//------------------------------// // Sleepy Sights // Story: Anamnesis // by Background Bystander //------------------------------// “Uuuuh…” Came the groan of a very groggy Louis. After every event that unfolded last night, a low labored moan of regrets and bitter disappointment was the only way to express it. But that was yesterday, and today was going to be a real shit storm to sift through as he had elegantly described it last night. Slowly rising from the sheets, he rubbed his face to be rid of any sleep still clinging onto his mind. However, as he moved the appendages in a circular motion, he quickly noticed a distinct lack of hard nail and fuzzy fur shuffling on his face. They felt smooth and soft, almost like…skin. He pulled them away from his face for examination. A pair of pale palms. Connected to them were ten puny phalanges, all intact and accounted for. “No way!” Louis exclaimed with glee, flexing his fingers. He quickly felt up his face again, Nose. Eyes. Mouth. Yes, yes, yes! His hair had been hemmed back to a reasonable length, at least compared to the rest of his body…wait a minute! Louis quickly stood tall on his two legs, examining himself all over, “Finally, I’m fucking human again! It’s about time, man!” He'll admit, standing up straight felt quite strange after having to scrape around on your hands and knees for a few hours-no! Fuck that! He was back to normal, to hell with all that horse shit! And not only was he back to normal, so was the rest of his environment. The furniture, the walls, the light…the TV, it all looked like those from, “Home…” He whispered, “I’m…back home, I’m back home!” Somehow, someway, they had actually managed to fend off those fucking fascists who flaunt themselves peacekeepers. They never were taken away in a patrol car…they never stepped foot in a police station…they never had to spend the night in a castle. They were always home, all throughout the night. Louis laughed at himself. How could he have been so silly? Did he really let his brain freak him out that bad? C’mon now, becoming a pony, getting taken to a forest, and then to be accosted by another pair of purple pastel ponies who live in a crystal castle? That whole setup is so unbelievably stupid and contrived, there’s no way it had any chance at being real. Hell, even Ambrose handled that entire fiasco better than he did, shaking and stuttering. Rambling along like some kind of psycho. That’s when he realized, “Hey, you awake yet, Ambrose?” He called out. “Yeah, in the kitchen.” Came a response in a low, gruff, male voice. Louis heaved a heavy sigh of relief, shedding the extra weight keeping him from moving, “Right, I’ll be there in a sec, man.” He finally stood up from the couch he had crashed on last night and gave a big stretch, enjoying the pops and cracks of his proper bone structure. Luckily, another thing he had hallucinated was the bit about him tearing his clothes off, so no awkward, brisk greetings this time around… …even if that wasn’t too out of the ordinary. As he looked down, he spotted on the coffee table the crumbled remains of what was the cause of this catastrophe: chunks of those fudge brownies…with the Elements. He knelt down, getting as close to the chocolatey culprits as he could, and whispered, “You think you won this one, hmm? Think you can get the best of Ambrose and me with forests and pretty ponies, do you? Well, man, I got but one thing to say to that,” In a show of true sportsmanship, he let fly two double birds before gliding his way towards the kitchen. Making his way into the kitchen, it was there he saw he saw a huge man, casually sipping on a cup of coffee. He raised his brow as his eyes caught Louis, swallowing the mouthful he just consumed, “Well, hi there, Lou Lou. Nice to see you finally up and about.” He gave him a warm smile, “Seems like we got a bit of a role reversal here, don’t we? Me waking you up?” Louis slowly walked towards him, “Just…give me a second Amby,” He wrapped his arms around his stomach and buried his face in his chest, “You have no idea how good it is to see you again like this, you big lug.” He muffled, nearly on the verge of joyful tears. Ambrose gave him a pat on the back, “Aww, it wasn’t that bad.” “But it was!” Louis’s head shot up, eyes quivering in a slight panic, “It was so fucking…nerve racking! It was too much all at once! T-the body peeling, the whole h-h-house coming apart! Meeting t-those t-t-two ponies, thinking we’re were getting arrested! I just-I didn’t know what to do, where to go! I-“ His ramblings were quickly cut by a slow, soft gesture sliding down his scalp. Ambrose had taken one of his hands and was now stroking his hair. He then leaned over to his ear and whispered, “Shhhh…shhhh, eaaasy there. Everything’s alright now, Lou. We're good now. You’re good