Hurt (FiE:7)

Part 7
>You feel a warm, magical presence wrap around you.
>Then, the pain sets in.
>Oh god, the pain.
>After an eternity, you are slammed onto stone ground.
>Funny, last you checked, the field you were working in has a dirt floor
>Why is it dark?
>You suddenly hear a manic laugh
>”Yes. YES! I have DONE IT! I am the most powerful rune mage in ALL THE LEAGUE!”
>Oh god, that voice is terrifying.
>”And you... You are mine...” A candle lights behind him, and you see a demonic smile through the shadows that dance across his face.
>The magics that held you are gripping tighter, and you are powerless to prevent-
>Wait.
>No.
>You are not powerless.
>You are the Harbinger of Doom. The personification of fear.
>You are FAR from powerless.

>You stare deep into the blue eyes of the being that caused you more pain than any mere mortal could experience.
>But you aren't a mere mortal, are you?
>You're a scarecrow.
>And a god damn scary one at that
>”I am not your play-thing, summoner. Release me, or you will have nightmares of me while you are still awake.” You smile, black ooze dripping from your teeth as you speak.
>”Who do you think I am? Think about what you are doing?” His voice is a little higher pitched than it was a moment ago.
>”I am thinking. Do you know what I am thinking, mage?” Your smile is still ear to ear.
>”N...no...” the voice is even higher, and his eyes are moist with tears.
>”I am thinking... I am going to enjoy this” You begin laughing.
>Yep. Those are definitely tears.
>The magical bonds that were holding you weaken as you stare deep into his...really large... blue eyes.
>A familiar feeling washes over you.
>”There it is. Your fear. Oh, how fun this will be” You stopped laughing, and are now merely grinning
>”That's impossible. I fear nothing! I will never fear anything!” the voice is deep again. He is probably fueled by adrenaline right now.
>Damn fool.

>The magic that held you up drops completely, and you fall to your knees
>”Those who say they have nothing to fear... “ You say as you slowly lift your head to face him
>”Have yet to feel the crows” You lock eyes. Oh yeah, he is terrified beyond expression.
>You grab his throat, and pull him down to you, staring deep into his soul, searching further into his fear.
>You discover his fear is a little white marshmallow of a pony with a pink and purple mane
>Wait. That looks surprisingly like Sweetie Be-
>When you make the connection, your mind snaps you back into reality.
>You are clutching a terrified Rarity by her throat, tears pouring from her blue eyes, a blanket crumpled at her hooves.
>That explains the warm wrapping feeling.
>Hey Fid?
>Yes Brain?
>You dun goof'd

>So this is it.
>This is the first time you have caused harm to an innocent.
>This one was trying to cover you with a blanket.
>Sweet gesture, but you don’t get cold. Or warm. Or anything, really.
>Either way, here you are, holding the marshmallow mare by her throat, staring deep into her very soul through her tear laden eyes.
>Yet, you cannot bring yourself to let go.
>Why is her deepest fear her little sister?
>You want to explore. You need to explore.
>No.
>You will not bring any further harm to this p0ny.
>You let her go.
>”I..” You trail off, not having anything to say.
>She continues to stare at you, her breathing in quick, ragged gasps.
>You rise and approach the door, walking past the crying p0ny.
>As you exit, you look towards the cane she gave you when you first met her.
>Yeah, the original meeting of you was a little...hostile, to say the least.
>But you settled it with her, and you settled a debt.
>She even gave you a gift.
>This was far worse than hurting an innocent.
>You hurt a friend.
>The only friend you ever had.
>You walk towards the table it rested on and look into the gem, your reflection yielding no expression.
>As you leave, you lean the cane against the door frame.

>It's still night out.
>Internal clock system says it's 3:19 am.
>Thanks, Brain.
>You walk until you reach the edge of the Everfree.
>You didn't even realize you were walking towards there.
>Maybe this place naturally attracts monsters.
>You could never undo the pain you caused your friend, but you could prevent it.
>You stop for a moment, looking at your reflection in a creek.
>All that suffering you caused, and you didn't even apologize.
>Why didn't you attempt to console her?
>Hell, you didn't even frown at the fact you hurt her.
>Your lack of expression after hurting something so dear to you is what truly makes you a monster.
>After all of this time, after everything you have done to prevent yourself from becoming what you most despise, you have failed.
>You step over the creek, and continue walking
>You failed yourself, and this upset you.
>This upset you to the point of rage.
>Why did you even care?
>You have known nothing but death and terror, why did you care that you hurt something?
>It wasn't even a person you hurt.
>You stop yourself.

