Human Nature and the Unknown

by EntropyEntropy

Chapter 1

Stuck in a hospital bed, relaxed against the cushion, eyes closed and letting my mind wander to ponder just how big an affect someone like Shining Armor would have not existing. A part of me hoped the guard captain who'd replace him would be just as capable at defensive magic as he was....

"Who am I kidding, this world seems even more volatile than I was shown." I said to myself, thinking about the wolves and their highly adaptive thinking and empowering. I still don't know if I managed to destroy them all, and no matter what, I plan to build that house out of the ancient everfree wood. The reason I'm so determined to do so was what I read from Twilight's library, during the first night I was here. I've read fan fictions of this world before I came here, and the everfree is always the most starting venture for human's like me, excluding the villains.

Rarely do they die, and for some reason they sometimes do well and somehow live in that place, but clearly having experienced it myself, you'd have to have powerful combat experience and abilities of some type to live in there. Let alone some sort of security system to keep yourself, an actual edible, from being consumed.

I shake the thought from my head lightly, and remind myself my goal of why I need the logs from deep within the Everfree. According to what I read at the time, the ancient woods were known to be magically resistant to almost all forms of magic, even magic of those as powerful as Discord. According to the author, during his chaotic reign, it was one of the few things he couldn't completely change. Its inhabitants and the outer woods, easily, but not the ancient trees deep within.

So of course, not knowing if even Discord would be the same type of villain as I saw in the show, I wanted to make some defenses against him and his magic. Having his existence confirmed is both a blessing and a curse, because going by the fact I've yet to see him since coming here, it might be safe to assume he hasn't broke out yet despite Twilight being a princess.

The history here is outright different, but what was worrying me since shortly after I got here was one simple conversation. I thought back to it, since I had nothing better to do than analyze my own thoughts.

"You're so different than anything I've ever seen!" Twilight exclaimed, "The fact you can speak Equestrian alone is a miracle if what you say is true, I'm happy I was the one who found you as well, most of my friends, let alone Equestria, don't even know what human exactly looks like!" She said with clear nerdy excitement.

"Yea, its certainly lucky I even look like them since I don't come from the same world." I say calmly, thankful Twilight didn't get stuck on that possibility having jumped to a different world herself already.

I continue, "that being said, I'm sure you've met crazier things than humans, being one of the princesses of Equestria." Simply trying to keep up conversation, as I already knew what she has faced up to this point, or at least, so I thought.

"Oh yea, I've met griffons, I have Spike, the OTHER princesses, and of course, other humans." she said smiling, happy to be having a conversation with another human again, at least, I think.

I laughed, "Yea, and then you probably met ACTUAL crazies too, like villains and stuff, right?"

"Actually, no, the only "villain" I've fought is Nightmare Moon, but she's extremely nice now as Princess Luna, though she was pretty loud at first." She replied calmly and put me through a shock.

"...."

I could only stare at her as I processed that information, unsure of how to respond realizing that my knowledge of this world is off or at the very least in a different order. My silence must've unnerved Twilight at the time, as she asked if I was OK. I cleared my throat, before just laughing it off and saying, "Yea, I'm fine, just surprised your world is so peaceful, mine is so hectic in comparison."

I was merely trying to deflect her concerns, but it seems it backfired slightly, as bringing up my world was something she constantly tried getting me to do. What I told her about was how my people basically lived as if the whole world was the Everfree Forest, with nature uncontrolled, and animals all seeking to feed and wander wherever food was, and that it took a long time for humanity to come out on top against nature. For my own sake and to maintain her trust, I left out how many villains plagued my world at a near constant, as well as their obscured nature.

We talked some time, but in the back of my mind I could only think about one thing, 'None of them; the villains, have showed up yet.'

