A/N: I've been working on this with KaizerKaiju2014 for a while. I'll post this perspective and she'll be posting the other perspective. Mine is of my OC. Hope you like!

The Edge of Night 1:

Us Today

CHAPTER 1: Another City… er… Village

I strolled into the new town in which I would be spending the next few months. Ponyville, it was called. It seemed quaint enough, down to earth in a way. Part of me was elated to see such a quiet little village, and the bigger part of me wished so dearly to go straight back to the city. Knowing that wasn't an option, I walked on toward what looked like a hotel. I looked down at my hoof-watch. It was almost five. I brushed a bit of dirt off of my dark blue coat. I slugged my last suitcase over my back. The second I heard the Thump! of the leather-on-fur I heard a squeal. It scared me out of my skin. I looked behind me to find nothing. I rested a bit. When I looked forward to continue on to the hotel I found the source of the squeal…

…a centimeter in front of my face. She was a pink pony, much shorter than me. She had curly, magenta hair and water-blue eyes. She was bouncing up and down. It was only until I looked her over did I realize she was saying something. "…believe you're new here?! You made the right choice coming to Ponyville! We never get any visitors, so this is a big, big, BIG occasion! Do you know what this calls for?"

She stared me down. My head was back as far as it could go. My eye twitched a bit. "…uh…"

"A PARTY, silly! See my cutie mark?! This is what I'm born for!" Her cutie mark was three balloons. "I'm pretty popular in town! I throw a party almost once every week! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?!"

To her statement about the weekly parties I could only reply in a deep whisper, "Why…?" Nonetheless she stared me down, waiting for me to answer her out of nowhere question. "…uh… D- Dyi…"

Sure enough, I need only say half of the word. "Your name is Dash?! I have a friend named Dash! Only she's Rainbow Dash! The fastest flier in all Equestria! What do you do?!" Without a hint of warning, she ran behind me. She pressed her eyes to my flank, examining its mark. "Oh! I see! You fire, huh?!" I took a quick glance at my cutie mark. It was a single orange flame. I looked at the still bouncing pony in front of me.

"S- Sure…?" My eyes darted to the hotel over and over again. Thinking this could get me to the safety inside, I pointed to a building. "Is that a shiny thing I see?!" The plan worked as the mare squealed an ear piercing squeal and ran to the building, looking it over. I darted into the hotel. It was mean, but I wasn't quite in the mood. Letting out a sigh of relief, I set one of my bags down to catch my breath. The door of the hotel opened and a purple unicorn walked in. She looked at me and walked toward me.

"Hi. Sorry about my friend back there. She can get a bit… excited about new ponies," she said with a nervous smile. I pushed my glasses back up to my eyes.

"Yeah, no kidding. I'm not too fond of get-togethers…" I hated parties. I loathed parties. With that in mind my shoulders sunk at the unicorn's next words.

"Heh… You're, um… actually going to have to go… Sorry. Pinkie's not exactly good at taking 'no' for an answer." She let out a nervous giggle. "Sorry. It won't be too long. It's one of her 'lower tier' parties."

"She has tiers?" I asked her with emphasis on that last word. She smiled a bit and looked out the door, probably at that pink pony. She looked back at me.

"Yeah… So," she started in a change of topic, "You're staying here?"

"Don't have anywhere else to be," I said, grabbing my suitcase again.

"Good luck," she started, "This place has been packed full since the Apple Cider season started. Ponies from all over Equestria come here every year. Princess Celestia herself would be lucky to get a room this time of year," she said with a bit of sarcasm, but not much. I sighed.

"It's either this or the street…" I said quietly. I wanted to say 'again,' but I simply choked out the word. She looked at me with sympathy. I looked over at her again. She turned a bit and I saw her side. She had… wings? Was I talking to an Alicorn?

"You… An Alicorn…?" She looked at me again and smiled.

"Yeah… I just got back from the castle yesterday. I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?" I blinked a few times. Wow… The Twilight Sparkle I've heard so much about. In a town like Ponyville?

"My name is Dying Rain."

"That's a nice name. It's nice to meet you." I forced a smile. It was kind of hard, considering the alley was my new home yet again.

