//------------------------------// // The next morning. (EDITED) // Story: The Reject Chronicles // by Darth Pestilence //------------------------------// Mason and Robert stumbled inside the cabin door, Zecora and John dangling on their backs. They gently laid them down on whatever soft surface was available before shutting the door, locking it, and then turning all of the lights off. After they had completed the task, the two of them just stood still, trying to take in all that had happened. After about two minutes, Mason felt his way over to the mattress and laid down, while Robert sat down with his back against the wall and put his head in his hands. Robert began shaking, and within a few seconds, he was silently sobbing. He just couldn’t understand how things had gone so wrong. What should have been a dream come true had quickly turned into a nightmare. He goes to a convention with his family. Gets sucked into an alternate dimension. Encounters the main characters of one of his favorite shows. He and two others are mistaken for monsters. Tries to calm them down. Nothing he tries works. And he ends up seriously wounding the pony that was not only a character he himself had identified with due to her once having trouble making friends, but was also a crucial role in the survival of Equestria. And now an innocent stallion that was only doing his job was eaten alive! Robert put his hands over his mouth in an attempt to muffle the sound of his sorrow. He didn’t want the others to worry about him. They all were going to have the military to deal with. No need to bother them with his problems. And so he continued to sit there, mourning not only the man who had died, but the happiness of his friends and family. Mason, meanwhile, stared up at the ceiling. He heard Robert’s sobs, but he was frozen, unable to muster up the energy to go and comfort the obviously distressed teenager. He was too focused on what had just happened a short while ago. He bit his lip and clenched his fists as he tried so hard to focus on the events that had happened, or on what might happen in the future. Anything to get his mind away from the sickening sense of pleasure that Robert’s emotional turmoil brought to him. “No! Your friend is breaking down, and I refuse to take pleasure from this like the other times! Just because I used to be cruel, I'm not like that anymore, you overcame it!” Mason thought. But try as he might, he could not deny his condition. He thought back to the night when they first arrived, when they fought the six colorful ponies in the clearing, how he had felt on top of the world every time his blades had cut into the blue and orange ones, how, even though he had spent years trying to hide it, he did nothing to ignore the elating sensation hurting others filled him with at that moment. And now, today, he could not ignore the incredible sensation he felt while listening to Robert’s emotional distress, even if he wasn’t the cause of it. He really hated his mental condition. Then, to his confusion, Robert went silent for a moment. “... He’s already stopped? That doesn’t seem like him to let something like that go so quickly,” he thought. All was silent for a few tense moments, before Robert’s shaky voice cut through the silence like a knife. “M-Mason? A-Are you awake?” Mason wasn’t sure how to respond. He wasn’t sure what Robert wanted, but he figured that the distressed boy might want someone to talk to about the recent events. Unfortunately, he was in no condition to comfort his friend, as he was worried Robert’s emotional distress might further affect him. So, as much as it pained him, he opted to remain silent. After no reply was given, he heard Robert get to his feet and silently walk over to the far right, where he remembered the kitchen area was. “What is he doing?” Mason thought. Then he remembered that the backpack was lying on the counter over by the table. “Oh, he must be getting something from the backpack. Maybe it’s one of those weird fruits Zecora brought back yesterday.” Despite his prediction, he did not hear the sound of the backpack being opened up. Instead, he heard stuff being moved around on the counter. “What the heck is he looking for?” Mason thought. It wasn’t long before Robert found what he was looking for, and the noise of things being moved around fell silent. Now, all Mason could hear was the heavy breathing of Robert. It remained like this for about ten seconds before he heard Robert begin to mutter something in a hushed tone, and began to lightly sob again. Mason heard the sound of something being set down. Silence reigned for a moment more, and then Robert was heard walking over to the couch, which was unoccupied. Robert sobbed a few more times before he fell silent, and it wasn’t long after that Mason heard the sound of deep breathing, indicating that he was asleep. While Mason was confused by what had just happened, he decided he should follow Robert’s