//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 Cutie Marks and Nightmares // Story: Concord of Destiny // by Zeta Dragon //------------------------------// Chapter 5 Cutie Marks and Nightmares “So let me get this straight.” Twilight says looking at you with disbelief. “You had a ‘Vision’ of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna doing battle against a Minotaur and this creature that was his apprentice?” You simply nod your head. “And this Minotaur did…something to Luna and then Celestia dueled with his apprentice?” Again you nod your head. Twilight has her face propped up by her hooves on the table. Her eyes are glazed over trying to process your story. “You realize this sounds like something out of a bad fantasy book right?” Twilight asks. “Look I’m just telling you what I saw…or dreamt.” You say, at this point considering you’ve been turned into a flying talking horse and transported into a civilization of other talking horses you would believe anything. “And then this white crystal appeared and the dream ended?” Twilight asked. “Yup Celestia had that demon dude cornered bleeding out on the floor. He told her to end it and she did something with the crystal then…..killed him.” “That can’t be, Celestia would never hurt anypony.” Twilight says. “Unfortunately while I am glad you brought this to my attention I fear there is nothing I can do. I’m sorry.” You both finish your dinner and head off to bed. You shuffle around on your pillow when a voice whispers to you from across the room. “Hey Anon, you awake?” Twilight says. “Yeah” you reply “what do you need?” “What was your world like?” “Well it was similar to this one. But there were more humans.” “Well I kind of figured that.” “To be honest I can’t really tell you all the differences, since I really don’t know that much about your world.” “Do you miss it, your old world?” “……I don’t know.” “What do you mean you don’t know, surely you must have some feelings about it.” “Let’s just say it had some things I miss terribly and some things I could live without.” “Well don’t worry; I’m sure Princess Celestia will know what to do. We’ll have you home and back to normal in no time.” “Yeah, thanks….Goodnight Twilight.” “Goodnight Anon.” --- “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!” You immediately shoot up in bed. That was Twilight! Quickly your eyes adjust to the darkness and you look across to her bed. In front of you stands a massive figure cloaked all in black with a crimson cross on a crown adorning the figures head. You had seen this figure in your dream. Demontious held Twilight by the neck lifting her off the ground with his colossal arm fully outstretch. With his other arm he extends it to his side and summons the jagged red crystal sword. With a thunderclap the sword instantly materializes in his hand. You try to get up but an unseen force holds you down. You strain but your muscles won’t respond. You watch in horror as Demontious brings the crimson blade up with the crystals reflecting Twilights pained and frightened expression. “STOP!!! TWILIGHT!!!” You shout and struggle. Demontious lifts the blade back the width of the sword almost as big as Twilight. Twilight screams at you “NO! ANON! HELP ME!!!!” She continues struggling as Demontious tightens his hold around her neck. Twilight choking barely shouts out “WHY ANON!!! HELP ME!!!!” You’re in tears trying to fight against the invisible force that pins you to the bed. It’s as though time slows down when Demontious inches back his sword then lunges it forward impaling Twilight as she screams in agony blood and tears flowing down her small broken body. Demontious lets go and Twilight’s limp body falls to the floor. Life fades from her eyes. Immediately the force pinning you to the bed breaks and you rush over to Twilight time still at a crawl. You wrap your hooves around her neck cradling her head. Your breath is choppy as you cough out the words “T-Twi-light….N-Noo-N-ooo please…NOOOO!!!” Slowly you turn your head to the side and gaze upon the nightmare of Demontious looming over you and Twilight’s body. His shadow casts over you both blocking out the light of the night and Luna’s Moon. Inside your stomach and in your heart a fire ignites as your muscles tense. The sadness is there in this surreal moment but is quickly being replaced by anger. You stare at the mask of Demontious again the crimson cross covering his face. Two dim white spots are what you only assume are the eyes of this abomination. “YOU MONSTER!!!!” you shout getting up and flaring your wings. You charge full speed at the creature and pounce like a wild animal. Hooves outstretched teeth bared anything you could do to cause pain. You can feel the evil presence of Demontious grow as