//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Friendship // Story: Chronicles of Crimson Sky // by Somekid295 //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Friendship I screamed and jolted forward, the voice's laughter still ringing through my ears. Panting I got up and walked towards the door. "Was that only a dream?" I thought "But it felt so...... real, and that voice. Why is it haunting me? Am I going crazy, no no I can't be I.... I'm not it's all too real to be just one huge lie made up in my head." I sighed as I continued to walk downstairs "Whoever this voice belongs to, I have to find him. I need to know who I really am or who I was. "SURPRISE" yelled a crowd of ponies nearly causing me to have a heart attack. "How could I have forgotten about the welcoming party? Ugh I can be so stupid sometimes." I thought "Well before I go around meeting everypony I need to find Twilight. If anypony's going to know anything about this it's her, assuming that she's read all these books." I looked around the balloon and confetti covered living room hoping to find Twilight somewhere amongst the crowd, but instead found my attention falling on a pony in the far back corner of the living room. We both locked eyes sending shivers down my spine. Soon after seeing me he turned and walked into another room. "Why do I feel like I know that guy from somewhere?" I thought. "I should probably follow him.... I mean.... what's the worst that can happen?" I walked towards the door that the other pony went through. I became curious and terrified the closer I got to him. I walked through the door and found him in the darkest corner of the room. When I saw him he gestured me to come closer and being the usual idiot I am I did. "You don't remember me do you?" asked the pony. "I don't remember much of anything... sorry," I replied "Then it's true," the pony sighed. "What's true? Who are you anyways?" I asked making my tone sound more aggressive. "I'm not your enemy Crimson. If anything I'm a friend. My name is ADHD, you and me.... we used to spend a lot of time together. We were best friends before he got into our heads" the pony said. "WHO? Before who got into our heads?" I asked hungry for answers. "I'm sorry I can't tell you much. But I can tell you this, there is a reason you're an alicorn Crimson. Harmony made you an alicorn so that if all else fails you would be here to protect Equestria. The voice that you hear in your head. It's here in Equestria, and if he hasn't already then it wont take him long to find you. Listen to me no matter what you don't let him get to you. If he gets the chance he will absorb your power and after that nothing will be able to stop him. One last thing you need to know... even though you are an alicorn you are not immortal like the princesses. I... I must go now I've already said too much," explained ADHD. "Wait!" I called after him "Can you at least tell me his name?" ADHD smiled. "Let's just say he's a little.... Chaotic" he said. I watched him as he walked out the door into the cold of the night outside, and vanished in the darkness. "If what he said is true and I'm really not crazy, I really need to talk to somepony. I'm sure at least one pony will know a few answers," I turned around and found myself face to face with Pinkie Pie. "HI" greeted Pinkie as I nearly jumped out of my skin. "Pinkie........ please........ don't......... do.......... that......... again," I gasped in between breaths "Do you like your welcome party huh? huh? I threw it just for you, you see when I saw you I knew that I didn't know you and if I didn't know you then it meant that you were new here, and if you were new here that meant that you didn't have any friends and knowing you didn't have any friends made me super duper sad. So I threw you this welcome party and invited everypony in Ponyville you see? So now you have lots and lots of friends," explained Pinkie with a giant mile on her face. I shook my head and returned the smile. "Thanks Pinkie I...I love it!" "Come on I'm wanna introduce you to my friends!" shouted Pinkie as she grabbed my hoof and dragged me along. "I thought you said you were friends with everypony in Ponyville," I replied. "Well duh of course I am silly, but these are my BEST friends." When we stopped we were standing in front of a group of five ponies. Two of which I already knew, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight. The other three I have yet to meet, one was orange, with a blond mane, green eyes, and three apples as her cutie mark. The second pony was yellow, with a pink mane, bright blue eyes, and three butterflies as her cutie mark. The last pony was white, with a purple mane, blue eyes, and three diamonds as her cutie mark. When they saw me approach they each walked up to greet me. The orange pony was the first to introduce herself. "Howdy partner, name's Applejack I live down at the farm in sweet apple acres home of the best apple products that you'll ever put in your mouth. Ah sure am glad that Ah could meet you Ah've heard a lot about you from Twilight here," said Applejack. The next to approach me was the white mare. I looked over and saw spike staring at her weird. I giggled a bit due to the obvious fact that he had a crush on her then turned my attention back to the mare. "Pleased to meet you Crimson, my name is Rarity. I'm a fashionista over at carousel boutique...... um.... before I shake your hoof could you please wipe it off... I HATE getting my coat dirty and that includes my wonderful mane and hooves," said Rarity. "Uh.... yea sure" I replied I reached over and grabbed a napkin from the nearest table and wiped my hooves. We then shook hooves and she went and stood beside Applejack. The last pony to introduce herself was the yellow one who had half of her face hidden behind her mane. "Hello," I said receiving no answer as the mare just stared at me through her mane. "I'm Crimson Sky...... what's your name?". "Uh..... I'm