Chapters What do you expect to happen when you fall from the sky at high speeds only to impact the ground? Most reasonable ponies would likely expect to hear a large cracking or squishing sound, followed by excruciating pain and then death. Other, more conceited, (or crazy) ponies might expect that the ground would actually part in order to let them land. In other words, that they would leave a crater and come out completely unscathed. Why do I ask? Well, because what happened to me appeared to have been the second option, although I can't honestly say whether I fell from the sky, just appeared in an existing crater, or appeared and created a crater through my very presence.
However, if my situation had been a bit more like the one I just described, I'd be a lot happier. I didn't think that I'd be walking away from there "completely unscathed", let's put it that way. To start off my list of apparent injuries, my forelegs seemed bent in a strange way. The knees were facing forward! Wait, what? Forelegs? Knees? I couldn't help but think that they used to have different names, but I seemed unable to place it in my head. Something told me that I had nothing to worry about. If they really were forelegs, the knees should face forward, right?
Anyhow, my back legs also seemed strange. Those knees faced the opposite direction, from what I must have previously seen. I shrugged it off, though. Those were probably fine, too. The real issue seemed to be that it was some awful kinds of hot in that crater. No sooner had I come to this realization than a pillar of white-hot liquid shot up beside me. It had a red tinge to it, and a word popped into my head. Lava . Oh crap. This stuff was dangerous. And I was still standing right beside it, even as it came down.
"FUDGE NUTTERS!" I shouted, as I ran towards the edge of the crater. More lava geysers (Geysers? Another strange word.) shot up in every direction as I continued to run. One suddenly exploded right in front of me, and I swerved to avoid it. As I skidded to a stop and began climbing the rather sheer side of the crater, I briefly contemplated what I had shouted before. Fudge Nutters? What did that even mean? Ah, well. I had no idea what was going on, anyway, so why spoil the mystery?
My thoughts were interrupted as six geysers erupted in a semicircle around my section of the crater wall. My limited knowledge of physics told me this was a bad thing, and I proved to be right. How do six geysers erupt at the same time in a semicircle around my exact section of the wall anyway? My thoughts posed the question, but I had little time to consider it, as the side of the crater caved outward and I was left standing on a sheet of rock moving in a swift lava flow. I knew that the slightest bump could send me flying off, or flip my stone lava-boat over, sending me into the molten rock below, but ultimately, I decided to savor the slight amount of fun I was having, racing down the side of the mountain I now realized I had been in.
"WEEEEEEEE!" I shouted as I barreled down towards the flat plain below me. Well, "plain" is such a strong word. It was mostly barren, with only a few shrubs here and there, and no signs of settlement. I briefly wondered if I were in a completely deserted world, with me the only living thing, but I was given very little time to consider this option, as I shortly connected with the ground and was launched, screaming, into the air. Instead of coming down with a splash and feeling my flesh burn away, though, I had managed to be launched in the opposite direction from which the lava was flowing, and the flat landscape had slowed it down significantly. I landed with a bump, and found myself rolling away, covering every inch of me with dirt.
When I finally came to a stop, I stood up on all fours, (Another thing that seemed odd that it seemed normal, if that makes any sense.) and looked to myself. Upon careful examination, I determined that I was not dead, but had many small cuts and bruises from the roll, alongside blisters from the heat and patches of my coat that were still smoking, with burned red skin underneath them. All in all, I had gotten off surprisingly well, considering that I was pretty sure I had just survived a volcanic eruption.
I suddenly realized that I had some sort of thin hair covering my body. Yes, I had noticed it when I saw the burns, but I hadn't really processed it. It likely would have been a lovely shade of green, if not for the dust and ash that now covered it, and I noticed a few wisps of black hair dancing in front of my eyes. I really should find a mirror. I thought. It might be nice to know what I looked like, but something in my mind told me I was a pony, a stallion, who couldn't help but feel out-of-place.
Once again, my thoughts were interrupted, but this time by an earth-shattering explosion emanating from the volcano. I looked up at it and felt my ears, positioned at the top of my head, fall back, and my abnormally large eyes lose most of their pupils. The entire mountain had appeared to just explode, and I was running before you could say, "HOLY CRAP, THERE'S LAVA FALLING FROM THE SKY!"
I ran, not just because of the huge amount of lava and rock falling in every direction, although that was a large part of it, but also because, just for a moment, mixed in with the sound of the explosion, I could have sworn I heard a roar.
* * *
I hadn't stopped running for... how long had it been? Minutes? Hours? Days? I assumed it wasn't days, as night hadn't fallen, but I wasn't too sure that things still worked that way. Then again, many of my thoughts seemed to be geared towards this world's rules, already, so why not that? On the other hand, all those thoughts seemed foreign to me, and I knew things that didn't seem to be from this world, like what a volcano was. Upon a serious amount of thought, I determined that the whole day/night concept didn't seem to be specific to one or the other, so it probably occurred in both worlds. It was at this point of deep self-analysis that I tripped and sprawled on the ground.
I took the moment of relaxation to calm my breathing and look around, soon noticing that very little had changed. I was still in the desert, with small shrubs and rocks around, and one rather large one being the object that had caused me to fall. The mountain was nowhere in sight, but that didn't surprise me. It had blown into a million rather large pieces, so I didn't expect much. I was thankful, however, that no lava was in sight, either. I had escaped an incredibly violent volcanic eruption with only some minor burns and scratches. I wasn't sure which I was, lucky that I had escaped with so little damage, or unlucky that I had appeared in the middle of a volcanic crater at all. I was startled out of my reverie by a voice, the first voice I had heard, besides my own.
"HEY MISTER! YA NEED A RIDE SOMEWHERE?" A loud, distinctly feminine, voice called out from somewhere to my left. I looked in that direction, and saw a pony pulling a cart, about twenty yards away, on a large, obvious dirt path which had somehow escaped my notice. I stood up and brushed myself off, feeling sheepish. I then proceeded to walk towards the strange pony. She was pretty, with a dark blue coat and an orange mane and tail, and lovely green eyes. I managed to say to her, "Um, sure, but I don't really know where to go."
"Seriously? You're out here, in the middle of the desert, and you don't even know where you're going?" I just shook my head in answer. "Well, I'll be! You must not be from around here, then. Where are ya from?" I stared at her for a long moment. Um... where was I... from? I honestly didn't know, but if I told her that, she'd probably think I was crazy and leave me here, and I had suddenly realized I was very tired, and could really use a ride.
"Well...I...uh." I stammered out, but she waved her hoof in the air.
"Nevermind, it's no business of mine. Sorry for prying."
"Oh, it's okay, I'm just not used to talking about myself." That felt half-true. Huh. Maybe I had back wherever I had come from? Ah, well.
"Hah! Well then, mister doesn't-know-where-he's-going, how'd you like to come with me? I'm planning on heading to Ponyville, then on to Canterlot, if you want to stick with me. Or, you can just walk back to Appleloosa and I'll see ya when I get back."
"Erm... Appleloosa?" I asked, feeling more stupid than ever. She stood, gaping at me, then chuckled lightly.
"Wow, you really aren't from around here, are you? Appleloosa's the closest town to here, it's about five miles that way." she gestured in what I took to be a southerly direction, judging by the sun, and I gulped. This pony had just walked for five miles ? And she didn't even look tired! Although, we were equines, so we probably had more stamina than I might have otherwise been used to, but still.
"I think I'd like to come with you. I don't really feel like walking." I said, hoping five miles wasn't just a casual stroll for these ponies. Then again, I had no idea how far I'd traveled. Maybe I had a right to be tired? The strange mare then smiled and said, "That's good, I'm on my own this time, so it might be nice to have company." I smiled in return and walked around to the back, clambering into the cart with some effort.
"If you don't mind my asking, what's your name?" I asked suddenly, surprising both of us with the question that I would have been averse to had I been asked it myself. The mare looked at me quizzically before smiling again and saying, "My name's Clementine. What's yours?"
Oh, crap. I didn't know my name! Okay, quick, before this gets awkward! Two voices shouted into my head simultaneously, one high pitched and mad sounding, the other deep and somehow heroic. Dark Power! the crazy one yelled. Time Lord! the heroic one countered. The two names blurred together in my head, and before I really knew what I was doing, I had blurted out, "My name's Dark Time." I covered my mouth for a moment and mentally berated myself. That name was stupid and suspicious sounding! What was I thinking?! Yet, for some reason, Clementine smiled at me once again.
"Dark Time, huh? Nice name. It seems to fit you, somehow." Huh, who would've thought? I lay down calmly in the back of the cart and let all the exhaustion of the day wash over me. I was asleep before we started moving.
* * *
I awoke to the sound of somepony screaming. I looked around. I wasn't in the cart anymore, and Clementine was nowhere to be seen. I began searching for the pony who screamed and saw, in the distance, a town. It appeared to be burning, and I saw a small shape beginning to run towards me. It was a filly, screaming and crying for her mother. I ran forward, but came to an abrupt stop when I noticed what she had really been running from.
There, about a half a mile away, was the town, but it wasn't just the flaming town that I saw, anymore. There was something huge moving in the smoke coming off the buildings, and soon, it emerged, giving me a good look, despite the distance. It was a giant, bipedal slab of lava and rock, with long arms dangling down to it's knees and what looked like fingers and hands to me. All of these thoughts conflicted with my pony mind, but I didn't care at the moment. I grabbed the filly by the mane with my teeth, (she had reached me by this time) and slung her onto my back, beginning to run in the opposite direction from the fire giant.
Yet, before I could get much of anywhere, a river of lava encircled me and the filly, although there was no divot in the ground or rock in the way of it simply running us down. The entire pool in front of us then rose up, 50, 100, 200 feet in the air, easily, and then formed into the creature, it bent down to examine us, an evil grin somehow stretched across it's stony features, and the small filly clung close to my neck, her blue coat mixing with my green one, and her orange mane... Wait, what?
* * *
I awoke in a cold sweat, and quickly took in my surroundings. I was still in the back of the cart, there was no sign of any lava monster, and Clementine was staring back at me, looking concerned.
"You all right?" She asked.
"Eh? Oh right! Sure, yeah... I'm fine." she seemed a bit perplexed at my response, but then just shrugged and said, "You slept for quite a while, so we're almost to Ponyville. But, I was wondering, could I ask you some more questions? I'd like to get to know the pony who's riding in my cart. I won't ask you where you're from, if you're uncomfortable, but I do want to know you better."
Huh. I'd never actually met someone, pony or otherwise, who wanted to know me personally, so I decided to answer her question in the affirmative.
"Great! For starters, got any family? Parents, brothers, sisters, wife, kids, anything like that?"
"Um... I..."
"Oh, a little too close to home, huh? Sorry. Anyways, second question. What were you doing out there in the desert?"
I gaped at her for a moment. This pony made a lot of assumptions! Which was currently proving good for me, but it might not be such a good thing later on. I was startled from this train of thought by the realization that she had asked a question I could answer.
