My body seemed weightless, light as a feather. My senses received nothing but darkness and quietude. Peace at last.

“Helloooooo,”  a voice called out, trailing off with faded volume, disrupting my peace.Wait a second... I know that voice!

“Hellooooo, it’s time to wake up!” The voice repeated. I swear, I’ve heard that voice somewhere! It was so familiar! It was... mine?!

Opening my eyes in abrupt realization, I had finally, awkwardly awoken to the sound of my own voice... not what I was really expecting, but it would have to do... for now. My vision still blurred, I quickly recognized the pony in front of me. Why? Because it was me! Striped red and white hair, or as some would have called it, candy cane mane, black and white striped vest, and even that white mark parting between my eyes among my icy toned fur.

“Ah, it looks like you’re finally awake! Don’t get up too fast, or you will get a nasty--”

“Ah! Who are you?!” I quickly exclaimed, recoiling from my haunches with a backwards jump, flapping my wings for that extra boost. “AGHH! MY HEAD!” A sudden rush of pressure flooded my brain, verging on the point of passing out again.

“--headache... and what do you mean by, ‘Who are you?’ Don’t you recognize your own consciences?” The lookalike asked with a tilt of his head, standing inert upon the white surface.

“Joy?” I insecurely answered. Looking at the back of him, and if I was correct, the pony behind him should have definitely been Kill. It was them! “JOY! KILL!” I had finally come to realization, rushing the twins with an embrace, joining them as we had now become triplets. “I’m so happy to finally meet you! What are you guys doing here? And how are you so big?! And why is the place so... bland and white?” I continuously uttered questions.

“Nice to finally meet you face to face, Vessel,” Kill nodded, releasing the embrace as I did with them, standing beside Joy with a smile of a trickster plastered upon his face. “And I’m sorry to answer all your questions like this, but you’re actually dead.”

My heart dropped.

“WHAT?! I’M DEAD!?” I shouted as my voice echoed, trailing throughout the vast whiteness of the area.

Cracking his whip-like tail at Kill, Joy snapped at his other half, leaving a bruised, red mark upon the pony’s icy toned flank. “Don’t deceive the stallion like that!” Joy scolded. “Shoo! Go elsewhere and fix the body up while I explain what’s happening to Graze.”

Kill snorted hot air like an enraged bull, aggravated at Joy’s pushiness. “Fine,” He plainly replied, coming into terms of agreement. “But why do I always get to do the hard work!?”

“Because you don’t know how to explain things properly!” Joy responded, shouting to the stallion as he trailed off. To where? I don’t know, because everything just seemed like an endless ocean of vast white.

Trotting away and not even once to glance back, Kill silently answered with an unfurled wing, and with that wing, was one unfolded middle feather. “Yeah, go buck yourself with a rusty saw blade! Sorry you had to hear all that, Graze... that’s sorta what usually happens when we don’t appear at your shoulders... saves you from our bickering at least,” Joy apologized, coughing into his right hoof with a clearing of his throat. “Right! Some explanations are in order! Basically, this is your subconscious. You know, when your mind is not as active as during day, or more preferably, home to Kill, myself and your memories!” Joy paused. “Urgh... right, example! Kill is solely responsible for those weird images, may it be, excuse my language, clop or not, being the reason why you always question yourself, as to how in Equestria can one pony have so much pornographic, dirty material in his mind... which then, of course, leads to those random wingboners and embarrassment.”

“Damn bucking right that’s me! WOOOO! NO SHAME, NO PRIDE!” Kill confessed with, as he said, no shame present. I don’t know whether I wanted to slap Kill, or hug him, some of those images were so... so great, and then others were so... just so wrong.

“GET BACK TO WORK, DAMMIT!” Joy snapped a shout once more, reminding the pony of his duties.

“BLEH!” Kill stuck out his tongue, mocking Joy.

“BLEH!” Joy retorted, facing back to me. “I swear, I can feel my blood pressure rise with that stallion... anyways,” the one third of me waved off the stress. “We’re not big, you’re just our size because this is your subconscious. And I won’t lie to you, but the place isn’t always like this... so empty.”

“So, why is it just... white... and endless?” I curiously asked.

“Oh... right, because you’re not dead... just a stalemate between life and death... you know, like limbo!” Joy said, smiling a bit too happily.

