For Want of a Better World

by Lunafan1k

Chapter 8: Mixed Reality

For what is it to truly want of a better world? Is it to have a better environment? A better society? Or is it simply to long for a close group of good friends, friends to share in your hardship, your pain, not only that but the feeling of being a part of something better? What does it take to truly create this better world, a single voice, a group of friends, or acts of a god? Is it much simpler, a simple act of courage in the face of oppression?

These thoughts and more flashed through Jeff’s mind as he hurtled through the space between the dimensions. The sensation was something he never really got used to, the feeling of being pulled and pushed in all directions at once in a place with no such thing as directions, up or down, of moving fast while not moving at all. The time of the jump was always distorted, seeming to last beyond eternity yet instantaneous. He knew, even though he could not feel or see, that both Twilight and Kharon were nearby, experiencing the same sensations.

The next moment, or eternity later, one never truly knows, they felt the tug of their destination, the land of the living. Their conscious minds seemed to fade to black, like one would close or shield their eyes in the face of a bright light in the darkness. With a final snap that was felt more than heard, they found themselves in a rather precarious situation. Jeff’s accuracy was slightly off, Twilight needed her body to truly return so he had aimed for his last location. Unfortunately they materialized beneath the ground, without physical bodies.

“I expected the land of the living to be more… open. Less constricting.” Kharon said, his ethereal voice emanating from someplace to Jeff’s perceived left. To his right he felt the presence of Twilight.

Odd, He thought, she should have materialized near her body, even if we did wind up underground. He mentally shrugged and worked on creating a new body from the surrounding dirt and rock. I’m becoming more like Fang, He thought randomly as he crafted a bony skeleton of his body. The stones and dirt melded and changed density and elongated into the various parts and pieces that made up the human skeleton. Able to move again, he reached up with a bony claw and began raking his way to the surface. Luckily he was only a few feet under, making the process a rather quick event.

His skeletal hand broke through the surface, followed quickly by his arm and skull. His body was easily something from a horror story, the black, empty sockets were illuminated by a fierce red glow. The skeleton pulled itself free of the earth, the ever present grin of its teeth was the only emotion it was able to convey. It made a series of circular motions with its bony hands then placed them on the ground to its left. The soil immediately began to fluctuate and condense as another form took shape. Soon enough a second skeleton joined the first, however, the glowing red in the eye sockets was absent. Instead a thick cloud of black death flowed down the figure, condensing and overlapping itself as it built a long, billowy cloak from the ground up to and covering the skull.

Jeff, the red eyed skeleton, nodded as Kharon’s form was completed. Jeff opened his mouth to speak but only managed a few creaks as the joints in his jaw rubbed together. Instead he pointed to his eyes, then the forest around them. Kharon nodded, understanding the order to keep a lookout.

Kneeling down, Jeff began extracting Twilight from the soil. She was very limited in motion and nearly invisible and pale. Twilight, can you hear me? Jeff projected his thoughts into Twilight’s astral form. She responded by slowly turning her head toward him, her pupils dilated and unseeing. Your body isn’t here, is there a place where the others may have fled to safety?

Twilight ever so slightly nodded, then turned to look past Jeff’s right shoulder. Jeff looked as well and cast his mind toward the direction. Through his mind’s eye he found the location of the old castle. It was vastly overgrown and most of the structure has suffered significant damage from age and exposure to the elements, leaving a corroded graveyard of what was once a truly spectacular castle. With a quick thought Jeff agreed that was a good place to hide, no doubt someplace in one of the tunnels that haven’t collapsed yet.

Jeff tied an astral tether to Twilights floating form, allowing him to pull her along as he began walking. He stopped suddenly as he remembered something, something so important that to forget it was suicide. He quickly looked around, but the bastard that put him in this situation was mysteriously gone. He looked to Kharon and gestured wildly towards the now empty throne and equally empty field, devoid of everything but a still drying pool of blood.

Kharon pondered for a moment, “Perhaps the beast went hunting for the other sister?” Jeff snapped his fingers in excitement at the deduction, in more ways than one. After picking up the other half of his middle finger, Jeff and Kharon quickly ran in the direction of the ancient castle, Twilight pulled along through the air behind them.

