Running from the Past

Lloyd woke up the next morning, the sun shining into his face, brighter than usual. He slept a lot better than before. He didn't have any nightmares this time, and wanted it to stay that way. He got up, and found Twilight already making breakfast.

"Morning, Twi."

"Good morning, Lloyd." It seemed like Twilight had gotten some sleep too. *Good, don't want me keeping her up now, would I?* Twilight then put out some breakfast for the two of them.

"Thanks Twilight, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" Lloyd said, realizing he had just said something he definitely should not of. He quickly put his hands over his mouth. Twilight looked at him with a shocked expression.

"What did you say?" Twilight asked in a cautious tone.

"Nothing, nothing... just an old expression back home." Lloyd said nervously.

"Oh don't worry about it, Lloyd, I understand." Lloyd wiped the sweat from his forehead. A few more seconds of awkward silence passed by.

"Besides, I know you wouldn't eat a horse, right?" Twilight asked nervously.

"No way, never." *Well.......maybe out of desperation if there was nothing else.*

"Again, shut the hell up, brain..." Lloyd muttered to himself.

Lloyd then washed the dishes when both of them were done, and looked around the library. He was just browsing the books. He found one labeled, "Creatures of Equestria." *Hmmph, maybe I can find something similiar to that thing in my nightmares.* He kept reading and reading, but found nothing. He tried reading several more books associated with local flora and fauna, but didn't find a single thing mentioning anything similiar to the creature in his dreams. He was walking back up to his room when Twilight stopped him.

"Lloyd, I forgot to tell you something."

"Yeah, Twi?" Lloyd said, as if it were nothing important.

"Something was left for you on the doorstep, and oddly enough, the only way I could identify that it was for you because it had your name on a small note next to it."

Lloyd then went outside, and found just what she was talking about. The item was a hood, a black one. *Wait a sec.... this looks familiar.* It quickly hit Lloyd like a ton of bricks. This was the very same hood that the creature in his nightmares was wearing. His eyes widened. *What the hell is going on? That....thing can't possibly exist, can it?* He picked it up, and saw that it was just a plain, dark hood, nothing special, although there was something about it that unnerved him, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Lloyd didn't exactly tell Twilight about the hood part. He decided not to tell her about the creepiness of this item, he didn't want to scare Twilight. He picked up the note, and it only said his name on the front of it in red letters. Lloyd took both items inside.

He put both items right onto his bed, chosing to worry about it later. He walked back downstairs, and realized he didn't have anything to do. *Well, I guess I'll just help people in town.*

"Hey Twilight?!" Lloyd called.

"Yes?"

"I'm gonna go into town, see ya later!"

"Okay then, goodbye Lloyd!" Lloyd then walked out, shutting the door behind him.

Within a few seconds, Lloyd realized something. *Wait a sec, don't I need a job?*

"I'll worry about that later, I still got plenty of bits anyways..." Lloyd muttered. He began walking through town, seeing that it was quite busy. *Guess I'll go help Applejack with the orchard or something, whatever.* He started walking towards Sweet Apple Acres. Within 20 minutes, he was at the orchard. He saw Applejack harvesting some apples off of the trees, and walked up to her.

"Howdy there, partner, what brings ya here?" Applejack asked.

"Hey Applejack, I was wondering if you needed any help?" Applejack quickly nodded. She gestured to some of the apple trees.

"Can ya gather some of those apples and bring 'em back here for me?" Lloyd looked to where she gestured and nodded.

"Sure, seems easy enough." Lloyd said nonchilantly. He walked out to where the trees were, and started picking out all of the apples fit to eat. It took him about an hour and a half, and then he was finished. He walked over to where Applejack was gathering even more apples, along with a pony he didn't recognize.

"Here you go, Applejack, all of the apples out there, and who would this be?" Lloyd gestured to the stallion at her side.

"This is Big Macintosh, my older brother." Lloyd looked back at Big Mac, the stallion then offered his hoof. Lloyd gladly accepted his handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Big Macintosh, I'm Lloyd."

"Eeyup."

"Well, I should be off now, see you guys later!" Lloyd said.

"Goodbye!" Applejack waved back at him.

*Alright, now who else needs help?* He quickly looked around town and saw nopony he recognized. So, he decided to just help anyone he could. It took him quite a while, but he managed to help the entire town. He looked up at the sun, and guessed that it must've been 4 o'clock. Lloyd decided to walk back home. He didn't walk too long however, before Vinyl waved him over from the entrance of her house.

"Hey, Lloyd."

"Hi, Vinyl."

"Hey Lloyd, you never really showed me the other music you listened to on Earth." Vinyl said.

"Why don't you come over and show me sometime?"

"Um, yeah, I think I could manage that. I'll be over later, if not today, then tomorrow, definitely." Lloyd said. Vinyl instantly changed her expression to a look of glee.

"Awesome, I can't wait!" Vinyl said with anticipation.

"See ya later, Vinyl!" Lloyd said while waving back to her.

Lloyd walked back home, and upon reaching the door, found a note. Lloyd read the note.

Lloyd, I need your help for an experiment. I'm in the Everfree Forest, next to Fluttershy's cottage. Please come ASAP.

-Twilight

"Alright, I guess I know where to go next." Lloyd already knew where most of the mane six lived, with the exception of Rainbow, although he knew that she lived somwhere in the clouds. He began walking towards Fluttershy's place. It didn't take very long, and he quickly reached the edge of the experimental grounds. It was a large clearing, and it looked pretty peaceful. He didn't see Twilight, though. He looked around, before walking into the middle of the clearing. He heard a sizzling sound, and looked down to find a spell cast onto the ground, and he was standing on it. *How the hell did I not notice that?* He quickly realized that something was gonna go off, and only managed to take one step towards the right, before an explosion went off.