When we arrive just outside of the building I took a glance at Dash, wondering if she was going to set me up with one of her traps. “You haven’t got a prank set in there for us have you, Dash?” I questioned.
She quickly snaps her head at me waving her hooves in different motions while she hovered in the air. “I swear on my Element that this isn’t a prank!” She turned her head away from me and ginned evilishly.
I was questioning why, Rainbow Dash of all ponies, some how convince me to come with her and bring me to this all to suspicious house. I close my eyes, the world turned to a transparent blue illuminating the area around me. I smiled as I saw dozens of different colors spread throughout the home. I took in a breath and exhaled, unimpressed by the attempt. “A, Pinkie party,” I muttered.
Rainbow Dash's pupils and irises dilate, she slowly motions her head in my direction, surprise strewn across her face. “But…! How-”
I smile at her reaction. I open my eyes as I finish examining the house. “I can sense energy Dash. Don’t worry i’ll act surprised.”
To this she smiles and then says “lets go in” with that I then open the door and the three of us step into the house.
Once we get inside it is still dark inside and I walk over to the light switch and as i turn it on i hear everyone shout “surprise!”
Seconds later I jump back in shock as my body collapses and I quickly grab hold of my chest as Fluttershy runs up to me and asks “Craig, are you OK?”
I then weakly whisper “Yeah, Just shocked me.” I then slowly stand up and say “give me a second” I then continue to stand up and take a few deep breaths and then look back to everyone who all looked terrified as I say “Don’t worry I’m fine”
seconds later I see everyone begin to relax as Applejack walks up to me and say “Ya worried us their partner.”
I then lower my head and mutter out “Sorry”
Applejack then looks worried again and asks “Craig what's wrong?” I slowly begin to walk backwards and she then says “Craig?”
I then step out the door and bolt up the street as I hear Rainbow dash say “I’ll find out what’s wrong” and she quickly fly’s after me.
Scootaloo’s POV
When I saw him I wondered what had just happened to Craig I began to worry as I realised that this wasn’t normal for him. I then look up to see everyone as worried as I am. Seconds later Pinkie walks up to me however unlike her normal poofy look her hair has instead fallen flat and lifeless, she then says “Something's wrong nopony ran away from one of my parties before”
I then tell her “I’m sure he has his reasons Pinkie”
“But why did he back away? He look terrified” asked Pinkie Pie
“He must ‘ave a reason of some kind” replied Applejack
Seconds later I heard a voice from just behind me say “Where’s Craig”
I then here Pinkie shout “He ran off Twilight. Dashie went off after him”
I then say “He looked scared.”
Twilight then looks at us confused and says “I doubt Craig was scared he battled Discord alone and wasn’t scared”
Pinkie then look at her and says “You didn’t see him. He collapsed and then when he stood back up he walked out the house then ran off.”
Twilight then looked up in thought then murmured “He couldn’t have a social disorder could he.”
I then thought about what Twilight just said and it then hit me. “If that is the case it explains a bit about him, like his reaction when we first met. He can’t cope well with large groups.”
To this Twilight looks at me and says “I guess that makes sense.”
I then say “I guess we need to wait for Rainbow to find him and bring him back.”
I then hear Pinkie shout “we might as well party till he gets back” With that her Mane begins to turn back into it's normal poofy style.
I just stand where I am and think “Please be OK dad”
Craig’s POV
As I fled from the party I felt ashamed with myself I just ran didn’t think about anypony else and just ran. Could I be any more of a coward?
Seconds later I stop as my hand slams into a nearby tree. I then stop as I realise where I am. I then whisper “This is where I first met Scootaloo, this is where I arrived and had my first problem with social interaction in this world.” I then stand up smile and say “man I was a jerk”
I then hear a voice behind me say “No you weren’t”
I then quickly turn around to see Rainbow Dash behind me, I then say “You heard that?”
She then nods her head and says “Yeah all of it” she then asks “How long?”
“What?” I asked in confusion
“How long were you planning on not telling us you had this to deal with” she asked again
“I wasn’t planning on telling you” I then sigh and say “I always had the symptoms, but over the last year i’ve deteriorated, and become worse. This is to the point that even with small groups I can’t cope, and have to get away.”
She then asks “Is that why you ran? you needed to get away, you couldn’t cope with that many ponies around you?”
I then nod my head and say “yeah” I then continue to tell her “but i’ve got to get over it for Scootaloo’s sake. If I can’t we’ll be kicked out of our home and she’ll have nowhere to go. That's why i’ve got to fight back against my own weakness and cure myself.”
I then see Dash walk over to me and say “I’m not one for this soppy stuff but I think you can do it. Besides you seem fine when you're performing.” she then continues to say “you’ll never fight it alone, you’ve got us all beside you to help.”
