My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Friends from Unexpected Places

Chapter 37

A Shocking Truth

eTu`nes collapsed and coughed as he pulled himself out of the water. He rolled over onto his back and coughed.

1 year. It had been 1 year to the day when he yelled at Derpy and… hit her. After he left, he couldn’t bare to return to apologize to her. He couldn’t bare to return at all. He just knows that if he does return, all his friends --all his former friends-- will yell at him and possible beat him for harming Derpy. And he would let them. He deserved it. The love of his life and he hit her; no no no. he clawed at her and drew blood.

After that, he had just been wandering Equestria, trying to find a new place to call home but everyone was scared by him. He had a frightening look so he can’t blame them. And he sure can’t return home to the Badlands. He may be bigger and stronger then he was 10 years ago but his parents can still beat him to death. Now… he doesn’t know where he was. He just flew across a very large river, ending with him crashing near the shore because some Gryphon thought he was a free seagull dinner and tried to shot him down with a harpoon.

He lifted his left arm and looked at the bracelet Derpy made for him when they were kids. It was the only thing he had left of hers; the reminder of the times they spent together.

“Derpy… I’m so sorry…” he weakly said before losing consciousness.

The last thing he heard was the sound of crunching sand coming his way.

The drake groaned as he woke up. Above him was a white ceiling and he was on a couch that felt familiar. “Ugh… where…. Where am I?”

“Back in Feather Top.” eTu`nes recognized the voice and turned to his left. “it’s been a long time, eTu`nes.” Shine Dash said with a smile.

“Shine.” eTu`nes shook his head, trying to clear it. “What am I doing here?”

“I found you lying unconscious on the beach.”

“Oh. How long was I out?”

“About 2 hours.” eTu`nes got up and got out of the bed. “what are you doing here?”

eTu`nes sadly glanced up to her then sighed. “I… I did something really really stupid. I…” he looked at his claws. The blood may be gone but he still felt it there. “I… hit Derpy.”

“you hit Derpy?” Shine gasped.

“it wasn’t on purpose. I just… I just lost all control. I couldn’t control myself and I… I hit her. That was a year ago. I’ve been wandering ever since.”

“oh.” Shine got up from her seat. “why didn’t you go back to Ponyville and apologize?”

“I tried to but… I couldn’t make myself do it and face all that aberration from all my friends. I can’t face Derpy.”

“oh. Are you sure? Cause she misses you quite a lot.”

“how are you so sure about that?”

Shine got up, went into the kitchen, and returned with a letter. “because 10 months ago, I got a letter from Derpy, asking if she knew where you were. I couldn’t read some of the words because they were stained by tears.” eTu`nes took it and read it. “she just wants you to come home.”

He couldn’t believe it. Derpy misses him after what he did to her and wants him to come back. He really missed her. But he… He exhaled and lowered his head. “I don’t know what to do, Shine. I want to go back but… but after what I did…”

Suddenly, the door burst open and 3 familiar faces poked in. “eTu`nes!” Lightning, Gothic, and Zatch all exclaimed.

“Ah! You 3?”

“Pfft. ‘You 3’. he’s acting like he doesn’t remember us.” Lightning laughed.

“no. I was just caught off guard.” Lightning quickly ran in and hugged him.

“it has been too long. Where’s Derpy? Are you two still together?” eTu`nes looked away with a somber look. The hyper Lightning quickly got tame. “oh. What happened?”

“me and Derpy… we had a fight and I… I ended up hitting her.”

“you hit Derpy?” Gothic exclaimed. “What is wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking, okay? I just… snapped and… I hit her.”

Zatch felt like it was his turn the speak. And he was the most calm and collected member of the group. “did you apologize to her?”

“if I did, I wouldn’t be here, would I!?” eTu`nes yelled. He heard his yelled and calmed down. “sorry. I… I just couldn’t face her after that. I… I left- ran away.”

Shine sighed as she thought about what to do with him. “eTu`nes… you should go back to her.”

“didn’t you hear me, I can’t! I just… I just can’t face her. I… can’t.”

