"And if dreams can come true, then what of our nightmares?"
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"Stupid Trixie, always Lost!
Must have sold her soul to Faust!
Now she's stuck~
Out of luck~
Hard as a rock~
But limp like a sock!
Never knows when to duck~
Maybe she needs a little fu-"
Trixie awoke screaming, her mane plastered against her head with sweat. Damn those schoolyard bullies, they were still giving her nightmares. At least she had woken up before the worst... of... it? She couldn't wake up; she was still in Twilight's head!
The head-hiking showmare yanked the covers of the bed she was dreaming about up to her chin, dreading whatever was coming. She had NEVER gotten a reprieve from the schoolyard scene, whatever it was it was going to be worse. Her nightmares never got better. What had triggered this one? She had put all those thoughts about hopelessness and uselessness out of her head before Twilight had gone to bed.
Unless it was Twilight's nightmare, but she didn't see Twilight's filly dream-form anywhere. Giggles erupted all around her at the mental mention of fillies. Formerly cute but vicious voices slowly deepened and turned demonic as her former classmates emerged from the swirling shadows outside the light above her bed. Their new chant drilling into her head was only making things worse as it worsened her mood further, feeding the negativeness back into her dream.
She had to fight it, to think of her greatest triumph and hold it until it could be all she could think about. Her moment of unmasking the impost-
Drip.
Drip. Drip.
Trixie opened her eyes once more as cold air whispered over her, screaming as she found her intentions twisted so horribly. This had been one of her greatest feats, stopping evil at such a young age. A changeling, the foul and loathsome little thing, had taken the form of her then three year dead mother to claim the love of her admirers and to take Trixie back to the hive to be used as... food. It... hadn't gone well. For the changeling, that is.
But she felt young and weak again, and the mysterious power reserves she could sometimes tap in the depths of her darkest anger were gone, sealed away behind a suffocating curtain of fear. She was back on that horrible stage, laying on the ground where she had nearly subcomed to the changeling's will. Slime was oddly dripping from the ceiling, something that hadn't happened during the fight. And it certainly hadn't glued her to the spot as it was in the nightmare. She whimpered and wriggled and tried to get up as the oversized changeling came ever closer, stalking her like-NO!
Mustn't think of it! It'll bleed into the dream!
"But it already has, little foal. Can't you feel it? Trapped, helpless?" The massive changeling began to saunter over; it's yellow and red eyes piercing her soul and driving any last lingering trace of courage from her heart. Wait- those eyes had been green before.
She tried to turn her head away, feeling as if it was in her head, rummaging through her thoughts and memories in the same way that Twilight helped to go through her chest. The slime dripping from the ceiling was a constant stream now, trapping her in a cold cocoon of fear as her head was glued into a cowering position. Trixie could only whimper as the creature sauntered up to her sinisterly.
"Well, of course I can read your thoughts! This was my realm, before pwecious wittle Luna stole it from me." The creature touched Trixie's nose, its presence repelling some of the slime away from the twitching blue tip. He seemed to be getting a perverse pleasure out of watching her be buried alive. "So, she thinks she taught you everything that there is to know about this realm? Thought she could master it?"
The creature wearing a changeling suit laughed heartily, a disturbingly male voice coming from the changeling... mare's body. "I'd say that's the best joke I've ever heard, but that's not true! No, that would be the adorable way you have been lying and deluding yourself to think that she ever loved you after the way she abandoned you."
Trixie tried to rebuke her-him, IT through the green rivulets of snot-like changeling goo that were running down her face. She had to, because he had to be wrong. Her mother cared, loved, and protected her, even if damn her she was foalish enough to play with magics beyond her control. "Not. Abandoned. K-mmmph.... Killed in magic accident." Her lips were starting to stick together, muffling anything she tried to say.
The... dream demon laughed uproariously, slapping its side as it stood up on its hind legs. "Killed!? Oh, that's even better! She WILLINGLY went, you foal!"
"N-n-mmmph!" Trixie couldn't even open her mouth anymore as her vision was slowly tainted green by the cocoon consuming her. She didn't want to go like this, a changeling meal!