I then look back to her and smile then say “thank you” I then stand up and continue to say “you are right.” I then smile an say “before we go back do you mind”
She then smiles and say “If you mean perform a song then go ahead”
I then smile and say “Thank you” I then begin play The Past is Not Today.
????Power, Was all I desired, But all that grew inside me, Was the darkness I acquired.????
As I began to sing this I begin to levitate off the ground. ????When I began to fall, And I lost the path ahead, That's when your friendship found me, And it lifted me instead????
Once I started to sing this two flaming wings that were similar to the set that Lilith and Maya had in Borderland 2 appeared on my back.????Like a phoenix burning bright, In the sky,I'll show there's another side to me, You can't deny. I may not know what the future holds, But hear me when I say That my past does not define me, 'Cause my past is not today.????
????Ambition, Is what I believed, Would be the only way, To set me free.????
????But when it disappeared, And I found myself alone, That's when you came and got me, And it felt like I was home????
????Like a phoenix burning bright, In the sky, I'll show there's another side to me, You can't deny. I may not know what the future holds, But hear me when I say, That my past does not define me, 'Cause my past is not today????
Once I had finished my wings disappeared and I landed on the ground again and said “I needed that so badly”
Dash then walks up to me and say “We better get back I bet everyone will be worried about you”
I then smile and say “Yeah.” I then turn to her and say “Thank you for helping me, you really pulled me out from a dark place there.”
She then smiles at me and says “just promise me one thing. Never tell anypony what happened here today.”
I then smile and say “cross my heart, hope to fly, Stick a cupcake in my eye.”
To this we both smile and laugh as Rainbow Dash Says “Lets go”
To this I just nod my head as we begin to walk back home.
-Back home-
As I got back to the house I felt a strange feeling of dread as I realised what I could have caused.
As I slowly reached for the handle I took one last deep breath and opened the door to see everyone happily unaware that I was back to which I smiled and whispered to Rainbow Dash “Guess everyone wasn’t as worried about me as we thought”
To this she just smiled and whispered to me “Just do your best” and then began to walk around the room.
Seconds later I am hit by what feels like a bullet that I instantly know to be Pinkie shout “OMG Craig you're ok I didn’t upset you please don’t say I upset you I never meant to upset you please forgive me if …”
At this point I quickly put my hand over her mouth and silence her then say “Pinkie calm down, No you didn’t upset me.” I then sigh and say “I have a bit of explaining to do”
I then take my hand off her mouth and she asks “What is it? Do you have a social disorder or something? Is that why you were so scared?”
I then sigh and say “yeah you’ve got it I’ve got the social side of asperger's meaning that I can’t cope with large groups. I was scared and felt like I had to escape.” I then look at Pinkie and continue to tell her “I’m sorry if I upset you” I then gesture to everyone there and say “All of you.”
I then Scootaloo walk up to me and say “At least your OK dad, I was really worried about you.”
I then kneel down and hug her and say “I’m sorry you shouldn’t have to be the one who has to worry. I’ll try not to do it again.”
She then smiles and says “OK dad”
I then hear Rainbow shout from up the stairs “Craig, Squirt come here.”
I then look at Scootaloo and we both begin to walk up the stars. Once we reach the top we see Rainbow Dash directing us to Scootaloo’s empty room as I realise that I hadn’t sorted her out a bed yet.
I then look at her as we reach the room to see her face light up and I look at her in confusion. I then proceed to look into the room and cover my mouth as I realise that her room had been fully outfitted, this included a bed, shelving, and posters of… Rainbow Dash. Of course it would be her. I then look at her and say “So you knew she didn’t have anything in her room”
To this she smiles and says “Yeah, besides you don’t have enough to sort the squirt out a room and we needed to thank you for helping us with Discord so we decided to help you with her room.”
Seconds later Scootaloo grabs hold of Rainbow Dash and screams “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
I then smile and tell her “thank you. The posters of you are a nice touch.”
She then blushes and says “Thanks”
“No problem” I then continue to say “we better head back down, don’t was to miss the party” with that we all begin to smile as we begin to walk back down the stairs.
Once we get down the stairs I sit on the bottom and begin to think about everything that had happened today however before I get chance to finish my thought I hear Twilight say “So Aspergers, what is that?”
I then and say “I don’t know much about it myself I’m afraid.” I then smile and “isn’t it in your one of your books?” Shen then stares at me as I say “I wish I could help you Twi”
She then looks at me, smiles and say “why didn’t you tell us sooner”
I then look down to the ground and tell her “I was ashamed of my past. I just wanted to forget it but you can’t forget what you were lest you lose who you are.”
She then smiles and says “did you look into philosophy before you came to Equestria?”
