'Perfect' Worldby Blue ValentineChaptersChapter 1: Pretesting DayChapter 2: PretestChapter 3: A Slip of PaperChapter 4: DestinyChapter 5: Green DotsChapter 6: The EdgeChapter 7: Staci AttacksChapter 8: The CaveChapter 9: BoomChapter 10: The First TestChapter 11: Plan for ActionChapter 1: Pretesting DayDestiny is something you are told you can't control. Something dangerous, something that isn't a toy. You can't play with destiny, guessing your every move, choosing whatever you want. Elder Ponies must do that for you. When you turn 16, you get to discover your destiny. Something everybody wants to know. Sometimes, you hear what you want. But sometimes you don't. An Elder Pony could tell you you're meant to be a fighter. Then, you might start fighting crime around Equestria. But some could go the wrong way with it. They could start fighting other innocent ponies, and then you would be sent to jail by a guard. But Elder Ponies go better with the destiny you have. They don't just say, "Oh, you'll be a dancer." or "Oh you'll be a ballet dancer who wears pink dresses all the time." They are very specific. They could tell you that you'll be a famous hairstylist, but that you'll have flaws and end up going broke. You can't try to change the destiny they give you either. You can't just say that you won't have any flaws, or that you will save up money to not go broke. That's because the Elder Ponies have it set up perfectly. They know you'll want to save up an extra jar of money, so they'll assign someone sneaky the destiny of stealing from ponies who save up jars of money in safes. And if you don't want to embrace that, they'll assign someone to be somepony who takes others to the dark side. See what I mean? It's a perfect society designed by the Elder Ponies. Sometimes, I feel like they can see the future. That's why I was so afraid of today. Today was my Pretest. This meant that they would make me go through a series of tests until they got to know me. I had to act as normal as possible, and not differently so they would mess up. But they knew if you were lying to them anyways. At the end of the Pretest, you had to write on a piece of paper some goal you would like to achieve in the future. Sometimes, the Elder Ponies listened to that goal, and put you on the path to complete it. But sometimes they used what you wrote to bother you and make you go in the opposite path of the goal. I zipped up my white jacket as I got on the public bus and rode to Princess Twilight's Castle, the tallest building in Ponyville. Twilight, now being long dead, had opened her castle to the public, and was now used for Life Ceremonies. Just as I got on the bus, it started to snow lightly. I looked out the window, nervous to see the Shiny, Crystal Castle. **** "Aliza Shirtlive." Called the speaker, looking for Aliza. I saw a yellow pony with big, dark eyes and a huge grin walk through the door under the speaker. "Good luck Aliza!" I heard her friends say. "Hope we get something similar!" "Don't let us down." And hundreds of other calls. It went like this for the next twenty ponies whose names started with A and half of B. Then, the speaker said, "Bronwyn Hale." And I got up from the chair I had been sitting at. I was pretty much the only pony who didn't get any comments. I didn't exactly have any friends, except Tomas Shanglow, but he was in another room for stallions. I started trotting towards the door, when I heard Lexis Verry, a pegasus crystal pony whose parents had been living in Ponyville, say, "I hope she gets something that has to do with dumpster management." I held my head up high, and thought to myself, "Lexis Verry, I hope you get the dumpster management, since you already look like one." I had a determined look on my face, and I walked into the room, ready to face my destiny. Chapter 2: PretestWhen I walked into the Pretest room, it was completely dark. It was so dark that if I put my hoof in front of my own face, it was impossible to see it. I blindly walked around, determined to find a wall which could guide me. My gut told me that this was part of the Pretest, and that the Elder Ponies wanted to see what I would do if I went blind or someone captured me and put me in a dark room. So I kept walking, but after around five minutes, I didn't find any walls or other pieces of furniture. I started to think, "Maybe this room is a rectangle. I'm going the long way, so if I stopped and turned right..." I walked right, trying to find the other side of the rectangle, but I got completely lost and didn't find the other side. Just as I started going back, I heard a voice, "Bronwyn Hale. Follow these directions to find a light source. Go left, and then after 9 steps, turn right and spin. Wherever you stop, take 5 steps forward and find a light source." But I did not follow the directions. It was fake. The spinning was just fake. There were millions of places that you could stop spinning at, and the light source would probably only be in one of the millions of directions. I stayed still, and started making a light spell. My horn glowed yellow, and I snickered. I had made my own light source. After that, the light instantly came on, and I found myself face-to-face with a bear. The bear growled at me, and lunged to grab me. I dodged and made a brick appear out of thin air with my magic. It fell on the bear's paw. It moaned and I kicked it's stomach. But the bear got back up and slashed at my face with its claws. They scratched me across my right cheek. I ducked down, but howled in pain as my skin burned. Then I used my magic to make a mustache appear under the bear's nose. The bear froze, mid-attack, and touched the mustache. He made a happy sound, and started dancing around and muttering to himself. "You're welcome," I said to the prancing and dancing bear. Then I blinked, and the bear disappeared. Instead, there was a dark, wooden table with a basket on top. In the basket were 6 things. A necklace made of the most beautiful gems I had ever seen, a bag of peanuts, some candy, a diamond ring, a deflated balloon, and a soccer ball. I looked at the items with curiosity, and waited. Nothing happened, so I took the deflated balloon and blew it up. When I looked back in the basket, there was nothing inside. With another blink, next to me was standing Lexis Verry and Tomas, my best friend. Lexis Verry was stoking Tomas's mane, and kissing him. I felt like barfing, and then I let the blown up balloon go, and it hit Lexis Verry in the face. I laughed, and then Tomas walked up to me and tried to kiss me. But I flinched, and took a step back. Then out of nowhere, a very bright white light appeared, and blurred my vision. I felt a buzz on my back leg, and I blacked out. **** I woke up in front of four Elder Ponies, all holding clipboards and whispering to each other. I blinked and asked, "What were my results?" The Elder Ponies smiled, and a pink mare with frizzy purple and white hair said, "We can't tell you. That's for tomorrow. But we have a... pretty good idea of who you are, and what your results will be." "Yes," said a mare with blonde, but red and orange streaks in her mane. Her skin was very pale green. Her eyes shined gold. Both stallions remained quiet, but didn't stop taking notes on their blue clipboards. "Thank you," I said as I walked out the door. "Thank you." They all said together. When I got back home, only my mother was home, but she was cooking dinner. My father was on a mission in Canterlot, and wouldn't be there to see me get my destiny. I might not ever see him again, if my destiny was to run away from home, or live on the edge of Equestria. But I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth after I got home. I looked in the mirror as I scrubbed my teeth. What I saw made me drop my toothbrush. My hoof went up to my right cheek. I saw the faint remains of something that looked like the rash the dancing bear had given me. Chapter 3: A Slip of PaperThe next day, mom dressed me up neatly, and made my hair into a bun. Sadly, after five minutes of wearing it, my crazy hair took over the bun, making it messy. Mom dressed me up in a simple, gray dress and fancy brown boots. The dress went down till my rump and then flowed down. "Thanks mom," I said, smiling. "Nothing else for my little filly." "I hope I get to see you again," I said, pleading for that to be part of my destiny. "Me too. I love you Wyn." and her eyes swelled up with tears. She watched me get into the train (on Tuesdays I rode the train because the bus service took breaks on Tuesdays). I waved to her. "I love you, mom." I whispered to myself, letting a cold tear drop down my cheek. The train got to Twilight's Castle swifter than the bus. I got off along with a bunch of other mares and stallions, all wearing their best clothes. I scanned the crowd for Tomas, wanting to say goodbye to him if this was the last time we ever saw each other. Ponies pushed and shoved me to get through, and I kept saying, "Excuse me," and looking for Tomas. Just as I saw him get off the train, Lexis Verry and her 'minion' Staci Amore walked up to me and said, "Oh, look who we have here." started Staci. "Let me through Lexis." I complained, pushing Lexis aside. Staci Amore blocked my path and said, "You have to stay. We're gonna make sure the Elder Ponies don't give you a destiny." "Listen to Staci. I mean, if you get a cool destiny, you won't anymore because I'll take it from you." "You can't change destiny," I said with a smirk. "Oh yeah?" Lexis yelled. Lexis punched me to the ground, and as I tried to get up, she kicked my in the torso and I fell back down, out of breath. Tears came to my eyes. Then, with a great amount of effort, I got back up and watched Lexis and Staci walk away. With the same spell I used on the dancing bear, a great, fluffy, black mustache appeared on Lexis's face. Lexis screamed louder than a dragon, and ran into the building, probably searching for a bathroom. Behind her, I saw Staci sputter a laugh. "Bronwyn!" I heard a voice say. Still smiling, I turned around to see Tomas give me a dimpled smile. We walked together into the building and said out goodbyes. "I'll miss you Tomas," I said, looking at