"Oh man… oh god.. oh no ohnonoNONOooOOOOGHH!" once again Anons' abs tightened, stomach lurched and bile spilled from his mouth. "Is… Are those chocolate bars? Are you mocking me subconscious!?" Anon gasped as he wiped the bile from his mouth. Fucking hate throwing up, worst fucking feeling in the world… Haven't felt this bad since I was food poisoned… Oh god… not again
Anon panicked as his stomach lurched again, releasing another stream of filth. Fucking dream sucks… Thought I'd never have a dream like this one after that last one…. Anon shuddered as he remembered a particular nightmare when he had as a child. He was running away from something and tried screaming for help. Although every time he tried to loose a scream a sinewy substance would block his throat and would grow back instantly after being ripped out.
"Ok… Ok.. I've just gotta keep my cool.. Calm down. Get up. Move on. It's nothing more than an elaborate firing of neurons inside of my brain based from past experiences in my life. Nothing new here." Anon declared as he hardened his resolve. "But seriously, what the hell subconscious? Where did the others go? Why the fuck did I just spend five whole minutes throwing up my insides? Fucking hate throwing up. Hate this dream. And I fucking hate ponies."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Even if Anon had Rainbow Dash's speed he wouldn't have been fast enough. All Anon had time to see was a blur of snow white before it struck.
• • •
This place… It just doesn't make sense, I've never seen anything like it, Dash thought as she flew high above. If Dash had to hazard a guess she mused that the only place similar to this one would have been the Everfree Forest. But this place makes the Everfree look like an all expense paid trip to a Wonder Bolts show in Manehatten. Dashs' gut clenched again as she suddenly veered to the left as a fraction of a second later a bolt of light ripped through the space she had occupied.
This place is dangerous… Dash furrowed her brows as she glanced back at the sky. Most of the sky had been blotted out by black clouds, which while unnerving as it was alone what scared her even more was the sky that wasn't blotted out. What part of the sky she could see was a sickly crimson and in place of a bright sun an unnatural black void hung in its place somehow generating light. I've got no other choice but to land..
As Dash began her descent she briefly wondered if landing was really the better alternative. I'd be surprised if even weeds could survive in a place like this.. Let alone ponies. The ground shared the same crimson as the sky and was dry and cracked with no signs of life. However there were signs of death all around her. There were rows upon rows of what appeared to be barren gnarled trees planted in a grid-like fashion as if someone had tried to plant an orchard in this hell. Those trees… They're unnatural, moaning and creaking as they were alive and in pain. Dash shook off her fears and made a landing near Pinkie and Twilight.
"Dash, Dash! She's finally waking up!!" Pinkie exclaimed as she noticed Dashs' approach. "Ooooh Twilight I was soo worried that you wouldn't wake up! No matter what I tried you wouldn't move or even smile!"
"Wh..what? Where--" Twilight began before her head exploded in a sharp pain as if someone had broken off her horn. Twilight whimpered as she curled up and gingerly hooved her horn.
"Give her some air Pinkie." Dash said as she placed a hoof onto Twilights' forehead. "I'm not too sure where we're at but I'm pretty sure this isn't someponies nightmare."
Waiting a moment for the pain to subside Twilight began again, "No.. I mean where.. where is Anon?"
"I don't know…" Dash bit the bottom of her lip in frustration, "When I came to the only ones here were me, you and Pinkie."
Twilight faintly smiled, at least I was able to avoid his capture… even if it had pushed me to the very limits of my power. Noticing the confused expression on Dash's face, Twilight spoke up, "Right as I had cast the spell to teleport us… something tried to invade my mind… It was too powerful to block so I did the only thing I could at the time and sort of… flung Anon somewhere…"
"You what." Dash deadpanned. "What do you mean flung him somewhere? Where the heck did you fling him!?"
"I… I don't know." Twilight replied sheepishly. "It all happened in a fraction of a second.. but he should be safe. More importantly," Twilight began as she slowly rose to her hooves. "We have to get out of here. I don't want to stick around and meet whatever it was that wanted us here… I think I can locate Anon and try to teleport us to him… Give me a moment." Mustering her strength Twilight grit her teeth in concentration as she tried to grasp his location."
……
………..
……………..