Luna was holding the Elements closely in a tight, supporting hug as they grieved the loss of their friend. How did it come to this? She thought, desperately trying to comprehend the situation and the cause of the events that lead to this point. Father had always been cruel, did that cruelty follow him to the afterlife? Did that somehow make him stronger? Or was it something else… Her inner monologue trailed off as a new thought occurred to her, What did these two have to do with him? She gritted her teeth in rage as she glared death to the two ponies trapped by her spell, Vinyl Scratch and Trixie.

Luna released her grip on the group of remaining friends and stomped up to the prisoners, and in a very loud, regal voice she said, “Explain. Everything. Now.”

Trixie gave an audible ‘Harrumph’ and turned her head away. “Trixie need not explain the great plan to the likes of you. You are nothing but-” Trixie’s self-important speech was cut short as she and Vinyl screamed out in pain. Luna jumped back in shock from the sudden outburst, but quickly regained herself. She rushed forward and used her magic to scan their bodies for the cause of the problem. Her eyes widened in horror as she discovered Azule’s magic forcefully tearing apart their bodies as some sort of connection was severed.

It’s not their fault! Luna thought frantically as she cast a series of multiple spells to help stop the pain and remove Azule’s influence from their bodies. He was controlling them all along, using their hatred as a way to gain control, just like… me… Luna finished her spells and the screams died away as the two unicorns fell to the ground, unconscious, small trails of blood oozed from their eyes and ears.

“Princess?” Luna turned to face Applejack, shock plainly on her face as well as the others. “Whut in tarnation wus that all about?” They cast fearful glances at the unconscious ponies behind Luna.

“It looks like Azule had them under some kind of spell, but more like a possession.” Luna received nothing but confused stares, so she was forced to elaborate. “A spell would cause a pony to behave differently, usually to accomplish a pre-determined task. Like Twilight’s-” The ponies before her suddenly broke eye contact and looked to the ground, but the princess pressed on. “Twilight’s ‘Want it, Need it’ spell affected the minds of those that saw the doll to suddenly want nothing but the doll. Where in this case, Azule completely took them over in both mind and body, turning them into completely different ponies, much like… myself.” This got the ponies’ attention again, understanding the situation as they only could.

“Their strong reaction just now was Azule cutting off his control of them. It was meant to kill them but I managed to save them. Unfortunately he no doubt knows where we are because of it, meaning we have very little time before he finds and kills us all, then moves on to the rest of Equestria and the world.” Luna continued, looking into the eyes of each pony. “We must hold him off until help arrives. I know Jeff is dead, but if my sister was right he should be coming back soon.”

“But, without Twilight we can’t use the Elements, how can we hope to stop him, let alone slow him down?” Rarity asked. The others nodded in agreement, the situation was indeed dire.

“We must simply do our best.” Luna replied. The group of ponies and the princess left Twilight’s body as well as the unconscious forms of Trixie and Scratch in the care of Fluttershy as they ran back to the entrance of the tunnel to make preparations for anything Azule could throw at them.

Azule let out a call of maniacal laughter towards the cloudy sky as he severed his control over the two ponies that were foolish enough to wander near his territory so long ago. He had no use for those that have outlived their usefulness and so decided to end their lives. In doing so, he discovered their location, the last useful thing they would achieve before their demise. He felt himself leave the pair of unicorns, but he also felt the magic of his youngest daughter, Luna, spare their lives. This was no matter; he knew where she was and was fully intent on finishing what he started.

He disappeared in a cloud of smoke and flew in a high arc over the trees, landing in the long forgotten cemetery of the ancient castle. He laughed once more, the sky growing darker as he summoned massive amounts of black magic. The magic seeped into the ground as Azule muttered softly in a long dead language lost to time itself. Soon the very ground surged upward as he completed the spell, a black mist swam from his body and seeped into the graves.

Soon the quiet night was filled with the bloodcurdling cries of the long forgotten. Their dried husks dug themselves up from beneath their earthy tomb. Few had their entire bodies intact, while most were missing limbs or horns, some even had only had their torso. Soon an entire army of undead stood waiting for their master’s orders. Azule stomped a hoof and pointed toward the ancient castle.

