A Simple Soul

"Ready to head out?"

Barb asks me as she sees me standing in front of a mirror, staring at myself for a moment realizing what today was. Not only was today (hopefully) the day I can finally walk downtown and not be pelted by tomatoes, after seeing it on the local newspaper paper that I'm 'apparently' a hero to others. But also today happens to be the day that both Barb and I go around town to check up on the preparation for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration, and today's outfit is the one I have been waiting to wear for a while now. This was one of the first outfits the fashionista ponies made me back in Canterlot and God dam is now the perfect time to use it, hitting the denim vest over my sweater as before fixing the beanie to make it look a bit more presentable as I smile. Stare at myself in the mirror as I see how well out together the pieces of clothing look on me, the jeans complimenting the sneakers as the beanie tops everything off perfectly. Barb noticing how long I've been staring at myself in the mirror as she walks up to me, she wasn't much of a clothes wearer herself considering she has almost nothing to hide as she walks up to me her arms wrapped around my neck smiling before saying.

"You look ready for the day."

"Yeah…. I'm just… you know a little nervous."

I said, fidgeting with my hands as I rub them together feeling the sweat start to build up on my palms. What do I have to be nervous about? I mean all I'm really doing is just to speak with someponies to check in with the preparations for the annual Summer Sun Celebration. So what's there to worry about? I don't know, maybe I'm just having some weird feelings about last night and my part of the apparent deal I have with Inimron, even that bothers me like how I am going to locate the princess's vengeful sister and be able to separate both him and I into two different physical beings? And what hurts me more about that is I have yet to tell Barb about it all, the dreams, the visits from my dark self, all she knows as of this point is that I'm apparently gifted and I should use this gift wisely. Yeah like hell that's going to happen, my abilities rage from gliding to teleportation which I'm still having a hard time on controlling them. Barb looks down seeing how nervous I'm becoming as she gently places her hand on my cheek saying.

"You're going to be fine, and if anything I'll be right by your side."

She informs me, I smile at her as I stop rubbing my hands together instead wrapping my arms around her pulling the dragoness into a warm embrace. Slowly she joins into the hug as she pulls me by the neck hugging me back, after a while of in our arms Barb was the one that broke it as she smiles up at me but something told me it was a forced smile as if there was something wrong with her. But before I can ask her as she walks out of the room, moving a bit of her scale like hair moving it back a bit as she walks down stairs. I sigh, worried about her hating to see anyone upset as I look back at the mirror noticing that my long hair made the beanie look bigger than usual, I try to move my hair back or to the side but nothing worked. Until I have the idea to take the beanie off, my hair looking a bit better without it as I smile fixing it a bit before walking out of the room. Walking downstairs, I notice Barb in the living room in her hands was the orange envelope that the princess gave us and from what she told us in that envelope comes with six ponies who we have to find and be sure that the preparations are all in order. Walking up to Barb she turns around seeing me without the beanie this time as she smiles, noticing that I was missing something she walks up to me before opening the envelope digging into the envelope pulling out a familiar sun like looking pin as she places the envelope under her arm before getting close to me pinning the sun pin on my best so it was visible to whoever was looking at me. I stare at the pin, wondering why the fuck I'm wearing this on my vest but I don't question anything that was given to me by the princess.

"There… now whoever is asking, the princess sent you."

She said smiling as she looks up at me, staring into each other's eyes made me wonder if she had some sort of feelings towards me. But I also know that if I bring that kind of subject up to her she might take it the wrong way, so before anything could progress I shook my head coming back to reality as I look at her gently patting her shoulder.

"We should… probably get going."

"Y-yeah…Yeah."

