Isolation

by Another Army Brony

Trapped Within

I don’t know how long I existed like that, if I even existed at all. All I know is that eventually, the waves of pain tossing my form upon this sea of madness slowly abated, washing me upon the shore of consciousness. The swells of pain caressed me still, though they failed to sweep me once more into the tossing surf as before. The pain I felt was concentrated in the second joints of my limbs, and my elbows and knees felt as if they were on fire.

Fire…

At the thought of fire, a series of images flashed through my head, each painful in its intensity.

The elevator shaft, descending into the void.

The stale air in the tunnel, dim lights flickering overhead as they dangled from bare wires.

Stepping through puddles of ground water that had seeped in, navigating the numerous tunnels and secondary shafts.

The raw face of the exploration shaft, black obsidian glistening wetly.

Dirt, with the biggest ear to ear grin I’d ever seen.

Lightning forked behind my eyes, breaking me out of this dream… was it a dream, or a memory? The sound of voices came from the blackness around me, muffled as if it was a great distance away.

Instinctively, I turned my head to look at the source of the sound. Or at least, I tried to. My head refused to move. I reached up to feel my head, trying to find out what was going on. My arm remained stationary, as if weighed down by a trillion tons of rock. What the hay… ? I tried to move everything, finding myself unable to move anything. No movement whatsoever. I took a deep breath to call for help, call for anybody to help me. I could hear the voices still; I knew they were out there. With a sickening pit forming in my stomach, my lungs continued to work just as they always had. I tried to hold my breath, and my lungs refused to heed my call, bend to my will. My eyes are glued shut, likewise refusing to open and permit me a glance at the world around me.

From the bottom of my heart and soul, I wanted to scream, NEEDED to scream, but the terrible silence stopped me. I needed to scream, needed to let somebody out there know that I yet lived; it was to no avail, something that made me need to scream all the more in a self perpetuating cycle of madness. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t see.

I watched as the flames danced across my eyes, vision shifting from crimson to white before finally fading to a static-filled black.

Lightning arced across my body, causing it to convulse of its own accord, taking me along for the ride. A bit of the fog of pain lifted, allowing the conversation to drift in a little bit louder, as if the source was closer now.

“… subject we’ve been looking for. No cerebral activity whatsoever.”

Another voice drifted out to meet my ears, that of a young female.

“Doctor, are you sure this is okay? Won’t he suffer terribly from the trials?”

“Nurse, I assure you that your fears are unfounded. His cerebrum has suffered massive and irreparable damage. His brain stem has been entirely severed, maintaining his autonomous functions and nothing more.”

I could feel the weight of the doctors words sitting upon my soul with all the crushing finality of a mountain caving in upon me.

The sound of an explosion and the roar of a collapse deafen me, reverberating through my core. I feel my world pitched violently to the side as a large rock strikes me upon the helm.

What the heck was that? Was that a nightmare, or a memory? The sound of a male voice, different from the first, drifted through the fog.

“He’ll never know what’s happened to him.”

“Correct. Nurse, had I not been sure of this, I’d not have committed him to live. It is impossible for the separated individual to experience pain, pleasure, memory, dreams, or thoughts of any kind. This young stallion shall be as unfeeling, as unthinking as the dead until the day he joins them.”

LIES! Please, help me! I can feel, I can think! Please, wake me from this nightmare!

“He is the perfect biological specimen for our needs. We’ll be able to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods of treatment without the need to use volunteers as test subjects. Any further questions, nurse?”

“No, doctor.”

“Good, good. If you would, please prep the feeding tube so we can be ready for the procedure this afternoon.”

“Yes doctor.”

“Very well then. I’ll be taking Jim for a tour of the rest of the facility now; I expect everything will be ready by the time we get back?”

“Yes, this should only take a moment, doctor.”

“See to it, then.”

