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Nightmares and Therapy1,734 words
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Nightmares and Therapy

The nightmares had been plaguing me for weeks. Always the same. The overwhelming darkness and the booming voice.

“Save me!” the voice echoed through my skull. Loud but unsettling and dripping with either malice or despair. The source of the voice is unknown because it literally sounds like it is coming from everywhere. I feel like something is watching me and I am helpless to its intentions.

Then it appears. The darkness swirls and takes a form of a black horse with wings and a horn. It stares at me and opens its mouth, revealing surprisingly sharp teeth, and the same booming voice rings out again.

“You can’t even save yourself!” The creature lunges at me and I awaken in a pool of sweat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, what does it all mean?” I pose the question aloud. Judging by the room’s silence I assume that my audience has fallen asleep.

“Well,” pause for dramatic effect, “what do you think it means?”

“That I’m wasting my money on these sessions,” I respond. Dr. Rick Shepherd might have been highly recommended but all he seems to do is ask me questions. The sound of him adjusting his posture in his chair makes me think that I’ve struck a nerve.

“David,” Rick begins, “do you know what I do?” I motion for him to continue, I have an idea but I’m fairly sure that his question was rhetorical. “Since every person is different and has different means of thinking my job is to help you discover your own answers. This is why you do most of the talking during your hour and I just throw out a probing question. So, yes you might be wasting your money here but only if you do not participate. So what do you think about that winged-unicorn?”

“Alicorn,” I reply.

“A what?” Rick asked. He actually appears interested.

“I did some research,” I sigh. “Alicorn is a term used for either the material that a unicorn’s horn is made of or for the winged-unicorn creature of myth depending on the background.”

“I see,” Rick paused again. “So what do you think the alicorn means?”

“Considering that I didn’t know anything about the creature before taking to the internet I can only guess. Most cultures that reference the alicorn regard it as evil and I sense no good intentions from that creature in my nightmares.”

“But why would it want to be saved?” Rick asked. A good question.

“I don’t know,” a very good question. “I can’t even wrap my head around what I’m supposed to save it from.”

“Maybe the darkness,” Rick offered.

“But it was made of darkness.”

“Dreams are our subconscious speaking to us,” Rick was actually earning that paycheck this week. “As such you need to stop thinking of the alicorn as a separate entity and ask yourself what you are afraid of. I have a feeling it might be the unknown.”

“That’s stupid,” I retort. “I’m not afraid of the unknown, I welcome change.”

“Alright,” Rick glanced at his watch, “I guess we should just wind this down and continue next week.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keys jingling in the lock do nothing to diminish the sound of claws tapping against wood. The sound is comforting to say the least. I open the door and am greeted by my best friend in the whole world.

“Hello Yogi,” I say while I scratch behind his ears. The little dog would appear unusual to an outsider but I love him. He exists only because a relative’s dachshund escaped to mingle with the neighbor’s pit bull. Now he’s my adorable little freak of nature.

It was just myself and Yogi living in the apartment. I worked at a deli counter and the landlady agreed to check on my dog throughout the day. To keep our heads above water I take on odd-jobs for the other residents around the complex. Unfortunately, this means that I can’t ever seem to get home while the sun is out. If I wasn’t seeing Rick for my nightmares I’d probably be considering him for this reason. I was told that it should be work-to-live not live-to-work.

My stomach growls to interrupt my musing. It had been a long day.

“Hungry?” I ask aloud. Yogi just excitedly wags his tail and runs off toward the kitchenette only to stop at the pantry and stare back at me, he snorts to get my attention. The action always reminded me of a pig. “Patience Yogi.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Save me!”

The voice was all around me. The darkness was impenetrable.

“Save me!” The voice seemed to get louder.

“Save me! Save ME! SAVE ME!”

The darkness receded. This is new. Instead of the being of oppressive darkness I see a blue alicorn and it looks... sad?

I reach for the new, and hopefully friendly, creature. My arm straight out while I take some tentative steps forward. A beautiful night sky is our backdrop. The scene is breathtaking.

As I get closer I hear sounds. Whimpering? Sobbing? Is the alicorn crying? I’m not sure.

Suddenly it tenses up and all is silent. It slowly turns its head in my direction.

The darkness crashes all around us. Nothing is visible anymore.

