Catching Realityby TaylorDashChaptersFall Leaves and Crystal EyesCopper and FirePins and NeedlesJingle JingleFall Leaves and Crystal EyesA gentle breath of air struck the side of his face with such delicate force, also causing the dead maple leaves to scatter across the ground creating a peaceful tune. Hanging his head slightly downward and hands in his hoodie pockets he took each step as if it were his last, the thought relaxed him. Taking a deep breath, he savored the sweet smell outside being caused by overgrown grass and honeysuckles, it gave him a sense of satisfaction knowing that he could walk down this path alone and not be bothered. Life was good, not because he had materials to make life more enjoyable, but because he saw life for what it is, a state of being and living, not becoming a self indulgent robot like mostly everyone else. "Perfect, absolutely perfect. It's just me myself and I." Sounds kind of rude thinking about it that way, but that’s probably because he has no social skills. Always been the quiet type, not one to hang close to “friends” or even family for that matter, these things seemed to get it his way. Xander has always been a solitary person and the feeling of it was great. Yet it saddened him, knowing he pushed everything aside in his life to enjoy his own, he didn't feel sorry for himself but for the people that care about him, makes him feel selfish. Who Is he to ignore everyone around him and just go about his marry way? “Sick.” he said to himself. Trying not to let it phase him to badly, he pulled out his mp3 from his hoodie pocket, he believed that music is one of the most beautiful things the world and the people have to offer. It fills his soul with such happiness, to be able to go along with the beat and think a million things at once yet the thoughts are all in one place and understandable. Xander closed his eyes as he put the headphones on his head. Now his day had truly been fulfilled, a peaceful walk on a cloudless day with no noise except the sound of nature and the music ringing in his ears. Taking a look around he noticed that the beams of the soon sleeping sun were peaking through the branches and leaves, illuminating rays that allow you to see the particles floating through the air. It looked absolutely beautiful, but as much as he'd like to stay the sun was setting and it was time to head back home. Standing up and putting his hood over his head, he began to walk. This was his favorite area to go to, mainly because there was never anyone there and if there was they didn’t stay long. Probably because he would give them some awkward vibe, he didn't blame them though. Wouldn't anyone act alarmed if someone came out of nowhere with a hoodie over their head? Yea guess he would to. He didn’t notice how long he'd been walking, usually he would end up in a trance when listening to his music. But something didn't feel right when he looked at his surroundings, he felt...lost. There was a path in front of him that led straight what looked like forever, and the trees on each side all seemed to be in perfect alignment. It was almost disturbing how perfect it was, it didn’t feel natural at all. Like he usually did, he shrugged it off like it was nothing and turned around. Something isn’t right, “What the hell...” he whispered to himself, looking in front. This side looks exactly the same as the other, a straight narrowish path with the trees all in perfect alignment, never seeming to end. His hearts pace starts to quicken, jumping to conclusions telling himself that he was lost. “No, no I can’t be lost. Because I’m not lost I just need to walk back the way I came.” he begin walking, but faster than usual, being a bit unnerved by the situation he was in. How could he have been so stupid to not pay attention were he'd been heading? Hitting the side of his head making the best “duh” face he could. Chuckling a bit, the path still seemed to go on as it was, a straight path that didn’t seem to change at all not even a slight curve in it. Walking quickly turned into jogging, Xander was really starting to get nervous, no matter how far forward everything seemed the same. Stopping, soaking in the scene in front of him. Run. Running as fast possible the path didn't get any shorter it just kept going and going like a never ending tunnel. For the first time in his life he felt scared, he knew for a fact he hadn’t been walking this far because when he left the sun was setting, it should have been dark within five minutes. It’s been at least twenty minutes sense turning around. Losing his energy quickly he had to stop running and catch his breath. Putting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily towards the ground he noticed that his breath was showing. How could that even be possible? It’s about 84 degrees out here. Xander's breathing suddenly became very forceful, like he had forgotten how to breathe. His whole body started to feel out of place, everything felt abnormal. Still staring down and breathing heavy, a shadow slowly started to tower of him. Looking up he was hit by a mix of fear and shock, he couldn’t move at all. Standing in front of him was a figure, it’s height just a foot more with an eerie mist that came of it’s body. The figure was completely black with no resemblance of a person, it had arms but no legs. Thoughts raced through his head at the speed of light. But only one was clear. Run. Running as fast as his legs could take him, he was screaming as loud as possible. “HELP! ANYBODY PLEASE HELP ME!” Breathing was still very heavy and a chore, his body became very weak, his arms losing all strength along with his legs. He collapsed. Lying on the ground with his eyes shut whispering pleads for help, his mind filling with the thought that this was the end he is going to be killed. “HELP ANYB-” Silencing himself to realize he had just woken up. Before getting a chance to look around, his eyelids were closed tight. “Please just be a bad dream, please just be a bad dream.” Repeating to himself over and over again, this couldn’t have been real, he probably just passed out and everything that was going on was just a bad dream. Opening his eyes Xander's heart sunk. The same exact path remain in front of him just like before, only this time he was able to notice something strange off in the distance. Squinting to get a better view, something was coming towards him, and fast. Before he could even think darkness slowly started to envelope him and along with the rest of the world. It looked like the universe was bending out of shape and swallowing everything, except for Xander. But that’s when some thoughts are wrong, the darkness came in close and swept right under his feet. Screaming out of fear as loud as possible he was falling, falling into nothing. Turning his head in every direction as possible to get a glimpse of anything, he saw nothing but darkness surrounding. Was he falling? Not being sure of it, there was no force of air going past him, turning and spinning yet nothing at all. He felt as if this were some sort of limbo state. *CRACK* “AHHHH!” Something had struck his face with a powerful blow. Blood then started to drip and was flying off in all directions of the darkness, “What the hell is going on?!” and that’s when it hit, all darkness vanished instantly. Quickly shooting himself up taking in a large breath he heard a voice say, “Rainbow what was that for!?" A voice said, it sounded like a teenage girl. "Hey uhh...are you alright?” A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first Fic I have ever written or started to write. If you enjoyed this thank you so much for reading. As for anyone who didn’t like it or noticed errors are things that annoyed them, please tell me what was wrong and I will try to fix it. Copper and FireXander's eyelids shut tight and his face scrunched up, the pain he was experiencing was unbearable. A taste of copper and tang filled his mouth and nostrils, god awful it was. Unable to move, he could make out voices that seemed to surround him putting him in a very awkward situation. “So your first instinct is to buck him in the face? We don’t even know what it is, and clearly you put it in pain!” the voice said. She sounded very concerned which was quite the relief sense he was lying here paralyzed. Her voice reminded him of someone he once loved, but that didn’t last long. It’s times like love that can put the hurt on someones soul, and she did it with such a flawless grace. But Xander stayed strong through most obstacles that block his path, even if it involves someone ripping his heart out. “Well it was being all spazzy and when he shot up off the ground real quick it scared the buck out of me!” “Be honest Twilight, if you came across some mysterious thing lying on the ground wouldn’t you take extra precautions? I mean you are an egghead after all.” Twilight? This voice just called her Twilight? That’s definitely an exotic name for someone, but what does he know. Nowadays the generation had the most uncreative, idiotic or just....wow names. “That’s