The schoolyard was gloomy, like a winter day without the snow. The sun was going down. The air was ominous, and the trees lacked their leaves. Near an entrance to the school, a group of ponies had gathered. A fight had broken out.
“C’mon, Raindrop! C’mon, fight back! Fight back!!” The bulkier pony yelled as he threw Raindrop to the ground.
Raindrop had a bloody nose and multiple scrapes from the pavement. He was whimpering, with tears beginning to form. He couldn’t get up after the other pony brought down his foot on him.
“Oh, look, it’s ‘Teardrop’,” the larger pony chuckled.
BonBon ran to get help. She found a dark purple unicorn sitting on a park bench, reading a book. She ran up to her friend, and quickly explained the situation, with tears rolling down her eyes and panting. The tall unicorn’s face became worried; he dropped his book and rushed to the scene. By the time he got there, Raindrop had multiple bruises all over his face and arms.
The unicorn completely lost it and walked right on up to the attacker, and did something he swore to his teachers and parents he would never do. Attack first. He swung his fist and took down the pony in a single swing. He didn’t stay down for long; he got right back up rubbing his cheek.
“Well, would you look who it is,” the pony said with anger, “if it isn’t Violet.”
The name burned. The only people allowed to call him Violet, were his mom, sometimes dad, and his abuelos. Violet offered Raindrop his hand, then pulled him up and moved him away from the fight.
“You think you can just pick on my friends like-,” Violet began.
The world seemed to stop. Violet saw a flash in his mind. Numbers jumbled through his head, which translated to dodge. He tilted his head back, and as he did a fist flew by. This pony didn’t know when to quit.
What was that? Violet thought. He kept dodging and letting the fists fly by. About 5 seconds passed when the second flash came. This time it told him to catch.
And when the next swing came in, he gripped the other pony’s fist, twisted it around his back and forced to the ground.
“Don’t you ever pick on my friends again,” Violet spoke venomously, “oh, and by the way, it’s Vio… now say you’re sorry to Raindrop.”
The pony struggled, but couldn’t break free. No one had ever seen Vio fight, and they didn’t know about his iron grip.
“I-I’m sorry, man!” The pony was breathing heavily through his teeth, “just let me go!”
“ROYALE!!” A loud voice came from the building. The crowd of ponies split apart, revealing the school principal, Mrs. Ironfist. She saw Vio on the “poor” pony on the ground and removed him from his grasp.
“Look, he was picking on-,”
“I don’t want to hear anything out of you,” she raised her voice, “You, sir, are suspended!”
This hit Violet hard. He had been an honor student, a quiet pony, this was his first fight. He’d been defending his friend. It was rage that brought him to it.
“Did you not hear me? I told you to get out!” Mrs. Ironfist took the pony into the buiding.
Good for nothing liar, he thought as he watched them reenter the building. He wondered if she had seen Raindrop.
He walked away. He saw BonBon tending to Raindrop, who was sitting down against a wall. Raindrop looked up, his was face horribly swollen. Tears streamed down his face.
“Thanks Brony,” he gave a weak smile.
“Don’t worry about it,” I tried to give a reassuring smile, but it couldn’t come out.
BonBon helped Raindrop get up. She brushed of his jacket, hugged him, and gave him a kiss on the forehead. He blushed. She moved toward Violet, gave him a hug as well.
“I’m sorry you got suspended,” BonBon looked guilty, like she caused all of this.
“Don’t worry about it, just watch out for yourselves while I’m gone,” Vio straightened up.
The two nodded. Violet looked toward the west, the sun was setting.
“We should all get home, it’s gonna be dark soon,” He gave them a last look.
As they said their good-byes, little did Raindrop and BonBon know that they wouldn’t be seeing Vio again for a long, long time.
Vio’s Home 7:37 pm
“Vio… Vio, would you just come down here?” Vio’s father, True Blue, called up the stairs. True Blue’s special talent was safety and environmental health. Like every other pony, had his cutie mark covered by pants. He’d gotten a call about Vio’s suspension earlier.
Vio slowly came down the steps, barely giving his father a glance. He sat down at the dinner table, slouching. As dinner began, the discussions began.
“Violet, you have to learn to control your temper, you can’t go just punching somepony in the face,” Vio’s mother said, she was a bright red unicorn, Bella Roja with her special talent in hairstyling and other girly salon stuff.
“She’s right, what drove you to it?” True Blue asked.
“My friend was getting beat up, okay, should I just stand around and do nothing?!” Vio was absolutely irritated.
“Vio, what did Sifu always teach?” True Blue looked deep in Vio’s eyes.
“Never say can’t,” Violet mumbled.
“And, what else?” Blue waited for the intended response.
“Listen to your teachers,” Violet avoided eye contact.
True Blue gave him a final stern look. Vio finally gave in.
“Use Kung-Fu only for good, but I did, I was defending someone!” Vio tried defending his argument.
“Dude, you get a teacher, you don’t need to fight,” the shorter, red Pegasus colt spoke up. Pounding Beats, Violet’s younger brother. He had a special talent in rhythm, drums, and trotstep.
“Well, I did what I did, it’s who I am,” Vio began to stand up.
Bella grabbed his hand as he walked off.
“You haven’t begun to realize who you truly are,” she spoke with a concerned look.
Vio stopped for a moment. Then pulled away, he returned to his room, locking himself in.
8:24 pm
Vio had whipped out his game controller, and began playing Super Smash Ponies Brawl. He’d found a perfect Wi-Fi game.
“Hey, stop launching me offstage, man!!” a player on the headset yelled.
“Watch your back, brony,” Vio snickered a bit. He continued his organized button mashing.
A new player had signed on.
“Boy, you got some serious skills, VioRoyale,” the voice was female. She sounded a little older than Vio. If Vio was 16, then she sounded like 18 or something.
“Thanks, you don’t seem to bad yourself… Whisper 1019, I’ve never seen your name come up in the roster before,” Vio responded to the mic.
“Hardly anypony sees a Whisper, Violet,” the girl’s voice responded.
Vio stopped and stared at the screen.
“How do you know my name, do I know you?” Violet continued to play.
