CHAPTER ONE
NIGHTMARES
Fire enveloped her sight as scream of the poor trapped souls that dwelled within the burning house. Sweetie tried to save those who had been trapped in the inferno, but it was too late, and the screaming stopped. She just sat there and stared into the constantly warping flames. Sat there and saw the destructive revelry that was overtaking the building. She broke down, before opening her eyes to see her bedsheets in front of her. A nightmare. Just a nightmare. She attempted to sleep but the terrible dream kept crossing her mind, the screams of those ponies dying. Why did she have to be tormented like this?! Sweetie realized that she was crying heavily, and Rarity soon burst into the room, wielding a broom with her magic.
“Are you all right? Was there anypony breaking in?” She exclaimed as she searched her younger sister’s bedroom.
“No sis, I just had a nightmare, that's it.” Sweetie managed to say after her tears stopped themselves from falling. Rarity soon relaxed, and just told her to try and get some more sleep. After some time, she finally fell into her trance of subconsciousness. The morning after, she described her experiences to her friends.
“Really? I had the exact same dream!” Apple Bloom said with concern and awe in her voice. Had they really dreamt about the exact same thing? She was completely confused and intrigued at the same time. Just then, Scootaloo jumped in and started to talk about last night and HER nightmare. It seemed to become less of a coincidence and more of a suspicion. After just a few short hours of school, they realized that not only had EVERYPONY had the same nightmare, each and every filly or colt in the area had the dream. It was insane. School was canceled soon after due to not enough students, and each pony went home. But not Sweetie. She decided to take this case to someone who could find out what was going on. The library looked good in the light of the afternoon, and she knocked on the door calmly. Soon, the purple alicorn stepped out and looked at Sweetie.
“Oh, hi Sweetie Belle. What brings you here?” She asked with a slight tone of anticipation in her voice. Before she could utter a word, Twilight asked:
“Its about the nightmares, isn't it?” She said, her voice going straight from 100 to 0 in an instant. Sweetie nodded.
“We’re doing the best we can to figure it out, but until then, you’ll just have to wait.” Twilight said, as she closed the door. Sweetie then ran off, back to her sister’s boutique. But little did she know, that there was something dark looming on the horizon of the future, and it would wreak hell onto Equestria until only ash remained. While Sweetie ran back to her comfort, far away, Axle prepared for the worst. His shop was being evaluated on how much the damages would cost, and he expected that a lot would need to be thrown into fixing it. His fears came alive when they passed him the check.
“FIVE HUNDRED BITS!?” Axle exclaimed, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.
He readied himself to try and lower the price, before the same purple alicorn stepped through the door.
“Spike, add five hundred to my bill please.” She said as she walked over to Axle. He couldn’t believe that she would just pay it for him, it was outrageous!
“And to what do I owe the generous favour?” Axle replied, his eyes still wide in surprise.
“Well, you’re the only witness to the ‘monster’ that attacked here. I need you to come with me.” She replied, as she motioned him out of the shop. He followed her to a small two pony chariot, which he climbed into and sat.
“Listen, I know that you’re devastated by what happened, but I need more information on the creature. Its not something you see everyday, you know.” Twilight said as they rode. He shrugged, since all that he knew was already told.
“Well, have you had any strange occurrences with this colt?” She said as her dragon lifted a photo. The colt that Axle had chased smiled into the camera with a couple other youngsters in the background.
“Wait, I know that kid! He was an escapee from an orphanage fire a couple years ago!” He said with surprise, and sudden dread in his mind. “What does he have to do with the attack?” Axle blurted out. Twilight looked at him straight in the eye.
“He IS the monster.” She said with an unsettling tone in her voice. For the duration of the ride, neither of them said anything, as they approached their destination. A small, cutesy little town, with many different mares and stallions roaming. Axle stepped out and stretched his wings, before Twilight motioned for him to follow her. She lead him to a building with multiple different guards and checkpoints. Finally, after he had gone through the many different security gates, he was sat down in a confined room. Then, Twilight sat at the opposite end. She asked him many different questions, most of which he had no answer to. Then finally, she nodded and a door swung open, revealing a red colt with a blazing scarlet mane. He walked forward, and sat on a chair to the left of Twilight.
“Axle, I’d like you to meet Blaze Kindling, the supposed ‘monster’ that you encountered.” She motioned to the colt next to her. He waved, and Axle looked confused.
“Wait, if he caused all that destruction, why is aren't you trying to prevent it from happening again?” Axle asked with concern and slight discomfort in his tone.
“Because we've confirmed that whatever was causing it, left his system.” She said as Blaze looked to the floor in guilt. Axle immediately felt bad for this young colt. By the way Twilight was telling him, it sounded like it wasn't even his fault.
“So, why’d you show me him? Is there something we need to sort out?” Axle asked. Twilight looked at Blaze, who looked back up from the floor.
“Since we’ve got no one else to house him…” She said, and Axle understood.
“...You need me to take care of him for now.” He finished her statement. Twilight nodded, and Axle stood up, knocking on the door they had come in from to let him out. He motioned for Blaze to come with him, and the young colt followed him. They passed the security, and Axle stretched once again after they had stepped outside. Blaze was nervous that Axle wouldn't like him around, since he had destroyed his workshop.
“So you don’t have any problem with me hanging around?” Blaze asked.
“Why would I? I know it wasn't your fault, don’t worry.” He replied, looking as friendly as possible. Twilight then rushed out, calling for Axle
“Wait!” She called, and Axle suddenly stopped.
“What’s the matter?” He asked her as she panted, out of breath.
“Since he is so important, we need to keep him close to us. You should stay in town any ways, since the renovations on your shop will take awhile.” She said in-between breaths. Axle nodded, and the two of them walked towards the house they had been assigned to. Little did they know, they had a secret follower. darted through the crowd, desperate not to lose the two pegasi. She ran, but they were just a bit too fast for her and her small legs. She instead decided to follow them from afar, since they would be going down the main road. She swore that the red pegasus was familiar, but she couldn't pinpoint it. When Scootaloo finally got through the large crowd, some pony ran up to her to talk.
“Hey! What’s the rush?” Sweetie asked her.
“Uh, just going for a run Sweetie. Why aren't you at your school?” Scootaloo asked the cute white filly.
“Well, everybody was out because of nightmares, so Cheerilee just cancelled it all together!” She replied, her voice a mixture of tiredness and enjoyment. After all, she had been running for quite some time.
“Hey, I was going back home and I was wondering if you wanted to play around or something?” Sweetie asked. It was almost impossible to say no to her face. Scootaloo went with her and they played for hours. But, the playing was cut short by a knocking on the front door. Sweetie went down and answered, to find Twilight on the doorstep.
“Oh hi Sweetie, where’s your sister?” She asked as the door swung fully open. Sweetie called for her and then went back to Scootaloo, but not before eavesdropping on their conversation. As she listened, her eyes grew and her jaw dropped in horror.
“What is it Twilight? I’ve got a lot of orders to fill in…” Rarity asked as Twilight stepped inside. After a couple moments of silence, Twilight said in a deep tone:
“We have a problem.”