It was at that time worry started to gnaw its teeth upon me, and I asked Twilight if I could have some time to learn of the world through the books of her library. She was happy to help, and even asked what I was looking for, of course disappointed the conversation was ending I'm sure, but it was clearly covered by the fact someone wanted to make use of her library. Apparently very few ponies actually checked out any books now-a-days, with only hot topic books like Daring Do being checked out or read. I asked for a "history of Equestria" book, and she magically held the thick tome in front of me.

I grabbed it out of the air, walked over to a wall, sat down, and began to read right then and there after thanking her.

It was within that tome that I learned important details, like how the celestial sister's built their first castle deep within the Everfree because it was out of Discord's sight, and was also where they heard the rumors of a magical tree of unknown power hidden deep within. Suffice to say, this was the same book that told me about the properties of the deep everfree woods. I did also eventually find a page where the opening episode of my little pony was based on, and noticed the cover of the book had the same golden unicorn insignia.

I read on, and found even the history of the Crystal Empire, or rather, snippets of its existence, and its fall to King Sombra, as well as Tirek being defeated, but oddly enough, no mention of his brother this time. At the time, I didn't question it, as at this point I was merely flipping through the book to find out if the villains I know of had appeared in history yet, and was jumping through rather than reading. I had thought it was safe to conclude that this world simply had a different "pacing" to events, or something along those lines, which I thought I could handle, as Twilight and her friends did fine with less power than they have now.

Yet, the next day, I learned Shining Armor doesn't even exist, and then read back and confirmed the lack of existence of Tirek's brother, among other things. I even took notice of other such oddities in town, such as seeing Diamond Tiara walking around, but no Silver Spoon. Lyra, but no BonBon, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, but no Scootaloo.

That last one threw me through a loop once I realized it, and who knows who else doesn't exist anymore, or possibly never existed in this case. Yet, I had already earlier confirmed that all the villains, or at the very least, the most intimidating ones, DO exist. What's worse, the history between them and Equestria seems to be the same, Sombra having sealed away the Crystal Empire along with himself, and Tirek being thrown into Tartarus.

I shiver at how the Crystal Empire, when it returns, will be able to hold itself together without Shining Armor to protect the place with his signature shield. Let alone if Celestia even has a plan for the place, considering Shining Armor seemed to be its only defense within the show at the time. Would she send Twilight and her friends alone again this time, even if he already ruled the place? Would Cadence be able to hold her own against Sombra if Celestia sent her there again?....

Actually, ignoring the potential for Cadence to not even exist, how DID Shining Armor and Cadence get to the Crystal Empire before Sombra? A part of me wonders if maybe, just maybe, Cadence managed to push him out and create time for Shining Armor to make his shield? Remembering it was never showing, I did remember that Cadence was supplying the shield and far more tired than Shining Armor was. Did Shining Armor teach her the spell, or did she know it by herself?

I had so many questions, and no way to ask them without giving hints that I know more about this world. Its important, of course, but the main issue with giving this information I have away, is what would happen if some villain heard that I knew the future? I was cautious, and wanted to keep it a secret until after I learned more of the current state of Equestria, but after doing so, I had decided that the knowledge was more dangerous for me to know than it was useful for the ponies to have.

If I become a target of someone who has no problem attacking while I'm sleeping like Chrysalis, who I have no idea whether she exists or not as she's not in ANY Equestrian records as far as I could read, let alone changelings, it could spell the end for Equestria as a whole with the strategies I'd spew. I took a short moment just to think on it, and how simple it would be, to just take a rock to the back of ANY of the mane 6's skulls once trust is earned. If I was completely under Chrysalis's spell, I could see myself arguing in the favor of such barbarism even against her want to use them as feed.

To rob a country, break its wall and hold its citizens, its wall is weak and separates as these ponies are its primary protectors, and can be individually removed. I play with the idea of her arguing with the idea that the ponies wouldn't do anything if there was a hostage, but counter by saying that a hostage can be rescued, and then used, each of them are important, but kill ONE of them and show off the body, along with another as a hostage if they do anything, then the idea of them being responsible for the death of the next hostage would keep them in place, and that even if it didn't, their power based on unity would shrivel with that ONE missing component.

