The Life of Handsome Bowtie

by Handsome Bowtie

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 27872

The story of my life, Handsome Bowtie, and the adventures that go with it.

Sundance, my wife, and Ember, my daughter, and I live in the Everfree Forest. After many years I decide that we can go live in a normal town. But something from my past comes back to haunt me and my family. My wife and daughter end up being foalnapped and if I ever want to see them again I will have to go kill a dragon named Xorthaul Yinarri in the Badlands.

Note: This story does have gory parts and vulgar language in it. I do tend to try to go into a greater amount of detail with most gory scenes. This story has multiple chapters that I will try to type and upload whenever I can, I do not have it completely written, but I'm gettin there. Also forgive my grammar because I just suck at that. As of right now I've got someone editing it for me so it doesn't hurt your eyes.

Published 2012-12-04 05:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-14 00:03:10 UTC

Chapter one: An average day

"Time to wake up," Sundance coaxed sweetly. I turned and moaned.

"Ugh, do I have to?" I responded, pulling the bed sheets over my head only to have them tugged away by Sundance's magic.

"Yes you do, you have work to do."

"Fine," I said groggily. I begrudgingly got up, brushing my royal blue and rust orange mix hair out of my eyes. I was still sleepy, so when I got out of the bed I slipped and fell flat on my face. Sundance was giggling at the sight of me, but I couldn't be mad at her. Once I regained my balance, I walked over to her and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"How's Ember doing?" I asked. Ember was our five-year-old filly with a deep-sea blue mane with a rusty orange coat. Her eyes were dark velvet, just like mine. She still doesn't have her cutie mark, but she doesn't seem to care. Probably because I still don't have mine, I prefer it that way. I don't like to be labeled at what I'm good at by a mark on my flanks.

"She's still asleep. Her fever is getting better, but she still needs her bed rest," she answered sadly.

"Well, that's good." I said, "Falling into a batch of poisonous flowers doesn't have the easiest to cure side effects." We walked into the kitchen and I levitated a couple of apples over to Sundance and me. I bit into one, and although it was probably one of the best apples I've eaten for weeks, my thoughts distracted me from the otherwise enjoyable experience. I knew that it was dangerous to come and live in the Everfree Forest, but because I have my... issues with some ponies, I had no choice. The Everfree Forest, believe it or not, was one of the safest choices I had, so Sundance and I came in and built a house. I never told Sundance the exact reason why we were moving to such a dangerous location, and her parents think I'm a nut for it, which explains why they left so quickly when they came to help us build. They thick I'm just Sundance's 'Psychotic Husband.' Nevertheless, we established a fine home in the middle of nowhere and we never had any sort of trouble. That all, however, was before Ember was born. Now we had her safety to factor in. We had to stay home a bit more to care for her, and now that she's gotten sick-

"Bowtie!" Sundance yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Not so loud you'll wake Ember," I responded. She sighed.

"You didn't hear a thing I told you, did you?"

"I heard you," I responded, even though I really hadn't. I must still be sleepy.

"Then what did I say?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow. I could tell by the look in her eye that she knew I was lying.

"Umm... Was it about how awesome I am or how sexy I look?" I asked, hoping that was right.

"No, I was saying that we're running low on supplies."

"Oh, so I'm not sexy?" I asked with a pout, lowering my head with a fake sniffle.

"That's not what I meant, you are sexy," she chuckled.

"Yay!" I clapped my hooves together. "Don't you worry about those supplies. I was planning on going out to do some gathering today anyways." This didn't seem to reassure her. The forest is a dangerous place, and she tends to worry too much. She looked like she was about to cry. I was not about to let that happen, so I trotted over to her side and held her tight.

"Don't be sad, I don't like to see you sad. Cause when you’re sad, I'm sad," I said sappily, trying my best to comfort her. She was now weeping a bit into my shoulder.

"But it's dangerous out there! What if something happens to you?" It was like a miniature waterfall was pouring onto my shoulder. I began to stroke her hair to try to calm her down.

"Nothing's going to happen to me, I've been doing this for, what, six years?" This seemed to help, but she was still weeping.

"I know. It's just that there's so many monsters and deadly plants out there."

"You now that I've been learning martial arts and that I know just about everything about most plants out there, right?" I responded coolly. I had read a book called Mystical Plants every night, memorizing each and every plant so I could adapt to our new life in the Everfree. I also learned about most creatures’ weak spots, such as how to stun a manticore or knock out a cockatrice, but Sundance was still worried

"I know that, but nopony is perfect," she sniffed. I let go of her, but still sat by her side, stroking her back.

"That's why I take precautions to ensure my safety and yours." She composed herself a little. I brushed away her ruby red hair so I could see her sapphire blue eyes.

"I love you," she said. Before I could say anything, she pressed her lips against mine passionately. I didn't notice until now that she smelled of sweet berries. The kiss lasted for what felt like an eternity, but ended sooner than I wanted, leaving me blushing a bright red.

"You should get going if you're going to make it before nightfall. Oh, and don't forget your sword! Promise me you won't kill anything out there." I lifted up my sword, which I had crafted out of a mysterious metal I found during a meteor shower one night.

"You know I don't like to kill any living creatures. I do only if I have to."

"Promise me," she growled.

"I promise." I gave her one last hug and a kiss on the forehead before I left.

"Be careful!" she called as I trotted away.

"I will! Tell Ember I love her when she's awake!" I walked through the barrier around the house, which was held together with four pillars of marble. Each one is about twice my size, and they are engraved with ancient zebra symbols to erect the barrier. No one gets in or out except my family and me.

"Oof!" I rubbed my nose and looked at the tree I had just ran into. I really needed to work on paying more attention to- "Oof!" Just my luck, I just had to bump into another tree. Not wanting to remain upset with my misfortune, I took out my sword to inspect it closely. The metal seemed to pulse with pure magic. I had no clue what the metal actually was, but it's sharp, so it serves its purpose. I had carved the hilt and sheath out of a zap-apple tree I found, which was probably not the best idea since we could have used the food source. I then had the hilt and sheath enchanted with a spell so they would never break. The whole sword was one magic surging beast of a weapon. I never used the actual blade, though. I mainly just use the sheath to immobilize dangerous animals.
Suddenly I was snapped out of my thoughts when a rustling came from some nearby bushes. Upon instinct, I crouched low in the tall grass. It didn't conceal me very well since the grass is green and my coat is orange, but I had to make do with what I had.

"Now let's see what creature is out here today," I whispered, readying my sword. I parted the grass just enough to see. What I saw baffled me, as it was no ordinary monster. It looked like a pony, but it had black and white stripes. From the looks of it I assumed it was a male. I took note of his features, first of all his, um, cutie-mark? It was more of a sort of foreign symbol. It closely resembled one of the ancient zebra symbols, but does that mean he could be a zebra? I had never seen a zebra before, so I couldn’t be sure. From what I remembered, the symbol on his flanks meant warrior, however I didn't research the ancient zebra symbols that much. For all I knew it could mean pie lover.
Next, I noticed the ghastly scar that went across his face. It started at the bottom of his right ear and moved to the left side of his face, stopping at his jaw line. He was a little bulky, but still smaller than me. He suddenly stopped walking, and then looked in my direction. I felt as if he was looking right through me. A chill went down my spine, and it was all I could do to not start shaking. He looked away after a few moments. I gasped, not realizing I was holding my breath, but luckily he didn't hear me. He continued walking over to a tree that held a bushel of Blue Delights, a berry that, if consumed, makes you hallucinate about your most wanted desire, but it slowly eats away at your insides. The zebra reached to pluck one off of the vine.

"STOP!" I yelled, ignoring the possible danger of being seen, "Don't eat those! They're deadly!" I leaped out of the grass. He stopped, taking a defensive stance when I took a step towards him.

"I mean you no harm," I said, "May I ask what you're doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied. His voice was deep and very masculine.

"I live out here with my family," I explained in a kinder tone.

"In this forest?" he asked, not dropping his guard, "Are you insane?"

"Probably, but you're in this forest too, and you almost ate a poisonous berry." The zebra paused, unable to respond.

"What's your name?" he asked. It became eminent that he was starting to relax.

"I’m Handsome Bowtie, and you are?"

"I am Keita Iijima," he stated. He was standing upright now, but still watching me intently.

"That's a strange name," I nickered. I attached my sword to the belt of my saddlebag.

"And yours isn't?" he scoffed.

"Touché," I replied, "If you're going to be out in this forest, you should at least know what is safe and what isn't."

"Thanks, but I don't need your help. Before I go, take this for saving me." He pulled out the most beautiful flower I had ever seen. It had five large petals and three smaller petals near the center with a stunningly beautiful shade of pink. Each of the large petals had different colors, but they kept changing from color to color. It had a faint aura of light blue around it. I noticed Keita looked like he was in pain when he was holding the flower. He tossed it towards me.

"It's called the Wandering Angel. It's supposed to heal anything from any illness to injury, even a severed limb. You just need to be touching it for it to heal you." I picked it up with my magic and placed it in my saddlebag.

"Thank yo-" When I looked up from my saddlebag I noticed he was gone. "How did he do that?" I mumbled. After a few moments I shrugged. "Well, I better get back to work."

~~*~~

I'd been out scavenging for about eight hours. I collected enough food, herbs, and other supplies to survive us for about three to four weeks. I did have the occasional encounter with a cockatrice or just a harmless bunny, nothing I couldn't handle, except a damn manticore snuck up behind me and slashed my hind leg. I looked up at the sky to see its beautiful orange-red hue. I had never really took in the beauty of this forest. The plant life was majestic, even the dangerous ones, the air was crisp and there was a slight breeze that rustled through my mane and tail. It was so peaceful, and I would have stayed longer if it weren’t for the dangers out here and my beautiful wife and my sweet little filly waiting for me to come home. Also, my torn up leg wasn’t doing too well. The cut must have been around three inches deep and half way up my leg. I was losing a lot of blood, and I needed rest and medical attention not only for the injury, but also for what Sundance was going to do to me when she sees my leg. I shuddered at the thought.
I started hobbling my way back. It was almost sun down, but thankfully it was less than a mile walk. I could see the faint glow of the barrier, so I went into a gallop. I don't really know what to call it, considering my injured leg made me look like I was spastically hopping and running at the same time. I finally made it to the door.

"Sundance! I'm back!" I called cheerfully. I wasn't even fully in the door before I was tackled by somepony.

"Daddy!" Ember squealed, "I'm so glad you're home, I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Emby." She stood on my back with her forehooves on top of my head. She started giggling. She always laughs at my nicknames for her. I hadn't noticed Sundance was staring at me, or rather my hind leg. She looked pale and worried.

"What happened?" she inquired.

"A manticore snuck up behind me and slashed my leg. Nothing to serious," I lied. The cut was deep and needed to be cleaned, and the added pressure from Ember was not helping. "How something that big can be so quiet, I'll never know." Ember hopped off my back and gagged at the sight of my injured leg, running in terror back to her room.

"Poor girl, still can't stand the sight of blood." I looked into Sundance's sapphire eyes. They were welling up with tears. "Please don't cry. Remember how I don't like to see you sad," I comforted as charmingly as possible, "If you start crying, I'm going to start crying." I went to hug her but fell onto one knee from the pain of my leg. Sundance rushed over to my side, "There are some medical herbs in my saddlebag. Grind them up and rub it on the wound," I instructed.

"Al-alright." Now she was crying, but did exactly as I said. The herb mixture helped melt away the pain and would speed up the healing process if Sundance had mixed it properly.

"Thanks. No need to cry over me." Suddenly, she smacked me with her hoof, catching me off guard. "Ok, I guess I deserved that," I said, rubbing my cheek.

"You're damn right you deserved it! You promised that you'd be careful, and then you went and got hurt!" She was sobbing angrily now.

"Actually, I promised not to kill anything, which I didn't." She smacked me again, but lighter than before. “I don’t think that one was necessary.”

"Still, I told you to be careful! Look what you did to your leg!"

"This injury was worth the supplies." I levitated the Wandering Angel flower out of my saddlebag. “I even got this.” She gasped at its beauty.

"What is it? Where did you find this?" She seemed to get over my injury pretty quickly. Pffft, mares, I thought.

"It's called the Wandering Angel. It's supposed to heal any wound just by touching it. I met a zebra, named Keita Iijima, out in the forest. I saved him from eating Blue Delights, so he gave me this and vanished."

"If it's supposed to heal any injury why don't you just use it?" she asked, not bothering to worry about the slim chances of meeting a zebra in the Everfree Forest. I smacked my forehead. Why didn't I think of that? Sundance placed the flower on my right ear. "You look so cute."

"I'm... cute?" I'd never been called that before, but I kind of liked it. I started blushing.

"Yeah, is the flower working?" She noticed me blushing and giggled seductively.

"I think so..." I suddenly felt a magical pulse smash through my skull, nearly making me faint. I felt like Celestia herself stabbed my chest with her horn was draining me of all my bodily fluids and replacing it with pure magic. "AAGGH!" I screamed out in pain. I fell on the floor, holding my head between my hooves. My brain felt like it was turning into mush. The magical pulse was constant and painful. I felt like my head was about to explode. The pulse abruptly stopped, and I looked up, too dazed to see that Sundance had taken the flower off.

"Th-thanks," I said in a raspy voice. My throat felt raw.

"What happened?" she asked frantically.

"I don't know. It felt like a pulse of pure magic was coursing through my head." I didn't realize I was standing. Wait... I’m standing! I quickly looked back to my injured leg. It was completely healed. Even my hair felt silky smooth, “I feel wonderful!" I looked back to Sundance, only to see her with an eyebrow raised. I turned so she could see my leg.

"I-it looks like new!" she gasped, her eyes wide in astonishment. I walked around, testing out my leg. It worked perfectly. I stopped after a while of walking in circles like an idiot, yawning a few moments later. "Tired? Maybe we should go to bed."

"Yeah let me say goodnight to Ember first." I walked over to Ember's bedroom and slowly opened the door. She was already asleep and snoring softly. It was dark in her room, but I could still make out what was in it. There was a vintage made shelf full of books ranging from educational subjects to her favorite bedtime stories. The walls were painted amber and the floor had a glossy coat on it. Her bed was kind of big for her, but she liked it that way. Her blanket was pink with different types of butterflies stitched onto it. She looked so peaceful sleeping in her bed. I walked over and kissed her forehead, then left quietly to my room. Sundance was waiting for me, already snug beneath the blanket. I got into the bed and scooted over to her, holding her lightly.

"You're staying home tomorrow, okay?" she said.

"I assume I have no choice in the matter?"

"Exactly." She giggled sweetly. We laid there for a while, neither one of us able to sleep.

"Do you ever regret coming with me here?" I asked.

"What?" she laughed.

"I'm serious." I glared at her.

"Not really. I would prefer somewhere else, but I always want to be with you." With that, I kissed her. I wished it could last forever, but we both had a long day and we needed sleep. She broke the kiss after a few moments and turned away from me. Afterwards we just laid there in the bed, cuddling until we both fell asleep.

Author's Note

Edited by FlanChan.

Chapter two: Gotcha

I woke up early in the morning, while Sundance was still sleeping soundly. I got out of the bed and brushed my hair, and then went to go check on Ember. She too was sleeping. I quietly walked up to her and felt her forehead, and it was unfortunately still hot. So hot, in fact, that she was sweating a little. Poor girl, I thought. I left her room and went to go find my book on herbal remedies. After a bit of digging, I found it on the bookshelf in my room. Just as I was about to leave, I heard some mumbling behind me. It was Sundance. A rush of adrenaline surged through me, only to realize that she was talking in her sleep. Overcome by curiosity, I decided to stay for a little bit to see what she had to say. I sat at her bedside, quietly laughing to myself after every sentence or so.

