Author's Note

Hello everyone. For those who enjoy my work I have this chapter to explain some older questions throughout the previous chapters. Also, please take note of any errors I might have missed. Enjoy!

Chapter 12: "Dream Walking in- Not Now, I'm Taking a Break" (Edited)

Luna's POV

I aimlessly attended to the many different dreams the ponies had. Most were pleasant and even heartwarming to observe. Others I had to deal with some light nightmares here and there, but mostly, it was the children and their imagination running wild, which was fine in its own right.

All except one door as been opened. I paused in front of the rusted and darkly colored door in front of me. All the other doors around seem like a cheery and happy dream compared to this door. It released a steady chilling mist from the bottom of it causing me to slightly shiver at its physical impact on my body. The name tag to this particular door, however, was faded to a point of illegible scribbles.

Yet, in my mind I could not stop thinking of what could be happening behind that door. I only went in there once because it was an emergency, nothing more. Unfortunately, I had no time to absorb the details that was in Shadow's mind. My sister and I knew he held secrets he wasn't telling us, but the question is: what was so bad about those secrets that he doesn't tell us about? Well, tonight was possibly one of the only times we could get some answers.

"Hey, can I come with you Luna?" A female voice asked behind me.

I jumped at the sound immediately turning around to face the source of my banishment: Nightmare Moon.

My eyes narrowed at her as a snort involuntary came out of me. She sighed with a slight grin.

"Figures, well I'm going with you since I'm just as curious as you are with finding out the secrets he's been hiding." Nightmare said.

"Fine by me, but don't expect me to help you. The wounds are still fresh in my mind, Nightmare." I said.

"As you wish then." she continued before reaching the door and pulling on the knob. Only, it didn't budge.

Nightmare and I stared at each other in confusion before I morphed my magic into a key. I placed it into the keyhole and turn it to get a satisfying click noise. Nightmare opened the door as it revealed nothing but darkness on the other side. A nervous look crossed both of our expressions as we entered the abyss.

Once we were both through the door, it shut and locked on its own leaving us in the complete darkness. Nightmare and I made a orb of light to see amongst the overlapping darkness to realize we were on a stone pathway. The darkness all at once lit up in a scenery.

What came in sight was a village similar to Ponyvile. The only difference was the structures themselves looked much older and the place was covered in runny mud and dirt. The only thing somewhat made the area stand out was the stonepath that ran through it. Nightmare and I stroll through the village and were met with another surprise. The ponies living here weren't ponies at all. They had no fur, just skin and patches of hair on top of each of the bipedal aliens. They all even wore clothing, but even that was either tathered or worn out from weather.... I think. Nightmare somehow knew off the bat what they were.

"Humans, but how? They look quite different then the ones I originally met." She commented.

I stayed silent observing them. However, with all the talking Nightmare did the 'humans' didn't seem to notice us. Then it hit me. "Whatever the case, it looks like this is a memory of some sort."

Nightmare's eyes widen in surprise. The surprise was cut short by the sound of incoming sounds of hooves on dirt. It confused us, but not the humans as they all froze. Some immediately went inside to pull out some rather damaged looking swords, sticks and pitchforks. Many of the male humans anyway. The female humans gathered the children in an attempt to get away or hid from the impending threat. A collective war cry rang throughout the village causing the men of the village and us to collectively focus back on the scene.

It was too late for the males though as several warriors riding on weird four legged horses burst through their lines. Many of them fought back to no avail as the warriors on the weird horses slaughtered them without a second thought or remorse. Nightmare and I got out of the way as they continued their raid throughout the village. However, one of the barbarian warriors was vastly different riding a pure white weird horse. He wore some type of light military suit with a white hood masking his face front from view. The sheer sight of the.....human made my fur crawl. Who is that?

The white horse rider grabbed one of the villager males in some sort of magic before yanking him toward a blade he had propped into the guy's throat. He swiftly got rid of the now corpse before the other warriors start raiding the homes. The screaming of the females were quite a horrifying sight to see for both Nightmare and me. All but one refused to exit her home. They used force on her separating her from her kid.