you swipe in midair at him yet when you do he simply evaporates into black ashes with you passing through and face planting on the wooden floor of the library. You shoot up in bed gasping for air like you had been underwater for hours. “ANON WHAT’S Wrong?” Twilight says sitting up in her bed across from you. A stinging chill overtakes you, looking down you see your drenched in sweat almost like when a fever breaks. Your body shakes and spasms uncontrollably and you feel incredibly nauseous. “ANON WHAT IS IT?” Twilight asks again. “Twilight…is it really you, are you alright?” you say. “Yes of course it’s me, I’m fine, but you look terrible.” “I don’t feel so good.” Your ears burst out ringing almost silencing the world around you. As if reading your mind Twilight flips the lights on and levitates a bucket over to you. You fight back but can’t anymore, leaning over the bucket you empty your stomach into the steel. Twilight is almost immediately at your side patting you on the shoulder “Sssh Sssh, its ok just let it out, let it out.” Once you’re finished Twilight levitates over a cool washcloth to clean you up. “What happened Anon?” You regain yourself with your breathing returning to normal. “Bad Dream.” You say bluntly. “I’ve never seen a bad dream do that to a pony.” She gently strokes your mane with her hoof. “Damn, those weren’t special mushrooms on the salad were they?” “Heh heh No” Twilight says shaking her head. “OH man…” “Want to talk about it?” she asks giving you a look of concern. You thought about the dream and almost broke down. “NO.” “Are you sure, I’m here for you, Your safe.” “Thanks, but right now I just need to rest.” You get up and go to crawl back into your bed. “What are you doing?” You turn and see Twilight. “I’m going to bed.” “But your sheets are wet you can’t sleep there you’ll get chills” She then smiles. “You sleep with me tonight.” You would’ve spit out water if you were drinking some. “WHAT! No no no, I can’t do that. Just give me a blanket and I’ll sleep down on the couch.” Twilight gives you an angry look but you still hold strong. You snatch up a pillow and a blanket and begin to trot downstairs. You suddenly feel as though you’re walking on air. You feel like you have stopped moving and tingle all over. You then look down and notice that you are walking on air and being levitated back towards Twilight. “Listen you’re getting in this bed whether you like it or not!” “NO!” you say stubbornly scrambling to no avail. “You’re sleeping with me!” Realizing your useless struggle you give. “Fine.” You say annoyed. Twilight levitates you over and plops you down in her bed. The sheets caress your skin. A large quilt slides up and covers you. The warmth is a welcomed change to the cold dampness. Twilight crawls in beside you. She then turns off the lights and your eyes adjust you see she’s looking at you smiling in the darkness. You roll over facing away from her you feel another blanket wrap around you except this one feels rougher. You see Twilight has you wrapped in her wing. “Twilight No I’m not….. cuddling with you.” You say. “Oh relax this way I’m right here and I’ll keep the bad dreams away.” She giggles. You don’t know why but for some reason a warmth crawls into you and you embrace your sleep snuggling up closer to Twilight. Twilight giggles “There was that so hard.” “Twilight………..Thanks.” The two of you succumb to sleep. The next morning you awake and find Twilight absent from the bed. You get up and decide to clean up before venturing downstairs. You meet Twilight and she serves breakfast. She still pesters you with questions about your dream but you don’t give up any information. It was a nightmare just to hear it mentioned. You were still curious as to a lot of the aspects of this new world, with only a few days until you would meet the Princess and possibly get home you decided to learn everything you could about this new world. Twilight was all too eager to help you. As the town librarian she had a plethora of books on Equestrian history. You protested that you wanted to just start with the very basics. “Well Equestria was founded in the dawning of the second age by the……” After that you just lost track as Twilight went into what seemed like quantum physics. “Twilight that’s too complicated for me, can’t you tell me just the very basics.” “Hmm well I know someone who can but you may not like it.” “Who is it?” you ask. “Her name is Cheerilee she is a teacher at Ponyville Elementary school.” “Doesn’t get much more basic then that.” You say. Twilight gives you directions to the school where you can talk to Ms. Cheerilee. You trot in the direction that Twilight pointed you. After a few minutes you see the large red tower with the school bell marking your