"But I wanted to go to the drinking contest! All my friends were in the tomato when I got there, and now I have to go find all the BANANAS to free them." I soon thought it would be best to leave before I woke her with a fit of laughter.
I sat down at the mixing table in the kitchen and floated my book over to my side. I flipped through the pages, trying to find anything that might help Ember. After a bit of flipping, I didn't find anything to cure her illness completely, which was surprising considering it was just a fever, but I did find a mixture to help take away most of her symptoms. The recipe called for a hoof full of clover leaves, one-tenth cup of tree sap and seven ground up apple seeds. I doubt she'll take this willingly, I thought, probably gonna have to force feed her. I gathered the ingredients from the various cupboards around the kitchen. Once I was done putting everything into a bowl and mixing them together, I placed the bowl of liquefied gooeyness on the table.
Feeling accomplished, I decided to go outside to relax a bit. Fresh morning dew dripped off blades of the grass, a slight fog wavered through the air, and the wind was calm. The sun was still rising, and it had a beautiful yellow orange hue. I just sat in the grass, thinking about my conversation yesterday with Sundance. I wish I hadn't brought them out here in the forest with me, I thought, they shouldn't suffer for me being a dumbass and gambling more than I could pay. I used to be one of the richest ponies in all of Equestria, even more than that annoying snob Prince Blueblood. They use to call me the Tyrant. Then I lost it all in a bet against Fancy Pants. He's not as nice as everypony believes he is. I was hungry on power; I believed that nothing bad could happen to me, but boy was I wrong. I haven't told Sundance out of fear that she might leave me, so instead I told her that other ponies didn’t easily accept me, which was complete bullshit, but she believed me. Sometimes I think she knows what really is going on, but it's hard to tell with her. Me on the other hoof, I can be read like an open book.

"Boo!"
I jumped so high with fright that I was upside down, clinging onto a branch of a tree. I looked down to see a giggling Ember rolling on the ground. I laughed a little, my heart still beating rapidly. I stupidly let go of the branch, falling onto my back, and hitting my head hard on the ground.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head and trying to play it cool.

"Awhile."
I'm going to get her back, I thought with a playful grin.

"I got a surprise for you inside." I started walking towards the door. Ember hopped up on my back, and I winced a little because she didn't land lightly.

"Yay, I love surprises!" I levitated the bowl of gooeyness in front of her. She sniffed it and reeled at the smell. Nonetheless, she lifted the bowl to her mouth and drank a little bit of it.

"Mmm, this is delicious!"
Wait, what?

"May I try a little?" I really wanted to see what it tasted like, now that she said she liked it.

"Sure!" she said, trying to hold in a laugh for reasons only she would know. I levitated the bowl over to me and took a sip. I turned a sickly green and spat out the mixture

"Blech! That was disgusting!" Ember was again rolling on the floor laughing, and then I understood that she had pranked me again. "You tricky little filly." I lightly tackled her and started to tickle her.

"St-stop I can't bre-Breathe!" I stopped tickling her and started to hug the laughing filly.

"What's going on out here?" I looked up to see Sundance tiredly rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, sorry sweetie, I was just tickling this tricky little filly."

"Tricky?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

"Yeah, she got me to drink some of her medicine that I made for her, which she still has to finish." I smirked

"Aww, do I have to?" Ember pouted.

"Yes, yes you do," Sundance responded, ignoring the power of her pout. Good thing, too, cause I'm a total sucker when it comes to pouting.

"Ugh, fine…" Ember moaned, but did as she was told.

"What are you doing up so early?" Sundance asked still in her sleepy voice, which I found adorable.

"I couldn't sleep, so I got up and made some medicine for Ember." I could feel her glaring at me, but continued. "Then I sat outside, thinking about our conversation last night." We walked over to the kitchen table to sit with Ember who, after much complaining, finally finished her gooey mess of medicine.

"Oh? And just what were you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking that you and Ember shouldn't suffer for my mistake-" Shit! I didn't mean to say that!

"What mistake?" Crap, I might as well tell them the truth now. They were bound to find out sooner or later, anyway.

"Well..." I was hesitant, worried what they’d think of me, “Do you remember that pony that was called the Tyrant?"

"Yeah, the one who lost all his money in a bet against Fancy Pants, right?"

"Correct, and you know how he went missing after he lost that bet?"

"Yup, I remember that," she replied with a suspicious tone.

"Well... I'm... uh… the so-called Tyrant." I sat there expecting a hoof to crack against my head, but instead she just sat there stunned, her mouth gapping open.

"You- you're him?!" I winced at her abrupt tone.

"Y-yes, I am. I'm sorry for not telling you for all these years. I was worried what you might think of me, a power hungry fool who lost it all in a stupid bet." Now she did smack me, but she hugged me right after. "You're going to end up giving me some sort of head trauma if you keep hittin' me like that." I grinned

"So you mean to tell me we could have lived in an actual town instead of this forest?" I could hear the anger in her voice, but I knew she was trying to hold it back.

"There's more to it than that. Fancy Pants wants my head for not being able to fulfill the bet."

"What do you mean?"

"I bet more than I had... a lot more," I answered grimly.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" The anger was slowly disappearing.

"I didn't want to burden you with my troubles." Tears began to well up in my eyes. Sundance pushed away from me.

"I need some time alone." This broke my heart, but I tried to remain strong.

"Of course, I'll be outside if you want to yell at me or something," I said with a slight chuckle, trying to lighten the mood at least a little bit. I shamefully walked out the door and lay down in the grass. I'm kinda glad I told her, I thought, but man did it hurt to say it.

"Boo?" I heard a small voice on my left. I hadn't noticed that I was crying and that Ember followed me outside. "Are you and mommy fighting?" she asked sadly.

"I don't think so, it's just I've kept a dark secret from and never told her. She might be a little upset, but I don't know."

"Oh," Ember replied simply, respecting her parents’ privacy and not looking for answers. She climbed up on top of my back and curled up into a little ball. "Your back is so comfy, Daddy." We were there in the grass for a while, quietly enjoying the company of each other. Ember broke the silence to ask a question.

"Do you think you could show me around the forest one day?"

"Maybe, I doubt your mother would agree.”

"Pweeease?" She hopped off my back and gave me her best pout.

"Ok! Ok! Just stop the pouting, I can't handle the cuteness!" I said, rustling her mane.

"Promise?" Ugh, I'm going to regret this.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." This sent Ember into a fit of giggles, which then made me to start laughing along with her. I suddenly heard the door open and close, I looked back to see Sundance trotting over to Ember and me. She snuggled herself beside me I could feel her body heat radiating off of her, and everything felt calm.

"I don't think I'll be able to forgive you right away." At least she's giving me another chance, I think...

"I don't blame you." I said, wrapping my forehoof around her and pulling her close. "We can try to move back into civilization, if you want."

"Isn't Fancy Pants after you though?"

"It's been years since I went into hiding, he probably dropped the search."

"But what if he didn't?" She sounded worried

"Then that'll be my problem. We could live in that town near this forest, what was it called again?"

"Ponyville?"

"Yeah, that's the one," I said cheerfully, "We could build another house, I would be able to work, you and Ember could make some friends…"

"If you think it'll be ok." Sundance nuzzled my cheek, and I nuzzled her back.

"Hey, Ember!" I yelled, trying to find the little filly, "Where'd you go?"

"I'm inside, gettin' an apple!" She came bouncing out of the house with an apple in her mouth. Even though Ember was a unicorn, she still couldn't do simple spells without using up all of her energy. Either Sundance or I would give her lessons every so often. These seemed to help, but it will take some time for her to get used to using magic.

"How would you like to live in a town filled with other ponies?" She didn't even respond, not with words anyway. Instead she excitedly bounced around Sundance and me for around five minutes before finally calming down.

"It's settled then, we're moving to Ponyville!"

~~*~~

It'd been about a week since the decision to move. We'd been packing up most of our belongings, and planning out what we're going to do once we get to Ponyville. I thought I might open an herbal remedy stand in town, and Sundance was going to take Ember to the local school. Then Sundance said she might help out with the stand. While Ember and Sundance were packing, I planned out the safest route for us to take. Once I finished, I stocked up on herbs and food. I also picked up my sword and the Wandering Angel flower, but I made sure not to touch it. Pfft mares, I thought, why must it take them so long to get ready?

“Well, Ember and I are ready," Sundance called from the next room over. Perfect timing.
Ember hopped up onto my back, but I didn't mind It was going to be a long walk. We gathered up our saddlebags and headed out into the forest. I guess now was probably going to be the only time I got to show Ember the forest, so we made occasional stops so I could show the gleeful filly some flowers or an animal. We didn't run into any trouble so far, but the sooner we got out of this forsaken place the better. Ember was complaining that she was hungry, so we stopped for a snack break.

"How much longer?" Ember whined.

"Not that long," I reassure her, floating over an apple to her.

"Not much longer indeed," a mysterious voice said from the mist. I jumped up, getting my sword ready. I looked around as I tried to locate the source of the voice, but I couldn't find it. Before I could react, three hooded ponies ambushed us. They landed on each of us and pinned us to the ground. I couldn't see their faces, but I could see that they each wore a scarlet robe with three golden crowns where their cutie-marks would be. Each of the hooded ponies had a strange tube that appeared to be hollowed out. Ember and Sundance were struggling to get free. The two ponies that were on top of Sundance and Ember shot them in the neck with a dart from the tube, they fell asleep shortly after the dart pierced their skin.

"Don't you dare hurt them!" I shouted furiously. I lifted the pony on top of me with my magic and threw him into a tree with a sickening crunch. My assailant’s hood fell. It was a zebra! The zebra was a female, from the looks of her face. Blood trickled down her mouth and nostrils, and she wasn't breathing. Her body was limp and lifeless, but I didn't care. All I cared about was saving my family. One of the others, I could only assume was also a zebra, was saying something to me.

"You shouldn't have done that." This voice was feminine, sweet like a harp’s song. That didn't stop me from unsheathing my sword and charging at the cloaked zebra, however, but before I could reach her I was shot with a dart. Everything was spinning and my vision became blurry, just before I fell asleep I said to our captors,

"I will kill you if you so much as touch a hair on-" I blacked out before I could finish, my head thudding against the ground.

~~*~~

I woke up with a throbbing headache. I noticed that I was sitting in a chair. I tried to get up, but my forehooves were tied up behind me. I tried to use my magic to untie the ropes, but I was suddenly harshly electrocuted right as the over glow on my horn appeared. My back arched in pain, and I was clenching my teeth as hard as I could. Once the torture ended I gasped for air. I was beginning to sweat. I looked around to observe my situation; I was in a roughly fifteen by ten by seven room. Buzzing lights lighted it. The walls appeared to have once been white, but now were rusted. There was a door that was also rusted and an odd desk in the center of the room. The desk had no place here though; it was brand new and well maintained, unlike the rest of this. The air smelled like... blood?
I looked at the walls again, and my eyes grew wide when I realized that what I previously took as rust was actually dried blood. I tried to remain calm, but all I could think of was Ember and Sundance. Somepony knocked on the door. That's odd, why would they need to knock?

"Uhh, come in?" I was confused and still a bit dazed. I just let my head hang.

"Well well, what do we have here? Seems I've finally found you." I looked up from the ground to see Fancy Pants looking at me condescendingly. He was wearing an unbuttoned black suit with a white and gold vest underneath. His turquoise mane was styled nicely and his coat looked freshly groomed. It seemed quite ironic for such a nicely styled pony to be in a grungy room such as this one.

"Look, Fancy Pants, I don't know what you're into, but I'm not one for bondage," I said with a grin as I struggled against the ropes. He chuckled a little bit.

"Charming. Do you know why you're here?" He started pacing.

"Is it because you just couldn't stand being away from me anymore?" I said jokingly, still struggling against the ropes.

"Amusing..." He seemed very unmoved by my response. He stopped pacing and stared at me harshly with his blue-gray eyes. "You still have a debt you owe me."

"I don't recall that. Now then, if you would be so kind as to untie me and tell me what you've done with my wife and daughter, I'll just forget any of this has ever happened." I continued to glare at him.

"Your family is safe, for now, so long as you are cooperative."

"You better not touch a single hair on their head or so help me I'll-"

"Or you'll what?!" He slammed his hoof onto the table. "As you can see, I'm the one in control. Now, then I have a proposition for you," he continued with a sly grin, "A client of mine has been having trouble with a dragon," I don't like where this is going. "I need you to... resolve this problem."

"And how am I supposed to 'resolve' this problem? I don't know anything about this dragon."

"The dragon is an adult male that goes by the name of Xorthaul Yinarri. You should be able to find him in the Badlands."

"What? The Badlands?! I barely survived a mile in the Everfree Forest. How the hell am I supposed to get to the middle of the Badlands unarmed?!"

"Don't worry, I'll return you your sword and a saddle bag full of supplies."

"And if I refuse?"

"Let’s just say your daughter will end up having a new sibling," he said maniacally.

"You wouldn't dare!" If glares could set ponies on fire, he would have been burnt to a crisp.

"Oh, I won't be the one to do that, but I do know a pony that is itching to get better... acquainted with your wife." I turned a shade of angry red. I could just imagine myself tearing out his spine through his throat and smashing his skull into a bloody pulp. I didn't want to risk my family's safety.

"Fine," I said, seething with rage, "I'll do it, IF you let them go."

"Agreed, I will even give them a home in Ponyville."

"Thanks, I guess. May I see them before I go?"

"You'll have time for that after you remove Xorthaul"

"What makes you think I, a mere pony, can take down an adult dragon?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Mr. Bowtie. I know what you're capable of. I was the one who saved you from that horrid fight pit when you were still a little colt, remember?" I winced at that memory. Both my parents had been killed when I was four. It was a senseless killing. He stabbed both of them in the throat right in front of me. I would have ran if I wasn’t traumatized by the event.
My parent’s killer took me as a slave to a place called 'The Pit'. It was a foul, disease ridden tunnel system beneath the city of Canterlot. The reason it was called The Pit was because in the center of the tunnel system there was a large arena-like room where two ponies went in and only one came out. It was an event for ponies to bet on whom they thought would win. Names of all the "Contestants" were put into a bag and then two names were drawn. The winner was given rations and a nice place to sleep for two days, but after those two days were up, back to the pit with you. I was stuck in that horrific slaughter house for years, I think I was sixteen when Fancy Pants saved me, but before then I recorded who I killed and paid my respects to them every day. I wrote their names on my cell wall; there were so many names I had to write over other names.
I began to cry. I could still remember one of my fights. I was fourteen at the time and my name had been drawn. My opponent’s name was Firebloom. She was just a filly no older than Ember. I went by the motto of "Kill or be Killed." I had no clue who she was until I stepped into the pit. I could see that she was crying. Her tears were soaking her amber coat, her mane was emerald green and greasy. I can't fight her, I thought, she's only a filly. I knew I had to, because if nothing happened, we would both be boiled alive by oil they had stored above the arena. Right as the fight started, I charged at her, planning on pinning her and giving her a quick death, but she jumped high in the air. I ran into the wall with a thud. I tried to get up before she could attack, but I looked back to see she was a pegasus. She dropped down and landed on my back, and then bit my neck hard. I could feel blood spurting out of my skin. Before she could do any more damage, I used my magic to choke her. She fell off my back, trying to breathe. I let go of my magic, standing over her.

"Please... don't" she gasped, but I had already made up my mind

"I'm sorry." It's all I could say before my hooves connected with her head, crushing it into a bloody mess of brain matter, blood, and shattered pieces of bone. I tried my best to forget that part of my life, but it always found a way to crawl its way back into my memories.