I couldn't help but shiver at these thoughts, not wanting to humor them too much in case mind reading magic existed here without my knowledge. The barbarism is human nature only, at least in this world it is, and I dread being corrupted by someone like Sombra even more, if his enslavement magic allowed me to keep ANY of my intelligence. Sure, I know from the show that his ponies had no problem trying to crush another pony with a boulder, but murder, as damaging as it is, at the very least, doesn't allow room for more evil to take place upon the victim and its families. Take hold, I admit, but not take place, that is to say, one could become evil from the loss, but the lost would never more suffer the evil....

Less the afterlife sucks just as much, which in my case, it seems to such pretty bad right.... Now....

How did I know I died?

When I first arrived here, I had no idea about my life before, let alone what it was before I got here. I simply had my admittedly stupid name, and the knowledge of this world as a show. Family, friends, enemies, its all just a swirl of emotions and shadowy figures, but.... For some reason I was able to tell I died?

How did I.... Die....?

Perhaps to answer the silence, my mind couldn't help but let me sleep on the thought, the thoughts I was having before, still left open and unanswered with even more questions yet asked, drowning out to the much needed wave of sleep that called me.

....

I was slammed against the wall, back aching against the concrete, the one holding me against it laughing, "Really, what did you think would happen?!" I heard yelled into my ear. "Did you think that just because you told him to run and get help, that we'd just stand there and fight you fairly?"

The only answer I could make was coughing, barely having the strength to groan.

"Please, it was five against one, you had no chance of winning and it was easy to drag you away. All we wanted was to bleed your friend. I heard him bragging about his rare blood type, AB negative, was it? Even said he was a universal donor, " He laughed "I mean, don't get me wrong, good for him, he's sharing, but universal donor? The world of crime is bloody, and can always use blood transfusions for the messy back door botched murders our colleagues have sometimes." He said, twirling a knife in his hand.

He waited for me to say something, but again, I was in no condition to speak, too tired and bruised, and barely conscious.

"So I'll make this nice and clear, you're going to tell me where he is, so we can lock him up, and pull some from him each and every day. I promise we won't kill him, he's "valuable" after all, but I promise his ass will be very sore from sitting all the time. Hey, we'll even shave him when he's not screaming for help or food."

These bastards. That was all I could think, my rage burned greatly, and my heart rate quickened, I could hear it in my ears as I forced my head to lift up so I could look into his eyes.

"Eat the fattest piece of-" I didn't get to finish the sentence as a knife was stabbed into my chest.

"That's okay, witness protection programs are really good at what they do, but for him to be the reason you died, I'm sure he'll be at your funeral, and protection or not, a lifeline will bring a lot of help." The man says callously, while I feel my heart pierced and spit a lot of blood onto the ground. He stops holding me up, as I fall to the ground, choking on my life essence, before using the last of my strength to look up.

With the last of my strength, I tell him, "I.... Didn't want to.... End up like that.... So I told him.... To pretend he was.... The one donating.... Dumbass...."

One last lie, even in my final moments, despite my friend leaving me without hesitation, despite him being responsible for my death, despite my anger towards him for the pain I feel now, despite it all, I refused to betray my friend, knowing the odds were low they could identify the blood of a corpse for type in time before decay. I made sure to put my all into saying it, so the shadows behind him could hear. Even as I bled out, I knew that they weren't part of the same group who kidnapped me. I felt they were the help he spoke of in my gut.

Suddenly, the figure who had stabbed me extended out, encompassing a large area, consuming the shadows behind them as well.

"And that's why I trapped you in this world, where you're the most evil one alive" The figure no longer looked the same, its voice loud and deep, making my body shake, and just looking at it made my eyes burn and made me want to vomit, the hole in my chest and the pain it caused pails in comparison, what you think were eyes were glowing so brightly that you believe its what causes my eyes to burn, but you cannot call what comes from them "light", instead it was only dark shadows that seemed to blind me and cut into my very eyes, and felt as if it was flaying my skin, just rays of darkness that wanted to make me scream

"I will be watching, and you will become mine again, now, awaken." It enunciated this by slamming one of its shadowy tendril into my open chest wound.

