Dreams: Humanity

Chapters

2: Home Invasion
3: Welcome Party (Part One)
Act One: Daydreams
3: Welcome Party (Part Two) (Revised)
4: Joke's on You
5: This is Why... (Revised)
6: Attentive Intentions of Attractive Attacks (Revised)
7: Watch Me Burn
8: Cutie Mark Crusaders Animal Bait
9: The Prankster's Party Arena
1: We Never Ask
Act Two: Night Terrors

2: Home Invasion

1: We Never Ask

I opened my eyes to the blanket of darkness and deafening silence of night, listening for any signs of noise. The recent string of break-ins in the area were keeping me on my toes, maybe even making me paranoid. I reached a hand under the bed and grabbed the handgun in the small cubby I had built underneath the frame of the bed. I paused when I heard a noise, a loud slam against my bedroom door, but quickly I reacted by pointing the gun towards the door, aka the giant fucking monster staring at me from where there used to be a door.

“Shit!” I shot, aiming for its head, when it disappeared in a flash of light. I shivered when I felt something breathing down my neck in the same instant. I leapt from bed, trying to get away, when two clawed hands grabbed my ankles and pulled me backwards. I fell forwards, slamming my head into the hardwood floor as I was dragged towards my attacker. Stunned, I was unable to fight back as the creature pulled me into its warm, wet embrace. I felt whatever liquid it was covered in slowly conform to my body as it pulled me closer, and nearly screamed as the liquid moved up my body and into any open space, trapping me in an inescapable cocoon.

I fought back, of course, firing every round I had into the thing’s gut, to no avail. It continued to coat me until I couldn’t move a single muscle, before flinging me backwards through my dresser and into the wall behind it. The cocoon helped cushion the blow, but it didn't mute the pain, and I bit back a cry of agony as fragments of the dresser were forced through my back. I fell forwards to the floor, only to sink through and fall into the room below, normally the living room… But now a torture chamber that looked like something from the SAW movies.

I fell perfectly on some sort of stretcher, my arms and legs being clamped down by some sort of cuffs. I noticed that, thankfully, the creature didn’t appear, and the wooden shards that had occupied my back previously were gone. Of course, I was in the perfect position to be tortured so I didn’t have the time to be happy about it.

I waited, time passing slower than I had ever seen, for it to begin… But it never came. Instead, the stretcher morphed into my bed, and the room into my old bedroom, from when I was a teenager. I noticed that the cuffs changed into rope, and I was tied to the bed by the bedposts.

Then my sister walked in, wearing something nobody wants to see their big sister wearing. I’ll just say there was a lot of leather, and it was pretty tight fitting.

“Oh hey little brother, I didn’t think you’d be ready to go again so soon.” What? “Oh, but if you insist little brother, I can’t say no to you!” She smiled oddly, and with a crazed look in her eyes she began to undo (unstrap, unchain, unzip) her leather outfit. I tried to cry out, to tell her to stop, but I found in my mouth was a ball gag.

It was happening all over again.

Then she pulled off her outfit, and I was thankful there was a gag in my mouth or I may have puked… The parts of her body previously covered in clothes (as loose a definition as those fit) were burnt, bloody, bruised and beaten. There were no traces of the body ever belonging to a human, save the basic shape. Then the parts that still looked human changed, forming into the creature I had fought before. Her face contorted, stretching forward like a horse’s, but her teeth became more like a mix between a shark and a jaguar. Her arms stretched longer than should have been possible, the fingers curling into large, sharp talons that she drove into my legs.

“Why didn’t you try to save me, why didn’t you let me drive the car? Don’t you want to have any more fun!?” She then became an it, and pounced on my defenseless form.

I woke the fuck up, covered in sweat despite cold wind blowing against my skin. Wait, why is there cold air in my room? Why is there wind in my room either, I didn’t open my windows. As it turns out, half of your house being torn to shreds tends to solve the wind blockage problem.

*--^--*

“Of all the ways to wake up…” I muttered, rolling off the bed and falling to the floor with a loud thud. A part of me hadn’t realized part of my bedroom was gone, and I was going through my normal waking up routine. A few moments later, however, a cold breeze blew against my back and I was done waking up, and I started to freak out.

I looked at the lack of a wall across from the bed, and the destroyed furniture that was perched precariously on the edge, and cried out “What is this?!” I pounded the floor with a fist, muttering, “I don’t like change.” I then looked to my right and saw, in my cubby, my handgun and the three clips I left with it. As a precaution, (if there ever was a time for it) I grabbed it, giving it a once over before trying to recover any clothes from the mess. I did so quickly, pulling on a blue shirt and jeans, as well as recovering my knife and my sunglasses.

I jumped when I heard something hit the floor behind me, and quickly turned to face it. It was a fearsome wallet, which had been on the edge of the remnants of my dresser. The wind must have knocked it down, or something.

“Damn, I could have died.” I breathed sarcastically, forcing myself to take a moment to calm myself before retrieving the leather storage device. I contemplated taking it for a moment, idly flipping through the folds as I checked for anything important. Glancing out the hole in my room and seeing only open fields ahead, I decided to bring my driver’s license. It was that piece of plastic that gave you a feeling of freedom when you got it, the key to a large world you couldn’t fathom…

And it was always one of the worse pictures you took for some reason. I glanced at the man in the picture, a photo I had taken not two weeks ago. My hair hadn’t grown past my shoulders; my eyes were a deep blue that reminded me of—

No, I can’t think of that now. Focus on the important stuff, worry about that later. I shook my head, running a hand through my hair as I stared at the plastic rectangle. My name was in bold black letters next to my picture.

My name is Cian Cleary; I’m 22 years old from Waterford, Ireland. My parents were from Ireland as well, both of them. You could probably hear it in my voice, despite having moved to Minnesota when I was eleven. My sister, Mary, was fifteen then…

I realized I had been standing in the middle of my room for several minutes and almost laughed at my carelessness, when something behind me saved me the trouble. I kicked backwards, pushing myself off whatever had laughed and rolling forwards, towards my now closed bedroom door.

I’m really out of it, huh? I turned to face the source of the laugh and saw only what looked like a mix between a bug and a small horse. Its legs were about as long, but thicker and with no apparent joints. They were littered with holes though, which made me wonder how they could even walk. It had wings too small to fly, yet it did so with ease, lifting carefully into the air, so it was eye level with me. Its face was the strangest though, as from different angles it seemed to be shaped differently, almost like it wasn’t always the same shape. It seemed to have a strange hybrid mix between a human and a horse’s face though, with bright glowing purple eyes that seemed to stare into my mind.

I watched the creature uneasily, gun trained on its forehead, under the twisted horn that jutted from its head, as the said appendage began to glow a faint lavender color.

“H-Hey!” It paused, its eyes shifting slightly in brightness for a moment. “Stop that! Whatever you’re doing, or I’ll shoot you.” I stated with authority in my voice. It, however, didn’t seem to believe me, and it continued doing whatever it was that it was doing. “Do you speak English?” It paused again, but didn’t wait as long as before. “ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?”

‘I no longer speak, since my voice no longer has a weight to carry. I do, however, understand the language you are speaking. It is common Equestrian, is it not?’ A woman’s voice rang out in my head, reverberating against the walls, which I apparently had, of my mind. I shook my head, when another force pounded against them, smashing a hole through the barrier and into my thoughts.

I couldn’t form a rebuttal as all coherent thought left me, and I took to moaning in pain with my head in my hands. Another force pushed against me as the creature approached my unmoving form, and it was then I realized whatever it was trying to do, I had to stop it.

When it got within stabbing range, I drew my knife. The moment its horn met my forehead, I struck, stabbing the metal through the underside of its skull, below the chin. At the same moment, I heard the voice in my head scream, as memories flooded into my unexpected mind. Memories of darkness, of… Of…

Something I couldn’t remember. I tried to focus on the memory, but it was gone before I could figure it out. So was the voice, I noticed upon searching for the lost memories. One memory was not lost, a memory I wish had been.

The memory of death, of a knife being pushed under my chin as my life was quickly snuffed out, it was a memory I wasn’t ready to relive.

3: Welcome Party (Part One)

2: Home Invasion

Chapter 2: Home Invasion

I could do little but let the body fall to the floor as I recovered from the mental assault I had endured. Whatever that thing had been, what it could do wasn’t normal. It was as though it was feeding on my memories, or my emotions. No matter what it could feel, it was trying to hurt me and I had to kill it, right?

I shook my head, sheathing the knife and muttering, “Focus, you've killed before. You've fought in a god damn war, why is now any different?”

‘Experiencing death from the opposite end of the hallway can be jarring.' What in the actual fuck? ‘You seem surprised by my arrival.’ It was the same woman’s voice, the one from before. The voice I had associated with the thing I just killed, and it was in my head again.

‘My name is Mirror Image, and yes you did just kill me. Let’s not focus on the bad memories though, shall we?’ Sorry, what? I jumped to my feet, recovered my things and opened the bedroom door, drawing my pistol. This place is getting to me, have to focus. ‘I’m sure I could help you.’

I growled, “Okay first off, even if you exist, how could you help me and why the fuck would you want to? I did just kill you, what’s to stop you from trying to do the same to me? And if you do exist, how are you here?” I wasn’t sure if I expected an answer, but I got one, to my surprise and annoyance.

She sounded as annoyed as I was, ‘Yes, I exist and yes, you did just kill me, There you go with the bad memories again. And as to your how I can help you, I can help you focus. As to the why… I’m stuck here. I don’t know how or what happened, but I was sort of transferred here, when you killed me. So if anything, killing you would just kill me again.’ I couldn’t really argue with that. ‘No, you can’t. Also, you don’t have to talk out loud for me to hear you, this is just fine.’ Thanks for the information, but I don’t plan on indulging my crazy side.

‘Well, you should be thanking me, but I assure you that I’m not the product of something gone wrong in your head.’ I swear to god I heard her chuckle. ‘Although, now that you mention it… I’ll need time to figure this out, go back to staying alive or whatever you usually do.’ I didn’t want to know what she was doing in my head—‘Yeah, you probably don’t. Not that I would lie if you asked.’ –so I didn’t ask, instead turning left down the hallway, straight down the stairs and into my living room.

The room was hardly anything special. There was a flat screen against the wall, a sofa against the opposite wall between two end tables, and an Xbox. The walls were a faded grey, and without decoration. All in all, it was a boring room to fit my boring life.

I was contemplating packing a bag when I was rudely interrupted by Mirror. ‘Listen, I may have found something. As it turns out, I can do more than sense what you sense, I can also sense what I would normally be able to sense.’ Right… This sounds like it’s gonna be bad. ‘We might be… Fucked, as you would put it?’

I turned, running up the stairs and back into my bedroom. How so? I grabbed a bag from my closet (not sure how it survived whatever happened, but I won’t complain) and quickly stuffed some of the clothes strewn about the room into it.

‘I smell Diamond Dogs, and they’re angry about something. I can’t tell what, but they should be in the house any—’ A throwing axe whizzed past my ear, lodging itself in the floor inches from my outstretched hand. ‘—second. Okay, now’s a good time to run. You have a plan, right?’ No. Yeah! ‘Liar.’

I felt a large paw slam into the back of my head, propelling me through the wreckage and nearly out of the room, though I just barely managed to keep from falling off the edge. I was dazed however, and my attacker took advantage of that, grabbing my ankle and pulling me across the floor to them. In seconds I was off the floor, hanging by my ankle, being held by god knows what.

But as I slowly rotated, I found myself less and less enthusiastic to find out. It was covered in grey fur, wearing a leather vest and sunglasses. It had to be at least seven feet tall, with muscled arms and muscled everything else.

It noticed my frightened look and grinned, “And here I thought I found something worth fighting. I guess I just found another scaredy cat, eh?” It took me a moment to register that the question wasn’t rhetorical, and I shook my head, reaching for its hindlegs and pulling my head forward, slamming it into its groin with as much force as I could muster.

I felt myself slip from its grasp as it screamed in pain, falling to its knees. I heard pounding coming from the hallway as I rolled to my feet, and I noticed two more of the “Diamond Dogs” enter the room, both varying in size compared to the one curled up on the floor. I felt my burst of courage taper off as the two produced knives longer than my arms, but I felt a burst of something else coursing up my arms. I held them out to observe them, and marveled as they glowed a dark blue, similar Mirror’s horn originally.

“What the fu—HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” I screamed as two bolts of red lightning shot from my hands, striking the dogs and throwing them through the bedroom wall. My hands also went numb, and I suddenly lost the will to move. I fell over, and I felt reality begin to slip away as the edges of my vision go dark…

No. Stay awake, stay alive. You can’t sleep now… As much as I hated to admit it, I was right. I didn’t try to move, although I did everything I could to stay awake as my energy slowly returned. Very slowly, I felt just able to stumble to my feet. The moment my hands touched the floor, however, I realized they weren’t numb anymore. And boy did that hurt.

I fought to stay awake against the brutal pain now flaring up my arms, avoiding any contact with anything and my hands as I retrieved my bag (painfully, but just able to manage it) and hurried down the stairs, and out the front door (which, thankfully, had been smashed down.)

I never found their bodies, but I did find that the hallway had a strange coating of dust when I did return…

*--^--*

Two hours of stumbling through the forest later, and I was heavily considering suicide. The pain in my hands hadn’t retreated, no matter what I tried to do to ease it, and to make matters worse I had Mirror in my head.

‘Seriously, you need to find some help.’ She suggested, though her tone of voice leaned more towards a command.

