Darkflare was very confused. He was flying through a rainbow colored, swirling corridor at what he thought was a high speed, but there was no way to know if he was even traveling at all. He felt like he was in there for a long time, but he also felt like time stood still. All he knew was that he was feeling increasingly tired, as if being in this place was draining him of his energy.
Suddenly the rainbow colors melted away and they left only black. There was no trace of light left and he could not even see his hand in front of his face. Then an intense pain wracked his body. It was worse than anything he had ever felt before. He felt like his bones were being broken and reformed. Just as quickly as the pain arrived, it vanished, leaving Darkflare even more tired and broken than he was before. Darkflare was nearing the end of his endurance and the lack of color around him weakened his resolve.
He wondered what he could have done to have deserved this. Then he remembered the horrible things he said to his friends. He fully believed what he had said, and he still believes it. Still, he could not bring himself to justify saying those things. They were selfish and dishonorable things. Even if they were true, they did not justify him saying those things. Even if they were true, he knew that those things could be applied to him as well. He benefited from their friendship, just as much as they were benefited. If he had not met Tarix, he would still be the sorry, friendless, Nintendo-playing nerd, and there would not have been anyone to help him get through his father dying.
However, Darkflare could not bring himself to want to make up with them. Not because he didn't want to be their friend anymore, but because he felt he did not deserve to be their friend. He felt that they would rather him die than to be his friends again. The darkness sapped his energy more and more. He thought this was a fitting end, to die and have no one be hurt by him again, in a random unknown place where no one would find him.
He was about to give in to the darkness and die, but then a white glow illuminated his face. He opened his eyes wide and his hopes immediately rose. The white light grew larger very quickly and the center opened up and he could see dark brown below him and black dotted with white. He soon realized that it was the ground and the night sky, and the ground was hurtling towards him.
He hit the dirt and skidded to a halt, making a rut in the ground like in a cartoon. He was still conscious, but only barely. He did not feel any pain, he just felt really tired. Through much effort, he was able to lift his head and he saw that he landed near a large tree that was up on a hill.
His vision began to blur and he knew he was about to pass out. He didn't try to fight it anymore since he was out of that weird place. He lowered his head to the ground and slowly closed his eyes. The last thing he saw was a figure step in front of him, and then he fell unconscious.
Darkflare was first aware of a bright light shining through his eyelids, making him open them due to irritation. He quickly realized that opening them felt downright painful and he closed them immediately. Now the light was only mildly annoying and he felt like he could still go back to sleep, as is what his aching body was telling him to do. After a couple of minutes he realized that the light would not let him sleep, and he became too aware of his sore body to be able to relax.
He tried sitting up, but the movement of his back sent waves of pain through his body and he slumped back down. Only now did he notice that he was in a bed, and not just any bed, but the most comfortable bed he ever laid in. He let his muscles go slack in order to enjoy the comfort as much as possible, which is the first thing that alerted him that something was wrong. He could feel his muscles relax, but they weren't muscles he was familiar with. He could not wiggle his toes or fingers, he could not move his familiar feet or hands, but he could move something that felt like arms and legs. However, they did not feel like the arms and legs he was using before.
He tried moving his arms up and was stopped by the same sore feelings he felt when he tried to sit up. Although, the pain wasn't that bad and it really only felt like he was bruised all over and he managed to bring up one of his arms for inspection with only a little effort.
He saw that instead of a hand being there in front of his face, he had a stump at the top of his arm. He immediately yelled out in surprise and fell out of the bed. He tried to get up and found that his hands and feet were merely stumps and he was horrified. He still felt the need to try and stand up, but he was not used to balancing on these stumps and he dropped to the floor on all fours.
Darkflare stood there and looked at his limbs. He noticed that instead of becoming narrower as the projected outwards, they became wider. He also saw that the stumps were not rounded like what he saw from amputee victims, but they were flat and did not look disfigured as if they were cut that way. In fact, he could have sworn that he saw legs like this elsewhere and he tried thinking of where that could be.
"So you are finally awake," declared a voice from across the room. The voice was small, quiet and distinctly feminine.
Darkflare looked towards where the voice came from and he saw a yellow horse with a mane colored a very light pink. It also had a pair of wings on it and a pair of eyes that had a very light bluish green color. He looked around the horse to see who was talking, but he could only see the horse.
"Um, hello? Who's talking?" Darkflare asked.
"I'm the only pony here who could have been talking," the small horse said, sounding like it was a most obvious answer.
