Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Ponyville

Time: 1002 years after the defeat of Nightmare Moon

Sunset Shadow really couldn't have cared less. In fact, the sight of happy, caring, living creatures sickened him deeply. He had had an active hand in ending things like this, and these three young ones had fairly lead a wolf into the midst of sheep. He was a monster, no better than Abbadon the demon.

Sunset Shadow nodded, and then slowly began to turn around and walk away. Sweetie Bell jumped in front of him.

"Where are you going? We haven't even started the tour yet!" she said.

Sunset Shadow shook his head, "I have had enough. I cannot go back. I- I really need to get away."

"But you can't leave!" Scootaloo too jumped in front of him.

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom joined in too.

"Look, I really cannot go there… It- it- it… It's too GOOD for the likes of me." Sunset Shadow sighed.

"What? You didn't hurt us, though you seemed a little grumpy at first. You don't look at all evil to me," said Sweetie Bell as she walked up and placed a hoof gently on his shoulder.

Immediately, Sunset Shadow began to perform a killing maneuver that would have ended Sweetie Bell's life in an instant, but he slowed down enough to the point where he simply gently brushed the hoof off.

"No Sweetie Bell. I can't. I just –"

Suddenly, a pink pony with balloons on her flank hopped out into view. She looked at the three Cutie Mark Crusaders for a moment, and then she noticed Joseph. Then she began talking faster than rain falling from the sky.

"Hey! What's going on? Who are you? Oooohhh… You're new. IknowthatbecauseIknoweveryponyinponyvilleandsinceIdon'tknowyouthatmustmeanyou'renew! Hello! I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you?"

Sunset Shadow almost broke then, he could literally see himself, in his mind's eye, ripping out this pink pony's heart, crushing it to pulp, and the burning the Cutie Mark Crusaders to ash. But once again, he managed to pull himself off the brink, though he could smell energy and ozone crackling faintly around his front hooves.

"I… am… Sunset… Shadow… Leave… me… alone."

"Oooohhh… Sunset Shadow! What a name! I like that name! I like all names! But I mostly like kumquats! I like that name the most! Watch me say it three times fast! Kumquatkumquatkumquatkumquatkumquat! Wow! That was tiring! No it wasn't! Let's do it again! Oh, why do you want to be alone?! It isn't fun to be alone!" Pinkie Pie continued, her mouth going off faster than a Gatling gun.

Sunset Shadow had to pull himself off the brink of murder once again as he slowly began to walk away, his ears pressed flat against his skull.

"Must… not… kill… the pink one!" He muttered quietly.

Totally ignoring him, Pinkie Pie continued with her prattling "Where are you going? Come back! Let's have fun! Oh, I haven't showed you around Ponyville! Let's go!"

Sunset Shadow finally reached the breaking point. Sitting down on his haunches, Sunset raised his front hooves and began to aim them straight at Pinkie Pie's flapping mouth, preparing to cauterize it with a lightning bolt.

"What are you doing, silly? Sitting down? Let's go!" Pinkie Pie then hopped over to him… and gave him a hug. Not a small hug, a great… huge hug.

This act surprised Sunset so much that he quickly powered down the lightning and put his hooves down before he went supernova and demolished the whole solar system.

"Did… did you just hug me?" He said, as if he was in some sort of nightmare.

"Of course I did silly! That's what friends do! Let's go! I want all my old friends to meet me new friend!"

"Yeah! Let's go!" said Sweetie Bell as she trotted over to where Sunset sat.

"Yeah! Off we go!" said Scootaloo, and with that, she began to whirr off to Ponyville on her scooter.

Sunset, still acting as if he was in a nightmare, got up, and was literally pushed by Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Bell over to the main street. And then began the tour… it was hell.

With every new pony Pinkie Pie briefly introduced, the worse Sunset felt. The ponies here were so… happy. Something he could never have. This place was literally the polar opposite of his very existence, and he could feel the positive energy conflict with his heart and summersault his stomach back and forth. Soon, they got to Twilight Sparkle's library.

"And here is Twilight Sparkle's house! It's a library! I love libraries! I also love cupcakes! Ooohh! My friend is in there! Twilight Sparkle is my friend friend friend, not just friend friend, or friend. You're a friend friend right now, but if you keep it up, you can be a friend friend friend too! Oooooohhh! Maybe you could even become a friend friend friend friend! Wow!"

