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// Chapter 4: Nightmares 
// Story: The Lost Power 
// by helix412 
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 	“Congratulations. Now you’re here. But, let me ask you a small little question:  what if it all … just … disappeared …?” 
I couldn’t see anything until a single, dim light came on. What I saw horrified me, just like the first time I saw it: Rainbow Dash’s body, mangled, sliced, and twitching in pain while she cried.
I gathered all the strength I could to yell at the strange, but all-too-familiar voice “Why are you doing this?!”
In the dim light, I only vaguely see the tall, dark outline of the being who spoke in that deep, venomous voice. “Simple. Because I enjoy it. I enjoy your pain. Your suffering. Your fear.” I could hear him start to pace around, inching ever closer to me. “It gives me power. I feel invigorated when I do this. It makes me feel …” he crept his face down and smiled, “powerful.” He chuckled. “But, we are done here.” With that, he nailed me to the wall and stepped back to admire his work like a deranged carpenter.  “Now, there is just one thing missing.” He turned his back and threw a match at me. Within moments, I was lit up like a bonfire. Burning.
Then I woke up.
When I woke up, I still felt like I was on fire. This was nothing new; I always felt the last thing to happen in the nightmare when I woke up, and it was generally pretty painful.  After I regained enough of my senses, I crept into the shower (which took surprisingly little time to find). I went in, and cooled off both physically and mentally.  When I was done, I dried off, put my pants and what remained of my shirt back on, and went back to the main room. It was bustling with life and energy; Derrick was talking with Fluttershy and Applejack, Joe was talking to Twilight and Pinkie, and Spike was talking with Rarity.  But after I took a closer look, I couldn’t see Rainbow Dash anywhere. I went back to the guest room to see her still sleeping. But I was concerned; it had been a few days since I had actually slept for an extensive period of time, meaning I was due for a knockout. I walked back to the lobby and pulled Twilight and Derrick into a nearby room to ask something.
“Hey guys…” 
Derrick looked at me as if he hadn’t seen me for a while, and Twilight mirrored the look “Hey James. How are you doing? You hungry?” Derrick and Twilight kept firing question after question until I interrupted.
“Derrick, stop.  I need to know.  How long have I been out?” 
Derrick looked down as if trying to remember when Twilight spoke up “You’ve been asleep since when you got here two days ago.”
That’s when I froze. “Did you try to wake us up?” 
Both had an expression of confusion, but after a while Derrick spoke up. “We tried to this morning. We all did. But you didn’t wake up. And what do you mean ‘us’?”
I was shocked to hear this. “Dash is still asleep, and she sleeps every day, unlike me.” 
“Actually, she doesn’t.” Derrick and I looked at Twilight. Now things were getting scary.
“What exactly do you mean?”
“Well, for the past few months she’s been having nightmares. She’s been staying with each of us just so that there was somepony that she could confide in.  We all tried to cheer her up. But we couldn’t, not even Pinkie Pie. Pinkie’s still trying to get over that.”
So Dash has been having nightmares too…? “What are these nightmares about?”
Twilight looked down. “I don’t know. I’ve tried to find out several times, but she says that it hurts too much to talk about it.” I was going to continue asking questions, but I was cut off by something that I had heard in my nightmares oh-so-many times before; the sound of something screaming.
At the sound, I ran into the guest room to find Dash stuck to the ceiling, crying. “Twilight, I think we’re going to get some answers.”
I was one of the only people capable of reaching the ceiling, so I grabbed Dash around the waist and pulled her down. Once I did, she clamped onto me, still a torrent of tears. Everyone heard the noise, and they were all standing near the doorway (Joe and AJ leaning on opposite frames) trying to see what was going on. Pinkie Pie jumped out from the doorway, asking, “Is Dashie OK?”
