Fallout Equestria: Fly Away
By Freeflyingwolf
Chapter 18: Tenacity
“Today I learned what the most important quality is; a certain kind of spirit, a stick-to-it-ivness, a never-give-up can-do attitude that’s the mark of a real winner, and this tortoise has it.”
No…not this dream again.
The bodies of everyone he loved; mom, dad, Drakon, Celly, and Zen. All of them dead, torn to pieces. That damn mantra shouted at him in his head.
Why? Since that first night giving himself to Zen…this nightmare had vanished. Why was it back?
Sunshy closed his eyes and turned away. He opened them and stared into Zen’s brown orbs. Something was wrong. Blood flowed into his eyes and down his muzzle.
“I loved you.” He whispered. “You killed me.”
A gun was in Sunshy’s mouth. The barrel was right in front of a hole in Zen’s head. The blood was flowing heavily.
“NO!” Sunshy shouted as he threw the gun down.
It didn’t clatter away; instead, it landed on a body and bounced. Looking down, he saw dozens of bodies. All of them were zebras in Legion armor. They caught on fire from the gun. The fire spread, engulfing all of them. Their lifeless eyes stared at Sunshy as the fire grabbed at him.
Eyes became stars in the sky. The pegasus was staring up at them. Salvation, they seemed to promise. Then the stars moved. They swirled and moved and became the definite outline of an Alicorn. The Alicorn moved and turned into the Goddess Luna. Luna flew down and landed in front of him.
The royal Goddess stared down at the pony. Her mane was a flowing dark blue spotted with stars. She wore her royal garments. Those blue eyes of hers stared into Sunshy, into his soul. Her expression turned sad. Sunshy began to cry and tried to tell her about his regrets, his sins of killing. He didn’t deserve her pity, he shouldn’t make her sad.
Before Sunshy could get a word out, the Goddess put a wing in front of his mouth. Princess Luna bent down and kissed the pony on his brow, as a mother does with a child to calm their fears. All his terrors were washed away. Luna’s mane moved and embraced him, sending him into a black void with only the stars surrounding him for company. They winked and danced for him, lifting his spirits.
With a sudden burst of pain, Sunshy awoke and was unable to scream at the pure, raw agony. His body seized flailed, but was unable to move away from the cause of the pain. All four of his hooves were held down. Sunshy was on his belly on something cool and metallic. An oxygen mask covered his muzzle; it steamed with every panting breath. Something pierced his side, a sweet wave of relief washed over him, dulling the pain. Now he could hear voices, along with a beeping from a machine recording his heartbeat.
“—complete success. He should be able to fly almost instantly.” An older buck, one Sunshy didn’t know.
“That simple? No rehabilitation or anything?” Zen was questioning. At least he was here and not dead…
“No, this is the height of all equine technology. This model was made to imitate the nervous system down to a T. It will respond to his every thought as easily and instantly as the real limb.”
“Good…I still can’t believe it was cut off so easily. He once said that it would take a chainsaw to cut off a wing.”
“Magical weapons are very strong. I don’t know how that mare got this one through the screening, but it was quite the enchantment on that baby. It could have cut through Steel Ranger or even Children of Mars armor like it was butter. That poor buck’s wing didn’t stand a chance.”
And then it hit him like a ton of bricks.
Slowly, with eyes tearing up, Sunshy turned his head. To his left, where his wonderful yellow wing once resided, there was a metal contraption. It mimicked the wing of a pegasus perfectly, except that it was made out of metal.
The shout Sunshy let out the loudest, painful, most heart-wrenching sound that could be made. The pony ignored the sounds of hooves and paws scrambling into his room as he covered his face with his mane and continued to wail. He felt Celly nuzzle against him and heard Zen and Lacey speak, but the words were lost on him.
It felt like hours passed before Sunshy was able to stop crying. Once he was out of tears, he managed to shake aside his mane and stare out. He was inside a tent that used to be dark green, but had turned to a dull shade over the years. There were other patients on either cots or surgical tables, hooked up to machines and IVs. Checking over a patient was an old zebra in a doctor’s coat. His mane and tail were pure white with age. He wore half-moon reading glasses and had a bit of a beard.
Sunshy looked down to his hooves and saw the various needles with tubes and heart-monitoring stickers. Someone had long ago drawn a smiley face, a bunny, and a flower on them. It was rather professional. A smile graced Sunshy’s face, despite the situation.
“It was the drawings, wasn’t it?” The voice was the same as the one from before. Tilting his head up, Sunshy saw the old stallion smiling serenely at him. The pegasus suddenly thought of his grandfather, who had smiled at him in the same way. “I did that myself, as a way to try and cheer up patients.”
“I…I lost my wing.” Sunshy was tearing up again.
“Yes, you did, and I’m so very sorry for you.” He actually did appear saddened. “This replacement I gave you is the best of the best. Can you feel it all?”
