//------------------------------// // Nightmares // Story: Monochrome Promise // by Unknown-Brony //------------------------------// "But now I must ask you to come with me," the yellow pony told me. I nod towards Fluttershy, showing her that I agreed. She took the lead on the stone road with Angel on her back, covered by her wings to keep him warm. Many confused thoughts were racing trough my head. 'Why wasn't she upset? Upset isn't enough… But, how did she forgive me so quickly? I almost killed her pet, and I almost killed her! She said something about the Everfree Forest, and a princess... Celestia? Was she the leader or something? And what is that maisma?' While I was sunk in my own thoughts, I barely realized that we were getting closer to the forest. I froze up. Was she mad or something? I had no intention of going through those moments of despair and fear again. I could still remember that voice. I stood there, feeling like I was being turned to stone. After a while, she realized that she left me behind. She turned towards me and gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry; my house is only near the Everfree Forest. Trust me, I won't lead you back in there." Her voice melted away the feeling of being frozen. I followed her in her house. After she closed the door behind me, she lowered her body, allowing Angel to get on the ground. He looked happy to be there. At that moment, I realized that her tree house was filled with animals such as rabbits, squirrels, birds, mice, and many other animals. "This is very nice!" I told her. But I received no answer. She was too busy, as she began feeding all the animals. During that time, my head was filled yet again with questions I couldn't find an answer to. I went to the nearest window to think. Unfortunately, the window was facing that forest. 'The maisma… What was that? And… Why was that voice that told me to kill so familiar?' "Good, now, let's get back to you mister." I heard Fluttershy's voice behind me, bringing me back to reality. Her voice saved me from my dark thoughts. I turned around to face her, only to notice that she was very angry. "What were you doing there?! No pony is supposed to go there. It's dangerous for mature ponies, but for a young colt such as you? Have you lost your mind?!" she yelled. "I'm sorry, but I didn't know…" I tried to defend myself. "How is that even possible? This is one of the most important rules! Everypony knows them!" "But… but…" "But what?" she said with the same authoritarian tone. "I'm not from around here. I'm new here, if I can say so…" I replied a little afraid of her. "What do you mean?" the yellow pony asked me, finally softrening to better understand what I was saying. "Well…It's a long story." Thus, I started to tell her everything I could remember, from the day when I woke up in that pit wounded, to this very moment. She was very surprised, but listened intently to every detail of the story. After I was finished, she apologized sincerely. "I-I-I'm sorry for yelling at you… I didn't know that," she stuttered. "It's no problem," I smiled broadly, reassuring her. She sighed in relief. She wasn't angry anymore, a gentle smile curling up her lips. "Maybe tomorrow I can talk to Twilight to help you." "Twilight? Who is this Twilight you're talking about?" I asked her confused. "Silly me. She is Princess Celestia's personal student and the bearer of the Element of Magic. She is a very good friend of mine." At that moment, I was sure that Fluttershy will give her best to help me. After a while, we realized that it was getting dark and, no matter how hard I tried to hide my yawn, Fluttershy noticed it immediately, letting out a soft giggle. "You must be very tired after all you've been through. Let me prepare you a bed to sleep for the night." Immediately, she threw all the objects from a hammock, leaving space for me to sleep. I jumped in it while she searched for a blanked for me. It didn't take her long to find one, and she brought it over to me in her mouth. After she made sure she covered me well I felt the urge to ask her something: "Excuse me but… what is this maisma you've been talking about?" She was shocked. I could see that on her face. "It would be better if we'd talk about this tomorrow," Fluttershy said. I caught her off-guard with that question. "Anyway, it's getting late and you have to rest for tomorrow." I agreed with her. I was feeling very tired after those long days. After she made sure I was comfy, she went to her bed to get some sleep too. "Goodnight mommy!" I said out loud, making sure that she was in bed too. "Goodnight," I heard her barely speaking. She was definitely surprised, but she wasn't offended. Slowly, but surely, I fell asleep. A moment later, I felt my hooves burning. Immediately, I woke up and I realized I was tied to a wall. As hard as I tried to free myself, it was no use. The ropes were soaked in my own blood. I was terrified when I realized that I struggled so much that I could barely move my hooves. I tried to relax, to stay cool, so that I won't go mad. I had to think things through. For a moment, I studied my surroundings. The ground was covered by water. I couldn't tell how deep it was. From the water, some trees were growing. They all looked like they were burned. But, what was that? In the horizon, I could see something standing on a branch of a tree. Suddenly, he