Darkness enshrouded Equestria. The sky wasn't it's normal blue tone as it always was. It had been shifted to a dark gray due to the amount of ash that raised from the many wildfires scorching the open fields, reducing what was once green to smoldering embers that scattered in the wind. The mountains in the distance had begun to break apart at the top as the hot magma forced its way out and trickle down the sides of the tall peaks.
In the small town of Ponyville, every single pony was screaming for their lives as they saw the approaching threat heading their way. Some tried to grab onto their loved ones and run out of town, while others were too terrified to even move from the spots that they stood. Voices rang through the night as ponies scrambled under the dark sky.
"Hurry! Run!"
"We have to get out of here!"
"She's coming!"
Suddenly, the treat store Sugar Cube Corner burst into flames. The blaze quickly raised Into the air and lighting up the rest of the dark town. While all others turned to flee, a cyan Pegasus with a multi colored mane ran towards the destroyed building, "Pinkie! Pinkie!" she screamed out in horror.
Rainbow Dash panicked as she sat there and stared at her friend Pinkie Pie's home burning. Reacting, she kicked open the front door and flew inside and up the stairs. She burst through the bedroom at the top and scanned for her friend, "Pinkie, where are you!?" she was terrified at this point now. The smoke was getting nearly too thick to see anything, and breathing was becoming difficult. Her vision was starting to fog up as the carbon dioxide was building up inside of her. Then, on the side of the room, she saw her friend.
Pinkie sat trembling in the corner, her pink coat had been stained nearly black across her body. Her pink mane and tail, which normally had a cotton candy fluff look to it, sat straight down and had been singed in multiple spots. Her front right leg had a very deep burn across the knee, the burnt skin stripped of hair.
Rainbow sprinted over to her injured friend, "Pinkie come on! We *cough* we gotta get out of here."
Pinkie sat staring at the ground, "I- I can't."
"Come on get up! I'm not leaving you here." Rainbow dropped down and put her head under Pinkie's injured leg and lifted up. Struggling out of the room, Rainbow supported her friend down the stairs and out of the front door just before several burnt beams crashed down from the ceiling and shattered on the dining room tile floor.
Dropping to the ground, Rainbow struggled to get air as she felt her lungs burning. She looked over to see Pinkie laying face down in the dirt. Ignoring her own pain, she crawled over to the pink earth pony, "Pinkie Pie, are you all right?"
All of the sudden, Sugar Cube Corner exploded in a blinding flash of fire. Rainbow dropped down and spread her wings over Pinkie to shield her from the blast. She cringed at the wave of heat that she felt strike her back. After a moment it subsided. Turning around, Rainbow saw that the store had been completely obliterated, leaving only several beams and boards sticking up from the ground. Then she felt her heart stop as a single figure came through the flames.
The unicorn's bleach white coat shined against the bright, flickering fire that made up its mane and tail. Her blood red eyes stared at the two ponies before her as she casually stepped over the splintered pieces of wood of the destroyed bakery. Coming to the street, she slightly turned, revealing the purple star cutie mark on her flank. Her muzzle shifted into a sinister smile seeing the frightened looks of the Pegasus before her, "Hello Rainbow."
Rainbow crouched down out of fear of her once good friend, "Twilight, why are you doing this?"
Twilight chuckled, her normal soft voice now mixed with a serpent like tone, "Isn't it obvious? I am the most powerful unicorn in history. It is my destiny to destroy this pathetic world."
Rainbow trembled at the look in Twilight’s eyes, which had the intent of killing. Tears formed in her own eyes as she watched the white horn become writhed in flames and point straight at her, "Twilight, please don't. You're our friend. You don't have to do this."
"I was your friend. And just so you know... I am meant to do this. it is why I exist. It is my destiny." Twilight then tilted her head down and pointed her burning horn at the crying Pegasus.
----
"NO!"
Twilight jumped up out of her bed from the scream that escaped her throat. Sitting up, she looked around to see herself inside of her room. Her eyes then shot to her forearm, seeing that her fur was still its normal purple tone. She felt the perspiration soaking her entire coat, causing a slight chill over her body as the air made contact with the moisture. The sunlight was already sneaking through the window, causing the many small trinkets in her room to shine.
Breaths coming in rapid gasps, Twilight tried to calm her thoughts, "It's just a dream. It's just a dream." despite seeing that what she saw wasn't real, her body trembled uncontrollably from what she awoken from.
Over a year ago, Twilight had been trying to understand her friend Pinkie pie's pinkie sense, which everypony said could tell what could happen in the future. Being skeptical as normal, Twilight went on a mission to prove that her friends twitching was just coincidence. Yet despite how many insane things happened, Pinkie accurately predicted everything that she described.
Soon, Twilight's frustration reached a new level when they came across a hydra, and that wasn't what was causing Pinkie to shake. Infuriated, Twilight felt her magic shift, suddenly causing her mane and tail to burst into flames, her coat bright white, and her eyes a deep crimson red. After a moment, the change vanished instantly. Pinkie and the others there were shocked, but figured it was a simple magic outburst, but Twilight knew it was something different.
At that moment when she changed, Twilight felt something snap inside of her. She had no idea what it was or where it came from. After it had disappeared, she had tried to push the memory into the back of her head and forget it had ever happened. Despite trying to ignore it, however, every time she saw a flame or even heard the sound of crackling fire, the image of herself in that disturbing form resurfaced into her mind.
Then, in the last month, the nightmares began. At first they were short and blurry, only moving images of herself leaving her friends and her home. Over time they grew much more vivid. Some of them showed her turning into that horrible beast and falling into darkness. Other dreams showed the land burning in an immense inferno, scorching the ground clean of all life. A week ago Twilight even cast a spell on herself to help eliminate nightmares while she slept. Not only did it not help, but the dreams were getting worse.
Now, the nightmares were becoming so vivid that she could not ever tell what was real or what was fake. All of them had shown her transformed into that beastly figure, destroying everything in her path as she walked. What bothered Twilight the most was the look on her face in the nightmare: she was enjoying what she was doing to all of the ponies.
The stress of the dreams were beginning to eat away at Twilight. She had begun to slack off in her studying, the library was always a mess, and even her temper had taken a turn for the worst. Before she could handle so much stress and things coming at her, but now it only took a small amount of frustration to set her off in a tantrum.
She then thought of her teacher, Princess Celestia. She had never mentioned anything about what was happening to her mentor. Now, she wanted to ask for help, but fear kept her from ever asking. "What if she sees me as a monster for what I am thinking? What will she do to me? Punish me? Banish me?"
Clenching her eyes shut, she tried to get rid of those terrible thoughts. Dropping back down into her bed, she felt the dampness from her sweat on her sheets, but she didn't care. She curled into a tight ball and grabbed her pillow and pulled it against her chest. The soft material did bring some comfort to her, but it did nothing to stop the flow of tears that began to pour out of her eyes. She was happy that Spike was away to Canterlot on business for the day; she didn't want him to see her like this.
She continued to cry for several minutes, her sobs echoing in the quiet library. "It's just a nightmare. Nightmares aren't real."