destination. The school is just a simple red building surrounded by a small picket fence painted white. Near the building is a small playground where several colts and fillies are playing various games. You walk up to the entrance to the school house. “HAHAHAHAHA!” bursts of laughter shower your ears as you look and see that all the foals are looking at you pointing. Why are they laughing at me you wonder? I’m too old to be in elementary school but I could be an older brother. Two small fillies come running up to you, one has a tiara on her head. They both point and laugh at you “HAHA BLANK FLANK!” They both shout in unison. "Blank flank" you think. A dark almost wine color pony runs up to you. She quickly shoos the two fillies away with her hoof “Now now that’s not how we greet strangers.” She says. The two young fillies run off to the playground to resume whatever it is they were doing. “I’m so sorry; those two can be such a hoof full.” The mare says turning towards you. “Oh its fine but I must ask, what do they mean by “Blank Flank?” You ask. The mare looks at you quizzically before realizing who you are. “Oh you must be that Stallion Twilight found. I thought I saw you flying around the other day.” She smiles. “I’m Miss Cheerilee, teacher here at Ponyville elementary.” “Anon, Nice to meet you” you say shaking her hoof. “Likewise, now is there anything I can help you with.” “Well there’s” “OH RIGHT!” Cheerilee interrupts you. “Blank Flank, well those fillies called you that because you don’t have a cutie mark.” “What’s a cutie mark?” you ask. “This” Miss Cheerilee says presenting her flank, on it was a mark of three flowers smiling happily. You then look back to your own flank and see that those two were correct your flank is blank. You look around the playground and see all sorts of marks adorning flanks of young fillies and colts. “Does everypony have a cutie mark?” you turn to Cheerilee “Yup everypony has a mark though some get it later than others, none are born with one, and they must earn it.” “Earn it, earn it how.” “Well each mark represents a pony’s special talent. Everypony is good at something and all those talents are what make us all so special. Each of us is unique.” Cheerilee smiles. “So how do they know what they were meant to do? How do they find their special talent?” Cheerilee laughs at this “ha-ha you remind me of three young fillies.” “What?” “Well there are these three young fillies who don’t yet have their marks, the made a group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, They try everything to get their marks.” “And they still haven’t succeeded?” “Nope, but they never give up hope. I know they’ll find their talents someday and they do too. I truly believe that’s what makes Equestria so great. Determination, harmony...peace.” You really hung on to those words. If only your world could’ve shared those ideals. You and Cheerilee continued to talk; she taught you a few things about Equestria and its history. She told you of how Twilight and her friends are the elements of harmony and saviors of Equestria. “Well Anon it was lovely chatting with you but I must get back to teaching I’m afraid.” “Yes Miss Cheerilee; thank you for the knowledge.” “Oh you’re welcome dear. Here I’ll show you out.” With that you and Miss Cheerilee walk out the front doors of the school house, trotting down the dirt path to the fence you turn and say your goodbye to Miss Cheerilee. As you trot out into the square you notice it’s absolutely bustling with ponies. The stalls were all busy with business, ponies were sitting on a bench chatting and laughing. You decide to go back to Twilights when you bump into a pony wearing a cloak over its head. “Excuse me” you say apologizing for the bump. The pony in the cloak stops dead in its tracks and turns, you can’t see its face under that hood. Why would it wear a hood it was a sunny day out. You snap back to attention when the pony speaks. “You dropped something.” It says in a flat tone. Sure enough you look down at your hooves and see a small folded piece of paper on the ground in front of you. “I-“You look back up and the pony is gone. You look back down and pick up the note, going over to an unoccupied bench you sit down and unfold it and see what it says. “Tonight, Ally behind Sugar Cube Corner, Come ALONE!!!” looked to be hastily scribbled on the small parchment. A feeling of panic comes over you as you repeat the words a thousand times in your head. What was this was it a trap? A million different scenarios played out in your head, should you tell Twilight, it said come alone though. Should you just ignore it? Pretend it didn’t happen? You walk back to Twilight’s, the rest of the day is spent helping her run errands in the town, meeting