"You too," I mentally slapped myself. What kind of response is that?! I walked past her. "I'll see you round." I pushed the door open and walked out. I walked down the street with my head down carting the weight of my luggage. I looked in alley after alley, looking for one that at least looked somewhat comfortable. A piece of my dark brown mane fell down in my eye. I blew it away as I heard somepony call my name.

"Wait!" I turned around to see the Alicorn I had just met. She slowed herself down and walked up to me. "Look… I know we just met, and we hardly know each other… but… I can't just let you sleep on the street." She turned her head a little and blushed. "So… um… would you like to… I don't know… maybe stay with me until the hotel clears up?" She slowly looked up at me. Oh, how I wanted to say yes.

"I'm sorry. You don't even know me. I don't wanna be a burden like that." I turned around to leave, but she put her hoof on mine.

"You won't be a burden. I have enough space at my house. Please? I just wanna help. Plus… I'm a princess now. I'll always lend a hoof or two to help a friend." Her purple eyes stared into my blue ones. I started to say no again…

…but her eyes made me say yes. She gave me an honest smile and I returned it. She walked in front of me and led the way to her house. I felt the stress on my back lift and disappear. I looked to my luggage. It was gone. I started to freak out, but I looked just above me. My suitcases and saddlebags were floating with a purple aura. "What the…?" Twilight looked back at me and giggled.

"Why didn't you do this before?" I blushed a little.

"N… No reason…" She giggled a bit again and continued to walk. Should I tell her? Should I tell her and embarrass myself? No. Keep it secret. Don't get laughed at again. I looked up at my long sharp horn. As far as anypony else knew, I was a unicorn. The long patches of fur on my sides itched again… We continued to walk down the calm street. I saw an enormous tree in the distance. I scoffed to myself.

Big tree. Looks big enough to live in… Wait…

We walked up to the tree to see a green door. My jaw dropped a little. Twilight opened the door and we walked in. The entire house smelled like maple. "You live… in a tree?"

"A little old fashioned, I suppose. But it's cozy enough to get me by," she said with a smile. She led me up the stairs and into a small bedroom. "Sorry it's not very big. It's my only guest bedroom."

"Twilight, you could tell me to sleep in the closet and I'd still be grateful. Thank you," I said with the utmost sincerity. She closed her eyes and smiled.

"Anything to help a friend. Dinner is in an hour," she said, opening the window a bit. A soothing draft flew into the room and I immediately became tired.

"Thanks. I'll start looking for a job here tomorrow," I said. I unzipped my suitcase and started to lay out my things. I looked up. Twilight was looking at me with a questioning expression.

"Why don't you use magic?" I sighed a little. Might as well tell her. I am going to be living in her house.

"Alright… I… I never learned… how…" I looked down and blushed. I squinted my eyes behind my long mane, bracing myself for the volley of insults and remarks. What I got made my eyes go wide.

"That is so sad. That's, like, the first thing a parent should teach their foal."

"They couldn't."

"Why not?"

"… I'd rather not talk about it." She smiled.

"That's fine. I shouldn't have asked."

"At least now I know you're different from everypony else," I said with a relieved sigh.

"What do you mean?" Her head tilted a bit.

"In school, everypony made fun of me because I didn't know magic." I suddenly remembered my fillyhood. I remembered the years of torture. I remembered wanting it all to end, and the special reason it couldn't. I remembered getting into violent fights in school. I remembered beating that colt to a pulp.

Twilight put her hoof on her chest and sat down next to me. "Really? That's so sad. I can't believe anypony would make fun of somepony for not knowing something…"

I held my head down, holding back the flow of tears. She put her hoof on my shoulder. I breathed in a massive amount of air and slowly exhaled. "Anyway, thanks again for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. You know what? Tomorrow I'll take you on a tour of the town. You can look for work afterwards."

We stared into each other's eyes. It took all the muscles in my mouth to utter the words: "I'd like that." We sat in silence for a bit, getting lost in each other's eyes. Our calm silence was broken by a loud voice.

"Twilight!" We jumped a bit and chuckled. She grabbed my hoof and stood me up.

