Dan’s Dream Realm

Late at night

A door manifested in the middle of a forest, and then came a series of knocks coming from it. Finally Luna’s voice. “Hello? Dan? Sir Aegis? Is it alright if I come in?” Aegis was the first to arrive by flying to the door and opening it, allowing the Lunar Diarch to walk right in.

“You’re more than welcome to enter, Lulu. Anytime.”

“Hey!” came Dan who seemed to be fighting off a beast at the moment. “This is my dream, so it should be my call, not yours, gramps!” He managed to topple it over and watched it turn into mist and vanish completely “But yeah, you're more than welcomed to join, Princess.” he dusted his hands. “How goes it over in the castle these days?”

Luna sighed “It's been… eventful. It's why I’m here actually, there are some things that I must speak to you about after the events of today’s meeting.” She then stepped back when another beast lunged past her and toward Dan, instead of running away or dodging he quickly grabbed the creatures forelegs, pivoted, and hurled it into a tree. This was when Luna noticed the creature turned out to be a vague apparition of a quadrupedal, it looked intimidating on its own. “I see you are handling your training well, Sir Hunter.”

Aegis shook his head. “Only on the account fighting that hydra made him laxer with smaller ones.” He heaved a sigh, “at least it toughened him up… if only slightly.”

“I’m sorry, What’s that about a hydra?” Luna asked with concern. Suddenly a table with some tea resting on it appeared along with seat cushions. “Sounds like break time if you ask me.” Dan ran up to the two and took a seat on one of the cushions.

“Hmph, how did you manage to do that with me hanging around,” Aegis asked looking at the table.

Dan paused and looked at the table… then shrugged, “not sure… just thought about it and there it was…” he shook his head, “pop a squat Your Highness, let’s trade stories.”

Luna smiled and nodded before making her way over to the seat across from him. “This is still his dream, Sir Aegis. If he wills it hard enough, he will overpower your control.” She explained.

Aegis rubbed his bearded chin. “Hmm…I suppose that is true.”

“Ha! Finally an edge over you, gramps!” Dan pointed at the old stallion triumphantly.

Aegis simply shrugged and flew over to the table to join them. “I don’t see why you’re all excited, it just means you're finally growing a backbone.”

Dan just scowled at the old-timer while Luna just smiled at them.

“You two seemed to have bonded well.” She claimed

“How so?” the boys asked in unison. This only made her laugh. This made the two of them look at one another, Aegis looked grumpy about the accusation, while Dan was irritated that the most anime thing to happen just happened to him right now with the old man. They both groaned, and once Luna calmed down they got to business.

When they finally exchanged stories Dan and Aegis went first, telling her of everything that happened with their first encounter with a tainted beast. “A hydra?” she took a sip of her dream tea, “to think such a creature would be so far gone without us noticing.” She shook her head. “Yet, you said you were already deep within the forest so I suppose that's enough room to cause a ruckus without notice.”

Aegis nodded while holding his cup in his hooves. “The Everfree is vast as it is mysterious.”

Dan chugged his tea, it was a small cup, after all, when he audibly placed down on the table he asked, “Not sure, how you would have noticed it anyway, Princess? The forest is super dense and it's pretty far from your castle.”

Luna shook her head. “Not quite, Dan. We would not have to particularly see the creature to determine whether it exists or not. Only to observe the consequences of its actions.”

“Hm?”

Aegis decided to answer instead, “She means things like animals stampeding out of the forest in mass or discovering corpses carelessly strewn about. Those are just a few examples.”

“Oh…” Dan scratched his chin. He did remember how Aegis wanted to examine the old deer carcass earlier.

“Keep this in mind Dan, as the hunter we are tasked to be sent to any place where local flora and fauna start acting strange, as well as strange sightings from eyewitnesses.” Aegis took a sip.

Luna continued. “Sometimes it has nothing to do with a tainted creature, sometimes being something tamer as a predator entering or introduced in a new ecosystem that isn’t used to it, or a simple prank or exaggeration by the citizens, which I assure you we deal with if that ever occurs. We try to narrow it down, but if it cannot be easily explained, that is where we send you to investigate.”

