Darkness.
Never inviting. Never comforting. Especially when it becomes your only companion. I was surrounded on all sides by a neat mixture of navy blue and black that sunk into the horizon. A lazy swirl of vapor the color of coal engulfed everything in sight. As far as I could see, the realm I inhabited was featureless. Darkness was upon me, and it was my only companion.
I was unsure of how I had even got into this place, but no part of me was interested in staying. Even though I was the only solid thing in this landscape, it felt like a pair of eyes was watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to leap from the shadows. I reeled from side to side looking for a hidden menace. My heart was beating incessantly against my ribs. I was ready to make a mad dash in any direction just to find something in this desolate plain. How did I even end up here?
Like how a bell signals a newcomer into a store, something unraveled itself inside my mind. Everything was real up to the growing anxiety building into hysteria.
However, it was just a nightmare. Doesn’t make things better though.
A disturbance in the smog behind me caught my eye.
As I craned my neck around, I saw a distinctive outline taking form spontaneously in the darkness. Although fazed by the vapor, I could make out hooves and legs materializing a few meters behind me. A pony was being created by the darkness! With wide eyes, I watched as a lean body and crooked neck was added to the outline. A flat, featureless face was being materialized in quick succession.
A hideous smile composed of razor-sharp teeth appeared above a headless neck. The smile was directed at me, as were the eyes. Two empty half-moons radiated through the smog. A tiny, rational part of my mind was urging me to turn tail. I did not listen; I could not listen with those devoid eyes staring into mine. Once the finishing touches were made, a gush of jet black descended from the shadows and seeped into the outline. The current did not stop until the entire form was filled, making the pony more opaque and less solid.
All of a sudden, the pony’s joints began twitching sporadically not very different from a puppet being manipulated from above. The shoulder reeled back as the hind legs bent at ridiculous angles. Limbs twisted into secure positions with echoing snaps. The color shifted in and out of the outline in resonance to the unnatural movements of the pony. It was as though something demonic had possessed the pony and was now running renovations throughout the body.
My eyeballs were glued to the peculiar sight as the joints sorted themselves out. Why was I not running from whatever monster was being brought to life? Ah, my legs seemed to have frozen in place. They were always susceptible to failing when I needed them most...
Anyhow, the head had to go through a few twists and a full 360 degree rotation before it finally connected to the neck like a plastic toy- a very creepy plastic toy. The eyes remained fixed on me, but something unsettling now inhabited those half-moons. They seemed to scream for murder, specifically mine.
Still no reaction from the legs. Always reliable when I need them most!
The jagged teeth separated and created a small space between them. All the while, the monster of a pony still kept its predatory smile. Out from the depths of its jaws came the darker outline of what appeared to be a fine-edged dagger.
At last, my legs figured out it was high-time to get out of there! Hooves clattered against a mist-covered floor without a sound as I galloped on four pistons powered by raw adrenaline at lightning speed! The armed monster gave chase at a sluggish pace, but it was slowly gaining momentum. If I did not lose this thing soon, then its dagger will get to have an intimate encounter with my neck.
With a firm lead on the beast, all I had to do was lose it and find somewhere to hide in the wide... featureless... expanse. Alright, back to the drawing board! It seemed fleeing would have to suffice until I could figure out a plan. Amazingly, my lungs were still pumping oxygen in and out of me despite having to keep up with a sprinting pace.
Maybe I could outrun this monstrosity after all!
One look behind my shoulder quickly ended that fantasy. The devilish pony had already closed the gap I had created between us. That bone-chilling smile just stuck to its face as if sown on. The sight was enough to convince my lungs to double their efforts and kick my legs into overdrive.
The two of us must have been transversing the barren expanse for a minute now... maybe an hour... who knows. No matter how fast I went, that monster managed to keep right behind me. The effort was straining my lungs to the point of beating against my ribs. I fought off the growing knot in my chest but those trusty legs of mine had no intention of continuing a losing battle. It was a constant mental struggle to resist looking back at my pursuer. If I did, those featureless eyes would be the last things I see. The knife was only a couple of meters away from my cutie mark.
