Of Dreams and Nightmares

by Saatchi

Ever have that dream...?

Twilight Sparkle raced across the stony ground beneath her, her breath coming in short pants. Around her ancient stone walls crumbled into the floor, presenting obstacles that she barely managed to avoid. Ahead of her she could see her friends in the same predicament she was, trying to escape the crumbling structure. Twilight's limbs began to falter, but she wasn't going to give up, she had to make it. The ground beneath her hooves began to shake violently, almost like there was an earthquake. Twilight glanced down, and was shocked the find the ground was starting to crack and split apart underneath her. Huge portions of the floor gave way to reveal an enormous pit of fire. As larger sections of the floor gave way, Twilight was forced to spring from point to point, to avoid a fiery demise. In the distance she could see the exit; so she pushed herself to her limits. Her body screamed out in protest, but she did her best to ignore it. Twilight watched her friends gather at the entrance, looking at Twilight as she closed in towards them. Suddenly a wall of flame burst through the floor, cutting of Twilight's view of the entrance. The rate that the floor was crumbling increased, leaving Twilight mere seconds before she fell into the pit below. Calculating her odds, Twilight raced towards the wall of flame, leaping into it, just as the ground gave way beneath her.

The flames stung her eyes, even though she kept them shut. They licked at her coat, eliciting soft hissing noises as it started to burn. She felt a cool breeze, and risked opening her eyes for a second. Her head had cleared the flames, and she was now hurtling towards her friends. In her mind Twilight worked out a series of angles and trajectories and came to a shocking result. She wasn't in for a smooth landing, at her current height she was going to slam straight into the edge. In preparation she lifted her fore hooves up and braced herself. Her body struck the edge hard, knocking the wind out of her body. Her hooves scrabbled at the edge struggling to hold her up. She looked up to her friends, who were all gathered at the edge, looking down on her.

"Girls? A little help please?!"

Her friends remained still, and continued to look at her.

"Hello? I need some help here!"

One by one her friends turned and left, leaving Twilight to face the fire pit. She screamed for her friends to help, but they just kept on walking. She glanced down into the pit, gulping nervously as it belched out columns of flame. Realising that she wasn't getting any help, she had only one choice.
Let go…
She didn't want to do this, but there was no-one around to help her, and she wasn't strong enough to pull herself up. She closed her eyes, and lifted up her fore hooves again. She slipped from the edge, tumbling down into the flames below…

Twilight awoke, screaming loudly as she transitioned from a dream state to reality. Gradually her screaming died down as she realised where she was. Her breathing was short and fast, and her brain was buzzing away. She heard a voice from the side of her bed, and turned to see Spike, holding his pillow like a weapon.

"What's the matter Twilight? What was all the screaming about?" quizzed the baby dragon.

"I had a nightmare, nothing serious…" replied Twilight.

"Another nightmare!? Twilight that's the fifth one this week! You need to see someone about these!"

Twilight put her fore hooves to her head, and scrunched up her eyes. She had just woken up from a pretty vivid nightmare, and Spike's shouting wasn't helping her mood. "Spike!" growled Twilight. "It was just a nightmare; everypony has them at some point. It's just the brains' way of trying to process the day's events; it's nothing to be so worried about. So could you please stop shouting?"

Spike wasn't convinced, but he retreated back to his bed anyway, allowing Twilight chance to get back to sleep. She didn't think that it would be possible to go back to sleep, given what she had woken up from. Yet within seconds, she had dozed off and her mind returned to its dream state.

The next morning presented a rude awakening, in the form of Spike yelling loudly into Twilight's ear.

"Wake up Twilight!"

All of Twilight's next actions happened on an impulse. Her eyes shot open, and she sat bolt upright. Her mouth spouted out a garbled mass of sentences, strung together without as much as a pause between them.

"Awake! Awake! Good! Alive and awake!"

Her head flitted about from side to side with each sentence she spoke, almost like she wasn't sure where she was. Spike sighed, she had experienced another nightmare, he was certain of it. He held a scroll up to Twilight's face, which she quickly whisked out of his grasp with her magic. She unfurled the scroll and skimmed over the text. Within seconds of finishing the scroll she dashed downstairs and out the library door, leaving nothing but a gust of wind in her wake. Spike picked up the scroll and headed downstairs to the breakfast he had prepared for Twilight and himself. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered to make Twilight breakfast, eight times out of ten she left in a hurry. This was one of those eight times, so he sat down and helped himself to a lonely breakfast.

