> A Gothic Tail
>  by Fussan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Gothic Tail
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                                       A Gothic Tail

Damian closed the curtains to his bedroom and shut off the lights. He liked the dark, and the dark liked him. He moved over to where he knew his dresser would be and opened the bottom drawer. Inside he knew there would be candles and a lighter- everything he would need to start his nightly ritual. He took out the candles and put them on the floor in the center of his bedroom in a circle. This was hard for him because of the darkness, but he managed to pull it off. With the candles in place, and all the light gone, he was ready to begin. He lit the candles.
"Let the prayers begin."
Damian sat cross legged in front of the biggest candle and started his prayer to the dark. "Darkness, hear me," he said. "Take my weakness, and give me strength. Take my cowardice, and give me courage. Take my sorrow, and give me happiness. Take my pain, and give me pleasure." He started rocking back and forth. "Darkness, hear me. Take my meekness, and give me boldness. Take my clumsiness, and give me finesse. Take my mistakes, and give me perfection. Take my stupidity, and give me brilliance. Take my ignorance, and give me knowledge." Damian started breathing hard, and shaking. "Darkness! Hear me!" He shouted into the confines of his bedroom. "Take my-"
"BANG BANG BANG"
Damian nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of somebody knocking at his door.
"Damian, I told you an hour ago to take you behind to bed! So stop your demon weirdness and go to sleep! You got school tomorrow!"
Damian sighed. "Okay dad, I will." he said in a low voice.
"Good. Now go to sleep!"
Damian could hear the footsteps of his father receding down the hall as he headed towards his own room in the house.
"If I had brilliance, I wouldn't have to go to school," Damian muttered to himself. But he didn't have brilliance. He was barely maintaining a C average as it was. He blew out the candles and got undressed, stripping down to his boxer shorts with little flaming skulls on them. Damian liked flaming skulls because they were cool. That was why he had an entire drawer full of boxer shorts with them printed on them. That, and the fact that he stopped growing after seventh grade.
Why can't I leave this stupid place? Damian thought to himself as he pulled on his pajama shirt- that also had flaming skulls on it. Why doesn't the Darkness ever answer my prayers?
Damian pulled on a pair of loose fitting pajama pants with more little skulls on them and set his alarm clock for the next morning. He had already brushed his teeth and taken a shower, so he just climbed into his bed and closed his eyes. Why can't I ever just be myself...? With that final thought, Damian drifted off to sleep.
***
There was a noise.
Damian shifted in his bed. He thought he had heard something. He tried to raise his head to look around, but he was too groggy from sleep, so he just used his eyes to scan his room. He looked from wall to wall and saw nothing, so he closed his eyes again to go back to sleep.
There was another noise.
This time he was sure of it. He heard something. He forced his head up and looked around the room slowly. He didn't see anything, so he rolled over to the side of his bed and looked underneath. He still saw nothing. He thought that he might of heard it from somewhere else in the house, so he pushed himself out of bed and walked to his door. He turned the deadbolt, then he heard it again. And it was right behind him. Damian quickly spun around in time to see a small spark fade from existence in front of him.
"what the...?"
He took a step forward, and the spark returned. Although it didn't burn out right away like before. This time it lingered there in the air, right in front of Damian. It was small. About the size of a dime. And blue in color. "What is this thing?" Damian said to himself. He reached out to touch it, but just before he made contact, it vanished. He stood there, puzzled at what had just happened. This had never happened before, and it definitely wasn't normal. Maybe... Maybe the Dark was finally answering his prayers!
Damian walked forward, so he was standing right where the spark had been. He waited, and waited, and waited some more. But nothing happened. The spark wasn't coming back to answer his prayers. He had just missed the only chance he had ever had in escaping his current situation.
Dang it, Damian thought to himself, I was so close to-
But a noise interrupted his thoughts. A noise that sounded like a spark. Damian could feel a slight burning in his chest, and he realized that the spark must have materialized... inside of him! He looked down at his chest and saw that his shirt was glowing bright blue-white. Was this it? Is this how it's going to happen? The Dark is finally helping him! It's going to burn away everything he didn't want, and then it was going to give him everything he prayed for!
The light got brighter, and the pain more intense. Soon Damian was cringing from the burning in his chest, and he could no longer see. There was a crackling sound, then some zapping sounds. Then... everything went black.
