Fallen

Those two had shown me that day that no matter how bleak the future looks, there is always a reason to live. The bullies never bothered me again after that. I guess a mysterious spectator relayed their brutal try for revenge and made sure that they were never again without supervision. I know that they seethed at me behind their watchers’ backs, but they never tried anything again, to me or any other pony.
And, as for Green and Adamant, the two of them became the best friends a pony could have. I guess there’s nothing like saving someone’s life to tie your destinies together like that.
Even now, while I stood at the edge of the Everfree, I felt their support as they stood next to me. The forest was unnervingly creepy tonight. Even in daylight, it’s fairly unsettling, with the unexpected popping up from behind every tree. Tonight, though, it billowed with mist, giving the illusions of a dozen smoky phantasms groping at our hooves.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Adamant said shakily, hesitated, then plowed right into the mist. Green and I nervously followed his lead, glancing at one another.
We crept through the eerie mist, the air giving each tree a dark skeletal appearance. The very sight of this sent shivers down my spine. But continue we did, for the sake of the Element of Honesty.
Eventually we reached a small clearing, where the gray pegasus stood, next to a great tree where Applejack hung, bound and gagged. The gray pegasus turned to us, his body rippling as he took the form of a large black snake.
“So all three of you have come. This is not what I expected, but it does not matter. I come here from across time, space, and reality to ask something of this world. That is, for one of its inhabitants to accompany me on, let’s say, a little adventure. What say you? I offer to let this mare go, if one of you will join me freely.”
At the snake’s words, Adamant growled and pawed the ground.
“You filthy liar! Why should we believe you? You would just come back once one of us is dragged into whatever backwater place you decide. Then you could cause even more problems! We don’t even know who you are!”
The snake hissed and reared up. “You little fool. Very well. I give you my word that I shall stay with the one who chooses to come. As for who I am, you needn’t bother your little minds with that. All you need to know, is that I am renowned throughout worlds and dimensions, and I am known as Wither.”
Adamant snorted, ears flat back. “You arrogant son of a bitch!” He charged Wither, but ropes leapt out of the darkness, binding him to the ground.
“Now, now. Let’s not do that. You might hurt yourself.”
At this, Green roared at Wither, horn flashing with all her might. Green bolts of lightning crackled as she turned her magic towards Wither, but the snake just laughed, and the lightning turned back on its master, imprisoning her in a cage of light.
“Really, ponies? I thought we were all adults here.”
Adamant struggled in the ropes that pinned him to the ground. “Sky! Go! Alert the princesses! They’ll take care of this trickster!”
“I’m afraid not,” the snake sneered. “You see, as a reality bender, I’m not affected by this mundane biological form of magic that you ponies wield. It’s in my very nature. No, earth pony. Your so-called Elements of Harmony won’t work on me either. I bend reality. I make or change the rules.”
With this statement, he hissed, eyes glowing. Suddenly gravity vanished entirely, causing everything not firmly attached to the ground, including me, to float in the air, giving me a very intense feeling of vertigo. Wither hissed again, and gravity righted itself, making me land on my head.
“I can alter physics…” he hissed. “Reality…” and suddenly every single blade of grass became razor-sharp blades of diamond. “…and space…” every single tree up to about fifty feet away abruptly vanished, causing air to rush into the voids created by their absence.
“So, you realize how this is quite futile, no? Even if your princesses attacked me with their magic, I can just bend reality to make their powers useless. Like what I did to you, unicorn.”
“So what?” Adamant scowled, “That draconequus, Discord, could do all you can do, and he was defeated by the Elements of Harmony.”
Wither looked thoughtful for a second. “Maybe so…” he mused, “maybe not. But, you need all of your Elements to try that, don’t you? And I happen to hold one of the six captive. You have no choice.”
He turned and stared directly into my eyes. I squirmed before his gaze. “You. I know what you want. I can give it to you. I can give you the… adventure… you seek.”
It was then that I realized that his voice was what I heard in my dream. “Yessss…” he hissed. “It was, indeed, myself, who sent you that dream. As well as your friends’. I can enter your minds and project images, thoughts, and dreams. You cannot fight me.”
Alarmed, I spread my wings, preparing to take off to seek the princesses’ aid. “I already told you, that won’t work,” Wither said, freezing me in my tracks. “I am not leaving without my goal.”
“Your goal, which is?” Adamant glared at Wither from the ground.
“I already told you. To have one of you accompany me to another world. You must understand, your world is well known through… stories… in this other world. I’d explain it further, but your technology hasn’t caught up to theirs, so you wouldn’t understand. Anyway, there, tales of Equestria have, well, a kind of cult following. These people, they call themselves ‘bronies’, or ‘brother of ponies’… it very much interests me what reaction the sudden transportation of one of their idols into their midst they would have.”
“So this is just one big… show for you?” Green stared at him, aghast. “You’re throwing innocent ponies’ lives into danger for your own entertainment?”
Wither made an odd movement in his upper body, like the snake equivalent of a shrug. It was very odd, as if his body was phasing into itself, and it made me blink rapidly. “Well, you don’t seem to have any choice in the matter, so I guess one of you will have to play my game. I give my word that I will not myself harm any pony who comes with me. I just want to see what happens for awhile.”
“So afterwards, you’ll return that pony here? After you’ve had your fun?” I demanded. He merely smiled.
That sent a shiver down my spine. Nevertheless, if none of us agreed to accompany him, well, he already showed us what he was capable of. He was right. The alicorns stood no chance against him, and neither did the Elements, at the moment.
He could have the whole of Equestria under his control within a matter of hours.
I sighed.
“I’ll go with you.” I told him.
“NO!” Adamant shouted, and struggled violently with his bonds, to no avail.
“You can’t!” Green protested, trying with her magic to control her lightning cage, but all she received for her efforts was a powerful shock.
“I must. You both know what can happen if he’s not appeased. Besides, this is what I always wanted. To soar high and far in distant skies, seeing sights no pony has ever seen before. Argue all you want. I’m going.”
Wither smirked at me. “I see. I called it right. You were the one to contact.”
“Let us go too!” Adamant shouted at Wither.
“I’m afraid that won’t be necessary. One pony is enough. Three would make quite a spectacle, but might make this too messy for my taste. The pegasus will come with me. Alone.” Wither said, and turned to me. “We have a deal. What’s your name, pegasus?”
“Sky. Sky High.” I told him defiantly.
“Well, Sky. Let’s go.”
And a light enveloped us both. The last things I saw of Equestria were the ropes disappearing from around Applejack and Adamant, and Green’s lightning cage dissipating, before I blacked out.