7 Running

by Hey_Dusty

Rating: everyone
Tags: Tragedy, Discord, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Princess Luna, Thriller, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Other, Romance, Adventure
Length: 3309

While Discord foretells of a chaos like no other- one that even he can’t comprehend, the Mane 6 are forced to confront their deepest fears and secrets- but will helping them accept themselves unleash a monster unheard of for centuries?

Princess Celestia is plunged into a bout of insanity as a terrible omen awakens her darkest memories. With the Princess scared for the life of her kingdom- she warns the Mane 6 to protect their Elements and to guard against a monster that will devour Equestria- only no one knows what it looks like.
While Discord foretells of a chaos like no other- one that even he can’t comprehend, the Mane 6 are forced to confront their deepest fears and secrets- but will helping them accept themselves unleash a monster unheard of for centuries?

Published 2016-04-21 03:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-04-23 21:47:01 UTC

Chapter 1

The light meant nothing.

Yellow. Seeping through something, a profound glittering darkness encompassing this body I had.

My mind was not there anymore. The dread, the fear- that was my torso and heart, legs and lungs, succumbing to the numbness. My mind was shutting down, and it did nothing to fight it. The tingling, burning as I saw the light prickle my skin did nothing to my soul but brought tears to my eyes.

The tears were for nothing I knew of consciously.

It was strange. Encapsulated by darkness and light, tingling fire and calmness in my veins, I was separated from myself. I knew I was dreaming. Though I knew it I felt the hormones take control of my paralyzed state. I felt my physical body, but I was entangled in snares and darkness I did not comprehend. It was to be one of those dreams- where I know I’m there, I know what’s coming but I don’t want to believe it. It’s the dream that you only have once in a blue moon, and it haunts you all day- and even if it’s all your mind pumping out chemicals at its own expense, one can’t help but wonder- how did I know what I showed myself? My own mind makes me confront my fears, even if I know myself enough to know them not to come true.

I can’t wake up.

The glitter of light, trickling down... like water- how can it do that? I ask this but my body does not feel surprised. It feels nothing but an unfamiliar burning, etching in my skin as if I were canvas. I must move. I must wake up. The water- the light- opened up to sepia, gold, and green. I felt my dry eyes flutter, and the dampness of my mouth. How delicate is the body? I could trap myself in this forever because that’s what a dream can do. I can feel every muscle in my back, the tendons talking to each other as they themselves become too uncomfortable to be paralyzed.

I keep thinking too many things. The dream makes me think these things- so I won’t acknowledge the horror I know is coming. I feel my breath- so calm and gentle- why does it sound so beautiful? It cannot possibly be my own. The pause in my lungs is there, still, waiting. Do my lungs know I’m dreaming? My mind says no.

I feel the rush. Swirling clear and pristine the light transforms- the water... is falling towards me. I know it’s coming. My lungs start the slow heave to breathe in. The fear is there- but I can’t move. What is coming? Why does the light take its time to torture me?
A teardrop- so small. The fear is in my stomach- it clenches and I pray for movement. OH! Let me wake up. The teardrop glides, glistening and prismatic, right in front of me.

The silence in a dream is enough to kill.

The teardrop grows, and the colors of the rainbow swirl in, on by one. The colors dance and go faster, as agile little creatures within the teardrop. I hope I won’t remember this when I finally wake up. If I ever will.

My lungs won't breathe.

My mind screams for it all to stop but I don’t know why. I don’t know anything at this point, where I feel every vein scream for more passing blood. How preposterous that such a beautiful thing causes so much agitation to my unconscious. I feel childish; my regality has vanished along with the rest of my body.

Where's Luna?

She’s in a terrible amount of pain. I hear her heart beating in this vastness of the dream world, and I feel the tingling as the reverberations of the space around me prick my skin. My empire still brought me many mysteries, but this was unfathomable.

