Chapter One- Truth

Hours passed after the events of my unconsciousness. Luna's moon had risen over the school, its beaming rays and stars outshining the EQU’s indoor lighting. Through time, the rock in the sky shifted with the simultaneous shutting of lights. Nights from the first month onwards is something we've grown accustom to, its biting winds as the new years (and new semesters) began.

Only one room, number forty three of the west wing defied the curfew of the University. A single blonde mare sat worriedly on her haunches beside the bed of another beaten equine. She sighed in dismay at the revelling condition of the stallion; black and blue dotted his icy coat as the trail of dried blood led from his lips and unto the slightly shredded coat, some wounds deep enough that were visible from the rips in his jacket.

"Sweet Celestia..." Ditzy whispered to herself, reviewing the nasty bruise on my cheek, gently sweeping a band-aid onto it. A specific aspect of the fight replayed through her thoughts as best as they could provide; the lifeless body skidding and beating against the gravel scraping off anything that was part of the stallion. "Look at what Grim did to you,” she sympathized toward me.

No matter how many times those crossed eyes glanced back, she never grew attached to the scenery. "I don't know if you can hear me, Graze, but I saw it all, and... I’m sorry, but I can't see you like this, it’s too much for me to handle," she abruptly stated, turning my hoof over and placed the keys to the apartment in it.

"Wait, don't go," I exclaimed, shooting up right with a quick securing of her hoof. As I rose from my slumber, I whinnied in pain, my body still sore from today’s previous battle. "Ow ow ow!" She quickly leapt forward in fright, forcefully pushing me back as if I was an assaulter. "AGH! What was that for?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what I was doing! You just grabbed me and I got scared!" she apologized in the spur of the moment.

I looked down in realization, her golden eyes following mine as we stared in disbelief at her hoof resting on mine. We blushed, shying away from each other, momentarily glancing in opposite directions. "Urhm, urh, I... I-I didn't mean to?" she stuttered another apology... at least that I think it was one.

Thank Celestia and Luna that Kill and Joy were asleep. Either asleep or very good actors. "Graze, how long were you awake?" she asked.

"Couple minutes, I'm a very light sleeper," I smiled in my innocence, Ditzy's mouth wide agape in the horror of the truth. “Before you even ask, the answer is yes, I heard everything." Even through the darkness, if it weren't for those bright eyes, the red in her cheeks surely did the trick to brighten the room.

Now, here was where the awkward silence kicked in; her eyes darted across the room with a scrunch, desperately searching for an escape from her embarrassment.

“So," I released the tension from me with a heavy breath, resting my back against the bed's frame. "You saw everything, huh?"

"Urhm, yeah... why do you ask?" This was the perfect time to find out about Joy and why he placed me in such a tight situation. As much as I loved the angel for pulling through, I wanted to choke him to death.

"Uhh, I got a pretty nasty hit on my head... can't seem to remember anything before the fifth clone," I sighed with a lie.

"Well, duh, you rushed into the five of them, and then they beat the living crap out of you," she chuckled. "It was kinda funny."

Joy must've thought that if hitting Grim would make him lose focus on the clones, they'd disappear... obviously that wasn't the case. I thought to myself, playing out the scenario as I stared deep into space.

"Is something wrong, Graze? You seem kinda out of it..." she called out to me before I travelled deeper into my own subconscious.

"I'm just thinking of the battle, is all. Each clone had a specific magical spell. After one was defeated, like with the transporter and shooter, the final clone got both attributes... the thing that worries me the most is that, what if it was actually just me and Grim alone? Would I have lost?" I brought my hooves before me, staring at the bruises under my hoof. "I hardly lasted five minutes out there... what exactly was he hiding?"

"You're thinking way too hard, all that matters is that you actually won!"

"Ahaha, yeah..." I sheepishly chuckled in my victory, pausing for a moment as what Ditzy had said just then it hit me. "Hey! What do you mean 'actually won'?"

The blonde mare facehoof'd and sighed in bemuse. "You don't pay much attention in class, do you?" she asked the obvious.

"No, No, not really," I quickly answered, leaning over to the other side of my bed, bringing with me a blue notebook as I flipped through its flimsy contents. "I was kind of doodling, see?" I squee'd in delight, showing her a poorly drawn flip-animation of a dragon attacking, and soon eating our professor of magical studies, Mr. Charge.

"Oh!" She exclaimed in shock. "It's... nice," Ditzy sheepishly smiled, "and quite detailed... I don’t even know ponies contained so much blood."

With that in mind, I flung the book back to its resting place, never to be picked up again. "Yeah, everypony's a critic," I bemusedly responded, getting back on track with Mr. Charge's teachings. "So, what did I miss out?"