The kid that was separated from his mother looked oddly familiar to Shadow. A warrior took the kid to restrain him outside as he tried to defend his mother with his tiny fists. He couldn't be older than five years old, only a colt.

The white horse rider got off his horse before taking off his hood. However, all we saw was a shadowy figure of the beast of a male. He had icey blue sliver eyes with a smile filled with a calm hidden malice to him. He approached the woman speaking in Equis about how unjust it all was. The warrior restraining her however start speaking a language that Nightmare and I couldn't understand to the white horse rider. He grinned before replying back to the warrior in the same strange language before bringing his attention to the woman.

"Hmm, you're fierce. I like that, but we don't need your petty rambling. And I think you know what we are after." the white rider said.

The woman glares at the white horse rider before spitting in his face. "It'll be a cold day in hell before you find what you are looking for." She spat out evenly.

The white rider wiped the spit off his face in a slight grimace before that turned into rage. "Kill her first. I want her head to roll." he said plainly. The warrior took the woman into the center of the muddy village. Meanwhile, the kid screams in anger trying his best to escape the bonds he was in.

"Line up the children, now!" The white rider ordered.

The warriors did just that as several times they had to forcibly remove some the children from their mothers.

The woman however was forced to be out on her knees as a warrior with an axe came to meet her. The restrain child watched in silence. It didn't take long for the axe to go down separating the woman's head from the rest of her body. We stood in horrified shock as the same went for the poor motherless child now.

The white rider hardly even recognized the action his excutioner preformed. He searched through the line of children as the Shadow like child wailed in his own pain. The warrior holding him quickly covered his mouth effectively shutting him up. It wasn't long before the white rider got to the Shadow child. He stared into the child, crucially examining his innate essence. Just as the rider did, Nightmare and I could read a different expression on him, a brief look of fear.

"He's the child. Take him with us." He said. The warrior nod in understanding picking up the child and continuing by placing the child on the weird horse with him. The white rider glanced at the rest of the children and women before nodding to the rest of the warriors there. He turned back on to his horse as they slaughtered the rest of the villagers in cold blood. The warriors rode off with the child in their hands while they burned the rest of the village down to the ground.

"Mommy..." The child said weakly as the scene fades to darkness again.

We both stood there a while to recollect our thoughts. Was that memory really apart of his past? I looked at Nightmare seeing the exact reaction I had.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..." I said.

Before Nightmare could agree, a scream of someone in agony could be heard. The darkness around us seem to pull us further into itself. We both realized in horror that we needed to get out of here and fast. We lit our horns up and shooting aimlessly at the darkness around us, but it did nothing, but sped up the process toward the cries of pain.

The next scene was more vague than the last scene. What stood before the child was three dark figures. They laughed endlessly at his pained cries and pleds showing no bounds of their twisted torture methods. We were both utterly horrified and confused at the scene in front of us.

CRACK

Both of us were startled by the sudden noise looking down to figure out we were standing on glass. The glass floor cracked further until in a matter of seconds it completely shattered. We both screamed through the descend deeper into the void of darkness.

It took a little while before our bodies slammed hard on a surface. We moaned in mild pain before getting up to figure out where we were. I looked around finding a figure curled in a ball several feet away from us.

"Uh, Nightmare? Do you know who that is?" I asked her.

She looked my way to see what I was talking about before shaking her head unsure. The figure in a ball whimpered in a ball of misery. I approached the figure and was about to confront the figure when:

"MY CHILD, WHY SUFFER?" A voice boomed through the darkness.

The boy stopped his whimpering before unraveling himself to reveal to us it was the child that looked similar to Shadow. He looked around in confusion.

"W-What do you mean? I am not suffering......I am simply....too weak." The boy said.

