Time had passed by a week since the entity of Nightmare Rarity managed to make her home in the woods of White Tails. In that very same week, there had been a lot of changes when it came down to the forest itself. Almost all of its natural wildlife had left the area. Yet in return, it was flooded with the fog for unknown reasons. More fog had appeared within the woods, how was everypony’s guess.
It was interesting to say the least and those poor souls who tried to walk through the thick fog would only be punished for their deeds. Some managed to find their way back with a broken mind. They would be speaking about horrors that lived within the fog. But there were also some who never returned. It was about those cases that the rumors started to do their turn. Rumors about them being eaten or devoured by the creatures that the survivors happened to have seen. But all of them, couldn't be further away from the real truth behind the terror that had taken over the woods.
With White Tails being an important route to travel from north to south, it was always considered a lot more safer than traveling through the forest of Everfree. But with the rumors coming to the inns that stood by all of the major roads and entrances leading into the forest, that safety soon turned into a risk. A risk worth taken by some, whereas others preferred to travel either through the much more feared Everfree or walking around the woods.
That mostly happened before of one simple explanation: the fog covered all of the roads that were known to travel over. Some were literally trapped in either one of the lands regions and didn't dare to travel further. Not to mention that the authorities didn't do anything because of a simple thought. To them it looked like a normal fog and that the ponies who had gone mildly insane that had been seeing their own imagination as each story was different.
They left as quickly as they came, always with the excuse of ‘having other business to attend to’. If they only had experienced it for themselves just what laid inside that horrible fog of which White Tails were known for. While the authorities didn't even mention the horrors, bars and taverns knew all about it. It was a gossip circulation that kept going and going no matter what. There was a core of truth, a horrible truth.
~~~~
For days on end had the green coated, blue maned, earth pony stallion who lived under the name of Astral Chrome been walking towards his destination. A town that laid a bit further south of Ponyville had he set out to in order to visit some of his relatives. The stallion was a bit of a dreamer, always with his head in the skies and wondering what laid beyond. He had taken his own refuge at the inn of that was stationed at the north side of White Tails which was right next to its main entrance road.
Almost like every other morning, the stallion woke up under a loud yawn that left from his mouth and his forelegs stretched themselves in order to let the muscles do their work again. His violet rimmed eyes were revealed to the world after the eyelids had removed themselves. He was slow in the morning for certain, taking his own pace and time to get everything done what was needed.
“Another day, another hike to do,” he spoke up to himself before he left the bed. Astral hollowed his back a bit as he walked over to the bathroom and every single bone in his spine was just sore. It was a sharp pain he had gotten from the rather uncomfortable bed he had spent the night in. “Ohhh, let’s just hope I reach Ponyville today,” Astral mumbled to himself before he disappeared in the bathroom.
The outside world itself was slowly waking up as well. The sun was starting to rise once more, whereas all of the critters of Everfree woke up in their own manner and pace. The skies turned from black and dark blue into a mixture of pink and red. To some those colors meant a warning, to others it simply was just a pretty sight to behold.
Inside of the inn were all of the ponies that were there as guests beginning on their breakfast before planning their activities for the day. The inn-keeper herself was a pegasus mare who had been through her time. She was glancing with care over the guests while she stood behind the bar. With her back against the wall and herself standing in a bipedal pose with a leg set against the wall and her forelegs crossed. Her cerise red eyes looked over to every soul that was present. But she never spoke a single word to them.
Though she did listen to all of the conversations that were going on. With a careful ear she listened, not giving herself too much attention. The barkeeper himself received all of that actually. As he was the first employee the guests would encounter.
Times were good for the inn, but the rumors did caught up with her and they worried many of her guests. Though they could understand the reasoning of the guests, as they had experience with the rumors first hoof. The mare closed her eyes and gently hung her head on the chest as she thought back. Back to that horrible day where the rumors became a reality. An event that happened not even four days ago.
~~~~
The night had fallen upon the land and it was already passed midnight as most of the guests were already up and to their beds as some others remained downstairs in order to continue or finish their last drink. It was a profitable night as a thunderstorm passed over them. The flashes of lightning illuminated the night skies every so often before the thunder rolled through the same skies.
