I open my eyes halfway and I have a hard time trying to figure out where I am. I feel something brush against my body, sending a tingling sensation up my body. I feel the urge to laugh, but I hold it in. I fully open my eyes and confusion hits me like a ton of bricks.
‘What the heck?’ I think to myself as I take in my surroundings. ‘What is this place?’
I am lying down in the middle of a very beautiful field filled with flowers of different kinds. There is nothing but trees surrounding this beautiful grassy field. The sky above me is a beautiful cloudless blue with the Sun shining down on me brightly. The beautifully cut grass sways with the blow of the wind and it flows past me.
I close my eyes and a peaceful sigh escapes my mouth. Something deep within me tells me to try and find a way out of this place and find a way back to Ponyville. As much as I want to listen to it, I don’t want to listen at the same time.
I feel so at peace here. The mystery of how I got here to this place is no matter of concern to me. I just want to spend as much time as I can in this place, not wanting to leave the safety it gives off.
‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ I think to myself. Like with a flick of a switch, something happens.
The safe feeling vanishes and is replaced with a feeling of dread. I quickly open my eyes and watch in horror as the flowers wilt and die. The grass then turns from green to brown in a matter of seconds by my very eyes. I instantly turn my attention to the trees and watch the leaves fall off and the trees become shallow shells of themselves. The sky turns into this deep shade of red, giving this place a very intimidating aura.
I stand up on my hooves and look around, having no idea on what I am looking for anyway. I see nothing as far as I can see, but I continue to look around. I feel my heart beating fast in my chest, making it hard for me to breathe, sweat forming on my forehead, and my body trembling with fright.
‘You are a monster, and you will always be a monster.’ I stop what I am doing, my eyes widening in horror and shock. No… not this again.
‘Who would want to be friends with a freak like you?! No one, that’s for sure!!’
I shut my eyes tightly, fall onto my stomach and then clamp both hooves to the sides of my head, shaking it violently.
‘Not again… please…’ I plead.
‘I’m ashamed to have a son like you.’
‘You never cease to disappoint me, like you always do.’
‘Stop it…’ I plead, this time with a slight hint of anger in my tone.
‘We never cared about you. We will never consider you as our brother.’
‘Why did mother have to give birth to someone like you?! I wish you were never born!!’
‘I said… STOP!!’ I shout angrily at the top of my lungs and just like that, the voices stop.
I slowly open my eyes, breathing heavily with anger. I turn my body around 180 degrees and I scream, all the anger gone in a flash.
Standing before me… is me, only there is something wrong. The doppelganger is wearing some kind of helmet on its head, some heavy-looking chest plate around its neck, and wearing some intimidating regal slippers.
The doppelganger gives me the most evil smile I have never seen before and I begin to shake with fear.
‘Hello,’ it said in my voice.
‘W-who are you?’ I say in a shaky tone. The doppelganger flashes a wicked smile at me, revealing rows of sharp teeth.
‘I’m you and you are me,’ it replies wickedly. I want to run but my body frozen in terror. I glare at it defiantly.
‘No, you and I are nothing alike,’ I reply as defiantly as possible. The thing laughs evilly as it continues to give me that wicked smile.
‘Is that what you believe?’ it asks in a mocking tone. ‘Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are just like me. You have the same body as me and possess my magic and abilities.’ The wicked smile on its face grows. ‘You even have the same darkness inside your heart and soon, you will turn into a monster. Just… like… me.’
I begin feeling sick to my sick. The things the doppelganger is saying to my face makes me want to spit in its face. I will never turn into a monster and hurt anypony. Even if they turn their back on me, I will never turn my back on them. Only a monster will do that and I’m not one.
‘You’re lying!!’ I object loudly, all traces of fear gone. ‘I’ll never turn into a monster like you!!’
The doppelganger responds by laughing wickedly once again.
‘That’s what you think,’ it says mockingly. ‘Soon, you will succumb to the darkness inside your heart and you will turn on them. You will be known as the most powerful pony Equestria has ever known.’
I can feel rage flow throughout my body. This freak is speaking nonsense!! I feel the urge to punch it in the face, but I resist and continue to glare at it.