the floor. "Me too," he said with an awkward grin. I couldn't help smiling. We walked in silence for a while, until I had to go into the mare's testing room. I looked at the floor, wanting to cry for my best friend. "I-" I started but Tomas did something unexpected. He grabbed me by the torso and kissed me. I felt to awkward just kissing him in public but I gave in. "Goodbye," I said, giving him a shy kiss on the cheek. I walked into the mare's testing room, just to hear my name be called. **** This time, there were only two Elder Ponies in the room. One with the frizzy hair I recognized from last time, and another wearing a large pink hat with very fancy magenta hair. Her eyes were blue. They both motioned for me to sit down. "We would like for you to write on this slip of paper a goal you want to achieve. It may or may not be used in the destiny we give you, but there is a strong possibility that it will. Please begin," said the mare with the big hat. "Yeah," I said, sitting down and grabbing the pencil and paper. I did not know what to write. I felt nervous and overwhelmed by the small piece of paper. What did I want to achieve in the future? I thought about my friends and my family and about Tomas's awkward moment with me. After a while, I could tell the Elder Ponies were getting annoyed. But I didn't know what to write. Suddenly, I knew what to write. In my slanted and messy handwriting I wrote: I do not care what destiny you give me. All I wish for is for it to be something very detailed, and that has to do with being with a crowd. I do not want isolation or oblivion. Make me live in peace. I knew it wasn't exactly a goal, but I wrote down my opinion. But as I turned it in, I felt a wave of fear wash over me. Elder Ponies were known for switching what you wanted and making it the opposite. I hope they liked me, because then, I would be isolated, alone, filled with wishes of war, and free. I suddenly wanted to take back my answer, but they didn't give the paper back. I felt another tear drop down my face. What had I just done. The answer to that was: toyed with destiny. It would ruin my life. Chapter 4: DestinyAfter seeing the Elder Ponies, they told me to go back outside and wait for results. Sadly, that meant that I had to wait for everyone else's results too. I waited as pony after pony came into the waiting room and sat, waiting for the others. I sat still, doing nothing at all. Lexis came, and then after a while Staci came. I wished Tomas would come through the door on the other side of the room so we could see each other again. But he didn't come, even after they went through the names of everybody who started with T. The whole time, I was thinking about my regrets on writing that on the paper. If the Elder Ponies liked me, they would make my wish come true. But if they hated me, they would go for revenge and give me opposite of what I wanted. That meant horrible isolation, war-like thoughts, and being partially free. All these things were things I feared, and that everypony else feared as well. I didn't want such a horrible fate, but I knew that now it would become true. I felt so worried, and so did the mare next to me. Her blue and brown hair covered her left eye. The stallion to my right was serious-looking, a pegasus with a white coat and determined brown eyes. He sat, looking at the speaker, waiting for results. Just as the last pony passed, a dark gray mare with bright pink eyes, a pony named Zilma, the speaker blasted, "Results will appear on the screen below. Next to your result will appear a colored dot. The four colors that could appear are red, blue, green, and yellow. All ponies with a red dot will stay seated. All ponies with a blue dot will go out the left door. All ponies with a green dot will exit the building and meet at the entrance. Finally, all ponies with a yellow dot will exit out the right door." "Finally!" said the stallion next to me. The screen glowed blue, and everypony's names appeared in alphabetical order. Next to them was a description of their destiny. It was a very weird way to pass out something so delicate, but I immediately looked for my name. There it was, clear as daylight, but dark as night. Bronwyn Hale : Destiny is unclear. Report to the ends of Equestria, where you will spend the rest of your life. * Green dot. I was leaving. I was actually leaving Equestria. I was... leaving. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I stayed quiet. I thought of Tomas, and what he was destined to do. But then, my eyes fell on his name on the board. It said, Tomas Shanglow: To be executed on the ends of Equestria. To be killed by Staci Amore * Like me, he was banished to the edge of Equestria. I kept crying, my tears falling on the surface of Twilight's Castle. I cried for myself, and for Tomas, for my mother and for everybody else who received a wretched fate. As I thought of that, I thought of Lexis. Her box said, Lexis Verry: Runaway from the law. Starts out as a fashion designer, and becomes a millionaire. * I laughed louder than I thought was necessary. I shot a quick glance at Lexis, and saw a smile of triumph on her face. She probably only read the fashion designer part, and doesn't even know what runaway means. My large, green eyes then fell of four guards, wearing green, blue, yellow, and red. Everypony understood what it meant, and I slowly walked over to the guard wearing green. I saw Lexis walk over to the guard wearing blue, and shove her way to the front while saying things like, "Move over! I'm the famous one here!" and stuff. I became the second in line, my cheeks totally wet, and saw Staci move to the back. Behind me was the tough looking pegasus boy who had been sitting next to me, and behind him was Tomas. Tomas didn't cry. His blue eyes just looked ahead. But I knew he was afraid. If you looked in his eyes, you would know. I didn't know what was to come for us, green-dots. I knew that some of us would be banished to the ends of Equestria, but what about the others, like the pony behind me? I was cowering and shaking, but I knew it was my fault. I chose this destiny. Chapter 5: Green DotsThe green security guard took us through a series of torch-lit hallways until we reached the entrance of the grand castle. I took one last look at the shining castle, and then willed myself to look away. "Green dots!" exclaimed the security guard. A yellow pegasus mare appeared next to him, and started talking, "Green dots. You might know what it means, and you may not. For the dumbheads that don't know, it means you're leaving Equestria, or at least Ponyville." I imagined Lexis saying, "Finally!" being all excited to leave Ponyville and head to the Crystal Empire. Though I was sad because I was leaving everypony and everything I grew up knowing, I was actually curious to discover what was along the boundaries of our kingdom. I knew from Hearth's Warming Eve that it was wintery, and snowing. But tales of ponies such as Queen Chysalis explained that it was rocky and sandy, like a desert. I didn't know which story to believe. I just didn't want to believe the ones that explained that monsters lived on the boundaries. Ones that came from non-pony creatures like Zebras. But I was determined to find out. "Now," said the yellow pegasus. "Before we leave, we want to show you what the wild is like." she said with a grin on her face. Everybody gulped. "Pretend you're being chased by a mutant earthworm," everypony snickered. "It's nearly got you, and you don't have any supplies. Luckily, you're running in the direction of your camp. You have a few seconds to grab supplies and fight it off. What do you grab?" she asked slyly. "A gun," I heard myself shout out. I covered my mouth with my right hoof. "Indeed, a gun." She answered. "We're going to take you on a train all the way to the Edge. Your camp in one of the wagons. Now get on the tracks." She shouted, pointing at some nearby train tracks. "What!?" cried a few ponies. A train was coming into view, faster than any train I had ever seen. It zoomed by, and without thinking, I started chasing the train; my camp. Only Tomas and another girl did the same thing as me. Everypony else did it after watching us. And it was lucky they did. Another train was coming from behind us; the earthworm. I ran, trying to catch up to the first train before the second one knocked me over and killed me. "Oh right!" I screamed to Tomas. "I'm a unicorn, I can teleport us to the train ahead!" I shouted. I focused all my energy to the train disappearing from view ahead. I blinked, and my horn zapped up green lights. Tomas and I were in the train only a few seconds later. It was filled with things. I grabbed an empty black pack from the corner of the wagon and tied it around my torso. Then I grabbed a small gun and stuffed it in the pack. I knew it would have no effect on the train behind us, but I would need it on the Edge. Tomas grabbed a long knife and tied it around his torso with a rope. He also took some pain pills and stuck them in his boots. "I'm gonna die." he said to me ten minutes later. "No, you're not." "You can't change destiny, Wyn." "Says who?" "Everypony!" "I'll help you. My destiny is... unclear. It means I can change yours since I have nothing to do with mine." "But Staci Amore will be hunting me down." "And you ask why I brought a gun." "I did not!" he said, laughing. "Yeah you did!" We bust out laughing, and stopped when the yellow pegasus came into the train compartment. "Wow! You guys got in here quick. Nice to meet you. I'm Double Flame." she extended her hoof to us. Tomas shook it. "How ya liking being a green dot?" she inquired. "What do ya think?" Tomas said. "Oh, right." she said, giggling. Double Flame stared at me for a while. She looked at my awkward appearance. No mare wears gray dresses and brown boots to her Life Ceremony. Especially with a dirty blonde bun sticking out of her head, looking like a nest. "I think you two'll survive," she said, smiling. Then Double Flame left, ready to check on the others. Chapter 6: The EdgeWith our supplies in hand, Tomas and I jumped off the train. I landed on my back two legs so I fell on my face. Tomas landed