REPENTANCE
Feeling much pain, going insane. From past times, you hear bells chime. They seem like a sign, but it's only your time; A time for repentance, and a time for acceptance. Eliminate fear, Eliminate tears, do all that you can, to stay alive in this land. This land of demented sick twisted thoughts, where all sanity is nowhere, simply lost. You can try your hardest to escape from this world, but all that you'll do is cause evil to uncurl. It'll blanket your psyche with all encompassing malevolence, bringing to you nothing but death held in abeyance. You enter the world, feeling strange and lost, to be immediately confronted by a stranger accost. Facing fear in the face, you can only hope to keep pace. For all that in store for you is the misery that ensues.
It’d been a long day, and Twilight was sitting in the Sugar Cube corner bakery, enjoying a wonderfully made cake as a treat for the long week she had had. She was eating with her friends, discussing various things about Equestria, bringing up their many adventures they shared together. It had started with the ticket to the gala and the hilarity that ensued to the darker days of Discord's return.
“Ah, Discord. I remember the day he returned. It always brings bitter thoughts to mind... We came so close to being split apart forever, it's practically mind boggling!” exclaimed Rarity. The other mane six nodded in agreement, and took bites out of the cake, discussing Discord. With the discussion beginning, the door opened behind them. In walked a very tall, dark grey stallion. The six mares at the table groaned as he walked in. He immediately walked up to the counter, grabbed a cookie, walked over to Twilight’s table, kicked the cake, and walked out. In astonishment, Twilight only stared at the stallion. Rainbow Dash jumped up in anger, but was pulled down by Applejack. They mumbled angrily as the stallion walked out while Pinky Pie stood to retrieve another cake.
The stallion quickly ate the cookie and began striding through the town, dashing in and out of various back roads and alleyways. He found himself at his door in a moment, walked inside, kicked the door shut, and sat down. He stared at the dark walls of his abode for an hour, and he slumped down. He began to cry, screaming, “Why can’t I change? Damn you, Skyglow! Why must I be so evil? I can’t stop!” as he bashed his head against the ground in disgust of himself. The scream reverberated throughout the halls of the house, filling the air with a thick blanket of depression. Skyglow lifted his head, leaving behind a puddle of tears, and shuffled into the dirty room that contained his bed. The walls had many psychotic rants and drawings on them, some depicting flowers in an expansive field, to ones of him killing his parents. He took a knife off of the floor and made a long streak against the wall as he sat down upon his bed and lifted the blankets over himself. There was many marks on the wall, each an inch long. Hundreds of them, each containing a story. He began to fall asleep, and as he did so, he made a faint comment. “I wish to break the shackles of insanity.”
"... The voices... They speak!" he said, bursting out of his bed. You are worthless... Kill yourself... What have you accomplished? Nothing... Why don't you kill yourself? Please, do so. You'll feel better. Your parents wanted you dead, that's for sure... Your neighbors want you dead...
"Shut up! No! No! NONONONO!" He shouted as he bashed his head repeatedly against the wall. With each impact, a cut grew larger, eventually causing the small creases that he had carved into the wall to flow with blood. His vision began to be clouded by darkness, and he fell backwards, unconscious.
