The stale stench of ancient paper tickled her muzzle. Twilight tried to open her eyes. Everything around her was a blur of aged yellow and black. A sudden bright flash blinded her. The feeling of cool floor underneath brought her back to reality.
"Twilight, I told you that Hayscartes' methods of entering books are really complex." Princess Celestia chuckled, giving her a motherly smile.
"But I did it Princess. For a few seconds!" The filly recomposed her form sprawled on the floor, huffing.
"Even my magic would allow me to stay in a book only for a few minutes. I'm sure you'll be even better once you master the spell, my faithful student." Celestia's wing embraced her.
"But princess, you are the best! I can't possibly-" A feather pressed to her lips quietened her.
"There are many talented magicians Twilight, I'm not the greatest and mightiest of them. Don't fret your head over it, my little pony," Celestia said, watching the filly. Defiant disagreement was written over her face. "The Sun is already fast asleep beyond the horizon. You should be too." She nudged Twilight in her side gently.
The filly grimaced at first, but added cheerful "Good night!" followed by a yawn.
"Good night Twilight." Celestia opened the door for her.
The filly trudged along the darkened corridor, occasionally sliding on the newly waxed floor. Strangely the halls seemed even more deserted than normal. The guards that normally patrolled the hall seemed absent. She stifled another yawn as she passed by the royal archives when its hinges creaked ominously behind her. Turning around she noticed the door swinging open slightly, as though somepony left in a hurry and forgot to lock-up.
"H-hello? Is anypony there?" Her words echoed through the corridor. Cautiously, she peeked the library door open. The shadows of the aisles rising from the darkness welcomed her. Everything was calm and unmoving. Twilight wanted to turn back already and go to bed when a ray of light caught her eye. Thinking it was a late-night reader Twilight slowly entered the library to find who was reading this late at night.
As she rounded another alcove of books where she thought she found her mysterious reader she noticed a small orange spark danced in the air, floating around haphazardly. Slowly it neared a bookcase, nesting on one of the books. At first Twilight thought the light might just be a harmless little firefly when she noticed a few cinders fall to the floor.
"Hey, don't ignite the books!" Twilight dashed forward, trying to capture the daring spark. As if startled by her words it fluttered in the air again, fleeing deeper into the library. Twilight carefully extinguished the last signs of fire, and started chasing it. ”Stop!"
She raced down the aisle, the spark hovering just out of her reach, seemingly laughing in her face. Books and scrolls blurred around her until even Twilight didn’t know where she was. Her hooves slid in the many crooked curves. She pressed on, deeper and deeper into the maze of library. The spark dancing ever so feverishly before her.
She soon started gaining on it only for it to slowly start disappearing in the darkness. Its dim light replaced by the impenetrable gloom of night. Without warning she tripped over a loose book and fell on her face painfully.
With a groan, Twilight skidded to a stop. With a little effort Twilight managed to stand back up on her hooves lighting her horn in the process. She fell on her back with a scream when pain spiked along her horn. Shakily rising back to her hooves, she braced herself for the pain and cast a small illumination spell to see what was around her. She had to giggle a bit when she saw her reflection staring back at her in one of the many hourglasses littering the library. A small movement next to her ear announced the presence of the small flickering spark that started this whole thing.
Shimmering in the darkness, it danced around the hourglass, swirling higher and higher. The sand trapped inside reflected the glow. The spark perched atop the ornate edge. With a screeching sound, the hourglass tilted forward.
Twilight gave a shriek, backing away. The glass slowly tilted forward more and more. With a final snap, it tumbled down on the floor. Sand and shards of glass exploded upon impact. Twilight shook in the corner of the room, hiding behind a fort of fallen books.
The spark slowly descended to the ground, zipping above the sea of sand as if looking for something. In a blink of an eye, it disappeared among the small dunes. After a minute of nothing happening an eerie orange glow started to radiate from them, creeping to more and more grains of sand.
Slowly, the sand started shifting and swirling, thin spires rising into the air. Some intertwined together, only to fall apart again the next moment, others snaked along the walls. Deliberately, they connected into a rough shape of pony head, possible rest of the body shrouded in darkness. The creature turned to Twilight, opening her fiery blazing eyes. Tilting its head to one side, it smacked its lips with such as fiery tongue. The filly curled into a tight ball. With a hissing sound, the creature lurched forward with gaping maw, dagger-like teeth of sand pouring over the filly.
***
Darkness. Darkness all around her.
One by one, the torches in the hall sparked to life. Twilight lay in the middle of a huge hall. Ornate pillars rose to the arched ceilings. Gold and blue banners draped along the walls. Two thrones of similar colors sat atop a short staircase.
"Where am I?" The filly turned around, scanning her surroundings.
A quiet laughter echoed through the room.
Twilight gasped, ears flattening against her head. She started backing away, tripping over her own leg.
There in a corner, the fiery eyes were burning.
