I was in a strange world of absolute light. Nothing but light as far as the eye could see.
"Who are you?" I said as I circled around the mysterious mare.
I noticed that her flank was plain... Just.. like.. mine.
I looked back at my plain flank and looked back at the Mare.
"That is not important at this moment." The Mare said.
"You bet your ass that it isn't important!" I went to take a step toward the Mare and a mysterious force picked me up and slammed me into the ground.
The Mare sighs.
"I see the stubborn personality still remains." The Mare said as held her hoof out to me.
I quickly kip up'd and took a step back.
"Leon, the time will come for me to explain everything. I promise. Just hear me out." The mysterious Mare said.
"Our time here is limited. On top of that I am on borrowed power. For me to gain more power I need you to do several... challenges for me." The Mare said as her face contained a more serious look.
"Why should I do that?" I stepped towards the Mare with slight aggression.
"Give me one good damn reason!" I said loudly.
"Limited Time. Limited Power. Upon the next full moon the towns fountain will absorb the power from the moon. Drink it." The mare started to walk away.
"Hey!" I want to go after the Mare but next thing I knew I was falling.
"AHHHH!!!" I next saw that I was out of the mysterious world and falling towards Twilight's House.
I screamed as I fell and I noticed that the roof was completely gone, and I was falling towards my bed.
A split second before I hit the bed I awoke in a cold sweat and a slight yelp escaped my mouth.
Twilight, who had already been awake, turned to me.
"Leon, are you alright?" She said with concern as she trotted over to me.
"Yeah... I'm fine. Just an odd dream." I said as I got up.
Something felt different about me. As if my body was, lighter?
"They're called nightmares" Twilight said with a giggled as she trotted off, and came back with a bottle of water. The bottle was familiar.
"Here." I took the bottle and noticed a tag on it.
It read: 'Anti-Injury Potion. [EXPERIMENTAL] Do Not Consume!'
I slowly looked up at Twilight as she gave me a look.
I decided to be Honest with her.
"Yeah, I drank it..." I said with a sigh as I placed the bottle down.
"And it worked?" Twilight said curiously.
I nodded.
"I'm glad! But still angry. I wish you at least told me afterwards. But no matter... You did save our lives, AND you confirmed that the potion works. Problem is that the ingredients are hard to get, rare, AND expensive." Twilight said with a sigh.
"No worries, I'll just go out later and look for more..." Twilight says as a loud crash is heard outside.
Me and Twilight gasped and headed outside quickly.
Nearby a house collapsed and was aflame.
"Pipsqueak!? Where's Pipsqueak!!?? H-he must be stuck in there!!" The panicking mare went to try and squeeze herself into the smallest space left for entry, but another pony came and started holding her back.
"Let me go!! I need to save him!! Stop!!" The mare in tears was trying to struggle from the stallion holding her back.
"Damn coward..." I said as I rushed for the house.
"Leon! No!!" Twilight yelled.
I managed to slip into the small space and I began to crawl through the remains, avoiding what fire I could. Faint cries came from under some rumble and I could make out the face of the young colt.
I moved the rumble and made an opening for the colt, and managed to pull him close.
"I got you. Don't worry." I managed to crawl back keeping the colt under me to protect him from anything falling. I found a small crack leading outside and I pushed the colt through the opening. I slowly crawled out behind him and stood up. I took a stretch and shook off the soot and ash that I caught on me.
The mare, presumably the mother was holding Pipsqueak with tears of joy.
Suddenly cheers overcame the sound of the fire.
The mare gently set down the colt and approached me.
"I... T-t... You..." The mare hugged me tightly.
"I owe you my life! Thank y-you so much!!" The mare was filled with teary-joy.
I slowly eased her off of me and patted her.
"Anything, I'll give you anything. What do I owe you." The mare said to me.
I started to head back towards Twilight's.
"There has to be something!" The mare said.
I stopped for a moment.
"Just don't play with matches." I said as I then entered Twilight's house.
Twilight then quickly entered and smiled at me.
"That was so amazing Leon!" Twilight said.
