Waking up in Equestria

Darkness and rock raced past Harry as he ran. His lungs burned, his heart screamed for rest, and his legs were numb from the exertion of his running.

Harry was scared and confused; he had no idea where he was or how he got there. All he knew is that he needed to run.

Over the sounds of his stomping hooves, laughter could be heard. It was high pitched and malevolent, but also pained and in suffering. The laughter was hot on Harry's heels, egging the stallion to keep running. Along with the laughter, floating in the endless abyss of darkness, a set of crazed eyes followed, a twisted smile right beneath them. The phantom didn't move as it followed suit, it just moved like a shadow, constantly laughing and smiling.

Suddenly, Harry tripped and fell face first, struggling to get up again. But his body failed to respond, making him stay on the rocky floor. The faces' smile suddenly opened to an unnatural size, forever in a silent scream, ready to devour Harry. Spinning around, a flurry of metal the face flew past Harry, and fell to pieces. Retracting his wings, the metallic feathers covered in blood, Harry chuckled once before his right eye was exposed, showing the shattered red iris surrounded by an abyss of black.

"Be ready to play the most dangerous game..."

*     *     *

Harry jerked awake, a scream tearing from his throat as his upper body shot upright. This startled Twilight from her sleep, causing her to look about frantically before setting her sight on Harry.

"What's happening?!" she asked, her mind slowly activating. Harry breathed heavily, his pupils shrunken down to pinpricks.

"N-Nothing...just a dream..." he muttered, reaching a hand back and patting Twilight on the head. "Go back to sleep..." he added, giving her a small scratch behind the ear.

"Well...if you say so..." Twilight said, sleep starting to take her back into its' embrace. Taking a deep breath, Harry slowly laid back down onto the bed, taking Twilight into a lover's embrace as she slept. As he drifted off to sleep once again, those last words echoed in his mind.

"Be ready to play the most dangerous game..."

*     *     *

"Come on, it's a good idea!" Harry proclaimed the next morning at the kitchen table over breakfast. "Saves me the pain of having to look around!"

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea. It's just that, Ponyville already has a toy store, and Wooden Train isn't too keen on competition. He hates it." Twilight replied.

"Oh, a little competition never hurt anybody. Besides, it's not like I'm going global immediately; I can just set up a small stand in the Market and have some toys on display." Harry said, taking a bite of toast.

"Where would you even get the paint? Let along that knife you need, what was it called?"

"A whittling knife. It's a knife about the size of my thumb, and it's sharp to a point where it can shave the wood. As for the paint, I'm sure there's somepony who can hook me up." Harry said, hit tone confident. Twilight gave a reluctant sigh and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. I'm going to back you up on this still. Because that's what couples do." she said, her tone going from reluctant to playful.

"It's too early for lovey-dovey stuff, Twi." Harry deadpanned. The mare giggled and stood from the table, walking past Harry, running her tail under his snout in a teasing manner as her hips swayed. After she left the kitchen, Harry slammed a fist onto the table in an attempt to keep himself from pouncing on her right then and there. "No, no. Still too early. First things' first, get your supplies." he told himself, taking a sip of orange juice and standing from the table.

As he walked out of the kitchen and into the main part of the library, Twilight was getting him a scarf from the small closet nearby.

"Take this, it's really chill outside." she said in a caring tone, wrapping the scarf around Harry's neck with her magic. Taking one of the tails, Harry inspected the cloth and smiled. Twilight's cutie mark was sewn into the fabric, and it had her mane colors as the fabric. It was soft to the touch and seemed like it could hold a decent amount of warmth.

"Thanks sweetie." Harry said leaning down to meet Twilight for a kiss. The mare reared up quickly, met Harry's lips, then opened the door for him.

"Be back soon~." she sang lightly as Harry walked out into the chilly air.

*     *     *

The shop bell rang happily as the door opened, signalling the store owner that they had a customer. Emerging from the back, a lean stallion trotted up to the counter and smiled.