The pegasus mare had taken over the bar for the remaining hour it would be open. She was finishing up the last things that she had to do. But there was nothing in the world that could possibly have prepared her for that. For what came out of the woods. While the rain kept ticking against the windows of the inn and the thunder rolled, the gray coated mare had just gone in a conversation with one of her most respected guests.
“So, I take it you are still on trek around the woods?” she asked the stallion with a teasing grin. Her eyes would have been placed on him, trying to figure out if there was something he knew.
“Aye, still trying to figure out about these rumors, they are young but that’s when they are the best to be believed. Events fresh meaning rumors haven’t deluded yet. But so far still nothing I’m afraid,” the stallion replied before he took a swig of his drink.
“Tis a shame indeed. Heard about them ponies going crazy, yesterday the southern inn at this very road got a visit from a survivor,” she replied to him in an almost casual one.
“What!? And you didn't told me?”
“Well, you were out all day and I only received the news per letter after you went to bed. Besides, how did you wanted to travel, through Everfree? Around or through that hideous fog itself?”
That caused the stallion to fall silent and took another swig. “Suppose you’re right on it,” he mumbled after the mug was set down again. “Either way, what do you think of all it?”
“What is there to say? It seems like we’re going to become the next ghost town. Or ghost forest in this case…”
Before either of the two could make a reply to the words spoken, the door of the inn was opened and in its opening – accompanied by a flash of lightning– stood a terrified stallion. “Help me!” he shouted before he collapsed upon himself. The mare and stallion at the bar rushed over to him as fast as they could and started up the procedure to help him.
Though all of their attempts were useless. As the problems weren't in any physical condition, even though the stallion screamed murder and fire at the fact his leg was injured. “What on earth are we getting now? The rumors..?” the innkeeper spoke up towards the guest.
“What else could it be?” he answered her in all of his honesty. There was nothing else that could have explained it better than the rumors of the horrors from the woods.
The two of them wanted to continue with their investigation but the beating of the tormented stallion’s heart just stopped. The pegasus felt that and she went directly to his chest in order to feel if it was true. “No, no, no,” she spoke up as the other stallion looked over to her with a worried look on his face.
“It’s over, isn't it?”
All she could do, was to give a nod to it. There was literally nothing that the two of them could possibly even do for the stallion. “Death by fright… Only one being is able to do that. Let’s, let’s call in the higher authority and see what they make up from it,” he said to her as he wanted to walk back to the bar.
But it was a forehoof of the inn-keeper that met up with his body and he was turned back around in order to face her. “No.”
~~~~
The eyes of the mare opened themselves up once more. She rose her head a bit and looked to the guests again. There was a new one who had taken its place upon the bar and was eating a slice of bread. Yet the eyes were looking at a map that laid before him. “Planning a trip, sir?” the pegasus mare asked. She then dropped her body back to the ground and walked up to him in a calm pacing.
Astral looked up a bit confused at the words and let his azure blue eyes to fall upon the mare before the slice of bread was laid back on the plate. “Actually, yes. I am planning for a trip. One that is taking me to a little town south of Ponyville.”
“Ponyville, you say? Means you have to cross the woods of White Tails,” she replied to him in a calm voice. The mare crossed her forelegs over the bar and glanced a bit deeper into his eyes. “Have you considered taking an alternative route because of those nasty rumors that do their turn.”
“I am quite familiar with the rumors, miss. But it is what it says, rumors. All those ponies who have gone crazy are nothing more but a mere coincidence because of the fact that the power of words, is a powerful one.” the stallion simply stated as he looked over her. “My route shall remain scheduled as it is. Meaning that I follow the main path through the fog and reach the south end by the young evening if I keep my pacing.”
“That is with the fog calculated in I may hope, because the last thing I recommend is sleeping inside of that hellhole,” the mare replied calmly to him. She was genuinely worried about him and she had all of the reasons to be as she had seen the impossible. The experience she had gone through was rather left unspoken for the obvious reasons.