Now that he mentioned it, Sunshy realized he could feel it. The robotic limb felt exactly like his old wing. Experimentally, the pegasus lifted his new left wing. The replacement limb moved as he wanted. Sunshy was surprised to find it was virtually weightless. Watching it now, Sunshy moved the robotic wing in all sorts of ways. Eventually, he folded it against his body with his other wing, but he made the mistake of watching it fold in.
A circle of metal ringed around his side. So not only was his wing replaced, but bits of his flesh were covered in metal that had no right to be there.
“Before you get upset, we had to install that bit on your side to make sure the wing responded correctly. It also acts as an anchor for the wing. Without that, your new wing would fly off the first time you encounter strong winds or get shot.”
Sunshy nodded, as that made a lot of sense. “Can you release these restraints?”
“You won’t punch me, will you?” The doctor—Doctor Dakatari…Doctor Doctor? That’s what the nametag said—asked. Sunshy had to look at him like he was crazy. “Patients are usually very upset once they’ve lost a limb. Sadly, they’ll take it out on the one person who tried to help.”
“I promise I won’t hurt you.” Sunshy vowed somberly.
Dr. Dakatari nodded to someone over his shoulder. Pink magic enveloped the four straps and meticulously unbuckled the leather restraints. Sunshy waited for Lacey’s magic to carefully remove the needles in his leg as she walked into his line of sight. She wore an armored dress of a deep violet. It looked great on her, even Sunshy had to admit.
Once the needles were out, Lacey wrapped up that bit of his leg with bandages. Sunshy stood and jumped off the table, falling face-first when his knees buckled almost instantly. The world was suddenly pink when Royal Lace caught him in her magic and helped him upright before he could hurt himself. Celly was by his side in a second, scooping him up and purring. She was so happy that he was alive and more-or-less alright.
“How are you feeling, Sunny?” Royal Lace questioned with a worried smile.
“Not very sunny at all.” The pegasus responded solemnly.
“Come outside, there’s something you might want to see.”
There was really no room to argue, as Sunshy was placed on Celly’s back. He noticed that she smelled of lilacs and had a couple of pink bows next to her ears. So she had that bath after all. Any other time, he would have smiled. Instead, he had a sad.
Outside, there was a large crowd gathered. Sunshy only saw this as Celly moved through it. As the crowd parted for her, those on each side stared openly at Sunshy. They all began whispering, and soon enough, everyone was talking about him. Within only a minute or so, the manticore stopped.
Caesar walked over and stood to her side, looking up to Sunshy. The pegasus was, and had been, lying curled up in a little ball, fixated sadly on his fake wing. Those blue eyes of his slid over to Caesar before returning to the metal on his body.
“Which method of torture would you prefer for the culprit?” Caesar asked.
“What?” Sunshy questioned, completely caught off-guard.
“We have plenty of devices here ready for you, unless you’d like someone else to do it for you. Your fiancé seems most eager to do it all himself. He seems to think you wouldn’t want justice for this atrocious crime.”
“I…I don’t follow.”
“The mare from the fight. All her things were sold so we could give her money to the doctor to pay for your new wing. The mare that cut off your wing used an illegal weapon in the fight. That is three strikes against her; harming a doctor, harming one of the Nchi Kavu, and using an enchanted weapon. She will be tortured thoroughly before being stoned to death.”
“What?!” Sunshy shouted and flew into the air, turning to face forward.
The mare from the fight was fully healed. Good news ended there. She was standing on a stage with her hooves chained down. On each side of here there were tables with various torture instruments. Around her throat was a noose. Zen stood to her right, glaring daggers. Sunshy scanned the crowd that encircled the entire stage. Everyone had a rock.
“You can’t!” Sunshy shouted, still scanning down at the crowd in horror.
“Don’t you dare say that!” The mare shouted back to him. This startled the pony into looking at her. Her green eyes were brimming with fire. “I knew I was fucked the moment I used that weapon, but I knew my opponent was not a Legion supporter. I’ve heard of Zen and his talent for fighting, and I knew I had no way of beating him, so I cheated. I went into that fight ready to die. It was a terrible mistake on my part that you were involved, Tall Soft Heart. Truly, it pains my pride to know that you live up to your name. Sparing the mare that cut off your damn wing. Hell, I might as well have cut off your dick and you’d still forgive me. Or is it only because you’re able to still fly that you’re being so nice? What if you couldn’t fly anymore, huh? Would you still want me alive?”
“Yes, I would, because that’s the kind of pony I am.”Sunshy retorted, soaring over to the stage and landing in front of the mare.
Zen strode between Sunshy and the mare, wearing his boarding and cloak. The pegasus took a step back at the pure anger in his usually soft brown eyes. It wasn’t comforting at all to know that the anger wasn’t directed at him.
