*Huff...*

I can't let them find me,

*Huff...*

I have stay away,

*Huff...*

"What is happening to me?" I feel my skin surround my exhausted muscles and aching bones like a ill-fitted suit while my hair felt like needles stuck into my skull. I resisted the urge to tear out my hair and wrench my own skin from my body as I kept pumping my legs further and further away from Ponyville, the smell of smoke and the shouting of those who came after me being my only guide as they allowed me to steer away from whence I came.

"Howard!" I heard a raspy female voice calling from the distance above the treetops. From the sound of the voice and how rapidly it seemed to be approaching I knew that it was Rainbow Dash, I had seen enough of her performances to know that I couldn't outrun this pursuer...

"I need to hide." My voice rasps out as I desperately search for somewhere to stow away, but anywhere that could hide me from her aerial vantage would leave me exposed to the ground party that was sure to be following after. I sprint harder as I try to buy more time for myself as I stick to the shade and shadows of the forest. Eventually I have to catch myself before I fall face first into a puddle of muddy earth, but then I had an the beginnings of an idea as I began to calm down. "What is happening to my head... I'm not thinking straight right now, maybe I shoul-"

"Howard!" My thoughts are interrupted by the swiftly approaching Rainbow Dash, the panic rising again to cloud my mind as I re-entered fight or flight mode and carried on with my panicked self's plan. Diving headfirst into the mud I coated myself as best I could in a short time before rolling into some nearby leaves and continued to roll into a nearby bush. I barely came to a halt when I heard the flapping of wings and panting of lungs as a rainbow maned pony flew into view carrying a small but focused light.

"C'mon Howard where are you..." I hear her mumble to herself as her grip on the light tightens. I held my breath as her light began to move over the shrubs and bushes in the area until it rested for a moment upon mine. Thankfully the mud had gotten rid of any glint from my clothing that may have reflected from the light and the leaves stuck to my body helped me fade into the bush instead of sticking out like a ball of mud in a rose garden. Soon enough her light moved on and after less than a minute so did she, shouting my name as she flew away into the distance...

"She looked so scared... am I really that much of a monster to her already?" I start to shiver though not from any chill in the air.

Of course you are, after all now we know what they taste like! She probably thinks you're going to burst from a bush any second and take a bite out of her precious little wings hehehee...

I try to rid myself of these intrusive thoughts but I can't stop shaking as the voice continues in my mind, tormenting me with its horrendous words and foul laughter.

Why shouldn't you wonder about the tastes? It's not like you're being a cannibal after all. Not too much fat on that one though, might have to make a soup to get the real flavor out hahahaa...

"Shut up... Shut up.. SHUT UP!" I croak out of my desiccated throat as I bring my forehead to bear against the trunk of a nearby tree to dislodge the insidious thoughts and their hellish laughter. I feel something start to trickle down my face as my thoughts are halted by the sound of Rainbow stopping and shouting.

"Howard?! Is that you?" I hear her wings rapidly flapping back towards my position, the camouflage unlikely to hold up to a more detailed search if she thought I was here. Thankfully I noticed what looked like cave on the other side of the foliage I had rolled into with only a small boulder to block the way. When I started to push against the stone I had expected to feel a great strain in my arms and legs to push it... I didn't feel anything as I slowly moved it aside and as I swiftly moved inside I heard a crunching noise as my movement was halted. Gazing back I found my little and ring fingers of my left hand caught between the wall and the stone.

"Why doesn't this hurt? Why can't I feel anything?" I could feel almost a dull tugging as I pulled against the stone to dislodge myself but otherwise I couldn't feel anything but a pressure in my mind as the voice returned...

Why oh why indeed, well don't you know? Monsters don't feel anything now do they hehehee!

It was louder this time... I had to get away from it... I pulled harder and harder until something gave and I was rushing into the dark. I only felt the wall I slammed into as one might feel an insect hitting the chest, the darkness and lack of tactile sense disorienting me until I noticed a light glow in the distance. As I crawled towards the light I heard and felt more voices, more laughter, more squirming inside of my head. Accompanying the voices, I soon saw shapes and figures reaching for me in the darkness that was suffocating me. It was like they wished to pull me deeper into the void surrounding me.

Crawl, crawl, crawl! Hahahaa! Monsters don't walk on two legs and the ponies walk on four... Maybe that means monsters like you should only ever crawl like you are now hehehee!

I dragged myself further and further into the cave as I desperately tried to find the source of the glow, hoping beyond hope that the voices would cease if I just got to the light until finally I rounded the corner and found the light. A few bioluminescent plants and fungi were grouped in a patch by a small pool, but I noticed that they seemed unhealthy and almost flickering like a dying candle. Sure enough though I was rid of the laughter as I crawled to the edge of the pool and drank deeply of the water as I thought about how these voices could have been appearing. The lack of pain and strange properties of what has surrounded me for the duration of my stay in the woods brought me back to a shaking noise I heard from my pocket which I found to be the pill case Twilight had given me earlier.

"Anomalies left and right maybe? Does that mean she got the dosage wrong? Instead of two days per pill maybe I only get half a day..." I felt the echoes of laughter bounce inside of my mind and I remove the lid to spill uncounted pills into my
numb hand as I quickly tossed them into my mouth finding them already slick with something as I swallowed. Looking down I began to realize that I had torn off some of the skin from my hand when I was stuck before, my fear increasing exponentially as I stare at the bleeding flesh that I cannot feel.

