//------------------------------// // The truth and the whispers in the dark // Story: Nightdreams and Daymares // by mareinthemoon //------------------------------// Edited by vs.dubstep Rainbow Dash was awaiting the other to return with the supposed help he had promised for her and her friends. This place was odd and it was as if time flowed in a different fashion, dripping slowly or raging fast. There was no happy medium, no peaceful pace for this bizarre space. However did this thing manage to live in such a place all this time? It might have been the stillness around her or maybe even the darkness at the edge of this false reality but she felt herself pondering upon Pinkie's last statement. He looked just as sad as me The words were unsettling. It made her mind swirl about in deep thought and then the things that death had revealed only proved to deepen the mystery. Something horrible had happened in this place, something Death wanted to keep hidden from the world. The natural order popped into her mind once more, how could one disturb it? What was its crime and why did it snap when the thing it made was taken away? Her thoughts about this being only proved to leave her curious. If it was so bad then why was it seeming to attempt to please me? She wondered to herself. The answers weren't so clear, but from what she had seen of its power, if it wanted her to suffer it would have done it at the very start. Twilight, having pored over the scrolls in the restricted section of the Starswirl Library in Canterlot, knew that the being before them was at one time a sacred herald of creation. The tome only mentioned that in the beginning there were three created from the first light of life: Death, the moderator and the Dreamer. "Rainbow, what are you thinking about?" Twilight's words caused the cyan mare to look over sadly, her eyes filling with tears. "Why would it do these things? One moment it's kind and offers me a chance to go back to our world, the next it's cruel and kills you all one by one, dragging you into this horrible place." Twilight looked to her and sighed. So her captor had killed her. At least that mystery had been solved. "Rainbow, I think this being was once pure but living in this place warped its mind and purpose..." Twilight had concluded this when this sunny spot had been made for them. It was trying to be accommodating and give them a sense of safety. But the thing had been without others for so long that it was not good at explaining itself or properly getting others without murder of a horrible fashion. ----------------------- He made his way through Ponyville, the other ponies not even acknowledging his existence. He was little more than a spirit in the world of light and to his disdain, the inhabitants of this world were like every other. The supposed 'Natural order' restricted them from ever knowing him and for those who saw him, they took a one way trip to a mental institute. It was mainly the Pegasus race that encountered him. They flew so high and often had near death experiences. The cause for the phenomenon of seeing your life flash before your eyes derived from seeing the memories of the one behind the wall that pertain to you. So for one brief moment he is seen as you see your life through his eyes. He walked down to Sweet Apple Acres where he was certain to find the earth pony working hard to fend off the sorrow. Sure enough, as he approached the farm, there stood Applejack bucking away at the trees. He made his way over to her, his shadow taking form onto the tree. No matter how refined he looked in this form his shadow always portrayed the truth, the smiling sharp teeth and the glowing red eyes. The pony before him jumped as she looked at it. He always thought it was a cruel irony that they could only see his twisted shadow and never a form that would not frighten them. He got over such things long ago and embraced his dark shadow as his distinctive calling card. --------------------- Death made his way back to the heavens. This was a most distressing matter and she was needed now. He made his way through the intricate double doors and into the throne room where the pink mare sat with robes of silken ivory upon her body. She was the distinguished moderator of the world or as we know her, God. "State your purpose Death," she spoke in a very formal and scrutinizing tone. She believed all beings were beneath her and were to be treated as such. The hooded pony was panting as he bowed. "We have trouble madame moderator, it has managed to get out of its world again and it's killing innocents, taking them back behind the wall." He was in a panic now, this was not good at all for anypony. It was dangerous and had the capability of slaying countless lives more easily than taking a breath on a sunny day. She raised her gaze at this news. That abomination was loose once more and poisoning her perfect world once again. "We must reclaim the souls and return them to their world as if it never happened." She knew it would not be that easy, it never was when it came to him. That blasted stallion of depravity ruined her dominion once again. The mare led the way back down to its wall, observing the crack it had made. It was no bigger than a keyhole, but it was more than enough to allow its inhabitant to creep out like the vile smog he was. Rainbow looked at the newcomer confusedly. Somehow she appeared less useful than death despite the regal way she carried herself. Part of Rainbow wanted to see her captor tear her to pieces. It was a dark part that was slowly making itself known in her mind. Had she always possessed such darkness within her soul or was it the constant darkness around her that inspired such thoughts towards such a prim and proper mare. Either way, she knew that the way this new mare looked upon her, as if she was something to be killed, was not good at all. "Stand back my ponies. I shall free you," her voice boomed as she expanded the crack to where she would easily walk in without snagging her gown. With a well placed stomp she began to destroy the small patch of brightness inside the dark world, more intent on peeling the colors and light