“I know what kind of pony you are, Sunny. That’s why I’m taking it upon myself to avenge you. Think less of me if you must, but this is justice. She must be punished for her actions, for what she did to you. As my fiancé, it is my duty to defend your honor when you will not out of the kindness in your heart.” Zen spoke with some strange authority he never showed.
“I don’t need my honor defended. Throw her in jail or something, just don’t kill her.” Sunshy pleaded, but Zen kept his steely attitude.
“She died the moment that enchanted weapon touched you. It is the law that anyone who harms an Nchi Kavu tribal brother is put to death, only I was exempted for going into the fight willingly. If she is not killed, then the treaty is broken and the Legion and all of those who depend upon it will be crippled. No more water and food rations will be traded, and thousands will die. She must die so that this doesn’t happen. It’s brutal, I know, but it is the law.”
“Chief Fluffy Doom would never approve of this!”
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. Sunshy glanced around in confusion as the stares focused on him. He caught snippets such as, “—dare say his name…” “—so openly…” “—know him personally?”
“Tall Soft Heart, you forget that this was the buffalo that literally turned Oasis into a crater.” Caesar stated as he walked onto the platform calmly. “Chief Fluffy Doom, while having a heart of gold, is no pushover; much like you. Death means nothing to him, so long as it serves purpose. Those slavers he killed, did you not once think that perhaps there was a reason for their business? Did they not have families? What if they had children they needed to feed? What if those children were there at Oasis with them when Chief Fluffy Doom struck? Surely, the Chief is a great buck, but not a great person. His tribe comes first, all other lives are meaningless.”
“That doesn’t justify—“
“What about you? You slew at least twenty of my soldiers in your rage. What does that make you? Sane and kind-hearted until you’re pushed too far? Because to me, it sounds like you’re a hypocrite.”
“I understand what I did, even if I wasn’t clear of mind. Punish me if you must, but—“
“Ah, and that’s where we come to understanding the mare here,” Caesar turned to see the mare, who stared angrily at the wood under her hooves. “She understands that she committed a crime and must be punished for it. So, too, do you understand that taking lives is not something that you should have done. Are you alright? You look pale.” Caesar looked to the pony in concern. Sunshy had turned a sickly shade of yellow.
“H…how many?” Sunshy stared at the ground, trying to focus his breathing.
“How many…what?” Zen asked, his steel façade gone in favor of caring for his beloved. As the pony shook on his hooves, the zebra stood next to him, taking some of his weight.
“How many…dead?” Sunshy appeared to be ill. Or he was going to be.
“Twenty, at least, maybe more. However, you are not the first to act out of rage and therefore, as the great leader I am, you shall—“
Whatever Caesar was about to say was lost. For Sunshy returned his dinner onto the platform. The zebras all cringed and backed away, even those in the audience; the mare had nowhere to go and was pulling on her restraints to get away from the sick. One mare in the audience fainted.
“Gods above, he’s only killed one person before. Why did you have to tell him?” Zen angrily demanded of Caesar.
“You’re blaming this on me?! He understood perfectly he killed; it was only a matter of time until it sank in. By Mars, are you serious? He’s only killed one person before this?”
“Yes, and it was a Raider! Now will someone please take him back to medical before he pukes again?!”
Celly answered by flying over, picking her brother up gingerly in her paws and flying him back to the tent. When he was there, Dr. Doctor led him to a cot and tucked him in to make sure he would sleep. Just to be extra sure, he was given a sedative that lulled him into the bliss of sleep.
Sunshy woke to the blurry world. He blinked a few times, clearing the world outside of his body. The first thing he saw was Celly. She purred at him and laid her head on the cot next to his head. Sunshy smiled and placed a hoof on her nose with a “Boop.”
“Glad to see you’re doing better.” Caesar appeared in Sunshy’s line of vision. “We need to discuss your punishment.”
“Go ahead.” Sunshy began stroking Celly’s head.
“You have to go to every family and apologize. Normally, we would also give you one lashing for every soldier dead, but we shall forget that.”
“Why?”
“First off, you’ve been punished enough losing your wing. Secondly, you certainly don’t have the body to withstand twenty lashings and survive. And I don’t have a last point, other than you’ve been asleep for a full day. That mare is dead, too.”
“Did Zen do it? Did he torture her?”
“No, he didn’t have the heart after your little episode. My Frumentarii did it for the both of you, as he is skilled in such things. When he was done, the people stoned her to death. Justice is served and you’re welcome whether or not you wanted it done. Now, Walsh will guide you to the homes of the families of the seventeen soldiers you killed.”
“You said it was at least twenty.” Sunshy finally looked up to the zebra leader.
“So I miscounted,” Caesar shrugged, “big deal. That’s only three lives less than what you previously thought.”
“It is…a bit of a big deal. For me, at least. I’m a doctor, I’m supposed to save lives, not take them.”
“It’s the way of the wasteland, kid. Grow up and accept it. Walsh, take him to the homes, please.”
