As the sound of growls and howls echoed throughout Everfree forest, a figure ran, pushing and ripping through every vine and branch that got in his way. The figure ran, because that was all it could think of at the moment. To reach safety before whatever was chasing him caught up. His gasps of breath were raspy, and his clothes would become more tattered as thorns would rip more and more pieces off. He kept on running. For the only thing going through his mind was survival.
As his eyes adjusted to a patch of light ahead of him, something snagged his leg, tripping him into a puddle of mud.
"Ungh... No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not..now..." He spoke in a hoarse sickly voice.
The growls were becoming louder.
"W-why can't you leave me alone..." He stammered.
"WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!?"
In front of him a bush shook violently, he forced himself to get up. The hidden creature pounced at him and he countered with a strike of his own, knocking the creature down.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
He stomped on the creature's head, causing it to crack and snap in two. He turned around ands struck another one of the creatures just before it could get him. Again, he stomped the creature's head in until it was reduced to splinters. Realizing that the growls were now gone, he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
"It's... done..."
As he staggered himself up, his eyes darted around, making sure that it was safe enough to keep on venturing.
He pulled away the cloth that was covering his face, and peeled off a strand of skin that was hanging loosely below his right eye.
"You could have finished them off quicker if you didn't run from them like a child."
Suddenly, he felt pains from his stomach and he fell to his knees, clutching at his thighs. With a blood-curling scream, a creature erupted from his guts, exploding blood everywhere. The bloody creature curled itself around him until it was back to back with its host. It leaned its head back until it was resting on its host's shoulder, its elongated tongue flicking from a twisted bleeding smile.
"You knew they were coming yet you allowed yourself to be hunted like prey."
"There was no reason for me to hurt them, Morality" the host whispered.
"I missed the old you..." Morality said.
"We need to shelter" the host said, not wanting to deal with any more obstacles of the Everfree.
"You will find a village not too far due east. Morality responded, as he slink back into the hole he came from. The wound disappeared like it was never there but the host knows it is complete reality, his reality.
And so Phobia and his host moved east, trekking it through the thick flora of the Everfree and maneuvering around potentially dangerous plants with the assistance from Morality.
They soon reached the edge of the Everfree just behind the treeline, the full moon still hanging brightly in the sky.
Before them in the distance was a small village, its bright colors visible even from their distance and in the darkness of night
Seeing no light coming from any of the buildings, He moved forward towards the village.
Sporadically placed street lamps lights the streets, he traveled between the darkness and shadows, taking in the sights.
The buildings were smaller than he thought, and many of the doorways looked like he would need to crouch in order to through one of them.
As he passed an alleyway, he noticed something and went into it to check it out.
Laying next the trash cans was a large somewhat dirty canvas, it was a little tattered at the ends with a few wear and tears but it is mostly intact. He grabbed the tan canvas and draped it over his body, making a simple cloak and hood.
BrynRye does enjoys a pleasant stroll of Ponyville at night. Walking around town and engaging in small talk with many of his neighbors during the day is great and all, but the night is a pleasant experience itself. You can listen to night time insects passively call one another, the chill of the breeze in the air, so many things that would go unnoticed during the active day. Luna does wonderful work. It's such a shame that many ponies rest during this time and miss these kinds of things. In Manehattan, there is no difference between night and day. Many ponies go off wherever they may go, rushing to do the next indoor activity, not enjoying the night around them. So much beauty ignored, yet Luna still does such wonderful work for the few that do look into the night.
*Clang!*
What was that?
BrynRye turned to the direction where he thought he heard the noise. He infused his horn with magic, illuminating the darkness ahead with low light.
There standing in the darkness was something dressed in a dirty, tattered canvas. It was tall and had the body type of a minotaur, but this creature didn't have horns and minotaur horns are said to be very resilient.
Bryn dimmed his horn to the point that it was almost out.
the creature was standing there. It was breathing but it was just standing there. Bryn sneaked closer to find out what the creature was doing.
Bryn stopped short, he swore that he heard something.
He slowly edged closer trying to figure out if it was making the noise.
the creature's head was slightly tilted, His facial features completely hidden by the tattered cloak.
And just as Bryn thought, it was emmiting a raspy breathing sound.
And at the same time, he also heard...
Weeping.
"H-Hello?" BrynRye slowly stuttered.