“Possibly, I’m looking forward to seeing you soon,” Whisper said.
“Well, I’ll be here almost every night for the next 2 months,” Vio spoke in a monotone voice.
“You sound sad, why?”
“It’s nothing, just that I’m stuck here with nothing but my computer, my games, and my books,” Vio looked over at his bookshelf. Rows of different genre spread out. His special talent was knowledge, after all.
“Don’t worry, things might change,” Whisper signed off.
“Heh, see you later, Whisper,” Vio spoke aloud to himself.
Violet signed out around 9:06. He turned his music on, and played The Four Seasons- Spring. He turned up the volume. His dad’s voice called telling him to turn it down or put headphones on. He plugged in his headphones. He sat back in his chair, relaxing with his arms stretched out. Then it happened. His headphones began to make static, he got up and turned off the music. The static stayed, as he attempted to fix it, he grew dizzy. He slowly removed his headphones, walked over to his bed, and plopped down.
His eyes blinked slowly, and as he did the world changed around him. The sound of low pitched hums woke him as he jolted up sweating, it was morning, and he had fallen asleep in his day clothes. But what was weirder, was that this wasn’t his bed, and the three ponies standing across the room were unknown to him.
“Morning, star shine, that was the first tone, don’t want to miss breakfast now, do ya?” a puke green pony chuckled. He was wearing a school uniform of some kind.
Vio jumped out of bed, and pressed himself against the wall.
“What’s going on? Where am I? Who are you?!” Vio was freaking out. He didn’t like not knowing stuff.
“We’re your roommates, dude, that’s Blue Jazz, Lucky, and I’m Green Star.” Green Star pointed to each of the other ponies in the room. He had a wicked smile on his face. Vio didn’t like him already.
Vio saw the window, he ran for it, and looked around. He saw ponies walking around and in uniforms.
“Whoa, brony, you’re not gonna jump are you?” The one known as Lucky said.
Violet turned around to look at them fire burning in his eyes, and magic aura glowing in his horn.
“Where. Am. I?” Vio spit the question out word by word.
“Tower Prep, it’s awesome, right?” Blue Jazz answered as he packed his laptop into his shoulder bag, “do us a favor and stop with the horn glowing.”
Vio turned to him, completely confused, this guy was just an inch shorter than he was, and he was a deep blue. His hair was simple, combed and conditioned. Vio powered down his magic for a bit. Magic was mainly for show; just being able to manifest it physically was impressive.
“That’s the name of this place?” Vio asked.
“Tower has an incredible academic program,” Green star said.
“Very challenging,” Lucky acted like this was routine.
“Intense, only the best ponies make it here,” Blue Jazz added to Lucky’s comment.
“Which is where?” Vio’s question was ignored again.
“Our Buffer team is undefeated, you play?” Lucky asked.
Buffer? Vio thought.
Vio’s eyes darted from pony to pony, Green Star was a Pegasus, with his wings folded up, pegasi didn’t fly like birds, but could use their wings for less strenuous problems. Blue Jazz and Lucky were Earth Ponies, slightly stronger ponies, but these guys were kinda tall and scrawny.
The room was quite spacious, 4 beds with a nightstand and a desk for each. Separate dressers and closets. Vio saw the door, and made a break for it.
“Whoa, man, settle down, you don’t want to be ‘freak-out guy’ on your first day,” Lucky snickered.
Vio threw open the door, he saw a long hallway of what appeared to be dorm rooms, filled with ponies he didn’t recognize. He was breathing heavily; he shut the door and turned back to his new “roommates”.
“How did I get here?” he asked with a hint of ferocity.
“Don’t know, we got back from study hall last night and there you were, fast asleep,” Blue Jazz pointed toward the bed.
“No… no, this doesn’t make sense,” Vio looked down, and began pacing and making strange hand signs, like trying to apply a formula to the situation.
“Well nothing does, does it, Violet?” Blue Jazz walked straight up with a menacing look on his face, but it quickly changed to a weird smile, “until you’ve been to orientation.”
Vio gave a shocked look on his face.
“Wait, how’d you know my name?”
Blue Jazz pointed toward the dresser next to the bed where Vio woke up. On a small plaque, it read Violet Royale.
“Hey guys, we’re gonna be late!” Lucky said as he looked at the time.
“Hey, Violet,” Green Star took a slip of paper out of his back pocket, “if you want to get to orientation, take this.”
He had handed Vio a small playing card with a map written on it. Vio studied it for a moment as the other 3 ponies walked out. Looking back with mischievous smiles.
“See ya, new pony!”
The door slammed, leaving Vio in the room alone. He sat down on his new bed, staring forward in disbelief. His attention turned to the nightstand. He opened the drawer, and pulled out some miscellaneous items.
“These are mine,” he said to himself.
His phone, MP3, most of his personal belongings was here. He quickly grabbed his phone and tried to call his mom.
“Hello? Anyone there?” He was desperately waiting for someone to answer.
“We’re sorry, you are out of carrier range-,” a familiar voice spoke.
“Wait, Whisper?!” If Vio wasn’t confused before, he was now.
“Have a nice day.”
Vio looked at his phone, threw it back in the drawer, slumped down and pondered. He came to an obvious conclusion.
“I want answers.”
He left the room in the flash. He ran down the hallways to what he believed was an exit. It opened to a courtyard where ponies in school uniforms walked around casually.
“All new students, orientation begins in 15 minutes, don’t be late.”
Vio looked around, completely bewildered; the voice seemed loud even out in the open. He saw a mare walk by, and ran up to her.
“Hey, hey, that voice, where’s it coming from?”
“What, Whisper?” she answered a bit confused at the question, “she’s in the administration building, down that direction, take a left, left, then another left.”
“Thanks, uh…”
“Carrot Top.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he ran off in the direction she told him.
“Wait, you’re out of uniform!”
But he was already gone.
He followed the directions and came to a small, separate building. He entered and went down a small hallway, and came to a single room. A round table with a glass case over it took up most of the room. Vio looked around it, a single black box with a screen sat in the case. It was displaying flashes of binary, and what seemed to be lesson plans. And on it, read Whisper 1019.
