“Get the hell back in”
A pair of hands forcibly pushed me inside my apartment. I couldn’t stop myself from falling flat on the wooden floor like a lifeless mannequin. Darren and his buddies were at it yet again. There hadn’t been a single day of rest ever since I moved in right next to them. Not for me, there wasn’t.
Everyday was the same story. Beatings were something I had gotten used to. Ever since they knew I was an outsider, in a sense that is, they picked on me and tried to make my life a living hell. I’ve never figured out their true motivations but I basically narrowed it down to them showing their domination over the entire building. That or they were just a bunch of a-holes.
Darren whateverhislastnamewas was the owner of the place I just had to reside in. The stress of being almost out of work was one thing, being abused by his so-called wolf pack was another.
“And where is it....?” Darren asked with a smirk as he dug his hands inside the pockets of my pants, “I’ll take this in advance”, he chuckled.
“W...Wait....” I mumbled when I saw him grab half of my meager savings.
The same old feeling of frustration and anger build up yet again in spite of my attempts to let it pass. I knew resistance was futile yet I attempted to grab hold of him as he left my apartment. Big mistake.
The jerk slammed the door right at my face as I tried to stand up. Pain shot right to my brain as I fell to the floor in agony. Instantly, I grabbed my nose to check if it was broken.
“Son of a bitc...” I growled, lying on the floor after I heard some snickers from the other side of the door. To me, he was the devil incarnate. I’ve even wondered if he was specifically to keep me down.
In a fit of anger, I pounded the floor with my free hand while holding my broken nose with the other. The red fluid flowing from it was the least of my concerns, at least not from a psychological point of view.
I was relatively easy to be picked on. I was short and out of shape while Darren was a beefed-up 6 and half footer with a superiority complex.
Many times, I contemplated just walking up and knocking the lights out of him. Inside, I was confident I could take on the jerk as he was almost always drunk. The same could be said for his peeps. However, if I so much as even dared to shove him, I would be right back where I started. All alone in a foreign world, looking for a place I could call home. Then again, it was exactly the situation I was in.
Reporting him to the other residents and the police was also a big no. I had a string of troubles with authority when I was younger and considering that no one had the guts to report Darren for his misdeeds, I was likely to be the one arrested and beaten if I went to them.
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Crap...” I muttered, resting my head against my door, staring into nothingness.
Life was hard for this poor guy. No one to relate to and no one to call a friend. Still alone in a sea of people.
All I wanted to do was end this suffering. Escape in a flash of light or even in an ocean of darkness and...
“....blackness...” I said softly. I was physically worn out from getting my ass handed to me. Taking a rest seemed to be the only logical choice.
Slowly I closed my eyes and embraced the inner darkness of the soul. With the windows slammed shut, I could feel myself falling through the vortex of numbness and nightmares and dreams.
I just wanted to leave this world even for a little while. Escape from this reality was on my mind. To a place far away where there could be someone I could talk to, someone who I could share my woes with....
“........W...”
“...Where am I....?”
After a few moments of being surrounded by utter silence and an unnerving atmosphere, I found myself standing in the middle of a pitch black area.
It felt like everything wrong in my life had been erased for a limited time and this was my mental sanctuary, a place where I could rest my body and mind.
My eyes couldn’t pick up anything. I couldn’t even see the ground I was standing on nor could I see anything in front of me. I was as blind as a bat. Mindlessly, I walked forward, hoping to find something in this place.
After what felt like eternity, I stumbled upon a spotlight shining from above. I couldn’t see the source and I wasn’t able to figure out how the hell I didn’t see it before. The strange thing was, I was filled with this feeling that it was...all natural, that it wasn’t anything unusual.
“Hello?” I asked involuntarily, standing near the rim of the spotlight.
I didn’t know why I asked that seeing that I was obviously alone. Or was I?
“Hello?” a voice echoed nearby, a feminine one.
“Huh?" I asked myself on the inside. Unless it was my imagination, there was definitely someone at the other side of the spotlight.
