Prologue
Onyx was running, running through a dark, decrepit alleyway. The red moon above would shine down through the cracks between the buildings every so often. His hooves carried him through sharp turns and twisting, unending tight spaces.
His head turned behind him every so often, he was being followed. A dark pony-like figure would slowly come into view only to be cut off as he ran into another alleyway. The puddles below him splashing as his breaths grew heavy, his body fighting him at every turn. Despite being a unicorn, he didn’t dare light up his horn, and give away his position.
Although at this point, the figure would seem to follow him no matter what.
Without warning he felt a sharp searing pain shoot through him as he was sent flying into the air. He landed with a thud into a puddle, looking up in horror. The figure had used the alleys to cut him off, sitting in waiting only to buck the stallion as he ran by.
Onyx tried to get up, but he was unable to move. The figure slowly raised its hooves, only to bring them down, stomping on his side as he yelled in pain. Onyx was subject to an intense beating from the figure, it was bashing its hooves into his body, leaving him bloodied, coughing and breathless each time.
Looking up while being beaten, Onyx saw a broken glass shard. Using his magic, he grabbed the shard, ripping it up to slice the dark figure across the neck. The figure stumbled, as a deep red substance began to leak down its neck, causing it to fall over, flailing on the ground. Onyx, feeling deep inexplicable anger began to stab the figure again, and again, over and over. Each time the figure was stabbed it would twitch, each time it would splatter his coat with the red liquid from its body. He was inexplicably enraged at the sheer existence of this thing, it had brought this on itself.
The only thing that stopped him from battering the figure was a sudden and sharp gasp from behind.
Onyx jolted awake sweating, breathing deeply. A mare slowly arose from the bed next to him, turning on the lamp next to the bed.
“Did you have another nightmare?” her soft voice spoke to Onyx, with an ever present slight hint of British to it. This was Delilah Dusk, she had been Onyx’s marefriend for a quite some time now, and had moved from Canterlot to Ponyville so they could live together quite recently.
They were longtime sweethearts, ever since they were in school. They weren’t married yet, even though he had considered asking her several times. He thought himself lucky that she had stuck with him through these horrifying nightmares he had been having recently. Delilah Dusk was a beautiful mare, like him she was also a unicorn, her green eyes showed genuine concern. Her fur was a deep blue and her mane was made up of white with vibrant golden and light blue streaks down the center.
“Yeah, sorry if I scared you.” he replied to her question. He sat up, rubbing his sleepless blue eyes. He yawned as Delilah had gotten up from the bed, trotting over to the nearby window to open their curtains. The sunshine would help to illuminate their bedroom.
"Well, at least you actually made it till morning this time, love." Indeed, in the past he had woken up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Those nights were never pleasant. "Why don't you go wake yourself up, I'll get some coffee on downstairs!"
Onyx nodded, slowly getting out of the bed and walking over to the bathroom connected to their bedroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, he really did look like a stallion who needed a good nights sleep. His white fur with a red tint to it, at the very least, was well taken care of. A large dark black-blue splotch of fur on his flank, that reaches slightly up his spine. His red mane with maroon stripes in it that had one singular bang sticking out to the front. The rest of his mane spilling down to rest on his shoulders. And the black-blue fur on his hooves that reach up to where his knee bent, with a patch of his main white fur color on the front of his hooves.
Onyx turned on the sink, letting it fill up with cold water. He looked into the mirror once more, pondering over the meaning of the nightmare from last night, before letting it subside in his head. Once the sink had filled, Onyx turned off the faucet. He gripped some of the water with his blue magic, splashing it across his face. He then shook his head, the quick splash of cold suddenly jolted his senses awake. He gave his face one last splash before he brought a towel over to his face with his magic, drying it off. After he did this he looked at himself in the mirror, leaning forward. He ran his hoof over the front of his face for a moment, then stood back from the sink.
Onyx made his way downstairs, as he saw his marefriend sitting at their kitchen table. She was enjoying a cup of coffee, wearing her reading glasses as she read through a newspaper. She looked up to him with a smile, although deep down, Delilah's concern for Onyx never waivered.
