How did it come to this? thought Daring Do.This cold...this fear, is that all I can feel now? The mare lifted her head from the chains she was in to have another look. The room she was stuck in had the same aura to how she felt. I’m the last one, she thought. In the silence she began to have thoughts of how she came to this madness.
Sweat? I guess it’s a bit warm out here, but I didn't think it was that warm, thought Daring as she walked through the dry, dead forest. Her search for the lost ring of Starswirl the Bearded, a very powerful horn ring that could amplify the mana of any unicorn, began to feel tedious. Though her search had been brief, she could feel in her gut that she was getting close, very close.
*No, before that!
“You do know why I called you here, right?” asked Letter Scroll to the tan-colored adventurer. They were in the Canterlot vault, which was where the most powerful of artifacts were held, some of which now included the infamous Alicorn Amulet.
Daring looked right into Letter’s eyes. “I’m assuming that you found word of another artifact that needs to be retrieved before it falls into the wrong hooves,” Daring remarked, sarcasm tainting her voice. She had been through this conversation countless times. Letter would call her into the Vault so he could assign her another mission to find another ‘dangerous artifact’.
“You’re a smart mare. That is why we keep hiring you, of course,” mused Mr. Scroll, clearly missing her sarcasm. “So, we received a letter yesterday informing us of the location of Starswirl the Bearded’s mana ring. With the letter was a map that leads deep into the Everfree Forest. The letter was sent by one of our key informants, but when we went by his home to get more information, we found him dead.”
Daring cringed, as she was hoping for at least one peaceful expedition. Now, it was clear that the danger is as high as ever. “Well, there go my hopes of getting the job done quickly. So, when do I start?” she asked ready to get things going.
Letter looked up from his desk at the mare in front of him. “Why, you have already started,” he stated with a smile. “Here is the map. Good luck, Mrs. Do. I’ll see you when you get back.”
Daring picked up the map that had been handed to her with her teeth and placed it into her saddle bag. She turned around and left Letter Scroll without another word.
Once she made it back to her home she pulled out the map so she could prepare herself for the endeavors of the following day. As she looked over the map, she found that it was indeed an image of the Everfree Forest. Well, she thought, at least it’s close by this time..
Most of her adventures had taken place outside of Equestrian territory. In fact, the closest mission that could even count as being in Equestria was the time she had spent to locate the crystal skull, the counterfeit of the crystal heart that would spread disharmony over the land.
Now, she finally had an assignment that was closer to home, and she anticipated that this would be a quick job and she be back home the next day. Looking at the map, however, it seemed like it was a two day journey from the edge of the forest to the known location. Well, it looks like it will be a long-short trip, she thought to herself, chuckling at the contradiction. Daring then made her way to her bedroom to prepare for the days to come.
Daring stood in front of Everfree Forest with the small town of Ponyville behind her. The trees grew high and nearly covered everything in the forest, and the only clearing that could be seen was the narrow pathway that lead into the expanse. The mare took in a deep breath. Well here we go, then, she thought to herself. Her hoof went up to her hat and she pressed down the brim, now beginning her trek into the Everfree.
As she walked, she could hear nothing but her hooves hitting the ground, each clop echoing through the vast collection of trees. Despite the bad rap that the forest had got, it was surprisingly beautiful to walk through. The trees were as green as any tree in civilization, if not more so. Despite the calm look of the forest, she could still feel the potential danger lurking.
Occasionally she could hear the howl of timberwolves, and the scream that came from what she assumed was a howler monkey every now and then. Each sound would run sharp shivers down her spine that would make her mane stand on end.
She had been walking for what felt like the whole day, probably because it was the whole day and the sun was now setting. However, the trees were so thick that the only clue that Daring had was the decline in temperature. Knowing that predators in the forest were most likely to come out at night, she used her wings to take flight. Landing on a tree she spotted, she took off her saddlebag. Opening it, she found some of the food she had brought and had herself a small meal before pulling out a compressed blanket and drifting to sleep.
There was no way of knowing what time it was. Suddenly, Daring was woken abruptly by the sound of hoof steps underneath her. Sounds of hushed voices filled her ears as she looked down to see the passing convoy of about fifty ponies.
“Hey, Compass, maybe we should rest for a bit,” asked a pony which Daring could only see the shadowy outline of, due to a lit torch that was up ahead of the ominous group.
