Inner Demons

Obsidian awoke in a strange place. He found himself on a small chair in the middle of a dark room.

Nervously, he called out, "Fluttershy, are you in here?"

Silence was his only answer.

The colt started to grow scared. He wanted his caretaker, even though he hadn't known her for very long. It had only been two days since he had arrived, but he already trusted her and would rather be next to her than alone in this awful place. "Is anypony here?" the colt asked, still trying to not feel alone.

"I'm here, child," a mysterious voice called out. Obsidian instantly felt relief, which swiftly turned to terror, for he did not know who this was and whether they would hurt him or not.

The voice continued, "Come, child. I mean you no harm."

This caused the colt to freak out more. Was it reading his mind?

"W...where are you?" he asked. Suddenly, the same green eyes and grin that had been haunting his dreams since he had arrived appeared in front of him, gleaming brightly in the darkness.

"I'm here, and I will always stay." The image suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.

Obsidian screamed as he quickly sat up. It had all been a nightmare. Wasn't Princess Luna supposed to invade the dreams of ponies in need? Maybe she thought he didn't need her help?

But help he surely needed, and it came in the form of Fluttershy bursting in and pulling him into her warm embrace. "What happened, Obsidian?” she asked in a small whisper, obviously scared for him.

"An- another ni- ni- nightmare," he said, still gasping for breath.

The yellow pegasus sighed and gave a soft smile. "Oh dear, I thought we had helped your nightmares. Maybe you just aren't ready to sleep in your own bedroom."

The colt looked at her with tear-filled eyes. "I'm sorry I disappointed you, Fluttershy."

"Oh no, sweetie, you didn't disappoint me. I want you to be able to sleep, so you're gonna sleep in my room again. That's perfectly all right." Suddenly, Fluttershy felt a small paw pull on her tail. She looked back and saw her small little bunny. "Angel, what's the matter?" she asked.

Angel pulled out his food bowl and stomped his foot rapidly.

"Oh, okay. I guess a midnight snack would be okay. In fact..." She turned to look at the small colt. "We could make cookies."

"Cookies!" The colt dashed into the kitchen, causing Fluttershy to laugh a little.

It had been one week since that fateful night. Obsidian hadn't had a nightmare that traumatic since then, but that didn't matter. The image still attacked his mind. Today was special, though. Today was the first day of school, and Obsidian couldn't be more excited. "Come on, Fluttershy!” he shouted, bouncing around the living room. “I'm gonna be late!”

"Okay, now, Obsidian, do you have all of your stuff?"

The colt nodded.

"Oh really?” Fluttershy asked playfully. “What about your books?"

"Uhhhh... I get my books at school, don't I?"

"Yup. Trick question." She smiled and tussled his mane. "Now, you go have fun at school."

Obsidian giggled then ran off to school, and had almost arrived when he was stopped by two fillies. They circled Obsidian, looking just like two predators surrounding their prey.

The pink one spoke first. "Well, well, well. What do we have here, Silver Spoon?" she asked the other.

"Seems to be a new student,” the gray filly replied, “and, oh! It looks like he's a blank flank, Diamond Tiara."

"You know what that means, don't you, Silver?"

The gray filly nodded. Both girls sucked in a large breath of air, ready to shout, when suddenly a pair of yellow hooves covered their mouths.

"Hey, leave him alone, you two! Gosh, can't y'all do somethin' better'n this?"

The two fillies sighed angrily and stormed into the school. The filly looked at Obsidian and smiled a cute little smile. She held out a hoof in greeting. "Name's Apple Bloom."

"I'm Ob- Obsidian," he said shakily, returning the proffered hoof.

"Don't worry about those two, Obsidian. They don't have a lot of friends." The school bell rang, prompting the filly to jump. "Gosh darnit! We're late!" She turned and galloped inside, and he quickly followed. She dove into her desk, which was between a white unicorn and an orange pegasus. Obsidian had no such desk, and so he stood awkwardly in the front until the teacher turned and smiled.

"Settle down class," Miss Cheerilee said. At least, that's what the name on the desk said. "Now, I'd like to introduce a new student." She gestured to him to come closer, and Obsidian obeyed nervously. "Now, dear, please tell the class your name," she said.

"I'm Obsi... Obsidian," he managed to say.

