//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three 
// Story: Anon's Batty Expedition 
// by ShobieShy 
//------------------------------//

You stand in the middle of a barren road, surrounded by nothing but sand and the occasional shrub. The road is worn and faded, cracks and holes scattered all over it, and it appears to extend in either direction past the horizon. The sun beats down on you from overhead, bringing it’s harsh heat along with its bright light. Looking down both paths, confused as to your location and reason for being here. You don’t recall any sort of trip to the desert. You ponder your options. After a few minutes of deliberation, you decide to begin walking in one of the directions.

After several minutes of walking,you’re still just as confused as you were when you began. The heat beats down on you, and the vast and barren wasteland begins to grate on your patience. You hear a faint sound ring out from behind you, contrasting the pure silence you now notice. Turning around, you spot a small speck on the horizon in the middle of the road. Curiosity getting the better of you, you begin your journey back the way you came.

As the speck grows larger, you begin to notice that it’s making a sound as well. It’s barely audible tone splitting into multiple syllables you still can’t understand. Some more time passes and you finally recognize the sound as your name being called. Curiosity piqued, you quicken your pace at the newfound information.

You stop as you recognize the figure as your mother, running in your direction as she frantically  waves her arms and shouts your names at the top of her lungs. You quickly shake yourself out of your shock and break into a sprint to get to her. You slowly begin to pick up speed, but something slows you down. As you run, gusts of wind rise to blow harder and harder against you. 

Despite pushing against the wind with all your strength, the ground appears to stretch, increasing the distance as fast as you can close it. You scream out in anger and push yourself harder in a vain attempt to gain traction and distance.

“Anon!” your mother yells, having not moved an inch from her original position.

Your eyes close and you strain yourself, the air around you forming the most powerful wind tunnel imaginable, and the ground slips out from under you like the most advanced smart-treadmill to exist. Tears well up in your eyes as you fall to the ground, curl into a ball and begin to sob. You lay like that for the next minute, more and more tears flowing until a light flashes bright enough to catch your attention behind your eyelids.

A vaguely familiar voice rings out. 

“Cease!”

The wind stops almost immediately as the sun dims, taking away the blistering heat and giving the air a cool and comfortable temperature. You hear what sounds like hoofsteps approach you at a slow pace, your eyes still closed and your body twitching slightly with your receding sobs.

The hoofsteps stop before you. You hear the voice speak calmly.

“Are you alright?”

You slowly open your eyes,uncurl your face, and look up at the voice. It’s the mare you saw in your dream last night. She has the same deep blue coat, and the same glistening mane, blowing in a breeze that no longer exists.. This time, however,, she’s completely opaque, and her cyan eyes look down upon you with genuine concern and curiosity. Your memories flood back to your mind, suddenly reminding you that this is all a dream. 

“Y-Yeah… I’m fine.” you say, picking yourself up from the ground and standing straight.

The mare is much taller than Mischievous. While the filly comes up to your upper thighs when standing on all fours, this mare is tall enough to come up to the bottom of your ribs. Not counting her horn, of course. Your staring is interrupted by her clearing her throat. 

“You must forgive me if I don’t believe you.” she states, unamused. “Also, I thank you for not screaming in my face this time.”

You gather your thoughts and cross your arms. “Yeah, about that. I have several questions.”

Her gaze shifts to a deadpan expression. “You’re not the only one.”

You raise a finger to retort, but after considering her words, you lower your arms. 

“Fair point,” you say, “But me first.” 

You raise an eyebrow. 

“Who, and what are you? You’re some kind of pony, I can guess that much, but I’m not very well versed in the species of this world.” 

The question piques the mare’s curiosity, and she sighs. 

“Very well,” She begins. ”My name is Princess Luna, ruler of the night and guardian of the dreamscape. I am an alicorn, bearing both the wings of a pegasus, and the horn of a unicorn.” She gestures to her wings and horn respectively.

“Your turn.”

