Will a lingering nightmare Twilight Sparkle has been having be her undoing?
Princess Twilight Sparkle has defeated many foes and challenges thanks to her magic and her friends. But a recent nightmare has kept the Princess of Friendship awake at night, one that is so real she has trouble telling what is real and what is the dream.
What does this dream have to do with her, and can she undo the dark fate that it shows her?
Princess Twilight Sparkle awoke from what would be an otherwise restful night sleep as the moon streamed through the window of her private bedchambers. Normally the Princess, when she did get to sleep after a late night study session, would fall quickly asleep and stay asleep until the dawn. True she had trouble adjusting to her new castle, just as she had trouble adjusting to sleeping with wings after becoming an Alicorn, but after both these times she was able to adapt and settle back into a routing of pleasant undisturbed sleep. There was something though about why she woke up this night, like her intuition informed her that something needed her attention. It wasn’t that she forgot an important matter as the Princess was usually prompt with finishing things in time while knowing which projects she could delay. This was an unconscious reaction, one honed after years of study under Princess Celestia tutelage and in her life. This reaction was telling her loud and clear that something was very wrong.
She hadn’t been awake long to notice that there was something emanating from outside her room, not the soft welcoming glow of the moon or a flash of a comet streaking through the sky. It was a flickering light, like the dance of a candle’s flame that brightened and dulled intermittently. But this light didn’t come from the inside of her room but outside. There was something else that mixed with the light, a thick blackness that danced with the hypnotizing light outside. Occasionally a few pinholes of orange light joined in the dance before disappearing among the dark.
As hypnotizing and beautiful the scene was outside her window, Twilight soon realized what she was seeing as a wave of horror washed over her: something was on fire. This wasn’t a pleasant bonfire on a cool summer night where friends would gather but something far bigger, a house or maybe several houses. The Princess quickly dashed out of her room, something she only could quickly notice was not quite right. The room looked darker, more sinister than how she normally perceived it, and the menacing dance of shadows and light outside her window only added to the effect. She galloped down the seemingly endless hallway that stretched out before her like a spooky tunnel. Throwing open the glass doors with her magic and ventured out to a small private balcony that overlooked the town of Ponyville below, the Princess of Friendship stared in disbelief at the horror she saw.
Ponyville was in flames.
Not a single thing was touched in town from a simple barrel or wagon to a lofty home was left unprotected from the blaze. Every building that she ever walked by or visited were mere silhouettes of their formed selves among the inferno, some of them still holding their proud forms while others succumbing to the blaze and crumbling. Anything else were reduced to a pile of smoldering ash, some with small forks of flames to burn away any last trace of what once was.
Strangely, the only thing left undisturbed by the fire was the castle, something she could only rationalize as the fact that the castle was stone. Still she wondered in that brief moment of confusion, horror, and tiredness why everypony else had to suffer and she remained unaffected. If her home burned with the others then she would be upset but share in the collective loss rather than have everything and others having none.
As she spread her wings and flew from her lofty perch, the Alicorn tried to push past the disbelief and sleepiness to take stock of what happened. Even though there were houses close together the entire town couldn’t just burn like this at once. It was a windless night and thus the fires would be contained to one area where something could fuel it. This lead to only one conclusion: somepony or something started and spread the fire. The very thought of such an atrocious act being caused against the town she sworn to give her life to protect and the ponies she became acquainted with made her sick. If there was some plot to get her attention by attacking those close to her then she was listening loud and clear.
“Hello?” Twilight shouted as she began galloping down the street, her anger at the injustice she saw giving way to worry, “Is everypony ok?” There was no reply, only the sickening sound of raging hissing flames and crackling wood that was once part of a house or some furniture. The searing heat and bling suffocating smoke made navigating the streets she once knew virtually impossible much less looking for ponies that needed rescue. She was also in constant fear of colliding with some burning object in the road. A sudden cracking sound like a falling tree made Twilight quickly dart away as the front of a burning building came down on the street, narrowly missing her. She got up and brushed the glowing embers from her coat and continued to make her way.
Her heart and stomach recoiled like a frightened turtle retreating into its shell as she passed by the first of her friends’ houses. This one was the Carousel Boutique, home to Rarity. It was once one of the fanciest places, its circular design displaying the grandeur that a pony would expect upon stepping through the doors. Inside though they would not only see beauty and sophistication but a pony devoted to her talent and who generously gave to others with her time, energy and even possessions. Now the once opulent dress shop and home was a fiery ruin, the top floors already collapsed in on each other.
“Rarity, can you hear me?” Twilight shouted towards the doors of the boutique only to receive no answer. The Princess could only pray that Rarity and her younger sister Sweetie Belle escaped unscathed. Buildings could be rebuilt and businesses begun anew, but life was the most guarded of treasures. Wiping a tear from her eye at the loss, a flood of memories returned of awkward dress fittings and decorations designed for gatherings, threatening to break the Alicorn’s spirit. She could not rest and mourn now, not until she knew for certain the fate of her friends.
As she rounded the corner, Twilight sent a blast of her magic forth like a mighty wind, blowing away the majority of the smoke and flames. As the terrain became clearer to her, the Princess gasped in horror. There a mere fifty feet from where she stood lay something that did not look like the strewn wreckage of burnt pieces of buildings or objects. This was the motionless silhouette of a pony.
“Hey, I’m here,” Twilight said hoping that the pony could hear her, “I’m coming to help.”
She ran to it, desperate to know who it was of if this pony was still alive. But just as she got started a surge of flames engulfed her, and the world turned black.
Twilight awoke suddenly, sitting bolt upright as her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. The moment her eyes shot open the Alicorn was greeted by a blinding white light, forcing her to shut them. For a moment she remained in the darkness until slowly she reopened her eyes as they adjusted. To her relief she found herself in her bedroom, not in the smoke filled streets of Ponyville. Thinking about the town made Twilight panic as the Princess shot from her bed and flew down the hallway as fast as her wing could take her. She narrowly missed one of the castle guards who literally jumped out of the way of the speeding Princess.