Cheerilee smiled. While she might have had a more talkative student share more, for some their name was sufficient. "Good! Welcome, Obsidian. Now, have a seat. There's an open desk by Apple Bloom."

Happy that that had worked out, Obsidian quickly took his seat.

Cheerilee turned back to her board. "Today, class, we are going to talk about cutie marks.”

Obsidian leaned forward, very interested.

"Fluttershy!" Obsidian yelled as he ran down the dirt path to the cottage. "Fluttershy! Guess what?”

Fluttershy stepped outside of her cottage and looked around for the little colt. She found him easily, but that was because he had tackled her in happiness.

"Wh- what, Obsidian?" she asked, trying hard not to burst into laughter.

"Oh, um, well, school was awesome! And I met some really cool ponies,” he smiled

Fluttershy brightened. "Oh good! What are their names?"

"Wellll... I only really talked to three of them. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo."

"Ah, I see. Well, they are nice fillies. In fact, two of them are some of my friends' sisters."

"Really?" he asked.

Fluttershy nodded.

"Whoa... Oh! Guess what I learned today?"

Fluttershy giggled and looked at him. "What did you learn?"

'Nuh uh!” Obsidan said, shaking his head no. “You gotta guess."

Fluttershy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm... Cutie marks," she said.

The colt's jaw dropped. "Are you psychic?" he asked in all seriousness.

Fluttershy couldn't help but burst into a giggle fit at his expression; and when she laughed, Obsidian couldn't help but join in.

"So..." Fluttershy tried to catch her breath. "Wanna help me make dinner?"

"But I don't know how."

Fluttershy shrugged. "That's not a problem. I'll teach you."

Obsidian nodded. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Okay, first I need you to get the ingredients."

"And those are?"

"I need some mushrooms, basil, mozzarella, flour, lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, and parmesan cheese. Oh and lots of fruit" Obsidian tilted his head.

"Um what's pico de gallo?"

"it's in a red container on the top shelf of the fridge. Okay sweetie?.

"Okay!" Obsidian ran off to find the ingredients

Angel Bunny looked at Fluttershy, and she sighed. "Now, Angel Bunny, I know Sid isn't my child or anything, but I promised Celestia I would care for him, and I am going to keep my promise."

It didn't take long for Obsidian to return. "I found the stuff!" he yelled, running back with everything, including about ten different types of fruit.

"Very good!”

"So what are we making?"

"Well it's called The Don Quesadilla."

"Why is it called that?"

Fluttershy giggled and tussled his hair "It's from a old pony tale."

"Oh I wanna hear it!"

"Maybe after we eat okay sugar?"

"Okay."

With Fluttershy handling the knife and Obsidian being the a great helper, dinner was soon ready.

"Fluttershy?" Sid asked as they finished eating.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I know I should've asked earlier, but Apple Bloom invited me to go on something called crusading, and I was wondering if I could go?"

"Well, you are right in that you should have asked earlier, and I know that their crusading can get pretty dangerous, but I do want you to make friends... Oh my, it's so tough to decide." She pondered this for a second, and then smiled. "Maybe. We will decide after school tomorrow, but now it's time for bed."

He nodded and ran into her bed, waiting for her. She crawled in beside him and closed her eyes "'Night, Obsidian."

"Night, Fluttershy." He nuzzled against her, and in the smallest whisper she had ever heard, "I love you" drifted from his mouth.

"I love you too, Obsidian," she whispered back as her eyes filled with tears of joy.

suddenly his eyes opened up and he jumped up. "Oh wait you need to tell me that story." He started to jump up and down

"Okay okay but first calm down and cover up." Sid nodded and covered up.

"Okay so long ago there was a group called the manehatten moofia and their leader was know as the Don, so one day the Don  got the best cooks from all around to make a meal that his little filly would love and if they couldn't make it he...well he uh made them go away... One day a unheard of chef came in and asked to make something. The Don had no other options since the best cooks were um gone. Well it turns out this chef made the best thing ever and the filly loved it, so the Don gave the chef his own mansion and one million bits and um they all lived happily ever after. Obsidian gave her a weird look.

"That's a weird tale but oh well...wait a minute how do you know the recipe?"

She chuckled. "Well like I said its a old mares tale. Now go to sle." Obsidian was already out. "Silly little thing."