Section 4
Shining’s Log: Entry 55
I’m writing this entry as I run. (I’m getting better at multitasking.) I race as fast as the wind, faster than I’ve ever run before. How I love having six legs. They make me fast and let me catch myself when the gravity suddenly shifts.
I’m sliding now, down down down down down! This is fun. Oops, sharp rocks - JUMP! Ha! That was so much fun! Come on, you three. Don't worry so much. I've got this all under control.
Thorn won't stop clawing and biting my ear. I guess that's his way of hanging on. I'll just scoop him up with my magic and there, that's better!
You know, as I'm following this thing, I just realized that I can't keep calling these things "things." Ok, so I'm going to call this a spark dragon. I mean, it looks vaguely like a dragon and it shoots lightning. Good enough.
Anyway, I’m almost there.
Shining’s Log: Entry 56
Alice Liddell and the Mad Hatter. Those two are strange creatures, sort of like tall monkeys. Alice was dressed in shining armor (hahaha!) and Hatter wore a hat with 10/6 on it.
The spark dragon that had lead me there was not wearing its head, courtesy of Alice and her “vorpal sword.”
Having never seen monsters fight monsters, I liked them immediately. They for me, not so much. Apparently, I looked too much like one of the monsters for their tastes. Alice raised her sword and swung at me. I partially stopped her with my shield. Partially because the blade cut through, but not the hilt, stopping the edge inches from my face.
I grabbed Thorn and coaxed him into dagger form. Pushing my magic through him, I fired a warning shot of flame. “Whoah! Hang on!” I called out, voice a bit rusty from disuse.
That caught them off guard. The monsters never speak, as far as I know (and I should know). Alice lowered her sword while Hatter relaxed. “You’re not one of the monsters we’ve been facing, are you?” Alice asked.
I won’t bother you with the exact words of the chat, Log. Basically, we introduced ourselves and gave them a runthrough of our stories. Logbook, I hope you didn’t mind them looking through you. They didn’t hurt you did they? Did they? I’ll kill them if they hurt you, my precious Log!
Getting back on track now. It turns out that they took a wrong turn after being pursued by a bandersnatch (maybe that one?) and ended up here in the Midnight Badlands, though they didn’t know it was called that. In fact, they had thought they were still in Wonderland (wherever that is) and that the sun was just late in rising. I told them that it wouldn't ever rise on its own and that they had to go to Noon to see the not-sun. Alice didn't believe me, but Hatter accepted without question.
They also didn’t have anyone as wonderful as little Corny! I happily shared her food with them, glad for company that could actually talk back. We chatted over our shared meal as we sat around the fire. Alice told me of England, Hatter told me of Wonderland, and I told them of Canterlot.
"You know, that sounds familiar," Alice told me. "I saw a city like that in the distance when we first got here. We tried to go towards it, but found ourselves here."
"Where, where did you see it?" I asked. Could it be? Did she know where home is?
"I'm not exactly sure. It was a on the grassy plain where we appeared," Alice replied.
Me: "Was it day or night?"
Hatter: "It was a lovely day, almost as brilliant as the White Queen herself. Dear Shining Armor, do you know why is a raven like a writing desk?"
It was so random that I was caught off guard. The words that followed tumbled out of my mouth before I could even ponder the question: "There is a 'B' in both and an 'N' in neither?" Looking back, my own answer makes no sense to me. The Mad Hatter was a different story; I think he had some sort of "it all makes sense now" epiphany. I wouldn't know. He never explained the cause of his funny expression.
Strange conversation aside, I finally had a goal of my own! Not a whisper, not a compulsion, not a request from a friend (I'm looking at you, Thorn), but a goal of my own (beyond the obvious goal of getting home)! I want to see the city Alice saw!
Shining’s Log: Entry 57
My head is clearer than it has ever been since I came to this world. I think it's the two humans that are doing it. Alice keeps the whispers and nightmares away, while hatter chases away the corner-lings (the monsters that hide in the corner of your eyes) and the writhing shadows.
This is a blessing and a curse. After only a day of talking with Alice and Hatter, I realized something horrible. The moment I thought of it, I tumbled to the ground out of shock, throwing the passengers riding me to the rocky gravel (don't look at me that way! I was levitating them, not letting them sit on my back. That would be disgusting for all of us). I barely had the strength to stand. Even now, I struggle to write this, as if putting the quill to paper makes it permanent.