Dan just sighed. “So I’m the proverbial stick you use to poke at something you don’t understand.”

Aegis scoffed, “It’s not gonna be a grand battle against the corruption everytime, new blood. Sometimes it’ll be a false alarm.”

Dan rolled his eyes and decided to change the subject. “Anyway, apparently Aegis said that Hydra was doing weird things that weren’t normal for a tainted creature, so he told me to get you guys it's boil to study or something.”

“Ah, splendid! As soon as you can send that over to Canterlot the sooner the research team can investigate it. Will you be returning to Ponyville then?” Luna asked

“I’m afraid not yet, Luna,” Aegis answered

“What?! Why not?! We fought one of those things right? We even got that gross pus ball. I got covered in liquified rotting flesh and black goo! What more do we need!?”

“We need to pick up where I left off last before you took over my job. There is a spot I marked deeper within the forest that interested me. However, due to my age at the time. I was not as limber as I once was, even with the medallion.” Aegis then pointed a hoof at Dan. “We’re going to investigate in the deeper reaches of that as soon as possible.” He folded his hooves in deep thought. “When I still had this role, the medallion kept urging me to go in deeper. It’s sensing something we cannot and it concerns me.”

Dan looked at the both of them. “The thing can sense freaky vibes too, or did your old age start to catch up with you and your memories are getting all mixed up?”

Dan then felt Aegis tap his hoof against his forehead. “I’m afraid it has nothing to do with this. That medallion is more than just a magical artifact. It changes and grows with its bearer. You should keep that in mind, kiddo.”

“Anything else I should know about the thing? I mean, it IS fused into my chest after all.” Dan brought up. “Like is it consuming my life force as we speak? Is it going to talk to me one day? Will I get some sort of metal poisoning?” Dan trailed off for a bit until a thought concerned him. “Wait it’s not gonna like take over my body when I’m near death or something right? Then make me some kind of unstoppable rage-beast that will fight anything that moves, right?”

Aegis just stared at him, took a sip of his tea, set the cup down, then spoke. “Everything you just said was utterly preposterous. Who would create such a magical artifact with such detrimental side effects and risks? Utter fantasy…”

Dan just looked to the side. “Yeah… I guess that’s true. Well damn, now that you shut down my notions like that, now I’m starting to wish they did happen just to flip you off.” Dan scowled only a little. “The rage beast part sounded kind of cool though…” the one classic TV trope he actually thought would be interesting, utterly dashed from reality.

“Indeed and highly impractical.” Aegis sighed, “I believe this is all we have to discuss on our side, Princess.” Aegis turned to Luna, “I take it you have much to discuss as well?” he asked, “I can only assume the nobles and ambassadors did not wait to speak their mind about Dan’s new position.”

“Hm?” Dan looked at the two curiously as he was eating a muffin that he conjured out of nowhere.

Luna sighed “You would be right, Sir Aegis. It was hardly past the crack of dawn and already they were at our doors ready to voice their requests and complaints to my sister and me.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised to hear that,” Aegis replied with a sigh, “I’m sure Broadhorn wants to pick a fight with Dan then.”

“You would be correct.”

“Wait, what?” Dan perked up, “who wants to fight me?”

Aegis rolled his eyes, “it’s more of a friendly sparring session to measure you up, really. Broadhorn is more hands on.” Aegis changed the subject. “Anything else happen?”

Luna tapped her chin. “Well nothing we haven’t expected from the Nobles and the Ambassadors to say really, Most of them were requesting Dan’s aid in various tasks that quite frankly, seemed a waste of his abilities.”

Aegis scoffed. “So, same old same old…”

“However,” Luna lifted a hoof, “There was one noble that stood out, mainly for his rather unique questions and requests.”

“Oh?” Aegis was curious.

“Yes, and he was… rather charismatic you could say, even swaying some of the others to his cause at times.”

Aegis was curious now. “What was it that he asked for?”

