The Element of Strength

by LordKraft

Part 1

The Element of Strength

I woke on to a drizzily morning. I looked around my Spartan clad room, my bed, closet, and night stand, with the walls painted orange and gray. I sat up and watched as the rain drifted to the ground. Today looked like a good day to go hiking. I rose from under the covers and began my morning routine, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to the bathroom.

I looked into the mirror after my shower in my sparsely furnished bathroom and looked in to my own blue eyes. My short brown hair, which stuck up in clumps from me drying it after my shower, my nose, almost too large for my face, covered in scars from the barrage of acne that my body supplied me matched the rest of my face. My chubby face matched the rest of my body, clumpy but hiding a great deal of strength. I pulled on my navy blue converse, khaki pants, and a forest green t-shirt. I grabbed the multi-tool that I kept on my night stand and a flashlight just in case. I ran down the stairs and heard the usual, almost screechy voice of my mom “Stop running down the stairs!”
“Yes ma’am. I’m going hiking I’ll be back later.” I called out to my mom as I stormed out of my house.

I looked back at my house as I ran toward the edge of the woods. It looked almost at peace settled amongst the woods and the mountains. I found my little path that I had walked so many times I could almost do follow it blindfolded. I hopped over the logs and climbed through the brush. When I finally stopped to catch my breath I felt an odd pulling sensation in my chest, a lot like when you’re anticipating something really good to happen. The pulling led me off the path. “Why not I said to myself?” I followed the pulling until I came to an almost sheer cliff. Down on the ground was a small opening. I kneeled down on the mossy floor and looked at the hole. I pulled the flashlight out of my pocket and tried to get a look around the cave. The pulling was getting stronger as I lowered myself to the floor and squeezed through the gap. To my great surprise I fit through the hole

I stood and looked around the cave. The smell of decaying plant matter assaulted my nostrils as I took in a deep breath and stalagmites and stalactites, big and small, filled the sides of the cave . The cave led downhill and I followed as looked around. The pulling was strong now, my chest felt like it was going, and it only became stronger as I continued down the cave. At the bottom of the hill was, to my great surprise an old, wooden door. I pushed my shoulder against the door and it screeched jerkily open unto a room. In the middle of the room was a pool of water that glowed like the full moon. A small almost destroyed bridge led over the pool and to wall, the wall itself was as smooth as the granite counter tops in my kitchen, but there were marks on the back wall. Six of them actually. The first one was an eight-pointed star, then a cloud with three lightning bolts, then three diamonds, three butterflies, three apples, and finally three balloons.

I could hear my heart racing in my chest as I raised my hand to the wall. My fingers brushed the wall, and then fire spread through my body like lightning. I fell to the ground screaming as looked at the source of my pain the palm of my right hand. There in the middle of my hand were three glowing stars. I looked back up at the wall and those symbols had started glowing, brighter then I could have imagined. I fell back and I hit the bridge which broke underneath me. I hit the water as I slipped out of consciousness.

I woke up for the second time today in a soft bed. My entire body was sore like I had been forced through a taffy puller. I dimly heard the voice of another person. The words were muffled to my ears. I slowly came too and was able catch more of what the voice was saying. It was a rich women’s voice, almost like what you would imagine a queen to sound like.
“…he should be fine but all he…..make sure you tell him wha….when he comes too” I heard the voice say in choppy sentences.
“Of course my lady, we shall…..thing else you need use to do?” said a second voice, this time a higher pitched male voice.
“No, that should be good” said that regal voice from earlier.
I heard a quite clopping sound as she left the room. An odd sound for someone walking I thought as I fell back to sleep. When I woke up this time I felt, well, I felt good actually. I sat up and opened my eyes. The bright sterile light that you only see in hospitals shone throughout the dreams a small bank of machines sat to my left and the smell of antiseptic, disinfectant, and rubbing alcohol mingled around my nose. Sitting at the edge of my bed was horse! This horse wasn’t like any other horse I had seen though. Its coat was a very light blue, almost white and its mane was a darker blue. Ohh and he was wearing glasses and talking to another pony.

