Phantom Sickness

by Phantom Sickness

Rating: teen
Tags: Sex, Random, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 12469

Random story behind one of my ponies

Phantom Sickness, a unicorn with a dark past. he hoped to leave it all behind him once he went to cheerful Ponyville, but he could not escape it. instead he is forced to face it.

Published 2012-10-27 16:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-27 16:00:01 UTC

Chapter 1

Prologue

I remember few things prior to my arrival in Ponyville, save a few nightmares that make up childhood. I remember bouts of intense pain, and figures from the dark that still haunt me to this day. I suppose that it was a matter of time before it happened. My parents, the sick, twisted unicorns that raised me, performed a new spell on me, they said that it would solve all of our problems, would put our little family in control of Equestria and beyond. They told me all this, yet I still was frightened, scared that this time it would be more than just a couple cuts and scary creatures. They went through with the spell anyway, I remember seeing a dark light that filled my vision and then, darkness.

I woke up a few hours later, dazed, but generally okay. I walked around my room for a while, looking for something to do, when my mirror shows me a sight that will stay with me forever. Instead of ME being there, there stood a mare, she had my same mane colour and style, and even had the scar that ran down the side if my face. Then I realized it, that mare, the creature standing in my mirror, was me, though I did not share the parts of a mare, but my general features made me look like one.

“That is it,” I growled to myself, “I cannot take anymore of this, if I stay, I will kill myself, but if I go, what does the outside world hold for me?”

In the end, curiosity won over my intense desire to end my life. That night I packed up my few belongings and left, using one of the only spells I knew to get out, I teleported past all of the traps my parents placed to keep me from leaving.

The outside air smelled better than I had ever imagined, I had never actually been outside in my life and my parents always kept my window locked shut. I did not have much time to bask in the glory that is freedom; my parents would have caught me in a second if I stayed any longer, so I walked away from that place of horror, the place that was never my true home…

Chapter 1: Beginning The Journey

Las Pegasus, the first stop on my journey, I thought that, if anywhere, I could find my true path here, after all, there are plenty of ponies out there who would help me, but I soon realized that without a single bit with me I would go nowhere.

“Hello there, I haven’t seen you before, so that must mean that you are new here,” said a voice behind me, “by the way, my name is Pinkie, what is your name miss?”

That sparked a fire in me, “look, I may look like a mare, but that does not get you the right to call me ‘miss’, and another thing, who walks up to random strangers and greets them like they are already friends? You must have some issues there ‘Pinkie’, because I am one stallion that you do not want to mess with, so if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to get going.”

I did not mean to be so harsh with her, but ever since I came here and left my house, it has been one lousy day after another. If not for what happened next, I might not be here today.

“You know, she was just trying to be nice, she did not know about your deformity,” said another voice, “name’s Rainbow Dash, and from the looks of it, you could use some help.”

“I do not need any help; I can manage perfectly well on my own.”

“Oh, really, then tell me, why is it that you have not fixed yourself?”

“That-is none of you business, look, I just want to get to my way, if you don’t mind?”

“Fine, but if you change your mind, look up Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville, its located near Canterlot.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I grumbled to myself as I got closer to the hotel I was staying at, “Look, thank you for the advise-” but she was gone, nothing more than a blue feather marking where she was.

I could not sleep that night, something about Rainbow Dash’s friend, Twilight kept me debating, thinking, and finally, planning my next move. If anypony could teach me magic, it was this Twilight Sparkle.

Ponyville was not as hard to find as anticipated as there were many signs pointing the way to Canterlot and as I followed them, I soon came upon Ponyville. Once I got into town though, everypony ran away from me, as if they were scared of something, I tried to approach one of them, but he ran away, screaming something about black magic.

“Not again,” I groaned to myself, every small town that I visited on my way to Ponyville, the same thing happened, “I am sick of it, I am sick of everypony treating me like some sort of freak. If that Twilight Sparkle really is here, I hope she is not afraid of the Everfree Forest.”

With that, I stormed off into the fabled forest. You see, because I lived inside all my life, I still had some old books on Equestria. In one of these books, it mentioned the Everfree Forest as a dark place, where mysterious creatures lived. It seemed like the perfect place for me to live in seclusion. I expected many things going into the forest, but not somepony else.

“Hello my friend, I am sorry, but for this road, it is the end.”

“Hello, why aren’t you running away, screaming or trying to make me leave? Why are you not appalled?”

“Zecora I am called and why, may I ask, should I be appalled?”

“I don’t really know, everypony else in town runs away from me, so just kind of assumed that you would too.”

“This exact problem I used to have, but it will not be solved by being mad.”

“I know, it’s just that everypony also thinks that I am a mare, but the truth is, my parents did this to me, they performed other horrid spells as well, but other than the scar on my eye, this is the only thing that affected me as a whole.”

Zecora seemed to ponder this for a while, “well, if it is a cure that you seek, than it is Twilight Sparkle whom you must meet.”

“I’ve heard about her before, she is actually the reason that I came to Ponyville, I think it was a peagasis named Rainbow Dash who told me about her. She said that she could help me to improve my magic, but I have been unable to find her in town.”

“Well, with this you you will be merry, for she is located in the library.”

“Thank you, Zecora; I hope we can speak again soon.”

“It would be a shame, if I could not call you by name.”

“My name? I almost forgot I had one of those, my name,” I started, “is Phantom Sickness.”

Chapter 2: Twilight
The library was easy enough to find, I mean, how hard is it to miss a large tree with windows and a door? Anyway, I walked up to the front door, and did what I though anypony else would have done, I raised my hoof and knocked on the wood door.

“How many times do I have to tell you guys,” said a voice from within, “the door is always open.” she opened the door anyway and was startled to see me. “Oh, hello, sir, how can I help you?”

“I am not a ma- wait; did you call me ‘sir’?”

“Well, yeah, my friend Rainbow Dash told me you would be coming.”

I regained my composure, “Miss. Sparkle, my name is Phantom Sickness, and I was wondering if you could help me with this problem of mine you see-”

“Why don’t you come inside, I have a feeling I might want to sit down for this.”
I followed her inside, and was surprised to find it very neat and well organized inside.

“Okay, I think that I am ready, so, what is it exactly that you need help with?”

“As you can figure out by now, I look like a mare, though I am a colt, I need your help to find a counter spell for it, and I would also like for you to take me as your apprentice in the art of magic.”

“Wait, you mean that a spell did this to you? Who would do such a thing?”

“My parents, they did other expiriments on me, something about ruling Equestria, but all their spells did was subjugate me to massive amounts of black magic.”

“By Celestia, that is horrible, why would your own parents do such a thing?”

“Never bothered to ask. So, can you help me?”

“I think so, and when we fix your problem, I promise you that you will become my apprentice.”

“Thank you, Miss.Sparkle, thank you.”

“Please, call me Twilight; all my friends d-”

“TWILIGHT,” shouted a voice from the doorway, “get away from her, er I mean him!”