>That little p0ny had more humanity than anything you have seen in your time in the League.
>Before that, you don't know, but that time doesn't matter now.
>What matters is your time here.
>And the fact that you feel light headed.
>Strange, you haven't ever felt anything like this before.
>You fall to a knee, and lean your weight on your now full sized scythe.
>Leaning your head on the staff of the scythe, you look down to see a blue flower.
>Blue as the eyes that stared at your terrifying presence.
>This must be some sort of a sick joke, you think to yourself.
>Surely the gods of karmic justice are having a field day with you.
>Before your morale could be poisoned any more, you collapse face first into the field of flowers.

>You are awaken by the sun assaulting you through your eyelids.
>Man, the sun really burned bright here.
>Bright enough to hurt your eyes.
>You shut your eyelids tighter and turn your head to the other side.
>Doesn't help much.
>Wait a second.
>You sit up straight, and blink.
>You blink again.
>And again.
>Holy mother of god, you're blinking.
>You run your hand on the top of your head.
>Hair.
>You feel hair.
>Holy shit, you have hair
>Holy shit, you have feeling in your fingers.
>You look at the fleshy appendage.
>HANDS.
>HOLY SHIT. HANDS.
>FINGERS.
>THIS IS COOL
>You sit there for a moment, opening and closing your hands repeatedly.
>You've always been able to do this, but this was different. You could feel your palms on your fingertips.
>You haven't felt anything before now, except pain.
>And even then, pain wasn't really pain more than your mind registering that you were taking damage.

>Still sitting, you run your hand gently through the flowers, the silky petals dancing across your palm.
>You move your toes (TOES! HOW COOL!) through the petals as well, the tickling feeling eliciting a small chuckle
>Hey, a normal sounding laugh!
>You rise, and begin to head towards the creek you saw the previous night.
>You look down at your reflection.
>Your black hair is short and well kept, your green eyes vibrant and full of life.
>You look like a human.
>Your old burlap sack body draped over your shoulders like a very long tunic.
>You dip your hand into the creek, feeling the cold water dance between your fingers.
>Cold.
>So that is what cold feels like.
>You cup your hands, and splash some water on your face.
>That was a wake up call if there ever was one.
>You wipe off your face with the bottom of your burlap poncho, focusing on the rough texture rubbing against your face.
>This “feeling” thing is pretty cool.
>This is certainly an interesting turn of events,isn't it Brain?
>Not as interesting as last night.
>What happened last night?
>Let me pull up those memories for you, Fiddle.
>Thanks Brain.
>As you start to recollect, you freeze.
>You remember what happened last night.
>Every terrible, painful detail.
>You stare for a thousand yards, a feeling of pure guilt crushing your previously elated spirits.

>Get a hold of yourself, man!
>I can't, Brian. I'm a monster.
>No, you aren't dude. If you were, would you be feeling as bad as you do right now?
>...
>Exactly. Man the fuck up, and grab your scythe. You have to apologize to somep0ny.
>Brain was right.
>I usually am
>Brain is also very modest.
>You walk towards the field of blue flowers.
>You pick up your scythe.
>Hot damn this thing was heavy. Maybe if it was in its smaller form...
>You focus for a second, and it shrinks down to throwing size.
>Cool, you haven't lost that ability. And it's significantly lighter.
>That'll leave a free hand to carry some of those  flowers.
>You can't just walk in to apologize to a lady that you terrorized to tears without some form of gift.
>After picking some of the blue flowers, you begin to walk towards the direction of town.
>As you walk, you are looking into the flowers.
>They're absolutely captivating.
>So captivating that you manage to bump into a warm, fuzzy body.
>”I'm sorry.” you say without looking up.
>Wow, your new voice is smooth.
>”Not yet, you hairless dog!” this causes you to look up
>You see that you bumped into a very large, and very pissed off Diamond Dog.
>You drop the flowers, and wrap your fingers around your scythe.
>”Walk away, I do not want to harm you” You say as you will the scythe to grow to a larger size.
>”Try me” It says, as it pulls a sword from a sheathe. The blade shines in the broken sunlight
>It appears death follows you wherever you go.

