//------------------------------// // ...then fates intertwine... // Story: Sides of the Same Coin // by Ventan //------------------------------// As class began, Max suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion. He tries to stay up, but quickly drifted in to sleep and dream. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the dream, he’s standing in a spotlight surrounded by black. He looks around, trying to understand what’s going on. Xam was suddenly behind him, in his own spotlight. Max quickly turned around to find Xam. Why is he here? Is this normal? “What. You look like you saw a ghost,” Xam said with a joking skeptic look. “It’s just… what’s going on,” Max asked, looking around seeing nothing but darkness. “Well, you are in what we ponies call ‘dreaming’, little one,” Xam sarcastically joked. “Ha, ha, funny. Seriously, what are we doing here,” Max said, cutting to the point. Xam face dropped to seriousness. It’s as if he’s emotionless. Max swallowed, readying himself for what he just asked for. “Alright, I’ll get right to it,” Xam started, “how much do you remember?” “What?” Max questioned, trying to comprehend what Xam just asked. It’s like Xam asked him something in gibberish. “Before you woke up in that tree house, do you remember anything before that?” Xam bluntly pressed. Max ran through his memories, trying to “remember” anything before the tree house. Nothing. He remembers nothing before the tree house. Why is that? Xam cut in, stopping Max’s thinking process. “By the look you’re making now, I’m guessing nothing?” Xam asked. “How do you-. What’s going on,” Max demanded. His answer was a silent look of concern and pity followed by a sigh. “You really don’t remember anything? Not even a little?” Xam said with a hurtful face. It gave Max a shiver down to his hooves, seeing Xam like that. Why is he concerned about this? What difference does it make if he doesn’t remember? But, then again, why is Xam suddenly concerned about this? As Max continued to think, Xam starred at him. “Does he not really remember? ,“ Xam thought,” At lease a little. I mean, she practically changed his life from that living hell. She almost literally raised him when those bastards of a parents couldn’t. Does he really not remember Aurora?” As thoughts continued through their brains, Xam finally spoke: “Let me take over for the day.” The statement threw Max off. Xam wants to take over? Why? There were multiple times where he actually took over, no questions asked. Granted, it was only twice, but now? Why now? Why is he demanding to take over? No… it’s more like he’s asking. Max can’t put a hoof on it, but he felt as if Xam was asking him to take over. No! He shook his head clearing his thoughts. He can’t take over! Every time he took over, another pony gets hurt because of him. Max finally decided to stand his ground and said, “No. I’ not goanna let you.” “It’s for your own good, genius. Can’t you let me do something right? At least once,” Xam started, ”Things aren’t going to be as you always think. I can read your thoughts. I swear, on Celestia’s sun and Luna’s moon,” Xam raised his left hoof, ”I’m not going to make another pony fear us. If anything else, I’m going to fix it.” Now that really threw Max off. The serious look he was giving and the fact that he swears makes Max actually starting to reconsider things. Will he? Will he really do that? Max took a sigh before answering. “Fine. If you swear on Celestia’s sun and Luna’s moon, then I guess you can take over. Just remember, if you break that promise, pony hell will be the least of your worries.” “Ha, good luck with that. But, seriously though,” Xam looked down for a moment, then looked backed up… smiling. An actual, genuine, kind smile, “Thank you.” “Oh Celestia, please don’t do that, ”Max said, looking away from the surprising horror he had just laid eyes on, ”Just take over while I crawl in our mental corner and gouge my mental eyes. Celestia, the horror.” Max turned away and walked to the corner, sat, and…well… slept. Turning into Xam and letting him do what ever he wants to do actually tired Max mentally. Xam looked at Max and kindly chuckled a little bit. “Thank you, Max. You won’t regret this.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Xam slowly woke up, yawning and stretching. Apparently, class was still going on and Xam just happens to be interrupting. Luckily, Miss Cherilee almost didn’t recognize Xam. But, sadly, knew it was still him. “He must’ve asked some other unicorn to temporarily changed his colors. I’ve seen some of those,” Cherilee thought, then added, “well… myself included.” Since Max (Xam) interrupted the class, Miss Cherilee coughed to get regain the class’ attention. “Max, since you have the curtsey to interrupt the class, why don’t you answer this question?” she said, pointing at the board. On the board were a series of questions, but Miss Chirlee pointed to a rather particular one. It showed an outline of an earth pony and the questioned said: where are the main strong points of an earth pony? Xam looked at the question skeptically. Is she asking for an answer that is as easy as any number plus that number? Then multiply the sum by two. Then take that and divide it by four. Finally, subtract the product with the original number. The answer would be zero. That’s how many fucks he was giving about the question. (Mindblown?) Xam sighed looked at Miss Cherilee, back to the question, then back to Miss Cherilee. He can obviously tell she is waiting for an answer. He looked back at the board, seeing the same question