raised his head. "Oh, it seems that you woke up. Heh." He jumped from the tree, landing on the water. He seemed to be walking on water. As he got closer, I could see him better. He was covered in a white robe, with a lot of cuts. I couldn't see his face because he was looking at the water. His hear was very spiky and messy. While he was getting closer, I felt despair and fear coming back to me. He was related to the voice that told me to kill. Was he? Unfortunately, my body wasn't responding anymore to my commands. It started to twitch uncontrollably. Blood started to flow again, and the fur under the rope was burnt. "Twitchy twitchy. Struggle as hard as you want, but you're not going to be free until I say so," he said before bursting into an evil laugh. As he was getting closer, the twitching was intensifying. My hooves weren't moving anymore. I lost too much blood. "Good, keep feeding me," the creature said. In my mind I realized that the creature was feeding with my fear and despair. I tried to calm myself. Slowly, but surely, I was twitching less. When I stopped moving, the creature raised its head, looking directly into my eyes. I could feel his thirst for blood. "Are you dead yet and I don't know it? Did I tell you that you can stop feeding me?" the creature yelled at me. His voice was still resonating in my head. It was the same. "No," I replied to him. "Oh, you're sure of that? Well, it was already getting boring to play with your mind. You're very weak, and this is no longer amusing." The creature turned his back on me. "But now at least I can give you a last gift. After all you've done for me." The creature threw its white robe, revealing a body covered in wounds. Some of them were very severe because I could see his bones. That image was terrifying. At that moment I couldn't hold the contents of my stomach inside; it was too much to bear. I threw up, horrified by his wounds. "You still don't remember me?" The creature asked me very surprised. "Well, that is very upsetting." He started walking in circles in front of me. "Silly me; maybe you will recognize me like this." In the next moment, the creature twisted its head upside down. A lot of cracks and bone cracks made the creature when he was twisting its head. I couldn't help myself, feeling my stomach turning once again, emptying itself in the water. The acid burned my tongue. I coughed and spat, retching. "So, you still don't recognize me." The creature was even more surprised than before. His mutilated face contorted into a smile. When he approached me, I could feel the smell of rotting flesh. My stomach was heaving, but there was nothing left to expel. Without warning, he grabbed my snout. His grip was very strong and I felt like he was going to crush my skull. "Don't you dare throw up on me!" He yelled. After I swallowed whatever was left of my own vomit, I realized that his grip was getting lighter. He retreated his hand, and he turned again his back on me. "Weak… too weak. While I was dead you got weaker… brother." 'Brother? How is that even possible? He wasn't even a pony. And he looked like he just came from the graveyard.' "You don't seem to believe me. Maybe I need to… illuminate you!" In the next second, he trusted his hand through my body, piercing my chest. His hand went through my rib cage like a razor sharp blade. When his hand pierced my rib cage, I started coughing, as my lungs started filling with blood, making me unable to scream. "Wow, chill brother! Don't worry; I didn't touch any vital organs. I only destroyed one of your lungs and I broke 2 or 3 ribs." The creature said with a smile on its mutilated face. "Why… *cough*… are you… *cough*… doing this… *cough*… to me?" I barely spoke, having a hard time breathing with his hand through my ribcage. "Why not? It's for your own good." 'How is that even possible? What is he going to do to me?' The creature took some distance between me and him so he could admire its work. After he studied me, he raised his hand. It was covered in blood and it was holding in its hand a rib. "Shall we begin?" He asked me ironical. I was still coughing blood and, as hard as I tried to man up, the pain was too much for me to resist. "I haven't heard a 'no' so…let's get started." The creature hardened its grip on the rib and started to draw something on the wall behind me. The smell of the dead flesh and the view of the dead skin barely holding were horrifying. After a while, he finished drawing on the wall and he retreated from me with small steps, admiring his artwork. The feeling of terror and despair was swallowing me. I tried to move my head to see what he drew on the wall. All I could see was a big pentagon, inside a circle. The trenches the rib made were filled with blood. "We can get started." The creature made a backflip, landing in a crouched position. In a split second, he charged toward me. His chaotic sprint stopped right in front of me. He looked into my eyes while raising his hand. He grabbed my skull once again with an immense strength. At that moment I knew it was my end. He was going to crush my head. Instead of that, his eyes started glowing. I felt like I was being sucked by him. All the strength I had left was sucked out of me. Having nothing left to fight him, I fainted. After a while I woke up. When I tried to open my eyes, I was blinded by the bright light. I tried to bring my hoof over my eyes, but instead I had a hand. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I began to study my surroundings as well as myself. I was no longer a pony. I was a human. I realized that memories were coming back to me. But, I had no time to loose. Someone was getting closer to me. I hid myself behind a thicker oak while two pairs of footsteps were getting louder. I tried to take a peak. It was an adult followed by a young kid. I recognized both of them. The younger one was… me. I was following my older brother, Zeke. "Come one brother!" Zeke yelled. "Can't we take a break?" He said panting. I remembered that we were on a trip. After three months of begging, our parents have left us to go on a camping trip. But, a weird feeling was creeping on me. Something bad was about to happen. I couldn't remember what, but it was going to be something bad. "We'll take a break. And you call yourself a basketball player…" Zeke taunted him. "I'm not lazy… I just… haven't warmed up." "If you say so" Zeke replied while messing his hair. "Hey! Leave the hair." They both laughed. Because I was getting curious, I tried to approach them. While I was getting closer to them, suddenly a branch cracked under my foot. I turned to stone. What would happen if two me would meet each other? But all my worries were in vain. They weren't paying attention to me. They were still laughing. While I stood behind the tree, I didn't realize that Zeke left me, him, me… it is weird to think about myself at the third person. I was worried. I looked around me. He was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly I realized that he was behind me walking calm. Why wasn't he surprised? I stood there looking at him. He continued walking until he went through me. I was like a ghost. When he went through me, I felt like he transferred his feeling to me. He was happy. He was glad that he finally had some time off from college. I couldn't remember when I've seen him happier. "Do you want to make a fire?" Zeke asked. "Was that a question?" The other I asked him. They gathered some branches in a big pile, and after a meticulous search, Zeke found a lighter. They both sat happy in front of the fire. After a while of admiring the fire, they realized that it was getting dark. The fire was going out. Zeke was afraid of me getting cold. He covered the other me with a blanket, and he went to search for some new branches for the fire. Unfortunately, I wasn't asleep. He was only pretending. After he realized that Zeke left the camp, he tried to follow him. All day long I followed both of them, slowly some memories coming back to me. I was afraid of what was going to happen. I couldn't remember, but my stomach was telling me that something bad was going on. I knew that they couldn't see me, so I wasn't afraid anymore to stay by their side. The other I was still following Zeke, but he had no intention to show his brother that he wasn't asleep. After a long walk, I could finally see Zeke. He was gathering branches in his backpack. I was very proud of him. Suddenly, he turned to the other me. I could see on his face a terrified expression. "Andrew… don't move." Zeke said. My stomach was growling. I had an unpleasant feeling. He saw me? "Brother, when I tell you, run." Zeke said, this time his face looking more frightened than before. The other I wasn't moving. He slowly turned his head to see what was going on. At that moment I thought that the other I was looking straight at me. How was that possible? But maybe he wasn't looking at me. I turned around. Behind me, there was a big black bear. I knew I was something like a ghost, but I was still frightened. There was something like a bond between me and the other I. I was feeling whatever he was thinking. The other me was frozen. He couldn't move. I turned to look at Zeke. He was trying to reach to something in his backpack. "Where is it?" Zeke whispered desperate. In the next moment, I could see a smile on Zeke's face. He found a flare gun. "Andrew, when I get to three, run as fast as you can." Zeke said pretty confident. Unfortunately, the other I was too frightened to hear anything. His body was in full panic mode. While the bear started to get closer, Zeke voice was calling for me. "One…" He loaded the flare gun. "Two…" He aimed for the bear. "THREE!" He shot straight at the bear. As the flare flew, the other I ran as fast as he could behind the nearest tree to hide. The blinded bear was mad. He ran in the direction of the shooter. Zeke was prepared for him, taking a fighting stance. This remembered me that he was in a wrestling club. But that wouldn't help him and both me and the other I knew that. The bear charged to my brother. He wasn't afraid. "Brother!" Both me and the other I yelled. But it was no use. The bear was pushing him to the edge. As hard as he tried to fight, it was no use. They were both standing on two feet, pushing each other. Now, they were standing on the very edge. It was a battle on life and death. The other I ran from his hiding place to help Zeke. Unfortunately, the ground under them was crumbling. With tears in his eyes, the other I jumped, hoping to grab his brother's hand to save him. "BROTHER!" He yelled while trying desperately to save Zeke. Luckily, he succeeded to grab his brother's hand. "Brother, don't you dare give up on me." He yelled. "Heh…" Zeke said while spitting some