> Currently Unnamed Journal > by Zyggy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Wake Up Call > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I awoke to the smell of happiness. I had no clue it had a scent, but it did. I slowly got up into a sitting position, and found I was in a field of flowers, grass, and butterflies. It went on as far as the eye could see. I looked down, and saw… Hooves? I had four of them. I stood up and walked about, getting my bearings. I appeared to be a horse, or as would be more appropriate, a pony. I tried to remember what happened earlier, but I couldn't come close. I decided to look more at my body so I could get better acquainted with it. I had a light blond coat, my mane and tail hairs were a darker brown. I was very straight haired, thin brown coat. My main was long, going down almost to the ground, with the occasional line of blue. It was a wonder I didn't see it before. It hung from the left side of my head, blocking my peripheral vision from there. Near my tail, on my flank, happened to be a sort of tattoo of a fork and two kitchen knives, the fork sticking up and with the two knives in an X across it, which was oddly coincidental, given my odd obsession with silver ware. I walked in a straight line until I came to the top of a hill. I looked off the top of it, and saw what looked like a settlement. I could see small dots down there moving, not too many, and not too few. "Fork." "What was that?" "I said for…" "What?" The voice was soft, quiet, and female. I turned and looked at a yellow pony with a soft, long, curving, pink mane and tail. Her eyes were green and on her flank was a cute little bunny. I noticed something about her sides. On them were small wings of the same color as her coat. "I said fork…" "Why would you say that?" "Because I'm lost." "But it still doesn't make sense." "Not a lot has to make sense when you wake up somewhere you know you weren't before and discover you are in a body that you didn't used to have yet know happens to belong to you." There was a long silence after that as she tried to process what I had just said. "Well, you still alive? Your brain didn't explode?" "No…" "Well, no clue how to continue what's your name?" "Klutzershy…" Given how this was another world apparently, I had to make myself a new name. She seemed shy, and given how she was struggling for balance, her name was probably given to her based upon how she behaved. Fork… knife… spoon… Knifer? That would work. "Knifer." She looked confused for a few moments, but then seemed to understand a little too much. "Not from here?" "No." I took a few more looks around the place and saw my silverware set, in it's container. It was out of reach, up in a tree. "If I hit the tree, it would fall, but break. If I somehow flew up there to get it, then it would be safe. Now then, I just a moment ago met you, and you have wings. Typically that would allow you to fly, but some creatures with wings can't fly because the wings are too weak…" "Fine…" I looked at her in confusion as she slowly flapped her wings; already they were stretched out, probably done while I was looking up the tree. She slowly flew up to the tree, and she grabbed the box's cords in her mouth, its weight causing her to quickly descend. She put it on the ground before she crashed. I looked over the box. It was still the same, black with a sliver "WARE" written on it, with black cords that go from front to back on both sides, to allow for it to be "worn" like a backpack, and latches to keep it closed, but still allow for opening. "Thanks. Now then, need to remember, never look a gift horse in the mouth." She frowned at me, not angry or upset, but mostly irritated at that comment. I smiled as I slowly figured out how to get it onto my back, and wobbled, not used to this sort of weight on this sort of stance. I looked up at 'Shy' and she wasn't there. She had left to go help some nearby bunnies get into a bush, because the sun was setting. "She is quite the animal person. I too have some skill with small animals… but then again, it might be different with this new body…" I looked about again, and saw a small cobble path that curved and lead to the town. I looked back and saw "Shy" flying away, back towards the town, slowly. I then walked over to the path, turned and faced the town, then walked forwards. I wasn't going to stop until I got there. The sun had set and the moon was somewhat high in the sky by the time I got there. Very few ponies were in the streets, but those that were happened to be heading home for the night. I decided to wait outside for the night, to be cautious really. So I backed up, turned around, and went under a fallen tree, and into its leaves. I stretched out, rolled onto my side, let my mane cover my face, and fell asleep. I awoke to very faint chatter coming from the town, and myself draped across the branches. I rolled out of them, and they bent, letting me on the ground gently. I slowly sat up, and blasted my breath at my main, sending it back in place. I remained sitting, thinking about nothing, hardly moving, hardly breathing. I let a butterfly land on me and stay there for at least ten or so minutes. It flew off and I stood up, then looked about again. Not a single pony was in sight. I took advantage of that and walked into the town, taking note of a sign that read "Ponyville" I looked up into the sky, and saw a few Pegasi flying in a V formation. "HI!" Another female voice, very hyper and high pitched. I whipped around and looked at who was there. Another pony, this one was pink, with a large, puffy, pink mane and tail, and a cupcake on her flank. Her eyes had large pupils and also pink. "Hi…" "You must be new here, because if you weren't I would know you!" "…" "Well?" She took a step forwards. I took one backwards. "What?" "Minimum safe distance." She looked at me confused. "Exactly what it says on the tin." "What tin." "Ignorance is bliss I see… What I said. Take it literally." "No need to be all grumpy." "That's two down. Several dozen left to go." "…" I smiled at her. She smiled back. "Scratch that, back to one." She smiled like the Cheshire Cat. This was somewhat creepy, so I backed up more. She followed. I turned, ran, and smashed into the side of a house. "Watch where you're going, silly!" I stumbled a bit, and checked to make sure my silverware was still there. It was. I looked back at this pink pony. "Sekapu." "Huh?" "That's my name, silly! Though most just call me Seka." "Sounds somewhat like cupcakes backwards…" "Now that I think about it, you're right!" "…and why so hyper?" "I eat a lot of sugar." "…" "What?" "That would not only make you hyper, but also do horrible things to your body." "Not mine! I bounce about all day long!" As she said that she began to bounce about, and I could tell it would keep going. All. Day. Long. "…" She continued to bounce, her eyes closed. I slipped away. "Now I know two: Klutzershy and Seka." I passed by a small group of colts, who were clearly farmers. "I hope for hell I don't get forced to meet too many more…" "Why would you hope for something like that?" Another female voice. It was getting tiring. At least it wasn't soft, or annoying. It was more mature, similar to that of a fancy person, who didn't force themselves upon others. "GAGH." She stepped into my field of vision and looked me over. I did the same. White, with a soft, flowing, purple main, similar to that of my own, her tail also long, longer than my own, and her tattoo or whatever showed a modeling stand for ponies and silk. Her eyes were an icy blue. I noticed at the top of her head a short horn that matched her coat color. "You are positively filthy! I cannot allow you to walk around like THAT." "…" I looked at myself in a nearby puddle. I had tiny sticks and leaves in my mane, hard to see, but they were there. "I can't believe you would let that happen! What did you do? Sleep in a tree?" "Would you believe me if I said yes?" "…" "…" "…" "Silence is exquisite." "I agree." "Yet there is some peace to be found in idle chatter just for the sake of sound." "Agreed. You need a makeover, or a BATH at the minimum." "Agreed." "Then come." I followed reluctantly. "I'm Cerridwen, you are?" "Knifer." She turned her head and smiled at me, then looked forwards again. I continued to follow, then slowly became lost in thought. I was snapped out of it by the sound of a door clicking open, and I looked at the large building in front of me. "The Carousel Boutique." I looked at 'Dwen' as she stepped inside. I checked to make sure my feet, or hooves, as they were now, happened to be clean. They were, so I stepped inside. The place was a dressing/clothes making building, with multiple tools, and many kinds of fabrics. I heard the door close behind me. At the same time, I felt my mane being lifted, parted, and rooted through for all the foreign objects. "The length of your mane does you no good! It nearly reaches the ground." "And?" "Every time you sit down it gets dirty!" "It's not like it can't be cleaned." "I'M having a hard time with this." I could tell she was annoyed. "Check two, dozens left." "Check two what?" "Ponies I made annoyed with me." "You're actually keeping track of that?" "Yes. I make it a goal to annoy every living being I meet at least once." "…" "What?" "I'm tying your mane up against your body so it won't need to go through this all the time." "…" I felt her putting gel in my mane to make it attach to itself, then moving it up against my body. At the same time my silverware case was removed. It got stuck there, and she looked pleased. I just stood there for a while, until I was sure she was done, and she was. My mane was truly stuck to my body. She re-attached my silverware casing. "Now, normally I'd charge you, but considering how I was the one to make you come here, it's free." "... not that I would have been able to pay you anyways…" "Which brings me to something else I need." "Let me guess, a stereotypical delivery quest involving taking a dress to a client who lives very close to here but you are too busy to do it yourself, and in exchange I will receive some form of near meaningless currency that is only used to limit how much each citizen receives, and a stable economy could in fact exist without it if you used the more complex barter system, thus allowing you to use the materials from said currency to make other, more vital objects that would increase economy even further. Also, said dress probably belongs to a friend of yours who lives in some random tree somewhere in the town of Ponyville, and I will take a wild guess and say that the tree is a library and your friend happens to really have little interest in fashion, yet still needs the dress for an upcoming event in the capitol of this country to which you and five of your friends are invited." "…" "How close was I?" Her facial expression slowly changed to one of confusion. "Frighteningly so." I could only help but smile. My famous ability to "read the minds" of those who had their guard down had just startled someone. Again. "I'm really just taking a wild guess and going along with subtle cues in your body language, yet most can't understand that and thus label me as a mind reader. It only works when your guard is down, which was the point of the rant about currency." "…" "…" "… "Silence is exquisite." "We've been over that." "Just trying to snap us out of the silence." "…" She was trying to find words, but she couldn't. Instead, a box slid in front of me. It was wrapped in what appeared to be a highly stylized and custom, probably expensive, paper of sorts. Out of either side there were ropes, both spliced together to allow me to pick it up. "Okay... so, how do I know it's her?" "She's also a unicorn, and she's purple." "Descriptive…" I bent down and grabbed the box's rope, then walked out the now open door. Now to find a map… Or a tree sticking out of the ground… "HI I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!" Or Seka… "You taking something for Cerridwen to someone?" I set the box down on my hooves, so it wouldn't touch the ground. "Yes." "Who?" "She didn't say other than a purple unicorn who lives in a tree." "OH! You mean Fable? That's what everyone calls her." "…" She bounced into my field of vision as I picked the box up again. "Follow me!" I turned and followed Seka. After maybe a half an hour, I saw a tree. It had windows, a door, a balcony, and a few lights were light inside. Seka was already at the door, and it looked like she was ready to bash it in with her own forehead. "Wait; did Cerridwen give you a makeover?" "A small one, against my will really, it was just my mane that she changed, putting it against my body so it won't get dirty every time I sit." Seka smiled, then began to knock on the door. Using her face. And she didn't even flinch. This kept up for at least a minute when she stopped and bounced off, clearly regretting what she did, or at least for how long she did it. I didn't even turn my head to watch. The door opened and a cute little dragon baby popped out and looked at me, then ducked back inside. I waited. I heard some conversing in there, too faint to understand. Then the head of a purple unicorn pony slowly came from the side of the door frame, and looked about, probably for Seka. She was, as I said, purple. Her mane was currently behead style, probably having woken up recently, and not yet cleaned up. It was also purple, yet a darker shade of it. Her eyes had black irises. Her attention fell on me. "Who are you, and what's that there?" I set down the box on my hooves. "Knifer. Cerridwen sent me to give you a dress or something." The box lifted up into the sky and into the tree. "Thanks." The door closed. "…" I forced myself into a smile, despite how painful it was to do so. I turned around, brought my smile back into a poker face, and walked back to the Boutique. As I walked, I saw a dove and a pigeon fly over me, then part, the dove to the east, and the pigeon went the way I was. I sped up to a canter. I got back to the Boutique in about a half an hour, and the door opened. I stepped inside and was instantly set upon by a wild dress. "Oh no. Help me. The dress will eat me." Cerridwen stepped down the stairs and looked at me, then began to laugh. "I knew I should have made sure that wouldn't fall." The dress floated up off me, and folded itself, then went up out of sight. "…" The pigeon I saw earlier flew past me and out the door. At the same time, a small bag of coins was hung around my neck. "…" "They're called bits." "So you figured I'm foreign, or knew from the start?" "Former." I felt myself being slowly pushed out the door buy the force of nothing. "Then I'm off." I pushed off with my front legs, turned around, and walked out of the store, and continued to go straight ahead. "HI!" "Oh god no…" "What's wrong?" "Absolutely nothing, Seka." "I was going to ask you your name but I didn't get a chance until now, but I over heard when you gave Fable that box!" "And this just in: Seka finally got some ears and tried them out. Much to her dismay, they did little to help." Now she was looking annoyed. "Three down." "Some day something bad might happen to you, such as waking up to find yourself turned into a sugary sweet." "I'm too water based for that to be able to occur correctly." "It can happen…" "…" "I'm just kidding, no need to be so serious." "…" "Are you even there?" "I got lost in thought." "That happens to me too sometimes." She finally decided to bounce into my sight. "…" She bounced behind me, then grabbed my tail in her mouth and pulled me. I didn't bother resisting. I was pulled into some building, and for the brief time I could read the sign it said "Sugarcube Corner" Seka finally let go of my tail and stopped moving. I could tell she was lost in thought. "…" "…" "So…" She got a Cheshire Cat grin again. "Erm…" She walked up the stairs, and motioned for me to follow. I did so hesitantly. The upper floors were an apartment, and were logically Seka's. She looked at my face and knew I knew. "Don't you need a place to stay?" "I could just use that tree out there…" "Then Cerridwen would get upset at you!" "Fine. Where?" "Here!" She immediately started bouncing about, and I just gazed on forwards so I wouldn't get dizzy. "Fine." I walked out onto the balcony and looked up at the sun. It was noon. "I haven't eaten for a whole day…" Next thing I knew I was being pulled over to the table, lifted up, and sat down in a chair. "…" Then a large amount of candies, muffins, and cakes went across the table, some dangerously close to falling off. Seka bounced over next to me onto a pink chair, and smashed her head into a large cake. She proceeded to consume its insides. I looked at what there was. Sugary sweets. "How can you survive off this?" She pulled her head out and looked at me. She was covered in a thick, dark red filling. "I dunno!" She went right back at the cake. I carefully took off my silverware case and set it on the floor. I opened it and pulled out a small, dull knife meant for cutting through stuff like this. I carefully lifted a muffin, and set it down on a plate in front of me. I cut open said muffin. I cut it again, and again, into eights. I placed the knife by my side. I ate the muffin piece by piece. Seka had finished the whole cake by the time I finished the muffin. Chocolate, apparently. I grabbed another one and did the same to it. This one was sugary. I closed my silverware case, flipped it over, opened it's other side, and put the dirty knife in it. "So… what's with the rest of this?" "All this food? I dunno, I just cover the table every time." "Isn't that a waste?" "Somehow it's non-perishable." "…" She smiled like Cheshire again. I remained a poker face. I stood up. "I'll clean it up." "Okay then Seka…" Then table sunk into the floor and rose back up, completely clean. "…" "Fable figured out how to do that." "…" "I don't know how." "I've seen weirder happen." "Like?" "Turning into a pony." "…" "…" "You're silly." I attempted the Cheshire grin, and failed miserably, actually hurting my cheeks in the process. "Ow." I returned to my poker face. She did another Cheshire. "It's still only one in the afternoon!" "Yay… more torment…" Seka brought her head next to mine, which scared me slightly, given how she was still Cheshiring. I leaned backwards, and she stepped back a bit. "So much Cheshire in just one small being." She giggled. I began to walk around the room, trying to think. "Well, at least you don't make clothing out of the flesh of once living beings." "…" Her silence scared me. A lot. "So… you do?" "No…" She sounded resistant to tell. I wasn't going to push her. I looked back at her, and her grin was gone. "…" Except for a small section on the right side of her mouth. "…" "…" "…" "…" "SEKAPU! We're back!" "Parents?" "Employers!" She started smiling again and bounced down the stairs. I sat down in the middle of the room. I had to think. In my old life I was really just a wanderer, never fitting into society. I found an old ivory spoon during a brief period of insanity that I named Bert. I still had him with me. That started my obsession with silverware of all kinds, they were light, portable, and numerous. They were my only friends. I eventually managed to settle down in Detroit and work as a maker of fine and complex silverware. I managed to get an education and go to college, learning a large amount of physics and other sciences. One night I went to sleep, and I awoke in this place. Due to the improbability of a wormhole opening up right where I was and dumping me safely in that exact spot, AND making me a pony, I doubt that was what happened. Instead, a more logical explanation would be this magic that exists. The unicorns. But each one seems to have limited power. Therefore, there must be a more powerful figure. And as there needs to be a leader or more for a country to work, and since these people seem to not possess large amounts of mechanical equipment, the leader would be more powerful than they are. Magic is inherently powerful, and capable of many feats. It seems to be the most powerful force they have available. Therefore, the leader would need to be very magically powerful, and one of, if not the, best at it. Given how there seems to be a female dominant society here, the leader would be matriarchal. The leader or leaders could have done this to me, but I don't see any reason as to why; or how. It also seems that only unicorns can use magic. That only pegsi can fly. That only normal ponies have something the others don't have. But that would cause a blatant rift in the social structure, therefore the unicorn's lack of power is explained. The pegasi can be explained by having a home in the sky or at the top of mountains, where others cannot reach. But then what would a normal pony be better at? Perhaps they are more physically powered. That would make sense, a large worker force that is kept at the same point in the social structure as the others, although barely. Onto these tattoos. It appears to symbolize what one is good at, possibly given after you have decided what you want to do. Mine would still make sense then, given how I made fine silverware. But with hooves, that skill is gone. Seka's makes sense, given her skill with making baked goods. Cerridwen's also makes sense, because she makes clothing and such. I went back out onto the balcony and looked down at the ponies there. Many of them were doing work, and their tattoos matched what they were doing. I went back in and laid down by the wall. This was all too much in all too short of a time. I rolled onto my back and tucked my legs in. I waited. Hours passed, and I heard a bouncing coming up the stairs. "How long have you been like that?" "Hours." I thought about what Seka told me. Employers. That meant that they owned the shop and the apartment. Which means part of her pay were said rooms. She bounced up in front of me, making me look at her upside down. I was feeling like I was tripping on some drug. Being upside down has that affect on me. We silently looked at each other for a few minutes. She stuck out her tongue and started to bounce around me. I just stared out the balcony. I saw what looked like a flying carriage being led by pegasi, with a very large Unicorn/Pegasus riding it. "Out the balcony." Seka looked out and gasped. "I FORGOT!" She kicked me upright, and I quickly got onto my feet to balance myself. She then ran over to my silverware case and ran back to me, then placed it on my back. I popped the straps together and watched her run down the stairs. I followed, because there are few times when one reacts like that. I left the confectionary and followed her to what looked like the town square. The carriage landed, and I looked over all those near it. The ones pulling it were identical. White coat, male, blue-green eyes, blue mane and tail, pegasi, they wore golden armor that reminded me of the Romans, or the Greek. The one on the carriage was a very tall, white equine of some sort, with a long unicorn horn and large Pegasus wings. Her mane and tail were very, very long, and looked somewhat like a rainbow, but with four different colors: cyan, turquoise, azure, and purple. They both flowed freely with the wind. Her eyes were magenta and she wore a sort of golden crown with a magenta gemstone set in it, a golden necklace like object around her neck with another magenta gemstone set in it, and four light gold shoes of some sort. Her tattoo was of the sun. A blank, unknowing expression set into my face, and the world blurred as I lost focus on it. The leader, maybe? I turned somewhat, to not seem like I'm staring. The blur that was said equine moved off the carriage and walked through the crowd that I had somehow missed. She stopped next to Fable and spoke to her for a few minutes. I slowly focused again on a stage. The tall equine walked over to the stage and stood on it. I decided to silently slip away, and did so. I went in an alley and sat down behind a small part of a house that jutted out. I went back into meaningless thought. > Harsh & Fall > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I snapped out of it about an hour later, and looked up to see the white equine from earlier looking down at me. "…" She started smiling. "Fable mentioned you." "…" It was a regal, sophisticate voice. "…" "Why am I here?" "You chose to be." "No. I'm not from here, not this body or this place." "Well, this is your home now." "Not very knife of you to rip me from my old life and glue me into a new body, especially without teaching me anything about this place, its culture, its people." "Knife?" "Nice, knife, whatever." "Make some friends, be happy." "For the first time in my life, that is the LEAST of my objectives on my to-do list." "Then what is your first?" "Survive and not go insane while doing it." "…" "I gotta add a bit of humor." "…" I smiled. She was still smiling. I now noticed her coat was very, very light pink, hard to tell when not up close. "So, Knifer…" "Let me guess, leader of all these ponies, mentor or guide to Fable, and you are not the typical kind of leader, for you are in fact a princess, not a queen." "…" "Accurate?" "Yes..." "Scary, aren't I?" "…" I stood up on two legs, turned, and began to walk out of the alley. My way was blocked by a large block of wood. "Not fair." "Not everything in life is fair." "This is not my life." "It is now." "Not by my choice." "But by mine it is." "And I am neither you nor one of your subjects, and I certainly was not under your influence while out of your domain." "But you are now." "I fail to see why you want me, a silverware maker, to be in a body that prevents that." "Because you won't be noticed as missing any more than usual." "But why ME? Why not some other person with actual SKILLS?" "You were the only one I could find that could go missing who had your skill sets." "Fork you." The smile faded from her face. "…" "Something tells me you are thinking 'TO THE MOON!'" "Yes." "You do realize there is no air on the moon, right?" "My sister controls the moon, so of course I know." "Good for you. Now would you kindly let me go?" "No." "Then I'll just sit here." I promptly sat down. "You really shouldn't make me mad." "I'm only making you mad because I can't leave here." The block of wood was lifted into the air by magic, and I walked out without a word. I left the Princess there, just watching. And I blacked out. I awoke on a giant leaf. On a giant branch. On a giant table. Next to a giant box of silverware. In a giant room. And my mane was loose and natural again. I stood up and looked about. Either the world grew, I was in a giant's house, or I shrunk. Something told me it was the latter… And it looked like the inside of Seka's apartment. "Maybe I shouldn't have tried to piss her of…" A familiar pony slowly came up the stairs. "Seka?" Her mane and tail weren't all curly and poofy, they were flattened out and fell down. She quickly bounced over to me and leaned