Legends of Equestria: Night's Calling, 1by Arcanebolt32ChaptersThe PreludeA Bugged FoulSkies of FireA Dark Shade of Black-writing-Golden Oaks LibraryThe PreludeNot all stories of heroes... start out golden... Him and I stand on the brink of battle with hundreds of foes. All the things we did on the way here, I try to remember everything. Because that's the only thing we'll have left if we fall. PRELUDE =GRAND SLAM?= It's the last inning of the game! All that's left to be done is for somepony to get a home run and we will win! A pony from our team approached the batter's plate holding their bat under their wing. They grabbed it with their mouth and stood ready to hit the ball. The cocky-looking stallion that was the pitcher just rubbed his hoof on his pelt and scoffed at the challenge. He picked up the ball with his hoof and threw it up in the air, when it came down he smacked it with his tail toward the batter. It caught our batter by surprise and they swung a little early. They still hit it, but it took a moment for them to realize it and start running. The runner only got to first base, but we still had other players on 1st and 2nd, so they made it to their next proceeding base. The opportunity for a grand slam was now available, and if we got that, we would win! "Blazed Hit, you're up." our coach said, the crimson-maned stallion next to me then stood up to the name. He was our best batting pony. He used to serve in the Lunar Guard, like me, but quickly resigned for... unknown reasons. No pony asked him why, he changes it every time. A few replies I heard the other team members say when they asked him were: "They were too strict.", "We just walked around all night doing nothing.", "I've always wanted to play Baseball", "My brother called me here.", and his best one, "Sometimes a pony feels the need to hit balls in the air.". Anyways, he's a bat pony, just like me, and everypony else on this team. We're called the Bat Batters, and as cheesy as the name sounds, right now we're playing for a chance to go into the major leagues by beating the tournament we're in. The team we're up against is Chinterwind High's own Chinter Ashes, and they were as determined as us to win the qualifiers. Now, Chinterwind is a usual "hub" for unicorns, so naturally more than half of their team are unicorns. To prevent any use of interfering magic, all unicorns are required to pass through a magic gate that disables the use of spells unless you step through the exit gate. This does not apply to the players, because they are able to levitate their gloves (but only a few feet around them due to regulations.) making it easier to signal other teammates to do something, and not hold it in their mouths. And of course, this sometimes causes suspicion of false wins because of interference with the ball while it's in the air, or if the somepony made the ball turn whilst it was thrown. (And they refuse to change the rules.) Blazed Hit, with his bat holstered under his bright red wing, sat up from the bench and walked up the two steps out of the dugout to go onto the field. He turned and looked back to me, he then smiled and winked. Blazed has a crush on me, it wasn't hard for everypony to see. We were... close, but we never did go out to actually spend time together... alone. Our team's prized player turned his head back to the field, and trotted brazenly toward the home plate. With a smirk look on his face, he put his bat in his mouth and stood in position. The pitcher looked tense, but Blazed seemed a little over-confident. The stadium grew quiet, and all the ponies' focus was on the 2 individuals in the middle of the action. The pitcher closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, he then opened them and stood on his hind legs. Holding the baseball in his fore hooves, he threw his arms [Inferring that forelegs are arms, it's just weird to say foreleg.] behind him, then, turning the potential energy into kinetic, thrusted his right arm with the ball toward Blazed. Blazed, ready to hit ball... took his bat out of his mouth, and spat on the ground. The ball whizzed by him, and the catcher caught it and threw it back. The umpire shouted, "STRIKE ONE!", and the crowd gasped at what he'd done Everyone was shocked to see what happened, and the coach became furious, he shouted to Blazed, "What are you doing?!". Blazed turned his head toward the coach, and said coolly, "That wasn't a good one..." The coach raised his hoof in the air and shook it at Blazed. He turned and went into the locker rooms muttering explicit words under his breathe. Confused quarreling turned into yelling violence in the crowd, and all Blazed did was lean against his bat. The pitcher distraught with Blazed's actions, threw the ball again at the same speed as his other one. Once again, Blazed did not swing. The umpire shouted, per regulation, "STRIKE TWO!" as the catcher throwing the ball back. More revolt came from the spectators, demanding him to play better. Blazed sighed and mouthed something to himself. He then picked up his bat with his mouth again and stood to hit the ball. The crowd settled down seeing Blazed's change, and now everything was silent. (except for the crying foal somewhere in the East block) Opposing to Blazed smirk and cocky pose, the pitcher was looking suspiciously at Blazed. But something happened, I saw [Still here, sorry.] the pitcher look off to the side, appearing to communicate to somepony. His eyes widened a bit and he nodded his head. The pitcher cocked his head side to side, and repeated the same sequence to when he threw the ball in the first place, this time, he did it faster, throwing a shocking 90 MPH! Blazed reaction is fast, he gives a satisfied smile, and swings his bat to counter the throw! It's a hit! The ball flew far and high in the air, it reached it's highest point in the middle of the field, and started losing altitude, but at a more steeper rate. Down, and down, and down, and down. It seemed like it wasn't going to make it into the stands. It got closer to the ground, closer and closer... then... A Bugged FoulCHAPTER 1 =A BUGGED FOUL= The ball speed increased the closer it got to the ground... closer and closer... and it fell... just an inch before the rail and just below it, one of the outfielders caught it right in his gloves... It seemed like everypony in the stadium said, "WHAT?!", and our coach, who came back a while ago, seemed to be hit the most with this development. A thing with our coach, is that he is very... antagonized by cheating, it's one of his pet peeves, something he's obsessed over. Our coach stepped onto the field, waving his hooves in the air, calling a time out. He was shouting at the referee, how he says the ball was tampered with in some way to end up like that. Honestly it seemed that way, though it was very unlikely, it happened. The coach kept arguing with the ref, and it started to get violent. The ref said he will go and consult the peacemakers to see if there was any use of magic on the ball. "This all could have been a setup! They could lie!" the coach yelled, "Don't you go running- as the referee started pacing away -away!" Now, anypony with a lick of sense knows that the coach was being delusional, and overreacting. Even my teammates were gossiping between themselves about him. He grumbled things to himself as he walked back into the dugout, he turned to me and said, "Erin, you're up." Yeah, that's my name, Erin, Erin Waywind. I've dreamed of becoming a baseball All-star since I was little. Because, baseball always- "Come on, we don't have all day. Get up there." the coach demanded. Sheesh, you don't have to interrupt my thoughts... I grab my bat in my mouth and walk up the steps onto the field, to pass by the ego-broken Blazed. He was looking down and surprised at the same time. He glanced at me for a second and looked the other way, I guess he was embarrassed that he couldn't impress me... I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him, but still, he shouldn't have acted so cocky... One's ego can become one's folly I looked around the field seeing my adamant-spirit faced teammates standing ready for the next base. The other team showed only their own firm and steady appearance. No fear, but a sign of fraud pride on all their faces. The pitcher looked at me as if he was insulting every manner of myself as I stood next to the plate. He spat on the ground next to him, and cocked his head from side to side. It seemed everypony here had competitive problems. He dragged on that dramatic act longer than was necessary to drive his point through. "Can we just get this over with?" I said to the pitcher, shrugging while I did. "With pleasure." he replied. He immediately threw the ball at me, an easy 80 MPH fastball. But at the time he threw it, it caught me off guard to get back into batting position, so I didn't swing. "STRIKE ONE!" The umpire yelled, then the catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher. The colt smiled in an heinous manner, knowing that was unfair play. Grr... must every team we face have to use foul play at least once every time? I dislike foul play as much as the next pony, but this was ridiculous. The prideful oaf smirked once more, lifting his head to the wind seemingly heroic. It's obvious that he wasn't going to play nice, like he has been already. The next throw was just coming up now. The pitcher hurled back and threw a tight curveball