I gasped awake, scaring a Twilight who looked as if she was examining my chest. I couldn't spare her any mind, as I held my hands over my chest, the phantom pain of being stabbed in the heart the second time still very much there. I could feel her hoof on my shoulder, and felt that she was trying to talk to me, but the pain was so terrible that it even prevented me from thinking about and therefore understanding her words. I did feel bandages where I was gripping my hand, but I could feel them threatening to tear from the grip of my hand as well.

I don't know how long it took for me to calm down, my eyes were closed, but I eventually managed to open them again, and I saw Twilight immediately showing me her breathing exercise that she learned from.... Cadence....

Suddenly the memories of the last two days flooded back to me, and gave me just enough of a distraction and clarity to ignore the phantom pain I was feeling long enough for it to fade. Never have I felt anything so painful in all my.... life? Lives? I now know I was murdered, but honestly, that is so small in comparison to whatever that was I saw, and what it said to me. The obvious questions were what was it, and what did it mean by "again"?

"are you alright now?!" Twilight said in a panic, obviously perturbed by my fit. I took a deep breath, trying to cool my nerves despite the pain and terror I had faced moments ago. "Yea, I feel better now, that was.... One of the worst nightmares I've ever had, I'm sure."

Twilight had a sigh of relief, before she cleared her throat, just before she speaks, I notice the daylight outside and take note its morning, "Actually, that's one of the reasons I'm here, and now seems the most important we start with." Twilight says frankly.

I look over at her again, clearly wondering what she meant by that, "well, you see, Princess Luna is really good at helping ponies sleep at night, because she combats dreams, and, well.... She couldn't find your dream even though she got confirmation you were sleeping."

"I have several questions." I say in reply, though internally I shrug as I seem to always have more questions.

Twilight seems like she's ready to listen to them, so I lay back down and get comfy before I say the questions I have about what she said.

"To start with," I say, "How did Luna get confirmation I was sleeping?"

I started with that question as it seemed odd for her to know I was sleeping but not dreaming, and the way Twilight phrases means that someone told her, but as far as I'm aware, only the hospital staff knew-

"The staff reported your condition to me in the middle of the night, which then I reported to Celestia, who then reported it to Luna so that she could watch your dreams and check for any mental trauma."

Ah....

"Also, I'm sure the idea of ponies looking through dreams is a foreign concept to you, as magic doesn't exist in your world, but know that she CAN, and she DID look at the dreams you had the first night here. Of course she didn't tell me what they were-" wasn't it was a wet dream? "but she did say they were interesting." I hope it wasn't a wet dream.

"Anyway, when she went through the dream realm to find your dream the way she did before, she couldn't find it, she told me she checked up on you in the middle of the night to find out if you WERE asleep, and even tried to connect directly, but she said it was as if your mind no longer existed." Naturally, I am immensely concerned by that.

"That's concerning." I couldn't really say much else.

"Very." Twilight replied, before continuing, "Your body was practically comatose as well, but even in coma victims, Luna could still give them some form of dream, but she had "nothing to work with" she said." Twilight finished, doing weird hoof quote maneuver with her front hooves.

I take a moment to register that, before asking, "So.... What happened after that?"

"Well, not much else, because after that she decided that there was nothing she could do without knowing more, also can I say that you are very calm about Princess Luna looking through your dreams?" Twilight said with an curious tone.

I was confused at first, never expecting Twilight to question someone not questioning the princesses, before she continued, "I mean, don't take that the wrong way, I trust the princesses completely, but I also understand a lot of the other creatures are very private about their dreams, and even their nightmares, and most tend to get upset with Luna for piercing into them, so I just found it odd you were.... Fine with it." Twilight says with a nervous smile, her eyes clearly asking for a reply with a curious lift.

