> The Legend of The Mirror Pool > by Icudeadnow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: Dark Dreams > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." -Edgar Allen Poe- _______________________________________________________________________________________ Darkness. Darkness was all that Pinkie could see in her hometown of Ponville. It enveloped her and made her gasp for breath, which came out in a misty form. Strange. It was not cold yet... she felt cold on the inside. She felt like every hope and dream she ever strived for was all for nothing. She felt worthless and hated, which was what scared her the most. She tried to laugh, hoping it would lighten the mood, but all that came out was a whimper of umistakable fear. She strained to see in these hate-filled shadows but only saw the outlines of what looked to be Twilight's house. Maybe Twilight could help make sense of what was going on? Pinkie took small steps toward the familiar yet ominous house. Why was she so afraid... more importantly, what was making her so afraid? Pinkie finally reached the house and tried the door only to find that it was locked. "Darn..." Pinkie muttered unhappily, which was not like her at all. This realization only served to make her even more scared than before. Pinkie was about to go and try to find the boutique but paused. A faint glow in the window caught her attention. When she looked she found Twilight Sparkle staring back at her. She just stood there, a couple inches away from the glass. Pinkie backed away slowly, horrified at what she was seeing. Twilight was burning alive before Pinkie's eyes and was also blaming her for it. The sound of sizzling flesh was enough to make Pinkie gag. Flames shattered a window on the second floor as they reached the outside of the house. The glass rained down on Pinkie, making her cringe. The glass sliced her skin up, causing blood to run freely down her back. She ignored it and focused her attention back on Twilight. "PINKIE, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Twilight screamed out the window as her face contorted in pain and suffering. After awhile, Pinkie regained her composure. She ran at the window and slammed her hooves against it in desperation, trying to break the glass . She knew the danger but she had to help her friend. She could only watch as the intense heat from the flames stripped the flesh off of Twilight's bones as she screamed in agony. The window seperated them but she could somehow smell the burnt flesh as it charred. The snap, pop, and crackle of this process finally made Pinkie snap her head to the side and vomit violently onto the ground. She fell to the ground and coughed. She looked up at the door at ran towards it. She had to save Twilight... she just had to! "NO! no! I didn't kill you! NO!" Pinkie screamed as she now tried to break the door down. It only made Twilight laugh at her, while somehow screaming at the same time. It was like two Twilights had double teamed and were vocalizing two different emotions. But it wasn't a happy laugh. It was something that would haunt Pinkie's dreams until the day she died of old age. She didn't even know if this was a dream but she sure hoped it was. She could only watch as Twilight dragged Spike down the stairs and into the fire. His screams of pain were unlike any She had ever encountered. How was he being hurt by all of this? Spike was immune to fire, how in the buck was he being hurt. She then realized why Spike was screaming. A chill went down Pinkie's spine as she watched in absolute horror. Twilight had broken his legs and was twisting them every which way, causing him to throw out bloodcurdling screams. This wasn't real.. wasn't... couldn't... Twilight would never do that! Pinkie backed away slowly, her eyes wide with a fear unlike any other. Suddenly, she heard another voice that was kind and seemed to only want to help her, or so she hoped. She looked behind her slowly and found that Princess Luna had come out of the everfree forest, which was strangely now next to Twilight's house. Why was it in the middle of Ponyville? More importantly, what was Princess Luna doing here? "Pinkie! You must wake up! I cannot stay here for long!" Princess Luna warned Pinkie, who looked at Luna in fear. Was this a trick? Was Luna going to suddenly die in a horrible accident and blame her like Twilight and Spike did? Luna's face was also contorted in pain but she wasn't dying. She just stood there and told her to wake up as quickly as she could. Pinkie breathed a sigh of relief. It really was only a nightmare. But a scary one nonetheless. "Don't worry little one. I am not here to harm you. Although you have let in something dark. Something not of this world or even this dimension. You MUST wake up or you will be