“Sorry,” Twilight said not stopping her flight until she reached the ornate double doors that led to the balcony. Using the magic she threw them open, almost tearing them off their hinges as she stepped out into the open morning sky. Looking down at Ponyville below her she breathed a sigh of relief. The town was not in flames but was just as how she remembered it to be the many years she lived there. Ponies were already out on the streets, some conversing with each other and other making ready their businesses for the day. The Princess immediately realized how much she took for granted the peace that the town shared, that aside from a few problems most incidents were few and fleeting. Her mind instantly returned to that horrific moment when she faced Tirek and despite putting her entire force into her fight she almost lost had it not been for the secrets within the crystal box.
“It was just a dream,” she replied with a relieved sigh before noticing a group of fillies looking up at her from below. She waved to them but to her surprise the group giggled and trotted off to their destination. The Alicorn wondered what that was about until she remembered having just jumped out of bed, no attention given to how she looked. With her face reddened by the revelation she retreated back into the safety of her castle, shutting the door behind her. She was about to return to her bedroom when she met a familiar face.
“Oh, hi Spike,” Twilight said.
“Nice mane style you got there,” the dragon said with a chuckle, “Felt like not getting ready today?”
“No Spike, My mind was just occupied on something.”
“Yeah, I know. I heard you dash out of your room, and the noise woke me up. You know, I thought you’re supposed to be more graceful now that you’re a Princess.”
“Sorry about waking you up Spike,” Twilight said, “I was distracted by something.”
“What kind of something? Did you forget to do something on your to-do list last night?”
“No, it was actually a dream… well more like a nightmare.”
“What kind of nightmare?”
Twilight was about to explain everything about the dream in detail, but she decided not to. The last thing she wanted to do was to traumatize the poor dragon or worse have it spread among her friends or even the town and cause a panic. She was a Princess of Friendship, not chaos. Although she hated to hide something from Spike, it was for the good of the town.
“Oh it was nothing, just a silly dream,” Twilight said shaking her head, “Guess I got freaked out for nothing.”
The dragon simply shrugged at Twilight’s dismissal. He was used to seeing her in her moments of sheer happiness and times when she was having a meltdown of epic proportions. The last thing he wanted to do was to belabor the point further and make the Princess of Friendship worry more. After all, it was Twilight’s nightmare and who better to know what she thought than her?
“Alright Spike, tell me the day’s tasks!” she said confidently.
“Yes mam!” Spike said giving a smart salute to her guardian, “Well, you have a meeting with Mayor Mare about the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration, then meeting with Applejack about food for the festival, then Rainbow Dash for checking on the weather, next is Fluttershy for her bird choir practice, Rarity for her decorating of the town hall, and last but not least Pinkie Pie for the overnight party.”
“Well, those shouldn’t be hard to do by themselves,” Twilight said, “the mayor trusts my decisions and as for my friends… well… I know that each of what they will contribute to the event will be in capable hooves! This is going to be a long day though, so let’s get started!”
Twilight was about to gallop off to her duties when Spike made a loud forced cough to get the Alicorn’s attention.
“What?” Twilight said a little annoyed about being stopped.
“Um… you may want to think about getting ready for the day as your mane and tail look… well… like you were caught in a hurricane.”
“Oh!” Twilight said as her face reddened realizing her error in haste, “Right, I should tame this wild mane of mine, shouldn’t I?”
Suddenly her stomach let out a very not Princess-like growl in protest that took the by dragon by surprise.
“And breakfast too,” she added as she returned to her bedroom to freshen up leaving Spike to chuckle and shake his head at the Princess’s mental misstep.
There were times that Twilight Sparkle was bestowed a certain time of good luck, like finding the right book without having to look for it or knowing what to do at the exact moment without giving it much thought. Although fickle she was thankful of these moments where she could take things easy. Such a moment came during the day when she left the castle to find her friends. She at first thought that she would have to visit everypony individually, but to her delight everypony was right there to meet with her!
“Hi girls!” she said, “I didn’t expect to see all of you here.”
“Silly Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced around her friend, “Did you forget already the plans we had today?”
“Oh come on Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said, “Twilight was probably distracted on some nerdy magic project of hers or whatever Princesses do. Seriously though Twilight, you really forgot the thing that you’ve been asking us to attend for days now? Don’t you have some calendar like in every room?”
Twilight would normally frown at Rainbow Dash’s comments but her mind was deep into what event involving her friends she forgot. She remembered Spike explaining in the morning the list of things to do, a ritual that she depended on during her busy days but also was a bonding time between her and the dragon. But each meeting with her friends she assumed was to be separate, not together. But as she looked at the five ponies her eyes went wide as she realized an error in her to do list.
“Spike, did that to-do list you read to me have anything else?”
“Um… oh!” Spike said as he looked at the other mares around him and at Twilight, “I forgot you were supposed to meet with all the girls at once! Which I guess you know now?”
“That’s ok Spike,” she said with a smile before addressing her friends, “Guess I forgot that I was meeting all of you at once, but that’s even better because we have lots to talk about. Err… were we planning to meet in my castle or somewhere else?”
“Well…” Fluttershy said softly, “Last time we met in my cottage, so I think it’s another pony’s turn. That is if it’s alright with all of you.” “Ah don’t think it’s mah turn yet,” Applejack said thinking of the order.
“Oh silly me,” Rarity said, “All this excitement has muddled my brain. We’re supposed to have it at my shop! I know we want to talk there about the Summer Sun Celebration, and I want to show you my ideas for decorating the town. So, let us not waste any time then. Follow me!”
The six mares eagerly made their way down the streets until the lines of similar looking buildings parted, revealing a familiar round multistory building adorned in the finest of colors and designs representing the splendor that ponies would see stepping inside. The five friends of Twilight were laughing and talking about the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration and their own individual lives. This, however, ended abruptly the moment that the Alicorn gazed upon the Carousel Boutique. She had seen this place before countless times, whether in passing or meeting Rarity and her friends there. She could possibly walk there blindfolded if she wanted to! It was always a place of beauty and creativity, but today there was something different. Her mind didn’t see the beautiful structure at all. Instead, all she could think about was the dream the night before and seeing the boutique aflame. She knew that everything was safe and that Rarity was unharmed as she could see it before her very eyes. But the more she looked at the rounded building the more her mind reflected on that image from the dream.
