Phonyyx's eyes shot opened. It was still night. Sigh Then Phonyyx glanced around him. He was floating. There were black, oily tendrils holding him in the air, seeping from the dreamcatcher above his bed. A creature, in his shape and comprised of the black substance, floated around him. Phonyyx levitated his sword to his side. The creature spun around to catch Phonyyx red-hoofed. Phonyyx swung his sword and nothing. His sword just passed right through the creature. The creature shot towards Phonyyx. The only thought that Phonyyx had was, defend. He raised up his hooves and Bang. There, separating the creature from Phonyyx, was a shield made of shadows. Phonyyx swung his sword again: this time, out of instinct, rather than logic. But this time, his sword was surrounded by wisps of dark-purple magic, and cut right through the creature. Thud! He fell back onto his bed. Phonyyx spun out of bed and looked up to see another creature emerging from the dreamcatcher. That's where it's coming from. Phonyyx took his sword and forced it through the dreamcatcher, cutting it in half. He gasped for breath. If that thing came from the dreamcatcher, does that mean? Oh, no! He ran out of the room and burst into the first door he saw. Nothing. He ran to the next door and repeated. Still nothing. One the third door, he found Twilight just like he was. Floating in the air with another thing stalking around her. Phonyyx ran and jumped to attack the creature, but missed. I need to wake Twilight up.
"Twilight!" Phonyyx's yells were of no use. He tried to wake her by shaking her. He grabbed the edge of her bed and felt the creature pulling his legs. He felt as if he would be torn apart. "Aaahhh!"
Phonyyx opened his eyes and saw he was floating in an ethereal place. "If I find that this is a dream within a dream, I'm going to go insane. More insane than I already am." Phonyyx looked down and almost screamed. His hooves were made of a black, archaic smoke. He spun around to find his entire body was like his hooves. In place of his eyes were blue wisps. He looked around and saw somepony in the distance. He flew over to them and found that as the closer he got to them, the more realistic the world around him became. He recognized Ponyville and the sun in the sky. He realized that the pony was Twilight.
"Twilight, there you are. Moon Dancer is having a little get-together at the west castle courtyard. Wanna come?" Phonyyx stopped flying to see three unicorns talking to Twilight and... Where are Twilight's wings?
"Twilight, where are your wings, what is this place, and who are these ponies?" Phonyyx fired a flurry of questions at Twilight, but she didn't respond.
"I wish I could've gone but Equestria needed me," Twilight's voice said.
"Huh?" Phonyyx looked around to see a faint, transparent Twilight also watching the ponies. "Twilight." Phonyyx went over to Twilight. She looked at him and screamed
"What are you? How do you know who I am?" Twilight was terrified.
"Twilight, it's me. Phonyyx."
"Phonyyx? What happened?"
"That's not important right now. You need to wake up. Wake up."
"Okay" Twilight closed her eyes and Phonyyx opened his. He was beside Twilight's bed. He looked back and the creature had his body. Phonyyx was still the shadow wisp creature.
"Hey. That's mine." Phonyyx punched the creature. But his hoof was wrapped around by the same shadow magic as was the shield earlier and three claw blades extended from it, slicing the creature in half. He ran to his "body" and found himself in his body again.
"Uhh," Twilight raised her head and saw the creature and the tendrils leading to the dreamcatcher.
"Twilight, run." Twilight jumped out of bed and ran out of the room as if her flank was on fire.
"Wait, Spike." Phonyyx turned to see Twilight pointing to Spike asleep in the other room, in the same situation as Phonyyx and Twilight.
"Right." Phonyyx ran over to Spike, split into the shadow creature, and entered Spike's mind.
"So, Twilight, you are really just looking after Spike out of pity?" Rarity asked Twilight.
"Well, yeah." Twilight and Rarity didn't see Spike spying on what the two mares were saying. Spike's eyes watered as he ran back into his room and shut the door behind him. Phonyyx, as the shadow wisp, watched with interest. Odd, these creatures make the host see something different each time, or different sight depending on the host. Phonyyx walked over to Spike and put a hoof on his back. Spike looked at Phonyyx and had the same reaction as Twilight, terror.
"What are you?" Spike jumped back.
