The Book of Nightmares

by A Green Notebook

7: The Root Of All Evil

Chapter 7: The Root Of All Evil

“Take all of me
The desires that keep burning deep inside
Cast them all away
And help to give me strength to face another day.”

After our intimate moment, sage and I exited the small shack that acted as our torture chambers. It was a crude structure; made out of simple steel plates nailed together in a sloppy fashion. A sign with words far too scribbled out for me to read. The shack was behind a small house, which was full of different ponies, all of which hostile. I had no plans to quarrel with them, unless I had to. Lights moved back and forth from the windows, as though scanning the surrounding area constantly.

Sage and I were stuck in sompony’s backyard; full of weeds and all kinds of dying plants. I would think, for a realm full of nightmares, that I’d find someone in here weeping over the fact that they can’t cut all the weeds, as they’d grow back as soon as they were cut down. A fence stood in my way, when I turned to exit the premises. Tall, steel and enough to keep one of Nightmare Moon’s brutes at bay.

Fuck, I thought. Nothing ever goes my way, huh?

I turned to Sage who was shivering in fear, despite my presence, and our caressing earlier. I told the earth pony to stay close to me and to stay low. We traveled along the steel wall surrounding the house, making sure to make use of the weeds and dying plants. Whenever the light came our way, we would just duck down and stay prone until the light went off to scan some other part of the garden.

“Peacekeeper,” Sage whispered. “There’s two guard ponies out in the front of the house. I don’t think we can sneak past them.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” I replied, ducking down to avoid the spotlight. “I’ll deal with them.”

We approached nearer and nearer to the house, sneaking past the side of the house, though taking longer than I had expected. Ponies were having a normal conversation, like they were in the real world, and if Sage and I were to go back to crouching position then they’d probably spot us.

“You hear?” A stallion with a deep, gravely voice spoke. “Five days and the ponies here in Canterlot, and those crazies, are makin’ it out to the real world!”

My heart stopped, as did my movements. Sage followed my same exact movement; halting, though waiting for me to continue.

“Really?” Another voice spoke. “Nice. From what I hear, it’ll be a real light show. The sky may be dark now, but once Moon get’s that portal up, all kinds of weird shit’ll happen.”

I glanced up as far as I could. My eyes widened once I saw that the sky vortex had grown bigger, seeming to cover the whole world we were trapped in. The sight of the sky made me want to hasten our journey, and arrive in Canterlot within a few hours. Nightmare Moon had a few days to prepare, but I had mere hours before I could acquire her book, which I’d assume to be how she’ll come to the real world. Not only can I delay, if not, stop Nightmare Moon, but I could also free Sage of this hell. And the sooner I do that, the better. We won’t have much time left, or we’ll both be stuck in this place.

Sage moved beside me once we reached the corner. In front of the door to the derelict house, were two stallions, clad in makeshift armor, almost trying to mimic the Royal Guard’s standard issue golden armor. Instead it was rusty scrap metal made into a lightweight raiment. I couldn’t tell if these guys were cultists or just some crazy ponies who roamed this realm. Whoever they were, they were packing enough weapons and supplies to start a war.

“There they are.” Sage whispered. “How do we get around them?”

I thought. How would we get past them? I could use magic, but then there was the problem of alerting the ones in the house. And I didn’t want to deal with them, nor run away for what could be hours. Some ponies had persistence and would chase you for hours trying to get what they want.

I looked around the surrounding area. Ah, I recognized this place! The small town was perched on a hill, acting as a guard outpost. This town was like my old home in Manehattan. Houses and three story apartments were dotted along the blocks, most of which leaning on each other for support. The ones that weren’t on the verge of collapsing were inhabited by cultists (or whoever these ponies were. They sure as hell aren’t cultists). Sage and I were on the part of the town that was perched on top of a hill.

The streets were littered with debris and papers, all of which turned to a brownish color, due to old age. The streets were cracked, some cracks wide enough for water to begin forming inside them. It puzzled me how rain could even exist in a place without clouds. All there was in the sky, was the giant vortex, and the faint faces of the damned. I didn’t know what it was like; having your soul torn from your body, but I did know what it was like to have something and someone taken away from you.