Damian didn't faint though. No, he was still very much awake. He was simply falling into a dark tunnel of sorts. He could see the black walls flying past him. And every so often, there would be a crack, or sometimes even a hole in the walls. But after only a minute of sailing though the dark tunnel, he saw a bright light at the end. The light was so bright that he couldn't look at it directly. And the closer he got to it, the brighter it became. He was getting closer, closer... closer... The light was blinding him. He wasn't sure if he could keep his eyes open to witness what he was going through, but he refused to close them for even a second for fear of missing something. He was getting so close to the light that he could feel it. It was so intensely bright at this point that he was afraid he might go blind, but he still refused to close his eyes or look away. He was so close to the light that he couldn't see the darkness around him any more. Then, he was through it.
Damian landed on his stomach on something soft. Soft, and a little bit fuzzy. "Oh, my chest..."
"What about it?" A cheery, high-pitched voice said.
Damian froze. Had he just heard a voice? A voice talking to him? He looked down to the fuzzy thing he had landed on, and saw that it was pink. No, not just pink. It was a pink pony, and it was looking at him.
"Hi Damian, I'm Pinkie Pie!" the pony said to Damian.
Damian instantly jumped off the pony and tried to back up, but only tripped and fell on his backside.
"Are you okay Damian?" the pony asked him.
Damian stared at the pony with wide eyes. It was pink with pink poofy hair and a pink poofy tail. But what was most shocking about it was that it could talk! And it was talking to him! "W- wha- what are you?" Damian stammered out.
The pony smiled wider than it already was. "I just told you. I'm Pinkie Pie. Do you have cake frosting in your ears or something? I know that I usually get cake frosting in my ears when I eat cake too fast. Especially if it has a lot of frosting, or if it's a really big cake. But usually I- Hey are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Damian couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He could hardly breathe. But he broke out of his trance-like state when the pony took a step towards him. "Hey! Stay away from me!"
The pony looked confused for a second, then she got a look of understanding on her face. "Oooooohh, I get it. You're all weirded out from the trip. Don't worry; you're okay."
Damian didn't trust the pony not to pin him to the ground and eat him, so he stood up. He brushed the dirt off of his pajama pants, but he didn't let the weird pony out of his sight. "What do you mean? Where am I? How am I okay; I'm not even sure if I'm alive!"
The pony smiled at him. "Don't worry Damian, you'll be fine as long as auntie Pinkie Pie is here."
"What do you mean?" Damian repeated.
"Take a walk with me to Sugar Cube Corner and I'll explain everything on the way."
Damian eyed the pony suspiciously. But she looked harmless enough. And besides, he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. He was stuck here in this weird place, and only knew that a dark tunnel took him here, and a talking pink pony was the only one here with him. He sighed. "Fine, I'll walk with you. But you'd better start explaining why I'm here."
The pony turned towards a dirt path and smiled back at him. "Don't worry Damian. I'll tell you everything you want to know."
Damian walked over to her, and they started their journey to Sugar Cube Corner.
"So, what do you want to know Damian?" Pinkie asked him.
"Firstly, how did I get here, and why do you know my name?"
"Well, I've been watching you for a while, and I thought that I'd like to meet you. So I just went into the space that separates our worlds and made a hole where you were."
Damian didn't know what to say. That was complete garbage. It had to be. But, how else could he have gotten here? "So... you just broke the fabric of reality?"
She smiled at him. "Yep!"
Damian just looked at her, not knowing what to say or think.
"Damian? Are you okay?"
He shook his head slowly. "I feel like I'm crazy. I have to be crazy. There's no other way that this can be happening to me."
The pony looked at him and frowned slightly. "Don't worry Damian, you're not crazy. I brought you so you could have a friend. Everypony needs a friend!"
Damian gave her a hard look. "Why did you bring me here? I had a life back home. I didn't like it, true. But at least it was normal! Now the only person I can talk to is some weird pink pony! I prayed every night to be different, not to be sent to some crazy pink pony world!" Damian was screaming at this point. And he was becoming hysterical. "I didn't want to leave my house! I didn't want to leave my life! I want to go back home dang it! I want to go back home! Why did you steal my life away from me?!"
