A Few Good Ponies

Sunrise opened his eyes to find himself in a dark rocky void. The only thing he could make out was a glowing path beneath his hooves that ran out ahead of him before disappearing into the inky blackness. He slowly walked forward, his metal shoes making a series of soft clanks against the hard surface as he moved, echoing off of distant walls. It was the only sound to be heard as a deathly silence hung over the place, not even the reassuring whisper of a breeze made itself known.

"Am I dead?" He asked aloud to no one in particular.

"If only it were so easy." Replied an eerily familiar voice.

Moment later a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of him.  It revealed itself to be an orange coated unicorn stallion dressed from head to hoof in midnight black armor, a green glow emanating from his eyes. An ever present smile lit up his face.

"Who are you?" Sunrise asked, lighting his horn.

The strange unicorn lit his horn in response, the glowing aura mirroring the same orange glow as Sunrise's.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm you! Well, the real you that is. The one you've been trying your hardest to ignore."

"Lies." Sunrise hissed, stepping forward and lowering his horn aggressively.

"Are they?" Replied the other Sunrise, mirroring his stance. "Accept it. We are two halves of the same coin you and I. Without me you are nothing."

Sunrise lashed out with a spell which collided with an identical blast from the other Sunrise. They stood for several moments glaring at each other, an orange maelstrom lighting up the space between them. Soon though Sunrise's magic gained ground, powering toward his mirror image before colliding with him with a loud *bang*. The smile never left his face as his head was blown clear from his body, falling next to it in on the dark floor.

Walking up, Sunrise rolled the head over with a hoof to reveal the tear stained face of the pegasus he had killed in the forest.

"Why?" The head asked him in a pained voice. "I had no choice but to fight. You didn't have to kill me, you could have ran. I was unarmed." She cried.

"There was no other way." Sunrise whispered sadly, sinking to his haunches. "You just wouldn't stop."

The head smiled and Sunrise was thrown backward by a blast of green magic, tumbling head over hoof before landing in a heap on the ground. Rolling back on his hooves, he looked to see Lightning standing in front of him, her face bruised and bloodied.

"How could you do this to me?" She whimpered.

Steeling himself, Sunrise felt a new feeling flow through his body. Anger.

"No! This isn't real!" He yelled.

The image of Lightning smiled and her face rippled and melted away, revealing Sunrise's own visage underneath.

"Oh but it is" Stated his twin, the smile on his face replaced with a sneer. "I am stronger than you. I made you do those things. Accept that I am a part of you and end this needless conflict."

"You may have forced me to bend to your will, but you are not me. You are a monster." Sunrise replied angrily, reaching out with his magic and lifting his twin into the air by his throat.

The other Sunrise smiled and shifted once again, this time revealing a black unicorn with a flowing black mane. His glowing emerald eyes gazed upon Sunrise with contempt.

"If I'm a monster what does that make you?" Multis asked, his voice rasping harshly as he struggled in Sunrise's grasp.

There was a flash and Sunrise looked to see that his magic had been replaced by a pair of black tentacles that were wrapped around Multis's throat. He gagged as he felt them protruding from his mouth, realizing that he could feel every detail of Multis's form through them, and could even taste the rough fabric of Multis's cloak and feel the warmth of his body where they were held against his skin.

Multis dropped back to the ground as he let go. The tentacles flailed around for a moment before quickly retracting back into his mouth, causing him to cough and gag. Multis smiled and disappeared in a flash of green. Suddenly the ground gave way beneath Sunrise, and he felt himself falling through the blackness, the wind whipping through his mane as he plummeted. He held his hooves to his face to shield himself from the inevitable impact as a rocky floor rushed up to meet him.

When he hit the ground it gave way, wrapping itself around him, and sealing him off inside. He struggled in panic. It didn't feel like rock. It was warm and wet. He opened his eyes to find himself curled up in a ball in a tight space. He was no longer in his armor and unlike the strange void this felt much more real. A rhythmic thumping, and a constant cacophony of gurgles and squelches could be heard around him.  He was awake. At least it felt like it anyway.

"What in Tartarus?" He moaned.

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

Twilight, Lightning, and Screech sat warming their hooves around a small fire. Magical forest or not it was still the Badlands, and as soon as the sun had dipped below the horizon the temperature had dropped like a rock. Still in the middle of enemy territory, Twilight had cast a simple illusion spell over the makeshift encampment. The simple misdirection would hide them from any patrols unless they were right on top of them, and she had cast wards that would alert her in the event that should happen.

Night had fallen hours ago, but none of them could seem to get any sleep, so they just sat around the fire, occasionally breaking into hushed conversation. The forest was silent for the most part, though the faint sound hammering and the grind of stone being moved could be heard in the distance as the construction of Multis's imposing fortress continued around the clock. Every so often the rumble of a train could be heard chugging down the tracks, bringing in more stone and raw materials to feed Multis's ever hungry war machine.

"You know, I wonder where Firefly ended up. It seems like we should have come across him by now." Twilight said.

Lightning sat on the ground next to Screech with a hoof resting on his belly. She hadn't left his side since they had found Sunrise several hours ago.

"Well he is a Lieutenant." Lightning replied. "Anyone in the Guard knows they have a tendency to get themselves lost. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually."

Lightning looked over to Screech who lay resting on his side, his belly spilling out between his legs.

"How's he doing in there?" She asked softly.

"Still resting." He replied, wincing slightly as he felt a series of squirms and kicks. "His body is healed, but I think he is still struggling for control of his mind. That is something that will take some time to mend."

Lightning nodded, relieved. "And what about you? Is it painful to keep him like that?"

"No." He replied. "We tatzlponies are built for it. It may slow me down a but, but I can keep him here for as long as necessary."

Not wanting to worry her, there were some things Screech kept to himself. Something was not quite right. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he did have some suspicions.

At that point the conversation once again gave way to silence. The group sat for several minutes listening to the crackle of the flames before Lightning felt a series of movements from Screech's belly and a muffled voice from within.

"I think he's awake!" She exclaimed, pressing an ear to Screech's belly. "Can you hear me Sunrise?" She inquired.

"Lightthng ith that you?" A muffled voice replied from within. Even given the fact that it was muffled, something seemed off about his voice. Almost like he was trying to speak with a wad of cotton in his mouth. Something definitely wasn't right.