Losing it. Third draft

"It takes but one bad apple to rot the entire crop." -Pony proverb, sometime before the end of the first great war.

"Betrayal is the worst of crimes. -Gryphon belief.

It had been a month since Mark had gone missing. He knew this, and he knew that he should be worried.

This was Seth.

and Seth could dream.

and Seth dreamed.

Seth was staring off into the stars. Beside him was a purple dragoness with scales that seemed to be carved out of the night sky, one that he knew far better than he thought that he should. He was wearing a crown ornately laid with gems, perfection glittering near. Next to her was a creature he knew merely in myth, and more importantly, as a shade. A large, immense gryphon, covered in shadows. He had a dagger clutched in his hands.

"Traitor..." He whispered from lips that were not his own. In fact, he didn't even have lips.

He didn't even have lips.

"I am no more of a traitor than you are..." Said the gryphon. And he knew who he was, but his name was as much of a shade as he was. His colors were undefined, but he knew that they belonged in the part of his mind that all things he knew were at.

He was large and smelled like blood. Seth knew that he should remember something, anything at all, something important, something digging at his mind, something was guiding what was happening, he should be able to remember it!

But he couldn't remember.

To his growing frustration.

"You ruined everything..." Rumbled the dragon. Her tail flicked lazily. Her name was Lapis.

Seth didn't know how he knew that, and he didn't question it. He thought she had beautiful scales... but knew she had a selfish heart.

Seth himself had a rather boring life. He went to the same college as Mark had, and had medium grades. Not near the top of the class, but oh so certainly not near the bottom of the class. He wore grey shirts, without any emblems or insignias on them. Not because he believed that wearing advertising wasn't that good of an idea to his ideas in an era of growing conformity, but more so that he would blend in.

Seth was mediocre and boring.

Except in his dreams.

"You ruined everything." He accused the shadowy gryphon, stalking over to him. He was bigger than he was when he wasn't dreaming.

This made Seth feel special. He was glad to feel special.

He had a spear in his hands, and he threatened the shadowy menace with it, curiously making the gryphon back up. "We'll be dead soon."

That was Seth speaking. They would be dead soon. It was a simple saying.

Then Seth motioned at the impossibly white area they were standing in. "This is impossible. We shouldn't even have lived this long."

Then the shadowy gryphon spoke, with a voice that was a shattered mirror. "Good night, Seth."

The dragoness turned away and walked off of the land and into the white. Then she disappeared. Seth never saw her again.

Then the Seth abandoned the gryphon. "Welcome to Hell, Valder." He spat, then walked off into the white.

Then Seth slept without dreaming.

I blinked at the sudden expression of shock that slid over the cyan pony, er, pegasus's face. Was there something on me?

She wrinkled her nose and gave an odd, casual sniff, before turning to look at the yellow pegasus. "Oh, will you relax, 'shy?"

'Shy turned to look at me with all the spine of a rubber band. I valued her just as much in that single moment, my tail flicking in the light wind whistling through the trees. Gentle autumn leaves, a breeze like none other.

It felt fantastic against me, and I almost zoned out before the other pony responded.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot. "A-are you sure? Um... I mean... It's been such a long time since I've seen a griffon..."

"I assure you, I am quite dangerous." I paused. "That is, not dangerous at all." I shot her my most winning grin, hoping my almost terrifying disregard for her didn't show through my eyes.

She recoiled, the pathetic yellow pony almost falling flat on her rump. "U-um..."

Dash rolled her eyes and shot me a glare. "I swear, griffons. tend to get the most out of terrifying Shy." Her... magenta eyes bored into me for a moment before I met them with a bored look from whatever the hell color my eyes are.

I shrugged in reply. Let me tell you, the whole shrugging motion on a quadruped is awkward.

Shy remained sitting most absurdly, looking at me in terror. "Y-you're not going to eat me, are you?!" She said, the last word coming out in a shrill squeak that made me want to murder another small furry animal and eat it in front of her.

Woah. Kinda disturbing there, thoughts. You sure that's the sort of thing that you should be thinking at all?

Of course, my thoughts didn't reply to my query.

"Not unless there is nothing else for me to eat." I reply simply, almost disgusted by how good it feels to cow the pony even further.

And cow her I did. To my delight (and disgust, again) she hid herself behind her mane in a way that probably would've been adorable had I not suddenly had the idea that she would taste good raw.

Mmm... I was suddenly seized with the urge to eat the little pony, my eyes dilating, growing and shrinking and growing again.

Dash snapped me out of my thoughts with a glare. "Grrr... Pay attention!" She stamps her hooves on the ground in what I am sure is meant to be intimidation.

I'm sure that I'm supposed to be terrified, but I'm oddly not. Which is terrifying in all of itself, given the urges I had to find something else to eat, despite already having eaten. It's an odd itch in my brain, like I needed to run around really fast without any rhyme or reason, to tear after something and chase it down, sinking beak and talon into it until the blood ran out from it.

And I'm disgusted by the fact that just thinking about that is awe inspiring and terrifying.

So I backtrack. "Yeah, I'm paying attention." I muttered to her, like I was actually paying attention. I guess that would make that a lie.

I'm... not supposed to find the idea of murder exhilarating. That's a thing. That's... why in god's name is that a thing I should even be thinking about? Murder is a bad thing.

Murder is bad. God Mark, how the hell do you even forget about something like that?

"What exactly are you doing in the apple orchard?"

I took a step back. Dash was suddenly in my face, her muzzle almost shoved against my beak. "Right. I was... seeking settlement..."

She blinks once. "Liar."

"... I got lost." I admitted. It was some sort of a truth in the grand scheme of things, which was about all that mattered. My tail twitched in the slight breeze. I ruffled my wings, adjusting them so that the air could flow more pleasingly over them.

Magenta eyes narrowed dangerously, glaring at me, as if to try and dare me to lie to her. The stare continued on for a few seconds after I finished saying my words, before she turned away and looked at Shy.

"'Shy. He's hurt. Would you mind doing your weird animal thing and seeing if he's got an infection or something?"

Oh right. I do have a few open cuts. How marvelously complex am I that I forget that I am injured? "I was attacked by some... bats."

The shy pony stood up and slowly walked towards me, slow as if I were surrounded by endless landmines ready to explode. Then she was at my side. "Oh... fruit bats?"

Dash nodded over at the side, still looking at me suspiciously. "Apple Jack has been complaining about them..."

Shy gently touched a hoof to the top of my head, making a face. "Well mister griffon, I don't think you're infected..." Her voice had taken on a weird baby talk, like I was some sort of dumb animal. It was soothing, but it also made me want to punch her in the face. "But if you come by my cottage, I can run a few tests to make sure that those bats aren't rabid..."