MLP: Eternal Dream

by kurusagi16

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

There it was again. That feeling in the back of Fluttershy's mind, eating away at her, urging her to remember. But remember what? The question had been plaguing her nonstop. Maybe it was just her nerves. She'd been waiting for Eve to return, and in that time, had just become uneasy and restless. Lumen took notice of this and cuddled up close to her side.

"Thank you Lumen, but I'm okay. Really." Then she had an idea of how to lighten the mood. "I know, why don't I tell you a story? How does that sound?" Lumen nodded eagerly. "Yes, a little story to tide us over until Eve gets back." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. What sort of story should she tell? A lot of good stories often began with a monster, that's it!

"Once upon a time," she began, "there was a horrible beast. He went around the land playing mean tricks on everypony, and he enjoyed it!" Lumen put both his paws over his mouth, unable to believe there could be such a mean beast.

"Yes, he was a great big meanie. The ponies didn't know what else to do, so they turned to their princess for help, and she came up with the only solution she could think of at the time." She quickly thought of what should happen next, the rest of the story pouring out from somewhere in the back of her mind. "She turned him into a statue." Lumen gasped.

"Everypony was happy for a time, until the beast got out, and the princess had to seal him up again. But then, the princess got a better idea. An idea that could help both the ponies and the beast. She sought the help of a shy, kind-hearted mare, and asked her to take care of the beast, to reform him from evil to good." Fluttershy was on a roll, the words flowed out of her. "The beast caused all sorts of problems and nasty tricks, the mare's friends told her warned her that the beast was nothing but trouble. But the mare didn't give up on him, and showed him kindness and friendship. I was so happy when..." Fluttershy stopped herself. I? Why did she say I? And yet, this story....it was as if she were indeed a part of it. Lumen tapped a paw on her, she looked down to see making mimes and gestures. Asking what the beast was like and what happened next.

"The beast was tall, but also like a snake. His body was a mash of all sorts of creatures. But despite how he looked, and how horrible he could be, the mare could see the potential goodness in him. He wasn't any different from her other friends, especially the animal ones. She saw that underneath it all, he could be a real sweetheart once you get to know him. And ever since then, the two had been close friends." When she finished, Lumen applauded his paws, causing some of the dust to fly up into his nose and make him sneeze.

Fluttershy was lost in thought, she could just barely make out images of her with a creature not unlike the one from the story she'd told. What were these images? The more she thought over them, they became sharper, and she felt like she knew them. Her mind began to flash with what felt like memories, that had finally come loose. It wasn't much, only bits and pieces. There was one of her and the creature laughing over tea. One of her at a spa with a white unicorn with a purple curled mane. Another of her with her helping an orange earth pony harvest apples. A pink earth pony with a wild, curled mane throwing a party. A purple unicorn transforming into an alicorn. Lots of cute, little animals of all kinds, including a sweet, little white bunny. A cyan pegasus filly with a rainbow mane standing up to some colts, growing up and becoming a confident and supportive mare. Were these real? Is this what she was trying to remember?

The faces were all so familiar, they were all smiling at her, beckoning her to join in on their fun despite her shyness. She could feel their names on the tip of her tongue, but feared that if she said them, then they'd disappear again. These ponies...were they.....?

It was right around then, that Eve arrived, she was a bit frazzled and didn't seem quite like herself. She noticed Fluttershy staring off into space.

"Um, Fluttershy..." Fluttershy's head snapped up at Eve's voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry Eve, I didn't hear you come in. I guess I'm just a bit out of it." She did her best to smile, to assure her that everything was alright. Though inside, she wasn't sure if things really were alright. "I'm glad you made it here safely, Lumen and I ready to go."

"There's been a change of plans. We're staying right here."

"W-what?! Why?" Fluttershy let out a gasp. Eve's face was hardened, her eyes were so fearsome that they made her take a step back.

"E-Eve...what's wrong? You don't seem like yourself." Fluttershy stammered, a growing fear of her friend rising inside. Why was she afraid? She put a hoof to her head, she had a flash of Eve throwing some dust on her, putting her to sleep, in another flash, Eve threw some more dust on her, knocking her out and saying something about taking away her memories. She looked up at Eve with realization.