closely. I backed up a bit so as to not get knocked over. "Why are you so tiny anyways?" "I made the Princess mad?" She frowned, and I might have heard a growl. "Bad boy, BAD!" I flinched back out of fear, but she just kept glaring at me. "Don't hurt me?" "Maybe I will…" I started twitching. I was snapping under the pressure. I closed my eyes and went limp. A warm tongue went over me. "Bleh…" I stayed limp. "What's wrong little guy?" If only I could have spoken. "D'aww… little sleepy head." She picked me up with her mouth and carried me over to a bed, then placed me down on it. I felt the bed shake as she jumped onto it. Her hoof landed dangerously close to me, and it was then that I regained control over my body. I quickly got up, pushed myself back a few inches, and wanted to scream. I looked at Seka smiling at me. I could only do one thing. Silently walk over to her and rub my head against her, then fall asleep. I woke up to find Seka clutching me in her arms, both of us facing the same way. I stayed still for a while, but I began to squirm after a few minutes. Being the size of an eyeball isn't exactly calming. Seka yawned as she woke up. Her tongue darted out and licked the back of my head. "Erm…" "Bleh… you need a bath." "In blood.' "Don't be silly… or gross." I smiled somewhat malevolently, trying to distract myself from reality. Seka bit down on my mane and tossed me up into her own, then climbed out of the bed. "I can't wait until the Princess decides to make me normal." "Expect a day or two like this." She walked up a flight of stairs and came to a stop in a bathroom. She walked over to a sink and tilted her head until I slid down and into it. "Oh great…" She turned on the water, and grabbed me between her hooves. She moved me under the faucet and soaked me, then rubbed me against a bar of soap. I spat a few times, then got drenched again, and turned about as she scrubbed me. This continued for a minute. She took me out of the sink and wrapped me in a towel, then got to bathing herself in the tub. I went deep into the towel, to hide from the outside. I rolled over until I was upside down again. I started to think about whether or not I would ever get back home. I doubted it, but anything could happen. I made a mental note to self: don't make the princess mad, ever again. Time passed as I thought about miscellaneous, random things. The towel was pulled out from underneath me, and Seka grabbed me in her mouth again. "Warn me next time." She tossed me onto her head. "Nah." I fell into her now poofy hair. "How do you keep it like this, shampoo?" "No, it just does that most of the time." "…" She bounced out of the bathroom and down the stairs, making me need to hug her hair to not fall off and hit the ground hard. She continued further down, then went into a back room of the shop floor. She came to a stop in front of a counter and tossed me off her head, and into a small cup. I sat up and shook my head. "Please don't do that…" I smacked the side of the cup and knocked it over, then walked out of it. "D'aww…" "Please don't treat me like I'm a baby." "You kinda are now that you're tiny." "…" She opened a drawer and pulled out a book. Sha placed it down next to me and opened it, and I went over and looked at it. A cake recipe. I looked up at Seka again, and she rushed over to the cabinets and got a bunch of marshmallows, strawberries, gelatin, cake mix, and eggs. I stopped paying attention at this point and just crawled underneath the tiny gap where the book didn't touch the counter. "You don't need to hide." "I'm hiding because it's the logical thing to do." "You don't need to hide from me!" "Yes I do." "Why should you?" "Survival purposes." "And?" "You might take advantage of my tininess and use me as an ingredient." "Why would I support cannibalism?" "I dunno." "Come out of there, silly." "No." "Then I'll move the book." "No." She pushed the book and exposed me. "Hah." Before I could run she grabbed me in her mouth and dropped me into a big bowl, then got to baking. "Bleh…" I tried to get out, but the bowl was too steep. "Don't bake me." "Why would I do that?" "I'm tiny." "Would you get over that?" "No." "Maybe I will bake you." "I'll be quiet now." "Good." I sat down and blasted my mane out of my eyes. I heard Seka baking, but I slowly lost attention again. I started thinking about the possibility of the Princess still being in town. It was unlikely, but possible. If she still was, I could get away from Seka some how and hunt her down, but that would be dangerous and difficult. But it might end this sooner… Or end me sooner… I decided to take that risk. I waited for a few more minutes, and Seka grabbed me in her mouth, then tossed me onto her head. I saw that she had everything ready for a cake to be made; the oven just had to be turned on. "Morning job for today, done." Seka walked out of the building, then began to bounce away. I took advantage of this and let myself bounce off. I landed in a puddle, and quickly ran in a random direction. Seka didn't notice. I came to a stop in some alley for a quick rest. I now had an entire town to search. I spent a few minutes there to plan my route. I ran to the town center and looked about. Not a single being. I looked up. Nothing. I did the same thing at the Boutique, and the library. I went into another alley, scared out of my wits. I noticed I had spent hours out here. I was terrified. What would Seka do to me? What if I got found by some wild animal? I shook my head to remove those bad thoughts, then looked out the alley. There was the Princess. Talking to Fable. Now that I could see Fable clearly, I saw her mane was cleaner and neater, going gently down her neck, and her dark purple tail went almost straight down as well. Her tattoo showed a small fire. I snarled, for she had to show up after I was about to give up. I looked about, and they were the only two there. I carefully walked out of the alley, and looked about again. Nothing but them. I quickly ran over to Fable, and hid in her shadow. Neither noticed. I didn't pay attention to what they were talking about, given how it involved magic and what she learned. Without warning Fable teleported away in a flash of light. They must have finished conversing. The Princess walked right over me, not noticing, or maybe not caring. I stayed in her shadow and followed her. This happened for a few minutes. The Princess stopped, and I stopped too. She moved one of her legs over me, and I rolled out of the way before it came crashing down. She went back to walking, and I continued to follow in her shadow. She eventually came to a stop next to a dark forest of some sort. "Come out from under me." I did as she asked. The Princess laid down and looked at me for a few moments. "Why did you seek me out?" "To apologize." "…" She telekinetically lifted me and put me in a small pouch. I began to struggle to get out, as useless as it was. I slowly had to just give up. I curled up and closed my eyes, to let time pass. I opened them, and the first thing I saw was everything being normal again. I sighed happily, then looked around more. I was back in Seka's apartment. "It worked." "Don't run away like that ever again." I turned my head around and saw Seka glaring angrily at me. "I'm normal now. You don't scare me anymore." She snarled. "Now, I am somewhat frightened." She leaned closer to me, and I slowly stood up. "I have a hacksaw." "And I have silverware, big deal." I forced myself into a smile. "Okay…" I turned to face her with my body as well, and backed up a bit too. She followed. "…" She put a hoof out and pushed my mane away from my eyes. I just stared at her. "Well?" "Well what?" "Aren't you gonna run?" "Why should I? There is no danger here." "There is me." "How dangerous could you be?" She reached over to the wall with her mouth and opened a small container. She then pulled a hacksaw out with her mouth and grinned at me. I stepped back a good ways, and she followed every step of the way. "Erm… Apparently you do have one… but how can you use it effectively?" She forced me into backing up into a wall, then set the hacksaw aside. "I just can." She put her front two hooves against the wall, on either side of me. "Erm…" "Yes?" "Erm…" "…" She smiled, then began to crack up laughing. "I can't believe I actually managed to scare you!" I frowned angrily. She quickly went back to frowning. "I'm still mad at you though." "Thought so." "So what now?" "You not cutting my throat for blood and use it to paint your wall?" "…" I smiled. She smiled back, grabbed the hacksaw, and bounced back to its case. "Dangerous?" She put it away and turned to look at me, then smiled very eerily. "Nope!" I walked forwards a little bit, keeping an eye on Seka. She seemed a little nuts. "…" She bounced back over to me. "Sugary sweets?" "…" "No?" "Basically." "Why not?" "I can't survive on a diet of pure sugar." "Aw…" "I'm feeling like I want grasses, for some reason." "You're a pony, that's why." "Oh yeah…" She smacked my head a few times. "Silly pony." "…" "How could you forget?" "Given how I'm on four legs instead of two, I don't know." She tilted her head quizzically. "If I were to say 'long story' I'd be lying, so I'll say this: You wouldn't be able to wrap your mind around it." "…" "Well, still not scared of you." "Magnum." "Which kind?" "Forty-four." "Scared." "Thought so." "Tired." "You just slept." "We went to speaking simply." "AND?" "Stop?" "Sure." I walked past her and over to my Silverware case, then spent the next minute putting it on. I smelled the air. "I smell happiness." "That's what happens when you take drugs!" "I've never taken drugs." "Oh. Well… it is what happens." "Heh." I turned to Seka. "That's why I don't make assumptions." "Oh sure you don't Knify." "Erm… I think I'll go for a walk…" "Be back before dark!" "Okay…" I walked down and out, somewhat disturbed by what she called me. She was beginning to treat me like a little kid, or a boyfriend. I looked up at the sky. I had an hour or two. I decided to find out more about the culture of these ponies, after all, I could be wrong about the social order. There were many pegasi flying over head, somehow managing to move rainclouds. "So that's how weather is controlled, not by hot/cold air currents, but by other ponies. What next?" I heard the flap of wings behind me. "You might want to get inside soon, as soon as it's dark we're gonna make it a downpour." It was hard to tell if this was a male voice or female. "So that's what Seka meant." "You know Seka?" I turned to face the pegasus behind me. She had a dark blue coat, with green irises. Her mane and tail looked like the rainbow, only the colors were inverted, not in order, but in their actual color. They were both messy and unkempt. Her tattoo was that of a beam of light. It looked like she was standing in mid-air. "Yeah, in fact, we now share the apartment, kind of against my will though." "Cool, so, who are you?" "Knifer." "Unusual name." "True. Say, Seka didn't mention you." She became proud looking all of a sudden. "I'm BLITZ, the fastest Pegasus ever since Rainbowdash!" "Who?" Her jaw dropped for a moment, then she put her left hoof on her face. "We need to educate you tomorrow…" "I was hoping to learn more about local culture and such." "Go back to Seka and tomorrow I'll get you and take you to Fable's." "Okay then." She flew straight up, and I slowly walked back to Seka. I got back in the apartment just as it began to rain, and was greeted by having a cupcake shoved in my mouth. "MHPM." Seka happily bounced into my field of vision, holding another cupcake in her mouth. Her hair was straight again. I wasn't in the mood for cupcakes, but I didn't want to make her sad. So I walked over to the balcony, and looked at her. She had bounced upstairs. I quickly spat out as much of the cupcake as I could over the railing, knowing the rain would clean it up. I walked back inside, only slightly rained upon, and sat down by the wall. I had to take time to think again. If there is a lack of natural weather, what would happen if all the pegasi somehow died? The unicorns could take care of that, but then again, it seems magic is limited in power. The normal ponies obviously could do nothing. That would lead to a dead world very quickly. No rain, no sun, just the day and night cycles that nothing could ever see. The way this world works can only sustain itself in a controlled environment where there would be no fear of any of the four groups of ponies dying off. But that's impossible; therefore, they are living on borrowed time. I blasted my mane away from my eyes again. This town seems to have aged a lot from it's time of creation, at least two or three generations. If so, then the princess, given by the title, couldn't be older than twenty to thirty. But she acts like she's known everything for ages, literally. So if she is really centuries old, there may be no limit to the lifespan of the ponies. But that would cause overpopulation. Therefore, she maybe the only one to be like that. But if she were like that, she must be very depressed and or lonely. She didn't act like it, but she may just be hiding it. If so, then that means my head hurts. Too much thought that revolves around how a bunch of ponies somehow wielding magic and having wings and their delicate social structure is too much for most to handle. "The more I think about this the less it makes sense…" "PHYSICS?" I jolted up and snapped out of m thoughts to be greeted by Seka standing right in front of me, inches away from my face, wearing a Cheshire grin again. "No…" Her grin faded somewhat. "Then what?" "HOW THIS WORLD EVEN MANAGES TO WORK CULTURALY AND SCIENTIFICALY!!!" "…" I sighed and slumped back down, closed my eyes, and ignored whatever babbling she made. I opened them to the sound of morning birds. "I must've fallen asleep…" I looked outside and saw that the sun was just rising, and there was a certain Princess shaped silhouette in front of it as it did so. "Dammit, she controls the sun, and she said her sister controls the moon. Therefore, if one dies, the world is so screwed. For once, I worry about these ponies." I stood up and walked out onto the balcony, then looked about. Most of the ponies were waking up, and I took attention to detail of one specific pony. She was a bright grey/blue pegasus, short blond hair and tail, and she had a scribble tattoo, and the most defining feature, were her eyes. The left eye wandered about, and she kept on rubbing the side of her head to make it go back to normal. She was wearing a simple brown saddle with side bags full of letters, and she was walking about from house to house delivering them. A mail pony. Who had poor depth perception. I flinched as she walked into a wall multiple times before sidestepping. At least she was doing her job quickly and efficiently. I looked about and saw that many ponies were staring at her. I looked towards the sun, then leaned in closer and narrowed my eyes. I realized that was a mistake too late, and toppled off the edge, my body impacting the ground at a bad angle. A very bad angle. The last thing I heard was a crowd murmuring of unintelligible gibberish. I awoke spread across the ground, and felt small amounts of blood coming out of my mouth. The sky was red. It had white streaks going across it. Ponies were trying to get aid. I couldn't understand them; all I heard was TV static. I stood up and squinted in pain, then started to limp forwards, blindly, all I could think was 'get out of town' I felt a hoof placed on my shoulder, which I shrugged off and ignored. My vision started to blur slowly, and a barely recognizable purple shape walked in front of me to stop me. I tried sidestepping. It didn't work. I turned around and they quickly got in my way again. I turned again and there they were. I couldn't think. They started to talk, but all I heard was static. I whipped around and bucked them in the head, then the gut. They fell over and cried static of pain. I ran over and past them. My vision was now terrible, and the world became a horrid red. I slipped and rolled a few yards before stopping, my last willing thoughts for a long while were 'I'm insane' and 'I'm screwed' > Instanity & Back Again > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point I had no awareness of what was going on or what I was doing, but I do have reports from others to fill the gap, and odd writings I made myself apparently, which I shall use as they occurred. We have recently admitted one Knifer, a 24 year old stallion of unknown heritage, into our facilities here at the clinic. He is suffering from a severe head injury and what appears to be a case of insanity. He tears blood from time to time, so we are doing our best to keep him away from sad thoughts, or overly happy ones. He is being kept in a padded room due to his thrashings, and the door is kept locked at all times. We hope he will recover at least somewhat. Nurse Redlock -------------- Theyre keeping me in a room for my own good its dark and soft and cool and red but they said its not they said its dark blue and I wanna see the sun again (This was found somehow etched into the padding in his room and was barely readable; I shall contact Redlock soon to see if we can fix this.) -------------- Knifer has become rather violent, but there is little we can do to stop it. He barely sleeps, barely eats, barely drinks. Even when he does sleep, he seems to merely go into a trance, for when we open the door he immediately awakes and tries to slam into whoever opened it. We still have hope he can recover. Nurse Redlock -------------- In a rare moment, Knifer is acting normal again. We are keeping an eye on him, as this was all of a sudden. Yesterday he somehow managed to get his leg cut with a knife that none of us brought in. On the bright side his eyes have fully recovered. Doctor K. -------------- It's been a week and a half since Knifer was admitted, and he has physically been recovering, but mentally he is jumping the same gap over and over again. Doctor K. -------------- He has been talking, but only saying one thing. "Upakes" This is Cupcakes without the Cs, but as to why he would say this we have no idea. Doctor K. -------------- They said that if I write in this book every day I get a muffin. They told me that they did so cautiously. Maybe if I write something good enough I'll get two muffins? There once was a man from Peru Who dreamed he was eating his shoe. He awoke with a fight In the middle of the night To find that his dream had come true. (Doctor's note: this is the first version of it. He may be recovering quickly, though I doubt it. He did however earn his muffin.) -------------- I got the muffin they promised! Muffin Niffum Miffun Funmif Potatoe (He clearly hasn't recovered, but for the first time he is breaking down words somewhat.) -------------- He stopped being aggressive, and has instead gone to a calm state. A far too calm state. He does respond to stimulus, but otherwise just stays still. We should keep an eye on him for a while. -------------- I'm happy because I'm free in my mind. I'm no longer in the labyrinth. Freedom. I see it. So far away. But I can taste it in the muffins. I'm hiding this note inside the cushioned wall. I'll be free cupcakes, I'll be free. -------------- We've decided Knifer is a bit more stable now, so we'll be giving him access to a fenced in area outside. Obviously he will be under constant surveillance; we can't have him running off into the Everfree Forest after all. Nurse Redlock -------------- His first time outside was a bit much for him perhaps, he froze up and wouldn't move for a whole fifteen minutes. He slowly started to walk about and look at all the plants in the fence. If you ask me, just a few more days of treatment and he'll be able to go back to Ponyville and spend the rest of his recovery there. Doctor K. -------------- Perhaps I spoke too soon. Fable came in to see how he was doing, and the first thing he did when he saw her was go wide eyed and lock up like he did yesterday. We should give him a week and a half perhaps… Doctor K. -------------- Dear Diary I went to see if Knifer was okay, and he panicked on the spot. Seka has continued to be devastated for the past few weeks, claiming that it's her fault for what happened. We've tried to calm her to no avail, and I can only guess that she'll be fine when Knifer is too… Fable -------------- One happy muffin a day makes me a happy pony. That's what I used to think. Lately I haven't gotten my muffin. THE MUFFIN IS A LIE. LIES HOPES DREAM FALSITIES THEY DO NOT EXIST THEY ARE OUT GONE FOREVER I SHALL MUFFIN MAN NOT COME MUFFIN MAN NOT SICK MUFFIN MAN NOT ILL MUFFIN MAN WELL -------------- I read something Knifer thought he hid from us. He didn't hide it too well though. It turns out he thinks I am "The Muffin Man" because I always bring the muffins, and he doesn't seem to understand that we aren't supplying muffins for this week. Doctor K. -------------- I need out so much I wanna see Seka. It's okay cupcakes, I'm fine. Huggles. -------------- We went to check on Knifer, and his door was open, a knife on the ground outside the lock. He was not inside. He was not anywhere in the clinic. One of the windows was smashed. This will not end well. NurseRedlock -------------- I awoke somewhere along the side of a road, aware and in control. I opened my mouth to test speaking, trying to say any word at all. After a while of doing this I learned that my speaking vocabulary had shrunk into these words along with the ability to put an S on their end. Bubble, Muffin, Cup, Cake, Fwa, Huggles, Derp, Kiss, Fire, Coral, Electromagnetism, Man, The, Fork, Spoon, Knife, Spork, Silver, Ware, Spell. That would not be enough. It was in a childish voice that sounded like a baby's, only barely like mine. I was terrible with body language. I sat up and looked about. It was the middle of the night. Not knowing how long I had been out or knowing what had happened since I blacked out the last time. Not good. "Fork." I looked about more and saw a purple pony walking by. Fable. I knew it was Fable instead of some other purple pony because she was using a light creating spell. I walked over to her slowly, ready to turn and run if needed. When she noticed me she stopped moving, and turned off the spell. Fortunatly, I had very, very good vision in the dark. I continued to walk towards her, even as she tried to move away. I couldn't say her name, so I merged two words together that I could say. "Fwabble…" Fwa and Bubble. "Knifer?" "Fwabble!" "Um…" "Spell?" She cautiously casted the light spell again, and jumped when I was almost right next to her. "But you're still supposed to be in the clinic!" I gave her a quizzical glance. "Did you fall off ANOTHER drop?" I made my glance even more extreme. "Just… I'm taking you back." Out of instinct, with no personal say in the matter, I threw my front legs around her neck and cried. "Fwabble…" She could then tell that I had no clue about what was going on. "Alright, fine. Come with me. We're going to the library." My mood immediately perked up. "FWABBLE!" "Um…" I continued to be happy. "Could you please let go?" I quickly let go and stepped back to give her space to move. "Bubbles." She looked at me, confused, for a few moments before making her expression normal and walking in the same direction she was before. I followed closely. The sun just barely began to rise as we finally made it into the library. "Electromagnetism." "What?" I turned to her and calmly repeated myself. "Electromagnetism." "I'm not asking…" I smiled again and trotted over to a mirror, getting the first good look at myself for a long time, and paying attention to my eyes. They were a bright red coloration, and much to my dismay, one was slightly off alignment, the right one, it faced to the right too far. My mane, coat, and tail were messes, rugged, filthy. Fable walked up behind me. "So… your speech seems to be limited right now… right?" I nodded, not moving my gaze from the mirror. She levitated a quill, a bottle of ink, and a small scroll over. She dipped the quill into the ink. "So, can you recite what you know you can say?" I chough to clear my throat. "Bubble, Muffin, Cup, Cake, Fwa, Huggles, Derp, Kiss, Fire, Coral, Electromagnetism, Man, The, Fork, Spoon, Knife, Spork, Silver, Ware, Spell." She wrote each word as I said them. "So… you can link those words together as well? Which lead to you saying my name?" I nodded. "Fwa. Bubble. Fwabble." "…" I decided to interrupt her train of though by pouncing her. "HUGGLES!" I ended up pinning her to the ground, and realized I was acting childish. I hadn't recovered fully. I stopped caring. I wrapped my arms around her neck. She didn't react, she was still in thought. Her horn glowed. "Spell?" My mane burst into flames. "FIRE!!!!!" I jumped off and rolled along the floor in an attempt the get the fire to go out. It didn't work. Fable slowly got up and looked at me, then laughed. "It's a magical fire, it can't hurt you." I stopped rolling and got to my feet. "Fwabble!" The fire slowly went out, and I gave her my best 'I am not amused' look. She slowly stopped laughing. "I was thinking about Seka. She's been depressed ever since your accident…" I made a move for the door. "…but we can't let her see you like this. I can fix the eye, but your mind and voice will take longer to recover, even with magical aid." I stopped and plopped down on the ground, then curled up. "Bubbles." "Would you please get up?" She nudged me with her nose. I refused to move. Her horn glowed. I refused to move. I burst into flames. I refused to move. She picked me up with magic. I refused to change position. I got taken down into a basement and placed down at the bottom of it. "Home." I looked up at her and responded with two things. I pointed a hoof at her. "Fork." She didn't understand, and instead walked upstairs and closed the door. I swear to this day I heard it lock. It had been three days since then, and everyday, Fable opened the door three times to feed me like I was a dangerous animal. Every time I tackled her while shouting "FWABBLE! HUGGLES!" I then attempted to get out. I once made it to the door to the outside. Every time she picked me up with magic and put me back in the basement. On the first day, she got a small bed. On the second day, she got pillows and blankets down. And every morning breakfast included a muffin (Chocolate chips were in it. Yum), a glass of milk, an apple, and a paper plate. I seriously ate the plate. Probably something to do with being a pony. And each time Fable was confused as to why I did it. Probably due to my becoming a pony. Anyways… on to lunch So far, it has been effectively salad. And dinner, effectively salad. I hate salad. SO MUCH. On the fifth day, I got 'free'. She 'accidentally' left the door open, so I slipped out 'undetected' and slowly made my way to Sugarcube Corner. I felt my head twitch to the side as I did so, some sort of voice in me