Among The Nightmares

by Spirit Of Fantasy

Prologue:The Birthday Surprise

Prologue: The Birthday Surprise

There has been times where you know you're special. Though there are other times when you don't feel that you're not, sad but true. However, for that other side. It's because that someone has no idea how special they truly are, it's always the ones who are uncertain of themselves that prove to be the most special. Being special or talented is good, but it can also be a very bad burden to carry.

The greatest danger to having talent or something very special, is that it can be dangerous. Many others out there crave the ones with talents, and some just plain fear it. When faced with such dangers, it pays to know who to trust, and who you can love. This is what brings us, to the history of an ancient breed of special human. A human that is not of this world, but of a magical world where it had once went extinct.

For over ten thousand years this breed had been long dead, killed off by unknown forces. The world was devastated by such a tragedy, and it proved to throw the realm into chaos. New beings however came forth and saved their magical world in the name of their fellow human sentient beings. Such victory was bitter sweet in the end. With non of these special humans around to help them, the life of this world was nearly frozen from progress.

However, there was then discovered to be a new hope. Two years ago a very innocent and adorable baby boy was born. Once his very existence was known to many on his peaceful home on planet earth. His presence was discovered to be of divine purpose and the attention of forces both good, and evil. Why they were now coming for him, no one knew. It was only a question of who would get to him first, the good... Or the evil.

A nice and bright sunshine was high in the sky, and slowly going over a small house that was outside of a city. A slender road of stone connected the city to the house as it stood on top of a grassy hill. The sun was making the red roof of the house glitter with the dripping water spout. The grasses old dew was drying up and reflecting off the brick walls of the home. Laughter had then filled the house, for a birthday was now in progress for a couple, and there very special child.

"The cake is ready...! Now daddy just needs to go get the present...!"The voice of a motherly woman chirped within a kitchen of the house.

She was just taking a chocolate cake from the conventional oven and placing it on the kitchen's island counter. She wiped a bit of sweat from her long brown hair and shrugged in her pink sweat shirt. She shifted in her mom jeans as she pulled out a bowl of pink icing for the cake. It brought a smile to her face as well as a sigh. Just as she looked over to the special face of her birthday boy herself.

A bright and shining pale face of a toddler was the sight of a life time. A small baby boy with sparkling baby blue eyes that were different, but to her and her husband. It made their child unique, while he also carried their traits. He had her blue eyes, while also withholding his fathers golden blond hair. Properly brushed down neatly as he kicked around in his sky blue footy pajamas.

"Awww look at you...! You're so adorable little Aiden."The mother put a hand to her chest to see the baby cooing and playing with his little ball.

"I got it...! Sweetie, I found the present! It was in the trunk of my car...!"Came the quiet yells of a man dressed casually in a shirt and tie as he poked his head through the door way between the kitchen and the hall way to the front door.

"Shhh... He's playing with his ball,"She was quiet and pointing to their child bouncing the ball on the table of his high chair,"You sure it was in trunk? I could have sworn it was in the closet last time we checked..."

"Yeah. It's weird, but I found it. That's the important part."The man held a blue present box with ribbon and carried it to the table before noticing that the weight of it was a bit off.

However, it mattered to him little as the wife had just finished icing the cake. She then brought the cake to the table and was immediately at the end of the baby's attention. Aiden reached for his mother as she sat it on the big table next to the present while the husband turned on the kitchen lights. The mother cut the cake while her man tied the bib around Aiden for safety. The baby was too drawn to the cake to be bugged with the bib.

"Happy birthday little guy. Two years old already, my goodness...!"The father's coos promoted a giggle from the boy.

"And this two year old little guy has a big thing of cake here to celebrate...!"The mother giggled lightly after cutting a piece of cake before picking up a bit by a spoon.

"Uh oh... Here it comes little buddy, right through the tunnel...!"The father decided to encourage Aiden more as the boy opened his mouth to take in the spoon full of cake.