"Hey, ain't ya' that new fella' who's livin' with Twilight?" asked the stallion. Harry nodded.

"Yeah, that's me. And you are?" he asked.

"I'm Oak Plank! Pleasure to make your acquaintance!" said Wooden Train. "So, what can I do for ya'?"

"I'm looking into some whittling knives. I'm starting a toy making business and I'm planning on carving them from wood." Harry explained. Oak Plank nodded and smiled.

"Sure, I can help ya'. Just give me a moment." Oak Plank said as he left the storefront and went into the back, reappearing with a small box in his mouth. Placing it on the counter, Oak Plank snapped the clasps back and lifted the lid, revealing the contents. "Will these do?" he asked. Harry raised his eyebrows in an impressed fashion, nodding as he did.

"Y-Yeah! These will do great! Some are even small enough for a finer detail." Harry said reaching into his pants pocket. "How much?" he asked. Oak Plank waved a hoof.

"Free o' charge. I'm always willin' to help an enterprising young stallion like yourself along." Oak Plank said. With smile and grasping the box, Harry offered for a hoof/handshake. Oak Plank happily obliged and gave a firm shake.

"Thanks Oak. Have a good day." Harry said turning and walking from the store.

"Same to ya'. Good luck!" Oak called.

"Good, now for the paint." thought Harry as he began his journey to the paint shop. Nearby, a bush rustled, a pair of binoculars emerging from it. They followed Harry with malicious intent once again, their owner cackling a bit as she watched him.

Harry couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched, but he eventually shoved it aside as he entered Beautiful Colors. After a couple of minutes, he emerged from the store with a paper bag full of various colors and brushes. Making sure he had everything, Harry turned for home.

Once again, the binoculars emerged, but from a rooftop this time, casting their cold gaze down at Harry. Stopping, Harry looked around at the rooftops, feeling he was being watched again. Spotting a small glare, he turned to see a pair of binoculars quickly vanish.

"Okay, I'm creeped out..." thought Harry as he slowly turned around and continued walking, a bit faster this time. Soon, the paranoia was rising to higher levels, causing Harry to pick up his speed, up until he was at a full sprint. As he ran, bushes and cart canvases shook with a small disturbance, like he was being followed. In the distance, Harry could see the green canopy of Golden Oak's Library. "Thank God! Almost-"

Suddenly, the world went black for the stallion. His bag of paint and box of knives went clattering to the ground, their contents spilling about.

The worst part about all of this was:

No pony was around too see the disappearance.

*     *     *

"Awaken you fool!" yelled a voice in the darkness. Harry grunted as his eyes opened and looked about, trying to determine where he was.

"What the...where am I...?" he asked to the darkness. Slowly, his other senses began to report in, and Harry could feel cloth wrapped around his eyes. A small giggled responded.

"Why...you're home...with me..." came a cold, crazed voice.

"Twilight?" Harry asked. A grunt of aggravation responded.

"Do not mention that whores' name around me...you're with your true lover now...you can forget all about that preppy little teachers' pet..." came the voice. Harry could feel his anger rising at these harsh words.

"Do not talk about Twilight like that! Who are you anyway, and what do you want!?" Harry asked, his voice roaring near the end of his sentence. The clicking of a tongue was heard.

"Do you not remember me...? We shared a romantic evening together until your whore and her little entourage came along and separated us..."

Harry froze. A cold sweat broke across his forehead, his throat gulping with sudden realization.

"Lyra...?"

Suddenly, the blindfold came off, revealing the mint green mare in question. Her face was stretched into a maddened smile, the lips stretching to unnatural lengths. Her golden eyes were the size of pinpricks, her throat giving a crazed laughter.

"Be ready to play a most dangerous game..."

Harry tried to scoot back, away from the mare, only to see that he was strapped down to a chair once again, his wrists tied with rope, and handcuffed for extra caution. Panicking, Harry faced Lyra. "Let me out of here!"

