Sky Knight got home just as Luna’s moon was starting to replace Celestia’s sun in the sky. The large, cloud home was empty besides the blue pegasus as his parents were not due to be home until much later. He sat in his room reflecting on the day. Being his anxious self, he could not get his mind off the times he screwed up. He groaned at the memory of getting to the stadium gate and remembering he had forgotten about the cupcakes. That gut twisting, cringe worthy ‘oh crap’ moment is the kind that haunted Sky.
The blue pegasus got up and walked to the kitchen. Besides the fact that he was now hungry from thinking of cupcakes, he felt horrible for almost embarrassing his mother by being late with the cupcakes. Knowing the party that the Wonderbolts were having and how his mother is, she was going to come home a bit tipsy. Applejack saved some of her cider just for Rainbow Dash and the party per the cyan pony’s request. While Sky Knight has never gotten drunk, his mother has before, so he knew just the remedy to help the tipsy mare get sober. He grabbed a few cups from the cupboard and filled two of them with water. The next logical thing to give a tipsy pony would be coffee to help reduce the hangover that they’d have the next morning, however, he did not make coffee. Sky Knight grabbed apple juice from the fridge and poured it into the last cup. Whenever Sky had friends over when she was drunk, he’d always be asked why that helps. Sky would just shrug. Nopony, not even Soarin nor Rainbow Dash herself knew why that helped her, but it did. He then looked at the time, trying to decide whether to set up the bed or couch for his mother. The clock read quarter till Ten, couch it was.
Sky flapped his wings and floated over to the living room carrying one cup in each forehoof while balancing the apple juice on his muzzle. Once he entered the dark, unlighted room, he placed the filled cups on the small table next to the couch. He then lit a lantern to bring light to the room. He moved his head back and forth, scanning the light blue room for a pillow and blanket. Once he spotted his mother's favorite sky blue, turtle head covered blanket and pillow, he reopened his wings and looked at the clock on the wall next to the doorway he had just come from. The seconds hoof clicked, then clicked, then clicked. Sky didn’t blink, didn’t move, didn’t keep his eyes off the clock. Two more clicks, then the seconds hoof hit twelve to make the time ten thirty two. Just as it did, with a burst of speed, Sky dashed to the blanket that was across the room. If a pony was watching the pegasus, he’d be a blur to them. Avoiding the table and a few other obstacles such as a sleeping turtle in the middle of the floor, he grabbed the blanket and pillow then darted back to the couch. He placed the pillow on the armrest of the couch and blanket flat across the seat of the couch. The blue pegasus skid to a halt before the blanket even landed on the cushion. Sky Knight looked back up at the clock once he stopped. As he did, the seconds hoof just moved from the twelve onto the next tick.
One second flat. Sweet. Sky Knight fluffed the pillow and flattened the blanket so it all looked as neat as possible. His hoof moved across the soft, comfortable silk and made Sky Knight crave that feeling across his entire body. Once the cyan blanket was rid of any wrinkles, Sky yawned and turned towards the stairs.
“Good night, Tank,” He yawned as he passed the sleeping turtle. Sky sleepily trotted up the stairs, looking at all of the pictures on the wall. There were a lot of Rainbow and Soarin in their Wonderbolt uniforms or getting awards. Those always made Sky smile because they made him think about how lucky he was to have such a nice life to come into. However, out of all the pictures on the wall, only Rainbow Dash’s favorite could be above the others at the top of the stairs. Though Sky wasn’t very fond of it, his mother will never take it down. The picture showed Sky Knight when he was much younger, with his messy, longer hair. The reason Sky despised it so much was because he had just face planted seconds before the picture was taken. Though at the moment, he didn’t know he was getting his picture taken, he was too excited about getting his cutie mark. Sky still had no idea how his mother whipped the camera out so quickly. He chuckled a bit as he passed the picture, always thinking about how embarrassed he was right after the cyan pegasus snapped the picture.
Once Sky made it to his room, he jumped onto his bed and crawled under his grey, camouflage blanket. He snuggled as far into the bed as he could and laid his head on the pillow. With another yawn, he began to doze off. His eyelids became as heavy as Tom the boulder. His blinks slowed down until they didn’t open again and he fell into a deep sleep.
Sky Knight’s eyes fluttered open as the usual lighting greeted him from his slumber. As he stirred, he noticed that the air felt strange, almost synthetical. He propped himself up and looked around. His room, still dimly lit from the lights being turned off, seemed in order. His Wonderbolt and Royal Guard posters still hanged on his wall, his room still a mess from him neglecting to clean it. Nothing seemed out of place. He shrugged the feeling off and hopped out of bed. As he walked out of his room and started down the stairs, he noticed the clock read ten thirty two. Holy crap, I slept for twelve hours? He rubbed his eyes and looked down at the living room. To his surprise, the couch was the same as he left it the previous evening. The blanket laid flat and the pillow was at full fluff.
