Outside Your Comfort Zone
I want to be inside, you...
Author's Note
What? Pencil wrote something with no graphic sex or gore? Blasphemy!
Eh...consider this as close as I get to a family-friendly piece.
Which is to say, it's really not.
I want to be inside, you...
It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, the flowers are in bloom, and the Pegasi have removed just about every cloud from the sky. Ponies laugh and play together, smiling and giggling as they search shops for new books, or food, or toys. The breeze carries a soft, lilting note of honeysuckle, the kind blown from far away that cools the senses with its soft perfume.
It's the perfect day for going outside. There's no reason not to.
But you know, fuck that. You're not touching that shit.
Even as Twilight carefully moves her red piece two squares over diagonally with a glow of purple magic, on your fourth game of checkers no less, you have no desire to be out there with the rest of them. Fuck outside. Besides, checkers isn't...so bad? Twilight, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be amused by this game anymore. She lets out a long, almost whistling sigh, and glances up from the game at you pitifully.
“Anon, are you absolutely certain that today isn't the day?”
“Nope!” you say almost too happily as you double-jump her.
“But,” she insists. “It's lovely out, no need to be nervous.”
“Fuck that,” you say still ever-jovial.
She narrows her eyes at you.
“Anon, I hate to say this,” she says as gently as is equinely possible. “but I don't think this is healthy. I don't know if it was normal in your old homeland, but here we all...tend to go outside once in a while.”
It's true, when you lived in the big city back home, you never went outside if you could help it. Everything was delivered to you, you worked from home, and when you absolutely had to leave for any reason, you were always Lorazepammed out of your skull to do it. Here? It was only worse.
The skies in Equestria were a bright clear blue and stretched on forever. Unfamiliar things, fake looking trees and bushes, overly friendly animals...way overly-friendly in the case of that one orange pony's dog with the unexpectedly cold but almost inviting nose. It's all way way too much, and there's no Lorazepam here. Horse tranquilizer, maybe, but last time you tried that stuff you ended up passed out on your face, naked from the waist down in Spike’s bed. Too many questions there that you don’t want answers to, so you’ve never tried it again. Yep, inside for you it is. Heck, you're surprised the ponies don't actually have a word for agoraphobia. It's been hard to explain to them, and you’re pretty sure Twilight still doesn’t quite get it. But given that the first home you ran shrieking and flailing into upon your arrival was Twilight's, she's been stuck with you till this point.
At first a welcome, fascinating responsibility and new friend, you could now feel that you were grating on her nerves with every word you spoke. As in, you had long, LONG outstayed your welcome. It couldn't be helped, though. You were NOT going outside. Besides, when you were bored in here you could always get her little dragon helper to wear panties and makeup and then tell him that Twilight found him sexy that way. The results were usually most amusing.
God you hate that fucking dragon.
“Anon,” Twilight tried again, the gentleness beginning to slip a little in her tone. "I really think you should give it another try.”
“Why?”
“Look, I know the first time you got in here you started screaming, and those blue lines bulged out of your neck, and you started frothing at the mouth and babbling strings of obscenities that I've never heard before...”
“Hey, cuntass tittyfucking shitjesus is a normality in my world, ok?”
She closes her eyes to take a deep breath, her patience obviously waning.
“I am just saying, a lot has changed since you beat down my door with your head and then lay bleeding and half-conscious on my rug, ok?”
“Yes it has, you're much better at checkers now. King me, by the way.”
You see her face begin to visibly redden through her violet coat.
“Anon,” she says gruffly, like she’s forcing out every word. “I can't always take care of you, entertain you, bring you things…”
“Don't be so hard on yourself, you can do it, I believe in you! You've been doing great so far.”
This proves too much for her. Twilight rises slowly, ignoring your hella-pro checkers skills, and stares you down with a wilting look.
“I can't do this anymore,” she says in an uncharacteristic low tone. “You're going outside today.”
Oh shit, are things actually getting serious now? Maybe you went a little too far.
“No I'm not,” you tell her with a sharp laugh and a shake of your head, trying to maintain some levity.
“Yes,” she says, eyes narrowing even further, “you are.”
Your right forearm suddenly begins to glow purple and you feel yourself wrenched forwards by it, upsetting your near flawless game. You cry out in annoyance over the loss of such a swift victory, and also at the unexpected strength with which you're being dragged. With fascination, and also a little horror, you notice that Twilight's horn is now aglow too, and she's slowly backing away from you, pulling you towards the front door.
As you watch, the door opens.
Opens.
Opens to outside.
Outside.
OUTSIDE!
Alarm bells start to go off in your head, and you feel pigment draining from your face. No, what does this purple bitch think she's doing? You can't go out there! The world is out there, people are out there, things you don't understand or want to understand. You don't want this, this isn't going to happen.
“Twilight,” you say, trying to keep any fear out of your voice. “I don't want to go out there.”
“Well you must.”
“I'm saying no. No means no, Twilight.”
“I'm sorry Anon, but this is for your own good,” she says, not sounding the least bit sorry.
You swallow hard as your dug-in heels make squeaky scraping noises across the wood floor of the treehouse. Still trying to retain some composure, you speak again, sweat beginning to trail down your face.
“Please, don't do this. This won't end well for either of us.”
“One way or the other, you're going outside.”