“Milady, I have taken that into account yes. This fog, will dissolve itself over time. It is nothing more but low hanging clouds that came from the weather factories up in Cloudsdale,” the stallion replied to her in a calm tone. But then there was a yawn that escaped his mouth and he shook his head a couple of times. “Excuse me for that.”
Both the barkeeper and the inn-keeper released a quiet chuckle to the words before the glasses were cleaned again. “I’m warning you one last time, lad, turn back around and walk around the forest. All that awaits you inside of it is nothing but your worst fears. The routes through Everfree and the edging mountain are safer than going through the manticore’s den,” the inn-keeper spoke.
Astral on the other end, he simply didn't believe in her words. He found them superstitious to say the least. She might have been the owner of the place but that never meant that he could just pick whatever she throw at him in words. “No miss, you listen to me. I have had enough of all of these rumors, sayings and legends. There is nothing in that fog that can cause such things. I suppose I can place the blame on you for dropping the clouds on it.”
That angered the pegasus mare perhaps more than he would have liked. For she was born and raised in the city of pride, worked there until she bought the inn for herself and if there was one thing she couldn't stand, it were defilers of her respect. The barkeeper did a little step back and stopped where he was working on. “You sir, have made a great mistake,” he said towards Astral.
“What do you mean?” the earth pony replied before he finally looked over to the mare. The sheer anger that was flowing through her body and he released a gulp. “Hehehe,” was all that he could bring out before a massive gulp left his body.
And almost right after that, was his pelt taken by the mare. She almost dragged him right over the bar. Their foreheads met up with one another as the clouds of steam was puffed out of the mare her nostrils. “You can do a lot with a pegasus and nothing happens to you. But dent their pride or insult their city, bones will be broken no matter what. You want to travel through that dreaded forest, fine by me. You can die and rot there for all I care! But know this when your final breath is taken, the pegasus race nor I had to do anything with it. Am I clear?” she growled up to him.
Astral could only nod to her words in fright. It was almost right away apparent that she was stronger than he was and picking a fight was the last thing he needed. “As crystal,” he said to her in a frightened tone.
The mare released him from his hold and pointed to the door of the inn. “Out, now. Get your stuff and just disappear out of my eyes. I don’t want to see you for a long time to come.” As fast as lightning would Astral have done what he was told. Astral was scared for the pegasus and almost all of the inn knew that right away when they saw him crawling away.
It took the stallion a mere minute before he had completely left the place and had closed the door behind him. “You meant your words, didn't you?” the barkeeper spoke up to her, finally saying something in general. He had been quiet during the whole conversation, for reasons unknown.
The mare herself simply gave a nod. She returned back to her place against the back wall. “Oh yes, I meant them. Dent a pegasus her pride, and nasty stuff is going to happen.”
“Don’t you think it might have been a bit too harsh, especially after what you have seen back there?” he spoke to her. Some of the guests had turned themselves in order to witness what had happened of course. Though they slowly returned back to their own duties as the show was over for them. The things had already happened and nopony seemed interested in the aftermath.
“Oh trust me, I might have been hard, but that’s the best teacher,” the mare replied. She allowed her cerise eyes to fall upon him upon him.
“But, you could have send him to his death!”
“And here’s the memo for the day, I don’t care. Now if you will excuse me, I’ll be off to my office.” The mare wasn't happy at all and just walked away from the bar as a whole. She left for her office but the barkeeper himself knew that he had to let the matter sink in.
A deep sigh of disappointment was released through hose mouth as he set the glass back on the wooden bar. The shaking motion of his head all spoke the words for him and he was literally on the point of giving up the hope for her. If it wasn't for the fact that those kind of events happened nearly every single week. But the time with Astral was a lot different and he knew that. “May the royals watch over your back,” the stallion mumbled before he continued on with his job.
Meanwhile in the office, the inn-keeper just sat in her chair. Her eyes went over her belongings. The room itself was a rather simple eyeing one. On the walls hung the pictures and newspaper bits about her triumphs as a flyer. Of course was that before she fell from her grace. Her breathing was calm as she looked at the globe that was set below a glass table top and her eyes fell upon the woods of White Tails.