now…” Despite its odd nature, the act was incredibly calming to Louis, as he felt his whole body ease up. He closed his eyes and allowed Ambrose to continue stroking his strands. “Feeling better?” Louis nodded slightly, to which Ambrose chuckled, “Still a little worried, hmm? Here,” He then moved his hand down and began to scratch behind Louis’s ear. The spark of pleasure immediately sent shockwaves across his body. Louis tried to say something, but no words came to mind. All he could do is lower his head and push it back into Ambrose’s chest, letting out a large sigh. “There, much better.” Ambrose said, placing his hand under Louis’s chin, lifting his head. Louis looked at him with unfocused eyes, “Oh yeaaa…” He moaned before coming back to his senses, “Uh-I mean, yeah. Thanks for that, I guess.” Ambrose smiled before stepping back, “So, now that we’re free from all of that shit last night, anything in particular you’d like to do today since I got the day off?” “That’s right, you said today’s an off day,” Ambrose nodded, “Huh…well, there is…something I would like to do.” Ambrose raised an eyebrow, “And that would be?” “Well, you remember that thing you said last night? About going on a long drive wherever? I'd like to do that, if you don’t mind.” Ambrose perked up after hearing that. He grabbed his keys and motioned towards the door, “Go get ready, I know exactly where we're going. I think you’re gonna like it.” Streaks of the sun shined bright across the golden feathered phoenix as it soared past asphalt and burnt rubber. Booming bellows deep within the chicken's gullet roared out into the world, making its presence known to all who dared pass by. If those in front had not all already cleared a path, they would learn soon enough the error in their judgment. Not that there were many opposing to begin with, as they ditched the hustle and bustle of the smog-soaked city in favor of the countryside. Those beautiful rolling hills that seemed to escape the overbearing chokehold of the cityscape. However, this also meant it didn’t get the same daily services, as the streets showed signs of wear and tear, not being repaved for what seemed to be years. Mother Nature creeping out of the cracks as it slowly but surely took back what was rightfully hers. Not that the two of them minded, they had a soft spot for older things. “Ahhhh, this is the life, man. This, right here,” Louis leaned back in the seat, grinning as he gazed out the window, “No worries, no responsibilities, no negativity. Just you, and wherever the open road takes you.” “See? Told you this would be a good idea.” Ambrose said, one hand on the wheel, another with a cigarette. He took a long drag before puffing it out the window, mixing with the dust as they drove on. “Yeah, I can definitely see why enjoy this…even if it is to get away from you know who.” Louis giggled to himself. “Uh-huh, after dealing with you daily, coming out here really helps me mellow out.” Ambrose chuckled. “Ugh, you just HAD to say that, didn’t you?” Louis groaned, propping his head on his arm, “Man, the less I think about all that shit, the better.” Just the slight mention of it was enough to send chills down his body. Except those chills were much colder than he expected, it was like getting hit by the winds of winter, “Damn Amby, you turn up the AC or something? I’m freezing over here.” He looked down to check and see if there was something wrong with his shirt. Only to find he was no longer wearing a shirt. Or pants. Or any other article of clothing. He was now completely naked. He didn’t really know how to process this new problem, so he slowly turned to face his friend, “Ambrose?” “Yeah?” Ambrose casually looked over. “Uh, where are my clothes?” “Clothes? What are you talking about?” Ambrose peered over his aviators, “You’re wearing them right now.” Louis jumped in surprise, “What?” He exclaimed. Ambrose shook his head and smiled, “Louis, you’re wearing clothes, it’s your birthday suit, remember? You wear that thing nearly every day, only time I see you in something more is for some kind of occasion.” “What? Ambrose, this isn’t a joke, man, I’m fucking nake-“ He was lifted off his seat as the car went over a massive bump before coming down and continuing to rumble. He looked back out the window to see that they were now driving on those rolling hills, “Ambrose! What the fuck are you doing?” “What? I told you I’m taking you somewhere I think you’d like, so that’s what I’m doing.” Louis panicked, hearing pops and pings of rocks bouncing off the panels, “You’re gonna dent the fucking car!” “Just take it easy, Lou. We’re nearly there,” Ambrose said calmly, “Want another scratch?” Louis was beginning to fidget with his seatbelt, “No! I don’t want you scratch my fucking ears, I want you to fucking STOP!” The car came to a