//------------------------------//
// Fear & Insanity 
// Story: Fear & Insanity 
// by delfin 
//------------------------------//

Fear
/fi(ə)r/
Noun
An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

It was a beautiful summer night, a Monday, to be exact. We were all sitting around the campfire, enjoying the dark sky and light breeze that shook the trees. Well, everyone except Spike, of course, he was too afraid to come. It seemed like such an ordinary night, but deep down inside me there was just something that didn't feel right.  I’ll be honest, it bothered me for a while, not knowing what that was. Little did I know that I would unfortunately be very aware of what that thing was soon enough...
“So, what do you guys want to talk about?” I asked.
“Ooo-Ooo-Ooo! I know! Do you guys know the legend of Slenderpony?” Pinkie Pie happily asked.
“Slenderpony? Sounds laammmee,” Rainbow Dash said, obviously uninterested.
“No Dashie! Slenderpony is FAR from “lame”! You guys want to hear about it?” Pinkie asked with glee.
“Alright, Ah can go for a good story,” Applejack said.
“Um, I’m not sure, it sounds frightening...” Fluttershy quietly said.
“I agree with Fluttershy, I simply won’t take part in this,” Rarity stated.
“Wow Rarity, don’t be such a chicken!” Rainbow Dash loudly said.
But when Rainbow turned around, Rarity was already gone.
“Huh? Where did she go?” Rainbow Dash asked, bewildered.
“She probably just got scared and left, I’m sure she’ll be back later,” I said.
“Okay Pinkie, go ahead,” I said, allowing Pinkie to begin.
“Alright! So, the legend of Slenderpony..." Pinkie started, "In these woods lives a pony unlike ANY other pony! The Slenderpony wears a black suit, tie, and has NO FACE! It’s known for hunting down each living being and MURDERING THEM! Science will tell you that something like the Slenderpony can never exist, but science is wrong! It’s here, in fact it’s… RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!”
Fluttershy quickly screamed and turned around in a flash, eyes frantically looking from side to side.
“Hahaha, sorry Fluttershy, but that was hilarious!” Rainbow taunted.
Fluttershy didn’t look to happy.
“I-Is it over?” Rarity called out from away.
“Yeah, Rarity, it’s over,” Rainbow Dash said.
Rarity approached the campfire once more.
“You really missed out on a great story, Rarity!” Applejack said, chuckling.
“Ugh, not for ME! I absolutely HATE horror stories!” Rarity said, disgusted.
“Alright Rarity, we won’t be telling anymore,” I said with acceptance.
After that we didn't tell any more stories. We talked for a while, although I didn't really listen. I thought about my troubles, like why my friends really didn’t seem like my friends lately, and how I couldn’t find a nice stallion, but those were the least of my problems.
Eventually, we called it a night and went in our separate tents to have a nice sleep.
I remember, though, that night I had horrible nightmares. In each one of them, there was a figure of a pony in front of me. I always wanted to look away, but every time I did – there it was again! The figure was everywhere; it revolved me in a perfect circle. I could never get a close look at the figure, but that wasn't the part that worried me. As I ran away, I found everything fading away: me, the figure, the ground, the sky, everything. Eventually, I ended up running into a house. I remember clearly seeing everything behind me had vanished. These nightmares were definitely the worst I have ever had; they were scary!
It was when I was attempting to fall sleep for the umpteenth time that I heard the screams. They came from outside the tent, but they were not ordinary screams. They were genuine screams, screams loud enough to make anypony go deaf! I quickly ran outside, and instantly regretted it, for what was there before me was the exact figure from my dream.
I couldn’t look away from it; it was hypnotic! No, it was way more than that; it was something I just couldn't contemplate. Right then and there, I felt pure terror. I quickly closed my eyes and prayed to Celestia that it was a dream, but deep inside I knew this was no dream. It seemed too real to even be reality; it was more alive than even me at that very moment. The breeze shook the trees, but the creature still stood there, waiting... waiting to pounce.
I quickly looked around and saw that everypony else was there, and they were staring directly at it, their pupils dilated and mouths hung wide open.
“Look away!” I quickly yelled. But it was to no avail, I didn’t get any responses. Everypony  was still in their strange trances, with blank looks in their eyes, almost as if their souls were literally sucked right out of them.
I frantically ran back into my tent, my mind racing. I didn’t know what was even happening at that point. I heard everyone yelling and screaming. I was desperate to do something, anything, to help them.
I quickly stepped outside, only to see everypony with their heads down in fear. However, I couldn’t see the figure anymore, so I walked over to everypony and tried to search for ways to help them.
“Guys! Are you alright?” I anxiously asked.
Rainbow Dash started, “Yeah, I think s- Ah!” High-pitched sounds resounded from her voice, and she froze.
