Fighting the Darknessby ScottishPonyChaptersPrologueChapter 1 - Welcome to the world of talking horses!Chapter 2 - More horses!!Chapter 3 - Philosophy is fun?Chapter 4 - Strange Crystal 'Mansion'PrologueNearly there. Nearly there! The nightmare-fuelling being was nearly out! The being of dreams was almost a reality- it could practically taste it! Closer and closer the gaseous being came to the white, void-like tear in the dreamscape’s sky. In triumph, one of the beings long tendrils reached through the rip to reality and began to slowly seep through. However, it knew it wouldn’t last long. It could sense the dreamscape inhabitants rushing towards it, battle ready, but the being had a plan for just this occasion. In an instant, the end of the long tentacle separated and shot off, eager to escape to reality and leaving the main body behind. A few moments later, and the small piece of the once monumentus being was all that was remaining. In a blind panic, the small blob shot on through the void, with many gateways to separate dimensions and realities running parallel to it’s position. On and on the small being fled, until it suddenly and unexpectedly shot to a gateway to it’s left, leading it into an unknowable plain of existence. "It’s not a concussion, is it?" the heavily accented voice of one pale-white being came. A long sigh came from the human he was talking to, who seemed to be dressed in a plain blue uniform. "We don’t know yet, but we will be keeping track of your health over the following week or two. But one thing is for sure- you won’t have any matches any time soon." A frustrated sigh came from the pasty-skinned human as he ran his hand through the long, vertical ginger hairs that stood atop his head. "I was so close to that championship too..." "I know, but we can’t take any risks," the doctor replied with a frown. "But if you’re feeling up for it, you can go clean yourself up and get a bite to eat. Then we’ll do our final check up, and you can go sleep for a little while. No rush, after all." This seemed to make the man smile. "Fine, but the catering better be good this time!" he chuckled, carefully getting to his feet. As he first stood up, everything wobbled for a moment, before calming down. "You alright, Sheamus?" the concern from the doctor rang in his ears. "What? Oh, aye, I’m fine. Just a bit light-headed is all." he quickly reassured with a smile. "Okay... Just hold this against your head. It should help everything stabilize quicker." the doctor handed him an ice pack, as well as a strong feeling of concern. "I’m fine. I really am." Sheamus smiled towards the medical personnel as he left the room and pressed the cold piece of ice to his temple. As the tall Irishman walked down the huge, labyrinth-like corridor, he couldn’t help but take particular notice to the sheer number of equipment cases stacked neatly to the side like rocks carefully placed in a cobblestone wall. After a few moments of walking he noticed a small glow of light emanating from within the piles of boxes. He paid no mind to this and just passed it off as a hallucination from his head hitting the ring post with a sickening ’thud’. ’Damn, it didn’t hit it that hard, did I?’ he questioned himself as he continued to stroll past box after box. After a few more minutes of walking, he could swear something was hovering right behind him but whenever he turned around, the thing would dart away and leave him confused. He tried his up most to ignore it, but it became increasingly difficult, as the small thing would sway closer into his view before moving away again. His pace quickened and he finally reached his room. He opened the door with a sigh, and quickly shut it behind him. The man carefully took a seat and placed the ice pack down, before rubbing his eye sockets with his hands. ’Maybe I am worse than we first thought...’ he gulped, and remained still for a few moments. He suddenly felt a presence in the room with him. He knew that whatever was following him in the corridor had somehow gotten into the room with him. "Alright, fun’s over. Come out and show yourself." He announced aloud. There was a long pause. "Okay, this isn’t funny anymore. Get out here." he repeated in a much more serious tone. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see it. It was there. The small mound of shadow moved into his view and seemed to hover in front of him. Sheamus was stunned. As was the small ball of shadow. Another long pause. Breaking the unmoving silence Sheamus gently reached towards the small thing in a possible attempt to touch it. Bad mistake. The ball of darkness seemed to instantly lurch and attach to his hand and quickly began enveloping his whole body. He tried to yell out for help, but the being quickly filled his mouth. His eyes jerked around, terrified, as the shadow twisted around his every limb, and tightened against them. Agony quickly arose as the darkness smothering his body slowly began to tighten. He didn’t know what he’d pass out from first- the pain or the shock. The shadow didn’t take long to climb around the rest of his face and head, and within moments it had completely engulfed the entirely of the human. Now it only had one thing left to do. Return to Equestria to seek revenge. Author's Note Heh... Is it good? I wrote it when I went to bed each night, so I'm not sure if it's any good. Also, if anyone can write an Irish accent, could I get a bit of help? I'm sorry, I'm completely useless at it. Chapter 1 - Welcome to the world of talking horses!The waking world. Man, had he missed it! He wasn’t sure how long he was out for, but it felt like a hell of a lot longer than the quick hour or two he had promised the doctors. As his mind came closer to conscious, his senses were flooded with an input he... did not expect. The scents of dew, flowers and fresh open air filled his lungs, and he could feel the soft texture of damp grass below him. A gentle breeze wafted over him and he could tell the sun was shining brightly despite not being directly under it’s gaze. Question is, how did he get there. He knew it was all nice and dandy that he was laying in the shade of something- most likely a tree by the sounds of gentle swaying -but he knew he was last indoors. As he lay motionless, little details began to slowly come back to him. Soon, he remembered he should be concust. He remained still, focusing on the damage supposedly done to his head but... He couldn’t feel anything. Nothing seemed to be wrong. ’Okay, what the hell is going on?!’ Sheamus hurriedly questioned himself as he began to sit upright and open his eyes for the first time. His eyes shot wide as the image of a pristine meadow was shown to him. "No... This can’t be right..." He muttered aloud as he stood up, still unable to remove his eyes from the sight laid before him. However, his attempts to stand were futile, as every time he tried he would simply fall back down again. "Alright, what the hell is-" the man was quickly cut off short as his gaze fell upon what was suppose to be his legs. One problem- they weren’t human. Large, sturdy goat-like hooves replaced his feet, and a bright ginger fur happily sat against his new leg joint and all the way up to his chest. He felt like he was going to faint! What did this to him?! Better question, what could do this to him?! How was he going to face his family again?! What about his friends?! And his job!! He couldn’t fight like this!! He couldn’t stand the thought of being like this in public!! Yet he forced himself to cam down, and take the only conclusion any sane man would make- He must be dreaming! He gave a soft sign of relief, but it was hurriedly cut short. It still all felt too real. Much too real to be a dream, wasn’t it? His hands began shaking again as he lifted and gazed at his left one. Long claws tipped his fingers, and his muscle seemed to be much more tightly packed than before. No- he had to stop getting distracted. There was only one way to tell if he was asleep or not. He gently reached over and gave his arm a harsh pinch. A moment later, and he was softly cursing to himself while clutching the spot on his arm. "What the hell?!" the pale-white being snarled, "Okay, we can rule dreaming out... God... that’s going to bruse for sure!" He noticed a small trickle of blood flowing down his arm, but he paid no mind to it, and instead turned his attention to his surroundings. To his right, a dark forest lined the edge of a large meadow displayed directly in front of him. His only thought at that moment was ’Where the bloody hell am I?!’ as nothing seemed familiar to him. To his left, there seemed to be a large lake with a pristine surface. He gulped. ’Might as well get a look at myself in this... new.... form.’ Using the tree as leverage, he managed to get himself to stand on his legs. Well, for a moment at least, as the second he tried to take a step, he landed back down on his arse. The Celtic Warrior wouldn’t be beaten so easily though, and he tried to stand and take a step again. Same result. ’What the hell am I doing wrong?!’ Frustration was starting to creep in as he stood back up, but he did notice he was getting up quicker each time. ’At least that’s going for me...’ The man-horse-goat thing stood against the tree for just a moment more, refusing to be beaten by... his own bone arrangement? No! He refused to give up! After all, the lake was only about 10 meters away from him! ’Okay. Let’s take things a bit slower.’ He gingerly pressed one of his hooves in front of himself- good so far! He slowly removed his hands from the tree- amazing! And... lifting up his other hoof and.... ’Thud.’ "Oh for fucks sake..." ... Maybe it’ll take a bit more practice to get it right... Almost as if giving up, he began to almost drag himself along the floor on all fours. It seemed to be a better system than ’falling on your arse repeatedly’ which was good. His legs somehow began to work with him, miraculously, and began to push him forward until he was in a near-vertical position. Within moments, and he was at the pebble shoreline of the lake, staring at his pristine reflection. One emotion in particular rose through the mix he was experiencing. Confusion. It was his face, but at the same time it wasn’t. His mohawk was a good inch or two taller, with two long horns at either side, but other than that his face seemed almost exact same. Almost. A closer examination of his beard showed that the beads which hung down from his hair were now shaped like coiled snakes or dragons; their eyes glittering with fine gems- like rubies and emeralds. The man’s eyes were lost in the somewhat hypnotic gaze, until gentle ripples in the waters surface and a soft sound of growling drew his eyes away. Unfortunately, as he turned around, his face met with that of a being of wood. Two other beings of wood- their forms rather familiar to wolves or some form of dog or mountain lion -stood eagerly behind, watching the one in front of them with excitement. ’Oh God...’ Sheamus gulped as he gently began to back away from the wooden being, but the lime green gaze followed him continuously with lust and anticipation. "G-Good puppy tree things... I’m not going to hurt you..." but as he noticed the wolf-like being sniffing a rock coated in his crimson blood from his cut he got earlier. And now, it’s intentions became very clear. The eyes of the being began to darken and the growls increased in volume as the other two began to approach as well. ’Well, it was a nice run.’ he gulped hard, despite there being no moisture in his mouth, ’I should probably start running now!’ And with that, the chase was on. Sheamus quickly stumbled into a sprint with the wolves in hot pursuit. The Rocky retain quickly smoothed out into grass, but the Satyr didn’t slow- he could feel their foul breath on the back of his shins! Energy began running low for Sheamus, but the wolves seemed content to keep the chase going. On and on the wolves chased him through the meadow and towards the treeline; their woody jaws and sap-soaked tongues lolling wide open, putting their pointed ’teeth’ on display. Exhaustion began to creep into Sheamus’s body, and every muscle screamed for him to stop. He just needed to get to a tree! One tree, and he was safe! Luckily for him, the treeline stretched out right in front of him, and he viciously dug his claws in and scrambled up the one closest to him. Safe... or so he thought. The wolves howled loudly, and battered their huge bodies against the tree, shaking it down to the roots. They coiled themselves low to the ground and pounced at him, at an attempt to cling onto the tree and get up with him, but most attempts were futile. Most, that is. The supposed ’leader’ of the small pack was finally able to pounce and dig his claws in the thick tree bark, leading it to go face to face with a petrified Sheamus. Acting upon instinct, his hoof quickly launched out and smashed the wolf’s ugly face hard as he possibly could. Bingo! The entire wolf’s face seemed to almost explode into a shower of splinters, and the rest of the hulking body fell to the floor with a highly satisfying ’THUD!’. The other two wolves looked horrified as they stared at the broken body of their leader, but only moments later the muzzle of the damn beast reformed! Sheamus stared in complete disbelief at the being as it seemed to almost shake off the injury! What kind of dark magic was this?! But the wolf didn’t seem to hot about it, and gave a short growl, before turning and revealing the utterly broken face to the hiding Satyr. The muzzle of the beast was twisted and gnarled, showing that it wouldn’t be chasing any interspecies goat-people any time soon! Yet the gaze remained as ice cold as ever. Sheamus retorted the cold gaze by flipping off the wolf with his middle finger and giving a triumphant smile. But it seemed he wasn’t out of the fire just yet, as a loud cat-call of sorts filled the air, and the faces on the beasts dropped from seething rage to unimaginable fear. A huge boulder see seemed to be hurled at the leading wolf, snapping it into pieces, and the other two quickly fled with their tails between their legs. As soon as the final wolf reformed, it quickly followed suit. What could was able to strike fear into such fearless creatures?! Well, whatever it is, Sheamus didn't want to meet it, but he wasn't sure he had a choice. "An’ don’t come back, ya’ hear!" the strangely female southern accent echoed through the air as the wolves disappeared deep into the forest, "Now, wha’ were they so worked up about?" Sheamus did his best to lean away and coil with the branches, but his completion and fur colour made that very difficult. The tree gently shook as the being pressed her bodyweight against it. However, the face that Sheamus was expecting to see was not the result. Not even close. In fact, he was met with a rather confused and horrified bright-orange and freckled face of a... Pony? The man stared at the pony. The pony stared back. They were both locked in an almost unending silence for a good few minutes, until... "Uh... Hi?" Author's Note Stupidity? Check Man, this has got to be up there on the list of "The dumbest things I have ever done" Again, is this any good? I have absolutely no clue. Chapter 2 - More horses!!"Uh... Howdy there..." came the rather awkward reply from the pony. Silence. The two beings simply stared at each other in complete disbelief. The Satyr couldn’t believe the pony could talk. The pony couldn’t believe the Satyr could talk. The lack of words lasted for a few more minutes until the distant call of a much younger voice came. "Applejack? What the hay are you doin’?" "A-Applebloom, get outta here." the staring pony simply replied, before slowly backing down the tree. Sheamus gulped down hard, and moved into a position to which he could peer over the edge. Once more, he spotted the orange pony staring up at him, but more in confusion than shock. By her side, there was a much smaller pony who also seemed to hold the power of speech. The smaller one seemed to have curiosity and intrigue pained across her face, rather than the elders concern. "Hey, Applejack, who’s that fella up ther’ anyway?" the smaller one, presumed by Sheamus to be the ’Applebloom’ that was mentioned just a moment ago. "Ah don’t know, but Ah want you stayin’ away from it." the elders gaze met with his, showing that he wasn’t too hidden from his vantage point. "He seems friendly enough!" Applebloom smiled, before defying the larger one’s orders and hopping to the base of the tree, "Hey, Mr! What’s your name? I’m Applebl-" "Applebloom! What hav’ Ah told you ’bout doing stupid an’ reckless things like that!" ’Applejack’ scolded the little filly as she pulled her away. "Well, if he had the intentions of hurtin’ me, then why hasn’t he already?" she quickly retorted, "Besides, he doesn’t look like the second comin’ of Cerberus, now does he?" "Just because it hasn’t made a move doesn’t mean it won’t make one!" With the two in a rather heated argument, Sheamus decided to carefully wriggle out from the trees branches, and down onto the grass. "An’ that’s the- Huh?" the pony quickly whipped her head around to face him before leaning into a defensive position, "Don’t you dare make another move! Applebloom, get behind me now!" "But why? He’s not gonna hurt me!" the young filly seemed to ignore her superiors word, and wandered casually up to him, "As I were sayin’, mah name is Applebloom, and this is my annoyin’ big sister- Applejack." "Applebloom, get back here now..." the warning seemed to fall on deaf ears as Applebloom gently sat down and spoke with him casually. "So what’s your name?" the filly asked, her eyes as wide as moons. Sheamus gulped but remained as cool as possible, "My name? My names are the Celtic Warrior, the Great White, etcetera, but everyone just calls me Sheamus." "Really? That’s so cool! Ah wish Ah had names like that, but Ah guess Applebloom is okay." casting a quick glance to Applejack showed the elder pony begining to relax, and her eyes slowly filling with curiosity, "So, where’d you come from and how’d you end up in a tree?" "Well, I’m not exactly sure how I ended up here of all places, but I came from a place called ’Earth’, an-" "Earth? Is that some obscure town at the edge of Equestria?" the curious filly interrupted him, but he knew it was out of curiosity and not malicious. "Well, I’m not sure where it is in relation to here but it’s a vastly different place with loads of-" "Is it populated by things like you?" interruption number two, but Sheamus merely chuckled. "Applebloom, stop interruptin’ him." Applejack spoke to the filly, before quickly straightening up, "Well, Ah’ll go get Twilight. You jus’ stay right here." she cast a suspicious gaze to Sheamus for just a moment, before disappearing beyond the trees. "Well... Alright then." Sheamus said in a rather surprised tone. "Eh, don’t mind her. She gets like that every now an’ then," Applebloom shrugged, before her eyes were flooded with curiosity again, "so as Ah were sayin’, is your home place, wherever that is, populated with creatures like yourself?" Sheamus chuckled, "No, not really. You see, when I got here, I was somehow changed from my original self, into a..." "Satyr!" a high-pitched voice beyond the trees chirped in. "Huh, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom jumped and whipped her head around to face the direction of the voice. "Who now?" Sheamus asked with a frown. "Oh- uh, they’r mah friends. Sweetie Belle..." a small white filly unicorn with a curly pink and purple mane walked out, "... an’ Scootaloo," another, equally small filly pegasus pony with bright orange fur and a magenta mane rode out along side the other on a small scooter. They didn’t seen like threats, so Sheamus gave them a hearty smiles and began to speak, "Nice to meet y-" "Wow! You’re a real Satyr!" the orange one gasped. "And didn’t you say you were from a different dimension?" Sweetie chimed in. "Ah know, ain’t that just so cool!" Applebloom continued. Sheamus carefully let himself sit down and lean against the tree. For a few moments, he sat simply smiling and watched the fillies share their pure excitement, ’Kids. They’re the same in every dimension.’ "Okay, CMC, calm down." Applebloom announced over the top of the other two before cleaning her throat, "Now, this fella here is called Sheamus. Ain’t ya’?" Sheamus chuckled a little bit. It was like meeting fans back home! "Yup. That’s my name." but he bit back the fact it was only his stage name since he wanted to see if he could truly trust these ponies first. "Sheamus? That’s so cool..." Scootaloo breathed with wide eyes, "so, uh, why don’t you have a cutiemark?" "A cutie- what-now?" Sheamus quickly dissolved into confusion at the mention of that word. "You know, a cutiemark?" Sweetie replied seeming confused as to why he was confused. The tree fillies twisted their bodies to show him their but- eh, flanks, and each of them had little shields on them, with small individualized emblems on them. Instantly, one thing sprung to Sheamus’s mind. ’Okay, which one of these three is going to betray the other two?’, he thought bluntly, as he could only see the trio from the WWE reflected in these fillies. "They represent what your special talent is. You know, what makes you different to ev’ry other pony." Applebloom explained, pulling Sheamus out of his mind. "Oh, cool," Sheamus commented with a short nod, "Wonder what mine would be." He continued, suppressing his laughter, as he could only imagine the poor son of a bitch that got stuck with a humiliating cutiemark like a middle finger or something even more immature. "I know. Why don’t you have one?" Sweetie asked out of curiosity. He shrugged, "Dunno. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t found my talent. I’ve travelled the world God knows how many times doing what I love." "You have? What as? An entertainer? A comedian?" Applebloom asked. "Oh, I’m a global sports entertainer." Sheamus spoke casually, and grinned as he watched Scootaloo’s expression change in an instant. "Really? What as? What kind of athlete? Like, are you a sprinter? Or... or a cyclist or...." Scootaloo’s eyes shimmered brightly with pure, raw energy. "Wrestler." Sheamus narrowed his eyes and gave a huge grin. Scootaloo gasped with pure joy and excitement, which Applebloom and Sweetie Belle gasped out of shock. Scootaloo shot forward to him, "Whoa! Does it not-" "Hurt?!" the other two chimed in along aside her. "Aye, of course! Can you imagine getting your ass whooped while simultaneously whipping other people’s asses on a day-to-day schedule in different countries, and while safety isn’t always guaranteed?!" he watched their faces drop to sheer shock- even Scootaloo didn’t seen to hot any more. "B-But why would you do that?!" Sweetie interjected, with her jaw still lying on the floor. He shrugged, "I love it- I’ve always loved it. And honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing about it." He smiled while getting in a more relaxed pose; crossing his legs and putting his hands behind his head. "You’re just so casual about it..." Applebloom breathed. "Yeah, can’t it seriously take a toll on you?" Scootaloo gulped. "Well, yeah. I was put out for six months straight because of an injury in a ladder match. One of my pals had his neck forced down onto a crutch which nearly collapsed his throat. Not to mention to hundreds of other injuries which have happened in the past to people other than me. Hell, some people have even died in the ring, or ended up... worse..." his throat caught a bit when he spoke the last few words. "R-Really... I knew it was dangerous, but not that dangerous..." Scootaloo gulped, her eyes falling to the grass below her hooves. "What did you mean by ’worse’?" Applebloom gulped, almost instantly regretting asking the question. Sweetie simply stared in stunned silence as Sheamus took a long, breathy sigh, "Honestly, just forget I ever said that, okay. It’s a bit of a sore spot to talk about, and I don’t want to worry you fillies." "O-Okay..." Applebloom gave a soft inward sigh of relief that he has decided not to give a reply. Sheamus, feeling the conversation was dying a bit, quickly gave a smile and decided to turn back to a more uplifting topic, "So, what do you fillies like to do for fun?" Chapter 3 - Philosophy is fun?"Fun?" they all repeated, their eyes glowing with pure excitement. "Oh boy, we can...." Scootaloo paused. "We can... uh..." Applebloom tried to add, but nothing came to mind. "Well, we would say, ’continue to do different, crazy things to get our cutiemarks’ but... We’ve already found them so...I guess that’s it..." "I’m guessing that’s how you three used to pass your time," Sheamus sniffed, "Same thing with me, really. I used to watch wrestling on the side and started training to be one. It just seemed to happen so suddenly and my life changed so drastically that..." "... It almost didn’t feel real..." the three echoed along side him. "An’ you almost feel like everything else you’d worked for your whole life is now... outta the question..." Applebloom sighed- she had already assumed that the apple on her flank already symbolized she would be stuck here for the rest of her life, working with boring old apples instead of all the other fun stuff they tried while crusading. "But it ain’t all bad, remember," Sheamus leaned forward and gently lifted the young filly’s dipped head, "You’re just a young filly. Your life isn’t going to be all restricted by one dumb mark on your butt. I mean, look at me! I was a computer technician for the start of my adult life! And now I’m a global entertainer!" "Really? Y-Ya’ mean that you... Never felt you couldn’t make it to where ya’ are now because you already felt your fate was sealed...?" Applebloom asked quietly as she started to get a bit misty-eyed. "Hey, I got to where I am because I held enough passion in my heart to do something other than work with computer all day." Sheamus smiled, gently wiping the tears away from the young filly’s eyes with his thumb, "If you truly hold a passion in your heart for something, don’t let something as insignificant as a mark on your arse tell you you can’t." Sheamus lifted his head, and he saw the two other fillies fighting away tears too- Well, at least Scootaloo was. Sweetie Belle’s face was coated with tears and seemed to hold no shame about it. "Aw, come here...." Sheamus smiled and embraced all three fillies in a tight group hug. They remained tight in each others embraces for a couple of minutes before, rather reluctantly, releasing. "S-Sorry..." Sweetie muttered as she noticed the huge wet patch they left on the Satyr’s chest and fur. Sheamus chuckled softly, before ruffling the small unicorn’s mane, "Don’t apologize, Sweetie. I’m more surprised no one’s ever told you that before." "W-We were always told that out cutiemarks were pretty much the be-all-end-all... We didn’t realise there was an element of choice still in there..." Applebloom spoke as she wiped the tears away with her hoof. "Well, of course there has to be. I mean, your cutiemarks seem rather broad. What do you think they signify?" Sheamus continued with a soft smile. "We figure it’s to signify how we love helping other ponies find out their special talents." Sweetie sniffed, her tears begining to dry off. "Yeah, that sounds broader than a simple title of ’computer technician’ or ’apple salesman" that I think you’ve tried to boil it down to," the Celtic Warrior explained, "I mean, to me, those marks are not a show from fate that ’you are doing this with your life, and only this’, but rather a show of ’this is the talent I am best at, but I am still capable of doing so much more.’" The filly’s were stunned. Was this really the truth? Well, when they thought about it... it was true! Twilight’s cutiemark signified she was best at magic, but she’s also good at leading, forming solutions, reading and even science! She wasn’t just ’good at magic’, she could do so much more! Yes, that’s what she’s most known for, but her abilities weren’t just cut off at ’magic’. How had they not figured this out by now?! A short pause filled the air between them, and Sheamus simply sat against the tree once more. However, the young Scootaloo caught her eye. She had remained silent for pretty much the duration of the discussion, and the look in her eyes told him exactly why. A look of dawning comprehension was deep within her eyes, almost as if she was told that everything she was ever told turned out to be a lie. Along side that was a look of pure adoration. ’Heh, looks like I’ve found my new biggest fan in this dimension.’ he thought with a smile. His thoughts were quickly shattered though, as he was quickly propelled into the air by a force beyond him, and he was frozen unable to move at all. He noticed a magenta bubble around him and the familiar orange pony burst from the trees and quickly pulled the fillies away from him, much to their distress. ’What the hell?!’ was his only thought as he hung in the air for a few moments, before a lavender unicorn with wings strode out confidently from the bushes, her horn alight with the same coloured glow as the bubble surrounding him. Her gaze seemed to burrow into his soul but he tried to remain as stern as possible. He heard the fillies desperately pleading to the lavender mare to release him, but she didn’t head a word they said. ’What do you want here, monster?’ she could hear him inside his own head- telepathy! How the hell were these creatures capable of telepathy?! ’I said, what do you want here?!’ she repeated more sternly, and he felt the ’magical’ grasp she had in him tighten. ’ How about you get the fuck out of my head, and let me go.’ he retorted, but he only saw the mare’s face darken. ’You forced me to do this.’ her horn seemed to flicker more brightly and suddenly everything went blurry, dark and a little bit painful. The last thing he could hear as he fell to the grass in a heap, were the three fillies desperately pleading to the lavender mare to release him. After a few moments, the pain, darkness and blur quickly faded. He leaned up slowly to see a rather apologetic face of one lavender unicorn-pegasus, only to fall right back down again as the spell took it’s toll. Chapter 4 - Strange Crystal 'Mansion'"God damn it..." his first words after stirring awake. Sheamus’ head was still pounding from whatever happened to him, to the point where, just for a moment, he thought he was home again before he found himself laying in a different bed with goat legs. He frowned. Sluggishly, the man slowly lifted himself up to look around. He was not met by the pleasant forest scene he last recalled, but instead inside what could only be assumed to be a rather strange mansion of sorts. A tall ceiling with a glass chandelier; huge crystalline pillars connecting the room from the bottom to the top; and a smooth, shiny floor with a single rug across it. He instantly took notice of the crystals everything seemed to be made from. Smooth blue & dark purple stalactites and stalagmites etched their way in from the walls, with gold highlights running through them. However these formations seemed to stay rather dull with no sharp edges, and stayed strictly to the very edges of the room and up the columns to produce a rugged effect. This theme even carried on into the furniture. Directly across from the bed was a light-blue low table of varying hues, with a vase of gorgeous roses reflecting the colours of the rainbow. The vase was decorated by the same colours as the table. ’Jeez, how long’d it take for someone to build that?’ Sheamus blunk as his eyes took in the spectacle, before turning his attention to the other sides of the room. To his left, a shut - and presumably locked - door elegantly crafted from, you guessed it, more crystals. To his right there seemed to be just a plain glass door leading out onto a short balcony, which was also probably locked. No harm in trying them, though. Sighing, Sheamus gently slipped his hooves onto the floor, giving an uneasy shiver due to the fact he had to call them ’hooves’. He carefully stood up, and gulped down hard. He still hadn’t become a master at whole, eh, walking thing, but he was at least getting a bit better. He was free-standing, so it must account for something. ’One step... two steps...’ his brain muttered as his body carried out his actions, ’three... four... Hey, this isn’t so bad after all!’ He produced a smile as he began to carefully pace around the room. Though it gave him unease as he heard his hooves ’clip’ and ’clop’ against the smooth floor, it also gave him a feeling of fulfilment. He was walking! On his own too!! His triumph didn’t last long, as he began to hear unfamiliar voices coming from beyond the locked entrance to his room, we well as footsteps. Startled, his gaze flickered around for places he could hide. Nothing... except maybe the balcony? He rushed towards the door and tried the handle. ’Click!’ Yes! Perfect! He hurriedly rushed out onto the balcony and did his best to squeeze into the corner just right of the shimmering door frame. He could barely hear anything beyond the rushing of blood in his ears as the once locked door swung open. He could sense the creatures there, sucked in a huge breath, and held it tight. ... "Where’d he go?" The single line cut through the pounding within his eardrums, and made him ecstatic. C’mon, just get outta here!! "... I guess he must have escaped." The somewhat familiar voice echoed, "Hey, why’s the balcony door open?" The familiar face of the purple unicorn stuck her head right into his view. He knew he was already screwed. "Where could he b-" she thought out loud before her gaze swept around the balcony and met with Sheamus’s. "Hi." he forced a cheesy grin, recognising the unicorn that had knocked him out earlier, "Fancy meeting you here." The purple one’s face dropped and the Satyr was one more coiled in her magical grasp. "Hey? What the hell are you doing?!" Sheamus snapped as he was forced back into the room from whence he came. The room seemed much more populated now; a couple of familiar faces like Applejack, but the others ones he had never seen before. "Welcome back. Satyr." Applejack snorted, letting her mistrust of him show clearly. "Yes indeed. A beast he certainly is." a white unicorn next the orange mare muttered yet showed no intention of hiding her words from him. "Looks like he dragged through the Everfree backwards by his hair," a rainbow-maned pegasus added bluntly, floating gently around him for a closer inspection, "I’ve honestly seen boars prettier than you." "Coming from the floating bird-horse with hair that only suits a gay pride parade." Sheamus quipped back, and the rainbow pony’s face dropped. "Twilight. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t give this goat hybrid a taste of my own hoof." she growled, bringing her face right up close to his. Sheamus grinned, which only seemed to make her more mad. He knew that if he wasn’t trapped inside the bubble of magic, he would happily give her a taste of his own hoof. "Rainbow, calm down. He’s stuck right now, so he can’t exactly do much other than talk." the purple mare spoke while rolling her eyes. "Even that’s overly generous." Rainbow sniffed as she drew herself away and eventually out of the room, followed quickly by Applejack and the white unicorn. "He doesn’t look to dangerous." a new voice spoke up, and a yellow pegasus with a long, fluffy mane stepped forward, "Are you really sure this is the creature your book was talking about?" The yellow mare’s attention turned to the last remaining mare in the room. Twilight sighed, "I’m not sure. He doesn’t look or act like the book describes. It says that most, if not all, Satyrs were evil, dastardly creatures but he just looks... Normal." Twilight spoke half to herself and half to the other mare, while casting unsure gazes towards him. "Look, I’m not here to hurt you- or anyone for that matter!" Sheamus quickly defended himself, "I just woke up and found myself here. I don’t know where I am or how I even gained this form. All I can tell you is that I’m not here to cause any harm." "He certainly seems nice." The yellow mare smiled gently, while Twilight gave a soft chuckle. "Oh, Fluttershy, you could find kindness in pure evil, couldn’t you?" Twilight joked and the yellow and pink one simply giggled. Sheamus smiled softly, but did feel the conversation wasn’t really including him, and more about him. "So, do you really think he’s dangerous? I mean, after seeing what he’s like and hearing what the fillies described of him..." the one known as Fluttershy asked Twilight. Twilight hesitated, and looked the Satyr up and down once again, "I... I don’t know. My gut is telling me ’no’, but my head still isn’t sure..." Sheamus gave a goofy grin, "Do I really look like the kind of fella that would try to hurt anyone?" "Plus, if you really don’t want him wandering around Ponyville, he can come and live with me." Fluttershy offered. Twilight paused, "I... I guess that’s okay...." A smile drew across both Fluttershy’s and Sheamus’s face. "Okay... better get down to the others and get everything sorted out completely." Twilight smiled towards the mare, but cast an unsure glance towards the Satyr. "What is there to sort out?" Sheamus asked curiously, simply because he really just wanted to eat and go back to sleep. "Formalities, really, and pass the plan onto the others so they know what’s going on." the purple mare smiled, and he felt the magical grip on him slowly slip away, "I guess I can trust you enough to let you at least walk on your own." However, Sheamus was rather... unexpectant of this, and ended up falling flat onto his back. Twilight jumped slightly, and Fluttershy shot forward. "Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Fluttershy gasped as she quickly went to help the man up. "Yeah, yeah, I’m fine." Sheamus smiled, "I’ve felt with a ton worse." "Okay... If you’re sure..." The shy mare gulped as the Satyr stood and carefully began to walk forward towards the door frame. Sheamus heard the faint clop of hooves, and assumed that Twilight was already making her way to the ’others’, despite him not knowing where she was going. "Nice friends you have there." Sheamus interacted with the yellow pony who carefully stepped out in front of him. "They generally are nice. It’s just they were a bit frightened by what a book on your kind of species said- Oh that was probably a poor choice of words..." the mare spoke, scolding herself for using somewhat ’racist’ language. ’How can it count as racism if I’m a complete different species- and one made of assholes by the sound of it...’ Sheamus thought. "You seem like a nice being yourself," Fluttershy smiled, "It’s hard the think of you as someone who hurts ponies for a living."