screeching halt, dust billowing up all around them in a brown cloud. He finally managed to free himself, flustered and angry at Ambrose, “The hell is going on here, you psycho?” He turned back to his infuriating friend, only to find he had vanished from the driver seat. He was about to call out for him, but heard the click of the handle as his door opened. He turned to face, “Ambrose? What the-weren’t you just-“ “Relax, we’re here.” Ambrose said, smiling. For some reason, Louis decided he should get out and inspect what this oh-so-special location was. As he felt the cool grass underneath his feet, he looked around, wide-eyed at the whole world around him. Nothing. Not a thing. Just a large barren field of grass, partially populated by a few trees here and there. The wind would bend the blades every now and then, occasionally shaking the branches and blowing leaves. But other than that, the only thing Louis could find here was a huge serving of humiliation. “This is it? A field?” Louis said, covering his chest with one hand and his private parts with another. “Yup,” Ambrose puffed on his cigarette, “Wonderful, isn’t it? A nice little piece of land, all the lush, succulent grass. The cool, calming breeze. I think it’s just perfect, what about you?” “Yeah, it's fine. Can I have my pants back, please?” Ambrose chuckled, “You don’t need something as silly as pants. How are you supposed to trot properly with those choking your hindquarters?” Louis’s eyes grew wide with confusion as his breathing quickened, “You look real tense, Lou. You sure you don’t want another scratch?” Louis smacked his hand away and backed away from him quickly, “What the hell's gotten into you? Stop treating me like a fucking pony! What happened last night is over, this isn’t funny!” “Are you kidding me? This is hilarious!” Ambrose began to laugh uncontrollably, keeling over on the car as his amusement continued to ring out. Louis’s face became beet red, pawing the ground with a foot, “Fuck you, Ambrose! I can’t believe you would do something like this!” Ambrose didn’t answer; he only continued to laugh, his voice echoed all around Louis, bouncing inside his skull. But something was weird about the way Ambrose laughed. Usually, it was a low, booming hardy laugh. But this time, it sounded like he was gargling marbles. Louis was about to ask him if he was alright, when he saw small spittle of red spew from his mouth. Blood. Ambrose looked at him, streams of red falling from his mouth, “Oh man, it’s just guh-everything…pfff-it’s so FUNNY!” Ambrose threw his head back, laughing even harder. Because of this, blood began shooting out of his mouth like a giant human geyser. It completely soaked his face, his clothes, and the ground around him. Before long, he was standing in a puddle of his own blood as he wiped his hands down his face and onto his clothes. Louis wanted to say something, to do something, anything! He had to get out of here as soon as possible! But it was getting harder…harder to move on his legs. Louis rubbed his eyes, just to make completely sure he wasn’t just seeing things. Turns out he was seeing things, because in a split second the blood on Ambrose had turned into gasoline. “What the fuck!” After Louis’s outburst, Ambrose burst into flames, completely engulfing his whole body; Crackling as he continued cackling. His skin began to boil, giant bubbles bursting all down his arms and face. His eyes began to melt, slithering down his face like runny yolk. Eventually, vast chunks of his body began to fall into a big, bloody, burned pile. Amid this quite unsettling scene, Louis was able to notice something very strange. Apart from Ambrose burning to death in front of him. Some kind of being continued to circle its way around Ambrose, reflecting off the flames as they grew higher and higher. The wind suddenly picked up, causing the fire to swirl around Ambrose, forming the silhouette of two massive wings. More body parts became apparent as more fire whipped around him, eventually taking to the sky in one ferocious fireball. There before Louis, was a very familiar phoenix. And when the fire finally ceased spinning, in place of Ambrose was a very familiar pegasus. Louis turned to run away, only for his foot to slip causing him to fall over. Luckily he managed to catch himself with his hands, landing on the ground with a hard clop. Louis looked down to see he no longer had hands. He had hooves. “No…” The fiery phoenix screeched as it flew towards the pegasus, absorbing and burning itself onto its flank. Here was where it finally managed to collect itself, “Heh, don’t you find it funny, Vanilla?” “NO!” Louis fell over and began to crawl backwards. The pegasus gleefully giggled to itself, “Aww, what’s the matter? I really think you outta mellow out!” It’s eyes rolled back into