He commanded, his army spun around to the best of their individual ability, and descended onto the castle at a slow march.

Applejack was finishing setting up the last trap with a bit of her trusty rope when she heard them. The low moans and the sound of shuffling hooves announced the arrival of the undead army. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the mutilated, decayed, and dried out husks of what were once proud pones of great importance that were buried near the castle slowly make their way toward her position.

AJ tried to run and warn the others, but she was frozen with terror as the few in front of the hoard stopped to look at her, pondering whatever it is a zombie pony might ponder before letting out a shrill, rabid shriek and bolting forward at near impossible speeds. The shock of their speed snapped AJ out of her immobility as the instinct to run away and pure adrenaline flooded her body.

She risked looking back as she heard the sound of collapsing stone. The zombies had triggered one of her traps and collapsed a section of the roof on top of themselves, and blocked the way for the remaining undead, forcing them to find an alternate route. AJ turned back in time to vault over another trap, then headed into a nearby tunnel. About halfway down she activated a pressure switch on the wall, causing a section to slide into the floor, revealing a hidden room.

“Bad news y’all,” Applejack panted as the group of ponies fell silent. “We got ourselves a hoard of zombie ponies headed this way, my traps will slow em down but unless we think of somethen we’ll be overrun.” AJ spat out, much to the horror of her friends and the princess.

“So what? That’s no big deal, zombies are slow and clumsy and we can easily out run them, right?” Rainbow paused in her rant as AJ’s face fell.

“Not these ones darlin’, they walk around pretty slow but when they saw me they ran really, really fast, I was lucky enough to have a trap and a head start.” Rainbow was shocked into silence, the Daring Doo series had not prepared her for fast zombies.

“To think he would stoop that low, using the dead as his own puppets… he has no right to toy with my ponies’ remains!” Luna was furious. Azule has stepped over the line, and she was going to give him the what for if it was the last thing she did. “How dare he, turning once great warriors into his personal playthings, and toying with their long dead remains…” Luna was about to leave the hiding spot when something in the room struck her as odd. She quickly counted their numbers in her head, there were the elements, both alive and dead, which made six, the two unconscious unicorns for eight and herself made nine, but why was it she counted eleven just now?

Luna spun and blasted the two tall figures in the back of the room, one letting out a cry of pain and the other sounding agitated, in a familiar voice. “Hey! I’m still growing that, take it easy!” Luna lit up her horn and cast the light on the bi-pedal figures, one shrouded in a cloak, the other was a skeleton with bits of flesh and muscle still forming over the bones. The fleshy skeleton bent down and picked up his severed arm and stuck it to the end of the stump where it was supposed to go.

“Sorry, I’m still pulling myself together after a small mishap.” The fleshy skeleton said evenly as he cast his glowing eyes about the room, the silence was pressing in from all around. “That was a joke, you were supposed to laugh.” Silence once again. “The hell's wrong with you all? You’re acting like someone died in front of you and you’re seeing a ghost of them!” This was met with a dead faint from Rarity, and Fluttershy began to tear up at the harsh words as the others stood stock still.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I’m not a sensitive person and in hindsight that was rather awful, being that you don’t recognize who I am. Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Jeff the Human god, I believe we’ve met before, yes?” the gathered ponies slowly nodded. “And this,” He gestured towards the other figure, “is Kharon, the entity from the land of the dead that ferries souls into the afterlife. And this,” he moved aside for them to see the ghostly form of Twilight, “is Twilight Sparkle’s soul.” With a gentle push, Twilight floated to the other side of the room and was absorbed into her ridged and still cooling body.

The ponies watched in silence and with hope as Twilight’s ear twitched, a hoof, then began floating several feet off the ground as a beautiful golden energy encased her body, filling the hole in her chest. After several intense seconds Twilight’s hooves were once more on the ground, supporting a stiffly standing Twilight.

Pinkie stared at her, she stared back, gaze deep and unwavering, seeming to pierce through the pink pony. “T-Twilight? I-Is that…?” Pinkie began, but was unable to finish her sentence as her throat seemed to clench shut, so strong was the emotion that ran though her body.

