Chapters Ponyville is a beautiful place in autumn; gentle cool breezes, friendly ponies helping each other out, Nightmare Night coming up soon, the whole nine yards. Everything that makes anypony lively is joy, happiness, and of course, friendship.
On this particular evening though, a young, earth pony colt with silk brown fur and toffee colored eyes comes running home with his mother in tow.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YES!!" the little one exclaimed happily as he bounced everywhere, "Thank you so much for getting me this game mom!"
"Anything for my little Button," the cream colored mare said with a smile, "You know that I won't be home for a while, right?"
"Yes mom," Button said, "I know. I'll be a good little colt for Mr. Clocks, and I promise not to cause any trouble."
"Good!" Button's mom said, "If you behave yourself, I might just bring you home ice cream."
"Yay!!" Button yelled, starting to bounce again. As he jumped up and down, along with the autumn breeze, his little propeller hat spun with glee and joy.
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Later that evening, a gray pegasus trotted down Hayfield Ave., humming a tune that his marefriend would occasionally sing while she worked in the garden. As the tune ended, he arrived at his destination: the Mash residence. With a gust of wind from the pegasai above, the gray pony's black mane and tail furled out a little bit. He looked up and saw the weather team giving him a hard time.
"There a nice breeze down there Ray?" the teal pegasus mare asked tauntingly.
"Very nice down here Whirl Wind," Ray retorted before hopping up onto the cloud, "Can I help the weather team today in any way?"
"Nah, just pickin' on our old friend," a slate gray pony said.
"And you know I pick back, right Typhoon?" Ray said with a devious smirk.
"Which is why we pick on you," he retorted.
"Hate to say it, but I have a job to do tonight," Ray said gliding back down to the ground, "I'm foal-sitting Button Mash tonight while his mother picks up his dad and brother from the train station. They're going out for a nice dinner, but Button wanted to stay home and play his new game."
"That's kind of you Ray," Whirl Wind says with a smile, "You get anything out of it?"
"Friendship and smiles," Ray says with a grin.
"Leave it to Ray to volunteer his time," Typhoon said rolling his eyes playfully, "We'll catch you later?"
"Eeyup, y'all definitely will," Ray said. Just as he faced the door, he felt a breeze pass over his shoulder, sending a shivering chill down his spine. He shivered and turned around, "Not funny gu... Guys...?" No pony was there now.
'That was odd...' Ray thought to himself as he knocked on the door.
"Coming!" a voice yelled from inside. A few moments later, the door opened, "Hello Ray!"
"Hi Mrs. Mash," Ray said giving her a hug, "How are you?"
"Feeling good, ready to see my husband," the mare replied, "You?"
"Excited to watch your son," Ray said with a smile.
"Great!" Mrs. Mash said. She turns around and calls into the house, "Button, Ray is here!"
"Which one?" he responds, obviously indulged into a game, "Jet Ray? Or Sun Ray?"
"No, Ray Clocks sweetie," she said shaking her head. She leans over to Ray and whispers, "I told him you were coming over thirty minutes ago. He's so involved in that game, he must've forgot."
"Must be a good game," Ray responded in a soft voice. Just then, Button turns the corner.
"Mr. Clocks!" he says giving Ray a hug, "You wanna watch me play my new game?"
"Sure thing little buddy," Ray says with a gentle smile.
"You'll make an excellent father one day, and Amyah will be a wonderful mother," Mrs. Mash said before picking up her saddlebags, "Take care you two!"
"Bye Mom!" button yelled out, waving.
"You ready to play that game?" Ray asked with a smile.
"You bet!" Button says racing off into the living room. Ray finds the case and reads it. 'The Curse of Las Pegasus'. He also notices that it's rated M. Button has been more interested in the scary games lately so he can over come his fears better.
"Is it any good?" Ray asks, sitting on the couch.
"Oh yeah! I love it!" He says starting the game up.
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An hour has passed since he started playing that game, and it is genuinely interesting. The main character is a pegasus who has been cursed and is trying to escape Las Pegasus without dying. The twist is that the game periodically switches between real world and nightmare world, which turns the map into a living hell. Soon, the character looks at a book that, even in the game, seemed out of place. Button didn't care or even seem to notice. Ray pulls out the strategy guide and looks through it for this part of the game. Strangely enough, it's not in there.
"That's odd..." Ray says quietly. He looks up at the screen just long enough to see that button picked up the book.