She hasn’t moved for a long while; I’ve tired out from worrying. How could you sleep inside a dream? This is unlike any dream I’ve had- and while I’ve dreamt for centuries at a time, I had never been or ever seen anybody asleep inside a dream.Even when you think you are asleep inside a dream , it's merely this world changing your reality over and over, and when you can finally wake up you'll never know the difference.

My magic did nothing for her. The air whirling around this prism of darkness chilled me to the bones, but it calmed when I quit trying to save my sister.

I hardly remember falling asleep- but this dream felt more real to me than ever. Every tingle, muscle and breath weighed in on me, and this world felt more surreal as time flew by.
My head was spinning- I could do nothing to wake my sister, and after all the time I remained in the moon, gazing at the expanse of the universe, the stars and heavens broadening out before me in glittering, shattering light and space that took my heart and flung it at the sun, I still found myself in awe of the beauty of life here.

I envied her. I had to live eons chasing my own nightmares, fighting demons that were never real. She lived, in mass admiration, and carried on with her life. That shadow that she cast on me has dissipated now- but I will never forget that epoch of my life, squirming, despite my paralyzed fear and the wretched feelings of loathing that emanated from my chest and throat.
The brightest ping and flash of light stings my eyes and I’m blasted away by a power that burns me as I land a few feet away.

She rises suddenly, gasping for air- the sharp intake of breath is a whistle so high in my ears, I feel the tick of my eardrum.I scream.She’s wide-eyed and crying desperately- I try to console her, but something is terribly wrong.

“Luna! Where are you?” I pat her softly and tell her she’s dreaming.

She keeps screaming on and on, but this is not my Celestia- she won’t listen to me. I feel her pounding heart as she writhes in pain. She flutters open her eyes, and they’re shot with a bright white and gray.

She’s blind.

I cup her face, looking into her eyes- they stare at me like a cement wall...The tears that came glistened those pearly eyes, and I found myself cradling her and hushing her. Her tears were the coldest thing I have ever felt in my life.
We were suddenly falling into the nothingness. With my face in her hair, the screams were muffled, and it all became a blur.
My brain squirming in its cradle, my body tingled with a mixture of exhilaration and fear.I heard my heartbeat in my ears sing and the pulse in my throat strangled me.

Both of us gasping for air, our falling bodies felt the dream envelope us, swallow us whole- and our screams ran away as the silence paralyzed us.

This nightmare will never end.

This continued for what felt like an eternity- and I should know what that feels like. Everything was in slow motion- I could feel my blood course through me, fanning out in the veins of my neck, legs, and wings. It was an airy feeling, and though I knew I was asleep I questioned whether this was really my death.

So many times I thought I could never die. I ran out of luck and away from the truth. How queer, that I could think for eternity in a dream but never do anything about it. I will probably forget all of this as soon as I wake up. It’s happened so many times...but what’s different about this dream? There was something, something bad…I need to remember. It’s important.Isn’t it?

Where am I?

Where’s Celestia?

Chapter 2-Scars

I wake up in a ball on the floor. It’s still dark outside- but it had felt as if I slept for too long. I stretch and try to wake up. There’s a tingling of fear still left behind, tracing itself from my heart to my stomach over and over. I feel sick to my stomach, although I know I’m not physically sick. The dream is stuck behind my eyeballs, etching into me and taunting me. I can feel that it’s not going to be a good day.

I look around me, and the stillness of the air and everything in the air captures me.

I get up to look in the mirror and I pat my eyes.

My eyes- I was crying? What was I dreaming about? I told myself to remember, I know that...But remember what? I sigh.

I lived in dreams for most of my life- and never once did I forget. That world was my reality.. And yet it seems it has forgotten me. More and more it seems like my dreams treat me like any other pony. I breath in deeply, trying to smell the air around me-the musk dew of the morning fills my nose. I notice my balcony window is wide open. The birds are singing outside.

Why is the sun not out?

A panging fear strikes my heart.

Where’s the sun?

I gather up my strength and I run to the balcony.The darkness pierces my eyes and I look towards the northern tower for Celestia.

She wasn't there, but I saw a small, flickering light shining in the window.

