Distorted Fate

by Silvak


Chapter XX: Nightmare

After Pinkie’s absurd disregard for the laws of physics, I said my goodbyes to the Crusaders and Applejack as I picked up my saddlebags, explaining that I needed a moment alone to recover from the shock. I was walking down the the street, my mind in utter confusion due to Pinkie's antics and the knowledge that these ponies were somehow able to move the sun and moon. It was mind boggling that there was actually a species that can move giant ba—THWACK!

"Gah!" I said as I fell on my rear, as I rubbed a hoof over my muzzle as I looked at what hit my face, only to see a door. Guess I was too caught up in my mind-breaking realizations to pay attention to what was in front of me. Looking at the building before me, I saw it was Sugarcube Corner, which made me realize just how long I was lost in thought. Shrugging it off, I opened the door to see the usual line of customers and Mrs. Cake at the register, who waved at me when she saw me. After I waved back at her, I headed upstairs and into my room, not wanting to deal with any more craziness for the day so that I wouldn’t end up with permanent brain damage.

Putting down my saddlebags, I pulled out a book and got to practicing my reading for the rest of the day, though during dinner I did give Pinkie a stern look for the surprise she gave me earlier. She instead simply smiled and tousled my mane with a hoof, which caused me to drop my look since it was pointless to keep it up. After dinner, I returned to my room to practice my reading until sunset, at which point I decided to simply go to bed instead of staying up, hoping that a good night's rest would help put my mind at ease.


"Hey shorty, how was your last job?"

"Eh, nothing special Kalin, just the usual 'do my best to not die' kind of stuff."

"Are you sure? Cause you're now even shorter than you were before."

"What are you tal-" I started to say before I looked at myself, where I saw that I was in my pony body. "Oh... this is a dream..." I muttered to myself as I look up to see that Kalin had disappeared. Turning around, I found myself in the middle of the pony town... I really should have asked for its name by now. Though one thing struck me as odd in my dream.  It was in color.  Normally my dreams are monotone, while this dream was fully colored. Though this change was probably caused by my change in species, so odds are my new brain chemistry is allowing me to dream in color. Maybe this is why ponies are more cheerful than most other species.

Choosing to wander around in my dream, I noticed that it was rather devoid of any signs of life. Sadly, I had no way of controlling my dreams. I never mastered the art of lucid dreaming, though it is hard to learn that skill when you don't dream often, and this was my first dream in this world. Normally, I recalled my sleeping to be just vast voids of darkness where nothing happened, or I just simply go to sleep and wake up hours later without anything in between. Regardless, this was a time for me to explore the effects my new body could have on my dreams. As eerie as it was to have the entire town empty, it did offer me a much-needed moment of solitude. I could only handle so much of Pinkie Pie defying the laws of... well, everything... Oh fuck no, I hope she can't enter dreams, too!

After looking around for any signs of Pinkie, I let out a sigh of relief before I began to notice something changing. Looking around, I saw the background losing some of its color, as the color of the sky began to fade, but not into the darkness of night. It was just losing its hue of sky blue.  As I pondered this sudden change, the ground began to shake, cracking apart as the buildings were torn to pieces. Bracing myself on the ground, I watched as the ground shattered, fragments of the land beginning to float all around me as though the laws of gravity had ceased to exist. Yet even after seeing this occur, I remained calm, for I knew I was dreaming and that I had experienced stranger things... until I saw a massive tentacle come from below. Its flesh dark and mutilated, the tentacle was something I’d never seen before in my life. That is when I started to panic.

I saw the tentacle flex away from me, which alerted me to its intention. Quickly, I jumped off the floating chunk of land I was on onto another one before the tentacle swung down on that chunk, shattering it into pieces. Knowing that it wouldn't give up so easily, I jumped from floating island to floating island as the tentacle came up and down, destroying anything in its path. It wasn't long before I was left standing on the last chunk of land left untouched, the tentacle before me as it flexed in preparation to smash me to bits. Knowing that this was the inevitable end to this nightmare, I simply closed my eyes to wait for it to shock me back to the waking world.

"Begone foul beast!  Thou shall not torment this young one's dreams no more!" Opening my eyes in shock of the unknown voice, I looked up to see the tentacle being blasted apart by a ray of light. Looking to the source of the light, I beheld the sight of a dark blue alicorn, one that was larger than Twilight and dressed in what looked like royal regalia as she flew down onto the last remaining strip of land. While I would hate to admit it to anyone, I was gaping at the sight of the alicorn, completely dumbfounded by what I had just seen.