Darkflare's jaw dropped to the floor. The yellow horse spoke to him as if it was the most natural thing for it to do. He was even more freaked out than he was before.
"Y-you talked! B-but you're a-a horse. H-horses can't speak!" Darkflare stuttered.
"I don't know how hard you hit your head, but all of us ponies can talk, remember?" The pony asked matter-of-factly.
"But how? Humans have lived for thousands of years and there have never been any sort of horse that could speak," Darkflare reasoned.
"Humans? What's a human?" questioned the yellow horse.
"I'm a human. How can you not know what a human is? There are only a couple billion of them on this planet," Darkflare said incredulously.
"I can see that you hit your head pretty hard on that landing," responded the yellow horse.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Darkflare rebutted angrily.
"Well you are obviously very confused. Just look into that mirror and you'll know that you are no human, whatever that is."
Darkflare looked around and saw that there was indeed a mirror behind him. He looked inside it and he could see the yellow horse in the doorway, the bed behind him, the window that allowed the harsh morning light that woke him up inside the room, and another horse. The second horse had a longer face and looked somewhat bigger than the yellow one. It had a horn on its head, purple eyes and had a very strange color for its coat. The coat was a dark, metallic black color almost like armor, but it wasn't straight black. Darkflare noticed that there were what seemed to be red tips atop all the black. They were like the red highlights that his hair had, and It gave the horse a sort of dark red tinge while still looking mostly black. His mane had the same coloring and was just as short and messy as the hair Darkflare had.
That hair color was the same kind of coloring that Darkflare had before and that fact only confused him more. He tried desperately to see himself in the mirror, but the only two figures were the horses. He tilted his head and the black horse did the same. He raised his arm, and the horse raised its foreleg. His mind was assaulted with so many thoughts and feelings that he could not focus on one. His mind overloaded and he collapsed again onto the floor.
Darkflare came to for the second time in the bed under the covers. This time the yellow horse was sitting next to the bed with her eyes on him. The eyes looked glazed over and her expression was blank and bored.
"Do you pass out often?" the yellow horse genuinely asked.
"So, I'm a talking horse, right?" Darkflare asked, ignoring what she said.
"Apparently you are. What else could you be? Also, why do you sound completely amazed that ponies can talk?"
"Well where I come from, only humans can talk, horses can't," Darkflare said.
"Where in all of Equestria can there be ponies that don't talk? Are you from the Everfree Forest?" The horse said with a voice full of wonder.
The way she said that last part made Darkflare hesitate. He thought she was genuinely curious about this place where talking horses live, but he couldn't be sure she was being serious. The statement she said confused him.
"Equestria? Where is that?" Darkflare asked. The horse was quiet for a moment and Darkflare wondered if he had said the wrong thing. Then she spoke and confirmed what he had been thinking.
"You're in Equestria, a magical land inhabited by ponies."
He had been wondering how he could not have heard of talking horses if this pony says that there were many of them and what this pony said only confirmed those thoughts. Somehow, that portal had transported him into another universe and transformed himself into a male version of a pony. He had heard many stories that had a similar event happen to the characters.
"Well then this is even more awkward than it was before. I'm from the United States, not Equestria or the Everfree Forest. All I know is that I was swallowed up by some sort of portal and now I'm in a different dimension and a pony. Do you know what could have happened?"
The pony was quiet for another couple of minutes. Then she got up and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Darkflare yelled.
"Go back to sleep. You'll need your rest if you are going to help me tomorrow." The small pony told him.
"You didn't answer my question, though." Darkflare pleaded, making the horse stop in the doorway.
"I don't know if I should believe your story or not. If it is true, I don't know anything anyway," She responded.
Darkflare sat there in bed feeling his sore body ache. He did not like the pony's answers, but he was too tired to get up and go after her. There was one last thing he needed to know before she left, though.
"I'm Darkflare. What's your name?"
"Fluttershy."
The next morning Darkflare woke up and he was still sore, though much less so than the previous night. He tried getting up and he fell out of the bed and sprawled out on the floor. He slowly got up, his aching body protested a little, but he was just a bit sore. He tried standing up on his hind legs, but he could barely get up halfway before he lost his balance and fell back down. He wondered momentarily how to walk in this new body since he couldn't stand up like a human. However, he remembered crawling around in his other body and soon realized that he just needed to act like he was crawling. It was still weird trying to operate a horse's anatomy, but he got the walking part down pretty quickly.
