The Adventures of Soulsilver

by Soulsilver

A Strange Introduction: Part 1

A Strange Introduction: Part One

It was a beautiful Spring morning in Equestria, and flowers were coming into bloom all over. Everypony was just getting out of bed, getting ready for the day. Well, almost everypony. One certain lavender unicorn was already up, and walking towards the dark woods known as the Everfree Forest. On her flank she was carrying a pair of saddlebags, one packed with books and provisions, the other empty. On her back she carried a very disgruntled purple dragon.

“But Twilight,” complained the dragon. “Why do we have to collect these flowers so early in the morning?”

“Because Spike,” replied Twilight the unicorn. “These flowers are only in bloom for a few hours. We would already have them if you had woken up when I asked.”

“Well, fine, I understand that. But why do we have to go into the forest to get them? Who knows what lurks around there this early in morning?”

“Spike, I explained this already, they only grow in the Everfree. Besides, they aren’t too far in, I doubt we’ll run into anything. I hope.” She whispered the last part to herself, remembering an encounter with a Cockatrice. She shivered lightly. “Okay, let’s get going,” she said, shaking her fear away slightly with her head. She continued on, walking in between the large trees that made up the borderline of the forest.

***

After a half-hour of searching they came across a clearing filled with various colours of many flowers. It was a huge difference between the dark woods they had just walked out of, Twilight almost thought that they had walked in a circle and out of the forest, as there was no canopy covering the clearing, allowing in the sun. Twilight’s assumption of not running into any monsters had been correct.

“Spike, we found it!” Twilight exclaimed happily. When she didn’t hear a response she quickly turned around worried that Spike was gone. What she saw instead, was the dragon sleeping on her back. She smiled lightly, and nudged him awake.

“Spike, wake up, we’re here,” she whispered.

“Huh, wah?” Spike awoke, rubbing his eyes. “What you say, Twilight?” When he open his eyes, they widened in amazement. “Whoa! This is beautiful! Who’d expect that this was in the Everfree Forest?”

“Yes, Spike, it’s very surprising,” she giggled. “Come on now, we have to collect these up while they’re still in bloom.”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” he said as he opened her saddlebag. “So, uh, can you tell me why we’re getting these flowers?”

“I need them for an experiment, Spike,” she replied. “I’m testing to see if different aromas have different affects on chemicals. These are the most aromatic in the area, from what I’ve read, and that means that they are crucial in the tests.”

“Huh. You know, you could of just asked Zecora if she had any. I’m sure she would have.”

“…..shush you and help me collect these flowers. If you’re a good boy, I’ll buy you a gem from Rarity when we get back.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Spike replied enthusiastically, for more than one reason. He hopped down off her back and started to pick some flowers. After a couple of minutes Spike had collected more than enough and hopped back on top of her, putting the flowers in the saddlebags and closing them.

“Okay, now that that’s taken care of, let’s get going back to tow-“

“HEY! IS ANYBODY THERE! I NEED HELP!” somepony suddenly yelled from the trees behind Twilight. She jumped a foot in the air screaming and ran behind a tree. “PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP! I’M BADLY HURT!” the voice said. Twilight then heard violent coughing. She felt apprehensive, but was still worried for whoever it might be, as they did sound like they were in a considerable amount of pain. She cautiously stepped out from behind the tree, horn glowing and Spike clutching her mane, terrified.

“Wh-Who’s there? Sh-Show yourself!” she yelled back in the direction the voice had come from. After several moments a shape moved out from the shadows towards her. Twilight instantly stopped worrying as a pegasus pony stepped out from behind some trees. She held her ground but as the pony walked out from under the trees she saw that he was limping and hurt. Very badly. He had deep scratches and gashes all over his body, as well as many bruises and what appeared to be several puncture wounds in his side. As he limped over he started to collapse into the ground. Twilight, abandoning all fear and replacing it with concern, ran to his side. He was barely conscious.