The baby boy finally got his cake in one bite as he tasted sweet batter and frosting. He had his teeth already, so he was able to start chewing the cake. He then swallowed the cake and began to giggle. His laugh was almost angelic and magical to hear as it melted the parents hearts. The mother decided to give him more, just for one more giggle, just like that.

"Here we go again sweetie...! Through the tunnel. Choo choo...!"The mother scooped another spoon full of cake to feed Aiden.

Suddenly her and the husband jumped as they heard knocking on the front door. The man was instantly changing his tone as he stared at the door. The mother was immediately worried as she slowly stood up with her husband. Whatever thoughts were racing through their minds, it was interesting the child. Aiden reached for his mother and his father, but was rejected instead of comforted.

"We'll be...right back Aiden..."The father answered as he and his wife left the kitchen for the door.

Aiden gave a tiny groan and a little pout as he was forced to wait. He felt a bit sad to be abandoned, but in reality, it was not his only time being left alone by his parents. In reality, this was one of the very few times he has ever spent time with his mother and father. They were either too busy, or there was something about him that kept the parents away from him. It was enough to make him want to cry, but instead his head began to hurt.

His vision was getting blurry, and his head hurt as he began to hear his parents. Their muffled voices appeared to be yelling at what sounded like two people. They were both female and they appeared to be as angry as his folks were. It was almost impossible for his toddler mind to process, but it sounded almost like they were talking about him. Then he heard the words, you'll regret this and bring an end to that child.

It made his spine cold as he heard the door slam and the yelling finally cease. He breathed a bit heavily and began to pant as his vision came back crystal clear. His head stopped hurting as quickly as it started to hurt before he saw his parents returning. The father appeared a bit upset, but was calmed by the wife. They both then were able to smile as the mother then took off Aiden's baby bib and get him out of his chair.

"Come here son... How about we take you up stairs so you can see your present?"The mother lifted him up and was promptly hugged by the toddler.

"Yeah... Up to your room we go."The father tried to remain peaceful as he carried the boy's present.

As a family they all began to calmly walk out of the kitchen, feeling the sunset hitting their backs. Aiden held on tight to his mother as he watched his father right behind her. He began to feel just a bit calm and happy that he finally got to hug his mother. He nuzzled against his mother's shoulder before they entered the hall way. That's when a cold chill shot into his spine, and jerked his head over to his father.

He could see something with his sparkly blue eyes, traveling with them through the smooth wood hall. It was dark and shadowy, full of blackness that darkened the kitchen and consumed the light behind them. He hid part of his face, but could not look away from the dark mass. He couldn't see his kitchen and the hall way behind his father. The shadows were crawling like slime towards him.

They all traveled up the stairs, it appeared his parents did not notice this darkness. Aiden could not help but keep watching it as it continued to follow hem as they met the wood and carpeted stairs. They traveled up the stairs casually with their foot steps echoing in his ears. Yet the shadows consumed the light of his own home still. It crawled and covered the floor in black, in pursuit of whatever it desired to have.

"You can feel it can't you...?"The father appeared to whisper to his wife as she failed to answer him and only sighed.

Finally once they had made it all the way up the steps, Aiden nuzzled his mother. He peeked to see if the scary darkness was following them still, but it strangely wasn't any more. He finally looked ahead and saw them travel through the upstairs hall way. His father caught up with him and his mother before his present caught his eyes. A big box with a special birthday present inside.

He didn't have to wait too long before they reached a long whit door with a golden door knob. The mother gripped and turned it slowly until she heard that faint click. The door opened up nice and wide with a gentle swing before a bright bedroom was before them. The walls were all sky blue with fluffy clouds painted in to represent the day time sky. While the ceiling was midnight blue with stars, planets and galaxies, to serve as a way to promote sleep.

Aiden was in his adorable little bedroom with colorful puzzle carpets to play with. A large crib of white wood, holding a night time decorated mattress and bed sheet. There were toys in many different places, many of them were solved puzzle toys. Proving that Aiden was very smart for his age, it made the parents proud. His mother smiled as she knelt down to sit her son down while the father lowered the present.