PrologueNearly there. Nearly there! The nightmare-fuelling being was nearly out! The being of dreams was almost a reality- it could practically taste it! Closer and closer the gaseous being came to the white, void-like tear in the dreamscape’s sky. In triumph, one of the beings long tendrils reached through the rip to reality and began to slowly seep through. However, it knew it wouldn’t last long. It could sense the dreamscape inhabitants rushing towards it, battle ready, but the being had a plan for just this occasion. In an instant, the end of the long tentacle separated and shot off, eager to escape to reality and leaving the main body behind. A few moments later, and the small piece of the once monumentus being was all that was remaining. In a blind panic, the small blob shot on through the void, with many gateways to separate dimensions and realities running parallel to it’s position. On and on the small being fled, until it suddenly and unexpectedly shot to a gateway to it’s left, leading it into an unknowable plain of existence. "It’s not a concussion, is it?" the heavily accented voice of one pale-white being came. A long sigh came from the human he was talking to, who seemed to be dressed in a plain blue uniform. "We don’t know yet, but we will be keeping track of your health over the following week or two. But one thing is for sure- you won’t have any matches any time soon." A frustrated sigh came from the pasty-skinned human as he ran his hand through the long, vertical ginger hairs that stood atop his head. "I was so close to that championship too..." "I know, but we can’t take any risks," the doctor replied with a frown. "But if you’re feeling up for it, you can go clean yourself up and get a bite to eat. Then we’ll do our final check up, and you can go sleep for a little while. No rush, after all." This seemed to make the man smile. "Fine, but the catering better be good this time!" he chuckled, carefully getting to his feet. As he first stood up, everything wobbled for a moment, before calming down. "You alright, Sheamus?" the concern from the doctor rang in his ears. "What? Oh, aye, I’m fine. Just a bit light-headed is all." he quickly reassured with a smile. "Okay... Just hold this against your head. It should help everything stabilize quicker." the doctor handed him an ice pack, as well as a strong feeling of concern. "I’m fine. I really am." Sheamus smiled towards the medical personnel as he left the room and pressed the cold piece of ice to his temple. As the tall Irishman walked down the huge, labyrinth-like corridor, he couldn’t help but take particular notice to the sheer number of equipment cases stacked neatly to the side like rocks carefully placed in a cobblestone wall. After a few moments of walking he noticed a small glow of light emanating from within the piles of boxes. He paid no mind to this and just passed it off as a hallucination from his head hitting the ring post with a sickening ’thud’. ’Damn, it didn’t hit it that hard, did I?’ he questioned himself as he continued to stroll past box after box. After a few more minutes of walking, he could swear something was hovering right behind him but whenever he turned around, the thing would dart away and leave him confused. He tried his up most to ignore it, but it became increasingly difficult, as the small thing would sway closer into his view before moving away again. His pace quickened and he finally reached his room. He opened the door with a sigh, and quickly shut it behind him. The man carefully took a seat and placed the ice pack down, before rubbing his eye sockets with his hands. ’Maybe I am worse than we first thought...’ he gulped, and remained still for a few moments. He suddenly felt a presence in the room with him. He knew that whatever was following him in the corridor had somehow gotten into the room with him. "Alright, fun’s over. Come out and show yourself." He announced aloud. There was a long pause. "Okay, this isn’t funny anymore. Get out here." he repeated in a much more serious tone. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see it. It was there. The small mound of shadow moved into his view and seemed to hover in front of him. Sheamus was stunned. As was the small ball of shadow. Another long pause. Breaking the unmoving silence Sheamus gently reached towards the small thing in a possible attempt to touch it. Bad mistake. The ball of darkness seemed to instantly lurch and attach to his hand and quickly began enveloping his whole body. He tried to yell out for help, but the being quickly filled his mouth. His eyes jerked around, terrified, as the shadow twisted around his every limb, and tightened against them. Agony quickly arose as the darkness smothering his body slowly began to tighten. He didn’t know what he’d pass out from first- the pain or the shock. The shadow didn’t take long to climb around the rest of his face and head, and within moments it had completely engulfed the entirely of the human. Now it only had one thing left to do. Return to Equestria to seek revenge. Author's Note Heh... Is it good? I wrote it when I went to bed each night, so I'm not sure if it's any good. Also, if anyone can write an Irish accent, could I get a bit of help? I'm sorry, I'm completely useless at it.
Chapter 1 - Welcome to the world of talking horses!The waking world. Man, had he missed it! He wasn’t sure how long he was out for, but it felt like a hell of a lot longer than the quick hour or two he had promised the doctors. As his mind came closer to conscious, his senses were flooded with an input he... did not expect. The scents of dew, flowers and fresh open air filled his lungs, and he could feel the soft texture of damp grass below him. A gentle breeze wafted over him and he could tell the sun was shining brightly despite not being directly under it’s gaze. Question is, how did he get there. He knew it was all nice and dandy that he was laying in the shade of something- most likely a tree by the sounds of gentle swaying -but he knew he was last indoors. As he lay motionless, little details began to slowly come back to him. Soon, he remembered he should be concust. He remained still, focusing on the damage supposedly done to his head but... He couldn’t feel anything. Nothing seemed to be wrong. ’Okay, what the hell is going on?!’ Sheamus hurriedly questioned himself as he began to sit upright and open his eyes for the first time. His eyes shot wide as the image of a pristine meadow was shown to him. "No... This can’t be right..." He muttered aloud as he stood up, still unable to remove his eyes from the sight laid before him. However, his attempts to stand were futile, as every time he tried he would simply fall back down again. "Alright, what the hell is-" the man was quickly cut off short as his gaze fell upon what was suppose to be his legs. One problem- they weren’t human. Large, sturdy goat-like hooves replaced his feet, and a bright ginger fur happily sat against his new leg joint and all the way up to his chest. He felt like he was going to faint! What did this to him?! Better question, what could do this to him?! How was he going to face his family again?! What about his friends?! And his job!! He couldn’t fight like this!! He couldn’t stand the thought of being like this in public!! Yet he forced himself to cam down, and take the only conclusion any sane man would make- He must be dreaming! He gave a soft sign of relief, but it was hurriedly cut short. It still all felt too real. Much too real to be a dream, wasn’t it? His hands began shaking again as he lifted and gazed at his left one. Long claws tipped his fingers, and his muscle seemed to be much more tightly packed than before. No- he had to stop getting distracted. There was only one way to tell if he was asleep or not. He gently reached over and gave his arm a harsh pinch. A moment later, and he was softly cursing to himself while clutching the spot on his arm. "What the hell?!" the pale-white being snarled, "Okay, we can rule dreaming out... God... that’s going to bruse for sure!" He noticed a small trickle of blood flowing down his arm, but he paid no mind to it, and instead turned his attention to his surroundings. To his right, a dark forest lined the edge of a large meadow displayed directly in front of him. His only thought at that moment was ’Where the bloody hell am I?!’ as nothing seemed familiar to him. To his left, there seemed to be a large lake with a pristine surface. He gulped. ’Might as well get a look at myself in this... new.... form.’ Using the tree as leverage, he managed to get himself to stand on his legs. Well, for a moment at least, as the second he tried to take a step, he landed back down on his arse. The Celtic Warrior wouldn’t be beaten so easily though, and he tried to stand and take a step again. Same result. ’What the hell am I doing wrong?!’ Frustration was starting to creep in as he stood back up, but he did notice he was getting up quicker each time. ’At least that’s going for me...’ The man-horse-goat thing stood against the tree for just a moment more, refusing to be beaten by... his own bone arrangement? No! He refused to give up! After all, the lake was only about 10 meters away from him! ’Okay. Let’s take things a bit slower.’ He gingerly pressed one of his hooves in front of himself- good so far! He slowly removed his hands from the tree- amazing! And... lifting up his other hoof and.... ’Thud.’ "Oh for fucks sake..." ... Maybe it’ll take a bit more practice to get it right... Almost as if giving up, he began to almost drag himself along the floor on all fours. It seemed to be a better system than ’falling on your arse repeatedly’ which was good. His legs somehow began to work with him, miraculously, and began to push him forward until he was in a near-vertical position. Within moments, and he was at the pebble shoreline of the lake, staring at his pristine reflection. One emotion in particular rose through the mix he was experiencing. Confusion. It was his face, but at the same time it wasn’t. His mohawk was a good inch or two taller, with two long horns at either side, but other than that his face seemed almost exact same. Almost. A closer examination of his beard showed that the beads which hung down from his hair were now shaped like coiled snakes or dragons; their eyes glittering with fine gems- like rubies and emeralds. The man’s eyes were lost in the somewhat hypnotic gaze, until gentle ripples in the waters surface and a soft sound of growling drew his eyes away. Unfortunately, as he turned around, his face met with that of a being of wood. Two other beings of wood- their forms rather familiar to wolves or some form of dog or mountain lion -stood eagerly behind, watching the one in front of them with excitement. ’Oh God...’ Sheamus gulped as he gently began to back away from the wooden being, but the lime green gaze followed him continuously with lust and anticipation. "G-Good puppy tree things... I’m not going to hurt you..." but as he noticed the wolf-like being sniffing a rock coated in his crimson blood from his cut he got earlier. And now, it’s intentions became very clear. The eyes of the being began to darken and the growls increased in volume as the other two began to approach as well. ’Well, it was a nice run.’ he gulped hard, despite there being no moisture in his mouth, ’I should probably start running now!’ And with that, the chase was on. Sheamus quickly stumbled into a sprint with the wolves in hot pursuit. The Rocky retain quickly smoothed out into grass, but the Satyr didn’t slow- he could feel their foul breath on the back of his shins! Energy began running low for Sheamus, but the wolves seemed content to keep the chase going. On and on the wolves chased him through the meadow and towards the treeline; their woody jaws and sap-soaked tongues lolling wide open, putting their pointed ’teeth’ on display. Exhaustion began to creep into Sheamus’s body, and every muscle screamed for him to stop. He just needed to get to a tree! One tree, and he was safe! Luckily for him, the treeline stretched out right in front of him, and he viciously dug his claws in and scrambled up the one closest to him. Safe... or so he thought. The wolves howled loudly, and battered their huge bodies against the tree, shaking it down to the roots. They coiled themselves low to the ground and pounced at him, at an attempt to cling onto the tree and get up with him, but most attempts were futile. Most, that is. The supposed ’leader’ of the small pack was finally able to pounce and dig his claws in the thick tree bark, leading it to go face to face with a petrified Sheamus. Acting upon instinct, his hoof quickly launched out and smashed the wolf’s ugly face hard as he possibly could. Bingo! The entire wolf’s face seemed to almost explode into a shower of splinters, and the rest of the hulking body fell to the floor with a highly satisfying ’THUD!’. The other two wolves looked horrified as they stared at the broken body of their leader, but only moments later the muzzle of the damn beast reformed! Sheamus stared in complete disbelief at the being as it seemed to almost shake off the injury! What kind of dark magic was this?! But the wolf didn’t seem to hot about it, and gave a short growl, before turning and revealing the utterly broken face to the hiding Satyr. The muzzle of the beast was twisted and gnarled, showing that it wouldn’t be chasing any interspecies goat-people any time soon! Yet the gaze remained as ice cold as ever. Sheamus retorted the cold gaze by flipping off the wolf with his middle finger and giving a triumphant smile. But it seemed he wasn’t out of the fire just yet, as a loud cat-call of sorts filled the air, and the faces on the beasts dropped from seething rage to unimaginable fear. A huge boulder see seemed to be hurled at the leading wolf, snapping it into pieces, and the other two quickly fled with their tails between their legs. As soon as the final wolf reformed, it quickly followed suit. What could was able to strike fear into such fearless creatures?! Well, whatever it is, Sheamus didn't want to meet it, but he wasn't sure he had a choice. "An’ don’t come back, ya’ hear!" the strangely female southern accent echoed through the air as the wolves disappeared deep into the forest, "Now, wha’ were they so worked up about?" Sheamus did his best to lean away and coil with the branches, but his completion and fur colour made that very difficult. The tree gently shook as the being pressed her bodyweight against it. However, the face that Sheamus was expecting to see was not the result. Not even close. In fact, he was met with a rather confused and horrified bright-orange and freckled face of a... Pony? The man stared at the pony. The pony stared back. They were both locked in an almost unending silence for a good few minutes, until... "Uh... Hi?" Author's Note Stupidity? Check Man, this has got to be up there on the list of "The dumbest things I have ever done" Again, is this any good? I have absolutely no clue.
Chapter 2 - More horses!!"Uh... Howdy there..." came the rather awkward reply from the pony. Silence. The two beings simply stared at each other in complete disbelief. The Satyr couldn’t believe the pony could talk. The pony couldn’t believe the Satyr could talk. The lack of words lasted for a few more minutes until the distant call of a much younger voice came. "Applejack? What the hay are you doin’?" "A-Applebloom, get outta here." the staring pony simply replied, before slowly backing down the tree. Sheamus gulped down hard, and moved into a position to which he could peer over the edge. Once more, he spotted the orange pony staring up at him, but more in confusion than shock. By her side, there was a much smaller pony who also seemed to hold the power of speech. The smaller one seemed to have curiosity and intrigue pained across her face, rather than the elders concern. "Hey, Applejack, who’s that fella up ther’ anyway?" the smaller one, presumed by Sheamus to be the ’Applebloom’ that was mentioned just a moment ago. "Ah don’t know, but Ah want you stayin’ away from it." the elders gaze met with his, showing that he wasn’t too hidden from his vantage point. "He seems friendly enough!" Applebloom smiled, before defying the larger one’s orders and hopping to the base of the tree, "Hey, Mr! What’s your name? I’m Applebl-" "Applebloom! What hav’ Ah told you ’bout doing stupid an’ reckless things like that!" ’Applejack’ scolded the little filly as she pulled her away. "Well, if he had the intentions of hurtin’ me, then why hasn’t he already?" she quickly retorted, "Besides, he doesn’t look like the second comin’ of Cerberus, now does he?" "Just because it hasn’t made a move doesn’t mean it won’t make one!" With the two in a rather heated argument, Sheamus decided to carefully wriggle out from the trees branches, and down onto the grass. "An’ that’s the- Huh?" the pony quickly whipped her head around to face him before leaning into a defensive position, "Don’t you dare make another move! Applebloom, get behind me now!" "But why? He’s not gonna hurt me!" the young filly seemed to ignore her superiors word, and wandered casually up to him, "As I were sayin’, mah name is Applebloom, and this is my annoyin’ big sister- Applejack." "Applebloom, get back here now..." the warning seemed to fall on deaf ears as Applebloom gently sat down and spoke with him casually. "So what’s your name?" the filly asked, her eyes as wide as moons. Sheamus gulped but remained as cool as possible, "My name? My names are the Celtic Warrior, the Great White, etcetera, but everyone just calls me Sheamus." "Really? That’s so cool! Ah wish Ah had names like that, but Ah guess Applebloom is okay." casting a quick glance to Applejack showed the elder pony begining to relax, and her eyes slowly filling with curiosity, "So, where’d you come from and how’d you end up in a tree?" "Well, I’m not exactly sure how I ended up here of all places, but I came from a place called ’Earth’, an-" "Earth? Is that some obscure town at the edge of Equestria?" the curious filly interrupted him, but he knew it was out of curiosity and not malicious. "Well, I’m not sure where it is in relation to here but it’s a vastly different place with loads of-" "Is it populated by things like you?" interruption number two, but Sheamus merely chuckled. "Applebloom, stop interruptin’ him." Applejack spoke to the filly, before quickly straightening up, "Well, Ah’ll go get Twilight. You jus’ stay right here." she cast a suspicious gaze to Sheamus for just a moment, before disappearing beyond the trees. "Well... Alright then." Sheamus said in a rather surprised tone. "Eh, don’t mind her. She gets like that every now an’ then," Applebloom shrugged, before her eyes were flooded with curiosity again, "so as Ah were sayin’, is your home place, wherever that is, populated with creatures like yourself?" Sheamus chuckled, "No, not really. You see, when I got here, I was somehow changed from my original self, into a..." "Satyr!" a high-pitched voice beyond the trees chirped in. "Huh, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom jumped and whipped her head around to face the direction of the voice. "Who now?" Sheamus asked with a frown. "Oh- uh, they’r mah friends. Sweetie Belle..." a small white filly unicorn with a curly pink and purple mane walked out, "... an’ Scootaloo," another, equally small filly pegasus pony with bright orange fur and a magenta mane rode out along side the other on a small scooter. They didn’t seen like threats, so Sheamus gave them a hearty smiles and began to speak, "Nice to meet y-" "Wow! You’re a real Satyr!" the orange one gasped. "And didn’t you say you were from a different dimension?" Sweetie chimed in. "Ah know, ain’t that just so cool!" Applebloom continued. Sheamus carefully let himself sit down and lean against the tree. For a few moments, he sat simply smiling and watched the fillies share their pure excitement, ’Kids. They’re the same in every dimension.’ "Okay, CMC, calm down." Applebloom announced over the top of the other two before cleaning her throat, "Now, this fella here is called Sheamus. Ain’t ya’?" Sheamus chuckled a little bit. It was like meeting fans back home! "Yup. That’s my name." but he bit back the fact it was only his stage name since he wanted to see if he could truly trust these ponies first. "Sheamus? That’s so cool..." Scootaloo breathed with wide eyes, "so, uh, why don’t you have a cutiemark?" "A cutie- what-now?" Sheamus quickly dissolved into confusion at the mention of that word. "You know, a cutiemark?" Sweetie replied seeming confused as to why he was confused. The tree fillies twisted their bodies to show him their but- eh, flanks, and each of them had little shields on them, with small individualized emblems on them. Instantly, one thing sprung to Sheamus’s mind. ’Okay, which one of these three is going to betray the other two?’, he thought bluntly, as he could only see the trio from the WWE reflected in these fillies. "They represent what your special talent is. You know, what makes you different to ev’ry other pony." Applebloom explained, pulling Sheamus out of his mind. "Oh, cool," Sheamus commented with a short nod, "Wonder what mine would be." He continued, suppressing his laughter, as he could only imagine the poor son of a bitch that got stuck with a humiliating cutiemark like a middle finger or something even more immature. "I know. Why don’t you have one?" Sweetie asked out of curiosity. He shrugged, "Dunno. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t found my talent. I’ve travelled the world God knows how many times doing what I love." "You have? What as? An entertainer? A comedian?" Applebloom asked. "Oh, I’m a global sports entertainer." Sheamus spoke casually, and grinned as he watched Scootaloo’s expression change in an instant. "Really? What as? What kind of athlete? Like, are you a sprinter? Or... or a cyclist or...." Scootaloo’s eyes shimmered brightly with pure, raw energy. "Wrestler." Sheamus narrowed his eyes and gave a huge grin. Scootaloo gasped with pure joy and excitement, which Applebloom and Sweetie Belle gasped out of shock. Scootaloo shot forward to him, "Whoa! Does it not-" "Hurt?!" the other two chimed in along aside her. "Aye, of course! Can you imagine getting your ass whooped while simultaneously whipping other people’s asses on a day-to-day schedule in different countries, and while safety isn’t always guaranteed?!" he watched their faces drop to sheer shock- even Scootaloo didn’t seen to hot any more. "B-But why would you do that?!" Sweetie interjected, with her jaw still lying on the floor. He shrugged, "I love it- I’ve always loved it. And honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing about it." He smiled while getting in a more relaxed pose; crossing his legs and putting his hands behind his head. "You’re just so casual about it..." Applebloom breathed. "Yeah, can’t it seriously take a toll on you?" Scootaloo gulped. "Well, yeah. I was put out for six months straight because of an injury in a ladder match. One of my pals had his neck forced down onto a crutch which nearly collapsed his throat. Not to mention to hundreds of other injuries which have happened in the past to people other than me. Hell, some people have even died in the ring, or ended up... worse..." his throat caught a bit when he spoke the last few words. "R-Really... I knew it was dangerous, but not that dangerous..." Scootaloo gulped, her eyes falling to the grass below her hooves. "What did you mean by ’worse’?" Applebloom gulped, almost instantly regretting asking the question. Sweetie simply stared in stunned silence as Sheamus took a long, breathy sigh, "Honestly, just forget I ever said that, okay. It’s a bit of a sore spot to talk about, and I don’t want to worry you fillies." "O-Okay..." Applebloom gave a soft inward sigh of relief that he has decided not to give a reply. Sheamus, feeling the conversation was dying a bit, quickly gave a smile and decided to turn back to a more uplifting topic, "So, what do you fillies like to do for fun?"
Chapter 3 - Philosophy is fun?"Fun?" they all repeated, their eyes glowing with pure excitement. "Oh boy, we can...." Scootaloo paused. "We can... uh..." Applebloom tried to add, but nothing came to mind. "Well, we would say, ’continue to do different, crazy things to get our cutiemarks’ but... We’ve already found them so...I guess that’s it..." "I’m guessing that’s how you three used to pass your time," Sheamus sniffed, "Same thing with me, really. I used to watch wrestling on the side and started training to be one. It just seemed to happen so suddenly and my life changed so drastically that..." "... It almost didn’t feel real..." the three echoed along side him. "An’ you almost feel like everything else you’d worked for your whole life is now... outta the question..." Applebloom sighed- she had already assumed that the apple on her flank already symbolized she would be stuck here for the rest of her life, working with boring old apples instead of all the other fun stuff they tried while crusading. "But it ain’t all bad, remember," Sheamus leaned forward and gently lifted the young filly’s dipped head, "You’re just a young filly. Your life isn’t going to be all restricted by one dumb mark on your butt. I mean, look at me! I was a computer technician for the start of my adult life! And now I’m a global entertainer!" "Really? Y-Ya’ mean that you... Never felt you couldn’t make it to where ya’ are now because you already felt your fate was sealed...?" Applebloom asked quietly as she started to get a bit misty-eyed. "Hey, I got to where I am because I held enough passion in my heart to do something other than work with computer all day." Sheamus smiled, gently wiping the tears away from the young filly’s eyes with his thumb, "If you truly hold a passion in your heart for something, don’t let something as insignificant as a mark on your arse tell you you can’t." Sheamus lifted his head, and he saw the two other fillies fighting away tears too- Well, at least Scootaloo was. Sweetie Belle’s face was coated with tears and seemed to hold no shame about it. "Aw, come here...." Sheamus smiled and embraced all three fillies in a tight group hug. They remained tight in each others embraces for a couple of minutes before, rather reluctantly, releasing. "S-Sorry..." Sweetie muttered as she noticed the huge wet patch they left on the Satyr’s chest and fur. Sheamus chuckled softly, before ruffling the small unicorn’s mane, "Don’t apologize, Sweetie. I’m more surprised no one’s ever told you that before." "W-We were always told that out cutiemarks were pretty much the be-all-end-all... We didn’t realise there was an element of choice still in there..." Applebloom spoke as she wiped the tears away with her hoof. "Well, of course there has to be. I mean, your cutiemarks seem rather broad. What do you think they signify?" Sheamus continued with a soft smile. "We figure it’s to signify how we love helping other ponies find out their special talents." Sweetie sniffed, her tears begining to dry off. "Yeah, that sounds broader than a simple title of ’computer technician’ or ’apple salesman" that I think you’ve tried to boil it down to," the Celtic Warrior explained, "I mean, to me, those marks are not a show from fate that ’you are doing this with your life, and only this’, but rather a show of ’this is the talent I am best at, but I am still capable of doing so much more.’" The filly’s were stunned. Was this really the truth? Well, when they thought about it... it was true! Twilight’s cutiemark signified she was best at magic, but she’s also good at leading, forming solutions, reading and even science! She wasn’t just ’good at magic’, she could do so much more! Yes, that’s what she’s most known for, but her abilities weren’t just cut off at ’magic’. How had they not figured this out by now?! A short pause filled the air between them, and Sheamus simply sat against the tree once more. However, the young Scootaloo caught her eye. She had remained silent for pretty much the duration of the discussion, and the look in her eyes told him exactly why. A look of dawning comprehension was deep within her eyes, almost as if she was told that everything she was ever told turned out to be a lie. Along side that was a look of pure adoration. ’Heh, looks like I’ve found my new biggest fan in this dimension.’ he thought with a smile. His thoughts were quickly shattered though, as he was quickly propelled into the air by a force beyond him, and he was frozen unable to move at all. He noticed a magenta bubble around him and the familiar orange pony burst from the trees and quickly pulled the fillies away from him, much to their distress. ’What the hell?!’ was his only thought as he hung in the air for a few moments, before a lavender unicorn with wings strode out confidently from the bushes, her horn alight with the same coloured glow as the bubble surrounding him. Her gaze seemed to burrow into his soul but he tried to remain as stern as possible. He heard the fillies desperately pleading to the lavender mare to release him, but she didn’t head a word they said. ’What do you want here, monster?’ she could hear him inside his own head- telepathy! How the hell were these creatures capable of telepathy?! ’I said, what do you want here?!’ she repeated more sternly, and he felt the ’magical’ grasp she had in him tighten. ’ How about you get the fuck out of my head, and let me go.’ he retorted, but he only saw the mare’s face darken. ’You forced me to do this.’ her horn seemed to flicker more brightly and suddenly everything went blurry, dark and a little bit painful. The last thing he could hear as he fell to the grass in a heap, were the three fillies desperately pleading to the lavender mare to release him. After a few moments, the pain, darkness and blur quickly faded. He leaned up slowly to see a rather apologetic face of one lavender unicorn-pegasus, only to fall right back down again as the spell took it’s toll.