No answer
BrynRye slowly edged a little closer.
"Are you hurt? Do you need help?"
Again no answer.
BrynRye wasn't too sure if he should even be talking to this thing. But then again, he was taught than when theres a problem, its best to fix it fast. Before it gets any worse.
So he decided to trot just a tiny bit closer.
"I need to know if you are hurt. Because if you are, you need help."
Again he was concluded with silence.
As BrynRye took one more small step, the creature's head adjusted itself.
And slowly, it muttered something that confused the Unicorn.
"K-kill..."
BrynRye stopped in his tracks.
"All..."
The creature's head slowly lifted, revealing it's hidden features.
BrynRye felt like his heart shot upward to his throat, as suddenly he was unable to scream.
locking eyes with him were a pair of pitch black eyes. The iris were a glowing red that shredded though his mind causing his mental vision to almost graze against the point of reality. Beneath that, a twisted bleeding grin that broke through all sense of his emotions, and filled him with absolute fear.
"Threats..." spoke the demonic creature.
BrynRye couldn't move. Although deep inside he was screaming for help. His facial features and muscles were completely frozen and stuck in place.
As if the sight was too much. He had never seen anything so terryfying in all his life.
The creature lifted its arm and quickly grabbed the defenseless Unicorn's throat. Now all BrynRye could do was grasp for air.
The creature squeezed tighter and tighter, to the point where BrynRye's vision was slowly fading. Suddenly the Creature's facial expression changed. The left side of his face suddenly lost the psychotic grin, and instead was replaced with clenched teeth. A tear fell from the left eye as his arm began to tremble as he struggled to hold on to the Unicorn's neck. He slowly stumbled back into a wall made of bricks.
"I'm sorry."
With a quick move the creature clasped his free hand around the Unicorn's skull and violently slammed it to the wall behind him.
CRACK!
...
He had gotten used to this. But to this day what Morality hald told him still made no sense.
"Its you and me against the world. Its kill or be killed..."
The host stood still as the remains from the crushed Unicorn's skull leaked out of his clutched hand.
"Why... Morality... Why..."
Morality slowly came out of Phobia's stomach, making sure to come out nice and easy so he wouldn't feel any pain.
He slithered behind his host and whispered into his ear.
"Because whe need to survive. You need to retain the skills that you've lost."
He moved in front of his host and looked him in the eyes. The red from his eyes slowly faded away. What remained of the psychotic grin dissapeared beneath his skin.
"We need this creature more than you think."
Morality slithered to his host's arm. He beckoned him to let go of the crushed skull.
"Let go."
Obediently, the host released his clutch on the corpse. Immediately Morality caught it with his mouth before it could reach the pavement. He then began chewing loudly as his mouth grew larger and larger. Soon enough he slowly gobbled the corpse up as his knife like teeth shanked deep into the Corpse's flesh. At this point the host only stood and looked away. For his deed of the job had been finished.
With a loud slurp, Morality's now immense jaws completely managed to fit the corpse in it's mouth. A loud crack and snap was heard here and then, indicating that Morality was chewing through the bone.
After some time of chewing. Morality gently swallowed.
Morality's gooey bloody skin swelled a bit as the chewed up corpse trailed from his throat, down his stomach. Right into the host itself.
The host felt the weight of the chewed up remains rest within his core.
"Now we wait. We'll be safe soon..."
"Wait for what?" Replied the host.
Morality slowly made his was back inside his host. Before completely dissapearing iside him. He spoke but a simple word.
"Change..."
As confused as he was, he no longer could think as suddenly a wave of nausea overlapped him.
"Ngh... What the..."
The host's world soon turned black as he collapsed on the concrete.
***
"Oh. Where could Angel had gone to?" Thought a worried Fluttershy as she scurried throughout the streets of Ponyville. Fluttershy had gone on an errand through the valley to prepare for the Winter celebration that was supposed to happen in the morning. Although she wan't able to see her friends the whole day, she knew that they would enjoy the rare flowers that she had picked up. However upon returnint home at sunset, she couldn't find Angel. SHe figured the poor bunny got hungry and went out to town to go and find some food. The problem with this however was that the town was sleeping for tomorrows celebration.
And for some strange reason a rainstorm started, although she was shure she hadn't seen any Pegasi all day.
"Oh my. Angel were are you?"
