//------------------------------// // Small mistakes, Big... rewards? // Story: A New Magic in Ponyville // by Shadowboltwriter //------------------------------// The day started pretty normal for the stallion. He woke up after the sun had been shining over his eyes for a few minutes. He dragged himself out from his makeshift tent and stretched out, a few of his joints popping in response. "Hmm... what was I gonna do..." He thought. The stallion tried to remember something he had told himself the previous night. He looked around himself. Other than trying to find more sticks, he had taken care of everything he saw as necessary the previous day. "I'll go ahead and get that out of the way. One of the few days I can relax." He said to himself. He trudged out into the everfree and returned only around a hour later and simply relaxed under his tent. He looked up into the sky after a long time, the sun was somewhere near the top of the sky, a little earlier than noon if the pony took as guess. "Plenty of time to practice a little magic." He said to himself. He looked over in his tent and levitated a small book toward him. He found it lying on a bench one night and hesitantly took it back with him. He picked out a spot close to his camp and opened up the book full of spells. He flipped through it's pages for a while till he found one particular spell he was looking for. Recently some timber wolves came into his camp and the encounter made himrealiz how ill prepared he was at defending himself. He was also trying to use regular magic vs what he usually tried out of the black book he kept in his belongings. For a while he spent his time trying to fire a laser with little success. He eventually pushed it aside and started back to a firework like spell, it was the closest thing he could find. Towards the evening he was getting very frustrated with his progress. "All right, I'll try this a few more times and if I can't get it I'm done for the day." He said to himself. He focused for what he could and started another spell. His first attempt only produced a few sparks and sputters from his horn. He tried a second time, sending a ball of energy into the air, but it very quickly fell back to the ground anddoing nothing but disappear. An irritated groan came from the stallion before he tried a third time. This time the spell worked like it was supposed to, flying off right where he wanted it to, leaving a trail of sparks as it flew. He had a small moment of joy and releif that he finally had gotten the spell right, but the moment didn't last very long when he saw something else shooting through the sky. He knew Rainbow Dash sometimes flew over this area, but her timing in his opinion couldn't have been worse. Worry and concern quickly spread over the stallion. "Oh sweet Celestia if that hits her..." He hoped, trailing off towards the end of his sentence. His worries grew far greater when the rainbow trail that was being left by a pony he knew to be Rainbow Dash flew straight into his spell, going off on contact. He watched as the cyan pegasus fell out of the sky and crashed into the ground. Rainbow Dash staggered back onto her hooves in a daze. "Hey! What the heck... WHO DID THAT!" She yelled. Rainbow was smart enough to know that she got hit by some sort of magic spell. The stallion heard her clear as day, and he shot over to the edge of the trees and got behind one. He was panicking, he had just shot the element of loyalty right out of the sky and she was mad. He peered out from behind the tree a little to try and see her. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings a few times before hoping up off the ground and flew over towards the camp once she saw it. She looked around briefly, unsure what to think of the scene. "Does somepony... live here?" She thought. Rainbow flew around for a better look, this definitely didn't seem like a campsite that somepony just occasionally used, it looked more like somepony actually lived there, like all the time. Rainbow dash started flying around more, there was a fire pit that still felt a little warm, a small garden that had damp soil, a tent with three chests under it, somepony totally lived here. Another thought quickly came to her mind. "Maybe it's that pony that hit me out of the sky." She thought to herself. Out of curiosity Rainbow dash went over to the chests to see what was in them, when the pony hiding behind the trees noticed this he got very irritated. Rainbow dash went to the one that looked the biggest and opened it with little effort, she found mostly foods along with a few tools. Rainbow looked over to a chest that looked somewhat fancy, like something that belonged in a castle or a place like that rainbow thought. It was somewhat small but what struck Rainbow as odd was the wood on the chest had a distinct dark purple hue to it and the edges seemed to be covered in what appeared to be silver. Rainbow tried to open it but couldn't get it to budge. She started hitting it, hoping it would open. That was what set off her observer. He darted out from behind the trees the second she started hitting the chest. "HEY GET AWAY FROM THAT!" He yelled at her before a powerful red laser shot out of his horn past rainbow dash's head. The stallion was surprised in that moment for two reasons 1. He just performed a perfect laser spell like he'd done it a hundred times 2. In the blink of an eye an