It had been 2 days since the mane 6 and Spike ended up a very long way away from their reality. Cadence is now getting worried for them. She knew that Twilight was taking a week-long break from ruling Equestria, but she hasn't heard anything back from her and even more worryingly, none of her friends either. They were nowhere to be seen and it is only just 5 days until Twilight is meant to take charge again. It caused Cadence so much distress that she even went as far as to call Celestia and Luna back from retirement. It was currently night time and the 3 alicorns were having a meeting in the throne room at Canterlot Castle. Discord also turned up to the meeting as the details concerned him, which was that the mane 6 and Spike had gone missing, which meant Fluttershy was also missing. Unbeknownst to Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Discord though, Madness Steve was observing the entirety of Equestria, an entity they have absolutely no idea about or even know that exists.
"How long have Twilight and her friends been missing Cadence?" Luna asked.
"They've been gone for at least a day or two. I haven't heard anything from them since Twilight started her break. Since then, I and even Discord had to be rotating day to night, and night to day!" Cadence replied, getting noticeably more antsy.
"Since hearing about this, I've looked everywhere and they are nowhere to be seen!" Discord exclaimed.
"Do you think we had put all this responsibility on Twilight too early and she wanted to get away from everything, which might be why she and her friends gone missing?" Celestia wondered.
"No, Twilight would never leave us so worried like this. I had to even have a lengthy conversation with Twilight to take a break. I would've at least heard something back from them by now," Cadence responded, looking down to the floor, only able to hope they were okay at the very least.
"But this makes no sense, what caused their disappearance? Why have they just vanished into thin-air?" Luna replied.
"Discord, are you sure that you've looked everywhere in Equestria?" Celestia questioned Discord.
"Yeah of course I have! They're literally nowhere to be seen! None of them I cannot find, meaning I cannot Fluttershy!" Discord exclaimed.
"What do we do now? We have five days until Twilight is meant to take charge again. If she doesn't return by then... how will we break the news to everypony?" Cadence asked everypony in general.
"The only option we have is to look ourselves. This is very odd. Something feels strange, not right, and unsettling," Celestia replied. The other 3 nodded in agreement as they began to look in separate areas of Equestria. As soon as the 4 separated to go looking in different areas.
All of a sudden, Discord gets conked out. He then sees some kind of entity made of cubes and oblongs knocked him unconscious with seemingly nothing and it was projecting itself into his mind. Discord saw the entity and the background was made entirely of lava. Discord tried to wake up, but couldn't. It was as if he was suffering from sleep paralysis.
"You can't wake up, so stop trying," The entity chuckled. Discord then looks towards at the entity.
"Who... or what... are you?" Discord wondered, with his lion hand, his right hand, above his eyes from the bright molten lava background, glaring at the entity. The background was so bright that the entity appeared almost completely black. The entity then moved forwards, getting nearer to Discord. The closer the entity got to Discord, it's appearance got clearer and clearer. When the appearance of the entity became clear, Discord could make out the entity's appearance. The entity is completely pitch black, having pitch black hair and had several dots and dashes of different shades of grey all over his body. He has grey fingers and had orange feet as well as having orange eyes with red pupils and having a dark grey mouth and a light grey nose.
"It's not important, Discord," The entity replied.
"How do you know my name!?" Discord exclaimed.
"Well, let's say... I've been observing this world and the main timeline for this reality. I now already know several names and the brief history of this reality, dimension, whatever you like to call it. It won't matter as it will all disappear," The entity replied.
"What is it? What have you come to me for?" Discord asked.
"It's that the six are dead... well... in alternate timelines that is," The entity replied in a jokey tone.
"What do you want from me!?" Discord exclaimed, feeling very unsettled by this entity's sense of humour.
"I want you to play a game and that is finding the six! If you don't, Fluttershy will die slowly and painfully. You have a week and five days... well... she does," The entity replied as it uncontrollably started laughing with absolutely no empathy.