An important life lesson was to be learned from this nightmare: no matter how bad things got, they can and often will get much worse.
To my left, the shadows were shifting. A mirror image of my pursuer emerged from the smog with half of its body. The rest of it was still materializing, but those eyes already had the blank element of raw murderous intention. The unnatural pony galloped at my side wielding a gray dagger perfect for cutting up soft prey like myself. Another of the monsters had me flanked at my right, providing me the exact provocation I needed to keep moving in the same direction. Why they were not pouncing on me yet remained a mystery. It was not like I had the time to consider the motives of my soon-to-be killers.
It all became clear once three identical outlines surfaced from the haze into existence. The clones of the same unrelenting beast now had me trapped. Unarmed, exhausted, and defeated. My noble legs hobbled before dropping me to my knees. My head drooped without a hint of defiance. The nightmare had won; I might as well be realistic about this outcome.
One of the murderous copies in front of me trotted forwards. Its steps were irregular and deliberate. The pony approached closer and closer until it was right above me. Without a change in expression, the dagger was raised high into the smog. My eyes opted to take a look at the smoke-covered floor instead. The end was within sight.
That was when I saw the light.
A stunning sheet of white enveloped my view, forcing my muzzle to swing away from the source of the spontaneous flash. The executioner about to bring a knife down on my neck was replaced by warm, radiant light. The circle of predators around me backed away from the newcomer as if it might swallow them up. The bright flare was welcoming, even though I had to gaze at it through the cover of my foreleg. The sight was at least a considerable contrast from the sights surrounding me. In between my relieved breaths, a minuscule but audible noise pierced the silence. I could faintly make out some sort of static reaching my ear. It was coming from the source of luminescence itself. Regardless of the near-death situation I had seconds before, every part of my mind focused on the trail of static accompanying the light. A peculiar, feminine voice spoke in a whisper through the beacon.
“Wake up, Intimus.”
I recognized the speaker. I was familiar with the voice but I could not comprehend who it belonged to. The foreleg I held to shield my eyes lowered to the ground, exposing my sight to the full strength of the light. I wanted- I needed to reach out to that voice. It became the only thing that mattered: finding out who that other pony was. I knew without remembering why that she was dependable. She could pull me out of the darkness.
Without warning, my cutie mark was on fire. Once it registered that one of the monster’s blades had found its target, my lungs expelled the shock in a single, sustained yelp. It felt as though molten lava had engulfed my hindquarters! Honestly, there was no other way to translate the pain to anything that could do justice for it. The world exploded as the distress became too great to bare. Unable to even stand, my body toppled over as light washed over my form. It covered me and protected me from the insanity of it all.
Just like that, the nightmare faded to nothing.
I was jolted back into reality. Instead of a desolate, black and blue landscape, I was introduced to what appeared to be a wall of crumpled, cotton sheets. My eyes darted in all four directions and revealed a decently sized bed complete with a bright red blanket and two wooden posts holding a bloated mattress capable of providing one pony an incredible sleep.
I turned around and instantly regretted it. Sunlight engulfed my vision and had me instinctively rolling over to direct the beams of morning onto the back of my head. I was lying in the bottom two blankets of the bed, both white as snow. Somehow, I had fallen out of bed during night and landed on the carpet floor of the hotel room. It was evident by the way the blankets seemed to ooze off the mattress into the pile I was currently lying on. It was definitely better than my previous environment, but it was still far from solace.
The pain in my cutie mark still persisted albeit numbed slightly. After a few moments of hesitation, I glanced over my body to check the damages. There was no dagger sticking out of my side, not even a cut. My flank looked good as new, minus the stray hairs sticking out here and there. Still, the dream had felt too realistic to simply brush off.
To top it all off, the hotel room is my prison. I had woken up in this loft yesterday with no recollection of anything about my life. All I know is that my name is Intimus and that I have been imprisoned as part of somepony’s sadistic scheme.
Please... if anybody can hear me... set me free...