"Well, I was... Running away."
"From what?"
"Ummm... You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you." I answered truthfully. From my limited knowledge of how things worked, volcanoes were either not a common sight, or didn't exist at all in this world. Lucky them. To my surprise, Clementine raised an eyebrow and, instead of making assumptions, simply said, "Try me."
Crap. No backing out of this one. "Well, there was this mountain..."
* * *
It had taken me the better part of an hour to explain my escapade into the volcano, which was odd, since it hadn't taken me nearly that long to actually do it. Then again, it made it difficult to progress at any rate when one had to backtrack after every other word and explain what it meant, sometimes once or twice because the current listener didn't understand. So, by the time I had finished my story, we had reached the road into Ponyville. Given the chance to rest my tongue, I did so, looking around silently. This was a nice little town, very small and colorful. We had long since left the desert behind, (before I woke up, actually) and I was glad we had. This place was much nicer. Well, except for that dark, gloomy-looking forest in the distance. That place was creepy. I processed all of this before Clementine even had the chance to speak, and just as she was about to, something very pink swept her out of her harness, bringing the cart to a complete stop. I rushed to the front and peeked out, some part of me expecting a horribly mutilated pony to be chomping down on my new friend's face. What I did see was far, far worse.
A huge ball of pink excitement had tackled Clementine to the ground and was now squeezing the life from her with a massive bear hug. I rushed from the cart to try to help, but soon stopped when I heard Clementine laughing. I honestly didn't know what was so funny about being crushed by a ball of pink energy, but I soon discovered for myself that it wasn't funny. Not funny at all.
Suddenly, without me detecting any sort of movement at all, the ball of pink was in my face, and two huge blue eyes gazed back into mine as the pony they belonged to gasped in an overly-dramatic sort of way.
"Clementine! You didn't tell me you were bringing a new pony, too! Now I've gotta throw him a 'Welcome to Ponyville!' party, and somehow merge it into your 'Have a Happy visit to Ponyville!' party. He is staying, isn't he? Oo, if he's not, we could just have one big 'Have a Happy visit to Ponyville!' party! That would be even better! Of course, if he is staying, that would be great, too. 'Cause then we could become bestest friends and he'd stay here forever and ever. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Yeah, Pinkie, I'm sure it'd be great. I honestly don't know if he's staying or not, though. And, maybe he'd appreciate a little personal space?"
Through that entire rant, the so-called "Pinkie" had stayed up in my face, and it made me incredibly uncomfortable. She abruptly backed away, however, and I could've sworn her body hadn't moved, only her head. Oh well, I could breath again, at least.
"WHAT?! You DON'T KNOW?! Well NOW what am I gonna do? I can't plan a party before I even know what the party's about!" The pink pony suddenly stiffened. "Ooooooooo. Or CAN I? Maybe if I try super-duper, extra super hard, I can do it!" The pony then dashed off, leaving a few brightly colored streamers and flat balloons behind.
"Um... okay, what was that?" I asked, absolutely befuddled.
"That? Oh, that was Pinkie Pie. She's our welcoming committee."
"Welcoming committee?" I asked. Had I been traveling with some kind of celebrity this whole time?
"Yep, Pinkie welcomes every new pony into town with one of her patented Pinkie Pie parties. It's a fun event, if a little boisterous." I gulped. Great. A party thrown by a pony who seemed about as sane as I was certain of what was going on. What could be better?
* * *
A dark presence lurked somewhere in Equestria. It was tired of waiting. It wanted him dead. He had thwarted it too many times to let live. Not that it would have spared his life, anyways. It found this new world strange, to be sure, but still conquerable. It would kill all these pathetic ponies, but not until after it had its revenge. It had to kill him, and soon. Wait... That was it! It would kill all these pathetic ponies. And that would bring him running. Then, it would kill him, too. ARGH! But it could not kill in its current condition. It would have to let Infernus do it, instead. It sighed inwardly. A pity, it had so been looking forward to killing again. Oh well, once he was dead, it could kill any creature it wished, and get its hooves as bloody as they had ever been. It just had to be patient.
Chapter 2: The Cutie Mark Crusaders
"So this is what you do for a living?" I asked Clementine after my third failed attempt at selling one of the citrus fruits from her roadside cart, which happened to be the exact same one I had slept in for most of the way here. I had been impressed when she gave a single kick to the cart and it had all sprung up and folded out, the fruit having been stored in the floor, so I hadn't seen it, or even known it was there. She had done a superb job of making sure the things didn't rot, so she had lemons, oranges, grapefruits, and yes, clementines that looked as though they had just been picked. I couldn't understand why nopony was buying them.
"Well, yes and no." Clementine offered in answer to my earlier question. "I also deliver the fruits to all the restaurant owners around here. For whatever reason, nopony has ever bothered trying to grow citrus in this area, so they only get this stuff once a month from Appleloosa. That's pretty much what I do. Sell to the restaurants, who want lemons, oranges, and grapefruits for some of the fancier dishes, and sell whatever else I have on the streets to anypony who'll buy. Unfortunately, not many ponies see much use in keeping these things around the house, but the clementines tend to be popular with the foals." As she said it, a small filly galloped up to the stand, accompanied shortly by two others. The first one was a creamy yellow color, a scarlet mane with a pinkish-red bow in it bouncing atop her head, with a tail to match. The other two looked very different, and I thought something must be wrong with them. One, a small white filly with a pink and purple mane, had what appeared to be a strangely twisted bone sticking out of her head. The other, an orangeish pony with a purplish-red mane and tail, had two bulges on her sides which didn't look very healthy. The fur on them had somehow reached a consistency that it looked like feathers!
"Oh, hey, Clementine! Could we have three... um... clementines, please?" The yellow one asked. I stood staring at the three fillies, wondering what on earth had happened to the other two. The one who had just requested the sweet fruit seemed fine!
Clementine chuckled, seeming oblivious to the horrible state of the white and orange fillies. Perhaps it was a birth defect, and she was simply used to it? "Of course you can, Apple Bloom. As long as you have the bits, of course." She gave the small filly a mock stern look, and she, apparently named Apple Bloom, giggled.
"Nope! Not a single one on any of us." The other two fillies giggled as well, and I was awed by how well they coped with their unfortunate case.
"Oh, well... alright, three clementines on the house. But only for you, Cutie Mark Crusaders." They all suddenly broke out into fits of giggles, and I began to think I was missing something.
"Hey! Who's your new friend, Clementine?" The orange filly suddenly asked, and I started.
"Ooooo. Is he your coltfriend?" The white one interjected. What? My pony mind, as I had taken to calling it, started reeling. Me? Her coltfriend? Clementine just chuckled again. "No, no, Sweetie Belle, he's just a pony I met in the desert. His name's Dark Time."
"Awww. But you two'd be so cute together." Sweetie Belle whined, and Clementine scowled.
"Just go on and eat your fruit, you little rascals." The three would likely have left right then, had the orange one not taken one look at me and screamed.
"What? What is it Scootaloo? Do you know him or somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked her friend. Scootaloo didn't answer, and just gestured back to my hip. What? Oh crap, had I been burned worse than I thought?! But after looking back, I saw nothing wrong. Just normal green fur and a small burn. Nothing unusual, right? Well, apparently it was unusual, since all four girls were now staring at me with shock.
"You don't have a Cutie Mark!" Sweetie Belle suddenly exclaimed. A what? Not even my pony mind knew what they were talking about. Way to retain just enough information to make it awkward, brain. Thanks so much. I hesitantly asked the question that I knew was going to sound incredibly stupid.
"Um... What's a Cutie Mark?" The four gaped at me even more, and I took a single hoofstep back before composing myself.
"Wow. You really aren't from anywhere in Equestria, are you? You don't even know what a Cutie Mark is." Clementine said, in a voice that was somewhere between awe, condescension, and how one speaks to a foal about where babies come from. I decided I didn't like that tone of voice, and would be perfectly happy with never hearing it again.
"WHAT?! You're not from Equestria? So where are ya from? Do ponies not have Cutie Marks there?" I found the barrage of questions coming from Apple Bloom, but she was shortly joined by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. I began to back away, but the fillies followed me, continuing to ask question after question. Eventually, I ran up against the side of a building, and got down to my knees, my ears pinned back and my pupils contracting with every question. Eventually, something inside me snapped, and I sat up and screamed, "I DON'T KNOW!"
All was silent for a moment, and I noticed that many ponies had paused along the street to stare at me. I got back to my hooves and dusted myself off, walking around the fillies and back to the cart as though nothing had happened.
"WAIT!" the three young ponies called from behind me. I turned to look at them, and Apple Bloom asked, "So, ya don't know the answer to any of our questions?" I shook my head. All the ones I had truly comprehended I could not answer, at least.
"What, so you have, like, amnesia or something?" Scootaloo asked. I thought for a moment. Amnesia, amnesia... AMNESIA! The knowledge came not from my pony mind, but from the other, more interesting, mind. DANG IT, pony mind! Why are you useless? I could've just told Clementine I had amnesia from the beginning, and all this awkwardness could have been avoided! Ah well, too late now, I guess.
"Oh, so you weren't embarrassed about something in your past? Why didn't you just tell me?" I looked at Clementine and shrugged in answer.
"Alright, Cutie Mark Crusaders! We've gotta help this pony get his memories back! Where should we take him?" Apple Bloom stood in front of her friends and Sweetie Belle stepped forward. "We could take him to the hospital, couldn't we?" she said. Scootaloo then turned to face her. "Naw, I don't think that's such a good idea, Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom already said we had no bits, and they might charge us to help him."
"What? Scootaloo! You know as well as I do that Nurse Redheart wouldn't dream of charging a pony in need! Much less anypony else in the hospital!" Her accusation seemed to go unheard, however, as both other 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' sat, trying to think up new ideas. Suddenly, Apple Bloom got a look of success on her face and she cried, "I know! We'll take him to Twilight! She probably has some spell that can help him!"
"Do I get any say in this?" I asked, but was completely ignored. Even Sweetie Belle seemed to like the idea of seeing this 'Twilight', so that was apparently what we were doing. Honestly, I liked the hospital idea better.
"Hey, girls, WAIT! He was helping me..." Clementine's voice was lost as the three fillies shoved me quickly down the street. I glanced back and managed to give her a shrug. She just sighed and turned back to her stand.
* * *
"Um... girls?" I asked the three fillies, as they continued to push me closer and closer to a large tree in the middle of what I took to be a plaza.
"Oh, don't worry Mister Dark Time! Twilight's real nice! And ah'm SURE she'll have somethin' that can help ya.", Apple Bloom spoke up from behind me.
"But that's..."
"Oh, don't be such a worry-wart. You'll be just fine!" Scootaloo spoke up from behind my left foreleg. I felt bad having her and Sweetie Belle push me like this, what with their unfortunate non-conformities. But I momentarily forgot my pity as we drew closer to the large tree.
"That's not what I..."
"Trust us, Mister Dark Time. You'll be just fine!" Sweetie Belle spoke up from behind my right foreleg.