"Aww, you really think she's innocent? She's one of the stars that freed Nightmare Moon! Your mother was as monstrous as... well, ME! She never loved you, nopony does!" The creature snaked down, bent around impossibly to stare her in the eyes. It was hideous, unbalanced, asymmetrical, and inequine in its monstrosity. "Of course, I'm a monster! Just like you're a TOOL, not a pony!"
H-how dare he vilely slander her mother like that? How DARE he imply that she tried to end the world, that she was a... a bitch who was so evil that she gave birth to Trixie just to use her in some vile scheme. The showmare could feel her breathing reflexively slow; her body adjusting and trying to dampen down the power she was calling on.
The same power that always seductively called her whenever she had a fit. It gave her extra power, but with each little bit of power she used, she became a little less controlled, less restrained, less like a mare and more like- well, she didn't want to think about it. She couldn't let her anger control her actions, or else that thing would win. Especially in a dream, where anything could happen to her.
"Oh, no response, little tool? Aww, why are you so... gummed up?" It laughed at its little joke, slapping Trixie on her cutie mark lewdly. "You know, not even your fans like you for being you. They're all in it to make themselves look better, to seem worldly and deep." The demon pulled out a bucket of... oh Celestia, it was a bucket filled with a pony who had been melted, just barely covering its bottom with their suffering.
"Hmm, not much to them. Oh well, he must have been from the shallow end." It threw the bucket back into whatever either it had come from, its occupant screaming for a moment before it vanished. Or, maybe that was the universe.
Brown fur sprouted from the demon as it finished transforming back into its 'native' form, twisted and grotesque in terrible glory before Trixie's helpless body. It smiled, seeing Trixie's fear, and more importantly, the sight of Trixie trying her best to deny its claims. "Oh yes, I mean every bit of it. When Celestia was just a sparkle in her creator's eyes, I was around. Just like I'll be around still when you're just a few specks of dust. If it doesn't make any sense for me to know it, of course I will!"
The creature snapped two of the digits of its paw together, and a flash of light came forth that blinded the showmare for a moment. When her vision cleared, she had been turned around to face the audience seating, which was nearly empty save for her mother, Nightmare Moon, and her... friends. She... she had friends, even a few she hadn't met yet.
He was going to play with them, and she couldn't go anything about it. He was going to do things to them, and she knew it. She couldn't tell if they were just constructs, or if they were the dreamers themselves watching and waiting for their own turn in the horror show.
Trixie could feel her breath speeding up, her heart racing as an icy fear swept through her veins. Her breath whistled through two tiny holes in her slimy prison as she struggled to keep from giving into despair, or anger. The world was shuddering with her, shaking beneath her and with her as the smell of ozone burned her nose. Trixie clamped down further, fighting the urges that were warping her view, sharpening it to an eagle-like precision.
"Oh, how cute! You really want to challenge me in my own realm!" The creature laughed at her as it reached out into the audience, pulling a screaming Twilight out from the stands. It held its paw holding her out, dangling her from the painful grip on her horn as it vaguely gestured to her whole form.
Trixie whimpered as it shook the unicorn out, making the purple mare scream in pain as her horn began to crack at its base. Trixie wanted to scream as it almost snapped its wrist with a final violent shake that cracked her friend like a whip, making Twilight explode like a bad smoke effect. Gone, save for her horn, which slowly burned away in the demon's grip like a purple sparkler before he threw it at Trixie. "Oh, well. She was such a fragile thing, prone to... exploding in a fit of insanity!" It laughed uproariously at its joke, slapping a knee as Trixie shook her prison trying to escape again.
It wiped a tear from its eye, looking up to her with a manic gleam in its insane orbs. "Oh, don't go! We still have a little more left to do! Look at the little 'dork's friends! I can't believe that you thought for a second that they're friends of yours!" The five familiar mares all began to scream before Trixie as they began to melt like wax. "See, look! They're... running away! Oh, that's good! They're only stuck to you because they're trying to get back to their ooooh-so-special 'friendship'."
