Running from the Past

It had been a few hours. It started to get dark. Lloyd had spent the entire time looking for Rainbow, and any trace of the cultists. He looked out into the wilderness.

Lloyd looked around the base of the cave entrance one more time, incase he missed anything. Just as he was about to turn around, he noticed something. A trail of water. *I bet it's a trail of tears...* *Music*(Add the song Outside, then Lion. Listen while reading.) Lloyd clenched his fists, thinking of Rainbow. He followed the trail, realizing it was his only lead. The trail led into a forest. *So be it...* Lloyd followed the trail, but made sure to stay inside of the brush so no one could see him. He followed the trail for about a minute or two more, until he reached a clearing. *Wait a sec, this looks familiar.* Lloyd realized that it was the exact same clearing that he almost lost his life in. He looked to the ground of the clearing, and saw the cultists. Each of them were partaking in some kind of ritual. He then spotted Rainbow in the center of a circle of cultists. She was contained in a cage. It took a lot of willpower not to run out and kill them all senselessly.

The marking in the middle went from a creature to a few tears, colored blue, as the ritual went on. Lloyd then realized he had the mask in his back pocket. He quickly took it out, and looked it up and down. *It'll do.* Lloyd then flipped it over, and put it on slowly. His vision quickly changed. He felt much more powerful. Lloyd was quickly able to see that it changed what everyone looked like. Each of the cultist was outlined in black, with their major arteries and veins highlighted in red. He looked to Rainbow, and she had a cyan outline to her, and no arteries showing. *Huh, strange.* Lloyd then noticed another creature walking up to Rainbow's cage. It was the red cultist. His outline was radiating red, as if he were on fire, although it was a calm, low, flame that barely moved. His arteries and heart were in black. Lloyd was tempted to take action.

The red cultist quickly walked up to the cage, and extended his finger. Just as he was about to do something to Rainbow, Lloyd decided to strike. Lloyd jumped up with his wings. He was up in the sky, the moon right behind him, giving him a diety-like appearence. The cultists looked up, and quickly tried to finish their ritual. Lloyd wouldn't let them. He dived down towards a part of the circle, being sure not to hit Rainbow. The impact caused the first few cultists to get knocked down. Lloyd slowly rose. The creature pointed to him.

"KILL...HIM!!!" The creature shouted. The cultists got up, and charged him. The first cultist in Lloyd's sight was a few feet away from him. The cultist wielded an axe, and threw a clumsy swing at Lloyd. Lloyd weaved to the right, and backhanded him across the face. The cultist recoiled for a second, but took another swing. Lloyd ducked, and uppercut the cultist, sending him straight to the ground. He didn't get back up.

Another cultist quickly charged. Lloyd quickly ducked, and threw the cultist up over his back. The cultist was on the ground, and before he could do anything, was stomped in the chest brutally, without mercy. He was still alive, but would probably bleed out in the next ten minutes. A third cultist walked into sight. He was a big one, wielding a large, two-handed mace. It was simple, but utterly brutal-looking. The cultist screamed as he charged, and raised his mace into the air. A smirk snuck its way onto Lloyd's face. Just as the cultist swung, Lloyd did a backflip over him, and kicked him in the back. The cultist fell to the ground. He got back up before Lloyd could do anything. The cultist raised his mace with both hands, and swung downwards. Lloyd took a sidestep back. Before the large cultist could do anything more, Lloyd delivered a swift, crippling kick to the back of the knee. The cultist fell down to his knees. He lifted his mace, but Lloyd punched it out of his grip. The cultist looked up. Lloyd put one hand onto his neck, and held him up. With his free hand, Lloyd lifted up his mask for a second, and gave a sadistic look. He put the mask back on, and threw him into a nearby tree, knocking him out cold. The cultist would have brain damage for the rest of his short life after that point. Lloyd quickly turned his attention to the creature infront of Rainbow.

The creature smirked, and began to clap. His form then changed. He went from his pony form to the form of the creature in his nightmares. The body just shifted smoothly, as if the creature was experienced at such a thing.

"Well done, you seemed to have killed my minions easily enough. Now let's see how you fare off against me." Lloyd nodded. The creature quickly turned his attention to Rainbow's cage. He was just about to touch Rainbow on the head, when Lloyd interrupted. Lloyd's eyes lit up. The eyehole on the left side of the mask had a fierce, red flame coming out of it. The eyehole on the right had a cool, blue flame coming out of it.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Lloyd shouted, in a voice not at all sounding like his own. The voice sounded like a chorus of godlike voices, all combined as one. Lloyd charged at the creature, screaming. He slammed his fists into the creature's thorax rapidly, in a volley of extremely fast punches. The creature only recoiled a slight bit, staring down at Lloyd's defiance. The creature backhanded him with ease, sending him sprawling across the ground. Lloyd got up, wiping blood from his mouth. He looked up, and saw that the creature was just standing there, laughing. It was a maniacal laugh that could be heard for miles around. Lloyd ran at it again.  Just as Lloyd reached it, the creature dissapeared in a veil of smoke. Lloyd's hands just clawed at thin air. He got down to his knees, and looked to his hands. His knuckles were bloody.

Lloyd got up, and looked into the cage. Rainbow was okay, she was just unconscious. He let out a long, drawn out sigh of relief. Lloyd tried opening the door, and found that it was locked, and had a keyhole. *Figures...* Lloyd looked around the place for a pair of keys for a few minutes. Just as he was about to give up his search, he heard a murmur from the ground. Lloyd looked down to find an injured cultist. He picked him up.

"Where are the keys?" Lloyd asked, shaking the cultist slightly. He could tell that he was on the verge of dieing. The cultist fiddled with his coat, his hooves twitching nervously as he did so. A pair of keys quickly appeared out of his hooves. Lloyd took them, and set the cultist down. He wasn't a merciless killer, even if his behaviour earlier had proven otherwise. He quickly inserted one of the keys into the keyhole, and to his suprise, it was the right one. The cage opened with a creak sound. Lloyd slowly opened it, and picked Rainbow up. He made sure to craddle her gently, he was focused on getting her to the hospital.

Rainbow woke up on the way there. Her eyes slowly opened up, although she didn't move. She looked up to find Lloyd carrying her. She was also flying up in the air, in his arms. Lloyd quickly noticed that she was awake, and put his face close to her's.

"Where...are we?" Rainbow asked in a very tired voice.

"Shh, it's alright Rainbow. I'm taking you to the hospital." Lloyd then nuzzled her face. Her face quickly blushed a crimson shade of red. Lloyd quickly kissed her on the lips. Her face blushed an even brighter red, and she returned the kiss. Knowing that he didn't need to say anything more, Lloyd kept flying, to safety.