‘I will NEVER turn on them,’ I growl aggressively. The doppelganger laughs once again.
‘Oh, yes you will,’ it says. ‘And I know just how to do it.’
‘Yeah, like how?’ I scoff. It steps a bit closer to me while giving me that stupid wicked grin.
“It’s simple,’ it replies. ‘Like this.’
The doppelganger lifts its right hoof up from the dead grass and it makes contact with my chest. My body shivers against my will from the cold feeling that the piece of metal around its hoof sent. The doppelganger poofs into a pitch black cloud-like fog before my very eyes.
‘W-what are you doing?!’ I demand in an angry and slightly frightened tone. It laughs once again.
‘Becoming one with you,’ it said evilly. It flows back away from me, stays idle for a moment before charging at me with tremendous speed. Before I can let out a scream, the cloud slams into my chest.
I let out a loud gasp as I feel it enter my body, a cold sensation spreading all throughout in the process. Just as quickly as it started, it was over. I begin gasping for air, clutching my chest with my right hoof. I’m… fine. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that nothing bad was going to happen.
I go wide eye as I feel something cling to my will. I gasp as I feel myself beginning to slip. I begin shaking my head violently, using all of my mental strength to fight against it. I feel my eyes water up with tears as I feel myself slipping even more; I’m losing.
‘Your body is mine now,’ I hear that familiar voice in my head.
‘No… Noo…’ I take a deep breath before I finally succumb to whatever it is that has invaded my mind. ‘NOOOOOOOO-’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“-OOOOOOO!!” I shout at the top of my lungs as my eyes shot wide open and I sit up. I begin gasping for air as if I ran a marathon.
‘It… it was just a dream…’ I think to myself as I finally manage to fully calm down. ‘It was only a dream…’
I feel moisture on my face and rub my right hoof. I lower my hoof away from my face and see that it is wet. I must have been crying in my sleep. I wipe the tears from my face and lower my hoof back down. I suddenly become alert when it makes contact with something soft and comfortable. If anything, I am sitting up on something that is surprisingly comfortable and soft.
I look to see that I am sitting up on some kind of couch.
“What is this?” I ask myself. I immediately survey my surroundings and realize that I am not in the woods anymore.
The place looks like to be a living room with a different pink-shaded rug in the center of the room, a large window with strange shapes by the sides by my left, a picture frame with beautiful butterflies to the left of the window, and a bookshelf next to it. The couch itself that I am sitting up on has soft green fabric and made out of brown wood for the legs. Overall, the living room itself has this aura to it that gives off this peaceful, safe, and home-like vibe.
‘Where am I?’ I think to myself. ‘How did I get here?’
“Oh, thank goodness! You’re awake!” came a sweet and angelic voice. “I was getting so worried!”
I turn my attention to the front door to see a Pegasus pony with pale gold fur, possessing both a pink mane and tail, looking at me with these worried and caring moderate cyan eyes. I have a feeling that this pony is Fluttershy, the one who lives in a cottage taking care of a bunch animals.
Just by the expression on her face and behavior, I can tell that this pony is the kind that possesses a heart of gold, always willing and ready to help those in need. To top it off, she has this motherly vibe and aura surrounding her. The feeling it gives off is pleasant and makes me feel safe. She also gives off the impression that she is the kind of pony that won’t judge you for who and what you are.
Although I have a feeling that this pony can be Fluttershy, I decide to play dumb, just so I can get some confirmation. Assuming her identity isn’t the best idea so it’ll be smarter to get confirmation.
“Who are you?” I ask. “Where am I? How did I get here?”
She closes the door behind her and walks over to me. She then sits down on her haunches and looks me in the eyes, giving me a soft and caring smile in the process.
“My name is Fluttershy,” she responds in that same soft and angelic tone. “After finding you unconscious in the Everfree Forest, I’ve had one of my animal friends carry and place you here on the couch.”
“How long was I out?” I ask curiously.
“For about 4 hours,” Fluttershy responds. “You’ve been tossing and turning, muttering stuff that I couldn’t understand. It was like you were suffering from a bad dream.”