“Yeah, I know.” I responded out loud, not giving any fucks. “What do you think I’ve been doing for the past two god damn hours?”

‘Wandering aimlessly through a forest, not asking your friend, who just so happens to be native to the area, for help?’ I almost stopped when she said friend, but I decided to let it slide. Slip of the tongue, I’m sure.

But she had a point, as much as I hated to admit it, which I did very much so. “Fine, where the fuck should I go for help?” There was silence for several minutes, until I got fed up with waiting and continued going straight.

Ten minutes later, I was considering self mutilation just so I could see if Mirror could feel pain.

‘Actually, I can but it’s dulled. What you consider painful is only uncomfortable to me, luckily.’

“Where in the fuck have you been?” I demanded, slamming my fist into a tree in anger, only to bite back a scream of pain as I stupidly stared at my hand.

‘Trying to find a solution to your problem, and I think I have. There’s a mare in a town not far from here, she has a lot of experience with magic and would surely be able to help you. Just keep going straight, you’ll find it eventually.’ I was ready to scream, but held it back. She was trying to help, I couldn’t yell at her for that.

“Thanks.” I granted her a curt reply before walking the rest of the way in silence.

As it turns out, the forest is really boring. It was trees, trees, trees and, you guessed it, mushrooms. I did notice several pairs of glowing eyes watching me carefully as I passed, but I ignored them in light of my situation. Eventually, the forest began to thin out, until I was walking up a grassy hill with no trees in sight.

There were, however, buildings. And denizens of the town going about their business. And in that instant, something Mirror had said earlier hit me.

“Wait, you said mare. Did you mean mare as in female horse?” I didn’t hear a reply as I saw one of the denizens of the town look in my direction, in all his horsey gloriousness. He was tan, with brown hair and a matching tail and an hourglass on his ass.

I could have sworn he looked familiar, though how I couldn’t guess.

The moment his eyes locked onto mine, his calm expression changed into one of fear. Oh shit.

“M-M-MONSTER!” He cried, and just like that every equine in eyesight escaped the area, fleeing into homes and down alleyways. Just under a minute later, the streets were empty. A tumbleweed rolled across the street, and I swear I heard crickets, despite the sun directly overhead.

“This will be fun.” I said flatly, starting down the dirt path which led into town.

‘Your definition of fun is confusing, Cian.’

Act One: Daydreams

3: Welcome Party (Part One)

Chapter 3: Welcome Party (Part One)

I walked forward slowly, carefully listening for any noise that would indicate life. But I quickly realized there was no point, anything to be worried about fled minutes beforehand. So I simply shrugged and walked down the path, not being subtle in the least.

“Hey, people of the living world! I won’t hurt you or anything, I just need some help!” I shouted, hoping to draw out a daring soul… Which, after several minutes of waiting, I realized was a futile effort.

‘Yeah, it is. Listen, you’re looking for a big tree. That’s where the unicorn you’re looking for lives.’ Unicorn? Are you serious? ‘Listen; suspend your disbelief for a few minutes. Keep in mind; you did shoot lightning out of your hands to defend yourself from bipedal talking dogs at the warning of the voice in your head.’ I couldn’t argue that (then again, if I did wouldn’t that make me crazier and disprove my point anyways?) I do have to ask, though. What’s to stop this unicorn from fucking my shit up if she’s as strong as you’re making her out to be? ‘Easy. She’s curious and eager to learn.’ I left it at that, opting to search the town, which creepily enough was dead silent.

Eventually, I found this tree, and calling it a tree is accurate but also inaccurate at the same time. It seemed to be a tree, but it was maybe twenty-thirty feet tall, with windows a little bigger than my head, at about groin level. Further up the tree I saw a small balcony on which was a telescope… How it would be worked by horses, don’t ask me because it hurts my head to think about.

I approached the door, which was about as high up as my shoulder, and kicked it, surprised when it swung open. Right, that’s normal I’m sure. I crouched, peering into the room and, noticing nothing out of the ordinary, (as ordinary as a horse library can get) I entered the library, shutting the door behind me.

“Hello?” I called out, to Mirror’s displeasure.

‘What are you doing!? If there’s something wrong here, you could have gotten us killed!’ Maybe, but I don’t think so. ‘You’re a moron.’ Something WAS wrong, but to tell her where I thought the wrongness was would have ended badly.

The library looked both primitive and advanced, every wall that didn’t have a door or window was covered in books, and I looked up the stairs to see even more books, and several doors which I assumed led to bedrooms. There were candles and torches, because logic doesn’t exist here apparently. Then a unicorn came walking out of what looked like a kitchen, covered in ash and soot.

“Spike, the oven is—oh dear.” She froze when she saw me, her eyes widened in fear, but there was a glint of curiosity in them as well, something that surprised me.

“Hey.” I said simply, when I felt the wrongness creeping into the back of my mind. Oh fuck this. I took a step back, watching as my hands clenched into fists, and I bared my teeth, against my will. The unicorn looked terrified, and it was my fault.

It felt amazing… “I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU WHORE!” I jumped forward, wrapping my hand around her horn and pulling her to the ground. I wrapped my other hand around her throat and held her against the floor as she struggled. I pulled her horn up, feeling the resistance, but also the frailty of the bonelike object. So easily destroyed, it would ruin her…

No, this is wrong. I can’t do this, what are you doing Mirror? ‘Avenging my people, something you’ve never been good at.’ Only the weak let their people die in the first place. That threw her off for a few seconds, enough for me to release the horse, and I used those few seconds to smash my head into the nearest wall, dazing both me and Mirror even further. Again, I threw myself into the wall and finally put my head through the wall, when I blacked out.

Because trying to be all dramatic and convince the voice in your head people don’t deserve to die is retarded. No, repeatedly slamming my head into a wall isn’t dramatic. Just shut up, seriously.

*--^--*

I opened my eyes to darkness, and a biting cold that chilled me to my very bones, and, worst of all, a pounding headache, which wasn’t helped by the pissed off bug horse lady screaming at me. Basically, the night after my first high school party.

‘What the FUCK did you do? I was so close, that whore was the whole reason my FUCKING hive was wiped out! After so long, I HAD THE CHANCE TO GIVE THEM PEACE! AND YOU RUINED IT!” She then broke down, sobbing into her hooves.

For a moment, I felt sorry for her. “I…” I paused. “I understand what you might be going through.”

That was the wrong thing to say, as she made it obvious. “Do you? How could you!?” She questioned, glaring at me. “To lose your entire family, watch what may as well be your entire race get wiped out, you understand?” There was silence for a moment.

Then I looked down at her, my eyes blurring with unshed tears finally falling. “Yeah, I kind of do.” I whispered. “Maybe even worse, if you look at it from my perspective. Imagine watching millions of people die, people you could have helped but didn’t because you were told not to. Imagine killing thousands on your own, only because you were told they deserved it. Imagine watching a group of people you spent years getting to know die around you because you weren’t fast enough, strong enough. Imagine the two people you trust most in the world turning on you for their own personal gain, no matter what it does to you, how much you might protest? There is no comparing loss, but it’s never better or worse.” I knelt, placing a hand under her chin. “But as much as you might think they want vengeance, they don’t. They only want you to be at peace, and the first step to doing that.” I moved away, stretching my arms out. “Is to let go.”

I saw the look of anger shift to one of pity mixed with grief. She stood, sniffled, and threw herself at me. For a moment, I thought she was going to attack me, but as I felt her arms around me, her head buried in my shoulder, I knew she was hurting. “I’m… I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking, I can’t imagine what you think, or what you feel.” (Irony therein of itself, when you think about it for a moment). “It was wrong…” We stood there for a moment, silent other than the occasional sob.

The moment turned into what felt like hours, and I decided to break the silence. “Listen, let’s not act like it’s a competition. Just, promise me something. Promise you won’t take control of me like that, and don’t hide something like that from me again. We have to be completely honest with one another, okay?” She nodded, not saying a word. “That’s good enough for me. So, do we just wait until I wake up?” Nod. “Okay… Time to meet the locals, eh?”

*--^--*

August 12th, 2015. Somewhere on the Pacific Ocean.

A little under a month after my 18th birthday, I was gone from my previous life. I had already spent a year training for the opportunity to fight for my country. Hah, what a fucking joke. The truth of the matter is I needed a reason to get away from my ever loving mother, and she was more than eager to sell me off as a mercenary of sorts. I hadn’t been training specifically to fight for this country, but I wasn’t surprised when my services were requested. Well, not any more surprised than anyone hiring someone with no experience, but I can’t complain.

I did, however, complain when they asked me to strap a bomb to my chest and walk into a Chinese embassy with an assault rifle.

“What are we, the fucking Taliban or some shit?” I demanded, stepping back to get out of arms reach of the suits standing across from me. Not because I was scared of them, but because I was scared for them. Definitely that.

“It’s an EMP, it’ll disable their communications. No explosion, no worry.” One replied, holding the explosive out for me to examine, as if there was a chance of me actually taking it.

“Yeah right, no I believe you. Sorry, I was hired to be a mercenary, not a martyr.” I turned to leave, but something made me pause. That something may or may not have been a dart hitting me in the neck. "You ass... holes..." I fell over, and then I--

--came to a few hours later, in a dumpster with a suspiciously large beeping box strapped to my chest, and a gun. The box was fairly uncomfortable, and emitting a strange white glow. Everything seemed too quiet as I moved around, and a quick examination showed that I had earplugs in, for some ominous reason. Another once over produced a pistol and a grenade, alongside a picture of a building I didn’t recognize. Finally, I found a note, and I could just make out the words “Do your job, and you’ll stay in one piece to do another.”

"…Motherfuckers."

3: Welcome Party (Part Two) (Revised)

Chapter 3: Welcome Party (Part Two)

I stared at my chest, expecting it to flash at any moment, to feel the force of the explosion as it tore me apart. But nothing happened, and as I stared at it I determined that it was not, in fact, an explosive. It was some sort of transmitter, with a blank screen and speakers along the shiny silver edges. Basically, I had a thick Ipad strapped to my chest, although something deep inside told me it wasn’t a normal ipad. I felt the plugs in my ears and, after some rigorous testing I noticed I couldn’t hear shit, so I pulled them out.

I had climbed out of the dumpster to find it was the middle of the night, and as such there was next to no one on the street, but I left the gun anyways. No reason to draw attention to myself, right? I walked out of the dark alleyway I inhabited to find the building the dumpster was backing was none other than the building in the picture. I can’t read Chinese for shit, but from the armed men in the windows staring at me, I had a feeling it was a fairly important building. Behind the soldiers though, I saw kids, at least a dozen of them.

“Go fuck yourselves.” I said as loud as I dared, hoping the thing on my chest had a microphone on it. “It’s one thing to make me kill people. It’s another to ask me to blow myself up for you, but to blow up a bunch of little kids? What the hell is wrong with you people?” The street was silent, save for the noise from the building I was standing in front of. Something was wrong; the people I could see were in a panic… Some of those people being armed guards; I had a reason to believe there was something important in there.

Suddenly, the chest pad came buzzed to life, and a familiar voice sounded from it. “Just go into the building, you’ll understand. Consider this a… Welcome party of sorts.” I had never been more terrified to go to a party. Well, there was every birthday after my thirteenth, but that was only because of—“Hurry the fuck up and get into the building, or we’ll kill you and get someone else to do it.”

I couldn’t argue with their logic, and the next guy they found might have been even worse. I was hoping this wasn’t what it looked like. I was hoping… I was hoping this was some dream I had to wake up from. But it wasn’t a dream. It was still the same shitty place. I felt the pad on my chest begin to whir as the voice quickly said, “Put in your earplugs, quick.”

Like the mindless drone I was slowly becoming, I did so. As I did, I noticed the men in the windows acting… Funny is probably the best word for it, because bleeding from the ears while having a seizure really doesn’t have a description. (Although, now that I think about it, it wasn’t all that funny to watch.) I put two and two together, and I felt a little sick.

“I’m sorry.” I breathed, taking my first steps towards hell.

*--^--*

I was tied to a chair, surrounded by multicolored horses, in a tree house. I came because the voice in my head told me to after I shot lightning from my arms to defend myself from the giant dog people, after waking up in my house, finding I was in the middle of fucking nowhere.

If I wasn’t already tied up, I would have strongly recommended that it was done quickly.

There were six of them in the plain room, two unicorns, two pegasi, and two normal horses. (Mirror kept correcting me; apparently they’re “ponies”) The purple unicorn from earlier was the only one who I could see. She was levitating a quill, taking notes I figured, occasionally tossing a glance my way. I caught each one and threw back a stare of my own, and so the game of catch continued. It went that way for at least an hour without a word spoken, until finally she set down the quill and turned towards me.

“So, I’m not sure who you are, or why you’re here, but I hope to figure it out. So, let’s start with something simple: What’s your name?” She spoke in a kind tone, it almost sounded sincere. I pondered the question for a moment, wondering if I should hide it.

No, they’ll trust you if you’re honest. I told myself, and I was usually sensible. “Cian.” I decided to play it neutral, hoping to talk my way out of it. “What’s yours?”

She smiled, and if I weren’t smarter I would have thought it was a true smile. “My name is Twilight Sparkle… I would have thought you would know that, if you had been sent to kill me.” Oh, right. “Speaking of which, who did send you? Was it the cats, because I already said I was sorry about the joke! Actually, it was probably the changelings, now that I think about it.”

I thought back to Mirror. “Causing the extinction of an entire race tends to make them mad. But no, I wasn’t sent by either of them.” I would have to hear that joke later, if it was bad enough to kill over.

