Chapter III

He suddenly woke up. It was so abrupt that, for an instant, he wasn't sure if the dream had ended. He let out a breath. How scary. Everything in his dream, but especially the end of it. Those sensations, those feelings, so intense they had felt like they were his own. Compared to that, his daily life didn't seem all that scary.

He couldn't believe it, that he had dreamed such a dream. He wasn't a person like… like that. He was willing to defend himself- obviously, that didn't even need to be said- but enjoy the suffering of something that had hurt it and, not only that, looking to cause ten times that suffering to other living things with his own hands? No, it wasn't like that. He refused to believe than dream had been a desire of his, in anyway. It had been simply a nightmare for start to finish.

He opened his eyes, a shaky smile on his face, and… froze. It was clear enough to see that this wasn't his room. To begin with, the ceiling was made of wood. And there was a window at the side of his bed. There shouldn't be any window there. Beyond this, he could heard the sound of numerous animals as if he was in farm. He wasn't close to a farm or anything. He lived in a city.

He sat up. His vision swayed twice in front of his eyes, and he had to use his right hand as support to not fall. He gasped out. He closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself down. He was feeling a hellish nausea, as if his organs had come up his throat. He put his free hand over his chest, and clenched the thin fabric of the shirt. He spend some time trying to calm himself down and, when he though he wouldn't puke, opened his eyes again.

This wasn't his room at all. It hadn't been an illusion or something, and he definitively wasn't dream. All right. That also much meant that everything that had happened was. All right, all right. It had passed already, so there was no harm in it. Yes, no harm in it. As long as he went away. As long as he could be safe. So he had to get out of here. He had to get out of this place and to somewhere where he wouldn't be hurt again.

He got out of the neat bed. His right arm throbbed with pain, and he looked down, wondering how bad is wound was. There wasn't even a trace of it. Phantom pain. That was what it was. Of course. A big black dog had chased him around and nearly killed him. He would remembered that forever. His body would remembered that forever.

He took a step forward, and nearly fell. He had to grab the nightstand to not fall off. For how his legs were, they might as well be asleep. The tiredness he could felt wrapping him was unnatural; it was like something was pushing him down. Then again, nothing about this situation was natural, so it wasn't much of a surprise. But it was fine. He could still move and get away, so it was fine.

He dragged his body towards the front door, shaking a little. He staggered right in front of the door, but he narrowly managed to straighten himself. He put his hand on the knob, and opened it. The wind hit his face, blowing his short black hair back. That sensation grounded him a little bit more in reality. His clothes were clean. They had been drenched in blood and mud, but no they were spotless.

They were some bunnies in the path in front of him, that lead to a small bridge over water. They weren't tied down or anything, as if the owner didn't expect them to flee to the wilds. Then again, maybe they could talk or something. Those ponies had talked before, so he wouldn't put that past this strange, fucked up place. Also, a lot animal burrows, birdhouses and some other house. There wasn't anything in his path, so he could run away easily.

He allowed himself to relax. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He didn't know who owned this cottage, but as he had passed out in front of those six ponies, it was obvious they had helped it. That… that was nice. It made him felt good. But that didn't change that this was now his place. He had to hurry and get out of this place. Even going back to them would be better that staying in a place like this. He recalled his burning body, his ragged breathing, the frantic beating of his heart and the terror that had overwhelmed him as he watched that big, black dog coming to end him. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't stay here.

He stepped out of the cottage.

His leg gave up on him and, like an idiot, he hit the ground. He moved, so he didn't end up falling on his face again, but on his side. It still hurt, though. Damn it, nothing was going right at all. Why couldn't he have his peace? He just wanted to be left alone. All his life, he only wanted to be left alone. He tried to get up.

"Y-you can't do that." a soft voice, from close to him. He turned his head to the noise, and saw it. The same pony that had seen him the night before, and had fainted.

"I don't care." he answered. "I… I have to get out of this place."

"Stay." he whipped his head to the side, and held its gaze. It was staring at him with a severe expression that promised punishment if he didn't do what she said. But, rather that make him scared, he was utterly pissed off. This thing. This thing was an eyesore. It was only a lowly animal, and yet she still tried to order him around. What did she think she was? She was begging for punishment.