No words or thoughts could describe the combination of confusion, horror, and anger. He knew what he had to do next. He walked out of the building, and looked toward the huge forest in front of him.
“I’m out of here.”
He ran right into it. He soon came to a chain with a sign, Forbidden Zone was written on it. He jumped over and continued running, he didn’t notice the glowing green eyes watching him from the distance.
For the next 5 minutes he continued running through the forest. He stopped to take a quick break; he put his head down and took some deep breaths. He looked up slowly, and to his absolute horror, saw the biggest flaw in the escape. A 25 hoof tall wall stood towering above him, running through the forest for what seemed like miles. Vio walked up to it, and looked closer. It was metal, and looked completely flawless, no scratches, no anything. He reached out to it, but he stopped, and moved back slowly. He didn’t like the idea, but he had to turn back. The green eyes watched him return, and turned back into the forest.
He ran back to the courtyard and took the card he’d received out of his pocket. He looked closely at it, and then the visible architecture of the school. He followed the map to a smaller section of the school. When he entered, the corridor led him to a small arena-like room. It was empty, so he walked out to the middle of it, where Combat Zone was written in a small red circle on the ground.
Suddenly, a large group of ponies came in, wearing hockey uniforms, on roller blades, and holding a cross between a lacrosse and hockey stick. They began yelling at him to get off the field; he whirled around, taking in what was happening as they started circling around him. He was caught off guard when a player hooked their stick under his hoof and flipped him over. Vio got right back up and gave one of the players a kick in the gut. Another player came by and swung his stick at Vio, but he wasn’t expecting Vio to catch it. He was swung around until he let go of the stick. Vio turned it into a staff and started defending incoming attacks, but this one specific player, the one he’d kicked, kept coming at him. He got locked into one on one combat with this guy.
“ENOUGH!!” a voice reverberated through the arena.
All the players and Vio stopped and looked. A red pony with a black mane had walked in. He had a name tag that said Coach. Nothing else, just Coach.
“But Coach, he was in the combat zon-,”
“Showers… now, Cal,” the coach motioned to the door.
The pony known as Cal growled, but did as he was told. The coach looked at Vio. He motioned for Vio to come toward him.
“Have anything to say for yourself, kid?” the coach asked.
“I was just trying to get to orientation, sir,” Vio let his irritation show.
“Heh, figures, every year some jokers send some clueless new kid to get beaten down by the Buffer team,” the coach cave a chuckle, “you play?”
“I’m not very sporty,” Vio crossed his arms and looked off.
“Not from what I saw,” the coach gave a confused look, “not many ponies can go one on one with Cal.”
“Look, I’d really like to just get to orientation,” Vio was getting impatient.
“Sigh, go out this way, take a right down the stairs, 2nd building to the left.”
“Thank you, sir,” he shook his hand with the coach.
Vio walked out and followed the coach’s directions. As he did, he took out the card his roommates had given him; he looked at it closely, and then flipped it around. It was a joker card… He tore it up.
When he had reached the building, he saw his roommates leaning against the doors, smirking at him. He walked up to them, and threw the shredded card at them.
“Whoa, hey, it was a joke,” Blue Jazz put his hand on Vio’s shoulder.
Vio pushed Blue aside and went for the doors.
“Whoa there brony, can’t go in there, orientation’s already started,” Green Star grabbed Vio.
“Get off me!” Vio pulled away from Green Star.
“Is there a problem here?” a voice came from behind.
A bright yellow unicorn pony with a blue mane walked up to them. She wore a different uniform from the rest of the students. She seemed like a hall monitor of sorts.
Vio shook his head, “Look, I was just trying to get to orientation-,”
“Orientation’s closed,” The pony put her hands on her hips with a frown.
“… well I’m sorry, but I need answers.” Vio opened the door and walked in.
A nearby camera was streaming to a screen in an office-like room. The figure watched as Vio entered the building. He pressed a button to signal the monitor.
“Monitor…” his voice went to the monitor’s headset.
He gave an inaudible command.
“Yes, sir.”
She moved into the building, telling the others to get to class.
Vio had entered into a room that resembled a movie theater. He saw a few students with headphones watching the movie screen. He saw the main building and a brown pony walking around the screen. He couldn’t hear what was being said. Then the monitor tapped him on the back.
“Headmaster heard you’ve been making trouble, he’s waiting for you.”
“Headmaster?”
The monitor led him out. As they exited the building Vio accidentally bumped into a passing mare.
“Oh, sorry,” Vio turned and raised his hands apologetically.
The mare was a much lighter purple than Vio, she had a dark purple mane with a pink steak going through it. Her tail and mane were nicely straightened, and she had a horn sticking out of her head. Her companion was a light yellow Pegasus, with a pink mane running down her face. She tightened her grip on her books as she watched. The purple mare studied Vio, then frowned.
“I can’t stand ponies that can’t get with the Program,” the purple mare said as she walked off, her Pegasus friend followed.
“Yeeeaaahh, aren’t they the worst?” They were out of hearing range already; sarcasm wasn’t making him feel better.
“C’mon, you have to be in uniform,” the monitor pulled Vio away.
An orange earth pony watched as Vio walked away, he turned and saw her. She quickly turned around and walked the other way, keeping her ears directed toward him for some reason.
The monitor led him back into the dorm building. She told him to get a uniform from his closet. He opened it and saw some of his own clothes, which the monitor said was for casual wear, and a variety of school attire. He picked a red hoodie with the school insignia on it. He slipped it on and walked out.
“How do I look?” He asked the monitor.
“Passable.”
She led him off to Headmaster’s office.
A/N: Oh, boy, I love Tower Prep. I still can’t believe it was cancelled after the first season. Well, if anyone checks it out and continues reading will see I’ve tweeked the characters to expand to the Mane 6 along with Violet. But the plot line will remain similar… hehe, plot line, I make myself lol.
New Pony Pt. 3
Headmaster’s Office 8:29 am
“Violet Royale,” a tall brown earth pony sat at a desk, looking at a screen, “Attributes: Intelligent, Loyal, Kind, and Level-Headed; Flaws: Can experience extreme irrartability when provoked. Special Talent: Knowledge.”