"No! Don't harm her! Anypony but her! How do you even know about my dear Fluttershy in the first place!?" Discord shrieked.
"From the sounds of it, you care a lot about her, correct?" The entity taunted Discord with his voice getting more echoey. Discord vigorously nodded.
"That means if you truly care about her, you'll find her before her timer runs out, won't you?" The entity again taunted Discord. Discord again vigorously nodded.
"So you don't want me to harm her-"
"Just stop! Leave me, her and everypony alone! Don't hurt anypony please, especially Fluttershy!" Discord exclaimed, begging in a desperate tone.
"Okay, I won't harm these ponies, especially her. However... I'll give them NIGHTMARES, ESPECIALLY HER!" The entity's voiced boomed as Discord immediately woke up as soon as the entity lets him to. Discord now began questioning himself. Was any of that real or was one of his several clones playing pranks on him?
Was it just a dream or was it actually some kind of new and dangerous entity that is poised to try take control or destroy Equestria in the distant future? These were very good questions that even Discord didn't have the answer to. However, Discord then came up with an idea. As it's likely the entity will try cause havoc in the dream realm, if Luna could enter a random dream of somepony, find and follow this entity if it's there, the entity could go into the dreams of the mane 6 and with Luna following the entity, she could then try to find at least the reality the mane 6 and Spike are in. Luna would then pass the information onto him, letting Discord know the whereabouts and allowing him to teleport to that reality. It was long shot, but Fluttershy was at risk and Discord is willing to do anything to get back Fluttershy and keep her safe. Discord knew Fluttershy's life was on the line and wasted no time as he immediately teleported to Luna, who was searching for the mane 6 and Spike in the most remote areas of Ponyville.
"Discord? What is it? Is everything alright?" Luna asked, Discord immediately shook his head.
"Somepony... or something just made me conck out and made me fall into a dream and started talking about the six and about murdering Fluttershy! He's also going to give everypony nightmares! But even weirder is that I don't even know if it was some kind of dream or what! I'm just worried for Fluttershy!" Discord exclaimed, who was very clearly freaking out.
"This entity can interfere with dreams?" Luna asked whilst concerned, especially that Discord is freaking out and nothing usually freaks Discord out.
"It's not about the dreams, it's about what this thing will do to Fluttershy!" Discord exclaimed.
"What does this said entity look like?" Luna asked.
"Roughly six feet and six inches, made of cubes and oblongs, mostly black with orange feet with dashes of grey, red and orange eyes... you get the picture!" Discord exclaimed, but louder this time.
"I'll try have a look for this thing," Luna replied as she went into a dream of a random pony. She could immediately tell it is Derpy's dream as the entire terrain is just muffins, even the sky and clouds are muffins, everything is just muffins. Luna then tries to see this strange, illusive, mysterious entity Discord described as it would definitely stand out from Derpy's dream, but couldn't find the said entity whatsoever. Luna could only see Derpy happily munching away at the floor as it is without surprise also made of muffins.
Luna knew she couldn't hop from one dream to another as this said entity would very likely get away before she got to it, so she had to make everypony be in the same dream and made the setting the centre of Ponyville. That is when she noticed an entity made of cubes and oblongs that fitted what Discord described perfectly, just hovering in the sky. Immediately, the entity made the dream into a massive nightmare. The entity started to burn everything, but not in the way anypony or anyone would think. It didn't spread, but more the fire more like just appeared out of nowhere. The entity also seemed to be interested in a grey pegasus with a blond mane and tail, which is Derpy. Derpy is crying flat-out and is the most petrified out of everypony in the mega dream. Derpy was only dreaming of muffins, now this monstrosity of a nightmare happened. The entity then saw that Derpy was petrified and thought it would be a fun idea to show Derpy the different infinite timelines she would die or be killed in. This made Derpy scream out of utter fear, which amused the entity. The entity then started making Derpy experience the pain that she would endure in the infinite alternate timelines she died in, which made Derpy scream louder, now in excruciating pain and not out of fear. Luna tried attacking the figure with her magic, but the entity simply just pushed Luna into a separate dream as well as itself. Derpy finally stopped seeing the infinite timelines she died in as well as the pain.
