//------------------------------// // Chapter 48: The Dark Descent, Part 5 // Story: Le Retour // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 48 Fear not, faithful readers! Even though the keyboard on my laptop is broken, I still have a USB keyboard! I can still write! This is going to make gaming a bit of a problem, though... I need a new laptop. Soon. (Third Person) Kyle had been unconscious for almost a day at this point. Dashie had come home and noticed him asleep on the couch, and passed it off as nothing. But then he started screaming out in fear. She was scared witless, so she did the first thing that came to mind: She took him to Twilight. "How long has he been like this Rainbow?" Dashie shrugged. "I think he's been asleep for a few hours. He was like this when I got home, but he started screaming like he was being tortured. I tried to wake him up, but it's like he's stuck sleeping or something." Twilight started flipping through books, and began to get more and more frustrated until she finally found the spell. Or at least something similar. "I think someone may have locked him in his own mind. He's reacting as if he were still awake, and he can't wake up. I've never seen this spell, but I've heard of it before. I could probably go in there and pull him out. I know the spell, I've practiced on Spike." Dashie nodded vigorously. "Yes, please! I'm really worried about him..." Twilight's horn began to glow, and she took a deep breath, slowly lowering it to Kyle's forehead. "Wait. Can't you take me in too?" Twilight stopped, and stared at Dashie. "Are you sure?" Dashie nodded again, and Twilight started up the spell, the glow enveloping Dashie too. They both felt a tingling sensation, and then felt like they were being pulled apart. It wasn't painful, it was just a very weird pulling feeling. They both blacked out, and were pulled into the depth's of Kyle's mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dashie was the first to wake up. She felt like she couldn't breath, but she didn't feel like she was choking. It was a really weird feeling. She saw Kyle walking down a stone corridor, but when she walked towards him, an unseen force wouldn't allow her to get close. All she could do was sit back and watch. "Oh... Are we in?" Twilight stood up, and rubbed her head. "That really took it out of me- Hang on a second." Dashie cocked her eyebrow. "What's wrong?" Twilight closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow. Her eyes shot open in shock. "There's magic blocking us from actually getting to Kyle. He doesn't even know we're here. All we can do is sit here and watch... The magic is like a lock. We can get in, but we can't get close to Kyle, and now we can't get out until Kyle gets out." Dashie nodded, and looked back to Kyle. He was reading something on a slip of paper he'd picked up, and then stuffed it into his jacket, saying something about Rarity and a sacrifice. "I can't hear him. I think he's trying to be quiet... He looks pretty spooked. What could be getting to him?" Twilight's horn was glowing again. "Rainbow... You know that place in your mind where you push anything that makes you sad or scares you so you can forget about them?" Dashie nodded again, and then her eyes widened. "You mean that's where we are? That part of Kyle's mind?" "Mhm." Twilight stared at Kyle, who was now opening a door as slowly as he could. "I'm really worried. Who knows what's locked away here?" "I don't know. He never really talks to me about his life before he came here. If I ever try to bring it up, he pretty much dodges the subject." Twilight furrowed her brow, and slowly slipped into deep thought. "Well... There may or may not be remnants of his past here. The things we see will be things that he hated, was terrified of, or was deeply saddened by, or a combination of the three. I guess we're gonna find out." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (First Person) (Listen to this) I slowly opened the door, which led to a small room, consisting of four bookshelves, a desk, and a cupboard. "Tee hee hee..." I looked around to locate the source of the voice, but before I knew it, a bookshelf was making its way towards me. I threw myself out of the way, and saw a pink blur race out of the room. I knew who it was, and I was terrified beyond imagining. "Twilight got Pinkie too..." I picked myself up, and opened the drawers on the desk, but before I could see what was in them, my lantern ran out of oil. "Aw, dammit..." I'd lost some of my oil when Fluttershy knocked me out, and I used almost all of it to fill the lantern back up. I only had three vials of the stuff left. I decided that instead of using my lantern again, I'd just light the candles with a few tinderboxes. I had three left after that, and the room was well-lit. It made me feel a bit more comfortable, but I knew it wasn't safe anymore. "The dark drives me nuts, but the light isn't safe... Man I hate it here." I checked the drawers, and I got a single vial of that blue stuff. Sanity Potion. My head was hurting, so I decided to chug it down. My vision washed white, and my headache went away, my mind clearing. I could think straight, and I felt more alert. I searched around the room a bit more, and realized that there was a painting on the wall. "Idea..." I yanked it off of the wall, and sure enough, there was a small space behind it, with a lever... And a golden statue of a man, kneeling, his sword drawn, blade to the ground. "Stephano!" I grabbed the little statue, feeling safer for some reason. "Well, I feel a bit better... Stephano, you're coming with me." I stuffed him into the chest pocket of my jacket, but he stuck out a bit. I didn't care. I pulled the lever, and the desk, and the floor beneath it, and the ceiling above it, and the wall behind it all began to shift, revealing a stone staircase leading upwards. "Onwards and upwards... Allons-y." I took a deep breath, and started climbing up it. It was lit up by torches, and I kept looking behind me, expecting something to start chasing after me. I was scared, alone, and paranoid. I felt as if I were being watched. "Damn this place is creepy... If only Stephano could actually talk. That'd supply more comfort." I reached the top of the stairs, and there was a large metal door in front of me. There was a sign on it that said "Laboratory." I knew that I would probably run into Twilight soon. I swallowed hard, and opened the door. (Stop the music) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Third Person) Twilight had a scared look on her face. "Was that pink blur Pinkie?" Dashie nodded. "Yeah. That little laugh of hers... I recognized the voice. But why'd she drop a bookcase on Kyle? Is she trying to kill him or something? And if these are supposed to be things that make Kyle feel bad, why's Pinkie even here? I mean, she's the party pony! She makes everypony happy." "I don't know, Rainbow. But I don't like what's going on. Not one bit. I think there's more to this than what we're seeing. I mean, this is the mind of a sentient being. There's bound to be loads of things here. We're only at the tip of the iceberg." "Yeah, I get that, Twilight. It's just..." Dashie sat down on her haunches. "I feel like we're invading his privacy, you know? I mean, this is his mind, what right do we have to be in here? I know he's locked in here, but still. It just doesn't feel right, like we shouldn't be here. I feel like we're going to learn things we should never have learned..." Twilight was surprised. Dashie was usually very eager to figure out things like this, that much was evident from the Mare Do Well incident a few years back. "Well, Rainbow, think of it this way: Even if we shouldn't learn them, at least we can learn more about Kyle, and his past." Dashie's ears perked up. "Huh. You're right. I guess it's fine, but I'm still a little bugged by all of this. I just hope he doesn't get hurt."