Nightmare
At first, it was only blackness and silence, both utterly limitless. I was alone, I was nowhere, I couldn't see, I couldn't hear...I was afraid. Then, there was something, just the tiniest little whisper floating across my mind. I followed it as best I could, but the slightest motion was a trial, so I just sat there, still and afraid. Then there was another something, a bit louder now. I managed to move to chase it but, like the first, it escaped. After a time I began to wonder. How did I get here? What's going on? Why am I here? Finally, another something, louder than both of the first two passed by, just close enough for me to grab onto it and when I did, I hung on for dear life, wanting more than anything to get out of the darkness. Looking back on it, I kind of wish I had never left the darkness, it would have kept me from what I saw. What did I see? I saw plenty of things, none of them good. The first was just a little splash of red out of the blackness, a dark splatter the color of blood, followed by a distant echo of a scream. Another splash of red, another scream, louder this time, then another and another, getting louder and louder each time.
Eventually I had realized I had my eyes shut tightly, hoping not to see anything else, but I knew I had to open them sooner or later, so I did, and what I saw still haunts me to this day. I was in the town square of Ponyville, standing over a dead body...it was of Princess Celestia. All around me were corpses, the Mane Six, townfolk, ponies just coming in to visit the town for a weekend, and plenty of others. But, there was one pony who was still alive, one I guess I just couldn't kill. Twilight. She was pressing herself against the front door to city hall, terrified. I looked down at myself and saw that I was covered in blood, no prizes for guessing what from. I had a severe pain in my head, like slow pulses of intense heat on the back of my head, and there was this horrible stench all around me, it wasn't the dead bodies, it was far fouler. When I started to regain my focus, I looked back at Twilight again and something felt just a bit off. I felt a need to go to her, to take her, there and then at the front door of town hall, whether she wanted to or not. There was a little voice in the back of my head, saying it's what I should do, it's what I want to do. But, I noticed something else when I took another look at her. All around her everything was a bit darker and it went all the way to me, almost like there was something casting a shadow...I suddenly realized what those slow pulses of heat and that awful stench were, it was something's breathing. I turned around very slowly, and I was faced with something I thought I had buried.
"No..." I said, voice quaking with fear. It didn't say anything, it only smiled down at me, its teeth broken and rotten, "No, you can't be alive, I killed you, you're dead!" Its smile only widened at this, and it let out a rumbling chuckle like distant thunder. Once the chuckle died away, it did something it never did while it was alive...it spoke, with a voice like nails on a chalkboard and ripping fabric,
"I got better."
I started to shake from fear, "NO! I saw you die, you can't be alive, I killed you myself!" I clutched my head, "I killed you myself..."
It let out another chuckle, "Well, granted, I didn't get better all on my own, I had a little help." I looked up at it, curiosity overpowering fear, "Yes, as powerful as I am, even I can't bring myself back from the dead by myself."
I managed to choke a few words out, "W-who helped y-you?"
At this it seemed also happy to tell me, "Well, my new ally goes by many names through many different worlds and cultures: Eagla, Angst, Phobos, et cetera. But, if I remember correctly, his name in this world is..." It leaned in closer to me, right up to my ear, "...Nightmare." It pinned me with one giant foot, crushing me into the ground, "Now, Ryan, I want you to remember me, and remember that I'm back to stay this time. Now, I want you to do one more thing for me. I want you to wake up." I felt my bones collapsing one by one, it was crooning to me now, "Wake up, Ryan, just wake up..."
I did three things immediately when I woke up: Snapped my eyes open, tried to sit up and screamed. The first and third I managed to do, but the second was hampered by Vinyl pinning me down,
"Wake up, Ryan! It's just a dream!" She was screaming at me. I looked up at her, hyperventilating and shaking with fear. When I finally stopped shaking, she lay down next to me and just told me comforting little things, trying to make me feel better. I couldn't hear her, though, she was drowned out by Fail and Safe,
"Safe, what in the fuck was that?"
"I don't know, I'm running a systems check now. It should take under an hour."
"Well, whatever it is, I want it found now. If he's back, the we've got big problems."
"Yes, but if we rush the systems check, we might miss whatever caused that. Boss, we're going to go dark for now, go back to Vinyl, it appears she's almost as scared as you are right now."
After that, they went silent and I started to come back into reality. I was sitting up, Twilight was right next to me, her hooves wrapped around my chest,
"Shh, shh, it's okay, Ryan, you're awake now, whatever was in that dream is gone now." She crooned. After a few minutes, I finally stopped shaking and managed to get my breathing under control. She certainly didn't let go of me because of that, though. Eventually I had to speak up,
"I'm alright, Twi." I told her, gently pushing her hooves off of me, "Thank you, I needed that."
She looked at me, still clearly concerned, "You sure you're alright?"
I looked at her, "Was it really that bad?"
Her expression went completely deadpan, "You nearly broke the bed, Ryan..." I got up and went to the window, hands in my pockets, still trying to process everything that just happened. After a minute of my staring out into the night, she came over to me, "Ryan, what happened?" I pondered telling her the truth or lying to make her feel better. But I couldn't lie about some thing like this. I took a deep breath and turned to face her,
"I had a nightmare. God, I wish that's all that it was. You know how I have Fail, Safe, and The Beast?" She nodded slightly, "Well, before The Beast took on that title, he was called Rage, and he was balanced by another called Evil. They're like the dark versions of Fail and Safe. Anyway, Rage and Evil were the precursors to Fail and Safe, they were around back when I was on Earth. Rage was what he is now, just mindless violence and lust. That was not the case with Evil, he was more cunning, more ambitious. He wasn't content with just occasionally influencing my decisions, he wanted to take over entirely. As a result, I destroyed him, wiped him from my mind before I came here. But, it would appear that that was not enough." She cocked her head slightly,
"What do you mean?" I looked back out the window, up at the moon, "In my nightmare, I saw him again, he tried to get me to do some things that I'd rather not discuss. And he...he pinned me down and told me his return was assisted by another."
She shifted uneasily, "Did he say who?"
I took a deep breath and met her eyes, "The Nightmare."
Her eyes went as wide as saucers, "You don't mean..."
I nodded slightly, "Yes, that Nightmare. I don't think I'm going to be able to do this on my own, even with the help of Fail and Safe." I could feel my face harden with conviction, going to collect my things, "I'm going to have to go for a little while."
She trotted over after a moment, "Where are you going?"
I grabbed my bag and stood back up, "Canterlot. If there's anyone who would know how to deal with The Nightmare, it would be Princess Luna."
She took my hand in her hoof and looked me in the eye, "Promise me you'll come back safe."
I allowed myself a small smile and kissed her, "Don't worry, Twi, they can't kill me, I'm technically already dead, anyway."
She returned the smile and hugged me tightly, "Come back soon." I wrapped my arms around her, "I will." She let go and opened the door for me.
"Fail, Safe, have you confirmed that it was him?" Safe appeared on my shoulder,
"It's him, alright, nothing else leaves a psychological stain like that."
"We'll keep you updated if we uncover anything else, Boss." I nodded slightly and opened the front door. I walked out into the street, sprouted my wings, and took off for Canterlot and for some of the most unpleasant hours of my third life.