Two Sides of the Same Tree

by TheRust

First published

Not everything is what it seems. Especially at first sight.

The start of a game will finally commence between two souls who will embark on a journey to shape the future of ponykind. What will become of Equestria depends on what belief holds strongest to the inhabitants that still seek to live another day.

Glory to Equestria

Cain: My Despair

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My existence.

I grow tired of living here in this shithole of a planet. Life’s own meaning is that of nothing but misery and hatred, and yet everyone still desires to live. Yet why else does everyone waste time finding meaning in living? Every day and night, whenever I hear the joys of others; I just want to drill my ears out of my fucking skull. Hearing the laughter and joys of those who think their happiness means anything makes me sick to the depths of my own stomach. I have no value in this world and neither does anyone else have a reason to live. Why else would we be here suffering, when the answer should be so obvious? I know what it means to suffer. I hear the voices cry out to me in anguish, begging me to save them for their everlasting torment. I don’t want to save them. I want to hear them suffer. Hearing their pains bring me a sense of ecstasy I have never felt before. The suffering that everyone will face in the end is what true joy is, for that is what is our ending will always entail. Nothing but tears and the fact that our own life brings misery to those we meet. Why should anyone waste their time bringing joy is beyond me? I want to see everyone suffer. Everyone must die, for it is what only brings us true happiness in the end. They all must die, and I will…

“H…Hello..?” whimpers out a feminine voice behind me. Like always, nothing really amazes me at this point. Still remaining in my chair, I slowly turn my own head to get a look at what could be calling me and when my eyes finally come in contact at what I heard, I swear that whatever it was only exists to mock me from the sheer look of it.

This small, furry, purple looking cretin with with the devil’s horn and wings looks at me as it carried a brown leather bag on its side, with the most puzzling look.

It stays quiet for a few seconds; I slowly begin to feel anger flow through my nerves, like if I was something people needed to be afraid of at first sight.

“Does this fucker have any manners? Why can’t it just say something already?!”

Not wanting to drag this on a minute longer, I slowly pop myself out of my chair and make my way to this thing, still within distance so I don’t get too close to it. I then give it the most cheerful introduction possible to get it open its mouth.

“Hey there! You got me startled for a second, there.” I said cheeringly, pretending not to care about the surreal nature of this… thing.

Just then, like if I said the magic words, its eyes widen and it finally begins to open its mouth.

“Oh my! I am so sorry about that!” It loudly blurted out; I swear my own ears were just ready to pop out from hearing it shriek that was reminiscent of a dying banshee.

“Too loud!” I responded with both my hands protecting my ears, feeling even more aggravation build up, but I needed to keep it under control right away for the moment.

Just then, it started speaking again.

“I am so sorry again! ThisisthefirsttimeImeetanewspeciesand! and...and”

Sloooow… Down. Take a breather already.” I interrupted as politely as possible, despite how much I was just about ready to make it endure a fresh batch of hell. How anyone could tolerate something this grating is beyond my comprehension. Maybe this is what it means to suffer true despair.

This purple cretin takes close its eyelids, looks down on the floor for a moment, and slowly takes a deep breath. Once again, it makes contact to my face.

And unfortunately, once again, it begins to speak.

“I mean.. Just… Wow! I never got a chance to meet a homo sapient creature like this, this is so much better than having a bunch of books fall out of the sky!” it rambled on, like a child telling me some forgettable story worth the time of no one with the slightest bit of sense.

I mentally chuckled at the optimism of its curiosity. For such a hideously cutesy creature, it definitely showed it with its response. It’s like taking a bag of sugar and giving it to a baby to eat for dinner. Not cute and not endearing to anyone but its irresponsible mother.

I remained silent and locked eye contact with this imbecile. I definitely was about ready to slice it apart and eat it apart for dinner. Or perhaps the nature of this being would kill me. An enticing thought.

“Maybe that’s what my destiny is, I should get about and finish it..”

