“I can’t believe we got sidetracked from our mission by this… this… this clown!”
Yes, that was the sweet and reassuring voice of our heroine Twilight Sparkle and, yes, she was walking back and forth between both sides of the street. Her face was crunched up with frustration and her snarl was getting impressive.
Oh, and getting called a clown was the least of my worries while I had Rainbow Dash holding me firmly against the ground with a hoof on my neck. Not that I didn’t deserve it after distracting them long enough to give Discord time to escape.
This Gary Stu theory was going down the drain. I made things worse for everypony involved instead of soloing the God of Chaos!
“Twi, there’s no need to get all so worked up over this.” Applejack tried to put a hoof on her shoulder, only for the unicorn to swat it aside.
“She’s right, Twilight.” Rarity nodded, throwing her mane aside, to better match with her Element. “As long as we remember the strength of our bonds, then Discord will be powerless against the Elements of Harmony.”
“But we don’t know where he’s gone! He could be anywhere; perhaps he’s wreaking havoc in Manehattan right now, for all we know!” The purple unicorn shouted back. “By the time we find him, he’ll be back at his full power! The time Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Cadence and Shining fought so hard to buy us will be rendered meaningless!”
Oh man, that sounded epic in more ways than one… Well, at least I knew the reason behind the increasingly unnerved look Twilight wore.
“Wait, I thought they were fighting so we could get the Elements.” Rainbow Dash turned away from me, sounding puzzled.
“Ooooooh, me too!” Pinkie raised her hoof, smiling.
“And now, we have the Elements, sugarcube.” Applejack completed their reasoning.
“Yes! But if we don’t use them, it’s pointless!” Twilight gritted her teeth, hard. I could hear them being grinded together. “We just allowed Discord to roam free because a madpony distracted us!”
“Don’t worry, Twilight. I’m sure we will find him easily,” Rarity assured her friend. “The Discord I remember did not go around unnoticed. It simply does not fit his… horrible character.” She shuddered.
As if to prove her right, Pinkie suddenly started shaking all over. My head snapped toward her, just as a wordless gasp escaped Rarity’s mouth.
Before any of us could speak, a thunderous rumble shook us all to the core. The vibrations reached me to the bones. My vision started shaking.
“What’s happening?!” Rainbow Dash yelled over the overpowering noise.
Twilight turned around. “I think it’s -”
“MY FARM!” Applejack shouted, being the only one to look west.
Without any explanation, she sprinted toward her home, leaving us all in the dust in her panic.
“APPLEJACK!” Twilight went after her.
“We mustn’t go on our own, darling!” Rarity followed suit.
The rumble died down just as the prim unicorn left hearing range. Seeing this, the pegasus holding me down glared. Her voice was lower than usual when she spoke and her hoof felt heavier as well.
“Don’t follow us.” Understood, my lady! Should I give you a hug to apologize? “Come on, Shy! We can’t leave the others hanging!”
Rainbow Dash grabbed her shy friend by the midsection, making her friend let out an overly quiet yelp, and dragged her along in the air. She screamed something, but this being Fluttershy, I could not make out the word when not directly next to her.
This left me alone with Pinkie Pie.
We… we kind of exchanged glances. The pink earth pony’s face remained undisturbed, as she simply looked at me with a smile.
The intensity of all this staring had my cheeks heating up with a greater flow of blood. My embarrassment becoming evident, I averted my eyes, silently looking at a green façade.
A cute giggle graced my ears.
“You’re silly, you knew that?” Pinkie bounced.
Sheepish, I smiled timidly. “Y-yeah, I’ve been told that by one too many friends.”
“Oooooh! Who’re your friends? Do I know them? I know everypony in Ponyville, but you don’t look like you’re from Ponyville which makes sense when you consider that Discord’s your meany pants papa and I really don’t think he’d make a good parent even if he gives you lots of chocolate milk, because like the girls said taking care of children is a big responsibility and they’re not just play pals, you have to take care of them!”