"It was nothing, but listen. I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back." I headed upstairs and put my bag on my back and headed out.
"Where are you headed to?" Twilight said in curiosity.
"I'll tell you later." I left and made my way to Applejack's Farm.
I came across Applejack who was resting under a tree.
"I need your help." I said to her as she peaked up at me from under her hat.
"Uhh... Sure. What is it?" Applejack said back to me.
"A young mare's house burned down in town. I would like to build her a new one" I said to her.
"Oh my, that's quite serious. I'm pretty sure we have the stuff for that though. Listen, there's a pub in town. Go there and a few of the stallions there can help us. I'll gather the construction supplies." Applejack said as she got up and started heading to the other side of barn.
"Alright, will do." I headed to the pub in the town and entered it. Upon entry I noticed a table of stallions playing poker. I headed over to them and took a seat.
"Deal me in." I said to the dealer.
"A newbie... heh. This should be interesting." The dealer dealt me in and we started off.
I had a 2 and a 4. I kept a straight face.
"10." The first one, also being the dealer, said, setting down 10 bits.
"Call" Another said putting down 10 bits.
"I'll raise to 20" The third said as he placed 20 bits down.
"The two ponies before matched it, adding 10 to their original placements"
"Call" I said, placing 20 of my bits down.
Three cards were then set down. A King, a Queen, and a 5.
"20" The first pony said with a slight curving in his facial expression, he's holding back a smile.
"Call" The second pony said, placing 20 bits down.
"Call" The third pony said setting his 20 bits down as well.
"All in" I said with a slight smirk and a dart of my eyes as I put my last 80 bits in the pot.
"I fold" The first one said setting his cards down and putting another out.
"Me too" The second one said placing his cards down.
"Beginners luck" The last said slamming his cards down.
With a mischievous giggle I took the 220 bits and placed them into my wallet, making a whopping profit of 120 bits.
"Would you guys like to get this money back and more?" I said to them.
"Sure, are we going for another one?" The first said.
"Nope, I need you three to help me with something." I said to them.
"And that is...?" The 2nd said to me.
"A young mare's house burnt down. I need some manpower to help me build a new one for her." I said to them.
"I'm in." The third one said.
"Same here." The first one said.
"I'm in as well" The second one said.
"Alright, follow me then." I headed to an open plot in the town and Applejack was there with the same idea as I.
"How bout here?" Applejack said with a large amount of construction supplies.
"Just what I was thinking" I said.
"These are the ponies ya found? Perfect, lets get started then" Applejack said as she started to set thing up.
We began to work on the house. It had to taken us a good few hours, it was nothing major. Closing into sunset, we finished.
I searched the town for the mare and colt and I came across them taking refuge in the Town Hall.
"Follow me." I said to the two as I lead them to their new home.
"This is your new home. With the help of Applejack, these three ponies, and myself."
The mare broke into tears of joy and hugged everypony.
"I-I owe all of you... S-so much...." She said with a smile on her face.
The same sensation was in my chest. Something I could not describe. It was almost like butterflies in my stomach, except with my chest. I shuddered a bit from the weird feeling and looked at the horizon.
The sun began to set.
"I must make my leave, I will see all of you tomorrow." I headed to the town fountain and waited until the moon rose high.
"Have yerself a good one Leon!" Applejack said waving me off as the mare and her colt waved me off as well.
The full moon sat high in the sky, and a beautiful clear bottle with a cork sat by the fountain. I took it and scooped the water up.
It had a mysterious glow to it. I shrugged and drank half of it. My body felt heavy, and I suddenly hit the ground.
Mere seconds later I awoke to the mysterious world of light once more.
"Welcome Leon" The mare said as I turned around.
"Care to explain?" I said as I stood there.
"I need to test you, to see if I can truly tell you what you need, or want to know..." The mare said as she raised her hoof and several dark black ponies appeared with mysterious yellow eyes.
"I know it won't be a problem for you though" The pony said as she vanished.
"Hey!" I said looking at my opponents.
They then charged me.
"Son of a..." I said as I prepared myself for battle.
[End of Chapter. Part One]