up with her friends, and most of all being nervous about the countdown to sundown when you would have to decide whether to meet the writer of that note. You were eating dinner with Twilight when your worries must have got the best of you. A knock came at the door and you jumped about a foot. “Anon are you ok” Twilight said answering the door to a small purple and green dragon. “Y-yeah I’m fine Twilight thanks.” You say. “Tomorrow we travel to Canterlot so you can meet the Princesses.” You put a hoof to your forehead and wipe away some sweat. You were exhausted and let out a sigh. “Anon, may I ask you a question?” You snap back to attention “Of course Twilight.” “Do you….want to go home.” Silence, as Twilight just asked the ultimate question. You thought of your world, and then you thought of this one. It was no contest as to which was better to you. But would you abandon your world just after a few days, were you really that weak willed. “I don’t know Twi.” You say with another sigh. “I’m not trying to force you to do something….but you could always stay here.” “And do what? How would I make a living! I-…………I’m not meant for this world…….but why don’t I want to leave.” “You would always be welcome here. I don’t know what your world was like, but it sounds like you didn’t deserve what it did to you.” “I don’t know Twilight.” Twilight and you head off to bed. Though this was just part of your plan. You had thought about it and decided to meet whoever wrote that letter. You didn’t know what you were getting into. After a few hours lying awake in bed you hear Twilight softly snoring indicating that she is asleep. Gently you slide out of your bed and trot downstairs. Opening the front door you step outside into the cool night air. The moon was high in the sky while you walked to Sugarcube corner. Ponyville seemed a lot different at night. Everything was quiet and no pony was walking the streets. You see Sugarcube corner loom in the distance. Next to it you see the meeting spot, a small ally that runs behind it. Taking a deep breath you step in front of the entrance to the ally and immediately freeze up when you see the cloaked figure standing perfectly still in the middle of the ally. It’s hard to see but it looks like it’s smirking, like it knew you would come. You take a few steps in to the ally but the figure quickly raises a hoof to stop you. “That’s close enough.” It says “Who are you?” You reply. “A friend.” “If you’re a friend then why all the cloak and dagger nonsense?” “Are you or are you not the supposed transformed human.” “What’s it to you.” “I’ve been looking for you is all.” “Yeah well what do you want from me.” “I just wanted to talk.” It says. This pony was really starting to piss you off. “Well we’re talking aren’t we?” you say trying your best to act tough when you really are afraid. “Aww is the little pony afraid of the dark.” The figure laughs “I ain’t scared of you or anypony!” You shout. “Now what do you want!” “ANON!” it shouts back, now you’re really freaked out. “H-how do you know my name.” “Why….Finn told me.” It said snickering “WHERE IS HE? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?” “Oh I’d worry more about you then I would him.” Suddenly you hear the faintest hoofstep behind you, immediately acting on instinct you fly straight up into the air avoiding the grasp of what was behind you. “GET HIM!!!” the cloaked pony shouts. You fly as high as you can before looking back. On the ground was what tried to grab you. A giant Spider about four times your size staring up at you hissing with venom from its fangs. You then saw two shadowy figures flying after you; they looked like a cross between a human and a bat, almost like a gargoyle creature. The screeched at you, kicking into high gear you flapped your wings faster and harder then you ever have before. It’s still no good the creatures are gaining on you. The cold night air stings your eyes making it hard to see where you are going. In an instant something flies past you. It looked almost like a pony. You squint your eyes trying to find the unknown creature. Again you turn around and see the two gargoyles closing in when suddenly they disintegrate as a magic pulse of energy hits them. You look up to see a dark blue pony. She has wings and a horn. Her cutie mark is a crescent moon surrounded by night. She turns to you hovering in the air. She then dives straight towards you too fast for you to react. She grabs you and lights up her horn as you scream. Looking around you realize you’re in your bed at Twilights house. Was it all just a dream? You look around, no note, nothing. It seemed so real. Seeing Twilight and Spike gently sleeping in their beds you roll over and close your eyes letting sleep embrace you.