“One more monster crawled inside, but I swear I saw it die…”
(Red - “Faceless”)
A slowly twisting maze lay before her. The cold walls of stone surrounded her, offering her no chance to take any route but the one that had been pre-planned for her. She looked up; because there was no upper roof to this maze, she could see as far as her eyes’ power would allow her. For reasons she couldn’t comprehend, though, all she could see was an inky blackness. “Full dark, no stars,” as she had heard it put once.
She couldn’t understand before now what that phrase meant. Now, though… She knew.
The worst part about it, though, was that she could hear sinister voices echoing from inside the walls. It was as though an impish presence was living inside them, whispering delusions of madness to anyone who was trapped within. She tried to shut the voices out, but it was no use; the incessant chatter seeped through any magical barriers she put up around herself.
“The most insidious thing in the world,” she muttered to no one in particular, “is nonsense that sounds just plausible enough to listen to…”
Her horn lit up in a display of magic, as she began to walk forward with no small amount of trepidation. She didn’t know what was around the first corner, much less what awaited her at the end of the maze. She didn’t see any other way to go, though, so she had merely resigned herself to walk it in solemn silence… And so she did.
Her thoughts were her only companion: “To what end is this…? I don’t get any of this? Am I in some kind of dream? And if I am… Why can’t I wake up from it?” She shook her head irritatedly. “Come on now, Twilight… You’ve got to get it together! You’ve got to wake up from this!”
She turned the first corner slowly, letting the light from her horn illuminate the darkness. In the brief moment it took for her eyes to adjust, she could have swore she saw something deftly flit out of the reach of her light spell and back into the darkness it called its home. Then again, she couldn’t tell for sure. It could have all just been a trick of the light, or her paranoia… Or something more sinister, maybe.
Slowly she continued, trying path after path in her attempt to escape. Some directions led to simple, blunt dead ends. Others continued winding for what seemed to be ages, leading nowhere and yet everywhere at the same time. At moments, she could almost sense that she had been in that spot before, that all she was doing was just doubling back on her own tracks, but owing to the fact that all the walls- texturally and in color- looked exactly the same, it was impossible for her to determine this.
And so, she steeled her resolve, and kept walking.
After a few more trips and a few more dead ends, she stopped for a bit to try and re-orient herself. It was only then that she realized something: the voices that had been speaking to her had been becoming more and more clear by the minute, and now that she was not giving her full attention to the hunt for the exit… She found that she could hear the voice perfectly.
“It’s about time you stopped to listen to me, I say. You of all ponies, Twilight Sparkle, should know just how much it aggravates me when my… subjects… don’t listen to what I have to say.” Immediately, the light went off in her head, as to why she thought the voice was so familiar.
“You again?!” Twilight hissed. “Can’t you just leave it alone? Why do you have to keep coming to me in these dreams? Because you want to live up to your name? Nightmare Moon?”
Nightmare- wherever she was- laughed an evil laugh, and Twilight could almost sense that Nightmare was imagining laughing straight into her face. “Why do you think I call myself that? Just for the attention? No, it is because I find that nightmares are the easiest way of imparting certain… knowledge to the ponies I visit. And the best part is, they don’t even have to realize I’ve done anything!” She laughed that laugh again. “They’ll just chalk it up to whatever they want, really, and just go on with their lives!”
“So why can’t you let me do that? Why can’t you let me go on with my life? Why keep coming back to me?”
“Because, my young one… You are the key to my release from this prison.”
Her words dawned upon Twilight anew. “So this place, where I am right now… This is where you’ve been trapped? Since the Elements banished you?” Before the sentence could even be finished, a thick black smoke appeared in front of Twilight, and just as quickly disappeared, leaving behind the being who had used it to transport herself there.
“Oh come now, Twilight,” Nightmare said with a grin. “A magician never reveals all her tricks… Not right away, at least. I’m still having fun with this. And it’s not like you have a choice in the matter, anyways. One way or another, you are going to end up releasing me once again.”
“No!” Twilight spat out. “I- I would never…!”
“Or so you think… Do you really believe yourself to be incorruptible? Well, let me tell you this, young Sparkle: so did the princess you all call Luna, and look what I did to her!”
Twilight was about to respond when she heard a scream, echoing as though traveling from some far-away place. If she hadn’t been able to identify the source of the voices from earlier, she had no trouble then being able to tell whose scream she heard. Her eyes widened. “Rainbow Dash…!” She began to force herself out of the dream, using her magic to wake herself up.