Trixie whined, huffing so fast that it hurt. She tried squeezing her eyes shut, tried to shut out the screams of horror and the sights that no mare deserved to see. The way she was scrunched up on the stage beneath her cocoon was starting to make her back hurt. Hurt like it was starting to explode from her shoulders. Hay, the way she was sprawled was slowly pulling her cape tight against her neck, choking her as she tried to cry. Damn that thing! How dare he, how dare he!? She had friends, DAMN IT! For the first time, she had friends and he was ripping them to pieces in front of her, and was making her watch every moment of their ends! DAMN HIM, leave them-
A force peeled her eyelids open again, revealing it crouched down directly in front of her. "I'll leave them alone, or you'll what? Glue me to death? AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
It stood up once more, and began walking towards the front of the stage. "Why are you denying it? I've already told you, YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS! Why are you lying to yourself? All its doing is making you into an adorable little angry monster just like your mother!" It stretched out its arm, plucking away Trixie's shadow. Clutching the incorporeal thing in its paws, it scrunched it into a ball, then pulled it out and stretched it like taffy to form it into a reasonable facsimile of Nightmare Moon in miniature. "See! Nopony even ever loved you, not even your mother! You're just a stupid little PET to keep her mor-"
An inarticulate wail of rage and despair bellowed forth from Trixie as she broke her bonds as if they were jello. She rose up from where she had been imprisoned like a cannon-shot, pouncing through the air like a great cat to strike at her tormentor. She could feel the strangest sensations at her side as she all but flew through the air to smash into the demon. The thing went down beneath her magic-ensconced hooves as she trampled it viscously into the stage. Her rage burst from her to form an aura of baleful fire, roaring and screaming in unearthly tones before she slammed it into the demon like a whirlwind of madness, trying to burn it into ashes as she screamed in tones that only a few had ever heard and lived through before. "Shut up, Shut Up, SHUT! UP!"
It just kept laughing through her best efforts, even as the world and it began to grow smaller beneath her. "You know it's all true! She used you! She wanted you to be a vessel of Nightmare Moon, and I'd say she did a hell of a job! Look at yourself now!"
Trixie was thrown from the demon with the lightest flick of its wrist, sent flying to land sprawled out on the floor. She was aching all over with pain, something that should have been impossible in a dream. Blood dripped from a chipped tooth, acridly filling her mouth with a metallic taste. It was warping the dream world! And if it could warp the dream world, it could ki-
She screamed in horror and flailed her hoof as she saw what was happening to her. Her forehooves were covered in a spiderweb of blackness that pulsed and beat with unholy and demonic power. It had- yes, it had to have been the demon, twisting her and changing her into the vile creature she was becoming!
"Oh, I haven't done anything to you! This is the best laugh I've had in millennia! It's all you, not me! Ahahahahaaa!"
Trixie skittered back from its suddenly far too close face as she looked up. She turned, jumping to her hooves and running past it for her life. She was going to die, she was going to die here, she was going to DIE in a dream! She could feel his presence closing in behind her, her feelings of uselessness and weakness growing as her vision turned as grey as stone, everything washing out and going out of focus. Nothing was lining up right anymore as she ran, nearly tripping her time and time again as the pain in her back grew.
Her wings fluttered, outstretched to catch her balance as she stumbled upon a set of rollers in the seemingly endless backstage of the dream theater.
W- WINGS!?!
Shock rushed through her system like a pyroclastic flow; her already racing heart thundering fast enough that her chest ached and her breath wouldn't catch back up with her, leaving her faint. She... it must have put them there! She had to get them back off; she had to go back to being Trixie! They had to be part of what was twisting her mind and body in the dream, they had to come OFF! Her hooves tugged with desperate strength at the draconic membraned wings, trying to rip them out of their sockets as she stumbled to the ground amidst whimpers of pain.
"My, my! Oh it's almost better than I could have imagined!" The demon reappeared as they fell through a door into a featureless grey void. It reached out with a claw, running it up Trixie's jawline uncaring if he drew blood as the showmare contorted in pain and fear. "Think about it, a twisted and tormented soul trapped between oblivion and normality! A Nightmare in a Trixie Suit, just waiting for a chance to rip free of that lovely little shell of worthless self-doubt. Don't doubt it, you really are worthless! Why, you should be thanking me! If it wasn't for me convincing my pet to take an interest in you, you'd be penniless and starving in the streets waiting to die! Ponies would come from all over just to reject you for the vile little waste of life you are!"