"I mean, compared to the fact that apparently I had no mind at all, in contrast to uh.... THAT nightmare I had.... I am far more concerned by that." Again, I couldn't say much else, probably in shock at the scope of what that means.

"What even WAS your dream, you looked like you were in so much pain, and I couldn't break you out of it-" I look up while she said this and she saw me almost unconsciously reach to grab my chest again before interrupting herself, "Actually, nevermind, it looks like its not safe for you to talk about it right now, sorry...." Twilight could only look down apologetically, likely seeing the pain on my face as well. I think to myself, 'you want to tell her, but even you don't have any info to pull from.'

"I.... Let's just say I dreamed about a really bad memory." Twilight looks up at my response, and asks before she can stop herself, "So there wasn't anything odd about the-" before immediately interrupting herself again with, "I mean-" she pauses before sighing exasperatedly, "Nevermind."

I couldn't say much to that either, really I'm just out of words in general, I very well may be in shock still as I'm having a hard time thinking beyond what just happened and Twilight's words. There was an awkward silence, Twilight clearly wanting me to say something, but my mind was distracted far too much to read her silent request. She finally broke the silence herself with another different and unrelated question, "So, its good to see that after the timber wolf attack you don't have any serious injuries." She says happily, thankful she thought of something she could change the subject with.

"Right, yea, its good that uh, that I'm fine-ish." I say in reply, before continuing, "I mean, I'm pretty sure I damaged my lungs, but right now I feel oddly fine breathing, better than yesterday, at least." I finally take a moment to examine myself again, and notice I'm not as bad off as I was yesterday. In fact, oddly enough, the massive bruise on my chest, which should be seen beyond the bandages, was no longer there, even though it couldn't have been less than a few hours.

"Actually, examining myself, I far better off than when I arrived." I say, honestly surprised at my condition.

"Yea, that's another reason I'm here waiting to ask things." Twilight says in reply, before continuing, "When Luna first arrived, your condition had changed, and you no longer had any injuries. The bandages placed were from memory of the doctor who first saw them, who wanted them placed anyway just in case the injuries magically return in the same manner they disappeared."

"disappeared?" I ask.

"Yea, one of the doctor's actually managed to see it before his eyes, apparently, while you were falling asleep, a doctor had come in to check on you. The moment the heart monitor registered heart beats that matched deep sleep, your body convulsed in a manner that seemed as if you were hit in the chest, then instantly after that, according to the doctor in question, your bruise, swelling, and chest cuts were gone in an instant." Twilight says, obviously intrigued by what she was saying.

Me on the other hand? I was extremely terrified, because of several reasons: One, and the most obvious; the final part of my dream was that shadowy figure nailing me in the chest with what could sorta be called a punch. Two, my mind was apparently beyond the reach of someone who could literally tap into them. Three, the nightmare I had implied something was watching me and wanted to OWN me. Four, and the most concerning, is the fact that its currently morning outside now.

Why is that the most concerning? Because that chest punch happened at the END of my dream, and I KNOW I fell asleep when it was still near pitch black dark outside, meaning that I was asleep for a few hours, yet if this thing was responsible for healing me, it did so the moment I truly fell asleep and STARTED to dream. I know time moves differently in a dream, but apparently it was instant. What.... Just what the hell WAS that thing?

Just as I question this, I feel myself take a sudden intake of breath, and my body growing almost frigid for a mere moment, yet in that moment, I saw the walls turn black, the floors turn black, the ceiling, the bed post, everything around me, a pure void for a moment, Twilight's coat as well, becoming a shadowy black as well and completely hiding her features, except her head, which turned to its side as if it were broken, and I could hear the snap, yet there was an outline of light, and her eyes still had all their color, but in them, her pupils were pin pricks, and filled with fear.