The voice in the darkness paused but it spoke. "WEAK.....WEAK IS THE STATE OF A MINDSET. YOU ARE NOT WEAK, MY CHILD. YOU ARE SIMPLY.... MISSING SOMETHING."

The boy seemed to not follow what the voice said. "What am I missing if I'm not weak?" he asked.

"POWER. YOU'LL NEED POWER IN ORDER TO GET STRONGER.... BUT IN ORDER TO DO THAT YOU MUST....EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, MY CHILD."

The boy didn't seem too interested in what the voice had to say. "I don't need darkness. It never helped me to begin with."

The scene fades as the darkness pulls us again to an another scene this one showed him in maybe his twenties but the same scene.

"WHY RESIST IT?" the voice boomed again.

The man didn't say anything though. He just sat there with his head in between his legs.

"THERE IS A WAY TO GET YOUR WOMAN BACK..."

The man immediately took interest sitting up. "There is?" He said full of hope.

"OF COURSE, MY CHILD. BUT YOU KNOW THE PRICE OF SUCH A WISH."

The man went silent before he looked at the darkness again. "How do I start?"

The scene then blast itself to pieces bringing in more light into the room. Nightmare and I realized then that the entire hallway looked to be of some kind of palace. There was no windows, but columns with fancy designs on both sides of the wall. The columns went through the walls every five feet or so.

"Where are we?" Nightmare asked.

"I don't know, but I think we-"

A blood curling scream rang through out the palace as our ears swivel to the source. Immediately, we rushed to the noise. We only made it around the corner before we stopped in stunned shock. On the walls around us is smeared blood and hanging entrails along the hallway with some signs of battle. I couldn't help, but puke my contents out at the sight while Nightmare continued trying to avoid the organs sprawled around us.

I reluctantly continued with Nightmare now wanting nothing more than to get out of this tartarus hole. We made it to the end of a hallway before entering through the doors to be met with another shock.

A male human was half dismembered in the room. The person standing over the corpse was a human Shadow with a manical grin plastered on his face. Standing a few feet away was a woman in royal clothes staring in absolute horror at the sight before her.

Shadow laughed darkly getting up to show his clothes bathed in blood. He approached the woman as his expression turned to one of the purest forms of anger.

"This....this is what you get, Bell. I did everything for you. I was loyal and faithful to you alone, even at times were it was hard for me. And when I went off to finish my final ties of my past.... You.....marry yourself to the man that knew about my past. Why? WHY?!" he asked in heated breaths.

The woman now named Bell looked terrified under his gaze, but her confidence somehow rebuilt itself. Her face turned into a snobish one. "It's because you are a slave, Dovostro. No lady wants a reused and broken piece of trash when a fine piece of royalty offers them a hand in marriage instead. You are a nobody. I thought you surely understood. After all, you are the one who knew me best. Seeing you now, I guess they were right about you. You ARE a monster!" she said coldly.

The woman's statement surprised us both to no end, but Shadow went suddenly quiet.

He laughed. A long manical deep laugh. It was almost chilling to even hear him.

"Then maybe you shouldn't even exist, Bell." Shadow said forming his claws on his hands as it glowed a faint blue.

The woman stayed silent the whole time realizing that her resolve seem to end the final strain of sanity he had. Her eyes widen as he roughly stabbed the claws through her. In the next moment, a loud sound of something else shattering to pieces happens as she went limp. With all of his strength he continued stabbing her and stabbing her carrying on his insane rampage of laughter.

When he finally finished her entire body was nothing more than a bloody pile of mush. We could see a black substance surrounding Shadow's body in seconds. Then without warning, the area explodes....

I woke up feeling like a turd in the head. It just so happened that Nightmare woke up at the same time I did.

"You still alive?" I asked.

"Yeah." Nightmare answered.

"Did you get the answers you were looking for?" a familiar male voice asked mildly annoyed.

We both turned our heads to see Atone staring at us leaning on a bland pillar. Nightmare physically tensed at his presence as I got into position ready to fight him.

"What do you mean, Atone?"