"I...I remember...you kidnapped me. You took me away from....from...." Eve became panic stricken. She was staring to remember. Was the dust wearing off? No, not now! Eve brought out the dust she'd been working on, she spit out the cork, and was ready to shower it onto Fluttershy. Lumen let out a squee and cowered into a ball. Fluttershy took a cautious step back.

"Eve, what are you doing?" she asked warily. There was no where to run, nowhere to hide. Her only hope was to try and talk Eve out of doing whatever it was she was planning on doing.

"I can't lose you Fluttershy." her voice sounded crazed. "I've worked hard to get you back, and with this, I shall build us a better world here. With just the two of us. Living in a dream for the rest of our lives." Fluttershy shook her head.

"Eve, please, don't do this. Think about this for a minute." she pleaded. But her pleas fell upon deaf ears. An inky shadow passed over Eve's eyes. Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror, whoever this pony was, it wasn't her friend Eve anymore.

"Our dream begins, now!" Eve yelled. Fluttershy cried out as the dust was flung onto her. The last thought she had was, 'Somepony....help!'

---

Twilight was filling a saddle bag with some food, water, and any other essentials that she might need for her trek through the Garden of Shadows. Princess Luna and Queen Amalthea had already wished her good luck on her journey. She had dropped the Nightmare disguise for her true alicorn self, and was just about ready to head out. That is, until her path was blocked by the looming figure that was Discord.

"Leaving so soon princess?" he asked casually. Twilight ignored him, stepping around him. Only to have him reappear in front of her again.

"Get out of my way Discord, I need to go." she said, not in the mood for his games. Discord stood defiantly in her way.

"Not without me you're not."

"What are you talking about?" Discord smiled.

"I'm glad you asked. You see, we began this pointless undercover mission together, and we're going to finish it together. And we'll be heading home with Fluttershy in tow." he said. Twilight was no longer frowning. She heaved a sigh and said, "Fine, you can come."

"Really?"

"It's not like you'd have stayed behind if I said no, you'd just come with me anyway."

"Right you are, still, it's nice to be invited to tag along." Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Let's get going." she said.

"Already ahead of you." Discord said, snapping his paw and teleporting them to the outskirts of the kingdom, at the edge of the Garden of Shadows. The branches of its trees reaching out for them.

"After you." Discord said with a gesture. Twilight didn't bother to say anything to his antics, as she was more focused on the path before them. She lit up her horn to serve as a guiding light. As the walked, they called out to Fluttershy, hoping for her to answer back.

"Fluttershy!"

"Where are you?!" The Garden of Shadows was not unlike a maze, full of twists and turns, making them get completely lost.

"This is just splendid!" Discord said throwing his arms up. "Mark my words, when we find Moonlight Eve...."

"You'll leave her alone." Twilight cut in. "We'll grab Fluttershy, and have the queen deal with Eve."

"You've got to be kidding! That mare deserves to be punished for what she's done."

"And she will be, by the proper authorities." Discord muttered under his breath, over the unfairness of it. Especially considering that he used unfairness lots of times before in his tricks. He felt that he had plenty of authority to punish Eve. And why shouldn't you? Discord cleaned out his ears with his pinkies. Was he hearing things? Then it spoke again. Why shouldn't you punish her? Why listen to a little alicorn that thinks she knows everything? You know your friend better than anypony, you should have a say in her kidnapper's fate. Discord shook his head, trying to clear the voice out of his head, even if it made a fair and intriguing point.

"Are you coming or not?!" Twilight called impatiently, prompting him not to dawdle. Discord continued on, and didn't hear the voice again all the while. There was a definite air to the Garden of Shadows, of something quite sinister. Like there was something sleeping here, waiting to be unleashed upon the two travelers that dared to enter its domain. It was rather unsettling.

"Are we there yet?" Discord sighed.

"We'll get there, when we get there." said Twilight.

"Not much of an answer."