The nightmare alicorn’s glowing eyes spring open in my face and I feel it’s hot breath on my cheeks.

“Your chance will come!” it spoke?! It lunged at me and I begin falling…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I land on my floor with a thud. The uncomfortable sensation in my side tells me that I landed on my backpack again. Yogi rushes out of his bed to check on me, or to play with me it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking. I drape my arm around him.

“Sorry buddy,” I reassure him, “did I scare you?” A flash of light briefly illuminates the room and I freeze. It can’t be…

Out of the corner of my eye I swear I saw a figure. It looked horse-like. The alicorn cannot possibly be here…

Only now do I realize that Yogi is not in his playful or reassuring stance, he is in defense mode. Head locked on the corner of the room where I saw the figure and every muscle is tense. The thunder rolls and I wish that silence would follow.

“David Starr,” my dark corner spoke. It knows my name! “You are coming with us.” The shadowy figure steps toward us and my nightmares become real. Yogi growls and I snap out of my fear.

“What do you want with me?” I ask. “I thought you were just some fucking dream, I’m not still dreaming, am I?”

“This is no dream Mr. Starr,” it’s voice is feminine. “We won’t be answering any more questions.”

“Look if you’re going to kill me I think it’s fair that I know why,” I’m being absurdly brave in the face of my strangest fear, I guess I’m still hoping that I’m dreaming.

“We won’t be killing you Mr. Starr,” I’m not sure if she looks disgusted or confused. “We need you alive for you are our salvation.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“The stars will aid in her escape,” she began. “You have been much help Mr. Starr, but we require just a bit more.” Her horn started glowing.

“Shit!” I shout. Fearing the worst I grab onto Yogi with both arms and hold him close. Whatever energy was being built up was released onto the two of us, the room illuminated again and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Voices. I hear voices. Voices are good. They're getting clearer.

“Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty!”

Nope! I want the voices gone now! They're right on the other side of some stupid curtain and they just make me feel some sort of rage.

“Did you not recall the legend?” I recognize that voice. “Did you not see the signs?” Is she gloating? Great.

“I did,” another voice calls out. “And I know who you are.” Ok, now I’m listening. “You’re the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon!”

A chorus of gasps ring out. Nightmare Moon? Does this mean that she’s been purposely giving me nightmares for weeks and causing me all this stress? What was it all for?!

In my arms I find Yogi, he’s still breathing but he looks like he’s seen hell.

“Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last,” she taunts the crowd. Ponies? “From this moment forth, the night will last forever!”

“Wait a fucking second!” I’m shouting now but I’ve had enough of this. I get to my feet, pull the straps of my backpack on and pick up Yogi and step through the curtain only to find myself on a balcony overlooking some sort of hall. There actually are ponies here, huh. They gasp at the sight of me but I don't care about that. I find the black alicorn in the middle of all the scared creatures. Time to unleash some therapy.

“Your plan,” I address the alicorn, “is eternal night? And how is anybody supposed to survive in a world without sunlight?”

“Foolish human!” she’s still in gloat mode. “The night will be the only thing they want or need!”

“Right...” I pause, that doesn't make any sense but I need to prioritize. “Regardless what about me? You kidnapped me for some reason and now what?”

“Now you’ll be coming with us,” she answered, wait, she actually answered me? No sooner do I start to feel like I’m making some headway does she turn into a black mist and begin to envelope me.

I already miss my apartment.

My feet hit solid ground and I take a quick inventory of my surroundings. Some sort of castle ruins with the ceiling blown out and some weird statue or contraption. I have my doubts that I’ll find anything useful here. Yogi is starting to stir in my arms.

“It’s ok buddy,” I say, more to reassure myself than him.

“Alpha?” the voice came from my dog! “Did you kill the horsebeast?” My entire world went dark at that point as the ground rose up to greet my face.

Hello ground...

Author's Note:

So I'm going to get this out of the way. David represents all of my negative attributes. Overthinking things, being neurotic, self-centered, and quick to anger. He is not a hero but he was never meant to be one. He is my voice in Equestria if that voice ever existed.

These first few chapters are dark enough in tone that I felt that the Dark tag was appropriate. I promise that once the establishing arc is complete then the story will lighten in tone.

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