Bonds and Fate

by Al Capony

(4) Attack of the cyan terror!

Chapter 4 – Attack of the cyan terror

I looked out of the window and into the Equestrian sky. The sky isn’t something one focuses on in England – a lot of the time it is coated by white and grey clouds, silently drifting across an otherwise blue canvas.

The sun is hardly scarce where I’m from, appearing most days when it breaks through the fluffy barrier and sometimes revelling in solitude, free of the shrouding clouds. Either way, I hadn’t really focused on looking at the sky.

That changed when I first absorbed myself into that beautiful expanse.

There were a few clouds, maybe seven in my field of view, dotted on an azure plane that seemed to fade on forever. Not a peep of grey or darkness, no hint of rain or a storm. The clouds themselves were perfectly stationary, not the slightest gust of wind propelling them. While that probably had something to do with the mechanics of how clouds work and are manipulated with pegasi in Equestria I had not a care in the world.

It was beauty carved from nature, an image of absolute serenity. If an artist were to somehow recreate it, it would easily be their magnum opus.

I’m definitely going to compliment whoever painted that sky…

“Fluttershy”

I cocked my head slightly, trying to make out whatever it is I had just heard.

“Any of you just hear that?” I asked, looking over towards the other inhabitants of the room.

“Hear what?” replied Sweetie Belle, raising one eyebrow in a somewhat comic fashion.

“Fluttershy”

“That.”

“It sounded like Rainbow Dash!” shouted Scootaloo, her admiration for her idol almost uncontainable.

I turned to the four, raising my left eyebrow in a way to mimic Sweetie Belle, causing her to chuckle

“Rainbow Da-“

Wait, four? Weren’t there five of them a few minutes ago? The CMC, Fluttershy and Angel. Wait, where’s Ange-

My train of though was cut short by a *BOOM* as Fluttershy’s front door flew off its hinges, showering us all with splinters. I tried to move in front of the wave of wooden darts in order to protect the three fillies, who were standing directly in their path. Time seemed to slow as I flung myself across a couple of metres, trying to act as a sacrificial shield.

By no means was I a selfless person, or a genuine hero by any stretch of the imagination. But I wasn’t just going to allow those three innocents to get hurt in such a tragic manner. Those words may be a heroic cliché but I had my reasons, most of which will be revealed in time. I say most, as I can hardly reveal that which I myself still do not understand.

I managed to provide a wall in between the CMC and the deadly shrapnel, but the lacerations and punctures I braced myself for never came.

Pain. I only felt pain as I collapsed forwards in a daze. My ears tune out as I try to piece together what had happened. I hadn’t felt the first impact, nor the sailing through the air or even the collision with the wall itself. It had all gone too fast. I only felt the aftermath as tried to crawl to my hands and knees, my strength ebbing and pain continuing to flow through my body.

My back was in agony, spine flaring and shoulders aching with any slight movement. My chest, however, was undoubtedly worse.

My ribs felt as if they had been turned to bone meal, and it’s a miracle that wasn’t the case. I could barely breathe, each individual gasp for air shallow and unrewarding. It was like drowning without water, choked without any pressure being applied to my neck. When I looked down to see a pool of blood below me from where my wounds had re-opened, I truly believed I was going to die.

Despair. Weakness. Insignificance. No matter how well I scribe this, no words can even come close to describing the sensation I felt. Dread is too meagre and void isn’t empty enough. At the time (being as stupid as I was) really did believe that was it. That the reaper was there to reap his scythe and collect his tithe.

No, not like this… so weak, so helpless… so… empty, and without meaning..? Trodden on as if I were just an ant, powerless to halt my suffering? Is this it? My path’s end? Is this the conclusion to my story, which in the scheme of things had only just begun? Is this predetermined or unpredictable? Could this be my fate..?

Fading…

Fading…

Fading…

SHUT UP! Enough of this self-pity! I refuse to die like a defenceless whelp. I don’t want to be helpless again. No, I refuse to be helpless again! One day I may fade to the eternal wear of time but not today. Right now I’m standing back up and telling fate what for. Right now, I’m putting death on hold, and if he doesn’t like it he can talk to customer service.

As my senses tuned back into a ready supply of information I was vaguely aware of screaming. A yellow figure stood in a few metres front of my tattered form, wings flared out. I couldn’t make out individual words but the rage fuelling the deafening rant was clear.

Letting out a deep moan I tried to push myself up to a standing position. Suffice to say it hurt. A lot. It wasn’t more than before, but it was different. The pain before was registering damage that had already been dealt. This pain was instead antagonising me because the action of standing was distributing further injury across my body.

The force it took to shove myself upwards onto two feet was herculean.