The griffon walked into the room and waited for Caesar to leave and Sunshy to get up. It took a massive force of will and the knowledge that he deserved this to get Sunshy out of the warm and cozy cot. Once he did, the pony walked out with Celly behind and Walsh leading.
The pony was sullen as he told the first family that he was the one who killed their son or daughter. The family strangely invited him inside the home. They gave him—only him—some tea and cookies. Then they told him all about their daughter Rosaline. A proud and brave girl, who grew a garden outside their house, and she wanted nothing more than to make the Legion proud. Sunshy was crying within the hour.
The next fifteen houses were the exact same. Every family invited him in, gave him a drink and food, showed them pictures of the child he killed and told them all about their child starting with their foal/colthood. Abasi, Falia, Balozi, Sabra…the names were endless. Sunshy found his tears were endless, as well. As soon as the families were sure that he understood, they let him go.
Then they walked into the last family house. The father opened the door and was immediately enraged. He delved straight into a shouting rant about his son Musa. He said Sunshy had no right to go around begging for forgiveness. His son was a fighter, a warrior, and was supposed to die with honor. Not at the hooves of some damn pony that had lost his wing and was just enraged.
Sunshy went back to his room after that, dwelling deeply on the verbal attack brought on by that last father. He had expected all the other families to do the same, but after sixteen rather warm welcomes, the yelling was unexpected. Celly had tried to attack him for it, but Sunshy wouldn’t let her stop him. The father had every right to be upset and tell the pony how he felt.
Suddenly, the pony was no longer in his hotel room. He was back in the Cave of Chaos. Discord was sitting on his throne, staring at the wall of television screens dully, sipping on a glass of chocolate milk wearing sunglasses.
“Saw what happened to you.” Discord stated somberly. “You could have handled it better.”
“I know. I spent the last seven hours getting lectured by everyone about their children and why I shouldn’t have killed them.” Sunshy sighed as he walked over to the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.
The pony turned to the wall of screens and saw a table on the bottom. It was cluttered with notes, trash, food, some Sparkle~Cola and Sunrise Sarsaparilla. Then something colorful caught his eye. Sunshy trotted forward and picked up a statuette of Pinkie Pie bouncing happily. The pegasus felt a wave come over him, a feeling like a film over his brain had been washed away; along with it came the taste of cupcakes and fruity treats. He turned the statuette around until he found the words, “Awareness! It was under E!”
“Discord, do you know what happened to the Ministry Mares?” Sunshy questioned.
“If I didn’t see it happen, I figured it out for myself.” Discord answered as his tail wrapped around the statuette.
He pulled it close and held it in his clawed hand. Then, with a few clicks on a keyboard on the only clean part of the jutting out table, the screens all changed. On the massive wall of the cave was a cobbled-together picture of Sweet Apple Acres. Sunshy recognized it from his books in Stable 15.
“Applejack got into a Stable full of her family and others. This is the stable where Littlepip came from. She’s the only one with a happy ending.”
Discord clicked away on a few more buttons. The screens flickered and they changed one by one into a skeleton of a unicorn mare with what was left of her saddlebags left over. Her hoof was on the glass in a building.
“Do you know about the Pink Cloud in Canterlot?” The spirit inquired as he, too, stared back at the wall of screens.
“Yes, it fuses things together. Her hoof, it’s fused to the glass.” Sunshy pointed out.
“This is Rarity. She died holding her hoof against the breaking glass in one of Fluttershy’s main Ministry bases. It only bought her enough time to teleport Fluttershy away and make a memory orb from Angel the bunny.”
Sunshy merely nodded as Discord pushed more buttons. This time, there was a picture of a bunch of ruined rubble, where some Hellhounds were wandering around. All around, there was magical radiation giving off rainbow colors.
“This is where the Goddess used to reside. The Goddess started off as Trixie thrown into a vat of magic goop that turned her insane and insanely powerful. She absorbed Twilight Sparkle and quite a few other unicorns. Once she was powerful enough, the Goddess began making more Alicorns.”
The screens changed to the picture of the sky somewhere above the mountains far to the north.
“This is embarrassing to admit, but I have no idea what happened to Rainbow Dash. Last I saw, she was racing against Gilda the Griffon for her life.”
“What about Fluttershy?”
Discord had the screens change the image into a remote location in the Everfree Forest. It appeared to be a high cliff full of grass and trees around it. However, there was a bare spot with burned-out piles of ash.
“What?! Where is she?” Discord exclaimed in confusion.
“Fluttershy was here?” Sunshy was sure he would have discovered the remains of a pony.
“She was a tree!” Discord stated. “I’m not crazy; killing joke got her. Turned her into a tree. With how high up that spot it, she would see the damage her megaspells caused for past two hundred years. Where the hell did she go? Here, I know someone.”