Everypony's dreams returned to normal, back to their separate dreams. Derpy immediately woke up, her eyelids shooting open. She wouldn't sleep for the rest of the night after all that. She could only hide the blanket over her face, keeping her eyes and nose above the blanket, shaking and shivering at what the entity did to her mind.
Luna and the entity are now in Fluttershy's dream. The dream was set at Fluttershy's cottage. Both Luna and the entity are just glaring at each other.
"What are you!? What do you want!?" Luna shouted at the entity, frowning as she stared at the entity.
"Ah, it's no point to keep my name from you. I'm Madness Steve" The entity replied.
"What do you want, Madness Steve?" Luna growled as she questioned the entity, now knowing it's name. However, Madness Steve gave no answer. Before Madness Steve looked for Fluttershy, Luna tried to work out who's dream it was. She saw the cottage and immediately knew she was in Fluttershy's dream, which made Luna sigh of relief. Luna now knew that the mane 6 are still alive, or at least Fluttershy was. Luna was then able to sense the rest of the mane 6, allowing her to bring the dreams of the mane 6 together, which the setting was again in the centre of Ponyville. Luna also made this dream be a lucid dream, so she could actually talk to them and have a grip of the situation.
"Luna!" The mane 6 exclaimed as they all hugged her.
"Where are you all!?" Luna exclaimed.
"We were teleported to some world by a being called steves. Their name in particular is Madness Steve," Twilight briefly explained. This made Luna very concerned. This entity was not just able to interfere with the dream realm, it was also able to interact with the physical realm. However, this isn't enough information, Luna needed more information. Madness Steve meanwhile now knew exactly what Luna was trying to do, so he booted her out of the dream and made it no longer a lucid dream, which meant the mane 6 could no longer freely make conscious actions in the dream. Madness Steve then split up the dream the mane 6 were in that had been brought together by Luna, making them go back to whatever the mane 6 were previously dreaming about. Meanwhile, Luna teleported out of the mindscapes all together, back to where Discord was.
"The six seems to be fine. However, I couldn't detect Spike, which is concerning. This entity is also able to interact with the physical world as they were apparently teleported to the world they're currently in by this entity. I couldn't pinpoint their location as they didn't describe the world in enough detail before the entity just kicked me out of their dream. This entity you described also claims to be called 'Madness Steve'," Luna explained to Discord.
"We must bring this information to Celestia and Cadence. We may have a major problem," Discord said as he teleported himself and Luna to Celestia and Cadence to where he and Luna was with the snap of the claws on his lion paw. They were only in a open field, nothing other than grass in view range.
"So... do you want to here the good news or the bad... well... scary news?" Discord asked. Celestia and Cadence were relieved that the mane 6 and Spike were likely fine, but was also deeply worried as to what the bad news was, especially that Discord corrected himself by replacing 'bad' with 'scary'.
"Good news," Celestia and Cadence sighed, with their jaws tightly locked, their teeth pressing into one another, dreading to hear the scary news. Luna then begins explaining.
"I can confirm that the six are okay. However, I couldn't confirm the same for Spike, which leaves me deeply concerned. There also seems to be a new enemy to face that goes by the name of 'Madness Steve'. He is a humanoid entity made of cubes and oblongs that is mostly black with dashes of grey, has orange feet and red eyes with orange pupils. This entity isn't just able to mess about with the dream realm, but can also interact with the physical realm, which suggests he wields immense magic, but I cannot say to which extent his magic is able to go as I've only seen what he is capable of doing in the dream realm, like causing pain with visions of alternate timelines, which he just did to somepony. Also, whatever I try to do to Madness Steve in the dream realm, he just pushes me out of the way like it's nothing. He said nothing other than his name to me, so we don't even know his plans or intentions," Luna explained, sighing afterwards.