Twilight was well versed in many subjects relating to magic from crystals to divination to even some forays into time travel. But dreaming was a topic that was as unfamiliar to her as was flying before she became a Princess. The pony assumed, at least up until this moment, that dreams were made up of pieces of things seen or heard, stitched together like some strange patchwork. Once played out in the solace of sleep they would simply vanish, never to be recalled again unless a pony took the time to document it in say a dream journal. The purple Alicorn couldn’t remember a time when she remembered a dream without recording it, especially one that played itself back in such a surreal manner. She could not only picture it in her mind but hear the crackling of the fire and feeling the heat on her body. Worst of all, Twilight felt for the first time since she defeated Tirek a strong persistent fear.
“Um… Twilight, are you ok?” Rainbow Dash said waving a blue hoof in front of the paralyzed Alicorn.
“Huh?” Twilight said as the nightmare images suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, revealing the Ponyville she knew not aflame and her five friends and Spike staring at her with confused looks on their faces, “Oh hi girls and Spike. Were you talking to me?”
“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity said calmly, “You looked like you saw something positively dreadful!”
“Yeah, you just sort of stopped dead in the middle of the road and stared at Rarity’s place,” Applejack added, “Why Ah’ never saw that look of fear on yer face like that since we faced Tirek!”
“It’s ok girls,” Twilight said with a grin trying to cover up her embarrassment, “My mind was on something else. Nothing to worry about. Now, let’s get to planning the Summer Sun Celebration!”
The ponies and dragon could only shrug at their friend’s strange behavior before continuing into the boutique. Twilight tried to push the memory of the nightmare far from her mind by focusing on the task at hoof, hoping that it was just a lingering dream and nothing more. With time and things to occupy her mind she hoped that the problem would be taken care of quickly. It wasn’t like that the dream would return the next day, would it?
That evening Twilight prepared for sleep, her mind calmer than it was when she awoke. The thoughts of the vivid nightmare had all but disappeared from her mind the moment that she and her friends discussed planning for the Summer Sun Celebration. It wasn’t just the planning that provided a much needed diversion, as her friends all knew their place in preparing for the event and would tackle their tasks with efficient focus. It was merely being with her friends that made her forget her troubles, putting her mind at ease that it was merely a bad dream and nothing more.
She didn’t speak to her friends at all about the bad experience although she didn’t know why. Her friends were always there to help her whether it was for them to offer advice or merely to listen. Perhaps it was the worry that her friends would think she was fretting again. Although they would sometimes tease her for overreacting they did mean well and would listen to her when something mattered. She knew that their feelings were justified as the Alicorn sometimes would attempt to control a situation only do more harm than good. Maybe that was another reason why she kept her nightmare to herself so that things wouldn’t be blown out of proportions. After all, there were no signs of Ponyville or her friends in danger, but Twilight knew that danger did strike without warning. Still she couldn’t fathom how something in a dream could translate into real life.
“This had to be just my mind playing tricks on me,” Twilight said with a yawn as she sat in her bed, “I’ll go to bed and tomorrow I’ll be refreshed and forget that the silly dream ever happened to me.”
Satisfied that by saying this would somehow be the catalyst to prevent the dream from returning, Twilight lay down, closed her eyes and fell asleep.
The Princess awoke where she was the night before, or maybe awoke wasn’t the right word for it. One minute she was in her bedroom comfortably robed in a cocoon of sheets with her head softly guarded by a pillow and the next she was awake and outside not only her bedroom but her castle. She wondered what happened that caused her to be awake at such an hour. Then she saw a strangely familiar sight of the town of Ponyville dying in flames that spread out in all directions, far beyond what she could see. It was then that she saw it, the silhouette of a pony lying in the street unmoving and unidentifiable in the smoke and flames. Twilight galloped quickly towards the figure past burning homes and businesses that were once familiar to her but now only a memory. She didn’t know why she failed to consider teleporting or flying, but still what mattered was getting there to help the pony.
Finally she reached the figure and to her horror it was not an adult but a little colt. The child had a once white coat now a greyed black that was burned off in multiple places. His short blonde mane and tail were all but gone, leaving only smoldering ends. The thing that frightened Twilight the most was that the colt was still alive, but his breathing was labored, punctuated by gasps and coughs. He wasn’t somepony that Twilight knew, perhaps a relative of a resident of the town or a tourist. It didn’t matter as she had to help him.
“It’s ok,” Twilight said cradling the colt, “You’re going to be ok. I’m going to help you.”
The colt weakly lifted his head to the sound of the Alicorn but did not open his eyes. With a series of gasps and coughs he faintly uttered, “M… mo..mmy,” and then his body went limp. Twilight’s eyes went wide as he tried giving the colt CPR but he did not stir. With a flicker of her horn she checked his pulse with the limited medical talents she had. To her horror there was none, the colt had died in her hooves.
“No,” she said staring at the lifeless colt, “I could have saved you. I just needed more time.”
It was then that she looked up from the colt down the street and saw it, bodies scattered across the street amidst the burning wreckage, some coughing and gasping while others already dead. It was then that the Princess who was sworn to protect the town knew for certain the horrible truth: she was too late.
Twilight awoke as the shades of night still plunged her room in darkness, breathing heavily as if having run away from something terrible. The Alicorn realized that she was not on her comfortable bed but the hard stone floor of her bedroom, wrapped in a bundle of sheets that she took down with her after falling off the bed. After regaining her senses the mare quickly shimmied out from the fabric and looked about the room. It was just as she left it before she fell asleep, albeit reduced to shadows with the lack of light. Absent was the menacing flickering light that indicated that the town was ablaze, but the Princess needed more proof than that. She stepped towards the window, half stumbling in her confusion from her dream and the lack of sleep, praying that she wasn’t still in the dream unaware. To her relief she could see the outline of Ponyville below in the moonlit sky, all of the buildings dark as the ponies slept soundly.
“It was the same dream again,” Twilight said as she pounded the floor in frustration, “and this one was worse! That poor stallion, died in my arms! But what does it mean? I’ve never had a dream that repeats itself, especially not one that’s so… real.”
The Alicorn shuddered as the still fresh memories came flooding back. She paced back and forth as she pondered her next move. The fog of sleep began to overtake her, begging her to rest again, but she couldn’t sleep with the fear of that nightmare looming over her yet again. There had to be some way that she could remove the dream from her mind and grant her a restful night’s sleep again.