Discord pushed a few more buttons and a square spot of the screens changed while the rest blacked out. In the ones still working, there came up the image of a large purple dragon with green spikes. Sunshy gauged by his height that he was at least a hundred years old, give or take. It was hard to guesstimate as the only thing he had to size against him were bookshelves, but those were as tall as he was. The dragon male was happily dusting them with a pony-sized feather duster. It was tiny in his large claws. However, he was still small compared to Drakon and that massive giagantor he saw before.
“Spike!” Discord shouted.
“Gaa! Who’s there?” Spike the dragon turned his head this way and that with an angry tone. Smoke curled from his nostrils as he backed to an arch inside the cave he was in, as if he was protecting something. The poor dragon looked as though he was in a battle recently; one of his eyes was covered with a dragon-sized eye patch.
“Just me, keep your non-existent pants on.” Discord waved off the dragon’s anger.
“Discord?” Spike seemed to notice whatever it was Discord was using to spy on him. The dragon gave a great sigh of relief. “You scared me. So, what’s up? Something important?”
“What in the great name of chaos happened to Fluttershy?”
“The best news! She’s not dead! She was a tree all these years!” Spike danced in place and clapped, which rattled the bookcases.
“Yes, yes, I know I know.”
“You knew? And you didn’t tell me?” Spike growled loudly and angrily at the screens.
“I wouldn’t get anything out of telling you. So, do you know what happened to her or not?”
“Why do you care? You hate the Elements of Harmony and their bearers.”
“Because I have a friend here who cares.” Discord wrapped his tail around Sunshy’s middle and moved him in front of the screens.
“Whoa, you could be related to Fluttershy. Oh, uh, why do you care what happened to her anyway?”
“Uhm…because I lived in Stable 15 with Drakon, the red, pink, and yellow dragon. That Stable was made by her mixing ponies and zebras and guarded by Drakon. Before that, I learned a lot about her to clear her name about the whole megaspell thing. Like how she made them to heal, not kill.” Sunshy explained. Rubbing a hoof against his leg, he admitted, “She’s sort of the reason I became a doctor.”
“…I see. Well, since you seem genuine, I’ll tell you. A couple weeks ago, a couple named Velvet Remedy and Deadshot Calamity made a stronger cure for the poison joke, to work on killing joke. It worked, Fluttershy is back to being a pony. She’s just as young as she was, and she’s living in New Appeloosa with Ditzy Doo and Silver Bell.” Spike smiled as he told how one of his oldest friends was still alive.
“That’s great news. At least now she’ll know that everypony is trying to change Equestria, right?” Sunshy asked hopefully.
“Ever since Littlepip brought back the sun and moon, everyone has been trying harder to make Equestria better. Raiders and slavers are still common, though, but we’ll fix that eventually.” Spike sounded sure of himself. “Discord, do you know what happened to the rest of my old friends?”
“I saw Twilight released when the Goddess was destroyed, but she didn’t last very long. Other than that, everyone else besides Fluttershy is dead. Unless Rainbow Dash managed to find some sort of fountain of youth, of course.” Discord snatched a floating-by pie and took a bite, metal and all.
“Yeah…I figured as much.” Spike seemed saddened.
“If it’s not too much trouble, Discord, will you put me down?” Sunshy questioned, turning to face him over his shoulder.
“Sure, sure.” Discord set the pony down on the ground once again.
“I gotta get back to cleaning Twilight’s books.” Spike piped up, sounding much sadder than when they began.
Discord pushed a few buttons and the entire wall of screens changed once again. This time, it was the inside of a pink room with three safes in the back. On the table in front of the safes was a terminal that gave off a pink glow rather than the usual poison apple green. Off to the right side of the room was a skeleton of an earth pony. The way the body was curled gave the appearance that she was once holding something.
“This…is Pinkie Pie. I could never hack her terminal…too damn strong even—hang on, it looks like someone did.” Discord pushed a few more buttons. Suddenly, there was a voice in the room. The voice of Pinkie Pie sounding sad and heartbroken; as though she had lost everything she cared for. Hearing the ever-bouncy and happy pony sad brought tears to Sunshy’s eyes.
“Hi Twilight. It’s me…”The message started and lasted for quite a while, slowly turning sadder and sadder.
By the end of the message, Sunshy was freely crying quietly. He wiped them away with his hooves and turned to Discord. The pegasus was surprised to find Discords mismatched eyes were misted over and a few tears had leaked onto his muzzle.
And then it all clicked for him.
“You loved Pinkie Pie, didn’t you?” It made sense; why she was last, the statuette, the crying.
“I have the power to create time pockets, where time flows as normally as it can for me. While that time goes on, the rest of the world is at a bit of a standstill. I spent a year with Pinkie Pie in a time pocket I created for us. It started as only having fun, since she loved my chaotic world when she was normal. It just…went from there.
“But after a while, she started begging to go back to her friends, even though all the fun we had together would be erased from her mind. So we went back, she forgot all about it while I remembered, and then with the Elements, she and her friends imprisoned me once again. Then, once the war started, there was so much chaos that was able to break free.” Discord picked up the Pinkie Pie statuette and caressed it with his lion paw.
