//------------------------------// // Chapter 39; A Dream // Story: The Wander Through Lands Unknown // by Tomas Lutwig //------------------------------// Pain. Who knew, the simple act of hanging on a wall would put one's body under so much strain? The cell was empty just as it always was. Stone blocks, dirt, maybe a bit of moss, almost assuredly, it was damp down here after all. So damp, yet my mouth was so dry... 'I can't sleep...' Sadness flowed through me at the thought, after what felt like hours of hanging with eyes shut, no relief was found. Dreams. Dreams were the only relief from the pain. I never remembered the whole thing. Bits and pieces, not always coherent, almost never coherent, but still so comforting. Even upon waking, they made me feel a little better, if drained. Looking to my right, I eyed the shackle holding my arm to the wall. 'If I could just...' muscles strained, overstretched, underworked. Pain laced up from my hand. Want, no, need drove me forward. Muscle had atrophied from disuse, skin tore as I pulled my hand through the shackle. Part of it rubbing off on the course stone behind me, other bits pulled off from the shackle itself, from pulling my hand through a gap that fit my wrist. The stale air stung the newly made wounds, and hanging from only one arm made it ache as the wrist was pulled harshly down. The tips of my toes barely touched the cold stone floor, making it impossible to pull the other wrist free. Reaching up, I put my fingers through the shackle, using it to hold myself up, lessening the pain to a dull ache in one arm, only for the other to begin burning from strain of trying to hold myself up. Pressing bare feet against the wall behind me, I tried finding some loose block, something to gain purchase on, to hold myself up so I could pull my wrist free. A small ridge was found from a stone that stuck out, only large enough for the edge of one foot, but manageable. Using my arm to offset the weight on the small the small ledge, I pulled with my shackled arm. The arm burned from it's strain, wrist hurt as skin was ground of on the stone and skin from my hand sliced through with the edges of the shackles. Being thrown off balance from the sudden jerk of freedom, I fell forward. Chin impacted the cold stone floor through the restraints. The impact jarred my head, what little vision of the stone room around me and the iron door I had swam, doubling itself as I tried to recover. Rolling onto my back, I looked at my wrists in the dim. Eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness, allowing me to see the extent of the damage. A bittersweet smile came to my face even as I saw the marks left by the iron shackles. The escape had skinned a few layers from the heels of my hands, blood trickled down my arms from the wounds before it slowed to a stop. Turning them over, the back of my hand had been rubbed raw, no blood poured out, but the layers of skin that were missing made them ache with any motion. A shiver ran through me as the cold started to hurt my bare form. The princesses gave no stops this time, having stripped me completely, exposing all of my body to the damp chill of the cell. Curling my hands over my chest, I made my way to the corner of the stone cell, curing up to suppress the shivering. Glancing around, my eyes rested on the door, for a brief moment the thought of escape flew through my mind before being dashed. 'Locked door' the thought pushed through the aching pain that seemed to permeate my body. Lids felt heavy, tempting me to rest my head against my curled knees. The temptation was not resisted as they served as a good, if hard, headrest. Happiness seeped through me as consciousness slowly faded, forming a smile on my ragged face. Silence echoed around me before dim light glowed against my eyelids, a sharp feeling, not uncomfortable simply sharp, was felt against my head as a feeling of warmth covered my form, shapeless and comforting. Colors swirled in the darkness, finally forming brightness that filled a night sky. Stars shown brightly against the void, accompanied by a full moon, the strangeness of the abnormality went unnoticed as a feeling touched my psyche. Urgency flooded into me from the feeling, before something shut it out. The urgency died as the lights of the sky swirled against a dim moon. Heat was felt against my skin, lights and colors flashed across a screen before me. After a moment a beep was heard followed by a whirling of a fan, turning a woman held a small white box pressing something on it as the beeping sounded over and over again. Slowly, the uncomfortable heat faded away as the woman turned. “I can't have you dying of heatstroke can I?” she said with a smile as she put down the small AC controller, picking up a larger black controller, she pressed the mute button again. Turning back to the television, sound echoed from it as a man holding a small pan smiling slowly faded away. The picture changed to that of a gray screen, lines flowing over it with a small logo at the bottom with purple letters spelling out HUD. “And now back to My Little Pony, on the Hud!” a male's voice said as the screen shifted over to a screen with the colorful ponies displayed in a small pile laughing. The show started zooming out from a large pile of books that only grew. “Didn't we shelve all the books in the library a few months ago?” Spike asked turning away from the pile off screen holding a brown book. “This show is surprisingly good” Julia's voice rang out making me turn to look at her as Twilight gave her reply to the small dragon. Her eyes were glued to the screen before she noticed my staring. “Yea, yea, I know. I said 'I wouldn't like it, even if you made me watch it', but despite myself, it is rather interesting” A smile came to my face as she turned back to the screen. “I didn't say a word.” I said shaking my head. “- I call it my Booksorcation! Three uninterrupted days of reorganizing books! Can you think anything more relaxing?” Twilight's voice sounded from the screen making me turn back towards it. An awkward chuckle came from my wife as I watched the two. “Though it is kinda dorky” she said turning to look at me, a plea for acceptance on her face to which I shrugged at before nodding. “Can't say you're wrong there” “Didn't you say you had been watching this from the first season? Wasn't that around three years ago?” Turning from the screen to look at my wife, a look of curiosity and interest was on her face. I scratched my head sitting up a bit on the couch. “Um, I remember it started back in my freshman year, so no, actually it was... six years ago?” my shoulders rose and dropped. “I just remember a lot of people talking about it like it was the second coming, so I looked into it due to lack of anything good to watch and found it amusing” “Huh” Julia said glancing back at the screen, the title card signaling a rerun. Interest wavered for both of us, even as the promise of Discord and his shenanigans became a reality. “Well, want to play a game?” I blinked watching as the draconequus nearly plowed through Twilight and Spike with Rainbow Dash right next to him. “Sure, we've seen this one a couple times” I said remembering the most of the jokes. A happy squeak sounded from Julia as she grabbed the controller again. “Hi Twilight, Hi Spike” Discord and Rainbow Dash said in unison before the screen was changed to static. 