"GIRLS! WATCH OUT!" As we had drawn closer, I had realized that we were not losing any momentum. Another thing I noticed was that apparently the tree was some type of house, as I tripped over the front step and, maintaining my momentum, managed to fall up the other two and crash into the door, upside-down.
"Oh geez, Dark, are you okay?" Scootaloo asked, her wings stretched out with worry. Wait... WINGS?! So, somehow, this filly had been born with wings?! From my position on the ground, I caught a brief glimpse of a rainbow dashing through the clouds, bursting each one as it bounced between them. After a moment, I saw a grey pony with strangely misaligned eyes flying through the clouds as well. Oh... It wasn't special. So, a pony with wings. No, a... pegasus. A strange word. It seemed unfit for the real world. I looked up (well, down actually) and noticed a mare walking along with a newspaper. The strange thing was, it seemed to just be levitating in front of her face as she walked. I then noticed the same sort of strange, bony figure growing out of her head as with Sweetie Belle. It gave off a faint glow, as did the newspaper. Oh, so the ones with... horns? I guess? Anyway, they could use magic. That was cool. A pity I wasn't one of them, then.
All of this happened in the span of about three seconds, and all three fillies had rushed up to me and were asking how I was doing.
"It's okay girls. I'm fi..." I had started to answer. Then, from somewhere in the distance, I heard a single, strange phrase bellowed in a distinctly Pinkie-ish voice.
"EAR FLOP, EYE FLUTTER, KNEE TWITCH!!!"
"Wait, wha..?" I started to say, and suddenly the door that I had fallen against burst open, pushing me back and smacking me against the wall, then proceeding to flatten me.
"Oh, hello, Cutie Mark Crusaders. Can I help you with anything?" I heard a feminine voice say.
"Twilight! We came to see ya about this pony, he's..." Apple Bloom was cut off as I imagined her looking around for me.
"Hey, where in tarnation'd he go?"
"I'm back here!" I managed, in a muffled yell. How had they not seen that?!
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't..." The mare pulled the door off me, and I dropped to the ground. I looked around, dazed, and wondered why she had stopped talking mid-sentence. I managed to get my eyes focused, and found a lavender mare with a horn staring down at me. Why was she staring at me like that? Had I... I closed my eyes and clutched my head as two voices broke into my mind.
It was those two again, Mr. Crazy and Mr. Hero. Kill her! Mr. Crazy said. She dared to hurt you, now she must suffer! KILL HER!
Don't you dare! Mr. Hero spoke up. If you kill her, an innocent mare who just made an honest mistake, what will that make you? Don't do it!
What will it make him? It will make him crazy! And that's perfectly fine by us, isn't it Dark?
Don't do it Time! Or I'll be forced to stop you! And imagine how badly you'd feel! This mare could be a wife, or have children! You can't just kill her for an accident!
Oh, I think you underestimate our abilities, Ti...
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, startling the three fillies and lavender mare around me. I opened my eyes and looked around. The three younger ponies looked close to tears, and the mare, I think named Twilight, looked shocked.
"Um... Sorry, that wasn't directed at you." The fillies began to look happier, but Twilight scowled at me.
"Oh really? Then who was it directed at?" She turned around and strolled back into what I could only assume was her house, before apparently remembering why she came out in the first place.
"I'm sorry, girls. What was it you wanted?" She asked it in a friendly enough tone, but I got the distinct feeling that I was being purposefully ignored. I couldn't really blame her. That had undoubtedly seemed incredibly rude.
"Oh, right. We brought Dark Time here to see if you could help him get his memories back. He's got amnesia." Sweetie Belle said, and the lavender mare sighed.
"Of course you did. Well, girls, do you think you could give this stallion and I some time alone? It probably wouldn't be much fun to watch me try to get his memories back, anyway. I'll see you at the party later, though?"
"Yeah!", "You bet!", and "Of course!" came from each of the fillies in turn, and I grimaced. Hurray, being left alone with a mare I was pretty sure hated me, what fun. Twilight continued inside and, after a moment's consideration, I followed her. Not two steps inside, the door suddenly banged shut behind me and the lavender mare rounded on me, murder in her eyes. Geez, what did I do?! I mean, it was rude, but she looked about ready to strangle me with her bare hooves!
"I'm sorry," she said, in a voice that clearly said she wasn't, "but I know a bad pony when I see one, and I don't especially want to go poking around in one's head just because three fillies asked nicely."
"What, I..."
"You know, you almost fooled me there for I moment. I got one look at you and I wondered 'Who is this guy?' then you went off, clutching your head like that, and I wondered 'What's wrong? I should help him!' and then you go shouting at three fillies and a mare you just met to shut up! Who do you think you are?"
"LOOK!" I shouted, much louder and more forcefully than I had intended, but honestly, it was a mistake! Why was this mare getting so ruffled? I took a deep breath before restarting, "Look, I don't know why you're so upset about me yelling at myself. I understand that from your perspective, it probably sounded incredibly rude, but I honestly was only yelling at myself. Now, I have a splitting headache, and would really appreciate if we could get this over with, so that I can get some rest before going to a party thrown for me by a crazy pony." As I finished, I trotted over to the center of the room and sat back on my haunches, waiting for her to get to work. I gazed back her way and saw her standing, mouth agape, still in front of the door.
"Well, come on! Or didn't you hear what I just said?" I said. I was being much more rude than intended, and I felt bad for that, but this mare had seriously rubbed me the wrong way.
"Um... right... sure." Twilight paced over to me slowly, and I wondered what was going on in her head right now. I suddenly began wondering what was going on in my head right now, as I obviously had no idea. As she approached me, the shock faded from her face, to be replaced by a look of curiosity.
"Um... How did you do that?" She asked suddenly, sitting down in front of me. I was taken aback by the abrupt change in mood, and took a moment to respond because of this.
"Wait, do what?" I asked, coming to myself.
"You know, back when you were giving me the speech, your eyes..." My complete surprise and confusion must have shown on my face, as Twilight shook her head and sighed. "Never mind. Let's get this over with."
I stared at her for a moment before shrugging. Alright, time to get to work. Wait, what was...? Twilight had suddenly leaned in alarmingly close to me. A strange feeling arose in my chest as she got ever closer. Finally, she got so close that her horn touched the top of my head, and I noticed it was glowing. Oh.
* * *
I stood in a field of grass. The grass was so lush and well kept that it matched the color of my coat, and I wondered who had kept all of this so well. I noticed the occasional creature walk through the field alongside me, a small rabbit, a rather large, frightening snake. But they all stood as silent sentinels, walking or slithering up to me, keeping pace for a bit, and then leaving. I stared ahead for a moment as I walked, and saw a small mound higher than the rest of the field. I stepped up to it and peered down. There, in the ground, was a minute sapling, barely out of the seed. When I looked up, the lavender unicorn stared right at me. I would've jumped, but I realized that as long as I was here I felt calm and serene, but when I should have felt surprised a small white cat appeared beside me, took one look at Twilight and ran as if it's life depended on it. Maybe it did.
"What... is all this?" I heard Twilight ask, but I had no answer. I assumed this was my mind, but I hadn't the faintest idea what any of it meant.
Suddenly, every last bit of tranquility I felt in this place was shattered. I felt a large quake in the ground, and knew, somehow, what was coming. Not them, again. A large, white wall materialized on one side of the field, while an equally large black one took the opposite side. They began to charge each other, and every time they touched a blade of grass, it would disintegrate. I felt nothing at all, but all of the animals gathered around me. I hadn't the faintest idea of what was happening, but I wished it would stop. All too soon, the animals were ripped up from around me, and tossed away by a gust of wind. I thought that the walls must have caused it. Twilight screamed. Twilight screamed. Twilight SCREAMED!!!
I whirled around to see what was wrong. She appeared fine, but she was afraid, yes, she was afraid. I felt the dark wall and the white wall reach out and grasp my hind legs, one for each. She was afraid, good. Revel in her fear. the dark presence said. NO. We must protect her! the white argued, and the two began to spread up my body, leaving only a small stripe of green in the very center. As the white spread across my barrel, I felt a foreign presence on its side of my back. When the black reached my face, I suddenly felt heavier about the forehead. As they each reached my eyes I knew that something had changed. And Twilight looked on, shaking in fear of what was happening to me. I... didn't want her to be afraid. I shook myself, and the dark and white flew off of me like droplets of water. I looked up at Twilight once again, and noticed that both presences had reached out for her, as well.
"NO!" I screamed, and tackled her to the ground.
* * *
I awoke again, staring into the face of the mare who had just pushed me into my own mind, and I realized we were not in the same position we had started out in. I had apparently physically tackled her, and so was now on top of her, in the middle of the library floor. I was suddenly extremely glad we were alone, as this would have looked incredibly bad. Twilight opened her eyes, as well, and took a moment to adjust to being back in the real world. One moment too long, as it turned out.
"Twilight! I was wondering if you could... uh." An orange mare (Geez, I hadn't seen a single other male since I got here!) wearing a stetson and a smile said as she threw open the door of the library. She got one look at us and the smile left her face, to be replaced shortly by a look of absolute fury. Crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP! I only managed that one thought before her hoof came in, landed solidly on my jaw, and sent me flying into the bookshelves behind me. Ow...
"Twilight, are you okay?! What was that there stallion doin' to ya, huh?" She gestured with a scowl towards me and the pile of books I was mostly under.
"A-Applejack?" Twilight stammered, still regaining herself. The one called Applejack stared back in my direction, looking for all the world like she was going to do worse than hit me now. Fudge Nutters. I really needed to look into what that meant. Luckily for me, the orange mare hadn't taken more than a step before Twilight came back to herself.
"Applejack! No, wait! This isn't what it looks like!" She shouted, getting between me and the furious pony. Oh thank goodness!
"Really?" Applejack asked, in a surprisingly not sardonic manner. "Then what is goin' on?"
"I was just trying to help him get his memories back, and he tackled me." Applejack's eyes widened and Twilight made to fix her mistake. "No no no, nothing like that! I..." She paused and stared back at me, a curious expression on her face. "I'm pretty sure he saved my life." She said, without looking away.
"Oh! Well, I suppose that's good enough fer me, then. Sorry about that Mister...uh..."
"Dark Time." I said, still dazed from the blow. Wow, that mare could throw a punch! "My name's Dark Time."
"Right. Sorry about that Dark." I was surprised when an orange hoof came down in a clear gesture to help me up. I took it and was hauled to my hooves, out of the books. I tested my jaw and was unsurprised to find a large bruise there. Well, that was gonna smart for a while.
"Anyways, Twilight, what's my diagnosis?" I asked, trying my best to act as though nothing had happened. Twilight stared at me for a moment and then seemed to understand what I meant. I also realized, in that moment, that I had never actually introduced myself to her, or her to me.
"By the way, just so the formality is out of the way, my name's Dark Time."
