A Demon in Ponyville
Ch. 11: A Monster. I’ve Turned into a Monster.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to MLP or any related characters.
Twilight paced back and forth in anticipation outside the medical wing. She could not help but worry. With Princess Celestia at the helm of the Royal Guards, the remaining Royal Guards and the Element’s of Harmony where able to locate every pony trapped throughout the mountain’s twisting tunnels.
After half a day of returning ponies to their homes, Twilight was finally able to check in on Matthew. The acting physician took the stallion in horror. When Twilight showed up, he almost fainted at the sight Matthew puking copious blood across his clean floor. Sorry, I’m kinda dying here.
Now Twilight stood with her friends. Rainbow Dash yawned widely, lying on a worn chair. Fluttershy twisted the end of her mane in her hooves in her nerves. Pinkie Pie busied herself with a large platter of cupcakes. No pony knew where she got them from. Applejack slumped in her seat. Her Stetson pulled over her eyes. Rarity combed her mane absentmindedly.
Twilight moved towards the door, readying her hoof to knock. “Twi, you’ve already knocked like four times already. Give the doctor time to work!” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“How are things?” Celestia’s voice reached the group. Everypony turned to her. Princess Luna walked close to her sister’s side. The Princess of the Night was surprised when her royal sleep was disturbed to find Canterlot in disarray.
The six mares shrugged, the doctor still not responding to Twilight’s continuous interruptions. Princess Celestia’s expression saddened. When her ponies returned to the throne room, Celestia was bombarded by a hysterical Twilight brandishing a dying Matthew. Even unconscious, Matthew is a lethal weapon. His head is thick enough to break stone. If his employment in Sweet Apple Acres fails, he can always get a job in constructions. Those boulders wouldn’t know what hit them.
“Twilight,” Celestia said soothingly. Twilight turned to her mentor, her ears pulling back. “While the situation is dire, there is nothing you can do right now. Let the doctor work.”
Twilight nodded, taking a seat on a plush chair next to Rarity. Silence followed. It wasn’t until the door to the medical wing opened, that anypony moved. A short, stocky unicorn of pale green fur and a short brown mane entered the hallway. Immediately, Dr. Scrubs was assaulted by a hundred questions. “Hold on everypony!” Applejack hollered above all the noise.
The area immediately turned to silent anticipation. Pinkie Pie vibrated violently, her shaking so great she slid across the floor and up the wall. “Thank you Miss Applejack,” Scrubs nodded in her direction. “Now I know you all want to know about Matthew’s condition.”
Just tell us already! Rainbow Dash screamed in her head, hiding her impatience behind a bored expression.
“I have good news and bad news.”
“What the bad news?” Pinkie Pie asked, appearing next to the worn doctor. Everypony looked at Pinkie Pie in exasperation. “What?” she asked indignantly, “I always like to hear the bad news before the good news.”
“Well,” the doctor hesitated to say, “Matthew’s dying.”
“WHAT!?”
The room filled with the sound of ponies screaming. When their echoes finally died down, Dr. Scrubs said, “But we can save him. Please follow me.” Turning, Dr. Scrubs lead the group into the wing room. All of the ponies caught sight of the ailing stallion. Matthew lay perfectly still on the worn green mattress. Every heart fluttered at the sight of a breathing tube shoved down his throat, coated in crimson fluid. Slowly his chest moved. The heart monitor strapped to his leg beeped weakly in accordance to Matthew’s pulse.
“We’ve identified the spores running through Matthew’s veins,” Dr. Scrubs explained. “The spores are consuming him from the inside out. His lungs have received the worst damage, leaving him on a respirator.”
“How can you save him?” Luna interrupted.
“I’ll need some volunteers to perform a very volatile procedure,” Scrubs looked over the group with a wary eye.
“What do you mean volatile?” Celestia asked.