out than helping them to escape. ------------- He loomed over Applejack who he had tied on the machine that crushed and ground down the apples to make them into juice and sauces. He felt his crack expand. The stallion stopped his current movements, every tear in his world feeling like a heart attack amplified by strikes of lightning. He needed this one last mare to make the fake world he had made whole, so Rainbow would not be afraid anymore. The stallion looked up, his eyes narrowing as they turned black with malice. He would not lose his light a second time. He flew up to where Death and the Moderator were dismantling his world, removing the scant traces of color he had managed to bring inside the wall. Death was first to see him. He had been herding out the mares gently as to not alarm the wall's keeper. But the actions of the moderator would prove to call the Dreamer faster than Death would have hoped. "P-please, you have to understand. They can't stay in that world. They will lose their light and be consumed in darkness." Death's frightened pleas, did not deter from his purpose nor his calm. The words only proved to fan the flames of contempt and untamed rage within the approaching being of darkness. He looked down upon Death, his fangs barred as his white skin peeled away to reveal the bloody red figure, nails driven into its own hooves to cause pain, proving it was alive. The eyes were removed and left to weep black. The soul was tainted and the tears replaced by its dead blood. The horrific fanged grin that tore up either side of its face with assorted stitches upon the gashes kept the eternal grin, the only way it could bring itself to smile. The wings of bone jutted up from its bloody back, the bones of its spine evident and leaving indention's upon its seemingly stretched flesh. This was proof of the dreams that had died and rotted away as did his feathers. The mangled mass of stitches down its middle, moving past his visible ribs, to show it was indeed empty inside. "Like I have been?" Death cowered beneath its gaze, shuddering as he feared for his life. The ponies gasped in horror at the true form their captor had. It was truly horrifying. Fluttershy and Rarity averted their eyes from its hideous form which only proved to anger it more. It despised the monster it had become, but it was far past the point of no return. There was no turning back now. Then, it saw Rainbow Dash's eyes fixed on his form, wide in horror, and it felt like screaming. The look upon the moderator's face was that of sick enjoyment. The monster had taken an innocent. Twas beauty that should slay the beast. Things were falling into place for her. She wanted it to suffer for the last time, when it nearly killed her for taking his created beauty away. Now, it was suffering more pain and torment than she could ever inflict. The black ooze poured down from its empty eyes as it turned away, There was no way his dream would come true in any life. Death looked upon the form, stinging guilt washing over him. He knew that it had done wrong but it was them who wronged it first. It had lost the ability to dream and was consumed with endless nightmares. The next thing that happened, no pony accounted for. Rainbow Dash bravely walked forward, her eyes looking upon its retreating form. She gently tapped his side and felt only pity for the being before her. Saying she was not afraid would have been a blatant lie, but from what she could gather, it never wanted to become this thing. "Can I ask? What was your initial crime? The one that disturbed the natural order all those years ago?" Death gasped in terror. She did not need to know that much. Her soul was in jeopardy now. The truth would lead her into the dark again. "Stop Rainbow Dash. Don't do this to her," he cried out to the dark being before him. "He said you created a life, one against the natural order..." Rainbow Dash continued with the question. She felt like it needed a chance to tell the truth since nopony else would give that chance. "I did. She was the last of my dreams, the last dream I ever had," tt said in response. Could there truly be the light at the end of the tunnel? "Stop! You will ruin her. Do you want her to become like you?" The words Death said cut deep into its broken soul. He would hurt Death willingly to get what he wanted, but would he hurt the last dream he ever had? She had finally returned to life after so very long and her light had found him again. He looked upon the mares and knew they could never last in his world. He had wanted them to bring the light they put into their world into his own, but it all went south in the end. The dream they had once was dead and gone, burned like the pages of a book. "Dashie dearset, I promised you once I would let you live again. I will grant you this, under one condition." Rainbow was confused by the sudden change of subject. "W-wait a sec here? Who did you make?" Her friends began to vanish as the dark closed in around them, fading. The last thing she saw was it mouthing out to her with a sad smile as the vision faded from sight. 'Just you' ---------------------------- The mare gasped and awoke in her bed, sweat pouring down the side of her face. It had all been just a nightmare? She sat there in the dark. The dreams had been so vivid and thoughts of the dark stallion consumed her mind. Are we awake? Or is it a dream? But for who has Yet to be seen. She sighed, It had all been a very realistic dream, she convinced herself as she pulled the covers up around her. In the darkness around her she could have sworn she heard a whisper. 'Sweet dreams Dashie dearest.' Not all things are as they seem. Like the beauty of a Nightmare, Or the pain of a Dream. -------------------------- Another side, Another story. Hold fast to your spirit as You venture back into the dark once more. Long forgotten the tale of death and despair, Drifted away like a song in the air. Come inside and you shall see The beginning in the tale called Duality. Forget the falsehood, The lies you've been told All that glitters cant be gold. Venture back to see the truth of it all, How the dreamer became the beast of the wall.