“I know, right? It’s like nopony tries to understand that even when Discord is trying to be nice, he’s even eviler because you know it’s not going to stay nice and he keeps making you wonder how long until the other shoe drops, and I have no idea whose shoes we’re talking about because nopony really wears shoes as far as I can tell, and I have a griffon paw so I guess it can’t be me unless we’re talking about gloves though we weren’t talking about gloves, it was shoes but I’m not an expert on many subjects except what it’s like to be a statue for decades!”
“Decades, oh wow, that sounds really boring!” Pinkie gasped, looking traumatized. “All this time you can’t enjoy cake, and parties, and a good laugh, and cupcakes!”
At her words, a big messed up ball of pent-up emotions made my lips quiver. Eyes watering, I sniffed and gave Pinkie my most adorable puppy eyes.
“Yes! I missed those things so much!” I hugged her, which she returned in spades. “You’re the only one that understands me!”
“Sounds like someone needs a party!” Pinkie shot a look at a nearby tree. “And I have my canon almost ready, but the girls will need me in just a sec.”
This had me reeling back in horror.
“Oh no! Don’t tell me I made you… tardy!” I backed away, crouching low in fear of a possible retaliation.
“Oh no, don’t worry. I know a shortcut.” Through a rift in reality, most likely.
Speaking of which…
“Wait!” I called, just as she turned away. Predictably, she defied gravity and stayed floating. She even twisted her neck, Owlowicious style. Neat, if you asked me. “I have to ask you something… do you know what the fourth wall is?”
She blinked, before graciously letting gravity have an effect on her, even if her body stretched like a slinky to do so.
“Of course I do, silly.” I gasped. Knew it! “It’s the wall that comes after the third!”
…I couldn’t quite argue with that logic.
“B-but… plenty of your fans are convinced you take your cues from the script and all that!”
“What script?” She asked innocently.
“T-the… oh forget it…” I sighed. “It was just a bit of fanon anyway…”
“Awwww, don’t look so down!” Pinkie lifted my chin with her hoof. “You sound like somepony should bake you a cupcake, with rainbows in it! Or something else! Whatever number comes up, I guess.”
I froze. That could not have been a coincidence!
“Now, it’s been super duper fun to talk, but I’ve got some magical friendship to weaponize, bye-bye!” And she was gone before I could blink.
Jaw hanging, I stared at the space she had previously occupied, trying to process what she said.
‘So, she seemed completely sincere not knowing what the fourth wall is OR when asked about a script. Then, she turned it all on its head by going on about cupcakes, which is perfectly normal for Pinkie, only to talk about rainbow sprinkles and a LOTTERY OF DOOM!’
I was giving myself a headache trying to figure it all out.
Soaring pain erupted at the back of my head, though the source was external. Cold hard iron hit my head with devastating strength.
I fell, body giving out from this impact.
It felt… like I was swimming. Not a graceful choreography, but a messy unorganized attempt at staying afloat. My limbs felt heavy even as I dozed off. Vaguely, I could make out the shape of what had befallen me.
An anvil.
‘Oh, right…’ I thought. ‘I can’t believe I forgot… Never try to understand Pinkie Pie.’
It was a good thing I was in a cartoon, otherwise that kind of injury should have killed me.
Then again, that anvil was green. And chirping. And buzzing.
Eyes still unfocused, I stared at the offending item.
“Huh…” I scrambled to my hooves, again. This was becoming a trend.
Oh, who was I kidding? This had been a trend since the last story ended.
…What? The fourth wall goes many ways, you know?
Turning my full attention to the anvil, I stared. It stared back.
For real! A pair of eyes sprouted out of thin air and checked me out.
Then it jumped away, leaping so high into the air I lost sight of it.
My heart nearly exploded when something crashed into the ground, inches away from me.
In a smoking crater, another anvil, pink this time, was cooling off.
