Of Dreams and Nightmares

by Saatchi

Explanations

The chariot touched down in Canterlot, more specifically, Celestia's castle grounds. Twilight and her friends disembarked the chariot and thanked the guards, who held their heads high, showing off their pride. Twilight led her friends through the grounds and into the castle itself. There they met with Princess Celestia, who was pleased to see that they had finally arrived.

"Please, this way…" spoke Celestia, her tone seeming to be layered with a sense of urgency, which contrasted her normal, slower, calmer way of speaking. The Princess led them through the elegant hallways, where shining marble pillars, and various stone carvings oversaw their progress. The Princess led them into the throne room, where her regal sister, Princess Luna was waiting. Celestia took her place on her throne, whilst the six ponies stood the customary distance away from the thrones.

Twilight took a small step forwards, making her stand out from the crowd. She bowed her head, and immediately lifted it back up, as was the norm when in royal presence. The other ponies followed suit, not wanting to look out of place.

Celestia cleared her throat and began to recount events, which had influenced their meeting.

"Every year I send a small group of my guards into the Everfree forest, with the intentions of mapping out the area and any changes. However this time, things didn't go as smoothly as we expected. My guards came back hysterical, one of them was borderline insane. We managed to obtain his journal, and I must say it's rather disturbing."
Princess Celestia gestured to her sister, who levitated a tattered brown journal into the air, placing it on the floor at Twilights' hooves.

Being the curious unicorn that she was, Twilight couldn't resist a peak at the journal. Celestia was well aware of Twilight's curiosity and decided to hold her tongue until Twilight had read a bit of the journal. Celestia watched Twilight, whilst the other ponies looked at Celestia, as they all waited for different things. Twilight had only started to read the first few lines, but one thing was clear, the guard in question was perfectly healthy before he went on this mission. However as she progressed through the history that was chronicled in these pages, Twilight began to see something wrong. Her first sign on this was a section that was dated two days after their group came across a strange and ancient structure.

I had a terrible nightmare last night, so vivid and horrifying that I awoke in the dark of night, screaming and sweating profusely. I assured my colleagues that there was no cause for alarm, but in my head I knew it to be a lie. I am unsure if I can put quill to scroll and relive the moment long enough to detail it here, yet I shall try. There was a voice, a voice that seemed so familiar, yet I could not put it to a face. I was shown visions of our glorious land of Equestria, but not as it is now. The land was bathed in a burnt orange glow; fire rampaged across the land, leaving nothing but cinders and ash in its wake. I stood there, as one by one, families, friends, and loved ones succumbed to the raging beast. Soon enough I was the only one left, I was alone, and I had nothing to do but wait for the inevitable.

The entry stopped at that point, and Twilight looked up from the journal to find that the room around her had changed. No longer was she in a bright and colourful room, she was now in a pitch black area, almost like the lights had been extinguished. Her friends were nowhere to be seen, nor where any of the princess's.

"Twilight…" whispered a voice in her ear.
The voice sent an icy chill across her ear, causing it to shiver slightly.
"Twiiiliiiight…" whispered the voice once more, sending Twilight's heart into a beating frenzy.
She glanced around looking for the source of the voice, but there was nothing visible. Her whole body began to drop in temperature, forcing her to shiver for warmth. Twilight tried to tell herself that she was nothing more than some sort of audio hallucination, but she couldn't do it, everything just seemed so real.

"It's not real. It's a dream, a hallucination, completely fictitious. It doesn't exist!"
Twilight opened her eyes to find a bright flash of light the light blinded her for a few seconds, stinging her eyes. When the light faded, she realised she was back in the throne room, or rather she had never left. All that she had experienced appeared to have been a figment of her imagination, a hallucinogenic experience at most. Everypony in the room stood staring at Twilight, obviously due to her outburst pertaining to the reality of things.

"What don' exist sugar cube?" asked Applejack, who was stood closest to Twilight.

"Nothing! Heh, uhm, nope. I didn't say that did I? No of course I didn't…"
She levitated the journal off the floor, and started to back away.

"Twilight? Where are you going? What's wrong?" inquired Celestia, concern evident in her voice.

"Oh nothing's wrong, I'm just going for a little walk, might read a bit more of this journal, it's a fine read it must be said."
Then Twilight twisted herself round, so she was now facing the exit, and made a mad dash towards it. Her friends cried out in protest, but Twilight didn't adhere to their cries, she needed space to think. As she neared the door, she siphoned off more of her magic in order to open the door, just wide enough for her to slip through. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had already started to give chase, but even ponies of their athleticism couldn't catch Twilight, before she slipped out of the throne room, the doors slamming shut behind her.

Upon Twilight's absence, everypony started to look around, each pony looking confused.

"Well what in tarnation was that about?" asked Applejack.

"Beats me..." replied Rainbow Dash.

"Oh I do hope she'll be ok..." expressed a concerned Rarity.

Fluttershy remained silent, but in her mind, she too was hoping that Twilight was going to be ok.