"Let me introduce you to my assistant. He lives here too. His name is Spike."

"Twilight, you here?!"

"Be down in a minute!" she turned to me again, "Just a heads up. He's a little… different."

"He can't be that bad," I said. I was wrong. He wasn't even a pony. He was a little dragon. It scared me out of my wits the second I saw him, but I maintained my composure.

"Rain, this is Spike. Spike, this is Dying Rain."

"Hey, Rain."

"H- Hey, Spike."

"Spike," Twilight started, "Rain'll be living with us for a few weeks."

"Cool. It's about time something happened around he –BUUURRP!-." I jumped back a ways as the dragon burped up a stream of green fire. The fire faded into a scroll. My eyes were as wide as dinner plates as Twilight casually opened the letter. My glasses almost fell off of my face as Twilight actually was starting to get happy about the letter.

"Celestia wants us to come to the castle tomorrow." I slowly walked toward her. "Y'know, now that I think about it, you're about as tall as her sister."

"Oh. Er… Cool…"

She started to inch her face toward the paper, an inquisitive expression dawning on her face. "She says she wants me to look around town for a certain pony. She said she sensed something odd about him."

"Who're we lookin' for?" Spike asked, trying to look at the letter.

"Odd. She says she wants me to find an Alicorn. In Ponyville? That's weird." At this I quickly backed away toward the door. The dragon didn't matter anymore. Celestia didn't matter anymore. A home didn't matter. My stuff didn't matter. All that mattered was that nopony knew. As soon as my flank hit the door, it creaked open, making Twilight and Spike look back at me. I looked as if I were a deer in the headlights. "Where are you going?" Twilight asked.

"U- Uh…" I pushed my way slowly further out the door. "I'm… just getting some… fresh… air…?" Twilight's brow furrowed a bit.

"Come here," she said to me. I started to run out the door, but I couldn't seem to move. I opened my eyes again to find I was locked in a turning position by a purple aura. I floated toward the mare as sweat started to flow down my forehead.

"Uhm… About this…" I felt my sides twitch a bit. The bits of purposely long fur lifted up and my bat-like wings were forced to show themselves. I closed my eyes tight. Twilight and Spike both gasped at the same time. "Fine… You caught me… I'm… I'm the Alicorn."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I… I…"

"This is important!"

"I was… I can't…" The words simply would not come out of my mouth. I stared into the piercing eyes of my interrogator.

"Just tell me."

I closed my eyes again. I finally spit it out. "I was… I was born to be evil!"

Twilight continued to stare at me. "What, you don't believe me?!" I started to get aggressive, finally telling somepony. "You know Queen Chrysalis, right?!"

She nodded. "How's that relevant?"

"She's my mother! I never learned magic because she was defeated long ago! I never even had a father, either!"

Twilight's shoulders had sunk. "Chrysalis is… your mother?"

"Yes! Look at my eyes. I mean, seriously look at my eyes!" Twilight stared at me. She gasped a little as she finally noticed my pupils were ever so slightly pointed. I opened my mouth, showing off my canines. "And look at my teeth!" Her eyes widened further as she noticed the sharpness of my canines. She sat in silence.

"Need more proof? Watch!" She gasped even louder as a light green mist surrounded me and disappeared, leaving Twilight Sparkle in my place. I had changed forms. I stared at her with an intense gaze. Her breath had drawn out. She slowly set me down as I changed back. We continued to stare at each other, Twilight with a shocked expression and I with an acidic glare.

"So go ahead. Arrest me. I guess I've been running long enough."

She looked up quickly. "You have a warrant?"

"For being me, yes. Why do you think I came here in the first place?"

She walked up to me and put her hoof on mine. "I'm not turning you in. Just because your mother did some horrible things doesn't mean you should have to pay for it."

"I still want you to take me to Celestia. I want to meet her face to face."

"Sure. We'll see her tomorrow." I began to get a bad headache.

"I think I'm going to turn in early. I'll… I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight." I walked up the stairs and into my new room. I zipped the suitcase up again and put it on the floor. I immediately got under the covers and pulled the blanket over my shoulder.

Sleep didn't have to wait for me.