"Do not fret, little one, for that beast was merely a figment of your imagination," the alicorn said after she landed. While she was keeping a reserved composure, it soon started to crumble at the ridiculous sight of me gaping at her. It didn't took her long before she started to wave a hoof before my face as she said, "Young filly, are't thou well?"

It was her break in composure that brought me back to my senses as I closed my gaping mouth. Looking at her, I asked, "What are you?  I never seen you before, and I do not think I imagined you."

Apparently my limited understanding of the pony's language confused the alicorn, though the only sign of that was the slight raising of one of her eyebrows. "Thou do not recognize us, the Princess of the Night?"

"Err... no... though I do not know many princesses, I know of Princess Twilight... because I met her..." I explained, which caused the princess to tilt her head in now open confusion.

"Hath thou been living under a rock? How can thou not know of the princesses of Equestria?"

"Umm... well, I am not from around here. I even speak different... words... though I have been learning the... words of this land now," I said, hoping that will satisfy her.

"Ah, thou are from a foreign land, and with thy age... that explains thy lack of knowledge. Thus, we will introduce ourselves then," the alicorn said before taking on a more regal pose. "We are Princess Luna, princess of the night, co-ruler of Equestria and Steward of the Dreamscape. We hath come to thy dream for thou hath been experiencing a nightmare, and it is our duty to protect our subjects from all threats, real or imagined."

Wow, she's certainly one for words, I thought to myself, before realizing that this meant that this was actually royalty before me. I quickly bowed to her as best as I could, since this was the first time I actually bowed and she looked like a more important figure than Twilight. I mean, Twilight didn’t dress for the part of royalty and lived in a tree house. Princess Luna, on the other hoof, was far bigger than Twilight and certainly looked the part. "Sorry Princess Luna for my... lack of respect from earlier. I thought you were a.. thing of my... mind, and not an actual pony," I said, as pondered on the fact that a pony could enter my dreams. Great, next thing you know, they can read minds whenever they choose.  I hate dealing with species that can mess with your brain.

"There is no need to bow before us young one, though we appreciate the gesture. Now we will take our leave of thy mind, for we have other subjects that we must safeguard from their own nightmares. But first..." Luna said, before waving a hoof, causing the landscape to return to what it once was before the nightmare began.

"Thank you Princess Luna, it was a... pleasure to me—" I started to say with a smile, until a bestial growl interrupted me. My smile slowly fading away, I looked around to find the source of the sound, as did Luna, a frown on her face as she scanned the surroundings as well. Suddenly, I heard a howl, my head turning towards the alley to catch the sight of a monster leaping from it toward the two of us. At first I wasn't frightened due to having an alicorn that apparently could control anything inside dreams, but then I saw its eyes. At the moment I saw the eyes of the monster, I let out a terror-filled scream, as my dream completely shattered and I returned to the waking world.


The moment I awoke from my nightmare, my screams came with me as I sat up, screaming in horror. Only mere seconds passed before Pinkie Pie appeared at my side, her forehooves encircling me into a hug.

"Aether, it's alright, I'm here. You were only having a nightmare," Pinkie said, as I continued with my scream, that apparently awoke everyone for soon the Cakes were at the open doorway to my room, Mrs. Cake calming down the twins who were about to burst into tears from having their rest interrupted. Pinkie soon started rubbing my back with one of her hooves, which soon calmed me down enough for me to finally end my screaming. Looking up at her, I saw her eyes full of concern before my vision blurred from tears surging onto my eyes. As I released terror-induced sobs, I buried my face into her chest, crying onto her fur as she continued to hug me, repetitively telling me that everything is alright.

However, even with Pinkie's attempts to soothe me from my terror, the sight of the monster still dwell on my mind. It was on four legs, bearing wicked claws on its feet, its skin ragged, dark, and mutilated like the tentacle nightmare that came before it, it's triangular shaped head roaring with its jaw full of so many sharp teeth that no natural creature should have. But what scared me the most was its eyes.  Its hatred-filled eyes. Eyes that spoke of untold horrors of what its appearance would foretell. Eyes that I never before witnessed in all my travels, but I knew what they were, what they belong to. Eyes that will haunt me for the rest of my life, as they would for any that have saw them. The eyes of a Venanite.