Shine wasn’t so sure. Something else was holding him back. “are you sure you can’t? or is it because you don’t want to because of guilt?”

“I…” eTu`nes wasn’t so sure anymore.

“eTu`nes. You can’t run away from this forever. Sooner or later, you are going to have to confront it. But I’m not going to force you to do it now. You decide when you think you should talk to Derpy.”

He knew that she was right. She was gonna have to go back there someday but… he’s been gone for a year. Will she even remember him? Well, there was only one way to find out. “when does the next train to Ponyville leave?”

The train to Ponyville pulled in to the sleepy Ponyville 4 days later. The cargo car opened and eTu`nes snuck off before taking to the air.

He may have been gone for a full year but Ponyville remained the same. While most ponies would have trouble with the dark, he was able to quickly find his way back to Derpy’s house.

He landed just outside the door and took a deep breath. He raised his fist to knock at it but… but he couldn’t. some part of him still felt guilty for doing what he did to Derpy. “*sigh* I… I can’t do it.”

He walked off the porch and past a window. He glanced in and saw Derpy sitting in front of a fire. He stopped to take a good look at her. She changed; her hair was longer and the spot where he hit her was healed. Other then those, this was the same old Derpy.

“Derpy…” he placed his hand on the window and sighed. “I’m sorry for… for hitting you.” he turned to leave when something caught his eye.

Clockwerk entered the room with something wrapped in a bundle. Derpy tenderly took it with a smile. She moved part of the blanket aside, revealing a newborn baby Dinky.

That was the final nail in the coffin for eTu`nes broken heart. “she… had a baby… with him…?” he asked as if a relative of his just died. “she… never really… cared about me…”

Derpy cooed at her baby daughter when she heard the sound of wings flapping. Just the sound alone made her think back of her childhood friend. She looked to the window to see no one there but she felt like… “(eTu`nes? Was that you?)” she thought to herself. Dinky cooed in her mother’s hooves, making Derpy come back to reality.

7 years later…

Jax ran as fast as she could though the woods south of Ponyville. She went over her apology in her head one more time.

“(Derpy. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. I was having a rough day. Can you forgive me?)” it was short but to the point and she hopes Derpy will accept it.

She sensed someone running after her from behind and she thinks it was that crazy man that approached her yesterday. She grabbed her chakrams and spun back to find two ponies cowering in fear.

“Dinky!? Sparkler!? What are you two doing here?” Jax yelled as she put her chakram away.

“Following you.” Sparkler said. “when you read that letter mom left, you looked as though you knew something about it.”

Jax grimaced and glanced away. “I…”

“Well?”

“I yelled at Derpy!” Jax exclaimed. “I told her that nobody loved her and that they were just pretending for her sake. And I… told her that you two never cared about her either.”

“What!?” Dinky yelled. “She’s my mother. Of course I love her.”

“Why would you even say such a thing?” Sparkler asked in disgust.

“because I was having a hard day yesterday. I… I just needed to vent and Derpy was the unfortunate victim. I feel bad for it and now I’m trying to find her and apologize. You two head back to Ponyville and wait there.”

Jax turned to leave with both Sparkler and Dinky stopped her with their magic. “Not a chance!” they both said. “we’re coming with you.”

“but there’s no telling what monsters we’ll find in the forest.” Jax said.

“we don’t care.” Dinky said. “that’s my mom out there. I don’t want to lose my mom.”

Jax sighed, knowing full well what Dinky is talking about. She went though that kind of situation at one point. “okay, fine. You can come. But I’m not gonna be held responsible if anything bad happens to you.”

“we know.” Sparkler said as she ran ahead. Jax and Dinky ran after her.

Derpy lament fully sighed as she leaned up against the cave wall and slid down it to the cave floor. She pulled out a picture of her family from her saddle-bags and silently cried. “I’m sorry, Dinky. But… Jax made me see the truth. I don’t know why you hate me but I will always love you regardless.” Derpy sniffled and put the picture away before getting up.