Fluttershy" said the mare backing up a bit. "Sorry I didn't quite catch that," I said taking half a step forward. "I'm Fluttershy," squeaked the mare now only a quarter of her face showing. "Uhhhhh...... okaaay," I said as I looked at the others with a confused expression on my face. "Her name is Fluttershy, don't worry she'll get used to you once we start hanging out more," said Twilight. "Ah well it's great to meet you Fluttershy," I said with a kind smile. I looked around at all the ponies attending the party. "Geez Pinkie wasn't joking when she said that she invited everypony in Ponyville," I thought. I noticed a gray pegasus mare with blond hair and inverted eyes standing out away from the crowd. "Who's that?" I asked Pinkie while looking in the mare's direction. "Oh that grey pegasus over there? That's Derpy Hooves, not sure why but she avoids most ponies around her," Pinkie replied. "I think I should go talk to her.... she doesn't look very happy" I told Pinkie. I slowly made my way through the crowd of dancing ponies and over to Derpy. I made sure that I had a large kind smile on my face before I approached her. "Hey Derpy" I said hoping to make the mare happier but only receiving a dim reply. "Oh... you must be the new pony in town. Don't waste your time over here with me... I'm just a useless mail pony. "Why do you say that about yourself? Every time I look over at you you're always avoiding everypony. Why not try to make some friends?" I asked. "Nopony want's to be friends with a pony like me," said Derpy as she folded back her ears and looked down. "No Derpy.... I won't let you or anypony else live like this. Nopony should live a life without friends, abandoned, left in the darkness" I thought as I reached out my hoof. "I'll be your friend Derpy. All you have to do is accept my friendship, and I will always be there when you need me most" The grey pegasus looked up at my hoof teary eyed and smiled as she extended her own hoof and grabbed mine. I returned the smile and helped her onto her hooves. "Y.....You really mean it?" asked Derpy, who was now trying to fight back tears "Of course I mean it. I won't allow you to sit in the darkness all your life, follow me. I know a few ponies you might like to meet," I said as I wiped a tear off her cheek. ___ ___ ___ The sun was starting to set as a strange creature paced about the Everfree forest. Shadows dancing along the ground like snakes, as the wind rustled through the trees. "You better have a good reason for calling me here Discord," said a female voice from within the shadows. The draconequus smiled when he saw the creature emerge from the shadows of a large cave. "This should be a rather difficult but fun task to complete" Discord thought as he continued to watch the changeling who was waiting impatiently for a reply. "Oh Chrysalis do you really think I wouldn't have a good reason to call you here tonight hmm?" asked Discord. "HA. Knowing you it would be an incredibly stupid reason, last time it was only to help you with a stupid little prank" replied Chrysalis Queen of the changelings. "Be careful my friend, I've changed and I'm more powerful than you could ever dream of" . Discord gave the changeling queen a stern look. "I need your help with something, and it includes your entire army. Are you in or are you out?" "Depends, what's in it for me and my changelings?" Discord gave Chrysalis an evil playful grin. "In return you get the one thing you've always dreamed of. Chrysalis in return you get Equestria!" Chrysalis smiled. "You have yourself a deal, but hear me Discord if you fail to get me Equestria I will tear your limbs from your body and make sure you feel nothing but pain while you beg for mercy" Discord rolled his eyes and turned away from the changeling. "At least I have her on my side. I was expecting her to reject and mock me longer, not that I'm complaining. he thought as he stared into the sunset. Once I gather my army hell will rain upon Equestria, and Celestia won't expect a thing. "Gather your changelings. We're going pay a little visit to our friends in the Crystal Empire" said Discord with an evil laugh. ___ ___ ___ I let out a long sigh as I walked over towards the balcony. The party had lasted at least five hours, everypony was finally leaving, making the library return to it's quiet state. Twilight and the others were heading to rarity's boutique for a slumber party, while me, and Derpy had stayed behind to keep Spike company. I sat down and stared into the sunset letting the cool breeze rush through my mane. "I've seen the name ADHD somewhere....but where?" I thought then just shrugged it off. I tried focusing my mind to think about something else, I tried to think about something happy. I looked over towards Derpy and smiled. "Why don't you just go talk to her?" asked a voice from beside me. "I don't know Spike, I.... I just can't. Just Not yet, for all I know sh-" "You're afraid she won't feel the same way?" asked Spike I sat there for a minute and sighed. "Yeah" I replied. Spike sat down next to me and looked towards the boutique with a half smile on his face. "Yeah. I know how you feel man, I've been going through the same thing for a while now" he said "Spike. There's been something on my mind for a while now and I..... I just need somepony to talk to about it..... can I uh....trust you to keep a secret for a while?" I asked as I looked over at Spike. "Sure, you can trust me with anything..... except for gems.... I'll end up eating those at the start" Spike laughed and I smiled. I sighed and told Spike everything from the first moment I woke up in Ponyville to the moment I talked to ADHD, making sure I didn't miss a single detail on anything. The nightmares, how my name wasn't my real one, absolutely everything. "Are you sure this isn't all just amnesia and a few nightmares? I mean... if there really is somepony out there after you, then we'll have to talk to the Princess. She should be able to help us