//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Arcane Mute and Memories Part 1 // Story: The Everfree Chronicles: The Alchemist // by Roran Dreamon //------------------------------// Near Ponyville Hospital, Afternoon "I'M GOING TO BUCKING KILL YOU! YOU MOTHER BUCKER, I SWEAR ON NIGHTMARE MOON'S MANE THAT I WILL BUCKING KILL YOU!". I roared as both Lunar Guards were pulling me back while I was raging to tear that unicorn's horn off than shove where the sun never shines, than kill him where he stands. While I was trying to kill this unicorn, Rarity was busy talking to him trying to calm him down while also trying to reason with him, the only way I am going to reason with him is if my horn comes back and his stupid flank was on the ground bleeding. The loud ranting and yelling from the both of us has caught the attention of some of the hospital nurses and doctors, even those that are injured are looking out of there windows to watch us. A few of the nurses and guests were gasping that my horn was broken all over the ground and that a small pool of blood was forming under where I was standing and where I was being held. Even while feeling light-headed I was still trying to rip his throat out with my bare-hooves, not even stopping to catch my breath, not caring that I was slowly blacking out, still trying to lash out at him for making me a horn-less unicorn, not only was that degrading for me but that was just downright disgraceful if Nightmare Moon was watching me now. "Nightshade calm down right now! I swear if you do not calm down we will be forced to knock you out and drag you back into the hospital." shouted both of the guards at the same time, seemingly both of them are just trying to keep things under control, but one does not simply speak to an Eternal Night Guard like that and expect to get away unscathed. My response was to buck him in the side of the head knocking him out cold while head-butting the other temporarily disorientating his vision to see double of everything. Snorting angerly and pawing at the floor kicking up dirt and small rocks I slowly move forward at my attacker, not even caring that Rarity is trying to keep the two of us separate. "You got about 10 seconds to start running before I cleave you a new asshole." I calmly said while pulling out a small sword out from the chest plate of the unconscious guard. I had training in both types of swordplay the magical version which included arcane weapons and normal weapons, and the normal version which was basically holding onto the sword handle with my teeth, and when I fought like that it tends to get a bit messy and not very clean. "Starting now. 10......9......8......7......6" by the time I hit '7' he turned around and started galloping back towards town as if his life was at stake, for me it was more like a game of 'Hide And Pray I Don't Find You'. Rarity was utterly disgusted that I was trying to murder her father in front of everypony but to what she does not know is that I have no intentions of killing him, that was just the way I was told to scare off anypony that gets in my way of my objective, and my current objective was to get out of the hospital and resume my duty. Now my new objective is to go straight towards the Everfree Castle and to grab a few 'things' before I forget about them. Rarity was on the verge of both tears that she might lose her father and pure anger that I was willing enough to kill him for all to see, to bad I haven't told her the truth of my actions. Sighing deeply, I put the sword back in its sheath before trotting next to Rarity who was still on the verge of crying a river, and also most likely waiting for me to get closer before giving me a piece of her mind, or in this case her hooves. After trying to think of something I just let whatever was on my mind speak out since things are already down the drain and put through a blender. "Sorry about that Rarity...I sorta went a 'little' crazy back there, but it was not entirely my fault, for me losing my horn now only hurts like hell, but it also makes me feel worthless, losing my horn is almost as painful as losing Her, but never mind that since I was only scaring the shit out of your father, I have no real intentions if wasting him, only scarring him for life, and as for that urn I can easily fix...well now its more like can't fix. IT will take at least a month before my horn grows back...and is it me or am I starting to see two of everything...oh damn..." I said before falling over on-top of Rarity, essentially pinning her down with my unconscious body. I may not be awake but I can still feel and hear things, the sounds of Rarity flailing about trying to get out from under me, the sounds of Pinkie Pie jumping up and down for no reason, Fluttershy screaming about all the blood everywhere and on Rarity's mane and coat, and of course Applejack tossing a lasso around my waist and dragging me back into the hospital. The transition from rough dirt to smooth tile hurts, going from rocks to tile is never good