Onyx sat at the kitchen table, his magic lifting up the cup of coffee that she had prepared for him. He kissed her on the cheek before he took a sip of the coffee. "Got another busy work day ahead of you?".
"Yes, most likely. But I enjoy doing it so I guess that doesn't bother me." Delilah put down the newspaper, taking another sip of her coffee. Delilah was a librarian at heart, she used to work at Canterlot library before they moved out to Ponyville, now employed at a small little bookstore.
Onyx himself was a seasoned explorer. He spent his time searching for artifacts that museums sent him to collect. It wasn't the most safe kind of work at times, but it was certainly the kind of work he enjoyed. Almost as much a hobby as a profession. This wasn't without its own pitfalls, as at one point Onyx's father had wanted him to be in the royal guard like him, even though Onyx had different aspirations.
"You have another session with your therapist today, so please don't be late." Said Deliliah
Onyx had been seeing a therapist recently, a push from Delilah after he had started having these nightmares. The therapist did help quite a bit, but at the same time the nightmares had still continued to plague him every night. If things didn't get better soon he had considered no longer using their services.
"Don't worry, I remember! I'm going to get ready and head over to their office now." He took the final sip of his coffee. Between it and the cold water, he finally fully felt awake.
"Do you not want any breakfast?"
He shook his head to her question. "No, I'll get something to eat after the session." His marefriend walked over to him, planting a kiss on his lips before she turned to slowly trot upstairs.
"I need to get ready for work myself." She said. Onyx turned and got ready to head outside before he was stopped by a voice from behind. "We'll get to the bottom of this Onyx...Just stay strong ok?".
Onyx smiled. "I know, love you.."
"love you too.." Delilah smiled, before walking upstairs and out of view, leading onyx to finally exit their house and into Ponyville.
A lot of ponies were bustling around the town, as they went about their daily business. Everything was so peaceful in Ponyville. It was a small town so everypony knew everypony, but he and Delilah were currently the odd ones out given their new arrival. He mostly kept to himself, waving back if anypony even bothered to wave at him first.
Onyx entered the therapists, walking up to a desk with a window in it. A white coated, blue maned mare was behind the counter. "Hello, do you have an appointment?" she asked, smiling.
"Yes, I'm here for another appointment with Violet Rain." he said, looking around the waiting room.
The mare behind the desk left for a brief moment, leaving Onyx standing alone in the waiting room. Luckily it didn't take long for her to return. "She'll be ready for you in a moment, she is with another client." Onyx nodded.
"Thank you." He was the only pony in the waiting room, and time seemed to tick by incredibly slowly.
Onyx began to reflect on his past nightmares. In one nightmare he felt like this caged monster, slicing up ponies with little remorse. Turning them into red paste as he silently lumbered through town. Each time he had one of these nightmares it was so real. Last night he could almost feel the searing pain of being beaten down by that dark figure. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt a feeling of Deja'vu. In this moment, Delilah's words rang in his head. 'We'll get to the bottom of this Onyx...Just stay strong ok?'. A small smile formed across his face.
The door opened, and his head lifted as two mares would walk from the back area. Onyx could not recognize one of the mares. But one of them was certainly his therapist, Violet Rain. The two mares seemed to be on the tail end of a conversation. "Thank you, Ms. Rain." Said the unidentified mare, turning to face Violet.
"Of course dear, just remember to schedule another appointment." the therapist mare spoke, she wore small framed glasses. She had a pastel purple coat with a dark purple mane that was curled off to one side. Her amber orange eyes turned to the stallion sitting in the waiting room. "Onyx Shield, another restless few nights I presume?"
He chuckled at her remark half heartedly. "Unfortunately, yeah..."
"Right this way then." She ushered him back with a hoof. He stood up, trotting his way into the back. It seemed business' was slow today, because they seemed to be the only ones in the office. Or at the very least that Ms. Violet Rain was the only one that currently had clients. The green and dark green stripped wallpaper here was easing on the eyes, with a dark wood finish at the bottom of the walls.