“Twilight, I think I should go, if you need me, I will be in the Everfree forest, just go south of Zecora’s house, you’ll find me.”

Before she could say a thing, I left, not sparing a look at the horrified pink pony that stood near the doorway.

Chapter 3: The Forest

I purposefully avoided Zecora’s house, not wanting to explain to her that the only two ponies in Ponyville that would even tolerate me was she and Twilight. I found the perfet spot to start building my house, as well as teleportation skills, I also am significantly skill with telekinetic magic, making the construction of both the inside and the outside fairly easy. I was in the middle of putting the final changes on it when I heared a familiar voice from above.

“Hey, I remember you,” said Rainbow Dash, “your that unicorn that I met in Las Peagesis, it looks like you took my advice.”

“Yeah, thank you, by the way. Twilight said that she would help me. My name is Phantom Sickness, I do not belive I told you that during our first encounter.”

“No, I don’t think you did. That’s an odd name for a unicorn, who named you?”

“My parents, they are not what you would call the best of ponies.”

“Oh, well, uh, I’ll see you later Phantom, been great talking to you.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

I continued my work, and about an hour later, my house was finally complete.

“Looks great Phantom.” said a voice behind me when I was done.

“Thanks Twilight,” I said, and for the first time in my entire life, I actually smiled at her.

“Now, why don’t we go in and talk about this counter spell, and how you learned how to accomplish such a high level of transfiguration without proper eduation.”

We walked in through the door and Twilight seemed surprised at how the inside of my house looked. When I was younger, I practiced using random junk to make decorations. Considering I had an infinite amount of reaources around me now, I was able to make my house actualy feel like a home.

“Please, sit down,” I said when she walked in, “now, what have you found?”

“The only thing that I found so far that would even come close to helping you would be a complete reversal spell, but that would require two unicorns to combine their magic together and for them to focus on the spell.”

“Okay, well, don’t you have any other unicorn friends, some that are more skilled than I ?” “Actually, I was hoping that you would help me, you see, though you only know one spell-”

“Two.” I said

“But I though that-”

“No, I know one other spell, one that I learned while young.”

“Well, what is it?”

“I know how to teleport.”

“You do? In that case, you are perfect for the job, besides, it would be better that way.”

“Okay, why don’t you explain it to me?”

She did exactly that, going into every detail so I would not miss a single, simple part. The spell itself sounded easy, the hard part, as Twilight explained would be the containment of two large magical sources.

“I’ll do anything to change myself back.”

“Okay, but first, a little bit about you, how you learned those two advanced spells, and how you learned about me.”

“Well, the latter is the easiest to answer, your friend Rainbow Dash was in Las Peagsis and suggested that I come see you. As for the former, my parents left most of their materials and books out, assuming that I would be unable to read them. One day, I was looking through one of these books and on a page was two separate spells, one for teleportation and one for telekineses. I tore both of them out and practiced them until the day I left.”

She sat there for a couple of seconds before responding, “I think that we will do the spell tomorrow around one, meet me at the library by then and we will start.”

She started to get up, but I still had one question for her, “Twilight?”

“Yes Phantom?”

“Will this spell reverse all of the things done to me over time, like, not just the physical damge but the other stuff too?”

“We can only hope Phantom, we can only hope.”

Chapter 4: The Library

I got up early the next morning, even though I still had a few hours until I had to actualy be at the library. By getting up early I was able to prepare myself for the spell by doing some basic yoga poses, I was starting to get into the advanced moves when a knock came to my door.

“I wonder who that could be,” I said aloud, knowing only three ponies that would actually visit me.

When I opened the door, I saw a friendly black and white face.

“Hello Zecora, how are you today?”

“Today, I am fine, and glad to see that you are learning to be kind.”

“Yeah, with you, Twilight and Rainbow Dash, I am starting to learn how ponies actually interact.”

“Well this I am glad to hear, and it brings me good cheer.”

We stood there for a moment before I finally invited her in.

“No, for it is to town that we go.”

“To town? But everypony will run away from me, besides, I do not want to ruin your reputation here.”

“You need worry not, for I have a way to win over the lot.”

“I hope that you’re right.”

We left the house and started walking towards town, taking the quickest way there. When we got into town, I was met with the same feeling as last time, screams of fear and the street clearing out.

“Zecora, I think this was a bad idea.”

“I used to think so too, but soon they will not fear you.”

I watched as she walked into the center of town, me barely following her.

“Ponies come out, do we really need this fear to come about?”

“But, Zecora, look at his cutie mark, and his mane,” said a quiet voice from inside one of the buildings, “and besides, HE looks like a SHE.”

“Remember little one, how it used to be me who was shunned. You must trust me, to him, there is more than you can see.”

“Hey, Phantom, what’s up?” said Rainbow Dash as she dove down from her cloud above us.

“Nothing much Rainbow, how are things with you?”

“Ah, you know, same old, same old.”

“You see ponies, I am not being phony.”

Slowly, ponies started to come out of the shops, some of them with looks of curiosity, others still with looks of fear. Just as I was about to greet them, the clock tower struck one.

“Sorry, I’ve got to go, ‘ that was all I said before I teleported inside the library.

“Oh, hello Phantom, I forgot you could do that, and right on time too, good, we are going to need as much of it as possible.”

“Lets just do it, I want to look like ME again.”

“And that is what you’ll look like.”

“Okay, let’s do this”

Almost immediately, I felt her magic flow into the air beween us, so I allowed mine to do the same, meeting hers as I started to focous on the spell. I felt her strain as she forced more magic into the spell, to balance it I forced an equal amount, our combined magic caused a bright orb to form in the middle of the room. Twilight said that this would happen, and when it did to force to orb towards myself, she would be unable to assist me, because then it could back fire and all would be for not.

The orb started to slowly advance towards me when a bright flash of pink distracted me, causing the orb to go back into the center of the room, I tried to ignore her babbleing as she tried to warn Twilight that what ever was happening was bad. The orb started to come towards me again, faster than before. Because I could tell Twilight was losing her concentration, I pulled harder and forced more magic out. When the orb reached me I saw a flash of bright light, quite the opposite of the light that I saw when I got hit with the original spell, along with this, a feeling like a great weight being removed from me flowed around and through my body. To put it simply I was over joyed.

Chapter 5: Meeting the Girls

I woke up on the library floor, dazed by the intense flow of magic, but other than that, I felt great.

“Hey, I think he’s awake.”

“Hey, Phantom, how do you feel?” asked Twilight

“I feel fine, in fact, I feel incredible.”

“Well, that’s good, because there is something that you should know. The spell, it changed you back to a colt, but that scar that runs down your face seemed resistant to the spell, I am sorry.”

“It’s okay Twilight, we did our best.”

I slowly sat up and turned to face five other ponies in the room and, “is that a dragon?”

“Yep, my name is Spike, I live here with Twilight.”

“Hello Spike, my name is Phantom, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

I looked around at the other five mares again, surprised at how calm they acted around me.