Luna frowned at this point. “He… wanted to request speaking to Dan… about the spell he can use to visit both of your homeworld.”

This got Aegis to look on with a bit of seriousness and Dan tilting his head. Aegis was quick to answer. “Well, of course, that's an absolute no. The very idea…” He scoffed yet again.

Luna nodded. “My sister and I made the swift action to quell that notion whenever he brought it up.”

“You guys are pretty adamant about keeping ponies away from Earth. Why?” Dan asked.

Aegis sighed. “The consequences of a pony being discovered by humans is far too great a risk to even entertain such a notion.”

Dan raised an eyebrow “Uuh, if your thinking like Area 51 or something, I don’t think-“

“Not only do I not know of this Area 51 you speak of, I also do not care. We are going to finish discussing this and continue your training, now.” Immediately the table and tea vanished and in its place was a scary looking beast staring down Dan.

Dan just stared at it as it growled at his face. “...Really, gramps?” And then he was tackled.

Luna could only watch and look over between Dan and Aegis… a brief thought of that noble stallion from before returned to mind… there was going to be another meeting in the next morning… she would have to make an effort to recall the stallion’s name or ask for it even. She was starting to feel uneasy about him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dan’s Campsite

The Next Morning

Dan woke up to the perfect moment where Celestia and Luna would lower her moon and Celestia, her sun. However, being in a forest he only got the sunlight that managed to shine over the treeline and in the clearing he was camped in. In silence, he reluctantly sat up from his sleeping bag and took a look around once he crawled out of his tent. It looked like Steven was still having his “beauty sleep” as his head was the only thing not submerged in the river and resting on its own pillow on the river bank. Dan could only assume it was waterproof or something to that order. Turning to the fire pit he could still see the smoldering pile of ash and burnt wood still holding some orange embers here and there as well as a small rising smoke. Fish bones littered the ground all around the camp. Stefan really enjoyed the simple joy of fire-cooked meal. Always putting a new fish on a stick near the fire to replace the one he just ate.

Dan stretched and yawned before Aegis ghosted out of his body and observed his surroundings. “Brisk morning air, a refreshing way to greet the waking world.” Aegis would say.

Dan simply blinked before getting up. The engine within him wasn’t running on full cylinders yet. With a groggy feeling and slightly blurry vision, Dan slowly made it over to his bag to get ready for the day. It was then that he finally mumbled a tired response.

“I had pegged you for a morning person, Dan. you certainly don’t look the part right now,” Aegis said.

Dan just walked past him with a toothbrush and towel to the river. “Kiss my ass, gramps. I’m good in the mornings. I just don’t wake up like one.” Dan’s morning upkeep was a quick one, brushing his teeth and washing his face before changing from his boxers and tank top to his hunting gear. “So are we just gonna ignore that conversation last night now.”

Aegis turned to him confused. “I’m sorry?”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Apparently so… Can you at least tell me why you're so against humans and ponies making contact?”

Aegis immediately changed the subject “Make sure to wake up Steven over there and let him know we’ll be heading out for the rest of the day.”
Dan groaned “Seriously is it wrong for me to know?”

“It’s hard to say right now, Dan. It was an experience I had to learn the hard way…” Aegis
Dan raised an eyebrow. This was a different side of the old man he didn’t see as often. Dan had no idea what was going on in Aegis’ head so all he could do was sigh and head over to the sleeping serpent. A few pats of his hand on the side of his head and a call to his name and the sea serpent was up as well. Albeit in the same Mood Dan was when he woke up.

“Morning Steven, I’m heading out… you mind looking after my tent until I get back?” Dan asked

The serpent merely mumbled an “Ok” before going back to sleep again.

“Betcha he won’t even remember what I just asked.” Dan took off his bag and rummaged in it.

