//------------------------------//
// Darkness, inside and out. 
// Story: The Story of Ian Camron 
// by Swordoath 
//------------------------------//

	My head was throbbing, almost as hard as my heart. I couldn’t see. My mouth was very dry, and tasted like dirty cloth. I was blindfolded and gagged. My forelegs and hind legs were all bound. I could feel something rumbling around me, some kind of vehicle. 
“Mm…” I groaned through my gag. 
“Oh. You’re awake.” Someone said.
It was that mare.  I struggled vainly against my bindings, unable to free myself.
Dammit, I can’t believe I got kidnapped by… her! Some random pony that nearly drowned me and shoved me onto what, a train? How could I have been so stupid as to have walked into a crap situation like this?!
She giggled. “Sorry. Can’t let you go yet. We’re not quite there.”
Where is this psycho taking me? I thought. And for that matter, who the hell is she?
I waited for what seemed like forever. The train stopped, and the mare said nothing. I was starting to think we’d stay on and keep going until she picked me up and threw me out the window of the train. I landed hard on my face, and my nose started bleeding. I struggled against my bonds, but again, to no avail. The mare followed me out and began dragging me by the tail across the ground. I could’ve sworn I heard her sobbing.
Why is she crying? I thought. I’m the one being kidnapped!
She dragged me far. I don’t know how far, but it was far enough to tear holes in my sweatshirt. At some point it started to snow, and the ground beneath me became frosted and icy, later turning to plain snowdrifts.
This is great. I’m bound and gagged, having my ass frozen off, being dragged through a barren tundra by some chick with mental issues, I lamented. Worst of all, I haven’t the slightest clue as to where I’m being taken.

After another long period of time, she stopped. She adjusted her hold on me (I don’t want to know with what) then she dragged me by the leg bindings up a flight of stairs. I heard the sound of a door creaking open, and she pulled me into some kind of building. Another door was opened, and I was forced up into a sitting position. The blindfold and gag were removed, and I found myself in a castle made of what looked like black glass, or polished stone. In front of me was a black unicorn with a curved, red horn. He wore some kind of crown, and had on a black and red robe. His eyes were purple-green, and stared directly at me.
“So… you finally managed to get him here.” He said, his voice a cross between a snake-like tone and the kind of voice expected by a cannon if it were able to talk.
“I-I did the b-best I could, my King…” The mare stuttered nervously.
“Mm… Yes, but it could’ve been so much faster.” He said softly. “Leave. I need to speak to the boy.”
“Y-Yes, my liege.” She said, backing out of the room.
Until this point I’d been too stunned by the appearance of the king and my own injuries to say anything. But now I was ready to vent my frustrations. 
“WHAT. THE. HELL!?!” I shouted at him. “Why in the God damn HELL did you have me dragged up to this freezing wasteland you call a home, you pompous bastard!?”
The king was silent. Then he started to laugh, a deep, echoing laugh that sent chills down my already frozen bones.
“You honestly don’t know?” He said at last. “I’ve been watching you, boy. I know of your excessive magic. You need a mentor.”
“You?” I asked incredulously. “You think I’ll let some demented king who sent people to kidnap me give me lessons in magic?!”
“Yes.” Said the king, glaring at me. “Otherwise, that ‘demented king’ will kill you in the slowest and most painful way in his power.”
It was my turn to be silent. Was he serious? I wasn’t sure. He didn’t exactly give me an invite in the mail, and his whole attitude definitely fit the ‘murderous evil king’ stereotype.
“Uh… I… um…” I didn’t know how to respond to that.
“So you will then?”
“Well… not exactly much of a choice.” I said.
“Excellent.” The king said, a malicious smile forming on his face. 
The king, whose name I learned was Sombra, untied me with his magic, then had the mare show me where my quarters were. It was a simple room crafted from the same black stone as the rest of the castle, and so was the furniture. No windows, but the room was still lit somehow. The restroom was adjacent. 
I cannot BELIEVE what has just happened, I thought, staring at the battered face in the mirror. I’ve just been kidnapped and put under death threat if I don’t take lessons from some king in the middle of the goddamn tundra. I don’t know where anyone I’ve met is, and even if they knew where I was, would they even… would they bother to find me…?
I splashed my face with the water in the basin of the sink. I started thinking about why this all was happening to me. Why I was the subject of this bull crap. Why it was me being picked on. Why I couldn't have lead a normal life. It dawned on me at last, so brightly and obvious that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it: Discord is to blame.
That impossibly crazy bastard brought me here. He forced me to live in this puke-worthy bat-shit crazy world.  He made me at ticking time bomb, and set me against the only ones who bothered to help me. 
I looked in the mirror. An angry, shadowy-eyed me looked back, as if challenging me: What, is the little baby gonna cry? Can’t handle real life? Poor little bastard, can't take a few blows, can't you?
I smashed the mirror. “Damn them! Damn the king, damn Celestia, damn Twilight, damn the bitch who brought me here,” I muttered, then shouted, venting all my anger “and most of all, Go to hell Discord, you psychopathic, jerk-wad, absolutely useless, life-ruining BASTARD!”
I heard an electrical snap, like a static shock, and then the crystalline wall in front of me shattered with the force of a grenade. I was thrown out the door back into my new room, slammed into the wall, where I lay unconscious for God knows how long.



Oh no, I panicked. Ohnoohnoohnoohno!
I can’t believe he actually broke it! Ian broke the inhibitor! Oh god, Sombra is gonna kill me!
I dragged Ian over onto his bed, and did my best to remove the shards he’d blown into himself. With no medical supplies on hand, I dressed his wounds with what was left of his hoodie. It’s already torn and bloody, and by this point it’s a lost cause anyway. 
I noticed his chest was still rising and falling. He’s… he’s still breathing. That’s good, breathing is good. 
He’d been lucky not to have impaled himself with any of the shrapnel.  If he had, I don’t know if he’d have… Best not think that way. He’s alive, and that’s what’s important.
Alive… I wonder if he even knows I’m alive. Or even who I am. Would it matter to him if he did? Would he hate me? Would he even care? I don’t even know… I can’t even tell him, or Sombra will-
Hoofsteps. Oh god, hoofsteps! He’s coming, what do I do what do I do, what do I do-?!
“WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED HERE!?!” He roared.
“H-he kinda broke the inhibitor…” I said quietly.
“He WHAT?!”
“I don’t know! I wasn’t in the room, I just came in when I heard the explosion, and-”
“SILENCE! I told you to WATCH HIM!” Sombra advanced on me, his horn ablaze with black energy.
“I-I’m sorry, I-”
“Sorry,” He said. “Does not cut it!”
Pain. Searing, unendurable pain, shooting across my body from my chest outward. I collapsed to the floor, screaming, gasping for air, curling up into a ball. I don’t know how long I lay there. I couldn’t even think, my head was blinded by the liquid fire in my blood.
Eventually he relented. I lay there, unable to move, the only sound I can even make is a weak whimper. I try to look over to Ian, but Sombra blocks my view.
“If anything like this happens again,” He said. “You will be disposed of, your friend in full knowledge of who you are to him, and what I’ll do to you.”
I begin crying. The king walks out of the room, slamming the door. 
That stupid Pendant! I hate him so much, but if I disobey, he does this! I don’t want to do this to Ian! I don’t want to work for Sombra, be his slave! I don’t want to help him…! I don’t… I don’t want to hurt anyone…