“Are you alright?!” she asked. He looked up at her and, through his pain, she saw an expression that clearly said ‘Do I look alright?!’ He held that look for a moment before passing out.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no!” Twilight said frantically. “Hold on Spike, I need to teleport us to the hospital!” Not giving Spike a chance to prepare himself, her horn began to glow, and in a flash of light all three were gone.

***

…..

He came to. He was in a grey void, unable to move more than his eyes. Then, all of a sudden he heard a voice.

“Soulsilver.”

He looked around frantically with his eyes, searching for the source of the voice.

“Soulsilver.”

It sounded closer. He started to worry, but then realised that the voice sounded familiar, which for some reason filled him with more dread.

“Soulsilver.”

Completely terrified he tried to move, despite not having control of his body.

“Soulsilver. I’m going to kill you. It’s more than you deserve.”

Completely gripped by fright, he found himself losing consciousness, until he blacked out.

***

Two hours later Twilight was at the hospital in the hallway outside of the strange pony’s room. With her were their five friends Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, Spike having been taken back to the library. They waited for the nurse to come back from collecting the diagnosis papers. They were all worried, both for the strange stallion in the room next to them and for Twilight, who seemed to have been quite shaken from the experience. Fluttershy was next to her with her wing around the unicorn's body, comforting her.

Rainbow Dash was looking at the door to the room, wondering what was taking the nurse so long. She was anxious to find out what had happened to the pony to require so much attention. Applejack was occupying herself by pacing back and forth along the hallway thinking to herself.

Rarity was silently fretting over several things, Twilight’s mental well being, the safety of the stallion, and, of course, the state of Twilight’s coat. ‘Just look at her, she’s covered in blood. I suppose that she had tried to stop the bleeding and was too weak from the teleport to use magic. The poor girl, I think I’ll take her for a trip to the spa once all this is over with.’

Pinkie’s reaction, however, was shocking to all her friends. The usually happy-go-lucky Pinkie Pie was just sitting there on a seat, frowning, being silent and looking sad. It was at everyponies relief when Nurse Redheart came around the corner and walked towards them.

“Nurse, thank goodness you’re here,” said Fluttershy, a little louder than her usual timid voice. Twilight looked up at the nurse.

“How bad is it?” asked Twilight, with worry in her eyes.

“It’s not looking good, I’m afraid,” replied Redheart solemnly. “He appears to have gotten into a fight with a manticore. The scratches and gashes on his back and torso were from its claws, and the puncture wounds on his abdomen were from its tail. We had to remove quite a bit of venom from him. And it also seems that both his wings are broken.” She sighed, “I We don’t think he’s going to make it. The venom was in his body for too long, and he’s lost a lot of blood. I’m surprised that he was still alive when he found you.” Twilight looked down at the ground, trembling.

“Can-can we see him?” asked Pinkie quietly while stepping forward slowly.

“You can if you want, but he won’t be awake,” answered Redheart. “ I’ll just go and change his bandages, and then you can come in.” She opened the door and walked inside, closing it behind her. They all just sat there for a moment before hearing a loud gasp from behind the door. Looking up they saw Redheart burst out of it.

“Twilight!” gasped Redheart. “You’re going to want to look at this! The rest of you come as well!” She went back in the room and was quickly followed by the others. Twilight gasped at what she saw. The bloodied and beaten form that was the stallion an hour ago looked as though he had been in a fight with a house cat rather than a manticore, and the wounds that were still visible were slowly fading.

“Don’t ask me how it happened, but his wounds have almost completely healed!” Redheart said with joy. “His condition is stabilizing and the bleeding has stopped completely! And if the rest of him is an example, then his wings must be healing as well! He’s going to be fine!” Twilight sighed with relief, and, for the first time since teleporting out of meadow, she relaxed.

“Well, I don’t think he needs any more help, I’ll leave you all with him and report this to the doctor. Hopefully he isn’t busy,” Redheart said cheerfully as she turned to the open door. “I’ll see you all later.”