coming at me at around the same speed as his previous throw. It was hard to decide to swing or hold in that situation. I remembered the words of my trainer, keep a calm and collected mind, and you'll know when to swing. The world slowed, and inches in front of me, the ball made a swift turn out of my swinging radius. He expected me to fall for a simple psychological trick. I didn't swing. The catcher claimed the ball. I listened for a second to hear what the umpire's call was. "STRIKE TWO!" he called. WHAT? I could hear the protests coming from my team in the dugout. That was an unfair call, it's obvious now that he doesn't care much for this, as it has been carrying on for too long, and he just wants to go home. This next throw, I have to hit it. The opposing team has a reputation for being smug, but in their history they usually only give one chance for each batter to hit the ball, at least a fair one. No doubt to brag about it when they procure the spoils of their cheap victory. If things go as I think they will, then I might just win this for us. The catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher. The time is now, the world slowed once more as I focused. The pitcher took his stance, no dramatic display, no smug semblance, just straight to the point. At least he finally breaks from his continuous spree of insults for once. Everything was silent. I could hear the wind brushing the grass of the playing field, the howl, and the distant sounds of city traffic. But, there was something off... The ball flew out of the pitcher's hoof. Slowly approaching, creeping, crawling towards me... There was a sound, coming from above, a far off noise of bizarre. It kind of sounded like the sort of thing like when you jiggle your cheeks really fast. A... "pattering" type of noise. I break from my focus, and the world returned to normal, the crowd's awe as they watch me straight out neglect to swing at a fastball straight for me. I couldn't stop getting the feeling that something was coming, right this moment. Booing came from the crowd, as well as a wave of disappointment, even the umpire seemed to be astonished seeing that I didn't swing, and didn't realize that he hasn't called out the result of the throw yet. "u-uh, Strike Three?" he said. The umpire stating that only seemed to make the crowd's protest worse. Why didn't I swing? Because every time I get this feeling, something bad is about to happen. I look up to the sky, the sun still directly overhead, microwaving us as we played. But just as soon as I was considering myself done surveying the sky, a blackish blanket of dots were coming over the stadium. The crowd silenced its uproar, if only for a second. Angry protest turned into shouts of confusion. When the sun was blocked by the veil of foreign darkness, everypony could make out each individual speck. They appeared to be ponies, but, ponies all of the same color? That wasn't right... The spectators confusion turned into panic as the strange black ponies started skydiving from above, each one hitting random places on the surface area of the stadium. They were attacking us! Skies of FireJust as soon as I realized of their aggressiveness, one had landed right in front of me, creating a somewhat-large crater. It hissed vigorously, startling me. I didn't know what else to do. I jump on its head and ran. It seemed to work, I looked behind me to check if it was on my tail, as I ran blindly in a random direction. All I could see in my path were my team and the other team being... encased in this slimy ball of green goo and being carried off. I did not want to share the same fate, so I ran, and looked up, there I saw the dugout, my team's dugout. Through the dugout is the way out of the stadium. Sprinting at full speed, I jumped into the trench and closed the fence gate, and pushed the lock over the gate's pole. I may have hoped for too much in doing this, they may have just as easily broke it down as it is to walk in unobstructed. Nevertheless, I entered the locker rooms behind the dugout. It was quieter in here, almost tranquil. Those creatures wouldn't think to check in here. The thought was laughable, if I could even fathom what was happening. Perhaps I should wait it out in here before venturing into the open Even if the insides of this place were quiet, I could still hear the commotion outside with my sensitive ears. "All those ponies... trapped, with nopony to help them..." I said to myself. The thought of heroicly rushing out to save the ponies passed through my head, once again, I laughed at the thought. What a fool am I... I sat on the cold tile floor, it seemed like hours since something has happened. The faint sound of thunder could be heard in the small room. A storm is brewing... Maybe... maybe I can get somewhere in the rain. I doubt they could fly in this weather. I rose from the floor and came up to the door to get out to the back way parking. I pushed the bar on the door, it wouldn't budge. Locked... damnit. The keys must be inside the coach's office Usually the coach never allows us in his office unless he calls for us, but... I think he'd make an exception... just this once. The metal door creaked loudly as I opened it, even if it was my team's stadium, we didn't practice here. Which means these rooms aren't really used a lot. Thinking about that, it makes me question why we even have them... I entered the office and turned on the lights to make things clearer. Apparently the coach liked this office, it's decorated with some vintage furniture and the walls are plastered with posters of some of the most famous major league teams. The door closed itself, cause there was an automatic hinge above which slowly creaked it shut. There was a desk in the corner, a lamp was dimly lit over a framed picture showing the coach and the team. I held it in my hoof while looking it over. The picture... saddened me. It made me think of all the things we could have done as a team. We weren't just a team, we were like a family, in its own rite. Every night after a game, we'd always treat ourselves to a hot pizza at our local pizzeria. Even if we lost, we always lifted our spirits with that visit, telling ourselves: "Even if we lose a match, we're not out of the game.". Those were the coach's words. It seemed to work every time, because we came out of that place smiling and laughing. I've noticed that a tear shed upon the picture. I was about to wipe it off, but just then a thunder had cracked, and there was the sound of a door being forced open. I gasped and hid under the desk. There was a window above where I hid, I slowly rose and peaked into the locker room. There were two of those things in here! I quickly ducked down again before they could see me. They were walked around the room, as if patrolling and looking for something. They hissed to each other something I couldn't understand as they were moving. One of them was getting closer. I could hear its hoofsteps getting closer to the door... It stopped... It hissed something in the other direction, most likely to its cohort. My heart was pounding miles a minute... are they going to come in here? The creature hissed again, and this time I could make out something it said: "Sssssomething's in here". !! Shit! They've found me! I froze as I watched and waited for the door to open. Suddenly there was a lightning strike very close by, and it knocked out the power, killing the lights in the stadium. The creature outside hissed something, I couldn't make out anything. Then the door opened. I tried my best to steady my breathing, and I kept perfectly still. The thing walked by the desk and paused inches away. Then there was a sound of creaking, like a door opening, but not the office door. Probably the steel locker in the back, near the desk I was under. The thing hissed another thing, but in a more surprised tone, when suddenly it fell backwards! Hold on, no, it was tackled by something!? A pony? It was violently fighting with the creature. While the creature was pinned, it kept spastically hissing and jeering as it was flailing its forelegs at the pony. The pony pinning the creature, after ferociously beating it to the ground, raised its head up high. There was a small illumination in the room, and then a bright flash of light. Everything happened so fast... The sudden flash blinded me, I couldn't see a thing, and my ears were ringing. I thought it was over... everything. Everything was white, was I... dead? I started hearing a voice above the ringing. A calming voice... "Are you alright?..." The whiteness was fading, and my sight started coming back. A pony was holding its hoof out to me. I was looking at the pony, I judged It was male from the voice. I looked him over for a moment before taking his outreached hoof. The stallion was a bigger than me, but not by a lot. He was dark in colors, and was wearing a cloak with a hood. There was also a blindfold over his eyes... How does he see me then? I was still in shock, but I managed to say, "W-who are you?" He breathed out for a moment, and looked away, then replied, "Right now that's not important... I'm more focused on what YOU are doing here." I was about to answer until he interrupted, "Nevermind, I already know, you're hiding from... them..." he said, and pointed at the two black creatures on the ground. "Disgusting bugs..." He sneered. "Just... what exactly are they?" I say "...Changelings...