not the point Rainbow! For all we know it could be completely harmless, and I do not want to take any chances on this thing. I have never seen anything of it’s kind in equestria before. Through all the books I have read about animals this one does not spark any memory of study.” Really wishing he could stand up right now and give these people a piece of his mind. so far heed been called an it and thing about 15 times already. Making him very nervous that they are referring to him as a creature instead of a human being. The last thing he remembered was being swallowed by darkness and free falling through literally nothing. Chills ran up his spine and a million thoughts were rushing through his head, like was someone following him and knocked him out? Did they give him a powerful drug to make him hallucinate? Because Xander was pretty sure he was at the moment. The next thought nearly made his heart stop. Were they going to kill him? “Fluttershy, do you know what it is? I reckon ya would sense yer’ so good with animals and all.” Said a voice that had a very thick accent. Which had already grown to be hated. “Umm....I-I’m not sure AppleJack, what I think I know is that it’s a male...” She sounded very shy, almost afraid. This put him a little at ease. AppleJack, FlutterShy, Twilight and Rainbow? What is with these names he thought. Beginning to think if he should take back what he said about names. There is always nicknames though, but they're usually just shortened of an actual name, never once has he heard the nickname Rainbow or AppleJack or any of them for that matter. “OH OH! MAYBE HE’S NEW HERE! OH THAT MEANS I HAD BETTER GET READY FOR A PARTY!” Squeaked an overly happy voice. “We just gotta! I’ll go get the supplies!” “Now hold on there Pinkie Pie, we need to figure out what it is before we go waltzing through ponyville with a creature nopony has ever seen. Speaking of ever being seen, it’s fashion style is horrendous! How could anypony wear such a thing!?” Terrible fashion choice eh? He didn’t know a pair American Eagle jeans, Nike shoes, O’Neil shirt and Hollister hoodie was that bad of a choice. Hold on a second...Did whatever that was just say anypony? And PonyVille? On top of everything else, have people referring to themselves as anypony? “Everypony stand back, I’m going to take this binding spell off of him.” Oh my god... “Alright here goes.” “GUUUAAHHHHHH! Ahhh hah huhh huhh!” Xanders lungs were struggling to gain air. Coughing and wheezing as hard as possible trying to catch his breath, he looked up and what he saw was all but a surprise, more confused than anything else. There in front of him, were 6 colorful horses, or by their size, ponies. Each of them looked about two or two and a half feet shorter than him. “Excuse me umm...sir? Uhh my friends and I found you lying here in the grass and when we came over to look at you, you jumped up and scared my friend Rainbow Dash who then sorta..bucked you in the face. I’m truly sorry but I think we can patch up that injury, but I need to ask you a few questions first if you don’t mind.” The purple one said. “H-How are you talking? You are a horse!” he raised his voice which caused a few of them to take a couple steps back. “I got lost on a path, saw a tall pitch black figure, got sucked up by darkness, kicked in the face, my nose is broken, there are talking ponies in front of me! I don’t even know where I am at the moment.” “Oh my god, you can talk,” He repeated, “This isn’t normal. How are you talking?” Xander asked in the calmest tone he could. Everyone of these ponies looked completely dumbfounded. The purple one who was standing about 7 feet away began to walk closer. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Right now you are in land the land of Equestria. My friends and I are a bit confused just as much as you are. We were all walking through the streets of PonyVille to go get some lunch but off in the distance we heard a very unusual noise, it sounded like a siren and small cracks of explosions. When we came over you were lying on the ground twitching and mumbling inaudible words. Then when you shot up from the ground my friend Rainbow bucked you in the face.” she gave a shy grin at the last sentence. Xander just stood there, mouth agape not even sure what to say. Slowly he started walking away from them mumbling to hiself that this isn’t real, he just needed to wake up. “Hey! Where do you think you are going?” Shouted the purple one or Twilight Sparkle he should say. “You know I can’t just let you walk away from here. None of us know what you are or if you are even safe to be around.” Not the smartest decision in the world, but finally he got tired of being referred to as a creature or an it. “You listen now and listen well, I’m about damned tired of being referred to as an “it,” I’m a human and the entire time I was on the ground I heard every word! Is that what you do in wherever the hell I am? You call each other it’s and creatures? I have a name, my name is Xander!” Not realizing how loud he was one of the ponies came flying towards him and yelled, “Hey! You don’t talk like that towards my friend, I don’t care if you are a humane or whatever but that doesn’t mean you can talk to her like that!” This pony may not have been so wise. “You listen here pony, I don’t care and if you ever get in my face again, it will be the last thing you do.” Xander said with a very stern voice, trying to make his point as clear as possible. “Is that so? Are you challenging me? Well come on then put em up!” A horse is challenging him to a fist to hoof fight, how cute. *BAM* He punched her straight in her mouth. “Ahh nothing like a little payback is there? You broke mine now I break yours!” *BAM* The second hit ended it. Blood smeared on his knuckles and a pony crying on the ground with a swollen eye. He actually felt kinda bad because the thing was 2 feet shorter than him, but why should he care? She challenged him and asked for it. Being too busy focused on the pony he had just struck down there was no awareness that 4 other ponies had been flying full speed at him with pure anger in their eyes. “Holy shit....” He started running as fast as he could, luckily to his advantage Xander seemed to outrun them by a landslide. That didn’t stop them though, he could still see them coming a few meters behind. In front there was a large forest that looked like a perfect getaway from them, but something about it while approaching didn’t feel right. He started to feel extremely ill. That feeling was coming to him again, the weakness, the dizziness only this time it was worse. It felt like he really had to throw up, his stomach felt like it was clawing the insides away. Clutching his left hand on his stomach he stood there bent over towards the ground, and right when the ponies who were behind me arrived he threw up. The substance that was coming out of him was black and looked thick, almost like oil. Sticky strings of it was running out of Xander's throat and mouth, the pain it was causing was unbearable. It started to look red as it was dripping from his tongue, it left a strong burning sensation the longer it sat in his mouth. After only a few seconds he was pleading to the ponies behind him for help. They watched in horror and disgust. “Help me please! It hurts! Please!” Xander groaned and begged. “Please....Please..Ple-” *GUARGH!* He threw up one last time before collapsing straight to the ground. A/N: I really didn’t enjoy how I wrote this. I’m sorry if anyone thought this story had potential, but to be honest I’m very disappointed in myself...If you enjoyed thank you so much for reading! The next update should be very soon. Pins and NeedlesWalking up to the human, Applejack was the first to speak. “Oh my, ah think I’m gonna be sick...” said AppleJack as she stared at the “human” body that lay limp on the ground. He was lying face down in the substance that he threw up, covering a lot of his face and chest. The substance did not have a smell, but there was something else that seemed to be...burning? It clicked in Twilight’s head, what he said before collapsing. “AppleJack, Rarity, Fluttershy! Quickly get him on your backs and rush him to the hospital!” Twilight shouted in a very concerned tone. “Twi, are ya crazy? He just hurt Rainbow and ya expect me to help him like this?” AppleJack did not like the idea of helping somepony or something that just attacked her best friend. “AppleJack, before he collapsed he was yelling in pain that whatever is on the ground was burning him! Do you not smell that? It’s his flesh!” Twilight pointing at his face you could see the skin very slowly cracking and splitting like it was melting away. “Take him there quick and don’t stop! I have to stay and take a sample of whatever this black stuff is.” “Rarity use your magic to levitate him on mah’ back, and I will high tail it on outa here. Fluttershy, I need you tah’ fly as fast as ya can to PonyVille Hospital. Tell them it’s an emergency!” Rarity’s horn glowed a strange aura around it, which then surrounded