"I try not to," I said to Fancy Pants, but I was still crying. While I was recalling that dark memory, Fancy Pants let the two cloaked zebras in. One of them was holding a black sack in their mouth.

"Would you two be so kind as to show Mr. Bowtie his way out?" Fancy Pants asked the cloaked zebras. "Oh and try not to be to gentle now..." he added with a sly grin.

"It'd be our pleasure,” the female zebra responded. I was lifted out of my chair. The zebra with the sack draped it over my head and both of them dragged me outside. I was dragged for approximately ten minutes before I was thrown onto the ground and brutally bucked in the stomach.

"That's for Talia. Because of you, she's dead. How do you think her husband feels? Or what about her filly and colt?" I was sobbing. I hadn't meant to kill her.

"I'm sorry." My voice was shaky.

"You will be. Keita, knock this bastard out." Wait? Keita? Could it be the same zebra I had met in the forest? I heard hoof steps coming closer to me. Keita's hoof smashed against my right cheek, making me cough up blood. I didn't get knocked out with the first hit, so he hit me once more, even harder than the last. I felt something snap. I couldn't understand. I saved his life. My head was spinning and things began to go dark.

"Keita Iijima? Is that yo-" The pain from his hoof striked, finally making me faint.

Author's Note

Edited by FlanChan.

Chapter three: Old memories

I ran around with glee as I played with my two best friends: friends Storm Chaser, a male pegasus, and Star Bright, a female unicorn. We were playing a game of tag, and I was unfortunately it. I couldn't find Star Bright, but I perked up my ears and could hear a subtle flapping. I looked up to see Storm Chaser flying above me.

"No fair, you're cheating!" I shouted, stomping my hoof on the ground.

"What are you gonna do about it?" he responded, sticking out his tongue.

My cheeks burned red. I turned my head up to make sure that Storm Chaser wasn't paying attention, then levitated a fallen branch into the blue sky. I swatted him out of the air, and he fell and hit the ground with a thud. My magic drained most of my energy, leaving me exhausted even though it was a fairly simple spell.

"Ow! Whatcha do that for?" He scowled at me.

"You were cheating!" I rushed towards him and planted my hoof on his head. "You're it!"

We played for another hour or two before I heard somepony called my name.

"Bowtie! Time to come in!" It was my mother, Blu Diamond, her voice like the beautiful sound of bluebirds. She was standing in the doorway, motioning for me to come in, since it was starting to get dark. I said goodbye to my friends and trotted over to my mom. She had curly golden mane and tail. Her tail was cut shorter than usual, but I didn't question it since it looked so nice on her. She was staring at me lovingly with her dark brown eyes. I hopped up onto her back and got comfortable. I noticed that she was wearing a perfume that I didn't like, probably because I was just a colt, but everypony else seemed to love it. Her sky-blue coat felt warm, and it took quite a bit of willpower to keep from falling asleep.

After a few moments, I was lifted off of my mom's back and placed on a couch close to the door. She went into the kitchen to check on dinner, and as she walked by I caught a glimpse of her cutie-mark: a chef hat with three golden stars surrounding it. She would compete in cooking contests and she'd always get first place.

I sat on the couch, waiting for my daddy to return home from work. After a few minutes, he walked in. I ran over and hugged his leg, feeling his jet-black fur on my face.

"Daddy! I missed you,” I said, letting go of his leg.

"I missed you too,” he responded with a smile. "Where's your mother?” he asked, rustling my hair.

"She's in the kitchen." He walked towards the kitchen and I followed. I looked up to see his cutie-mark. It was a red sphere being surrounded by three other spheres, two were white and the other was blue. He told me before that it was supposed to be an atom, but I had no clue what an atom was. His mane was a light brown and slicked back, like most of the professors' where he teaches.

"Star Specter, is that you?” my mom called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me, honey-boo.” I gagged at his response. I was still in the phase of girls being gross, with the exception of my friend Star Bright. Not that I liked her like that, I liked her as a friend. I started to blush a little out of embarrassment at the thought.

My mom finished cooking. She made lasagna, my favorite, but of course it was made without the meat. Eating meat was a major offense in Manehattan, and I'm pretty sure everywhere else. Just before we sat down, there was a vicious knock at the door. Both my mom and dad walked up to see who it was.

"I wonder who that could be at this time of night,” my dad pondered. When he opened the door, I could see a dirty gray stallion. It was raining outside, matting down his ragged brown mane. I couldn't see his face, though, as my parents were blocking the way. I tried to see what his cutie-mark was, but he had a scar over it so I couldn't make out what it was. I heard a blood-curdling scream from my mother. My dad fell to the floor with a thud, his neck pouring out blood. I looked up to see the mysterious pony had a knife in his mouth. My mother was still screaming. The pony sliced my mom's throat, for reasons only he would know. Blood splattered everywhere. They were both dead, but my mind refused to believe it. The killer turned and started to walk away. He must have not seen me. I rushed over to my parents’ bodies. The air filled with the scent of blood as large pool of it formed on the ground. Both of their eyes were closed, so I nudged them with my snout.

"Mommy? Daddy? Wake up.” I continued to nudge them. "You gotta wake up. Please! I need you.” They weren't moving, but I kept trying anyways. "P-please wake up.” My eyes were welling up with tears. The killer must of heard me and started to walk back in my direction. A single tear ran down my face and dropped onto my father’s cheek. My parents’ killer forcefully picked me up. I screamed and kicked, but to no avail.

"DADDY! MOMMA! PLEASE! WAKE UP!" I yelled, but they didn't move. They never would again.

~~*~~

I jolted up breathing heavily. I wiped my forehead. I was sweating, a lot. Just a nightmare, I thought, just a terrible, terrible nightmare.

I suddenly remembered what happened before I fainted. I immediately touched my face where I was struck. It was swollen and bleeding. I looked around to see my surroundings. I was below the city of Canterlot, which meant I was right above The Pit. Shit. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I spat out some blood. I'm going to need some medical care for this. I was almost certain that my jaw was broken, or at least had an alveolar fracture. So if north is that way... then south is that way. I got up and started to head south. I feel like I'm forgetting something, I thought, oh yeah! I turned around to see my sword accompanied by a saddlebag. I immediately opened it, dumping out its contents. There was a decent amount of food and herbs, some of which I recognized, a map of Equestria and... a baldric! It was much better than my old belt. I strapped the baldric around my waist, pulling it tight, and then I attached my sword to it.

It was getting dark, how long have I been out? I'm fairly sure it was close to noon before I was knocked out. It didn't matter now. I had to find a place to camp out till morning. I put everything back into my saddlebag, and then I went to collect some branches for a fire. Once I got the fire started, I sorted through the herbs. I found one that should slow down, if not stop the bleeding and swelling in my mouth. I popped it into my mouth, and it was sour like a lemon. It was also extremely dry and hard to swallow, but I managed to eat it.

I didn't want to sleep, especially not after that nightmare, so I laid by the fire and planned out what to do at sunrise. I pulled out the map out with my magic, the flickering light from the fire illuminating it. I noticed that I could go to Ponyville and get some more supplies. Who knows, maybe somepony will help me. Wait, Ponyville?! I could go see Sundance and Ember! I was giddy at the thought of seeing my wife and daughter again. But what if Fancy Pants was lying? Of course he was, he wouldn't risk me getting to my family and then going into hiding again. Well, that just burst my bubble. I guess I still have to do this stupid mission for him. I sighed.

Now then, after Ponyville I could take a shortcut through the Everfree Forest, but it would be risky. I could try getting a train ride to Dodge City, but I don't have any money. Maybe if I explain my situation... no they'd never believe that Fancy Pants is holding my family hostage. I guess I could try to sneak onto one of the trains. I think I'll do that. If I get caught though... I haven't been near other ponies in a while. I wouldn't know how they would react. For all I know the punishment for not paying for a train ticket is getting my heart torn out and eaten. I was sure that wasn't true, but I couldn't prove or disprove this.

Since I got some of that planned out, I think I should get some rest. I didn't want to sleep in fear of having another horrific dream, but I was too tired to argue with myself, even though I had fallen asleep for hours and woke up only about twenty minutes ago. My fractured jaw and bleeding probably took out a lot of my energy. I closed my eyes and let the fire's warmth calm my senses.

~~*~~

It was a nice sunny day, the sky clear, the wind calm, and everything was at peace. Well, except for me. I had just lost my bet against Fancy Pants. All my possessions were taken from me and I ran away like a coward. I couldn't pay Fancy Pants and I didn't want to face the consequences. I was only nineteen years old. I had managed to get myself out of Canterlot, but I was in desperate need of food and a bath.

It had been about a day and a half since I escaped. I had gotten lost, but I could see a settlement in the distance. I had guessed I walked about thirty miles from Canterlot. The settlement was a beacon of hope. Hopefully I could find somepony willing to help me. Luckily I never showed my face when I was the Tyrant, so nopony should know who I am except Fancy Pants. I was just reaching the village before I collapsed from exhaustion. I woke up later and felt something cool on my head. I opened my eyes to see I was inside somepony's house. I looked around the room. It had two windows with sparkling blue curtains. Sunlight shone through the thin curtains, so I knew it was still daytime. The room was painted like a little filly's room, so it was pink. I didn't really mind. There were a few bookshelves half full of storybooks for little foals. The door was hoof crafted with intricate designs carved into it. The bed I was in was comfy, but small. The bed sheets were made of silk and they, just like the walls, were pink.

"How long have I been out?" I said to myself.

"You've been asleep for about an hour,” a sweet feminine voice said to me. I turned to see a female unicorn standing in the doorway. She had a beautifully styled ruby red mane that complimented her sapphire eyes. Her coat was a lighter shade of her eyes, it looked recently groomed.

"What happened?”I asked.

"I found you unconscious outside of town, so I brought you to my home and... um... cleaned you up.” She was for some reason.

"What do you mean, 'cleaned me up'?” I was still tired and hungry, so I couldn't think very well.

"Well, I noticed how dirty you were...” Her whole face was turning red. "And... um... I bathed you...”

"You... bathed me?” I wasn't angry, just a little embarrassed. "You know I can bathe myself right?” I chuckled a little bit at her blushing.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone.” She sounded ashamed of what she did and started to leave.

"Wait!” I didn't want her to leave. "Don't be sorry.” Now I was blushing. "I really don't mind, but may I ask why?"

"Well, seeing you collapsed outside, I just felt like I should be responsible for you, I guess.”

"I'm grateful for you taking me in your home and caring for me,” I said. “So, is this your room?”

"No... well, it was. This was my parents’ house, and this was my room when I was little. My parents moved out to go live in Las Pegasus, so they gave me the house when I was old enough.”

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you like the color pink.”

"What gave it away?" She smiled. "What's your name?”

"My name is The Ty-" I suddenly caught myself and fake coughed. "Sorry 'bout that, my name is Handsome Bowtie.”

"That's a handsome name.” She chuckled at her bad joke, but I laughed with her. "My name is Sundance.” She was now sitting by the bed I was in. We stared into each others eyes for a long time until my stomach made a rumbling sound. I blushed and Sundance giggled.

"Hungry?” she asked.

"Yeah. Haven't eaten for a day and a half.” My stomach growled again, making me blush more.
She left the room and returned moments later with an assortment of foods. She had apples, bananas, corn, and many other delicious looking fruits and vegetables. I tried my best to be polite while I ate, but I couldn't help myself. I practically inhaled all of my food. I felt somewhat ashamed after eating it all, as I didn't have anything to give her in return.

"How can I repay somepony of your kindness and beauty?” I liked to see her blush. She was cute when she did, and of course she began to blush almost immediately.

"Well, there is one thing...” She hesitated, brushing the floor with her hoof. She seemed nervous to ask. I had a feeling I knew what it was that she was going to ask. I leaned over to her and gave her a kiss. I felt stupid, but I didn't pull away. She didn't seem to mind, but she could of just been confused and stunned by my abrupt action. I pulled away, feeling even more stupid than before.

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that.” I muttered.

"Don't be, it was nice,” she replied bashfully.

"Aww, it was only nice?” I responded jokingly. She suddenly became flustered.

"Nonono that's not what I meant. You just seemed like a really nice stallion and I never really got along with others and I-” I kissed her again. Truth is, I liked her too.

"Don't work yourself up,” I said lovingly, "I like you to, even though we just met.” I smiled and coughed a little.

"Oops!” She abruptly left the room for a few minutes. She returned with a wet cloth. She placed the cloth she had brought in on my head, and it was warm. I felt the coolness on my head disappear.

"Sorry I forgot to switch out the cloths.” She placed the cool cloth on a table near the bed. "You're running a fever.” I was? I felt fine. Maybe it was an excuse to keep me here longer. I could tell by her grin that I was right.

"If you want me to stay, you could just ask. I've got nowhere to go.” To that I nodded. This appeared to make her extremely happy. I swear her eyes were sparkling.

"You would!?” She looked surprised.

"Of course I would.” She leaped on top of the bed and gave me a hug. I hugged her back.

"Tell me about yourself?" I asked. I wanted to know more about her before I fell asleep.

"Whaddya want to know?”

"How about your parents?”

"Well, both my mother and father are unicorns, and they are experienced carpenters. They were always busy, so they barely had time for me. What about your parents?”

"I don't like to talk about my parents.” I could feel the tears swelling up in my eyes. Sundance noticed that something was wrong.

"Why not?” I sighed and decided to tell her.

"Both my parents were killed when I was four. They were stabbed in the throat right in front of me.” I started to cry, holding her tight.

"T-that's terrible.” She began to stroke my mane. I decided to tell her about how I was foalnapped and forced to fight to the death in The Pit. I didn't tell her anything about Fancy Pants saving me; I changed the subject before I got to that part.

"So, where am I?" I was still crying a little. Sundance kiss the tip of my snout, which helped comfort me a bit.

"You're still in my house, silly,” she giggled.

"I meant this village,” I sighed.

"Oh, the town is called Ponyville.”

"What do you do for a living?” I asked.

"I work for Ms. Cheerilee at the school.”

"So you like working with foals?” I could never deal with foals.

"I just adore them!”

"I don't think I could stand working with foals," I said, "I wouldn't know what to do.”

"It's not too hard,” she said, nuzzling my cheek, "Just have to keep 'em entertained.”
It started to get dark outside, and I was getting tired. We held each other close until we both fell into a blissful sleep.

~~*~~

I awoke from my wonderful dream. That dream was of my favorite memory, when Sundance and I met. Oh, how I missed her and Ember. The fire I started had recently died. It was still dark, but I wasn't tired anymore. I stood up and stretched out my legs. Gathering up my things, I was ready to head out.

As I walked south towards Ponyville, I listened to the sounds of the forest I was in. I could hear many birds singing songs and little woodland creatures scurrying around. Forests were wonderful places to be, besides the Everfree Forest.

I continued trotting my way south. It slowly got brighter as I got closer to Ponyville. I was still a long ways away from the town. I sighed. Damn that Fancy Pants. If I hadn't made the decision to move, none of this would of happened.

As I walked, I heard rushing water, I followed the sound and found a river. I hadn't realized how thirsty and dirty I was. I unequipped my baldric and saddlebag and placed them a few hooves away from the river. I dove into the river, feeling the cool water soak my body. The water helped wash off the grime and blood on my body. The water was calm and no deeper than my knees in some parts. I hopped out of the river after a few minutes, shaking myself dry. Afterwords I drank some of the river water. Not the best, but it'd do. I levitated my baldric and saddlebag over to me and equipped both of them.