“There is no Twilight, only ZUUL.” Twilight said evenly, not breaking her gaze with the pink pony.

“Ha… ha… That’s… that’s a good one Twilight.” Pinkie said as the tears started to form in her eyes again.

“THERE IS NO TWILIGHT, ONLY ZUUL.” Twilight said again, this time in a deep stallion voice that chilled to the bone and reverberated off the walls.

Pinkie backed away quickly, allowing Jeff to strut past and flick Twilight on the ear. “Quit screwing around, we got shit to do.” Twilight didn’t flinch, instead she cast her gaze upon the group of ponies, ignoring Jeff as though he were insignificant.

“ARE YOU GODS?” She asked in the same, eerie voice.

“Um… No?” Applejack said, casting questionable glances to the others.

“THEN, DIE.” Three things happened at almost the exact same time. First, Twilight, or the being known as ZUUL, charged her horn with an incredible amount of raw magical power and unleashing it in a flurry of lightning. Kharon was able to intercept the bolts of energy and deflected them into the far wall, saving the lives of the ponies. And finally, during the split second ZULL had her guard down Jeff rammed his shoulder into her, teleporting them both far away.

Jeff and Twilight appeared in a flash of blue light in the same clearing this series of events began. The momentum of Jeff’s attack a split second before followed them through the jump, resulting in Twilight being tackled to the ground and pinned beneath Jeff as he stared deep into her glazed eyes.

“Now you listen, and you listen well. Twilight, you let your newfound power seize control over your body, and it’s disgraceful. You bring shame on me, the princesses, and your friends. You need to regain control of yourself or so help me I will manually force you in control. Believe me, you do not want that, you or your crude new identity. You need to do this now because time is short and is forcing my hand.”

“PUNY GOD, SO LOST IN YOUR LOSS YOU FAIL TO SEE YOUR OWN END.” Twilight began to growl as her features began to change dramatically, on the verge of becoming a new, powerful monster. Her snout elongated as rows upon rows of sharp teeth grew haphazardly in every direction, a few even growing outward and through the flesh of her lips. Her tail solidified and grew multiple times its original length, resulting in an incredibly long, whip like tail. Her hooves were beginning to change shape before Jeff resorted to his final option.

“I warned you, you brought this on yourself.” Jeff reached out and grasped Twilight’s horn by its base, and quickly jerked to the side, snapping the horn off her head with a resounding crack. Not sparing a second to observe the face contort into a pain so unimaginable, Jeff plunged the horn, tip first, through her skull where the horn used to be attached. Jeff forced the Horn in all the way until the base of the horn was even with the top of her skull, the rest of the horn buried deep within Twilight’s brain. Little blood was spilled, her death had been instant.

The Royal Guard stationed themselves along the perimeter of the clearing in the Everfree as they waited for reinforcements to arrive. The pegasi that followed after the princess found themselves unable to move forward due to an intense wind that would simply push them away from the clearing. They were unable to do anything to help in the ensuing battle, forced only to listen as their beloved princesses dueled with a threat the guard had yet to learn about.

The sounds of battle and the heartbroken cries of several mares suddenly silenced, marking the sudden end of the ordeal. Several members of the guard gave each other worried glances. They feared for their princess, they feared they may even be next.

“Buck up men!” A bulky lieutenant barked as he paced back and forth. “If we are to be targeted, we perform our duty and fight to the death for Equestria! If our sacrifice is to be in vain then take solace in the fact that we bought time, no matter how little!” He continued to drill and motivate for some time until the reinforcements from Canterlot arrived.

The lieutenant broke off from his pacing to greet the new arrivals, a glimmer of hope and relief filled his heart as he beheld many chariots transporting a number of unicorn and earth ponies, the captain of the guard among them.

“Captain!” The lieutenant popped a salute to his superior, who nodded in return for him to continue. “We have secured the perimeter and are prepared for the unicorn squadron to make their assault against the barrier.”

“Very well, we shall begin immediately.” The captain said with a nod before turning to the rest of his squad. “Spread out evenly and examine the spell, I don’t want any surprises.” The unicorns did as told and spread evenly along the leading edge of the barrier. As one they closed their eyes, lit their horns, and began to poke and prod with their magic. After a few moments they broke their examination and turned to the captain.