“I could talk to Princess Luna. She would know what to do with this dream I’ve been having. But before I do maybe I could do a little research. Maybe I can figure this out on my own, something simple that I’m just not seeing right now that can help me crack this nightmare. It’s not like I can sleep with this dream I keep having.”
With a flicker of her horn, Twilight teleported from her room so as not to alert the guards. The last thing she wanted to do was to alert them to any trouble, especially since the trouble was in her own mind until she could find a reason behind her dreams. In a matter of seconds she found herself in the middle of the darkened library. There were two libraries within her castle, one which was a library open to the public that the Princess included after the Golden Oaks Library was destroyed. The last thing she wanted to do was deprive the ponies of Ponyville a place to learn. The other library was her own personal collection, typically containing magical books of a dangerous or complex nature that she dare not release to the public lest they fall into the wrong hooves. It was her routine to go to the public library first, and what better time than to go when none were around, leaving her to study alone.
The library was eerily quiet, save for the echoing of her hooves hitting the crystalline floor. With a glow of her horn, she produced a ball of light that floated above her and illuminated a circle around her, giving form as well to the shadows nearby. She passed the main desk of the library where she would always see the main librarian busy checking in or out books and answering questions and the large reading area dotted by circular tables and rings of chairs. She then turned and disappeared into the maze-like stacks. She navigated the stacks quickly, turning here and there with the efficiency of a pony who had visited this place many times before. Finally she came to a stop at a section marked by a metal plaque etched with the words: Magic and Magical Studies. Half of the books here were for magical theory and the history of magic while the other half contained books of actually spell casting, ranging from general spells to more specific like love magic or crystal magic. None of these books contained very advanced magic, but hopefully there would be something she could learn here. Searching through the sea of titled made the Princess feel nostalgic as she remembered how she was a filly under Celestia’s tutelage and navigating the shelves of the library to learn about magic. In that time the world was still new to her, waiting to be discovered. But as she now searched for something she did not know the irony of her not running out of things to learn wasn’t lost on the Alicorn.
“Now where are the books on dreams?” Twilight said as she looked at the titles, “Let’s see… books on hauntings… books on magical creatures… ah here we are! Books on dreams!”
Normally she would keep her excitement down to a minimum in a library, but there was no one that required the silence. Her eyes scanned the titles with the aid of her magical light until she stopped at a book that read: “Dreams and their Interpretations” by Princess Luna. Even though Twilight knew that the Princesses had written several books, many of them relating to the history, culture, or magic or Equestria, it still surprised her to find a book written by Luna when she pondered speaking with her.
“It’s by the Princess and yet it looks like a fairly new book,” Twilight said picking it off the shelf with her magic “Must be a reprint that Princess Luna requested or a new edition.”
With her book floating along with her, Twilight found the nearest seat, tucked away in the back of the library and buried deep within the stacks. It was a perfect spot, one that the Princess when all possible would seek out where she could lose herself in a book. She sat down and turning on the magical light on the desk she opened the book and looked at the table of contents. Her eyes centered on an intriguing chapter: Dreams and Omens. Flipping hastily to the chapter as her heart raced with the promise of her problem so close to being solved, the Princess of Friendship began to read:
“As explained in the beginning of this book, dreams often reflect the inner desires or fears of the dreamer. These dreams or nightmares manifest themselves by our subconscious as a way to bring to light things that might otherwise be buried deep within our minds by the business of our daily lives. In the previous chapter I also explained a special type of dream known as lucid dreaming in which a pony, typically gifted in magic, can manipulate the dream thus either perpetuating a desire or, in the case of a nightmare, to banish it and conquer one’s fears.
Now I will reveal a third type of dream that some ponies might encounter which is perhaps the most vivid and unsettling of visions: the prophetic dream or nightmare. Unlike the other dreams that manifest themselves from a pony’s subconscious, this type of dream manifests itself from an outside source. This can be likened to one pony whispering a secret to another, only that you don’t know this pony. It is unclear where such prophetic dreams manifest from, although my theory is that it is from the primal nature of magic in the world that sends such messages to a pony’s mind when the balance of harmony or magic is threatened. For this reason about the gravity of such dreams, there are many cases where dreams are projected into the minds of important ponies such as royalty, although there are some not in positions of power that have such dreams...”
“So that’s why I might be having this dream,” Twilight said as she momentarily looked up from the book, “I’m the Princess of Friendship and as such I’m sworn to protect ponies from danger.”
The Alicorn read further as Princess Luna explained several cases of prophetic dreams that certain ponies had been known to have. There was the tale of a griffon king that was about to visit Equestria but upon visiting a dream that his kingdom would come under attack by a dragon he stayed and helped defeat the creature and save his kingdom. Another was of a wealthy pony who owned a house by the sea and had a dream of his house being carried away by the sea. He ignored it and after a terrible storm the angry ocean destroyed his house. The more she read the more nervous Twilight became as she read to the next part.
“There are key features that a prophetic dream differentiates from a normal dream. One is the surreal nature of the dream to the point that the pony might not, for a time, recognize what is real and what is a dream. The other factor is even after the dream the memory of it lingers on unlike dreams which are not remembered unless documented. These memories are often triggered by seeing a location or pony from the dream. Lastly is the factor of the recurring dream where like a story the dream progresses, becoming direr each time.”
“Well it’s official, I’m having a prophetic dream,” Twilight said as she read on, “but still what does it mean?”
“It is unclear how many nights a dream may last as it varies by the complexity of the prophecy. It can be assumed that unless the dream is solved by the dreamer it will continue through the end of the sequence and perhaps begin again. The only way for a prophetic dream to be put to rest is for a pony to understand its meaning.”
“The dream won’t stop?” Twilight said loudly in frustration, “I have to solve the dream myself? I thought that surely Princess Luna would give me an answer in her book, something to stop these dreams, but I guess even it eludes the Guardian of Dreams. I can’t just wait until each night for another painful dream to come along that robs me of my sleep and makes me not be able to function or walk by familiar ponies and places without thinking about that nightmare. I have to keep researching, even if it takes all night. Maybe somepony will find a better way.”