“Hello?” the voice asked again, drawing closer and closer yet still out of sight.
I could hear approaching steps, a clear sign that the person was approaching me. I remained silent and listened to the steps.
One...two...three...four?
To my puzzlement, the steps sounded like they belonged to some animal or something. No two people would’ve been able to walk in such a rhythmic manner, unless of course, it was someone riding a horse or something. That would definitely explain the hoofsteps.
“Is anypony there?” the voice inquired from the darkness.
“Anypony?” I raised an eyebrow. Why would anyone expect something as out of place like ponies here?
“Nope, no pony here” I responded, deciding to make my presence known to my unseen companion.
“Really?” came the reply followed by a light chuckle, “Sounds like there’s someone here”.
I was thoroughly perplexed by the situation. I had some skepticism of the reality of the situation but the stinging sensation on my nose kept me in the belief that I was having a real conversation with someone in a pitch black area.
I took a step forward, letting the light from above shine on me as well as exposing myself to the sight of the person I was talking to.
“Guess you’re right” I said with a half-smirk on my face.
To my surprise, the footsteps proceeded for a moment before they abruptly stopped. It felt almost as if the person was examining me or staring at me. I guessed that my swollen nose might’ve been the cause for it.
But no.
It was something else. Something a bit weirder than some short guy’s broken nose.
“What are you?” the voice asked in a quizzical manner.
“Huh? What do you mean?” I counter-questioned, confused at the inquiry, “She’s probably joking” I told myself.
“What are you?” the question was repeated. I searched for any signs of satire or sarcasm in the tone but found none. It was a definite and sincere question.
“Wha...Why’d you ask something like that?” I smiled sheepishly.
“Because I have never seen a being like you before”
*hoofsteps*
“What in the world...?!”
All of a sudden, something came into view. A four-legged animal, more specifically a pony with no rider stood a mere foot in front of me, locking its eyes at this French-Canadian slob. A few seconds of silence reigned as I tried to locate the owner or rider of the oddly-colored (dull lavender) pony.
I didn’t notice the extra extension on top of the pony’s head at first. When I did, it became awfully clear to me.
I had lost my marbles.
“Well...will you answer my question?” the pony asked. The freaking disproportionately shaped, purple-ish pony actually asked me a question. A damn barn animal just asked me question.
Normally, I would’ve freaked out like a madman and yelled my head off at the sheer absurdity of the situation but something made me believe that this wasn’t strange at all, in fact it made me deem that it was just an ordinary conversation like the one I would have with other people.
“Uh...Human” I answered.
“Human?” the pony asked before it/she smiled, “Wow! This is so great!” her eyes beamed in delight, “I never thought a monkey-like creature would show signs of intelligence” she added before realizing what she just said, “No offense”, she let out a nervous chuckle.
“None taken” I chuckled back before bending to take a closer look at the unicorn, “I must admit, I never expected I’d see a horned horse make intellectual comments let alone talk to me”.
“Same here”, she said.
A glint near her horn caught my attention. Upon inspection, I saw a crown on the unicorn’s head. It was dull and seemed to resemble a little girl’s tiara or something.
I traced the movements of her purple eyes and saw her staring directly at me or more specifically, my nose.
“Excuse me, but what’s with your nose?” she inquired, looking intently at the proboscis, “I’m not familiar with the morphology of “humans” but I am pretty sure that it shouldn’t be as red as it is”
“Oh...yeah....” I winced a bit as I touched my nose, “It’s nothing”, I lied.
“”It’s nothing”? Really? Looks like it’s broken” the pony said, reaching out with her hoof. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it in time.
“Wait...don’t touc.....OWWWWW!!!!!” the sting shot right back, almost feeling like it was slammed on again.
“Whoops! Sorry for that” she let out a nervous giggle as I tried to tune out the agonizing pain.
“Well...........at least I know you’re real” I forced a pained smile as the pain slowly subsided, “I was starting to worry that I was hallucinating or something”.
