Bad Dreams

by Synthetic Soul

The Silent Curse

The steam powered engine pulled up in the tracks at Ponyvilles train station. With the whistle blowing loudly, the locomotive came to a stop. Once it did, ponies began filing out of the cars, chattering loudly amongst themselves. It was only after nearly every pony had exited, did Princess Twilight and her five friends exit the car. All of them walked solemnly out of the train station, with the exception of Pinkie Pie, whose energetic bouncing had not been hindered. When the five exited the station, and began making their way to town, Twilight spoke up.

“Alright girls, it looks like for now, we need to wait. We can’t just go charging to the enemy like we usually do.”

“This sucks!” said Rainbow Dash. “We have to just lie around, and wait for this freak to do something evil! And we can’t even stop him then, not until we have a way into the dream world!”

“Shh! Rainbow, keep your voice down! We need to keep this quiet for now!” shushed Twilight.

“What for?” questioned Applejack.

“I don’t want ponies to panic. It’s one thing to have a villain roaming around in Equestria, at least then there’s something we can do about that. But according to the Princess, Noah steals ponies in their dreams. If we just told everypony that there was a villain preying on them while they slept, everypony would be too afraid to go to sleep! But ponies need to sleep to remain healthy, so for now…well, I just need some time to think.”

“But Twilight, we have to warn them! They need to know about the danger!
They might be careless if they don’t know that what happens in the dream world matters!” replied Rainbow.

“I know! Girls, I AM going to tell the town about what’s happening. But first, I need to think of the right way to drop the news. If I do it wrong, it could start a panic.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense.”

Twilight stopped her walk, and turned to face her five friends.

“Alright girls, for now, we need to be alert. Remember that when you’re dreaming, there’s a chance that this new villain could show up. Tell your families about what’s going on, but try not to scare them too much.”

The mares all nodded to Twilight in affirmation.

“And most importantly, stay safe!”

“Don’t you worry none Twi, we know how to handle ourselves,” said Applejack. Twilight closed her eyes, and nodded with a small smile on her face.

“Alright, I’ll see you girls later.” The group said their goodbyes, and then went their separate ways.

As Twilight trotted home, she continued to think about the situation. It was like Nightmare Moon all over again, a warped, lost soul in need of help. Only this time, there was nothing they could do, at least not yet. This person lived in an entirely different plane of reality, one that they couldn’t just enter without some sort of special means. It was frustrating, and a bit terrifying to know what could happen if they weren’t careful.

Twilight looked up to see that the library was just a short distance away. What she also saw was that there was a mare in front of the tree home. She was pacing back and forth worriedly, and muttering to herself. She noticed that the mare was an earth pony with blue fur and a white mane.

Twilight stopped as she saw the mare pacing. She was obviously distressed. At first, Twilight was worried about approaching her. But then, she remembered her title. She was a Princess, and thus it was her duty to help her citizens.

Twilight trotted forward, and stopped a few feet away from the mare.

“Um, excuse me? Is there something you need?”

At hearing the Alicorns voice, the mare’s head shot up, and looked at Twilight. She quickly trotted over to her, and dipped her head in a bow.

“Oh, Princess Twilight, thank goodness you’re here!”

“Oh, please, there’s no need to bow,” replied Twilight. The mare stopped bowing, and raised her head back up.

“Now, what can I do for you?” questioned the Princess.

“Princess Twilight, it’s my son, Blue Crest! There’s something wrong with him!”

“Oh! Well, I’m not really a doctor-“

“We took him to a doctor, but they couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Princess, he won’t wake up!”

‘Won’t wake up? That sounds like…’

“What exactly do you mean?”

“I went to wake up my son for school this morning, but he wouldn’t wake up. At first, I thought he was just being a heavy sleeper, but then I tried more forcefully, but I still couldn’t get him to wake up! I tried everything I could think of! Eventually, I took him to the hospital, but they couldn’t find anything medically wrong with him! I have no idea what to do, so I came to you! I thought maybe you could use your magic to help him!”

‘I have a bad feeling about this. Her son can’t wake up…that sounds like it has something to do with Noah…’

With a look of determination, Twilight addressed the mare.

“Take me to your son!”

---

Twilight stood before the young colt known as Blue Crest. The blue earth pony was lying in his bed, eyes shut, his zigzagging white bangs hanging over his right eye. Aside from the steady rise and fall of his breathing, he was still.

Twilight examined the child closely, listening to his heartbeat, checking his eyes and ears, all the normal things. When everything turned out normal, she started scanning his ambient magic. It took multiple magical scans to find out what was wrong. Twilight knew that the human was taking ponies in their sleep, stealing them away. But in doing this, their bodies were left unaffected, yet comatose. Twilight had hypothesized that the Nightmare forces were stealing pony’s minds away. What she found was much worse.

Twilight made her way into the living room, where the colt’s mother, Cyan Meadow, was sitting in her chair, visibly upset. When she saw the Princess enter, she got up from her seat and galloped over to Twilight.

“Did you find out what’s wrong with him?” she questioned, desperate.

“I…I did.”

“Well? What’s wrong with him?”