mostly when my head gets kicked by accident by one of the nurses. Waking back up in my bed, Regina was busy reading a 'Daring Doo' book, which to me is a perfect pass time, but for what she did to me earlier, still not feeling comfortable or safe while in the same room let alone a few feet from each other. Openning my eyes I noticed that I saw nothing but darkness, bandages were wrapped around my head tightly to stop the bleeding, well it worked but not I can't see anything. "Perfect...first humiliated in front of the element bearers...than in front of the princess...lost my horn and now blind...I think the universe hates me..." I said to myself out loud, not even caring who is close by and listening in. "Dude that was awesome what you did just now. First you teleport out a window, land on Derpy Hooves, got in a fight with an old stallion, lost your horn to said stallion, knocked out two well or in this case poorly trained Lunar Guards, than finally tried to comfort your marefriend but instead pass out on-top of her. You my coltfriend are a professional at this." the sound of glass shattering was all I heard when she said coltfriend. "One. I am not your coltfriend, Two. Losing my horn sucks so don't bring it up, Three. I did not plan on passing out on-top of her, and Four. Shut up...losing my horn really hurts, how would you feel if you lost your wings?" I am clearly not in the mood for her smart-ass remarks or anything else she has to say. Closing my eyes again I lay my head back down on the pillow and go back to sleep, not wanting to wake up early again. Ponyville Hospital, Next Morning The next day was slow and quiet, nurses were going back and forth between rooms and patients, I was still K.O. and was not getting up anytime soon to enjoy any "Ya think he is gonna be waken up soon? I mean he did take a good buck upside the head by Rarity's dad, and look at him, he hasn't moved an inch since he got in that darn bed." "Do you think that he is in a coma? Oh I hope he isn't...I was looking forward to meeting him without the scary armor...if it was okay with him..." Fluttershy said while looking over my currently unconscious body. And just because I am knocked out does not mean I can not hear you...why must you ponies be so loud! "I was planning on throwing him a 'Welcome back to Ponyville and Your our new Pony Guard Party', I even made him a few cupcakes for when he leaves the hospital, now I think he might not be getting out today...and that I will have to change the day of the party..." my god Pinkie Pie if you throw me a party I swear by all that is holy I will put you into that party cannon of yours and fire you over Ghastly Gorge. "I still can't believe he took on two Lunar Guards even when he had his horn broken right off that thick skull of his, I mean look at him for Celestia's sakes. With all the pain he had he managed to buck a guard in the face and headbutt another, the pain from the headbutt must have at least been the thing to make him pass out...wonder what else he can do besides fighting...hope he is good at athletic sports otherwise he is just boring." Well at least that cyan mare is happy that I am a tough bastard...and wait a minute, good at athletics? No shit I am good at sports what else would I do for 5 years at that castle? Drink tea and act proper? Hell no I was in the dirt and rocks of that place playing hoofball with timber wolves and manticores and those games always ended up with me covered in bandages or in a bathtub filled with herbal essences. "You know dear that he can still hear you, so he knows that you just called him boring. And on another note he apologized to me about wanting to give my father a new...rump...but he was about to say something else before he passed out and almost ruined my beautiful coat and mane with his blood...poor dearie must have been through a lot just to pass out from a simple blood lose. Twilight is it possible to see into another ponies dreams?" Well at least Rarity forgave me for wanting to kill her father...wait...what about dreams? "Actually Rarity yes, there is a spell that allows one to see and visit another ponies dreams but it is very risky since the one dreaming is in full control of their mind, and they might think we are nothing more than a figment of their imagination and can easily force us out, but why do you want to know what he is dreaming about? It's not like he said something to you that was rather personnel right?" Twilight Sparkle I swear on your stupid princess's name...if you let her see my mind I will set your stupid tree house on fire and see to it that each and every book in that place burns like kindling. "What! Oh no he only apologized to me...'and also said a few things a few years ago and a couple of days ago' and also I want to know what he knows about fashion since he knew a bit when I first met him five years ago, I also want to know what it is like to see into another pony's dreams...that and I also want to know something else...lets just leave it at that okay