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// Ch 2: A Cruel World 
// Story: Half Breed 
// by ChaosDragon 
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The first time I remember going outside with my mother is still somewhat of a blur for me; I guess that was because of the fever. I had gotten really sick when I was about six years old, and normally my mother would take care of me at home, but this time was different. Nothing she tried worked, and it became apparent to her very quickly that I was in serious need of medical attention. All I really remember about the whole ordeal is blurred shapes and dulled colors, and all the sounds were muffled as if they were coming from far away. My entire body hurt and I remember this intense, burning heat inside me, not just inside my body but inside my mind, as if someone had lit a fire within me and I was being burned alive from the inside. Besides the heat the only other thing I remember was the muffled sound of many people yelling, but my mother told me later that is was just the doctors, and I believed her, after all what’s odd about a doctor yelling orders in an emergency right?

I didn’t begin to put all the pieces together until almost a year later when I begged her to take me to the park. She was very reluctant and came up with just about every excuse in the book to put it off; she had to finish some work, it was getting too late, I didn’t put my toys away, the list went on and on but eventually she ran out of excuses and caved to my pleas. At first I was just so ecstatic to be outside that I didn’t notice the looks right away. I was in a daze of wonder at finally being able to look around this town I had lived in for years but never seen. I marveled at the brightly colored buildings and gardens, the wonderful smells drifting through the air from Sugar Cube Corner that made my stomach growl as we passed, and the generally upbeat and happy atmosphere surrounding the town that just made me want to smile and never stop.

I was so engrossed with the town itself that by the time I noticed all the ponies around me, we had walked almost two blocks. At first I was a bit surprised there were so many in a town this size, and they all looked so different from my mother, the only pony I had ever really known. Each one was a different color and their manes were just as diverse, I was a bit overwhelmed by it all,  but as we walked on, it seemed appropriate, comfortable and cozy; there were enough ponies that the town didn’t feel small or empty, but not enough that you felt it was crowded. It was a nice feeling, like everyone was one big family, or at least that’s what I thought, until I noticed the expressions on their faces.

As we walked through town everyone was stopping in their tracks and staring at me intently, as if they had never seen a child with his mother before, but the looks on their faces told a different story. A few just looked curious, as if I was some strange and rare oddity they found interesting, but far more wore looks ranging from shock, to disgust, to anger, and even fear as they froze, ran, or hastily shut doors and window. I didn’t understand what was going on at first, how could I, I was so inexperienced with the world that, for a little while, I just found it odd. 

As we drew nearer to the park I started to drift toward some of them out of curiosity. I had just started to drift away from my mother, heading for a group of ponies that had all gasped and ran away, wide eyed in shock and fear, when I felt the familiar feeling of her magic around me, pulling me back to her side. I looked up at her questioningly, slightly confused by the act, and as was my nature, I gave voice to these thoughts, “What’s wrong dask? I just wanted to ask them why they ran...” I called her dask a lot, ever since she told me that was the word for ‘mother’ in my fathers tongue; I saw it as a bit of revenge for naming me Jikael. She didn't respond however, nor would she meet my gaze. She just kept staring straight ahead with her jaw tightly clenched, biting the edge of her lip as she held something in. I was still naive then, so much so that I never thought /I/ could be the reason for their looks. My naivety was soon to come to an end though, as the pieces fell into place when we reached the park.

When I looked out upon the beautiful little park, all thoughts of the strange looks and actions I had seen, left my mind. My wings fluttered in joy as I looked around at all the other foals my own age, but what really put a smile on my face were the few pegasi zipping around above us. I looked up at my mother with pleading puppy eyes, trying to will her to say yes. “Momma can I go play with the others? Pleeeeeease! I promise to stay in sight!” I was practically hopping with anticipation, barely even registering the look of sadness and pity in my mothers eyes as she answered me. 

“...Yes... just come get me if..." Her voice caught in her throat for a moment before she forced herself to go on. "if anything happens, alright?”