“Again, I’m very sorry. It won’t happen again”
“You’re damn right it won’t. No one’s touching my damn nose from now on”
“What happened?” she shot me a curious look.
“Not anything important” I tried to back out of a conversation regarding my conflicts with Darren and his gang but I decided it was better to tell her about it, “A jerk slammed a door right at my face, that’s all”.
“What!? Why would anypony...I mean anybody do that?” she asked.
“Who knows? Maybe he just likes picking on me” I shrugged, “Every single freaking day”, I added coldly.
“Every day? You’re bullied every day?” she had a look on disbelief on her face, “Why?”
“Like I said, who knows?” I retorted, turning away, “And the worst thing is I can’t fight back”
“You’re not saying you’re scared, are you?”
“Scared?” I chuckled, “No, little pony. The word you’re lookin’ for is “Unable”. I have the guts to stand up to him and his lackeys but I can’t. I can’t unless I want to be arrested”
“I guess that is a problem” she placed a hoof below her head.
“You have no idea” I faked a smile, “I would gladly knock his block off if I wasn’t so worried about my future”.
Silence reigned between us for a few seconds. I stole a glance at the unicorn and saw her thinking hard about something.
“May I suggest a solution?” she finally broke the silence.
“What?”
“I...don’t normally condone violence but in your current situation, I suggest you stand up to him”
“I told you I can’t” I repeated my answer although I was willing to hear her out.
“You know you can” she explained, “The future is always unclear like a foggy road. You can’t see anything behind it unless you move forward. I’m sure you’ll be alright if you just push on through your problems regardless of the circumstances”, she added with an assuring smile.
“Yay! What I always wanted. Getting into deeper trouble” I sarcastically commented.
“Just...” the pony said with a hint of annoyance, “...Try. You can’t succeed unless you try”. I could see the slightly hopeless expression on her face.
“So, you want me to punch the jerk in the face and see what happens?” I asked before the sheer silliness of the situation got to me, “This is rich. Haha! A unicorn princess telling me to beat up people haha”, the sound of my laughter echoed far off into the distance.
“Sir, this isn’t funny” the unicorn scowled, “Aren’t you worried about your pride and dignity? I actually find it hard to believe that you haven’t got any friends but if that’s really true, you ought to stand up for yourself”.
“Hehe...about that..” I wiped a tear from my eye, “I’ll think about it” I chuckled. Although I knew I had a big decision to make, I didn’t want to make it look like too much of a big deal.
“I guess it could work or not work” the lavender pony sighed, “Considering you’re a bit stubborn.....and arrogant”.
“Hey! I resent that” I snapped back playfully, “Anyway, enough about me...” I noticed the dull coat of the equine, “What’s with the grayish coloration? I always thought unicorns would be more....colorful. Even imaginary ones”.
“I’m not imaginary and I...I don’t want to talk about it” she swiftly turned away. I didn’t need a degree in Unicorn Psychology to notice that it was a major concern for her.
“I told you about my messed-up life, now I think you owe me a story about yours” I said. I knew I was coming off as nosy but I didn’t care. I was itching to know about what kind of hardships unicorn princesses faced.
“...If you insist...” she let out a heavy sigh, “Equestria was under threat. A Spirit of Disharmony called Discord was threatening to wreak chaos everywhere..”
“Equestria? Discord?” I interrupted her, “Doesn’t sound too good” I added.
“It wasn’t good at all. He put me and my five friends inside a maze where one by one, he turned us against the Elements we represented” she continued, “One of my friends Rainbow Dash was the one who made us lose the game Discord forced us to play and without her, we didn’t have any chance of sealing him back in stone”.
“Wait...if you’re a princess in a magical land, then how come you couldn’t just handle it yourself?” I asked.
“Oh! You noticed my element” she replied, adjusting the tiara on her head, “It’s actually my Element. It doesn’t mean I’m a princess”.
“Element of what? Earth Metals? Alkali? Noble Gases? Surprise?”