She said nodding at my response as she turns around walking towards the door before opening it, I follow suit as we both make our way out of the cottage, unknown to us that somepony may or may not be watching us in the trees. I can hear ruffling from the trees behind me, as if something was in fact following us but everytime I look back and up the trees I'm always met with nothing, it was strange but I keep on walking the forest. After walking passed the trees and bushes, occasionally stepping on a rock or two we make it into town. Like most days, the residents of PonyVille trot around town making ends meet while others are either dropping off their children to school or dropping them off to their babysitter's house or the afternoon. It always scares me when I leave the cottage, especially since the last few weeks have been rough to the point where I just want to bury myself into my blankets and just wait until the time comes. But I was given this second chance at life, and seeing how confident Barb is right now, I know that I can't break that off of her so after a few short inhales and exhales we are off. While both Barb and I walk into town, things seem to be pretty normal for a usual pony populated town. Both of us look around since the both of us have yet to be seen by anypony I figured maybe today isn't going to be such a bad day. Who knows, maybe I'm not going to get tied up and stabbed in the chest for some crazy ass sacrifice. As we both walk down town, we notice some of the residents sitting around a water fountain having a conversation with each other, I try my best not to bud into their conversation considering that A; I may be interrupting something important, B; They may not know the answer to my question, even if I had one or C; they'll just panic and call for help when all I would be doing us asking them a question. On top of all that, I'm still having trouble controlling my hyperactive hearing so even if I didn't have a question I can be eavesdropping into their conversation whether it would be about me or about something else. Anyway, as we both walk downtown ignoring everypony around us and whatever they have to say, Barb pulled out a letter and as I was walking backwards to give Barb my attention and also keep myself moving so we don't have to stop for anything. While she walks forward and I was walking backwards, making sure to look back every once and awhile so I don't bump into anypony she says.

"So, Princess Celestia packed this letter into the envelope and told me to read it to you just in case you can't understand her writing…"

She said, not sure if the princess thought I was uneducated or she may have written that letter in calligraphy which would make sense since I don't understand anything in calligraphy. I nod at her, having an understanding over what the princess are referring to and I understand that she said that with good intentions, and after clearing her throat Barb read the letter out loud as we walk together.

"My Dearest Zachary,-"

"Awwe."

I said already cutting her mid sentence over how the princess started her letter, but after that I keep quiet while she continues to read the rest of the letter.

"As I was saying…

My Dearest Zachary,

As you may know, as the princess of Equestria I have one of the biggest responsibilities in making sure all of my subjects have the exact same opportunities as the rest. And while you may be a completely new species and a brand new Citizen of Equestria, I can't help but think with you it won't be as easy to make friends like the others, and that just won't do for me. So along with of your responsibility on checking the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, I would like to add some even more important…. The opportunity to make friends. I know it may seem difficult at first, but I know deep down you can do it. I hope to see you again soon.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

…the opportunity to make friends huh?"

Barb she repeats from that last sentence before folding the letter back up, she then looks up at me smiling directly at me knowing exactly what she is about to say. These past few weeks she's been going on and on about wanting me to make friends and wanting me to go out some more and even though I went out that one afternoon to the local arcade and then I was invited to an iced coffee by a group of ponies. That apparently doesn't count, so now I really have to try and make a couple of 'real' friends, and where's a better place to start than in PonyVille. Yeah totally doesn't sound like stupid idea, as we both walk along side eachother and at the moment that I start to walk forwards I get bump into somepony infront of me. Grunting and falling to the floor feeling my ass hitting the ground as Barb looks down at me with a smile of enjoyment, she knew that there was somepony in front of me and she didn't bother to tell me. Something told me she wanted to see how long it would take me to see if I could see it before anything bad would happen. So you can imagine how annoyed I'm getting over with how much she is making fun of me, rubbing my back gently as I look towards me seeing who I bumped into before seeing a pink earth pony, the style she had on both her mane and tail made it look like something out of a cheesy 70's sitcom. Seeing the earth pony shakes her head as she got back up on her hooves having a bright smile on her face as if nothing bad actually happened and she would just go on about her day if not only she sees me on the floor, tilting her head to the side wondering what I was and if she recognizes me. Barb thinking this can be a great opportunity for me to try and make friends with the pink earth pony as she taps my shoulder before using her head to point at the pony in front of me. I, at first didn't understand what she was trying to imply only just remembering what the princess advised me to do while I was in town. Thinking for a moment what I'm about to say before standing up and on my feet before looking down at the earth pony who was now looking up at me, still wondering what was in front of her as I stand up in front of the mare before extending a hand out towards the pink earth pony before saying.

