Author's Note
Last warning: Spoilers aplenty!
Celestia's Dream Journal
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
Enclosed is a very special book meant for your eyes only. It is imperative that you do not let it fall into the wrong hooves. You must keep it concealed, even from those you can trust. This personal diary was started several thousand years ago. Within its pages are hundreds of detailed dreams that might appear as mere nonsense to a common pony. For an alicorn, these dreams are prophecies informing us of things to come. These prophecies are often cryptic. It can take months, or even years, to decode the complex language and imagery we see. They do not follow any sort of logic found in a book. This makes it difficult to prepare for what the dream is warning us about, but we have had varying degrees of success. Occasionally we solve the mystery before misery can befall Equestria or the lands beyond it. More often than that, it is too late to do anything other than hope. As you may have guessed, a prophetic dream brought me news of Queen Chrysalis's attack all that time ago. I covered it up with an excuse that was never questioned, although in truth I did not know everything of the queen's plan. I am telling you this because you must understand the power and secrecy of these dreams. I sense a gathering darkness that will soon overwhelm Equestria. Whether or not this evil will triumph I cannot say. I only know that you are one of the few ponies I trust to help me. You are studious and intelligent, perhaps even more so than me and the other princesses. I fear that our window of opportunity is short, for the darkness is gathering at an alarming speed. I am not asking you to solve this and save Equestria yet again. I am only asking for you to try, my most faithful student. Perhaps with your interpretation, everything will become clear.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Even though the letter had stated quite clearly that books were of no use, Twilight Sparkle soon emptied the shelves of anything having to do with dream interpretation. With A Unicorn's Guide to the Dream World and the diary opened side by side, she began looking through the past entries.
Flashes of light. Purple. Blue. Pink. Red. Orange. Running hooves. Tree melting. Laughter. Who is laughing? Can't move my hooves. More laughter. More flashes of light. Purple. Over and over again. Blinding now. My crown is floating above me. Reaching for it, but keeps darting out of my reach. I wake up.
The entry is merely headed “0.4.0.1”. Some type of obscure numerical code. The following entries are titled in the same manner.
0.3.0.1
Shadows of ponies everywhere. Clanking of chains. I am in a room made of light. The outline of a face on the floor. An anguished howl. Crystals fall from the ceiling. My heart is beating loud enough for me to hear. The entire room is filling with crystals and the sound of my heart beating. The crystals melt. I am drowning in a blue sea. A flash of green. I wake up.
0.1.0.1
Darkness. The sun above, shining in the otherwise dark landscape. The moon beside the sun. Laughter. A crack in the moon. A crack in the sun. Moon rushes toward me. I cannot move. Everything disappears and I am alone in darkness. Whispers. Can't understand what they are saying. My hooves have turned red. I am staring at my own reflection in a puddle. My reflection is crying. The puddle disappears. I am floating above Canterlot at night. I hear sobbing. I wake up.
0.1.0.2.3.
A circle of purple unicorn horns. Each inflates and then explodes. A schoolhouse appears. My horn pulls me toward it. I am a filly again. Another me appears. We stare at each other. Her horn turns purple. She turns into a male dragon. His scales are knives. He speaks in my voice: “Magic”. I wake up.
0.2.0.1
Upside down ponies. Ponies turn into cupcakes. I am suddenly in the throne room. Ceiling begins to dissolve into brown liquid. Mud? Chocolate? Rainbow fire laps at my hooves. Abruptly, I am outside in the courtyard. Clouds form overhead. A torrent of pink butterflies. A tremor shakes the ground. Red and yellow balloons sprout from the soil like flowers. Another tremor. Stones fall from the sky and shatter around me. I wake up.
0.2.0.3
I'm in Ponyville. Ponies running everywhere. They stop and turn into dolls. The chest of the doll closest to me opens. A quill appears and begins to write in the air. The words disappear before I can read them. The surrounding dolls whisper “faithful student”. A high-pitched, crazed-sounding laugh. I wake up.
0.2.0.2.5
Green eyes everywhere. A mirror. I am looking at my reflection, but the eyes are green. My reflection is gone. I am looking at a Royal Guard. His eyes turn green and he evaporates. Now I am looking at a heart. The heart begins to decay. Suddenly I am outside Canterlot. It is enclosed within a large shield. The shield splits into two pieces. I wake up.
0.3.0.1.3.
I am walking down the castle hallway. My crown is leading me. I find myself in the throne room. My crown duplicates into four. The fourth piece is covered in rainbow flames. I wake up.
0.4.0.1
I am standing in front of a tree. It grows a unicorn's horn. The tip of the horn glows yellow. As I stare, the glow turns black. The tree disappears. I am alone with the horn. Roots begin sprouting from the tip. They are red, orange, pink, blue, and purple. The horn turns into a star. Out of the center of the star comes a white feather. The feather turns black and vanishes. I wake up.
0.4.0.2.4.
It's snowing in the Crystal Empire. I stand in the place the Crystal Heart should be. The buildings begin to freeze. Green fire licks at the ice. I wake up.
Twilight had at last reached the final entry in the book. Aware that this was the dream that had baffled even Princess Celestia, she kept parchment and a quill at the ready. With A Unicorn's Guide to the Dream World, The Magic of Sleep, and Nighttime Nonsense stacked nearby for reference, she set to work with the entry titled “0.4.0.2.5”.
I am standing on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. I hear barking from all sides. The sand turns into black crystals beneath my hooves. A clawed hand emerges from the solid floor, then sinks out of sight. An empty manacle swings before my eyes. Everything vanishes and I am looking at the moon. The moon cracks like a shell and the same clawed hand emerges from it. It erupts in a burst of red and yellow flames. It reappears a second later perfectly intact. It again erupts, this time in a shower of feathers. And it again reappears unharmed a second later. I am showered by feathers, disembodied hooves, and cleanly severed unicorn horns. I open my mouth to scream, but a dark hoof appears to stop me. Behind the hoof appears the form of Nightmare Moon. She melts into a rainbow puddle. From the puddle comes three horns, one white, one blue, and one purple, molded together. I feel a burning sensation on my flank. I look and see that my Cutie Mark is evaporating to reveal Twilight Sparkle's. Her Cutie Mark lingers for a second, then it evaporates as well and I am a blank flank. I wake up.
Twilight Sparkle worked tirelessly, consulting every book that mentioned the subject of decoding dreams. Although she had been advised against it by Spike, she risked an all-nighter for the sake of her research. By the time Celestia raised the sun, her mane was a mess and the library floor was littered with notes. After her studying came to its finale, she collapsed into bed and slept for four hours. When she awakened, the first thing she did was write a letter to Princess Celestia.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I am happy to report that I have made some progress. I do not know the exact nature of what is going to happen, but I have a few ideas. There is going to be another large threat to Equestria and we will need the Elements of Harmony. The only problem is that the Elements now belong to the Tree of Harmony. Are we going to get them back? Or is it something to do with the box? I have decided that the chest that came out of the tree will serve some importance during this conflict. The red and yellow flames might symbolize Discord. He might become a threat again, now that we no longer have a means of containing him. Please keep an eye on your sister! That Nightmare Moon part of the dream worries me. The molded unicorn horns suggests that you, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence are going to have to work together to vanquish whatever the threat is. Maybe somepony is going to take over Equestria? That would explain the part of the dream with your Cutie Mark. Other than what I stated, I'm completely clueless. I will continue working on this in my spare time, but I feel that I've gotten as much out of it as I can. We will have to leave the rest to unravel by itself.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
