Hard times

Section-7 A Sick Mare's Dream

    "Twilight!?" Vega cried into the darkness. "Where am I? What happened?" She quickly remembered the spell she had read. She quickly looked to the book for some sort of explanation but it was gone.

    Vega began to panic as the darkness around her began to shift and move. The blackness began to take form as Vega watched in silent fear. Soon the shadows formed a room. Four walls enclosed her, she looked up and watch as the walls continued to climb far out of sight. Vega ran a hoof across one of the walls and watched as ripples fanned out across the it. Vega began to push further and further into the wall surprised at how little effort it took to make her way through. Hesitantly she pushed her head into the wall. Suddenly she fell through the wall as if something had pushed her.

    Face down on the ground she laid afraid to she what caused her to fall. After a few moments of nothing happening she decided to get up. As she rose to her hooves she looked around. The beauty of the room before left her in awe. "What is this place?" She asked aloud. "This is Aegri Somnia." An echoing voice answered. Vega looked around the room for the voice but found nopony but herself. "Don't bother looking for me." The unknown voice called again. "Who are you!?" Vega demanded. "Now now, you enter into my domain uninvited and you demand to know my name?" The voice said in a toying manner. "Now that's just rude." He finished. "I didn't walk in!" Vega shot back. "I was forced into this!" "Perhaps." The voice called back. "But either way it doesn't matter,your here now. That's what matters." He continued in an echoing voice. "While you are here you will be subject to many challenges. You may proceed when you choose. Oh, and a word of advice, try not to die." Vega waited for a moment, expecting the voice to return but she heard nothing. Vega looked around the room. At one end of the room were two doors. A beautiful lavender colored carpet was laid out as to lead one to the doors. Vega looked down at the floor and saw a rather sizable sun that had been painted on the floor, other than that the floor was white. She looked above and found the opposite, a large moon that seemed to hover overhead. Beyond the moon was a vast expanse of black.

    Vega began to walk towards the doors with extreme caution. In front of the doors she stood, debating which door to enter. After a moment of thinking she decided to open the door on the left. Her aura began to turn the knob, slowly, carefully. As it opened the hinges began to grind together, creating a loud squeaking. To her disbelief there was nothing behind the door but bricks. She touched them to see if they were actually real and not just another illusion, but they were very much real.

    'What the hell?' Vega thought to herself. She opened the other door, half expecting to see more brick--but to her surprise the door actually lead somewhere. She proceeded through the door with caution. As she walked she took in the odd scene that was laid out before her eyes. It twas a vast oasis, lush in greenery and wildlife. All around stood great white oak that seemed to form an enclosure around a single boulder. Vega neared the boulder to investigate when she saw the shadow of a pony rush behind one of the trees. When she saw this she began to sprint in an attempt to catch the shadowy figure. As she rounded the tree she slid and fell. Her head smacked hard against the ground and left her in a daze. She could see the pony running off into the distance as she recovered herself. Knowing she couldn't possibly catch up to the figure, she turned to examine the stone.

    The top of the stone had been ingrained with a sort of incantation. She looked at the strange markings wondering what they ment. She ran a hoof over the stone to clear the dust away when she saw another shadowy figure slink behind a tree as she looked up. "You can't let this place get to you Vega." She told herself as she rubbed her head then continued looking over the rock. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw the figure again. When she looked up she saw it galloping toward her in a great haste. Vega stepped back a bit before thinking. 'That thing can't hurt me, its just an illusi- .' Before she even had time to finish her thought, the pony was jumping over the stone toward her. The pony slammed into her with all its weight and knocked her to the ground. She landed hard and to her surprise she felt the pain as if she had truly been taken down. Vega was rolling onto her back as the pony stood over her. "What was tha-" She began but quickly stopped when she saw a large blade just above face. She squeaked in fear as the knife was slowly lowered down hear her face. The pony gently ran the blade across Vega'$ cheek. She stared into the ponies eyes, its hollow eyes seemed to show no remorse or regret as it began pressing the blade to Vega'$ cheek.

    It was only until the pony spoke that Vega could distinguish a gender. "Who are you!?" The pony demanded, its voice--though feminine--was furious. "V-Vega." She answered in fear. "Why are you here!?" The voice demanded again. "I don't know! I just-" Vega shouted back. The shadowy black mare pressed the knife to Vega'$ cheek again. As the blade drew blood the mare gave a devilish grin. "You're nothing but a plague, a pestilence that must be removed!" The dark mare said angrily as she slowly dug the blade further into the wound. Suddenly out of fear Vega reacted. Her hind legs jolted out as she thrusted the mare away from her. Instincts immediately took over as she got up and ran. Out of the circle of trees, across the grassy plain, and through brambles she ran. Never once did she look back to see if she was being pursued. Out of breath she slowed to a stop, she panted heavily as she looked back. "Oh no." She said as her heart sank. The landscape behind her was nothing more than a black void.

    "Hello?" Vega called into the void. "Where am I?" She asked herself. "Hell-AHH!!" She cried out in pain. The pain quickly dulled to a sore throbbing as she jerked her head to the side. The throbbing in her neck lessened with each passing second, at the same time she began to feel light headed. She put a hoof to her neck but quickly pulled away when she felt a wetness. She looked at her hoof, it was covered in blood. She looked down and saw the pool of blood that had collected on the black ground. She began to stumble around, the blood loss taking its toll on her body. She collapsed onto the ground. As she fought fate and began to slip she heard a voice say. "So long as one of us stands we are legion. We are Vrolok."