Intangible

Chapters

Preparation
The Gala! Part 1.
The Gala! Part 2.
Desperation
Midnight flight.
Things get interesting.
The mind's fancy
Quiet Dash, killer tree alert
Never again.
A long night.
This is bad, very bad.
A simple misunderstanding.

Preparation

It was a beautiful day out to practice, and Dash was taking full advantage of it, she was doing flips, spins, and twirls, trying to perfect her moves, after all, she did want the Wonderbolts to recognize her magnificence in person. She only paused a moment to enjoy the beautiful day, how the clouds were changing colors as the sun was going down in the afternoon, casting long shadows across Equestria, making all the light that was seen seem precious, but making the night time that was to come seem a new beauty to that of pony kind, how the stars flickered across the night sky, making all things that saw them stare in wonder of what they could mean to that of the world.

"Twilight to Dash!" Twilight yelled from beneath her, Dash looked down and realized that the moment had turned into minutes, and had drawn concern to Twilight. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine, I guess I am just a bit more tired than I thought I was." Dash said, not sure of even that herself, she felt fine, but for some reason she was easily distracted. Normally when she flies she is unable to be disturbed by simple sights. Could it be that she had fallen in love with Twilight, she wondered, but she didn't think that could be it. Nopony changes so much to be easily distracted like that because of something so simple. Dash had told herself this many times, but the more she thought about it, the more she was confused. She then gave up while trying to over-think it being cautious not to strain her own brain.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Twi replied to her, still concerned, "You never hover in one place for more than a few seconds, and that is usually when you are glaring at somepony for something they were doing."

Dash sighed, "I don't know, I just seem to be out of it today." She admitted, and flew home, not wanting to think about how lame she must look at the moment, not even listening to anything Twilight said, mostly because she didn't hear a single thing in the first place, as a strong wind filled Dash's ears with a whoosh, in which she rather enjoyed the sound of. She herself was being bothered about how she seems to be so out of it, not even noticing that she was about to fly into a mountain, to which she did, with a smash.

Pinkie Pie happened to be passing by, and heard the crash, looked up, and realized it was Dash. "Again?" She asked, and hopped up the mountain toward her, tail twitching here and there, to which she dodges each falling rock. "Rainbow, I told you last time to look out for this mountain, why weren't you paying attention to me then? or were you paying attention, you just forgot because it was soooooooo long ago and you recalled it seconds before I came up here thus you are rolling your eyes at me, and now you are wanting to claim that I distracted you even though I wasn't doing anything to distract you and so I would simply roll my eyes at you and bounce away saying 'Whatever you say Rainbow!' Giggling all the way." She was speaking so fast by the time she stopped that Dash was feeling loopy, and decided that she wouldn't say anything about it, but only flew away. Pinkie looked confused, and started to follow her for a little then decided against it seeing how she looked off. "Maybe I can go find Twilight and ask her what is up with Rainbow." She said and continued along her way.

Dash finally got home, lied down, and fell fast asleep, but what she saw in her dream was not that of a normal dream, but more like a nightmarish image of what was to come. She saw blood and gore, and a powerful overlord that was long since banished by the Alicorn princesses, but not only was he an overlord, but, the first colt to gain Alicorn magic, but not just any Alicorn magic. He became the Prince of Terror. Dash was startled awake as she heard his voice boom through her mind, 'I WILL RETURN!' but she did not know what to do about it. She had only heard about it from old pony tales, but could it be real. "No Dash, it was only a nightmare." She told herself, "It can't be real." Though she told herself that over and over, she couldn't seem to shake the idea that she was not only imagining it. She lay down, and tried to sleep again, somehow managing it, she then dreams of a new scene brighter, more energetic, with six ponies, they were standing up to this figure, then the image flashed and Dash saw Celestia, of all the ponies, bowing to him, then another flash of him bowing to the six ponies. This was confusing Dash, but she knew it meant something, she just didn't know what.