The mare her head suddenly dropped itself down towards the top of her desk. There was a groan was left through her mouth before the words followed with a grumble. “Another one bites the dust,” was all that she said.
~~~~
Astral himself had begun to walk towards the woods after he was kicked out of the inn. He placed his eyes upon the map while walking. “Should be a rather easy going if you ask me. Stay on the path, don’t get lost,” the stallion mumbled to himself. He continued to follow the path down to the woods.
It wasn't all much later after he left the inn that he encountered the first trees of the woods. The map was lowered from before his eyes and folded back up before it was being placed inside of his saddlebags. “So this, is White Tails now, hm?” It didn't look that threatening to him as the fog still behaved like the name suggested. But that little underestimation would eventually cost him his head.
The nature of the forest was still ever so peaceful as he remembered himself but there was only notable and major difference to be spotted already. And that was the lack of sounds that originated from the place. No birds, no critters, no nothing. Everything was just silent as the grave.
It was a minor thing and one that wasn't noticed almost right away by the stallion’s ears. He was mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the forest though. Being a student for almost the entire year never gave him that much opportunity to go out and visit the places he wanted to. But he was on a vacation by then and would pass through the dangerous fog. Little did he knew, that it would be a one way trip.
The green coated stallion gave himself a nod and then proceeded to follow the path through the woods. How thick could that fog possibly be? he chuckled to himself in thought. That was the last time anypony would have seen anything from him. His blue haired tail that slowly disappeared into the unnatural woods of White Tails. Against all of the rumors and words had the stallion named Astral Chrome, still dared to enter the tormenting woods. A terrible price would have to be paid for his departure and the price itself would be his life or sanity.
Seconds turned into minutes while the stallion’s hopes became less for a clearing. The sheer density of the fog was something that he had never experienced before in his life. He was curious to what could have caused it. Yet the words of the pegasus continued to ramble themselves through his mind with every step he took.
Even though they were a threat spoken to him, he had to give her admittance at one point. The fog wasn't created by the pegasus race. A fact that became an eerie reality the more Astral stared at it. The almost magical current that could be seen inside of the fog every so often, gave it all away. The current of magic within it revealed perhaps a bit too much about the fog.
It was something that he hadn't seen before and possibly didn't even wanted to look after at all. His eyes tried to keep him on the right path but his guts pointed him to another direction. The direction his guts pointed him to, was the direction he had come from. Astral wanted to do nothing more but to just return and get another route for his hike. He wouldn’t care if it took him longer.
The fog gave him an unpleasant feeling. Almost as if he was being watched by beings invisible through both the fog and for the eye. Beings that shouldn't have been there but inside of his mind. And that, was what worried him the most.
His pacing was cranked up a bit. He began to run a bit while his eyes tried to follow the path wherever it went too. But the fright and fears would become a reality soon enough for the stallion. He didn't wanted to believe it at first and kept going with his stubborn little mind like it was an everyday job or something the like.
While his visibility was almost zero and the darkened trees almost looking exactly the like from one another, it was impossible to tell if he was making progress, backtracked or just walked in circles. Hopes for being on time at the other side of the forest before nightfall became slimmer and slimmer as the stallions just kept walking, if not galloping.
He never wanted to admit it to himself, but he was lost. Lost within the nature of the forest he thought to have known so well. Astral just gave it up for the moment. There was nothing he could do anymore to save his hide. The road was lost and the shimmers in the fog kept looking at him as if they were preying on him. Everything was just a major mess and he knew it.
The blue maned stallion took his refuge against a tree and removed the saddlebags from his body. He placed them against the tree bark before he laid his own body against it with a deep sigh. Astral’s eyes looked up into the skies but only caught that never ending fog. It was something that troubled him more than anything he had encountered so far. He was lost in the woods of rumors.
Though when desperation struck, one started to believe a whole lot easier. And Astral Chrome was no exception to that rule, whether he wanted or not. Though losing the road was only the first part in a chain of events that were called upon him. For the rumors of the woods slowly became a dangerous reality.