“Sir,” One in the center strode forward as he addressed his superior, “It’s a simple repulsion spell, but a very powerful one none the less. With your permission we would like to begin the dispelling.”

“Proceed.” The captain motioned toward the speaker. With a nod the unicorn turned back and with the rest of the squad and they furrowed their brows in concentration. Even with the combined effort of so many powerful unicorns the barrier fought back with a vengeance, absolutely refusing to be dispelled. A few of the weaker unicorns outright fainted from the strain as the barrier gave one last recoil before dispelling completely.

“Alpha and Beta squad, with me. Delta, remain guarding the perimeter and care for the wounded.” The captain ordered, the various ponies filed behind him as he led the way closer to the clearing.

Soon he could hear the sound of a pair of figures speaking, one’s voice chilling him to the bone. He quickened his pace to a hasty trot before sprinting through the last of the underbrush into the clearing. There he saw a sight that would surly haunt him for the rest of his days.

A tall, bi-pedal figure grasped the horn of a purple unicorn and snapped it off as though it were a branch, then stabbed the unfortunate mare through the skull with it. Suddenly losing all military composure he rushed forward, crying out his beloved sister’s name as he prepared to kill the monster that would dare harm his family.

Jeff looked up at the sound of an anguished cry to see a blue maned white unicorn charging toward him, a powerful spell at the ready. With an annoyed grunt at yet another interruption, Jeff reached out and smacked his horn, successfully disrupting his magic. Then Jeff grabbed the unicorn by the neck and slammed him to the ground. The unicorn struggled and fought back with everything he had in him, but every spell was interrupted and his physical blows did nothing to hinder the creature.

“You fight valiantly, but I am not your enemy!” Jeff said as he disrupted yet another spell.

“You killed my sister in cold blood! I have every reason to mark you as an enemy, you monster!” The unicorn yelled while delivering a number of blows with his fore-hooves. Blows Jeff hardly felt.

“Your sister became possessed by a massive amount of power she was still getting used to. If I hadn’t interfered it would be you who would be dead or faced with killing Twilight.” Jeff said evenly as the stallion stared with pure hatred into his eyes.

“You lie! You still killed her!” He yelled as he began to break down under the futility of the situation.

“Yes, I killed her, but she’s going to come back. That’s the beauty of immortality, just be patient and stop crying, your making yourself look bad in front of your peers.” Jeff said as he got up, pulling the still sobbing stallion to his feet. Jeff cast his gaze toward the rest of the guards that followed their captain through the brush. His face alighted at seeing a familiar young guard. “Day! How have you been? The guard treating you right?”

“My name is Dusk, but yes the guard has been fine.” The young stallion corrected.

“Give it time, you will come to hate it. Or at least I did.” Jeff replied.

“Recruit! You will cease communication with this monster!” The stallion yelled at Dusk, his face still showing fresh tears down his muzzle, yet he carried himself with renewed vigor.

“Aw don’t be like that, cut him some slack.” The captain spun back toward Jeff and cast a pink shield around him. “What’s this? A prison? Cute.” Jeff tapped the force field and popped it like a soap bubble. The captain’s and the rest of his guard’s jaws dropped to the ground in astonishment. The captain concentrated harder and placed another force field around Jeff, who dispelled it with a small pop. Another bubble, another pop.

After popping the seventh shield Jeff decided to give his own attempt. He snapped his fingers and a blue bubble formed around the captain. The imprisoned unicorn looked about with wide eyes before blasting the shield with different types of dispels. None were working so he adapted a new tactic, blasting powerful beams of energy on a single point.

“You realize that’s not a shield right?” Jeff said pointedly. “That’s basically a ball of energy that’s been absorbing the magic you’ve been shooting at it. Now if you calm down I can explain what happened to Twilight. Yes she is dead, but not for long.”

Twilight waited with a held breath as she was engulfed in flames, taken back to the realm of the living as Jeff called it. Almost immediately she felt something was wrong, she felt something inside her, something she knew was always there but was always buried. The part of her subconscious that seemed to show itself when she was under intense pressure, always giving her ideas that made no sense and convincing her that the world was out to get her. She felt it awaken, a separate mind within her own.