He walked over to the door and was faced with another problem. The door was closed and the only way to open it was by turning the knob. He looked at his front legs and hooves and he wondered how he could do this. He lifted his hooves and put them on either side of the knob and turned it that way. As he turned the knob, however, Fluttershy pushed her way inside and caused Darkflare to fall onto his back.
"What are you doing?" Fluttershy looked at him, wondering if he was normally like this.
"Nothing," Darkflare said quickly getting up.
"Just hurry up. You slept so long that I had to start the chores myself," Fluttershy sounded annoyed.
"I'm sorry for being tired, I only almost died yesterday," Darkflare responded sarcastically. Darkflare then received a smack to the back of his head. Darkflare's head reeled from the power of the blow. He had fought many people who were very skilled fighters and here was a small yellow pony hitting him harder than any of them. He didn't expect something like this from something that looked so weak, but he rationalized that it was probably due to her being a horse.
"Don't be so dramatic. You were never anywhere near the point of death, you dolt," Fluttershy said matter-of-factly, "yet you still slept for three days after I found you."
"Three days? That's impossible!" Darkflare said confoundedly.
"No, what's impossible is that you are still tired after all of that sleeping. Now get a move on, we're burning daylight."
Fluttershy exited the room and flew down the stairs. Darkflare was very amazed that she was able to fly and he wondered just what kind of place Equestria was. He had heard about Pegasi on Earth, but they were just fictional beings as far as he was concerned. However, her impatient tone kept him from pondering such observations and he quickly went out of the room. He did not think she was likely to act like she did just now, but he guessed he just assumed before he really got to know her.
He hesitated at the top of the stairs for a second before he started down them. He was momentarily concerned with how he was going to get down them, but it didn't last long. The orphanage had many staircases and sometimes he and his friends would crawl up and down them, so he was able to get down safely, if somewhat awkwardly.
When he got to the bottom of the stairs he took in the sight of Fluttershy's living room. The stairs faced the front door, which was red and wide open, but the paint was chipped off. He looked around and saw a fireplace and lot of tiny houses that looked large enough to house a couple of small animals. The houses looked old and unused, and their paint was worn and chipped. There were stairs all around the ceiling leading to each of the houses, but there were places where they were missing steps. Darkflare got the feeling that this was once a beautiful sight and wondered what had happened. There was a couch near the staircase and it had blankets and pillows on it like someone had been sleeping there recently.
He walked outside the door and he wondered where Fluttershy had gone. Then he heard something around the left side of the house and went to check it out. Fluttershy was inside a pen that had a small house in the center of it. There were a lot of chickens walking around the pen, not seeming to bother with Fluttershy. She held a scrub and a bucket with suds coming out of it and Darkflare approached her with a questioning look on his face.
"Come inside, the chickens have made quite a mess of their pen, so we must go in and clean it," Fluttershy ordered. Darkflare looked down at his hooves and Fluttershy knew what his thoughts were on that, "The brush is made to attach to your hooves. Lift up one of them so I can put it on."
Darkflare did as he was told and held up his right hoof. Fluttershy then strapped the brush to it and it fit perfectly on the bottom of his hoof, and the straps were nice and tight.
"Alright, now get to it, and make sure you do a good job of it," Fluttershy said.
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Darkflare asked.
"That's none of your concern, now go, I'll be back soon enough to inspect your work," Fluttershy told him, then she got out of the pen and started walking towards the forest.
Darkflare stared at her retreating form for a moment, thinking that it was unfair that she left him with such a gross job to do. Then he remembered what she said about him being asleep for three days, then he wondered if that was the only bed in the house, since there only seemed to be one bedroom. He had also remembered the couch that looked like it was being used to sleep on. Darkflare reasoned that she had given up her bed, a very comfortable one to say the least, and slept on the couch. This kept him from thinking badly about her leaving him there, and he set to cleaning the pen.
Then he walked up the small ramp and entered into the pen. It was rather small, could probably fit him, Fluttershy and the chickens in it, but not much else. It was completely filthy, though. There was poop and feathers everywhere, crushed into the floor by the constant in and out running of the chickens. Now he felt an insurmountable amount of rage. It was like one of Mr. Filch's most disgusting punishments, but ten times worse. The sheer volume of the feces and down was impossible. The place stank to high heaven and Darkflare felt nauseous.
It took him almost two hours to scrub the floor clean. The entire time he could smell the poop and he almost threw up on multiple occasions. He wasn't all that sore, but the intensity with which he scrubbed added to the soreness. He walked out of the coop and collapsed onto the ground, his aching muscles burning from the repetitive motions of scrubbing the floors. Fluttershy was nowhere to be found and Darkflare was glad he was able to just sit there and relax for the moment.