“Hi, how may I help you?” I asked with a welcoming smile. It would do no good to antagonize an anvil after all.
“Ribbit,” it said, then jumped away.
“Huh.” I exclaimed, looking at its disappearing form. “It must have been running late.”
Who said I couldn’t be rational anymore?
Ponyville seemed just as empty as before, though in the corner of my eyes, I could catch shadows of movements behind some windows. Hushed whispers followed and I struggled to remember what this meant. I knew this stuff was familiar, but this was a bit blurry.
Finally, I shrugged, just as another anvil went passed me by skipping on its merry way.
“He’s getting started.” I started trotting, before my own words hit me. “Ohmygoshno! He’s getting started…”
Discord’s influence was starting to spread.
My mouth dried up. T-thinking about this… again… it was enough to make breathing harder. Air seemed heavier, more likely to crush me under the pressure. For just a second, my knees folded, as did my wings, under the strength of a weight I could not tell was real. Then…
Slowly, my lips stretch into an unhinged grin.
“Where did the girls say they were going?” I asked, speaking quickly. “Sweet Apple Acres, right? Right. Better get going!”
I ran in direction of Applejack’s farm, ignoring the discomfort brought by my uneven body. Each leg felt like it was pounding back into me on the road that led out of town. One could not qualify it as a dirt road anymore though. Its surface was shining, reflecting the sun and was as clear as crystal.
Breath shortening as the effort went on – unfortunately, Ponyville was indeed bigger than what was implied on the show –, I resolutely turned my mind away from the dancing turtles, the unicorn-shaped wheels on the giant carriage’s axels and the purple singing soap bubbles. It all seemed pretty normal to me anyway.
Not a sign of his growing strength at all…
Letting out a panicked sob mid-run was about the least intelligent thing I could do at the moment, so of course it happened. I abruptly slowed down, twisting to break my run before my panic could seriously cause me grief, but the ground suddenly changed texture.
The previously hard and durable horizontal road turned into a slippery slope.
Uselessly batting my legs, I frantically tried to slow down. Gravity had other plans for me.
My eyes widening, I saw the limits of Sweet Apple Acres getting closer at an alarming speed. In other interesting news, the world seemed to have tilted, because directly at my eye level was the sky. But perhaps that was less the world and just me.
As the last reflex I had, I opened my wings, hoping it would slow me down.
One painful-as-heck pull in my shoulder blades later and I was soaring through the now normal sky. However, a normal sky included wind currents, stronger than before and totally overpowering my feeble attempts at not crashing down into the ground, again.
Luckily, I did not crash into the ground.
However, I learnt that apple trees are painful landing site nonetheless.
Groaning softly, I tried to untangle my limbs from the fruit bearing branches, with some difficulties. The wooden net had broken my fall, painfully, but it did, what’s with the smallest branches all snapping on impact. Now though, my hind legs were way over the rest of my body, with a heavy sensation washing over me as the blood went to my head.
I would not recount much about how stretched my wings were, just know that… well…
“This is just… too uncomfortable,” I mumbled.
Blinking, I shook my head to clear it. I had to remember my goal, namely to make sure Discord would be sealed. I had the perfect plan. Since I was completely crazy and he was completely crazy, in an evil way, I could predict what he would do next if I pretended to be evil!
Struggling with more strength now, my hooves swatted the leaves away from my face. It caused an impressive amount of rustling noise from this single tree. Surely, if Winona was around, she’d have heard it by now.
Nervous, I stopped, just in case that trusted pet dog really was around, but the rustling noise didn’t stop!
My heart skipped a beat. The branches were moving, or were being moved, by something else!
Under this ruckus, I heard a chorus, which signified the presence of more than one other living being. It froze my blood in my veins and my face had to be a great example of dread.
Especially since I recognized the chorus as multiple growls.
“This ain’t good…”
The following scene was extracted from the official Royal Canterlot records, cannot be distributed outside of the library and its content must not be divulged to outsiders. Offenders will be prosecuted and risk facing punishments reserved for traitors against the crown.