She didn’t know how to respond, opting to stammer and scribble something down on the paper instead. And so it continued, the silence from before. After a few minutes, she turned to me again.

“So nopony sent you? Why are you here then?”

“Nobody sent me, no.” I didn’t comment on her odd wording. “I was told where to find you, but I came of my own accord.” I noticed something just as I was about to tell her why I was even there. “Did you notice anything strange about me while I was out?”

She pondered that for a moment, “Is that a trick question?” She smirked, before nodding. “I noticed signs of extreme magical overload on your arms, and no signs of magic use in any part of your body other than your arms, despite you being full of it. I hope you’ve been maintaining a healthy amount of magic use, and I’m just wrong, right? Because by the looks of it, you shouldn’t even have arms.” Foreboding, no?

I turned away from her. “No.” I coughed, and then I quickly asked. “What happens if I haven’t used magic my entire life because I didn’t have it?”

Twilight looked at me like I was insane, and then looked at the others behind me. “I need to try something; all of you need to leave the room.” She sounds serious, I hope that isn’t bad. Hey, the floor suddenly got really interesting. I stared at the beautiful wood floor as the others shuffled out without a word. Holy fucking creepy.

‘Did I miss something?’ I heard Mirror’s voice for the first time since I woke up, surprising me when I was actually relieved. ‘Please, who are you kidding? You love me! Anyways, my question?’ I filled her in on the situation. What do we do? ‘Sounds like she’s going to search your ‘magic history’ for any signs of magic use by you or anyone around you, and then she’ll probably check your power level.’ Must… Resist… The Joke…

Once everyone was gone, Twilight said, “Hold on, I need to go over the scouter spell.” What. She pulled a book to her with her magic and gave it a once over, before nodding and looking at me. Her horn began to glow a lilac color as she approached, and in seconds she tapped it to my head. Seconds passed without sound, without feeling, then she was flung backwards, though she managed to stay on her feet (hooves?).

She looked at me for a moment before breathing, “Impossible…”

I held back a giggle as I asked, “What’s the scouter say about my power level?”

She continued to stare at me, her breathing quickening as her eyes looked me over. I was suppressing my laughter as she began to speak. “It’s… It’s…” Just say it.

“It’s zero. You shouldn’t even exist.” She said matter of factly, her eyes scanning my body as though to make sure I was truly there.

"What." I said flatly, anger creeping into my voice. "What the fuck does not having magic have to do with existing or not? Those Diamond Dogs didn't have magic, but they sure existed! Hell, my back still hurts because of that." I neglected to mention that I killed them before they could use any of the magic they may have had.

She shook her head. "Diamond Dogs have a magical energy, an aura. Every living creature in Equestria--"

"Well there you go! I'm not a living creature from Equestria, am I?" I cut her off before she could finish the statement, visibly irritating her.

"You are in Equestria though, and you have clearly performed magic. If the magical energy threshold, or your ability to perform certain magical acts, wasn't Equestrian then I wouldn't be able to detect the magical overload. Therefore, it means that you performed magic native to Equestria, meaning you should have a detectable magical threshold. You don't, despite every creature that can perform magic, every creature that has ever existed in Equestria save one has one, and every member of that race save one died, the only remaining one is insane!" She finished her speech with a deep breath, nodding to herself for whatever reason.

So I did what every sane person would do: I argued with the nuts chick who had me tied up. "So what you're saying is... I shouldn't be able to do magic, or I can do it all I want?"

She shook her head, staring at the floor. "I don't know. My spell could have been wrong I guess, or maybe you just aren't properly adjusted to Equestria yet, or... I don't know."

And that was the end of that. I sat on the chair until she got a letter from her teacher telling her that “she trusted her to make the right choice.”

So I expected to die. That’s what I would have done in the situation, but maybe I’m just a cruel person.

What actually happened was something even worse.

‘Love is a very powerful force. Even more so when it is focused into a coherent beam of destruction.’ Mirror seemed to find the statement funny, so I had to ask. Why is that so funny? ‘Dunno, it was in your head and it makes so much sense.’

*--^--*

It wasn’t too long after Twilight got the letter that I was untied and given free roam of the library.

“If you take any books, put them back where you found them, and if I see a single book harmed while I’m still alive, I’ll… You’ll be sorry!” Twilight tried to sound stern but only made herself giggle like a schoolgirl. I told her I would be careful, and browsed the selection.

The library was fairly large, every wall was lined with books on any subject I could think of asking about. The second floor looked similar, and the few doors I saw up there led to bedrooms with even more books in them. I was taking the guest bedroom until permanent accommodations could be made, and to be honest I was fine with staying in the library.

Then Twilight told me to put on a blindfold and follow her.

“Why am I doing this again?” I asked the unicorn, hoping I was still following her. The blindfold did make that a bit of a pain to do, but I managed.

“Because I asked you to, and it’ll show that you’re not a bad stallion.”

“I’m not a stallion at all, but I certainly am bad. Just not to the people I like.”

She seemed to find that funny, “You? Bad? So far, you’re one of the nicest ponies I’ve ever met, except Fluttershy and maybe Big Mac.” I decided to not point out the attempted murder, realizing that was best forgotten.

“I’m not a pony. So, where are we going again?” I had to ask questions, or the quiet would annoy me.

“Consider this a… Welcome party, of sorts.” Twilight laughed, then said, “You can take off the blindfold now.”

Just as I did I was hit by a multicolored cloud of confetti, and the sight of at least a hundred ponies somehow crammed into a bakery, which was decorated quite appropriately… For a six year old’s birthday party, maybe. I didn’t want to be rude though, so I just thanked everyone and slipped away once the party started. Thankfully, despite them not running away in fear like last time, they didn’t try to stop me from leaving if they even noticed.

I was just outside when I ran into the cream yellow Pegasus from before, one of Twilight’s friends. Her pink mane obscured most of her face, but I caught a glimpse of the entrancing blue stare of her eyes as they connected with mine. Then she bumped into me, squealed, and jumped away.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Mr. Cian!” She squeaked quickly, hiding her face behind her hooves. She came to her senses a few moments later though, and peeked at me from behind her yellow bulwark. “Why are you leaving the party so soon? I thought it was just starting?”

I smiled, “Loud places just aren’t my style anymore, you know? I was gonna go for a walk… Something tells me you don’t like loud places either, if you want to come I wouldn’t mind the company.” I don’t know why I invited her, as if I expected her to go for a walk with what she probably considered a monster—

“Oh, um, sure, that sounds wonderful. I mean, if it isn’t too much of a bother to you!” She smiled briefly at my invitation, getting to her hooves.

“Not at all, Miss… Sorry, I never got your name.”

“Fluttershy.” She managed to say just loud enough for me to hear, and much to her namesake, she could barely hold eye contact with me.

No wonder she’s so… Shy. So we went walking, not talking, just enjoying the quiet of the town.

It really is a beautiful place, Ponyville. We walked for at least an hour, and only when I had a question about something did either of us speak, and we did this until we got to the park, where we sat beneath a tree by a small creek. I occasionally caught her sneaking looks at me when I was pretending to focus on something else, though she looked away when she realized she was caught. All in all, it was fun.

“If you want to ask me something, you can.” I finally said after the tenth or so time I caught her staring, to her surprise.

She looked away again, and I thought she would just shrug it off. Instead, she asked me, “You seem so confident. Why aren’t you trying to make friends at the party, why are you with… Me…” She whispered the last word.

I didn’t know how to answer with my own words, so I used others. “Whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children, as is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you. And that prince who, relying entirely on their promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined; because friendships that are obtained by payments, and not by greatness or nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, but they are not secured, and in time of need cannot be relied upon; and men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.

"Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated.”

She only looked more confused after that, so I explained. “They’re afraid of me. You all are, I can tell. If I try to find the love of your friends and fail, I am more likely to come away hated and feared. It would be better for me to be feared because I am unknown, than feared and hated because I am known. Trust me, Fluttershy, I wouldn’t make any friends around here if I tried.”

She shook her head, “That isn’t true. I know you can make friends, and no matter what you do you couldn’t make anyone in Ponyville hate you.” She looked at me from behind the pink curtain that masked her face and smiled kindly. “You say you can’t make friends, but you already have. I’m your friend.” Her hoof found my hand, and she wasted no time in wrapping me up in a hug.

And that’s how it went. Too bad it doesn’t work on the girls back home, right?

*--^--*

July 19th, 2010. Woodbury, Minnesota.

I sat on my bed, reading The Prince as I waited for my mom to get home. It was my birthday, so as usual I expected her to have to work late, and then my sister would have to drive us there to pick her up, but “Oh shucks, I think I’m lost,” and suddenly we’d be at a water park, or a restaurant, or something. Really, it was funny to watch them go to so much effort to surprise me that it was obvious. So I waited in my white walled room, until I heard a knock at my door.

My sister, Mary, walked in wearing a tank top and jeans and was carrying a piece of black cloth in her hand. I smiled and set the book aside as she approached the bed.

“So, Mom’s gonna be working late tonight, so I thought I’d give you your present early.” That’s weird. She held the black cloth out to me, and laughed. “Put this on while I go get your present.”

I did so, just because I was curious as to what it was. I heard movement as my sister left and entered the room several times, until I felt one of her hands grab my wrists, and I felt a rope tighten around it.

“Mary, what are you doing?” I asked, worry creeping into my voice as she moved to the other side of the bed and repeated the action.

“Don’t worry, just trust me. You’ll like the present, and this’ll all be worth it.” She tied my ankles to the bed too, and I thought for sure she was going to shout ‘surprise!’ and people would be in the room, and we’d laugh and there would be a party.

I wasn’t expecting lips to meet mine, and a hand to land lower on my body than I wanted it to. I tried to pull away, but I could do little as the other hand held my head in place. I was ready to scream when the mouth pulled away.

“Mary, what the fuck!?” I questioned, pulling at the ropes as hard as I could manage but failing to break free.

“Don’t worry little brother, you’ll like the present. Mom said you would, she told me to save it for you.” I felt a weight on my chest as hands fumbled lower on my body. “You can have me, little brother.”

… I was thirteen years old at the time. My mother came home later that night without saying a word to me, and ignored my pleas. There was no party, and that day was never mentioned by my mother.

Mary would come at least once a week.

What could I have done?

I pretended it was all a dream. I got pretty good at doing that after awhile.

4: Joke's on You

"Two are better than one: they get a good wage for their labor. If the one falls, the other will lift up his companion. Woe to the solitary man! For if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up."

— Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Chapter 4: Joke's on You

It was the dawn of the first day after the party, I having gotten to sleep relatively early to avoid talking to anyone and possibly having to explain my absence from the party, just in case anyone noticed.

I woke up early too, though, before anyone else in the library, when I felt the pangs of hunger spike through my stomach. With a mission in mind and stomach alike, I set out to complete my objective. Sneaking down the stairs and into the kitchen, I realized I didn’t know where to look for anything. The kitchen was like a smaller human kitchen, everything was shorter but wider as well. The ceilings were high enough for me to stand straight, but to get at any of the shelves I had to duck a little.

And after a few minutes of searching, my search produced no fruits (or anything else I could eat) and I had to accept defeat and go find something to eat. I decided to leave Twilight to sleep in, partly because I was grateful for her allowing me into her home, and partly because I didn’t feel like answering the bombardment of questions that weren’t asked before. Nevertheless, I left her to it.

Once I got outside, however, I had a problem. I didn’t know where food was, and it was too early to ask anyone I knew.

‘You could hunt in the Everfree Forest. I’m sure there’s nothing dangerous in there, at least not more dangerous than waking someone up.’ Mirror chuckled, ‘Actually, I would love to see your face when you first see a cockatrice…’ I knew enough about mythology to not push the issue. Of course, that presented yet another problem: who to ask?

Fluttershy would probably be the least angry at being woken up, but Pinkie was guaranteed to have food, she lived in a bakery after all. Rainbow was out of the picture, and I didn’t know where Applejack lived so she was out too. I hadn’t spoken to Rarity enough to know how she would react, but she seemed nice enough.

And she was close, so I decided to head there. She at least seemed relatively mellow compared to Pinkie.

The walk was uneventful and as I expected there was no one on the streets (it was about seven or so) and as such it was quiet. As beautiful as Ponyville was, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at the lack of activity, or the sky being so… Clear. The lack of electricity was strange at first, but I adjusted to that much quicker (although watching a torch attached to a wooden wall in a tree was really trippy) than the former.

When I did reach Rarity’s boutique, I did a quick peek through the windows to check for signs of life… And I was surprised to see them. I couldn’t make out much, but I saw her hunched over what looked to be a table, and she was looking over… Pants… She was looking at a pair of human pants.

I knocked on the door. “Come in!” I did so, ducking into the building and I was instantly surprised. On the table I had noticed was some kind of suit, white with a red undershirt. It was made of what looked like silk, and the funniest part? It looked like it would fit well.

“Rarity, what is that?” I asked, addressing the outfit on the table. She looked at it, looked at me, and laughed awkwardly.

“Shoot, it was supposed to be a surprise.” She pouted, floating the clothes over to me. “Well, since you’re here I suppose you can try it on?” She said hopefully, looking up at me with big sapphire eyes. “I tried to go off the measurements I got on the clothes you already have, but the labels weren’t too clear on everything, so I eyeballed it. Although, if I could take some measurements after you try it on, that would help for next time.” I wasn’t sure whether to ask how she knew my clothes sizes or how she would know half the measurements we used anyways.

