//------------------------------// // Prelude 2 // Twilight // Story: Songs of Sanity and Insanity // by PandoraChild //------------------------------//         A castle is big. Like, scary big.         I made my way through the winding hallways and up grand staircases, through gardens, across ponds. Looking up through a skylight I could see that it was about midday, and Celestia’s sun was high in the sky. Shielding my eyes I kept trotting towards the two massive golden doors that led into the throne room, the place I was scheduled to meet the princesses. Guards aware of my condition smiled at me, apparently not seeing anything very out of the ordinary with me, just like Rainbow and Twilight. They happily opened the door for me.         “The princess is waiting for you,” one of them said as I walked up.         “Thanks, Golden Bow. How are you these days?”         “Very good, thank you.” He shifted his gaze towards the door. “Is your magic good enough to open them or should we?”         “Nah, I can do it. But thank you,” was my response. My orange aura grabbed the two massive doors and they swung inwards, casting golden glows over the walls.         My Celestia the throne room was massive.         The Princess of the Sun herself was seated at a golden throne in the front of the room, squarely centered with the golden doors I had just walked through. On her left and right there were two smaller thrones, one made out of blue topaz, and the other made out of amethyst. Princess Luna was seated in the throne made of topaz, while the amethyst throne was empty. I had seen Twilight herself seated there multiple times, so I didn’t have to guess who was missing from the company.         Celestia roze and trotted over to me. Luna smiled from her throne and stood, waving a hoof clad with gold and lapis lazuli in my direction.         “Adrian! How are you feeling?” Celestia asked. I bowed low to the ground and said took the time to practice my best mock-royal tone.         “Greetings, my princess,” I said slowly and deliberately. “How is thy majesty on this beautiful day?” Luna chuckled from her throne. “Thou hast stolen my tone! Thou shalt be punished!” Luna shouted in the “royal canterlot voice, immediately sitting back down and covering her mouth with her hands to cut down the laughing noises she was making. Celestia rolled her eyes. “Have you much to report, Adrian?” she asked, looking down at me. “Yeah, but not much. Twilight and Rainbow said I looked great today. They were working on figuring out patterns in the days I gave vivid hallucinations and days when they were cut back.” I stopped and looked at the floor. “I just want this to be over and live a normal life, Princess. Have you found out anything yet?” “No, my little pony. I am sorry.” The princess put a hoof under my chin and lifted it up so that my gaze met hers. “But do not fret, for I have something you may enjoy!” “Something I may enjoy…” I echoed in mock pondering. “Oh, yes.” The Princess of the Night rose from her seat at the throne and trotted over to where her sister and I were talking. “Golden Bow?” she called to the guards outside. Almost instantly the door was encased in a yellowish aura and the doors were thrown open. In trotted the very Unicorn I had been speaking with moments ago. “Yes, your highness?” he asked, standing at attention. “Please accompany Tia, Adrian and I to the testing chambers, please.” “Yes, your highness. Right away.” Golden turned on his hoof and trotted towards the door. Celestia nudged my back with a hoof, my saddlebags jostling on my shoulders a tad. “After you, Adrian,” she urged. I nodded and made my way to the door. Golden smiled. He could tell by the look on my face that I knew what we were going to the testing chambers for. “Adrian, don’t worry about it. We aren’t doing those kinds of tests anymore. The princesses have all the data they need.” The golden doors were pushed open once again and I was on my way down to the testing chambers, flanked on either side by a celestial deity. Most ponies would have killed me for this kind of treatment. Then again, most ponies probably would kill me anyway. Ba dum tiss. --*--_ [] _--*--         No, the tests weren't bad in the past. “Uncomfortable” is probably a more precise word to describe the poking, prodding, neverending gaze of the scientists. But mainly they were just poking thin air around my body. The first time I went in I thought they were crazy. Celestia did, too, until a newly recovered Cadance, accompanying us on this particular trip, told her what she knew.         “Um, you know you’re not touching me, right?” I asked one of the scientists who pushed his goggles off his head with a spare hoof to answer me.         “Sure I am. Your tentacle thing. Right here,” he remarked, poking something to the left of my shoulder. “See?”         “Right…” I said, rolling my eyes and turning back to the triple-thick pane of glass that the three princesses were standing behind, watching the proceedings intently. The intercom started to boom with Cadance’s voice.         “Adrian, don’t worry about it. Your dark magic is making them see you as a monster.”         “Well I know that,” I said, turning back to the scientist who had begun jotting down some notes with a pen controlled by a brownish aura. He pushed his white mane back over his shoulder and inspected me once more, then continued to write, goggles hanging off his neck. I kicked one of my white hooves in boredom. “Besides, Apple Bloom told me what I looked like to her. Is that the same to everyon-I mean pony?”         “You spoke with Apple Bloom?” was Celestia’s suprised reply.         “Yeah. She’s really nice, too,” I remarked. “She talked with me about what I looked like and why those other two fillies ran away. Then when she understood I meant no harm she saw me as who I really was. Then she pointed me towards Twili… oh, hey Twilight!”         “Sorry I’m late, Princess… es…” Twilight choked out as she stored a few pieces of parchment in her saddlebag and turned towards the window, standing next to Celestia. “So how’s he doing?” Celestia was about to answer but I wanted to, instead.         “This is weirding me out, to be honest,” I burst out, facing Twilight. “You’re a princess too, how come Luna and Celestia can see me as a pony but you can’t?”         “Princess Luna and Celestia. And I don’t know.”         “Come on, Twilight, be civil,” was Cadance’s immediate reply. Twilight snorted and looked away. I rolled my eyes. This is exactly how she acted at the library too, after Applejack came in and told her what her sister had said. Before then she was all nails and teeth. And I mean ALL. I had looked down at my hoof, remembering the burns she had inflicted from her horn. I snickered.         The scientist turned back to me after finishing his notes.         “Alright, Mr. Decimus, we’ll have your results in a few days. Try not to go outside…”         I laughed.         “You think I’ll be doing much of that with this whole deal going on?” The scientist chuckled, too, then turned and left back into an office space. The room was gassed and I was let outside by a couple of attendants to where the princesses were standing. Only one of them wasn’t smiling.         “Princess Celestia?” a voice from behind me said. I turned around and was looking at a Unicorn with a golden coat and red hair in full royal guard armor. He wasn’t holding a weapon and was staring straight past me at the princesses.         “Yes, Golden Bow?” Celestia responded, stepping beside me and looking down upon her subject.         Golden swallowed. “Um, your chariot to Manehattan is here…”         “Oh! Thank you, Golden. I would never have remembered without you.” Celestia walked past the stallion and down the hallway. I smiled.         “Your name is Golden Bow?” I asked, grinning.         “Yeah. What’s yours?” he responded, seeming to lose a little composure. He was relaxing, but I didn’t understand why. Should he be flipping out? I hadn’t the slightest idea.         “Adrian Decimus,” I responded, stepping forwards and offering my hoof. He took it had we shook.         And he didn’t touch empty air. --*--_ [] _--*--         Walking alongside Golden today was the same it had been for years. His careful confident trot beside my clumsy canter was probably what one would expect from a royal guard. He always held his spear high, and when he was on duty he was the most stoic, unflinching pony you would ever meet. But if you met him when he was off work, it was a whole different story.         “We still on for later tonight?” I asked him after I had bid Celestia and Luna adieu after some interesting testing. Mainly on my magical capabilities and what would happen with an onlooker when I wore magic restraining devices. Golden nodded.         “Oh yeah,” he confirmed. He shook his crimson mane out of his eyes and donned his helmet again, the magical powers contained inside the armor making it stick up into a mohawk. “Remember that place I told you about?”         “Yep. And now that I don’t look too bad, we can chill there without getting kicked out!” I chuckled, remembering a certain night a couple years back. Golden laughed and punched me in the shoulder.         “Still think you shouldn’t have started that whole thing with that mare…”         “Ha! What can I say? When I don’t look bad, I can enjoy myself… if you know what I mean…” I nudged him in the shoulder and winked. Golden gave an overly emphasised eye roll.         “Okay, but next time make sure it’s not the manager’s daughter.” He laughed again. This time I looked away. We were getting pretty close to my apartment. “Meet you outside at six?”         “Absolutely. See you there, GB!”         And with that, he walked away, waving his hoof behind his head. I grinned. Tonight was going to be fun. --*--_ [] _--*--         “ARRRGHHH!”         The stallion swung and I ducked, his hoof missing my head by mere inches. I leaped out of the way as his magic caused a boulder to come out from underneath me, slamming down on my left and causing dust to billow up from the dirt floor. I panted. This was going on for far too long.         Galloping forward I spotted a broken wooden cart lying in pieces, the broken ends of the rope long since frayed. I bit down one one of them and counterbalanced my weight from left to right, throwing the cart in the general direction of the blue and black stallion. I heard it splinter on something hard, but no cry of pain.         Movement on my left. A hoof slammed into the side of my barrel, causing me to wince and sending me careening towards a stone wall. The dust was beginning to settle, and I could see the stallion coming at me head on. I stood up on my hind legs, front legs at the ready to strike. He leaped into the air with his front-right leg outstretched, and began to bring his right hoof down.         I raised my left leg in a block and swung my right leg forwards, ready to meet his assault head on. For a moment it looked as though the stallion would meet my hoof with a sickening crunch, but I wasn’t so lucky. He grinned and adjusted his trajectory, weaving underneath my hoof and slamming into me squarely in the chest. I gasped as the air in my lungs was brutally expelled and I was thrown backwards, tumbling to the ground. He was much faster than I thought.         “Had enough, Decimus?” the stallion sneered, slowly cantering up to me. I frowned.         “I hardly think so.”         Instantly I shot up, hoof outstretched, meeting my mark. It slammed into the side of his face, sending him stumbling backward, sputtering.         “What the…” he choked out, but he wasn’t lucky enough to finish his sentence. Instantly I was on him, pinning his back to the ground, his left front leg in my hands, elbow pressed against his shoulder blades. “... buck…?”         “I think I win…” I started. Obviously common courtesy was not a problem here, as the stallion interrupted me.         “As if! I could take you right now! Let’s finAAAUUGHH!”         “Whoops,” I said, stepping off the stallion, his broken leg falling to the ground. “I slipped.”         “Round Five over. Adrian wins,” the loudspeaker boomed.         “GG, mate,” I chuckled, trotting away into the changing area. I cracked my neck. Training was always fun, since I was clearly the strongest pony there. Doesn’t mean I’m the fastest, far from it. The Pegasi were obviously the lightest and most nimble, and they were a pain in the ass to fight. The earth ponies were very strong, but were the easiest as I was able to counteract their weight and use it against them, due to lots of training from Celestia. But the Unicorns were difficult, considering the magic they used. Plus I was the only self taught magical user, so some of the spells they used were far beyond my range.         “Adrian, Decimus. Please make your way to scrimmage arena 2. Adrian. Decimus. Please make your way to scrimmage arena 2.”         “Huh,” I said to myself. “I only had two fights scheduled for today.” Shrugging, I cantered over to the door of arena 2, grabbing my fighting tag and moving into the changing area. The clock on the wall notified me that I had two minutes to ready up before I had to be on the platform.         I was ready in one. I waited on the platform until it started to descend, casting shadows through the glass from the brightly lit arena. As my eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, I noticed that this arena was a clearing in the middle of a forest. There was a pond to the right, but not much else, and the forest looked too dense for a pony like me to fight well in. The doors lifted and I trotted out and up to the start platform. I still didn’t know who I would be facing so I had no idea how to prep. Pegasi fight? Unicorn fight? Earth pony fight? I prepped for Pegasi, since that took the most prep.         