"You know what I mean. After all, you wouldn't been able to get in thanks to me.... My NEWER self and I personally don't like telling too much information about our previous life." Atone said.

I was slightly taken aback on how calm the demon was. When we first met it seemed like he was an entirely different pony which overall confused me in the end. The flashbacks he also gave us only made more questions than answers.

"...Why was he a....slave," I asked the last word tasting bad in my mouth. Throughout all my years of being the immortal alicorn on Equis saying the word 'slave' was still a difficult feat for me. It never once crossed my mind that a seasoned, battle-ready stallion such as Shadow could have gone through such dramatic changes like that.

Atone's trademark smirk for the first time falters with the mention of such a question. But then an expression of rage crossed his features seconds later. "It's not like we had a choice in the matter. We were physically too weak to do anything about it. And on top of it we could not harness the power of our magic. You saw the very same memory of what I'm talking about. 'Magic', in our world, was a thing used as power." He said.

"If that's true...then....why would that black man take him away and kill his mother? It doesn't make sense in the slightest why anypony could be so cruel." Nightmare said.

Atone seem to be in deep thought anyalzing his options just like his counterpart, but he then turned his back to us.

"Don't stick your noses where it doesn't belong. Pasts are not something that should be dwelled upon. I hope this is our last encounter." Atone said in his usual annoyed tone.

Nightmare was going to continue, but she didn't want the same experience she had with him to happen again. He then snapped his fingers, and just like that we were back in the dreamscape.

Shadow's POV

I woke up to the sun's rays hitting my face. Nothing else seem to bother me though for the most part. I had no dreams and I have learned to get use to that reality.... Because of the nightmares that might emerge from them.

I look to my left to find Zecora sleeping soundly in the covers. She must have had a rough night sleep, so I decided to not bother waking her up just yet. I crept out of my bed and went down stairs to the kitchen. There I got myself a nice fresh cup of coffee. It was a nice morning for once. No extra amount of loud sounds or unexpecting evils coming to kill somepony for any reason. One of the reasons why I liked Ponyvile. The town is always quiet and peaceful most of the time.

I then got myself a bowl of wheat grains and milk making my own version of 'cereal' for the morning. Zecora didn't seem to wake up though, so I head outside to do some much needed exploring of Ponyvile. First up was Sugarcube Corner.

I entered the bakery to immediately be assaulted by the smells of fresh baked goods. The humming of Pinkie in the kitchen could also be heard.

"Morning Pinkie!" I said in a happier tone.

She immediately turned around not missing a beat in stirring the current cake batter in her hands. "Morning Shadow! What's with the change in your mood?" She asked.

"Not getting a dream of course." I said.

Pinkie looked worried for a split second. "But aren't dreams good for ponies to have?"

I looked at her. "Well, they are. I just prefer not to have dreams... Dreaming is dangerous for me. Now, I'll like the best chocolate milk shake you got."

Pinkie seemed to forget the previous conversation turning back to the counter.

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie said making the milkshake at an incredible speed. I still don't know even today how she can bake without thinking too much on what she is doing.

With that done I sat myself down at a table that was set up in the bakery. The bell that was on the door to the bakery rang after as I looked over my shoulder to see Sweetie Drops (Aka Bon Bon) enter through the doorway. She immediately recognized me before rushing into the seat opposite of me.

"Just the stallion I was looking for! How have things been Shadow?" Bon Bon asked.

I smiled at her warm welcoming greeting. "They have been very fortunate so far. I count every one I get." I said.

"Glad to hear so. Applejack wanted me to get in touch with you. She wants you to come to the farm, if you want to." Bon Bon said.

I looked confused for a second before it hit me. While I was out on these crazy adventures and with my wife I completely forgot about the needs of my friends. How stupid of me!

"I'll definitely give a look Bon Bon. You can tell her I'll be there as soon as I finish with my milk shake." I said.

She smiled before getting up. "I'll definitely relay the message." She said leaving the building.