She woke in the morning, and flew over to Twilight's place, who, naturally was buried in her books, and brought it up to her, how the dream changed and how she knew who it was. This all seemed surprising to Twilight, who was staring in shock, and a bit of curiosity was also in those eyes. Not even saying anything she went to her books, looked through as many as she could at once, paused, and continued to read. She took a Quill and started to write on some parchment, Dash wondered what about, but, seeing the urgency in Twilight's eyes, she didn't make a sound. When Twi finished writing, she called for Spike, and had him send it to Celestia. "Now can I ask what you were so urgently writing?" asked Dash, "It seemed important."

"I was asking about this Colt Alicorn, and whether or not it could be true, because I have read stories about how he is able to whisper through your dreams without Luna knowing about it, and if it is true, how can we prepare for it. If at all." Twilight said, anxiously waiting a reply, to which she was looking for good news. "But I also have to get ready for the Gala, cant miss that." she said as a letter returned from the princess.

My Dearest Student Twilight,

I have taken note of what you have said, and Luna informs me that she has noticed a great unbalance in the sleep of many ponies. I also am going to tell you now, that the colt you speak of, does in fact exist. He was only introduced to all who saw him as the Prince of Terror, and nothing more, little else is known about him, not even if he can possibly come back. I want you to keep an eye out for any other signs of a return, and, whatever you do, don't lose faith in yourself, as if the Prince returns, it will mean great terror for all of Equestria.

"Well, that seems like a happy little letter." Dash said, trying to look strong, but shivering in her hooves. "How about we get to the looking for signs, wait, what are we even looking for?"

"Dash, we don't even know for sure if he CAN come back, we don't even know if it is truly him whispering to everypony in their dreams." Twi said, a little uncertain of herself. "But my guess, would probably be something terrifying."

The Gala! Part 1.

Dash did not know what to do about anything that had happened, she was confused, frustrated, and, dare she admit it, afraid. The last thing she wanted to do was to run into a prince of terror, or whatever he considers himself, but she knew that if he did return from wherever he was banished, she was far from prepared. Just then, she remembered that the Gala was tonight, and she wasn't practicing! "Oh no! The Gala is tonight, I have to go practice a little more!" she said, rushing out the window, obviously forgetting about the problem at hoof, and leaving Twilight there to be alone, again.

"That pony I swear, I love her to death, but she can be pretty self centered." she paused, looked through her things, and then went out the door, "I may as well check to see if everypony is getting ready for the Gala, don't want to be late now." She walked on toward Apple Orchard Acres, figuring she may as well start with AJ, but also wondering what Pinkie was doing, she started to go there. "I don't have a dress!" she yelled in a panic, and furiously ran off to Rarity to get a good dress. Looking up at the sky she saw Dash practicing as hard as she could, she wished she could be a good flier like Dash was, but it was going to be a while before that happened.

Dash was still doing spins, circles, and flips in the sky, but she did not feel like she was doing as well as she could, which she was depressed about, but she kept going. The only thing she wanted above all else, was recognition, not only by her friends, but by the Wonderbolts, and all of Equestria. She wanted to be the best flier known to ponykind, but at this rate, it might not happen, she was sure even Twilight could become a better flier, and she didn't want that, but at the same time, she did. Distracted on that thought, she forgot to hook her wing just right for this next turn, and went tumbling through the air. She was able to regain her composure, but not without feeling a grip of terror around her heart, almost like it was trying to take it right out of her, but what frightened her most, was that she could see where it came from. A claw like figure was scratching at her from the ground in one of the outermost fields. With this, she realized there was no time to wait, and bolted off to Canterlot herself.

The whole way there, it seemed like an icy chill was holding her heart in a rapid beat, but she did not know why she felt so afraid, nothing has ever frightened her this much. Was he back already? Dash was thinking furiously about what to tell the princesses. The closer she got to Canterlot the more composed she felt, it seemed like the seed of fear that was rooting around her heart was being withered away, but she could still feel a small trickle of terror, even when she managed to get to the outer gates. Approaching the first guards she was quite out of breath but managed to say, "Message... for... the.... princesses... urgent... Prince... of... Terror.... I need in... now." finally finishing still out of breath, but the guards stood there, almost unresponsive. She looked them in the eyes, but they seemed hollow, nothing in them. Now she knew for sure that something bad was happening. Quickly as possible, Dash made her way through the gate and flew toward the Royal chambers, she paused at the entrance, but these guards seemed unaffected.