"It's me Phonyyx. Look, Spike. Twilight doesn't care for you out of pity. She truly does care about you. If Twilight only cared for you out of pity, then she wouldn't do all the things she does for you. She follows you, if you get hurt, she heals you. Now, I may not know exactly what the relationship between you and Twilight is. But I can certainly say that it is one of sibling love. I don't have any siblings, but that I can see."
"Really?" Phonyyx nodded.
"Now wake up." The next thing Phonyyx knew, he was in an infirmary, in Canterlot. His body was on the other side of the room. He flew over to it and re-entered his body and saw Twilight and Spike looking at him with gasps of disbelief. "What happened?" Phonyyx's head hurt.
"You passed out as soon as Spike woke up. So I teleported all of us here to Canterlot." Twilight walked over and placed a hoof on the bed Phonyyx was in. "When we got here, that shadow creature came out of Spike and passed out next to your body. I'm assuming that was you?"
"Yeah. But how long have I been out?"
"It's morning." Celestia walked into the infirmary. "I hope you are not the cause of what's happened to Ponyyville." Celestia looked at Phonyyx with a scowl.
"What's happened to Ponyville?"
"Take a look for yourself." Celestia opened one of the blinds. Phonyyx looked to where Ponyville usually was. But he saw in its place a large shadowy cloud.
"Why do you think I was the one responsible for that?" Phonyyx gritted his teeth at the princess.
"The reason is your part Umbricion!" Celestia was a few feet from Phonyyx, towering over him.
"I'm part, what now?"
"Umbricion. Ancient shadow creatures that would show ponies their worst fears. And feed off of them." Luna walked into the room with a book.
"Finally, a pony who will listen to me." Phonyyx praised the heavens above.
"Oh no, I'm on my sister's side." Luna also gave Phonyyx an angry scowl.
"Great. Now half of the princesses are against me. sigh." Phonyyx got up and... "Aaahhh."
"Phonyyx, stop. When you went into Spikes mind, your body was attacked by the Umbricions. You're badly hurt." Twilight ran over to Phonyyx's side to try and have him sit down, but it was to no avail.
"No, I can heal myself."
"Not so,-" Phonyyx looked back to Celestia "-the wounds created by the Umbricions cannot be healed by magic. It must naturally heal."
"I don't care. I've lived through far worse than a few cuts and bruises." Phonyyx limped over to the window and looked out to Ponyville. His horn glowed and his two forms separated. Now as an Umbricion, Phonyyx flew out to Ponyville. His body remained motionless, looking out to the shadow clouds.
"What is he doing?" Twilight looked over to Celestia and Luna. "Aren't we going to help him?"
"No. There is nothing we can do. We cannot fight the Umbricions." Celestia tried to reassure Twilight.
"But this book might be of some use." Luna gave the book to Twilight. She cracked the book open and started to read.
Phonyyx was flying towards Ponyville. He shot through the clouds, expecting to be slowed down by them, but wasn't. Huh? Phonyyx flew towards Applejack's farm. He landed outside the house and ran to Applejack's room, and jumped into her mind.
"Ma, Pa, how will I know if I've been a good sis?" Phonyyx looked and saw a filly-Applejack, talking to her parents. He then saw an older Applejack, floating over them.
"I have been a terrible sister. I can't believe I ever thought I could be a good sis." Applejack buried her face in her hooves.
"Yes, yes. You've been a terrible influence on Applebloom. You've never helped her with her cutie mark and didn't see the signs of bullying," a sinister voice called out to Applejack. A dark figure appeared behind Applejack. Phonyyx tried to attack the figure, but he didn't have his sword, and none of his spells worked. If I can't kill it directly, then I'll just have to deprive it of its food.
"Applejack, come over here." Phonyyx knew by now that he needed to wake the pony up. "You have been a great role model for your sister. She was able to get over the bullying and find her cutie mark on her own."
"Arrgh." The creature went to grab Applejack, But Phonyyx stepped between it and her.
"You've taught her how to deal with things like that in life. If you were a bad role model, then Applebloom wouldn't have been able to end the bullying or find her cutie mark."
"No. You haven't."
"Yes, I have. I've been a great role model for Applebloom." The creature created and ran through a portal leading to another pony's nightmare. Phonyyx ran after it, ending up in Rainbow Dash's mind.
"You were unable to stop winter. Tank left and you couldn't stop him." Now the creature was trying to influence Rainbow Dash.
