Chapters The Nightmare Chronicles and the Great Prophecy
“…”
My eyes are shut tight. That’s the first thing I notice. My eyelids are heavy, weighing down like I haven’t slept in days. When I first try to open them, they sting, and I can hear a ringing sound in my ears. So I just lie there. My body kind of hurts anyway. It aches all over. What did I do last night?
“…ca…er me…”
Huh…I can’t really remember. I don’t know why I can’t remember, I wasn’t drunk, I mean I don’t…I don’t drink. Then what’s going on, why’s my mind so fuzzy?
I raise an aching arm to my head, or at least try to. But my arm, it feels weird, and heavy. It’s like the weight of the earth’s been increased or something, because it takes a decent amount of effort to move it. Come to think of it, it feels weak altogether. It’s like I had broke it, and it was just now free again after months in a cast.
It wasn’t as easy as it should have been, but I managed to raise my arm. I then brought my hand towards my face in order to rub my eyes. But instead of feeling my fingers, I felt a hard flat mass collide with my nose, which hit hard enough to startle me awake.
My eyes opened. They were blurry at first, but with some blinking, came back to normal. That’s when I first saw that I wasn’t in my room. I was outside, in what looked like a forest. Dark trees covered the setting sky above me. I could hear crickets chirping, and birds singing.
“Why am I outside?” I question to myself. It’s then that I notice that my face feels different. My nose, feels, larger and heavier than it should. I sit my body up, using my arms to prop myself.
“We…sing…nnection.”
I shake my head, and look around. I thought I had heard something. I’m not sure what though, it was so quiet, like an insect buzzing. Then, out of my peripheral vision, I spot something weird. My eyes shoot down to look at my lower body, and widen when they see that not only am not wearing pants, but also my body is covered in grey colored…fur? I quickly reach down with my arm to feel just what was covering my body, but the moment my hand reaches my leg, I quickly retract it back and stare at it in shock!
“M-my hand…. W-where is my fucking hand!” I quickly lift up my other hand. This left me un-propped, causing my torso to fall back and connect with the grass. But I don’t even notice it, as I stare at my other arm, which, like my other one, is missing its hand.
‘Both my hands are gone…and what are these stubs, what are these?’
I tap the two flat surfaces against each other, creating a clacking sound.
“Hooves?” I question to myself. “Am I dreaming?” I think this through for a few seconds, before coming to the conclusion that I’m not asleep. For one, my body aches, and you can’t feel pain in a dream. Second, this is all…just too vivid. And aside from being… a horse (I guess?) in a forest, nothing dreamlike is happening. Everything is staying consistent, no random creatures or objects appearing, no distortions of logic.
“But if I’m not dreaming….” I sit myself up again. My abdominal wall feels like I’ve just done two hundred sit-ups. I then roll over onto my stomachs side and press my forearms, or should I say legs, against the surface of the earth, and push myself up. I bended my rear legs in the complete opposite way that a humans knees bend, and connected my rear hooves to the ground. I then pushed myself up, so that I’m standing on my rear legs. I wobble, completely off balance, before falling to the ground, landing on my forelegs. I cry out in pain, as it feels like I’d just been slapped hard across a newly formed bruise or welt.
“Right…horse,” I say to myself, before trying this once again, only this time, sticking with the four-legged approach. It’s a new experience, though not completely new. I mean, humans can walk on four limbs if they want, like many due when they’re kids. But now with all my limbs being the same length, it actually feels more comfortable.
Once standing, I take a look at my body. My fur is grey, and if I look behind me, I can see a blue swishing tail.
“What kind of horse has a blue tail?” I ask in disbelief. “Seriously, why is my tail blue, that’s stupid! Did someone dye it another color? Why would anyone dye a horse’s tail?” It takes a few moments, but I soon realize another fact of my situation. “Wait a second…I can talk? I’m speaking English right now?” I always thought horses could only make…well, horse noises.
I honestly have no idea what’s going on right now. I’m a horse, but I can talk. That shouldn’t be possible. I mean, I’m not complaining, if I’m going to be trapped in a horses body, I might as well be able to communicate. It’ll help if I run into any humans. But then again, a talking horse might be a little…vulnerable to human dissection. Humans do like dissecting things, it’s like our favorite thing to do.