telling me it was a trap or something. Fortunately, it was night time. When I got right outside the confectionary, I stopped and listened. Seka was crying herself to sleep. "Cupcakes." I silently went through the door, and made my way upstairs. There was apparently a closed door installed during my lack of awareness. I wanted to sneak up on her, so I waited to see if the door would just open from the wind. No luck. I heard a soft, feminine voice. Shy. "Knifer, The night time isn't the best time to disturb Seka, especially since your speech is so damaged. Let's just go back to the library, okay?" I wanted to give her the finger, but I had hooves. FREAKIN' HOOVES. So I merely turned, to find her right in front of me. "Really Knifer, it's best if you just do what I say." I pushed her back with a hoof, almost knocking her down the stairs. "You don't want me to get Blitz in here." I gave her the 'I don't care look' She sighed and backed down the stairs. I followed, curious as to how this would turn out. I was immediately set upon by Blitz, and she grabbed me before I could react and hoisted me high into the sky. I didn't flail, much to her surprise, but instead merely went limp. I could feel my right eye going far off center, making my head pound and the eye hurt. I felt blood come out the eye socket. I looked up at Blitz, and this made her freak out and drop me. "FORK." I fell. And fell. I though it would mean either months of recovery in a hospital, or a painful death. It was the first thought that made me panic. By now my right eye was blood soaked, and thus was barely usable, and closing the eye would do nothing to help, and would have worsened it. A small, growing trail of blood followed my fall. I started repeating "SPELL!" over and over again, and didn't stop, not even when I started to float a mere centimeter above the ground. I looked about and saw Cerridwen nearby, her horn glowing, standing on three legs, her front left held off the ground. Shy had flown out of the confectionary and landed near by a bush. Blitz had flown down and landed on the ground near me, her right eye twitching. Fable calmly walked up to me, clearly a little shocked at the fact that Blitz dropped me. It was dark enough for none of them to see my eye. However, blood rained on them for a second before stopping, which made Cerridwen drop me and panic, running around in circles, Blitz just gave into fear and froze, Shy squeaked in panic, and Fable did what any scientist would do. Get closer to me to find out what happened. She did and gasped at what she saw. "We need a medical professional…" "Fwabble?" I pointed to my right eye. "It's not doing good. I can't even see the iris anymore." She magically brought me to my feet and kept a slight amount of force on me. She was in charge. She walked past all her friends and took me straight to the medical facility. All the while she slowly and carefully pulled the blood out and away from my eye before it hardened. The desk worker was a female, pink coat, smooth pink mane, and I could see the tiniest amount of a pink tail. Her eyes were dark green, and she wore a head band with a cross on it. She looked up to face us. "May I he… OH HOLY-" I pointed to my eye and she immediately stopped talking and began to write on her medical papers. "Right this way!" She rushed down the hallway, and Fable pulled me as she followed by her magical leash. I didn't argue. I followed at my walking pace. I forgot to mention this, but when I was human, I had people over 6 feet tall who struggled to keep up with me when I walk. Being a pony did NOT change this. As a result I quickly passed Fable and made my way to the pink worker. She looked at me. "Fortunately for you we have one of the few ponies in Equestria who can fix that eye right here." She quickly knocked on the door. "YES? Who is it?" I looked up at the name plate on the door. Doctor Krutz. That name made me scared for some reason, like I knew this name from sometime… Something involving muffins and a padded room... "Nurse Redlock. Knifer is at the door." > I'm Hatin' It > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Fwabble…" I said it instinctively. "Wait... Nurse REDLOCK?" "Thank you for bringing us Knifer, Fable. When he disappeared Celestia told the two of us to move here so we might be able to find him. Of course he will get treated and his eye fixed. Then Celestia wants to talk to him. Alone." "But she didn't tell me about this at all!" I turned to look at Fable. She was wide eyed and I could tell she was ready to burn something. Or someone. "Please calm down ma'am. I'm only looking in for the best interests of the people." "FUCK THE PEOPLE! I SAW WHAT YOU GUYS DO AND ONLY NOW DO I REALISE IT'S A TERRIBLE WAY TO TREAT PONIES WHO GO THROUGH WHAT KNIFER DID! THEY NEED A REAL DOCTOR! NOT A PADDED ROOM AND MUFFINS!" All of a sudden Nurse Redlock's head band turned to ash, and Fable's eyes caught on fire. I quickly put my arms around her neck and tied to calm her, gently petting her side. "Fwabble…" "He was INSANE MA'AM! INSANE!" "I DON'T GIVE A-" I couldn't take it anymore, and I let go of Fable. I then whirled around and bucked Nurse Redlock twice and Fable twice, each getting one to the head and one to the gut. They both glared at me violently. I turned around and kept my cool. I didn't care if they broke my legs then and there. I walked past them both, accidentally smacking into Redlock and 'accidentally' smacking into Fable. I went into Doctor K's office. He was grey with a black, official, smooth looking mane and a similar tail. His iris color was similar to mine, only darker, and he was a unicorn. I could just barely see his tattoo, it was that of a thermometer. He motioned to me to have a seat, so I sat on a large cushion. "Thank you for getting both of them to shut up. Now, I know you have no way of paying for this, but Celestia herself paid for it already. Now, I don't expect you to be able to respond properly, but please try. What is your favorite color?" I looked about the room, trying to find purple. I pointed to a large purple box. "Alright then. Can you control your eye?" I tried, and managed to get the pupil to the point where I could just barely see, but the I went back into hiding quickly when my eye started to bleed again. The blood floated away and into a small plastic bag, which closed itself. "Great job. That's better than most can do. Now, I can't actually make you fall unconscious with magic… so you'll need to drug yourself. Sorry." I shrugged in response to this. I didn't care if I ended up in that metal clinic again. I just wanted this nightmare to end. He pushed over a small pill and a glass of water. I carefully set the pill on my tongue and drank it down with the water. I sat still and waited for the drug to take effect. It did after about five minutes. I awoke mere moments after the Doctor fixed my eye. I gave it an experimental blink and looked about. No blood. I sat up from the table he had put me on and looked about. There was Fable and her friends to my left, and Nurse Redlock on my left. Fable had four nasty bruises right where I bucked her, and Redlock was bleeding slight from those spots. Doctor K was in front of me. "So, how are you enjoying my fixing of your eye?" I smiled and leaned forwards, then wrapped my arms around his neck. "Um… could you let me go?" I obliged and let go. I felt a tapping on my left shoulder, so I turned and got bucked in the chest by Fable. I was barely moved by the impact, but it hurt like hell. "Fwabble…" "That's for earlier." I went into a slightly angry expression. "Fwabble." "Unfortunately, I cannot fix his brain or speech. I am sorry." Shy was the first to talk. "It's okay, you did your best." Cerridwen soon followed. "Yes, your 'eye' for detail was brilliant!" I was confused at that remark. I looked about for a mirror, and saw a small one laying next to me. I looked into it. My right eye was a dark green. I looked back up at Doctor K. "Don't worry, I put a spell on it to make it slowly change back to 'normal' color." I wanted to shout 'YOU REPLACED MY EYE?" but could only frown a bit more. Fable used her magic to pull my front hooves forwards, and Cerridwen moved my back hooves, making me get off the bed and start walking out. I was tense for when they would let go. They did once I was out of the hospital. I took a few hesitant steps forwards, and once I was sure I could walk normally, I began to trot. I trotted back to Sugarcube Corner. Or I would have, if Shy hadn't nudged me away from there. "No no. This way." She gently grabbed my head with both her front hooves and pulled me over to the library. I unwillingly followed. It was two days after that, and I awoke to find a typewriter in the basement. It actually had a backspace key, and I decided to try it out. I began to make this journal you see here now, from the start to the end. Every time I ran out of paper, more appeared next to me. It was enchanted too. Fable has been surprised that I'm not tackling her lately, and checked on why. I turned to look at her, still typing away. She was surprised that I was enjoying this. "You like writing?" I nodded and looked back at my work. No errors. I stopped typing for a bit and stretched out, then looked back to Fable. I began to think, for a moment, then pounced her. "HUGGLES!" This knocked her over onto her back. I wrapped my front legs around her neck again. She didn't struggle against it. In fact, it seemed like she missed it. I kept her pinned down like that for a while, until I felt her pulling me off with magic. I rolled, got up, and walked back to the typewriter "Well, I see you haven't changed since a few days ago…" "Fwabble!" "I asked Celestia to start sending me medication for your mind and voice." "…" I wanted to hurt that Unisis for what she did to me. I wanted to rip off that sharp horn of hers and use it to stab her all over, and finally a quick one-two stab to the heart and brain. "DERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERP!" "Wha-WHAT?" "DERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERPDERP!" "…" I smiled. "Hold up… I have a 'Derp to Pony Translation Guide' in here…" "…" She began to use her magic to look through the books before finding the guide. "Here we are…" She opened it and floated it over to herself, then began to look through it. "You just told me your plans to kill Celestia." She quickly closed the book and smashed me in the head with it, making me fly to the side a good distance. The way I landed was perfect for an idea, given how my body ended up in a terrible position. I played dead. When Fable saw I didn't move, she slowly walked up to me, then noticed how my head was at an odd angle. "ARE YOU OKAY?" I kept still, deciding to change the blame to being hit too hard to do anything. She rushed over to me, then slowly and carefully moved my body into its proper position. She let go and I kept myself stable, then turned to face her. "You are alright…" I heard the door open slightly, turned my head, and the baby dragon from earlier came into the room. Now that I had time to do so, I checked him out. He was a dark blue with a cyan underbelly and back spikes, with eyes of a shade of red like mine. "Is everything alright?" The voice was male, and sounded more like a teenager of about sixteen years of age , about mid-pitched. "You guys okay?" I nodded and smiled. Fable did so too. "Okay then…" He quickly ducked back into the main room and closed the door. "That was my assistant, Stevenson. He chose his name and I just went with it." I smiled and sat down, then began to think. My thoughts kept drifting towards Seka. I decided that I am either in love, which I hoped for hell not to be true, or I just cared about her. Probably the latter. I pointed Fable to the stack of papers I had laying on the ground, neatly ordered, top being the start, bottom the furthest I got. She naturally wandered over and began to read them. I quickly and quietly made my way up the stairs, and opened the door. Steve was busy balancing dangerously on a ladder, putting books away. I quietly shut the door, then made my way over to the front door. There was a large package blocking it from the other side. I snuck upstairs, looking for another way out. I wandered out onto the balcony. In the middle of the day. Blitz passed me very narrowly, not noticing me. I looked about for a way to get down easily. There were a bunch of close together branches that led a way down. I carefully jumped from branch to branch all the way down and into a large bush. I stayed hiding in it, until the coast was clear. I made a fast, silent dash to Sugarcube Corner. There was a closed sign, but it wasn't locked. I began to make a move to open the door, and ducked just in time to avoid having Blitz smash into me. "Where do you think YOU'RE GOING?" "Cupcakes." "We all know you want to go to Seka, you lover. We can't let you until you recover." I stuck my tongue out at her and quickly entered the confectionary. The place was eerily dark. I carefully made my way over to the stairs up, and turned to go up them. Seka was standing there at the top, barely moving, barely making a sound, with a murder face on, her hair 'deflated'. I backed up. She stepped forwards into the small amount of light that came through the windows. "Oh Knify, I've been waiting. How nice of you to come back after almost a month and a half." She had a hacksaw in her mouth. Her pace quickened rapidly, catching up with me. I backed up into the kitchen, where it was darker again. "The dark can't save you." My voice failed me. I quickly got behind the baking counter. "Your eyes will bleed and die, blinding you to my wonders."" I grabbed my own knife from the counter. "Your bones will become power, your blood filling." She lunged over the counter, and I parried with my own blade, then twisted the hacksaw out of her mouth. She simply laughed and kicked it aside. "Your flesh will become fine leather fit for Cerridwen's clothing." She grabbed her own knife and lunged again, my knife getting in the way to late. It cut into my side, slicing a small but harsh wound, and blood left it. "I am being too inefficient. I must save as much of that as possible, can't let it go to waste." I quickly got to her side and hit her in the back of the head with a hoof. I didn't want to kill her. I hate killing. She lost her grip on the knife and bucked me, making me lose grip of my own. "Give up Knify, this isn't an equal match." "CUPCAKES!" "Yes, I know about your words failing you. I heard it all. Every. Last. Word." I threw myself onto her, making her fall to the ground. "What are you going to do now? I could just stand up and smash your head on the cabinet." I had less than a second to think. As usual, the more absurd the idea, the sooner I think of it. I kissed her. Lips. She froze. Blitz came in the kitchen, confused as to what was going on, given how she couldn't see in the dark. Seka remained stunned. Blitz reached for the light switch. I didn't dare move incase Seka went murderer on me again. When Blitz hit the switch, she immediately went wide eyed and closed her eyes. Seka forced me off and onto the ground, then quickly put both her front hooves on my chest. I noticed a knife next to my head. The pressure made a tiny bit of blood come out of my wound. She began to laugh murderously. "SEKA STOP!" It was Blitz's voice. Seka turned her head to face Blitz. "Who are you to stop me?" I used the distraction to grab the knife in my mouth, and slashed her front legs with it, making blood get on my face, and her pull them up. I quickly got up and went around the counter over to Blitz. "You can't escape Knifer. I WILL GET YOU." "Something tells me it will be harder than that." "Derp." Seka leaped over the counter again, but I was ready. I whipped around and gave her a one-two-three-four-five to the gut, stopping her and making her cough up blood, then fall to the floor, not moving, still alive. Blitz turned to me. "Now you are bleeding, have blood on your face, and have blood on your legs, there is blood in this room, Seka has cut marks on her front legs and has blood in and on her mouth…" I lowered myself onto the ground next to Seka carefully. She turned her head to me and licked to blood off it. "Heh." "I never thought you would do that Seka." I gave Blitz a look that said 'then you don't know her' Seka smiled at me, then kicked the wall. I heard a crash, and got up, but too late. I large pan fell on my head. What Seka did not see coming, was how thick my skull is. I just turned to look at her, now with a new migraine. I named it Fill. She was shocked. Blitz was probably shocked. My head hurt. I merely laughed. After all, if you're gonna kill someone, do it efficiently. I heard a knocking on the front door. Blitz was already going to get it. "My employers are back early! CLEAN UP!" She immediately forgot her injuries and ran about cleaning. I helped a bit by moving stuff into neat piles on the ground or counter, given how I didn't know where to put stuff. Fill was still kicking hard. I quickly cleaned myself of blood and put a medical bandage over the cut I had, and Seka ran into a restroom. I came out to the front and finally met Seka's employers. The room was lit up now, and Blitz was chatting idly with them. They were obviously a couple, and looked to be mid thirties to forties. The male was and orange-green with a red mane and tail, both of which were ruffled up. His eyes were green and he had caramel as a tattoo. The female was a dark blue, with silver, puffy mane and tail, blue eyes as well, and chocolate as her tattoo. "You must be Seka's friend. She told us about-" I quickly interrupted with a nod, and left the building before I had to try and communicate. I sat down by the side of the confectionary and looked about. Ponies were doing business again. None of them approached. Seka slid into my vision, her hair still 'deflated' and very rather mad. "I will have you…" I calmly looked at her before staring forwards again. "…eventually." Blitz came out of the confectionary with a tray of cupcakes in her mouth. She sat it down and glared at Seka. "Seka, we need to talk. Fable's. NOW." Seka gave a growl as she made her way there. "Knifer, let's go." She picked up the tray and fly slowly back to the library, with me following. I came in, seeing all five of the others, as well as one I hadn't seen before, arranged in a circle, Seka stuck in the middle. She was a red, with a leather hat on her head, both her mane and tail were blonde and set up in a farm girl style. Her eyes were a dark blue and she had a bucket of apples for a tattoo. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Steve laying down on his belly, his head hanging off the stairs. "Just wha' the hay were you thinkin'?" "I wasn't…" "Blitz over heard what you told Knifer. That's what you've been giving me? Pony hide? HOW COULD YOU?" That last part sounded more like whining than scolding. "And what was that about the blood filling?" That one came from Steve. "Nothing…" Seka was whimpering now. I calmly moved over to the tray of cupcakes and grabbed one without looking, then proceeded to eat it, observing the ponies. Fable looked over to me and left the circle, then motioned for me to follow her down into the basement. I had just finished the cupcake, and I quickly followed her down to my stack of papers. "This is either the product of you still being insane, or you are not supposed to be a pony. WHICH?" As she said the last word a multitude of knives floated up and surrounded me. I immediately blacked out from fright. I awoke still in the sphere of knives, with Fable glaring at me violently. "WELL?" She stamped a hoof down, and the knives inched closer. I felt myself beginning to crack under the pressure. My left eye was involuntarily twitching. Fable noticed this and gave slightly. I took steps towards her, my already damage and weakened mind cracking again. She gave more ground. I leaped through the knives, many of them sticking into my left, some very deeply, and tackled Fable. She dropped the knives from the force of the impact. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I smashed my head into her own, dazing me and making her become still. I ignored the pain and slowly made my way over to a wall, then leaned against it. I passed out on the spot. "Knifer, you really need to stop this violence. It will only get you hurt." Finally I heard Seka acting sane. I opened my eyes and found myself where Seka was earlier, surrounded by the six ponies, Fable rubbing her head with a hoof. I still had the knives in my side, and the pain was immense. "Now that he's awake, should I lift him in the sky again?" "Do it girl, don't show 'im any mercy, drop 'im if ya' have ta." "What about his side? Knify is probably in so much pain…" "Fine, Ya'll do it yerselves, I gots no medical experience." I felt the knives slowly and carefully come out, and the wounds where they were quickly got covered by a cast of some sort. "There. Now, I'm gonna lift you high in the sky!" I stuck my tongue out at Blitz and ran, leaped over Cerridwen, and went up the stairs. I took a sharp turn and leaped off the balcony, and onto a rooftop. I felt adrenaline going through my body, tunnel vision taking effect, time slowed, I quickened. I ran from roof to roof in the middle of the night, and landed right outside of town, Blitz coming right at me. I then remembered where the princess came from. The city on the side of the cliff. I ran into a narrow grouping of trees and laughed as Blitz could not find a way in. I waited until she left, then set out on a new journey. I wanted to shout 'To the Capital!' > Damn Girls. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A moment later I awoke to find myself upside down. In a tree. My tail tied to a branch. A squirrel on my face. Eating a nut. I slowly started swinging, to get the squirrel off. It took a few minutes, and at the same time my tail ended up getting untied, sending me straight to the ground. I wasn't injured, given how it was less than a foot. I looked around and noticed how I hadn't even gone twelve feet before this happened. However it happened. I stopped thinking about it and got up, then truly began the journey to the capital. Which, a few minutes later, I learned was named Canterlot, given how a small group of ponies were talking about it as I passed. I quickly made my way to Canterlot, and hid in a nearby bush. I had to wait for dark if my plan was going to work. Sneak up on the Princess when none of these crazy ponies were looking, and get her to fix this. I had nothing to lose. The night came and I emerged from the bush. I then went into the city, and made my way to the castle in the middle. All I could think was "incredible" I ignored that thought, and quietly made my way over to it. I hid by the main door, and a small group of guards came out. I slipped in and looked about. No living being. I quickly made my way through the building, and ended up in the kitchen. I took advantage of the convenience and grabbed a very sharp, strong knife in my mouth, then snuck out. I continued to explore the castle for the Princess, avoiding detection by the guards. I decided they were really bad guards, given how they didn't even move. I eventually found my way right outside what I had to assume was her quarters, given how there was a sign above it in gold that said "Princess Celestia. Do not Disturb." I silently pushed the door open, and there she was. Reading a scroll by a fireplace. I slipped in and pushed the door closed, also silently. Then I slowly made my way to the darkness of the room, and didn't even bother looking about. I had one goal. Her. She magically lifted another scroll and a quill, then began to write a response. I waited. When she finished she wrapped up the scroll, put away the quill and a bottle of ink I hadn't noticed, and the scroll disappeared. She then turned around and looked right at me. I narrowed my eyes greatly, so I would be the hardest possible to see, given how eyes can reflect light. She went back to looking at the fireplace. "I know you are there. I'm just as good, if not better, at seeing in the dark than you are." I stepped out of the shadows and approached Celestia. "First, let me give you your voice back so we can talk." A small pill floated out of a drawer and my jaw was forced open by nothing, making me drop the knife on the floor. The pill went down my throat, and my jaw snapped shut. "Let us give it a minute. You should think about the consequences of sneaking in here." I didn't. I had nothing to loose. A minute had gone by. Exactly. "Speak." "I have nothing left to loose Princess." "It worked." "Clearly your royal education has paid off." "Clearly." "What consequences?" "Normally you would be either put to death, or jailed for several decades, depending on how much the trespass was. But given the circumstances, instead my sister will be able to do whatever she pleases to you." "Something tells me that will be far worse than it sounds." "It will be." "Great." "OH LUNA?" A small cloud of starry smoke flew into the room and took the form of another unisis, this one slightly taller than me, her coat was a grey purple, her eyes teal, her mane and tail both light blue and natural looking, and she had a crescent moon tattoo on both her flank and her chest. She gave a girlish squeal of delight and immediately wrapped her forelegs around my neck. "Oh you are so CUTE!" I flinched backwards a little bit. "Knifer, meet Luna. Luna, meet Knifer." "Hi…" She gave another girlish squeal and hugged tighter. "Luna, he is yours for the next few days." Luna looked right at my eyes and smiled. "I know EXACTLY what to do!" Everything went starry and black as night for a few moments, and then I could see again. We were in another room. "Now, let me make you CUTER!" "Wait what?" Everything went black as though I had shut my eyes, and when I could see again, everything was larger. Correction: I was smaller. A colt. "D'aww… Now you need a tuxedo!" "WHAT?" I was too late, my body was moving to her whim, and the tiny tuxedo was being put onto me. When it was done she made a mirror float over. I had to admit, it was somewhat cute, but it was me, unwillingly. "Oh! A ROSE!" A small rose flower then floated over and attached to the tuxedo. "FANCY SOCKS!" As she said that black socks appeared on my hooves. "AND SHOES!" I was lifted into the air and brought down into a tiny little set of fancy shoes. "OH! A MONO-" "I think that's enough!" "You're right, a monocle wouldn't 'suit' you…" "I see what you did there." She smiled and let me go. I looked into the mirror again. I looked like I was ready for a wedding. I turned to Luna. "I haven't-" "Had a bite to eat all day?" All of a sudden a bottle of milk came from nowhere and shoved itself into my mouth. I refused to suck on it, so Luna made me. When she decided I was done she pulled it out and put it away. "I can tell this is gonna be hell…" "NO. LITTLE CHILDREN DO NOT SAY THOSE WORDS!" I glared angrily at her. She burst into laughter. Normally that could have worked… but given how I was a little child, it was probably adorable. She slowly came to a stop. "It's time for bed now!" The suit disappeared off me and a little bed with tall rails on it's side floated over by a royal looking bed. I was lifted into it and placed down. Luna crawled into the royal looking bed, her bed, and looked at me. "Nighty night." Everything went dark. Pitch black dark. I quickly worked my way under the blanket. I had forgotten to mention that I am afraid of the dark. But I mean real dark, where even I can't see. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep through it. I awoke in the morning, having succeeded in sleeping, to being nuzzled. I slowly opened my eyes, hoping at least part of it was a dream. None of it was. "It's nine in the morning sleepy head." "Rewind time by just over a month and a half and I'll be happy." "I can't do that." "I'm staying in here." I was grabbed by my mane with her mouth and lifted out of the crib, then set down on the ground. "Not any more!" "Why do I bother?" The suit from last night came floating down from the ceiling and was quickly put on me. "D'awww…." "I hate this world so very, very much." "Lighten up!" "No thanks." "Oh, I just remembered! Last night I invited Fable to-" "I'm outta here then, see you when I'm a paste." I quickly made my way to the window and jumped. Only to be stopped in mid-air. "Oh yeah, magic." "Don't do that." I was pulled back to Luna. "Why not?" "It would look bad for a little colt to be found dead here." "…" "I told her I had you with me, which isn't a lie, and I also told her that I'm giving you back to her, in that cute little suit." "…" "I didn't tell her you were a child now!" "Great, more embarrassment." I was set down on the floor again. "Hey, how did you get your cutie mark?" "That's what these are called?" "Yep!" "Well, when I was human, I made silverware, very wanted silverware. I actually earned millions of dollars due to how I made it specially and by hand." "Millions?" "Let's just say that although human life is regimented from year to year, it changes from decade to decade." "…" "I didn't believe it myself." "IDEA! A TOP HAT!" "NO!" "YES!" "WHY DO I BOTHER?" As I said that, a small top hat descended onto my head. "Oh you are going to need your mane cut!" A pair of scissors floated over, and I immediately grabbed them in my mouth, flipped them around with my tongue so I was holding the handle, and I stabbed them into the ground. "Maybe not if that's the case, but still, she'll be here ANY MINUTE!" "Kill me." "No." "A TIE!" "That I can stand." "GREAT!" Luna made a black bowtie just appear out of mid air and attached it to my collar. "All set!" "Great, I'm a true gentleman." Luna then performed an impromptu hug on me for the remainder of the time. There was a knocking on the door, followed by the door opening on its own. Fable entered and immediately burst into laughter. "You made him so cute!" I simply rolled my eyes and walked over to the door. "Don't show me in public. Until this is over, it will be over, right?" "Tomorrow. "Great, sixteen or so hours of this torture." "Lighten up!" "Well excuse me Princess, but some of us don't like being children again." Then my face caught on fire. I just stood there and waited for it to be put out. "That only works once, after that the victim knows how it works." "I would have really burned you if your weren't wearing that suit." "Afraid to burn clothing?" "No. Afraid to burn hundreds of bits, yes." "Take me away?" "Yes." Moments later we were back in the library on the second floor. "Teleportation shouldn't work…" Fable began to walk down the stairs. "Why not?" I began to follow. "It destroys you molecularly, and then reassembles you. Your body travels, but your mind does not. When your mind has no host, it dissipates and *poof* you have no mind, thus you are not in your body." "That's not how teleportation works for us." "Then how?" "It makes you go faster than light, so it does take time when crossing vast distances, and it also enables you to fly and phase through materials." "Of course it would be that simple." "It's hardly simple." "Of course it isn't. I was referring to how it is simpler than it sounds." "…" I went past her and looked around at the ground floor. All five of her friends were there. Fable came up behind me, her horn glowing. "First off, you're staying like this for a long time." My body glowed, and I couldn't move. Blitz came up to me. "Next, you are going to be chased by me tomorrow, all day." Cerridwen came up to me next. "Then, helping me by modeling, much worse than it sounds. All day." The currently un-named mare, the orange one, came up to me next. "Then you'll be helpin' me out Applebucking." Cerridwen shook her head at me. "Much worse than it sounds." Shy came next, very upset at me and brave, which I really did not see coming. "Then, animals." Fable spoke up next. "Then you'll be a test subject as I practice my spells. Finally Seka came over, still sad, and only I noticed the murderous glint of light in her eyes. "And on the final day, you'll have to help me bake." I was then unceremoniously dropped. "It all starts tomorrow, let's hope you can run!" "What time is it?" "Almost bedtime for you mister." "You are all enjoying my torture, eh?" "Ah reckon so." I stood up. "In that case, I know exactly where to hide all six of those days." "WHERE?" That was a simultaneous shout from all of them. "I am not saying. Oh, top hat at twelve o' clock." I then quickly tilted my top hat down and threw it at them, then went upstairs. "Bleh, damn girls." I turned around to see Steve coming up from behind. "Tell me about it, Fable once had a spell backfire that turned me into a female. You have no idea how embarrassing that was." "Well, I'm a child for six days." "That has got to be bad." "And tomorrow, Blitz is going to chase me all day, next day Cerridwen will use me as a model, next come Applebucking, then helping animals, then a spell tester, then I'm going to be baking with Seka." "That doesn't sound that bad." "Because I'm going to hide." "Where?" "Where else?" I quickly ditched the suit and ran to the balcony. "Below ground." "Won't work, earthquakes are scheduled this week." "Then I'm screwed." "Be optimistic, you're gonna make some friends!" "I don't want friends, I want home. FORK YOU CELESTIA!" In response to that a bolt of lighting came down from the sky, went past me, circled me, then flew outside. "Did you really have to make her mad?" "She did this to me." "She couldn't have without a reason." "I'm her little test subject." "Okay…" "And I wrote out a lot of what happened with a typewriter in the basement." "Yeah, I read that." "I'm off to bed I guess. Where?" "Up another floor and to the left." I followed his instructions and climbed into the bed, then closed my eyes. I tried not to think, and instead drifted into a quiet, calm sleep. I awoke to Blitz staring at my face. "Boo." I twirled, forcing her off, and ran. She gave chase. I left the building, left the town, and ran into a dark forest. I lost her and myself. "KNIFER? WHERE ARE YOU? THAT'S THE EVERFREE FOREST! VERY DANGEROUS!" I went along the edge of the forest and came out far from Blitz, near a small cottage. I saw Shy tending to some animals, and gave her a wide berth. I instead headed away from town, away from the cottage, and most importantly, away from Blitz. I turned my head to check behind me, and broke into a sprint. Blitz was right behind me. My little childish body couldn't take all this exhaustion, and so I had to lose her again before I collapsed. I veered right as she sped up, and sent her crashing into a bush. I came upon many, many trees all scattered about neatly. I ducked into a large number of trees and hid in a spot only I could get into, due to my small size compared to Blitz. I curled up and took a quick nap. I woke to the sound of hooves hitting trees, and apples falling neatly into baskets. I peaked my head out of my hiding place, and saw that red mare from earlier. She turned her head in my direction, then went back to work. I quickly got out of there and rushed further from town. I eventually stumbled upon a large cloud house, and saw Blitz looking about from the top of it. I hid under the house, and Blitz took off to where I was hiding earlier. I got moving, and rushed towards the tallest mountain around. It was a harsh, long climb, but nothing happened beyond the occasional slip down a few feet. I sat near the peak, by the entrance to a cave, looking down at Ponyville, Canterlot, the Everfree, and watched as Blitz rushed all around the area looking for me. I had just enough time to notice the wisp of starry smoke coming at me and dive backwards, roll, stand, and face it. It formed into a large, nightmarish demon of a pony. "You are Knifer, are you not? Hoping for revenge upon Celestia, to over throw her and her tyranny, bring the power to the people, and get back home?" "Only the first and last." I was then surrounded by a black smoke, so thick it was solid. "You will want all those soon enough." "Let me go Demon, and find another host, or I will shout." "Shout? That's it?" The Demon simply floated over to me, not bothering to use it's legs. "Really? That's it?" I screamed a very sharp, loud, high pitched scream. The Demon staggered backwards, then glared at me. "It will take more than that to stop me." It turned back into the starry wisp and flew at me. I rolled to the side, but it made a sharp turn and went right at me, and into me. I fought with all my will, the only thing I could do. I resisted for hours, constantly bombarded in my mind and heart, slowly making my way through the smoke, down the mountain, and towards the town. It was night when I got back, and most of the Demon had left, but not all, a slight trace remained, leaving my mind slightly corrupt, polluted, I had been unable to fight all of it. I knew this, but could not tell anyone, literally. It was impossible. I came back to the Library, and entered it. Fable was busy reading a book of some sort, so I quietly went upstairs and looked in a mirror. I could see the faintest wisps of smoke coming off me, too faint to see except at extremely close range. I ignored it and went back down the stairs. Fable was looking at me, and it seemed like her black eyes were piercing my soul. "There's something in you." "I know." "It's evil." "I resisted." "Not well enough." "Please don't talk about it." "I won't, there is too little to harm you or anypony else." My stomach growled with pain. Twenty four hours of no food, no water was beginning to take it's toll. Fable sensed this, and telekinetically brought a muffin over. It was a normal muffin, but I didn't care. I grabbed it in my mouth and took it upstairs for some time to myself, something I always needed. "You can't stay safe forever." "Shut up you vile beast and let me eat this in peace." I began to eat and ignored whatever it ranted on about. When I saw done I continued to sit their and tried to think, but all my thoughts were polluted by the Demon. "I get it, you want me to do what you say. I won't." "You have no choice." "I do for now." "Not for long." "I will relish these last few moments then." "At dusk tomorrow, you will bathe in the blood of those you will never know." "That's right, too little of you to make me harm those I know." "Other than Celestia." "Of course." I went looked about and saw where my silverware was. "FINALLY!" I quickly took it over to my bed and set it down. I then climbed into the bed and slept a terrifying, unforgettably forgettable dream of death. It was morning, almost noon when I was shaken away by none other than Cerridwen. And I was in the Boutique, on the ground. "Wake up, it's time for work" I was annoyed at her sign-song tone. "Dusk…" "Shut up." Cerridwen hadn't heard that though, for which I was thankful. "Now then, you know that red friend of mine? Her name is Chicha, she doesn't like that name though. We tend to call her Apple." "How original…" "Yes, well she has a brother about your build…" "So you're going to use me to make a suit for him and also for others like me, eh?" "Correct!" "Kill me." "Later." The fact she said that creped me out slightly, until I realized she was joking. A farm style suit floated over to me, and nestled itself on neatly. "Perfect." It quickly came off and I found myself barraged by other suits for hours, all the while Cerridwen sang various songs, one of them caught my ears: "The Art of the Dress." I paid attention to their make and design, the Demon in me memorizing every detail. It was three in the morning when she had finished, and I left the boutique, only to get tackled by Blitz. "I FINALLY CAUGHT YOU!" "The chase ended last night…" "And?" "Idiot." I got up and trotted away back to the library. I only had so much time to let Fable know. I quickly rushed inside and ran up to Fable, who was busy reading the same book from last night.. "Dusk. Evil. Change." She looked at me funny. "What?" "Can't say exactly what will happen! Dusk. Evil. Change." "At dusk you are going to turn into something evil?" "Yes!" Her black eyes were piercing my soul again. "Can't do anything. Sorry." She then went right back to her book as I stormed upstairs. > Evil Demons Can Be Idiots > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I passed Steve and didn’t respond to his wave. I sat down after reaching the top floor, and saw silverware dancing about the room. It wasn’t mine though, it was just made new, never existing until now. “Let me get you ready.” The last seeds of corruption sprouted in my mind, and I stood up, having changed. I was an adult again, my eyes filled with fires. A sharp, broken knife blade floated over to me and impaled itself into my head, the point upwards. My body changed to accommodate this horn. I checked the time. It was six already. More knives came over and melded together into two large wings, and stabbed themselves into my sides, then became a part of me too. I was bleeding, but felt fine. I gave them a quick test, and found they provided a great deal of thrust and lift. More knives came and became odd horns going like mouth guards, and going backwards. The remaining silverware melted and went onto my skin, then reformed into armor. I closed my eyes, opened, them, and was ready. “Here I come.” I unknowingly lifted a pen and a scroll into the air with magic, and began to write on it these words: Celestia, you can’t stop me. The elements can’t stop me. Not a single being can stop me. Not any group. Nothing. I set the note to the side, folded my wings against my sides, and walked down the stairs. Steve had just left, the door closing as I came down, my medium weighted armor making soft sounds as I moved, clanking on the floor slightly. Fable was too busy organizing books to pay attention to me coming up on her from behind. I leaned my head in next to her ear, and softly whispered “Boo.” She panicked, dropped the books to the ground, turned, and went wide eyed. “Knifer?” “Yes.” “What happened to you?” “I warned you.” She was filled with panic and could not move an inch. I move the books with my thoughts, sending them to where she had wanted them. I then spread my wings wide apart. “I am leaving until I am done, then I will be here, in this spot, and free again. Until then this land will be red.” I winked out of there, leaving a panic stricken Fable to cower, unable to move or think, merely babble the words “This land will be red.” Over and over again. I came into existence in front of Celestia hours later as she was preparing to rest. “How did this happen to you?” “Starry smoke, Celestia. I have a message.” “What?” “This land shall be red.” I then blinked away, leaving her to ponder over those words. I appeared over a sleeping Seka, and placed a small ivory knife on her bed stand. “Sweet dreams.” I walked out of the room and winked away. I found Steve back in the library trying to comfort Fable, and appeared behind him. He calmly turned to face me, un phased by my transformation. “What did you do to her.” “I merely told her something. ‘I am leaving until I am done, then I will be here, in this spot, and free again. Until then this land will be red.’” I then winked out before he could grab me. I came into existence over a sleeping Blitz. “This is for making me panic many times.” I cut her front left leg lightly and watched as her cloud bed slowly turned pink, then red. I then winked away. I appeared far away from there, my business done. I then headed to a place only the Demon in me knew of, deep in the Everfree. It was a broken and destroyed castle, one that hadn’t been visited for generations. “Welcome to your new home.” “Yadda yadda where’s the bed?” “You must operate at night.” “…” “Or you will get caught.” I flexed my metal wings and began to flap slowly. “Fine.” I turned around and found myself face to face with Luna, her being slightly taller than I. “Why?” “Darkness.” “Not you too…” “Kill her now.” “No.” “How did this happen?” “Went to the mountain, got attacked by a starry smoke.” “Kill her.” “No.” “You love her?” “No, I’ve met her before.” “We need to save you from it.” “I HAVE TOUCHED HIM FOREVER.” “You can be almost completely destroyed.” “If you can catch him.” “I can.” I winked away and appeared hours later in front of the red mare. “Where did you come from?” “I dunno.” “Why are you here?” “Work I gotta do…” “Well, ah recognize you, Knifer. Name’s Chicha…” “Cerridwen told me. She also mentioned how you don’t like that name and prefer to just be called Apple.” “That’s correct… S’ how did this happ’n?” “Can’t explain.” I realized my wings were spread, so I brought them back against myself. “So now what?” She pointed into the huge apple fields. “One pony plus hundreds of apple trees don’t add up.” “But two do?” “Yes sir.” “I’m hardly the superior here.” “But you got wings and a horn.” “That’s racist.” “How?” “Just because I have wings and a horn does not make me like Celestia or Luna, and even if it did that does not automatically make me better than you. Besides, these may do the job, but they aren’t real.” I flapped my wings to show how they were metallic. “Let’s get working, show me how.” “I’’s mighty simple, just run at th’ tree, turn, and buck it in the center.” I picked out a tree and approached it. “If you can buck that one, ah reckon you can get th’ rest, even ah can’t” I did as she said, charging it full speed, turning last moment and kicking with all my might. Somehow I managed to get the apples down from the tree, into the baskets meant for other trees, perfectly. Apple just stared, her eye twitching. “Too much?” “…” “Let’s get to work…” She just stayed silent and bucked trees, which I obviously joined in on. By the end of the day, almost all of the farm was picked clean, and I quickly left without a word. “Now that we are in private, I should tell you something.” “What?” “You remember when you were out for over a month?” “Yes.” “That was me.” “What.” “I possessed you, made you see Celestia in the sun, made you want to watch closer. I made your eyes bleed, I tried to kill you, I made you a slave while you were in the Mental Clinic. Now, you are mine again.” “Fork you.” “You can’t do a thing about it. Time to run a crimson river.” “I don’t want to harm any living being but you, and Celestia.” “You will soon enough.” It was a struggle to keep going forwards into the Everfree, but I managed it and got back to base. I found myself face to face with Luna again. “I won’t let you stay like this.” “Equestria will be red.” “No, I know how to stop it for now, you can’t possess the young.” “The how did this thing get me?” “She means extremely young.” I fell onto my knees in pain, and felt, not heard, but felt, a loud, sharp shrieking in my head. “I will be merely delayed!” I tried to speak, but couldn’t, I felt my energy leaving me. I managed to force myself to look up at Luna with pleading eyes, and she simply shook her head. “No.” I snarled, the demon in me in control. She continued to stare at me. My wings and horn fell to the ground with a thud. I leapt at her, and stopped mere moment before I impacted. I thrashed. “No.” “THIS IS NOT OVER.” “It never will be.” I didn’t even know I had blacked out, but I did. I opened my eyes to find everything huge, moving by slowly. I was laying across Fable, and I was not even a child. I was a baby. I figured my vocabulary was probably the same too. My vision was blurry, like a baby’s vision would be, and I could only perform basic movements. I had another target on my hit list for later. Until then though, I was even more helpless than before. I closed my eyes and waited. I opened them when we came to a stop, and just hung limply in the air as Fable used her magic on me, making me float into a small basket bed. “You knew you would be so cute as a baby?” A small bottle of milk floated from the side of my vision and into my mouth. I tried to spit it out, but I apparently had baby instincts too, and ended up drinking from it. “Good boy!” I glared at Fable. “Don’t be like that.” I close my eyes and looked forwards, eyes still shut. I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up on Fable’s back as she waited outside Shy’s cottage, the sun most likely setting. She entered the cottage with me still on her back. “Thanks for offering to care for him while I’m on business for Celestia.” “It’s no really trouble, all the animals are off on their own today.” I felt the base of my neck getting pinched by Shy’s mouth as she lifted me off Fable and took me up the stairs into the bedroom. It calmed me almost instantly, and I went limp. I just waited for what seemed like ten minutes as she slowly and carefully went up, nearly slipping several times. I just hung there patiently. Eventually she got to the top and set me down in her bed, then curled around me, pulling the blanket over us. I was less angry than happy, or more appropriately, amused. After all, the most crippling thing has occurred to me, and it is keeping me safe. I kept those thoughts in my head as I used Shy’s wing as a pillow, her warmth slowly driving me into sleep. In my dreams I was the way the Demon had made me, and I had just finished the murder of a small family, the mother, the father, and all three children, having stored their souls in an amulet, and using their corpses to make “shells” for them, to become slaves. “You have done well, my servant. Continue, and our army may soon grow strong enough to take on even-” It was then I awoke violently, struggling, thrashing. “Please don’t be like that.” I would have stopped, if I could. I could just barely make out a tiny amount of smoke. Shy followed my gaze and saw it just in time, before it disappeared. “Oh, it’s waiting for the spell to wear off? Don’t worry, you’re safe.” Secretly, I was more worried for her than myself. I crawled closer to Shy, for comfort more than anything, for my physical responses were exactly like the response my current form would have had. “It’s okay.” She nuzzled my side and hugged me. I let myself drift off into sleep again. This time I was fleeing from the same beings I had been making in my previous dream, as a colt. It was the middle of the night, and I was the only survivor left in Ponyville. I was trying to leave the town, but it was blockaded, nothing goes in, nothing goes out. I was cornered by the zombie forms of the only ones I could think of a friends, with no way out. I could only scream in panic and pain as they fell upon me, and began to consume my flesh. I awoke crying loudly, and Shy nuzzled me, calming me. “Shush… it’s okay, nothing is going to hurt you. You’re safe.” I nuzzled back and grabbed her wing as she stood. “You’ll fall from there.” She grabbed my tail in her mouth and set me across her back, something which I found to be humorous, for if I were a child instead, I would have had to walk down. Everything was being done for me. Then the shock hit as I realized I may have been turned into a baby for other motives. I thought about whether or not the spell was supposed to remove memory as well, and merely failed in that regard. I didn’t even noticed that Shy had taken me outside. “I’m taking you to ‘school’, I need to do some work around here on the animals for a long while.” ‘School’ was most likely a form of daycare. “It’s fortunate that the spell took away your cutie mark. How could you find your talent when you can barely see or hear?” I cried lightly, no longer happy. “What’s wrong?” I just threw my front legs up and let them drop down, then gave in to a deep, unnatural, dreamless sleep. She somehow managed to get me to the daycare, because when I woke up, I found myself face to face with Nurse Redlock. “I know that’s you Knifer. I’d recognize you anywhere. You remember me?” I slapped her with as much force as I could, which wasn’t even enough to move her head slightly. “Apparently so. Want a cookie?” I shook my head slowly, feeling abnormally tired. I knew babies were supposed to sleep a lot, but I was as tired as I could get without passing out, and I had just woken up. “No? Why not just a little nibble?” I was adamant about not wanting the cookie. “Alright then… just… scream or something if you need me.” She walked away. I looked about very poorly, just like how she is at caring for ponies. I gave in to the exhaustion. I woke up with wearing socks. Stupid looking, fuzzy, green socks. With what looked like a filly form of Luna snuggled up against me. In fact, that’s exactly what it was. I was a baby, made so by Luna. She made herself a filly. She was stalking me, most likely to make sure I’m safe, but there was the chance of some other reason. One which was already filled by Seka. I inched away slowly, unsure of how to react. “Don’t go.” I felt compelled by an outside force to go back, and the more I fought, the harder it was not to. In the end, I inched back towards her. “That’s a good baby…” She turned her head and nuzzled my side. “That spell I put on you, it wiped your mind, and will again in a few days, when your brain will be able to remember again, replacing it all with memories of your mother being dead and your father a terrible person, never having any siblings.” She couldn’t have been closer to the truth. Before I can go on, I need to add this insert, no matter how much I hate them. My mother died in childbirth and my father was an abusive drunkard. I ran away when I was six and quickly learned how to survive, going nomad style, and travelling across countries on foot and oceans on rafts. It was a miracle that I survived. Possibly because I was insane during that time due to abused, and ended up making friends with silverware. I then went back home when I was in my twenties and found out my father had died a happy man shortly after I left. I bought my old home, got a job, went and got a really good education, and began making silverware. Then, after a particularly good