Short Shorts

by Coranth

187. Herd Stallion.

The human - Quick Silver thought - was odd. Oh, he did his duty for the herd, he helped and supported his mares in countless ways--but he never fought for them. He never tried to assert himself with the scuffles expected of a Lead Stallion fighting to protect or dominate another. Indeed, when Quicksilver tried to fight him for the position of Lead Stallion, instead, the mares looked utterly terrified and instead, they pummeled poor Quick Silver into the dirt whilst the human - clad in his odd attire - looked on, sort of bemused, sort of sad, as if he expected better of them, as if they were merely primitive animals.

Quick Silver was sick of it. Now, as the human, clad in his emerald-green robe and golden-bronze armor, meditated at the outskirts of Ponyville - 'that's all he ever seems to do: meditate!' - the silver stallion shouted, "Hey you, Human! What's your deal, huh?! Why don't you ever fight for your Herd? What's the matter with you?!" The human, David - eyes closed - softly breathed in and out, in and out, in and out... until the Pegasus, Quicksilver, struck him with a forehoof--and immediately wished he hadn't! "Arrgh!" the pony yelled, for it was like he'd struck stone!

Something - akin to the air itself, a power that made the poor Pegasus quiver - wrenched the stallion's ear, painfully, as David opened his eyes, a flicker of something within fading, dying, as he brought up the unusual bracer attached to his forearm and barked into it in his strange language, Khalani. The Mares knew little of it. Quicksilver knew none of it, save to say that it sounded utterly terrifying. Cyan runes danced above the surface of the golden-bronze bracer, weaving this way and that, as from the device came thousands of chopped up pony voices speaking bits of Eoch to translate the human's words. "UNDERSTAND, WISH. YOU. ME. TO?"

"Ye-hee-heessss...." poor Quick Silver whined, terrified, wondering what sort of monster he'd unleashed from the normally quiet, docile human. The Pegasus watched as the human stood, turned to face the Everfree... and then he gurgled as the human unlocked something within himself... Power unlike any magic the Pegasus had ever felt emanated from the human, crushing the stallion flat against the ground--but that was only the human's psionic aura... As Quicksilver watched, slipping into a deeper trance - chanting more Khalani the human seemed to utterly close himself off to the outside world as he began to concentrate, gathering and focusing whatever this power he had was. Then, opening his eyes and raising his hands to the sky, the human David made his power manifest...

Unnatural lightning arced and danced across the trees of the Everfree, withering and setting them aflame as an entire swathe of the forest was devastated! Bawling like a foal, all Quick Silver could do was watch on in horror until the storm dissipated, dust and ashes all that remained. Turning around to face Quick Silver - who sobbed and tried to crawl away - David dragged him back by the tail, then held the bronze-rune-bracer before the stallion as the chopped up pony voices inside spoke. "NOW. FIGHT. I. NOT. SEE. WHY. DO. YOU?" Then, "FIGHT. NEVER. COMBAT. MEANS. THROUGH. MUNDANE. TO. OATH. TAKEN. HAVE. I"

In that moment, Quick Silver did know and understand. He understood that David meditated all the time not because he was lazy, but because he needed to maintain iron discipline and control over the fearsome power he possessed. He never fought for his Herd because he'd taken an oath against all physical violence; he could only fight with his power and that was horror incarnate. David looked upon Pony Herds with sadness and bemusement whenever power struggles happened because... to him the ponies were little more than silly animals doing the same things over and over again. Dirt. Muck. What was dirt to a god? Quick Silver knew his place now; he felt like the lowest Omega. He didn't feel David gently picking him up, but he did feel the human start to pet him; for a simple pet he would forever be; so he sniffled, sobbed, whinnied gentle apology, nuzzling, cuddling against the human. Whatever he wanted.

But... did it have to be like this? "C-Could..." Quick Silver stuttered, sniffled, "c-could you... t-teach me?" At this, David's eyes widened. Then, "UNKNOWN. ANALYSIS. EXISTS. POSSIBILITY. MAGIC. PEGASUS. RESTRUCTURE. REFOCUS. PERHAPS. IMPLANTS...?" The human headed back to their home, the silver Pegasus in his arms, Quick Silver realizing that he'd opened the door upon a new, and terrifying future.