I leaped into the air, stretching the tendons in my wings, wincing as the muscles spasmed in shock.I soared over the balcony into her room, where i saw her standing still, petrified as she stared into a mirror. The light flowed from under her wing, consuming most of the back end of her body.

“Celestia, are you alright?What… What is that?” I heard the cracks and shakes in my voice, terror rising within me.

“I don’t know… It woke me up, I was shaking- Luna, I had the worst nightmare! I couldn’t find you anywhere, no matter how much I tried, I, I…"

That light- a swirling fever of bright colors, all of the rainbow, expands outward and throws me against the wall. I look up towards Celestia. Laying on the floor, she as the colors flowed and amassed her body in a bubble of light. The bubble rose, and with her eyes glowing with the torments of fire, her screams resound off the walls. The bubble dissipated with one final flash on light, dropping her to the floor.
I ran to her, yelling as I saw the puddle of blood that was covered in a grey film.

I looked at the source of trickling blood, nearly fainting from what I found.Her mark was gone- completely vanished, and in its place laid a scar that pruned the top of her hip down to her leg.

No.This can’t be happening.

My dreams that I woke from left me with a terrible sensation, however I feel like I never woke up. I lean over and inspect the wound. Although it was bleeding, the flesh looks as if it had been like this for ages. The scar ran deeply, the blood trickling on the very edges, however the scar itself did not bleed.

I hope she’ll wake up before anyone notices the sun isn’t there yet.I nudge Celestia, her heavy breathing assures me that she’s at least alive.

I look towards the bell tower right outside the balcony.

It's 8:47?

More than likely everypony’s already noticed by now...

She has to wake up.

I run towards the bedroom door, calling towards the guards. They run in, halting as they see their Princess laying on the floor.They look at me in utter bewilderment, and I can see what they assume happened.I flick my eyes into their skulls, using my magic to raise Celestia’s body and lay her into bed.The wound isn’t gushing anymore, and as I start to put some pressure on it, I yell at the guards to help.

What are they thinking?

There’s so much going on, I feel the numbness of my mind set in. The soreness of my body is overshadowed by crippling fear and the assumption that some true horror is coming.A thousand more years can pass by but my knowledge of magic will never excede my sister’s.Now that she needs me, who will be beside me?
“Listen to me, I don’t know what happened, but I need your help to keep this as quiet as possible. She needs to raise the sun before everyone in the kingdom starts to panic.I need a doctor, and I need both of you to remain in good faith.”

They avert their eyes, and I feel the tension building up in me. I know they think I did it, but I’m not who I used to be.

I didn’t do this...did I?

One of the guards runs outside, while the other starts cleaning Celestia’s wound.

My poor sister.I can see her white coat, and even in this immense darkness she glowed, purity flowing from her mane.I press my ear to her heart, her chest flaming my cheek. I felt an inkling of a sob come on, and I lay there with my eyes closed.

“You’ll be okay. I promise.”

I look at that scar. Why is her mark gone? The image was so eerie, just looking at the at the curvature of the little bumps, like a gravel road of flesh, made my stomach sink. I traced the end of my hoof along it, and the skin beneath spasmed and I jerked my foreleg back.

I sighed and nuzzled myself into her body.I can’t do anything for her, meanwhile I have a gut feeling there’s a lot more to this...I have no idea who or what did this.Did this have to do with that dream?

“Mmm, well looky here.All this chaos and I wasn't the one who caused it.”said an empty, familiar voice.With a gust of wind there was Discord standing in the balcony window, the silhouette of his monster figure outlined by moonlight .

I stand straight up and rear my body in front of the bed; my stomach heaved as I gathered my senses.

“What do you want?” I ask sneeringly.

“I came to see if my dream meant anything,” he strides over, very seriously, and with an air of melancholy looks at the scar on Celestia.

“Oh no, this is very bad...exactly what I was afraid of” He leans over and lays the back palm of his estranged hand on the wound.

“When did this happen?This morning?” He looks at me with the most somber, sad eyes.The pain I saw in them was nothing compared to the usual Discord.