I turned from Pinkie to the group that was still by the door. “Could you give us a minute, please?” Derrick nodded and ushered the group out, except for Pinkie Pie.  “Hey Pink, could you give us a few please?” All I got for a response was a blank face and a deflated mane. A sadden Dash is enough of a problem. I couldn’t leave a Pinkamena on the loose. “Hey, could you put a party together? Y’know, to welcome us to Ponyville?” It was like someone threw a switch; she re-poofed, and was bouncy and energetic while bounding out the door to plan the future party.
Once there was no one else there and Dash had calmed down enough to loosen her grip, I pulled away to look at her face. It was stained with tears; her eyes were red and puffy with tears still flowing from them. “Y’OK?” Dash just looked at me as if she was looking at me for the first time (well, it was the first time, but still). “I’m sorry we haven’t met. I know I may look strange, but right now, I just want to help.”
Dash just looked away. “Nopony can h-help me …” I knew what she meant; I didn’t believe that others could help me either. No one could relate to my problem. Until now.
“Why can’t anyone help you?” I kept my tone calm and quiet; Dash was still trying to control her emotions. 
“Because nopony knows what I’m going through …”
I began getting curious, but fear quickly replaced it. “What are you going through?”
Once I said that I got a very dirty look. “Why should I tell you?” Her tone was venomous. 
“Because I know what it is. I know how it feels. The death, the destruction, the hate.” Dash’s expression turned back to sadness, and she began to cry again. “Dash, please tell me what he did.”
She jumped slightly. It must have taken her by surprise that I actually knew about “him.” There was no answer for some time, but then she finally answered. “You know how it feels?” I answered with a nod. “OK. I’ll tell you.”
She began to tell her tale, holding back the tears near-constantly. “I was somewhere dark. I couldn’t tell where; I couldn’t see anything until somepony turned a light on. It shot right in my face. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw that I was strapped in a chair, and I couldn’t get out no matter how hard I tried.  Then this … thing walked in carrying my friends. It said, ‘let’s see how you handle this one,’ and dropped them in front of me. It took Pinkie, trapped her in a big mirror ball, and threw it into the air. The ball crashed back down, leaving Pinkie torn up with Celestia knows how many glass shards in her. Then it chopped off Twilight’s horn and threw her straight up. I couldn’t see where she went, but I never heard her land…” 
She paused for a moment. I could tell this was painful. Once she had somewhat recovered, she continued. “By then, Applejack was tied up and helpless next to a huge tree. It somehow turned one of its legs into an ax, and then it chopped the tree down. It smashed her. Then it trapped Rarity in a big cotton ball, and then lit it on fire. She screamed for me to help her, but I… I… I couldn’t…” 
She again paused and attempted to hold off the tears. She started her story, and she seemed like she wanted to finish it, no matter how painful. “It locked Fluttershy, the same Fluttershy I saved from the bullies at flight camp, in a small metal cage. It kept scaring her and scaring her until I heard a ‘pop.’ Her eyes went wide, she fell and… and…”
Here it comes. 
“She didn’t get back up!” She couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. She stopped for a few minutes, just so she could vent out her pain. I didn’t blame her; I knew the feeling. “I couldn’t stand it. I looked at this thing and asked it why it did this to me and my friends. It gave me the same answer it always has: ‘Simple. Because I enjoy it. I enjoy your pain. Your suffering. Your fear. It gives me power. I feel invigorated when I do this. It makes me feel … powerful. But, we are done here.’ That was when he untied me, took control of my wings, made me fly up really high, then down straight into the ground.”
She began to tear up again. I knew firsthand how destructive these dreams were to someone’s sanity, and that it still hurt once you woke up. 
“Does it hurt?” I was curious; I had to ask. “As in, right now. Does it hurt?”
“Yeah. All over. It feels like I ran into a brick wall.” I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I did the only thing I could think of: I gave her the hug that I knew that she needed. This pushed her to her breaking point. “They were all dead, right in front of me! And I couldn’t do anything!” It took all the energy she had to say that while she sobbed into my shoulder.