angry Rainbow Dash flew at him and tackled him. The two ponies rolled for a moment before Rainbow Dash stood on top of the other pony. "What's the big idea here?!" Rainbow demanded. Instead of an actual answer the stallion quickly managed to throw her off of him and fired another successful laser below her. The stallion quickly looked around and decided to try and escape rainbow dash by running off into the everfree. Rainbow Dash saw him and ran in after him. As soon as he noticed her running through the trees he started a spell that he knew pretty well, his horn started glowing a mixture of black, green, and purple before rainbow dash suddenly tripped over a thick line of black crystals. He quickly summoned two more along her back, pinning her to the ground. Rainbow tried to get up but couldn't break the crystals pinning her. "HEY! LET ME GO!" Rainbow dash yelled at him. The other pony didn't really want to hurt her, but he wanted her gone, he didn't want other ponies to know about him. He charged another firework-like spell and shot it at the pinned pegasus. His intent was to see if he could knock her out and maybe she's just think this was some crazy dream. Dash saw it coming and braced herself for it. Rainbow Dash was disoriented after the hit but didn't get knocked out. After a moment of looking around she noticed the shot had cracked the crystals restraining her. The stallion ran out back into the fields, thinking he might have a break, before he was again rammed and pinned by the angry pegasus. She was on top him in an instant. "Alright now what in equestria do you think your doing?!" She yelled at him. He panicked, he tried throwing her off again but it didn't work this time. He decided to try something he was pretty sure would work. His once again horn glowed a mixture of black, green, and purple again before he transformed into a mere dark mist that quickly disappeared into the everfree. Rainbow couldn't see the cloud of smoke reform back into the pony when he came together inside of bush. Rainbow was greatly surprised, a pony attacking her out of nowhere was one thing, but the same pony using dark magic? And only a good ways away from ponyville? Thoughts started racing through rainbow's head but one thing stuck out in her mind. "I totally need to tell Twilight about this." Rainbow said before shooting away towards ponyville. The other pony barely heard what she had said but he heard it. "Oh Celestia help me..." He said walking back into the open. His mind started racing, now Rainbow Dash was certainly going to come back here and chances were she would probably come back with her friends. He didn't need more ponies knowing about him but that's what it looked like was going to happen. What could he do about it? This was something he had spent years trying to avoid! His mind started trying to decide on what to do now. He could just straight out leave here and find somewhere else... no, he couldn't do that, even if he left the ponies would likely keep looking until they find him regardless, not to mention how much work that would be. Then he thought of something else, maybe he could somehow get the ponies to just leave him be out here? It seemed like the best thing he could do, he didn't have to have ponies know about him to an extent and he could stay where he was. He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to do that but it seemed like the best idea to him. ...later after sunset The stallion looked back over his surroundings. "Well I think that's about all I can do." He said to himself. He was hoping that what he had done would convince the ponies that he had deserted here, and give up looking around here. He wasn't about to actually leave, he liked this place he called home and it would be a huge amount of work. He thought, how much are they really going to care about him out here? He had done a few things in and around his camp to try and give the illusion that he had ditched this place, and help him ensure that he would be around still. First he had cast an invisible force field far around his camp, if anypony came through it he would know. Secondly he had hidden and scattered many items in his camp, such as hiding the chests in the everfree and skewed many items around on the ground. With his illusion done he laid himself down under the night sky. Hardly any time had passed before he felt a small shock emit from his horn, somepony had crossed his field. He jumped up and ran over to the tree line, then shot up a tree, transforming into a cloud of smoke and reformed near the top, gazing at the horizon. He waited for a few moments before he saw exactly what he was expecting, the elements of harmony walked over the horizon, he could see all of them but he couldn't hear them. Applejack looked up at her friend. "Are ya sure it's around here Dash?" Applejack asked in a slightly annoyed tone. Her friend was always known to exaggerate sometimes. "Totally, look that's it's over there." Rainbow Dash said, pointing over to the camp she had been describing to her friends. The six ponies came into the camp and started looked around like Rainbow Dash had done. The pony hiding in the tree got worried when Twilight Sparkle walked right under the tree he was in, although, luckily for him, she didn't look up. "Do you think he ran off into the everfree?" Twilight asked her friends. Rainbow Dash answered. "I pretty sure we