Previous Chapters
Close
From the Dust4,802 words
The First Footholds 6,068 words
Nightmares3,103 words

Nightmares

Two men stood in a brightly lit ring, fences surrounded every side, not allowing any to escape. One was blonde and blue eyed while the other had hair and eyes dark as shadows with only a red streak across his hair breaking the color. They stared intently at each other, sweat formed on their bodies and trickled off. Neither of them broke the stare, even with all the shouting, banging, and cheering around them.

Only one sound caused them to break into action. Ding! A bell rang out and the Shadowed one moved first, he threw his attacks precisely and each were meant to disable, but the Yellow one saw each movement before it happened. Shadow kicked his leg out to hit the back of Yellow’s knee, but he backstepped out of it. Shadow threw a right hook, but Yellow ducked. Shadow jumped towards the fence and pushed off of it, aiming a left kick to Yellow’s head, but Yellow grabbed Shadow’s leg in mid-air and twisted, causing him to fall straight down onto the floor. He got up hesitantly and Yellow simply waited for the next attack. Shadow showed no pain and kicked once more at Yellow with his right leg, his left leg supporting him. Yellow smirked at the movement, the leg came into contact with his left side but he was holding Shadow’s leg in place.

Fear settled into Shadow’s face when Yellow kicked his bad leg from under him and threw his whole body down. Yellow held nothing back as he sat atop Shadow while he endlessly beat him, all Shadow’s blocks were useless as he slowly drained strength. Yellow decided to finish it by trying to turn Shadow onto his belly, his constant spasms struggled to break free but Yellow got onto his right shoulder and pulled his wrist up towards his head while keeping on his toes and applying pressure to his right shoulder with his. Yellow kept applying pressure and pushing Shadow’s wrist up neither of them have said nothing throughout the whole match, but Shadow was chuckling as he was pinned down. “Is this all you will amount to, my little Leo?” His familiar gruff voice asked.

Leon felt a threatening aura around himself, he looked down at Shadow, that slight movement costed him dearly as he was thrown off Shadow and into the chain linked fence. He stared at Shadow as he grew in size, no. It was Leon who was shrinking, to that of a small child. The arena suddenly felt more of a cage of beasts and he was thrown to the lions. Shadow’s features grew more refined, no longer was he a faceless entity with dark hair. He had very tanned skin, a wife beater covering his chest and boxers covering his lower half. He gained weight and his arms, legs, and waist, becoming thicker. All these frightened the small Leon, but one last thing set him off, Shadow’s face showed itself. His father.

Leon felt a surge of anger as he stood up shakily and lunged forward to jab his father in his stomach, but he no longer had his big stature and his father deflected his fist with a swipe and brought the opposite hand across Leon’s face, blood trickled down the corner of his lip, leaving a trail of red and his cheek was already bruising. His father let out a laugh that could chill the most heartless of killers and stood over Leon once more. “Heh, well you can take a punch, that’s for sure. Let’s just see if you can survive longer than your even more pathetic sisters.” He said as he glanced towards his right.

Leon froze, not even daring to look there, but he did nonetheless. Two figures lie motionless on the floor, their bodies battered and eyes open and staring at him. Two sets of pale blue eyes that bore into him, but they didn’t say anything, they didn’t move, they were dead. The dark red trails of dried blood crusting their bodies and ruining their beauty.

Leon stared back at them, “No it can’t be...No, how could you?” He whispered to himself. His father brought his fist back up for another strike, but Leon didn’t even notice. “Pyra...Carys...You monster....” The fist came crashing down and Leon pounded the ground and howled out, “NO!” And the reality of everything broke.

An unheard voice said from the darkness, “So that’s what makes you tick...Noted”

“NO!” Leon said as he shot up from where he was laying, wet towels and a blanket flew off of him. He was panting, lying half naked and covered in sweat. His usual garments lie strewn about the living room, Someone must’ve acted in a haste to unclothe me, Leon thought as his erratic breathing returned to normal. It was just a nightmare, I’m still in Equestria. Leon felt a small tinge of pain from that thought, it reminded him time and time again that it was going to be a long time if he wanted to see his family again. He looked outside and it was well past afternoon, the moonlight was now overcoming the sun’s bright rays. A beam of moonlight was shining upon his makeshift bed from a ceiling window. Leon got up and stretched his aching limbs, the whole house was silent, save for the restless breeze threatening to fill the house with its warm air.

Leon felt something empty in his mind, he guessed that it was Yang, since her usual quirky jokes weren't there to liven the mood. He looked towards the kitchen and saw fried fish stir fried with a variety of vegetables, it was even a big enough serving for a human. He didn’t even want to think about the cost of the ingredients to make a size that big, it was at least twice as big than a pony would need to eat. He smiled at her kindness and was sure that he would pay her back in some way. He ate the cold food in a hungry haste so he could find out where his little buddy is.