“As of now, the spores are running through Matthew’s bloodstream. With the amount in his blood it’s a miracle he’s still alive. I’ve applied the antitoxin, but his condition is still deteriorating. I cannot remove the toxin from his blood directly with magic.” Scrubs began to describe his plan, “I will have to connect several ponies to Matthew and physically filter the poison through their bodies. Each participant will receive a dose of antitoxin and help combat the spores. With more bodies, the poison can be spread out to manageable levels for Matthew to survive.”
Matthew’s head jerked, a coughing fit racking his frame.
“Are there… um… any side effects we should be aware off?” Fluttershy asked, going extremely pale.
“Yes,” Dr. Scrubs sighed. “The device I’ll have to connect you too will not only connect you by blood, but also by life force. Matthew is losing energy fast. Whatever that’s inside him that’s keeping him alive will eventually fail. He needs help to pull through this. Everypony participating will be linked both body and mind to Matthew.”
Every pony in the room shuffled their hooves in discomfort. Twilight asked, “How many do you need?”
“As many as I can get.”
Twilight’s eyes looked around at all her friends. Taking a deep breath, “I’ll do it.” Twilight shivered as she spoke. The idea of being stuck with needles really bothers her, but she owed Matthew that much.
“Ah’ll help to,” Applejack stepped forward. Twilight smiled at the farmer, glad she would stand with her.
“I’ll join to,” Rainbow Dash nodded before posing dramatically. “I can’t leave a sick pony hanging, now can I?”
Pinkie Pie waved her hooves in a frantic manner, “Oooh! Ooooh! Ooooh! I’ll help! I love helping!”
Fluttershy offered a weak replay. Her voice so soft, it was lost to the loud beeping of the heart monitor. Rarity placed an understanding hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “I think Fluttershy and I agree. We’ll help in any way we can.”
Dr. Scrubs appeared relieved. His horn began to glow a deep green, summoning into the room six additional beds. “Please take a seat. I’ll be back in a moment.” Twilight and her friends took a seat on the hard mattresses. Rarity commented about her bed, calling it a ‘cavepony’s sleeping rock.’
Dr. Scrubs returned to the room, pushing a cart topped with a strange device. It appeared to be three bronze balls of varying sizes stacked one on top of the other. The largest ball sat on the bottom with the top being the smallest. From the top of the device two metal antennas projected into the air. A square slot with several knobs pushed out from the front of the device with several holes surrounding the base for tubing. The gentle doctor gave each pony a quick shot of antitoxin before attaching them to the device.
Celestia and Luna watched with a mixture of fascination and disgust at Dr. Scrubs sliding a single line into each of the pony’s forelegs. The left leg’s tube would be used to introduce Matthew’s fluids into their bodies. The right leg will be used withdrew fluids into the machine and into Matthew. This machine was one of the latest breakthroughs from the medical field. It was originally designed as a dialysis machine, to assist filtering a pony’s blood of toxins. The one currently attached to Matthew and the Mane 6 is its steroid taking brother that makes a regular dialysis machine its bitch.
Once attached, the good doctor said, “I have to warn you to be careful. Each of you will be entering Matthew’s mind. There is no telling what you will see.”
“How bad can it be?” Rarity said. “He’s a stallion. They’re not known for being the deepest of thinkers.” The princesses chuckled while Scrubs rolled his eyes.
Before Scrubs could turn the knob, Celestia asked in a worried tone, “Is this safe?”
“I believe so.”
“Wait! You believe so?” Luna questioned. “What doest that mean?”
“I’ve never tried this procedure before,” Scrubs felt his cheeks become hot under the gaze of the princesses. With great hesitation, the doctor flipped the switch plunging the six mares into a world of darkness.
Celestia and Luna watched the Elements of Harmony fall into a deep sleep. Each felt some form of fear in their heart. Luna feared the device malfunctioning. Celestia however feared where her faithful student and her friends were heading.