Vio was wandering around the office, currently studying a scale model of the school. He’d been having an off day; he was in no mood for chit-chat.
“Physical Abilites: 5 years of martial arts training, has played soccer-,”
“futbol,” Vio interjected.
“Pardon me, futbol for entire life but never joined a team,” The brown pony politely corrected himself, “Psychological profile reveals… extremely loving, still checks in on his younger brother every night before going to sleep.”
Vio froze. He turned around to face the pony.
“Where’d you get that?” Vio was in serious need of something making sense.
The brown pony smiled as he relaxed back into his chair. He motioned toward the chair in front of the desk.
“Why don’t you sit down?”
Vio sat down and straightened himself up. His mom’s teachings had gotten him in the habit of sitting straight. If he was going to get answers, he needed to make a good impression.
“Now I must say, you are a very interesting young pony,” he gave Vio a smile.
Oh, it’s this kind of conversation, Vio thought as he cocked an eyebrow.
“Despite excellent leadership, subject tends to go solo,” he continued reading the file, “why is that?”
Vio shrugged, “No one bothers listening to me, a team needs communication, and trust, I mean, have you ever had a teacher put you in groups and tell you to work with them? It isn’t what it’s all cut out to be.”
“As I said… interesting.” The brown pony had been listening intently.
Vio was sick of this talk. Answers, answers, answers were continuously looping in his head.
“Look, am I under arrest?” Vio asked.
“No.”
“Juvenile Hall… Reform School?”
The pony chuckled, “No.”
“Then what is this place?”
“The real question here, Violet, is who are you? Why’d you take on that bully the other day?”
Vio shrugged, “He went after my friend.”
“Real reason?” the pony smiled, “he was a challenge, and I’m sure you wanted to help your friend, but Tower Prep was built for students like you.”
“And Tower Prep is where, exactly?” Vio leaned forward in anticipation.
“Where you are geographically, is not as important, as where you are mentally,”
Vio was stunned, what the heck is this crap?! He screamed in his mind.
“As a student here, you will follow an intensive program to master what we call, your unique potential-,”
“I don’t believe this.” Vio interrupted.
“It’s a very challenging program, Violet, much more challenging than getting on the top roster of Super Smash Ponies Brawl.”
Vio eye’s had been wandering, but now they shot back.
“How do you know what game I play?”
“Lucky guess,”
Vio squinted his eyes, and then calmed down.
“So… Headmaster, just one name?”
Headmaster chuckled, “The staff here are addressed by their titles, Math, Science, I believe you've already met Coach, any more questions?”
Vio’s face hardened. He needed this one question answered.
“Yeah, one big one-,”
“Yes, Violet… your parents know you’re here.”
The Commons 8:57 a.m.
Vio walked through the commons along with the monitor who brought him to Headmaster.
“So can you tell me what’s really going on here?” Vio asked.
“I’m escorting you to class-,”
“No, no besides that… uh, you got a name?” Vio tried to get through to this unicorn.
“Lemon Drop,”
“Lemon Drop, huh, that’s nice, so where are you from, Lemon Drop?”
“A little place where people didn’t understand me,” Lemon Drop kept on pacing forward.
“With your ‘unique potential’?” Vio responded sarcastically.
Lemon Drop stopped and looked at Vio, “The past is past; Headmaster wants us to focus on the here and now,”
She continued walking, Vio followed suit.
Science Class 9:03 a.m.
“… In which D. Maculatus is only one example,”
The door opened and footsteps rattled through the room. Vio had entered.
“You’re late Mr. Royale, please take you seat,” said Science as he gestured to a chair.
Vio moved through some other students, the classroom resembled as assembly hall or a college classroom. Each of the students had a laptop with the school insignia, along with small portable devices. The desks each sprouted a microphone. The teacher, Science, stood in front of a large screen displaying different images of different mammals. He was a rather large pony, actually more of chubby one, with a big beard.
A dragon leaning back in his chair spoke out, “And the one thing going through his mind right now, ‘oh gosh, I hope I don’t fart’,” The class burst into laughter.
“Disruptive and inappropriate as always, Mr. Spike,” Science directed his attention to the green and purple dragon.
Spike gave an apologetic shrug. Vio didn’t understand what was with every other guy in the school. Vio looked around at all the different students focusing on the lesson.
Science sighed, “Since zoology bores you, please enlighten us with your analysis of muon catalyzed fusion.”
Spike didn’t seem too bothered, “Oh, yes, I’d love to… miracle of science, am I right? Uh, you see, essentially it starts with positively charged neutrons and tritons along with the negatively charged muons, which we all know is…”
The bell rang. Vio got up and began to walk off.
“Too bad, Spike, that’s the bell.” Science began packing up.
“Oh… darn.” Spike had put all his energy into that stall.
“That’ll give you enough time to find the right answer.”
Another pony walked in, he had a curly mane, and had a light tan coat. On his name tag read Math. Science picked up his things and left.
“Thank you, Science, sit down Mr. Royale,” Vio looked up, again confused, “I won’t keep you long.”
Once again, the class laughed. Irritation levels in Vio were growing. He sat back down as Math began the lesson. He felt something in his pocket; he reached in a pulled out a small slip of paper. He unfolded it, and on it were 3 words, I’m scared too. Vio’s eyes widened, he looked around at the different students, and he didn’t notice anyone place the note in his pocket. That only left him with more irritation and confusion.
Vio’s Dorm 6:48 p.m.
Green Star, Blue Jazz, and Lucky had ransacked Vio’s stuff. Blue was looking through Vio’s phone photos. Green Star had found Vio’s MP3.
“His dad, brother, oh, his mom’s hot,” Blue stared laughing.
Lucky got up from his bed snickering, “so how hot? Like kinda hot or really hot?”
“She’s kinda like a cross between smokin’ hot and pretty,”
Vio entered in mid-sentence. Blue switched to the camera and aimed it toward Vio.
“Hey, New Pony, smile,” he chuckled as he snapped a photo.
