To give an honest smile

by AnimeLovingBritishHoof

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, Photo Finish, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Applejack, Original Character, Comedy, Rarity, Adventure, Pinkie Pie, Tragedy
Length: 2655

You've all had that moment when you question your sanity. For the Pegasus mare Arell Knight, that's every minute.

A myth as old as can be
That is often sung or said like poetry
About a young filly, as free as can be
And her journey, to find a key

Not key that you put into a lock
But one where happiness, it will unlock
As this myth grows old, and nopony cares anymore
Then we shall see this young filly soar.

And no, Arell Knight is anything but that filly.
In fact, she's more like a phsycotic weirdo who has a problem with drinking too much caffeine and is actually a fully-grown mare.
We can live in hope, can't we?

Published 2014-08-01 05:10:05 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-27 19:00:08 UTC

Prelude

The hazy sky began to turn orange as Celestia's sun slowly dipped down into the horizon. There was a sense of peace and tranquility in the air. I opened my eyes, and took in the beauty that surrounded me. Sand meshed itself together, and created ripples in the wind. As the wind grew stronger, the sand ripples grew in mass, eventually creating waves so big that even a professional surfer would gasp in awe at the particles creating such a masterpiece. Once being a good photo artist myself, I removed a camera from my bag and tried to take a good picture of the sight before me. I failed. I always thought Mr.Snapshot was a bad lier... As I though to myself about Mr.Snapshot's slyness, something snapped deep within me. Stop! Stop dwelling on the past! That always was our weak spot. We need to impress Dragon Rhythm, even after all this time. He still is ashamed of us you know. I bowed my head in shame, knowing my other side was right.

I realised if I kept arguing with myself, I would miss my favourite time of day.

Settling down in my chair, I quickly re-admired the house behind me for the 26th time. I couldn't believe I got it so cheap, but it was probably because nopony really enjoys living in the middle of nowhere. The only reason I wanted to live here was so I could isolate myself from other ponies. Not that I had anything against ponies, considering I was one myself, it was just so I couldn't hurt anypony again. I despise hurt. All it brings is pain and suffering, nothing I take pleasure in. I was just different from other ponies. I could hurt them. I am not easily provoked, thankfully, but if things go wrong, I could kill. I had done it before. Nopony knew me out here though, so I was safe.

For now.

I sighed as I saw the sun and moon next to each other, the moon rising and the sun falling. It was harmony at that very moment. The moment I wait for every night. After re-re-admiring my house (I like it quite a bit), I settled into my chair for a nice sleep.

Then he came along.

An old stallion, about 70 or so, came into view over the horizon. Knowing it was old horse Charley, I quickly pretended to be asleep. Other than he being the last pony you'd expect to shut up every once and a while, he is also my landlord. And my enemy.

"G'Night, Arell! Ha! Arell Knight! Night Arell! Hoo-ee! You'd never believe what just happened to me!"

I scowled. He was going to tell me one of his long and boring stories. Again.

"Well 'ah was just wanderin' through th' woods on th' far sidah' town, when ah' saw it. It looked like a bird, but it had wings, so ah' dunno. Or is it that reptiles don't have wings and birds do? Ah' can't remember... Anyway, ah' was just walkin' through th' woods when..."

Here we go again... I sat through the long and boring story (that was as long and boring as ever), and tried not to doze off, otherwise it'd seem impolite. Because he's nice to me...

"If I have to listen to him tell one of his long and boring stories again I'm going to."

I drew a line across my throat in anger.

"You're going to draw a line across your throat, what good would that do?"

I was shocked to find out Charley had heard me. And he didn't know what that metaphor meant. I shook my head and told him it was nothing. He beloved me, and went on about the time he found the golden something or the other.

"All this stuff just goes over his head..."

Charley stopped at that second.

"Nah, I'm too fast for anything to go over my head. Kkiiiiiiya! Whoa! Take that!"

I face-hoofed.

Soon, Charley left, leaving me to be me. How do we put up with that guy? We need to dispose of him. My other self was at it again.

"No, you know we can kill. It's against our rules!"

The other me seemed to tut, and then responded. You mean your rules. Grow up! We need to kill! You know you enjoy it... I shook my head, I don't enjoy it. I couldn't enjoy it. It was against my nature. My other side hadn't been with me in a while, and now she was back, I could feel what it felt like to kill again: pain and suffering. At least, that's what I thought, until I realised I felt something inside every time I did it. I felt triumphant.