“What are you up to now?” Aegis asked

“Leaving him a note,” Dan answered as he pulled out a notebook, pen, and tape…

After a bit Dan and Aegis finally set out for where ever it was Aegis was taking him. The trip was mostly uneventful with the occasional small talk with each other and exercising caution whenever Dan sensed anything nearby, but overall nothing big. Dan made sure to take a look at his remaining ammo, he was still good, but he decided to use them more sparingly, perhaps he could ask Twilight if she or Rarity if they could come up with an ammunition belt with various pouches, enchanted to hold far more than physically intended. Then he started wondering how much could an enchanted pouch hold within itself? He hasn’t even tried to test the limits of the one that was on his very back. Something he would have to experiment with later.

“I’m glad you're proactively thinking how magic could be of use to you, but try not to use it as a crutch. Normal humans never had much of an affinity with magic after all, so it won’t come to save your ass when you need it most.” Aegis answered after delving into Dan’s thoughts.

“Can you like, not be a buzzkill every time I think of good ideas?”

Dan could sense that Aegis was rolling his eyes. After some time in silence, another thought occurred to Dan. This one he felt would make the old man all grumpy again but he had to know. “So Aegis… What’s the deal with you keeping ponies and humans from meeting anyway?” He was met with silence, so he continued. “I mean is it like you’re trying to keep the humans from abusing the powers of ponies or something…” Yet again more silence. “It’s not like this question is gonna go away you know? I honestly can’t see what the big deal is other than the government coming in and trying to study one…” still nothing. Dan just sighed. “Come on man, talk to me. You can’t just throw me into this insane job blind and expect me to be quiet when these sort of things are brought up.”

Finally, after a bit more time, he heard Aegis sigh. “I know, you’ve proven quite well how stubborn you are when you want to be.”

“So, out with it then?” Dan asked. “Why the ban?”

Dan could feel Aegis start to stare off ahead of them, as if not even paying attention to it. “In all honesty, the whole reason is just a response to a mistake I made. A naive belief really, and for that, an innocent died.”

Dan stopped walking and took a moment to listen.

“When I was far younger I suppose I came off as a tad more arrogant then I am now, keeping this belief I had that I had a good grasp on humanity and Equestrian people. After a few good years under the service of Royalty, along with getting well acquainted with the princesses when their parents were still in power, I had figured that perhaps if Man was to meet with these ponies and in turn the rest of the races of this world, surely there would be plenty to gain.” Aegis spoke in a rather somber tone.

Dan listened well, he was starting to get a sense of where this was leading.

Aegis continued. “Do not misunderstand, I had assumed that not everything would go as smoothly as my wishes would want it to be, but I know that with some time and patience things would work out for the better… Of course I never really got around to putting this into practice. That is until one day when a stallion approached me. A young merchant, to be precise.” Dan was intrigued, both of them were so focused on Aegis’ trip down memory lane, that they failed to notice they were being watched. However, had it had an intent to kill, Dan would have picked it up, if it had moved it would have made enough noise for Dan’s ears to pick up, so the only logical conclusion was that it was there before they even arrived and yet it still seems strange it was even there in the first place and just watching them.

Dan, waited for Aegis to continue. “What happened?” His curiosity only grew.

“He wasn’t anyone particularly remarkable,” Aegis answered, “just an ambitious merchant that owned a trading company, well it was still growing at the time. Nowadays, that very company has become a household name in Equestria. Black Wood Trading Co. I believe is the name.”

Dan folded his arms, remembering seeing that name before, in delivery carts whenever he was walking around in town. He didn’t pay it much attention, but to hear its past owner was involved with gramps in some way now made him even more interested. “So what did you and this merchant guy do?”

“Well, it was more of his idea then it was mine, but somehow he got wind of who I really am and where I truly come from.” Aegis seemed deep in thought. “To this day I still do not know how he figured it out, He certainly wasn’t one of the nobles at the time who were allowed to know… Hmm…”

Dan found that as strange too but was too curious about what happened next. Aegis picked up on that and continued.

“Right, so after he had found me out, he wanted to bring up this idea he had, if it worked, his business would grow rapidly and relationships between two worlds that didn’t know each other existed would change for the better.”

“Let me guess, he wanted to be an interdimensional trader so he could sell exotic materials from this world to the humans and vice versa?