"W-why?" Trixie groaned as the itching pain of the blackness swallowed up a little more of her limbs, leaving alien fur in its wake. She could just barely see it through the lenses of grey upon her eyes.
"Nothing personal, you understand. You're just the best little tool to hurt your mother, just like she hurt me. And I want her to keep on hurting, just as she left me. Doomed to scream throughout the eternity at the unfairness of it all, and all that. In fact, if it wasn't for my little... tiffidilica with your family, I'd be doing a nice normal prank on you. Turn you into a jello pony, that sort of thing!" The demon reached into its maw, pulling out a Trixie sized and shaped jello pony for its captive's 'enjoyment'. The construct almost seemed to look at her and scream before the demon shook it hard to break it apart into cubes of gelatin.
Trixie scrambled backwards, hoarsely begging for help as the demon advanced once more. It rubbed the goatee on the chin of its grotesque and disfigured head in thought as it spoke once more. "You know, it's actually entirely personal, now that I think about it. Just not with you. But, I've been waiting 1200 years for my revenge, and it wouldn't be nice to them to wait much longer. The three of them have been needing to get cut down to size for a while." The demon began trimming the legs off of two alicorn-shaped shrubberies, and one unicorn-shaped one. "Of course, one already bit the dust.” It threw the manual pruners over his shoulder; where they exploded somewhere off in the distance with the sound of a power saw and an agonized cat. It reached behind itself, pulling out a coffin made of cotton balls, with a skeletal unicorn stallion within clutching the interior padding with its teeth.
"Your uncle, actually; such a delightful piece of work. Then again, you throw one little cockatrice at his wife and even the great 'Starswirl the Jingling' falls into itty bitty pieces!" The demon smiled viscously as he shook the skeleton apart, sending all the bones that once made it up flying through the air; some even tangled themselves in Trixie's mane.
An animalistic growl escaped its throat as Trixie cowered in fear, shivering back still. His eyebrow rose as he contemplated her, before stalking forward. "Still haven't accepted your worthlessness? I've never had anypony hold out as well as you before. Let's see, how about the little fact that your mother MADE the Nightmare, and unleashed it upon Princess Luna?"
"She's.... she's n-not that-"
"What? Old? Don't be silly! Ponies never look like their real age! Why, if I did, I'd-" It turned itself into a bleached skeleton that smiled like a jackal in a flash of light. An absurd number of teeth crowded its jawline, many making no sense beside each other, and were positioned in ways that would leave the demon biting its own flesh. A second flash restored it to its proper fleshy monstrousness as it expectantly looked down at Trixie while tapping a leg against the ground.
No- even if her mom was secretly an immortal... her momma couldn't be that evil! She could be petty and mean to other ponies, and oddly bitter, but she went out of her way to not hurt other ponies! SHE WASN'T EVIL! She had been good at heart, caring for the plight of others, loyal and truthful to others, and so brave to the bitter end. Her mother was the Mighty and Magnificent Moonstone! She couldn't have been a two-bit villainess!
The tendrils of black slowly eating Trixie's coat suddenly halted in their progress, quivering. And then, reversing. Her hooves trembled as they found purchase beneath her once more, the showmare pushing herself back up as she defied her tormentor. She was worthless, but her mother was not, and it would pay for trying to turn her into a monster. "No."
"What the- that should have worked. Get back down!"
Trixie stood up taller as she felt a refreshing strength come to her, something pouring power and hope into her, as if somepony was standing right beside her. "No. My MOTHER was a good mare, demon of dreams. Nothing you can do or say will ever convince me otherwise, wyrm! Trixie has heard better insults from schoolyard fillies than you! You're circling the drain, and I'm going to flush you into a swirly all the way down to the sewers!" A righteousness had filled the showmare as she glared at the demon. The fire of her anger had returned for the sake of the memory of her mother as she stood, sharpened to a point threatening the demon's neck. If it wanted to hate her mother, then she could hate it enough to control that rage.