"Well?" Dash interrupted after a few minutes, "What's the holdup Twilight?" her voice came out a bit shaky in protest of her nonchalant pose.
"I… I can't seem to locate Anon.. but I do feel the presence of two of our friends nearby; hold on. I'll see if I can't get us closer to them." Twilight's horn began to glow magenta as a purple bubble engulfed them for a brief second before shattering. Beads of sweat poured down Twilights face as she staggered before weakly looking up at Dash. "Looks like we're hoofing it."
• • •
"Oh I simply must apologize again for my abrupt and rude behavior; are you certain that you are unharmed?"
Yeah, as unharmed as one can be after taking a kick from a miniature horse… And I should know, I've been kicked by a cow before. "Yeah… No problem at all, don't worry about it. I'm made of tougher stuff than most people." For such a refined looking and polite speaking lad--pony, bitch sure is rough… She hit me so hard I bet I'll have a bruise from it when I wake up… Anon mused as he went over the events of the past ten minutes that led him to his fate.
Failed teleport sending me careening through space-time, check. Throwing up my insides upon arrival, check. Cursing all life and ponykind afterwards? Not my best idea… By chance, Rarity had just strolled out of one of the doors at the precise moment he was cursing ponies and acted on instinct. As if throwing up hadn't sucked enough… Though I can't really blame her. Breaking out of an eternal nightmare only to find out that you haven't woken up at all. Then to top things off some bipedal freak is declaring his hatred of all ponykind.
Thankfully Anon was able to come to some sort of understanding and only suffered a single blow from Rarity. Don't think I could take another one of those, Anon frowned as he thought before glancing back at Rarity and noticing her down trodden expression. "Like I said, don't worry about it, besides;" Anon began as he lifted up his shirt and flexed. "These abs could cut diamonds, it'll take a little more than that to hurt me."
"Oh my." Rarity blushed.
That's right Anon, just smile and act like your ribs aren't fractured. "But I'm really impressed that you were able to escape by yourself. Rainbow Dash was all mopey about her wings and couldn't do anything. How did you figure out it was a dream?"
"Oh please Anon, as if Applej-- As if anypony would ever wear something so atrocious, it was beyond being a crime against fashion! The only logical reason is that it had to be a nightmare." Rarity cringed. That isn't exactly the whole truth but there's no way I'll ever let slip what my nightmare truly entailed… The fashionista thought, she would take the fact that Applejack had become a better designer than her to the grave. "It was as if the entire world had lost its sense of fashion." she ended truthfully.
"Heh.. Well that's great. So that makes four out of six elements rescued… Now if only we could meet up with Twilight. You sure that you can't do it?"
"Unfortunately Twilight is gifted in magic, and while I am a unicorn my talents lie elsewhere. She would have to walk me through the spell and even then I am not too confident in my magical prowess to succeed in such an endeavor."
Well, there goes that plan… Anon thought, though he was grateful that he had stumbled upon one of her friends. With Rarity near him Anon was confident that Twilight would be able to find him again. Not that I'm the type to stand by idle while others do all the work. "Well we might as well press on, maybe we'll be able to find them without having to trouble them." Anon frowned for a moment before continuing, "Although I suppose that I should arm myself…" Don't want to be caught off guard and get bucked in the stomach again… Before Rarity could question Anon he raised his right hand into the air extending his fingers, "Embody!"
High above his hand a two dimensional red circle began to draw itself with runes lining the outside of the circle. Not stopping there the lines continued to run inside of the circle and once completed took the shape of a pentagram. The runes on the circle slowly began to spin clockwise as the pentagram inside the circle rotated counter clockwise while the entire two dimensional symbol began to descend over Anon's arm.
To Rarity's surprise as the circle descended a pointed metallic object was being revealed. As the circle finally reached his hand he grasped onto a handle as it began to phase into existence. In all Rarity assumed that large steel slab was a sword except far larger than one anypony would use, she estimated it to be at least four to five feet long. The symbol now at Anons' wrist shattered like glass, bringing the object down in front of him he smiled as he strapped it to his back.
"You can use magic!?" Rarity blurted out."
"Hm? This? Not really. Since this is my dream I can just make whatever I please." Anon simply stated, Although I suppose the theatrics really weren't necessary… Could have just willed it into existence but then I wouldn't have looked like a certified bad ass.
