//------------------------------//
// Painful Memories 
// Story: Anim's Adventures in Equestria 
// by Animatorsnake 
//------------------------------//

	One week after the events that happened at the Gala… ponies started questioning the princesses what happened that day. In response… the princesses have zero ideas what the creature was, out of secrecy and lack of knowledge of what it is. The only information they received was, that this thing was after Twilight Sparkle and knows Anim… too well apparently. After these events, many ponies were traumatized by the sudden event of this happening, everypony wanted to put the blame on somepony… and the only pony that the princesses could think of was, Anim. Ever since then, Anim has vanished without a trace, rumors have popped of him leaving the continent, creating an army to attack Canterlot, and more… all of course superstitious lies. All of Anim’s closest friends are worried for Anim, but are also kept on a close eye… well only Anim’s known close friends, ponies and other creatures like Discord and Doctor Whooves have been… idly quiet, with zero known activity on them. All of Equestria is in disarray and chaos, but repairs are slowly being met at Canterlot Castle… yet unrest is growing, for something big is coming.

Ponyville, 0900 hours, Golden Oaks Library

Twilight is woken from a dream or more of a nightmare. She dreamt of what happened at Canterlot… and what Anim said, “It means, goodbye… forever”, a lot had happened with news surrounding Anim, and with ponies asking Twilight and her friends questions they don’t know the answer to. Out of all the ponies who took the worse… was Mina, she slowly kept herself a distance… half the time she would just go outside of town, to the grave Anim had set up… crying until she passed out. Trixie, Derpy, and Doctor Whooves, seemed to go back to their normal lives… but Twilight could feel a sharp ping of regret coming from each of them. “Where are you Anim?” said Twilight, sighing.

Twilight steps off her bed, and heads downstairs, once reaching the bottom of the stairs she can hear Spike cooking. Entering the kitchen, a meal is already prepared, four chairs are set up, and one is Spike’s, Twilight’s, Mina’s… and Anim’s. “I already gave Mina her breakfast in Anim’s room… I got to go, the CMC said they needed my help with something,” said Spike, leavening.

Ever since Anim vanished, Spike has been emotionally… stable. It seems that he and the CMC too aren’t much affected by Anim’s vanishing; they were upset the first few days after the incident, but steadily fine. Nowadays Spike leaves early to help with the CMC, the last week they been running all over Ponyville… getting odd objects, all they say to anypony who’s asking what they’re doing is this, “Just a little science project, that’s all”. “His sure been strong… but me…” thought Twilight, taking a deep breath.

Once Twilight finished on her meal, she headed out to Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville has been normal… but it felt, empty ever since Anim disappeared, but ponies have been living their lives normally, sometimes a few go to the grave Anim set up… leaving some flowers, it’s a nice gesture to him and anypony related to him. Entering Sugarcube Corner, inside are her friends, the Mane 6, they are in high moods but Twilight could tell they too were worried. “Oh hey Twilight, slept well!” said Pinkie.

“Yeah kind of, but it’s good that everypony is back together okay and all…” said Twilight.

“Twi, I can tell you weren’t able to have a decent sleep for the last week. Was it the same nightmare again?” asked Applejack.

Twilight simply nodded, and sat with the others. “Darling, you need to see somepony about this, or at least stay home… shouldn’t Spike being caring for you with something like this,” said Rarity. “Speaking of which, where is Spike?”

“With the CMC… again,” said Twilight.

“That’s odd, Spike has been with the CMC more often these days… too often,” said Rainbow.

“Rainbow, the CMC lost a dear friend and a member of their group. Spike too lost somepony close to him as well, if they want to be left alone, we shouldn’t be involved what they are doing… so don’t suggest something like that,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah I’m sorry… it’s just they always go to their treehouse without a word. I haven’t hung out with Scoots… ever,” said Rainbow.

The Mane 6 sigh together, but Pinkie continues to talk… with some interesting news. “Oh there’s something I heard today,” said Pinkie.

“What is it Pinkie?” asked Twilight.

“Well I heard from a pony, where this pony heard from that pony, and that pony heard from another pony, that they spotted that weird shadow thing, that attacked Twilight,” said Pinkie. “I heard it’s been spotted somewhere in the Everfree Forest, and that Celestia’s royal guard are surround the area to see if that thing would ever pop up suddenly.”

“That is interesting news Pinkie, maybe we can finally get answers once Celestia catches that thing,” said Rarity.

