Author's Note

About time I updated this. Huge thanks to my editor, Ephraim Blue, for helping me get through this. Been thinking about taking this story down for a while, honestly. For anyone who's still reading this, I thank you and greatly apologize for the long wait. Have a nice day.

Now to crawl away and come back a few hours later for the inevitable assholes who judge too harshly. Haha.

Interlude: Blue's Nightmare

Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold

It was cold, why so cold? Blue shifted under the covers trying desperately to find a more comfortable position. He felt as though he were in a freezer. Magic engulfed his horn and soon, the covers were pulled up to his liking and he let out a soft sigh of relief to the warmth of the covers. Slowly, he felt the sweet embrace of sleep clutch him…

“Wake up private!” A shout shocked Blue from his near slumber. With that, came the removal of the covers and the return of the unnatural cold. When he turned to see the culprit, he was greeted with a steel hardened face. One of a solar guard, accompanied by two others. “Why aren’t you outside with your team, training!?”

Blue just looked shocked at the guard. Team? He looked around quickly and tried to recall why this area looked so familiar. It was indeed a barracks of some kind, weapon racks and beds lined the sides along with a small lamp or candle for light. When Blue’s gaze returned to the guard, the guard raised an eyebrow. “Is there a problem private?”

“I’m sorry… but who are you again? I know your face from somewhere but I can’t quite put it-”

“Shut your yapper son or I’ll have you doing laps around the castle grounds until your legs fall apart!” The guard commander shouted, sending spittle all over Blue’s face.

Blue receded and wiped away the spit that made its way onto his face before muttering. “Say it, don’t spray it…”

“Get your lazy flank outside this instant before I make good on my threat boy!” With that, Blue was practically shoved out of his bed by the other two guards. He found himself being pushed along by the two down the long corridor of sectioned off bunks before coming face first into a cold steel door. Once opened, rays of light attacked Blue’s vision causing him to immediately shut his eyes and throw his hooves up to block the invading rays of sunshine.

“Can somepony ask Celestia to dim the sun for a bit? Please…?” His plea fell on deaf ears.

The two solar guards moved him forward, passing the dozens of other guards that were busy with other training exercises. A few snickers and chuckles met his ears as he noticed some of the other guards had taken notice to him being forcefully shoved toward...well...wherever he was going. His team? He presumed. Why did that seem so familiar to him?

After some time of being pushed forward, Blue found himself in front of a sight he couldn’t forget. It was them. It was impossible and yet here they were. After so many years… it was his team.

He saw Eclipse and Cuddle Prancer sparring against each other, Lightning Moon cheering them both on to do their best, and Spring Gypsy, serving as the referee. It was them.

They all stopped and stared at him. “Well, look who finally decided to wake up!” Eclipse teased. “Took ya long enough! Half thought you weren’t gonna wake up till tomorrow after that battle!”

It came back to him. This was the camp. They were on a mission with the other Solar Guards to liberate some mysterious intrusions of what seemed like war. They liberated the first two and he had been rendered unconscious for a few days.

“What you starin’ at us for dear?” Cuddle inquired. “You look shocked from here to Canterlot. Somethin’ the matter?”

“Probably just as surprised to be awake as we are,” Lightning had said. “You know how he loves sleep.”

“Yeah, snores just like he’s scarfed all our rations, if you know what I mean!” Spring had said warm-heartedly. Everyone had a good chuckle out of that.

It was them. It was really, really them. Some small tears began to slightly well up from his surprise.

Everyone saw this and stared at him strangely. “Somethin’ the matter dear?” Cuddle asked, walking closer.

Blue shook his head. “It.. Its nothing.” He wiped away his tears. “I just can’t believe this.”

“Believe what? You act as if you’d been gone for a long time, but you’ve only been resting for two days.” Lightning informed.

Blue shook his head. “Don’t worry about it… we’re all here, and that won’t change.”

It was then that Blue heard the commander speak up. “Made it to your team. Good. Thought I’d have to put one down on one of my best soldiers.”

“Blue here? No way. I’d have his back in an instant.” Eclipse spoke up.

“So, tell us dear, have any sweet dreams while you were under?” Cuddle asked with a small smile.

