//------------------------------// // First Night // Story: CMC's NiGHTS into Dreams // by Amereep //------------------------------// Applebloom was playing in the school yard with all of her friends. They were all playing various games with each other and everypony didn't have a cutie mark on them. She was having a wonderful time with them while she smiled and laughed with the others. But... out of no where, a cutie mark appeared on one of her fellow classmates. Everypony was staring at it proclaiming at how neat and cool it was. Then another one got their cutie mark, then another, and another, and another until everypony had a cutie mark on them, except for one, Applebloom. They all stared at her in a deadpan look, expecting her to summon one up on her hip as well. She didn't know what to do; she started to scrunch up as they started taunting her. Blank flank, blank flank they mocked her, the world around them started to fade in color. Applebloom looked at the faces that were mocking her and saw their faces starting to look more horrifying each second she looked at them, until... *POOF* The ponies turned into black mist creatures and charged at her. Applebloom turned and ran from the creatures as they were hot on her hooves. She didn't dare look back, she was galloping as fast as her little legs could take her. Hope seemed to shine as a bright light appeared in front, giving comfort from the monsters as she entered into it. Before Applebloom knew it, she found herself in the central circle of Ponyville. It was a night sky that shined above as she noticed no pony was around. She started to walk through town, but instead of finding anypony, she was found by a pony instead. "Looking for something?" Applebloom turned around to find the voice, but she couldn't find anypony. "Not really. Just wondering how I got here." "I assume you got here by dreaming it up." "Dreaming? But I'm in Ponyville, I can't be dreaming" she responded, still searching for the source of the pony. "Maybe your dreaming Ponyville up." Applebloom was now getting tired of her search for the source "Where are ya?" "Up" the country mare looked up to see a pegasus pony watching her from a banner pole. It was wearing a purple outfit that was funny looking and it made it roughly impossible to tell in gender, but despite the appearance it was giving her a friendly face. "This is Nightopia. Anything you imagine can come into existence here." A bit confused at the statement, she decided to start from square one, identifying "Who are ya?" The pony flies up and does aerial maneuvers as it makes its way to the ground. "My names Nights, I live here in Nightopia." s/he responded with a welcoming smile "so what's your name?" "Uh, I'm Applebloom" she answered, not sure what to make out of the strange pony "so what do ya mean 'anything I imagine can come into existence here?'" "Well, if you want to be at a circus, just imagine that you're at a circus and it will appear around here." She gave it some thought "So, if I can imagine that I could fly, then I'll be able to." Nights gave a smile to that "It's difficult to do it here, but I know of another way to help you fly here." Applebloom gave an interesting look at Nights, who responded by extending its hoof "Grab on." The filly stared both at Nights and its hoof. She was a bit couscous at grabbing on with her own hoof, but when she did a bright light suddenly shined from the connection. Scootaloo was hanging out with her hero, Rainbow Dash, as they soar through the sky. Dash was caring Scootaloo on her back, as they did tricks and somersaults. This was a joy to Scoot, nothing could make her happier. Without notice, the young pegasus found herself on a cloud. She looked on to see Rainbow Dash gesturing on to her to come follow. Scootaloo was on a small cloud with no way to chase after Dash, except by flying. Scoot started to flap her wings as hard as she could, but she got nowhere. There were clouds now surrounding her; calling her a chicken and a flightless loser. Before Scootaloo could feel ashamed, the clouds started to turn black with red eyes looking at her. The world around her changed into a dark endless-plain world. The scared orange filly galloped as fast as she could away from the monsters. Those creatures wouldn't let her escape, and gave chase. She was scared as she ran through the darkness; it felt like she would surly not make it through. She needed help, she needed support, she needed a guide; and that's what she got. A strong light shined within the darkness, guiding her through. Scootaloo dashed to the brightness with all her might as the light started to engulf her. Scootaloo looked around to only see white spaces everywhere. It suddenly changed around her as it started to form a night sky within Ponyville. She began to walk around trying to figure out at what was happening around here. She looked at the houses then glanced at the bridge, then something else caught her eye. It looks like a pegasus flying around high above. Despite its unique appearance, she noticed that it wasn't flapping its wings. S/he was using them as gliders, giving it a better advantage at turning and the sorts. The pony noticed the little filly on the ground looking at it "Come on up, the weather's great." Scootaloo looked down in disappointment "I can't fly." The pony flown closer to her "No worries" it stretches out a hoof "grab on." The filly looked at the pony, it was wearing a weird outfit that