The pony was looking like she was feeling a bit guilty now. Damian could tell that she didn't think about the chance that he might not want to be here. But she answered his question, just like she said she would. "Well, you kept praying every night to be different and to have a better life. I just thought that maybe you could try life here so you could see if you liked it. And... and you looked so lonely. I thought you might want a friend." 
Damian shook his head in disbelief. "How could this be happening...?"
"I just told you Damian. I broke the space tha-"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard what you said! I just can't believe it..." Damian put his hand up to his forehead and sat down on the ground right where he was. "This doesn't even seem real. I prayed for things to change, but I didn't mean like this. I just can't believe this is happening to me. I just can't..." Damian sat there with his hands on his head, refusing this new world. He thought the Dark would give him strength and power. Not talking ponies and... everything else that was around him.
Damian heard the light thudding of hooves approaching him. He didn't look up. He didn't want to. He didn't see the bizarre things around him.
"Hey... Damian...?"
He just shook his head.
"Listen, I know this is all crazy and all, but don't be sad. I didn't mean to make you upset or anything. I just wanted to make you happy."
Damian looked up at the pony in front of him. "I want to go home..."
She came closer to him and put her hoof on his shoulder. "Can you at least give Equestria a chance?"
He thought for a bit. He prayed to the Dark, so there might still be a chance that he could get something out of this. Talking pony or not, he did want a change. If this was the Dark testing him, he didn't want to fail. "I... I guess I could give it a shot."
The pony smiled at him when he said that. "Good to hear it Damian. Now, let's keep walking; we're not that much farther from Sugar Cube Corner."
Damian nodded. "Yeah, okay pony, let's go."
"My name's Pinkie Pie, but you can call me Pinkie. All of my friends do."
Damian stood up and smiled slightly at the little pink pony. "Yeah, okay Pinkie. Let's go."
***
About ten minutes and a few questions later, Pinkie and Damian reached Sugar Cube Corner. They were walking up to the door when Pinkie stopped Damian.
"Wait Damian. I just want to let you know that you won't regret this."
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Regret what?"
Pinkie just held out a hoof, gesturing for him to go inside.
He looked at her with suspicion, but went inside the building against his better judgement. When he went through the doorway, it was pitch dark. He tried to squint to see, but it didn't help him at all. He turned around to ask Pinkie what the purpose of coming here was, but she wasn't outside the door anymore. He turned back to the pitch dark room and walked forward in an attempt to find a light switch. He only took a few steps when...
"SURPRISE!!!"
Damian was so shocked by the sudden shouting that he fell over and landed on a small object. The object instantly gave way to his weight and exploded with a loud popping noise. He was so shocked that he didn't even see the light come on and the six little ponies standing in front of him.
He looked around with wide eyes, taking in everything. There were balloons, streamers, confetti, cakes, pies, drinks, and ponies. And he saw Pinkie standing right in the middle of everything.
"So Damian, what do you think?"
Damian couldn't find the words to match with what he was thinking at that moment. He felt shocked, surprised, worried, relieved, and maybe even a little happy all at the same time.
"This is your "Welcome To Equestria" party! And it's just for you!" Pinkie exclaimed with a smile.
Damian looked at Pinkie, still wearing a shocked expression. "W- what is all this? What do you mean 'it's for me'?"
Pinkie smiled and trotted up to him. "Well, I told my friends that I was going to be bring you here because you looked like you needed a friend. So then I got the idea that we could throw you a party when you got here to make you feel welcome."
Damian didn't know what to say. They did all of this? For him? "You really threw me a party?"
"Yes indeedy! Now, let me introduce you to all of my friends. This is Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy," she said while she pointed her hoof at each one as she introduced them.
They all waved and smiled at Damian, and he felt a slight happiness that they didn't give him weird looks or snicker at him like the people did back home. Maybe the Dark did help him after all. Maybe... Maybe this new place would work out for him better than it did back home.
Damian looked at them all with a slight smile. "Uh, hi. I'm Damian. It's uh, nice to meet you all."
They all said things along that same line to Damian, and then the partying began. Damian talked, he drank punch, he ate cake and pie, and he even danced! He did everything that he never thought he would ever do back home. Back in his boring life. In his dreary little neighborhood. In his backwoods little town. And he did this until the sun went down and the moon came up. He partied so hard that it hurt. But, it's impossible to party forever. Even if that's what you wanted to do.