“Oh, I almost forgot! It’s nice to meet you. I am Twilight Sparkle. Would you like to introduce yourself?” Interrupted the yet again cretin, its lack of respect towards me was painfully obvious.

Nonetheless, I decided to keep playing along

“The pleasure is all mine, my name is Cain. And I take it you are some kind of dog or something, something?” I asked, as a retort towards the rudeness this wretched being has the nerve to show.

“Oh no, not that at all Mr. Cain.” It chuckled out like what I said was some kind of joke. It’s almost like it begs me to rob it of its life.

“I am actually an Alicorn from Equestria, a peaceful land full of wonderful and kind ponies who only wish to help another out when needed.” It responded like the overly cheery tour guide it was to me.

“Interesting.” I apathetically responded. I notice the creature’s expression slowly went from being overly cheery to that of awkwardness, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of it. Before I could say anything, it interrupted me… Yet again.

“Yes it is quite an interesting bit of trivia about our land, and I would like to present you with the honor of visiting our kingdom so we can celebrate our successful discovery of a new species and hopefully have a chance to understand you.” It said, as it begins walking around my apartment, looking at the few, essential belongings I had as if I were some kind of freak.

Despite how much this shithead was pissing me off with its attitude, I focused back on the topic at hand.

“Understand us?” I asked, wondering about the naive intent this thing has in mind.

“Yes. It wouldn’t take too much of your time. Just run some harmless tests, talk a little, maybe even have a little tea. Oh wait! Does your kind even like tea? I cannot say we found anything about your species liking tea in the little we know about you.” It question, with its goat like foot rubbing against its chin.

“I think a glass of warm water would be fine. I guess.” I lazily responded, not even giving a shit at this point.

“Wonderful! We have plenty of warm water.” It chirped as a glowing aura slowly formed its way around its horn, which I noticed was affecting the brown leather bag the cretin carried as it opened up. I then see a levitated notepad and a pencil levitating towards the face of this thing, and it quickly begins to scribble notes down.

“Juuust wanted to get this little bit of information down about humans like warm water. I always love to know more about everything, you know?!” It smiled as it finalized the last word it must have written down and returned both pencil and notebook back on the bag.

“Yeah, must be such a great honor to take me there” I dryly responded

“I offer my sincerest gratitude for taking the time to even allow us with the opportunity to have an audience with you. Your generosity makes me happy to say the least.” The purple cretin stated, not aware of the obvious sarcasm.

“Yeah, I am happy too. But anyway, how do you even plan on taking me there.” I questioned, as the cretin was eyeing on each wall of my apartment.

“With this little bit of a magic, we will get there in no time, portal style. And I do just want to add that I am certain you will enjoy your time with us, or else I will do what I can to give you the best experience possible.” It claimed as its horn begins to omit a pink aura around it. It tilts its head to the only empty wall inside the apartment and blast a pinkish ray. The rays around the wall slowly make shape into an oval looking reflection, with some streaks of faint rainbow colors running along the center of this reflective surface.

“And how would you know what I want and whether or not you can do something like that? Are you like some kind of psychic, some type of goddess maybe?” I asked, still looking at this portal like entrance to another world.

“I wouldn’t dare say I am goddess, but I am a pretty powerful now that I think about it.” It smirked, like a fat kid who discovered he had a piece of candy in its pocket

“All powerful you say?” I asked, finding cretin only slightly more interesting than before.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to sound all high and mighty but it’s probably just nerves speaking. I just can’t wait to see how this will go down in Equestrian history as one the biggest discoveries ever to be found.”

“I see…” I nodded in acceptance of the situation at hand.

“Well, if you like. We can traverse through trough this portal right here and be on our way.” The cretin chirped to me, looking at my face once more with a smile before it started trotting to the portal. I follow through in the end, with a sinister grin on my face with one last thought in my mind.

