Inside the Fire
A wonderful sunny day. The ponies were all frolicking, birds were chirping happy melodies, and there were barely any clouds in the sky. Twilight even couldn't resist; she decided to do what Rainbow would do on such a day and take a nap on a cloud. But speak of Luna, who could she have guessed to show up just moments after settling? "Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash greeted inches from her face.
Twilight reared back at her friend's sudden presence. She replied with slight disdain, "Rainbow Dash. If you don't mind, I was hoping to catch a few Zs while the day was still pleasant. I figured you would be doing the same in such weather."
"You're right: I would." She replied. "And I should. But I want to practice some flying. I was hoping you could race me to give me a bit of a warm-up."
Twilight sighed. "No thanks, Rainbow. You can do that on your own."
"Aw, come on, Twilight!" Rainbow begged. "All I want is one race. It'll be done in half a minute, then we can BOTH go back to taking a nice nap."
"I thought you said you were going to practice some tricks."
"Yeah, but your idea's better. I'll just enjoy the sunshine on the top of a cloud."
"Okay. If it'll get you out of my mane, I'll race."
"Alright!" Rainbow rejoiced as Twilight got to her hooves. They silently set Twilight's cloud as the starting point. "First one to complete a lap around Ponyville wins!" She took a starting stance next to friend. "I'll go easy on you. Twilight scoffed as Rainbow began the countdown. "Alright! Three! Two! O-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...
...ARRRGGHH!!"
Twilight stirred awake as the ominous scream continued for a split second after her dream was interrupted. "What the--?!..." She whispered to herself in confusion. She knew it wasn't from her dream; it woke her up from it. She looked over to her side to see Spike sleeping in his bed in a far corner of her room. Maybe he heard it in his dream, too. Twilight thought. She crawled out bed and walked over to her assistant's bed. She spoke in a soft tone and gradually grew a bit louder to wake him up. "Spike? Spike. Wake up, Spike. Spiiike..."
Spike started to snort and turn over to face Twilight. He struggled to open his eyes as he mumbled in a way that showed he was still off in Neverland. "Uuugh... Twilight. I need to sleep... and so do you."
"I'm sorry, Spike." Twilight responded. "But a strange noise woke me up. I was wondering if you heard it in your dream, too."
"Umm..." Spike tried his best to answer for the sake of going back to sleep sooner. "I remember laying on a beach... I was in a sand castle... going down a slide... a clam bit my tail... Nope, nothin'."
"Are you sure you didn't hear the softest yell coming from what sounded like a ghost?"
"A-a ghost? A GHOST?!" Spike's eyes shot open and he was completely awoken from fear. "This place is haunted?!" He jumped up to hind legs and darted to the door. "We gotta get out of here!"
"Spike! No!" Twilight caught him in a stasis spell and lifted him back to her side. "This castle of ours is brand new. I highly doubt there would be some pony spirit possessing it." She calmed him down and tucked him back into his bed. "There is nothing to worry about, Spike. Besides..." She turns and points at her window above her bed. "It sounded like it came from outside..." She paused for a moment to think more deeply about the source of the howl. "...From near the middle of Ponyville!" She flew back over to her bed and peered out the window.
"Wha-What is it, Twilight?!" Spike asked worriedly. Twilight didn't reply. She was too busy looking out the window intently.
Twilight noticed several ponies coming from out of their homes and centering around a cottage that was obstructed from her view. From scanning other parts of town, she saw a couple of her friends joining the townsfolk: Rarity and Pinkie Pie, having also lived in households near the source of the noise, were joining in the curiosity.
Twilight stepped back away from the window and trotted over toward her bedroom door. "Spike, I'll be back in a little while. I need to go into Ponyville and inspect something."
"Wh... When will you be back? What's happening?"
"Don't worry about anything." Twilight assured. "Just go back to sleep. I'll be back in a moment."
Twilight half expected to be met by a few ponies when she left out her front door. But instead, any and all ponies who were anxious about the noise when straight toward where it came from. She immediately decided to fly over to where she found the group from her window.
There were at least two dozen ponies all gathered in one place. All surrounding a small wooden cottage that was not unlike many of the other abodes in Ponyville. Twilight touched down and noticed that none of the ponies acknowledged her arrival. She could see all the mares crying into the shoulders of others, while the stallions all had the same look of frozen horror on their faces. Whatever scared them, spooked them something nasty, as they were all dead focused on a solitary glass window on the front side of the cottage.
Twilight spotted Pinkie laying on her side in a fetal position. Like all the other mares, she seemed to be traumatized from what she had witnessed. Likewise was Rarity, whom was breathing rapidly into a paper bag just behind her.
