Painful Memories and Scarred Dreams
Broken Horn, Fixed Heart
Written by Israel Yabuki
Edited and co-written by NineTailBeastBall
You sat down in front of the TV, scrolling through the channels for something good to watch. Unfortunately as usual, there were very few channels that even remotely interested you.
To be honest, you weren’t always this gloomy. You once sought a career as an attorney, but after the death of your twin brother, you fell into a depression and decided to move down south to pursue another career.
The thought of marriage never crossed your mind. Instead, you moved to a small town where you live quietly and alone. Eventually, you got a part time job as a carpenter. Not the best job, but at least it helped you pay the bills. However, it wasn’t enough to try and at least fill the empty hole in your heart. You still felt the pain from that dreadful day.
But moping around wasn’t going to help much and needed to clear your mind. You got out of your seat and made your way into the kitchen to pour yourself a cup of water.
In this small town you live in, interesting things rarely happened. It’s all become so regular to you, to the point where it gets boring after a while. Whether or not something new would happen, it wouldn’t matter to you, not without your brother, anyway.
You walked back into the living room and sat on the couch with your cup of water still in hand. There was still nothing interesting on TV as usual. You took a few sips out of your cup and let out a sigh of boredom.
“Might as well get to bed,” you said with a yawn. You turned off the TV and made your way down the hall to your bedroom. You bed was neatly made and had only a single nightstand next to it with a digital alarm clock that read 9:07 P.M. You hopped into bed and in about fifteen minutes, you were fast asleep.
As you drifted off into the dream realm, you started reminiscing about the happy days you spent with your twin brother and constant companion since birth. The two of you were thick as thieves and always causing mischief just for the heck of it. These memories always made you feel at ease, but then came the one day when everything went downhill.
You would never know what it was your brother was thinking, but on that day, a terrible car accident claimed his life. As much as it hurt you to do so, you forced yourself to attend your twin’s funeral along with many of your other relatives.
Never in your life had you seen something so awful. His body had been horribly mangled during the accident. His face had been burned from the fire that started when the vehicle crashed. The fire had even burned through the bone. This was something no sibling would ever want to see.
Life was never the same afterwards. Your loving parents did the best they could to comfort you after the funeral, but to no avail. Even though the car accident wasn’t your fault, you couldn’t help thinking that it was.
Just then, the dream world around began to slowly disappear in a strange fog, including the people around you. What catches your eyes leaves you completely frozen in fear. A strange dark vortex appears and starts pulling you inside it. You weren’t sure if this was even a dream anymore as you couldn’t escape the vortex’s strong pull.
“What the hell’s going on?!” you said in a panicked tone that you hadn’t used in years. The vortex was too strong and you couldn’t feel the solid surface below your feet anymore. Whether this was a dream or not, you didn’t care. Slowly, your eyes began to close until there was nothing but pitched blackness.
You weren’t sure how long you were unconscious, but when you opened your eyes, you found that you definitely weren’t in your room anymore. Above you were two light beams, similar to the ones at the grocery stores. You looked all around you and saw you were on a hospital bed. You quickly sat up, which was a big mistake.
The moment you tried to sit up, you felt a sharp pain. Unable to bear with the sudden pain, you slumped back down. The impact of the fall seemed to scare someone who was in the room with you. You could hear what sounded like clopping instead of footsteps.
As you turned your head to see who it was, you almost jumped out of your skin when you saw a white horse with big blue eyes wearing a nurse’s hat. Though shocked, the horse gave you a loving smile which managed to calm you down.
“W-Who are you?” you asked, “What happened and how did I get here?”
“Please calm down, sir. My name is Nurse Red Heart. The Royal Guards found you outside in the private garden almost bleeding to death,” she explains.
“What? Private garden? There’s no private garden in my town, nor is there any Royal Guards.”
“That’s because this isn’t your town. You’re in the rich city known as Canterlot.”
“Canterlot?” you asked before feeling another sharp pain course through your body.
“I know this is a lot to take in, but you can ask questions later, dear. For now just get some rest,” Red Heart advised as she left the room.
For the first time in quite a while, something interesting has happened to you. You only wish that your brother was here to see it. Nevertheless, the nurse’s orders were something you couldn’t ignore, so you laid down facing up at the ceiling. You didn’t feel tired right now and of course, you got curious of what time it is.
Though it hurt to do so, you turn your head to look at the clock above the door. It said 8:45 P.M. You slowly turned your head back to face the ceiling, trying not to deal more damage to yourself. You still couldn’t understand how you could’ve gotten here in the first place. The last thing you remember was the bad memories in your dream.