Twilight, on the other hand, was racing towards Sweet Apple Acres with the hopes of finding Applejack there. The scroll she had received had been sent from Celestia, and had summoned Twilight and her friends to Canterlot, for a meeting that had been deemed urgent. The scrolled hadn't given much detail as to what this meeting was about, but the word 'urgent' was enough to send Twilight into overdrive. She would have to apologise to Spike for missing breakfast, although he was probably used to her missing it. She arrived at residence of Applejack, and searched frantically for the orange farm pony. Her eyes caught side of her target leaving the barn, and she set off to meet her.

"Applejack! I need you to come with me right away! Princess Celestia wants to see all of us, for some important meeting or something. Gah I don't have time to explain! Come on!" yelled Twilight, sounding and looking incredibly flustered.

Twilight turned away and was about to run off to the next pony's residence, when Applejack grabbed her tail in her mouth.

"Hold on there sugar cube…" replied Applejack, her mouth full of Twilight's tail.
Twilight turned around, and sighed.

"Applejack! We don't have time for this! The princess said it was urgent!" yelled Twilight, starting to get a little frantic.

Applejack held her hoof up to her mouth, as a sign for Twilight to be quiet, which the purple unicorn quickly obeyed.

"Now Twilight, take a deep breath, an' try t' tell me again. Slower this time…"

Twilight took a deep breath, and began to recount her story once more.

"This morning I got a scroll from Celestia. She detailed that she wanted to see the six of us, but she didn't give the reason, she just said it was urgent, which is specific enough, but she could've gave more of a-"

Applejack shoved her hoof into Twilight's mouth, silencing her.

"Yer ramblin' again Twi…"

Carefully Applejack removed her hoof from Twilight's mouth, allowing her speak.

"Well, what I came here for was to ask your help in rounding up our friends. I figured you'd know where Rainbow Dash would be, and I'm sure you'd be able to convince Pinkie Pie quicker than I could."

"Well Rainbow's right here, in tha barn, we were ju-" Applejack cut herself off, before she revealed what Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been up to.

"Just what, Applejack?" Twilight's face changed to a look of suspicion.

"Jus' workin'…" said Applejack, blushing a little.

Twilight wasn't convinced, but she didn't entertain that particular notion, she had more important things to do.

"Alright, this is just wasting time now. Bring Pinkie and Rainbow Dash to the library, and I'll meet you there, with Fluttershy and Rarity."
Applejack nodded and trotted off back to the barn, while Twilight turned tail and left for the Carousel Boutique.

As Twilight ventured through town, she thought about what Rainbow Dash and Applejack could've been getting up to in the barn. Frankly, some of the possibilities made her even more curious. She was so lost in thought, that she didn't notice her arrival at the boutique. Her only indication that she had arrived, was when she walked straight into the front door. The resounding thud resonated throughout the building, forcing Rarity outside to see what was going on. She opened the doors to find Twilight slumped on the floor in a daze. Rarity helped her up, and held her steady until she came out of her daze.

"Now dear, would you mind explaining what brought you here?" asked Rarity.

"Ahem, Rarity, I need you to come with me right now. This is a matter of utmost urgency! I go-"

Rarity silenced Twilight with a flick of her hoof.

"I'm sorry Twilight darling, but I can't go with you right now. I'm working on a new design, plus I can't leave Sweetie Belle alone. Sorry."

"Oh you can leave your shop alone for a few minutes can't you? This is extremely urgent after all…"

Rarity thought for a moment before giving her response.

"Oh I could leave the boutique for a few minutes. It's Sweetie Belle that I can't leave unsupervised. She'd probably try to 'help' with something" Rarity shuddered as she remembered an occasion where Sweetie Belle had tried to 'help' with a dress.

"But the princess sent for you!" yelled Twilight.

Rarity turned her head to face Twilight once more, a wide grin on her face.

"The princess you say? Well what are we standing here for? Let's go!" exclaimed Rarity.

Rarity dashed past Twilight, but didn't manage to get far before Twilight stopped her.

"I like the newfound enthusiasm, but didn't you just say that you couldn't leave Sweetie Belle alone?" said Twilight, puzzled.

Without a word to Twilight, Rarity dashed inside, and returned, pushing Sweetie Belle outside.