To Blue, that was no understatement. He did indeed have one of the oddest dreams. Couldn’t quite remember them now though… something about an assassin. The princess. A mare. And…

A Horrifying monster…

Almost immediately after he thought about that… it came rushing forward. That was no dream. It happened. He felt it. Felt every spine tingling bit of it. The pain of the assassin’s blows. The threat of near death. The monster’s gaze meeting his own. “I- I did have one dream…”

“Oh? Well tell us already. You’ve always have a knack for telling funny stories.” Lightning chuckled.

“An assassin… A mare… The Princess…” Blue spoke. “A monster.”

“Uh… Blue, that ain’t funny.” Eclipse spoke up.

“No, it’s not. Not funny at all. But… you know what, it doesn’t matter anyways. It’s over… righ-” He stopped when he felt a hoof rest on his shoulder. He turned and saw them. Two black, soulless eyes that spewed black magic like the abyss itself.

“Your right Blue. It wasn’t funny. And… it’s not over.” That voice. That monster.

Blue quickly turned around to see his team but something changed. Everything changed. Their eyes were the same as the beasts as they began walking toward him. Every guard did. All around him. All with the same black, heartless, soulless eyes of the monster he faced. He wanted to run and hide from them but they were all around him, there was no hope of escape. With that, he quickly sent out a pulse of magic that knocked the group currently surrounding him back. He turned around and around, watching the slowly incoming crowd of monsters that surrounded him.

“I should have thought that this was too good to be true…” Blue choked out.

The group came in closer and Blue threatened them with magic but something held him back. He wasn’t sure… was the fact that he would be harming his comrades. Were they even his comrades anymore? Blue shook it from his head and fired a blast of magic which to his horror, passed through them.

“What’s the matter, Blue?” He heard the voice of Lightning Moon whisper in his head.

“Cat got your tongue?” He heard the voice of Eclipse chime in.

“Or maybe it’s the ‘monster’ you told us about?” Prancer spoke.

“What was his name, Blue?” The crowd spoke in unison. “What was his name?”

For moments, that’s all the crowd around him could say as they closed in on him. Blue fell to his haunches and stared at the ground, petrified. The voices only got louder, almost to the point of screaming. It felt like his ears were bleeding and ready to burst. His mind rattled with that single question that he didn’t know the answer too. He moved his hooves to his ears and tried to scream but his own voice was blocked out by the hundreds of other voices that screamed back at him that question.

What was his name?

Suddenly, it all stopped. Blue looked around him and saw that everyone was gone. Poof, just… gone. The only thing he saw was the shadow that loomed over him. All he had to do was turn around but before he could do that. It spoke…

“You don’t know? Well, how about I give the smart pony some enlightenment.”

Blue’s eyes widened when he heard that but before he could turn to protest, he felt a tight squeeze around his form as he was lifted up, high up. The claws that had him were made of the most pristine, intricately designed gold. Down to the finest detail. He watched the camp vanish from view and soon, he saw nothing but the maw of must of been the monster. It’s teeth bared and ready for a meal. Too bad, he may have to suffice.

The beast’s mouth opened wide and Blue soon found the grip around him released only for him to plummet into the monster’s maw. The last thing he saw before darkness was it’s teeth gnash down on his small form. Almost immediately after that, his eyes opened and he was somewhere new. What could only be described as a luxurious suite. Though everything had a bit of the same theme to it.

Blood red.

From the furniture, to the carpet, to the drapes upon the windows. Blue saw no other color than red. He jumped when a door not to far from him swung open and in came trotting Graymayne. Except… it wasn’t Graymayne. The obvious thing were the eyes. It was the monster.

The beast simply trotted along his merry little way, ignoring the stare that Blue was currently giving it. It reached one of the few couches in the room and lied down, relaxing there for just a moment before giving Blue one of the creepiest and most terrifying grins he’d seen in years. “Come now. It’s almost like you didn’t think this would happen.”

“You’re him… you’re that thing. That’s how he bursted magic when he was bound, and what was talking in his place… you’re the monster inside that Graymayne..”

“Why yes, I am indeed. And you, you are another roach that I have to deal with.” The monster raised its hoof and waved it lazily at Blue. “So, how should we go about this… Oh, I know. Let’s start with Eclipse.”

