Midnight found herself in a dark landscape, the surrounding area completely black. Nothing had a set form, nothing save for the ground stayed the same.
'I must be dreaming...' she thought, staring dumbfounded at her surroundings.
She contined walking, finding herself in no rush. It was just a dream, right? Nothing could hurt her here, what she dreamed of could only go so far.
'If I'm dreaming, why isn't there a landscape?' she wondered, stopping.
A good point, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't conjure so much as a cloud. The only thing definite was the smooth ground she was standing on. As if to answer her, a bright light flicked on, creating a lone pool of light on the ground. The spot moved forward, and Midnight hesitantly followed, walking after it.
She froze as soon as the light stopped, focusing itself on-
"You" Midnight hissed, spying the monster-mare.
The mare turned, revealing her face. The zipper sealing her mouth opened of its own accord, the mare stretched her jaw, cracking it as it closed.
"Finally, we meet" she responded.
"What am I doing here?!"
"Just to talk, and to give an explanation, I suppose..."
"You- why do you keep showing up? Sapphire saw you!"
"Yes, which led to my hasty escape"
"Stop dodging my questions!"
"I'm not, I want my questions answered as well"
"What questions?" Midnight asked "Why would you have questions?"
"I have watched the beings of this world for some time, and they always run at the sight of me"
"I wonder why..." Midnight snarked.
The mare flinched, and the metal teeth of the zipper curved into a frown.
"If you would prefer, we can meet in the real world, we might be able to discuss things better there" the mare suggested.
"Why would I do that?"
"If we were to meet, perhaps you would be convinced I'm not a figment of imagination"
Midnight hemmed and hawed, then groaned as she cautiously approached the mare.
"Alright, you win- but on one condition"
"Yes?" the mare asked, her ears flipping forward.
"You stay out of our dreams"
"When you say 'our', do you mean the three living in your home?"
"Yes"
"Very well, I will honor my end of the bargain, if you honor yours. When shall we meet?"
"Does tomorrow afternoon work?"
"Why yes, it does, I've got alot of free time on my hooves"
Midnight nodded as the mare disappeared from the spotlight, the light itself flickered out not too long after, leaving Midnight in the darkness.
X X X X X X X
"What? She's coming here?" Sapphire cried.
"Yes" Midnight replied.
"Why?"
"She wants to know more about ponies" she shrugged.
"But why would somepony- or something, want to know more about us? Wouldn't she already know all there is?"
"I honestly don't know, she didn't seem dangerous to me"
"Midnight, nothing seems dangerous to you"
Midnight shrugged in return.
"And did you see her? She looks like something that crawled out of a nightmare!"
"Do you think I don't know that?" she replied "I'm just as worried as you are"
"You sure don't look like it..."
"Practice; it's almost noon anyway, she should be here soon"
"Does she even have a name?"
"If she does, she hasn't said"
"Huh...yeah...so what is she, anyway?"
"She might've been a dream-eater"
"What are those?"
"They're just a foal's tale," Midnight stated, rolling her eyes "they supposedly wander the dream world, feeding on the dreams and nightmares ponies have every night"
"I don't think they're a foal's tale anymore..."
"Tell me about it- you get used to some of this stuff after living in Ponyville"
Before Sapphire could respond, there was a flash, and a cloud of black smoke drifted to the ceiling. The room cleared, and the monster mare stood in its place, the same one that they'd seen the past few nights.
"Hello!" she said, enthused.
"Er, hi" Midnight replied.
The mare trotted forward, and took Midnight's hoof, she shook it up and down in her own repeatedly.
"Is this okay? Am I doing this right?" she asked.
"Um, yes..." Midnight said, retracting her hoof.
"Oh, forgive me! Have I offended you? I haven't talked with somepony in so long"
"No problem" Midnight said "So...what do you want to talk about first?"
"I believe it would be best if we took turns, answering each other's questions accordingly"
"Okay...I guess I'll go first...what's your name?"
"My name is Dreamcast, am I correct in assuming you are Midnight Storm?"
"Yes, I am- how did you know my name?"
"Oh, I know everypony, I've seen their dreams"
"Okay...but you've never actually met them?"
"No, I have not"
"Wait a minute..." Sapphire interjected, startling Dreamcast "you said you watch their dreams...how long have you been doing...that?"
"I don't know- I suppose I've lost track..."
Sapphire and Midnight exchanged a glance, then looked back to Dreamcast.
"Anyway, my next question would be-"
"Hey mom, Dinky inv-" Squeaks started to ask, entering the living room.
She stopped dead when she saw the thing that had haunted her dreams, staring at her with those mis-matched button eyes.
The mare bounded over to Squeaks, practically muzzle-to-muzzle with her, an wide grin adorning her zipper-mouth.
"Greetings!"
Squeaks screamed in terror, then galloped out of the room at full speed, scrambling to her room and locking the door as if her life depended on it.
"Was it something I said?"