>Neither of you move for a moment.
>”I will not be the one to attack you first, dog. Leave, and I will do the same” You were verbose. You like the sound of your new voice.
>”I am Fido, you will fear me!” It barks at you.
>Fear?
>This cretin thinks it knows fear?
>Hey Brain?
>Yes Fiddle?
>Let us teach it the meaning of fear.
>Now you're speaking my language.
>The dog swings, and you parry with your scythe.
>Being able to feel the scythe shake under the strength of the blow was a new experience.
>Being able to parry it and attack back though, was an experience as old as time itself.
>A swing of his sword here, a slice of your scythe there, blades clashing as you both press your weight into each others weapons.
>Held in a bar, you look into the dog's eyes.
>You can see its fear.
>It fear scarecrows.
>With a smile, you twist your scythe, and disarm him.
>The dog follows the flying blade with his eyes, and leaps after it
>You will your scythe to throwing size, and throw it at the dog.
>With a loud yelp, its rear leg falls separate from its body.
>Whimpering, it looks back at you as your scythe appears in your hand.
>”I know what you fear.” You say as you smile.
>The dog is dragging itself towards the sword.
>”What you fear is a monstrous scarecrow. Normally I would say your fear is well placed.”
>You throw your scythe into the dog's outstretched paw, stabbing through it and pinning it to the ground
>It yelps again, looking back at at you.
>”But it isn't. Do you know why your fear is misplaced?”
>Fido whimpers.

>”You should not fear the scarecrow, dog. You should fear the one wearing the scarecrow's body as a shirt.” You say, smiling from ear to ear.
>The dog looks you up and down, and notices the sack shirt. It begins to tremble.
>You grab the sword it was grasping for.
>The dog begins to cry as you grab its sword.
>”Shhh, no tears,” You say, as you slide the blade into its heart “only nightmares now.”
>After a shudder, the dog falls limp.
>Grabbing your scythe out of it's paw, you wipe the blood on its fur.
>The blade glistens scarlet as you slid it out of the dogs chest.
>The sword is very high quality in comparison to the other weapons the dogs had.
>You remove the belt from the dog, and wrap it around your sack shirt.
>Fits surprisingly well. You sheathe the sword, and place your hand scythe between the belt and the sack.
>Walking away, you remember you forgot something very important.
>Grabbing the blue flowers from the ground, you see they were untouched by the conflict.
>It is good to see something so pure, so elegant, can remain undamaged from a battle with a monster.
>This gives you hope that a certain elegant mare would remain undamaged as well.

>After what feels like an hour, you manage to approach the edge of town.
>Your burlap poncho serves to cover yourself up some, but your legs and arms are bloodied with multiple small knicks, and you are covered in mud.
>But you kept those flowers clean.
>You smell them, the petals ticking the inside of your nose.
>Your nose violently expels air.
>So this is what a sneeze feels like. Not quite what you expected, but still an interesting experience.
>You begin to chuckle at the fact you are marveling over something as trivial as a sneeze.
>Why're you laughing, Fid?
>I dunno. This whole situation is pretty funny.
>Straighten up, you're almost there.

>The other p0nies are giving you a wide berth.
>Makes sense. You are a bipedal creature with 2 weapons, you are covered in mud and blood, and you are carrying a bouquet of flowers.
>You chuckle again, imagining what everyone is thinking of the sight.
>You enjoy laughing.
>You never thought you'd say that, but you do.
>You approach the boutique, straightening your muddy hair and your new belt.
>As you approach the front steps, you hear a scream from behind the door.
>Tossing the flowers into a bush, you charge towards the door, and kick right above the handle.
>The door splinters open, and you see a diamond dog raising a sharpened gem over its head, its paw holding down onto a white and purple form.
>The dog froze for a second to look at you.
>The edges of your vision begin to blur as a feeling of pure unadulterated rage washes over you.
>Without thinking, you throw your scythe as hard as you can at the dog, piercing its skull with ease.
>You charge in, your scythe reappearing in your right hand. You unsheathe your sword with your left hand.
>You see another dog walk out of the creativity room, and you throw your scythe yet again.
>Its shoulder pinned into the wall, you turn your attention away for a moment and turn around, seeing a dog holding up...
>Oh hell no.
>That bitch better not be touching your cane.

>Your vision is clouded red as you eye the dog.
>He swings down towards your head, and you move slightly to the left.
>A pretty solid maneuver, if you do say so yourself.
>You smack against the side of his head with the flat of your blade, causing him to swing angrily and wrecklessly for your head.
>You duck underneath the blow.
>It being caught off balance, you spring into its chest, tackling it to the ground, causing him to drop your cane.
>Readjusting yourself, your knees are now on his shoulders, so he can't bring his paws up to defend himself.
>You stab your sword into the ground next to you, and begin to repeatedly punch him in the face.
>You don't stop until it stops thrashing.
>Pulling your bloody knuckles away from its face you pull your blade out of the ground and crawl towards the shivering mare.
>”Are you alright? Did they hurt you?” You speak gently as you brush her mane.
>So soft.
>”F...Fiddle?” She looks up confused but still shaking.
>”Yeah, it's me. Sorry about breaking your door frame again.” You let out a small chuckle and smile as you gently brush her mane.
>Brushie brushie.
>Her eyes grow large as she looks past you.
>”B...behind-” You don't hear the rest of what she says over the sound of your scythe ripping through your torso.