After she closed the door Twilight looked back at the mystery stallion. Not having time to examine his appearance beforehand, she looked him over. He was a pegasus, and his coat was completely white, but stained with red from his blood. Almost all of his bruises were gone except for a large one on his cheek. She remembered that his eyes were blue from when he gave her that look. Just thinking about it made her giggle under her breath and she allowed a small smile onto her lips. Then she looked at his mane. It was peculiar.

It was pitch black on the right side of his head, but pure white on the left side, the colours split seamlessly. It reminded her of Rainbow Dash’s mane, and figured that multicoloured manes and tails weren’t all that uncommon, herself having partially pink hair. Her eyes lowered to the sheets that were covering his flank and realised that she didn’t get a good look at his Cutie Mark.

“I wonder if he would mind if I check to see what it is.” She shook she head slightly, dismissing the idea. “No, that would be rude AND inappropriate. Besides, he’ll be better soon, I’ll be able to ask him about it then.” As soon as she finished the thought she noticed that his leg was twitching slightly.

As she leaned forward for a better look, he suddenly shot his eyes open and sat upright, gasping sharply, causing everypony to jump backwards in fright and Fluttershy to hide behind Rainbow Dash.

“Where am I?” he asked, looking around the room frantically. “How did I get here?”

“It’s okay, you’re in the hospital, you’re safe now,” Twilight said while slowly stepping forward. “As for how you got here, I teleported us here from the forest.”

"Teleported?” he asked quizzically while looking at Twilight before shaking his head. “I’m sorry who are you again?”

“Oh, I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She said having regained composure. “And these are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.” She introduced her friends one by one, motioning at them with her hoof, each of them weakly waving their hooves at him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” he said before turning back to Twilight. “Particularly you, Miss Sparkle. I fear that if I hadn’t come across you in the meadow I’d be in a lot of trouble.”

“Oh, it’s alright,” she replied, waving a hoof, but blushing lightly all the same. “I’m just glad that I was able to get you here in time. And…I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name.” She looked at the stallion smiling awkwardly.

“Oh right, my name! How rude of me, my name……I can’t remember it,” he said, looking down.

“What?! You can’t remember your own name? That’s horrible! If I couldn’t remember my name I would be going crazy, because that would mean that somepony has stolen my name and that would not be very nice of them, but I guess that if they stole my name that means that they don’t like their own name, which is super-duper sad, so I’d throw them a party to celebrate them getting a new name, and then I’d come up with an absolutely magnifical name for myself! And then celebrate THAT with another party!” exclaimed Pinkie, all in one breath.

The stallion just looked at her, puzzled.

“….Um, what?” he asked, trying to figure out exactly what the pink Earth-pony had said.

“Oh don’t worry about Pinkie, she’s always like that,” said Twilight. “Anyways, about you not being able to remember your name?”

“…yes, I can’t remember my name,” he said, slowly taking his eyes off Pinkie. “I can remember something, it might be my name, but I’m not sure. I might have dreamt it.”

“Well, sugarcube, in my opinion a name from a dream is a darn sight better than no name at all.“ stated Applejack.

“Erm…I suppose your right. I think it was Soulsilver?” he said, while trying to remember the dream he had earlier.

“Well, Soulsilver, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!” said Rarity, stepping forward. “Now that you are feeling better it would be my pleasure to take you and dear Twilight to the spa to get you cleaned up and get you a massage! Goodness only knows how tense your back is.”

“Massage?” asked Soul, his ears perking up a little.

“Rarity, he just woke up, he shouldn’t be going to a spa!” scolded Twilight.

“Yeah, not before he tells us how he managed to survive in the forest!” Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed, hovering above his bed. “How long were you in there? How did you escape the manticore?”

“Well, I THINK I was in there for around three days, but it was hard to tell without sunlight. That forest was DARK,” he answered.