Twilight trotted over to her distraught friends and held them close to her in an embrace, hoping to calm them down. "Easy, girls... Just try to calm down. Can either of you tell me what you saw?"
They both responded with starting to open their mouths, but the thought of what had them in shambles was to much to bear. They both collapsed to ground: Pinkie returning to her cowering; Rarity outright fainted.
Twilight thought about asking one of the stallions. But before she could speak, some of them had their hooves raised and pointed at the window. They all struggled to keep them up, as the image was still fresh and causing them to shake in fear.
Twilight braced herself for what caused all this commotion. She turned to face the window and breathed deeply; preparing for the worst. However, once she peaked inside, she realized that what she thought could be the worst... was a petty foal's horror story compared to what she is now trying to process.
On the other side of the window was a living room. A single oil lantern on a side-table was all that provided barely adequate illumination. But what was in the middle of the room, was something that changed Equestria forever...
A mare was laying on her back on the carpet with her face away from the window. Her torso was mutilated; her rib cage and intestines were easily visible and hanging out the side of the body. She was surrounded by a red fluid that Twilight did not want to believe was blood. She had only seen it in small, manageable amounts from nosebleeds and scrapes that needed no more than a large bandage. But this mare had an entire pool that spread almost to the edges of the floor. But there was more all over the walls, furniture and ceiling, some even covering the lamp. More blood was found on the hooves of a unicorn stallion kneeling right in front of her.
The stallion had a dark red coat; his front hooves and patches of the rest of his body drenched in blood. His jaw was slacked as wide open as you could imagine. His eyes were shrunk and glued open, and staring directly at the mare in front of him. He was trembling from horror similar to the ponies outside, but his condition seemed more severe. Twilight didn't want to believe it; she felt she needed to forget about it, but she knew very well that the stallion in the room had... caused this gruesome scene himself. She could also tell that he was clearly not proud of it. It was too much to be an accident, but she knew he was directly responsible.
Twilight started to get short of breath. This was a nightmare that had the combined force of all the ones she experienced as a filly. She reared back from the window and fell to her haunches. Tears began to well up in her eyes. She tried to keep them at least slightly open because the image of what she had just seen would flash each time she blinked.
She soon gathered her bearings and reminded herself of the power and responsibility she held. She needed to stay strong. If the commonfolk saw her like this, they'll think less of her. How can she protect them if she's just as frightened? She had calmed herself and stood tall and brave, despite the fearful tears that continued to stream down her cheeks.
She gave a gesture to the ponies behind her to stay back as she approached the door. She magically picked the lock, to which the slight sounds did not alert the stallion inside. The door slowly creeked open. Twilight tried to squeeze through and enter silently. He did not seem to notice her entering, or at least, he didn't seem to care. With the stallion still dead-set on the deceased mare in front of him, Twilight was able to "sneak" inside and close and re-lock the door behind her. The haunting sight was becoming more and more of a reality as she tiptoed slightly closer to him. She struggled to keep herself from crying and vomiting; the image is not going to be easy to recess. She kept a safe distance from the two of them and swallowed all her fear.
Twilight finally broke the silence. "...H-hello?" She asked as if she were as quiet and timid as Fluttershy. Celestia-forbid she ever saw this.
The stallion gasped and angled his face straight toward Twilight in an action to quick for the eye to see. His eyes became almost blank white, and he was staring at her like a wild animal.
This sudden action caused Twilight to twitch back a bit and squeal slightly. Trembling, she repositioned herself into a defensive stance. She carefully uttered her next words. "What happened?"
The stallion began to take in a stifled, raspy breath as his jaw slowly closed up. Twilight braced for any following behaviour. Seconds after his teeth have shut, he let out ear-piercing scream that quickly distorted into a beastly roar. Twilight covered her ears with her wings. The stallions entire eyes started to glow a spectral yellow as he finished his cry. He lunged at Twilight with nary a second of warning.
Twilight did all she could in the one instant she had to think. She projected a barrier and caused the stallion to bounce away and plant his face against the window. The ponies outside all screamed at sight of his horrific face, whom were already stirred up by his second yell. Twilight strafed away from him, stepping into the blood-soaked patches of the carpet along the way.
The stallion pushed against the window with his bloody hooves to resume his assault. The blood was smeared onto the window, causing all ponies who dared to look at it to either retch or white out. Rarity and Pinkie feared for their friend's life.
Twilight couldn't concentrate on a full telekinesis spell and was only able to grab him by the throat and toss him to the side up against the wall.
She was breathing heavily from the whole situation; she felt as though her heart was going to explode. The incessant pounding in her chest and the shock of the encounter had her light-headed and teary-eyed to the point of nearly falling unconscious. She ignored the blood she was still standing in and stood still for half a minute, trying desperately to stabilize her composure.