Twilight had been about to answer my first question, so my introduction caught her off guard. "Oh! Well, it's nice to meet you, Dark Time, I'm Twilight Sparkle." Oh, so her last name was Sparkle. "And as for your 'diagnosis', well... It's not good news." She said, and my heart sank.
"The only time anything even remotely like that has been recorded was in, well, mental patients. Specifically those suffering from multiple personality disorder. Of course, it's hard to say exactly, as everypony's mind is different, and that was almost nothing like anything I've ever seen before! But... the closest match is, I'm afraid, to multiple personality disorder." I stared at her, mouth agape, and Applejack was eyeballing me in a way that I was pretty sure I didn't like.
"I'm afraid, Dark Time, that you're insane."
Chapter 3: An Incident in Manehattan
I sat on the floor of the library, contemplating what I had just been told. I'm... crazy? Sure, it made some amount of sense, but it was still hard to take in. I'm... crazy. Huh.
"Dark Time? You okay?" Applejack asked worriedly. I looked up at her and winced as my jaw flared with pain.
"No, I can't honestly say that I am okay. For one thing, my jaw hurts like crazy, as does my back where I slammed into the bookshelf, and to top it all off, I'm insane. Although, I think the first ones are bothering me more." Both Applejack and Twilight looked surprised at this, and I shrugged. "Hey, when you have two voices blabbing away in your head all the time, you begin to suspect you might be a little on the loony side." I felt totally calm as I said this, all earlier qualms forgotten.
"Huh. Most ponies deny that they're crazy, especially if they are." Twilight said skeptically, and I shrugged. A thought struck me then.
"Hey, am I gonna get sent to a mental institution? Do I get one of those nice, white padded cells? Those always looked really comfortable to... me." Something about what I had just said had seriously thrown the two mares off. What had it been? The fact that I wanted a white padded cell, maybe? Or something else?
"Um... what's a mental institution?" Twilight asked. Oh. Oh crap. Well, if there was any doubt before, it was pretty much a certainty now that I was crazy.
"N-never mind." I stammered. "So, Applejack, what was it you wanted from Twilight before you caught us in that awkward position?" I blushed lightly as I spoke, but managed to keep my voice level. Twilight, however, took on nearly the exact color of a beet and her eyes disappeared behind her mane. How did..?
"Huh? Oh, right! Twilight, Rarity wanted to take us all to Manehattan for the weekend. 'A little vacation', she called it. I don't really see what would be relaxin' about the big city, but ah thought we might have fun, anyways. You up?"
"Oh, Applejack, that does sound fun! When would we be leaving?"
"She said sometime tomorrow mornin', ah think."
"That should be just fine, since Pinkie's party is tonight." I groaned inwardly. I had nearly forgotten about the hyperactive pink mare's plans for me. I wish that I hadn't been reminded. "Speaking of which," Twilight continued, "We should probably get over there, it's about to start." I sighed as I picked myself up. This could be fun, but after seeing Pinkie Pie, I felt that it would likely just be exhausting.
"Hey, where're you going?" Applejack called as I walked out the door.
"To the party, which I'm apparently one of the guests of honor for."
"What?!" Applejack sounded heavily concerned, and I turned around to face her, wondering why. She gazed at Twilight in concern, and Twilight appeared to be thinking hard.
"Should we really let him go?" Applejack asked, and I suddenly realized what was happening. I was crazy, maybe it would be best to keep me to myself. Twilight thought hard before apparently coming to a decision.
"He hasn't shown signs of being dangerous yet, and even if he did, he's just one earth pony." Applejack glowered at her. "Er, no offense." Applejack appeared satisfied. "I just think that any one of us could take him down if something went wrong, so we might as well let him go. After all, we let Pinkie wander around, don't we?" Both mares chuckled and I just rolled my eyes and continued walking. Thanks for consulting me, girls. Thanks a ton.
* * *
The party thrown for me and Clementine was, to my surprise, fun. There were games and snacks and what I thought was a piñata, although I didn't get a very good look before it was beaten to death by the unmistakable Cutie Mark Crusaders. After devouring the candy left on the floor, the trio seemed to notice me and ran up to chat.
"Dark Time! Glad you came. So, did Twilight help ya get yer memories back? Do ya have your Cutie Mark now?"
I shook my head sadly and Apple Bloom visibly stiffened. I decided to clarify. "No, Apple Bloom, Twilight couldn't help me get my memories back. All she managed to find out is that I'm..." I stopped, thinking it inadvisable to disclose this information to three fillies in the middle of a party for me. "And I still don't have my Cutie Mark." I realized, suddenly, that I still had no idea what that was. In all the excitement, my question had been forgotten. "By the way, what is a Cutie Mark?"
"Huh? You still don't know? It's a mark you get on your flank when you discover your special talent. Like Twilight's good at magic, so she has a purple star! None of us three has it yet, that's why we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Sweetie Belle explained and I nodded. But, something struck me as odd about that statement.
"Wait, your flank? I thought Scootaloo screamed when she saw my hip?"
"Hip? No, that's your flank, silly!" Scootaloo said, seeming a little flustered that I had brought up her overreaction.
Suddenly both halves of my mind (Not Mr. Crazy and Mr. Hero, Mr. Pony and Mr. Not-a-Pony) got into a heated argument over pony anatomy, and I stopped caring. Apparently what I formerly thought was a hip was now a flank. Go figure. I realized, then, that I apparently had five segments to my insanity. There was Mr. Crazy, Mr. Hero, Mr. Pony, Mr. Not-a-Pony, and the one I walked around as, whoever that was. Upon a careful amount of thought, though, I decided that Mr. Pony and Mr. Not-a-Pony were just varying degrees of knowledge that didn't always agree with each other. Strange.
I was drawn back to the party by Pinkie squealing from somewhere close by, and suddenly finding myself pressed side-by-side against Clementine, who I hadn't seen since earlier that day.
"Now BOTH guests of honor are here, so the party can REALLY start!" Pinkie yelled over the crowd. Wait, it hadn't really started yet? And Clementine only just arrived?
Clementine laughed from beside me. "Quite the party, huh?" she asked, and I just nodded. I then turned my head around to her hi... er, flank, and took in her Cutie Mark. Three clementines, stacked in a pyramid. Figures. I turned my head forwards again, and caught her staring at me, looking rather offended, and I realized what that had probably looked like.
"OH! No, I just... I hadn't seen your Cutie Mark yet. That's all, I swear!" Clementine looked fairly relieved at this, and I breathed a little easier. Last thing I needed was to get hit in the face again. The thought brought a twinge of pain to my jaw again, and I raised a hoof to it. Clementine noticed the movement and got a look of remembrance on her face.
"Oh right! I got you something." She reached over and pulled a small box seemingly out of nowhere. Where was..? You know what, I'm not sure I want to know. She removed the lid on the small container and I looked inside, a white slimy substance meeting my eyes.
"Is that..?" I started to ask, but she answered for me. "It's ointment! It should help with all those burns! I'm afraid it doesn't do much for bruises, though." I thanked her and took a small dab of the ointment on my hoof, smearing it over some of the worst burns. Relief instantly spread through me, and I hadn't even known I was in pain! I had just gotten used to it, I guess. Clementine set the box down on the floor and took a small dab of ointment, wiping it across my face, where I could only assume there was a burn.
"AWWWW, you two are so CUTE!" Pinkie yelled from directly in front of us. I jumped nearly a foot in the air, and so did Clementine, to my eternal relief. "OO, oo! Twilight, Twilight, TWILIGHT!" The crazy pink earth pony continued, somehow stretching her body and grabbing the lavender unicorn from her position in front of a yellow mare with a pink, curly mane and tail. "Can they come with us to Manehattan? You know Rarity wanted to take us there, don't you? Do you think Dark Time and Clementine could come?"
Twilight didn't answer for a moment, but whether it was because Pinkie was currently squeezing both of her cheeks, or because she wasn't sure that I should be allowed in Manehattan, or a combination of the two, I wasn't sure. Eventually, after Pinkie elected to release her face, she spluttered out, "I guess so Pinkie, as long as it's okay with them." Clementine and I exchanged a glance, and then she sighed.
"Sorry, Pinkie, but I've got to be on my way to Canterlot tomorrow. More citrus to sell, you know." Pinkie seemed disappointed, but lost none of her vigor as she suddenly draped one foreleg over my back and gave me a noogie.
"Well, that's too bad! But at least Dark Time can still come along, right?" I stiffened. Up until this afternoon, I had been expecting to travel on with Clementine, but with all this, I didn't know anymore. Mostly, I just didn't know if I'd have a choice in the matter. I looked to Twilight and she smiled in a way that told me I didn't.
"I think that's a great idea Pinkie. It will be fun to have him along." I understood the true meaning behind those words. She wanted to keep an eye on me. The best way she knew of to do that would be to bring me along. It made sense, but...
"Hang on, don't I get any say in this?" I asked, surprised that I had managed to spit those words out. Clementine turned to me and I looked back. I wanted to say that I wanted to go with her. I wanted to tell her I'd come with her. I really, really did, but, if I was dangerous, as Twilight and Applejack seemed to think I could be, I didn't want to hurt Clementine. Not that I honestly thought I could subdue her, or anypony, for that matter, but if I so much as scratched her, I doubt I could forgive myself. There was much less chance of my hurting anypony if I went with the super-powerful unicorn and the physically strongest pony I had yet met. Slowly, I turned away from Clementine and looked back at Twilight.
"I... guess I'll get to see Manehattan, then." Pinkie smiled wide and Clementine looked surprised, then slightly saddened.
"Sorry Clementine. I really wanted to go with you. It's just that..." I was silenced by her hoof pressed to my mouth.
"No need to explain, Dark. I just got a little attached to you, I guess. Funny, since we haven't known each other very long, huh?"
"Yeah... funny..." I said.
* * *
The next morning found me on a train, barreling down the tracks towards our destination. The seven of us, that's myself, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, a white unicorn with a purple mane and tail named Rarity, a cyan pegasus with a multicolored mane and tail named Rainbow Dash, and the yellow pegasus Twilight was talking to last night, apparently named Fluttershy, had said a hurried goodbye to Clementine that morning and hopped aboard the train. I sat staring out the window for a long time after that.
"Hey Dark Time! You ever gonna come away from that window?" Rainbow Dash asked, hovering a few inches above my head. Hang on, we're in a moving train, and she's just hovering there. By all rights, she should be moving separately from the train, unless, of course, she was managing to keep exact pace with the train but still make it seem like effortless hovering. I rubbed my temples. You know what? I don't care. Magic. Let's leave it at that.
"Dark Time? Helooooo? Anybody home?" The physics-defying pegasus continued, knocking on the top of my head with a forehoof.
"OW!" I answered, and rubbed my head while frowning up at her.
"Oh, good. Thought you might be sitting there forever. C'mon, relax, talk to somepony. Don't just sit there gawking out the window!"
I turned. "Fine." Was all I said before slumping into my seat, no longer facing towards the window. Dash sighed and shrugged her shoulders, choosing to land and continue chatting with the other girls.