its head, as loud cracks signaled the whole head to open up. It split into 4 mandibles, which were hiding a pit of never ending, spinning rows of saw-like teeth. Louis began booking it as fast he could, galloping at top speed. The demon gave a demonic howl before unfolding its wings and taking to the sky. Each beat gave off the whirring sound of helicopter blades, police helicopters. Louis continued to run as fast as he could, looking for any kind of cover. A hiding place, an escape. No, this is precisely why the demon chose this place. He was entirely out in the open, the easiest thing to spot in the entire field. Those trees were there to laugh at him, to give him the illusion of safety. There was no escape. But he still continued to run, sprinting faster than he ever had in his entire life. He eventually turned face to see how close the demon was to him when the blinding glare of the sun suddenly disappeared. He turned around to see he had run headfirst into a forest. A familiar forest. Now was his chance to get away, an opening! No bush this time, he remembered how that one played out last time. Instead, he decided to take cover behind the giant trunk of a tree. Was it obvious? Yes, but it could work. He made himself as small as possible next to the trunk. Placing a hoof over his muzzle, muting any mummers of fear that may leak out. The beat of the blades seemed to circle around him at first, making the rounds as it tirelessly called out, “Oh Vanilla? Where are you, Vanilla Fudge?” That name. That fucking name the Twilight horse gave to him, a joke at his expense. At everything that had occurred to him that night. Eventually, the sounds of the blades soon faded away, leaving Louis alone with the forest. He let out a sigh of relief, “Jesus, that was a close one. Fucker almost had me for a second there…” …Right? Who knows what kind of creatures lie in wait out here, heh heh… Louis’s heart nearly stopped, he recognized those voices. He saw two pairs of purple eyes inch closer and closer from the darkness of the tree line. “Fuck you!” Louis yelled, running towards an opening in the trees and down another path. However, it was there that he was met with the same eyes, the same voices, the same maniacal laughter. It never stopped; another direction, another dead end. It wasn’t long until he was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of Twilights and Starlights. He sat, frozen in fear, frozen in thought, watching as the mares clambered over each other to get to him. However, one path the demons didn’t block was a single hole in their impenetrable wall. The trail was pitch black, no light falling on it whatsoever. Louis took his chance, speeding past his pony pursuers and into the darkness. He watched as the visage of the forest quickly became a speck of light in the sea of darkness. “A-ha! How do you like that, you demented freaks!” He cheered, sticking his tongue out like a child. And much like children’s cartoons, you don’t announce victory until it's entirely over, or you will be punished severely for your false proclamations. Louis was no exception to the rule, as he collided and bounced off something in the black. He quickly got back up and started feeling around the void, only to touch a large, smooth surface where he ran his hoof in front of him: a wall. He gave it a tap, to which it sounded off in a strange tone, almost like glass, “The fuck is this?” He muttered to himself. Only to hear another cackle cast into the air once more. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” He exclaimed, prepared for an ambush. It was getting harder to focus though, all this running and hiding had him running on fumes at this point, sweating profusely thanks to his ridiculously long mane. The weight of his fur was becoming intolerable, limiting his movements to near slow motion. But it wasn’t just him; in fact, it felt like everything else around him was becoming exceptionally hot. The sky began to glow, taking on a dull, orange haze as it lit the world around him. But as the glow began to grow, so too did the heat. It felt like his whole body would combust at any second! Now the colors of the sky made their true intentions known, as they bent and twisted into coils patterns, snaking across the sky as bright orange tubes. Louis looked down to the ground, noticing now it had reformed itself from that of grass to a solid metal…a rack. He now knew what those tubes in the sky were…they were elements, but of a different kind—baking elements. The wall blocking his path was actually a door, with a huge glass panel used to look inside. Other bits and pieces fell into place; a lightbulb…a fan on the wall…another tray beneath the level he was standing on. He was inside an oven. An oven that was cooking. He panicked and pounded on the