Once Upon A Midnight Dreary

There are some who view dreams as a subversion of reality, a complete refusal of the real world in place of one far more fantastical. They tell themselves that dreams are purely constructs of the imaginative faculty of the mind and that there is no need to take them too seriously. Yet there are others who hold an opposing view, one that states that dreams are inherently rooted in reality. After all, have you ever dreamt of something you hadn't seen or heard about in the real world? Your dreams still depict grass - even if it is an odd color - and the fantastical beasts that roam your dreamscape are surely ones you read tales of in the waking world. Yes, it seems apt to say that dreams are rooted in reality.

So what happens when you have a dream so realistic, so terrifying, so bone chilling that you hope with all your being that it was only a dream.

This was the predicament Sunset Shimmer found herself in one night. One moment, she was drifting away in her bed, retreating to the dusty recesses of her mind. The next, she found herself standing atop a hill situated among its brethren in a rolling, hilly field that stretched as far as the eye could see.

'Where am I?' she wondered, glancing all around to try and make out some familiar landmark. None were present; there really were no landmarks. Just green hills as far as the eye could see.

Sunset tried to think of the last thing she could remember. 'Let's see: I brushed my teeth, changed into my pajamas, went to bed...OH! I must be dreaming!

It seemed like such an obvious conclusion in hindsight; after all, how else could she suddenly find herself in a location that was definitely not anywhere near Canterlot City. But that's the power of a dream: even when presented with odd circumstances it can be hard to tell that it's merely a dream.

'This is a weird thing to dream about...' Sunset thought as she examined her surroundings. No buildings, no signs of civilization, not even a tree. Why, of all things, would she dream of a - admittedly beautiful - empty landscape. 'Maybe some sort of Jungian Collective Unconscious from my old home?

It as then Sunset realized she was not alone. Out of the corner of her eye she spied something feathery and black. Her head snapped around as fast as it could, and her eyes landed on a curious sight: a raven, calmly sitting only a few feet from her.

"Odd, you weren't here before," Sunset muttered to herself. "But, considering I'm dreaming, I guess logic is out the window."

The raven cocked its head, giving a simple caw in reply. Its beady eyes were firmly locked on Sunset Shimmer, and an uneasy feeling passed over the girl. There was something in the raven's eyes that bothered her, something odd, something deceptively intelligent, something...old.

With a sudden beat of its wings, the raven launched itself into the air. Sunset watched with the same uneasy feeling as before as the raven wheeled around her, circling the teenager three times before it began to fly off. Sunset was still rooted to the spot, something the corvid apparently did not like as it turned around and made to land in front of her.

The bird landed with something somewhat reminiscent of anger, if that was even possible. It gave another caw, this one louder and far more aggressive, before launching itself back into the air.

'It wants me to follow it?' Sunset briefly weighed her options before realizing the folly of such an action. She was in a dream, there was no danger. At least the raven seemed to promise something slightly more interesting than the landscape.

She took off after the raven, running over the grassy hills, tripping over the valleys, and wishing she had wings like the bird above her. She had tried manifesting some - after all, why wouldn't she be able to in a dream - but it didn't work, and so she was confined to running.

Just when Sunset began to feel as though she had been running far too long and would be better off trying to wake herself up, the raven suddenly went into a dive, falling out of her sightline and below the crest of the next hill. The action filled Sunset with trepidation; what would she find over this hill that had caused such a sudden alteration in the bird's flight path. Cautiously, she crept to the top of the next hill, gazing down below.

The hill before her seemed fairly normal at first glance. At least, until you looked down and saw the large stone entryway built into its side. Something about it seemed familiar to Sunset. Perhaps something she had learned when studying the history of the human world? Suddenly, it dawned on her.

"A tumulus," she muttered in amazement. A gravesite covered with a mound of earth, making it look almost like another hill dotting the landscape. She had been particularly interested in them due to the similarities with ancient Earth Pony burial traditions.

Another angry caw broke her from her reverie. The raven, still staring at her with those beady eyes, was standing at the entrance to the tumulus. Seeing that it had her attention, the bird hopped inside.

"Well, not like I have anything better to do," Sunset steeled herself as she made her way down the hill. Coming to the stone entranceway, she couldn't help but shudder. Cold air was seeping out from inside, along with a faint smell of rotting. Never before had she had sensations like these in a dream.

'Come to think of it, I've never had a dream like this. I can feel the grass on my feet, the sun on my skin, everything! What is this...' She peered through the entryway with some degree of hesitation. With how odd everything was, she as not keen on going in, but it felt as though something was compelling her to move forward. So, taking a deep breath to steady herself, she stepped into the tumulus.

'OoooOOOoooooOOOOoooo'

As soon as her foot made contact with the stone floor a wail echoed from somewhere inside. Sunset was frozen with fear, but she found herself unable to retreat. Instead, she took another step forwards, and another, and another...it was almost as though her body was being controlled by an outside force as her mind screamed at her to leave, to wake up, to do anything else.

