//------------------------------// // Chapter ten. Dream caster // Story: Shadow in the Dark // by Thestoryteller //------------------------------// The morning birds chirped loudly. Beckoning their mother to feed them. The animals and creatures began to move about as the sun shinned down on the planet. Nightwing smiled as he trotted down the dirt path. A tablecloth lied folded on his back as he walked. Today he was going to a picnic with Flash and Twilight. 'I wonder why she set up this picnic anyways?' Nightwing wondered. 'Probably because she's gonna tell Flash finally.' Nightwing kept walking until he got to a green pasture. There Flash and Twilight were already there, Flash was carrying a picnic basket in his mouth. "Hey Nightwing." Flash said through the basket. "Did you bring the blanket?" Twilight asked. "Sure did." Nightwing said as the blanket was unfolded and set on the grass. Twilight sat the picnic basket on the blanket and opened it up. Three white plates levitated out of the basket as they separated. One went to Twilight, one went to Flash, and one went to Nightwing. Three sandwiches levitated out of the basket and onto each of the separate plate. "So Twilight." Nightwing said as he took a bite of his sandwich. "Why did you want us to meet here?" "Yes...see I..." Twilight began to look a bit sluggish. "See I...*yawn*...I'm sorry I don't think I got enough sleep lately." Flash eyes began to get heavy as he began to rub his eyes. "I don't think it's...*yawn*...I don't think it's just you Twi." "Yeah I'm feeling it...ugh...too..." Nightwing began to feel sluggish as well. A darkness began to surround Nightwing as the world went black. "Huh?" Nightwing said as his eyes popped open. He was lying down on a dirt patch, so he sat up and observed his surroundings. Next to him he heard a door open. He looked to his right and saw Derpy was standing in the doorway. A warm smile was on her face as she looked at Nightwing. "Good afternoon Nightwing." She said in a warm voice. "Dinkie is upstairs." That's when it all came back to Nightwing. When Appleseed told him to check up on a mare named Dinkie he began to look around and figure out who she was. Turns out she was a young unicorn foal who was adopted by Derpy. Nightwing tacked down Derpy's address and scheduled a time to meet Dinkie. How in the world he fell asleep on Derpy's front porch? No idea. "Umm...right." Nightwing said as he entered the house. Derpy closed the door behind him. The house wasn't as big as Nightwing thought it would be. The stairs were close to the door, the dining room to the left of the stairs. A play room was to the right of the hallway, and a kitchen could be seen down the hallway. "Which way is Dinkies room?" Nightwing asked. "Up the stairs and it's the second on the right." Derpy answered warmly. "Thanks." Nightwing said as he walked up the stairs. The upstairs was comprised of four rooms. Two on the left and two on the right. Nightwing walked to the right and up to the second wooden door. Nightwing knocked three times on the wood. "Coming." A young voice said. A yellow aura surrounded itself around the door handle. The door was then opened up and Dinkie stood in the doorway. "Hi mr. Nightwing." Dinkie said cheerfully almost like her mother but more foal-ish "Hi Dinkie...mind if I come in?" Nightwing asked. "Sure thing." Dinkie moved as Nightwing trotted in. "What would you like to talk about?" Meanwhile in Twilights castle both Flash and Twilight were fast asleep in the throne room with a circular table in the middle. "Huh?" Twilight said as her eyes began to flutter open. "What? How did we get here?" Flash asked as he rubbed his eye. "I'm...not sure." Twilight said. 'Was that a dream? No it couldn't have been. It felt to real.' "Huh...I guess it was just a dream?" Flash suggested. Twilights shook her head. "No it couldn't have been a dream. It was way to real to be one." "Oh...wait then you were about to tell me something, weren't you?" Flash asked. "Oh...right." Twilight said solemnly. Her head drooped a bit towards the ground. "Umm...well...you see." Twilight began to say as she tried to figure out the best way to explain the situation to Flash. But how could she? How could she possibly tell Flash what she did to him. "*sigh*" Twilight sighed. She had to do it. Flash had a right to know. No matter how much he'll hate her in the end. She had to face the music. "Do you remember our first date?" Twilight choked on the words. "Of course I do." Flash smiled. "You invited me to a private picnic." "It's not real." Twilight croaked. "What?" "It's not real." Twilight said. It was now obvious she was crying. "It never happened. That first date we had...it wasn't real." "...but...it has to be real...how could it not?" Flash asked, a concerned look on his face. "...I'm so sorry Flash but...but..." Twilight stuttered. "I'm so sorry." She cried as her horn lit in a purple aura and she disappeared. Leaving Flash alone. Confused and needing an answer. Flash flew out of the castle and began to search for the pony that could have the answer. Nightwing. Dinkies room had a single bed, a dresser, a mirror attached to the wall, a closet, an organized desk, and a closet. Dinkie sat on the bed while Nightwing stood across from her. "So what do you want to talk about mr. Nightwing." Dinkie asked. "Well...that's a good question actually." Nightwing said. 