The expression on Rainbow Dash’s face was one of irritation, replacing her usual bored or naturally arrogant mask of self worth as her eyes narrowed, her teeth gritting in annoyance at Twilight Sparkle’s words.

“This isn't funny, Egg Head.” The Pegasus growled, causing the Alicorn before her to roll her eyes in the attempt to quell her own rising annoyance.

“It’s not supposed to be funny, Rainbow, what we are all here for is to help Rarity learn more offensive and defensive magic, one that could literally save her life if she was ever threatened.” The former protegee of Celestia snapped back at Rainbow Dash, who snorted with an eyebrow raised.

“Then give her a book, you have hundreds of them you know!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, waving a forehoof at the many shelves lined in perfect rows with thick, slightly yellowing books around the seven of them.

“You know as well as I do, Rainbow Dash that Twilight would not call all of us here just to hoof me a book that would not affect any of you, besides, I have read all of the subjects that Twilight has provided, when I was given the opportunity of course. And practiced the arcane magic either alone or with her help, so there is no reason to get upset.” The alabaster unicorn spoke with a long breath before exhaling deeply, slightly winded.

Rainbow Dash only rolled her eyes then snorted before snapping back “Well unless you got a clear reason for me being here, I’m going home, I got work tonight with the storm clouds brewing in, ok?” She spoke then walked over the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of hard cider. Twilight and Spike kept it around the house for when they wanted something with a bit of kick, Rainbow figured she’d help herself to it.

“Actually yes, there is a reason, despite popular belief I’m not perfect-” Twilight spoke before Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath.

“No shit.” A comment which Twilight ignored before continuing.

“Therefore to further both of our education into the mysterious art of magic, I found a very ancient spell in a very old ancient book that predates known history in the Canterlot library last week while Spike went to see his adopted mother, Princess Celestia. Basically, using this spell, one or more unicorns can enter into the mind of a single pony, maybe even other creatures for a limited amount of time.” Twilight said all of this before being forced to catch her breath. When she did she added, “I wanted to give it a try.” As one, all of her friends raised an eyebrow.

“The down side of that is that both the unicorns and creature will be deeply asleep while our mental bodies are warped into their heads, so I’ll need not only a volunteer but some loyal and noble friends to watch over us as we travel into somepony’s mind.” Twilight finished before looking over all her friends with a large smile.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her left forehoof with her right nervously with a slight chuckle before taking a sip of her drink.

“Oh well, you know I’m always up for a challenge, Twi but after your last ancient spell of turning me into a stallion, I’ll have to pass.” She coughed before looking at Applejack.

“Oh, gee, Twi you know Ah would always help you out but last time your spell to cure the common cold left me having the sniffles and trots for a week, sorry buddy.” She replied with a blush of embarrassment and then turned her head so not to make eye contact with her friends. After a second or so she looked over towards Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie only grinned widely before rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly with a hoof.

“Um, sorry to burst your bubble, Twilight, but I was in the hospital for three days when you used your magic to try to turn me into a Pegasus, thanks for the offer but I don’t want to experience the feeling of vomiting and being really, really dizzy everytime I try to get up, I am really sorry.” Pinkie could only muster with a small smile causing her studious friend to frown.

Pinkie Pie then looked at Rarity who spoke that she would be performing the spell with Twilight and even if she was not, she did not want to have the uncontrollable urge to bury things like last time, the mud, dirt and the simply disgusting act of using her bare hooves to try to drop things into a hole was too much for her perfect order of beauty. Not to mention what she did made the Diamond Dogs really pissed at her, even though Twilight was only trying to help her friend get over her fear of spiders.

Twilight sighed loudly in exasperation before looking over at the now matured eighteen year old dragon she loved and knew so well. Spike was now as tall as an Alicorn, his body was very muscular and well built. He was so attractive that made all of them drool at the mere sight of him. His voice had deepened significantly as he had aged and he currently sat on the couch in the living room, reading a book with a glass of sweet tea on the nearby table.