“What? That’s where she always crashes.” Sky muttered to himself in disbelief. There’s no way he could have been wrong about his mother. He turned and went back up the stairs and trotted passed the doorway to his room and stopped in front of a closed door leading to his parents room. He cracked the door open, being careful not to wake any sleeping pony inside. He peeked inside and was taken aback by what he saw. Well, actually what he didn’t see. Nopony was in the room. The bed was still clean from when his parents made the bed the previous morning. He backed away and collected himself. His parents never stayed out past midnight. He began to think Spitfire insisted they were too drunk to walk home and they stayed at the former captain’s house.
No, that can’t be it. The only thing Dad would only get drunk if pies were alcoholic. When Sky finished his thought, he became really worried about the whereabouts of his parents. He quickly ran back down the stairs and into the living room. Once he took his first step off the stairs, he noticed something different, something so small that only a member of the family would notice. Tank was gone.
Tank sleeps for more than 16 hours a day, and when he sleeps, he’s unmovable. The last time anyone tried to move him, they ended up pulling a muscle from the strain of pulling him too hard. So the turtle should have been asleep in the same spot he was when Sky wished him good night.
At this point, Sky Knight was confused as to where everyone had gone. The blue pegasus rattled his brain, thinking about all the possibilities. He thought so much that it gave him a headache. Sky Knight shook his head to try to clear his mind and ran out of the living room. He needed some fresh air, so he ran to the front door and swung it open only to find that he wasn’t going to get his fresh air. He couldn’t tell if there was any. Instead of being greeted by the bright rays of Celestia’s shining sun and the peaceful chirps of the birds in the sky, he was greeted by blackness. Just black for as far as he could see. He could feel the emptiness from where he was standing. Pure nothingness was in front of him. Sky Knight lost his breath, his chest tightened and he felt cold. He wanted to scream but nothing would come out. He stood frozen in place for a few moments before he gathered enough strength to close the door. He didn’t just close it, he slammed it shut. He gasped for air as he stared at the cloud white door.
What… what in tartarus is going on? Sky’s head dropped and his ears were drooped. He tried thinking of different scenario’s. Maybe… maybe Discord is in town and is just screwing with me? No… he’s in Canterlot with Fluttershy. Is it- Sky’s thoughts were cut off by a hissing sound coming from inside his house. The petrified pegasus turned quickly only to find nothing. Literally nothing. The blackness that he witnessed outside took over his home. From what Sky could tell, he was standing on a small cloud platform with a door frame.
The terrified pegasus’ eyes widened with fear. He didn’t know what to do. He was stranded. Sky Knight tried calling out for somepony, but the results were very predictable. The utter blackness around the platform was starting to get to Sky. A decision had to be made quickly. With a gulp, Sky lifted his shaky hoof and lowered it toward the blackness off of the platform. He eased slowly downward, cautious with every move. After a few tense moments, his hoof was halted by what seemed to be a floor. This feeling shot a brief rush of relief through the pegasus. He hopped off the platform, landing on what looked like nothing. He turned his head toward where he had just jumped from, and like he predicted, only darkness. The platform had disappeared like the rest of the world.
Everything around him was now pitch black. He could see nothing, or there was nothing that could be seen. Sky Knight couldn’t tell because it was just pure black as he walked along into the nothingness. He trotted very slowly, taking caution with every step, not knowing if there is an end to whatever he was standing on. He occasionally called out for help, with very little hope that someone would be out there with him. That little hope shrank with every call with no response. In place of that hope came dread and loneliness. His breathing slowed as it became harder to swallow the air around him because of the nagging feeling inside of him that something was completely wrong.
After what seemed like an eternity in the dark, rotten nothingness, Sky Knight had almost given up any hope of finding his way home. If that still even existed. Then he heard more hissing coming from the depths of nothingness. Sky Knight jerked his head back and forth trying to pinpoint the direction the hissing was coming from. Though he couldn’t tell if he wanted to run towards the hissing, or run away from it. As the hissing grew louder, Sky Knight started to shake, not knowing who, or what was coming towards him. He jerked his head one more time to his rear. His face lit up with pure joy and relief. A pony was sitting down about 100 meters away from the confused pegasus. Sky did not think about anything other than, Thank Celestia, I’m not alone!
“Hey! Over here! Can you hear me?” Sky called out to the white unicorn, who seemed to be wearing some sort of armor. It seemed to be mainly purple with a gold trim outlining the armor. Sky knight shook off the fact that the pony hadn’t moved since Sky called out to him and walked closer to the sitting unicorn. As he drew closer, he noticed how messed up the pony’s blue mane was, as if he had gone through hell and back. With closer inspection, the pony had a helmet on, well, half of a helmet. It seemed as if the pony was hit in the head so hard that his head piece shattered in half.
“A-are you alright? My name’s Sky Knight. I’m not going to hurt-” Sky Knight was cut off by an inaudible mumbling that seemed to be coming from the pony. However, this wasn’t a normal mumbling. It seemed to be a cluster of mumbles playing over each other, as if the pony was possessed by a demon. Sky took a step back in horror, thinking the pony would snap back and attack him. The mumbling became quieter over time, bringing a brief moment of relief to Sky, however, that relief faded just as the pony in front of him began to do. From the hoof up, the unicorn that sat in front of Sky was fading away. Sky tried to call out for him to stay, but couldn’t find enough breath to utter even a mutter.