0 0 0
Twilight fell through swirling mists and lights. The patterns tantalized her with bizarre colors and figures. Flashes of white blinded her, colors mixing and changing. The intensity grew, leaving blinding white trails across each ponies’ vision. Blinded by swirling colors and lights, Twilight shut her eyes as tight as she could. The intensity of colors bled through her eyelids without mercy.
It’s like going though the Stargate, only as lame as you think.
Without warning, everything came to a stop. Each pony fell over their own hooves onto warm sand. Confusion was a reasonable reaction for them. Applejack was the first to recover. Lifting her head from the ground, slowly worker her jaw to make sure it still worked. The six mares found themselves surrounded by high steep walls of brown earth and rock. The air blistered her nose and lips. Through this ravine, a river once ran. The swirling sands followed the natural flow of water. The sand mimicked the river’s natural fluid motion, flowing across the ground.
“Well this is boring,” Rainbow Dash snorted after taking a look at their surroundings.
Sparse greenery ran along the edges. Twisting trees of rough bark, brown bushes of sharp spines and the occasional cactus broke the rocky formation. Looking up, Fluttershy felt fear strike her. The sky was completely black. “E-e-everypony, would you please look up.” Blank nothingness stared down at the gaping mares. No stars twinkled with life to offer them any solace.
“Where are we?” Rarity asked with absolute distain. The land was barren and the only color to break up this boring menagerie was the dreaded green.
“We’re inside Matthew’s head,” Twilight said. If this is the inside of his head, then he’s more empty headed than I thought.
Pinkie Pie looked around with some interest, “This kinda reminds of my family’s farm. But it sure is hot!” Taking a large icee from her mane, Pinkie took a grateful swig of the cherry slurpy.
“Pinkie Pie, where did you get that?”
“From my mane,” Pinkie Pie answered with a smile.
The rest of the pony just shook their heads and sighed. “How about we do something? This place is boring.”
With nothing else to do, Twilight lead the group deeper through the twisting and winding river. Time felt longer to her without a sun or any kind of celestial body to break up the monotonous surroundings of sand and rock.
Finally when the group felt like giving up the narrow river widened into a wide ravine around fifty feet wide. Soft sand flowed like water towards the large flat boulder occupying the center of the dry river. Sitting atop the rock was a single pony of gold fur and red mane. This pony had no defining markings, no wings, no horn, no cutie mark, and sitting atop the rock with his eyes closed. One would say he was meditating on the deep mysteries of the universe. The oddest part of this scene was the blocky metal door behind him. Thick rivets held several metal sheets together. The only feature on the door was a single solid bar that acted as the handle.
“Rainbow Dash, wait!” snapped Applejack.
Rainbow Dash appeared in front of the mysterious before anyone could move. “Alright buddy, what’s going on?!”
The Earth pony remained silent. He didn’t seem to have notice the rainbow colored mare.
Rainbow Dash growled. It was bad enough she had to be sucked inside Matthew’s stupid head and bored out of her mind. Now he was ignoring her. Not going to happen! “Alright buddy, time for the pain!” Rainbow Dash brought her hoof upside the pony’s head.
“OW! What?” snapped the pony, his voice the same as Matthew’s. His brown eyes moving over the ponies assembled in front of him.
“Matthew?”
The pony looked at her, his ears flicking to and fro. “Maybe? What’s it to you?”
“Well sugarcube, we are technically in Matthew’s head. So you should be Matthew,” Applejack pointed out.
The pony was quiet for a few seconds. “That makes sense. But I am merrily a shadow or an idea of Matthew, one face of three. I‘m surprise you’re the one who noticed. I thought Twilight was the smart one.”
“Are you calling me dumb?”
“No-no-no-no,” the pony smirked, “I’m just saying you won’t be advancing to the next round of Jeopardy.”
Rarity had to hold back her friend back with her magical aura. “I see your manners are still the same unconscious as you are conscious.”
“Oi, shove it up yours you stuck up Prima Dona!”
“Stop it!” snapped Twilight. Turning towards the not-entirely-but-still-Matthew pony, she asked, “Will you tell us what is this place and why are you here?”
