“The hell--oh, good god.” Aria groaned as she looked up--her tune quickly changed as soon as she realized what it was. “That’s…I’ve seen these before in Equestria near the South Neighsian Oceans, but…”
Standing above them was a tall, elephant-like humanoid with red skin, a massive belly, and holding a scimitar in each hand. Its tusks were long and sharp like knives and its trunk was longer than a person’s legs!
“Take my power,” it said, its voice ghostly and reverberating around the open air, “Fight back against those who wrong you.”
“Errgh!” Sour was on her knees, clutching the sides of her head with her hands, “I can’t…I can’t hurt her…I won’t!”
“And yet you continue to suffer under her roof,” the elephant demon continued, “You lack the will to find independence within yourself. You willingly choose to suffer in silence rather than fight back. Is that the life you wish to have? A life that isn’t your own?”
Sour Sweet fell silent. The tusked mammoth of a demon had a point. “I…suppose. But even so, how do I know you mean what you say?!”
The elephant creature continued, “...I know everything you’ve suffered through. Every punishment, every argument, every slap to the face…”
“Hey!” Aria cut her way into the conversation, “Nobody asked you to come snooping into somebody else’s mind, Trunky!”
“...Is that another voice I hear?” the beast spoke with a patronizing tone and shook its head, “No. It was probably nothing.”
Needless to say, Aria didn’t take this very well.
“Uch--you--excuse me?!” she yelled while taking a step forward, “I’m not gonna be ignored by some peanut-eating circus-freak!”
Ever the valiant one, Sugarcoat would bring logic into the situation. “It’s probable that it isn’t acknowledging us because it can’t. Or maybe…Sour doesn’t want us to.”
“Wait a sec,” Aria turned her head to Sugar, “How would she--oh right…this is her dream after all.” Then, from the corner of her eye, she watched as the yellow girl stood up and began walking towards the pachyderm. “Wait, what are you doing--?!”
“You didn’t hear anything,” Sour said casually to brush her friends off. All of her attention was now focused entirely upon the elephant in the room. “Now…what was it you said about seeing and hearing everything? Including the…slaps?”
“Indeed,” said the tusked monster, “You’ve dreamt painfully, restlessly. Unable to sleep soundly due to the abuse you’ve suffered. But no longer. You have the chance to fight back. Teach her that you will not stand for this. Then she will finally understand how you have felt. There is no other way…”
‘No other way.’ Sour was completely captivated by those words. If there really was no other option, then she had no choice. “I…I don’t want her to have control over me anymore.”
Seeking more depth to her reasoning, the demon asked, “And why is that?”
“She…she hates me!” Sour went on, raising her voice, “Ever since my Grandma Citrus left her fortune to me, she’s always despised me.” Tears started to roll down the sides of her face as she clenched her teeth. “It’s like I don’t even matter anymore. I try to put on a happy face and smile through it all but…it’s just so hard! I can’t do this anymore! It’s not who I am!”
“Then will you sit there and cry like the child you are?” the elephant boomed as it approached her, and from its trunk, it revealed a small dagger. “Or will you finally carve out your own path? And take back what that woman has stolen from you?”
Sour reached her hand out, and…
“Enough!” At last, Sugarcoat tried to intervene with a shout. “You don’t even know her. Don’t try and insert yourself into her life. She needs her friends and a proper family. Not some weird monster telling her what she--”
“Sugarcoat, Please…” Sour pleaded, “I need this. Aunt Squirty, she…she beats me!” she squealed as her voice began to break.
Sugarcoat paused, looking back at her. “Wait…she does?”
“Yes…she still spanks me over her knee like we’re in the goddamn 1700s!” Her voice slowly warped from a state of sadness to manic hatred. “Even for the littlest things she does something crazy like make me kneel on frozen peas for hours!”
“...She…she does all of that?” Sugarcoat muttered--almost in disbelief at what she was hearing. How could someone be so cruel to their own relatives? It gave her a new perspective as she started to think about what Sour’s life was like. “I…I suppose I can’t blame you. B-but listen. Killing her won’t solve anything.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Sour replied in her usually chipper tone, “I’m not gonna kill her…” But then, her tone changed--growing deeper as she reached around her friend to accept the dagger. “I’m gonna make her suffer just as much as she’s made me suffer!”
“Listen, kid!” Aria jumped in, “You don’t have to--!”
“Shut up!” Sour shouted, “My mind’s made up. Leave me alone and don’t either of you dare come back to my house!” She stood up, and pointed the small knife at them with her body starting to glow a shade of bright pink. “Now get out of my dream!”
Aria stood in front of Sugarcoat just before…
“Look out, kid!”
BLAM!
A magical explosion knocked the two of them out of her dream and back into their homes--waking them both up.
Aria in particular shot up from her bed, hyperventilating with cold sweat all over her body. “Agh! Huhh….hghgh…bleggh…” She looked around and realized that it was 6AM--the sun hadn’t even rose yet. “Okay…okay, we still have some time. Gotta stop her before she causes a big accident…”