I should've gone with Clementine.
* * *
HOLY WHAT? This... this place is huge! I didn't know ponies could build stuff like this! Wow... just wow.
There had been some disagreement on the train as to where we should go first, so the girls had elected to split up, something that, now I saw the city, didn't seem like such a great idea. Of course, I was the odd stallion out, in more ways than one, and the others thought I should stick with one of them. I elected to go off on my own, but of course Applejack and Twilight forbade it as politely as they could. So I was left wandering around Manehattan with Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. Both Twilight and I hadn't much cared where we were going, so we were currently heading towards an apple museum. Yep. An apple museum. How they found enough interesting information about apples to call it a museum is beyond me, but they did it.
I decided I would slip away at the earliest opportunity. Yes, it could be dangerous, but I thought I could control myself long enough for Applejack to stop freaking out about the apples. My earliest opportunity came earlier than I expected, as Applejack gasped in a display reminiscent of Pinkie Pie, and snatched Twilight away, apparently forgetting all about me.
I wandered back outside, wondering what I should do. It was a big city, but as long as I kept my sense of direction intact, I should be able to go for a walk. So that's what I did. I walked down street after street, taking in the sights but choosing not to get too absorbed. I saw many different kinds of ponies, but didn't really interact with any of them. Until I heard the scream.
It was feminine, that much was obvious, and it came from not too far away. None of the ponies around me reacted as if they had heard anything, and, for a moment, I thought I might just be spiraling into deeper insanity. But something stopped me from brushing it off and walking on. I don't know what it was, but something in me decided it couldn't hurt to take a look where I thought the scream came from, right? So I walked a little ways ahead and gazed down a dark alley. I swallowed. Great, dark alleys in the middle of large cities. What could possibly go wrong here?
I stepped between the buildings, trying to keep my knees from shaking. Oh man. What was I going to find down here? I had just made up my mind to turn around and head back when I heard a muffled sob coming from somewhere ahead. I stepped forward another two paces and saw something that nearly knocked me out with the number of emotions and voices it unearthed. There, not three yards from me, was a dark blue unicorn, levitating what looked like a knife, and standing precariously on his hind legs, with both forelegs pressed against the mouth of a struggling mare. A mare I instantly recognized as the member of Twilight's little group I had associated with the least.
It was Fluttershy.
* * *
He was having quite a time with this yellow pegasus mare. He had expected it to be easy. She already looked so scared and everything. Should have been easy, but no, she had to go and scream. Lucky for him, no one seemed to have noticed, or cared. Time to get to business.
"Alright, mare, you know what I want, and if you don't give it to me, well, I'll have to take it from you myself." The pegasus' eyes widened, and he stifled a chuckle."You know what? I'll just take it from you regardless!" And he brought the knife swinging down. She closed her eyes and cringed back, waiting for the impact. But it never came.
"Huh?" The blue stallion asked dumbly, and turned to look at the knife now hovering between them. Before, it had been his own blue aura that surrounded the knife. Now, however, a jet-black light held the knife steady, seeming less like it gave off light and more like it sucked all surrounding light in. He turned to see who might be doing this, panic rising in his chest, and then relaxed and even chuckled heartily when he saw a single unicorn standing in between himself and the street, head down, so his red mane hid his eyes.
"Oh, look, a funny little hero boy, come to save the princess. Sorry, bucko, but I'll be taking that knife back now." And he pushed his own magic forward, attempting to reclaim the weapon. But the knife didn't budge. He tried again, using even more magic this time. Still, the knife stayed exactly where it was. He tried one last time, pushing all of his magic into trying to grab that one stupid knife. And still, it stayed in the other unicorn's possession. He was beginning to panic again.
"H-hey! Who do you think you are, anyway?!" He demanded, gesturing to the strange pony with one hoof. The mare had finally decided to open her eyes, and found that her assailant had released her. Every fiber of her being told her to fly, to get away as fast as she could, but she sat stock-still, staring at the scene that played out before her.
The stranger's shoulders were shaking, and the unicorn once again thought he had the upper hand. "Awwww, crying now, are we? Ain't that cute." But the stranger wasn't crying. That was made evident when he finally looked up, and both assailant and victim drew back in surprise and horror. The stranger had pointed teeth, every single one, and they were currently twisted into a maniacal grin that would've given a hydra the shivers. He was also laughing, a frightening, mirthless sound rather like a crow squawking in rapid succession. And then he opened his eyes. They glowed red, blood red, like his mane. Finally, he unfurled his wings. These weren't the wings of a demented pony, though, these were large, grand, magnificent white wings that wouldn't have looked out of place on a young prince. They filled the mare with new hope and put all new kinds of fear into her attacker. The strange alicorn stepped forward, and the unicorn fell back. The mare stayed where she was, however, and saw that from his forelegs forward, he was black with a red mane, but from there back he was white with a blue tail. An indescribable blue, like sapphires, and the sky, and the sea, all at once.
The strange pony stepped forward again, raising the knife with his magic.
"NO! NO PLEASE! DON'T!" screamed the blue unicorn. The mare looked on, thinking she should leave now, but neither her legs, nor her wings would move. The knife came down...
And halted, just before it sunk into the pony's skull. The strange alicorn seemed to be having some kind of internal struggle. Or was it internal? The mare looked to him, and it seemed that the barrier between where the black and white fur met was beginning to ripple. At first she thought they were both pushing towards the other, but soon she saw a new color blossom onto the fur in between the two. It was green. The green started to spread, pushing the other two back, and slowly, slowly, the knife lowered from the unicorn's face. The pony shook his head, and then faced the unicorn again.
"RUN." He said, in a voice with three different tones to it at once. He didn't need to be told twice.
He ran.
I shook my head. What the..? What just happened? I remember seeing Fluttershy get held against the wall, and then... I felt really angry. Enraged, actually. But...
Fluttershy! Where is she?! I turned to look, and my frantic question was quickly answered. She was sitting beside the wall that she had been pressed against, and I sighed with relief. She seemed unhurt. But she was staring at me. She seemed afraid. Did I do something wrong? Why would she be scared of me? And where's that scumbag who was going to hurt her? I swear, if I see him again, I'll...
I looked Fluttershy in the face at last, and she did the last thing I had expected. She started screaming her head off and flew away. What? Is there something behind me? I whipped around. Nothing but a solid brick wall and a little bit of garbage. What could have scared her so badly? I mean, she had been through a seriously traumatic experience, but, she looked like she was afraid of what she had been looking at. And, by all reasoning, she had been looking right at me. What had I done to scare her?
I wasn't getting anywhere by standing here asking questions, and I had no idea where Fluttershy had gone, so I ultimately decided that the best thing I could do was try to find one of the other girls, and ask them what had happened. I had managed to keep my sense of direction all the way up to this point, but I suddenly found myself unsure of which side of the alley I had entered from. That might prove an issue.
As it turned out, it didn't, because Rainbow Dash chose that exact moment to fly overhead shouting Fluttershy's name.
"HEY! RAINBOW! DOWN HERE!" I bellowed up at the (momentarily) stationary pegasus. She spotted me and flew down, faster than my eyes could follow. I jumped when she appeared in front of me.
"Yeah? What's up Dark Time?" she asked. I took a deep breath and explained what little I knew of my present situation. She listened with surprising patience for Rainbow Dash, and when I had finished, she simply said, "Oh, so Fluttershy is probably just heading to the hotel. We can find out what spooked her when we get back there. Anyway, see yah Dark!"
"Hey, wait Rainbow! Hotel? I didn't know we were staying here overnight."
"Really? Well, yeah. We're staying at this real swanky place over on Mane Street. Anyhoo, bye!"
"Wait!"
"What is it now?"
"Er... could you maybe point me in the direction of Mane Street? And maybe tell me what rooms we've rented, and in what hotel?"
"Oh, you want to head back there? Well, your loss. There's some really cool stuff around here, ya know. Like that book store. I hear they have all the Daring Do books to date, some even in first edition, and..."
"Rainbow! Focus! I just want to know where the hotel is."
"Oh, right. Mane Street is actually just out this end of the alley. If you walk maybe two blocks down, the hotel's just on the other side of the street. I think it's called "La Casa Bonifelia" or something like that. We have three rooms, 324, 323, and 322, all on the third floor. See you later Dark!" and with that, she was off. It was lucky that I didn't have any more questions, because she was gone before I could have said "wait", one last time.
* * *
Ten minutes later, I realized Rainbow Dash was completely wrong, at least as far as the hotel name was concerned. Not only was the hotel named "The Castle of Memorabilia", but it was not a hotel. It was a little tourist stand embedded into a wall on my side of the street. However, on the far side, there was a very nice, ten-story hotel that certainly looked in every way, "swanky". This particular place was called "The Manehattan Hotel". How did Dash forget that? Assuming this was actually the right place, of course. I decided there was no harm in checking, so I crossed the street, and went inside.
Upon entering, I noticed just how "swanky" the hotel really was. There was a large, ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and many seats of varying sizes and styles standing about the room. I elected to head straight for the elevator, relying on Dash's memory of the numbers despite her mistaking the hotel name. Or perhaps she had misjudged the distance, and I was in the wrong place. Or any number of other possible things that could have been miscommunicated.
I was lucky this time, though. Upon reaching the third floor in the spacious glass elevator, I wandered through the halls until I reached room 322. I probably would have passed it by and checked the other two were it not for the audible sobbing sounds coming from within. I knocked on the door, hoping that it was Fluttershy and not some mare whose coltfriend had walked out on her. I heard the sobs choke to a halt and the distinct clip-clop clip-clop of hooves approaching the door. Much to my relief, it was a familiar yellow face, though with quite bloodshot eyes, that peeked through a sizable gap in the door.
However, my relief was not returned by Fluttershy. On the contrary, she gasped audibly and attempted to slam the door on my muzzle. Somehow, my reflexes took hold and I brought my front left hoof up just in time to stop the door. I winced visibly and audibly as the wood banged against my flesh. That would leave a mark. I then pushed the door open slowly.
Fluttershy eeped and crept away from me as if I had some horrible disease, winding her up curled into a ball in the far corner of the room. Why is she so scared of me? I kept walking, keeping my slow pace, until she stopped me with her voice, which I realized I had never heard before.
"I-I'm s-sorry. I-is you're hoof okay? I d-didn't mean..."
"Er... I'm fine. Really. I just wanted to know why you ran away from me." I said, ignoring the burning pain in my limb as I set it down to the floor again.
"R-ran a-away? O-Oh yes! I, um, ran away because..."
"Was it that pony with the knife? Was he the reason?"
"P-pony? Oh, yes. Well, no, actually. It was because, um..."
"It's funny, my memory is kinda blank there for a bit. I can't seem to remember where he went. What happened to him?"
"Oh, r-really? W-well, he..." She stopped and stared up at me, as if she expected me to interrupt again, but I did not. After a few moments, she seemed to realize that I was listening now, so she continued.
