Prologue: “Panic Attack”

Open your eyes, Dusk.

He couldn’t do it.  He knew what was going to be there when he did.  Just like it was last time he looked.

Do it.  It’s not real.

But it had to be, because everything seemed quite real.  He could smell the pungent odor of blood.  He could feel the cold bite of rain on his back.  He could hear the gentle patter of the drops on paving stones.

It couldn’t have happened.

Didn’t it?  Was he just feeling these things because—?

None of this happened to you.  This tragedy was for somepony else.

Oh well, that was a relief.

Dusk Chaser slowly cracked his eyes open and found himself still on the side of the deserted night-time street.  The rain still fell steadily, the lamps were still dark, and the shadows were still just as deep as before, even if their menacing features seemed further away somehow.  The bodies were still there, too: the brown unicorn stallion and yellow earth pony mare, both lying on the ground, still and silent.

You didn’t know them.  They aren’t part of you.

Why did he feel like he should know at least one of them?  Dusk shook his head in an attempt to clear it.  He felt as if a whole swarm of bees was inside it, buzzing around and deafening him with constant motion and noise.  His gaze drifted down towards his hooves as the noise in his head became louder and louder, pressing in his head painfully.  Was the pain in his head?  He saw the ugly, deep gash in his leg.  Blood ran slowly down and pooled on the rain-slicked cobbles.

Everything around and inside Dusk went very silent.  This never happened.  This is a lie.  You have to leave.  Get out of here!  Dusk turned and took off down the street, running as hard as he could, wings flared in panic.  The constant noise and confusion in his head almost drowned out the pain in his leg.  Every door and window hid somepony who was determined to finish the job on him, and all he knew was escape.

He rounded a bend, hooves clattering and sliding on the wet pavement, and saw the outer wall of Canterlot.  He charged, wings outstretched, ready to escape off a waiting balcony.  He leaped off the wall and felt his stomach lurch as he suddenly started to fall.  His wings did nothing but thrash uselessly in the wind, spinning him around.  The constant flashes of lightning showed the mountain rushing up to meet him.  The sloped face of the mountain slammed into him like the hoof of an angry god, sending him tumbling wildly down.  Dusk tucked himself up, instinctively trying to protect his wings, and waited for the end to come, wondering if he’d even be alive at the bottom.

He finally tumbled to a halt, his body a tangled mass of limbs, and just lay where he was.  Wha— where, am I dead?  He tried to straighten out his legs, and groaned in pain.  Oh, Celestia, not dead.  Too much— gotta get away.  He struggled back to all four hooves and looked back up at the mountainside he just slid down, unconsciously flinching from the raindrops falling towards his face.  What in Equestria happened up there?  I have to… to… something.

He lowered his head back down, shaking the precipitation off his face.  His head was pounding, his mind was swirling, and the only thought he could grasp was to get away as fast as possible.  His shaking hooves slowly began to carry him off, with no particular direction, into the rainy night.