“Phantom, I would like for you to meet the girls, this is Apple Jack,” she said as she motioned to the blonde-haired pony with the hat.

“Howdy,” she said with a genuine smile.

“Hello, nice to meet you,” I said.

“That is Flutter Shy,” she said, motioning to the yellow mare in the corner.

“H-hi,” she whispered

“Hello,” I smiled.

“This is Rarity,” continued Twilight, motioning to the white one.

“Pleasure darling,” she said, also smiling.

“The pleasure is all mine,” I replied.

“I know that you have already met Rainbow Dash,” she continued, “and finally, Pinkie Pie.”

“Hello Pinkie, I apologize for my actions during our first encounter.”

“Oh, its okay, I am just glad to see you smiling, looks good on you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, laughing.

“Now, about your training.”

“Oh, come on Twilight,” argued Rainbow, “Let the poor guy get to know the town a little, he is staying, right?” the question was aimed at me.

“Yeah, I’ve never had friends before, and I am not about to leave my only ones now.”

“Okay then, let’s get started.”

She grabbed my hoof and dragged me into town, quickly introducing me to a group she called the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders.’

“This is Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, girls, this is Phantom Sickness, he’s new in town.”

“Well, howdy there Mr. Sickness, it’s great to meet you.”

“Hello Apple Bloom, I am guessing that you are Apple Jack’s sister?”

“You got it,” she smiled.

“That’s a nice mane cut, did you have my sister do it?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Nope, I did this myself, when you’re alone on the road, you have time for that sort of thing.”

“Well, if you’re hanging with RD, than you must be alright,” said Scootaloo.

“Glad to hear, well, I’ll see you girls later.”

“See you later Phantom,” they all called at once while we walked away.

“Where to next?” I asked Rainbow.

“Well, we have already been through all the shops, and nopony else is home right now, so the only place left would be for me to see your house, I hear you built it just this morning.”

I was startled by this offer, “I don’t know, I mean, I built it using random junk on the forest floor.”

“I’d still love to see it Phatom, don’t worry, I live in a cloud, so I won’t judge.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

Chapter 6: Back to My House

We didn’t run into Zecora on the way there, which was odd, seeing as we passed right by her house. When we finally reached mine though, Rainbow went right in, as if she had lived there all her life. She stopped dead in her tracks though when she saw the elaborate decorations that were inprinted on the walls.

“I-I thought you used junk to make this place.”

“I did, it’s just something I picked up as a foal.”

“Well, you had better not show Rarity, or else she will be hounding you until you tell her exactly how to do it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Do you really think that it’s that good?”

“Yeah, I have not seen anything this good since the Gala in Canterlot. Trust me, it is good.”

I smiled at her, and for some reason she blushed. I was about to say something but she suddenly excused her self with a babble of words that made no real sense. She flew away and I was left standing there, confused.

“Oh, Phantom, I see that you are home, and may I say I have never seen eyes that have so brightly shone.”

“Thank you, Zecora it’s good to see you, I was going to visit you, but I notced that you weren’t home.”

“ I was not home, because I had to go grind this bone. It is for a potion, you see, and this was included in the recipe.”

She seemed tense at that moment, almost as if there was something wrong, “is everything alright Zecora?”

“You need not worry, Phantom my dear, it is just that I have never been here.”

“What do you mean, you have been living in the Everfree forest longer than me, yet you have never been to this part?”

“Yes, this is true, for I am not as brave as you.”

“I’m not brave, I just have lived with dark unicorns as parents my whole life. I guess things like this just do not faze me anymore.”

“And yet deep in here it is that you dwell, even though your life is fine and swell.”

“What do you mean, swell? Sure, I have a bunch of new friends and that spell was reversed. Not all of that changes the fact that I can never be truly happy, the scar that is on my face proves it. No matter how far I run, I will always have a bit of my dark, gruesome past with me.”

She simply stood there, letting me rant until I finally cried, “I am sorry, Zecora I must seem like such a big baby.”

“No, you are not, and I refuse to see you rot.”

“What do-” she wialked inside, not even glancing in my direction, “look, Zecora thank you for offering to help me, but I-”

“Away from you I will not be shoved, there has never been anypony like you that I have loved.”

I stopped, shocked at what she was saying, shocked that somepony actually loved me, and more than a friend by the way she was blushing, her white face making it all the more vivid. She slowly approached me, the blush on her face getting redder and redder, until I thought her coat would stay that way.

“H-hello, Zecora? Rainbow Dash said that you were here and-” almost immediately Zecora jumped away from me.

It took her a second to regain her composure, “yes my dear, as you can see I am here. Now, what is it that you need, is it more of that special feed?”

Flutter Shy stood there, embarrassed, “yes, but if now is a bad time I could come back later.”

“No my dear, it is quite all right, please visit me at my place later tonight.”

“O-okay, sorry to interrupt.”

She got out as fast as she could, causing the few pictures on my wall to almost fall off. As I got up to fix them I decided to break the awkward silence that had suddenly thickened the air, “So, what is this ‘special’ feed that you were talking about, does it induce some sort of special property?”

Zecora sat there for a moment, “it causes the birds to fly higher in the sky, at least the ones who are the most shy.”

“Incredible! How is it that you have accomplished such a thing?”

“Easy it was not, especially for the birds in Flutter Shy’s lot.”

It felt nice, just chatting with someopny other than myself, to be able to listen and to be listened to. It was so different than the rest of my life had been, and the more I realized that this was my new life, the more I realized that, though I cannot escape my past, at least I could avoid making it rule my life.

It was getting late and Zecora still had to go see Flutter Shy, so she left and I was standing there the same way I started this whole thing, alone and confused. That’s not quite right though, is it? I was not really alone, as long as I had my friends, I would never be truly alone.

Chapter 7: Family Visit

The next few weeks following my vist, and eventual residence, in Ponyville were the best in my life. I had friends, my own house, and was the town’s new interior designer. It was not somethong that I could have forseen, but apparently, the way I am able to manipulate matter in such a way that it can make junk turn into something beautiful caught the attention of the other ponies in town. Rarity would not stop asking me to show her how to do the spell, I refused her, not to be mean, but because we all need our own innocent secrets every now and then. During this time, the lessons with Twilgiht were going great, I was learing spells that I did not even know existed.

Though this part of my life should have made me forget about them, I had a strange feeling that my parents were close by, lokking for me, and that it was only a matter of time before they found where I was an attempt to take me home.

“Phantom, there are some strange looking unicorns looking for you,” said Rainbow one day while I was at my house, “they claim to be your parents.”

I was dumbfounded, I had a feeling they were looking for me, but I had not known that they would find me so quick, “tell everypony to get inside and to lock there doors, and no matter what you hear, do NOT come outside until I am either gone, or they are.”

“What do you mean ‘until I am gone’? You are not just going to let them take you away, are you?”

“No, I am not, but they are very powerful and know spells that rival Twilight’s. I have a special spell in mind, but it might backfire, and if it does,” I stopped, trying to think of how to put this as gently as possiblr, but there was none, so I had to put it as bluntly, “if it does, I will die.”

