Condemned to Equestria

The small kindling flame that surrounded the ever shortening wick of a nearby candle was all that kept Ethan slightly warmerd in his moments on the library's couch. He was panting heavy, sweat and small traces of blood falling from his face. The library was quite, besides the heavy grunt snoring. The library seemed dank and even minorly depressing at the moment, even the fire by Ethan seemed to make him even more cold. His eye lids slowly creaked open, his bloodshot eyes and overextended pupils slowly reveling themselves to the new colorful word before him. His eyes shot open as he remembered his surrounding, sitting up and looking around, adrenaline shooting through his veins. He was breathing heavy, looking down to his hands real quick to test his vision. Everything seemed normal at the moment, but the color of the floor beneath his hands seemed to be so bright and even more colorful than his mud encrusted and wrapped hands.

He slowly stood up, taking a quick look around before grabbing his investigative PDA given to him by the FBI Crimes unit he worked for at the moment. He turned on the chat feature, getting not a single bar of signal. He grunted, putting away the PDA and taking one last long look around the library. He decided to grab a book, maybe to get an idea as to where he was. Opening the pages of the clean and pristine book did nothing for him, the language the book was written in being utterly alien to him. He tossed the book aside in a fit of rage, grunting again as he punched the book case. Several books flying from the shelves. The books scattered the floor around Ethan, Ethan kicking one in another fit of rage. He stomped his foot back onto the floor, shaking his head at his own gross wrath. He took a deep breath, calming himself a bit before he did something regrettable.

He decided to check out the building further, slowly walking and ducking under and through the small archway to the kitchen. He noticed a small counter, stove, fridge, and an even smaller table all adorned the poorly lit room. What Ethan found odd, is the lack of chairs at the table. He shrugged it off as some sort of foreign practice, he instead put his attention to the fridge, hoping to find some sort of alcohol in the cold ice box. He opened the fridge, the cold air hitting his face as he crouched to get a good look in the illuminated fridge. The only thing there was some scraps of vegetables, coffee, and to Ethan's hope, a half full jug of cider.

He wrapped his hand around the cider jug, uncorking it and taking a long drink. It wasn't as strong as he had hoped, but the taste was of sweet apple, the mixture not burning his throat as other alcohols would. He re-corked the bottle, saving a portion of it for later. He stood back up, licking the sweet drink from his lips with a gleeful smile. He turned to walk out of the kitchen, feeling satisfied with his findings. He ducked again, looking to the stairs that sat at the far end of the library lobby.

He walked over to it, placing his foot on the first step. The stairs were thinner and less spaced out than Ethan was used too, causing him to falter and nearly fall. He gripped the hand rail of the stairs, trying his best to balance himself on the thin steps. He soon did make it up the steps after much struggle and work. He was panting as soon as he hit the last step, the labor to go up the stairs more than he had hoped for. He saw two rooms, both closed off by a small wooden door. He looked left and right, wondering where he should enter first.

He shrugged, placing his hand on the door knob of the right door, opening it and crouching to walk in. What he found was a small bed room, several books adorning the shelf that replaced a portion of the wall, a balcony that led out into a small walkway, an oddly tiny bed with clean and pressed red sheets, and a small doggy bed in the corner. "Where the fuck am I? A land of dwarfs?" He questioned jokingly, looking around the room a bit better. Nothing of interest caught him, besides the glass balcony door. He put his hand on the handle, crouching to walk through the door.

Ethan felt the cold night air hit his face, the feeling was pleasant because the air wasn't followed by the stench of trash. He walked out further, looking over the unnaturally bright night sky, the stars twinkling more than they did in the already bright city he used to inhabit. He gazed at the moon for a moment, noticing the odd cluster of craters that formed an odd image of a unicorn on the very face of it. He found that odd, the moon never having that formation of craters to his knowledge. He shook his head rubbing his eyes to look up at the moon once more. The same formation stayed, causing Ethan's jaw to drop slightly. He shook his head, walking back inside before his mind caused him even more insanity.

He walked out of the bedroom, grabbing his hair in disbelief and worry. With a gulp, he heard an odd breathing close to his ear. He turned, looking from side to side in worry. He then looked to the floor just to be sure, noticing a black ooze seep from the bottom of the left room door. He started to step back, the sight freaking him out more than anything else in the library. He stopped right eat the edge of the steps. Ready to turn and just leave the library completely. "Didn't I warn you about the stairs?" He felt a force shove him, Ethan tumbling down the stairs, the jug of cider in his hands flying toward a downstairs bookshelf. Ethan felt the back of his head shoot with pain as it made contact with the stairs, several other snaps and cracks running through his body.

He slid down to the bottom floor, groaning is shear agony. He gulped once more, looking upstairs for someone to kill. He saw nothing, the sight of the thin air scaring him more than should have been possible. He crawled back up to his feet, the adrenaline now coursing through his veins letting him ignore the pain. "Come on... One last room okay?" The doors to the library basement snapping off their hinges as they flew into the darkness that was the downstairs.

"FUCK YOU!" Ethan yelled, going to the front door to get the hell out. He gripped the handle of the door, the door suddenly shooting spikes into his hand, piercing through his flesh. He let out a yell, yanking his hand from the spikes.

"Oh Ethan, why can't you just behave?" The voice let out a sinister snicker. The voice sounded exactly like Ethan's, except it sounded to get more and more distorted. Ethan got to his knees, holding his bloody and now holed hand. A tugging force gripped onto Ethan's ankle, pulling him toward the basement. Ethan tried his best to grip something to keep himself from going into the dark room. The force kept pulling him anyway, ignoring his attempts to escape. "Just accept that this is part of trying to make you something better, something like me." The voice said, a figure reviling itself to Ethan right as they stood at the stairs of the basement. It looked exactly like Ethan, just that two porcelain lumps of a mask stare into his eyes. "Got it?" The Ethan clone said, tossing Ethan down into the basement.