“I know, Dash. Trust me. I know.” As she cried, I thought about my own nightmares, and that one speech that she talked about: “Simple. Because I enjoy it. I enjoy your pain. Your suffering. Your fear. It gives me power. I feel invigorated when I do this. It makes me feel … powerful. But, we are done here.” It was the same line I always heard from mine. But considering the current situation, I put the thought in the back of my mind.
After what felt like a few minutes, I pulled back a bit and kept my voice soft, but upbeat. “Come on, can The Amazing Rainbow Dash be seen crying?”
“H-HEY! I…I’m the toughest pony in Equestria!”
“Then come on. Your friends are waiting out there.” 
Unfortunately, that’s when reality hit Rainbow Dash. “Wait … who are you? And how do you know me?!” Here we go again…
I explained everything the same as when we explained things to Twilight.  Once we were done with that, and after I had answered as many questions as I could (many I didn’t want to bring up, but answered all the same), she looked at me and said, “Strange, but as long as you don’t hurt anypony, I’ll tolerate you and your friends.” When she said that, she was being headstrong and full of herself. I couldn’t help but think, “She’s going to be fine; or at least until another nightmare hits.”
As we walked out of the room, the conversations that were proceeding soon ceased. I had to tell everyone that they didn’t need to stop talking for us, and they soon restarted. Dash went over to the group of AJ, Fluttershy, and Derrick; I went over with Rarity, Twilight, and Joe.
“So, might I ask what happened while I was out?” Everyone was eager to tell me. 
Joe told me about how he and Derrick met the Mane 6, and elaborated that I had already been introduced to them. He also told me that Derrick spent most of the day running around town, getting to know the locals and telling them that we were friends, and also dropped by Sweet Apple Acres to help out there, since Big Mac apparently injured himself (again). As for Joe, he hardly left the library, preferring to sift through its volumes for leads on the manticore attack earlier, while regularly checking up on Dash and I looking for any new or hidden injuries.
Twilight wanted to ask me some questions about Dash’s nightmares, but I told her that that was up to Dash to tell. It wasn’t my place to do that.
Rarity gave me a smile and said, “I really do appreciate you and your friends risking your lives to protect Twilight from the manticore.” She handed me a box with her magic. “I noticed your shirt was destroyed from the attack, so I made this for you.” I was more than curious, so I thanked her and opened the box.  Inside was a new shirt. Needless to say, I was grateful; I forgot to bring extra clothing.
“Thanks for the shirt, Rarity.” She thanked me, saying it was the least she could do. The shirt was jet black, with silver designs in the shape of a pair of sunglasses on the front. Once I put it on it felt a little loose, but not inconveniently so. But then the obvious question came to mind. “How did you know how to make this?”
Joe raised his hand and simply uttered, “Yo.” He elaborated that Rarity came by the library earlier needing a human model to help make it. Joe gladly came along, and gave her the design and shape.
“What good’s Shades without his shades? Am I right?” “Shades” was a nickname for me that was used due to my near constant wearing of sunglasses. I quite liked it, so the name stuck.
About five minutes later, Pinkie came back and joined us. After about half an hour, it started to get dark. I began to wonder how I could pay them all back for helping us and giving us place to stay. Then, genius struck. “Y’know, I’ve got my house alone for a few days, so why don’t you all come see our home?” As I said that, I realized that I had been quiet for the past 15 minutes or so, and I got a mixture of confused and excited looks. “Sorry, I spoke what I wanted to think, didn’t I?” Joe and Derrick nod, but everypony there just looked confused. “Sorry, sometimes I speak my mind without realizing it. But the invitation is still out there.” As I looked around the room, all I saw was nodding and smiles. “Outstanding.  I’ll go get things ready. Joe and Derrick can bring you gals in about an hour, K?” Everyone in the room nodded, with Joe and Derrick both glancing at the clock to get a gauge of time. With that, I left for the portal to home thinking, “How am I going to get the place cleaned up for a party?”