“Rainbow! What is it?” I worriedly asked.
“I think my wing is broken!” she panicked.
“Okay, don’t worry, everyone get away from here, I think I can take care of this.” I calmly said.
“You? But… but..” Rarity stuttered.
“Go!” I yelled. I watched all of them help Rainbow and leave into the trees.
“Ok Twilight, you can do this, I mean c’mon, you’ve fought Trixie, Discord, even Sombra! You can do this.” I tried to assure myself.
But I knew that this was nothing like any of the villains I have previously fought. This was a monster.
I grabbed the old guitar that Applejack had brought along, and prepared myself to use it as a weapon. It wasn’t much, but it was the only thing that I had. Wait! No it wasn’t! I quickly ran into my tent and found my Swiss army knife that I had brought along in case of an emergency. But I didn't expect any emergency like this...
It wasn’t long before I started walking into the forest. Fear overtook me, but I didn't back down. I continued to walk, prepared to face the unknown.
It wasn’t long until it found me...
The moment that he turned around and locked eyes with me, I was sure I was going to pass out, like Fluttershy did whenever she was scared.
However, I didn’t pass out. Instead, I charged towards it, forgetting all my logic and sanity. But my charge was no use; I quickly tripped and fell onto the hard packed dirt. I tried to use my magic to lift me up, but it didn't work. I had to get up with my hooves, but I couldn't concentrate, my magical failure concerned me. To this day I still don’t know why my magic couldn't work, maybe it was because of the power thrust against me, maybe it was because I couldn’t focus, I just don't know.
After I regained my balance, I panicked and started running away as fast as I could. It was just too much for me to handle; running away became useless. I remember turning around and seeing it right behind me.
“B-B-B-But that’s i-i-i-impossible!” I nervously yelled in fright.
I kept running, with a futile attempt to buy me more time. But as I was running into the darkness, I realized something...
I realized that it hurt my friends. And yeah, of course I knew that before, but it only then occurred to me that my friends were always there for me; my friends were the best friends I ever had. After I realized that, something unexpected happened.
I felt something.
Strength.
But this was no normal strength. This was a kind of strength that you can only have when you combine fear with hatred, with anger, with power. My friends were in jeopardy, and I was the only pony who could save them.
I stopped running, and courageously looked at the figure. Something huge was building up inside me, I could feel it. Something inside me just snapped. I slowly realized I was walking right up to it. I flicked open the knife and ran as fast as I could, brought the figure to the ground, and immediately stabbed it in the chest as hard as I could. I didn’t need magic this time; I was fine all by myself.
As I stood above top of it, staring into it, it seemed to be frozen. Its eyes shifted and it glared at itself. While it was distracted, I threw the knife directly into it, and the blade landed right inside its neck.
I saw it fall into the cold, dark ground and felt a rush of satisfaction.
I did it.
I couldn’t believe that I did it, but I did.
A few hours later, I finally found everypony else.
“Hey guys…” I said, exhausted.
“Twilight!? What happened?” Pinkie asked curiously.
“Well, I-I did it. I killed it.” I admitted.
Everypony stared at me as if I had just come back from a war.
“That’s amazing Twilight..” Fluttershy quietly said.
“Fluttershy! You’re awake!” Pinkie Pie said with joy.
“Yes, I am. Goodness, what happened? All I remember is a big scary-looking thing looking at me..” Fluttershy timidly replied.
“We’ll tell you later, Fluttershy, when we get home.” Rainbow Dash said.
It was obvious we all wanted to get out of there as fast as we could, but as we were getting ready to leave, I noticed blood covering my hooves. It was odd; I never saw any blood on it before, I don’t even think the figure had blood! I was unsure why it was there, but I shrugged off any worries and washed it off.

In•san•i•ty
/inˈsanitē/
Noun
The state of being seriously mentally ill; madness.

Man, when Twilight invited us on that camping trip I really should’ve just said no, like I usually do whenever Twilight has something planned. Twilight has really been creeping me out lately.
This is how I surprisingly made it out of that forest alive.
“So what do you guys want to talk about?” Twilight asked.
Apparently Pinkie Pie started telling some “scary story” nonsense, or something; I wasn’t really listening.
What’s weird was that after the story, Twilight ran away. I mean, really, just plain out ran away from the campfire.
“Wow, don’t be such a chicken, Twilight!” I called out, but I couldn’t hear or see Twilight anymore. Meh, some people are just scared I guess.
I know I was scared that night, but I tried not to show it.
Anyways, later on, we were roasting some marshmallows. Twilight still wasn’t back, yet. We were concerned and started to search for her, but we couldn’t find her, and we became worried about her...