'What should I ask her? Technically she hasn't done anything wrong. Why would I need to talk to her?' "Are you okay mr. Nightwing?" Dinkie raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" Nightwing asked a bit sluggish. "You look a little bit sleepy." Dinkies voice began to become distorted. Then the world went black. - "What?" Nightwing demanded as he looked around. He was back on the picnic blanket, Flash was across from him but Twilight was no where to be found. "Nightwing. How did we get here?" Flash asked. "Well that's simple." A voice said. The two looked to the left and saw a unicorn stallion with grey fur, golden mane, and golden eyes. He wore a suit and tie and a pair of light gold pair of round glasses rested on his muzzle. "You walked here." The stallion said. "Who are you?" Nightwing demanded as he sat up. "And what have you done with Twilight?" Flash also demanded. "First, Twilight is fine. She's not here because she teleported away. And two, surely you know who I am Nightwing?" The stallion asked. "...Yeah, I'm drawing a blank here." Nightwing said as he rubbed the back of his head. "A pity." The stallion frowned. "No matter, I shall introduce myself. Hello there my name is Dreamcaster what's yours?" A startled look appeared on Nightwing's face. He was about to say something but Dreamcaster closed the distance between him and Nightwing and shoved his hoof in his mouth. "Before you say anything allow me to explain, I have created two problems for you. One is in a dream, the other is in reality. Solve the problem you leave. Fail...you'll die." Dreamcaster removed his hoof from Nightwing's mouth. "Have fun." And just like that he disappeared. "What...just happened?" Flash asked. "Isn't it obvious " Nightwing "We have to figure out what problem is real and what problem is fake." "But...how can he create a dream? I thought only princess Luna could do that?" "No Teach is a dream walker. She can travel through dreams but she can't create them." Nightwing explained. "Now come on we need to go." "Wait...Nightwing, Twilight was trying to confess something to me. But she ran away before saying what...do you know what it is?" "Teaches moon!" Nightwing facehoofed. "You can't just run from your problems Twilight."' "Uh-" "Listen Fash, I'm going to be blunt but your not Flash." "...but...of course I'm Flash...who else could I be?" "Listen I know you don't remember...but there is a spell that can wipe the mind clean...erase every single memory you ever have and put new ones in your head...Twilight casted that spell on you." "So...what did she do?" "Twilight...wiped your mind...and filled your head with false memories so you would love her and you'd never know." "...that's it?" "What do you mean that's it?! Twilight wiped your mind and filled your head with lies and your okay with it?!" "Well...yeah...I mean I feel like I should be mad at her...but I can't help but forgive her." "...holy buck she wired your head really good." "Nightwing...why can't I be angry at her?" "Like I said she filled your mind with false memories...basically she made it so you can't be anything but the perfect stallion for her." "...I....I...I need to talk to her." Flash spread his wings and flew off. Nightwing did not dare try to follow Flash. This was something that Flash and Twilight had to solve. Then the world faded to black. "Mr. Nightwing?" Dinkie asked as she kept poking at Nightwing's body. "Gah!" Nightwing shouted as his eyes shot open and he lifted his head. "Ah!" Dinkie flew back and bumped her head on her bed. "Dinkie!" Nightwing sat up and approached Dinkie. "Are you okay?" "Yeah...I'm fine." Dinkie said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Few." Nightwing sighed in relief. He looked around. He was back in Dinkies room. "How long was I out?" "About two minutes." Dinkie said. 'Two minutes...okay gotta figure out what the problem is and how to solve it. Best course of action, ask Dinkie what's going on.' "Tell me Dinkie...have you noticed anything unusual lately?" Nightwing asked. "No." 'Oh come on this is to easy.' Nightwing thought. "Okay Dinkie...same question. This time I want the truth." "But I told you I haven't seen anything." "Please stop lying, or better yet stop making it obvious that you are." "But-" "Dinkie...the truth. Now." "Okay...some days I...I wake up and there's a drawing on my wall." Dinkie pointed to the wall across from her bed. Nightwing approached the wall. He held up his hoof and crystal began to scan it. When it was done he turned around and his crystal created a hologram of several pictures some with words others not. "Are these the pictures?" Nightwing asked. Dinkie nodded. As he continued to look at the pictures he stopped at one. It was a picture of a Spook with the words 'fear the Spook' under it. "When was this one made?" "About two days ago." "Two days, but that would mean...no you can't..,but...that doesn't..." Nightwing turned off the images as he began to pace. "Mr. Nightwing what's wrong?" Dinkie asked. "Well Dinkie...I'm gonna be honest with you...your the descendant of the prophet." "The what?!" "The Prophet...a magical being that can see the future. You apparently are that descendant." "So...so I can see the future?" "Pretty much." "Ah!" Dinkie cringed as she held her head with her forehooves. "Dinkie...what's wrong?" Dinkie removed her hooves and tackled Nightwing. "Get down!" She yelled. Once they had hit the ground a fiery yellow beam burned through the wall were Nightwing and Dinkie once stood. Nightwing sat up and looked out the hole that had singed edges. "Oh no." Nightwing said in disbelief. "Nightwing...what is that?!" Dinkie shouted. Outside a large creature that appeared to be about as tall as the house stood tall. It looked a lot like a stone giant but was shorter and looked like it was made of silver plating. Yellow heat could be seen that radiated from the inside of it's body. "It's a Gladiator...but what's it doing this far west?" A line split through the center of the Gladiators face began to opened up. An almost blinding light came from it. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was about to happen. Not wanting to be caught in an inferno Nightwing grabbed Dinkie teleported downstairs to the kitchen. Grabbed Derpy and used shadow stalking to disappear.