"So," the voice of the demon from the game spoke, "you have decided to follow my trail, though all the warnings I gave you weren't enough to shake you, huh? So be it." He looks straight at the camera, but almost straight through it to Ray, "I curse you to fight demons, just like me, to never rest, just like I have. I promise you that the pendulum will fall, and it will be bloody."
What the demon said sent chills down Ray's spine, especially considering that Pendulum is his middle name. He blinked and shook his head. Button was back to playing his game again. The cut scene must've ended when Ray blinked.
"Button," Ray starts, "what did you just pick up?"
"Alicorn Health Potion, why?" He responds without looking at Ray.
Ray picks up the guide and looks through it. Sure enough, that was what was in the room. "Just checking."
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Sooner or later, Button's family returns, and it is time for Ray to retire to his house.
"Thank you so much for watching Button!" Mrs. Mash said giving Ray a hug, "Are you sure you don't want to be paid?"
"Positive," Ray responded with a smile, "It's always a pleasure to watch a very well-behaved colt like him."
"That's good to know," Mrs. Mash says with a soft smile, "Will we see you around town?"
"Of course," Ray says happily, "You guys take care, okay?"
"We will," Mr. Mash said. And with that, Ray starts his walk home. The sky was dark, there was no moon out tonight, which meant it was a new moon tonight. The darkness was a bit more discomforting than usual though.
As Ray walked up to his door, he felt a cold breeze come from the east. "Is someone there...?" ... ... No response. "I could've sworn someone just said 'curse'..." He shrugs it off and walks in. Amyah is already asleep, but Ray's legs are exhausted, as well as his wings for some reason. Instead of going to his room, he falls asleep on the couch. He begins to smile as he dreams of the kind of life he wishes to have. He grabs a pillow and pulls it close so he can feel the presence of his future foal in his arms.
THUD!
Ray's body immediately begins to ache as he hit the cold surface below him. But his body is a lot more achey than a normal fall though... He opens his eyes and reaches for the couch, but his hoof finds nothing. Ray looks to the right and sees blades spinning in a circular motion in front of him.
"AHH!!!!" He yells, shoving away from it. This thing isn't spinning that fast, but still opposes a little bit of a threat. For whatever reason, this six bladed circular contraption is on a narrow pole. The floor beneath Ray is rugged. He looks down at it and sees that there is no carpet, nor any furniture. 'That's weird...' He looks to the wall for some art, but it's upside down. His eyes continue to follow to he ceiling, then Ray's stomach knots up. He stands up and looks up at his floor. He looks down at his ceiling. The paintings aren't upside down. He is.
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
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.
The room glows orange as the fireplace lights the area, keeping it warm and the room well lit. Above it is a picture of a white earth pony stallion with a brown mane and tail and has hazel eyes and a cherry-red unicorn with a red and black mane and tail and has velvet-violet eyes. They both are holding a foal in their hooves, one a colt, the other a filly. This is the Inkwells family portrait. Ray has known the Inkwells family for at least two years and has helped them with their jobs and foal-sitting every once in a while.
Quilton "Quills" Inkwells is a police detective with Ponyville Police Department and is trying out for Celestia's Secret Service Squad. On the side, he is a great writer and has many books published about serial killers, crimes, and even his own personal logs have been made into books. Burnt Red, Quills' wife, is a surgeon in a mental hospital. Though the hospital is for mental patients, she specializes in any and all surgeries. She's the head nurse at the hospital as well as one of the surgeons. The two foals, Snowy and Stormy, are like two miniature Discords: they cause chaos wherever they go, but they mean no harm and just love to play. Snowy is a unicorn, and Stormy is an earth pony, both a unique shade of red with interesting green eyes.
As the fire in the fireplace crackles, Ray begins to get up and stretch when a white earth pony stallion comes into the room with a writing quill behind his left ear. With a glance, he looks at Ray and gives a relieved smile. "Ah, good," he says with a deep British accent, "You're finally awake. I was beginnin' to worry there for a second."
Distraught, Ray asks a little shakily "What time is it?" With that, the white pony drops his jaw and the quill from behind his ear falls to the ground.
"Hey hon..." the pony calls to the other room, "Can you please come and bring us each a spot o' tea and some ink splotches... Ray here can't tell the time anymore..."