Xander. “Be gentle now rarity, he look awful heavy.” Slowly lowering him on to AppleJacks back, all four of her legs about gave out. “Good gravy hes heavy! Rarity, run behind me to the hospital I need you tah spot him and I.” Twilight waited till all three of her friends were gone, but she was still wondering where Pinkie Pie had gone. After the human had hit Rainbow, Pinkie galloped as fast as she could out of there. I figured she got scared and ran to hide, I mean she did it to Zecora after all. But as scared as that pony may be something about her tends to frighten me. Walking over to the scattered patch of black vomit, Twilight took a close look and very careful measures not to step in it. The grass it covered had turned brown and very light razor thin streams of what appeared to be steam came from the burned grass. Using her magic to levitate a small glass tube and dropper out of her side pack, she took a small sample of it and put it in the tube. *crick* *crack* Before she could even get a chance to put the tube back in her satchel, the glass tube and dropper both cracked. Twilight stared at both pieces of equipment with intense interest, making sure to observe every little thing that happened. Both objects she levitated were falling out of the magic aura that help them up. The glass was melting away causing Twilight to drop them and take a few steps back. “What the...?” she whispered to herself. “This stuff must be highly acidic, or it could be some sort of magic.” Twilight took out her notepad and began to write her studies down, “This should make a very nice report for Princess Celestia.” “TWIILIGHT!” Pinkies voice came screeching through the field behind her. “Pinkie? What are you doing?” Twilight asked the exhausted mare who had halted to catch her breath. Quickly regaining, Pinkie Pie circled around Twilight and shoved her away from the patch of thick liquid. “Twilight listen to me, you have to stay clear of that thing do you understand? Just before it hit Rainbow I got the most profound Twitch and sense.” She had never seen Pinkie so serious in her life. “Somethings is wrong with thing, something is unnatural and I think it needs help!” Not sure whether or not to take Pinkie’s warning seriously she simply nodded. “Alright I will try to take distance and caution before approaching him. Pinkie..Why did you run off if you knew that was going to happen and have you seen Rainbow? None of us stopped to make sure she was ok when we went after, Xander I think his name was.” Twilight didn’t really know what to feel at the moment, there were so many things to be worried about. “I had to run off and tell the other ponies in PonyVille, I’m scared Twilight and this isn’t just me overreacting. As for Rainbow Dash, I saw her flying with Fluttershy. AppleJack and them must have picked her up to help out, she didn’t look too happy though.” Pinkie was surprisingly calm when she spoke, “Twilight, pinkie promise me that you won’t do anything you will regret around him. Please.” She was almost in tears and that’s the moment I knew she was right about everything she had told me. Something was certainly wrong with guy. “I pinkie promise.” She had been told that his world turned to darkness, that he saw a dark figure in front of him. He seemed to be dizzy and confused the entire time he was awake. “Pinkie Pie, we need to head back to the PonyVille hospital and see how everypony is.” Bursting through the hospital came AppleJack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Looking around for a nurse or doctor hectically she ran to the help desk asking for a doctor immediately. “Nurse! Do you have ah doctor around? Ah need one right now!” AppleJack demanded, “It’s an emergency!” Two doctors came out through the doors in front of them, one was running with an emergency bed. “What’s the problem? Is somepony hurt?” the doctor asked in a very serious voice. “Yes, this ‘human’ is in bad shape he needs your help now!” Both doctors were now just standing there with a look of shock on their faces not sure of what they were looking at. “What is that thing!?” asked the doctor, “Ah don’t know but he needs your help and fast.” AppleJack said. “Quickly lay it on the bed right here and we will take him in the back.” AppleJack came up and slid him onto the bed. Before she could retrieve her hoof, Xander’s hand grabbed it and started to squeeze. His eye lids shooting open, he turned and looked over at AppleJack. His eyes..they were completely black, no color remained in them as they once were. “Ahh! Get him off me! Get him the buck off me!” Quickly throwing his arm across his waist not letting go of his grip, Xander slung AppleJack into the wall causing her to hit the ground with a loud thud. *Ahhhrrrrrughhhhh!* The human had made a loud blood curdling scream, making all the ponies cover their ears. The figure that stood before them looked nothing like he did when he came here, there were black pulsing veins shooting through his arms, neck and forehead. Looking at all the ponies around him, his face gave a very sinister looking grin. His teeth looked like they had rotted and black and red liquid seeped through in between his teeth dripping down his face. Extending both arms straight outwards he looked up at the ceiling. Opening his mouth a stream of the dark liquid he threw up earlier was now coming straight out of him. Hovering towards the ceiling and coating it, the liquid spread across and the lights in the room started to flicker. “AppleJack!” the ponies screamed and saw that her head was bleeding bad. Rainbow Dash took a leap and flew to aid AppleJack, but before she could reach something had struck her again, only this time it was longer and hit her in the chest. Rarity and Fluttershy stood there fearing for each other's lives, the doors to every room slammed shut. In front of them was not just a creature. Approaching the two girls was a monster. It had extremely long arms that ended with sharp claws, black eyes, razor sharp teeth that were so big it couldn't close it’s mouth and it's eyes. It's eyes were pitch black and had red and black tears dripping from it's face. Approaching PonyVille were Pinkie Pie and Twilight, but when they got into town both of their hearts sank. Running hysterically around the town were ponies crying and screaming, fire was set ablaze to Sugar Cube Corners finest bakery. “Pinkie to the hospital quick!” shouted Twilight. Please Celestia let them be safe, please let them be safe. They reached the hospital entrance, but only this time the doors were hanging off and deep claw and blood spatters on them. Zipping through the doors Twilight's eyes came to tears. There lying before her, were her four friends, lying limp and lifeless on the floor. Pinkies face was streaming with tears, she couldn't move because of the shock she was in. AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity...her friends, all battered and beaten. Twilight feared the worse to come and that was that her friends were...gone. Jingle JingleTwilight and Pinkie Pie couldn’t move no matter how hard they tried, the image in front of them was being soaked and scarred into their brain. They observed each of their bodies closely and could tell whatever happened here was nothing minor at all. Rainbow Dash looked as if something had thrown her onto a counter, she had a huge gash in her back exposing her spinal cord clearly. Laying limp against a wall was AppleJack, her head had been cracked open and along side her ribcage were deep claw marks. Sitting upright was Rarity, this image petrified Twilight and Pinkie because it looked as though she was still alive. Her head hung down and blood was slowly dripping off of her lips, along the ponies face were deep cuts and a massive laceration across her forehead. The last of the horrific scene was Fluttershy...Celestia help us all. The yellow pegasus pony had been pinned up against a wall and had her waist cut open, revealing her insides. The room was dim and the lights flickered, more than blood was spattered on the walls. Again it was the black liquid that Xander had released from his body, only this time it seemed more... “TWILIGHT!” Pinkie shouted snapping Twilight out of her concentration. “Twilight, the black stuff, It’s moving!” Twilight looked around the room to notice that the liquid was slowly moving towards each of her dead friends. “We have to leave right now Twi! Now!” Before Pinkie could finish pleading to her friend that they had to leave a voice came crashing through the hall. “Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, you must move at once!” Twilight's head shot up and turned around. “Princess Celestia! What are you doing here!?” Twilight shouted. “I will explain later, but for now you have to move quick get out of here!” Princess Celestia's voice sounded harsh and nervous. There was even a slight hint of fear in her voice. It was too late to run. The black liquid that had been flowing towards her friends was now being absorbed into their bodies, crawling up and down their flesh like