The Chase Is On

by HorsesandMOARGaloar

In Darkest Night

Blackie galloped with all his might to anything that lay beyond his road by the storm-ridden mountains, away from the golden desert into the clouds' advancing shadows. Everything grew darker around him with each passing meter, until there is only the lightning that flashed above to guide his path. The daylight of the desert beyond his back was nowhere to be seen.

Even then, he kept on running. If there was nothing left to hide from but his current situation, all he could do now was to turn it into a challenge. He snorted as his hooves rumbled away, accompanied by the thunder over his head.

But of all the lightning bolts that shone within this canopy of clouds, none were as bright as one straight bolt that shot out from one of the peaks. Upon the loudest of all the thunderclaps, that missile of spectral fire took off into the gloom above and released a growing ring of seven fiery colors that scattered the storm. Though it swept through the land and released clouds of sand and glass, Blackie continued to gallop.

"I’ve won and lost many races before," he mumbled, "and this is going to be a lot more fun than what I've been into!"

When the clouds of sand swept through him, he turned back to avoid having its particles sting its eyes. Though they bit into his rump for a little while, the Arabian stallion turned back and resumed his course under a starless sky, rushing against the calm, howling breezes that haunted the badlands throughout.

"Come on, Blackie!" the stallion challenged himself. "Show them what you've got! Move those legs! Move!"

Another rumble of thunder commenced behind his back, sending chills up his shivering coat. He could hear some distant whirring that kept growing, and when he stopped to look back he saw another light coming towards him.

"Oh, so you're hunting me, are you?" he chortled. "I'll see if I can outrun you, phantom!"

Blackie went on his way once more, galloping with as much strength as he has in his four long legs. But as he rushed his way down the road to the mountains, that light behind him kept growing, until it exposed the terrain around him with its cyan glow. As it grew closer towards the dashing horse it revealed the glowing creature that was causing that spectacle: a chubby-legged cyan pony, whose ruby eyes burned with excitement under the flaming streaks of greenish-red hair. Her wings spread horizontally to help her spin around so she can fly faster. From the features of her naughty face, it was apparent to him that his old pursuer, Rainbow Dash, had come for him!

"You again, monster," the stallion groaned. "You said that there will be racetracks and the end of this road, but how come there's nothing but dry plains?

"That's just the first one," Dash grinned. "You haven't crossed the mountains, did you?"

"I'll see if I can beat you there, fatso!"

The rainbow equine scowled. "Same to you, skinny!"

While Blackie pounded the golden road with his hooves, Dash laid supine like an arrow, with her forehooves behind her head supported by her strong flapping wings, as if her rival's desperate run was nothing compared to her innate velocity. As bizarre as it seemed to the Arabian stallion's thoughts, it motivated him to gallop harder and faster to outpace the rainbow equine, but he tripped on the jutting tip of a broken brick on the road, causing him to tumble sideways.

As he struggled to get himself back up on his four legs, he heard Dash's shrill laughter ringing about. While he panted and slumped over, his opponent was not even breaking a sweat in spite of her efforts.

"Blackie," she perched along the road, "you shouldn't force yourself to win, or you'll keep hurting yourself."

“But that is how I make myself go faster than my competitors, fats,” the exhausted horse huffed. “If I don’t, they will outrun me, and so will you.”

"Just try your best, Blackie," the cyan pegasus crossed her forelegs. “You also need to rest your legs after such a long, tiring run.” She then started to take off, but a little more slowly than she did earlier. “Follow me, Earth horse.”

Although he was distrustful towards the Equestrian for her possible motives, he was tired from all that running, so he followed her up a barren hill where he encountered a pond to their left. While Blackie licked and drank away, Dash flew towards the pond and splashed herself on its pristine, cool waters to clean her cyan fur. The overtly-rough pegasus spat some of its waters upon the Arabian’s horse’s face, startling him for a brief moment.

“Fatso,” Blackie snorted, “try to be more discreet when you play with water, can you?”

Dash was irritated by his repeated insult. “When you stop calling me a ‘fatso’, then we’ll talk about it.” With a shove of her right forehoof the pegasus flipped a bigger wave of water at the fleeing black horse. She burst into laughter as it turned his sable coat and mane into a greater mess.

“At least you’ve got a free bath now!” Rainbow Dash then spat another jet of water at Blackie’s face, and continued to mock him. He was about to fight her when the overwhelming smell of hay and fruits enticed his nose.

The Arabian horse moved away from the cyan pegasus’ taunts and towards a golden trough. It was filled with hay, apples, and pears, all of which literally glowed from their freshness. He stooped down to pick up an apple, but he was interrupted by another female human’s voice.

“Howdy, Blackie,” she greeted.

Before his eyes appeared another fat-legged* Equestrian, who had an orange coat and a yellow mane tied into a pony tail. Under her hat she grinned at him, as her emerald eyes gazed back at his. On each of her rumps were what appeared to be red marks that resembled three apples.

“You’re Applejack, the rope-wielder, right?”

“Eeyup,” she smiled. "I'm glad that I can help you."