Vio gave a vicious look; obviously he was having a crappy day. He noticed Green Star laying back with Vio’s earbuds.
“Hey, I’ll take my tunes back…”
Green looked up while removing the ear buds, “I’m sorry, what?”
“I said I’ll take my tunes back,” Vio held his hand out.
Green got up and walked toward Vio, he started handing the MP3 to him, and then dropped it.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, hehe, it was crap anyway,” he walked over to Blue.
They started chatting about Vio’s hot mom again. Vio lost it again, he charged forward, gripped Green Star’s shirt, lifted him up and slammed him against a wall. He had a fist ready for bruising.
“You sure about that?” Green chuckled.
“Please be sure…” Lucky whispered.
Vio was breathing heavily, organizing his thoughts and his options. He reluctantly dropped Green.
“I’m done messing around with you clowns, I’m outta here,” Violet walked out of the room, through the hall, out into the commons and into the forest. He didn’t care if it was getting dark, or about the wall. He needed to get out now.
He slipped through the woods, looking for places he hadn’t been on his first run. He kept trying to tell himself that the wall couldn’t be everywhere. After only 3 minutes of non-stop running, he stopped and took a few deep breaths. A twig snapped behind him, he whirled around, but saw nothing. At the corner of his eye, he saw a faint green glow, but it quickly disappeared. Then he started to feel movement all around him, he saw dark figures moving through the thicket.
“Hello?” He called out.
Bright green lights came on. Multiple figures shined lights on him as they closed in on him. Vio could only see spikes coming out of their bodies and small bright green eyes. A figure with bright red eyes approached. The sounds they made were jumbled, like static. Vio didn’t know what was going on, but he made a break for it. The dark figures chased after him, but Vio ducked into a ditch covered by a log. He lay down and covered himself with random foliage, keeping his breathing under control as best he could. The figures stopped, looked around, and left. Vio got up slowly and kept running.
He continuously looked back to see if those things were still there. He kept running, but he tripped over a rock. He got up and brushed himself off. He looked up to see the 2nd obstacle in his escape… before him lay a huge ocean. He stood above the cliff, if he had continued running, he would have fallen to his death.
“No… no, no, no, NO!” he screamed into the ocean, “This is not happening.”
He turned back yet again. Making another break for campus.
Forbidden Zone 7:18 p.m.
4 figures walked through the forest, 3 ponies and a dragon. The dragon was lagging behind, reacting to every sound with fear.
“Spike, c’mon, let’s get a move on,” said a southern accented voice.
“Sorry,” the dragon took short breaths, “I can talk my way out of a fight, but scaling walls to freedom… not so much. Are you sure we’re going the right way?”
The orange earth pony looked down to her PDA, and then looked forward.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure- WAIT!” She held her arms up to stop her group, then shifted her ears around.
“Psst, psst, hey,” a voice in the thicket called out.
All four turned to see a dark purple unicorn, beckoning them.
“You can’t go that way, come on, this way,” the unicorn whispered.
The group looked at each other, and began walking toward him. As he guided them into the foliage, he lowered them down into some bushes.
“What are we doing?” the dragon asked.
“SHHHH!!” the others quieted her, pulling her down.
“Get down, they’ll see you,” the purple unicorn whispered.
As they duck down, the figures began moving through the forest with their green eyes seemingly scanning everything.
“What are those things? Guards?” The unicorn whispered.
“We don’t know, no one ever comes back to tell,” the orange earth pony explained.
“We just call them Gnomes cuz’ we don’t like to think about what they really might be,” the dragon ducked down lower.
“Well, the woods are swarming with them… look, I want to get out just as much as you guys do, but now I’m thinking the safest place to be is on campus,” The unicorn looked back over his shoulder, “And you guys are?”
“Applejack, this is Fluttershy, Luna,” she pointed to each of them, “and you remember Spike from class?”
“Yeah, you’re the funny guy,” the unicorn gave Spike a look.
Spike chuckled sheepishly, “it’s a gift.”
“I’m Vio Royale, what is this place?”
Fluttershy spoke softly, “We don’t know, the teachers won’t tell us.”
“And in a final attempt to avoid having our brains turned into cupcake batter, we’re making a break for it,” Spike said as maturely as he could make the comment sound.
“Seriously, you guys are fighting back?” Vio had a smile creeping out, but it was cancelled at the sound of Gnomes walking through the forest.
“We had to fight back, we want out,” Applejack breathed out heavily.
Vio looked at each of them, and finally smiled, “Wow, am I glad I met you guys.”
“Wait until you meet the rest, we-,” Applejack stopped in mid-sentence, “oh, no, the others!”
Spike, Luna, and Fluttershy looked at each other with horror. Vio sat there confused.
“We split up, because we’d be an easier target as a group,” Spike quickly explained.
They all got up, and began running deeper into the forest. It soon became too dark to see, the only one not appearing to be stubbing their hooves was Luna. Applejack kept her ears up and directed behind them, which Vio found strange. They continued running but quickly fell into a large ditch, where they found themselves landing on something soft.
“OW! Applejack, what were you thinking?!” a regal voice yelled.
“SHH! Do you want to be caught, Rarity?” Applejack got herself up.
“What are you guys doing here?” a light purple unicorn asked.
“Yeah, I thought we’d be caught by the Gnomes easier together,” the raspy voiced Pegasus asked.
“That’s why we’re here,” Applejack’s ears perked up again, she pushed everyone against the side of the ditch and held them all there, holding a finger to her lips.
Just seconds later, Gnomes were filling the forest, checking every nook and cranny. Sweat trickled down everpony’s faces. 3 minutes passed by, and the Gnomes left. Everypony sighed in relief.
“That was close, thanks Applejack,” the purple unicorn said.
“Aww, shucks, don’t thank me, thank Vio,” Applejack gestured to Vio, “he stopped us from running into a horde of them.”
The unicorn blinked, “oh, well… Thank you, Vio,”
Vio gave a small smile as they sat down. They each introduced themselves.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” the purple unicorn identified herself.
“Rarity,” said a white unicorn, flipping her hair. She looked like somepony who had just walked out of his mom’s salon.