The Princess then returned to the stacks, hoping to find an answer in the books there.
Sometime during her studies of her dream and about prophecy, Twilight Sparkle’s mind lost the battle with her body, as it gave into the lure of sleep. One minute she was in the castle library trying to unravel her frightening dream and the next blackness. The fog of sleep though was not without its promise of a pleasant night’s sleep and the fear that once again the Princess would find herself in that twisted mockery of a nightmare world.
As the dark of sleep gave way, The Alicorn once again found herself back in the burning town of Ponyville, unable to escape her fate. The dark dream picked up where she left off, leaving the body of the now dead colt behind her as she trotted down the streets, passing by more bodies that tried escaping their former houses and businesses, now fiery prisons. Their only reward though for escaping was death, proving their efforts to be futile. There were some ponies that she didn’t see such as the Flower Fillies who no doubt perished together inside their house. Then there were the once living breathing ponies that she interacted with that now lay dead in the street among the burning debris, those who were spared from the flames but not the overwhelming smoke that blackened the sky overhead. Once they had lives with their names and now that was over.
Twilight’s thoughts then turned to her friends, the ones that she cared about more than even her own welfare at times. Surely if they had survived the many dangers they had been through they would survive this inferno. But seeing how many ponies that were strong in their own right now dead on the ground the Princess began to worry. As she wandered town in the hopes of find her friends or any survivors for that matter, she turned the corner to where another familiar place now burning. There in front of her was Sugar Cube Corner, a once cheery place now a pile of charred wood mixed with colors that once adorned the store and crackling flames. But that wasn’t what took her breath away for there in front of the store was Pinkie Pie’s body. Her pink fur was charred and her once puffy mane and tail was covered in soot and flattened.
“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted as she trotted over to where her friend lay. As she rolled the mare over on her back the pink earth pony suddenly gasped for breath harshly. She was alive, but it was clear that her life was in danger.
“T…Twilight? Is that you?” Pinkie said as the lavender unicorn could only see fear in her friend’s eyes.
“Yes, I’m here Pinkie. What happened? Where are our friends?”
“We all came here to help the town,” she said in a raspy voice, “but the flames surrounded us. It was like they knew we were here… and they… I…”
Pinkie Pie’s voice suddenly broke into a loud raspy cough as every breath the mare took was a fight for her life before whispering, “Twilight?”
“Yes Pinkie?”
“I’m not having fun anymore,” she said as tears filled her eyes.
“Pinkie Pie, I know you’re hurting but you need to tell me, who did this to Ponyville?”
“Y…you…” was the only thing that she said before her eyes rolled back into her head and the last breath exited her body.
“Pinkie… no… you can’t die, not like this,” Twilight said as she cradled her friend while weeping, her mind a cloud of sadness and confusion.
Twilight didn’t remember how exactly she got back to the safety of her bedroom. Then again she couldn’t remember much of anything that happened during the past hours since she was awake. She remembered waking up with a scream which much have frightened the poor librarian something awful when he was opening up the library for the day as she heard him galloping towards her.
“Princess Twilight?” the librarian said with a sound of surprise and concern, “Are you alright?”
“No…I mean yes, I mean… I gotta go,” she said as her mind was flooded with thoughts and emotions from the dream combined with the fog of lost sleep. The librarian was about to open his mouth and say something but the Alicor was too flustered to carry on a conversation. Then somehow she remembered being here in her room, theorizing that she teleported so as not to draw attention from anypony else. Now she sat in her room which felt more like a self-imposed prison than a sanctuary where she could be happy.
“What’s happening to me?” she said as she felt her own mind betraying her normally rational self, “Ok, think Twilight, you’re better than this to just give up. There has to be a way to solve this dream so I can get the rest I need.”
She hastily grabbed a piece of paper and a quill and set to work documenting the ever direr progression of her dreams. There was always the constant scene, a fire caused by an unknown source that engulfed the town and killed most if not all of Ponyville’s citizens including her friends. This wasn’t an ordinary fire, and Twilight guessed it was no accident. Somepony or something had set the blaze, using it to trap everypony and destroy their lives. She couldn’t think of any creature strong enough to unleash such power without her knowing, or if there was, the creature would be long trapped in Tartarus. She also knew there were only a few ponies capable of such destructive magic, namely the Princesses including herself, but surely no Princess would seek out the destruction of ponykind… unless.
“Oh no!” Twilight said as tears filled her eyes looking down at the last thing she wrote about the most recent dream, “Pinkie Pie, she said ‘You’ before dying. I couldn’t cause all that destruction, I wouldn’t! That’s not what the dreams are trying to tell me, right? I’m not a murderer, or a destroyer!”
She curled up into a ball as the very thought of her even accidentally hurting her friends and the innocent townsfolk was like the weight of the world on her back. Her mind went through all the scenarios of what the dream meant other than what she saw, but nothing could be done to deny the fact that somehow she caused this destruction. It was apparent as to who caused it as she saw nothing else in the dream that could have caused it, nor was she or her castle damaged by the fire. She wept for her friends even though she knew that they were still alive and well. The question ran through her mind: how long would they be ok? Would it be a day, week, month or year when Twilight causes what the dreams predicted would come to pass? One mystery appeared to be solved but another bigger mystery appeared as to how she could prevent her magic from hurting anypony, even accidentally.
“I know what the dream means, and I know what I have to do,” Twilight said as a new wave of confidence helped lift her from her depression, “No more magic until I can figure out why I would destroy my home and friends.”
It was easy enough for her to say it to herself, but she didn’t know how well she could do it. She thought about asking Princess Celestia or Luna, but no. If they heard that she had a prophetic dream about her destroying Ponyville and killing so many innocents including her friends they might think of her as an incompetent ruler who can’t solve her own problems, or worse they would think she was a threat that needed to be contained. As much as she trusted them with her wellbeing she knew that they also would protect Equestria and its citizens from a threat, even if it meant another Princess. Princess Luna was a prime example of this fact when she became Nightmare Moon.
“I’m not going to even accidentally hurt my friends,” she said with a renewed purpose, “I’m going to not use my magic, figure out what would cause my magic to go haywire, and fix it. What’s the worst that can happen?”