Leon crept through the halls of his new friend’s small abode, pictures of a shy, yellow filly were placed here and there and there was even more recent ones. But one caught Leon’s eye, it showed Fluttershy with a group of friends, two of which were the ones who attacked him. Leon felt something dry up in his mouth and he knew that he had to apologize for that afternoon, he didn’t want her own friends to resent her. He turned away from the picture and came upon a door, light snoring was coming from inside.

He pushed it gently so he wouldn’t disturb the sleeper, or as he found, sleepers. Yang was a dim yellow ball curled upon Fluttershy’s pink mane. Not wanting to disturb the mare, he silently rolled Yang into his cupped hand and shined an opening for light to pour through. She groaned a complaint but he still carried the glowing yellow ball back through the halls and back to his spot on the floor, sitting cross-legged he unraveled his hands and shook her. She floated up and stretched, he guessed old habits die hard. She blinked a few times as if to shake the bleariness away, she finally took notice that Leon was awake and well. She flew up to his head and latched herself on, giving him a hug. “Leon, you’re okay!” She let go and floated back down to his hand. Leon smiled as she really cared for him, despite only knowing him for less than two days. He placed a finger on her mouth to silence her.

“Yang,” He said in a whisper. “You should keep your voice down, Flutters’ still asleep.” Yang nodded and he moved his finger for her to speak again. Leon started putting on his clothing as she started.

She spoke again, but not using her voice, Fluttershy and I were worried after you slept and we finished making your food, but you weren’t waking up and were writhing in your sleep. All we could do was clean you off when you sweated too much and be there. After a while, you stopped convulsing and Fluttershy relaxed. I’ve set up sensors to make sure I awoke when you had another nightmare, so I went to sleep with Fluttershy.

Leon had dressed himself, but left his warm jacket and scarf, only taking the yellow shirt with a burning heart on it. Yang blinked away and went back into his mind. She watched him go out the door and followed the faint sound of rushing water. As he walked she sent an mental inquiry, but he simply sent a wave of reassurance. He walked for eight minutes when they came upon a clearing, a small lake with a waterfall was to his right and specks of red glistened in the moonlight to the left. Yang’s question was partially answered, as they found where Leon had fallen, the specks of red was either his or the manticore’s, or even both. Leon stepped towards the lake, cupping his hands and splashing his face, its water cooled by the moon’s cold embrace, though the summer breeze still lingered.

Yang, to answer your question, we are going to train after I get out. He had said mentally. If I am going to survive in this fantasy world, I need to work on my fantasy weapons. You have proven before that you can change my body to help and I am now wondering if you can do anything more. He dried his face with the bottom of his shirt and found Yang floating in front of him.

“Ok big guy, then what do you propose I do first? See if I can shoot lasers out of my eyes or lift a mountain?” She said with sarcasm, Leon pretended not to notice it.

“No, I remember a story that you now sorta fit. I want you to wrap yourself around…” He paused as he looked around for anything. A torn branch lied on the ground, possibly from the fight, and he picked it up. “Try wrapping your form around this.”

Yang gave him a flat stare and eventually sighed. “Sure, worth a shot. All I have to do is focus on wrapping myself around this branch?” She asked to make sure that she doesn’t somehow screw this up. Leon nodded and Yang was no longer a miniature humanoid, but a bright yellow ball, completely round and featureless. Leon stared in awe as she floated into the branch and was absorbed by it, the branch now glowed yellow in his hands. Yang said nothing, or couldn’t say anything as he swung the branch in the air, it was lighter, now he needed to test if it was stronger. Leon wound his arm back and struck the bark of a tree, he felt as if he had swung something metal and the vibrations of it was sent through him and had dropped the branch, Yang pulled herself off the branch as it fell and watched Leon gripping his hand. His hand and arm felt very tingly from the blow and it soon wore off. “So did this work as how you intended it to be, Leon?” She asked inquisitively. He stared at the large indent left by the branch.

“That was good, you can upgrade a weapon, and that is good.” He repeated himself, still shaking off the vibrations. “The next thing I want to try out is something similar, I want you to become a weapon or ammunition.”

Yang regarded him with another flat stare, “What, badass gauntlets that shoot out bullets and increase your strength not good enough for you?” She said with the same amount of sarcasm as before, Leon pretended to not notice it again.

“Yes these are good, but I was thinking of what would happen if I ran out of ammo.” Said as he flicked one gauntlet out and shot out the shells, almost all of them were still interlinking. “All I would be left with is punches and kicks, I didn’t feel anything in my pockets and I am sure that no crate full of bullets came along with us. Now then, can you try to duplicate these shells using yourself?” He held out the belt of bullets to Yang, she actually seemed interested.