If this cave was going to be her new home, she may as well see what was in it. She walked deeper into it, hoping that she wasn’t going to run into a monster. “such a damp cave.” she muttered. “hope there aren’t any Ursa Minors or dragons or whatever this place calls home.”

Derpy yelped as she tripped on a rock and fell. “Ow.” she sniffled. “can anything else in my life go wrong?” she grumbled as she got up. When she looked at what she tripped on, she grossed out.

She tripped over a pony skeleton; a torn apart pony skeleton.

“Oh. Oh, Faust.” she almost threw up but was able to hold it down. “who… could’ve done this to a innocent pony?” fortunately, the guy has, or rather had, clothes. She went into his pockets to find the poor saps wallet. She found it and pulled it out. She opened it up and…

The wallet fell out of her hooves as light left from her eyes. She fell to her knees and shivered.

“--nestly don’t think she’s gonna be all the way up here.”

“you never know till you try.”

Derpy recognized those voices but she didn’t move. She couldn’t move. She was in too much shock.

Jax, Dinky, and Sparkler walked deeper into the cave to see Derpy shivering right over the skeleton. The first reactions was, “Mommy!” they ran over to her and hugged her. “We were so worried we weren’t gonna see you again!”

“Dinky… Sparkler… what are you doing here? I thought you all hated me.” she asked, still shocked by what she had found.

“there is no way we would hate you, mom. We love you too much to do that.” Sparkler said.

“but Jax said…”

“yeah. I’m sorry for saying that, Derpy, but I had a rough day yesterday and I… I took out on you. Can you ever forgive me?”

Derpy snapped out of her shock trance and angrily looked to her. “Are you kidding me? You told me that everyone, even my own children, hated me. How could you have been that stupid!?

“I wasn’t thinking. If you want to punch me, go ahead and punch me.”

Derpy looked away from Jax. “even if I could, I wouldn’t. I’m not a fighter. Besides…” she looked to the skeleton.

The trio finally noticed it and went ‘WHOA!’ “Geez, what happened to this guy?” Sparkler reacted.

“got ripped apart, by the looks of it.” Jax said after a quick look. She found the wallet and picked it up. “poor bastard was named Clockwerk.” Dinky and Sparkler gasped at the name but Jax didn’t hear it. “hate to be the one to tell his family about this.” she tossed the wallet to the ground and saw the 3 with shocked expressions. “what’s wrong?”

“Clockwerk… was my husband…” Derpy said.

“And… my dad…” Dinky said in the same tone as Derpy.

“oh. Oh, I’m… I’m so sorry.” Jax looked to the skeleton and sighed. “well, someone really hated him.”

Dinky, with tears falling from her eyes, hugged Sparkler. “Dad… dad is gone…” she cried.

Derpy sadly looked to her and sighed. “Dinky… I should probably tell you the truth right now.” she sighed.

Dinky sniffled and wiped her eyes. “t-the truth?”

“what truth, mom?” Sparkler asked.

Derpy closed her eyes for a moment. She never expected it to come out like this. “Clockwerk… isn’t your real father.”

That revelation hit Dinky like bricks. “w-what? T-that can’t be true.”

“it is. Dinky… your real father, he… he’s the one that gave you those wings that are growing inside you.”

Dinky looked at her back. Those dragon wings she had originally thought was the result of a disease from Oscurita were budging at her back. But, with what her mom said… “My real dad… is a dragon?”

“whoa.” both Sparkler and Jax said. That was something they weren’t expecting.

“yes. His name was--”

A warm wind journey though the cave and hit them. The thing is, it came from inside the cave. “oh, that can’t be good.” Sparkler gulped. A large yellow eye opened wide and stared at them. A scared Dinky ran behind her mother as Jax got in front of her with her chakrams.

The eye moved as a head came into view. It softly growled as it stared at all 4 of them. It may have been 5 months since they last saw him but he wasn’t leaving Jax’s head anytime soon. “Oscurita.”

