She was running, running, and running, but it seemed she was running in an endless maze of darkness in which she would never find the exit of. Twilight didn’t even know what she was running from, only that she knew that she had to escape from whatever was chasing her. She could only look up at the moon and stars and try to use her knowledge of the constellations to find the way out.
She turned a corner and seen something in the distance, something lying on the ground. It looked like another pony so she quickly decided to see if he or she was okay. It was definitely a stallion, but as she got closer she noticed that he wasn’t moving or breathing at all. That’s when she noticed that there was a pool of red liquid underneath him.
Twilight stared in disbelief as she noticed that the dark red liquid was blood. Her eyes widened as she looked at the dead stallion. He had a matted grayish coat that was soaked in blood and a brown dirty mane. His whole right side had been ripped to shreds by something. His head was also bleeding a bit.
She had never seen a dead pony before, how was she supposed to react. She got closer to the body and looked at the ponies’ face. His eyes were completely gray, like they had been glazed over. His mouth was slightly open and even more blood was dripping out of it.
She looked behind her, she couldn’t see anything since it was to dark. She felt like something was watching her, but didn’t know what exactly, it was a creepy feeling. She looked back down at the dead pony, which was still there in the same motionless position.
Then she looked up and didn’t like what she seen. It was a pitch black night sky, no stars, and no moon, just darkness. Twilight was starting to panic. She was surrounded in complete darkness, except for the light that seemed to follow her with an unknown source. She could only see about five hooves around her and that didn’t compensate for the walls that were at her sides.
She looked behind her again, she had heard something, something walking, footsteps.
“Who’s there,” she shouted at the darkness. The noise had stopped. It had to be her mind playing tricks on her, that’s all. She heard something else behind her again. She turned to look, the body of the dead pony had changed position, and it seemed to be looking at her.
She let out a whimper and wanted to run, but she couldn’t summon the courage to do it.
RUN!
It was talking to her without moving its mouth. She started to panic again, but realized that the dead pony was giving her advice. She took the advice quickly and started to run as fast as she could down the alley, into the darkness. There always seemed to be a five-hoof radius of light around her at all times.
The wall came too quickly, she couldn’t see it coming since it was so dark. She slammed head first into the wall and bounced back a couple inches and then proceeded to fall on her flank. She only heard a ringing sound and she was now seeing doubles. She tried to get up on all fours, but she only started to sway and then fell back down.
She tasted something in her mouth. It was warm and utterly bitter. She spat onto the ground and saw the color of red spray onto the floor. Her teeth had broken when she slammed into the wall and she had bitten her upper lip. Her vision cleared and she started to regain some of her hearing.
Twilight heard fast paced sound behind her, like something was sprinting towards her, but they didn’t sound like hooves, they sounded quieter. She decided to get up and start running again but then noticed that she had run into a dead end. Twilight began to panic even more and started to cry.
She let out a shriek, “HELP,” but knew that nopony was going to hear her. She just stood there and waited for whatever was coming towards her. She could hear it coming closer and closer. It seemed like forever before it seemed like it was right on top of her, she could only close her eyes and wait for whatever it was to get to her.
The sound had stopped. She opened one of her eyes and looked out into the never-ending darkness. She didn’t see anything, only black. She opened both eyes and then realized she hadn’t been breathing. She started to take deep breaths and only kept looking out into the darkness.
She straightened herself up and took a step forward.
She didn’t understand what happened afterward, only one second ago she had been walking and then she had been slammed into the wall. The wind had been knocked out of her and she could hardly breathe. She tried to stand up but felt something tightly wrap around her midsection and soon felt herself lifted up into the air.
The thing that had grabbed her was about twice her size and covered in black fur. She could feel it breathing on her. It looked like a wolf, but was much bigger and had bigger claws and teeth. One of the claws was holding her. Its dark yellow eyes just stared at her and seemed to examine her. She tried to break free but the creature only tightened its grip. She could hardly breathe from it crushing her.
She bit down on the things hand and applied as much pressure as she could. The beast let out a howl and then threw Twilight across the alley and into the wall. She hit the wall with a loud crash and then landed on her side on the ground.
There was so much pain now that it was unbearable. She quickly looked up to see the mouth of the beast bite down on her neck. She let out a shriek of agony and quickly began to try to fight back, but she only heard a loud crack and then her vision clouded and faded to black.
She woke up in her seat on the train while sweating and breathing heavily. She looked around at the few ponies that were staring at her like she had done something weird.
She looked out the window of the train and noticed that they were still moving.