“Yes-we had a dream...I woke up and saw the light, and as soon as I get here it was right where her mark was. It completely vanished after that light blasted me against the wall. Do you know what that scar is?”

“Unfortunately. I’d thought it’d never come back, but being an omnipotent immortal being should’ve taught me otherwise.Oh, Luna, it looks like I won’t be seeing you for a very, very long while. Don’t try to save me , and while I’m at it, I farewell you with a good omen.”He sways his hand towards the window, and the sun was there, as bright as ever. His voice lost grasp of the meaning of his words, and I see his eyes turn to stone. That sensation in my chest burns.

“ Don’t play tricks, Discord, “ I scoffed.

“No tricks. I possibly couldn’t stand it, not in the shape you two are in now. This is one of the worst things to happen, Luna, and you have no idea.”He looks toward the sun, squinting his eyes and sighing.I swear that I see a tear go across his cheek.

What is this?

“ Listen to me, Luna, we couldn’t have prevented this. When Princess Celestia wakes up both of you need to get out of the kingdom as soon as possible. I am not kidding, and there are no tricks, not from me, anyway. That sun and moon I threw on will do their business on their own as usual. Get Twilight and those sparkle friends to do your bidding, or whatever..”

“What is it? what could possibly be coming?”

“A monster” He whispers under his breath.

“In your eyes? You’re a monster too.”

“Yes, a monster!”He shouts at me”But then again, why should you be surprised? Can’t I say the same as you? All that whining about being sent to the moon, but nobody ever thought to ask anything else about this confounded place.Oh- Discord, how were you born with so many different animals?Oh-that’s right, none of you care! All this time you’ve had the chance to ask these questions Luna, and you didn’t. Depending on whether you’re sister makes it you’ll regret not asking her about the history of the kingdom while you were gone.”

He pauses for a long while, coming to Celestia and wincing when he sees the scar again.

“I will not go through this. Luna, you have to understand that what’s coming has more magic behind it than any of the many universes combined. There are many dark things in other worlds that have never managed to seep into this one, but because of this thing it has.There are words unheard of for this type of creature.”

“But what exactly is it?”

“Well, it’s hard to tell. I heard that the true name was a Pathmortium, but they usually have simple names like Cheryl, Richard, or Mother.”

“Mother?”

“Oh yes.I had a Mother. In fact, she was the last reigning Pathmortium. Right after you were sent to the moon as well. She was a wicked person, very hard to celebrate Mother’s Day with.”

“But what did she do? What makes this monster so bad?”

“ Other than using a pony’s weaknesses and secrets to destroy them from the inside, and unleash a power of divine cruelty and savagery upon the kingdom, she really never liked to cook.”

“And there’s more than one of these things? Why have I never heard of it?”

“ Oh, yes, there have been about five or six of them now, but they all end up killing themselves for the sake of the art of drama. Don’t look at me like that, Luna, I told you this thing has words unheard of in this virgin land of rainbows and sunshine and cute little monsters. There are dimensions of this universe that have many worse things in it than suicide- and the next Pathmortium will bring that and more. You’ve probably never heard of it because of the devastation it leaves behind. Depression can do harmful things, and after what Celestia did to her poor little Luna, oh! She couldn’t bear letting anypony going through that again.”
“But why would she….kill... herself? It seems rather odd, she wants to take us and make everypony monsters- to what? Rule the kingdom? Then she takes care of the dirty work, no punishment, prison, magic?”

“ Yes its very unusual.I don’t want to waste my breath any more, so I’ll see you within the next century or so.Tootleoo!” he vanishes in a puff of dark grey smoke.

“No, come back! How are we supposed to fight this thing? What about Celestia? You need to help me!”
Oh, no.

My eyes fill with tears as I lay back down with my sister. I’m still worthless here, but apparently we’re both going to be worthless if whatever put this scar on Celestia is coming. Did this have to do with my dream? I still can’t remember what happened...What am I doing here?
I need to get help.