//------------------------------// // An Eternal Rest... // Story: Of Ponies and Bat Kings // by OrdinaryAnomaly //------------------------------// All was quiet over the small town of Ponyville. Not a creature was stirring... besides a certain purple unicorn and a young little dragon. But there was a newcomer to the friendly little town. A being that would turn the dreamy little settlement into a nightmare. The being that was squeaking over the village at midnight. Antasma had looked upon the town with disgust. He didn't see them, but he felt the energy of their dreams as if it was a Luiginary Hammer slamming straight into him. His early days of life were days of agony as a bat of Pi'illo Island. His parents had died shortly after his birth because of Native Pi'illos hunting for food, he had to survive off the sustenance provided by other mothers without being caught, and whenever he found other groups of bats, they'd tease and mock him for being a runt and an orphan. But that all changed the first time he'd absorbed the energy from the nightmare of a Pi'illo. He had become stronger, faster, smarter, and feared by the creatures that faced him. And he only grew from that point, absorbing as much "Nightmare Fuel" as he could every opportunity he could get. His hatred toward the world never faded away. No one could understand what he has been through, nor has anyone even touched what he has experienced in his past. And so his frown had morphed into a smirk across his face, the sounds of laughing squeaks filling the air as well as a purple fog. Antasma's deep laughter had filled the air as a near-black violet fog formed above him. His arms were outstretched as the night was filled with maniacal laughter. "You von't be vaking up from this nightmare any time soon! SCREEKIE!" The fog had descended upon the village like a sluggish downpour, covering its streets like a blanket before seeping into the homes of the many ponies that inhabited the equine establishment. The fog would be something quite horrific for the sleeping ponies of Ponyville, no matter who they were or what they feared... and Antasma was delighted by his work. He could already feel the power coming to him, and so once again, he cackled at his victims before dust had enveloped him. For the second time that day, a bat would be heard across the lands, squeaking as if it were laughing as it flew off in the moon light... Twilight had been up in her library attempting to decipher a seemingly ancient paper that had she had found in one of her many books that lined the walls of her home. Of course, this meant that she had kept her little dragon, Spike, up to help her keep track of the many notes she had been jotting down over the course of her intense road for discovery of the paper's meaning... "Twilight, are you sure we can't just finish this tomorrow? I'm too tired for all this work..." Twilight had turned away from her research, a small scowl on her face, glaring at her baby dragon, who was slumped over on a chair with a literal blanket of notes covering his body. "I already told you Spike. This is the last night of work I need for my research! It shouldn't take too long to finish up, so please be patient!" The dragon had groaned hearing her response. "But why not finish tomorrow!? We don't have any deadlines for this, so why rush- BRAAAAAAP!" A familiar green flame had erupted in the room, a scroll falling to the floor with a thud against the ground. Twilight could only groan at the unexpected delivery, trotting over to the scroll with clear frustration until she saw one detail on the scroll. A golden seal that was pinned onto the red ribbon that wrapped around the scroll. Twilight already had worry on her mind. Whenever the Princesses themselves send a letter to Twilight and her friends, it's almost ALWAYS because something is or has gone wrong. She opened the letter and read it herself out loud. "Dear, Mrs. Sparkle. I apologize for disrupting your slumber at this late at night, but Luna has brought me dire news. She spoke of a being that appeared in her dreams that has given clear indication of an ominous and evil nature towards Equestria. We have scheduled an emergency meeting between us and your friends in order to discuss this newcomer in our lands. We already know of its name, which Luna stated was Antasma, but we need the help of you and your friends to track down this 'Bat King,' and bring it to justice for its plans to harm or conquer Equestria. Please respond as soon as possible when you and the other Elements of Harmony are able to make it to Canterlot. Your Princess, Celestia" Twilight had just sighed at the note. She knew that this was a thing to worry about, but she also remembered the many villains she and her friends had faced in the past. Each and every one of those villains weren't able to succeed because of their friendship, so how would this villain win? "Uh... Twilight," asked the trembling baby dragon by the window. "Yes, Spike?" "You may wanna' take a look at this?" Twilight once again sighed, sure that whatever Spike was seeing was something silly, like a branch. But she noticed it as she trotted over towards the window. There was nothing visible except purple. A dark, thick, ominous violet fog swarming Ponyville. Both Twilight and Spike were gazing at the spectacle in front of them until Spike had noticed something. Something bad. The fog had started to leak under the door, spreading across the ground as if it were water. Spike could only yelp before jumping up onto Twilight, who had nearly copied the dragon's reaction as she leapt upon a table. She could only watch as the fog had quickly worked its way across the library, seeping into every nook and cranny and even somehow climbing up the stairway and into her bedroom. What happened next though truly raised her questions. The fog had just disappeared, leaving no trace that it was there whatsoever... Twilight was struggling to find any words to say for what just happened, but she could only say one phrase. "What in Equestria just happened?!" She