"Halt, state your business." One said to Dash, this time she was not out of breath and was able to tell the guard that she needed to inform the princess of a peril sure to come by the hooves of the Prince of Terror himself. The guard tensed and raised his weapon, "You may pass, but please, do not stay for too long, the princesses are quite busy." the guard said, and Dash passed through, looking at all the corridors like she had never been here before, but she had, she just felt like she was being watched by the shadows themselves. Shaking the feeling off she continued to the Royal chamber of Princess Celestia, bowed to her, and waited for a response.

"You may rise my pupil," Princess Celestia said, "What brings you alone to my castle, is there something you needed, or some information you may need to pass on to me?" Pausing she saw a fear within Dash that was never there before, as her eyes scanned the room, not for interest, but in terror, she knew instantly what it was about. "It would seem that we have a new problem about to occur. Very well, I will inform some of my guards and some of the Unicorn ponies I have to go down there and do their best to secure his, burial, site." She looked at Dash, and, without blinking, cast a cleansing spell on her. Dash instantly felt better, like all traces of fear were washed away.

"Thank you Princess, I will return now." Dash started to say, then realized she was already, mostly, prepared for the Gala as it is, "On second thought, do you need any help setting up for the Gala?" Dash asked, noticing the princess nodding and handing her a list, she saw a lot of things that needed hung in higher locations. "I'm on it!" Dash said, excited that she was able to help the princess do something so important. She zipped out of the room and started on her task immediately. New excitement rose in her heart, the idea of such on honor would make Twilight so proud, she thought to herself, and started to hum a random melody, then realizing that she was humming, stopped immediately. A few minutes went past, and she couldn't hold it back, and started humming again, tonight was going to be the best night ever, and she was not going to let anything get in the way of that.

The Gala! Part 2.

It was seemingly hours that Dash was waiting for Twilight and the others to show up at the Gala, though she knew it was only about 45 minutes after she finished getting everything done, and she did what she could to keep herself entertained, then she thought about what was going on at Ponyville, and started to worry, but those worries subsided as soon as her friends arrived, all looking happier than little fillies getting candy. She flew over to greet them, but Fluttershy just flew on by strait to the garden. "What's up with her?" She asked, confused. "She seems, a bit off." Though Dash dismissed the thought pretty much as soon as it came about.

Twilight excused herself momentarily, "I need to go talk to the princess about everything I have noticed." She turned and saw Celestia practically standing over her, with a somewhat curious look on her face.

"My dearest student, and fellow princess, what could you need to discuss with me?" Celestia said, already knowing about what, but desiring more details, also noting that none of the others have been affected by the terror.

"Well you see," Twilight started, "a lot of the ponies in Ponyville have been having terrible nightmares, and have been hiding from that of even a simple bunny. They are terrified, and I don't know what to do. I feel like I need to know what to do, but, I just don't." She finished, looking down to her hooves, and studying the ground as if it was suddenly very interesting.

"Twilight," began Celestia, "You are a great leader, and even if you do not know what to do at the moment, that does not mean you have to, you only need to rely on your friends to help you there, what is coming cannot be helped, it must come, but you must also be ready to take care of it." She said, seeing that Twilight still had her doubts, she simply said, "You should enjoy tonight, Rainbow Dash has been waiting eagerly to enjoy your presence, and I would not ignore that if I were you." She finished, turning to walk away, and could not help but to smile, for it was not every day she could learn something from teaching it to her own pupil, but, in times like this, you always learn from yourself.

Dash was hovering, waiting for the conversation to finish, and noticing Celestia walking away, she few over to Twilight and nudged her nose, then realizing they were in public where everybody could see them, they both blushed and backed away slightly. Walking wing and wing, they both decided they were going to take a midnight fly over Canterlot. Sure the Gala was entertaining, but it was nowhere near as beautiful as the night sky. "The night sure is beautiful, don't you agree?" Asked Dash, who did not care that it sounded girly for once.

