A Stranger Among Them

Hello! This is my little Author's Note, and since I decided to submit this story to Equestria Daily as well as , I decided to change from the typical bold to italics (since it seems like a lot of people do it this way on EqD). It really throws me off. I'm serious. My OCD cannot handle a change this sudden and… obvious.

Now for the disclaimer. If I get any complaints about it, I will respond with a "Don't like? Don't read!" And if they're too stupid to read the disclaimer, well, let's just say one of Picard's Facepalms does not show just how apt of stupidity this person has.

That said, while it will be a LunaxOC (incorporating as much CANTERLOCK as I feel is necessary, given that it is, well, Luna), and presently this is somewhat lighthearted, I have plans to make this not dark, per se, but serious after a while. Also, as far as I know, I only have plans to write a one-parter. Not a One-SHOT, a one-installment, Three-act story.

Well, now for LEGAL disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. That honor belongs to Hasbro and Studio B. I am just a humongous Brony hoping to contribute the fandom.

That said, on with the story.


"Where am I? How did I get here? What's going on?"

The questions plagued my mind as I lay there, content to sleep. There's nothing at all bad about laying on a soft mattress of a surface, with gentle wind caressing you while you attempt to sleep. It was just too comfortable, and I had absolutely no desire at all to vacate the position I was currently in. However, the decision of whether or not to move was not decided by me. Instead, something rather sharp poked me in my side as I lay there, content to just sleep away the day. I yelped and shot in the air, landing on not two, but four feet. Strange…

"Oh goody! He isn't dead!" came a high-pitched, hyper voice as someone- or something- started bouncing around me while I rubbed my side with my hoof and started to take- wait, my HOOF!

Sure enough, as I opened my eyes and looked down at my arms, I beheld not hands, but hooves. Black hooves. I quickly started looking myself over. I was a pony! A black pony, with wings, a long, bright red mane, and some sort of marking that looks like a flame on my side. Was I high?

"Pinkie Pie, that's enough. He looks completely confused," said a much less hyper voice, belonging to a purple pony, with a horn. A unicorn, then. She had a marking like mine, but it involved stars rather than a flame. Her violet eyes stared at me in slight confusion as I was looking over myself.

I paid little attention to everything else as my condition started to reveal itself to me. In my excitement and looking around, I had noticed, but paid little attention to my wings, which were currently raised, waiting to fly me somewhere best known to them. However, when you don't know how to use wings, the position they're in becomes uncomfortable, and useless.

Using new-found nerves, I slowly lowered them into the resting position, or what I assumed was the resting position.

It was then that I started paying attention to my surroundings. The pink pony, with rather wild magenta hair, was bouncing around, happy as can be, apparently oblivious to her surroundings. The violet unicorn was inspecting me, but I was distracted by the other five.

One was a pure orange shade, with golden hair, and a Stetson planted firmly atop her head. She too was inspecting me, but not nearly as in-depth as the other. Next to her was a Pegasus, like me I suppose, only it had a blue body, with a mane comprised of an entire rainbow. She looked interested, but at the same time, she was bored with just sitting around. I could tell, she didn't really enjoy sitting in one place for very long. Neither do I, for that matter, so I shuffled a bit.

Next to the currently-levitating Pegasus was a unicorn like the violet pony. However, this one had a white body, with very delicately styled purple hair, and she looked kind of… well… regal. She carried herself a lot more highly than the others, and it was everything-but-visible. Next to her was another Pegasus. This one had a light yellow body, with a pink mane that formed the silhouetted shape of a heart where it separated for her face. Unlike her obviously-bored companion, she looked, if anything, apprehensive. She positively squealed when we made eye contact and looked away bashfully.

However, the last pony put them all to shame. I thought that white one was regal, but this one undoubtedly was a lot more so. Taller than the rest, with a white body, and a mane somewhat like the first Pegasus', different shades of color every few strands of hair, and it covered one of her eyes. However, she was both a Pegasus and a unicorn. What should I call her?

Again, I felt the need to shuffle, so I did.