I then laugh and say “No, I just had no social life and spent my time reading or listening to quotes.” I then continue to say “Anyway Twi I need to talk to everyone i’ve got a few more apologies to make. See you later”
As I continue to talk to everyone a large majority keep asking me if I was OK to which I always replied to them that I was which seemed to calm most of them down, however it did little calm down Applejack and Rarity. I guess they could tell there was more to it than I was letting on; well they can’t find out, at least not yet.
As the night went on I slowly became more agitated and wanted to do something to calm down, but deep deep down I knew that i’d need a break soon or i’d lose it.
It must have been obvious to Pinkie and Rainbow Dash as they walked over to me and Pinkie whispered to me “You need a break?” to which I just nodded.
Rainbow then looks at me then says “I’ll be honest I need a bit of room as well maybe a bit of a flight.” She then looks at me and asks “you interested?”
I then smile and say “I’ll go outside but i’ll just sit down in the fresh air for a bit”
To this she just shrugs and say “fair enough” then as we begin to walk out I see Pinkie begin to follow us and three pairs of eyes follow us out the room.
Once we get outside i take a deep breath as Rainbow Dash asks “you OK?”
I then smile and say “yeah just contemplating how i’m going to manage a performance when I fled from everypony before”
I then hear Pinkie say from behind us “Maybe we need to practice our music to help you get over your fears of performing”
I then smile and say “maybe? But what would we perform?”
“I’m sure you or Discord has one right” asked Pinkie
I then rub my head and say “maybe… Do you know a song called fight song?”
“Yeah i’ve heard of it. Do you know the lyrics?”
“Just about, you sure you want to Pinkie” to this she nods her head and I continue to say “OK.” I then turn to Rainbow Dash and tell her “could you please tell everypony to stay inside.”
To this she smiles then say “On it” she then steps back towards the house and says “We better still hear you though”
I then smile and say “I’ll do my best” she then nods her head and steps into the house. Once she is out of view I turn to Pinkie and say “You ready”
She just nods her head and jumps on a kit of drums behind us and I mutter “Don’t question it, just don’t question it” I then grab the guitar and say ready to her, we then begin to perform Fight Song by Rachel Platten.
????Like a small boat, on the ocean, Sending big waves, Into motion. ????
????Like how a single word, Can make a heart open ????
I then click my fingers and a red flame appears in my right hand and a blue spark in my left, I then sing ????I might only have one match,????I then throw the red flame into the aim and throw the red spark towards it, i then sing ????But I can make an explosion????as I finish singing the a massive rainbow coloured inferno appears above us.
????And all those things I didn't say, Wrecking balls inside my brain, I will scream them loud tonight, Can you hear my voice this time?????
As I sing the next few lines I clench my hand in a fist and place it over my heart, I then continue to sing ????This is my fight song, Take back my life song, Prove I'm alright song????My body then begins to glow in a bright white light as I sing ????My power's turned on, Starting right now I'll be strong, I'll play my fight song, And I don't really care if nobody else believes????The light then begins to fade as i sing ????'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me????
????Losing friends and I'm chasing sleep, Everypony's worried about me, In too deep, Say I'm in too deep????
????And it's been two years, I miss my home, But there's a fire burning in my bones, Still believe, Yeah, I still believe????
????And all those things I didn't say, Wrecking balls inside my brain, I will scream them loud tonight, Can you hear my voice this time?????
????This is my fight song, Take back my life song, Prove I'm alright song????
At this point electricity began to flow around my body as my hair began to stand up straight and turn bright yellow. As this happens I continue to sing????My power's turned on, Starting right now I'll be strong, I'll play my fight song, And I don't really care if nobody else believes????
????'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me????
????A lot of fight left in me????
????Like a small boat, On the ocean, Sending big waves, Into motion, Like how a single word, Can make a heart open????Just like the first time a red flame appears in my left hand however in my right hand there is a light blue shard that shone like ice, I then sing ????I might only have one match????I then throw the shard into the air which extended into a long beam i then threw the fireball so it spiraled around the ice making it shine like the night sky. I then sing the words????But I can make an explosion????
????This is my fight song, Take back my life song, Prove I'm alright song????
I then begin to raise off the ground and fly beside the ice spear I continue to sing ????My power's turned on, Starting right now I'll be strong, I'll play my fight song, And I don't really care if nobody else believes????
I then stand on top of the ice spear as my wings appear on my back and make the ice shine brighter than ever before. I then sing ???? 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me????
I then teleport back to the ground then say ????No I've still got a lot of fight left in me????with that I then lower my head to the ground.
As I look back up see Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom string at me. I then hear them scream “that was amazing”
They then all run up to me and jump onto me causing me to fall over and almost land on my back however just before this happened some blue tendrils come from my back and pushed me back onto two legs. Seconds later both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle jump backwards and scream “What in tartarus is that!”
Me and Scootaloo then look at each other and ask them “what is what?”
