Chapter 1: Black Ink

Twilight trotted into the hospital room; she heard that Cadence was going to have a baby soon and she wanted to see it

It had been several months since the dalek attack; no news came from Daniels so Everypony assumed he was actually dead; everything was going to be different; after the squad lost him they just… moved on. Equestria didn't need them; therefore they would wait until it did.

Shining Armor met his sister outside, "Twiley!"

"BBBFF!" Twilight gave her older brother a hug

"I have something important to tell you." Shining looked her in the eyes

"What is it?" Twilight asked

"The baby looks like the way Joseph did when he was a pony; so we named him." Shining led her into the hospital room

"Twilight" Cadence smiled, "Meet Black Ink."

The small pony was lying on its back; a horn prominent on its head

"It's a unicorn?" Twilight guessed

"Not exactly…" Shining rotated his son onto his stomach

There a small pair of stubby wings sat on his back

His coat was steel gray; his eyes were a deep blue; his mane was a light blue

"He does give off the same feeling that Joseph did" Twilight noted, "But he isn't him."

"He died for Equestria" Shining smiled, "Twice."

"I know; but did he have to?"

"He didn't have time for a plan" Cadence pointed out, "You and I both know that."

Twilight nodded; then she left

---

That was nineteen years ago

I had done a few things in my life; lived with a name I would never live up to. Got into plenty of trouble with the royal Canterlot School. Even got into a fight with a guard.

But I didn't expect what happened next

"I'm being transferred?" I asked my father; who happened to be captain of the royal guard

"You need to learn about friendship; not what you've been doing I might add." He had said

"But-"

"The choice has been made; you'll continue with your aunt in Ponyville." Shining interrupted

I trotted off and decided to get as much sleep as I could; moving away from everything I knew wasn't something that I could sleep with well

---

Location: the TARDIS

"You need to go!" the Doctor panicked

"And what do you expect me to do?" Daniels shouted

The Doctor looked at something that was hanging on the TARDIS ceiling

"This watch" he showed it to Daniels, "Is you."

"And that means?"

"I'm transferring you into this watch" the Doctor explained; a part of the TARDIS sparked, "Then you'll have to choose where to send it!"

"Send it to my time!" Daniels called over the shaking

"Put this on!" the Doctor put a metal cage over his head

"Will it hurt?" Daniels asked

"Oh yes" the Doctor looked at him, "It hurts."

He flipped the switch

---

I sat up quickly; soaked in sweat, "What was that…?"

I got off the bed I was sleeping in; my clock read 3:34 AM

"Brilliant" I muttered

I then caught myself; I never said that before; I would have sworn on a normal day

"Hmm… a watch…" I then dismissed it; just another one of my dreams like that

I had these things often; I would wake up after dreaming of crazy battles and adventures; all of them concerning this one man; the Joseph Daniels

I decided to not worry about it; if it was important it would show itself sooner or later; the thing that bugged me was that every single time I woke up after one of these things I had a feeling of need; there was something I had to do but I couldn't put my hoof on it

I got back in my bed; there was nothing I could do about it but sleep

The Next Day

I sat up; my clock read 8:23; I was okay to get ready for my move down to the small town

"Come on Black Ink; you don't have to take all that much with you." Shining said from the doorway, "And what did you do to the wall?"

I turned around and saw a note; it said a few things I don't remember putting

The Watch; get the Watch

"What's the watch?" I asked

"You tell me" Shining looked at me

"Probably nothing" I said; not telling him it was from a dream of mine

"Alright; just get ready."

I got my saddlebags from the closet; I began to put things inside; my notebook; quills and inkwells

I didn't notice when I threw in an old fob watch

I trotted down the stairs and went out front; a guard was there to inform me

"You will be taking the train."

I didn't say anything and just trotted towards the station; these guards really knew how to irritate me

I got on the train and sat down; ignoring the other passengers while I pushed past

I felt quite… livid that I was transferred to Ponyville; it wasn't that I had friends; it was that I had to teach the ponies there I wasn't one to be angered

In fact; when my teacher in Canterlot tried to 'discipline' me for throwing things in class I ended up breaking his hoof; with one thought

One thing that ponies found unnerving about me was that I never raised my voice; if I was mad you just knew that I wasn't in a good mood

Another was that I was an Alicorn; I could fly and perform magic; one of my favorite spells was when I could create a bright flash and stun anything around me

So I was on the train; waiting. Nothing was going on; I did what I could to liven it up for Everypony else; it was just that nopony was actually impressed

"Welcome to Ponyville Station" the conductor said over the intercom, "The train will be kept here until further notice."