Straining with every millimetre, I slowly but steadily managed to reach a stance of being on two feet, though I was very hunched over. Pulling myself up like a puppet, I stretched and urged myself on, eventually reaching my full height and looking around at my surroundings.

The CMC were huddled together in the corner of the room, looking on in abject terror at the events that had just unfolded before them. Each of them was peppered here and there with small cuts from where some of the splinters must’ve gotten past me.

The yellow figure who I eventually registered as Fluttershy was hollering something at my attacker.

Wait… who was it who attacked me..?

Shifting my gaze in front of Fluttershy I came across a certain cyan mare. She stood in the centre of the room, cowering in front of the verbal coming from her friend. Her feathered wings were clasped in, locked while cradling her form. The rest of her body expression was that of resignation. Like a child having been summoned to the headmaster, knowing they’re in trouble and getting a right bollocking because of it.

I guess some things are the same regardless of having two legs or four.

My point of concentration wandered to her head, drawn there like moths to a flame by a brilliant rainbow mane. Each colour of the spectrum was spread across it, every flavour of life compressed into something as simple as hair. Each shade faded seamlessly into the next to create a magnificent explosion of light emanating from hair. It was hair and yet it was vibrant like nothing I had ever experienced – not a subtle yet wonderful blend to perfection, like the skyline I had lost my soul to not five minutes before. It was all of these amazing things and yet it was just hair.

The animators on the show really haven't done her justice...

A twitch of her ears drew my attention to the expression adorning her face - one of regret and frustration. Regret at barging into her friend's home without requesting, frustration at not being able to make the same friend see she was just trying to keep her safe. Deep violet eyes then glazed over, she appeared on the verge of tears. Her breathing looked tight and shallow, as if she were literally being choked.

Pupils like pinpricks, eyes wide, ears twitching – faint but incessant. No movement bar a slight quivering of her legs. And no shouting. No words coming from Fluttershy and yet my attacker’s reaction was more vivid than ever, magnitudes greater than when it was just shouting. I feared that Fluttershy had gone much further than just shouting…

'The stare’… Maybe Fluttershy went a little overboard but then again she can’t actually control it can she. Wait, oh shit she’s having a seizure!

“Uuuuuuuunngghhhhhh,” I moaned, the words I intended to speak becoming untranslatable and garbled thanks to my injuries.

I took a momentous step forwards, trying to make myself known to the pair. My efforts, however, were in vain for both were lost to their own distractions. I glanced over to the corner where the CMC had been, hoping for some help in rousing the two from their respective states, to find it vacant.

They probably ran to get help. AppleJack or Twilight I assume, AJ is Applebloom’s reliable sister and Twilight is the knowledge one whom they think will know what to do. It’s the best rational and logical choice to optimize results.

But conscious beings are often illogical and erratic, one of the features that randomises us and makes life worth living. Chances are they panicked and Sweetie Belle led them to Rarity, or maybe in their current state they bumped into Pinkie Pie. Order and logic are boring and stagnant.

While random and erratic behaviour is self-destructive and dangerous. They chose logically.

They freaked out and chose irrationally!

Focus on RD and Fluttershy, please…

Confirming my resolve while burying the bickering wagers of my sub-conscious, I took another step. The second one was more heavy-footed, pain lancing through my leg as my foot touched the ground. Another. And another. The discomfort seemed to last for hours yet I knew it had only been a few seconds – the less you enjoy something the longer it seems to last, it seems.

Eventually I was within reach of Fluttershy, capable of rousing her from her trance-like state. I nudged her, hoping for an immediate response, being instead graced with no change or her part and the discovery that when she freezes up in fear, she is truly immovable. Unless, of course, you shove her as hard as you can. So I lowered myself a bit to match her height, mustered all of my available strength and threw my entire body mass against the little Pegasus.

The effects were instantaneous – Fluttershy was sent sprawling about three metres away from where she had been standing, colliding with the couch and being left in a daze. With the connection broken, Rainbow collapsed where she was with her legs splayed out, panting and gasping for air. As for me, I had fallen to the ground and was now trying to stay still, waves of pain burning through my sea of senses.

“Ugh, my head. What the hay just happened?” inquired Rainbow as she sat up, surveying the carnage that was her best friend’s living room.

Silence gripped the three of use for a second or so ,then Fluttershy took a deep breath before blurting out,

“Oh my, Rainbow Dash I’m so sorry! When you crashed in here you took me by surprise and then you charged David and I was scared and I didn’t know what to do and I stopped you and I shouted and then I was just so angry I and I used ‘the stare’ but I didn’t mean to and I couldn’t stop and I’m so sorry!”