“Oh Celestia...” Sage gasped. “Look at that.” The mare wasn’t referring to the vast amount of cultists approaching, but at the infinite amount of otherworldly beasts that were roaming the left side of the town. They all were varied, but the ones that stood out the most were the onyx shades I had encountered in Ponyville. I remembered what Nocturnal said about them: don’t look them in the eyes, and they will leave you alone. Among them were four legged beasts, though they were too far for me to actually make them out completely. The disfigured ponies were there too; bones jutting out of their hooves, acting as blades. Their shapes were barely visible, but I knew those silhouettes too well.

Beyond those monstrosities, there was a shady outline of the ‘Golden City’. Canterlot was close, but we just needed to escape from this nightmare town and then we’ll set course for the city. If the mare of Nightmares was actually someplace else, then we’d all be in trouble. Judging from the lights emanating from the massive metropolis, there was a chance that Nightmare Moon was huddled up there, hiding behind an army of cultists, and her new general, Illusion.

“Damn,” I said, keeping a close eye on the cult. “We need to wait for them to pass.”

“Peacekeeper,” Sage said, crawling up to my side. “Look: the cultists aren’t attacking the other ponies.”

I glanced to the front entrance of the house beside us. She was right. The stallions standing in their scrap armor were just standing around like nothing was happening. “You’re right. Who are these guys?”

The cultist battalion marching by were heading towards Canterlot’s direction. So far, my suspicions of Canterlot being the main hub for Nightmare Moon were being proven as a fact. Why else would a massive number of cultists be headed in that direction?

“Argh!” I yelped, holding my ears. A deafening roar echoed through the land, all of the ponies in the surrounding area having been affected by it. It was deep, with a shrill harmony roaring with it, creating an outcry of seismic proportions. A sudden burst of pain rose up in my head, and in my side.

“Thought you could sneak out huh?” The stallion wearing the scrap metal Royal Guard armor said.

Ahead of me, the cultists were busy trying to find the source of the noise; thankfully it was still impairing them. I could deal with these ponies and they hopefully wouldn’t notice. The stallion raised his lance, wincing in pain, being afflicted by the roar.

A small force push slammed the lances into the stallions’ jaws and they staggered back. With all the swiftness I had, I pounced on the biggest stallion, who was unable to fight back due to the roar, reaching a volume unfathomable. My mind was almost unable to slip the knockout spell, The other stallion was barely able to get up, as was I.

Fuck, what is that!?

I shot a blue bolt at the stallion, speeding right through him. He dropped with a loud thud, None of the cultists noticed, being too focused on trying to get the sound out of their heads. I didn’t think about hiding the bodies, instead, trying to their best to pry the deafening scream out of their heads.

I glanced at Sage, who was still on the ground, holding onto her head. She was gritting her teeth, and pretty hard from the looks of it. I didn’t bother to warn her, so I just picked the emerald earth pony us and slumped her on my back. At first, Sage began slamming her hooves onto my back, and I’ll tell you, she can deal some pretty good blows given the motivation. With a gentle nudge with my hoof, the mare opened her eyes, saw me, and stopped her resistance.

My mind hadn’t exactly developed a plan completely, but I had a general idea of what I was going to do, no matter the risks. As far as I knew, the battalion of cultists had no unicorns, so they’d have to chase us down, instead of being able to shoot at us.

“Hang on!” I ordered. I didn’t think Sage heard me, but there was no time to check and see if she did. That ear destroying roar began to subside, now echoing through the realm.

We do this now or not at all. I bolted from the dirty house’s lawn and onto the street, raising an arcane barrier around me, strong enough so it could take hits, but light enough for me to maneuver and not drain me of my energy. Cultists gasped as they saw me rush past them with Sage; each one still trying to recover from the deafening roar. I wasn’t immune to the roar or anything, I just had a tolerance for sounds that could tear your eardrums right out. I could thank Jester for that.

“Apprehend him!” A stallion ordered.

My hooves clopped along the cracked pavement, and the religious nuts tried to leap onto me, but could barely lift their own bodies off of the ground, trying to ignore the pain in their heads. I’ll admit, I actually thought that Sage would be heavier than what I was carrying. I honestly thought she would weigh as much as the average pony, but instead, she was like a filly. I moved swiftly, despite the mare on my back, and I managed to avoid many of the attacks the cultists threw at me.