"Tell... Time..." Ray repeats to himself. Within a second the nightmares come back to him in a flash: a pool of blood where Amyah used to be, seeing that demon morph into his once beloved, drowning on blood from only Celestia knows where, and... His now dead unborn foals. With a jolt of memory, Ray immediately looks out the window. "Quills, the time is 2:37 PM on October 28, 2014. Right now, I need to know what's going on outside."
"Er... That was awfully quick for a recovery of amnesia," Quills said picking his quill up from the ground, "And from what I can tell, it's another normal day in Ponyville."
Ray sits in silence as he watches a few fillies and colts play a variation of hoof-ball. A few seconds later, Red comes in and sets some tea down, "There you go, I hope he gets feeling better soon and not end up in the ward for a treatment." She uses some magic to set down the ink splotches and says, "I'll let you conduct the interview. Give me a holler if you need me for anything, okay Quills?"
"Righto," Quills says releasing a sigh, "Alright Ray, you ready for this then?"
Ray goes and sits on the couch and has a calm look on his face as though the hell he escaped from never existed, "Yes sir, I do believe I am Detective Inkwells."
"No need for the formalities Ray, but this is in fact a police investigation," Quills says getting a pad ready to write on.
"And why is that? Wasn't I just sleep walking?"
"Unfortunately for you, no, you weren't."
"Who made the call for the investigation then?" Ray asks sipping his tea.
"Your wife," Quills says writing a note down, "Apparently, you never made it to bed, but it appeared you made it to the couch. After a bi' o' a struggle with wha'ever it was, she saw you walk into the room. Your eyes were open, but she claims you had a look of terror in your eyes with a bit of emptiness in them."
With that statement, Ray grimaced, recalling what he witnessed in the nightmare. "Yeah... I saw something that nopony should've seen..."
"And what would that 'ave been Ray?" Quills asks ready to write again.
"A monster... It butchered..." Ray trails off with a tear rolling down his cheek.
Quills writes down the note real quick, "I see... But there was no--"
"I was asleep Quilton," Ray said firmly with a slight bit of aggression in his voice, "What I saw versus any testimony given will never add up. Everything was upside down, backwards, and transformed into a living, breathing world of hell. Something was trying to kill me, this much I can tell you without doubt. All I do know is that a monster pursued me and did a number on me."
"Really now?" Quills says writing down what Ray said, remaining calm, "You look fine to me."
"Yeah, I know. It was a very lucid nightmare, I need to take sleep medication, blah blah blah," Ray said rolling his eyes feeling humiliated, "Just... If I caused any damage, just send me the bill... I'll take responsibility for the damages I caused."
"Herein lies the problem," Quills says sitting up, "Sleep walking, you did no damage, nor did you do anything when Amyah touched you. When you say that monster did a number on you... How did you react?"
"I was drowning at the time in a pool of blood so thick I couldn't move. I could've sworn it tore my leg off or at least out of socket, but I seem to be fine."
"I see... I found you just as you collapsed in the rain storm, so I picked you up and drug you back over here."
Ray thinks back to the nightmare one last time, "Quills... I got lucky. I would've died, but the water must've taken me out of the nightmare. I know for a fact that there is a force trying to kill me."
Writing down some notes and thinking, Quills turns the page, writes a couple more things down and goes to the next page. "Do you know where the source of this 'force' came from?"
"Well... I--" a loud crash cuts Ray off as a foal cries from having broken something.
"Blast!" Quills says with slight panic, "I'll be back." He quickly rushes upstairs and tends to the little ones.
Ray lets off a heavy sigh and casts his gaze back out the window. Once again, he's watching the fillies and colts. It seems more has joined the game of hoof-ball, and even a second game is being carried on. As he sees each of them smiling, watching as they laugh in joy, he notices one small filly with a dark gray coat and an indigo mane and tail try to join the others, but they keep avoiding her as if she's not welcome. Ray watches silently as the filly keeps being rejected by her peers. Before long, she begins to form small tears in her sapphire blue eyes. As he contemplates whether or not he should console her, a large figure drabbed in some sort of tattered earth-brown sack comes up to her, while the others ignore this sight. It appears to be a pale gray unicorn with a white mane and tail as well as a scar over his left eye as well as being blind in that eye. The filly immediately begins to bawl and back away from it. Ray begins to move with unease, but can't seem to leave the view of the window. The monstrosity of a stallion approaches the filly before picking it up with magic. As if having heard of this creature before, the filly begins to shake her head and plea silently to the mysterious pony. With a grin, showing off its smoky yellow teeth, he looks over at Ray. Ray, locks eyes with the stallion, one eye being blind, the other being crimson red. The stallion tilts his head to the right and the filly screams a loud, deafening shriek, but is silenced when the unicorn snaps his neck to the left.
