Author's Note

Hello guys!

It's been a while since I've last updated this (or any) story, but I'm back now!

Note that the long break might have had some effect on my writing pattern, but I hope to write constantly to regain my usual self.

Track if you like and upvote if you want to see this featured. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Trapped In A Box

Chapter 4:

“Beatrix.”

The mare simply groaned as the blue pegasus softly shook her body, her eyes remaining closed while her mind drifted around. Desperate to see her awake again, Midnight shook the purple unicorn even harder.

“Beatrix! Wake up!” The stallion yelled, barely making her stir. Her heartbeat was at an unbelievably low rate, barely pumping in enough blood to keep her alive. Unlike last time where she was conscious enough to eat the mushrooms, her coma-like state prevented Midnight from healing her. With all of this going on, the young blue pegasus couldn’t help but begin to cry.

“Please don’t leave me Beatrix… I’m nothing without you…” The colt hiccuped, viewing himself as a failed Guide that allowed their Terrarian to die. Usually, Guides were to act indifferent and heck, some wouldn’t even care if their Terrarian died and would only ‘defend’ if their own lives were in danger.

Yet, Midnight just couldn’t bring himself to let her die. Even though it had just been a single day since they met, he had broken just so many rules to see her both safe and happy. He was supposed to be in the house Beatrix made for him! Not out here in this wooden box that he made above the ground while decaying zombies try to break in and kill them!

… Yes he did break another set of rules just to save Beatrix from having her organs ripped out for dinner and her brain becoming dessert for the zombies. By this point, there was no doubt that the Order of the Guide would disown him and cast him out as a traitor, if not worse.

And all of this, along with Beatrix who was between life and death, was beginning to take a toll on his mental state.

“I DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS!” Midnight yelled out loud, hoping that if the gods were still around that they could hear his plea. “I didn’t ask to be the Guide! I only became one when my father went missing to honor his name! But now look! She can’t continuously end up in this state! I don’t know what to do anymore!” The blue pegasus yelled, freezing when he felt a chill on his back. The colors around him slowly began to recede as he felt anger being blown on his back, scolding yet chilling, and he knew why.

“Look! I know what is to become of me, but I promise that this is not me trying to mouse my way out of my fate! Punish me however you want but let me be more than just a Guide to be by her side!” The young stallion pleaded. Almost immediately Midnight collapsed to the ground, clutching himself as he felt an extreme wave of pain course through his body. Slowly he began to cry out in agony as he felt his body burning up, the colors in front of him revealing something that he dreaded. But before the pain could potentially kill him, it suddenly dissipated, the colors around him became normal and he could see the interior of the small wooden box he and Beatrix were currently resting in. What surprised him though was what he saw next to him.

It was a copper pickaxe.

After some time, Beatrix slowly began to wake up, her eyes flickering as light from a nearby torch slipped through. As she stretched her arms and popped her back, the mare soon took notice of Midnight who was sleeping against the wall.

“Midnight! Wake up!” Beatrix called out. Almost immediately the blue pegasus shook himself awake and upon seeing the purple unicorn alive he gave a wide smile.

“Beatrix! You’re ok!” The blue pegasus said, pulling himself up a bit too quick and causing him to trip and fall. The platinum-maned unicorn was about to giggle until her eyes laid on his wings, or at least, what remained of them.

“Oh my- What happened to you!?” Beatrix exclaimed as she tried to rush towards him only to trip herself. Immediately she began to feel a sharp pain in her neck. It was like neck cracking, but worse. Her body wasn’t faring any better, as she could feel her bones screaming in pain. Even so, Beatrix forced herself to look up and inspect Midnight.

His wings were nonexistent at this point. The bones, many of which were exposed and cracked, were covered in blood and feathers. His left wing was completely missing while his back was covered in dried up blood and pus. Before the mare could even try and console him, the ‘broken’ pegasus let out a light laugh.