They looked up at me as I stared at them. “Holy crap talking horses!” I yelled
“Well what else did you expect? Talking dogs?” he said nonchalantly as his eyes scanned over a chart. “You were brought in yesterday by Princess Celestia, she found you unconscious by a pond on the outskirt of Canterlot. You should count yourself lucky, you were almost dead by the time she got you here, but you’ve recovered quite well, you should be able to leave and return home once we run a few more tests.”
“Where am I?” I asked.
“I just said, you’re in Canterlot, weren’t you listening”
“Yes I heard that, but where is Canterlot?”
He looked up at me like I was stupid and said in slow dulcet tones “In Equestria.”
“Where’s that?” I asked again.
“Hmm… you may be amnesic. Well, there’s nothing we can do about that. There are some ponies outside that helped bring you in, you might want to thank them. Ohh and Princess Celestia wants you to go up to the castle when you’re ready.” He said as he left the room.

I tried to pull off the blanket and for some reason I couldn’t grab it. I looked down at my hands; well I should correct that, my hooves. I grabbed the blanket with mouth this time and pulled off the blanket and looked at my body. I let out a little moan as I looked. I was a pony! My body was a dark navy blue and a look on my flank revealed an odd marking like the ones that I found in the cave. It was three stars, one green, one red, and one yellow. My mane and tail were the same brown as my hair had been before I had entered the cave and were in almost the same short style too.

I go out of the bed and wobbled to my feet. I wobbled over to the door and used my nose to push down the door handle and walked out into the hall. I opened the door and looked out onto a white hallway and a bench filled with ponies of all color. One was a cyan with an actually rainbow mane, styled in a spiky boyish fashion, another was a pastel yellow with long pink hair that covered one of her eyes. Next to her sat a pink pony with a bushy pink hair and mane. Sitting backwards and facing a mirror was a white pony, with long blue hair that came down her back in one big curl. Next to her was an orange pony with yellow hair done in a simple and effective farmers tie. And next to her with a book in her lap was purple pony with straight purple hair with pink and lighter purples streaks. They all looked up at me as I walked out of the room. The first one to talk was the white pony “So you’re finally awake. Could you have take any longer, my mane is absolutely frizzy!” She said with a very light British accent.
“Umm…. I’m sorry?” I said.
“Don’t worry about her” said the orange pony with a southern accent “she’s just never gone this long without her makeup. Her name is Rarity. I’m Applejack by the way, nice to meet you!”
“Hi my name’s Josh”
“That’s a funny name for a pony.”Said the pink pony with a bubbly and very girlish voice “That sounds like a dog’s name. Did your parents think you were a dog when you were little? My name’s Pinkiepie. Nice to met’cha!”
“Uhhh…”
“Don’t listen to her” said the purple pony “she’s just excited to meet someone new. I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too” I replied.
“Unconscious by a lake is where we found, what are you a girl or something?” said the pony with a rainbow mane with a very boy like voice.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say” said the yellow and pink pony, with a very light and delicate voice “that’s Rainbowdash, and I’m Fluttershy”
“Well it’s nice to meet you all but apparently I have a meeting with Princess Celestia, whoever that is.”
“That’s why we’re here” said Twilight Sparkle “We’re supposed to take you to your meeting with her. We should leave now; we don’t want to leave the Princess waiting”
“Well you should lead the way, because I don’t know where it is.”

Twilight Sparkle took the lead. We walked down the sterile halls and came to an exit. I opened the door and held as the other ponies went through “Well at least your chivalrous” said Rarity as she passed me. I looked out on Canterlot for the first time and was stunned by the beauty and majesty of the city. Rainbowdash said “Yeah it’s pretty, but can we move along I’m hungry”
“Ohh….uhhh sorry”

I looked off toward the skyline and was surprised to see buildings with holes and burn marks, scaffolding covering their sides and ponies with hammers and lumber repairing the buildings.
“What happened here?” I asked.
“The Changelings.” Said Rainbowdash with a tone of disgust. “They tried to take over Canterlot a few months ago.”

I decided not to ask any more questions and we walked the rest of the way in silence. After a few minutes of walking I caught my first glimpse of the castle. It was all smooth white stone and tall slender towers. But the beauty was marred by burns and broken stone. The spires were capped with terraces, vines, and golden caps. We walked up to the entrance, with guards on either side, white with golden armor. As we approached the gate they dropped long spears in a cross that covered the entrance.
“Who goes there?” said the guards.
Twilight Sparkle stepped up, with her chin held up “I am Twilight Sparkle, and we have a hearing with the Princess.”