“Sure, I am wondering where my limits lie.” She said before she wrapped herself around the ammo, making them float, and it glowed bright then the real belt fell and all that was left was a bright yellow version of it. Leon took the belt off the ground and slung it over a shoulder, he then took the one from the air and fitted them into their chambers. He flicked it shut and searched for something to aim at. He looked back down at the branch and thought of something.

“Yang, could you— Nevermind.” He stopped himself before he finished as he wondered if Yang could actually form two separate bodies. This will be something to try next time. He said mentally.

Instead, he picked the stick up and launched it through the air. He aimed carefully and shot out one of the energy shells, it came out with sparks flying around it, the projectile itself looked as what he imagined it to be: a bright, flare-like energy bullet. The projectile of energy kept rising and rising at its slanted slope, because it missed its target. The stick fell in the woods as the bullet soared past it, it looked as if it was about to hit a non-moving, irregular cloud shape. It impacted against the cloud and exploded, scattering a big chunk of it. Someone was heard, yelling at the top of their lungs.

“WHAT THE BUCK!” It sounded familiar to Leon, he didn’t know that many ponies in this town, and three of them he met shortly. A bright rainbow pitted against the starlit sky gave him a shocking realization.

“Yang, we gotta go.” He said nervously and ran in a indistinct direction, making Ember Celica return back to default state. He knew that he could take her on if he needed to, but he wasn’t going to hurt one his friend’s best friend on purpose. He looked back at the clearing and saw the same rainbow trail charging to that location. He picked up his sprint and was alerted by Yang to duck, but he was too thinking of ways to apologize that didn’t end with him getting attacked again to notice. A dark shadow tackled him from the trees and he fell in a bush with this thing on top of him. He was about to shout out apologies, but it placed a hoof on his mouth and spoke with a feminine accent.

“Shush, I am not your enemy. The rainbow one is.” She reached over and pulled a mottled green and black cloak over them.

A whooshing sound was heard overhead and the trees swayed with the motion. They stilled themselves and the two emerged from their hiding spot. They sat underneath the moonlight and Leon finally could make out her features. It was a mare with a dark grey coat, shadow dark mane with silver streaks, a matching tail and a half lidded eye for a cutie mark. But what took his attention was two distinct features, she had maroon slitted eyes and leathery dark grey wings with dark red webbing. Leon stared intensely at the mare, she coughed to get his focus back.

“My name is Hazy Glare,” Introducing herself. “And from the staring you are giving me, I can deduce that you are either into me, or you have never seen a bat pony before.” She gave him a smile, revealing her fangs.

Leon stared at them for moment, mesmerized by her eyes and quickly remembered his manners. He got up, dusted off anything that would be on him and took a small bow, “My name is Leonardo Belmont, but seeing as you are no enemy, call me Leon.” He said, introducing himself as well and extending an arm down to the mare. She took it with a hoof but turned it over, getting a better look at his fingers, she released it soon after.

“I can tell you now that there are no towns that way. Here, let me guide you. I know these woods like the back of my eyes.” She says as she nudges Leon. Yang fizzled out of Ember Celica and appeared before the two.

“Ooh a bat pony!” Yang said with excitement. “I call dibs on riding her.” She floated over to Hazy and sat upon her mane. Hazy either didn’t notice at all or was fine with it as they walked back to the clearing. Leon saw where they made their mistake, they entered the clearing with the lake to their right. Now, however, they approached the lake from the center.

Hazy took this time to speak with Leon as they went back to Fluttershy’s abode. “Well I see Leon, that you are an interesting fellow.” She looked back upon Yang sitting on top of her. “Along with interesting friends.” They reached her house and Leon looked shocked, he turned to Hazy but saw that she was already leaving. Yang warped back into Leon’s mind, tired from the night. He was about to call out to Hazy when she interrupted, “Next time we meet, Leon, call me Haze. All my friends do.” And she disappeared into the shadows of the trees, a faint silver trail was all that was seen.

Leon entered the house without making any noise and crept back into his small couch, covering himself with his old blankets. Multiple thoughts swarmed his mind, how to fix things with the rainbow one, how many different kinds of species actually lived in this country, why was he here and what did he have to do to get back home. He didn’t know the answers to these questions, but he did know this. Hazy Glare...Haze is connected to me, I feel it. But how is she? He eventually let sleep take over, a dream full of old memories and a pair of eyes staring at him.

Author's Note:

Man I am bad at keeping promises, but hey I got a chapter through. I have no excuse to not posting any chapters other than I didn't think this one through. I started this chapter at the beginning of summer break and kept deleting parts that didn't suit right with the story that I am still creating. But I now have a defined(ish) goal in mind and with most of the characters who will play a major role, the hard part will be making it interesting.

Edit: WHOA! I almost forgot. I changed a few tags in the story, adding in Alternate Universe. I considered a few episodes that may have gone before or after this story started wouldn't be apart of this story. Making them never existing so to say.

Anyway, any helpful comments are welcome in this story.

1,241 views

Previous Chapters