“Harmony” she sternly corrected, “Anyway, I tried to harness the powers of our elements without Rainbow Dash but it backfired. Then, one thing led to another and we got into an unnecessary argument and we went our separate ways in.....anger”.
Her expression changed to that of sadness as she said the last sentence. I watched closely as a single drop of tear fell from her eye. Evidently, the subject was more personal than I had initially thought.
“I’m so stupid....” she muttered before she cried, burying her head between her hooves, “It’s all because of....me.....” she sobbed profusely.
“Drama queen”, I mumbled under my breath. At first, I felt some pity for the unicorn upon hearing her plight but it seemed too silly to be crying about. That or I never had any friends to feel the pain of separation to begin with.
“Yep, you must’ve really screwed up” I sat near the crying pony.
“I...wish...I could fix this....I can’t....” she barely managed to say.
“Do you realize the irony of the situation?” I asked.
“Huh?” she asked back, stealing a glance.
“You’re telling me to stand up and not give up and here I am, about to tell you the same”
“Wha...What do you mean?”
“Reconcile with your friends or find another way to save Pandora” I said indifferently, “I normally don’t help anyone find their way but since you were nice enough to give a piece of advice to this intellectual ape, I’ll give you one. Don’t give up”.
“But...but....” she stammered while wiping her tears.
“Don’t argue”, I interrupted, “Keep on trying, you’ll find a way”, I patted her on the head, “Still not hallucinating” I reassured myself.
“I...I guess I could...” she cleared her throat before she gave me a small smile, “Thanks....”
“Don’t mention it” I returned the smile, “I’ll think about your suggestion from earlier. Maybe it’s about time I avoided getting bruised eyes or broken noses” I chuckled.
“And...maybe I’ll try to patch things up. Giving up is something I can’t do. Thanks again for making me realize that”
“No big deal, pony”, I smirked. The next second, her purple coat slowly turned brighter, losing the dull coloration, “You really must love those friends of yours, don’t you? I mean, you’re acting as if this friendship crap is the most important thing to you”
“It is. Without the magic of friendship, we won’t be able to defeat Discord and I’ll lose my friends forever. I promise I’ll try my best to find the magic once again”
“Good” I smirked, “Feel better then?” I asked.
“I’m feeling much better, Sir...um...” she tried to say my name but remembered that we hadn’t formally introduced ourselves, “Err....I know it may be a bit awkward after talking a lot about our thoughts but could you tell me your name?”
“Kevin” I casually replied, “Yours?”
“Twilight Sparkle” she replied with a warm smile.
“Twilight Sparkle? Sounds like a made-up name” I commented.
“I could say the same about Cave Inn” she countered.
A feeling of mild lightheaded-ness came over me. My vision was okay but I was trying hard not to drop to my knees. Thankfully, my four-legged companion didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with me.
I felt compelled to end our brief meeting and I could see that Twilight was also ready to leave my presence. Something was calling me back from this pseudo-reality but I didn’t know what. However, the frustrations I had before had been purged and replaced with a desire for helping myself get through every obstacle I might face.
“I’m sorry but I have to go” Twilight told me as she turned around, briefly showing the star-shaped marks on either side of her flanks, “I hope we’ll meet again”.
All of a sudden her body slowly faded, starting from her hooves. I noticed that the same was happening to my legs but strangely enough, I wasn’t surprised or scared.
“Maybe we will” I nodded, “Goodbye and thanks”
“Same to you too”
I woke up to find myself seated on the floor of my apartment. Still rooted to the floor, I thoroughly looked around for any signs of the lavender unicorn who had been talking to me.
Unfortunately, there weren’t any signs of any pony named Twilight Sparkle or even any living being for that matter. It wasn’t hard to come to the conclusion that I was dreaming while I was out cold from the slam.
“Weird dream” I thought, gingerly getting up. I purposefully sniffed aloud to check if my nose was still busted.
“Oww.....” I grumbled as I grabbed a handkerchief to clean the residual blood.