“Oh it’s nothing. You don’t know how often I’ve annihilated my wings, especially whenever I threw myself off a cliff to see if I could fly.” Midnight stated, before wincing. To Beatrix’s shock, she could see his wings healing by themselves as flesh and bones slowly grew back. Of course, it was slow and she couldn’t imagine it being painless, but it was better than nothing.

As soon as she finished that thought, she winced as she felt the pain in her neck again. Midnight simply gave her a sheepish look.

“Oh about that, your neck is healing from the zombie attack. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve been internally decapitated based on how hard that slap was.” The blue pegasus said with an almost too happy tune, as if this was just an inconvenience, despite how he acted before. Beatrix simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“Uhm, am I missing something? You seem awfully happy right now. Isn’t this the time for you to say ‘I told you so’ or something?” The mare asked, still confused at his high spirit. Midnight simply nodded while smiling at her.

“Yeah you’re right, but to catch you up on what happened after you were knocked out, I had to build this wooden box and haul you up. Those things managed to tear my wings out but hey, it’s nothing compared to seeing you die, and they heal anyway so all I’m seeing is pluses here.” The blue pegasus stated. Almost at that moment, they could hear something bumping against one of the walls. He just simply shook his head. “Yeah, you’ll be hearing that often until morning. Hey! Why don’t we burn the time by learning about each other!” The stallion said excitedly. Yet again Beatrix couldn’t help raise an eyebrow at his reaction.

“Before we do that, can you just explain to me why you’re… like this?” The mare asked, trying to figure out what to say but was simply too dumbfounded by his attitude. Midnight simply reached behind his back before pulling a pickaxe out while smiling like a child who just got a lollipop.

“Do you know what this means?” The pegasus asked with overflowing joy. Beatrix yet again was confused.

“Uhm… no?” The platinum-maned unicorn replied honestly. She was not understanding where this was going towards. After wincing again and seeing another part of his wing heal up, Midnight stood up and smiled at her.

“Beatrix, from this point on, I won’t be your Guide anymore. From here on out, I’m going to be your Mentor!” The blue pegasus leaped into the air before knocking his head onto the ceiling and crashing down. “Ow.”

Meanwhile Beatrix, finally getting the picture, gave a smile towards Midnight as she helped pick him up from the ground.

“That’s very good to hear Midnight!” Beatrix stated as she gave him a quick hug. At that moment something bumped against the wall again and this started to bug her. “Alright Midnight, can you explain to me what that noise is?” The mare said out of curiosity. The blue pegasus simply scratched his head.

“Given that I built this box high enough for zombies to not reach us, I think that is a Demon Eye.” The blue pegasus explained, just when another thump was heard. Before she could try and break the wall, Midnight raised a hand to stop her. “No, I wouldn’t recommend doing that. Given how small this box is, if that thing slips inside it’ll kill both of us.”

Beatrix simply swapped her pickaxe back into her inventory while letting off a sigh.

“Alright, I guess I was a bit too adventurous here. I guess I haven’t gotten used to the fact that I can’t use my Onoma here.” The mare stated, her eyes becoming distant. The blue pegasus stopped for a moment.

“Hold on, and I’m sure this should be a good spot to begin our discussion, what is this Oona?” Midnight asked, mispronouncing the term.

“It’s pronounced Onoma, Midnight.” The mare said, correcting his mistake. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end, it was just the start.

“Oomna?” The blue pegasus said, tilting his head while mispronouncing the term once again. Beatrix simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“Onoma. Say it with me. Onoma.”

“Ooma.”

Beatrix simply deadpanned at Midnight as he mispronounced it for the third time.

“Say it with me. Onoma.”

“Oona.”

A smack was heard as Beatrix face palmed herself while Midnight looked at her in confusion. After taking some deep breaths to calm down, the unicorn simply looked away for a moment.

“It’s fine, just forget about it. Just know that it’s the ‘stronger form’ that I’ve mentioned before, the form I used to defeat Zeloph, and it’s connected to something that I need to open my portals.” The mare explained, turning around to look at Midnight, only to notice that he still looked confused. “Now what?” Beatrix asked, still slightly annoyed from what just occurred.