‘You have no idea,’ I think to myself, tempted to actually say it out loud. The sudden reminder makes me tear up.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asks in a concerned tone. I shake my head violently in response. “What’s wrong?”
I stare into her eyes and begin to debate whether or not to tell her about the terrible dream I had just moments ago. Two options come to life within my head.
Option 1: I don’t tell her about it and keep it to myself.
Option 2: I tell her and be open about it, like I had earlier this morning with Twilight when I regained some of my memories.
To be honest, I feel tempted to not tell Fluttershy about what happened in the dream. If I do tell her, how will the Pegasus take it? More importantly, what will her thoughts be about it? Will she become terrified and afraid of me? I remember from the stories that Twilight told me about her is that she is very shy and can scare easily. I might scare the heck out of her if I do tell her about it.
At the same time, I feel the urge to tell Fluttershy about what had happened in my dream. With the genuine concern plastered on her face, along with the motherly and safe aura she is emitting, I feel like I can tell her anything without the fear of her judging or criticizing me. If I remember correctly, Twilight mentioned that Fluttershy is the kind of pony that will not judge you for anything and is always willing to listen to you.
I suddenly remember what happened with Twilight moments ago. The memories of me finding out that she’d lied hits me in the face like a ton of bricks. I feel my heart ache and I clutch my chest with my right hoof. I resist the urge to cringe from the result of the pain. Why did Twilight have to lie like that? Was me being openly honest with her not enough for her?
‘If Fluttershy knows who you truly are, why try to hide it from her?’ some part deep within me pointed out. ‘There is no point on trying to hide secrets from her. Being honest is the best course of action right now.’
I let out a sigh, deciding on what I will do; I am going to tell her about what happened in my dream. I really hope that I don’t end up regretting this very badly.
“I… I had a terrible dream…” I confess in a low tone. Fluttershy lets out a gasp, covering her mouth with her hooves.
“What did you dream about?” she asks.
“I’ll tell you, but I rather whisper it to you in your ear,” I reply before I beckon her over with my left hoof. She looks at me for a moment before she lowers her hooves back down and scoots over a little closer to me.
She turns her head to her right and waits. I lean my neck close to her left ear, my mouth about an inch away from her ear, and cup my left hoof around the side of my mouth. I close my eyes and begin whispering softly in her ear.
I tell her everything; me waking up in that flowery field, the sudden and rapid transformation, the voices and the terrible things they were saying, the encounter with the doppelganger, and me losing against to it and fully succumbing to it. I hear let out occasional gasps of horror and shock as I recall all of the details that took place. Something tells me that she is disturbed by how all of this turned out. I don’t blame her. To be honest, I would feel the same way if somepony whispered about this kind of thing to me.
I put my story to a close, rest my foreleg back to my side, straighten out my neck, and open my eyes. Fluttershy has a horrified and shocked expression plastered on her face, her eyes wide to the size of dinner plates. The poor Pegasus is trembling like a leaf, like she just had the literal life scared out of her.
I feel regret rearing its ugly head. Maybe telling Fluttershy about it was a bad idea. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut and not say anything at all. What is she thinking right now? Is she debating on whether to run out and find a hiding place or offer me some support? I feel my heart ache at the thought of this sweet and kind-hearted Pegasus running off and find some place to hide away from me. I hate the very thought of it, to be honest. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.
I look away from her, shame taking over my face.
“I’m sorry,” I say in a low tone. “I guess I shouldn’t have told you about it. You’re probably thinking about running off and hide from me for you fear that I might turn into her physically and mentally and turn against all of you… It was very stupid of me to confess all of this to you… I’m aware that you know that the form I am in is simply a disguise so I can walk amongst the ponies of Ponyville without any trouble, and that this is a way to hide my true form from everypony else… You’re probably fear me right now…”
I feel something rest on my left shoulder. I turn to see Fluttershy’s right hoof resting on my shoulder. I look to see Fluttershy giving me a very soft smile. I sense nothing but love and care emitting from that soft smile. To be honest, I am starting to like that smile very much.