"There we go...! Now then, it's time for your present sweetie. I wonder what it could be...?"His mother was getting a bit of excitement from her child as he bounced a bit on his rear.

"He's about to find out..."The father encouraged as he gripped the lid and slowly began to open it.

Aiden widen his eyes at the opening box, and struggled to peek into the gift. He could see a bit of something, a bit of blue with stars in it, and a bit of light color rainbow made of hair. He could almost see them, he could see midnight blue fur, and pure white fur inside. Just as the lid was about to come off, the moment was ruin by loud and very hard knocks. It came from the front door of the house and it was almost shaking the walls, it shook up the parents very slightly.

"Who do you think that could be Herb?"The mother asked and used her husbands name as the man himself shut the box lid.

"It's not those two freaks earlier, that's for sure. Sounds like some one else,"The man stood up and lifted the box again as he turned towards the hall,"We have to check this one out... Put him in his play pen."

The mother agreed and wrapped her arms around Aiden to pick him up in her arms. She made sure he was nice and firmly in her grasp before carrying him over to the right of his room. Right next to a tall closet was his white fenced play pen, he whimpered a bit as he held on to his mother. Only for his grip to easily be pried off before he was lowered into the play pen. While his present on the other hand was set on his dresser on the left side of his doorway.

"We'll be right back sweetie...! We need to go check on something."The mother tried to be friendly and reassuring to her child while coming to her husband.

"Cone on Emily... We need to handle this together."Herb was insistent that they left the child to confront their next visitor.

The mother blew Aiden a little kiss before she left with her husband, closing the door behind them. Aiden could hear their fading foot steps before he was once again alone in the room. He cooed at first as he picked up a book about shapes, and let his eyes scan for a moment before he found the shapes in the pages. Though it did not distract him too long before he began to feel cold and unloved. Once again his parents were not there to comfort him and smile to help him smile.

He moaned and whimpered as his hands trembled and shook the book in his hands. He then tossed the book against his cage and felt the urge to pout while tears welled up in his eyes. He was ready to blow and lose his mind, with his whimpers getting louder. Hands were clenched into fists and he was pounding the ground for a moment. Fortunately before he could burst into tears, the thud of a box shocked him out of his imminent tantrum.

He looked around before he almost jumped at the sound of giggles. They sounded like they were female of origin, but he had no brothers or sisters for that matter. He looked through the bars of his play pen to find the source of the giggles. He looked around his bright room and caught his present on the floor with the lid right next to it. The box had either fell off his dresser, or something knocked it off.

Curiosity peeked as another giggle of a different sort sounded off, it was female, but a bit older sounding. He needed to get out and investigate this thanks to that curious little mind he had about him. Luckily he had a little escape set up ready for when ever he needed to get out of his play pen. He got away from the bars of his pen and crawled over a tiny red bridge. Once he did, he met with a stack of books next to his play house.

His intelligence was shown as he crawled up on the books and balanced himself enough to grab for his play house. He squirmed and kicked his legs before getting on his play house roof and smiling at the top of the white fence. He grabbed the top of his fence and crawled up to the fence edge. He stood there for a moment balancing himself and wobbling a bit as he spotted his nicely placed pillow. He cooed and giggled before jumping from the fence.

He aimed to land right on his bottom and did just that. The pillow thudded as he let out a playful yelp from the impact, but he manage to tough it out. For he was now a free little boy and free to roam around his bedroom. His first order of business was to check out his open present box, and find the female giggles as specified. While he walked to the box however, he heard the giggles of both females before they began to talk.

"Oh my goodness there he is...! How could they hide this little ANGEL from us?"Came a younger lady's voice as he made it over to his present.

"That matters little now...! He's right there now...! Isn't he adorable?"The chirps of an older lady seemed to compliment and warm his small heart.

He looked around while picking up the box where his gifts were suppose to be. Unfortunately once he turned it around to look inside, there was nothing to be found in it. He dropped the box before his ears picked up the girly giggles again. He didn't know whether to be annoyed or even giggle at the friendly nature of the voices. It felt like they were watching him from a secret spot, a spot that he knew of among many others.