'AV 1' showed in a small blue box at the top right. Julia practically leapt from the couch for the small handles of the pair of doors below the television screen. Pulling out an old playstation 2 she dug around in the game cases before stopping on a dark colored case with a familiar yellow face on it. “Wanna Co-op Deadlocked? I know you said you beat it before bu-” “Heck yea! I haven't played that one since my before my Dad's PS2 died, when my brother and I beat it! Plug it in!” I interrupted, excited for seeing a piece of my past. My wife chuckled pressing the button to open the console's disk holder, taking out the disk that was in it before putting it away in the case the console had been sitting on, before putting in the game and closing the holder. With a flick she turned the small blue light on making the TV's screen go black. A whirring sounded from the console before the familiar sight of what looked like skyscrapers appeared on the screen, 'Sony Computer Entertainment' faded onto the screen before fading off moments later. Quickly the view flew down into the fog that was at the bottom of the skyscraper like structures before going black. “PlayStation 2” appeared before vanishing. Excitement leeched into me as I grabbed the controller Julia handed me as she flopped back down on the couch next to me. “Player two huh?” I asked raising an eyebrow, a questioning smile across my face. My wife stuck her tongue out at me before focusing back on the screen. Turning back to it myself, shock filled me. The screen was dark, but it was an unreal blackness as it swirled around, like maggots swimming and squirming in something. 'Wh- what the hell is this?' memories of armor being maintained coming to mind. Dread started flowing over me as everything began looking different, shadows started growing. Things that were once cute, or harmless, quickly turned menacing. Black shadows, allowing nothing to be seen started swallowing everything. Terror started eating away at me as I looked around. “Bret? What's wrong honey?” Julia's voice finally managed to break through the fear. Turning to look at her, worry was etched upon her face, concern for the newest addition to her life. Looking back everything had reverted, pictures hanging on the wall returned to happy scenes. Glancing at the screen, the remembered crimson armor, was laying on a table. Robotic arms coming down from the ceiling performing maintenance. I let out a breath before turning back “N-nothing hun, you set it up, I just need a drink” I said, trying to put on a reassuring smile. Rising from my seat, I made my way to the kitchen, emotions of fear fading. As I made my way to the sink, the reason for needing the drink had all but vanished. A cup was filled and contents following the emotions and memories, though flowing down my throat instead. A small uncomfortable tingle grew in my head before electricity felt like it was coursing through my body. Grasping the counter, the pain quickly receded, replaced with memories, thoughts. An overwhelming happiness took my mind. “Bret~” Julia's singsong voice sounded from the living room, brightening the smile on my face. Rounding the corner, multiple things caught my eye. The television had been turned off, the game vanishing along with the power to the appliance. Darkness had overtaken the room, save for glowing candles that lined the room, centering around the couch. Most eye catching of all was my wife, the sight of her sending waves of happiness through my body. Julia was scantily dressed, but the black bra and panties with red fringe was enough to make her intentions known to all that saw them. Thankfully I was the only that saw. Despite memories of otherwise, I found myself relieved of clothing, not that it mattered much. Silence ruled, but for the occasional pop or crackle from the multiple candles that warmed the room. Not saying a word, my wife lifted an arm tempting me over with a single finger. My approach was silent, the connection wanted and needed. Together we fell onto the couch, a mass of limbs, heat, hair, and flesh. But most importantly; Love. Zecora walked through the Everfree forest. Calm, despite the dangers that were all around her, the terror that yet was unknown perhaps, or ones that were known all too well. The forest was alive today, birds, squirrels, rabbits, even a few of the rarely seen jackalopes hopped around with their brethren or hornless mates. A smile formed at the serenity if it all. 'A perfect day for finding ingredients out here.' the thought rang out in her mind as she looked around for what she needed. 'Even if it is a forest that the other ponies fear' Serenity was quickly broken however as the sound of fighting broke out, jolting the zebra's head to the left. Questions entered her mind, curiosity and fear being felt through the queries. 'Perhaps not the day I hoped, the thought of others choosing this place and time to fight make me think, nope' The zebra turned away from the sounds of combat only to hear a familiar voice, if pained and pleading. The tone gave everything away, though words were unheard. Against her better judgment, she approached the scene where the combat had been held. Worry entered her mind as a familiar friend came in to view along with a creature that had worried her deeply, despite the princesses' attempts to explain his situation. Signature green fire flared up around her pegasus friend though, shocking her as the changeling revealed it's form. “Wh-wha-?” sounded from the warrior before he collapsed, confusion and fear etching into his voice. Only then did she notice the injuries, a gaping maw opened in his side, a broken face, holes in his arm that looked almost as if something had tried to rip the bones from it. Sympathy was felt, but quickly extinguished as she hid. 'This cannot go unknown, and abduction I cannot condone. The Princesses must be informed else he'll be in the midst of a swarm!' the Zebra thought before she slunk away, hiding in the flora.