"W-well, somepony came down the alleyway, a-and he had a black horn, with black magic, and a red mane, but he had white wings and a blue tail, and he grabbed the knife from the one pony and... Oh, I thought he was going to kill him! I mean, he saved my life, but I didn't want him to hurt anypony, and he brought the knife down, but he stopped, just a hair before he stabbed the stallion who attacked me, and then, he looked like he was struggling..." She stopped again, looking at me as if she wanted me to interrupt her now. But I didn't, so she finally finished.
"The stallion ran, b-but the strange pony stayed. And then he started to change..." She looked at me again, and this time, I couldn't have interrupted even if I had wanted to. The look on her face was too horrible.
"He turned into you, Dark Time."
My mind began to reel at this sudden revelation, and I found that Mr. Crazy and Mr. Hero were shouting again, louder than ever.
I fainted dead away.
* * *
I regained consciousness on one of the room's two large beds, the one closest to the door. A quick scan of my surroundings told me that Fluttershy had positioned herself at the bedside, between the two beds, and, much to my surprise, was staring at me. In a remarkably delayed reaction, I jumped nearly a foot into the air and screamed, prompting Fluttershy to do the same.
"Um... Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay?" She asked, after recovering from the initial shock of my sudden awakening. I turned away from the door, attempting to calm my frantic heart and answer her. Eventually, I managed it.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just startled me, is all." I replied. Fluttershy smiled in response, but only briefly, and then she was back to her trademark look of concerned. At least that was the look that I saw most often, but who was I to judge trademark looks? I reminded myself that I had only been here for a day or two, and couldn't afford to make assumptions.
"So, uh..." I started awkwardly, "How long was I out?"
"Well, actually... about a half an hour." Fluttershy replied sheepishly. I simply nodded, as if losing a half an hour of my life was very normal. Of course, it was nothing compared to waking up inside a volcano with no prior memories whatsoever, but Fluttershy didn't know about that. Heck, nobody but me did. And Clementine, of course.
"Well," I continued, rubbing the back of my neck as I said it, "That wasn't very stoic of me, fainting like that."
"I understand. It was a lot to take in." She replied, patting my head with a hoof. Great. That doesn't make me feel like a foal at all.
We sat there for a while, trying to think of something to say to one another. Finally, I managed to break the awkward silence with, "I'm sorry, you know, for scaring you. I didn't even remember what happened." Fluttershy started and then shook her head.
"Oh no, you don't need to apologize. I'm sorry for running away from you. I should have at least found out your side of the story." I nodded once, and silence descended again. Somehow, it was less awkward now. And then Fluttershy did something completely unexpected. She leaned forward from her seat at the side of the bed and laid her head in the crook of my neck. I blushed but didn't pull away, despite every bone in my body begging me to. Something about this felt... wrong. I mean, it felt good, but wrong.
"Dark Time, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. I didn't answer, didn't give so much as a nod, due primarily to my immense internal conflict. Fluttershy pulled away, much to my relief, but then I turned to look at her. Her hooves were to her mouth and her eyes were tearing up.
"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to upset you! I just, well, we are friends, aren't we? I just thought that..."
"Fluttershy! Fluttershy. It's okay. I'm just not used to stuff like that, is all."
"Oh, all right, if you're sure."
"I'm sure, you didn't do anything wrong." And I surprised both her and myself by reaching out and hugging her, wrapping both hooves around her back.
It was at this extremely bad time that the other girls returned to the hotel, and, just my luck, Applejack waltzed right into my brief moment of tenderness, seeing me holding a Fluttershy who looked like she was crying. Of course, being Applejack, she automatically jumped to the worst possible conclusion and, before I even knew she had entered the room, her hoof came up and bashed me in the back of the head.
* * *
I awoke with an all-new lump on my head and six mares staring down at me, some looking concerned, others amused.
"He's awake!" Twilight exclaimed, as if they all couldn't tell when I opened my eyes. I groaned and rubbed my head.
"I'll give you this, AJ, you really know how to throw a punch." Applejack smiled in an apologetic fashion, and I found several hooves pointed at my face, each one offering to help me up. Ultimately, I simply hoisted myself to my feet, thanking them all for their trouble.
"Fluttershy explained exactly what happened, so you don't need to worry about Applejack hitting you again." Twilight said, then looked at Applejack and spoke firmly, "Right Applejack?"
"No need to worry about that, Dark. After the story we just got told, I trust you more than ever!" I suspected that Applejack had never completely trusted me to begin with, so I wasn't terribly reassured.
"Well, I suppose now that he's awake, we can finally eat a good meal and get some sleep." Rarity noted, a tad unnecessarily. I stood there for a moment, my head spinning, but managed to find my way over to one of the beds. Just as I reached it however, someone tapped me lightly on the shoulder. It was Fluttershy, hovering behind me, and she gave a subtle nod to the others, who were seated on the floor. I nodded in return, and we went to join the others.
"I ordered room service." Rarity explained. "I hope you like what we got for you, Dark Time. We really couldn't ask you what you liked due to your being..." she glanced at Applejack, "otherwise occupied."
It was at this moment that I realized I still knew virtually nothing about what was going on in the world, or even with my new friends. How much was a bit worth? Were there any non-ponies? How many kinds of ponies were there? Heck, where even was I? I chose to express my confusion to the girls, explaining that I actually knew very little about the world, likely due to my amnesia. This news came as a surprise to everyone but Twilight, and I realized just how little I had told or been told. I also suddenly remembered the original purpose for my going to Twilight's, which was to treat my apparent amnesia. I mentioned this to Twilight, and she started.
"I had completely forgotten about that!" She sat and thought for a moment, putting a hoof to her chin and gazing at the ceiling. "Well... But... Hmmm... That can't... Hmmm... Alright!" She finally said, "Your mind is very strange, Dark Time. We should have ended up in a hallway-like space, with 'doors' that led to different portions of your mind, like your memories, emotions, instincts, and magic pool. But instead, we ended up in that field, where it was almost like everything and nothing was. I think the animals were your emotions, like the white cat when you might have been surprised by my presence. But then... I have no idea what that sapling was for, and I can only assume that those huge walls of color were the manifestations of your split-personality disorder, and..." Twilight stopped at the loud slapping sound. Both her and I looked around for the source, and found four of the other ponies staring at us, or rather, at me, looking horrified, and Applejack with her hoof pressed against her face. Ah... face-hoof.
"Er... oops." Twilight said, getting down to the floor. Chaos immediately reigned.
All four of the ponies who had apparently been left out of the loop started shouting, begging for answers, wanting to know why they hadn't been told about me, or, in Pinkie's case, just shouting nonsense. Mr. Crazy and Mr. Hero decided to add their voices to the turmoil, repeating the same words over and over again.
Kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them... said Mr. Crazy maniacally.
You can't, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't... returned Mr. Hero forcefully.
Kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them, KILL THEM!!!
You can't, you can't, you can't, you can't, YOU CAN"T!!!
KILL THEM!!!
YOU CAN"T!!!
"SHUT UP!!!" I screamed, clutching at my head once again. I looked around, and every pony in the room, including the member of hotel staff who had just entered the room with our food, was staring at me.
Fudge Nutters...
I did it again...
Also...
I really need to find out what Fudge Nutters means.
* * *
I sat with the girls, eating our dinners in silence. The hayburger and hay fries that Rarity got me were delicious, but I found it difficult to enjoy with Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie trying to avoid looking at me, and Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash shooting glares at me between every bite.
I really wish that I had gone with Clementine.
Finally, I spoke, having just swallowed the final bit of my burger. "Okay, I'm going to explain myself, and I'm going to start at the beginning. See, I don't remember anything past two days ago, when I woke up in a volcano..." and so I recounted my tale, leaving nothing out, not even my dream on the way to Ponyville. I told them absolutely everything that I knew. I even told them about parts some of them knew, because the others might not. The only part I didn't tell them was the part about me saving Fluttershy, since Applejack said she told them everything. When I was finally finished, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were looking at me again, and even the stubborn Applejack and Rainbow Dash had lost their frowns. Only Twilight maintained any grievances.
"So you're just using your condition to excuse yourself from being rude?" She said. I scowled at the accusation, but decided to win this argument with logic.
"Twilight, I just told you the entire story of my life, as I remember it, and I didn't leave anything out, even things I would have liked to. Why would you think I was lying about the voices? Now, I don't know why you keep getting so peeved at me, I was just a little rude by mistake, but I'm willing to let bygones be bygones, if you are." And I held out my hoof to the lavender unicorn. She hesitated for a moment, and then took my hoof and shook it. I smiled.
"So, with all that cleared up, where were we?" We thought for a moment, and then Pinkie bounced into the air as she remembered.
"Oh yeah! Twilight let slip that you're crazy, Dark Time!" I winced visibly, and everypony stared at Twilight expectantly, requesting an explanation for why she had kept it a secret. She cleared her throat, it was her turn to explain.
"I'm sorry girls, I didn't want to tell you because, well, I wasn't sure."
"'Wasn't sure'? Ya'll seemed plenty sure when ya gave 'im his diagnosis, Twilight." Applejack voiced.
"Yes, well..." Twilight's ears drooped in shame, "I was just trying to hurt him. I didn't like him." Jaws dropped all around our little circle, and Pinkie asked, "Why didn't you like him? He seems like a perfectly nice stallion to me!"
"Well..." Twilight sighed, and I could have sworn her ears drooped even further. "I... Dark, do you remember when we first met? And I told you I knew a bad pony when I saw them?" I nodded once, the memory stinging worse than the actual comment had. "I... didn't actually think you were a bad pony based on my sight. It was more of a feeling." I cocked an eyebrow, and Twilight hurriedly continued. "I detected some kind of magic from you! Something that was just a little bit like the kind of magic that coursed through Sombra," A shiver seemed to run through the others at the mention of that name. "but it was also very different. Much more powerful, and I just... detected it, is all. That much dark magic... I... assumed you were bad news, so I jumped at the chance to make you look bad, and instantly regretted it. I'm sorry, Dark Time."
I looked into her eyes. She meant it. Every word. For a moment... I don't want to forgive her. I want her to suffer like she made me do. But... I know that's just Mr. Crazy talking. She just wanted to protect her friends, and she made some bad choices. I can understand that.
"It's fine." I say finally. "Think nothing of it." Twilight smiles with relief and I smile back. Somehow, while the other girls start chatting again, I start thinking about where this conversation started. That's right! I had been thinking about all the questions I had.
"Hey, now that everyone else has had their questions answered, how about we start answering some of mine?" All conversation stopped abruptly and I got several confused looks from the mares.
"Um... what questions do you have, Dark Time?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, my memory only extends to about two days ago, as we established, so what seems like common knowledge to you is brand new to me. So, I was wondering, could somebody catch me up? Just anything that I might need to know. Stuff that everypony knows."
