The Darkness Within

Chapter 1: Arrival

“Hey freak come back here!”  Yelled one of the boys following me.  This is the daily routine for me, go to school then get chased on my way back through the park.  Good thing I’ve got my stuff at the campsite.  Why mention the campsite?  Well it’s where I’ve been living for the past year.  I was just coming back from hanging out with my brony friends.  And now in my brony shirt I’m being chased by a group of bullies who want to beat me senseless and possibly kill me.

“Come back here witch boy!”  Oh and the fact that I’m a Wiccan doesn’t help.  Everyone thinks that I cast curses and stuff, when they don’t realize that Wicca is a nature religion, but I’m getting off topic.  Now where was I, oh yes fleeing for my life.  “Why do they always do this?  All I want is to camp out and enjoy nature!”  I growl with anger.  And then I see it finally!  I have reached my campsite!  I rush inside the tent and then start gathering everything in my bags but then a rock hits the ground next to my tent.  “We’re gonna get you pony witch freak!”  Yells one of the bullies.

“No not now!  I barely escaped last time!”  In fact last time they attacked me it ended with them waking up in the middle of the forest.  “We know your in there!”  He sings in a mocking tone.  “Please God and Goddess, please help me.  They have knives this time, big ones!”  I pray through tears of terror as I gather things in my bags as quickly as I could.  Then just as I can here them coming up to the tent, a blinding white light shines like the sun.

I wake up in my tent, I sit bolt upright remembering what had happened.  But the bullies aren’t making any noise, so I poke my head out to see.  And would you just know my luck when I see…  the Everfree forest!  I am speechless, I think maybe I am dreaming, so I get my pocketknife out of my pocket and prick my finger, and it hurts. “Ow!”  I suck on my finger as blood starts to seep from it.  “So I guess I’m not dreaming.”  I mutter as I work to stop the bleeding from the small cut.

Suddenly I hear a rustling and then voices, I listen closely so I can catch them.  “I told you it appeared with a flash of bright light a couple hours ago.”  Came a shrill tomboyish voice.  I run into my tent, and gather my three knives.  My short pocket knife is already in my pocket and I grab my boot knife with it’s leather sheath and strap that to my pants and I grab my baby, my 22 inch dagger shaped like a serpentine dragon with it’s body making the battle ready blade.  I hear them coming closer, I can’t make out what they look like but it looks like there are six of them.  I get my dagger ready. I’m not going to run away, from this point forth I will not cower away. “Looks like they’re going for the front, well then I’ll just slice through the side and surprise them.”

I wait until they are close enough and then, SLICE!  I burst through and rush out at blinding speed.  If there are a few things I am, it’s fast and precise which makes me deadly with a blade.  I turn towards them only to be met with a blue blur.  I swing but my dagger is deflected out of my hand.  “Damn it!”  I say through clenched teeth.  I pull out my shorter boot knife and my pocket knife.  But they are soon knocked out of my hands before I can even swing.  “That’s it!”  I grab my enemy’s leg and then with all my strength I slam my assailant down into the hard ground with a pleasing CRUNCH.  “Ahhhhhhh!”  I hear it wail in pain.  But then when I get a good look, what I had perceived as threats are in fact… ponies.  The mane six from My little Pony Friendship is magic in fact, and the one laying at my feet gritting her teeth in pain is none other than Rainbow Dash.

“Oh crap!  I, I thought you were all going to attack me and, Oh man!  Did I hurt you too bad I didn’t mean, Oh maaaaaaaaan!”  If you can’t already tell I am completely freaking out.  Luckily for me they didn’t take this as an opportunity to beat the crap out of me.  “ We need to get her to the hospital!”  Twilight says almost as freaked out as me.  “No, this is my mess and I’m gonna fix it.”  Twilight looks like she is going to protest but I set to work anyways.  I put my hands on Dash’s body, take a deep breath and concentrate.  I feel and gather the energy from the earth and forest around me, drawing on the power of nature and focusing it so that it is programmed for one thing: healing Rainbow Dash.  I feel the intense heat that lets me know that my magic is working.  I open my eyes and there is that familiar green glow of healing magic coming from my hands.  As I work none of the ponies talk and Dash’s pain seems to subside until she opens her eyes and sees what I’m doing.  Eventually Her moving lets me know that I am done.

Rainbow Dash flaps her wings and hovers in the air just staring at me in shock.  I’m the first to break the silence.  “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, everypony, I didn’t know it was ponies that were approaching, I thought it might have been hungry creatures.”  I apologize as I pick up my fallen knives from the grassy ground.  Dash gets up in my face with, a smile?  “Nopony has ever as fast as me!  Well cept for Pinks but that’s just Pinkie.”  She rambles with her muzzle inches from my nose.  “So you’re not upset about me slamming you against the ground?”  I ask hoping for the best.  “Nah besides you patched me up 120%!”  She says flying high into the air just to prove her point.

I turn to the rest of the main six.  “What about you guys?  You mad?”  Applejack is first to speak, “Ah don’t really know if Ah should trust a thing that attacks out of no were like a snake in the grass, but ya do look like yall are telling the truth, and ya healed Rainbow so, I guess I aint mad at ya.”  “You may have been fighting but you moved with such grace, and I would love to make you a gift more healing poor Rainbow Dash, and as an apology for scaring you of course.”  Rarity surprisingly doesn’t have any comments saying I am brute.  Fluttershy nervously rubs her front leg with her hoof.  “I know that if you approach an animal the wrong way it could attack, and the same is true for some ponies, so I’m sorry if we frightened you.”  She says with a cute little smile.  I return her smile  “ And I’m sorry if I frightened any of you.”  But on the inside I am squeaking at the cuteness.

I turn to were Pinkie was, or were I thought she was.  “Hey where’s-  “HI!”  Pinkie just appears right next to me and scares the living crap out of me.  “What the crap!”  “Oh sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”  She giggles and then gives me a bone-crushing hug.  “I should throw a welcome the Ponyville party!”  Pinkie screams at the top of her lungs and bouncing.  And finally there is Twilight Sparkle.  “Hey Twilight, um are you mad at me?”  I ask kind of nervous.  “No not any more I am.  I just have a question.”  I brace myself for yelling of some sort.  “Can you show me what magic you can do!”  The purple mare asks with sparkles in her eyes.  “Um, sure.”  I reply with a smile.  “Hey are you coming?”  Rainbow Dash asks me while hovering above the trees.  “Where?”  I ask completely confused.  “Why to Ponyville of course.”  Says Twilight with a chuckle.