A few hours later, Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped out of her castle. She tried her best to mask her still anxious mind and sleep deprived body, but like all masks it didn’t hide everything. Dark bags rested under her eyes and her normally royal posture was slumped as she let out a brief yawn while travelling the roads. When she saw a particular landmark in town or greeted a familiar pony, she gave a brief involuntary look of dread, like seeing them or places in town reminded her of something dreadful. For most it was so fleeting that it was barely noticeable, although some could mistake it for a nervous tick. Those who were keen enough to see past the mask the Princess was trying to put on would ask if the Princess was ok to which Twilight gave a reassured “I’m fine” or “never been better” with a grin.
It was all a lie though as despite her oath not to use magic this was only a temporary situation to an ongoing problem. The lavender Alicorn wondered if she was making the right decision, abandoning what essentially was her talent and not seeking the aid of the Princesses whose knowledge was more precious than gold. There wasn’t even a certainty that abandoning magic was the answer to saving Ponyville from destruction. But Twilight started down this path and she was not ready to abandon it yet.
Her act was almost exposed when a familiar colt appeared in the streets. He was the same one from the dream who died in agony before the Princess. But now he was here, alive and well, but the question lingered in her mind: how long? As a Princess each pony’s life was important, and she did not wish to see this pony who was just beginning his life have it snuffed out.
“Excuse me,” the colt said with a soft wary voice that reminded her a little of Fluttershy, “You are Princess Twilight Sparkle, right?”
“Um…yes, yes I am,” she said as the memories resurfaced.
“My mommy and daddy told me all about you when we were moving here. They said that Ponyville is safer and happier since you are here. That’s what you do as a Princess, right, keep us safe?”
As much as she wished to flee from the colt and the memories he awakened, she did not want to be rude, especially to somepony who just moved to town.
“Well… that is one of the things as a Princess that I do,” she said lowering herself to the level of the colt.
“C..can you do something for me?” the colt asked.
“Um…sure.”
“Can you give me a hug? I’ve never been hugged by a Princess before.”
Twilight’s body tensed as the colt uttered his request, recalling that moment that was as clear as the night she had the dream where she hugged the dying pony in her hooves. The poor colt, not even old enough to have his cutie mark, dying in her horrid nightmare!
“Yes,” Twilight finally said reluctantly hugging the colt lightly. To her surprise the little pony returned the favor by hugging her.
“Thanks Princess Twilight!” he said after being released from her embrace, “You’re the best Princess! Oh, by the way, my name is Morning Dew.”
"It's nice to meet you then, Morning Dew," Twilight replied as the colt now having a name to his face made the sting of the prophetic dream even more painful.
He then galloped away, disappearing in the crowd, but he heard him exclaim, “Mom, dad, guess what? I met Princess Twilight!”
At last she arrived at Sugarcube Corner, a normally cheery place inspiring whimsy and putting a smile on anypony’s face. Today though Twilight could only see it in flames and one of her best friends dying right before her eyes. It was as if her body was glued to the ground, unable to move from the spot as she stared blankly at the place.
“Hi there!” a happy voice was heard next to her, “Whatcha looking at?”
“Oh,hi Pinkie. Guess my mind was somewhere else.”
“That’s ok, sometimes my mind wanders and then I have to go find myself before myself gets back before I do” she said with a giggle, “So, have you thought about it?”
“About what?”
“Coming in silly! All the girls are here, ready for the final plans for Summer Solstice Celebration! So come on in!”
As Pinkie Pie bounced her way in, Twilight realized that the event was only two days away! Granted her friends had already done much to prepare, but her nightmares kept her from even thinking about leading this celebration. There was something missing from Twilight’s mind, some task she needed to do at the celebration, but what? She went through her mental checklist as she stepped into the sweet shop.
Give a speech to welcome Princess Celestia? She already had it written up and would practice it the day before.
Lead the procession through town with the Princess? The route was already planned out as was the band and accompanying honor guards.
Accommodations for Celestia? The castle had plenty of guest rooms for royalty.
Something still was missing, something very important that she needed to do. She hoped it would come soon as no loose end needed to be seen especially big ones.
“Hello girls,” she said to her friends gathered, “I wasn’t late, was I?”
“Not at all dear,” Rarity said, “In fact we were just mentioning that everything is moving along quite well if I do say so myself. Fluttershy mentioned her bird choir has the songs almost perfect.”
“Oh yes, I have a very nice group this year,” Fluttershy said.
“And Ah’m almost done with preparin’ the food for the event,” Applejack said, “You should smell the inside of my house! Delicious!”
“I checked with the weather team, and it’s going to be nothing but sunny skies for the weekend,” Rainbow Dash replied, “no rain cloud is going to dampen this event!”
“And I just finished the decorations and will be starting to hang them throughout the town,” Rarity said.
“And the night long party is going to be amazing!” Pinkie said bouncing in the air.
“What about you?” Fluttershy said, “Are you ready for your part?”
“Well, everything seems to be in place thanks to you girls, so I guess all that’s left is welcoming the Princess.”
“But what about that other thing you need to do?” Applejack said.
“Other thing?” Twilight asked more to herself as she searched for what was lost in her mind.
“Oh come on! Don’t tell me Miss Prepared here forgot about the thing that she’s been telling us all about!”
“Girls, I’m well aware of what needs to be done but planning an event like this is difficult despite being well organized,” Twilight said more frustrated in herself than them, “so forgive me if I don’t recall right now what it is…”
“…You’re going to raise the sun with Princess Celestia!” Rarity said excitedly, “I must say it’s quite an honor.”
“I…what?”
“The sun,” Pinkie Pie said, “You know, that big fiery ball in the sky that tells us to awake up and start the day?”
“I know what the sun is Pinkie. It’s just… I don’t remember electing to raise it.”
“You talked about it for at least a week! But hey, this should be a piece of cake for you,” Dash said pointing to her cutie mark, “I mean that’s your talent, right?”
“Ah’ just think Twilight has some jitters about the whole thing,” Applejack said, “Why Ah get that sometimes when Ah have to compete in a rodeo! But yer the most magical pony Ah know, aside from the other Princesses, that is. Ah have no doubt you’ll do fine!”