The doors came down and I saw my opponent. At first I thought I was correct in assuming it was a Pegasus. But then another thing caught my eye. This pony had a horn. A lavender horn…         “Hey, Adrian!” Twilight shouted from the other side of the arena. Only one word came to my mind.         Alicorn. “Wha…” I started, looking over at the purple alicorn standing across from me. Twilight smirked and flicked her mane behind her face. “What’s wrong, Adrian? Never fought a girl before?” she said, taunting me and lowering her head, smirk growing darker. Now that was just a downright lie, I had fought plenty of women in training, but this was altogether different. This was someone I knew well. “I…” I started, unable to get the words out of your mouth. My voice trembled and I looked around into the glass booth hanging on the top of the stadium overlooking the arena. I could see Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie weren't present. “... why?” “Why?” Twilight asked, giggling. “Because I need training, and I want to see how well you’ve done. I haven’t been here in a while, actually,” the purple alicorn said casually, looking around and up at the booth. She raised a hoof and waved to Rainbow and Applejack, who promptly waved back at her. Then she turned her stare back at me, making my legs shake. My breathing rate increased. “So if you can beat me, I’ll know you’ve been trained well.” “I… I train m-my own magic, T-Twilight…” I started but was cut off by the princess. “That’s Princess Twilight, Adrian. We are not friends here. And I don’t give a buck about your magic. If your strength is even half of what my advisors tell me it is, you should be able to beat me fairly easily.” She turned her attention to the electronic screen at the top of the arena. Sunlight shone through the glass walls and casted shadows across Twilight’s face, making her appear devilish. I shuddered. “Now then, where were we? Oh, yes. I am ready.” I think first I should explain how arena fighting works. Once a party states they are ready, their “condition” turns to green on the scoreboard. When both parties are ready, the round begins. First player/team to submit to the other team loses, and the winning team gets one point. Best of three. When players have “conditions” set on them by the other team, their representative light on the scoreboard changes color. There are five different conditions, “Standby,” which is blue, “Ready,” which is green, “Fighting,” which is yellow, “Unconscious,” which is purple, and - the one that almost never happens - “Deceased,” which is red. The only rules in the arena are - no foul play, no black magic, and be vigilant. In a training battle the only extra rule is “no killing,” which is allowed in actual matches. A green light appeared on the left side of the screen, representing Twilight’s “condition.” She looked back at me expectantly, waiting for me to make my decision. “Twi… er… Princess Twilight, I don’t think this is a good idea. I mean… I’m at a disadvantage here, you have three magic states against my one.” “Oh, that’s fine, Adrian,” she chuckled. Looking away and playing coy, she said one final sentence. “That is, if you’re sure I will win…” Oh, she knew how to push my buttons. “What did you say?” I said, anger flooding my system. I had - and never have - turned down a challenge in my life. Even if it was impossible. And this was looking pretty fucking impossible. “Oh, if you won’t beat me, there’s no use in fighting, is there?” I glared at her. I knew what she was doing, but couldn’t bring myself to walk out. “Fine. I’m. Ready.” My light changed to green. The ten second countdown began. Twilight smiled and hunkered down into a ready position, wings stretching out to full length. I shifted my weight onto my front legs, bracing for the eventual strike. Then I waited. The woman’s voice came over the intercom once again. “Match of Adrian Decimus versus Princess Twilight Sparkle begins in…” “Three…” “Two…” “One…” “Match start.” We didn’t move. * [] * [] * Ever since my arrival in Ponyville, Twilight and I had been at odds with each other. Our attitudes were conflicting, my mind preferring organized clutter to her OCD approach on life. I prefered to take life as it came, she prefered to schedule when she ate, slept, drank, talked, and did anything else. Even breathed. She probably had a separate calendar for that. Right after I bid adieu to Apple Bloom, I began my walk to the Ponyville Library where I was told I would meet the Princess of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. What I didn’t know was that the Princess of Magic would be a pain in the ass to deal with. “What the fuck are you doing? Get off of me?” I shouted, shaking my arm where a manic eyed purple alicorn princess hung, teeth biting into my flesh. Eventually she loosened her grip enough so I could shift to my hind legs and throw my body on top of hers, crushing us both into the ground with a deep “ugh!” coming from me and a light “oof!” from her. Instantly she wriggled free from my pin on the ground and fired her magic bolts again, hitting me square in the chest and throwing me back into a wall of bookshelves behind me, making most of them fall off. Pages floated through the air. I shook my head and looked up. “Who told you to come into MY store, you bucking monster?!” she demanded, horn poised and ready to strike at any moment. “Apple Bloom did! She t-WHAT THE FUCK!?” I started to speak before I was cut off by another magical bolt from Twilight’s horn. I immediately rolled out of the way and back onto my hooves, wincing at the burning sensation in my chest. Her purple bolt blew a hole in the side of the library, sending birds nesting in the leaves of the tree scattering, cawing loudly. “That is a LIE!” she shouted, powering her horn again, sending another magical bolt straight for my head. I ducked just in time, cowering as it impacted a desk behind me, sending pages and ink across the room, coating parts of the floor a blackish color. “Apple Bloom would NEVER speak with something like you!” “Bro, chill! Let me talk!” Of course, she didn’t give me that luxury, sending me scampering upstairs with a few poorly aimed bolts at my feet. Up here there was nowhere to run. “Goddamn, first couple of weeks here and this bitch is trying to kill me,” I thought to myself, stepping backwards. “This normally takes a few months.” A purple horn appeared from on the staircase, firing a purple bolt that flew close to the floor. I jumped over it, feeling it singe the fetlocks on my hooves. There was a burnt streak on the floor where