Fluttershy skitted down the main location of Ponyville's plaza. She manuevered around obstacles as she checked high and low hoping to find the mischevious rabbit.
"I knew I shouldn't have left the cottage. Fluttershy why do you have to be such a silly filly sometimes?"
As the yellow cloaked pagasi kept on roaming the streets of ponyville, a crackle of lightning starled the poor filly.
What she noticed however, as the lighting struck, it illuminated a nearby alleyway. And if she was correct, she was positive she saw something lying on the ground not too far from her.
She took a deep breath and swallowed enough bravery to trot towards whatever it was, hoping it was Angel taking shelter beneath a pile of rubble from the rain.
As she got closer, the sight of her pet bunny lifted her spirits to the point that she sped up to him.
"Angel!"
As Fluttershy came closer however, she noticed what Angel was doing. The poor rabbit was soaking wet. But that didn't seem to bother it. What Fluttershy realized was that he was pushing was a pony, not rubble, trying to wake it up.
"Oh no." A faint whisper escaped Fluttershy's mouth.
As the rain landed on the skin of the scarred Stallion, empty sounds of pain would escape from his mouth. As if somehow the cold rain stung his coat as it landed. One thing that Fluttershy wasn't too sure about was if he was asleep or awake.
"Nonsense. What am I thinking? Nopony could ever sleep through cold rain and wind." She thought.
She gently touched the skin of the frantic creature. As her hoof made contact with his skin, his eyes suddenly darted open.
"eek!" Yelped Fluttershy. The sudden scream somehow scared the stallion, causing it to run and bump into the brick wall behind him. As he tumbled to the concrete, he scurried against the wall, and curled up into a ball.
At this point Fluttershy realized
That he was afraid.
"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you."
The Stallions head slightly leveled itself up, revealing its eyes.
A pair of rose red eyes gazed at Fluttershy. The color would have been menacing looking to some. But to Fluttershy, eyes are eyes, and all colors are the same amount of beauty in her world.
Fluttershy slowly trotted forward. The closer she got the more the Stallion shook, as if he was expecting the yellow Pegasus to harm him.
"Its cold out here. You could get sick."
Fluttershy kept on moving, and the poor creature kept on shaking.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Everything's going to be fine."
As soon as the Stallion felt her overshadow him. He clutched his eyes shut hoping for the worst.
But nothing happened.
Fluttershy gently placed her hoof on his shoulder. He flinched a little, but soon realized that she wasn't hurting him.
He slowly opened his eyes.
And locked eyes with her.
"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you."
The stallion's gaze stayed on the eyes of Fluttershy. The soothing blue in her eyes somehow calmed him down.
"The storm will get worst. We need to get you to shelter. We'll head over to my cottage ok?"
The stallion's gaze moved to Fluttershy's hoof.
And now he didn't want to be alone.
"Y-yes..." He replied in a hoarse voice.
Fluttershy smiled.
"And it seems you are sick as well. Don't worry I'll tender you with all the love I've got."
The Stallion slowly struggled to move himself, Fluttershy immediately realized his attempt and helped him up.
"Now now. Remember you were lying on the floor. Your back must be sore."
Fluttershy held on to the Stallion as she slowly lead him out of the alley. Angel followed, trying to take quick shelter from the rain by running underneath the vendor stalls surrounding the town.
"Don't worry friend. We'll be there in just a few minutes."
The stallion slowly muttered to himself.
"Friends..."
*****
"Are you feeling ok?" Fluttershy said as she placed the bowl of hot soup on the table in front of her guest.
The Stallions hooves were dunked on a small bucked of hot water, his forehooves wrapped across his body, trying to warm himself some more.
"Y-yes...everything's...good...thank you..." He replied, his voice still sickly.
Fluttershy's face etched with worry.
'It doesn't seem like it. Your voice sounds. How do i say it..."
"Deathly?" Replied the stallion.
"Well, that's king of a strong word, maybe a little 'under the weather'."
Fluttershy moved the bowl of soup closer to her guest.
"Here. You must be hungry."
The Stallion curiously looked ant the soup, but soon enough he grabbed it with both hooves and slowly gulped it down.
His stomach made a sort of churning sound, it had been a long time since he had touched anything edible.
"See, you look better already." Said Fluttershy as she gazed at her guest smiling.
The Stallion placed the bowl an the table.
"Thank you." He said. His voice still sickly.