"You think he'll find us? He's clearly a clever little child...!"Came the giggles of excitement from the young lady.

He then spotted the source of the voices towards the toy chest, next to his bed. He giggled and manage to walk on two legs as he waddled across his room towards his crib. It was a bit of an exercise, waddling from one side of the room to the other, but excitement was growing. He could see something, his toy chest lid slightly cracked with eyes peeking at home through it. He reached for the lid to his toy chest to open it, that's when he found his present.

He grabbed the lid and swung it open before two small pony heads popped up from the chest. A midnight blue pony, and a pearly white pony with horns on their heads were before him now. They had permanent smiles on their faces as they giggled at the boy discovering them. He could see that they also had wings on their backs like birds, and the rainbow and midnight blue manes that he saw before. These were indeed the gifts that were in the box, two day and night themed Alicorn ponies.

"You found us! Aww your such a smart and adorable little boy...! Aren't you?"The midnight blue pony spoke, but her lips did not move or change from her smile.

"He sure is...! But he looks a bit afraid. Do not fear us child... We're your friends."Aiden sat on his rear in confusion while staring at the marks on their flanks.

"Oh...! We forgot to introduce ourselves to him. My name is Luna child."The midnight blue pony introduced her self while he gawked at her crescent moon mark.

"And my name is Celestia, we are sisters as you can see,"He nodded at both of them, but stared over to Celestia's sun mark on her flank,"Hey. Would you like to tell us what your name is?"

Aiden could not for the love of everything give them his name, for he did not yet know how to speak yet. He could only let out a few cooes and struggles to say things, and it frustrated him. He felt the need to pout coming back, but was then shocked with the white pony known as Celestia placing a hoof to his lips. She then rubbed his cheek as if to calm him down and reassure him of understanding. While the blue pony known as Luna had then hatched an idea.

"Here sweetie. Why not spell it out with these cute blocks over here, we know you can do it."Luna's permanent smile still reassured him as she had trotted around and brought him wooden blacks with letters over.

He giggled and clapped his hands while the little pony plushies sat down just for him. He looked to the blocks laid out before him and picked up the first one, and placed down the letter A. He then grabbed two blocks and smiled at the mares watching him with apparent ease and kindness. He placed the blocks down with the A to make A.I.D, they clapped their soft looking hooves in little horse shoe like slippers. Before he then took up the last two blocks and placed them down to spell his whole name, AIDEN.

"Aiden is his name. That's quite a special and beautiful name for a baby boy... It's nice to meet you Aiden."Luna said before trotting over and suddenly giving him a soft hug that barely got his arms in.

"Aiden IS a cute name. At least you were given a nice name... About all those parents did nicely for him..."Celestia mumbled the last part to himself before looking up to the boy blushing at the hug.

Luna giggled when he then began to hug her back and snuggle her as if she was his mother. There was another thing that Celestia kept to herself this time, he wasn't given the attention he needed. It boiled all the stuffing in her, though anger could not be seen on her smiling face. She only sighed and walked over to the cute scene to join in, much to the boy's delight. He was smiling brightly and hugging them with no end to the needed love he searched for.

"You're a special little boy... Your parents have no idea what they're missing."Celestia said quietly as she hugged him tightly before Luna jumped behind him.

"But now you have us Aiden. We can be your special little friends, and we'll be with you... Always...!"Luna promised him as he let Celestia go and crawled with her around the room.

"Yes. We can play together, tell secrets. Whatever you'd like."Celestia trotted around and baited Aiden to chase her.

They giggled as they played around the room, Celestia trotted while Aiden chased her. Luna watched them and giggled, smiling even more on the inside than she was on the outside. They had found the child they were searching for, now they had hope to do the next thing for him. They wanted to do it now, and make sure he was happy forever, but that was then put on hold. For a breeze of ice coldness touched the back of her neck.

She jerked her head and gasped looking out the window, it was closed, so there was no outside breeze. She then looked to the door at the other side of the room, and it was cracked open when it was just closed before. Once the cold feeling went down her none existent spine full of stuffing, that's when she had to react. She walked over to Aiden and Celestia quickly and put a hoof out. She managed to hook onto her sister to stop her while Aiden sat down in front of them.

