Celestial Year 992 AB
"I'm telling you! I've been there! Lots of times, honest!"
The familiar southern twang that he wished wasn't so familiar drifted across the classroom and filled Light Flow's ears. He glanced over to where a set of orange hooves had placed themselves on top of a small wooden desk. His eyes lazily drifted up to the face of the pony attached to them, as she yammered on about her supposed adventures into the Everfree Forest. A small group of his weak-minded classmates had gathered around her, and were listening with enthralled expressions.
He snorted in derision. He couldn't wrap his head around why those pathetic ponies cared so much about a few silly trips into a stupid forest. Even if the forest was really dark and scary, and really cool. And probably filled with neat dead stuff. And maybe he had always wanted to go in there himself, but it wasn't like he was too scared to!
He... just...never found the time.
He was busy quite often, with his reading, and his brooding, and his.. uh...
Stuff...
Why was he trying to justify this to himself? It didn't matter!
"It's practically my second home! It don't scare me a bit! Why, I even made friends with a Timberwolf!"
His classmates let out gasps, and multiple ponies simultaneously went 'ooh' and 'aah'. He pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. It all sounded so dumb to him. Just because she lived next to the forest didn't automatically mean she was some kind of expert.
He unconsciously scooted his chair closer to where the apple pony was spinning her wild tale. Just because the sun had been shining into his eyes. No other reason.
Unfortunately, the subtle sound of the chair scraping against the floor caught the attention of the farm pony mid-sentence. He saw those green eyes flick towards him as her mouth halted in the middle of a word. He saw her close her mouth, before a grin formed on her face; and he felt panic rapidly rise inside of him. He set his eyes forward, and a pained grimace made its way onto his face. He heard the telltale 'clip-clop' of hooves on wood and silently cursed his hubris.
Don't let her come over here. Celestia help him, he really didn't want her to come over here. Please, please please ple-
"Light Flow believes me! Don't you, sugarcube?"
He felt a hoof throw itself over his withers, and he sighed audibly. He stared forlornly at the open book on his desk, before turning his head to look into Applejack's big green eyes.
He had learned her name after enough time, though he would always pretend he hadn't. It was hard not to pick it up though, especially with how much she bothered him. It seemed like every week she found some new excuse to inject herself into whatever he happened to be doing.
If he was going to the library, she would spot him from her family's apple cart and forcibly tag along with him. If he was reading in the schoolyard, she would come over and sit next to him and just talk and talk and talk for what seemed like hours on end. If he was plotting evil plans alone in his room, his mother would come up to tell him that Applejack had come by to see him.
If he was having any sort of fun by himself: Applejack always seemed to come along and ruin it with her presence.
He hated her so much.
He turned his attention back to the present, and to the hopeful green eyes staring into his own exasperated brown ones. He felt the tension in him grow as it always did when she was near. It was a horrible bunching feeling in his bones, like they were coiling in on themselves.
He mentally geared himself up for another encounter and pasted a condescending smirk onto his face. He may not have felt it, and it didn't really reach his eyes, but it was important to at least try and maintain his illusion of 'uncaring jerk'.
He shook the offending hoof off his withers: "As if! Like you would ever go someplace that scary, Orange Hooves." He announced in his best 'holier than thou' voice. Though, his smirk fell a bit as he thought about the meaning of 'holier than thou'. He didn't really want to be holier than anypony else, it was kind of his whole schtick that he wasn't.
As he pondered the use of the phrase 'eviler than thou', he didn't notice Applejack looking at him with a growing fire in her eyes. He was startled out of his musings when she jabbed him in the side with a hoof. "Oh yeah? You callin' me chicken? I bet you wouldn't go in there in a million years!" Her face tilted upwards in smug satisfaction, pleased with her rebuttal.
He heard the words, but he was having a hard time understanding them. They rattled around in his head, and his well-practiced smirk slipped off of his face in favor of his mouth opening slightly in disbelief. His brow furrowed, and he felt around his teeth with his tongue as he tried to restart his brain.
Was she... Was she calling him a chicken?!
He closed his jaw, and felt his cheeks redden as the dumb orange pony's entourage gathered around to giggle and laugh at him. They pointed their hooves at him, and began chanting 'Chicken! Chicken!' over and over again. The muddled high-pitched mockery blended together into one cacophonous jumble as it attacked his ears. It felt like the horrible sound was piercing into his very soul. His chest clutched tightly, and he sucked in his cheeks. His head felt hot.
He swung his head around, looking at his classmates' jeering faces. He felt his face warm, and he blinked rapidly to prevent anything incriminating from forming. He swung his head toward his accuser, and fixed an angry glare on her.
Her own smug smile had faded, and she was also looking around at the group with what he knew was likely a fake worried expression on her face. "Um.. Hey y'all, I-I didn't mean-"
"Fine! I'll do it!"
The words rang loud and clear, even despite the giggles and jeering calls of his classmates. The room quickly silenced as his proclamation rang clearly throughout the mostly empty space. He stared defiantly at the stupid apple pony, even as she stared back with that dumb sad expression on her face. He knew it was just an act to save face though, and he furrowed his brows; even as tears began to build at the corners of his eyes.
