Bad Dreams

by Synthetic Soul

Once Upon a Time

1004 Years Ago

The warmth of the sun was cast over the occupants of Equestria. The sky was clear, aside from a few stray white clouds. Pegasi soured through the air, while unicorns and earth ponies walked on the grass below. For the citizens of Village of Everfree it was just another beautiful day, no different than the days often were in their land.

In the royal gardens, upon the highest hill, a lone cherry blossom tree cast a shadow down on a picnic blanket. Resting on the blanket were the two royal Alicorns of Equestria, Celestia and Luna. The two sisters sat peacefully, overlooking the lands by their castle, observing the various ponies going about their days. Over the years, many different threats presented themselves, and attempted to endanger the pony’s way of life. For Celestia and Luna, it was many hard battles fought. But seeing the ponies appreciate such a peaceful day, free from fear or oppression, it brought warmth to the two Alicorns hearts.

With their food finished, the two sisters had nothing else to do but sit in contentment, feeling the breeze against their fur, and manes. For the sisters, life was good.

“We should do this more often,” commented Celestia.

“Indeed sister,” replied Luna. “We get so very few days off. We always have to work, work, work. Legislation, the courts, and the occasional malevolent threat, we always have to do something. But spending time just sitting here and relaxing…it never feels like a waste of time.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” said Celestia with a content sigh.

The two closed their eyes and listened to the nature around them.

“Princess’s! Princess’s!” The two opened their eyes when they heard themselves being called.

“Of course,” muttered Luna under her breath.

The two sisters turned their heads and opened their eyes to see a guard running towards them, his golden armor clinking as he ran.

The guard stopped in front of them and raised his hoof in a salute. Celestia and Luna stood up from where they were sitting, and turned to face him.

“At ease soldier,” said Celestia. The soldier complied.

“What news do you bring?” questioned Luna. The guard then spoke.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” began the guard. “We were performing our routine sweep of the castle grounds, when we heard a weird noise. We went to investigate, and when we did, we found one of your statues broken! And there in front of it was a monster!”

“A monster?” questioned Celestia, the two sisters going rigid, at the sound of possible danger.

“Yes your highnesses, it’s a creature we have never seen before!”

“Where is it?” questioned Luna.

“It is in the statue gallery!” The two princesses looked to each other and nodded their heads, before giving their wings a mighty flap, launching them into the air, now heading towards the alleged monster.

“They’re so cool,” said the guard as he watched them rocket away.

---

Celestia and Luna glided over the gardens. From their vantage point, they could see a group of guards with their weapons raised, encircling a dark creature. With the creature in sight, the two sisters began their descent. As they did, they could hear a masculine voice speaking.

“Get back! Get away from me!”

The two sisters landed on the grassy ground with resounding thuds. This caught the attention of the pony’s and the creature. The princesses could see the creature. It was tall, as tall as them, if not more so. It stood on two legs, though it appeared hunched over, like it was limping. It had shaggy blond hair, and wore a faded blue tunic with darker blue pants. And in its right hand was a short dagger, which the creature held tightly, pointing it towards the ponies that were attempting to apprehend it. Its other hand was pressed against his right side, like it was applying pressure on an injury.

The moment the princesses touched down, the ponies all turned their attention to the princesses. They parted their ways, and saluted to the princesses, as the two Alicorns started walking towards the creature.

“No…stay back!” The two sisters could now tell the creature was male.

As soon as they started to advances, the creature started trembling, backing away. The creature suddenly tripped on an uprooted tree root, causing him to fall back against the body of said tree. He let out a gasp of surprise, dropping his blade. As soon as he hit the tree, he let out a scream of pain. He clutched his side, lying against the tree, taking heavy breaths.

The two sisters stopped walking towards the creature. Celestia used her magic to levitate the knife away from the creature. The two sisters looked at each other with concerned looks. They looked back to see the creature raising himself up into a sitting position, looking at the two with fear in his eyes.

“At ease ponies,” commanded Celestia. The guards looked confused, but obeyed their leader. Celestia and Luna slowly began advancing on the creature. He tensed as he saw them walk towards him. But before they reached striking distance, they lowered themselves to the ground, and laid in front of the creature. The creature looked confused, but no less terrified.