“Oh, Spike, would you kindly-” Twilight’s voice was interrupted by Spike replying in a curt tone.

“Forget it Twi.” Twilight sauntered slowly towards the couch and whispered.

“Aww come on, don’t be like that. I’ll give you a nice treat when we are done.” She smiled slyly.

Spike turned on the couch and glared daggers over towards Twilight and said, “Forget it Twilight! Why in the hell would I allow you to touch me with that magic of yours after the failure you had last time. In case you forgot I’ll remind you...”

He then began to quickly retell of the previous attempt she made at transforming his body into a dog and made Winona, who was in heat at the time, chase him around the entire town for a week while Twilight tried to find the reversal spell.

It turned out that Discord had eaten the paper for laughs so Spike had not been able to change back for a month, it still gave him nightmares.

Twilight face hoofed before glancing pathetically at Fluttershy, the only pony she had not physically, mentally or emotionally scarred with her new growing abilities.

“Shy, you don’t have to-”

“I’ll do it.” Fluttershy spoke abruptly causing all of them, even Spike to look at her in surprise, a slight tinge of horror colored all of their expressions.

“You, uh, sure, darling? It won’t be just Twilight doing this spell, I’ll also be-”

“I know, but you are my friends and I want to help you both anyway I can...but um, can I have a cigarette first?” She asked hesitantly, knowing how much her friends disapproved of her disgusting habit.

Twilight let loose a very relieved sigh, appreciating how much of a dear friend the poor mare was to her, also knowing that while she disapproved of her addiction, Fluttershy was an adult and her actions reflected on no creature but herself, the consequences were her’s to deal with alone.

“Sure, Shy, I’ll buy you a carton after this is over, now the book says that it won't physically hurt, but if it does, tell us and-”

Twilight was once again forced to halt mid sentence as a sharp knock on the door brought everypony’s attention away from the mare and towards the door. Twilight huffed before trotting towards it, opening it with a hoof.

“Yes?” She said as politely as she could looking at the unicorn mare before her. Vinyl Scratch's purple shades were reflecting into Twilight’s eyes, as they were sitting on top of Vinyl’s head, catching the light. Twilight looked away from Vinyl almost instantly as a result.

“Hey, Twilight’s what’s up, my main, insane mare, um, is Spike here? I got to talk to him about something.” The cheerful yet heavy accent of the record player from Fillydelphia laughed softly.

“Hey, Vinyl, yeah he’s here, Spike-” She didn't get another word out due to the fact that a laughing Spike had pushed past her and ushered Vinyl inside, giving her a claw bump which she returned with her hoof.

Twilight glared after Vinyl, a mixed stab of jealousy and anger hit her before she rolled her eyes, closing the door and walking back to her friends, hearing the annoyingly loud conversation about a party Spike was invited to next week, knowing it was an adult party and that Spike was likely going to come home drunk off his ass...again.

It was not that Twilight hated Vinyl or anything remotely like that, it’s just...she did not feel all that comfortable with how much time the mare always wanted to spend around him and to be honest, the jealousy she felt got stronger every time they were together.

After hearing Spike laugh loudly from something that Vinyl had said, Twilight decided she had had enough and wanted Vinyl out so she and Rarity could prepare but before she could speak, Rainbow Dash started to shout at how unfair it was that Spike could go to the party but she couldn’t.

“You got so drunk you threw up all over Roseluck’s garden, Rainbow, not to mention you threw my roommate’s couch through a window and somepony saw you pee in a vase she got from her grandmother.” Vinyl snapped, angered at how Rainbow could even protest.

“It was an accident, and-”

“Granny Pie is still angry at you , Dashy, not to mention my cousin is still waiting for the money you owe her for the damage.” Pinkie Pie blurted out with a frown and narrow eyes. Rainbow Dash could only lower her head in shame.