"Order up!" Pinkie exclaimed rolling up to my table in rollerskates. How the hell did she put those on without me noticing?!

"Uhhh, thanks..." I said surprised.

She put the milkshake down opening up her hand. "Fifteen bits please!" she said not missing a beat in her response.

I reached into my pocket giving her the fifteen bits she required before she stuffed the coin into her mane.... I'm not going to ask. Pinkie then rolls away while I enjoyed my delicious milkshake.

After finishing the delectable treat from Sugarcube Corner, I hustled to Sweet Apple Acres. Once I got there I was greeted with the fresh atmosphere of the farm. The hard working Apple Family tended to their crops of apple trees in bucking down.

My instincts sensed a terrible foreshadowing as a heard a sickening crack from one of the apple trees. Standing underneath the tree was a bulky red stallion with a dull yellow short mane.

I came into action teleporting beside of him before tackling the stallion just as the tree collapsed in the spot where he originally was.

The stallion didn't say anything, but through the expressions alone he was quite baffled and shocked. I heard Applejack in the distance as she came into view.

"What in tarnation happened?" She asked.

I got up offering the red stallion my help. He got up on his own though so I didn't bother in helping him further. "A tree was just about ready to crash on top of him, so I managed to save him before he was injured." I explained.

She looked relieved that her worker was saved as Applejack walked up to me. "Well, I'm glad to see that you saved my brother's life."

"No need in thanking me. It's my job working for the Royal Guard."

"Appears so. I reckon that you are familiar with Zap Apple Season?" She asked me.

"What's that?" I replied back.

"Well, it's an event similar to Apple Cider Season the Apple Family have been doing for many generations. Matter of fact, it's one of our biggest inputs of profit we get every year! There as been more Zap Apples this year than previous years, and I thought you could help my family in picking them this year." Applejack proposed.

It didn't take much thinking to reply to her. "I would be happy to. Where is the Zap Apple trees?"

Applejack looked pleased walking forward. "Right this way." So I followed her.

When I got there I was surprised to say the least to find out they had a different section of trees that was darker than the normal apple trees I have seen.

"Are these... the trees that make the zap apples?" I asked.

Applejack smiled filled to the brim with excitement for a change. It was nice to get along with her. Out of all of Twilight's friends she seems to be the most centeralized pony in all of Ponyvile. She is almost like the embodiment of Ponyvile itself, but let's not get too carried away.

I realized that the fruit has not came to sprout yet which confused me greatly. "The zap trees are on the border of the Everfree Forest. Because of this it's usually tough to understand the forests patterns. But the season for zap apples has always been the same for many generations. This year though, Granny Smith predicts that it will be the most plentiful year in over twenty years! That's why I required a friend's help this time." Applejack said.

"Why not all of your other friends as well? Won't they help?" I asked.

"They would give a hand to help me out, but I've already asked them. You're the only pony not doing anything today." She said.

I decided not to press it further. "Alright then, so when does it-"

Before I could finish my sentence an enormous black cloud covered over the trees and with a mighty roar it shot lightning bolts directly into the trees down below. The thunder manage to startle me While I witnessed before my eyes the growth of the zap apples in front of me. By the time the apples stopped growing the black cloud disappeared just as quickly from the sky. My confusion only grew.

"What- But, it just-...... How?!" I sputtered out.

Applejack just shrugged while the Apple Family got busy picking. I sighed before joining the apple picking myself. Taking a closer look at all the trees, I could see what Applejack meant by this being a plentiful year. There was on average sixty-five zap apples per every zap tree. Those numbers are staggering! Especially for normal apple trees. I'm not a math pers- pony, but that's a lot of zap apples. And with only five ponies on the job of taking care of all these apples, including myself. This will take up the rest of my day...

Canterlot Castle

Nightmare POV

Luna and I had recently woke up from our duties, but Atone and Shadow's dream realm had us both thinking for a while. Shadow in general is a noble pony. He fights for his friends and family. The only problem is that he hides things, many things, from everypony. Luna, I and even Celestia herself realize this. But now looking and taking a peak at what he was before he got here..... It makes me reluctant to even remember those memories of his again. How would Princess Celestia act if she finds out?