“What do you mean die? You are my friend, you can’t die. I won’t let you, I don’t care what you say, I am coiming with you to hel-”

“No Rainbow, you aren’t, these two are the most powerful unicorns in Equestria and beyond, I would hate to think of what they would do to you. Just go tell the others the same, have them hide.”

“Okay, but if you live through this, you and I will have a long, unpleasant, chat.”

“I look forward to it,” I chuckled, “oh, and Rainbow?”

“Yes Phantom?”

“Please don’t tell the others about the spell, I would hate for them to try and do something stupid.”

“Okay, but you owe me one.”

With that, she flew away, leaving me to think about my next move. The spell that I had told her about was something I had been working on incase of this exact occurrence. The thing was, I still needed some time to perfect it, but time was something in which I was very short on.

I walked into the town square, looking around to make sure, they were all inside. They were so I focused my attention on my parents.

“Hello Phantom, it has been a while, we thought that you had run away, going beyond even the borders of Equestria,” my mother said, her face a sneer that had scared me as a foal.

“Yes, we thought that we would never find you, but apparently you thought you could hide from us here,” my father said, motioning to the buildings, “but you were saddly mistaken, and now that we have found you, we are going to take you home.”

“No, dad, mom, you aren’t.”

“What do you mean, you know no spells, and even if you did, we would still best you. So please, just give up, we would no want to ruin nice little Ponyville, now would we?”

“You are wrong, I do know spells, and one in particular,” I started, gathering the magic to deploy the spell, “will defeat the both of you!”

With that, I released the spell, a dark, swirling ball of magic. The ball was about as big as both of them and going faster than even Rainbow Dash doing a sonic rainboom (which she had shown me). The pure energy that it contained caused some of the windows around us to burst,

They were expecting this, because the second they saw it, they let out a burst of energy themselves, and when the two balls met, a bright light filled the air, and a loud noise deafened me. It was all too much, I put all of my magic into the ball, forcing it towards them, forcing all of my anger, sorrow, and pain that they had caused me into it. The ball grew in size and pushed their ball out of the way, inching closer to them, until they were engulfed by the pure energy. I believe it killed them instantly, but I fainted when it got to them.

Chapter 8: Reawakening

Have you ever thought that you were dead? I don’t mean the early morning type of dead, I mean actually dead. It is not a pleasant thing, you start to wonder about I whole array of things, unpleasant things. The only thing that assured me that I was still alive was Rainbow’s voice.

“I-is he okay doc?” she asked, she was obviously still crying and I assumed she had been for a while, “please, tell me that he is going to be okay.”

“He is fine Rainbow Dash, look, I think that he is waking up.”

I opened my eyes and saw not just Rainbow Dash, but all of my friends, including Zecora and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Hey, guys,” I said weakly, “what’s up?”

“What up?” shouted Twilight, her eyes ablaze with fury, “What’s up is that you almost killed yourself with that, what ever it was. What’s up is that you practiced deadly magic without me there to assist you if any thing went wrong.”

“Look, Twilight, I did not want you, or anypony, to be in any danger. I would not have been able to live with my self, if a single one of you were to get so much as a scratch.”

They all fell into silence.

It was Flutter Shy that broke it, “Phantom, we are your friends, if we had lost you, we would not be able to fix the damage that would have been done. You are our friend, and if you think,” around here she started to cry, “and if you think that we are ever, I repeat EVER, going to sit by while so do something like that again, then you are just, stupid.”

That was a shocker, not only had Flutter Shy raised her voice, she had also called me stupid. Never since I had met her, had I known her to insult anypony.

I guess it was Rarity’s turn to have a swing at me because she tried yelling through her tears, but though I could not understand a word of it, it still hit me just as hard as Flutter Shy and Twilight. I deserved all of this, I knew it, they knew it, and Spike who stood in the corner of the room knew it too.

Zecora, the zebra who I thought was tougher even than Rainbow, was crying as well, “Oh, my dear, it was for you life that I feared. If in that battle you would have died, to revive you I would have tried.”

“Now, look here, Phantom” started AJ, her green eyes glistening with tears, “yall ever do sometin as stupid as that ever again, I’ll hog tie ya to the thickest three in mah field.”

That got a chuckle out of everypony in the room.

“I guess what we are all trying to say,” started Rainbow Dash.

“Is that next time, let us help you, no matter how dangerous it is.” finished Pinkie Pie.

“I am sorry, but Phantom has to rest, you are going to have to leave,” interrupted the doctor, “you are going to have to come back tomorrow.”

The all left with a flutter of goodbyes’ and get betters’ they all left. All but Spike.

“Hey, Spike, what are you still doing here? If the doctor finds you, you might get in trouble.”

“The doctor knows, I had him make the others leave because I need to talk to you alone,” said Spike, an unusually serious expression on his face, “it’s about what happened yesterday.”

“Look, Spike, I would love to tell you about it but I-”

“You don’t get it, I don’t want to know about it, Princess Celestia does.”

“Princess who?” I asked, not knowing who she was or why she wants to know about yesterday.

“It’s all on the letter,” said Spike, handing me a letter.

He left, leaving me to read the letter alone.

Phantom Sickness,

My name is Princess Celestia, judging by your origins, you do not know who I am. I am the ruler of Equestria, and I am interested in the events that transpired between you and your parents yesterday. I am sending an escort for you to Canterlot. I will be awaiting you in the courtyard of the castle grounds.

That was all it said, nothing else.

Chapter 9: Canterlot

The ‘escort’ was actually a carriage drawn by two pegasus ponies. they were adorned with glamorous armor. Without saying a word, I got into it and we were in the air. The ride was short and soon we were there. The city of Canterlot, I had read about it as a foal but not extensively.

“Follow the path to the castle gate, you will be let in there,” said one of the guards that lined the depot.

I did that, but soon regretted it. All of the ponies that I saw stared at me with borderline hatred, while other looked at me with such curiosity that I felt like a caged animal. I made my walk as quick as possible, getting to the gate a little winded. As the guard said, the gate lowered as I approached it and soon I was in the courtyard. standing there was one of the most majestic and awe-inspiring creature that I had ever seen.

“Hello Phantom Sickness, I am Princess Celestia. As you read in my letter, I am here about what happened between you and your parents, but first, I am curious. How is it that you ended up in Ponyville?”

“I ran away from my parents, which is why they came after me.”

“Yes, but that does not answer my question. How did you end up in Ponyville?”

“Rainbow Dash told me while I was in Las Pegasus. I told her about my condition that I had at the time, and she tipped me off about somepony named Twilight Sparkle, who eventually helped me. After that, well, you can put the rest together.”

“Indeed I can, now, what was this, condition that you speak of?” she seemed to be honestly interested.

“Well, my parents did horrible, and gruesome experiments on me as a foal, things that caused me both mental and physical,” I said as I rubbed my scar, “pain, one of these times, they actually changed me form the colt that you see here to a mare, so after that, I left.”