The guards raised their spears and let us pass. The walkway was made of smooth marble slabs. All around the walkway were gardens filled with plants that I had never seen before with flowers and plants of every color and shape. Animals weaved through the trees and bushes and bird flew over head. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. As I was starring somebody pushed against my flank and I looked around and saw Pinkiepie wink at me.”Com’on silly we’ve to go talk to the Princess.”

I hurried to catch up with the rest of the ponies, almost tripping as I tried to run. We entered the castle through a giant ornate oak door. The roof was high arches made of the same white marble as the pathway. The sides were lined with guard, vases full of flowers, busts, and tapestries. At the far end of the hall were two thrones, one large and the other smaller. The large one was made of a pure white marble, with a very simplistic design; an artistic emblem of a sun made of gold just above the head of the pony sitting in it. She had a pure white coat and a flowing rainbow mane and tail. She had a longer swirling horn rising from the center of her head and a large wing rested on the side of the throne and was much taller than the rest of the ponies.
The smaller throne was empty and was made of the same type of stone as the other throne, except it was pitch black, and there was a moon insignia at the top, but it was made from a strangely glowing metal. I looked around and all the other ponies were all bowing down to the pony who I supposed was the Princess. “You may all rise” said the Princess “and you know you don’t have to bow to me, I don’t make anyone else do.” Her voice was familiar. It was the pony from the hospital. We all walked up to the steps in front of the thrones.
“Follow me, if you would please” said the Princess as she got out of her throne.

She led us down a corridor to another large room. In the middle of the room was a long table covered in food and plates. As we entered the room I watched as Rainbowdash’s eyes grow as she looked at all the food. She ran to the table and started scooping food onto a plate. As I watched Rainbowdash shovel down food I realized how hungry I was and I followed in Rainbowdash’s step. The food was different than I had expected. It wasn’t fancy meats or anything, it was mostly vegetables fruits and bread but I was really too hungry to care I grabbed a plate filled and I finished it before Rainbowdash had even finished her first plate.

It was five plates later before I slowed down. I looked up and saw that all the other ponies were watching me with a mixture of disgust and wonder. I blushed as pushed my plate away. “Well you are a hungry one, aren’t you” said the Princess with a smile as she watched me.
“Sorry, I was just uhh… really hungry.”
“We can see.” Said Rarity with a tone of disgust.

I managed to pick up the napkin and wipe my face off as Princess Celestia said “That was a good lunch. If you don’t mind I would like to talk to our friend here alone.” The rest of the ponies obliged and left the room. “Come and sit next to me” she said “and tell me what happened to you”

I told her everything. About me waking up at home, hiking, the pulling I had felt, the cave, everything. She listened silently and intently as I told my story. When I had finished she thought for a moment before talking. “That is very strange indeed, those marks you saw in the cave are the cutie marks of those six ponies that you came in with. Is there any chance that you were born here, in Equestria, and somehow went through the portal as a baby, and as you grew, needed to return here?"
"What, no. I wasnt adopted or anything." I answered
"Very well then. Doyou have any questions?"
“Ohh yeash i've got lots. First off what's a 'cutie mark'" I asked.
“A cutie mark is that mark on your flank. Yours is three stars. Mine is a picture of the sun. Cutie marks show what your special talent is and usually something important about your personality. I think you being here has something to do with those six ponies. It might also have something to do with the Elements of Harmony.”
“What are the Elements of Harmony?”
“The Elements of Harmony are the embodiment of the six of the most powerful emotions in Equestria. They are loyalty, laughter honesty, generosity, kindness, and finally magic. Rainbowdash is loyalty, Pinkiepie is laughter, Applejack is honesty, Rarity is generosity, Fluttershy is kindness, and Twilight Sparkle is magic.”
“How is magic an emotion?”
“It is the embodiment of friendship itself.”
“So it’s got something to do with these ponies?”
“Yes, but we won’t be able to tell what until it happens. I think your best bet is to stay around those ponies until something happens. You’re going to go live with them in Ponyville. Make friends with them, and try to be happy with your new life. I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you any more than that.”
“You can only do your best, I guess.” I sighed
“Well let’s go round up the rest of the ponies and tell them what’s going on, and I can send you all on your way back to Ponyville.”