I nodded with enthusiasm, barely even listening after the word ‘yes’. “I promise momma! Thank you!” 

I was off in a flash, spreading my wings and taking to the sky, awkward in my flight from being cooped up in a house all my life. As I made my way over to the small group of racing pegasi foals, a broad and joyous smile crept over my face. I was finally going to have someone to play with other than my mother, I was finally going to make some friends, I was finally going to stop being so alone!

As I drew closer, intercepting their flight path, they drew up short, their eyes wide with surprise and fear, mirroring the looks I had been seeing all day. One of them, a filly, gave a small eep and fled the moment the shock wore off, the other filly and the colt following quickly behind her with cries of 'Wait for me!' and 'What /is/ that thing!'

I hung there in the air, watching them flee from me just as all the others had done, looking around myself in vain for the object of their fear, the smile on my face cracking and falling away for a moment as my first small taste of reality sunk in. To my credit, and that of my mother and her eternally cheery disposition, I shook it off quickly and chalked it up to a coincidence, donning my smile once again, although maybe not quite as wide, and looking around for other children to play with.

It was a beautiful day as I may have mentioned, so there were plenty of families around the park enjoying it. From my high vantage point I spotted two earth ponies playing on a seesaw under the watchful eye of their father and decided to fly down and say hello. I landed a few yards away and happily started walking up to them, my mouth already starting to form a hello when suddenly their father was there, grabbing them both off the seesaw and pushing them behind him, putting himself between me and them. I will never forget the look in his brown eyes, slightly scared, but filled with a protective, defiant fire that drilled into me and dared me to come any closer to his children. I shrank back under that gaze, instinctively making myself small and backing away in fear of the stallion.

I turned and slinked away from them, only stopping once several rows of bushes were between me and those eyes. I sat there in the shade amidst the foliage for a while, to numb from the shock of all my expectations shattering around me to feel anything at that point. I guess it was almost an hour before I even moved, finally convincing myself that it was all just a coincidence, telling myself that it must be my horns, that they must not like them, deciding that unicorns would play with me, because unicorns had horns and they were my mother’s people so they /must/ be nice. I know I was grasping at straws but I would have latched onto anything at that point to keep it together.

I emerged from the bushes timidly, looking around for any unicorns and keeping an eye out for anyone else who might not like my horns; a ridiculous conclusion I know, but at the time I was willing to believe anything but the truth. I finally spotted two unicorns, a filly and her mother, sitting on a blanket eating lunch next to the stone fountain at the center of the park. I slowly made my way over to them, moving uncertainly as thoughts of my previous encounters filled my mind with trepidation, but nonetheless I moved forward, driven on by the last flickers of hope. 

I was a dozen feet or so away from the pair when the filly finally noticed me, her eyes fixing on me and widening in curiosity and surprise. The mare had not seen me yet as I came up behind her, hoping to gain the advantage and be able to say hello for a change. 

The filly however had other plans and she promptly looked straight at her mother as she pointed at me. “Mommy, why does that pony have claws?” 

Her mother stared at her for a moment then began to giggle amusedly at her question before she turned around to see what the filly could possibly be looking at “Whatever are you talking about dear? Ponies don’t have cl....” She stopped mid sentence as her eyes locked on me, growing wide in shock. Her mouth hung open for a moment, trying to form words but failing, her brain locked in a state of disbelief. We all stood there in total silence for what seemed like forever, and even the birds and crickets seemed to grow quiet.

The tense silence lasted only a few moments however, before it shattered like cheap glass hitting the floor, as the mare let out an ear piercing scream that sent shivers down my spine. Before I could say a word the unicorn was on her feet and turned to face me, planting herself squarely between me and her foal. I raised a hand as I opened my mouth to try and speak to the frightened mare and calm her down, but I hesitated as her horn began to glow bright. In my moment of hesitation the unicorn took the opportunity to propel a plate at me. 