“And you’re not worried... why?”

“Oh! Because, Kill is trying to resuscitate you, and trust me, he is kind of good at that... the irony, right? A pony named ‘Kill’ is trying to revive you! Hahahaha, but don’t worry, he’s had a lot of practice with this situation,” Joy said, reassuringly as he continued his rambling. “Well, you're not actually dying or dead, we're just trying to bring consciousness back to you... you know, once you aren't actually dying, stabbed or profusely losing blood so that we can't actually do anything... you're pretty much screwed then."

“Wowowow, what do you mean, practice?! How many times have I actually been on the verge of death!?” I snapped at Joy, wondering as to how many times have these ponies attempted to kill me.

“Calm down, Graze... this is actually your first time! Trust me, we never tried to kill you... at least I haven’t... wait... nope, I’m pretty sure that one time wasn’t on purpose. By the way, do you know why we say ‘Bless you’ when somepony sneezes?” Joy asked.

“How the buck does that relate to anything of this matter?!” I exclaimed, wondering as to how a sneeze works in this situation.

“It has everything to do with this situation!” Joy frantically exclaimed as he begun his explanation. “Graze, when you sneeze, your heart literally stops for that one second, and because of that, Kill and I have to restart everything in your subconscious. That, my dear vessel, is where he gets the practice from, and why we say ‘Bless you’... it’s quite fascinating really, how one's mind can literally go blank within a second... this is just a tad bit more difficult, but I’m sure he can handle it,” Joy continued to ramble on, and on about the same thing. “Most you should feel when you get back up is fatigue, and a slight headache.”

“Why?”

“Because, we are just fixing your mental status, not your physical screw up of an exploding bubble... how does that even work?” Joy placed a hoof under his chin, thinking of many hypotheses possible while balancing on the remaining three forelegs. “By the way, sorry about that, this could have all been avoided if Kill and I weren’t distracted with the bubbles... really, what are the chances of seeing bubbles everyday?!” Joy happily chimed, soon noticing my bemused expression. “Sorry if I ramble more than often, it’s just so great to have somepony else to talk to other than Kill! I believe Charge called it Symbolic interactionism...”

“Yeah, whatever...” Kill’s voice bemusedly called out with a roll of his eyes, as he approached the two other copies, Joy and myself. “And what are you talking about, not seeing bubbles everyday! Ditzy literally has them tattooed on her flank! And we all know you check that out everyday.”

The blood immediately rushed to my cheeks, blushing as red as a tomato. “N-no I don’t!”

“Honestly, Graze, who are you trying to fool? We are all you! There’s nothing you should hide, and there’s nothing you can hide. C’mon, just admit you like her!”

Interrupting Kill’s barrage of questions and interrogations was Joy, stomping his hoof as he entered the chat between us, which I admit, was really getting uncomfortable.“Hey, before you start harassing Graze, did you finish your task that I kindly asked you to do?”

“Yes I did, mom,” Kill responded with the attitude and sass of a nagged teenager, because to me, he was.

“Wow, that took kinda long.”

“Yeah, because apparently, bubbles now have the ability to self-destruct and almost kill somepony,” Kill replied. “Anyways, everything is fixed, and should be back to normal in at least a minute... sooo, Mr. Smartypants, how do we actually get Graze out of here?” He asked his other half.

Brushing his chin once more, Joy scrunched his face as he thought of a solution. “Well, there are two ways, one, he wakes up by himself--”

“Nope, too long, he’s still in the red zone,” Kill quickly rejected plan A, taking into consideration that my body is still unconscious somewhere.

“I know,” Joy admitted. “And then there’s plan B, we can send him into shock.” Honestly, that didn’t sound too pleasant. “So, who gets the honors, your or me?”

The two ponies shared an undisrupted moment of silence as they glanced at the other. Joy looked at Kill and nodded in my general direction. Kill mimicked Joy’s actions. Silently, both ponies continued this little gimmick until they had reached to a conclusion where Kill pointed at himself and Joy.

“Fine!” Kill argued, breaking the silence as he turned his back with Joy. “We’ll just wait til he--” POW! Abruptly, I was met face to face with Kill’s and Joy’s hooves, unconsciously landing on the floor with an audible thud.