The scene was reconstituted from memories, the source being the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony.
Applejack was the first to make it to Sweet Apple Acres.
The farm was… deserted. Not a pony in sight or hearing range. The silence that greeted her arrival felt terribly ominous. The orchards themselves had lost their inviting quality, giving off a vibe of wrongness.
“Applebloom! Big Mac! Gran!” She called, panic slipping into her voice.
She had been impulsive, foolish even, but the fact that the earthquake had originated from the direction of her farm… She couldn’t put that aside so easily when there was a chance that no-good rattlesnake was targeting her family!
As she had looked toward her home, a terrible fact had dawned upon the earth pony mare. It was not a school day. She shivered at the idea that Discord could find her little sister hanging around with her little friends in that old clubhouse in the back of the yard.
There was no sign of anypony on the farm.
“Anyone?”
“Applejack!” She was startled by her friend’s shout. “You can’t run off on your own like that! We have to stay together to use the Elements on Discord!”
Twilight Sparkle had caught up on her quickly enough, which was surprising for a mare like her. Her tone, though harsh, contradicted the very pained light in her eyes.
“But you felt that quake as well as I did! I can’t let my family down like that!” Applejack fought back some tears, her fear for her loved ones growing. She remembered, her brother… acting like an animal, her grandma… dancing without a care for her old bones or the rest of her family. She wasn’t sure she could go through that again.
“You won’t, darling,” her other unicorn friend said softly. Her arrival had been quiet, mostly hidden by Twilight’s much stronger outburst. “I assure you, we will not let that horrid monster touch a hair on their heads, but we cannot lose ours before that either.”
“T-thanks, Rarity, Ah just panicked a bit,” Applejack said, though her body betrayed too much fear for her to be over it.
A cyan dot in the distance caught her attention, making her narrow her eyes and stopping Twilight or Rarity for talking further, themselves curious enough to turn.
“Come on, Shy! The others are all there already!” There was no mistaking that voice. Nor that speed.
With a startled yelp, the mares were shook by the miniature explosion caused by Rainbow Dash’s perfect landing. The pegasus’ focus instantly went to Applejack.
“What were you thinking, AJ, running off like that!? Don’t you remember the last time we were separated near the guy?”
“Rainbow, stop!” Twilight interjected, before the accused one could speak up. “We already went through this and we won’t blame Applejack for caring about her family! Th-”
“There you are!” A peppy voice cut them off. “Phew, and I was worried I might have took the wrong turn.”
“Pinkie…” The other mares gave her a flat look. “You come to my farm every week.”
The pink pony closed in on Applejack, getting right up in her face, as was her habit. “Yes, but I don’t usually use my copter to get here. I just go ‘boing boing boing’ because that’s funnier, but today I had to be super speedy if I wanted to catch up with you.”
She ended her speech by pointing at a red mishmash of tubes and ropes and propellers, upon which rested an embarrassed yellow pegasus.
“Oh, and I picked up Fluttershy on the way here. So we’re all ready for some rear kicking!”
“Yes.” Twilight let out a sigh. “Except we haven’t found Discord yet!”
Blinking, Rainbow Dash looked around. “Huh, where is everypony? Shouldn’t there be somepony around here?”
The remark, albeit innocent, caused Rarity and Twilight to cringe. Applejack, on the other hand, frowned darkly. “That’s what Ah want to know. Even if all that shakin’ didn’t bring down the barn, Big Mac and Gran should still be out!”
Her friends shared a worried look, which fortunately went unnoticed by the Applejack, seeing as she had turned to glance at her surroundings once more.
The lack of response was making her fears grow. Even an unwelcomed sight would have been better than this… incertitude. She had to know what had happened, it would be too… difficult to leave otherwise! She couldn’t let her worry stop her from doing what they needed to!
