Art thou well?

Applejack didn't know what to say. Backing up, she looked to Twilight. "Twilight," she whispered. Trying not to scream, she took a deep breath, exhaling a moment after. "Ever heard of an animal that can write?"

This question didn't seem to sit well with the creature. Slapping the ground with the palm of its claw. The blood on the ground wiped away. Standing up, it removed the spear from the Manticore's head. Blood dripping off of the spear's point.

"I-I don't rightly know, it's possible that it learned how to simply mimic what it's seen," Twilight said, the creature staring at her with its glowing eyes.

Looking to Applejack, it cocked its head to the side. As if asking a question.

Applejack's eyes widened, "Y-Yeah, ah'm fine. Thanks for... thanks for asking," she said, kicking at the dirt softly with a hoof. Applejack looked up to the creature as it let out a rasp. One claw on the back of its head, with a spear in the other.

"Is it dead?"

Turning around, Twilight and Applejack looked to their friends. Rainbow Dash stepping towards them, with Big Macintosh, and Pinkie Pie trying to help both Fluttershy and Rarity up from the ground.

Turning their heads back, they went to look at the creature that stood over the Manticore, only to see nothing but empty space. The creature was gone.

"Where'd it go?!" Twilight almost shrieked.

"The thing that saved us?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It walked out when you two weren't looking," she said, shrugging.

"We only looked away for a second," Applejack mumbled.

Again Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Come on, we gotta get the last of these books." Walking away, Rainbow Dash joined the others as Fluttershy and Rarity began to stir from their sleep.

"What's wrong with her," Applejack whispered, looking to Twilight.

"I don't know, maybe we should ask?"

"Let's ask later," Applejack said. "After we get back to your castle with the books of course."

There were no memories of the time before his arrival. But he could see it sometimes, the bright light, the music, the screaming. Whenever he closed his eyes, he'd be back there. Watching out over the city from atop the Sierra Madre, a light in the distance, a light so bright it almost engulfed the horizon.

A sunrise as they called it.

Opening his eyes, he was back in the forest. Atop his tree next to the home of the Striped One. Content that he had made a friend. Perhaps even multiple friends. He had saved their lives after all.

Twisting his head towards the trail as he once again heard the ponies speaking. He watched as three of them moved carts full of his books. His stomach twisting at the sight of them being taken. What was this feeling? The word, he had seen it before, jealousy? Yes that was it.

Cocking his head in thought, he wondered what he should do, act on the feeling and reclaim his possessions? Or let his friends take them. Shaking his head at the latter, he dropped from his tree once more onto the forest floor below. Of course he wasn't going to let them take it, they were his, he had read them after all. When no one came to visit, he sat in that castle afraid of the world outside, curious to an even greater degree. Reading, hearing tales of the world outside.

Walking into the trail, spear in hand, he waited for them to stop. Almost instantly, they noticed his eyes amongst the dark.

"There it is!" the Purple One shouted.

The Hatted One stepped forward. "Ah was wonderin' where you went, left so soon you didn't give a chance for everyone to thank you," she said, stepping back after she finished.

Raising a finger, he pointed to the carts behind them, letting out a rasp before pointing to himself.

They all looked to the carts before returning their gazes back to him.

"These here are your books?" the Hatted One asked.

Quickly nodding, he walked towards them. Walking next to the carts, he looked down to the books.

"Are you mad at us for taking them?" the Purple One asked.

He nodded once more. Shaking his head a second later.

"You... are?"

Mad wasn't the word he wanted to use. Disappointed? Concerned? Shaking his head of the thoughts, he looked to the Purple One. A single eyebrow furrowed while the other was raised. Shaking his head, he looked back to the books, spotting one he could use.

Using a hand to pull the at the spine, he slipped the book out from the middle of the stack. Opening it, he flipped through the pages. His eyes scanning the pages as he fanned his hand. Stopping on the word he wanted, he presented the book to the Purple One. Using a finger to point to the word.

"Jealous? You're jealous that we're taking your books?"

Bringing the pages back into his view, he began flipping through the pages agin, this time back to the beginning. Stopping once more as he found the word. He held it out again, finger on the word.

"Friend? Do you consider us your friends?" She asked, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a smile.

His stomach seemed to flutter at the word. Not choosing to respond he brought the book back, finding another word.

Patting the books with a free hand and then pointing to the word.

Reading it, Purple One smiled. "I'll keep them safe, that's why we're taking them in the first place."

Nodding, he put the book back. Stepping back and gesturing with and arm to lead the way.

As they walked away, he followed. Making his presence known with his spear pushing roughly into the dirt with every other step.

As the group walked out of the forest and into the light, he paused. Cocking his head in thought. This was the edge of the forest, someplace he had never left. It took him years to leave the castle, and now here he is. His books being brought to a new home, and his new friends walking away.

Excitement. He remembered this word, it was a word he read often.

Letting out a sigh, he stepped into the light.

...

This was strange. He didn't feel any different. Not like when he first stepped into the forest. In the forest he felt as if he had to be on guard, always ready for something. Catching up to the ponies, he continued walking next to the carts, rubbing his head as he did so. Here it was no different. Maybe it was the walls of the castle? Shrugging, he let his arm drop back to his side.