~~~~
All of his worst possible fears came to him in a sneaking manner. They were hidden among the trees that were the furthest away from him. The stallion couldn't believe it at first and blinked a couple of times. Gone.
Each and every one of the figures was just gone. As if they went up in smoke itself. It gave him a good jumpscare but that was about it really. It was only after he had taken something out of his saddlebags to consume, that a yelp of fright was released from his mouth.
All of the mysterious figures had returned to him. All of them were looking at him with their gaping eyes. “T-This is impossible! You’re, you’re all dead!” he spoke up to them and shook his head with a set of closed eyes.
When Astral opened them up once again, he could see that the figures were gone once more. “This, this is madness. She, was right about it. This forest is cursed,” the stallion mumbled to himself. He took a bite out of his bread and dropped his head against the bark. The eyes closed themselves once more while felt his appetite just flowed away at the clop of a hoof.
A deep sigh was released through his mouth while the situation was hopeless. Astral had nothing that he could do, except to lose the battle he was fighting. He could give in against the fears of failing those who had passed before him.
The stallion could hear hoofsteps all of the sudden. They caused both of the ears to twitch a bit, though his eyes never opened themselves. “Come and get me,” Astral spoke up in a weakened voice. Time was lost for his senses and he had not even a clue just what had happened to him. But it had been hours since he even moved his legs to take another step. Hours that felt like seconds.
“Claim your reward, monster of White Tails, grant me a final sight before I lose my mind.”
But what he got in return weren't words spoken by any being. Instead he could see a bright blue light that shone through his closed eyelids. A thing that made him fear for the worst to come. With all of the strength that was residing inside of his body, the stallion tried to open up the eyes in order to see what was going after him, but the mind had other plans. For the lids remained shut as the horrible animalistic howls, growls and screeches were being made.
The sounds of a battle being fought right before him and he was too scared to even look. Precisely as planned by another being. But that light that was shone through his eyelids also filled him with something he hadn’t felt since he entered the woods. There was a hope, a hope that was purer than any other hope he had ever gotten into his life. It felt so good for his soul, but in his mind he knew it was only trouble.
~~~~
Time kept crawling by like it has done since its very dawn. The days turned to nights and the lives of the ponies that lived and thrived in the land, just continued like nothing had ever happened. But in their thought they knew that they had to be looking someplace else. That the disappearance of the famous unicorn tailor wasn't something out of unforeseen events but instead, it was perhaps a play made by her. That one day she would come back, with a remarkable tale of her own.
It were those kind of rumors that devastated not only the five friends but also the parents of the mare even more. They knew that the words spoken were lies said to keep the fires calm. The eyes of most of the peaceful townsfolk turned itself over to the more bigger cities like Manehatten, Fillydelphia and above all, Los Pegasus.
There were even words going around of the fact that she was just on a long holiday that hadn't been announced by her. But that bubble was quickly busted because of the fact that both Pearl and Magnum, her loving parents knew that their sweet daughter would never do such a thing without first informing them or her friends on the matter. She simply didn't do that, she had a business to run that needed to make a profit in order to keep existing.
It didn't add up for the both of them and as they sat together on the sofa one evening in their house near the lake, the two of them couldn't change their subject of conversation. “Rary wouldn't do such a thing, would she?” the pinkish mare asked while her head found itself on the chest of the stallion. He was stroking through her untangled mane and she caught the sigh he gave. That usually meant something bad was coming her way and the unicorn braced herself for it.
“There, is of course a first for everything honey, I mean, your parents weren't that happy when they discovered we were in love, but it caused you to sneak out of the house for the first time,” he replied to her in a calm tone. The stroking of the mane was never interrupted though.
“Hey, keep our love-life out of this, Maggy, this is your daughter we are talking about.”
“I know, I know, but I am just saying that, history can repeat itself.”