“That was two months ago though, guys, come on, it’s water-”

“So what you all up to?” Vinyl rudely and intentionally interrupted, by Rainbow Dash’s account at least. Vinyl pushed Rainbow out of the way to stand before them while Fluttershy trotted towards Spike to bum a Diseased Stallion cigarette before they used the spell on her, the dragon lit the tobacco with his emerald colored flames, and smiled slowly causing Fluttershy’s heart to beat rapidly as he turned back to his book.

“Well, before we were bothered by somepony, we were just discussing on using an ancient spell to share our minds with Fluttershy, then learning more about the-”

“That sounds fascinating, Twilight really, but I kind of got to go do something that won’t bore me to tears, so if you don’t mind-”

“It takes quite a strong amount of will to perform such a delicate spell, Vinyl, no unicorn can just easily sustain the amount of complex-”

“I’m sorry, Miss Fashion Pony are you calling me stupid?” Vinyl Scratch spat before getting herself eye to eye with the Element of Generosity who scoffed and took a step back, annoyed at Vinyl’s obvious disrespect for her personal space.

“Of course not, darling, but I’m only saying that I have an abundance amount of magical armament from Twilight’s assistance and that using this-”

“Well if you think you’re so great, then do it already, I’ll even add my own backwater magic to give you a little boost and get this ball rolling, Rarity.” She spoke cruelly, emphasising her name with a loud snort. Twilight stepped in at this point and added her own voice to the argument.

“Look, no pony invited you here, Vinyl and it’s Fluttershy’s mind we are entering so the only reason we are not kicking you out of the door this instant-”

“I don’t mind, Twilight.” The calm, soft spoken voice of Fluttershy broke through the argument, inhaling the last of her cigarette then exhaling it out her nose before snuffing it out on the ash tray Spike had on the table to the left of him and looking at the arguing ponies before her, noticing that all three unicorns jaw’s had all dropped from surprise.

“Are you positive, dear? This could very well overwhelm you, none of us has ever done it before and from what Twilight said we may do something to mentally or emotionally harm you without meaning to.” Rarity spoke softly, placing a hoof on her loving, caring, tedious friend. In hindsight though, she couldn't really blame her. All of their lives had become pretty routine, day in and day out, always the same. The only one that wasn't bothered by it was Spike.

Shaking away the dreadful and frankly disturbing thoughts, Rarity barely noticed that Fluttershy had answered. She was sure that both had missed something as both Twilight and Vinyl were glaring at one another. She said nothing however, not wanting to go against Fluttershy’s wishes and her adamant belief that she could handle it.

Without another word, Twilight looked at her friends who nodded, Spike setting his book down and moving to sit beside Pinkie Pie, before Twilight brought out a very thin, withered book, the size of a very small notebook before telling the two unicorns to sit on either side of Fluttershy.

Twilight opened the book and began reading through it again. She had read it when Spike had first brought it home with him and it had taken her about a week or so to translate the very ancient text that it contained. The book was old, extremely old, judging by both the way the spell was cast and the language it had been written in. To her knowledge, it predated the time of Luna’s banishment by at least one thousand years.

After she had confirmed that she knew the words to the spell and what to expect, she passed it to Rarity and said, “This is gonna be a bit of a deviation from normal spell casting. According to the book, once the first word of the spell is spoken, the magic will seize control of our bodies, causing us to move and finish the chant. I wanted to do it the old way first...and then I was going to see about modernizing it.”

Rarity frowned as she memorized the words, the way this spell sounded, it felt totally barbaric. Still, she had agreed to do it, and there was no backing down now. After she was done, she hoofed the book to Vinyl, who took it as though this were the most normal thing in the world and began her turn of memorization.

After all of them had read the book and memorized the words for the spell, Twilight instructed them to take a deep breath and as one they started. The muttering of the words began in a soft but rapid string, the voices of the three unicorns overlapping each other, forming a soft chorus of ghostly whispering.

The magic took hold of their bodies, as Twilight had said, their bodies beginning to sway to and fro slowly, their eyelids fluttering rapidly, half open, feeling the grain of the wood roughly scrape against the fur on their hindquarters unconsciously.