“Sure. So, listen, where can I change?” I asked, looking around the room and not seeing anywhere that looked suitable.

“Right there’s fine.” She answered, turning to look for the tools of her trade.

I coughed, scratching my chin as I thought over that. “Listen, I know you don’t wear clothes really, but humans... Do. It’s a weird thing, but it’s socially unacceptable to change in front of someone you hardly know.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t mind. And it’s not like anyone else is around to see.” She looked at me, a sly grin on her face as she turned away, bending over to grab a tape measure as she did so. If I didn’t know better, I would say she did that on purpose. Not able to argue her point, I shrugged and quickly threw off my clothes. I looked over to find her casually humming as she rifled through drawers, not focused on me in the slightest. I looked over the clothes quickly and, finding they were a decent size, I put them on. They actually fit fairly well, all things considered. They were a bit flashy, not my style, but I couldn't complain.

Let me point out that the boutique is full of mirrors. Seriously, it’s 30% clothes, 60% mirrors and 10% everything else. Funnily enough, I didn’t notice all the mirrors until I noticed Rarity was very focused on one of them, specifically one of the ones aimed in my general direction. Is she… No… She’s not checking me out. I cleared my throat, hoping to get her attention. I did, but not in the way I hoped.

She jumped, shouting, “Just looking for my tools!” She ran off into the back room, slamming the door shut and locking it behind her. ‘She was totally checking you out.’ Let’s not talk about this now. ‘Boy, I sure do wonder what kind of tools Rarity has back there. We should look!’ Shut up. I don’t want to talk about it. ‘Come on, I bet she’d let you help.’ An image popped into my head of the white mare in a compromising position, and I groaned. Mirror, can you fuck off for a bit? ‘Mission accomplished!’

I decided to wait it out, and hope that she wasn’t doing what I thought she was doing, but I was surprised when she called out my name.

“Cian! Can you do me a favor?”

No. “Well, I guess so.”

“I was supposed to pick up some spices from Zecora later today, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it. Something’s just come up!”

I shook my head, not asking what that something was. “Yeah, I guess. Is she down that dirt road that leads into the forest?”

“Yep!”

I almost left without changing, but I caught myself and called out to Rarity, “Hey, should I just leave these clothes here?”

She came bolting out of the back room, slightly sweaty, “Heavens, no! I’ll wash your clothes for you, and you can wear the outfit I made you!” Oooookay? “Actually, let me just…” Her horn glowed for a moment, my clothes mimicked the glow, and suddenly I felt a little cleaner. “There, your clothes won’t get the slightest bit dirty.”

I was stunned. My first impression was that she was a stuck up bitch, but suddenly, she wasn’t. “Thanks, Rarity. That’s… Generous. Magic or no, though, I don’t want to ruin your clothes.”

She turned away, her cheeks turning red. “Really darling, it’s nothing. The clothes are yours, not mine.”

“These look expensive, I seriously can’t…”

“Nope! They’re yours, don’t argue about it. Go now, shoo!” She pushed me out the door with her magic and shut the door, locking it behind me.

I looked at the door, looked away, looked back, and shrugged. I walked towards the forest, when a rumbling in my stomach reminded me of my original objective. I shook my head, deciding to ask Fluttershy for food when I passed. I hurried through the town, watching as activity trickled into the streets. Luckily, I avoided starting any conversations, although I swear I saw a mare with electric blue hair try to call out to me. That would have to wait until I had some food, and I didn’t know who to trust just yet. Although, they did seem rather friendly, it wouldn’t have been the first time something happened.

I hurried along as more and more ponies left their homes to enter the light of day, until I finally saw my goal: the cottage. To be honest, I didn’t expect much. I mean, I expected a little house, and maybe a garden or something. You know, simple. I didn’t expect the small zoo that was actually there. To the left of the house was a large fenced off area full of animals. There were birdhouses, chicken coops, burrows, trees and things I don’t even know the names to. And there were at least several dozen kinds of animals, so many in fact I couldn’t name them all, but there were what you expected, birds, badgers, beavers, bovines, a bear, etc. And, even though they shouldn’t be able to get along, they seemed to either do so or just ignore one another.

I was watching the animals do their thing when I heard a door open to my right, and I turned to see a certain cream colored pegasus leaving her home. Fluttershy was wearing a set of saddlebags with pink butterflies on them, just like the ones on her.

When she noticed me, she seemed surprised but smiled and waved.

“Hi Cian.” She greeted me in her quiet voice and then, noticing my fascination with her animals, said, “Some of the animals stay here most of the time, and some only come for food. They get along, thankfully.”

I nodded, “I wish it was that way where I came from. Nothing gets along, not even humans.” I chuckled, “Where you headed?” I decided to change the subject before I had to answer too many questions.

“I have to see Zecora, one of the animals is sick.”

“Oh, that’s funny. I’m going to see her too.” She seemed to brighten a bit, and she turned to the forest. “Walk with me?” I suggested, as I began to walk towards the forest. She didn’t respond, but I heard her walking behind me so I assumed it was a yes.

We walked into the forest in silence, though as the edge of the forest slowly faded into trees, I felt I had to fill the silence with something.

“So… Wonderful weather we’re having.” I commented, looking up at the grey sky between the tree branches. Unlike the rest of town, the Everfree seemed to be uncontrolled, constantly spawning rogue storms for the rest of the town. At least, that’s what I had heard from my current companion.

“Oh, I guess.” She replied, not paying attention. Wow. Good job brain.

“So, which animal is sick?” I tried a different subject, only to get a similar result.

“Angel Bunny. He has a fever.” Right…

‘Maybe you should hit on her.’ What? ‘Yeah! I know you have some pickup lines in this noggin of yours.’ Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you? ‘I… I don’t know. Unless… Oh no.’ … What?

If she responded, I didn’t hear her over the sound of my foot catching on something, and before I knew it I was in a small grove of blue flowers.

“Cian, no!” I heard Fluttershy call out, and a few seconds later I was pulled out of the flowers by my leg. “That’s Poison Joke!”

What? “Poison Joke?” I chuckled, rolling onto my stomach. I got to my knees when I saw movement a few miles ahead, on the opposite side of the small clearing. It was a young woman with long auburn… No, she had shoulder length black hair. No, auburn. She was strikingly familiar, and once I recognized her I grinned. “Well, this is something to laugh about.” I rolled the miles… No, wait, I rolled across the few feet that were between us, kicking the woman’s feet from under her before pinning her to the forest floor. “Sis, I owe you a few birthdays.”

I saw the confusion in her face, before understanding. “So the flowers do cause hallucinations to humans.” She stated, before I was pulled off of her by someone else. The arms quickly disappeared, and the person behind me was gone when I turned around. I turned back to the woman and threw myself at her, but she sidestepped my clumsy lunge and kicked me in the side, knocking me to the dirt. I rolled away from her, when a black tentacle wrapped itself around my throat and lifted me into the air, tightening as I struggled in the air.

I looked down, eyes scanning the clearing for any sign of Fluttershy, hoping to find her absent… But she was standing where she had been, eyes locked onto me in fear. They met mine for a brief moment, but the look she gave me said enough.

She was going to be stupid. “You better fucking run!” I shouted at her, while I was still able to speak. She took a step backwards, trembling in horror, before she looked at me again, tears running down her face.

The tendril loosened its grip, as two grabbed my legs and I was dropped to the ground, and flung upwards again like a swing. For a moment, I had a clear view of woman. I didn’t think on it for a second, I just reached behind me, and found the one piece of my world I still had.

And I sent two of them speeding into her shoulder, eliciting a scream from her and freeing me from the grasp of the tentacles. I fell to the forest floor hard, but I recovered quickly, jumping to my feet and firing again, though she sidestepped the shot and kicked the gun away. I paused for a second too long, and she kicked me in the jaw, knocking me back to the ground. I moved to get up again, but something smashed into the side of my head and everything became nothing.

*--^--*

I didn’t know what to expect when I woke up. The same infinite blackness I fell into, that I had seen on countless occasions, or the cold forest floor. I woke up instead in the warmth of a bed, and a familiar one at that. I was back at the library, and after looking out the window I could say it was night.

I wish I could say I knew what happened, but I didn’t. Fluttershy said only that I was attacked by something, and after that I was passed out, mumbling. Then I told her I needed to sleep, and to come back in the morning. Twilight didn’t ask any questions, at least not to me. Something did happen out there though, something not even Mirror could say. I was tripping pretty hard apparently, so can I trust what I saw? Was that my sister?

Am I alone here?

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Somehow, when I first saw this place, I expected it to be fairly peaceful. At least, I know it can’t get any worse.

5: This is Why... (Revised)

Chapter 5: This is why…

July 4th, 2016. Somewhere underneath Beijing.

The sewers smelled of the streets above, the bodies which littered the sidewalks about, the buildings which burned from the bombs that fell from the metal birds that continuously flew overhead. I shook my head, commanding myself to focus on the task ahead. But something in the back of my mind buzzed constantly, nagging me to do things which made no sense. I did them anyways, because hey, it was my body telling me to do them so I didn’t argue. I scanned the floor for a small rock, which I picked up and tossed down the tunnel, listening as it collided with the wall before splashing into the knee high water ( I use the term “water” loosely), smiling as the sounds bounced off the walls, echoing throughout the small tunnels.

My smile wavered for a moment when I heard the sounds of movement ahead, and voices speaking in the language native to the country I was invading. I didn’t think for any longer than a few seconds before pulling a small carbon steel rod off my belt and I cracked it before I dropped it at my feet. I then raised my left hand, regarding the small device on my wrist with a single thought. From the small hole in the top launched a hook, maybe the size of my hand. It buried itself deep into the ceiling above, and with another thought I was up there with it, my feet firmly planted on the cold stone as I hung upside down.

The voices gradually grew louder, until I could have sworn they were right under me. They wouldn’t see me though, not in the dark and not before they could do nothing about it. I drew my pistol, and waited.

I saw them round the corner, four troops in combat uniforms carrying assault rifles. They used their flashlights to scan the water and the way ahead for any signs of the intruder they heard. Of course, they weren’t looking straight up, or straight down. I saw one of the troops step where I had dropped the rod, and I almost laughed as the water lit up with electricity, and the troops panicked before they started to shake uncontrollably, the volts coursing through their veins as the rod did its work. I let myself fall, blasting one of the soldiers square in the face with my pistol once I landed. I felt the discomfort that came with an EMP, but it hardly affected me negatively anymore. In a way, it fueled me. I regarded my right hand, the glove on it, with a grin. I lashed out, catching another of the soldiers as he began to recover across the face, and what could only be described as a bolt of lightning erupted between the two, launching the now dead man down the tunnel.

I spun, kicking out at the last soldier (the one who stepped on the rod was under the water, drowning I assumed.) who deflected the blow with his gun. I was surprised he could even move, much less fight back. I saw him take aim at me, but before he could do fire he found his gun was shockingly painful to hold. He dropped it into the water, sending even more electricity coursing through the water and into him. I was growing tired of the game though and just put a few rounds into his chest, before checking over my equipment.

Once everything was accounted for, I made my way farther down the sewer tunnel, towards my goal, when I began tapping my hands against the wall to my left. Before I knew it, I had a drum beat going. I winced as the knocks grew louder, and echoed sooner every time, warning me I was close to an exit. I couldn’t stop though, for whatever reason. I recognized the beat from a song I remembered hearing, and the memory came back to me.

It was a month ago, the first time I saw the man who I helped start a war after our first meeting. At that point, I was pissed but I knew there was nothing I could do anymore. He tried to be cool, holding out his hand as though we were friends, or peers. I paused in front of him, took his hand in mine, turned it so it was palm up, and spat in it. I heard the scuff of boots behind me as his guards turned to restrain me, but I was faster. I was trained, I was deadly, and I just didn’t care. I roundhouse kicked the one directly behind me into next week, and sidestepped the second one who was behind the man as he lunged. As he sailed past, I clotheslined the son of a bitch.

Realizing the guards were adequately out of commission, I looked at the man and saw a look of amusement on his face, as though he found it funny. I crossed my arms, and stood there, countering his amused gaze with a cold stare. It wasn’t very effective… He just laughed, looking at the men unconscious on the floor.

“Well, that definitely shows me something. I need to hire better help, no?” He joked, tapping one of the guards in the ribs with a shoe. “Or I need to hire less effective mercenaries.” He looked at me, the smile gone from his lips, but no less amusement in his eyes. “Anyways, you’ve been successful up to this point; I have no reason to believe you won’t continue to be so. So, I figure I should give you a few toys, make your job easier.” I was slightly angered by the statement, but I had seen it coming. What I didn’t see coming was what came next. “Also, I already sent the payments, along with a little bonus, along to your mother, and you’ll be able to go home to her once the war is finished. Which, if this next part goes well, will be very soon.”

I was ready to ask him what he meant, but he pulled out a pair of gloves, tossing them to me. I caught them, surprised at their soft silk-like feel, when I expected something rough like usual. I turned them over a few times in my hands, noticing the spattering of circles on the undersides of each glove. I looked up at the man, an eyebrow raised in question. He nodded to the gloves, then to me, and smiled.

“The rest is in the bag, here’s a thing you’ll need,” He paused, tossing me a parachute. “Have fun!” He kicked a duffle bag into the door behind me, and it sprung open at the blow, sucking the bag, and me, out of the opening. I cursed to the wind as I began my descent into Beijing. The capital city of the country I started a war with, with nothing but some gloves and a duffel bag containing god knows what. I already had the gloves halfway on, so I pulled them the rest of the way on, judging at least 1000 meters till I became paste. I got ready to put on the parachute, when I noticed something off. Well, two things. The first thing I noticed was the buzzing in my gloves as I ran them over the cloth of the backpack, and the small sparking of electricity. The second thing I noticed was that I didn’t have a parachute in my hands. Motherfucker.