“Yeah fine,” Twilight said as her body sagged as if by the weight of her task.
“Twilight, I must say you look a bit, disheveled,” Rarity said, “Like you could use a trip to the spa.”
“Or a good night’s sleep,” Fluttershy added.
“Having a long night studying?” Dash said, “Typical Twilight!”
“I’m fine, really,” Twilight said, “don’t worry, I’ll think of something with raising the sun.”
“Okie dokie lokie!’ Pinkie Pie replied, “Now enough talk about the event. Let’s get some lunch!”
As the group exited the shop while talking amongst themselves, a wave of fear gripped Twilight. What if in trying to raise the sun at night something terrible happened and the town burned? Was this what the prophetic nightmares foretold? How could she tell Princess Celestia that she didn’t want to risk hurting ponies by doing her magic? Her plan which was once as strong as stone quickly began to crumble at her new promised task.
Twilight found herself returning home to the safety of her castle as the moon began to make its ascent over the mountains. The remainder of the day had all but been forgotten spending time with her friends, all that is, except for one thing. She remembered the unwelcomed news of her duty to help raise the sun during the Summer Sun Celebration, something that in her focus on these recurring nightmares she let slip from her mind. Now the task returned to her like an unwelcome guest and at the worst time possible. It seemed only too convenient that her having to use large amounts of magic would coincide with a nightmare warning her of what would happen if she used too powerful of a spell.
“What if when I try to raise the sun I fail and end up burning Ponyville and killing my friends?” Twilight said as she teleported up to her room, not wanting to use her magic but feeling there was no choice to avoid others, “I know Princess Celestia and Luna will be there to help me with the sun, but what if something goes wrong? What if I hurt them too or worse and they can’t help me? I don’t think I’m ready to do this, not after what I know from these dreams. I don’t want to do this, but tomorrow I’m going to send Princess Celestia a letter saying that I can’t raise the sun with her. But what lie can I make up to convince her why I can’t? She’ll see right through what I say and know something is up, and then what will I say? There’s no way out of this for me. I’ll be seen as a liar and an ineffectual ruler or worse dangerous. But if being called that is what it takes to protect Ponyville from any danger that is what I’ll have to do!”
With the decision rooted in her mind and with a heavy sigh of hopelessness that there was no way to escape facing the issue, Twilight climbed into bed and fell asleep, hoping that this night would be the first night where no nightmares would rob her of sleep.
She found herself again in the burning nightmarish landscape with its smoke filled air, deadly consuming flames and the lifeless bodies of ponies she knew around her. Her eyes left the now dead Pinkie Pie as she saw to her horror the bodies of her friends there strewn about the road. She was the only survivor of what took place, and by all accounts she resigned herself to believe she was the cause. She began to wonder if maybe avoiding the events of the Summer Sun Celebration was enough. Would she still a week, a month or a year from then somehow cause this tragedy with her magic? She would have to leave Ponyville and her friends, even leave Equestria herself. Maybe she could be a hermit in the Everfree Forest, or travel somewhere new where her power was diminished.
“Twilight Sparkle,” a voice suddenly echoed from all around the lavender unicorn, snapping her out of her despair. She watched as the smoky skies parted and down descended Princess Luna, coming to rest before her.
“Princess Luna,” Twilight said struggling with what to say, “I…this nightmare… my magic…”
“Please be still,” Luna said calmly as she wrapped her wings around the frightened Princess, “I know what you are experiencing now. I watched you these many nights with your nightmares playing out. I’m sorry that I didn’t intervene sooner, but it is my principle to let the dreamer try and solve their dream first before intervening. It is like the saying goes: ‘Give a pony some hay and feed them for a day. Teach them to farm and then they will never be hungry again.’”
“Wait,” Twilight said, “You said this is my nightmare? But I thought it was…”
“A prophetic dream?” Luna interrupted, “Yes, I assumed that was what you would think having this dream recur so many nights. I take it that you read my book on the interpretation on dreams and read about prophetic dreaming, is that correct?”
“Yes, I did,” Twilight said.
“Twilight, dreams are very complex as no dream fits into a certain mold. Each dream is different just as each pony is different. I must say that I am sorry to have led you astray with the passage in the book. Perhaps then this wouldn’t have made the situation as bad as it is now. While there have been cases of royals receiving inspiration from dreams that they thought were delivered to them by some supernatural means, I am inclined to believe that these manifested themselves by the subconscious of the dreamer’s mind. Our minds are very powerful, especially as we sleep where we are no longer focused on everyday tasks. It is here where our minds can delve deep into our memories and our own magical sources and craft our dreams.”
“So you mean that this dream I created?”
“In a way yes,” Luna said, “Walk with me please.”
As the Princess walked along Princess Luna’s side she was still distracted by the nightmarish scene that was around her. Strangely Luna paid little heed to it.
“Tell me Twilight, do you have much experience is studying nightmares?”
“Only a little really, and certainly not as much as you,” she said in an honest tone.
“Twilight, you flatter me. Even I don’t know everything about dreams. I’m merely able to enter the dreams of others in the hopes of helping ponies overcome the nightmares. I cannot create dreams for them nor can I make them stop without the pony choosing to assist. But nightmares are at their most basic level a manifestation of our deepest darkest fears, augmented by events we experience in our waking life. Ponies create them, but there are times when nightmares then take a life of their own because a pony gives such experiences life.”
“So you’re saying that I’m letting this nightmare continue because I want it to? Forgive me for saying this Princess but that’s silly. I don’t want this dream to continue! It’s ruined my sleep and my energy and strained my friendships and my ability to plan events and rule!”
“True, your dream has taken quite a toll, but remember that dreams are mirrors of our deepest thoughts, and the fat that it keeps repeating each night with growing intensity means that your mind, whether you consciously know it or not, is trying to tell you something. That is why I am here to help.”
“Oh thank you Princess! If my mind hears the answer from you then I can put this horrible nightmare aside!”
“Unfortunately that’s not going to be that easy Twilight as simply making the dream go away. But I said I will help you resolve this dream, and I will make every effort to do just as I have with every other pony who has been tormented. So tell me Twilight, what do you see in this nightmare?”