“My name is Anon, and I’m a human,” you state, rubbing your face with your hands and letting out a sigh of your own. Her response left as many questions as it answered.  “What do you mean you’re the ‘guardian of the dreamscape’? Am I really dreaming right now?”

“Indeed, I possess the ability to delve into the dreamscape, and by proxy, ponies dreams. I scour to find nightmares and give relief and advise to those in need.” She looks you up and down. “You appear to be one of them.”

“So I am dreaming.” you conclude. “That makes a lot more sense. You were in my dream last night, and I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like you before. Since dreams pull from your memories and subconscious, I find it hard to disprove you.”

She cocks her brow. “You appear to be quite knowledgeable about dreams.”

You shrug. “I read a lot.”

She smirks. 

“Clearly.” she says, before returning to a more concerned expression. “I wish to ask you about your nightmares.”

You stiffen as you hear her words, and your face drains at the thought of either dream. Your arms fall to your sides and you shove them in your pockets. “Uh, what about them? They seem rather nonsensical to me.”

“Do they now? And here I thought you read a lot.” she comments. “Dreams are rarely, if ever, nonsensical or random.”

You sigh, and begin to visibly relax. “You’re right, sorry. Well, both seem to revolve around my parents, this one my mother.” You ponder.

A pair of small throw pillows appears behind her and yourself respectively and she sits, motioning for you to do the same. 

“Go on, what about them?” she asks, as you sit down, legs crossed, on top of an identical pillow.

You think for a few moments before speaking, “I guess during both times I tried getting to them, but couldn’t.” You sigh, looking down. “Now that I actually think about that, it’s a similar situation in the real world.”

Luna adorns a curious gaze. “How so?”

Your eyes, sullen, meet hers. “Well, as you could probably guess, I don’t believe I’m part of this world. I don’t even know if this is a different planet or even another dimension entirely.”

“Considering that, to my recollection, there is nothing in any of our books or folklore that describe a creature like yourself, I share your confusion.” she responds.

“So I really am that far away from home? Where no other humans exist?” You pause. “Wow…”

She nods sympathetically, pausing to think for a moment. “If it’s any consolation, I believe I understand how you feel. I only recently returned from a thousand year exile. I was alone, away from any living being, unable to contact any friends, family, or anypony really.”

You look at her, bewildered.“A thousand years? Are you serious?”

She sighs. “Unfortunately, yes. It wasn’t exactly pleasant.”

“I could imagine. But at least you came back.” You look down. “I have a feeling I don’t have that option.”

She takes a moment to look you over before a determined look overcomes her face. “Perhaps my sister and I may be able to help. How exactly did you end up here?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t even remember falling asleep or anything. I was just hanging out in my house on my day off, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in some forest.”

“Where are you now?”

“Still in the forest. Apparently, I was really deep in. When I woke up, there was a filly with bat wings poking my face.” You chuckle at the memory. “She said something about an evergreen forest, but I don’t recall very many evergreens.”

She ponders for a second before her eyes widen slightly. “The Everfree! You met a filly all the way out there? Why in Equestria would a filly be so deep in the Everfree Forest? I assume it’s the Everfree. Be careful, there are numerous dangers that lurk out there.”

“That’s it!” you affirm. Then, cringing slightly, you nod. “And yeah, we figured that out yesterday. Missy scouted a little too far ahead of me and ended up getting snatched by a big moving vine. I managed to cut off the end of it, though.”

“Is the poor thing okay?” she asks, leaning forward slightly.

“She’s fine. She ended up bruising her leg and I had to carry her for the rest of the day. Despite only knowing her for a few days, I have a feeling her spirits will come back full force when we wake up.” you respond with a reminiscent smile, easing her worries a bit. “Honestly, she’s been my moral support and motivation so far.”

Luna smiles before you notice her ears start twitching. Her expression drops to one of mild surprise. “Oh dear, it appears you are about to wake. Don’t worry, Anon, I shall speak with my sister and research a way to send you back where you belong.”

You give her a smile of your own. 