-" "Changelings?" "Yes! Don't interrupt me." he barked "Okay... sheesh..." I said, and he made a motion as if he was rolling his eyes. "Changelings... They are a strange lot." he continued, says the one who won't even tell me his name, "They're able to shapeshift into somepony you know, and what they do is feed off your love for that pony." "Feeding off of love?" "Yes, as I said, they're a strange lot. Love is a powerful emotion, and I'll tell you this much, I'm a... -a researcher, of sorts. And I'm studying how these creatures work, and why they feed off of love." "Well then, why were you hiding in the steel closet?" I say, he paused for a moment, as if he was thinking of something... "I-I was... in there from the start... Hiding as well." he replied, stuttering and pausing as he said it. If I know suspicious, then this pony is definitely hiding something, if not everything about him. "Hey, you're a unicorn." I say, seeing his horn. "...Yeah..." he replies and moves like he's looking away. I observe his horn more closely, and see there's actually something wrong with it. It's twisted in a fashion as if it were in a lightning shape, and longer with a sharper tip. "What the- what is-?!" he put his hoof over my mouth. "It's best we just don't talk about it, in fact, it's best we don't pry into who, or what I am." he says, and removes his hoof. "We have to just get going, besides, it's a good idea to move while this.......... rain... is showering..." "...You paused when you said 'rain'..." "...Perceptive, aren't you? Fine, but it's best if you see for yourself. Follow me." he waved his hoof and I followed him through the locker room and to the back door. "This isn't regular rain, My Little Bat Pony." he said, and opened the door with magic. Through it, there was a sight to behold. The rain was pouring down, creating a dense fog, but, it wasn't natural rain. It was some kind of greening "fire" of sorts., and when a drop touched the ground it hissed and released a cloud of green smoke, thus accumulating to such density. The pony placed one of his forlegs around my back, making me jump. "Don't worry, it won't harm you, this rain is a type of magic of the changelings. They make clouds, and send them over their territory to "claim" it as their own. It burns the grass and chars the land, but it can't hurt living, sentient things." "Why not?" I reply "Because, if it were to harm, or kill ponies, there would be less power to be gained for them. Do you get it?" he explains "I guess... for them." "We've got this dense fog as cover, we won't be able to fly because it will be too wet, even if it looks like fire." "You just said 'we', do you mean that-" He grabbed me by the hoof interrupting me and said "Let's go!" The pony dragged me along as we ran through the rain, he was surprisingly fast for his size. "Where are we going?!" I yell over the sound of rain, only to get some of its foul "firewater" in my mouth. "Try not to open your mouth while looking up! This rain is still different from regular weather! Especially the taste!" he replies back, "Also! Somewhere safe! Trust me!" It was the first time he said that, and the first time I actually gave the thought of trust. I yank my hoof free of his grasp and come to a stop, soon after the strange pony does too. "And why should I trust you?" "Why did you come along in the first place?" he replies "Because I didn't have a choice! You reached out your hoof when I didn't know what to do! But now that I think about it, you're hiding a lot of things from me! So I'll ask again, why should I trust you?" ... The pony just calmly walks back towards me, he takes off his blindfold, slowly opening his eyes and looking at me, revealing very thin irises, and with an equally calm voice, says, "Do you have any choice now?" A Dark Shade of Black"W-w-what the hell?!... is with you?!" I said, stumbling back. This wasn't a regular pony. He turned, let out a small laugh, and said. "Heh, you have no idea..." It was just going to be a trivial bout to get him to tell me whatever secret, so I didn't ask. I stood back up on the ground, silent, blinking occasionally. The pony reached out his hoof, once more, and let out a gentle smile. "Come, follow me." he said. I was pondering over everything that had happened up till now. The team, the family... my own family. Everypony I know is gone. I have no pony else to turn to, and now this strange, darkish pony comes to offer to take me with him... It's just overwhelming. When I look at him, he doesn't seem to be deceiving me in any way, but... why is he helping me? Why go through the trouble of helping a random pony? Is he some kind of a hero of sorts? No... he doesn't carry that "air" about him. "Trust me." he said, ushering me with his outreached hoof. I was looking off to the side, and I could feel the intensity of him looking at me, a relentless gaze yet soft and subtle. It didn't have to be mentioned that I was nervous, and, scared. But what would happen if I go with him? When we were in my coach's office, he said he was a researcher (of sorts) ... That's obviously not the case, seeing him right now... No, I won't trust him, I can't. He's hiding too many things. When the world goes to hell, trust no pony. Keep *yourself** alive.* I just became infuriated. This is too much to think about! And... and, "You know what? No! I just... just.... Grah!" I turn and started running. I kept running, and running, and running. There may have been a chance of getting somewhere with that pony--- that pony... I could imagine him slowly putting his hoof down, his gentle smile turning into a frown with a disappointed brow. He would turn and scoff with a cynical impression of me. I'm not one who takes things like that lightly. I knew, if I ever had done something wrong to another, I'd never stop thinking about it. But that was probably the last I would ever see of that pony. And it's too late to turn back now. That lasting, faulty impression of me will forever plague my mind. Running, and running, and running. I don't know where I'm going, but I know I'm going somewhere. The rain started falling less and less as the clout started to disperse. Could I be finally getting out of this cursed weather? And finally, out I came from the green fog. But what I saw was probably worse than being inside the green downpour, blind. The land was dead and blackened, there were no signs of life anywhere, the trees bore no leaves, and the houses that once populated a town were now withered to ruin. Everything was exactly what that pony had described. I paused for a moment, taking in the ominous sight. "Th-this..! This can't be real!" I say aloud, "It-it just can't be!" Then I heard sound of fluttering wings not far overhead. On the edge of the dark clouds, they were there; Changelings! They were pushing the clouds, which explains how the weather was moving past so fast. My realization was cut short, as I saw figures of them coming closer. Shit! They saw me! There's no way I could take them on. They fought like wolves whenever that pony fought them. I resorted into sweeping the landscape for places to run through, anything to try and get them off. There was a large structure in the distance, withered to circumstance, appearing the have multiple rooms. It had a stain of familiarity to it but there wasn't time to debate that. I kicked off the ground to boost myself and flew as fast as I could. Looking behind, the changelings were gaining on me, and the building was still some distance away. Closer and closer they got, I could feel the hair standing on the back of my neck. The feeling of terror enveloped me... Am I going to make it? Just then my adrenaline kicked in. I flew faster, I didn't feel tired, I just kept flying without looking behind. I burst through the doors of the structure and turned to the first thing that looked like an escape. I didn't stop to look around... After a few turns I decided to stop and catch my breath. I've never flown that fast in my entire life. Granted I would have lost it if I- Wait... No... They wouldn't kill me... "Changelings... They are a strange lot." "They're able to shapeshift into somepony you know, and what they do is feed off your love for that pony." If what he said is true, then they would have done the same thing they were doing to the spectators in the baseball match... Encase me in a... I shivered at the thought. Well, I'm NOT going to get captured by them either way! How would they feed off my love anyways? I don't love anypony... Are you alright?... Trust me... Ugh! No! I don't love him... H-he's rude a-and In-c-c-considerate, a-and!... He saved my life... I was pausing, thinking about that rogue pony. It was the sound of buzzing wings getting closer that snapped me back into reality. Gasping, I realize that I haven't lost the changelings yet. I stopped and looked around. I knew from looking at the building from afar that this building was familiar. The interior was untouched by the corrupted rain of the changelings' magic, and I recognize these halls. They're the hallways of my school. The buzzing noises were getting closer, I started off in the other direction. Flying down the hallways, I looked for places to hide, but every door was locked. Even the bathrooms. I imagine I was able to get through the front doors is because the doors must have rusted over or something. I was still trying to figure out where I was in the school. The halls have little to no differentiation