“I’ll just have to deal with that when it becomes necessary,” I say to myself.
I then decide to look around. The forest I’m in is dark, the leaves of the trees nearly completely blocking out the sky. The trees themselves look rather intimidating, with what almost looks like screaming faces etched into the bark. A chill runs up my spine as I see them. I can almost hear them screaming out at me. I don’t like it.
“Keep moving Dustin, keep moving.” I do just that, and try to put as much distance between me and these trees as possible.
In a short time, the sun finished setting, and the moon was now in the sky. Though the forest I found myself in was cast in darkness, it didn’t hinder my vision. Somehow, the moon was casting enough light to allow me to see, which is something I’ve never experience before. Usually, I’m blind without a streetlight or something. I’m not quite sure what it is, maybe it’s because I’m a horse now. Perhaps they have better night vision than humans.
During my search for a place to take shelter for the night, I noticed a gnawing in my stomach. It was subtle at first, but soon grew in strength. Soon, hunger became my driving force.
It quickly felt as though I hadn’t eaten in days. Come to think of it, that very well may be the case. I was in a new body; it stands to reason that it’s never eaten before.
I start looking around for something to eat. It takes a while, but eventually I spy a bush with berries on it, resting next to a tree.
I quickly rush up to it, and spy the berries. They’re small, about the size of blueberries, but I can’t really make out the color.
I move my head closer to the berries, smelling them to try to discern what kind they were.
“Hm…they don’t smell like any berries I’ve smelled before.”
I have no idea whether they’re poisonous or not. But they’re the only food I’ve found in this forest, so I decide to try one.
I open my mouth, and bite down on one, pulling it from the stalk. Its taste is…unique. It certainly doesn’t TASTE poisonous, but that’s probably not a decent enough indicator. I decide that I’ll wait a little while to see if I notice any adverse side effects, like an upset stomach or something.
A moment later, an extremely unpleasant smell drifts into my nose. I sniff at it, and it smells like rot and decay.
“Ugh, I feel like I’m gonna throw up.” I start gagging, not sure whether it’s from the berries or the smell, or whether they are one in the same.
A twig snaps. I quickly turn my head to the direction of the noise, and freeze when I see a pair of glowing yellow eyes.
The figure makes a growling noise. I don’t move an inch, as a chill runs up my spine. Slowly the figure emerges from the darkness, and I don’t believe what I see. The body is structured like that of a wolf, only much larger…and made of wood. Twigs and sticks make up its body, with sharp shards making up its teeth. The whole thing looks like a pagan art project, brought to life by unholy means.
“That…that’s not possible,” I mutter to myself.
The creature starts steadily advancing on me. This thing wants to eat me. I quickly turn, and try to make a sprint for it. My eyes widen when I see a second creature, identical to the first one in front of me. It raises its right paw, and brings it down on my chest, leaving three bloody gashes in my flesh! I let out a scream as I collapse to my knees. Blood starts leaking from the gashes, staining my fur.
I hear more growling, and look to my left to see another one of these wolf things advancing. That makes three of them.
“Shit!” I mutter to myself as more blood leaks from my chest. I look to my right. No wolves on that side. I have an opening.
Survivors instinct taking over, I get up to my hooves and dash through the opening. The wolves immediately give chase.
I’m able to run much faster on four legs, but unfortunately, the wolves are able to keep pace with me. I’m still not used to this body, but as I let instinct take control, I’m able to keep from making a fatal error.
I look back behind me to see the three wolves pursuing me. I look forward, and see a log in my path just in time. I leap over it, and keep galloping, with the wolves still in pursuit.
I hear a howling from my right. I look and see yet another wooden wolf running up beside me. I try to bank left, but a fifth wolf blocking my path.
‘God Damn it, they’re trying to box me in!’
I have no choice but to keep running. For minutes, I try to gain ground on my hunters, but I can’t. Nearly reaching my limit, we exit the trees, and come to a clearing. No…no, it’s not a clearing, it’s a cliff!
I dig my newly acquired hooves into the dirt, skidding to a halt. The force from my running knocks me over, and I tumble. I roll over, dirt getting into my wounds as I stop just shy of the cliff.
The wolves surround me, five in all, growling and snarling.