I checked the sun and guessed it was about eight in the morning. I could see Ponyville from where I was. It was pretty big. There were numerous houses and a tall red building that seemed to be the school. I remembered when Sundance took me there during her work time. I was pretty shy around all those foals. I barely knew what to do if one of them said hi to me.

I turned to see a large apple orchard and another bright red building. I couldn't quite remember the name of the orchard. Sundance and I didn't live in Ponyville for long before we moved into the forest. I did remember how long it took to convince her to agree. She was pretty fussy about it at first, but she got use to it, or at least I always thought so. She was always good at hiding things from me.

I followed the river down towards Ponyville. I reached a large open area full of roses, Sundance's favorite flower. I continued to walk through the barrage of flowers. This place felt like the most peaceful place on the world.

I was thinking about irrelevent things when something struck me, How the fuck am I supposed to kill an adult dragon?! I felt nervous, no, I felt downright terrified. I can do this, I thought, I'm smart enough when it comes to fighting, except this won't be a pony. I couldn't help but doubt myself. I have to do this. For Sundance and Ember. I continued towards Ponyville, thinking about how I could fight Xorthaul. I did know a hoofful of spells. Maybe I could find some new spells in Ponyville, and hopefully somepony who will accompany me on my mission.

I felt like I'd been walking for ages. At least I was fairly close to the town, probably just less than two miles. I went into a light gallop, wanting to get there as soon as possible.

I reached the edge of Ponyville in a manner of minutes. I stopped just before entering the town. I was kind of nervous. I could see that the town was full of ponies going about their daily activities. There were ponies of every color, shape, and size. There were cutie-marks of every variety. It was rather fascinating to me, but I couldn't stay there staring at every pony’s flanks all day. I started to blush once I realized what it looked like I was doing.

There were many stands selling items from food to gardening tools. Maybe there's a stand that sells spell books? Oh yeah, no money. Well, I better get started. Just as I put one hoof forward, something erupted out of the ground.

Author's Note

Edited by FlanChan

Chapter four: Surprise!

My heart felt like it was about to erupt. Balloons and streamers were flying all around me. I had no clue what was going on, in fact, I felt like I was being attacked. Suddenly, a mare with a brilliant raspberry mane, a paler raspberry coat and light cerulean coloured eyes appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by some sort of wagon.

"Welcome welcome welcome, a fine welcome to you! Welcome welcome welcome, I say how do you do? Welcome welcome welcome, I say hip hip hurray! Welcome welcome welcome, to Ponyville today!" She danced and sang with great vigor. She ended her dance posing in front of her wagon. "Wait for it!" she told me.

Wait for what?

Her wagon contraption shot something straight into the air, which landed on both of us. Some of it landed in my open jaw, and it tasted like cake batter. Then the wagon shot confetti straight at us. "Whoops, I must have put the cake batter in the confetti cannon and the confetti on the oven! Again!" She was now giggling and bouncing around me. I stood there, covered with cake batter and confetti with a shocked look on my face. "Aw what's wrong? Didn't you like it?" She stopped bouncing and giggling and started frowning.

"No... I liked it. It's just I've never been greeted so... energetically." My mind was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Questions were racing through my brain. She smiled and somehow stepped out of the cake batter, leaving a perfect cast of her body, and then ate it in one bite.

That only raises further questions! I felt like my head was about to explode. I shook off what I could of the cake batter and confetti that covered every inch of my body. "Who are you?"

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" She was incredibly full of energy. "Ooo what's that?" Before I could figure out what she was asking about, she bounced over and took my sword. "Pretty!" I yanked my sword out of her grasp.

"That’s not a toy," I scolded.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I've never seen you in Ponyville, and I know everyone here."

I have a feeling that's probably true.

"My name is Handsome Bowtie."

"That's a handsome name." She fell over onto her back, laughing uncontrollably with the occasional snort at her lame pun.

I sighed deeply. Why is it that almost everyone felt the need to make that joke? Finding nothing left to do in the outskirts of town, I decided start walking towards more civilization. Pinkie Pie got up and bounced after me, asking me a series of questions.

"What are you here for? Oh! I know, you're here to party! Is that it?"

"No, I'm here to hitch a train ride."

"The train is under maintenance, so it won't be done for a few weeks."

Shit, just what I don't need. Guess I'm walking. Since this Pinkie Pie pony says she knows everypony here, maybe she knows somepony who could teach me a few spells.

"Do you know anypony that is good with magic?"

"Yup! My friend Twilight is super duper good at magic! She lives over in that tree."

"Thanks." I stopped walking. Pinkie Pie landed on top of my back. She was oddly light, almost as light as Ember. "Why are you following me?" She didn't get off.

"You're new here so-"

"I actually lived here years ago. Not for long, but long enough to know my way around."

"Oh. Well, I can at least introduce you to the other ponies."

"I'm not staying long, and I'm kinda in a hurry. Don't you have something better to do anyways?"

"You're right!" She hopped off my back and vanished.

I sighed. "I'll never understand that mare."

I made my way into the marketplace. Ponies gave me strange looks for a reason I couldn’t think of, until I remembered the cake batter and streamers covering me from head to tail. I just tried my best to ignore them and made my way to the tree Pinkie Pie told me about. I reached the house and knocked on the door, but there wasn't a response. Something felt off, so I opened the door. It was pitch black. I cautiously walked in to investigate.

"Hello?"

Suddenly all the drapes opened and numerous ponies yelled, “SURPRISE!” My heart was beating in my throat. I've had enough surprises today. There was a banner that had the words Welcome Handsome Bowtie printed on it. How in the hay did they know I was coming here? And how did they know who I was?

"Hello again!" Pinkie Pie announced.
Figures.

"Uhh... Hello Pinkie Pie." How did she get here? "I thought you had something important to do."

"Yeah, I had to get your party ready!"

"But... how did you... I just don't understand. Why give me a party?"

"I always throw parties for my friends!"

"We only met a few moments ago. How could we already be friends?"

"All my friends call me Pinkie Pie!"

I didn't get it, but I didn't want to continue the conversation.

All the ponies there greeted me warmly. I don't have time for this. I couldn't figure out who Twilight was or even if she was here. I decided I should just wait out the party before trying to find her. In the meantime, I got to meet a lot of the townsfolk, none of which seemed to notice that I didn't have a cutie-mark.

Once the party ended and everypony left, I was all alone in Twilight's home. I felt weird because I felt like I was intruding. The door opened and a pony with a pale purple coat and a dark blue mane with brilliant violet and rose streaks trotted into the vicinity.

"Hello. Are you Twilight?" I'm pretty sure I startled her, because she visibly jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Who are you, and why are you in my house?!"

"I’m Handsome Bowtie. Your friend Pinkie Pie said I could find you here. I knocked on the door, but nopony answered, so I walked in and somehow Pinkie planned a surprise party for me. Oh, and before you get the chance, please don't say I have a handsome name. I hear that joke a lot and it gets old."

"Well, if you're a friend of Pinkie then you're a friend of mine."

Just what I need, more friends.

"I was wondering if you could teach me some spells, preferably any that could protect me from a dragon."

"Good heavens, why would you need a spell like that?" I couldn't tell her the truth.

"One of Fancy Pants’ clients is having trouble with a dragon, and I told him I'd go take care of it." That was as close to the truth as I was willing to tell.

"I don’t approve." She turned and walked towards a bookshelf, seemingly writing off my existence.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? He's holding my family hostage!" Fuck! I need to be more careful about what I say.

"What?" A book she was levitating suddenly dropped to the floor.

"Forget it. So can you help me?" I hoped she would just drop the subject.

"Not until you tell me what's going on."

I weighed out my options. Either I tell her and get a spell or two to help in the fight against Xorthaul, or walk out and hope for the best. It couldn't hurt to tell one other pony.

I decided to tell her everything, beginning with my parents’ death and ending when Keita knocked me out. She just sat there silently listening. Once I finished, I was kind of nervous. She hadn't said anything. Maybe she was just letting it settle in her mind.

"My goodness, that's terrible! Of course I'll help you! But one question: why didn't you tell Princess Celestia or Princess Luna about what Fancy Pants was doing?"

"I had assumed that if I returned to Canterlot he would harm my family or kill me, maybe both! Also, I would suggest not trying to tell either of them, just in case he has spies following me.” She nodded.

"Don't worry about me. I still don’t approve of you not telling the princesses, but that’s your decision. Now then, let’s get to the lessons." Her horn glowed lavender, and moments later a large magical barrier formed around her.

"Will this be able to protect me from a dragon?"

"I wouldn't be teaching it to you if it couldn't."

"That makes sense." I blushed a little in embarrassment, but she didn’t seem to notice.

"It's fairly simple. Just focus your magic into a central point in your horn, then release it and try to expand it into a bubble around you. The more energy you put into it, the stronger it gets. If you can master it, you can even make different shapes."

It seemed easy enough. My horn glowed with a dark red aura. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. A bolt of magic erupted out of my horn, producing a perfect dark red sphere around me. I generally could learn anything by either seeing it preformed or being told how to do it. It may not be perfect, but I can at least do it.

"Amazing. You actually were able to do it your first time." She sounded astonished. “I mean, I could too, but still.”

"I'm a quick learner." I responded.

"That's unfortunately the only spell I know that could help. If you want some more help, you could go talk to my other friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie."

I had no clue how Pinkie Pie was going to help. Maybe she'd come with and throw a party for the dragon. I snickered at the thought. She probably would, too.

She gave me instructions on where I could most likely find each of them. She also suggested that I take a bath before meeting Rarity. Before I left, I asked her if there was a hospital in town. I wanted to check my jaw before I left to go to the Badlands. Twilight said there was one near the east of town. I gave her a quick hug and thanked her for the help.
Considering how I didn't have a home here where I could bathe, I decided to quickly rinse myself off in the river. It passed by the town relatively close by, so it only took about a minute of walking and ponies staring at me to get over to it. I again unequipped my items and dove into the shallow water. After about ten minutes or so of soaking myself in the river, I hopped out and shook myself dry. I decided I should go see Rarity first since I was clean.
I found the boutique just where Twilight said it would be. I knocked on the door. I swear, if Pinkie Pie has another surprise party for me...

"Come in~" a majestic, classy voice said from inside. I opened the door, hearing a bell ring. I saw a unicorn with a light grayish coat. Her velvet mane and tail were beautifully curled. I assumed that this was Rarity.

"Um, are you Rarity?" She was working on a dress of some sort.

"I prefer Miss Rarity or Lady Rarity." She continued to work on the dress.

"Sorry, Miss Rarity. I was sent here by Twilight. She said you might be able to help me."

"Help with what?" She stopped working on her dress and turned around to face me, "My my, aren't you a handsome stallion." I could feel my face getting hot, she laughed at my reaction, only making it worse.

"You're quite beautiful, too." Not as pretty as Sundance, though. "My name is Handsome Bowtie. Seeing as how you can make beautiful ensembles, I was wondering if you could make me something that would camouflage me to the area of the Badlands." She gasped. I hoped I didn't offend her.

"Good gracious, why would you be traveling to such a horrid place?" I hope I wouldn't have to get her or anypony else involved in my predicament.

"I have to kill a dragon for Fancy Pants." She squealed immediately as I said Fancy Pants' name.

"You mean THE Fancy Pants? The same pony that lives in Canterlot?! Isn't he just the greatest?"

"He's something, alright," I mumbled.

"What was that darling?"

"Oh nothing, so you’ll help me?"

"Of course! Anypony who knows Fancy Pants personally is of high value!"

"Only one problem, I don't have anything to pay you with."

"No worries my handsome friend, think of it as a gift."

"You are as generous as you are beautiful."

"Thank you, darling! Stop by in a few hours and I'll have something whipped up for you." She smiled.

"I can't thank you enough, Miss Rarity." Two down, four to go. I opened the door, hearing the bell ring again.

I decided to go meet Rainbow Dash next. It might be hard to contact her since she'd most likely be flying around. I looked up into the sky, but had the misfortune of looking straight into the sun. Celestia dammit that hurt. The sky was clear of everything except for one small cloud. I noticed a rainbow coloured tail hanging off of it. Maybe that was Rainbow Dash.

"Hey! Are you Rainbow Dash?" I think I woke her up, since she jolted up and rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash!" she yelled back. She jumped off of her cloud bed and landed on the ground with a thud. Dust rose up off the ground when she landed. She looked pretty awesome. Her mane was the colour of a rainbow and her coat was a bedraggled light cerulean. She was staring at me with sleepy eyes.

"What do you want?" I didn't know if she was pissed or not.

"Well I'm going to the Badlands to fight a dragon. I was wondering if you could help in any way."

"Yeah, sure."

Wait what? She's not going to ask what for?

"If you're going up against a dragon, you'll have to be strong, quick, and most importantly, agile. Now before we get started, let’s have a sparring match so I can see what I'm dealing with."

All right, seemed easy enough. I unequipped my sword and saddlebag. I was amazed how helpful everypony was being in this town. I slowly walked up to her, assessing her possible tactics.

"Ha! You're gonna have to be faster than that if you want to beat me!" I could see she was tensing up on her right, which meant that she was going to move left and try to get behind me. She was incredibly fast. As she moved, I quickly turned around and swept her legs out from under her. She slammed onto the ground. I pressed both my forelegs on her shoulders, pinning her to the ground.

"Don't underestimate your opponent," I said.

"But... how did you do that?" she responded, rather ticked off.

"Your body movements allowed me to guess what you were going to do." I helped her up.

"It doesn't seem like there's anything I could help you with," she said with a hint of anger.

"Oh, well thanks anyways." I started to gather my things, but I was lifted up and got my neck smashed into the ground. Di-did she just suplex me?

"Never let your guard down." she laughed.

"Guess you can teach me a thing or two." She helped me up. "You're quite strong for a mare. I don't know many who could lift a full grown stallion like that." I didn't know any that could do that, for that matter.

"I am pretty awesome aren't I?" Okay now, don't get arrogant.

"I agree, but I bet you can't beat me again." Before she could react, I swept her legs out again, pinning her to the ground. We kept pinning each other, neither one of us getting the upper hoof. The sparring matches helped me get into the swing of things. I let her pin me one last time, letting her win, but I didn't make it easy for her. I got the feeling she didn't like to lose.

"Thanks for the sparring matches."

"No problem. Good luck against that dragon. Wait, DRAGON!?" Her voice cracked a little. "You're fighting a dragon?" So close, I thought she wouldn't ask.

"That's what I said."

"But why?" I really didn’t want to get anypony else involved.

"I don't want to get you involved."

"You got me involved when you asked for help," she scoffed.

"No."

She kicked my leg out from under me, making me fall on my face. She pushed down on my neck just hard enough for me not to be able to get up.

"I won't let you up until you tell me."

"Fine," I agreed grumpily. I told her exactly what I had told Twilight, and exactly why I can't tell the Princesses.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. It's not your fault. Thanks for the help, but I've got to go." I gathered my things and left. I felt like I put her into a shitty mood and now I was in a shitty mood. I might as well go to the hospital, those sparring matches didn't help my jaw at all. I think I reopened the wound and maybe caused the fracture to crack even more. Hopefully I could settle a compromise for money.

I was lost in thought and wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I bumped into somepony, sending me on my flank.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." I looked up to see whom I bumped into. It was a mare with a pale light rose mane and a light maroon coat. She seemed familiar to me, but from where?

"Bowtie? Is that you?" she asked, helping me up.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but I can't remember your name."

"It's me, Cheerilee!" Ah, now I remember! She was Sundance's employer at the school.

"Now I remember! How are you?" I gave her a friendly hug.

"I'm doing well, and you?" I couldn't decide whether or not to tell her what was really going on.

"I'm doing alright. Sundance and I had a little filly a few years ago." I guess I'm not telling her.