“I was napping peacefully,” Earth pony Matthew said, “until the walking Pride parade over there decided to ruin it. As to where you are, you are in outer reaches of Matthew’s brain.” The pony stopped, his eyes focusing on Twilight with some intrigue.
“That doesn’t answer the rest of my question. Why are you here?”
“I’m the gatekeeper, are you the keymaster?”
“No.”
“Then piss off,” Earth Pony Matthew said, closing his eyes with the intent of going back to his nap.
“Hey!” Applejack yelled. Rarity didn’t even attempt to stop her from slamming her head into Matthew’s. Instead of Matthew being hurt, Applejack fell back with a splitting pain in her skull.
Twilight turned to Applejack, a purple bruise beginning to show through her orange fur. Matthew raised a single eyelid, “Are you alright?”
Rainbow Dash readied to launch herself at Matthew, but another pony had beaten her to it. Fluttershy cheeks burned red, “Listen here buster!” Jabbing him in the chest, Fluttershy hissed scathingly, “What makes you think you can be so rude and disrespectful to my friends? Not you or any other pony has that right!”
Earth Pony Matthew watched Fluttershy’s tirade with some amusement. Let’s just say he was impressed at the shy pony’s words. “Sweetheart,” Matthew began, “I’ve stuck here for who know how long with absolutely nothing to do and nothing to watch or listen to but this god awful silence. I’ll be a grumpy as I want to be.”
“Does this place hold any significance to you than?” Pinkie Pie interrupted, pushing Fluttershy out of the way. Matthew’s expression remained stoic. “Since we’re in your head, this place must hold some value to you. Spill it mister! What does this place mean to you?”
Matthew looked at her, deciding if he should answer her or not. Twilight stood to the side, interested in Pinkie Pie’s statement. Since he had nothing better to do, Matthew said, “Somewhat important.”
The sound of high pitched laughter sliced through the silent air. All eyes turned to the mouth of the wide riverbed. Only Matthew knew what they were. Short beings ran into the sandy area on two legs. Twilight counted five in total. The five creatures had indefinable features, merely whips of smokes before the ponies’ eyes. “This was an empty field behind my friend’s house,” Matthew’s voice was hallowed. “We would use this place as a little hideout. We played so many games here.”
“What’re their names?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Matthew’s hooves curled in anger. “These are just memories, nothing more.”
“What about that door behind you?” Rarity asked. “I’m sure there are some other reaches of Matthew’s mind we can explore. Something with a little bit more scenery, I think.” Matthew remained silent. He showed no signs of even attempting to move or give them passage.
“You won’t allow us through,” Pinkie Pie said.
“You got that right.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked.
“Down that door leads to the prison of my mind,” Matthew said with some amount of anger. “Down that path leads to darkness as deep as hell. Only the foolish would dare enter into the sanctity of my soul. Only the worst would wish to invade the only safe heaven I have ever had. To go through, is to invade the only privacy I have left in life.”
“Hey Everpony! The gate’s wide open!” Pinkie Pie called.
It was only a second. In that second all of the ponies decided delve headfirst into the deeper parts of Matthew’s brain. In a mad rush to the door, Twilight entered last and closely behind Fluttershy. Turning around, Twilight caught the surprise look on Matthew’s muzzle before the gate slammed shut with a resounding bang.
Matthew continued to stare at the gate, “How in the holiest-of-holy-hell did she open that gate?” With a sigh, Matthew turned away from gate with a worried face. “You know what? Never mind! I don’t care anymore!” The earth pony closed his eyes and returned to his silence. Matthew whispered to himself, “Good luck girls.”
Silence fell on the single pony, until he just realized.
“OH NO! I’M ALL ALONE!”