to each other, and I could be in any one. So I'm flying blind until I can gather my bearings. I turned a corner and up ahead I saw a windowed hall with a closed hallway checkpoint[(*] I came to a streaking stop in front of the doors. I pushed the bar to see if they would open, unfortunately, luck wasn't on my side. Damn! The buzzing was closing in. The changelings rounded the corner and saw me, trapped at a dead end. I could hear them hissing in delight while I could only look at them in fear and terror. They immediately started down the hall at me. Was this it for me? I have nowhere else to run. No pony's going to save me... I closed my eyes, maybe for the last time, and waited. Waited for them to take me. I was balled up against the wall, shaking. I could hear the stomping of hooves and buzzing of wings getting closer... and closer... and closer. But then, there was the sound of glass shattering, and a familiar voice shouting, "Hold it!" Time seemed to slow down as it happened. I opened my eyes to see... him, again. That royal blue stallion. -writing-This chapter is a placeholder, it is for the revamped version of this story, please note that each chapter beyond this one is not part of the official post, and is there for past references. Also, now sounding informal, I would just like to point out, over the years, I've become more creative in writing, and interesting in my opinion, I enjoyed writing this more than another story which had more positive review than the first version of this one, which... the first version of this story landed in the worst possible group of this site. Golden Oaks LibraryWe were over Ponyville now, and the sun was beginning to rise. I said to Erin that we should rest and eat, then start later at night, so we went down below the clouds, and onto the outskirts of town, under the canopy of a forest. Erin went to scout out a hotel or inn (they're pretty much the same thing) to keep us out of the blinding sun before it came up. Erin returned and said, "All the lodgings are booked, they're filled because visitors are coming to visit for a few days for something called 'Apple Cider Season'." I grunted and said, "Well I don't fancy sleeping on the ground when we still have towns in front of us..." and lay skulking on the stump of the tree, "So, did anything else I need to know?" "Hmm... well... there was this hyperactive pink pony that... eh, said she would throw a party for 'my' visit" "Just like that?" "Yeah..." FLASHBACK "Ugh, all the hotels are filled..." I said, and walked with a frown back to where Arcane waited, but then there was a pink mare bouncing down the road with an equally bouncy mane, when she saw me, she came up almost at the speed of sound and said, "OMGOMGYOURABATPONY!IHAVENTSEENABATPONYSINCELUNACAMEDOWNFROMTHEMOONNNIGHTMARENIGHTATNIGHTANDGAVETHEWHOLEENTIRETOWNASCARE!" she paused here and took a heavy deep breath for another round of a word-sentence, "HIMYNAMEISPINKIEPIEWHAT'SYOURNAME?HEYYOUHAVEEYESJUSTLIKEACAT!BUTHATISNORMALFORBATPONIESWOULDN'TITBECASETHEYRELATEDTOBATSRIGHT?NOWAIT!BATSDON'THAVECATEYESBECAUSECATSHAVECATEYESBECAUSETHEYARECATS!RIGHT?" I stopped for a moment to capture what all of what she said, half of it was just random gibberish, and the other was just weird, "I'll start with my name, I'm Erin, and yes, I am a bat-pony, more preferred as 'lunar'-pony. Bat's do not have cat eyes... that is true, but lunar ponies, also known as bat-ponies, are blessed by Luna to have crescent eyes to see at night. Speaking of which, I'm just passing through, I'm only staying for the day, but all the hotels and inns are full." Pinkie Pie breathed in again and said, "HEY!ICANTHROWYOUAPARTYATTWILIGHT'SLIBRARY!ITCANBECALLEDTHEERINVISITSPONYVILLEFORADAYPARTY!ANDICANINVITEEVERYPONY!" she paused for a moment and then said, "OHNO!IGOTTAGOANDPREPAREIT!ANDINVITEALLTHEPONIESINPONYVILLE!BYEERIN!" "No wait!" I say, but she was already gone. REALITY "Uhhh..." I said "Eheheh..." Erin nervously laughs "Well, I suppose we should ask the librarian there if we could stay the day on a bench there, or somewhere in a hidden wing?" I guess "Actually, I took a visit to the place on the way back, it's actually very small, and there was an upstairs with beds. I didn't go in, I just looked inside the windows." Erin said "Hm, I guess that makes us a little lucky." "Yeah, oh, by the way, there was a baby dragon sweeping the floor, I thought it strange at first, but a lavender unicorn was talking with it. It got a book for her, and she placed it on a shelf, so I could guess he's 'trained'." "Hmm, and infant homo pyro reptilias... interesting." I thought out loud "Huh? how?" she wondered "Hatching a baby dragon is part of a test to enter Princess Celestia's academy for Gifted Unicorns." I replied "So, somepony there must be a graduate of her academy or something?" she guessed "Exactly, at least that's my hypothesis. I just hope she's not a stuck-up capitalist that thinks she's better than everypony else..." I say "What?" she didn't completely catch the second part I said, I didn't want her to "Oh.. um, nothing... Just something about common Canterlot ponies..." remembering my last becoming associate... ([This part will make a little more sense soon]) "Let's head for your 'party'." So I followed Erin to the library where her party was going to be held, "This is the only library in the town." she said on the way, and when we arrived, the lights were out. Erin said, "When I peeked through the window, that Pinkie Pie was all over the place putting up decorations, and that's not exaggeration... she was literally all over the place... Now that I think about it, when we were talking, all she seemed to care about was the party... though, guessing from her cutie mark, I guess parties are her specialty." The sun was a little over the horizon now, and it lit up the side of the tree that bore the library. "The Golden Oaks Library", is what the sign read "Hmm, I'm surprised somepony like that was awake at this time in the morning." I said, "anyways, the party's for you, I'll wait behind the tree, out of site until the party's over, when all of them are gone, come get me." "Alright, see you in a bit." Erin said, and she went inside, while I went to the side and lay in between of some of the tree's roots. In only a few seconds after laying down, there was a loud collective, "surprise!" from inside. I scoffed at it, covered my head further with my hood, and went invisible. After a while, I dozed off and dreamed of flying trains, there was a tan coated mare with a pink mane's head on the, well, head of the train smiling cheekly as it revolved a planet on it's ring. That wasn't the strangest of deams that I had before, but Erin soon woke me up and told me the party was over. I got up and we both went up to the door. I asked Erin to go first and try and ask if we could stay before I go in, and I would wait out and listen. She went in, "Oh, you're back, Erin." a female voice said "Yeah, it was a nice party, Twilight." Erin replied. So Twilight's her name... I thought "Is there something you need? I'm happy to help with anything." Twilight said "There is one thing... me and a... friend of mine need a place to sleep for the day... we... uh... work in the night, and we're tired you know..." Erin replied "Oh, yes, you do look awfully tired." "Been up all night flying from Canterlot with over 100 pounds of supplies in tow for a trip we're on..." "Ooo, that's over an 8 hour flight, come and invite your friend in, you can use the spare bed... or... he or she could, depending on what he is, and you could hang from the ceiling supports... I've read a lot about your race, Erin, so I guess that would be conservative of space!" Twilight chuckled at the last statement, Erin seemed a little insulted. Twilight noticed and quickly apologized. I opened the door afterwards, (on my own initiative), and walked in slowly, my cloak was still on and the hood was still over my head, so all that could be seen was the dark gradient from my hooves and my dangling necklace. I looked as if I took no notice of Twilight, and went upstairs. I go up to the bed that didn't look like it's been used a lot, and fell face first from tiredness onto it. I heard them talking from below at my audacious first impression, "He's... not very social with other ponies... He would talk like a regular friend with me, but nopony else. I would bluntly say... he's a dark type of pony." "Well he could of at least show his face... what's his race? He has to be a Pegasus or Lunar pony, I know you couldn't have held up that much weight on your own..." "Umm... It's best not to speak of it, he likes to keep it a secret." Erin stutters, "Well," Erin yawns, "I'm going to sleep as well, good day." "Sleep well, sounds like you two are going to travelling for a long time. Good day." Twilight says, and Erin comes up the stairs "It seems you were having a tough time trying to hide my identity." I said "Well you're the one who put up that dramatic performance." she argued back "You know I want to stay covert..." "Yes, but at least say 'hi' to somepony who nicely lets you use her spare bed." I couldn't overturn that objection "Whatever..." I say, Erin rolls her eyes and flies up to the ceiling, she hangs herself by her tail on a support beam, and wraps herself with her wings. No matter how many times she does that, I always find it funny... I thought I rolled over on the bed and went to sleep, but it wasn't long until I was awaken by a shriek from our host.