"Yea, it is beautiful, if only it could be this beautiful all the time, day and night." Twilight sighed, and noticing the concern in Dash's eyes, she just shakes her head, "Don't worry, I'm fine, it has just been a long day, and when you were gone before we left for the Gala, I got so worried, but I got a letter from Celestia saying that you were helping her, so I guess, I should be glad, but for some reason, it seems like something bad is about to happen." She said, looking down toward Ponyville, "I just hope it is not true." She looked down, it seemed like only a second, but Dash quickly nudged her motioning for her to look the way she pointed.

"I just saw a flash out by Ponyville." Dash said, and it happened once more, a flash of light, but it was no normal flash of light, an impure light, burly able to be seen in the night, but it was still there, almost black, but it had a silvery outline to it. It was licking at everything around it, almost like that of a flame, but nothing burned, Twilight could see it clearly, and she knew what it was instantly, but Dash was still straining her eyes to see the original flashing. To Dash, it was almost like a simple light flashing on and off, but she felt that it was far more than that, she just didn't know what.

Twilight turned and raced back to the halls of the castle as fast as her wings could carry her, only to see an elite force of Canterlot Unicorns headed out to the location, and from the great distance they were currently at, they were already suppressing it, Twilight didn't know how they were doing it from here, but she knew they were, and that only meant one thing, Celestia knows already. She approached her princess, and asked about the unnatural force she saw, and what she could do to help, but Celestia only dismissed her saying that it was all under control for now, and that she would be called when needed. Now this was confusing to Twilight, but she accepted it for the time being, and took on her own personal mission to keep a close eye on it.

When Dash finally returned it seemed like she completely forgot about it, and the Gala was almost over. It had been a long night for all of them, and they needed their rest, and just like that, the day at the Gala was over, sure they all had some fun, but it seemed too odd for a normal night at the Gala, but nevertheless, everypony was packing up their things and gathering at the train station. Joining them Dash and Twilight were more exhausted than anypony else, other than Fluttershy, whom in which was already asleep by the time the train was halfway out of Canterlot. Twilight wondered what made her so exhausted, but dismissed the thought as the train traveled home. The closer they got to Ponyville the more of a weight the night seemed on them, but nopony was feeling any fear that they did as they were leaving, in which was a relief to both Dash and Twilight. Twilight just wondered how long this was going to last.

Desperation

The next morning, Dash woke up, looking around, hardly recognizing where she was. She studied the ceiling with great intent, wondering why it looked like a tree trunk, and looked nothing like the ceiling of her own cloud home. She also recalled something about a dream the night before, but she did not remember what it was. After a few minutes of contemplating of what the dream could have been she heard "Good morning, sleepy head." Looking over she saw Twilight and realized she was in the Treebrary, confused, thinking she must have gone home the night before, she looked at Twi with a questioning look. "I don't know what you are asking if you don't just talk." Twi replied to the silent question.

Sighing Dash decided to dismiss it, "Nevermind, it was a stupid question, anyway, I better get up to my house and look at what I have scheduled for my practice." Getting up, she realized that her wings were painted. "What happened, to my wings? Why are they painted this awful shade of gray?" She looked at herself in a mirror, and realized that her whole coat was gray. Jumping nearly out of her skin, she started to freak out, she did not NEED to look her normal color, but she did need to lose the extra weight the paint was putting on her body, it was not good for her to fly at top speeds while heavier than she already was. "I need to bathe, this paint is too heavy!"

Shortly after bathing, Dash decided she was going to get ready to practice for her next attempted show off moment. She was about to leave the Treebrary, when she saw Twilight packing up some empty bags, curious she asked what they were for. Twilight didn't even reply to her except for pointing her hoof toward a book with natural remedies. Dash looked at it briefly, seeing bookmarks in certain areas, and noticing that a lot of the ingredients were only attainable from the Everfree Forest. "You are going to visit Zecora for these then?" She asked, to which Twilight did respond, but what she said confused Dash.