0 0 0
Twilight felt so cold here. The path before them appeared to be carved out of a steep granite cliff. The only sight Twilight could see were her friends walking in single file line ahead of her. Each step echoed harshly in the silence. This is just too weird, Twilight thought. She expected Matthew’s head to be filled with something more than just empty space and darkness. Why does he have such a thick skull to begin with? It’s not like there’s anything important to protect here.
Somewhere in the dark recesses bellow, a muzzle’s lips lifted into a sinister smile. The smile revealed a row of sharp teeth not belonging inside any herbivore’s mouth.
Slowly, the mares made their way further down the worn path. Twilight wished she could comfort Fluttershy. The Pegasus’s trembling grew stronger as they moved forward. The darkness and silence was getting to them. The cold ground under their hooves stole the warmth from their bodies without mercy. The air was harsh on their lungs, cold air chilling them to the core. The path however was only wide enough for a single pony to pass, preventing Twilight from moving to Fluttershy’s side. “It’s alright Fluttershy, I’m right behind you.”
Fluttershy offered Twilight a quick smile of gratitude.
“Golly!” Applejack whistled, “I say this boy’s head is emptier than Winona’s at dinner time.”
Rarity enjoyed a quick giggle, “If it where any emptier, one could fit the entirety of Rainbow Dash’s ego inside.”
“Hey! I don’t have an ego!”
“Sure you don’t darling.”
In a huff, Rainbow Dash prepared to take off. “While you slowpokes take your time, I’m gonna fly ahead to check everything out.” Rainbow Dash jumped into the air before diving into the abyss.
-Five seconds later-
“Ow!”
“Rainbow Dash!” The fire mares screamed. In a panic, they rushed down the worn path. Hooves slipped on the slick rock.
Applejack led the charge, the path curving sharply to the right and into a wide flat surface. We couldn’t have been more than a few feet away from it. Rainbow Dash rubbed her head with a hoof. A purple bruise formed atop her cyan head against the color of her natural coat. Pinkie Pie gently laid a hoof on Rainbow Dash, “Are you alright Dashie?”
“W-what?” Applejack trailed off. Before her a field of grass spread in every direction. But it looked wrong. The green color appeared worn and discolored. Everything around her was faded. It felt unnatural under her hoof, stocks hard against her hoof, like walking on thin pieces of glass.
Fluttershy moved to Rainbow Dash with a worried look. Twilight moved next to Applejack, both of their eyes scanning the plants under the dark sky. “What do you suppose this is?” Applejack asked.
Twilight shook her head. Moving further into the field, Twilight saw three figures. One stood taller than a pony on two legs. Appearing female, her slender figure wore a faded pair of jeans and a grey shirt. She had brown shoulder length with slight curling at the ends. The creature’s arms where held by two shorter beings similar to it. One had long dark black hair, wearing a faded shirt of pink with the depiction of a very happy kitty on the front saying hello. The second one wore her brown hair in pig tails. Her purple shirt was a drastic contrast to her sister’s bright pink. Twilight moved closer, slowly walking around to see the faces of these unknown creatures. “W-what?”
Applejack rushed to Twilight, keeping her distance from the three creatures. Something about this place sent the farmpony’s fur standing on end. Applejack saw Twilight’s shocked expression. Turning towards the tall creature’s face, Applejack’s expression changed from worry to paled shock. The creature’s face was completely covered in a thick veil of darkness. No eyes, nose, or mouth could be seen. “Twi, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight said.
With a hesitant hoof, Twilight reached for one of the smaller figures. To get some kind of idea what was going on. The instant her hoof made contact, Twilight was thrown into a different world. The purple alicorn stood in the center of a large street made of some black tar. Tall building reached high above her head. Are these humans? Twilight thought in awe looking at the hairless apes rampaging through the streets. Each and every face held within it an unbiased and uncontrolled fear. Twilight looked to the sky. In that moment, she felt sick. The sky was filled with red. From the heavens, winged beasts flew into the streets. Reptilian in appearance, these monsters stood a head taller than their prey. Scales reflected the bloody light, horns of twisted bone giving them a more terrifying appearance with long winding tails covered in sharp spikes.