It hit me like a train when I realized that I was heading towards the no man’s land. There were monsters of all sorts everywhere. My heart pounded as I hauled Sage with me across, what seemed like miles. The cultists hooves clopped along the ground as they chased me, but their disorientation worked to my advantage, giving me an edge in speed. My arcane barrier never faltered, even when one of the ponies got bounced off the shield, an addition to my barrier spell. The downhill slope had helped with my speed; giving me a terrific edge in evasion.

Not once, did I look back to see if my followers were still after me. My vision was focused on the rest of the deserted and destroyed town in front of me. There were almost no buildings to shelter us, as they were all almost destroyed, on the verge of collapsing or just too rickety for my taste. The problem was, the monsters were getting closer to me with each step that I took. Well, on the bright side, none of them had noticed me yet, or the cultists following me, if there were any.

“Peacekeeper!” Sage yelled. I quickly turned and sped into an alleyway. It was dark; stuck between two brick structures, each of which vandalized with graffiti and broken glass. Trash piled up at the end of the alleyway, filling my nostrils with a pungent odor, but one that I was able to take in.

I put the mare on the ground, and peeked my head out of the alley, checking the road ahead of us, and behind us. The cultists had long since stopped following me, retracing their steps to the higher part of the town. I turned back to Sage who was shivering, either from the cold winds, or out of fear.

“Keep it down.” I whispered to the mare.

“I’m sorry,” Sage apologized. “I got scared when I saw those things further down in the town. Is there any way around them?”

I peeked my head around the corner again, trying to spot a possible exit route; one that was safe enough for the both of us to travel in. Nothing. There was a brick building ahead of us, but the entrance was caved in, though considering the scale of the structure, there was bound to be another entrance somewhere close by. I didn’t want to risk being spotted by the monsters though. If I alerted one of them, then surely others would come over to attack. Another building proved to be a viable location to use for shelter; the entrance still intact. The beasts seemed to be avoiding that building, which was fortunate for Sage and I.

“How about that building down there?” Sage pointed a hoof at a structure standing in the middle of the downtown area. It was in good shape, despite half of the structure being collapsed. From the looks of it, the building was that of a newspaper company. I couldn’t tell which one, with the sign having fallen off; the glowing letters scattered around the ground in pieces. The only reason that Sage could have pointed this building out was because it may have been the safest way to exit the area. on the highest level of the building was a scrap bridge, placed there by mistake. It led to another building, which was blocked from my view by the apartments and stores in the street.

I didn’t like the idea of entering the newspaper publishing building. It was too big, and we were susceptible to getting ambushed inside. Assuming we didn’t get lost inside the structure, even if we did get to that scrap bridge, where could we go from there? If it led to the rooftops, then we could travel up from there and out of the town, if the roofs were close enough for us to travel from one to another.

In all honesty, I thought we were better off staying on the ground, and trying to sneak our way around the beasts. We could probably navigate our way out of the town faster than moving inside of a building we’d never even been in, and trying to find our way out of said building, via bridge made of scrap metal. I also felt uncomfortable just staring at that shitty bridge.

“I don’t know Sage. There’s an awful lot of nightmare Moon’s pets between us and the building.”

“We can make it if we run right?” The mare gestured with her hooves. “I mean, you had your shield orb spell, so you can always use that.”

“Right, but then we’d have the whole downtown area after us. I don’t want to be on the run from here to Canterlot. I might be able to fight them off, but I’m saving my energy for the real prize.”

“And that would be?”

I glared at the mare. “You know who. I have a score to settle with an old friend.”

Sage took another peek from the corner, glancing at all the obstacles in our way. The monsters were plentiful, spread out not too far, but just enough to be able to apprehend us should we not pay attention to our surroundings. It was as if they knew we were here, but did nothing other than maneuver themselves so they could try and trick us into a trap that we couldn’t see.

“Look, it’s just a straight run from here to there.” Sage kept pushing. “Just keep your barrier up and we could knock any of those beasts out of our way.”

“Fine.” I sighed. “We’ll go with your plan. But: stay within the barrier’s radius, and keep up with me; I’ll be sprinting there and if you fall behind, I might not be able to get back to you.”