As Sunset made her way deeper into the tumulus, the wail was joined by two others. The three voices let loose their blood curdling wails out of synch, creating a cacophony of sorrowful sounds. The voices were soon joined by the sounds of water being swished around, as well as dripping, almost as though something was being washed.

Sunset soon found herself in a large chamber, one that was sparsely decorated bar a few impressive looking stone columns and a bust of a one eyed figure. Looking quite out of place was a cauldron filled with water that was surrounded by three figures in dark black cloaks. The figures appeared to be washing clothes in the water, clothes Sunset recognized.

"Those...those are my friends' clothes." The figures were washing the skirts and shirts of Sunset Shimmer's closest friends. The part that bothered her the most was that they were covered in stains of blood.

"Ah, and so the setting sun joins us in the Tomb of Balor to witness an omen most distressing," one of the figures said in the raspy, weak voice of an old woman. She couldn't even tell which one, as the figures did not look up from their work of washing out the bloodstains.

"What are you talking about? Why are the clothes stained in blood? What's going on!" Sunset Shimmer's voice had risen to a yell by the end of her statement, which only earned a chuckle from the weird beings before her.

"Her anger bubbles forth, sisters! Perhaps this shall lead her to the victory she seeks and let her avoid the fate most grim!" one of the other figures said, her voice slightly less raspy than the other.

"Oh, will she be able to overcome him? I think not, for what manner of man is this , or what manner of creature is it in semblance of man?" A third voice, this one deep and hearty, asked.

"He? What are you crones talking about! And why are my friends' clothes stained in blood! Answer me!" Sunset roared as she leapt at the three figures. But she came upon only air, crashing against the ground with the sound of laughter in her wake. With a groan, Sunset got back to her feet, only to see that the weird sisters had reappeared across the room.

"You attack us as though you are Culann's Hound, but with only a fraction of the skill. Perhaps, Setting Sun, you would gain more if you learned to have patience. After all," one of the figures held up the bloodied shirt of Rarity, causing Sunset's eyes to widen, "your friends' lives may depend upon it."

"If you hurt them - " Sunset began, anger lacing her tone. She was cut off by a trio of laughs.

"We do not hurt," the hearty voice said, "we only see what is to come, and we warn."

"W-warn? Of what?"

"Of he who feasted upon the apple, and his dark desires that will soon come to pass. For he is not a man who dreams by night in the dusty recesses of his mind, waking in the day to find that it was vanity. Nay, he dreams in the day, and the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible," the raspiest voice responded.

"Who is he?" Sunset questioned desperately, the riddles prying at her brain as she thought of who could hurt her friends.

"We may not say," the three voices uttered in unison. "We the Morrigan of the Tuatha de Danann may not interfere so directly in the affairs of mortals. But his insidious ambitions will disrupt the balance of the universe and take all you hold dear if left unchecked. We offer you this omen so that you may have a chance to fight your fate. Remember this Sunset: we wash the clothes of those doomed to die."

Dozens of questions flooded Sunset's head, but they never got the chance to be uttered. The world shattered around her, and she was propelled out of the world of dreams into the waking world. She jumped out of bed with a start, breathing heavily and with a cold sweat soaking her pajamas. Her mind was racing; what she had just experienced felt like far more than a simple dream. According to Twilight Princess Celestia's returned sister, Princess Luna, had magic that allowed her to manipulate dreams. Were there beings on Earth with the same ability?

Sunset trudged her way into her bathroom, turning on the sink and splashing cool water onto her face. She stared down into the basin for a moment. What threat was out there. Was it Equestrian, or something else entirely.

Sunset raised her head to judge in the mirror whether or not she looked as haggard as she felt. But what she saw turned the blood in her veins to ice, and she let loose a scream that woke up several of her neighbors and sent them running ot the apartment of the teen girl.

"Sunset," a soft voice called, a voice belonging to Sweet Melody, a woman in her 30's that Sunset, being rather close with her, had entrusted with a spare key in case of emergencies. Sweet Melody found the teenager cowering on he bathroom floor, eyes wide and gazing with fear at the bathroom mirror. Melody kneeled down to Sunset's level and shook the teen's shoulders in an attempt to snap her out of her state of fear. "Sunset, sweetie, what's wrong?"

Sunset said nothing; instead, she pointed at her mirror. In confusion, Melody traced the path of Sunset's finger, her eyes widening in shock as she saw what Sunset was pointing at.

A poem, written in what looked like dried blood, was scrawled across the mirror.

Lo, a shadow of horror is risen
In Eternity! Unknown, unprolific!
Self - closd, all - repelling; what Demon
Hath form'd this abominable void
This soul - shudd'ring vacuum? Some said
'It is U---'. But unknown, abstracted
Brooding secret, the dark power hid

Author's Note:

Another short entry into this odd corps of stories I'm creating that will lead to a larger project. There's quite a few literary references in this one; kudos if you got them.

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