The door looms up ahead of you to swallow you into the real pony world. Soon you'll be bathed in sunlight nothing above you but the sky, nothing below you but grass. You can't let that happen, not again.
“NO!” you suddenly shriek and begin flailing. “No fuck you I won't let you!”
“Stop struggling!”
“I will not! Let me go! I said no!”
You take a swing at Twilight as you pass, and she dodges expertly. You reach out with your free hand, trying to grab her mane or face or anything, something to keep you from your steady slide towards the door. But it continues. You can see the trees out there, smell the open air. Oh god, it's terrifying.
You begin to scream, shout, and fight anything that your fist comes in contact with, but it's not enough. Twilight drags you to the door frame ready to plunge you through to the outside world. Like a cat being put in a carrier for vet day, you throw up your arms and legs against the door frame to stop you, pinning you there inside for a moment longer. Your glowing arm tugs strongly, but your grip is tight and adrenalin-fueled, and you don't budge.
“For Celestia's sake, Anon,” Twilight groans.
“Fuck you and your pagan sungod!” you spit at her, your eyes now wide and wild with fear.
She lets out a sigh, glaring at you, and the glow suddenly coats your entire body, holding you in and up off the ground like you're in a bubble. Again like some sort of cat, you convulse and spit and hiss as you're moved, suspended, like you're held by the scruff, out the door. You feel your breath catch in your throat, and you shudder, spasm, kick, and let out a flurry of No's and Stop's. But it's too late. You're outside. Twilight trots out after you as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
The sun! The sky! The trees! It's all here! And you're here now too, why?! Gotta go inside, don't like world, too big, wanna go inside. Inside now. Inside.
The moment you feel your feet touch the grass, you make a mad, shrieking bolt for the door, but Twilight pounces on you like some form of technicolor lion. Almost like she's done this before, she pins you down by your limbs and stares directly down into your face. You shut your eyes, shaking your head hard, emitting choked sobs of anguish.
“Open your eyes!” she barks at you.
“NO, fuck no!”
“You're going to stay like this until you can deal with being outside, it's for your own good!”
You try to thrash, but she holds you down harder. You can feel her hooves leaving deep bruises on your arms and thighs as you struggle.
“Stop thrashing, you're only making it worse for yourself.”
“Stop, please!”
“This has been coming for a long time and you know it!”
Almost as if from far away, you hear the sound of another voice, one you actually somewhat recognize.
“Twilight, what'n the hay is goin on here?”
Your eyes shoot open. Sure enough, standing right there is the orange horse, Applesomething, and her tiny sister Applesomethingelse. You look to them pleadingly, still pinned under Twilight's surprisingly mighty hooves.
“Help me, please!” you cry out, feeling tears welling in your eyes.
The orange pony looks from you to Twilight in bewilderment. You can hear the purple pony panting heavily above you, and hear that her frustration has finally all come to fruition, probably building over the months you spent in her home.
“I had to do this!” she says in a raspy voice. “I don't care what you say, I deserved this much.”
“Slow down, what happened...are those bruises?” the orange pony says.
You nod vigorously.
“I-I didn't want to, so I put up a fight,” you say, your voice broken. “I tried to stop her, I said no, I told her to stop, that I didn't want it but...I didn't know she could do that with her horn, and...”
You're sobbing again, blubbering and pitiful there on the ground.
“H-her horn?”
“I said no,” you sob out. “I said no but she wouldn't stop. The horn...she just...oh god it was terrible, I couldn't get away, couldn't move because she had a magical hold on me. There was just the opening, and her horn and...oh god.”
The orange pony looks at you in horror, then back up at Twilight once more. The smaller pony moves behind her sister a little, cowering from the scene.
“I had to!” Twilight suddenly yells. “You don't know what it's been like with him! The way he's always traipsing around mostly naked, always playing games with me. I've wanted to do this for weeks, and he's known it, but he never would do it willingly, so I had to!”
“Twi...” the orange pony says, almost sadly. “Yer not denyin' this?”
A small, rumbling crowd begins to gather around you.
“No, it was for his own good!” she shouts bitterly back. “He's been asking for it, he might have even wanted it I think. I was forced to, he made me! Besides, I'm a princess, I should be able to have say over what goes on in my own home, right? I deserved a little happiness, I wanted this, and when I saw my chance I took it!”
The smaller pony whimpers behind her sister. Twilight breathes in gasps with the effort of saying everything she's kept to herself for far too long.
“I...I said no,” you say again between sobs. “I didn't want it...I didn't...”
“You had it coming,” she snarls at you. “You knew it had to happen eventually and still you stayed. You have no one to blame but yourself. You were asking for it.”
You close your eyes, trembling all over, as the ponies slowly come forward to pull the angry, shouting Twilight off of you. You know your new bruises are deep and reddening, and you can feel the eyes of so many ponies on you, looking over every inch of your damaged form. You're paralyzed there on the ground before them, unable to run back inside, even as the orange pony throws a blanket over you.
“I said no,” you gurgle once more, hugging the blanket to you like it’s your only friend.
“And I didn't care,” Twilight says loudly, for all to hear.
Later that week, given all the witness testimony and the confession heard by most of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle was tried for your rape and sentenced to 180 hours of community service.
There's just no real justice anymore.
-End-