“Bingo,” Aegis replied. “Naturally, I refused at first. It was a particularly busy time for me so for awhile I didn’t have the time.”

“But he kept asking anyway.” Dan guessed

“Hmph, I suppose that part was to be expected.”

Dan shrugged. “An ambitious entrepreneur with a crazy idea to make a profit, we still have those kinds of guys back home.”

“I suppose some things are a constant no matter what world you're on,” Aegis replied with a sigh. “Eventually, I finally caved and accepted his plan, part of the reason was to stop him from pestering me, another part was that I genuinely thought this was the best course of action to begin a mutual relationship between both worlds… whatever the reason, I pitched the idea to the King and Queen. They were reluctant at first, as expected, I honestly thought it would be the end of that right there, but stubborn as he was he managed to convince them as well.”

“The powers of an up and coming Businessman… or stallion I guess would be the term,” Dan shrugged. “So what happened next?”

This was where Aegis seemed to have the most trouble in speaking, it took him ages just to say a few words. “An utter disaster…” Dan stopped walking. Both from what Aegis had said and that he had noticed a pole sticking out of the ground in front of them. “Ah, we’re here.”

“Here?” a good look around Dan wasn’t getting a good feeling about the place they were in. It was significantly darker all around, hardly any light was getting through the treetops. It was enough to still see but dim enough to give the forest floor beyond him that sense foreboding. “Whoa… Is this the haunted part of the forest or something?”

“It certainly gives off that feeling to be sure,” Aegis replied before floating out of Dan’s body. “This is where I placed my marker, so, up ahead is where we will be going.” Dan couldn't help noticing Aegis really wanted to change the subject. Unfortunately, Dan was way top] invested in the story to have the old man leave it unfinished. That aside. He was pretty sure he saw the shadows moving up ahead. It was giving him chills right now. “Listen from here on out, we’re only going to observe.”

“Huh? Why? I thought I was supposed to kill any tainted creature I see.” Dan raised an eyebrow.

“Normally, yes, however, this is highly new territory. And this is an ideal spot for the corruption we seek.”

“Ideal?” Dan never thought this plague had conditions for it to thrive, from how everyone let on about it it just seemed to just magically appear whenever it wanted to.

“Yes, the darker the area, the better, but the main factor is that its as far away from any pony as it can possibly be.”

This made Dan curious. “From the ponies? Do ponies give off some kind of barrier or something to keep it at bay?”

“It’s not entirely clear yet.” Aegis made Dan’s head move to get a better look around. “Our best guess is that it has something to do with how ponies in numbers tend to the area around them. As you’ll no doubt remember.” Dan nodded. “It's not concrete evidence, but it certainly makes a lot more sense. Our hypothesis is that the magic that permeates and radiates off of life itself is like a poison to it. However, it seems to have some method or means of infecting a live individual anyway.”

Dan folded his arms. “Meaning, either the effect isn’t strong enough for a soul individual to produce, or this plague has some means to protect itself from it to enter the body?”

“Correct, I’m impressed…” Dan felt Aegis smirking.

Dan just rolled his eyes. “I think I established well enough that I’m not stupid.”

“True, just lacking in this worlds knowledge I suppose. Which is why I tell you to make use of those books in that library.”

“Yeah, yeah, anyway can we get back to-”

Aegis interrupted him “No Dan this part is important.”

“Hey!-”

“Shhh, be quiet!” Aegis did it again. “We’ll return to… THAT later. We are in the most dangerous place we can be right now so I’m going to need you to reply mentally right now.” Before Dan could even reply to that he continued. “I’ve been to places like this once before, this is where you will die if you don’t keep your wits about you and listen to me.” This got tense fast, Dan only nodded. “Good, to give you a perspective on what’s ahead, consider it enemy territory and we are now going behind lines. Granted I don’t know how far deep the plague would go or if it's even this far out. I’m saying this now because we can stumble upon it at any time. So I need to be a thousand times more observant than you ever were, and ready to respond to anything off.”