Upon the statement made by the shadowed pony, the bearer of the torch stopped, turned and headed towards the speaker. When the pony with the torch approached the shadowed pony, Daring could finally see faces and color. The pony who spoke had a light green coat and a brown mane. His cutie mark consisted of a small scroll that looked a lot like a mayor’s scroll but smaller. However due to the position of the torch she could not make out the look of the pony holding it, the only thing she could see was a hint of orange.
The two ponies stood there for a moment looking at each other, the light green one filled with a look of fright and uncertainty. The poor pony had no time to react as the orange pony drew out something sharp and quickly sliced of his head, leaving behind a fountain of crimson blood and vomit as the pony’s last supper gushed out of the exposed esophagus. The head rolled for a moment and blinked as the pool of blood filled the ground beneath. Then, with another quick swing, he drove the sword down and split the green mass in half, causing the rest of the blood to drain out. The homicidal pony then trotted across the carnage and stabbed the head with his sword, turning around, shouting. “Does anypony else want to question our master’s orders? Compass needs to be there by noon tomorrow, so if anypony disagrees, I’ll give you the same reward as Mr. Pen here.” Making an end to his speech, he flicked his sword and the head flew in a perfect arc and hit Daring right in the face.
Daring did all she could to keep herself quiet about the unexpected assault of the dead pony. Having grabbed the head she looked down upon the lifeless face, the same look of unease embedded permanently. She then dropped the head to the ground. Yes, she may have seen more gruesome sights, but holding another pony’s head in her hoofs was not her idea of an adventure. She then proceeded to watch as the crowd continued to move along the path, the shadow of ponies stepping around the gore that plagued the soil. Ruthless, the last thing I need, complained Daring in her thoughts. Now that she knew who the competition was, she could be more prepared to win the prize first.
At this point, Daring tried to go back to sleep, but not only did the tragic image keep her from drifting, but the smell of chunks of vomit mixed with blood poisoned the air. After an hour of waiting her limbs finally went limp as she fell into a tormented sleep.
Sweat? I guess it’s a bit warm out here, but I didn’t think it was that warm, thought Daring as she walked through the dry and dead forest. Her search for the lost ring of Starswirl the Bearded, a very powerful horn ring that could advance the manna for any unicorn, began to feel tedious. Though her search had been brief, she could feel in her gut that she was getting close, very close.
From the morning she continued her trek. She had to hurry, if she was going to beat Compass to the ring. It was sudden, the change in the forest. It changed from a lush rich green environment, to a barren, dead graveyard. With every step a dead leaf would crack and turn to dust. The ominous feeling that the forest gave grew exponentially as the scenery changed before her. Despite her desire to turn back, her ego got the better of her and she carried on into the forest.
It did not take long for Daring to arrive at the marked spot on the map. For what she was expecting from a temple to a dig site, she was not expecting what stood before her. It was a cave. A simple cave with plain stone and nothing of value to show. Well... I guess it’s as good a hiding place as any, she thought to herself. Yet, staring into the black chasm, she could not shake the feeling of dread. That was when she noticed the hoof prints on the ground. It was not just the hoof prints, but the bloody skid marks that dragged alongside them. Daring analyzed the violent evidence, concluding that she had to be very cautious around these ponies.
Turning back to the cave, she approached it. Something was amiss about it, though. Most caves she had been in had at least a sound of water dripping, but this cave was just silent. Daring then reached into her bag and grabbed the torch she brought with her, lighting it she took a deep breath and entered the cave.
Some time had passed since Daring entered the cave, her torch glowing on the pale walls of the chasm. Soon, Daring was no longer surprised at the dead silence that the cave gave, it only made sense due to the lack of life outside. It was not long until Daring came to the end of the tunnel. Not a way out, but a dead end. However the wall in front of her was not made of rock but a swirling mist that kind of reminded her of a sick cloud. Curious, Daring took a step closer to the strange scene in front of her. That is when she heard a slight growl, a growl that soon grew into a deathly howl. Before she know what was happening a pale white claw shot out from the cloud, reaching for Daring’s neck. Daring jumped out of the way before the hand could finds its mark, but the hand still grabbed her wing. The captured mare gasped as she was pulled, using all her force to fight, she felt the bones in her wing start to crack and pull. With a final effort to escape daring lunged hoping to free herself, only to have another hand come out and grab her other wing, snapping the bones. With a scream, Daring blacked out from the pain as she was pulled into the void.
