Horns, Hooves, and Fur

by Deyeaz

IV - Let Insanity Reign

IV - Let Insanity Reign

The Next Day

"And stay out!" the book store owner shouted to Lyra, pushing her out the door and slamming it behind her.

"Sheesh, what's with everypony today?" She questioned, rubbing the spot where her flank was hit by the door. "This is the third time today!"

"What's with us," said a passing-by mare vehemently, "is that monster you hang out with." Other ponies who were nearby were nodding in agreement.

"Who, Praxis?" Lyra asked.

"Oh, so you gave the freak a name, huh?" hollered a stalllion in the small crowd that had begun to accumulate. The other ponies that weren't in the crowd didn't really care about the heated arguments going on, but the seven or eight others who were brave enough to want to do something had created the little semicircle around Lyra.

"What? He's not a freak! Word is is that he saved Fluttershy from drowning! He even made the grass and the crops grow while he was here! Now is that a something a freak would do?" The lyre-playing unicorn couldn't believe the arrogance that her so-called "friends" were displaying. It was sick and hurtful of them.

"Yeah! Leave Praxis alone, everypony! What did he ever do to hurt you all?" Bon-Bon butted in.

"Put a hoof in it, candy flank!" shouted the mare who started the group, which had gained about two or three more followers. "There's a rumor of another monster on the loose! Another monster that that thing you're all defending could be working for!"

"Leave Bon-Bon alone, you jerks, and get your bucking muzzles out of the Gabby Gums!" Carrot Top had gotten next to the two oppressed mares. "There's no such thing as a monster! That Praxis guy is no pony, but he's a hundred times better than you can ever hope to be!"

"Uh-huh!" Derpy had made her way to the crowd. "He isn't the monster! YOU are, ALL of you! How could say that about somepony who saved another somepony from falling into a lake?"

"Shut it, you klutz!" bellowed another stallion.

"Please... stop it! What did he ever do to deserve the lonliness you're giving him?!" bursted Lyra, her eyes glazed over with the tears she might not be able to hold back.

Unfortunately, one of the mares in the semicircle witnessed it and knew what to do. "Look, everypony! It seems like Lyra has some feelings for the monster!" she said to her allies, who all laughed raucously as they chanted in a mocking chorus.

"Lyra's in love with the de-mon! Lyra's in love with the de-mon!"

"NO, I'M NOT!" she cried angrily, all of her fighting back the tears being all for naught. "JUST LEAVE ME ALO-HO-HONE!" she galloped away from the taunting mares and stallions. She was covering unusually high amounts of terrain, leaving the town of Ponyville and heading to the open fields outside the town. She didn't care to see where she was going, let alone where to go. All she knew was that she wanted to get as far away from her oppressors as ponily possible.

"Oh, no! LYRA, COME BACK!" Bon-Bon shouted for her best friend, hurrying along after her.

"You foals make me SICK!" Carrot Top said to the semicircle of stallions and mares, who were laughing at how successful their taunting had worked. She ran off after Bon-Bon, who looked like an ant with how fast she was chasing after Lyra.

"Yeah! You guys are mean! As a matter of fact, I was gonna give you these," Derpy withdrew a small basket of muffins from her saddlebags and held it up in front the crowd of haters, who stopped their cackling and stared at the tantalizing basket with watering, open mouths. "But I guess I changed my mind!" With that, she threw the basket of muffins as far as she could towards a nearby wastebasket. Once again, with her hoof-eye coordination below poor, the basket missed its intended target by a couple yards, but landed in the gushing water fountain next to it. "Aw, close enough!" She took off and flew as fast as she could in her silly bob-up-and-down fashion towards her friends.

---

"'Hey, look, Mr. Satyr Guy, I'm sorry.' No, that won't work! *gasp* I know! Um...'Mr. Satyr, I'm really sorry that I did and said all those mean things to you, can you please forgive me?'... Argh, that won't work either!"

Rainbow Dash was trying to work up an exceptional apology with no good results. She'd been at this ever since Fluttershy had given her the non-painful pimp-hoof and demanded that she give him an apology. She had been walking to Praxis's home in the Everfree Forest, and she was near the tree line that was the barrier between safety and danger.

'Ugh, it's no use. I'll never find the right words to say to that guy. Besides, he may never forgive me after what I've done.

'But that might not be the case. He might forgive, but might not. I can't just sit here and not find out; better to take the leap of faith than to regret it for the rest of my life.'

With newly found courage, Rainbow gulped down whatever saliva she had in her mouth down her dry throat and opened her wings, ready to fly in the forest and scan for the satyr who deserves an apology.