maggots. Sounds of slurping blood and saliva was coming from her friends, there bodies started to twitch. Twilight slowly began to back up as she watched. Each of the ponies that were once lifeless were now moving and make very awkward noises. The dead Fluttershy had removed her self off of the wall. Rainbow Dash and AppleJack had stood up, Rarity had turned her head towards the two ponies and alicorn giving them a devilish smile. “Twilight, Pinkie Pie...run.” Lifeless limping bodies came forward and fast attempting to lash out at the princess, she had to buy her faithful student and friend some time to get out. The once yellow pegasus had scooped up her organs and shot the gunky oil out of her intestines nearly hitting the princess. Splattering the wall behind her it burnt a hole clean through. Princess Celestia had formed an energy shield with her magic to block several projectiles coming at her. Rainbow Dash’s wings had turned into long black spines, they shot out of her skin making ripping noises each time one was thrown. AppleJack had her once blonde tail turn into a frizzy white mess that streched out and tried to whip her. There was only one pony who hadn’t been trying to attack and that was Rarity, Celestia could notice her turning back and forth in the background crying and screaming randomly at points. Her eyes were dripping red and the iris of her eyes were now a milky white. Princess Celestia backing up to the entrance, Twilight came rushing through the hospital entrance and tossed a spell that sent the creatures that once resembled her friends flying backward enabling them to escape. “Thank you Twilight, I need you to help me put up a barrier around this building.” Twilight nodded and both her and Celestia had conjoined their magic forces to make a spell barrier that could only be broken if they used their magic together. “That should hold them in their until we get everything solved, thank you once again for helping me my faithful student.” Celestia bowed her head in appreciation of Twilight’s bravery. “Thank you aswell Princess, if you hadn’t arrived Pinkie and I would already be dead!” She shook her head with fear. “I sent Pinkie Pie off to the town to help anyponies who were in danger." Princess Celestia nodded, “Twilight Sparkle, we do not have much time. We must hurry back to your library at once!” Celestia pleaded. “Ughh, dammit I’m tired of getting off the ground. Why can’t I stay up for more than 5 minutes?” Xander said to himself sitting up. “Huh?” There was no ground beneath him yet a solid surface he was able to stand on, he turned his head in shock to find 4 unconscious ponies only a few meters away from him. Walking over to them with caution he noticed that all four of the ponies were sound asleep. Bending down on his knees he gently shook AppleJack awake. “Hey...Hey wake up. Wake up.” He whispered. AppleJack giving an annoyed groan mumbled, “Is it mornin’ already? Phew, ah had the craziest dre-” AppleJacks face fell and her voice went silent. Her heart beating faster she hit herself in the leg, “Ow!” she wanted to see if she was still dreaming or not. Frantically looking around she saw her 3 friends asleep and Xander sitting beside her. “You! Wha- what’s goin on here?! You grabbed hold of me and then...then...ah’ don’t know what happened after that.” Her temper faded a little and she seemed calm herself. “You said your name was Xander right?” she asked, “Yes it is.” Xander replied. To his surprise she looked at him with glassy eyes that started to swell with tears, he suspected that she would attack him after punching her friend. A groan came into his stomach, he felt regret for hitting her. “Hey, listen, I uh- I want to apologize for attacking your friend. As you could then I was upset and I still am, but who wouldn’t be after so much happening to one person?” He said in the best apologetic voice he could. “Lets wake up your friends and see if we can figure out what’s going on.” AppleJack nodded and stood up, both walking over to the three sleeping ponies. “Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash. Yall need tah’ wake up.” All in near perfect unison stretched out the legs and necks. “Woah.” That was the only word the Rainbow said before looking ready to panic. “Applejack...What’s going on right now? And why is he here? I thought we left him in the hospital?” Xander could tell that trying to explain to these ponies what all that has happened was going to be tough chore. “Now listen Rainbow please try tah’ take some deep breaths and remain calm, as long as we stay relaxed we should have no trouble.” Well that statement didn’t last very long. The white one named Rarity was yelling and trotting her hooves up and down. “AppleJack what do you mean remain calm?! There is no ground? There is nothing around us! How are we standing right now!?” It was almost comical the faces and movements she was making, it looked like a prissy teenage girl getting scared by a small bug that was harmless. “Rarity! Calm yerself down! We can’t be getting all riled up when we don’t know what’s going on!” Rarity stopped pacing but was taking very heavy breaths. Fluttershy he assumed was the yellow one, it was strange how she didn’t seem alarmed at all. She stood there staring at him, her stare was deathly, he had never seen someone or ‘somepony’ that could keep such a straight face especially when all this was happening. She broke free from her stare and blushed. Looking down she whispered, "I'm sorry..." Slowly walking over to the Rainbow haired pony, Xander gently reached his arm out to touch her hair. She flinched and backed slightly away when he tried to do so and looked afraid. “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise.” He said with a serious tone. Getting close to her reaching his arm out he ran his fingers through her mane. Running the gentle touch down her face he very carefully rubbed the spot Ihe hit. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash...I think that’s your name. I was just a bit alarmed and It was my reaction. Where I come from I don’t have very good social skills and I tend to keep to myself, but after everything that has happened here today or however long I've been here, you deserve an apology from me.” Sliding his hand off her face all the ponies around me were in awe by the sudden amount of kindness Xander was showing. “Ok, before we go into everything that has happened, I feel I should explain some things.” He said. “My name is Xander as you already know and I’m a human. Just like all of you I have not the slightest clue on what is going on but I’m going to admit something, I’m scared.” Literally he had have never been scared of anything in life but this was to supernatural not to be alarmed by. “When I woke up here I thought I was just dreaming or something but I knew I wasn’t when I sorta...hit your friend in the face. The feeling took over me soon after that because when I started running away from you all, the inside of my stomach felt like it was being eaten away.” Just thinking about the pain made him cringe, “What I remember before waking up..here wherever we are is that I threw up this really nasty black stuff that was burning the hell out of me.” “Wait I remember you begging for our help right before you collapsed. Twilight told us to get you on our backs and rush you to the PonyVille hospital. When we got there we put you onto a hospital bed and you grabbed my arm.” AppleJack said. “That’s when ah’ woke up here.” All of them just looked at each other nervously, none of this seemed to make sense. Everything that had been told or need to be just added more and more into the confusion. Why is he here? How did this happen? How does he get back? It was starting to give him a headache. Fluttershy finally spoke, “Hey umm Xander....what’s that by your foot?” she was almost whispering and sounded very shy, note the name FlutterSHY. Xander bent over to pick it up. He could tell it was a small gray box. About 7 inches tall and 6 inches wide. It wasn’t very heavy, but it did do one thing for sure. Added confusion. Holding it in his left hand he opened up the flaps to find what resembled a toy. A shiny red and yellow can with stars and funny looking hats painted on the side of it. There was a red handle on the side that looked like it had to be cranked, “A Jack In the Box?” He said looking up at the four ponies. Removing the small can from the box, he held it in his hand and examined it closely looking for details he might have missed. “Guahh!” Giving a small yelp of pain and dropping it. The box became very hot all of a sudden, “Xander...Please throw that thing somewhere it’s starting to freak me out how there was just a toy lying next to you.” Rarity cried. As he went to pick it up the little red handle slowly started to spin and gradually gaining speed playing a very creepy jingle. *dun dun dun da ditty dun* *dada tada* *dun dun da ditty dun* *ting....da....de......dun* A/N: Thank you to anyone who is still reading. I’m sorry for any annoyances when it comes to my grammar, if anyone would like to edit for me please tell me.