I heard a pair of hooves walking away, leaving me alone with the nurse at my bedside. A deep sigh came from my left somewhere, followed by the sound of silverware on a metal table. The sound of the utensils being shuffled for a moment was replaced by the sound of drawers and then cabinets being opened and closed a moment later, as if somepony was searching for something. The sounds became more and more harried as they circled back to where they started and began the process over again. A single set of hooves approached the door, and the voice of the doctor from earlier rang out in the nearly silent room.

“I walked off without my clipboard, can you believe? Wait a second. Nurse, why isn’t the feeding tube in yet? This is a simple operation, stop wasting time.”

“I’m trying doctor, but I can’t find any anesthetic for the procedure.”

“Nurse, the subject has no sensations whatsoever; the anesthetic would be a waste.”

“But doctor, --“

“Enough, nurse. Perform the procedure as ordered, or we’ll find another nurse who will. Don’t forget, I’m the one who is writing the internship reviews.”

“Yes, doctor.”

A satisfied snort, and then the hooves retreated once more. The silverware sound returned once more, a short scraping sound indicating that one implement had been pulled off the table.

Not silverware, medical instruments. Scalpels.

I felt a hoof gently probe my neck below my Adam’s apple, the physical contact both soothing and reassuring to me. I might not be able to move, but at least I could still take comfort from the touch of another. Oh, Carrot… how I wish I could feel you in my arms once more. To feel the caress of your mane against my neck as we embrace, to inhale your lovely scent as I nuzzle your neck… the memory of the feeling was so vivid, it was as if I was there again. The feeling of Carrot pressed up against me as we lay together under the covers, a lazy Sunday morning just spent cuddled together and relishing the tactile sensations of another’s body against my own.

My ability to feel went from a blessing to a terrible curse as a line of ice was drawn beneath my voice box, fire spreading from the point like rays of the sun breaking over the horizon. I felt something warm streak down my neck, followed by another streak on the other side. A familiar coppery smell rose, and I knew all that I needed to; my neck had just been sliced open. The moment the fact registered in my conscious mind, the pain doubled and then redoubled, crimson streaks painting my vision in time with the agony of each pulse. This pain was nothing to the sensation that followed. Another scraping of tools on the metal tray was followed by the insertion of something ice cold into the incision that had just been made. The cool metal initially offered a glimmer of relief, but only for a moment. The implement expanded, opening wide the wound and facilitating the next implement of agony.

The next sensation was that of a serpent slithering down my throat, wiggling and squirming of its own accord as it was pushed along. The feeding tube felt as large as a tree trunk to my inflamed throat, scraping, ripping and tearing as it was forced into my stomach. The waves of agony washed over me once more, threatening to tear me from the shore and sweep me back into the sea of madness. Another silent scream welled up within me, another cry of anguish to which I could give no voice. At the very edge of consciousness, the next phrase drifts down to me as if in a dream, uttered by the nurse as she spoke to herself.

“I can’t help but feel sorry for this guy. He had a real nice wife and a good job… just look at him now… just a slab of meat strapped to a table. No arms, no legs, and no mind, yet he lives on. Luna, give me strength… Luna, may he find solace among your stars.”

Just a slab of meat. No arms. No legs. As the tube bottomed out in my stomach, the sudden flash of pain and the new knowledge that I was a mere slab of meat, a test subject… everything melted away as the tides of madness swept me to sea once more.

With no arms, how can I hold Carrot? How will I provide for her, take care of her when I can’t even take care of myself anymore? I’ll never be able to hold my child… the thoughts came to me, unbidden, despite my efforts to push them away.

The last image that came to me before drifting away into madness was one of me sitting at the edge of the fireplace on hearth’s warming eve, as a small foal bounced excitedly around me, a present in its mouth. The present was deposited upon my lap as the filly looked up at me with the biggest eyes, so full of love it made me melt.

”Open it, Daddy” she says.

All I can do is regard it wistfully as I wiggle my nubs, before replying with a hitch in my throat “I can’t.”

The sea of madness rose up to greet me, the waves of pain crashing over me mingling with the psychological pain of discovering that you have no legs, no arms, and no voice...

~*~*~*~*~*~

I awoke with a start, blinking in the bright light.