---

Praxis was awoken on his new tree, which he had recognized as oak after his blind rage had ended and he was close to falling asleep on its tallest branch. He stretched his limbs and cracked them, along with his back and his neck, all of which were slightly lethargic from sleeping on a narrow tree limb without tossing and turning.

He regretted his outburst, the very thing that had made Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash cry. He regretted all those words he had thrown in the tomboyish pony's face. He sat there in deep thought, his bearded chin resting on his palms.

'Maybe it was a bad idea that I had done that. Maybe it would've been better if I hadn't come here and stayed as that dorky little kid named Adam. That way, nopony would be scared for their lives, nopony would be forced to hide in their homes, armed with furniture items or somethings in case I got close.' He gave a weak chuckle and rubbed the back of his head where Rainbow Dash had chucked that vase. The wound had fleshed over and began to heal, but like the damage done to his spirit during the incident, the wound was a scar; sure, it would heal in time and the pain will die, but it will never be forgotten, it will be a reminder of what happened for all eternity.

'Yeah... that would be loads better.'

He sighed deeply and laid down again, trying to get some more sleep while he could.

---

Canterlot Castle

Princess Celestia was walking back down off of the balcony after raising her Equestrian sun to signal morning. She had made her way down to her throne room and into her remarkably plush and comfortable chair, sorting through the mail that other ponies had sent her from across the land.

Needless to say, she found the entire task to be utterly tedious. Until she came across a letter from her star pupil, Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Celestia,

There's been a strange visit from Ponyville by a monstrous creature, along with a breach of peace in the middle of the town square over said creature. Legends of the monster seemed to have become reality, seeing as how it had come to town early this morning. Judging from Lyra Heartstrings' experience with the creature, who goes by the mysterious name of Praxis, is a satyr: a half-human and half-goat hybrid with abilities of altering nature and life through the playing of reed pipes or flutes. We don't know how it got here or why it's here, but I have the faintest inkling that Lyra might have accidentally brought it here.

I'm also unsure if this creature is benign or thirsty for blood, but since Lyra, her friend Bon-Bon, Derpy Hooves the mailmare, Zecora the Zebra shaman, and Carrot Top the gardener are unscathed when they met it, I can only assume that it is the former choice other than the latter, especially since word of it saving Fluttershy from falling into a pond and drowning (Rainbow Dash pulled a prank on her) has spread like wildfire. However, that doesn't mean that Ponyville is out of the woods. If you could oblige to my next small favor, it would set all our hearts at ease: could you send a squad of your finest Pegasi guards to the Everfree Forest, where Praxis is rumored to inhabit, and get them to investigate more?

Thank you very much.

Your faithful (and fearful) student,

~Twilight Sparkle

"Hmm... a benign monster? Unusual, but I guess it's not unheard of," she mused aloud to herself. "Maybe Lyra wasn't crazy when she first discovered humans." She gave a little chuckle at her and everypony who knew Lyra eating their own words.

"Princess!" called a chestnut-coated Pegasus guard in royal armor, charging through the gates with a nervous look plastered to his face. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Princess Celestia, there's-"

"An unknown creature in the Everfree Forest, who, by the sound of it, is terrorizing Ponyville in an indirect manner?" the Sun Goddess completed nonchalantly.

"Y-yes. You already knew?"

"Indeed I did, good admiral. I got a letter informing me about the situation. Your next mission is to find this unknown creature and bring... him to me. I must ask him serious questions."

"Yes, Princess." He turned to his crew of Pegasi guards. "Alright, gentlemen. We've got a monster to catch! Let's roll!" They turned to the balcony that veered to the right of the throne room and jumped off of the ledge, their wings opening after five seconds of freefalling and taking to the sky towards the Everfree.

"I love it when they do that," the Sun Goddess giggled to herself before reluctantly returning to the unopened stack of letter scrolls that awaited her.

---

Praxis was dreaming.

There was something strange, though. His usual dreams, consisting of swimming pools filled with chocolate, superpowers, and/or all the hot women he could ever want, had been replaced by... nothing. Just plain old whiteness as far as the eye could see.

"This is... awkward. What the hell am I gonna do here? Where are the superpowers, the chocolate, the HOES? Man, this is definitely not one of my greatest dreams."

"That is absolutely correct," said a deep, cold, and deadly voice.

Praxis whipped around as fast as a bullet and saw the most horrid sight he could've ever witnessed.