the blast flew. More splinters and pages filled the air. “What is wrong with you?” I began again, interrupted by a mass of purple fur slamming me to the ground. The air in my lungs left me alone, and I wheezed for oxygen. A hoof pinned my neck to the floor, leaving my oxygen supply at 0% and draining. I gasped for air. The alicorn lifted her head up and angled her horn at my chest, ready to bring it down and end my short life any second. My eyes grew wide. Then I immediately closed them, awaiting my fate. Her head descended. “WAIT!” The voice was familiar and close. I slowly opened my eyes to see Twilight’s horn a mere centimeter above my chest, where it had stopped. I pushed her off of me, gasping for air. As I composed myself, I glanced over at where the voice had come from. A panting Apple Bloom and what looked like a larger version of herself with a Stetson hat adorning her head stood at the top of the stairs. The larger one looked completely mortified at the scene unfolding before the two. I glanced over to where Twilight lay, gasping for air at her decreased magical state. I scrambled to my feet. “Dude, what the shit was - *cough* - that?!” Twilight rolled over and glared at me, nearly hissing. I gave my body a once-over. There was a massive burn on my chest and on my front right leg, and my front left leg had teeth marks and scratches on it. My back also had scratches and bruises, as well as my singed hair on the top of my head and on my burns. Twilight, however looked nearly fine, if you were overlooking her disheveled mane and the bruise on her back from when I threw her off my arm. “Stay back or I’ll kill you for real!” she said, stepping backwards. “What the fuck am I going to do?! I don’t even know how to use magic!” I shouted, making Apple Bloom wince and the bigger version of herself cover her ears with both hooves. Apple Bloom batted her hooves away, and turned to face Twilight. “Twilight, he’s ah fine stallion! What did he ever do to you?” she pleaded, running to my side and giving Twilight a very well-rehearsed pair of “puppy dog eyes.” I was impressed. The older Apple Bloom spoke. “Apple Bloom! Get yer flank over here! That thing’s dangerous!” Her tone was commanding. “No! Applejack, he’s fine! Honest! Ah talked with him earlier when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran off!” The purple alicorn looked taken aback. “You did speak to that thing?” She started, eyeing the small filly, but never taking her horn off my target. “That thing is a stallion named Adrian Deci… something… and he is ah very nice stallion!” The orange filly was flustered at her friend and... I guess, sister…? I still didn’t know, but at this moment it seemed pretty obvious. She was adorable when she didn’t remember my name. I couldn’t help but smile. “Apple Bloom, does that there cretin look like some sorta stallion to you?” Applejack started, eyeing me curiously. “Well, he didn’t…” she started, looking at the ground. Practically immediately she looked back up at Applejack, fire in her eyes. “But once Ah started talking with ‘im, I saw that he was a fine stallion after all! Don’t just kill ‘im!” Twilight and Applejack eyed the orange filly curiously for what felt like hours. “It’s alright, Twi. She’s tellin’ the truth,” Applejack stated, touching the alicorn on the shoulder. Twilight held my gaze for another couple of seconds until she sighed and let down her horn. I let the air I had been holding in my lungs for seemingly hours out. It tasted stale. Unused. --*--_ [] _--*-- So we stood there, just as we had in the Ponyville Library on that day, facing each other down. But there was no Apple Bloom to stop this. I swallowed hard. The match had already begun, but neither of us had moved. “So,” Twilight said casually, “who’s going to swing first?” I smiled, cockily. “Ladies first, Twi. It’s common courtesy.” Twilight glared at me, having not used her “Princess” prefix and having used an abridged version of her name. But her glare softened, leaving her smiling. “Very well, Adrian. Let’s dance.” And with that, a purple explosion came straight for me, wings extended and beating rapidly, horn flaring, jaws snapping. The impact of Twilight’s body into my own was enough to send me flying off the podium and skidding across the ground until my back smashed into a tree. I groaned, trying to get my hooves underneath me to stand up and face my attacker. However, I wasn’t so lucky, as the princess was back on me in an instant. I feebly raised my hand to block her assault, but with her Pegasus magic she was fast. Faster than anyo-anypony I had ever faced. She shifted her wings, flinging her body to the left and slamming two hooves into my side. I screamed. Another hoof in my side. My belly. My back. My face. As the alicorn landed a swift hit on the right side of my head, blood sprayed from my mouth and stained the mossy ground. I wanted to collapse. But my will to not fail kept me going. I tensed my muscles, straining every single one in my body to full capacity. I saw the purple blur coming at me. The impact made my vision blur, but my larger size and strength made Twilight bounce off and land on the ground with a small “oof!” However, she recovered quickly and I could feel three, five, nine, thirteen hooves meet their mark in my barrel. I shouted in pain, yet I brought my weight to my right side and swiped to the left with my two left hooves, sending the Princess of Magic skidding into a tree. She instantly shot up and gave me a death glare, charging her horn. I charged mine, too. My protective shield went up just has her purple bolt flew from her horn, dispersing across my shield and making the base of my horn feel like I just took a bullet there. I pushed the pain to the back of my mind. Irrelevant. Would be dealt with later. I stood ready once again. Twilight charged. I ducked. Too late. Her hoof glanced the top of my head, sending shivers down my spine and freezing my body. Then with one swift buck with her two hind legs I was airborne, flying back towards the podiums. I landed with a dull thud on the sand near the pond. I tried to stand up, but something stopped me. A purple aura encased my body, making me begin convulsing as pain ran through my nervous system. I tried to scream but no sound came out. The sound of hooves on sand made me gingerly open one eye enough to see Twilight standing over me, pinning me to the ground with her magic. She started to laugh. “You know I could have done this from the very start, Adrian,” she started, sighing. “But alas, you had to take me on. Toying with you will be my highlight for a while, however.” She sank down on top of my belly, sending more pain through my mind. I tried to break the spell, but her hold was too powerful. Instead I could only focus on my one thought: “It’s imaginary. It’s illusionary magic. Come on, dude. Fucking deal with it.” She angled her horn towards my chest. “Well then, Adrian. I guess this is the end. You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you? And now there’s nopony, no Apple Bloom or Applejack to save you.” At the mention of Applejack’s name I tried to glance up at the glass booth. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were frantically banging on the glass and shouting something that I couldn’t hear. I closed my eyes. Twilight laughed. “Y… you… you can’t k-kill… me…” I managed to choke out. Each word was a chore, draining on my physical energy, making me wince every syllable. “Can’t I? I’m a bucking princess, Adrian. I do whatever I want.” And with that, her horn descended. * [] * [] * I woke up with a start. Sitting bolt upright in bed, I looked around. “... holy shit.” I was in my room. My room on Earth, with a bed comforter pulled up to my chin, all my clothes in piles around my room, my beloved gaming PC whirring away on the corner of my terrazzo desk. I looked down and held my hands to my face, wiggling my fingers. I started to laugh. It was a quiet laugh at first, but then grew into something much more powerful. Soon I was in straight up hysterics, holding my sides. “I can’t believe I dreamt that I lived in a land full of ponies!” Wiping a tear away from my eye, I got out of bed and walked over to my desk, sitting down in the swiveling desk chair. My eyes wandered over the papers and random files lying haphazardly on the desktop. “Man, if Twilight was here she’d have a conniption.” A pain shot through my forehead at the mention of her name, making my arms instinctively reach up and grab my temples, a feeble attempt at dulling the pain coursing through my head. “Aggh… fuck…” I moaned, doubling over in the chair so that my chest was resting on my knees. But then as swiftly as it came, the pain subsided, leaving me curled over in a chair for no visible reason. I looked up and shook my head. I got up and went to the window overlooking our garden, checking on what time of day it was. Looked to be about midday. I shrugged and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts off the floor and threw them over my boxers as I opened my bedroom door. Everything in the house was exactly how I remembered it. The two copies of Van Gogh were hanging in the hallway, and the faded white carpeting was speckled with brown, memories of spills and stains long past. I quietly stepped into the hallway before remembering that it was midday. If there was ever any reason to be quiet, it was long gone. “Mom?” I yelled. The house was quiet. Eerily quiet. I stood still for a couple seconds. “... dad?” I shouted again, with more force. I shut my bedroom door behind me and took a couple steps towards my parent’s room. Maybe they were still asleep. Reaching the door, I allowed my ear to rest against the white painted wood for a moment, listening to any sounds that might be emanating from within. Hearing nothing, I edged the door ajar, peering inside. No one there. The bed was neatly made, and there was practically nothing on the floor. Sunlight shone through the windows and onto the bed, meaning that the curtains weren't drawn. I shrugged. Maybe they just went out for lunch? Understandable, during the summer they didn’t wake me up early unless there was another reason. And the only person who slept longer than me was… hm. I shut the door and turned around, facing the stairs to the main level. My older brother slept in the basement, where our parents wouldn’t bother him, or so he said. I thought it was mainly because he kept bringing girls over and my parents got fed up from all the… “noise.” And no, I’m not THAT naive. My feet lightly padded down the creaky stairs and I found myself in the kitchen. No one here, either. Peering over the half-wall into the living room, I came to the same conclusion. That meant only the basement was left. I turned the corner and flipped on the light switch. The basement lights fizzled on and I made my way down, feeling the air gradually become colder. My right foot touched the cold concrete slab at the bottom of the stairs and I instantly recoiled, feeling my heart race. I had no idea why I was getting so freaked out going down into a place I had been many times before. I decided to try my previous approach from the comfort of the stairs. “Blaine? You here, man?” Again, no answer. “Goddammit.” I headed back up the stairs, flipping the lights off and closing the door. That meant I was alone. I climbed the stairs back into my bedroom and found a clean shirt on the floor. I threw it over my torso and grabbed my phone, pocketing it. Then I walked back downstairs and out the door. Might as well go out on the town, you know? Then it hit me. Complete silence. Something was wrong. There were no cars, no busy town sounds, nothing. Not even a breeze rustled the tree leaves outside my window. I perked my ears up for any sound, anything at all, but all I could hear was my own breathing and rustling of my clothes against my skin. I slowly eased the door open, my ears finally meeting some inhuman sound - the squeak of the hinges. I couldn’t feel any cold or heat. Nothing. “What the fuck…” I said to myself, peering outside at the empty street. Cars were parked here and there, but no one was in them. Blinds and shutters in windows were pulled down all the way so I couldn’t see inside. Something was definitely going on here. Going back inside, I grabbed a key from the hook next to the door and slipped back outside, shutting the wooden door behind me. Then I threw on my flip-flops which were conveniently located on the porch and cautiously stepped out into the street. The complete and utter lack of auditory stimulation was damaging to my ears. I mean, have you ever been in an empty room and heard that high buzzing sound, that sound that empty rooms make? Imagine being in that same room but not even that. No sound at all. It was painfully quiet. I was scared out of my mind. * [] * [] * After walking for what felt like hours to the downtown, mainstreet area of the town, I noticed that there was not a single person here, either. I tried to look into one of the shops but the shutters and blinds were closed, and the doors were locked. “What the fuck is going on,” I thought out loud as I passed shop after shop with the same result. Suddenly, I came across the store I spent most of my time in. I shrugged, and - out of ideas - balled up my shirt in my hand and smashed the window. The shattering of glass echoed throughout the street, but then the painful silence returned once again. I climbed through the window and looked around. It was a game store, a local one, not a chain. It was exactly how I remembered it. Shelves of video games and manuals hung around the store, many