1 month, 2 days.

1 month, 2 days.

"Get him on the stretcher, gently now."

"One..two..three!"

Daniel tries moving his hand over to the knife, trying to pull it out. His hand is held down by a male pony in scrubs, sternly saying,

"Calm down and don't move." Daniel ignores him and repeatedly tries to grip the handle sticking out from his stomach. The male pony clamps down on his right arm, saying again,

"Don't. Move." He gestures for another to help him hold Daniel down, a female pony with a medical mask holds his left arm. Daniel tries to overpower them, his left hand manages to get past the her and he grips the handle, a surge of pain hits across his body, he flinches and is met with another EMT assisting the one to his left. The male pony to his right says,

"Put him under."

A pony looms over his head, wearing goggles and a medical mask, laying a soft plastic mask over his nose, he breathes something in through the mask. He starts to feel dizzy and closes his eyes, feeling a slight pricking pain along his right elbow. He hears remnants of conversation, an emergency siren blaring and muffled in the background.

"NO!!" He hears a shrill voice scream from outside, repeatedly screaming,

"L-Let me go!! LET ME GO! Let me see him!", a male EMT yells,

"Keep him stable, and don't let her in here, she stabbed him!"

What?

Daniel forces himself to sit up, the knife cuts deeper into his abdomen and his mind races from the pain, streaks of red dance around his eyes as it echoes throughout his body with such severity. He screams in pain, a sporadic amount of beeping beeps repeatedly, his heart is racing. The EMT yells out,

"I thought he was put under!"

The one with the goggles and medical mask yells out,

"He -was- !" His limbs are consequently held back down in place, several straps are around his wrists and his ankles. The female pony straps the last, holding his chest down so he can't lean back up. The one with goggles drains liquid out of a glass vial into a needle, ordering the others,

"Hold him still." Several hooves hold him down by his shoulders, a pain pricks through the right of his neck, he tries to move his head but is held in place by 2 hooves. He feels faint, the ponies start to blur together, several blotchy colors dance around them and stick to the background. A mix of dark red and grey stick to the male pony's face, his face blurs into something..else.

"His heart rate's dropping, get him some fluids." The female EMT hooks up a light blue plastic bag with clear liquid to an IV stand, connecting the tube attached to his right elbow to a clasp on the bottom of the bag. She gently bites the pony-oriented release valve, liquid flows through the tube, entering his bloodstream. A wave of coolness flows throughout his body, the contrast of his eyes brighten and he opens them wide, disturbed by this sensation and the ponies blurred and grotesque faces. Their eyes warp and blend in with the shape of their skull, abominations.

The female pony looks to him as he stares at her, horrified. She says to the others,

"He's still awake? Put him under again, his heart rate's going up." The monitor beside her starts beeping erratically, but starts to die down as fluids enter his blood. Daniel looks down to see two EMT's patting the stab wound with the knife still imbedded in his stomach, the blood almost seems overwhelming for him but they seem calm. One of them says,

"Blades too deep. It might tear something vital open if we try to pull it out." The male pony determinately says,

"Leave it, we don't have the equipment for it. Wait until we get to the hospital. Just keep him stable, she stabbed him pretty good..and put him under already!"

The mask goes over his mouth again, adrenaline kicks in and he starts hyperventilating, trying to get himself back up, being held down by several leathers straps on the stretcher. The pony in goggles says,

"Whoa, whoa, calm down buddy. We're trying to help you!" He feels faint but he's more than awake, he feels fear, staring at the monstrosity trying to say they're helping him.

"We're here, go, go, go." He feels movement, they're rolling down a walkway and he's rushed into a building, the lights are bright and white. One, two, three, four, five lights, turn.

"Prep a room for surgery, he's getting sporadic. Make sure to get that knife out and treat whatever might be torn open in there. Go by approximation -carefully-, we don't know his anatomy." He's rolled down a hallway and eventually into an open room, the ponies pick him up by his stretcher and set him down on a table, he's staring up at several bright lights. Another male pony asks,

"Why isn't he put under?" He's quickly answered as Daniel's covered with some sort of green cover over his chest. The female pony answers the doctor,

"He seems resistant to the anesthetics." The male pony duly answers,

"Then give him the strongest anesthetic we've got, he can't be awake for this." Daniel begins to hyperventilate again, his heart rate rockets up again, trace amounts of blood flow from the knife's blade edge, spilling out of the wound slowly but surely. The female pony pets his head, pleading,

"Relax, we're trying to help you." She repeatedly pets his head, holding him still as another pony pricks a needle to the back of his neck. Pressure clamps down not in his head, but his neck, is unbearable and he yells out in critical pain; the ponies forced to forcefully inject him next to his spine to put him under. He head butts the female pony out of fear, she holds her own forehead, wincing as she steps back and lets two other nurses hold him down as the other finishes the injection.

Everything feels faint. The world starts fading, the abomination's voices blur and deepen in pitch to his horror, but he can't panic. His limbs feel numb and his mind starts to fade, is he dying? He's met with something else rubbing against his head, then a horrific voice counting down.

"10...9...8...7.." He loses consciousness as it says 6. Everything goes silent again. No voices, no abominations staring at him and mutilating his body. He pleads into the dark void.

'No more games.'

'No more pain. '

'No more of their help.'

'Please. No more.'

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

'No more..'

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

'Please..'

He leaves his eyes closed, trying to cry and say it, but he can't.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

'Stop mocking me.'

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

'...stop it..'

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

'Cut it out, you fucking monster..'

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

'Cut it out!'

"If you so wish.."

A clear stabbing pain into and out of his stomach, a swift yank shoots severe pain in and out of his stomach, he opens his eyes with a gasp of breath. He hears it again,

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

It's a heart monitor. Daniel calms his breathing, his stomach in such pain he's forced to indefinitely. Seeing himself in what looks like a medical bed, he tries to calm himself, his stomach hurts so goddamn much. He grates his teeth, shedding a few tears silently as he looks down. The knifes gone, but it still hurts so badly, he tries to desperately put two and two together as the pain in his stomach fades back and forth from subtle to severe. He closes his eyes, trying to ignore it, but he can't; it stings like it's still there.

He takes several quick rasps of breath, trying to calm himself down, his increased blood flow makes the pain throb. He opens his mouth, letting out some air, gently trying to breathe softer.

'God fucking damn it, this hurts..'

Daniel can't keep it out of his mind, the pain feels unbearable even without the knife inside, it feels like something's warping inside him.

"Relax." A familiar voice. It sounds soft.

"You'll be alright.."

Fluttershy sounds next to him, looming to the right of his head. He moves his head assuredly and opens his eyes. It's not her.

It's an abomination, it warps her voice then warps back with his, grotesquely. It's conforms and bends, it's face keeps blurring and conforming into something else. He closes his eyes out of fear agaim, it says anyway,

"No one can hurt you now..."

He opens his eyes again, the same room, the same pain, but he's met with something else lying next to him. It's Fluttershy, her head is laying on his right arm, she's asleep. Daniel looks at her closely, the underside of her eyes are dark, she looks spent. He looks around the room, he's definitely in the hospital, like in his dream; but why is he-

He remembers suddenly, the knife, the EMT ponies. And all of his struggling, why did he do all that? He thinks to maybe sit up, but his stomach pain keeps him at bay, other than Fluttershy sleeping on his right arm. It still hurts so much. Tempted to wake Fluttershy, he gently moves his left arm over to her, gently shaking her shoulder. He whispers,

"..Fluttershy.." she grumbles, she looks weathered beyond what he's ever seen from her before. Looking closely at her eyes, it looks like she's been crying. Daniel sighs, knowing this must have wrecked her knowing that this happened, it's not surprising she's here after that whole ordeal. He pets her head, she squeezes his arm tighter, burying herself in his side; it seems to comfort her and her eyes seem to relax. Watch her head, his stomach still hurts. She seems to nuzzle herself in, but she starts to wake up slowly but surely. Rubbing her left eye, she looks toward him staring back at her. Daniel just looks at her, not sure what to say,

"...hi."

He's met with a near instant hug, she clasps herself around his neck, holding him close enough that his face is a little buried in her mane. He's caught off guard, though he honestly shouldn't be surprised by her show of affection. He moves his left arm over her back, maneuvering past her wing, petting her back trying to calm her,

"It's okay, I'm..alright." His stomach hurts like hell, but he tries to hold his composure for her. She doesn't seem to listen, just keeping her solid grip around him, she starts to slowly tear up and cry. Daniel doesn't know what to do other than pet her back and gently rub up and down.

And so he does, for several minutes, letting her cry. He thinks it, since she doesn't seem to listen,

'It's okay Fluttershy, I'm okay. You're okay.' She just continues crying, he can feel her tears soak into his shirt collar and start to soak his neck. The moments interrupted by Twilight opening the door on the other side of the room with her magic, she stops when she sees Daniel rubbing her back, Fluttershy crying clasped to his neck. Twilight walks over, flustering Fluttershy when she says,

"Thank goodness you're awake." Fluttershy retracts herself, shaking a little, but she looks a little calmer. Twilight takes some of her own initiative and grabs a tissue box on a table on the other side of the room with her magic, wiping her tears with the floating tissues. Twilight continues midway wiping her,

"The doctor's said they weren't sure how to take it out, they were afraid they might have hurt you more than they helped you." She looks towards his stomach, speaking in more of a concerned tone,

"I looked at the surgery mid-way through..I think they did. They told us you're resistant to our medicine, so they had to make their incisions and stitches quick. They weren't sure what would work well with you, so a lot of what they did was.." She looks uncomfortable, adding one more word,

"Rudimentary." She says a bit more seriously,

"You're under medical watch for the next week to see how you turn out, it's going to take even longer for your wound to heal."

Daniel sighs, looking at the ceiling. He asks,

"Anything else I need to know?" Twilight looks down, she looks hesitant but she says,

"Pinkie's been accused of..assault with a deadly weapon. They think she stabbed you."

What?

"What??" Daniel sits up, immediately met with a splitting pain in his stomach, he winces and lies back down. He can't help but cry out,

"F-Fuck!...agh.." Twilight says sternly at him,

"Lay down, don't try to get up! You can't walk and you won't be under the hospital's watch." She continues,

"Pinkie was accused of stabbing you, you both were tested positive for a blood alcohol level of zero-point-one-two. She wasn't even sure herself of what you guys did at the time, she went into shock. And Fluttershy.." Twilight looks down to Fluttershy, still sitting in her seat beside him. She continues,

"..Fluttershy was the same but a little worse. A couple of EMT's had to stay and calm her down, the-.." she seems to have trouble saying it,

"-the guards came and took Pinkie after. She kept begging to see you, but she was denied twice. Fluttershy won't say anything, she.." Daniel guesses,

"She might be traumatized..is that it?" Daniel takes a guess, he appears to be right. Twilight nods in confirmation, stating,

"The guards won't accept her word for it even if she said anything, since she's considered emotionally unstable right now. You won't be out for a while, so I thought I'd visit and check on you two. Fluttershy's been here all of last night and this afternoon, I don't think she slept until she got to see you in bed after the surgery."

Twilight brushes her hoof against Fluttershy's cheek, moving her mane to see her eyes, she just stares at the floor with her near dead and tired eyes. Daniel sincerely asks,

"Is Pinkie alright?" Twilight tries to lighten the tone, answering,

"Yeah, she's okay, just a little shaken and...uhm, hung over. She's at the police station right now in temporary lockup." Twilight seems really uncomfortable saying that, perhaps she never thought she'd have to involve her friends in such places. She continues,

"They were going to push their own verdict if you didn't say anything today, so I'm glad you're up. Well, awake." She takes a chair and sits near Fluttershy, asking,

"What happened?" Daniel tries to sum it all up,

"I went to the movies with Pinkie, I walked her home after and she invited me inside for a..Pinkie Slumber party." Twilight interrupts,

"Aren't you two a little old for-"

That's what he said to her! Daniel lightly coughs, she takes the hint and lets him continue,

"I went to sleep with her in her room and-" Twilight glares at him surprised and disapprovingly, her mouth's a little open and she covers it with her hoof. Daniel adds on, flustered,

"What? Oh! N-No, nononono! Not -THAT- kind of sleep!" As he fumbles his words, a bit of pain in his stomach cuts him off, he holds his side and winces. Twilight simply comments,

"Uh-huh...just..move on, I don't need to know the..details. Ugh.." When did this turn into -that- kind of conversation? He continues regardless, he can explain it later he presumes,

"Pinkie and I argued for a little while, I shared that nightmare I told you and Fluttershy about with her. Pinkie saw me grumpy trying to go to bed so she brought me some coffee, she managed to keep me awake and she went downstairs and brought a bottle of cider up with some wine glasses."

There's that disapproving look again.

"...well, we drank and talked for a while. When the bottle got empty, we.." his memory is a little fuzzy, Twilight looks a little uncomfortable with the pause there. Daniel remembers, trying to kill that pause,

"..we headed downstairs to put away everything, we kinda fumbled around and we wrestled over who would wash the wine glasses. I slipped and fell on the floor, Pinkie landed on my chest and we.." He tries to remember, Twilight interrupts,

"Stop, just..stop." She closes her eyes, putting her hoof to her face in disbelief. Does she think it's too mushy or is it what he thinks she's thinking? She takes a moment to prepare for what she expects to be something -else- and says,

"Alright, go ahead." Daniel sighs,

"Anyway..we ended up asleep on the floor. I woke up to someone in the store, I thought I heard someone and it kept coaxing me to follow it. I grabbed a knife and was ready to pounce on whoever broke in. It sounded like that thing that's been stalking and beating me in my nightmares, so I kept swiping when I saw it's shadow. I got that..headache and froze, I tried to let go but I couldn't and I fell over, passed out, onto the knife." He feels his stomach, the blade was deep in there.

Twilight was writing this all down with her magic, he must not have noticed. She says,

"This should be enough for them to let Pinkie out, they'll take -your- and -my- word for it. I knew she wouldn't do that, but they wanted proof." Daniel nods, adding on,

"I know she wouldn't, I guess the EMT's assumed so. Drunk or not." Daniel looks to Fluttershy, she's gone. She must have left while they were talking, he gestures to Twilight, she notices it too.

"Huh, maybe she went to get some sleep and some food finally." Twilight blinks,

"Oh! I almost forgot." With her magic, she floats a box by his bedside, is a box of..something. Candy bars? No, protein bars of some sort. She continues,

"The doctors recommended you eat these, they're easy to digest." She peels back the wrapper with her magic and snaps it in half, it has the texture like a granola bar. Daniel grips onto one half, taking a bite, tastes grainy but has a hint of honey. He passively says,

"Eh, not bad. How long do I have to eat these?" Twilight answers,

"Uh, 3 weeks." Oh boy, hospital protein bars for 3 weeks straight. She adds on,

"It kinda depends on your condition, if no more problems pop up you can go if you can manage to walk and pass their stress tests. But they recommend you don't walk or run for at least a week or so, the stitches might come undone or you might accidentally rip something as it's healing."

Comforting...but understandable. Twilight looks uncomfortable, saying,

"I..asked how bad it was. They said they weren't sure if you'd make it past the first night, the blade was deep in your abdomen and we don't completely know your anatomy. A stab in the stomach, at least as we know it, means a...pretty slow and painful death. Either from rupturing an organ and spreading toxin through your blood, or you die from internal bleeding..The doctors speculated a lot before they cut into you, so it took some time I don't think they had. I don't know if you remember, but you kept waking up. One time even during the surgery, but you were numb as far as we knew, I don't think you remember." Daniel confirms,

"No, I don't remember. I only remember waking up when they kept trying to put me under." He then remembers something else,

"Uh, Twilight. I may have head butted a nurse. I kinda went berserk because.." he shakes his head, shuddering at the thought. She feels the back of her head,

"Yeah, I know. They explained it all, you struggled with a lot of the EMT's on the way here. They said you looked scared and you panicked, but you didn't intentionally try to hurt anypony. Just struggled a lot." Daniel explains,

"I must have been out of my mind, everyone looked like...-that- thing in my nightmares I talked about. They kept talking to me, they had no mouths or eyes and they kept..undulating the muscle mass where their mouths should have been..." Daniel looks visually disturbed, Twilight puts her hoof on his shoulder and tries to comfort him,

"You were panicked, it must have triggered some of those memories from your nightmares." She speculates, but it seems the most sound, it seemed so real to him. He asks her,

"When do you think Pinkie will get out?" She duly answers,

"Well I have your statement and my statement, so probably tonight or tomorrow morning. Give or take. She was worked up over you too. She kept begging me to let her see you, but my hooves were tied. At least now she can maybe have some peace of mind, I don't think she knows how your condition is now, so she'll be relieved I'm sure." Twilight smiles, saying,

"Maybe you should expect a visit later. I'll tell her not to jump you or anything, the wounds kind of..still fresh." Not as sweet as she probably meant it to sound, but he's pleased with that answer. Daniel thanks her,

"Thank you Twilight, you take care of yourself." She smiles, remarking,

"Yeah, you too. I've got a bit of paperwork to fill out to get Pinkie out, wish me luck." She walks away with her notepad, leaving the protein bars in reach. Daniel sighs, taking another bite, trying to keep happy like Pinkie has taught him.

He's been up and down for the past few weeks, he's been feeling down and his life has been constricted so many times in his nightmares, he doesn't even think he's had one dream since he's been here. He worries so much about his sanity when he sees the monster trying to break his mind. Trying to break him down. Trying to let itself out. Trying to break his reality, seemingly trying to break into -his- reality.

He closes his eyes, ready to sleep. Ready to meet what's to come, what he has to face.

"Well."

"Looks who's come."

"Afraid of being awake as much as being asleep?"

A swift knee to the stomach, Daniel goes down, a critical pain rings through his stomach and the rest of his body. Down on one knee, he looks up to the abomination, with it's warped and contorted face, it says in his own grotesque voice as it kneels down face to face.

"You're not asleep Daniel." Daniel mutters in severe pain,

"Don't...try...to fool me.." It replies,

"You've only fooled yourself, I've done nothing to you." What about that knee to the-

"GAH!" another strike to his stomach, a kick, finally brings Daniel's down onto his stomach.

"But now you've forced my hand." Several other voices join in, the miscellaneous EMT ponies who transported him to the hospital before, hold him down again. Their faces are warped and contorted, they have no eyes or mouth, just various muscle mass undulating underneath their skin. They repeat what they've said before, flipping him onto his back,

"I thought he was put under!"

"He -was- !"

They grasp on and hold down his limbs, the same EMT ponies converse in a grotesque and undiscernible language, their 'mouths' continue to undulate.

Daniel looks up, seeing his monstrous doppelganger, it's warped eyes looks happy. It mocks him, kneeling down again,

"They can't help you in your sleep, Daniel. You know how to end this." It stands and continues, not letting him get a word in,

"But so do I." It lifts up it's leg and aims for his neck, stomping on his neck, but it doesn't meet with it. The abomination looks back down, his left hands free and he's holding his doppelganger's boot away from his neck. The monstrous EMT ponies fittingly repeat their last quotes,

"I thought he was put under!"

"He -was- !"

The EMT ponies fade and dissolve, Daniel grabs onto his doppelganger's foot with both hands free and twists, it stumbles but fades as well once it does. Daniel props himself back on one knee, he ignores the scar and pain the monster has given him and stands up. The abomination fades back into reality across from him in the black void they stand in, holding the knife that was originally inside him. Daniel's scared, but he determinately points to it,

"You're not real, no matter how much you want to be."

The abomination fades and reappears, swiftly punching him, knocking him down on his back again. It kneels and grips the knife with both it's hands, stabbing downward towards his stomach again, Daniel catches his wrists as they stare at each other face to face. It continuously pushes downward, the blade's tip meets his skin and slowly punctures. Daniel tries to hold it back, struggling with the abomination, it mocks him,

"So you decide to fight with yourself to try to prove your point?"

It jabs a section of the blade into him, Daniel pushes the blade back out, his blood rich across the edge. Daniel pushes upward with all his strength, eventually the blade faces upward, the abomination's strength gives out and it fades, Daniel's left holding the knife. He stands and inspects it, seeing his own blood strewn about the flat end. He drops it, letting it fall to the black ground, it fades as it clangs and spills his blood across the invisible floor.

He closes his eyes and opens them, seeing himself back in bed with the protein bars. Not believing it, he says out loud,

"They've given me the will to fight against you." Daniel turns to his right, seeing the abomination standing beside him, looking down at him.

"We'll see about that."

Author's Note

Oi, again eventful. Daniel's finally found the strength to fight against his 'nightmare', but we'll see what comes next. I may work on the next one in a few minutes, still feel a little peppy after...

I broke the 300 view mark, I feel so honored. Ahhh :D

Edit: I JUST finished writing this, just saw over 8 favorites pop up in my feed as I refreshed the page. Motivation!

Again I'd like to thank the people who have read thus far, is more to come soon, there's a bit more to explore. Just thinking of the number 300 and the amount of people in my mind makes me so giddy, I appreciate the views more than I can show or convey on here. So thank you, all of you for your motivation!

Please feel free to comment, I see a lot of numbers, but I'd love to talk to people 1 on 1 as well. You're more than just numbers to me!