That caused the mare to turn her head upwards to meet the blue eyes of her husband with a questioning look in hers. “You mean, Rary is seeing somepony as well? But, that doesn't make her leave for that long, does it?” Pearl asked with care. Though in secret she feared the answer. The very thoughts that raced through her own mind where everything but pleasant to know.
Magnum on the other end, gave her a well-meant chuckle while he kept stroking through the mane. Eventually placed his foreleg on the shoulder of his loving wife. “The chances are there, if you ask me. But, how about we drop the subject for the night? More time to bicker around it tomorrow.”
“Bicker? Weren't we just discussing?” the mare replied with a giggle in her tone.
“Hmhmhm, alright, you have your way.” The stallion carefully planted his lips upon the head of his wife who erupted out in another gentle giggle while a faint blush appeared on her face.
The two of them kept snuggling on the sofa as the matter was put to rest in their words. But in their mind they were busy with it almost all of the time. Whether they knew it or not that was difficult to tell actually. Much like another pony in the quiet town and a baby dragon who lived at the library.
~~~~
“But what if we..?”
“No.”
“And if..?”
“No!”
“Come on, Twilight! There must be something that we can do to help out Rarity, or to find her even! Hey, can’t you sniff out her aura with that magic of yours?” the baby dragon spoke up almost in desperation. He kept following behind the mulberry unicorn in her study room.
For almost the entire evening had he had pestering her with the ideas. Ideas that were forged into complete and utter madness of his little mind. Ideas that could help them for certain, but also put their own lives at stake because of the massive amounts of risks. Eventually was the bucket full for the unicorn. Twilight dropped her body in a chair that stood near the desk. After that she turned her head around in order to look at him. “True that every unicorn has its own magical aura and hum to it, it is not simple to perform such a spell. My radius doesn't even cover half of Ponyville. I doubt even princess Celestia is able to pull off a spell of that magnitude,” Twilight replied to him. She had gotten more than tired of his words and little plans.
“But, what if you three w-”
Before he could even continue that sentence had the unicorn interrupted him once again. “No,” she spoke up in a raised voice before her eyes fell shut and her emotions calmed down. “No Spike, as much I also want to, there is nothing we can do except to wait out and pray the storm goes down so the search continues.”
“But,” the dragon started, “nopony is doing anything to find her!”
“That’s not true! Ponies are working around the clock to find her in other parts of the land, now go to sleep. You’ll be needing it,” Twilight spoke in a much calmer tone to him. She turned herself towards the desk and face the problems that laid on it.
With a grumble in his undertone had the dragon left the study. He went almost straight over to the bedroom where he dropped himself in the basket and curled up into a ball. Spike had a hard time understanding the manner of thinking many others had over the situation. Though his mind was still young. With a tear that left from his right eye, he fell asleep while thinking about the love of his life and the chances that were there.
Though it was only hours later, far after the clock had hit midnight that the mare herself quietly entered the bedroom and looked upon the moonlight indulged room. Outside of the ordinary, there was one thing that she caught outside of it.
With carefully placed steps had she moved over to the basket that the dragon had called home ever since he was hatched and the mare took the blanket in her mouth. With one swift motion was it placed back over the body of Spike who only released a soft moan. The unicorn looked over him as she spoke the words that were stuck in her throat. “I, I wish I had the answers on your questions, little Spike, but I just don’t.” Her tone was soft, close to crying herself. Words that came directly from her heart and were the honest truth about the matter.
Twilight’s head met with her pillow before she looked outside of her window, to the land of Equestria and the many mysteries it housed. But in her mind she only thought about the well-being of her friend. Nothing more and nothing less. The violet colored rims were closed off from the world and the mare drifted away into lands unknown.
~~~~
When the blue light before his eyelids faded away again and the sounds fell into nothing but the silence of the forest, Astral Chrome cared to open up one of his eyes. And what he caught in it, was a blurry white background with a grayish blob in the middle of it. “Don’t be afraid, you’ll be safe,” a feminine voice spoke up to him. A voice that came out of the direction of the mysterious blob.