"Now darling, I need you to stay outside for a while. Maybe you could go crusading with Applebloom and Scootaloo?" said Rarity, her attention focused on locking up the boutique.

Sweetie Belle looked at her sister suspiciously, but decided against probing for more information. Instead she nodded and left Twilight and Rarity alone. Rarity finished locking up, and gestured a hoof towards Twilight, as a polite way of saying 'get moving'. Understanding what Rarity was getting at, Twilight made haste to her final destination, Fluttershy's cottage.

The two unicorns soon arrived at the cottage, and Twilight began to rapidly bang her hoof against the cottage door. Rarity took it upon herself to stop Twilight's violent thumping of the door, before it hindered their chances of recruiting Fluttershy.

"Twilight!" hissed Rarity. "Have you forgotten who lives here? You can't expect her to open the door for someone who seems to want to break it down!"

Twilight backed away, and rubbed a hoof against the back of her head.

"Sorry Rarity, guess I got a little bit desperate" replied Twilight.

Rarity nodded, then gave a little flick of her mane, and turned towards the door. She began to knock against the wood, with soft, delicate movements.

Fluttershy dear, it's Rarity. Could you open the door for me?" cooed Rarity.

Twilight took note of the pink mane that appeared at the window, before turning her attention back to the door. Both Rarity and Twilight heard a few clicking noises, right before the door swung open to reveal Fluttershy.

"Hello Rarity. Twilight" squeaked Fluttershy.

"Hello Fluttershy!" chorused the unicorns.

"Hi…" replied Fluttershy meekly, as she retreated inside.

Twilight and Rarity pursued her inside, stopping at the rooms' centre.

"Fluttershy, we need you to come with us, back to the library. The princess summoned us to her castle, although I'm not quite sure why…" announced Twilight.

Fluttershy looked down at the floor and scraped her hoof across the ground.
"Oh, I don't think I can. I would hate to leave the animals alone, I mean, more than normal anyway…" She tilted her head away, hiding it behind her flowing pink mane.

Twilight was starting to get a little agitated. What was wrong with these ponies? Didn't they understand that they were need for something urgent? She was seconds away from screaming her lungs out in frustration, but Rarity stepped forward with a solution.

The white unicorn moved her head close to Fluttershy's, just so that her mouth was level with the yellow pegasi's ear. She then proceeded to whisper something to Fluttershy, something which seemed to bring her round to their side.

Twilight was pretty stunned, her jaw agape, just a little.
"What did you say to her?" asked Twilight.

Rarity simply smiled, and headed towards the door, Fluttershy hot on her heels. Twilight shook her head, removing her shocked apparel, and followed after them. The three ponies made their way back to Twilight's library, where Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, were waiting for them. Upon the arrival of Twilight, everypony decided to assault her with questions about this summoning. Most of the questioning came from Pinkie Pie, and the majority of her questions were, "Are we going to a party?"

Twilight raised her hoof into the air to silence her friends.
"Ahem, as you all know, you've bee-" Twilight was cut off, by a loud collective 'ooooooo' from her friends. Twilight looked at her friends to see they were all looking past her, so naturally she turned to see what was going on. Behind her, were two royal Pegasus guards, pulling a chariot similar to the one she had first arrived in Ponyville on. Although this was slightly larger, most likely to accommodate the six ponies, and it had different patterns engraved on the side .It also had a door on the back, making it safer than the one she had arrived in. One of the guards turned to Twilight and spoke to her.

"Miss Sparkle, I presume?" asked the guard.

Twilight nodded, and replied.
"Yes that's me. I assume you are here to transport myself and my friends to see Princess Celestia?"

The guard nodded, and gestured to the chariot, a sign for them to get in. Twilight took the lead, and opened the door with her magic. She was closely followed by Rarity and Fluttershy; Pinkie Pie bounced along behind them, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack picking up the rear. Once everyone was safely seated, Twilight swung the door shut, and the six waited for the guards to set off. Suddenly the guards began to beat their powerful wings. Then they began to pull the chariot, and within seconds, they were sailing through the air. The six friends sat and chatted about what their meeting with the princess could be about. Twilight however, didn't take part in the talking, her mind was otherwise preoccupied. She couldn't shake the thought that this whole meeting with the princess had something to do with these nightmares she'd been having. Maybe Spike was right, maybe she should tell someone about them…but who?