trapped in this hell forever!" Luna yelled at Pinkie. As Luna was saying this, a black mist rolled in around their hooves. Whispers began to echo all around them. They belonged to all of the inhabitants of Ponyville. They had surrounded Pinkie and the princess and were staring at them with cold, dead eyes. They whispered threats and called Pinkie horrible names. Even though they were whispers, it felt like they were screaming at her. Pinkie fell down to the ground in a fetal position and closed her eyes tight as she screamed for Luna to help her. Pinkie looked up to find a small filly with a bow in her hair had replaced the princess. No... "Oh... s-sweet... Celestia... NO..." Pinkie stuttered as she looked at this filly with a horrified expression. "Applebloom... what happened to you?" Pinkie slowly asked with fear and shock. Standing only a few feet away from Pinkie was Applebloom. What froze pinkie in petrified terror was the fact that, instead of Applebloom's bright, happy eyes there were dark, shadowy orbs of hate and malice instead. She... she was crying blood too. Not like a natural cry but the blood just trickled from her eyes and down her cheek. Applebloom slowly walked toward her, staring down at her the entire time. "You want to know what happened?" Applebloom asked. This voice did NOT belong to the filly. It was a dark, heavy voice. It almost resembled a stallion but there was something else in that voice. Something that would forever haunt Pinkie's memories. It sounded like death... hate... and evil. Applebloom slowly lowered her head down to Pinkie's ears, who could still not move as the terror spread throughout her body. All the other ghost-like ponies went quiet as Applebloom whispered in Pinkie's ear, "You..." _______________________________________________________________________________________ Pinkie Pie awoke, screaming at the top of her lungs. She looked around, fearfully, taking in every detail of her surroundings. She relaxed when she realized that she was safe in her room. She slouched back in her bed and cried, trying to fight away the memories of her nightmare. But she remembered every single horrifying detail. The way Applebloom's eyes had looked at her. The way her eyes resembled nothing but abyssal darkness. She even remembered how Twilight had dragged Spike down the stairs and mangled his legs repeatedly. But most of all, it was Applebloom. This wasn't the first nightmare. she has had many in the past three months... but this. It was never this bad or felt that real. She felt everything. It seemed more real than reality itself. Pinkie could only lay there as the tears ran down her cheek and onto the bed, causing a wet spot to form. Pinkie just wanted it all to end... to feel truly happy again. But all she could feel was dread and misery. She was a shadow of her former self. > Chapter 1: A Cause For Concern > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rain came down in sheets and the thunder crashed down around the unlucky inhabitants of Ponyville. Most had went inside for protection and safety from the storm. But a lone, purple unicorn was running, and dodging obstacles, down the lonely streets as she made her way to whatever destination she had in mind. The unicorn slipped on some mud and landed on her face, causing her to grunt in annoyance. "Motherbucker... and in the rain too..." The unicorn said, annoyed that she had ruined the book she had been carrying with the utmost care. It was one of the rare, original Fletlock's Sciences That Boggle The Mind. It was next to priceless and was one of the few left in the world that had not been burned in the Great War. She snatched the book up and stuffed it back into her bag. She cast a spell that kept it dry and safe from the elements. There was no way she was going to be able to make it back to her house. She searched her surroundings and found Sugarcube Corner. She was sure that Pinkie Pie wouldn't mind her stopping over for a visit. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were out on a family vacation with the twins and weren't expected to be back for another week at most. Without any hesitation in the slightest, the bedraggled and wet unicorn sprinted her way towards what she hoped would be protection from this skyward onslaught. She made it to the front door and breathed a sigh of relief that was drowned out by the roar of the rain and the crack of the thunder. She knocked on the door and waited for about five minutes. When there was no answer she just shrugged and started to walk off. "Twilight? Oh hey!" A pink pony said. Twilight turned around and offered a smile. Strange... the hapiness that showed in Pinkie's smile did not show at all in her eyes. She did not look like the pony that Twilight was used to seeing. "Pinkie... you