perfectly, flipping in the air. "I love you," I said, admiring his flip. When I understood what it really sounded like, my cheeks turned pink. He walked up to me and gave me his hoof. I got up from the ground, and looked back. The second train was nearing. I was its gleaming white surface get closer and closer. But when it was close enough to see, I saw a splatter of red near the wheels. I instantly calculated it as blood. Blood from ponies who were either supposed to die or were killed. Staci is supposed to kill Tomas. Maybe her destiny was to kill all those in her path. When the second train started lurching to a stop, I saw Staci standing on its roof, holding a small knife in her teeth. My spine shivered. I saw two pegasi flying at ground level with the train and still running ahead of the train was a sweaty, blonde earth pony. When the locomotive stopped completely, a unicorn mare hopped out from under the train, and her horn stopped glowing pink. She didn't even get a scratch. But from under the train came a loud moan. The white unicorn mare who had been under the train walked away with a frown on her face. But one of the pegasi, the one who had been sitting next to me, waiting for results, stuck his head under the train without any fear. He pulled out a small, green earth pony who was crying. The earth pony was muttering thank yous and holding his left hoof with his right one. His left hoof looked broken, like a train wheel had splattered it. I saw Double Flame ignore the poor earth pony. He started crying in pain, until Staci told him to be quiet and gave him a pain pill. He gulped it down, and put on a fake smile. It was obvious that the wound still hurt like crazy. "Now go, complete your destinies!" shouted Double Flame out into the open, and I ran with Tomas. We ran around boulders and under fallen rocks. We ran until everypony was out of sight. Until I started taking in the horrifying sight of the Edge. It was a ruined place, with dust covering everything. There were rocks as far as I could see, and the landscape was quieter than a mouse. "Good," I thought to myself. "No monsters." But as soon as I thought that, the ground began to shake. My hooves wobbled and I struggled to keep balance. Tomas held on to me for balance and I said, "What's happening?" "I don't know. But according to legends told by zebras, this means that a monster will pop out of the earth!" "OH MY GOD!" I screamed as I watched something come out of a boulder. It looked like a giant flower. But it has sharp teeth, thousands of them. It expelled a purple gas I could only guess was toxic, and it slithered around like a snake. I made the shushing sound, but I think that was enough for the creature to hear me. I dived to the right, followed by Tomas, and I shouted, "It's a plant! Cut it by the stem and it dies!" Tomas instantly threw the knife which cut open the monster's stem. But the cut wasn't deep enough. The monster let out a huge wave of the purple gas, and then regenerated. "SERIOUSLY?" I demanded. Doing the only thing I could think of, I started throwing pebbles at the thing. One fell into its mouth, and it started to cough. Tomas was hitting it with insults, and with pebbles as well. The monster, annoyed, went back into the earth, but let out a purple gas as it went back in. Tomas went to retrieve the knife, but as he did, he got too close to the purple gas. He fainted on the spot. "TOMAS!" I yelled, running to him. But it was a dumb move. I got intoxicated as well, suffering from the gas. My vision became dark and blurry, and I woke up with a screeching pain on my neck. Tomas was next to me, bandaged and well, somehow. Then I heard the wicked voice say, "Oh look! Wouldn't Lexis be proud of me!" and I saw Staci's bruised face appear out of nowhere. Chapter 7: Staci AttacksStaci held me down. I couldn't move, and was completely stuck. "Let me go!" I screeched. "Why should I? I want to complete my destiny, and get out of this exile. But it wouldn't be complete if I don't kill you." "Then why haven't you done it already?" "Because I want to make it slow and painful." Staci grabbed her pocket knife and neared it to my face. "Where should I cut you first?" she exclaimed mockingly. But as soon as Staci even moved one of her hooves in order to get in a better position, I used my hoof to lunge for the pocket gun in my black pack. I aimed it at her face and said, "It wasn't nice knowing ya, Staci." and I let the gun go off. But I aimed at somewhere else. Her hooves were with what she killed. If she couldn't use them, she couldn't kill Tomas. I instantly got up and picked up Staci's small knife which was lying right next to me. I put it into my pack and saw that Tomas wasn't moving. With a quick wave of my horn, Tomas started moving again. "Paralysis spell?" "Yep." he answered. We started to gain speed so we could run off somewhere else, but I had to look at Staci. Even though the sight was saddening, I willed myself to watch. Staci was screaming and howling on the floor. Her eyes were wider than soccer balls, and she was clutching her right hoof with her left one. Her face was full of rage and anger. I didn't want anyone to kill her, so I used a quieting spell. It would wear off in a few hours, in which I hope she would be dead thanks to blood loss. But you never know. She might manage to find some pain pills or a bandage, or maybe even another pony willing to help her. Then she'd probably trick them and kill them. Typical Staci. "Wyn, don't look at her. It's not... sanitary for the pony brain." "What?" I asked, laughing. I jokingly punched him. **** We hadn't exactly made a camp yet, due to the monster flower and Staci. But Tomas said that he'd seen a rock which was like a cave, and could conceal us until we had to move. So we walked, and walked, and walked until we found the cave-rock. But while we did, we had a long conversation about Staci. "For some reason, she didn't kill me. She only seemed intent on killing you. She had actually bandaged up my right back leg, because it got burned from being on the hot surface too long as I was unconscious. She put a paralysis spell on me and put me into a magic health bubble. But she left you there like nothing had happened. I was jabbering on and telling her that she had to help you. But Staci didn't. She liked me, I think. She was listening to what I was saying and acting like a sister. But then, when you woke up, you know what happens then." "But why didn't she kill you? Wasn't it her destiny?" "Maybe it actually wasn't. Maybe her destiny was to kill a lot of people, but not me. And somewhere in the future, she'll kill me." "No, that can't be. I looked at her destiny on the results screen and I'm pretty sure her life's goal wasn't to kill me. I'm 100 percent sure-" "Are you?" "Yes!" "But you didn't look at her box. You only looked at mine." "That's right, but how do you even know that?" "Because I love you. I'm supposed to track each and every one of your moves." "Oh, come on Tomas!" "No, I'm serious. I like you, Bronwyn." We were quiet for the rest of the stroll. But I thought about what he said. Not just about Staci and destiny, but about liking me. Apparently, he was paying a lot of attention to me. When I thought about it, I realized that I did the same thing. I noticed that he didn't come out the results door. I noticed he looked stiff and scared when they announced him a green dot. I noticed all these things because I like him too. When we got to the cave, I hugged him and thanked him for finding it. He smiled. Then, I put all my supplies away, and noticed he was staring at me. I walked over to him and said, "Now that I think about it, I love you too." I leaned in and kissed him. We shared out moment for a while, and then he said, "I knew you'd come through." We kissed again. Author's Note I know the beginning sounds a bit like the part in The Hunger Games when Clove has Katniss pinned down near the Cornucopia, but just keep reading and you'll see that it's different. -Carly S. Chapter 8: The CaveTomas and I stopped. We would have kept going, but we heard a noise coming from outside the cave. I did a quick invisibility spell, and Tomas flapped his wings in fury. "Dude, do ya think that crazy pony'll find us here?" "No. let's round up some rocks and make a fire. I have matches." "It'll attract attention Brick," "No it won't Chad. Just watch. I bet nopony is even near us!" When the two stallions got deeper into the cave, where me and Tomas were, I got to see them better. They were both pegasi, and Chad was a completely orange pegasus, with flaming red hair cut close to his skull. His eyes were the color of fire. Brick was the white pegasus who had been sitting next to me in the result room. Brick left the cave a while later, probably to fetch something to start the fire with. There was a lot of wood lying around the area, even though it was out of place here. When Brick came back carrying some wooden planks on his back, I dared myself to speak to Tomas as they built the fire. "Do you think they're killers?" "What? No. I think I scanned through Chad's name a couple of times, and it said that he'd tame monsters on the Edge. So no, but yes, they are strong. And Brick?" "I don't know! He was sitting next to me but I think I wasn't paying any attention to him anyways." Brick's ears perked up. Chad grabbed something out of a moneybag that was slung across his shoulder and poked it onto a stick. He put it over the fire. It smelled great. After leaving it over the fire for a while, Chad split it in half and gave some to Brick. "Here. These won't last us long, but we should eat while we have 'em." I nudged Tomas. We didn't have any food, and I knew Tomas's stomach was already rumbling. "We need to steal Chad's pack. He has food, and we need it." "I know, that's what I was thinking. We should do it now, while we're invisible." We put our plan into action, without really thinking about it. We sneaked around Chad and Brick, but I forgot. We're invisible, but they can still see out shadows. "Someone's in here!" shouted Brick. "They're just invisible!" And that was the worst moment. The invisibility spell wore off. "Ooops," I said. Chad