“Who’s Zeloph?”

“Oh just- Nevermind let’s just start from the beginning shall we?” The purple mare suggested, realizing that it would be much better to explain things from start to finish than from end to start, given how easily the colt became confused. Midnight simply gave her a nod. “Alright, thank you,” Beatrix said as she and Midnight sat down near each other where he anxiously waited for her to begin.

“I guess the best place to begin would be before I was born. Back in the Golden Days things were alright until they weren’t. The rulers of Equestria and the Crystal Empire were warned about a disaster, one that would require blood and soldiers to deal with. Since my father was a very powerful unicorn, he along with a bunch of other stallions were chosen to boost Equestria’s population, and for a time things went well.

Sadly, the moment the disaster struck was the same moment everybody knew we had all been tricked. In Equestria, there existed a portal that connected a parallel universe where a human named Sci Twi ended up finding the Necronomicon, a book that corrupts its users. By the time the disaster struck she had already conquered her world and decided to conquer ours. She was the one who prophesied about the disaster because she knew she would bring it herself, and she was the one who promoted the population boom for Equestria.

When the dust cleared for the first time in a week, half of our population was already dead, every race was on the brink of extinction, and many of the mares and stallions that participated in the population boom were taken away for her nefarious needs, along with the foals they sired. Those foals would become soldiers, yes, but instead of Equestria using them to eliminate the threat, it would be her using them to eliminate us. We had lost every single ruler and alicorn. Celestia and Luna were banished to the sun and moon, Twilight was murdered by Sci Twi, and Cadence committed suicide along with her daughter so that she wouldn’t suffer the terrible fate that millions of mares were now enduring.

My father was a mess after that day, but somehow he and his soldiers were able to survive. That in part is thanks to my mom who was able to steal the Necronomicon from her a few days before the disaster and prevent her from getting stronger. Unfortunately in her hurry to escape she used a spell that made her skip forward in time, and thus the two sides ended up bleeding each other out over the years. So much suffering happened. There was even a moment where in a bid to destroy us all, Twilight sent all of her forces against us and nearly brought us all to extinction because all the foals had died. Somehow though, we were lucky enough to survive the First Cultist War, but by the time I was 12, a second war was brewing up.”

As Beatrix finished telling the ‘prologue’ of her story, Midnight simply had his mouth wide up as he processed all of the information. After a bunch of failed attempts at mustering a response, the blue pegasus took a deep breath before speaking.

“Wow… I… I’m so sorry for what happened to you and your world. Let me tell you, while this world of Terraria has gone through some horrible things, I’ve never experienced them in person. I thought that your world had a better history than mine, but it seems the inverse is true.” Midnight stated, looking at Beatrix with a sad face. The unicorn simply sighed.

“That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. I might go over each individual dimension in the future, but in summary, as a dimensional traveler, I’ve seen worlds that are as if not even worse than my world, and that’s a huge statement given my world’s history. Mind mentioning something about your world?” Beatrix asked, noting the fact that he had said some horrible things had occurred in his world as well.

“Sure. It’s only fair. Perhaps we can take turns talking about these things.” Midnight offered as he prepared to give his world’s history.

“Among the countless worlds you could’ve stumbled upon, you have fallen into this one, Beatrix. This is our history:

Our story begins with Cthulhu, a creature with unfathomable power with its only purpose being to destroy and have every sentient being on this planet submit to its will. None could stop its approach, and when the very fabric of this world seemed ready to break, an ancient race called the Dyads rose up to stop this menace. As the race with the most profound connection with this very planet itself, they were truly the only hope this world had against the monster.

Sadly, all but one perished against Cthulhu, whom they were unable to kill. Yet in their last act of defiance, they were able to cripple the creature by ripping out its eyes, skeleton, and brain, forcing it to flee to the dark side of the moon where to this day it licks its wounds, waiting until it could regain its strength to attempt another conquest of this world.