Twilight’s gaze followed the abominations. The beasts tore through flesh and blood, spraying the ground with gore from their crooked claws. Several demons blew apart buildings as they passed. Sending debris onto the unsuspecting people below, crushing them under the heavy construction material. Twilight ran her eyes this destruction, until her sight focused on a single boy. He was barely ten with short brown hair, jeans and dirt covered white shirt. His brown eyes were solely focused on a large pile of twisted metal and glass. From it, Twilight could see the pale thin arms of two children.
With a jolt Twilight jerked away from the contact. She didn’t know what to feel to such gore. Equestia had not experience this level of conflict in one thousand years. She could still see the look on that little boy’s face. The shock and horror etched into such a young child. It was heart wrenching.
“Twilight? Is everything alright?” Applejack moved next to her friend. Twilight nodded, trying to push away that vision and make sense of what was happening.
“I don’t know what this is Applejack,” Twilight said. “I touch her and suddenly I saw something. I don’t know what happened.”
“You saw my memory of their deaths.” All of the ponies heard it. A faint whisper slid through the air, soft and gruff to their equine ears. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity joined the pair. Twilight jumped, feeling something brush against her side. When she turned to look, she found nothing.
“Who’s there? Come on out and face us like a real pony,” Rainbow Dash challenged to the open air. When the voice didn’t answer, Rainbow Dash scoffed, “That’s what I thought. You got nothing on us. OW!” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head, “What was that for Applejack?”
“Now Dashie,” Applejack’s nerves were beginning to fry. This place felt so wrong to her. “Don’t go making whatever is wrong in this head mad at ya! We don’t know what’s going on and ah certainly do not want to press our luck.”
“Good point,” said the mysterious voice, sending a cold shiver down their spines. The voice was something else. It spoke to them through a strange and static filter. The deep voice pierced their eardrum with an eerie echoed, sharp and painful.
“Why don’t you come on out? What are you? Scared?” Rainbow Dash yelled, completely ignoring Applejack.
“Instead of focusing on me, how about you take a look at everyone around you?”
“Who?” Rainbow Dash asked, until her eyes suddenly light up with fright. More figures began to materialize out of thin air. Men, women and children filled the quite field. Farther than any of the ponies’ could see. Each and every one of their faces was covered in a vile of darkness.
“T-t-twilight,” Fluttershy squeaked, “what are they?” These things, whatever they were frightened her. Each faded body stole the warmth from the air to make the situation all the more surreal.
“I think their dead,” Twilight said. “Careful not to touch them or else you’ll see how they died.”
“Ooooooh!”
Twilight’s head snapped towards Pinkie’s voice. Pinkie Pie reached out with an inquisitive hoof towards a small child with bright blond hair. The moment her hoof made contact, Pinkie understood the depth of her mistake. Instead of the wide grassy field, Pinkie found herself inside a sterile white environment. An emergency room filled to the brim with the injured and dying. Their calls filled the air. The hospital was understaffed. Nurses and doctors desperately tried to help the burnt and bloody men and women pouring in.
From the side, Pinkie Pie instantly noticed Matthew, age sixteen. His short brown hair and pale skin shone against the torn black shirt and jeans he wore. What tipped Pinkie off was the dark brown eyes and left arm visible from his torn sleeve. Those curling symbols burned into the human’s skin where the same as the pony she knew him as. In his arms, he carried the small blond haired child. The child was screaming, writhing in Matthew’s arms. The blond haired boy cries joined the masses. Matthew shouted, “Doctor!”
Pinkie Pie’s ears drooped. All the pain and suffering in the air. Matthew’s face may be younger, but his eyes were filled with panicked fear.
Laying the boy on an empty gurney, Matthew had to hold the boy’s arms against the plastic mattress to prevent any further injury. An unnamed physician rushed to the bedside, “What happened?” The doctor’s voice chocked when he got a better look at the small boy’s condition. Black veins pulsed against the young boy’s skin, almost tearing itself out of his body. Something unnatural was trying to make its way out of his body.