pulled out a snake-like object from the moneybag. I calculated it as a whip. He stroke it at us, and Tomas dodged it by a mere inch. Brick just sat there. Chad kept lashing it at us, and we gracefully danced, avoiding the whip. "Don't let them out of the cave!" cried Chad. Brick obeyed, and guarded the entrance. Tomas flinched for only a second then, and Chad lashed out the whip, faster than an eagle. It wound up around his leg, and I dove in, getting the gun out of my black pack. I blindly aimed it at Brick, who was guarding the door, and only managed to hit his ear. A piece of it flew off, hitting the ground. But Brick stood there, as if nothing had happened. The blood ran down his left ear, and down his face. It dropped onto the floor, and Brick just stood there, not moving. I was taken back by my surprise, and Chad pulled the whip, dragging Tomas right behind him. Brick took out a knife and handed it to Chad. Chad was about to throw it into Tomas's face, when I screamed, "STOP!" and gave Tomas one second to untie the rope from his body, and he started choking Chad. Brick grabbed the knife on the floor and cut the rope. Now Tomas stood there, with nothing, and screaming. The last thing I heard Chad say before Brick knocked me out was, "Let's keep the girl We'll need her for reproduction." "REPRODUCTION!?" I angrily shouted at Chad. Then Brick knocked me out. But I didn't worry. I used my magic to teleport Tomas outside the cave. He'd be able to escape. My only regret is that I would not. Author's Note I don't know why, but I keep imagining Brick as Bulk Biceps's son. Chapter 9: BoomIndeed, when I woke up, Tomas wasn't there. Chad and Brick had tied me up to a rock in the middle of the cave. As soon as Chad and Brick saw me, they walked over to me. Brick had a look of pure hatred on his face. "Where's your little friend? I know you used your freaky magic to make him disappear. We needed him, or we would starve!" said Brick. "You were going to eat him?" I said, disgusted. Brick shrugged, and Chad walked up to me and touched my cheek. "But that doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that we get along. I do have to continue the pony race out here." "Ew." I said, spitting on his face. He frowned. "We can always use you as food too." he said. As he looked at me, the only way I can describe his look was greedy. I tried to use my magic to untie the ropes, but Brick slapped me with his wing. Now, my only hope was that Tomas saved me. He was probably still out there, trying to find a way to save me. I begged to God that he did. Chad was a perverted, stupid, and annoying guy. I tried to kick him, but they were to far away. I kept praying. "Now, I'll untie you if you promise you have a relationship with me." said Chad. This was too easy. As soon as he did, I'd run away. "Fine," I said, smiling as if I wanted him. Chad got closer and started to untie me. Just as he did, I bolted for the exit. "HEY!" exclaimed Brick. I kept running, not caring where I was going. I ran, until Tomas bumped into me outside. "We have to get rid of them for good," he said. "Got it," Out of my bag, I grabbed an explosive that had been in the pack since I got it. I timed for it to explode in 10 seconds, and tossed it with all my strength at Brick and Chad. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0. I heard a giant explosion, and Chad shout, "Brick! RUN!" but obviously they didn't do it in time. Tomas dared me to peek into the rocky cave, and what I saw made me gag. Brick's dead body smashed against the rock they tied me at. But he was missing a chunk of his rump and his hind legs. I saw one leg against the cave wall. It was splattered red. Chad was nowhere to be seen, but parts of his body were pressed against the floor, making a giant red stain. I felt tears come to my eyes. That night, I didn't sleep at all. "Good night Bronwyn." said Tomas, grabbing my hoof. "'Night," I said. But I don't know why I said that. I wasn't going to sleep now that I saw that awful sight. I kissed Tomas for a while, and it felt nice to have him so close to me. Well, until a giant monster pierced his body with a spike in the middle of the night. When I woke up, I realized that I had slept. And I hated myself for it. Chapter 10: The First TestHe was dying from blood loss. I had to do something to help him, but I didn't know what to do. Try and remove the spike, and I could accidentally remove his liver. Leave it in there, and he gets his liver impaled deeper. "Tomas! Can you still hear me!?" I asked frantically. "Barely," he whispered. "Oh God this is my fault! I should have stayed awake and protected you!" "No, Wyn. It's not your fault." "TOMAS!" I screamed, seeing the light start to leave his eyes. I, in anger at the world, screamed, "I hope you all DIE! You don't deserve to live for creating such a world!" His head was on my lap, and his hoof was holding mine. His breathing was slow. I screamed again. It was all my fault. It was all my fault. "I can't let you die," I said to him. Being the riskiest pony in the world, I started taking out the spike. Careful not to touch his skin or pierce him again, I slipped it out. After a painstaking long time, the spike was removed. But this made Tomas's face turn paler. I wrapped his body in bandages to stop the blood from pouring out, but he was in no condition to move. I gave him a pain pill, but realized it was useless now that his intestines were ripped. "No, this can't be happening," I said. "Yes it can. Wyn, there's nothing you can do to stop death. NOTHING is stronger than death." My eyes exploded with tears. Remembering something Princess Twilight Sparkle had written in one of her manifestos, I said, "Friendship. Friendship is magic, so it's stronger than anything." As soon as I spoke these words, my horn blasted with energy, probably seen for the next 100 miles. It flowed into the sky, and became a massive pink cloud. Then, magical thunder burst from the clouds, hitting Tomas. As I watched, my eyes glued on the scene and on Tomas, I saw the wound close up. It stitched back together, leaving nothing, not even a scar. My tears dried up, and my dress got burned from the thunder and lighting show. With another fast burst of color from my horn, the cloud became thin air, and Tomas stood up. "What just happened? Wyn, what was that light that blasted out of your horn?" "I don't even know. All I know is that know you're okay!" I kissed him. He slipped his hoof into my dress. But then I stopped and yelled, "But now everypony will be looking for us. They saw the cloud, and so did monsters." No sooner did I speak these words than a mob of angry ponies appeared about a kilometer away. Tomas then said, "Zombie ponies. They're attracted to light!" "Come on, we have to run somewhere!" "Shoot them with your gun!" "No, I'll run out of bullets!" We turned around, only to have a melted, grotesque zombie face appear right in front of us. "They made us see the light. Now you will pay," said the zombie pony. Chapter 11: Plan for Action"RUN!" But the zombie, with incredible speed, chased up. I dashed around, trying to dodge the zombie or jump over it, but it was too fast. And the situation was getting worse. The mob was getting closer. If one zombie pony was going to beat us, we had no chance against a giant mob of them. And worse was that the zombie's were not the only ones coming. After the mob was only a few meters away, I noticed a purple unicorn with a tattered mane and angry, blue eyes. I think that Tomas noticed that Staci was at it again, because he looked at me with worried eyes. In that moment, the zombie pony tried to jump on Tomas. As it hung in the air for what seemed like a extended amount of time, I grabbed my gun and shot it in the body. The pony swung to the right, flying straight into a nearby rock. Something that clearly was not blood dripped out from the body of the zombie. It looked like green gloop, with red marbles swarming through it. It howled in pain, and started to turn into a rock. It was a strange sight, but from now on, I would never touch another one of these rocks again, accepting the possibility that it could be a dead zombie pony. But at that moment, I jumped on that rock, glad it was there. Staci stood right behind me, and she was hovering her new giant machine gun right above my head. I was lucky I heard the horrible sound of her teeth grinding, or I wouldn't have moved. Tomas jumped up high and kicked Staci in the gut. She fell over, but shot a bullet at the speed of light as she flung to the right. It went right above Tomas's face. He jumped on the rock with me and said, "Wyn, we can't stay here. We have to run deeper into the Edge." he kicked Staci who was trying to climb onto the rock. "No! There are more monsters in there. We have more of a chance of dying." "But it's either that, or we face this mob of zombies alone." Now the zombies were super close to us. If they moved even a yard, we could be dead. So I did what I knew was right. I shot two bullets, one at a zombie pony who was trying to grab me by my dress, and the other st Staci. I saw the beautiful but crazed mare fall to the floor, her forehead glimmering red. "Goodbye Staci," I said, letting a tear drop for someone I hated. It was still another life lost thanks to me. I jumped off the rock, and ran with Tomas by my side. The zombie ponies were left behind, these slower than the first who attacked us. "When do we stop?" I asked him, worried to death. "I think I have a plan," he said, not answering my question. "What is it?" I asked, sure it would be crazily crazy. "We run all around the world. We know the planet it circular, so we'll eventually make it right back to Equestria. There, we take revenge on the Elder Ponies, and try and find all the families of the ponies we killed and owe them a debt." My mouth dropped open. I mean, yes, it would work, but it would take us more than a year to do that, and out here we didn't seem to have a lot of supplies. "We can do it," he said, smiling. I stopped running, and kissed him at full force. "That's a wonderfully sexy idea." Why I said that, I don't know. But it seemed to enforce the kiss, so I left it at that.