Chapter 4 - Strange Crystal 'Mansion'"God damn it..." his first words after stirring awake. Sheamus’ head was still pounding from whatever happened to him, to the point where, just for a moment, he thought he was home again before he found himself laying in a different bed with goat legs. He frowned. Sluggishly, the man slowly lifted himself up to look around. He was not met by the pleasant forest scene he last recalled, but instead inside what could only be assumed to be a rather strange mansion of sorts. A tall ceiling with a glass chandelier; huge crystalline pillars connecting the room from the bottom to the top; and a smooth, shiny floor with a single rug across it. He instantly took notice of the crystals everything seemed to be made from. Smooth blue & dark purple stalactites and stalagmites etched their way in from the walls, with gold highlights running through them. However these formations seemed to stay rather dull with no sharp edges, and stayed strictly to the very edges of the room and up the columns to produce a rugged effect. This theme even carried on into the furniture. Directly across from the bed was a light-blue low table of varying hues, with a vase of gorgeous roses reflecting the colours of the rainbow. The vase was decorated by the same colours as the table. ’Jeez, how long’d it take for someone to build that?’ Sheamus blunk as his eyes took in the spectacle, before turning his attention to the other sides of the room. To his left, a shut - and presumably locked - door elegantly crafted from, you guessed it, more crystals. To his right there seemed to be just a plain glass door leading out onto a short balcony, which was also probably locked. No harm in trying them, though. Sighing, Sheamus gently slipped his hooves onto the floor, giving an uneasy shiver due to the fact he had to call them ’hooves’. He carefully stood up, and gulped down hard. He still hadn’t become a master at whole, eh, walking thing, but he was at least getting a bit better. He was free-standing, so it must account for something. ’One step... two steps...’ his brain muttered as his body carried out his actions, ’three... four... Hey, this isn’t so bad after all!’ He produced a smile as he began to carefully pace around the room. Though it gave him unease as he heard his hooves ’clip’ and ’clop’ against the smooth floor, it also gave him a feeling of fulfilment. He was walking! On his own too!! His triumph didn’t last long, as he began to hear unfamiliar voices coming from beyond the locked entrance to his room, we well as footsteps. Startled, his gaze flickered around for places he could hide. Nothing... except maybe the balcony? He rushed towards the door and tried the handle. ’Click!’ Yes! Perfect! He hurriedly rushed out onto the balcony and did his best to squeeze into the corner just right of the shimmering door frame. He could barely hear anything beyond the rushing of blood in his ears as the once locked door swung open. He could sense the creatures there, sucked in a huge breath, and held it tight. ... "Where’d he go?" The single line cut through the pounding within his eardrums, and made him ecstatic. C’mon, just get outta here!! "... I guess he must have escaped." The somewhat familiar voice echoed, "Hey, why’s the balcony door open?" The familiar face of the purple unicorn stuck her head right into his view. He knew he was already screwed. "Where could he b-" she thought out loud before her gaze swept around the balcony and met with Sheamus’s. "Hi." he forced a cheesy grin, recognising the unicorn that had knocked him out earlier, "Fancy meeting you here." The purple one’s face dropped and the Satyr was one more coiled in her magical grasp. "Hey? What the hell are you doing?!" Sheamus snapped as he was forced back into the room from whence he came. The room seemed much more populated now; a couple of familiar faces like Applejack, but the others ones he had never seen before. "Welcome back. Satyr." Applejack snorted, letting her mistrust of him show clearly. "Yes indeed. A beast he certainly is." a white unicorn next the orange mare muttered yet showed no intention of hiding her words from him. "Looks like he dragged through the Everfree backwards by his hair," a rainbow-maned pegasus added bluntly, floating gently around him for a closer inspection, "I’ve honestly seen boars prettier than you." "Coming from the floating bird-horse with hair that only suits a gay pride parade." Sheamus quipped back, and the rainbow pony’s face dropped. "Twilight. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t give this goat hybrid a taste of my own hoof." she growled, bringing her face right up close to his. Sheamus grinned, which only seemed to make her more mad. He knew that if he wasn’t trapped inside the bubble of magic, he would happily give her a taste of his own hoof. "Rainbow, calm down. He’s stuck right now, so he can’t exactly do much other than talk." the purple mare spoke while rolling her eyes. "Even that’s overly generous." Rainbow sniffed as she drew herself away and eventually out of the room, followed quickly by Applejack and the white unicorn. "He doesn’t look to dangerous." a new voice spoke up, and a yellow pegasus with a long, fluffy mane stepped forward, "Are you really sure this is the creature your book was talking about?" The yellow mare’s attention turned to the last remaining mare in the room. Twilight sighed, "I’m not sure. He doesn’t look or act like the book describes. It says that most, if not all, Satyrs were evil, dastardly creatures but he just looks... Normal." Twilight spoke half to herself and half to the other mare, while casting unsure gazes towards him. "Look, I’m not here to hurt you- or anyone for that matter!" Sheamus quickly defended himself, "I just woke up and found myself here. I don’t know where I am or how I even gained this form. All I can tell you is that I’m not here to cause any harm." "He certainly seems nice." The yellow mare smiled gently, while Twilight gave a soft chuckle. "Oh, Fluttershy, you could find kindness in pure evil, couldn’t you?" Twilight joked and the yellow and pink one simply giggled. Sheamus smiled softly, but did feel the conversation wasn’t really including him, and more about him. "So, do you really think he’s dangerous? I mean, after seeing what he’s like and hearing what the fillies described of him..." the one known as Fluttershy asked Twilight. Twilight hesitated, and looked the Satyr up and down once again, "I... I don’t know. My gut is telling me ’no’, but my head still isn’t sure..." Sheamus gave a goofy grin, "Do I really look like the kind of fella that would try to hurt anyone?" "Plus, if you really don’t want him wandering around Ponyville, he can come and live with me." Fluttershy offered. Twilight paused, "I... I guess that’s okay...." A smile drew across both Fluttershy’s and Sheamus’s face. "Okay... better get down to the others and get everything sorted out completely." Twilight smiled towards the mare, but cast an unsure glance towards the Satyr. "What is there to sort out?" Sheamus asked curiously, simply because he really just wanted to eat and go back to sleep. "Formalities, really, and pass the plan onto the others so they know what’s going on." the purple mare smiled, and he felt the magical grip on him slowly slip away, "I guess I can trust you enough to let you at least walk on your own." However, Sheamus was rather... unexpectant of this, and ended up falling flat onto his back. Twilight jumped slightly, and Fluttershy shot forward. "Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Fluttershy gasped as she quickly went to help the man up. "Yeah, yeah, I’m fine." Sheamus smiled, "I’ve felt with a ton worse." "Okay... If you’re sure..." The shy mare gulped as the Satyr stood and carefully began to walk forward towards the door frame. Sheamus heard the faint clop of hooves, and assumed that Twilight was already making her way to the ’others’, despite him not knowing where she was going. "Nice friends you have there." Sheamus interacted with the yellow pony who carefully stepped out in front of him. "They generally are nice. It’s just they were a bit frightened by what a book on your kind of species said- Oh that was probably a poor choice of words..." the mare spoke, scolding herself for using somewhat ’racist’ language. ’How can it count as racism if I’m a complete different species- and one made of assholes by the sound of it...’ Sheamus thought. "You seem like a nice being yourself," Fluttershy smiled, "It’s hard the think of you as someone who hurts ponies for a living."