"Tia... I know you're busy but... He's here...!"She whispered to warn Celestia and keep the child out of it.

Aiden crawled forward to listen to them, but they merely looked forward to him in silence. They looked at each other to silently come up with something, what was going through their minds was unknown, but interesting. Suddenly they playfully giggled and sounded confident and playful again.

"Aiden...! Come here a moment, we wish to show you something very special...!"Luna was straight to an interesting and odd point as her and Celestia trotted over to his closet.

"Come over here...! We need a place really dark for this special surprise...!"Celestia added before Aiden crawled over gradually just for them.

He held his smiled as he stood up on both legs and walked over. He reached for his plushies with both hands as they both chuckled slightly at his cute desires to hug them. He picked them both up and was promptly hugged before they pointed to the closet. He complied with their wishes and reached for a grip before he began to yank the door open. It was slow to start, but the one door came open gradually enough for him to go in.

He stepped up into the closet and stood behind a hanger full of baby clothes. He scratched at his footed pajamas while he waited for further instructions, but Luna did the honors. She reached and kindly shut the closet door to seclude them in darkness. Before he knew it, he was submerged in the pitch blackness of the closet, it felt so quiet. He gripped his plushies with a bit of fear before he was then gently shushed.

"It's ok. We'll keep you safe little Aiden... Now then, here's our little secret,"She hugged at his chest and looked to him with her smile,"If you ever feel afraid in such darkness, just hug us tightly, and we'll light the way for you...!"

"Go ahead... Give us a squeeze sweetie."Luna encouraged Aiden to hug, and that didn't take much to get.

He hugged them in the darkness that crept towards him before salvation came to him. The marks on his stuff toy's flanks suddenly lit with gold and silver lights. Their light spread far and wide through the closet and appeared to scare away the dark. Only for all of them to see an open hole into a secret hall way within the closet. Aiden knew better than that however, his closet was small and never possessed such a thing.

"I... Know you don't recall this hall way being here... Please be careful Aiden..."Celestia warned as she felt fear in the pit of her stomach.

"I don't like this place... It's cold... Dark... And evil..."Luna whispered before the child stepped over into the hall way.

At that moment, a light from a hanging lamp suddenly flashed brightly in his face. The light was around him and blinking as he looked around the darkness. It got very quiet very fast, and he did not like the dead silence he was given. He could hear the creaking of wood in his right ear, as if the wall could collapse on him. The buzzing of the blinking light went off in his left ear that made him grip it in irritation.

A gentle rub from Luna however calmed his spirit and got him to continue on. He waddled slowly through the hall way as new lights came up and blinked to reveal the hall way around him. Red wall paper was around him, some of it stripped down as if animal claws were responsible. More creaking came from under him as he walked upon the moving floor board. A breath of ice cold air hit his neck, and the presence of another raised the hair on his neck.

His head began to pound once again like before as if it followed the rhythm of his heart. His hands trembled and his vision went blurry again from the cold feeling surrounding him, the blinking lights were driving him mad. he choked on a cough and shook his head, trying to move forward from the dark and creepy room.

He felt frozen for a moment as he came to low hanging rain coats, that he knew he did not possess. His body was tense while a hard zap of static from a hanging lamp went off. He dropped and whimpered as he fell into the coats, it made him start to crawl and want to panic. He hit and pushed through the line of over coats and groaned in fear like the toddler he was. The mere touch of his new friends soft and plushy hooves warmed his body and helped him move forward.

"It's ok Aiden... Just...keep going..."Luna encouraged in a shaky voice that promoted fear and need for safety in the boy.

The whole ceiling buzzed and cracked like pressured wood about to split open. He crawled a little bit more before he froze at the end of the overcoats. He saw the doors to what looked like his closet, but oddly from the other side of the hall way. Confusion came before fear crept up from behind, and nailed him in the back in the shape of an over coat. Blown by a freakish blast of cold air and swinging as it knocked the boy to the ground.