Dan nodded, Aegis spoke again only this time with as much seriousness in his voice as he could. “Also We are STRICTLY observing only, nothing more. If there is a possible chance of collecting another sample, I’ll let you know and come up with a plan of action, but you must ABSOLUTELY follow my instructions… agreed?”

“Hold on, no fighting? I thought all those dream sessions were for this exact purpose.” Dan replied mentally with a feeling of annoyance.

“They are but a few weeks is nowhere near enough time to get you ready for what’s to come. I need you to promise me! At Least, while we are here, to do exactly as I say… PROMISE ME!”

“OK OK! I promise! Don’t yell in my mind like that, ugh… What could possibly be in there to freak you out so much.”

“I don’t know… That's what…”

~~~

And so Dan stepped deeper into the woods, begrudgingly following Aegis’ every command. If he said to walk he walked, if he said to hide he hid, he told him to climb a tree he did just that, but through the whole time, Dan saw nothing. True the place was giving him a creepy eerie vibe but so far, he hasn't seen any tainted death beast coming to rip him in half, or any weird plague… thing… or whatever to destroy or collect. It was just really creepy and dark. Yet surprisingly he could still see in front of him. ‘Well at least I don’t have to pull out my flashlight.’ He thought

“If the name is any indication of its purpose then I would’ve prevented you from using it anyway. The less attention we draw to ourselves the better when we’re here.”

‘Right about that… I’m not doubting you or anything, but so far we haven’t run into anything murderous. How much deeper do you intend to go?’ Dan mentally asked.

“As far as your eyes will let you. You can observe far more in the dark then you ever could, but it has its limits as well, and to be quite frank, I am not too confident in your ability to maneuver with only sound.”

‘Fair enough, the feeling is mutual. I’m not fond of not seeing things. Makes me tense.’ Dan replied.

“Then just a little farther, than we shall return to ca-”

Dan stopped, as he could somewhat see what Aegis was seeing.

“Bones…” Dan couldn’t help but say aloud.

“Hush… but you are right. As I have feared, we have reached a corpse field…. Be on your guard. We do not know if whatever did this is still around right now, nor do we know what form it will be.”

Without saying a word Dan had pulled out the MP5 and set it to burst. He was not liking this vibe he was getting from the place, everywhere he looked bones and skulls were strewn about all over the place, All of them covered in black marks here and there. It was like a mix between a beast's den, an animal graveyard, and a massacre. Who knows how many countless lives were lost here, Deer, rabbit, Bear, squirrels, Birds, even manticore bones were in his view. Whatever did this, wasn’t a pushover, and more than likely a target he would have to hunt in the future. Dan dreaded the thought of facing it but knew it was just an inevitability.

Aegis seemed to be on edge. “Let's not linger for long, I think we can collect a bone sample for now. Just take a suitable piece and let us return to camp.”

NOT one to argue with that plan he looked around, He saw a sturdy looking bone not too far off, however, when he made his way over to it, his nose picked up a very faint rancid smell. “Hm?” he then heard the sound of his boot stepping in what he could assume as a puddle. ‘What the?’ Somehow stepping in that puddle made the scent even stronger. “Ugh…” he breathed out his disgust as quietly as possible and pulled his Bandascarf up to cover his mouth and nose hoping to make the breathing bearable. Then pulled his goggles down to his eyes since they were starting to burn as well. ‘Did I step in a Sh*% puddle or something? Smelled like death!’ His body responded to the stench by coughing out the air it previously sucked in before he covered his face. He was too distracted by the sudden smell to notice that ever since he put the bandana on the smell was completely blocked out despite it being a piece of cloth. Something he’d notice later, but for now, he knelt down to get a better look at what he was standing on. ‘Whatever it is, is really dark to see it… no, wait… its black I think…’

“Black?” Aegis seemed confused. If it was black sludge it should’ve long since evaporated under the light…. Except… this is the one place Light would have a hard time getting into. He starting to feel dread.

‘Is that a… a vine or rope… or maybe…’