It was silent for a moment as the girls looked at each other, as if trying to decide who should explain. Eventually, Twilight looked at me and said, "Well, this is the region of Equestria, which is ruled over by the Royal Pony Sisters, Celestia and Luna, who are both alicorns, and..."
Chapter 5: Dreams Made Real
I look around and I'm not in the hotel anymore. I half expect to be in the desert again, with the fire giant, filly Clementine, and burning town again, but I'm not. I'm in a place that is very different. I appear to be underwater, and I'm swimming for my life. I don't need to breath, but I will. Something's after me. What is it? I can't see. The water is black. Someone is screaming. Something rockets through the blackness and hits me in the head. I stop and reach up to find out what it is, and discover a small, shivering something curled there. I pull it away and find a small filly with a white coat and perfectly groomed purple mane and tail gazing at me. Rarity?
Suddenly, something rockets out of the blackness and strikes me across the face. I stumble and realize I am not underwater, it's just extremely dark and, for some reason, I can't feel the ground beneath my hooves. I fumble about for a moment, getting the filly Rarity into position on my back, and then keep galloping away from whatever hit me. Rarity screams from my back but I can't turn around. Something has wrapped itself around me. It's cold, nothing like the filly on my back. It wraps coil after coil of dark coldness around me, and I see an inconsistency in the darkness. Two spots which reflect an unseen light. They move around as the coldness tightens, and the breath is forced from my lungs as the filly is pressed against me. She manages one final scream before the darkness tightens again, shattering my ribs.
* * *
I awoke with a start, casting my sight about the dark room frantically. After a moment, I assured myself that I was fine, just another freaky nightmare.
After we had finished our dinners and explanations the night before, it had been decided I would get a room to myself, which suited me just fine. Somehow, though, I ended up with the central room, with Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash on one side and Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy on the other. I wondered how that could possibly help if I did go all crazy-death-alicorn again, as I could just walk out the front door, and no one would be able to make it outside fast enough to stop me. Then again, maybe they had completely different reasons for sticking me in the center. What those reasons were, I had no idea, but I didn't claim to know what went on in other pony's minds.
My mind drifted back to the nightmare I had just had. Grim. That was a good word to describe it. And why did that filly look so much like Rarity? Did it have some connection to the dream about the fire giant? Is asking pointless questions that no one could possibly answer really going to get me anywhere?
Having decided that the answer to that final question was 'no', I decided to try and get some more sleep. It was then that I realized I heard movement in the room closest to my head. The one Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie were sharing. Huh. What could one of them be doing this early in the morning? The sound approached the door which connected my room to theirs. Apparently large groups came along often enough that there were twelve of these three conjoined rooms scattered about the hotel. While an interesting fact, it had proved completely useless up to this point, and I seriously doubted it would ever come in handy.
The aforementioned door banged open, despite being locked, and a light glowed in the center of my field of vision. I put a hoof to my face and squinted, trying to see who had barged in, and why there was a light. Eventually, I managed to determine that it was Twilight standing in the doorway, and that the dim light came from her horn, likely so that she could see without awaking me. I don't know what made me do it, but I lay back down and pretended to be asleep, listening to the slight creak that the floor gave as Twilight made her way slowly towards my bed. Eventually, I knew she must be standing right over me, because her dim light shone through my eyelids, but just barely. I then felt a strange sensation as something swept through my body, from my tail to my mane, and a dull pain started in my chest and head, seeming to resonate with each other.
Twilight gave a slight gasp and muttered something like, "I knew it." before the strange sensation picked up again, this time starting in my chest. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn the sensation was gripping at my chest, as if trying to pry something out of my very being. That's when the real pain started.
The dull pain that had started when the sensation first swept through me suddenly exploded into something much more fierce. Imagine, for a moment, having a red-hot sword stabbed into the very core of yourself, then imagine something a hundred times worse. You might have some small idea of the pain I was in.
I screamed, opening my mouth as wide as it would go, and my eyes shot open, my pupils contracting to near nonexistence, and then dilating to fill nearly my entire eye. I thrashed around, and I thought that I was steaming. From somewhere far away, it seemed, I heard Twilight saying, "Come on, come ooooon!" I began to retch and my eyes rolled in their sockets. Finally, with a 'WUMPH ' all the pain stopped, and I was left panting on my bed, covered in sweat and still steaming lightly.
After a few moments, I collected myself enough to look around. I spotted Twilight against the far wall, slumped to the ground. For a moment, I was convinced she was dead, or at least unconscious, but she soon shook her head and pulled herself to her hooves.
"Are you alright?" I asked her considerately. She stood stock-still for a moment, surprised, but soon regained herself.
"Yes, I'm fine, but are you alright?" She asked me, genuine concern on her face, something that I wasn't used to seeing there.
"Um... Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm okay." I answered, after taking a moment to check myself over. I did appear to be okay, just a bit sweaty.
"Okay. That's good." Silence descended, and it grew from the brief pause between questions to the long, never ending silence of two ponies who didn't quite know what to say to each other. Finally, I asked the question which had been gnawing at me since the pain stopped.
"Twilight, what were you trying to do?" She started, but then her ears drooped and she stared at the floor.
"I... wanted to find out if you really did have that dark magic I sensed. So I used a spell that I read up on to detect the presence of magic in your body. Most ponies have one type of magic coursing through their system, depending on if they're earth ponies, pegasi, or unicorns. Even alicorns have one special kind of magic that winds its way through them, but it's sort of all-encompassing magic, so they can do things earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns do. I expected it to be the same with you, that I'd be either right or wrong, but..." I had been listening intently, interested in the way magic worked, yet something told me that, for some reason, I was an exception. "I was both wrong and right, something I didn't anticipate. You actually have not one, but three kinds of magic within you, but only one actually travels through your system. The other two are sort of bunched together, actually being restrained by your normal magic. Now, one of these magical bunches was, apparently, some kind of super-powered pegasus magic, which was strange enough, and the other one was the dark magic that I sensed, yet it was in a form that can only be transferred through a horn! I was confused by all this, of course, but I decided to do what I could to draw out the dark magic that you have, but, when I tried, it was so deep-rooted in you that it started to cause you physical pain and, well, I guess you know the rest."
Twilight had gradually started looking more panicked and more stressed as she continued speaking, her mane and tail beginning to take on odd shapes and really rather scaring me. However, when she finished, she flopped to the floor and covered her face with her hooves, like she was trying to keep from crying. I was left feeling confused and frightened. Evidently, there was more wrong with me than simple insanity. I had actual dark magic, which could only be used by a unicorn or alicorn, inside of me. I actually was some kind of... villain. Maybe Twilight was right. Maybe I am a bad pony. I shook this thought away and turned my attention back to the distressed mare in front of me.
"So I'm... some kind of freak magic anomaly, huh? Something never before seen or heard of?" I asked, not bothering to conceal my condescension. But it wasn't directed at Twilight.
"Well... yeah, sort of." she answered.
"Great. Just excellent." I said, voice layered with sarcasm, and I lay back down, a frown adorning my features.
"I-I'm sorry, Dark Time. I didn't mean to hurt you, and I shouldn't have even woken you." and Twilight Sparkle, easily the mare who detested me the most, and who I did not in any way consider 'meek', cried, tears running past her hooves and falling to the floor. I sat back up and looked at her. I hate it when mares cry. It makes me say things I meant to keep to myself.
"Twilight, you didn't wake me up." I said, and the unicorn jumped a little, but still refused to remove her hooves from her eyes. "I had a nightmare, another one, actually, and it woke me up. So don't feel bad for not letting me sleep. I was awake."
The lavender mare sat up, eyes all bloodshot, and looked at me. "What was the nightmare about?" I wondered, for a moment, if she was just trying to change the subject, as I had been, or if she was concerned for me. Ah, well. I described the nightmare in as few words as I could, leaving out the part about shattering ribs. Twilight sat for a moment, looking thoughtful.
"Maybe... could it?.. Is that even possible?..." She muttered to herself, and I began to wonder what she was thinking about. I never found out, because it was at that moment that Applejack burst into the room.
"Twilight! Dark Time! We got big trouble..." She started, but then glanced between myself and Twilight, her eyes narrowing and a small smirk spreading onto her features.
"Just what're you doin' in here, Twi?" the orange earth pony asked slyly. Twilight and I blushed but Twilight managed to recover herself.
"I'll explain later. What trouble?" Applejack grew serious once again.
"I got a letter from cousin Braeburn. You remember him, dontcha?" A brief nod from Twilight. "Well, apparently, some kind of disaster has hit Appleloosa! There's smoke coverin' the whole town, mornin', noon, an night."
"Could it be another dragon sleeping in the mountains?"
"Twilight, you know there's no mountains around Appleloosa. And no dragon in their right mind sleeps at less than 1,000 feet! Anyways, Braeburn wants to know if we could come down and see what's wrong. We'd have to cut our vacation short, though. The sooner we get there, the better."
"All right, Applejack. Let's go wake the others, then we can pack up and leave."
Applejack simply nodded and went back into her room, presumably to wake Rarity and Fluttershy. I sat on the bed, one small detail confusing me.
"Twilight? Did Applejack get that letter in the middle of the night?" I asked. She looked at me quizzically and nodded. "What kind of mailmare delivers mail in the middle of the night?" Twilight nodded once and explained, "If somepony labels their mail *urgent*, then it gets mailed right away, and is delivered no matter what time of day or night it is. And this sounds pretty urgent." I nodded in understanding and noted that she had failed to mention that earlier this evening. What else was I bound to find out?
"Wait, did you say dragon?"
* * *
Now, we were barreling down the tracks in the same train that had taken us to Manehattan. On some level, I was sad to leave that amazing city. On another, crowds weren't really my thing, and the whole 'almost killing somepony' thing was hard to forget when you were in the city it occurred in. Of course, by all rights, I couldn't remember the situation anyway.
We were approaching Appleloosa, and I glanced out the window. Wow. This was some serious smoke. I could barely see anything at all. And we were still a good ways from Appleloosa! I wondered briefly what could be causing all of this smoke. I suspected the volcano I had first awoken in might be the cause, but it had been completely destroyed. Of course, some of the remaining smoke might have drifted this far, but I could barely see out the window! It was almost like the town itself was... oh no.
Appleloosa was burning. In the great sea of black smoke I could see lights flickering, but these were not the small, friendly fires of torches, no, these were large, out-of-control infernos that ravaged buildings. And worst of all, it looked exactly like the town in my dream, albeit much closer.
The train came to a stop at what I could only assume was the station, for I could not even see the ground beneath my hooves as I got out. It seemed that we seven were the only ones who had bothered to get off the train. I saw others gaping out their windows at the desolation. I hoped with all my heart that this would not get any more like my dream. It did, of course.
"What the hay?!" I heard Applejack shout, through a fit of coughing. "I thought it was just smoke ! This here's a town-wide fire!"