Consciousness. That was the last thing Daring wanted. As she woke up, the first thing that she noticed was the deep, excruciating pain in her wings. Despite the pain, she did not let out any sound. She was good at that, holding in her discomfort. The mare opened her eyes, and at first she could not see much. She was not sure if that was because it was too dark to see or if her wings were blocking out her vision. It soon came out to be the latter. As her vision came back to her, what she saw nearly made her heart jump out of her throat. All around her were walls painted in crimson red, and on the floor was a cold smooth gray surface. That was when the smell hit her nose, nearly causing Daring to regurgitate the contents of her stomach. The stench that filled the room was a mix of stomach acid, rot, and sulfur.
“Ah, so the famous Daring Do finally awakens,” said a mocking voice. Turning her head, she began to see more of the room she was stuck in. Alongside her where ten other ponies, most of them too bloody for her to see any features. Next to her was a pony whose coat was caked with fresh blood, but just enough orange showed through that Daring knew that this was the pony that had murdered a pony right in front of her. It did not take long for Daring to realize that all the other ponies were also chained up to the wall. “And the bit flips...,” said the orange pony, as Daring looked over the dungeon. Then she came to the revelation of her predicament, if she was here with her opposition, then there was something worse up ahead. “...and it falls. Glad to know that we are not alone here, eh?”
Daring was caught a little off guard when his last statement was said with a more gentle tone. The adventurer looked at him, baffled, kindness was the last thing she would expect from him. However, before she could open her mouth, her ears picked up on the same sound that she had heard before. The slight growl, again, started soft, only to increase in volume at a steady rate. Soon the whole room was filled with the growl that sounded as if one would have their existence sucked away from them.
Daring watched in terror as an apparition started to form right in front of her eyes.
What scared her more was when the apparition turned solid, at least she thought it was solid. The creature was about two sizes larger than the average pony, roughly about the same size as Princess Celestia. It was stark naked, its pale skin peeling straight up from foot to head. Its feet were complete with long claws, along with its hands. Its skin, though pale, was peeling like a bare sunburn, leaving gaps that shined black within its body. What unsettled Daring the most, however, was its face. Its hideous face. On top its head was a clump of white hair, and downwards were its eyes that were as black as obsidian. Then there was its mouth, small and thin and perfectly round.
The growl that filled the room lingered. That is, until a shout began to be heard.
“Leave us alone, oh, just please leave us alone! Go away, you hideous thing, and leave us be!” The growling stopped instantly, and at first Daring thought the beast was going to listen to the fearful plea and disappear. The pony that had spoken was the farthest from the mare, and was saying the same line over and over, hoping that his nightmare would soon end.
After a few moments of the beast standing there, it began to pivot unnaturally, silently, not even moving its feet. Once the beast was facing the whimpering pony, it began to spread out its circular mouth, revealing rows of jagged teeth. Then it started moving towards its addressor smoothly and silently.
“No, please, no, get away from me, you demon! Get away from me! Get away from me!.
The beast had arrived to the frightened pony, and slowly lifted its deathly hand up to his head and wrapped its claws around it. The pony went instantly silent in staring into those deep black eyes. Then the pony started to let out a deathly scream as the beast started to pull upwards on his head. His screams of pain and terror increasing as the beast pulled, and skin began to split on his neckline, showing the tough red tissue underneath. Slowly, ever so slowly, did the monster move its arm as it tore of the pony’s head, the victim’s scream filling the air louder than before. The muscles split as more blood started to ooze out between the fibers of his neck. With a sickening snap, his red tissue could take no more as it disconnected with his body. His screams started to be poisoned by gurgles as the pony started to drown in his own blood. Time seemed to slow down as the demon finished his work, and Daring watched in horror as the scene in front of her elapsed. With a final violent pull, the claw ripped the head from the body. The rest of the blood vessels and arteries snapped like springs, spewing out thick hot blood onto all of the ponies around him. As his head was detached, Daring could see the rest of his vertebrae snake out of his cranium with thick bits of brain dangling from the tipped end.