The eerie trance of the four ponies was a difficult sight to look away from. The other ponies and the lone dragon looked on, slightly appalled from what they were witnessing. Twilight’s eyes suddenly opened to their fullest, looking at the face of Fluttershy who seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown, fighting to control her breathing to prevent hyperventilation.

Her strength and resolve failed her when the entranced Twilight smiled in reassurance before lighting her horn with magic, touching her friend’s forehead with her horn and forcing her into a very deep, very heavy sleep, so deep that it appeared as though Fluttershy was not even breathing.

Twilight seemed to come out of the trance, looking down at Fluttershy, satisfied with that phase of the spell. She turned to the others and motioned for them to take a place around Fluttershy’s head as she herself sat in front of it.

It was obvious to the bystanders, judging by the glassy looks of both Vinyl and Rarity that the trance of the ritualistic spell was still in effect. Rarity sat on the floor next to Fluttershy’s head on Twilight’s right side and Vinyl sat on her left. As one the three simultaneously lit their horns, and bowed over Fluttershy, their horns touching her head in unison, the individual glows of magic seeping out from the horns, flowing deep into Fluttershy’s mind. The moment the glow was gone from each horn, the three unicorn’s closed their eyes and slumped forward against Fluttershy, only their breathing the only sign of continued life.

It was obvious by now that the spell was complete, but it didn't stop all of those left in the room from being worried beyond all comprehension.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

They felt as though their minds were being sucked into a vortex, ripping away all conscious thoughts and sounds, slowly peeling their flesh like a bandaid being harshly torn from a sickeningly, ugly, sore cut. Before the sensations of the vortex could become unbearable, they felt the world righting itself as they were transported headlong into the solid earth of their friend’s imagination, feeling their joints crack and pop in pain, their fur, mane and tail an unruly mess and each having a migraine, like they been binge drinking on hard cider.

“By the gods, let’s never do that again.” Vinyl Scratch groaned loudly, sitting up and then almost immediately running for a nearby blueberry bush and vomiting.

“Oh, agreed, very much agreed.” Rarity wheezed and held her head in her hooves to try to stop everything from spinning around her.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it would-” Twilight cut herself off mid sentence and coughed up blood onto the grass beside her before wiping her mouth with a hoof, streaking the fur with the crimson substance and slowly getting up off the ground.

She looked at the blood for a moment, contemplating it before Rarity’s voice broke through her thoughts as she asked, “Dear, if we are in Fluttershy’s mind, how is it we still have bodies?” Twilight looked over to her and said.

“The book said that we’d have mental projections of our real bodies that feel and act as real as the ones we left behind. That’s why we still feel pain. Its not real though, I don’t think.”

Rarity eyed her with a look of worry and said, “You don’t think? Twilight are you sure this is safe?” Twilight simply nodded and stood up, motioning for the others to the same.

The other two followed the Alicorn’s example and stood up on all four hooves. It wasn't long before Rarity shrieked loudly and immediately attempted to fix her appearance with her hooves, grumbling that she wished she could have brought her accessories if she knew this was going to happen.

Neither of the other two replied, instead choosing to observe the breath taking landscape around them. Creatures of all shapes and sizes were lumbering around the very large, open terrain. The variety was immense; Dragons with sheep and minotaurs, buffalos idly chatting with Parasprites, even a Chimera playfully wrestling with a few Ewes were just a few of the things they saw. It was a pristine paradise. A cloudless sky with a bright sun, shining brightly above the area, the grass was perfect and smooth, and not a single dead thing existed anywhere, not even twigs or fallen leaves.

So many animals of all manner of species were talking, playing and in a few cases mating with each other that it made all three of the unicorns smile and cheer in joy at their success and at how innocent their friend’s mind really was.

“Hey girls, glad you could join the party!” A loud, happy voice spoke far away from them, making the group turn to see Discord waterskiing, using two dolphins as the skis and pulled along by a cheerful looking squid.

“What is he doing here?” Rarity questioned making the god suddenly and nonchalantly teleport on her back in which she toppled to the ground due to the sudden increase in weight.