“Your help is appreciated, Luna. Thank you.”

Then everything rapidly fades to black.







You wake up feeling a now familiar weight on your chest. The weight shifts slowly and you recognize the movement as breathing. You open your eyes and see Missy snoozing away on your chest with a content smile on her face.

You don’t move out of fear of waking her. Instead, you opt to reflect on your dream. Could this Luna character actually be a real pony capable of going into people’s dreams? You don’t think you have seen anything like her before, and the concept of her is still as difficult to disprove as in your dream.

You decide not to think about it for now and instead focus on getting out of this god forsaken forest. It should only be another day and a half trip if all goes well. You let out a small sigh of relief at that. You know it won’t be home, but anything’s better than this forest of nightmares.

You tilt your head and notice the light from outside is a light orange in color, telling you that it’s just past dawn. Normally, you wouldn’t dream of waking up this early, but this happens to be a particularly special occasion. You are in an incredibly dangerous alien forest after all. You shift slightly to make yourself a bit more comfortable. But this causes Missy to stir on top of you.

Eyes still closed, she lifts her head and lets out a large yawn, silent until the short squeak at the end. This almost rouses an audible ‘Aww’ out of you, but you hold it in, favoring a soft smile instead. Her eyes open and blink rapidly as she looks around, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes fall on you and she gives you a grin that nearly gives you diabetes.

“Good morning.” you greet.

“Mornin’.” she responds, lifting a hoof to rub at her eyes.

You gently grab her and place her to your side and stand up. She looks slightly disappointed at this, but shakes it off. 

“Ready to head out? We still got a ways to go and I think it’s best to head out early.”

She nods. 

You start turning to head out of the cave when you hear a quiet yet sharp inhale come from her. You glance back at her and notice she’s putting on a very unconvincing smile. You give her a questioning look.

“You okay?”

“Mhm!” she answers a little too insistently.

You notice even though she’s only standing, she’s favoring her injured hoof. With a sigh, you kneel down and look her in the eye. She backpedals a few steps and inadvertently puts weight on the hoof, eliciting another sharp inhale.

“Mischievous, please don’t lie to me. I only want to help, and I can’t if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Her hoof paws at the ground.

“It’s… it’s my hoof. It still hurts a bit. But I didn’t want to bug you or ask you to carry me. Especially after yesterday with the plant thing and you carrying me here.”

You give a small smile. “Wanna know something my mother taught me?”

She looks up. “Uh, sure.”

“‘It never hurts to ask.’ While obviously there are some social circumstances which it would be rude to ask something specific, you’d be surprised how often that phrase can be applied in life. The worst that can happen is they can say ‘no’.”

“But what if they think I’m rude or stupid or something?”

“I’ve grown to not worry about that. If my question is rude, I simply say I’m sorry and say that that wasn’t my intention. If they think the question is dumb, you’re not dumb, you’re learning by asking. Questions in general are how we learn a lot of things. Make sense?”

She returns your smile. “I think I get it, yeah.”

“Awesome.” you reply. 

“Your mom sounds like a nice pony.”

You look away slightly, your smile dropping a small amount. “Yeah, she’s pretty nice.” 

You shake your head to snap yourself back to the current moment. “Now, did you have a question for me?”

“Oh, uh...” She looks away bashfully. “Can you carry me for a bit? I know I can walk on my own most of the time, but it still hurts.”

Your smile widens.

“No.” you state.

She gives you a shocked expression. “Wh-what? B-but I thought...”

You begin to chuckle and snatch her into your arms, standing up and turning to the cave entrance. 

“I’m just kidding, Of course I’ll carry you a bit. I just wanted to show you that the worst thing anyone can say is ‘no’.” You ruffle her still filthy mane, ridding it of a bit of dust in the process. “You ready?”

“No.” She pouts at you and crosses her hooves, but you can tell it’s all a front. 

“Well too bad, here we go.”

You snatch up your spear with the hand not holding a filly, and set off.







