//------------------------------//
// III: The Dream 
// Story: Kesho Saga 
// by ScapeDragon 
//------------------------------//

	As much as I would love to sleep in a warm bed in a warm home, I couldn’t do that to the mare. It’s bad enough I spooked her, I don’t really want to bother her again. She seems…kind of fragile.
So I decided to trot back into the woods and try and make a camp for the night. There had to be a spot somewhere where I don’t have to worry about getting attacked by any of the creatures that live here. But something tells me that that’s not gonna happen. Instead, I just picked a spot I thought looked good enough, then thought maybe my crystal powers could help.
I could use them to make a tent. Or at least something close to a tent. I tried activating my powers, focusing real hard on making crystals pop out and make a pyramid shaped tent. Unfortunately, my powers were choosing now to un-cooperate. I could hear something chirping and hooting causing me to panic as I worked on making the tent. It must’ve made me lose focus because it just wasn’t’ happening.
As easy as it would have been to use my powers to help make sleeping out here not so bad, I had to figure something else out. But what…..
I looked around and saw a large tree nearby with a cave like hole underneath it. I smiled seeing something close to being a home. There was obviously a rush to get inside seeing such luck like this. Once in the cavern of the tree, I saw some leaves and mucky dirt inside. Not the ideal place to rest, but maybe a good place to stay hidden from creatures and predators.
Of course the gaping entrance needs to be fixed. I sighed, one more time trying to see if my crystals would work with me, and lucky enough, they did. I pulled the crystal wall up and stopped just a little before it could reach the top so that I could at least get some air. And I’m sure no creature big enough would fit in such a small gap.
With not a lot to work with, I decided to finally get some much needed rest. I gathered up a pile of leaves and used them as a bed while avoiding any muddy parts to lie on. Once that was done, I lied down, closed my eyes, and just wished for today to finally be over.
Who knows, things may be different tomorrow….
I guess once I fell asleep, something odd happened. I was no longer in some hiding spot built under a tree. Instead, I was back at the Crystal Empire.
There is honestly no explanation as to what the heck just happened? How in Equestria did I get here all of a sudden from where I just was. I stood up in a panic and scattered about the roads. 
I knew there was something up when I noticed soon that I was the only pony around. All the buildings were empty and everything was pretty quiet. Not sure what could’ve happened.
Suddenly, there was a loud ruckus down one of the roads to the side of me. I could hear angry chatter and saw a crowd of furious Crystal Ponies holding torches and pitchforks. I could hear them call out to me, yelling at me, calling me a monster. They sped down the road at a frightening pace causing me to freeze up. I tried to run away but tripped before I could dash off.
They glared at me with intent to kill. I had no choice in this scenario. I called out to my powers to rise up and stop them. And in reply to my plea, my crystals rose up from the ground, and pierced every single resident. Every pony there, halted their actions and lied limp. The attack didn’t faze me. Even seeing that they were basically dead now, I couldn’t feel a shred of regret. But as I got closer to the crowd, I saw ponies that looked like they didn’t deserve such a brutal end. Ponies that were much too young to even know what was going on. 
My body collapsed to the ground, horrified at what I just did. I don’t know how I could’ve done something so awful. Or how even for a second, I could feel something like…satisfaction from this. This was terrible! This wasn’t me! I roared into the sky out of anger until I needed to breath.
Then, the ponies in front of me, along with the crystals just turned to dust and blew away, never to be seen again. I heard something behind me. As if somepony just came back from a flight and landed. The cool breeze of the wings was quite big. I turned around and was surprised to see who I saw.
Princess Luna.
She gave me an intimidating look looking unpleased. If Princess Luna is here, then does this mean that I’m dreaming? But this feels so real. It has to be real. Then again, that does explain why everyone just turned to dust all of a sudden.
“I see that you are confused Kesho.” She spoke in a more regal voice than I expected. “But do not worry. I am not here to harm you.”