Everypony agreed but Twilight began to think back… the shadow creature spoke a lot things, that didn’t made sense, of course Twilight told Celestia and Luna what the shadow creature told Twilight, but it didn’t make any sense… What did it meant by, “you did pick me up in that crash” or “you just don’t realize what I really am… what he really is…”, some interesting information that Twilight was this, that this “he” the shadow creature mentions about knows that Twilight is apparently friends with her, that “he” told Twilight secrets… the kind that you don’t hear normally when somepony has a secret… not to mention, the shadow creature was apparently created by this “he”. However, the biggest clue Twilight received was this, “I know what you are… and you will never know,”… that was the last thing that never made any sense, what did the shadow creature meant by that it knew what Anim was…

Meanwhile... somewhere else, Sweet Apple Acres, 0930 hours, CMC’s Treehouse

Spike runs toward the CMC’s Treehouse, knocking on the door in rhythmic pattern, the door opens with Scootaloo at the entrance. “Did anypony follow?” asked Scootaloo.

“I made sure nopony did, and besides I don’t anypony would find it odd for me to be coming to meet you girls. I have been running here every day you know,” said Spike.

“Just get inside before somepony sees you,” said Scootaloo.

Once Spike got inside, Scootaloo opened the door. The treehouse’s curtains were closed, letting zero light from coming inside. A single candle was lit in the center of the room; Applebloom stepped forward to the candle, for Spike to see her. “Now that we’re all here… it’s time we moved to step 2 of Operation: Truth Seeker,” said Applebloom.

“Why did you girls closed the curtains, I told you that nopony followed me,” said Spike.

“How do we know you’re not lying?” said Sweetie Belle, appearing beside Spike.

“AH! I said not to do that, again!” said Spike.

“That’s enough girls, no need for us to do this… Discord you mind opening the curtains.”

“Of course, it was getting a little drafty in here,” said Discord, snapping his claws.

The curtains opened, letting the sunlight in and fresh air to move inside the already crammed treehouse. Inside were Spike, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Discord… and lastly, Anim. After the events that happened at Canterlot, Anim teleported to the CMC’s Treehouse, hiding. Once the CMC found he was here the whole time, he told them a promise of secrecy to not tell a single soul of his whereabouts, that and he needed the three of them to do a few things for him. The first was to get Spike and Discord on his side, happily they agreed to help, secondly was that they needed to get some of Anim’s belongings, when the CMC did get Anim’s stuff… his journal was missing. Anim could imagine that Twilight gave his book to Celestia for any further evidence on the incident and to Anim’s whereabouts. And finally, was that they needed to do a quick favor for Anim… for the past week or so the CMC, Spike, and Discord have been gathering fragments of the meteor, slowly bringing them to Anim. “Thanks you guys… if I didn’t had your help… this would have been impossible,” said Anim.

“No problem Anim, we did everything we could to help,” said Scootaloo. “Now, let’s report what we’ve done for the last week or so.”

“We asked Babs, at Manehatten if she was able to get any of the shards of the meteor at Manehatten. Me and the girls been looking around Ponyville and nearby for any of these shards too, and heard that they all been either been collected and headed toward Canterlot,” said Applebloom.

“I’ve been asking some of the residents of Ponyville if they know where to find these shards. Then they ask ponies that do know where to find these shards to bring them to Ponyville straight to me,” said Spike.

“While I’ve been there and here, exploring the place for these… rocks, I’ve collected a fair share in some of the more dangerous parts of Equestria,” said Discord, proud.

“Now we gathered a fair amount of these shards… we can begin phase two of our plan. We don’t need all the shards… just enough, to make this,” said Anim, revealing something.

Anim reveals a black stone; made up of the shards that everyone had collected the last week. It gave off an ominous black glow… the more everyone stared at it, they felt a piece of themselves slipping away. “Don’t stare at it too long… this is probably the most dangerous object in this room… no, in this world,” said Anim.

“By pray tell, is that thing… I know you have some odd hobbies Anim but, what exactly are we looking at?” asked Discord. “I’ve seen my share of demonic and near-destructive artifacts before, but something… of this magnitude clearly doesn’t belong here.”

“Because it doesn’t Discord… this here is something from my world, the most powerful object to ever exist… a void crystal. At first I thought the meteor was something that happened in Equestria and, was a simple coincidence...” said Anim, explaining further on. “But from reading Mina’s notes, these shards of the meteor… aren’t a meteor.”

Everyone in the room was still confused, Anim continued on to further explain his theory. “The meteor is a more expansive version of this void crystal, since this world’s aura levels are beyond my imagination, so I believe when I first came to this world… I wasn’t the only thing that came here. The void crystal that was used to power the portal in my world also came with me… and since the void crystal… how you say, is the ultimate conduit for aura, it absorbed so much aura in this realm that, it literally expanded like a balloon. This sudden change of physical mass, and with it raining down from the very heavens, caused it to break apart, however this hasn’t changed its original power, whether it has a physical change it still has the same amount of energy from before,” said Anim.