"Hey, Rainbow. Would a great, fearless pony like you let a big idiot like that boss you around or tell you what to believe?" Phonyyx pointed to Rainbow and then to the creature, who faced Phonyyx. "You can not stop the seasons from changing, and you cant stop things like Tank leaving. But if you fall to him, your just letting him win. Now if you learn to adapt and move on then you don't need to stop winter. You'll know that it will end and Tank will return."
"You are becoming a pest. Stop now or you will die."
"I can't die. And I'm stubborn." Phonyyx followed it to Fluttershy's mind.
"Look, you stayed aggressive and every pony loves you for that. Don't you want every-pony to be happy?"
"I should have stayed aggressive. That would have been best." Fluttershy was staring into a view of a possible future.
"Fluttershy, you need to be assertive. Don't let any-pony bully you around. But you are not to bully others." Phonyyx was trying to get Fluttershy to listen to him, but she just ignored him. Like she couldn't even hear him.
"She won't be freed like the other." The creature jumped onto Phonyyx and bit down on where his neck was. Only it wasn't there. Phonyyx had flown out of the creature's grasp when it leaned its head back. Phonyyx put a hoof around Fluttershy's back.
"Fluttershy, this isn't your reality or future." Fluttershy looked at him in disbelief. "I can prove it to you." Phonyyx waved a hoof and the possible future of her being aggressive was replaced by a memory from her world. In it Fluttershy, realized that she wasn't being assertive, she was being aggressive. Then it was replaced with Fluttershy being assertive to a minotaur. "This is yours. Your friends love you for being you, not any pony else. That's what makes you Fluttershy. This-" Phonyyx pointed to her world, then to the creature "-not that."
"Your right. My friends love me for who I am. And I love being myself." Fluttershy realized this and, when she looked around, Phonyyx and the creature were gone.
"You cannot save them all."
"I will!" Phonyyx tackled the creature to the ground. Then he ran to Pinkie Pie, panting as he ran. She was looking at a view of her past. It was about when she thought her friends were avoiding her.
"They really were avoiding me." Pinkie's hair went from puffed up to straight down.
"Pinkie, your friends weren't avoiding you. They were planning a surprise party for you." Phonyyx walked next to Pinkie, but she snapped at him.
"Ohh, yeah! And how do you know that? Have you been spying and stalking us for our entire lives?" Pinkie walked threateningly close to Phonyyx.
"No. When I entered your mind, I know and feel the memories you're experiencing." Phonyyx created a memory view of Pinkie's friends throwing the surprise party for her. "See."
"Ohh, yeah." Pinkie looked into the new memory. Phonyyx chased after the creature to the next ponies nightmare. There were dresses everywhere, all of them the same design. This must be Rarity's mind.
"My generosity has ruined me," Phonyyx heard a distinct voice yell out. Yep. Definitely Rarity's. Phonyyx ran over to Rarity, who was in full drama mode. "My friend have all taken my generous nature for granted."
"Yes,-" the creature looked over a Phonyyx "- and now they have sent some pony to continue and take advantage of you. And remember, no pony likes any of your dresses except for your Princess Dress, and it must be perfect."
"You. You have come to take advantage of my generosity." Rarity accused Phonyyx.
"No. Look, Rarity, I would never take advantage of a pony's generous spirit. And neither would your friends." Phonyyx walked towards Rarity, and the creature attempting to persuade her. "Look, Rarity, you don't need to make perfect dresses. Nothing can be perfection, but your dresses are pretty damn close to it. You don't need to make the same dress over and over again. If every pony has a Princess Dress, then no pony will own one." Rarity shook her head and looked around her at the thousands of identical dresses.
"Oh, my, Celestia. What have I done? I would never make so many of the same dress."
"Rarity, wake up," Phonyyx yelled back at her as he followed the creature to the next nightmare. Only the creature turned around and bit Phonyyx right in his chest. Phonyyx felt like his soul was being torn from his body. He opened his eyes and saw that the creature was in Starlight's mind. The next thing Phonyyx knew, he was back in his body in Canterlot. "Aaahhh." Phonyyx limped down and saw that Twilight and Spike were helping him to his feet. He looked back and saw that Luna and Celestia were gone.
"What happened?" Spike asked while supporting Phonyyx back to his hooves.
"I saw a shadowy creature that was in the shape of a pony. It could traverse between the minds of ponies under the spell created by the dreamcatchers. I tried to chase it down, but every time I woke a pony up from the nightmares it created, it moved onto another pony. And I couldn't fight it."