In the overwhelming silence that had took place over their tiny group, it turned out to be a breeze to hear it. A beastly growl, of warning and anger.
“Winona?” The earth pony whipped around, slightly disturbed that her trusted dog would sound so aggressive. “Why are y-”
She stopped dead in her track.
The remainder of the bearers stared, with expressions varying from pain and sympathy to defiance and fear.
It wasn’t Winona.
“Big brother…” Applejack whispered, heartbroken at the sight.
Legs now locked in place just out of the barn, the not-so-red stallion snarled, head lowered and hooves grating the rich soil of his family’s lands. In his eyes was a primal rage that had even the brave cyan pegasus hesitating.
Silent, Twilight was beyond words. The last time such a spell had been casted on Big Mac, he had been very friendly, a bit too much if she were to be perfectly honest. Not that she had held it against the gentle giant, but right now, she found herself wishing for that kind expression of his to return.
Big Mac barked and the sounds that should have been silly coming from a pony did not sound funny at all. Tears rolled down on his sister’s cheeks.
He barked louder.
Eyes still on the stallion, Rarity and Fluttershy nonetheless jumped at their friend’s side, offering a small comfort in the warmth of their hooves and wings.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie ran between the aggressive madpony and their friends.
“Get back, big guy!” The pegasus shouted. “We won’t let you hurt, AJ!”
“Too late for that…” Said mare whispered weakly.
Big Mac paid no mind to either the warning or the lament, pumping up more aggressiveness and blowing hot air off his nostrils. His barking got more violent, scarier. He looked seconds away from attacking by that point.
Applejack’s gaze hardened, bearing a vicious desire of vengeance against the God of Chaos. He would pay for inflicting this torture on her brother and herself.
“Come on, Big Mac…” She planted her hooves firmly in the ground.
He charged.
The mares stiffened and shifted their position to make this a swift battle. Lights illuminating the unicorn’s horns, pegasi’s wings falpping and earth ponies’ muscles flexing, they stood ready.
“Don’t hurt him. We just need to tie him up!” Twilight said, echoing her friends’ thoughts.
The heavy stomping of the stallion’s hooves grew even louder, causing vibrations that made them more wary with every step. It might be more of a challenge to hold back, if their fear interfered.
As it turned out, however, their fear did not interfere.
Just as the mares were about to counterattack, they heard the bloodcurdling scream of ten ponies running for their lives. A second later, a vaguely pony-like monster ran out of the orchards, colliding with Applejack’s brother in the process.
A collective gasp escaped their lips as they stared at the two rolling stallions.
Slightly disoriented, neither of them moved for a second. Then, the one that Discord had introduced as his [censored information] untangled himself, speaking with the known disturbing voice of his species.
“Ah! Big Mac, sorry about that, big guy…” The creature apologized, looking surprisingly sheepish. “Wait, why are you gray? …OH DEAR GOD, YOU’VE BEEN DISCORDED!”
He jumped away just in time to dodge a vicious bite to the face, which was perhaps the single most uncanny part of the creature.
Crouching very low, his belly almost touching the ground, Honest Havoc backed away with fear-filled eyes.
“Nice doggy!” The creature said, lion tail twitching as the bigger stallion growled.
“HEY! DON’T YA DARE CALL MY BROTHER DOGGY!” Applejack shouted, suddenly enraged by the nerves of that clown.
Havoc jumped out of his skin at that, falling off his back after performing a flip in the air. Secretly, Rainbow Dash found the scene funny to watch. She wouldn’t tell her farmer friend that though.
“Girls! I-I didn’t see you there…” His gaze kept shifting between the bearers and the threatening stallion. “I was just… ”
He froze, making his audience tense.
To their growing surprise, Big Mac completely ignored him, turning his aggressive glare to the orchards. Then, just as he started barking, Havoc jolted.
“APPLES! THEY WERE TRYING TO EAT ME!” He jumped away from the trees, running until he was between the stallion and the barn.