"Uh, Twahlahght? Ah think he would appreciate it if you stopped," the orange one said. Her accent sounded like it came from the country. Or at least, that's what I assume. I'm not trying to be stereotypical, but that's what it sounds like.

The violet pony backed away, but she clearly wanted to continue researching me.

"Sorry," she said, rather apologetically. Upon meeting my eyes, she gave a bit of an embarrassed grin and backed up.

All of a sudden, my head bore witness to a pounding headache, and I couldn't help but grimace, groan, and grasp my head in pain.

"Ow," I let out after it stopped, a few seconds later. But I put aside my pain to sate my curiosity moments later. "Where- where am I?"

The one that was both a unicorn and a Pegasus arched her visible eyebrow- or possibly both of them?- and looked at me with an absolutely confused expression.

"I don't understand. Where did he come from, Twilight Sparkle?" it asked, the voice giving its gender away as female.

"We don't know, Princess. All I know was that there was a really loud crash, and I ran out here to find him in the middle of where the noise came from," the violet pony explained in an apologetic voice.

"Maybe he came from outer space!" exclaimed the pink one, who was still bouncing around, without a care in the world.

"Well, allow me to ask. Who are you, mysterious one?" the Princess asked.

It was at that moment that it hit me. I don't even know my own name! And what's worse, I don't remember anything about me up until when I woke up moments ago. What did I do, drink myself to oblivion the night before and somehow wind up causing a scene out here?

But before I could concentrate on anything more serious than that idea, a fresh wave of headaches rocked me. Unprepared, I grabbed at my head again, clenching my eyes shut, and grimacing painfully. It REALLY hurt, in case you couldn't already tell.

"I… I don't know…" I gasped, still clutching at my head with my hooves, bent low to avoid falling over. This was really starting to become a problem.

"Hmm… a mysterious colt appears out of nowhere, he has no name, and I'm assuming he probably has no memory too," said the blue Pegasus, looking pleased with herself. She was right, but how did she know I had no memory? All I said was that I couldn't remember my own name.

"How did you know I didn't remember anything?" I asked.

Suddenly, all eyes turned to her. She looked at them for a moment, slightly surprised, but she soon looked annoyed.

"What? I watch a lot of action movies! This happens all the time. Watch, I bet he knows karate," she said, presenting the facts as if everyone- no, everypony- should know this. She then proceeded to walk right up to me and give me a nice punch to the face, clearly expecting me to respond with some form of retaliation or block.

However, I am NOT familiar with karate. And I did not enjoy receiving a nice shiner on my cheek and jaw. Good thing my mane is black, else it would show.

"Rainbow Dash! What was that for!" thundered the Princess.

Rainbow Dash didn't look apologetic at all. If anything, she seemed even more excited.

"Wait, so he doesn't know karate? Maybe I can teach him! That would be so awesome!"

The Princess said nothing, but shook her head and looked disapprovingly at Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes.

"Sorry about that," she said, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

"No worries," I said, feeling rather irritated. I again felt that little itch to move around. I don't know why, but I just can't sit in one place. Ever.

"I have an idea!" the pink one suddenly exclaimed, stopping in her tracks. "Why don't we give him a temporary name? That way, we can call him something until he finds his real name!"

I didn't really care. I was more concerned with stopping the headaches and finding my real name than helping come up with a fake one. But I'll go for it. Who knows? Maybe it'll be my real name? Hah, fat chance.

The Princess tilted her head, considering the idea.

"Do you want a name?" she asked me.

Well, since I am such a snarky son of a gun, I grinned at her.

"I already have a name, Princess. I just can't remember what it is."

The Princess narrowed her eyes, looking a mite angry, but she quickly broke into a smile.

"Well, I can see you and I are going to get along just fine," she said, somewhat sarcastically, "but it's good that you feel alright enough to crack jokes. However, do you want a name?" she asked again.

I considered the matter. I don't know who I am, at all. No memories, no name, and only a vague inkling as to my own personality, but I do have these feelings inside me that tell me that I do want a name to go by. That said, I nodded.

"Okie dokie lokie! Pinkie Pie will have a name for you in no time!" the pink one, who had resumed bouncing around, exclaimed.