A chill traveled through me in that mere instant, but just as quickly as it happened, it had left, not even leaving me the time to blink that it happened so quickly. Once everything was normal Twilight saw that once again my face was pail, but this time she saw pure fear rather than pain, looking directly at her. I realized quickly I was making a face, and quickly squelched the horror I witnessed despite the cold feeling in my chest, "Sorry Twilight, I'm actually not feeling too good right now, can we.... Talk later?"

Twilight was clearly immensely concerned, but it seemed like she felt it was her that you were afraid of, though she couldn't understand why.

"I.... Alright, you take all the time you need to rest, I'll be.... I'll be right outside if you need me, I still have a doctor who told me about some info you shared to speak with." Twilight said, smiling nervously as she walked away.

....

I.... Don't want to think about what that was, what ANY of it was, after she left, I couldn't stop shaking. Its natural to question, once in a place like this, if its real, but the fear of that is.... Different now.... Something that scared me more than everything just being an illusion, a dream, or whatever, that wouldn't without what I've just seen.... What if its real? If it is, what if what I saw was, even worse, just as real?

What.... The hell is this world?

Amidst my shaking, I clench my fist, and force myself to cease, before standing up, "No matter what this is, or what that was, the goal remains the same, in fact it may be even more important than before...."

I stop talking out loud, no longer needing to calm myself with my own voice as I finish off my sentence in my mind.

'I must get stronger, and prepare.'
I don't have a choice.
I must survive.

Author's Note:

So, I get what you're thinking, that I should tag this as "Horror" now, as the concepts and fears introduced are, admittedly, at best, can be affectionately called, "Holy shit."

Because JESUS the idea is terrifying even without the extra information.

That being said, the "creature" as I'll call it, while incredibly powerful and integral to both the plot and the story, doesn't appear often within it. This will END with it, I promise you, but from this point on, mostly speaking I mean, it will only give tidbits of hints about itself rarely as the story goes on.

As well as hint to whoever the main character is, who will also do so himself throughout the entire story.

You can rest easy as the rather intense mind flaying and torture was merely to establish that this thing is powerful, evil, scary, and responsible for Anon's arrival in Equestria. Less I'm told otherwise, I don't think I need a gore tag, or a horror tag....

I may actually need a gore tag....

Let me know what you think below. (Including on if I need a gore tag for a single event in a dream)

(Also know that I just rapidly type these things in a day, and that I took only 4 hours to make this chapter, so mistakes are expected, and will be corrected when I wake up.)

Comments

[toshibafox]

Is this set somewhere between season 1 and season 2, cause the only villain they faced were nightmare_moon and that didn't need shining_armor. The only two villains I see adapting their plans would be chrysalis and sombra to account for the lost of shining_armor. Any chance shining_Armor turned evil and celestia had him erased while banishing him for some reason. Just theory crafting at the moment.

[EntropyEntropy]

9768293
Keep in mind Twilight is an alicorn, despite her only facing Nightmare Moon. Its established to our human that events are not taking place linearly. The ordering of events are now something he can't predict thanks to this.

What's more is with the most recent villain reveal, (the creature) he has no idea what he can trust and what exactly is safe. At the moment, the biggest threat In his eyes (outside the nightmare) is Discord, whom he has no idea if he will still be the same misguided individual as before, or a heartless villain.

The knowledge he has of the show only assist him in knowing who may potentially exist. It's been made clear to him that the knowledge of order of events, is not going to be of any help to him. He also got the hint with Spike that characters can be different individually as well.

Tl: dr
Seasons and episodes only help with context, not predictions.

(Also, I will establish Shining Armor truly never existed in this world, and if you take into account Twilight is an alicorn, there are a few villains that should be around that aren't, and Twilight made it clear who she has yet to face to our protagonist, much to his horror.)

[Quinch]

I'm not sure about the fire tag - the line is kinda fuzzy I think - but probably a violence one?

[EntropyEntropy]

9772471
There's a violence tag? *Checks* Oh....

Its under warnings, not tags.... I didn't see that before, thank you for bringing that to my attention.