'The wind is blowing strong, tonight,' he thought. He felt the breeze through his tattered wings. His mane was just as ragged, but he didn't let that bother him. This was Bloodline, a notorious bat pony thief feared in Canterlot. He was making his nightly round, looking for something to do. That's when he noticed the light on in a nearby mansion.
'That's the abode of Fancypants,' Bloodline thought, 'Perfect.' He approached the house, staying in the shadows, looking through an open curtain. The stallion's wife was tucking in a pink, purple-maned, green-eyed unicorn filly.
'So, the rich old couple got a daughter... Maybe I can have a little fun tonight after all...'
.........................
Serendipity couldn't believe her luck. One day, she was living in the Ponyville orphanage, and then the next thing she knew, she was adopted by two of the most wealthy ponies in Canterlot. They even bought her some expensive stuffed animals at an auction. They were supposedly the remnants of a famous pizzeria, although it was scary.
She thought about the strange looking pony named 'Tripwire.' Before Serendipity and her new parents left for Canterlot, the unicorn had ran up to them, warning them about a group of bad ponies. They had been the ones who attacked Canterlot, that was still getting cleaned up from the attack. Her parents didn't seem very concerned, but Tripwire had leaned in and whispered something to her:
'If those toys do anything that scares you in any way, let me know.' Then he walked off.
Serendipity yawned as she snuggled up with the bear named 'Freddy.'
"Goodnight," she muttered.
..........................
"Where am I?" Ditzy Doo said. It wasn't her room, that's for sure. She didn't even know how she got there, or who lived there.
"Hello?" She called, "Is someone there?" She looked around, and realized that it was a filly's bedroom. There was a toy phone, a fan, and a purple robot with what looked like a yellow badge. Ditzy looked back at the bed, and did a double take. On the side table, where there was nothing, some flowers and pills were now laying. On the opposite side of the bed, there was a set of IV fluids.
'Why would there be hospital supplies, but no patient?' Ditzy thought to herself. It then occurred to her how deserted the house felt, yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.
"Luna, I hope that's you," she said, but something told her that it wasn't.
............................
'She looks fun,' Bloodline thought as he approached the window. He tested the shutters, finding them unlocked.
'The old man hires guards but he doesn't even lock the windows?' Bloodline thought, 'Well, his loss is my gain.' He silently hopped into the room and crouched beside the bed.
Serendipity stirred, and found that Freddy was no longer in the bed. She looked over the edge of the bed to see if he fell, and saw Bloodline, who lunged at her.
.........................
Luna was making her usual rounds in the dreamscape, where she saw and entered the dreams of fillies and colts. It was a ribbon of light winding through an infinite sky, but there was no moon, nor stars. Instead, dreams filled the air, looking like tiny spheres of light.
Each one possessed an aura that changed depending on the dream. Pleasant dreams had a relaxed white aura while nightmares were more tense and usually had a hint of orange or red.
One, however, caught Luna's eye. It was a dream with no aura.
'What the...' She thought. She flew to it and tapped her hoof on it. Most dreams enlarged to a circle of swirling mist to display the dream, but this one expanded into a solid rectangle, resembling what Tripwire called a "screen," displaying Tripwire fighting Foxy and Chica in the old pizzeria.
"I guess Tripwire made the dream artificially and is using it to train," Luna said to herself. She continued.
She then saw another dream, much like it. It had no aura, but it was bright red, a sign of a deep nightmare. She tapped the dream with her hoof, but nothing happened. She tried again, to no avail. Out of frustration, she tried to expand it to the point where she could enter, but that didn't work, either.
'Something is wrong,' she thought, 'I'd best talk with Tripwire as soon as I can. I doubt that he would make an artificial nightmare and block me from it.' She reluctantly continued, eyeing a nightmare that she COULD enter.
............................
Ditzy was holding a flashlight that she found. She was determined to figure out what was going on. She peeked in the halls, not finding anything, but heard a scuffle in the closet.
"Hello?" She said, opening the door, shining the flashlight in. She gasped.
A hideous face of a robotic fox was glaring at her. Out of instinct, she slammed the closet door. But something nagged at her. Where had she seen that fox before? It was mutilated, but familiar. Ultimately, curiosity got the best of her, and she quickly reopened the closet. The fox was now standing up, revealing a hook for a paw. It was still scary, so Ditzy quickly shut the door again. But when she opened up the door for a third time, all she saw was a small plush toy.
"What?" She said aloud. Then she heard more sounds in the hall. When she flicked on the light, she saw a grotesque purple rabbit. She screamed, ran back to the bedroom, and backed into a wall.
'Okay,' she thought, 'This is no longer funny.'
.......................
Bloodline had his hoof on Serendipity's mouth.
"Now, now," he said, "Be a good kid, and you won't get hurt. We don't want any trouble now, do we? If you're feeling feisty," he smacked her on the side of the head. Serendipity was now silently crying. She looked into the face of the diabolical stallion, and her eyes widened in terror. Not because of him, but because of what was behind him.
.......................
Ditzy heard the footsteps. Her heart was pounding. But something was nagging at her.
'Why does it feel like something like this has happened to me before?' She thought. She felt surprisingly unafraid now. Something felt off. Is this even real?
The rabbit then lunged at her. It was a hideous thing with wires coming out of it and glowing pupils. It had several rows of sharp steel teeth. And its cry was that of a child. Ditzy didn't even flinch.
She awoke with a start and looked around. She was back in her room. To be sure, she checked the hallway. Yep. The doors to the visible rooms were open. Dinky was sleeping in one and Amethyst Star, who was visiting, was sleeping in another.
Ditzy breathed a sigh of relief.
'It was all a dream,' she tried to think to herself, but something wouldn't let her. It felt too real to be a dream. And why didn't Luna come?
Ditzy felt a pang in her forehead. She rubbed the spot. She recalled something about her brain getting damaged years ago, although she didn't remember what happened.
'Why am I thinking about that now?' She thought as she went to take some medicine.
...........................
Fancypants and Fleur de Lis awoke to the sound of furniture crashing and a series of screams. The sounds came from their new daughter's room. Fleur immediately feared the worst and raced to Serendipity's room without a word.
"Sweetie, wait!" Fancypants called, but Fleur didn't listen. She was soon in the room where she was greeted by a horrible sight.
The feared Bloodline was laying on the ground. His body was shredded, as if he had gotten placed in a meat grinder. Furniture was tipped over, ripped, and splintered. Serendipity was on her bed, her pupils pinpricks. She was clinging to a pillow so hard, that she probably would've broken its neck if it had one. There was blood spattered around the room.
"Sera," Fleur said, "Baby, what happened?"
Serendipity shakily pointed to the Freddy teddy, which had reappeared on the other side of the room. Its mouth was filled with blood.
Fancypants burst into the room with one of his guards, and both were stunned into silence.
"Call Tripwire," Serendipity began to cry, "Call Tripwire! Before it comes back!"