The Nightmares Never Endby SkyeBeamChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3PrologueI’m bored. There’s nothing to do here anymore. At first I could explore the place, but now that the novelty has worn off and I’ve explored the entire place I’m bored. Again. The others are busy doing something and clearly don’t feel like talking. Well, except Goldie. But he’s been a bit distant lately. It’s something about the newest guard. I would try to find out what it was, if he didn’t make it clear to NOT do so. I can’t even spy on the guard to find out; tonight’s Night Seven. I really hate not having a physical body. I can’t even draw. Right now I would do anything for a laptop I could animate on. Or a piece of paper and a pencil to draw on. I have so many ideas and yet I can’t do anything with them. It’s just frustrating. I can’t believe Mari managed to handle not having a body for so long. I’m dying of boredom. If I could die again. Which I highly doubt is possible. Mari has been a bit distant lately. I’m not surprised. She hates him more than we do. I do. She was his first victim. That monster seems intent on killing. Which makes it weird that he seemed to not want to kill the guard. I saw the way he looked at him. I’m not sure what it is. Too bad I won’t be able to find out. They never come back after one week, even if they do survive. And that guy was terrified. Like, more than the average guard. But it didn’t seem that the actual monster was scaring him, more like the knowledge of something. I saw the look in his eyes, he was determined. Determined to do something. I’m not even sure why he came. Like, come on, it’s a HORROR ATTRACTION, the clue is in the name. Even if the place isn’t actually haunted, being ALONE and IN THE DARK is still quite scary. Though he must know about the rumours around this place if he decided to work here. But he probably dismissed them as rumours. Because ghosts aren’t real. Usually. I wonder if he knows about what I know. I have been spying on him. Hey, I was bored, and I’m not scaring the guard again! Well, it was fun at first, but then we started… It's not right. What we did is wrong. I might've been innocent while I was alive, but that innocence is long gone. I'm guilty. The others try to tell me it's not my fault, but lies cannot fix a situation they created. Who's to blame, if it's not me? they all had family, friends, maybe even kid of their own. I made children become orphans; I made wives become widows. I spilt so much blood. They'll hate me for all eternity, and this is my punishment. I was up on the ceiling, spying on him. He probably spotted me, and just chose to ignore me- Wait, what’s the noise! It’s not the others, as the lack of physical bodies ENSURES we can’t make any noise. And I doubt he would be up walking around. We made sure that it was painful for him to move. Well, the original plan was to kill him to set ourselves free. But of course he couldn’t make it that easy. Even after we cornered him and crushed his puny little body, juicing all the blood from him, tearing apart his guts so they spilt all over the ground… He couldn’t just die and let our misery be over. Why should he? Of course he stayed alive somehow. If we can’t be free, then he should at least feel the pain we felt for all those years. The others didn’t hear it. They’re not here. It’s… It’s the guard. The latest one. He’s walking around, wary of something, of us. He’s…pouring something all over the floor. Gasoline. He’s not going to, is he? The others are here, even Mari. He even pours some gasoline into his room, though by how quickly he left it’s clear he doesn’t trust that thing. We’re all watching him, hiding in the shadows just out of view. He knows we’re here anyway. He can feel us. I can see it. The whole place is coated in gasoline. It seems to happen in slow motion. He takes out the box of matches. He lights one. Right now he’s just standing there, looking at the tiny flickering flame. He’s thinking. Will he do it? Wait… He’s in the heart of the building!! If he light’s the place, he won’t be able to get out!!! HE CAN’T DIE!!! “I’m here.” He’s… talking? “I came back. I know I shouldn’t have come back here. I know you told me not to. I’m sorry for disobeying you. I know the truth. I’ve been doing my research. I looked through each newspaper clipping thousands of times. I listened to each recording until I could recite them word for word. I learned. It hurt. I didn’t want to believe it, but it made sense. I found out so many things about you. I learned about you like I’d never before. About all your little quirks. About all your fears. I found your co-workers. The ones that survived. I tracked them down with only scraps of incomplete information. At first they welcomed me. Yet as soon as I mentioned that place they reacted violently. They were terrified. I had to force it out of them. They were wrecks by the end, but I got what I wanted. I feel bad for it. I hope they understand why I did it. I hope they forgive me. I hope they find out what I did. I hope they understand it. I understand what happen. It hurts. The truth, the loneliness. I’m all alone. I hope you can forgive me for this. But please, know that I’m only doing this for your freedom. So we can be together. I also want to apologise. I was horrid. I shouldn’t have done what I did. If only… I wish I could go back in time. I wish I could fix all of this. I wish we could be all together again, happy. I wish everything turned out differently.” He’s crying. On his knees, sobbing. I see the terrified kid inside of him. I wanna help him, comfort him… Why are you guys holding me back! Why are you stopping me! He needs comfort! “I… I…” “I’m sorry” The match drops. Flames explode everywhere, engulfing the building in their glow. Somehow, I can feel it. I can feel their heat even if I shouldn’t. I feel my tears, real tears, flowing down my cheek. I walk up to the burning carcass ahead of me. I comfort him. Not the body, but the ghost. At first, he seems oblivious to me, sobbing away his worries. Then, he jumps back at the sight of me, fear radiating off him. Then a stifled scream as he sees his own, lifeless husk. “Thank you” I whisper, a small smile forming through my tears. I offer him my hand. Uncertainty flickers in his ghostly eyes. Then he accepts it, unsure but curious. The others come closer. He still seems terrified. I don’t blame him. He just died, saw his own body and was comforted by a ghost that earlier tried to kill him. At least, that’s how he sees it. “We are finally free” mutters Mari, the mask that covered her face gone. For the first time I see the face of a pale girl with ink black hair. She giggles. She giggled! “In a fire. Are we clairvoyant or something?” jokes Bonnie. Fire. Oh, ‘Die in a Fire.’ Wow. That’s, oddly prophetic. “What… what’s going on?” I turn back to our newest guest. I kinda forgot about him in the heat of the moment. Huh, HEAT of the moment. “We’re free. You just set us free. We can finally leave this place after all these years. We can move on.” Mari explains. I stay silent. Mari is a lot better at all of this than I am. I just start to fly up. Then, as the final test of our freedom, I soar through the roof. I… I left the place! The walls didn’t stop me! I’m free. I wait for the others. They all come, all except Goldie. Goldie just stand there. “Aren’t you coming?” I ask. “What about him?” he asks. “Probably hasn’t even realised that the place is on fire. Oh wait, he must have. I forgot he still feels pain. He’s probably in agony now. I vote we leave him.” I state. I don’t want him to be free. He should go rot in the eternal flames of hell, his body burning to ash, yet not being destroyed. An endless suffering for what he made us, innocent children, go through. “We can’t. It’s not fair for him. He suffered enough. It would be wrong for us to just leave him.” “You wanna know what’s not fair? It’s not fair that OUR WHOLE LIVES WERE TAKEN AWAY BY A PSYCOPATH!!” He stares at me, stunned. Everyone knows that I’m emotionally unstable, but I don’t often snap like that. Goldie is the one person that understands me. It feels wrong for me to argue. But anger wins out over friendship. “HE DESERVES EVERYTHING WE DID TO HIM, IF NOT MORE! HE LAUGHED WHILE WE SCREAMED FROM AGONY!! HE LIED TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT WHILE WE WERE BEING TORTURED BY THE SIGHTS OF OUR OWN FUNERALS!!! I DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR DOING THIS TO HIM JUST LIKEHE DOESN’T FEEL SORRY FOR OUR DEATHS!!!!!” I stare at him, my fury drilling into him. He just stares at me. Then