"How long have I been asleep?" she asked herself. She started to calm down and looked to the pony across the aisle from her and asked, “How long has it been since we left Ponyville?”
The brown colored stallion looked down at his pocket watch and replied, “About five hours,” then he looked at her and asked, “Are you okay? You were making noises and thrashing around like you were having a nightmare or something.”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” Twilight looked back out the window to admire the passing landscape. It was only around one hour before the train would stop at Canterlot. She decided to use this time on thinking about her nightmares.
She had got a clearer version this time around and didn’t like it. She again was being chased through the never-ending maze of darkness. She had had her neck snapped by some animal that hardly gave her a fighting chance. There was also a dead pony that also had seemed to be killed by this creature. What she found really weird though was that there was no moon or stars in the night sky, why were there none? When she got to Canterlot, and once the Princess shows her to her room, she was going to write down all the important details from her dreams so could remember them all.
For now she needed to find a way to pass the time to Canterlot. She opened her satchel and took out the book she had packed. It was about dreams and what goes on during the mind while asleep. She might as well read up on it so she could try to figure out anything about them and if they can affect you later on.
She opened the book and started flipping through pages, skimming them to try and find anything useful. She got to the nightmare section and started reading to herself:
A nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the mind, which usually has something to do with fear or horror, with the exception of sadness. These nightmares usually contain situations of danger, psychological or physical terror.
They were definitely scary all right. She turned a couple of pages to try to find anything about a cure, but there was nothing, only that they were common and everypony experienced them throughout their lives. She kept searching, determined to find something. She stopped on a page that mentioned something that seemed important.
Ponies who experience reoccurring dreams usually are always thinking about that topic of the dream.
If it’s a nightmare that keeps occurring (especially the same one) should seek medical attention. This could mean that there is something wrong with your mind as you sleep.
That could be bad, she thought. Does this mean that she could slowly be going insane? She wanted to ask the Princess about it, but at the same time, she wanted to keep it a secret and not let anypony else know about it. She was sure she would make the right decision when it came down to it, she hoped.
She continued reading the book, about how dreams always had something to do with your emotions at the time and how that could affect them. She missed having those kinds of dreams, dreams of her friends or a dream of becoming a teacher and being awarded the “Smartest Pony” award. Instead she is stuck with these horrible nightmares.
She wasn’t even having emotional problems so that wouldn’t be the cause. She only hoped that the Princess would be able to answer her questions about these problems and all the events that had been happening as well.
The train whistle blew. Twilight looked up from her book and seen that the train was beginning to slow down. They had arrived at Canterlot.
Wow, she thought, time sure does fly when you’re reading a book.
The train had come to a complete stop and the train conductor was now letting ponies onto and off the train cars. There actually weren’t a lot of ponies getting off, only getting on. Twilight thought that it probably had something to do with the killing.
She got out of her seat and made sure she had everything in her satchel bag still, some paper, an inkwell, quill, the book, an apple and a couple of bits. She took the apple out and decided to eat it while heading to the castle. She bit into the red fruit and savored the sweet taste as she started heading towards the exit.
When she got off the train she noticed that there were hardly any decorations for Nightmare Night, it seemed they were being taken down, some of them anyway.
These ponies must really be shook up from all this, she thought. There were still some lights and pumpkins here and there, but for the most part it was pretty normal looking and all the buildings that did have decorations looked like they didn’t belong there.
Many stores had the “Closed” signs up as well, so it would probably be a little while before she could go shopping. With hardly any ponies on the streets though, it made it quite easy to maneuver the streets. Normally it was extremely crowded and took a while to get to and from somewhere.
She continued to eat her apple while the sounds of the train became faint in the distance. It was now almost completely quiet with only the sounds of her hooves breaking the almost complete silence. It was going to take some time for the city to forget about the death, of course it will never be forgotten, but until everything goes back to normal, nothing will be forgotten. She hoped that it would all end as soon as possible and everything could run its daily routine, all of this will set everything behind and become unorganized, it bugged her.
When she got to the castle gates there were of course guards stationed everywhere. Pegasi on the roof and flying around, Earth ponies and Unicorns marching around on patrols, the security had definitely been buffed up to the extreme, they were even armed.
When she went up to the gate, the white stallion that was clad in golden armor looked down at her and said, “The Princess has been waiting for you,” his voice was sort of gravely and deep. “I’ve been told to escort you up to the throne room so your royal highness can speak to you.”
“Thank you sir,” Twilight replied.