seemed like it was meant for a jester, the pony was giving a friendly smile to her. She felt like she could trust this pony and grabbed its hoof. Without any warning, a light shined at the point where the hooves touched each other and caused Scootaloo to shut her eyes. She slowly opened them up again and saw that she was alone. Despite the fact that she was the only pony there, she swore that things were smaller now. "Well, let's go" said the strange pony from out of nowhere and Scootaloo noticed that she was flying into the air. "I... I'm flying!" the orange filly said in astonishment. "We're flying" the other pony corrected her. Scootaloo noticed that her appearance was changed as she flown over the river. She looked just like that pony that was with her only a moment ago "Wha, what happen to me?" "We dualized," the strange pony told her in a calm manner "This allows us to share the same mind and body, so don't freak out if things you can do seem unnatural." Scootaloo started to feel more at ease at this unique situation. She started to feel her senses sharpening as she was flying through the sky of Ponyville. As she flew through the air, she noticed that there were doors within the center of town that lead to nowhere. She couldn't help but to question at what purpose those doors were for. Sweetie Belle was enjoying a wonderful time with her sister, Rarity. They were fooling around with various activities within the Carousel Boutique; working with arts and crafts, speaking through fans (giving them silly voices), dressing up. The girls were enjoying each others company, but life had to intervene. Rarity had to get back to work and left Sweetie Belle to her playtime. Belle watched as her sister went to work. Scissors, cloths, and threads start floating around Rarity as she worked, using her magic. Belle focused on her sister's magic, and started to look around. She saw a crayon from across the room and decided to make it levitate towards her. Sweetie Belle's horn starts to glow softly as she tries to grab the drawing tool, but it seems that she just couldn't muster up enough magic to grab it. The filly looks down in frustration at the lack of magic she possessed. She soon noticed that her surroundings were getting darker and started to feel cramped. Soon, she saw the drawings she made with her sister looking quite vicious. She noticed the dresses she wore with her sister make an aggressive stance at her. Those creative creations she helped make only moments ago started to charge at her. Sweetie Belle turned and fled from the objects with no second thought. She didn't know where she was running, she just knew she had to escape from the materials; and with a miracle of hope, a bright shinning light appeared in front of her path. Her fears started to settle down the closer she got the the light. As she got closer to it, the light started to shine brighter causing Sweetie Belle to shun her eyes from it. The light started to fade from Belle's vision, giving a glimpse at where she ended up. It was Ponyville, the center part of Ponyville to be precise. It was a starry night out with no pony in sight, but a sound could be heard. It sounded like a whistle, perhaps a flute, and was causing the young unicorn to start looking for the source. As she searched for the sound, she started to make out a rhythm to the tune. Sweetie Belle couldn't help but to try and add lyrics to the melody. "♫ Hmm... mmm... La la nights... Dream da da... Dum de see hmm smile again. In the nights... Dream delight... You're the one I've waited for.♪" After searching for a while, she eventually found the source coming from a pegasus playing... an invisible flute? It was hard to tell the gender of the pony, and its choice in wardrobe is something Rarity would love. The only thing Rarity would probably change would be the hat, it looked too silly for a fetching outfit. The look was unique, but what really stood out was the fact it was hovering in place (no wings involved). Despite its appearance, Sweetie Belle didn't focus too much attention to it, she was more interested in the song it was playing as she continued to sing words to it. This went on for about a minute before the song finally ended. The musician looked over to Sweetie Belle "Your a pretty good singer" it said. She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment "No, it was your flute playing that was good." "My flute playing may be good, but you have a perfect harmony." Belle blushed at that comment "My names Nights, whats yours?" "Sweetie Belle." "Well Sweetie Belle, I think you'll be a great singer someday." The filly shook her head "No way, I can't sing. I might be able to sing a melody or two, but I can't sing like professionals." Nights gave a confused look before it smiled "Let me show you something." It flew over to a door that was on the middle of the road. It didn't lead anywhere, it was just there. "This door represents you" Nights began "Inside, you'll find out about who you really are." Sweetie Belle gave a sad look, feeling she was insulted "But, there's nothing on the other side." "It's not the other side you need to worry about, it's the inside." Nights gestured her over "Go on, open it." The unicorn was thinking that opening the door would be a bit silly, but just to amuse Nights, she did it anyway. To her shock, she found that inside was an entirely new world. She walks in with Nights following behind her as the door shuts behind the two.