She heard Jeff say something, but she was too deep in thought to register what was going on around here. Soon enough a searing pain burned its way through her chest in the spot the tentacle had gored her. At the same time she felt herself solidify and fall to the library floor. On impact with the hard wood the pain stopped and the world came into focus.

Confused as to why she was back home and not in the Everfree Forest she took a look outside. She saw several of the nearby houses along the road and a number of ponies ambling about, one even walking in a crude circle. She shrugged it off as it just being one of those days and prepared her saddle bags to go out and see one of her friends, presumably Pinkie, that way she could get a light snack as well.

As she was turning to leave a strange note was tacked to the inside of her door, ‘Don’t listen to the lies’ was all it said. Looking closely she was able to tell it was written by none other than Pinkie. Twilight took the note off her door with her magic and flipped it over. ‘I didn’t put anything on this side’ it read. Thinking it was some sort of prank, Twilight rolled her eyes and tossed the note into the wastebasket near the door.

She stepped out into the warm air, the sun beating against her coat warmly as a gentle breeze pulled at her mane and tail. With a relaxed sigh she casually strolled over to Sugar Cube Corner and opened the door with the familiar jingle of the bell overhead.

“Oh hello dearie!” Mrs. Cake greeted as she saw who came in. “What can I do for you?”

“Good afternoon, I was wondering if Pinkie was here? And I would like a strawberry cupcake please.” Twilight placed her order as she approached the counter.

“Of course sweetie.” She said as she ducked behind the counter and emerged a few seconds later, a pink cupcake grasped in a pair of tongs which Twilight grasped in her magic. “On the house today sweetie.” Mrs. Cake said as Twilight was digging several bits from her saddlebag.

“Oh, well thank you very much!” Twilight turned and walked out the door, cupcake in tow.

She was halfway back to the library when thought of eating the delicious cupcake began to overpower her will. Thinking nopony would care if she ate the sugary sweet in the middle of the road she tore the paper off the delicacy and opened her mouth, her tongue quivering in excitement for the sugary treat. Suddenly a flash of pink interrupted her vision as something knocked the cupcake out of her magical grasp and into a mud puddle.

“PINKIE!! What was that… for?” Twilight looked around in confusion, her hyper pink friend was nowhere in sight, the meandering ponies in the street were doing the exact same thing they were doing when Twilight left the library, none even seemed to notice her, let alone react to her yelling. Twilight wanted answers to several questions, firstly why Mrs. Cake failed to mention pinkie and how she forgot to press for details. Then with the cupcake incident she was suddenly herself again. The first thing she needed to do was find Pinkie, she seemed to be the only constant. Twilight trotted across the street to a familiar looking mare with curly orange hair and several carrots as a cutie mark.

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked as she tapped the mare on the shoulder to get her attention. She ignored her, instead opting to continue staring straight ahead, at a brick wall. “I would appreciate it if you stopped ignoring me.” Twilight said, pausing to give time for the mare to respond. “Hey!” Twilight punched her hard in the ribs, panic beginning to set in.

“Stop ignoring me! What is wrong with…” Twilight trailed off as she finally got a response from the orange mare. She was slowly turning her head to face Twilight, but something was off. “Ok, sorry about yelling but I need to find Pink-” Twilight cut herself off with a loud shriek. She looked into the pony’s face, but where the features were supposed to be there were none, like somepony pulled extra flesh over the entire skull and forgot to add eyes, a nose, a mouth, and various other features. The pony in question could not possibly see, yet seemed to look deep into Twilight’s soul.

With another frantic shriek she bolted back into Sugar Cube Corner, and opened the door with the familiar jingle of the bell overhead.

“Oh hello dearie!” Mrs. Cake greeted as she saw who came in. “What can I do for you?”

“Good afternoon, I was wondering if Pinkie was here? And I would like a strawberry cupcake please.” Twilight placed her order as she approached the counter. She slowed down and tried to think for a moment, but all she really wanted was that amazing cupcake.

