In the middle of Nowhere, Courage lay on the lap of the farmer's wife, completely at ease with himself. It had been a long and blissful day of doing absolutely nothing, such a kind of day that he dearly wished would come around more often. The summer heat had been unbearable on all of them, and none of them wanted to go outside unless they absolutely had to. The farmer was in his chair, newspaper draped over his lap, snoring away. The farmer's wife, who went by Muriel, absently stroked her hands across the pups head every now and again, having to pause her knitting to do so.
Courage yawned tiredly, slipping from the lap that he had wasted so many hours on, intending on finding something a bit more productive to do. Perhaps food, yes, he was in the mood for something delightful to snack on. There were lots of things in the cupboards, and it was more than likely he'd find something there.
Passing by the farmer, the man stuck out his leg as Courage passed, tripping the dog and Courage fell flat on his face. The farmer pointed at him and cackled with laughter as if someone had just told the funniest joke in the world. "Stupid dog!" The farmer snickered. "Go get me mail while you're down there!"
Courage picked himself up, brushing himself off, and gave the farmer a reproachful glare. He pushed open the screen door, which banged against the outside of the house and came to rest slightly ajar. Courage huffed and made his way down to the mailbox, peeking inside it. A few useless catalogs for things they could never afford, but nothing decent. No mail, of course, there was never any mail.
He turned to make his way back into the house, but something caught his attention. He paused by the mailbox, squinting into the distance. Something was out there, but it was much too far away to see what it was clearly. He popped his eyes out of their sockets, rearranged them into binoculars, and placed them back up again. It was only at this moment that he could see the thick purple fog rolling towards the farmhouse in the fading evening light.
"Ooooooooooooooo!" Courage shrieked, dropped the catalogs, and ran back into the farmhouse, arms flailing. "It's coming! It's coming!" He howled, not entirely what 'it' was but knowing that it couldn't possibly be good.
"Didja get me mail?" The farmer demanded, and got up to his feet upon seeing that the dog was emptyhanded. "Stupid, good fer nothin' dog..." He muttered, and rolled up his newspaper to swat Courage with it. Courage ducked and rolled, tugging on the wife's apron. "Come on, come on, we gotta move!" He whined.
"What is it, Courage?" She asked, getting up to peer outside. The fog was rolling in rapidly, and was easily visible by now. "Oh, my. Eustace, it looks like we're in for a storm."
"What's eh?" He grumbled, sticking a finger in his ear. "If a storm's comin', me mail's gonna get all wet!" He glared at Courage. "Gotta do everything myself..." He stormed out through the screen door, ignoring the dog's protests, and went to pick up the catalogs. He turned back to the house, waving them. "See?! There's nothin' to be afraid of, ya stupid-"
It was at that moment the fog rolled over him, and his final words descended into a shriek of terror.
"Eustace!" The wife yelled, and tried to go after him, but Courage picked her up, hauling the woman over his head. He carried her up the stairs as the fog rolled in through the front door, finding temporary safety on the second floor landing.
"I think we're safe," Courage sighed, putting the woman down.
The fog seemed to have other plans, however, as the misty shape of the farmer rose up out of the mist, glaring at them both with solid, silvery eyes. He gave off a monstrous screech and lunged for the woman, grabbing her arm while Courage grabbed the other.
"Miiiiiiiine..." The spectre growled, yanking the woman towards him.
"Mine!" Courage repeated, yanking the woman towards him instead.
"Oh, my..." The woman gasped, while the tug of war over her companionship continued. Each pulled with all their strength, but while Courage seemed to possess fourth wall breaking abilities, he did not have the superior strength of the fog monstrosity. The farmer cackled and gave a mighty yank, sending both his wife and Courage hurtling down the stairs into the waiting purple mist.
The last thing Courage heard before blacking out as his head smacked against the floor was the terrified scream of the farmer's wife, shouting his name as if from a great distance and sounding very, very far away. The next thing he was consciously aware of was staring through the bars of a cell, at a kindly yellow and pink horse with unusually large hair.
As it turned out, however, he remembered very little of all this, and was struggling to remember how exactly he'd gotten here. The horses which called themselves Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had been mostly silent for the last couple of hours as they struggled to remain unseen, and Courage had never been so thankful in his life to see the first rays of red and orange break over the dark horizon. Pinkie gave a sigh of relief and stepped out into the open, Fluttershy squeaking with fright.
"Pinkie, don't!" She exclaimed.
A trio of fogponies saw them almost instantly as Pinkie walked towards them, screeching that hideous noise and lunging forward. Courage howled and held tightly into Fluttershy's ears so tightly she winced with pain.
The fogponies rushed Pinkie Pie, who never so much as glanced at her streamer-based weapon. The first rays of sun shot across the horizon and the fogponies shrieked, waves of mist rising up off their bodies. Their forms collapsed into the purple blanket coating the ground, and Fluttershy took a tentative step forward.
"Are they gone?"
"For now," Pinkie said grimly.
"For now."