“If this… meteor is not of this world… what does it has to do with what we’re planning?” said Spike, still confused. “I understand that this thing could be a threat to the wrong hooves and such, but how is this going to help us find… that shadow thing?”

“Excellent question Spike, but that thing at first I assumed was using darkness aura… but that wasn’t at all it. Instead the power it was using was, void aura… and only a very small few can use such a power, and in order to lure in this thing, we need to make a big enough of void energy in order for me to lure it in to us,” said Anim.

“But Anim… you really thing the six of us can catch this thing?” said Sweetie Belle.

“Not at all, once preparations are made, I’ll try one final ditch attempt to see if the others will help… and if not… I want all of you to get as far away from me and that thing, I don’t want another friend to get hurt… not again,” said Anim.

Everyone knew the risk of this mission, the balance of this world and everything that lived in it was in stack… and they’d do it for what they think is right. “Now that I’m done with my rambling, let’s get this party started,” said Anim, leaving the treehouse.

When Anim opened the door, something… or somepony outside met with Anim, eye to eye. “So… this is where you’ve been hiding this last week,” said Luna.

“L-LUNA… How did you find us, Spike?!” said Anim.

“Hey don’t look at me, I swore nopony followed me,” said Spike.

“He isn’t lying… I simply looked through the dreams of ponies and noticed that Spike and the CMC had been… lacking sleep. Not to mention that and, all of them been thinking of the same thing… this very treehouse. Curious I came here, only to hear your voice,” said Luna.

“And so… you heard our plan… and what will you do, princess of the moon?” asked Anim.

Luna gave a stern look, only to move out of the way. “Nothing… too much has happen, and I need to be by my sister’s side, helping her with this crisis. You know what you’re doing, and I won’t stop you,” said Luna. “I know it wasn’t your fault, but half the time I just… want to believe you done nothing, but too much of the evidence points toward you.”

“Indeed it does… but whether innocent or not, there’s no such thing called fair justice. Now, fair well princess, may we meet again,” said Anim.

“But you already know we will meet… don’t you,” said Luna, referring to Anim’s dream.

Anim could remember the dream vivid as a memory. The dream was the one where everypony he knew was there, and that he was afloat… glowing with a black glow surrounding him. In return Anim gave a grin, as his horn gave a white hue, teleporting everyone other than Luna, leaving her inside the empty treehouse. “Half the time I wonder… just who are you?” thought Luna.

Meanwhile somewhere outside of Ponyville, 1000 hours

“Trixie can’t believe Trixie is helping you… why does Trixie need to do this?” said Trixie.

“Because if you don’t, none of us aren’t going to survive what’s going to happen soon,” said Doctor Whooves, carrying something metallic and heavy. “You mind helping here?”

Trixie rolled her eyes, and levitated the metallic machinery to the spot that Doctor Whooves wanted it to be. Doctor Whooves, with the assistance of Trixie, Derpy, and Mina, were setting up a machine that the Doctor “believed” could stop this mess. “Doctor, what exactly is this thing going to do?” asked Derpy, lugging a piece of metal.

“Well Derpy… imagine a giant mirror, well this is what this thing is. Once we see that shadowy creature that Mina mentioned, we’ll direct its very own attack back at it… I’m not sure if it’s alive, but that thing is threat to this world, and I’m not going to stand by and let it go it’s way to destroy this wonderful world, now am I?” said Doctor Whooves.

Once finishing setting up the machine, Doctor Whooves recalibrated it to be ready at any time. “So what do you need me for? I don’t know what help I could be,” said Mina, depressed.

“We need you to tell us if it gets on that X I made,” said Doctor Whooves.

“You mean the one made out of sticks?” asked Mina.

Doctor Whooves nodded with a piece of wiring in his mouth. Mina simply sighed, getting to position. Meanwhile near the Everfree Forest at the same time, 1015 hours. “Princess, we’re in position, you give us the go, and we’ll be ready,” said a royal guard.

Celestia was preparing an army that was literally half of the continent’s military might. Standing near the edge of the Everfree Forest, she knew there was something more threatening, than the creatures that lived in the Everfree. “Guard, where is my sister?” asked Celestia.

“Right here Tia… I just needed some air is all,” said Luna.

“I could understand this may be too much, but after what we witnessed at the castle… I doubt this thing will hold back,” said Celestia.