When they reach her office, Violet closed the door behind her. She then sat in her chair, using her horn to levitate a clipboard over to herself. "So, what was the nightmare tonight then?"
Onyx sat up on the couch Violet had in her office for the patients. He began to retell the story of the alleyway chase. He explained every detail, the figure, the red moon, and his inexplicable rage during the confrontation. Violet began to write some things down on the clipboard, before she sank a little in her chair.
"I'm going to be honest with you, Onyx. Your case has continued to elicit these incredibly disturbing dreams. For weeks you have seen me, and for weeks we have tried different methodology. But each time the nightmares continue."
Onyx had nervously shuffled in his seat. "That's just it, I have no idea what's causing these. I never had these nightmares until recently, and they're getting worse." Violet used her magic to remove her small glasses, setting them on her desk.
"There is one sure fire way to cure you of these nightmares. There is a spell, a special spell. It has a 100% recovery rate in all it is used on."
Onyx blinked, looking at her. "Really!?"
Violet nodded. "Yes, its called the 'Mind Delve'."
Onyx seemed to think for a moment in response to what she had said. "I don't think I've ever heard of a spell with that name."
Violet then turned the notes on her clipboard, as if she was reading something she had penned down before this session, something just for this occasion.
She began to read. "The Mind Delve spell is used in cases where the nightmare or psychological problems are not so easily discernable. Long story short, the problem is repressed within your own mind. Normally this would take a incredibly long time for us to treat, but this spell helps us by doing it in mere moments."
He began to think over what she had said, before he spoke up. "So you are going into my head to fish around for answers?"
Violet nodded. "Something like that yes, although I do not know what you will see once you go in. There is still alot to learn about this spell, but it has never failed. Are you willing to give it a try?"
Onyx thought for a moment, putting a hoof to his chin. He currently had a lot to loose if this went wrong. What thing would be causing these horrifying nightmares? And would he even be able to come to terms with what he found? But he had come this far, he was losing sleep to whatever this was. It would be better to face it head on than keep running and suffering for it. "Alright. I'll go through with the Mind Delve."
"Excellent.~"
"What was that?" Onyx looked up at Violet, who quickly cleared her throat.
"I said 'Excellent', this will help you I am sure of it! Just lay back on the couch and I will begin to cast the spell."
Onyx would lay down on the couch, with his back down to face upwards. He had to admit he was starting to already feel a bit nervous, he was dipping into the unknown. Violets horn would begin to glow as it gathered the energy. Her eyes would glow a vibrant white as she tapped her horn to Onyx's head.
In that moment Onyx felt his mind flip, like someone had ripped the rug from under him. He felt the wind rush past him as his heart was beating like crazy. He was falling in what felt like a endless void, but he could still clearly see himself. Fearing an impact he would close his eyes, hoping to not see the bottom approaching him. Only for him to feel his hooves on solid ground.
Onyx would slowly open his eyes, finding himself standing in Violets office. Only this time instead of being greeted by Violet, he was alone in the office space. Looking around to see if he could find anything, Onyx would call out. "Violet? Hello? Is anypony there?" No response, however he could hear a strangely faint sound coming from somewhere in the building. He could not make out what the sound was, but it was coming from the waiting rooms direction.
Deep down in his gut, Onyx could not help but feel some strange feeling. Like this place was familiar to him but also foreign at the same time. He slowly walked up to the door to Violets office, opening it and poking his head out into the hallway. It was incredibly dark so he used his horn to create light. Unlike the office, the hallway here was starting to deteriorate.
The green wallpaper was torn and rotted in some places, the wood looked worn down and even destroyed in some spots. The carpet was dirty and ragged, as if a hundred ponies had walked on it all at once after a day working in the fields.
Onyx slowly walked into the hallway. All the other office doors were closed, including the door to get behind the desk where the receptionist was. With this, he stepped up to the door to the waiting room and slowly opened it. It creaked loudly, as if it had laid in a state of disrepair for a hundred years now.