"Let me see if I can put this in ten words or less." She brushed her chin, scrunching her face as she tried her best to remember Charge's notes. "Pegasi have a natural disadvantage against unicorns."

Eeyup, mind officially blown. "What?!" I shouted loud enough to wake Kill and Joy, and surely at least half of the school.

"W-What's happening?!" both consciences simultaneously appeared with a shout by their respective shoulders.

"Unicorns have a natural advantage against pegasi!" I quickly informed them.

"What?!" they repeated my exact words.

"I know, right?!" I then shifted the track of the conversation back to Ditzy, closing my mouth from the shocking knowledge. "What do you mean 'Pegasi have a natural disadvantage against unicorns'? Grim was actually telling the truth?"

"Yeah," she flatly responded.

"And I beat him?"

"Yeah."

"That means I have bragging rights, correct?" I abruptly jumped from my bed, leaving the bandages and sheets in my place, as somehow through the mystic powers of Celestia had I gotten the energy to rightfully gloat.

"Yeah, of cour--wait, no! You've already won, why would you do something like that?" Ditzy held me back, one of my legs already dangling over the window frame, a perfect view of the school's courtyard where the paralyzed stallion rested.

"To boast, duh. Have you seen how obnoxious that dude was? I mean, c'mon, just look at him." I pointed my hoof to the pony almost consumed by the darkness, surviving the biting winds of Luna’s night. "Oooh... well he doesn't like all high and mighty now, does he?"

"No, he doesn't! And the two of you are terribly injured for doing this to each other over a stupid bet," she scolded.

"Hey, that bet wasn't stupid! It means a lot to me!" I retaliated an inch or two above the mare.

"Oh yeah? If it means alot to you, what's so important about it?" Ditzy asked that one question I could not possibly have answered.

I trotted back towards the window sill, planting my hooves for balance as I gave the mare one last glance before leaving her in my apartment. "Well, that's why I'm going to find out."

"You mean you don't know?!" Ditzy exclaimed, watching as I climbed onto the ledge.

"Nope... but, you should keep your voice down, everypony's trying to sleep," I winked at the mare with a tease, flaring my wings before taking off. A sudden pain jolted through my body, stunning me as I lost my stance as I dropped like a stone to the room's floorboard. Ignoring the pain, I sheepishly smiled upward, gritting my teeth towards the mare. "Care to offer some pegassistance?"

The mare contemplated on her haunches with smirk, as somehow I knew at that very moment, our little dilemma was going to direct itself in her favor. "Only on one condition." Right there, I knew it! Those words were proof enough that I had cursed myself.

With a tired sigh, I rolled my eyes in annoyance and agreement. The blonde mare clapped her hooves with a squee, once getting her way. "Okay, number one; that poor pony is freezing to death out there... you have to help him."

Well, that certainly took a bite out of my sweet victory. "Deal... anything else, your highness? Please say no," I silently muttered the last part to myself.

"Well..." she twiddled her hooves. "Care to tell me what the bet was about?"

"No, that's personal," I instinctively shot down the mare.

"Alright, I understand, I guess... since it is personal and whatever," Ditzy responded with a hint of melancholy. Oblivious as I was, I was baffled at her reasons for this sadness, nevertheless, I was as stoic as Charge when dealing with personal matters.

"Okay, since we got that out of the way," I shoved our contract to the side, grabbing the blanket in my mouth, "you care to help me fly down?"

"What?! Why can't we just walk down the stairs?!" Ditzy exclaimed in bewilderment.

"One reason, and it’s a very good one... Shadow Mark." Ditzy tilted her poor head in confusion as I heard her mentally cry 'who?’. I won't blame her if she didn't; reason being that hardly anyone sees him. "Oh, right, you're new here... Shadow Mark's our Headmaster, a stallion who takes curfew very seriously. He hides in the shadows--his name, hint hint--leaving the lights on as a trap to make you feel safe... when they begin to flicker, it’s pretty much a signal to get the buck out of there... he does it for the thrill of the hunt." I explained. "He has many methods of expulsion and torture once he captures you--so I've heard--none of which I plan to be part of. That is the reason why we are sneaking out!"

"By flying out a window..." She seemed a little bit less interested in my idea, adding onto my explanation.

"Yep, we are pegasi! We can fly, because we have wings!"

"Outside of our dorms..." she continued in the same half-hearted tone.

"Uh-huh, yes... that's where outside, and more importantly Grim is."

"Just so that you can claim your winnings..." Ditzy finished her little charade with a pause, allowing the awkward wind to answer for my misconception. "Graze, I don't think you see the danger of this. If encountering Shadow Mark is so risky, and going outside can place us in even more trouble, then why can't you wait until morning?"

