All right, I think the last chapter went down better than I expected… now let's get to some new stuff.
.773: What is? And what is Sunset Overdrive?
werewolf99: It was, wasn't it?
Inkwell: 1) I know, right?
2) Not just for this story.
Cobalt Spikes hated dreams. No… more than just hated. Despised. Reviled. Wanted to put a knife in. That was the level of hatred he held them in. Not only because they were most often nightmares, but because they forced him to reveal his character, and he didn't want to be forced to do that, because he was scared of what he'd find.
Oftentimes, he longed for the carefree days of two or three months ago, when he could have a friendly race with Rainbow Dash and not worry about being caused to cough up blood, or having a headache so violent that he would become unconscious and fall out of the sky.
But this was his life now. And he had to deal with it.
This didn't stop him from hating his dreams, though.
He wandered through a dark abyss with no walls or ceiling, only an invisible floor made out of pure darkness. Then he felt himself scooped up off the ground by some sort of claw, and wondered why he didn't try to resist.
The claw set him down in another dark area, but when he tried to move forward, he ran into an invisible wall. He tried all directions, and pretty soon realized he was encased in an invisible box. A flash of dark light exploded in front of him, and he shielded his eyes from it. When it cleared, he saw Rainbow Dash and Twilight in cages hovering in what he could only assume to be the air of this place. Both of them were frozen in expressions of pure agony, and Cobalt's pupils shrunk as he saw this.
Choose… a voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, and Cobalt somehow knew that it meant which one of the two would live or die.
He tried to open his mouth to yell out in defiance, but he was unable to speak. A chorus of screams and loud wind started up, and grew in volume until it was unbearable.
He squeezed his eyes shut and flattened his ears to try to block out the images and sounds–
And woke up in the forest he'd fallen asleep in.
His eyes shone with a gray light, and flitted around in a panic, and cold sweat dripped down his face. He jumped to his hooves, breathing shallowly as if he'd just been in a battle for his life.
The light suddenly faded from his eyes, and he realized that he'd just woken from a dream. His vision tinted red with anger, and he let out a beastly yell, as vicious as if a little bit of the feral nature of the werepony had stayed with him, even after he returned to normal. "WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?!" he screamed, slamming his head against the nearest tree. He turned his narrowed eyes toward the black night sky, as if it were the force inside of his head that was torturing him. "I'M NOT GOING TO CHOOSE! I'LL PROTECT BOTH OF THEM, YOU HEAR ME?!"
His rage quickly turned into aimless confusion, and he sat down hard. He put his head in his hooves and shivered even though it wasn't cold. Tears that he hadn't even registered existed rolled down his face.
Was this what it was like to go insane?
ONE KNIGHT OF THE WIND RIFF LATER
Morning had broken and Cobalt was on the move by the time Caliburn finally woke up. The sword opened his eyes and yawned. "What amount of time was I unconscious for?" were the first words out of his mouth.
"You were out all night." Cobalt replied, not even looking down at his weapon. Caliburn suddenly noticed that he was sheathed in a weathered scabbard, and wondered where his wielder had obtained it.
"Thou dids't not think to wake me?" Caliburn asked indignantly. Cobalt instantly faced him with an angry look on his face.
"Look, Caliburn." The blue pegasus snarled. "I'm not in the mood to deal with your crap right now!"
"Fine way to treat thy weapon." Caliburn muttered, but shut up nevertheless.
After a few minutes, a large cave the opened up like a pit in the ground came into view. The interior was pitch black, save for several crystals that reflected the light from the outside.
Caliburn became aware that that Cobalt was shivering, and staring down into the pit with wide, fearful eyes. "Do not tell me that thou art afraid of the mere darkness." He scoffed.
"I am." Cobalt admitted, his voice low. "There is power in the darkness…" he said, and for a brief moment, his face distorted into a crazy smile as his eyes flashed gray. But a second later it was gone, and he was back to looking fearful.
"'Tis a childish belief that the dark has power." Caliburn rebuked him.
"Maybe to you…" Cobalt murmured, staring for a moment longer, as if transfixed by the darkness of the pit. Then he recovered from this paralysis and started down into it.
BACK IN PONYVILLE
Twilight was confused. She needed more information about Shadow in order to make a judgment about the prophecy she'd received. She wanted so badly to look into the mystery of Cobalt's memory, because that seemed like the only way to find information about the enigmatic black alicorn.
What prevented her? The moment Cobalt had returned from his adventure to save the planet from being split apart, he had pleaded her not to look into it anymore. His exact words had been, 'Please… I don't want to remember.'