While I’m uncertain whether or not you’ve come here to face Cthulhu should he appear during your stay, there are a few threats that I’m certain you will need to take care of, the first being the Evil of this world.

When you mentioned the Necronomicon and how it corrupted Sci Twi and left your land crimson red, it reminded me of something I should’ve warned you when we left the house. We were lucky enough not to stumble upon it thankfully, but if you had stepped into either the Corruption or Crimson biomes, we probably would have both been killed immediately.” Midnight stated as he let out a sigh. The moment Beatrix heard his latest sentence she froze up immediately.

“Wait you said the Night was the worst place to be in. Are these places even worse than that?” Beatrix asked. Midnight nodded.

“In truth, the Night is only risky for a newly arrived Terrarian, but even one adorned in Platinum would know the danger of being in the Corruption or Crimson. Let me begin with the Crimson, which is an entity that not only is connected to every single world it exists in, but has already devoured thousands of them. Misguided people who seek to either placate the monster or seek its favor have conducted human sacrifices on them, which the Crimson turns into terrifying beings that have lost the ability to feel or think.”

“Huh… reminds me of Sci Twi and how she sacrificed ponies into a cauldron to increase her power or to create powerful creatures. She even created an alicorn from these rituals, no doubt with the idea to use it against us had the war not been won. Ironically, that alicorn she created ended up becoming a major part in how we won the Second Cultist War and maintaining the peace of my dimension afterward.” Beatrix explained, giving Midnight more insight about her world. He simply nodded before continuing.

“Some say this is where the Brain of Cthulhu lies, dormant but ready to attack once summoned. Whether or not this is true is unknown as I don’t believe this Evil exists in this world. What does exist though is Corruption.

The Corruption is a cancer caused by the darkness of this world. Every vile action, every perverted thought, everything that is sin feeds the growth of this entity. Unlike the Crimson, which is defined as a thinking living being, the Corruption is like every other virus, bacteria, and cancer you know. It knows nothing else but to destroy, creating terrible creatures of hate that exist to punish those who brought it into existence. In-”

“Question?” Beatrix asked while raising her hand. The blue pegasus simply tilted his head, confused as to why she interrupted him.

“Yes?” Midnight asked. Unbeknownst to him, the purple mare had a small red hue on her face.

“Does getting frisky count? Like, I might not be as active as I was before, but I still tend to have some fun in each dimension I end up in. I guess you could say I like having a ‘taste’ of each world.” Beatrix said, winking at him. The blue pegasus though simply blinked.

“I… uhm… what?” Midnight asked, just simply confused. The mare simply sighed, knowing how long it took their Midnight to understand what words like ‘buck’, ‘frisky’, and ‘cream’ meant, and how she might need to go through that process all over again.

“Did the Guide ever give you a handbook or something like that to help you, ya know, guide?” Beatrix asked. Midnight scratched his head before bumping into something that was hidden in his mane. As he surprised the unicorn by taking out a book, Midnight skimmed through the book, trying to find something that could answer her question.

“Maybe this can help?” The blue pegasus said before reading. “Everything that is strange and unnatural is a sin and everything outside of marriage is a sin, before and after.” At that moment Beatrix deadpanned.

“That’s literally everything!” The mare yelled out loud before shaking her head. “When was this written?”

“About a few thousand years ago.” Midnight replied though he was confused as to why Beatrix had a frown on her face as she crossed her arms. Eventually, she let out a sigh as she resigned herself to her new fate.

“Welp I guess I’m going to be stuck like this until I leave this world. At least you were able to understand what marriage is.” The mare said, letting out a light chuckle, only to freeze when she saw Midnight’s confused face.

“Don’t you dare.”

“But-”

“Don’t. You. Dare.”

The pair gazed at each other intensely, with Midnight’s mouth open and Beatrix’s wooden sword ready to strike.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“What’s marriage?”

“Midnight!”

*WHACK!*

“Ow!”