"Hello, little one," The creature hissed like a water poured in fire.
It stepped from the shadows. This time, its body was more defined as if made of solidified lava. Swirls of runes snaked across the surface, embers occasionally shimmering in the cracks in between. But the true sight were its mane and tail; both made of living fire, rising high into the air and dancing over its back.
Slowly, it inched closer, burning marks of horseshoes into the floor.
Twilight was unable to move, too afraid of the creature slowing stalking towards her. She lay there, curled and tightly clutching her tail.
The creature of nightmares grinned, stepping closer.
"Not... another step!" A booming voice echoed through the room.
Both Twilight and the nightmare turned. There, next to the thrones, stood a beautiful mare.
She reminded Twilight of Princess Celestia. Not just because she had both horn and wings - Cadence had them too, after all - but because of her mane. It swirled like in invisible wind, shimmering and sparkling like a night sky. The only difference were the dark blue colors of her coat and her stern eyes. If Princess Celestia had a sister, she'd surely look like that. For some reason Twilight had a feeling that she knew who this pony was, But for the life of her she couldn’t remember how or why.
"Oh, princess. Long time no see!" The nightmare whisked its fiery tongue. It gestured with its head and a cage suddenly materialized around Twilight. “I was wondering when you would come looking for me after I managed to take the other one beyond the portal.”
The princess growled and bared her teeth, horn sparking to life. “What thou did to her was but an inconvenience compared to what i am going to do to you!” The alicorn yelled. Without warning the nightmare lurched at her. A beam of blinding light split the air as a fireball barreled across the room.
Twilight curled against the hot metal of the cage, shielding her teary eyes. Spells and fire stormed all around. The sound of battle continued on for a while until there was a lull in the fighting. She dared to take peek and what she saw astounded her. Where once was a beautiful domed stained glass ceiling, now only the moon and stars could be seen.
The thrones she saw were smashed to an unrecognisable state, though, strangely enough only the one with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark was completely destroyed while the blue princess’s throne was simply damaged.
In the middle of the room, where the two ponies battling was a cloud of smoke that obscured the two combatants. Soon enough the blue princess flew from the cloud of smoke, her feathers smoldering. At first Twilight though that the blue Princess won when an unseen force dragged her back into the smoke cloud. Twilight closed her eyes again hoping that somepony would get her out of here.
Another peek. The fiery creature was now backing against the wall, countering the spells with a wall of fire. The ground was shaking. The filly shut her eyes again.
The sounds of the battle continued. The whizzing of spells. The whooshing of fire. Hooves beating down the ground. The crackling of flames. The thundering of magic.
Light poured through her eyelids.The stench of burnt fabric penetrated her nose.
Suddenly, everything fell quiet. Twilight's eyes slowly opened. At first, she couldn't see anything. Clouds of smoke rolled around. Glints of red and orange occasionally blinked in the grey fog.
A silhouette of a mare could be seen on the floor. Twilight grabbed the bars of the cage, oblivious to their temperature. The tears streaming down her cheeks, strangely enough were evaporating. ‘Did the blue Princess win?’ Twilight thought as the clouds of smoke started to clear.
Soon a warm yellow glow bathed the room dissipating the remaining smoke, revealing a tall light figure standing guard above the fallen form of the blue princess.
Twilight's heart leapt for joy as her mentor stepped into the room protecting the mare that was helping her.
"Princess Celestia!" The alicorn passed her without a glance, eyes fixed on the nightmare.
"Greetings Tia. My pleasure to finally meet you. Sadly, it's also the last time we’ll see each other," the nightmare said, lazily reclined on the blue throne.
"Indeed, this is our last meeting, whoever you are." Celestia flared her wings.
"Oh, Luna hasn’t told you or do you just not remember?" The nightmare chuckled. It jumped off the throne, casually walking closer as walls of fire rose around the hall, blocking any exit. "I like to keep myself in the shadows. What you are facing now is a brave project of the three tribes. A creature designed to scare off the Windigos. Abusing its runes was so easy… fun too. I got to strip it of the friendly conscience that was made to protect the land, and twisted it to love nothing but destruction " It ran a hoof across its chest.
Celestia lit her horn, hurling the nightmare against the wall. “Monster! You would strip the very will of a creature just to have fun!!!” Celestia yelled incredulously. The creature snarled, spitting fire all around its form, making its body even more menacing.
The princess backed away. The nightmare smiled. A fireball flew across the room. Bits of debris fell to the ground. Cracks snaked across the walls and windows of stained glass.
Celestia stood in a corner, shaking. A strand of smoke unwound from her horn. Her smoldering feathers fell to the ground by dozens.
Twilight backed away from the bars of the cage, the rage building up in her. Pebbles drummed around her, a few ricocheting to her hooves. She could feel her blood boiling and eyes twitching. That creature hurt that blue alicorn and now was going to do the same to Princess Celestia!
