Chapter 1: The First Nightmare
A long, high-pitched scream echoed in the darkness. Twilight Sparkle's eyes jolted open, startled by the sudden noise. They were met with a dull gray sky, covered by a thick layer of cloud that cast a dim, eerie light on everything around her.
Where am I? She groaned as she climbed to her hooves, turning her head left and right as she tried to determine where she was. How did I get here? Wreckage of all kinds lay scattered around her. The debris stretched for miles in any direction without end. I squinted my eyes as my eyes scanned the ruins, searching for something recognizable. I began to trot slowly forward, searching for any of my friends, or anyone for that matter.
"Spike?!" She shouted into the dusty air, coughing straight afterwards as she inhaled the floating dust around her. She strained her ears, listening desperately for a reply. "Rainbow Dash?!"
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light directly behind her accompanied by an earsplitting peal that seemed to come from everywhere. The air cracked in half as she was instantly hit by a powerful shock wave, throwing her body several feet into the air. With a scream of pain, she smashed hard against a broken piece of wood laying on the ground. Hundreds of painful splinters dug into her back as it shattered into from the force of the impact. Twilight struggled to get up; her joints ached and it felt like a white-hot iron was pressing on her back.
When she finally gathered the strength to pull herself off the ground, she noticed a strange blue light emanating from the spot right behind where she had just been standing. As she strained her eyes, she saw that it was a small, blue crystal. It appeared to radiate with a dim cyan glow, filling her mind with curiosity. Twilight stared at it for a few seconds, wondering if she should continue her search for her friends or examine the mysterious object. Eventually her natural personality got the better of her, and she bent down one of her forelegs to pick it up. As soon as she touched it, the dim light it had been emitting rose in intensity as a feeling of warmth spread from her hoof to the rest of her body. Within seconds, the crystal's light returned to its original glow, but the warmth lingered for a few seconds longer. When the warm feeling had retreated, Twilight could feel no trace of pain in her body.
Well, that was strange. Twilight ignited her horn and levitated the crystal in front of her, studying it closely. Besides the faint cyan glow, Twilight could detect nothing unusual about it that distinguished it from any other blue crystal. Maybe if I-
A thought quickly swept through her mind, filling her yet again with anxiety. Ugh, what am I doing?! I'm supposed to be searching for my friends! She swiftly got back to trotting through the debris field, searching for anypony and avoiding bits and pieces of shattered glass every so often. Then, something caught her eye, sticking distinctly out of the broken wood about a twenty second pace in front of her. Wait, what's that over there?
It was a battered street sign barely remaining standing about a quarter mile away and quickly got up. There was something awfully familiar about it, but she couldn’t figure it out from so far away. She began galloping toward it, hooves stumbling over splintered wood, broken glass, stone rubble, and other objects that were so wrecked, she couldn’t even discern what they were. Finally, she stopped right in front of the sign and took a long look at it. It was the sign that was supposed to stand where the entrance of Ponyville was. Or used to be, judging by the pile of wreckage that seemed to extend eternally in all directions. Panic began to fill her mind for those who could be in danger. Her family...her friends...her special somepony…
Suddenly everything around her appeared to melt away as it her surroundings gradually morphed into a different scene, just as horrifying as the first. This time, she was standing on a road littered with rubble much like that of where she previously was. The sky still glowed with the same gray hue. But instead of being surrounded by an endless pile of wreckage, Twilight could see the road was surrounded by a vast, yellow-green field of grass. A flicker of golden light from the corner of her eye made her turn her head. Behind her was a single, burning building. The flames consuming it bathed the grasses around it in a rich orange glow. She recognized it instantly as the school of my assistant, Spike.
Oh no! What could all this happen in such little time?! She tried to scream his name, but before it could leave her mouth, everything around her swirled yet again into a different scene; this one being in a place she didn’t recognize. She was at the edge of a bridge, a small river churning beneath it and sending a spray of mist into the air every so often. A gray carriage was laying on its side at the start of the bridge. There were three sets of hoofprints in the dirt, starting from the carriage. Two of them began on the side of the carriage closest to the bridge, crossing it and leaving behind muddy hoofprints on the stone bridge before stretching into the distance. The third set started from the opposite side of the carriage, and seemed to follow the other two towards the bridge before ending abruptly just a meter short of the bridge.