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Skyglow has always been aggressive to his neighbors. He was hated around the town for the things he does. He has a superiority complex, he is violent, and he is unstable. He encased himself in a thick sheet of hatred to cover up his true personality. He was a lost soul, wishing not to cause harm, but only to free himself from insanity. He is on the brink of insanity, with every fiber of his being pulling him towards the conclusion that he must kill himself. The fear of his knife plunging into his body always caused him to cringe, but he knew it would come. He hated himself for all of things he did, but he can’t stop. His life had been filled with anguish and pain, which unrelentingly beat his sanity into dust. His mind was an empty shell of failed attempts at happiness,
The night was turbulent for Skyglow. He awoke in a fright, feeling disoriented and sick. A thick fog hung over him, and the dark walls of oppression surrounded his being. He cringed as he felt a cold breeze blow over him, dragging the fog above him forward into a growing mass. It formed a demented form of Rainbow Dash, its wings torn and injured. “Hello, Skyglow. I appear to you as a form that you may recognize instead of a simple blob of matter as I'd normally appear. This will ease the tension of explaining what is going on, I suppose. This is a strange event indeed, but it's happening. Look out the window, if you will.” it said. It began to deform even further, reducing itself into a pile of sludge that slithered on the ground and surrounded Skyglow. He did what the creature asked, looking out the window. He saw the moon lingering in the air as the ground below stood still. Looking closer, he could see that his town was destroyed. "As you can clearly see, things aren't quite right... This is your chance to purge yourself of your actions. You are not in Equestria any longer, instead you are here; within the confines of your mind. You have created this world yourself, Skyglow. I am you, the world is you, and whatever comes out is you. Your fears... emotions... whatever; All of it comes from this twisted realm of insanity. Your repentance begins here..." the creature said as It raised itself in an energetic glow and smashed itself downward into Skyglow, and it disappeared. Skyglow began to panic, and then noticed his arm was burning. It intensified quickly, and within a few seconds, a message appeared in the form of charred flesh. Don’t fail. The consequences are unforeseeable. Blood began flowing out of the new wound profusely, coagulating into a small pool below his feet. As quickly as it had formed, it had changed color and formed a crow which took flight, leaving behind nothing
“What is going on?!” Skyglow screamed with a fearful tone. The landscape around him started to change. Entire mountains began to shift, dragging behind the masses of trees and animals, destroying much. With the total annihilation of the dark forest, a new landscape was beginning to take shape. A generally flat area with a small cliff overlooking a field. Skyglow began to sink downward into the ground, began to scream in horror and the rocks and dirt absorbed his body. In an extremely quick series of events, he was shot upwards at an extreme speed, the clouds below him formed a massive city, and he landed peacefully in front of the gates.
The city kept it’s glamour that it had in Equestria. The city that would lay on the horizon, basking in the sunlight for the day. The city was detailed to even the simplest crack in the pavement; A perfect recreation of Cloudsdale.
“Cloudsdale? How?!” he screamed in horror. The dark fog that surrounded him began to recede, and the replaced it with clear blue skies and sunny weather. The gates opened, and it showed the city as it had been when he was a child. He was reluctant to enter the floating metropolis, but was overwhelmed by an unseen force. He walked forward with great fear, but was calmed at the sight of his mother. He looked down at himself, and noticed he was only a young colt once more. “What the...” he began to speak, but was interrupted by his mother.
“Skyglow! Come home this instant! It’s far past your curfew!” she screamed angrily. Skyglow’s face went from being confused to a state of panic. He looked around, and began to hyperventilate, images of tools and blood filling his mind. His mother had disappeared, but was replaced by his father. His father had a look of extreme disgust on his face as he walked calmly up to Skyglow. Skyglow tried to escape, but almost immediately, chains arose from the clouds he was standing on, and encased him in metal. The vapor began to shake violently, it’s color changing black. The various structures around him began ‘melting’ into smouldering rubble, and his father seemed to be growing physically larger. His skin once again began to burn, a new message overwriting the old. You've allowed your childhood abuse control you. You've let it create fear and pain that you have covered up by causing other people anguish. This is your chance...
“Son, you’ve disappointed me!” the creature screamed as it smashed it’s massive hoof beside Skyglow. Skyglow experienced a massive rush of adrenaline, and snapped the weakened chains off of him. The ruble of the places around him began to shape themselves into maniacal machines that released the sound of saws cutting into metal and large objects moving erratically. The release of smoke from the machines appearing caused the sky above him to change black, also heating up the area around the machines. Skyglow stood in awe, but was quickly shocked out of his state of awe when his fathers massive head smashed into the ground beside him, missing it’s target. He jumped into a large labyrinth of the machines and attempted an escape, but the borders of the clouds quickly got blocked off by fog that coagulated into a wall. His father was laughing with an insane twisted smile as he smashed the various machines and grew even further. Skyglow’s face went even darker when he noticed he had been severely cut on his leg by one of the machine parts that had become shrapnel from the destruction around him.