The PreludeNot all stories of heroes... start out golden... Him and I stand on the brink of battle with hundreds of foes. All the things we did on the way here, I try to remember everything. Because that's the only thing we'll have left if we fall. PRELUDE =GRAND SLAM?= It's the last inning of the game! All that's left to be done is for somepony to get a home run and we will win! A pony from our team approached the batter's plate holding their bat under their wing. They grabbed it with their mouth and stood ready to hit the ball. The cocky-looking stallion that was the pitcher just rubbed his hoof on his pelt and scoffed at the challenge. He picked up the ball with his hoof and threw it up in the air, when it came down he smacked it with his tail toward the batter. It caught our batter by surprise and they swung a little early. They still hit it, but it took a moment for them to realize it and start running. The runner only got to first base, but we still had other players on 1st and 2nd, so they made it to their next proceeding base. The opportunity for a grand slam was now available, and if we got that, we would win! "Blazed Hit, you're up." our coach said, the crimson-maned stallion next to me then stood up to the name. He was our best batting pony. He used to serve in the Lunar Guard, like me, but quickly resigned for... unknown reasons. No pony asked him why, he changes it every time. A few replies I heard the other team members say when they asked him were: "They were too strict.", "We just walked around all night doing nothing.", "I've always wanted to play Baseball", "My brother called me here.", and his best one, "Sometimes a pony feels the need to hit balls in the air.". Anyways, he's a bat pony, just like me, and everypony else on this team. We're called the Bat Batters, and as cheesy as the name sounds, right now we're playing for a chance to go into the major leagues by beating the tournament we're in. The team we're up against is Chinterwind High's own Chinter Ashes, and they were as determined as us to win the qualifiers. Now, Chinterwind is a usual "hub" for unicorns, so naturally more than half of their team are unicorns. To prevent any use of interfering magic, all unicorns are required to pass through a magic gate that disables the use of spells unless you step through the exit gate. This does not apply to the players, because they are able to levitate their gloves (but only a few feet around them due to regulations.) making it easier to signal other teammates to do something, and not hold it in their mouths. And of course, this sometimes causes suspicion of false wins because of interference with the ball while it's in the air, or if the somepony made the ball turn whilst it was thrown. (And they refuse to change the rules.) Blazed Hit, with his bat holstered under his bright red wing, sat up from the bench and walked up the two steps out of the dugout to go onto the field. He turned and looked back to me, he then smiled and winked. Blazed has a crush on me, it wasn't hard for everypony to see. We were... close, but we never did go out to actually spend time together... alone. Our team's prized player turned his head back to the field, and trotted brazenly toward the home plate. With a smirk look on his face, he put his bat in his mouth and stood in position. The pitcher looked tense, but Blazed seemed a little over-confident. The stadium grew quiet, and all the ponies' focus was on the 2 individuals in the middle of the action. The pitcher closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, he then opened them and stood on his hind legs. Holding the baseball in his fore hooves, he threw his arms [Inferring that forelegs are arms, it's just weird to say foreleg.] behind him, then, turning the potential energy into kinetic, thrusted his right arm with the ball toward Blazed. Blazed, ready to hit ball... took his bat out of his mouth, and spat on the ground. The ball whizzed by him, and the catcher caught it and threw it back. The umpire shouted, "STRIKE ONE!", and the crowd gasped at what he'd done Everyone was shocked to see what happened, and the coach became furious, he shouted to Blazed, "What are you doing?!". Blazed turned his head toward the coach, and said coolly, "That wasn't a good one..." The coach raised his hoof in the air and shook it at Blazed. He turned and went into the locker rooms muttering explicit words under his breathe. Confused quarreling turned into yelling violence in the crowd, and all Blazed did was lean against his bat. The pitcher distraught with Blazed's actions, threw the ball again at the same speed as his other one. Once again, Blazed did not swing. The umpire shouted, per regulation, "STRIKE TWO!" as the catcher throwing the ball back. More revolt came from the spectators, demanding him to play better. Blazed sighed and mouthed something to himself. He then picked up his bat with his mouth again and stood to hit the ball. The crowd settled down seeing Blazed's change, and now everything was silent. (except for the crying foal somewhere in the East block) Opposing to Blazed smirk and cocky pose, the pitcher was looking suspiciously at Blazed. But something happened, I saw [Still here, sorry.] the pitcher look off to the side, appearing to communicate to somepony. His eyes widened a bit and he nodded his head. The pitcher cocked his head side to side, and repeated the same sequence to when he threw the ball in the first place, this time, he did it faster, throwing a shocking 90 MPH! Blazed reaction is fast, he gives a satisfied smile, and swings his bat to counter the throw! It's a hit! The ball flew far and high in the air, it reached it's highest point in the middle of the field, and started losing altitude, but at a more steeper rate. Down, and down, and down, and down. It seemed like it wasn't going to make it into the stands. It got closer to the ground, closer and closer... then...
A Bugged FoulCHAPTER 1 =A BUGGED FOUL= The ball speed increased the closer it got to the ground... closer and closer... and it fell... just an inch before the rail and just below it, one of the outfielders caught it right in his gloves... It seemed like everypony in the stadium said, "WHAT?!", and our coach, who came back a while ago, seemed to be hit the most with this development. A thing with our coach, is that he is very... antagonized by cheating, it's one of his pet peeves, something he's obsessed over. Our coach stepped onto the field, waving his hooves in the air, calling a time out. He was shouting at the referee, how he says the ball was tampered with in some way to end up like that. Honestly it seemed that way, though it was very unlikely, it happened. The coach kept arguing with the ref, and it started to get violent. The ref said he will go and consult the peacemakers to see if there was any use of magic on the ball. "This all could have been a setup! They could lie!" the coach yelled, "Don't you go running- as the referee started pacing away -away!" Now, anypony with a lick of sense knows that the coach was being delusional, and overreacting. Even my teammates were gossiping between themselves about him. He grumbled things to himself as he walked back into the dugout, he turned to me and said, "Erin, you're up." Yeah, that's my name, Erin, Erin Waywind. I've dreamed of becoming a baseball All-star since I was little. Because, baseball always- "Come on, we don't have all day. Get up there." the coach demanded. Sheesh, you don't have to interrupt my thoughts... I grab my bat in my mouth and walk up the steps onto the field, to pass by the ego-broken Blazed. He was looking down and surprised at the same time. He glanced at me for a second and looked the other way, I guess he was embarrassed that he couldn't impress me... I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him, but still, he shouldn't have acted so cocky... One's ego can become one's folly I looked around the field seeing my adamant-spirit faced teammates standing ready for the next base. The other team showed only their own firm and steady appearance. No fear, but a sign of fraud pride on all their faces. The pitcher looked at me as if he was insulting every manner of myself as I stood next to the plate. He spat on the ground next to him, and cocked his head from side to side. It seemed everypony here had competitive problems. He dragged on that dramatic act longer than was necessary to drive his point through. "Can we just get this over with?" I said to the pitcher, shrugging while I did. "With pleasure." he replied. He immediately threw the ball at me, an easy 80 MPH fastball. But at the time he threw it, it caught me off guard to get back into batting position, so I didn't swing. "STRIKE ONE!" The umpire yelled, then the catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher. The colt smiled in an heinous manner, knowing that was unfair play. Grr... must every team we face have to use foul play at least once every time? I dislike foul play as much as the next pony, but this was ridiculous. The prideful oaf smirked once more, lifting his head to the wind seemingly heroic. It's obvious that he wasn't going to play nice, like he has been already. The next throw was just coming up now. The pitcher hurled back and threw a tight curveball coming at me at around the same speed as his previous throw. It was hard to