Lucid Dreaming

by WriterWings

Chapter 3

Night Ember struggled against the torrential snowstorm, his army uniform drenched in icy white as hard bullets of hail hurtled fiercely in his direction, whistling past his ears and wings as the wind whirled violently around him, tearing ferociously through his navy blue mane.

Nearby, his comrade Lightning Comet battled beside him, his teeth gritted as he too, steeled himself against the bitter weather. “THINK WE’RE GETTING CLOSE TO THE FACILITY YET?” he yelled over his shoulder, trying to make himself audible over the noise of the thundering blizzard.

“NOT A CLUE,” Night Ember hollered back. “I CAN BARELY SEE MY OWN HOOVES IN THIS STORM, LET ALONE ANY SIGN OF THE FACILITY!”

“MAYBE WE SHOULD TURN BACK!”

“ARE YOU KIDDING? BUT WE’VE ALREADY COME SO FAR!”

“FACE IT,” Lightning insisted. “WE’LL NEVER FIND IT IN THIS WEATHER. LET’S GO BACK, GRAB REINFORCEMENTS, AND TRY AGAIN WHEN THE STORM CALMS DOWN!”

Night Ember paused to contemplate this assertion. “YOU’RE RIGHT. WE SHOULD HEAD BACK. BUT… UH…” He stopped in his tracks, his hooves suddenly weak. “WHICH WAY IS BACK?”

Lightning’s eyes widened. “ARE YOU SAYING WE’RE LOST?” he shrieked, his voice rising almost an octave.

“NO. I MEAN… WELL, MAYBE,” Night faltered. He squinted, noticing a dark, looming silhouette in the distance. “HOLD ON… IS THAT…?”

“A CAVE!” Lightning exclaimed in excitement. “THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT, WE CAN TAKE SHELTER THERE UNTIL THE STORM CLEARS!”

They headed off once again, the frigid frost biting their hooves as they trudged wearily through the thick blanket of snow. Shivering and shaking, they scrambled into the safety of the cave, huddling together for warmth, leaving the storm to rage on outside.

“Phew,” Lightning Comet exhaled in relief, pulling off his protective headgear, which unleashed his electrostatically-charged mess of a blonde mane. “That was a snowstorm, all right. Never seen anything like it.”

Night Ember let his saddlebags drop to the ground and began to gaze up at the cavern walls, which were a slate grey colour, with sharp rocky ridges protruding out from random edges. Stalactites hung from the ceiling of the cave like menacing chandeliers, glinting beads of ice dripping from each spike like tiny lightbulbs. Night Ember would have thought this scene to be incredibly beautiful, if they weren’t threatening to impale him at the same time.

Suddenly, a growling noise emerged from behind him, echoing and resonating throughout the cave, making Night jump and instinctively reach for his weapon in apprehension.

“Whoops, just me, sorry,” Lightning apologised. “Guess I’m a little hungry. You did bring the food supplies, didn’t you?”

---

Munching on their MRE dandelion sandwiches in silence, Night Ember and Lightning Comet sat on opposite sides of the campfire Lightning had just put together. It was a good thing Lightning was a unicorn, for they wouldn’t be able to light the fire without magic and only a few wet branches. They had also managed to find clean, drinkable water too, by melting the snow outside atop the campfire in Lightning’s trusty metal helmet. Night extended his hooves towards the crackling flames, relishing in its homely warmth.

“Ugh, this stupid GPS isn’t working properly,” Lightning groaned, hitting its side with one hoof.

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?” Night suggested, in between bites of his sandwich.

“Huh. Didn’t think of that one.” Lightning clicked the power button on his device once, then another time. They waited for a couple seconds quietly.

“Aha! Got it!” Lightning exclaimed triumphantly, as the screen lit up with a cheerful chiptune melody. “So… let’s see… we’re about 72 miles northeast of Sombraville, which means we’re only about 5 miles away from the Sombran Empire…” His face lit up with excitement. “Do you know what this means?”

Night Ember stared at him with a deadpan expression. “That King Sombra wasn’t very creative in renaming important Equestrian locations after his takeover?”

Lightning laughed at Night. “No, silly! Although I have to agree with you on that point,” he added. “Never mind, anyway, what it means is that we’re only around a mile away from the predicted location of the research facility!”