The stallion was both baffled and speechless on the matter as it played out before him. He had no idea who this pony was and why it helped him out of his situation. Yet what was the most interesting part of it all, was that the voice itself that was calming his thoughts down from almost everything that had tormented him. And almost naturally, he opened up his other eye to get a better view on the savior, but also to stand up and walk with her.
For the creature calmly signaled him to follow her. Astral had not a single clue where he was going to be bright but anyplace would be better than the hole he got into. Or so he thought. Because the woods of White Tails had a lot more to them then they gave away.
In calm and silence did the two ponies walk through the forest. The eyes of the stallion couldn't help it but to notice two things on the whole matter. The first one being the more obvious one, the sheer size of the mare. The being was almost as tall as Celestia herself, but on the flanks there were no cutie marks to be found. Such a wonderful looking mare, and no mark? he thought to himself before it was dropped out of his mind again. Astral looked over to the second finding. That being the whole fact that the fog bend around her as she walked through it.
It was a curious feature but he didn't even dare to speak against her in case he would offend her. With each step they took, they came closer towards their headed destination. Which was nothing else than the dreaded domain of the entity that was nopony else but Nightmare Rarity.
He was just amazed by the fact that such a structure could even be build inside of the forest, especially one that was filled with as much rumor as it was. The mare just brought him over to the courtyard of the place. There she signaled him to wait before the being turned herself back around.
“Wait! Can, can I at least know your name?” Astral spoke up towards the mare. But she never gave him any response to it. Her legs started to carry her away to places far away as she gently disappeared inside of the fog once more. Just as mysterious as she came, she had disappeared again. “This, is unusual.” he mumbled to himself before the stallion turned himself back around and made the big mistake to take a step forward.
For only a mere second after his hoof had touched the ground once again, four blobs of shadow jumped out of the ground and forced him to the ground. Astral had nothing he could fight back with and just let the events happen as they came. The last thing he felt before losing his consciousness was the hit that his belly made to the ground below him.
~~~~
Hours had passed before the green coated stallion would have begun to moan and groan. The hit that knocked him out, had taken a lot more of his time than he originally had thought it would have. If he could have thought about it all in the first place. His brain was pounding against the skull and with the eyes still closed firm, Astral rose up against a wall that felt like bars. He just held his head a couple of seconds who turned into a minute.
“Owha, what on earth was that all good for?” the stallion muttered to himself while the pain eased itself. More and more he could feel of the world as it was around him. It was everything but pleasant though. For the ground was cold as stone and his back was set against what appeared to be steel bars or something the like. His ears caught more and more of the surrounding and the quiet moans and groans of other ponies drilled itself into his skull.
Everything combined caused the stallion to open his eyes wide. Where he thought to meet a bright light, he only met a faint torch that was enough to cast light upon the situation. Astral found himself in a prison, but unlike any he had ever seen before in his life. “P-Prisoner?” he mumbled out quietly to himself. It was nearly impossible to describe the feelings that raced through him.
But then he thought back, back to those sounds he had heard and looked around him. A cell that was big enough to hold five stallions on the ground he was dumped in but he was all alone in it. Surrounded by bars from three sides as the remaining wall, ceiling and floor were nothing but this dark coloring. It wasn't the structure like stone but more like crystal or something the like.
It all seemed to be impossible already for him yet then he looked over the floor of the cell and the cells he could look at through the bars. Each of them gave off the same horrible sight. Ponies –mares and stallions alike– that were all curled up and shivering in fear. Some appeared to be braindead while they leaned against the bars of walls without any motion.
“I’m in the asylum!” Astral whispered loud to himself. He didn't even made an attempt to speak with the other captives as he was just thought about the fact of saving his own skin and judging their looks, they were gone for a long time.
His eye started to peel around the place a bit more with only one thought in mind. The very thing he hungered the most for. “I need, I need to get out of here!” But that little plan of him, would be a bit harder to truly execute then he thought because she was willing to continue the cause of destruction. She was coming his way. Wherever she went, there was no escape.
Some of the captives knew the time that was upon them and already started to make their retreat into the shadows of their cell. Hiding for her and her demonic minions. The only safety they had and would ever have within their cells.