//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Seed of Doubt // Story: Dreams in Discord // by Gsbrill //------------------------------// It was just another summer night in Ponyville, almost no sound could be heard on the streets and inside Twilight’s house (a huge hollowed tree located by the center of the small town) except by the snoring of a baby dragon sleeping soundly in a small basket, a few mosquitoes flying around and the groans of a not-so-soundly-sleeping unicorn. During the last few weeks Twilight Sparkle had been haunted by frequent nightmares, being barely able to sleep at all, waking up covered in sweat but remembering none of them. But this one was different. It was vivid, and she was fully aware of every event. She was standing in a dark and foggy room. She could only tell it was a room due to the high ceiling, since the walls were so far away she couldn’t even see them. The room was covered in bookshelves that seemed to go as far as the room itself, but with gaps between them, allowing free passage through the ample corridors that they formed. The place looked familiar, especially the books that filled it, and upon closer inspection she could see that most of them were books she had read throughout her life, although there were many unknown to her. She dared to grab one of those with her magic; one named “The Ticket Master”, and opened it at a random page. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- …“Well, ah challenge you to a hoof wrestle, winner gets the ticket!” Saying that, Applejack and Rainbow Dash darted to a nearby log and started wrestling with all their might. “They’re at it again, oh for Celestia’s sake!” you think. As you run up to them, you force them apart somehow, despite them being far stronger than you, and try to end the pointless competition. “Girls! These are my tickets! I decide who gets to come with me thank you very much!”… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Sleeping well tonight my dear Twilight?” Says suddenly a voice coming that seemed to come from all directions and no specific direction at the same time, startling her and making her lose concentration, dropping the book to the floor. Still trying to recover herself from the scare, Twilight tries to form a form a proper sentence, without much success. “Wha; Where am; Who?” The voice bursts out in laughter, making her cheeks turn bright red. After taking a few deep breaths she manages to speak. “Don’t scare people like that; my heart is still trying to jump off my throat! Anyway could you tell me where I am?” “Oh please, can’t you recognize this place? Just think about it for a bit, I think you’ll see that everything in here will be quite familiar to you.” She stopped and thought about it for a second. The book she read showed events from her life, seen from her own point of view. No one else could have written those books, but she also didn’t write them, and also it would be an enormous coincidence for there to be a library with the exact same book she read throughout her whole life. “I can tell it just by looking at your face. Still no clue right? Well then, solve this riddle for me. Factory of dreams, poems and schemes of war. Grows strong with old age as the body grows sore” As one would expect, Twilight loved this kind of challenge. She thought for a minute before answering intrigued. “Wait, so you’re telling me this is my mind? Is this whole place inside my head?” “Exactly! Wouldn’t expect less from you. And as an answer to your question, yes we are inside your mind, since trough these dreams is the only way I could find to talk to you, for I have a matter of utmost importance to discuss with you”. Those words caught her attention, but there was still something bugging her. “Yes we may discuss whatever you want but could you please show yourself? It’s not very polite to speak to someone without looking at its face, and trying to talk to a voice that seems to come from everywhere around me is making my head spin.” “Well if I must” Said the voice in displeasure. Then, suddenly, the air started swirling around right in front of Twilight, condensing the fog and much of the darkness itself of the room, and forming a small tornado, dropping many books in the process (somewhat pissing off Twilight with the idea of someone cluttering up her mind). When the wind stopped, she could see a dark form in front of her. Well, “see” is not quite the word for it. It looked ethereal, barely tangible. It was a pony-shaped creature, with two large wings of different sizes. It also had a horn. Or two she couldn’t really tell, it seemed to change shapes every passing second, only keeping its size. Even though it had about the same size as her, it had a really imposing presence. That was probably due to the only discernible feature in it: its eyes. It had a pair of bright yellow eyes with red pupils that both scared and mesmerized her. “Here. Better now?” No