“Really?” I sighed with relief. “Thank goodness. That’s a load off my back.” I fell back and just lied on the ground. “I really don’t want any more trouble after today.”
“I would think so. I heard that there was quite a commotion at the Crystal Empire.” Damn. Well I guess it’s no surprise that the word wouldn’t get to the other princesses. “And that the main reason is because of an intimidating grey coated stallion.”
“Er….” I didn’t know what to say next. “Oh he uh, sounds like a real jerk I guess.” I facehoofed at what I just said.
She kept her serious look the whole time. Just looking at me. Then turned around, still looking at me. “Come, I think we should talk.”
Not sure where this is going, but I don’t think it would be such a good idea to refuse. I ran to her side as we took a stroll around the empty Crystal Empire.
“Kesho,” she started. “may I ask you something?”
Do I have a choice to refuse? “Go ahead Princess Luna.”
“When did you start experiencing this power of yours?”
“It just happened today. Like this is the first time I’ve been able to do something like this. The whole, crystal summoning thing….”
“I see. So then it is true. Your powers have been awakened.” I was a bit confused when she said that and I suppose she noticed. “Kesho, do you know anything about your childhood?”
I rub the back of my head. “To be honest, not really. I only remember small parts of it. Like the fact that I was in an orphanage and that most ponies were kind of scared of me.”
“I see. Hmm, I wonder if he planned for that to happen. Tell me, do you even remember anything from before the orphanage?”
“Not really.”
She didn’t like that answer. I could tell from her sudden frown. “Would you like to know?”
This kind of caught me off guard. “Wait what? Is there something I’m not really getting about myself?”
“That’s correct.”
Okay, this got me really curious. “Wait, are you serious? What is it? You have to tell me!” I didn’t know I was getting loud, so I quickly tried to relax. “I-I’m sorry if I raised my voice. I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay Kesho.” We stopped walking right next to the barrier that separated the Empire from the cold winter of the arctic. “There is something that has been kept a secret from you for a long time now. And I feel it best if we told you now.” She took a deep breath. “You, are not like any other Crystal Pony. Or any pony for that matter.”
I got a little scared. “What do you mean? Of course I’m a pony, just look at me. Maybe not normal….I mean I did kind of grow a horn out of nowhere. B-But still, I’m not some…like monster or anything. A-Am I?” I look down at my hooves thinking about what I just said.
Luna continued her explanation. “Your powers come from another pony. One that’s heart was of nothing but pure darkness and hate. He was once the former ruler of the Crystal Empire. His name, is King Sombra.”
I looked at her stunned, then tilted my head. “Who?”
She lost her footing hearing me say that then looked at me confused. “You haven’t? But every Crystal Pony knows who he is.”
“Um, I thought you said I wasn’t like any normal pony. Doesn’t that include Crystal Ponies as well?”
“But you have no knowledge of him whatsoever?”
“No. I’m sorry Luna.”
She thinks for a moment. “Then let me start from the beginning.”
Suddenly, there was something outside in the snow. A dark menacing looking pony with metal gauntlets, a metal crown, and a red regal cape. I almost thought for a second that his neck was metallic, but that was just armor. His eyes looked like they were leaking out some kind of green smoke, and his mane reminded me of Princess Luna’s but was nothing but pure black. The black mane and tail…and grey coat, are almost exactly like mine.
Princess Luna must’ve given me some kind of visual to look at while she explains everything. “King Sombra once ruled the Crystal Empire, long ago. He was a relentless ruler enslaving all the Crystal Ponies in the Empire. My sister and I couldn’t stand by while the poor ponies were being treated so awfully. We tried to save them and end King Sombra’s reign of terror. But we didn’t expect him to take the entire Empire down with him.
“After he was defeated, King Sombra cursed the entire Crystal Empire causing it, and all of its ponies, to vanish. If he couldn’t have his Empire, neither will anypony else.” She told this whole story as images outside played throughout the whole thing. Like I was watching a movie.