Sage recoiled at the last statement. “Wha-why not?”

“See those?” I pointed at the tall, skinny, yet powerful shades with their eyes shining lights on the ground like flashlights. “If either one of us does so much as look them in the face, one of us will undoubtedly end up dead. We can take the chance, but I wouldn’t really want to risk losing either one of our lives.”

“Damn. How do we get out of here then?”

I looked around. There were other places we could go, and make a ‘skip’ in the form of a zig-zag: go from one building on the block to another on the other side of the street. The monsters on the street probably wouldn’t notice. But I still didn’t want to risk it.

Sage let out a short shriek, followed with a painful groan. With swift movement, I shoved Sage out of the way, to come face to face with a grotesque husk of a pony. It was like the first monster I had experienced in the Everfree. Skin was peeling, revealing the stained skull, and patches of fur scattered around the beast’s body.

“Get back!” I ordered Sage, narrowly dodging a swing from the monster’s razors. I ducked when another strike came as quick as the first one came. Two of them!

A bolt of light flashed in my eyes, causing my vision to only convey a green hue. Not my magic. A hoof wrapped around me, as the terrified screams of Sage. My hooves seemed to move on their own, despite my current blind state. Blasts of magic resonated in my ears, almost blocking out Sage’s noise. Cultists managed to get unicorns on their side!

“Look down, look down, look down!” Sage repeated to herself. The screeches from an unknown source sent fear down into my heart, and made my spine tingle. We must have been traversing through the minefield full of monsters and the shades that freaked out when you looked at them must be pissed at something. If Sage was really looking down at the ground while she ran with her three hooves on the ground, then the beasts must be pissed at the unicorns unfortunate enough to met their gaze.

I hadn’t a single clue as to where we were in the town, but I anticipated the moment we would enter a shelter and I could actually try to get my vision back. Wind howled past me, as did arcane bolts, and judging by the sound and the rumble they brought with them as they past us, they came pretty close to hitting us. Sage was breathing heavily, and even almost choked on the very air she breathed in.

The green shade that was once in my eyes had begun to subside, but now darkness had replaced it. I repeated the same process of opening and closing my eyes, but to no avail, save for colors beginning to return to my eyes thankfully.

“They’re getting away!” Somepony yelled.

“Don’t look them in the eyes dumbass!”

“I didn’t, I--Argh!”

I didn’t see it happen, but I felt it and heard it. The sound of flesh being ripped apart, as well as the agonizing screams from the cultist.

A sudden smash into a hard surface, and an impact onto the hard ground, littered with small pebbles and glass fragments digging into my skin, made me bolt back up on my hooves and made me keep running.

“Peacekeeper!”

THUD!

Wall. Unfortunately, I had made a literal run-in with it. Thank Celestia, Jester wasn’t here to see such an embarrassing moment. Instead, I had Sage to witness it, and unfortunately, I think it ruined the whole ‘tough rookie’ act. I was crying like a foal, rubbing my bleeding muzzle and wounds from the glass shards and pebbles that had scraped away my skin and fur. Oh, and it’s just when I smash my face that my vision began to return to normal.

I opened my eyes after an eternity of rubbing the pain away, and was greeted by nothing but darkness. I struggled to get an illumination spell, and when I managed to get the dim light through my horn, Sage’s face greeted me, startling both of us.

After we got our bearings, we both stood on all fours and examined our environment. Despite ramming the door open, it had managed to seal itself, locking us in the eerie newspaper publishing building. The walls were cracked, paint peeling, some holes in the walls, revealing some of the wooden frames of the walls. A beige color once layered on the walls, now, the layers were destroyed, some parts even burnt. Junk littered the floor, which was tiled, even though most of said tiles were missing.

Portraits were spread across the hall, various newspaper clippings inside each one. I tried to read a few of the clippings, but the words were too faded for me to read. Sage alongside me, I walked down the ruined hallway, examining every single newspaper headline on the walls.

“Sage,” I spoke averting my attention from the clippings to the mare. “I’ve been meaning to ask you; how did we wind up out here?”

“Oh, right,” The mare blushed. “After your fight with that other stallion, I uh... went back to my old shop in the town, and got some ingredients. There was no time to mix them up properly, but I managed to get you to drink most of the potion. From that point on I... hauled you on a small wagon, like the ones for fillies and colts.”