he turns round, and returns back for him. I just… I… I float past my audience, still shocked by my outburst. I snap away from the hands that seek to comfort me. I don’t need them… The night sky wraps around me like a cool blanket, its temperature non-existent. A light breeze blows through me. I don’t want to look back. I don’t need a final glance at Earth. I don’t want it. I don’t want to see the town in which I grew up in, in which I died. I don’t want to see the remains of my prison. I don’t want to see the flames that saved me. I have nothing. No-one will miss me. To them I’ve been dead for decades, just like I should have. My grave still lies empty. It will lie empty. I wonder if they’ll ever find my body. I wonder if they ever take down the old place to build something else. I wonder how they’ll react. It will seem like an unmarked area of ground, but when dug up it’ll reveal a mass grave for children. I wonder if they’ll realise that that’s us. I guess they’ll finally find his body. I bet that’ll be shocking. I can already see the headlines- MAN MISSING FOR DECADES FOUND DEAD IN LOCAL HORROR ATTRACTION. I doubt that they’ll put two and two together and realise the truth. I guess I’ll never know. Still if they do it will mean tha- Confusion. I’m somewhere. I… feel… weird. What’s going on? “Oh sweet Celestia! There’s a filly!!” Everything hurts. I don’t wanna wake up. I wanna fade away. “She’s injured! Quick, help me with her!” Why does everything hurt? … Why can I feel pain? I can’t feel pain. I need a body to do that. “Please say she’s okay. We need to get her somewhere stable!” Yes, this is all just a nightmare. I’ll wake up soon enough… “Does she have a pulse! Check her pulse!" Oh wait. I can’t dream. Author's Note Hi guys! this is my first fic. Constructive criticism is welcome. Also, can anyone guess who our protagonist is? The clues are there. They're subtle, veeerrrryyyyy subtle, but there. Good luck. Bonus points if you can name who the guard is!! Chapter 1*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* What’s going on? *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Where am I? *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* WHAT’S THAT FUCKING NOISE?!?! *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Ugh, my head hurts, my heart is thumping like a drum and I haven’t got the faintest clue where I am. Just great. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* For all I know I might be in a secret cellar of some messed up paedophile. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Or a torture chamber of some sicko trying to annoy me to death with that fucking beeping! *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Wait! My head hurts. MY HEAD HURTS! Why does it hurt? It can’t hurt! I don’t feel pain! I don’t have a head! Except the one that’s buried underground, or my animatronic head… That’s not the point! *BeepBeepBeep* And how can my heart pump like a drum, if I haven’t got one!?! Both physically, and mentally. I’m heartless! *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP* And is that my heartbeat?!? I can’t have heartbeat. That suggests… That means… I’m… Am I alive? *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* No. I can’t be alive. I died decades ago. There’s no way that can be my heartbeat. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Yeah. That’s not my heartbeat. It’s someone else’s. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* It’s just a coincidence that it started to beat faster when I panicked. Because I’m not alive. Yeah. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* And I didn’t really feel pain. No, that’s just me imagining it. My brain thinks I should feel pain, so it inserts it on its own. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* I mean, it’s not the first time my brain tricked me. I never really felt the pain of my death during all those lonely nights. I never really re-watched myself do that. I never really saw the night guards as him. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* They were just hallucinations. Yeah. This is just a prank Goldie and Bon-Bon are playing on me. They’ll come out soon and we’ll all laugh together. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Any second now… *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* "Patient 13’s heartbeat just spiked. She should be just waking up” "Will she be okay?” “I think so. She didn’t seem to have any physical injuries.” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Or they might just continue it. That works too. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* "Physical injuries? Do you mean…” “I’m worried her psyche might be damaged. Her body seemed to struggle with basic functions like breathing. Because of the lack of any noticeable injuries on her body that can be the cause of this reaction, which means that this might be because of something that happened to her mind.” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* "Oh. And I’m guessing that the lack of any health records isn’t helping.” “No health records, no birth certificates, nothing. We even sent out some letters to neighbouring towns to find something. It’s like she just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Ha ha ha. So funny guys. Come on. Cut the prank already. This is getting old. Oh, a door opening. Let me guess. You guys are gonna make me open my eyes, and something will jump out at me, screeching. You guys know this doesn’t work on me. We do the scaring. I’m not scared. You know what; I’m not gonna open my eyes. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “Hello?” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Nope. I’m not going to fall for this. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “Are you awake?” Still not falling for this. I can just lay here all day with my eyes closed. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “I know you’re awake” … I’m bored. Let’s get this over and done with. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “Please- Argh! Why is the light so fricking bright! God fricking dammit! “Are you okay?” Maybe not so fast. Slowly does it… Oh, so the walls are white too. No wonder it’s so bright. “Miss?” What? Just, what? Why. Is there. A fucking pony! NEXT TO ME?!?! “Are you alright?” No, No, NO! This isn’t right! Ponies don’t exist. CARTOON ponies don’t exist! “Is something wrong?” How can they know I watched that show?! I never told them! How can they know I like this show?! “I think she might have just gone into shock?” How did they find out?! More exactly, how did they find out this EXACT character exists?! “From what?” Nurse Redheart isn’t a main character! She’s not even a very popular background pony! She’s in hardly any episodes. How. Can. They. Know? “Many ponies are afraid of hospitals, especially foals. Maybe she’s just afraid. Or she didn’t expect to be here.” This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. “That’s not actually too unreasonable.” No. The fire… No. I didn’t. Reality doesn’t work that way. Huh. Ha. Ha Ha. Ha ha ha! An undead ghost saying that reality doesn’t work that way. Who says how reality works? No- one really knows what happens after death. Going to a different dimension isn’t any more unreasonable than going to heaven. It’s actually scientifically more reasonable. But what does scientific probability really mean? I mean, according to science there’s no ghosts. Who knows, maybe reality is nothing more than an illusion, the universe only a hologram. Maybe buying gold can save your life. Ha ha. Who knows? “Still, let’s hope she doesn’t really fall into shock. She might be our only source of information for a while. Plus, we don’t know how her parents would react.” Oh god. There are people in the room with me. Ponies. Whatever. “If we can even find her parents, that is.” How long have they been here? What have they been talking about? Did they talk to me? God dammit! They probably think I’m retarded. How long did I just stare off into space? Why do I always do that? “Umm” Oh god, is that my voice? I haven’t talked in a long time. Well, not really if you count me using my voice box. Or talking as a ghost… Focus! “Oh, you’re alright! Thank Celestia, I was starting to wonder if I missed something during my examination.” Missed something? Are you implying I have brain damage? I do not have brain damage! I’d be very surprised if I had brain damage, considering I didn’t have a body until… When did I appear here? “Uhh” Goddammit. Talking with a living body is a lot harder than I remembered. “Don’t worry