“Why having fun of course, Fluttershy’s mind is frequently used by immortals as a place for relaxation from the physical world, why just the other day, Chrysalis and I were eating apple pie together and Cadence was laughing with a cow, it was a fun day.” The spirit answered before floating off her back and making a picnic appear before him, settling on the grass as many animals crowded around the god to enjoy the feast.

“So all animals can suddenly understand each other here?” Twilight asked causing Discord to laugh and throw her a brownie which she caught with a smile.

“Yes indeed, we don’t question it and simply enjoy ourselves,” He chuckled taking a large bite of a piece of chocolate cake.

As he was chewing Twilight asked softly, “Yeah, but it’ll eventually end when Fluttershy passes on won’t it.” Discord seemed to struggle with swallowing as she finished speaking, almost as if the words had caught him off guard.

He managed to swallow and seemed to deflate a bit as he said, “I know that one day it’ll end...but I do plan to enjoy my time here with her while I can.” He seemed to perk up a bit but Twilight could tell that what she had said had hit deep within him.

She didn't say anything else about it though as a small group of animals rushed past playfully, Discord taking off after them in the form of a small fox, the picnic vanishing as he left. It wasn't long after that that another voice piped into the group, one they knew very well.

“I still have a long time before that happens, you know. But it still bothers him to think about it...he’s unsure of what to do. Not only with the time he has with me, but with the future as well.” The sudden unexpected and quite voice spoke behind them and they turned to see Fluttershy unharmed with a small smile on her face, one that seemed slightly marred with whatever she was feeling about Discord. After a moment she smiled more clearly, motioning to the beautiful expanse,

“Welcome to my mind, a utopia filled with anything you could imagine and desire without the stress or worry of never achieving said peace of heart and mind.” Fluttershy giggled softly before the three mares hugged her firmly.

“This is amazing, Fluttershy, I always thought that your mind was peaceful, but I never imagined it was this peaceful. I can’t wait to see what other mental worlds other ponies and one day other creatures have, thank you for sharing this experience with us.” Twilight said sincerely causing Fluttershy to blush and calmly step away from the loving embrace.

“Feel free to do whatever your heart desires here, my mind is yours to wander, though,” She hesitantly paused and quietly added in a low whisper, forcing them to go closer to her “Please don’t go farther north to my more intimate and personal thoughts. I have that entire area sealed off from any creature’s use, stay within the border of ‘Harmony Valley’ please.” She added before giving a smile, taking a cigarette from her right ear with her tail. Discord came out of nowhere and happily lit it, before flying off to leave her friends to their own devices.

The trio spent what seemed like hours to them enjoying themselves, never getting hungry, tired or angry as they explored the entire area of either the very large, crystal clear lake, the freshly cut grass beneath their hooves that covered as far as the eye could see. Tall and proud tree’s grew out of the ground in places, filled with all kinds of fruits and flying creatures of the forest. Farther ahead of all this were tall, soft peaked, mountains that the sun never set behind, staying perfect in its position at all times.

It was the world that was even more perfectly surreal than their own and they loved every second, although Twilight became disappointed that even though all the animals talked and spoke in their language, they could only answer the questions that Fluttershy herself knew, making trying to learn about many of the different animals a tad annoying.

She also noticed that none of them ever repeated themselves or were sometimes completely emotionless in their responses like robots, the latter of the two creeped her out a bit, admittedly.

Rarity who just got done getting her mane and tail braided by a lion and a few squirrels trotted up to Twilight who was enjoying getting a tan beside a chimera and sighed dreamily as she laid down on the smooth, warm grass. She volubly admired at how amazing the place was and that Fluttershy had to be the most caring, and heart warming pony imaginable to have such a world in her mind.

“I agree, it really was thoughtful for her to do this for us, though we can’t stay too long, or else our physical bodies will start to slowly deteriorate and we will be forced to end up in the hospital, also I’ll have to do a very detailed report on everything we encountered and send it to Princess Celestia before we can even think of trying to override the side effects of the spell it took to get us here and try to enter into other ponies astral plane.” Twilight slowly mumbled and rolled onto her stomach.