I smirked at the mare, causing her to blush even more. “Why are you blushing like that? It’s alright, it’s not like anypony can hear us.”

“I...A...At first, I didn’t know what to do with you after that fight. I...I was devastated. I was crying my eyes out. I went up to your body and did the first thing I thought was right. P-please don’t judge me when I tell you this.”

“You have my word.”

“I....I,” The mare’s face lit up and was almost actually illuminating the hall. “gave you mouth-to-mouth. At first I was actually trying to get you to breath, but then...”

“Wait; trying to get me to breath and then wha..”

I stopped myself. It hit me like a freight train.

“It became more than just simple mouth-to-mouth.” Sage spoke, looking down at her hooves, tears falling from her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you Peacekeeper. I didn’t know how else to handle the situation.”

I put my hoof on the mare’s shoulder. “Well, for what it’s worth, I guess I appreciate the honesty, and... what you did for me.”

The mare smiled as I pulled her closer to walk down the hall. For a Royal Guard who was trying to avoid a relationship with the mare he was supposed to defend with his life, I was doing a pretty shitty job so far.

As we progressed through the dark path, the newspapers became less of a challenge to decipher. Each one made my heart skip a beat. There seemed to be nothing, but bad news hung up on the walls.

Death in the Aegis Manor. One headline read.
The town’s mayor was found dead in his house, after being missing for several days. Skipping ahead a bit. Ponies are worried, as this is the fourth murder in the town. More Guards have been called to the town, by Luna’s orders. The massive manhunt for the murderer continues, though the townsfolk are beginning to have doubts about their safety.

I moved along the wall, examining the other newspaper clippings, my heart pounding, trying to find out more about the town’s origin.

Four ponies go missing after search for missing colt. Another headline read.
Shady characters in the area suspected to be the cause of disappearance, and the townsfolk are starting to point hooves as to who is to blame for their pain and suffering. We sent one of our reporters to interview the characters, but they replied with this: ‘We have nothing to do with the disappearing ponies, but our Mistress may hold the clues.’ Upon further investigation, we have yet to find out who ‘their mistress’ is.

Cultists behind the murders and disappearances!
Royal Guards were stunned when Wristwatch, a mare who had just moved into town, was found, battered and cut half to death outside of their station. Before losing her life in the hospital, Watch revealed the location of what she believed to be the location of where the ponies who had gone missing were located. Once Royal Guards have located the house, they were too late to disrupt the murder already taking place, but they have taken the cultists into their custody. Ponies in town are pleading for a death sentence for the cultists, though the Royal Guards have not made the decision yet. According to a Royal Guard sentry, trial will begin ‘when we have enough information as to what these ponies were trying to do.’ The same sentry later spoke, saying that ‘justice will be swift, and we will be sure nothing like this happens again.’

The murders continue, but who is behind them?
It has been three month since the town’s tragedies, but now it seems that they are returning. This time, Royal Guards were the targets for the murders. Eyewitness accounts report a ‘shade’ entering and leaving the town’s borders, taking the remains of somepony with it.

The rest of the paper was burnt, and beyond reading. so I turned to the next.

Shades confirmed to be the cause of murders!
Eyewitness reports tells of shades moving in and out of the borders of our once peaceful town. Five ponies are reported to be dead by looking at the shades too long. A reporter from outside of town had given us pictures of the shades, but we cannot allow the public to see those images, nor can we post it in these papers after the disaster in town hall. Royal Guards are said to be coming into town this Friday, bringing excessive force to rectify any problems they might encounter, and to protect the terrified ponies in town.

“By Celestia...” I gasped. These clippings date back to two years ago. How had I not heard about this at that time? Then again this was local news, but still, this had to reach out to Canterlot news. I moved on to the next portrait, pictures of balloons and confetti, obviously drawn by a foal.

Attacks cease! The town is safe!
After a large influx of extra protection, and transformation of this town into a Royal Guard civilian outpost, the attacks have stopped coming in. The town is beginning to boom with life again, and now we could all go back to our normal activities. Royal Guard, Silver Blade, had suggested building a memorial for those who died during this act of terror, and that is just what the ponies here are going to do.