“I’m Rainbow Dash,” said a cyan Pegasus with rainbow hair. She gave a big smile.
“And I’m Pinkie Pie,” a pink pony with big curly hair that looked and smelled like cotton candy spoke with a big smile.
After some moments of silence, and watching for Gnomes, Vio introduced himself and shared his story.
“… I was online, talking to that Whisper voice, and then my headphones started making this buzzing noise, and the next thing I know… I’m here.” Vio finished.
Spike chuckled, “I can beat that, Twilight and I were cleaning up the library we were working at, we each had in some ear buds, then the buzzing started for me, and I wake up in French class, turns out the same thing happened to Twilight.”
Applejack curled up, “My Granny Smith was screaming into the phone, I don’t know what it was about, but she sounded angry. Anyway, I turned on our television to try and drown out the screaming, and then the buzzing started.”
Vio glanced at the Applejack’s PDA, and the PDA’s everypony else seemed to own, he took one out of his pocket, which he had been assigned prior to class. It had the Sweet Apple Corp. insignia along with the Tower Prep one.
“Wait a minute, Applejack, does your family run the Sweet Apple Corp.?” Vio asked.
Applejack didn’t look up, just looking at the ground, “Yeah.”
Vio saw that he shouldn’t talk about it. He looked toward the others.
“I was studying to be a fashion designer, but then one day I was listening to my stereo working on a new dress, the buzzing started, and then I woke up in my dormitory,” Rarity finished.
Fluttershy avoided eye contact, “I… was trying to figure out what kind of music my pet, Angel, liked… then the buzzing soon began,” she started tearing up. Rarity, who was next to her, put her arm around her.
“Oh, me next!” Pinkie raised her hand, “Well, I was tidying up my room with my pet, Gummy, and I was jammin’ out with my headphones, and then the buzzing started, so I tried to fix it, but I felt sleepy, so I fell into bed and then I was here,” she finshed the story with a big smile.
Vio thought Pinkie Pie was a little too much on the optimistic side, and then he realized he probably wasn’t the first to have thought that, so he just held his piece. He looked to Rainbow Dash.
“I was out for a morning jog, listening to some trotstep, and when the buzzing started, I just passed out, woke up in my dorm,” She seemed to be forcing up some courage, but something told Vio she was scared.
Luna was last, she hadn’t spoken a word since meeting Vio. She shifted her position a bit.
“I have only fuzzy memories of my life before coming here, I see images my sister… I remember her, but not so much from my childhood, as far as I’m concerned I’ve spent most of my life here,” Luna let it all out.
“If this is your home, then why do you want to leave?” Vio leaned forward.
“Maybe… just maybe, I’ll start to remember my life when we get out.” Luna looked back down.
Vio was stricken with Luna. She was a unicorn, her hair was beautiful, she was a shade of lovely dark blue, and her eyes… Vio shook his head. There were more important things at hand.
“Wow, buzzing, Gnomes, secretive teachers… My old school was never like this.” Vio shook his head in frustration.
Spike spoke up, “Well, it’s not, because most of us… are what you would call special, and not just short bus special-,”
Vio elbowed him in the side, “Dude, some of my friends are… special.”
“Ow, sorry, but I meant special as in being able to do something, uh, weird in an awesome way,” Spike finished his statement, all the while rubbing his side.
Vio cocked an eyebrow, “Give me a for instance.”
“Give me a for instance,” said Vio’s voice, he turned toward Fluttershy, who giggled.
Vio let a smile break out, “Okay, that’s weird.”
Fluttershy smiled, “I can do that with anyone I’ve heard, even once, and with the right clothes, I can pass off as the real thing… till I drop the disguise, and become me again…,” she went back to her receded position.
Rarity smiled, “You know the expression ‘I can read you like a book’, well… it’s more of a second language to me, everypony communicates through different expressions. Like nervous eyelash flickers, or breathing patterns.”
Vio was intrigued, “Really? So what signals am I sending?” Everypony rolled their eyes.
Rarity took a moment, scanning all the miniscule twitches, too the smallest eye movement.
“Hmmm, tense facial muscles, rapid eye movement, breathing shallow… Angry, a little bit creeped out, Vio’s not your real name,” Rarity continued scanning, “and I’m sure your family misses you, too.”
Vio looked up, bewildered by the observation, she had only looked at him, and she got all that.
Twilight checked her PDA, “Uh-oh, we have to hurry, if it’s not safe to escape, we gotta go back, they’ll be activating the security system any minute.”
Everypony got up and brushed themselves off. The hike back to campus would take a few minutes, so they continued talking. Applejack kept her ears perked up and moving around. This looked strange to Vio, he kept wondering why she did that.
“Her hearing, it’s enhanced, that’s her ability,” Rarity whispered to Vio.
Vio was surprised, did she read my… oh, wait, microexpressions, thought Vio.
Rarity smiled, “I noticed your eye’s looking at her ears, then you squinted, and then your breathing slowed, which seems to be what you do when you think.”
“So she can hear anything?”
“More or less, it’s more like a blessing/curse relationship,” said Twilight, who seemed happy to educate Vio, “she can hear a butterfly’s wing beat if she really focuses, but it’s high-pitched sounds that she tries to avoid, it really hurts her… bad.”
“Hey, hey Vio,” Spike walked up to Vio, “Wanna know what I can do?”
“Can you teleport us home?” Vio said hopefully.
Spike gave an uneasy chuckle, “No.”
Vio gave a heavy sigh. Rainbow Dash walked next to Vio.
“So what about you… what can you do?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.
“I got nothing,” Vio told her looking down.
“Yes you do,” said Rarity, “I saw it when your eyes dropped, you just don’t know for sure.”
Vio stopped, along with the rest of them. He took a deep breath. He hadn’t told this to anypony, but now that he knew that these ponies were similar, he let it out.
“I always feel like I’m… uh, a half-step ahead of the rest of the world,” Vio said, “I just seem to know when something is just about to happen, and then, uh, react a second faste-,” Vio felt energy surge through his body, “MOVE!”