Ethan felt himself land in a pile of sludge like material, the smell was of an intense rot with the faint hint of blood. He tried to push himself up, his hands plunging deeper into the sludge. He barely got himself up, breathing as heavy as he could to keep himself from fainting. "GOT IT?!" His clones voice repeated, several computer glitch sounds mixing into it. The lights flashing, showing the room around him, several skinned and gutted animals adorned the walls. Ethan was about to vomit, the sight of the animals worse than anything else he has seen. He then looked down, a heap of black sludge under his feet. He didn't dare to look up, knowing what would be above him. He just started to step backward, feeling something grab his back as a screech rang out in the room. A burned, fetus looking creature grabbed Ethan's shoulders. It whipped his head back, ready to headbutt Ethan. Ethan looked to the thing, instantly throwing a punch at it.The creature fell into another pile of black sludge onto the floor. Ethan fell backward, ready to faint from the sudden house of horrors that surrounded him.

His doppelganger appeared before him again, gripping at Ethan's neck. Ethan gasped lightly as his doppelgangers hand wrapped around his neck. Ethan felt himself be lifted, the mask his clone wore close to his own face. "You fucking weak piece of shit." Ethan's doppelganger just went to punch Ethan in the face. Ethan falling back onto the ground. Ethan felt his eyes fluster shut, his consciousness dropping.

...

Twilight looked to Ethan's twitching and shivering body, worried for the poor man who hyperventilated and shook weakly. Fluttershy came over to him. "The poor thing is having a nightmare." She said, looking to Ethan that lay on floor of the carriage.

"It looks like a bad one too, never have I seen such movements while Sweetie Bell has nightmare." Rarity said, putting a hoof to his chin.

"Or.... Maybe it just sleeps like that?" Rainbow poked at Ethan's chest a bit, curious.

"Now hold on Rainbow, don't get to close to it." AJ put a hoof to RD's neck, slowly pushing her back,

"Yeah Rainbow, we don't want it to wake up." Twilight used her magic to keep him from waking up. Ethan had been asleep for about three hours, his shivers and trembles starting about an hour into his slumber.

Fluttershy went over to calm Ethan by whispering some calming words into his ear. The words seemed to have some effect, Ethan's trembling going down slightly, now going down to shakes. "See, he just need to calm down a bit." She nuzzled him lightly, his shaking reduced completely.

"You seem so calm around it, how do you manage Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, looking to Fluttershy with a cocked brow.

"Well... I-It is asleep is all." Fluttershy said meekly, looking back to Ethan. "And... It doesn't look so bad." She smiled a bit, trying to build her own confidence.

"Are you kidding me? It's covered in blood. It looks like one of those killer monsters in a Daring Do book!" She said a bit to loudly, Twilight putting a hoof to her mouth.

"Exactly... We don't want it to become a monster." Twilight sighed, putting her hoof down.

"We are here." One of the royal guard escorting them to Canterlot castle said from outside the carriage, stopping the regal looking carriage.

"Alright girls, now all we have to do is wait for Celestia to come and examine our friend over here." Twilight put one last sleep spell on Ethan, to make sure he would not awaken and attack Celestia. The five mares that had come on the trip all waited there quietly, to not wake Ethan. They had excluded Pinkie for the moment, due to her unpredictable nature and possible death if she were to irritate the beast that lay in the carriage with them.

The tension grew moment by moment, the five knowing that Ethan could awake at any moment. Soon, the bright white princess did come out of the castle, having a more serious expression overshadowing her usually cheerful smile. She opened the door of the carriage, letting out a gasp as she laid eyes on the knocked out Ethan. She used her magic to slowly carry him out of the carriage, making sure to keep him from hitting the thin door of the carriage.

She turned to the five, motioning for them to get out of the carriage. "I must thank you girls for bringing this thing to me, even in the dark hours of my sisters night." She said in a hush whisper, looking over his lightly shaking and grunting body. "And why is it shaking?"

"We believe it is having a nightmare, or so Fluttershy says." Twilight said, wondering how much longer Ethan would stay asleep.

"And where is it you found this creature to begin with?" Celestia asked, noticing the blood and light burn wound. "And how was it harmed?"

"W-Well... Spike defended me." She said, still kinda surprised as to how Spike reacted to begin with. "I didn't expect it to be honest, but it did have it's hands on my neck."

"And when did it get it's hands onto your neck?" Celestia asked, looking over Twilight's bruise, the bruise being not as noticeable due to her purple coat.

"Three hours ago, I tried to restrain it with my magic when I first saw it, but it got loose and attacked me." Twilight sighed, sitting down.

"It might not have been out of malice." Celestia said, looking at Ethan. "It might have been out of self defense." She looked back to the five, moving her eyes between all of them. "Has he been shaking like this the whole time it has been with you?" All five just nodded, Celestia looking to Ethan once more,  specifically at his forehead. "I'll have a look into it's mind, maybe see if I can stop the nightmare and understand it a bit better."

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked, looking down at the still shaking Ethan. "What if it's... A really bad dream? Something worse that what our minds can come up with?"

"Well, it's a risk worth taking for you to help us learn of it. Isn't it Twilight?" She smiled a bit, trying to reassure her student. Twilight nodded, feeling that her mentor could handle herself.  Celestia let a gleam of magic run up her long horn, slowly putting the tip of it onto Ethan's forehead. Something shot up her horn, causing her to struggle instantly.

...