“Oh my...” I gasped again, Sage reading the same clipping. “Sage, do you know what this means?”

“Is this..?” The mare paused, trying to comprehend what she had just read.

“I think... I think this is where Nightmare Moon began reforming herself. I mean look at this, Cultists? Shades? That’s exactly what’s happening out there in Ponyville.”

“Oh Luna... Peacekeeper, we need to get back out there! I mean in the real world! Luna and Celestia need to know about this.”

“I’m sure they already do by now.” I pointed towards a previous headline, and showed Sage. “You see? ‘A large influx of Royal Guards.’ Celestia knows about this, and she has known about it for a while. The only reason why this could continue is if she thought the problem solved.”

BING!

I jumped from the sudden burst of movement at the end of the halls. Sage let out a short shriek, and huddled to my side like a filly hiding behind her parent. I had no blade to ready, and no armor to protect me, as it was stripped away from me. My horn was glowing, not just from my dim illumination spell, but from the energy stored inside, ready to come out.

“Shit!” A voice yelled, followed by growls of an unknown monster. A sudden snap, and the pony’s heavy panting was cut short. I recoiled when blood appeared on the wall, right in front of a doorframe. A high pitched bestial sound resonated in the same room the blood came from. I ordered Sage to stand close to the doorframe, but not to enter the room. My head careened around the corner, trying to get a glimpse of what was in the room.

A pungent odor triggered the first sense in me, other than the high pitched sounds that resonated through the room. I extinguished the light from my horn, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever beast may be in the room. Nothing. It was too dark for me to see anything, and I feared that if I remade the light, no matter how dim it was, I would disturb whatever monster was inside.

Fuck it.

A green light emanated from my horn, revealing a horde of atrocities in the area. They were the same beings from the streets outside of this building, except, they were the short nimble ones instead of the medium sized ones. Sage and I encountered them when I first met the mare. What were once ponies were now demons transformed by the ruler of this realm, and I was about to put them out of their misery.

I entered the room, my horn ready to blast anything that got in my way. One beast darted toward me, rushing along with three others. I shot the middle beast, a rotten brown liquid sputtering from the wound. The other two rotten ponies rose up in unison to attack me, but I used a quick force shield spell to knock them back. I ducked from an unsuspected slice from one of the beefier former ponies, and shot three arcane bolts into its stomach.

“Watch out!” Sage warned. I turned around, almost getting my eyes cut out by the blades made of bones. I charged at the being, tackling it to the ground. Upon impact, a loud snap resonated. These things were damn fragile!

Several more beasts ran towards me, and I put up my reflective barrier. Several audible screams sounded in my ears as each of the monsters bounced off the barrier and into the walls. Cracks and snaps came from most of the monsters, but only three got up and charged at me. As they did so, they groaned, as if trying to form words.

“Kill....us!” One of them managed to say. I was taken back by the sudden gruff voice that the beast had managed to speak. I had barely managed to shoot the one that spoke to me. As he fell to the ground,he let out a relieved sigh, something I hadn’t expected.

The movement of the other two beasts snapped me out of my trance,but too late. A searing hot pain rose up in my hoof, and another in my chest.

“Fuck!” I yelled, letting out a force blast that shook most of the objects in the room. The beasts were reduced to crimson and maple splats on the walls, and most of the metal objects in the room were all dented from the force of the arcane push. All except for one metal cabinet. Blood was leaking slowly from behind the doors. I signaled for Sage to enter the room.

“How did you do that?” Sage questioned. “That was powerful!”

“Lots of practice.” I said. “There’s something in there, so stand back. Whatever it is might not be friendly.”

Slowly I approached the dented, bleeding metal cabinet, magic ready to kill whatever was inside. As I got closer, the muffled pants of a pony echoed inside, obviously terrified. I glanced back at Sage, who was standing beside a metal shelf system and a derelict desk, and averted my attention back to the cabinet. My arcane grip held the handle and my willpower was focused towards my horn, though I wouldn’t kill whatever was inside unless it did anything to me.

“Gotcha!” I yelled,opening the door. “Come out and....”