"Um, Sunset? We have to go. More Crusadin' you know!"

Sunset turned to the voice of Apple Bloom. He nodded, "you three be careful."

He wasn't able to say much more, for Pinkie Pie immediately dragged him inside the building.

"Hey Pinkie, who is this?" Twilight said as she walked down the staircase. She was levitating a book slightly above her head, but as soon as she saw Sunset, she dropped her book and gaped, "Are you… an alicorn?"

Sunset had been looking at her as if she was a potential threat. Magic was dangerous, something even Dimensional Travelers were vulnerable to, but when he saw the purple alicorn gape at him, he was taken aback. So much awe, so little fear… was this truly a world free of the influence of chaos?

"Er… no… yeah?" He stuttered.

"Oh my gosh, you are! That's amazing! I didn't know there were any other alicorns out there! Where are you from? Are there any more?" Twilight immediately levitated a notebook in front of her and dashed towards him.

Almost on the spur of the moment, Sunset stumbled backwards and shouted, "NO! We already have one Pinkie Pie! We don't need two talking like her!" He then began to prepare a bolt of energy that would most certainly reduce the place to dust, but his comment had done the trick, and Twilight stopped.

"Oh, um… sorry. Heh… Who are you?" She said with a faint blush.

Sunset recovered from his stumble and straightened up, "I am Sunset Shadow. And actually, I really, really, want to get out of here. But your friend friend friend… Pinkie pie will not let me go. Apparently I am her friend friend, and that in some way authorizes her to keep me in sight at all times. I came to Ponyville to get away from people, I mean ponies, not be integrated back into society."

Twilight then looked at him curiously but then turned to Pinkie Pie, "Pinkie, let the poor pony go. I think he looks tired."

Pinkie Pie gave a huge smile, "Okay! See ya' later alligator! Actually, I have a pet alligator, would you like to see him?"

But by the time Pinkie Pie had finished the sentence; Joseph had already leapt out the door and pelted towards the town center. But he didn't get far, for he was unaccustomed to the area, and subsequently… he got lost.

"I am NOT going to ask anybody… god… anyPONY for help." He said under his breath as he trotted around. But his dark thoughts soon became to well inside him… He was in a dangerous situation wasn't he? Assassins could be all around, he was totally justified if he vaporized the town and spread fallout radiation across a couple of kilometers. I mean, so what if a few ponies died in the process, all for the greater good. As the last word in his train of thought passed through his mental station, he sighed. Greater good, what a lie. Where was this "good" the Paradox had promise him? The multiverse was screwed, there was no good, and even if there was, and it somehow outnumbered evil, evil had always been and always will be stronger.

Almost as if to compound his ever-darkening thoughts, the storm clouds that had been hovering overhead began to release their load onto the expanse below.

At first Sunset simply used his control over H2O to push the water directly above him aside, after a few moments he let go of his control and formed a shield of pure energy around him to divert the drops, and then after a full minute, he simply let it drop. Who cared if he got soaked? He was going home to commit suicide anyway, who needed him?

By this time he had made it to the borders of Ponyville, and the forest that his house bordered came into view. But then his sharp eyes noticed the different topography. This undoubtedly was the same forest, but it most certainly was not the same location of his exit with the CMC. Then his eyes registered something else: a small cottage just ahead.

Sunset sighed, he supposed he could ask for help just once, and if he needed to, he could just murder whoever was inside and vaporize their bodies.

Slowly Sunset walked up to the door and raised a hoof to knock. The sound was deep and melodious, and it hung in the rain-soaked air for a second before it too dissolved into the cold deluge.

Then, Sunset heard a light squeak, almost a whimper, "Who's there?"

The meek, fear-laden voice almost made Sunset laugh and vomit at the exact same time. Who did this pony think they were to be afraid? HE had seen true fear. But after a moment of teetering between rage and hysteria, Sunset suppressed his ravaged emotions and said slowly, "Nobody… god… nopony. I just want some directions into that large forest over there. Give them to me and I won't kill- I mean, I will be on my way."

The door opened a crack, and a bright blue pupil gazed out at him. After a moment, the door was flung open. It was a yellow pony with a pink mane, blue eyes, and wings, that had thrown the door wide.

"Oh my goodness, you poor pony!" the flying pony exclaimed, "Let's get you inside and all warmed up."