For a moment, most of the mares were very tempted to groan in annoyance at the creature’s antics… until… well, they remembered who they were looking for.
To Applejack’s horror, gnawing sound started to echo in the orchards, only covered by her brother’s barking.
Her friends and she then had the misfortune of witnessing the grotesque spectacle of a bird being devoured by a most unlikely assailant.
Shrilled cries echoing its panic, the small animal was desperately trying to get off the ground, only to be tackled by apples. Gorgeous, the handful of fruits was overwhelming the bird. Though they lacked any attributes to do so, they were producing noises akin to that of mastication.
Droplets of blood flew when the Red Delicious finally covered the bird.
Their voice stuck in their throat, the mares could only contemplate in horror as the normally inert fruits gorge on the poor animal. Fluttershy in particular seemed on the verge of tears, while Applejack felt some pieces of her world crash down and burn.
Their macabre fest coming to an end, the apples, as inconspicuous as any other fruit, started gliding away from their prey, some of them leaving a red trail behind.
They glided on the grass, toward the bearers. The discorded stallion’s anger had no effect on them.
Sobbing, giggling and squealing, prey to a bad case of hysteria, Havoc backed away as discreetly as he could. That was to say, he grabbed most of the attention.
The apples accelerated.
Despite increasingly aggressive growls and snarls, they were clearly aiming at one particular pony.
“BIG MAC!” Applejack screamed, as they reached her brother.
For a second, the mare thought her heart would stop beating and a cold sensation washed over her. Even when her brother’s hoof came down and squashed one of the apples, she feared for his life.
The apples… glided past him, without so much as breaking their stride.
All six bearers stared as the stallion growled and snarled at the fruits.
“Oh crap… ” They heard and stared in the direction of the creature they had forgotten.
Scrambling to his feet, Havoc danced on his hooves nervously, staring at the apples that were coming his way. Turning his reptilian eyes to the stunned mares, he dared show them a forced smile.
“Little help here?” He asked in a tiny voice, but before they could react, he sprinted toward the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. “KILLER APPLES!”
Instantly, said crimes against nature picked up the pace, a disturbing slurping sound coming from the biggest of them.
“RAINBOW!” Havoc screamed. “HOW DO I FLYYYYYYYYY?”
“Flap your wings, you idiot!” The pegasus yelled after him, but was not heard over his own panicked screams.
She blinked, when, the next thing she knew, Big Mac started chasing them, barking louder than ever.
The poor thing’s cries of panic doubled, as he disappeared on the road back to Ponyville.
Crickets could be heard.
The cyan pegasus was the first to blink away the absurd stupor the scene had put her in.
“Did that just happened?”
“Which part, dear?” Rarity asked, sharper than usual. “The fact that Discord’s [censored information] just ran into us again, that a handful of Applejack’s lifework became carnivorous or that her…?” The prim unicorn left the rest unsaid, already regretting bringing it up, especially in front of her friend.
“That’s not important!” Twilight Sparkle said, trying to nip a potential problem in the bud. “We have to find Discord.”
“Well, he was here, alright.” Applejack’s grimaced, gritting her teeth hard. Her next words were more than a little defeated though. “Ah guess… A-Ah should just be glad Ah didn’t have to knock some s-sense into Big Mac…”
“Yeah! That wouldn’t have been fun. Knocking something other than baked goods into somepony is never fun!”
“Pinkie! It’s not the time for that.” Twilight growled. “We still have to find Discord to make sure everything goes back to normal.”
Unsurprisingly, Applejack was probably the most determined.
“Can we be certain he is not hiding here?” Twilight went on, turning to her friends.
“I don’t think he stayed here. After all, he may have separated us briefly, but we’re together now.” Rarity pointed to Fluttershy and Pinkie, the two ponies that were on each side of her.