After her breathing slowed down to a manageable pace, she began to hear more raspy breathing. It was coming from the maniacal pony who lunged at her just a moment ago. She turned her head to see a splatter of blood on the wall from his soaked hooves, as well as a hole left by his horn.
The unicorn was laying down on his side nearly motionless. He twitched his eyes as he tried to open them. He stared directly at Twilight, causing her to charge up another spell for just-in-case purposes. Through his troubled breathing, he forced out a pained speech. "I am not a monster." This made Twilight cease her spell. "It was not me who did this... I would never hurt anyone." Twilight began to approach him with extreme caution, carefully heeding his every word. "It... it keeps tormenting me. It keeps trying to escape; I can't let it." Twilight was kneeling down to him, looking him close in the eyes. "Please help me..."
Twilight started to feel sorry him. She already figured out that he was feeling nothing but remorse and sorrow for what he did. Now she hears him claiming that he was not in control. Being such an isolated incident, she felt inclined to believe him to an extent. No pony would ever willingly perform such an act of violence. It only made sense to her that some other-worldly power was at work. She didn't know what it was, but she knew what she needed to do.
Twilight stood back up straight and continued to look down to him. With a commanding expression and tone of voice, she shared words that she could see give the unicorn a glimmer of hope. "Come with me. I'll help you however I can."
The unicorn was feeling horribly mixed emotions. He tried to focus on the relief of the news the princess gave to him, but his traumatizing action still made him incapable of proper speech or even keeping quiet. His racing heart damaged his breathing, and the horror of the event wouldn't let him stop crying. It was a tremendous strain to let out his prior plea. He was not prepared for giving answers in his current condition. However, for the sake of his well-being, he forced out more begging. "Please... do something now! I can't... speak."
Twilight became fixated on this sorry being to the point where she managed to somewhat ignore what she had just experienced. The sight of the other pony's shredded body was pushed to the wayside. Twilight's professionalism started to become more genuine. "I'll try what I can." She comforted him. "Just give me a moment to think."
After said moment, Twilight came to a conclusion that the only way for him to regain composure was to repress his emotions. She hesitated upon her realization, but a spell she is not exactly comfortable with seemed to be the only solution for the time being. She leaned in close to him with her horn aglow. "Hold still..." Touching the tip of her horn to his forehead, her mind was immediately flooded by a pool of emotions whirling around in a void; different colours representing different feelings. She did what she knew needed to be done, and erased enough to the point where the ethereal hues have slowed and faded.
Now at a point where Twilight felt comfortable with, she stood back and allowed him to sit back upright. Eliminating all of a pony's emotions was simply blasphemous.
The unicorn soon felt a lot different, or least more tame. He started to regain control of his breathing and pulse as he rose to his haunches. He looked down to the ground as if to adjust to his new state. He then gave a glance at Twilight, but soon shifted to the dead mare behind her. More tears began to stream down his face, but now it seemed as though he just had his old pet put to sleep. Twilight took notice of where he was looking. Knowing what it was, she didn't want to look back. The unicorn spoke to her calmly, though still fairly distraught. "Seering... I'm so sorry."
Twilight initially felt relieved at his stability, but promptly wondered why he wasn't speaking directly to her. "Who is Seering?"
The stranger lifted his hoof to the mare's corpse and bleakly answered, "my sister..."
Twilight gasped. Ending the life of another pony was one thing, but somepony you loved? Someone who was close family?! "Wha-what?! This can't be! Who could do something so unfathomably heinous to family?"
The unicorn allowed more tears to go down his cheeks as he began his explanation. "Certainly not I. She was very close to me. I loved her like nopony else could. She was my life." Twilight became enthralled by his answer; even taking a seat up close and personal with him. "We did everything together. We never let each other out of our sight, or even leave the house separately. What I didn't know was that that bond was more important than anything: It not only meant our lifestyle, but our lives themselves."
Twilight was taken aback to this discovery. "How?" She asked.
"Just a while ago, right before all this went down. I had just awoken from a nap on the couch. I realized that for the first time in my life, there was nopony else around. I called out for her and searched for her in all the rooms. Then the feeling of isolation got the best of me and... I started to hear a gruesome voice. It assaulted me and gave me a terrible migraine. It was infesting every orifice of my mind; trying to gain complete control over me. It fed off of my fear. I was too close to my sister, and that was our undoing. The voice tried to convince me that if she ever left, she would have left for good..."
Twilight was trying to keep up with him. "So this voice inside your head took advantage of your bond and corrupted you?"
"That must be true. Because after several minutes of fighting it back, I started to literally become a monster. I don't dare to look back at what I saw myself transform into. At that point, I lost control, and the evil entity took over. I remember growling and smashing. Then the last moments of Seering's life was spent coming through the front door and..." He closed his eyes and gestured to the body. "That." He resumed sobbing over his loss.