I opened the back, flinching as a small triangle attached to a pole was produced from the back. I grabbed the steel pole, ready to scream with rage, when I saw a small red button in the center of the pole. Curious and willing to try anything, I pushed the button and hoped for the best. The triangle shook for a moment, before unfolding into a much large triangle, namely the one that would be normally seen on a hang glider. I would have been slightly impressed if not for the fact that I had never used a hang glider. I had to hope it was like a wingsuit, only bigger, but with my luck I wasn’t counting on it.

Not that it mattered once I saw the missile speeding towards me.

Fuck.

*--^--*

The forest was quiet as the morning slowly rolled in, the singing of the birds the only discernible sound in the forest so early in the day. The animals were going about their business, though tense as they recalled the strange creature they had seen the day before walking through the forest, talking like a pony but looking nothing like one. They had followed it until it came across the laughing flower, the Poison Joke as it was called by ponies. They had watched it study the flowers, they even tried to help it. It seemed friendly enough, and they tried to tell it what the flowers did. It didn’t seem to understand what they meant, though it did address the flowers more than once, so they figured they had managed to get something across.

The strange creature disappeared for the rest of that day, returning later in the evening with some apples and several long vines. It tied each vine between two trees, surrounding the clearing. The animals watched as the creature climbed one of the taller trees, disappearing into the dense canopy above. They didn’t see it again until early morning, before the sun had even risen, when it descended from the many branches above, before it disappeared once more into the forest. The more daring creatures tried to follow, though they always lost track of it around Fluttershy’s cottage. Eventually, (at least an hour) they decided the creature was gone and would never come back, probably eaten by one of the many dangerous creatures in the forest.

That is, they thought that until it did. It was accompanied by a zebra, Zecora was her name. They seemed to be having a friendly conversation, for the most part.

Zecora gave the creature an odd look, “Of many things seen to this day, another like you I cannot say.” She shook her head, taking a moment to look around the clearing. “All I have seen in this land, none are called human.”

The human cleared its throat, “Well, thanks anyways. Is it alright if I stay in the forest at least?”

The zebra shook her head. “If you stay Eden, you’ll surely be eaten.” The human, Eden, looked at the Zebra in mild irritation, before they parted ways.

Then, before any of the animals could figure what was happening, there was another of these “humans” with a pony. The two humans, surprised by one another, fought. Eden beat the other human, but not before getting hurt and running away.

The animals didn’t follow, instead they curiously sniffed at the new human.

*--^--*

Eden

“Fuck!” I swore under my breath as breath stumbled around trees and through bushes, hoping to find Zecora again. The zebra had experience with healing; she would be able to help. Instead, to my annoyance I found myself at the edge of the woods, staring at a small blue house, just on the edge of town but far enough away for me. A light grey pegasus was hunched over a bag, digging through it, completely unaware of his surroundings. I caught a glimpse of a grey mane as he poked his head out of the bag for a moment, dropping a pair of red tinted goggles on the ground beside him before continuing his search.

I looked back, hearing movement behind me, and I decided to take my chances with the pegasus. I approached silently, biting my tongue as pain lanced through my shoulder. Hopefully the pony would have some bandages or something, but the fact that he seemed to be moving in made that unlikely.

I tightened my grip on the metallic weapon I had recovered from my fight with the other man and, after looking it over for a moment, determined it was some sort of gun. Though it looked more advanced than my double barrel, it still looked like it could do some damage. Just hope anything I have to shoot has the body structure of a dead guy…

The pegasus must have been really focused, because I had the gun to his head before he could even move. I saw his wings tense up, and smiled. He was strong, maybe 150 lbs with strong wing muscles, similar to a bird, or more appropriately a gryphon. The body structure seemed off for a normal pony, as though it was the cartoon joke of one. His leg muscles seemed weaker than they had any business being, but he did have wings, so for him to fly more than walk wasn't totally strange.

I wonder what horses taste like… I cleared her throat, “Listen, I don’t know what your experience with guns is, but the one in my hands can kill you within seconds, so let’s stay calm and go inside.” I fought hard to hide the pain, but couldn’t bit back a whimper as the pain intensified with the movement of my other arm when I pointed at the blue house in front of them. The pony must have understood, because he nodded and started to move towards the house.

He moved to open the door, but he found a smoky black tendril in his way. The length wrapped itself around the door handle and pushed it open, before it retracted into its host, me, who nodded to the door. The pegasus shook his head in disbelief, before he walked into the home.

My vision began to blur as I took the first few steps into the house, not being invited, and asked as politely as I could muster under the pain, “May I come in?” The pony nodded, and the added pain subsided, though the bullet in my shoulder quickly came to the front of my mind. “Bathroom?” I asked, as the pony flicked on a lamp in the living room.

“Down the hall, last door on the right. I don’t think you’ll be able to use it tho—and she’s gone.” He turned to find his captor was gone, and he shook his head. “Just wanted one bucking day…. Just one…”

I hurried into the bathroom, not bothering with the door as I flung open the medicine cabinet, and pulled out what I had been hoping to find: Bandages. Next was the hard part, though, the part I had come to hate. I braced myself on the sink, which was lower than I would have liked but I had no room to complain, and closed I eyes. I shivered as a chill ran up my spine, pinpointing the wound and the offender inside it. With a single push, the bullet shot out of my shoulder and hit the wall, disappearing into the new hole in the barrier between the ceiling and floor. I screamed as the pain became too intense for me to handle, my legs gave out and I tumbled to the floor. I blacked out for a few moments, but recovered long enough to wrap my arm in bandages before passing out again, for several minutes.

I woke up on the couch, pony hunched over here with the corner of a blanket in his mouth. He pulled it over me before he realized I was awake, when he then jumped away, a curious stare on his face.

“What’s your name?!” He asked, relaxing slightly at the lack of hostility, though he didn’t take his eyes off me for a moment.

I considered making a run for it, or even killing him, until I saw the handgun he held to his side with a wing, barely visible behind the avian appendage. He followed my gaze and nodded.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to kill me or not. I know what this thing does, and I know what it did to you.” He said in a straight voice, though he visibly shuddered as he thought of exactly what it would do to me if he had to use it.

I rubbed my bandaged arm and a thought came to me. “So, you’re afraid of me…”

“Not afraid, cautious.” He interjected irritably.

I sighed, “Right, cautious… So why did you bring me to the couch, and bother with this,” I threw the blanket off, silently regretting it as the cold air made me shiver. “When you don’t want to be near me, even with that?” I pointed at the gun, and then added, “Why would you even bother letting me live?”

Maybe I was as terrible as I thought, because a look of horror crossed the pony’s face, and he took a step back. “K-kill you? Why in Equestria would anypony kill a pony? More so in this case! I mean, sometimes it happens, but not like this.”

I felt hurt for a moment that the thought of killing the pony had ever crossed my mind, as innocent as he was. For a moment, I wondered if the world I was in was as bad as I had thought. Beats dead guys and rapists, I guess. I shook away the thought, then looked up at the pony, determined to calm him down. With that goal in mind, I looked around the small house. The walls were mostly bare, except for a small photograph of two ponies, a gray pegasus with a straw colored mane and yellow eyes which seemed to look in different directions who was leaning against a tan colt with blue determined eyes. They were standing in front of a blue phone booth which looked like the old police call boxes they had in Britain before the police weren’t around to be called.

“So…” I said, not looking to the pony. “Are those friends of yours? Family?” I nodded to the photo, looking back at him.

He shook his head, “The Doctor was, but I never met his friend. I heard she was a train wreck though.” He smiled, “Or maybe she was in a train wreck, I did always wonder about her eyes whenever he would show me pictures. This is their house, or it was until he gave it to me and left. My name’s Solar Flare.” He took a step forward, holding out a hoof.

I paused for a moment at the bold move, then I took the hoof into my hand, cracking a smile. “My name’s Eden, nice to meet you Solar.”

*--^--*

The sewer tunnel stank of shit and other waste products which had accumulated over the last year, making me cringe my nose and stop. In my head, I kept hearing the song I heard on the plane. It had got louder as I walked, until I could focus on little else, the smell bringing me back to reality. He didn’t kill me, the missile didn’t kill me. Why am I so focused on that moment? I had figured out the gloves without a problem once I had dodged the missile, my wingsuit barely saving my ass (actually, it almost didn't my ass; it saved the rest of me well enough though. It still hurts a little every so often.)

I looked ahead, and I stopped. I took a step back, surprised by my head’s collision with the wall in front of me. My confusion subsided as anger took over. The path I had been given was wrong, or maybe it was a trap. My thoughts jumped all over the place, until one jumped to the forefront of my mind: Look up.

I heard the hammer of the pistol go back, and I couldn’t help but mutter, “It’s a god damn trap.” I looked up, four barrels of the assault rifles the soldiers held staring back at me.

*--^--*

The ruined house sat, undisturbed since the man’s departure early the previous morning, in the small clearing in the woods. The man in the long black coat had watched him leave, before investigating the surrounding area and hunting in the process. A few rabbits later, the man decided the other was not returning soon and opted to sit on a boulder. He drew a longsword from the sheath on his left hip, stroking the shiny clean steel absent mindedly as he waited.

As the sun began to set, animals emerged from the surrounding woods, approaching the man in the coat with the sword, sniffing curiously at his boots. He regarded them with a nod, before he looked towards the setting sun. He looked the opposite direction, towards the full moon as she slowly rose into the sky. The moonlight shined against his black hair, illuminating his young unshaven face and old grey eyes.

“As the end comes, the wolf walks alone.” He began to sing, the animals watching him curiously.

“As the fires burn, the wolf loses no home.

As the end grows nigh, and the fires burn high.

The wolf walks alone…” He looked back to the animals to see them watching him intently.

“As the end comes, the pack will survive.

As the invaders charge, the pack will not die.

As the end come soon, and the invaders loom.

The pack will survive.” The man once more looked back to the animals to see the crowd had grown to well over a hundred.

“As the end comes close, the coward will flee.

As the invaders charge, the mighty will fall.

As the fires rage on, the innocent will burn.

As they all die around, without a sound

Vaelyn will fail them all.” The man looked down, the sword clattering to the ground as he went limp, sleep overtaking him. “And I did fail them all, time and time again, to the end of time…” Vaelyn fell into the crowd of animals, and was caught as they crowded around him, keeping him warm through the cold of the night. Despite the ages old song repeating in his head, he slept well. As well as one as old and guilty as him could sleep.

6: Attentive Intentions of Attractive Attacks (Revised)

6: Attentive Intentions of Attractive Attacks

Cian

I woke in the late morning, hours after my battle with a pounding headache and a sore ankle. Well, when I say morning, I mean midday. And when I say woke, I mean I woke, but to the sound of a gunshot. I leaped from the bed, stumbling as the burning sensation in my ankle intensified and I tumbled through the door, down the stairs and straight into a pony.

The pony was light brown, with a long grey mane and steely grey eyes. “Hey, watch it!” He said in a gruff voice, launching me off of him.

“Sorry.” I replied, finding my feet. “I just got my head kicked in, so sorry if I’m not as accurate quite yet.” I added sarcastically, giving him a look.

“You could hurt somebody; you need to be more careful.” He said, before turning and bolting out of the library. I was ready to follow, when I heard the voice of the lavender librarian leading a certain pink maned pegasus precariously pulling a behemoth stack of books behind her.

“Was that Victor?” She inquired, undoing the harness and letting it fall to the floor, before she undid Fluttershy’s. “He said he wanted to meet you once you woke up.”

That gave me pause, and I thought a moment. Victor is a name I didn’t expect to hear from here. ‘It is odd. Listen, I need a favor.’ What? I’m a bit hurt, I can’t help very much right now. ‘Oh, you don’t have to do anything. Well, unless you want to have a crack at one of the fine mares in front of you. No, I just need you to wait until you don’t have to wait anymore.’ Cool, what, and what? Oh, welcome back by the way.

I shook my head, remembering the mares in front of me. ”I don’t know, he just left.” I left out my accidental assault, but by their faces they didn’t seem to understand.

“After he helped Fluttershy and Solar Flare carry you here, he really wanted to talk to you. I guess he had something to do first?” Twilight suggested, turning back to the books. “Anyways, I checked you over and you’re fine. Fluttershy told me what happened though, and I do have a suggestion: Use your magic. Don’t rely on it, but you have done it before, and it can help you if something like this happens again.” She advised, shooing me away. “Now I have work to do, and a letter to write. Shoo.”

Mirror didn’t object as I was pushed out of the tree by the unicorn with a confused yellow pegasus, who just continued to stare at me. After a few seconds trying to make sense of the situation, I gave up and realized I was being watched. I stared down at the pegasus, who looked away with a squeak.

“Let’s go for a walk, Flutters.” I suggested, regarding the forest path we had taken hours before. She nodded, and we walked together. For a few minutes, I let the silence reign, but my questions got the better of me.

“She said you carried me out of there. That means you didn’t run away.” She shook her head, not looking away from the apparently interesting dirt road. “Why? What if she had tried to hurt you?”

She looked up, ready to reply, when a gunshot rang out farther up the road, towards the woods. We didn’t speak, we didn’t yell, we turned towards the sound. Standing across from each other on the road was the pony from earlier that day, and the woman who shot me, aiming my gun at the equine.