Just thinking about them gives you a splitting headache. You groaned in pain, wanting it to stop. About five minutes later, your headache went away. Would have stopped sooner if you had some aspirin.
‘No point in going crazy,’ you thought with a sigh. Given your condition, you were going to be here for a while. Plus, like the nurse said, you’d be able to ask questions later. With that in mind, you closed your eyes, allowing sleep to take over.
For the following days, you did as the doctors instructed and took it easy. As the days passed, you slowly got better. While you didn’t know these horses or ponies as they soon corrected, they haven’t done anything to harm you.
What was most shocking was the visit you got from the ruler, Princess Celestia who told you you’re not the first human to get sent into this world. She’s even told you that she has a human husband who she calls Platinum.
Today was the day you would finally be checked out of the hospital. You still don’t know how you got hurt, but it didn’t matter since you’re all better.
You sat patiently on your bed, waiting for the doctor to return. All the while, you start to wonder just how many other humans are in Equestria and just how did they get here.
You snapped out of your thoughts as the doctor came into the room with a clipboard.
“Am I free to go?” you asked, barely able to contain your impatience. Even though the ponies were friendly, you were still tired of being cooped up in this hospital.
“We just need you to fill out these papers on your release and then you can go,” the doctor explained as he handed you the clipboard and a pencil.
After filling out the forms as you were told, you realized something as the doctor was about to exit. “Aren’t you going to charge me or something?” you asked, not that you even knew what they use for money in this world.
“There’s no need to. The princess was more than generous to help cover the cost for your hospital bill, so there’s no need to worry.” With that, he left the room to give you some privacy to get dressed.
Once you checked out of the hospital, you decided to take a walk and you got yet another surprise. From what Red Heart had said, this city Canterlot is a very wealthy city. However, you saw that almost the entire town was under construction, it was as if a storm had hit or something.
Looking up you could see what looked to be a castle in the distance, no doubt the princess lives there. Hoping she’d be able to answer some questions, you began walking.
‘So far not a single human in sight,’ you thought as you looked around. You noticed that some ponies held their noses up high, no doubt they were nobles.
‘Stuck up fools,’ you thought rolling your eyes. As far as you were concerned, snobs like these weren’t even worth talking to. Since the princess was generous enough to pay for your treatment, you knew she would be nothing like these nobles.
Lost in thought, you failed to notice where you were walking and you ended up bumping into someone. “I beg your pardon,” you said rubbing your head. You look up to see who you bumped into. It was a purple pony with a red mohawk. She wore a robe covering most of her body and high heel boots.
“N-No need to worry about it,” she replies. Whether it was pure instinct or not, something told you she wasn’t one of the nobles or even lives in Canterlot. She looks at you with sympathy and helps you back on your feet. “Strange, I’ve never seen you around here.”
“Yeah, I am, but I don’t know how I ended up here. Anyway, why is it that this whole city is being rebuilt? Was there a war here or something?” you asked.
The pony looked away, as if she was ashamed. “You could say that,” she responded in a low voice, but you managed to hear her.
You raised an eyebrow. What exactly did she mean by that? Was she there to witness it, or was she a part of all of it? Those questions flooded your mind and made you curious and somewhat eager to learn more, but first things first. You needed to make your way to the castle and thank the princess for paying for your medical expenses.
“Well, if you say so. I’d better head over to the castle. I gotta go meet up with the princess and express my gratitude,” you reply, walking ahead of her.
“Well, if you want, I can take you there. I sort of know the princess personally. Although it wasn’t exactly a pleasant first meeting...” she muttered the last part.
“I beg your pardon?” you asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Come on I’ll take you,” she says, dodging your questions once again. You follow her close behind, on your way to the castle, although it wasn’t that hard to miss considering how big the castle was. But then you realized that you never got to ask her what her name was.
However, with the way she was acting, she didn’t exactly feel too comfortable with giving out her name, which is understandable since you were still a stranger to her. A very kind stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.
The walk to the castle felt like it was taking a very long time. The path to the entrance of the castle was actually a lot longer than you anticipated it to be. It took about twenty minutes, but you arrived.
You made your way over to the entrance, only to notice the pony who guided you here stayed behind.
“Aren’t you coming inside, miss?” you asked, but she turned and began walking away without even giving you an answer.
As the mysterious pony walked away, you couldn’t help wondering what happened to her. In addition to not even telling you her name, you didn’t fail to notice the damage done to her horn, as well as the scar across her eye. Of course, you chose not to point this out.