“I don’t fear you,” she says in a soft and gentle tone. I stare at her with wide eyes, shock overwhelming my entire being.
How can she say that when her body language indicated otherwise? Is Flutters only saying that as a way to comfort me or is she saying that she believes that is what I want to hear? Is this the truth or is her saying that nothing but a comforting lie?
I quickly recover from the shock and give the Pegasus a disbelieving glare. The smile slowly leaves her face and a look of apprehension quickly takes its place.
“I don’t believe you,” I reply bitterly. “I saw how you reacted, Fluttershy… You were shaking like you just had the life scared out of you… How can you say that when your body language spoke for you itself? Are you only saying that to help me feel better?”
Fluttershy slowly shakes her head as the apprehensive look quickly leaves her face. She looks me in the eyes as her lips change into that same soft smile that was present not too long ago.
“No, I didn’t say that just to help you feel better,” she replies. “I said that because it’s the truth.”
I lessen my glare and continue to stare at her. As much as I want to believe her, I don’t. After finding out that Twilight lied to me, how can I be sure that she’s not lying to me as well? I do know that Twilight never mentioned her ever lying to anypony, but I can’t take any risks.
I let out a low sigh and look her in the eyes.
“I want to believe you, but I don’t,” I say. The smile turns into a small frown as her face become pained.
“Why?” she asks. I hesitate for a moment.
“Because after being lied to by Twilight, how can I trust or even believe that you’re not lying?” I ask. Fluttershy’s eyes widen a bit, probably as a response to either hearing Twilight’s name or the part where Twilight lied to me.
“What do you mean by ‘being lied to by Twilight’?” the Pegasus asks me in a soft shocked tone.
I feel the urge to mentally slap myself for bringing up what happened with Twilight. I should have stayed quiet and not said anything. Now that I did, Fluttershy obviously wants to know what I mean by ‘being lied to by Twilight’ and something tells me that I won’t be able to get out of this by not saying anything.
‘Might as well get this over with,’ I think to myself. I sigh and look her in the eyes.
“Hours ago, I found that Twilight lied to me about you and the rest of her friends not knowing anything about me when I asked her about it back on the train,” I reply. Fluttershy stares at me for a moment before she recovers a bit from her shocked state.
“Did you find out why she lied?” she asks. I shake my head.
“No,” I answer. “I became so angry with her that I ran off into the forest where you found me.”
Fluttershy looks at me with a blank expression plastered on her face before it becomes sad. What is she sad about? Is she sad about Twilight lying to me or is she sad about me not listening to Twilight’s side of the story? It can go either way and none of them sound good.
“Don’t you think you should go find Twilight and listen to her side of the story?” she asks in that same soft tone. I look at her like she’d just grew a second head.
“No,” I say sternly. “I’m not in the mood to see her. I’m still mad at her right now.”
“And not talking about it will only make things way harder for the both of you,” she retorts softly. “I know that you’re angry with her but talking it out with her will be the right thing to do. You will feel a lot better if you do.”
I glare at her as she gives me a pleading look. I feel my resistance falling and I feel myself become frustrated with this. I want to say ‘no’, but how can I with her staring at me like some wounded animal begging for some help? And for some reason, that face looks… familiar. It’s like I have seen that face before, but where and when exactly?
I close my eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. I can’t believe I am doing this, but if it makes her happy, so be it. Might as well get it out of the way, I guess.
“Ugh, fine,” I grumble. “Don’t expect it to start off friendly or even easy anyway, Fluttershy.”
“I know,” she says softly. I hop off the couch and we both walk out of the cottage, Fluttershy closing the door behind us.
Fluttershy and I are walking down the nearly empty streets of Ponyville in the direction of the Castle of Friendship. I have my attention aimed at the sky. The Sun is nearly down with the sky a beautiful shade of red and orange. Though beautiful, this offers me zero comfort. I’m not looking forward on coming face-to-face with Twilight since I’m still pretty angry with her for lying to me. I know this happened about a few hours ago, I’m still bothered by it, like a lot.