‘Looks like there’s more to this than we thought, huh?’ Mirror joked, though the jokes were unwelcome.

*--^--*

8:12 am, Eden

I watched the pegasus as he worked, dragging boxes across the floor and stacking them against the wall across from the sofa I laid on. I considered helping, but even if I wanted to I shoulder still hurt and I figured I wouldn’t be much help.

I did, however, make conversation when I saw the opportunity present itself. “You say you were a weather pony?” I asked, when he came in with another box.

“Yep! I’m not bad at it, either. I can’t compare myself to Rainbow Dash, or quite a few ponies, but I specialize in weather emergencies, and few ponies can say that they beat me there. Apparently, Ponyville has quite a lot of them, the Everfree produces them or something like that.” I couldn’t share his enthusiasm for the job, but I tried to seem interested anyways.

“What kind of weather emergencies? Tornadoes, Hurricanes and shit, or other magic pony land emergencies?”

Solar Flare gave me a confused look. “Is waste a weather problem in your world? I can’t imagine making a storm out of it, but I wouldn’t put anything past some of the scientists in Canterlot. As for what emergencies there are, those can be a few. Earthquakes and Avalanches aren’t really controllable, but sometimes storms get out of control and that’s why you have ponies like me!”

I giggled at his naivete, “No, shit is a different way of saying ‘stuff’ basically. Damn, you guys really are innocent.”

Solar Flare blushed, “I’m not innocent!” He said defiantly, “Your human words are just weird, that’s all.”He looked out the window, and froze. “Speaking of humans, there's one out there, being carried by Fluttershy and a pony I don’t recognize. Is that the one you fought with?” I jumped off the couch as fast as I dared, rushing over to the window and pulling the drape aside. Sure enough, the yellow pony from earlier was struggling to carry the man who shot me, despite the help from a wingless pony I didn’t recognize either. An “earth pony” Solar had called them.

Solar looked at me while walking to the door. “I’ll help them carry him. Maybe I can talk to him, or at the very least keep them away from here. We can figure out how to introduce you later.” Before I could protest, the pegasus ran through the open door, shutting it behind him. I sighed, watching through the window as he talked with them for a moment, before they continued walking along the path, out of my view.

“This isn’t going to end well, is it?” I muttered to myself, leaning against the wall.

*--^--*

11:21, Eden

I watched the brown colt as he slowly made his way past the house, not taking his eyes away from the structure for any less than a second, only looking away to check that he was walking straight. He disappeared from view, the forest consuming him in its leafy maw. Strange, I thought. Maybe he’s a friend of Zecora’s? That would explain his odd behavior.

It wouldn’t explain the movement from behind me, and as I realized this, I discovered how painful flying through a window could be... Again.

Very, in case you were wondering.

I drew the firearm that Solar had returned to me and fired off a shot towards the area of the window. A flash of movement to I right, and I spun to face my attacker, none other than the colt.

“Somebody needs to teach you some god damned manners!” I shouted, my hazel eyes meeting his steely grey ones. My angry gaze met his hard one. "You ruined my friend's window, by the way."

“Somebody needs to teach you to not be so hypocritical.” He replied, glaring at her.

*--^--*

6:12 am, Vaelyn

I woke with the sun, surrounded by woodland creatures big and small, soft and hard, some with apparently friendly personalities, others with personalities that could be seen as wooden.

There were wood wolves. I saw a bunch of wooden wolves. They stared at me with creepy glowing green eyes, but they did little to show aggression or anger, so I didn’t regard them as a threat.

I rose from the animal pile, stretching as I yawned and rose to my feet. I cracked my knuckles before retrieving my sword and sheathing it, and examining the clearing around me. Little had changed from the night before, apart from the grass being flattened by the many sleeping animals. Hundreds of animals of different sizes woke as the sun began to rise, all staring at me curiously.

“Go home, you all.” I commanded, waving a hand at them. Several of them looked too cared for to be wild animals, and I didn’t want their owners to worry. The ones who looked as such left, though the wolves and a few of the other larger animals stayed behind, staring at me. I sighed, and turned to the house I had slept beside. “Time to explore.”

The house, from the outside, looked strange to me. The way it was painted, the strange windows and the structure puzzled me. It looked to be too large to be supportable, and yet I could see no beams through the windows. I haven’t heard of magical houses, but I suppose it could be possible. The paint was made of materials I didn’t recognize, and it smelled odd to my keen nose. Magic paint? Doubt it. The strangest part was the array of pipes I noticed on the walls. What they were used for, I couldn’t figure. They didn’t seem to be doing anything at the moment, however, so I let them be and entered the house.

The area I entered was open, and empty. Every room after that was mostly empty, save one which appeared to be a bedroom, which was missing part of the wall and was covered in bits of wood and clothing. I left it and the house bored and no more informed than before.

7:20, Vaelyn

I jumped to my feet, snapped out of my daze by two loud cracks further into the forest. Quickly, I sheathed my sword and focused on pinpointing the sound. I stood still for a moment as the reverberations of the sound led me deep into the forest. Not hesitating, I ran towards the source of the sound.

7:42, Vaelyn

“Cian?” I paused when I heard a voice to my left, and listened as the sounds of struggle echoed against my eardrums. I slipped through the trees into a small clearing, in the center of which was a circle of flowers. Off to the right of the flowers was a small horse, pulling on the leg of a young man. “Cian, please wake up.” She said in a quiet voice, straining to move the body. I examined her from afar, looking over every inch of her body, how her blood pumped in her veins. He quietly snarled as his instincts took over. To avoid being seen, he let himself fall backwards, out of sight.

His back arched, and he shouted in pain.

11:28 am. Cian

I watched as the woman launched herself at the brown colt, who jumped over her, kicking her to the dirt. He flipped, landing bipedal for a quick moment.

“Let’s not prolong this, miss. You tried to kill this man.” He said sternly, pulling a knife from inside his black coat and snapping his head to the side, sending the knife into the woman’s shoulder. I moved to intervene, but stopped when the stallion looked at me coldly. “Do not intervene, unless you wish to be hurt further. I will deal with you next either way.”

Mirror laughed, ‘Seems like you should save your energy for him and just let him take care of her.’ Let him kill the only other human here? Fuck that. ‘You’re an idiot.’ She coughed.

The woman pulled the knife from her shoulder and lunged at the pony, who sidestepped the wild swing and leaped onto her back, but was surprised to be thrown away by nothing. She spun around, jumped onto him, and plunged the dagger into his chest. She pulled it out of him, and rolled off of him, panting.

The gasps from behind me were drowned out by the pounding in my ears. I needed to do something, before the ponies did.

Eden looked up as a bolt of lightning hit her dead on in the head, knocking her out cold.

Then I looked and saw a man in a long black coat staring at me, covered in blood and with a large hole in his shirt. He grinned, drawing a longsword from the sheath I failed to notice previously. “Alright, since can’t tell me how I’m here, I hope you know.” He lifted his sword, eyeing the blade. “If not, maybe one of the ponies will.”

I saw Twilight step forward to my right. “You aren’t going to hurt anypony!” She shouted, and several “Yeahs!” from the crowd agreed. I watched the amusement leave his face and he frowned.

“Are you going to stop me? I don’t want to make my old world, but if I have to, I can.” He smiled again, though less amused and more insane. “Tell me how to get home, or I will just kill you all and *bang* I have my world back.”

I held out a hand, stepping forward. “I wish I could say, but I don’t know. I am just as clueless in this as you are.”

He rubbed his beard thoughtfully, obviously considering genocide, when he shook his head in defeat. “Damn.” He looked back to the forest, and nodded. “Well, I apologize for the misunderstanding and I hope you don’t hold it against me, but if you do I don’t plan on staying to hear it.”

“Wait.” I said as he turned to disappear into the forest, “Help me figure this out. I don’t know why I’m trusting you, but I am.” He looked back at me, looked to the forest again, and nodded.

“Fine. Just know now that if you ask me for something I cannot give, you are not to push the issue. And if I tell you something, treat that like the word of god itself.” He looked away. “With that said, my name is Vaelyn, I am several centuries old, I can shift my shape and no, I cannot take the form of a pony because he was just killed.” He nodded at the unconscious body of the woman. “Let’s get her out of here, and then we can talk further.”

7: Watch Me Burn

The cold air swept through the darkened factory's halls, brushing aside forgotten papers holding the news of ages before and the leaves that had long since laid to rest in the safety of the walls.

That is not to say there were no other residents in the factory, because that would be a lie. There was one, a young woman with long waist-length black hair. She was clad in a plain black t-shirt, jeans, and an open trench coat. Her hazel eyes swept across the empty room, checking every inch of the area for any signs of the loot that had long since become scarce to most people.

That was her life. Retrieving the scraps her ancestors left behind, cleaning up after the messes they had made with their meddling. That was the forefront of most of the world's problems, wasn't it?

As she pondered these age old facts, a sound met her ears. A sound she vaguely remembered, one she had heard long ago when she was first born, shortly after... That incident.

The sound of a cello, joined shortly after by a piano rang out over the ruins. Her mother had played the cello, as she had aspired to do so. They had stopped, however, when the sound brought them, took her away.

The fact that she heard it now, after so long, only meant one thing: Someone was ready to die.

...

It would have been easy to ignore it, she realized. Plug her ears and wait for it to stop, for the screams to start. So easy, no risk for her.

...

So wrong.

Maybe it was the reminder of her mother, who aspired to save someone in danger, never let a soul be lost without trying that pushed her to leave the safety of the factory, to put herself in danger.

*--^--*

Eden

My mother always said women had tougher heads than men. Well, she said we were stronger headed, but they're the same thing. She said a woman could outsmart a man any day, that a woman could take a hit just as well as a man.

She was way wrong. That guy, Cian from what I heard, somehow shot a bolt of lightning into my skull, and damn it hurt like a bitch. Not to mention the fact that I had ruined any chances I had of making peace with the townspeople... Erm, ponies. I killed that stallion. To be fair, he attacked me first, but I couldn't imagine they would see it that way.

Why had he attacked me? He called me a hypocrite, said I tried to kill Cian... I didn't. I might have used him to test the effects of poison joke on another being (I was lucky to find a human to confirm the effects would transfer to me) but I knew that it wouldn't kill him.

No, he tried to kill me. Called me his sister. He seemed angry, I suppose it's possible that the hallucinations are nightmarish, always negative? They didn't seem to have a physical effect, positive or negative, on him, my arm proved as much.

If that is the case... What could be so bad about his sister to make him react so violently? Or maybe it was cause of the plant that made him act that way.

Whatever the case was, I knew when I woke up that convincing the locals of my harmlessness (of which I had little) would be difficult, if the six ponies and one man guarding my room from the inside were any indication. I looked around the room through squinted eyes in an attempt to get a sense of my surroundings without giving away the element of surprise, but that was pointless. Partly because the purple unicorn noticed, and partly because the room contained fuck all. It was a wooden chair, a curtain over a window, the door, and four oak wood walls.

I didn't have time to appreciate the lack of things to look at as the interrogation began, started by the purple pony.

She was... Interesting. Her eyes were a light purple that had a light of curiosity to them as they scanned over every inch of my body, as though at any moment I could be whisked away...

Which in light of the situation could be a serious possibility. Her mane was a dark purple with a few streaks of lighter purple and pink. She kept it neatly combed, just over her eyes.

With a clearly forced smile, she stepped forward and nodded to me. "Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What is yours?"

Be friendly. "Mine is Eden, and I wish we had been able to meet under different circumstances. I can tell we have had a toll on you." Her eyes widened in surprise, as though it wasn't obvious. There were faint dark circles under her eyes and the faint redness of bloodshot eyes made apparent that she had lost sleep over the recent events. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the movement of a quill, heard the scratching of the feather against parchment, the ink bleeding into the paper.

She nodded. "You know of my... Friend?" The slight hesitation in her voice alerted me to actually take a look at the man staring at me with familiar grey eyes. He had messy black hair that half covered his eyes, though the gaze from beneath it pierced me like no weapon had. He wore a long black coat that was similar to a cowboy duster, along with dark brown boots and black leather gloves. I could see the hilts of several daggers kept hidden in the inside of his coat, along with what appeared to be a strange looking revolver.

He pulled out the gun, noticing where my gaze laid. "This baby? Call her Grace." He smirked, pulling back the hammer. The barrel of the gun was made of a bronze like material, shiny brown with letters engraved in the side. "Yep, best damn gun made by the best damn smiths in any world." The six round chamber had an odd look to it. If it was pointed at you, it could pass for a slightly odd shaped revolver. From the back it was different. Where you would normally put the bullets there were instead small blue discs that sparkled.

I didn't want to know what it fired, if not bullets.

I didn't waste time getting to the point. "You're the stallion that tried to kill me."

"You're the bitch that tried to kill Cian and managed to kill me. I gotta hand it to you, not many people have been able to kill me, the old bastard that I am." To be so nonchalant about his own death meant he had become familiar with the concept. The humor in his eyes told me no different.

I nodded, smiling. "Well I'm flattered. And I have to be honest, I did not attempt to kill Cian, I defended myself when he was under the effects of a hallucinogenic drug I found in the woods. And if it's any consolation, I wasn't trying to kill you." It was at this point I knew that I was in the clear.

He laughed, running his hand through his hair. "That's supposed to make me feel better? I suppose I better not get on your bad side then."

Twilight stepped in front of the man, nodding. "It shouldn't be a problem from here. I'll let you know when it's safe to come back in, or when she can come out."