“A vein!” they could barely see it but that vine was starting to squirm as well. Aegis reacted on instinct. “DAN JUMP BACK NOW!!!”

Dan’s body reacted on its own to Aegis’ voice as he pushed himself off the ground just in time to avoid the very puddle reaching out to grab his leg. Dan ended up tumbling when he landed back on the ground unprepared and stumbled back to his feet and stared on at where he was. The ooze receded back to the ground for a moment. This was when Dan realized that much of the forest floor before him, wasn’t “too dark to see” but rather, covered in black. That grotesque sludge. Even worse was how he could see it all start to recede and focus in one area. There he could see the sludge start rising from the ground. “Come on, black goo again?” no point in keeping quiet now, the monster knew Dan was there as he pointed his gun at it. He then noticed the sludge start spewing out dark gas all around it. The gas would then vanish in mid-air after a few feet away from it

“I've seen this before, Dan, it’s trying to choke you out with it. Keep that bandana up.”

“Right, invisible death gas noted.” This was when he saw the sludge mound take the most basic shape of a manticore. “What the…” When the thing tried to approach him he fired a few rounds. The good news, the body must not be as well held together as large amounts of it that were struck by the bullets would splatter off the “Manticore”. The bad news, however, was that it already was reforming what it lost. When Dan fire again, the sludge decided to split itself after being splattered again. Adapting and changing its form into what looked like some sort of canine, two of them, that stood on their hind legs. They seemed to move much faster as they were quick to close in on him. Dan back stepped focused well enough to shoot at both targets splattering them out of existence.

“Dan, remember what I said, We were only here to observe. Regrettably, we’ll have to leave empty-handed, before this becomes too much for you.”

“Right, right, gotta bail!” Looking back he could see where they came from however his vision was shorter than usual thanks to the general darkness of the area. He would have to run with somewhat obscured vision as he would have to dig in his bag for his flashlight. He could already see the sludge start to reform those odd canines as well as additional creatures to join in. He needed to go now. Before that, however, the most unexpected thing he and Aegis ever saw just happened.

In a great yet brief flash of light that even staggered the sludge, Twilight appeared in front of him “I… I did it! It worked!” she was clearly in a state of shock and awe.

Meanwhile, both boys exclaimed the same thing. “What the hell?!”

Twilight flinched at the shout and looked back “D-dan?! H-hold on, it’s just so dark here let me just-” Her horn started glowing and a bright magenta light radiated from it and filled the area. “There much better- AH!” she back stepped a little seeing there was a lone pony skull between them. “Oh, my Celestia!” Aegis took note of that skull. It troubled him, but that could wait, both he and Dan were now looking at Twilight in shock.

“Twilight, why and how are you here…you know what, shelf those questions, for now, We need to gooooooooooooo….. Oooh no.”

“W-what? She then tensed up as if remembering something, and slowly turned her head back.” More and more mounds of sludges were being formed, it was started to look like a small army of goo creatures were about to be made “uuh, um uuuh… O-oh yeah! Why I’m here!” she turned back to Dan and ran up to him “Stay close to me I’m getting us out of here.”

“Uh, ok, how?” he saw her horn glow even brighter and that same flash from before happened again, yet again staggering the goo beasts in a whiny squeal of agony. Only this time Twilight was gone. Dan, meanwhile just stood there looking around in utter confusion as the darkness returned thanks to Twilight’s sudden absence. “Um…”

“I don’t think that’s how she planned it, Dan,” Aegis answered

“Really? You don’t say? What gave it away?!” Dan decided to go single fire since burst looked a bit like overkill right now.

“Enough with the sarcasm, we must leave now. Twilight is gone and hopefully safe, we must leave as well.”

“No, not yet!” Dan took a step back aiming down the sights and popping off the small ones out of existence and knocking off major body parts of the larger ones just to stall them.

“What are you talking about, I told you, your not ready to fight this thing yet!”

“I’m not trying to fight it. We need to wait!” he said as he reloaded another magazine.

