Continuing the Dream

by Blue Breeze

The Forest of Shadows

Author's Note: Here's where things start getting really creepy. Like I said, it's gonna be a bit dark for one of my stories. And just to let you know, I base all of this off of the Dante's Inferno movie. Now, on with the story.

After Dark had idioticaly took out Charon, our quickest and easiest way down to the bottom of this stupid place, we had followed the river Charon was floating in and found what I assume to be the first circle, Limbo.

Limbo is basically the lowest form of Taurtarus, where only those who go against Celestia and Luna are sent once they die on their own. Them and evil foals for some reason I don't know. I don't see the point really. Aside from the royal pony sisters, the only beings to worship are Discord, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis. Celestia and Luna don't even banish people here themselves.

Anyway, this place is immensely creepy. Imagine the Everfree Forest, but even darker, colder, filled with rotting and bare trees, and almost completely void of life due to how few are actually sent here.

Vine looks at the whole scene in disgust. "How is it they can do this to innocent plants? Just another reason I plan to make the Grave Ponies suffere."

The rest of us look at each other worriedly before looking at her. "Vine, you've been acting strange ever since Celestia mentioned the Grave Ponies. What's your deal with them?" I say.

She sighs. "My tribe of ponies, the Vine Ponies, are the controllers of life. The Grave Ponies are the conrollers of death and decay. Our two tribes are sworn enemies. Besides, they've also killed countless members of my tribe, leading us down to our last few. I plan to make them pay for that."

All of that? Wow. "Vine, I can see the Grave POnies have done you a lot of wrong, but we're on a mission here. Don't let your personal feud cloud your thoughts and get in the way of that. WE're here to save Graze, not mess with some petty rivalry."

She starts looking at me angrily. "Petty? They KILLED my ancestors and family, so you better watch your mouth."

Trying to keep us from fighting each other, Rhino gets between us. "Okay, just settle down, guys. Fight amongst ourselves isn't going to get anything done."

We just turn away, both of us sitting on our haunches and crossing our forelegs.

"YEOUCH!" I shout as I feel a pain in my back leg. "Hey, why'd you bite me?"

"Bite you? I wouldn't bite you." Vine says. She turns around and lets out a yelp.

I bring up my back leg and find a demonic foal biting on it with its razor sharp teeth. I shake my leg in vein, trying to get it off. "GET IT OFF!"

Dark comes over and smacks it off hard with a hoof. "Nasty little bugger!"

We start looking around us, noticing dozens of them. "We're surrounded!" Rhino shouts.

Well, guess it's fight time again. "Then let's get unsurrounded!" heh, fighting demon foals in Taurtarus. And I thought my life couldn't get any crazier.

(Commence second battle music)

Dark creates a lightning frag grenade in his hoof and chucks it into a group of them, the explosion instantly destroying many of them.

Vine creates a bunch of vines from the ground and uses them as whips to take out nearby groups of them.

I use my Blue Typhoon to blow away a bunch of them, knocking many of them off of some cliffs.

The foals being a bit too small and quick to impale, Ice dashes around on his ice slide while firing ice shards at them

Since the others don't really have any powers, they simply use physical attacks like punchs, bucks, and air dashs to attack the demonic babies.

But despite all ourefforts, the waves of blood-thirsty babies keep on coming. As they approach, we all back up, back to back, into each other in the center of this mess.

"They just keep coming!" shouts Dark.

"We can't fight 'em all!" Zeph adds in.

"It's okay!" I shout. "I've got a plan B!"

"WHAT?!" everypony shouts.

I look back and forth, making sure everything is clear. "RUN LIKE BUCK!"

(End battle music)

I dash off, leaving my friends confused for a moment before quickly following behind me. We all start running as fast as we can, the army of hungry foals ever intebtly chassing us down and make us into their next meal. We weave back and forth, dodging passed trees, ducking under branches, and jumping over rocks, all in an attempt to escape down to the next level.

"Hey, I think I see something!" Zephyr calls out.

I squint as I look up ahead to see a bridge leading up to a very large door. "Yes! That must be the entrance to the next floor!"

As we near the bridge, the foals start retreating. "What's going on with them?" Orion asks outloud.

"Who cares? We're homefree!" Dark says.

As we reach the bridge, we stop as we hit some kind of invisible wall. "Hey, what gives?" Zeph says.

"Oh, look. Some new toys for me to play with." a voice says from infront of us. We look all around, but can't see anyone. As we sense an approaching figure, we back up.

Out from the shadows pops a very tall... stallion? The muzzle is kinda throwing me off. Anyway, he's purple with black stripes. He also has no mane, but a black and silver tail. He has webbed wings, sharp teeth, and reptilian eyes.

I know I should be more scared of this guy, but being that we're in Taurtarus, a hellhole filled with evil demons and monsters of all kinds, I'm not surprised by this. And having met ponies like Charge and Alloy, guys like this don't freak me out anymore.

He steps forward, a grin on his face. "Oh, just look at all of my new playmates. Do you all want to play with dear, old Shadow Blade?"