"We need to help anypony we can find. Rainbow, see if you can clear a path through the smoke. We've got to stop this!" Twilight ordered. Rainbow said nothing, simply sprang into a salute and darted off, flapping her wings as fast as they could go, clearing away smoke and putting out small fires as she did. Applejack and Pinkie Pie galloped away, spotting ponies and leading them toward the train. Twilight and Rarity worked to clear away the smoke with their magic, and even Fluttershy did her part trying to help Rainbow make a path. And I? I was left standing by, feeling utterly useless. But only for a minute or two.
A roar ripped it's way through the town, vibrating my entire body by it's sheer volume, and making everpony around me stagger. I saw a great black shape rising on the far side of town. Then, the smoke was cleared, likely by Rainbow Dash, and I saw the thing I had hoped I would not see.
A 200 foot tall giant stood away from us all, it's eyes burning like vast coals and molten lava dripping from it like water after a shower. It seemed made of stone, yet held together by the flaming liquid. It roared again, but I did not even flinch. Here was something I could do.
The last thing I remember was spreading my wings.
* * *
The immense creature which had somehow come out of nowhere roared, nearly giving everypony who heard it a heart attack. Twilight was trying to concentrate on pushing back the smoke, which wasn't all that challenging, but the fire giant had a way of grabbing attention. She lost focus for a moment, and it cost her. The smoke swept back in her direction, and she gasped involuntarily. This was a rather large mistake, as a vast quantity of smoke had just reached her muzzle, and she inhaled most of it. Left gasping for air, Twilight could only watch helplessly as the giant took notice of the train. And then her view was obstructed again. She knew what would be coming. She had to do something, HAD to save the ponies on the train! But then something profoundly unexpected happened. The smoke cleared away. For a moment, she assumed that it was Rainbow Dash clearing it away, but Rainbow wasn't white.
The white blur of a pony swirled around her and Rarity in dizzying circles. Once the smoke had all been blown away, the pegasus came to a halt, and Twilight got her first good look at him. He was as white as snow, besides his mane, tail, and eyes, which were all blue. The most lovely blue she had ever seen. She didn't think she had ever seen a stallion that she had actually thought was attractive, but this would be the first. He hovered in the air for a moment, gave her a subtle nod, and then dashed off, straight towards the giant. What was he? Twilight gaped at what she saw transpire over the next several minutes. She was dully aware of the other girls coming and joining her as it went on, but it didn't matter either way. All that mattered was the absurd fight that was happening.
The white stallion flew straight at the giant, just as it's massive claw-like appendage descended towards the train. He then stopped with a precision that would impress the Wonderbolts, and turned in midair, giving a buck that put Applejack to shame. The pegasus' hooves connected solidly with the monster, shattering the appendage into a million smaller fragments and throwing lava every which way. By some miracle, or perhaps just that Applejack and Pinkie Pie had cleared that section of the city already, nopony was hurt, though a few buildings were reduced to so much rubble and ash.
The creature roared in pain and clutched at the stump of stone that remained where the appendage once had been. It then frowned at the pony, swiping at him with the other one, but he simply drifted out of the way, almost lazily. The giant kept swinging and the stallion kept dodging, getting more theatrically bored each time. He even drifted right over the beast's limb on his back, stifling a yawn with one hoof. It was then that a scream rang out.
Everypony looked for the source, and soon found it. A blue earth pony mare, with an orange mane, who had been pulling a cart along the road into town. Twilight recognized her as the second guest of honor at Pinkie Pie's Ponyville Party. Clementine, wasn't it? Yes, that was it. Clementine.
The lava creature had taken notice of her, too, and now was turning in her direction. The stallion, on the other hand, had lost focus. He was shaking his head, as if something were bothering him. He regained himself, however, when a second scream came from the mare.
"CLEMENTINE!" He shouted, and dove towards her. Huh, that's strange, Twilight thought, his voice sounds like Dark Time's, but a bit deeper. And how does he know her name?
Her thoughts were cut short, however, as an all-new dramatic scene played out before her. The pegasus dove just as the giant's intact forelimb swept down, fast despite it's size. But the white pony was faster. He swept underneath the descending appendage, snatched Clementine away, and flew off, but didn't manage to save her cart from being crushed. The giant then looked towards the fleeing couple, and everyone watching could have sworn they saw a smirk split its stony features. It then sank into pure magma, flowing in the direction of the now-grounded ponies. It then circled them, and rose up in a great fiery tidal wave, sealing the duo within. And then, everything was still. All the ponies in the watching circle held their breath, some wanting to go and help, but not knowing what they could do, and others just awestruck.
Finally, steam erupted from the top of the lava cylinder, and it turned to rock before the crowd's very eyes, and the rest of the lava soon followed. Then, the top cracked, and shattered, and the white pegasus flew out, Clementine clinging to his neck for dear life. The stallion let Clementine off not ten paces from the crowd, then flew back to the massive rock structure and gave it a solid buck, bringing the entire thing crumbling to pieces. It was at this moment that he shook his head again, and then his wings seemed to seize up, so he plummeted towards the ground, following the shards of the monster.
* * *
Everything hurts. Why does everything hurt? I don't know. I can't remember. Which probably means I went evil-doom-alicorn and killed somepony. Or everypony. OW, my head! These were my first thoughts as I woke up in a pile of what appeared to be rubble. I attempted to stand up, but collapsed. My hind legs wouldn't support me anymore. I then looked around, ignoring the pain in my head as I did so. I then spotted several ponies walking up to the pile of rubble I was on top of through a crack between two rocks that had fallen in front of me. But were the ponies here to get me? Or just to investigate? And if they wanted me, what did they want me for? My mind danced with images of guillotines and deadly spells. But I could do nothing. I couldn't walk, much less run, so all I could do was sit here and await my fate.
I looked on as the ponies approached, and realized that it was just Twilight and her friends, which didn't make me feel all that much better. Among other things, Twilight had told me about the Elements of Harmony, and how her and her friends had defeated such enemies as Discord and Nightmare Moon, which she elaborated on, with these elements. I wondered briefly if they had somehow acquired them while I was out. It was possible, since I had no idea how long it had been.
Twilight gazed over the few rocks that separated me from her line of view, and gasped as I looked up at her with a crooked, weary smile, my blue eyes (I managed to check a mirror back at the hotel. Blue eyes. Interesting.) dancing with a mixture of joy and fear. Twilight just stared at me for a long moment, and I wondered what was wrong. She knew about the transformation, so was it really all that surprising? Twilight then drew her head back, and I heard her say, "Girls, I don't know how, but that pegasus stallion was Dark Time! He's the only one in that pile of rubble." I heard several exclamations of surprise after this, and confusion swirled through my mind. Not an alicorn? A pegasus? And why were they so surprised? It must be because I was a pegasus, not an alicorn this time. That must be it.
Then, all six of the brightly colored ponies peered over the rocks, and I halfheartedly raised a forehoof and waved slightly. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.
"Dark Time. That. Was. AWESOME!" she exclaimed, and I gaped slightly. Awesome? "I mean, the way you just flew in, you bucked that thing right in the claw! And it just SHATTERED! How did you even...?"
"Erm... Rainbow, it wasn't exactly a claw. It held similarities with a dragon's claw, but it lacked pointed fingernails." Twilight corrected, and I managed a small chuckle. Typical Twilight. Rainbow Dash waved her off and continued to shower me with compliments which I didn't feel like I deserved. It was at this incredibly convenient moment that I actually remembered what I had been doing just before I turned.
"Hey..." I said, then coughed, because my voice was terribly scratchy, "What happened to that huge monster? That giant rock thing?" They all looked at me in confusion. Finally, Pinkie spoke up.
"You're lying on it, silly!" What? Lying on it? This pile of rubble?
"What- what happened?" I asked, and Twilight stepped forward to tell the story. As she did, the others interjected with bits she forgot, or just with opinions of their own. Rarity, for instance, commented on what a lovely color my coat was as a pegasus, and oh, the things she could do with my mane ! Things like that. The only one who said nothing was Fluttershy, and I saw an expression cross her features that made me wonder something. As soon as the story was finished, I asked the question that had arisen in my mind after seeing that expression.
"Fluttershy?" She jumped slightly and looked at me. "You... you did tell them about what happened in Manehattan... didn't you?" The others then abruptly looked at Fluttershy, making her cower and shy away. I wish I hadn't brought it up.
The gazes of the others eventually overwhelmed Fluttershy, and she nearly started crying as she explained, "Dark Time transformed before, in Manehattan. I got separated from you girls and then got pulled into an ally by a strange pony, and... and... he had a knife, he... he... he brought it down towards me, but then... another mysterious pony grabbed his knife. He had a red mane, and black face, but a blue tail, and white body, and red eyes, with a black horn, and two white wings. He... he saved me, but he nearly killed the pony who attacked me. I just... I didn't want to tell you girls. I'm sorry." She finished. And everypony looked at me.
"You guessed it." I said glumly. "That mysterious alicorn was me." No mouths, but mine and Fluttershy's, were closed at this point. All simply stood, gaping at the two of us, so I decided to change the subject.
"Um... you said Clementine was here, right? Could I go say hello?" The others looked at me, and Fluttershy looked grateful. "I, uh, must've strained something bucking that monster. My back legs won't support me." Rainbow Dash simply nodded and swept me up, and before I knew it, I had been deposited in front of a clearly startled Clementine.
"Oh! Dark Time, it's you." She said, clearly sounding cheerful. I nodded slightly from my position mostly on the ground, and then asked her, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Canterlot?"
"Oh, right. Well, after my stop in Ponyville, I was running a little more short on supply than I thought I would be, so I decided to come back home and restock." I nodded. That made sense. I was about to continue the conversation when I felt myself get swept up again, and heard the voice of Rainbow Dash say from somewhere above me, "Sorry, Clementine, but Dark Time is needed for something really important." Clementine just sighed and said, "It's fine, Rainbow. I'll see you later, Dark!" And she waved, so I waved back before being carried off to see the rest of the Elements once again.
"So, what's so important?" I asked as Rainbow set me down. Twilight then glared at Rainbow and she just shrugged.
"There isn't anything really important, Rainbow just wanted to compliment you some more."
"HEY! I did not! They were just taking themselves way too seriously over there, and I had to do something about it!"
"Alright, Rainbow Dash, if you say so."
I was left to my own thoughts as the girls got into a discussion over why I had been brought back over, and I realized that, in all the aftermath of this new fight, several things had been disclosed, but one thing still remained.
"Um, girls?" I said uncertainly. They all stopped talking immediately and looked at me. I didn't like the attention, so I got it over with quickly.
"I sort of had a dream, about three days ago, that was almost exactly like what just happened. Giant lava monster, Clementine, Appleloosa, everything." The girls gaped at me once again.
I'm beginning to hate being gaped at.
* * *
The dark presence fumed over this latest development. Infernus had failed, as its minions often did. He stopped it far too many times to be let off the hook. He would die, one way or another. He couldn't possibly survive for too long. He wasn't even used to his new body, yet! Hmmm... the best would have to wait. It was time to step it up, though, no question. Time to bring in the shadows.
It was time for Nox to have its fun.
