A New Purpose in Life

by Tx Avenger 218

Stare Master

The next few days were eventful, unfortunately. Ponyville was attacked again. Timberwolves again, this time they scratched up my truck pretty bad and went on to Ponyville. This time my friends and the others were fast enough to get inside the buildings before they could get hurt. The loud roaring and scratching of the wolves and my truck, along with the loud gunfire of my Mossberg shotgun and Berretta pistol, they took that as a warning to hide. The fighting was hell but I proved my title right, the town wasn’t destroyed and there was minimal damage done to it. The scratches my truck has are something like when you key a person’s car. I was pissed as hell when they did that but considering how powerful they can be and their ferocity, I should count myself lucky they didn’t do more. The day’s weren’t a complete fail however. I found some more books, much to mine and Twilight’s delight, a couple old history books, some English texts, but my most valuable find, a Japanese martial arts fighting manual.

I can’t rely on guns or my knife all the time, or any type of melee weapon for that matter. Eventually they’ll wither away and become inoperable. My hands and feet can’t. It will take some time, and I’ve never been one to exercise either, but now time is something I have plenty of and with good reason too. Before I start practicing the moves, I need to get in shape and build up my stamina and endurance.

Suddenly, I hear three knocks coming from the front door.

“*Grunt* Come in.”

“Hello, Swift! I was wondering if… what are you doing?” Twilight enters my home. Her question veers away from what it is she actually wanted. She caught me at the end of today’s exercise regiment for myself. I only did a modest amount of exercises; something like a high school gym class would do at the beginning of class.

“22… 23… 24… Ugh… 25! There.” I finish up my push-ups for today. I lay on the ground for a second before I sit up and look up at Twilight. “Whew! I’m sorry. What’d you say?”

“Well, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go to the Everfree forest with me. But now I’m more curious as to what you were doing right now?” she asks me. I smile and wipe a bead of sweat off my forehead.

“I found this fighting manual from my world and decided that maybe I should hone my skills in using them. I can’t rely forever on my guns and knife. If they were taken away from me, I would be defenseless,” I said as I showed her the book. I slowly get up, my muscles already starting to feel a little sore. “And that, I cannot allow.”

Twilight smiles up at me. “Wow, Swift. I’m glad to see your doing something you like for once,” She happily says.

“Hey, whats…” I begin to say but I stop. Defending the ponies is more of an obligation than me actually liking it, a way to repay them still for saving my life. The competition was more for me to support my friend. The things that have happened so far, they all required of something from me, whether I did or didn’t like them, I had to. Now… I’m taking on something new. “You know you’re right. Most of the things I’ve done or has happened to me so far had some sort of reason to it. This exercising and learning these new fighting styles is something… I like to do, to know and hone my skills with.”

She looks at me with a smile. “You must feel happy with yourself, then?”

I look into her eyes, those violet colored eyes, and smile. “I do. I feel good.” I lean onto my back and lean forward fast with my legs, launching myself onto them and standing up. “Sooooo, what was it you needed?” I asked her, finally breaking the awkwardness of her finding me in the middle of my work out.

“Oh! Right! Sorry. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with me to Zecora’s? I’m going so I can pick some of my favorite tea she makes.” She explains. The Everfree Forest yet again, huh? Well, I couldn’t put it off forever huh. Then again, Twilight has gone to Zecora’s home before without the need for an escort, or before I was even here for that matter.

“Ehhhhh, sorry Twilight. But after that last brawl I had with the Timberwolves, I prefer not to tangle with them again.” I apologize to her. I sit down on my couch and take off my shirt. There’s some bandages on my waist while some gauze wrapped around my arm. Those wolves were able to get a few good scratches on me. I look at her with an apologetic stare. “Like I said, I don’t thi-“

“Maybe Zecora has found some interesting things while exploring the forest, a new plane, something to fix your truck, or maybe some more books!” Twilight says the last part rather loudly and with happiness in her voice while cutting me off. This pony will always jump at the chance to find some new books or find something new to learn about me.

“Weelllll, that would be kinda nice.”

“So you’ll come?” she asks while leaning forward on her front hooves a bit.

I let out a groan of annoyance. Today, I ‘was’ going to relish the feel of relaxing after almost getting myself killed yet again, but I can’t pass up the chance of seeing if Zecora found anything new for me. She did bring that house building manual for the girls to make my house after all. “Fine, you win. Let me grab my gear and we’ll get going.”

“Great! But first I need to pick up some things from the library. Do you want me to wait or should I just go?” she asked me.

“No, no. It’ll only take a few minutes. Explore my house a bit while I get ready.” I propose. She nods with approval. I get up and walk to my room. I throw my slightly sweaty shirt into a bin I set up for all my dirty clothes. I search through my drawer to find a suitable replacement. A simple black t-shirt will suffice. Once I slip on my shirt, then comb my hair, I walk out to find Twilight fiddling around with one of the shells for my shotgun.