if you find it hard to talk properly; we didn’t know if you were in pain, so we administered some painkillers. It should become easier to speak soon.” Painkillers? Yeah, I doubt that’s the only reason. Still, at least it will help me blend in. “H-How long have I-I been o-out?” For fuck’s sake, why am I stuttering like I’m terrified. I’m not scared. I’ve died. This is a fricking piece of cake. I’m literally talking to ponies from a kids cartoon. “You came in yesterday morning.” There’s someone else here. … No duh, Nurse Redheart wouldn’t be talking to herself. She’s sane. Just because I talk to myself doesn’t mean everyone does. Everypony. Whatever. “You were found on the outskirts of Ponyville. Ponies went out to do their daily morning business, and they found you passed out on the road. You were carried to my castle until Nurse Redheart and the other doctors came to transport you to the hospital.” Castle. Ponyville. Of course. It’s not just any pony, it’s a fricking OP princess of friendship. It’s everyone’s favourite bookhorse, Twilight Sparkle. And of course she waited outside to find out if I’m okay. I’m actually surprised the other Mane 6 aren’t here. “The others were worried about you too, but they had to leave. I’ll go tell them. They should come here soon.” See? They’re coming to visit a random filly in hospital that they found out in the street. “Ahem, yes Miss Twilight. But can the visits wait for a bit? I would like to perform some basic health check-ups.” Wow. She’s got nerve. She just told a fricking demigod that. That just there was basically a polite way of saying ‘Get the fuck out’. Geez. “Oh! Erm, yes, sorry. I’ll leave now.” But let’s remember that we’re talking about Twilight. “Thank you. Now, would you mind doing a few things for me?” What do you want Twilight to do now? Wait, that was for me. Concentrate! “Yes, I mean no, I mean…” Why can I never concentrate? “Don’t worry, I understand.” Thank God you do, because I honestly don’t. “Now, could you just lift your right hoof? Don’t worry if it’s a bit difficult, you might still be under the painkiller.” Hoof? Oh, of course, I’m a pony. Why would I not be a pony? It would actually be weirder if I wasn’t a pony. In fact I shouldn’t be surprised. I should have realised this earlier. Instead of panicking like a little kid I should have checked myself. Now, I’m going to be checked by a doctor that is contemplating if I have brain damage if my body works fine. I don’t even know if I’m an earth pony, a unicorn or a pegasus. This is gonna be a long day. Chapter 2“Let’s sit you up; I don’t really want to do your examination while you’re lying down.” Sit me up? How do I sit? Like a dog? It would make sense considering the situation. But how do I get up? How do I get my legs in that position; my knees could now bend backwards. Do they bend backwards? I don’t know! “Slowly does it… Be careful with that leg… Here you go!” Wow. Backward knees feel weird. And so does the position. And everything is so furry! I mean, I’m used to having fur, but I never actually felt it! I’m so glad I’ve got the painkiller excuse, because I have no idea what I look like right now. And I’m probably acting very stiff, like I don’t know my own body. Which I don’t, but it’s better if they don’t know that. “Let’s start with the right hoof; I want to know if it works correctly.” Right hoof. Okay, up, slowly, careful… Done! Huh, it’s not too different from lifting an arm. It’s just an arm without fingers. No problem! I’m used to not having fingers in my right arm. But the left might be a bit of an issue… “Great! Now the left!” Welp, here goes nothing! Huh, not having fingers feels awkward. Like really awkward. It’s just an empty nothing. Kind of like my life. Ha, ha. “Great! Now, I know your hind legs work fine, that’s actually why I asked you to sit up. Your eyes seem fine, so do your ears… Well, the only thing left to check are your wings. I’ll… go find someone to do it I personally don’t know much about wings.” Wings! YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! I’m officially a pegasus! Yay! I mean, logically it makes sense. Pegasi are usually (but not always) faster and more aggressive than the other races. Ask any night-guard (if you can find one that’s still alive, that is), and they’ll always describe me as that. Or they might call me ‘That fucking fox that runs down the hallway.’ That works too. I’ll be able to fly! It will be so exhilarating, to soar through the clouds on my own, finally free from pain. That is, when I learn to fly. Hopefully it’s not too hard. Still, I’m a long way off; I don’t even know how to open my wings. Huh, they’ll probably want me to open then them for the examination. Considering most pegasi learn to fly from birth, it will be strange if I can’t open them. In fact, most pegasi would be able to open their wings regardless of any painkillers. After all, they are their key body parts. Wings are important to them. This in turn means I should open them now so they don’t see me struggle to open them. Okay… Note to self, wings are weird. They’re so light, and the way they fold is nothing like anything else. While the lack of fingers means I was trying to operate nerves I don’t have, using a body part you didn’t previously own is like trying to defuse a bomb, in the dark when you can’t feel anything through your fingers. Not easy. Someone’s coming. Somepony. God dammit, why does it have to be pony? What if it’s a dragon? Or a griffon? Or anything else that’s not a pony? Would you say somedragon or somegriffon? No, that sounds wrong and strange. Plus, the whole point of the word someone is to describe a person you don’t know. It’s actually quite racist if you assume it’s a pony. It’s like assuming that someone is white just from some incomplete information… Aaaaannnnnnnnddddddd I lost my focus again, didn’t I? Goddammit. “Here is the patient.” Oh, great, Nurse Redheart came back. And she seems to have found someone to examine my wings. Huh, I don’t recognise him. But that’s not too concerning if you consider how little time we spend in Ponyville Hospital. Actually, it would be more concerning, because that would mean our heroines spend a lot of time in hospital. Not a good message for the kids. He’s staring at me. Why is he staring at me? He’s a doctor, so he should be able to not stare at his patients. Did he not expect a filly? Or maybe he heard about how I got into hospital and is curious? “Oh, yes, where was I?” Wow, took him long enough to realise he was being rude. And that’s only after Nurse Redheart elbowed him. Is it called elbowing? Do horses even have elbows? “Dr Lector, could you please start your examination?” “Oh, yes, right. Hmm…” Oh god that guy’s creepy. I mean, I know he needs to actually touch my wings to see if they’re okay, but couldn’t he just me that he’s starting instead of just touching me without any warning. And the fact he’s the stereotypical tall (is this even tall for a pony? I dunno), slender doctor in a lab coat is not helping. “Hmm… Yes… Interesting… Well, it seems that they’re alright. I’m not sure; I never actually encountered these kinds of wings, so I haven’t got any experience with them. I wonder if-“ “No, Doctor. I don’t think our patient would be alright with you doing some experiments on her. She’s not one of your guinea pigs” “Okay, okay. But it was worth a shot. Which reminds me, nurse would you-“ “No, Doctor, I do not wish to go anywhere after my shift. I have other plans. I would also like to remind you that you have a wife at home” “Fine, I understand, you’re not in the mood. I’ll try some other time.” Did he just- Creep! Wow, how did he get employed? How did he even get a medical degree? I’m so glad he left, I don’t want him to stare at me like a rat he was about to dissect. “Creep” Exactly! “I’m glad he doesn’t come here often, he might be good at teaching medical students, but he’s not a good doctor.” Well, that explains my questions. “Still, with that all out of the way, we can continue to the next point.” Next point? I don’t remember you mentioning anything like that. “What’s your name? We don’t have any records about you, and this is needed for the paperwork.” Name? What should I call myself? Most pony names match their character! What name describes me! Fuck, I should have thought of this earlier! “It’s… It’s Night Bite.” Night Bite? Really? Why did I say that? I mean, it’s fitting and it sounds like a pony name, but… It’s a bit too on the nose. Well, too bad, because I’m stuck with it. Why didn’t I just say my name? It would fit in just fine! “Night Bite? That’s… fitting.” That’s