“Wait for what?! You will Die here if you don’t-” That same flash again. Twilight was back and in a much weaker state this time.

‘That is what we were waiting for.’

“She came back… Of course, she would come back… ponies…” Aegis sighed

“S-sorry, I think I, I messed up… Let me try agai-” Dan put his gun away and scooped her up into his arms. She made a squeak in surprise and squeaked again when he started running. Her horn light was still active so she can see why. That army got bigger and it was starting to surround them. “Wow… Teleporting takes a lot out of you. I don’t understand how it didn’t work… I did everything right.”

“Teleport?!” Dan asked as he ran as fast as he could. Twilight’s horn making it loads easier for him to navigate in the forest. ‘You ponies can teleport too?! I thought that was like a Princess thing or something!”

“I-it’s not impossible… just difficult to learn is all…” She panted out “And it takes a lot of magic the further you teleport.”

“Hence you’re heavy breathing, I guess.”

Twilight groaned “And major headache…. I can try again for one more go, but I need to figure out what went wrong. We should have both been teleported.. Why didn’t it work…”

As Twilight tried to contemplate the answer Dan had a brief flashback.

“Dan, do you recall what we-ah! Rather what I told you about your human qualities with magic?” At this Dan turned to Luna and nodded.

“Uh, yeah, apparently my skin is magic proof so long as I don’t get any cuts or scrapes that draw blood.”

“Aw Hell….” He didn’t like where this was going.

“Dan? Is something wrong?” Twilight asked that was when they noticed 3 large black shadows fly over them and land in front of them, making Dan slide to a stop. Apparently, they were goo beasts, looking back he saw a large beast that was getting ready to chuck more goo beasts at them. Back in front of them, the goo beasts took the shape of ponies. When they turned to face them, however, their faces held opened jaws with jagged teeth made of who knows what. They were an utter nightmare to look at. “W-what do we do?”

“Twilight, can you teleport us now?” Dan took a step back, they were becoming surrounded.

“I, believe so, but it's worthless if I can’t take you too.”

… Dan smirked. “Damn, you're really making me seem like a bad friend and a chicken wuss.” he sighed as he shuffled and held her with one arm and reached into his cloak.

“What?”

“Twilight rev up that teleport now!” he pulled out a knife

“What? But it won’t work!”

“Trust me it will this time, just let me know when you're about to use it!” he had to keep backing up.

She didn’t understand what he meant but she did so anyway. “Ok… I’m ready.” she then heard the sound of metal cutting flesh, then something warm splattered her side. She turned back to Dan to see his knife swiping a deep cut into Dan’s arm. She could not comprehend.

“Ok, do it now!” Dan said Twilight was flustered now as she fumbled on what to say. However, she wasn’t given the time. The beasts finally decided to charge in when the big beast started throwing more of them. “TWILIGHT!” That knocked her back to reality and she tried the spell once more. In a flash, they both were gone this time leaving the goo monsters to lunge at thin air and crash one another splattering themselves into a large puddle on the spot.

~~~

Golden Oaks Library

When Twilight and Dan finally appeared in the library, Dan was in an unstable position in response to the oncoming monsters they were about to confront, this caused him to fall back and both of them to crash onto the ground.

... “Are we dead?”...

Twilight shot up. “No, It worked this time! Oh, my head...” Twilight stumbled a bit as she held her head and tried to endure the ache that was hammering away at her mind.

“Twilight! Dan! Your Back!” Applejack’s voice drew both their attention to the other girls and Spike that were all in the same room staring at them with either astonishment or worry. They all rushed over to the two only to stop and notice something horrifying.

Fluttershy was the first to call it out. “Dan! Your Arm!” This led Twilight and Dan to look at his arm. The cut he made was bleeding a lot now. Twilight could see that much of the blood was in her fur now.

“Oh… Guess I hit an artery...”

Author's Note

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. it's still not done getting checked, but we edited enough for it to be tolerable for now. hopefully, you don't mind and once we finish editing it, we'll fix it completely. for now here is the next chapter. Hopefully, it leaves you with intrigue and keeps you interested.