Chapter 1: Pretesting DayDestiny is something you are told you can't control. Something dangerous, something that isn't a toy. You can't play with destiny, guessing your every move, choosing whatever you want. Elder Ponies must do that for you. When you turn 16, you get to discover your destiny. Something everybody wants to know. Sometimes, you hear what you want. But sometimes you don't. An Elder Pony could tell you you're meant to be a fighter. Then, you might start fighting crime around Equestria. But some could go the wrong way with it. They could start fighting other innocent ponies, and then you would be sent to jail by a guard. But Elder Ponies go better with the destiny you have. They don't just say, "Oh, you'll be a dancer." or "Oh you'll be a ballet dancer who wears pink dresses all the time." They are very specific. They could tell you that you'll be a famous hairstylist, but that you'll have flaws and end up going broke. You can't try to change the destiny they give you either. You can't just say that you won't have any flaws, or that you will save up money to not go broke. That's because the Elder Ponies have it set up perfectly. They know you'll want to save up an extra jar of money, so they'll assign someone sneaky the destiny of stealing from ponies who save up jars of money in safes. And if you don't want to embrace that, they'll assign someone to be somepony who takes others to the dark side. See what I mean? It's a perfect society designed by the Elder Ponies. Sometimes, I feel like they can see the future. That's why I was so afraid of today. Today was my Pretest. This meant that they would make me go through a series of tests until they got to know me. I had to act as normal as possible, and not differently so they would mess up. But they knew if you were lying to them anyways. At the end of the Pretest, you had to write on a piece of paper some goal you would like to achieve in the future. Sometimes, the Elder Ponies listened to that goal, and put you on the path to complete it. But sometimes they used what you wrote to bother you and make you go in the opposite path of the goal. I zipped up my white jacket as I got on the public bus and rode to Princess Twilight's Castle, the tallest building in Ponyville. Twilight, now being long dead, had opened her castle to the public, and was now used for Life Ceremonies. Just as I got on the bus, it started to snow lightly. I looked out the window, nervous to see the Shiny, Crystal Castle. **** "Aliza Shirtlive." Called the speaker, looking for Aliza. I saw a yellow pony with big, dark eyes and a huge grin walk through the door under the speaker. "Good luck Aliza!" I heard her friends say. "Hope we get something similar!" "Don't let us down." And hundreds of other calls. It went like this for the next twenty ponies whose names started with A and half of B. Then, the speaker said, "Bronwyn Hale." And I got up from the chair I had been sitting at. I was pretty much the only pony who didn't get any comments. I didn't exactly have any friends, except Tomas Shanglow, but he was in another room for stallions. I started trotting towards the door, when I heard Lexis Verry, a pegasus crystal pony whose parents had been living in Ponyville, say, "I hope she gets something that has to do with dumpster management." I held my head up high, and thought to myself, "Lexis Verry, I hope you get the dumpster management, since you already look like one." I had a determined look on my face, and I walked into the room, ready to face my destiny.
Chapter 2: PretestWhen I walked into the Pretest room, it was completely dark. It was so dark that if I put my hoof in front of my own face, it was impossible to see it. I blindly walked around, determined to find a wall which could guide me. My gut told me that this was part of the Pretest, and that the Elder Ponies wanted to see what I would do if I went blind or someone captured me and put me in a dark room. So I kept walking, but after around five minutes, I didn't find any walls or other pieces of furniture. I started to think, "Maybe this room is a rectangle. I'm going the long way, so if I stopped and turned right..." I walked right, trying to find the other side of the rectangle, but I got completely lost and didn't find the other side. Just as I started going back, I heard a voice, "Bronwyn Hale. Follow these directions to find a light source. Go left, and then after 9 steps, turn right and spin. Wherever you stop, take 5 steps forward and find a light source." But I did not follow the directions. It was fake. The spinning was just fake. There were millions of places that you could stop spinning at, and the light source would probably only be in one of the millions of directions. I stayed still, and started making a light spell. My horn glowed yellow, and I snickered. I had made my own light source. After that, the light instantly came on, and I found myself face-to-face with a bear. The bear growled at me, and lunged to grab me. I dodged and made a brick appear out of thin air with my magic. It fell on the bear's paw. It moaned and I kicked it's stomach. But the bear got back up and slashed at my face with its claws. They scratched me across my right cheek. I ducked down, but howled in pain as my skin burned. Then I used my magic to make a mustache appear under the bear's nose. The bear froze, mid-attack, and touched the mustache. He made a happy sound, and started dancing around and muttering to himself. "You're welcome," I said to the prancing and dancing bear. Then I blinked, and the bear disappeared. Instead, there was a dark, wooden table with a basket on top. In the basket were 6 things. A necklace made of the most beautiful gems I had ever seen, a bag of peanuts, some candy, a diamond ring, a deflated balloon, and a soccer ball. I looked at the items with curiosity, and waited. Nothing happened, so I took the deflated balloon and blew it up. When I looked back in the basket, there was nothing inside. With another blink, next to me was standing Lexis Verry and Tomas, my best friend. Lexis Verry was stoking Tomas's mane, and kissing him. I felt like barfing, and then I let the blown up balloon go, and it hit Lexis Verry in the face. I laughed, and then Tomas walked up to me and tried to kiss me. But I flinched, and took a step back. Then out of nowhere, a very bright white light appeared, and blurred my vision. I felt a buzz on my back leg, and I blacked out. **** I woke up in front of four Elder Ponies, all holding clipboards and whispering to each other. I blinked and asked, "What were my results?" The Elder Ponies smiled, and a pink mare with frizzy purple and white hair said, "We can't tell you. That's for tomorrow. But we have a... pretty good idea of who you are, and what your results will be." "Yes," said a mare with blonde, but red and orange streaks in her mane. Her skin was very pale green. Her eyes shined gold. Both stallions remained quiet, but didn't stop taking notes on their blue clipboards. "Thank you," I said as I walked out the door. "Thank you." They all said together. When I got back home, only my mother was home, but she was cooking dinner. My father was on a mission in Canterlot, and wouldn't be there to see me get my destiny. I might not ever see him again, if my destiny was to run away from home, or live on the edge of Equestria. But I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth after I got home. I looked in the mirror as I scrubbed my teeth. What I saw made me drop my toothbrush. My hoof went up to my right cheek. I saw the faint remains of something that looked like the rash the dancing bear had given me.
Chapter 3: A Slip of PaperThe next day, mom dressed me up neatly, and made my hair into a bun. Sadly, after five minutes of wearing it, my crazy hair took over the bun, making it messy. Mom dressed me up in a simple, gray dress and fancy brown boots. The dress went down till my rump and then flowed down. "Thanks mom," I said, smiling. "Nothing else for my little filly." "I hope I get to see you again," I said, pleading for that to be part of my destiny. "Me too. I love you Wyn." and her eyes swelled up with tears. She watched me get into the train (on Tuesdays I rode the train because the bus service took breaks on Tuesdays). I waved to her. "I love you, mom." I whispered to myself, letting a cold tear drop down my cheek. The train got to Twilight's Castle swifter than the bus. I got off along with a bunch of other mares and stallions, all wearing their best clothes. I scanned the crowd for Tomas, wanting to say goodbye to him if this was the last time we ever saw each other. Ponies pushed and shoved me to get through, and I kept saying, "Excuse me," and looking for Tomas. Just as I saw him get off the train, Lexis Verry and her 'minion' Staci Amore walked up to me and said, "Oh, look who we have here." started Staci. "Let me through Lexis." I complained, pushing Lexis aside. Staci Amore blocked my path and said, "You have to stay. We're gonna make sure the Elder Ponies don't give you a destiny." "Listen to Staci. I mean, if you get a cool destiny, you won't anymore because I'll take it from you." "You can't change destiny," I said with a smirk. "Oh yeah?" Lexis yelled. Lexis punched me to the ground, and as I tried to get up, she kicked my in the torso and I fell back down, out of breath. Tears came to my eyes. Then, with a great amount of effort, I got back up and watched Lexis and Staci walk away. With the same spell I used on the dancing bear, a great, fluffy, black mustache appeared on Lexis's face. Lexis screamed louder than a dragon, and ran into the building, probably searching for a bathroom. Behind her, I saw Staci sputter a laugh. "Bronwyn!" I heard a voice say. Still smiling, I turned around to see Tomas give me a dimpled smile. We walked together into the building and said out goodbyes. "I'll miss you Tomas," I said, looking at the floor. "Me too," he said with an awkward grin. I couldn't help smiling. We walked in silence for a while, until I had to go into the mare's testing room. I looked at the floor, wanting to cry for my best friend. "I-" I started but Tomas did something unexpected. He grabbed me by the torso and kissed me. I felt to awkward just kissing him in public but I gave in. "Goodbye," I said, giving him a shy kiss on the cheek. I walked into the mare's testing room, just to hear my name be called. **** This time, there were only two Elder Ponies in the room. One with the frizzy hair I recognized from last time, and another wearing a large pink hat with very fancy magenta hair. Her eyes were blue. They both motioned for me to sit down. "We would like for you to write on this slip of paper a goal you want to achieve. It may or may not be used in the destiny we give you, but there is a strong possibility that it will. Please begin," said the mare with the big hat. "Yeah," I said, sitting down and grabbing the pencil and paper. I did not know what to write. I felt nervous and overwhelmed by the small piece of paper. What did I want to achieve in the future? I thought about my friends and my family and about Tomas's awkward moment with me. After a while, I could tell the Elder Ponies were getting annoyed. But I didn't know what to write. Suddenly, I knew what to write. In my slanted and messy handwriting I wrote: I do not care what destiny you give me. All I wish for is for it to be something very detailed, and that has to do with being with a crowd. I do not want isolation or oblivion. Make me live in peace. I knew it wasn't exactly a goal, but I wrote down my opinion. But as I turned it in, I felt a wave of fear wash over me. Elder Ponies were known for switching what you wanted and making it the opposite. I hope they liked me, because then, I would be isolated, alone, filled with wishes of war, and free. I suddenly wanted to take back my answer, but they didn't give the paper back. I felt another tear drop down my face. What had I just done. The answer to that was: toyed with destiny. It would ruin my life.