Several hours go by and the two of you are unable to keep the smiles off your faces as you joke and play around. Time goes by quickly due to this, and you couldn’t be happier for it. You’d be out of the Everfree in what would feel like no time if you kept this up.

You hear a slight snap from behind you. Glancing back revealed nothing out of the ordinary, but still, you decided to be more alert.

The two of you continued on your path, resuming your verbal antics. You stayed wary of anything abnormal.

You hear a sudden absence of hoofsteps next to you and you turn around to see Mischievous standing with her eyes wide and ears swiveling around as if they had Parkinson's.

“Missy?” You slowly step over to her. “Everything alright?”

She looks at you, pupils like pin pricks. “I hear something.”

Another snap directs both of your attention back where you came. Out of the bushes creeps some bizarre freak of nature that instills fear in you from the sheer sight of it.

First you notice it’s tiger front paws and head, snarling as it slowly steps out. The next is a goat neck and head jutting out the left side of the tigers neck. It’s back legs are revealed to be that from a goat as well. And the final bit is it doesn’t have a tail. Well, it does but it isn’t a regular tail, it’s some kind of snake. It hisses as it slithers through the air to face you, positioning itself on the opposite side of the tigers head as the goat.

You and Missy are paralyzed in shock at the mismatched behemoth before you. Your mouth hangs open as you try to comprehend its existence. After meeting Missy and seeing that giant moving vine, you thought you’d seen it all. 

Boy were you wrong.

The creature creeps forward towards you both. As it does, the tiger head speaks. “Finally, a properly sized meal.”

The snake head nods before replying itself. “I know, my mouth is already watering.”

You shake your head to regain your senses and your bodily control.

“Missy,” you call out as confidently as you could muster. “Get behind me. Now.”

Missy doesn’t take her eyes off the creature, but does as she’s told, quickly scurrying behind your legs and peeking from behind.

The goat head chuckles. “We’re not interested in the filly. She wouldn’t keep us filled for even an hour.”

You stiffen, but keep up an attempt at looking confident.

You raise your spear. “Leave us and there won’t be any trouble.” you command, hoping your voice isn’t as shaky as you felt.

All three heads laugh in unison. 

In a split second decision, you end up throwing your spear at the creature as hard as you could.

Unfortunately, the tiger head noticed this and swatted the spear out of the air, snapping it in half. They all look at you with rage in their eyes and start creeping toward you. Stupid Anon! Stupid! Throwing your weapon?

“Missy,” you start, taking a step back. “Run.”

You hear her soft steps slowly back away from the situation. “B-But...”

“Run. Please. Run home.”

The creature snarls as it continues its approach.

“I-I’m not leaving you!” Missy shouts, audibly on the verge of tearing up.

“Mischievous Moon!” You turn your head to look at her with one eye. “Run! Now!”

You watch as she turns and starts galloping away, still limping as she does so. But as you turn back, you see the creature uncomfortably close. It lunges at you, swiping it’s claws. 

You make an attempt at jumping backwards, but were too slow. It’s claws dug into your thigh, cutting deep and causing your pants to be almost instantly soaked in blood.

You yell out in pain and fall backwards against a nearby tree, clutching your leg in a vain effort to stop the pain.

“ANON!” you hear from behind you. 

You glance back and see Missy standing a good distance away, her hoof lifted, looking like she was going to come back. 

You couldn’t let that happen.

“MISCHIEVOUS!” you yell. “I SAID RUN!”

Even from this distance, you notice her eyes well up. She turns around with her head down and gallops out of sight.

You turn back to be face to face with the beast. The blood loss is now starting to affect your strength. Your vision starts darkening and your eyelids feel heavy.

The goat head chuckles and she snake slithers up next to your face. “Oh, we’re eating good tonight.” says the snake.

"Exotic! Keep it fresh!" says the goat.

You continue feeling weaker and weaker until you can’t keep yourself awake any longer.

You feel your head dip as your vision turns completely black and you pass out.