Luna simply nodded in agreement, giving a look that seemed to notify something made her upset. Celestia took noticed to this and knew she just spoke to Anim. “You spoke to him haven’t you… now I don’t know what’s happening, but once this is all over, we’ll find him and speak with him… I promise,” said Celestia.

Celestia’s army was surrounding the part of the Everfree Forest where the shadow creature, was last seen. In the distance, loud booms of trees falling down are heard, something dangerous approaching. “Princess Celestia, the guardsponies near the front have seen some of the creatures… running from something, should we prepare for a blockade, just in case,” said the royal guard.

“Indeed, do so and place some of the royal guard at Ponyville in case of anything would to happen,” said Celestia.

“Yes Princess Celestia,” said the royal guard.

“Sister… what is your plan exactly… to stop this, thing?” asked Luna, unaware.

Celestia sighed, knowing through the countless she and Luna face before… this might challenge the many opponents they’ve face, in times of old. “We’ve handled many opponents by sealing them… but this time, we may need to go through more drastic measures. I’m sending in everything I can, but if things don’t go well… I want you to take the elements of harmony and as many ponies you can to the Crystal Empire,” said Celestia.

“Of course… sister,” said Luna.

With the princesses preparing themselves at the Everfree Forest, Doctor Whooves and his allies as well made preparations to trap this creature. Finally while Anim and friends get ready for phase two of their plan… but, as for the Mane 6 wait for what’s to come. “I still don’t understand why we’re just sitting here doing nothing!” said Rainbow.

“Rainbow, I know we can’t stand here doing nothing… but we can’t fight back either. With what’s been happening, things aren’t exactly the time to fight back. Anim’s gone, the princesses are preparing a war, and that Doctor Whooves fella is preparing some sort of trap. What exactly are we to do in this situation?” said Applejack.

“Well… we could… I don’t know what about you Twilight? What should we do?” asked Rainbow.

Twilight was also in a loss of words, unsure whether to help the princesses or assist the Doctor. Giving a simple shrug, she has zero ideas on what to do… completely forgetting of the whereabouts of Anim. “Twilight, are you okay… you’ve been silent for a while,” said Fluttershy.

“I’m fine… it’s just…” said Twilight, loss in thought.

“What’s wrong Twilight, you haven’t been yourself… it doesn’t have anything to do with Anim now?” asked Rarity.

“WHAT, I… well… okay maybe a little… sort of… maybe,” said Twilight, her pace increasing.

Twilight quickly moved ahead of everypony else, slowing her pace to take a quick breath. “Damn… where are you Anim?” thought Twilight.

“Twilight, don’t run ahead of us!” said Applejack.

“Darling, was it something I said. I’m sorry if I offended you in anyway,” said Rarity.

“No I just…” said Twilight, sighing. “I’m sorry everypony, I had so much through my mind and—”

“Hey chill Twilight, everything is going to be fine,” said Rainbow.

“Yeah, like a piece of cake… ummm cake~,” said Pinkie, drooling.

Twilight was happy to know her friends had her back; elsewhere Anim has teleported himself and the others to phase two’s location. They were teleported to the place where Anim first arrived… the giant shard of the meteor that the ponies were unable to dislodge from the ground, for its sheer size and would had to take thousand unicorns to lift it. “Okay everybody, you know what you need to do,” said Anim.

“Uhm… what was that again?” asked Sweetie Belle, forgetting.

“Sweetie Belle… this is the third time, we need to get ready for phase two!” shouted Scootaloo.

“Okay, okay… there’s no need to shout,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Come on girls, no need for that now, we got ourselves a monster to get,” said Applebloom.

Once everybody was getting ready, Anim went off somewhere for a good quick few minutes. “I’ll be right back… I need to go see something,” said Anim.

“Just hurry okay, if somepony sees what we’re doing, then who knows what’ll happen,” said Spike, imagining the thought.

Anim nodded and gave a Spike a reassuring smile before he left. “Hey… things will go as plan… I never lie,” said Anim. Taking his leave, Anim headed into Ponyville, and luckily most of the residents were either inside their homes or evacuated just in case. Trotting down the streets, Anim saw a few familiar buildings, Carousal Boutique, Sugarcube Corner, and finally, Golden Oaks Library. Anim felt a tear when he stared into the tree-library; he felt that he’d betrayed Twilight by just abandoning her with Celestia. He knew that he could of teleported with her… but he too was confused in everything that had happened that day… he no choice, Anim had to find the answers his looking for, but he couldn’t involve the Mane 6 in what is going to do… or what he would find. Swiftly moving his gaze away, Anim continued his trot through town… surprisingly he didn’t notice any of the guards patrolling through the town, they might have either been busy helping with some ponies still evacuating or something. Nearing his next familiar landmark was, Ponyville Hospital, the one place Anim found himself waking up in. Laughed how even what happened to him when he came to this world, he didn’t felt a single injury… now he may be some super being, but Anim should have gotten a scratch or something from that incident. Trotting off, his final location was just beyond Ponyville Hospital… the grave, the grave that Anim placed of his friend, it was more of a reminder to him that… there’s no going back.