“Patience is a virtue among us all; despite how meaningless it is in the end. Perhaps I can take this I have time to show their kind how much of an enjoyable person I am in the end. Maybe then, I can finally spread my wonderful message, even if I am not worthy of having an audience with my own kind.

I am such a waste of life. Maybe they will see we humans are not so different.”

Samson: The Reality of the Situation

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"The Reality of my Life"

I’m not really the person that I seem to be to those around me. I wish that I didn't have to keep a lot about me inside but at times, I felt like it a necessity. People happen to be kind of difficult to understand from time to time and it isn't my idea of fun to work around the complexity of what goes through a person’s head. That’s where my love of a show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comes from. I know many people claim to love the show for reasons most of the fans hear often, but I feel a little different when it comes to that. It’s not the colorful visuals, the kind-hearted atmosphere, or even the fact that a lot of the characters in this show are more interesting than the people I meet. To me, I just loved the simplicity of it all. The simplicity of knowing everything that can go wrong in this fictional universe can be resolved in a twenty-one minute or a two-parter episode between a battle of good and evil. I wish things could be that simple in reality but sometimes, maybe its best to live a more simple life. Sure it might not be all that exciting, but I'd take an easygoing life over the reality of knowing just how terrible it is to live in fantasy. I write this as a reminder to myself in knowing that no matter what happens, I'll never have to go back to Equestria. It's not something a fan of the show should or would say, but I damn well know that I can finally be content with staying here where I truly belong.

It all started on Friday night. There were no dark stormy clouds, heavy rain drops making contact on my bedroom window, or even a sound of thunder. It was just a typical night, nothing that would be out of the ordinary. I would just see it as another night where I could finally chill for a bit with a small bag of chips resting next to my laptop, hearing the audio with my earbuds at a low volume setting, lying comfortably on my bed with my eyes fixated on the screen as Twilight is trying to make sense out of the Pinkie Sense. I couldn’t tell whether I should laugh at the futility of a situation where Twilight was trying to find a logical explanation for the illogical, or find it more questionable that a writer expects kids to believe that some things exist without explanation.

Before I had time to even answer my own question, I heard a knock on my door

“Hey, Samson! I need to talk to you for a second” I heard across the door, as my muscles quickly motioned my hands to slap the laptop shut as I realized my father was likely here for another one of these “talks”.

“Just a second!” I quickly responded as I got off my bed and proceeded to walk to my door, already mentally preparing myself for another talk on my odd enjoyment of a show meant for little girls. My own parents thought I must have been gay for liking this show because as the old stereotype goes; there are boy toys and girl toys. I thought it was absurd enough that they even considered me to be a pedophile for a time when I decided to buy one little figurine of Twilight Sparkle, my favorite pony. I wish I was kidding and that it was just a bad joke I made but my family was the last group of people who would find something like this norma. They constantly mention to me that it’s not right, how I should be playing sports or doing something else that they wanted whenever they see me do this on my own time. Maybe I’m exaggerating on their fears but who knows, I’m not my parents.

I proceeded to unlock the door and I turned to the doorknob to find my father looking to me. I considered him a rather well rounded kind of guy. Well-built, tall, broad shoulder kind of man, someone who looks more like someone who should be working in physical labor over a customer service supervisor. From the looks of it, it looks like he just got back from work as he’s holding his coat right behind his back, with his tie all loosen up, his shirt now wrinkled up, makes me wonder if it was raining over the other side of town where he worked.

“What’s up, dad?” I casually asked, trying to act as normal as I could to avoid suspicion.

“I was just gonna let you know that you need to pick up the mail today. Here’s the key to the mailbox.” My father said as he handed me the key, looking a tad bit awkward as his eyes would look to the side a little more often than I normally expect some people to do.

“Oh, no problem. I’ll be back in a bit” I said as I was preparing to put on a pair of blue slippers that I swore were more comfortable than going around barefoot. As I finally got done being ready, my father had already gone back to his room so I didn’t have to worry about what I was doing to say to him today.