He took in the scenery around him and he was kind of confused. He had always lived inside the city, but he did sometimes travel to more rural areas on field trips and other trips. He knew that in the summer, the grass and trees in the city looked like they were dying and they were not as rich and vibrant as they were in the country side.
He figured it was summer from the heat, and he knew he was in a rural area since it looked like he was in the middle of a clearing, but what he saw appeared desolate and dying. There were many patches of grass that were green and showed life, but there were also patches that looked dead, and there were spots that were barren of grass and even the dirt looked dry and dead. The trees didn't look much better. There were many lush and green trees and some even looked ready to bear fruit. However the quality of the trees varied and there were still many dead trees that looked big enough to where they shouldn't have died very easily. He had expected to hear many animals going about their business in the trees, but except for the occasional bird, he couldn't hear anything. He had been camping many times before and he knew that if he just sat and listened he could hear the sounds of nature in sometimes disturbingly high quality, but he just didn't get that here and once again he wondered what this Equestria was like.
Once he got over the desolate look of the place, he started going over the events that led him here. He knew by now that he was in a different world, evidence being the manner he arrived here, his change in anatomy, and the talking pony that was Fluttershy. He remembered his time inside the rainbow corridor and he remembered the feeling of despair that took him. He remembered welcoming death with open arms in order to punish himself for probably ruining his relationships with his friends. He felt angry at himself for having yelled at the others out of anger, and for saying those things he didn't mean. He did not know how he thought he could have died in that place. Then he figured it was more that he hoped it would happen.
He became even angrier, but this time at himself. He had heard about many people committing suicide and he thought of all of them as cowards who were too weak to handle life, and now he had become one of them. Death was not a punishment, it was an escape. It was dishonorable for him to wish death upon himself without being properly punished first. It was moments like these that always made him wish his father were here to keep him on an honorable path in life.
His father was a Marine and he would have been ashamed of his son's dishonorable thoughts and actions. He would never have yelled at his friends and said that they were only alive because of him, that their lives were shaped completely by his influence. Such notions were completely wrong and selfish. He would have said that he was a better person for having known them and that he had been saved by them on multiple occasions and in many different ways.
He would never have done anything to betray their trust, but if he managed to, through some fluke act of God, he would have owned up to his mistake and he would have let his friends do what they would to him. After he apologized, of course. Darkflare, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to apologize to them at the moment. This angered him further as he was not able to let his friends get their justice.
"It seems you have finished cleaning," said a voice from behind him.
"Of course I did," Darkflare said and stood up, putting on an energetic front. "That was much too easy. What else can you throw at me?"
"It didn't seem to me that you thought it was easy. You were sprawled on the ground unable to move," Fluttershy said.
"I was just resting up for the next job. What else do you have for me to do?" Darkflare asked eagerly.
"To be honest, I don't have anything else for you to do. I already did most of the chores before you woke up," Fluttershy told him.
"Really, you don't have any disgusting or demeaning things for me to do?"
"No, nothing really comes to mind. Besides, why would you want to do something like that?"
"You don't have any gutters that need to be cleaned? Any latrines you haven't cleaned in a while?" Darkflare asked, ignoring her question.
"No, I don't even know what either of those things are."
"Come on, there's got to be something for me to do," Darkflare pleaded.
"No! What is wrong with you? Why are you so desperate for me to give you something to do?" Fluttershy asked exasperated at his persistence.
"I'm not desperate, I just want to do something difficult," Darkflare said. He tried to keep his rising anger bottled up, but a little bit of it colored his tone.
Fluttershy looked at him with her usual blank expression for a few moments. Then she turned around and walked back towards the house.
"Hold on! What other chores do you need for me to do?" Darkflare yelled at her.
"For the last time, no! I have nothing for you to do. I know what you are trying to do and it is not going to work. I have no use for someone who is too angry listen to reason anyway. Talk to me after you have cooled down a bit."
"I'm not angry, I just don't want to be stuck doing boring and pointless jobs. They'd be a waste of my time," Darkflare retorted.
"No, you are already wasting your time by trying to find some sort of punishment for yourself. I don't know what you've done to make you feel like you need to be punished, but I do know that you are going about resolving it the wrong way."
"I'm not trying to punish myself. I just don't want to be useless, that's all," Darkflare said.
"It is plain on your face that all you are trying to do is to find a job to punish yourself. It would be useless for you to try to find it here anyway. There is nothing here that would be acceptable punishment for anything. Such thoughts are only entertained by weak individuals who are too cowardly to face their mistakes."