answer. It spoke again in a louder tone. “Hello? Still there? You’ve been staring at me for quite some time”. She snapped out of her trance, once again ashamed and her cheeks turned red. “Sorry for that, I’ve never seen anyone or anything quite like you, and trust me; I have had my share of strange encounters. So, what should I call you, mister…miss?” It answered with a visibly offended tone “Well, I think that was supposed to be quite insulting, but I’ll let it pass. What and who I am is not important, but for the time being, you can call me Sid for short, and let’s keep it that way. And I am CERTAINLY a male individual.” Twilight was now starting to understand better how Fluttershy probably felt and just how much a pony could possibly embarrass itself. Desperate to change the subject she asked nervously “So, Sid, what were the important matters that you wanted to discuss with me?” “Well I was getting to that, after all the distractions. Pay attention for it is a matter of great importance to you, and everyone in this land of yours that you mortals call Equestria” “Mortals?” She wondered what he meant by that. He kept on going and gesticulated continuously with his hoof-like appendages while he spoke. “Tell me Twilight Sparkle, do you know who the one that rules this land is, and what she is?” She rose an eyebrow to this question, after all everypony knew the answer, but she answered it sincerely anyway “Of course it is Princess Celestia, our most gentle and fair ruler, and she is also my mentor and has been since I was very young” She said it like she had already prepared the answer beforehand, and was very proud of her answer. Sid retorted with a sign of anger in his voice that he wasn’t succeeding (or even trying) to hide. “No my fool little pony, I meant what she really is” “Oh, that, she is an alicorn, an immortal creature with enormous magical abilities, but of course you knew that, she raises the sun for us every day after all”. Sid slapped his “hoof” in his face, making an audible noise. “So you don’t know” he said sounding really disappointed. “What do you mean?” She asked. He kept going without even worrying to answer. “Well, that is to be expected from someone that grew under the wings of the royalty, being so blindly loyal and all that. But!...” He proclaimed and in the blink of an eye disappeared and reappeared with his face just a few inches away from hers and staring deeply into her eyes, his own glowing slightly with a glow similar to the one that comes from an unicorn’s horn while executing a spell. “I do not blame you for it. That’s how you were raised. But you must see underneath her godlike exterior, her shell of lies and deceit” She wanted to protest but she couldn’t find the will to do it. His voice was filled with sarcasm, but yet so convincing, even though he was throwing accusations at her object of adoration. “You probably know how she came to be Princess right? It is said that she and her sister created the world and ponykind itself, and ruled it together. Until then the story adds up. Then, she sealed her sister away and had been taking care of everything, including the control of the sun AND the moon, which previously required the strength of the two alicorns, and everything goes as normal”. He spoke fast, and moved around way too much, almost as much as a certain pink pony Twilight knew, but the strange thing was that every time he stared into her eyes, it was like a jolt of electricity went through her body, and it was going numb. She was still aware of all that was said, how could she not? The voice now sounded like it was coming from inside her head, and sounded less like a sugestion and more like absolute truths. “Then, her sister SOMEHOW manages to come back from the moon. And guess what? You’re sent to take care of it. You and other 5 clueless ponies, to endanger themselves to correct something your almighty and righteous princess messed up. Are you following? She could only nod in agreement. “She then forgives her sister of all her crimes, no punishment at all. Isn't that lovely? And nopony complains. Funny thing isn’t it?” She was now trying as hard as she could just to think critically about it, as hard as it were. “No, it couldn’t be her fault. She had a reason to send us to that mission right? And her sister was being controlled by something. But what? Why didn’t she defeat her? And how did she escape the moon in the first place? Wait, how did she survive in there anyway? No, stop this nonsense; the Princess wouldn’t do something to harm us, would she?”