Wait. Blinking. I steadied myself for a moment, preparing for the worst as I tried to open my eyes. The light assaulted my eyes like needles, but this was immaterial; I could move! I tried to turn my head, discovering much to my delight that it actually cooperated again. I was so ridiculously excited; I could’ve jumped for joy. I didn’t have a chance to, though; my further jubilation was stopped cold by what I saw beside me. I was not in the hospital, but in my very own bed. There was not a nurse performing surgery while I was agonizingly awake, but rather Carrie lying beside me, still snuggled up in the blankets in that adorable manner of hers. She even had the little smirk she gets when she’s having a good dream… Slowly, so as not to wake her, I shifted my weight to my elbow and leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek, as yet unsure if she was actually there or not. My lips caressed her soft skin, and I knew. I kissed her again, hungrily drinking in her intoxicating scent and savoring the flavor of her on my lips.

Could the nightmare be over? Was it all just a terribly frightening and horribly lucid dream? Oh, thank Luna above. Never before in my life had I ever been so glad to have had a nightmare as I was at that moment. With a newfound admiration for my limbs and a renewed adoration for my life and the ponies in it, I continued to plant kisses on Carrie’s cheek and down to her neck, smiling as I did so. Her cute little smirk grew into a contented smile, her eyelids fluttering open as she turned and favored me with an affectionate kiss. With a voice made low and sultry by sleep, she purred at me.

“Mmm… Good morning, Brad.”

Hearing her voice saying my name so sensuously just made me melt into her with another flurry of kisses. As we broke our lips’ embrace, I pulled back and cocked an eyebrow with a smile.

“Good morning? So far, but I think I know how we can make it a great morning.”

To further illustrate my intentions, I punctuated this with a wink. Carrie replied only with a small moan and a smile, shimmying her hips before purring “Oh, do you now? Well, I think we can arrange that.” Her voice was silk wrapped in honey, and I was powerless to resist. I leaned in for another kiss—

The world rocked around me, and suddenly I was back in the tunnels of the mine, dust in my lungs and an air tank on my back. I blinked in confusion, looking around for a second in disbelief. Spike was standing just in front of me, waving a hoof at me.

“Hello, earth to Nails, come in Nails, over. Dude, snap out of it. Do you want to see the face or not?”

I shook my head to clear the cobwebs out of my brain. I was in the tunnels, on my way to check out the rock face containing the Fire Rubies. Hadn’t I just woken up a second ago? What happened to the ”fun time” I was about to have with Carrot?

What the… how did… Man, I’m really losing it. I might need to take a break off of work if this keeps up.

Smiling, I recalled the implications of finding the Fire Rubies. After this, I could take all the time that I needed. I was light on my hooves as we walked down the tunnel, the lights overhead becoming fewer and farther between as the floor became rougher under-hoof, marking our descent into the shaft under construction.

As we walked farther along, I began to notice a high-pitched whine, not unlike that of a rock drill, growing steadily louder as we traversed the tunnel. By the time we were nearing the turn-off into the exploratory shaft, the noise had grown so unbearably loud that I had to clamp my hooves over my ears. Nopony seemed to notice the noise but me, and even with my hooves pressed tightly against my head, the noise grew louder still. The aural assault drove me to my knees, my discomfort finally becoming evident. Spike turned to look back at me, concern written across his features as he ran back to where I’d fallen.

“Nails, you feeling alright brother?”

The noise was so loud I could feel it boring into my ear. I had no chance to reply. As soon as I opened my mouth, I could do nothing but scream, the sound pouring forth from me as if under incredible pressure. The scream took on a life of its own, and the world shook as its timbre rose. The noise had grown so incredibly loud that it had acquired a color; the color red. The world around me was shaking itself to pieces under the wrath of the noise, and a large chunk of ceiling was sundered from the ceiling to ricochet off of my helmet. Lightning flashed before my eyes as I was swept bodily off of my hooves and hurled to the ethereal breeze, falling out of space and time to land flat on my back with a jolt.

