by JK (NoisyWheat) [not from me] I never knew my parents. I
didn't know if I had parents. I had a home, though. And because
I had a home, I thought I could have a normal life. I was wrong
about that. My earliest memory is of the cocoon. I assumed I
came from it, but I was never sure. It sure smelled like me.
Maybe I just smelled like it. I didn't think it was a bad smell.
It was the smell of plants and water, and I liked both of those
things. I stayed near the cocoon for a few years, I think. It's
hard to tell time in the forest. I knew things from the day I
was born. I don't know quite how. I knew I wasn't the only one
like me, and I knew how to speak. I also knew magic. Magic is
what kept me alive.** I was good at it. I could pull fruit down
from tall trees. I could even make a small amount of water. I
got better every day. Even though I lived in the forest, I
didn't see many animals. I think they avoided me. I was ok with
that. I was afraid of them anyway. I was afraid of most things.
I was small, and I was alone. I didn't mind, until I learnt what
it was like to have a friend, and then lose it. Or lose him,
rather. It started when I was very small, and for several days I
was very frightened, too. I thought a group of monsters was
after me, hunting me. Every day, I would see something new, but
each day, just a glimpse. First, I thought it was a lion. An
eagle maybe? A dragon? I was terrified. Why were all these
things looking at me?** Why would each limb disappear into the
bushes when I said *Hello?* I was scared. I stopped leaving my
cocoon. Even though it had long since withered, it still held
that same wet, plant-like smell. I laid myself down next to it
and called it home. One day, though, I saw the horns. And the
eyes. They didn't match. I let out a little whimper and began to
cry. I lived alone in the forest, and no one cared if I lived.
Now no one would care that I died. Something flew out of the
bushes. Not a creature, but a small object. I was crying, and I
didn't really look. *You can have it. Do you like it?* I looked
up, still crying, to see a horned pony emerging from the bushes.
But it wasn't a pony. It was something else. All of my
nightmares were walking towards me, asking if I liked their
gift. I looked up and saw a small, but ornate, black crown. I
looked further and saw the monster. I put my head back down and
cried some more. I will always regret putting my head back down.
I heard retreating hoofsteps, and allowed myself one glance
through my tears, and saw the monster stepping backwards,
looking like it was about to cry. Then it was gone, back into
the bushes. The crown was still there. I fell asleep by my
cocoon, finding what little solace I could in the smell. When I
awoke, I saw, next to the crown, two apples. The monster must
have come back. I don't know why he came back. I'm so glad he
came back. I wouldn't have eaten the apples, but I was hungry,
and I would rather take my chances with the apples than leave my
home while the monster was around. I pulled an apple toward me
and took a tentative bite. Pears. Why did this apple taste like
pears? I put the apple down, confused. I took a bite of another
apple. Oranges. I had only had the chance to eat oranges a few
times; they don't grow much around this part of the forest. I
loved oranges. I abandoned my fear and practically inhaled the
orange-apple, gnawing at the core until only seeds remained. I
planted the seeds. I'm so glad I planted the seeds. I didn't
think the monster wanted to hurt me, but I was still nervous. I
stayed awake that night, by the cocoon. I pretended to sleep,
not even fidgeting when I was itchy. The monster came back. He
came back. I watched him, with my eyes barely open. He was
holding a bundle of sticks. Even with my eyes almost completely
shut, I was sure it was a bundle of sticks. When he laid them
down, they were lilies. Bright blue lilies. I had never seen
lilies that color of blue. I love that shade of blue. He was
trying to win my affection, and it worked. But I didn't want to
tell him. I wanted to show him. The next morning, I ate the
pear-apple, and I put a bright-blue lily in my mane. I couldn't
make orange-apples, and I couldn't make rare flowers, but I knew
this would work. Magic is an elusive and strange element. It
always has been. Sometimes, it's on your side. That day, I knew
magic was with me. I would still need all of my strength. I bent
down and pointed my horn at the ground near the crown, where I
had planted the seed of the orange-apple. I would later learn
that life-altering magic is the hardest magic to perform. My
horn burned. I could feel the connection from my soul to the
seed, and began to feed it. The seed wouldn't move. I struggled.
I felt my energy slipping away. I remembered the taste of
oranges from an apple. The seed erupted. I felt like my horn was
melting. I felt like I was melting. But it worked. I collapsed
at the hoof of a sapling. I remember his laughter. I
loved his laugh. He loved mine more. I had fallen asleep at the
hoof of the apple tree. I woke there, but I wasn't alone. He was
laughing. He asked me if I really liked the apple that much. I
told him I liked the orange flavored one. He told me he could
bring me an orchard's worth. I giggled. He beamed. I think my
laughter was all he wanted. We talked. I didn't see him as a
monster anymore. I learned about him. He was different. He was
like me. I learned his name. He learned mine. He told me about
the short amount of life he had lived. He had lived so much more
than I had, though we were roughly the same age. We were both so
young. We would get much older. Nothing ever hurt more than
becoming older than him. He lived in the forest for years, like
me. He was alone, like me. He was magical, like me. But his
magic was different. He could make things what they weren't. He
could make things not make sense. I liked that about him. He
showed me it was fun to not make sense sometimes. I once asked
him where he found the crown. He didn't want to tell me. It took
several days to coax an answer out of him. In a forest not far
from this one, he had found cocoons like mine. Several, in a
group. They had been burned to the ground. He thought I would
cry. He said he hated to see me cry. I didn't cry, though. I had
never known others like me. I was no more alone than I was
before. And now I was with him. When we were there, we were
happy. We stayed together. He would make me laugh, so often. He
truly loved to see me laugh. I was never afraid with him. He
protected me. If he was a monster, he was my monster. Everything
changed when he told me about the others. The others who were
all the same. The others to whom we were the monsters. A town of
ponies was not far from my forest. I had never left before. He
said he didn't like it there. They had caught glimpses of him,
like I had done, but they never got to know him. To them, he
remained the monster in the woods. No one knew about me. I
wanted to see them. He said he would take me, if it was what I
wanted. For the life of me, I wish it hadn't been. We
walked together. We ate apples. Apples that tasted like anything
but apples. He said that as long as things could always be
different, we could always be happy. I believed him. That was
all on the way to the village of the ponies. He had agreed to
take me, but upon our arrival, it was clear how nervous he was.