Suddenly a new voice spoke out, one that had spoken the entire time the ponies had been there.
"I'll go and speak with Twilight. Big sister, you stay here and explain to the others what we need them to do." spoke Luna.

Celestia nodded and smiled, she then turned to the others and began explaining what was needed of Twilight and her friends. Luna got up and made her way to the doors, through which Twilight had left, just mere moments ago. She stopped a few feet away from the door, and began to open it. The guards were about to spring into action, when they noticed the door moving by itself. They took one look at it, then looked at Luna, and stood down, realising that she was obviously controlling it.

"I won't be long!" yelled Luna as she disappeared into the corridor, slamming the door behind her. Now that she was out of the throne room she could begin her search for Twilight without hindrance. She called out to her, not expecting to hear a reply of course.
"Twilight? Where are you?!"
Luna fell silent, as her words echoed down the empty hallway. She then began to make her way down the corridor, still calling out to Twilight. As she passed the entrance to the grounds she heard a sound. It was low, and dull, yet resembled someone whimpering. She didn't say anything, just made her way outside.

Once outside, she listened for the sound, and began to trace it back to the source. The sun was still shining brightly as she searched the grounds for Twilight. She came to a point where the sound seemed to be coming from the right hand side of the entrance. She took care to slip off the normal path, and onto the grassy knoll, without damaging any of the flowers. The sound was definitely louder now, and soon enough, Luna found Twilight.

"Twilight!" exclaimed Luna as she made her way to the purple unicorn.

"Luna? What are you doing here?" said Twilight, surprised.

"I was here to find you, and bring you back to Celestia. Although first, I want to have a little chat" explained Luna as she sat down with Celestia's pupil.

"I guess you want to talk about my little outburst back there huh?"

"I do. So tell me, what's troubling you?" replied Luna.

Twilight realised that this was it; this was the pony she was going to tell about her nightmares. She just hoped that she would understand, and possibly offer a solution to end them. She took a deep breath and began to recite her problems to Luna.
"For the past few days I've been having nightmares. At first I didn't think anything of them; I thought it was just an ordinary nightmare. However after reading this journal, I realise that there are some similarities between my night terrors, and the guards."

"Twilight, if you really are experiencing similar nightmares to what that guard experienced, then I think you should meet with him in person. Then maybe we can find out if you're going to end up like him ok?" replied Luna.

"What? You know were he is? I thought all you had was his journal?" exclaimed Twilight, her mind reeling at this new information.

"Well we couldn't just let him out into the open world again. He was mentally unstable; there was no telling if he would be a danger to others. So we kept him here, in the dungeon, we just couldn't take the risk" replied Luna coolly.

Once she was finished speaking Luna got up and started to walk off. Twilight jumped up, and quickly chased after her, not wanting to miss out on this opportunity. Luna led her through the castle, eventually leading her down some stairs, stairs which led into the dank, dark dungeon. Twilight shivered as she made her way down, making sure not too lose Luna. Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs, and Twilight gazed upon row upon row of cells. Luna made her way to the only cell to be protected by guards. She stood aside, dismissed the guards, allowing Twilight to see the prisoner inside. She walked up to the bars, and poking her nose through them just a bit. Suddenly a white stallion appeared out of nowhere, shocking Twilight. Her eyes widened, but she didn't flinch. Instead she just inspected the stallion's appearance. He was tall, and very well built, the perfect example of a royal guard. She noticed patches of dirt on his coat, his mane and tail looked scruffy, like someone had been tussling them. His eyes look tired, like he'd had no sleep whatsoever, and to top it off, they were incredibly bloodshot.

"Uhm hello?" asked Twilight, unsure of the correct way to start conversation with him.

"Ehehe, she's here! I knew you'd turn up, he said you would turn up. He's always right. He's been watching you, he has plans for you, Twilight Sparkle." Rambled the stallion.

"How do you -?" responded Twilight.

"-know your name? He told me, he tells me everything about you. He's right here, talking to me even now." The stallion tapped a hoof against his head. "He wants you, he needs you. He wants to feast on your thoughts, your memories, just like he did to me. A mind like yours would give him oh so much power, and that kind of power would be enough for him to enter the mortal plain." The stallion stopped and grabbed hold of Twilight, pulling her head through the bars.

"Ah what are you do-?!" yelped Twilight.

"Shh shh, he's gone. Free thought! Haha! Listen to me, and listen good. He's twisting everyone around you, drawing you closer to him. Twilight, conflict is inevitable. So…I need…I need you! Beat him! Free me from this torture!" The stallion roared in agony and jumped back from the bars, writhing on the floor.

Twilight watched in horror as the stallion endured what could only be described as immense pain. The guards and Luna just watched on, powerless to help him. Twilight turned away, and ascended the stairs back to the castle. Luna followed close behind, not wanting to lose Twilight again. Twilight made her way back to the throne room, opened the doors, and entered. Luna shut the door, seeing as though she was the last one to enter. Twilight marched straight up to Celestia, and looked her in the eyes. She spoke two words, two words that sealed her fate.

"I'm ready…"