Twilight’s eyes lit up, understanding exactly what she was getting at. “Of course! He tried to make Applejack leave, but now that we’re all in one place, he’ll try something else! Now, where could he have gone?”
“Hum…” A quiet voice failed to grab their attention. “P-perhaps he…”
“Know what I think? He went to wreak mayhem without a balance of sweet!” Pinkie cut her off.
“SugarCube Corner? Why would he go there?” Dash raised an eyebrow at her eccentric friend’s suggestion. “He can make sweets fall from the sky.”
“A-actually, I think that’s no-” The shy pegasus tried to make herself heard… tried.
“I think Pinkie Pie may have a point here,” Rarity said.
“She does?”
“Of course I do!” The pink pony jumped, before stopping in midair, confused. “What’s my point?”
“DISCORD’S BACK IN PONYVILLE!” They all narrowly fell on their flanks at the sudden shout.
“F-Fluttershy?” Twilight stared incredulously.
“He’ll probably try to destroy our homes so we lose our spirit and he will be allowed to roam free, so I say we get there and stop that big meany before he can harm one. More. INNOCENT. BIRD!” Her eyes narrowed, carrying a stern anger. However, as soon as that outburst was over, she mellowed down, shrinking back on herself. “T-that is… if you don’t mind.”
“You heard Fluttershy! Let’s go!” Rainbow nodded proudly, taking off, with her friends in toll.
Back to me. What do I mean by that? Meh, I dunno, I just had to say it.
‘Oh, listen to me. I’ve made the jump. Now, I don’t even need imaginary friends to talk alone…’
Anyway, I was currently praying for dear mercy, lying on the ground in the middle of a couple of garbage bags. The scent was overpowering, really disgusting, but perhaps that was just my nose being stronger than usual. I knew the first few trips had felt this way, even if the details had started to fade.
Nonetheless, I could not care less. Growls and stomping hooves kept my heart stammering. Alone in the darkness, I was praying Big Mac had not turned into a hunting dog.
His towering shadow loomed over me, blocking the light with his form. From the corner of my eyes, I could see him, standing at the entrance of the dark alley. My thoughts were entirely focused on the mad hope he would not find me.
Big Mac inhaled deeply, sniffing the air. For a terrifying moment, I was convinced he would suddenly charge at me and unleash hell on me. His eyes scanned the darkness, frowning deeply at what I hoped would be my salvation.
With a disgusted snort, the stallion turned around, leaving.
I waited, unable to think clearly because of my fear. Images of terrible fates flashed repeatedly before my eyes, some of them including a brutal beating at the hooves of a tall red stallion.
It took me a few minutes to calm down, but when I did, I let out a long sigh of relief.
“Who’s there?!”
Shocked, I dove into the garbage, blindsided by this scary voice coming out of nowhere!
It just happened that I head-butted a hard metallic can, which yelped in panic.
Huh.
“Ah! I surrender! Don’t hurt me!” It came again, much closer than before.
I knew that voice.
It prompted me to try an inviting smile. “Don’t worry, Mr. Garbage Can, I have friends like you. I’m not gonna hurt you.”
“Ye-yes, whatever you say! J-just leave me alone.” Grinning, I stood on my hind legs, holding the sides of the can with my paw, taking a look inside. Nopony other than me had a voice that echoed. It came from within.
The colt inside cowered. “Monster!”
“Kind of.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I’m hungry.”
His horn flashed purple, strongly enough to be painful in the dark. With a fizzling noise, it burst, blinding me.
“Hey!” I covered my eyes, losing balance and tipping the can over.
With a surprised yelp, the colt rolled out of the can, as I fell down to the ground. Pain erupted at the level of my chin, before the can hit me on the side of me face. The pain has been doubled!
With a groan, I turned to the child close to me, who was groaning softly. The colt’s pale gray fur stood out like a sore thumb in the dark. At this distance though, I could easily notice his trembling. Was he hurt? Letting my concern talk, I took a step closer.
“Are you okay, Shining Armor?”