Sunset almost choked on the moment. Some random pony was literally letting a freaking stranger straight-up walk into her house? My god, he had seen his share of strange dimensions, but he had never ever encountered a situation like this. Immediately he wanted to kill the pony and escape the situation. But the kindness was so overwhelming that he couldn't do anything but be dragged inside.

"Oh my goodness, you're soaked! Here, have a towel. Do you have somewhere to stay? Do you want to stay here for the night?" The Pegasus continued as she piled on towel after towel upon Sunset.

Sunset was now bordering on panicing. This pony was being too kind; there had to be a catch. In fact, last time someone had been kind to him, they later tried to rip out his throat, forcing him to crush their face against a wall. Was it happening again? Did he need to kill her? Sunset then thought about the situation again and then realized something… this was different. Was it just him, or was this little pony literally radiating kindness?

Sunset shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He was a killer, he had to keep his faculties alert. His attempt failed miserably

"I- I- I don't know what to say…" he stuttered as the pony pushed a hot bowl of soup in front of him.

"Don't say anything, just eat. As soon as we're all warmed up we can talk." The pony than began to fill a pot full of water to heat by the fire.

Sunset ate slowly, it was good, but the flavor nevertheless died on his tongue. This phenomenon had really begun to take precedence after the third betrayal: a pretty girl who turned out to be an assassin hired to kill him. In the end, one half of her ended in space while the other ended strewn across some city called Gotham. Nevertheless, he forced himself to eat the soup, just to show he was thankful. Thankful? That was a mouthful, literally.

"Now, how do we feel, mister pony?" said the Pegasus as she trotted in.

"I- I- I feel fine. Um, thanks?"

"Oh my, you're stuttering, do you have a cold?"

"No I am fine, I- I've just never been in such a situation like this before-"

"You must have a cold! Poor thing. I will be right back."

Sunset didn't even try to protest, or even think of a way to kill her. He simply waited, his mind literally numb from the onslaught of feelings he had thought he had abandoned years ago. In seconds the pony was back, she placed a thermometer in his mouth and sat in front of him, looking carefully at it.

"You don't have a cold, thank goodness. How do you feel?" She said.

"I feel… um… fine? I really should get going, I don't think I can take much mo-" He said.

"Oh! But it is still pouring, I knew it was a bad day for the scheduled rainstorm. You must stay here tonight." Replied the pony as she pulled out the thermometer and put it away.

Sunset was getting more uncomfortable by the moment, but couldn't help but ask, "My name is Sunset Shadow, what's yours?"

The pony looked down at her hooves and mumbled something, but Sunset immediately picked up the whispered words, "Fluttershy. That's er… a… um… great name."

The pony looked up and peeked between her flowing mane, "you think so?"

Sunset shrugged, "It's… um… great! As I said. Look I really should be go-"

"Oh, but it's still pouring, stay here one night, I insist."

"But… no… kill… what… weapon… how… Okay." Sunset said as he gave a huge sigh.

Fluttershy smiled quietly. "I don't have a guest bedroom," she said, "but I have this couch over there. I can sleep on there, and you can have my bedroom… if that's okay with you."

"No! I should sleep here; you can have your bedroom." Sunset immediately realized he had said it too forcefully, as Fluttershy immediately looked down at her hooves.

Though it went against literally every nerve in his body, Sunset smiled, and then he said, "Sorry, I will take your gracious offering. Thank you for your kindness." Kindness… what a word. Almost immediately Sunset felt depressed… another mood swing thanks to his ruined emotions and ravaged personality. But at that moment, Sunset noticed a rabbit hopping across and tugging at Fluttershy's mane. She let it hop onto her back; she then carried it to him, "This is Angel," she said, "He wants to say hello."

Sunset looked at the rabbit and said flatly, "Hello. My name is Sunset Shadow."

The rabbit looked at him and waved. To his horror, Sunset found himself waving back. He quickly put his hoof down and said, "I think I will go to bed. I need to wake up early so I can… um… get home quickly."

"Okay, goodnight Sunset!"

"Goodnight… er… Fluttershy."

He went up to the bedroom and climbed onto the bed. As he lay there, he felt worse and worse and worse. The night always brought his emotions out, and slowly he tormented himself to sleep; with thoughts of those who had betrayed him, innocents he had mercilessly killed, and the one who had forgiven him seconds before her wounds he had caused killed her. After hours of torture, Sunset drifted into a hellish sleep.