Everything around me was black, not merely absent of light but seemingly possessed of a tangible aspect; it was so thick that I could reach out and touch it. I waved my hoof in front of my face to see how dark my world had become, or at least I tried to. My arm hung limply at my side… or what was left of my arm, at any rate.

Once more, I was trapped within the prison of my own mind, the walls of the prison being none other than my own flesh and bone, refusing to bend to my will. If I had any sort of power over this body that had become my tomb, I would have wept.

Had I dreamed, or was I dreaming now? Were they memories?

But they were so REAL, so VIVID... too real to be a dream… right?

To have been given this respite from my damnation only to be thrown back into it… it broke something in me. How many more times would I “wake up” from this nightmare and go back to my life just to be thrust back into this horror? Every inch of my skin itched from the burns, even on the limbs that were no longer there; my lungs were full of glass and fire, burning me alive from the inside out with each breath; and there was a ringing in my ears that sounded like the scream I wished I could voice.

The passage of time had ceased to mean anything to me. I’ve cried out in anguish, cried for help, and begged for death… all silently. I cannot tell days from hours. I can’t tell if I’m alive and dreaming or dead and remembering. How long I have been like this, drifting from dream to memory to… this… I cannot say.

Steps once more approach, echoing off of the tile floor. Two female voices drift across the ether to tickle my mind.

“… from that explosion the other day.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Know what happened?”

“Not really, do you?”

“No. that’s why I asked you, genius.”

“Hey now… all I know is what everypony else seems to know. There was an explosion in the gem mines, and a bunch of ponies died or were injured. That’s where we got this thing from.”

Thing? THING?! I’m not a thing, I am a pony, you twit! I am a living, breathing, thinking, FEELING pony, not some science experiment. At least… I think I’m alive.

“Oh, okay… wow, that’s terrible. He’s not a thing, he’s a pony. Or at least, he was. Still, have some respect for the departed.”

Thank you, whoever you are. Thank you.

Words cannot express my appreciation for somepony still recognizing me as a pony and treating me with respect, even if only a bit.

“Alright, you win, you win. I’ll refer to him as the subject instead of a thing. Happy?”

“No, but its better. So tell me… what’s the hammer for?”

“We’re testing a new injection that’s supposed to help bones heal much faster.”

“Okay… how do we do that? He’s missing his limbs from the joins down.”

“Simple; we carefully administer a break to one of the major bones that’s still there, and then sling it and inject this into the break site.”

“That sounds terrible… let’s get this over with.”

No… No, please no…

“Grab his right leg above the stump and at the hip and put it into the brace.”

“Alright… I can’t watch this, though. Just… no.”

I felt cold metal and leather straps being affixed to my leg. Desperately, I tried to call out to them, to give them any sort of sign that I was still here, that I could feel. The straps cinched tight, pinching and binding along the inside of my thigh. The straps rubbed against the burned skin like sandpaper, sending fresh flashes of agony coursing through my nerves. The worst part about it was my heart. It should have been racing a hundred kilometers an hour as adrenaline pumped into my bloodstream. Instead, it kept its steady pace, entirely oblivious to what was about to occur.

“Okay, you don’t have to look, but I need you to hold it in place for me.”

“Um...oh… okay then. I’ll just… hold this then… “

I felt hooves gently placed against a very sensitive area, touching me so lightly, the might not have been there at all.

Please, someone stop them… don’t let them do this to me… please… no. No. NO!

“You got him over there? Be sure you’re holding him tight.”

“Yeah, I’ve got him.”

“On three; One.”

No! Stop! Please don’t do this, please!

“Two.”

Nononononononono…

“Three.”

NOOOOOOOOOO—

My protests were cut short by a massive blow to the inside of my thigh, so much power behind the blow that I thought they were trying to break my leg off of me entirely. The waves of pain once more pitched me into seas of madness, though only briefly; I didn’t even have time to dream before the voices brought me back to shore.

