Questions

Questions

The Darkness Within

Chapter Two

I awoke with a start, and instantly regretted it due to the current concussion I had, my head was pounding, my vision was swirling, I felt like I was about to throw up, and my ears were ringing, I also couldn’t remember why I had a concussion.

I could practically hear the world saying rise and shine, asshole.

I laid there, thinking, trying to remember what happened, after a minute I remembered everything up to my current predicament, I slowly sat up, but my head didn’t want to stop spinning, I waited for it to pass and took in my surroundings, I was in a basement, I could tell from the coolness in the air and the fact that there was a cellar door to my right.

I lifted my body off of the dusty ground for the second time today, I brushed the dirt off of my jacket and approached the exit, there was a noticeable lack of sound as I made my way to the door, I pushed the cellar door and heard the rattling of chains.

At least they were smart enough to chain the door.

I could see outside due to the cellar door being made out of wood with, little spaces in between the boards, the light outside was bright so I guessed it was around noon, I saw apple trees so I’m probably at the farm still, not wanting to stay in the enclosed space any longer than I had to I shaked my aching head and tried to think clearly.

I’m in a cellar, I’m in the...hooves, of angry ponies, and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my mind...goddamnit, I need to get my shit together, the cellar door is made out of wood, if I use all of my force on the door I’ll probably break free, but if anyone else is in the area they’ll hear me.

As I was thinking of a quieter approach I heard faint voices getting louder.

“It’s right in here, Ah gave it a good kick so it should be out cold.” I heard a distinctly southern accent say.

“Thank you Applejack, I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia once we’re done here.”

I quickly but quietly laid back down where I woke up just as I heard the chains come undone and the door opening, I pretended to wake up to the noise of the door and slowly sat up, I looked over to the two ponies that just entered the basement.

I could have easily knocked both of them out and just ran out the door, but then I would have been dealing with the authorities chasing me and I didn’t know if these ponies were a threat yet, so I chose to get into a sitting position and face them.

“I’m guessing this isn’t a social visit?” I asked bluntly, my baritone voice catching her off guard.

She had a look of awe on her face for a brief moment before going all regal again, judging by the way she carries herself she is probably an authoritative figure, that and she had a crown on.

“I came to ask a few questions, nothing more.”

“I’m not in a position to argue.”

She stared oddly at me for a second before gesturing for Applejack to come forward.

“Do you know this mare?”

I took a quick look at the mare. “No.”

She paused before moving on.

“If what the kids are saying are true, you saved them from Timberwolves, correct?”

“Yes.” I said with slight confusion.

“So you carried them back to the farm safely, then why did you attack Applejack’s brother?”

I looked to mare in question, she was having a hard time keeping it together, she was burning a look of hard fury into me behind her emerald green eyes.

I turned back to the Purple mare. “The big red stallion?” She nodded in conformation.

“He attacked me, as I got close to the house he rammed into my back for no apparent reason and started throwing hooves, so I defended myself to the best of my ability.” I said calmly, putting no hostility into my voice.

Applejack was about to say something before I held my hand and cut her off.

“It wasn’t my intention to just start fights, I thought he would hurt the kids and myself so I took him down the best I knew how, I’m sorry for attacking your brother, Applejack, but he attacked first.”

She looked baffled, I guess she wasn’t expecting an apology, the purple mare spoke up after a moment.

“We would like to bring you to Canterlot so that Princess Celestia could talk to you in person.”

I just stared at the two mares.

“What the hell is Canterlot and who is Princess Celestia?”

The look of authority turned to one of pure shock, she started mumbling and finally got it back together.

“How do you not know?” She asked in disbelief.

“Well, considering I’m not from this place is a good start, and I’ve never heard of a Princess Celestia, Canterlot, or about anywhere on Earth that had talking ponies.” I answered truthfully.

Her look of disbelief grew, and so did Applejack’s.

“You’re not from Equis...are you?”

I raised my eyebrow. “The hell is Equis?”

That statement threw her over the edge and she blurted out.

“Where did you come from then?!”

Confused, I said “The United States of America, on the Planet Earth.”

She about popped a blood vessel.

“So...you’re not from this planet, then...that means you’re an alien, we need to get you to Princess Celestia, now.”

I saw their looks go to one of awe when I stood my full height, I was one tall motherfucker, even for a human, I popped my neck and back and gestured for them to lead, both of them turned back around and exited the confines of the cellar with me in tow.