“Welp… how was your day?” said Anim, talking to the grave. “Mine has just been dandy, I just dealt with some weird shadow creature. I’m being hunted again by everypony… again, my only allies is an ex-god of chaos, three fillies, and a baby dragon… Not one of my worse days, but surely one of my interesting ones.”

A small gust of wind came by, blowing through Anim’s mane. Anim laughed imaging that someone spoke to him… but was simply his imagination. “Yeah, I knew you say that… this is kind of funny but… when I first came to this world, and woke up in that hospital… when I found out I was a pony, I was sure I’d scream… except, I felt peace for some reason, by just staring into these hooves,” said Anim, looking at his hoof. “That there was more to this… that I’m just a jigsaw puzzle… incomplete… so why, do I feel so empty. Just… who am I?”

“You’re our best friend, Animatorsnake,” said Twilight.

Anim was alerted by the pony’s voice, turning to see who it was. At first Anim thought he saw someone he knew from his past… but it was just Twilight and the other Mane 6. Giving a smirk, he’d laugh but it was weak… and felt saddening from just hearing himself laugh. “So… what brings you here?” asked Anim.

“I knew you’d be here, we waited near the hospital, and saw you trot by. We then follow you here… Anim, what’s happening?” asked Twilight, needing answers.

“I don’t know… I’m empty as air, it’s everywhere but it doesn’t know who made it,” said Anim. “You should stay away… I’m not safe to be around.”

“Well you never were Anim,” said Rainbow.

Applejack gave Rainbow the stink-eye, only for her to respond. “What Rainbow meant was… ever since we met you, our lives been nothing but hilly and steep road. There were moments that were good and bad, but in the end… were all glad to have a friend like you,” said Applejack.

“So that’s why as your friends, we’re worried for what’ll happen to you, so please…” said Rarity.

“You’re the kindest pony I’ve known Anim, yes you do get… agitated, but you always try a more passive route than to fight back, so where’s that passive pony I know?” said Fluttershy.

“Come on Anim, you always know how to turn any situation into a good situation. Once everything is good as cream on a cupcake, we’ll do the biggest party ever… I Pinkie promise,” said Pinkie.

Anim turned to face the grave… thinking. He knew the risk of involving them that what would happen if he dragged anypony with him. The same situation happens every time… an endless cycle of regret and depression, somebody will get hurt… and it’ll be the end to Anim if that were to happen. “Look… I know your all trying your best but… I think you should—”

“And what exactly should these girls do, Anim?”

Beyond the Mane 6, Anim saw a ghost that shouldn’t be here… not now, or ever. A memory from Anim’s childhood rose up… when Anim was little; he wasn’t always the polite honest person he was now, before he was like any other child. Fooling around with his friend Kimila, he said something that he will ever regret, feeling sorry Kimila decided to give some advice to Anim. “Hey Anim, it’s alright… lying is bad and all, but at least you told me the truth,” said Kimila.

“But-but, it didn’t feel right… it didn’t feel like me,” said Anim, crying.

Kimila sighed, and patted Anim on the back. Sure remember something her mother told her, deciding to give this piece of advice to her friend… she knew this would help him a lot. “Hey, my mom always tells me, ‘Which would you rather do, truth, lie, or honesty?’,” said Kimila.

Anim was confused but, went along with what Kimila was saying. “Honesty, what did your mom mean by honesty?” said Anim.

“Well I think what she meant was… it’s better to be who you are, then to be something people want you to be or, to be something you fake to be,” said Kimila.

“Wow… your mom is one smart lady… I wish I had a mom like that,” said Anim.

“Oh come on don’t say that, just because your a orphan doesn’t mean there’ll be someone to be there for you… and besides, you got me,” said Kimila, smiling.

The two children laughed, being the best of friends forever… no matter what… sometimes a child’s past can be soothing… and can be the one thing that can come back to haunt you. At this moment, Anim felt a piece of his childhood coming back to him… and at the same time, he wished that it was just his imagination… because the last person he wanted to see right now… was the same person he came to see.