When all that was left was the pony’s head, Sky was finally able to speak, “Wait, wait!” He lunged forward into what was now just a cloud of dust. As soon as he regained his stability from the lunge, an ear piercing hiss came from directly in front of the pegasus. Sky was given no time to react as not even two seconds after the hissing began again, a black and green figure jumped out at Sky from the nothingness. Sky’s heart dropped like a rock and his ears drooped. Sky was about to let out a shriek of terror as he thought he was about to die.
He ended up screaming, but not where he thought. He was sitting up in his bed, in his room, where everything was intact. His breath was heavy, sweat poured down from his dampened mane. He glanced around his room, making sure everything was in place. Everything seemed normal enough to Sky. He looked at his clock on the wall, which told the time of three thirty three. He jumped out of bed and with extreme caution, hoping there were ponies in the house that could be woken. He exited his room and walked to the top of the stairs. Sky Knight let out a sigh of relief when he saw Tank in his normal sleeping spot and his parents cuddling on the couch with three empty cups on the table next to said couch. Everything was normal. He turned toward his room, deciding that he still wanted the next few hours of sleep. As he snuck back to his room, he began to think about what he saw.
Thank Luna it was just a dream. That was very weird though, usually Luna helps ponies get out of a nightmare. Why did mine continue? Maybe she just missed it? She does have to go through the dreams of all of Equestria… Sky shook his head, trying to convince himself that he was overthinking this whole thing. However, one thing still stuck with the blue pegasus. Who was that pony I saw, and why do I feel like I should know who he is?
That thought stayed in his mind the whole way back to his bed. Sky Knight laid down and threw the blanket over himself, all the while thinking about that pony he saw in his nightmare. His blinking slowed until they didn’t open again for the night, where he fell back into a deep sleep.
As the light of Celestia’s bright, morning sun shone through Sky’s window and into his eyes, his slumber was interrupted. However, instead of slowly waking up, Sky Knight’s eyes opened quickly, worry filling them as he jumped out of bed and rushed to the stairs outside of his room. With a skidding stop, he looked down the stairs hoping his parents were still on the couch asleep. However, his parents were nowhere in sight. His worry only rose as he couldn’t find Tank either. In his state of panic, Sky didn’t run down the stairs, he opened his wings and flew through the house looking for his family. He flew from the living room to the kitchen, where to his relief, he saw his father cooking over the stove and his mother, in her turtle robe, baggy eyed, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of apple juice. Tank was on the table petting the obviously hung over Rainbow Dash. Sky Knight must have sighed pretty loudly to get the attention of his father across the room.
He turned his head and smiled, “Mornin’ Sky. Good timing, pancakes are almost done!” That made Sky Knight smile for the first time since last night. His father’s pancakes were amazing, and usually a good remedy for his mother’s not so nice hangovers. The now happy pegasus walked over to his rainbow maned mother and kissed her head.
“Good mornin’ mom.” Sky Knight only got a grumble in response. He looked over at his mother’s long time turtle companion who gave Sky a look saying don’t worry about it.
“That apple juice she’s drinking is the same one you prepared last night,” Soarin looked away from his pancakes towards the confused Sky. He continued, “When we got home, she drank the two waters, but her drunken self decided to not drink any apple liquid unless it was alcoholic. A decision which she is really regretting at the moment.” Soarin tilted his head and smiled at his wife as she gave him an annoyed look. Sky rolled his eyes with a small chuckle. The time he was spending with his family was starting to get the pony in his dreams out of his mind.
The small family spent the morning eating the pancakes that Soarin had made and talking about the events from the night before. Because Sky didn’t see his parents much after the Wonderbolt race, they had a lot to talk about. When Rainbow Dash started talking about herself, her hangover seemed to disappear. It seemed like the perfect remedy for the not so modest pegasus. It would be, if it didn’t come back every time the subject strayed away from how awesome she was, which kind of entertained Soarin and Sky.
After a couple of hours of spending time together, Sky checked the time, “Oh shoot, I should get going. I told Crystal I’d pick her up at noon.” Sky got up and went to go grab his wallet.
“How long will you be out?” Soarin asked his son.
“That is undetermined. I don’t think I’ll be out after midnight.” Sky replied.
Soarin nodded, “As long as you’re not drinking or anything, unless you want to look like your mother during your trial in a few days.” Soarin smirked slyly at his wife who seemed amused by the joke.
The son rolled his eyes, “You know I don’t drink. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“I know, I know. Heh, you two are so much fun to mess with.” Soarin chuckled as he waved to his son, “Have fun while you leave me alone with your mess of a mother.” Sky Knight chuckled as his mother smacked the all blue Wonderbolt alumni in the back of the head.
“Alright, I’ll see you three later.” Sky said as he gave his mom a hug from behind. Besides the moments she was talking about herself, this was the first time that morning she smiled genuinely. Sky then hugged Soarin and nuzzled his nose with Tank like his mother always does when she thinks no one's looking. He grabbed his wallet and ran outside and started for Twilight’s castle.