The Nutcracker
Chapter two
Dream Before the Dream
The clock sounded down the corridor. Midnight, and all was silent in the house; all except that loud dinging coming down the corridor, coming from the clock. But there is no clock. There was never a clock in the house, Twilight thought in her hazy state. Her head lifted to see the shadow of a clock, just outside her door. It was on the wall, flat and shaking ever so slightly with every ding. But where did it come from?
Twilight got out of bed, and noticed something missing, or someone. She shifted her head round and lifted her blanket covers, hopeful to find him, but The Nutcracker wasn’t anywhere in the room. Deciding wherever that clock came from, her friend must be there with it, and took off. She past her open door and headed down in the direction of the shadow. Trotting along, Twilight felt odd for some reason. She couldn’t quite place her hoof on it, but the palace almost felt different, like it was a duplicate or something. The walls were the same, the carpet felt soft as ever, but the whole feeling she got from it was just weird to her. She never did find the clock, but she did however find something more. The library, dark and abandoned with its doors opened. All the doors in the whole palace were open, and not a single night watch guard patrolled at all. It was as if Twilight was the only living pony in the whole structure.
Once again, books upon books greeted her, and memories of what she’d read in the room entered her head rather quickly. The tree, almost glowing in the dark was the first thing Twilight came across. Her head stared at it, wondering where her toy was. Lowering her line of vision, she saw it lying there against the wood, staring at her. She reached down and picked him up while being careful not to get him caught by the branches. His body came out, and levitated in front of her with purple enchantment twinkling from his body. “Mr. Nutcracker,” Twilight said, “you’re not supposed to run off. Let’s get back to bed.”
Twilight smiled at him, turned around, and was shocked to near death. The room, all the tall bookcases, all the furnishing and floor was all expanding at a very noticeable rate. All the filly could do was stare at it, scared the hasty transformation. She turned around and watched as branch after branch of the tree went passed her muzzle. Before she could even question what was happening to her and the room, she saw herself to be the size of The Nutcracker.
He looked different, Twilight’s new toy. In the moonlight that floated down from the window, he almost looked real and alive. For a moment, Twilight thought he was going to start moving. She trotted passed his standing up figure and inspected the wide room, worried about what was going on. Through what almost appeared to be a visible line of light that brightened a part of the floor, Twilight saw something step through and into it. His small, scraggly claws, cut and pink showed themselves along with his menacing nose, teeth and beady read eyes. Brown, blood stained fur was revealed, and a rat was soon standing face to face with Twilight. The filly, being petrifyingly frightened found it hard to move, and just stood there gazing at the thing while his sharp claw slowly rose to strike her.
Out of nowhere, a sword interfered with the rat. The Nutcracker stood there, fending off the beast while Twilight ran underneath a nearby table. Suddenly, they broke apart. The Nutcracker seemed perfectly fine, as did the rat. That wouldn’t stay the same for long though. The rat shot his head up and started screeching loud enough for Twilight to plug her ears. Jumping, leaping and attacking hordes of rats came from all shadows, determined to surround The Nutcracker, but it wasn’t like this wasn’t expected. One rogue soldier, then another, and more came leaping down from the tree branches, all with the same mission: help The Nutcracker.
As war raged on, fighters fought till death, while others struggled with their foe, locked on and determined to kill. Twilight watched the chaos, seeing passed all these clashing warriors, her savior still battled the same rat. This one was still the worst and most powerful looking out of his whole army. Every blow Twilight’s knight dealt was deflected, and vice versa. Nothing was working, and The Nutcracker’s stamina was running low. His legs wobbled with every sharp blow given and received. The smoke that came about from all this fighting made it hard to see, so Twilight finally decided to help in the only way she knew how.
Galloping out of her hiding spot and dodging many random blades that swung every which way, she headed towards The Nutcracker and The King of Rats. She flared her horn as best she could while charging, and came to a steady, instant halt, firing everything she had right at the rat. As it struck its mighty blow, small giggles were heard from his mouth. He looked at Twilight hissing with laughter, and then stopped. The sharp sensation of having a blade struck through his body ended any joyful emotions he was feeling. The Nutcracker removed his blade from the rat, walked to Twilight and bowed. The beast with a hole in its belly fell to the floor, dead in the background. The toy lifted his head, which seemed a bit large for him, and grabbed his cheeks.
As he removed the dense mask, his true form showed itself. A handsome man about twenty to thirty, with the same facial features as the mask he wore and a tired smile was to be Twilight’s real guardian. All the other rats all crept against the corner, defeated by the soldiers who surrounded them. With their leader dead, they didn’t wish to try and escape or resist, lest death was to meet them on the path they trotted. They were all carried away, into the shadows. Twilight was finally able to talk, and asked The Nutcracker, “Excuse me…”
He looked down at her, noticing the curiosity in her eyes, and asked, "Yea my dear?"
“I’m just trying to get back home, with you of course…”
The realistic toy chuckled and said, “We’re going to my castle first, where we can talk about this arrangement. I have some explaining to do.”
He then blinked and walked off and out of the light. Twilight looked around at the battle field. Chaos did its toll, but to her, that’s the price one pays when being bad.
“Were we being bad…?”
Twilight shifted her head to the left and saw the dying rat king laying there, bloodied and teetering on the edge of death. She approached the harmless thing, and asked, “What do you mean?”
He coughed a bit and smiled. “You’re going to bring about the true rat’s reign. Oh, you can’t see it. You can’t see the devil’s face on him, but it’s there, and you’re the center of attention. I know it’s going to happen. As soon as you’re there, you’ll be sweetened into marrying him, and then…”
The filly gulped, and questioned the oddly speaking rodent, “… And then…?”
“You’re never seen from again. As if you never existed, you just… disappear… Poof! Hehe, you’re gone kid. It’s happened before, and the last time I tried to stop him, other than this time… Well, you see what he did to my friends and family.”
Twilight looked back hastily with wide eyes, returned her gaze and asked, “You mean… all those rats were…”
“People… Indeed they were. The Nutcracker changed that though. You think he’s the hero of this little deal here? You can’t see it. You can’t see his true form. What he really looks like… What he really is. He changed me and all the others, made them take the form of the one that attacked them.” He nodded off with closed eyes, "And it's just a shame... Your kind's memories always fade in and out. There's been more then one, and if someone doesn't stop him... you won't be the last." The King's final, dying breath was heard, but soon after, it became hazy, and Twilight found it hard to remember certain parts of it. Looking at the dead rat, she shook her head, looked off into the darkness, the direction where The Nutcracker went, and headed off, leaving the deceased behind.