‘Bastards…this was all a trap!’
I painfully get to my hooves, standing up as strait as I can. The wolves are slowly advancing on me, and I can tell they’re getting ready to attack. I look behind myself to see a rushing river far down below.
At that moment, I felt another surge of pain, as sharp wood penetrated my right foreleg. I look to back at my attackers to see one of the wolves has taken advantage of my distraction, and latched its jaws onto my leg. I scream out, as it feels like a sharp vice grip is compressing my leg! I swear I can feel it digging into my bone.
I raise my other foreleg, and bash the wooden wolf on the head.
One hit, does nothing.
A second hit causes a bit of wood to chip off.
I put everything I have into my third hit, while yanking my injured leg in an attempt to get it from the mouth of this beast. It works, but as my arm retracts, the teeth scrape my leg, carving multiple gashes in my arm!
With my legs free but injured, I look back to see the rushing water.
‘I won’t last much longer like this,’ I think. I can see the wooden wolves advancing on me. They’re close enough that I can see dried blood and chunks of meat in their mouths. At that moment, I make a decision.
“I may die either way, but at least this way, it’ll be quicker.”
Just as one of the wolves is about to charge me, I leap backwards. I feel my stomach leap as I begin falling. But it doesn’t last long.
The next thing I feel is the hard slap of the cold water slamming into my body.
I’m already sick of this shit.
Author's Note
This is a collaboration done with theredbregade .
The Nightmare Chronicles and the Great Prophecy
“Have you figured out what went wrong yet?”
“No, I have not. Have you found out where he is yet?”
“I’ve had no luck, unfortunately. My best estimation is that he’s somewhere in Equestria, but other than that, I have no idea.”
“This is concerning. Finding himself in a new world will be difficult to adjust to, especially without someone there to help him. We need to focus on finding him as soon as possible.”
“Let’s just hope he didn’t appear anywhere where he might be in danger.”
I let out a huge gasp of air as my head breaks the surface. The rushing river pushes me around violently, and any attempt to swim is hindered by my new body. As I try to gain control, the rapids slam me right into a rock. It collides with my torso, bruising my rib cage. I let out cry of pain just as I bob below the water, causing water to go down my throat. I can feel as a small portion goes down the wrong hole, causing it to get in my lungs. I start coughing and hacking. I have absolutely no control right now; I’m at the mercy of this river.
As I look around, looking for something to grab onto, my eyes widen as I see that just ahead of me is a waterfall! I start to panic. If I go over the edge, there is a very good chance that I could die.
So, as soon as I am with in reach, I grab onto a rock, and hold on for dear life. The current threatens my grip, but I just hug that hunk of stone as hard as possible. Water is splashing everywhere; I am able to see that there is land a short distance away. If I get on top of this rock, I might be able to make a leap for it.
I’m still working on getting a hold of my new body, but I know I can’t just hold onto this rock forever. So, I start struggling, trying to climb the rock. I’m filled with fear that one mistake will send me to my doom. But, luckily, I am able to get my stomach to flop on top of the rock. I then put my hooves against the surface, and stand myself up.
The wind built up from the current blows against my sopping wet fur. I feel heavy with all this damp fur. I shake myself a bit to try to dry my self off some, and then I look ahead to see the dry land a short ways away. A lump appears in my throat. If I don’t make this jump, I’ll land right back in the water, which will quickly throw me over the edge.
“It’ll be ok,” I try to assure myself. “Horses have really strong legs. I’ll make this jump…I’ll make it.”
I crouch down. Focusing on the jump, I take deep breaths. Then, I extend my legs as fast and as powerfully as I can.
As cliché as it sounds, time seems to slow down for me. My mind seems to be working at a much faster pace. I look at the gap I am facing, and I see that I’m starting to descend from my jump.
‘I’m not going to make it!’
I extend my forelegs as far as I can.
My forelegs land on the grass, and I grab on as tight as I can. I’m not sure how I’m doing this with hooves, but somehow, I’m able to. My rear legs, however, splash into the water. The current tires to drag me away, but I hold on to dear life. I pull and climb, and after a few excruciating moments, I successfully get myself onto the ground. Immediately, I flop onto the ground, lying on my back, breathing in deeply, and still coughing up a bit of water from my lungs.