He felt them, hot and wet. But he refused to blink, as he stared into the eyes of the constant nuisance in his life. He wouldn't give her any ground. The defiant brown of his eyes clashed with the regretful green of hers, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop as everypony around them held their breath. The tension was palpable, and even he felt like this was maybe getting out of hoof; though his rising anger was quickly pushing those thoughts aside.
Isn't this what she wanted? Didn't she want to see him cry again? Isn't that why she hung around him?!
Finally, green's resolve broke, and the two orbs flicked down to the ground. "You don't have to do that sugarcube... I.. I was just teasin'..." She uttered in a low, defeated tone as she rubbed one of her hooves against the other. Her ears were tucked down into her head, and the end of her braided tail swished slowly over the floor. He had to admit, it was an admirable mockery of sincerity.
But he knew she didn't feel sorry. Not at all.
He stood suddenly, shocking everypony out of their stupor as the harsh screech of the chair reverberated in their ears. He glared at the stupid apple pony as she rubbed her dumb orange hooves together. Her ugly, puke-shaded eyes flicked between him and the floor; and he saw her tongue dart out to wet her lips. She started to speak again, but he interrupted her. He wouldn't let her have any ground. He wouldn't be the one on the defensive. Not with her.
Never again.
"I'll bring something back, to prove I went! Then who'll be the chicken?!" He projected his voice loudly. He wanted everypony to hear him clearly, so they would know. Know that he was strong, and she was weak.
He turned his back on his dumb classmates, and headed to the schoolroom door. He heard the weak apple pony call something after him, but he didn't care.
I am strong.
Fun little story, I don't see why your seem to be so depreciative of your own writing. Looking forward to see where this leads Light toward in his quest to become a caring necromancer.
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Hey thanks friend!
There's a reason why I always say my writing is crappy, and that's because it keeps me humble. If I always know that I have room to improve, and reasons to grow as a writer; then I won't ever become complacent. Of course, there's something to be said for taking pride in yourself, and I do that! I genuinely enjoy writing, and I'm always looking forward to writing the next chapter, because each chapter has been a rollercoaster for me from start to finish. The title's meaning changed from literal to ironic.
None of the chapters so far have gone the way I expected at all. But every time I sat down to metaphorically pen the story out, it's like it took on a life of its own. Light Flow has changed so much from the character I originally devised, it's incredible. I went into this expecting my character to be a plain douchy caricature, but I've really grown attached to him and his strange way of seeing the ponies around him.
Originally, I had just wanted to write about a cagey asshole who gets a lot of power and destroys his enemies, but I've changed my mind since then. My new main goal with this story is to create a deep, flawed character who has his triumphs, but also his mistakes. Especially his mistakes, because one day, someday; he's going to make a very grave one.
that was a pun btwbut it's not a joke though it's foreshadowing look out for thatI'll be honest, I wrote this comment more for myself more than I wrote it for you. Sorry about that.
I was just going to write a generic thank you comment, and I sorta spiraled down a pit of confessions and internal reflection. You can probably disregard most of this comment, and just focus on the fact that I said thanks for the comment. So.... Thanks!
I'm rather behind on the show, so I don't know when or how Applejack's parents died, but i wonder how they'll tie into this?
Like, I enjoy how she at least hangs out with Light Flow as a friend (even if he doesn't see it that way) because changing up the pace or interactions of the characters helps keep the story interesting, since it think readers might find it boring if he's only ever being negative/rude with little to no positive interaction to spice it up a little... One way to have them interact in an interesting way is:
a) if AJ's parent are still alive, then it could create an interesting scenario where he see's her as someone who doesn't understand his pain due to having both parents (currently) alive. This also leads to how he would react to their eventual deaths (would he comfort or torment her???).
b) both of AJ's parents are already dead, so it can explain why she hangs out with him so much already (she sees a connection since they both lost loved ones while being so young). He likely wouldn't know this so if it ever comes up where she mentions his Dad and he snaps back, AJ can bring up the fact that both of her parents are dead which would likely make him feel shock/sympathy to finding out that someone has it worse (yeah it's kind of like a 'one-up' situation but I hope it can lead to them pounding in a positive way). This could also lead to a previous point I made where while entries to go about reviving his dead father he also tries to go about reviving AJ's parents too (though that's only if I was even correct with the previous guess).
Regardless, while I do hope he continues down the path of Necromancy I hope he doesn't end up alone, or at least finds somebody to make a friend. :] Either way, keep up the good work!
And thus, AJ decided she would never lie again, and fully believes that lying will drive people to do stupid things.
Silly AJ, stupidity drives stupid people to do stupid things.
No, you writing is not crappy,i don't know who said that.
It's actually pretty good.
++Concern.
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It begins.
Excellent, every budding necromancer should have a near-death experience as early in their career as possible.
And if he gets his leg ripped off or summat, then there's an emotionally scarring backstory for Applejack! So generous with the trauma he is, very evil.
no se hombre, eso a mi me suena a una palabra especifica en estos casos, una que empieza con A (en español) y es A M O R es una suerte que en los dos idiomas solo tiene 4 silabas, ya sabes
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Concern^2?
I feel really bad for Light Flow