I put a hoof around his shoulder. I thought he was worried about
how he would be treated. He was worried about me. We walked
side-by-side into the town, and I was amazed by everything I
took in. The buildings, wagons, and orchards, I had never seen
before. But I was most amazed by the amount of other foals. They
ran from us.** They were afraid. He was right. I didn't look
anything like him, and neither of us looked anything like them.
I was still happy. We were together, and it didn't matter if
they ran. We would still be there. We walked through the town,
and everypony hid from us. I thought they'd get used to us, like
I'd gotten used to him. I was only half-right. We persisted for
days, coming into the village and sleeping in the nearby woods.
The town ponies eventually stopped hiding. Instead they just
glared. In some ways, this was worse. I thought they needed more
time to accept us. I didn't realize how much they had hurt him.
It was harder to find food this close to the town.** I was
almost ready to give up here, and he knew it. He snuck into
town. I wish he hadn't. I learned he had tried to steal apples
for me. He was going to make them taste like oranges. He got
caught. A group of young fillies and foals had seen him, and
they followed. He led them right to me. He threw me an apple,
and I laughed. He smiled, and everything was what I wanted it to
be. A foal in the group called out that they had caught the
monster red-hoofed. We saw the group of ponies. There were two
foals, a filly, and two radiant fillies with horns and wings,
like me. They were all angry, but only one was actively seeking
a fight. He continued shouting, and he called us names. I was
frightened. I began to cry. Maybe if I hadn't cried, everything
would've been ok. He had always been protective of me, and now,
in his eyes, a foal was seeking to hurt me. I don't know who
swung first. I want to believe it was the foal. I am not sure.
It's hard to have a simple scrap when one arm ends in claws and
the other in talons. There was blood. I am not sure how much.
The ponies had all wanted to hate us, and we had now given them
a reason. The alicorns pulled the foal away with their magic.
Their magic was strong, and their magic was going to hurt. I saw
him look up at the one with the sparkling mane. I saw their eyes
meet as she pointed her horn towards him. I didn't know how I
did it. She was going to hurt him, and I realized I couldn't be
the weak one crying while my protector was taken from me. I
needed to be fierce. I needed to be strong. I needed to be
different. And so different I became. I took upon myself the
most fearsome form I had known. I wore the skin of my protector.
I screamed. I roared. I had magic in my voice, and my voice was
as thunder from my throat. I saw fear in the eyes of the
alicorn. The ponies and the alicorns ran, using their magic to
take the foal with them. I saw him look after them as they ran,
though I now know he only looked for one of them. I felt my fake
skin leave me. He did not ask me how I did what I had done. He
only asked me why I had chosen him. Why his form was what I
chose. Although I could not bring myself to say it, he saw in my
eyes that it was because I found his form the most frightening.
I hurt him that day. I hurt him and I only meant to save him.
I told Him we needed to leave the town. We couldn't risk
being seen there again. He said he couldn't leave yet. He never
told me what he was waiting for. I knew. He began to do things
around town. I saw him change rain to molasses. I saw him change
snow to salt. The ponies began to take notice. The alicorn began
to take notice. He had already noticed her. I wished he would
forget her. I wished he would remember me. The subjects of his
alterations changed. Entire buildings collapsed. Wagons fell
apart. Property was destroyed. I once snuck into town in the
skin of another to buy food. The apples tasted like apples.
His actions were misguided, but I knew what he was trying to
do. It hurt me more than he ever knew when I saw him head to the
alicorn's house with a bundle of sticks. When he came back, he
was hurt. Not physically, but deeper emotionally than many can
ever know. He cried. I had never seen him cry. I laughed for
him. I'm not sure I should have. He smiled when he saw me laugh,
but there was no true joy behind it. I think between the town
ponies, the alicorn, and myself, we made him believe the world
viewed him as nothing more than a monster. He said he was
leaving. He said he was going to change things everywhere. He
told me change was always better. I'm not sure I believed him
anymore. I begged him not to go. I told him I needed him to
stay. He said he needed to go. I followed. He walked, and I
walked. He ran, and I ran. He flew, and I flew. Whether or not
he truly wanted me to be, I was there by his side. Story
presented by Kenneth Udut (simplify3) on 11/04/2012 using Hal
Reader and Microsoft Expressions Encoder 4.0. Thank you Jason
for writing such an fantastic story.