What’s more is that you noticed the look in her eyes when you asked her about the state of this town. They were the same eyes you’ve always had since your brother got into that accident. You had a feeling as you entered into the castle that you would find out more about this mare.
Right now however, you were focused on learning about the humans who have been dragged into this world. You approached the princess, who was sitting on her throne with another human next to her. You took a wild guess that this was her husband, Platinum. He looked like he was in his early 20’s. This led you to wonder how old Celestia must be, considering how young she looks.
You turned to see two children who appeared to be in the middle of a game of leapfrog. They couldn’t be more than six years old. You felt your sadness return from looking at the children, as they were obviously twins.
“Is something wrong, sir?” Princess Celestia asked softly, causing you to return your gaze back to her.
“It’s not important,” you assured, but your expression didn’t change. Because of this, Celestia had her doubts, but she chose not to pressure you.
“I’m sure you’re very confused, dear subject. As I said we met at the hospital, you’re not the first human to get transported to my land.” she began, followed by a smile as Platinum placed his hand on her own.
“Something tells me you went through a heartbreaking experience,” Platinum says.
You turned back to the twins, who were still playing their little game of leapfrog. “I don’t want to talk about it,” you said firmly.
Celestia was taken aback, just by looking at your eyes, she could tell your heart was stained with sadness. As tempting as it was to use a spell to read your mind, Celestia respected your privacy and therefore refused to do such a thing.
“Anyway, I would like to know about the other humans,” you said, trying not to sound impatient or disrespectful. Celestia nods and begins to explain.
“It all started a little over six years ago, when Equestria was still only inhabited by ponies, among other creatures. My former student, Twilight Sparkle, found a human who was near a lake in a wide open meadow. The two of them at first started out as friends, but became a couple within a month’s time,” she explains.
“Since then, every few weeks or months, a new human had come to Equestria. Some of them went through some traumatic experiences similar to what you might have went through. Even my husband here, as well as Prince Nebula went through their own hardships.”
“Prince Nebula?” you asked
“That’s my sister Princess Luna’s husband,” Celestia confirmed. “He lost both of his parents to the hands of a ruthless murderer.”
With Platinum still holding her left hand, Celestia leaned her head on her other one. “Tell me, how exactly did you find your way to the castle?”
“Well, I don’t really know her name, but it was a female pony who had this scar on her eye and a broken horn. I couldn’t really understand why she was hiding underneath that robe,” you reply.
“You must mean Tempest Shadow,” she said with a sigh.
“Tempest Shadow, so that’s her name. She told me she knew you, but why is she trying to hide herself?” you ask.
This time, it was Platinum who sighed. “It’s a very long and unpleasant story,” he said, slightly tightening his grip on his wife’s hand. Little did you know that Platinum and Celestia had almost lost each other because of what Tempest did.
“Anyway, you’re more than welcome to stay here at the castle. I’ll make sure to give you a nice room during your stay,” Celestia said, seemingly desperate to try and change the subject. It did not seem like a good idea for you to bring it up, since they were clearly traumatized by whatever had happened.
“Well, okay then, but are you sure you want me to stay? I don’t want to be a burden to you,” you say, looking down. To be honest, as comfortable as a room in a castle sounds, you were more interested in finding out more about this Tempest Shadow mare. Unfortunately, it was obvious that you weren’t going to get any answers from Celestia or Platinum.
“It’s no trouble at all,” Celestia assured with a motherly smile. “Anypony who has nowhere else to go is always more than welcome to stay here in one of our guest rooms.”
Looking at the princess’ affectionate look, you couldn’t possibly turn down such a generous offer.
“Alright then, I accept. Thank you for your hospitality, princess,” you replied. At that moment, you felt a little relieved.
Celestia’s smile grew wider from your answer. “Marvelous, I’ll have my maids get your room ready. In the meantime, why don’t we have some dinner? I’m sure you must be hungry.”
With that, Celestia and Platinum led you to the dining room. There, you saw another pony and human sitting beside each other. This pony had midnight blue fur that matched her mane in terms of color. Like Celestia, her mane was sparkling and looked like it was blowing in the wind. No doubt this was Celestia’s younger sister, Princess Luna.
You assumed that the human sitting next to Luna was her husband, Prince Nebula. He looked at you with a friendly smile, but much to his confusion, you didn’t return the expression.
“I see that we have a new guest. Though, I think I can tell he’s been through some traumatic experience back in his home world,” Luna assumed, putting her hands together.
Rather than reply, you decided to just take a seat. As dinner began, you were the only one not making any conversation. For some reason, you just couldn’t get Tempest out of your mind. Even though it wasn’t your business, you couldn’t help wondering what exactly did she do.
