Ever since I first laid eyes on the bright colors of Equestria through the television screen, I would have this strange feeling like I belonged there. A feeling of Destiny, as it were, a grouping of butterflies fluttering their silken wings about inside my chest, the occasional feeling of forgotten memories as if I had been there before and needed to get back there, yet with this feeling is a sense of time. Hours ticking away as I sat there contemplating this feeling and, when I tried discussing it, I’d get strange stares and snickers from whomever I was talking to at that time, and when season three ended I felt closer and closer to the world than ever.
Then season four began and the mystery chest appeared in part two of episode one, my mind realed with questions. What was in the box? Could it be the soul of a lonely warrior waiting to be freed and set on the path of his destiny or could it be some excuse for the developers to make the mane six into alicorns? Oh god, I hoped for the prior than the latter and prayed that this was what was to set my tormented soul on it’s destiny to protect those that I cared for and not some stupid rumor or excuse for selling more toys.
Whoa, wait, I’m forgetting something aren’t I? That’s right. I’m forgetting a proper introduction. I’m Sean… Sean Bozarth, and well, I am a brony. Well duh...Why did I write that? Of course I’m a brony or else I wouldn’t be posting my story for you guys to know what happened to the mysterious disappearance of an eighteen year old brony from Colorado that was reported not too long ago. At least, I think they reported on it. Being in my position now, it’s sort of hard to know what’s going on in that world. Anyways, this is my story, and might I say that it’s a pretty good one. Oh, and before I get too far ahead, this is being written as time passes in the place I am in now.
The day of the season four finale has arrived and, of course, me and a few friends decided it would be smart to pull an all nighter the night before, and my phone sounded it’s familiar chime of Rarity whining to wake my not-so-happy ass up. Standing from my bed, I unleash a yawn that even the Dovahkiin would be sort of jealous of, and walk to the bathroom with my black jeans and Disturbed’s the guy black tee shirt under my arm. After showering, I noted the time was about four forty-five in the morning and saunter up the stairs to ready a bowl of cereal. My parents had left the day before for a little alone time away from me, the big lug of a son they enjoy hanging out with so much, and so that my brony friends and I could be as loud as we please to get the enjoyment out of the entire hang out and watch the last episode of season four experience. So, basically, my friends and I were home alone and sadly they were the only witnesses to my disappearance.
Finishing off my bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I down the milk in the bowl and turn the T.V. to the Hub in order to ready the eight thirty showing which was about three hours away. With time still to waste, I decided to open up my shitty Dell studio laptop and wait for it to load up skype so that I can chat up the hours with my british badass of a friend Rob and our equally british science fanatic friend Scorch who just so happened to be on, talking about the newest NSFW pic that Rob and Torque tend to send every so often.
“Dude that’s like a 10/10 would tap.” Rob typed.
“Of course it is Rob.” I typed as a salutation.
“Hiya Dexy babzzzz!”
I chuckled. Rob was our resident sex fiend of the group and he gave everyone in the group a silly relationship related nickname. Mine, of course, being Dexy babez, which I get steamed about some times to be honest, though I planned to get used to it and have grown accustom to the strangeness of the group. But there is obviously some things that I just can’t get used to from the group. Hell, when I made rants, most of them stemmed from things that happened in this group.
“What’s up Rob?” I typed back.
“Just talking about chicks and such with Scorch, what about you?”
“Waiting for the new episode to air.”
“Awesome, must be boring considering it airs in like two hours from your current time.”
“Yeah, but that’s why I came on here for to chat up those who are awake at this time.” I said, agreeing with that britishness.
We sat and talked about the picture from earlier and chatted about every pic he placed a moment later, then we had a link battle, sending links of ponies and music, trying to best each other with a possible greater link than before. Chatting with my friends shaved an hour and forty five minutes off of the wait time. I said my quick goodbyes and walked to the other room where my friends slept. With a mischievous grin, I grabbed an air horn I had bought from the dollar store just down the street, and kicked the door in while holding the trigger down, making my friends jump out of their resting dreams.
“Hey guys! It’s fifteen minutes away from the premier, get the fuck up!” I yelled.
“Hey, fuck you!” Richard yelled, still holding his ears.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you wanted to watch the new episode.”
“I do, but I didn’t ask to be made deaf when awoken.”
I chuckled, “Sorry, just thought it would be funny to scare the shit out of you before watching the new episode.”
“Fuck you!” Yelled Quinton, from the corner of the room.
“Hey, take a ticket sweetheart, there’s a line.” I said, a smile spread across my face.
“Boo!” They both jeered my direction.
“Stupid jokes aside, get up. We have an episode to catch.”