Fall Leaves and Crystal EyesA gentle breath of air struck the side of his face with such delicate force, also causing the dead maple leaves to scatter across the ground creating a peaceful tune. Hanging his head slightly downward and hands in his hoodie pockets he took each step as if it were his last, the thought relaxed him. Taking a deep breath, he savored the sweet smell outside being caused by overgrown grass and honeysuckles, it gave him a sense of satisfaction knowing that he could walk down this path alone and not be bothered. Life was good, not because he had materials to make life more enjoyable, but because he saw life for what it is, a state of being and living, not becoming a self indulgent robot like mostly everyone else. "Perfect, absolutely perfect. It's just me myself and I." Sounds kind of rude thinking about it that way, but that’s probably because he has no social skills. Always been the quiet type, not one to hang close to “friends” or even family for that matter, these things seemed to get it his way. Xander has always been a solitary person and the feeling of it was great. Yet it saddened him, knowing he pushed everything aside in his life to enjoy his own, he didn't feel sorry for himself but for the people that care about him, makes him feel selfish. Who Is he to ignore everyone around him and just go about his marry way? “Sick.” he said to himself. Trying not to let it phase him to badly, he pulled out his mp3 from his hoodie pocket, he believed that music is one of the most beautiful things the world and the people have to offer. It fills his soul with such happiness, to be able to go along with the beat and think a million things at once yet the thoughts are all in one place and understandable. Xander closed his eyes as he put the headphones on his head. Now his day had truly been fulfilled, a peaceful walk on a cloudless day with no noise except the sound of nature and the music ringing in his ears. Taking a look around he noticed that the beams of the soon sleeping sun were peaking through the branches and leaves, illuminating rays that allow you to see the particles floating through the air. It looked absolutely beautiful, but as much as he'd like to stay the sun was setting and it was time to head back home. Standing up and putting his hood over his head, he began to walk. This was his favorite area to go to, mainly because there was never anyone there and if there was they didn’t stay long. Probably because he would give them some awkward vibe, he didn't blame them though. Wouldn't anyone act alarmed if someone came out of nowhere with a hoodie over their head? Yea guess he would to. He didn’t notice how long he'd been walking, usually he would end up in a trance when listening to his music. But something didn't feel right when he looked at his surroundings, he felt...lost. There was a path in front of him that led straight what looked like forever, and the trees on each side all seemed to be in perfect alignment. It was almost disturbing how perfect it was, it didn’t feel natural at all. Like he usually did, he shrugged it off like it was nothing and turned around. Something isn’t right, “What the hell...” he whispered to himself, looking in front. This side looks exactly the same as the other, a straight narrowish path with the trees all in perfect alignment, never seeming to end. His hearts pace starts to quicken, jumping to conclusions telling himself that he was lost. “No, no I can’t be lost. Because I’m not lost I just need to walk back the way I came.” he begin walking, but faster than usual, being a bit unnerved by the situation he was in. How could he have been so stupid to not pay attention were he'd been heading? Hitting the side of his head making the best “duh” face he could. Chuckling a bit, the path still seemed to go on as it was, a straight path that didn’t seem to change at all not even a slight curve in it. Walking quickly turned into jogging, Xander was really starting to get nervous, no matter how far forward everything seemed the same. Stopping, soaking in the scene in front of him. Run. Running as fast possible the path didn't get any shorter it just kept going and going like a never ending tunnel. For the first time in his life he felt scared, he knew for a fact he hadn’t been walking this far because when he left the sun was setting, it should have been dark within five minutes. It’s been at least twenty minutes sense turning around. Losing his energy quickly he had to stop running and catch his breath. Putting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily towards the ground he noticed that his breath was showing. How could that even be possible? It’s about 84 degrees out here. Xander's breathing suddenly became very forceful, like he had forgotten how to breathe. His whole body started to feel out of place, everything felt abnormal. Still staring down and breathing heavy, a shadow slowly started to tower of him. Looking up he was hit by a mix of fear and shock, he couldn’t move at all. Standing in front of him was a figure, it’s height just a foot more with an eerie mist that came of it’s body. The figure was completely black with no resemblance of a person, it had arms but no legs. Thoughts raced through his head at the speed of light. But only one was clear. Run. Running as fast as his legs could take him, he was screaming as loud as possible. “HELP! ANYBODY PLEASE HELP ME!” Breathing was still very heavy and a chore, his body became very weak, his arms losing all strength along with his legs. He collapsed. Lying on the ground with his eyes shut whispering pleads for help, his mind filling with the thought that this was the end he is going to be killed. “HELP ANYB-” Silencing himself to realize he had just woken up. Before getting a chance to look around, his eyelids were closed tight. “Please just be a bad dream, please just be a bad dream.” Repeating to himself over and over again, this couldn’t have been real, he probably just passed out and everything that was going on was just a bad dream. Opening his eyes Xander's heart sunk. The same exact path remain in front of him just like before, only this time he was able to notice something strange off in the distance. Squinting to get a better view, something was coming towards him, and fast. Before he could even think darkness slowly started to envelope him and along with the rest of the world. It looked like the universe was bending out of shape and swallowing everything, except for Xander. But that’s when some thoughts are wrong, the darkness came in close and swept right under his feet. Screaming out of fear as loud as possible he was falling, falling into nothing. Turning his head in every direction as possible to get a glimpse of anything, he saw nothing but darkness surrounding. Was he falling? Not being sure of it, there was no force of air going past him, turning and spinning yet nothing at all. He felt as if this were some sort of limbo state. *CRACK* “AHHHH!” Something had struck his face with a powerful blow. Blood then started to drip and was flying off in all directions of the darkness, “What the hell is going on?!” and that’s when it hit, all darkness vanished instantly. Quickly shooting himself up taking in a large breath he heard a voice say, “Rainbow what was that for!?" A voice said, it sounded like a teenage girl. "Hey uhh...are you alright?” A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first Fic I have ever written or started to write. If you enjoyed this thank you so much for reading. As for anyone who didn’t like it or noticed errors are things that annoyed them, please tell me what was wrong and I will try to fix it.
