Twilight's Nightmare

by Dulcet

Part III

Part III

It was a long journey back to Ponyville. The ponies travelled for countless miles and endured through blistering blizzards and dust. No matter how far they walked, all they saw ahead of them was just more dust.

“Are we there yet!?” Pinkie Pie asked, hopping up and down, seemingly being the only pony unfazed by the long travel back to Ponyville.

“No, Pinkie Pie. We’re not there yet,” Jazz replied back.

Pinkie Pie putted her head down in disappointment. “Awwww.” However, after a few seconds of silence, Pinkie Pie then asked the same question again. “Are we there yet?”

Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie and responded, “No, Pinkie. We’ll get there when we get there.”

Pinkie Pie then putted her head down again and would repeat the same thing over and over again, repeatedly asking the same question. “Are we there yet?”

All the ponies stopped and looked at Pinkie Pie and shouted “No!” at the same time.

The blizzards and dust storms eventually died out, but the ponies remained determined to get to their destination before the Metusonians came looking for them in the desert. However, all the tireless walking took a toll on the ponies.

“Gah, my hooves are killing me! Can we please rest for a while? Pretty please!” Rarity pleaded.

“Hmmm. We’ve been travelling for a while. I think it’s best if we take a short rest,” Shining Armor agreed.

The ponies all collapsed on the floor and sighed in relief.

Jazz looked across the desert and noticed something begin to sparkle in the distance. When he walked closer to it to see what it was, he saw that it was a lake. “Hey, every pony! There’s a lake! We can get some water at last!”

The friends were eagerly pleased to find some water and raced to the lake to drink water and clean up. As the ponies freshened up from the lake, Rarity looked nauseous over the putrid conditions at the desert and stuck out her tongue in disgust.

“Ewwww! How does one simply capable of living in a rotten place like the desert? It’s disgusting!”

“I hear ponies who live in the desert have a dry sense of humor,” Jazz replied back as he was finishing up getting rejuvenated.

It took a second for Pinkie Pie to understand the pun, but as soon as she did, she began to laugh uncontrollably, plunged on her lag and kicked her hooves up in the air as she was laughing. “Hahaha! I get it! It’s a desert and a desert is dry and ponies who live in the desert have a dry sense of humor! Hahaha! Jazz, you’re such a crack up!”

“Thank you! I’ll be here all week!” Jazz responded, giving a bow.

However, hidden behind the puffy, luminous, puffy clouds that flouted among the now clear skies, the Metusonians were quickly making their way to the desert as they rode on their chariots.

Fluttershy, though, soon realized that there was something odd looking from above and that it was approaching fast. “Um, excuse me. I don’t mean to be a bother, but there’s something in the sky –“

“What is this something you’re talking about?” Twilight asked, as the ponies stared at the sky to look for what Fluttershy was talking about.

All they saw was a dark figure up in the sky. The ponies couldn’t quite figure out what the mysterious shadow was.

“What is that, the moon?” Applejack asked.

Suddenly, the dark figure started to approach them at full speed. “That’s no moon..” Rainbow Dash whispered.

A large fleet of chariots then appeared, much to the horror of the ponies.

“It’s the Metusonians!” Princess Cadance bellowed.

Shining Armor pointed to some rocks that were surrounded by desert grass and cacti. “Quick, every pony, hide behind those rocks and don’t make a sound!”

“Wait! We have to get rid of our hoofsteps so they can’t track us down!” Twilight cried out.

Using a spell she learned, Twilight used her magic to make the hoofsteps disappear. Jazz, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy then hid behind one rock and the rest of the ponies hid behind other rocks. The Metusonians then landed safely onto the parched desert. There were about half a dozen chariots parked onto the dusty soil and there were about 20 something Metusonian guards. The guards scanned the area to find any trace of the ponies.

“Don’t even breathe,” Jazz told Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.

A large ball of dust, however, swooped in and smacked into Fluttershy.