“Interesting. So an array of small pellets are placed inside this, then when you fire it launches them all out into a spraying effect?” She states right on the money. I smile and nod to her as I walk over to the coat rack to grab my belt.

“Excellent Twilight. You’re learning.” I compliment her. She smiles at me with her eyes closed when she places the shell back down. I’m ready when the audible ‘click’ of my belt closes shut. “Alright, let’s get going.”

“Right.”

We begin walking into town back to where Twilight lives. Everything is peaceful and all have gone back to their usual daily activities. Everyone is peaceful, happy and today just feels like a good day. Maybe things will be alright.

“Look out!” A voice breaks the slight somewhat quietness me and Twilight have with us right now. Me and Twilight spin around rapidly as the creature or creatures zoom past us in an instant. When we finally stop, Twilight’s eyes are spinning around in circles while I’m trying to regain my balance.

“Whoa. Oh, man. Crap, crap. Dizzy. Really dizzy here.” I start sputtering words as I unintentionally move from left to right, forward and back in an attempt to stop my spiraling world.

“Swift! Are you okay?” I manage to hear Twilight’s voice. Sounds like she isn’t as messed up as I am right now. I stumble towards her, hoping she can help keep me steady and alright.

“Uh, no I’m not. I can’t see straight.”

“Uh, Swift? Your coming a little-!” Before Twilight can finish, I trip on my own feet and fall forward, accidentally landing on the purple colored unicorn. “Close.” Twilight strains to say from under me.

I push myself off the ground a little and roll off her. I just lay there on the ground, staring into the spinning clouds above me.

“Oh my! Are you alright?” What little I can make out, Fluttershy appears in my field of vision, then Twilight.

“I’m just, peachy!” I say with a smile, sarcasm flowing out like a waterfall. “I think... I think I’m gonna… gonna… lay here for a second until I… I can walk again.” I meekly say to them as I close my eyes. My head isn’t throbbing anymore but I still feel my eyes hurting a little under the lids. “Sorry again for falling on you Twilight.”

“It’s alright, Swift. Just try to feel better before we go.” I nod to her words.

“Wait, where are you two going?” Fluttershy asks Twilight.

“Me and Swift are heading over to the Everfree Forest to visit Zecora!” Twilight happily says. I just smile and give a thumbs up.

“The… the Everfree… Everfree Forest?” Fluttershy stutters, concerned for our well-being and whatnot. I’m not surprised. That forest is still a death trap for those unprepared for it. Thankfully I’ve always been a cautious person so with luck, when me and Twilight head on through, hopefully there won’t be an incident. “You’ll, you’ll be careful won’t you?”

“Of course! With Swift by my side, I think we can manage.” Awww, I feel so loved.

“Thanks for having the utmost confidence in me Twilight Sparkle!” I reply in a loopy voice. I don’t remember how many times it was that I spun around, but however many it was, I’m still a little messed up. I hear Twilight and Fluttershy giggle at my silliness. As much as the horrors I’ve faced for so long, I can’t help but smile at how cute their giggles are.

“Anyway, what are you doing with the girls?” Twilight asks her hovering friend.

“Rarity has a big order to fill tonight, so I volunteered to take the girls over to my cottage for a sleepover.” A sleepover? With the crusaders?

“IIIIIIII smell trouble.” I say while pointing my finger into the air. With my vision returning, I see the two mares staring at me.

“He does have a bit of a point. Taking care of those three fillies? All by yourself? You sure you can handle it?” Twilight asks her. Fluttershy has her uses, skills and all, but there’s only so much someone, or somepony, can do.

“What? These sweet little angels. They’ll be no problem at all.” Fluttershy states as the crusaders all stand together with golden halos over their heads.

“Well, I wish you luck then, Fluttershy.” I shout.

“Thank you, Swift. Well, we better get going before it gets too late. Good luck again in the Everfree Forest. Say bye girls.”

“Bye!”

“See you!”

“Catch ya’ later!” The three fillies say at the same time and begin trotting away. The shy yellow Pegasus waves us goodbye and turns around to leave.

I slowly sit up and watch as Fluttershy hovers away with the three fillies just ahead of her. “She’s screwed isn’t she?” I blurt out. Considering how they were the first time I met them, the crusaders are definitely a handful.

“Ohh! Don’t be so negative to her. Who knows, she just might surprise us.” Twilight defends the shy pony. Maybe she might just pull through with it. After all, she surprised the hell out of me when I saw her screaming and cheering back at the Best Young Flier competition a few days ago. Either way, the crusaders will be a challenge. Twilight looks back to me. “Are you alright enough to move?”

I check myself over a bit, making sure that everything is in place and where it should be. Since the gun belt is the only thing on me that has something important to me, my focus is pressed towards that. Everything seems to be in place, my gun and knife are there, the magazines for my pistol there too, and I’m not seeing stars or anything like that, so I guess I’m good. I slowly get onto my feet in case I get dizzy all of a sudden from laying down too much. “I’m good. Let’s get going.” With a nod, we continue walking towards the library.