Suddenly, the world around them changed once again. Blue found himself surrounded by other ponies, Solar guards to be more specific. He saw each one of them fighting for lives against a band of gryphons who seemingly attacked them. Why did this feel familiar? It wasn’t until he saw his comrade, Eclipse wielding the golden spear given to him by-

He stopped. No. He rushed toward Eclipse knowing full well what was about to happen. He had to save him before- it was too late. A gryphon, wielding a battle axe came for the strike and in that instant, the spear held by Eclipse began to morph, in hopes of deflecting the attack but to Eclipse’s horror. The morphable spear broke to pieces when it met the devastating strike of the battle axe. And with that strike came the dismemberment of Eclipse’s hoof. He yelled out in agony and Blue could only stare in horror.

“Save him Blue, you know you want to…” He heard the voice of the monster.

Blue moved quickly, using the same magic he’d used to take on Graymayne. The Gryphon moved toward the downed Eclipse, dropping its blood stained battle axe. Blue leapt for the gryphon in order to save his comrade… only to phase right through him.

“Oops, almost forgot…” Blue heard that voice again as he turned to see the Gryphon pick up the bladed end of the broken spear. “You weren’t there to save him. Were you?”

Blue stared horrifically as the Gryphon knelt down, only to repeatedly drive the spear into his comrades body. Eclipse tried to fight back but to no avail, the gryphon’s strength was overwhelming to him and soon, his eyes were left lifeless. Blue stood back up, only to back away slowly. Horrified at the act of brutality before him. He didn’t want to see this… he didn’t want to remember this. Never. He turned to run but that was halted when he came face to face with the monster again.

“Doing exactly what you did before? How cowardice.” The monster chuckled.

The next thing he knew, he was whisked away into a forest. He knew where too. This time he’d seen it happen. He looked off into the woods and saw the fire.

“Go on then,” the voice of the monster called to him. “Go to her. You have every chance.”

“Stop it..” he growled. “Stop taunting me, I do not need to live through these memories of sin again!”

“And that will make me stronger!” He heard the monster chuckle. “You are the best kind of sin.”

“Sin…” Blue repeated. “Some embodiment of sin... “ Some tears welled up in his eyes as he realized where this was going. “Is that what you are? Just some sin left behind to torture me with past memories when I’m already at my lowest?!”

The monster’s laughs echoed throughout the forest. “Hurry Blue, she needs you now more than ever.”

Blue clenched his teeth and blinked away the tears before going forward. In the distance, he saw a couple tents set up around a bonfire and as he approached, he watched as one of his other comrades… Cuddle Prancer was thrown to the ground outside one of the tents before she was dragged back inside.

Blue saw this and rushed forward to try and save her, but in the end… he knew he wasn’t there for her either. He never walked into that tent. Horror struck through him. It was happening again, all over again. He toppled over as the pain of remembering them seemed too much, but that only led him somewhere else.

It was very windy here. Blue recognized this as the port for blimps in Canterlot to come and go to lands as they please, as a way for the rich here to travel. He stood once more. If the last two events were happening as they did long ago, then he knew what was going on.

There were no blimps today. Just a pony gazing out over the side of the railing, right next to the one opening for a small bridge for the blimps so ponies could walk without needing to fly onto them. Cause what would be the point of a blimp if its passengers could fly?

“What are you doing here?” Blue turned. Himself, just as he had been. Almost like a mirror, but alas, just a memory. “Princess Celestia has told me you’re acting strange. Mumbling out of nowhere, shouting in quiet places. That isn’t like you, Spring.”

“Spring Gypsy… not this again…” Tears filled Blue’s eyes. “Please, be different… Don’t do what you’re about to do…”

The pony on the railing, Spring Gypsy as it seemed, didn’t turn around. “Say… Blue… why do you think we see things out of our own eyes?”

The second Blue, the one not crying, tilted his head. “What do you mean..?”

“I mean why do we see what’s in our eyes? First person, like those stories where it’s only from their point of view.”

Blue stared at him strangely. “I don’t understand what you mean… we see through our eyes because they’re what our bodies are connected to.”

“WRONG!” Spring shouted, turning around. The second Blue hadn’t noticed then, but Spring was wearing his helmet, the special one. He couldn’t see Spring’s eyes from the way the helmet was made, but from underneath, blood trickled down past his muzzle, dripping onto the balcony and at Blue’s hooves.