Ten minutes later we sat in my room television turned onto the Hub and the most recent episode before the finale was rerunning, then the screen cut to credits and a minute later the finale began the scene began with the mane six entering the cave under the ruins of the two princess sisters and trotting to the pedestal where the mystery box sat. The keys were inserted and then...blackout...I couldn’t see anything. I could feel my eyes blink, but there was nothing but darkness. I can’t move. I…I can’t breathe. I began to panic, I’ve never felt more claustrophobic in my life! I struggled against the weight of the rough material that held me in place. Tears welled up in my eyes thinking of the worst. Then, suddenly, I heard voices coming my way.
“What is this place?” asked a particularly high, yet energetic, voice.
“It appears to be some sort of small cavern leading to…” A collection of gasps.
“Oh my, what is that grotesque statue?” A regal, british-accented voice called out.
“I don’t know, but the small orb went inside it.” Said a voice I recognized as a bookworms.
My lungs ached as I suddenly remembered that I couldn’t breathe and started trying to move my body. With all my strength, I tried to move my arms and then something gave. A large cracking and smashing sound reverberated off of my encasement. More gasps.
“I...It moved.” A small, hush of a voice said, afraid.
“Well, whatever it is, I bet it’s not strong enough to face…” A tough sounding, athletic voice boomed.
I moved my head forward and another crack and smashing sound, dust settled around me.
“Ahhh, m...maybe we should get out of here.” the same athletic voice said.
“yeah maybe we should…” A southern-accented voice said, unsure.
“W...wait!” I yelled, panic clear in my voice.
“It...talked.”
“Yeah...yeah, I talk. P...please. You have to help me break the rest of this stuff off of my body.” I pleaded.
I heard the sound of approaching hooves and wiped the dust from my eyes, opening them just before a hoof broke through the stone around my chest and plunged into my rib cage. The sounds of bones cracking was loud enough to shake worlds. I inhaled sharply.
“AHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed, feeling the bones snap inside of my body.
I pushed with the last of my strength, feeling the stone around my chest and legs give as I fell to the ground, gasping from the pain. I glanced up and stared at the faces of the spirits of the elements of harmony before passing out.
“Hey!” Someone called, snapping their fingers by my ear. “Hey sleeping beauty, I may not be Prince Charming, but right now’s not the time to be napping.”
I opened my eyes slowly to see a cloaked gentleman. The only thing visible from the cloak that hung to the ground was his chin, mouth, and the tip of his nose. His peculiar aged hands were the only thing that poked out from his long sleeves. He stood above me with a smile dancing across his lips. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before staring up at the gentleman. The man held out his hand to help me up, and I accepted the gesture, grabbing hold of his hand firmly as he hoisted me up off of the ground.
“Well, it’s about time Snow White.” He said, his smile being the only thing visible from under his hood.
“Uh, do I know you?” I asked.
“Oh no, I’m just the physical representation of your will and knowledge, who happens to have played a big role in your destiny so far.” He said, sarcasm playing off of his words.
“Oh shit, what the fuck happened?”
“You wussed out from the pain of some broken ribs and aching lungs, and as a result, fainted. Now you're here, inside your own head Sherlock.”
At this point I started to get irritated with the sarcasm and irritable personality of my own conscience or will, and looked him straight in his hooded eyes. I watched as a smile spread across his face and a laugh bubbled up, as if I had told some sort of joke.
“What’s so funny, Will?” I asked, confused.
“Nothing, just your initial reaction to what’s going on has been relatively... calm.” He said, with a slightly raised brow.
“W...what do you mean?” I said, stuttering slightly.
“Suddenly going from your bedroom in Colorado to being trapped inside a stone statue and then passing out from pain and exhaustion and finally reawakening in your own mind. I don’t know about you, but I believe that that is definitely something to freak out about.” He said chuckling between words.
“Okay, I agree... I am pretty freaked out right now, but I’m being calm considering you’re me, just all robed and wise.” I said, being honest as I breathed in the cool yet surprisingly bitter air of my own mind.
“Wise? Why thank you.”
I mumbled to myself, “You may be wise, but you're definitely not humble... thats for sure.”
“What?”
“Oh nothing, you said you had something to tell me?” I countered, remembering what he had said as he awoke me from my unconscious slumber.
“Oh right, now you may be kind of shocked about this, but you sort of… How do I say this without making it sound like a cliche hero movie?” He placed his hand to his beardless chin and rubbed it in thought.
I took this moment to look at my surroundings, I mean, a guy should know what the inside of his own mind looks like. The area appeared to be a town square of some sort, with a fountain right in the center. Atop it, there was what appeared to be the statue of a brave looking pony, and at the base there was water lapping against the marble.
Another man sat a few feet away from me and my will, he was handcuffed and chained to the bench he sat on. I approached him, leaving Will to ponder his sentence out. As I got close, the figure looked up. A bandana covered his mouth and nose, and a hood hung over his eyes which still showed through the shade. They looked black, with red slits for pupils and crimson blood leaking from the bottom lid. Besides his hoodie, he wore a pair of black jeans and a trench coat, which sat over the top of his hoodie, the longer bits at the bottom tumbling over the edge of the bench. Lastly, on his feet were a pair of worn black combat boots.
