//------------------------------// // Chapter 28: Scared // Story: In Equestria // by ARandomLonelyDude //------------------------------// Life was cruel. Nemo knew that very well. In the past couple days, she had ran from her home where everyone seemed to hate her, got lost in the dry wilderness, ripped out from her world and put into another with an unfamiliar body, ordered to murder someone, attacked by a forest creature, hospitalised, mind controlled by a monster, and then hospitalised once again. It was a lot for her, but she had some comfort in the new world. The creatures that lived in the new world, the ponies, were nice to her even though she wasn't as nice to them. She had a soft bed and good food and water as well. She even got a book, and though she couldn't understand quite a few of the words or a lot of what was happening in it, she liked it very much. The thing she didn't really like was how the ponies in the hospital would ask her questions all the time without being patient, or nice in some cases, and then look at her weird when she eventually answered those questions. She missed the pony who had been nice to her (even though she was the one that Nemo was ordered to kill) and wished she would come back to visit. The hospital ponies had told her that she'd be sent to a 'foster family' when she was all healthy, and by how they sounded, she assumed that it was something good for her and she waited for that day to come ever since. But until then, she could only dream. It was warm and fuzzy and soft, whatever Nemo lay on and she liked it a lot. The sky above was filled with stars and the world below it was covered in all sorts of plant life, much like the waking world. Nemo had come to love it all for it was probably the first time she could see the world's beauty without any fear blinding her. It wasn't forever though like Nemo wanted it to be. Her eyes opened as she just felt someone watching her. The warm soft fuzzy thing she was laying on was gone and she was on grass now. She looked around slowly, all the comfort she had disappearing. The shadows of the few trees around her seemed to lengthen as she moved her head. "Did you think you could escape?" said something from the shadows, making Nemo freeze in fear. A thing crawled out of the shadow of one thing, its fat slimy body being pulled by innumerable limbs that all seemed to be somewehere in between tentacles and spider legs. It was covered in colours, all vivid and bright like a poisonous frog, only that the colours would shift every second. It was sickening and frightening to look at, not just because of its appearance, but because Nemo knew that it wanted to hurt her. She tried to get up and run but found herself stuck in place, watching as the thing got closer and closer. Her heart was beating faster and there were tears forming in her eyes as she watched the thing keep advancing while she could do nothing. It was so close now, one more step and it would be able to reach her. Nemo closed her eyes. There was a lot of noise the next moment. Nemo opened her eyes and saw that the thing was gone and rpelace dwith a patch of burning grass and that she could move. She immediately got up and ran the other way from the patch, only to run into someone. She looked up and saw that it was a tall, dark blue pony with a mane and tail made of the night sky, and a par of bat wings and a horn. It took a moment for Nemo to remember that this was the princess who had tried talking to her sometime back. "It's gone now, Nemo, you are safe," the princess said as she looked at the patch of burnt grass before looking down at Nemo. Nemo wasn't fully convinced of that fact though. She was still scared and here was a tall and imposing pony looking down at her. Nemo wanted to run but found that she couldn't for some reason. The princess raised a hoof, and Nemo braced for a hit out of instinct. No such thing happened, however. Instead, the princess gently touched Nemo's cheek, making her open her eyes in surprise and look in the princess's cat-like eyes. "You need not be afraid of me, I am here only to help." "Sister, could we do what we have come here for?" Nemo's ears folded back at the second voice. The princess stepped aside as a second, taller and more imposing pony came to stand beside her. She had a white coat and tri-coloured mane and tail, and wings and a horn (like Nemo). However, unlike the princess, the new pony didn't seem as kind or nice, and in fact, she seemed angry at her. "Yes sister, you can get started," the princess said to her sister before turning back to Nemo, who was still scared. "I apologise for her demeanor but it's just that we have important work to do." "W- where a- are we?" Nemo managed to say as she watched the princess's sister stretch out her wings and go up into the sky with a mighty flap. "We are in your dream, Nemo," she answered, making Nemo more confused. "And I must say, you are strong for how you stayed with that night terror for so long." "N- night terror?" Whatever that was, it sounded bad. "A creature that feeds off a pony's negative emotions. They usually come about when a pony undergoes a lot of stress," the princess explained before her expression turned sad. "And you've been through quite a lot of it recently." Nemo lowered her head and stared at the ground at the reminder of just how things had been going for her. Sure, things were far better here than back home, but it was all alien to her. She was in an alien body in an alien world and she had no way of going back if she were to guess. She felt something around her back and looked up to see that the