can say he ran off somewhere, I mean look at this place." Rainbow Dash said. Fluttershy spoke up. "Or maybe he's just waiting around here, just waiting to attack us like he did rainbow dash... that..." Rarity walked over to comfort her friend. "Now darling I wouldn't imagine anything like that, that pony is most certainly gone from here, like Rainbow Dash said just look at the way he left this place." Rarity said putting her hoof on her friends shoulder. It did make Fluttershy feel better. Twilight decided to add her input. "Maybe we can just leave this pony alone." Twilight suggested. Rainbow looked over in surprise. "Excuse me? We can't leave this pony out here!" Rainbow dash yelled. How could her friend even consider that? Twilight glared at her friend. "Rainbow dash we have to consider all possibilities out here, maybe this pony wants to be away from other ponies and really isn't much of a worry." Twilight said. "Then why'd he attack me huh? Rainbow snapped back. "Maybe we can ask him that if we find him." Twilight said. The pony was happy for a few moments because it seemed like he might just get what he had hoped for, but then he heard something else that made his blood run cold. "HEY HE'S RIGHT THERE!" Rainbow Dash yelled at the top of her lungs. "Welp, time to run." He told himself. He hoped down a few branches to avoid Rainbow Dash, who he saw fly after him. Judging from how violent the tree suddenly shook he guessed that Rainbow Dash had slammed straight into it, although the shaking also caused him to lose his balance. He tumbled down several big branches before abruptly hitting the ground. He got up as quick as he could and took off into the forest. How thick the everfree's brush was didn't help him. He was constantly jumping and turning to avoid trees and branches. He knew the group of friends was chasing after him and this was only proven when Applejack tackled him. The two rolled along the ground for a moment before Applejack was thrown and hit a tree. They both got right back up. He looked behind him very quickly to see four of the six ponies running after him. He needed to slow them down somehow, he then got the idea to bring a tree down. He aimed at one he had just passed and shot a powerful laser at it, creating a big enough gash in the tree to cause it to fall in the mane sixes path. He ran for a few more moments before he saw two purple lasers shoot past him that that brought down two trees in front of him. With some quick thinking he cast a spell, causing him to transform into a cloud of smoke, passing through the obstacle before forming back into himself. His running was then brought to a halt when his vision was obscured with a purple aura and he felt himself get thrown to ground. He tried to get up but found himself unable to move. He was then lifted back to his hooves, only to see the six mares skewed around his vision. He was about to try running again, but then realized that wouldn't do any good. "Please just let me go." He said in a hurried voice. He was visibly panicking. "Not so fast there." Twilight said. "We have things to discuss." She added. Rainbow Dash flew up close to him. "Yeah! Just what is your problem here? Why-" Rainbow was interrupted when Applejack grabbed her tail and pulled her away a little. "Now Rainbow, y'all don't don't need to be all over him to talk to him." Applejack told her friend. Rainbow Dash simply responded by saying "Whatever." while rolling her eyes. Everypony was quiet for a moment. "Well is somepony gonna say something or are we all just gonna stand here?" Applejack said breaking the odd silence. All of them then heard a series of strange noises in the distance, including branches breaking and growling. The stallion quickly suggested what they all were thinking. "Umm... can we uh... get out of here first?" The stallion asked. "Good idea, give me one moment." Twilight said. Her horn glowed brightly before all of them found themselves back outside the forest in the fields near the camp. Everypony quickly returned their attention back to the stallion. "Alright, now what exactly is going on here?" Twilight asked the stallion. "Twilight dear I think we already can figure out what's going on from what Rainbow Dash has told us and what we all just took part in." Rarity said. Twilight was quick to respond. "Well I think to properly assess this situation we should get his point on this." Twilight said looking back at the stallion, still trapped in her magic aura. "Uh... You know I'm sure you have everything under control, I don't see why you care about what I say." He quickly said, not wanting to be a part of this. This was a lot for him, he so badly wanted to turn into his cloud of smoke but something in his mind just kept telling him to face what was happening, not to mention twilight still had him pinned in the air. Fluttershy spoke up again. "Um, you look awful worked up over something." Fluttershy said, who had kept quiet for a while. "Um, no, I don't know what mean by that." He quickly replied. The mares quickly exchanged a few glances. "Are you sure there's nothing you want to say here?" Twilight asked him, taking the risk of releasing him from her magic grip, trusting that he wouldn't run away. To her releif, he didn't. He just stood there, desperately trying to think of a reply, but he just couldn't seem to find his words. Twilight spoke up again. "Well I think if you