Minutes pass by, Twilight and I making small idle chit-chat as we walk together. As words leave both our mouths, I think of Twilight, out of all my friends, the bestest friend I’ve got. She’s nice, smart, has lots of other friends besides me, plus it also helps to know that she is friends, along with a student/teacher status between the two of them, with one of the most powerful and highly prestigious creatures of this world, in any world for that matter. After hearing the story about the whole Nightmare Moon incident from the other elements, it sounded like Twilight is somewhat the leader of their group. So that’s a plus too. Besides, she’s not bad looking either.

“!!” What the fuck did I just say?! No! No. Nothing like that. She would never be interested in me. It would never work out anyway. She’s a pony, and I’m a human. It just wouldn’t work out.

Would it?

“Swift?” Her voice snaps me out of my attention. I look up to find that we are here at the library. Good, I needed something to get my mind off this.

“Huh? What?” I stammer out.

“You alright? You blanked out there for a second.” I shake my head little.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just… thinking that’s all.” She gives me a curious look. Guess she doesn’t believe me.

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m fine!” I say a little loudly. She gives me this look. A look that I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not good I know that much. I don’t need this right now, I’m about to head straight into unknown territory yet again and I don’t need Twilight picking my brain. I groan and move past her to the door. “Let’s just get what it is you need and move.” I open the door and walk right in, only to be greeted by a book to the top of my head. “Ow! What the-?!” I look up to see it’s Spike trying to rearrange a bookshelf.

“Oops. Sorry, Swift.” I lean down and grab the book, which is just a plain dictionary, and hand it to Spike. “Thanks.”

“No prob.”

“Now just stay right there while I go get my saddlebag.” Twilight says and heads up the stairs to her room. I find a chair to sit in and relax, letting out a breath of air in the process.

“You alright?” I look up to Spike.

“*Sigh* I don’t know. I think I’ve already accepted the idea that I’m going to be stuck here for the rest of my life… but I’m still not sure if my mind has accepted it yet. It’s going to take longer than just a week or more for me to feel better.” I’ll probably never see a human again. I’ll be stuck here forever with little to zero chance of going back to where I came from. I didn’t like my world before, but it’s something that was designed for my kind, not here in Equestria. Equestria is the magical land for ‘Ponies’, not humans. Sure I now have more friends than I’ve ever had before, I can relax more often here than back in my world, but two things that might be a problem are still on the surface of my thoughts: Love, and Magic.

Can I have relationships with a pony? Probably not. They’d probably be outcasted by their friends and family for having intimate relationships with an alien. Damn. I can’t do that to somepony. Just suck it up man. You don’t have time for this.

Next, how long will it take before the thing I’m allergic to decides to finally kill me? This place teems with magic all over the place. Maybe it’s slowly killing me off as I continue live here. If that’s the case, a relationship surely wouldn’t work out, not just because there would be a good chance that my intimate partner would be a pony, and I’m a human, but because I would probably die out sooner if I continue to work with my current occupation.

“You sure you’re not just sick or tired? That last fight you had really took a lot out of you.” The little green and purple dragon tries to ease my worries. That is a possibility. Fatigue can play tricks on a person’s mind if it’s serious enough. I feel a little better now, not fully, but better. I also have this thing about me where I take something and think it’s completely impossible for me to do, even though I do have the means, skill and tools to get it done, then about a few minutes or hours later I have that confidence again to achieve my goal. I don’t know if there’s a term for something like this, but it’s gotten annoying after a while. Still, for a baby dragon, he gave a pretty simple yet valid point.

“You know, you’re probably right. Just before Twilight came by to get me, I was doing some exercises so I can try and get fit. I guess since I pushed my limits just a few days ago in defending this town, exercising a little after is not recommended, especially if you don’t do it on a regular basis.” I explain. With how everything is, hopefully my explanation right now really is the answer. “Yeah, that’s probably it.”

“Alright, ready.” I hear a chipper voice. I look towards the stairs to see Twilight slowly descending them with her saddle bag on. I slowly sit up and stretch a bit.

“All right then, let’s go.”

“Be careful you two.” Spike says to us as we make our way to the door. Since I don’t want Twilight trying to press the subject again from earlier, I open the door for her like a gentleman usually does, which I am far from.

“Why thank you! Bye Spike! Take good care of the library while we’re gone!” Twilight bids farewell from the outside. Just before I close the door, I look up at the dragon:

“See ya, Spike. Now you be careful up there.”

“Ahhhh, don’t worry, Swift. I’ll be fine.” He snorts back. I close the door and walk back to Twilight, who is waiting patiently for me to follow a few feet away.

“Now are you ready?” she asks in an annoyed tone. I smirk.

“Yes, I’m read-.”

*Crash*Crash* A couple loud sounds interrupts me. From where they came from, they came from the library. Twilight gets a worried look. I hold my hand out in front of her to signal for her to stay put. I go to push open the door but I slam into it instead.