Darkflare did not like being called a coward. Even worse, he did not like being called weak. His anger rose until he stared after her with such an intense hatred he felt he could have set her on fire, which is exactly what happened. Fluttershy suddenly burst into black flames with veins of red and purple flashing around them like a dust cloud created by a volcanic eruption. Darkflare did not lose much time as he quickly ran to her aid. There was a river nearby and he pushed her into it, thoroughly dousing the fires that came to life due to Darkflare's own emotions.
Fluttershy looked to be in pretty bad shape. Her mane was half gone; there were large patches of fur gone from her coat, leaving bright pink spots that looked like they were severely sun burnt, which seemed a bit too extensive for an open fire to be able to cause in such a short amount of time. Luckily there were no deep burns and she had passed out, so he knew she couldn't feel any pain. Still, he couldn't help but feel horrified at what he had done. He had no clue how he had done it, but he felt immensely terrible and he wanted to help her, but he also wanted infinitely more to run away from the situation. Suddenly, there was a flash of red and the world around him went black.
The darkness only lasted for a few moments, but Darkflare felt like his lungs were having the air choked out of him and he couldn't breathe. He felt as if he was inside a fire and the smoke was flowing into his lungs. His eyes stung from heat and something like smoke. There was another flash of red and the black and the smoke was suddenly gone. He breathed in a huge gulp of air and coughed vehemently when he felt how coarse his throat was. His lungs and throat burned as if he had just ran through a burning building. He felt dazed and nauseous as well.
The cloud over his mind lifted a little and he realized that he was not by Fluttershy anymore in the shallow river, but in a dense wood. It was a stark contrast to the almost-desolate looking field that Fluttershy's tree was in. The grass was a dark green color and the trees were thick and very green as well, with a dark brown bark covering the large trunks of them. Everything looked so vibrant and lively, however, the thick canopy above kept out a lot of the light that was trying to flow in, with thin holes that shone bright. The forest looked much more dangerous than the clearing because of its more lively state and the darkness created by the canopy. It was very hot and humid in the forest and he knew it was because the thick canopy let in water and heat, but kept it in, like a greenhouse. It wasn't too bad, but it made Darkflare sweat lightly.
The haze that clouded his mind had fully cleared by now as well as the nausea he experienced. He did not like the feel of this place at all and just wanted to leave. The more he looked around the further he got freaked out. The trees had an ominous way of looming over him and some of the branches were broken and gnarled. He got up and started walking in a random direction at a fast, but leisurely pace.
The various noises of the forest did nothing to help Darkflare feel safe. They were dark and dangerous and they came from every direction imaginable. Most of the time the noises would be distant and Darkflare could block them out with only a little bit of effort. However, there were also a couple of shrieking cries that echoed throughout the forest. These were loud and carried a sense of blood lust. The fact that he never saw any trace of an animal anywhere made the enigmas ever more frightening. Darkflare felt as if he could be attacked at any moment by a vicious monster. He started sweating more profusely than before from both heat and fear.
It became hotter and more humid as he went along the path. His coat was soaked with sweat that would not evaporate. He felt his movements become slightly heavier and slower, which would not have bothered him if he were in some other place where he did not feel the need to run at any moment. Sometimes he was amazed at how well organic bodies adapt to their environments and how they were able to function so wisely and effectively. However, now he was more irritated by it since it tried to cool him down, but his body did not know that what it was doing was making things worse.
Surprisingly the noises around Darkflare grew quieter and more distant until there was barely any sound other than him walking through the forest. This pleased Darkflare somewhat and he relaxed a bit and the sweating decreased, but did not cease. He was still paranoid enough to believe that maybe the animals wanted him to let his guard down in order to attack him more easily. This was a small thought, however, and it only kept him on edge enough to keep his eyes and ears open.
The ground started to get mushier and water dripped from the canopy above him as if it still contained rain water and just was not letting it go very easily. The mud and wet grass made it even harder for him to pick up his hooves and continue on. It slowed him down to a snail's pace and it served to freak him out to no end like before. Eventually it got to the point to where his hooves would stick to the mud and he would have to spend a couple of seconds and quite a bit of force in order to lift them up, only to set them back down and repeat the process. He knew that if he were to be attacked now, he would be completely defenseless.
He decided to turn and start walking in a new direction. He knew that continuing down this path was not likely to provide him with an exit. He looked around him and he saw that moss was growing on one side of a tree, and he determined that he should walk in the direction it pointed. His path was blocked by a large, dense bush, but he was too scared to be bothered by this and he just tried to move through them. The bush was very thick and he had trouble getting through, but he soon found out that his skin was tougher than it was when he was a human.