“Interesting, and you say that it was Twilight Sparkle that helped you with this?”

“Yes, she taught me the spell, and together me reversed the effects of my parents spell.”

“Intriguing, now, back to why I called you here. What happened between you and your parents, from what I can gather, those two were the most powerful unicorns in all of Equestria. How is it that you were able to defeat them by yourself?”

“Well, I knew they were going to find me, so while I was at my home I started to develop a spell that would finally defeat them. When I encountered them, I used this spell against them, I am assuming that they are dead, but for all I know they could still be alive and my spell could have just teleported them away from me. I am hoping for the former.”

“The former is exactly what happened, Phantom. The bodies of your parents were discovered by my royal guard soon after you defeated them. I am glad to hear that two of the largest threats to Equestria have been defeated, but I am sorry that you have lost your parents, and by your own hands.”

“Don’t be sorry, I am glad that they are dead. Not only does this mean they are never going to hurt me again, it also means that my friends are safe.”

“Friends? From what I can gather, you have been in Ponyville a mere four weeks. Who are these friends of yours?”
` “Well, there is Twilight, Apple Jack, Flutter Shy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike, and Zecora.”

“Hmm, it appears that I am going to receive some more mail later. Did you say Zecora? I am surprised, she lives in the Everfree forest, and rarely leaves, how is it that you came by her?”

“Well, my house is deep in the Everfree Forest as well. I met her while I was there.”

“Well, Phantom, it appears that that is all I need to know. I hope to see you soon.”

“Farewell Princess.”

As I left the courtyard another voice called from above, “Hello, Phantom, my name is Princess Luna.”

I looked up and saw a dark purple mare, “Hello Princess, how may I help you?”

“No need to be so well mannered, I am here because I want to know more about you, and not just the events that transpired recently.”

“Okay, what is it that you wish to know?”

“What exactly did you see when you were first hit with you parents spell?”

“The one that changed me? I saw a white light, and after that, nothing I woke up.”

“Okay, now, while you lived with your parents, did you see any dark creatures, anything that scared you?”

“Yeah, but it was only while they were performing spells on me.”

“I see, now, how did you learn to develop such a spell to defeat your parents? From what I have heard, you knew very little, if any, magic when you arrived in Ponyville.”

“Well, my life was filled with such despair, hatred, and sorrow that I used those elements to form a single ball of energy that could have killed me along with them. As you can see they are dead and I am alive.”

“Hmm, it appears that I have underestimated you. I will be watching you closely Phantom.”

She flew away before I could respond. What did she mean she would be watching me? More importantly, why?

Chapter 10: Triangles

When I got to Ponyville Pinkie threw a party, apparently she and everypony else were worried that I left the hospital so soon and they were all relived to see me. The party was great, and seeing my friends made me happy, but still I was relieved to get back home and to relax.

“Phantom, are ya busy?” asked Rainbow when I finally sat down.

“Not at all, what can I do for you?”

She blushed, what was with her? “well, you see, I was wondering, if your not busy tomorrow night, do you want to go with me somewhere?”

“Sure, where do you have in mind?”

“Well, I have seen your place, so I was wondering if you would like to come over to my house for some sarsaparilla.”

“Sarsaparilla? What is that?”

“Only the strongest drink in Ponyville.”

I thought about it for a moment, “sure, why not?”

She leapt into the air with joy, “cool, I’ll see you later, Phantom.” she gave me a long hug and left.

Finally I was able to relax, it had been a long day and-

“Phantom? Are you okay, I would like to enter, if I may.”

“Hello Zecora, sure, what can I do for you?”

“If it is tomorrow that you are not busy, I wish to divulge to you my own sorrows.”

“Actually, I promised Rainbow Dash that I would give her a visit tomorrow, how about the day after, I promise.”

“Oh,” she said, visibly put off by my rejection, “then the day after, we shall hopefully share some laughter.”

She walked, no that’s not right, she more sulked out of my house.

“What did I say?” I pondered aloud, confused by her sudden depression, “I guess that I will find out the day after tomorrow.”

I tried to fall asleep, but a knock came to my door, “who in Equestria could that be? Come in!”

“Hello Phantom,” said Pinkie’s cheery voice, “how are you?”

“Honestly Pinkie? I am confused.”

“Confused? How?”

So I told her about Rainbow Dash and Zecora, “and then Zecora got depressed and walked away, did I say something wrong?”

“Uh oh, I thought that this would happen. What you have got Phantom, is a triangle.”

“A triangle, what do you mean?” I honestly had no clue what she was talking about.

“Oh, come on. Are you telling me that you have never heard of a love triangle before?”

“A WHAT!?”

“calm down, its simple really, two mares have fallen for you, and now they are competing for your attention. It kinda funny actually.”

“No, your wrong, I am not the type of stallion that mares fall in love with. I mean, look at me, I am not even good looking.”

“In both areas you are wrong. I have noticed both of them acting weird around you, as I am sure you have, and you obviously do not own a mirror.”

“So, what you are telling me is that both Rainbow Dash and Zecora have fallen for me, and now I have to choose one at the others expense?” it sounded ridiculous out loud, but some how made sense.

“Yep!” smiled Pinkie, “there is an easy way out though.”

“There is? Please, tell me!”

“All you have to do is figure out who you care for the most and make the hard decision to break somepony’s heart.”

“Oh, is that all?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yep!”

“Look, Pinkie, I do not want to lose a friend. So is there a way you could help me so that does not happen?”

“I could tell the one that you do not love some negative things about you, with your permission of course, causing them to not want you so bad.”

“Pinkie, have you done this before?”

“I sure have, its really easy.”

“Okay, but here is my problem, how do I figure out who I care for the most?“

“Again, easy, just spend a day with the both of them, and then you’ll know.”

“Okay, thank you Pinkie, really.”

“No problem. Just let me know when you know.”

“Will do.”

She left and finally I was able to sleep.

Chapter 11: Dashie’s Place

I got up early the next morning, despite my late night. I don’t know why, but I felt exited about finally seeing where Dash lived, it was weird, but at the same time, I felt great. I walked around Ponyville for a bit, taking in all of the sights.

“Hey, there Phantom, are you ready?”

“You know it!” I called back, “just one question, how do we get there?”

“Well, I live in a cloud, so you will have to have Twilight show you the spell that will allow you to stand on a cloud.”

“Okay, then Twilight’s it is.”

We made the short walk to Twilight’s and she showed me the spell, I picked up on it quickly, I noticed that after the fight with my parents I was getting better with magic.

“Okay, here it is, my house,” said Dash when we got there, she flew I teleported, “don’t mind the mess, I tend to be a little disorganized.”

I looked around and was taken by the impressive decorations and the beautiful living area. The ground was littered with random odds and ends, it added a certain grace to it though, something that made it HERS “It’s okay, if you haven’t noticed, mine is just as bad. It’s probably why my lessons with Twilight are now at her house.”

Dash laughed, “yeah, she tends to like her organized tree house.”

