NaPoWriMo 2014: A Compilation of Pony Tales

by Fluttercheer

Day 14: Chasing Away The Nightmares

It was late at night. Princess Celestia had set the sun hours ago and everypony in Ponyville was fast asleep.

And so were Rarity and Sweetie Belle. It was one of these days on which Sweetie Belle stayed with Rarity. One of the few days her sister was not occupied with lots of work and on which Sweetie Belle rather spent time with Rarity instead of going to crusade through the town with her friends.

And it was a quite eventful day. They got up early and took the first train to Manehattan to spend the day there. It was a trip Sweetie Belle was interested in for a long time already and Rarity promised to visit the metropolis with her one day. But her work was always getting in the way and so she had to delay the trip again and again. But today, the day had finally come.

They visited the Statue of Harmony, watched a movie in cinema and ate carrot dogs and ice cream while doing a walk through Manehattan's famous park. Rarity introduced Sweetie even to her friend Coco, an aspiring fashion designer as Sweetie found out. Together they made a shopping trip through Manehattan's finest boutiques, where Sweetie Belle tried on a lots of dresses, which was the highlight of the day for her, even though the dresses were all far too expensive to buy even just one of them. At the end of the day, they ate in a fine restaurant and went into a musical afterwards. It was already dark as they arrived back in Ponyville with the last train from Manehattan.

Both dead tired, they immediately went to sleep after they had returned to Rarity's boutique. They didn't even unpack the souvenirs they had bought and went straight up into their respective bedrooms, where they fell into their beds and slipped under the covers to fall asleep just after a few seconds. It was only one hour ago that they had returned and Rarity slept so deep like she hadn't anymore for a long time. But just seconds later, this changed.

Rarity heard a sound and woke up. She was not sure if the sound was just in a dream she had and that she forgot when waking up or if it was real. It sounded familiar and yet strange and she could not guess what it was. And since she was tired, she decided to not ponder about it anymore and to just continue to sleep. It was probably just something from a dream anyway.

Rarity shrugged and turned around, closing her eyes and snuggling down in her pillow again. As she could feel the warm blanket of sleep embracing her for the second time in this night, she heard the sound again. Her eyes shot open. She wasn't asleep yet again and so she knew that it wasn't a dream this time. But she could still not sort in the sound and neither could she hear where it came from.

Rarity was completely awoken suddenly, her sense for danger tingling. Had somepony broken into her boutique; taking advantage of her and Sweetie Belle's deep sleep? Rarity rolled on her back and listened attentively. A few seconds of silence followed, then she heard the sound again. It was loud and high-pitched. She sat up in her bed. This time she could locate it and it seemed to come from Sweetie Belle's room.

Rarity put the blanket on her body aside and worked her way out of it. She climbed out of her bed and left her bedroom through the open door. In the corridor she went left, trotting up to Sweetie Belle's room, whose door was open as well. “Sweetie Belle.....?” Rarity frowned as she stepped into the little filly's room.

Sweetie was sitting upright in her bed, her blanket partially removed. She breathed heavily. “I..... I had a bad dream!”, Sweetie Belle moaned, wiping some tears out of her eyes.

“Again?” Rarity sighed, then she gave her sister a sympathetic look. Sweetie Belle had often nightmares lately, but so far, they could not find out what was the reason for it. Rarity brought a comforting smile to her muzzle, walked over and climbed up onto her little sister's bed. “It's alright, Sweetie, there's nothing to worry about, Rarity's here.” Being closer now, Rarity could see in the sparse light how bad Sweetie's nightmare must have been.

Sweetie Belle was sweating on her whole body, her coat wet from it, her mane was ruffled, one of her curls even completely loosened, and her ears pointed downwards. Her face was an even more pityful sight. It was full of wrinkles, her mouth was wide open, still letting out heavy breaths and occasional squeals of fear, and her eyes were wide open in shock; tears streaming out of them over Sweetie's cheeks. They were red and looked swollen.

Sweetie Belle's older sister wriggled herself under the covers beside her and wrapped her with her arms into a warm hug. She nuzzled the top of her head. Then she lit her horn. It began to glow softly like a nightlight, dispelling the shadows around and the imaginary monsters that lurked within them.

Sweetie Belle cuddled close to her big sister, the tears on her cheek glinting in the light. Feeling a little at ease, now that her big sister was here, her heavy breathing became more lightly and finally, she closed her mouth. “I'm sorry I woke you up.....”, she said quietly.

“Don't be silly”, Rarity replied, stroking the scared filly's mane. She could feel under her hooves that Sweetie Belle was still trembling in her fear.

For a moment, Sweetie Belle saw those scary green eyes flashing in front of her again. She could feel the fear coming up inside of her again, like a cold block of ice in her chest. Sweetie touched Rarity's hoof. “Please don't go away”, she said, fresh tears flowing out of her eyes. Her breath became heavier again.

Rarity pulled her closer. “Don't worry, sister, I'm not going anywhere. I stay here until you are asleep again”, she said gently. Rarity held her little sister – who was constantly whimpering, crying and squealing at her chest – in her arms, slightly cradling her. A concerned expression appeared on her face.

It began a few weeks ago and it was always the same. Sweetie Belle woke up at night, completely distraught and in panic, and was crying for either her or their mom, depending on it where she spent the night. And the nightmare was always the same.