Lyra laughed, her voice shrill and echoing.

"No! You're not leaving my Cave of Love!" she said, stepping closer to Harry. Her nostrils flared as she began sniffing the air, her eyelids fluttering. "Mmmm...I can smell you~." she said in a drunken tone.

"The game starts soon..."

The back of Harry's mind began flooding with a feeling of, well, he didn't exactly know what. It felt cold and vicious, yet scared at the same time. Lyra suddenly pounced on Harry and straddled him, her hips grinding hungrily into his.

"Take me...make us become one...make me scream!" she said, her voice giddy and bubbly, betraying the look of pure insanity on her face.

"Make the offer to play..."

"H-hey! Why don't we play a game?" Harry asked. Lyra smiled wider and she nodded.

"What kind of game?" she asked.

"It's called Hide-and-Fuck! I hide, and if you find me, we have sex! Isn't that what you want?" Harry asked. Lyra pouted and folded her forelegs.

"But that requires work! I'd much rather do you now!" she said, her magic flaring and enveloping Harry's pants zipper.

"B-But! Working for what you want always pays off in the end! And believe me, I'll make you scream with pleasure." Harry said, trying his best to sweeten the deal. Lyra tilted her head and put on a pondering face.

"Okay...I'll play..." she said, her smile coiling tightly on her dimples.

"The game starts when you are freed..."

"Okay, good! Bu-but first, you have to untie my hands. It wouldn't be fair." Harry said. Nodding, Lyra's magic shifted from his zipper to his bindings. Harry could feel the rope falling away, and the cuffs unlocking and following the rope. Standing and rubbing a wrist, he looked at Lyra, who was practically bouncing like a small school filly. "Alright, count to thirty! And no peaking~!" Harry said.

"Alright! I'm so gonna win!" Lyra said, covering her eyes with her hooves. She began counting, and Harry immediately bolted.

"The game has started, and now I come into play..."

Harry's mind went blank suddenly, the void becoming filled with a dark cloud. His body trembled as he stood there, his fingers twitching erratically. His back suddenly snapped into an odd arch, the cracking echoing throughout the cave. Dark chuckling came from him as his wings began to extend, the internals groaning with a dark, unnatural sound.

The metal sounded like the moans of the damned.

Suddenly, blood began pouring from the left portion of his lips, a jagged path cutting through his skin and fur, arching up to the right of his face and to his temple. Immediately, the fur, skin, and muscle fell away into ash, revealing his skull underneath. His eyeball twitched around madly as blackness began to fill into it, starting from the bottom, and working its' way to the top. As for his skull, the snapping of bone and tendons could be heard as the jawline violently carved a path up this skull, fusing with the top jaw, and extending that too. Soon, a very unnatural grin was present on the right half of Harry's face, accenting with the now black eyeball that sat in his eye socket.

"I'm ready to play!" said the new entity in Harry's voice.

"Good! Because I already found you!" said Lyra. Immediately, Not-Harry spun around to face the mare. Lyra gasped in surprise and cringed back. "D-do I get sex n-now...?" she asked nervously. In the distance between them, Not-Harry ran up on Lyra in a blur of motion, craning over her, looking right into her eyes. Lyra's eyes were locked on Not-Harry's.

In Not-Harry's right eye, the brown iris shattered into four pieces, one center chunk with three flanking chunks. The brown immediately flashed to red. The jagged, boney grin on Not-Harry's face tightened into a jagged coil on his temple.

"H-Harry...?" Lyra asked, her voice that of a mouse.

Harry's hand grabbed Lyra by the throat, hauling her off her hooves and into the air.

"Not Harry. Alptraum!" roared the entity. Taking his other hand, Alptraum rammed two fingers into Lyra's eyes, gouging her eyes out. Lyra screamed in agony as Harry's fingers morphed into claws and tore her sight away. Warm, sticky blood flowed like crimson waterfalls from Lyra's gored eye sockets, her scream continuing.