The walk back to the house was in silence, I was glad for that as I never really got to experience the beauty of a farm in a long time, I didn’t see any animals but I was guessing the barn held them all, and there were acres of just apple trees, we arrived at the house a short while after leaving the cellar, it was a simple two story wooden house, it had a patio with two chairs out front, once I got to the front of the house I saw that there were multiple ponies inside.

“Where are the kids? I haven’t seen them yet, are they safe?” I asked cautiously.

“Yes, they're safe, thanks to you, they’re upstairs sleeping and healing as we speak while Granny Smith is with them,.” The purple mare said gratefully.

"Mah brother is in the hospital, ya roughed him up pretty bad." Applejack said, on the edge of hostility.

I nodded and followed them up to the porch, the two ponies stepped onto the porch first and opened the door, as I got up the porch I saw a light blue blur speeding at me, having years of training and being a battle-hardened military soldier, I grabbed the blur and used its momentum to spin 360 degrees and wrap it into a sleeper hold, the pony was struggling hard while I wasn’t applying enough pressure to knock the pony out.

“Let her go!” the Purple mare yelled.

Realising that I was crushing the pony’s windpipe I let go, the pony was coughing and sputtering on the ground and Applejack went to help while Purple started scolding me.

“You don’t just do that to somepony! She could have had a serious injury!” She started.

“Then tell her to fuck right off, you don’t just rush at me like that and expect me to take it, I will defend myself.” My harsh choice of words along with my blunt tone caught her off guard.

The commotion had the entire room looking at us, I looked around and saw three other ponies looking at us, one was yellow with a pink mane, the other one had a stark white coat and a fashioned mane, the last one was bright pink and had a slightly lighter pink mane.

They were looking at me in awe and a bit of fear, the fashion one looked a bit disgusted.

I looked to Purple and asked “Who are they?” I said nodding to the group of three.

She turned to the group and then back to me. “That’s Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity.” She said as she pointed to each of them.

“The one you just strangled-” she said glaring at me a bit” -is Rainbow Dash, you’ve already met Applejack, and I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

I nodded in conformation and looked at Rainbow Dash, who recovered, she had a look of anger in her eyes, I took on a calm tone and stature as to not have her bitch at me. “Hey, sorry about that, you just came at me and I reacted appropriately, sorry about the throat, it won’t leave a mark.” She looked at me for a bit before saying.

“Apology accepted, when I saw you I kinda thought the worst, I just wanted to protect my friends.” I nodded to her and turned to Twilight.

“So, how far of a walk is Canterlot exactly?” She waved her hoof at me. “Don’t worry, we’ve got a Royal Chariot sent to us to pick us up, it should arrive shortly.” As if on cue, the chariot in question landed just outside the house.

“Alright everypony! Our chariot is here, let’s go!” Twilight said.

“Stay safe Granny, ya hear?” Applejack said. “Sure will! Ya’ll take care now!” Came a voice from upstairs.

Four guards came out of the chariot and saluted Twilight. “Ms. Sparkle, we are here to escort you and your-” he then noticed me and lost a bit of his composure”-...friends...Ms.Sparkle, what is that?” The guard asked.

“He is a guest to our nation, and I expect you treat him as such.” She said clearly.

“Yes ma’am, right this way.” He got out of the chariots path and let everyone in, luckily they got a big chariot for me to have room in, my head almost hit the roof, but it wasn’t too much of a problem.

As we got seated I had a guard to my right while I was at the edge of the chariot, and Twilight was in front of me, as we took off I was about to start sweating, I unzipped my jacket, making the guard next to me flinch, I unzipped my dark tan jacket and then took off my grey hoodie, leaving my USMC tan t-shirt on, I fumbled around in my jacket pockets and took out a pack of smokes and my lighter, I opened the window slightly and lit my cigarette.

I started smoking and blew a puff out the window, I then laid my head back on the wall of the chariot, I felt eyes on me so I opened my eyes and saw weird expressions looking at me.

“...What?” This seemed to snap them out of their daze, Twilight was the first to speak up. “What was that?” I lifted my lighter out of my pocket. “This?” She nodded.

“This is a lighter, it creates a spark from flint and lights a fire using a small capsule of gasoline, it lets me light my cigarette, why?”

“I’ve just, never seen something like that is all, and why are you inhaling smoke? It’s bad for you.” She said a bit worried.

I just shrugged. “It’s a bad habit.” I said smoothly.

The conversation sparked a talk between the six mares, I just laid my head back and inhaled more of my cigarette, blowing smoke out of my nose and looking over the landscape, waiting for us to arrive at our destination.