Guess it was my lucky day.

I took a left turn once I got out of my room and as I headed straight to the living room, I could have sworn I heard footsteps right behind me. I didn’t think much of it, maybe my old man wanted to walk around a little bit and I wasn't going to make sudden face contact out of the blue, so I just made way to the door and proceeded to exit the quaint little mobile home we were temporarily staying at. I went down the little staircase connected to our home. I focused my eyes to the mailboxes, which were conveniently placed just outside our mobile home entrance. I began to walk to the mailbox, hearing nothing but my own steps and the sound of the crickets. which was conveniently right next

Until I heard the sounds of someone running behind me.

“What the fuck!?” I thought as I quickly turned around to see if someone was behind me. I was expecting to see a dog, a skipping rock, or even a psychotic killer on the loose. But much to my disappointment and relief, I saw nothing but the pavement, devoid of any life say for it being filled to the brim with parked cars. I started feeling that maybe someone could have been hiding, which alleviated my disappointment but raised my discomfort. Not wanting to be a sitting duck any longer, I quickly focused my eyesight to find our mailbox, number 13.

“I swear, it’s like misfortune loves to keep me company” I thought, amused at how this isn’t the first time number 13 keeps appearing to me in the most random of all places. I quickly placed the key inside the keyhole and turned it, ready to pick up whatever was in store for us.
As I pulled the mailbox handle, I only saw a small dark object lying down.

“No mail for today? Did the mail guy mess up the delivery again?” I half-halfheartedly chuckled, as I reached out to grab whatever this thing was.

No senders name, no address of any kind, no stamp, nothing. Nothing could tell me where this thing came from. Not that I expected when it’s literally just a black piece of plastic. My eyes noticed a grey line circling across this thing on the middle. My fingers felt a space between it so I used both hands to see if they could be pulled apart, and it turns out it’s a USB flash drive.

“I would hand that item back if I were you” A firm voice spoke from behind, with a unknown sound being omitted from behind me.

At that moment, I froze like a statue. How could I been sneaked up from behind without hearing anything? I didn’t know what to do at that moment. So many possibilities, a mugger, a killer, a rapist, a mobster, a greedy pawn shop owner, so many options raced in my head. It’s one of those moments where I wish I could have said something cocky or even pulled out a weapon to leave this situation in an impasse to even out the odds. Unfortunately, I’m a 16 year old teen. Not a dashing hero or renegade badass.

“I do not wish to harm you, but it is my duty to do what is needed to protect my family and friends. And I will not, hesitate, especially when I know what your kind can be capable of.” The voice said in a brazen fashion, now that I think about it, it started to sound more familiar the more I thought about it. Then, I said the most random thing I ever could have pulled out of my head

“Rainbow Dash?” I blurted, letting out a nervous chuckle

“So you know me, unlike the other one.” The supposed Rainbow Dash stated, with a hint of venom in her words.

“Hey, I was just kidding. I don’t even know who you are. I’ll give you back this thing.” I bargained as I turned around ready to hand the black USB, only to be hit by a blue ray of light. I thought I was dead, but to my amazement, I still felt my body kicking, if not feeling scared shitless, so I figured it was time to get the hell out.

Only to realize how fruitless my efforts were. I tried to run away but I couldn’t move! It was like if my body turned to stone, and my lips were sealed shut with a zipper. I never felt so defenseless in my life, and it didn’t help that the light was so bright that I could barely make out what was in front of my eyes.

“If all goes well, I will return you to your world. If not, then that will be up for the rulers of Equestria to decide.” Stated the confident sounding person that sounded like Rainbow Dash. I decided that if I was going to die at this moment, then I might as well just accept it, I mean, what else I was gonna do?

With an even brighter flash of light appearing on my eyes, I felt my whole world swallowed away from existence. Little did I know I was going to see in this other side.

And I hope no one will ever have to go through with what I went through. ��R|�W!