"Well you try navigating through a dark forest and see for yourself how difficult it is." After much moaning and trudging, the two stopped, when they saw peering in the distance, a faint light. Like that of a house. They headed towards the light, and sure enough, it was a house. It had an old timey tile roof, gables, and looked remarkably like a giant old dollhouse, surrounded by large black thorns.

"This looks promising." Discord said. With a snap, he and Twilight were safely on the other side and on the doorstep of the estate.

"It's very strange." Twilight said, inspecting the floor boards, and railing. "How could Eve build all this?" Discord shrugged.

"I don't see how it should matter, considering we're here to kick her out." Discord said, rapping his knuckles on the door.

"You don't actually expect that to work do you?" The door opened up for them. Discord smirked.

"You're welcome." he said smugly, stepping inside. Twilight shook her head and followed him in. The door closed behind them on its own accord. Little did the two of them know, what it was they were actually walking into.

---

Twilight was sure to be cautious as she walked through the house. It looked very nice on the inside, and it seemed like the kind of place somepony wouldn't mind living in. Everything was neatly in place, and was decorated nicely with a couple of generic portraits, and some vases filled with flowers.

"This place is all wrong." said Discord with a frown.

"Why? Because it's so orderly?" asked Twilight.

"Well there's that, but it's also because this place shouldn't even be here. I know an altered space when I see one, and this is it." Twilight's eyes widened in surprise.

"So, this is all an illusion?"

"A pretty solid illusion." Discord wiped a claw over a small table and looked at it intently, as if inspecting it for dust. "I can feel a lot of dark magic at work here." Twilight nodded. She too could feel the dark magic emanating from every wall surrounding them. Discord pointed upward.

"It's strongest up stairs, he was about to snap them up there, when Twilight stopped him.

"Let's walk there, shall we? We don't want to rush in head first without knowing what we're about to face." Discord agreed, much to his personal dismay, and they began climbing up the tall, spiral staircase. At the top, there was a single door. Somepony's voice could be heard on the other side. Discord used a bit of his own magic to open the door just a crack for him and Twilight to peak inside. The room was large and so...fancy, and cute.

The room was full of dozens of adorable stuffed animals of every species and size, what's more, they were alive! Some were roaming around, some played with each other, and others slept, snoring sweetly.There was also a round table with a crisp white tablecloth, laid out for a tea party with tea ware and everything. The carpet was pink and had a rose print on it. The walls were lined with silk drapery. And in the center of it all was Eve, sitting on a circular canopy bed, and beside her was none other than Fluttershy. But she looked different. She was dressed in petticoats and a fine white dress, like an old fashioned doll. Her hair was tied into a braid that hung over her shoulder. But one look at her face, and you could tell that something was wrong. Her face was a blank, emotionless mask, neither happy nor sad. And those teal eyes of hers were glazed over, unblinking as she stared into the distance.

"No..." Discord whispered. What had she done to her? Eve put an arm around Fluttershy, and said, "I told you this would be wonderful. And this is just the beginning! Think of all the things we can do here. The two of us, together. Forever." Discord grounded his teeth, he couldn't take it anymore. He kicked down the door, and busted into the room.

"Get your hooves off her!" he cried. Eve was shocked to see them at first, but then she smiled hideously.

"Welcome dear visitors, to my dream mansion."

Author's Note:

I want to add more! Wait until the next chapter to see how things go down. Please don't forget to comment, I value your feedback.

Comments

[Dr midnight]

can't wait to see more

[taterforlife]

I really love all this world building you're doing and how you're giving Luna your own backstory. It makes sense that she would used to get help for helping ponies with their dreams, only to lose it. The forest is a cool concept as well.

Also loving this slow development of Discord's feelings. You're still doing really well with characterization! Can't wait for the next chapter. Hats off for updating so quickly. I'm the exact opposite so I admire you for it.

[kurusagi16]

6794012

Thanks! It helps if you feel really inspired by the story and the characters, though it can be a bit difficult to make quick updates. I plan on exploring my world and the forest in a couple sequels. Thanks for the comments! ^.^

[Hop3l3ssRomantic]

This is so good! The descriptions are amazing and suspense was really good.

[Featherclaw]

Just think of the conflict between Discord and the bad thoughts while being angry at Eve!