We went out into the gardens to see Rarity and Fluttershy talking over some tea in the middle of a small flowery meadow. They saw use and Fluttershy waved meekly as we walked closer “Let’s go find everypony else now” said the Princess.
“I know where Twilight is,” responded Rarity “she’s in the Library.”
“And Rainbowdash is at the flight fields.” Said Fluttershy.
“Well let’s go find them.”I said.

The four of use wound our way through the castle and in to the Library. There we found Twilight Sparkle buried behind piles of books and scrolls. There were marks of ink covering her nose and a quill was stuck behind her ear. The Princess walked up behind the wall of books and cleared her through with a loud “Ahem”. The books and scrolls toppled over as Twilight jumped up and out of her seat.
“Oh it’s you, Princess. Do you need anything?” Said Twilight.
“Yes you and your friends are returning home, and do you happen to know where Pinkiepie and Applejack are?” asked the Princess.
“Yes, Princess, they’re in the kitchens.” Answered Twilight.

We continued down the halls of the castle. As we walked I started to smell the scent of baking pies and cakes. The farther we went the stronger the sent got, and it wasn’t long before my mouth started watering. We opened the doors to the kitchen and saw Applejack, her hooves covered in flower and her face smeared with a little dough, while Pinkiepie, on the other hand, err hoof, was covered head to hoof in flour and was jumping around the kitchen leaving white hoof-prints on the ground. They both looked up as we entered the room and Applejack brushed off here hoofs and face on an apron and thanked the cooks. Pinkiepie stopped bouncing and shook herself until most of the flour came off and pranced over.
“So are we leaving?” asked Applejack.
“Yeah, are we, are we!” chanted Pinkiepie.
“Yes all we have to do is find Rainbowdash and well be leaving.” answered the Princess.

We exited the castle onto the grounds. There were large stands over a finely trimmed field of grass. High above the stands was a twisting and fading rainbow path. At one end of the path I could see the outline of Rainbowdash as she flew through the air. The Princess turned to Fluttershy and said “Would you mind” and Fluttershy spread her wings and hopped up in the air and towards Rainbowdash. After a few moments they came both down. When Rainbowdash landed she asked “Are we leaving?”
”Yes, we are, and Josh is going to live with you ponies in Ponyville. Josh and I have come to the conclusion that his being here has something to do with you six ponies and possibly the Elements of Harmony, and the only way we can know for sure is to have him near you ponies.” answered the Princess
“Well where is he going to stay?” asked Rainbowdash.
“I’ve got a spare room in the library that he can sleep in.” replied Twilight Sparkle
“Well now that we’ve got that settled, I can get you your tickets and you can be on your way” said the Princess.

The Princess lead all of through Canterlot, all the ponies were talking, and asking me questions, but I only responded with noncommittal grunts. I was thinking. What if I was stuck here? What if this was all a figment of my imagination? What if…. my thoughts were interrupted by our arrival at the train station. The Princess bought all of our tickets and showed us onto the train. As I was about to get on the train the Princess stopped me.
“Please be careful and I want you to write me if you come up with anymore ideas about what happened to you. And remember you there to make friends, so have some fun.”
“How am I supposed to send you letters?”
“Just give them to Twilight. She’ll get them to me” the Princess answered.
“All right then, can do.”

I climbed into the train and followed the rest of the ponies to our car. There were beds and some of the other ponies had already gone to sleep and I followed suit. This had been a tiring day. It must have been a few hours later, because the sun was going down, when I woke up. I looked out the window and could see the silhouette of a small town against the sun.
“That’s Ponyville” said Twilight “me and all my friends live there.”
“It looks beautiful, even from here.” I responded.

Twilight and I woke the rest of the ponies as we got closer to Ponyville. We arrived at the station right as I woke up the last pony, Rainbowdash. Everyone was stretching and yawning as we got off the train. Everyone began to leave at the station and I followed Twilight down a hill and into the middle of the town. There were stores of all kinds along the street. We followed the path to end, and at the end there was a large tree. From where I was standing I could only see a door on the front. I followed Twilight in to the tree. The tree was hollow and filled with bookshelves laden with books of every size and shape you could think of. Standing at the edge of the room was what looked like a lizard child about the size and shape of a chubby 5 year old boy, but covered with green and purple scales.
“Hello Spike” said Twilight Sparkle “How was your time alone?”
“Fine, fine. Is that the pony you guys found at the pond near Canterlot?” replied Spike
“Yes, his name is Josh.”