With a town coming into view, he stared at the hay-roofed houses. Houses meant more ponies, and more ponies meant more friends.

Shaking his head of the thoughts, he realized the group had turned. Catching up with them again, he walked up next to the carts.

Closing his eyes and giving a sigh, he was back in the Sierra Madre, stalking its halls. He never knew why he was there, he just was. There was no reason to it.

Whenever he saw the Sierra Madre like this, he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something. He knew there was something missing from his time there.

Stopping instantly as his waist collided with something, he opened his eyes and looked to the cart that was in front of him. Wait, when did it get in front of him? Wasn't he walking alongside it? Shaking his head, he looked ahead. His vision greeted by a giant, golden set of stairs.

"Here we are!" Purple One announced. Her horn igniting with a purple aura not a moment later. The carts with the books inside of them a lit up with the same aura.

In fascination, he watched as the book filled carts levitated off of the ground and up the stairs. Stopping in front of the door.

"Everypony come on in, make yourselves at home."

As the ponies walked up the stairs with him behind them. His heart began to pound. He was invited into a home, like any other. Was this what friendship was? The books never really went into any detail about it.

Trying to calm down as his heart began to pound in his head, he paced his breathing. The respirator on his face giving a slight as as he did so.

With the doors open, he peered into the darkness. Figures and forms of others ponies just in his sight.

"Surprise!" A number of voices shouted from within. The lights flashing on in an instant. Filling his vision with light. Blinking he cleared his vision. As he stepped further in, he noticed the smiling faces of other ponies; a banner that read, Welcome to Ponyville; and a large cake.

The room collectively gasped.

Looking at the crowd of ponies, he cocked his head. Why did they do that? What happened to their smiles? Why were they looking at him like that?

Stepping forward, he tried to say hello. Momentarily forgetting that his suit made it impossible to even do so, as it muffled his words and his suit gave out a harsh rasp. This didn't seem to sit well with the ponies as they began to run and scream.

Having to cover his ears, his hands shot up to the sides of his head, trying desperately to block out the noise. As the screams continued his head began to split. Dropping to the floor and squeezing his eyes shut he tried to shut out the pain. But the screams continued, and they seemed to get louder.

He was back at the Sierra Madre again, but something was different. He was chasing someone, along with his kin. A woman in a white jumpsuit with a red 'x' marking the back. A collar wrapped around her neck. And her dark-brown hair matted with flecks of dried blood clumping strands of it together. She was screaming. Why was she screaming?

Like a prisoner in his own body he watched as the spear in his hand raised above his head. Tossing it, he watched as it landed in the woman's thigh. The bladed tip piercing puncturing the suit and her flesh as the spear passed through and hit the stone below, pinning her to the ground. This caused her screaming to grow even louder.

As he and his kin closed in, he watched in horror as gloved hands grabbed at the woman. All of them pulling and tugging. The crunching of joints disconnecting joined the screams and rasps. The hallway seeming to grow darker as they successfully dislodged her from the ground, the tip of the spear breaking off. Dragging her body through the hallway, she grasped at the floor below, her nails digging in and breaking as she clawed at the stone.

A trail of blood marking their path through the hall.

And in an instant, his vision was filled with red. The Cloud. Looking below he watched as the woman thrashed and wheezed, her the air itself burning her from within.

Was she to become one of them?

No.

As soon as they entered The Cloud. He watched as his kin jumped atop her, knives in hand, cutting and hacking away. The woman's screams reduced to nothing but struggled rasps as The Cloud filled her lungs. Kicking and flailing her limbs weakly as the knives dug into her exposed flesh.

Even after her screams had stopped, even after she stopped struggling, the knives continued. Chopping and slicing away until she was nothing but a mound of mutilated gore, bone, and hair. After they had stopped, their rasps were all he heard. No screaming, no blood spraying onto the walls and floor. It might as well have been silence.

Looking down at his hands, he looked at the fabric covered fingers. Flecked with drops of blood.

Opening his eyes, he was back in the home of Purple One. His breath fogging his vision as he heaved and gasped for air. Sitting up from the ground, he looked at the ponies, their eyes wide and frowns written across their faces.

Looking down at his hands, he saw the stains from before, faded, but still there.

"Are you okay?" Someone with a high pitched accent asked, the voice familiar to him. Looking to his left he spotted the Small Yellow One, her yellow coat, red mane, and bow letting him know it was her.

She had never spoken to him before. She never had the chance to, before this.

His chest tightened. Quickly getting up from the floor, he ran out the door and back outside. Leaping from atop the stair case and rolling into his landing. The roll caused his hood to fall back. Exposing the metal face-plate to the sunlight. Closing the distance between himself and the forest, the shadows graced his form. His feet pounding on the dirt below as he ran back to the castle.

He had gone out into the world in hopes that he would find companionship, but he found something else. He found out what he was.

A monster.

A murderer.

An animal given thought. Able to look back on its actions, and really see what it had done.

A ghost of his former self.

Author's Note

How's that? Any good for the second chapter?