again. He looked back at Miss Cherilee, only to find her nearly on the verge of demanding Xam to answer the question. He decided to finally speak. “It’s the whole body, Miss Cherilee. An earth pony is known for their strength and stamina. Also farming, but that’s another story.”Xam stated, mater of factly. “Thank you, Max,” Miss Cherilee said with a sigh. She was about to give in and demanded an answer rudely. And a teacher should not show her mean side to the students. At least, not Miss Cherilee. As class continued, Xam stared out into space until he felt a nudge on his side. He turned to find Aurora giving him a note. He reluctantly took the note and opened it. It said: ”So, you’re back? Who are you this time?” He quickly scribbled: ”His opposite. Name’s Xam, by the way.” He folded the note and passed it to Aurora. She read it and made some quick scribbles, folded the note, then passed it back to Xam. He opened the note and read: “Ok. So, how’s Max doing.” Xam thought for a moment before he scribbled: ”He’s mentally tired and is sleeping. It’s really nice to see you again, Aurora.” He folded the note (again) and gave it back to Aurora. She (again) opened the note and read it (again), quickly scribbled (again), folded the note (again) and passed it to Xam (again). Xam read the note, saying: “Do you really remember me? “ Xam was stunned by what he read. He felt a little pain in his heart, but was determined to prove to her that he still remembers her. He quickly scribbled: “How can I forget the filly that ‘accidently’ dropped my favorite ice cream down the pond? Just so you know, you still owe me 2 bits.” He folded the note and handed it back to Aurora. She read the note and blushed. “That was new,” Xam thought. She quickly wrote something, then quickly erased it and wrote again. Xam raised an eyebrow, wondering what she wrote before. Aurora folded the note and handed it to Xam. He was about to take it, but Aurora quickly took back the note and erased and rewrote it again. Then, she threw the note to Xam's face. “This is new,” Xam thought. He bent down to pick up the note, opened it, and was a little disappointed. It said: “Let’s talk during recess.” After class They met under a tree. The day was still clear. The CMC are planning something, but they kept pointing at Xam, which made him uncomfortable. “So,” Aurora said, cutting Xam’s train of thought, ”you really do remember me, don’t ‘cha?” Xam looked back at Aurora, who is blushing for some odd reason. Xam shrugged it off. “Yea. Like I said, how can I forget the filly that-“ “Ok, ok, ok, ok! I get it. It’s just… it’s really nice knowing that one of you actually remembers me, you know?” Aurora said, as if she was about to cry. Xam was thrown off a little. She knew Max faked knowing her? Then again, they’ve been together ever since birth. She would always protect him; be with him through thick and thin. Xam gave a reassuring chuckle. “Yea, he just didn’t want to hurt you, that’s all. And the fact that he, well, I made another pony cry so-“ “Wait….WHAT?!” Aurora screamed in shock. Luckily, Xam was anticipating it and muffled her mouth before anypony got suspicious. Xam quickly said, “Yes, I made another pony cry. Max didn’t want to break another heart so he lied. Now be quiet, please?” Aurora nodded and Xam slowly let go of her mouth. He looked around, hoping nopony noticed. So far, nopony. Xam sighed in relief. “Who’s heart did you break this time!?” Aurora whispered. Xam can tell she didn’t want to scream, but she had to let go of some pent up aggression. “Her name was… what, ‘Diamond something’. I can’t remember.” “You mean ‘Diamond Tiara’? You made her cry,” Aurora asked. She thought for a moment before adding, “Who were you protecting?” “What,” Xam questioned, “Why are you asking me that?” “Usually, you turned into… well, this when you’re protecting someone. So again, who were you protecting? And who are you protecting now?” Xam took a moment before pointing at the CMC. “The pegasus over there. She was getting picked on by Diamond whatever and she said some stuff that-“ “Made you snapped? Yea, that filly has a tendency to do that," Aurora said, paused for a moment, then added with a disappointing look, "a lot actually." “Yea. Anyways, she said some stuff and well… lets just say that I’m her new death pony. As to answer the other question,” Xam pointed at himself, “I intend to make things right. Max and I came to an agreement that I take over under one condition: Not to hurt anypony. Period. Plus, he’s tired. The boy needs to sleep once in a while.” Aurora thought for a moment, then said, “That’s very sweet of you. Believe me, that coming from me to you is really something.” Xam chuckled. “Yea, I guess your right.” Suddenly, an idea came to him. “Hey,” Xam grinned, ”you still didn’t get a Cutie Mark yet, haven’t you?” “No…?” Aurora didn’t like what Xam’s planning. It usually ends up in fire of some sort. One time, one of his plans was to dump water on the next pony that opens the door. The plan worked, except that the pony had his tail on fire for some odd reason. The water quenched the fire and Xam/Max was rewarded a piece of candy for saving somepony’s life. Life lesson learned: pull pranks to save a life. Xam knew he couldn’t get close to Scootaloo because she is scared of him, but if he had someone else come in and help him, then the tide would turn probably against him. All he has to do is hope that in the future Max can forgive him for what he will do to Scootaloo. (If you thought wrong thoughts, to the Waterfall of Forgiveness you go- by Brony Hectic)