I stepped forward and offered my hoof. Spike walked up and put out his hand and shook.
“Nice to meet you Spike.” I said,
“You too, what happened to you at that lake?” responded Spike.
“Err…I don’t quite remember.” Spike looked at me suspiciously but turned to Twilight.
“So he’s going to be staying in the spare room?” asked Spike.
“Yes, could you please show him to it? I’m going to go to bed. Good night.”

She walked up the stairs behind the doorframe that Spike had been standing in when we came in. Spike led me over to a bookshelf and poked one of the knotholes. The bookshelf rumbled for a moment before it slid behind the adjacent shelf. The room inside was more of a storage closet with a bed then a room, but I climbed thankfully into the bed.
“Thanks Spike, see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, if you say so.” huffed the small dragon.

I climbed under the covers and found the bed, while small, was very soft and comfortable. I fell asleep in seconds. When I woke up this time there was a small lantern hanging from the rooms ceiling, burning just enough to keep the room lit. I flopped out of the bed and pushed against where the door had been last night. It slid open, and I clambered out into the morning sunlight that came into the main room through bunches of small windows in the roof. I could also smell something cooking, and I followed my nose into a small kitchen. The kitchen was small and rustic looking with a cast iron, pot bellied stove. Sitting in front of a small table was a very tired looking Twilight. A small cup of hot tea sat In front of her and she looked out of another one of the small windows, with a faraway look on her face. Standing on a small stool in front of the giant stove was Spike, wearing and apron and flipping pancakes on a pan. I sat down across from Twilight and said “Long night?”

She shook her head like she was coming out of deep thought.
“Yes, I didn’t sleep very well.”
“Oh, sorry. It looks like your teas getting cold.”

She looked startled at that fact and looked at her tea and concentrated. As looked at her cup of tea, her hair parted and revealed a purple horn. After a moment her horn started to glow with a pink aura, and the tea cup was surrounded by the same aura, and it rose up to lips and she took a long drink from her tea.
“I guess you’re not a morning person, err… pony?”I stated.
“Not really.” She said with a smile.
“Pancakes are done. Anything else you need Twilight?” said Spike.
“No thank you Spike, I’m good.”
“Ok than, I’m going to finish up my chores early.”

I watched Spike walk out of the kitchen. He looked back over at me and glared. All I could think to do was smile.
“I don’t think Spike likes me much.” I told Twilight.
“He’s usually pretty nice, a little immature but a genuinely good dragon.”
I shrugged. “What are you gonna do?”
“There’s nothing I can do to make him like you. I guess you’ve just go to earn it”

I nodded then grabbed the plates Spike had set for us. Mine seemed to have much smaller pancakes then Twilights. I ate them anyway.
“I’m going to go get ready, then I’m going to show you around Ponyville so you can meet everypony. You might want to consider washing up.” Said Twilight as she nodded at a little mirror that I hadn’t seen In the corner of the room.

My mane was all twisted and I had a serious case of bedhead. I nodded and walked out of the library and found a barrel full of water. I shoved my head and waited a moment before I pulled out my head. I yanked out my head with a loud breath and a shake of my head. I shook out most of the water before I returned inside to see Twilight coming down the stairs with bags strapped over her flanks.
“Well let’s get going.” she said.

We left the Twilights house and went down the main path that lead through the middle of Ponyville. She led me into most of the stores introducing me to most of the ponies. They all seemed happy to meet a new face. She led me to a large store that was down towards the end of the street. The building itself was pink and had five chimneys-that I could see. As we got nearer I could smell the all too familiar scents of baking. We entered to see a couple of ponies rushing around the back of the shop, moving cakes, carrying trays of cupcakes, and tooting large bags of frosting.
“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake. How are you too doing?”asked Twilight.
“Fine. We’ve just got a huge order to fill so were kind of busy. Pinkiepie is upstairs with the babies.” replied Mr. Cake.
“Well I actually wanted to introduce you to a new pony in town. His name is Josh.”

I stepped up and stuck out my hoof to great Mr. and Mrs. Cake. They both shook my hoof quickly and greeted me with hasty “Nice to meet you.” before they went back to their work.
“I think we should leave them be for right now.” I said to Twilight.

She nodded and started up the stairs. I followed her and about halfway up the stairs I could hear Pinkiepie talking to someone.
“Who’s up there with Pinkiepie?” I asked.
“She babysits the Cakes kids when they’re busy.”