"We can't wait because..." I paused for a moment, trapped in her net of words as it sent my left ear twitching. It was Kill, tugging on my perked ear as he whispered something evil, something Ditzy had earlier stated to contradict this statement. "Because, somepony out there," I coughed in Grim's general direction, "is probably alone in the dark, freezing to death with no food to eat, or no loved ones to gather 'round."

"Not like anyone loves him, anyways," Joy commented, folding his hooves, Kill in shock at his arbituary statement. "What? The guy tricked us, entrapped Graze in his fears, and is an overall douche for pricking us with a curse... I have my rights to be mean sometimes, ya know!"

Ditzy flared her nostrils, agitated by the fact that I used her own words against her.

Taking her time to descend from my apartment, Ditzy constantly flapped her wings in strain to keep a steady momentum. "G-Graze, just... how much do you... weigh!?" She huffed and grunted through these difficulties.

"Urhm... I don't know... 154 pounds? I haven't checked in like a year or so, but you're doing good!" I reassuredly supported, as I rested on her back. "Oh, and try not to shout so much. If Shadow Mark hears us, we are more than screwed," I hissed.

"Try not to shout?! I'm having a hard time keeping my breath! Celestia's sake, Graze, you weigh more than an average Earth pony!" she complained, exhaling deeper breaths in synchronization with her wings.

"Muscle weighs more than fat," was my poorly laid out excuse. I honestly hadn't worked out in weeks, keeping up with Grim during that battle surely made me bang for my buck... figuratively speaking. "And stop shouting, we don't want to attract any unnecessary attention!"

"Y-you're making a 120 pound mare work against gravity here! N-not an easy job! I can practically do what I--Wowww, wow! I-I don't think I can hold on any longer! You're too f-fa-"

"Don't say it, Ditzy! Don't you dare say it!" I shifted back and forth on the mare with each exclaim. “I’m not fat, I’m lean!”

As valiant as those wings fought, they soon gave way to the overwhelming pressure that was my lean (not fat) body. Luckily, a bush had cushioned our... my fall. Looking skyward, I found the mare, the same blonde one who had dropped me, found to be gliding above, gracefully landing with a bereft smile. "Ooops, my bad."

I stayed in the bushes, collecting my thoughts in a daze, as Kill and Joy made laps, spinning round and round above my head.

"I am sooo sorry, Graze," the grey mare apologized, wrapping her hooves around me, trying her best to lift a stallion much too heavier than herself.

"I-it's alright, let's just get to Grim," I instructed, limping forth to a figure that laid in the darkness.

Suffering from his paralysis, he stared at Luna's moon, the giant rock in the sky as he shifted his gaze towards Ditzy and myself, our clops attracting his attention, disturbing the peace. "What do you want? Have you not shamed me enough for one day? Go ahead and boast, see what I care.” He tried shifting his body away from me, but stayed inert due to a mini discharge. “...You can't tell, but I'm mentally trotting away from you at the moment."

A quiet thud inches away had attracted his attention. His eyes shifted a vision to its lids’ corners, only to find a woolen blanket laying before him. "What is that for?" he questioned its sudden appearance.

"It's a blanket, what do you think it's for?" I smartassedly replied, only to receive a death glare in return from the pegasus mare. "It has my blood on it, extra warmth... mmm, cozy," I tried my best to cover up the sarcasm.

"I can see through your deception, pegasus, what is it you truly want from me?" Grim galloped straight to the point.

Well, the cat was out of the bag, no use beating it against the wall. "I came here for the truth, my winnings," I answered hesitantly. "Why is my cutie-mark so important? How do you know of my mother's incident? And just for the bucking fun of it, why are you a pegasist? It's kind of annoying."

"We never agreed to put so many questions on stake, especially the last one," Grim refused.

"That's it, I knew he was going to pull something like this out of his ass! He's a bucking liar!" Kill exclaimed, pointing hooves in offense to the disabled pony. "This was our one and only chance, and if he's the pony who has those answers, then I'm gonna force it out of him!"

I picked up the Grave pony, with a piercing stare through his soul, clenching my teeth as sadistic thoughts surged through my imagination. Grim noticed a flash of red shooting through my red-violet eyes as they returned to normal.

"Listen to me, ya bucking unicorn. I've had enough of your games, and right now, I have half a mind to trample on your face with spiked horseshoes. It already got personal when you brought out that incident." Ditzy's ears perked, apparently camouflaging with the background, left unnoticed as I brought upon my wrath upon the unicorn. "You call yourself a Grave pony? I don't mind sending half of you back to Tartarus!" I threw him on the floor, knocking the wind out of his lungs and weighed him down with a heavy hoof upon his chest. "Now, give me my answers," I warned.