of which on walls on the sides. I picked up one of the game cases from the shelf, and looked at it closely. It was a Battlefield 3 box, one I had seen many times before. Only the fine print writing under the images on the back was blurry. I couldn’t read any of it. I picked up another box: Black Ops 2. Same deal. I couldn’t read anything other than the big text. I rubbed by eyes and looked back at the case, but nothing changed. Blinking, I put the case back on the shelf. I looked around the walls and named the games I could see. “Battlefield 3, Black Ops 2, GTA 4, Borderlands 2… wait, what the fuck?” These were all games that I had. My eyes widened and I rushed to one of the shelves, pulling off games left and right. The only games here were ones I already had or had played before. The games that I didn’t own or that I only played once or twice were much more blurred than the ones I played frequently. I dropped the current game box I was holding - Super Smash Bros. Brawl - and backed away, out the window and into the street. I turned around and saw a restaurant across the street. It was an Italian place I went to a lot with my family, Luigi’s Pizzeria and Spaghetti House. I smashed the window and climbed inside, grabbing a menu. The only thing listed was my favorite dish. Repeated all down the page. Nothing else. I threw the menu across the room and grabbed my head as a pounding headache coursed through my system again. “WHAT THE SHIT IS GOING ON!?” I wailed, falling over onto the ground still holding my head. I had to check more stores. Once my headache had subsided I climbed out the window, taking care to not touch any of the broken glass. A few stores down was a furniture place, one that I had never gone into before. I took off running and jump-kicked the window, shattering it to bits on impact. This window was shattered so I couldn’t see inside, so I picked up a loose stone from the street and used it to pry open the shutters so I could see inside. And I promptly fell backward as the whiteness greeted me. There was nothing. Not air. Not space. Just… nothingness. All white, no imperfections, it was blindingly bright. I stood back up and peered back in, instantly recoiling yet again. I couldn’t look at it for too long. And I had an epiphany. I cursed myself for not realising it faster. “Fucking illusion magic, Twi…” I concentrated my energy in my forehead and pushed as hard as I could. Energy flowed out of my body, making my muscles jelly. My knees buckled and slammed into the pavement and I put a fist on the ground in front of my to steady myself as I worked the complex magic. And everything exploded in a brilliant orange and purple explosion. * [] * [] * I opened my eyes to sight of a purple horn inches from my chest, surrounded by a magical aura. I instantly knew who it belonged to. I reached out my hoof and grabbed the horn, sitting up at the same time. Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked into mine, undoubtedly filled with confusion. I stood on my back legs, lifting Twilight into the air who was still frozen in shock. Pretty soon I had her by her horn in the air, and she was totally limp. “H-How did you figure it o-out so f...fast?” Twilight asked. My eyes narrowed and I inched my eyes closer to hers. “Don’t pull that shit with me.” And I hurled her, by her horn, into the ground ten feet away from me. A cloud of sand and dust flew into the air where the alicorn landed. Twilight tried to flip onto her back, but I was on her instantly, forcing her legs to her sides. In my left front hoof I held her twitching wing, and my right front knee was pressed against the point where the wing met the back. “Wha…” she started to speak. I didn’t let her finish. My right knee pressed into the base of her wing as my left hoof twisted it backwards, breaking the bones in the middle with a sickening crack. She yelped in pain, but I silenced her with a quick blow from my right hoof directly into her windpipe. The force of the hit sent her rolling away from me. I stood back up onto my hind legs. She rolled over onto her side, attempting to get her hooves under her. She was having some trouble standing up, without the use of her left wing. “You need to work on your illusions, Twi.” Finally on her feet, she turned to face me, grimacing when she flexed her wing. “I’ll… I’ll… what did y-you do to m-my wing?!” she wailed, her eyes filling with rage. I smiled and leaned forward slightly. “Don’t try it.” She did anyway. Her hooves carried her body towards me at a very fast speed. Her right hoof was extended towards me, and I formulated my plan and carried it out. Her right hoof - counter with my right hoof and push it to my left. Her left hoof came for my shoulder - countered with my left hoof and pushed it towards my right side, away from me. Her right hoof came at me again, but I counterbalanced my weight and used my left hoof to push it away and hold it in place as I brought up my right hoof and planted a forceful hit on the inside of her leg where it met her barrel. Not giving her time to react, I elbowed her with my right hoof and hit her squarely in the chest with my left. She was dazed, so I sidestepped as her feeble punch came, grabbing her left hoof and using her own weight to hurl her around and face first into a tree. I fell back onto all fours and cautiously took a step towards the princess of magic. She didn’t move. I started to get worried. “Twi… you good?” I calmly asked, even though my voice was probably shaking with worry. I didn’t know how I did it. It just… happened. I lifted my hoof over her shoulder, not sure if I should touch her. She was volatile, that’s for sure. But in my worried state I wasn’t thinking rationally. I lightly touched her shoulder. And I was blown backwards with the force of a cruise missile, slamming my back into the starting podiums. I slid down and brought a hoof to my back, checking for any damage. Only heavy bruising, I was fine. Twilight… well… that was debatable. Her entire body was encased in some sort of slithering, deep purple aura that crawled around her skin, causing smoke to appear at the base of her wing. The aura was shedding a grotesque purple light on the surrounding foliage. She started to lift into the air without the use of her wings. I noticed that the purple aura was giving some sort of physical support to her body. Suddenly the aura all retreated back into her horn, which was now black striped. Her head fell forward. And what was left of “Twilight” was a horrid, stretched grin. One of her eyes was glazed over and colored black instead of the normal purple color. Half her face was black and it looked as though it was literally, physically crawling. Her black eye was open all the way, whereas her purple eye was half closed. And I nearly shit myself. Her horn charged