I can feel the rapid beat of my heart, and the strain in my muscles. I’m out of breath, so I just lie there for several minutes.
The wind blows against my wet fur, chilling me. It’s cold.
Deciding I need to get moving, I prop myself up, and get on my hooves, and feel a surge of pain as I put pressure on my right foreleg. I cry out, and retract my hoof, somehow managing to balance on three legs. I raise my foreleg up to look at it. There are deep gashes and holes in it, and it’s bleeding. Honestly, I’m surprised I’m still standing, instead of passing out from blood loss. It was probably only thanks to adrenaline that it didn’t cripple me before this moment.
“If I don’t patch this up, I’ll either die from blood loss, or some animal will smell it and come after me.” I start walking, somehow managing to stay balanced on three legs. My goal now is to find something to bind my wounds with.
As I traverse this ungodly forest, more blood leaks from my leg. The wind is still chilling me, and to top it off, I’m extremely hungry.
“So many problems, and only one me. I fucking hate this place.”
After walking for so long, my eyelids start getting heavy. I can feel myself getting sleepy.
‘That’s not good. I’m pretty sure that means I’m dying…’
As I stumble past the foliage, my eyes catch sight of something extraordinary. Separated from me by a large chasm is…a crumbling, medieval style castle.
“That’s a…am I not in America anymore?” I question to myself. My train of thought is quickly cut short when I hear the sound of howling in the air. My eyes widen in fear as I look back down at my injured leg.
“God damn it…not again.” I look ahead to see a rickety old rope bridge crossing the divide that separates me from the castle. I decide that that is the best place to take refuge. With a light and dizzy head, I manage to make my way to the bridge, and start crossing. It’s hard, as I feel like at any moment, the ropes could snap, or a board would break. Luckily, nothing happens.
After crossing the bridge, I stumble to the front doors, and nudge them open. I enter the castle as quickly as possible, shutting the doors behind me.
I knew I needed to find something to bandage my leg with, but by the time I secured myself in this castle, my energy was completely exhausted. I stumbled forward, before my legs gave way, causing me to collapse. I hit the stone floor, and flopped there, unable to continue moving.
As my eyes started to grow tired, I suddenly felt a warm tingling sensation spread over my body.
The last thing I heard before everything went black was:
“Well…what do we have here?”
Author's Note
Alright, the next two chapters will be written by theredbregade
The Nightmare Chronicles and the Great Prophecy
Dustin crawled through the disgusting filth of the Everfree forest. His body was riddled with various cuts and nasty bruises. One leg was limp, likely dislocated from that recent manticore attack. The man dreaded the thought of manually relocating his own leg, but he knew that that time must come eventually.
‘Oh god why me...what did I do to deserve this much pain? Was I a bad person?’
With a whimper of pain Dustin let his tired and practically broken body collapse against a tall tree. Clouds circle over his head, the darkness they emanate and thunderous booms signifying the oncoming storm. If there was a god or goddess in this world...they sure as hell weren't being merciful to him.
“...”
Rustling from the bushes disturbed the human from his blissful moments of silence. From within Dustin could see twin glowing orbs stare back at him, those monstrous eyes peered deep into his soul, snuffing any comfort he had, like a cigarette under one's boot.
“...Heh...You gonna kill me….? Go ahead...whoever or whatever you are….Just fucking do it...the very least you can do is make it quick. Go for the bloody throat, eat my heart out, just END ME.”
At his words there was a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning. Rain poured down on him and the creature within the bush, it made no noise...It just...stared. Beads of sweat trickled down his brow and matted his muddy fur. The darkness that had been slowly devouring the corners of his vision plunged him into unconsciousness, from the waking world into a nightmare.
My eyes open, I felt at peace, had I died? Looking down at my body I could see much to my relief that I was back in my normal human body. However instead of being in my bed or even a hospital bed….I found that I was standing in the middle of an open field. I adorned a white cloak, armor plated made of solid gold had been woven into the shoulder pads with what appeared to be solid light.
‘A dream….? It's all a dream...right…?’ Looking around my eyes adjusted and locked onto a shadowy figure.