Twilight felt upset that Luna couldn’t just wish the dream away, but she was willing to do anything if it meant breaking the cycle off nightmares, “Well, I see Ponyville in flames, my friends dead, and me as the only one alive and unaffected by the destruction.”
“And who do you think did this to the town you rule?” Luna said.
“At first I didn’t know, but then I realized it was me. I destroyed the town somehow and killed my friends with my magic.”
“How do you know it was you?”
“Because Pinkie Pie said to me before dying ‘You’ meaning it was my fault. Andd that’s why I’m afraid I might do something like this in my waking life, even by accident!”
“And there we have the reason,” Luna said with a satisfied smile, “it’s not about the destruction or the flames. It’s about protecting what matters to you most: your friends. All those times you faced danger you were able to save your friends and Equestria, but in your mind there is the painful truth that one day you may not be able to save your friends or others. On top of that I sense another fear tied to this one, am I right?”
“I’ve been thinking about that time when you, Princess Celestia, and Princess Cadence gave me your power and how I had a hard time controlling my magic. Even though that is done, I still remember how I couldn’t stop Tirek on my own and how I put my friends in danger! Even now I am Princess and that power has been restored to the three of you, I still think that somehow I might lose control. But I knew this was what my dream was about! How is this helping me?”
“Twilight, do you think you are dangerous?” Luna said after a few seconds of silence.
“Well yes…no… I don’t know anymore!”
“I’m not asking about whether you think that you can accidentally harm your friends as that fear is a burden that all ponies carry inside them whether they are farmers and shop owners or Princesses. I’m asking if you are afraid you will hurt them on purpose.”
“Of course not! I’d never hurt them intentionally!”
“I know that, but this proves a point. If you’re afraid that you’ll lose control and hurt your friends but you know you would never intentionally do it, then it comes down to one word: power. Believe me Twilight when I say power is important but it comes with responsibility. Some fear their power will be lost while others will feel that they will lose control of their power. Some treat power too lightly and lacking responsibility let power corrupt them, and that’s why I think deep down this is what your dream is about. Follow me.”
Luna walked through the burning town with Twilight until they stood before the towering monolith of the Castle of Friendship looming overhead. It wasn’t the cheery crystalline palace that she remembered it to be in the day but dark and foreboding in the night. The smoke and embers seemed to encircle it like a serpent but did not dare touch its walls. The dense smoke darkened the skies to the point that the moon above took on a blood red hue, bathing the castle in an eerie glow. But even with the smoke and moonlight the castle looked darker like enchanted to be unwelcoming. The Princess of the Night spread her wings and took flight as Twilight followed, scaling the dark structure until they flew into an open window.
“Luna, where are we going?” Twilight said as they plunged into darkness, the twisted halls and stairs barely illuminated by their glowing horns. The place looked aged and neglected like nopony had visited it before in a while.
“We are going to meet somepony,” Luna said solemnly as they stopped at a giant set of double doors that Twilight knew instantly was the throne room. As she opened the door she saw the light of the moon streaming down through the window, illuminating dimly her throne and to her surprise the silhouette of a figure sitting on it.
“Who are you?” Twilight said as she approached the throne.
“I am you,” a voice said that sounded like Twilight but was darker. The figure rose and approached, revealing an Alicorn that looked like Twilight but not quite. The other Twilight’s coat was darker, almost near black purple. Her wings were frayed and dirty and her mane and tail were unkempt. Her body looked worn down as if lack of sleep as the figure carried herself not dignified but depressed.
“Luna, why am I seeing me, this darker me?”
“I’ll say it again,” Twilight said in a more frustrated tone, “I am you, or more specifically, I will be you. I feared my power and feared that I would destroy my friends, so withdrew my magic and my help from others. Do you know what happened when I did that?”
Twilight was about to shake her head when a thought popped into her mind and she said, “Ponyville burned and my friends died.”
“Because I did nothing, my friends weren’t able to be saved because I wasn’t there to save them! If only I wasn’t stupid enough to see that I can’t control everything. Now I sit here, a Princess without a place to rule and no friends to come here. My castle has become a tomb, a memory of how things were. Will you promise me something Twilight?”
“Anything!”
“Don’t be like me. I know I’m you, but you need to understand that accidents will happen and we have been given great power becoming Princesses. But we can only control ourselves and what we do.”
“I promise not to lock myself away that I’ll try to use my power and position to the best of my ability.”
“That’s all I need to know,” the other Twilight said with a smile as she suddenly dissolved away as the lights went on in the throne room, no longer the decayed neglected state but how Twilight remembered it to be in the waking life.
“Congratulations Twilight,” Luna said, “You found your fear and confronted it. Remember, power isn’t something that you need to fear or hide away from the world once you have it, but as long as you use it effectively then you can do wonders. I too faced this same nightmare upon being restored.”
“You did?”
“Yes, I did. I was afraid that I’d hurt ponies again or succumb to the Nightmare again. I tried ignoring it but the nightmares still lasted. It was only when I reconciled that I had power and that I controlled my destiny, as you control yours.”
Luna looked at the space before adding, “It seems the dream is about to end, but I must ask you a question Twilight.”
“Sure,” Twilight said feeling better than before.
“Why didn’t you come to me when you had these nightmares before?”
“I was afraid that you or your sister would think I’m ineffective as a ruler or worse that I would be a threat.”
“Twilight, you need not rule alone. You have your friends to help you in Ponyville as you have Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence and myself as your friends as well. As Celestia said to me, ‘we were meant to rule together.’ Apart we are strong but together we will lift each other up and come to our aid. So next time you have something you cannot face alone, will you trust your friends and trust us as fellow rulers and friends to help you?”
“Absolutely!” Twilight said, “Thank you for everything Princess Luna.”
“Please Twilight, we are equals. Call me Luna.”
“Ok Luna,” Twilight said, “Let’s leave this nightmare behind.”
“I agree. I know you have much to plan tomorrow. You still plan to raise the sun with my sister, right?”
“I will be my honor,” Twilight said not giving it a second thought.
“Then we shall go forth,” Luna declared as the doors of the castle opened and the two stepped forth into the light of hope, the nightmare no longer threatening Twilight’s sleep. She knew that no matter what unforeseen accidents might happen she was not alone as long as she had friends.