don't look so good." Twilight asked, concern showing up on her face. There was something wrong but she just couldn't quite place it. Pinkie shuffled nervously and tried to divert the subject of conversation, "Yeah... wanna' come inside? More than happy to help a friend!" Yes... there was most definitely something wrong with this picture. Pinkie never acted like this. She was usually overly happy for no reason other than she was high on life. Twilight shrugged and hesitantly entered Sugarcube Corner. "It's going to be like a sleepover! I can't wait to have fun!" Pinkie Pie said happily. At least Twilight thought she sounded happy. Twilight stole a worried glance to her friend who had turned to grab some cupcakes off of the counter. Her usually radiant mane had seemed to have lost its bright colors and was a darker pink. And upon closer inspection, Twilight could see small scars across the pink mare's front legs nearer to the hooves. They were jagged and looked quite deep. What was the most worrisome was the fact that they looked to be brought on by some kind of sharp object. Had Pinkie cut herself? There was something very wrong with this picture. The shop was an absolute disaster. Dishes piled up in the sink, the floor was dirty, things were disorganized. It truly looked as if a twister had ripped its way through here. "Pinkie... are you sure you're alright?" Twilgiht asked. Pinkie looked up at Twilight and nodded her head. "Yeah! Why wouldn't I be silly?" Pinkie said with obviously feigned hapiness. Pinkie had been acting weird for over three months but nopony had paid heed to it. They all just assumed it was Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Twilight huffed and made her way upstairs to Pinkie's room. If there was going to be any indication as to what was going on with Pinkie Pie then she had to check the most obvious place the pink mare would hide her deepest secrets. "Twilight.. where are you going?" Pinkie asked, her facial expressions taking on a worried pose. Twilight knew she just couldn't barge into Pinkie's room so she had to lie. She didn't like lying to her friend but it was for her own good. "Just the bathroom. And I know where it is so no need to show me" Twilight said, worried that she gave something away when she lied. She never was one for deceitful or underhanded acts. But desperate times called for desperate measures. "Oh... well come back down when you're done! We're gonna' have so much fun!" Pinkie shouted with the expected fake happiness. There was something wrong and Twilight was going to help her friend no matter what the cost. Their friendship meant too much for her to just dismiss this. Twilight made a left at the top of the stairs to give off the illusion she was going to the bathroom. She turned around and silently made her way to Pinkie's bedroom. The floor groaned under Twilight's hoof and she immediately stayed still. When she was sure that she had not given her position away, Twilight slowly made her way to the door again. She reached a trembling hoof to the doorknob and slowly turned. She didn't know why but something was wrong... very, very wrong. What lay behind the door was something out of a nightmare. All over the walls and floor were the words, I am dead. They were all over the walls, floor and ceiling. Not one square inch was spared by this creepy writing. "Twilight... what are doing!" Pinkie said from behind Twilight who jumped back in fright. "W-w-what.... is this?" Twilight asked, horrified that she found something as bad as this. She was hoping that it was just a friendship problem but it was clear that something was beyond wrong. Pinkie slowly walked into the room and examined the room. What scared Twilight the most was the calm, cold calculating look she gave her creepy surroundings. "You really want to know what happened here?" Pinkie asked, with a deadpan tone that scared Twilight beyond omprehension. There was something in those eyes... something not of this world. She didn't know how or why she knew this but whatever it was... it was indescribably horrifying. "Y-yes... I do." Twilight bravely ventured forth with an answer to an unnerving question. Pinkie was so calm and collective even after Twilight had found this. It made her wonder what exactly happened here... "Him..." Pinkie said, who had pointed at an empty corner in the ceiling. There was nothing there. But the more Twilight stared at this empty corner... the more she felt as if she was staring into the eyes of something evil. It was anything but empty... thre was something there. She could feel it. Twilight cast a spell that would help her see what Pinkie was referring to and immediately wished she had not. In that corner were black tendrils of shadow licking hungrily at the air and the surrounding wall. She felt as if something cold had grabbed hold of her heart and was squeezing the life out of her. Twilight cut off the spell and whimpered in fear, never taking her eyes off of that ominous corner. "Pinkie... we need to go. NOW" Twilight whispered to Pinkie. The pink mare turned her head towards her and shook her head. 