The demon shrugged and rolled its eyes. It waved a paw suggestively at Trixie; a gesture to bring it on. Trixie didn't disappoint, unleashing a full storm's worth of elemental fury. She leaped forward, wreathed in angry magic as dark crystals crackled into the air as she moved to stomp on its neck. And she found herself hanging in the air by her throat as the demon caught her with contemptuous ease and lifted her up.
"I don't know why you just won't give up, but you apparently don't know who I am! Perhaps I should introduce myself properly to you. For you see, I'm a stallion of wealth and tastes, who revels in every bit of chaos he makes!" The demon squeezed tighter; slowly choking Trixie into unconsciousness somehow as her breath was cut off altogether. The showmare's new wings and her forehooves waved weakly in the air, trying to bat away the demon's other forepaw as it slowly raised up and reached for her forehead.
Trixie silently screamed, shaking her head to keep the paw from touching her. She tried to kick him, bite at the claws wrapped around her neck, anything as all of her instincts screamed out the danger she was in. All the same, it was getting hard to move as the demon's eyes began to fill her vision, strangely swirling and turning into kaleidoscopes of color; its voice thundering in her ears. "Well, if you're not going to play along willingly, I can still make you- HEEEEURK!"
"Drop her, Wyrm." Trixie tried to focus on the voice, mentally grabbing for it like a life preserver as her awareness faded.
Something shook her like a rag-doll, ripping the demon's claws free from her neck. A moment of clarity fell upon her as she was dropped to whatever surface the void contained, letting her see a black-coated alicorn with her horn through the back of the demon's neck and into its chin. The pressure upon her neck explosively released; her lungs filling with air in the same moment as blood came rushing back into her ears to drown out all sound. Her vision waivered and swam as she lost focus, barely able to make out faint outlines and colors.
The dark alicorn parried and slashed at the demon with terrifying speed, taking a few hits in the process as she systematically forced it away from Trixie. The showmare blinked as her head grew heavy, missing a sudden burst of movement from the dark alicorn. Light burst in Trixie's vision, blinding her for a moment as the wind from an implosion of air sucked at her mane. And then, came stillness.
She cried in pain, physical and mental alike as she weakly beat at the surface beneath her with her hooves, unable to get up. She was about ready to just give up and lie there in pain until Twilight arrived, or woke up. If she could. A demon of the dreams... For all she knew, it had dragged Twilight down into a coma, dooming Trixie to be trapped forever in the featureless plain.
But she wasn't alone.
The unshod hoof slowly descended into her vision from above, the black coating that had hidden its identity slowly dissolving away to reveal midnight blue silken fur. It caressed Trixie, brushing back her mane with the touch like that of her mother had so tenderly done long ago. She jerked away from it, fearing contact after what had been happening to her. Through the tears of her pain, she could see how it twitched. Why had it twitched, almost as if it had been burned by touching her?
Trixie didn't have much time to ponder that as the hoof swept back in, to be joined by another that scooped down underneath Trixie to drag her up into a trembling hug. A voice whispered soothingly into her ear, drowned out by the rushing of blood and the ringing of fading oxygen deprivation there. A muzzle, long and elegant slowly pressed down into Trixie's scalp as something warm dripped down from it onto Trixie's ears. Everything was so hauntingly familiar; it had to be one last trap.
But the touches and voice were gentle and flowing like her lost mother's, even down to some of the movements as the unknown savior pulled her a little closer and began to stroke her back. Trixie cried at that, she wasn't too proud to admit it. She bawled into the shoulder offered to her as she tried to cope with the torment she had just been through. She hoped it was at least a memory of her mother, something she had filed away to save for a rainy day, for her eyes were leaking the fear and pain from her body.
And for a moment... For a moment, she looked up to stare into sorrowful and apologetic cerulean eyes, suspended in a sea of stars. And then, it was all gone.
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"... care of her, Twilight Sparkle." There was that voice again. Ooh, where was she?
"I will, Princess Luna. Why did it attack her?"
"We know not for certain. From what we observed, he may have attacked her to attack you, or somepony else that would be affected by her loss." The voice sounded like it was directly above her, as if protecting her.