“I’m so sorry.” Sunshy placed a hoof on Discord’s dragon leg.
“I’ve had two-hundred years to get over her.” Discord placed his lion paw on Sunshy’s head, “And yet I still miss her.”
“I feel…like I was really wrong about you.”
“I am many things, Sunshy, but I am not an evil creature. I was angry at the loss of my people in the first great war ever. It was Alicorns against the Draconequus. No one won. Everyone died but me and the Princesses. My ruling was right after Equestria made.
“I was upset and angry, but I never once killed anypony. That was a line I didn’t want to cross against a race that was not directly involved. All I’ve wanted since my first imprisonment is to have some fun. My fun no longer hurt anyone, but I was still forced to be the bad guy just for wanting to play around.”
“Thank you…for everything, Discord.”
“Right. You can…go back now.”
The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony snapped his eagle claw and Sunshy vanished. He appeared back in his hotel room. The pony sighed heavily before grabbing some caps and walking downstairs and to the main room of Venus’s Blessing. He walked over to the bar and set down his sack of one-hundred caps.
“Give me a shot of the strongest crap you got.”
Zen pushed open the door to his shared hotel room with a heavy heart. Too much had happened in two days. With a heavy sigh, the zebra set down his saddlebags and took off his cloak and boarding. Then he noticed something rubbing up against him; looking over his shoulder, he saw Sunshy burying his face against the black and white mane.
“You feeling alright?”
“’M feelin’ jush fiahn, sexy.” Sunshy rubbed his face up Zen’s neck and nuzzled against his face. That was when Zen noticed he had a blush. That was when he smelled the unmistakable smell of booze.
“Are you…drunk?” Zen took a step back to observe the pony. He was swaying and seemed unable to stand up without almost falling. Sunshy also had that dopey smile associated with drunks. “Oh gods, you are drunk!”
“Ayep! Ah haven’t felt thish gewd in feeeeerever!” Sunshy laughed and fell over onto his side. This only caused him to laugh harder.
“But…but you hate alcohol!” Zen argued with a terrified feeling churning his stomach.
“Who who said that? Ah luuuuuuuurrrvveeee alko…alcho…booze!” Sunshy rolled over like a dog onto his hooves.
“Sunshy, I know this was traumatic and all, but—“
“Hey!!” Sunshy shoved his nose right up against Zen’s. All his bubbly love and laughter was gone. Now he was an angry drunk. “Don’t chu…don’t…stop talkin’ ‘bout that. Ah got drunk sho I can…don’t have to think about it!”
“Sunshy, this is not the right way to do things! You have to—“
“Dun’t you tell me wha I caahn and cahn’t dew! Hypocrite!”
“That’s a big word for a drunken slob.” Zen flatly stated.
“You sayin’ ‘m dumb?” Sunshy challenged. Then he laughed and hugged Zen. “’Shokay, babes, ah still love, ah love you, brony.”
Zen pushed Sunshy away and stared hard at the pony. Sunshy was lost in giggling and trying to hug him again. Then the zebra sighed and turned his head the ground, eyes closed.
“Sunshy,” The zebra turned his head up, keeping his eyes closed, “I need you to stay still.”
“Mmkay.” Sunshy sat down and continued to stare with half-lidded eyes at Zen and a drunken smile plastered on his face.
The zebra slid his eyes open, but they weren’t his eyes. Where his brown pools used to be, there was black. His pupil was replaced with whiteness. His eyes became his glyph mark.
“Zen, wha—“
Suddenly, Sunshy blacked out.
With a groan, the pegasus woke up into a black room. No, not just a room…it was like a large, vast emptiness of blackness. Then, a yellow light with a red hue appeared before him. The pony got up and ran after it. As he ran, the yellow and red became defined as the shape of a pony. Sunshy gasped and skidded to a stop.
It was him.
There was another Sunshy right in front of him.
In a flash, an entire row of the pony appeared.
Scared, the pegasus backed up and away from his countless doppelgangers. He was then able to notice the slight differences. One appeared to have a very angry face and was covered in blood, wearing the boarding of a Raider. Another wore a doctor’s coat and was holding a scalpel. Another was stoic. One was reading a book. Then there was one staring lovingly at his engagement bracelet. There was even a colt version of him, looking sad and in the middle of crying.
All of the doppelgangers were frozen, not even breathing. They were all in one line, stretching near endlessly in each direction.
“What the hay is going on here?”
“You’re inside your own mind, Sunshy.” A deep, regal voice told him.
From above the endless line of Sunshys came a Manticore. This male was nearly as large as Big Sol had been; he could easily be Celly’s brother. The male landed between Sunshy and his doppelgangers, standing with the aura of authority and self-confidence.