"Hi… I'm Zachary, I'm sort of new around town and-"

But before I can even finish one sentence I am interrupted by the sound of her exaggerated gasp, jumping up into the air before dashing away over and above my head. One moment she was in front of both Barb and I, now she is gone. Oh well, at least I tried right? After processing what just happened in front of us, we continued our journey through town. Occasionally being greeted by some of the residents around town, some with a generous hello while others would simply just gave me a pat in the back. I'm honestly really confused over all the generosity coming from everypony, it's strange but I just soak it in for as long as I can, replying to their 'hello's with a simple 'hi'. It feels good to slowly gain the respect my the residents of PonyVille, and while I get the occasional glare of unease from some ponies here and there, but those rude mad dogging glares would quickly be cleared out of my head when another pony would greet me with a smile and a wave. All this is topped off when I feel a ball hitting me against the foot. Barb sees this as well as she looks around noticing a group of foals asking if I could kick the ball back to them. I smile and since I wasn't the greatest with kicking a ball I gently kick it with the side of my foot as I see it rolling towards the foals hearing them say 'thank you' makes my day completely. I don't know what it is, but seeing a child smile for something I did just lit my insides up with joy and delight, and isn't that what really matters? After walking for almost twenty minutes, both Barb and I come up to a huge tree like house as I look around seeing how the tree looks so healthy even though it was made into somepony's home, while I admire the landscape Barb once again goes through the orange envelope before pulling out a another sheet of paper. I turn my head towards her just as she is about to start reading what is on the sheet.

"Let's see… this is where… Twilight Sparkle lives. Princess Celestia states that she is in charge of booking the musical entertainment for the festival, and she will also be our tour guide around PonyVille just in case we need to find the rest on our list."

"Great… well…"

I said as I motion a hand towards the door, signaling her to knock and ask if this was the place they were looking for. But Barb looks at the door before looking back at me as she shakes her head.

"No, you knock."

"Barb come on."

I said extending the 'on' with extra O's, acting like a child who doesn't want to do what his parents told him to do. But when I see Barb crossing her arms, hearing her foot tapping against the ground before reminding me.

"Hey! What did the princess say?"

She asked, raising an eyebrow from how I was acting in front of her. I groan in annoyance, knowing what she was about to say what true as I look down before saying.

"I know, I know...try and make friends."

I said before sighing as I walk in front of Barb and standing up in front of the door of the house where this Twilight Sparkle lives, wondering what can go wrong? Almost anything but hell I'm here for a reason so what the fuck right? I stare at the door, admiring how nice the door looks as I take a moment to come up with something to say, this time I give myself extra to think and rethink on what I'm about to say considering it didn't work out the first time around with that pink mare. Finally after about five minutes of thinking, I raise my hand up moving it towards the door as I knock on it three times pulling my hand away before hearing the sounds of footsteps against the floor from the inside. Soon the sounds of footsteps go silent, I then see and hear the door opening before witnessing what appeared to be a more male version of Barbara he was even the exact same height as Barb. The dragon looks up at me dead in the eyes, having that glare a very protective boyfriend has as he says.

"Yes?"

He said having a very pubescent voice, you know the one where your voice cracks so at some point in the middle of a sentence. Yeah like that, I look at him struggling with what I was about to say. I don't know, but something about this dragon is giving me really bad anxiety to the point where I wasn't sure if I should say anything as I struggle to form a sentence with.

"Hi…I-I'm Zachary…"

I said stuttering a bit, knowing that this'll be how I will be talking while getting to know both the dragon and the pony whom I'm also about to meet as I pull Barb up in front of me. Seeing both her and the dragon looking at each other, now the menacing glare from the dragon turns into a more surprising look on his face, matching Barb's surprised glare as I continue to speak.

"... this right here is a close friend of mine, her name is Barbara, w-we are actually looking for a pony that goes by the name... Twilight Sparkle?"

I said, just remembering who we come here looking for as I see the dragon's face turning into a concerned expression. He leans his head back, not breaking eye contact between both Barb's and my own but it's mostly Barb's eye contact that he doesn't break most of the time as he yells into the house.

"Twilight! Some….one here is asking for you!"

He said before leaning forward once again, extending his hand scale covered arm and hand to Barb, bringing back that menacing glare towards me as he told Barbara.