"I claim thine tainted soul...as a feast..." Alptraum said coldly, his claws tracing down Lyra's cheeks. Lyra's body shuddered as she sobbed, but no tears were falling from her eyes. If there were any tears, they'd be mixed in with her blood right now. With one claw, Alptraum lined it up right with where Lyra's heart would've been. Slowly, a darkness began to flow from Lyra's chest, opening it to allow the claw entry to her heart. The claw slowly began to sink into Lyra's chest.

Then, a bright burst of light enveloped them both.

It's a nice, spring day in Central Park, the afternoon sun just setting behind the Manhatten skyline. Birds fly over head, and people mill about, enjoying picnics or throwing around a football. A calming breeze blows through from between the trees, causing a young woman to brush aside a lock of light green hair. A white streak accompanies this color, coming together quite nicely. Her eyes were an amazing gold, like they were a pair of golden doubloons.

Her name was Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings.

And she was alone.

Lyra laid under a park bench, curled into a tight ball. Her upper half was covered up by a mint green hoodie, acting as both a security blanket, and her only source of warmth. Her reasoning for being at the park under a bench was simple:

She lived under this bench.

Lyra had ran away from home at the age of seventeen, after her parents tried to double team her and hurt her. In the years prior, both her mother and father would hit, verbally abuse, and at one point, rape her. No place would take her in after she ran. She didn't have many friends; she was mostly a shut-in, and never really talked at school. With no where to go, Lyra had taken up residence at Central Park, the bench she laid under as her only source of shelter. For food, she'd have to sneak and steal from the various food carts that the Big Apple was known for. Often time, she was lucky to grab a handful of roasted nuts, before being driven off by the vendor. However, this wasn't enough, and Lyra was constantly starving. Her body was very thin underneath her hoodie. She was almost all skin and bone. Her once young, beautiful face was now shallow cheeked and gaunt.

Now, a year later, Lyra Heartstrings was cold, alone, hungry, and dying.

And it was her birthday.

Just as the sun was setting, Lyra's voice cracked into existence, trying to carry a joyful tune.

"H-Happy bir-birthday too me...Ha-happy bir-birthday too me..." But, she couldn't finish the tune, for she had began to cry. Tears rolled down her dirty cheeks, taking small amounts of dirt with them. She looked up to the stars through the bench seat, just as they began to shine in the night sky. A vicious wind attacked her, making Lyra shiver.

"God...take me away..." she muttered before breaking into more tears.

The sounds of approaching feet reached Lyra's ears.

No, not feet. Were those hooves?

Sitting up on her elbows, Lyra looked about for the new sound. Her golden eyes landed on the figure of a horse, a rather small horse. A horn protruded from its' forehead, its' mane and tail seeming to flow, even though the wind had died down to almost nothing. The horse was a dark blue, with the mark of a crescent moon on its' rear.

"Lyra Heartstrings?" asked the horse. Lyra blinked and gawked in amazement.

The horse could *talk. And it was talking to her.*

"Y-yeah...?" Lyra replied, slowly emerging from the bench and approaching the horse, which she realized was actually a pony.

"Greetings, I am Princess Luna of Equestria. I could not help but notice you are out here, alone. Why is that?" Luna asked, tilting her head to the side a bit.

"Oh man, I have to be dreaming..." Lyra thought. "I uh, don't really have a home..." she said to the pony. Luna formed a frown on her lips and took a step to Lyra. The girl took a jerky step back, a thin hand coming up a bit.

"And as for being alone?" Luna asked.

"I don't have anyone to be here for me..." Lyra said as her stomach gave a grumble. Her hands immediately went to the area, pressing down on her hoodies' front, and revealing how thin she truly was.

"Have you not eaten?" Luna asked.

"No money. I practically have to steal if I want to eat..." Lyra said as she rubbed her tummy. Silence fell between the two.