"Congrats! So are you and your family moving out of that dreadful forest?"

"Yeah, but there's some things I have to take care of first."

"I can't wait to catch up!"

"Me too." We turned our separate ways. I was glad I bumped into her. It's always good to see old friends.

I could see a large building far away. I assume that's the hospital. It took me a few minutes to reach the doors. There were a couple of ponies sitting in chairs, sneezing and sniffling in the main lobby.

"May I help you?" My observations were interrupted by a nasally voice.

"Uh, yes." I just stared at the attendant.

"Well? Do you have an appointment?" she responded.

"No, I don't." I hope I wouldn't have to wait for a long time.

"Write down your name and I'll notify you when a doctor can help you.”

"Thanks." I wrote my name and sat down in the waiting area. It felt like hours had passed, but when I looked at the clock it had been only a few minutes. I sighed. Another ten minutes passed before my name was called.

"Mr. Bowtie, the doctor will see you now." I saw a pony in white scrubs motioning for me to come over. I followed him into a small room.

"I am Dr. Hoofington. What seems to be the problem?"

"I think I have a fracture on the right side of my jaw." He touched my lower jaw. Pain coursed through my teeth, making me jerk away.

"Yup. That's one bad fracture. What did you do?"

"Would you believe that I bit down too hard on an apple?" Judging from his quizzical look, I assumed that was a no. "I got into a fight with a zebra." He simply nodded his head.

"I'm going to have to take a few X-rays to see what I'm dealing with." Dr. Hoofington escorted me to a larger room with a large camera-like machine.

"Stand right here and clench down on this." He placed something in my mouth between my teeth. I bit down, trying to ignore the pain. After he was done getting the pictures taken, I spat out the cloth thing that was in my mouth into a bin. Then he led me back to the first room and told me to wait while he got the X-rays. He returned moments later, looking grim.

"By the look on your face, I assume I'm perfectly fine," I said jokingly. He chuckled a bit, but returned to his grim stature. He showed me the pictures. It was worse than I thought. I had a total of five cracks in my jaw

"Well, that's a pretty serious fracture you got there."

"How much is this going to cost me? Cause I don't have any money."

"Maybe we can work out a deal. How about I fix you up for free in exchange for a favor later on, no questions asked?" I don't think I like this, but what else am I going to do?

"Agreed. So what about my jaw?"

"Well, I'll put you an some anesthetics, then remove any bone shrapnel. Then I'll fill the cracks with a synthetic bone filling that should slowly dissolve and recreate your jaw bone."

"Sounds fun," I said sarcastically. "When do we begin?"

"Right now, if it’s a good time."

"The sooner the better," I replied.

"Alright, follow me." We walked up to the third floor. Judging from the signs, this was where they do most of the surgery. He led me into a large white room. There was a numerous amount of machines, and I had no clue what most of them were used for. I almost felt like I was in a horror movie.

Dr. Hoofington told me to lie down on the table in the center of the room. He took a syringe and jabbed my shoulder. Things slowly got fuzzy. Multiple other ponies entered the room with white masks and scrubs on. A bright light turned on above me. I heard a ringing noise in my ears. It slowly got louder and louder until I passed out.

Author's Note

Edited by FlanChan

Chapter five: Wrapping up

I woke up and everything was dark. Jeez how long did surgery take? I went to go touch my jaw, but I was stopped by something cottony and sticky.

"Whaf happened." The cottony thing was wrapped around my head and muffled my voice.

"Oh I see you're awake Mr. Bowtie. Let me get those bandages off." The pony that was talking to me started to unwind the bandages on my head, "The operation was a success, a bit more messier than we would have hoped for, but still a success." Well that's good. Once all the bandages were off I could see fairly clearly. It was still daytime. I was in a large room with multiple beds that had less fortunate ponies in them. Almost all of them were wrapped up in bloody bandages and full body casts. I don't even want to know what happened to them. The pony that took off my bandages was Dr. Hoofington.

"So... any complications?"

"There shouldn't be. During surgery we had to cut open more than we wanted to. That's why your entire head was covered in bandages. Just try not to break it again."

"No promises~" We shared a laugh. I started to get out of the bed.

"Whoa whoa whoa where do you think you're going?" What does he mean, I'm fixed aren't I?

"I was going to leave. Why do you ask?"

"Well you just got out of surgery and you haven't fully recovered. Plus you still have to go through rehab."

"Re-hab?" I said confused.

"Rehabilitation." He said as if I was supposed to know what that meant.

"That doesn't help."

"To restore to a condition of good health," he explained, "I highly recommend you go through the program."

"I know you're the doctor, but I feel fine. Plus I have somewhere I need to be. It's important." I totally don't feel like a douche now.

"I can't stop you, but at least let me give you some advice."

"Alright."

"I wouldn't eat any solid food for at least a couple of hours. Also try to refrain from getting into any more fights."

"Again no promises." He just sighed this time. I hopped off the bed, obtained my items, and checked out of the hospital. It was about three-thirty, "Ugh way to long." I mumbled. Who should I go see next, I thought, I think I'll go see Fluttershy. See's supposed to be an animal expert. I think Twilight said she lives in a cottage to the south of town. Who knows maybe she'll know a way to get rid of the dragon without using force. I was still against killing another creature even if it was a terrorizing dragon. I hadn't realized how nice of a day I was having. Other than my family is being held hostage and my recently broken, but now fixed, jaw. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and there were multiple ponies willing to help me for relatively nothing in return. I could see a cottage pretty close by up on a small hill. There was an older earth pony watering some plants. Well more like drowning the plants.

"Um excuse me, sir, I think those plants have been watered enough."

"I think I know what I'm doing," he scoffed, "leave the watering to professionals." He whinnied.

"Oh the professionals," I said mockingly, "well where is this so-called professional? 'Cause all I see is an old stallion clearly drowning these poor plant, which I assume belong to the pony who lives up in that cottage there." I pointed to Fluttershy's cottage. The old stallion didn't say anything directly to me, he just turned off the water and mumbled something angrily. I didn't quite catch what he said, but I assumed it wasn't sunshine and rainbows, I ignored him and walked up to the cottage door, knocking lightly I patiently waited. A pegasus pony opened the door. Her mane was a pale, light rose and her coat was a pale, light gold. She was kind of cute. There was a bunny sitting on her back. The bunny didn't look happy, he looked very impatient.

"Hello. I'm Handsome Bowtie, and you are?" I wasn't sure if this was Fluttershy or not.

"Um... I'm Fluttershy." She said so quietly I could barely hear her, if I didn't know better I'd say she's afraid of me.

"Are you Fluttershy?" She just squeaked and backed up a little. I'll take that as a yes. I think she is afraid of me.

"Um well Twilight-"

"You know Twilight?" She perked up. At least she was talking now.

"Yeah she said you might be able to help me."

"I can try." She's so timid. I hope I don't say anything to offend her.

"Do you have any information on dragons?" Her eyes grew wide with fright. In a flash she was cowering under her carpet. Shit, I said something bad. Her bunny friend fell flat of his face. I tried my best not to laugh.

"You mean a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all grown-up dragon!"

"Uh yes. Are you ok?" She was still hiding and shaking under he carpet.

"I'm just t-terrified of d-d-dragons!" Her eyes welled up with tears. She better not, I can't deal with that.

"Do you know anything that could help me," I tried to look for the right word, "remove a dragon?"

"Remove?" I really don't want to tell her what I'm really going to do. I doubt she could handle it even if she did hate dragons.

"Umm... put him to sleep." That's the best I could come up with.

"I don't follow." She finally came out of under the carpet, but was lying on the ground while her bunny stroked her mane.

"Ok listen. I've been sent to go kill a dragon that has been terrorizing my... employer's," I said with a growl, "client."

"K-kill a dragon?!" She sounded slightly angered, "that's monstrous!"

"Believe me when I say I don't want to kill it. If there were any other way to make him stop terrorizing my employer's client I would gladly take it. That's why I came here."

"You could try asking nicely... um if that's ok." Asking nicely? That just sounded ridiculous, but worth a shot. I can't believe I'm going to try that.

"Anything else?"

"I'm sorry I don't know much. Please don't be angry... that is if you're fine with that." She's cute when she's timid

"Oh no I'm not angry. What you said does provide me with help for my task."

"Ok if you say so." I started to leave.

"Thanks for the help! I promise I won't try to harm the dragon!" I waved a hoof and continued walking. The idea of asking nicely for the dragon to stop never occurred to me. If it had I would have disregarded it immediately. Since she's an expert with animals I wasn't going to argue. Unlike the argument I had with the so-called plants professional earlier. My stomach grumbled. I hovered out an apple from my saddlebag and I was just about to take a bite until I remembered what Dr. Hoofington said. Oh yeah no food for a few hours. Eh how bad could it hurt? I bit down on the apple lightly. It hurt... a lot. It was like having my jaw broken five times over again. "OW! Son of a bitch! Fuck!" Whoops I did not mean to say that out loud. I looked around and saw a mare staring at me appalled. She was covering her colt’s ears, "Sorry." I yelled to her, with an embarrassed look on my face. She just picked up her colt and left. Ok then I guess I'll have to wait until I can eat. So I think there's two more ponies left I should see. Applejack and...ugh, Pinkie Pie. It's not like I didn't like Pinkie it's just she's so... unpredictable and energetic. Applejack lives at Sweet Apple Acres, that shouldn't be too hard to find. I was beginning to get tired. I've been walking since I woke up and I've barely eaten anything. I could already see the large red barn. It's probably a ten-minute walk from here. I got use to the stares from other ponies. There were less now, since I've been here a while. Sweet Apple Acres was a little bit out of town. I was following a dirt road that lead to the farm. I was able to see the farm, it was huge. There are to many apple trees to count. They must have a bunch of workers to buck down all those apples. Seeing all those delicious apples made my stomach growl. Shaking my head I trotted up the dirt road. I noticed a stallion off in the distance bucking apples off a tree. That can't be there only worker. I decided I should go talk to him. His coat was crimson red and his mane was orange. He saw me coming and just stared at me. He had a piece of wheat in his mouth and some sort of harness around his neck.

"Hello." I stuck out my hoof to shake his, but he didn't respond. He just stared at me blankly, "Does Applejack live here?"

"Eeyup." So he does talk.

"Do you know where she is?" He pointed his hoof to a house near the barn, "thank you."

"Eeyup." Is that all he can say? I trotted up to the house. I lightly knocked on the door. I heard somepony clamoring to get to the door. The door swung open, nearly hitting me, and a little filly with a pale yellow coat and red hair with a large bow in her mane was standing in front of me.

"Aw yer not Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle." She whinnied.

"Sorry to disappoint. Is Applejack here?"

"Yes sir she is."

"Can you go get her for me cutie?" I said in a tone as if I was talking to a newborn.

"Ah am not cute!" She trotted off angrily. I stood outside, I'd feel weird if I just invited myself inside. Within the next minute I saw a pony walk down the stairs. Her coat was a light brilliant gamboge and her mane was a yellow colour. She also had a cowpony hat on. This must be Applejack, she didn't look well.

"Hello, are you miss Applejack?" She had a quizzical look on her face.

"You c'n just call me Applejack. You c'n come in." I trotted in. She directed me towards the kitchen table. The filly followed us and sat at the table with us.

"Are you alright?"

"Just a cold." She sneezed.

"Ok. Your friend Twilight said you could help me on my journey to the Badlands." She didn't really react when I said Badlands.

"An' what exactly are ya gonna do there sugercube?" What's with these ponies and their nicknames?

"I have to go... remove a dragon problem. Hopefully without force."

"What could ah do to help?" She yawned.

"Well I need to leave as soon as possible and I'm going to need supplies. If you are willing to spare anything you have I'd greatly appreciate it."

"Sure we 'ave lots of food to spare." She got up and opened a door leading to the basement. She returned with a medium sized sack full of food.

"You just have sacks of food?" I chuckled.

"It's storage fer winter." That makes sense.

"If you don't mind me asking. Where are all your workers for your farm?"

"It's just me and Big Mac." Big Mac must be the pony out there I tried to talk to before.

"Just the two of you?! That's amazing!" I was astonished, "Big Mac doesn't talk much does he?"

"He's mighty shy." She coughed.

"Ok good I thought I offended him somehow. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"You could tell me why you're goin' to the Badlands."

"I already did. I have to go stop a dragon."

"Well yeah, but why?"

"I'd rather not tell you."

"Well then I reckon I'll keep this here food." Dammit all.

"Wait. I'll tell you and only you." Hinting that the little filly needs to leave.

"Apple Bloom why don't ya go an' find yer friends." Right as Apple Bloom closed the door I began my story. It took a while for me to explain everything, but when I finished I could see a tear trickle its way down her face.

"Ah now don't you cry for me." She didn't say anything, she just nodded wiping away the tear.

"Ah should give ya somethin' else." She got up to get something, but I stopped her.

"This is more than enough. Thank you."

"If ya think so." She sat back down. I remembered the herbs I had in my saddlebag. I levitated them all out of my bag and found one that should help with her cold.

"Here take this. This should help you with your cold. Ya just gotta chew it."

"Thanks." She sneezed once more.

"Well I better get goin'." I attached the sack full of food to my belt and got up to leave. I got to the door before she stopped me.

"I didn't ask yer name."

"It's Handsome Bowtie." I replied.

"Well that's a mighty handsome-"

"Don't finish that joke," I interrupted her, "I hear it more often than I should." I smiled and began to leave. Now I just have to go see... Pinkie Pie... and get my gift from Rarity. I think Pinkie lives at Sugarcube Corner. I could get around Ponyville with ease now. I wonder what Pinkie will have to offer me, maybe a party-

"Did somepony say party!" Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere, like usual, interrupting my thoughts.

"AHH!" I jumped into the air in fright. Once I realized I wasn't on the ground I began to flail my legs. The added weight from my food sack made me tip to the right and land with a THUD on the ground.

"Don't do that," I said tipping myself back over, "I was just coming to see you actually."

"You were?!" She gasped.

"Yes I was. I was wondering if you could help me with my journey to the Badlands."

"Ooo I know just the thing! Follow me!" She started to hop away from me. I had to gallop to catch up. We reached what I had assumed to be Sugarcube Corner.

"Wait here." I stood there awkwardly in the middle of the room. She hopped up the stairs. I could hear a lot of crashing of objects and things being thrown around. What in the hay is going on up there? She came down with a small box placing it on my back.

"Don't open this until you need to."

"Well what's in it?" I took the box off my back to look at it. It was a bright yellow box with streamers attached to it. I carefully placed it into my saddlebag.

"It's a surprise. It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, duhh."

"But how will I know when to open it?"

"When you need to! Silly." Ugh my head.

"Ok... well thank you Pinkie." I left the shop glad that I didn't need to tell her what I was doing in the Badlands, Now I’m off to go see if Rarity has gotten that camouflage done. I was unusually happy. I was almost bouncing like Pinkie Pie. I had no clue what was making me happy. Maybe Pinkie Pie's happiness is contagious. That seemed plausible. I reached the boutique fairly quickly. I opened the door hearing the bell ring.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique! Where everything is chic, unique, and trés magnifique! Oh hi Mr. Bowtie!"

"Hello Lady Rarity. Is my ensemble finished?"

"Yes it is. I do hope you like it." She directed me over to a curtain. Her horn glowed a light blue. The curtain moved revealing a stunning desert camouflage uniform. It had a hood that would cover my horn and conceal me better to my surroundings. The only thing that concerned me was what am I going to do with my saddlebag and equipment?

"This. Is. Outstanding. Truly a master piece."

"Oh it's not that good." She blushed a little.

"Don't be so modest. May I try it on?"

