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(Back Story)
Private I: (Guilt)

The weird crystal pony with the Pepsi/USA color. He was a happy child. By that, I mean to the point that it was just unnatural. Private was seen as embodiment of the innocence, ignorance, and bliss that we all seem to grow out of. His crystal coat never faded into the sad, dull colors depicted in low-spirited crystal ponies. He was very playful, and would start a game with anyone. Sometimes, even make up random games like dancing without moving your front legs. He loved to dance, but his favorite game to play was "I Spy." He was undeniably the best at it. Private would be able to pick out the particular object on practically his first guess. No surprise that it was related to his special talent. He was extremely optimistic about everything; disease, death, even the News. It was his way of coping, which would have been a blessing to anyone in the police department or jobs dealing with the darker side of reality. But, not everyone appreciated his outlook on heavy subjects. Some of his peers and family found his upbeat charm to be insulting. His comments would be taken as he was "happy" they got cancer, or their parents died and would lash out at him. He would only react with silence and an uneasy smile, but his coat would never fade. Eventually, these harsh reactions to his attempts to lighten the load on heavy hearts began to take its toll. He became more aware of the criticizing words of belittlement and his self-esteem began to lower as the years went on. But, his coat never lost its crystal gloss. To avoid any sad thoughts, he began to workout most hours of the day and became very lean and fit. He continued to hang out with his childhood friends, but began to notice a building annoyance towards him whenever he suggested things to do. Eventually, his friends just cut ties. They had an excuse every time he tried to hang out with them. With his optimistic personality, he had faith in the kindness of his friends and accepted whatever reason they stated. It wasn't until, he caught them in a lie that he was finally able to put the pieces together. Shaken by the sunken feeling only caused by the betrayal of those closest to your heart, he turned to exercise to keep his mind at ease and went for a run. But still, his coat sparkled in the light. He ran all over the Crystal Empire and would stop shortly or until his mind began to flood with negative thoughts, then would start running again. Eventually, he found himself running outside of the Empire and into the frozen tundra surrounding it. The physical stress of the cold seemed to aid in the suppression of his sadness, so he continued to run in the snow. As the Moon had finally risen, Private realized how late it was and decided to head home. But, when he turned around, the empire was nowhere in sight! Confused but understanding that he could not have run that far that the empire would be out of sight, he followed the fresh footprints he created in the snow. Eventually, his trial came to an abrupt stop. His bewilderedness grew, his footprints were covered a bit by the falling snow, but still visible and clear were his own. There was no sign of any sort of disturbance in the snow that could have caused the complete erase of his trail. Unable to come to a logical conclusion, his confusion began to form into panic. If he doesn't get back to the safety of the shielded haven, he will freeze to death! Yet, he was able to compose himself and remain positive. He decided that his best chance of survival was to continue in the direction of his footprints before they disappeared. He walked, and he walked as his feet began to hurt, and he walked… but there was no sign of civilization anywhere! Private was beginning to feel desperate as he starts to stumble and shift in and out of a daze. The Sun began to rise; he had been trotting for 8 hours and the young stallion was near exhaustion. As he struggled to continue, he began to hallucinate… or so he thought. The number of tracks at his feet suddenly double; landmarks began to repeat themselves. He was trapped in a loop. Unable to resist his exhaustion and the pain in his feet, he collapsed onto his side. As he was about to stumble into unconsciousness, A cloaked zebra came out of nowhere and greeted him with a smile. He weakly raised his head and was able to shiver out a slurred, "h-h-help m-me."

She replied, “dear child, did you not enjoy your endless walk?"

Realizing that his hallucinations were, in fact, reality, he lost consciousness expecting a frozen demise. But, the next thing he knew, he found himself in a hospital bed feeling completely fine. But noticed a bandaged wrapped tightly around his eye. There were a variety of cards and flowers, dead and alive, around his bed. A nurse walked by and dropped her clipboard as she stared at him from the door was. Seconds later, she trotted away and returned with a number of doctors that greeted him with astonishment, confusion, and fear. He questioned them about his whereabouts. They told him that he had been found at the entrance of the empire and had been in a coma for about 3 weeks. He suffered from severe hypothermia and frostbite and was not expected to survive. It took about 3 days for his injuries to heal. But, he did have a couple close calls with death. His heart stopped beating 3 times as well. It was then that Private noticed the strange markings on the side he collapsed onto that replaced the frostbite. He questioned the doctors of what sort of medicine or magic they used to cause such a recovery and interesting pattern. The doctors frowned to each other and replied that they were unable to treat him. The markings formed over time and they were only monitoring his condition. They told him that there were also multiple accounts of strange occurrences that happened in his room, although they did not specify. One doctor in particular seemed to stare at him in complete and utter terror. He then questioned about the bandage around his eye. The room went silent and everyone stared at the floor. To break the awkward silence, Private decided to see for himself since his eye was not in any pain, and he was able to see the light peeking through the bandage. As he looked in the mirror, he was soon filled with sadness and horror. His eye was no long the familiar warm shade of light orange, but a small, cold piercing blue surrounded by an unescapable black hole of jet black. He stared at it for only seconds before falling back in shock and tears. He saw something monstrous or demonic within the refection of his eye looking back at him. His eye was not his own. Scrambling to the corner he looked up to the doctors and stuttered, "what is that thing!?"

None of the doctors answered or even looked at him. It was then that an internal voice answered his question, but not honestly. It began to denounce Private, using his own voice. Not fully aware of the dark entity's abilities over him, the young stallion took its words as his own and began his plunge into a suffocating despair. He would wake up screaming in the middle of the night with vivid night terrors of murders and tragedies that were cause by the dark entity with the piercing blue eyes. Some of his night terrors were actually mixed in with visions that seems to mirror events that would be report on the news the next couple of days. Eventually, the antagonist of the night terrors was distorted to by himself. Scared and confused to whether they were dreams or visions, he soon didn't get much sleep at all, about 3 hours or so. The night terrors and insomnia began to effect his mood and appearance. His crystal coat slightly dulled and dark circles appeared around his eyes. His appetite lessened and his mane became more unkempt. His positive disposition was no longer evident and he remained quiet for most of the day. His parents were very concerned with his deteriorating behavior, but Private knew that the knowledge of knowing what he was going through would only cause them more pain. He kept everything to himself, and suffered in silence. His last attempt to maintain his optimism was when he had a dream of a freak accident of a run-away carrot cart crushing the skull of his closest old friend that he lost contact with a couple years ago. Baffled at how an outrageously stupid scenario could actually come to live, he couldn't be sure if it was just a dream or a vision. It was the first time he saw a familiar face in his slumber, and didn't want to leave it to chance. He decided to track down his friend and warn him. His friend was already out by the time Private found him. Naturally, he didn't believe in the vision. But Private persisted and begged his old buddy to stay off the streets for a couple of days or so, just to be safe. His old friend began to make fun of Private's preposterous claims.

Upvotes at import: 6 | Stars at import: 3
Posted previously at: 2019-12-18T04:44:33