So no matter how much she wanted to, she had promised, and had to leave the mystery untouched.
The coffee hadn't helped either. It had made her more jittery than she'd expected, and oftentimes she'd have a sudden burst of random magic that singed a shelf, or caused random flowers to grow out of the desk in her study. She tapped her hoof impatiently when two trains of thought didn't connect, and had to trot in circles to think actively when she wasn't reading.
She looked down at the print on the page one more time, and frowned as it seemed to blur together and make whimsical combinations of random letters. She rubbed her bleary eyes and wondered how long she'd been up.
Suddenly she yawned, and felt extremely tired. It was as if the rush of energy the coffee had given her had worn off and she was having a caffeine crash. This, she realized, was exactly what was happening.
"Oh, that makes sense." She said, her voice distorted by a large yawn, and, moments after she'd said that, slumped and fell fast asleep on her desk, snoring.
(If that last bit of narration seemed a bit spasmodic, it was because I was trying to tell it from her perspective, which is half hyped up on coffee, and half in a caffeine crash. That's where I am right now.)
BACK IN THE CAVE
Cobalt was jumpier than usual, and he had an excuse to be that way. The darkness of the cave around him freaked him out, and once in a while he thought he heard the voice whispering choose in his ear. He flinched at the sound of insane laughter, and then wondered whether it had come from his mouth.
If this was madness, he wanted out.
After wandering the cave for what felt like forever, but was in reality for only a few hours, Caliburn suddenly spoke up.
"The allotted time for a quest has expired." The sword reminded Cobalt.
"And there's no dragon here." Cobalt growled. "This is a trick."
"So thou hath figured it out." A higher pitched voice than the ones that Caliburn or Cobalt were capable of making said.
"Gah!" Cobalt whirled around, unsure if this was just another one of his nightmare imaginings. The little foal from before stood there in front of him. "Small thing! Small thing!" Cobalt took a few panicked steps back and then looked at the foal with scrutiny. "H-how'd you get down here, and why are you… glowing…?"
The foal smiled. "I apologize for tricking thee. But thou hast proven thyself."
Cobalt felt himself glow with a cool, soothing light blue aura, and quicker than he could blink, he was on the surface of the ground at the entrance to the cave. Then the vertigo of the sudden teleportation hit, and he unceremoniously bent over and released the little he had in his stomach.
"What–" he panted, staggering a few good feet from the vomit. "What in Tartarus–"
The foal smiled. "Ah, I suppose I should undisguise myself." Her form shimmered, and in her place stood the pink form of the Mare of the Mere. "Once again, I apologize for tricking thee, but thou hast proven thyself worthy, and the promised prophecy shall be delivered to thee."
Cobalt frowned. Just what he needed: a prophecy to make his day even worse. "Fine, go ahead and say it. I can't imagine how this could turn out badly."
The Mare didn't detect his sarcasm, or if she did, she didn't let on, and continued with her speech. "The prophecy came to me in these words: Darkness shall fall."
The world was silent for a few moments, save the cawing of ravens overhead.
"Go on." Caliburn invited impatiently.
"That is all." The Mare shrugged.
"Three words? Seriously?" Cobalt gritted his teeth. "I wandered in a dark cave for hours because of three words?!"
"Ah, but there is also information that I feel obligated to deliver to thee." The Mare went on. "I understand that thou hast been looking for the four Knights of the Round Table?"
"Yeah, so?" Cobalt pressed.
"One lies in wait for thee, in yonder volcano." The Mare gestured to the distant southwest, where a faint pillar of smoke rose, billowing up into the sky and dissipating a few hundred feet up. "I do believe that Sir Percival is the last for thou to findest?"
"Yeah." Cobalt nodded. "That's great! Thanks! How'd you know that?"
"One with pure eyes can see much." The Mare gazed at him, her eyes cold like ice. He got the feeling that she was seeing much more than the surface. Like she was seeing his soul.
Cobalt frowned. His eyes weren't pure. That was sure. He shook his head and plastered on a fake smile. "Okay, thanks again, Miss 'of the Mere'. Caliburn?" he looked down at his sword. "Ready to put ourselves in mortal peril again?!"
"What dost thou think my answer will be?" Caliburn asked rhetorically.
"Um, how about, LET'S DO THIS!" Cobalt launched himself into the air and soared off toward the smoke.
Chapter done early, coffee drunk... I'm psyched for the next one! Please bear with me. I'll have it done by at least next Tuesday at the latest. Meanwhile, I've got Mario Kart and Smash Bros to play!