The ceramic dish smashed against my head with an incredible force, knocking me aside and straight into the edge of the stone fountain. My head reeled as the world spun around me, and it was all I could do to keep my lunch down. The unicorn took this opportunity to grab her foal and make a run for it, their hooves trampling the food and dishes as they beat a hasty retreat back toward the center of town.

My world began to slowly stop spinning as I watched the two leave, but my head continued to pound away like a drum. I sat up from my crumpled position on the ground, only to be greeted by a sharp pain in my side where the fountain had hit me, causing me to gasp and grip the edge of the fountain for support. I sat like that for a bit as I recovered from the ordeal, catching my breath and letting the pain ease off until it was manageable. As the pain lessened so did the pounding in my head, allowing me to think clearly once again, but with clear thought came a new kind of pain.

My grip on the fountain tightened and I clenched my jaws as I fought to hold it together. My mind began to race wildly ‘Why is everyone being so mean? Why do they all hate me? Why is everyone running from me? Is there something wrong with me?’ As that last thought shot through my mind, I saw my reflection in the waters of the fountain, out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look into the fountain as the ripples in the water flowed across my reflection, my eyes darting over its surface as I studied myself.

My face was like that of an average ponies, but slightly longer, as my jaws extended outward, giving me a larger bite than most. My teeth were not flat like a ponies, but neither were they sharp; they were slightly rounded, somewhere in-between. My tongue was not broad and flat like most ponies, but long and narrow instead, like a lizards, except my tongue was not forked. I had a dark green coat that was longer and thicker than most ponies, and slightly shaggy, as if I was something wild and untamed. My tail is where the similarities ended however, as it was not of a different color as most ponies were. My tail was long and slender, finely muscled, and covered with the same kind of hair as my coat which made me a nearly uniform dark green. My legs were just a bit shorter than the average pony, and at the end of them were black hooves, each with three fissures that separated them into four pointed segments. Technically they were not claws, and indeed were not even sharp, but I understood how the foal could have made the mistake. I didn’t really have ears to speak of, or a proper horn for that matter. Instead I had six black horns, two on the top of my head, and two on each side. They weren't even proper horns really, as they were shorter than any unicorn horn and were positioned more to the back of my head, flaring out closer to my neck. Instead of a mane I had short black spines running down from the base of my head to my tail. On my back were a pair of folded wings, black and leathery like a bats. My most striking feature however, were my eyes. They were a bright emerald green color, with these little flecks that would catch the light and make them glitter like jewels, and they had a tendency to flash and flicker with a dancing inner light depending on my feelings. My black reptilian-like pupils would pick up on them too, narrowing to thin slits when I got agitated or emotional.

My mother always said I reminded her of dad, that she could see him whenever she looked at me. I could always tell when she did because her eyes would lose focus and she would get this little smile as she remembered my father... But all I saw in the fountain was me, a sad and bleeding pony who had lost his will and his hope. I felt like something inside of me was slowly breaking, like a window that cracks little by little until it can take no more and finally shatters. I was hurt and confused and angry, but more than anything else I was sad. Sad my hopes had been dashed, sad I was hated by everyone, and sad that I was all alone again.

The pain and sadness was overwhelming me and I just wanted to curl up and cry. I could feel the tears brimming at the edge of my eyes, and as I felt a warmth roll down my face, I heard a small splat, like a heavy drop of water hitting stone. I thought I had finally given up and started crying. But when I looked down into the water again, I didn’t see tears running down my face. Instead, a small line of crimson blood ran from my forehead, down between my eyes to my chin where it began building into another droplet. As the drop of blood fell and hit the water, it dissipated and swirled, spreading faint wisps of red across my reflected face before disappearing completely.

Seeing that blood running down my face broke whatever little piece of me that was still holding on. The tears I had been fighting back finally spilled forth and began to run freely down my cheeks as I wept, lost in my sorrow, oblivious to the world and the faint shouts in the distance.