Fluttershy concluded her, quite impressive, explanation of the events that had occurred and immediately fluttered over to Rainbow and glomped her, squeezing her tightly and weeping into her shoulder.

Rainbow looked quite taken aback though she opted to hold her friend in her hooves.

“What do you mean? I didn’t charge anypony, just the monster that Angel was blabbering about. I couldn’t have hurt it that hard – it didn’t even go through the wall.”

As the pain began fading I mentally facepalmed. Not at me not noticing Angel’s escape, but at how I had vastly exaggerated how bad my injuries were. Rainbow was right – for me to be hurt as bad as I had thought I would’ve had to be sent through the wall. The pain was steadily receding and none of my ribs actually felt broken. There was very little blood coming from my chest and my wounds had not split open. I felt like a total dimwit. The dramatic monologue may have been in my head but it was still unbelievably embarrassing.

Huh, that all fits together quite nicely actually… Rainbow knocked me across the room before the splinters hit. She wasn't travelling that fast, but I didn't remember the impact because my head hit the wall. The’ pool’ of blood is probably about five droplets and in the heat of the moment I must have panicked like a pussy. It only hurt seemed to hurt so much because I was distracted by the head, the worst injury I could end up with is a concussion. Ugh, I really need to man up…

“Oh, no Rainbow Dash, that was no monster. That was David, he’s a human.”

“What’s a –”

“Human? I am a member of a highly advanced alien race with the intention of enslaving ponykind. Now take me to your leader, then, surrender your women and your intellectuals.”

I sat up, the pain now just a small inconvenience, to find Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looking at me, horrified. Fluttershy’s eyes were red from her tears while rainbow’s brow was still slightly sweaty from when she was under the effects of ‘the stare’. Both appeared scared and surprised shitless.

Hold your deadpan, keep it going. God that expression is priceless. Come , keep your poker face…

I couldn’t keep my poker face.

I guffawed loudly and the looks on their faces shifted to that of confusion and Fluttershy immediately asked me:

“Um, that was a joke, right?” asked Fluttershy in a meek voice, probably intimidated by my statement.

I spent a few seconds recomposing myself, and to stop giggling, before replying,

“Yes Fluttershy, that was a joke,” I said, before looking to the cyan mare “and you, must be Rainbow Dash, correct?”

“Hey how do you know my name!? Are you an alien spy?”

“An alien? Most definitely. A spy? Not at all. It’s just that Fluttershy mentioned you a couple of times and Scootaloo went nuts when-”

“Scoots was here!? Where is she? What have you done with her!?” erupted Rainbow, suddenly very uptight and serious. Angry, even.

“Calm down, clam down! I don’t know where she is, she ran off when you charged in here and scared them senseless!”

“When I did what? What do you mean I scared them senseless – you’re the dangerous alien monster human-thing!” Rainbow looked outraged – I mean obviously how dare I accuse her of being the scary and dangerous one.
 
Stuck up cow, I thought to myself.

“Maybe I am. But I wasn’t the one who blasted the door off its hinges and attacked a peaceful me, who was wondering my own business, with no explanation to them whatsoever! You didn’t even notice they were in the room, what kind of role model does that? Some kind of big sister figure you are!” I snapped, losing my cool.

I only realised my mistake in mentioning the sister-thing after saying it, but thankfully Rainbow hadn’t caught on in the way I was worried about. She was just sitting there, mouth agape and teary eyed. My words had had quite a profound impact on her and I had obviously struck a nerve. She looked as if she were about to say something before it stuck in her throat. She then got to her hooves and turned to leave, slowly walking towards the exit.

Fluttershy didn’t even move – she understood Rainbow wanted to be alone. Seeing as usually she tries to comfort ponies and animals, being the element of kindness and all, I knew what I’d said had more power behind it that I’d anticipated.

Great now she’s upset. Maybe she had sister problems in the past or something happened recently with Scootaloo? Who knows. Ugh, I shouldn’t have let this escalate and now I have to do some sort of damage control with the situation.

Actually, why did you help her in the first place? She attacked you without concrete reason and disregarded the safety or concerns of her friend. You should have left her in her seizure-state. There probably wouldn’t be long-term effects from it and it’s only fair. An eye for an eye-

Makes the whole world blind. I refuse to be dictated by Talion law.

So noble of you. So why did you help her? Because you’re not a good person, we all know that.

She could be a valuable asset for returning home

It felt right? You want her as a friend right? That’s why you-

Stop trying to distract me. The reason was for my absolution.

With that one word the conversation in my head ceased.

Rainbow opened her wings, about to fly off into the afternoon sky and cry her troubles away. Or just go somewhere alone and sit in silence – who knows what Rainbow does when she’s sad and wants to be alone.

“Wait.”