"I'm Spike, it's nice to meet you… well one of you anyway."

"It's nice to meet you Spike, don't worry about Zachary… he may look menacing and dangerous but he really means well."

Barbara defeats me as she looks back at me with a smile, giving her the same expression back to her before we both simultaneously reach out and hold each other's hand. As I hold her hand gently rubbing the back of her scally palm staring at her claws, she never bothers to show them off considering how amazing and sharp they're. After staring for another hour we both get interrupted by the sound of a high pitched gasp, looking up to see both the dragon who is still staring at me with that glare and now a light mulberry colored pony, her mane a nice sapphire blue with a raspberry colored streak on her bangs and judging by the horn she's a unicorn as she stares at me with a surprised look on her face. Her violet color of her iris starts to glow as I stare back at her before it went away, blinking rapidly I look at her as I introduce myself and the dragoness next to me.

"Hello, I suppose you don't know who we are obviously but I'm Zachary, this is Barbara. You must be Twilight Sparkle, look we don't want to take up too much of your time, but we would like to ask if you can help us?"

I ask her holding onto Barb's hand because something about this pony gives me a really uneasy feeling, and another thing tells me that I or even Barb can be some sort of danger. Twilight continues to look at me, Spike on the other hand his grip on the door turns a bit more violent as I can see his claws digging into the door before, the purple mare looks at me for another moment as she asks me.

"Before I… help you both… by any chance do the two of you have any idea about a massive purple explosion in the sky that happened not to long ago?"

She asks having a feeling that we might know something about it, both Barb and I look at each other we definitely know something about what she mentioned. But deep down we know that if we say anything, or even look like we know something we can be in some serious trouble. And unfortunately, Twilight knew that we know something about that event and even more unfortunate she looks up at Spike as he looks down at her. She nods at him as if they had a game plan they're about to play, Spike then turns his head back to me as he opens the door wide before lunging himself towards me grunting as I feel my back being dragged across the floor. I feel a strong grip against my neck, I feel my air supply slowly diminishing as I look up at Spike seeing him looking at me with that glare of hatred and revenge. I try my best to chizzle his grip around my neck, but the more I try to force him off of me the harder his grip gets. Turning my head, I see Barb looking pissed off but before she can do anything Twilight lunges herself towards her attacking the dragoness. I told myself that I wasn't going to use my gift unless it was for an emergency but in this case and what is happening right now, would be considered an emergency. My eyes slowly start to go blurry meaning that I was close to passing out as I could hear Spike chuckling calming victory or so he thought, closing my eyes, thinking to myself.

'You promised both Barb, and to the princess that you wouldn't get yourself into any kind of trouble. But this is a matter of life or death, and I wasn't going to allow this dragon to take my second chance at life.'

I said to myself before opening my eyes, staring back up at the dragon as I see his face going from victorious smile to utter shock as he sees that I wasn't dead just yet, my hand letting go of his wrist as the dragon sees a purple aura forming in my hand before he can react I blast him in the face as he lets go of my neck allowing me to finally breath as I sit up on my knees. Gently massaging my neck with one hand, I start coughing for air as I pant looking towards Spike. He wasn't in good shape either, screaming in pain as he covers his face before turning his head towards me his eye was now bleeding as I whines at the sight.

"That has got to hurt."

I said, trying to be amusing after finally being able to move before he stands back up his hands unleashing his claws as he shows his teeth clearly wanting to use them on me. I look at him before extending my right arm out to the side as my hand starts to glow once again before a purple blade starts forming out of my hand, Spike huffs before running towards me immediately starting to slash his claws towards me dodging as much as I can before swinging my blade towards him. Spike dodging that as well, this would have continued on only for the fact that Barb launches herself towards him as she sent both of them rolling before seeing them starting to brawl. Spike slashing at her as Barb uses her tail wrapping around the male dragon's leg causing him to fall to the floor as she tries to kick him in the chest only for Spike to grab a hold of her foot before getting his claws into her stomach as he slashes her hearing her yell in pain. Luckily it didn't go too deep into enough to leave her scars on her stomach, and I could have just come and help her if it wasn't for feeling a blast of magic hitting me in the back of the head. While holding the back of my head I turn around seeing Twilight looking furious.