“Dangit, this is why I told you to hold him tightly. We didn’t get a break, so now we have to do it again. We’ll have to keep doing it until we get one, so you might as well hold tight.”

“I think I’m going to be ill.”

“Do it over there and then come back. I don’t like this any more than you do, but you know how the doctor gets. If we don’t do it, he’ll get someone who will, and you and I will both have to find another job.”

“You’re right, you’re right… I just need a second. Just a second, okay?”

“Alright, but make it quick. We don’t want to keep the doctor waiting.”

Not again. Why, why must I suffer like this? Who did I harm to deserve such a punishment? Have I not been a loyal and faithful husband, entirely dedicated to his wife? Have I not been a model son-in-law? What have I ever done to deserve this?

“Alright, let’s do this.”

“Are you going to hold him tightly this time?”

“Yes, just do it already.”

“Alright, here it goes… “

Luna, give me strength.

There was a sickening, meaty thud as the hammer struck flesh, though it was permeated by a sharp crack, as if somebody had broken a sizeable branch over a leg. My mind was reeling as the pain flowed anew, and I was feeling pain in a new and terrible way. Without any form of control over my body, even the involuntary things like getting a massive dose of adrenaline after an injury like this simply didn’t happen. With no natural resources to dull the pain, I experienced every terrible sensation as my broken limb flopped about.

“Okay, see? Wasn’t that bad. Now let’s set this thing and splint it, then we’ll bring in the doctor to do the injection”

“Not that bad… yeah, right. Let’s… let’s just do this and have it be done.”

Once more, I felt a pair of hooves being placed upon me, though this time they were joined by a second pair on the opposite side of the fracture. There was no warning with which to brace myself, and the sudden pulling and twisting motion that caused the jagged fragments of the fracture to grate against one-another caught me entirely off guard. I could feel each and every sliver of bone as it scraped across its counterpart on the opposite side of the fracture. What’s worse is they way they’d tried to get it back where it came from, a method that consisted of pushing the broken halves of the bone together as they rotated the limb, apparently looking for it to catch and snap into place.

Pain. Agony. Torment. Anguish. Suffering. Excruciating. Unfathomable. Each and every one of these words falls pitifully short when trying to describe the pain I was in; there simply was no word for this feeling. To call it a feeling would be a grave injustice; it was not a feeling, but a separate plane of existence, a realm where the only thing that is, was, or ever will be is a never-ending scream from your nerve endings. No, these words fell short of the sensation.

The grinding sensation ceased as the Nurses decided that the break had been aligned properly, taking instead to splinting it. The straps of the contraption were released and the lack of tension on the limb caused it to shift again, daggers of fire knifing through my gut from the point of the break as the ragged edges of bone once more ground together.

Inside, I was screaming. This… this was the worst pain I’d ever felt. Worse than being burned alive, this agony was somehow more potent. Mockingly, my heart continued its steady beat; heedless of the trauma inflicted, refusing to dispense even a drop of adrenaline to dull the pain. Had I been able to move, I’d have ground my teeth to dust and torn every hair from my head. Should I have had the capability of speech, I’d have screamed until my throat bled, screamed until there was nothing left in me.

Entombed within my unresponsive husk of a body, fully sensate and cognizant, I had no such reprieve; instead, I was forced to endure this torment in silence, the inside of my mind echoing with the sound of screams I could not voice. Each touch of a splint, the caress of a hoof as bandages were affixed and knotted, even the ethereal brush of the nurses’ scrubs sent a fresh volley of knives out from the wound.

Why can’t I wake up? They can’t hear me; they don’t know that I can feel every terrible moment. I could be stuck like this for years! Please… please, either let me wake up from this nightmare or let me go to sleep and never wake… anything but this.

The sounds of approaching steps pierced through the haze around my mind with each sharp clop of hoof on tile. The silky sound of the timid nurse’s voice came to me like a whisper on the breeze.

“Doctor, the patient is splinted and ready for the injection.”

“Very well. Were there any complications?”

“No sir. Everything went smoothly.”