This shadow moved at a slow pace, it had the form of a horse, no….a Pegasus? Unicorn? It had no face for me to identify but from its frame I could tell that it was a mare. Her body had been engulfed in a black smoke. Each step she took killed the grass around her, decaying it to the point of it turning brown. My body is frozen and my muscles tensed up.
Fear clasps my heart making me feel cold inside. The closer the pegacorn came the worse I begin to feel. When she had made it only a few away she stood back on her hind legs. Her body slowly morphed like clay until she took on a more human form. However her tail, mane, ears, wings, and horn remained. It was then that her face finally took shape. Both her freakishly large eyes open revealing nothing but a neon blue light. Her hand slowly reached towards me, darkness floats from her hand and into my face. Every cell in my body seemed to burst into flames. Wisps of shadow travel up my eye sockets, my nose, and through my ears.
My lips parted letting out a distorted scream that doesn't even sound human. My flesh tears itself apart making room for the blue fur, my bones crack and reform into the all to familiar pony muzzle. More pain erupts from my rapidly changing body. The source is both on my forehead and back. More sickening tearing echoed across the slowly decaying landscape followed by the chorus of my screams of agony.
My eyes screw shut, tears pouring down my bloodied blue fur. One wing rips itself from my spine, exposing itself to the air. Another feathered appendage followed to join the other. The wingspan was easily 8 feet long. My head however feels pain unlike ANYTHING I've ever felt before. The shadow mare watches my agonizing metamorphosis with a small smirk. This filled me with something….something I never felt before. My teeth grit and I force myself onto my hooves. Blood stained the brown patches of grass crimson.
With a final pop I felt the spiral horn reach its full length. My eyes slowly opened, both eyes glowing a bright white. This emotion completely negates any feeling of pain I had felt in those moments past. The shadow takes a step back with wide eyes, shocked that I even managed to stand. Without the use of my wings I floated into the air, a white aura surrounding my blue fur. From the bottoms of my hind hooves to the tip of my horn I'm engulfed in more white light. There is a bright flash and my fur had been revert back to its original light grey.
My eyes continue to glow white, I raise a hoof into the air. The magical aura that had healed me formed into a long spear. It grew in length until the projectile grew as long as a school bus. I
That feeling inside me?….it was….HATE.
Blue ribbons constrict around the white spear until the astral weapon is completely formed. The shadow steps back further, her expression becoming more fearful, whether it was the expression on my face, or the giant fucking spear I'll never know. She raised a barrier of the smoke in an attempt to protect herself from my assault. With a bone chilling roar I make a throwing motion with my hoof. The spear flies and went through the barrier like a knife through butter and impaled the shadow mare. For a moment she just stared in disbelief at me before cracking a smile. Her eyes close and for the first time during the entirety of the dream….she spoke.
“Well played Chosen….I'll be seeing you soon enough…”
I wake up screaming, my body squirming around on the cold, marble floor. When I realize I'm not in the dream, I relax. My breath comes out in deep huffs. The first thing I noticed was the sudden lack of pain, then the bandages wrapped around my wounds. Looking around I could see the place I'm in is not the Forest rather...a temple, no a castle! However the room appeared to be trashed, two thrones were crumpled up into metal pretzels.
Stone columns were smashed and toppled over. This covered the ruined red rug I lay upon in the rubble. The most noticeable thing however is the GIANT, GLOWING, ritual ring burned into the floor. I was currently laying in the center of said ritual ring. The markings and symbols were nothing I ever saw before in my life. I examine my hooves and that was when I saw It, the last traces of BLUE fur vanishing before my very eyes, leaving only grey in its place.
“What….happened…?” I mumble under my breath. What happens next makes my body go numb with fear. From the corner of the room I hear a female mare respond to my question.
“You tell me Chosen…~” Her clopping of hooves on the cracked tiles makes me tense with each step. When she emerges from the shadows I gulped. Her form was that of the mare in my dreams minus the creepy black smoke. Her coat is either black or dark blue, I can't tell in the castle’s eerie darkness. Her eyes however are that same shade of green from before I sliped into that hellish dream world, the orbs housed cat like slits.