"Stand down alien."

She demands, her horn glowing while I rub my head gently the purple saber radiating from my hand goes away before forming into a sphere throwing it towards her, only for Twilight to dodge it but she wasn't out of the woods just yet as I continue to throw sphere after sphere. It wasn't until the fifth sphere that hit her against the forehead, hearing her groan in pain as her mane starts to radiating smoke, her horn wasn't damaged in any way thanks to her magic but seeing her bangs now spiked up giving her a different hair style. Whole Barb and Spike continue to brawl with each other, Twilight uses her horn to shoots a light purple ray towards. Immediately using both my hands, wrists touching each other as I try and deflect the blast, the shot causing me to drag my feet against the floor trying my best not to get Barb because that's what she was going for. The more fire power she radiates the more I try and hold back, it wasn't until I feel my eyes sight going from color to a violet shade, causing me to turn the ray back towards her as I hear her scream. The ray causing her to get launched towards the tree house, I pant hearing Barb grunting and groaning. Once I turn around my eyes have never been more hurt in my life, seeing the dragoness being thrown over Spike's shoulder as I see him gutting her from stomach to chest, hearing Barb gargling blood before going limp.

"Barb!"

I yell in pain causing my throat to crack, for some reason climate change exists in Equestria too because suddenly it just starts to rain hearing a lighting bolt hitting before feeling the rain coming down. Seeing Spike turning around as he gives me a smirk licking Barb's blood off his claws before turning towards me, I look down losing Barb hurts more than losing my own life. Barb means everything to me, sure I've only known for so long but in that time I've learned so much from her and about her that it's like she's a sister I've always wanted. My hands forming into fists as I look up at Spike, anything and everything from the 'holding back' back plan is gone as I look up at Spike he cracks his neck both ways, suddenly I slowly start to levitate off the ground. From Spike's perspective, my iris's turn into a pearl color before raising my hands up lighting hitting both of my palms as Spike knew he made a huge mistake, his smirk turning into a worried expression on his face. Before he can get a chance to flea I shoot lighting out of my hands like I'm some sort of sith appreciate learning the ways of the dark side, seeing Spike scrumble on to his knees as shaking and spasming before seeing him sit blood out of his mouth his eyeballs inflating like a balloon before popping. Causing the dragon to lay limp as blood ran out of his mouth and eye balls, descending from the air before hearing.

"Hey!"

Turning my head I see Twilight coming out of the tree house the rain causing her spiked up bangs to go down now having a crown on her head as it began to glow. I turn myself completely towards her, rain continuing to fall from the sky hearing Twilight demanding one last time.

"Stand down alien, you've taken enough lives for one day."

"I take lives?"

I ask, my iris's turning back as my sight can see more than one color again. Looking at Twilight she starts slowly trotting towards me as I walk up towards her braiding the unicorn.

"Up to this point, I haven't taken the life of anypony! Spike was wanting it as much as you do-."

"Don't use Spike as an excuse! He was my friend and like a baby brother to me-."

"You don't think I feel the same way about Barb!?! You don't think that she was the closest friend and companion I could ever ask for?!?"

I yell at her, tears slowly strolling down my eyes. To Twilight they just blend into the rain that falls down my face as she doesn't respond to what I confessed to her, it was if she doesn't care what I have to say. To her I'm nothing more than some sort of threat to both her and the rest of Equestria, I smile unbelievably pleased with her final impression of me saying.

"Say your final prayers Sparkle."

"You won't be around to hear them!"

She said before launching herself towards me her crowd radiating a shiny purple glow to its star like gem. I watch this as I close my eyes, this was all over for not only me but for her as well.

Before even feeling the impact of her hit, my eyes shoot open and it's like Marty and Doc Brown pull me out of the blast, sat my ass onto the DeLorean and brought me back to the beginning as I stand again next to Barb. Panting hard while gripping onto the dragoness's hand hard, Twilight does the same as she too might've seen what I saw right in front of her Spike attends the hyperventilating mare as Barb does the same to me. I look up seeing Twilight does the same before we both say simultaneously.

"You saw it too?"