We found an open door and found Pinkiepie reading a story too two very small ponies. As she read I could visibly see them start to slump and the eyes close. By the time Pinkiepie had finished the book they were both asleep. She lifted them gingerly and put them onto a small bed. She then turned to use and walked out of the room and quietly shut the door. She then motioned for us to follow her, which we did. She took us out into the Cakes back yard, which was surrounded by a short picket fence.
“Hey Twilight, how’s it going.” Said Pinkiepie.
“Oh just fine. I wanted to introduce you Josh.” answered Twilight.
“I meet him yesterday silly. You don’t have introduce use again” Laughed Pinkiepie.
“Well it was nice to meet you Pinkiepie.” I said.
“You can call me Pinkie, if you want.” said Pinkie. “Let’s go see all the other ponies.”
“Don’t you have to watch the Cakes kids?” I asked.
“Nah, they’ll be asleep for a few hours and the Cakes should be done with their order by then.”

We left the Cakes yard and continued our way up the street. At the very end almost out into the fields was another large building, white and almost the shape of a circus tent.
“Who lives here?”I asked.
“This is Rarity’s house. She’s a seamstress and a dressmaker.” said Twilight.

We walked through the door and I looked around. There was an entire wall with cubbies filled with bolts of cloth of all different colors and textures. There were stands in the shape of ponies, some with dresses on them others with only pieces of cloth draped across them. On the opposite wall was a table with a large sewing machine and boxes filled with spools of thread. Rarity was in front of the sewing machine and concentrating intently. We stood there and waited for her to finish what she was doing before she turned around.
“Well come on in everypony. Don’t just stand in the doorway and let the dust in, come in!” huffed out Rarity.
“Hi, Rarity. I just wanted you to meet Josh.” said Twilight.
“Yes, yes hello.” Rarity said distractedly “Oh good you brought me Pinkie. Get over here Pinkie so I can finish this fitting.”

Pinkie looked at us for help but me and Twilight backed out of the room and left Pinkie to deal with Rarity.
“Well I guess Rarity’s busy. Let’s go see Fluttershy then.” said Twilight.

We followed the dwindling path. It led us towards thick woods. The path started to curve as we got closer. At the end of the path was a small cottage. We walked up to the cottage and knocked on the door, the door creaked open. We walked into the house and sitting on a little table was a note. Twilight picked it up and read it.
“To whoever is reading this; I have gone in search of some chickens that have escaped in to the Everfree Forest. I have Rainbowdash and Applejack with me so there is no need to worry. Love, Fluttershy.”

As soon a she had finished reading the letter there was a loud shriek coming from the direction of the forest.
“That doesn’t sound good.” I said.
“Come on lets go see if we can find them.” said Twilight.
We galloped to the edge of the woods and found a path with recent hoof-prints. We galloped at full speed down the path. I wasn’t used to running and Twilight pulled ahead after a few minutes. The hoof-prints led us to the opening of a cave. I rounded the corner to the opening in front of the entrance of the cave just as Twilight galloped. I heard a deep laugh and then Twilight screamed, but it was cut off midway. I entered the cave cautiously and slowly. At the opposite end of the cave was the back of a giant floating… thing, with tentacles sprouting from all over its body. It turned as I entered the. I gasped as I realized what it was. It was a Beholder. Beholders are essentially giant floating eyes with a mouth filled with jagged teeth. The tentacles that covered their bodies had smaller eyeball at the end, which the Beholder used to cast magic. It had trapped all the other ponies in magical prisons. The Beholder turned to me and shot a bolt of magic at me. I jumped to the side and banged against the cave wall.
“Who knew that capturing one pony could get me four more. You seem to be the only pony who knows what I am, don’t you. You know what I am capable of don’t you.” the Beholder growled at me.
“Yeah I know what you are, you’re a beholder, but that doesn’t mean I can’t stop you from hurting those ponies.” I said, as crouched in to position so that I could move easier.

The Beholder let out a loud laugh, then its tentacles started glowing and he started slinging magic at me. I moved faster than I ever had before. I weaved in and out of the bolts of magic and scanned the room for something I could use to help me. Then I saw exactly what I need, a leak in roof from a reservoir of water over head.

