//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Strange Crystal 'Mansion' // Story: Fighting the Darkness // by ScottishPony //------------------------------// "God damn it..." his first words after stirring awake. Sheamus’ head was still pounding from whatever happened to him, to the point where, just for a moment, he thought he was home again before he found himself laying in a different bed with goat legs. He frowned. Sluggishly, the man slowly lifted himself up to look around. He was not met by the pleasant forest scene he last recalled, but instead inside what could only be assumed to be a rather strange mansion of sorts. A tall ceiling with a glass chandelier; huge crystalline pillars connecting the room from the bottom to the top; and a smooth, shiny floor with a single rug across it. He instantly took notice of the crystals everything seemed to be made from. Smooth blue & dark purple stalactites and stalagmites etched their way in from the walls, with gold highlights running through them. However these formations seemed to stay rather dull with no sharp edges, and stayed strictly to the very edges of the room and up the columns to produce a rugged effect. This theme even carried on into the furniture. Directly across from the bed was a light-blue low table of varying hues, with a vase of gorgeous roses reflecting the colours of the rainbow. The vase was decorated by the same colours as the table. ’Jeez, how long’d it take for someone to build that?’ Sheamus blunk as his eyes took in the spectacle, before turning his attention to the other sides of the room. To his left, a shut - and presumably locked - door elegantly crafted from, you guessed it, more crystals. To his right there seemed to be just a plain glass door leading out onto a short balcony, which was also probably locked. No harm in trying them, though. Sighing, Sheamus gently slipped his hooves onto the floor, giving an uneasy shiver due to the fact he had to call them ’hooves’. He carefully stood up, and gulped down hard. He still hadn’t become a master at whole, eh, walking thing, but he was at least getting a bit better. He was free-standing, so it must account for something. ’One step... two steps...’ his brain muttered as his body carried out his actions, ’three... four... Hey, this isn’t so bad after all!’ He produced a smile as he began to carefully pace around the room. Though it gave him unease as he heard his hooves ’clip’ and ’clop’ against the smooth floor, it also gave him a feeling of fulfilment. He was walking! On his own too!! His triumph didn’t last long, as he began to hear unfamiliar voices coming from beyond the locked entrance to his room, we well as footsteps. Startled, his gaze flickered around for places he could hide. Nothing... except maybe the balcony? He rushed towards the door and tried the handle. ’Click!’ Yes! Perfect! He hurriedly rushed out onto the balcony and did his best to squeeze into the corner just right of the shimmering door frame. He could barely hear anything beyond the rushing of blood in his ears as the once locked door swung open. He could sense the creatures there, sucked in a huge breath, and held it tight. ... "Where’d he go?" The single line cut through the pounding within his eardrums, and made him ecstatic. C’mon, just get outta here!! "... I guess he must have escaped." The somewhat familiar voice echoed, "Hey, why’s the balcony door open?" The familiar face of the purple unicorn stuck her head right into his view. He knew he was already screwed. "Where could he b-" she thought out loud before her gaze swept around the balcony and met with Sheamus’s. "Hi." he forced a cheesy grin, recognising the unicorn that had knocked him out earlier, "Fancy meeting you here." The purple one’s face dropped and the Satyr was one more coiled in her magical grasp. "Hey? What the hell are you doing?!" Sheamus snapped as he was forced back into the room from whence he came. The room seemed much more populated now; a couple of familiar faces like Applejack, but the others ones he had never seen before. "Welcome back. Satyr." Applejack snorted, letting her mistrust of him show clearly. "Yes indeed. A beast he certainly is." a white unicorn next the orange mare muttered yet showed no intention of hiding her words from him. "Looks like he dragged through the Everfree backwards by his hair," a rainbow-maned pegasus added bluntly, floating gently around him for a closer inspection, "I’ve honestly seen boars prettier than you." "Coming from the floating bird-horse with hair that only suits a gay pride parade." Sheamus quipped back, and the rainbow pony’s face dropped. "Twilight. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t give this goat hybrid a taste of my own hoof." she growled, bringing her face right up close to his. Sheamus grinned, which only seemed to make her more mad. He knew that if he wasn’t trapped inside the bubble of magic, he would happily give her a taste of his own hoof. "Rainbow, calm down. He’s stuck right now, so he can’t exactly do much other than talk." the purple mare spoke while rolling her eyes. "Even that’s overly generous." Rainbow sniffed as she drew herself away and eventually out of the room, followed quickly by Applejack and the white unicorn. "He doesn’t look to dangerous." a new voice spoke up, and a yellow pegasus with a long, fluffy mane stepped forward, "Are you really sure this is the creature your book was talking about?" The yellow mare’s attention turned to the last remaining mare in the room. Twilight sighed, "I’m not sure. He doesn’t look or act like the book describes. It says that most, if not all, Satyrs were evil, dastardly creatures but he just looks... Normal." Twilight spoke half to herself and half to the other mare, while casting unsure gazes towards him. "Look, I’m not here to hurt you- or anyone for that matter!" Sheamus quickly defended himself, "I just woke up and found myself here. I don’t know where I am or how I even gained this form. All I can tell you is that I’m not here to cause any harm." "He certainly seems nice." The yellow mare smiled gently, while Twilight gave a soft chuckle. "Oh, Fluttershy, you could find kindness in pure evil, couldn’t you?" Twilight joked and the yellow and pink one simply giggled. Sheamus smiled softly, but did feel the conversation wasn’t really including him, and more about him. "So, do you really think he’s dangerous? I mean, after seeing what he’s like and hearing what the fillies described of him..." the one known as Fluttershy asked Twilight. Twilight hesitated, and looked the Satyr up and down once again, "I... I don’t know. My gut is telling me ’no’, but my head still isn’t sure..." Sheamus gave a goofy grin, "Do I really look like the kind of fella that would try to hurt anyone?" "Plus, if you really don’t want him wandering around Ponyville, he can come and live with me." Fluttershy offered. Twilight paused, "I... I guess that’s okay...." A smile drew across both Fluttershy’s and Sheamus’s face. "Okay... better get down to the others and get everything sorted out completely." Twilight smiled towards the mare, but cast an unsure glance towards the Satyr. "What is there to sort out?" Sheamus asked curiously, simply because he really just wanted to eat and go back to sleep. "Formalities, really, and pass the plan onto the others so they know what’s going on." the purple mare smiled, and he felt the magical grip on him slowly slip away, "I guess I can trust you enough to let you at least walk on your own." However, Sheamus was rather... unexpectant of this, and ended up falling flat onto his back. Twilight jumped slightly, and Fluttershy shot forward. "Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Fluttershy gasped as she quickly went to help the man up. "Yeah, yeah, I’m fine." Sheamus smiled, "I’ve felt with a ton worse." "Okay... If you’re sure..." The shy mare gulped as the Satyr stood and carefully began to walk forward towards the door frame. Sheamus heard the faint clop of hooves, and assumed that Twilight was already making her way to the ’others’, despite him not knowing where she was going. "Nice friends you have there." Sheamus interacted with the yellow pony who carefully stepped out in front of him. "They generally are nice. It’s just they were a bit frightened by what a book on your kind of species said- Oh that was probably a poor choice of words..." the mare spoke, scolding herself for using somewhat ’racist’ language. ’How can it count as racism if I’m a complete different species- and one made of assholes by the sound of it...’ Sheamus thought. "You seem like a nice being yourself," Fluttershy smiled, "It’s hard the think of you as someone who hurts ponies for a living."