Upon realizing this, Blackie kicked the trough and went away. “You monsters again!” he cried. “I’d rather find my way home, even if I’ll tire myself to death.”

The two freaks set off in pursuit. Though Applejack was able to catch up with the black stallion, Rainbow Dash was inching closer towards his back.

“Come on, skinny!” the spectrum mare taunted. “I can catch you before you can call for help!”

“Then eat this!” Blackie gave a swift kick unto Dash’s face, flinging her to knock herself against Applejack. But just as the dark stallion thought that he was able to evade the two creatures, something else latched itself unto his withers. That assailant — which turned out to be one of those goblins again — tormented him by kicking his spurs and lashing a riding crop against his back.

“Did you miss me, sack of dirt?!” the short rider cackled behind him. “Whether you like it or not, you’re coming to the Dank Abyss with me!”

Blackie started to buck and jump around. “Get off my back, beast!” he yelled. But even as the poor equine kicked here and there, the goblin delightfully kicked his spurs into his hide. Even then, he still bucked away until Dash rammed herself like a projectile, throwing the goblin high into the air. As the goblin was flung away from Blackie’s back, his spurs stabbed into his skin: compelled by his great pain, the poor equine screamed and bucked again.

The two Equestrians went around the tormented Earthling, slowly approaching him wherever he went about. As much as they wanted to get him back to their world and get even with him, by now they wanted to ease his pain.

“Blackie, I know of somepony who can heal your cuts,” Applejack suggested. “You can find her in Equestria, so follow me.”

By now, Blackie’s pain had become less severe, that he was able to think properly again; and even then he still could not trust them.

“But you’ll turn me into a freak like you, and then make me a target for your friends to bully me with, all because I don’t want to live with you lot!” the black stallion objected. “Maybe it would be better if I would be scarred and starving here, alone, in this good-for-nothing land for the rest of my sorry life.”

“You don’t have to do this, Blackie,” Dash suggested. “We’ll try to keep you safe when we get back to Ponyville.”

“Just go away!”

Blackie turned behind towards the endless desert, but the two Equestrians still followed him as they pleaded him to follow them. As the lonely stallion galloped across the lightning-lit sands he heard distant screaming: it was from that goblin that Dash threw into the air. Furious over his defeat, the goblin drew out two knives from his pockets, but before he was able to stab the black equine Dash flew towards the foe and kicked him forward into the darkness beyond.

“It’s pointless to keep running, Blackie!” she cried. “This desert’s going to take forever to cross!”

“I want to go home. There must be some way out there … ”

Dash sunk her face into her hoof. “There’s no other way in this desert except with us,” the pegasus complained. “You need to follow us!”

For a while, Blackie kept on galloping. He ignored the two ponies who pursued him and the wounds on his back, as he hoped to reach the buried road, signpost, and its two angels. But all he was able to find was nothing but darkened sand, and the occasional lightning bolt.

After some more running, Blackie’s energy was almost spent. With a wheeze and a sigh, the poor equine collapsed: the last things that he saw before his eyes closed were a flash of lightning, followed by two flashes of orange and blue.

---

“ … he’s still breathing, thank Celestia.”

“It will take a few days for his wounds to be healed. Let me clot his back.”

While his mind almost stirred into consciousness, his ears caught the sounds of soft, human-like voices chattering and whispering all around him. When he opened his eyes, he found out that he ended up lying on a large mattress facing a fireplace, deep within a dim hall carved inside a large tree. To his dismay, he saw several colourful Equestrian ponies gathered around him, startled by his awakening.

“Blackie!” a purple alicorn cried. She threw her forelegs around his withers, and went on, “It’s good to see that you’re doing well!”

The Arabian stallion shoved her away with his muzzle. “I’m not alright, because I won’t find my way home!” he snorted. “And then you’ll torture me again because of that stupid insult I made!”

“We won’t, Blackie,” the same winged creature smiled. When she tried to pat the stallion’s withers with her right hoof, his head recoiled from it. “We’re already in Equestria: it’s not like my hooves drip with cursed acid.”

The poor stallion’s eyes widened with shock. “Then I’ll be here forever?!” he cried. “Maybe that’s how you beasts reproduce, by dragging everything into your pathetic world until it’s full of copies of you!”

“It’s not this way, Blackie!” the purple unicorn objected. “We just want to keep you safe.”

“From what?”

“Starving to death, being tortured by goblins, or manipulated and then mangled by some dimensional being.”

As much as Blackie hated being stuck with those misshapen animals who call themselves “ponies”, he recalled what the serpentine “dragonequus” Discord had said. Since the “ponies” have touched him, that meant that he had lost, and he was now theirs. And yet at that occasion, he was puzzled that there was no merrymaking or cheer among them, but only pity and concern.

“Why aren’t you celebrating?” the Arabian stallion asked. “I thought you’re going to enjoy hurting me for that insult.”

“It’s better to forgive than to forget,” the purple alicorn answered. “Let us bring you to Princess Celestia, so she could you can fit into our society. Besides, did I mention that as an Earthling horse you were too tall and heavy?”

Author's Note:

* Blackie’s hooves are thinner than Equestrian ponies’ hooves.