Corny is just a tin can!
She... it... isn't a real pony! It's a can with dents that look like a smile! Who have I been talking to all these months? Log, please tell me! Log? Logbook? No... LOGBOOK!
Shining’s Log: Entry 58
We've reached the edge of Midnight and are crossing over into Noon. I've slept 5 times since the voices for my food can and logbook vanished. I've killed 18 times in that period: 4 raptors, 12 screechers, and 2 doom centipedes. I've restrained myself from killing Alice twice and Hatter six times. They don't know how close I came to killing them. I wan not angry at the time. The foreign killer impulse remains.
I feel physically ill and chronically cold in spite of the humans' protests that the temperature was unchanged. My conscious mind feels detached, as if I was only watching my body act.
My goal to find the Canterlot-like city remains unchanged. My goal to find Thorn's other two remains unchanged. My goal to return home... has been compromised. Do I really want to return home in this condition? As this pony on the inside?
Shining’s Log: Entry 61
I’ve been in a weird place lately. It’s odd having your delusions snapped so suddenly. I’m still tempted to talk to them. Then I have to remind myself that Log and Corny are not real.
Alice and Hatter are worried, and so am I (but for a different reason). I’ve been cold to them, distancing myself when I can. It probably seems really rude to them, especially when they are in the exact same situation as me. At least they have each other.
But I? Well... who’s to say that those two aren’t just figments of my imagination. I’ve heard that magic can do some weird stuff to a unicorn who loses their mind. If they are not real, I don’t want to get too close or it will hurt too much when they leave. And if they are real, there’s always time later to apologise and start over.
At least the not-sun is shining brightly...
Shining’s Log: Entry 62
My mood has gone up since the last entry. Why? Because I can see the city in the distance. If it wasn’t for the fact that it is flat on the ground rather than suspended on the side of a cliff, I would say it is a perfect replica of Canterlot! We’re a day’s gallop away! I think I can make it in one good sprint!
Huge spark dragon. Bigger than before. It’s Enraged. Running now!
64
They’re... gone.
Just like that. Chomp. Gone. In one bite, both of them are gone.
I could have killed it. Cut it open before they drowned in its stomach. Freed them. Saved them.
Then an invisible portal in the air took them away from me.
I howled and screamed and raged. I blasted my magic and used Thorn to scorch the grass. Then I dropped to the ground and cried and cried and cried and cried and cried...
Somehow, I feel better just writing my thoughts even as I cry tears of blood...
They noticed me. Canterlot, that is. There are guards coming my way. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see ponies in my life. I stand from the puddle of cursed blood. My emotions are so confused right now. I wobble slightly The fog is creeping in. The whispers are coming back. The shadows are writhing. I see them again, the corner-lings. I’m so confused.
Why are the guards pointing their spears at me? What’s with the hoof cuffs? Wait!
Shining’s Log: 65
I have no idea what just happened. The guards came up to me and told me to surrender. The whispers told me to kill them all. I took the good choice and surrendered.
The guards then put me in chains and paraded me through Canterlot. The whole city was in a state of decay. Buildings degrading, food stands running low, dirt and grime everywhere. I saw a stallion beat a mare, then a mare beat a stallion not a hundred steps later. Frankly, the whole city stank. What had become of Canterlot?
I asked the guards to take me to my family. They snorted and laughed and called me a monster. I told them that I was a pony and that I had had a run in with poison joke. They called me a joke.
I told them my name was Shining Armor.
They didn’t laugh at all. Their smiles vanished in an instant.
Ten minutes later and I found myself in the highest security prison in Canterlot. The walls and doors are made of a magic draining substance. Had I been a normal unicorn, the loss of 20,000 thaums of magic should have rendered me useless. What they didn’t know was that I still had more than when I first set foot on the twisted world. And I was not willing to let them know that.
I couldn’t get them to tell me why they arrested me. I couldn’t get them to tell me anything. Now I’m wishing that I had advanced far enough in training to get torture resistance training. Even if they did nothing of the sort, the psychological cost could still be painful.
Speaking of painful, I screamed and shouted when they took my can and my logbook. I did not quit. Eventually, the guards relented and got me paper to write on. This paper. I’m using the fuzzy pink tendrils on the end of my antennae as a paintbrush to write this, and the cursed blood as ink.
As bored as I was, there was no way I could have predicted who came in to see me.