"Would you like to leave this place?" Luna asked suddenly. Tears began to form at Lyra's eyes, cascading down her cheeks once again.

Nodding, Lyra spoke, her voice broken once again. "Y-yes..."

Suddenly, a set of wings flared from Luna's sides as she turned around and looked to Lyra.

"Then climb upon my back. I shall take you to a place where you will be happy." Luna said, her tone caring, a loving smile accenting with the voice. Without a second thought, Lyra climbed onto Luna's back. The mare took the skies, and Lyra had to clench onto Luna's neck to stay secure. Below, the night life of New York thrived. Time Square was alight with it's plethora of signs and lights, as cars sped to and fro through the countless streets and avenues of the city. As they flew, Luna climbed higher and higher, until she had gone through the cloud layer.

The view was amazing up here, and Lyra gasped in awe as she looked at the millions of stars. The moon hung high in the night sky, casting light down on them.

"I suggest you hold on." Luna said as her horn flared. Taking the pony's advice, Lyra held on tightly to Luna as a glowing light appeared in the night sky before them.

"What's through there?" Lyra asked.

"Paradise." replied Luna. With a choking gasp, Lyra happily cried as they went through the light.

*     *     *

Alptraum screamed as he was thrown back from Lyra. The mare dropped to the ground, sobbing loudly as she laid there, curling into a ball. Alptraum stared at the mare as she wept.

*"She...was human...just like me..." said Harry in Alptraum's mind.*

"The game has been played..." Alptraum said simply. Slowly, his features began to form back into Harry's normal features. The bone began sealing up, returning to its' normal form. Harry's skin began to rapidly reform, causing a scar on the left of his lips. His eye drained of the black substance, and the red pieces of his iris had connected to each other like a small puzzle, slowly going back to a brown color.

Standing on shaky hooves, Harry got up and approached Lyra. He picked her up and carried her out of the cave, into the night air.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry..." muttered Lyra as she curled up tight against Harry, trying to keep warm. Harry didn't say a word as he walked to Ponyville Hospital.

*     *     *

A couple of days had passed since the cave incident with Lyra. The mare in question was currently being treated in the ER at the hospital. Harry had returned to a frantic Twilight, who had nearly worried herself sick about where he had been for seven hours. Harry explained it all, restrained Twilight from going after Lyra, and went to bed.

Currently, Harry was running a small toy stall at the Ponyville Market, selling wooden airplanes, trains and boats that he had carved out. Twilight smiled happily as she watched a young unicorn colt levitate a wooden P-51D Mustang, painted in the colors of the Tuskegee Airmen, and look at it with bewilderment.

"Can I see that?" Harry asked as he leaned over the counter and smiled at the colt. The colt nodded and handed it to Harry, who took it and began flying it around in his hand, imitating the Mustang's signature engine. The colt smiled with happiness as he watched the toy be shown off. The colt's mother approached and smiled, throwing the required money onto the counter-top. Harry handed the plane back to the colt, who took it with his magic.

"Thanks mister! This is *so cool!" he said as he trotted away with his mother. Harry smiled happily and looked at Twilight, who returned the smile.*

"Think Lyra is going to be okay?" Harry asked. Twilight shrugged and gave a grimace.

"She better, or else I'm bucking her into next year if she comes back." she said. Harry chuckled a bit and gave the mare a loving hug just as an elderly stallion approached his stall, the cutie mark of a wooden train on his flank.

"Hello sir, may I help you?" Harry asked. The stallion looked over Harry's display, his eyes judging the wooden toys.

"I must say...these are the finest toys I've seen! And I've been in the business my entire life! Keep up the good work kid." said the stallion as he turned and walked away.

"That was Wooden Train. He's not easy to impress." Twilight said with a giggle. Harry chuckled again and sat back, watching the crowd mill about.

"Then it looks like I've got a new job." he said, smirking to one side as he clasped his hands behind his head.