"No..."

My other self laughed. It was a deep and hearty laugh, yet there was something evil about it. Something murderous. Oh, you foal! You know you can't escape me! I am you, you know, so, even if you try to bury me down... It laughed again. In anger, I kicked some sand. It ran away, cowering in fear. I was a monster to it. ... I'll always come back up, because I'm a part of you.

I curled up in my chair, wanting the crevices to swallow me up, and rocked myself slowly.

"I'm... Not crazy... I'm not crazy... I'm not crazy... I'm not crazy... I'm not crazy..."

I slept, and dreamed a dream of me and my other self fighting. I lost. And I would keep losing, until I found a way to kill it.

I got up the next morning, and walked into my house.

I had to get rid of it.

Chapter one

I fumbled through the many files and books in the drawer inside my home. It was a challenge to find the perfect ones, preferably ones I've never read. Fiction, Non-fiction, things I've wrote myself... I quickly shoved a file with all my clop-fics down further into the drawer, and tried to ignore the saucy Discord photo on the front. What's wrong with having a crush on the God of chaos? I returned to going through the draw, and pulled out a book that went by the name of How to live life to the full. I had read it before, but I thought if I read it again, I might just find something I'd missed out. Wait, I know what your doing. Stop it. You know what I'll do if you don't.

It was back.

I continued, hoping that my other side would let me continue. Stop. No, seriously stop. I can hurt you! But then I'd lose you, my 'good' side. Just give it up already! You know the myth isn't true. If you can't find happiness yourself, well, too bad! There's nothing out there that can conjure up smiles. Apart from maybe the pink pony from Ponyville. But that's beside the point. She can only force you to smile, not let you do it by happiness! I mean—

The other side stopped as we both saw a mysterious figure appear through the window. It was dressed in a cliché-y black cloak, so I couldn't tell what sex it was. It rapped on my door, as much to my surprise, because normally ponies who come here in black cloaks tend to either be at the wrong place for a Halloween party or a mugger. Both of which are pretty bad. I put on my best smile, and walked over to the door. I took in a deep breath before opening. In case you haven't realised, I have a disliking for other ponies. Let's say I don't have a good history with them.

I managed to get a good glimpse of his (I seriously doubt it's a mare) red fur from underneath his hood before he invited himself in, to my disliking. I cleared my throat.

"Get the fuck out of my house if you're trying to rob me. Let's just say I wouldn't be very happy."

I don't like killing ponies, but sometimes, you just don't have a choice.

He turned round before lowering his hood, revealing he was a red unicorn stallion with a baby blue mane. He was scrawny in shape, but his ragged hair and deep blue eyes meant he meant business. He still looked like a scrawny colt though.

"I'm looking for a place to stay, after travelling through the desert for so long. You have quite a big house for just one pony."

Okay, now this was getting really cliché-y. He might as well draw out the gun and be like:'where's all the money!!' Or something.

"Look, if you're trying to sound cool, you're doing a shitty job of it. In fact, you sound really swag right now."

It was then he said the stupidest thing I ever heard.

"Why thank you!!!"

I paused.

"You... Really don't know what swag means, do you?"

"No! I think it means something good though! Tell me!"

I wanted to scream in his face 'it means you're fucking gay' but he might be with the officials. Not taking any chances.

"Oh, it just means you sound really... Errm... Awesome and rad..."

He grinned wildly at that. Whoever this unicorn was, he really was stupid. Wait, I haven't kicked him out yet, have I?

"Now look, it's been nice meeting you,... Errr...."

"Pixel."

"Yeah Dicksel, as I was saying, you can't stay here, no matter what you're bizarre reason, and really your trespassing so if you don't mind..."

I kicked him out the front door.

"...LEAVE!!"

Before Pixel could reply, the door was firmly shut behind me. Good riddance. Well, he was an idiot and a half. I would've just killed him on the spot, if I were you.

"Well, that's your problem then: your not me. And you will never be. I'm a free mare."

You! A free mare! Ha! I may not be completely in control of you, but fate has tied us together. It's not the case of 'half half' anymore, because me and you both know some time soon only one of us will still exist.

"And that time hasn't came yet, so shut the hell up."

I suddenly heard another voice.

"What? There's nopony else talking but you! Craaaaaazyyyy..."

Pixel. I'm going to murder the fucking cunt.

