//------------------------------// // Transcend the Nightmare // Story: Getting Home // by leafz pegasus //------------------------------// Celestia was woken from her slumber by a loud, obnoxious knocking from the door. Magicking the door open, Luna literally flew into the room and barreled into her sister. “Tia! I felt it!” “Felt what, Lulu?” Luna swallowed, “I did not think it possible, but it was the Waking Nightmare.” Celestia shot out of her bed, “Where did you feel this?!” “Just in Ponyville! It appears as though the Elements are on their way to the scene, but I fear it may be too great for them!” “Come Luna, we will deal with this manner ourselves.” As Celestia disappeared in a teleportation, Luna stood alone. “I wish, after all these years, that you would have changed back, Justin.” And with that, Luna teleported after her sister. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “WAKING NIGHTMARE!” The gang leader found himself suspended in perpetual darkness. There was no light, no sound, just . . . nothing. Suddenly, there was a spotlight in the center of the room. Seeing it as his only salvation, the gang leader moved towards it. Once he reached the patch of light, he could finally see everything around him- in morbid detail. He was standing in a throne room- torches lined the walls and there were twisted versions of the murals in Canterlot Castle decorating the walls with their perverse concepts. “Welcome to my humble abode, Fabio Alighieri. If you would be so kind as to step up to the throne at the end of the hall I would very much appreciate it.” Said a cold and harsh voice, devoid of emotion. Hesitantly, the gang leader made his way up to the throne at the end of the hall, glancing up at the false murals with disgust. The elements of Harmony were black and twisted, Nightmare Moon had triumphed over Celestia and Luna, and Discord was never sealed away. In short, it was as though all of Equestria’s history was reversed so that the good guys never won. Standing at the base of the throne, “I’m here, demon! Show yourself!” The voice asked its own question in return, “I have but one question for you, Fabio.” The voice paused, “Are you afraid?” Fabio puffed out his chest, “Of course not, Demon!” “You should be.” Suddenly, the voice belonged to a figure, sitting on the throne. He wore a heavy black wool cloak, thick black leather boots, and stylized gloves on each hand, an interweaving sun and moon stitched into them. Upon his head he wore a black hood, covering his eyes from view, yet Fabio could still see a red glint in the dark. Fabio was once again thrown into the pitch darkness, but was quickly replaced by a room. “This is my bedroom . . .” The gang leader cautiously got up and went into the hall and down the stairs to glance into the kitchen. What he saw almost made him scream. His wife and two daughters were being held at spell-point, while three other men were going through the house, taking valuables. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on my family!” Fabio bellowed. Yet no one seemed to hear him, and it continued. Fabio went to run in front of the robber and put himself in front of his family to protect them, but found that he could not. Finally, after what seemed like hours of watching his family be at point blank, the robber fired, and killed all three of them with a sadistic smile on his face. The robbers vanished after that and Fabio felt he could move again. He sprinted over to this family. “Mi amore, Nightshine, Cloverluck . . .” “Why are you showing me this demon! Why would you do this to a man!” Without warning, Fabio was thrown back into the twisted throne room, in front of an angered prince. “You have a loving family, a wife and two daughters, yet you have an occupation like this?” The prince spat, “Do you not care for them at all-“ “I do care for them! More than you would ever know!” “I know much too well.” “What?” “I said, I will give you two choices.” The man held up one finger, “Option one: I continue to torture you until you lose your sanity, such as the spell will do,” the man held up a second finger, “or you can leave, and go back home to your family, never to harm another again.” “I promise! I’ll never harm another soul again!” the gang leader was practically begging now, “Just let me see my family alive again!” The cloaked man smiled through the dim light of the torches, “Correct.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ponyville Park, 2 a.m. The black shield that had appeared around the gang leader and me shattered into millions of shards before dissipating. Vinyl looked up from her spot on the ground where she was sitting, and ran towards me, whom was on the ground breathing heavily. “Disqe! Are you okay? Say something! How many fingers am I holding up? Are you still breathing? Do I need to do CPR? I think I remember-“ “I’ll be okay as soon… as you get off my chest.” Vinyl looked down to see that she was on top of me, and preventing me from breathing. “Oh! Sorry about that . . . You and him were in there for a while, and I thought maybe he got you caught in a spell or something. Also, did you hear that third guy? He sounded insane! He must’ve gone though, because I haven’t seen him after that black shield thing.” “Oh, him? I think he ran off after I showed him these!” I showed off my relatively average biceps, electing a chuckle from Vinyl. “Oh yeah, you sure showed him!” As we both laughed on the ground, we heard moaning nearby. “The girl!” we said simultaneously. We both got up and ran to the sound to see that the girl was alright. I ran over to her and held her up gently, “Are you alright?” The girl’s eyes opened slightly, “Yes, I just . . . need a minute.” “Can you tell me your name” I asked in the most gentle tone I could muster. “Name’s Lightning Dust . . . fastest . . . second fastest flyer in Equestria . . .” “Mine’s Blake Disqe, but everyone calls me Leaf, and I suppose I’m a famous alien electronic music producer.” Dust laughed gently with that one, “heh, at least you’re good at something . . . I can’t do anything right. First the Wonderbolts, then the guard, and now this . . . I can’t even be a good follower. I’m a failure and I know it.” I frowned at the story and wiped a tear that rolled down her face, “Now that’s not true, I think you’re at least the best at something- you just haven’t found it.” Dust’s condition worsened even further, “But I’ve already found my talent! I already have my cutie mark- and it’s in flying! But I can’t even do that right.” At this point, Dust was openly sobbing into my shirt, and I looked to Vinyl for help. She just mouthed ‘I have no idea how to help’ at me. Thanks for the help, Vinyl. “It’s gonna be alright, don’t worry. No matter how much the world puts you down, just get back up and try again. That’s what my father told me and my father’s father before him. Everyone gets knocked down, it’s just a fact of whether you get back up or not.” Dust looked up at me with hopeful eyes, “You really *sniff* mean that?” “Of course! What’re friends for!” “Friend? I’ve never had a friend before . . .” I leaned down a bit and hugged Lightning Dust gently, “Then allow me to be the first to call you my friend, Dust.” After I let go of the embrace, and Dust soon after once she realized the hug was over, I heard an odd sound. “What was that?” Vinyl answered, “It sounded like teleportation gates opening.”