example and go to sleep. He shut his eyes and pushed his pleasure to the back of his mind, almost forgetting the sad truth of his condition as he drifted off. Mason was, to put it lightly, confused. One second he was falling asleep inside the cabin, and now he was standing in some kind of weird boiler room. “Why does this place seem so… familiar?” The sound of scraping metal from directly behind him interrupted his thoughts. He spun around, but saw nothing. Mason began to feel nervous as he began to realize just where he had seen this boiler room before. “Um, hello? Is anyone here?” he called out. “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…” Mason froze in fear. He knew that song, and he knew that he was in big trouble. “Three, four, better lock your door…” This time, the sound of scraping metal was heard behind him. Right behind him. He bolted, running as fast as he could, even if it was pointless. But the further he ran, the louder the sound became, and the closer it got to him. “Five, six, grab your crucifix…” Mason sped up as a familiar laugh echoed off the metallic walls. “Seven, eight, gotta stay up late…” He reached a turn and bolted around it, only to stop abruptly in order to keep from crashing into the metal wall that stood in front of him. “Nine, ten, never sleep again.” Mason whispered a silent prayer before slowly turning around to find… … nothing. Mason sighed with relief, thankful that the burnt face of the Springwood Slasher hadn’t been there to greet him. “You’re not out of the woods just yet, kid.” Mason yelped in fright and spun around, seeing Freddy’s grinning face just inches from his. “Surprised?” Freddy mocked as Mason stumbled back into another wall, which had replaced the hall from which he came. “H-How are you here? You’re a movie character! Y-you don’t even exist,” Mason stuttered, terrified that the dream demon would add his soul to the list of the many he had taken. “Well Mason, I’m here the same reason Potter showed up in your friend’s head: because the two of us are now forever intertwined,” Freddy said with his trademark grin, creating a chair made of blood-stained copper that he sat down on. “W-What? What are you talking about?!” “Your friend Johnny had a little dream last night where he had a little conversation with his childhood hero. And now it’s your turn.” Freddy raised one of hands and began scraping the knife like fingers extending from it against one another with a bored expression on his face. “As for what I said about being intertwined, that is a bit harder to explain, but I can manage. When you bought that glove that sent you here, my personality, habits, and… creativity were ingrained within your mind. As time passes, you might find yourself becoming more and more like yours truly.” Mason felt the color drain from his face. “Become like Freddy? But that means…” He shuddered at the implications. He was already screwed up enough; he didn’t need to have a serial killer influencing his thoughts too! “No! I refuse to become like you! I’ll force myself to remain like I am; going crazy and killing everyone would only get the three of us in more trouble, and I’m no killer,” he said adamantly. Freddy raised an amused eyebrow (or at least the burnt area of his face where once his eyebrows laid). “Not a killer? So what? You’re still a sadist.” Mason flinched at the hurtful, yet accurate accusation. “You may not be a killer now, but my influence combined with your natural desire to inflict pain will eventually drive you to kill something, and I’ll be there to say, “I told you so,” when you do. Just look at Robert! That kid usually tries to avoid violence and remain calm, but don’t you think that he acted somewhat like a certain Caped Crusader when he interrogated that guard a little while back?” He thought back to that day, the day when they crept through the forest in search of Zecora’s hut. And he remembered, with growing dread, that the teen had in fact displayed certain characteristics of Batman when he interrogated the guard. Freddy grinned so wide that it looked like his face was going to snap in half. “See? You’re starting to get it. Whether you want to admit it or not, you are going to start becoming like me.” The sound of something knocking permeated through the dream realm, drawing the attention of the two entities to a cellar door just to the side that hadn’t previously been there. “That damn Alicorn is here already? Pretty spry for an older mare,” Freddy growled, and with a snap of his fingers, the door was covered in heavy chains. “What is it?” Mason asked, curiosity temporarily replacing his dread. “That would be Luna, one of the two Celestial Princesses. She can visit the dreams of others, which could cause some problems for us in the future. Luckily for us, she is still recovering her strength, and won’t be able to invade the dreams of you and your two human friends for a while. With that said, we don’t have much time