the whole point! Wait, how do you know it’s fitting? It’s not like you know my past. You said you had no idea where I came from. Nothing I’ve done so far points to the truth. Nothing. And I doubt they’d even have a remotely similar situation. It’s fricking Equestria. “Well, I’ll go finish the paperwork. Call me if you need everything.” Wait, come back! How do you know that my name fits me? I have questions! Please! “So, um, your name is Night Bite, right? Nurse Redheart told me.” Twilight, I know you’re trying to be friendly, but it’s not helping. “Yes.” “It seems fitting.” You too? Seriously, is there something about me I don’t know about? Just let me leave this hospital and try to find out what the fuck happened to get me here. “I was going to ask you; do you have anywhere to stay? Because if you don’t, I’ve got waaay too many spare rooms back in my castle, so you could… You know, stay there for a while.” Wait, what? Did you just ask me to stay in your house? You don’t know who I am, and yet you not only wait to see if I’m ok, but you also invite me to stay with you? “Um…” “I understand if you’re shy, one of my best friends is really shy too. I just want to make sure you’re ok. I mean, it wouldn’t be ok for somepony that just left the hospital to have to worry about where to stay. Especially a foal.” I, uh… No, staying with her meant she would learn more about me… But I could have somewhere proper to stay. And food. And I would be sitting in a huge information source… But my identity… “I… I would be happy to stay with you.” I feel like I’m gonna regret it, but YOLO. You only live once. Unless you’re me, then, well… Wow, how long can the corridors be in this place? I feel like we’ve been walking forever. Well, I might as well try to get some answers to my questions. Um… Twilight?” “Yes?” “During my examination, Nurse Redheart asked for someone else to examine my wings, as she said she had no experience with wings. When he came into the room, he acted strange. At first he seemed surprised, almost afraid, to see me. And then later he said he never encountered wings like mine, even though he’s a wing expert.” “Oh, really? Well, that’s not too surprising. Thestrals are a very rare race. That combined with their nocturnal lifestyle means most ponies never meet a thestral.” Wait, wait, wait! A THESTRAL? “Thestral?” “More commonly known as Bat ponies, even though that is completely false. There’s a huge difference between the fictional Bat ponies and real thestrals. The doctor that you mentioned probably never really saw a thestral, and probably though you were blood-thirsty like those mythical Bat ponies.” ”Oh, um, that makes sense.” So I’m a thestral? The way Twilight said it, it seems like it. Okay, Stay Calm, Stay Calm. I can panic when I’m somewhere private. Yeah, I’ll go full out when I’m alone. That seems like a plan. All I need to do is get there. And I bet it’ll go perfectly. Not. Author's Note Yay, I did some more work!!! I just wanted to say that because of school I might not be able to get out as many chapters. Also, Who can spot the references? I have created an image of how Night Bite looks like, I have it open right now. I might just wait till next chapter, where I'll have a whole scene dedicated to Nighty's ( what, she needs a nickname) appearance. Chapter 3Twilight forgot to mention it was night-time. It’s actually pretty stunning to hear the crisp silence of night hover around me. The moon whispered gently through a few stray clouds that hung around. Judging from its position it’s about midnight. Back home there would still be a lot more noise. Some late night cars, some rubbish in the wind, drunken people wasting their time. Those were common actually; some even tried to break in. Hah, they didn’t know what they were doing. If they did they wouldn’t have. The adults normally know to stay from our place. Knew. The streetlights are different here too. Instead of that glaring orange bulb it’s a warm candle flame. It’s also a lot fainter. I guess if they don’t have cars they don’t really need to see too much detail. And thanks to it you can see all the stars perfectly. I may have spent a lot of time staring out of a window, but I haven’t seen stars for years. They’re… A lot more beautiful than I remembered. I’m still in shock over all of this. I’m walking. Sure, the rhythm is completely different and it feels strange too but I’m walking. I feel the pressure my legs exert onto the ground and I feel the pressure the ground exerts back. I feel each breath I take of the night air, how it enters my lungs. How it is carried into the bloodstream. I feel it being pumped in my heart all around my body, and then pumped back out. It’s unbelievable. “We’re here.” Wow, I really started to ramble on for a bit. I probably would’ve walked right into a wall if Twilight hadn’t have stopped me. Wow, the castle looks stunning at night. But that might just be my nostalgia glasses. “It’s… Nice.” Bit of an understatement. “It actually pretty unnecessary. And big. And unnecessarily big.” Typical Twilight behaviour. Most little girls dream of being a princess with their own castle yet when she gets it she only complains. Though she did lose her old home, along with most of her personal belongings, keepsakes and probably a lot of family photos… Okay that’s understandable. “Well, at least it’s a place to stay. And it has a lot more room for book storage.” Oh Twilight. It’s always books. “Come on in. It’s pretty late, you’re probably tired.” I’m not, actually. I’m used to being up this late. But thanks for being considerate. Plus, you need to get some sleep too. It seems you haven’t been getting much. The entrance is just like in the show. It’s literally a photo copy. Hah, photocopy. Get the machine ready!!! But seriously, it’s identical. “The guest rooms are this way. Follow me.” Up the stairs? Yeah, up the stairs. Okay… Oh, that’s not too hard to remember. “This is it. I’ll leave you to some privacy. Call me if you need anything. Goodnight!” Okay, bye. This room feels a bit generic. A small bed, a window, a mirror… A mirror! I can finally know what I look like! Great! Now, remember how to walk… Yes! I… I look like… Me. Kind of. A bit. The hair, sorry mane, is exactly the same colour as what I had. The coat, it’s a less saturated version of that colour, maybe a bit lighter. Wings… I just need to get them open again… The wings are different shades of red compared to the rest of the body, but they’re still dark red. The outside seems darker than the inside. They really look like bat wings. I have slitted eyes, pretty cool. They’re the exact same colour as before. I basically look like myself as a pony. So the others would probably look like them but ponies too. Bonnie would be still be purple, Chica still yellow and so on. I bet they’ll be super confused when they wake up. They don’t know as much about ponies, so they’ll panic. Probably a lot more than I did. Unless they’ve already woken up. That’ll have probably surprised Nurse Redheart a lot. A bunch of foals waking up, seeing themselves and screaming their heads off! … Wait. Why weren’t we in the same room? It would make sense to put similarly afflicted patients in the same room, and it’s not like there wasn’t enough room. And wouldn’t she have mentioned something about them when performing my check? Twilight didn’t mention anyone else when explain what happened… They weren’t with me. Okay, let’s be logical. They might have appeared somewhere else. That’s not too illogical. In Equestria, a huge country that covers most of a continent. They could be about anywhere, including the middle of the desert. In a body they don’t know how to use. With no chance of knowing where they are, and where the others are. And who said they had to be in Equestria, there’s a whole planet worth of land. A planet populated by millions, if not billions. No, don’t think like that, they might be nearby. Or they might be stranded alone in the middle of a forest on the other side of the world. Stop thinking that, be positive. But… Who said they had to be on this planet. If this fictional world is real, then who said others aren’t? Maybe every fictional world exists. And there are nearly infinite different worlds, if every fictional world is real. And if that world exists, it probably also has fictional worlds made up. Which are probably also real… And they’re in one of them, with infinite other people. I’ll never see them again, will I? I’m alone. Forever. Author's Note I finally finished! Yay! this chapter did not want to write itself. I'm just glad I finally got it out. (Also, can someone tell me how to upload images? I don't know how to )