Chapter 4: DestinyAfter seeing the Elder Ponies, they told me to go back outside and wait for results. Sadly, that meant that I had to wait for everyone else's results too. I waited as pony after pony came into the waiting room and sat, waiting for the others. I sat still, doing nothing at all. Lexis came, and then after a while Staci came. I wished Tomas would come through the door on the other side of the room so we could see each other again. But he didn't come, even after they went through the names of everybody who started with T. The whole time, I was thinking about my regrets on writing that on the paper. If the Elder Ponies liked me, they would make my wish come true. But if they hated me, they would go for revenge and give me opposite of what I wanted. That meant horrible isolation, war-like thoughts, and being partially free. All these things were things I feared, and that everypony else feared as well. I didn't want such a horrible fate, but I knew that now it would become true. I felt so worried, and so did the mare next to me. Her blue and brown hair covered her left eye. The stallion to my right was serious-looking, a pegasus with a white coat and determined brown eyes. He sat, looking at the speaker, waiting for results. Just as the last pony passed, a dark gray mare with bright pink eyes, a pony named Zilma, the speaker blasted, "Results will appear on the screen below. Next to your result will appear a colored dot. The four colors that could appear are red, blue, green, and yellow. All ponies with a red dot will stay seated. All ponies with a blue dot will go out the left door. All ponies with a green dot will exit the building and meet at the entrance. Finally, all ponies with a yellow dot will exit out the right door." "Finally!" said the stallion next to me. The screen glowed blue, and everypony's names appeared in alphabetical order. Next to them was a description of their destiny. It was a very weird way to pass out something so delicate, but I immediately looked for my name. There it was, clear as daylight, but dark as night. Bronwyn Hale : Destiny is unclear. Report to the ends of Equestria, where you will spend the rest of your life. * Green dot. I was leaving. I was actually leaving Equestria. I was... leaving. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I stayed quiet. I thought of Tomas, and what he was destined to do. But then, my eyes fell on his name on the board. It said, Tomas Shanglow: To be executed on the ends of Equestria. To be killed by Staci Amore * Like me, he was banished to the edge of Equestria. I kept crying, my tears falling on the surface of Twilight's Castle. I cried for myself, and for Tomas, for my mother and for everybody else who received a wretched fate. As I thought of that, I thought of Lexis. Her box said, Lexis Verry: Runaway from the law. Starts out as a fashion designer, and becomes a millionaire. * I laughed louder than I thought was necessary. I shot a quick glance at Lexis, and saw a smile of triumph on her face. She probably only read the fashion designer part, and doesn't even know what runaway means. My large, green eyes then fell of four guards, wearing green, blue, yellow, and red. Everypony understood what it meant, and I slowly walked over to the guard wearing green. I saw Lexis walk over to the guard wearing blue, and shove her way to the front while saying things like, "Move over! I'm the famous one here!" and stuff. I became the second in line, my cheeks totally wet, and saw Staci move to the back. Behind me was the tough looking pegasus boy who had been sitting next to me, and behind him was Tomas. Tomas didn't cry. His blue eyes just looked ahead. But I knew he was afraid. If you looked in his eyes, you would know. I didn't know what was to come for us, green-dots. I knew that some of us would be banished to the ends of Equestria, but what about the others, like the pony behind me? I was cowering and shaking, but I knew it was my fault. I chose this destiny.
Chapter 5: Green DotsThe green security guard took us through a series of torch-lit hallways until we reached the entrance of the grand castle. I took one last look at the shining castle, and then willed myself to look away. "Green dots!" exclaimed the security guard. A yellow pegasus mare appeared next to him, and started talking, "Green dots. You might know what it means, and you may not. For the dumbheads that don't know, it means you're leaving Equestria, or at least Ponyville." I imagined Lexis saying, "Finally!" being all excited to leave Ponyville and head to the Crystal Empire. Though I was sad because I was leaving everypony and everything I grew up knowing, I was actually curious to discover what was along the boundaries of our kingdom. I knew from Hearth's Warming Eve that it was wintery, and snowing. But tales of ponies such as Queen Chysalis explained that it was rocky and sandy, like a desert. I didn't know which story to believe. I just didn't want to believe the ones that explained that monsters lived on the boundaries. Ones that came from non-pony creatures like Zebras. But I was determined to find out. "Now," said the yellow pegasus. "Before we leave, we want to show you what the wild is like." she said with a grin on her face. Everybody gulped. "Pretend you're being chased by a mutant earthworm," everypony snickered. "It's nearly got you, and you don't have any supplies. Luckily, you're running in the direction of your camp. You have a few seconds to grab supplies and fight it off. What do you grab?" she asked slyly. "A gun," I heard myself shout out. I covered my mouth with my right hoof. "Indeed, a gun." She answered. "We're going to take you on a train all the way to the Edge. Your camp in one of the wagons. Now get on the tracks." She shouted, pointing at some nearby train tracks. "What!?" cried a few ponies. A train was coming into view, faster than any train I had ever seen. It zoomed by, and without thinking, I started chasing the train; my camp. Only Tomas and another girl did the same thing as me. Everypony else did it after watching us. And it was lucky they did. Another train was coming from behind us; the earthworm. I ran, trying to catch up to the first train before the second one knocked me over and killed me. "Oh right!" I screamed to Tomas. "I'm a unicorn, I can teleport us to the train ahead!" I shouted. I focused all my energy to the train disappearing from view ahead. I blinked, and my horn zapped up green lights. Tomas and I were in the train only a few seconds later. It was filled with things. I grabbed an empty black pack from the corner of the wagon and tied it around my torso. Then I grabbed a small gun and stuffed it in the pack. I knew it would have no effect on the train behind us, but I would need it on the Edge. Tomas grabbed a long knife and tied it around his torso with a rope. He also took some pain pills and stuck them in his boots. "I'm gonna die." he said to me ten minutes later. "No, you're not." "You can't change destiny, Wyn." "Says who?" "Everypony!" "I'll help you. My destiny is... unclear. It means I can change yours since I have nothing to do with mine." "But Staci Amore will be hunting me down." "And you ask why I brought a gun." "I did not!" he said, laughing. "Yeah you did!" We bust out laughing, and stopped when the yellow pegasus came into the train compartment. "Wow! You guys got in here quick. Nice to meet you. I'm Double Flame." she extended her hoof to us. Tomas shook it. "How ya liking being a green dot?" she inquired. "What do ya think?" Tomas said. "Oh, right." she said, giggling. Double Flame stared at me for a while. She looked at my awkward appearance. No mare wears gray dresses and brown boots to her Life Ceremony. Especially with a dirty blonde bun sticking out of her head, looking like a nest. "I think you two'll survive," she said, smiling. Then Double Flame left, ready to check on the others.