Twilight?" Wait...what does she want to know from my mind? "Oh, right than...well I have that spell that lets one see into another mind but for any other pony to see it also they must have physical contact with the one casting it so anypony that wants to see Nightshade's mind please get close to me otherwise just watch and see if he tries to move or wakes up. And also be warned girls, this is his mind, from what we say from him he is very unstable and is highly dangerous so his mind will most likely reflect his actions." Oh I hate you so much...I hate you so much with a passion Twilight Sparkle. I.HATE.YOU.TWILIGHT.SPARKLE! My Mind, Current Time "Well girls...this was not what I was expected to find in his head...this sort of looks like the Canterlot Royal Library? How does he even know what it looked like if he was never there! Well however he knows about it I must find out before he creates an evil plot that will throw Equestria off balance!" I hate you so much...you know that Twilight? Entering ones own mind is a dangerous thing to attempt, six mares entering my mind while I am resting is suicidal for ones sanity as they will soon learn the hard way. As they entered my mind they all landed in a lobby of sorts that best represents a circular room with three doors, each of them at a 120 degree mark on the ceiling, and at the center of the room is nothing more than a statue of Nightmare Moon in full battle armor standing on her rear legs, wings fully flared out with myself standing near her left side with a kite shield being held to my side and a sword in my mouth as a loyal guard. All six of them wandered the room for a while taking in the sight of my mental lobby, wondering about it, taking notes or saying that it is boring and should have added a slide or a petting zoo, or in Pinkie Pie's case, a table filled with snacks. "So girls...which door should we open up? For as far as we can tell there is only three ways to go and each of them makes me wonder what he went through..." Twilight was busy studying the room, taking in the smell of ozone and burning oils that fill the lanterns that are scattered across the room, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash trying to figure out how to open the doors when there are no door knobs or handles on them, Applejack and Fluttershy are sitting on the cushions that scattered near the statue in the center of the room talking about how strange the room is, and Rarity is simply staring at my statue that is next to my Queen's, looking at how well made my armor is, how it is somewhat stylish, and how that my eyes are seemingly sparkling for no apparent reason. At the top of each door rests a small dark silver sign with onyx letters forced into it. The door at 120 degree's reads Memories and Judgement with the symbol of Nightmare Moon's cutie mark on it, the door at 240 degree's reads Thoughts and Emotions with the symbol of a red Half-Moon on it, and the last door at 360 degree's reads Knowledge, Spells, and Curses with the symbol of a nightshade plant on top of a six-pointed star. "Ah I say that we split up 'nto groups of two and check each door, who knows what can possibly find in 'em doors, for all I know it could be just nothin' or somethin' important. Imma reckon that me and RD go into the 'Memories and Judgement' door, since I am the 'ta best at tellin if a pony is lyin' or tellin' the truth, and seein' his memories might tell us why he is actin' like this." Well at least she is the logical one of the group...wait...where is Pinkie Pie? Having that feeling that something is creeping up to you and turning around slowly to see what it is, probably not the best thing to do when you know that the pink party pony can defy all laws of physics with ease. Only turning my eyes slightly all I can see are her eyes staring into mine...those scary...scary happy eyes. "HEY! NIGHTSHADE! Why are you a statue and why are you spying on us? Were you playing a game of hide-and-seek? Oh can we play, can we play!" Oh dear god somepony kill me now... "Uh Pinkie Pie you do know you are talking to a statue right?" Rainbow Dash said while gliding over to me, which is bad since my eyes moved from its original posture to the one looking into Pinkie's eyes. "No I'm not silly filly! Nightshade is the statue! See! Just look into his eyes!" Oh damn you Pinkie for blowing my cover... "Hey guys! Check this out! It is Nightshade, the statue blinked and tried to look away!" Rainbow Dash yelled out a bit, blowing my cover and also ruining my chances at acting creepy by acting like a ghost...better luck next time. "Yes yes you caught me...but now what do you six want? This is my mind you are breaking into it you know? My private sanctuary, my safety safe, my security blanket if you want to call it that. And if you want to see my memories all six of you should see it instead of you two...and Twilight Sparkle...do not even think about entering my knowledge and spells door...or I will turn you into a chicken when we get out of here." I said while