Before Rarity could reply, Vinyl Scratch came out of the lake riding a giant stone crocodile and spraying all three animals with a large amount of water. She jumped off the back of the carnivore with a large grin and slight bounce in her step, her shades plastered on her face before she shook the excess water out of her fur with a hearty laugh.

“I bucking love this place!” She screamed with a roar of laughter, starting off towards a cheetah in hopes of trying to gamble using snails but was stopped by Twilight’s hoof on her chest and repeating what she had told Rarity.

The blue maned unicorn merely scoffed and lightly pushed the mare’s hoof away with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, alright, I get your point, mom,” She spoke with a tone of sarcasm before adding with a slightly dark grin “If what you say is true then why don’t we go see what all the fuss is about with Fluttershy’s border line, huh?” She chuckled softly before trotting to the destination she just mentioned, causing the two other mare’s to gasp in horror and shock.

“Vinyl, how could you dare suggest a thing, Fluttershy is our friend and we promised her not to invade her privacy and go beyond the border she created.” Rarity cried overdramatically racing after the over zealous unicorn.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s get one thing straight, Fluttershy is your friend, not mine, alright? I never promised her anything. I mean she’s cool and all but she’s a hell of a downer when it comes to a party or smoking some Hay Weed, who the buck get’s high after two hits of the shit or gets hammered after only two beers? That girl has got to get more hold over her liquor, maybe get an iron liver and stomach like Rainbow Dash, though Rainbow’s a bit of a jerk at times, especially when drunk and annoys me to death sometimes, she’s a real partier.” Vinyl rolled her eyes with a sneer painted across her face and simply walked pass the fashion pony.

“I find your very offensive and rather cruel choice of words about my friends to be disturbing, Vinyl Scratch, if you don’t like it then you can just get out of poor Fluttershy’s mind right now!” Rarity snorted with a firm stamp of her hoof as the dj looked at her and childishly stuck her tongue out making Rarity step back repulsed by the brash tomfilly.

Not paying attention, neither unicorn noticed as Twilight stood up and teleported in front of the mare known as DJ Pone-3, casting a firm glare at her before Vinyl bumped into her.

“Talking about our friends and advancing after Spike the way you do is the reason none of us like you, Fluttershy did you a huge favour in just letting you into her mind, let alone trying something that has never been done in millennia. While you are not an exception towards being a friend to her, you’re quickly overstepping yourself by abusing the trust she’s putting in you. If you don’t like it then get out of here.” Twilight threatened frankly making Vinyl turn her head away in frustration, knowing the book worm was right.

“Fine, fine, you’re right ok, I’m sorry, and blah, blah, blah. Look, you do things your way with friendship and what not, but where I’m from, it’s everypony and creature for themselves, I’m not going to bore you with a sad ass sob story because it’s like you said, we don’t got enough time, so if you'll just kindly-”

Vinyl attempt to sidestep the mare failed when Twilight blocked her body with her own and snorted with exhaled air visibly to prove her point before Rarity spoke up.

“Though I am quite intrigued on what Fluttershy is trying to keep from us, I understand everypony has their secrets but we did promise each other we would not keep any worthy knowledge from the other.” Rarity commented with a flick of her tail as Vinyl laughed and poked Twilight’s chest with a hoof sharply.

“You hear that? Shy promised and did not hold up to her end of the bargain, so nothing wrong with a little peek, ‘friend’ two against one after all.” Vinyl sneered and ignoring the annoyed glance Twilight gave to the now sheepish looking Rarity, bypassed Twilight and continued on towards the northern barrier, Rarity following after Vinyl moments later

Twilight sat back onto her flank, refusing to budge and called after Rarity, “I hope you can live with what you’re doing. Fluttershy trusted you.” Twilight scowled and flopped backwards onto the ground, staring up into the sky, suddenly wishing she were home again.