Chapter 6: The EdgeWith our supplies in hand, Tomas and I jumped off the train. I landed on my back two legs so I fell on my face. Tomas landed perfectly, flipping in the air. "I love you," I said, admiring his flip. When I understood what it really sounded like, my cheeks turned pink. He walked up to me and gave me his hoof. I got up from the ground, and looked back. The second train was nearing. I was its gleaming white surface get closer and closer. But when it was close enough to see, I saw a splatter of red near the wheels. I instantly calculated it as blood. Blood from ponies who were either supposed to die or were killed. Staci is supposed to kill Tomas. Maybe her destiny was to kill all those in her path. When the second train started lurching to a stop, I saw Staci standing on its roof, holding a small knife in her teeth. My spine shivered. I saw two pegasi flying at ground level with the train and still running ahead of the train was a sweaty, blonde earth pony. When the locomotive stopped completely, a unicorn mare hopped out from under the train, and her horn stopped glowing pink. She didn't even get a scratch. But from under the train came a loud moan. The white unicorn mare who had been under the train walked away with a frown on her face. But one of the pegasi, the one who had been sitting next to me, waiting for results, stuck his head under the train without any fear. He pulled out a small, green earth pony who was crying. The earth pony was muttering thank yous and holding his left hoof with his right one. His left hoof looked broken, like a train wheel had splattered it. I saw Double Flame ignore the poor earth pony. He started crying in pain, until Staci told him to be quiet and gave him a pain pill. He gulped it down, and put on a fake smile. It was obvious that the wound still hurt like crazy. "Now go, complete your destinies!" shouted Double Flame out into the open, and I ran with Tomas. We ran around boulders and under fallen rocks. We ran until everypony was out of sight. Until I started taking in the horrifying sight of the Edge. It was a ruined place, with dust covering everything. There were rocks as far as I could see, and the landscape was quieter than a mouse. "Good," I thought to myself. "No monsters." But as soon as I thought that, the ground began to shake. My hooves wobbled and I struggled to keep balance. Tomas held on to me for balance and I said, "What's happening?" "I don't know. But according to legends told by zebras, this means that a monster will pop out of the earth!" "OH MY GOD!" I screamed as I watched something come out of a boulder. It looked like a giant flower. But it has sharp teeth, thousands of them. It expelled a purple gas I could only guess was toxic, and it slithered around like a snake. I made the shushing sound, but I think that was enough for the creature to hear me. I dived to the right, followed by Tomas, and I shouted, "It's a plant! Cut it by the stem and it dies!" Tomas instantly threw the knife which cut open the monster's stem. But the cut wasn't deep enough. The monster let out a huge wave of the purple gas, and then regenerated. "SERIOUSLY?" I demanded. Doing the only thing I could think of, I started throwing pebbles at the thing. One fell into its mouth, and it started to cough. Tomas was hitting it with insults, and with pebbles as well. The monster, annoyed, went back into the earth, but let out a purple gas as it went back in. Tomas went to retrieve the knife, but as he did, he got too close to the purple gas. He fainted on the spot. "TOMAS!" I yelled, running to him. But it was a dumb move. I got intoxicated as well, suffering from the gas. My vision became dark and blurry, and I woke up with a screeching pain on my neck. Tomas was next to me, bandaged and well, somehow. Then I heard the wicked voice say, "Oh look! Wouldn't Lexis be proud of me!" and I saw Staci's bruised face appear out of nowhere.
Chapter 7: Staci AttacksStaci held me down. I couldn't move, and was completely stuck. "Let me go!" I screeched. "Why should I? I want to complete my destiny, and get out of this exile. But it wouldn't be complete if I don't kill you." "Then why haven't you done it already?" "Because I want to make it slow and painful." Staci grabbed her pocket knife and neared it to my face. "Where should I cut you first?" she exclaimed mockingly. But as soon as Staci even moved one of her hooves in order to get in a better position, I used my hoof to lunge for the pocket gun in my black pack. I aimed it at her face and said, "It wasn't nice knowing ya, Staci." and I let the gun go off. But I aimed at somewhere else. Her hooves were with what she killed. If she couldn't use them, she couldn't kill Tomas. I instantly got up and picked up Staci's small knife which was lying right next to me. I put it into my pack and saw that Tomas wasn't moving. With a quick wave of my horn, Tomas started moving again. "Paralysis spell?" "Yep." he answered. We started to gain speed so we could run off somewhere else, but I had to look at Staci. Even though the sight was saddening, I willed myself to watch. Staci was screaming and howling on the floor. Her eyes were wider than soccer balls, and she was clutching her right hoof with her left one. Her face was full of rage and anger. I didn't want anyone to kill her, so I used a quieting spell. It would wear off in a few hours, in which I hope she would be dead thanks to blood loss. But you never know. She might manage to find some pain pills or a bandage, or maybe even another pony willing to help her. Then she'd probably trick them and kill them. Typical Staci. "Wyn, don't look at her. It's not... sanitary for the pony brain." "What?" I asked, laughing. I jokingly punched him. **** We hadn't exactly made a camp yet, due to the monster flower and Staci. But Tomas said that he'd seen a rock which was like a cave, and could conceal us until we had to move. So we walked, and walked, and walked until we found the cave-rock. But while we did, we had a long conversation about Staci. "For some reason, she didn't kill me. She only seemed intent on killing you. She had actually bandaged up my right back leg, because it got burned from being on the hot surface too long as I was unconscious. She put a paralysis spell on me and put me into a magic health bubble. But she left you there like nothing had happened. I was jabbering on and telling her that she had to help you. But Staci didn't. She liked me, I think. She was listening to what I was saying and acting like a sister. But then, when you woke up, you know what happens then." "But why didn't she kill you? Wasn't it her destiny?" "Maybe it actually wasn't. Maybe her destiny was to kill a lot of people, but not me. And somewhere in the future, she'll kill me." "No, that can't be. I looked at her destiny on the results screen and I'm pretty sure her life's goal wasn't to kill me. I'm 100 percent sure-" "Are you?" "Yes!" "But you didn't look at her box. You only looked at mine." "That's right, but how do you even know that?" "Because I love you. I'm supposed to track each and every one of your moves." "Oh, come on Tomas!" "No, I'm serious. I like you, Bronwyn." We were quiet for the rest of the stroll. But I thought about what he said. Not just about Staci and destiny, but about liking me. Apparently, he was paying a lot of attention to me. When I thought about it, I realized that I did the same thing. I noticed that he didn't come out the results door. I noticed he looked stiff and scared when they announced him a green dot. I noticed all these things because I like him too. When we got to the cave, I hugged him and thanked him for finding it. He smiled. Then, I put all my supplies away, and noticed he was staring at me. I walked over to him and said, "Now that I think about it, I love you too." I leaned in and kissed him. We shared out moment for a while, and then he said, "I knew you'd come through." We kissed again. Author's Note I know the beginning sounds a bit like the part in The Hunger Games when Clove has Katniss pinned down near the Cornucopia, but just keep reading and you'll see that it's different. -Carly S.
Chapter 8: The CaveTomas and I stopped. We would have kept going, but we heard a noise coming from outside the cave. I did a quick invisibility spell, and Tomas flapped his wings in fury. "Dude, do ya think that crazy pony'll find us here?" "No. let's round up some rocks and make a fire. I have matches." "It'll attract attention Brick," "No it won't Chad. Just watch. I bet nopony is even near us!" When the two stallions got deeper into the cave, where me and Tomas were, I got to see them better. They were both pegasi, and Chad was a completely orange pegasus, with flaming red hair cut close to his skull. His eyes were the color of fire. Brick was the white pegasus who had been sitting next to me in the result room. Brick left the cave a while later, probably to fetch something to start the fire with. There was a lot of wood lying around the area, even though it was out of place here. When Brick came back carrying some wooden planks on his back, I dared myself to speak to Tomas as they built the fire. "Do you think they're killers?" "What? No. I think I scanned through Chad's name a couple of times, and it said that he'd tame monsters on the Edge. So no, but yes, they are strong. And Brick?" "I don't know! He was sitting next to me but I think I wasn't paying any attention to him anyways." Brick's ears perked up. Chad grabbed something out of a moneybag that was slung across his shoulder and poked it onto a stick. He put it over the fire. It smelled great. After leaving it over the fire for a while, Chad split it in half and gave some to Brick. "Here. These won't last us long, but we should eat while we have 'em." I nudged Tomas. We didn't have any food, and I knew Tomas's stomach was already rumbling. "We need to steal Chad's pack. He has food, and we need it." "I know, that's what I was thinking. We should do it now, while we're invisible." We put our plan into action, without really thinking about it. We sneaked around Chad and Brick, but I forgot. We're invisible, but they can still see out shadows. "Someone's in here!" shouted Brick. "They're just invisible!" And that was the worst moment. The invisibility spell wore off. "Ooops," I said. Chad pulled out a snake-like object from the moneybag. I calculated it as a whip. He stroke it at us, and Tomas dodged it by a mere inch. Brick just sat there. Chad kept lashing it at us, and we gracefully danced, avoiding the whip. "Don't let them out of the cave!" cried Chad. Brick obeyed, and guarded the entrance. Tomas flinched for only a second then, and Chad lashed out the whip, faster than an eagle. It wound up around his leg, and I dove in, getting the gun out of my black pack. I blindly aimed it at Brick, who was guarding the door, and only managed to hit his ear. A piece of it flew off, hitting the ground. But Brick stood there, as if nothing had happened. The blood ran down his left ear, and down his face. It dropped onto the floor, and Brick just stood there, not moving. I was taken back by my surprise, and Chad pulled the whip, dragging Tomas right behind him. Brick took out a knife and handed it to Chad. Chad was about to throw it into Tomas's face, when I screamed, "STOP!" and gave Tomas one second to untie the rope from his body, and he started choking Chad. Brick grabbed the knife on the floor and cut the rope. Now Tomas stood there, with nothing, and screaming. The last thing I heard Chad say before Brick knocked me out was, "Let's keep the girl We'll need her for reproduction." "REPRODUCTION!?" I angrily shouted at Chad. Then Brick knocked me out. But I didn't worry. I used my magic to teleport Tomas outside the cave. He'd be able to escape. My only regret is that I would not. Author's Note I don't know why, but I keep imagining Brick as Bulk Biceps's son.