“Well, shall we get started then? Yes, we shall. Syringe?”

“Here, doctor.”

“Nurse, make a note that the injection is being administered to the fracture site at precisely zero eight one seven.”

“Yes sir.”

I felt the icy kiss of the needle just before it was plunged deep into my leg, almost as if it were apologizing for what was to follow.

The hypodermic syringe was jabbed fully into my leg, into the very fracture itself; I felt the tip of the needle grating against my bones before everything went numb, icy relief flooding out from the site as the potent elixir swept through my veins. As this new wave crashed over me, it carried me not once more unto the sea of madness, but into a resplendent cove of peace and rest, finally freed from the pain that afflicted me so.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I lay there dreaming of a better time, a time when everything seemed to simple, so right. Back to a time where my biggest concern was what would be for dinner, or how I could surprise Carrot to let her know I loved her, that I was thinking of her. This dream came and went of its own accord, alternately taking me back in time to revisit fond memories and spinning new tales of what might have been in dreams of the future. All I wanted was to stay in this dream, this bliss; I dreaded the inevitable return to the shore of consciousness and the pain that would come with it.

I felt a strange sensation on my neck, one that was slowly driving away the dream as I fought to hold it close, alas to no avail. The harder I fought to stay in the dream, the quicker it fragmented around me; skipping like a broken record.

No… please come back… don’t leave me here alone…

My sluggish mind finally began to rise to the surface, pulled from the depths of unconsciousness by the strangely familiar sensation on my neck. What… where had I felt this before? What is this tickling, caressing sensation on my neck, and why do I feel… happy?

My eyes opened slightly, permitting the first soft rays of the rising sun to penetrate my gloom.

No… not this again. Please, not this, I can’t take this. I can’t be happy in my old life only to wake back up in that bed, in my own prison…

Kisses. The feeling on my neck was that of kisses, sweetly rousing me from slumber. I smiled despite myself, reveling in the sweetest sensation before reality came crashing back down around me, wiping the smile from my face. This was all just another dream, and I’d wake back up in the hospital with a tube in my throat and no limbs. The hoof that snaked across my chest, pulling me into an embrace… it felt so real. I could feel it in every exquisite detail, from the way it was slightly colder than the room to the way it tickled my chest as it encompassed me. No, this wasn’t real. This wasn’t happening, I was still dreaming. The kisses on my neck ceased; a light nibble on the ear taking their stead.

I felt her hot breath as it caressed my ear, felt the warmth of her teeth as they gently pinched my ear, and felt the scrape of teeth on flesh as she pulled away. Everything was so vivid, so incredibly real… is there any way this could possibly not be real? I’d never had any dream even remotely so vivid. But if this was real, then was the hospital a nightmare? No, no it couldn’t be; never in my life had I ever been in so much pain, such exquisite agony.

The pain is here, to tell me that I’m still alive. Alive to fight another day; alive to reveal and turn the page. The pain tells me that I’m still alive; it reveals the most truth. I know the pain is the truth, because I hate it. This pleasure, this comfort… it can’t be real. I know this is a dream… I wouldn’t… I couldn’t dream of such pain. I could never dream something I hated as much as this.

So that’s it then. This is all a dream, and I’ll eventually wake up to whatever terrible fate waits for me there on the shore of consciousness.

I might as well enjoy this while I can.

My eyes fluttered open, permitting the first crimson rays of the day to lacerate the darkness of my world. I rolled over to look at Carrot, simply drinking in every aspect of her form to carry me through the darkness ahead. Most of all, I was stricken by the shifting tones of her emerald eyes; the little flecks of gold in her irises caught the light of the rising sun and seemed to glow from within, as if illuminated by flames from the inside out.

Flames.

Unbidden, a vision of immolation assaulted my mind; walls of flame collapsing around me, a constricting conflagration with no escape. Pressing ever closer upon me, tongues of flame licking my legs, burning my coat, OH LUNA MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP!