The guard gave a nod to the other guard behind the gate, in which that guard nodded back and opened the gate for them.
“Follow me Miss Sparkle,” the gravely voiced guard said. He led her through the gates and up to the castles front doors, where there were even more guards stationed. It was sort of ridiculous how many that there were, but you can never be too safe.
The guards gave each other nods and the doors to the castle opened. She was then led through the castle and up a couple of flights of stairs until they arrived at the Princess’ private quarters.
The guard turned and looked at Twilight, “The Princess will see you now.”
Twilight thanked him and entered the room. The only light source in the room was from an open window.
“Thank you for coming Twilight,” a familiar voice said from the other side of the room. Princess Celestia was looking out the window, frowning, her vibrant colored mane flowing in the breeze. “I’m so happy you made it.”
“I’m happy that I could be here,” Twilight said, “I have so many questions...,” Princess Celestia turned and held up a hoof for silence.
“I’m sure you do. I will answer all of your questions soon enough. Just let me explain why I called you here.”
“Sorry Princess. Please, continue.”
“I am sure you are aware of the problems we have experienced during last night.” Twilight nodded. The Princess continued, “The moon acting weird, clouds moving on their own and raining without the Pegasi telling them to.” She closed her eyes and sighed, “And the murder,” she cringed at hearing herself say it.
Twilight nodded again.
“I’m sure you have read up on history enough to know that there hasn’t been a pony killed in hundreds of years. The very last time was during the battle to seal Discord and end his rule. Not one pony has been killed ever since my sister Luna and I became rulers of Equestria. I hoped it that it would never happen again, but I suppose it was only a matter of time.” She started to pace around around the room. “I know that what I am about to say will certainly stun you and you might not believe me, but you must promise that when you leave this castle you will not mention to anypony what I am about to tell you.”
Twilight nodded.
“I need your word,” the Princess said.
Twilight replied, “You have my word Princess.”
“My sister Luna has lost control of the moon,” she said it with extreme sadness, “She no longer has control and can’t make it rise or go down.
Twilight was surprised with what she heard, “But...but...,” she didn’t even know what to say. “Is this even possible? It has to be Discords doing.”
“It is not Discord, we are not sure what exactly is going on. If it was Discord then more things would be wrong and he would’ve contacted me by now.” Celestia told Twilight. “It is best to not mention anything to her as well, for I fear it will only put her in her deeper depression than what she already is in."
Twilight asked, “Do you have any idea on what could be going on?”
Celestia started to pace back and forth and replied, “No, I don’t.” Then she looked back at Twilight and said, “This is why I have called you here. I want you to investigate in what could be going on. You are my most faithful student Twilight Sparkle, so I am sure you can figure out what is happening. If you find anything, come report it to me immediately. All of my guards have been notified that you are my personal assistant right now and you will have access to all areas in the castle.” She stopped pacing and looked at Twilight, “Can I count on you?”
Twilight didn’t even give herself a chance to think about it, “Yes Princess, you can count on me.” Something this important couldn’t have second thoughts. “If I may ask though...,”
“Go on,” Celestia said.
“Why did I have to come alone? Wouldn’t this be easier with all the Elements of Harmony here to help?”
“I didn’t want to release the secret to anypony else. They might be your friends, but I don’t know any of them personally. Though if I feel that we are in danger, I will call them here for protection.”
Twilight nodded once more and said, “I understand Princess.”
“I am also assigning you one of my personal guards to help you. He will be outside this door waiting for you when you leave. He will follow your every order and protect you with his life.” She gave Twilight a reassuring look and said, “I’m sure you will not let me down.”
Twilight smiled at Celestia and went out the door saying, “Don’t worry Princess, I won’t let you down.”
After Twilight left, Celestia let out a whisper, “Be safe Twilight Sparkle.
“Hello Miss Sparkle,” a gravely voiced guard said. It was the guard that escorted Twilight to the Princess. “I’ve been signed under your leadership by the Princess.” He stood straight at attention and said, “Corporal Archie reporting for duty.”
“Thank you Corporal Archie,” Twilight said.
The Corporal looked at her and asked, “What is the first matter of business?”
Twilight started to walk toward the entrance of the castle and replied, “I want to go to the murder scene and see if I can gather any information.”
Archie seemed unnerved by what she said. “Okay then Miss, right away. Would you like an escort?”
“Yes please.” She was going to take her time on this to help the Princess, but she wanted also to get back to her friends in Ponyville so she wouldn’t miss Nightmare Night.