“Sorry, Graze! We had to!” Joy apologized, flailing his tender hoof, watching my body as a foreleg or two occasionally twitched. “He’s regaining consciousness!” He pointed out, seeing as the now transparent, unconscious body slowly faded into nothing but thin air.

G...Z.. WA... ..P!

“We’ve got ears!” Kill notified his counterpart, both of their ears cocking up to a fairly recognisable sound in the distance. “I can’t really hear what that pony is saying, kinda muffled... I-I think it’s Chaser!”

GRA..E, WA..E UP!

“Don’t rush it, Kill! Give it a few more seconds!” Joy warned the other pony, standing beside him.

“GRAZE, WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” Chaser’s voice desperately begged. “C’MON MAN, DON’T DO THIS TO ME!”

“Ears are a-okay! Waiting for visuals!” Kill informed his brother, as the two patiently waited, staring into blank space. Both suddenly fell to their haunches due to a violent, abrupt shaking. “Holy shit! Is Chaser shaking Graze?!”

“C’MON MAN! GET UP! PLEASE, GET UP! Chaser continuously shouted in desperation whilst shaking the unconscious body.

The area that was once blank before Kill and Joy, slowly faded into showing my point of view.

“It’s a bit blurry, but I can still make it out! Graze is back, up and running!” Joy pumped his hoof in success. “Awww yeah!” The two consciences smacked their hooves with each other in celebrations.

“YES! Thank Princess Luna that you’re alive!” Chaser exclaimed, tightly embraced my body. “Listen, Graze, we need to get out of here fast before Chrysalis arrives, can you trot or fly?” 

With a whimper, Kill and Joy watched from my point of view as I desperately tried to move both hoof or wing. The ending result was fatigue, futility and more pain.

“C’mon, Graze, put your hoof around my neck, I’m dragging you out of here,” the jacketed pony leant out his hoof, grabbing mine as he wrapped it around his neck, struggling to pick up my lifeless body. “Man, you gotta go on a diet,” Chaser smirked, dragging me as my hind legs gently brushed against the concrete floor.

---

The ending ping of a teleportation spell alerted the mantis-green pegasus as many hooves stomped the ground, no more than once before him. One stood out among the rest. “Halt, jacketed pegasus! There will be no need for escape,” an unrecognized, feminine voice called out. “Both of you, turn around, and kneel before your new queen.”

Chaser paused at the sound of the voice, and gulped. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright,” the long maned equine whispered to me. “Whatever happens, I am not going to leave you here,” Chaser reassuringly said. I responded with exasperated breaths, clinging onto dear life. I remember Joy telling me I was going to have fatigue, but this was unbelievably painful!

“I said kneel before me!” The changeling queen demanded once more, stomping her right foreleg.

“He’s injured! How in Tartarus do you expect him to kneel when he can barely stand for himself!” Chaser said, fighting for me.

“Well, as a queen, I must  be understanding towards my royal subjects! If he cannot kneel, then you must bow to your new queen!”

“Not a snowball’s chance in hell, you damned changeling witch!”

“BOW!”Chrysalis’ words beckoned throughout the battlefield with a mighty roar. “Bow... or your student loses his life!” She threatened. On her final word, a Behemoth appeared before his queen, its curved, cavitied horn glowed a ghastly, vibrant green as it took aim, pointing towards me.

I couldn’t move, and he wasn’t going to abandon me. Chaser had no choice.

Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and gently rested my near lifeless body upon the floor. My breaths became less of a struggle rather than before, as I had to drag half of my own bodyweight. Thank Celestia for small mercies. Curse Chrysalis for her cruelty.

As my soft breath gently rolled the tiniest of pebbles before me, I strained my eyes to its corner, watching as the scene played out. Chrysalis with a Behemoth beside her, and one lone pegasus that refused to let his student suffer. That same pegasus... had forfeited.

Chaser instantaneously dropped his body weight onto his haunches, kneeling in defeat as his long, tied, brown hair returned into standard position along his neck from the sudden bounce. He gently laid his body upon the floor, his snout gently kissing the concrete as he bowed towards his new queen.

“Now say it,” Queen Chrysalis demanded. Chaser refused for his ego and pride to take such a dip. “Say. It.” The changeling queen said with emphasis on each word whilst clenching her teeth.

Next Chapter: Chapter Nine: Reality of the Situation Estimated time remaining: 37 Minutes