“Miss Meadow, before I tell you what’s happened to your son, I need to tell you something else first. But before I tell you, I need you to swear to secrecy. This is a matter of national security, and I can’t have anypony finding out about it before I’m ready to make the announcement.”

The mare looked even more worried, but was still able to nod in affirmation.

“I won’t tell a soul!” Twilight nodded, and then continued.

“Miss Meadow, a new villain has risen. One much like Nightmare Moon, only much, much worse.”

“How worse?”

“This villain works through the power of nightmares. But unlike Nightmare Moon, he doesn’t have a desire to bring about eternal night. This villain has something much different in mind. We’ve received reports that this being lives in the dream world, and has been abducting creatures through the dream world, and bringing them into his lair. By doing this, the pony’s bodies are put into a comatose state. That is what I believe happened to your son.”

The poor mother’s heart skipped a beat. She raised a hoof to her mouth in shock.

“No…” she whispered.

“When I scanned your son’s mind, I expected that his mind would be trapped in the dream world. But my magical scans disproved that theory. It’s not his mind that’s missing…it’s his soul.”

“H-his soul?”

“Yes…I’m afraid that your son’s soul isn’t in his body. Which means, it is most likely in this new villains realm.”

Cyan Meadow’s legs began to wobble as tears came to her eyes. After a few seconds, she collapsed onto the floor.

“So he’s…he’s g-gone?” Twilight quickly lowered herself next to the mare.

“Miss Meadow, I promise you, that me and my friends will do everything we can to get your son back. And not just him, but everypony who has been captured by this creature.”

The mare tried to take comfort in the Princess’s words, but she couldn’t. Her son had lost his SOUL. And what’s worse is that there was nothing she could do to help him. And so the mare just cried, with Twilight comforting her, stroking her back and offering comforting words. And it stayed like this for hours to come.

---

Twilight quietly opened the door to the library, and stepped inside. She shut the door behind her, and solemnly made her way into the tree that she called home. She made her way up the stairs and into her bedroom. Spike was lying in his basket, reading a comic book. When he saw the purple mare enter the room, he lowered his reading material, and spoke to his guardian.

“Hey Twilight! How was Canterlot?”

“Bad,” replied Twilight in a monotone voice, as she made her way into the room.

“What? Why, what happened?”

Twilight was tired from her business with the grieving mother. She was also sad, sad that such a thing had happened to one so young, and that it will continue to happen, whether she likes it or not. She was powerless in this situation, at least for now. And then she thought; ‘What about Spike?’ He too was at risk. Luna was doing all she could, but she was still just one pony. Spike needed to know the danger, but she didn’t want him to try and avoid sleep at all costs. It would only lead to him eventually collapsing, from exhaustion, and going to sleep for even longer. She wasn’t sure what to do.

The mare made her way over to her charge, and put a hoof on his shoulder.

“Spike, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Sure Twilight. What is it?”

“Spike, there is a new villain running around. A dangerous one. One that you need to be aware of.” Spike was silent for a moment, before he perked up.

“Well, I‘m not worried! You and the girls have been able to handle every other villain so far, I’m sure this one won’t be any different!”

“But Spike, this one IS different! He’s dangerous, really dangerous!”

“What do you mean?”

“This new villain…he isn’t something we can just run and use the elements on. He lives within the dream world, a world we can only access when we’re asleep!” Spike looked visibly worried.

“Spike, I don’t want to worry you, but you need to be aware of the danger. This villain has been abducting ponies in their dreams, and dragging them to his lair. When this happens, the beings he abducts become trapped.” Spike’s eyes widened.

“Spike, when you go to sleep, you may start having nightmares. This could very well be a sign that the new villain is near. If this happens, I need you to TRY to wake up.” Spike started shaking slightly at the news of the new danger.

“B-but what if I can’t?”

Instead of verbally responding, Twilight merely shut her eyes, and pressed her horn to the tip of Spike’s head. Her horn glowed for a couple of seconds. Spike felt a warmth in his chest. Then, the glowing stopped, and Twilight retracted.

“What was that?” questioned the dragon.

“I just placed an enchantment on you. When ponies have nightmares, they exhibit physical symptoms, such as an increased heart rate. My spell will alert me if that happens. If it does, I’ll be alerted.”

“Wow, you pretty much have a spell for just about everything, don’t you?” Twilight chuckled in response.

“Maybe,” replied Twilight. She then wrapped Spike in for a hug. It lasted a few seconds, before she released it. “Now you should get some rest.”

“Well...ok, if you’re sure it’s safe.”

“Don’t worry Spike, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Author's Note:

Holy crap, I actually wrote a new chapter! I've been a lazy bitch haven't I? Sorry, I was going to hold off all chapter updates until I had a word document with the outline of the entire story, but I realized that I have no idea how long that would take, and I've kept you waiting long enough. So here's a new chapter! I was going to make it longer, but I decided to divide it in to two parts.

Hope you guys like it, I'm going to try to get back into my regular writing schedule.

Comments

[forrest yuchnitz]

Heh famous last words

[KingDouchePrick]

Oh my god, I'm in love with this fic. I NEED MORE!