and one of the largest magical blasts flew from it, coming straight for me. I barely had time to roll out of the way before the deep purple blast obliterated the podium, sending chunks of stone masonry and steel flying in all directions. I turned to look at the forest behind the podium, only to find a perfect line where the trees had been charred, toppled over, or ripped apart particle by particle. And when I turned back around I was face to face with “Twilight.” “Hello Adrian,” it said in a sick voice. Not sick “cool” sick… “I’m going to kill you.” “She” reached up with her right hoof and brought it into my stomach. And I was sent flying backwards once again, this time across the entire arena and coming to rest after slamming my side into the arena wall. I bounced off and landed on the beach, rolling over onto my feet nearly instantly. “She” was on me again, swinging this way and that way. I dodged and weaved to the best of my ability, feigning off attacks right and left. After a particularly inaccurate swing on “Twilight’s” part, I rolled over her shoulders and pushed her from her right side, making “her” stumble backwards. But I guess physical, frontal attacks wasn’t all this thing could do. She brought her two front hooves down to the ground, causing a wave of sand to come my way, sweeping me off my feet. The wave loomed over me and I rolled out of the way just in time to see the wave slam back into the sand where I had just been. I didn’t have time to catch my breath, when another wave of sand came out from the ground to my right, this one resembling a hand. I jumped out of the way but the sand managed to lock onto my right hoof, coating it in sand which began to spread up my body. I brought my back hooves up above my head and kicked the sand away, making what was on my hoof fall to the ground and the hand disappear back into the sand from which it came. I managed to collect myself and stumble backwards away from the sand, into the forest. “Twilight’s” eyes watched my every move as though she was just waiting for me to swing. Only one thing was for sure. This was not going to end well. * [] * [] * Fucking Alicorns, dude. Actually, no. Fuck one PARTICULAR Alicorn. Hard. With a sword or something, I don’t care, something that causes the greatest amount of pain and discomfort. Currently the Alicorn that blew apart a tree to my right while flying behind me, raining crazy, half-assed electrical magic shots down near my tail. Jesus, it’s like she was toying with me. Which really just pissed me off even more. Her wings definitely gave her an advantage. No shit, really? While I’m grounded and basically running away with my tail between my legs, she’s up there having a wee of a time, loop-de-looping, making that dumbass maniacal laugh while sending another blast of dust and dirt from behind me, beside me, wherever she wants to. It’s like I’m literally fighting the biggest troll on the planet. A deadly troll. E.G. no one on the internet. Fucking Alicorns. Yeah, back to that analogy. “Adrian…” that goddamn voice was getting on my nerves. Couldn’t do shit about it, considering the fact that I was currently under heavy assault from a pony with infinite magical energy, two beating wings, and enough muscle to probably level a tree, much less buck one. Running along the same path on the beach for the tenth time, my body still curving slightly to the left as I ran full circle through the forest, beside the lake, over the rocks, and back into the forest, I was slowly running out of stamina. And energy. Those are two different things now. Another bolt slammed down on my flank and I winced as a mass of glass, superheated by her magic, slammed into my side. My right foreleg missed a step and buckled, sending me sprawling onto the ground. I clenched my teeth to keep from screaming. One of my eyes looked back up towards the spectator booth where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were frantically motioning to me as if they were trying to tell me to get away from her, get away from the arena, find help, fight back. “Well no shit she’s dangerous, Sherlock. Not to mention fucked in the head. Maybe you should do something?” When all they did was stand there, I lost all hope for ponykind and common sense. Zero brain cells. Or maybe they were wanting to see how they ended. Honestly can’t blame them, even though it was one-sided. Finally motionless on the ground, I let my breath catch back up with my rapidly beating heart. Despite being stalked by a batshit crazy Alicorn princess and inhaling massive amounts of sand, it was quite relaxing. “Aaaaddriiiannn…” Fuck. “This has gone long enough, don’t you think?” I struggled to get up, however a strong force on my left side slammed me back on the ground, causing my head to spin. “Corrupted Twi” (I guess?) was standing over me, one hoof on the side of my barrel. I spat out some of the sand from my mouth and swallowed hard. “Gee, what makes you think that?” I replied in the most condescending voice imaginable. To me. To anyone else it probably sounded weak as a cutesy wootsey bunny. A very pissed off cutesy wootsey bunny. Still, the asshole princess over me laughed that stupid, overused, cliché villain laugh, rolling her head backwards as her voice came deep from within the bellows of her throat. “You know I do not like you much, Adrian.” A purple glow enveloped my body and I rose into the air. Twilight’s hoof came off my barrel and a wave of semi-relief came over me. “I had no idea.” Twilight rolled her eyes and stared back at me intensely, almost judging my soul. God that sounds creepy. But she was a magical Alicorn princess, so I guess it works…? Maybe? Maybe Alicorns do have the power to see into souls. I tried flooding my mind with screwed-up human fetish sex scenes. If she saw any of it she was unfazed. “I’m a princess, Adrian. There is no one watching this fight. So what, pray tell, is stopping me from killing you right now, and ending this little two year charade you’ve had going?” The purple glow around me strengthened considerably. I gulped and sucked in a breath. “Uhh… I… plead… the fifth?” Somehow I became airborne, sailing across the arena before crashing into the forest canopy, hitting at least twelve branches before slamming my heavy ass into the ground. I groaned again. “Dammit, Twi, that was a gem.” The royal canterlot voice shook the canopy above me, causing loose leaves to fall off the trees, landing on the mossy, damp ground. “NOTHING!” I casted a quick healing spell over my body, instantly feeling rejuvenated. I let out a breath of air that I didn’t realize that I had been holding in and slouched my shoulders. The beating of wings alerted me again to my doombringer, and I instantly rolled to the side as four hooves slammed into the ground where my body once was. Her