Nonetheless, the food on your plate did look delicious so you decided not to waste any more time. As you began eating, a maid came up to you and offered to pour some wine. You accepted her offer and held your glass, allowing the maid to pour you half a glass. Thanking her, you took a sip and you were surprised, as this was possibly the best wine you’ve ever had.
“It’s pretty good, huh?” Nebula asks. Though you remained silent, you gave him a nod. “Is there a problem? You’ve been awfully quiet for some time now.”
You shook your head, but decided to speak this time. “There are things I prefer to keep to myself.”
Celestia nodded, “We can respect that, but there’ll be a time when you want to get it off your chest, but that’s entirely up to you.”
After that, you decided to finish the rest of your meal in silence. Once you were done, you thanked the princesses for the meal, and allowed a nearby maid to show you to your room. So much had happened today, and you felt the urge to just get some rest.
As the maid was guiding you to your room, your mind began spinning at how much of a puzzle it was to navigate throughout the inside of the castle. It almost felt like a labyrinth of some sort. About five minutes of walking around, you finally came to your door.
“Remember good sir, if you need anything please don’t hesitate to ask,” the maid said with a bow.
Thanking her for her kindness, you bid the young maid goodnight and closed the door. You let out a sigh and walked over to your bed and pulled the covers over before climbing into the bed. As you got comfortable, you stared up at the ceiling.
‘Tempest Shadow huh?’ you wondered in your mind yet again as you turn to look out the window, noticing that tonight’s moon was a full one. ‘Maybe I can try to at least get to know her tomorrow… or at least… that’s my plan if I can find her.’
This bed felt a lot more comfortable than the one back at the hospital. With a yawn, you turned away from the window and slowly closed your eyes.
You started dreaming quicker than last time, only this time, you weren’t dreaming of the memories of you and your brother. Instead, you were dreaming of how Equestria became like this storm-struck city it was now.
The ponies all around the city were either chained up, hauling carts, or trapped in these cages, crying out for their freedom. You couldn’t see what kind of creatures were keeping them hostage due to their armor and the masks. Whether it was dumb luck or not, none of the armored soldiers saw you.
You strolled through the streets, feeling the same pain and suffering that these ponies were feeling.
‘What happened here?’ you wondered as you continued walking. You soon came to the steps leading to the castle. The place was smoking and a few explosions came from inside. You got worried and ran as fast as you could, hoping that the princesses were alright.
You couldn’t believe just how wrong you were. Far from alright, the princesses were all petrified, including a third princess who you didn’t recognize. Their husbands, however, were in an even worse condition. They were all lying under the rubble, severely injured from the collapsed ceiling. All of this left a sickening feeling in your stomach, as they all looked just like how your brother did when he lost his life.
You ran over to try and at least move the rubble, but your arms just phased right through them. Even though this was all still just a dream, it looked and felt so real to you. The whole situation made you feel useless since you couldn’t do anything.
You heard a noise, and looking over, you saw yet another princess. However this one hadn’t been turned to stone. Her fur was a light purple color and had dark purple eyes. It was becoming so confusing that you wondered just how many princesses existed here. However, you pushed that question aside and paid extra attention as Tempest appeared.
Since you couldn’t do anything, you had no choice but to just watch the events unfold. Tempest seemed to be striking an argument with some sort of ape-like creature. Aside from that, now that you got a good look at Tempest, you had to admit, she was very beautiful.
You listened to the conversation very closely and couldn’t believe what you heard. Apparently this ape, who calls himself the Storm King, is responsible for all of this. You learned he has struck a deal with Tempest to restore her horn in exchange for the princesses’ power. However, the king just revealed that he had no intention of honoring his agreement. Though you rarely show emotion, you couldn’t help feeling anger for this vile creature.
It’s no wonder Tempest looked so guilty when you met her. You were curious of what would happen next and decided to see how this whole thing would play out. These group of other mares with Tempest now on their side, fought the Storm King and used the power of the staff to turn the other princesses back to normal.
But in the aftermath of the battle, the Storm King was not about to give up without a fight. He grabs an orb of some sort and aims it at the purple alicorn mare and her friends. But Tempest jumped in to save them and charged at the Storm King, turning him to stone along with her. The force of Tempest’s tackle was strong enough to push the Storm King off the balcony. He hit the ground hard with so much force, that he broke into pieces.
You gasped and thought Tempest had suffered the same fate, but the mares all saved Tempest from a horrific death. You could feel a huge stone fall off your heart as you dropped to your knees, sighing in relief. Gently setting her down, the mares then used the staff to undo the spell and free Tempest from her stone prison.