She has been suspicious of Shadow Faze ever since he mysteriously appeared out of no where in the Everfree. It's just nopony has ever pinpointed what exactly is different about him. He looks like a normal unicorn stallion with no cutie mark. Yet, when he's on the battle field it's like his special talent is fighting. Furthermore, he has proven to be quite knowledgeable in other worldly beings that not many knew before. Even I had a rough time understanding his logic. Why would he save me from my own mind, or why would he bother slaying demons for the crown? I knew those questions were just the first of many more. It appears I thought too long as Luna rubbed her eye lids with a groan.

I looked at Luna seeing her usual sleepy eyes, but I knew I can't convince her not to tell Celestia. They are sisters and always will be. They share whatever secrets they have eventually to one another.

I was going to try to convince her, but she quickly left the room before I could persuade her otherwise.

This was wrong. There must be a reason for why he keeps those memories secret. Another question burns into my mind as I walk faster to catch up with Princess Luna. "Why did Atone allow us to see those terrible memories?"

Luna opened the final doors in her magic to the throne room to see Celestia perched on her throne chair. We walked up to her as we gave her warm smiles which she graciously returned a little less honest with me around though.

"What brings Nightmare Moon and you to the throne room, sister?" Celestia asked.

"We visit Shadow's dreams, like I said I would, and found out something shocking. Shadow is confirmed to not be from this world." Luna said.

I sighed. "It's similar to the alternative version of Equis we have in the magic mirror." I interjected.

Celestia seemed to go into thought. "I know that much from the why he speaks about certain things. What new news do you have then?"

"He was once a.....slave...if you will. Until he met this mare..... He killed her and that's all the info we were allowed to see." Luna said with out trying to barf from the vivid images running through her head of the gore.

Celestia's eyes shrieked in surprise before they narrowed at the last part. "Is there a reason for that behavior then?"

"That's the thing, Celestia. We don't have much info to go by since it was so much detail and not enough events. Atone gave us very little to determine the specifics." I said.

"Atone?" Celestia repeats puzzled.

"Remember the mind demon that I told you about sister? It's in Shadow's head and it seems to be Shadow's.......monster side." Luna explained.

"Ah, I see," Celestia said in more thought. "I'll need ponies to investigate Shadow unfortunately. He's too big of a risk to let him do as he pleases. If things escalate as I think it will then we'll have to be prepared to defeat even Shadow Faze. I'll prepare a group to investigate him further. You can go now sister." Celestia said.

"As you wish sister. Let me know if you need anything." Luna said retreating from the throne room.

I waited for Luna to be out of ear shot to speak. "Why are you so confident Shadow would turn on us? He's proven that he is no threat to us." I said.

Celestia looked back at me showing little emotion behind the mask of a face in which she made for herself. "You have felt his raw power inside of him. He maybe on our side, but that kind of magic is unknown to any of us on this entire planet. Nopony with immense power like that should not be trusted to always do the right thing." She said.

"...I can see why you banished me to the moon along with your sister now... You are afraid of the unknown.... Well, you're not alone in that fear, but that doesn't mean Shadow is evil. He has saved Equestria again and again from major threats countless times, including myself at one point!" I said.

"And that's why I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, Nightmare. I'm not heartless, nor naive on these matters. If I find nothing to worry then I won't doubt him as a pony." Celestia said.

I was quiet for a while before leaving the throne room. "She better keep her word." the doors magically shut behind Nightmare.

Rainbow Dash's POV

I fly up to Fluttershy's cottage in a hurry. I've always liked feeling the wind in my face and body like I was apart of the sky itself; it made me feel like I could do anything I could set my mind to.