“What the-?” I slam on the door a few times to get it open but it doesn’t budge. I put all my weight into it and slowly edge the door open until I can peek my head in. The entire shelf of books just in front of the door has been toppled over, with a dizzy and disoriented dragon right in the middle of the pile. I don’t scold him, I warned him and now look what happened. I slowly close the door and walk back to Twilight.

“He’s fine.” I bluntly say while walking past her. Her expression turns to surprise as she bolts to catch up to me.

For the next few minutes as we walk towards the Everfree Forest, I decide to screw with her a bit by barely telling her anything about what I saw in the library.

“So everythings fine?” she asks me for the dozenth time. I smile as I push a tree limb out of our path.

“Yes, Twilight. Everything’s just fine.” She gives me a pouty look.

“I don’t see why you couldn’t tell me what happened exactly?” I chuckle.

“I don’t know. I haven’t had much fun lately, so I guess the thought and seeing you work really hard to deduce this mystery was priceless.” It was a little funny seeing her squirm like that. She shakes her head while ducking under another branch.

“You’re terrible.”

“Haha, and don’t you forget it.” I laugh and jump over a fallen log, followed by Twilight. We’ve been trekking for a while now and it’s already dark, not dark as in the Everfree Forests darkness, I’m talking about literally dark from the outside. “Are we almost there? I can’t tell anymore.”

“Hmmm, we should be. I don’t remember the last I time explored this at night.” That’s comforting. The many echoes and moaning noises that emanate from the forest itself are an all too familiar sound to me, but there’s only so much a person can remember, especially a freaky place like this.

*Rustle*Shift* Some sounds catch my attention. Normally they wouldn’t, but these are too close to be a coincidence. I stop myself and Twilight in our tracks.

“What is it?” I slowly scan the area around us to find the source of the disturbance. A bush moves and shakes a second, then another shakes a few bushes away, so either there’s more than one, or there’s one that’s really big and long. I pull out my pistol and aim.

“There’s something out there. Stalking us.” I say while not even turning to her.

“You sure?”

“I’m quite sure.” It stays silent for a while, until…

“Bawk.” I jerk my gun behind me and about to unload on the creature, until I see its face.

“A chicken?” Yes, a damn chicken. What the hell?!

“Uhhhhhh, Swift? I think we should go!” Twilight tells me in a worried tone. I don’t understand what’s so wrong. It’s just a chicken, I mean sure it’s obvious it’s not an inhabitant of a place like this but what’s the harm.

“C’mon Twilight, are you that paranoid of this place that you’ll suspect just about any-“ I begin to say while looking back at her. I turn back around to see the chicken is gone. I look around to try and find it but there’s nothing.

“Bawk.” I hear the noise again, except this time its sounds a little higher. I look up to try and confirm my suspicion, and I’m right. The chicken is there in the branches above, only it’s upside down.

“What the-!” I begin to voice my surprise but something hits me in the chest. “Oooof!” I stumble back a bit from the attack knocking the wind out of me. I look around to find my assailant but again, nothing.

“Swift!” I turn around to find Twilight.

“Kaaa!” As my head turns around, I’m met with something to the face. The force of it stings and nearly hurdles me against a tree. I groan and slowly get up. I rub my face to make sure nothing bad was hit, except I find my hand with a streak of blood on it. Whatever it was that hit me, it gave me a pretty bad gash on my cheek.

“Swift!” I hear Twilight’s voice again but it rings a bit in my ears. Those damn attacks really shook my head up. What I do manage to see is Twilight teleporting in front of me. One second, she’s far away from me, now she’s in a fighting stance facing my attacker from in front of me. The creature now finally reveals itself to be a Cockatrice. The head is of a rooster or the chicken from before, it’s body is long, slender and dragon-like too, just like the description from my worlds mythical creatures. But there was something else about it that I forgot, something about it’s eyes. The creature flares is wings outward and flashes these red blood-like eyes at us, except before he can do whatever it is he was going to do, a bright flash of light blinds me and the creature. As I rub my eyes to try and clear my vision, something bites my hand.

“Youch!” I yelp while being pulled away. Shortly after, my vision soon returns to me and it’s Twilight that’s leading me away from the Cockatrice.

“Mvar therar!” She shouts to me in a muffled voice. I look ahead to see a clearing. She let go of my hand, where I run as fast as her and we both move behind a tree. We take a few seconds to catch our breath but still keep our guard up.

“*Breathes heavily* Damn! A fucking cockatrice! Just what we need.” I quietly say. I pea back around to tree, expecting to see the creature again right on our heels, but thankfully I don’t. “Whew, alright, I think we’re clear for now.”

“Dear Celestia! What do we do?” Twilight quickly asks me. No doubt this is probably her first time facing this thing, mine too, obviously. I grab my gun and pull back the barrel to check to see if it’s loaded. Once it is, I grab my knife to make sure it’s still in working order. With those two factors checked, I feel a bit more relaxed knowing I have something to defend myself with.