“S-Spring? What happened to your eyes?!”

“Why, that’s a silly question now isn’t it?” Spring chuckled madly. “Obviously, they’re bleeding! They’re bleeding because I happened to pick up a knife and stab them out! HAHA! Now I can’t see out of my eyes, and I can’t see what the helmet wants me to anymore!”

Blue took a step back. “Spring… what is the matter with you? This isn’t like you, you’ve gone mad!”

“Mad? Mad you say? No I was STUPID is what I was! As it turned out, you don’t need your eyes! You have your ears and nose and tongue and your whole BODY to understand what it tells me! I thought my eyes would stop me from seeing it, but my brain processes them anyway! HAHA! My senses won’t stop telling it to me! Telling me to DIE! DIE DIE DIE!”

Spring hopped over the railing, clinging onto it as if he wanted to save himself, but leaning over as if he was going to jump.

“No…” the dream Blue cried out more. “Why… why did you… we have to end up like this…”

“Spring!” Blue grabbed her with his magic. “Stop this! This isn’t you! You’ve never wanted to die, never!”

“None of us wanted to!” she shouted back. “But the one thing I keep getting told is that I have to die! That we all have to die! If I keep getting told that, why must anything else be true? It must be true for me to die! To die and see what will become of me afterward!”

“Stop it! I’m not going to let you do this!” Blue’s magic was holding her from letting go and jumping off. “Just come back over here, we can work this out! You don’t have to die, we don’t have to make what it said come true! We choose our own selves, our own destinies! You know that, I’ve told you millions of times!”

Spring Gypsy hesitated. Her hooves shook on the railing. “You know the scariest part of all of this? The helmet has told me only one future instead of all the infinite ones it used to. It told me that one of us do live, with all the pain and all the guilt of watching it happen, over and over again.”

“You.”

“You are to live, it says. You are to face through all of us being lost to you because we meddled with the wrong powers. This fate was sealed, this destiny cannot be rewritten!”

The second Blue was in shock. “No, you should live, you should all live! I shouldn’t even exist here, why should I be the one to stay alive?!”

“That’s just what it says, Blue.”

“Blue ran up to her and held her tight, letting his magic have a rest. “No, I won’t believe that, not for a second! I don’t care what prophecies tell me what to do, I won’t listen to them if they let my closest friends die to me!” He shut his eyes tight, holding Spring tighter than ever. “I- I love you all too much to let you die! I-I love you too much to let you go through with this!”

Spring Gypsy turned around and hugged him around his neck, further ensuring that she would not fall. In his ear, she whispered something.

“I know.”

“Stop it… Stop it now!” Dream Blue shouted.

The Second Blue looked calm, for he was never going to let her go. But in an instant, he screamed. Spring Gypsy had bit against his horn, snapping it in half before him. The sudden pain caused him to let go and hold his head as he retaliated onto the balcony.

He’d let go of her.

She wasn’t on the balcony with him anymore.

The scene shifted to a blackness around Blue once more. He was alone.

It wasn’t long before the voice of the monster chimed in with a light chuckle. “My, my, what a way to go.” It raised it’s hoof high into the air along with a high pitched whistle before slowly descending along with pitch of the monster’s whistling until his hoof touched the floor. “Splat”

He stood there chuckling almost bursting out into full blown laughter. Blue felt his hooves shaking in both horror and rage. He didn’t want to admit it but deep down… he wanted to take the ultimate revenge on this monster. He wanted to tear the wretched creature apart and destroy it, leave nothing in it’s wake. That rage… it disgusted him but at the same time… he wanted nothing more than to do the worst possible thing to this demon. But…

What would that make him in the end…? A monster. The same monster he promised to them, to his friends, to his team, that he would never become. No matter what. Blue turned to the monster. His hate filled glare never wavering. “So… what’s next monster? Prancer…? Lightning?! Who, monster!”

The creature, his laugh coming down to mild chuckles, finally stopped and smiled. “Oh, we’re done here. You’re beginning to bore me…”

“Don’t toy with me…” Blue growled.

“Oh, does the little smart pony want more? Because trust me, there is so much more I can do to you.” The monster began a casual trot toward Blue. “As you already know, I can and will make you relive your greatest sins. I get to watch you suffer while indulging myself on a very tasty meal.” The beast’s tongue slither out to lick its lips. “But… there is so much more to you than meets the eye, now is there? And it all starts with your watch…”

Blue froze. He knew about it.