CRACK!
The filly is instantly motionless and the stallion just drops the body as if she were garbage. Ray, infuriated, watches the beast of a pony as he pulls a hood over his head and glares at Ray before giving an evil grin. He puts a hoof up to his mouth, as if signaling Ray to be silent, and then turns away. The other foals continue to play as though there was never a tussle though.
Finally free from whatever it was that held Ray's body still, he rushes outside and to the scene where the bloody deed occurred, but what he saw was baffling: no pony was there. There were no fillies or colts playing any games, no murderous stallion, no dead filly, nothing. Ray stands there for a second before rubbing his eyes to clear his vision a bit more. When he looks at his hoof, a crusty yellow mucous lays broken on his leg.
"Strange..." Ray says out loud, "Nothing was irritating my eyes earlier..." He looks around and sees no pony around whatsoever, not even Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. Vendor stalls were empty as if no pony had been there all day. He looks up at the sky to check the time and immediately gasps in shock and awe at what he sees: the sun is no longer in the east side of the sky, but rather the west. "It's... No way... It's 1:23 PM..."
"Ray!" Quills comes out quickly, "What's wrong then?" he asks with a British accent, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"I... I... When did I wake up?" Ray asks, voice quivering, but firm at the same time.
"About five minutes ago, why?"
Ray's heart stops as he realizes that he may or may not be awake. A moment ago, it was almost 2:40, and now, it's almost 1:25. He just watched a very realistic scene of a filly dying right before his eyes while others ignored it, and at the same time, managed to have not remembered ever waking up with a huge time gap. He shakes his head and heaves a heavy sigh. "Let me guess, everypony is at work right now?"
"Erm... Yes?" Quills says puzzled, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, sadly, I can't exactly say without sounding crazy..." Ray says scratching his leg feeling embarrassed and slightly ashamed.
"Ah, a conversation with my wife then?" Quills says leading Ray back inside, "I'll give you the address of her office. Would you like tea before you go? To help calm your mind?"
"Sure, but I'd rather see a pony that doesn't know me... I know your wife has good intentions, but I don't want this anymore personal than it already is." Ray says following Quills inside.
"Righto, I understand. One Ashwaganda tea coming up." Quills said happily trotting, slightly showing off his heritage through tea making.
"Asha-what now?" Ray asks tilting his head to the side.
"Ashwaganda," Quills begins, "is anti-stress tea. It helps calm the mind and relax the body. It also can help keep strange dreams away and nasty nightmares as well."
"I'll happily take a cup," Ray says delighted at the thought, thinking he may be free of this terror from a plant that helps the mind. He figures he could drink that tea for eternity if it kept that monster away from his sleep.
As Quills leaves to make the tea, Ray ponders something: what if he is still asleep? How will he know what is real and what isn't real? He looks around and realizes his best bet may be to become familiar with his environment and look for signs. As Ray thinks back now, Quills actually never took a family photo before. He was always too busy with work as a detective and writer to do anything like that, let alone the fact his foals aren't that old. Being as young as they are, it would be difficult for them to stay focused that long.
"Luna... Help me through the following nights..." Ray quietly pleaded, hoping his wish would be heard. He then decided to join Quills inside for a cup of tea and to be interviewed for his disappearance.
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Trotting down a quiet path is usually a peaceful concept. Just not when the path belongs to a mental asylum where the silence means mandatory check ups. So far, Ray notices that everything is normal and not dream-like or surreal. This brings a sense of peace over Ray's mind as he approaches the doors to the hospital. He sits on the bench to gather his thoughts and recollect what happened before going inside.
As it turns out, Amyah did in fact make a call to Quills to conduct an investigation after Ray had left the house. She didn't give pursuit because of the stress because of her pregnancy. She called the family's close friend and detective Quills Inkwells and told him where Ray appeared to be headed. As though by luck, Quills had snuck up behind Ray. When Ray lifted his hoof, lightning struck and scared him to death. After that, a bit of hail hit Ray's side and he took off. The detective gave pursuit and ended up tackling Ray and putting him in a sleeper hold, which gave the illusion where Ray thought he was drowning on blood. After that, everything is as it was. Ray woke up panicked, ran outside and made a fool of himself.