PrologueI’m bored. There’s nothing to do here anymore. At first I could explore the place, but now that the novelty has worn off and I’ve explored the entire place I’m bored. Again. The others are busy doing something and clearly don’t feel like talking. Well, except Goldie. But he’s been a bit distant lately. It’s something about the newest guard. I would try to find out what it was, if he didn’t make it clear to NOT do so. I can’t even spy on the guard to find out; tonight’s Night Seven. I really hate not having a physical body. I can’t even draw. Right now I would do anything for a laptop I could animate on. Or a piece of paper and a pencil to draw on. I have so many ideas and yet I can’t do anything with them. It’s just frustrating. I can’t believe Mari managed to handle not having a body for so long. I’m dying of boredom. If I could die again. Which I highly doubt is possible. Mari has been a bit distant lately. I’m not surprised. She hates him more than we do. I do. She was his first victim. That monster seems intent on killing. Which makes it weird that he seemed to not want to kill the guard. I saw the way he looked at him. I’m not sure what it is. Too bad I won’t be able to find out. They never come back after one week, even if they do survive. And that guy was terrified. Like, more than the average guard. But it didn’t seem that the actual monster was scaring him, more like the knowledge of something. I saw the look in his eyes, he was determined. Determined to do something. I’m not even sure why he came. Like, come on, it’s a HORROR ATTRACTION, the clue is in the name. Even if the place isn’t actually haunted, being ALONE and IN THE DARK is still quite scary. Though he must know about the rumours around this place if he decided to work here. But he probably dismissed them as rumours. Because ghosts aren’t real. Usually. I wonder if he knows about what I know. I have been spying on him. Hey, I was bored, and I’m not scaring the guard again! Well, it was fun at first, but then we started… It's not right. What we did is wrong. I might've been innocent while I was alive, but that innocence is long gone. I'm guilty. The others try to tell me it's not my fault, but lies cannot fix a situation they created. Who's to blame, if it's not me? they all had family, friends, maybe even kid of their own. I made children become orphans; I made wives become widows. I spilt so much blood. They'll hate me for all eternity, and this is my punishment. I was up on the ceiling, spying on him. He probably spotted me, and just chose to ignore me- Wait, what’s the noise! It’s not the others, as the lack of physical bodies ENSURES we can’t make any noise. And I doubt he would be up walking around. We made sure that it was painful for him to move. Well, the original plan was to kill him to set ourselves free. But of course he couldn’t make it that easy. Even after we cornered him and crushed his puny little body, juicing all the blood from him, tearing apart his guts so they spilt all over the ground… He couldn’t just die and let our misery be over. Why should he? Of course he stayed alive somehow. If we can’t be free, then he should at least feel the pain we felt for all those years. The others didn’t hear it. They’re not here. It’s… It’s the guard. The latest one. He’s walking around, wary of something, of us. He’s…pouring something all over the floor. Gasoline. He’s not going to, is he? The others are here, even Mari. He even pours some gasoline into his room, though by how quickly he left it’s clear he doesn’t trust that thing. We’re all watching him, hiding in the shadows just out of view. He knows we’re here anyway. He can feel us. I can see it. The whole place is coated in gasoline. It seems to happen in slow motion. He takes out the box of matches. He lights one. Right now he’s just standing there, looking at the tiny flickering flame. He’s thinking. Will he do it? Wait… He’s in the heart of the building!! If he light’s the place, he won’t be able to get out!!! HE CAN’T DIE!!! “I’m here.” He’s… talking? “I came back. I know I shouldn’t have come back here. I know you told me not to. I’m sorry for disobeying you. I know the truth. I’ve been doing my research. I looked through each newspaper clipping thousands of times. I listened to each recording until I could recite them word for word. I learned. It hurt. I didn’t want to believe it, but it made sense. I found out so many things about you. I learned about you like I’d never before. About all your little quirks. About all your fears. I found your co-workers. The ones that survived. I tracked them down with only scraps of incomplete information. At first they welcomed me. Yet as soon as I mentioned that place they reacted violently. They were terrified. I had to force it out of them. They were wrecks by the end, but I got what I wanted. I feel bad for it. I hope they understand why I did it. I hope they forgive me. I hope they find out what I did. I hope they understand it. I understand what happen. It hurts. The truth, the loneliness. I’m all alone. I hope you can forgive me for this. But please, know that I’m only doing this for your freedom. So we can be together. I also want to apologise. I was horrid. I shouldn’t have done what I did. If only… I wish I could go back in time. I wish I could fix all of this. I wish we could be all together again, happy. I wish everything turned out differently.” He’s crying. On his knees, sobbing. I see the terrified kid inside of him. I wanna help him, comfort him… Why are you guys holding me back! Why are you stopping me! He needs comfort! “I… I…” “I’m sorry” The match drops. Flames explode everywhere, engulfing the building in their glow. Somehow, I can feel it. I can feel their heat even if I shouldn’t. I feel my tears, real tears, flowing down my cheek. I walk up to the burning carcass ahead of me. I comfort him. Not the body, but the ghost. At first, he seems oblivious to me, sobbing away his worries. Then, he jumps back at the sight of me, fear radiating off him. Then a stifled scream as he sees his own, lifeless husk. “Thank you” I whisper, a small smile forming through my tears. I offer him my hand. Uncertainty flickers in his ghostly eyes. Then he accepts it, unsure but curious. The others come closer. He still seems terrified. I don’t blame him. He just died, saw his own body and was comforted by a ghost that earlier tried to kill him. At least, that’s how he sees it. “We are finally free” mutters Mari, the mask that covered her face gone. For the first time I see the face of a pale girl with ink black hair. She giggles. She giggled! “In a fire. Are we clairvoyant or something?” jokes Bonnie. Fire. Oh, ‘Die in a Fire.’ Wow. That’s, oddly prophetic. “What… what’s going on?” I turn back to our newest guest. I kinda forgot about him in the heat of the moment. Huh, HEAT of the moment. “We’re free. You just set us free. We can finally leave this place after all these years. We can move on.” Mari explains. I stay silent. Mari is a lot better at all of this than I am. I just start to fly up. Then, as the final test of our freedom, I soar through the roof. I… I left the place! The walls didn’t stop me! I’m free. I wait for the others. They all come, all except Goldie. Goldie just stand there. “Aren’t you coming?” I ask. “What about him?” he asks. “Probably hasn’t even realised that the place is on fire. Oh wait, he must have. I forgot he still feels pain. He’s probably in agony now. I vote we leave him.” I state. I don’t want him to be free. He should go rot in the eternal flames of hell, his body burning to ash, yet not being destroyed. An endless suffering for what he made us, innocent children, go through. “We can’t. It’s not fair for him. He suffered enough. It would be wrong for us to just leave him.” “You wanna know what’s not fair? It’s not fair that OUR WHOLE LIVES WERE TAKEN AWAY BY A PSYCOPATH!!” He stares at me, stunned. Everyone knows that I’m emotionally unstable, but I don’t often snap like that. Goldie is the one person that understands me. It feels wrong for me to argue. But anger wins out over friendship. “HE DESERVES EVERYTHING WE DID TO HIM, IF NOT MORE! HE LAUGHED WHILE WE SCREAMED FROM AGONY!! HE LIED TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT WHILE WE WERE BEING TORTURED BY THE SIGHTS OF OUR OWN FUNERALS!!! I DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR DOING THIS TO HIM JUST LIKEHE DOESN’T FEEL SORRY FOR OUR DEATHS!!!!!” I stare at him, my fury drilling into him. He just stares at me. Then he turns round, and returns back for him. I