//------------------------------//
// A bad dream 
// Story: The Forgotten King 
// by Ghost Writer 
//------------------------------//

	Soon Eclipse could see a fenced off area of land up ahead. There was a short, white, wooden fence set up around a mass of apple trees. Guess this is the place he thought. He walked along the fence until he came up to a wooden arch with a sign hanging from it. The sign, like the fence, looked like it had recently been painted. There was no fade to the colors and the sign was still bright. It read "Sweet Apple Acres". Yep, definitely the place though Eclipse as he walked inside.
The farm was as orderly on the inside as it looked on the outside. There were hundreds of apple trees planted down the fields in rows. They provided a nice amount of shade without completely blotting out the sun's rays. It seemed like the perfect place to hang around or take a nap. Eclipse could imagine it now. Sitting around on a hot summer day, eating apples and staying cool in the shade while talking to his friends. He would definitely come back here after he got the whole whatever it is that's happening to him thing sorted out.
He kept walking until he came to a bright red barn. There was a noise coming from inside the barn, every now and then there was a thump. Eclipse walked to the door of the barn and peeked inside. There was a large male pony setting down some baskets full of apples.
"Hi there!" called Eclipse.
The pony looked up and turned his head to see Eclipse.
"I'm here to visit Applejack, and to help you out around the farm." Eclipse explained to the other pony "Is she around here somewhere?"
"Eeyup, she’s just out back buckin apples." he replied.
Eclipse went around the back of the barn and saw that there was another field of apple trees. "How am I supposed to find Applejack in a field like that?" Eclipse said to himself. Then one of the trees in the field shook and Eclipse could see the apples fall from it.
He made his way through the field to the spot where he had seen the tree get bucked. That was when he noticed Applejack bucking the apples out of another tree.
"Hey! Applejack!" Eclipse shouted.
Her head sprang up and she immediately recognized Eclipse. "Well howdy there! What brings you round to Sweet Apple Acres?”
“Nothing in particular, thought I would just visit. Maybe help you with apple buckin.”
“Well that’s mighty kind of you” Applejack said and smiled at him.
“So then, how do you apple buck? I’ve never done it before and I’m not sure how.”
“It’s easy, ya just put some buckets below the trees to catch the apples and buck the tree” she said as she put the last of four buckets she had in place under the tree. Then she kicked the tree and all of the apples fell nicely into the buckets. “Just like that” she said
Eclipse threw four nearby buckets on his back and walked to the nearest apple tree. He placed them around the trunk of the tree and gave the tree a good, solid kick. The apples fell out of the tree into the buckets and Eclipse looked over at Applejack.
“Looks like yer a natural.” she replied.
Eclipse spent the next few hours helping Applejack buck apples. He passed the hours talking to Applejack. By the time they finished the west field the sun was beginning to set.
Eclipse looked to the horizon. The sun was now orange and about half way down the horizon. “Well, it’s been fun, but I think it’s about time I go home.” he said to Applejack.
“It was nice having some help bucking the apples, but before you go there’s something I wanna give you.” said Applejack as she turned around and headed for her house.
When she disappeared into the house Eclipse waited patiently. He hoped that she wouldn’t take long. He didn’t like being out after dark because of what had happened the night before. He didn’t want to go through the experience of what felt like getting possessed again.	
He heard a door close and looked over to see Applejack walking towards him with a small pouch in her mouth. She walked up to him and dropped the pouch at his feet. He looked down at the pouch and asked “What is it?”
“Its money, for helping out at the farm” she replied.
“Nah, its fine. You don’t have to pay me, it was fun just being here.” he said.
“I insist, you helped me get two days of work done. Besides the money we’ll make from selling the apples is more than enough to cover that bit.” 
“Uhh how much exactly is in that bag?”
“Its 300 bits” She replied.
“300 bits? Isn’t that a bit much?” asked Eclipse
“Nope, it’s a fair amount for the work you did. Now take it, and if you ever feel like helping out here on the farm we always appreciate an extra hoof!”
Eclipse saw that the sun had almost set and he didn’t have time to argue with Applejack so he thanked her for the money and took it. Then he headed home.
He had to keep up a running pace to try and make it home before the sun set completely. But making it back to Ponyville in that short of a time wasn’t doable and by the time he reached Ponyville the sun had set and the stars were out. 