“Alright, that thing is big, dangerous, sneaky, and overall pissed off from what you did. I better draw its attention away from you while you make your way back to Ponyville or Zecora’s. Either get the others and help take this thing down, or maybe Zecora might have something to help against this thing, for being in the forest for so long she’s bound to have some tricks up her sleeve, or… in her mane.” I explain to the unicorn. Hopefully my plan will work and we can take this mythological creature down with no casualties. Besides, if we both try to leave at the same time, I have the feeling that that thing is going to be hiding behind something and wrap itself around us, then we’d really be screwed!

“No Swift! I won’t leave you to face that thing yourself. We can take it together!” she replies with determination. I chuckle at her.

“I admire your optimism and confidence in our abilities, but we’re sitting ducks here and who knows what else could come by and make a meal of us, plus if both try to move, we’re a much bigger and louder target.” I peak around again to make sure nothing is nearby. Still clear. “No. One of us needs to make a distraction while the other gets help.” I grip my gun with both hands and have it ready, “And it just so happens, distractions are a bit of my specialty.”

“You sure?” I look at her with confidence in my eyes.

“Don’t worry Twilight, I got this.” I lie. In truth I have no idea if I’ll be able to do this, but my concern is to keep Twilight safe, nothing else. I get into a running stance with my beretta ready in my left hand. “Okay, ready… set… go!”

I yell loudly and bolt as fast as I can back in the direction we were running from. I hear foot or hoofsteps behind me which leads me to believe that she’s taken my advice.

“*Bang*Bang*!!” I fire off a few shoots to get the attention of the Cockatrice or anything else hostile in the area. I continue to move every so often, stopping at a tree or a boulder as cover so I can see if anything is chasing or stalking me, plus so I can get a breather in as well. Minutes pass and nothing has shown. I’m relieved that I haven’t seen anything yet, but I’m more worried at the same time that it went after a different target, namely my dear friend Twilight.

“Damn, where the fuck are you?” I cuss out quietly in anger. The one time I actually want something to attack me doesn’t. That spells out ‘crap’ by a long shot. “God damn you, if you so much as hurt Twilight I swear I’ll skin and turn you into my new belt-!” Something hits me square in the back, slamming me hard against the rock. “That’s it you son of-!” Before I can shoot whoever hit me, my eyes meet with another set, but these are red, glowing bright red.

I… I can’t… m-…. move. Something has halted my movements, my muscles ache as I feel them stiffening up, my breathing becoming ragged slowed. I feel my blood boiling, anger and hate fueling me as I try to break this things hold on me. I clench my fist hard enough to dig my nails into my skin and leak out blood. “RAAAAHHH!” In one swift motion, I let out a cry of anger and connect my right fist to the face of those eyes. The gaze or trance is broken and I can move again. I was able to daze the Cockatrice but not for much longer. I bring my gun up to shoot it.

Nothing happens, in fact, I can feel the gun in my hand, I can’t even feel my hand! Because it’s so dark, I can’t clearly see what’s wrong. I feel around on my left arm with my right, and my heart drops. It’s hard, hard as stone, how the-?!

It clicks into my head, the ability that the Cockatrice has, it can turn something or someone to stone by looking into its eyes. The Cockatrice begins to get back and is ready to attack me. I turn around and try to run away.

“Oof!” I trip after the first few steps and hit the ground hard. I look down at my feet. To my dismay yet again, my left foot is turned to stone as well, all the way up to just before my knee. I get back up as best I can and begin running as fast as I can away from it. Waddling is the best I can do right now with my weighted arm and petrified leg.

For around half an hour, I run and move away from the creature. I can’t take my gun out of my petrified hands grip because it’s latched on their good, and I don’t want to break my fingers off in the process. “Damn, I’m in no shape to fight right now. The only thing I have to fight with is my knife, but I can’t move fast enough to use it, not with my foot and all. “Alright, just got to keep my head on straight, keep calm, and you should be fine.” I try to console myself. It works, sort of. I’m still freaking a little, but hopefully Twilight made-

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!” I hear a loud shrill cry of terror, and it sounds close by! Who the hell could be here this late at night? I move forward in the direction of the yelling, although, it didn’t sound like one cry to be exact, more like three. The cry’s continue to be heard as they go back and forth, which confirms my suspicion of it not just being one, but three. I bound around a tree and spot the source. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are all wearing capes and running around like crazy. I look a little to my right to see Fluttershy right there with her back turned to me and trying to calm down the little fillies.

“Girls-! Please-! Calm do-!”

“Girls!!” I shout loudly over the combined volume of all four pony’s. They all go quiet and look over to me.

“Swift!!” The Crusaders yell happily to see me. Fluttershy looks as happy as they are too.

“Oh my! Swift! I’m so glad you’re here! There’s an evil Cockatrice following us and-!” Before she can finish, I hold my hand up to stop her.

“I know. I met it. Listen, when it comes by and finds us, while it’s finishing me off, you all head straight for Ponyville and get help.” I explain to them. They all look confused for a second.