The beast lifted up his head, letting out his deep black tongue and licked inside the head. Then, without further warning, he dropped the mass into his mouth and his round hole closed around it, letting out a sickening crunch. The creature then moved back to the body, which was completely drained of all fluid. Grabbing around the center of the belly, it pulled, ripping off the front fore hooves letting them fall to the ground, the bone echoing through the chasm. Turning, the beast glided away, dragging the mutilated corpse by the back legs, causing the spine dangling from the neck to scratch the ground like a dragon claw on a chalkboard. Then, the beast disappeared into nothing, taking the body with it, as well as the severed legs that laid near the wall. The only sign of the terror that had transpired was the smell of decay and the drips of blood snaking of the walls.
Daring could still hear the screams of the deceased pony in her ears as she licked her lips. She instantly tasted copper. Somehow the blood from the massacre had reached her and splashed on her face.
“Well, there goes Digger. I never really cared about him that much,” said the orange pony with a slight chuckle, “though I would never have wished a fate like that on anypony.”
Daring just looked that the stallion chained up next to her. How could he be so calm after what had happened?, she thought.
The orange pony noticed the mare looking at him with a bewildered look of disgust. “Oh, where are my manners? My name is Swift Strike.” Once he introduced himself, he let out a mischievous smile. “And now I have the pleasure to meet and chat with the most famous treasure hunter in all of Equestria. I even get to live the rest of my life with you! Aren't I lucky,” he stated sarcastically.
Daring just gave him a cold stare and said, “Don’t play innocent with me, Swift. I saw you kill that innocent stallion last night!” Despite her cold words, she found his response more chilling than her accusation, as he was laughing maniacally at her.
“Last night?” he said between his heaves of humor, “How long do you think you have been down here in the heart of Tartarus? Do you really think that our whole team would have dwindled this low in just a few hours?” Swift’s words hit Daring right in her soul, sending down the coldest, iciest chill that she had ever felt in her lifetime. “You, Miss Do, have been down here for three days!” Then his demented smile faded to a frown. “At least I think it’s been three days.” He lowered his head and let out a single tear, “You know, if I did not kill Mr. Ghost Pen, then none of us would be here. He could of warned us of this whole mess before it was too late, and I killed him!” he shouted, shaking his front hooves, causing his chain to rattle. “Compass was a fool to have me kill off his lead informant, but yet I still obeyed him. At least Compass was the first to go when this all started, but what good is that if there is no way out of here?” With that said, Swift let out a depressed sigh, nearly making Daring feel sorry for him.
Then, once again, a cold growling started to fill the room, and began to grow louder as the bloodthirsty demon began to appear again. Swift turned to Daring at once. “Whatever you do, do not make a sound. It always attacks the first person to speak or whimper, so keep yourself quiet.” With that said the orange pony turned his head and stared blankly at the wall in front of him, refusing to make eye contact with the horror that was now entering the room.
Daring never knew that such terror was possible, and in all honesty, it made her wish that she was the first to go. However, that was not the way that fate had panned out for her. She had been there for at least ten hours and already she had witnessed more terror than she had in all her life. The first death was bad enough, but the second one she watched was worse. The demon had opened his mouth as purple tentacles slowly erupted out of his narrow mouth. The tiny limbs then sub-gently forced their way into the target mare’s mouth. It soon became relevant that the probes had made their way to her stomach, as she made muffled cries of sheer agony, but that was only the beginning of her demise. One of the demon’s black eyes then rolled back, revealing a pure white bulb with a red knife like center. Daring first thought it was the real eye, only to be proved wrong as the red line peeled its way off the white socketed orb. The red line was a thin and soft feather, and being carried by a frail arm that retracted from the eye. It went over to the mare’s belly and started to tickle her.