decide to swing or hold in that situation. I remembered the words of my trainer, keep a calm and collected mind, and you'll know when to swing. The world slowed, and inches in front of me, the ball made a swift turn out of my swinging radius. He expected me to fall for a simple psychological trick. I didn't swing. The catcher claimed the ball. I listened for a second to hear what the umpire's call was. "STRIKE TWO!" he called. WHAT? I could hear the protests coming from my team in the dugout. That was an unfair call, it's obvious now that he doesn't care much for this, as it has been carrying on for too long, and he just wants to go home. This next throw, I have to hit it. The opposing team has a reputation for being smug, but in their history they usually only give one chance for each batter to hit the ball, at least a fair one. No doubt to brag about it when they procure the spoils of their cheap victory. If things go as I think they will, then I might just win this for us. The catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher. The time is now, the world slowed once more as I focused. The pitcher took his stance, no dramatic display, no smug semblance, just straight to the point. At least he finally breaks from his continuous spree of insults for once. Everything was silent. I could hear the wind brushing the grass of the playing field, the howl, and the distant sounds of city traffic. But, there was something off... The ball flew out of the pitcher's hoof. Slowly approaching, creeping, crawling towards me... There was a sound, coming from above, a far off noise of bizarre. It kind of sounded like the sort of thing like when you jiggle your cheeks really fast. A... "pattering" type of noise. I break from my focus, and the world returned to normal, the crowd's awe as they watch me straight out neglect to swing at a fastball straight for me. I couldn't stop getting the feeling that something was coming, right this moment. Booing came from the crowd, as well as a wave of disappointment, even the umpire seemed to be astonished seeing that I didn't swing, and didn't realize that he hasn't called out the result of the throw yet. "u-uh, Strike Three?" he said. The umpire stating that only seemed to make the crowd's protest worse. Why didn't I swing? Because every time I get this feeling, something bad is about to happen. I look up to the sky, the sun still directly overhead, microwaving us as we played. But just as soon as I was considering myself done surveying the sky, a blackish blanket of dots were coming over the stadium. The crowd silenced its uproar, if only for a second. Angry protest turned into shouts of confusion. When the sun was blocked by the veil of foreign darkness, everypony could make out each individual speck. They appeared to be ponies, but, ponies all of the same color? That wasn't right... The spectators confusion turned into panic as the strange black ponies started skydiving from above, each one hitting random places on the surface area of the stadium. They were attacking us!
Skies of FireJust as soon as I realized of their aggressiveness, one had landed right in front of me, creating a somewhat-large crater. It hissed vigorously, startling me. I didn't know what else to do. I jump on its head and ran. It seemed to work, I looked behind me to check if it was on my tail, as I ran blindly in a random direction. All I could see in my path were my team and the other team being... encased in this slimy ball of green goo and being carried off. I did not want to share the same fate, so I ran, and looked up, there I saw the dugout, my team's dugout. Through the dugout is the way out of the stadium. Sprinting at full speed, I jumped into the trench and closed the fence gate, and pushed the lock over the gate's pole. I may have hoped for too much in doing this, they may have just as easily broke it down as it is to walk in unobstructed. Nevertheless, I entered the locker rooms behind the dugout. It was quieter in here, almost tranquil. Those creatures wouldn't think to check in here. The thought was laughable, if I could even fathom what was happening. Perhaps I should wait it out in here before venturing into the open Even if the insides of this place were quiet, I could still hear the commotion outside with my sensitive ears. "All those ponies... trapped, with nopony to help them..." I said to myself. The thought of heroicly rushing out to save the ponies passed through my head, once again, I laughed at the thought. What a fool am I... I sat on the cold tile floor, it seemed like hours since something has happened. The faint sound of thunder could be heard in the small room. A storm is brewing... Maybe... maybe I can get somewhere in the rain. I doubt they could fly in this weather. I rose from the floor and came up to the door to get out to the back way parking. I pushed the bar on the door, it wouldn't budge. Locked... damnit. The keys must be inside the coach's office Usually the coach never allows us in his office unless he calls for us, but... I think he'd make an exception... just this once. The metal door creaked loudly as I opened it, even if it was my team's stadium, we didn't practice here. Which means these rooms aren't really used a lot. Thinking about that, it makes me question why we even have them... I entered the office and turned on the lights to make things clearer. Apparently the coach liked this office, it's decorated with some vintage furniture and the walls are plastered with posters of some of the most famous major league teams. The door closed itself, cause there was an automatic hinge above which slowly creaked it shut. There was a desk in the corner, a lamp was dimly lit over a framed picture showing the coach and the team. I held it in my hoof while looking it over. The picture... saddened me. It made me think of all the things we could have done as a team. We weren't just a team, we were like a family, in its own rite. Every night after a game, we'd always treat ourselves to a hot pizza at our local pizzeria. Even if we lost, we always lifted our spirits with that visit, telling ourselves: "Even if we lose a match, we're not out of the game.". Those were the coach's words. It seemed to work every time, because we came out of that place smiling and laughing. I've noticed that a tear shed upon the picture. I was about to wipe it off, but just then a thunder had cracked, and there was the sound of a door being forced open. I gasped and hid under the desk. There was a window above where I hid, I slowly rose and peaked into the locker room. There were two of those things in here! I quickly ducked down again before they could see me. They were walked around the room, as if patrolling and looking for something. They hissed to each other something I couldn't understand as they were moving. One of them was getting closer. I could hear its hoofsteps getting closer to the door... It stopped... It hissed something in the other direction, most likely to its cohort. My heart was pounding miles a minute... are they going to come in here? The creature hissed again, and this time I could make out something it said: "Sssssomething's in here". !! Shit! They've found me! I froze as I watched and waited for the door to open. Suddenly there was a lightning strike very close by, and it knocked out the power, killing the lights in the stadium. The creature outside hissed something, I couldn't make out anything. Then the door opened. I tried my best to steady my breathing, and I kept perfectly still. The thing walked by the desk and paused inches away. Then there was a sound of creaking, like a door opening, but not the office door. Probably the steel locker in the back, near the desk I was under. The thing hissed another thing, but in a more surprised tone, when suddenly it fell backwards! Hold on, no, it was tackled by something!? A pony? It was violently fighting with the creature. While the creature was pinned, it kept spastically hissing and jeering as it was flailing its forelegs at the pony. The pony pinning the creature, after ferociously beating it to the ground, raised its head up high. There was a small illumination in the room, and then a bright flash of light. Everything happened so fast... The sudden flash blinded me, I couldn't see a thing, and my ears were ringing. I thought it was over... everything. Everything was white, was I... dead? I started hearing a voice above the ringing. A calming voice... "Are you alright?..." The whiteness was fading, and my sight started coming back. A pony was holding its hoof out to me. I was looking at the pony, I judged It was male from the voice. I looked him over for a moment before taking his outreached hoof. The stallion was a bigger than me, but not by a lot. He was dark in colors, and was wearing a cloak with a hood. There was also a blindfold over his eyes... How does he see me then? I was still in shock, but I managed to say, "W-who are you?" He breathed out for a moment, and looked away, then replied, "Right now that's not important... I'm more focused on what YOU are doing here." I was about to answer until he interrupted, "Nevermind, I already know, you're hiding from... them..." he said, and pointed at the two black creatures on the ground. "Disgusting bugs..." He sneered. "Just... what exactly are they?" I say "...Changelings...