“What do you mean, ‘finishing you off?’” Scootaloo suspiciously asks me. I look down to realize I have my petrified body parts behind the tree. I sigh and slowly move out from behind the tree. All three fillies gasp but the yellow Pegasus has her mouth wide open. I rub the stone part of my arm slowly. I can’t feel anything right now there. My body aches right now with the cut off blood circulation to my limbs. It feels like they’ve been amputated, that they’re not there, but they are, and it hurts.

“I… I can’t fight like this. The best I can be is a decoy for you, I already did that for Twilight. Hopefully she made it back to home okay.” I feel really crappy right now. I’ve been halted from my true potential, I can’t hit my max output right and it sucks! But… maybe I can still do something good right now.

“Tw… twilight?” Fluttershy slowly says in a disappointed tone. I look up at her and nod.

“Yeah. I told her to run while I lured it off. Hopefully she made it.” I explain. She’s still unchanged and the fillies still look sad too. “What’s wrong?”

Fluttershy slowly lowers her head and looks over to her right. I follow her gaze. I see something on the ground nearby, but I can’t tell what it is because it’s still too dark. You know? I like the night and all, but sometimes it’s a complete bitch to work with!

The clouds move from in front of the moon, illuminating the area around us, until it goes over the object.

My eyes go wide and my heart drops yet again.

Right there, laying on her side, with the last scared, shocked expression on her face, is Twilight, turned to stone.

“Twi- Twilight… noo.” I quietly said. I slowly make my way over to her. I collapse onto my knees right next her. I… I failed her. I was supposed to be the guardian for the inhabitants of Ponyville… and I couldn’t protect her. I failed you Twilight. You’re gone because I wasn’t good enough. I’m… I’m sorry Twi. I feel tears begin to leak from my eyes at the loss of my friend. She was the most real and true friend I’ve ever had in my entire life, and she’s gone.

“Girls! Behind me... now!” I hear Fluttershy yell, interrupting my thoughts. I slowly look around to see the Cockatrice flying right at her, with the three fillies right behind her.

That thing took Twilight. He did this to me, did this to Twilight! I won’t let him do this to anyone else! “You!!” I say loudly, my voice increasing in volume. I’m mad now, very mad, more mad than I’ve ever been! The creature looks over at me as I slowly stand up. I grab my knife and get ready!

“You did this to me! You did this to my friend!” I shout pointing to me and Twi.

“I won’t let you do this to anyone else!!” I slowly take a few steps forward. The creature locks it’s gaze with me again. My body freezes up again, but this time I don’t care.

The last thing I want before I become a statue…

Is to be stuck with my blade driven into the heart of that demon!

“I’ll kill you!!!” I yell and run forward. I give off a loud war cry while I hold my knife high over my head, ready to deal the blow to him. I feel every fiber of my being becoming stiffer and stiffer as I move closer to the creature. My yelling going lower and lower until all I give off a low groan just a foot away from my target. I edge my arm forward, trying to bring it down with enough force to split diamond if I can. My face has the look of pure anger and horror on it, surely scaring the hell out of any who lays their eyes on me.

My breathing lessens, my lungs freezing up, my hearts beats becoming slow and less frequent, the circulation to my body cutting me off from my brain as my knife slowly makes it to just inches from the creatures face.

Only have one last thing to say before I’m stuck for good:

“Fuck… youuuuu-!”

“Get away from her!” I yell loudly and charge at the figure with my knife in hand. He took the one thing that gave a damn about me and I want his blood!

I continue to fling my arm from left to right, trying to slash him into a million ribbons, but he’s too fast. “Damn you! Die already you son of a-!” Before I can finish, he grabs my arm with one and takes the knife from me. I try to break free but before I can, I feel a horrifying stabbing feeling in my gut. I’m pushed away just as quick as I am stabbed and fall to the ground. I groan and look down to see the knife embedded right into the left most part of my stomach. If I don’t take it out soon, there’s a good chance I could bleed out from the position it’s in. I look up at my attacker, the dark and shadow around us masking his form and face. He takes out another knife and looms over me. I grit my teeth and stare at him with dead eyes.

“I’ll see you in hell.” He stabs...

“Gah!” I shout and fly up in bed. Another dream, with who, I don’t know. I’m sweating, my muscles ache and it slightly hurts as I breathe.

“Damn, what happened?” I don’t remember what happened. One second, I was charging at the Cockatrice, a mythological creature to my world that has the power to turn others into stone, the next I’m sitting here in bed… in the hospital. I can still feel the slow, agonizing process of turning to stone. My hands and legs hardening up to the point where I can’t use or feel them, then my internal organs, my head, and lastly, my eyes, the last coherent thing I had before my mind went completely blank.

“Mmmm.” I hear a soft murmur sound. My eyes gaze over to my right and then grow wide. I smile with completely happiness as I see right there, right next to me sitting on a chair, is Twilight Sparkle.