business trip, I fell asleep in my house, and this occurred. Back to the journal. I needed to find a way to get someone to stop the memory wipe before it was too late. But I felt a compulsion to stay next to Luna. Until she disappeared. I immediately scrabbled away from that location. “Oh Knify, I’m here for you!” It was Shy. I made my way over to her as she came, and grabbed her leg while looking up at her with a ‘oh dear god please take me home’ face. “What’s wrong?” She brought up her leg and I crawled onto her back, then wrapped my forelegs around her neck. She didn’t say anything, and instead just walked out and took me back to her home. After being treated to a very rather decent bottle of milk and being tucked into bed, I went back to thinking. After a while of thought, it hit me. Of course Fable would be called back to Celestia for business, its effects were twofold. Firstly, it would allow Celestia to get something done involving Fable. More importantly, the only pony for miles who could let me keep my memory was most likely her. I decided I was doomed to a life in this world, being raised all over again with Equestrian values, never returning home again, everything a waste. I also decided one thing, one of, if not the most important things I ever chose during my stay in Equestria. “I’m gonna be the most relentless bastard this world has ever met.” I managed to say it. I smiled properly for the first time in a long while, and slept. > Short Chapter 1: Lack of It All > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next few days followed a similar schedule, which was really boring. I slowly re-developed my vocabulary, and my eye sight, my ability to walk also increased. I also endlessly harassed every pony I met with a rubber mallet. Don’t ask how I obtained it. I also managed to lay near harmless traps, combine household chemicals, make several explosives, and I caused three stampedes. That was only in two days. But, on my last day of these memories for a long while, I was taken to a place I hadn’t truly been in for a long while Sugarcube Corner. “Shy, what are we doing here?” “You’ll see.” As I jumped off her back and walked through the door, I was surprised by confetti blasting in my face, the shock making me flinch back. “That’s it? No hair stand?” “Apparently not Seka, you can try again when I’m older.” “About that…” I groaned. It was her, the one that caused all this. “It’s the day. At the end of this party, the final part of the spell will begin. Enjoy it while you can.” I would have put more here, but this memory was damaged somehow. I did very much, for they managed to distract me from the future. However, the hours ticked by, and it was time for it to end. As I stood in front of Celestia, I looked up at her with Bambi Eyes. “Any last words or requests?” “Yes, actually. Firstly, tell me why you brought me here.” “I thought you could finally defeat the Nightmare. Next question?” “Why remove my memories?” “Because I can’t send you back to your home, or else you will tell all about us, and with your memories you danger all of us.” “Do you really know all?” “The only thing I do not know is another ponies thoughts.” “What kind of pony will I be?” “When I brought you here, something happened. You were supposed to be a Unicorn, but somehow your horn was never made.” This brought about a gasp from both Fable and Cerridwen. “As a result I could not use magic?” “Correct. You still will not be able to.” “Why not just crush me under your hoof?” “I thought of that, but I’d rather keep you alive for some reason.” “May I chose who would be my adoptee mother?” “Who?” I looked behind me. Chicha, Fable, Cerridwen, Seka, Shy, Blitz. I looked back to Celestia. Celestia, Luna. I closed my eyes and looked down. “Fwabble.” I smiled. “It is decided.” I opened my eyes and looked back up. “We are running out of time now. Any last words?” “Yes Princess. They say that when you are close to death, your life flashes before your very eyes, causing all your memories to be played in moments.” I waited a few moments before I continued. “It is also said, that you cannot forget anything, it is merely pushed too far back into your mind to be able to recover it normally.” “Anything else?” “Why, now that I think about it, yes. Allow me to keep one thought.” “And that might be?” I remained silent, and merely thought this phrase. ‘I’m gonna be the most relentless bastard this world has ever met.’ I then suffered from Fill again, massive amounts of pain, and then nothing. > Blondebolt's Journal Part One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- My name is Blondebolt. I got adopted today by Fable, a nice Unicorn who lives in the town’s library. The town is called Ponyville, and it seems a nice enough place. It seems like she happens to be hiding something from me though, because I can’t go into the basement. It’s probably nothing. On the bright side, I’m going to school tomorrow! It’s gonna be my first day! -------------------------------- It’s my first day of school, I’m two years younger than everypony else in my class, but I’m just so smart and lively that they’re sending me early! I hope nothing happens and goes wrong. Nothing went wrong! Everypony looked at me funny, walking up to the school house and being tiny compared to them, but I managed to take my stuff up with me and got a front row seat. I’m sitting on the desk though, because I’m so small. Well, I guess something somewhat bad did happen. I got homework. The paper kind where you write down answers. I know them really easily, but the pencil is too big to fit in my mouth. I’m currently using a type writer to make this I wish I were a Unicorn. Maybe I could do my work on this… -------------------------------- Well, the teacher wasn’t upset, she understood the reason why. Also, today during recess I got picked on. The teacher had gone inside for a few minutes, and there was a circle formed around me and the big bully, so I bucked him in the chest. I still think I was actually smiling as the blow connected with his chest. I didn’t get in trouble, because everypony was too surprised and scared to tell her. -------------------------------- When I got home today I cried a lot. I found out I broke that bully’s rib and that he’ll be spending a long while in the hospital. The teacher didn’t believe that I did it though, because I’m too little and weak, even after I admitted it. I don’t know why, but it just felt, proper, natural. -------------------------------- I asked Mommy why that was afterschool. She told me to not worry about it, and promised that over the weekend we could go do something together. I wish I knew my real mother. -------------------------------- It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday! Everpony is looking forward to the weekend, weekend! I don’t know what came over me. I’m shunned by the kids at school because of a lot of reasons, mainly my age and how I broke that bully’s rib. I finally got my teacher’s name today, BubblePop. We also learned about Cutie Marks, something that appears on your flank and takes on an image of what you’re good at. I’ll obviously be the last of my class to get one. But I don’t care, it’s just because of my age. Well, tomorrow Mommy and I are going somewhere, I wonder where? -------------------------------- Mommy took me to a place called Canterlot. It’s apparently the capital of Equestria. Maybe I’ll get to see the Princesses! Though I doubt it. We’re staying in the last place I expected! THE ROYAL PALACE ITSELF! Apparently Mommy is the student of Celestia! I wonder why she didn’t tell me? Oh well, I get to see the Princesses all the time! I played chess with Luna, and failed every game. Even though she went easy on me. Every time. I even got to watch Mommy study! I’m actually understanding it, something which somehow surprises the Princesses. Some of it is just logical, like gravity, and inertia. But some isn’t quite so, such as cells, and atoms. I stupidly tried to use magic as well, despite how every source I’ve read says it can’t be done. I did get a migraine though, something that shouldn’t happen. For some reason, I had an urge to name it “Fill” ----------------------------------- Mommy somehow found out about my ‘experiments’ from yesterday and became curious. She encouraged me to keep trying, even though I received what was effectively a negative reward every time. Eventually, while Celestia was entering the dining room during lunch, something happened. I managed to make a knife at the other end of the table go flying at high speeds. It lodged itself into the wall next to Celestia, and I put on my best innocent look. She didn’t care. About the knife, that is. The reporter that was with her was shocked that she gave me a lollypop. However, that did not stop the migraine. ----------------------------------- Even as I type this, I have a large variety of metallic objects flying around me. Most are made of copper and or aluminum, except for a few, which are made of ivory. It seems to be easier to manipulate that, possibly due to how it is used in animal teeth, which are similar enough to bones for magic to flow through them easier. Mommy is impressed how over night I managed to learn to mass the spell’s effect and control the migraines and focus it elsewhere. I focused them into small spheres above my head that dissipate when I’m done. I’m not allowed to use my magic unless I’m just around Mommy, Celestia, and or Luna. They won’t let me use it when alone due to safety reasons. ----------------------------------- We went home today, and the first thing I did was grab a book on magic theories and start to read it. More specifically, it was on magic theories in Earth Ponies. I have no clue why, but I felt compelled to learn as much about this as I could. I found nothing in that book that pointed towards a condition I am now calling “Hornless Unicorn Syndrome” It appears to be either caused by being a non-Unicorn that can use magic, or being a Unicorn without a horn. I’m betting what’s going on is the latter, because after doing extensive book based research I found that in order to cast magic, a specific part of the brain must be “wired” in a certain way. In the front of the brain, heavily paired with the Prefrontal Cortex, is a mass of brain that comes out and should go through the skull, which should spiral up and mold around this piece of the brain. Due to it having no name, I am calling it the Magi-Center for now. I have found that, with the unknowing aid of Mommy, who I shall now call by her real name, Fable, for this paper, that this section of the brain focuses energy and thought into a tiny point on the tip of the Magi-Center, and then allows it to suffer from a controlled burst. For a simple one shot spell, a single, low cost, high power burst is formed. More complex, duration based spells however, require rapid bursts of at least ten per second, extremely low cost at first before it begins add up, with individual bursts being of low power. Some spells break these rules however, such as teleporting spells, which continue to drain energy for a few moments after they were used, and the energy cost is based on distance traveled. And Mommy just found out what I’m doing. I’m typing this as I speak to her, and the conversation is going along the lines of… “What it this?” “Oh it’s just a research paper!” “On what?” “How magic appears to work.” “That’s been stumping the greatest minds of all ponykind for centuries!” “I might have figured it out?” Yeah. Well, she took what I wrote and made it a bit more organized, did a bit more research, and then made some edits in the margins. We’ll be off to Canterlot again, but this time during the week! I’m getting excused from classes for this too. ----------------------------------- I’m back in Canterlot, and Mommy took me back to Celestia. Rather than Mommy showing it, I’m showing it, the piece of chalk having a large piece of ivory attached to the back to allow me to control it better. I drew the inside of the skull of a unicorn and the side of their head, along with the brain. I then wrote notes on each small section relating to my current hypothesis. When I was done, Celestia was very impressed and recommended that I go to this school that she heads. It’s for gifted Unicorns, and seeing how I’m supposed to be one it only makes sense. But it’s in Canterlot, and since Mommy lives in Ponyville, I’d only be able to see her occasionally. She’s supporting whichever choice I make. Tomorrow I’m showing what I found to more professional ponies who have been studying this for years. They’re most likely going to hate it though. I just realized something. My intelligence compared to my age is astronomically high, such that I am in fact going to skip to middle school level courses if I chose to stay at the school house. But if I chose to go to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns I’ll only skip three grades. I’ll be about a year old, in classes with either twelve year olds or six year olds. Either way it’ll be dangerous, but Celestia is watching. I really can’t decide, and rolling dice isn’t a good idea. -------------------------------------- As I was showing off my Hypothesis to the professors, who at first scoffed at the idea a “Baby Earth Pony” could have my level of intelligence, towards the end they were having trouble with the fact that I didn’t have enough time to continue. One even said “I do believe this child has just revolutionized the thinking of magic!” Ironically, he was the one who hated the idea the most. And most are still shocked over the fact that I was levitating a piece of chalk. I’m being called “Professor Blondebolt” by the papers, which will publish the meeting in three days. I voiced how I’d rather not be called a professor yet, but they wouldn’t hear it. I was asked about my choice, and I decided to go with the School for Gifted Unicorns. Firstly, I would be in less danger, for I read about middle school and how it could get dangerous. I also felt I would get the better education here. In fact, the only thing that delayed my choice was that I wouldn’t see Mommy too frequently. Tomorrow will be my first day, and all my stuff has ivory in it. I’ll show them all that just because I suffer from Hornless Unicorn Syndrome doesn’t mean I can’t be like them. -------------------------------------- I went to my first class today, walking beside Celestia the whole way. Everypony was surprised at just about everything. When I entered the class, everypony’s magic fizzled out and they froze up. They just stared at me as I went to my desk at the front of the class and sat down on the top of it. Celestia explained why she tricked the teachers about me, then left. The class was silent as I organized my stuff. I actually had to tell the teacher to get on with it. During my sixth and last class, the teacher had the nerve to tell me to get out the moment I entered. The first thing I did was head straight to the Main Offices and checked in. Well, I tried. I got told to get out as well. So I did what they said. I left the school for the rest of the day and went to the public gardens. Nopony looked twice. Celestia came to me while I was in the gardens and asked what was wrong. So I told her. I told her everything that happened that day after she left. She told me everything would be alright. -------------------------------------- I had to take a day from school so Celestia could explain everything. Again. I decided to go against what she told me before and started practicing spells while she was gone. I managed to start a small fire in my hoof, but it seems I’m best at telekinesis. I did some studying and found that there has been a case of HUS, but it was disregarded as a myth. I was also apparently moved to study purely under Celestia. Those teachers sure are nasty. I complained to one of the guards about how they were watching me like hawks. he told me to quit my whining. I then whined at him, saying “THIS IS WHINING, OH THERE’S NOT ENOUGH ROOM, THE COLORS ARE TOO BRIGHT, THE TEACHERS ARE TOO NASTY!” He gave in and let me just talk however I wanted. I rigged up a prank for Celestia. I set a very thin, fragile wire up at a height where when she comes in, her horn will make it break, causing her to get drenched in freezing cold water. She set off the trap. What was even more hilarious than her getting drenched was how the bucket fell too, piercing itself on her horn, making it look like she was wearing it as a helmet. She laughed, I laughed, the guards laughed. -------------------------------------- These new classes given by the Princess are harder, but more rewarding. I’m being fed information as fast as I can learn it. I like it. Well, I was practicing a really powerful telekinesis spell, and managed to make something weird appear. It looks like a big box with a black window on it, and an odd rope with metal prongs coming out of it. Celestia is checking it out right now. She decided to let me keep the box, and hooked it up to a magically powered generator. I love it a lot, and it played weird moving images with odd aliens on it. They speak our language. Some look more like they’re drawn, some more like real life. I particularly like the show “Spongebob” despite how much they do stuff that obviously breaks reality. It’s hilarious. -------------------------------------- I don’t know why, but some random stranger tried to kill me today. Fortunately, he was an idiot and attacked me with a knife made of copper. I turned the tables on him and got him first. He didn’t move after that. The body was quickly removed, and now everypony is scared of me. Even Celestia is worried, not for me, but about me. I’m worried. I killed somepony. They tried to kill me, true, but still. I think it’s best if I just disappear for a while. -------------------------------------- Apparently one cannot hide from Celestia. She found me in moments, even though I was behind the book cases. I tried to duplicate my spell mishap from earlier, and somehow made Celestia herself appear in front of me. She was amused. I was confused. I tried it again while under her supervision, and managed to make another one of those odd boxes appear. She sent that one for research. -------------------------------------- Mommy heard about what happened and came over to see if I was okay. I managed to assure her nothing was wrong. After Mommy left I got surrounded by reporters who wanted to interview me on how I’m so smart. I panicked and ended up appearing on Celestia’s head. Again, she was amused. The reporters managed to ambush me and put some sort of anti-magic field around me. I don’t know why, but I just went limp. I think that might be my response to panic. The guard came and got the reporters away until they could take me back to my room. -------------------------------------- Something happened. Rather than just moving the small sphere, which should have been a trivial task, I made it explode into many small pieces, sending shrapnel everywhere. My magic is very wild and untamed it seems, I can direct it, but not control it. I screwed up big time. Instead of simply cutting some bread, the knife flew at and impaled itself into Luna’s leg. She’s going to be okay, but still, I can’t help but wonder if I’m going to get sent to the moon. -------------------------------------- I’m starting to have really strange dreams where I’m some odd bipedal creature and I’m amongst other bipedal creatures. I think I heard Mommy talking to Celestia and Luna. They were saying something about how I shouldn’t be able to use magic because of how that part of my brain isn’t developed enough. That leads me to believe the part of the Magi-Center in the horn is the part that focuses the spell, while the rest merely allows it to be cast. This also leads me to believe that my brain is developed far beyond normal. -------------------------------------- I spent all night watching the box, and fell asleep at one point. When I woke up Mommy was next to me, sleeping with me. I nuzzled her a bit before I fell asleep again. -------------------------------------- When I woke up I heard Mommy and Celestia talking about how I’m “Just so innocent.” I still remember how it went. “He’s just so innocent, it’s hard to believe that it’s been about twenty two days, just over three weeks.” “I know, Celestia, I can’t believe that he used to be so against the ideas of our society. Now we can raise him the Equestrian way. Things will be better for him.” “Perhaps I made the wrong choice?” “No.” “No?” “You didn’t. This is the best thing, his skill set that the Nightmare wanted is gone. If we can teach him to control his magic, he’ll be the most powerful magic user since…” “…Twilight Sparkle.” “He may be better.” “I hope not. If he is, I’ll have to do the unthinkable.” “Neutralize his magic.” They both left the room after this. I confronted my Mommy about this. She denied everything. I confronted Celestia. She denied everything. I confronted my dinner. It denied everything. I confronted the reporters that swarmed me. They looked at me in confusion. -------------------------------------- > Blondebolt's Journal Part Two > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- I’ve developed some slight anger issues. And by slight, I mean ‘I tried to murder Celestia.’ I’m now alone in my room, the generator for the box removed. Celestia came in to see if I had calmed down. I would be lying if I did anything but try to maim her. She had to restrain me to my own bed. -------------------------------------- I’m now going through mood swings and I’m remembering things that didn’t happen. I told Celestia, and she told me that I just have a very active imagination. I highly doubt it. It was mid-lesson when a major mood swing hit me. I just broke into tears, and when Celestia came over to me and help me re-balance my emotions, I almost killed her. I got put in a small cage, stuffed into my room, and left in there. I heard the guards talking about how she had never been so frustrated with anypony for years. I started thinking, and quickly figured a makeshift teleport spell. I had only a rough ability to chose the location, because it was so hastily made. I used it. -------------------------------------- I just woke up after my teleport spell in my old bed. Mommy said I hurt my leg and that it’ll take a few days for it to heal. -------------------------------------- Mommy asked me what happened, so I told her. She seemed worried for me. -------------------------------------- Celestia came today, and I swear if Mommy weren’t around I would be on the moon or worse. I feel like I just got hit by a buffalo. Correction. Feel like I just got hit by a stampede of buffalo. Correction. Five stampedes. -------------------------------------- When I woke up Celestia was looking down at me. I was frightened. So much that I ended up smacking her in the face with my hoof. I’m doomed. -------------------------------------- Yeah, I’m seriously doomed. I recovered and the first thing that happened was a botched teleportation spell. I’m now somewhere in a cave. I used a makeshift location spell and found I’m inside the mountain Canterlot is on. Inside a huge cave with no way out. Fortunately there are many little tunnels that allow air in and out. After making many mobile light spells I found that the cave is full of moss, grass, a few trees, a large lake or pond, and some small animals like mice and rabbits. I read somewhere that ponies can eat meat if they have to, but too much is bad for them. I now know how to survive. And yes my typewriter followed me through, along with it’s bottomless supply of paper and ink. -------------------------------------- I fashioned a spear using rocks and wood. Now I can hunt and fight back if needed. This is going to be the greatest test I’ve ever gone through. I found out that the trees grow to full size in hours. This is going to help. I managed to make a fire and summon a pot, I’m using it decontaminate the water and cook food. -------------------------------------- This moss isn’t all that bad. Mouse plus moss plus fire equals yummy. I wrote a ‘help me’ letter and sent it out of the cave. I hope someone finds it soon. -------------------------------------- I made myself a proper shelter using wood. And by proper, I mean ‘I made a small log cabin’ I took some stones to make a fireplace, so I can keep warm while asleep. -------------------------------------- I got bored. And by bored, I mean ‘so bored I made a town in here’ so HA! I think I’m starting to snap already. I got my first resident! Somehow. It’s another pony who calls themselves ‘Shade’ Her cutie mark is some sort of shadow. She has wings. And a horn. I asked Shade about her wings and horn, and she said she’s been alive since the time of Celestia. I asked her how good she was at magic, and she said she’s horrible. -------------------------------------- Finally some action! Turns out the cave is full of evil zombie ponies that attack at night, and it’s only been luck that I didn’t get killed. I stay in my shelter at night, and Shade tells me when it’s day from her shelter. It happens to be near one of the vents in the east. -------------------------------------- Last night was hell. I found out that zombie hide is incredibly durable, and thus I made some armor out of it. I’m a little disturbed, but it works. It saved me twice now. I just realized how absurd this is. I’m a bit over a year old, and I’m fighting against zombies. Fortunately have a near god on my side. But still, it’s a little crazy. I made myself several more spears and went on a zombie killing spree. It was hilarious. I must have gotten at least four of five dozen of them. I’m using their flesh for a lot of things, mostly clothing, but also softer flooring and actual blankets and sheets. ----------------------------------------- Shade showed me how her lack of magic is balanced by her knowledge of necromancy. She took a large number of dead zombies and gave them their spirits back, to which they were thankful. Now we have a small village, so even if we aren’t found, we can at least survive. ----------------------------------------- We decided to make a government system. I decided the people have a say in the matter, although Shade and I have one more say each. The people agreed. We work by day, and take guard shifts at night. It seems the zombies don’t want the living, they’re just mindless automatons that attack anything they don’t recognize as an ally. ----------------------------------------- We had our first village meeting today, and decided to call the town ‘Cavelattice’ It wasn’t my idea, but I like it. We got a few basic laws in place. Law Article One: Basic Rights. 1: Right to carry and wield weapons. 2: Right to property. 3: Right to Banish the Hostile Undeath. 4: Right to vote. 5: Right to peaceful protest. 6: Right to any belief system. 7: Right to family. 8: Right to hold office. 