“W-What about the manticore?” asked Fluttershy quietly. Soul turned to look at the shy pegasus. “EEP!” she yelped crouching down further. “I-I mean, you didn’t HURT it, did you?’

“Is that what it was?,” replied Soul, while rubbing his face with his hoof. “I’d never seen anything quite like it. And no, I didn’t hurt it, I just punched a nerve cluster in its neck. You know, to paralyse it, and whatnot. And, now that I think about it, aren’t manticores supposed to be mythical?” Rainbow gave him a look like he was slow.

“Oh, no, they aren’t myths, but that doesn’t matter, I’m just glad you didn’t have to hurt it,” replied Fluttershy, a little brighter than before.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” started Soul, while turning back to Twilight. “Why aren’t I dead? Last I remember I was bleeding. A lot.”

“Er, well, we aren’t entirely sure,” explained Twilight quite nervously. “The doctors managed to get the venom out of your system, but they said that it was too late, and that your wounds had bled out too much. But when we came in your wounds had almost completely healed and your life signs had stabilized. The nurse couldn’t explain it, so she went to tell the doctor.”

“That is quite strange. Wonderful, as it means I’m not dying anytime soon, but strange,” said Soul, his brow furrowing in thought.

“So Souly-wouly, how did you end up in the forest? Did you crash there or something? Oh I know, maybe someone teleported you there by accident!” Pinkie said, while jumping all around the room, confusing Soul more and more as she continued to defy physics.

“Er…I don’t know,” he answered while watching her. “All I remember is waking up on the forest floor. I couldn’t remember how to do much. I just had my common sense and logical reasoning. I could talk and move, but when I tried walking I just fell onto my face. I didn’t even know that I had wings until I saw them, and it felt strange to move them, like I hadn’t used them in a long time,”

“Well then, if you can’t remember anything then you surely mustn't have anywhere to stay!” stated Rarity. “I’d be more than willing to let you stay at my boutique.” She moved closer to the bed, fluttering her eye-lashes.

“Really? Are you sure? You don’t even know me. I don’t even know me.”

“Oh I am quite sure. And since it’s in town you’ll be close to everything! Though I’d be happy providing you with anything you’d need,” she replied, her eyes sliding half way closed. “And besides, I’m sure Sweetie Belle would simply love to have someone around the house to keep her company while I’m working,” she continued, regaining her normal expression.

“Now just hang on a second! Who says he wants to stay with you?” complained Rainbow Dash, who was clearly fixated on learning as much as possible about the strange quick healing pegasus.

“Well, darling, it’s a matter of practicality!” retorted Rarity. “We simply can't allow him to stay at a hotel, not in his state, so he'd obviously stay with one of us, but Applejack’s farm is too far from town, Fluttershy has her animals to take care of, Pinkie Pie works for her room in Sugarcube Corner, Twilight doesn’t have enough room; what with all the studying she does, and as for your house,” she said, turning back to Rainbow. “Is in the sky! The poor dear couldn’t even walk without teaching himself how, what makes you think he’d be able to fly?”

“I could teach him! I’m an awesome coach!”

“In less than a day? I doubt even Celestia herself could manage that!”

Soul just watched the two argue for a little bit before turning to Twilight, and expression of confusion and pleading on his face. She giggled to herself lightly. “Alright girls, that’s enough,” she said, dispelling the argument. “I’m sure you all have questions for Soul, but that can wait for tomorrow, as can any plans for accommodation. For now, I think he just needs some rest.”

“Yes, rest definitely sounds good,” said Soul, thankful that Twilight had disarmed the situation, and was finding himself slowly becoming drowsy.

“In that case, we’ll get out of your mane,” said Twilight turning to the door, but suddenly stopping and turning back to him. “Oh, right I almost forgot. Can you show me what your Cutie Mark is? I’d like to get an accurate description of you for my letter to the Princess.” Soul just sat there looking completely clueless.