"So..." Said Fluttershy softly.
"Whats your name?"
The Stallion looked confused. But he knew what she had asked him. He didn't know how to reply.
Until the voice in his head spoke.
"Phobia." It said out of nowhere, echoing through his mind.
"Phobia." He responded blankly.
Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion.
"Phobia? Thats a...Ummm. Nice name?"
Fluttershy wasn't too sure why Phobia's parent's had given him a name such as this. But she knew that names didn't matter when it came to making friends. Such the case with her good friend Pinkie Pie.
"Are you from around here Phobia?"
Phobia timidly looked away, but he responded.
"No. I'm not."
Fluttershy scootched closer to him. She was always interested in places other than Ponyville.
"So where are you from?"
Phobia gave a sigh. His gaze met hers and Fluttershy noticed his eyes had a look of worry.
"I have no Idea." he confessed.
Fluttershy blinked rapidly in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I can't remember. I have no Idea how I got here. All I know is my name."
Phobia's eyes closed for a couple of seconds and then opened again.
"The thing is, I don't know what I'm looking for."
Phobia lifted his hind hooves from the small bucket of water.
"I...I feel a bit better... Thank you."
Fluttershy gave a cute smile.
"Your welcome."
Fluttershy realized that he was still wearing that tattered cloak. She still didn't how how his features looked like, only that his body was scarred.
She thought about it, but finally the gathered the courage to speak.
"Can. Uhmm. Is it ok if I see your face?"
Phobia looked down, his cloak covering his features.
"I don't think you want to see how I look like."
Fluttershy sat on the couch next to him.
"I said that if you're hurt I was going to help you. I need to make sure your face isn't damaged."
Phobia raised his gaze. His eyes illuminated underneath the cloak.
"I don't know."
"Please?" Said Fluttershy, giving another one of her timid smiles.
Phobia thought about it, but if he had to survive it would be smart to gain the trust of somepony.
"Alright."
Phobia slowly raised his hooves to his head. He clutched the sides of the cloak that was covering it like a hood.
And pulled it back.
...
"Phobia..."
Fluttershy stared at amazement at what her eyes where witnessing.
Phobia's skin was pale. Patches of his coat would vaguely hide the veins that lurked beneath his skin. Underneath his right eye was a row of stitches leading down to his neck. He looked like he had been torn to pieces and put back together again.
"Strangest part however, was that this didn't scare Fluttershy.
After a long silence. Phobia broke the silence.
"Are you ok?"
Fluttershy blinked rapidly.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. See? I told you it wouldn't freak me out."
Phobia looked away shyly.
"That's nice to know."
Fluttershy had so many questions to ask, but she knew it would be foolish to ask too many questions to somepony who just had amnesia, but she remembered she forgot to introduce herself.
"Silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Fluttershy, and that bunny you met before is Angel."
Phobia gazed at her. Fluttershy's smile faded when she realized he hadn't smiled once since they've met.
"what's wrong Phobia, why so glum?"
Phobia's gaze slowly dropped to the floor.
"I don't know."
After a moment of silence, a crack of thunder suddenly boomed outside the cottage. The lights suddenly turned off and Fluttershy, terrified, jumped onto Phobia's hooves. Even with her eyes closed, she spoke with Phobia.
"Oh sorry. I don't like loud noises..or sudden blackouts."
Phobia leaned his back against the couch.
"I'm tired, somehow..."
Fluttershy embarrassed, gently flew off from his hooves.
She floated over to him and held on to his hoof, tugging him gently to get up.
"Come. You'll sleep better on the guest bed."
She led him across the living room, up the stairs, until finally they reached Fluttershy's room.
Fluttershy tugged him closer to the guest bed that was placed next to another one.
She uncovered the blanket.
"Go ahead. Lie down."
Phobia scoot to the bed. After lying down, Fluttershy covered him with the blanket.
"I don't usually do this but, Oh well."
Fluttershy cleared her throat.
To Phobia's surprise she began to sing.
"Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to lay your sleepy head.
Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to go to bed.
Driftin off to sleep,
Exciting day behind you.
Driftin off to sleep,
Let the joy of dream land find you."
As Fluttershy sang, Phobia's eyes closed slowly.
"It's you and me against the world...Morality."
"Hush now quiet now,
Lay your sleepy head.
Said hush now quiet now,
It's time to go to bed."