Chapter 9: BoomIndeed, when I woke up, Tomas wasn't there. Chad and Brick had tied me up to a rock in the middle of the cave. As soon as Chad and Brick saw me, they walked over to me. Brick had a look of pure hatred on his face. "Where's your little friend? I know you used your freaky magic to make him disappear. We needed him, or we would starve!" said Brick. "You were going to eat him?" I said, disgusted. Brick shrugged, and Chad walked up to me and touched my cheek. "But that doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that we get along. I do have to continue the pony race out here." "Ew." I said, spitting on his face. He frowned. "We can always use you as food too." he said. As he looked at me, the only way I can describe his look was greedy. I tried to use my magic to untie the ropes, but Brick slapped me with his wing. Now, my only hope was that Tomas saved me. He was probably still out there, trying to find a way to save me. I begged to God that he did. Chad was a perverted, stupid, and annoying guy. I tried to kick him, but they were to far away. I kept praying. "Now, I'll untie you if you promise you have a relationship with me." said Chad. This was too easy. As soon as he did, I'd run away. "Fine," I said, smiling as if I wanted him. Chad got closer and started to untie me. Just as he did, I bolted for the exit. "HEY!" exclaimed Brick. I kept running, not caring where I was going. I ran, until Tomas bumped into me outside. "We have to get rid of them for good," he said. "Got it," Out of my bag, I grabbed an explosive that had been in the pack since I got it. I timed for it to explode in 10 seconds, and tossed it with all my strength at Brick and Chad. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0. I heard a giant explosion, and Chad shout, "Brick! RUN!" but obviously they didn't do it in time. Tomas dared me to peek into the rocky cave, and what I saw made me gag. Brick's dead body smashed against the rock they tied me at. But he was missing a chunk of his rump and his hind legs. I saw one leg against the cave wall. It was splattered red. Chad was nowhere to be seen, but parts of his body were pressed against the floor, making a giant red stain. I felt tears come to my eyes. That night, I didn't sleep at all. "Good night Bronwyn." said Tomas, grabbing my hoof. "'Night," I said. But I don't know why I said that. I wasn't going to sleep now that I saw that awful sight. I kissed Tomas for a while, and it felt nice to have him so close to me. Well, until a giant monster pierced his body with a spike in the middle of the night. When I woke up, I realized that I had slept. And I hated myself for it.
Chapter 10: The First TestHe was dying from blood loss. I had to do something to help him, but I didn't know what to do. Try and remove the spike, and I could accidentally remove his liver. Leave it in there, and he gets his liver impaled deeper. "Tomas! Can you still hear me!?" I asked frantically. "Barely," he whispered. "Oh God this is my fault! I should have stayed awake and protected you!" "No, Wyn. It's not your fault." "TOMAS!" I screamed, seeing the light start to leave his eyes. I, in anger at the world, screamed, "I hope you all DIE! You don't deserve to live for creating such a world!" His head was on my lap, and his hoof was holding mine. His breathing was slow. I screamed again. It was all my fault. It was all my fault. "I can't let you die," I said to him. Being the riskiest pony in the world, I started taking out the spike. Careful not to touch his skin or pierce him again, I slipped it out. After a painstaking long time, the spike was removed. But this made Tomas's face turn paler. I wrapped his body in bandages to stop the blood from pouring out, but he was in no condition to move. I gave him a pain pill, but realized it was useless now that his intestines were ripped. "No, this can't be happening," I said. "Yes it can. Wyn, there's nothing you can do to stop death. NOTHING is stronger than death." My eyes exploded with tears. Remembering something Princess Twilight Sparkle had written in one of her manifestos, I said, "Friendship. Friendship is magic, so it's stronger than anything." As soon as I spoke these words, my horn blasted with energy, probably seen for the next 100 miles. It flowed into the sky, and became a massive pink cloud. Then, magical thunder burst from the clouds, hitting Tomas. As I watched, my eyes glued on the scene and on Tomas, I saw the wound close up. It stitched back together, leaving nothing, not even a scar. My tears dried up, and my dress got burned from the thunder and lighting show. With another fast burst of color from my horn, the cloud became thin air, and Tomas stood up. "What just happened? Wyn, what was that light that blasted out of your horn?" "I don't even know. All I know is that know you're okay!" I kissed him. He slipped his hoof into my dress. But then I stopped and yelled, "But now everypony will be looking for us. They saw the cloud, and so did monsters." No sooner did I speak these words than a mob of angry ponies appeared about a kilometer away. Tomas then said, "Zombie ponies. They're attracted to light!" "Come on, we have to run somewhere!" "Shoot them with your gun!" "No, I'll run out of bullets!" We turned around, only to have a melted, grotesque zombie face appear right in front of us. "They made us see the light. Now you will pay," said the zombie pony.
Chapter 11: Plan for Action"RUN!" But the zombie, with incredible speed, chased up. I dashed around, trying to dodge the zombie or jump over it, but it was too fast. And the situation was getting worse. The mob was getting closer. If one zombie pony was going to beat us, we had no chance against a giant mob of them. And worse was that the zombie's were not the only ones coming. After the mob was only a few meters away, I noticed a purple unicorn with a tattered mane and angry, blue eyes. I think that Tomas noticed that Staci was at it again, because he looked at me with worried eyes. In that moment, the zombie pony tried to jump on Tomas. As it hung in the air for what seemed like a extended amount of time, I grabbed my gun and shot it in the body. The pony swung to the right, flying straight into a nearby rock. Something that clearly was not blood dripped out from the body of the zombie. It looked like green gloop, with red marbles swarming through it. It howled in pain, and started to turn into a rock. It was a strange sight, but from now on, I would never touch another one of these rocks again, accepting the possibility that it could be a dead zombie pony. But at that moment, I jumped on that rock, glad it was there. Staci stood right behind me, and she was hovering her new giant machine gun right above my head. I was lucky I heard the horrible sound of her teeth grinding, or I wouldn't have moved. Tomas jumped up high and kicked Staci in the gut. She fell over, but shot a bullet at the speed of light as she flung to the right. It went right above Tomas's face. He jumped on the rock with me and said, "Wyn, we can't stay here. We have to run deeper into the Edge." he kicked Staci who was trying to climb onto the rock. "No! There are more monsters in there. We have more of a chance of dying." "But it's either that, or we face this mob of zombies alone." Now the zombies were super close to us. If they moved even a yard, we could be dead. So I did what I knew was right. I shot two bullets, one at a zombie pony who was trying to grab me by my dress, and the other st Staci. I saw the beautiful but crazed mare fall to the floor, her forehead glimmering red. "Goodbye Staci," I said, letting a tear drop for someone I hated. It was still another life lost thanks to me. I jumped off the rock, and ran with Tomas by my side. The zombie ponies were left behind, these slower than the first who attacked us. "When do we stop?" I asked him, worried to death. "I think I have a plan," he said, not answering my question. "What is it?" I asked, sure it would be crazily crazy. "We run all around the world. We know the planet it circular, so we'll eventually make it right back to Equestria. There, we take revenge on the Elder Ponies, and try and find all the families of the ponies we killed and owe them a debt." My mouth dropped open. I mean, yes, it would work, but it would take us more than a year to do that, and out here we didn't seem to have a lot of supplies. "We can do it," he said, smiling. I stopped running, and kissed him at full force. "That's a wonderfully sexy idea." Why I said that, I don't know. But it seemed to enforce the kiss, so I left it at that.