She’s fine. She’s alright. She’s alive. I can’t believe it! I thought she was gone forever. I… I’m glad I was dead wrong. I gently run my hand against her mane, the soft slight fluffiness to that part of her body. Now I’m thinking how Pinkie Pie’s mane would feel like. It’s puffy all the damn time! I know I shouldn’t question how she is but I just can’t help it! She’s just too freaky!

“Mmmm, mmmmm… huh?” But now’s not the time for that. Right now we have to deal with what happened back in the forest. I take my hand away from her as she picks up her head and her eyes slowly flutter open. She looks around a bit, no doubt to get her bearings on where she is, before looking up at me.

How long has she been there? Keeping an eye on me? How long have I been here for that matter? When our gaze meets, she smiles, making me do just that as well.

“Swift, you’re awake? I’m so- Oof!” Before she can finish, I embrace her in a hug. Right now I am really happy. I thought I lost her forever, I thought her friends and family lost her forever and it would all be my fault… but it’s not now.

She’s alive, that’s all that matters. “Twilight! I thought I lost you forever. I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“I’m glad you’re alright too, Swift. I guess we underestimated that thing didn’t we?” she jokes. Really? If Fluttershy and the others hadn’t been there we would…! What did happen exactly?

“Yeah, uh, we did. What happened after I turned to stone?” I ask her. She pulls away from my embrace and gets into a comfortable position.

“Well, apparently after you turned to stone, Fluttershy used the ‘Stare’ on the Cockatrice and forced it to release us from our prisons. I awoke with a snail on my face just as I was free. You on the other hand stayed asleep for awhile. Once the Cockatrice left, the five of us, me, Fluttershy and the three fillies carried you back home and took you to the hospital. Fluttershy then explained to me what had happened while I was writing a letter to the princess.” She explains.

“Stare?” I asked dumbfounded.

“Oh! Right. I forgot you haven’t heard about that yet. Well, Fluttershy has this… quirk about her. When she gives you the stare, it basically breaks your will in a way. I don’t know from experience on how it works, but I do know that when she gets that look on her face, you know she’s using the stare.” She says. I nod to confirm that I understand. She thinks for a little while longer, trying to come up with something else. “I think the first time I saw her use the stare was on a dragon that was coating our town in a thick black smoke.”

“A dragon huh? Wow.” The only dragon I’ve met so far is Spike, and from some texts I’ve read about how dragons can grow really big. The best estimate I can get is that they can grow up to lengths and heights as big as two buses or, side-by-side, front-or-back, even on top of one another. If the most shy and kind pony I know in the world can bring a dragon to do what she says by staring at it, I don’t want to get on her bad side at all.

“Yep, she may seem all weak and defenseless from the start, but when you hurt her in just the right points, she can get pretty violent.” Fluttershy? Violent? Well, I did keep saying to myself that she’ll never be loud enough to be a true cheerleader, but I was dead wrong about that at the competition.

“I can only imagine.” I smile at her and lay back, relaxing a bit. I look at her again with a question. “How long was I out?”

“You’ve been out for a few days now. I guess since you’re not from here, it took longer for the process to turn you to stone, shutting off different parts of you one by one until you fully turned. I guess from the magical prowess of being turned to stone, and your organs shutting off individually, you were knocked out for quite awhile.” She explains to me again. She’s always been the smart one. Her logic isn’t faulty. That’s the best of an explanation I can come up with in a long run so, I’ll just stick with that.

“Days. It’s every so often that when something bad tends to happen, I’m out of commission for a few days.” I groan. Still, I need to get stronger and better. If something like this happens again, I might never be found, same with whoever I’m with. I refuse to let that happen. “Either way, Twilight, I’m glad we’re both okay. Did anything happen will I was gone?” The purple unicorn thinks for a second.

“The others came by earlier to check on you. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I opted to stay here in case you woke up. I guess I dozed off for a second there. Hehe.” She chuckles. I do the same in return.

“Anything else?”

“Hmmm, oh! There was a talent show going on. The Cutie Mark Crusaders entered and won the award for best Comedy act of the show.” Comedy. That’s somewhat sounds about right.

“Huh. That’s nice. Did they have fun?” Instead of saying something, she just smiles. Wonder what she’s planning.

“We sure did!” A new voice shouts happily. From the slight southern accent, it’s either Applejack or Apple Bloom. And since the voice said ‘we,’ it’s Apple bloom. All three of the crusaders walk right in through the front door, dressed in some really freaky clothing.

Apple Bloom’s suit is black with stars on her chest and a black headband with white skulls on it. Her hoofs are also pink with a type of flame pattern combining with the black.

Sweetie Bell’s is light red with light green on her hoofs and stripes. Her mane is a type of crazy pattern, same with her tail, and she has the light red color face paint on her left eye.

Lastly is Scootaloo, her tail is a bit spiky, same with her mane except it’s pushed back a bit as well. She has purple eye shadow I think on. Her clothes are purple with stripes and dots of light blue and a slightly darker red than Sweetie Belle’s on her main body and the tips of her hooves.