just… I… I float past my audience, still shocked by my outburst. I snap away from the hands that seek to comfort me. I don’t need them… The night sky wraps around me like a cool blanket, its temperature non-existent. A light breeze blows through me. I don’t want to look back. I don’t need a final glance at Earth. I don’t want it. I don’t want to see the town in which I grew up in, in which I died. I don’t want to see the remains of my prison. I don’t want to see the flames that saved me. I have nothing. No-one will miss me. To them I’ve been dead for decades, just like I should have. My grave still lies empty. It will lie empty. I wonder if they’ll ever find my body. I wonder if they ever take down the old place to build something else. I wonder how they’ll react. It will seem like an unmarked area of ground, but when dug up it’ll reveal a mass grave for children. I wonder if they’ll realise that that’s us. I guess they’ll finally find his body. I bet that’ll be shocking. I can already see the headlines- MAN MISSING FOR DECADES FOUND DEAD IN LOCAL HORROR ATTRACTION. I doubt that they’ll put two and two together and realise the truth. I guess I’ll never know. Still if they do it will mean tha- Confusion. I’m somewhere. I… feel… weird. What’s going on? “Oh sweet Celestia! There’s a filly!!” Everything hurts. I don’t wanna wake up. I wanna fade away. “She’s injured! Quick, help me with her!” Why does everything hurt? … Why can I feel pain? I can’t feel pain. I need a body to do that. “Please say she’s okay. We need to get her somewhere stable!” Yes, this is all just a nightmare. I’ll wake up soon enough… “Does she have a pulse! Check her pulse!" Oh wait. I can’t dream. Author's Note Hi guys! this is my first fic. Constructive criticism is welcome. Also, can anyone guess who our protagonist is? The clues are there. They're subtle, veeerrrryyyyy subtle, but there. Good luck. Bonus points if you can name who the guard is!!
Chapter 1*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* What’s going on? *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Where am I? *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* WHAT’S THAT FUCKING NOISE?!?! *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Ugh, my head hurts, my heart is thumping like a drum and I haven’t got the faintest clue where I am. Just great. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* For all I know I might be in a secret cellar of some messed up paedophile. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Or a torture chamber of some sicko trying to annoy me to death with that fucking beeping! *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Wait! My head hurts. MY HEAD HURTS! Why does it hurt? It can’t hurt! I don’t feel pain! I don’t have a head! Except the one that’s buried underground, or my animatronic head… That’s not the point! *BeepBeepBeep* And how can my heart pump like a drum, if I haven’t got one!?! Both physically, and mentally. I’m heartless! *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP* And is that my heartbeat?!? I can’t have heartbeat. That suggests… That means… I’m… Am I alive? *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* No. I can’t be alive. I died decades ago. There’s no way that can be my heartbeat. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Yeah. That’s not my heartbeat. It’s someone else’s. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* It’s just a coincidence that it started to beat faster when I panicked. Because I’m not alive. Yeah. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* And I didn’t really feel pain. No, that’s just me imagining it. My brain thinks I should feel pain, so it inserts it on its own. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* I mean, it’s not the first time my brain tricked me. I never really felt the pain of my death during all those lonely nights. I never really re-watched myself do that. I never really saw the night guards as him. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* They were just hallucinations. Yeah. This is just a prank Goldie and Bon-Bon are playing on me. They’ll come out soon and we’ll all laugh together. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Any second now… *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* "Patient 13’s heartbeat just spiked. She should be just waking up” "Will she be okay?” “I think so. She didn’t seem to have any physical injuries.” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Or they might just continue it. That works too. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* "Physical injuries? Do you mean…” “I’m worried her psyche might be damaged. Her body seemed to struggle with basic functions like breathing. Because of the lack of any noticeable injuries on her body that can be the cause of this reaction, which means that this might be because of something that happened to her mind.” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* "Oh. And I’m guessing that the lack of any health records isn’t helping.” “No health records, no birth certificates, nothing. We even sent out some letters to neighbouring towns to find something. It’s like she just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Ha ha ha. So funny guys. Come on. Cut the prank already. This is getting old. Oh, a door opening. Let me guess. You guys are gonna make me open my eyes, and something will jump out at me, screeching. You guys know this doesn’t work on me. We do the scaring. I’m not scared. You know what; I’m not gonna open my eyes. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “Hello?” *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Nope. I’m not going to fall for this. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “Are you awake?” Still not falling for this. I can just lay here all day with my eyes closed. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “I know you’re awake” … I’m bored. Let’s get this over and done with. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* “Please- Argh! Why is the light so fricking bright! God fricking dammit! “Are you okay?” Maybe not so fast. Slowly does it… Oh, so the walls are white too. No wonder it’s so bright. “Miss?” What? Just, what? Why. Is there. A fucking pony! NEXT TO ME?!?! “Are you alright?” No, No, NO! This isn’t right! Ponies don’t exist. CARTOON ponies don’t exist! “Is something wrong?” How can they know I watched that show?! I never told them! How can they know I like this show?! “I think she might have just gone into shock?” How did they find out?! More exactly, how did they find out this EXACT character exists?! “From what?” Nurse Redheart isn’t a main character! She’s not even a very popular background pony! She’s in hardly any episodes. How. Can. They. Know? “Many ponies are afraid of hospitals, especially foals. Maybe she’s just afraid. Or she didn’t expect to be here.” This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. “That’s not actually too unreasonable.” No. The fire… No. I didn’t. Reality doesn’t work that way. Huh. Ha. Ha Ha. Ha ha ha! An undead ghost saying that reality doesn’t work that way. Who says how reality works? No- one really knows what happens after death. Going to a different dimension isn’t any more unreasonable than going to heaven. It’s actually scientifically more reasonable. But what does scientific probability really mean? I mean, according to science there’s no ghosts. Who knows, maybe reality is nothing more than an illusion, the universe only a hologram. Maybe buying gold can save your life. Ha ha. Who knows? “Still, let’s hope she doesn’t really fall into shock. She might be our only source of information for a while. Plus, we don’t know how her parents would react.” Oh god. There are people in the room with me. Ponies. Whatever. “If we can even find her parents, that is.” How long have they been here? What have they been talking about? Did they talk to me? God dammit! They probably think I’m retarded. How long did I just stare off into space? Why do I always do that? “Umm” Oh god, is that my voice? I haven’t talked in a long time. Well, not really if you count me using my voice box. Or talking as a ghost… Focus! “Oh, you’re alright! Thank Celestia, I was starting to wonder if I missed something during my examination.” Missed something? Are you implying I have brain damage? I do not have brain damage! I’d be very surprised if I had brain damage, considering I didn’t have a body until… When did I appear here? “Uhh” Goddammit. Talking with a living body is a lot harder than I remembered. “Don’t worry if you find it hard to talk properly; we