DREAMS

From The Shadows

by DeepThought

He is a shadow made of twisting, disturbing darkness; full of pain and confusion. Shaped like a bipedal being, he lacks any special features besides a pair of red-glowing eyes. Unable to remember who he is, deep hopelessness floods his heart. Wandering around a never-ending forest, he asks himself what purpose this serves. But he can't stop - as always, heading towards a place he knows he won't reach ever. From time to time he sees strange-looking creatures which he can't recognize. But that doesn't surprise him. Everything is somehow strange to him.

Some part of him is locked away, he is sure telling by the feeling of emptiness drowning any motivation left. Is it a punishment? Is someone playing around with his life for his own amusement? He just can't draw a reasonable conclusion, which leaves him in deep despair. The same procedure again and again - he knows that when the sun starts to shine, his existence will end soon, and at the rise of the moon he'll find himself in the forest again.

'If only these nightmares stop,' Valentino says to himself. He doesn't know what he dreams, since he seems to forget what they are about by the time he wakes up, with his whole body covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

'My life isn't that much fun. At least I need some good sleep.'

So he closes his eyes once again, knowing that he won't fall asleep soon.

'When did my existence start to be this terrible?'

He sees a slideshow of memories in front of his inner eye:

Starting with images of happy childhood days, hundreds of pictures. he was holding a book, writing or sketching in it, actually he preferred reading over the company of his friends. He always had such a closed and mindful personality, sucked in his mind's own world of endless possibilities. He liked the idea that extending it - the process of creation, made him something similar to a god.

However one day in his early teenage years an event changed everything. Before, protected by his parents, there was nothing that bothered him, but as both of them died in a terrible car crash, he had to face the world all by himself.

By dealing with violence at the orphanage every day, he became filled with hatred and fear about everyone around him. Paranoia began to rule his teenage self and perverted his imagination, turning it from a safe haven to an unbearable nightmare - he was isolated, inside and outside.

His usual egg-headed behavior grew to hyper-mindfulness. Everything was subject to his analysis, which made him lose the last bit of idealism, since he obsessively shred every observation and idea in mental pieces so small that he started to see the flaws everywhere.

All he wanted was to escape this hell, but his attempts failed badly - even throwing him deeper into his dark cloud of thoughts. Everything is so meaningless to him.

As early as possible, at the age of 16, he moved out of the orphanage with a feeling of relief - his parents left him a decent asset - and rented a small, cheap flat in the city he spent his whole life in, not willing to cut the last bound to happier times.

He planned on taking psychology classes in college when he finished high school to learn more about the demons he successfully sent to sleep, just showing up occasionally.

Sadly, with the end of his life's darkest chapter, also his talent for creativity died, leaving dozens of stories unfinished. His analytic tendencies made him unable to do anything without his biggest critic, himself, being around. The pure fear that one of his creations could start to torture him again caused him to resign.

Now, he is 17, nearly 18, close to finishing school; he is afraid of the idea that his 'illness' might break out again, soon. And this innermost feeling of pain and agony makes him worry all night.

When he finally falls asleep totally exhausted, Morpheus' tight embrace doesn't last long. He hates his alarm clock! Really!

But he knows that his whole existence depends on getting a good high school degree, since there isn't anybody in this world who would support him financially. Someday he'll run out of money and until then he needs to be prepared.

He gets up with a quiet grumble, close to throwing the clock at the room's wall. Every step brings him nearer to his bathroom.

Valentino showers and gets dressed looking at the mirror's reflection. Despite his inner disastrous situation he really looks good, his dark hair framing a somehow innocent-looking face with south-european features. His green eyes however seem to contain a gleaming fire, a will which is able to withstand the greatest challenges. He is quite athletic and able to defend himself, whenever it is necessary.

He leaves the flat with his schoolbag on his back heading towards the next bus stop. He doesn't have any friends, since he keeps to himself at school and rarely goes out.

So he waits there in a crowd of strangers, until the bus arrives. He pays and gets in taking the right place in the first row. The raven-haired knows that no-one will take the place beside him, because he is famous for his bad mood on Monday mornings.

When he gets out of the bus mild sunshine greets him, and for a moment he feels fine. But this emotion doesn't last long, getting wiped away by the noise of the school bell.

It's not that school is too challenging for him, no, but he is just terribly bored by the slow pace of his education.

After an usual day of school he gets home by foot, since he'd have to wait forty minutes for the bus and also likes the idea of saving money, while the distance between school and his flat is rather short, when he suddenly hears a woman's scream.

Alarmed and full of attention he searches for the scream's source between the buildings in this under-class quarter. No-one is on the streets anymore except a woman in her twenties, a fearful look on her face, and an obviously drunken man who grabs her arm tightly.

'What am I supposed to do? Help her? Run away?' he asks himself. Then he recognizes her.

'I've seen this woman before, she's a mother from my block,' he determines, remembering her moving a buggy around with a slight smile.

'If something happens to the mother, what will happen to the child?' an angry voice in his head asks, 'There is no meaning in your life, you just hate it, but they enjoy theirs. They have potential, love and therefore meaning in their existence. Even if you get hurt - what does that matter? The physical materials your body consists of, won't get lost, but will be recombined to something new, if you die. There's only change, never real destruction. What is the worth of your individual existence in an universal context, if even you hate it?'