Copper and FireXander's eyelids shut tight and his face scrunched up, the pain he was experiencing was unbearable. A taste of copper and tang filled his mouth and nostrils, god awful it was. Unable to move, he could make out voices that seemed to surround him putting him in a very awkward situation. “So your first instinct is to buck him in the face? We don’t even know what it is, and clearly you put it in pain!” the voice said. She sounded very concerned which was quite the relief sense he was lying here paralyzed. Her voice reminded him of someone he once loved, but that didn’t last long. It’s times like love that can put the hurt on someones soul, and she did it with such a flawless grace. But Xander stayed strong through most obstacles that block his path, even if it involves someone ripping his heart out. “Well it was being all spazzy and when he shot up off the ground real quick it scared the buck out of me!” “Be honest Twilight, if you came across some mysterious thing lying on the ground wouldn’t you take extra precautions? I mean you are an egghead after all.” Twilight? This voice just called her Twilight? That’s definitely an exotic name for someone, but what does he know. Nowadays the generation had the most uncreative, idiotic or just....wow names. “That’s not the point Rainbow! For all we know it could be completely harmless, and I do not want to take any chances on this thing. I have never seen anything of it’s kind in equestria before. Through all the books I have read about animals this one does not spark any memory of study.” Really wishing he could stand up right now and give these people a piece of his mind. so far heed been called an it and thing about 15 times already. Making him very nervous that they are referring to him as a creature instead of a human being. The last thing he remembered was being swallowed by darkness and free falling through literally nothing. Chills ran up his spine and a million thoughts were rushing through his head, like was someone following him and knocked him out? Did they give him a powerful drug to make him hallucinate? Because Xander was pretty sure he was at the moment. The next thought nearly made his heart stop. Were they going to kill him? “Fluttershy, do you know what it is? I reckon ya would sense yer’ so good with animals and all.” Said a voice that had a very thick accent. Which had already grown to be hated. “Umm....I-I’m not sure AppleJack, what I think I know is that it’s a male...” She sounded very shy, almost afraid. This put him a little at ease. AppleJack, FlutterShy, Twilight and Rainbow? What is with these names he thought. Beginning to think if he should take back what he said about names. There is always nicknames though, but they're usually just shortened of an actual name, never once has he heard the nickname Rainbow or AppleJack or any of them for that matter. “OH OH! MAYBE HE’S NEW HERE! OH THAT MEANS I HAD BETTER GET READY FOR A PARTY!” Squeaked an overly happy voice. “We just gotta! I’ll go get the supplies!” “Now hold on there Pinkie Pie, we need to figure out what it is before we go waltzing through ponyville with a creature nopony has ever seen. Speaking of ever being seen, it’s fashion style is horrendous! How could anypony wear such a thing!?” Terrible fashion choice eh? He didn’t know a pair American Eagle jeans, Nike shoes, O’Neil shirt and Hollister hoodie was that bad of a choice. Hold on a second...Did whatever that was just say anypony? And PonyVille? On top of everything else, have people referring to themselves as anypony? “Everypony stand back, I’m going to take this binding spell off of him.” Oh my god... “Alright here goes.” “GUUUAAHHHHHH! Ahhh hah huhh huhh!” Xanders lungs were struggling to gain air. Coughing and wheezing as hard as possible trying to catch his breath, he looked up and what he saw was all but a surprise, more confused than anything else. There in front of him, were 6 colorful horses, or by their size, ponies. Each of them looked about two or two and a half feet shorter than him. “Excuse me umm...sir? Uhh my friends and I found you lying here in the grass and when we came over to look at you, you jumped up and scared my friend Rainbow Dash who then sorta..bucked you in the face. I’m truly sorry but I think we can patch up that injury, but I need to ask you a few questions first if you don’t mind.” The purple one said. “H-How are you talking? You are a horse!” he raised his voice which caused a few of them to take a couple steps back. “I got lost on a path, saw a tall pitch black figure, got sucked up by darkness, kicked in the face, my nose is broken, there are talking ponies in front of me! I don’t even know where I am at the moment.” “Oh my god, you can talk,” He repeated, “This isn’t normal. How are you talking?” Xander asked in the calmest tone he could. Everyone of these ponies looked completely dumbfounded. The purple one who was standing about 7 feet away began to walk closer. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Right now you are in land the land of Equestria. My friends and I are a bit confused just as much as you are. We were all walking through the streets of PonyVille to go get some lunch but off in the distance we heard a very unusual noise, it sounded like a siren and small cracks of explosions. When we came over you were lying on the ground twitching and mumbling inaudible words. Then when you shot up from the ground my friend Rainbow bucked you in the face.” she gave a shy grin at the last sentence. Xander just stood there, mouth agape not even sure what to say. Slowly he started walking away from them mumbling to hiself that this isn’t real, he just needed to wake up. “Hey! Where do you think you are going?” Shouted the purple one or Twilight Sparkle he should say. “You know I can’t just let you walk away from here. None of us know what you are or if you are even safe to be around.” Not the smartest decision in the world, but finally he got tired of being referred to as a creature or an it. “You listen now and listen well, I’m about damned tired of being referred to as an “it,” I’m a human and the entire time I was on the ground I heard every word! Is that what you do in wherever the hell I am? You call each other it’s and creatures? I have a name, my name is Xander!” Not realizing how loud he was one of the ponies came flying towards him and yelled, “Hey! You don’t talk like that towards my friend, I don’t care if you are a humane or whatever but that doesn’t mean you can talk to her like that!” This pony may not have been so wise. “You listen here pony, I don’t care and if you ever get in my face again, it will be the last thing you do.” Xander said with a very stern voice, trying to make his point as clear as possible. “Is that so? Are you challenging me? Well come on then put em up!” A horse is challenging him to a fist to hoof fight, how cute. *BAM* He punched her straight in her mouth. “Ahh nothing like a little payback is there? You broke mine now I break yours!” *BAM* The second hit ended it. Blood smeared on his knuckles and a pony crying on the ground with a swollen eye. He actually felt kinda bad because the thing was 2 feet shorter than him, but why should he care? She challenged him and asked for it. Being too busy focused on the pony he had just struck down there was no awareness that 4 other ponies had been flying full speed at him with pure anger in their eyes. “Holy shit....” He started running as fast as he could, luckily to his advantage Xander seemed to outrun them by a landslide. That didn’t stop them though, he could still see them coming a few meters behind. In front there was a large forest that looked like a perfect getaway from them, but something about it while approaching didn’t feel right. He started to feel extremely ill. That feeling was coming to him again, the weakness, the dizziness only this time it was worse. It felt like he really had to throw up, his stomach felt like it was clawing the insides away. Clutching his left hand on his stomach he stood there bent over towards the ground, and right when the ponies who were behind me arrived he threw up. The substance that was coming out of him was black and looked thick, almost like oil. Sticky strings of it was running out of Xander's throat and mouth, the pain it was causing was unbearable. It started to look red as it was dripping from his tongue, it left a strong burning sensation the longer it sat in his mouth. After only a few seconds he was pleading to the ponies behind him for help. They watched in horror and disgust. “Help me please! It hurts! Please!” Xander groaned and begged. “Please....Please..Ple-” *GUARGH!* He threw up one last time before collapsing straight to the ground. A/N: I really didn’t enjoy how I wrote this. I’m sorry if anyone thought this story had potential, but to be honest I’m very disappointed in myself...If you enjoyed thank you so much for reading! The next update should be very soon.
Pins and NeedlesWalking up to the human, Applejack was the first to speak. “Oh my, ah think I’m gonna be sick...” said AppleJack as she stared at the “human” body that lay limp on the ground. He was lying face down in the substance that he threw up, covering a lot of his face and chest. The substance did not have a smell, but there was something else that seemed to be...burning? It clicked in Twilight’s head, what he said before collapsing. “AppleJack, Rarity, Fluttershy! Quickly get him on your backs and rush him to the hospital!” Twilight shouted in a very concerned tone. “Twi, are ya crazy? He just hurt Rainbow and ya expect me to help him like this?” AppleJack did not like the idea of helping somepony or something that just attacked her best friend. “AppleJack, before he collapsed he was yelling in pain that whatever is on the ground was burning him! Do you not smell that? It’s his flesh!” Twilight pointing at his face you could see the skin very slowly cracking and splitting like it was melting away. “Take him there quick and don’t stop! I have to stay and take a sample of whatever this black stuff is.” “Rarity use your magic to levitate him on mah’ back, and I will high tail it on outa here. Fluttershy, I need you tah’ fly as fast as ya can to PonyVille Hospital. Tell them it’s an emergency!” Rarity’s horn glowed a strange aura around it, which then surrounded Xander. “Be gentle now rarity, he look awful