'He won't let me leave. You need to go before he gets in your dreams too." Pinkie said with a warning tone evident in her voice. Twilight turned on a dime and sprinted out the door and into the hallway. She carelessly collided into the wall but didn't stop. She could feel something was chasing her but she couldn't see what it was. She had the feeling that the best way to help her friend was to get some help. The other hallway doors slammed shut, shaking the Sugarcube Corner violently. Something was screaming but it wasn't Pinkie. It seemed to be whispers but it was screaming. And there were thousands of them as well. They were filled with anguish, hate, and despair. Twilight never stopped and tripped down the stairs. She hit her head on the wall but was not knocked out. She groggily got up and stumbled over the counter. She opened the front door but it was slammed shut and she flew back and hit her back against the counter. "Hey you! Leave her alone you bully!" Pinkie yelled from atop the stairs. The screamed whispers suddenly stopped and all attention was on Pinkie Pie. She flew back and slammed into the wall behind her. Twilight could see her being dragged away to what she thought was her room. "TWILIGHT! RUN!" Pinkie Pie screamed. Some kind of ancient instinct told her that going after her friend would only result in disaster and unfathomable horrors. About three seconds later the whispers started up again and the shop started to violently shake again. She decided that going out the door was not an option. She spotted the window and went for it. She couldn't wait to open it so she dived head first out of it. The glass shattered and she was cut in multiple places. Blood trickled down her face. She quickly recovered and ran off into the stormy night. The rain drowned out her screams as she blindly ran down the streets. She faltered and stumbled, slamming her head into the wall of a house. She looked up slowly and saw that a vase had fallen off of the ledge. upon impact on her head she felt herself slip into darkness and was knocked out. As soon as the purple unicorn had slipped into a forced slumber, Sugarcube Corner had gone quiet in an instant. The only sounds to be heard were the rain and the thunder. Nopony had heard her scream but she was safe... For now. > Chapter 2: Dreams Do Come True... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was a slight beeping of some type of machinery amongst the blurred darknes that enveloped the purple unicorn's eyes. When she finally regained most of her vision, she took in her surroundings. The walls were white and there was a heart monitor to her side. She was lying on a soft, white, comfortable bed. But there was nopony anywhere in the room with her. When she tried to sit up, she felt an excruciating pain in the back of her head. "AH! OW!" The unicorn said with distress. Two ponies dressed in white unifoms rushed in about a minute later. They seemed to be some type of nurses, which was a welcoming sign. She could now deduce that she was in the hospital. But why? "Twilight! You're awake!" One of the nurses said with glee. Twilight remembered her; her name was nurse redheart. The other nurse was checking the machinery with a worried expression on her face. "Yeah... but... I can't seem to remember much. I know who you are though, thank Celestia for that..." Twilight slowly said, still getting used to the strange lightheadedness she was experiencing. "Well, how much do you remember?" Nurse Redheart asked. Twilight remembered her firends and everything that went on for the past few years and beyond that. But what she could not remember was how she had gotten hurt. But the more she tried, the more she got the feeling that something dark was trying to reach towards her... grab her... feed on her. "I... I remember everything but how I got hurt." Twilight said, fearing this darkness that loomed over her. Nurse Redheart must not have seen the fear in Twilight's eyes because she did not ask about it. "You had ran headfirst into a house, toppling over a flower pot, which landed on your head. The reason we are worried is because a shard had broken off and had slit your throat. It was a one in a million thing but it happened. Thank Celestia the pony in the house heard you colliding with his house. He rushed you here and we just barely got you in a stasis field of magic before you slipped away from loss of blood. You are truly one lucky mare that that stallion that