slowly turning my head to face all of them, my body loosing its stony exterior, bit by bit the stone skin breaks off into chunks sending dust and rock bits everywhere, seemingly Rarity was not paying attention to me since she was looking at the seemingly complex weaving's of the silk cushions that line the wall. "Well Mr. Nightshade, we want to know more about you and since you will not tell us besides that little amount you gave us back at the stage at town hall, and I want to know a few things about you and what you and Nightmare Moon have planned during your exile of Ponyville." Twilight Sparkle was ever the inquisitive one when it came to asking questions, this much I know of since she just asked me to spill the truth...might as well give them a show instead of words. "Alright, follow me than, watch your head, keep your hooves, mane and tail inside the ride at all times and enjoy the ride." I said when I entered the 'Memories and Judgement Door' which in turn, transformed into an open carriage for the girls to walk into, each of them taking a seat on a highly soft cushion, well Pinkie Pie was jumping on her cushion while everypony else sat on theirs. Nightshade's Mind, Memories and Judgement Door As soon as we entered the first door everypony was screaming as they felt themselves slightly lifted off of their cushions and were in a temporary free fall, while I was laughing like a mad-colt only to make it worse and to receive a strong right hook from Rainbow Dash. "That was not funny dude, that was rude of you for not telling us about the large drop into a pitch black room...where are we anyways? This does not look like any type of memory? Is this a trap or are you just messing with us. Tell me now before things get ugly in here real quick!" "Oh lighten up will you, I told you this is my mind and I will do whatever I want in it, when I want it, and at anytime I want to do it. And besides none of you could have even fallen out of it, this my mind after all, and I don't hurt my friends...only my enemies or those that try to insult me..." "And here we are...memory lane, the best little piece of my mind since the creation of Canterlot and sliced bread...maybe better than sliced bread but you get the point." I said adding some flare by creating fireworks and making them shoot in random directions, seemingly aimed and fired aimlessly in the black void that was my mind. "So girls....where shall we start first? When I was just a foal, when I was a small colt or when I finally came of age? Choose now cause I am pretty sure little miss hot head over here might get bored and try to leave the safety of the carriage." My small smart-ass remark earned me a rough shove from said mare and a pissed off glare. "Maybe we should see you when you were just a foal...if..it is not to much to ask..." said Fluttershy as she was hiding behind her mane, always the overly shy one she is...such a little cuti-...no...don't even think of that thought...still staying with Nightmare Moon/ Luna...not going off the path for her...maybe a little...NO! "Alright, foalhood it is than!" I said over dramatically, sending down random bolts of lightning everywhere which resulted in Fluttershy hiding behind her mane and her cushion, Pinkie Pie tried to touch the lightning but only got her mane and tail all fuzzy from the electrical static. After a while of waiting a small white sphere appeared in front of the carriage until it flashed a brilliant light of rainbow colored hues until it stopped and it became nothing more than a oval of rainbow light, projecting out the first memory that was requested by Fluttershy. "D'aaaaawwwwwwwww! You were so adorable when you just a foal!" all six of them said at the same time, even Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having a hard time of trying to hold in their laughter, Pinkie Pie was clearly happy to see me when I was little. What they all saw was a little black ball of fur with red and amber slitted eyes sucking on a bottle of milk, my coat at the time was black but it was more of a dull and dusty black, even my mane was different back than, a pale silver mane with a very faint red stripe running down its small length. Hearing all the girls coo like that almost made me fall over in embarrassment because I have never shown anypony what I looked like when I was a foal, and seeing myself suck on a bottle only made it worse as my face slowly tinted red from both embarrassment that they saw me like that and shame that I let myself see me like that. At that moment in time I just wanted to rip out my eyes and scream at the top of my lungs that this was the best way to torture me, just remind me of my foalhood and you get the greatest show of me throwing a large tantrum that results in fences being destroyed, bricks thrown and ponies running for dear life. "Yes yes I was very adorable when I was a foal, but can we get on with the memories? I rather not look at my foalish self any longer...those memories kinda hurt..." I mumbled out the last part to