“How?!” Skyglow screamed as his father began to get closer to him. His father noticed Skyglow quickly and smiled.
“Son, I’ve got to give you a talk!” he screamed happily as he kicked a large shard of metal into Skyglow’s direction. Skyglow jumped out of the way, and noticed a large machine with an opening on the top that had been pushed over. He quickly began to dash forward towards the machine, and noticed it laid upon a loose metal beam that could be used to lever the machine back onto its side. But it would require a massive amount of strength to do so. Skyglow began to stand on the metal beam, repeatedly jumping on it, trying to get it to budge, but his efforts were futile. “Son, what are you doing?! You’re not allowed to touch the factory workers tools!” he screamed as he smashed his hind legs downward into Skyglow. He jumped forward as hard as he can, and only took a slight tap on his hoof. The metal beam lifted upwards and smashed into the cloud wall a few meters away, lifting the open machine onto its side. In a quick sequence of events, Skyglow picked up a shard of glass and threw it towards a very small button on the side of the machine. With extreme luck, he hit it, causing a loud screech to emit from it. “Now son, that’s against the rules! You must be punished!” his father screamed as he smashed his hoof downward. He missed his mark and landed his hoof directly in the open machine that was below him.
“I’m sorry, father!” Skyglow screamed as he saw his father descend ever further into the machine. A massive pool of blood formed around the machine, his fathers intestines shooting out the top of the machine as he was sucked inwards. Skyglow began to hyperventilate, looking for a way out, and then an extremely loud noise was heard. A massive formation of clouds shot out from the walls and began to surround Skyglow, ripping through the air to get to him. The machines in the way of the clouds were instantly destroyed by the force, creating large waves of shrapnel that traveled long distances. Luckily, Skyglow had only received a minor cut on his thigh. Feeling pain from the cut, he cringed for a moment, but jumped back when he saw the formation of clouds barreling at him. The ground below him opened up, and he saw only a large sea behind the clouds. He fell extremely quickly into the ocean, crying on the way down, leaving a stream of tears behind. A torrent of water shot upward and caught Skyglow, causing him to stop suddenly. The momentum caused him to become unconscious, and he sank into the depths of the ocean, the clouds above him dispersing, leaving the sky blank of whatever had been there before.
He awoke, clean, in someones bed. He looked around, and saw nothing but the solid grey walls of the abode he had found himself in. Wind was howling outside, and night had rolled over him. Looking around, it became quite obvious that he was not home. Among the clutter and dirt that was scattered around the room, there was a faint shimmer of light that attracted his attention. He got up out of bed and pondered at what it could be. Stepping closer to it, he felt a push on his back. Behind him, the walls had followed and have prevented him from moving back. He was being forced to walk towards the light. Taking small strides, he sheepishly neared the object, and bent down, taking careful work to move the various objects that were strewn across the floor away from the shimmer.
He gazed upon the metalic object with wonder. A figurine replica of Rainbow Dash lay among the rubble, catching the glare of the moonlight from the window beside the bed. A shadow from Skyglow’s side began to move on its own accord, taking the form of another pony. “Wha-” he began, being cut off by a sudden gust of wind that blasted the window beside him open for a moment. The shadow moved towards the window and shut it, and began to become more clear as an image of Skyglow’s father.
“Hello, Skyglow. I see you’ve discovered that figure. I suppose I should explain...” the creature said as it strayed closer to him. He jumped back, anticipating a violent action.
“No no no, Skyglow. Do you remember me? Your consciousness. I had originally harmed you, but only because it was necessary. No need to fret any longer. I am not here to harm you, only to aid you in whatever way I can. Deep underneath the forefront of your mind lie me, alone in the darkness, waiting to be released. You have been controlled unrelentingly by your fears, emotions, and anguish. This is precisely why you are here. You were on the brink of insanity, and within your head, you thought of me. Yourself, only wiser, much more calm, and quite a bit more intelligent. The figurine represents Bravery, you see. Who is the bravest person you know? Her, of course. Turn the figure over, and click the button. All will be explained... By the way, I understand that things are happening at an extreme pace. This is only for the time being, friend. You will find that all of this will come together shortly, and that things are going to become a lot more clear to you.” the being explained, taking a step toward the shadows. Skyglow did what he was told. He clicked the button, and immediately a series of quick functions activated which revealed a torn page of a book. Skyglow let it fall to the floor, and stared down at it.