"That's the Akkrion, it controls the Umbricions. He is also how we can end the nightmares." Twilight pulled out the book Luna gave her and showed Phonyyx a page in it. "If we can corner him into a single pony's mind, then you can get into that pony's mind, he will have nowhere to go, but where he came from."
"So, how do we corner him into a mind?" Phonyyx flipped through the book, looking for an answer to their dilemma.
"By waking every pony up one, by one. Luckily there's a spell that can wake them up from the nightmares. But I have no idea how to read it."
"Let me see it."
"Here." Phonyyx read the spell to himself.
When the faults of others are what we hear,
And the pony's suspects them of fear,
As the ponies put their bodies to lay,
Let them force the fears away,
Left behind in the Umbricions quake,
To let the ponies wake.
"There-" Phonyyx handed Twilight the translation of the spell "- teach this to the royal guards. We need them to cast the spell as well. The two of us can't cast it on every pony in Ponyville fast enough. I can't teach them it, they will not listen to me."
"But I can't lead an army."
"You don't have to. Just teach them the spell and tell them to cast it on every pony in Ponyville that they find. But they can't cast it on the pony that will corner Akkrion in. If they do, he will just return to his birthplace, and I won't be able to follow him."
"Who was the last pony you saw Akkrion was in?"
"Starlight. I'll deal with Akkrion in her mind. It will be easiest since I know where she is and we can easily make sure the spell isn't cast on her."
"Alright, let's do this." Spike puffed out his chest and charged towards the royal guards.
"Drama king much," Phonyyx commented as he and Twilight went to teach the royal guards how to perform the spell.
"I don't like the idea of my guards lives being placed in your hooves," Celestia snorted to Phonyyx.
"Well, you can dislike it all you want. That still will not change the facts." Phonyyx was getting tired of the constant bickering between him and Celestia. It had taken him and Twilight nearly all day to convince Celestia and Luna to allow Phonyx and Twilight to teach the guards the spell and to actually teach them the spell. Phonyyx looked towards the guards at attention. "Now, do all of you understand the spell Twilight taught you?" The guards mumbled to themselves. "Sigh, I guess that'll have to do."
Phonyyx, Twilight, and the guards were teleported to Ponyville by an annoyed Celestia. All the guards spread out in different directions. Phonyyx and Twilight, however, ran to Twilight's Castle. Phonyyx ran up to Starlight's room, split, and jumped into Starlight's mind. He was getting better at splitting himself. Phonyyx saw so many things in his many lifetimes, but nothing quite like what awaited him on the other side of Starlight's mind. In it all ponies wore the same mane style, had the same cutie mark; a dark-grey equal mark, and a creepy smile. Starlight was standing on a rock, out looking all the ponies, smiling a sinister-like grin. "Starlight, Starlight." Starlight either wasn't listening or couldn't hear him.
"She's gone. Now you either have to sacrifice catching me or saving her."
"I will catch you, no matter what." Phonyyx charged at Akkrion, but he jumped from Starlight's mind to another pony's mind, closing the portal before Phonyyx could pass through it. Phonyyx turned his attention back to Starlight. I need to work quickly, once Akkrion realizes what's going on, he will return here to try and seal me out. Phonyyx flew up to Starlight and placed a hoof on her. "Starlight?" Starlight looked at Phonyyx before looking back to the endless number of identical marching ponies. Phonyyx searched through Starlight's memories and thoughts, in an attempt to find out what this nightmare was. He finally found it. A memory of Starlight removing the cutie marks of ponies, replacing them with the equal marks.
"He said this will be my future." Starlight was still transfixed on the ponies.
"Starlight, this may be your future or it may not. You decide on your destiny. You are the controller of your own fate." Phonyyx looked at Starlight, and she looked back at him. Phonyyx then showed Starlight her choices. He showed her the memories of choosing the path of friendship. "These are your choices, you made them. The future that Twilight showed you could have been a reality, but you choose to prevent it."
"But what if this truly is my future, and I can't change it?"
"Then you do nothing." Akkrion entered Starlights mind. "You really thought that old spell would stop me." Phonyyx looked to Starlight.