"Fun..." Turning around I look for the source of the voice

"P-Pinkie Pie?" The name tumbles out of my mouth with a mixture of surprise and trepidation as I quickly turn my head back to the entrance to see if she had somehow found me, but instead only the darkness which I had escaped welcomed my gaze. "I guess I'm still hearing things for now, after all... why would she want to be around a monster like me?"

"Monster? Monster!" Again I hear her upbeat voice even as she calls me a monster, but this time I realized that it was coming from the mirrored pool itself. As I turn to gaze at the pool and flinch back as I see her reflection in the shimmering waters even as I know I should only see my own. She stares at me as another Pinkie Pie appears... then another, and another, and another until I lose count of them all.

"Pinkie Pie what's going on, are you even really here?" I shake my head in disbelief as I lean into the pond to figure out why why there's so many of her there. Then like a bunch of parrots teaching each other a new word the word 'monster' spread from Pinkie to Pinkie until they were practically screaming it at me as I shook on the ground looking into the pool.

"Please stop..." I whisper as they start up their seemingly song like chant.

"Monster! Monster! Look everypony it's a monster!" The cacophony of pink ponies laughed at me.

"P-please..." I say a little louder, but the party of Pinkies does little to show that they even heard me as they continue to get louder and louder until finally I force myself up to my knees are throw a rock in anger.

*Snap!*

"Oh n-no.." I turn to see that I had snapped almost half of the remaining bioluminescent plants in half whilst the rest had begun to close themselves like the leaves of the mimosa humble plant when touched. I could feel the pressure in my head again, I knew that if I didn't hurry the laughter would come back. That horrible laughter that felt like someone was scratching the inside of my head with a rusted fork, and with it the ones I had seen in the darkness.

"Please! I didn't mean to- Woah!" I scream in surprise as I trip upon my own numb limbs as I try to rise and begin to fall into the mirror-like pool as time itself seems to slow down. I see myself as I move towards the still surface of the water and though I know it will shift around me it looks almost as if it will shatter into a hundred fragments and dice me into thin pieces once I hit it. Though... if the water is so still than why does my reflection seem warped and... wrong? What I see gazing back at me is insectoid and smiling like a Cheshire cat, almost reaching out to pull me in. Then the water that I had drunk from the pool rewet the blood of my friend as I felt it slip into my mouth once more.

"I'm nothing but a bloody butcher aren't I..." I feel the anger and rage of that evening boiling inside, only for it to be directed back at myself as I think about how wrong it all went. That's when the reflection changes once more, the insectoid being looking furious as it dissipates and a rough, scarred... thing meets my gaze while folding its arms to its chest. This is the visage that greets me as I slam into the mirrored pool as I thrash around to try and resurface, but with my lack of tactile sense combined with the darkness that has engulfed the cave I cannot find the right way as flounder.

I'm going to die down here.

That's the last thought that rushes through my mind before I see a new glow emanating from somewhere ahead. The color seems different than the cave but the red hue I see must be from the blood in the water so I thrash my way towards it as I swim further and further. After what seems like minutes of me desperately trying to follow the light I realize that what surrounds me is no longer the dirt and sediment of the pool, rather it's stone and the stone is very close around me. I had somehow followed the strange light deeper underwater instead of going back to the surface.

I have to go back now, I might not even be able to make it given I can't feel if my lungs are burning right now.

As I try to swim back from whence I came though I see that I'm instead still moving towards the light. That dull, pulsing light the same color of dried blood seemed to be dragging me further with little care as to which direction I wanted to go so I swam towards it once more.

If something is pulling me than that means a current right? And a current means this goes somewhere.

I push towards the light with all the strength I can muster but I know that sooner or later my muscles will stop having enough oxygen to push me forward. A strange thrumming noise surrounded me as I desperately pushed forward to
reach the light, it was almost like being surrounded by the vibrations of an small explosion except this was near constant and repeating. As the water thrummed I felt the liquid around me seem to thicken until the progress I made felt like I was having to push through something almost solid. Thankfully I don't have to wait too long before the light seems to dissipate and I break the surface of water once more, the viscosity returning to normal once I took my first breath of air.

"Why do I feel so warm now?" I ponder to myself as the craziness of the day starts to finally catch up to me and I feel myself drawn to sleep underneath the dark pillar near the edge of this new pool that I emerged from. Strangely enough with the small ambient scarlet light in this new cave the water slowly running down my body almost looks like fresh blood...

"I just need to rest for a while... Then I'll figure out what I need to do." After using a few small shreds of cloth to bind any visible wounds that I could find I fold up my jacket into a makeshift cushion for my head to lay upon and run my hand across the surface of the shadowy pillar. "What the..."

I recoil back for a moment and place my hand upon myself and then the floor, still unable to feel anything from either. Then I carefully touch the pillar and feel a pulsing warmth emanating from it. "Must be some sort of natural heat vent." I muse to myself as the remaining shreds of my rational mind try to make something up. Whatever the reason for the warmth it can keep me from freezing tonight and that's what matters right now... I can worry about why the stone felt as soft as silk in the coming morning. I start to curl up on myself as I lay beneath the pillar, my mind and body slowing down as I'm pulled into a deep and dreamless slumber.

Author's Note

Decided to make this one a 2.5k instead of trying to push for a full 5k this time around, I do hope that you enjoy this chapter and leave any questions or comments below.