In the waiting room chairs had been tossed around and flipped over. It was in an equal state of disrepair, but this was the room the sound was coming from, there was no doubt about that. His ears turned to try and find the origin of the sound, which seemed to be a corner of the waiting room. In the corner, chairs had seemingly been piled onto something.
Using his magic, he levitated the chairs out of the way. Infront of him was his saddle bag, the same one he used when he was out exploring ruins.
He examined the pack, this saddlebag was a bit unique compared to others, a custom job. A single bag on his right side, two leather strips on the back for holding anything he would need for hacking thick brush. And on the left side were three clips used to hold things like water jugs.
This is when he realized that the sound was coming from inside the saddlebag. He unfastened the brass button and looked within, finding three items, two of which belonged to him as well. The first was a neck lamp, a very useful tool when going into dark ruins. It worked by igniting a small lantern that would illuminate the forward area, allowing him to save his magical abilities for other tasks. The second was his small personal tape player he brought with him to listen to music tapes during long travels.
The tape player was currently emitting a strange type of buzzing static sound, like the tape inside was broken. He checked the inside of the tape player, only to find it was empty to begin with. 'Strange...' The last item in the saddlebag was a map of Ponyville, a little aged but still functional. It was only now that the reality dawned on him. 'How did all my stuff get here!?'
The strange buzzing noise from the tape player finally died down into pure silence once more. It was also now that another thought dawned on him. 'Who left these here?' Indeed it had felt like somepony had hid these items with the chairs intentionally. Like he was supposed to be the one to find all this sitting here for him on arrival.
He sat, taking in his current situation for a few moments. 'Well, I'm certainly not going to solve anything just sitting here.' Onyx put on the saddlebag with his magic, wrapping it over his torso and fastening its belt like loop to him. He then dispelled his light magic, turning on his lamp instead.
He would trot up to the exit door of the building only to find it locked. 'What the....' It was locked by a strange type of padlock, one with barbed wire wrapped around it. Using letters instead of numbers with a six letter code.
He took a few steps back and thought. 'There could be something in the other offices.' Turning he would trot back into the hallway. The door to Violets office was still open from where he came out, and there were three more offices to try. Walking up to the first office on his right, he gently pushed up against the door as it creaked open.
Inside was a office that was also deteriorated. In the corner of the office was a sculpture of a ponies head. A office desk with a few bookshelves, another couch like in Violets room. Along the sides of the room two potted plants sat, decayed and rotted away. He fully pushed the door open and entered the office. A small note was placed on the desk, easily visible. He picked it up with his magic, bringing it to him to read it in the light of the lamp.
we aRe but sheep before our sins.
destined to continue on our path of ignorancE.
but all will reaP what they sow.
when placEd before a mirror.
you caN see who they truly are.
for only then can they see the monsTer staring back.
Onyx looked this note over carefully, whoever wrote it clearly had no grasp of capitalization. Only in passing did he begin to read what the capitalized letters spelt.
'Repent.'
'Six letters, probably will open the front door.' Before he exited the room he took one more look around it, making sure there was nothing else he was meant to take with him, and turned to leave.
As he exited the room he looked at the other two offices, he felt compelled to check them as well, there could be something he was also meant to take with him. He would trot to the back of the hallway, looking at the other two office doors. Slowly he approached the one on his left, and pushed it open with a creak.
He would slowly walk into the room, this office looked like a hurricane had blown through, the desk, chairs and bookshelves were tossed all over the place. Also inside this room was a hook on the other side. Hanging on the hook was a necklace with a key on it. He slowly gripped the necklace with his magic, lifting it gently off the hook.
He inspected the key, which seemed a little rusted and slightly bent. Normally he would not have taken it in this state, as it seemed almost useless now. But he kept it regardless, it could be useful down the line. From here the key was put in the saddlebag. He took one last look at the room before turning to leave.
Onyx tried the fourth and final door, but it was blocked by something on the other side, it was hard to tell what. He bashed his shoulder against the door to try and clear whatever it was. But it wasn't going to budge. With all his options exhausted for now, he returned to the waiting room and the exit. He lifted up the lock with his magic and began turning the letters. 'R. E. P. E. N. T.' Click. He would let go of the lock, allowing it to fall to the ground. This left his progress outside unhindered. Onyx used his hoof and slowly pushed open the door, and he could not have expected what he would see.