At some point I’d begun to scream, finally voicing the torment and anguish within me, venting my accumulated despair and desperation. Curled in the fetal position with my hooves covering my ears, I screamed until I had nothing left within me; until I was as empty within physically as I was psychologically. Then, I took a deep breath and screamed again. I screamed with every ounce of might that I had, tearing my throat to shreds with each bellow.

From somewhere in the darkness beyond my clenched eyelids, a band of iron encircled me, pulling me into a suffocating embrace; yet I screamed still. It wasn’t until the feeling of something softly stroking my back and the sound of gentle words whispered softly into my ear that I stopped screaming. The last scream died in my throat, intensity fading to become a drawn out wail. I broke down into sobs, weeping the tears trapped within by the sepulcher of my husk. Wracked by silent sobs as I let my pain and fear flow out of me, I could hear Carrot’s voice in the back of my mind, whispering sweetly into my ear. Despite her reassurances, her voice was shaking; she was clearly terrified, though not so much by me as for me.

In the years that we had been together, not once had she ever seen me cry. Not a single tear had I shed, though not for lack of reason. I’d lost a close friend in a cave-in a few months after we met, and yet I’d shed not a tear for my fallen brother; I couldn’t help it, it just wasn’t in my nature.

Or at least, it didn't use to be.

I sat there in Carrot’s embrace, letting the emotions I’d always suppressed finally come out and freeing myself from their crushing burden. How ironic it is that it was only in a dream, and only after massively traumatic injuries and experiences, I was finally able to crack my own shell and open up to Carrot. What a wretch am I?

As I sat there, my emotions finally laid bare to the one I loved, I could feel it all slipping away. The embrace which encircled me was no longer one of iron, and the scent of the one I love was fading as well. The details began to blur as everything slowly melted together. Disregarding the futility, I held on as tightly as I could, desperate not to be alone again. The last thing to fade was her voice, lingering like a ghost in her wake; the words “I love you” hanging in the ether. As the waves of pain slowly lapped around me before finally washing over me again, I held the image of Carrot in my mind as I resurfaced on the shore of consciousness, once more battered by the now-familiar waves of pain that crashed in time with my pulse.

I was not greeted by the voices of nurses, nor by the sound of hooves; the air around me was as still as a tomb, the silence around me hanging like a cloak and smothering me. In the endless darkness that was my world, without a voice or other sound to break the stillness, it was easy to feel myself being smothered by the darkness as the walls closed in around me. I could feel them pressing in, ever closer, threatening to crush the life from me. Never before had I been claustrophobic; but in that moment, with the pregnant silence enshrouding me and snuffing all light… I knew what it was to fear.

How truly sad it is to be a blind colt, and afraid of the dark.

Silently, I screamed.

Comments

[Grado]

.......well that was horrific

[Another Army Brony]

1588116
How so? Poorly written, or something else? This is my first stab at a "dark" story, so any feedback I get is welcome.

[Grado]

1588568 no its well writen and all just what they did to the guy was horrific

[Another Army Brony]

1588585
This is quite true. To play devil's advocate for a minute, they aren't aware that he is anything more than a self-sustaining piece of meat.

If they knew he could feel, they'd never have suffered him to live.

[Slip Kid]

Damn, just... Goddamn that's depressing. When do you think you'll be able to get the next chapter out?

[Another Army Brony]

2009889

That's a bit hard to nail down, but I'll be working on it this weekend. I'll see how far it goes, since I'm currently in Overdrive to get A Dream finished in time to be edited, reviewed, and formatted for publication by June.

[Slip Kid]

2010118

It's cool, take all the time you need.

[Another Army Brony]

2013676

Yeah, I need to in order to capture the essence of the story. And I need to even more so because I'm sick as the dickens.

[Slip Kid]

2015217

I hope you get better soon, mate.

[Another Army Brony]

2019229

So do I... I feel dead.

[Slip Kid]

2019855

I know what you mean, I was like that a few weeks ago.

[Another Army Brony]

2020062

So...You're the one who got me sick.

[Slip Kid]

2021076

Maybe, maybe not...