He decides to act. With big steps he closes the gap, getting ready to fight. The man, a cruel looking being, notices Valentino's attempt to help the woman, who starts to gain hope again, as he can tell by her facial expression. When he is just a few feet away from the man, Valentino sees him taking a shiny object from his pocket.

The knife swishes just slightly above his head through the air since he can duck in the right moment. The beast is so diverted by the sudden fight, he loses the grip on the woman's arm.

"Run!" he shouts and she does so.

'At least I saved her...' he thinks when she disappears behind the next corner,'Now I have to deal with this per...’

The second he lost looking after the woman, making sure she'd be well, is his doom. Eyes full of rage meet his eyes as the knife moved by the man's full physical power is only inches away from his chest, then cold steel penetrates his skin and flesh.

He unleashes a scream of deep pain, suddenly his vision gets blurry. Drops of blood tint the pavement red. He touches the wound in disbelief.

Finally he breaks down and loses consciousness.

He is in the forest again, but this time something is different. He feels more solid, the shadows, his body is made of, condense to another form, not a bipedal, but a four-legged being with a horn and wings.

Surprised by the change he struggles with his new, real body, feeling more complete now,

'It is day... Why am I here? Why am I not in a human form?'

The fact he can't remember anything about himself doesn't change at all, but he isn't forced to move on as before.

'I'm free!'

Then a next thought comes to his mind, 'What will I do now?' Panic rushes him, 'I'm a physical being... How will I survive this endless forest?'

So he wanders around without a clue where he should go, until he finds a quiet, deep blue lake. The reflection of his body on the shiny surface reveals his new form:

He is a horse, or rather a pony, but unlike the ones he knows from earth. He has a somehow cartoony look. While his mane is crimson, with hooves, horn and eyes illuminating the surroundings in the unsteady color of flickering, nearly white fire, his fur and feathers are darker than the 'normal' black - they seem to suck up all light around him.

'I need a name for now. Maybe I should refer to myself as Fire Void, until I remember my real name. Better than nothing, really. Time to act! I have to find a way to get into my human form, since without hands I won't be able to survive in this forest for long,' he assumes.

'I look like a typical villain, but I guess that's not that bad if I have to face wild animals. They fear fire.'

That is when he hears the growling of wolves. Amber eyes stare at him from the dark.

'Speaking of the devil… Shall I flee or stand the ground? I have this horn on my head, maybe...'

As he realizes that this wolves aren't creatures off flesh and blood, but made of wood, he understands, he can't fight them effectively.

'First option.'

Never before he ran like this, willing to survive by any means. But every time he stumbles, and that happens often since he isn't used to his new body, the beasts come nearer.

This chase ends in front of a cliff. From all sides he is surrounded by growling wood wolves. Then he looks down, - he won't survive the fall.

Deeply concentrated he starts to think about all possibilities, summing up his results:

'I'm screwed.'

The alpha wolf starts the first attack, which the dark stallion blocks with his horn, but when the other five wolves join the fight, Fire gets covered with several bleeding cuts.

Then the alpha wolf, a much larger animal than its companions, pushing himself hard against Fire with a jump. He falls to the ground shielding his face with his right foreleg; the beast bites into it out of reflex.

The pain sends Fire nearly to unconsciousness, leaving only one thought:

'I want to LIVE!'

Suddenly a sphere of red and black color is emitted around his body, quickly expanding to the size of a whole city leaving every tree in its radius burned.

Before he finally loses consciousness, exhausted - near to death, he sees that his enemies are gone.

Later in the castle of Canterlot a shocked princess Celestia writes a letter to her student:

Dear princess Twilight Sparkle,

my most faithful student, as you very likely sensed, there was a great change of the magical field around Equestria this evening, which is a mystery to me.

At the same time the weather patrol reports about a huge explosion in the Everfree Forrest, blowing a hole in the vegetation the same size as Canterlot. Due to the fact that I'm occupied with important diplomatic businesses, I'd like to ask you, the new princess, to investigate this matter, since the reason for this detonation could be a threat to Equestria's security.

Princess Celestia.

"Spike, this is my first mission as a princess," Twilight says excitedly, "and I will do my best to confirm her trust. Let's go!"

Spike hands her her saddle bag and they leave their tree house together meeting the mane six at the entrance.

"Hey, girls"

"Hi, Twilight," they say in unison.

"Is everypony ready?" the lavender mare asks.

"Are you sure, honey, that this is a good idea?" Rarity says worried.

"As Equestria's new princess it is my duty to protect my subjects. Therefore I have to do this."

"Ok, even if we don't share your opinion, I'm sure we can't convince you to stay here. But you will need someone awesome, someone brave and strong to save you, my little egghead, if things go wrong. I will come with you and so will the other girls," Rainbow says with a tone of pride in her voice.

"Then it's settled."

Twilight smiles broadly.

Fire wakes up, realizing he is still a pony. Not impressed by this fact hours before, the black stallion now, barely able to move, begins to think about it.

