//------------------------------// // Book One Insanity; Insanity Incarnate // Story: A Destiny Of His Own // by greener97 //------------------------------// “A nightmare can mean so much more than we give them credit for” ~ Unknown Source Spike froze in fear. He recognized where he was immediately, and he didn’t like it at all. He pushed off of the transparent ground to sit up and face those who surrounded him. His body felt weak, and it screamed with pain, as though most of his bones were broken. Once again he was surrounded by the shadowed figures, however this time FallingStar was not shrouded in darkness like the others. He gave a wicked smile as he gazed at the broken dragon. “Welcome back dragon.” Spike struggled to stand, but just ended up on his back writhing in pain. Through his shut eyes he saw a figure move over top of him. Warily he opened his eyes expecting to see the dark Alicorn standing over him, mocking his pain. Instead he saw one of the shadows, this one emitting a sickly green mist. He saw a pure white smile come across what he assumed was the figures face. “Pain is such a joy isn’t it? Don’t you love feeling pain?” another male voice called, this one however didn’t have the stinging sarcasm of Falling’s. This one seemed truly honest in his question; he was truly asking Spike if he loved feeling pain. The blackness slowly faded off of half of the creature in a stripe pattern, revealing pure white underneath. “Great” Spike muttered “Now I have a Zecora look-alike to?” The zebra stared at him confused. “Who is this Zecoura?” He asked “I’ve never heard of whoever that is.” His confusion only lasted a moment before the largest smile came across his face. “You should introduce me to; Zecoura was it?” Spike would usually be glad to have met someone as cheerful as Pinkie, but something about this character made Spike feel uneasy. “Who. Who are you?” He stuttered through clenched teeth, his body still burning in pain. “Well the best way to tell you that is to show you my past” The zebra sang Spike opened his eyes and found himself standing in what he assumed to be a village surrounded by forests. He was in a clearing with a few small huts made out of what looked like rotted wood. Standing next to him was the figure that had just been standing over him. “This is great and all but I was just asking for name.” The zebra turned around showing eyes filled with hatred. His words actually stung Spike as he hissed “My name is Zareit, Now pay attention.” He gestured in the direction of a small zebra sitting alone reading a book. “Is that…” Spike started “Yes.” Zareit answered knowing what Spike would ask. “You are in my memory. Now stop talking and watch.” Spike did as he said. The zebra was just sitting there alone enjoying his book. He reminded him a lot of Twilight. It had just occurred to Spike that maybe Zareit had brought them to the wrong memory, when the small zebra let out a pained scream. He had been hit in the head by something and was now on his back crying. “Aw. Is the poor baby in pain?” A mocking voice called out. A group of about ten young zebras stood on the other side of the clearing. All but one carried a rock in their mouth. Spike assumed the one without a stone had already thrown his at the young Zareit. “Come on Zar, get your nose out of those books, and grow up. The young Zareit continued to sob. Spike could see now that he was bleeding rather seriously. The young bookworm curled into a tiny ball sobbing even harder. This got a huge laugh out of the group that mocked him. Spike felt true sympathy for Zareit. He was bullied and beaten into submission for simply being intelligent. He found himself rushing to stand between the group and the young Zareit. “Stop!” He yelled “This isn’t right!” The zebra who had thrown his stone first finally stopped laughing, and addressed his subordinates. “Looks like he is still as much of a crybaby as ever guys.” This got a few woops and shouts from the crowd. “Alright guys, you know what to do.” The group laughed and howled as they threw their stones towards Zareit. Spike outstretched his body to shield the young defenseless zebra. It was pointless. The stones passed straight through him, after all; it was just a memory. He stood frozen listening to the howling of the bullies and the whimpering of the defenseless book worm. He heard each stone hit, and he heard each cheer when they did. His heart broke when he realized that there was nothing he could do to protect this poor child. “Why!” Spike exclaimed, falling to his knees. “Why would you punish him for being himself?” He continued to call to the group even though he knew they couldn’t hear him. He couldn’t look behind him. He knew what he would see. Lying on the ground would be a broken spirit. A broken zebra, who was bullied and traumatized for being who he was. “Twilight” He thought “That little zebra was just like Twilight. He became an outcast because of his intelligence, and interest in books and the knowledge they hold.” Spike fell to the ground defeated. He felt something stride beside him. “I understand now, I understand that you had a bad childhood, but why did you show me this” Spike looked up to Zareit, expecting to see the same pain he felt. Instead he was greeted by the same smile that he had worn when they first met. “To be honest” He started his voice jolly and cheerful “I have no idea.” Spike stared at Zareit for the longest time. He was completely baffled. “What is this guy’s game?” he thought “What is he trying to do, and why does he keep changing personalities?” Zareit looked Spike in the eye with the same kind of expression Pinkie often had. “It’s a lot of fun.” “What is?” Spike questioned, more than slightly uncomfortable under the zebra’s stare. Zareit turned his head slightly. “Being insane of course.” TO BE CONTINUED……..