saved your life had the ability to teleport you and him to the hospital. Otherwise, I'm afraid we would be one element of harmony short." Twilight tried to soak every little detail up, hoping she could remember why she was running in the first place, "Well... do you know why i was running? Or why I can't remember what happened?" Twilight asked. "No... we were hoping you could tell us that. And the reason you can't remember anything would have to be from the loss of blood. You had literally been braindead for a few seconds, which is enough to cause some memory lapses. It usually doesn't happen like that but in your case I guess it was. At least that is what i'm guesssing right now. We will have to do a few tests to see if I'm right" Nurse Redheart replied with a warm smile, obviously trying to comfort her. Twilight looked to her bedside table and saw that somepony had put flowers on it. They were in a vase and were not just any type of flower. They were her favorite kind. Lilacs. "Ummm nurse... who put these here?" Twilight asked with a smile, feeling touched that somepony had given her flowers. Nurse Redheart looked confused for a second and and then saw what her patient was talking about. "Oh, it was that nice stallion that saved your life. He came by to make sure that you were alright." Nurse Redheart said with her usual warm smile. Twilight smiled and felt a blush on her cheeks. She didn't even know him and he was doing all these nice things for her. "Well, all we have to do is conduct some mandatory test and you can go home!" Nurse Redheart said. Twilight smiled and looked back at the flowers. Did he know that lilacs were her favorite? If so... how? "Oh, and here are your things. I'm sure you want to see if everything is accounted for." Nurse Redheart said, offering Twilight the saddlebag she had been wearing when everything had went down. she accpeted it and peered into the contents, making sure that everything was still there. Fletlock's Sciences That Boggle The Mind was still there, thank Celestia for that... wait... what's this? She reached in, only to find an ancient-looking envelope that looked like somepony had put it in a fire but put it out before it had done any real damage other thand the burnt edges and then let it age for five hundered years. Of course something like that would be ridiculous. She pried the letter open and the contents of it were... creepy to say the least. It said, We run, we hide, we make sure that nothing lays behind when it is above us. Darkness, it creeps, it crawls, it knows when you sleep. It watches, it observes, it waits for its chance. Lay your head to rest because there can be no hiding and most certainly... you will never get the chance to run. Scream as you may but it is time for you... to... die.... Twilight gawked at the ominous letter. She remembered something... when she was at some place, which she couldn't remember where, she could recall hearing the exact same thing in her head. The voices... the darkness... she remembered hearing this there. She looked closely at the last word, which looked to be bleeding. There was no doubt... the other words had begun to bleed and drip off of the letter. "Wha... what is this?" Twilight mumbled in petrified terror. She threw the letter off to the side, gasping in fear. She looked up to see that Nurse Redheart was still there. "Twilight?! Is something wrong?" Redheart asked with concern and confusion. Twilight picked the letter back up and saw that it was no longer bleeding or even had any indication that it ever did. Maybe it was just her head... she did get quite a hit there. Must be my imagination running away without me... "No... I'm fine..." Twilight said, not taking her eyes off of the letter that seemed to be alive and hungry. But hungry for what? This was a strange puzzle... a strange puzzle indeed. ________________________________________________________________________________ After the nurses had conducted their tests, they had let Twilight out and she had went home, never taking the image of that bloody letter out of her head. She looked out the window of her library, contemplating the recent events. The sun seemed less bright and everything that would normally brighten the purple unicorn's day only served to make it even more depressing than it already was. She had the strange desire to go and visit Pinkie Pie for some reason, which was a little weird. Well, off to get cheered up by, possibly, the happiest pony alive! "This'll do me some good... I'm sure of it!" Twilight said. Although, she couldn't shake the feeling that things were far worse than they appeared. It was only a matter of time before this darkness showed itself. And when it does... we're all in for a world of hurt, because the darkness hungers... it must feed.