-" "Changelings?" "Yes! Don't interrupt me." he barked "Okay... sheesh..." I said, and he made a motion as if he was rolling his eyes. "Changelings... They are a strange lot." he continued, says the one who won't even tell me his name, "They're able to shapeshift into somepony you know, and what they do is feed off your love for that pony." "Feeding off of love?" "Yes, as I said, they're a strange lot. Love is a powerful emotion, and I'll tell you this much, I'm a... -a researcher, of sorts. And I'm studying how these creatures work, and why they feed off of love." "Well then, why were you hiding in the steel closet?" I say, he paused for a moment, as if he was thinking of something... "I-I was... in there from the start... Hiding as well." he replied, stuttering and pausing as he said it. If I know suspicious, then this pony is definitely hiding something, if not everything about him. "Hey, you're a unicorn." I say, seeing his horn. "...Yeah..." he replies and moves like he's looking away. I observe his horn more closely, and see there's actually something wrong with it. It's twisted in a fashion as if it were in a lightning shape, and longer with a sharper tip. "What the- what is-?!" he put his hoof over my mouth. "It's best we just don't talk about it, in fact, it's best we don't pry into who, or what I am." he says, and removes his hoof. "We have to just get going, besides, it's a good idea to move while this.......... rain... is showering..." "...You paused when you said 'rain'..." "...Perceptive, aren't you? Fine, but it's best if you see for yourself. Follow me." he waved his hoof and I followed him through the locker room and to the back door. "This isn't regular rain, My Little Bat Pony." he said, and opened the door with magic. Through it, there was a sight to behold. The rain was pouring down, creating a dense fog, but, it wasn't natural rain. It was some kind of greening "fire" of sorts., and when a drop touched the ground it hissed and released a cloud of green smoke, thus accumulating to such density. The pony placed one of his forlegs around my back, making me jump. "Don't worry, it won't harm you, this rain is a type of magic of the changelings. They make clouds, and send them over their territory to "claim" it as their own. It burns the grass and chars the land, but it can't hurt living, sentient things." "Why not?" I reply "Because, if it were to harm, or kill ponies, there would be less power to be gained for them. Do you get it?" he explains "I guess... for them." "We've got this dense fog as cover, we won't be able to fly because it will be too wet, even if it looks like fire." "You just said 'we', do you mean that-" He grabbed me by the hoof interrupting me and said "Let's go!" The pony dragged me along as we ran through the rain, he was surprisingly fast for his size. "Where are we going?!" I yell over the sound of rain, only to get some of its foul "firewater" in my mouth. "Try not to open your mouth while looking up! This rain is still different from regular weather! Especially the taste!" he replies back, "Also! Somewhere safe! Trust me!" It was the first time he said that, and the first time I actually gave the thought of trust. I yank my hoof free of his grasp and come to a stop, soon after the strange pony does too. "And why should I trust you?" "Why did you come along in the first place?" he replies "Because I didn't have a choice! You reached out your hoof when I didn't know what to do! But now that I think about it, you're hiding a lot of things from me! So I'll ask again, why should I trust you?" ... The pony just calmly walks back towards me, he takes off his blindfold, slowly opening his eyes and looking at me, revealing very thin irises, and with an equally calm voice, says, "Do you have any choice now?"
A Dark Shade of Black"W-w-what the hell?!... is with you?!" I said, stumbling back. This wasn't a regular pony. He turned, let out a small laugh, and said. "Heh, you have no idea..." It was just going to be a trivial bout to get him to tell me whatever secret, so I didn't ask. I stood back up on the ground, silent, blinking occasionally. The pony reached out his hoof, once more, and let out a gentle smile. "Come, follow me." he said. I was pondering over everything that had happened up till now. The team, the family... my own family. Everypony I know is gone. I have no pony else to turn to, and now this strange, darkish pony comes to offer to take me with him... It's just overwhelming. When I look at him, he doesn't seem to be deceiving me in any way, but... why is he helping me? Why go through the trouble of helping a random pony? Is he some kind of a hero of sorts? No... he doesn't carry that "air" about him. "Trust me." he said, ushering me with his outreached hoof. I was looking off to the side, and I could feel the intensity of him looking at me, a relentless gaze yet soft and subtle. It didn't have to be mentioned that I was nervous, and, scared. But what would happen if I go with him? When we were in my coach's office, he said he was a researcher (of sorts) ... That's obviously not the case, seeing him right now... No, I won't trust him, I can't. He's hiding too many things. When the world goes to hell, trust no pony. Keep *yourself** alive.* I just became infuriated. This is too much to think about! And... and, "You know what? No! I just... just.... Grah!" I turn and started running. I kept running, and running, and running. There may have been a chance of getting somewhere with that pony--- that pony... I could imagine him slowly putting his hoof down, his gentle smile turning into a frown with a disappointed brow. He would turn and scoff with a cynical impression of me. I'm not one who takes things like that lightly. I knew, if I ever had done something wrong to another, I'd never stop thinking about it. But that was probably the last I would ever see of that pony. And it's too late to turn back now. That lasting, faulty impression of me will forever plague my mind. Running, and running, and running. I don't know where I'm going, but I know I'm going somewhere. The rain started falling less and less as the clout started to disperse. Could I be finally getting out of this cursed weather? And finally, out I came from the green fog. But what I saw was probably worse than being inside the green downpour, blind. The land was dead and blackened, there were no signs of life anywhere, the trees bore no leaves, and the houses that once populated a town were now withered to ruin. Everything was exactly what that pony had described. I paused for a moment, taking in the ominous sight. "Th-this..! This can't be real!" I say aloud, "It-it just can't be!" Then I heard sound of fluttering wings not far overhead. On the edge of the dark clouds, they were there; Changelings! They were pushing the clouds, which explains how the weather was moving past so fast. My realization was cut short, as I saw figures of them coming closer. Shit! They saw me! There's no way I could take them on. They fought like wolves whenever that pony fought them. I resorted into sweeping the landscape for places to run through, anything to try and get them off. There was a large structure in the distance, withered to circumstance, appearing the have multiple rooms. It had a stain of familiarity to it but there wasn't time to debate that. I kicked off the ground to boost myself and flew as fast as I could. Looking behind, the changelings were gaining on me, and the building was still some distance away. Closer and closer they got, I could feel the hair standing on the back of my neck. The feeling of terror enveloped me... Am I going to make it? Just then my adrenaline kicked in. I flew faster, I didn't feel tired, I just kept flying without looking behind. I burst through the doors of the structure and turned to the first thing that looked like an escape. I didn't stop to look around... After a few turns I decided to stop and catch my breath. I've never flown that fast in my entire life. Granted I would have lost it if I- Wait... No... They wouldn't kill me... "Changelings... They are a strange lot." "They're able to shapeshift into somepony you know, and what they do is feed off your love for that pony." If what he said is true, then they would have done the same thing they were doing to the spectators in the baseball match... Encase me in a... I shivered at the thought. Well, I'm NOT going to get captured by them either way! How would they feed off my love anyways? I don't love anypony... Are you alright?... Trust me... Ugh! No! I don't love him... H-he's rude a-and In-c-c-considerate, a-and!... He saved my life... I was pausing, thinking about that rogue pony. It was the sound of buzzing wings getting closer that snapped me back into reality. Gasping, I realize that I haven't lost the changelings yet. I stopped and looked around. I knew from looking at the building from afar that this building was familiar. The interior was untouched by the corrupted rain of the changelings' magic, and I recognize these halls. They're the hallways of my school. The buzzing noises were getting closer, I started off in the other direction. Flying down the hallways, I looked for places to hide, but every door was locked. Even the bathrooms. I imagine I was able to get through the front doors is because the doors must have rusted over or something. I was still trying to figure out where I was in the school. The halls have little to no differentiation to each other, and I could be in any one. So I'm flying blind until I can gather my bearings. I turned a corner and up ahead I saw a windowed hall with a closed hallway checkpoint[(*] I came to a streaking stop in front of the doors. I pushed the bar to see if they would open, unfortunately, luck wasn't on my side. Damn! The buzzing was closing in. The changelings rounded the corner and saw me, trapped at a dead end. I could hear them hissing in delight while I could only look at them in fear and terror. They immediately started down the hall at me. Was this it for me? I have nowhere else to run. No pony's going to save me... I closed my eyes, maybe for the last time, and waited. Waited for them to take me. I was balled up against the wall, shaking. I could hear the stomping of hooves and buzzing of wings getting closer... and closer... and closer. But then, there was the sound of glass shattering, and a familiar voice shouting, "Hold it!" Time seemed to slow down as it happened. I opened my eyes to see... him, again. That royal blue stallion.