"What's this?! Is the Princess of the sun tired?" the nightmare smirked, leaning against the wall of flame. A whip of flame appeared behind it, cracking through the air provocatively. Celestia only raised her eyes, then turned away.
Apparently annoyed by Celestia refusing to join in the word battle, the nightmare arched closer.
"All those golden trinkets must be slowing you down, let me help you get rid of the useless weight." The whip wrapped around Celestia's horseshoes, the metal melting almost immediately.
Only a hiss escaped her lips. Magic wrapped around her golden jewellery, snatching it all off. Only few burnt spots remained on her hooves.
With a new found vigor, the princess stomped forward, eyes burning with fury. Oblivious to the sea of flame on the floor, she pressed on. The nightmare charged her. Celestia countered. Swirls of dust and smoke hid them from Twilight's scared gaze again.
Flashes of magic and fire blinked through the smoke. It invaded Twilight's lungs, forcing her to bent over in a fit of cough. It must have felt like being in the center of a volcano in the room, but to Twilight it just felt like she was curled by a fireplace on a cold winter's day.
A solid beam of magic shot out, pulverizing a few walls to dust and digging into the earth. A ravine appeared where it hit, snaking through the land. A few Quarry eels stuck their heads out of the newly created wall.
A deep rumble shook the castle, part of the ceiling toppling to the ground. Celestia's telekinesis caught it just before it could squash the blue alicorn, hurling it at the nightmare. It dodged partially, now pinned to the ground by the debris. The blue princess stirred and moaned slightly.
Celestia only stood, her eyes piercing the creature. Heaving a sigh, she kicked away the burnt remains of the once pristine carpet. The ragged wool was fused by heat to the stone trapdoor below, but just a few tugs of Celestia's magic pulled it loose and apart. The old mechanism, laying still since the defeat of Discord, set into motion with clicking and screeching, large branched pedestal raising to the light. The princess closed her eyes in concentration, fidgeting with the gems lying on the pedestal.
The blue alicorn tumbled back to her hooves with a cough. Casting a quick glance to Celestia tending to the pedestal, she started towards the caged filly with a worried expression. A few stones of rubble had fallen atop the cage, but not enough to free her.
"T-Twilight ," the alicorn extended a shaky hoof, "I-I'm sorry. Everything is going to be a-alright." Her eyes narrowed. She stared at the reflection of the nightmare.
Dark shimmering tendrils extended from the creature, creeping their way to Celestia. The princess was still focused on her arcane spells with the gems, five of them now floating around her.
The tendrils reached closer and closer, as if drawn by the gems.
"No!" The blue alicorn thrust herself forward. "Tia! Watch out!" The tendrils turned, tying themselves around her and dragging her back to the nightmare. Her hooves flailed and scraped at the ground.
This was bad. Really bad. Twilight knew it. Her mane started swaying and sparkling, her purple coat turning more pale. She tried to call on her magic to help the blue mare.
With a final move of Celestia's horn, the last gem aligned with the rest. They accelerated till they were a mere colorful blur around her. With a sigh, she released all her magic and opened her eyes.
Just in time to catch a glimpse of her unconscious sister in the embrace of a smiling nightmare. Then everything went white.
Twilight wanted to cry, but only a shriek escaped her lips. She felt as if someone dear to her was torn away. As if the blue mare was Spike or Shining Armor! She let out one more shriek, feeling her skin tingling. A wave of heat spread over her. Her mane turned to fire in one large blast.
The bars of the cage melted. Unsupported, the ceiling of the cage fell down. Twilight's vision blurred and reddened, then blacked out completely.
Twilight awoke with a start, profusely sweating as if she was standing next to a roaring bonfire. Ever since she was found lost in the Everfree Forest by a pair of royal guards who later adopted her, Twilight has been plagued with nightmares. It would always start differently, but three parts would always be the same. The first being of her being captured by the flaming entity, always in a different situation. The blue princess would always be there.
Those two parts felt relatively like how normal nightmare should feel like, but the third was the scariest.
The blue princess always knew her name. No matter how many different dreams or nightmares she had the blue princess was always there, in any situation, always with the same response. ‘I’ll always be there for you ‘Twilight’’ the blue princess would always say.
For some reason every time she said her name, Twilight felt an unbearable feeling of longing and loss, as if the mare was somepony important to her.
Feeling as if the cool night air would help clear her head, Twilight slowly got up from her bed, fighting the sudden wave of weakness the disease was causing her and headed out to the balcony of the library she and her family were staying in before the Summer sun celebration started.
She just sat there staring at the night sky, when she felt a gentle claw place itself upon her back. Looking over her shoulder, Twilight saw her #1 assistant, Spike, the only other being to know of the nightmare she suffered from. As they sat there, watching the stars, Twilight thought about what the future held for her family, silently hoping that come tomorrow, she would finally have piece.