left before you wake up, so I’ll make this quick: you will find that you can use Equestrian magic, and in time, you might find yourself with some of my tricks as well.” Mason opened his mouth to say something, but found he could not speak. His head was growing light, and he found himself being pulled into the waking world. The last thing he saw before he woke up was Freddy waving goodbye, the words: “See you real soon,” carved into the wall as the killer chuckled. Luna cursed as the metal cellar dream door disappeared before her eyes. It had taken her hours to muster up the strength needed to enter the dream realm, and it had taken hours longer to locate the strange door that denied her access. Though her still recuperating power did not give her the strength to peer into the dreams of above average magic users, the door she had attempted to break into seemed… off. It wasn’t Equestrian, that much was certain. It was far too dark and evil for that, so she was sure she may have come across one of the humans’ dream doors. “Well, I suppose there’s no helping it, we better get back before Tia notices,” Luna said, breaking her connection with the dream realm and waking up in her bedroom. She tried her best to ignore her throbbing headache as she got to her hooves. “Good morning Luna.” Luna sighed and turned to her bedroom door, where her sister was giving her a look of exasperation. “I found one of them! The energy that emanated from that door was not Equestrian!” Luna exclaimed, trying to distract Celestia from the fact she had disobeyed her request. However, Celestia saw through Luna’s attempted distraction easily. “Luna, we’ve talked about this. Your magic is still regenerating after all of it besides your innermost magic was ripped out. You shouldn’t be dream walking until you regain all of your power or you might put too much strain on your mind,” she stated, walking over to her sister’s side. “But sister-!” “No. I don’t want you dream walking until you are back to full strength, and that is final!” Celestia stared at Luna’s irritated expression for a moment before sighing. “Lulu, I ask that you keep from dream walking not as your fellow princess, but as your sister. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” Luna was silent for a moment before she said, “Alright, fine. We won’t dream walk until we’re strong enough to do it without straining myself.” “Good. It’s about time to raise the sun, so you should probably lower the moon shortly,” Celestia said. “Wait,” Luna said, stopping her sister in her tracks. “...Have you told your student yet?” Celestia’s expression grew serious. “No, Twilight doesn’t even know of the legends of our past, and I don’t think it would be wise to tell her until the humans have been captured, and their threat level is found out.” “Why should we not tell Miss Sparkle? She is the Element of Magic, and one of the mares that purified us after all. She could be a valuable asset in the search,” Luna asked, confusion written on her face. “Well your return and redemption were planned out by me beforehoof, so I knew that she would find the other Element bearers and that she could deal with any threat the woods threw at her. However, I did not count on humans showing up in the forest. Also, Twilight can be…” she struggled to find a word that accurately portrayed Twilight when she got overly obsessive about something. “... Animated when she becomes obsessed with something, whether it be mundane or life-threatening. If she found out just how powerful humans can be before the three of them are caught, then she might attempt something foolish and get herself killed. For now, I have suggested that she remain in Ponyville until further notice,” Celestia explained. Luna raised an eyebrow. “Suggested?” “If I ordered her, she might get suspicious. I want her to think that she just encountered a few crafty monsters for now.” “Thou hast thought of everything, haven’t you Tia?” she joked. Celestia’s face fell. “Not exactly. I haven’t planned on what to do if they kill all the guards.” “Well, then let us hope that they are not as powerful as the two that liberated us, and that if they are, that they do not seek to cause us harm,” Luna said. “I hope so. My guards have orders to only use deadly force if they are attacked by them first, so let us hope that they are either powerless or friendly, and that the incident with Twilight was just a misunderstanding.” “... And if they are as powerful as the first two, and they seek to do us harm?” Celestia looked Luna dead in the eye. “May Faust have mercy on our souls.” Luna shivered, “Must thou be so frightening sister? Let us go and raise the sun. We need to get our minds off such dark thoughts, lest you be stressed all day.” Celestia smiled slightly. “I agree. C’mon. Let’s go.” The Military Camp in the Everfree forest, while it would appear calm to a passerby, was actually tense inside. One of their soldiers was missing, and