The Beholder began its next volley of magic when I jumped straight up into the air, my back hitting the ceiling. The bolts hit the leak and it began to crack larger and larger. The ceiling gave way with a huge amount of water. The beholder must have lost its concentration because the magic holding back the rest of the ponies dropped.

“Go! Ill handle him!” I yelled at the rest of the ponies as they ran out of the cave.

The beholder tried to barrel past me to get back its lost meal, but I held my ground and pushed it back and under a falling piece of ceiling. The stone crushed the Beholder with a loud crunch and a spray of bodily fluids. I had beaten him, but I could already feel the adrenaline ebbing away and weariness hit me like a freight train. I wobbled and was swept off my feet by the surge of water. I tumbled head-over- hoof through the water. The water drained into a small gully that lead to a larger river. I could feel my lungs crying out for air as I tried to retain control over my body. My vision had started to dim when I felt a hard tug on my mane. Somebody was pulling me up. I gasped as my head broke the surface of the water and I looked up to see Rainbowdash struggling to pull me out of the water. Her wings were flapping as fast as they could go but I was still starting to pull her under.
“Let me go” I coughed out “Let me go and get out of here. Save yourself.”

Rainbowdash only pulled harder. I saw something yellow out of the corner of my eye. Something pushed up underneath me and suddenly we were moving away from the water closer to the shore. It was Fluttershy. She had just saved both mine and Rainbowdash’s lives. I was dropped onto the ground and started coughing up lungfuls of water. I felt somebody press against my chest, with both hooves. I coughed out the remainder of the water and the contents of my stomach. I swayed to my feet and looked at the rest of the ponies. Rainbowdash and Fluttershy were exhausted, and Twilight and Applejack were scared witless. There was still a problem though, the water was rising.
“We have to keep moving everyone, the water is getting higher and if we don’t move we’ll be swept down the river. We need to find high ground where we can get back across.” I said my voice rough and shaky.

I walked up to a tree and managed to climb it. I looked around and only found a single place high enough that wouldn’t be swept up by the raging torrent. I hopped down and led them to the hill. By the time we got there we were barley outrunning the tide. We stopped when we got to the top of the hill. There was a single tree at the top, and a small one at that. We all huddled under the shade of the tree and waited for the water to die down.
“This is all you fault Josh.” Said Rainbowdash
“The Beholder would have eaten use all if it wasn’t for Josh. How is this his fault?” snapped Twilight.

All the ponies began to argue over what I had done right, what I had done wrong. It was getting darker but they continued to argue. It was all grating on my nerves, even as I thought of a way to get us all out of here.
“Just shut up!” I finally screamed at all the ponies “Shut up and let me think. There has to be some way to get out of here.”

All the ponies were silent after that but they were all glaring at me. I sighed and finally came up with a semi decent plan to get us all out of here.
“Rainbowdash” I said “I need you to fly back to town as fast as you can and get help.”
“It took you that long to come up with that genius plan.” remarked Rainbowdash.
“No, I knew you were exhausted from fishing me from out of the river and waited this long because I didn’t want you hurt yourself trying to fly out for help.”
“Oh…”

Without another word she lifted into the air and flew in the direction of Ponyville. The night air was cold and we all huddled closer for warmth. It wasn’t long before everyone had fallen asleep. I couldn’t sleep though. I had gotten them all into this and I was going make sure they all got out of this safely. It was dawn before anything happened. A Pegasus was flying through the air and I started shouting, trying to get his attention. He turned towards the island and bolted for us. He hovered over the water and looked at me.
“Are all of you okay?” he asked.
“We’re fine right now, but much longer there might have been some problems. Just hurry up and get some help over here.”

The pegasus nodded and bolted back over the trees. I looked back at the other exhausted ponies. They were all still asleep. I woke them all gently and told them that helps would be here soon. An hour later I saw a large pink blip on the horizon. It got closer until I recognized it as a hot air balloon. It hovered over the island and dropped down rope with a stretcher attached. I got all of the other ponies into the balloon. One of the ponies in the balloon looked over the edge with a sad look on his face.
“I’m very sorry but there isn’t enough room in here for us to bring you with us. We’ll come back and get you though, don’t you worry about that.”

