Fearsmenship

by Stencil

He's here and he's willing to help!

It was around that time a year again; time for old Sandbox to move to a different town. He was never really sure why his parents named him Sandbox. It didn't have to do anything with his talent or their talents or their names, Zip Tie and Shoe Buckle. But they were dead now.... Not that he was depressed over it; sad, but not depressed. Anywho... Sandbox was on his way to his recently crowned most favorite town, Ponyville. He'd heard all sorts of rumors about this place, that the trees were green, the cake was delicious, and all the mares were smokin' hot! Sandbox smiled hugely at the last thought. Though, it faded once he realized something. He didn't know how to talk to girls. In a dignified and not pathetic way, that is.

Still, Sandbox wasn't easily put down by such thoughts. Even if they were so blatantly obvious that any mare within a five mile perimeter would start laughing her flank off as soon as he inhaled to speak. The young, unicorn stallion shook his head of these more worse thoughts. He had to stay on the bright side. He still had a fine brown coat, a short and well kept black mane, a cutie mark in the shape of a skull.... That wasn't too flattering but the TEETH!! Ah, yes the teeth! His teeth were so perfectly white and square! They were like spotless little dominoes just waiting to be knocked in by the first mare he offended...... The teenage unicorn stallion continued on his journey.

"Wait!" He shouted. "I can teleport!" It was true. Sandbox had learned how to teleport from his previous magic teacher back in Trottingham. The stallion stopped, prepped himself, then powered up his horn. Sparked sparked, light flew, and a few farts escaped him as he did this. But eventually, the pony disappeared.

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It was a beautiful morning at Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was shining, the workers were happy, and the apples were big and delicious. But as the camera pulls towards Apple Bloom's room are we able to see that something else is happening.

The camera closes in on three teenage fillies sitting on the floor together. The room is outfitted with apple themed decorations and designs. Apple Bloom's bed is adorned with an enormous comforter that is also decked out with sweet apple brands all over the place.

Apple Bloom currently sat at the foot of the bed facing her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Scootaloo was curled up into a ball with tears in her eyes. He mane was messy and dirty looking and her coat was a bit red. The pegasus' friends were very worried about her.

"Why don' ya tell someone?!" Apple Bloom shouted at her friend.

"It's just going to make it worse!" Scootaloo shouted back.

"Apple Bloom's right! You need to get someone to help you with this!"

It's been a few years now since the Cutie Mark Crusaders have gotten their cutie marks. Scootaloo's in the form of a flaming tire! Sweetie Belle's in the form of a golden bell with a music note carved into it, resting on a heart. Apple Bloom's as a hammer and wrench. Each of the crusaders took pride in their unique talents.

"The last time I asked someone to help me he started hitting me harder!" Scootaloo screamed. She dropped her hooves from her face to reveal a blackened eye, swollen lip, and bloody nose. The poor filly looked as if she'd been in a carriage crash.

"We'll call the police then!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed in anger; she'd been seeing her friend be beaten for too long now.

"NO! Please...." Scootaloo grabbed her friend. "Please don't..."

"Well it's the only way ah see to help ya. Yer father is a monster and we need to do somethin' about it!"

It was at that moment that the sky flashed. Rainbow streaks covered the sky and caused Scootaloo to flip out.

"Rainbow's coming! Quick, Sweetie Belle, fix me up!" Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle looked to her bruised pegasus friend and sighed before healing her face with a bit of magic. After a few seconds of a glowing horn in her face, Scootaloo looked like she'd never been hit at all. A loud thump sounded as the three teens directed their attention to the windowsill where Rainbow Dash stood tall and proud.

"Hey, girls!" She said. "I thought I might find you here." Rainbow only thought this because the CMC weren't in the first five places she thought she'd find them. "How is everything?" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked back to Scootaloo who was flashing her biggest fake smile.

"Everything's great Rainbow!" Scootaloo said with convincing fake enthusiasm.

"Scootaloo was beaten again." Sweetie Belle said. Rainbow Dash gasped as Scootaloo punched her unicorn friend in the arm.

"Why don't you tell me when this happens?!" Rainbow demanded. Scootaloo avoided Rainbow's gaze. "Why is it that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are the first one's your go to? Because you think they won't tell anyone? Because Sweetie Belle will fix you up so no one will ask what happened?" Scootaloo was silently crying. Tears fell from her face onto the apple spattered carpet. Rainbow dropped from the windowsill and approached Scootaloo; she put the filly's head on her shoulder and wrapped her into a hug.

"Look, you're gonna be fine. You're a strong young mare. But that doesn't mean you're invincible or that things will get better if you ignore them. I know you don't like to bother me or your friends with your issues, but that doesn't mean that we won't try to help." Scootaloo looked up to her mentor. "We will do whatever it takes to help you through this." It was at this point that the other crusaders leaned in for a hug as well. The four of them sat there in silence, simply holding each other.

BANG!!!!!! BANG!!!!!! BANG!!!!!

The four mares looked over to the far wall of the room where light was focusing and exploding repeatedly. SUDDENLY a stallion appeared and was thrown against the wall.

"DAMN IT!!!" He shouted. As the dazed teen picked himself up off of the floor, he was able to look around at where he'd landed. It appeared that he was on the inside of somepony's bedroom. Somepony who seemed to have a fetish for apples. JUST THEN he looked to his left and noticed the group of mares just staring at him. Sandbox broke into a cold sweat. What were they thinking about him?! That he accidentally teleported to their bedroom? Or maybe that he was some perv that tried to get a closer look and got a little too close? His questions were answered by the rock hard hoof breaking his face.