didn’t know if you were in pain, so we administered some painkillers. It should become easier to speak soon.” Painkillers? Yeah, I doubt that’s the only reason. Still, at least it will help me blend in. “H-How long have I-I been o-out?” For fuck’s sake, why am I stuttering like I’m terrified. I’m not scared. I’ve died. This is a fricking piece of cake. I’m literally talking to ponies from a kids cartoon. “You came in yesterday morning.” There’s someone else here. … No duh, Nurse Redheart wouldn’t be talking to herself. She’s sane. Just because I talk to myself doesn’t mean everyone does. Everypony. Whatever. “You were found on the outskirts of Ponyville. Ponies went out to do their daily morning business, and they found you passed out on the road. You were carried to my castle until Nurse Redheart and the other doctors came to transport you to the hospital.” Castle. Ponyville. Of course. It’s not just any pony, it’s a fricking OP princess of friendship. It’s everyone’s favourite bookhorse, Twilight Sparkle. And of course she waited outside to find out if I’m okay. I’m actually surprised the other Mane 6 aren’t here. “The others were worried about you too, but they had to leave. I’ll go tell them. They should come here soon.” See? They’re coming to visit a random filly in hospital that they found out in the street. “Ahem, yes Miss Twilight. But can the visits wait for a bit? I would like to perform some basic health check-ups.” Wow. She’s got nerve. She just told a fricking demigod that. That just there was basically a polite way of saying ‘Get the fuck out’. Geez. “Oh! Erm, yes, sorry. I’ll leave now.” But let’s remember that we’re talking about Twilight. “Thank you. Now, would you mind doing a few things for me?” What do you want Twilight to do now? Wait, that was for me. Concentrate! “Yes, I mean no, I mean…” Why can I never concentrate? “Don’t worry, I understand.” Thank God you do, because I honestly don’t. “Now, could you just lift your right hoof? Don’t worry if it’s a bit difficult, you might still be under the painkiller.” Hoof? Oh, of course, I’m a pony. Why would I not be a pony? It would actually be weirder if I wasn’t a pony. In fact I shouldn’t be surprised. I should have realised this earlier. Instead of panicking like a little kid I should have checked myself. Now, I’m going to be checked by a doctor that is contemplating if I have brain damage if my body works fine. I don’t even know if I’m an earth pony, a unicorn or a pegasus. This is gonna be a long day.
Chapter 2“Let’s sit you up; I don’t really want to do your examination while you’re lying down.” Sit me up? How do I sit? Like a dog? It would make sense considering the situation. But how do I get up? How do I get my legs in that position; my knees could now bend backwards. Do they bend backwards? I don’t know! “Slowly does it… Be careful with that leg… Here you go!” Wow. Backward knees feel weird. And so does the position. And everything is so furry! I mean, I’m used to having fur, but I never actually felt it! I’m so glad I’ve got the painkiller excuse, because I have no idea what I look like right now. And I’m probably acting very stiff, like I don’t know my own body. Which I don’t, but it’s better if they don’t know that. “Let’s start with the right hoof; I want to know if it works correctly.” Right hoof. Okay, up, slowly, careful… Done! Huh, it’s not too different from lifting an arm. It’s just an arm without fingers. No problem! I’m used to not having fingers in my right arm. But the left might be a bit of an issue… “Great! Now the left!” Welp, here goes nothing! Huh, not having fingers feels awkward. Like really awkward. It’s just an empty nothing. Kind of like my life. Ha, ha. “Great! Now, I know your hind legs work fine, that’s actually why I asked you to sit up. Your eyes seem fine, so do your ears… Well, the only thing left to check are your wings. I’ll… go find someone to do it I personally don’t know much about wings.” Wings! YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! I’m officially a pegasus! Yay! I mean, logically it makes sense. Pegasi are usually (but not always) faster and more aggressive than the other races. Ask any night-guard (if you can find one that’s still alive, that is), and they’ll always describe me as that. Or they might call me ‘That fucking fox that runs down the hallway.’ That works too. I’ll be able to fly! It will be so exhilarating, to soar through the clouds on my own, finally free from pain. That is, when I learn to fly. Hopefully it’s not too hard. Still, I’m a long way off; I don’t even know how to open my wings. Huh, they’ll probably want me to open then them for the examination. Considering most pegasi learn to fly from birth, it will be strange if I can’t open them. In fact, most pegasi would be able to open their wings regardless of any painkillers. After all, they are their key body parts. Wings are important to them. This in turn means I should open them now so they don’t see me struggle to open them. Okay… Note to self, wings are weird. They’re so light, and the way they fold is nothing like anything else. While the lack of fingers means I was trying to operate nerves I don’t have, using a body part you didn’t previously own is like trying to defuse a bomb, in the dark when you can’t feel anything through your fingers. Not easy. Someone’s coming. Somepony. God dammit, why does it have to be pony? What if it’s a dragon? Or a griffon? Or anything else that’s not a pony? Would you say somedragon or somegriffon? No, that sounds wrong and strange. Plus, the whole point of the word someone is to describe a person you don’t know. It’s actually quite racist if you assume it’s a pony. It’s like assuming that someone is white just from some incomplete information… Aaaaannnnnnnnddddddd I lost my focus again, didn’t I? Goddammit. “Here is the patient.” Oh, great, Nurse Redheart came back. And she seems to have found someone to examine my wings. Huh, I don’t recognise him. But that’s not too concerning if you consider how little time we spend in Ponyville Hospital. Actually, it would be more concerning, because that would mean our heroines spend a lot of time in hospital. Not a good message for the kids. He’s staring at me. Why is he staring at me? He’s a doctor, so he should be able to not stare at his patients. Did he not expect a filly? Or maybe he heard about how I got into hospital and is curious? “Oh, yes, where was I?” Wow, took him long enough to realise he was being rude. And that’s only after Nurse Redheart elbowed him. Is it called elbowing? Do horses even have elbows? “Dr Lector, could you please start your examination?” “Oh, yes, right. Hmm…” Oh god that guy’s creepy. I mean, I know he needs to actually touch my wings to see if they’re okay, but couldn’t he just me that he’s starting instead of just touching me without any warning. And the fact he’s the stereotypical tall (is this even tall for a pony? I dunno), slender doctor in a lab coat is not helping. “Hmm… Yes… Interesting… Well, it seems that they’re alright. I’m not sure; I never actually encountered these kinds of wings, so I haven’t got any experience with them. I wonder if-“ “No, Doctor. I don’t think our patient would be alright with you doing some experiments on her. She’s not one of your guinea pigs” “Okay, okay. But it was worth a shot. Which reminds me, nurse would you-“ “No, Doctor, I do not wish to go anywhere after my shift. I have other plans. I would also like to remind you that you have a wife at home” “Fine, I understand, you’re not in the mood. I’ll try some other time.” Did he just- Creep! Wow, how did he get employed? How did he even get a medical degree? I’m so glad he left, I don’t want him to stare at me like a rat he was about to dissect. “Creep” Exactly! “I’m glad he doesn’t come here often, he might be good at teaching medical students, but he’s not a good doctor.” Well, that explains my questions. “Still, with that all out of the way, we can continue to the next point.” Next point? I don’t remember you mentioning anything like that. “What’s your name? We don’t have any records about you, and this is needed for the paperwork.” Name? What should I call myself? Most pony names match their character! What name describes me! Fuck, I should have thought of this earlier! “It’s… It’s Night Bite.” Night Bite? Really? Why did I say that? I mean, it’s fitting and it sounds like a pony name, but… It’s a bit too on the nose. Well, too bad, because I’m stuck with it. Why didn’t I just say my name? It would fit in just fine! “Night Bite? That’s… fitting.” That’s the whole point! Wait, how do you know it’s