"Wonderful," came a rather sarcastic and sardonic response from the violet one, Twilight Sparkle.

"Umm… Princess Celestia?" came a soft-spoken voice from behind me. When I turned, it appeared to come from the yellow one, with the pink mane.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" asked the Princess.

"Can't you, umm, fix his memories or something? Does your magic let you do that?"

Princess Celestia appeared to consider the matter.

"I don't think so. I have healed memories before, but those were memories others shared with her. He, however, appears to know absolutely nopony here, so there would be no one to help him."

I felt disappointed. Well, duh I felt disappointed. This magic-using pegasusicorn (Well, it sounded better in my head) had a chance to heal memories, but well, looks like I get to do it the hard way.

"Umm, excuse me," I said. They all looked at me. "I know this may seem rather odd, but where exactly am I?"

It was Pinkie Pie who answered.

"Just outside Ponyville, of course!"

That really didn't answer my question.

"But where exactly is this Ponyville?" I asked, making my total lack of knowledge of this location even more obvious to Pinkie Pie.

"Perhaps I should explain to him," said the Princess. "We don't know where it is you come from, but you have come to the land of Equestria. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of the Day, and co-monarch of the entire land. These are my subjects, and my students. Twilight Sparkle," she gestured to the violet one, "Pinkie Pie," the pink one, "Rarity," the white unicorn, "Applejack," the orange one, "Fluttershy," the quiet yellow one, "and Rainbow Dash," the blue one.

I nodded my head at each of them as she pointed.

"Pleasure to meet you all," I said, trying to sound polite. I mean, I AM in front of royalty.

"The pleasure is ours," said Twilight Sparkle. "Princess, where will he stay? I mean, we can't just leave him here."

"Hey, there's room in mah barn," said Applejack. "Jist for a couple a days, y'understand," she hastily explained.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me!" squealed the pink one, waving her hooves and bouncing high over everypony else.

"Yes, uhh, Pinkie Pie?" I asked.

"I'm sure the Cakes wouldn't mind if you stayed over at my place-"

However, she was quickly interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

"But I'm sure he would mind when you throw him a party in the middle of the night."

Pinkie Pie stopped for a moment, but continued bouncing around, undeterred.

"I could conjure a bed, I suppose," said Twilight Sparkle. "But you'll have to forgive Spike. He snores in his sleep."

Well, that didn't sound so bad. "Better than sleeping out here. Who knows what could happen?" I said.

"Well, my sister, for one. And she would never let any harm come to anypony," said the Princess.

And again, I felt the need to move. It wasn't just from an itch this time. Something truly felt wrong. I didn't quite understand the feeling, but I shifted again.

"So, where is your house, Twilight Sparkle?"

"Oh please, just call me Twilight. And it's the Ponyville Library."

I nodded, a little confused, and slightly amused. Who lives in a library? I mean, it just seems like someone takes their love of books just a little too far. But before anyone else could say anything, a thundering voice interrupted us all.

"No! I will not allow you, denizens of Ponyville, to interfere! He was brought here to serve MY purpose, and my purpose he will serve! You will not interfere!"

Auras appeared around Twilight Sparkle's and Princess Celestia's horns as they started looking around for the source of the voice.

"Reveal yourself!" shouted the princess.

The voice was not long in responding.

"As you wish, Princess Celestia."

From the air, little wisps of a dark aura began to appear and draw toward a spot in the air. As more and more gathered, the dark cloud began to take a shape. Before long, it also resembled a horse, like the Princess. It had wings and a horn, and when the cloud vanished, the figure revealed itself. It was as tall as Princess Celestia, but something about it made it quite plain that it was much more powerful. Its wings were long and bat-like. Its body was pure black, with a somewhat-spiky mane of bright silver. Its eyes were red and they glared at the Princess.

The figure laughed humorlessly. The laugh was mocking and untold malice lie within it.

"Well, now. I must say, I expected more. A Pegasus? Well, I expected a unicorn, given your previous disposition. Although I must say, I like the coat. Black suits you. It makes it even more obvious that you're an outsider." His voice wasn't deep like I expected, but it still was a voice I would associate with "villain." Pompous, loud, mocking, and undoubtedly rather full of himself.