Her muffled screams of pain could barely be heard, as the feather like arm flared up and down her mangled body. That was when blood started to seep out of her stuffed mouth, dripping to the cold stained floor. The poor mare started to convulse as a result of the torment, and it soon came apparent that little bumps began to form around her belly. Then, all at once, tentacles erupted from those bumps, spewing blood all over the remaining prisoners. Some of the tentacles went down and wrapped her legs, while other went up and wrapped around her neck and her remaining legs, at the same time as the feather brushed delightfully over the exit wounds of the alien limbs. That was when the mare let out her final scream, one that broke from her filled esophagus, one that would haunt Daring for the rest of her short life. The tentacles started to stiffen and within a blink of an eye, the mare was ripped into small pieces, each flying in a different direction. A sliver of her stomach hit Daring right in the eye, causing a severe stinging pain to shoot through her head. The mare’s head was the only thing that remained intact, with bits of bone dropping out of her severed neck. The red-stained tentacles then retracted back into the beast as he picked up the head with his claws, then dropped the head into his mouth that was lined with spinning teeth.
Daring had also witnessed other hideous events, as the beast would return, slowly digging his claws into a body, pull out some organs, and then force feed them to the victim, only to pull out the stomach and force feed it to the victim again. Then the beast would finish the pony off by opening his endless mouth and close it onto his ‘still attached’ head and suck it off slowly.
Each death would have the same results as all signs of the body, but the blood, would disappear. Soon it was only Daring and Swift that remained, only to have a short conversation with the earth pony before his turn came up. His death was the slowest and most painful that Daring was forced to watch as the beast approached him and immediately started his work. It was strange that the beast stood in the center of the room for hours, until a cold shiver caused Swift to rattle his chains, thus gaining the attention of the horrid existence.
The beast first pulled off his back legs, and just like its style it ripped them off slowly. Swift did his best not to give into cries of pain, yet, his attempt was in vain. The beast had rather come close to Swift, almost in a hugging and loving nature. It wrapped one pale arm around the poor stallion and used its other arm to start pulling the other bottom legs, one at a time. While doing this, its thing black tongue would slither out of its small, black, circular mouth, and placed it up Swifts nose licking up the snot in each nostril as it would go up the one side and exit the other.
Daring could see the muscular tissue rupture as his leg was removed, and she saw as the bone was snapped off, leaving behind the sharp, jagged, white stump with marrow seeping out of the end. Out of the creature’s back came out more tentacles. Some were thick, whereas others were extremely thin yet still visible to the naked eye. Swift’s screams were filled as the thick probes slid up into his exposed bone, spreading out more marrow as it penetrated the heart of every creature’s immune system. The other, thinner probes began to find each individual blood vessel and with a wet sound that could be heard over Swift Strikes screams, made their way into his circulatory system. At this point Swift would have died, but the monster would not allow it and by some unknown means, forced the stallion to stay alive and conscious. Daring watched as ripples crawled up Swift’s body as the tentacles made their way up his veins. Swift’s cries of pain got louder as his torment increased beyond all possible feeling. Then, something unexpected happened. The probes retracted and exited the bones and the veins, leaving a crying stallion behind. The monster just stood there, looking at his victim. Swift, after a few hours of crying, looked up into the eyes of the emotionless beast. It was exactly ten seconds of a silent staring contest. Just silence. No cries, no rattling, no breathing. Then, quicker than what could have been possible, the beast shot out his probes back into the stallion's blood vessels, the ripples around his body crawling up to his head at unimaginable speed. Erupting out of the membrane of his neck, decapitating the stallion and spraying blood over the now lonely mare, and, using its tentacles that were still woven through Swifts body, grabbed the head and by some unknown power liquefied it, as the streams of colorless fluid were sucked onto the creatures round, dark mouth. Then, the creature looked over to Daring as it disappeared, causing the corpse of the dead Swift to disappear with it. Daring closed her eyes, in disgust once she regained control of them and bowed her head, failing to notice the blue ring cling to the ground from where Swift was, and land next to her.
How did it come to this? thought Daring Do, This cold...this fear, is that all I can feel now? The mare lifted her head from her chains to have another look, and the room she was stuck in had the same aura to how she felt. I’m the last one, and in the silence she began to have thoughts of how she came to this madness. Her memories cut short by the same unforgiving, sick, growl coming from the shadows of the room.