princess had put her leathery bat wing around her. "Do you miss your home?" "Ye- no... I- I'm not sure," Nemo answered as she leaned onto Luna absentmindedly. "I don't know if I miss it. It wasn't very nice... but it was where I lived." Luna hummed as she pulled the filly into a hug. Nemo welcomed it as it was once again warm and soft and that made her feel better than how she was earlier. "How did it look?" Luna asked Nemo. "There was sand everywhere and it was hot all the time," Nemo said, not noticing the dream around them change. It went from plains of grass to plains of rocky terrain with mountains closeby. "But I had stayed there for so long I got used to it." It was true that she had gotten used to her home, no matter how bad it was, but a small part of her wondered if it was a good thing that she did. There was the sounds of hooves hitting the ground and Luna turned her head to see her very annoyed looking sister approaching. "I've done the preparations for sealing the mind from the void. You can continue with her once we've sealed the mind." "What are you doing?" Nemo asked, looking up to Luna nervously. "We're going to cast a spell that will protect you from nasty things like your previous master. It might hurt a bit but I know that you will brave through it," Luna answered, looking down at Nemo with a smile to make her feel better. It didn't help much since she mentioned him. Luna stood up and walked over to her sister. The princess's and her sister's horns lit up simultaneously, and suddenly, Nemo felt as though she was being held down and having her head repeatedly punched. It was painful, and it was terrifying. It was only by the princess's magic that the dream didn't immediately collapse. When it was over, Nemo was curled up with her head in her hooves and was crying as quietly as she could out of instinct, thinking that making any sound would make the pain come back. "It didn't work! There's something blocking it!" she heard the princess say, followed by hoofsteps coming in her direction. 'They hurt you,' a voice told her. "Nemo, did you hear someone's voice anytime in the past few day?" Nemo didn't hear the question. Instead she heard the voice again, 'They will hurt you again.' The hoofsteps stopped in front of her and Nemo looked up, her vision blurry with tears but not blurry enough to stop her from making out that two large ponies who could hurt were looming over her. One looked concerned while the other looked enraged. "Did you hear someone's voice in your head anytime in the last few days?" the princess repeated with concern that HAD to be fake. Nemo shook her head, lying out of fear of what would happen if she said yes. "Filly! If you dare to hide anythin-" the enraged one said as she raised her white hoof, as if she was going to strike her, but Nemo didn't hear it. 'Wake up,' she heard instead. Nemo woke up breathing heavily, her cheeks wet with tears and her eyes full of fear. She looked around the dark room for any danger while she made herself as small as she could. A shadow moved across the room and she was under the bed, quietly crying into her hooves as she took shaky breaths. The door opened after some time had passed, making Nemo even more scared. The light turned on, letting Nemo see that a pony was in the room but that was not what she was focused on. She was more focused on the fact that the pony had white hooves. The princess's sister had come for her in the real world. Nemo closed her eyes and curled up, hoping that the pony would just go away. The pony didn't go away. "Nemo, why're you under the bed?" the pony asked. Nemo didn't recognise the voice as that of the nurse and thought that it was the white alicorn pretending to be nice, but she knew better. She felt a hoof touch her back and she screamed, knowing that she was going to be dragged out from under the bed and how she would be beaten if she was pulled out from under the bed. However, she wasn't, and the hoof went back, followed by the sound of retreating hoofsteps. Nemo still wasn't happy since she knew that the pony would come back in a minute or two and she'd be dragged out. She knew that she had to run but it wasn't an option though. The window was barred and the door would just lead to the ponies who would hurt her. There was no solution to her problem. It seemed that she would be getting hurt no matter what. The ponies, who had pretended to be kind for so long, would take her away and hurt her. Her new world seemed just like her old, and just like the old, there was nothing she could do about how terrible it was. Nemo cried, wishing she just didn't exist. There were more hoofsteps, and before Nemo could react, she felt something stab her and then, she was asleep. Nurse Sweetheart slowly pulled the sedated filly out from under the bed. Beside her, Nurse Redheart held a now empty syringe, looking worried. To nurse Sweetheart, there was no explanation for Nemo's behaviour. She had been alright a few hours back when she went to sleep but now Nemo had woken up screaming and crying and was so terrified that she had screamed when Nurse Redheart had tried to help her. Sweetheart knew that it must have been some truly terrible nightmare that had frightened the filly that much, and it made it clear that they'd have to get help if they wanted to help Nemo. "Redheart, I think we'll have to call in Princess Luna. She's been having nightmares every night and today's been the worst," Sweetheart said as she put the filly back in bed and tucked her in, unaware that the princess was already making plans to head to their town once she was done berating her sister.