"She's an orphan. I mean, I don't want to sound callous, but who other than me would miss her?"
"Thou wouldst be wrong, Sparkle. She is not an orphan. Either way, the full purpose of Discord's meddling cannot yet be determined. It is bad enough that his seal is weak enough for him to be able to affect the realm of dreams. But, he may be after higher prizes than petty revenge." The voice... regal... Princess Luna? Why? Why did she care? Was she... no, she couldn't be the patron that had helped her so much.
"So, what now?"
"We will leave her in your care for the remainder of your dream. Comfort her and reassure her. We will attempt to insure that Celestia remains close to Ponyville in case Discord attempts anything further, and we shall attempt to protect the Elements of Harmony. He has made it a habit to snatch them away at the first sign of their use. As soon as we are done with that, they shall be returned to you for immediate use."
Trixie slowly opened her eyes, looking up at the neck and chin of an unadorned alicorn. She was probably Princess Luna, given the closeness of the voice and the mane of stars that billowed around her. That would explain their patron after all. Of course the alicorn of the night ruled dreams. The trembling showmare shut her eyes once more, tucking her face under a foreleg so that it would all go away.
"Trixie? Trixie!" And Twilight had noticed. Just... wonderful.
"We shall take our leave. Be wary, though. While we are dispatching a group of exterminators to handle the infestation, her physical form and soul are still vulnerable. Keep her safe. We command it of thee. And, be prepared for the aftermath." Luna's touch shocked Trixie, causing the showmare to pull in tighter on herself.
"Princess Luna, if the ponies you dispatch find Trixie's body, they'll take her back to Canterlot! And... what aft- oh. A whole bunch of 'out of town' ponies are going to show up, aren't they?"
"Aye. And if they find out who you are, we cannot guarantee the safety of any of you. Keep her secret, keep her safe, Sparkle." Princess Luna's voice began to move away, the comforting presence leaving Trixie and letting her mangled nerves begin to jangle with the leftovers of her shock and fear. The showmare reached out with her free hoof, reaching to keep the Princess from leaving.
Two hoofs grabbed her waving one, pulling it over to a warm chest. Twilight, from the feel of the tissue beneath the surface. As Trixie let herself get pulled into a hug, her host spoke once more. "Before you go, Princess, I have one question. Why does Trixie have wings now?"
"Why shouldn't she have them? Use your keen powers of observation, as you used them against us. The answer has stood before you all along. Fare thee well, Sparkle. We will return with aid in a week." A flash reflected through Trixie's tightly shut eyelids, leaving her darkness filled with light for a moment more before it crashed back in upon her.
A nuzzle pulled Trixie a little closer to lucidity. "Trixie, speak to me, please?"
"G'way. Trixie does not wish to speak."
The nuzzle came again, stronger and more tender. "Tough. Trixie, I know you now. You're hurting so badly. I'm here for you, whatever happened. Please let me in. I know you heard part of what Princess Luna said, but what did Discord do to you?" A hoof began to stroke Trixie's mane, trying to stroke out the nervous tremors running throughout Trixie's body.
Trixie tried to focus on the grass beneath her, or the soothing smells. Anything to not remember the hate for her, for her mother... the pain that she was wrung through. "Trixie doesn't remember."
"You're hurt!" The stroking stopped as Twilight pulled back from Trixie to examine the cuts on her neck. The claw marks stung as Twilight probed them with magic, the unicorn nearly getting a wing to the face for her trouble. "No, this doesn't seem scientifically possible! You said that injuries would regenerate faster than they could be generated!" Twilight pulled Trixie up against her hard once more, afraid herself as the dream realm suddenly seemed a much colder and darker place.
"I-if dreams can be interacted with, and come true; then what of our nightmares?"
"Well, I- oh. He used a nightmare to get in, and then kept on twisting it worse and worse until you couldn't get away?" Twilight blanched and whinnied slightly at the thought.
"So there is this something... else, in the dream world, able to turn dreams into nightmares and drive ponies mad." Twilight pondered for a moment, wondering what she could possibly teach Trixie to help out. "Well, I'm not going to let this 'Discord' come back. We're going to teach you to teleport."