“Sweet Celestia…” Was all I could say hearing her tell me that. “That’s horrible….but then, what about me? What does that….monster have to do with me?”
She didn’t hesitate to answer. “You are his son.”
My jaw dropped and my eyes opened up as much as they can. My body froze up, and I was utterly speechless.
I tried to get some words out: “Wh-What the heck are you talking about?! How is he my father?! That doesn’t make any sense!”
Princess Luna held up a hoof to halt me from talking. “I still have more to explain. Three years ago, King Sombra and the Crystal Empire returned and as we feared, he wanted to regain the kingdom. Luckily, he was stopped before that could happen. And we thought that would be the last we heard of him. That is, until you came along.”
“You’re making it sound like I’m the bad guy now. What’s up with that?” 
“While Sombra was locked out of the Crystal Empire, he must’ve known that with what he was up against, he wouldn’t win the battle ahead. So he devised a back-up plan. To create a being that he can use to fulfill his so-called destiny of taking the Empire and ruling it with an iron hoof. A pony he could easily manipulate to do his dark deeds. A pony that he can use in order to be brought back. A pony, like you Kesho.”
Shocked, I stopped walking with her and held a hoof to my forehead. “I can’t believe it…..I never knew anything about this. Why was I not told about any of this before?” 
“That was our fault Kesho. We didn’t think something like this would happen.” She looks down. “We thought we could come up with something before your powers were activated. Unfortunately, we ran out of time.”
I sighed frustrated. But then, something clicked inside my head. Something that didn’t make any sense to me. “Wait, wait, wait. You told me that Sombra came and made me three years ago. Yet here I am, not as some kind of foal. I’m an adult. And I do have memories of being a child. What’s up with that?”
“We assume Sombra didn’t create you by normal methods Kesho. Sombra must’ve also manipulated your mind during your creation. Giving you false memories of a life you never had. Tell me, did you ever return to the orphanage you grew up in?”
“No….I didn’t. It wasn’t really one of my favorite places. So why bother going back to relieve good times that never really existed.”
“If you did go back, they would’ve told you that they had no record of you ever being with them.”
“N-No way….” The more I hear her talk, the more frustrated and angry I got. “This can’t be happening….it’s not really happening. Why is this happening?!” I began to tear up.
Luna just looked at me with that same stupid neutral face.
“Damnit answer me!”
“Can you answer me first Kesho?”
“What…? What do you want me to answer now?!”
My yelling didn't affect her look. “What will you do now?”
I got more angry. “What do you mean what will I do now?! You know where I am right now?! I’m in some dirty forest napping on leaves and muck hiding for my life from killer animals. I ran away from home where I’m a wanted criminal now! And I still have no control over these stupid damn crystal powers! There’s nothing else for me to do!”
She still looked at me the same way. “That’s not what I meant.” I was a little confused by what she meant. Then we stopped walking. “Fork in the road.”
“What?” I stopped with her as now there were two paths in front of us. Odd thing were not only how the paths looked, but by the fact that it seemed like we were no longer in the Empire anymore. 
On one side, I saw a path with luscious green grass with trees filled with all kinds of fruits. It looked pretty sunny when I looked down it. And the pathway looked like any other.
On the other side I saw a golden pathway with piles of bits to the side of it. The sky was more into a sunset setting, but the sky looked a tad more red than usual.
Luna spoke up again. “One path leads to Health and Happiness. The other leads to Wealth and Power. Which way should we go?”
Huh? “Wait, you want me to choose? Right now?”
“We have to in order to continue our walk. Now lead the way Kesho.”
I wasn’t sure if this was some kind of test. If so, I’m guessing she wants me to choose the path that I believe is right. But that raises the question as to which one.



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS: I wonder what it would feel like to be happy for once. It’s been so long I can’t remember.


WEALTH AND POWER: Being rich doesn’t sound like a bad idea. And I'm curious to see what kind of power they mean.