An image of her body, twisted, broken appeared on his mind, halting his thought process. One her legs had been torn off… no, he had torn off one her legs, and she was now looking up at the sky with empty, dead eyes, nothing more that a lump of meat. The grass near her was painted red with the flowing blood. And he, standing over her, was enjoying the sight.

It lasted only an instant, but when his mind went back to reality, he felt like he was dying. Tears stung at the corner of his eyes. He felt like he could puke all his organs out, like he was in the verge of dying. What… what was that? He wasn't such a person. He wouldn't never enjoy that. He wouldn't never do that. He wouldn't, so why?

"A-are you okay?"

"I felt like shit." he muttered beneath his breath, since he couldn't even muster the effort to get angry at that stupid question.

The pony helped him to stand up, which was humiliating, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. He let her help him back to the bed, and he just laid on his back on it, without even covering herself. The world was spinning, spinning but it kept slowing down until it was only an almost gentle swaying. Where did all his strength go? It seemed like a fleeting illusion, now. This world seemed like a fleeting illusion. He gasped for air.

He heard her footsteps, Fluttershy's footsteps, going away from him. He didn't care. Better for him to be alone right now. To many times had happened, and now that he had a chance to catch his breath, he couldn't process half of it. He was just… so exhausted, in both mind and body.

She came back with a glass of water. He snatched him for her hands, and drank it himself. He spilled more that he should have because of his trembling hands, but at least he drank it by himself. It would have been too humiliating, otherwise. It would have been fine if he wasn't able to move, but as long as he could move he couldn't accept that kind of thing.

"Eh… Fluttershy?" it felt weird, to say that name. He mea It was just plain weird. But well, what did he know. Around these strange parts that held no love for logic, is own name could and probably would be strange one. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?!" she squeaked. She was so nervous… she was probably remembering the first time she saw him, a boy dragging himself towards them with a clothes covered with blood and mud. She was so nervous, and yet she was helping him, anyway. He didn't understand. He wasn't used to receive kindness, let alone from strangers, so he just didn't know what to think.

"W-what is this place?"

"Ponyville." she wasn't joking at all.

"No, I meant… what's all of this? I never see anything like… like nothing I saw in this place."

"Uh?"

"Even your… we have horses and ponies and all of that, but they don't talk, let alone have sapience. Is just… too strange."

"U-uh, no way. There isn't a place in this world where that would be possible."

"…Are you telling me I'm crazy?!" he shouted, his hands gripped the bedsheets so hard his knuckles turned white.

She squeaked, and jumped back. That dispelled the anger he had felt. Because, it was like seeing himself, terrified and going to cower and cry in a corner and wait for it all to be over. The anger went away s fast as it had come, leaving him feeling empty and sick. Even more sick.

"I'm sorry. I… I didn't..." meant to? Of course he did. "I got angry all of sudden, but I didn't… I'm sorry."

God, what was he even saying? His head was a such a mess. All he knew was that he was remembering things he didn't want to, and he was feeling like crying even though he was tired of crying already.

"I-its f-fine." its not fine at all. Anybody who can see her eyes knows that. But still, she said it was fine. So those words were ones of forgiveness. Or was it just wistful thinking? He didn't like her or hate her, but those memories… it made him want forgiveness for making her act like that. "I shouldn't have said that, anyway."

"And I shouldn't have reacted like that." he said. "I'm sorry… Back then your, friends, or whatever they are… they were saying they were looking for something. Can you tell me about it?"

"I, uh… I don't really know much about that kind of thing, but there was a, uh, a disturbance in the magical fields of the Everfree Forest. So we were told to check it, so we could find the cause of it."

"Magic…" he laughed. From the bottom of his heart, he laughed. "I… I didn't even know what I expected.

But was it really so unbelievable? With all the things he had seen in this place, magic almost sounded like a natural part of it. Besides, he couldn't say this pony was lying. After all, he had done it. He had pulled something from inside himself and had tore that dog into pieces. He couldn't be sure that he hadn't hallucinated the counter with that large black dog, that was true… but he couldn't be sure that hadn't happened for real, either. He closed his eyes. At least sleeping would grant him some sort of peace.

"Wait!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "My friends are coming since I told you woke up, and well, they are going to have questions."

"Wake me up when they get here."

It didn't take long for him to fall into a deep, deep sleep.