"Who are you, and why are you here!" thundered the Princess.

The black figure smiled. "Of course, you would not know who I was. My dear sister would have seen to that. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tenebrae, embodiment of all that is darkness. And I have brought this human here to serve me," he said, gesturing at me.

All eyes were on me. Well, all eyes except Pinkie Pie's. For whatever reason, she looked entirely uninterested with the fact that this embodiment of darkness was here threatening all of us. But still, his comment, not to mention the fact that I had already proven my amnesia sort of annoyed me. Did they expect me to know something they didn't?

"Uhh, what?" I asked, feeling somewhat foalish.

Now Tenebrae looked just exasperated.

"Of course. I should have foreseen this. Your memory. It's gone, isn't it?" he asked.

I said nothing. He didn't seem like someone I wanted to serve for whatever purpose he had in mind. However, I still didn't want to look that weak.

"So what if it is?" I asked derisively. At those words, Tenebrae facehoofed.

"I brought you from your home planet, from somewhere you absolutely despised, into this realm. Though, to be honest, based on your personality, I was expecting you to be a unicorn. You would have been much more useful that way. Pegasi can only use weather magic, and that's not exactly strong. That said, I suppose I can always force you into-"

He was interrupted by a bolt of lightning from a nearby cloud lancing down toward him. He dodged, then snarled up at the one who had shot it: Rainbow Dash.

"Insolent little foal! Do you know who I am!" he asked, though his angry voice was punctuated with some malevolent amusement. He probably saw that as a joke, considering his boast about him being the embodiment of darkness.

Dash looked pretty angry at him.

"Yeah, I know who you are. You're a big ham who needs to shut up. Pegasus magic isn't weak. You diss our magic, you be dissin' me. And I don't take kindly to being dissed."

Tenebrae looked, if anything, even more amused by this statement.

"Oh? And what can you hope to-"

But again, he was interrupted. This time, Celestia decided to take a shot at him while he was distracted. Her horn glowed and a beam of white magic shot at Tenebrae, who, rather than dodge it, fired his own beam of black magic right back at the Princess.

The beams met in midair, and almost immediately, the black beam started pushing the white beam back. Slowly, inch by inch, Celestia's beam of energy was shortened, and she looked like she was straining to put up a fight. However, it also looked like Tenebrae was having to fight. His face was scrunched in a scowl as he focused more and more into his beam.

"I... will not… allow you… to touch… my subjects!" Celestia half-grunted, half-shouted at Tenebrae, doing her absolute best to fight him off.

Not ones to let the princess fight on her own, Twilight Sparkle shot a beam of her own at Tenebrae while Rainbow Dash caused another bolt of lightning to shoot at Tenebrae. And in true useless fashion, the others watched, myself included. What else could I do? Of the others, Applejack looked like she was trying to find something to do, Pinkie Pie was currently fumbling with a giant cannon that had appeared out of nowhere, Fluttershy was hiding behind a near-by bush, and Rarity was shooting spells at Tenebrae as well, but she looked like she was trying not to mess up her mane. The spells missed due to her... preoccupation.

It was an admirable effort, but they all were outclassed. After all, they were fighting a demi-god.

After it seemed Tenebrae was finished tolerating this recent turn of events, he finally decided to drop the theatrics. With a scoff and a smirk, he gathered in energy, and with a resounding boom, it exploded outward, blowing everyone back. I personally think I hit the only rock in this patch of grass from here to that collection of buildings down in the valley. Just my luck. Oh, and I hit my head on it too. Fantastic.

When my vision cleared up from the dizziness of my near-concussion, I looked up to find the large ham himself standing over me, a sneer etched upon his face.

"You thought your friends could save you? How cute," he said, making it quite plain that he was at-best amused by the efforts to stop him with whatever he was doing.

Oh damn. He broke out the F word. He's fucked.

With a quick swing, I smashed my right hoof into his jaw. He didn't seem to have expected this, because he stumbled backward. I seized the opportunity and stood, then advanced on him.