Grim stared at me, unable to retaliate through his paralysis. He choked as I suppressed the air from reaching his lungs, coughing and wheezing, desperate for mercy as he gritted his teeth, enduring the torment.

"Graze... I-I think that's enough..." I ignored Ditzy's plea in the background, staring at the stallion who gasped for air. "Graze, stop." Her voice became more stern, glancing back and forth between Grim, his eyes seeming to pop out at any given moment, and myself as I smiled from Kill’s strong influence. "Graze, Get off of him!" She pushed me right off the stallion, freeing him from his torture.

The midnight air rushed towards his lungs, the stallion coughing out the bad and bringing in the new.

Ditzy and Grim stared at me, confused as I rubbed my head from the instant blood rush that was Kill's anger. Grim was the only one who observed the red back down through a flash of blue irises, forcing my eyes back to its original red-violet state.

"Look, Graze! We are ponies and we don't need to go to such drastic measures! What's wrong with you? You almost killed him!" Ditzy scolded, watching as I rubbed my temples, soothing the headache from the battle that was Kill and Joy, both fighting for either dominance or stability. It was pretty obvious who fought for what, and who was winning.

"I'm sorry, Ditzy... I-I don't know what got into me," I apologized, whinnying in desperation for an aspirin.

"Hmph, and you, Grim!" She directed her vexation towards the stunned pony. "If you made a promise, you should at leas--"

"Graze." The unicorn completely swept away Ditzy's existence in a matter of one word, as even she was silenced through my sudden calling. "You want the truth? Fine, I'd give it to you. You're just like my father; a brash, arrogant, selfish, aggressive, careless--” My mind began to block out most of the negative adjectives, “--pegasus. Those are the values that brought him to his own noose. He was a famous pony, one of the greatest scythe wielders in Tartarus because of his Celestia-blessed appendages, wings. There was no sky to fly through in the Underworld, so what better use to put them through, rather than scythe dueling?”

‘Scythe Dueling?’ Sounds like something that can tickle my fancy.

“His fame, introduced him to a mare, of course as we both know, my mother... and of course, they had a foal, me. He was a coward, afraid of the responsibility that was a husband and a father. He knew he didn't have the heart in him to put down so much work, and just as you are, he was a selfish pony for taking his own life. Props to him for making the right decision before he had hurt somepony... unlike you.”

That struck so many nerves, I’m sure even Ditzy felt my heart shatter. “But, Graze,” he called out to me once more, before I had to break his legs. “Do you know what's the difference between him and you?"

“What?” I asked through the restraints of my anger.

"You're still alive. Do Equestria a favor and go off yourself. I can't account for Tartarus not accepting such a spiteful soul like yours, though," the scorn of unicorns admitted.

There was something I’d rather do than break his legs, and it was definitely my choice to tell him off of how wrong he was.

"You know what, Grim? You're right about some things, sure I'm arrogant, aggressive... and careless... and brash, I know myself all too well not to look in the mirror and accept that fact. But, you know what's the two differences that distinguish me from your father?" I questioned the stallion. "Number one; I’m alive."

"Burn," Kill and Joy commented, each with a black and blue eye from their previous engagements.

“Number two,” I continued. “I don’t give up on my family, you twit.”

“Double burn.”

"Unlike you, I'm not a bucking miserable pony who bickers of how dead his father is. Unlike you, even though my mother is dead, I still love her to death, and I know she won't want me to do something as foolish as your father had done, that's why I'm a fighter, and that's why I won. As a pegasus, I'm persistent and hard-headed.” I ponged my hoof against my head. “So, guess what? Screw you and your side of the story. In my heart, I know that my hooves aren't soaked with my mother's blood. I don’t need you, you’re just a waste of time, probably the reason why your father even left you.”

“Triple burn!”

“I'm going to find the truth out by myself, whether it kills me or not!" I then kicked the slightly torn blanket onto him. "Enjoy your next day in the sun," I wished him with detest, trotting my way back into the school. "C'mon, Ditzy, we can leave Grim alone, he doesn't want filthy pegasi around him." I paused in my hoofsteps, scanning the area for the bright-eyed mare. "Ditzy?"

"Graze..." her voice called out from the back. I didn't like the sound of her tone. "I'm over here."

I turned around to face the mare, but what stood before me was that alicorn sized pegasus, Mr. Charge, holding the wall-eyed mare by the back of her neck clenched between his teeth. Beside him stood another pegasus of authority, the one who we had hoped to avoid at all costs.

"Buongiorno, Mr. Graze, will you please come to my office?" ordered the Headmaster of EQU, Shadow Mark.

Ditzy's Friendship has reached level 2!

Next Chapter: Chapter Nine: Shadow Mark Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes