Curse of Clocks

In most cases, one would say that the world is upside down. But in Ray's case, he is the one that is topsy turvy, not his environment.

The jarred stallion looks around, analyzing his surroundings, he soon realizes that the house he used to call home is now a place with blood red features foreign to him. The paintings look demented, the fan blades have razor sharp edges that look like they could cut through him like warm butter. The lights within his house are now an amber color, and to add to it, some of them are flickering ominously. The last major observation he makes is that the windows have bars over them to keep intruders from getting in. Or him from getting out.

"This isn't right..." Ray says with fear and confusion in his voice, "What the hell is going on here?" Before much longer, Ray sits to ponder his options. He glances at a window and sees that the garden, which has completely wilted, died, and rotted, is above him. He walks over to the window and looks down towards the sky. Or... At least what is left of the sky.

Crimson red clouds plague the sky, shooting crooked and jagged beams of purple lightning from cloud to cloud. Occasionally, one will strike the surface above Ray, leaving a blue fire where it struck, and a pile of molten substance that is not natural in Equestria, or even the world Ray is used to. The clouds look dense enough to start dropping some sort of precipitation, whether it be water or acid, it is best not to know. Beyond the clouds, through the gaps that Ray can see, is a swirling tainted-gold colored vortex dragging anything it can into what appears to be eternal death. With this, Ray gulps and backs away from the window, realizing that his life is in grave danger. His hair on the back of his neck raises and his heart begins to pound and plead as he remembers where he is. A place where he used to call home. With Amyah.

Before he can open his mouth, the sound of a porcelain flower vase crashes. It's the one that Amyah always keeps next to her bed. "Ami?!" Ray calls out in a panic. He sprints quickly towards the hallway and banks left only to find himself in the office after he jumps through the doorway. He face hoofs himself hard enough to leave his forehead throbbing a little as he remembers that since up is down, left is right, and vice versa. He sprints to the room across the hallway and jumps over the top of the door to find a malformed creature covered in a crimson color lying in the middle of the ceiling.

'That thing is no normal equine, that's for sure,' Ray thought to himself as he looked for his faithful lover and best friend, 'Where are you Amyah? Where ar...' Ray's stomach knots as his nose smells warm blood and freshly cut equine flesh. He looks up slowly and sees a pool of cherry colored blood as thick as syrup in Amyah's usual resting place on the bed.

"No..." Ray barely mutters out as his heart stopped to take everything in before resuming a slow, solemn beat, "I... I was too late..." Ray brings his head back to level and the beast on the floor is now inches away from him, "AH!!"

In front of the stallion was a beast with inflamed and enlarged joints, showing that it potentially has more strength than even Big Macintosh, which is stunning. The irises of this creature are black, and the pupils are darker than the blood of Sombra's blackened heart. Cyst-like boils cover the creature, some randomly beginning to leak puss, while others leak this silky velvet substance; both look infectious. Looking at it, Ray cannot determine whether or not this thing is dead, alive, or undead. As the concept that his companion is now dead, Ray's eyes start to tear up. When he blinks the tears away, the creature now has its mouth open and is millimeters away from the stallion's jugular vein. Ray backs up cautiously, taking in how sharp and jagged the teeth are of this malformed demon. They look like rusted knives with tufts of dark royal-blue fur, strands of a mane that were the color of a brilliant sapphire, and bits of flesh and muscle. Part of a paw-print cutie mark is half chewed in the back of the creature's mouth. "Ami..."

Ray steps away from the creature and blinks. As he suspected, it only moves when its prey is not looking at it. The mouth is closed and it's in the process of moving towards him, but chooses to wait for the stallion to look away rather than attack him directly. In the back of the stallion's mind, a voice calls out to him. Ray can't help but say what he hears: "Seeker... That was a Seeker..."

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Sitting in the living room, watching the fan of death spin endlessly, contemplating whether death would be easier than living without his pride and joy, Ray just watches the contraption spend endlessly. He's been here for more than two hours, still in shock of everything that has happened. Just as he has made his decision, the fan turns off, slowly coming to a stop. With a sigh, Ray looks around the room and sees the front door. Not really having paid attention to it before, he decides it would be best for him to proceed with his quest, as it would be what Amyah would have wanted him to do. He stands up and pops his bones in his neck and back. He commands his wings to unfurl, but they don't. Instead, they cramp. Reflexively, Ray makes his muscles go in the other direction so they stop hurting and his wings unfurl. He looks at them and sees something very disturbing. His wings are upside down.

"What the fuck?!" Ray yells panicking. He starts to flap his wings as he loses control of his body. He hears the sound of electricity activating as his body throws himself into a wall. Glancing around, still trying to fix his wings, he sees that the fan has been turned back on. Seeing this, Ray tries to swerve away from it, but because his wings are right side up, and therefor inverted, he heads straight for it! He stops moving and just tightens up. When he falls, starts to tumble, and his wings go back into their folded position so they won't get broken. As he comes to a skidding stop, some of his mane gets cut, though not much. Ray crawls away quickly and stands up, out of breath and his heart racing. He looks at the fan, his wings, then towards the hall. His eyes tear up and he begins to cry. He bawls and he sobs for about ten minutes, yelling how it's not fair. He curses Celestia, then Luna, and begs for them to give him back Amyah, then pleads for them to trade Amyah's life for his own. Before long, he asks them to at least make sure that Amyah, and the foal or foals she was pregnant with are happy in the after life and to let them know that they will always be cherished.

Ray was going to be a father next month. He waited his entire life to be able to play dress up or tea party with his daughter, or ball and creating cool things with his son. His daughter was going to be named Rayne Estrella and his son was going to be named Tyler Noll. Life was going to be perfect for him. He was looking forward to his new family. Now... He has nothing except death to look forward to.

He opens the front door with ease. At his hooves, a trail of stones are before him. They levitate, but are sturdily in place. He hops on  to them with no hesitation.

Ponyville is complete and utter chaos. Ponies lay dead above Ray with some corpses burning. All plant life is either dead or unreal. The ground above him has pulsating veins of all shades from ruby red to red wine violet. Nothing in this town is safe... And worse yet, Ray can only follow this path, as it stands, there is only one way to travel.

With each step the stallion takes, the more alive the environment seems to become. Bloody screams are heard coming from inside houses, most are mature screams, but there are few screams from foals that are loud enough to make anyone cringe. The sky below is becoming more and more active with lightning shooting about. Thunder from hell begins to ring the sky with an earth trembling roar as each bolt makes contact to something. In the distance, a noise that sounds like a nails being drug across glass begins to draw in closer and closer to the fearful pegasus. Out of paranoia, Ray looks back and meets eyes with the Seeker once more!

This time, it has mutated. Now, the demon has a faded black fur coat and strands of a royal blue mane starting to grow. Without a doubt, Ray can see that this thing is trying to transform into its most recent victim, Amyah Nightingale. But, something catches Ray off-guard. Rather it being the shocking metamorphosis of this creature, it's the emotion that has hit him, rather... The lack thereof. Somehow... In someway... Ray knew something like this would happen.

"I've had enough of you, you shape-shifting son of a bitch!" With that, Ray raises his hoof to swing. In that instance though, lighting strikes right behind and underneath him on the path, creating a deafening boom, making Ray reflexively turn around. With his ears ringing, he feels a sharp pain in his side. "AHHHH!"" His scream calls out, blending in with those of the environment. His head quickly turning, the Seeker has taken a chunk out of Ray's side, exposing his intestine and left kidney, and pouring with blood. Without any hesitation, Ray sprints in the direction he was headed. With the pain finally setting in, he is forced to slow his pace as he begins to limp.

The sky flashes brightly its dark crimson light, illuminating the path for Ray to run upon in blood red detail. Just as the flashes ceases, something hits Ray right under his chin. He stops completely to wipe it off, and sees that it is blood. Before he can think, another hits that foreleg, then his stomach. Quickly, Ray looks down to see where the source of fluids are coming from, and it appears to be coming from nowhere. Then, it grimly dawns on him that the clouds are producing this vile liquid. He resumes his movement forward as the ungodly storm begins to brew in a more violent tone. Before too much longer, the "up"-pour begins.

Being hit by liquid is one thing, usually no big deal. Being hit with it while upside down, in essence can be a shock, but also no big deal. But this is not water. Ray is being pelted with blood. It's warm, it's sticky, and worst yet, it becomes heavy. Not giving in to neither the sharp stinging sensation from his side, nor the weight of the bloodbath, Ray presses forward. About a minute in, the worst thing that could happen occurs. Blood has ran into the pegasus' eye, blinding him in that eye! Howling in even more pain, the storm worsens, making the ground above him flood at a rapid pace. Having been blinded in one eye, the storm picking up, the background noise becoming overwhelming, and the loss blood, Ray is starting to lose his orientation and become very woozy. He must be at least halfway through town by now though, so if he can push on, he can escape!

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Five minutes of excruciating pain has gone by. All Ray can do is limp at a slow pace. His hooves grow tired, his side is all but numb and infected, and Ray has completely lost sight in his left eye, while miraculously keeping sight in his right eye. With a small smile of confidence as his visibility (as impaired as it is) no longer sees the inner town, but now the suburbs! He's almost out! With his next step though, the storms becomes so violent, Ray can no longer see in front of him due to the rapid production of blood rain. A few more steps, and he feels resistance on his head as well as a wet sensation. Stupidly, the pony looks up, covering his face in the lake of blood now above him. With his right eye open, Ray is instantly blinded. Inhaling to yelp, he takes in a lungful of blood and falls to his right side.

'So... Close...' Ray thinks as his lungs begin to give out from trying to cough up the blood. He does what he feels is right: begins to crawl. With great effort, Ray coughs up the last bit of blood in his lungs, able to breathe again. He gasps for air, but is met with that same feeling of a warm syrup on his head. The blood is about to engulf Ray as he feels a maimed hoof lay on his flank, followed by the teeth of the Seeker into his hind leg. With a tremendous amount of force, the hell-spawn manages to tear Ray's leg off! Just as he screams in agony, the lake of blood covers his mouth, forcing it into his body. Drowning, feeling the Seeker devour his lower half, feeling his lungs burn for oxygen, and losing consciousness, one last thought crosses Ray's mind...

'I'm coming Ami... We'll be a whole family again... Me, you, and our little one...' Before long, Ray slips into the blackness of death's grasps.

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Then, reflexively... He inhales deeply as fresh, clean, cold air fills his lungs and he lay on a sofa in a place that is not his own. Wrapped with a blanket smelling oddly like imported tea, Ray opens his eyes quickly to realize he is no longer in the hell he drowned in only moments ago.