“Wait, why does Fluttershy look like she is about to sneeze?” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Fluttershy was about to sneeze, but Jazz, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash tried everything they can to prevent her from sneezing and giving away their location. “No Fluttershy, don’t!” they all whispered at once. Twilight covered Fluttershy’s nose to stop her from sneezing. The friends then signed in relief.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy murmered. “AHHH choo.” Fluttershy sneezed, but it was the most quietest sneeze ever given that Fluttershy was a quiet pony.

“You don’t think those guards heard that sneeze, do you?” Jazz asked, frightened that the Metusonians would catch them.

“I couldn’t even hear that and I’m standing a foot away from her,” Rainbow Dash retorted.

All of a sudden, one of the Metusonian guards headed to their direction. The hidden ponies could slowly hear hoofsteps inching closer to them as it got louder.

One of the guards said, “Hey, I think I may have found something!”

When the ponies heard the guard say that, their hearts immediately dropped and this time, they really tried their best to not move, not breathe, and not move a single muscle.

“Holy Ponyville, that doesn’t sound good..” Twilight murmered.

“What did you find?” The guard asked.

One of the guards was directly in front of the rock that Jazz, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.

“You see something?” The guard asked the other guard.

“Yeah I have!” he replied back.

Rainbow Dash was silently praying that the Metusonians hadn’t found them.

“Well, show me!” the other one demanded.

The guard looked at the rock and grabbed something of what seemed to be a pony action figure toy that was hidden in the desert grass. “Hey, I found that action figure toy that we always wanted! Look!”

“WHAT! No way! Bring it here! I’ve been dying to complete my action figure set of The Power Ponies!” the guard squealed, as he then pulled out his other action figures.

“Let’s play with them! I’m sure the Empress wouldn’t mind us taking a break!” the guard said.

However, with the Metusonian guards playing with their action figures by the lake, there was no way the ponies could escape without getting noticed.

“For pony sake! How are we going to escape!?” Jazz panicked.

“Leave it to me. I’ve just had enough of this nonsense!” Rainbow Dash declared. She flew up and headed towards the Metusonian guards.

“Wait Rainbow, you’ll give up our –“ Twilight whispered, but Rainbow Dash had already swooped in and began beating up all the guards. “Position..”

Rainbow Dash was reckless, not afraid of picking a fight even though she was heavily outnumbered 20-1.

As Rainbow Dash was busy fighting off the Metusonians, Fluttershy asked, “Do you think we should go over there and help?”

“Nah,” Twilight and Jazz replied back.

Rainbow Dash was completely dominating as the Metusonians were left off guard by the ambush. As Rainbow Dash was fighting them, one of the guards pleaded as he was getting beat up, “We just wanted to play with our action figures!”

In a matter of seconds, the fight was over and Rainbow Dash was victorious. Jazz leaned over and looked at the ensuing scene. “Well, that escalated quickly.”

“Your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash has done it again!” Rainbow Dash boasted, flying up to the sky and making dance moves to celebrate her awesomeness. “Easy as pie!”

“Did somepony say pie!” Pinkie Pie blurted out. “I want some pie!”

Shining Armor looked at the unconscious Metusonians laying on the floor. “Impressive Rainbow Dash. I should recruit you to the Royal Guard.” The ponies all laughed.

“We should steal the robes that these Metusonians are wearing. This might come in handy in case if we need a disguise. There could be thousands of Metusonians patrolling Ponyville and Canterlot,” Jazz insisted.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Princess Cadance agreed.

The ponies stole the robes and wore them. “These robes are really comfortable! Not exactly my kind of style, but comfy!” Rarity rejoiced.

“We still got a long ways to go,” Shining Armor wearied.

“No we don’t ya’ll! We can just take this chariot that the Metusonians rode on!” Applejack responded as she pointed to the chariot. “Don’t know about the rest of ya’ll, but my hooves are just mighty worn out!”