We laughed a little about this, but then something weird, but wonderful happened. We locked eyes for a moment and slowly Dashy walked towards me. I don’t know why, but something possessed me to walk towards her.

“Dashy?”

“Yes, Phantom?” she said, her voice a little more than a whisper.

But I could not find any words, instead, I kissed her. I don’t why I did it, I just did it.

“Phantom?”

“Yes, Dash?”

“Please, kiss me again.”
And I did it, it was great, my first kiss and it was with somepony that I believed I loved. I mean, she was beautiful, funny, and strong. But there was still another bomb to defuse, Zecora.

We broke the kiss and I saw that Dash was blushing deeply, as much as I thought I was. “Phantom, that was great. I know we met not that long ago, but I really would love to see you soon. I have some things to do soon, but later, okay?”

“S-sure, Dash, I would love that.”

I left and slowly walked to my house, taking care to avoid Zecora’s house.

Pinkie was waiting for me at my door, “So, how did it go?”

“I kissed her.”

“YOU WHAT!” Pinkie shouted.

“I couldn’t help it, it- it just happened. We went into her house, and we kissed.”

“Well, unless you kiss Zecora tomorrow, you have a clear winner, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose that you are right. Well, see you tomorrow Pinkie.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

She left and I entered my house, going right to my bed and falling asleep.

Chapter 12: Zecora’s

I woke up a little later the next morning, seeing as I all ready knew where Zecora lived. Again, I was filled with mixed feelings of worry and excitement.

“Bright and early you are, and faded I notice is your scar.”

“My scar? What do you mean.”

“Your scar,” she said, “is smaller”

I ran inside, finding the nearest mirror and I saw what she meant, the scar that ran down my eye was indeed smaller.

“Sorry for rushing in here uninvited, I just needed to see the scar for myself.”

“Phantom, it is fine, for I have never seen your face so brightly shine.”

“Tell me about yourself Zecora, how was your first visit to Ponyville. I remember you saying that it was similar to my own.”

“It was indeed, but to tell you, to sit down I need.” we sat down and she told me how the ponies were scared of her and thought that they put a curse on her, and how eventually they trusted her because she cured them.

“Wow, that is amazing, so they ran into poison joke, even I know to avoid it, and I left my house less than a month ago.”

“Indeed, this is true, but now the questions are pointed at you. It would be simply swell, if you would tell me about your spell.”

“Oh, the one I used on my parents? It’s quite simple I gathered all of my negative emotions and thoughts and formed a ball of energy out of them, from there it was just a simple matter of controlling it. If one thing were to have gone wrong, I would have certainly died along with them. That is the reason why I had everypony hide before I met them in the town square.”

She paused for a moment, but soon had more questions for me, “when we met last, you said it was impossible to escape your past, and yet all but gone so far, is your scar.”

“Your right, I think that when I defeated my parents, there spell was completely released from me, allowing for my scar to slowly shrink. It is quite a curious thing isn’t it?”

“At this rate, your scar will al but erase, but call you here about that, I did not do my dear.” she slowly walked towards me.

uh oh, I thought, this is not going to turn out like Das-

“Hey Zecora, I was wondering if you still had that copy of Supernatural Remedies, I lent mine to Vinyl Scratch and I think Spike is coming down with Dragon Pox again.”

Zecora jumped back quickly, “Yes I do, I hope what is in here will do.”

“Thanks. Oh, hello Phantom, how was it yesterday with Dash?”

Zecora looked like she had been slapped.

“It was great.”

Another slap.

“Well, I’ll so you guys later.”

Zecora waited for her to leave.

“Phantom, tell me only what is true, what did you and Rainbow Dash do?”

“Look, Zecora I-”

“LIE TO MY NOT, LEST YOU WANT ME TO BE WITH AN ANGER THAT BURNS HOT!”

“We did not do anything, we just went to her house and-”

“And then what? What then with that slut?”

“Calm down! Look, I am leaving, when you can learn to calm own, you know where to find me.”

I left her there, tears streaming down her face.

Chapter 12: Sorting Things Out
Pinkie was waiting outside of my house again, as if she knew exactly I would be there.

“So, how did it go toady?”

“Well, I didn’t kiss her, but at the same time, I don’t think she is going to want to see me for a while.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, I thought that she already knew that I was at Rainbow’s house, but when Twilight came over and asked how it went with her, she blew up on me and called Rainbow a slut after that, I left.”

“Okay, now there is a positive and negative to this, the positive being you have a clear winner, the negative being I have a lot of work to do with Zecora. Why don’t you find Rainbow Dash and I will go talk to Zecora.”

“Sounds good, do you know where she is?”

“Yep, she is in the meadow.”

“Cool,” I said, “and Pinkie?”

“Yes Phantom?”

“Thanks.”

“Anything for my friends.”

She left and I did too, I knew where it was, but I still took my time getting to the meadow.

“Hey Phantom,” called Rainbow when I finally got there, “How are you doing?”

“Better now that I am here,” I replied, and in a much quieter voice said, “with you.”

“Sorry, didn’t quite catch that last part.”

“I said, better now that I am here, with you.”

That caused her to smile, which mad me smile. I walked over to her and laid down, she did too, inching closer to me.

“Phantom?”

“Yes Rainbow?”

“Do you,” she paused, “do you love me?”

I paused and though about it, but I didn’t really need to, “yes Rainbow Dash, I love you.”

She smiled and snuggled closer to me. I could feel her warmth and smell her hair. Finally, I did it, my life was perfect. My family was gone, I had friends, and now I had the final piece, a mare that I loved.

“Psst, Phantom. I need to talk to you,”

I woke up from my dozing sleep, “Wha? Pinkie? What the hell do you want?”

“I need to talk to you about Zecora.”

“It’s going to have to wait.”

“No, it’s not, because she is on her way here NOW”

I sat up, partially waking Rainbow, “She is WHAT?”

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Look, Dash I will explain everything later, but for now we have got to leave.”

She looked confused but obliged, flying away fast enough that she stayed just ahead of us.

“Now, Pinkie, I want you to run with Dash to my house, I will meet you there later tonight.”

“Okay, wait, what are you doing?”

“I am going to stop this now.”

I turned around and ran towards the problem that I had been avoiding all day.

Chapter 13: Fixing the Problem

Zecora, the first pony to introduce me to Ponyville. she was my first real friend, and I was not going to lose her. She stopped when she saw me and waited.

“This is long over do, we have some talking to do.”

“Agreed,” I replied, relieved that she was not yelling, “I do not want to lose you as a friend, I would not be able to live with myself if that were to happen.”

“You as a friend is the last thing I wish to end,” started Zecora, already crying, “but answer me this, why can’t we share at least one kiss?”

I was startled, I knew how she felt about me, but I was not sure what would happen if I did kiss her. In the end though, the look on her face forced me to cave in. I leaned closer to her and allowed her to meet me the rest of the way.