'Amnesia, I guess that's the reason, I can't remember anything about my life as a human... But what if I can't change back. What if I stay a damn fairy tale creature? Perhaps I'm the only sapient being in this whole world! This is surely not earth!'

Remembering his actual status he asks himself, 'What will happen to me, if I can't help myself?'

The idea of laying there waiting for his death because of thirst or starvation, fighting for weeks to avoid the inevitable, makes him shake weakly.

Fire moves his body into an embryonic position, sobbing quietly, when he suddenly hears some voices talking in a language he can understand.

"We've been here for hours now, Twi. I'm so bored."

"I have to finish this last... Wow! I can't believe how high the concentration of magic is..."

Fire catches sight of a lavender mare.

'She's just like me.'

"Help," he screams as loud as he can, but obviously not loud enough.

'This is my only chance.'

With all the power left in his lungs he screams again, "HELP!"

This time his effort gets rewarded. Little tears of joy blur his vision.

"Twilight, did ya hear that?", an orange mare, dressed like a cowgirl, asks.

"Yes, I did. The sound came from the cliff up there."

The mane six trot to the said place, until they see a dark shape lying at the ground. Then they carefully come closer.

"Poor little thing..." Fluttershy says in deep concern about his well-being.

"A black stallion. His fur's color is incredible. A black as deep as I didn't see it before ever... And this eyes..." Twilight says, her friends nod.

Then the stallion slowly moves his body in another position, turning his head into their direction. Now his horn and wings are clearly visible.

"He's an alicorn," Twilight checks her instruments, "and he's the source of the anomaly."

He can't remember how he got there, but he is happy to lay in a soft hospital bed instead of the cold ground of the forest.

"He's awake!" an excited voice shouts out, "Come here!"

Six mares come into his field of sight - each of them in a different color.

"Hello, my name is princess Twilight Sparkle and these ponies are my friends Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, the Elements of Harmony. I'm an official representative of princess Celestia and I'd like to ask you, what your reason was, to blast away this huge tract of the Everfree Forest."

When she mentions a name, she points at the corresponding pony with her right hoof.

Then she adds, "And... since you are an alicorn, we wonder, how you are related to royalty..."

"I'm Fire… Void. I was chased by wooden wolves as somehow my horn emitted a strange power,"

he stops shortly, "Who is Celestia and what is an alicorn?" He feels dumb.

They breathe in sharply. The expressions on their faces reveal they are deeply surprised.

"Well, princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria, the country you're staying in at the moment. She's the goddess of the sun, while princess Luna raises the moon."

'Great, a primitive, monastic civilization. Not good for my plans to be changed back into a human.'

"You are not that bright," the chuckling Rainbow interrupts Twilight.

'...'

Twilight looks dispraising at RD. Then she continues, "And an alicorn is a very rare pony type featuring the abilities of earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi."

'Wow, this is like a little girl's dream,' Fire thinks sarcastically.

"Is everbody a pony? How technical advanced is your society"

"Ya mean every-pony, right sugarcube?" the cowgirl pony says. 'Her name was Applejack, wasn't it?'

"There are also other sapient species on this planet, but Equestria is mainly made up of ponies. I'm not quite sure what you exactly mean with 'technical advanced', but we've made great progress in the field of magic."

'Magic? Are you kidding me?'

"So you mix potions, put curses on things and this stuff?" Fire asks.

"Curses are naive nonsense" Twilight says determined.

'Did she call ME naive?'

"But you have to know what magic is. You're the most powerful magical being except princess Celestia and princess Luna telling by your intimidating aura."

'Seriously?' an annoyed voice asks in Fire's head.

"But we observed another strange phenomenon in the Everfree... There were bits of black matter - we thought they were burned pieces of wood first - spread all over the place. When we looked at them precisely, I could sense an incredible amount of magic coming from them... Even if it sounds unlikely, contradicting every physical and magical rule, I thought for a moment, that it was newly CREATED matter..." she says uncertainly.

"I can't remember anything, I was no pony before yesterday... but a human..."

Remembered of his unpleasant situation his face shows an expression of sadness.

'At least I don't have to starve to death... Maybe this princess knows more.'

In the meantime the girls formed a circle, he can only understand a few words of their talk, since they are whispering.

"... trust him?... maybe to exhausted to think clearly?... just mad?"

"It's not exactly polite to talk behind someon... somepony's back..." the black stallion says, leaving them in an awkward silence.

"Could you call this princess Celestia, please... Maybe she can help me with this important problem."

"I already did. She's actually in the Griffon Kingdom, but in a few hours she should be back here at Canterlot."

"Ok."

"WHATFOODDOYOULIKEFORYOURWELCOMETOEQUESTRIAPARTYCAUSEIDONTKNOWBUTTHEPARTYWILLBEGREATANDYOUWILLENJOYITMAYBESOMECUPCAKESORFTIEDHAYYOUHAVETOBEHUNGRY..." Fire doesn't listen anymore, astonished by the pink, maniac mare, jumping around and babbling at an incredible speed. He looks to Twilight, who mutters quiet words of apology for her friend.

'If this is the product of my own imagination, I have to be the star resident of any asylum...'