Slowly, the earth began to rumble. The wind picked up, sending a flurry of dust and debris into Twilight's face. As she put a hoof up to block the wind, she heard a loud noise behind her that began as a low rumble before escalating into what could only be described as the sound of a passing train. She turned around, her eyes closed to thin slits to keep the dirt and wind out of them. A column of dark, twisting cloud had touched down barely fifty meters from her. A tornado. And it was heading straight for her.
At first, Twilight's ears perked as her mind jumped to a quick conclusion. Oh, a tornado! That must mean there's pegasi around! But as her gaze trailed upwards and found no blur of color typically present when somepony creates a tornado, her eyes widened and her pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks.
Twilight began backing away slowly, all the while keeping her shocked gaze affixed on the swirling mass of cloud in front of her. Her hooves slipped on a banana peel [CHANGE THIS LATER] and she tumbled onto her back with a grunt of pain. The tornado began closing what little distance was left between them and Twilight shut her eyes tight with fear as the roar grew loader and loader.
"Twilight?" A voice called out to her, echoing as if it was shouting from the other end of a long tunnel. Despite the deafening sound of the tornado, Twilight could hear the voice as clear as crystal, almost as if the speaker was right next to her. She recognized the voice instantly. She slowly opened her eyes, and as soon as she did the horrifying sounds and sights vanished in an instant.
"Twilight, wake up!"
"Huh? Wuh?" Twilight opened her eyes and abruptly sat up, desperately looking around her. She was sitting in her bed in the Golden Oak Library. Birds could be heard chirping just outside the window closest to her, Celestia's sunlight shining brightly through a small crack in its purple curtains. There seemed nothing different about this morning than any other morning in Ponyville...
...Except, of course, for the purple and green dragon lying dazed on the floor next to her. Startled by Twilight's sudden movement, he had reflexively jumped backwards and off the bed, landing just to its side.
"Spike? What the hay are you doing?" Twilight asked in a perplexed manner, confused by Spike's apparent clumsiness.
"I was trying to wake you up! Normally, you wake up on your own, just like you planned out on your daily schedule-"
"Agh!" shouted Twilight, jump-scaring the confused dragon for the second time in one minute. She ignited her horn, feeling it fill up with magic for about a second before teleporting to a nearby bookshelf. She quickly activated her magic once more, frantically pulling out books and opening drawers as if whatever she was searching for would save her from impending doom. "Where's my schedule?! Where'd I put it last?! I need to rewrite it so I can compensate for all that time I wasted sleeping in!" Spike walked to where Twilight was practically pawing at a nearby pile of books, an amused grin on his face.
"Come on, Twilight! You've only been asleep for, like, nine minutes more than usual. Isn't more sleep supposed to have a goo-"
"NINE MINUTES?! Nonononononononononono! Don't you get it, Spike?! That's a whole five hundred and forty seconds!" With a flash, Twilight teleported suddenly in front of Spike. The little dragon nearly tripped on himself in surprise. "FIVE HUNDRED! AND FORTY!!!!" Spike rolled his eyes and began walking towards the front door of the library.
"Seriously, Twilight. I feel like you should be more worried about whatever kept you from waking up rather than your schedule. Plus, it's not like you to constantly twist and turn in your sleep. You really should talk to Princess Luna about this. I'm sure she'll... Twilight?" Twilight gave no response, staring curiously at her bed. Her blanket had been kicked completely off, and the pillow was...the pillow was...where was her pillow? How'd that get under the bed? Her dreams were usually fairly pleasant, and when she awoke from them, her blanket and pillow were more or less in the same position as when she fell asleep, indicating that she barely moved when dreaming.
Unlike Rainbow Dash. Her marefriend tended to have some kind of exciting dream every night. She never woke up in the same position as when she fell asleep.
The last time Twilight had a nightmare of some sort was on the day they met Zecora, after she and her friends wandered into a field of Poison Joke while searching for Applebloom. She personally blamed Zecora for it; her warning was rather ambiguous and could be taken in the wrong way easily. And Pinkie Pie. Her stupid song was stuck in her head for a week.
But this was different. The week leading up to today had been a totally normal one. It was the first week in a long time that there wasn't some sort of friendship problem that she or her friends had to deal with. Almost a full year had passed since the last time. Twilight shuddered slightly, remembering that last time. Thankfully, it was only because of that ordeal that she learned that Princess Celestia did not need her to send her a letter about a friendship lesson each week to know that she was gradually learning the true power of friendship. And with that power should come responsibility. And how can I be responsible if I can't follow my own schedule?!