'At least I know what happened for real this time and that no pony was hurt,' Ray thought to himself as he got up and entered the hospital.
Upon entering, a sense of controlled chaos overwhelms the room. Some of the wallpaper has been torn down, lights of been busted and some are flickering, a brown substance has been smeared along the walls and somehow on the ceiling, the places smells strongly of paint, and police forces in riot gear are alongside the walls and close to all exits.
"Sorry sir," the receptionist said looking up at Ray, "Due to circumstances, we are only accepting new patients that are going to be checking in with us. No new therapy patients or visits to friends or family."
Thinking about the circumstances of last night and what happened, Ray questions whether or not he would really be safe locked up. Considering what all happened, it may be the best course of action. His environment only changed when he was moving.
'If I were unable to move in my nightmares,' Ray thought, pacing slowly, 'would I actually get sleep? Would Luna come to aid me?'
"Sir?" the receptionist said, breaking Ray's train of thought.
"Huh?" Ray says startled, "Oh, uh... Well, you see..." he says stalling a bit, thinking of his final choice, "I need to... Well, to put it bluntly... I need to be protected."
"Protected?" she asked, becoming a little cautious.
"I'm having these nightmares that make me wander the streets, with full motor skills. Why do I need to be protected? I almost drowned myself in a pond," Ray says, lying about the last part, hoping to get somewhere with this.
"I see," she says almost rolling her eyes.
"And I hear voices telling me to kill ponies," Ray says noticing the loss of interest in her eyes.
"Come again?" the receptionist asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Yeah, the voices tell me to kill ponies. Ponies like you."
With Ray's last statement, he was forced to the ground and cuffed from behind without being aware of the security guard's presence. After that, he found himself being thrown rather violently into a padded cell. Before too much longer, a nurse came in with a sedative and a straightjacket.
"Before I give you this shot to make you sleep, care to tell me your name?" she asked preparing a needle.
"Under two conditions," Ray said, hoping to persuade her to not give him an injection, "and they are not outrageous, I promise."
"What are these conditions?"
"First, I do believe one should introduce oneself before asking for someone else's name."
"Well, since this is very unusual for a patient to be so seemingly normal, I don't see the harm. My name is Dusky Dawn."
"I'm Ray Pendulum Clocks," he says with a smile and slight nod, "The second condition is that you put me in that straightjacket before you do anything else. I'm not going to put up a fight, nor will I protest. The truth is I need to be kept safe for a night. I came to see a doctor, but had to plea insanity to be even remotely looked at as a patient. I wander around at night in awful nightmares, but suppose this here padded room is locked and I can't move easily. That means I can't wander around or get hurt."
"I see," Dusky says, flicking the needle to get the air out, "I'll meet you half way. This is a weak sedative, so the amount I give you won't knock you out. But, I am required to give you a shot for policy reasons," She says sticking the needle into Ray's foreleg without warning.
The room began spinning for Ray as he felt woozy, but he could fight off the sleep if he could stand up. As soon as he made the attempt to stand, he fell back down immediately. With his thoughts clouded, he can't seem to form a thought nor can he clearly focus on anything. Before he knows it, a nurse sits him upright and puts him in a straightjacket.
"There you go Mr. Clocks," she said, "Better?" Ray's eyes started to close as his mouth opened to answer.
"Mu... ch... Better..." he mumbles out wearily, losing consciousness.
"Maybe I gave you too much..." is the last thing he hears before passing out completely.
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Ray begins to stir quietly as the sedative wears off. Unable to move, he smiles a bit, lifting his head. As he opens his eyes, he sees a hole in the wall that he doesn't remember seeing before There appears to be a dim light emitting from it. Shaking off the awkward feelings from the drug, he gets up and balances his way to the hole to have a look in it.
"Let's see here..." he says putting his face up to it, "What's on the other side?" A stained wall is the only thing he can see from his perspective. "Well, what was I expecting? They do need to clean up the mess a bit though. I get the riot was big, but come on. With that many guards, you would at least expect--"
"That many janitors, right?" a deep and dark voice says, finishing the sentence from behind Ray.
Ray quickly turns around, losing his balance and falling. When he looks up, his eyes are locked in with the other pony's eyes, one being blind, the other crimson red. "No... No way..." Ray says, his heart beginning to accelerate, "It's you, you bastard!"