"Mistake number one. You thought you could just come here and demand that I serve you. No, I don't think I will," I said forcefully, ramming my hoof into his jaw again. He was better prepared, but he was still off-balance. That was enough to send him back a few more feet.

"Mistake number 2. You start implying that I'm not what you thought. Yeah? I prefer to surpass expectations, and you just gave me some fodder to do so." My next punch he caught, but that didn't stop me from bringing my back hooves up and catching his chin. I coulda sworn I saw Rainbow Dash hoof-pumping at the fact that I knew some ability to fight.

"Last, and certainly not least, you broke out the F-word, even though we only just met. Yeah, no. Nobody, and I mean NObody, fucks with my friends and gets away with it."

I kicked him head-on, and that seemed to have done it. Tenebrae stumbled back, and it looks like he tripped over the rock I just collided with, because he fell backwards.

He stared up at me with an expression of disbelief and obvious fury. He wanted to respond, I could tell, but with a scoff, he stood up, shook himself off, and blew some dust off of his shoulders. I had barely touched him. Oh, this is not good.

However, he surprised me.

"Humph. Not bad at all. Maybe you'll be as entertaining as I thought you would. We'll meet again, human. I brought you into this world, and since you are here, it allows me to be here. But don't get any delusions about leaving. There's no one here who knows how to send you back."

He vanished in a cloud of smoke. When he was gone, I fell back. While I can't remember any instances before that one where I suddenly broke out and started beating the living hell out of anyone, I saw this brief flash of something. A mental image of three people dressed in black holding someone else in a choke-hold. Call me crazy, seeing as how I can't remember anything more, but I certainly hope this one image triggers my memories.

As expected, the first one up to me was Rainbow Dash, who immediately crowed "Aww yeah! That was a major butt-whooping! I bet that loud-mouth will think twice before showing his ugly mug here again!"

Princess Celestia, however, did not share Rainbow Dash's optimistic views.

"If it's true that he will continue to try to force this nameless friend of ours to serve him, and we can't send him away, the only sensible place to keep him is Canterlot. There, my sister and I can watch over him, as well as your brother, Twilight Sparkle."

Rainbow Dash, who had been going on about how awesome that fight scene was, immediately looked rather disappointed. However, Twilight Sparkle looked rather relieved, as did a few of the others.

"Well, I can't say I'm not a little satisfied. I just don't know what I would do if that Tenebrae fellow returned to Ponyville. I mean, I have my livelihood to consider," said the white one. Well, now I know who my least favorite of these ponies is.

Pinkie Pie also looked rather disappointed.

"Aww, we don't get to name you! And you get to go to Canterlot! Oh well, if you're ever in the mood for a party, remember the name Pinkie Pie!"

But one thing was bugging me. The Princess wanted to keep me in Canterlot, she said. That, if anything, sounded like a prison sentence. They had to keep me locked up so Tenebrae wouldn't come back. Not my ideal cup of tea, considering I can't even sit still for five seconds (at this I fidgeted again). Naturally, I felt compelled to protest. But before I could say anything, Celestia interrupted me.

"I know you won't like it, but you have to bear with it for now. You can defend yourself just fine from this… well… I don't know exactly what he is. He may have shown himself as an alicorn-," oh, that's what the term for that group of ponies is, "but I have a feeling he goes by many forms. Rabbit trail aside, while he wasn't expecting a showing in fisticuffs from you, he will be prepared for that next time. My sister and I can teach you how to use Pegasus magic. As Rainbow Dash demonstrated, it has many uses, and you may find it to your liking."

But that still didn't say anything about why I have to be locked up. Tenebrae didn't have to appear only where I was, did he? Like, if I were locked up in this Canterlot, that wouldn't stop him from appearing somewhere else in Equestria.

Actually, it would.

Whoa now. Now there's two voices in my head. Not to mention it sounds somewhat feminine. I'm not comfortable with that at all!

I do apologize for intruding. Circumstances force me to do this, and I'm sorry, but I have no choice. My brother cannot normally enter this land. He can only appear here because you yourself serve as a living door to it. Trust my judgment, nameless one, and go with the Princess. She will keep you safe. Tenebrae told you of me, but he neglected to give you my name. I am Lux, the embodiment of all Light. We will meet in the future, but I cannot tell you more.