She stopped and shifted her body slightly so that she could look at me while still being able to walk out of the door.

“What?” She replied, dripping with an amalgam of sadness and bitterness. The solitary word hung in the air like volatile gas - any wrong response could cause a spark that would do more than rekindle the argument.

“I apologise. What I said was in the heat of the moment and out of order. You only meant the best for your friend. That is all.”

My expression remained stoic throughout what I said, hiding any emotion. She probably thought it was because I didn’t like saying sorry, the truth was nowhere near as decent. I wasn’t sorry for what I’d said – it had been harsh and in the heat of the moment but it needed to be said. She was hardly going to go into a massive spiral of depression because of it, and in the process I had learned an important button to press if I ever need to make a point.

“Apology accepted,” she replied, “but I don’t trust you. You didn’t say you weren’t dangerous. Plus Angel looked pretty scared of you and he’s not easy to scare. I’ve got my eye on you so you’d better not pull anything, especially on my friends.”

She didn’t say her words with venom or any harmful intent. She wasn’t even trying to be threatening – cocky more than anything, like she was showing that she wasn’t scared of me.

Shifting her position back round so she could leave I added,

“How very loyal of you.”

She froze. I smirked.

“Ya’ll right there, sugarcube?” I heard, the strong southern drawl leaving me utterly shocked, “Applebloom came over an’ said somethin’ ‘bout you crashin’ in Flutttershy. She also said some hooty ‘bout some manticore-slayer or the like but she has a habit of comin’ up with stories.”

Told you they’d pick logically.

“Rainbow, darling, are you quite all right?”

You were saying?

Too many variables. No fair.

The logical part said ‘no fair’? How ironic.

I heard panting, then, “Sorry I’m late, I’m not used to flying high and not enough magic to teleport. Wait a second, I need to catch my breath.”

While I could only hear, not see, any of the mystery newcomers I easily recognised them as Applejack, Rarity and Princess Twilight Sparkle. Each of their voices were distinct - there was no doubt that the mane six bar one was in the immediate vicinity.

That quickly changed to the mane six plus four when I heard the cacophony that was Pinkie, Spike and the Crusaders approaching. The general kerfuffle of the Crusaders, Spike’s rambling about always getting hounded by Twilight if he doesn’t do his chores and the audible *BOING* as Pinkie bounced onto the scene.

“What’s up Dashie, you look really down? I know what’ll cheer you up – A PARTY!”

“Not now Pinkie! Rainbow, what’s wrong?”

“It’s uh,” She turned over her shoulder to look at me, “complicated.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’ll be fine. After all I’m the Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in all of Equestria!” Rainbow tried to put on as much bravado in her voice as she could but it was to no avail – everyone could see she was distressed.

I heard a couple of wing beats and Twilight appeared in the door-less doorway. She took no notice of the carnage around the room, Fluttershy huddled about a metre or so from me in complete silence or the alien that was myself. She closed her eyes and immediately hugged Rainbow and held her close, cradling her with one how and her wings.

“Rainbow we’re your friends. If you ever have a problem or something is wrong please share it with us, okay?”

She opened her eyes.

“Waaaaagh! What the hay!? You’re a, you’re a –“

“Human. How do you know what I am?” I asked.

“No, no, no, no, NO! You’re not real, you’re just a myth!”

“And yet here I am, an alien in a faraway land. Heh, that rhymes. Well, half rhyme anyway.”

Twilight rushed over to me, walking around my body while examining every inch of my form. She stood in front of me, put her hooves on my shoulders and said,

“You are not scientifically possible,” in a surprisingly cheery voice.

Oh God, this is going to take a lot of explaining. And I probably don't have the answers she wants.

Author's Note:

Sorry it took a while - GCSEs tend to do that to one's story writing. Also throughout the story there will be some links to songs within the text which help to set the scene. All of these links are in green and make sure to open them in a new tab so you don't lose the page.

One small Doctor Who reference in this one - mustache for the first to find it!

Comments

[Anal Invader]

It bugs me that you don't have any characters pinned in your description. I can't explain it, it just does. But, I gave it a thumb anyway

[Al Capony]

2632180 Cheers And the reason there are no characters tagged is that, quite frankly, I can't choose a specific five - most characters involved in the show will be key characters, depending on which arc of the story it is.

[Anal Invader]

2632189 Yeah, I can get that, but at least include OC, unless you yourself aren't planning on being a main character.

[Al Capony]

2632192 I though OC was for if you're an original pony character?

[The Valeyard]

I'd definitely run from twilight. No answers for her!

[val]

she's not possible!

[JBL]

Well he just instantly forgave her for being attacked...............

[sirraf]

“You are not scientifically possible,”
says the purple pony with magic.