As she lay there brooding, a sudden male voice interrupted her thoughts, “You need to go after them, they are going to need you.” She looked to her right and saw Discord laying on his side next to her, looking at her with an obvious concerned look.

Twilight shook her head, returning her gaze to the sky above and said, “I’m not going to betray Fluttershy’s trust in me. If they want to hurt Fluttershy like that by invading her privacy, let them take the blame, I tried to stop them.” Discord scooted closer towards Twilight and spoke softly.

“I know you did and I’ll defend you when Fluttershy finds out. Of all the creatures who have ever entered her mind, there is only one other being that she has allowed into that area, Me.” He frowned and said, “Believe me when I tell you that your friends are not prepared for what exists there, and they will need you.”

Twilight looked over at Discord again, her brow knitted with concern. In all of the time that she had known him, he had never been this serious. She didn’t know if he was lying to her or not, but something deep inside told her that he wasn’t.

She rolled back onto her hooves and said, “You sure that Fluttershy will forgive this?” Discord waved his eagle talon as if to shoo her away slowly and said.

“With you, certainly, you didn’t want to go anyway, with the other two, I’m unsure. Go on, you don’t have much time.” Twilight nodded and thanked Discord before galloping off after the other two.

The border that Fluttershy had warned them about was just in sight of the two lone ponies as they walked across the landscape. It was vastly different than either of them had expected, an invisible line separated the perfectly green grass on the side they stood on and on the other side of it lay a barren wasteland.

Dotted all over the place where plants of all kinds, trees, flowers, bushes, and grass; all of them withered and dying. Unnatural beasts of all shapes and sizes roamed across the isolated and desolate area, enormous, wild Timberwolves were feasting on the carcass of some unknown animal and somewhere off in the distance, a blood curdling scream echoed out towards them making the ponies on the other side of the border jump in fright.

“Well I think I've seen enough, how about we go back-”

Rarity’s scared tone of voice was cut off by Vinyl telling her to stop being such a filly and take a few risks to get to the really juicy parts of her friends mind. After that Rarity fell silent as Vinyl gathered up the courage and took a small step towards the gods forsaken world.

A loud crackling filled the air as the barrier came alive with arcing bolts of lightning, tendrils of electricity running over Vinyl’s body, holding her rooted to the spot as she was electrocuted.

Rarity yelled with alarm and threw out a lasso of magic, grabbing Vinyl and pulling her away, the DJ landing on the ground with a gasp, her body aching and throbbing with pain. After a few moments, Vinyl staggered back to her feet and looked over to the barrier with narrowed eyes.

“An electric barrier, huh? Clever, alright, lighting wall, prepare to meet your doom!” Vinyl Scratch barked with an angered yell before lighting her horn with magic and throwing a powerful concentrated disrupting spell directly at it. The barrier flexed as the spell hit it, absorbing the impact of the spell and starting to glow eerily. In the second that Vinyl realized she'd majorly screwed up, a deafening blast blew outward from the shield as the force of her spell was rebounded at her, three times stronger than before.

Both Vinyl and Rarity were sent flying off their hooves, slamming into the ground yards away from where they had been with grunts of pain. As they lay there stunned, a second beam of energy flew over them and hit the barrier, thin and narrow in size, channeling small amounts of energy into the shield.

Vinyl dazedly looked over at the shield and saw a small opening appearing in the shield, growing larger and larger until it was big enough for three ponies to walk through. As the two other unicorns slowly pulled themselves to their hooves, Twilight walked up to them and said.

“Just like Fluttershy, the harder you push, the tougher it becomes to get anywhere. A gentle touch is needed to get through to her.”

Rarity sat up holding her head and asked, “Twilight, what are you doing here? I thought you said you weren’t going to invade Fluttershy’s privacy.” Twilight looked at Rarity and sighed loudly.

“I’m not doing this because I want to. Discord said that you would need my help in there, and judging by what I’ve seen so far, he was right.” She shook her head and nodded her head to the dark entrance.