“Yes… Go to your friend… Soon, none of this will matter! For my time is coming once again, and I… will…-”
Twilight’s eyes snapped open, Rainbow’s scream echoing in her eardrums. Immediately, she flipped the covers off of her and hit the ground running. She scooped Spike up from out of her bed, ignoring his sudden cries of protestation, and sat him on her back as normal as she bolted out of the house.
“What’s going on?” Spike asked, still groggy. “Where on earth are you going like a bat-pony out of Hay-des?”
“Rainbow Dash is in trouble… I could hear her screaming in my dream. I’ve got to go see if she’s ok!” Spike said no more; nothing else needed to be said, as Twilight rocketed down the sleepy, empty city streets. She could still hear Dash’s pained, scared screams in her mind… not to mention Nightmare Moon’s parting words to her.
She reached Dash’s house in record time, but stared up at the cloud house in dumbfoundedness. Of course Dash lived in a cloud house; she knew this for a fact. So why on earth did she come all the way out-
The door to Dash’s house opened up and a blue streak came flying out and down towards the ground. Spike barely had time to jump off of Twilight’s back before Dash hurtled towards Twilight, landing and wrapping Twilight up in a terrified embrace. Twilight tried to give her a comforting hug, but she wasn’t quite sure if it had the intended effect, as she’d never had to console anypony as completely and utterly scared as Dash was. She wasn’t crying, but Twilight could tell it was taking everything she had in her not to do so.
She gave Dash a minute to compose herself as best she could. After a minute or so, Dash looked up at her, still shaking. “T-Twilight…? What were you doing coming over here?” Twilight was confused for a second; why was this the first thing Dash asked her? She just shrugged it off, though, chalking it up to a temporary confusion following whatever tragic event had befallen her. And speaking of…
“Dash, I… I heard you in my dream. You were screaming so loudly.”
Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You… heard me? In your dream?”
Twilight nodded. “It was another one of my nightmares… About you know who. We were talking and then all of a sudden… I heard you screaming, but like it was from really far away. And I knew it was you, and I woke up and raced over here. Dash, what in Equestria happened?”
Dash stepped back a bit, releasing Twilight from the hold she’d put her into. She couldn’t seem to meet Twilight’s eyes for some reason, and Twilight was having a very hard time figuring out why this could be.
“You… you were right.”
Twilight was now really confused. “About what? What was I right about?”
“Nightmare Moon.”
The simplicity of this statement bowled her over. Dash had been one of the most vocal detractors of her “Nightmare Moon is going to return” theory, and now she was having a complete and total 180? Twilight was having a very hard time believing that. Then again… there was the point of Dash’s screams.
“Why are you just now believing me on this?” Twilight asked. “Why the change of heart?”
“Because I saw her, ok?” Dash turned away from Twilight fully now. “She was in my room, standing right next to my bed. I couldn’t have mistaken her for anypony else, either.” Twilight’s jaw dropped. This was the last thing she could have expected Dash to say.
“She even said something to me. Something about being afraid, because my nightmare is just beginning.”
Twilight’s mind was reeling from this revelation. “But… Nightmare Moon was supposed to be sealed away still… As far as I know, she hasn’t been released yet, because I’m sure that Celestia would have told me once it had happened…”
“Well, I’m just telling you what I saw. You can believe me or not, it doesn’t matter. I know what happened.”
“Dash…” Twilight walked up to her friend and put a comforting hoof around her. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you. That’s the last thing I’m saying. I just want to come at this logically and-”
Dash whirled around, knocking Twilight’s hoof off her neck. “Logically? Are you serious?! What in Equestria is logical about any of this? You were there when Nightmare Moon was defeated; so was I. The Elements were supposed to make sure that Nightmare never came back, and as far as we knew, that’s exactly what we’d done. And yet now, you’ve been having all these dreams, and Nightmare herself apparently just showed up in my room! What part about any of this is logical?!”
Twilight had to admit, Dash had a point. “Well, how about this. Let’s just head on over to Princess Celestia’s castle, and we can sit down and talk to her about it.”
“There will be no need for that, Twilight. I am already here.” Twilight turned at the sound of the familiar voice. Sure enough, Celestia was standing a few feet from them, her royal chariot in the background. At the sight of their princess, both Dash and Twilight bowed deeply, as was the custom.
Celestia smiled as she walked over to them. “No need for such formalities right now. You may rise.” After they had done so, Celestia cast a glance around the area. “No prying eyes, I hope- or ears, for that matter…” After a moment, she nodded in satisfaction, then looked over at Dash. “I heard the last part of your conversation with Twilight just now. You say that Nightmare Moon came to visit you?” Dash nodded, and haltingly recounted the same story that she had just told Twilight.
When Dash was finished, an odd pallor had come over Celestia’s face. “This… this should not be. The Elements were supposed to have done their job.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all along,” Twilight put in.