Outside the therapists was Ponyville, only it was heavily drenched in fog. He could barely even see a few feet ahead of him, let alone past that. He slowly took a few hoof steps out into the fog, turning off his lamp, the air was thick. He began to slowly trot, taking out his map of Ponyville. He had no truly set location to visit in town so the best thing to do would be to go home. It felt like the first natural location in this unnatural reflection to visit.
Following the map of Ponyville that floated in his magic, he passed by houses. These houses were deteriorated as well, some completely smashed into oblivion. It was a far cry from the Ponyville he was in only moments earlier, no ponies, no chatter, only silence. That silence was quickly broken however, as his tape player began to buzz once more from within his saddlebag. He looked down at his bag for only a moment before his ear shot up. In the distance, he could hear some sort of loud metallic scratching sound. Two of them, actually. One was deep, heavy, the other softer, lighter.
The deep metallic sound drew off into the distance, getting further away. The lighter noise however was slowly getting closer to where he was. Onyx did his best to try and find what was making the noise, only for all of the hairs on his body to stand up once he was looking at what was making the sound.
Slowly limping forwards was a pony-like creature, with black hollow eyes, a wide smile torn onto its face with ripped skin. Its body was covered in a suit of rusted royal guard armor, but it didn't have a helmet. Its head swiveled back and forth disturbingly, like it was hanging on by a thread, revealing its head to be sown onto its neck. It lurched slowly at Onyx, its limping causing its armor to slide on the ground, making the metallic screeching noise he'd been hearing.
He began to back away from the creature instinctively, all the bones in his body urged him to run in the opposite direction. But his fear froze him in place, he was unable to move. His trance was broken when suddenly the monster before him spewed out some kind of corrosive substance, which missed Onyx as he yanked his hoof out of the way. With this fight or flight kicked in, and Onyx chose flight, running from the creature as its metallic screeching followed him.
'What is that thing!?' was the only thing shooting through his mind as he could hear the buzzing of his tape player, and the screeching of metal against the ground as that thing moved. Only for Onyx to run into it again, another came from the blinding fog before him, causing Onyx to shoot off in another direction. Suddenly he could hear that metallic sound coming from all around him in different locations. 'Celestia!, how many of those things are there?'
Onyx ran and ran, the creatures now sounding like they were all behind him. Onyx found a destroyed house with a fence that was still standing, and hopped over it to hide from the creatures. Their metallic sounds drawing closer before stopping and Onyx held his breath. He could feel his own heart beating in his ears, seconds felt like minutes. Eventually the metallic screeching sounds started to move away from his position, but he didn't dare move, not yet.
He waited for their screeching to stop before he hopped back over the fence, sighing in relief, his tape player no longer emitting static, allowing him to take a moment to catch his breath and compose himself. It was only then that Onyx heard another sound, something more comforting.
Humming.
He would look up to see a mare with a deep blue coat in a white dress, the source of the humming. She stood at the very edge of visibility within the fog, but it was clear she could see him. She didn't speak though, the only sound she emitted was her soft, comforting humming. Onyx tried to find something to say but could find no words. With no ceremony the mare in white would turn and trot into the mist.
"Hey, wait!" He began to follow her into the mist, he could hear the humming guiding him, but he now could no longer see her. The humming gently quieted down before it came to a stop, and what lay before Onyx in the edge of the mist was his own home. He took notice that the door was slightly ajar, opened but dark inside. He looked into the doorway, then back over his shoulder. He was afraid if he remained out here too long those things might eventually find him.
Onyx slowly approached the doorway, turning on his lamp before pushing the door open. Inside his house was as familiar as it had always been. Everything was incredibly pristine within the home. Nothing had rotted away, nor had anything been destroyed. It looked exactly like how it did when he left this morning.