No! It can’t be my turn yet! I have come too far!, cried Daring in her own thoughts. It felt as if her own heartbeat slowed to a deathly rate as the catalyst of terror apperated in right in front of her eyes for the last time. Being sure to not make a sound, Daring began to look around the room for anything that might even give her the slightest chance of survival. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw it. A small light blue ring laid on the ground right next to her, and a small smile spread across her face as she realized what that ring was. Without a second thought, she attempted to spread out her wing to grab the small trinket. Hot searing pain shot through Daring’s feathered limb as she reached out, a pain so great it caused her to gasp out loud. Time seemed to slow down, Daring looked up from the ring to the demon, just in time to see the thing bring its own attention to its next victim. Daring’s eyes dilated in fear as she witnessed the beast glide toward her. The life or death situation brought the rest of adrenaline in the mare’s body into her system. Fighting all the cracks and snaps in her wing, as well as the pain, she reached out again with her fifth limb. Having no more fear keeping her silent, she let out screams of pain throughout her futile attempt of survival. The creature drifting closer with each passing second, giving the promise of pure agony, Daring continued to force her wing out the small circular object.
The beast was now upon her, reaching out its hideous claw imminent doom toward her dried out lips. Despite the hopeless situation, Daring still found herself trying to grab hold of the only object around, even as the beast finally made contact with her chapped lips. The coldest, most paralyzed of feelings filled her very being. Yet, despite the urge to freeze up and accept her torturous demise, she still reached out for the ring. The beast’s claws forced their way into her mouth, splitting skin as if it were an egg shell. The taste of heavy iron filled her senses, as the claws scratched deep into her tongue. That was when the tip of her wing touched the ring, a high pitched ringing filled the room which forced the beast to back away from its final toy. A blinding light began to fill Daring’s vision as the world seemed to fade away from her own senses.
Daring’s eyes flung open, it felt as if some unseen force was binding her down onto some soft substance. It took the frightened mare a moment to realize that she was on her own bed at home, yet she could not move. It was as if something had entered her spine, her brain to keep her from moving. Sleep paralysis thought Daring, as a wave of comfort filled her soul, It was all a dream! If the adventurer could talk, she would have shouted for joy, and if she could have moved she would have been jumping up and down. Soon, Daring found herself able to move again as feeling of bondage released its hold. Without further thought, Daring made her way out of her bed and to her journal so she could ease her mind from the torment she had subconsciously lived through. Opening her book, she began to write.
Of all things that our minds can do, its ideas are its greatest feat. Within our very dreams, we are allowed to live the life we desire. At times our greatest joy is brought to us, just because our mind allows the moment of bliss.
As she wrote her thoughts began to dwindle on the terror she had witnessed.
Yet, even as our dreams can give us happiness, it can bring about the greatest of torment.
She remembered as a pony’s head was slowly torn off from his body, allowing the brain stem to slither out of its cranium as it stayed onto its nervous servant.
Even a torment that can only be brought by the very prison of Tartarus.
Daring winced as the memory of the fate that Swift had endured. Remembering in perfect detail of its tentacle raping the stallion’s blood veins.
I guess one could say that our minds are not only connected to spirit of joy and harmony, but is also attached to the very essence of the terrible essence of evil, Tartarus.
It felt so real… with that thought, Daring could not take any more. She closed the book and made her way into her small humble bathroom. Upon entering she looked at herself in the mirror. She was not surprised to see her mane in a completely chaotic mess, but that did not matter, as she needed to clean the sweat from her face. Turning on the lukewarm water, she ran her hooves under to soak, then raised to moisten her face. She reached for her towel so she could complete her calming ritual, which was when her eyes fell upon an item that she had hoped to never see or hear of again. Right next to her washing towel, was a light blue ring. The longer she stared at the dreaded omen, the more her eyes dilated in fear. “But how…” she said out loud as a slew of questions filled her mind, giving her an instant booming headache. She then began to hear a low unearthly growl rise from all directions, causing her fear to jump out of her throat as she vomited into the sink, the growling, rising in volume. Once the contents of her stomach were emptied out, she looked up into the mirror, only to see a sight that made her heart stop. Right behind her, in the reflection, and only the reflection, standing in the bathtub was the beast with deep black eyes and a hollow, round, black mouth. “But how…”, she repeated to herself, as her nightmare came back to reality.
Author's Note
Mr. Flare: This was quite the story to write, in all honesty it was inspired by a dream I had that ran similar to what was written. With that said... What would you do if you had a nightmare, and when you woke up and went to the mirror, then you saw the catalyst of the 'said' nightmare standing behind you. How would you react? (If it was that form of nightmare of course.)