A big black... something was floating towards him like an evil spectre. Its eyes were glowing red, black wisps snaking out of it as it advanced. It smiled a devilish smile, its mouth full to the brim with yellow, rotting fangs, each tip barely touching the black gums that smelled of rotting death. A big red glow pulsated from the beast's chest, beating at an deathly slow rate like E.T.'s failing heart. The horns on its head were monolithic for their size, rising to a staggering five to six feet.

"Meep!" Praxis squeaked quietly, his long ears flopping down in fear. "W-who are you?" He tried his best to not sound afraid, but too little too late: the creature was laughing at his demise, its satanic cackles ringing in his ears as it reverberated across the all-white landscape.

"Who am I? Well, you know that monster that hides under the bed every night and haunts you when you go to sleep? Let us just simply state that the...Insanity... wasn't all that had...sent you to bed...." He ended his last four words in a murderous tone before sticking a long, clawed hand out to the side at a lengthwise fashion, gathering up tendrils of darkness into his palm. The tendrils soon took the form of a gargantuan sword, a slitted eyeball resting in the center of the hilt. He raised himself high up into the air and spun the sword until it was held in a backhanded style.

The effect was instantaneous.

Praxis fell to his knees and grabbed his head in pain, like his cranium had been rammed into a ginormous anvil. He bit his lip to resist screaming in pain.

"What are you doing here in my head?!" the satyr shouted at the black figure in the sky.

"Don't you realize, you fool? You spawned me out of the most hateful and disturbing of memories and emotions, giving me enough power to take this godlike form. Oh, and how delicious they all were to view. While I would continue to feast upon them some more... I must depart... but not with giving you a parting gift... Ta-ta...and remember: tefached. Be afraid...." He cocked his arm back, laughing evilly. He threw his massive sword into the white floor Praxis stood upon. The floor cracked from the blade entering it. Soon, the effected area began to lose its brightness, the fading of white into black contaminating the whole dream domain. The white soon became ash gray, then charcoal, pencil lead, and finally black. He was surrounded in darkness, falling to the floor as voices began filling his head, ghostly and ominous figures emerging from the blackness. One charged at him, long blades replacing its hands. The smell of its rotting flesh became more potent as it got closer. It brought its blades upon the satyr's head, only to vanish a millisecond before the edges could leave an incision upon his eyes, which were reduced to slits. The other figures in the darkness charged as well, the same process of near-murderous actions being performed over and over again. They wouldn't let up, like the satyr was caught in a vicious thunderstorm of razors.

Praxis clutched his head and dug the nails in until he felt a sharp pain from both sides of his cranium. His security, his safety, his very sanity was crumbling to nothing but rubble as he stared at his hands, tainted with his blood. He began chuckling weakly, the laughter growing in volume as time passed. Before long, he was laughing so loudly and so violently, he would've had a heart attack if this wasn't a dream....

But was it?

Somewhere in Praxis's roars of mad and insane delight, a cold, malicious, and deep voice remained disguised when it was spoken.

"The world will soon be my asylum... and all those that inhabit it will be my... patients...."

---

Wow, I don't really do these author's notes often. But I'll give it a whirl.

First, a recap: Princess Celestia sent some of her guards to capture Praxis, who still deserves and owes Rainbow Dash an apology. Lyra, Bon-Bon, Derpy, Carrot Top, and Zecora are seen as accomplices to Praxis, whose was visited and tortured by his worst nightmare, whom I will call Insanity. Insanity had escaped from Praxis and will unleash havoc.

Second: you can go ahead and call me out on any OPing, but Insanity is exactly how I would picture him, so... *Pbbbt!*

Um... I presume that that's it. This is ShadowWeaver, signing off for the night. Remember these three rules while you cower under thy covers: Be alert... be armed... and be afraid....

Night-night, fillies and gentlecolts....

Comments

[banjo2E]

oh no its sheogorath what ever shall we do

Kind of underwhelming as far as nightmare visions go. It's kinda hard to drive someone ax-crazy within five minutes.

[Gigabyte]

Oh Jesus. TWILIGHT WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU D:

[Kablex]

443096 What we should do is arm ourselves with fish, lots and lots of fish, and CHEESE!

[banjo2E]

444619

"Throw the CHEESE!"

[themanesix]

ummmmm...we seem to have a problem.....did Phryxis unintentionally release a nightmare.........oops

[hs0003]

Wow, I am pretty sure that Celetias wording just fucked all manner of things up.

[dragenfire68]

443240 yes lets send a squad of armed gaurds to "investigate" a totally harmless creature. -_- jeez.

[MidnightLightGlimmer]

Everyone is so OOC. I mean come on..... Have they not seen many non evil creatures before and didn't have bad reactions such as this? Also they are the elements of Harmony...... There is nothing harmonies about what's taking place in this story ????