fitting? It’s not like you know my past. You said you had no idea where I came from. Nothing I’ve done so far points to the truth. Nothing. And I doubt they’d even have a remotely similar situation. It’s fricking Equestria. “Well, I’ll go finish the paperwork. Call me if you need everything.” Wait, come back! How do you know that my name fits me? I have questions! Please! “So, um, your name is Night Bite, right? Nurse Redheart told me.” Twilight, I know you’re trying to be friendly, but it’s not helping. “Yes.” “It seems fitting.” You too? Seriously, is there something about me I don’t know about? Just let me leave this hospital and try to find out what the fuck happened to get me here. “I was going to ask you; do you have anywhere to stay? Because if you don’t, I’ve got waaay too many spare rooms back in my castle, so you could… You know, stay there for a while.” Wait, what? Did you just ask me to stay in your house? You don’t know who I am, and yet you not only wait to see if I’m ok, but you also invite me to stay with you? “Um…” “I understand if you’re shy, one of my best friends is really shy too. I just want to make sure you’re ok. I mean, it wouldn’t be ok for somepony that just left the hospital to have to worry about where to stay. Especially a foal.” I, uh… No, staying with her meant she would learn more about me… But I could have somewhere proper to stay. And food. And I would be sitting in a huge information source… But my identity… “I… I would be happy to stay with you.” I feel like I’m gonna regret it, but YOLO. You only live once. Unless you’re me, then, well… Wow, how long can the corridors be in this place? I feel like we’ve been walking forever. Well, I might as well try to get some answers to my questions. Um… Twilight?” “Yes?” “During my examination, Nurse Redheart asked for someone else to examine my wings, as she said she had no experience with wings. When he came into the room, he acted strange. At first he seemed surprised, almost afraid, to see me. And then later he said he never encountered wings like mine, even though he’s a wing expert.” “Oh, really? Well, that’s not too surprising. Thestrals are a very rare race. That combined with their nocturnal lifestyle means most ponies never meet a thestral.” Wait, wait, wait! A THESTRAL? “Thestral?” “More commonly known as Bat ponies, even though that is completely false. There’s a huge difference between the fictional Bat ponies and real thestrals. The doctor that you mentioned probably never really saw a thestral, and probably though you were blood-thirsty like those mythical Bat ponies.” ”Oh, um, that makes sense.” So I’m a thestral? The way Twilight said it, it seems like it. Okay, Stay Calm, Stay Calm. I can panic when I’m somewhere private. Yeah, I’ll go full out when I’m alone. That seems like a plan. All I need to do is get there. And I bet it’ll go perfectly. Not. Author's Note Yay, I did some more work!!! I just wanted to say that because of school I might not be able to get out as many chapters. Also, Who can spot the references? I have created an image of how Night Bite looks like, I have it open right now. I might just wait till next chapter, where I'll have a whole scene dedicated to Nighty's ( what, she needs a nickname) appearance.
Chapter 3Twilight forgot to mention it was night-time. It’s actually pretty stunning to hear the crisp silence of night hover around me. The moon whispered gently through a few stray clouds that hung around. Judging from its position it’s about midnight. Back home there would still be a lot more noise. Some late night cars, some rubbish in the wind, drunken people wasting their time. Those were common actually; some even tried to break in. Hah, they didn’t know what they were doing. If they did they wouldn’t have. The adults normally know to stay from our place. Knew. The streetlights are different here too. Instead of that glaring orange bulb it’s a warm candle flame. It’s also a lot fainter. I guess if they don’t have cars they don’t really need to see too much detail. And thanks to it you can see all the stars perfectly. I may have spent a lot of time staring out of a window, but I haven’t seen stars for years. They’re… A lot more beautiful than I remembered. I’m still in shock over all of this. I’m walking. Sure, the rhythm is completely different and it feels strange too but I’m walking. I feel the pressure my legs exert onto the ground and I feel the pressure the ground exerts back. I feel each breath I take of the night air, how it enters my lungs. How it is carried into the bloodstream. I feel it being pumped in my heart all around my body, and then pumped back out. It’s unbelievable. “We’re here.” Wow, I really started to ramble on for a bit. I probably would’ve walked right into a wall if Twilight hadn’t have stopped me. Wow, the castle looks stunning at night. But that might just be my nostalgia glasses. “It’s… Nice.” Bit of an understatement. “It actually pretty unnecessary. And big. And unnecessarily big.” Typical Twilight behaviour. Most little girls dream of being a princess with their own castle yet when she gets it she only complains. Though she did lose her old home, along with most of her personal belongings, keepsakes and probably a lot of family photos… Okay that’s understandable. “Well, at least it’s a place to stay. And it has a lot more room for book storage.” Oh Twilight. It’s always books. “Come on in. It’s pretty late, you’re probably tired.” I’m not, actually. I’m used to being up this late. But thanks for being considerate. Plus, you need to get some sleep too. It seems you haven’t been getting much. The entrance is just like in the show. It’s literally a photo copy. Hah, photocopy. Get the machine ready!!! But seriously, it’s identical. “The guest rooms are this way. Follow me.” Up the stairs? Yeah, up the stairs. Okay… Oh, that’s not too hard to remember. “This is it. I’ll leave you to some privacy. Call me if you need anything. Goodnight!” Okay, bye. This room feels a bit generic. A small bed, a window, a mirror… A mirror! I can finally know what I look like! Great! Now, remember how to walk… Yes! I… I look like… Me. Kind of. A bit. The hair, sorry mane, is exactly the same colour as what I had. The coat, it’s a less saturated version of that colour, maybe a bit lighter. Wings… I just need to get them open again… The wings are different shades of red compared to the rest of the body, but they’re still dark red. The outside seems darker than the inside. They really look like bat wings. I have slitted eyes, pretty cool. They’re the exact same colour as before. I basically look like myself as a pony. So the others would probably look like them but ponies too. Bonnie would be still be purple, Chica still yellow and so on. I bet they’ll be super confused when they wake up. They don’t know as much about ponies, so they’ll panic. Probably a lot more than I did. Unless they’ve already woken up. That’ll have probably surprised Nurse Redheart a lot. A bunch of foals waking up, seeing themselves and screaming their heads off! … Wait. Why weren’t we in the same room? It would make sense to put similarly afflicted patients in the same room, and it’s not like there wasn’t enough room. And wouldn’t she have mentioned something about them when performing my check? Twilight didn’t mention anyone else when explain what happened… They weren’t with me. Okay, let’s be logical. They might have appeared somewhere else. That’s not too illogical. In Equestria, a huge country that covers most of a continent. They could be about anywhere, including the middle of the desert. In a body they don’t know how to use. With no chance of knowing where they are, and where the others are. And who said they had to be in Equestria, there’s a whole planet worth of land. A planet populated by millions, if not billions. No, don’t think like that, they might be nearby. Or they might be stranded alone in the middle of a forest on the other side of the world. Stop thinking that, be positive. But… Who said they had to be on this planet. If this fictional world is real, then who said others aren’t? Maybe every fictional world exists. And there are nearly infinite different worlds, if every fictional world is real. And if that world exists, it probably also has fictional worlds made up. Which are probably also real… And they’re in one of them, with infinite other people. I’ll never see them again, will I? I’m alone. Forever. Author's Note I finally finished! Yay! this chapter did not want to write itself. I'm just glad I finally got it out. (Also, can someone tell me how to upload images? I don't know how to )