The dream quickly began to change, and you were soon experiencing the liberated ponies celebrating the defeat of the Storm King and his army.
You noticed Tempest on the balcony talking to Twilight and apologizing for what she had put her and her friends through. Twilight, to your surprise, found it in her heart to forgive Tempest and that she, and maybe the other princesses, would help Tempest get settled into her new home.
‘I can tell by that look in her eyes, she still feels guilt from what happened. A heart filled with grief... she’s so much like me,’ you thought, not taking your eyes off the redeemed pony.
Suddenly the surroundings began to stir, this was probably a sign that you were about to wake up. However even as things began to change, you somehow managed to keep your eyes on Tempest until everything was gone.
Your eyes blinked a few times until they were completely open. You sat up from your bed and let out a yawn, stretching out your arms. You pulled the covers off of you and climbed out of bed and readjusted the bed sheets.
“Well now you know everything,” an all too familiar voice said. You turned and saw that it was none other than Tempest Shadow sitting outside on the edge of the balcony. Oddly enough, you weren’t startled to see her.
“It would appear so.” you reply. But you realized something. “Wait a minute, how did you know what I was dreaming about?”
Tempest looked back at you before closing her eyes and sighing. “Because I was the one who implanted those memories into your head while you slept,” she answered. “To be honest, ever since we met each other I’ve been just as curious about you as you have been of me. Without you knowing I’ve secretly been following you around.”
“Well, jeez, I don’t know if I should feel creeped out about that or not. After all, I don’t normally have other people following me without me knowing it.”
Tempest couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips. However the moment she calmed down, a look of sadness soon appeared on her features.
You quirked an eyebrow at her sudden depression. “What’s wrong?” you asked. “Was it something I said?”
“I haven’t told you how I lost my horn,” she said as she took a seat on the bed. You sat down beside her, giving her your full attention. “It all started when I was just a little filly. My friends and I were playing with our ball, but I threw it too far and it landed in a cave where an Ursa Minor was sleeping. I went in to grab it, but I was caught off-guard when the Ursa Minor caught me and slashed at me and…” she didn’t need to say the rest, as she had made it pretty clear.
Tempest took a deep breath as tears began to fall from her eyes. “Nothing’s been the same for me since then, unable to play ball due to my damaged horn, I slowly began to ostracize myself from the world around me.”
You decided at that moment to finally make your own confession. “After my twin brother died, I started to shut everyone out too. I felt like it was all my fault that he died and I couldn’t do anything to save him. He and I were like thick and thin and I betrayed our friendship because I wasn’t fast or strong enough to keep him alive. I was pathetic, wasn’t I?”
Tempest shook her head. “Somehow, I don’t think that’s what your brother is feeling right now. True, your brother suffered a tragic accident that costed his own life, but I know for certain that he wouldn’t want you to go and blame yourself and sulk in misery for the rest of your life. Rather, he would want you to pick up the pieces and move on, not just for him, but for yourself as well.”
You blinked impressed. “Wow Tempest, that’s great advice. Where’d you come up with that?”
The purple unicorn shrugged, “It’s just a little something my own parents taught me when I was a little filly when I lost my grandparents. I was filled with the same guilt you do, but my parents told me the exact same thing I told you. I just never had the chance to realize it... up until now that is.”
Normally you were an emotionless man, but after hearing Tempest’s advice, you couldn’t help feeling comforted by her words. You don’t know how, but you felt... happy. It brought you a lot of comfort to find out that Tempest shares quite a few things in common with you.
‘She’s so beautiful,’ you thought as you stared directly into her teal eyes. Could it be you were already falling in love with her? The fact that she’s a pony didn’t really matter, but is the feeling mutual?
Tempest raised an eyebrow noticing your sudden silence. “What is it?” she asked.
“Hmm? O-Oh, nothing. Just spacing out, that’s all,” you lied.
“Do you like me?” she asked, causing you to start sweating down your face. Out of dignity, you turned away, in attempt to hide the blush that began to form.
“W-W-What are you talking about?” you stuttered. “We barely know each other. Nothing personal Tempest, I just don’t feel like we should rush into a relationship.
You took a couple of deep breaths to calm yourself before speaking again. “Now, perhaps if you’re not too busy, you could show me how things work around here in Canterlot.”
Tempest thought about it and gave you a soft smile. “Sounds like a plan,” she said as she stood up and walked back outside to the balcony. You waved at her good-bye and she waved back before disappearing in a bright flash.