//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Reflections in a Dream // Story: Tales of the True Mare Do Well // by TheCyberneticAlicorn //------------------------------// Sound entered her house with a sigh, having been out as Mare Do Well most of the night. She placed the firecrackers down by the her bed and removed her costume before collapsing on her bed in exhaustion. She glanced out of her window in the direction of the Everfree Forest. In her tired state, she thought she saw a pair of glowing eyes, but a blink later they were gone and she thought it must of just been from how tired she was. As dawn began to break, Sound yawned and drifted to sleep. Sound eyes sprung open to find herself gazing up at her old school from when she was a foal. Her eyes darted around, everything seemed exactly the same. Just as she began to put things together several foals started to walk into the school around her, however they were all more like shadows. Only one foal was defined, and Sound was shocked when she saw the young foal, a younger version of herself. As Sound was finally determining what was going on, the shadows and her younger version disappeared. She noticed one still standing there and as she looked at it, it grinned as if it saw her before it too disappeared into the school building. Sound followed into the school to find a scene she remembered very clearly. "Hey Forgotten, how was your day yesterday." a young colt said to her younger self as the shadows cleared off of him "Oh, that's right you can't tell us." He and his friends broke out in laughter "Sorry Sound, we forgot you were born a mute." He said snickering though his laughter The younger Forgotten Sound merely glared at them before turning to leave, but the group of colts blocked her path. "Whats wrong Sound, can't take a joke" One of the other colts said "I guess your special talent isn't humor" Young Sound pushed her way past the colts, trying not to give then the satisfaction of a reaction. Sound looked at her older self as she sat down at her desk in the far back corner. "I remember this day, the day i got my cutie mark" Sound thought to herself As she pondered this, she felt something pass by her. She looked up and saw it was the same shadowy figure that she saw before. He was the only one that was still shadowed and again had a grin as he passed. Suddenly the scene was enveloped in black and Sound reappeared on the playground. She glance around and saw her younger self playing by herself and nearby the same group of colts confronting another young filly. The colts were teasing her about her lack of a cutie mark and pushing her around. "This is where i decided to step in and stand up for her" Sound thought to herself, looking over to her younger self as she looks over at the scene and started walking towards them. Young Sound pushed the colts aside and stud in front of the young filly.The colts looked at her before they started laughing. "Hey look, Speechless is standing up for her." The same colt from before chuckled Young Sound glared at them as pushed them aside to let the filly run. As she did there was a flash of light and on her flank appeared the shape of a flowing cape. Suddenly as this event happened the area became black the only things remaining were her and that same shadowed creature, now sporting a fanged grin and his eye were glowing red, the same eyes she had saw in the Everfree Forest before she fell asleep. His shape was becoming more and more defined now, sporting a long truck from his face, his ears similar to that of a wolf, his front legs looking like that of a tiger. The rest of its body was fairly pony shaped and it was flouting on a dark purple cloud. A long white strip was going from her into his fanged mouth. She stepped back as she remembered this creature, a dream devouring creature her mother told her about when she was younger call a Baku. She now understood why she was reliving this moment of her past, the creature was drawing on her memories in order to induce dreams for him to devour, and it had picked this one because it was the one most prominent in her mind. Kekekekekekekeke The Baku's chuckles echoed as it continued to eat away at her dream Sound ran at the creature and tried to stop it, but it swiped its claw and knocked her to the ground. She lay on the ground stunned by the swipe, but something came to her in this instance. The Baku was invading her mind, but it was still her mind. She closed her eyes and thought, and when she opened her eyes, the pain from the swipe had faded. The Baku's grin faded as the Dream Stream started to pull away from him as she thought against him. The Baku's cloud also began to shrink, indicating his power diminishing. He rushed towards the Dream Stream as it was retreating back to Sound, fanged grin wide open and claws outstretched. He clasped his fangs down on the end of the Stream and began pulling on it. Sound deepened her thought as if she was having an mental tug-o-war with the Baku. The Baku swiped at her again and her focus was lost. The stream extended and the Baku's cloud began to grow again. Sound was kneeling on the ground, still trying to pull away from the Baku. In that moment, the instance when she gained her cutie mark and how she gained it by standing up for someone who needed help. As she thought of this, her eyes lit up. If she lost to this creature, it would continue eating the dreams of ponies all over ponyville and get stronger and stronger. Suddenly with a glow her Mare Do Well costume formed around her. With one strong mental tug, she pulled the stream back and the Baku with it. The Baku went flying off of its cloud and its slammed into the ground in front of sound. He let out an earsplitting screech and the blackness was lit up with a bright flash. Sounds eyes opened to the morning sun filtering though her window. She was in a cold sweat as she awoke, glancing around at her room. On the ground lay the shadowed figure of the Baku in a daze. She needed to think of what to do with him, she couldn't just release him or he would just go back to eating dreams. Using her magic, she restrained him so that he couldn't escape while she left to search for a way to deal with it. With the creature restrained, she quickly left to look for a solution as she knew that when the Baku regained consciousness it wouldn't take long for it to break free.