"This entity may also very likely be responsible for the disappearance of Twilight and her friends," Luna added. Celestia and Cadence could then let out a sigh of relief. The scary news wasn't as bad as Celestia and Cadence first thought it would be. A new foe? Not a first for them or for anypony.
"Oh, did Luna forget that this 'Madness Steve' entity gave us a deadline of a week and five days or until he becomes too impatient to wait and he will kill Fluttershy very slowly and painfully who will likely kill Twilight and her friends and anypony else after he's done with Fluttershy!?" Discord very quickly exclaimed, still panicking on how they will get to the mane 6 and Spike before Madness Steve ends up killing his beloved dear Fluttershy. Celestia and Cadence instantly gasped at such a prospect. This new bad guy immediately stood out to Equestria's previous bad guys. This bad guy isn't interested in taking over Equestria. This bad guy isn't into stealing magic. This bad guy isn't into creating chaos. Nopony is safe, all are potential targets.
Madness Steve went back into Fluttershy's dream, the one with just her cottage. In the dream, Fluttershy was only looking after Angel until Madness Steve smites the cottage apart with rampaging flames, Fluttershy was now screaming her head off as she and Angel was surrounded by flames inside of the cottage that was burning as quickly as wood would burn. Madness Steve then teleports inside of the burning cottage. Fluttershy could only quiver and cry at the sight of seeing Madness Steve.
"Discord has to find you six in a week and five days or before my boredom eats away my patience. If he doesn't, your death is guaranteed. You will die, by this sword or by other means far worse that appeals to me," Madness Steve said as he got out his sword. Madness Steve just pointed the sword at Fluttershy. Fluttershy could only scream in horror as Madness Steve levitated Angel off of Fluttershy and slices the white bunny into pieces with the sword, which each piece of the butchered bunny instantly burnt to a crisp in the flames.
"This is what will happen to you if Discord can't find you, but much worse!" Madness Steve's laugh echoed and sounded distorted like never before. Madness Steve then casually leaves Fluttershy's peaceful dream that he turned and left into a seventh-hell nightmare. Fluttershy's fur then made contact with the flames and felt the burning pain as she began to be consumed by the flames.
Fluttershy then instantly wakes up and screams as loud as she could, waking everyone wake up instantly before breaking down into tears. Professor Red also woke and came into the lab, the area Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve and the mane 6 were sleeping in.
"What appears to be the ruckus?" Professor Red asked.
"Madness Steve's gonna kill me!" Fluttershy screamed and cried, hiding and shaking underneath the bed blankets.
"What did he exactly say darling?" Rarity yawned as she asked, who was concerned at how Fluttershy screamed as well as the rest of the mane 6. Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve and Professor Red was also concerned.
"He said... that he'll kill me... in a week and five days... if Discord can't find us..." Fluttershy whimpered.
"He won't take you down without us. No matter what happens, we'll face it together," Rainbow Dash replied as the mane 6 got out of their beds one by one put their left hooves on top of one another.
"I'm also with you on that one," Sabre replied as he got out of his bed and puts his right hand on the mane 6's hooves.
"Me too Fluttershy. He'll have to face all of us if he wants to destroy anyone of us," Light Steve said as he got out of his bed and puts his right hand down on Sabre's right hand and the mane 6's left forehooves. Time Steve and Professor Red then did the same. Fluttershy now felt a lot more relaxed, but she didn't want her friends to go down suicidally just for her. Fluttershy could only hope that if her time does run out, Madness Steve is only interested in killing her and nopony else.
"Hey Fluttershy, try this helmet on," Professor Red offered as he got out a seemingly ordinary iron helmet.
"What does it do?" Fluttershy slowly asked Professor Red.
"It helps so you don't have nightmares. I'm not sure how it will work for you as you're not a steve, but it might still work. I don't really use it... so yeah," Professor Red answered. Fluttershy then puts the helmet on and attempts to try fall asleep again as did Sabre, Time Steve, Light Steve, Professor Red and the mane 6.