head cocked to the side and whirled around, looking right at me, and her hooves kicked out from under her, exploding into action, flying directly at my face. Good lord this mare never has any cool down period. I threw out my hoof and somehow brought it down in a leftward arc, redirecting Twilight’s path to my left side. The sound of an impact to my left confirmed my hopes that she hit a tree. I totally DID NOT laugh. At all. If I had a camera to take a photo of the Princess of Magic herself with half her body stuck through a tree trunk, I wouldn’t think twice about posting that all over the internet. The laugh sure was taken right out of my mouth when a pair of hooves erupted into my right side, sending explosions of pain into my consciousness and flinging me into a clearing. I rolled at least four times before I stopped, flat on my back. Confound my luck and my need to celebrate it before actually assessing the situation. I let out a very manly whimper and rolled onto my hooves, shaking my head from the impact. Once my vision stopped swimming, my eyes followed the purple streak in the sky to the bullet coming down from the sky to me. Being the Alicorn she is, I find it hard to believe she would enjoy having wings this much to not use practically any offensive magic, magic that would have been much more effective than physical, high speed attacks. She doesn’t really have the best kind of fighting tactics, does she? Still doesn’t. Believe me, I know. So yeah, it was luck again when my reflexes made my slow, sorry ass jump to the side in time for her goddamn princess body to make a veritable crater in the forest floor. And don’t tell me “oh, dude, Adrian, Twilight is only like 130 pounds! She can’t make a crater!” Bro. This princess is like a ton or some shit. One heavy motherfucker. Fucking. Alicorns. … dude. Damn that’s like the third time I’ve said that. Me and my resourceful mind fired my magic off towards a large stick lying on the ground from the previous impact, wielding it close to my body in my orange aura like it was a sword. Wouldn’t be as painful as a sword, but it would have to do. For now. Until I could get a sword. I really wanted a sword. Like, now. The princess hurled herself at me again, and I swatted her out of the air again, this time with a large piece of wood. Reminded of my previous mistakes, I followed her trajectory through the forest until she came back around, where I knocked her back up into the air. The bottom of my horn stung a tad at the powerful hit, and I began to get the nagging feeling that my magic was severely drained. No matter! I will probably be dead soon anyway! She landed behind me again and my stick came down, only to be knocked out of my magical grasp by a strong swing of her hoof. I reared on my hind legs instinctively, readying for hand-to-hand (hoof-to-hoof?) combat as another hoof came down on my side, probably cracking one or two ribs. I blocked the third strike with my left leg, pushing it away and counter striking with my right leg, knocking the princess back a couple steps. She coughed. I coughed. We coughed. Because anything you do is okay, as long as you do it as friends! Friends who are fighting each other to the death non-inclusive. I charged her while she was down, my hind legs working like my human self, pounding away on the moss and dirt. Twilight slid down and kicked out a hind leg in front of her, effectively tripping me and sending me sprawling into the clearing. I rolled over to see her jump into the air, right hoof raised to bring it down on my head, and raised my right leg to block. I pushed with my leg and sent her flying over me, doing a vertical 360 before landing on the ground. The inertia propelled me back to my feet and I stumbled backwards, hitting my back against another tree. Twilight was seething, and the black marks on her face crawled faster, distorting her image. She bared her teeth and lunged directly at me. I made to move out of the way, but she was too fast. Her hooves slammed into my chest and pushed us both through the tree onto the other side, rolling and coming to a stop in a cloud of hits, kicks, and bites. When the dust settled, the princess was on top of me, pinning my legs to the ground. I grinded my teeth together and raised my head to bite her, but she brought her own head own, slamming into mine with enough force to cancel my movements and send my vision into chaos. Her hind legs ground into mine, forcing them deeper into the dirt. I groaned with the pain, trying to summon enough magic to send her flying away, but only a small shower of sparks appeared around my horn. I struggled against her hold and, to my relief, the leg holding down my right foreleg came off, giving me some break from the pressure. I made to bring my leg up and smack her sideways, but that thought was instantly thrown out the metaphorical window by the leg that had been trapping mine being pushed against my windpipe, cutting off my air. I gasped through clenched teeth. Twilight smiled. Black swam around my vision. Twilight’s form becoming blurrier, and blurrier, vanishing into nothingness. The pain was unbearable… the pain… … the pain… EXPLOSION! My mind shorted out, my thoughts taken over by an invisible force. My eyes shot open, white glancing the edges, pushing my pain to the back of my mind, becoming extinct. My body channeled the magic inside to a height completely unknown to me before, and unleashed it all on the one creature that stood in my way to salvation. The yellow and orange light pulsated off my body, sending a shockwave of energy in a 360 degree arc around my figure. Twilight’s eyes widened as my power charged, and she increased the pressure on my windpipe - a feeble attempt to stop the coming storm. Then all at once, I unleashed my magical bonds. The only sounds around me were the splintering of trees, the whipping of the wind, and the loudest noise I have ever heard in my entire life, both here and back on Earth. My eyes, unable to be shut, cut daggers into Twilight’s form, still clutched against my chest and pinning my legs to the ground. The constant, pulsating shockwaves of my magical release ripped apart the forest around me, causing splinters and entire trunks flying into nothingness. The glass roof of the arena cracked and shattered, sending glass shards down onto the field. My body moved on its own, concentrating the magical field into a singularity on my right hoof. The feeling of holding it was like holding power incarnate. The sounds were gone. Twilight’s eyes still stared into mine, horrified. I brought my hoof back, preparing to strike. The singularity refracted golden light around, bouncing off both our faces as we watched each other. And then my hoof threw itself forwards, striking Twilight straight in her muzzle. And everything went black.