just stayed out here simply to attack my friends then I'm goi-" Twilight was cut off by the stallion who just started frantically pleading. He took a deep breath before talking lightning fast. "Alright look I've been living out here for I don't even know how long any more and I was only practicing a little magic and I was doing some firework spell and Rainbow Dash just happenened to fly into it when I finally got it right and I hid for a little until she started hitting something that I care for a lot and I got really mad and that led into a fight where I eventually ran off and then you all came here and you eventually caught me after that and... I CAN'T TAKE THIS!" He said frantically before he just fell to the ground trying to cover his head. There was complete silence for several seconds. "Well then... you don't seem very happy out here." Twilight said cautiously. The stallion gave a small nod. "Well why haven't y'all just come on down to ponyville?" Applejack asked. He found the courage to look back up at them. "Well... I've always been afraid to... Afraid of what ponies might think of me." He said. Twilight and her friends exchanged a few words that the stallion didn't bother to listen to. Twilight walked over to him and nudged him to look back up. "Well I'm sure that if everypony gets to know you then I'm certain that you would have nothing to fear." Twilight said holding her hoof out to him. Was she... Offering him their friendship? That was very... unexpected to say the least. He reluctantly grabbed Twilight's hoof and stood up. "I'm not sure that's such a great idea..." He said. He he had always been uncomfortable opposing somepony. "Well it would certainly be better than being out here." Twilight responded. "We can all help you with that, right girls?" Twilight asked her friends. They all agreed, except for Rainbow Dash. Applejack glared at her friend. "Dash..." Applejack said, expecting agreement from her friend. "I don't know... Ahh alright, if you all think it's a good idea." Rainbow Dash eventually said. Everypony turned their attention back to the stallion. "This is... Awful nice of you all... I guess I accept?" He managed to say after some time. "Am I really doing this?" He asked himself. He had always been trying to avoid something like this, and now he was doing the opposite. "Well I guess we should all head back to ponyville with... Oh I'm sorry, we don't even know your name." Twilight said making a slightly shy gesture. He hadn't had to tell anypony his name in forever, it felt ancient to him. "Well what is your name?" Twilight asked him. He took a breath. "... Void... Crystal... my name is Void Crystal." ... Shortly afterwards the girls and the new pony they now knew as Void Crystal started back toward ponyville. It hadn't been long before they all heard. "Hey, you know what we need now?" Pinkie said eagerly jumping to the front of the group as she said so. "Let me guess, you want to throw a party for me?" Void replied. "OF COURSE!" Pinkie shouted. Fluttershy came up to the excited party pony. "Um, Pinkie Pie, do you think you can at least wait until the sun is up?" She asked. "Hmmm, yeah I can do that. But it means I just have more time to plan! Speaking of whiiiich..." Pinkie said before speeding back towards ponyville at lightning speed, leaving a puff of pink where she had been standing. "I will never understand that pony." Rainbow Dash commented. They all kept walking for a while longer until Ponyville soon came into view. "Well there's ponyville darlings, well I must be off, I should already be asleep right now. Well good night everypony." Rarity said before trotting back to ponyville. Fluttershy spoke next. "I uh... think I'm with rarity on that, good night everypony." Fluttershy said before flying away. "I'm gonna second that, night y'all." Applejack said before walking in the direction of sweet Apple acres. Only Twilight and Rainbow Dash were still with Void. "Well I might as well head out." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight stopped her before she could fly off. "Rainbow Dash, promise me you'll help Void rather than give him a hard time." Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash still wasn't completely sure of Void "Hmm... ok I'll help the guy." Rainbow replied. "Good, you can go now" Twilight told her. In an instant rainbow dash flew off, leaving just void and twilight. "Umm... Do you have anywhere to be?" Void asked. "Of course I do, and your coming with me." Twilight said. Why did Twilight want him to come with her... "Why?" Void asked. "Well you clearly don't have anywhere to stay, so you can sleep on the extra bed at my library." Twilight explained. That actually made a lot of sense once Twilight pointed it out. ... Twilight unfolded the extra bed for Void to sleep on. "This is awful nice if you." Void said. He didn't fell as though he deserved such treatment. "That's what friends are for." Twilight responded. Void climbed into the bed, it was a million times better than the ground he thought. Spike was already asleep. "I'll have to introduce you to Spike in the morning, and then I can teach you about some friendship lessons with you, then..." Twilight looked to see void had already fallen asleep. "Somepony's tired." She said to herself. She crawled into her own bed, she wondered what Void already knew about friendship before eventually falling asleep herself.