“Of course sweetie.” Mrs. Cake said as she ducked behind the counter and emerged a few seconds later, a pink cupcake grasped in a pair of tongs which Twilight grasped in her magic. “On the house today sweetie.” Mrs. Cake said as Twilight was digging several bits from her saddlebag.

“Oh, well thank you very much!” Twilight turned and walked out the door, cupcake in tow.

She was halfway back to the library when thought of eating the delicious cupcake began to overpower her will. Thinking nopony would care if she ate the sugary sweet in the middle of the road she tore the paper off the delicacy and opened her mouth, her tongue quivering in excitement. Suddenly a flash of pink interrupted her vision as something knocked the cupcake out of her magical grasp and into a mud puddle.

“PINKIE!! Would you stop… wait, I just did all that.” Realization hit as the memories came flooding back to her, the note, the first cupcake, the mud puddle and the faceless pony. “No, this isn’t right. This can’t be right.” Her breathing became quickened as panic set in once more.

“Well duh.” A familiar voice said behind her. “Geeze Twilight I thought you were smarter than this. Do you know how many times I had to knock that cupcake into the mud? Over 47 times! That’s a huge waste of food.”

Twilight spun and saw Pinkie looking back at her through what appeared to be a rip in the fabric of reality. “Pinkie, what’s going on? This is a bit over the top, even for you.” Twilight said evenly and as calmly as she could.

“Well, I wanted to say that I was breaking the fourth wall but the author thinks that is a lame excuse, but what does he know. Anyway, he wants me to say something about this being psychological and I’m a figment of your imagination or something, I wasn’t really listening because I was looking at silly cats on the internet. Did you know they look even cuter with bread around their heads? HA! They were so adorable and – er, I mean, come with me if you want to live.” Pinkie gave a hard look at the space just above and behind Twilight’s head before returning to her bubbly self and motioning for Twilight to come through the rift.

“Okay Pinkie, what is going on? And I don’t want some senseless garble you were talking about.” Twilight said as she leaped through the void and suddenly found herself in a white room. Everything was blank, the walls a solid smooth surface, each lacking a door. The ceiling was the same, no lights of any kind and yet the room was almost too bright to have her eyes open. Looking down she saw the same surface that covered the walls and ceiling.

“Okay Twilight, this is the part I tell you about your subconscious taking control of your body and as a protective measure you severed off your own conscious mind and locked it somewhere safe. Unfortunately the subconscious, calling itself Zuul, was able to force its way in and try to corrupt or kill you so it would have complete control. It made you crave sweets and every time you entered Sugar Cube it wiped out your short term memory and gave you a poisoned cupcake. I would then hop into your fake reality and force you not to eat it. When I tried explaining things to you out there you would run back to sugar cube and it would start over. As for the faceless ponies, they were figments of what you remember of them. You forgot what the face looked like and so saw it as blank. Questions?” Twilight was in shocked silence. “Good! Now let’s see what the meanie is doing.”

“Wait! How do I know this is all true, that this is in my own head?”

“Come on Twilight, would I really say all of that? Big words and everything? How I spoke like you when explaining something simple?” More stunned silence as the pieces of the puzzle fit together. “Now, let’s see what’s going on outside.”

Pinkie moved to a random wall, the number 4 crossed Twilight’s mind for some reason. Pinkie reared up on her hind legs, placing her front hooves on the wall then spread them to the side as if she was opening something. And open something she did, Twilight saw the clearing in the forest where she died trying to save the princess, and she saw Jeff staring right at her with burning eyes.

“Do you want stereo sound or Dolby 5.1 surround?” Pinkie said, snapping Twilight from her thoughts.

“… Huh?” Twilight raised a quizzical eyebrow at the pink mare.

“Let’s do 5.1, I want to test the new bass I got from Vinyl.” In a flash and the sound of party poppers a number of pony sized speakers appeared in the walls, Jeff’s booming voice rattling Twilight to her bones.

“I warned you, you brought this on yourself.” Suddenly a searing pain stabbed into Twilight’s head and raced along her entire body. She screamed out in pain with enough force to damage her vocal cords, small drops of blood splattering against the wall before she faded out into the darkness.