9: Right to learn and practice necromancy and magic. These are the Nine Basic Rights of any citizen of Cavelattice. Those who are not citizens (However unlikely we are to be found) have rights 1,2,3,5,6, and 7. ----------------------------------------- We made more homes, many on top of one another. This will allow more people. I finally got a response to my letter from just over a week ago. “What seems to be the problem?” I called a meeting and everypony agreed to alert about the situation. So I sent out a message telling them about the zombies and how we are in the mountain itself. We got one saying help would come in about a week. ----------------------------------------- The attacks have gotten worse ever since yesterday. The guard force is up and more citizens are being made. We decided to use the natural height of the cave to our advantage, and are building tall, stable dwellings. I love these screwed up trees. We had our very first casualty, which was quickly undone via necromancy. Everypony except Shade is confused as to why I’m laughing. I told them about how necromancy is letting us not truly die. Then they began to laugh. ----------------------------------------- It’s been almost two weeks of being trapped in here. Forty one days since my adoption. I miss Mommy. ----------------------------------------- We found some explosive dust in here. I have an idea that might work. ----------------------------------------- My idea worked. I made a large, stationary projectile weapon that fires clumps of rocks at high speed, shredding the zombie to pieces. It rotates on a base that has its center in the ground, and then another axis that allows the cannon part to be aimed up and down. The shot is propelled by the blast of the explosive powder. It’s only to be used when needed though, because it destroys the corpse, which could be used for new ponies or for material, and because it uses a rare material. ----------------------------------------- I haven’t seen Shade all day. I’m worried about her. We finally managed to make a wall around the village. It’s made of wood and stone, should be able to last a beating. Shade returned. She said she had to check for where they were coming from. She couldn’t find it. ----------------------------------------- Sometime tomorrow we should be getting help. Nothing else to report. ----------------------------------------- Help came in the way of about twenty-nine royal guard teleporting in. The moment the light reached us Shade said she had some business to do involving necromancy, and went into her house. Five of the citizens and I rushed over to the guard and brought them to the settlement. ----------------------------------------- The guard said they needed to wait a while before they could start teleporting all of us out. The citizens agreed to send small numbers out, groups of three or four at a time. Shade and I would be the last. ----------------------------------------- An eight at a time. Once each night, after the attacks. Just over one more week Eventually the zombies will be blocked off and this village will be an Equestrian one. ----------------------------------------- Nothing to report. ----------------------------------------- I wonder what is happening to our citizens as they leave, they are zombies themselves. ----------------------------------------- We are at half strength now. ----------------------------------------- We gave up half the town, going to have to stick to the higher buildings. Better build bridges. ----------------------------------------- Bridges built. Lower ground given. Everypony wants out soon. ----------------------------------------- Tomorrow there will just be Shade, two guard, and I. Let’s hope that’s enough to get us out. ----------------------------------------- It worked. Cavelattice is a zombie town, but that’s better than us dead. I’m going through a test tomorrow to see if I’m insane. ----------------------------------------- I would put the questions here, but there were hundreds. In the end though, I failed. I’m officially insane even though I’m clearly not. Screw you world. Also, they took my armor and stuff. ----------------------------------------- Fifty-seven days since I was adopted. I ran to Mommy and latched onto her leg the moment I saw her. I still haven’t let go. ----------------------------------------- Mommy made me let go. The moment she set me down I latched on again. ----------------------------------------- I finally let go. I haven’t seen Shade for days. I’m worried. ----------------------------------------- I started schooling again. Under Celestia. Again. I don’t think they’re thinking. ----------------------------------------- Day went by just fine. Until the end of it. Then my mane burst into flames. Damn fire spell. ----------------------------------------- It seems proximity to Celestia is what’s causing my sudden shifts in mood. More is going on than they are saying. ----------------------------------------- I told Celestia of what I found. With a letter. She is now testing it. ----------------------------------------- Yep. Everytime she passes by, I become violent. Everytime. ----------------------------------------- I over heard the Princesses talking about doing a total mind wipe and ditching me in the forest. It’s time to show them what I can really do. ----------------------------------------- I’m writing this even as the castle burns. It’s very pretty. Oh fine, it’s only a small model about as big as my head. ----------------------------------------- Since I didn’t leave my room yesterday, Celestia came to see what happened. I left hoof prints on the windowsill. She panicked so much. I then quickly slit her throat. Alright, it was just a doll of her. ----------------------------------------- Luna’s corpse is at my feet, her skull crunching in my head. The guards are burning to cinders and the dragons are drowning. Dammit I can’t keep this up for long. Stupid dolls. ----------------------------------------- THE WHOLE WORLD IS IN CINDERS MUHAHAAHAHAHAHHAAHA!!!!! I give up. ----------------------------------------- I came out of my room for the first time in four or so days. This time Luna was on fire. And I didn’t do it. ----------------------------------------- How long has she been on fire? ----------------------------------------- THE FLAMES OF RAGE SHALL BURN! Why am I at this again? ----------------------------------------- I over heard Mommy and Celestia again. “We need to Celestia.” “Give him another day to atone.” ----------------------------------------- I didn’t go down without a fight. They tried to make me really young again(?) and they get hurt. Badly. In fact, they don’t have me. At all. I’m off somewhere in space. Seriously. I’m clutching to my typewriter as I speak. ----------------------------------------- It’s been five I GIVE UP. I’m actually stuck in another cage in my room. Not anymore. Now I’m at the mercy of somepony. Haven’t seen them yet. ----------------------------------------- It’s Shade! She said she’s “Returning me to my full power!” Whatever that means. ----------------------------------------- I’ve got a skull splitting headache in my forehead. ----------------------------------------- I think I’m dead. All I can see is a bright light and my typewriter. Why won’t this thing go away? ----------------------------------------- The light is dimming, and by my estimations it’ll be gone by tomorrow morning. I can feel myself being fed, even though I can’t see it. This is disconcerting. ----------------------------------------- I could see properly again, and the first thing I did was look in a mirror, helpfully placed above my head. There is a large sore where my horn should be. I also noticed i'm in a normal cave. ----------------------------------------- I started walking again, and damn it’s hard. This migraine, Fil as I’m calling it, hurts. A lot. ----------------------------------------- Shade started referring to me as Knifer, saying it will resurrect something in me that will help me be my best. She referred to it as a “Magical lock” ----------------------------------------- Fil is gone. So is Shade. She left a note saying “You’re on your own for now kid.” To hell with her. To hell with Celestia. To hell with Fable. I can survive. ----------------------------------------- I can’t survive. I just got attacked by a manticore, and right now I’m hiding in a tree. This typewriter is following me I swear. ----------------------------------------- Mommy found me. I clung to her leg the entire way home. I’m not going to get beaten by that spell though. ----------------------------------------- Mommy called me Knifer by accident for some reason, and my head hurts really bad now. I feel ill. If I don’t make it through this, remember, my name is Blondebolt, and I’m not even two years old. This journal has been kept for eighty six days. Nearly three months. ----------------------------------------- > Ghosts and Echos > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I feel terrible. And by terrible, I mean dead. Seriously, I’m a ghost. And yes, I’m Knifer. Not Blondebolt. Knifer. I did read his stuff though, and I must say I would not have found the time to do that. I’ve been him for about three months. Three. Months. This is worse than the mental clinic, because at least there I was me. Fable came in, and the moment she saw I wasn’t breathing she rushed over. “Fable, don’t worry, I’m here.” She couldn’t hear me. She was about to leave when I got an idea. Because I still walked on the floor and get stopped by the walls, I knocked over a book. She froze and slowly turned her head. I grabbed a pencil and wrote on a piece of parchment ‘Hey Fable, I’m here.’ “Knifer?” ‘Yes.’ “How? Where?” ‘I don’t know, sitting on the stool.’ She rushed over to me and felt the air around the stool, then hugged me when she found I was physical. She then started crying. I turned and nuzzled her neck. “Fable?” I looked over her shoulder and saw Steve. “What’s wrong?” Steve rushed over, and the moment he saw I was dead, he turned to Fable, and was even more shocked by the fact that she was hugging nothing. “Fable?” She just looked at him and motioned for him to come over. He felt around where I was, and panicked the moment he felt me. “I’m g-gonna get the other Fable!” I closed my eyes as he left. I opened them again and found myself in a bed, the covers over me. Fable was sitting down on the floor next to me, still crying. I realized I was in the basement again. “Hey, Fable?” I turned my head slightly and saw Seka at the top of the stairs. Her hair was straight and she looked very sad. Fable wasn’t responding, so Seka came down. “You okay?” When Seka got in range I prodded her with my hoof. “What the… KNIFY!” She pounced me with pinpoint accuracy and pinned me to the bed. Her hair had become poofy again. “OH I MISSED YOU SO MUCH AND EVEN THOU-” I shoved my hoof into her mouth, silencing her. “MHMPHMHMHPPHM!!!!” I pushed her off me and let her slide off the bed. I then rolled onto my underside and tried to sleep again. It worked, and I found myself being jostled awake by Fable. She got over my death, and seemed somewhat happy. “Do you want to attend your funeral?” I responded by taking a quill, some ink, and a piece of parchment, then I wrote a few simple words. ‘No, save me instead.’ “How could… We could swap the body and find out ways to bring you back… Brilliant Knifer!” I smiled. “Hold up, I need to try something.” Her horn glowed, and she looked right at me. I set down everything and went around her. Her gaze followed. “It works.” She went upstairs, and I followed. I saw my body in a small coffin, and watched as Fable copied the body with a spell, the swapped the two. She then put my original body on my back. I carried it downstairs, she followed. I grunted as she lifted it off me and set it down in a spare bed, putting it under the blanket peacefully. No signs of rot were there, and she casted a spell. “Your body will no longer rot Knifer. It’s hard to believe you’ve been in Equestria for over a third of the year. Winter Wrap up is approaching. I know you don’t know what it is. It’s a time when we clean up winter. You never got to enjoy it. It’s your favorite season, isn’t it?” She couldn’t have been closer to the truth. I walked over next to her, sat down, and gently tapped her side. She leaned against me, then sighed. “And now you might never get back home to your friends and family. Do you have any?” I put my head on her shoulder and shook it. “No? Sad…” I shrugged. “We ponies tend to burst into song on holidays.” I gave the stereotypical ‘OH CRAP!’ reaction and jumped. However, my time spend as Blondebolt changed how this universe effected me, and I leapt high into the air, only to fall back down after waiting a few seconds at the peak of the jump. I hit the ground with a soft thud instead of the anticipated pain. “What are you supposed to be anyway?” I actually had to think back about it, and was disturbed at what I found. I no longer had memories of before I arrived in Equestria. I was quick to alert her to this with writing. “No…” It had been a long time since I moved. I found it much easier now that I was dead. But I chose to move, and did so without so much as a sound, easily going past the now frantically searching Fable and to the door. I pushed it open slowly and stepped outside, then shut it. The sky was red, white streaks going through it, and I saw ponies acting like nothing was different. I carefully moved between the ponies, not touching a single one. I checked the sky frequently, and found that the further I got from my body, the clearer it became. I also found that I couldn’t leave Ponyville. Literally, there was a giant invisible wall. And past that nothing existed. Just sheer shadows and nothing. However, there was a path heading straight for Sweet Apple Acres, and another one along the road to Canterlot, which had its own “Bubble” of light. I turned and went to the Carousel Boutique, hoping to find Cerridwen there. I entered the store. Fortunately, only Cerridwen was there. “I’ll be there in a moment, now who… is this a joke?” I decided to mess with her for a while. “Okay then…” She turned back to her work, and I took action. I silently moved her stands around into a cult style position around a table, draping cloth over each of them, and putting one on its side on the table. I then took a small knife from a drawer and set it on the sideways pony stand. Then I made a small thud from behind the ‘cult’ of pony stands. When Cerridwen turned around, her reaction was priceless. She fainted instantly. Being the somewhat good pony I am, I took her up into her room on my back, the only way I could. I saw the inside of it for the first time. It was much like the first floor, only smaller, with what appeared to be another work place, this one more specialized. I set her on the absurdly expensive looking bed and resisted the urge to climb in as well. Instead, I took a quill, some ink, and some parchment, then wrote a short message. “Sorry about that, couldn’t resist. Your ghostly friend (and hopefully back to life soon), Knifer.” I the set the message down, capped the ink, and set the quill on the bottom of the message, then left. I just walked around randomly, enjoying the winter and all that was cold and white, taking in the cool winter air, enjoying the slight chill, happily passing those who wore jackets to keep warm. Even if I weren’t dead I’d be happily bouncing along, without any clothing. Due to being a pony. If I were human I would wear shorts and a t-shirt. I stayed outside, even as the sun set and the moon came. Oddly enough, the nasty looking sky left as the sun went down, leaving a beautiful clear starry night, with a full moon that looked ripe for the picking. I hadn’t been that peaceful for years. “I could just be washed away into the sky.” I had begun to talk to myself. I then looked side to side, at the beautiful, dark, cold world. Everyone was staring straight at me. I moved a bit, and their gaze followed. “Let me guess, you can hear me too?” They all nodded slowly. “In that case, boo.” None of them fled, and instead one chose to approach me. It was the Pegasus mare with the odd eyes. “Who and what are you?” The voice was so much like that of a young child, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Knifer, dead. Most likely a ghost. Apparently moonlight makes me exist more clearly.” She smiled and came over next to me, then sat down. “It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?” I just nodded. I felt her leaning on me. “I’m Derpy Doo.” “Knife to meet you.” This caused a strained laugh from the crowd. I turned my head to look over my shoulder and glared for a moment. This caused the crowd to disperse. I turned my head back to the moon, enjoying the dark and light’s constant struggle. We just sat there, barely moving, for what must have been hours. She had fallen asleep against me. The sun and moon swapped places, and I faded from view, but did not move. Doo opened her eyes and found herself ‘floating’ somewhat, so she put herself upright. “Thank you for the company.” She then flew off, presumably to work. I stayed there for more hours, ponies passing me, but never walking right into me. One did come close, however. In all the time I’ve been alive, I had never been more at peace. The cold, being dead, and the fact that I had just been comforted, all added up into one big surge of calm. Like a river flowing faster in the spring due to snow melting. It was night again, and I hadn’t moved. I watched as Doo came up and sat down next to me again. “You know, for the town ghost, you aren’t doing very much haunting.” As I fully came into view, I smiled and slowly replied. “Well, I’m not into… Haunting. I’m only interested in one thing, as of now. Life.” There was a small giggle. “You’re funny.” I sighed very loudly before shifting from my spot, moving closer to Doo. “Ms. Doo. I am very upset. I’ve been in Equestria for all of five or so months, and have been trying to get home.” “Why don’t you just, I dunno, leave?” “Firstly, I can’t go anywhere but Ponyville, Canterlot, and Sweet Apple Acres as a ghost. Secondly, every time I tried I was stopped by a person or an event.” Doo turned her head to face me, her eyes all wonky. Her tongue was sticking out slightly. “Silly ghostie, if you can go to Canterlot, what’s stopping you from seeing Celestia?” “Not being able to phase through walls…” Talking was very difficult when her eyes rotated everywhere, as though she was trying to hypnotize me. “Stare into my eyes, calm yourself. Being calm always helps!” Against my better judgment, I did so. I was immediately entranced. “Come with me, let’s talk about you.” She stood up and began to walk. I followed close behind her. “Firstly, what are you doing in Equestria?” “I woke up somewhere outside Ponyville in a body that wasn’t mine, and not of my species.” “What were you doing before that?” “I can’t remember anymore, it’s weird.” “Can you give a brief summary of what you did in your stay here in Equestria?” “Wake up, go to Ponyville, stay at Seka’s, piss off Celestia, fall off balcony, nearly die, go insane, get sent to mental clinic, recover on my own, get taken in by Fable, hunt down Celestia, get given over to Luna, turned into child, given to Fable, punished with stupid chores, get possessed, get turned into baby to get saved, get mind wiped, spend three months as some other pony, wake up dead.” “Interesting… Have you been diagnosed as insane before, not counting the balcony accident?” “If I have been, I wouldn’t remember.” She stopped suddenly, causing me to smash into her flank. She then got walking again, and I hobbled after her, rubbing my head. “Why…” “To see if you were paying attention.” “Of course…” I moved over to the right a few feet so that wouldn’t happen again. “Do you like muffins?” “Depends. Chocolate is great.” “Would you like me to bring some tomorrow?” “I don’t think I can eat while dead.” “You can try.” “Ah hell, I’m not getting out of this, am I?” “Nope!” “At least nobody-” “Nopony, if you want to fit in, talk like we do.” “Fine. At least noPO NY called some ghost catching group on me.” We stopped in front of a small house, one story tall. Ms. Doo opened the door, and motioned for me to enter. The moment I did so, I faded out of sight. Thus I quickly found a small towel on myself. “There you are! Now then, I know you can’t talk, so I got you something.” She slowly opened a box, and brought out a chalkboard, on that was small and fit around the neck with a rope. “There, now you don’t have to worry about not being able to be found or heard!” I carefully put my head through the hole formed by the board and rope, then moved it up. It fit like a charm. “Great!” She then dove back into the box, and brought out a package of chalk and an eraser for the board. I took both in my mouth. “Go on, write something.” I walked over to the table, set down the eraser, opened the package of chalk, grabbed a piece in my mouth, and carefully wrote “Hi” on it. “Great!” I fumbled as I swapped the chalk and the eraser. “Maybe this wasn’t the most efficient idea…” I erased the writing, grabbed all the chalk in my mouth, and shook my head, the board swaying with delay. I turned and left, leaving her thinking of another way to help. I went to the closest place I could call a home. I pushed open the library door, smiling as I faded from sight. The basement door was open, so I went in. Fable was down there, but so were three ponies I didn’t recognize. They all wore lime colored jackets and goggles, and all three had ghost based Cutie Marks. I went past them all, setting everything down on a table. “Knifer…” It was Fable. “What is it?” I turned and the pony on the left, a stallion of grey coat and mane stepped forwards. “We are here to help you with your little problem.” I was startled at this. “And that might be?” “Ze death.” Again I was startled. “How can you hear me?” I moved and all three of these odd ponies moved their heads to follow “How can you see me?” “Ze googles.” “I thought they did nothing!” “Ha ha ha no. Of course zey do zomething!” The one on the right stepped forwards. She was a dark green in coloration for mane, coat and tail. “Cut the chit chat. Listen ghost…” “Knifer.” “Knifer… We’re here to make you move on to the afterlife.” “I refuse this discussion is over good day to you sir.” I went around them and went up the stairs, ignoring their pleas. After leaving the library I went straight to Sugarcube Corner. I went through the doors, up the stairs, and sat down beside Seka, who was sitting at the table, her head held over a cake. “Oh Knify, what should I do? Everypony now hates me or is scared of me.” I leaned against her, startling her for a moment, but she quickly understood what was going on. I was instantly hugged very, very tightly, and if I were alive I would have suffocated. But I wasn’t, so I didn’t. “I have JUST the idea!” She suddenly ceased to exist where she was for a half a moment, and then was back there again. Then the cake was gone, and in its place was a detailed plan for something overly complex that used far too much pony lingo to understand. It looked like it was a cannon. “How about we shoot you into your body?” I had a different idea. I grabbed a nearby pen, and wrote on the paper a short few words. “Or go see Celestia. Uh… okay… Whatever you want?” Without warning I was locked in a kiss. Her aim was dead on with my lips. It was some minutes later when she let go. “Hurry back soon!” I quickly ran out of the room through the balcony and jumped off. Hitting the ground hurt, but nothing more. I made my way back to where I first really met Ms Doo and waited for nightfall. > Short Chapter 2: Reactions > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I, Fable, Chicha, Cerridwen, Shy, and Blitz have decided to, while Knify is a ghost, record what we think about him. Not quite sure why. I love him for some reason, and to see him go would make me very sad, as it has done before. I’m sorry about trying to kill him, I was just so shocked about seeing him that I lost it. I was furious at them for hiding him for longer. When he became a child I wanted to be his adopting mother. I really do want him forever. I find this past he isn’t telling us about interesting, so I’m planning on finding a way to make him tell it. If I could learn more about his past I might be able to give him what he wants. I also miss my little Bolt, he was so young and intelligent, even if he was a little insane, and I’d give up the chance to learn more about Knifer to get Bolt back. Personally I cannot say anything about him beyond how he sticks to his word and is remarkably strong willed. Polite to me too. He needs to become more socially fit and stop thinking about what he cannot achieve. First off, he needs to have his mane and tail cut shorter, and he should think about moving on to the afterlife. He is far too tenacious for his own good, and seems to be slightly unaware of our history. As full of surprises as he is, his mind is set on two predictable goals. Revenge and returning home. (Well, I guess you could think about and tell me what you think of me, given how these girls already did so. Why did I include this anyways? Know what, also tell me of what you think of Blondebolt and which of us your prefer. Maybe even why. Now I’m going to get fan mail I bet. Should’ve thought this through.) > The Beginning of the End of The Beginning of the End of Peace > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The moon came up and sure as clock work Ms. Doo arrived. “I’m going on a trip to Canterlot.” She opened her mouth to speak, but I quickly interrupted. “By myself. I’m off in the morning.” “Why?” “Because, I need to speak with Celestia. I have not planned a thing other than that. I am prepared for the worst. I will not be taking luggage. Alert the others. Until the morn comes I shall be somewhere that shall not be revealed.” I stood up and walked to where I woke up all those months ago. I reached the site and sat down there. I continued to allow gravity to pull me down as I thought about everything. I couldn’t decide if it was worth it. When I got to Celestia something would happen, and one side would perish. There were at least two sides, but then again the Nightmare could come out and make three. Add Luna and there could be a fourth. And if she managed to bring Blondebolt out and into a body there would be a fifth side. I thought about giving up, but every time a single thought went through my head, one which I voiced out loud. “I’m gonna be the most relentless bastard this world has ever met.” This one sentence, this one phrase, it became my savior. I forced myself up, and just as the sun rose I walked to Canterlot, my steps forceful. I reached Canterlot after a day’s travel, and waited until morning for the sun to rise so I could hide. When it rose I faded from sight, and silently entered. I hunted down the palace and entered, slowly making my way through the halls, avoiding Unicorns. Again I made it to Celestia. She could not see me. She was asleep. I made my way over to the bed, and slapped her across the face. She awoke with a fright in the middle of the light to find that her horrors had come true. “No… LUNA!” A bright flash of light later and the room had another pony in it. “What’s wrong?” “There is something in here…” The room was filled with moonlight, and both of the Princesses turned to face me, shock on their faces. “SURPRISE BITCHES!” I instantly reared up and ensued maniacal laughter. “BUT YOU DIED!” “Not so Bitchestia!” I suddenly stopped laughing, became serious, dropped onto the floor and sat there, then slowly opened my mouth. “I refused to move on. You’re both goddesses, fix it.” Luna shook her head. “Only power wise, we can’t bring life back.” “But I’m not truly dead.” “Your body is.” “All of you shut up.” Simultaneously we turned to a figure that matched the description of Shade. “Allow the one that knows Necromancy to explain it. Knifer, you cannot be put back in your body without a rare crystal known as the Philosopher’s Stone. I used to have one in my possession, before it was stolen by a cloud of smoke. Your friends will have to travel far south to get one, before the weather change destroys your body.” “Wow, cliché plot line much?” She then disappeared. Not teleport. She simply ceased to exist. I turned to the now frightened Celestia and Luna. “Well?” Celestia turned to face me. “I… I… I’m sorry.” I slapped her across the face. “Don’t be. The past is the past and being sorry will never change it. Only actions, regardless of what kind, will change anything. You want to show you’re sorry? Help out and help in finding the Stone.” “I’ll send a letter to Fable and begin research…” “I’ll be off then Princess, unless you would miss us?” “Stop rhyming and let me think.” I smiled and left to go back to Ponyville. I arrived at night, and I went straight to the library. I went down into the basement, got on the type writer, and worked. An hour passed, and a letter landed on my head. I opened it and read it. “I can’t bring you back, but I might be able to bring back Blondebolt. Come back to the Palace soon with Fable.” I closed the letter and went back to work on this journal, smiling all the while. The sun rose and Fable barged through the door and down the stairs, then pinned me to the ground. “Don’t leave like that AGAIN.” I smacked her in the face with the letter. She took it and began to read, not releasing me from her clutch. “Tomorrow night, no sooner.” Her gaze shifted back to me, and I felt her black eyes piercing past my very soul. “KNIFY YOU’RE BACK!” Fable was instantly replaced with a large pink blur of doom, and I was in a death hug. “Oh I missed you so…” I struggled for hours. Literally. The moment she let go I pushed at the ground frantically, backing myself into a wall. “I’ll see you tonight!” I narrowed my eyes as she left, busily thinking ‘very clever.’ Eventually I just went up the stairs and looked about, watching Fable frantically researching something and Steve rushing about with books. I left the building and went to the Boutique. When I entered, Cerridwen was ready. I was quickly locked in a cage. “HA! I HAVE YOU NOW! You will NOT be scaring me this time!” Then a small knife landed in the cage. Next thing she knew, I had picked the lock, opened the door, and left the building, leaving the knife behind, and leaving her shocked. The next place I went to was Blitz’s house. The clouds were red, and I remembered why. I began to wonder why she hadn’t cleaned them. I turned around and went to the library again. When I got there, Fable was waiting. “You’re probably wondering where Blitz is.” I sat down next to her, leaned against her, and nodded. “She went to the hospital because of you.” I was not surprised. “Her leg got infected with some unknown disease.” Again, not surprised. “She’ll want to see you sometime soon.” Again, no big surprise. “So before we go to Canterlot, we’ll stop off at her room.” I just nodded and fell asleep. When I woke up, Fable was asleep. But she was lying across me. Steve was holding back a snigger. I looked outside and noticed the sun was setting. Thus I got up, unceremoniously dumping Fable on the floor. The reaction was hilarious. She flailed about as she got up, shouting. “WHOZA WHAT?” Both Steve and I burst into laughter. “Not. Funny.” I turned and walked to the door, still laughing, even as I stepped outside. “I would’ve let you finish, but it’s night!” I walked straight for the hospital, Fable following close behind. For once I was surprised. When I entered, Luna was there waiting. She shined moonlight on me, keeping me visible. I followed Fable to Blitz’s room. When we went in she was standing up, looking out the window. “Oh woe is me, for I hath not a chance to flyeth freely and frolic in the darkest of the forests,” Her gaze shifted down. “And now I hath visitors, of whom are a friend, a Princess, and the inflictor of my plight.” She turned to face me. “What does thou sayeth?” “Impressive ye olde speech.” Her mood instantly improved. “I practiced a lot!” She walked towards me and showed her wounded leg. It was surrounded with an odd black ooze. “It just won’t heal.” I looked at it for a short while. “Luna?” I stepped aside and she checked it. “Still can’t tell.” “Every time we wash my leg, it cometh forth again.” “Your ye olde is showing.” “Sorry Knifer.” “It’s okay, just letting you know.” I got an un-amused look from her. “Lighten up Blitz.” “Why should I?” I then had an old memory go into my head, one from before this incident’s beginning, what I had forgotten, and decided to change the topic. “Blitz means Lightning.” “It does?” “It does.” I walked past Blitz and over to the window, then stared at the moon. More memories flickered into my mind. “The shine from Luna that delivers forth the sight that we see is nothing short of beautiful…” Blitz came over next to me. “…but alas, one cannot help but wonder, were one will be when it finally comes to an end.” “Because in the darkest hour…” “…the rules will bend.” “Evils untold shall rise…” “…and stalk and prey on those unwary.” “But in the darkest hours heroes can rise from those unthought-of…” “…and they will rush with great haste, never tarry.” We turned to face the other two ponies in the room. “Incredible improvisation duet.” “Thank you Fable. Blitz, I must be going now.” I flinched slightly when my cheek was pecked. “See you when you get back?” “Sure…” I quickly and politely left with Fable and began to walk to Canterlot. Only to be teleported there. Right in front of the Princesses. “Luna… wait… never mind.” She began to laugh at my momentary confusion. “Knifer.” I turned to Celestia. “I would like to speak with you. In private.” I followed her to her room, the moonlight from Luna following, and shut the door behind us. “You know exactly one pony will die here.” “I know.” “But first, let us do something about Blondebolt?” “Let us.” Everything went black. When I came to, Fable was sitting next to me, a small colt happily hugging her. He noticed me. “Are you my dad?” I leaned in close to him. “No Blondebolt. I am you, but I am not. You are an exact physical representation of me, but mentally we are much different. I am stubborn, intelligent, non-magical, almost incapable of real violence, and enjoy arts. You are flexible, an incredible genius, incredible magically, can fight back, and don’t care for the arts. We are the same being, but two different ponies. We are more akin to twins, despite the age difference of about twenty three years. I am Knifer.” “So you’re like a brother?” “Yes. Blondebolt, I am your brother.” “Why are you being nice to him?” “Fable, that’s because I’m just that way.” “Knifer.” “Oh it’s you. Avert your eyes both of you.” The two quickly left the room, leaving only Celestia and I. I turned to face her. “Even terms Knifer?” “Even terms.” She glowed brightly and shrunk, down to my size. “The first to die loses princess.” We adopted battle stances, and waited for the first move. > Short Chapter 3: Rache > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For minutes not a single sound was heard, not a single inch covered. Then she lunged. I jumped and landed on her horn, snapping it off with a loud crack and shriek of pain. The door glowed for a moment as Celestia used the last of her magic to irreversibly make a one way barrier, ensuring the only way to travel was out. I looked at her horn’s broken part and noticed brain in it. “He was right!” I then bucked her in the face, sending her into a wall. “No… more games!” She flew at me and tackled me, then began to beat me with her hooves. I bit as hard as I could, then shrieked in her face. This combination sent her reeling back, but only for a moment. She was on me again, and I began to feel our blood mixing on the floor. “WAIT!” She stopped for a moment. “I have blood!” She looked at me, surprised to see ethereal ooze. “And… continue your assault.” She began to beat me again as I futilely attempted to get her off. I felt my life slowly ebb as I bled out. Adrenalin coursed through me, and I bucked her off and began to juggle her in the air, her wings breaking from my kicks. She bucked in perfect timing with me, breaking my rear legs and sending her into the wall again. “ENOUGH BOTH OF YOU!” We froze in slight panic as Luna and Fable teleported into the room. I flinched as Luna’s gaze darted over to me. “You really don’t know your limits, do you?” I vomited blood onto my underside. Her gaze shifted to Celestia. “I thought you were going to spare him.” When I looked up from my vomit session, Fable was standing over me. “I thought you were smarter than this.” I grinned at her. “I obeyed myself and made no promises to not do so Fable.” She simply glared at me, then left the room. Luna remained though. I looked about the room as I felt the life ebb from me, and noticed Celestia’s horn, still broken off, still sharp. I noticed how our fight had made a near perfect X over her heart. I crawled to the horn, slowly and painfully. I Grabbed it. I crawled to Celestia, taking advantage of how she was almost passed out and how Luna was too busy thinking with her eyes closed. I carefully positioned the horn over Celestia’s heart, and just as Luna’s eyes opened, I slammed my hoof down. > Short Chapter 4: The Day the Devil Cried > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The volume of blood in a goddess is surprising, to say the least. One could even say their body is 110% highly pressurized blood. In short, blood was everywhere. Red blood. Her eyes melted, her skin tightened until it ripped, every part of her suffered from a painful, horrifying change to death. I enjoyed it all. My third kill ever, and I loved it. The power that was leaving her brought me out of my death scenario and back to the realm of being a ghost. When Celestia was nothing but bone and blood, I turned to face Luna. In her eyes was a rage I had never seen before. “HOW DARE YOU?” I smiled back at her. “I am not bound to your orders Princess. YOU FUCK WITH ME AND I FUCK YOU OVER!” I did a back flip out the window, and landed in the bushes. I woke up from the impact’s shock to the smell of happiness. And the sounds of panic as every one of those ponies realized Celestia was dead. Fortunately, it was morning and Luna’s moonlight spell was not on me, so I simply began the walk to Ponyville. It was hilarious to see how all the ponies were doing at Ponyville. The shops closed, massive funeral, and royal guards looking for me. Ms. Doo was incredibly sad, so I went over to her. Due to the day, I was not seen. I placed a hoof on her wing, causing her to instantly panic. The exact reaction I expected. I happily left and went into the library. I took the typewriter and left for the Everfree forest. I went deep in, all the way to the castle, where I am now, as I type this. After I updated my journal and organized the papers, I decided to explore the castle. I found the Nightmare. Gave it a wide berth. Eventually I came across a room with a balcony, and only one other way in. That way was the stairs, and it had a solid wood door that miraculously survived time. After closing the door, I looked about the room some more. It was perfectly built to be a library, and was effectively a maze of bookshelves/walls. I eventually found several signs, a paintbrush, and some old unopened paint. I opened the paint and found it was a bright red, something I smiled at. I dipped the brush in the can, and went to each of the signs. “Bed” “Balcony” “Reading” “Exit” “Hub” Then I proceeded to hunt down perfect spots for the signs. I went to the balcony and set down the “Balcony” sign. I went to the middle of the room, where all the paths converged, and placed down the sign that read “Hub.” I went to the exit, and placed “Exit” down. I went to a nice quiet spot and placed down “Bed” Finally, I went to a section near “Bed” and set down “Reading.” Fortunately there were many books there that had survived. “Why hello there Knifer.” “Not now Nightmare, I’m busy making myself at home.” “Turn and face me.” “Fine, but only for a moment.” I turned and faced her for a moment, then looked back. It was Shade. Shade had Nightmare’s voice. Shade was Nightmare. “Shade. Nightmare. Whichever you prefer.” “Yes?” “Please leave.” “Why?” It was a cute, pleading tone of voice. “Because I just killed Celestia.” Her mood improved considerably. “You did… How would you like to-” “Whatever you’re selling, I don’t want it.” “I can send you back.” I closed my eyes. “I’m listening.” “I can send you back to your world the moment after you left, with all the memories of what occurred. I can give you anything you want when you are in your world. Unicorn slave? Check. Giant Pegasus mount? Check. A trillion bucks? Check. All you have to do is let me bring you back to what I made you, and make me an army.” “I never promised them anything. They never did anything to ensure my allegiance.” “Correct.” I thought long and hard about it, and as I made my answer I heard the Devil himself cry tears of sadness. “I’m in.” > Song 1: The Art of the Flesh > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- That night, when all was quiet, I was changed again. This time, I became tall and powerful, looking as though I could beat both Celestia and Luna at any test of might. Knives came, and a large broken knife cut into my head and fused with my skull. It was at least a foot or two long. My wings were formed next, these ones with several attachments to my sides, the feather being knives again, shaped to slice through the air and any unfortunate enough to get in their way. My wingspan was at least three times my height. Funnily enough, armor came made from more silverware. “You are really trying to get me sick of these, aren’t you?” “No, I am merely taking advantage of the simplistic obsession you have to enable you more power.” “How so?” “Your proximity to these objects will comfort you and put you in ‘the zone’ and therefore enhance your capabilities.” “Clever.” As the armor fused to me, a mirror appeared. The sight I saw was a marvel. I towered over my old size, at over two or so times that height. My armor was a comforting silver/gold/ivory/bronze coloration, and where my cutiemark would be it showed an exact multicolored replica. It covered almost my whole body, leaving only the wings and horn unexposed. My eyes could barely be seen. “Are you ready to begin?” “As per usual, Nightshade.” She brought the corpses, and I worked them carefully to make the perfect Shells. She then used her Philosopher’s Stone to bring them to life and bind them to our will. I asked her if she could bring me back with it, and she said that drains the Stone. This next part is a little disturbing, as it goes over the act of making the Shell. Therefore I wrote a little song I sang while working, to keep my mind on it. Thread by thread, stitching it together The Demon’s shells, cutting out a pattern snip by snip Making sure the flesh folds nicely It's the perfect feel and so fresh Always got to keep in mind my pacing Making sure the bone is correctly facing I'm stitching all the shells Corpse by corpse, fussing on the details. New neckline. Don't you know a stitch in time saves nine? Make her something perfect to ‘inspire’ Even though she hates formal attire Got to mind those intimate details, Even though she's more concerned with ‘sales’ It's the Demon’s new shells Shell making is easy For this one something pink This one something breezy Blend color and form, do you think it looks cheesy? “No, not really.” Something brash, perhaps quite fetching Hook and eye, couldn't you just simply DIE Making sure it fits forelock and crest Don't forget the magic in the flesh Even though it rides high on the flank The zombie won't look like a tank I'm stitching Demon’s shells Piece by piece, snip by snip Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip Thread by thread, primmed and pressed Yard by yard, never stress And that's the art of the flesh Stitch by stitch, stitching it together Deadline looms, don't you know the master is always right Even if my skin choice was perfect Gotta get them all done by tonight Master, the color is too obtrusive Wait until you see it in the light I'm sewing them together Hour by hour, one more change I'm sewing them together, take great pains Luna, you're putting me in a bind Master, what is on your mind Oh hell, there's simply not much time Don't forget, zombie’s skin must shine Shell making is easy Every spirit's call Brings a whole new revision Have to pick up the pace, still hold to my vision All we ever want is indecision All we really like is what we know Gotta balance power with adherence Making sure we make a good appearance Even if you simply have to fudge it Make sure that it stays within our budget Got to overcome intimidation Remember it's all in the presentation Piece by piece, snip by snip Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip Bolt by bolt, primmed and pressed Yard by yard, always stressed And that's the art of the flesh > Alternate Ending 1: Just a Dream > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an alternate possibility to the after Knifer encountered Celestia. I slowly awoke, and looked around. I was human again, and I was in my room, with everything was the way it would have been in the morning. Nothing had changed. I got ready for the day, did my job, had dinner, and got ready to sleep again. I thought about the short time I was in my dream, the vivid, colorful world in there. I knew I would somewhat miss it so, and I knew that there were two possibilities. It was just a dream. But I hoped for the second one. That it was real. And I hoped to go back, this time willingly. But I knew that wouldn't happen. I cried myself to sleep for the first time in years. > Alternate Ending 2: She IS a GODDESS > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This takes place instead of the chapter Rache The moment the fight began, it ended. Knifer was far outmatched, for Celestia was a Goddess. He died a slow and painful death. It was mourned by all who met him but her for a whole week, and Seka and Fable never did really recover. Blondebolt wandered into the Everfree one night and became a dangerous force of justice, always appearing at the scene of a crime and killing the criminal, before they could perform the crime. Then he left without a trace. Seka turned to her new Taxidermy job as a way to let out her new anger at Celestia, and when she found a Philosopher's stone, she formed a small army, with Fable as her adviser. They all obviously died in their failed rebellion. This lead to a very large funeral service, and the only one Celestia missed, was Fable. As for Knifer, his last thoughts were not of friends, family, how he had failed, or even of home. His last thoughts were ones that pleaded forgiveness in its purest form, forgiveness for his futile revenge attempts, forgiveness for his petty insults, forgiveness for being born. > Alternate Ending 3: The Bolt That Couldn't > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This occurs during the first half of Blondebolt's Journal, when Blondebolt was trying to use magic. His futile attempts resulted in nothing, and Blondebolt gave up. He did succeed at his research on Unicorn magic though, and he went to be the student of Celestia for his superb scientific mind. After many long years, he became a lead scientist in an attempt to make a device to take the ponies to other universes. They succeeded, and ponies became the primary intelligent life in all of existence. He lived the rest of his life, blissfully unaware of what he had been, happy at home with Fable, who was happy with him. Seka eventually recovered, and became a good friend with Blondebolt. When both of them passed away on the same day, he accepted it, and continued his pursuits, his heart never leaving them for a moment. In the end, he lived to be a hundred and twenty, the longest any pony ever lived. It is said, that in death, he finally met Knifer, and the two now happily frolic through the fields of the afterlife with Fable and Seka, in a form of a happy family. > Soul Sucking Daughter of a Diamond Dog > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- About two weeks later, Winter Wrap Up was still on hold because of Celestia’s death, and I had made very many Shells. So Nightshade did three things for me. The first was make me a fake mane and tail, both made of blades of all kinds. Also, they were prehensile. The next was change my voice to be more demonic and yet godly, and hearable even without moonlight. The final one, happened to be something great. A week long vacation. I knew where to go. Shade offered to change my size down to normal, but I politely declined. If I was going to pose as a God of Blades, I would need to not only act the part, but look it. I went through the Everfree without trouble, and stepped out into the open. It was day, and the sun burned slightly. I knew that was because the armor was made from forces of darkness. I slowly walked to the town, smiling behind my helmet. The moment I arrived I was set upon by a colorful wave of equines. Every pony from Ponyville was there, except two. Seka, and Ms. Doo. Ms. Doo was watching from a distance, and Seka was nowhere to be seen. I was assaulted by questions. “Who are you?” “Where are you from?” “Why are you wearing that armor?” “Are those blades real?” “Why are you here?” And the ever so popular question also came up. “Are you going to eat me?” I gently shrugged all the ponies away. “The God of Blades, far away, because it is my physical presence, yes, I’m on a break, no.” This seemed to satisfy their thirst for knowledge, so all of them left except for three of them. Blondebolt, Fable, and Blitz. To keep the image of ‘I don’t know any of you’ I motioned to Blitz’s injury. “Weird disease.” The response I expected from her. Blondebolt was the least fearful. “I’m Blondebolt!” I chuckled to keep up the ruse. “Direct I see. That will aid you in life. So will carrying a sharp blade at all times.” I felt a small prod on my left wing, and when I looked, there was Ms. Doo, flying in the air, poking my wing. “Dozens? Hundreds?” “I never took the time to count.” We then made idle chatter as the other three left. After a few minutes I sated her want to talk, so she excused herself. I was then set upon by Luna herself. I was taller than her, but only a little. And she was angry, confused, and sad. At the same time. “WHO ARE YOU WHAT DO YOU WANT WHE-” I put a plated hoof in her mouth to quiet her. “Were you not told?” She slapped my hoof away and glared. “I’ll be back soon.” She then teleported away. I began to chuckle and walked to the library. On the way, I saw a light azure coated mare with an odd grey/blue/cyan and blue/cyan/grey mix for mane and tail, wearing what appeared to be a stereotypical magician’s hat and cape. She looked very, very decrepit and old, and appeared to be slight rotting alive. I thought of it as a disease of some sort, though I felt an odd compulsion to note her carefully, so I did in secret. I felt she had outlived her normal lifespan illegally. When I arrived, I looked at the sign, then went inside. Fable turned to look, went wide eyed, and the slight mess was instantly cleaned. “I was not expe-” “Silence. I am merely here to sate my curiosity.” I then went and looked at the books on the shelves, using the magic I got from Shade’s blessing to bring some interesting books over. When I grabbed five of them, I sat down out of the way, where you would have to actively search for me, then began reading. I must have fallen asleep at some point, because when I woke up, the sun and moon had swapped places in the sky, and Luna was standing over me. I looked up at her eyes. “Well, Princess?” “Well what?” “You want something?” “I did not know you existed.” “I do.” “Since when?” “Since I said so.” “…” I began to chuckle as I curled up to rest. “Are you inherently good or evil?” “Evil, although I am neutral.” “…” She left without another word, and I slept. When I woke up, there was Steve. He had matured since I last saw him, for he was taller, about head height with a pony, with small wing stubs, and his hand and feet were thick, blunt claws after the last joint. “Have you seen Knifer?” His voice had changed. The term ‘more Scottish’ came to my head. “I have heard of his plight.” “Where?” He sounded desperate. “Deep in the Everfree, may or may not continue to live.” I stood up and used my magic to put the books back, then left the tree. When I got outside, there was a sudden swarm of ponies surrounding me. “Explain the meaning of this!” I then saw Luna approaching through the crowd. She was incredibly angry. “You and me, to the palace. NOW.” I wasn’t even given a choice. When the flash died down, I was restrained to a wall by ropes. I looked at them for a few moments. “That’s the best you can do?” I quickly cut them with my mane and stood up. “Try harder.” “WHY?” “Why what?” “Why are you in Ponyville of all places?” “Because I feel like it. Now then, I had plans, and I really should stick to them.” “What were they?” “Take a respite for a week, then get back to work.” “On what?” “Stuff involving blades.” I willed myself back to where I was before. She eyed me carefully as I faded away back to Ponyville. When I faded back in, I was right outside. I walked back into town, acting like nothing happened. None of the stupid ponies paid attention, even though they could see me. I went about doing casual business. Six days later, and I saw that strange looking magician mare from earlier duck into the Everfree. I followed. She went far off, deep inside the forest. When she stopped, there was an obelisk. It was about ten feet tall and three feet wide, with four sides, grey in color. There were odd markings on it that glowed blue, and the center of the obelisk slowly turned, with the top and bottom unmoving. A half dead Pegasus pony was tied to a table of stone, covered mostly in a large paper sack She chanted strange words in a strange language, and the more I thought about it the more I realized something. Those markings were characters for a language, and she was chanting in it. It was old Equestrian. The gift Nightshade gave me translated it for me. ‘Grant me this soul and its life.’ As I was busy thinking, the obelisk let out tendrils of magic, and the life in the sacrificial pony ended, and the life force went into the unicorn. I watched as she recovered from her age and rot, looking more like a young adult than an elderly pony. She was a lich. “Trixie thanks you for ‘volunteering’ to help her.” > The End of Peace and Home and Back > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upon the end of the ritual, I retreated. It was night, so I went back to the old castle, going straight to my bed. It was made out of wood, fabric, and flesh. “Isn’t that disturbing to you?” I got into the bed and covered myself with the flesh blanket. “This is me not caring, Shade.” I took a quick rest. When I awoke, Shade was there with a map of Equestria. “That lich you found, Trixie…” “What about?” “She has been alive for over a hundred and twenty years. Must’ve taken a lot of souls to keep her alive. I’m too weak to go after her. You, on the other hand, have ingenuity I don’t.” I got out of the bed and walked about, looking at the ground. “So you want me to track her down, kill her so you can capture her souls, and then?” “We strike. We will have enough for our army to be unstoppable by one god alone.” “And my killing of Celestia makes one god left.” “Correct.” “Then you’ll send me back?” “Before the attacks begin.” I smiled. “Good, can’t wait to be back. Where is she?” Shade placed a hoof on the map, right above a city. “She managed to quickly make her way to Manehattan. I’ll give you the power of a location spell set to her. Kill her and your armor will do the rest.” The world went dark around me, and I found myself on a rooftop. I knew exactly where Trixie was. I came to a stop in front of an apartment building, and entered. I made my way to the fifth floor, door twenty. I didn’t bother knocking, I just silently opened the door, went through, and closed it. Trixie was asleep on the couch, so I approached, a large dagger in my hand. Right as I was about to strike, her eyes opened, and a chair smashed over my head. I was on the ground fast, being bashed from all over by various blunt projectiles. When the assault ended, I remained still. Her curiosity got the better of her, so I struck. She had the dagger through her brain in a moment, her head then became cleaved in two, and royal guards bashed down the doors at the same time. They all attacked at once, and I held them off while Trixie’s souls slowly made their hellish way into my armor. As the souls left her body, she rotted and bled rapidly, until she was empty of all but bone and flesh. None of the guards were injured the whole time, and the moment her souls were absorbed, I was no longer there. I came to back at the old castle, my armor gone, being put on a very large and not made by me shell. “I’ll hold to my end of the bargain. When you want to leave, just fall asleep.” I immediately fell over onto to bed and rested. I woke up in my bed, in my own world, everything normal. Everything the way it should have been. Everything dull. Everything pointless. I almost regretted it. Almost. I got up, got bathed, got dressed, had breakfast, checked the computer’s calendar. It hadn’t changed. Not for a single day. I went out to town. I first went to my usual place to go to, where an almost friend was in charge. The café near the edge of town. As per usual I walked, noticing how one old, dead tree was on the wrong side of the road. Something pinged in my head, but I ignored it. I went into the café, and placed an order for a coffee. My almost friend was missing his normal scar. Another ping, this time a scratch. I sat in my usual corner, with my usual everything. I heard a bunch of people talking about how excited they were that Celestia was dead. Ping. The price of the coffee was wrong, off by one cent. Ping. The cup was milky white, not white. Ping. The counter was an inch too short. Ping. Minor details added up. Ping. Ping. Ping. I remembered something. My silverware set was gone. I hadn’t picked it up. That sent my head into a temporary flip out, and I couldn’t just ignore it. Everyone else was though. That made my mind flip out even more. I left the café worried, then went straight home. I checked the computer for emails, and found one from Shade. Interested, I opened it. “Hope you like your life back, I’ve got control now, nighttime forever and stuff. Your silverware is under your bed, K? Remember who to thank for this.” I chuckled to myself and retrieved the case. “So much happy.” I began to forget about what happened, and due to the nature of this forgetting, I didn’t even know it. My memories of the landscape were the first to go, then the words, then the appearance of everyone. I finally forgot everything. Seka was gone. Fable was gone. Celestia was gone. Blondebolt was gone. Knifer was gone. The only things that remained, were my memories of normal. I got to work at my job, hand making silverware. I calmed and went into my absent minded meditation phase. Night fell, and so I went outside before bed. Everything was perfectly normal, nothing wrong, my porch was definitely not the wrong shade of green and defiantly not 5x4.9 instead of 5x4.8. I looked to the sky which was defiantly not missing three stars, and reached out my hand. Abnormally, my Sign did not shine and get its lines. “Impossible. Arrdrea?” Nothing. Again impossible. Arrdrea was the goddess that always came to me when I called her, in my times of worry. She always calmed me and showed me that everything would be okay. She was the closest I had to a mother. “Impossible. ABSOLUTLY FORKING IMPOSSIBLE!” I sprinted back to the computer, and typed a message while screaming it. “IS THIS SOME SICK CRUEL JOKE OF YOUR’S YOU BITCH? YOU THINK I’M SO EASILY FOOLED? WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO FOOL SOMEONE EASIER NEXT TIME IF THERE IS ONE. I’M COMING FOR YOU, BECAUSE YOU DO NOT, FUCK, WITH, ME. NOBODY FUCKS WITH ME.” My memories flooded back. “CELESTIA FUCKED ME OVER. KNOW WHAT I DID? MURDER. YOU THINK YOU’RE ANY DIFFERENT? YOU ARE NOT YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF ROTTEN FLESH.” I sent it. Instantly the world began to melt, and so did my consciousness. I hit the floor, falling numb. My vision blurred. Murmurs were heard. “I’m coming back.” All I could say. All I could do. > A Deal and Two Searches > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I forced a deep inhalation and jolted upright. I was on hard wood, the lights out, surrounded by ponies. I saw Luna, Fable, Seka, Ms. Doo, and countless ponies I hadn’t met. They were all frowning. “I can see you all.” The lights went on. Luna kicked my side. “The only reason you’re still alive are these three. They braved the Everfree Forest to find you, and they did. You were passed out on the bed in the old castle there, that ‘gift’ gone.” I thought for a few moments. “She said she would send me back, my main goal. I discovered through many errors of hers that she did not send me back, but rather put my mind in a fake world. I basically swore to kill her. Then the world melted and I woke here.” Luna snarled at that. “So now you ask for forgiveness?” “Hardly Princess. First I must ask how do we kill her?” “You can’t.” “Then how does one go about stopping her?” “The Elements of Harmony.” A faint smile crept upon my lips. “Tell me more.” “Very well.” She told me about them in a long winded unnecessarily long explanation. I have paraphrased it. They are the physical embodiments of Friendship. Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, and Magic. Although they did have magical items, the true power came from the pony. So the Elements demanded hosts, who are the only ones who can use their power. “Then I shall go and find the ones who are the Elements?” She thought about it a bit. “And you will tell us everything about you when we are done” “What about bringing me back?” “The cold is keeping the spell going, and it is nighttime eternal.” “Idea…” I pointed to Seka, Fable, Chicha, Cerridwen, Blitz, and Shy. “You six are the ones I trust the most. In exchange for me helping you out and telling you about me, you will go south for that stone to bring me back.” They looked at each other for a few moments. “Deal.” The whole crowd dispersed, so I finally stood up. I began to head to the door to leave the library, and asked Luna one question. “Got any leads?” “They are all in Ponyville, and one is already known: One of the royal guard is the Element of Honesty. He is different from the rest, because he is small and soot colored.” “A pegasus?” “Yes.” I left. I decided to start with the most likely candidates. Thus my first location was where Redlock was. The hospital. After climbing in through the window, I went to her new office by exploring for it. I entered silently, and she didn’t even notice as she worked on an absurdly large amount of paper work. “So much paper work… it makes me want to stab whoever though it would be a good idea to move me to surgery. I’m horrible at everything medical, I’m just an assistant.” I decided she wasn’t the Element of Kindness because of that. Then I noticed an open book. “I just need to help them all. Knifer clearly has issues with his sanity, Sekapu is dangerously obsessed with him, Fable has a near uncontrollable urge to study him… What to do?” An open page in her diary had possibly proved me wrong. Possibly. There was not enough evidence to tell. I went directly across the hall into Dr. Krutz’s office. He was not there, so I raided his desk for evidence. Inside was his journal. I quickly skimmed through it and found an interesting entry. “I can’t keep my thoughts off of the fact that I lied to him about Celestia funding the procedure. I paid for it myself. I just keep on doing that. Ms. Doo needed to fix broken leg, I paid for it. Blondebolt needed medicine to keep his thoughts off Knifer for a bit, so I paid for it. Everything I do for them I pay for. That’s going to bite my flank in a while.” I made a mental note: Generosity found. I then left. My next goal was Seka. If she wasn’t Laughter, it had to be a relative. About half way there I came to a stop, and witnessed a mugging in action. Five black full body suited stallions, and a white mare with a lime mane. Being the normal me, I silently approached and tapped the leader on the shoulder. When he turned, I punched him in the face with my hoof, with far more force than I intended. His jaw. Was. Not. There. I saw it skidding across the ground, causing every one of the stallions to panic and run but the one I hit. He retrieved his jaw and ran for the hospital. I left the mare, scared, and let her flee when she wanted to. “Never before have I ever removed a part of something’s body that didn’t happen to be one of those deer.” I entered her room as she was packing for the trip. I walked out onto the balcony, so that the endless night would show me. Instantly I was tackled by her. I looked at her face, and saw her mood was a mix between anger, joy, and fear. I knew she was about to rant, so I put a hoof in her mouth. “I was wondering if you had any fun loving relatives?” I pulled my hoof back. “Well there’s Bass and there’s Surprise, but I don’t see why you need them?” “Element of Laughter?” “Most likely Surprise. She’s far off in Canterlot though.” “Ah hell, when did she leave?” “A few minutes ago, she was just here on this very balcony.” “…ffffffffffffffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRKKKKKKKKKK…” Seka then did what I should have expected, but didn’t. I got a huge hug. I landed on my back, her on top. I couldn’t breathe at all. She kissed my cheek. I couldn’t think at all. Her hug loosened a bit. I couldn’t get up. She licked my mouth. I went limp. She fell asleep on me. I couldn’t get her off. She received blunt damage from my skull’s futile attempts to wake her. I was forced to wait until she got off my ghostly body from waking up. > ((A Request From the Author)) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have but one request for you guys. The Genre(s) of this thing. I need to categorise this story correctly, and I can't do that until I know what the Genre(s) are. Please do provide aid. > The Nightmare Arena Part One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When she did wake up, the moon’s phase was full. Note: The moon became the new sun. I decided to use that to tell the time. Also, Seka had gotten off me while I was in a completely unannounced sleep. Thus I got up and left the building in the most awesome way ever. I jumped. From the evil balcony, to the kind and happily nice ground. “TAKE THAT EVIL BALCONY!” A mare with several waffles in her saddle bags passed by. “Evil beware, we have waffles.” Of course Seka had to pick then to make me leave my train of thought. In other words, she came up from behind me, jumped on my back, and stood there. I just shook my head and began the walk to Canterlot. “Where’re you going?” “Canterlot, find Surprise.” “Why not look around Ponyville for the other Elements?” I stopped. “Does she live here?” “Yes.” “…” “What?” “Seka?” “Yes?” I threw her off me and onto the ground. “Fuck off.” I flared my nostrils as she left. When I calmed down I went to the inn place thing whatever it is. I really couldn’t have been bothered to learn what it was. And there was the guard Luna mentioned. I walked over to him and motioned for his attention. And then facepalmed. Facehoofed? I was inside. Thus no moonlight. And if you don’t know what that means then you are an idiot. I left out of anger, so I wouldn’t hit somepony. I made my way to the Library, and entered through the already open door. “Bolt, I need you to be a strong pony while we’re gone. I know you can make it on your own for a while.” “But Mommy!” “No buts, I have to do this for Equestria. For you.” Fable came down the stairs and passed me. She stopped when she went through the door, and her horned glowed. She turned to me and smiled. “Take good care of him Knifer.” I nodded. I wasn’t about to let anything hurt him regardless, promise or not. I went down to the basement and looked over at my corpse, laying there in the bed peacefully. The faint glow of magic was around the corpse, keeping it from decomposing. Mostly. The right eye was bleeding slightly. Again. There was most likely some internal damage, and I could tell my muscles were going through atrophy, the heart long since stopped beating, and the brain? I couldn’t figure out how to get that to work. I shook my head and laid down next to the bed, then fell asleep. Inside my dreams was something odd. It was still night, but there was something weird. I was on a cloud. And there were all those ponies. Fable, Blondebolt, Chicha, Seka, Cerridwen, Luna, Shy. We were all on clouds looking into what looked like an arena without a floor, also made of clouds. And there in the middle was Nightmare Moon, hovering in place, laughing. “Hello there my subjects.” Everyone of them cowered in fear but me. I snorted in anger. “Knifer, how have you been? I didn’t expect you to figure it out so fast!” “I will FUCKING MURDER YOU.” She just laughed. “Knifer, your aggression is getting in control. Calm down and watch the show.” She disappeared, and beams of light appeared, focusing on a pegasus flying. She was in armor, and I recognized her. Blitz. Some of the spotlights moved and showed a large horde of zombie pegasi. Quickly the bleachers filled with other ponies from everywhere, and a spotlight appeared on me. Gasps were heard. “MY SUBJECTS, THIS IS KNIFER. HE MURDERED YOUR PRINCESS CELESTIA AND HELPED ME MAKE MY ARMY TO CONQUER YOU.” For once, I actually cowered in fear. They flung insults and random objects. The spotlight eventually left me, and they stopped their throwing. Everypony focused on Blitz and the zombies. “This is the Nightmare arena, my subjects. If Blitz wins, she goes to the next round. If she dies, if any of you die, that’s it. You. Are. Dead. And you join my army.” > Random Adventures of Blondebolt and Knifer > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The violence commenced instantly, with Blitz on the offensive. She rushed at the horde, and made a clean hole in their lines. A dozen down, a hundred and thirty two left. A dozen down, a hundred and ten left. A dozen down… Bleh. That basically continued for a while until there was just one zombie left, flying lazily after her. She made it explode into guts and oddly green blood. Vomiting ensued from the ponies. I had to stifle a small laugh. “Well now, looks like she is victorious. Round two.” A fully grown dragon appeared, twisted and vile from Nightmare Moon’s power. There was silence. A roar. And then my mind started working in odd rhyming. The dragon lunged with rage in its heart. The Pegasus fled with fear in its eyes. Both were quick as a dart, But alas, surprise, As the dragon caught his foe… With a mighty gulp the dragon devoured, The Pegasus was gone, Nopony muttered. One round won, and lost was this one. We all watched in fear… Gone was she, Digesting in the belly. Though she tried to flee, She knew she couldn’t really. And now she is nevermore… I snapped out of my poetry thoughts and realized what happened. She was dead. Eaten alive. “WHAT SORT OF HORRIFYING FETISH WAS THAT?” And of course one of those ponies cares more about the act than the victim. I turned to Luna, and saw the others, sadness in their eyes. She turned to me and glared, her muscles tensing up. “Why.” “Why what?” “Why would you do this.” “I meant only to go home, like I have been clearly insisting.” “You didn’t need to do this!” She swung her hoof at me and I fell over onto my side, feeling crimson drip out of my mouth somewhat. I just stayed there and let her beat me, and when she was finished I stood up. She turned. I grabbed her and flipped her over. “No hitting me.” I jolted out of the dream, the sun coming up. I shook my head and went up the stairs, then out the door into the sun. Nope said the world, deal with the full moon. “Where are the gods of my world when you need them?” “Busy in their own universe Bro.” I turned my head and there was Blondebolt, relaxing on my ghostly back. I wanted to kick him off, but I couldn’t bring myself to hurt my yet somehow not self. And besides, I’m caring for him for now. “Ah hell.” He laughed at that. I laughed at him laughing at that, then shook my head and got to walking. We came across that one pony from before, the one that I used my hoof on to remove his jaw. It was attached again, but he had a cast on there. He gave me a nasty glare before going on his way. After a while longer of walking, I saw this odd blue box. Seriously. It said “Police” on it. And it was in an alleyway. A Stallion entered it and it just disappeared. “What was that Bro?” “A something. Most likely some odd Time and Relative Dimension in Space type object.” “…” “I don’t know either.” Blondebolt just shook his head, sat on me like a human would have, and I got to continuing. Next we saw what appeared to be a drunken fight. No need to explain. Blood donors. No. That waffle pony from before. Three hundred ponies dressed up like the Spartans. Something involving a Pegasus and a pickle jar. Raining chocolate. “Wait… This doesn’t make sense Bro.” “Just ignore it, probably some sort of spell.” “I don’t think it’s a spell.” “Then what is it?” He put a hoof through my mane. “Chaos.” “Alright then…” ((This is the Author here, with no idea on how to continue. GIVE ME IDEAS THAT WORK DAMMIT. Please?)) > Painfully Short Chapter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After what could be considered uneventful, we went back to the library, Blondebolt going to his room for some sort of reading thing, and myself down to the typewriter so I could write out what happened. I read the various parts of the story as well, and realized something very important when I got to the part where I was shrunk. Looking at the end, the thought and thus realization hit me. The pouch was my cash pouch. “THE BITCH STOLE MY CASH!” > The First Disturbing Scene: Part One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I went up the stairs, shaking my head at the realization. Went out the door. Was tackled by an extremely pissed off Luna & co. “IT’S YOUR FAULT!” I raised my eyebrow. “Pardon?” She pointed her hoof to her left. My gaze followed. There was a cage on wheels, and inside was Blitz. And she was effectively rabid, trying to tear the bars open. “Ah hell, ‘twas not a dream.” I turned my head back to Luna. “Give me two reasons why I shouldn’t banish you right now, Knifer.” “One: without me you will not be finding those elements anytime soon.” She nodded. “Two: You do want to know about me, right?” She nodded again. “Oh, and you’re on top.” She blushed and got off instantly, so I got up. I walked over to Blitz, who instantly tried attacking me through the bars. I put a hoof through the bars, and she bit it. Every one of those ponies gasped. I just held it there as she gnawed on it gently, calming down as she did so. “See? She just needs something to chew, like a bone or something” She looked up at her friends and smiled, ceasing her gnawing. “Hey guys!” I turned to look at their faces, and saw something that could only be described as ‘Varying Degrees of Want.’ “What’s wrong?” “Blitz!” Next thing I knew I had four ponies using me as a rug to stand on and one pony on those ponies. And on that pony was Luna. “Ow.” “Shut up Knifer, you deserve this.” “I deserve more than this bitch.” “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” I would have shook my head, but Fable put one of her hooves on my jaw. I didn’t pay attention to the conversation that occurred. “Knifer.” I noticed they were off me and thus stood. “We have decided We will see you in the Library NOW.” “Alright.” I walked in there, followed by just Luna herself. “I though you said… You meant Royal We, didn’t you?” “We have decided that, in part of punishment for your acts of terrorism against Equestria, you will supply the ‘chew toy’ for Blitz.” “Ah hell naw dawg I’m getting’ da fuck outta here see ya’ll sometime in da next millennium so I’ll be in a-” My mouth was magically held closed by magical godly magic powers. And I could tell my brain was degrading somehow, most likely because of the gnawing from Blitz, if zombie was an illness of some sort. Or perhaps because I was finally starting to snap. Probably that last one. “You have no say in this; you are not an Equestrian citizen.” I felt the magic loosen somewhat. “So non-citizens have no rights at all?” “Correct.” “What.” “Mhm?” “THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?” She stepped close to me. “Every time we gave a non-citizen rights, they abused them. If you had taken the time to instead file for citizenship you would instead be going through an anesthetic for this.” “Go unfuck yourself.” I was thrown down the stairs, impacting the floor and sliding until I hit the wall. Luna came down and shut the door, locking it. I was lifted, and slammed against the wall again and again, face first. I was silent the whole time, getting ready to kill her next chance I got. When she stopped there was blood on the wall, and my entire face was bleeding. Then we were in another room entirely, one that looked like a scene from a horror film. I was strapped to a table, my left leg stretched out and off the surface. I was facing Luna, who was looking down at me with an extremely horrifying grin on her face. (This link shows what the face basically was: http://zw3uc.tk ) “Ah hell.” > The First Disturbing Scene: Part Two > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- She actually used her hooves, and lifted a bone saw, resting it against the leg. “Ahahaha…” “That was forced. I can tell.” “AHAHAHA!” “Fork.” She raised the saw, and chopped, cutting my skin open and getting the saw into the bone somewhat. I screamed in pain. She began to saw, laughing all the way as I whimpered, tears going from my eyes and mixing with the blood already on my face. I could just feel everything, all the pain, sorrow, and anger in me. I felt it. It burned. “Oh god it burns so much.” “All that anger in you is hurting?” She yanked the saw out at a very harsh angle. “YES.” My arm was no longer blonde, it was red. The red of blood. The red of rage. The red of vengeance. Luna wiped my arm with her hoof, forced my mouth open, and forced me to taste it. It tasted great. Unlike human blood, it was somewhat sweet. I had the perfect idea of how to get back at this. The saw was brought back into the wound, opening it again and bringing forth more of the sweet fluid. She removed her hoof from my mouth, and I didn’t scream in pain, I liked it. I had snapped. The saw finished going through my arm, and she tore off what was left, leaving the stump bleeding. Not only had I snapped, but the restraints had too. I was on her in an instant, tearing at her skin as she shrieked. I just had to have more of the sweet blood. I tore open her gut, and tore through her organs. I jolted awake, Luna standing over me with my leg in the air beside her, my wound healed. I still had blood in my mouth. It tasted sweet. “More.” “NO!” She backed up as I stood, working my way to her, adapting to not having a left leg. “Stay back Knifer! You don’t know what you’re doing!” It wasn’t me in control then, it was something else. It wasn’t Nightmare Moon though. A side I didn’t know I had. It was great, vile, and cruel. It has exploitative, evil, dishonest, violent, dangerous. I liked it. I leapt and was upon her, my eyes wide and deadly (http://i.imgur.com/3qrXQ.jpg is basically how I looked. Yes somewhat creepypasta like) “Please don’t…” She was afraid, she was cowering. I had her. I bit down on her gut, and savored the taste. The door burst down, and I was tackled off by none other than Seka. She saw how I had changed. “Please Knify…” I brought my head up to hers, still with my Slasher smile. I gently bit down on her nose, drew blood, and licked it. “Yes…” “That’s it; I’ve had enough of you Knifer.” Fable then impaled me with something. I looked, and in my gut was something I loved very, very much. It was a knife. Silver with a hint of blue, sharp and meant to cut through bone, the handle was wooden. My smile got even more psychotic for a moment, and then I calmed down. “I’m okay now.” I just got confused stares from all of them. I shook my head and grabbed the knife between both my back hooves, and yanked it out. Cerridwen bandaged the wound, and I rolled, bringing Seka down to the ground as I stood. They all looked at me in fear as I limped up the stairs. “Enjoy your new toy Blitz.”