I couldn’t finish my warning. How could I? Sage gasped and ran to my side. Inside the dented cabinet on the lowest shelf, sat a small grey filly. She had been inside for some time. She was covering her head, and weeping, hoping I wouldn’t hurt her. I wouldn’t.... couldn’t do anything to her. Her coat was stained with blood, and the liquids from the creatures I had just vanquished. Tears had covered her cheeks, and she had suffered from a massive cut on her hooves. Her hazel mane was unkempt, almost like mine, though considering the circumstances, her mane wasn’t naturally like that. A wire was wrapped around her neck, with something attached to it.

The small pegasus in the cabinet just wept, and kept her eyes closed. She made no sounds, other than her whimpers, but that was all. I looked at Sage, and the mare did the same with me. The mare then averted her attention to the filly, and knelt down beside her, not taking her out of the cabinet.

“Hey, hey.” The mare comforted in a soothing voice. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. We’re here to help. Please. Just listen to me.”

The filly didn’t leave her position, but instead opened her eyes. They sparkled a beautiful sapphire color.

“It’s okay, you can come out from there. We’re not going to hurt you. You can trust me.”

The small pegasus relaxed, but stayed on her guard. She lifted herself from the uncomfortable position, and glanced at me, fear in her eyes. I felt bad--no, not even. I felt torn apart in the inside. I was supposed to be a role-model for fillies and colts, but this was the first time I had ever seen a pony as young as this filly ever be afraid of me. It was like I had betrayed my duties as a Royal Guard.

The pegasus approached Sage, who pulled the grey filly close to her and engaged in a comforting hug. The filly began to cry silently into Sage’s mane, the mare stroking the small pony.

“The monsters are all gone. I’ll keep you safe. Just take your time.”

I stood watching, trying to find words to reassure the small pegasus that I wasn’t anything to be afraid of. So far, I got nothing. Once the filly had stopped crying, Sage broke away from her, and looked into her eyes.

“Are we okay now?”

The filly nodded.

“Alright. Let’s see... can you tell me your name? I’m Sage. This here, is Peacekeeper. He’s a Royal Guard. What’s your name?”

The filly looked away, not opening her mouth to say anything. Was she nervous? Did she not trust us? If that were the case, she probably wouldn’t have hugged Sage. There was something wrong about her that was making her silent.

“Its okay; you can talk to us. Please, I just want to know your name. Can you tell me?”

Silence.

I spoke up. “Look, I’m sorry for scaring you. Please, just trust us. I can get all three of us out of here.”

The filly just turned to show me the wire around her neck, and the piece of something attached to it. Letters were scribbled on it reading Dark Breeze.

“Dark Breeze? That’s a nice name. Look I don’t want to stay in here for any longer. How about you come with us? I made it this far with Sage, so I’m sure I can make it out of here with you with us. Please. It’s for your own well being.”

I extended a hoof to the reluctant filly, and gave an expression of sympathy. I wouldn’t let Nightmare Moon poison our youth, and turn their innocence into corruption,

With an encouraging smile, Sage got up and extended her hoof along with mine. The filly had a smidge of distrust in her eyes, but had inched closer to us. She seemed to be debating the thought if she should come with us or not. Slowly she reached out her hoof and made contact with mine. She relaxed more when I did nothing to harm her, and pulled herself closer to me.

“Come on,” I said pulling the filly onto my back. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Comments

[kalash93]

I'd like to write up a review for this story. I just need to first find the time.

[TimeLord_Whooves]

Only one person commenting? ... Now I have to read this...

[Shin Guyviroth]

This is actually quite a good read. I'll have to be sure to bookmark this and give the last few chapters a go.

[A Green Notebook]

2588335
I've heard of Story Of the Blanks, but never actually played it or anything. I never thought about how the wretched ponies came to be, but I think that at the time I began this story, I was hooked on the Dead Space series, but when I wrote this down, I didn't think about the games when I wanted to bring the ponies in.

As for Nightmare Moon, if you mean how she comes in after her defeat by the mane 6, then that's going to be explained later in the story. If you mean how she came to be in the story, then that I can answer. At first I wanted to have an OC villain, but overtime, he became to overpowered. I thought it would be better to either lower his power, or use one of the show's villains. In the end, I chose to use Nightmare Moon, since she really fit in well with the whole situation, and I wanted to show a darker side of Equestria's dream world, but have a good, and somewhat simple story behind it.