"Trying to spy on some mares, huh?!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she beat the poor colt's face in. The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly pulled Rainbow off of the pony and pushed her to the far side of the room.

"Let 'im explain 'imself would ya?!" Apple Bloom demanded. Rainbow stopped trying to get back at the stallion and sat down with her forehooves crossed. The CMC sat in front of Rainbow facing the mysterious stallion.

"Who are you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"MY BUCKING FACE!!!!" Sandbox cried out through bloody lips.

"Who are you?!" Scootaloo demanded.

"ARE YOUR HOOVES MADE OF METAL!?!" Sandbox screamed.

"Answer the damn question!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Damn it! Ugh..... My name is Sandbox." He said. Sweetie Belle smiled, finally getting an answer out of the stranger.

"Okay, Sandbox, why are you here?" She asked.

"Uh..." Sandbox looked around again. This wasn't where he'd meant to go. "I was trying to get to Ponyville."

"Well congrad-u-lashins ya made it!" Apple Bloom cheered. "At the cost of gettin' yer face busted in." She and Scootaloo snickered.

"I literally just learned how to teleport."

"You mean 'Wink-out'?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Whatever! I just learned how. That was the first time i tried it without supervision and I got a lead pipe in my face for it!"

"Sorry." Rainbow said in a half sincere voice.

"Is there a place where I can get some directions or something?" Sandbox asked.

"You'd be headed for Twilight Sparkle's library." Scootaloo said.

"Cool, thanks." Sandbox replied. The colt stood up and walked towards the windowsill. "I guess I'll try to teleport again." He looked back at the CMC. "You three are hot." He said with a smile causing the crusaders to blush. "Surprised you're not hanging out with your coltfriends. Anyway, see ya!" And with that, Sandbox was gone.

The CMC were left sitting in the middle of the room with small blushes still on their faces. Rainbow Dash sat behind them, snickering.

"Well, I gotta go." Rainbow said as she walked towards the window herself. "Got some clouds to clear and a bunch of other weather junk." She jumped up onto the windowsill and let herself fall almost to the ground before she opened her wings and shouted, "PEACE OUT!!!" back up to the crusaders.

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At Twilight's library, the teenage dragon, Spike was cleaning around his home. Spike had grown a good foot and a half taller than several years ago. He was around the same height as Twilight. His spines had grown out longer and more jagged, but weren't as sharp as one would think. Spike also learned how to do dragon magic! Which was like unicorn magic, but with fire! And done by dragons!

Spike was nearly finished re-shelving the library. If a book's place was up to high, rather than getting a ladder, he'd simply breath lightly on it, and the smoke from his breath would carry the book to its place. After the last book had found its spot on the shelf, there was a knock at the door.

"Hm... Wonder who that is." Spike said.

"Who." Twilight's pet owl, Owlicious said.

"Don't even start with that crap!" Spike snapped back at him.

Spike opened the door and a tough looking stallion stepped in. The pony looked almost demonic. A dark and lifeless brown coat. An oily and sick looking black mane, and teeth that were so jagged and yellow, you'd think of them more as rock candy than chompers.

"Um... Hello?" Spike said.

"You're afraid...." The stallion said.

"What?"

"You are afraid." The stallion stepped closer and the door shut behind him. "You've been afraid ever since you were young. You've been afraid of not being loved. Never finding someone to have as your own." Spike took another step back.

"No." He said in mock defiance. The stallion only got more in his face.

"You've been afraid for as long as you can remember. It's the reason you spend so much time gawking at mares, but never talking to them. It's the reason you've always appreciated Twilight's affection, but never thought of it as enough. You want to be loved, and not in a platonic way, oh no no no.... You want a romantic burning passion of a love!" Spike had a few small tears in his eyes at this point. "But you're afraid you'll never find it. It is because of this fear that you were so crestfallen when Rarity turned you down." Spike's jaw dropped. He remembered back to when he'd actually told Rarity of his love for her and how she said it couldn't be. The age difference made sense now, but it was still a touchy subject.

"W-who a-are you?" Spike quivered. The stallion slowly pulled his lips into a smile. A great and disturbing smile that showed off all of his disgusting looking teeth. Then, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Sandbox is my name and fear is my game! I'll read you're mind and send you back in time! Back to when the world was new and you were utterly confused, but no need to cry because I'm here, and I'm gonna help you conquer you're fear!!" The stallion's grotesque features melted down into much more friendly ones and allowed Spike to relax a bit.

"Uh..."

"I know that life seems very dark for you right now. But I'm here to help. But before I help you, I need you to help me." Sandbox said. Spike just looked at the deranged stallion. "Do you have a map of the town or something? I'm new here."

"Uh, yeah... I'll get you one." Spike left and headed towards the storage room where he found the extra maps Twilight store when she wan't using them. Once he returned, Spike noticed that Sandbox was busy sniffing one of the lamps near the door. Spike tossed the map at the stallion, who caught it before he turned to face him.

"Ah! Thank you. This should be very helpful." Sandbox then turned and walked towards the door.

"Wait!" Spike said with and outstretched claw.

"Yes?" Sandbox replied as he spun to meet the dragon.

"How are you going to help me?" The drake asked confusedly. Sandbox simply chuckled.

"I'm simply going to show you that you're fears are nothing that should be stopping you in life. But first I need to evaluate the town." And with that Sandbox was gone.

Comments

[Brave Stomp]

color me interested. i look forward to seeing where you go with this.

so scoot's dad is abusive? heres to hoping he learns the definition of karma.