while they would normally be calm under such circumstances, there was no trace of him. Every other guard had wrapped up their patrols and come back safely, but he was still gone. A search of the surrounding area had been conducted, but nothing had turned up. Currently, the troops were getting into formation, and the places where they would search were being discussed. “-As you may know, Private Spear was patrolling the area southeast of the castle behind us along with some other guards. He did not return. You all will be scouring the area near the Black River and the Foggy Bog, as the locals have dubbed it. You may only return if you find something of interest, if the sun starts going down, or if you encounter a monster you cannot hope to combat. Am I clear?!” General Bronze Shield shouted. He was answered by a loud, “Sir, yes sir!” “U-Um, sir?” Bronze Shield turned to look at the guard who had spoken, a black and white mare who stood alongside a group of other, equally nervous-looking guards. “What is it, Private?” “Can we not go to that area?” Bronze Shield was both taken aback and confused. What was this mare thinking?! Was she just going to leave one of her fellow soldiers? “Why don’t you want to? Do you not want to try and save your fellow guardspony?” “We just… don’t want to go there,” she answered, the group of guards at her side nodding rapidly. Bronze Shield was silent for a moment before he spoke again. “Alright, you guys stay back while the rest of them go. In fact, why don’t you follow me?” They nodded and followed him in the direction of a nearby tent, while the rest of the guards marched on. Bronze Shield’s face hardened. He knew that mare. She was one of the top guards in her squadron, who was not afraid of monsters, and never left a soldier behind. This sudden change made him suspicious. “I suppose it’s time for a little questioning…” he thought. Mason awoke from his slumber at the sound of crows cawing outside the cabin. “Fitting that the first thing I hear after encountering a killer is the ominous sound of crows, just like in a horror movie,” he thought. He got to his feet and looked around the dark room at the sleeping forms of the others. He thought about letting them sleep longer, but that thought only lingered for a moment. They needed to talk now. He went around waking the others up, some with more difficulty than others, and it wasn’t long before they all sat at the kitchen table, the only light in the room being a lit candle. Mason told them about the dream, what Freddy told him (minus the parts about him being a sadist), and the implications behind it all. Needless to say, they were quite unnerved. “So we’re going to become more like the people that owned our props as time progresses?” Robert asked, trying his best to remain calm in the face of such news. “It appears so,” Mason answered. “And he also said that we would have access to magic?” John asked, staring at his hands, which he had used to incapacitate a cragadile just hours earlier. “That would explain what you did yesterday,” Mason replied. “But why was that blast so powerful?” Robert asked. “After all, even if we now have access to magic, we’re beginners. We’ve never used it before, so even if our magical reserves are larger than a foal’s or even more than an average unicorn, our first attempt at a blast should not be able to knock out a cragadile.” Zecora spoke for the first time since she woke up. “John must have had a magic surge.” Seeing that the humans had no knowledge of what she was talking about, she explained. “A magic surge is when a magic user releases a large amount of powerful magic, usually when their lives are in danger. What happens is that your brain stops regulating the flow of magic, and you just let out a large, unrestrained amount out. It also tends to happen more frequently with ponies that are just starting out in the ways of magic.” “Sooo… You’re saying that-” *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* John was cut off by the sound of knocking at the door, startling all of them. ‘Who is that?’ Robert whispered, fear threatening to come over him if it turned out that the guards had found them. Zecora didn’t answer. Instead, she silently scurried over to one of the windows and peeked outside. Upon viewing what was outside, her look of anxiety changed to one of confusion. ‘What is it?’ Robert asked as he walked over to the window she was looking out of. ‘There is a mare at the door, but she does not appear to be a guard. I think I might’ve even seen her at Ponyville a few times when I went to try and get supplies,’ she answered. Robert was now quite curious, and peered out of the window. His jaw dropped at what he saw. Through the dim light provided by the morning sun, he saw a background character he was quite familiar with. A nervous Lyra Heartstrings stood at the door, raising her hoof to knock a second time. “You have got to be kidding me,” he thought.