“Restraints!”
Several nurses complied with the doctor’s shout, binding the boy’s arms and legs to the bed. The child’s cries increased tenfold. The dark masses pushed further through his veins. The doctor’s expressions revealed his loss at the situation. He had never been in this kind of situation. The doctor turned to Matthew, “Talk to him!”
“What?”
“I can’t save him! He’s been poisoned. Talk to him. Help him! Do something!”
Matthew looked to the kid, putting a hand on his shoulder. “What’s your name?”
“T-t-t-ommy,” the boy forced through the pain. Tears ran down the sides of his cheeks.
“Alright Tommy, I need you to listen,” Matthew tried to make his voice comforting. Sweat beaded his forehead. “I know it hurts, but you have to push through it. Can you do that for me?”
“N-n-no.”
“I know you can do it Tommy. Fight it! Don’t let the darkness take you so easily!” Matthew called to Tommy. Tommy skin began to tear apart, dark poison spilling from his veins.
The Emergency room occupants screamed in horror. From Tommy’s chest a curled fist of dark nothingness burst out. Blood and gore rained on Matthew’s head. Pinkie Pie’s voice joined the screaming choir. In the chaos, Pinkie Pie could only see Matthew’s eyes. From shock and horror, the young warrior’s eyes changed. They became hard. His brown eyes conveyed sadness only his kind would feel, the feeling of darkness snuffing a good soul.
Only those with these senses could feel the final cry of an innocent soul as it falls into nothingness. Its cry was of fear and a pain no one could understand. It was the fear of dying alone, surrounded by an all consuming evil.
With a heavy heart Matthew moved in front of Tommy’s bed. Raising his right hand, Matthew watched the dark limb clawing its way from the now useless flesh. Pinkie Pie could only cry, seeing the pain written on such a young child’s face. With a heavy heart, Matthew did the unthinkable.
In a second, Tommy was no more and so was the thing born from his body.
Rainbow Dash caught Pinkie Pie with her forelegs. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help, her body becoming limp. Her face was wet, silent tears staining her cheeks. Pinkie Pie just sat there. Her friends were here. Everything should be fine now. But what was this feeling of dread in her heart. What did Matthew do? What was he forced to do?
“I’m guessing you saw something you didn’t like.”
All six mares turned to the source of the voice. Instead of finding nothing, a single pony sat patiently on the grass. He coat was a pale white, the same as his spiked mane. Unlike Celestia’s color, this was warped. His coat appeared to be a bone white, unlike the pure white of the Sun Goddess. His fur was unclean and wrong to their eyes. Sharp teeth stuck out from under the stallion’s lips. His expression was that of grim amusement. What horrified the Twilight and her friends most were his eyes. His dark brown eyes surrounded by a pool of blood.
This version of Matthew had no wings and no cutie mark, but he had horns. From that white forehead, two dark horns sprouted. The offending appendages pushed towards the back of his head before twisting around to face the front. Their sharp points sat parallel to his muzzle.
“You wanted to know what this place is?” The ponies shivered under his gaze. Each world caused the ponies’ severe discomfort. “You could call this place an inferior heaven.” Twilight tried to find her voice, but this Matthew’s presence stopped the sound inside her throat. She could not force the words out, his eyes held all of them under a spell. “Here I can see all of the faces of those I have failed and all those who have died before me. Here they are just empty vessels in an eternal bliss. Here, they don’t have to fight anymore or die again. I can see them without constantly seeing the dread or agony plaguing them in their final moments. In this false paradise, I don’t have to see the pain.”
“What are you?” Fluttershy’s voice broke through Matthew’s ramblings.
“Why don’t you find out?”
With a rustling of grass, Matthew disappeared. Behind him stood a second door, one of white marble marked with no distinguishing features.