“Oh, and it doesn’t even stop there.” The monster was so close. Blue’s hooves felt like cinder blocks. He couldn’t move them. Was it fear? Or was it the monster holding him in place?

He felt the monster’s breath on his ear. “I know what you really are. And it makes me laugh. A child, not a colt, but a child. Not a pony. But something else. Not of this world or even, this universe. How tasty.”

Blue felt his heart sink. His chest felt as though a it were compressing. He wanted to fight back against the monster but something held him tight, never letting go. “Blue, you are one interesting specimen. Is “Blue” even your real name? No. It’s not. It’s… Ephraim Blue. Wait… No.”

The monster leaned in close. “That’s right…. I know your REAL name. And to prove it…”

The monster whispered something. Something that made Blue’s eyes go wide. His heart collapsed in on itself, as if his whole world had been destroyed in front of him. The monster said his name. A name he’d left behind a long time ago. A name that he had left, along with the world he came from. He sucked down the lump in his throat. “H- H- How… How do you-”

“Ephraim… My dear Ephraim. I can read you like an open book. It’s so easy. Through your deepest sins. I can see your entire past, your present… and even bits of your future. If that really is your future.” The monster continued to whisper. “With that watch, you can change it. Can’t you? You can change anything.”

Suddenly, the monster’s hooves came up and shoved Blue to the ground. He quickly tried to recover and recover he did. Backing away from the monster who only stared at him in pure bliss. He then felt something odd… a very cool breeze on his hoof. It was then, he reached for his watch and felt nothing there.

“Looking for this?” The monster waved it’s hoof in front of Blue. Upon it, was his blue watch. “The things I could do with this power… the power of Time and Space itself. How promising. You know ‘Ephraim’, this device--” he paused. “That’s strange, for a second there..”

Blue finally regained his composure and quickly warped the watch off the creature’s hoof. “That’s enough of that, and don’t call me ‘Ephriam’,” he growled. “I choose Blue for a reason, and I don’t intend on being called by anything else otherwise.”

The monster huffed. “Foolish being, I am a god! You’re nothing but a lost mutant in this world, or any world that you’ve been to! You are wrong to defy me!”

“Defy you of what, exactly? What my own name is or how I choose to live? God or no god, you have no right to decide that. And besides, you’re just weak yourself.”

“WEAK?!” the monster shrieked. “You don’t know my power, the power of Sin! I created the world into what it was and shaped it into my image! I rule over all that is here, and as it stands, I rule over you all the same.”

“You rule over nothing,” Blue retaliated. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule over these lands, no matter how wrong one’s actions are. As it stands, you are just powerless to change that. You were, apparently, when they took the control from you, and you are now! You’re just a caged bird inside of Graymayne’s head, and you will never change that!”

The creatures eyes twitched. “You have been wrong to defy me, punk. You should have just submit and let me reconquer this Equestria by my own methods! If you get in my way again, I guarantee that no ‘cage’ shall hold me from tearing you to shreds!”

“I’d never let that happen,” Blue growled before giving a light chuckle. “After all, I made a promise. ‘Seek revenge, but do not take it.’ I will stay alive long enough to find it, and I will continue refusing to die until I find it.”

“You’re just the same as Graymayne. Blinded. You will take that revenge. You won’t escape that! Just as he will one day slay Princess Celestia for this little game she’s tossed him into, you will take your revenge! That’s who you are, after all.”

“No, I am not like that. I am Blue, and I was ever since I came to these worlds. I am no longer who you tell me I am, cause I will be Blue until I die.”

The creature began a chuckle, and soon it turned into a laugh, ever so menacing. “Very well then! We shall see what path you end up taking, and I will find it AMUSING!”

“You’re sick.”

“No, I am SIN!” he bellowed. “I am the most powerful being in this world! I am what resides in all ponies and beings! I embody the seven traits that will falter EVERYPONY! For I am Va-Korum!”

The words bellowed long and loud into Blue’s ears, even after he gasped and awoke in the sweat he drenched in. He stared around him, rubbing his head and groaning.

“I think I stepped into something a little too big here…”