myself since they were to interested with how adorkable I was back than, just looking at myself trying to walk but instead fall over onto my face and started crying which earned my 'd'awws'...my sweet Luna these girls are to adorable when they do that...maybe I should thank them for straight up not laughing at me...or not. "Whats the matter big boy,*giggle*you don't like it when others see your *giggle*foal pictures? Haha this is funny! What should we see next? His school days or the day when he got his cutie mark?" Rainbow Dash was laughing while speaking to me, why must she be such a bitch to me? What did I do to her...besides trying to kill her back at the castle... Rolling my eyes in defeat since half of the girls are now staring at me with pleading eyes while the other half are trying to hold in their laughter, Pinkie Pie on the other hoof is laughing to the point that she is holding her ribs...guess my life is funny to them after all. Time for a bit of pay back...but first I want to set them up with more of my cute memories before crashing it down around them. "Next is when I was twp years old, that was when my little brother was born...he was a little hellion when he was just a foal, but than again so was I hehe oh yea...I was the best little hellion in my family oh the trouble I caused." The sphere changed into its small pinpoint of white light until it grew back into its rainbow hues and the memory changed to the day I saw my little brother come home after getting back from the hospital. That day I saw him was both the happiest and saddest day of my life. The day my little brother came home was the same day that I finally learned how to walk on my own without the assistance of my parents or my foalsitter that my parents usually brought over when they were too busy with their jobs or are too tired to deal with me at the time. When my parents finally came back from the hospital I was in bed and was sleeping about the starry night sky and that I was flying amongst the stars, feeling the wind beneath my wings and enjoying the cool wind blowing through my short mane, but that dream was interrupted when I heard the front door open up and in walked two ponies holding a small object in a wrapped blanket, going down the stairs at a groggy rate I realized that was my little brother and my mom and dad. Looking at them with my little brother made me realize that I was now a big brother and that I had responsibilities to make sure he has a good older brother to keep him safe from the nasty spiders and big objects around the house. Trotting slowly to see my new little brother I got a good look at him, his small body, his tiny wings, the adorable smile on his face, but the one thing that broke my fragile tiny heart was that his eyes was normal...normal round eyes. I knew that I was different and I thought that if my brother was different like me than we can be the best of best friends forever but now we can only be brothers, seems like I am always going to be an outcast, even my own family. After looking away for a moment to get rid of a single tear and looking back at my little brother, he was looking at me and was swaying his little hooves at me, seemingly wanting a hug or to grab my face, since that was how I was like when I was born, my little brother looked so adorable when he was trying to grab my short mane, just him trying looked adorable. He was so adorable when he was born, the little face of his, those chubby cheeks, those cute little eyes, and the way he was drooling onto his little blanket made my heart slightly melt from overload of cuteness. The scene changes and comes to a different scene that was when he was only four years old and I was six years old. "Come on little bro I believe in you, just flap your wings as hard as you can and just don't look down! You can do this!" I shouted at Storm Kicker when he was just a little colt while I was a slightly bigger little colt, by that time I was as big enough to start playing with the other fillies and colts but I also started going to the school that was in Ponyville without the need of my parents taking me their every single day. "Yes you can do it! Just flap your wings as hard as you can! Keep it up little Storm you are off the ground! Just keep flapping those wings and and keeping yourself balanced!" I was shouting at him, encouraging him to keep flapping his small wings even though he was having difficulty keeping up the correct orientation and angle. After almost an hour of him landing on the dusty wooden floor tired and taking off only a few inches off the floor into the air and landing back down, he finally gave up, the tenth time this day and we called it a day and went to the living room to rest on the sofa, since I was tall enough and strong enough to climb onto the sofa I had to help my brother by letting him climb onto my back and I had to crawl and scrap my way onto the sofa with extra weight. Climbing up onto it had taken its toll on me and I just fell face first into a sofa pillow and