Not only that, but I’m also not very happy with Fluttershy for talking me into this. Although I’m very annoyed with her, deep down, I know that she’s only trying to help. While that does bring comfort, it’s overpowered by the feeling of annoyance.
As we walk down the path, I notice something off; Ponyville appears to be empty. It’s like all of the resident had vanished without a trace. Confusion fills my very being. What the heck happened to everypony? How could they all vanish without a trace like that?
“Selina!!” I hear the familiar voice of Twilight. I turn my attention away from the sky to see the purple pony and her friends heading towards me and Fluttershy; Rarity and Pinkie Pie to her left and Rainbow Dash and Applejack to her right.
Twilight stops about a foot away from me and gives me a look of relief. I feel a rush of hot anger flow throughout my entire body by just coming face-to-face with her again, all of my confusion washing away like dried dirt. She has a relieved look on her face. Seeing that on her face makes me want to gag.
“I’m so happy to see you,” she says with a huge hint of relief in her tone. I respond by giving her a furious glare.
The relief on her face quickly vanishes from her face and an expression of apprehension takes its place. Something tells me that Twilight thought that this might go smoothly and I’ll just forgive her right off the bat. If that is the case, then she is dead wrong. This won’t go smoothly like she possibly hoped for.
“Well, I’m so not happy to see you, Twilight,” I reply in a harsh and cold tone. Her lips turn into a frown at my response.
“Selina, I’m sorry,” Twilight says in an upset tone. “I can explain.”
“Explain what?!” I shout angrily. “About the fact that you lied to me about your friends not knowing anything when they clearly did?! Yeah, I have zero interest in listening to you!!”
“Selina, please, you don’t understand,” Twilight replies in a very pleading tone. I feel my blood boil at this.
“‘I don’t understand’?!?!” I reply in a much louder voice. “Oh, I understand completely, Twilight!! You told me a comforting lie because you thought that will make introducing me to your friends a lot easier!! That has to be your stupidest idea yet!!”
“Don’t you talk to Twilight like that!!” Rainbow calls out in a threatening tone. I snap my attention to the rainbow-colored Pegasus and give her a very threatening glare in return.
“YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!!” I shout angrily. “IF YOU TALK OR BUT IN LIKE THAT AGAIN, I WILL BLAST YOUR ARROGANT, COCKY, AND TOM-BOYISH FLANK ALL THE WAY TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!”
Rainbow Dash bares her teeth at me and takes two steps, obviously about to do something. I watch as Applejack puts her right foreleg in Rainbow’s path. Rainbow whips her head at her and Applejack shakes her head slowly. Rainbow lets out a low growl before taking those two steps back to her original spot while giving me that glare.
‘That’s right, stay in your lane,’ I think aggressively to myself.
“I didn’t want to stress you out!!” Twilight cries out. I return my full attention to her.
“And you didn’t think about the consequences if I found out that you lied, Twilight?!” I shout loudly.
“I thought you wouldn’t want to meet my friends if you found out!!” Twilight cries out, her eyes welling up tears. I feel a tiny ping of guilt form in my chest, but I push that aside and harden my glare.
“I still would have gone to meet your friends regardless!!” I shout at her, even louder this time. “I knew that I wouldn’t know how your friends would react to me if I stayed in the castle like a coward!!” I take a couple steps closer to Twilight, stopping about 6 inches away from her. “DIDN’T ANYTHING I SAID TO YOU EARLIER TODAY MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?! HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO BECOME FRIENDS WITH ANYPONY OR EVEN TRUST THEM IF YOU’RE GOING TO LIE TO ME BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT I RATHER HEAR A COMFORTING LIE THAN THE TRUTH?!?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ACTIONS, SUCH AS LYING, HAVE CONSEQUENCES?! CONSEQUENCES THAT AFFECT OTHER PONIES…” My eyes begin to water as I feel all the anger wash away. “…like me…”
Me and Twilight stare at each other for a brief moment before I lunge and wrap my forelegs around her neck. I hug the purple pony tightly as the tears start trailing down my face.