“The way is open guys, now’s your last chance to turn back.” Vinyl jumped up from the ground, her aches apparently forgotten and sprinted towards the hole, passing through into the landscape beyond, quickly followed by Rarity and then by Twilight.

“Whew, Shy was not joking when she said she had this area sealed off, haven’t been knocked around this much since that time I tried rodeoing on a visiting buffalo.” Vinyl laughed uneasily and trotted along faster before both Twilight or Rarity could ask if that was the reason why the apple family was still upset at her.

The question was pushed back to the farthest corner of their minds though as they saw evil, glowing eyes of all different colors stare at them from the everlasting darkness around them, allowing their fur to get damped with coat of nervous sweat, their hooves trembling with every step they took, each looking back to see if the barrier and eternal sunshine was still there but all traces of it were lost in the darkness that surrounded them. They had entered into the ‘Shadow Forest’ as Vinyl so elegantly called it, and it was clear that this was in no way a place where Fluttershy stored her intimate desires. This was the place of her nightmares...

On three separate occasions they had lost all sense of direction and had been forced to run away from all kinds of flesh eating, heartless and feral monsters that existed in the dark, always just outside of view and always there. Their horns provided them with some measure of light, allowing them to better see as they navigated through this labyrinth of horror.

Eventually they came to a very wide and grassless area, something about the spot made even the most violent of creatures keep their distance and allow the trio to stumble towards three impossibly high, and very, very large tree trunks.

High in the branches were six heavy linked and very thick silver chains which coiled around the trunks of each tree tightly, holding a single creature suspended into the air. The four limbs of the monster were held away from it with four of the chains, while the other two were wrapped around its neck and tail.

The trees were arranged in the same order that all three unicorns had been in when they entered into the once innocent pony’s mind, one to the left, one the right and one behind, Twilight noticing that the middle tree had one more chain on it unlike its siblings, but it was broken, savagely torn off and appearing worn with age, the early stages of rust showing through the once brilliant metal.

They appeared to have held something small judging by appearance of two small but thick cuffs on the very last link. Though Twilight had not the faintest clue as to what it could have held.

The silence that now struck through the entire landscape was incredibly eerie and caused all of them to huddle together from the ridiculously powerful presence of evil that the prisoner emitted, feeling as though this one being was the incarnation of all nightmares.

Rarity was panting so hard that she began to feel faint, Vinyl doing all she could to hold down the mental lunch she had eaten, trying to prevent it from spewing forth. Twilight gulped heavily, her mouth drying out in fear. It took all of her willpower to force herself to step closer to who or whatever the creature was, using every ounce of strength she could summon she crept slowly towards it.

Illuminating her horn more, she provided larger source of of light causing it to fall across the figure held in the trees. The three of them stumbled backwards at what they saw, trying to regain their footing as the creature in the tree opened its eyes and mouth and let out a piercing wailing shriek.

The force of the sounds made their vision vibrate as each of them covered their ears, the ground beneath them trembling and the trees of the forest billowing in an unseen wind. When the noise finally stopped Vinyl uncovered her ears wincing slightly at the ringing she was hearing. She looked back up into the trees, now truly terrified as the monstrously slowly drifted off to sleep.

“By the gods, what is that monstrosity? I don’t think I’d ever seen anything so terrifying in my entire life.” Vinyl shivered slightly, emptying her bladder at the very sight without embarrassment or hesitation.

Rarity was gasping in shock, holding her head in pain and quite convinced that her ears were bleeding. Before she could regain her composure, Twilight stepped closer again and whispered hoarsely, with her eyes wide with fear and horror.

“We have, but it’s been so long since we last saw it...I hoped that we’d never see it again, that’s-”

Twilight and the others almost jumped completely out of their fur by sound of a cold, cruel voice behind them that finished Twilight’s sentence.

“Flutterbat.”

Author's Note

Any errors then please tell me or my editor right away so we can clean them up. I'm back ha, and I'll write more soon, promise....enjoy.