All had then went dark, as did the child's spirit, and noise around him. He heard a faint wail and breath in his right ear, and it was close, and so very cold. His breath was hard to control, but he could see it as clear as day. He whimpered and was met with silence, before he felt his shoulder being gripped, but it wasn't Celestia or Luna. There were fingers, Three very long, slender, and cold fingers holding him.

He wanted to move towards the light he could see in a crack between two doors, but this grasp held him in place. He puffed out cold breath on the verge of panic, and went completely still. For a very solid and sharp feel touched his arm, it felt like teeth. His body tensed and shook when he heard a rumbling hiss, what was now at his side, it had him in it's grip. Not only that, but it also had something to say.

"I...found you...! Boy!"A snap went off before Aiden screamed, only for light to strike his face.

He heard doors swing open and his screams go silent as he looked up. The doors to his closet swing open and the face of his mother was before him, with a very concerned look. She saw that he was terrified, and in possession of the two gifts she did not recognize.

"There you are Aiden...! I was getting worried, but what are you doing in the closet,"Her eyes were narrowed at the two pony toys the boy held onto tightly,"Oh... Are you playing with your...new friends...?"

She looked to those two toys as her baby boy kindly walked out of the closet. She seem to recognize those toys from somewhere, and her look showed disapproval, but helplessness. She didn't dare try to take the toys from her child, especially if he felt that those were his birthday presents. She was cautious and slowly crouched to pick him up into her arms. Once he was nice and tucked in her arms, he hugged her, but remained quiet.

"Well... I'm glad you enjoyed your... Presents...! And your birthday sweetie,"His mother was sweet with her words, but was staring the white pony directly in the eyes,"Mommy and daddy would be very sad if you didn't..."

He only looked to the ponies she was eyeing up, but he did not hear a word from them. Something about what happened in the closet appeared to have made them silent, and maybe scared. He looked back to the closet, and could swore that the doors had closed very slowly. He pressed his face to his stuff toy friends, out of need for comfort. While his mother had brought him over to his crib for bed time.

"Now it's bed time sweetie, many boys and girls are dreaming now. You don't want to keep them now,"The mother encouraged as she lifted him over and laid him in his crib,"Time for you to join them all in dream world... Along with your new little friends..."

She took up a blanket made of a rainbow filled day time sky. It spread out wide before she covered him up in the blanket, all nice and snug. He couldn't help but yawn in response before his head laid back against a pillow that went nice and snug over the back of his head. He lifted Celestia and Luna and hugged them as he slowly began to close his eyes. He saw his mother's smiling face before he smiled and finally shut his eyes to drift away to sleep.

"Thank goodness... I don't know what you two are up to... But you won't take my son..."The mother sighed, and suddenly stared blankly at her son and his toys.

She turned around, and slowly began to walk towards the door. She stopped at the door and looked back to see her son sleeping with the ponies. It appeared to change something about her, a sense of hostility, and mistrust in the toys she did not know. She left the bedroom and shut the door quietly before her stomping foot steps could be heard. That's when the ponies finally shook and spoke after their sudden bit of silence.

"Such an absent minded...! Stubborn, and uncaring mother...!"Luna shook a bit to speak quietly and with no hostility while the child slept.

"They have no idea how grave of a mistake they made, not trusting us to take him off their hands,"Celestia spoke with deep foreboding tone in her voice as she looked to a setting sun out the window,"He's going to strike when we least expect it... It's too late to take Aiden away now."

"What do you suggest we do sister...? He's already here, and he won't stop till the child is dead..."Luna informed of a dark storm coming that they felt they could not tell Aiden of.

"We must be brave... Protect him when we can, guide him through the darkness,"Celestia answered before she spotted the corners of the room darken from the setting sun,"We must be ready to take the worst... Of his nightmares..."

Comments

[billykilly]

Loved this story :).

[Cloud dawn]

This story reminds me of that one game. It was a baby wandering the darkness with a talking teddy bear while running from a black monster.