He pushed Rarity and Spike back as he hopped back, a Gnome had jumped from a tree and landed where they had stood. It went for Vio, but he grabbed its arm and flipped it. With the Gnome in mid-air, Vio’s body on automatic, he slammed down the Gnome into the ground. The strange feeling returned to Vio, he turned to see more Gnomes coming.
“RUN!” he yelled.
As they started running, they looked back… even more Gnomes. Fluttershy stopped and turned back.
“Fluttershy, what are you doing?!” yelled Vio.
Pinke Pie grabbed his arm, “Let her do this!”
Vio reluctantly kept running, he didn’t like leaving somepony behind.
Fluttershy climbed up a tree, using her wings to support her lifts, she waited until the Gnome swarm passed by. She was breathing heavily, but she calmed herself just enough to do what she needed. As the last Gnome passed by, she cleared her throat.
“This way, guys!” she yelled in Vio’s voice.
She turned, “Head for the clearing!” said Twilight’s voice.
Fluttershy hopped to another branch, “I’m right behind you!” Spike’s voice said.
She made a leap to a nearby tree, to where she made a final call, “WEEEEE! This is fun, betcha’ can’t catch us, Gnomes!” She had used Pinkie’s voice, which for some reason was easier than most voices she did.
She retreated back into some bushes at the bottom of the trees, the Gnomes had taken the bait, they seemed disoriented, and turned back the way they came. After they had vanished through the woods, Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief. It was short-lived, as she noticed more Gnomes coming in from other directions. She figured her voice tricks wouldn’t help, so she made a break for it to rejoin the others.
Vio had been keeping everypony moving, when they reached a small clearing they stopped.
“I’m going back for Fluttershy!” he said running off, but to his surprise, Fluttershy had managed to catch up.
When she got back with the others, she was exhausted, “There’s… more.”
That moment, green lights illuminated the woods around them. Everypony had gotten closer together, completely frightened. Spike was particularly jumpy.
“Uhh, alright everypony, stay close,” Spike stuttered, “They’re, uh, more scared of us than we are of them… right?”
Everypony gave glares. Spike shook his head, took a deep breath, and cracked his neck nervously.
“All right… I got this, I got this-,” Spike walked forward.
“Spike, what are you doin’?” Vio asked worriedly.
Spike breathed out, “It’s my turn. Uhhhhh, hey guys, how’s it goin? Love the eyes, it really,” Spike smiled sheepishly, “brings out the creepiness, uh, so anyway, my friends and I, these guys were just coming back from study hall and saw a cute little raccoon run into the woods and-,”
“Don’t worry, he can talk his way out of anything, that’s his ability, his has a sort of silver tongue, ponies will do whatever he tells them, no matter how irrational, they’ll even think it’s of their own will,” Twilight whispered to Vio.
Vio watched as Spike continued to speak to the Gnomes like it was a normal conversation. The Gnomes were cocking their faces, which turned out to look like space helmets… really creepy space helmets.
“-so how about this, we head back to campus, and you gentlecolts… well, you can, uh, get back to the Mare-do-well cave… or-,” Spike was cut off by a Gnome charging toward him.
Vio pulled him back and kneed the Gnome in the gut. The other Gnomes shook off their trance and charged for Vio. A flash of multi-color came zooming by, causing the Gnomes to trip; when they got back up, they were met with a kick from Vio. The flash turned out to be Rainbow Dash; she wasn’t flying, but simply moving at accelerated speeds. She continued moving through the Gnomes, taking down as many as she could. The fight went on as the two continued to fight together, Vio continued to have unexplainable feelings when danger was about to occur. It seemed as though before a Gnome could make a fist to punch, he knew it was going to happen.
Vio yelled for everyone to run. They did so, but were still being followed by Gnomes. Vio looked at Luna, Twilight and Pinkie Pie.
“Can you guys help at all?” Vio said panting.
Luna spoke up, “I might.”
“What is it?” Vio was hoping for something like laser eyes or something.
“Just cover your ears, you too Applejack,” She stopped, along with the rest of them, and turned to the Gnome swarm. She took a deep breath, and unleashed her voice.
It was incredibly powerful, the Gnomes got down on their knees, gripping their heads. They obviously had sensitive ears; they went crawling back into the forest.
When Luna had stopped, she crouched down, with sweat tickling down her forehead. Vio rushed up to her, and put his hand on her back.
“So… is that your ability?” Vio asked.
Luna’s voice was again quiet, “umm, yeah, it's just difficult to control,”
“And clearly drains you, c’mon.” Vio wrapped her arms around him and carried her on his back.
The group continued walking, they had reached the Commons. Security beams were rotating through the lawn.
“Oh, no, we’re too late,” said Twilight looking at the time, “the security system is already up.”
“HEY, GUYS!” said a smiling Pinkie on the other side of the lawn.
Vio mouthed gaped open. If Luna wasn’t on his back, he would’ve dropped from sheer confusion.
“Her ability, Perception altering, your brain processes her differently than what she is actually doing, it even works on machines,” Twilight explained, “I was like you my first time, it drove me nuts to try and figure that out.”
Vio looked at the laser lights moving across the lawn. His eyes were following the movements, and then he came to a realization.
“There’s a pattern to these lights, we can get through it, but you have to listen to me closely,” Vio gave each pony (and dragon) a stern look.
They all nodded.
“All right, 4 at a time; get to the edge of grass and stop.”
Twilight, Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy walked up to the grass.
“Okay…,” Vio watched the lights, “3 steps forward, stop and jump; ready… Go.”
They followed the directions, and then turned for further instruction.
Vio continued observing the lights, “5 steps to the right… Go.”
They continued moving, but Vio saw a flaw in his instructions.
“Stop… drop!”
They did so, with a laser moving right over them.
“Don’t worry, your almost there,” Vio made sure there were no mistakes in this command, “5 steps forward, stop, then jump.”
The 3 ponies and dragon did as they were told, and made it to the other side. Sighs of relief were made when Pinkie embraced each of them.
Vio got the rest of the group up for the second trip. But the feeling came again. He let Luna drop into Applejack’s hold. No sooner had a Gnome popped out of the bushes, that Vio already had a fist in its gut.