“Oh! That’s great!”

“Yeah! And if all goes well, we’ll be able to bring back their secret research and give it to Captain Skylark by the day after tomorrow!” Lightning grinned.

Night Ember smiled at Lightning’s optimism. His comrade was not only his fellow soldier, but his childhood friend, too. And even though King Sombra’s takeover of all of Equestria had caused irreparable havoc to their lives (and the lives of many other ponies), the war between Princess Celestia’s and King Sombra’s armies that followed certainly brought the two friends closer together than ever before.

“What do you think they’re researching in there?” He wondered out loud.

“Beats me. But it can’t be good,” Lightning replied. Then his voice dropped to a whisper. “Though I did hear rumours of them experimenting on… experimenting on…”

“Experimenting on… what?”

“Simulated life.”

“Simulated… life?”

“I know right? That’s what I said when I heard the rumours from Private Flamewing last week.”

“But what’s simulated life supposed to be? That doesn’t sound very… Sombra-ish.” Night Ember frowned, rubbing his chin in deep thought. “I would’ve guessed something like ‘shadow bombs’ or something — but what in Equestria is simulated life?”

Lightning swallowed the last morsel of his dandelion sandwich. “Guess we’ll find out tomorrow!” He patted his stomach contentedly. “Mmm, that sandwich was delicious.”

“But we’ve been having that same meal for the past month,” Night complained. “For breakfast, lunch and dinner!”

Lightning Comet winked at him. “Doesn’t hurt to be optimistic every once in a while, you know,” he grinned cheesily, punching Night in the shoulder.

“I know, I know.”

“Well, I’m going to get some sleep. That snowstorm really wore me out!” Lightning rolled out his saddlebags, which immediately transformed into a makeshift blanket. “Night night, Night!”

Night Ember chuckled, rolling out his own saddlebags. “Goodnight, Lightning.”

---

“NIGHT!”

Night Ember turned onto his other side, not wanting to be woken up. It couldn’t already be morning, could it?

“NIGHT! WAKE UP!”

Okay, okay, fine. “Huh? Is it time to head to the facility already?” He yawned, rubbing his hooves into his bleary eyes.

That was when he realised the entire cave was shaking around him.

“What the —”

“WE NEED TO GET OUTTA HERE!” Lightning shrieked. “COME ON, LET’S GO!”

They scrambled to get out of the turbulent cave, Night Ember the first to leave due to his added wing power. Lightning, on the other hand, was not as lucky. As he approached the exit, a gargantuan boulder came tumbling down from the trembling cavern walls, landing squarely onto his tail. Lightning couldn’t budge an inch further.

“Come on, Lightning! There’s no time to just stand there!”

“I’m stuck!” Lightning howled, making attempts to buck the boulder away that only failed miserably. “You’ll just have to go on by yourself!

“DON’T SAY THAT! I’LL… I’LL FIND A KNIFE!” Night rummaged around in his pockets for a blade sharp enough to cut Lightning’s tail free from the boulder, but to no avail. “DON’T WORRY! I’LL THINK OF SOMETHING!”

“THERE’S NO TIME!” Lightning screamed frantically. “YOU NEED TO GET AS FAR AWAY FROM HERE AS POSSIBLE, BEFORE THIS PLACE CAVES IN ON BOTH OF US!”

“NO! I HAVE TO BE OPTIMISTIC, JUST LIKE YOU SAID!”

“NO, NIGHT EMBER, THIS IS THE TIME TO BE REALISTIC!” Lightning looked straight into Night Ember’s panicked eyes, which were darting left and right in a frenzy. “YOU NEED TO FIND THE RESEARCH FACILITY AND FINISH THE MISSION. GO! I’LL BE FINE!”

“BUT —”

“GO!” Lightning screamed, and with one strong final kick, catapulted Night Ember as far away from him as possible. Night landed with a thud, almost a good fifteen metres away, sprawled in the snow as the cave began to shudder even more violently than before. He barely had time to turn and say goodbye to his best friend, when the cavern walls finally gave in, crumbling and collapsing as the mouth of the cave exit closed for the last time, taking Private Lightning Comet with it.

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A turn of events