"I spun around and opened the door, and on cue, Pixel fell through, as his ear had been pressed against the door.

"I said... GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!"

"Gees, fine. Seriously..."

The red pony with the cloak got up and trudged out the door. I didn't close it until he was gone into the black abyss of four in the morning. You need to stop having imaginary friends to talk to. You're 17, for Celestia's sake!

"You're plenty real and you know it."

I yawned as I walked toward the drawer. Maybe that was enough research for tonight. I jumped into bed, only to hear a 'ow' from beneath me. I saw a bit of a blue mane peeking out from underneath the covers.

"PIXEL! HOW ARE YOU STIL HERE!!"

Pixel shuffled up from underneath the covers.

"You left the window open a bit. It only took a bit of magic and climbing to get here, then I hid in your bed."

I blinked.

"You sound like a real perv right now..."

"Well! I've never been called a perv before! I've been called an asshole, a nerd, a stalker, a sick fuck, a piece of shit, a motherfucker, an idiot, a dick, a cunt, a weirdo... Even a Ponyville urchin who eats computers for breakfast, but never a perv! Wow! I need to add this to my list!"

Pixel got out of the bed, revealing his cutie mark: a couple of green ones and zeros. Must be a computer freak. His horn began to glow with a green aura, and a notebook teleported in front of him. He took it out and wrote perv with the pen that had appeared with the notebook.

"Yep, your a weirdo."

Pixel ignored me and transported his notebook and pen to wherever they originally came from. I don't even want to think where. I quickly told him to leave (for the third time) but he refused. Oh how much I want to kill him.

"Oh, you're such a pervert."

Pixel's horn started up again, but I motioned him to stop. Pevert was just short for perv, so technically it didn't count.

"Oh, errm... Miss..."

"Arell"

"...Dickell"

"Doesn't really work"

"Whatever, do you mind if I stay here for the night? Not in your room, of course, but like, you have a spare bedroom, right?"

I wanted to yell at him, but I settled for slapping him.

"Ow! Why'd you hit me?!!"

"Because I felt like it"

I really don't want him to stay, especially since I'd be setting off tomorrow. I really couldn't be bothered in telling him that. He's enough as a dick as it is. Unfortunately, he was already trotting off down the hallway. I galloped over and stood in his way. He moved left. I followed, he moved right. I moved right too. I was too busy focusing on the movements of his hooves to notice the green orb that was growing around his horn. He fired. I felt the corridor move around me as I was sent spiralling into the wall, leaving a huge dent. I wiped the blood dripping from my mouth.

"You really have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you?"

"No, and I'm beginning to regret it now..."

Pixel made a break for it, but I had the power of flight, and I caught up to him in no time. I folded my wings and decended onto his spine. I'm pretty sure everypony outside the borders of the desert could hear Pixel's scream as I hit his back. I could tell his spine wasn't broken, but he shouldn't be able to stand up for the next 24 hours. Pixel was still conscious, still crying in pain. I couldn't be bothered pitying him. I still wasn't finished yet. I knew it was time to do my signature move. Pixel was flat on his front, and I leant over until my hooves were on his neck. I put all of my strength into my hooves, ready for the delivering blow. I spied the loose part on his neck which would be easy to grab, then I dug into his neck and pinched. Hard. He was too wounded to scream, but I heard a whimper as he fell unconscious.

"Well, that was easy enough!"

I sighed with relief as Pixel woke up. He seemed dazed, but then again, he had just been taken out.

"Whaaa.... Where am I?"

"In my bed, since I couldn't carry you to the spare room. Now, in case you don't mind, can you get out? I would've left you outside, but then somepony would probably find your corpse and fine me. Not to mention it would take you at least 3 hours for you to wake up if I left you on the floor."

Pixel nodded, though I could tell he was still recalling the events of the fight.

"Okay, I'll get out... *uuurrgh*.... I can't seem to move, sorry"

Of course. He's still half paralysed.

"Well, I'm too *yawn*... Tired to move you, so I'll just sleep on the floor."

I saw Pixel's eyes beginning to flutter and he soon was asleep. I curled up on the mat bellow, and got myself in a comfy position.

"Goodnight Dicksel"

I felt the world blur as I soon went off to dreamland. Happiness could wait a while.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this! Pixel is my friend's oc, and he's probably going to be really pissed when he sees how I made him look. It's completely accurate, though.