“You are seriously starting to annoy me; you’re like infinite multi-man mode on Super Smash Ponies!” Vio had brought down the Gnome; he grabbed its helmet, and ripped it off. It seemed to be attached electronically, because sparks flew.
Before Vio could see its face, it ran off. He held the helmet in his hands, examining it, and then tossed it to Rainbow Dash. He got Luna on his back again; she seemed to have fallen asleep. He, along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, slipped through the security lasers. When they had reached the school building, hugs were exchanged.
“So do you always fight like that?” Spike asked.
Vio gave a smile, “It’s easier now that I’m not alone,”
They all returned indoors, exchanging phone numbers.
Colt’s Showers 8:26 p.m.
Green Star, Blue Jazz, and Lucky were showering; they were discussing Violet’s run into the woods.
“So you think he made it as far as the cliffs?” asked Lucky.
“He probably dropped dead half-way, dude was such a spaz,” chuckled Green Star.
A hooded figure walked in, they grabbed the robes and towels that belonged to the three.
Blue Jazz noticed this, “HEY!”
“Catch you later, Bronies!” said Vio’s voice; the hooded figure ran with the towels and robes in hand.
“ROYALE!” the three screamed as they chased the figure.
The figure led them out to the Commons, dropped the items in the grass and darted through the security system.
“ROYALE, YOU ARE SO DEAD!” screamed Green Star as the hooded figure disappeared into the shadows.
“Hey,” said Violet from the dorm window, “can you keep it down, I’m trying to study.”
Green, Blue, and Lucky looked up bewildered, “How’d he do that?”
Spike had gone to get a teacher, and Math had been his choice. Math exited his room in a robe.
“I’m so sorry to bother you, but there are some naked dudes dancing on the lawn… it’s kinda funny in a grotesque way, but otherwise, it’s just creeping everypony out.” Spike explained.
Math nodded, “All right, thank you, carry on,” Math headed down the hall. Spike gave a satisfied smirk.
By the time Math had gotten to the commons, the three were shivering.
“Gentlecolts!” they looked up and covered best they could, “grab your things and cover up NOW!”
When it couldn’t get any more embarrassing, they reached for their robes, accidentally setting off the security system. The search lights came on. A crowded window of mares squealed, and Math facehoofed.
The three covered up as quickly as they could, giving Vio death glares. Vio just gave a shrug.
Math looked up to him, “Everything all right, Mr. Royale?”
“Besides being scarred by the image of my roommates naked, I’m peachy, although I don’t think those mares are complaining too much,” Vio gave a smirk.
His roommates were escorted to Headmaster’s office, when they passed by Vio they were simulating throat slitting to him. Rarity was leaning on the wall next to Vio.
“So, you see anything besides the overwhelming urge to kill me?” Vio looked toward Rarity.
She smiled, “I can see Green Star’s eyes reddening, and he might start crying any moment.”
The hooded figure from earlier ran up to them, the hoodie came off, revealing Fluttershy. She handed the hoodie back to Vio giggling.
Spike walked up to the group, “So… do we show him?”
Vio looked confused, “Show me what?”
Both Fluttershy and Rarity smiled, and nodded together.
Where they led him was a huge room in one of the schools many spires. It was filled with random equipment, and other antiques. The other ponies seemed to already have congregated there. Vio was amazed by the resemblance to an observatory.
“This was where we planned the escape, it’s the only place on campus free from Whisper, or any other student,” explained Rarity.
Vio saw the giant telescope, and instantly his hopes were raised.
“Hey, I’m good with astronomy, maybe I can figure out where we are-,”
Twilight interjected, “Luna and I have already tried but-,”
Applejack stopped her, “Let him look, sugarcube… he needs to know.”
Vio looked at Applejack strangely, but continued on to the telescope. When he looked, he was awestruck.
“This is weird, the stars are all out of place,” Vio looked up from the scope, “are we even in Equestria?”
Spike slouched, “Well… you’ve seen the flagpole,”
“Yeah, no nation or anything, it’s just the school insignia.” Vio realized.
He went and sat down on the couch, next to Luna, who was regaining her strength. She saw his frustration, and put her hand on his back. He looked up and blushed.
“We’re all frustrated, but we need to get through this together,” Luna kept her voice quiet.
“Well, Luna… you’re different from us, we all have places to go once we’re out, but you…,” Spike halted himself, “and the other thing.”
Vio looked at Luna, “Other thing?”
Luna sighed, she got up and began removing her sweater vest.
“WHOA, WHOA!” Vio shielded his eyes.
Luna blushed, surprised at his chivalry, “It’s nothing like that, I swear, just… look.”
Vio slowly opened his eyes, what he were a set of wings on Luna’s back. He was dumbstruck, absolutely dumbstruck.
“You’re an alicorn… I thought you were just a gorgeous unicorn.” said Vio in a daze.
Luna blushed harder than before; Vio realized what he had just said.
“What I mean is- uh, I, uh, sooo… we meet here whenever possible to plot a real escape plan,” Vio put on his worst poker face.
Rarity put her hand on her hip, and smiled at Luna and Vio. Oh, the possibilities.
“What about me, aren’t you worried what will happen to me?” Luna asked.
“And what if… what if our families don’t want us anymore, I mean, they did send us here,” said Rainbow Dash.
Vio gave this a lot of thought, he was pretty sure his family would take him back, but he couldn’t speak for the others. Everypony else seemed to be pondering this, too.
“Then we’ll have each other,” Vio put his fist out in the middle of their group.
Spike and Twilight smiled, and put their fists in. The rest followed suit. Luna moved next to Vio, and put her hand in as well. They were now all bonded together, their destinies intertwined.
“So Vio,” said Rarity, “What’s your real name?”
Vio’s expression dropped. This friendship was about to get deeper. So he smiled.
“Violet.” He said proudly.
A/N: Hello... so do you like it? This is by far the longest chapter I've written. I should remind you that this story is Anthrpomorphic. And that the abilities of the ponies will be explained more as time goes on. I didn't mention Twilight's ability because the situation didn't demand it and it wasn't the best place to explain in the forest. It will be later mentioned. This is a mystery story, by the way.