yelled out, attempting to explain what just happened. "Let's not worry about that right now Twilight," said Spike. "We need to focus on gathering the other Elements for now!" Twilight was still struggling with the random event, but she was able to get her bearings together to stop shivering. She nodded towards Spike but she still couldn't move. She was stuck trying to rap her head around what just happened, but if anything there was one thing she definitely knew for sure. She knew that this fog would've changed something. It had to have a purpose if it was able to enter anyone's homes like it did with the library. Her mind was buzzing with questions at the moment, but one question stood out over all of them: "What did it do?" Spike had to actually shake her out of her spell of pondering to get her moving again, but she had gone right back into it in half a minute. This time however, she wasn't pondering the gas. "Who should we get first, Spike," Twilight asked as she scratched her hoof against her mane. She almost immediately regretted it, thinking that he'd automatically say,"Rarity," but she got a much different answer than she expected. It had taken three seconds before Spike responded with,"How about Fluttershy? She knows more about nature than the both of us, so she'd have to know what this fog-stuff was, am I right?" Twilight thought about it before she realized he was right. Fluttershy was much better acquainted with nature than any of the other elements, so she'd have a better time explaining this occurrence and what caused it. "You're absolutely correct there Spike! Let's go get Fluttershy!" The midnight walk through Ponyville was many things for the pony-dragon duo. It was awkward, strange, creepy and more, but one thing towered over the others: It was eerie. None of the usual welcoming faces or happy pedestrians walking the roads or exchanging small talk. Just... silence and darkness. And a strange breeze blowing across the streets that they walked. It wasn't until they found a pony on the ground knocked out that they were officially creeped out though. Against their better judgement, they had decided to approach the pony to help and possibly question him as to what had happened. That was, until they could see some kind of dark, violet, translucent sparks were rising off of him that they stopped in their tracks. The questions would have to wait. After the long, errie walk through Ponyville, they'd finally arrived at Fluttershy's home, and just like the streets of Ponyville, not a sound could be heard by the small cottage. Not even the animals made any noise, and that was saying something. The only sound that broke the silence was the sound of knocking on wood. "Fluttershy! Wake up, please! The princesses need us!" Twilight had yelled as she stood at the door of the small cottage. She didn't receive an answer. "Fluttershy! ARE YOU IN THERE!?" She yelled once again, knocking even louder. She was just about to knock again when a small scaled hand had blocked her. Spike gave a small harrumph before jiggling the knob and opening the door. It had been unlocked. That was strange for any pony to do, even for some pony as sweet as Fluttershy... and that raised an alarm for both Twilight and Spike. The duo had stormed right into the house, looking everywhere for Fluttershy or Angel, but luck wasn't on they're side. "Fluttershy! Are you ok!? Please answer me! Flutter shy!" Twilight had screamed out in the rooms, worry filling every crevice of her being at that point. It wasn't until Spike made a discovery that Twilight had stopped. "Uh, Twilight? I found Fluttershy..." Twilight almost brightened up before realizing that Fluttershy would've had to hear her yelling in her own home, especially with the knowledge of Fluttershy being a very light sleeper. Twilight had inched towards the room Spike was in until she could see Fluttershy. Something was off about her though... Fluttershy was still sleeping, despite the racket the Twilight had made earlier, and there was something emanating off of her dozing body. Just like the stallion they saw on the streets, Fluttershy had dark, violet sparks emanating off of her. She didn't look happy or peaceful either. She looked... scared as she slept. "Spike..." "Yes, Twilight?" "I need to send a letter... Now..." Twilight had been trotting in circle at the front of Fluttershy's cottage, trying to think of what is happening to Fluttershy at the moment with a nervous feeling filling every part of her trembling body. She constantly looked up and listened out for a certain noise as she trotted along the grass. Soon enough though she could hear it: The flapping of wings. One hopeful look up had confirmed her thoughts, and a smile had spread across her face in an instant as she saw the figure descending from the heavens... It was Luna who had flown down to rendezvous with Twilight. Luna had seemed quite uneasy as she landed on the grass, stumbling a bit as she walked over to Twilight. The fact that Twilight was ecstatic that Luna was there was even more unnerving for her. No one would be this happy for someone to arrive unless the situation was critical... "Oh by Celestia! I'm so glad you could make it Luna! Please, follow me!" Luna was taken aback by the sudden outburst coming from Twilight, and even more by the fact that she was almost commanding her to follow her. 'This must be serious. It has to be,' she thought as she trotted along the path to the lone cottage, anxiety taking over her mind. It had only been a moment before Luna had realized what was wrong with Fluttershy, with the violet sparks coming off of her, but one other thing struck her mind. 