heavy.” Slowly lowering him on to AppleJacks back, all four of her legs about gave out. “Good gravy hes heavy! Rarity, run behind me to the hospital I need you tah spot him and I.” Twilight waited till all three of her friends were gone, but she was still wondering where Pinkie Pie had gone. After the human had hit Rainbow, Pinkie galloped as fast as she could out of there. I figured she got scared and ran to hide, I mean she did it to Zecora after all. But as scared as that pony may be something about her tends to frighten me. Walking over to the scattered patch of black vomit, Twilight took a close look and very careful measures not to step in it. The grass it covered had turned brown and very light razor thin streams of what appeared to be steam came from the burned grass. Using her magic to levitate a small glass tube and dropper out of her side pack, she took a small sample of it and put it in the tube. *crick* *crack* Before she could even get a chance to put the tube back in her satchel, the glass tube and dropper both cracked. Twilight stared at both pieces of equipment with intense interest, making sure to observe every little thing that happened. Both objects she levitated were falling out of the magic aura that help them up. The glass was melting away causing Twilight to drop them and take a few steps back. “What the...?” she whispered to herself. “This stuff must be highly acidic, or it could be some sort of magic.” Twilight took out her notepad and began to write her studies down, “This should make a very nice report for Princess Celestia.” “TWIILIGHT!” Pinkies voice came screeching through the field behind her. “Pinkie? What are you doing?” Twilight asked the exhausted mare who had halted to catch her breath. Quickly regaining, Pinkie Pie circled around Twilight and shoved her away from the patch of thick liquid. “Twilight listen to me, you have to stay clear of that thing do you understand? Just before it hit Rainbow I got the most profound Twitch and sense.” She had never seen Pinkie so serious in her life. “Somethings is wrong with thing, something is unnatural and I think it needs help!” Not sure whether or not to take Pinkie’s warning seriously she simply nodded. “Alright I will try to take distance and caution before approaching him. Pinkie..Why did you run off if you knew that was going to happen and have you seen Rainbow? None of us stopped to make sure she was ok when we went after, Xander I think his name was.” Twilight didn’t really know what to feel at the moment, there were so many things to be worried about. “I had to run off and tell the other ponies in PonyVille, I’m scared Twilight and this isn’t just me overreacting. As for Rainbow Dash, I saw her flying with Fluttershy. AppleJack and them must have picked her up to help out, she didn’t look too happy though.” Pinkie was surprisingly calm when she spoke, “Twilight, pinkie promise me that you won’t do anything you will regret around him. Please.” She was almost in tears and that’s the moment I knew she was right about everything she had told me. Something was certainly wrong with guy. “I pinkie promise.” She had been told that his world turned to darkness, that he saw a dark figure in front of him. He seemed to be dizzy and confused the entire time he was awake. “Pinkie Pie, we need to head back to the PonyVille hospital and see how everypony is.” Bursting through the hospital came AppleJack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Looking around for a nurse or doctor hectically she ran to the help desk asking for a doctor immediately. “Nurse! Do you have ah doctor around? Ah need one right now!” AppleJack demanded, “It’s an emergency!” Two doctors came out through the doors in front of them, one was running with an emergency bed. “What’s the problem? Is somepony hurt?” the doctor asked in a very serious voice. “Yes, this ‘human’ is in bad shape he needs your help now!” Both doctors were now just standing there with a look of shock on their faces not sure of what they were looking at. “What is that thing!?” asked the doctor, “Ah don’t know but he needs your help and fast.” AppleJack said. “Quickly lay it on the bed right here and we will take him in the back.” AppleJack came up and slid him onto the bed. Before she could retrieve her hoof, Xander’s hand grabbed it and started to squeeze. His eye lids shooting open, he turned and looked over at AppleJack. His eyes..they were completely black, no color remained in them as they once were. “Ahh! Get him off me! Get him the buck off me!” Quickly throwing his arm across his waist not letting go of his grip, Xander slung AppleJack into the wall causing her to hit the ground with a loud thud. *Ahhhrrrrrughhhhh!* The human had made a loud blood curdling scream, making all the ponies cover their ears. The figure that stood before them looked nothing like he did when he came here, there were black pulsing veins shooting through his arms, neck and forehead. Looking at all the ponies around him, his face gave a very sinister looking grin. His teeth looked like they had rotted and black and red liquid seeped through in between his teeth dripping down his face. Extending both arms straight outwards he looked up at the ceiling. Opening his mouth a stream of the dark liquid he threw up earlier was now coming straight out of him. Hovering towards the ceiling and coating it, the liquid spread across and the lights in the room started to flicker. “AppleJack!” the ponies screamed and saw that her head was bleeding bad. Rainbow Dash took a leap and flew to aid AppleJack, but before she could reach something had struck her again, only this time it was longer and hit her in the chest. Rarity and Fluttershy stood there fearing for each other's lives, the doors to every room slammed shut. In front of them was not just a creature. Approaching the two girls was a monster. It had extremely long arms that ended with sharp claws, black eyes, razor sharp teeth that were so big it couldn't close it’s mouth and it's eyes. It's eyes were pitch black and had red and black tears dripping from it's face. Approaching PonyVille were Pinkie Pie and Twilight, but when they got into town both of their hearts sank. Running hysterically around the town were ponies crying and screaming, fire was set ablaze to Sugar Cube Corners finest bakery. “Pinkie to the hospital quick!” shouted Twilight. Please Celestia let them be safe, please let them be safe. They reached the hospital entrance, but only this time the doors were hanging off and deep claw and blood spatters on them. Zipping through the doors Twilight's eyes came to tears. There lying before her, were her four friends, lying limp and lifeless on the floor. Pinkies face was streaming with tears, she couldn't move because of the shock she was in. AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity...her friends, all battered and beaten. Twilight feared the worse to come and that was that her friends were...gone.
Jingle JingleTwilight and Pinkie Pie couldn’t move no matter how hard they tried, the image in front of them was being soaked and scarred into their brain. They observed each of their bodies closely and could tell whatever happened here was nothing minor at all. Rainbow Dash looked as if something had thrown her onto a counter, she had a huge gash in her back exposing her spinal cord clearly. Laying limp against a wall was AppleJack, her head had been cracked open and along side her ribcage were deep claw marks. Sitting upright was Rarity, this image petrified Twilight and Pinkie because it looked as though she was still alive. Her head hung down and blood was slowly dripping off of her lips, along the ponies face were deep cuts and a massive laceration across her forehead. The last of the horrific scene was Fluttershy...Celestia help us all. The yellow pegasus pony had been pinned up against a wall and had her waist cut open, revealing her insides. The room was dim and the lights flickered, more than blood was spattered on the walls. Again it was the black liquid that Xander had released from his body, only this time it seemed more... “TWILIGHT!” Pinkie shouted snapping Twilight out of her concentration. “Twilight, the black stuff, It’s moving!” Twilight looked around the room to notice that the liquid was slowly moving towards each of her dead friends. “We have to leave right now Twi! Now!” Before Pinkie could finish pleading to her friend that they had to leave a voice came crashing through the hall. “Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, you must move at once!” Twilight's head shot up and turned around. “Princess Celestia! What are you doing here!?” Twilight shouted. “I will explain later, but for now you have to move quick get out of here!” Princess Celestia's voice sounded harsh and nervous. There was even a slight hint of fear in her voice. It was too late to run. The black liquid that had been flowing towards her friends was now being absorbed into their bodies, crawling up and down their flesh like maggots. Sounds of slurping blood and saliva was coming