However, despite the fact that I decided to pass off the “meeting” as nothing but a normal dream, Twilight’s words still echoed inside my head. It stuck to me like a catchy song you just couldn’t get rid of.
“Just...try. You can’t succeed unless you try”
“...I suggest you stand up to him”
The newfound self-confidence was starting to work inside me. I no longer had excuses to be kept down any more. I needed to stand up to the jerks next door no matter what. I made up my mind.
There was no turning back.
In one swift movement, I tossed the bloodied handkerchief aside before I opened the door. “This is it” I said to myself.
As I expected, Darren and his lackeys were standing right beside a door with bottles of beer on their hands. Darren especially looked drunk as hell but still, the big guy’s intimidation factor was still in play.
They spouted some gibberish when they saw me before they slowly walked towards me. I couldn’t make out what they were saying since I was only focused on what I was gonna do.
“Beat it, punk” Darren got right in my face, the smell of alcohol lingering in the space between us.
Some part of me wanted to pull away from a confrontation but I resisted the familiar urge. I clenched my fist, readying for a strike and preparing myself mentally for any punches that were gonna follow.
“Not this time, you piece of crap” I growled, looking straight into his eyes.
“What the hell?” he chuckled, eliciting some laughter from his buddies, “You think you’re gonna just say that and get away wi.....”
Everything went slow. The rush consumed me.
My fist hit my tormenter right at the side of his face, just above his lower jaw. I saw him reel backwards, falling right into one of his friends. His wide-eyed expression was one of shock.
I regained my composure in a second, looking left and right for any impending blows. I then turned my attention back to Darren. He was still shocked and visibly in pain, the first time I had seen him in such a state. I saw his mouth curl into a predictable scream.
“AAArrrghhhh!!!! GET HIMM!!” he said angrily, too shocked to hit back.
What happened next was a blur. I could not recall what had exactly happened. I could recall screams, crying, bottle cracking, red all over the place and being punched in the gut once or twice but that was all.
The only thing I remembered clearly was staggering to the back door of the building, holding my belongings. Some few hundred dollars and clothes were all I had on the day I left but I knew I didn’t anything from the life behind me.
That day, I lost the ability to tolerate people who would make fun of me or push me around but I found the second best way to handle these kind of jerks.
In a few weeks time, I moved on to another city and found work as a lousy zoo keeper and an even lousier bouncer but it was the life. It was the best way to vent out my anger. On people, not on animals mind you.
Sometimes I asked myself what I would’ve done if a certain imaginary pony hadn’t told me to stand up for myself. Maybe I would’ve still been living a wretched life.
I was never sure whether if it was a dream or a vision or the effects of wishful thinking but it worked. I resolved never to let myself be lowered below people so they could trample me. Nope. I was never gonna back down again, ever.
And if someone dared to cross me, I would power bomb their ass straight to oblivion.
“Um, Twilight?” a pair of green reptilian eyes fixed on a purple blob asked cautiously, “You okay?”
“I’m...not too sure” Twilight Sparkle immediately replied, wondering why she blacked out for a few moments, “What were we doi...” she tried to ask before she noticed her packed case, “Oh...I remember....” she let out a heavy sigh.
“Soooo....are we really leaving?” Spike asked, clutching his belly.
“I don’t know but....” Twilight muttered, trying to piece together what her dream or vision meant, “...no, scratch that. I do know” she said firmly.
The next instant, Spike burped out a letter before letting out a sigh of relief. He had been regurgitating letters for over five minutes and he wasn’t feeling too good as a result.
“What’s that?” Twilight asked, grabbing the letter.
“No idea but the princess has been sending these.... *belch* ...just .... *belch* ...make it stop” he replied, shooting out letters in rapid succession.
“Somepony...no...somebody told me not to give up on my friends” Twilight told Spike before realizing that the letter Spike burped out was a friendship report she used to send to Princess Celestia.
“And?....*belch*...”
“I guess I do have a chance now” she smiled, her coat regaining its color as she read the friendship reports.