'Isn't Fluttershy a bit brighter than she is here,' she thought as she stared at the unconscious body in front of her. It wasn't long before another thing struck her- and she hoped that what she was thinking wasn't correct. Butterflies began fluttering in her stomach as she began to speak. "Twilight?" she asked. "Yes, Luna?" "Did you happen to see anything... off before you came to retrieve Fluttershy?" "Well, there was some sort of purple gas that came upon the town. It had actually found its way into my library through the cracks of the door... and there was some pony that was knocked out on the streets. He had the same type of thing as Fluttershy; The sparks coming off of him I mean. Why do you ask?" "No reason, Twilight. Can I ask you one more thing though?" "Yes, ask away," Twilight responded with a nervous sigh. "Did you hear anything outside when this happened?" "Come to think of it, I think I heard some sort of squeaks outside before these events occurred... Can I ask why you want to-" "There's no reason for it! Besides, your friend may be in danger as well as many of the other ponies in Ponyville!" Luna exclaimed. She knew exactly who caused this. The thought of such power in one individual had truly frightened. If any more butterflies could fit in her stomach right there, it would have flown out of her body. Luna did not want to cause a panic for Twilight or Spike though, so she hid her worry as best as she could. Twilight didn't say anything about her, so she expected that she was doing quite well concealing. "Ok Princess Luna, but what makes you think that Fluttershy could be in danger?" asked a curious and worried Twilight. Luna was quick to respond to her, as she almost automatically stated,"Fluttershy is unable to wake up from what I can tell from what you've given me so far. She is locked in an eternal dream, but I can sense the presence of darkness in her though, and that darkness is coming from every place in Ponyville if I'm... If she gets knocked out or... worse in the dreams she seems to be having, then she will never have a chance of waking up again!" Twilight has gasped at the new information she was getting. She had basically been told her friend would be locked in an eternal rest if they weren't able to wake her up. Anxiety kicked into to Twilight and she began entering "Freak Out" mode before she remember another small detail from Luna... "You said that there's a chance that she could be woken up! What do you meant by that!?" She nearly yelled out in the room. "You are correct, Twilight. There is a way we could wake your friend up, but it's risky... I remember a spell I had taught myself long ago- a spell that could open a gateway into a pony's dreams. It required two different ponies to be asleep, and a third one was needed to enter the dream. The problem here is that I have to be the one keeping the gateway open, and we need to more ponies to do this... I already know you'd be mature enough to enter another ponies dream Twilight, but we need a third pony to sleep-" Spike had almost shot up at the mention of sleep, zooming straight towards Luna and stopping with a screeching halt. "You said you need some to sleep? I CALL SLEEPING DUTIES!!!" He cheered out with a smile on his face Luna on the other hoof had a worried expression covering her face. "I'm not sure that we can use another species to do this, but we have no choice I suppose..." Luna had pondered before finally letting out a sigh. "Okay Spike. You may be the one to sleep, but-" "Oh thank Celestia! I swear, if I had to stay up for even a minute more, I'd-" Spike had nearly been leaping in joy before he noticed a certain purple pony glaring at him out of the corner of his big, green eyes. He instantly calmed down, blushing as he shyly apologized for his behavior. "As I was saying Spike, You will need to sleep next to Fluttershy in order for this to work. Do you understand that?" "Yeah, I get the gist..." Spike stated with boredom in every syllable of his words, but his mind was filled almost entirely of anticipation of Rarity. If she was in the same situation as Fluttershy, that was... Spike had walked straight over to the bed that Fluttershy lay on at the moment, plopping down and dozing off nearly instantly. Luna could only stare with wide eyes, wondering how anything could fall asleep that quickly. Twilight had only tapped her on her side and, as if she knew what she was thinking, said," Don't question how he does it," with a small chuckle. "Ok Twilight," she said before she had realized she'd gotten off track. She got straight to the matter at hoof, and readied herself to cast her spell. "Here goes nothing," She stated with a nervous chuckle, as her horn grew bright with a haze of blue. Twilight had observed the scene in front of her, looking between her friends and the Princess who was at work, and she almost questioned why wasn't anything happening, but she remembered a certain situation in the past that involved cutiemark swapping, and kept quiet. That was when she saw it. Small, colorful clouds began to sprout from Spike's small head, growing in size as they formed farther away from the snoring dragon. Twilight could notice the same happening with Fluttershy as well. Soon, the trails of clouds had converged with one another, and a huge, bright, and colorful cloud had formed right above the two sleeping beings in front of her... Oh Rarity would have a field day if she were here to see this! The colors were so vivid and the movements were so dreamy! It was the most beautiful sight Twilight has ever seen! Not even a sonic rainbow would top this! But alas, Twilight had to get back to the task at hand. Before she could even ask what to do next, Luna had already spoken out to her with authority in her voice. "Travel into the gate way, Twilight. Now." "But Princess, didn't you say you were unsure about this-" "Just do it. We don't have any other choice." Twilight felt nervous as she began to trot up to the portal, her hooves clopping against the wooden floor loudly. She had stood right in front of the hazy cloud in front of her before taking a deep breath that punctured the silence of the night as if it were a knife cutting into warm butter. Then she leapt into the portal, which contracted behind her until it was no more. Luna could only slouch down at the sight in front of her, letting out a sigh of her own as thoughts raced in her mind. "Please be safe, Twilight..."