When he got to his house he felt reassured that nothing would happen and chanced a look at the stars for a second. That was a mistake. Instantly he felt a sensation as if he had become heavy and it was hard to stay up. Then very rapidly four stars went out in quick succession. 
He forced himself to move and pushed the door to his house open and threw himself inside. When he got inside it felt as if the weight were lifted and he quickly got up and closed the door. He chastised himself for having looked up at the stars; he should have known that whatever it was that happened only happened when he looked at the stars. That was the way it had worked last time; nothing happened until he looked up at the stars, and when he did he got the pressure and strange sense.
“That was a bad idea.” he thought aloud. 
Then there was the stars going out. Last time when the stars went out he lost control of himself, but this time he was fine. There was no overwhelming anger, no loss of control, no need to destroy. He was glad for that but it also made him feel nervous. What would happen if all the stars went out? What would happen to him? Would it be the same thing as the first time, where he would lose control, but permanently? The thought scared him and he decided he would try never to look at the stars again. 
Then he remembered. Last time he had woken up and gone to Twilight she said that his hair had red points on the end. He ran to his room and took a look in the mirror. It was just as he had feared. Last time the red points on his hair had been barely noticeable, but now there was a more obvious tinge of red in his hair. And upon a closer inspection he looked into his eyes and saw that there was the slightest sliver of red around the iris of his left eye. Normally he would never have been able to see such a thin line of red but the red was bright, blood red and it seemed almost to glow, making it much more obvious than it should have been.
He stepped back from the mirror slightly shocked and tried to think about what was happening. It seemed that every time he looked at the stars he changed slightly. Now he had only a tinge of red in his hair and the slightest bit of red in his eye, but only seven stars had gone out so far. Who knew what would happen if all of the stars went out. He might change into whatever it was that he was starting to turn into completely and lose himself to whatever it was he was changing into.
He decided to try and get some sleep before tomorrow. After all he was going to visit Celestia and she was the princess, she would know how to cope with whatever was happening. That night he had the dream with the voice again. He was in a place without senses and there was an overwhelming presence of something bad, something evil. The voice was the only thing that existed in the horrible place and it seemed all encompassing when it talked.
"Go" the voice boomed "Go outside, look into the stars and set me free."
The voice had a sense of command to it. Like somepony who knows that whatever they say will be done without question. Eclipse felt as if he should obey the voice, but at the same time he knew it was bad and that he shouldn't listen to it.
"If you look into the stars you will gain unimaginable power. Power you never dreamed of. You will be one with me. You will become a GOD!" the voice boomed.
The words of the voice were not heard like normal words. They seemed to be felt more than heard. It was as if they were sheathed in magic, making them more than merely words. It made the voice sound supreme and as if whatever it said was rule and could not be denied.
Eclipse felt like he was moving. But that didn't make sense, there was nothing around him. Then there was a sense of free fall and he became dizzy. The darkness seemed to shimmer and spin. And then BANG! There was a jolt of pain and colors swirled into his vision. All senses came rushing back to him and he found himself looking up at the door to his house.
How had he gotten there? The last thing he remembered was everything going wild in his dream and then there he was, in front of his door. He stood up and thought about how he got there. The moving sensation in his dream must have been him sleepwalking. That meant that he had listened to the voice and was headed outside to look at the stars.
A bolt of fear swept through him as he realized that he had been a few seconds from going outside and looking at the stars. He must have listened to the voice. He knew he should not have listened but the words seemed to entrance him and force him to obey. 	What was it that snapped him out of his dream though? He looked back and saw the pouch of bits Applejack had given him on the floor. He must have forgotten he was holding it and dropped it when he went to the mirror to see if he had changed.
The string holding the pouch closed had come undone when Eclipse had tripped on it and the pouch was open. There were bits strewn all over the floor, only about half of them actually remained in the pouch.
Eclipse was glad that Applejack had insisted he take the money. If it weren't for the pouch he would have looked into the stars and who knows what would have happened then.
He gathered up all the bits and replaced them in the pouch. Then he set the pouch in the table. He didn't want to go back to sleep. He had slept for a few hours and wasn't tired anymore. He looked out of the window and was relieved to see that there was the faintest smudge of orange on the dark horizon, which meant he had gotten plenty of sleep to make it through the day.
He thought it might be a good idea to get some food. He strapped the pouch of bits around his waist and headed out.