He knew animal hides were tougher than a human's, usually, but he was still amazed by this new development. His coat also aided in keeping him safe from the bush's thorns. It provided extra padding, and it was a good way for Darkflare to avoid the thorns. The coat distorted his figure and he tried to keep the thorns from making contact with the coat, so even if they did, they did not connect with his skin. He still suffered a few minor scrapes and he did manage to cut himself a couple of times. They did nothing to hinder his physical well-being, but he became irritated the more he fought through the bush and the thorns managed to stab him.
He trudged through the bush for a couple of minutes and there did not seem to be an end to it. The bush was so thick that there was very little light intruding in the bush. Darkflare also managed to walk across the branches without them even twitching. Darkflare was so sure that the branches would support him that he was unprepared for what happened next.
He was about half way across the span of the bushes when his front legs suddenly fell through the bush with the sound of many breaking twigs and he tumbled forward. His head followed his legs and he found that half the bush was hanging off the side of a steep cliff, but it was too late for him to stop his descent. He fell forward and started rolling down the cliff. Good thing the cliff wasn't that high, as he hit the bottom of it a couple of seconds after he started to fall. He was in pain, however, and he cursed at his misfortune.
He looked back up at the cliff and he saw that it was too wet to climb very easily. He also noticed that the sky was full of dark gray clouds and it was raining now, obviously the source of the wet rock. He understood why the path he was on felt increasingly hot and humid. This was actually a pleasant development. Sure he just fell down a steep, rocky hill, but it was relaxingly cool and quiet now. The bush he fell out of shielded him from the rain and the open environment and the rain itself drowned out any of the sounds from the animal kingdom. Darkflare did not see it like this, however, as he could only feel the pain the fall had caused.
Darkflare's anger suddenly sparked to life at almost full capacity. He was constantly being given the middle finger by the world around him and he was sick of it. He just wanted to leave this place and be rid of it, so much so that he just started pounding the ground with intense ferocity. His horn glowed a very deep and dark red and suddenly there was a huge flash of light and he was blown back against the cliff side. The light returned to normal and he saw a circle comprised of scorch marks in the center of the small clearing.
He suddenly became very tired. It was as if the light had drained him of his energy. He fought sleep for a couple of minutes, knowing full well he was still in a forest that seemed like it was full of dangerous beasts. However, the rain and absent of the creepy noises that made him feel that way, he found himself unable to stay awake. The blast had also blown him into a very comfortable position, which was the bane of his resolve. He just laid down his head on his hooves and relaxed all of the tension in his body. Within minutes he was once again asleep.
Suddenly Darkflare jerked awake. His whole body shook and his teeth were chattering, and the first thing that he noticed was the fact that it had cooled down considerably since he fell asleep. He thought it was considerably darker as well and he could tell, even with the dark gray clouds overhead, that it was well into the evening and the sun was sure to set within the next hour. It seemed to have stopped raining at the moment too, although it still smelled like it was raining and everything in this clearing was wet. However, he knew that he was not so on edge because of the cold.
He was fully awake and alarmed for an unknown reason and he tried to calm himself down. Then he heard a fearsome howling and he now knew what had woken him up and put him on edge. It echoed all around him, so he could not determine where it came from and it sounded as if it was calling out to something which sent a chill down Darkflare's spine. Another howl echoed through the clearing in response to the first one and it sent another chill through his spine. It was louder than the first one, suggesting that the thing making the noise was getting closer.
He got up and realized the clearing was walled off by the cliff he fell from. He probably could have made it up the rocky hill if it weren't so wet. As it was, the only exit was in front of him and if he stayed there he would be trapped. Another howl rang through the clearing and this time it was close enough for him to determine the direction it came in. Darkflare knew that he had to get out of there fast.
Darkflare started running towards the exit of the clearing, but was stopped by a deep growling noise. The forest canopy was very thick further ahead and it blocked out the rest of the small amount of light coming from the sky overhead. Out of the darkness came an animal that looked like some kind of wolf to Darkflare. It looked to be made of fallen branches and leaves from the forest. Its features were terrifying, even more so than a normal wolf would look like since this one did not have any fur. Its eyes glowed a dark green color and it was the first animal he had seen that actually looked primal and untamed. It advanced on him slowly, making Darkflare step back to get away from it. Then another one came out of the forest, and another, and another, and finally a fifth one entered the clearing. He was also aware of a very foul stench and it grew stronger as the first beast opened its mouth, baring its sharp fangs at him.