“No need to fear...you won't be harmed. I find it quite interesting that the chosen is a unicorn….the prophecy spoke of a powerful Alicorn…” She hums more to herself than me. The corners of her lips tug up into an evil grin showing off her sharp fangs. Imprinted on her flanks was a moon that had been blotted out with drops of darkness. For a moment I didn’t respond, thinking that this was just a continuation of the fucked up dream I had. When I felt my legs again I scrambled out of the ritual circle and back into the corner of the ruined throne room. With my back to the wall I ask her the big question. “W-who...are you….w-what are you…?” Her wings flutter on her back as she stared at me with that sinister grin.
“Idiot foal...you act as if thou hath not seen an alicorn princess before! Has thou bumped your head from the plunge into the lake? My name is Nightmare Moon, goddess of the moon and nightmares.” Her tone shifted into a somewhat medieval accent. My brow raised and with an idginite huff I walk towards her with a menacing glare. I have had enough shit happen to me during my time in this fucked up world. I would NOT be belittled and pestered by the likes of some emo wannabe, cartoon horse.
“I was KIDNAPPED from my world, I've been nearly torn to bits by wooden wolves, I had to jump from a waterfall to escape, I drug myself through mud and shit, and NOW? Im getting picked on by some SAD, LONELY, HOMELESS, DELUSIONAL BITCH WHO APPARENTLY LIVES IN A DUMP CASTLE, TO THINK SHE IS A FUCKING GODDESS.” I could feel that familiar sensation of power flowing through my veins like a rushing river. My body becomes muscular and well built from the magic that had enhanced it. Nightmare stepped back with wide eyes and winced at my harsh words. I must have struck a tender spot because I could see tears in the corners of her eyes.
“You know nothing mortal…..I save you and this is how you treat me? Mayhaps I should have left you to be eaten by the wolves instead of tending to thee….” Gritting her teeth she turned and walked away from me and much to my surprise, walked STRAIT, through a wall. My face contorts into that of shock then instant regret, then mild curiosity.
“Great...ghosts...because why the fuck not…” With cautious hoofsteps I shuffled awkwardly over to the wall she fazed through. I tap the wall with a resounding CLOP which echoed through seemingly the entirety of the castle. Like a switch all the tinted windows slammed shut, engulfing me into the darkness I've slowly grown accustomed to. The ritual I had been apparently healing me was the only source of light that gave me comfort.
‘Maybe I was a little harsh…..’
I bit my bottom lip and trot over, laying back in the runic circle. One forehoof gently traced around the individual symbols that danced along the outer rings. The moment the tip of said hoof tapped the first symbol it turned silver. This peaked my interest rather quickly, I tap another symbol with similar results. I'm not sure why but I had this strong urge to tap them all. The flat side of my hoof drags in a circular motion around me until every blue symbol and line was silver. Soon my body was running on autopilot. I felt a tingling sensation within my horn, a glowing white aura surrounded my body. Hindleggs shifted with my forehoof motions until I had begun performing an angelic dance.
‘Why….am I doing this…..my body! I cant stop, but...it feels so natural….and….familiar…?’
The dance created these silver threads that add onto the rune circles that Nightmare had created. It was then that I felt the floor leave from under me and I ascended into the air. Internally I was screaming, I want to scream but I can't even open my mouth. From the shadows I hear an angelic and familiar voice begin singing soothingly to my graceful display of dancing in the air.
Come, little children I'll take thee away Into a land Of enchantment
Come, little children The time's come to play Here in my garden Of magic
Follow, sweet children I'll show thee the way Through all the pain and The sorrows
Weep not, poor children For life is this way Murdering beauty and Passions
Hush now, dear children It must be this way To weary of life and Deceptions
Rest now, my children For soon we'll away Into the calm and The quiet
Come, little children I'll take thee away Into a land Of enchantment
Come, little children The time's come to play Here in my garden Of shadows
One arm points down towards the rings of magic I had somehow conjured from nothing while the other points towards the ceiling. The magical circle rose from the floor and above my head. Once it reached the ceiling it explodes into a beautiful finished product.
It was then that the singing stopped, Nightmare Moon emerges from the darkness and enters the ring of light I find myself floating under. Looking up at me with an emotionless expression she speaks calmly.
“You truly are the chosen….”
Author's Note
This chapter was written by theredbregade. He'll also write the next chapter, then it'll be me again.