She dreamt to wake up, but she was not in her bed anymore. She was in a deep, dark forest suddenly. A forest with trees in the shapes of monsters and full of fog. And there were strange sounds in the forest; clittering sounds, growling sounds, clicking sounds, clattering sounds. All sort of creepy sounds a pony could think of and even some Rarity could not even imagine, despite Sweetie Belle describing them in detail. Most strange of all, the sky was always completely dark. No stars, no moon. Nothing. And yet, it was still not completely dark in the forest. Sweetie Belle reported that a crimson red light was permeating the forest, a light that had no source.

She tried to flee out of the forest, but it was always useless. Once she had reached the borders of it, she always found herself in front of a huge, black mass. This mass was everywhere. No matter where Sweetie looked at, she could see nothing outside of the forest. No houses, no lights, no fresh, green gras and no animals. And especially no other ponies. All she could see was this black mass. Staring in it felt like she was blind. Sweetie Belle was screaming desperately into the black; calling for her mom, her dad, her friends, her sister. But nopony ever answered. Everything she could hear were the surreal sounds around her. She was alone.

But not for long. At this point of her dream, she always got company. Although not one she desired. The sounds around her became silent suddenly and were replaced by a ceremonial chant. And then the monsters came.

Dark, shadowy monsters that looked like they were born right ouf of the mass that was surrounding the forest. They could change their shape and if they touched a tree, it disappeared, leaving only darkness were the tree once stood. At the beginning, they had always the shape of creatures Sweetie never saw before. They walked on two legs, similar to minotaurs, but they were less muscular than minotaurs and their movements were sluggish, yet very fast. They had two green, evil-looking eyes on their heads. And these monsters began to chase Sweetie.

She galloped away from them, through the forest, trying to find a way out. But they always catched her in the middle of it. There, they changed their shape and took on the form of ponies; the only consistent thing being their green eyes. They encircled Sweetie Belle, leaving her no way to flee from them anymore. They came closer, one step at a time. They paused for a moment, then they did the next step. Every time they stepped forward, the sound of loud drums echoed through the forest. Sweetie Belle was cowering on the ground, unable to flee and not knowing what to do. She could only wait for the unavoidable. Then they reached her.

They bent down over her, opening their mouths and revealing razor-sharp teeth. Like at an invisible signal, they lashed into Sweetie Belle, covering her with their black bodies. This was the moment when the dream ended and Sweetie Belle woke up crying.

Sweetie Belle did not understand where those dreams came from and neither did Rarity or her parents. They only knew that they were there and that they haunted the little filly, scaring her almost to death in many nights since they began. And without knowing what caused these nightmares, they could not help her. But it couldn't go on like this. Rarity knew she had to end these nightmares for Sweetie Belle somehow. And luckily, she had the connections to take care of that.

Rarity made a decision. Outright tomorrow, she would go to Twilight and ask her to write a letter to Princess Luna. They could not find out what was causing Sweetie's terrible nightmares, but maybe the Princess of the Night could by entering her dreams and examining them.

“Don't worry anymore, Sweetie Belle, we will do something against your nightmares. I will contact Princess Luna so that she can take a look into your dreams and find out how they can be stopped”, she said to her still whimpering little sister.

Sweetie responded by nuzzling against her chest.

Quietly, Rarity began to whisper a lullaby, the same one their mother used to sing when Sweetie was still just a baby. Sweetie Belle buried her face in Rarity's chest, listening to her sister's rhythmic heartbeat. She smiled weakly as Rarity chased the nightmares away for tonight.

“Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head.....”

Sweetie listened to the soothing sound of Rarity's voice singing the old lullaby for her and began to calm down slowly. The singing put her at ease and she could feel how her eyelids began to become heavy. She yawned and closed her eyes, the lullaby softly carrying her into sleep.

As Rarity saw that Sweetie Belle was sleeping again, she inched aside a little and put Sweetie's head carefully on the pillow. She quietly stood up and pulled the blanket over her little sister. Rarity bent over her and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. “Tomorrow, we will chase away these nightmares forever”, she whispered in her ear.

Then she turned off the light of her horn and trotted out of the room. Looking a last time at Sweetie Belle, who was peacefully sleeping again now, she silenty closed the door and walked back into her bedroom.

Author's Note:

The fanart this fanfiction was inspired by can be found here:

http://ponyecho.deviantart.com/art/Chasing-Away-The-Nightmares-428557499

If you want to know how the ceremonial chant in Sweetie's dreams sounds, click here:

http://youtu.be/8zimIFiiAzk?t=2h8m2s

Comments

[Anyne]

“Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head.....”

Is it just me or does no Brony here know any lullabies?

[Fluttercheer]

5300982
I can't speak for other bronies, but I only got german lullabies as a child and I don't really remember them anymore.
"Hush Now, Quiet Now" is used here because it was used in the description of the fanart this fanfiction is based on, in which the artist had already wrote down a little piece of story to accompany the picture.
I just built up on that.
If I should write a fanfiction with a more original lullaby one day, then I would create my own one, to guarantee that it's fitting to Equestria.

Anyway, thanks for your comment!
I already wondered why no one writes something, despite the quite many views my compilation gets, so it's very much appreciated.

[Olden Bronie]

I think you did a great job showing the bond between Rarity and Sweetie Belle in this story. The dream you wrote was very vivid and well described....actually scared me a little! I like it that you could take a picture and build a story around it...very nice work! I think the lullaby was most appropriate as it was sung by Fluttershy to the crusaders before and I'm sure it is a well known tune in Equestria. Very well done!