightly, before looking up at the others.

"So... No hugs from any of you? Aw... Spoil sports..."

Applejack just shook her head and turned around, heading out of the forest, but Paul caught the sight of a grin on her lips before she walked out of sight. Rainbow Dash was less subtle and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah right... Your like, 200% too uncool to get a hug from me! Also, yeah, you smell like a sewer..."

Rarity nodded in agreement, her look more neutral now, even if her nose was scrunched up as she spoke.

"I must agree with Rainbow, you do smell and look horrendous darling... I suggest a bath and some clothing to cover your... Um... 'Privacy'?"

Paul blinked and looked down, before blushing and moving his arms from around Pinkie and Fluttershy and using his now free hands to cover himself, giving a nod to Rarity.

"Yeah... Sounds good, that is... If I still have a place to stay?" He asked, looking to Fluttershy hopefully, and grinned when she smiled back and nodded. "Right... Um... Then could I... Please, ask for your help with some clothes?"

Rarity looked genuinely surprised at his words, raising an eyebrow and nodding slowly, a look of suspicion on her features, "Who are you and what did you do with that brute?" She asked jokingly, before shaking her head. "Come to my boutique when you are presentable and we will see what we can do..."

Rarity turned once she had finished speaking and made her way out of the forest, heading home, followed by Rainbow Dash, who lazily floated beside the unicorn. Paul watched them both until they had disappeared out of his line of sight before looking to Twilight, who was stood in silence, looking at him with a sheepish smile...

"Ok... Twilight Sparkle..." Paul got up slowly, careful to avoid bumping Fluttershy or Pinkie, before walking over to the lavender alicorn, who looked at him with a look of shock.

"You... You called me by my..."

She was cut off as Paul pulled her into a hug, his arms wrapping around her back and under her wings, brushing them slightly by accident as he did so, making Twilight blush alittle, but she soon melted into the hug, returning it with a hug of her own. The pair stood like that for several moments, no words, no thoughts, just hugging...

"Ok... I still don't fully forgive you for what you have done Twinkles... But I understand you didn't mean to do anything bad, so... Yeah, I am not AS mad at you anymore..."

He pulled back, quickly turning away so she couldn't see his blush, which was seen clearly by both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, both of whom giggled at the display, as Twilight merely shook her head and sighed, a warm smile on her lips.

"I understand Paul... And just so you know, I will keep trying to find a way to get you home... And um... I will try and sort out the problems with the town ponies, after last night, it might be hard though..."

Paul simply groaned and covered his eyes with his hands.

"One thing at a time... First, how the fuck am I not wolf chow right now?"

Fluttershy raised her hand slowly, looking like a school filly as she spoke.

"I... I was able to shoo them away, but they are still quite mad at you for the name calling..."

Paul rolled his eyes and gave Fluttershy the jazz hands.

"Woopity doo... Mother nature hates me, story of my life... So, now then... I am staying hidden till the towns people aren't pissing themselves at the sight of me... Or the smell..." He lifted his right arm and gave his armpit a sniff, causing himself to gag loudly. "Fuck me! You could kill a skunk with that..."

Twilight ignored him and walked over to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, helping the pair to their hooves before turning to Paul and addressing him.

"Yes, until I can smooth things over with the ponies in town, you are to stay indoors at Fluttershy's home... Pinkie Pie, I take it you want to say something?"

"Yes! Can I throw Paul a 'Thank you for beating up a meanie manticore for us' party?"

Fluttershy, Twilight and Paul all gave a collective eye roll before Paul finished with a face palm.

"Oh... before I go, Paul, what made you change your tune? Yesterday you were happy to name call, insult and just be mean..."

"Well Twilight... A very handsome, smart and charming guy came to me and told me some home truths..."

Twilight gave a slow nod, before smirking, her horn beginning to glow as she spoke.

"So... Some pony that wasn't you then?" She teased him before vanishing in a white flash of light, leaving two mares and a human stood in the outskirts of the woods.

"Bitch... So... Whats for breakfast?" Paul asked hopefully, rubbing his hands together as he turned to his two companions, both of which had already began walking out of the woods, meaning he had to run after them to catch up, "Hey! I am being serious, I need food here!"

To Be Continued...