“I am your conscience, taking on the form of your cutie mark. Forgive me if I do not keep a roll of bandage in my smiling mouth. I feared that would make it harder to talk to you.” The manticore kept his head up and his chest puffed out proudly.
“What the hay is going on?” Sunshy asked once again, this time to his ‘cutie mark’.
“You are in your mind. I am you conscience. These are the different sides of you. Every ‘you’ that you see is an aspect of your personality. They are in whatever position and outfit is suited for them.” The conscience explained.
“Why are you so regal and not as happy as my cutie mark?” Sunshy questioned. The manticore reacted as though that was the last question he had ever expected.
“Oh…uh…”
“Obviously he wanted to make a good impression. If he made a good impression, then you would be more likely to listen to him.” Sunshy heard himself say—did he really sound like that to other people?
The darkness had returned, leaving only the Manticore and one other Sunshy. This was one that was wearing a contraption to keep a book held aloft in front of him. He didn’t take his eyes off the book.
“It’s really quite logical, truly. If only our unquenchable need for answers let us keep our mouth shut long enough to think of things all on our own. Of course, then we might come to the wrong conclusion or the right one, but either way it would it be longer than asking.” The smart side of Sunshy blathered, keeping his eyes on the book.
“Will you shut the fuck up, you blabbering smartass?” The angry side appeared out of thin air and growled at the smart Sunshy. Seeing the smarty was still reading, the angry one smacked it away.
“My book!” Smarty ran after his book as Anger laughed at Smarty’s expense.
“And you.” Anger turned to Sunshy. “You had the gall to get DRUNK!!” Anger bucked Sunshy in the chest, making him fall to his knees and knock the wind out of him. “We should have just gotten angry! Beat a pillow! Tear up a pillow! We have a shitton of pillows at the hotel room! Anything but the one thing we all hate more than anything except Raiders!!”
“Please, Anger, quit yelling at the poor pony. He is you, after all.” Conscience cutie mark told him.
“Fuck off!”
“Smart response, Anger. You make us proud.”
“Shut up, Smarty! I should name you Sarcasm with a remark like that.”
“Will you all,” hiccup-sob, “please stop fighting?”
Sunshy had caught his breath and stood up. He now saw a colt version of himself wrapped up in a ball, crying softly. Anger took a step forward and made to attack the colt, but another version appeared. This Sunshy held himself up proudly. He gave off the same strong and brave aura as Conscience cutie mark. Courage.
“Don’t you touch a colt, you Raider fiend. I won’t let you.” Courage whipped out his Zebra Assault Rifle and pointed it at Anger.
“You can’t kill me, I’m you! I mean, we’re all him!” Anger pointed to Sunshy.
“Hm? A, ah hee.” Courage said, his words muffled through the gun as he turned to Sunshy.
“Please! Haven’t we been through enough?” Colt-Sadness pleaded with a sob.
“Truly,” Doctor appeared, this time with a surgeon mask, “We have already done what we swore we would never do as a colt.”
“Drink?”
“Unwed sex?”
“Get paid for working as a doctor?”
“Work for someone evil?”
“A lot of unwed sex?” A new Sunshy appeared. This one was floating upside-down, gazing at his engagement band.
“It hasn’t been all that much, Lover buck.” Smarty retorted, still reading.
“Might as well be, because it’s with Zen~” Love sighed in a dreamy manner and hugged his hoof with the engagement bracelet. He flipped over to fly forward and floated. They could practically see the hearts following him.
“Kill people.” Doctor stated. Everyone went silent immediately; even Love sobered enough to land and take his eyes off the engagement band. “We took an oath as a child, as a colt,” Doctor placed his hoof on Sadness’s shoulder, “we made that vow. Never shall we harm a living being. We are a doctor, not a killer.”
“And then this Raider in us went and messed it all up.” Courage said, having put his gun back onto his back.
“I. Lost. A. WING. And before that, we were ALMOST RAPED. I had every fucking right to kill!!” Anger shouted back.
“We agree the Raider kill wasn’t too bad. But those soldiers had no right to die! We had to visit every one of their homes. Have you no sympathy?” Courage demanded of Anger.
“I’m over here.” Another Sunshy called out, waving a hoof weakly. Next to Sympathy was no doubt Shyness, as this Sunshy was hiding with his hair, hooves, and wings covering his face.
“I…I just want to go home!” Sadness called out.
“We’re not meant for this Savannah wasteland. We’re not meant for this wasteland at all…” Smarty closed his book; it vanished. All the Sunshys turned to the original as Smarty walked over to him. “Sunshy, we’re you and this is what we’ve thought for months. Go home. We never should have left Drakon.”
“But I save people, so many more than I’ve killed or hurt.” Sunshy replied, looking to Doctor.
“True, but you were content to help animals in the Everfree forest for twenty years.” Doctor replied.
“If…If I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have learned how courageous I can be.” This time he turned to Courage.
“I was needed back in the most dangerous land in the world. All you learned here was that you can shoot a damn gun.” Courage set the gun down.