Oscurita softly growled as he looked all 4 of them over. He recognized the human but not the foals. When he reached Derpy, however, that’s when he went wide-eyed. He couldn’t believe it. It was really really her. He reached out to grab her but Jax stood between them both, making him mad. Oscurita roared loudly at them, making the foals roll back.

Begin Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNktcna0Tso

Escape the Dragon - Shrek Soundtrack

“Run!” Jax yelled. The ponies instantly listened and ran for the exit. Oscurita roared yet again as he got up, crumbling the cave as he went.

Some of the stalactites almost pierced right though them, making for some close calls.

“that dragon is angry.” Jax said like a diva, using a barrier spell to cover her and the others.

Sparkler used her magic to grab her mother’s saddle bags as she was the first out of the cave. Dinky was next, then Derpy and Jax. Jax jumped to avoid the cave-in behind her just be mere seconds.

The 4 skidded to a halt as they came to the edge of the cliff.

“That was close!” she panted.

Dinky glanced up to the top of the mountain. “it’s worse.”

A blue beam of light cut in a circle at the tip top, making it explode. The flaming rubble rained down towards them.

Jax quickly grabbed her chakrams and cast, “Ice Shelf!” 3 boards of ice suddenly appeared in front of them.

“What good will these do?” Dinky yelled.

Jax jumped onto one. “get us out of here fast enough.” she said. She pushed off the cliff and slid on down the side. The 3 ponies looked at each other nervously before jumping on. Derpy took one for herself as Dinky and Sparkler shared another.

The flaming rocks crashed into the mountains, some almost taking them out.

Jax quickly turned around and summoned up a barrier spell to cover them all. It worked but Jax felt tired, which normally wouldn’t happen after a spell.

“that was odd.”

Large black wings shot out of the smoke as the shadow-less Oscurita rose out of the fire and roared. That human is gonna pay for what she did.

With one flap, he was up into the air and flew down in pursuit of them.

He flew right over the 4 of them, glancing back as he went away. Though he may have been ‘gliding’, the force of his wind was enough to send them yelling off their boards and roll down the mountain.

The 4 reached the bottom and groaned. Jax shook her head and looked up to see the dragon circling the mountain. They should have enough time to make it.

“Quick! Run to the ravine!” she yelled out before running. The ponies quickly got up and ran as well.

Jax tossed her chakram ahead, casting ‘Ice Shelf’ again, creating a bridge that lead over the ravine.

Oscurita saw the bridge and snarled. He quickly turned around and flew to the head of the ravine. He flew right into it with no problems.

“AH!” Dinky yelled, seeing the dragon fly right though the ravine.

“Not good. Not good. Not good.” Jax repeated as she ran as fast as her legs could.

The 4 made it to the bridge and ran across it as fast as they could.

Oscurita turned on his side and extended out his wing, making him look like a shark.

“Not looking forward to becoming shark bait!” Sparkler yelled.

Jax screeched to a halt, powered up her magic, and threw one of her chakrams. The ring burst into flames and shot fireballs into the valley walls, cutting off the dragons line of sight.

Jax ran to the other end of the bridge as the dragon came though the other side of the dust cloud. It couldn’t see where it was going so it crashed into the wall. The vibrations made Jax stagger and fall, as did the ponies. fortunately, it was off the ice bridge.

The bridge collapsed on the dragon, covering it in ice. The ravine walls also collapsed, covering it in dirt.

“that… was lucky.” Derpy panted.

“yeah. We should have a few minutes before he gets out.” Jax said.

The 4 quickly got up and ran for home.

End Song.

A beam of blue light shot out of the ravine. The valley exploded like a carpet bomb, sending a lot of fire and smoke into the sky.

The smoke could be seen all the way from Ponyville and the vibrations from the explosions reached there as well.

“What was that?” Emil asked.

“Probably some earthquake.” Edge said as he bit into a dandelion sandwich.

Author's Notes:

well... that's not a pleasant way to go, being ripped to shreds. no, sir. not at all.

and Derpy was so close, SO CLOSE, to revealed the truth.

Next Chapter, the monster will be revealed for who he once was.