Twilight took a seat at a small table, and Rarity joined her soon after. Rainbow Dash and Applejack began a conversation about athletics that didn't interest Damian whatsoever. And Fluttershy simply took a seat on a small couch to settle down from all the partying. Which left only Damian and Pinkie Pie on the dance floor, tearing it up to a upbeat song with a good rhythm. But even Damian had to call it quits when his legs gave out on the dance floor and he had to take a seat in a small chair near the punch bowl. So with only Pinkie left the music died down, and the dancing ceased.
"Man, I never thought that I'd be doing anything like this," Damian said to himself.
"Well, parties are a great way to relax," Pinkie said, trotting up to his side.
"I've never been to one," he told her.
Pinkie gasped. "You've never been to a party?! Oh my gosh! How could have never been to a party before?!"
Damian just shrugged. "I guess I never had the chance."
"Well you sure seemed like you enjoyed it," said a voice off to the side.
Damian and Pinkie both looked over to see Twilight trotting up to them.
"I've never seen anypony party like that except for Pinkie. You're a natural at partying Damian," Twilight said.
"Yeah, I had a pretty good time," Damian said. "I'd like to do this again soon."
Pinkie beamed at him. "Does this mean you want to stay here and be my awesome friend from another world who will party with me all the time and eat snacks and cakes and pies and all kinds of goodies with me and when I get all 'bleh' from eating too much you can get me a bucket so I don't make a mess on the floor and then we can do it all over again forever and ever?!"
Damian just blinked. "Uh, here's the thing Pinkie. Even though back home kinda sucks, it's still home. I'm going to miss it a lot if I stay here, so..."
Pinkie frowned, and she also seemed to turn a shade or two darker pink. "Oh... okay Damian. You can go back home whenever you want to. I'll make you a farewell cake for you to remember me by."
Damian cleared his throat to get Pinkie's attention. "Pinkie, I was going to say that because I'll miss my home, I'm going to need a new home here to help me get over my old one."
Pinkie looked at him after processing what he had said through her mind and smiled so hard that it looked like it hurt. "Damian, you're staying?!"
He nodded at her with a smile. "Yeah Pinkie, I'm staying."
Pinkie lunged forward and wrapped him in a tight hug, and he hugged her back. But while he was hugging her, he felt a burning feeling in his chest. He broke the hug and looked down to see his entire torso glowing bright blue-white.
Pinkie and Twilight stepped back, and the rest of the ponies in the room all stopped what they were doing to watch the spectacle that was Damian's glowing chest.
The light got bigger and brighter until it completely enveloped Damian. He could feel the intense heat in his body. He didn't know what was going on, but he couldn't stop it. Whatever was happening, it was going to happen whether Damian wanted it to or not. He starting feeling that pins-and-needles feeling throughout his body, starting with his chest. As the light grew brighter, the feeling got more intense. Eventually, it felt like his body was being beaten with heavy sticks. It was excruciating, but he couldn't stop it. But once he felt like he was going to lose consciousness, it stopped. The light faded away, and he couldn't feel and pain anywhere in his body any more. He looked to the six ponies in the room with him, and saw them all staring at him in disbelief.
"What's wrong?"
He was met with utter silence from the six.
He looked around the room and saw a mirror out of the corner of his eye. But what he saw in said mirror was far more interesting than the mirror itself. He walked up to the mirror and looked at his reflection. What he saw was not himself. What it was, was a pony. He saw a pony with a light grey coat and a dark blue mane and tail cut at sharp angles with a streak of black going through the right side of his mane, ending in a lock of hair slightly longer than the rest of his mane. He had deep blue eyes that seemed to reflect the light. But it was his backside that made him wonder. On either side of his flanks, he had a mark that was of a Human skull with a melting candle on top. He couldn't think of anything that he could say or do. So he just stared into the mirror, not sure what to think.
"Damian..."
He looked to Pinkie, and saw her right next to him. "Yeah?"
"I think you can fit in perfectly around here now."
Damian looked at himself, seeing this new body of his. "Yeah, I think I can."
"And if you want to, you can make your new home at Sugar Cube Corner... With me."
A smile slowly spread across Damian's face as he considered the idea. "Yeah, Pinkie. I think I'd like that."

The End