-writing-This chapter is a placeholder, it is for the revamped version of this story, please note that each chapter beyond this one is not part of the official post, and is there for past references. Also, now sounding informal, I would just like to point out, over the years, I've become more creative in writing, and interesting in my opinion, I enjoyed writing this more than another story which had more positive review than the first version of this one, which... the first version of this story landed in the worst possible group of this site.
Golden Oaks LibraryWe were over Ponyville now, and the sun was beginning to rise. I said to Erin that we should rest and eat, then start later at night, so we went down below the clouds, and onto the outskirts of town, under the canopy of a forest. Erin went to scout out a hotel or inn (they're pretty much the same thing) to keep us out of the blinding sun before it came up. Erin returned and said, "All the lodgings are booked, they're filled because visitors are coming to visit for a few days for something called 'Apple Cider Season'." I grunted and said, "Well I don't fancy sleeping on the ground when we still have towns in front of us..." and lay skulking on the stump of the tree, "So, did anything else I need to know?" "Hmm... well... there was this hyperactive pink pony that... eh, said she would throw a party for 'my' visit" "Just like that?" "Yeah..." FLASHBACK "Ugh, all the hotels are filled..." I said, and walked with a frown back to where Arcane waited, but then there was a pink mare bouncing down the road with an equally bouncy mane, when she saw me, she came up almost at the speed of sound and said, "OMGOMGYOURABATPONY!IHAVENTSEENABATPONYSINCELUNACAMEDOWNFROMTHEMOONNNIGHTMARENIGHTATNIGHTANDGAVETHEWHOLEENTIRETOWNASCARE!" she paused here and took a heavy deep breath for another round of a word-sentence, "HIMYNAMEISPINKIEPIEWHAT'SYOURNAME?HEYYOUHAVEEYESJUSTLIKEACAT!BUTHATISNORMALFORBATPONIESWOULDN'TITBECASETHEYRELATEDTOBATSRIGHT?NOWAIT!BATSDON'THAVECATEYESBECAUSECATSHAVECATEYESBECAUSETHEYARECATS!RIGHT?" I stopped for a moment to capture what all of what she said, half of it was just random gibberish, and the other was just weird, "I'll start with my name, I'm Erin, and yes, I am a bat-pony, more preferred as 'lunar'-pony. Bat's do not have cat eyes... that is true, but lunar ponies, also known as bat-ponies, are blessed by Luna to have crescent eyes to see at night. Speaking of which, I'm just passing through, I'm only staying for the day, but all the hotels and inns are full." Pinkie Pie breathed in again and said, "HEY!ICANTHROWYOUAPARTYATTWILIGHT'SLIBRARY!ITCANBECALLEDTHEERINVISITSPONYVILLEFORADAYPARTY!ANDICANINVITEEVERYPONY!" she paused for a moment and then said, "OHNO!IGOTTAGOANDPREPAREIT!ANDINVITEALLTHEPONIESINPONYVILLE!BYEERIN!" "No wait!" I say, but she was already gone. REALITY "Uhhh..." I said "Eheheh..." Erin nervously laughs "Well, I suppose we should ask the librarian there if we could stay the day on a bench there, or somewhere in a hidden wing?" I guess "Actually, I took a visit to the place on the way back, it's actually very small, and there was an upstairs with beds. I didn't go in, I just looked inside the windows." Erin said "Hm, I guess that makes us a little lucky." "Yeah, oh, by the way, there was a baby dragon sweeping the floor, I thought it strange at first, but a lavender unicorn was talking with it. It got a book for her, and she placed it on a shelf, so I could guess he's 'trained'." "Hmm, and infant homo pyro reptilias... interesting." I thought out loud "Huh? how?" she wondered "Hatching a baby dragon is part of a test to enter Princess Celestia's academy for Gifted Unicorns." I replied "So, somepony there must be a graduate of her academy or something?" she guessed "Exactly, at least that's my hypothesis. I just hope she's not a stuck-up capitalist that thinks she's better than everypony else..." I say "What?" she didn't completely catch the second part I said, I didn't want her to "Oh.. um, nothing... Just something about common Canterlot ponies..." remembering my last becoming associate... ([This part will make a little more sense soon]) "Let's head for your 'party'." So I followed Erin to the library where her party was going to be held, "This is the only library in the town." she said on the way, and when we arrived, the lights were out. Erin said, "When I peeked through the window, that Pinkie Pie was all over the place putting up decorations, and that's not exaggeration... she was literally all over the place... Now that I think about it, when we were talking, all she seemed to care about was the party... though, guessing from her cutie mark, I guess parties are her specialty." The sun was a little over the horizon now, and it lit up the side of the tree that bore the library. "The Golden Oaks Library", is what the sign read "Hmm, I'm surprised somepony like that was awake at this time in the morning." I said, "anyways, the party's for you, I'll wait behind the tree, out of site until the party's over, when all of them are gone, come get me." "Alright, see you in a bit." Erin said, and she went inside, while I went to the side and lay in between of some of the tree's roots. In only a few seconds after laying down, there was a loud collective, "surprise!" from inside. I scoffed at it, covered my head further with my hood, and went invisible. After a while, I dozed off and dreamed of flying trains, there was a tan coated mare with a pink mane's head on the, well, head of the train smiling cheekly as it revolved a planet on it's ring. That wasn't the strangest of deams that I had before, but Erin soon woke me up and told me the party was over. I got up and we both went up to the door. I asked Erin to go first and try and ask if we could stay before I go in, and I would wait out and listen. She went in, "Oh, you're back, Erin." a female voice said "Yeah, it was a nice party, Twilight." Erin replied. So Twilight's her name... I thought "Is there something you need? I'm happy to help with anything." Twilight said "There is one thing... me and a... friend of mine need a place to sleep for the day... we... uh... work in the night, and we're tired you know..." Erin replied "Oh, yes, you do look awfully tired." "Been up all night flying from Canterlot with over 100 pounds of supplies in tow for a trip we're on..." "Ooo, that's over an 8 hour flight, come and invite your friend in, you can use the spare bed... or... he or she could, depending on what he is, and you could hang from the ceiling supports... I've read a lot about your race, Erin, so I guess that would be conservative of space!" Twilight chuckled at the last statement, Erin seemed a little insulted. Twilight noticed and quickly apologized. I opened the door afterwards, (on my own initiative), and walked in slowly, my cloak was still on and the hood was still over my head, so all that could be seen was the dark gradient from my hooves and my dangling necklace. I looked as if I took no notice of Twilight, and went upstairs. I go up to the bed that didn't look like it's been used a lot, and fell face first from tiredness onto it. I heard them talking from below at my audacious first impression, "He's... not very social with other ponies... He would talk like a regular friend with me, but nopony else. I would bluntly say... he's a dark type of pony." "Well he could of at least show his face... what's his race? He has to be a Pegasus or Lunar pony, I know you couldn't have held up that much weight on your own..." "Umm... It's best not to speak of it, he likes to keep it a secret." Erin stutters, "Well," Erin yawns, "I'm going to sleep as well, good day." "Sleep well, sounds like you two are going to travelling for a long time. Good day." Twilight says, and Erin comes up the stairs "It seems you were having a tough time trying to hide my identity." I said "Well you're the one who put up that dramatic performance." she argued back "You know I want to stay covert..." "Yes, but at least say 'hi' to somepony who nicely lets you use her spare bed." I couldn't overturn that objection "Whatever..." I say, Erin rolls her eyes and flies up to the ceiling, she hangs herself by her tail on a support beam, and wraps herself with her wings. No matter how many times she does that, I always find it funny... I thought I rolled over on the bed and went to sleep, but it wasn't long until I was awaken by a shriek from our host.