from her friends, there bodies started to twitch. Twilight slowly began to back up as she watched. Each of the ponies that were once lifeless were now moving and make very awkward noises. The dead Fluttershy had removed her self off of the wall. Rainbow Dash and AppleJack had stood up, Rarity had turned her head towards the two ponies and alicorn giving them a devilish smile. “Twilight, Pinkie Pie...run.” Lifeless limping bodies came forward and fast attempting to lash out at the princess, she had to buy her faithful student and friend some time to get out. The once yellow pegasus had scooped up her organs and shot the gunky oil out of her intestines nearly hitting the princess. Splattering the wall behind her it burnt a hole clean through. Princess Celestia had formed an energy shield with her magic to block several projectiles coming at her. Rainbow Dash’s wings had turned into long black spines, they shot out of her skin making ripping noises each time one was thrown. AppleJack had her once blonde tail turn into a frizzy white mess that streched out and tried to whip her. There was only one pony who hadn’t been trying to attack and that was Rarity, Celestia could notice her turning back and forth in the background crying and screaming randomly at points. Her eyes were dripping red and the iris of her eyes were now a milky white. Princess Celestia backing up to the entrance, Twilight came rushing through the hospital entrance and tossed a spell that sent the creatures that once resembled her friends flying backward enabling them to escape. “Thank you Twilight, I need you to help me put up a barrier around this building.” Twilight nodded and both her and Celestia had conjoined their magic forces to make a spell barrier that could only be broken if they used their magic together. “That should hold them in their until we get everything solved, thank you once again for helping me my faithful student.” Celestia bowed her head in appreciation of Twilight’s bravery. “Thank you aswell Princess, if you hadn’t arrived Pinkie and I would already be dead!” She shook her head with fear. “I sent Pinkie Pie off to the town to help anyponies who were in danger." Princess Celestia nodded, “Twilight Sparkle, we do not have much time. We must hurry back to your library at once!” Celestia pleaded. “Ughh, dammit I’m tired of getting off the ground. Why can’t I stay up for more than 5 minutes?” Xander said to himself sitting up. “Huh?” There was no ground beneath him yet a solid surface he was able to stand on, he turned his head in shock to find 4 unconscious ponies only a few meters away from him. Walking over to them with caution he noticed that all four of the ponies were sound asleep. Bending down on his knees he gently shook AppleJack awake. “Hey...Hey wake up. Wake up.” He whispered. AppleJack giving an annoyed groan mumbled, “Is it mornin’ already? Phew, ah had the craziest dre-” AppleJacks face fell and her voice went silent. Her heart beating faster she hit herself in the leg, “Ow!” she wanted to see if she was still dreaming or not. Frantically looking around she saw her 3 friends asleep and Xander sitting beside her. “You! Wha- what’s goin on here?! You grabbed hold of me and then...then...ah’ don’t know what happened after that.” Her temper faded a little and she seemed calm herself. “You said your name was Xander right?” she asked, “Yes it is.” Xander replied. To his surprise she looked at him with glassy eyes that started to swell with tears, he suspected that she would attack him after punching her friend. A groan came into his stomach, he felt regret for hitting her. “Hey, listen, I uh- I want to apologize for attacking your friend. As you could then I was upset and I still am, but who wouldn’t be after so much happening to one person?” He said in the best apologetic voice he could. “Lets wake up your friends and see if we can figure out what’s going on.” AppleJack nodded and stood up, both walking over to the three sleeping ponies. “Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash. Yall need tah’ wake up.” All in near perfect unison stretched out the legs and necks. “Woah.” That was the only word the Rainbow said before looking ready to panic. “Applejack...What’s going on right now? And why is he here? I thought we left him in the hospital?” Xander could tell that trying to explain to these ponies what all that has happened was going to be tough chore. “Now listen Rainbow please try tah’ take some deep breaths and remain calm, as long as we stay relaxed we should have no trouble.” Well that statement didn’t last very long. The white one named Rarity was yelling and trotting her hooves up and down. “AppleJack what do you mean remain calm?! There is no ground? There is nothing around us! How are we standing right now!?” It was almost comical the faces and movements she was making, it looked like a prissy teenage girl getting scared by a small bug that was harmless. “Rarity! Calm yerself down! We can’t be getting all riled up when we don’t know what’s going on!” Rarity stopped pacing but was taking very heavy breaths. Fluttershy he assumed was the yellow one, it was strange how she didn’t seem alarmed at all. She stood there staring at him, her stare was deathly, he had never seen someone or ‘somepony’ that could keep such a straight face especially when all this was happening. She broke free from her stare and blushed. Looking down she whispered, "I'm sorry..." Slowly walking over to the Rainbow haired pony, Xander gently reached his arm out to touch her hair. She flinched and backed slightly away when he tried to do so and looked afraid. “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise.” He said with a serious tone. Getting close to her reaching his arm out he ran his fingers through her mane. Running the gentle touch down her face he very carefully rubbed the spot Ihe hit. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash...I think that’s your name. I was just a bit alarmed and It was my reaction. Where I come from I don’t have very good social skills and I tend to keep to myself, but after everything that has happened here today or however long I've been here, you deserve an apology from me.” Sliding his hand off her face all the ponies around me were in awe by the sudden amount of kindness Xander was showing. “Ok, before we go into everything that has happened, I feel I should explain some things.” He said. “My name is Xander as you already know and I’m a human. Just like all of you I have not the slightest clue on what is going on but I’m going to admit something, I’m scared.” Literally he had have never been scared of anything in life but this was to supernatural not to be alarmed by. “When I woke up here I thought I was just dreaming or something but I knew I wasn’t when I sorta...hit your friend in the face. The feeling took over me soon after that because when I started running away from you all, the inside of my stomach felt like it was being eaten away.” Just thinking about the pain made him cringe, “What I remember before waking up..here wherever we are is that I threw up this really nasty black stuff that was burning the hell out of me.” “Wait I remember you begging for our help right before you collapsed. Twilight told us to get you on our backs and rush you to the PonyVille hospital. When we got there we put you onto a hospital bed and you grabbed my arm.” AppleJack said. “That’s when ah’ woke up here.” All of them just looked at each other nervously, none of this seemed to make sense. Everything that had been told or need to be just added more and more into the confusion. Why is he here? How did this happen? How does he get back? It was starting to give him a headache. Fluttershy finally spoke, “Hey umm Xander....what’s that by your foot?” she was almost whispering and sounded very shy, note the name FlutterSHY. Xander bent over to pick it up. He could tell it was a small gray box. About 7 inches tall and 6 inches wide. It wasn’t very heavy, but it did do one thing for sure. Added confusion. Holding it in his left hand he opened up the flaps to find what resembled a toy. A shiny red and yellow can with stars and funny looking hats painted on the side of it. There was a red handle on the side that looked like it had to be cranked, “A Jack In the Box?” He said looking up at the four ponies. Removing the small can from the box, he held it in his hand and examined it closely looking for details he might have missed. “Guahh!” Giving a small yelp of pain and dropping it. The box became very hot all of a sudden, “Xander...Please throw that thing somewhere it’s starting to freak me out how there was just a toy lying next to you.” Rarity cried. As he went to pick it up the little red handle slowly started to spin and gradually gaining speed playing a very creepy jingle. *dun dun dun da ditty dun* *dada tada* *dun dun da ditty dun* *ting....da....de......dun* A/N: Thank you to anyone who is still reading. I’m sorry for any annoyances when it comes to my grammar, if anyone would like to edit for me please tell me.