The balloon left and I sat back down on the island and waited. About ten minutes had passed when I saw something on the horizon. It was a small blur at first but as it got closer I saw it was four pegasi, with a strange contraption strapped between them. They got closer and I could see them better, and the one leading them was Rainbowdash! They landed on the island and walked over to me.
“I’m sorry that I said that this was your fault, you were only doing your best and trying to help us.” said Rainbowdash as she looked at the ground.
“It’s okay,” I said “but why did you come back here for me?”
“I couldn’t leave a friend here to rot while he waited for that balloon. Now get in the harness.”

I climbed into the harness, which was just a stretcher attached to each of the ponies by a harness on their backs. They tied ropes around me so that I wouldn’t fall and off we went, flying through the air. We flew for about half an hour before I saw Ponyville in the distance. They landed in a field and I hopped of and helped the tired ponies get off the harness. Rainbowdash started to walk towards town but her legs gave way under her. I caught just as she started to fall. She smiled at me and leaned against my side as we walked to town.
“Where did they take everyone too when they got to town?” I asked.
“They’re all at the Ponyville infirmary.” responded Rainbowdash.
As we walked through town, Rainbowdash gave me directions to the infirmary. Everybody seemed to be gathered there. As we got closer people turned and watched us walk in to the infirmary. Apparently the story of what happened had been spread through the town, because they made a path for us, clapping and patting me and Rainbowdash on the back. When we got into the building one of the doctors looked up and without speaking lead us to the other ponies. They were all in hospital beds, sleeping. We walked into the room and looked at the ponies. A doctor on the other side of the room approached us.
“They’ll be fine, they’re just thoroughly exhausted. They just need rest.” said the doctor “You two look like you could use a meal and some rest as well. The cafeteria is open and you can sleep on the couches here if you want.”
“Stay here Rainbowdash. I’ll go get us some food.”

She nodded and laid down on the couch. I found the cafeteria and loaded up two trays with food and drinks. I carried one tray in my mouth and the other on my back. When I returned to the room Rainbowdash had fallen asleep. I put down the trays and ate some. Now I just had to wait.

After an hour I heard someone come charging up the hallway. I looked and found a fretful Rarity and Pinkiepie running up the hallway. They stopped at the door where I had been standing.
“How are they?” whispered Rarity.
“They’re fine, they just need rest.” I answered.
“What about you?” asked Pinkie.
“I got them into this, and I’m not going to rest until I’m sure they’re all fine.” I responded.
“Thank you.” said Rarity.
“For what?” I asked.
“For making sure none of my friends got hurt, for saving them, for everything you’ve done today.”

I grunted and sat back down and watched. I sat for nearly four hours before any of the ponies came to. It was Twilight. She groaned, rolled over and looked at me. I smiled and asked her
“You hungry?”
“Yes, please.” she smiled.

I picked up the tray of food and brought it over to her. She grabbed a few apple slices and ate them. She took a long pull out of a bottle of water. She looked around me and saw Rarity and Pinkie. She smiled at them and sat up.
“Could you get me home please?” asked Twilight.
“No, I’m sorry the doctors need you to stay here to make sure nothing’s wrong.” responded Rarity.
“That’s a shame, my bed at home is much more comfortable.” She said before dropping back off to sleep.

It was another four hours before both Applejack and Fluttershy had woken up for good. The doctors cleared them, and they were able to leave. When Twilight woke up next I got her out of the bed and helped her to her house. I returned and got Applejack and Fluttershy back to their houses, Applejack having to me directions. The fourth time I returned to the hospital all the ponies had gone back to their homes. Rarity and Pinkie were gone and the only one left was Rainbowdash. I shook her awake.
“Do you think you’ll be able to get home?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I think I’ll be fine.”

We left the hospital and she flew slowly of towards the sunset. I meandered drowsily back to Twilights house. I stumbled up the steps and into my storage closet slash bed room, and flopped onto the bed. I was asleep almost instantly.

I was woken up by the sounds of voices outside of my door. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, so I got up and pressed my ear against the door. I must have pressed to hard because I fell through the doorway. I was greeted by the sound of a bunch of ponies yelling “Thank You!”

Comments

[Distorted Flare]

You're story is all in all really good plot sentence structure is good, but you have slightly rushed the first par of the story i think a human would be far more weary of talking magical horses. Hope to see a update soon I've written my on fic with similar idea but more futuristic you should read it if you get a chance

[Spout]

I'm interested to see where this leads.

[LordKraft]

1028432
Thnx for the comment. I should be finished with part two by tuesday or wednssday