"Of course!" I placed my equipment on the ground and levitated the uniform over and put it on. It was snug.

"Perfect. Simply wonderful. I'll make sure to tell as many ponies in Canterlot about you." She squealed and hugged me so tightly I couldn't breathe. She let go before I passed out. I took off the uniform, folded it, and placed it in my saddlebag.

"Miss Rarity you should breathe." She gasped in air. She was still excited and giddy about what I had said.

"You'd do that for little ol' me?!" Her eyes were wide.

"How could I not?" She hugged me again, "Now then I'll be on my way." I turned to leave the store, but she stopped me.

"Why is it that you are going to that dreadful place?" There's no way I'm going to tell her. Like that idea has work before. I thought rolling my eyes.

"I have to go remove a dragon for Fancy pants."

"But why you?"

"I'd rather not burden a lady of your stature with my problems."

"Tell me!" She was becoming frustrated.

"I will not." I stood my ground.

"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!"

"No." I said forcefully.

"I'm not letting you leave until you tell me."

"I have no time for this." I said coolly. I heard a click sound behind me. She must have locked the door.

"Pleeease." Her eyes were teary and she began to pout. My eye twitched. I can't deal with pouting.

"You mares always have a way to get what you want don't you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I could easily tell she was lying.

"Are you sure you want me to tell you. It's not a happy story. I'd prefer not to see a beautiful mare, like yourself, cry."

"I can handle it." Yeah sure, I thought

"If you say so." I began my story the same way I've told for the others. And just like the others she ended up sad. Well more sad than the others. She was a mess. Hear tears made her makeup run down her face. She was holding me crying into my shoulder. Smearing her makeup on my shoulder and her face.

"Hey now stop that cry'in. You're going to get me started." She let go, but was still crying. I wiped a tear off her face.

"I must go now."

"Al-alright." She choked up.

"Please stop crying."

"O-ok." I gave her once last hug before I left. Oh how I hated to see mares cry. Especially when it was me who made them cry. I started walking towards the Everfree Forest. Now I just have to go through the Everfree Forest, get to Dodge City, go to the Badlands, and either kill or calm Xorthaul down. Then I have to make the journey back. I stopped in my tracks. The thought of the return back never occurred to me. And once again I was in a shitty mood. I began to walk again, planning out what I'll do when I meet Xorthaul. I will try what Fluttershy said and if that doesn't work then I'll have to use force. I was now standing in front of the forest. The wind provided an eerie and ominous feeling. I was nervous. Very nervous. Not just because of the forest, but for Sundance and Ember. Who knows what Fancy Pants could be doing to them right now. If I wanted to see them again I had to go to the Badlands and defeat a dragon. I didn't want to think about the future right now, I just want to focus on the task at hoof. Time to venture into this Celestia forsaken forest.

Chapter six: Abandoned

It was about six in the afternoon. It was getting dark and cold. I got about a good two miles into the forest without any trouble. Except I think my stomach began to digest itself. It has been a few hours since I last tried to eat, but when I tried to eat early it added more time for me to wait. I stopped walking to look around for a safe place to rest and set up camp. As I searched I found a nice open area surrounded by trees. Not the safest, but I'll be able to make a fire without setting the entire forest ablaze. Even though that would be pretty fun to watch this terrible place burn. Says the stallion that has lived here for years. I scouted out the area around my little camp thing, or whatever you want to call it. Just a few harmless animals were scurrying around. I placed my stuff, except my sword, next to a tree. I'm sooo hungry. I complained. I tapped my jaw lightly it was a little sore, but didn't hurt too much. I sat down with my back against a tree. I levitated out an apple, Hopefully this won't hurt, and bit down on it. My jaw didn't send a jolting pain through my skull, just a slight incessant throbbing. I continued to eat the apple savoring its delightful flavor. It begun to get chillier, so I got up to gather firewood. I obtained about twenty or so sticks. I piled them in the center of my camp and struck them with a bolt of my magic causing a light bluish-red flame. I got some time to kill. I pulled out my map and tried to figure out where I was. I'm in the Everfree Forest... well that didn't help. I put away the map, maybe I should practice that barrier spell. I practiced for about forty-five minutes, making a variety of shapes and sizes, before my magic drained me of most of my energy. I got fairly good at the spell, it still took a second or two for me to fully erect the shield, but something's better than nothing. I lay down in the soft grass, staring into the night sky. The warmth of the fire was making me drowsy, so once I regained my strength I erected another shield around my camp. I hope this barrier will stay up while I'm asleep. I closed my eyes falling into slumber's sweet embrace.

~~*~~

I woke up in an unusually dark place. I could barely see my hoof in front of my face. After a minute or two my eyes adjusted slightly. I looked up to see what time it was, but I didn't see anything. Not even any stars. What the fuck? I was now getting a little creeped out. It was so silent not even my hoof steps made a sound.

"Hello? Anypony out there?" I called out. I felt like I wasn't in the Everfree Forest anymore. I continued walking forward. I noticed there were hoofprints in front of me along with an impression of a pony about my size. I couldn't have been here already. I was walking forward this whole time. I tore a chunk of dirt out of the ground and walked forward again. And once again I ended up where I left off, Ok gettin' really freaked out now. Maybe if I turn around. I turned one-eighty degrees and what I saw made my skin crawl. There was a tall, slim pony standing more than three yards away from me. How can I see him? I could see him clearly except his face. Everything between us was pitch black. He was wearing a black suit with a white button up shirt and a red bowtie.

"Hello? Where am I?" The stallion didn't respond, "Hello?" Still no response, this pony is really creeping me out. I suddenly was overcome with the sensation of fear and nausea. I turned and ran as fast as I could. I ended up where I began... again. I looked around frantically, I didn't see him, sighing in relief. I sat down trying to figure out what was going on. The feeling of fright and nausea returned. I slowly turned around to see him standing behind me. I could finally see his face, but he didn't have one. It was just blank, no facial features at all. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I tried to speak, but no words came out. I heard a tearing, ripping sound coming from this creepy monster. His face, just about where his mouth would be, started to split open. Black blood poured from the newly formed hole in his face. He started to make a croaking sound. Strips of flesh were still attached to his mouth. He slowly moved his head to the side of mine. I couldn't move, my eyes were shaking and I was sweating. I could see his mouth was opening wide. He lurched forward clamping down on my neck tearing out a large portion of my neck. Everything started to become blurry as I fell onto the ground gurgling in a pool of my own blood. The monstrous pony stood over me still with the portion of my neck in his mouth. Everything went black as I frantically tried to breathe but only choking myself on my blood.

~~*~~

I awoke screaming, silencing myself quickly. Fucking nightmares. I was drenched in sweat. The flames were dimly flickering. Must have been a few hours, I thought, I might as well get going. I rolled onto my stomach standing up cracking a few joints. I took a long yawn and stretched. I levitated my possessions over and equipped them. Sunlight poured through the thick forest canopy and onto my face. I basked in the rays of sunlight and continued to gather my things. Once I got everything attached, I started towards Dodge City. I assumed it would take another day or two to get out of this forest. That is if I don't receive any unwanted visitors. I hope I didn't just jinx that. I heard some rustling nearby. I dove behind the nearest tree. I carefully looked around the tree. I could see a manticore walking through the bushes. Shit! I did jinx it. I don't think it saw me. The manticore sniffed the air. It was a much larger manticore, probably the alpha male. I couldn't quite tell if it was male or female but I wasn't about to go inspect its junk to find out. It had a jagged scar that across its face. Its hair around its neck was the colour of a ripe apple, as was its tail. It had an approximate wingspan of ten hooves. Quite a magnificent sight, if it weren't for the fact of these creatures being extremely aggressive. I hope that I could wait it out. The manticore moved a few paces towards me. Shit, Shit, Shit! I lowered myself so I would be lying on the ground. It stopped right next to the tree I was hiding behind. I could hear it sniffing again. Maybe if I distract it with my magic... no my over glow would give me away. Shit! What do I do? All I could think of was to just hope something got its attention... I just hope it wouldn't be me. The manticore began to flap its wings. Dust and leaves were scattered about as the manticore flew away.

"Phew that was close," I said aloud, "I really wasn't in the mood for a battle." I got up from behind the tree and continued my journey. As I walked I listened to the sounds of the forest, mainly looking for anything that could be a threat, but I mostly heard peaceful things. Birds signing their morning songs, a light breeze rustling the leaves, a faint crying sound, rushing water... Wait is somepony crying? That is not peaceful at all. I listened more closely and heard what sounded like crying. I followed the sound, increasing my speed from a light trot to a fast paced walk as I got closer to the sound. Now I was sure somepony was crying. I was now in a full gallop searching for the source of the crying. I stopped in front of a small valley. I could see a small colt, about a year younger than Ember, crying into his foreleg. I moved closer to him. I was about three hooves away from him.

"Hello? Are you ok?" Of course he wasn't ok. That was a stupid question.

"AHH!" He screamed, running away from me.

"Wait, I'm not going to hurt you!" I chased after him. He wasn't very fast, so I more of walked after him instead of running after him. The colt didn't listen to me. He dived behind a stump of a tree. I stopped so I wouldn't frighten him anymore than I already had.

"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you, I just wanna help," he was still crying, "I promise I won't come closer. I have some food. You hungry?" He poked his head around the stump staring at me with his tear-filled bright cherry red eyes.

"Y-yes." He whimpered.

"Here I'll give you a few apples." I floated over two apples behind the stump. I could hear him munching on them. "Why are you out here?"

"My mommy and d-daddy and I w-were going f-for a walk and they- they-" he stopped and started crying again.

"They what?"

"They left me!" They what!?

"That's terrible! Why would they do such a thing!?" I was dumbstruck, "listen I'm going to Dodge City how about you come with me and I'll find you a place to stay." The colt came running out from behind the stump and held onto my leg crying into it. I sat down holding him letting him cry. Now that I could actually get a good look at him I noticed he had a bright violet mane and tail, a pure white coat that was riddled with dirt, with a golden bow on his flanks for his cutie-mark. I didn't see a horn or wings, so I assumed he was an earth pony.

"It's gonna be alright." I tried my best to reassure him, "Can you tell me your name?"

"My names i-is Silver Rock."

"My name is Handsome Bowtie. Do you know how long you've been out here?"

"About f-four days." The crying did let up. Four days!? Pretty impressive that he survived this long.

"Poor thing. Don't you worry I'll get you outa here." It's a miracle he hasn't been found by a monster. He cried for another five or so minutes. Then he let go of me, but still sat by my side.

"Do you have any more food?" He sniffled.

"Yeah." I put down the sack of food Applejack gave me and let him rummage through it. He's so cute. How could his parents just abandon him like that? I let him eat for half an hour until it was time to go.

"Ready to go?"

"Yup!" Silver was beginning to be happy again. I was glad that he wasn't crying anymore. Silver hopped up onto my back just like Ember does. He snuggled himself into my back while I attached the food sack to my belt. I was even more observant now than I was before because if we were attacked I would have to protect my colt companion. I heard a soft snoring, Silver must of fallen asleep. It was getting close to noon. I'm making pretty good distance, if you don't include the distractions. The forest was calm and as beautiful as ever. The trees leaves were turning colours. There were flowers of every colour on the ground some of which were deadly, and some I didn't know anything about. I saw one flower in the middle of a patch of pure white flowers that just looked out of place. The flower was pure black. I didn't know what it was other than it being a flower. I walked up to the black flower and bent down to get a better look. That was a terrible mistake because right as my face got close up to it, it shot out a purplish powder into my eyes.

"Ack!" I rubbed and blinked my eyes. Trying to remove the powder. Nothing seemed to happen. I hope it was nothing poisonous. I heard a loud snort from Silver.

"H-huh, what happened?"

"Just this black flower shot some powder into my eyes."

"What black flower?" I pointed to it so he could see.

"Oh. That's not good." I don't like the sound of that.

"What is it?"

"I forget the name, but the powder, it can make a pony hall-halluc-halluc-nate?" He had some trouble saying hallucinate, how adorable.

"Oh, so it's not deadly?"

"No." That's a relief, sort of.

"How long until the hallucinations start?"

"A few hours."

"Why do you know all this?"

"My dad ran a flower shop." He responded sadly. I quickly changed the subject.

"So how'd you get your cutie mark?" This seemed to perk him up.

"A few friends of mine, Flying Snow and Summer Heart, asked if I wanted to have a bow and arrow competition. I said yes. We set up stacks of wood and painted bullseyes on them. Blue was one point, white was two points, and black was three points. My friend Flying Snow went first. She's a unicorn so she had an advantage, but only hit the white. Summer Heart was next, he's an earth pony just like me. He had some trouble holding on the bow, but he got use to it. He focused and hit dead center of the black area. Dumb luck I thought. I went up and grabbed my bow with my hooves and pulled back the arrow with my mouth and let the arrow go. It split Summer Heart's arrow in half. We were all amazed. 'Look' Flying Snow said pointing at my flanks. A golden bow appeared. I practiced most days. I could shoot a falling leaf a mile away!"

"That's amazing. Wish I had a bow and arrow so you could show me."

"What about your cutie mark?" He must have not noticed I don't have one.

"I don't have mine." He stood up on my back.

"What?!" His voice cracked, "How do you not have one?"

"Shush, don't want any monsters hearing us. But to answer your question, I never wanted mine. I don't want to be labeled by a mark on my flanks. I know it tells me what I'm best at, but I just don't want it. If that makes sense." I had a slight fear of getting my cutie mark. I felt like if I were to get mine that is all I would be allowed to do. He sat back down, snuggling himself into my back again. We passed by a tree that was continuously changing colours.

"Hey is that tree changing colours to you?"

"Uhh no." All right so the hallucinations are starting early. It has only been about an hour, it was close to one in the afternoon.

"We should find some place to rest. The hallucinations are starting earlier than expected."

"What about over there?" He pointed to a small cave entrance off to my left.

"That could work," I trotted over to the outside of the cave, "you go wait in these bushes while I make sure it's safe."

"Alright." He hopped off my back and into the bushes. I removed my sword from the baldric just incase a creature was in there. The cave was dark, very dark. The glow from my horn helped illuminate the cave a bit. Drops of water fell from the ceiling. The cave was large and traveled deep under ground where I didn't dare explore. There was nothing, but me in that cave or at least I hoped so.

"It's safe to come in!" I yelled out to Silver. He trotted in.

"What happened to being quiet?" He said blatantly.

"Oh yeah I forgot." I rubbed his head. He grumbled and squirmed his way out of my reach.

"I'm going to go out and gather some fire wood. If anything bad happens just yell out."

"But you said-"

"I know, but if I'm not here I want to make sure you're safe. And DON'T go further into this cave."

"Fine." He mumbled. I left to go gather sticks, I took my sword with me to cut down branches to make it easier for me. I spent a good seven minutes gathering branches before I heard a shout from the cave. I dropped all the branches and sprinted towards the cave.

"Silver! Where are you!?" I heard another shout from deep inside the cave. I ran towards it, the over glow of my horn lighting my path. I found Silver shaking in the middle of a large open area.

"Silver! What did I tell you?" I was angry with him. I just didn't want him to get hurt

"I-I'm sorry." I could see that he was on the verge of crying.

"I just want you to be safe. Why did you not listen?" He shakily pointed his hoof behind me.

"T-that!" I whipped around to be face to face with the manticore I encountered earlier.

"Silver! RUN!" He did us I told him. I quickly erected a barrier around the manticore keeping it in place. This won't hold forever, I thought, must think, need a plan! I was a little panicky. The manticore roared ferociously, its claws digging through my barrier. Fuck it I'm runnin'. Cowardly I know, but what else was I going to do. I didn't want to kill it, but deep down inside of me I knew I'd have to. For now I just have to find Silver and get him to a safer spot.