*--^--*

Vaelyn

I shut the door behind me, letting it shut with a click. I stepped away, down the stairs, making my way out the door and into the town.

I needed to find Cian. If there was one person who had a say in any of this, it was him. I took a deep breath, sifting through the many scents that floated through the air, pinpointing his with ease and following the trail through town, occasionally stopping when a pony asked me what I was, or some other question. I followed the scent until it led me to the cottage I remembered seeing when I helped carry the unconscious irishman to the library. That was where confusion struck, as the trail did not head to the cottage as I expected-- or hoped, I suppose.

It met with four others, three of them fresher than the other, and led into the Everfree Forest towards the strange house I had found.

Towards the gathering of wild animals I had left behind.

The timberwolves.

I broke into a sprint, hoping to catch the group before they ran into a wild animal I couldn't save them from.

*--^--*

The cello broke through the moans that echoed throughout the ruined concert hall, that overlapped the pounding of hands against windows, that fought against the sounds of shuffling feat against marble floor.

All these sounds hid the sound of the hard, determined steps of a woman sprinting across the rooftop of the concert hall. She ran for the solitary door on the rooftop, the one that she had committed to memory as the door that led to her old home.

One she abandoned when everything she lived for turned on her. Everyone she lived for turned on her.

She ran to the door, her hand brushing against the knob when she heard the screams. The screams of death. Screams she had become numb to long ago. Screams that, for some reason, made her want to fall to her knees and cry.

Maybe it was the fact that after surviving for so many years, someone could just die without putting a fight. Or maybe they did, how could she know?

She doubled over as a sudden burning pain lanced through her chest, as though it was squeezing her heart in a vice grip. She fell on her side, jerking as her hand clenched her chest, feeling for the small pendant dangling around her neck. The small onyx rock pulsed slightly at her touch, already beginning suck in the wisps of black smoke emanating from her body.

Then everything stopped.

The survivors of the slaughter below stopped crying, stopped breathing.

The dead chasing them stopped moving, stopped hunting.

The man standing on the rooftop behind the woman, did not stop.

He moved forward, resting a hand on the woman's shoulder. She did not react. He sighed, "Nice view, isn't it?" His features were hidden by the shadows produced by his top hat, although his eyes would have glowed a bright orange had he not been wearing his sunglasses. His dress pants were crease-less and clean, a clear contrast to the grimy filth of the world he inhabited. His dress coat matched his pants with its gray color, a pocket watch in the breast pocket.

He looked to his wrist watch, nodding. Stepping forward, he yanked the necklace off of the woman's neck. Then, in a flash, she was gone, off to a strange new land. Before long, she would do her job.

The man grinned, stuffing the crystal in his pocket. "Time to go to work soon. One last stop to make, though." He snapped his fingers, producing an image of a man standing in a field staring down a dark blue dragon. He snapped his fingers again, producing a bag of popcorn. "First, though, it's time for a show."

8: Cutie Mark Crusaders Animal Bait

"'The world is my garden, these people the weeds.' he said." The man smiled, nodding to the children seated in front of him, twenty or so. "And so he set fire to the Earth, his wrath destroying everything it touched. When the fires were quelled, the survivors gazed upon the destruction in fear, but more so in curiosity. The creatures that emerged from the ruins were known as the Ashborn, the sons of Veraxus, god of nightmare.

One of the children raised their hands, a young boy with short brown hair. The light breeze that ran through the plains swept through his hair as he smiled. "Is that why you fall apart so easily?" The wind picked up as the children stood, one by one, blowing away like ash in the wind. The green grass of the plains wilted, dying before the man's eyes. The blue sky turned grey, dark grey clouds forming to cover it.

The man fell to his knees, his fantasy gone, and sighed. "Yes, Tommy. That's why I can't tell you that myself."

There was a thud behind him as a winged beast larger than a house hit the ground.

"Feeling sorry for yourself again?" It asked in a deep voice. The man turned, staring the creature dead in the eyes. It laughed, "If you want a garden, that should be easy enough to make, nephew." Nephilus, the most famous Ashborn general that was ascended to godhood after his successes in battle. "But there is no reason to feel sorry for the loss of a life, or a few of them. If they were weak enough to die--"

The man roared, slamming his fists into the ground. He was suddenly swept up in a grey cloud, before emerging as a drake half the size of Nephilus. "You did not fail them! You have never failed! What would you have me do, now that I have failed?!"

Nephilus grinned, nodding. "Make your garden, then. Save the lives of some bushes or something." Then he frowned, glaring at the man. "Or you could just cry over the teacher some more." The dragon roared, launching himself into the air. The drake could do nothing as the dragon disappeared on the horizon except roar and growl.

*--^--*

Vaelyn

Pumping my legs, I rushed through bushes, over roots, around trees. I tracked the unknown scents, a single thing clear about them: The fear. Only a child could feel such fear, and while I wanted to find Cian for back up, I couldn't risk their fear being warranted on the basis of their age.

And for the most part, their scents were fairly close together most of the way, until they split apart. The trio continued moving towards the clearing, but the pair veering to the left, as though to go around.

I moved forward, breaking into the clearing, but I was stopped dead in my tracks.

The clearing was littered with branches of all sizes, many of them broken. Leaves were blown about by strong winds, almost concealing the large tan animal that held a timberwolf pinned to the ground. The animal's body represented mostly a lion, the red tail coiled around the neck of another wolf, the scorpion's stinger embedded firmly in its chest. The creature's bat-like wings were spread wide, the wingspan larger than that of my drake's form, and as I watched the muscles which rippled beneath it's lithe form, I knew nothing that I could muster would be enough to face it in a fair fight.

So I played dirty. I pulled Grace from her home in my coat holster, aiming at the base of its tail. "How you fight with such... Grace." I laughed, distracting the beast long enough for it to release the timberwolf underneath its paw. I pulled the trigger, launching a single blue bullet into the red carapace of the creature's tail. From the entry wound flowed water, coating every millimeter of the surface of the tail before freezing into a thin layer of ice, hindering the movement of the creature. In surprise, it released the other timberwolf, who fell to the forest floor limply.

The remainder of the timberwolves rallied behind me, growling at the manticore as it shook its tail free of the ice, roaring. To my right I saw three fillies staring wide eyed with various expressions on their faces, though all of them had traces of fear in them. Protect them better than your own. I shouted at myself silently, willing myself forward as I charged the beast, rolling forward. In an explosion of grey smoke, I was obscured to the eyes of everyone around me. The manticore watched attentively, licking its lips as it waited for its would be meal to appear.

What emerged was a creature with scales black as night, wings rippling as they spread to their full length. The serpentine slits that were the beasts' eyes focused on the aggressor, which faltered in taking the first hit. I lunged at the manticore, grabbing the stinger that arced towards me and I pulled, tossing the creature into the air.

The manticore had never been bested in a fight, especially not by a creature it had never encountered. The thought of death terrified it, and it realized it had to run. Its eyes locked onto the orange pup and it grinned, deciding its meal would be to go.

I leaped into the air, intending to finish off the poor beast before it suffered, when a stinger met my throat, knocking me backwards to the ground. Within seconds I felt the manticore's poison flowing into my veins, searing pain following quickly. I lost the concentration required to hold the form and felt my human shape returning, the pain fading. Gonna have to deal with that later. One misconception of shapeshifting was that all forms felt the same pain and you could always use them. The truth of it was that each form was essentially a different body, and it was always constant. The poison wouldn't go away, it would start to take effect the moment I returned to the drake form.

Just one of those things I figure I should be mentioning.

I flipped onto my feet, quickly turning to charge the beast that would land at any moment when I heard a scream coming from the opposite direction.

I drew my sword, changing my spin to face that direction, when something small hit me, and I heard a scream.

"Sweetie Belle!" The voice cried in a young southern accent, then almost immediately after, "Scootaloo--oof!" I heard a thud, before I hit the ground, fluffy white projectile cradled in my arms. It was a filly with a purple and pink mane and a soft white coat. Her eyes were clenched shut and her teeth were gritted in pain, and she was holding a spot just above her left hind leg. I brushed her hooves aside and bit back a scream of frustration.

The reddish mark of a puncture wound obviously caused by the stinger glared at me.

"Mister!" I heard the voice again, "The manticore got ma friend, he's getting away! He's... getting... away..." She trailed off as she saw the mark on her friend. I laid her on the ground, ignoring her friend's pleas. "What's wrong with her? She's gonna be okay, right?"

I wasted no time in approaching the writhing filly. Nodding to her redheaded friend, I commanded, "Hold her down. This will hurt, but much less than letting the poison kill her." The farm filly nodded back, letting her hair fall over her eyes as she spread her friend's legs (Oh Christ this sounds wrong) for me. I found the wound and put my mouth to it, trying very hard to ignore her screams as I sucked the poison from the wound, to ignore my own urges to scream as the poison began to burn the insides of my mouth, the metallic taste of blood as it coated my tongue in its liquid ruby embrace.

I pulled away, spitting the fluids out of my mouth and jumping to my feet. The filly had stopped writhing, the poison gone from her body. I smirked and looked up at the forest, in the direction of the manticore. It had left a clear path, and even without that path, it made one mistake.

It was running from me and it had something I wanted.

Eden

I stepped outside, shielding my face as sunlight passed unfiltered into my waiting eyes. I heard a giggle from behind me as I stumbled, bracing myself on Twilight's back. I laughed as pain lanced through my shoulder, hoping to avoid an interrogation on account of my shoulder.

Persuasion failed. "Are you alright?" Twilight asked, looking up at me with concern. I nodded, giving her a weak smile. We started to move away from the safety of the tree slowly, I continued to hold Twilight, and I could tell we were getting looks from other ponies.

I was, specifically. Many of the looks were accusatory, obviously from ponies who knew what I was and what I had done against the two other humans that they knew. Well, knew more than me anyways. To my relief, many of the looks seemed more sympathetic or curious than anything else. Hope quelled in my heart like a campfire for a survivalist, and I was hoping to talk to some of the ponies and make it known that I was anything but hostile towards them.

That was when the cerise pony came running up to us, worry clear in her face. Her gaze drifted to me for a moment before her eyes rested on Twilight. "Twilight! Have you seen the girls? I heard them talking about the Everfree Forest and something about a building, and then I saw one of those 'humans' running into the forest near Fluttershy's cottage. Oh I hope they didn't go in there looking for something."

From Twilight's sigh, I felt this was a recurring matter. I smirked, looking over the mare. She had a pink and lighter pink colored mane and tail and grayish harlequin eyes that looked wiser than her years should show. The mark on her flank was three smiling sunflowers, implying that she was most likely a teacher from her worry over children and her intelligent aura. "If they went into the woods after either of those guys," I rolled my eyes, sighing, "then they're fine. Whatever those guys did to me, I can tell they aren't dicks. They won't let anything happen to a bunch of kids."

Well, if they notice. Neither of them are all that perceptive when it comes to people being nearby. I nodded. "Are you their teacher?"

She nodded, "Yes, my name is Cheerilee. I... I let them out for recess, and they must have slipped away. I can't imagine what could happen to those fillies if... oh sweet Celestia I hope they're okay." I wanted to tell her it would be okay, but their odds of survival if they weren't noticed by either of the humans were 23.66% repeating, from what I had heard lived in the cursed forest. So I stared in silence as the teacher began to cry, obviously not hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

That's when I heard the roar of a creature from somewhere in the woods. Well, getting peop-- ponies, I mean, to like me will have to wait.

Vaelyn

I tracked the manticore heading towards Ponyville with its quarry, for what purpose I couldn't determine other than to throw me off its trail. But it must have known I would be able to track it, animals just know that. It knew it was going to die unless it escaped me. I held in another scream as the poison burned in my throat, causing pain beyond what I had felt for a long time. It wouldn't kill me thanks to my superior shapeshifter immune system, but it would hurt pretty bad.

I found the beast not too far from Fluttershy's cottage with the orange pegasus filly (Scootaloo) in its mouth. It was shaking the poor pony around like a rag doll, eventually tossing her clear across the forest path into the open. She laid there, dazed as the lion headed monster approached her, salivating at the thought of her tender flesh in its maw.

It lunged, prepared to taste the sweet metallic taste of blood on its tongue. A metallic taste did find its way into its mouth, and it did begin to taste blood, but when it opened its eyes, they rested upon me, my sword holding the creature back as the sharpened steel sliced through its tongue and the sides of its mouth. It started to whine and attempt to pull away, but I was fast, and my revolver was pushed against its kneecap.

"Beg for Mercy." I growled to the wide eyed creature as my rough speech in its language hit it, and it almost got away. I fired a round from my red revolver, the flaming bullet lodging itself into the manticore's leg beginning to burn away the flesh and fur around the entry wound, slowly searing every trace of the manticore. It jumped away, tripping as its leg fell away from its body. It roared, the sound shifting into a whine as the thought of death set in.

I nodded to the filly staring in horror at us and growled, "these pups are under my protection, as is any pony from this town. Should you return, I will lay waste to your pack. I swear it on my blood and my blade." I made the ages old oath and nodded to the manticore. The message got across, and it retrieved the fallen leg before limping away.

I turned to tend to the filly who in turn leaped into my arms, sobbing silently into my coat. Unprepared, I could only stammer, "Y'okay?" She nodded, burrowing deeper into my coat. I stroked her purple mane as I slowly started walking away from the bloody scene.

When we were approaching the town and the approaching ponies and human, I heard Scootaloo murmur into my coat.