I flinched as I saw a spark of anger flash through his eyes. I backpedaled a bit, but stood my ground. I took a few more steps forward, feeling my nerves tighten as fear took over my very nervous system.
“What egghead over there is trying to say is that you have abilities given to you through your destined path.” He said in a rough and angry voice.
I flinched hearing his voice so suddenly, “Wait, w...what sort of abilities?”
“Do I look like a tutor in ability powers?”
“No, but I figured i...if you're in here then you must be a part of me and know these abilities.”
The chaotic presence sighed, “Listen, all I have to do is warn you to not get too angry out in the great world of Equestria, or you’re going to have a rather large flame to put out afterwards.”
“Ah, I see you’ve met Dex.” I jumped as Will spoke up from behind me.
“Uh yeah, heh heh, I guess I did.”
“Will, get him away from me. Far far away from me.” Dex said, looking to the ground, a bloody tear falling from his chaotic looking eyes.
“Right, come on.” Will pulled me away from Dex, “So I take it he told you about your abilities? By the way, how do you like the inside of your head? Pretty swanky, eh?”
“Um…I guess.” I said, shrugging.
“If you haven’t caught on, it’s an exact copy of the town square in Ponyville sitting in the middle of a large hedge maze, to keep all your unwanted emotions and personality traits out.”
I looked over my shoulder to Dex, and then looked to Will again, “Then why is he here?”
Will sighed, “Well, let’s just say he’s going to be useful in the future. Anyways, I bet you're curious about your abilities?”
I nodded and stopped walking, keeping eye contact with my mind’s own librarian as questions danced inside my head, which was a weird concept considering I was inside my own head to begin with.
“Okay, so you have two abilities. The first is pretty simple; you have the voice of a siren, which allows you to tame the most wild and vicious of the beasts out there, and of course it will come in handy when you want to charm those mares.” He raised his brow and smiled.
“Ack, dude. I just got here and I don’t think starting a relationship is one of the first things I need to be doing, let alone getting laid.”
Will chuckled, “Whatever loverboy, anyways, as I was saying, your second ability is the ability to bend shadows to your will. Go on, give it a try on the shadows around us. All you need to do is focus on what you want it to do.”
I looked around for the nearest darkened area and focused on it, molding it into what I wanted to create. When I was certain I wanted to create what I had envisioned, I closed my eyes and concentrated until I heard footsteps come up to me, and a steady breathing in front of me. I opened my eyes to find a clone of myself looking straight at me, I turned my head to the side and the clone did the same, I raised my hand and the clone copied every motion.
“Shadow clones, didn’t know you’d try that first.” Will said, with an impressed tone to his voice.
The clone walked over to Will and slapped him across the face, before fading back to its raw transparent form and returning to it’s owner. Will looked at me and smiled a joking smile before coughing and continuing the training.
“Okay, now you see that boulder over there?” He pointed towards a large rock across from our position. “You can move objects like that with your shadow manipulation.”
I focused on the rock as hard as I could and saw the shadows all around it stretch in its direction. I raised my hand as if trying to grab it from afar, and concentrated harder. My head began to ache and sweat formed and slid down my forehead as it grew tedious to even try, as if the weight of the very rock itself was putting strain on my mind. I gave up, gasping for air as I lowered my arm and knelt down to the ground, my hands resting on my knees. I looked up to Will as he stepped towards me.
“Good try, it’s going to take some practice to move something like that anyways. Maybe this small pebble would have been easier.” He said, raising a small pebble in his hand.
I concentrated on the pebble before he could notice and watched as it lifted up into the air and glided towards me with ease. I then focused on throwing the pebble, and saw the shadows around it fling the pebble at Will. He simply just stood there as the pebble bounced off his chest. He then glanced my way and walked up to me to help me back to my feet.
“Good, good let the darkness flow through you.”
“God, was I this corny back home?” I asked, joking about the reference he made.
“Ha ha, yeah you were. Now, you could use the shadows within your own body to heal yourself, but that will take some time. It’s probably better to just let your ribs heal by themselves.”
I nodded and stood up straight, inhaling through my nose to get the most oxygen out of the air, “Is there anything else I should know?”
Will placed his hand to his chin once more, but then nodded. “Yeah, you might be hurting both here and here for a little while.”
Will turned me around and placed his pointer fingers to the base of my shoulder blades. As he did so, I felt a small surge of energy hit me, and things began to fade.
“Looks like it’s time for you to wake up, Sean, I’ll be seeing you around.”
“Wait, why will I be feeling pain in my shoulder blades and what will happen if I get angry?”
“All in due time my friend, all in due-”
The world faded and I could feel myself laying on a flat surface with some comfortable and warm cloth draped over me. Was I home? Was it all a dream? I opened my eyes and was met with the ceiling of a hospital room above me, and the sound of a heart monitor blaring beside me.