"Silver! Where are you?" I yelled hearing my voice echo throughout the cave.

"Over here!" He was standing near by the entrance.

"I need you to hide! Someplace you'll be safe! Got it?" He nodded his head vigorously.

"Ok!" He scurried off past me finding a little crevice to hide in. I heard the echoing sound of my barrier shattering. The spell left me somewhat tired. I could hear the manticore growling and sniffing trying to find me. I poked my head around the corner, useless effort because I couldn't see shit. I picked up a pebble and threw it, hoping to distract the manticore. It worked he chased down the cave running in the opposite direction of me. I had to come up with a plan. A drop of water fell on me from a stalactite. Perfect I know just what to do! I found a fairly large boulder I could hide behind. I picked up a rock with my magic and started to tap it loudly on the ground. The manticore came running towards the sound, I floated the rock high up in the air so it couldn't see the rock. It stopped right where I was tapping. It sniffed the ground, then looked around. I smashed the rock into the stalactites, breaking them. The manticore wasn't fast enough. The sharp point of the stalactites pierced its wing and its tail pinning it to the ground. Blood splattered all over the floor. It cried out in pain. I unsheathed my sword to finish it off. I walked up to the manticore, bloodying my hooves. I got too close to the manticore. It slashed the side of my face with its claw. I tried to dodge it, but I still got cut. A trail of blood went down my face dripping off my chin. My eyes were seething with rage, with adrenaline coursing through my veins. I quickly sunk my blade into its skull, twisting the blade. Blood spurted from the wound like a geyser. Warm blood pasted my face. It yelped falling to the ground lifelessly lying on the ground. I pulled my sword out of its skull. There wasn't any blood on the blade. What in the hay? All the blood pouring from the manticores wounds moved towards my sword. It was being absorbed into the blade. Must be a hallucination. I went to go find Silver, the blood trailing after my sword, being absorbed by the blade. It stopped just before I reached Silver's hiding spot.

"Silver? You there?"

"Yeah. Is it safe?" He slowly crawled out from his hiding spot.

"For now. Lets go to the entrance and get a little rest. The hallucinations are getting worse." I produced a ball of light so we could find our way back. Through a few twists and turns and the occasional smashing of my hoof into a stalagmite, we finally made it back to the entrance.

"Stay here while I go get the firewood. I'll put up a shield so you'll be safe."

"Sorry." He said in a meek voice.

"Don't be. You did what you thought was right." I patted him on the shoulder, "I should be sorry for leaving you alone without protection." I raised a shield around the cave and quickly went to gather the branches. I rushed back to Silver, I didn't want to leave him for too long. I stepped through the barrier placing the branches in the middle of the room shooting a bolt of magic lighting it with a magical fire.

"Ooo pretty." I chuckled at Silver's amusement. I lied down folding my forehooves resting my head. Silver came up next to me and snuggled into my side. For once, since the foalnapping of my family, I was truly happy.

Author's Note

I'd really like to hear anypony's thoughts on my story. Anything I should try to do better and things like that?

Chapter seven: A visit from the past

"Bowtie~," a soothing voice echoed, "Bowtie~."

"Huh... Who?" I tiredly got up rubbing my eyes. Somepony was calling my name.

"Bowtie get up. It's time to go." I instinctively got up, slightly moving Silver, and walked through the shield. Silver Rock grumbled and rolled around in his sleep. "Hurry we're going to be late." I sluggishly walked through the forest. I didn't know who was calling me, but I followed the voice anyways. My vision was getting blurry. I rubbed my eyes, clearing my vision. "You made it. I'm glad you came." A mare with a golden-yellow curly mane and tail with a sky-blue coat and dark brown eyes was standing in front of me. It... It was... My mother!

"Mommy!" I ran to her. I went to hug her, but as my forelegs wrapped around her she disappeared.

"No time for hugs my sweet," she was now standing behind me, "there's some ponies that want to meet you." My father, Star Specter, materialized out of nowhere right next to my mom.

"Daddy! What are you both doing here?" I was in tears of joy. I didn't even want to know how they were still alive. I was estatic.

"There's somepony who wants to talk to you." My father pointed behind me. I turned and all the joy left my body. I felt like an empty, soulless husk. I saw a small pegasus filly with a dirty amber coat and an emerald green, greasy mane. She was one of the ponies I had to kill in The Pit. Her name is Firebloom.

"No." I said in denial.

"Why?" She said sobbingly.

"N-NO! You're not here! You're dead!" I was lying on the ground holding my head.

"Because of you." More ponies stood behind her of all different ages, shapes, genders, sizes, and species.

"You killed us." They all said in unison.

"I had no choice!" I was distraught. Tears pouring down my face

"We're dead because you!" Their voices rang in my ears. I turned around to face my parents.

"Help. Please." I looked at both my parents. Large gashes formed on their necks, dark blood pooling from the horrific wounds. They both smiled at me. "NO! This isn't happening!" I was in complete denial. The ponies behind me approached me slowly, "Stay back!" It- it wasn't my fault! I'm- I- I'm sorry!" They continued towards me. Firebloom grabbed my leg. I yelped as she began to sink into the ground taking me with her. The others grasped onto my body, clinging like leeches, dragging me into the depths of the earth. "Help me mother." I pleaded. She just stood there, her blood soaking her coat and the ground, "Father? Please." He too didn't move. "Please! Help!" My head was being dragged completely under the ground the dirt suffocating me.

"BOWTIE!!" I felt a somewhat hard smack across my face, "Snap out of it." It was Silver Rock.

"What- what happened." I rubbed my check.

"You tell me. You were freaking out in the middle of this forest."

"I- I saw them." My entire body was shaking.

"Who?" Silver asked, pulling me along back to the cave.

"My parents. The ponies I fought. All of them, yelling at me." I wasn't paying attention to Silver's questions

"What do you mean you saw them?"

"Dead," I mumbled, "all of them. It's my fault." I was having a mental break down.

"What was your fault?" We were back in the cave. I sat down, staring blankly at the wall still mumbling to myself.

"Mother. Father. Gone because I wasn't good enough. Not strong enough to protect them."

"Bowtie? You're creep'in me out." He nudged me a little.

"Firebloom. I didn't want to hurt you. I- I had no choice. It's my fault you're dead. It's my fault... My fault." I was crying again.

"Here, drink." Silver handed me a canteen of water. I didn't move, "Bowtie... come on just drink." He put the canteen in my mouth and tipped it a little. The cool water rushing into my mouth snapped me out of my break down. I gulped down the water.

"Thanks. Sorry about that."

"What was all that about?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on. It's just me. Nopony else is around to hear." He pouted. Damn pouts.

"Ok fine I'll tell you, but you will not tell anypony else. Got it?" I said forcefully.

"Yup."

"Cross your heart?" He crossed his heart, waiting eagerly for me to tell him what happened.

"I heard somepony calling my name, so I followed it outside. I found the source of the voice. It was my mother. Both my parents died when I was your age."

"That's terrible." He interrupted.

"Yeah. It is. Then many ponies that I had to- to." I broke down in tears again. I didn't want to tell him I killed many other ponies. He'd think I'm a monster. He nuzzled me trying to comfort me. I immediately grabbed him and hugged him. He tried to squirm free, but I wouldn't let go of him. He stopped squirming after a while and hugged back. I let go after a minute or two, "Sorry. I just don't want to talk about it." I said sniffly.

"It's ok. Just no more hugs, I don't like it."

"But you're so cute!" I wiped away some tears, chuckling slightly, "How could I not?" He blushed a little then became angry and moved to the other side of the cave. I honestly didn't know what he was angry about. Oh well. My stomach growled almost loud enough to echo throughout the cave. I went over to the food bag and opened it. There was barely anything left. There were three apples, five bananas, and two zucchinis. I decided to try a zucchini. Never had one of these before. seen 'em just never tried one, "You want something to eat?" He just huffed at me, "Oh come on you can't be mad at me for calling you cute." I spoke with a mouthful of food.

"I'm not mad." He said looking away.

"Yes you are."

"No. I'm. Not." He glared at me.

"Come on tell me what's bothering you."

"My parents."

"Oh," I responded sadly, "want to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about? They left me end of story." Poor fella.

"There's got to be more to it than that." I persisted.

"There's NOTHING more about it!" He yelled.

"Sorry, just wanted to help." I can understand why he was pissed. A little bit. The sudden change from trying to comfort me to being angry with his parents kind of quickly escalated though.

"It's not your fault." He grumbled.

"It's fine. Your position is understandable. We're kinda alike you and I," I tried to speak reasonably, "my parents... dead. Yours. Left you."

"Don't remind me."

"Sorry, I'm just saying that I can somewhat understand." He didn't respond, "We should probably get go'in if we want to get to Dodge City anytime soon." It was already past noon.

"Kay." I lowered the magical barrier, gathered my things, and let Silver jump up onto my back. I peeked my head out of the cave swiveling it back and forth looking for creatures, nothing out of the ordinary. I trotted out and continued our journey to Dodge City. The hallucinations died down after what just recently happened there were still a few things changing colours, but at least I wasn't seeing dead ponies again. I shook my head trying to forget that event. There was a slight breeze rustling the trees. This forest always seems like a nice place, but then there are the deadly plants and animals. There was an awkward silence between Silver and I for quite some time.

"Sooo. What do you like to do?" I decided to ask.

"What's it to you?" He responded grouchily.

"Whoa just trying to make a conversation."

"What happened to being quiet?"

"We've broken that rule enough times already. I just want to know you better."

"How about you finish telling me what happened earlier." Ouch, ok fine I'll tell him.

"Kay. Right after my parents were killed I was foalnapped by the murderer. He took me to the tunnels, under the city of Canterlot, that they called The Pit. It's an arena where helpless ponies fight one on one to the death for their captors to bet on who wins and for their own amusement. I was forced to kill to survive. I wrote each of the names of the ponies I killed on my cell walls. There were so many names I had to write over them. I paid my respects to them each day," a tear escaped itself from my eye, "I was saved by Fancy Pants at the age of sixteen and brought into power. Even above that of the princess's nephew, Prince Blueblood. Then I lost it all and was forced to hide. Years passed, I got married and had a little filly, a little older than you. We lived in this forest for years, until I decided we should move into town. Then we got captured. And now I'm forced to go kill a dragon if I ever wanted to see my family again." Silver was silent for a while.

"I'm sorry." I could feel tear drops from Silver land on my back as well as my own rolling down my face.

"What for? You didn't do anything wrong." A few more tears trickled down my expressionless face, "So are you willing to tell me what's up with you?"

"Yeah. My parents were always too busy to do anything with me. They would work all day and then sleep all night. They acted as if I wasn't ever there. I felt... worthless. One day my parents said that they were going to take me for a walk. I was so happy they finally recognized me. We went on the path to this forest I was skipping happily, but then I realized my parents weren't with me. I searched for them for hours. I was lost, hungry, cold, and abandoned. I wandered the forest looking for food, finding nothing, but monsters trying to eat me. I had to run and hide everywhere I went. Then you found me." I could feel more of his tears dripping on my back

"So why don't you like hugs? If your parents neglected you I'd feel like you'd want affection."

"I don't know." He probably thinks that if somepony shows him attention they will abandon him just like his parents. "Can I have something to eat?" He sniffled.

"Sure, but we have to try to ration it. We don't have much left." I floated out one of the apples for him.

"Thanks." As we walked, we talked about our lives. I tried to keep it happy, but there was few happy memories compared to the sad ones. Silver talked about his friends at school and all the fun times they had and I talked about mine. I told him about Ember and Sundance. I told him about how Sundance and I met. He laughed when I told him she bathed me. He told me about his hobbies, mostly about his archery, which was quite interesting. By the way he told me, he could shoot an arrow in the sky and hit a moving target when the arrow came down. I told him some of mine, mostly reading and learning many, many subjects. I told him about potion making. He took quite an interest when I told him about a potion that could cure mostly anything if mixed correctly, but if mixed incorrectly, well lets just say I'd prefer to keep my spine the way it is. It's a difficult potion to make mostly because of the ingredients needed. They were either way to hard to get or they just sounded like they were made up.

"Look!" Silver propped himself on top of my head and pointed. I looked over to my left and saw a tall and broken stone building.

"Hmm. Shall we go explore?"

"Don't we have to get to Dodge City?"

"It's late, we should set up camp."

"Alright." He hopped off my back and walked with me for once.

"Oh? Decided to not be lazy for once?" I laughed a little.

"I'm not lazy." He huffed.

"Sure. That's why you sit on my back for most of the time."

"Shush your face." He responded jokingly, "your back is comfy and you know it." As we walked towards the ruins I cut down some branches so we would have some heat. Plus I wouldn't have to leave Silver alone again, yay for planning ahead. The ruins were somewhat far away. There was a large canyon separating us from the ruins. There was an old rickety wooden bride that we could cross.

"Silver wait." He was just about to cross the bridge.

"Why?"

"I don't trust that bridge. It doesn't look safe."

"Well how are we gonna cross?"

"I've got an idea," I focused my magic to form a solid magic bridge-like barrier, "there that should be sturdy."

"Should be?"

"Don't worry I'll go first." I first levitated the branches and my equipment over across the canyon.

"Why don't you just levitate us over there?" Silver asked.

"Well levitating myself is an extremely difficult thing to do. And levitating you over is kinda risky."

"Why?"

"Um, lets see how can I explain this." I mumbled, "Magic is very complicated. When I levitate an object I'm, in a way, removing the objects weight making it lighter so I can freely move it about. That's not exactly correct, but it's similar. The more an object weighs the more energy I have to put into it. As for lifting myself that's a completely different story. I don't even understand why it is so difficult to lift myself. So if I were to try to lift you I could, but there's a chance my magic will implode on itself from over exertion and then you would plummet to your death." After I tried to explain how magic worked, I propped one hoof on the barrier bridge with relative ease. Except my hooves shaking slightly. I slowly moved across the canyon and safely made it to the other side.

"Ok now it's your turn." I yelled across the canyon.

"Ok...." he said skeptically. He cautiously walked on the magical bridge. He was about half way across the bridge before a loud crack echoed through the canyon.

"Silver don't-" Before I could finish he panicked and ran. There was more cracking, then the bridge shattered. Silver jumped. I reached out with my hoof trying to catch him, but I missed. "NOO!" I screamed. I grabbed the shrieking colt with my magic. I began to sweat. I put all my strength into pulling up the colt. I just barely pulled Silver over the ledge before my magic imploded on itself. I was panting and exhausted.

"See what- did- I tell- ya." I was trying to catch my breath, “Are- you- ok?"

"Yeah that was a lot safer." He responded shakily. I took in one deep breath.

"Sorry next time you'll go first and decide how we'll cross." Silver forcibly jumped onto my back. Ok I deserved that. I didn't have much time to equip my belongings so I just floated them with us, well more like dragged because my magic was drained. I carried the grumpy, scared colt all the way over to the inside of the ruins. "This must be the old palace of the princesses," I said, "I wonder why it would be in this forest." The walls were weathered and covered in plant life. The stain glass windows barely remained whole and the marble floor was cracked and dirty. The marble pillars were really the only things still intact. Good thing too, I thought, otherwise the ceiling could collapse. Oh great now I'm going to be paranoid. Luckily I found a nice spot that had no ceiling above it. I placed the branches in the middle and stripped them of their leaves placing them in a pile for Silver to sleep on. It was the least I could do.

"What are you doing now?" Silver asked, not to nicely by the way.

"I'm trying to make you a bed so you don't have to sleep on the marble floor." He hopped off my back to test the makeshift bed.

