The Nutcracker
Chapter Four
After Dream
Twilight awoke early that morning with a cold sweat. She looked around her blanket, but nothing was found. The Nutcracker was still missing. As she got up and headed towards the ball room, she thought about the dream she’d just had, and wondered if her toy really did become a rat. Once she entered, she got her answer when seeing Celestia herself lifting a dead rat from under the table. She looked over at Twilight and said, “Found him with scraps, and he has germs. I’ll dispose of this while you prepare for our studies.”
Twilight nodded with her lips lowered slightly. She watched Celestia leave, and searched the room after words, hopeful to find her toy, but even after years of being in the palace, she’d never find it again. And Twilight was unable to differentiate whether the dream she had that night was an actual dream, or something more. She asked about the rat towards Celestia, but her mentor said she didn’t know. This was, unfortunately, a lie.
Celestia had been guarding The Nutcracker knowing full well what he was. Anypony that ever had it in their room while sleeping often caught themselves having dreams about him, and some never awoke from those dreams after enough time slipped by. Celestia had been battling the rat for generations, but the beast had finally gone into hiding, and the alicorn needed a way to lure him out. Twilight was the only one who was pure enough to catch his hungry eye.
In time, Twilight would forget about the dreams she had along with The Nutcracker, but at the same time, Celestia wasn’t exactly positive The Nutcracker was truly dead.