"If this is your future, then we can face it together." Phonyyx pulled Starlight into a hug. Phonyyx felt the warmth of her coat as the two embraced. Phonyyx closed his eyes as Akkrion pounced towards the two ponies, bracing himself for Akkrions attack, only it didn't come. He opened his eyes and saw a portal behind him, leading to a dark room. Phonyyx looked back at Starlight.
"Go get that thing." Starlight smiled to Phonyyx as he ran through the portal. Phonyyx found himself in a basement of sorts.
"So this is the pony that caused our whole plan to unravel. End him," an anonymous voice ordered. Then Phonyyx felt a weight on his chest, turning him on his back and a sharp claw grazing against his neck. He felt his cold, oily, blood trickling out of his neck. I wish I had my body right about now.
Back at Twilight's Castle, Starlight had awoken from the spell and found Twilight, Spike, and Phonyyx looking at her. Only, Phonyyx's irises were completely white.
"Um, why are all of you looking at me like that?" Starlight's eyes jumped from one point to another to focus on in the room.
"Where is Phonyyx?" Twilight asked worriedly.
"Isn't that him right there?" Starlight pointed to Phonyyx.
"No, that's just his body. We don't know where Phonyyx is right now." Then Phonyyx's body bolted for the window above Starlight and took off towards a house in Ponyville. "Where is his body going?" Starlight jumped out of bed.
"Follow that body." Starlight ran out of the room, chasing Phonyyx's body, with Twilight and Spike following her. The body flew straight into a building, busting the door open. Meanwhile, Phonyyx had his hooves full with attempting and failing, to fight off a multitude of the Umbricions. Then, his body came tumbling down the stairs and ran straight towards Phonyyx. Phonyyx forced the Umbricions off of him and re-entered his body. He was bruised, cut, tired, and sore all over; but he was back in his body. And extremely pissed.
"Now, it's my turn." Phonyyx unsheathed his sword, covered it with the shadow energy, and proceeded to slice and dice his way through all of the Umbricions. During Phonyyx's slash-fest, the anonymous pony teleported out of the building to Celestia-knows-where, with a small dark crystal in tow. Phonyyx pinned the only remaining Umbricion to a wall and interrogated it. "Who is your master, and what are his or her plans?" The Umbricion leaned to Phonyyx and whispered.
"You've already met my master, and he plans to return, and he shall reclaim his kingdom. All hail the King of Shadows!" The Umbricion smiled and gave a sinister chuckle. Phonyyx had heard enough. He opened his mouth and a column of purple flames burst forth. Disintegrating the Umbricion. Twilight, Spike, and Starlight ran to the bottom of the stairs to find Phonyyx bending over, using his sword to support himself, surrounded by a pile of fading Umbricion corpses.
"Phonyyx, are you alright?" Starlight ran over to him. Twilight quickly checked over Phonyyx and, once satisfied that Phonyyx wasn't going to fall over dead, yet, turned to Spike.
"Spike, I think we ought to go inform the Celestia and Luna that the crisis is over. And return the royal guards to Canterlot," Twilight shot a quick glance at Phonyyx and Starlight.
"Sure, I'm pretty sure the two of them would like to have their guards back." Spike and Twilight walked back up the stairs and went to gather up all the guard's ponies.
"I'm okay, Starlight. Tis just a scratch." Phonyyx tried to reassure Starlight that he was okay, but she wasn't falling for it.
"Tis just seventy scratches and cuts." Starlight lightly tapped on one of the wounds, only to have Phonyyx wince in pain. Golden wisps of magic emanated from Starlight's horn, encasing all of the cuts and bruises covering Phonyyx's body. "I copied that spell you used to heal me before." Starlight blushed and looked down at her left. Starlight helped Phonyyx up to the first floor of the house. Phonyyx fell over into a bed in the house. He was tired of mind jumping from pony to pony and fighting the Umbricions. Almost immediately after he laid down on the bed, Phonyyx was asleep. It was dark outside, but Starlight wasn't really tired. I don't want to just leave him here all night, not after what he did. She walked outside to Twilight and Spike. "Hey, Twilight, Phonyyx is really tired and he said he is just going to sleep at this house tonight. So I'm going to stay and make sure nothing happens. Okay?"
"That sounds alright to me." Twilight teleported herself, Spike, and the guards back to Canterlot. Starlight went back inside and closed the doors to the house and slipped under the covers with Phonyyx. Maybe he won't mind. Starlight felt Phonyyx's warm body next to hers and instantly became drowsy.