Darkflare was forced back into the corner he was trying to get out. He thought about trying to run up the hill behind him, but it was too steep and wet for him to do it quickly and these wolves looked like they were better at climbing than he was. Darkflare knew he only had until they charged at him to come up with a plan. He considered just charging at them, maybe the bold move would catch them off guard or he could just run fast enough to get away.
Then he remembered what he had done to Fluttershy. He almost killed another sentient being, and this one was totally innocent. This one had taken him in, gave him her own bed to sleep in, and took care of him and he repaid her by setting her on fire. He didn't know how he did it and it was a total accident, but it was his fault that she almost burned alive.
His anger flared up once again. He wondered how he became such a source of pain. He killed an old man, and while he often tried to make the children suffer from the chores, he hadn't done anything that really warranted his death. He yelled at his friends when they were only trying to help him and betrayed their trust. He betrayed the kindness of Fluttershy and almost killed her too. His actions have been dishonorable. He was a monster and he deserved to be put down, taken out of this world so he could not cause the misery of others.
He wondered why the wolves had not attacked him yet, and it was probably because they were waiting for him to do something, probably so that they could chase him and play with him while they allowed him to fight for his life. Darkflare sat down and that told the wolves that they weren't going to get anything out of this kill. They ran at him and Darkflare closed his eyes waiting hoping for a quick death.
Then he heard a fluttering of wings and a gust of air told him something passed by him quickly from behind him. He opened his eyes to see Fluttershy on her hind legs and flapping her wings at the wolves. She kicked one with her hind legs and it broke up into pieces. The others backed away from the sudden onslaught and Fluttershy quickly grabbed Darkflare and flew off into the forest at an unbelievable speed. Fluttershy zigzagged through the trees, trying to lose the wolves made of wood.
They didn't stay airborne for long though. Fluttershy grew tired quickly from having to carry Darkflare and they both crashed to the ground and rolled a good distance further. Fluttershy lost no time getting back up, however, and she lifted Darkflare up onto his legs and urged him to run forward, but Darkflare did not want to go.
"What the hell are you doing Fluttershy, are you trying to get killed?" Darkflare yelled angrily.
"Well, the plan was for us to get away safely, but if you are just going to stand there then that can't happen. Now let's go," Fluttershy talked back and turned to run. Darkflare just stood there, however. "Come on, let's get out of here!"
"No! Just leave me here and go save yourself, I'd only cause you more pain if I went back with you."
"What are you talking about?" Fluttershy asked truthfully. Darkflare looked at the burnt spots on her body and Fluttershy followed his sight. She rolled her eyes and took an irritated tone.
"I don't care about that right now, moron! I'm not going to just run away and leave you for dead!" There was some more howling and every second it grew closer. "Come on! We need to move, now!"
Darkflare didn't want to, but he knew Fluttershy wouldn't go on without him, so he started running for her sake.
"How can you want to save me after what I had done to you?" Darkflare roared over the howling and their running and heavy breathing.
"I don't care about that! It doesn't matter right now!"
"I set you on fire, Fluttershy! How can that not matter?"
"These don't even hurt anymore, there's nothing to worry about now except getting us out of here."
They jumped through a bush that was in their way and when they came out on the other side, they were again faced with a clearing walled off by steep cliffs. They skidded to a halt near the base of the cliff. They were about to go back when the howling grew ever so closer and the bushes around the clearing began rustling.
"Damn it! Go Fluttershy! Fly away and leave me here. I don't deserve to go back with you anyway, so just go!"
"I'm not doing this for you, you dunderhead! I'm just not letting these monsters take another life right in front of me!"
She turned and ran at the emerging wolves and she kicked another one out of existence. Darkflare stood there, stunned at the little yellow pony defeating three more of the wolf things. There was only one left and it was quickly dispatched in a yellow blur of the pony's hind legs. She turned and yelled at Darkflare:
"Now, let's get out of here before more –"
Fluttershy was interrupted by a wolf that jumped out of the bushes and swung a claw at her. It caught her face and created three huge gashes over her right eye, and she was knocked to the ground. She shrieked aloud and Darkflare was suddenly spurned into action. His anger hit new highs as he witnessed Fluttershy almost die because of him. If Fluttershy had only left him then none of this would have happened. He would have died contented and no one would have to suffer for his sake, but no, Fluttershy wanted to rescue him for nothing and she was about to die in the process, the stupid pony.