"Well, I'm off to Rarity's boutique! She, um, asked me if I could help her design a, um...dress. " Spike shouted to Twilight, straining hesitantly on the last word. A thought turned itself on in Twilight's mind as he began to step outside the library.
"Wait, why exactly DOES she need you for help? Based on what I've seen, Rarity is fully capable of carrying out all the tedious steps of making one of her fancy dresses."
"Oh, well, um, of course! But she has this, er, big important, dress showcase tomorrow, and she really really really needs all the help she can get!" Spike's eyes darted everywhere but to Twilight's as he spoke. Twilight rolled her eyes, trying as hard as she could to suppress a grin. A few seconds passed before Twilight broke the silence.
"Well, just make sure you're back before sundown. I need your help as well for some research I've been doing about some kind of prophecy."
"YE-, I mean, sure... Twilight..will do!" The relief in Spike's eyes betrayed his own words. "See ya!" After backing out of the library, Spike slowly closed the door in front of him. Moments later, Twilight heard Spike sigh in relief on the other side of the door before he began whistling a familiar tune, its sounds getting quieter as he began walking to Rarity's boutique. Twilight giggled quietly to herself before swiftly returning to work on reordering her activities on her schedule.
Rarity didn't have another showcase for at least a couple of months. And Twilight was sure Spike was very well aware of this.
"Okay..." Twilight muttered to herself as she tested each combination of things on her schedule. "If I do this first, then I should be able to... no that won't work. What about-...nope that won't either. Maybe if I...there we go!" Wrapping her magic around the parchment, Twilight levitated the newly organized schedule in front of her. Her eyes scanned each line, searching for any possible error. After the third search, she finally nodding to herself in satisfaction before rolling it up in a neat, little scroll and placing it in her saddlebag, along with a small pouch of bits and a daffodil daisy sandwich wrapped in paper. She placed the saddlebag on to her back and, after using her magic to open the door, trotted outside in to the fresh air of Ponyville, closing the door behind her.
"Well, that happened."
After saying goodbye to Pinkie Pie and whatever strange (and apparently explosive) concoction she was baking, Twilight galloped out of Sugar Cube Corner before quickly closing the door behind her with her magic. She took a few moments to gather her breath, lifting a foreleg to wipe off the ash from her face. She opened her saddlebag and took out her reorganized checklist and ink quill, levitating them in front of her. She scanned the list down before reaching the final box. Hesitatingly, she moved her ink quill upwards and checked off the box directly above it. Now that...whatever THAT was is completed, I have just one last item on my list! Twilight gulped nervously. She knew she had to do this, but to her it seemed impossible. Just as impossible as it had seemed last week. And the week before that. And the week before that... One...last...item...
Twilight slowly trotted to the southwestern corner of Ponyville and gazed upward at Rainbow Dash's cloud home. Her ears fell down on her head as her emotions began to surface. The house looked the same as it always had from the day Rainbow Dash built it; its rainbow fountain continued to let out a cascade of liquid color that dissipated into shimmering light when it fell far enough. But to Twilight it felt just out of her reach. Not physically, of course. She possessed all the magic and spells needed for her to teleport that far a distance. It was like her mind was fighting her body every time she came near. Like it didn't want to face the guilt once more...
Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, letting her head drop slightly. A small tear coalesced in the corner of her right eye before falling to the ground. I can't do it. I have... more important things to worry about than the past right now. Maybe... maybe next week.
With that she took a slow, deep breath and held it in as she counted to three before releasing it, just as her favorite foalsitter had taught her as a filly. Once she had steeled her nerves she turned back to Ponyville, sparing one last glance behind her before trotting back to the library.
A few hundred million miles away from Equus, a lone meteor continued on its trajectory straight for the distant blue-green planet.
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I will say that this isn't bad. It needs just a tad more refinement. Some places need more detail and some need less. Also, if you want to write on it without publishing it, you can save your work and edit it without putting it out there.
Thanks! I get what you're saying; I'll probably try to speed things up with the setting... My plan for this story is to have atleast two chapters before the "events" begin to happen.
What the hell is that Long Description yeeesh I was veryyy new to writing stories hahaha