glass, “H-Help! Someone, anyone! Get me out of here!” He hoped to hear any kind of crack, to smash this see-through door that would seal him to his smoldering fate. “…Oh poor, poor Vanilla…so nervous, so paranoid…” The glass was filled with an evil, golden glow. Louis jumped back in shock, feeling his back begin to burn on the hot metal. The light took form, morphing into the massive eyes of the demon pegasus as it peered through the glass. “Stop….please!” Louis cried out, finding it harder to form sentences under the stress. The demon didn’t care, only continuing to take immense pleasure in his plight. It snickered as it playfully tapped the glass, “What’s the issue, Vanilla? I thought you liked getting BAKED?” It roared a sinister snicker as Louis heard the sound of something clicking, turning. It turned the knob on the oven, turning up the heat. “DON’T!” Louis screamed, steams of tears staining his face. He started to feel dizzy as the distortion from the heat became more potent by the second. The demon sighed with satisfaction before walking away, leaving him alone. Waiting for him to bake to a crisp. Louis attempted to stand, to scurry to a corner of the oven where he wasn’t getting blasted by the white-hot coils. Yet he couldn’t move his limbs; they all felt numb and limp. His whole body was slowly sinking as he was pushed downwards into the rack. He managed to crank his head forward to see why he couldn’t move his arms or legs. Because he no longer had them…they had melted off. Drops of cream dripped like blood from the stumps. The fur on his chest began to liquify, and the colors began to swirl together. His innards slithered and slid inside of his body, molding into one shapeless blob of pastry. He could feel his facial structure slowly fall apart, eyesight becoming unfocused and his gums gluing together. Unfortunate, as all he wanted to do was scream. Scream for the pain, scream for someone to help, scream for himself. His body split apart completely, falling in between the holes of the rack, melting and dripping as each part of him fall to the bottom tray with a wet smack. Many body parts had begun to burn, causing flames to flicker all throughout the oven. The only thing left with any form was his head, which was dissolving as the metal dug into the back of his head, disintegrating his brain and burning his thoughts with one word. His final sendoff. ...Louis... ...Louis... ...Louis! He jumped up with a huge gasp of air, hacking as he held onto his throat. His whole body was shaking uncontrollably as he tried to smother the fires on him. In the midst of a complete psychological breakdown, he felt two limbs grab hold of him. "Hey! Louis relax, you're screaming like a fucking maniac!" Louis stopped squirming; panting and looking around frantically. The room around him was almost completely black, "What the-Ambrose is that you?" "Yes it's me, calm down. You're gonna hurt yourself if you keep thrashing like that. The sheets wrapped around your neck for a second, you scared the shit out of me!" Ambrose's voice said, attempting to ease him. "What? But the hills, t-the forest-the oven!" "Chill Lou, chill. It's ok, you're not in the forest...or an oven." The voice said, slightly confused at that last bit. That's when it finally dawned on him. There were no fires. There was no oven. It was a nightmare. "Thank-fucking-god, it was just a dream, it was all a dream!" Louis cheered, holding onto his chest as his as his heart slowed down. His hand still felt a bit numb...he must've slept on it throughout the night. "Uh...well..." Ambrose was cut off by the sound of doors opening. Louis felt one of his ears twitch, so he turned his head to see what was going on. Standing at the open doors was a small, lizard looking figure holding a candle. "What's going on here? You two are keeping us all up with your yelling!" It said in an annoyed tone. Then another figure appeared behind them, one with a distinct hue. "It sounded like you were getting attacked or something, is everything alright?" Twilight asked softly. Louis's blood ran cold, What is she doing here? This was all supposed to be gone by now! "Oh-uh...no, everything's fine. It's just a bit erm...warm in here, that's all." "Seriously?" The lizard said, raising an eyebrow. "Spike!" Twilight chastised, to which the lizard cowered slightly, "I'm really sorry about that, I'll see if I can sort that out tomorrow, if that's alright with you?" "...Yeah, that's fine. Goodnight Twilight and uh...Spike." Louis said quietly. Twilight gave a tired smile, "Goodnight to you too, Vanilla." Spike gave a big yawn as he crawled onto Twilight's back, "Yeah...night..." He mumbled, as the doors slowly closed with a click. Louis stared in complete shock as Ambrose sat up next to him. "I wouldn't exactly say all of this is a dream."