“I would show you my Cutie Mark, if I happened to know what that was,” he said confused. “What, is it, like a birth mark, or something?” His question was met by six appalled and horrified expressions. “What?” he asked, worried and even more confused.

“Soul…would you mind showing us your flank please?” asked Twilight.

“My wha?” he said, clearly not focusing on anything in his worry. Rarity lifted up the bed covers with her magic to reveal his lower body, and they all gasped. His flank was Cutie Mark free. “What?! What is it?! What’s wrong?!” Soul asked frantically, trying to figure out what everyone was worked up about.

“You don’t have your Cutie Mark!” Twilight pointed out.

“What the hell is a Cutie Mark?! I don’t understand any of this!”

“Uh..um..” stuttered Twilight, who had obviously never been in this situation before. “A Cutie Mark is a symbol that appears on the flank of everypony when they discover their special talent, and is brought about by the strongest and mysterious magic known to pony-kind,” she explained, while turning around to show him her flank. "See? My special talent is magic, so I have stars, which are usually associated with magic."

“Wait, so your saying that the mere knowledge of what my special talent is triggers a reaction deep in my subconscious that causes magical powers that, I didn’t even know existed a moment ago, to suddenly activate and make a mark appear, permanently, onto my flank?” he asked quite dramatically.

“Uh, yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“Oh, well then, that’s nothing to worry about.”

“Huh?!” they all gasped, more confused than Soul had been. “What do you mean it’s ‘Nothing much to worry about’?” Twilight asked.

“Well, if Cutie Marks work the way I think they do, then that means that a Cutie Mark’s appearance is affected by a person’s psychological mind. And since I don’t remember what my special talent is, it makes perfect sense for my Cutie Mark to disappear. I’ll just have to wait until I remember what it is, and I’ll be right as rain.”

“Huh,” Twilight said, thinking. “I had never thought of it like that before.”

“Uh, ‘scuse me,” said Applejack, breaking Twilight from her train-of-thought. “but ah didn’t understand a word of that sciency mumbo-jumbo. Anypony care ta explain?”

“Duh, isn’t it obvious?” asked Pinkie, her usual chipper attitude having returned. “It MEANS that Soul-Sprinkles here lost his Cutie Mark because he forgot what his special talent was!” As she was talking she had pulled Soul’s head to her and hugged it.

“……Soul-Sprinkles?” Soul asked, his confusion taking over again.

“Don’t worry, she’ll grow on you,” Twilight reassured him. “But now we really need to go. You guys have to get back to work, and I need to write a letter to the Princess. And YOU need to get some rest,” she said to Soul while walking towards the door, using her magic to open it. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back tomorrow to discharge you. Pinkie, down!” At those words Pinkie let go of Soul’s head and bounced out of the room. After he had waved them all goodbye and the door closed, he practically passed out the second his head hit the pillow, his brain unable to process all the new information that had been giving to him in the past few minutes, and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

To be continued…

********

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Heya everyone, I hoped you enjoyed this fanfic as much as I did writing it. This was my first ever fanfic of anything, so I’m not sure how it’ll go, and I’d greatly appreciate any advice or criticisms that you may have regarding it.

(God, did you over-write or what? This was supposed to be 1500 words. It’s over 3700. No-one is that bad at math! Not even my dog!) Also, please make sure to leave a rating and a comment! Feedback REALLY helps!

Comments

That was splendid i simply must read the second oh the allegiance of your writing is marvellous.

[Soulsilver]

1058 Why thank you, I guess writing comes naturally when it's about ponies.

(Don't listen to him. He had to Google the word allegiance to find out what it meant.)

........shut up you.

1059 Oh god he knows my interweb history as long as he does not check my room ill be fine.

interesting, you should post of fanfiction

[remsaman]

Nice work. i applaud you on making such a nice OC pony fanfic.

[Whoozy]

Really great work!javascript:smilie('');

[MLPFanForever]

Wow! Awesome job for your first fanfic!

[SevenVenom]

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