Darkflare's horn glowed red again and just as the wolf was about to deliver the finishing blow, it was suddenly engulfed in black flames. Only this time they were stronger and Darkflare didn't feel like trying to put them out. Within seconds the wolf had turned into a smoldering pile of ash. He ran toward Fluttershy and he picked her up, put her on his back, and started running.
Fluttershy was rather heavy, but Darkflare was too angry to notice and he barreled through the forest at top speed. He heard more howling, but this time it was deeper and it reverberated all around him like surround sound speakers with great subwoofers were playing the best rock music for bass ever created. Darkflare glanced behind him and his emotions turned from great anger, to immensely horrified. From about half a mile away it looked like a massive version of one of those wolves and it was ganging ground on Darkflare. Darkflare was now running faster than he ever had before, the trees whizzing past him in a blur, and the beast wasn't gaining much more ground, but it was still slightly faster.
The canopy was getting thicker, however, and the sheer volume of branches slowed down the monster considerably. Darkflare felt hope again and he pressed on even faster, leaving the giant wolf in the dust. For a while Darkflare thought he was finally going to have some good luck.
Darkflare had been running for quite a while and the growling and the roaring of the monster had almost disappeared. The canopy began to thin out and Darkflare was able to see an increasing amount of sunlight before him. The canopy above began to thin out noticeably and the light was getting stronger by the second. Soon he could see the sun setting on the horizon and Darkflare was finally outside this cursed forest. It was truly a wonderful feeling. Then his hopes were dashed across the steep cliffs that bordered this so called exit from the forest.
Darkflare saw the ground suddenly stop and he had to dig his hind legs into the ground to stop himself. He stopped just short of a straight drop down into a gorge. Fluttershy was jostled, but he managed to keep her on his back. Then the beast from before let loose a massive roar and Darkflare could see it making its way towards him, now merely walking briskly now that it had cornered its prey.
He ran through every crappy moment he had since a week ago. He would have been angry just at how karma was being a dick. However, now he had to endure the knowledge that not only was it going to kill him, but it was also going to kill the very person he was trying to save. The demon was now only a short mile away and it had stopped and crouched, taunting Darkflare, It told him that he was completely at the mercy of the wolf and Darkflare thought he could see the faintest trace of a smile. Darkflare was gripped with despair and he froze in place waiting for the inevitable.
He was brought out of his state of despair with an unfamiliar wetness on his back. It was warm and Darkflare looked back to see that the injured side of Fluttershy's face was bleeding profusely. Darkflare stared at her for a second, then he set his jaw and turned back to face the monster. His eyes burned with a fire that was unlike any they had ever shown.
"No," he spoke softly. Then he spoke louder and louder until he was yelling at the top of his lungs, "No. No, NO! I won't just stand here and let this happen. This is the last time I let things happen due to my weakness!"
Darkflare started yelling and charged at the giant beast. It saw the challenge and it growled in amusement. Then it saw the determined, defiant eyes of Darkflare and it became angry. It saw the commitment and the ferocious fire that burned within the tiny figure and it growled at his insolence. It bared its fangs at Darkflare and lunged at him going for the kill. Darkflare's horn glowed one more time. There was a flash of red right where he was and he disappeared in a flash of black fire. The fire lingered in the space Darkflare had been when the animal reached it and it stopped just on top of it.
Unfortunately for the wolf, the fire was fast and powerful and soon its entire leg was engulfed in the black and purple fire. It started jumping around trying to put the fire out, but to no avail. The wolf was soon covered in the black fire as it thrashed around. It was so frantically thrashing around that it was not aware of how close it had gotten to the edge of the cliff. The burning monster was covered in black and purple flame and it shined red and orange in the sunset beautifully before it took one step out over the edge of the cliff and it tumbled to the ground. Before it could respond its torso had slid over the steep cliff and it clawed at the ground before him, digging deep into the earth, but it was not able to lift itself back up. Anything watching this scene only saw its flaming claw shoot up for one last grab for safety before the beast fell off into the deep gorge as a massive pile of ash.
AN: One month. A whole month of vigorous writing and editing and here is the second chapter and I couldn't be happier with it. This took a lot of effort and I loved every minute of it. Now I know for certain that I want to be a writer. I am going to work harder than before to get these chapters out, and I will start updating my other stories. Thank you for reading this, and all I can ask in return is for you to read and review as much as you want. I'm doing this for myself as a writer as well as you guys as an entertainer, and I want to hear what you think about what I write. I would really appreciate it. Thank you.