Excluding the rush of adrenaline inside me, my mind wondered off to different matters. I expected this to be another request from Fluttershy for some assistance with her animals. She has been in need of an animal sitter, so I thought I could help her with her troubles while she got what she needed to get some things done. However, Angel and his friends can be very dangerous when Fluttershy is away, so I've been animal sitting less often then when I first planned it out. Even with that dreadful thought on my mind, I would still help her regardless of what it might be. After all, we are true friends for each other.

I knocked on the door, but when nopony answered I knocked louder this time a slight spike of annoyance rise in me. Sometimes the world around me just acts too slow for my taste. Even my friends seem to act like this as well every so often. I had to take care of clouds for Celestia's sake! Nopony has no clue just how dangerous clouds can be. Especially the storm clouds. Fluttershy answers the door.

She smiled at me with a warm welcome. "O-Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. You came to help take care of the animals for me?" Fluttershy asked.

"That's why I'm here to help. Where are they?" I asked looking behind her to see no furry munchkins running around inside.

"They went into hiding not too long ago. I don't know why they are scared though." Fluttershy said with so much innocence that it tugged at my heart.

Sometimes I think Fluttershy is too adorable for her own good. I sighed before walking in. "What do you mean by that? Did something happened?" I said.

"Not in particular, I-I don't think...."

I looked around before ducking under the table to find some of the smaller animals huddled up underneath it like their life depended on it. Their eyes wide and they shook wildly like a invisible cold wind blew violently in their direction. I could only witness this in pure confusion. This wasn't the first time the animals have done this sort of behavior before, but that's usually when a nasty thunder storm rolls in. There's not supposed to be a scheduled rain storm for a while now. No matter how hard I thought about it, it all made no sense whatsoever.

Then I felt my skin crawl almost like it was my base instinct alerting me of something. I whipped my head around to survey the area. But all I saw was a concerned Fluttershy. "What's wrong Rainbow?" She asked.

I ignored her question searching more closely for the source. Continuing my search the distant sensation began to subside before it turned to nothing again. I sighed in annoyance. "I don't know. I just felt like we were being watched by somepony..... It must be my imagination." I said.

"W-W-We're are being watched?" Fluttershy asked almost on the verge of going into a full panic.

I abandoned my subquest to comfort the poor pegasus mare in her own panic. We had a tea party later on to calm her nerves. To my slight irritation, it was all set up in a filly fashion. I don't mind filly fashions and what not because I grew up around those things. It doesn't mean I have to like it.

We had a good time talking about each other's problems that is until my base instincts went off again, but this time the sensation was stronger than before.

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked worried I wasn't attentive during the conversation.

"Fluttershy. I think we should go to my place." I said cautiously.

I then felt in the shadows somepony attempt to restrain me down. The thing tossed me to the ground hard making my world spin while I heard Fluttershy's terrified cries.

"You horse shit! Get off me!" I said kicking as hard as I could into the pony. However the pony barely budged from my buck kick.

My eyes widen in shock. "Impossible. A kick like that would send anypony flying out the door."

The pony quickly went back to making me and my wings immobilized as I withheld a whimper of pain. The candle light that was given to us seem to give very little detail to the faces. Only the carnivorous white teeth could be seen the clearest. Which meant that this pony.....eat meat. Even an athlete like myself can tell when things are turning for the worst without getting into the numbers of why, so I struggled through the pony-thing's grip. Yet, I was somehow getting gradually very tired in its grip. Are my muscles overexerting themselves..... No, that's not it. I just started my struggle I can't be that tired yet. It was getting hard to stay focused on my task; eventually, I just simply laid there letting the mysterious pony above me keep pinning me down.

"Is she asleep now?" a voice talked out through the darkness.

At this point, I believe Fluttershy fell unconscious from whatever spell they put on us. "I believe so. We should get back to tartarus soon. We'll need the preparations to work perfectly for the Archdemon. No mistakes this time." a different gravel voice spoke back to the other pony-thing.

Before my concentration finally began to relax, I could feel my limp body being moved from the hard wood floor. I'm so tired.