>Your blood splatters onto the mare, and after an eternity of a second, she screams in pure terror for the second time in a day.
>That can't be healthy.
>You gently touch the tip of the scythe blade that is sticking out of your chest
>”Ow.”
>That probably isn't healthy either.
>You will the scythe back into your hand.
>When it disappears from your chest, pain shoots throughout your entire body, and you begin to bleed heavily.
>Your new ribs are sticking out in some spots
>The pain is almost unbearable.
>Almost.
>Fueled by rage, you throw your scythe towards the dog.
>The dog lets out another yelp as the blade pierces its other shoulder.
>Your vision is red, the edges fading to black.
>You rise, wincing in pain, the blood stain on the front of your poncho grows larger by the second.
>Well, there's one disadvantage of this new body. So much pain.
>Discovering a new respect for those human champions in the League, you approach the dog.
>You stumble a couple times. Why aren't you passing out?
> Probably the adrenaline rush of battle.
>You've read enough books on anatomy to know where this is going.
>This was going to send you to the grave if you didn't act fast.
>Reaching the dog, you pull the scythe from its shoulder, and it crumples to the ground.
>You pick up up by its throat, and lean it against the wall.
>Taking a step back, you focus.
>Holding your arms out, you focus on the dog's chest.
>It begins to yelp in pain, as it paws violently at a green spot lighting up the inside of this torso.
>A very large, deep cut begins to form on its chest, and the hole in your chest begins to seal up.
>After a few seconds, the dog falls, and blood begins to pool where it lies.

>You turn around, and head toward the exit, stepping over the bits of door that were left.
>Must've kicked it harder than you thought.
>You grab the bouquet of flowers and turn back into the boutique.
>Seeing the carnage and blood that has been shed, you know you are in for a hell of a clean up later
>But that can wait. You need to console a certain terrified p0ny.
>Approaching the mare, she looks at the bloody carnage as well.
>Her expression is one of disgust and anger.
>”How... how dare they... break into my home...” She is shaking in rage now.
>”Rarity...” Hearing her name snaps her out of her anger induced stupor.
>”Fiddle... You... you saved my life.. How can I...” she shudders.
>You look towards her now standing form, and see a tear drop from her eyes.
>You set the bouquet on the counter, and rush towards her.
>You hold her tight against your chest, wincing in pain.
>The wound is gone, but the pain is still very much there.
>”Hey, hey, don't worry. You're safe now.”  you say softly as you run your hand down her tear soaked face.
>Why are you acting like this?
>Because Brain. For the first time in my life, I care.
>Pussy.
>Fuck off, Brain.

>You hold her for a while more, reminding her every so often that she is in safe hands.
>You feel her shake her head and begin to squirm.
>You let her go, and rise.
>Nope.
>You gasp in pain and fall back to the ground, holding your chest.
>”Fiddlesticks? Why is there no wound on you?” She says, looking at your back.
>”I healed, but the pain is still there.” You spit out between gasps.
>Leaning on the ground, you stare at your hand.
>Which is starting to turn back into a burlap glove
>”No... No..” You say through clenched teeth.
>You just got this body. Yes, pain sucked, but everything else you could experience made up for it.
>”What did you say?” She asks.
>You rise again, ignoring the pain, which is quite the accomplishment at this point.
>As you rise, you start to sway side to side.
>”We need to get you to a doctor, Fiddle.” You can hear the concern in her voice.
>You walk towards the flowers.
>Upon grabbing them, your hand becomes humanized again.
>Strange. Probably an illusion.

For the best experience possible, please tune into: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go
>You turn around, and approach Rarity, who is looking at you with an expression similar to the one from last night...
>”Rarity, I-”
>”STOP RIGHT THERE!” She shouts at you.
>You freeze, and stare at her.
>”PUT THOSE DOWN! NOW!” Fear has turned to anger.
>You gently place the flowers on the ground, and take a step back
>A blue aura wraps around the flowers, and you see them burst into flames in front of you.
>She doesn't forgive you. Probably never will
>You saved her life, yes, and you almost died in the process.
>But that doesn't mean she has to forgive you.
>You stare as she burns the flowers, a euphemism for your friendship, to ashes.
>As they burn, you can feel your soul being crushed
>So this is what emotions are like.
>You do something you never thought you would.
>Falling to you knees, you bring your face into your hands.
>For the first time in your entire life, you cry.