My Little Pony Fan Fiction ❯ A Walk Among Spirits ❯ Chapter 7

Skyline's head was pounding. The darkness seemed to pulsate with every throb. Skyline groaned as the pounding in his head continued. He heard muffled voices which caused the throbbing in his head to get worse. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He saw an outline of a large blurry figure standing over him. He winced as the white room behind the figure hurt his eyes. As his eyes slowly adjusted, the figure split into three smaller figures. The muffled voice slowly started to become clear.

"Skyline? Skyline!?" Apple Bloom called. Skyline groaned as he slowly sat up, the pain in his head not subsiding.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm up," Skyline said as he rubbed his temple.

"We thought you'd never wake up," Sweetie Belle said.

The pain in his head started to slowly subside, but as the pain slowly went away. He could feel the small aches and pains throughout his body. He looked around and was surprised he was back in the padded room. He turned his attention to the three fillies and asked, "What's going on?"

"We'd like to know ourselves," Scootaloo said before she explained, "That mare came in and took you. Once we could move again. We tried to get out and help you, but that door wouldn't budge. Then after what felt like hours. The same mare threw you back in here. We tried to wake you up, but you were out like a light."

"How long was I out?" Skyline asked

"My best guess would have to be three hours," Apple Bloom said before she added, "There isn't a clock in here so it's hard to tell."

"Forget that, what was The Clinic like?" Scootaloo asked before she fired off more questions, "Did it smell? Was it filled with containers of body parts? What did the professor look like?" Scootaloo would have asked a least a hundred more questions if not for Sweetie Belle telling her to stop.

The question about The Clinic sparked his memory about the elevator, the arena, jukebox's voice, the fight with Shadow Dancer, and the tiger. He took another look around the room in hopes of seeing the tiger again, but he only saw the three fillies with him in the room.

"Well, what was it like?" Sweetie Belle asked. She was also curious about what The Clinic was like. Her fear of the enviable room was still there, but since Skyline had returned from there. Her fears were slowly subsiding.

"I'm-I'm not sure I even went," Skyline said. The three fills looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean you're not sure? Then where did they take you?" Apple Bloom asked. Skyline began to tell them about his adventure on the other side of the steel door. About the arena, Shadow Dancer, and about how the white tiger came to his rescue.

"So could this arena be The Clinic?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"That's what I thought as well," Skyline agreed.

"I don't think it's actually The Clinic," Scootaloo said before she continued, "Why would The Clinic be a battle arena. You heard those Ponies from a day or so ago: the professor does twisted experiments on the Ponies trapped here. My guess is the loser of the battle gets sent to The Clinic. If they survive"

"The better question is how Skyline used Astral Projection without a horn," Sweetie Belle asked. The three foals looked at her in confusion before she added, "What? From how you described the tiger. It sounds like Astral Projection magic?"

"How in Celestia's name do you know what Astral Projection magic looks like?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Rarity and Twilight were talking about it one time," Sweetie Belle explained before she continued, "Rarity, Twilight, and the rest of their friends had gone to see a show in Los Pegasus. The Pony on stage was an illusionist as Rarity put it. The next day after the show, Rarity and Twilight were discussing the ways the Pony made the illusions. Twilight said it must have been Astral Projection magic he was using."

"So you've never seen it with your own eyes is what you're saying," Scootaloo said.

"Well no, but the way Twilight described it. It sounds an awful lot like what Skyline did," Sweetie Belle said. Four trays slid through the doggy door without anypony opening the window to glare at them. The four took their trays and ate while discussing how and why Skyline was able to create the tiger. The goop was bad but not as bad as before. Partly due to the fact that they weren't paying attention to the taste.

"Maybe you're a superhero and your powers didn't manifest until you were in danger," Scootaloo said.

"I'd be surprised if that was the case," Skyline said. The thought of being a superhero was cool, but he knew they were only in comic books and works of fiction.

"I'm surprised you're not excited that you could possibly be a superhero," Apple Bloom said.

"I'm surprised Scootaloo knows what manifest means," Sweetie Belle said

"Hey!" Scootaloo protested. The three foals laughed and eventually Scootaloo laughed with them.

They continued guessing about how Skyline could manifest the tiger when Sweetie Belle asked, "Can you make it appear now?" The other two waited to see what the tiger looked like and to know how it felt.

"I can try," Skyline said before he took a deep breath and concentrated on what the tiger looked like. He pictured its thick white fog body and its dark black smoke stripes. Sweat rolled down his face as he forced his body to try and produce the tiger. He suddenly stood up straight repeating, "Ow, ow, ow" his back felt like he had a pinched nerve. Once the pain faded, he looked at the three fillies and asked if anything happened.

"No, nothing," Apple Bloom said in disappointment. The lights clicked off surprising the four foals. They hadn't realized how late it had gotten. The three fillies went to the back right corner while Skyline took his spot in the middle of the floor. Today's events were so exhausting that he found himself falling asleep instantly.

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Skyline slowly backed away from the wolf made of red mist. Black mud dripped from the beast's mouth. Skyline turned in hopes to see the tiger standing behind him ready to fight off the wolf. However, the Cobra was still battling the cobra made of red mist. Whenever the tiger found a chance to come and help Skyline. The snake's tail wrapped around the tiger's back legs and dragged it back. When Skyline turned back to face the wolf, his heart skipped a beat. More red mist was rising from the ground and forming more wolves. There were now ten wolves stalking Skyline. Each wolf had black mud dripping from its mouth. Something suddenly crashed into the ground behind Skyline causing him to jump. He nervously looked behind him to see two blue eyes glaring out of the dust.

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Skyline groaned as he shifted from his right side to his left side. The dream hadn't lurched him awake, nor was there a slam at the door that woke him up this time. Instead, what woke him up was a small squeaking noise. He cracked open his eyes and saw a white mouse sitting there staring at him. The mouse seemed to glow in the darkness of the room. Skyline was still groggy from the day's events or yesterday's events. He couldn't tell if it was the same day he had entered the arena or the next day. He shooed the mouse away with his right fore-hoof. The mouse bounded away before stopping in front of the door and turning back to look at Skyline. He had fallen back asleep, which was amazing since one of the fillies was snoring quite loudly. The mouse cocked his head at Skyline before it squeezed its body under the door and escaped the room.