Onyx stepped into the home, and immediately noticed something of interest. Their basement door, which was used to store some of their possessions from Canterlot, was now bound in chains and locked, seemingly needing a key to open. Onyx quickly pulled out the rusted up key he got from the therapists office and tried it on the lock, but it didn't work. 'Hmm...'
He slowly put the key back in his bag and turned to walk into the small kitchen area he had seen Delilah in this morning. Hanging on the wall was a new picture. The picture portrayed a pony in a strange looking pointed headpiece with ponies in cages around him. 'I don't remember owning this...' He stepped back from the picture and noticed a small item sitting on the kitchen table.
Onyx picked it up in his magic and floated it over to him. 'Health Drink.' He gently put the bottle into his saddlebag. And slowly made his way upstairs. Once he was upstairs he found this area was also completely untarnished. After he briefly checked the room, he found nothing of significance here either. The bed however did have a note on it, the note had strange symbols on it, all written in red. He could make no sense of any of it, these were not in any sort of ancient dialect he'd ever had to read before, perhaps even more ancient than anything he'd ever seen. He folded the paper and slid it into his bag.
There was only one room he had left to check. Pushing the door to the bathroom open, he shined his light inside. On the bathroom window was a painted monstrous face, other than this, the bathroom had seemingly been untouched. He slowly trotted up to the mirror, looking at the crude, messy drawing on the mirror before him. He slowly pulled the mirror aside, only to see a pristine silver key sitting in the medicine cabinet.
He floated this key into his saddlebag and pushed the cabinet shut, taking one more glance at the painted mirror before he turned and trotted outside, back downstairs. Standing before the door he took out the key he found upstairs, it slid into the lock, and twisted it. The gears on the lock turned and the chains retracted, causing the lock to the fall to the ground with a metal thud.
He reach forward and pushed the door open, inside the door was what looked like your typical cellar stairs illuminated by his lamp. Onyx slowly walked forward and down the stairs, seeing their usual cellar room. One thing was new, a small trunk sitting against a far wall. Trotting up to it, he opened the lid, inside the chest was all of his old toys from his childhood. Among these toys was a small helmet and practice sword that was given to him by his father. Looking at the items, he could remember the day his father trained him in the field.
"C'mon, you have to lift it higher!" Said the older stallions voice. A younger Onyx used his magic to lift the practice sword Infront of him in a sort of ready stance. The two stood out in a open field area in seclusion.
"Its a little heavy..." Onyx replied. Standing before him was his father, Trident Gale, a unicorn with a white coat, mohawked red and black mane, and Icey yellow eyes.
"Gotta get used to it somehow kiddo, you do want to be a guard right?" The stallion said, smirking.
"Actually...I've been talking to mom and....I kinda want to do something else one day..." Onyx once more replied, his fathers facial expression changed, causing him to wince a little.
"Six generations of our family have been royal guards. Do you really want to just throw that away, for what?" His voice sounded a little more demanding, Trident had always been a heavy stickler of family tradition.
"W-Well..." Onyx stuttered. "I've been getting into equestrian history, and I wanted to travel the world someday! Become famous like daring doo!"
Trident was silent for a moment, as if pondering over the answer. He then approached his son, and with a swift strike of his own practice sword, sent Onyx, his helmet and his sword flying into the dirt. "With reflexes like that, you wont be doing much of anything. Now get up, and try again..."
Onyx lay on the ground, whimpering from the pain of being struck, before he rolled into his hooves and got up. Pain stung through his side as he fought back tears, his legs trembling. "Don't cry! Tough stallions always keep it together!" His father shouted, twirling his wooden sword in his magical grip.
Onyx took a moment and a few deep breaths to compose himself, he weakly lifted up the practice sword and the two continued to train.
Onyx reeled at the memory he'd just relived. Had that really happened? He had never remembered it happening this way before. Onyx put the items back into the box and slammed it shut, a mental image of his father appeared in his mind, along with the memories they shared. But it was blurry. It was as if he could not see the entire picture painted before him, pieces of the puzzle missing.
His mind was unable to continue to process what he had just saw however. Onyx's ear slowly raised to the sound of a siren blaring in the distance.