It was nothing like kissing Rainbow, with Zecora it was, different. It was as if she was pouring all of her love for me into this first, and final, kiss. Eventually though, I had to break it, I was expecting her to protest, but she seemed content.

Without saying a word, she walked back into the forest, before she disappeared she turned and gave me a little friendly wave, which I then returned.

“I guess this means that I didn’t lose a friend.” I said to nopony but myself, relieved that I had done something right this week.

Chapter 14: The Cutie Mark Story

When I got home, I sorted things out with Rainbow, it was actually easy, I just needed to tell her about Zecora, of course, leaving out the part about us kissing, and she listened, nodded and left.

“Okay, Phantom tell me, what really happened between you and Zecora.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, already knowing what she was referring to.

“You know what I mean, you were obviously leaving a part out, now I want you to tell me what that part was.”

“Okay, but you have got to promise not to tell anypony, especially not Rainbow.”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

I have learned to trust that promise more than anything, “okay, when I met up with her, Zecora agreed that we should stay friends, but first she wanted a kiss. I had no choice, the look on her face if I were to have denied would have killed me.”

“Okay, so you two are still friends, but you kissed. I hope this means that this whole mess is over with.”

I was about to say something when I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I called, not even worrying about who it was.

“Hey, Phantom.”

“Hello Phantom.”

“Good to see ya Phantom.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, now what could they want, “hello girls, anything I could help you with?”

“There sure is,” said Scootaloo.

“We were wondering if you could tell us.”

“How you got your cutie mark.”

I looked at them for a second, barely noticing that Pinkie had a look of curiosity just as strong as theirs on her face, “I guess, but it is not the most pleasant of stories.”

“We don’t mind,” said Apple Bloom.

“Okay then, you might want to sit down then,” when they did I started, “When I was just a little younger than you, my parents gave me my own room in our house, it was a big house, so they said to choose on, I thought that this was an act of kindness on their part. I was sadly mistaken. When I found the room that I wanted my parents took out all of the windows and closed them up with stones and they took out all of the lamps within ten feet of my, making my room pitch black all of the time. They said it was to help me get over my fear of the dark, but in reality they were doing it so I would not see the creatures that they put there in the middle of the night. They put them there to see their interactions with a filly in the dark. One of these creatures was actually nice and I kept it as a pet. When my parents saw this, they took it away and killed it in front of me. They said that emotions get in the way of progress, and that I should try to shut out all emotions from my mind. I tried as hard as possible, but they kept creeping up, distracting me from my studies in the library. One day I was sitting in my room, I had gotten over my fear of the dark and had actually grown to like it, when a voice whispered to me through the darkness. This was odd because the only sentient creatures in the house were me and my parents, anyway, it said that if I could see through the dark that I would see it, and there fore the way out of the house,” I stopped, remembering this all too well, the way the voice sounded neither feminine nor masculine, “I asked how something like that was even possible, seeing through the dark without a light, but it just told me to look hard and concentrate. I did, and slowly I saw,” I stopped again, not believing that I had never noticed it before, “her, she left when I saw her though, and when I looked down I saw it, my cutie mark.”

“Wow, that is just, wow,” said Scootaloo.

“So, who was it that you saw?” said Pinkie.

“Sorry, but I have to go,” I said, rushing out the door. It couldn’t have been her, but if it was, she had some explaining to do.

“Twilight, I need to get to Canterlot, what is the quickest way?” I said when I ran into her.

“What, why?”

“No time, just tell me, what is the quickest way?”

“Other than a carriage, the train.”

“Thanks,” I said, running towards the meadow.

Somepony was waiting there for me, “Hello Phantom,” said Luna, “are you looking for something?”

“You damned well what I am looking for,” I shouted, “why didn’t you tell me it was you in my room that night? What harm could it have done?”

“More than you think, I was only in your room that night because I was looking for your parents, I did not expect to run into anypony else there, so when I did, I wanted to make sure that you could see me. I did not want you to think that I was there to harm you.”

“But, why did you leave when I finally saw you? Why couldn’t you have just taken me with you?”

“I couldn’t, the spells you put around your house were hard enough to pass through by myself, I don’t think even you could go through them with another.”

She was right, and I knew it, the spells around the house were placed to keep out, and to keep in, but one thing still bothered me, “why didn’t you tell Celestia about this?”

She seemed startled, “what- what do you mean?”

“I mean, Celestia acted as if she didn’t even know that I existed prior to my visit to Ponyville, which means you didn’t tell her about me. I want to know why?”

“You are smarter than I thought. Yes it is true that I didn’t tell Celestia about you, but that was only because she would have tried to rescue you, something that was impossible. I didn’t want to get her killed, and I didn’t want to have to explain to her kingdom that she died trying to save a filly.”

It made sense, but still, “she didn’t even know about your trip did she? No, because if she did, there would have been an army there within the week, and I lived there for years after.”

“You are just full of surprises, aren’t you? You are right again, I didn’t tell her about my trip, and didn’t tell her that I found out where they lived. By the time I found you I was actually supposed to be locked up in the moon, I only escaped that day because there was a weakness that I used to temporarily get back so that I may get rid of the strongest threat to Equestria, but I did not have enough time to stop them.”

Her story made sense, from what I had gathered, she was banished to the moon by her sister and was released only recently.

“Now that I have told you this, you must swear not to tell anypony about it, if somepony where to know that I was able to escape my detainment for even a second, mistrust would fall on me.”

“Of course, just promise me this, if there is anything that you find out about my parents, things that I do not already know, tell me immediately, use Spike to convey the messages, I will do the same.”

“Spike? You mean Twilight’s assistant, are you sure we can trust him, he might give the messages to Twilight.”

“Trust me, he won’t.”

“Okay, until we meet again,” said flying away.

Chapter 15: Spike

Spike was waiting for me outside of my house, I had told him to meet me here because there was something that I needed to tell him.

“Hello Phantom, what was it that you needed?”

“Lets go inside, but first, did anypony ask you where you were going?”

“Nope, the streets are usually clear around midnight.”

A sighed in relief, “okay, let’s go inside.”

When we got inside I told Spike to sit and told him about what was going to happen, “Luna is going to stat sending letter to me through you. You must not show these to Twilight.”

“Okay, first off, why, and second, what are these letters about?”

“These letters are about my parents, and if anypony were to know about these letters both me and Luna would be in serious trouble.”

“Okay, if you can give me five gems per letter, we have a deal.”

“Okay, deal.”

We shook hands and I thought he was going to leave, but apparently there was some other reason her was here, “Phantom, what happened between you and Zecora? I heard that she was pretty mad at you.”

“She was, but we sorted things out.”

“Okay, then tell me, what about you and Dash, I heard that you two are, you know.”

I laughed, “Yeah, Spike, we are together, who did you hear all of this from anyway?”

“Pinkie, I help her at Sugar Cube Corner sometimes, and she just started to tell me about all that was happening with you.”