Rarity pondered for a moment, "Your dream? What are yo---Eeeep!" Rarity shrinked back as Anon drew his sword and in one fluid motion thrust it toward Rarity, narrowly missing her mane. The sound of steel rending flesh and an unworldly scream draws her attention to the creature whom had been the target of Anons attack. "What on Equis…" Rarity manages before the shadowy creature falls back and Anon places himself between the two.
Fuckin' boss, didn't think I'd be able to cut an incorporeal shadow. "You alright Rarity?" Anon glances back toward Rarity but a sudden blur brings his attention back to the creature, "Come on Rarity, we're gonna follow it! That thing screams plot device!"
• • •
"This place tanks…" Dash complained, the trio had been trudging through the volatile landscape with Twilight in the lead for quite some time but they still hadn't been able to find any sign of their friends nor a way out. Frustrated and bored Dash's boredom had finally overcame her fear and she set to the skies in search for anything that might lead them in the right direction.
By chance she spotted something out of the corner of her eye and peering closer she saw a figure in the distance that had yet to notice her arrival. Not taking any chances Dash banked left and flew back towards her friends, bringing a hoof to her lips motioning the two to be as quiet as possible.
"I saw something just a little ways ahead of us," Dash began in a whisper, "I'm not sure if its friendly or not and didn't want to risk getting any closer.
"Oh Boy! Is it somepo--" Twilight and Dash frantically brought their hooves to Pinkies mouth reducing her rambling to a few quiet mumbles.
"Shhhhh Pinkie," Twilight warned, "We don't know what sort of force we're dealing with here… So while we still have the element of surprise we should investigate a little."
"But I'm the Element of Laughter!" Pinkie giggled as Dash groaned and Twilight facehooved.
"Just follow our lead-- and be very quiet."
For the next ten minutes they made their way silently toward their destination, making sure to stay both behind the creature and out of its' line of sight. When they neared enough for them to get a good enough look Twilight had to muffle a gasp. Its' body didn't seem to have a definite form and was more of a black cloud of mist in the vague shape of a quadruped. It had been clawing at the soil for a while as they were approaching but had now stopped. The thing formed a wispy tentacle and reached into its' body.
A few seconds later it dragged out two silhouettes and tossed them next to the hole it had been making. Are… Are those ponies!" Twilight reeled back in horror but kept herself in check and motioned back to Dash to do the same. The three of them hastened their advance on the shadow as it began to do its' work. Hundreds of vines sprouted from the ground and rose the two ponies up into the air.
To Twilights absolute horror the two ponies that were being razed into the air were none other than Applejack and Fluttershy, the vines slowly entangling their bodies until it left them looking like a gnarled, barren tree. A spitting image of the hundreds of trees that they now took cover behind. That fact alone was enough to make Twilight scream, but before she could from inside of their prisons came bone chilling wails and screams. Oh Celestia… its torturing them… Pinkie Pies hair instantly deflated as she curled into a ball and rocked back and forth, tears streaming her face. Twilight Sparkle fared no better, tears streamed her face but her body was frozen in fear.
"Girls, snap out of it!!!" Rainbow roared as she streaked past both of them toward the abomination.
And with that Pinkie and Twilight were charging too, Twilight's horn gained a magenta hue as she rapid fired a few bursts of magic toward her friends prisons, freeing Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie was there in an instant to catch her while Rainbow Dash was pushing back the shadow.
"Ooomphf!" The air left Dash's lungs as the shadow tossed her off into the distance.
"Dash!" Twilight shouted before lighting up her horn to free Applejack, however her body froze as the nightmare locked its twin yellow orbs onto her eyes as a soundless voice pierces her brain.
What is it that you truly fear?
Twilights jaw dropped as the shadow split into two, swirling in a mass of shadow and light. "Oh hohoho!! Such amusing things you ponies are! Surely you haven't forgotten about me?" laughed the abomination that stood in front of Dash. It's body a mash of animals sewn together without rhyme or reason; a complete mockery of natural order. "However do you expect to defeat me when you lack your precious Elements of Harmony?"
"No pony will be able to stop us! Once you are gone the night will reign forever!" boomed a pony whose coat was as black as her heart. "All will bask in Nightmare Moon's Eternal Night!!"