She's certainly making a much better impression on me than Tenebrae did. Well, I suppose I can go along with it for now. I still don't like the sound of being locked up though. One of these days, there's going to be hell to pay for it.

"Fine," I said to Princess Celestia. "I'll go with you."

Celestia gave a kind smile.

"It won't be a prison, I promise you. We simply have to put a couple of spells on you to monitor you, and you should be free after that. But I will need you to do a certain… favor… for me."

That didn't sound so bad, but a favor from a princess? Well that's rather hard to accept. Oh wait, you can't interpret sarcasm in text.

"What kind of favor is this?" I asked.

Celestia's smile shrunk a little.

"My sister Luna has trouble adjusting to her new life. She cannot make friends nearly as well or quickly as you do. You don't even have a memory, and you've already befriended us all. Or at least, we count you as a friend, and considering your reaction earlier, we assume you count us as friends as well. While you learn from Luna and I, I want you also to help Luna learn how to, well, be friendly. Twilight Sparkle here has already given you some progress to start with, having helped her last Nightmare Night, but it was only a trifle compared to what she still has to overcome. I would help her myself, but it is no easy thing to balance ruling an entire realm and teaching your little sister how to make friends. Besides, you seem like someone she would like."

And again, I'm so glad I have a black body. I'm pretty sure I would have put a tomato to shame in redness. This princess is trying to hook me up with her sister? Seriously?

Well, dating a princess really doesn't seem so- oh wait, she's a pony. I forgot. Yeah, this is going to be a fun stay, I can already tell.

"Uhh, okay. When are we leaving?"


I also like to end all chapters with a short(er) Author's note, asking for feedback, and explaining a few of the things I put in there.

For example, Tenebrae? For those of you who have played Tales of Symphonia, his name may sound familiar. That's because it's the name of a villain. I did not steal it from ToS. You know why? Tenebrae is the Latin word for Darkness (noun/personification). Last I checked, no one could copyright words in a language. Also, I have never played ToS. I just know he's an antagonist, like he is here.

Also, I am a big League of Legends player. My brother, when I pitched him the idea of making Lux a female because after starting to play LoL I can never see Lux as a guy's name ever again, says "It does sort of sound like a guy's name though." Well, not so to me, so Lux is a female. She won't make a reappearance till much later, not even in text form.

Now, since this was written post-Season 2 but pre-Season 3 (for anyone reading this after season 3 starts, you lucky bastards, in case there's more Luna characterization), Luna will be the Luna from Luna Eclipsed, though she will slowly change. I'm placing her biological age at around 20-23, with my nameless OC's at 20, even though she is at least a millennium older. Now I mention it, I'm starting to see some similarities between Luna and Aang from Avatar The Last Airbender.

Now, a few final things. My Nameless OC won't be having flashbacks till he gets his memory back, which is sooner than one would think, but those little things I put in there when he was beating the crap out of Tenebrae… Allow me to explain. A person's personality is based on his experiences in life. However, this guy has none (to be fair, he does, but he doesn't remember any of them). Therefore, one of the ways he tries to recover his memory is to back-trace certain aspects of his personality. For example, that moment there? There was one moment in my characterization for him where I went "And he needs to have a moment where he steps up and grows a pair, when some thug threatens his friends." This also led to me making his Cutie Mark a flame. If it gets out of control, like it did when Tenebrae attacked the Mane 6 (and Celestia), Aequivalere (wait and see who he is) help you.

So, now that I have finished a (relatively) short Chapter 1 (compared to others I've read, since, while I have the inspiration and patience, I have an annoying habit of being unable to flesh out too many details without it turning into Purple Prose) , how did I do? Your review is much appreciated.

Also, thanks to those who reviewed this chapter earlier and helped me catch mistakes in it.

One final note, a Pony Generator made by General Zoi helped me come up with the appearances for Tenebrae and No-Name. You can find them on my DeviantArt, username Raetekusu..