Shadow Blade. Got it.

I step forward, determined to get passed this weirdo. "Hey, mind getting out of our way? You're kinda in it."

Dark steps up. "Or you could make it more fun and we can move you out of the way ourselves."

"Oh, they both sound fun, but I'll have to go with option two." he crouches down, his wings flared and ready.

Dark pounds his hooves together. "Fine by me."

Oh great.

(Boss Battle 1: Shadow Blade. BEGIN!)

Dark lunges at him, eager to beat him down. He charges up his hooves, going in for a charged punch. "Take this!"

But before Dark can reach him, an invisible force hits Dark and sends him flying back.

I jump back a bit in surprise. "What the-" but before I can continue, the same kind of force knocks me back.

The others get ready to attack, but they themselves are also sent back. This entire time Shadow Blade has never moved from his spot.

Is he just that fast? Or is there just something I'm missing here?

We look at him as we get up, both confused and surprised by this. He gives us a menacing smile. "Hehehe, my turn!" he leaps towards us, ready to strike. I dodge a blow to the side, but am hit from the back and knocked into a tree.

"Blue!" Zeph shouts. He turns towards Shadow angrily. "You're mine!" he flies towards Shadow, but the demonic pony disappears as he steps into the shadow of a tree. Zephyr looks around aimlessly. "Where'd you ho?!"

Shadow pops out from behind a tee. "Here I am!" Zeph flies at him, but he disappears and reappears behind another tree. "No, I'm over here!" Zeph goes for him again, but he continues disappearing and reappearing, as if it were like a game of Whack a Mole.

With Zeph now confused on what to do, Shadow pos out and sends him flying with a punch to the face. Shadow laughs manically at how easy this all is for him.

Suddenly, Vine summons several vines from the ground and pulls apart his limbs.

Vine smirks at him. "Heh, what'cha gonna do now?"

Shadow grins. "This."

From out of nowhere and with no sign, Vine is knocked back yet again. She rubs her head before getting frustrated. "What the buck is going on?!"

"I don't know, but he's mine!" Orion shouts. He goes down for a divebomb on Shadow, but just as he reaches him, he vanishes. Orion continues flying around. With no sign of Shadow, he stops and scratches is head. "Where'd he go?"

"Right here." he says. Orion looks down to see Shadow directly below him. Shadow grabs him by his tail and tosses him away. "Is this the best you can do?"

"You haven't tried me yet!" Rhino calls out. He does a quick teleport and gets behind Shadow to give him a buck in the back. Shadow now flying, Ice stomps his hooves and sends an ice pillar to shoot him up. With SHadow still dazed, Drax does a double overhead hammer slam on Shadow's head, knocking him down.

Hooray for teamwork!

Shadow gets up, now mad. "You think you can take me down that easily?!"

The ponies who attacked him all go off in different directions after being hit by another invisible force.

"Hey, ugly!" Dark shouts. Shadow turns around to see Dark charging at him. While this is going on, I pay close attention to watch Shadow. As Dark nears, he slams into what appears to be nothing. Taking notice, I see what Dark had hit starts at where the line of a Shadow ends.

"Hey, guys! I think I got it! He's manipulating the shadows to be hard like walls!"

Shadow turns to me, slightly mad. "That may be true, but that's far from my only trick!"

I'm yet again tossed away by a force I can't see. I look around, but can't see anything. I am then repeatedly thrown around until Vine uses a vine to catch me and pull me over.

I breathe out as she sets me down. "Thanks."

"No problem. Sorry about earlier."

"No big deal. I'm the one who should apologize."

"We don't have time for this!"

"Right, sorry."

"Anyway, I think I saw what kept hitting you and us."

I perk up at that. "Really? What?"

"I see a shadow with Shadow's body shape moving all around. I believe it can actually interact with physical objects through shadows."

I scratch my chin as I think. "Really?" I look at the ground to see the shadow she was talking aboout approach. "Watch out!"

"I've got it!" Vine turns around and uses her own shadow to buck it back. "Hmm, guess I was right."

While this is going on, the others continue fighting Shadow. Zephyr flies around after him, but he continues popping out of trees.

When Shadow pops out to get him, Orion tries to bodycheck Shadow out of the way. But before he can reach him, he disappears.

"Wait a minute." Dark says, having seen the whole thing. "Orion, stop!"

Orion stops and looks back. "What is it?"

"Move out of the way! He's using your star trail to hide in!"

Orion looks back to see him and narrowly sucks under a punch. He fires back with a buck of his own.

With Shadow dazed, Dark moves in. "I've got you now, shadow stallion!"

But again, before he can reach, Shadow uses the shadow of a nearby tree to hide in.

Dark starts getting frustrated. "Enough of this garbage!" he charges up a grenade in his hoof and throws it out, the resulting light from the explosion forces Shadow out, howling in pain. "Oh, hate the light, do ya?"

Shadow turns to him, angry. He uses his shadow to grab Dark by the tail and toss him into several rocks and trees before chucking him away.