The ponies headed to the chariot, but Jazz noticed that they weren’t all going to be able to fit in the chariot. “We’re not gonna be able to fit all at once. We’re gonna need a bigger chariot.”

“Or we could just ride in separate chariots since that’s what the Metusonians did?” Rarity replied back.

“Right,” Jazz chuckled.

The ponies divided into two groups and rode two chariots to get to the Everfree Forest. As they rode above and carefully through Ponyville, they saw countless numbers of Metusonians patrolling the town. Twilight looked at the number of guards rounding up the Ponyville civilians.

“Oh my gosh. There’s just so many of them,” Twilight mumbled in horror.

Applejack patted Twilight on the back, comforting her. “It’ll be alright, supercube. We’ll get Ponyville and all of Equestria back.”

“I certainly hope so, AJ.”

The ponies eventually landed safely at the Everfree Forest without getting caught.

“Remember to wear your hooded robes at all times. It’ll cover our faces so none of the Metusonians will recognize us at plain sight,” Shining Armor reminded the ponies.

“Let’s just go find Zecora, get Twilight’s crown, and get on out of here. This place is starting to creep me out,” Jazz insisted.

As the ponies made their way toward Zecora’s hut, there was just utter silence. The birds chirped every now and then, the atmosphere was dense and thick, the sunlight filtered through the trees, the leaves fell onto the ground, and the branches cracked as the ponies stepped on them. Some time later, the ponies saw Zecora’s hut.

“Look, I see Zecora’s hut!” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

The ponies hurried to Zecora’s hut and stormed in.

“Zecora!” the ponies screamed simultaneously.

Zecora was easily startled and began to panic when she saw a bunch of ponies wearing hooded robes in her hut. She thought that the Metusonians had found her. “Away, away you go! There’s nothing that you seek that I do know!”

Twilight put down her hood to reveal her face to Zecora. “Zecora, calm down! It’s just us!”

Zecora sighed and took a deep breath. “Oh, you ponies gave me such a fright. You looked like those beasts at plain sight!”

“Sorry, it’s just part of the plan to blend in. That’s all,” Princess Cadance remarked.

“Oh, you have brought in the royalty,” Zecora said as she bowed down to pay her respects. “But who is this other pony that I see?” Zecora looked at Jazz in confusion.

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Jazz. I was the musician –“ Jazz replied before being cut off.

“Ah, at that concert, I saw you play. Your music blew me away,” Zecora answered.

Zecora and Jazz shook hooves. “Thank you. It’s a pleasure meeting you!”

“Look Zecora. We don’t have much time. I accidently left my crown in your hut. Have you seen it!?” Twilight asked impatiently.

“I didn’t know that you had left your crown, but feel free to look around,” Zecora responded back, scanning her hut for Twilight’s crown.

“Oh, here it is, Twilight. I found it!” Rainbow Dash said, holding up the crown.

“Thank heavens, your crown is alright!” Rarity exclaimed.

Twilight placed the crown on her head. “Right where it belongs. We should get moving.”

The ponies were about to head on out until lightning and thunder storms erupted from above. The rain started to pour in hard.

“It just HAD to rain this instant!” Twilight frustratingly barked.

“Perhaps I can let you ponies stay here for the night. Then off you go in the morning when it’s bright,” Zecora suggested.

“No Zecora, we couldn’t.. We can find our own shelter,” Twilight replied back, feeling gracious of her friend’s offer.

“Not at all, stay here and get some rest. Then comes tomorrow when you beat the Empress,” Zecora insisted.

“Well, if it’s alright with all my friends,” Twilight said, as she looked at her friends.

“It’s fine with me,” Applejack replied back.

“Yup, I can sure use some sleep right about now!” Rainbow Dash said, yawning.

“I’m okay with it,” Fluttershy acknowledged.

“I’m fine with it, darling. As long as we stay together!” Rarity proclaimed.

“THIS MEANS SLUMBER PARTY!!” Pinkie Pie giggled, hopping up and down in excitement.

Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and Jazz all nodded in agreement that it was okay with them.

“My friends are okay with it and I guess I am too. Thank you for your hospitality Zecora. It means a lot,” Twilight remarked, giving a hug to her zebra friend.

“Only for a friend. And then those beasts shall be put into an end.”

That night, the ponies were fast asleep in Zecora’s hut, except for one pony who stood outside. The storms violently thundered the night. The wind howled as rain battered the window in the dead of the night. The cracking sound of the thunder was everywhere and from the dark clouds lightning struck here and there, lighting up the sky for a second before vanishing. Jazz was outside the hut, unfazed by the violent thunder and lightning storms. He looked at the stars and the storms and closed his eyes. Lightning roared across the sky, waking up Twilight, who noticed Jazz was outside alone. She proceeded to walk outside to see what was going on.

“Jazz,” Twilight said.

Jazz was caught off guard by the alicorn, opened his eyes and looked to see it was Twilight. “Oh, it’s just you. What are you doing up this late? You should get some sleep.”

“I should be telling you the same thing. Why are you outside in a middle of a storm? Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

“Some pony has to keep watch in case those Metusonians appear. Don’t worry about me. I’m.. I’m fine,” Jazz said, knowing that he wasn’t. There was obviously something troubling him, but he didn’t want his friends to worry about him as there was something else bigger to worry about.

Twilight knew he was lying. “Right.. Look, if there’s something bothering you, you can tell me.”

“It’s just.. why.. did the Princess choose.. to send me? The thought of wondering why is messing with my mind. I’m just a music pony. That’s all I can do and that’s all I’ve ever done. The fact that the Princess trusts me to help you defeat the Empress.. it’s a lot of pressure,” Jazz revealed, hanging his head down, sighing.

Twilight felt sympathetic for her friend. She remembered back when she first became an alicorn and a princess. Now a princess, she knew having these important responsibilities was not easy and she knew what Jazz was talking about of the fear of failing. She even remembered the time of the Ponyville celebration not too long ago that went into ruins. She also remembered her time at the Crystal Empire, where she thought she had failed the test Princess Celestia assigned to her.

“I may not have the answers that you seek, but can I tell you something?” Twilight asked.

“Uh, sure,” Jazz replied back.

Twilight sighed. “Not too long ago, before the Metusonians arrived.. I was responsible in organizing this extremely important party.. It was an anniversary that celebrated the day Ponyville was founded. I knew every pony was so eager for this party and that’s why I wanted it to be perfect.. but it didn’t. It was a complete disaster. Every pony blamed me and that’s why I ran off..that’s why my crown was at the Everfree Forest. All this time, I thought it was me who ruined that party, but it wasn’t. It was those Metusonians.. However, sometimes, the thing I fear most about being princess is the fear that I might fail and that every pony would look down upon me because I failed..”

Jazz felt heartbroken. He knew how to relate to Twilight because throughout his life, ponies have rejected him to sign a music record label. It was why he decided to become a travelling musician, in hopes that some pony could recognize the musical talent that he possessed. All he ever dreamed of was to become a professional musician, but constant rejection was the only thing he’s went through in his journey.

“That’s rough.. I’ve been through the same thing, kinda. My ultimate goal in life is to become a professional musician, but so far, it hasn’t worked out all that well. I’m still trying to find a way though,” Jazz proclaimed. “That’s why I go outside every night. Sometimes, looking at the stars and closing your eyes is the best thing you can do. It’s a constant reminder that even though times can be rough, tomorrow is a new day.”

Jazz’s words of wisdom touched Twilight because it was true. Tomorrow would be a new day for her and what happened in the past was gone now. Tomorrow would be a new beginning for her and tomorrow would give her a second chance to make things right.

“Thanks Jazz. Though, I really think we both should get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day,” Twilight suggested.

“I think you’re right,” Jazz responded back.

The two headed back inside Zecora’s hut. The storms had slowly calmed down and a small ray of sunshine shined through the trees in the forest.