Twilight was heart-broken at his story. He couldn't live without her, and now he was involuntarily the cause of her demise? "Oh dear Celestia! I am so sorry."
The unicorn replied, "I remember you saying... something about coming with you. Back to your castle?" He angled his head up to reveal a sad and apologetic face.
Twilight figured that for sake of his comfort, she laid her hoof on his shoulder, despite the blood on the area. She answered, "yes. Come with me. Back at my place we can figure out exactly what this voice is, and find a way to handle it."
The unicorn stood up, and his face lit up with hope. "Thank you. Thank you so much!" He looked down to his front hooves and felt apprehensive of the blood. "I want to hug you to show my gratitude, but..."
"Say no more." Twilight interrupted. "Let me just take care of the ponies outside and we'll be on our way."
"Okay. Thank you." He responded as Twilight made her way back to the front door. "Arid..." Twilight turned around briefly to give her attention. "M-my name is Arid Plasma..." He meekly introduced himself.
Twilight simply nodded. Saying it was "nice" to meet him would not have exactly fit, given the situation.
She continued to the window and opened it up with her magic. Grabbing the attention of the ponies outside, she made only her head visible above the sill. The sight of blood on their princess' hooves would have surely sent them all into a frenzy. "Everypony, listen up!" She announced. "First things first, I'm not hurt, I am just fine. No need to worry about me." Her friends and the others started to calm down. "I know this will sound like a shock, but what I'm dealing with is not a threat to you all; especially not anymore. I am having the situation handled as I speak. Now what I want you all to do is return to your homes. Everything is under control; there is nothing to fear and I'll share what I can in due time."
The crowd hesitantly started to disperse as Pinkie and Rarity walked up to Twilight, kneeling so as to avoid accidentally looking in through the window. The frightened fashionista had a noticeable tremble in her voice. "T-Twilight? Are you sure there is nothing we need to be aware of?"
"Yeah." Pinkie added, equally shaken. "That is never going to happen to us, will it? I don't want whatever did that to... do it again." She grabbed Rarity and held her tight in an embrace.
"Ugh!" Rarity expressed her discomfort. "Pinkie! Let go!"
Twilight continued, "I assure you two, as well as everypony else in town, that you are in no danger. Try to rest well at home knowing that I have the situation neutralized. I figure it would be especially difficult to go back to sleep, considering..." She slightly turns her head to look back at the scene but quickly averts herself. "I know for sure I won't be able to get back to sleep tonight. But that's simply because I have further business to conduct." Her friends continued to look at her with fear and uncertainty. "Look. I know this is difficult for you two, but I'm the one who needs to get directly involved, so you shouldn't be so afraid if I'm not. Yes, this is horrifically scary, but we all need to have strength and faith that everything will be okay."
"She's right, Pinkie." Rarity told her friend in a now calmed tone. "We can certainly trust Twilight to take care of this. Even if she's not fully prepared, she'll come through and keep us safe. After all... when have she ever let us down?"
Pinkie sighed in relief. "Ah, right. What am I getting so worked up over?" She had a uneven smile for a moment, then promptly broke it as she recalled the severity of this scene. She gives her leave and starts off back to Sugarcube Corner. "G-good luck, Twilight." Rarity followed behind her.
With her friends and the curious public now taken care of, Twilight set up a barrier consisting of three concentrated magic ribbons tied around the entire house. The restriction should give a clear indication that this house is condemned for the moment and nopony is allowed inside. She now returned to the unicorn who started this whole debacle. "Arid?" She said in a somber tone. He was kneeling down at the corpse of his beloved late sister. She could feel how much sadness and guilt must still be racing throughout his soul, even with him under the effects of the repression spell. She kept her fear of the horrid sight swallowed down as she approached him and held a hoof to his shoulder. "Is there something you want me to do about Seering?"
Arid paused his mourning and suggested, "I suppose... wrapping and a coffin... would be a start. I don't want her to be left out in the open like this." He shook his head as he continued his grieving.
Twilight obliged and set up an opaque magical field around Seering. After she had it deactivated, the body was wrapped similarly to how the ancient ponies prepared mummies. Twilight then had her levitated above the ground and set down in a coffin she had conjured up just below. She noticed a subtle look of relief in Arid, knowing that his sister was now taken care of somewhat properly. After closing the lid, she felt the need to clean up the blood that was splattered all around the room. She knew that it could wait, however. What was important was Arid.
Twilight brought her horn down to him. "I'll take you with me. You'll be in good hooves."
As Twilight's horn started to glow, Arid shed a single tear and held a soft smile. "Thank you..." With a flash of light, they both disappeared and vacated the building.