“But I…I found Zen out here.” Sunshy turned to Love.
“Yes…That is true. And he’s so wonderful.” Sunshy smiled at Love, who was contemplating, feeling a win, “But,” win gone, “we can take him with us.” Win again!
“Wait…take him with us?” Sunshy questioned in confusion.
“Let’s go home.” Sadness told him, getting up from his curled up ball and walking forward to look up to Sunshy. “Back to Drakon, back home. Where we belong…where you belong.”
“I…I do…I need to go home, before I kill anyone else innocent.”
“Then your time here is over. This was a nice chat, Sunshy.” The manticore stepped forward and placed his nose on Sunshy’s.
The nose was no longer that manticore’s wet cat nose. It was Zen’s nose, pressed against Sunshy’s, as he hummed ‘Hush Now, Quiet Now’. They were lying on the heart-shaped bed, lying upright. Sunshy poked the zebra on the side of his head and was glad to see that his eyes were back to their normal brown. Zen smiled at him.
“Did you find yourself?” Zen questioned as he rubbed his nose against Sunshy’s nose.
“What was that?” Sunshy asked without a slur. His head was still a little fuzzy and his gut still held onto that pleasant warmth, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been before.
“The Gift of the Glyph. I have a book for you to explain it.”
Zen got up and walked away; Sunshy watched as he dug into his saddlebag. He pulled out a black book and walked over to his beloved. Upon setting it before him, Sunshy saw pictures in white and black—zebras all around a picture of a light bursting above their heads. In Zebra the title was Origin of the Glyph’s Gift.
With a smile, Zen opened the book, revealing that the entire book was to be in Zebra. Zen smiled as he narrated the story. Every two pages had a picture done in the same shadow black-and-white as the cover. The first picture was of the ponies doing things such as moving clouds, growing crops, and moving things with magic. While they did that, Zebras held weapons such as crossbows.
Once upon a time, long before we had any glorious leaders, we lived with ponies. As we could only do minor magic on our own, we proud zebras defended the ponies from dangers while they did our work. Shamans were common, but could not do such things as ponies could so easily.
We were happy living in this symbiotic relationship. However, there were four zebras not so happy. Jealousy and resentment festered in their hearts, for the ponies could do what we cannot. They were angry and hateful. There was a picture of four angry zebras, two stallions and two mares. The picture was only of their angry faces.
So they observed the ponies while learning the shaman arts. They took the dark path and learned dark magic alongside the good shaman magic that should be practiced. This only made their evil feelings grow. The picture was of a hut full of plants and bottles. A spiral grew upwards from the four zebras.
One day, they found what they were looking for. A pony had her cutie mark burned off and was sad. She was scared and upset. Without her cutie mark, she felt she had no purpose. No matter what her friends and family said, she was very sad. This was the first case of depression we had ever found. The picture had a pony mare crying with her sad friends around her. Hiding in the darkness at the top, almost unnoticed, were the four zebras.
“The ponies put strong stock into their marks. For us, they are just a mark of growing up. For them, they are their lives.” One of the shamans said.
“Yes, and we must take advantage of this.” Another said.
“Should we curse their marks?” One queried.
“No, even better. We will bless our own.” The last answered. The picture was of the four talking with word bubbles.
And then the zebras gathered all of their own in one large gathering. At that time, we zebras did not know that those four had anger in their hearts. Nor did we know that they had placed a magic circle on the ground under our hooves. This picture had a mass of zebras standing in one large spot.
The next picture had a flash of white from the center blaring out towards the edges.
When it was over, we felt different. We found out what had changed. These zebras had changed all of us, even themselves. They had given us what we call the Gift of the Glyph. Every zebra has a power directly linked to their Glyph Mark. It is as unique to us as Cutie Marks are to the ponies. The picture was of a zebra with a fire glyph mark breathing fire. One zebra had a mark of wings actually with wings and soaring. Another had a mark of a dragon and had grown the claws and tail of a dragon.
This is why every spring, we celebrate our Glyph’s Gift. It is held underground, so that no one but zebras may see us using our powers. What was born out of hate turned into the best gift to our people and we could not be happier. The last picture had zebras frolicking.
“So…that was your gift. To help me sort out all I’m feeling.”
“Actually, I just send you into your mind. What happens there is up to your brain.” Zen knocked a hoof against Sunshy’s head. “Did it help clear things up?”
“Yeah. We can talk about it in the morning.”
Sunshy laid his head against Zen and went to drift off to sleep. Zen pressed a kiss against Sunshy’s face and went to sleep with him.
Level up! You are now level 18!
Perk added! Luna Brillante: You are watched over by the Goddess Luna, as one of her little ponies. She has blessed you with the gift of heightened night vision, giving you +1 Perception during the night.
Additional Perk added! New Wing: Your cybernetic wing is stronger than any normal wing. +1 to Endurance when flying.