“Can you understand us?” questioned Luna, calmly. The creature nodded his head.

“My name,” said Celestia, gesturing to herself, “is Princess Celestia. This is my sister, Luna.”

“We are not here to harm you,” assured Luna with a warm tone of voice. The creature didn’t look fully convinced.

“Please, let us help you. You look injured. We can help,” pleaded Celestia.

“How…how do I know you won’t just throw me in a dungeon, or kill me, or-whatever other things you could to me?” questioned the creature. The two sisters were silent for a few moments, trying to think of a way to assure the creature. After a small silence, Celestia spoke once more.

“We give you our word, upon our honor as rulers of Equestria, that we bear you no ill intentions.”

The creature looked at the sisters, contemplating their words.

“What…what are you?” questioned the creature.

“We are ponies,” replied Luna. “What are you?”

“I’m…I’m human,” answered the creature.

“May we ask your name?” questioned Celestia.

“My name is Noah,” breathed the creature.

“Noah…that is a name we have never heard. But it is lovely all the same,” said Celestia with a warm smile. The creature now named Noah, seemed to relax a bit at their words.

“How did you injure yourself?” questioned Luna.

“I…I don’t know. I was…I was in my village…there was an attack from raiders…I tried to flee with my family, but…the invaders had a sorcerer with them. He hit me with a glowing staff. Next thing I knew, I was flying right into that statue,” said Noah as he pointed to a broken statue just a ways off.

The sisters looked at each other with concern, before looking back at the human.

“Where is your village?” questioned Celestia.

“A short ways from Camelot,” answered the human. The princesses looked confused at that.

“You mean, Canterlot?” questioned Celestia.

“No, Camelot. The home of King Arthur.” The two sisters looked confused once more as the human spoke.

“Noah,” started Luna. “What nation do you hail from?”

“England.”

England. This was a nation the princesses had never heard of before. They knew of every country on the planet, but England wasn’t one of them. It was then that the sisters suspected that their visitor was not from this world. But they didn’t feel like breaking such news to their new guest so quickly.

“Please, let us help you,” said Luna. “We can take you back to the castle to treat your injury.”

“You can treat such a thing? Normally, something like this would be left to time,” questioned Noah.

“We can. Let me help you up.” Celestia stood, and made her way to Noah, lowering herself next to him. Gesturing him to do so, the human placed a hand on her withers. Celestia used her other foreleg to help lift up the human, along with some of her magic. When he stood, she slowly started leading him towards the castle. Luna joined the human on his other side, and aided in leading him. She spoke to him as they began their treck.

“Don’t worry Noah, you are welcome here. I’m sure we will be fast friends.”

---

Celestia slowly opened her eyes as she lay in her bed. The darkness of the night was visible through her windows. As she blinked her eyes, she felt a wetness in them. As she sat up in her bed, discarding the covers, she reached a hoof to her eye. She had been crying. It took a moment of searching her mind before Celestia remembered the dream she had had. She closed her eyes, and pressed her hooves to her chest.

‘It was so long ago. Over a thousand years since the three of us were together.’

Celestia got up from her bed, and made her way to her drawer, were she began adorning her royal regalia.

‘He was so full of fear. But he was kind, always willing to do what his friends needed of him.’

Once finished, Celestia made her way to her balcony door. She opened it, and stepped out onto the ledge, looking up at the dark sky. She closed her eyes, and lit her horn, beginning the transition from night to day.

‘I don’t know what caused him to become so…different. But I promise I will save him from this darkness.’

With the sun raised, Celestia turned, and made her way back into her room, determination filling her heart.

‘This I swear!’

Author's Note:

So, we're back again. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I have reasons, one of which was I was working on other stories. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter, don't forget to leave a comment, it's what let's me know that this story isn't dead!

Comments

[Aramisxx]

Yyyyeeeeessssssss this story is still going

[Wolfblood2203]

Sad to see that this story is dead, but it was enjoyable all the same.