“What is this? Why is it here?” he inquired, looking towards the shadow, but realizing it was gone. “What? Where did you go?” he once again inquired, looking back towards the paper. He rolled the paper over with his hoof and picked it up, taking careful steps not to damage it.
Life is a gift. A gift you should cherish, one that you should never simply throw away. Fear, Skyglow, was a major barrier of your ability to enjoy life. You’ve lived in the shadow of abuse and anguish from your childhood, and this has effected you ability to properly address your fellow neighbors. When you were confronted by the image of your deformed, sick, and evil father, you did not simply let him kill you. You’ve abolished your previous fearful attitude in exchange for a new outlook on life. You have defeated fear itself, and that is something that you should pride yourself on. However, fear is not the only psychological issue you face. There are many others, but you will not know them until you leave this house. Outside waits the demented, twisted and evil contents of your mind, and with each step you take, you draw closer to your next objective. May that be an emotion to a trait or even a memory, you must take careful steps to destroy it. If you fail at this... Even slightly... Well, we can only hope that you don’t do what you might do. Try to stay sane. Don’t let the images of your neighbors touch you, as insanity will ensue.
With each problem you defeat, you will find another figure of a person you knew in your conscious life. And with each figure, comes a message. These will guide you, and reveal a story as to why you turned out as you did. You will have very little help, Skyglow. Stay strong.
The writing ends there. It appears to have at one point been signed by someone, but the signature was rubbed down to a blur, and was unreadable. Skyglow looked around for a moment, still gripping the paper tightly, and noticed a small satchel beside the bed, shimmering just as the figurine had. He approached it and opened it, finding very simple tools within the bag. A lantern, a single match, and a small map. He quickly grabbed the torch and lit it, opened the map, and looked upon it for a few moments. His face went grim as he noticed that the landscape far outside of the towns had been marked with stains of blood, meaning that if he wondered even slightly off of the trail, he would die. He shrugged the idea off, and put the map back into his satchel. He checked the lantern and saw that it was filled with enough fuel to last a few hours, and so he turned it off to conserve fuel for when he needed it. He sat down on the bed, staring blankly at the wall.
He looked around for a moment, laid down, and looked towards the window, seeing only the moon lingering in the sky. The moonlight shone down upon the landscape below, revealing only a few of the various things that he could encounter. He saw only a spiked lamp post on the street directly outside, and gazed upon the dead body of someone impaled on the top of it. He immediately looked away, and walked toward the only door in the room. He opened it carefully, looking out of the door with caution, and noticed the darkness that filled the hallway the door led to made it impossible to see. Skyglow turned his lantern, and walked out of the door. He walked down the hall, and found himself in the parlor of the house he was in, but quickly realized something was very wrong. The walls were drenched in blood, and the door was open a creek, and the floorboards would occasionally released a loud squeak. He averted his eyes from the scene, and continued out the door into the world that awaited him outside.
He saw nothing but the thick fog and occasional movement of a shadow from outside his viewing range. The moon was loosing its beauty quickly, being blocked out by dark clouds that were filling the sky. He smelled rain, and began to walk forward off of the small platform that led to the door of the house. Within moments, he was but a single sparkling light in a sea of grey, walking alone through the town, and finding himself on the barrier of the forest. He took a single step, and began his journey down the road. He had no idea where he was going, only that it felt right for him to go down this path. He removed his map from the satchel and looked upon it, finding the path he had tread down. The path led from Ponyville, which was apparently where he was, to Manehattan. He strayed further into the darkness, leaving the town behind him.
He stepped out of the fog, seeing a massive city on the horizon, void of light. Things were not right; not at all! In the distance, instead of the hustle and bustle of everyday life of the city, he detected only silence, and the cold dark embrace of sudden depression overwhelming him.