find the guy" said Spike as he thought through everything I just said. "I hope so Spike..... hey, do we have any books on the topic of Chaos?" I asked thinking back to the last thing ADHD said before his departure. Spike thought for a moment. "Uhh..... yea I think we do actually... just give me a moment and I'll have it for you" he said as he got up and started scanning the section labeled "C". "Aha! Here ya go Crimson" I was handed a book that was titled "Chaos at it's Greatest: Days before the Princesses". The book had a picture of a creature who's body parts composed of different animals. "Uhh.... Spike.... who is this?" I asked pointing at the cover picture. "That's Discord, he's a draconequus and known to everypony as the Master of Chaos," Spike said with a smug look on his face. I walked over and sat on the couch, opened the book and started to read: "The land of Equestria wasn't always how it looks today. Over one thousand years ago it was ruled by a draconequus named Discord. Discord made all of Equestria a miserable and chaotic place full of harmful pranks, he made other ponies the opposite of themselves by manipulating their mind to flip to the dark side using black magic, after a while many ponies were killed by his madness. But then two sisters rebelled against Discord to take back Equestria. When they could not defeat him alone they used the Elements of Harmony and turned him to stone. Ever since that day Equestria has been a quiet peaceful place for ponies to make friends and live their lives. Discord's statue is still in the garden of the Canterlot castle to this day forth" "Well that wasn't exactly what I expected. I was hoping for something a little more in depth" I said with a disappointed look on my face. "What wasn't what you expected?" asked a female voice from beside me. I turned my head and saw Derpy looking at me with a rather confused and curious face. I couldn't tell her, I couldn't tell anypony yet, I shouldn't have even told Spike but I had to so I could get it off my mind. I closed the book and looked back to Derpy. "Oh. It's nothing just a... uh.... an old book that I was uh reading.... yep just a book nothing important" I said with a halfhearted smile on my face. "Um okay..... I guess...... well Spike started cooking dinner. Maybe we can have some muffins for dessert. Mmmmmm Muffinsss hehehe" "Uh.... we must have a hardcore muffin fan here. Well muffin do sound good, a muffin dessert it is then. I thought as I got up and walked towards the kitchen. I found spike over by the stove standing on a little wooden stool that allows him to reach the pot. "Hey Spike, you wouldn't mind making muffins for dessert tonight would you?" I asked while I continued to walk towards him. "Hehe trying to make a mare happy I see" giggled Spike as he continued to cook. "WHAT NO....I....I just......I uh.....I just wanted to-" I was interrupted when Spike fell over laughing at my reaction. ".... Oh hahaha that was so funny. Will you make the muffins or not?" I said now annoyed from being tricked. "Yea sure I'll make them. Then I'll leave you two in peace together haha" laughed Spike. "SPIKE" I yelled causing the dragon to step back a few steps in defense. "Okay okay, yes I'll make the muffins geez" said Spike as he giggled at his victory. I walked back into the living room and slowly started to grow dizzy. "Wha.... What's happening" I thought as I tried to keep my balance. The world was spinning faster and faster, I closed my eyes praying for it to stop. I fell to the floor and found myself in a black void of darkness. "Hey Rick, it's been a while man. How's life been going for you?" said a voice in the darkness. "W....Who are you? What is happening?" I asked staring into the black void. "All has been good on my side. How about you? How's your wife?" asked a voice that I recognized to be my own. "We all just got back from California the trip was amazing but-" said the voice as it faded away. "Merry Christmas Rick" said a new voice. "Sorry I missed your birthday. How old are you now? Five?" "Haha no I'm 21 Stephan. I'm glad you could make it to dinner with us" my voice replied. "Seriously? Why would I miss out on this. I mean really, look at all this delicious looking food" laughed the voice named Stephan. The voices started to fade again and a voice that I recognized ran through my head. "Crimson there is a reason you are an alicorn. Harmony made you one so you could protect Equestria when all else fails. There is something after you, and he's here in Equestria" said the voice. "ADHD? What....Where are you?" I said into the darkness. "Wait! Can you at least tell me his name?" my voice said. "Let's just say..... he's a little Chaotic" replied ADHD "Discord made Equestria a place full of chaos and agony. Many ponies were killed by his magic or corrupted and turned opposite of themselves as he absorbed power from their bodies" said the voice of Spike. "Sp.....Spike? What's happening? Where are you guys? Where am I?" I asked "Crimson wake up. This can't go on for any longer, you need to wake up now" echoed a female voice through my head. "Who....... Who are you? Where am I?" I asked the voice. "Just wake up Crimson. You need to wake up" The voice faded away, I felt the world around me spin faster and faster. I gasped and sat up, I was back in the library, back to safety. My name is Crimson Sky, I'm an alicorn meaning that I am half unicorn and half pegasus. I woke up on the edge of a town called Ponyville. I made many friends here and hope to make many more. I can't remember my past, I couldn't even remember my name. A unicorn mare named Twilight Sparkle allowed me to stay in her library until I could settle in. During my welcoming party I helped a mare named Derpy out of the shadows. There is something out there after me, and I'm waiting. Waiting for it to attack again, learning all that I can to protect those that I love. My name is Crimson Sky, and I am finally starting to remember.