“Alright then, follow me,” Archie said and went out the onto the castle grounds.
They were walking down the Canterlot main road when they overheard some ponies talking to each other.
“I say we shouldn’t stay here, but if you want to then I’m fine with it,” said the mare to the other. She was wearing an expensive outfit that Twilight would never be able to afford, so was the other one. “Fancy Pants is no longer going to be here until everything is sorted out and it’s safe here again.”
“But what about the Princess...,” the other mare started to say but was then interrupted.
“She’ll be fine. Look at all the guards she has, nothing will ever break into that castle.” She reassured.
The other ponies’ eyes looked away and she looked like she was trying to decide to stay or leave. “Fine, I’ll go with you.”
The other mare motioned the other to start packing her bags and get ready. Twilight began to think if there would be anyone left in Canterlot by tomorrow. She supposed that that would make things a little bit more simple in the investigation, but those were ponies that could have information. She trotted up to the mare that was left outside and asked, “Do you know anything about what happened last night?
The mare looked her up and down and replied, “Not much. All I know is that some pony was killed last night and that all the clouds were acting weird.”
Twilight already knew this and asked another question, “What about the pony. Do you know who he was?”
The mare looked like she was becoming impatient now. “No. Like I said before, I wasn’t told much.” She looked toward the door of her house, the pony she had been talking to earlier came out with a suitcase.
“I’m all packed and ready to go.”
“Good, start heading to the train station and wait for me there,” the mare said. She then looked back at Twilight and said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off now.”
Twilight just stepped out of the way and let her pass. She thought about how uninformed everypony was, how she knew more about the situation than anypony else, except the Princess of course.
“Shall we continue our way to the scene?” Archie asked.
Twilight nodded her head yes. That was horrible, she thought, if only ponies weren’t afraid of everything right now.
“So, where did this tragedy happen?” Twilight asked.
“We’re heading over to Pony Joe’s, that’s apparently where it happened.”
“Pony Joe's?” Twilight was surprised at what she heard. She used to go there all the time with Spike to waste time when she wasn’t studying. Of all the places that it could have happened at. Pony Joe was probably quite upset with everything, no sales at night.
When they arrived at their destination, there were just as many guards there as there were back at the castle. They obviously didn’t want anypony getting through to see the body. Twilight saw Pony Joe inside his bar and decided to go talk to him. The guards let her go inside, Archie following close behind her.
Joe was arguing with the guards about what he knew and didn’t know about the dead pony behind his bar, when he had seen that Twilight came in.
He sighed and said with relief, “Twilight Sparkle,” he chuckled, “The last time I seen you was after the Grand Galloping Gala last year. What brings you here on such a horrible day?”
“Princess Celestia has entrusted me with figuring out what is going on.”
Joe rolled his eyes and said, “They got you on this too? So I expect you are going to bombard me with questions as well?”
“I only have a few,” Twilight said, “All I need you to tell me is what you know about what is going on.”
Joe sighed and said, “Look, I’ll tell you what I told these guards here just now. All I know is that when I got here this morning there was a dead pony behind by my dumpster when I took the trash out. I called for help and that was that.” He looked annoyed at having to explain everything again.
“Alright, but for now you will remain a suspect.” Twilight had read up on some terms she could use to make herself sound more professional. She wished she’d never have to use these terms.
She turned to Archie and asked, “I wish to see the body please.” She didn’t want to, but she knew that she would have to eventually.
Archie motioned her to the back door and opened it for her, “After you ma’am.”
Twilight walked out and was greeted by more guards.
“She’s Twilight Sparkle, guys,” Archie told them. “She has clearance from the Princess.”
The guards looked at each other and apologized for the inconvenience. They stepped out of the way and let them pass. Twilight was starting to become a little unnerved and she started to sweat. She really didn’t want to see the body. She started to think twice about what she had gotten herself into, but quickly accepted that she was here and not going anywhere else until this was solved.
She could see the body before they got up to it, surrounded in a huge puddle of blood and accompanied by a smell that was horrid.
“Is this what death smells like?” Twilight said aloud.
“Apparently so,” Archie responded.
What happened next left Twilight staring at the body with fixed eyes and her mouth agape. The pony was a dirty gray colored stallion that had a greasy blood-splattered mane, his eyes glazed over. Twilight couldn’t believe what she was looking at. It was the pony from her nightmare.
I would like to thank my friend Rush for proofreading and helping me out with some things.
If you have any questions or comments, please insert them below in the comment section.
Hope you enjoyed it.