Chapter 3 Nightmare Within Rewrite

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Once the light focused in her eyes she saw the most beautiful and rarest sight for somepony who never left the forest, the rolling grass hills of the gardens looked as if they stretched for miles, she knew logically that she knew she was exaggerating. Then again she did not care, and with the gentle breezing blowing through the grass forcing each blade to move as if it was a wave, and the not quite dried up dew the midnight mist that sparkled in the sunlight distracted her, and there was only one thing her body told her to do.

She stepped out into the grass, she ran. And she frolicked over the hills and through the long strands of grass, something primal took over and as her mane and withers to the breeze, she ran with it. She felt as if she had become one with nature.

She did not hear her mother calling her name, nor did she remember how long she had been running through the grassy gardens. She was playing tag with the wind, and while too caught up in the game the small changes in the garden remained unnoticed.

It started small the neatly kept long grass became shorter, with ragged cuts to the tips, the castle was were then replace with rocky mountains hills and the occasional tree started popping up more frequently.

She was getting closer to the mountainside, soon enough she no longer on castle grounds, and while grass turned to dirt hills turned into groves of large trees and Rocky cliff faces

Eventually, the feelings that enchanted her set aside when something appeared in one of her sides glances, she did not see it long, but long enough for her curiosity to be peaked. Making it over the last hill at a canter she stopped at the top and looked down at it.

It appeared to be some sort of hedge wall, but It looked very unkempt. The branches looked as if nature was fighting some sort of growing plague, with branches being dead colors of yellow and grey, while other nearby branches were vibrant green and full of life.

The hedges were lined with a cobblestone wall that surrounded it, with a stone archway which split the Hedges, both of which looked to be under the assault by vines and roots that have taken grip to them. On a closer look, the archway had hundreds of strange symbols carved into them and the top of the arch was carved into a strange mix between a Goat and a dragon's head.

She felt uneasy about the path that led through the archway, it was as if she was being watched, judged. And the breeze that she was just recently playing with cried out in a ghastly moan as it trailed between the hedge walls.

Then she heard something, or was it somepony, it sounded like a whisper. Or was it just her imagination.

She could walk away, that is what a smart pony would do, she was a smart pony, her mommy told her so, she said that I 'can read books other ponies my age could not even dream to understand'... Whatever that means. But if she was so smart, why was she entering the archway? She did not know

I guess curiosity killed the cat.

Making it through the hedge wall, she looks around, to her, it appeared to be a labyrinth like the one she had back home, but something felt off about it, though she could not quite put a hoof on it.

Continuing straight she came to what looked as if it was a guardian, while the plants within were varying, dead or alive what drew her attention in the middle of the garden. There were seven Statues surrounding an old cracked plague. Each one with a single word edged into them

To her the stature varied from funny looking to disturbing, to the last to in which she was sure were going to be in her nightmares in the coming nights but what was common among them were how they looked to be a harsh mutation between a Dragon, and other living animals that vary with no order, or cemetery

The first lin the line up seemed to be a mix of a dragon, with a goat head, and legs of a lion, a bird, a horses hoof and a dragon leg, and miss-matched wings and horns, at the bottom the words edged into it was Pride.

Glancing at the other statues they were labeled Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. Only then did she read the plaque

The storms of an Ancient age has passed.

This monument morn the loss of magics long forgotten and useless, but now lay avenged by the Gods who now walk among us. May those who have been lost along the way find the peace of death someday.

And with the end of that age of chaos, now stand these fragments at the heart of Equus. For as long as they are present, may the worst of pony-kind lay buried in the past.

"What, what is this?" she asked herself, trying to make sense of what she was reading.

She knew from back home that Statue Gardens are common for rich ponies, her mother even took her to see the palaces Statue garden, though her rule that she was not allowed to go there without a guard or her self to watch over her. When asked why, her mother would mumble something about controlling Caladral Damage.

Perhaps that's why she feel very uncomfortable right~

Her ear twitched to the first statue, the whispering was back, it was louder, but none of her attempts to quiet down and listen. Made it intelligible, then it stopped once more. A chill ran her back, her ears laid back and she retreated a few steps

"I~is Aanypony there?" she hesitantly asked.

Silence filled the forest, deafening silence, almost unnatural

"TWILIGHT WHERE ARE YOU!?" she heard her name coming from back beyond the archway. It was her mommy. Turning around she trotted back the way she came, she could not, however, stop her self from glancing back.