“Those things that came from your back” replied Sweetie Belle
I then look at her then say “oh you mean Bii”
Appleboom then asks “who?”
“Bii is a Klyntar that Hybrid left with Craig before he returned to his universe” replied Scootaloo.
“Wow so that is another creature” asked Sweetie Belle
“Yeah, although it is young think of it as a newborn foal, but instead of it feeding on food it feeds off the nutrients from my body to survive.”
“Looks like the little guys quite helpful” says Applebloom
I then kneel down and say “He most likely will be”
Second later Pinkie comes speeding towards us and Bii quickly creates a large blue shield using his tendrils which surprisingly was strong enough not to break but malleable enough to cause her to just bounce of it. I then turn to her in shock and say “Pinkie you OK”
She then stands up and rubs her head and says “I think so.” She then looks at me in surprise and says “Even I didn’t expect that to be hard enough to not bend or break but be bouncy enough to cause me to fly backwards.” she then smiles and say “it was kind of fun”
I then shake my head and tell her “I am never going to understand you Pinkie”
Seconds later everyone in the house comes running outside and surround me, as this happens I can feel Bii getting ready to do something, however before I get chance to tell him to stop I hear one of the ponies say “he gone” I then look at them confusion until I realise that my body had become completely camouflaged with the environment around me.
I then jump outside of the mob of ponies and land on a nearby roof at that point Bii then removed the camouflage as I just lay prone on the roof and shouted “Try and find me”
At this point their heads all looked around in shock as I smirked until Pinkie appeared next to me and whispered “found you”
I then smile and whisper “well done who do you think will be next”
She then says “probably Dashie”
I then smile and say “If she flies above us yeah, shall we wait and see”
She then looks at me and nods her head and we both just lie on the tiles as silent as an assassin.
-30 minutes later-
After what seemed like an hour I whispers to Pinkie “shall we put them out of their misery”
“I guess this has gone on long enough” she sighed
I then whisper to her “want a lift” She then stares back at me and nods her head and I then smile and say “Jump on my back” She then smiles, jumps and lands on my shoulders and I close my eyes and begin to levitate off the the ground and shout “Congratulations to Pinkie who found me ages ago”
With that everyone looks up to see us slowly land back on the ground as Rainbow Dash shouts “Oh come on you were hiding on a roof”
I then smile and say “Yep”
Seconds later Twilight asks “how did you disappear from right in front of us?”
I then smile and say “seems Bii has more tricks than we thought”
She then looks at me and shouts “That we Bii, thats insane” she then pulls out a notebook and begins to scribble something down she then quickly says “what else can he do”
I then smile and say “He has created what I would say could be used as extra arms, a shield that could be as hard as diamonds or a springy as a trampoline and as I just explained it seem he can camouflage me in with the environment around me.”
I then hear Rainbow Dash say “Think about it Craig, the ability to nap whenever you want. Invisible nap is the best nap of all time.
I then look at her and say “nopony should have that kind of power”
She then says “You would be completely unstoppable”
I then look at her and say “no that would be a grievous misuse of Bii’s power”
She then looks to twilight and say “Twilight we need another one of these things”
I then look at twilight and say “Ignore her”
She then smiles at me, nods her head and then tells me “i’m with you, she is not getting a Klyntar”
I then hear her moan and then shout “fine” with that she flies off and I roll my eyes and say “she’ll be fine after she calms down”
I then turn around to see everypony walking away from the house and back into town I then smile and say “party must be over” I then look at Pinkie and say “thank you for a great night”
To this she smiles and say “No problem, See you tomorrow” with that she begins to walk back towards Sugercube Corner.
I then shout to her “See you later” I then turn to everyone else and says “You all heading home as well?”
To this they all just nodd at me as they each begin to leave. I then shout to each of them “Goodnight everyone” with that me and Scootaloo then walk back into the house.
Once we get back inside I say to Scootaloo “You better get to bed, you’ve got school in the morning.”
She quickly mutters out “But... “ however before she could finish what she was saying she began to yawn.
I then look at her and say “If you were going to say your not tired you kind of shot yourself in the hoof.” I then point upstair and say “You better go to bed”
She then slowly tries to climb the stairs to room but promptly just starts snoring half way up and just lies there. I then smile, walk up to her and pick her up.
As I begin to walk up the stairs she begins to nuzzle my arm same as the last time as I hear her murmur “I love you dad”
I then smile as I walk towards her room, open the door to her room, lie her down on her bed and tuck her in and then whisper to her “I love you too Scoots” I then kiss her on the forehead, stand up and walk out of the room quietly closing the door as I leave.
I then proceed to walk into my room and put my guitar on the floor next to my bed, remove my amulet from my neck and place it on the desk beside me. I then lie down and begin to drift off to sleep.