I think I got's myself an idea. "Guys, clear out of the way!" they all listen immediately.

I start spining aroud, creatig my Blue Tornado. This one I leave stationary, free on its own. I fire a dozen or so waves into it, the waves dancing around the inside. I call this move The Blender.

I start guiding the tornado around with blasts of wind, making it tear through all of the trees and rocks in sight.

After the tornado disappears, the dust sets to reveal a flustered and worried Shadow Blade. With nowhere left to hide, he's a sitting duck.

Dark steps and cracks his hoove joints. "Time to light it up."

Before Shadow can escape, Vine ties him up with a bunch of vines. Shadow now wide open, Dark flies at him with his hooves harged and delivers a devastating double charged hoof punch.

(End battle music)

Vine releases the unconscious Shadow Blade before we walk up to eexamine him. "Well, now what?" I say.

"I saw we rip him to pieces." Dark says.

"No! We can't kill him!" Vine shouts.

"Aw, but why not?"

"This place is Taurtarus, the underworld. Plus, the Grave Ponies are necromancers. If we kill anything, they can just bring it back to life."

"Then what are we gonna do with him?" Zephyr asks.

"Easy. I'll restrain him so he can't move when wakes up. Saving us the trouble of fightig him on our way back up."

"Good thinking, Vine." I say.

She uses her powers to make many vines grow, completely tying Shadow to the ground and keeping him from moving if we were to wake up.

I look over at the bridge. "So, you guys ready for the next circle?"

They nod, not even thinking twice. With the bridge now clear, we go over to it and open the door, finding some stairs that lead further down.

One circle down, eight more to go.

Further down in Taurtarus

Grim Blade sips some wine, having taken a break from watching us.

Suddenly, Tombstone comes to interrupt him. "Sir, we have received news of Shadow Blade's defeat."

Grim sets his drink down. "I figured as much."

Tombstone raises an eyebrow at him. "Sir?"

"Shadow was a weak fool. I expected as much from him." he takes another sip of his drink. "Besides, I always hated how we shared the same last name."

Author's Note: Shadow Blade(no relation to the alicorn) comes from Star Light. Not the last of her OC's we'll be seeeing.

Comments

[Vinetion]

Ok ill admit the whack a mole scene was hilarious.

Where are you?
over here!
No here!
Behind you!
In front of you!
Under you!
all around you!

reminded me of a skit from Tales of symphonia

[Dark Lightning]

Well this was Boss.

^Dammit Vine.

[Blue Breeze]

671878 quite literally

[Dark Lightning]

This was an awesome chapter,hah...siping wine.

img.ponibooru.org/_images/c71bc4395d23000b75716dce8031d383/95569%20-%20artist%3Atrotsworth%20barb%20Bubble_Berry%20Butterscotch%20Dusk_Shine%20elusive%20fluttershy%20genderswap%20pinkie_pie%20Rainbow_blitz%20rainbow_dash%20rarity%20rule_63%20spike%20spine%20twilight_sparkle.png
for fun.

[Vinetion]

this was effectively the most hilarious chapter so far all things considered

[Blue Breeze]

671934 hilarious with a ton of action?
image.spreadshirt.com/image-server/image/composition/19693662/view/1/producttypecolor/1/type/png/width/280/height/280/like-a-boss_design.png

[Dleifragcat]

The power of shadow is strong with this one
But lvl 1 boss is still lvl 1 boss

[Blue Breeze]

671956 dont i know it? at least this wasnt shadow blade the alicorn

but either way, we still have 8 floors with even more difficult bosses to face

[Dleifragcat]

671962 Reminds me of those games that have 100 floors of pain. Each floor getting harder and by the time you've reached #97 it's like
"Screw this I'm gonna rest a bit"
Enemy, "Are you sure? I mean aren't we gonna take this seriously..."
"SHUT IT, I'm taking a nap!"

[Blue Breeze]

671994 exactly. paper mario and zelda immediately pop in my mind at hearing that

[Glare]

I have an idea for a cool oc to help you guys, would you be willing to maybe put him in?

[Rhino]

One down... and I wonder what Dark will do when we finally get to a boss that isn't affected by his grenades...

[Glare]

Also, awesome chapter.

[Blue Breeze]

672147 send info via PM and we'll talk

[Blue Breeze]

672149 he'll flip. but hes just lucky with this one. i dont write any of these guys except alloy, i just simply use the info im given

[Glare]

672160
Will do.

[Glare]

Mhm, did you know the pm system crashes kindles?
I didn't either >.<
I'lll pm the info tomorrow.

[Zephyr]

I feel stupid now.

Normally I would never let something like this happen... ugh, whatever....

[Atomic Vortex]

DAYUMN! Shadow Blade is one nasty motherf***er to kill!

[Blue Breeze]

674426 dont feel down. he has powers and had the upperhoof in this fight

[Zephyr]

676388
Whatever you say... :S

[Anarchy]

might want to switch the name of shadow blade for something else, that's confusing when you know Light's alter ego is shadow.

just a tip

[Vinetion]

_/o3o\_