"What?"

"Don't tell my friends I cried. They'll think I'm a chicken." I laughed at the ridiculous statement, irritating her. "Hey! I'm serious. You're cool, you won't tell them, right?"

I stared into the filly's wide grayish purple eyes and smiled. "Fine, I promise. Don't do it again, though."

Then I looked back and saw Cian leaving the forest carrying Sweetie Belle, followed by the redhead and Fluttershy and swore. "Shit, I forgot about them."

"What does 'shit' mean?" Scootaloo asked curiously.

"It's what I'm gonna be in, probably."

"Oh. Okay."

We walked the rest of the way in silence, but never once did she let me go and never once did I stop smiling once I held her.

9: The Prankster's Party Arena

???

If a squirrel takes an acorn from a crowded road and is killed by a car, did it deserve that death for being so stupid as to believe it could make it through, or arrogant to believe a car could not harm it, or insane enough to believe the world would stop for it to find the food it so desired.

Is the pawn guilty for the crimes of the king? Some would say yes, others would say no. Some say the pawn has a mind of their own and can make their own choices, but others say they have no choice, that they would die if they ever turned away.

The point of these pointless questions is pointless to point out, because the answers are never going to be the same, and no outcome is going to come out of the answers.

I watched the arena with interest, a small smile on my face as the doors on either side of the arena opened, a person was pushed out of each side, and I heard 'Last one standing fights again!' in Chinese. I watched the man on my left with brown hair and a stubbly beard stare across the arena floor at the redheaded woman in the torn army uniform.

I grinned wider as the woman charged the man, who launched a small bolt of electricity from his hands at her. The lightning bolt struck her in the head, coursed through her body, and shot back out of her into the man. Boooooring, let's make it more interesting! I snapped my fingers, grinning as everything slowed to a crawl. Adjusting my fedora, I walked down the stairs I made into the arena, past all the watching fans and empty seats, and come to rest next to the falling form of the redheaded woman.

I flicked my wrist, bringing her back to life in an instant. I pointed at the two empty walls and made two more doorways, inside each were three people armed with baseball bats. I shrugged and turned the bats into fish. Then I turned the men into giant jello men.

Then I smirked and slid a small blue crystal in the man's ear, pressing it firmly against ear canal, before snapping my fingers and disappearing in the same instant.

I visited the changelings and made them an offer. I put a diamond dog's dagger in a cat's eye. I stole a golden ring and necklace and slipped it to a disheveled showmare. I sent a scholar to a strange building to die. I sent a manticore to a strange new forest.

I laughed and laughed...

And laughed and laughed, laughed, laughed, laughed, laughed...

Cian

"What happened here!?" I shouted in surprise when Fluttershy and I came upon a redheaded filly with a red bow cuddling a white, pink maned filly who was curled into a ball. The filly in the bow jumped up, staring at me with a look of confusion.

"Ah'm so sorry, it's just Scootaloo and ah wanted to see the human that had come to Ponyville and mah sister talked about ya and Sweetie Belle didn't wanna go and then the other human was here when the manticore came and it took Scootaloo and the human went after it after helping Sweetie and Fluttershy ah'm so sorry!" She took a deep gasping breath once she was finished, before breaking into tears, rushing into Fluttershy's arms.

I let Fluttershy deal with Ms. Texas while I dealt with Sweetie Belle or whatever. Rarity's sister whose name I had only heard mentioned, but by her looks I made the connection.

I knelt beside her, jostling her. "Yo Sweetie Belle? Y'alright?" She groaned and nodded, rubbing a red spot on her stomach. I examined it for a moment before gasping in shock. It looked like some kind of sting, from a scorpion or something. And release The Scorpion! If our contestants want to be such good friends, let them die together!

'Hold it together!' Mirror shouted at me, trying to keep me focused. 'Now is not the time to go all crazy on them, you need to get her into town, fast.' No shit. I lifted the filly in my arms, cradling her as I nodded to Fluttershy, who had calmed the redhead, Apple Bloom, down from her previously blubbering state.

We walked Sweetie Belle out of that forest with the knowledge that she might die. Of course, when we got back into town and found out that Vaelyn had not only saved Sweetie's life by sucking out the poison, but got rid of the manticores permanently... Without killing them, he stressed to Fluttershy who looked disgusted before he mentioned that part. Scootaloo was practically attached to him until her friends were shown to be alright, then she vowed she would become a hero like him or something.

Didn't really pay attention. Saw Rainbow Dash look a little irritated by that when she heard, probably pretty jealous or something. No, what I was paying attention to was the voice in my head.

You're *what?*** 'I was in heat when I died. When you took me into your head. I was near the end of my cycle, at the peak pretty much, and now...' Are you stuck like this? 'Does that cyan one have a rockin body?' I looked to confirm this, saw a horse, and shrugged. Guess so, to another pony maybe. 'Then yes, I think I am stuck like this. Not to worry though, I have a plan...' What's that?

My hand jerked at my side, and before I could even blink it was caressing Fluttershy's backside, just above the tail. I could hear Mirror sigh in content as I tried to play the movement off as anything but creepy, rubbing my hand up her back and ending behind her ears.

"Who wants cupcakes!?" I heard a mare shout from nearby, most likely Pinkie to us. I couldn't suppress the smile that came to my face. Who could when cupcakes were involved? Nothing evil could be attributed to that name.

Vaelyn

With Scoots safely out of my arms, I regarded the group staring at me with accusatory, thankfu and curious looks with a shake of my hand.

"Heading to Fluttershy's to ask a few questions about animals when I heard these suckers making enough noise to attract a bear from a few miles off. A manticore was nearby, tearing up a pack of timberwolves near the strange building in the woods," the wolves I had completely forgotten about until that point, shit, "before it decided to go after these little ones. I fought it off for as long as I could, but it escaped me, grabbing Scoots and stinging Sweetie." I nod to the filly.

A collection of gasps interrupt my wonderful story, so I cleared my throat and sent a glare around the group. Twilight raised a hoof and I sighed before I nodded. "Yes?"

She stammered, "Manticore venom is very deadly, it would have... killed her in minutes without the medical attention she obviously didn't get." She looked to Sweetie Belle, who was talking to her worried friends and assuring them of her safety. "But she's clearly fine."

"Well I sucked it out. So I chased after the manti--"

"The venom is acidic, it would have burnt the inside of your mouth before you could spit it out again."

"Well, I didn't spit it out, and yes it burnt like absolute hell. It's gone for good though, after I caught up to it and hurt it rather badly. It's alive though, and it will be able to live its life just fine." I added the last part when I saw the accusatory glare of Fluttershy (the look doesn't suit her but damn do I feel bad when I see it) before I remembered. "Oh yeah, do you have anything for my mouth?"

Twilight stammered helplessly, "What?! We need to get you to Nurse Redheart, you shouldn't even be able to move!"

I looked up at her, shaking my head. "What? No, I'm fine my mouth just hurts. Anyways, enough about my day I must be boring you, how is yours going?" She seemed to scan my face for a moment before being... satisfied isn't the right word, but she looked less pissed.

"Are all humans as stubborn as you three?" Twilight glared at me before turning away. She started to walk away but turned back. "And my day is going just fine, thank you for asking!" I nodded in victory, looking around and eyeing a certain pink pony with a certain tray of certain confectionary treats. There were exactly three, a nice yellow colored cupcake with purplish-blue frosting.

I snatched one as she cried out "Who wants cupcakes?!"

I thanked her and turned away, almost running into Cian who was holding his own cupcake. "Nice cupcake." I observed, nodding towards his treat which identical to mine.

Cian grinned, "Indeed. So, to today, because there is no way it could get weirder!" I bit into my own cup... cake...

Eden

"Where did they get the stage?" I asked Pinkie Pie in irritation, nodding towards the aforementioned stage.

"I let them use it!" She replied as chipper as ever, watching Cian and Vaelyn on stage singing, the former on guitar and the latter on drums, with a tan stallion on bass, who looked even more confused than I must have looked from seeing the spectacle.

"And we light up the SKYYYYYYYYYY!" The pair of humans shouted in perfect singing voices (strangely enough, even I could sing in this place) while the bass player somehow managed to keep up, despite his hooves being, well, you know, hooves.

"And where did they get the instruments from?" I questioned further, though Pinkie didn't look away from the stage again

"Cian had them! I dunno where he got em from though because I've never seen anything like them, well except for the cello that I saw Octavia playing at the Grand Galloping Gala that one time but that sounded totally different and she used a long thing that made it sound different than any of that." She took a deep breath and finished, "And I let them use the microphone. At least all the other ponies like it!" She addressed the crowd standing around the stage, it looked like the entire town had shown up in the fifteen minutes that had passed since the, you know, kids almost dying and everything.

"The stallion on bass guitar?" I asked, watching him nail every note with ease, all things considered.

"Oh his name is Doctor Whooves!"

I sighed, rubbing my temples and looking into the beautiful blue sky. Stay calm, today is going to be a good day. You're gonna make friends and these ponies will love you... Stay calm... Eat something. "Hey Pinkie, can you bring me one of those cupcakes you gave them?"

Not even seconds passed before I had a cupcake in my hand, and Pinkie was staring intently into my eyes. "Try it! I used a special frosting the Cakes ordered..." I looked at the two idiots on stage. I looked at the cupcake. I almost took a bite out of it when Pinkie continued. "Well actually there's no record of them making an order for this frosting. They didn't even mention it, actually. And it wasn't delivered, somepony standing behind the bakery said I needed to use it for cupcakes, but I only had enough for those three."

I smelled the cupcake experimentally, and it smelled very familiar. Like a certain plant found in the Everfree Forest that got me into the mess I was in. I tossed the cupcake aside, hoping smelling it wouldn't have any adverse effects on me.

"AaaaAAAaah!" Eden sang, bouncing around the stage like a mad woman.

"They take me away from..." Cian shouted into the mic in his hands.

"AaaaAAAaah!"

"The strangest places..." Vaelyn continued strongly.

"AaaaAAAaah!"

"Sweet Rarity and Eden." I mused to myself as I slipped through the entranced crowd as though they would even be able to see me if I touched any one of them, reaching the library fairly quickly and slipping inside. I took a quick look around and saw nothing worth mentioning so I won't. All I saw was my goal, the baby purple dragon looking out the window at the performance outside. The owl was sitting next to him, staring as stoic as ever at nothing in particular.

I approached him from behind, whispering in his attentive ears. "Those humans sure are exotic, huh?"

Spike spun around, frantically scanning the empty room, save Owlicious. "Who said that?!"

"Who indeed?" I laughed and sent the owl closer to Spike with a thought. "Me, of course!"

The purple dragon stared wide eyed at the owl for several minutes. I was ready to leave when he finally spoke. "So... You WERE messing with me!"

"Or you're insane. Either way, I have had a vision from the future and you must see it. It concerns Rarity."

He snapped to attention at the mention of his beloved. "What about her?! Is she in danger? We have to save her!" He looked ready to do something stupid, I had to act quickly.

"Not quite so grave. Look" I sent him a vision of Rarity and Eden dancing together at the Grand Galloping Gala, obviously causing him distress as he growled at the image, clenching his tiny claws and gritting his teeth. "She wants a human." I mocked him, smirking as the vision continued and the pair grew nearer and nearer, until their lips were just about to touch before I waved it away. "She doesn't just want a human, she wants a woman." He looked out the window at the woman singing on stage, then to the alabaster mare that was watching them all with an unreadable expression on her face. "If only there were some sort of artifacts that could make you both. Alas, the only mare I know with such things is-- oops, I think I've said too much."

He looked at the owl desperately, jumping up and down in front of him. "Who?! Who do I talk to?! I need these things!"

"Who indeed?" I chuckled. "From the north will come a mare, whose coat is light blue and quite fair. Though before she was mean and sourful, now she is the great and powerful..."

"Trixie!" Spike jumped in the air, whooping. Then he stopped and looked at the owl. "Sourful?"

"I'm an owl not a poet. You want me to tell you or not?" He nodded vigorously. "Fine. Exactly three days from midnight tonight Trixie will come seeking an audience with Twilight Sparkle. Ask her about 'the artifacts' and offer to trade. She will decline, but just ask her to borrow them and offer her a date with Twilight Sparkle. Get Twilight up to the idea ahead of time if you wish, but you need to get the amulet and the ring. Do not put on the ring, just the amulet. Go to her and show your love, and then put on the ring when you tell her what happened. She will have no choice but to be amazed!" I smirked, stepping out of existence and into the void.

"How do you know all about Trixie?" Spike asked the owl.

"Who?" The owl hooted.

"Trixie!"

"Who?"

I laughed out loud, grinning from ear to ear. "Who indeed?"

1: We Never Ask

Act One: Daydreams

“Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”

― Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist

Humans always want to follow their dreams. It's practically in our blood, it's instinct. Apart from survival, it's what we all strive for.

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

― Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora

Sometimes, we spend our whole lives dreaming. Everything around us passes us by, so we don't realize that our dreams are ridiculous. And when it hits us that they are... It can hurt, sometimes.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Some people argue that no dream is ridiculous, but that in itself is ridiculous. I've spent most of my life in a dream, and only now have I woken up...

“I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?”

― John Lennon

Act Two: Night Terrors

Nightmares aren't always bad. They show you that life is never perfect, they help you be strong. Sure, they can be scary...

But with someone you trust and care for at your side, what could overcome you?

Three heroes from different worlds enter the battlefield against a foe who defies time itself...

But will three heroes leave..?

Were they all heroes to begin with?