Celestia shook her head. “This cannot be a good omen at all. I will have to consult the texts that I have been reading to see if there’s anything I can find out about this.”
An almost sly smirk briefly crossed Dash’s face. “Well now…” she remarked to Twilight, “I can see where you get your egghead-ness from now.” Twilight gave her a glare, then looked back at Celestia.
“Why do you think she chose Dash to reveal herself to? Would it not make more sense for it to be me? You know, with all my dreams and everything?”
Celestia’s eyes glinted for a moment, and Twilight could tell that she had had a revelation. “Do either of you think it was possible that it was not actually Nightmare Moon that came to Dash’s bedside tonight?”
Twilight was about to argue the point, but a moment later, she saw where Celestia was trying to go with her line of reasoning. “You think it was Chrysalis, don’t you?”
Celestia nodded, obviously pleased that her student had caught on so quickly. “The Changeling queen does have the ability to shape-shift into whomever she pleases, as she so adeptly proved when she impersonated Cadance for such a long time without anypony knowing the better of the situation. It could be entirely possible that it was Chrysalis, and not Nightmare Moon herself, that appeared to you tonight, Rainbow Dash.”
“But why Nightmare Moon? Wouldn’t Chrysalis know that Nightmare was still locked up?”
Celestia nodded. “Wasn’t that something that Chrysalis mentioned that first night that she appeared to you, Twilight? About Nightmare Moon’s returning?” Twilight nodded, and Dash nodded as well, remembering Celestia’s coming to visit her.
“I see Twilight has kept you apprised of the situation,” Celestia said approvingly, noticing Dash’s agreement with her statement.
Dash looked at her a bit askance. “Um, don’t you remember, Princess? You’re the one who came and told me about Chrysalis’ coming to see Twilight. It was the same time you asked me about Gilda.”
The look on Celestia’s face sent pangs of fear racing through her heart. It was, simply put, a look of not knowing what in Equestria Dash was talking about. “I think you must have me mistaken for somepony else, Rainbow Dash. I don’t recall coming and talking to you about your griffon friend.”
Twilight and Dash looked at each other, and each could tell the other was thinking the same thing. “So it looks like our enemy has been taking on more forms than just Zecora,” Celestia commented.
Celestia was about to comment further, when her ears perked up and she swiveled her head to the east. “We’re not alone here,” was all she said. At that, they all heard a rustling in the bushes in the direction Celestia had looked, and they saw a Changeling dart off towards the outskirts of the glade.
“Got it!” Dash shouted, and before either Celestia or Twilight could say anything, she zoomed off in the direction that the Changeling had gone off in. Though the Changeling was fast, Dash was faster, and soon she caught up to Chrysalis’ minion.
“Hey!” Dash yelled over the rush of the wind. “What’s the big idea on spying on our conversation! Did Chrysalis send you to do this?”
The Changeling looked at Dash, and though its mouth didn’t move at all, Dash heard its voice echoing in her head, clear and with a rich timbre: “Yes, she did. And I am truly sorry for what is about to happen; you must believe me on that. I did not want this, but I am bound to my Queen’s will.”
Dash was stunned for a moment, just long enough for her to take her attention off her flying. This was all she needed to make a mistake, and sure enough she flew right into the luminescent green net that had been strung between two trees. As soon as she made contact, the net closed in around her, trapping her. She cried out, not in pain but in shock. Immediately, a familiar form appeared next to the tree on the right, and the Changeling landed at her side.
Chrysalis smiled at the sight of Dash caught in her trap. “Got ya,” she said with a smirk. A split second later, a purple flash of light came from a few feet away, as Twilight and Celestia teleported to the scene.
“Let her go!” Twilight cried out, though instinctively she knew her words were going to fall on deaf ears. Chrysalis had her right where she wanted, and there was no way in Equestria that she was going to just let her go.
“Sorry, Twilight, but I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see, I have a very special use for this young one. You can have her back once we’re done with her… if that day ever comes. Until then… farewell!” Chrysalis and her changeling vanished just then, taking the netted Rainbow Dash with them.
Twilight sunk to the ground, in a position of defeat. “This is all my fault… Somehow, I know this is…”
“Then do something about it,” came Celestia’s voice from behind her. “If it is your fault, then it is your responsibility to right the wrong that you have committed.” Twilight had a sense that Celestia was not saying that she agreed that it was her fault, but that she was merely using these words to spur her into some form of action.
She rose to her hooves. “You’re right. Celestia, I’m going to need your help on this one.” Celestia nodded her assent.
“We’re going back to the library. We’ve got some reading to do.”