“Um, it’s been awhile, you guys, I really hope she didn’t go… missing…” Fluttershy quietly said.
“Either way, can we go back now? I’m starting to get hungry,” I asked, my stomach growling.
“Ya’ll can go back, I’ll go ahead and look for her.” Applejack said.
“You sure Applejack? I really don’t think you should go into those woods by yourself!” Rarity said.
“Don’t ya’ll worry; I’ll be fine,” Applejack said.
“Alright Applejack, c’mon guys let’s go back to the campfire,” I said. To be honest, I really just wanted to go eat.
After a long while, Applejack still hadn’t come back. We started to get worried about her. Just as we were talking about Applejack, we heard a scream. It wasn't a normal scream; it was a scream loud enough to burst eardrums.
It was Applejack's.
“Applejack!?” Pinkie asked, frightened.
“We need to find her! Move!” I yelled.
We ran in the direction of her scream, and I eventually saw her. “Guys! I found her!” I shouted.
“Oh thank goodness!” Fluttershy said, relieved.
We all rushed  to where she was. She was staring at a tree.
“A-Applejack?” I asked. She didn't respond.
“APPLEJACK!” I yelled, hoping that would get her attention, but again, she didn't reply. I grabbed her and turned her around.
“Applejack, what’s the matt- AHHH!”
There I was, staring at the dead body of Applejack lying the ground.
Everyone was around me now, their faces shocked. I could hear Fluttershy whimper, which soon turned into a sob.
I could feel myself slightly sobbing too.
“Applejack…” I quietly said, “I-I-I never got t-t-to… to…” I stuttered. I turned around at everyone.
“O-Oh my Celestia…” I stammered again.
It was Twilight.
I was staring directly at her when everyone was screaming and running away behind me.
“Y-Y-You…” I growled.
I looked at her eyes; this was not Twilight Sparkle anymore.
It never was.
She had cold, soulless eyes that haunted me for long afterwards.
She was holding a knife.
Before I could say or do anything else, she threw me to the ground and started cutting my wing, and I screamed in agony. After my wing was almost completed disembodied, she got up and stabbed the knife right into my chest. Blood flowed down my sides and I could barely breath. After she stabbed me, I saw her get up and look around.
I saw Pinkie Pie right behind a tree; I could hear her crying. I then saw Twilight slowly walk behind the tree and bring Pinkie out next to me on the ground. I wanted to attempt to comfort Pinkie, but I couldn’t talk, the pain overwhelmed me. I then felt something; it was Pinkie, hugging me. I could tell she was terrified, so I hugged her back. She was comforting and made me feel a little bit better.
As I stared into the sky, for what seemed like a lifetime, I was thinking about how this was how it was all going to end.
This was it.
Twilight soon came back, I couldn’t see what she was doing to Pinkie, but I could her Pinkie’s screams of pain. I had to save her; I knew that monster had to be killed.
The knife was still pierced into my chest, but before I knew it, I yanked the knife out of my body.
It was a slow and painful act, but it had to be done.
After it was out, I was in the most pain I had ever been in; I could feel life slipping away from me. I struggled to get to my knees, and just before I lost consciousness, I turned towards Twilight and threw the knife directly at her. For the last second that I was still conscious, I saw her turn to me. That was the last thing I saw before falling down. I don’t remember anything after that.
When I woke up in the hospital, my friends were hovering above me.
“Dashie! You’re awake!” Pinkie said, overjoyed.
“Um, yeah, W-What happened?”I asked.
But just as I said that, I remembered everything, the pain, the woods, Twilight, everything. I grabbed Pinkie’s hoof.
“The knife. Did it kill her?” I quickly asked.
Pinkie looked at everyone, then at me.
“No, it hit her in the arm. But it was enough time to let me run away while carrying you, and to find everyone else,” Pinkie said, sorrowfully.
“Wow, a-a-and Applejack?” I asked, shivering.
Everyone looked down.
“Oh…”
I soon was in a group hug with everyone, not the kind of hug that’s a celebration hug, a hug out of depression, a hug for the loss for our friend.
“The funeral will be on Friday…” Rarity said through her tears.
“I’ll be there,” I said.
“What about Twilight? What even happened to her…?” I asked again.
“I have the answer to that," a doctor said as he walked in.
“It appears that Twilight was suffering from schizophrenia, a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown of thought processes and by impaired emotional responses. In a nutshell, Twilight was extremely aggressive, and she was bound to have a mental breakdown soon enough. Twilight’s life was a delusion; she hallucinated, and thought that she was doing something completely different than what she was actually doing. Mental breakdowns are extremely hard to treat, and would take ages to fully correct her. You folks might as well be lucky that she’s killed now.” he stated.
“But… She’s still out there,” I replied.
“Well, then you better hope she won’t come back.”