blood. "Twitchy twitchy. I'm proud of you… *cough*… but this is a fight you will have to finish on your own." Zeke barely said. He closed his eyes, and slowly he let his hand slip. "No… no… NO!" The other I yelled as he was watching helpless how his brother was dying right in front of him. When he finally slipped from his grip, he was destroyed. I remembered now. I never felt like that. All the happiness was being drained from me, now being replaced by fear and despair. All the night, the other I stood on the edge crying and yelling. After all night long, being unable to cry anymore, he finally made his decision to try to find his brother. I wasn't able to think straight anymore. I knew this happened in the past, but I felt like this happened at this moment. The other I took out some equipment from his backpack, he tied a rope around a rock, and he started to escalade the cliff. I followed him without equipment, basing only on my pure talent. I took a while, but we finally reached the ground. When the other I packed his equipment back into his backpack, he started calling for his brother. His search for his brother wasn't too long. He found a blood trail on the ground at a small distance from him. We followed the trail, until we found him. He was lying dead on the ground. His skin was thorn, in some parts revealing some of his muscles and even some bones. I was horrified. The other I started puking from the view. He never expected to see his brother like that. Because he wasted all his tears, he couldn't cry anymore. He searched his backpack, and he took the white blanket his brother covered him last night. He wrapped him tight and left him there. He couldn't bear to see his brother in that state. After he left, the light got brighter and brighter until it blinded me. Instinctively I brought my hand in front of my eyes, trying to cover the light. It was no use. I fainted once again. When I woke up, I was back in my rope prison. "So, you're awake." The creature said complacent. Now I recognized him. He was my brother. "Why… why are you doing this to me?" I asked him between blood coughs. "Why not?" He replied smiling. His smile was horrifying. Whenever he was smiling, I could see his teeth and some muscles on his neck. "But…" "But what?" Zeke asked surprised. "You'll never be my brother!" I yelled, spitting him in the face with blood. After he cleaned his face with some skin that was barely holding to his face he smiled. "Seems like you still have some guts." He snapped his fingers, instantly making the ropes untie me. When I fell on the water, I felt like I was going to be torn apart. The hole in my chest was bleeding once again, revealing some internal organs. "If you still want to fight, then, let me see you try." He said before bursting into an evil laugh. I had no chance to fight him. I was barely staying up on three hooves, while placing a hoof on top of the hole he made in my chest. After he stopped laughing, he suddenly stretched his arm. Was he going to do now? From the water, suddenly rose a scythe. It floated into his hand. After he got a good grip of the scythe, I realized that it was my end. But, from nowhere, a light appeared on the cloudy sky. Both I and my brother were blinded by this light. This wasn't something any of us expected. From the light, a cyan Pegasus came flying to me with a rope in its mouth. When it got near me, I could barely see. I couldn't see what it was very well because my vision was getting blurry from the blood loss. While the Pegasus was tying the rope around my bottom, my brother yelled: "Why you bitch! I'll kill you for this one!" After he finished his swearing, he swung his scythe as hard as he could towards the pegasus. It barely dodged the hit. "O.K., are you ready?" The pegasus asked me. My strengths left me, so I could barely node towards it in the sense of a yes. The pegasus grabbed the rope again. Leaping its wings as hard as it could, it dragged me after it. "You will never escape alive you cunt!" My brother yelled once again. When I looked under me, I could hardly see Zeke running towards the wall and grabbing the scythe. With another power throw, he swung the scythe at the pegasus once again. Its crimson blade was getting closer, and the pegasus had no chance of dodging it. As fast as the pegasus tried to fly, the scythe was getting closer to deliver to final blow. When we got close to the light, I could see something like a portal that was leading to a library. Before we reached the portal, the pegasus threw me with its last strength, trying to get me to safety. I landed on the wooden floor of the library being surrounded by five other ponies. I was more worried of the pegasus who saved than the five unknown ponies surrounding me. I looked back in the portal, seeing the pegasus approaching. It almost reached the portal, when the scythe got closer. "Watch out!" I yelled after gathering my last strength left. It didn't listen to me, instead it flew faster. Before it could reach the portal, the crimson scythe struck her. It cut her left wing. Being unable to fly anymore, it started to fall. From reflex, I jumped to the edge of the portal, grabbing its hoof. "Don't you dare give up on me." I said. With a strong pull, I got her in the library. Before a lavender aura closed the portal, I could hear my brother's voice one last time: "We'll meet again…" And I fainted.