“Please, Twilight… don’t ever lie to me again…” I plead, the tears trailing down my face with much more frequency. “You have no idea how badly I want to trust you, and it hurts me when I can’t do it… I care about you more than I should, Twilight, but how can I trust you when you pull off something like this?” I hug her more tightly as I begin to sob. “Please, Twilight!! Promise that you won’t lie to me again!! I don’t like being lied to because it makes me doubt, suspicious, and wary of you!! I want to trust and be friends with you, Twilight!! Please, don’t do it again!! I beg you!! I can’t stand it; it hurts too much!!”
I continue sobbing, unable to stop the tears from flowing. The pain returns and it only serves to make me sob even harder. I feel childish crying like this, but right now, I don’t care. I can’t help it. I feel like my heart is going to break into a million pieces.
I feel Twilight wrap a foreleg around my back and proceed to hug me lightly. I gasp as my eyes shot open with alarm.
“Selina, I’m so sorry that I lied,” Twilight begins to say. “I was afraid that you’d become stressed about it and might not want to meet them because of it. And it meant a lot to me when you said those things about trust and respect earlier today. I should have told you the truth, but again, I didn’t want to make introducing my friends to you more difficult or stressful. That is why I said that they didn’t know anything about you or your predicament. That still doesn’t excuse me lying to you. Selina, I promise that I won’t lie to you again.”
I am stunned by her words. There is nothing but genuine honesty present in her tone. There is no trace of her fabricating everything she just said to me or anything that pops out to me that says ‘lie’. The very words themselves all sound like they came from her very heart.
“You promise?” I ask, my voice cracking.
“I promise,” Twilight replies in a soft tone, hugging me a bit more tightly. I become still before I resume hugging her tightly.
We remain that way before we let go and I wipe the tears away with my right hoof. Fluttershy is right; talking about it will help me feel a lot better. I am glad that she convinced me to do it. I owe her for this.
“So… friends?” Twilight asks, holding out her left hoof. I stare at it for a moment before looking at Twilight, who has a soft smile on her face.
Something deep down is telling me to not trust her and refuse her offer to be her friend. If I trust her and become her friend, she will try to lie to me again and I have nopony but myself to blame for it. Just become she made that promise doesn’t mean that there will come a time where she will throw another lie at my face again.
I push this aside and allow myself to smile slightly. Twilight has obviously learned her lesson about being honest and if that’s the case; I will allow myself to trust her and start this friendship with her.
“Friends,” I say, taking her hoof with my right. We both shake them before letting go.
“Well, now that you two have become friends, let’s head back to the castle and start THE PARTY!!” Pinkie Pie squeaks behind us before zooming off into the direction of the castle.
I stare into the direction Pinkie Pie zoomed off to, my entire body overcome with shock. I don’t know why, but the thought of a party fills me with fear and nervousness. To be honest, I don’t like the sound of it.
“Party?” I ask nopony in particular, slight signs of fear and nervousness. “Party for what and for who?”
“For you, sugarcube,” Applejack replies.
“Pinkie sets up a ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party’ for any new pony that comes to Ponyville,” says Rarity.
“Well, let’s go,” Twilight says. “Don’t want to keep Pinkie waiting.”
The five mares begin walking in the direction Pinkie Pie went. I stay where I am, not liking the sound of a party for some reason. I don’t know why this scares me so much, and to be honest, I don’t like it. Are parties supposed to be fun or something, so why do I feel nothing but dread at the idea of a party?
The five mares stop in their tracks and turn to look at me.
“You coming, slowpoke?” Rainbow calls out to me, her tone lacking signs of aggression and hostility. I swallow my apprehension and nod my head.
“Coming,” I reply and we run the rest of the way to the Castle of Friendship.
*BACK AT THE THRONE ROOM SIMILAR TO THE ONE AT CANTERLOT CASTLE*
“Are you sure?!”
“Affirmative, Your Majesty. It appears that she has now become friends with Twilight Sparkle. It also seems that she is beginning to fall in love with her.”
“Falling… in love… with that MARE?!”
“It seems so. This will make things much more harder than they already were, Your Majesty.”
*Growls* “Looks like I will have to step in myself.”