Before I could say anything else Spike left, something about helping Twilight at the library. It seemed as if every thing was finally calming down for me, my parents gone, the whole ‘triangle’ solved, and now I was going to be getting more information on my parents. Yep, every thing was perf-

“Phantom, quickly, something is wrong with Twilight!”

I ran to the library, faster than I thought I could. When I got there the others were already surrounding her.

“What happened?” I asked Spike.

“I-I don’t know, I just got here and she was lying on the ground, her horn glowing and sparking.”

I saw what he meant, she horn was brighter than I had ever seen it and the sparks looked like they could actually start a fire.

“Everyone, get back, NOW!”

They all obliged and was left there with Twilight, not sure of what to do. Then it hit me, she was obviously under some sort of magical strain, the only thing that could solve this would be more magic. We had gone through what to do if this were to happen, as it was bound to one time or another. So I touched my horn to hers and flowed magic straight to her subconscious, not an easy task. When I felt her presence I pulled her back to the front of her mind, she resisted at first, uncomfortable with another intruding in her mind, but she eventually obliged and slowly woke up, her eyes stopped glowing and her horn stopped sparking.

“Wha-What happened? I was putting away some books and I-I fainted.”

“You went into magical arrest,” I explained, “are you sure that you were just putting away those books?”

She sighed, “no, I was trying to replicate your spell, I wanted to figure out how you performed something so powerful.”

“Oh Twilight, you know how dangerous that spell is, if you wanted to know about it, why didn’t you just come ask me?”

“Because, I didn’t want you to think that I was weak, I wanted to at least match your power. I guess that I couldn’t handle somepony being better than me.”

I smiled at her, “Twilight, so are the most skilled unicorn that I have ever known, you are the one who taught almost all of the spells that I know now. To me, that makes you better than I.”

That got a smile out of her, “now, Twilight, you know that you cannot use magic for the next week, I will have Spike tell me if use so much as turn a page with magic.”

She smiled again and I left, leaving her to rest.

“Hey, Phantom.”

“Oh, hey Rainbow, what’s up?”

“Thanks for helping Twilight, I don’t think anypony else could have done that.”

“No problem, so, do you want to go to the meadow?”

“Sure, maybe this time we won’t be interrupted.”

I laughed at that and we walked, or rather I walked and she flew, to the meadow.

Chapter 16: Our Meadow

Rainbow beat me there and was waiting for me there. I smiled when I saw her and smiled wider when I finally reached her.

“Hello Phantom,” she said when I got to her, “What were you planning here?”

I smiled at her, I was still a virgin, but I had a knack for this apparently, “well, first I was going to give you the biggest kiss ever,” which is exactly what I did, brining her in closer than ever.

“What did you have planned next?” she asked.

“Well, I was going to slowly get you to the ground and kiss you again.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

“Nothing,” I said as I slowly lowered her to the ground, taking care not to hurt her. I kissed her and when I broke it her voice was little more than a whisper.

“Phantom, what did you plan next?”

“Well, I was going to do this,” I said as I lowered my muzzle lower down her body, kissing her stomach.

“Phantom, ha-have you ever done this before?”

“Nope, but I am willing to,” I replied.

By now I was between her haunches and had already buried my face there, enjoying the sweet nectar that flowed there.

“Oh, Phantom, that feels go-” but she didn’t get to finish her sentence because I had apparently found a good spot, she screamed and thrashed around, “Oh. Please, don’t stop, I- I am gong to-” she didn’t get to finish her sentence because suddenly she went into spasms, coating me face with her juices.

“Oh, Phantom, that was incredible.” she finally said when she was able to catch her breath.

“Oh, I am not done with you yet,” I said, a smirk on my wet face.

“I was hoping not,” she said.

I got her back onto the ground and straddled her, slowly inching closer until I was less than an inch away.

“Are you ready?” I asked

“Do it,” she said.

I thrust into her, causing her to gasp. Establishing a series of hard, fast strokes, sweat started to form on her and soon me. She started to tighten, and I knew that she was close again, her breaths coming out in gasps. Her wetness brining me close.

“I-I am going to come,” I whispered into her ear.

“Do it inside of me,” she whispered back, her voice barely audible.

A few seconds later, I did, filling her up, so much that it started to spill onto the soft, and wet, ground below us. We stayed like that for a few minutes, me still inside of her.

“Phantom?” said Rainbow, her face flustered.

“Yes?”

“H-have you ever done this before?”

“No, this was my first time,” I said, looking her in the eyes, “and I am glad that it was with you.”

She smiled as we drifted off to sleep…

Chapter 17: Life Goes On

I woke up next to her, and smiled. My life was finally perfect, I had a life, something that I had been looking for since I left my parents. I finally had friends, and this beautiful mare that was sleeping by my side.

“Good morning,” she said when she finally woke up, “did you sleep well?”

I smiled, “as long as I am by your side, I will always sleep well.”

She was about to say some thing, but suddenly Rarity came running up to us, “Phantom I need-” she stopped, seeing Rainbow there, “sorry, I didn’t know, I guess that I could come back later-”

“No, its fine Rarity, besides, I have some clouds to clear up,” said Rainbow, “I love you,” she said to me before she flew away.”

I smiled, I seemed to be doing a lot of that, “so, Rarity, what do you need?”

“Oh, yes, I have I client who is moving into Ponyville, and she wants your help getting her house put together.”

“Of course, where is she staying for now?”

“I offered a room at the Boutique, she is actually there now.”

“Tell her to see me at my house,” I replied.

“A-are you sure, you never have anypony meet you at you house.”

I thought about it, “yeah, I am sure.”

“Okay, how does this afternoon sound?”

“Perfect.”

She smiled and walked back to town,. I smiled and I walked back to the place that I could finally call my home.

Epilogue: Three Years Later

“Spike, I have a question.”

“What is it Phantom?”

“What if,” I paused for a second and looked in the mirror in front of me, as was expected Rarity did fantastic on the suit, “what if, she changes her mind?”

Spike looked taken back, “she won’t, she loves you Phantom.”

I sighed, it had taken me a while to finally propose to Rainbow Dash, and when I did, I had to hold my breath for what felt like hours before she agreed, “okay then, let’s do this.” I went outside and stood where I had been dreaming of standing for the past year.

“You need not look so worried on this important day, for she will not say nay.”

I smiled at Zecora, my best mare, “I know, I guess that it’s just nerves.”

She smiled and just then the music started to play and in walked Rainbow. She was in a dress that Rarity had (of course) designed, she looked beautiful. Her friends, her bridesmaids, were all either crying, smiling or both. It seemed forever, but eventually she made her way to me, her face beaming.

“Mares and gentlecolts,” started Princess Celestia. Yeah, Celestia, after she heard about the wedding she said that she would be honored to attend, “we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Rainbow Dash, and Phantom Sickness.”

Everything after that was a blur, I know that I should remember every word, but truthfully other than Celestia saying, “I now pronounce mare and colt,” I can’t remember a thing before the reception. I suppose it doesn’t matter though, because as long as I have Rainbow Dash as my wife, and my friends, Ponyville will always be my home.