I have no idea on who made these, but I should probably keep quiet less I say something completely rude and be a total dick. “Wooooooow. Very… interesting… clothing?” I say, unsure of what exactly to say, so I bluff it.

“Thanks, I made them myself!” Sweetie Bell happily admits. The sister, to the best fashion designer I know, made those costumes.

“I guess talent doesn’t run in the family,” I mutter to myself.

“What was that?” Twilight heard me.

“Uhh, nothing! Nothing!” I nervously say. Apple Bloom then walks up close to the bed.

“You alright?” She asks me. I guess the last thing she saw of me was the rage attack I was in. It’s good to see that she cares. I give her a reassuring smile and a nod.

“I’m fine. A little sore but fine. Sorry I missed your performance.” I apologize to her and the others. They give me a smile. Apple Bloom returns to the side of her friends.

“Don’t worry. We forgive you.” Scootaloo says.

“And you get to see it right now!”

“…” Wait, what did Sweetie Bell just say? Did she just say that I get to see it right now? “Ohh, it’s quite alright. You don’t need to do that on my account.” I quickly try to dissuade them. All three shake their head no.

“Uh-uh. You tried to save us back in the Everfree forest!”

“So to show our appreciation for you…”

“We’re going to give you your own private show!” Oh, well. I guess that settles it then. I’ve got my own private show in just a few minutes. Hopefully I’m wrong and it will actually be good. Hopefully.

“Umm, alright then. I guess I got a show.” I said with light enthusiasm. All three fillies beam with joy.

“Great! Just give us a few minutes to prepare!” Apple Bloom says and turns around to talk with her partners. I let out a defeated sigh and slump back.

“Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as you think. They’re only doing the singing and dancing part of their performance. They insisted on making the whole scenery again they used back in the talent show, but the hospital staff said no. So while all the patients are outside getting some fresh air, you’ll be here enjoying your own private show.” Twilight whispers to me. I smile and nod to the purple unicorn. Only about a minute goes by, the Crusaders finalizing how they’ll perform right now, before Twilight taps my arm. I look over to her and she has a look of sincerity on her face. “I-uh… wanted to say… thanks… for what you tried to do. You know, to the Cockatrice and all.” I look at her.

“Of course Twilight! When I saw what that thing did to you, I just… completely lost it and wanted to tear him apart. I’m just glad you’re alright.” I tell her sincerely. She doesn’t have to thank me for anything. I’ve said it before to her, the rest of the elements, to Princess Luna and Celestia, Spike, and I don’t know how many others, that I’ll defend this town and its inhabitants with my life. They saved me, I saved them. This is my home, damnit. I lost one before for reasons I can’t remember… but I won’t lost another, I swear it.

“I know me too. But when I saw the position you were in, the expression on your face when you were turning back to normal. I was a little scared and shocked at your rage.” She said to me. Wait, how did she see me like that? If she instantly went back to normal when Fluttershy broke the Cockatrice, then shouldn’t I have as well? The least that would have happened to me was just dropping right onto the ground.

“Wait, how did-?” I trail off.

“Just as how it took longer for you to fully turn to stone, it took a little while for you to return to normal. While mine was instant, yours went slowly from the bottom up. I caught a glimpse of your last moment before you fell unconscious.” She explains to me. With how everything is, I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to turn into a blood-thirsty rampaging demon. I don’t need anything else about me to freak out my friends. I’m lucky as it is for them to accept me, what of my past and all. I have to be more clear headed from now on and not just go charging in like crazy. “Still, thanks again for trying to save me and the others.”

“Hm, no problem Twilight.” I reply and take her hoof into my hand and stare into her eyes. Those eyes, her, this town, the pony’s, all have been better to me than anyone else I’ve ever met. I couldn’t ask for a better place to call home.

“We’re ready! Uh, do you two want us to leave?” Sweetie bell shouts. Me and Twilight break out of each other’s gaze and blush.

“Uhh, what are you talking about? No no, we’re good, we’re good. Go ahead.” Twilight quickly says, hoping to change the subject through her blushing exterior. At least for her, she has all that fur to hide it.

“Yeah, what she said!” Unfortunately for me, I’m practically blushing like a tomato. The Crusaders give us suspicious looks, making me and Twilight feel a little bit nervous at the awkwardness.

“Hmmmm, alrighty then!” Apple Bloom is the first to break the awkwardness. All three get into position.

This is going to be a long day, at least I have friend here to help me.

That’s something to be grateful for.

Author's Note:

I'd like to thank yet again:

http://www.fimfiction.net/user/KeatsLocksley
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/deathtap
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Rezz

For being my Proofreaders. Thanks again guys.

Comments

[Mean Character]

Please no shipping.

[SShonix]

Of course it's Twilight. Was fuckin hoping for Rainbow or Applejack but noo. Always Twilight. Just had to bandwagon the most shipped character with a human don't we.

[DerpTape]

8485242
What do you expect, her sister-in-law is the Princess of Fed-Ex.