'Big whoop' I thought to myself

A thought hit me in the head; it was when a small metal object fell out of my bag and hit my flank

'Finally out of that thing!' a voice said

'Who are you?' I asked

'Hmm? Oh; look. I wasn't freed only put inside you.' The voice sounded annoyed

'Tell me who you are before I…' I didn't have a threat; what do you do against a voice in your head?

I put the object away; the same fob watch from before

'You'll go see a therapist? Judging by what I see in your head we already know you need to.'

I huffed; not knowing what to do I decided to go and see my aunt; maybe she would know what to do

I began my trot through town; receiving plenty of weird looks

'Must not see alicorns often.' I thought to myself

'Or maybe there's something that will surprise you.' The voice suggested, 'Pinkie Pie would do that sort of thing.'

'Pinkie Who-?' I was knocked off my hooves by what seemed to be a big pink blur

"Hi! I'mPinkiePieWhat'syournamewhereareyoufromwhyd oyouhavewingsandahornIshould goaskTwilightwhoyouare!"

Then she zoomed off

'I guess that was Pinkie Pie?'

'None other'

I sighed; this wouldn't be a fun little trip while my dad came to his senses

The walk through town wasn't what I considered to be normal; I was stopped with questions and then they just left; as if walking up to a stranger was something that happened often

Just when I found the library did something actually go wrong; I was stopped by a pony with a cyan coat and a rainbow mane; her eyes were a wine like color and her cutie mark was a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt coming out

"Who are you?" she asked

"What is that supposed to mean?" I countered crabbily

Something about this pony just rubbed me the wrong way

"Well I haven't seen you around; and if a pony was new here they wouldn't go to the library." She gave me a distrusting look

"Well I'm here to meet somepony" I stuck out my hoof, "I'm Black Ink."

"Rainbowdash" she shook my hoof but not without giving me a suspicious look

I trotted up to the door and knocked; it opened and the inside was dark; I ignored the laugh Rainbowdash was trying to hold back

I should have known better

"SURPRISE!"

After I got my breath back I managed to get a good look around; several ponies were there in party hats and balloons were all over the place

"That was…" I searched for the right word, "Startling."

A mare trotted up; her mane was a dark purple and had a pink streak in it; her coat was a light purple and her cutie mark looked like several magical lights

"Hey there Aunt Twilight." I greeted

"Hello Black Ink" Twilight gave me a look, "Shining told me why you're here."

"I'm just here until he comes to his senses" I shrugged, "I'm not exactly easily swayed on ideas."

The mare I assumed was Pinkie Pie bounced towards me

"I'm Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you!" Pinkie Pie smiled brightly, "What do you think?"

"A bit… sudden." I said

What was wrong with me? Normally I would give out exactly what I thought; but now I was holding back all the swear words

"I throw welcome parties for all the new ponies in Ponyville!" Pinkie Pie beamed, "Do you like it?"

Nopony had ever thrown me a party before; not even a birthday party

It didn't feel too bad

"Yeah…" I looked around, "I'm just not experienced with parties."

"How many have you had?" Pinkie Pie asked

"Um…" I looked at Twilight; she didn't seem to know either, "Zero."

"Besides his baby shower of course." Twilight corrected

Pinkie Pie gasped, "Not a single party?"

"I'm not the best behaved pony" I gave her a hard look, "And so I wouldn't antagonize me."

Twilight shot me a look; I returned the favor

"Hey! Don't threaten my friends!" the rainbow mare was there again

"It was no threat" I said calmly, "It was a warning."

Rainbowdash got up in my face, "Well don't try and act on that!"

I put my hoof on her shoulder and pushed her backwards; a bit roughly

She shot to her hooves and flew at me; I got into a stance; these always came easily to me

Rainbowdash shot off like a rocket; coming at me with a speed that could crack the sound barrier

I unfolded my wings; ready to dodge the attack

It never connected

A magenta field was enveloping us both; keeping us from attacking each other

I looked at the unicorn responsible for the field; Twilight gave me a warning look; she shot the same one at Rainbowdash

"Real tough" I deadpanned, "Twilight; why not let me and Rainbowdash see who's stronger?"

"Cause I might cause damage?" Rainbowdash snarled

"No fighting" Twilight asserted, "Shining Armor sent you here to learn; not hurt others."

I rolled my eyes and Rainbowdash gave me a death glare

Twilight dropped the field; I decided it wasn't too important; if Rainbowdash tried to go against me like she just did; well I'd have to teach her just how strong I am

Being son of the captain of the royal guard never hurt as far as training went; I was pulled out after too many injuries

To my instructor

'I wonder if the restraining order is still valid…' I thought to myself

'Focus' the voice warned

Twilight was looking at me strangely; as if she wasn't judging me rather than observing me

It didn't feel right; I was almost always judged and being not judged was… odd for me.

"Well then" I changed the subject, "Are we here for a party or is that off?"