. And he just kept going. “Then, a powerful monster is revived, a draconequus that had already been sealed by her, and who she sends to defeat it? Can you guess?” She barely manages to mutter “Us” groggily, and holds her mouth half open like someone under the effects of a powerful anesthetic “And then, one by one, the creature takes control of your friends and turns them against you, brilliantly I must say, and makes you go through some of the worst moments of your life, just to seal him back up, something that, theoretically, the princess could just redo by herself, saving you much pain don’t you think?” “Maaaybe this is a bit too much for you to handle at once” he thinks and then snaps his fingers, making Twilight jump up and knock down a few books. “No that can’t be truth the Princess looks after us there must be an explanation she always looks after us and takes care of everyone there must be a reason why she didn’t help us or why she didn’t seal discord by herself even after I found the elements again and she knew it..” She said without even pausing to breathe “then…why…didn’t she help us?” She asked to herself, noticing what conclusion she had reached. The seed of doubt had been planted “Don’t you think it’s high time you stopped worrying about that fake goddess of yours? She is not almighty, she is neither perfect nor fair, she is just an old walking fossil that refuses to die, she is like a child that refuses to let go of a toy that it is too old to play with, she does not deserve your loyalty”. “No, no, no, let’s not rush conclusions here, we must be rational, there must be a reason for all this.” “Need any more proof? I’ll give you some. Do you recall an event in which a friend of yours, let’s say, “Borrowed” that bird from the princess to take care of it. What did you say it could happen to her? What would the all forgiving and fair princess would do to an innocent little pegasus with only the best intentions in mind? In your own words...” He said mimicking her voice with scary precision and making a fairly good impression of a frightened pony.“She might banish you to the Everfree Forest! Or lock you away in a cage! Or banish you to a cage in the Everfree Forest!” He laughed out loudly. “And that time when you almost snapped when you thought that you would be; what was the word you used? Oh yes, “tardy”, with one of your friendship reports? That was priceless. So, what makes you so afraid of her? I really don’t blame you on that one. She just tries to display her power as much as she can. Why? So everyone of you will be so frightened that you wouldn’t try anything, lets say, “stupid” against her. Just think about it, what if that sun raising ceremony of hers is just a lightshow? Just the biggest display of magical strength that could ever exist? She wants you ponies scared. It is easier to control you that way." Twilight dropped down to the ground with an audible noise. The weight of his words pushing her down. She was on the verge of tears. What if all that were the truth? Well, that would mean she had been lied to her entire life. Sid stood by her side and put his “hoof” (that now possessed fingers, something she didn’t care or notice). “My poor Twilight Sparkle. Toyed around in the hands of a greater power, with no control of her very own life. Trust me when I say, Celestia has outlived her usefulness. This place needs a new princess. A new ruler. “ “One like you” She looked at him with a look of fear, the most pure fear of challenging something that was way beyond her capacities. “I just can’t do it! Are you mad? She would kill me if I tried anything like that!” He smirked at the mention of the world “mad”. He gave her a last deep stare in her eyes. His own eyes started glowing and twisting more intensely that before. “It is up to you whether to ignore all you heard today, but you are no longer ignorant about it, so if you just stay idle and something happens because of the princess’s actions, maybe even to one of your friends, the guilt will eat you up from the inside” They parted their looks and once again Twilight bounced back like she had been pinched out of sleep. “Your course of action will be your decision only, but this might change your mind. This is a book I wrote. Believe me I had plenty of time to write it, and it has everything you need to know about the princess”. He twisted his hand/claw/hoof/whatever in the air and a black book materialized in front of him. It then levitated in front of Twilight, who grabbed it with her magic and opened it. “I currently lack a physical copy of it so this one will have to do. It will only exist here, inside your mind.” “Wait, what does this mean? I can’t read any of this!” The books pages were black and the ink was white, but what was really odd about it was that the letters were recognizable but impossible to read due to a very strange disposition, and changed writing stiles almost every word. “So here’s another riddle for you to read it: “A world where all that is left is right, but emulates all you do. A doorway to this realm, can be found inside your dressing room.” She liked riddles but that was just pissing her off already. “Why do you keep on doing this sort of thing? Why don’t you just say things straight? That makes no sense!” "Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?"