"Comfy. Thanks."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" I said hopefully.

"Not yet," he responded, "but this is a good start."

"Better than nothin'." I made sure to tightly pack the leaves so none would travel into the fire. After that I once again lit the branches and erected a barrier. I was tired, hungry, and I missed my family. At least I had Silver for company.

"I have to go potty." Silver blurted out.

"Do I need to go with you?" I meant to keep him safe, so shut up. Whoever I'm talking to... myself I guess. So I just told myself to shut up. I'm just not going to think about this anymore.

"No. Just telling you where I'll be."

"Ok, be careful." He hastily left rounding a corner leaving my line of sight. Not like I was going to watch him. Ugh I'm doing it again. I shook my head resting it on my legs. Nothing bad is gonna happen, I thought, we’re in due of some good luck by now. I dozed off before Silver came back.

Chapter eight: Out of the woods

Sunlight poured through the hole in the ceiling, shining on my face. I moaned and rolled over onto my back, staring up through the hole. The fire died a few hours ago, I assumed, and Silver's bed was... empty. I lowered my shield.

"Silver!? Where'd you go?" Maybe another bathroom break, come to think of it I really had to relieve myself as well. I went where Silver wandered off. Right as I rounded the corner I spotted a stone figure of a small pony. Hmm that's an odd place to put a statue. I walked over to the peculiarly placed statue. It looked just like Silver... no, there was a skittering sound behind me, No, the skittering drew closer.

"NO!" I whipped around thrusting my hoof out smashing a cockatrice in the face. I could feel its beak shatter against my hoof. Blood splattering my entire foreleg, the cockatrice laid out sprawled on the floor. It quickly rose up and started to flap its wings. "Oh no you don't!" I said menacingly. I put a barrier around the monster and threw it towards myself. I released it from the barrier then I smashed my hoof into its neck making it viciously slam into the ground with a sickening crunch. It was bleeding profusely most of it was on my hooves and face. It again tried to escape but I trapped it in another shield lifting it high up in the air then rapidly dropping throwing it across the room quickly dispelling the shield it crashed into my saddlebag shattering a few bones. One of which pierced through its thick hide gushing out blood. I then picked it up with yet again another shield but this time I floated it in front of Silver. It tried to claw its way out, but to no avail. "Now then your going to turn my friend back to normal OR I could just crush you into little pieces." I said this without looking at the cockatrice's eyes. I turned to look at Silver, he was still stone, "Alright then have it your way." I started to shrink the shield around the cockatrice. It squawked frantically, trying to escape its prison of death. "How about you reconsider my offer and I'll even let you go free." With that I drastically shrunk the shield and almost immediately it started to reverse its curse on Silver. Within a few moments Silver was back to normal. "Thanks," I smirked, "now to hell with you." I shrunk the shield to the point where the cockatrice's bone's split simultaneously tearing open the thick hide turning it into a magical ball filled with blood guts and broken bones. I laughed at the final screech of the beast. I have no clue what came over me, but I just found the whole ordeal funny. I lifted the sphere of blood and guts outside of the ruins so Silver wouldn't have to see.

"Ugh," Silver rubbed his head, "What happened?"

"You got frozen by a cockatrice," he laughed, "very mature," I responded, "I saved you."

"I guess I can forgive you for the bridge thing now. What happened to the, um, what was it called again?"

"The cockatrice?" He laughed again, why does a colt of his age even know what that word is? Unless he's laughing because of something else, I patted him on the head and said, "The monster is in a better place." I didn't want to tell him I just killed the monster in a blind rage.

"Why didn't you kill it?" What? Well I already decided to lie about killing it.

"Well, um... I promised it I wouldn't kill it if it changed you back."

"You should have killed it." What in the hay? He's probably pissed about almost being dead.

"Are you feeling well?" I asked.

"Yeah now that I'm not made of stone."

"Good because we should go now, so we can leave this forsaken place." I levitated Silver onto my back and went to retrieve our stuff. We... well I was making good distance. Hopefully we could get to Dodge City by the end of the day, or at least outside of this forest. We left the ruins going in the opposite direction of the canyon. We were both quiet for a while, but Silver eventually broke the silence.

"Soo... could you tell me about your family?" Silver asked.

"May I ask why you want to know?"

"Jus' wondering."

"Oh, well waddaya want to know?"

"Anything really," That's helpful, I thought sarcastically, "what are they like?"

"Well my filly, Ember, is a very energetic and curios little foal. She loves to lie on my back, she says it's really comfy."

"It is." Silver confirmed snuggling himself into my back.

"My wife, Sundance, is more beautiful than Princess Celestia herself," Well she is to me. Please Celestia don't strike me with a lighting bolt or whatever it is you do, "she's kind, caring, and sometimes over emotional. I'll probably end up getting a whack across the face if I were to keep a secret from her." I chuckled.

"I thought you said she is kind."

"She is, and over emotional, but it's understandable. I know she loves me more than I love her, which I find hard to believe." We continued our conversation for a while until all the trees just abruptly stopped and a desert stood before us.

"Is that it over there?" Silver pointed to a series of buildings.

"I think it is." I stood there a while staring at the buildings.

"Well? Are we gonna go?" I realized that with deserts there most likely wouldn’t be water.

"We're gonna have to get water."

"Do we have something to carry it in?"

"Yeah the canteen, remember?"

"Oh yeah. I gave you some water with it when you were freak'in out." Yeah don't remind me. I pulled out the canteen and noticed a crack in it.

"Shi- shoot." I exclaimed. Must have happened when I threw the cockatrice into my saddlebag.

"What?"

"It's cracked." I responded grumpily.

"Well what now?"

"Uhh... we can make something?" I said not to reassuringly," I think there's a river nearby." I could partially hear the trickling of water some distance away. "Come on lets go." As we walked, I went through countless was of how we could carry the water. Maybe some sort of bowl made out of leaves? It was a stupid idea, but it was the best I had. We reached the river with ease. I looked around for some leaves that could be strong enough to make a bowl. "Silver help me look for something to make some sort of bowl."

"Kay." He looked low while I looked high. Nothing.

"Silver you got anything?" I guess I could carve one out of a tree, but that would take too much time.

"Mhmf." He said with a mouthful of flowers. Good, sort of. I guess if we could fashion these into a bowl I would have to waste my time carving a bowl.

"Ok how do you propose we turn these into a bowl, type thing?"

"Welf ifs very ethsy-" I pulled the flowers out of his mouth.

"Come again?"

"We just have to weave them." Because I do know how to weave, I rolled my eyes. Silver noticed and took the flowers and began to work as I watched intently. After a few minutes he was done with a makeshift bowl.

"Amazing," I was astounded, "how did you know how to do that?"

"My teacher taught us." How convenient, now lets see if it works. I levitated it over to the river and scooped out a large amount of water. It works!

"Well done Silver." He beamed with joy, "Let's get a drink before we go." We both gulped down some of the river water, it did not taste good, but we drank anyways, "Ready to go?"

"Yup!" Silver happily hopped up onto my back, I sighed, "What? I'm kinda tired." Sure.

"It's not that. It's just that this has been one long and tiring journey," I responded, "I just want to get this done with." We reached where we left off. The desert sand was dry and hot.

"Well that's not a good attitude. You should try to have fun with what you're doing!"

"Fun?" I scoffed, "I'll try to remember that when I'm being torn to shreds."

"Waddaya mean?" Oh shit, that's right, I haven't told him the whole story.

"Oh nothing." I know that I'll end up telling him anyways. I can't keep any secrets like I could before.

"Come on~. Tell me!" He whinnied.

"You don't need to know."

"Pwease~?" Well I have already told him most of my life why not this. Plus I have already told him that Sundance and Ember were foalnapped. I guess I didn't say why Fancy Pants was after me or that it was Fancy Pants who was after me. Ha! I knew I'd tell him. I shook my head shamefully.

"Fine, but I'm going to shorten it up. Basically, when I was younger, I made a bet and lost everything. I went into hiding eventually met my wife and had a foal. I assumed that the bet was forgotten, so I thought we could move into town from the Everfree Forest. We got ambushed and Fancy Pants took my family. And now I have to go kill a dragon, named Xorthaul Yinarri, for him to repay my debt." We walked in silence, me in my self-pity and Silver just silently lying on my back.

"I'm sorry I asked," Silver finally spoke up, "I didn't know."

"Well that would be odd if you did know," I said jokingly, "and don't blame yourself, it's not your fault." I magically ruffled his hair. We continued our walk. It was still early in the morning and we covered a fair amount of ground. Silver was now walking beside me. So much for being tired. We stopped to rest and drink what was left of the water. The sun evaporated most of it.

"What are we going to do when we get to Dodge City?" Silver asked.

"Well I am going to the Badlands, but you are going to have to find a place to stay."

"All by myself?!" He sounded shocked.

"No, I'll find you one." He looked extremely saddened by this.

"Why can't I go with you?" His eyes started to tear up. Stay strong Bowtie.

"Because it's going to be dangerous and I want you safe."

"So.. you're leaving me." He sniffled.

"Nonono, not exactly. I will be leaving you, after I find you a place to stay, and if I can deal with this dragon and live I'll come back for you." I tousled his hair. He backed away annoyed, I guess I have been messing with his hair a lot.

"How can I know you will come back." He said even more teary eyed now.

"I promise I will."

"But-"

"Silver. I promised. I never break a promise." He was still sniffling, but seemed a little at ease, "Now lets get moving." We continued towards the city, Silver was being all mopey. I didn't like to see him like that, so I tried to cheer him up, but to no avail. I stopped trying after a while, I wish I could bring him with me, I truly did, but I knew he would be in danger and a danger himself. It was getting hotter and we needed to get to the town soon. Both Silver and I were sweating and panting lightly.

"Silver why don't you hop up onto my back, so you can rest." He didn't say anything, but still hopped up onto my back with a sigh. His added body heat didn't help, but I had to remain strong so he didn't have to. We were a few kilometers away, I could already see the city full of ponies doing their daily chores and what not. I wonder if I could find somepony to foster Silver for a little while. As we neared the city, I noticed the differences between the ponies here from the ponies in Ponyville. For one many of them were wearing clothing, mostly hats, vests and dresses, whereas in Ponyville barely anypony was wearing anything.

"Howdy 'ere!" A voice appeared out of nowhere. Scaring me shitless.

"Gah!" I yelled turning to see a light gray, wrinkly, old pegasus stallion. He was wearing a brown vest with a ridiculously oversized cowpony hat. He laughed at my reaction with a raspy laugh.

"Ah guess ah scared ya 'ere. Ah'm the mayor 'round these here parts." He said vigorously shaking my hoof, he stopped, but my hoof was still doing the motions until Silver hopped off my back and embarrassedly stopped my hoof. "Well who's this lil' fella?" He must of not noticed Silver before.

"Oh, um this is Silver Rock." I was still stunned by the mayor's abrupt arrival.

"Wat a cute lil' foal, is he yer colt?" Silver blushed a little.

"Uh no, he isn't." I'd rather not explain Silver's traumatic experience in front of him. The mayor was looking at me with a slightly disgusted look. I moved over close to him and whispered what happened to Silver, so I didn't look like a foalnapper. His face just looked grim, he simply nodded his understanding.

"So wat brings y'all ta Dodge City?" He started to walk into the city, Silver and I followed.

"Well I'm here just for a short while. I need to find a place for Silver to stay while I'm gone. I also need supplies."

"Ah know a wonderful place will'in ta take 'im in, but it's gon' cost ya." Well shit.

"Yeah we don't have any money." I half chuckled rubbing the back of my head.

"Ah see," he said stroking his chin, "how about ya stop by mah office, ah reckon we c'n work somethin' out." What a nice offer, "Fer now make yerselves comfortable, meet some of the town folk an' meet me in mah office in about an hour." He flapped his wings and flew off. Amazing he can still fly, I could only assume his age, so maybe he is younger or I just assume all old ponies are frail weaklings. Silver and I went around the city talking to ponies, they all had a similar accent to the mayor. Some worse than others to the point where I could just simile and nod. A few of them were shocked that I didn't have a cutie mark, but the majority of them didn't say anything. Silver was still mopey when it was time to go find the mayor and talk about our deal. I walked up to a middle-aged mare.

"Um excuse me? Can you tell me where the mayor's office is?"

"Why ah sure could darlin'!" She responded happily. She just sat there with a blank stare on her face.

"Well? Are you going to tell me?"

"Oh sure, it's right o'er 'ere." She pointed to a building that looked somewhat like a bar. It had two young mares dressed in seductive looking dresses that put far to much emphasis on their flanks.

"Thanks," I said rolling my eyes. I don't think she noticed, "Come on Silver lets go." Silver still wouldn't respond to anything anypony said, "Come on Silver cheer up." Still nothing. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't hug him and it seemed impossible to comfort him. Whatever I give up for now. Silver and I walked into the bar. The shades on the windows were closed but they let through strips of light. I could see the dust floating around in front of my face. There was the main bar to the left and on the right side there was a tall sickly yellow pony playing the piano. There were also more young mares dancing up on a stage dressed even more revealing then the mares outside. Multiple stallions were surrounding each dancer throwing bits up on the stage. One of them noticed me looking at her and blew me a kiss and started doing a very seductive dance. I felt my face getting red hot and immediately looked away. I should not have brought Silver here. I had to crank his head away from the attention of the dancers so he didn't get mentally scarred. He was curious as to why they were dressed like that. I chose to ignore his persistent questions and go find the mayor. I spotted the mayor sitting at the front table chugging an alcoholic cider.

"Pretty nice office you got here." I went up to him and touched his shoulder. He jerked away spastically looking frightened.

"Oh. Yea. My real office is up 'ere." He pointed up past the balcony to a room, "Must o' lost track o' time" His accent wasn't what it was before and his voice wasn't raspy anymore. Strange, I thought

"You do'in alright?"

"Yea, yea. Now then let me first buy y'all a drink." He waved his hoof and the bartender slid three mugs full of alcoholic cider our way. Silver was just about to take a drink before I swiped the drink away from him.

"Uh don't you have something non-alcoholic for the colt." The bartender slid down what looked like regular cider, but the differences between alcoholic and non-alcoholic cider were so subtle. I skeptically gave Silver the mug and allowed him to drink. The mayor chugged his down immediately, while I was just measly sipping mine. It tasted great except for the horrid after taste it left. It went from a sweet taste of a ripe apple to a sour rotten apple dipped in alcohol.

"Now about our deal. I'll set ya up with supplies and a free hotel room fer yer foal," He's not my foal, "if you agree to do what ah say. 'Ere's been some strange occurrences down in the ol' coal mine and ah want ya to investigate." I didn't like the sounds of that.

"What do you mean strange occurrences?"

"Anypony who was work'in in the mine would disappear and some foals went miss'in an' they were last seen near that mine."

"Why can't somepony else do it?" Not that I was afraid or anything.

"They're all pussies," Right in front of the colt. Nice, "Even our strongest stallions fear that place."

"Ok. Well I basically have no choice, so I'll do it." We shook hooves and Silver and I left the bar. Avoiding the attention of the attractive mares. Ok this I cannot tell Sundance about. She'd kill me, even if I weren’t purposely looking. I wasn't, was I? I looked back at the mares in the front. I cranked my head back shaking my head vigorously. I was a bit dizzy from drinking not even an eighth of the alcoholic cider. "You want to go with me into the mines?" I asked Silver. It probably wasn't the safest thing to do, but I was hoping it would cheer him up. He just glumly nodded his head in agreement, I rolled my eyes. "Then lets go Mr. Mopey. To the haunted mines!" I tried to do in a funny voice and enthusiastic tone.