fell asleep, my brother on the other hoof wanted to try one more time but since I was out in 'sheep jumping over the fence land' he just sad there on the other pillow bored and depressed, little pegasi by his age would have learned how to hover by now but since his wings were weak from an accident involving a frying pan, a muffin, a muffin-loving pony, and a roll of bandages, long story short his wings was weaker than normal and required a lot of wing exercises to get them back to there original strength. Waking up three hours later I saw my little brother working on his wing strength by picking up light objects with his wings while trying not to cause said object to fall off and start all over which irritates him to no ends if he fails to keep the proper wing balance when he does his little wing exercises. After he was done with the exercise he poked me to wake up which I was partially since I was watching him practice, he finally said that he was ready to try again, I was only able to smile that he was willing to try again after a short break from the last attempt but nevertheless he was just like me, a pony that never gives up easily. Going outside onto the porch, his little wings started fluttering about, slowly creating a small breeze that blew into my direction until finally I saw that he was slowly rising from the ground, my jaw was slowly dropping in both excitement that he was starting to fly and in sadness that soon we will be separated when he goes to play with the other pegasi fillies and colts but I will know that he won't leave me behind like that...just yet. Watching him slowly rise into the air, I saw him slowly making his way into the house than finally he started to flap his wings and he changed course into the kitchen, sure enough he knows how to fly but he does not know how to hover, glide or even land but this was the beginning of his new life, a life that he can fly around the sky and feel the wing beneath his hooves and through his mane. A life that I sometimes only dream of... As the scene comes to a close they see me and my little brother sitting next by ourselves giving each other a hoof-tap and than later a hug, his wings shaking a bit from the exertion he put on himself but he ignored it because he finally felt happy to be able to fly with weak wings. Turning my gaze to my guests I saw Rainbow Dash whistling in approval, I guess she liked that my little brother learned to fly even with a disability, Fluttershy was still acting shy and not even looking, Pinkie Pie was busy hopping about and speaking a million-miles-an-hour, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity were talking to each other quietly and I only caught a few words, most of them were nice and about me which made me grin smugly, Applejack was smiling that I actually did something nice for once...wait a minute...HAY! "Anything else girls?" I said with my grin plastered on my face and my horn glowing to swap out the current memory for whatever those mares wanted to know. "How about one on any of your early crushes, that I would love to see he he. I bet he fell in love with some egghead that is just like himself." Okay that was rude...Trixie Lalumoon is not an egghead...she is a pony that just loves to boast about herself...just like a certain cyan pegasus that is about to be launched into a memory that she won't like... "You know Rainbow Dash...that was mean of you to insult her like that...just because Trixie may have been a mare that loves to talk big doesn't mean you can just call her an egghead...Twilight is an egghead also since she loves to read but that does not mean she is entirely an egghead, she is more like a scholar that loves spend time reading books......erm...maybe I shouldn't have called her an egghead..." I said weekly as Twilight gave me a death stare that probably had the strength to even make a timberwolf back away from her and scurry away out of fear for its own life. "What? Why are all of you looking at me as if there is something on my face...is there something on my face?" I was getting a bit scared since they kept staring at me, all of the girls had their jaws open the entire time, and from the way their eyes are wide as dinner plates I guess it was when I said that I had a crush on Trixie...wait...I over head Twilight and Rarity talking about Trixie...they said she was a fraud...wait a minute... Processing... Processing... Processing... Processing Complete. Oh crap...they met... "Girls...did Trixie talk about me when I was out cold in the hospital bed?" I said worriedly, one thing I know about Trixie is that she loved to talk and boast, and if she said that she used to date the stallion that served as Nightmare Moon's only guard than...oh I swear to Luna that when I get my hooves on Trixie she gonna be so sorry... "Damn it..." was all I said before each and every single mare that was with me in that room started pointing and laughing at me...this day just keeps getting better and better.....Can this get any worse than it already is?