"Yes, I am, but I was also going to check up on Fluttershy, she seemed kind of distressed, and I got really worried about her." Twilight said, to which Dash got super jealous suddenly, though she was uncertain why she was jealous, it just meant that Twilight was worried for a friend, but Dash still felt the twinge. "Don't worry, I will be back before you know it, I am sure it will be easy enough to get these herbs, and then saying hi to Fluttershy to make sure everything is okay with her, although, I will need to go to town for the final things, but best to see what I can get from Zecora first." Twi said while stepping out of the room.

Dash sighed and flew to her cloud home, she lay there for a few minutes before deciding to just go warm up. She flew down to the ground and started to stretch her muscles when she heard a whisper, almost like it was calling her. She jumped ten feet into the air, looked around, and, realizing that nopony was anywhere near, she dismissed it, assuming it was just the wind. She finished her stretches, and was about to take off. Powering her hind legs for a super high speed takeoff, in her head counting down from five, four, three, two, one... 'I have her'... This time she knew she heard something, having also taken off at the moment it happened, she stopped a little too fast, lost control, and crashed into a nearby tree. She recovered quickly however, and quickly got back into the air. She saw an eerie shadow over Rarity's house. In a slight panic, she flew over as fast as her wings would carry her, especially since they hurt after the crash, but she still arrived fairly quickly, hoping that everypony was okay.

Dash was about to land when she saw something that almost made her scream. Rarity was fighting the Unicorns sent from Canterlot, but it was not Rarity in control, her eyes were a strange red-black shade. The Prince of Terror had taken control of her mind, and was freeing himself. Dash quickly intervened, swooping down, she grabbed Rarity and carried her hundreds of feet from the area, hoping she would snap to by being sent out of a certain range. She took her to Apple Jack, and had her look after Rarity, who appeared to have passed out on the trip. Dash quickly returned to the Unicorns, and found that only two of them were still conscious and fighting the Prince back. In a panic, Dash went to the nursery and got the injured ponies to them, one of which was not hurt and joined the other two who were fighting the Prince. The other three Unicorns weren't so lucky, one was completely unconscious, the other two had a few bruises maybe a broken bone here and there, but most of their damage was to the mind itself, making it nearly impossible for them to use their magic.

Knowing how much this would be a disturbing thing to tell anypony else, Dash immediately went to Spike, having him send a letter to the princess covering what had happened and that they needed another Unicorn or three to cover for those that are injured. What Dash had Spike write was not as organized however, as he wrote as he heard, this is what was written.

Dear Princess Celestia,

This is of the most importance, Terror Prince controlled friend, 3 Unicorns hurt, bad, need replacements, magic not working, only 3 remain able to do anything. Please respond fast. Oh yea, this is Rainbow Dash by the way.

P.S. Rarity was the one taken control of, and she was able to stop three of the Unicorn's from using their magic, I hope you can send some help, and I also hope this does not trouble you too much. -Spike

With that Spike sent the letter, hoping that the princess understands the first part. He really wished he had listened to Rainbow Dash before writing anything. Spike was about to ask Dash more about what happened when a reply arrived.

Dear Spike and Rainbow Dash,

I understand the situation, and I am sending some help, from none other than Princess Luna, she has been looking into what kind of magic has been used, and realized it was a type of Dream Magic, so she can stop it at the source. I hope the Unicorns that were hurt recover quickly, and I am glad you brought this to my attention.

-Princess Celestia

P.S. Next time, think more clearly before you send me a letter, and Spike, maybe listen before writing?

Midnight flight.

Shortly after receiving the letter, Spike looked out the window, curious as to when the Princess of the Night was going to arrive. Rainbow Dash was however pacing around the room, still, obviously nervous. "Rainbow, you don't have to pace nervously like that, it is very distracting." Spike told her, to which he got a piercing glare returned, one that was much more intimidating than Twilight's glares.

"I'll have you know that I am not 'nervous' or anything of the sort, I am simply, well, eager to talk to Twilight about this." Rainbow started, then realizing that Twilight has been gone for quite a while asked, "Where is she anyway?"

"Oh, she went to the Everfree forest to talk to Zecora, also she was going to talk to Fluttershy about something, but she did not know what it was about." Said Spike, rummaging through the books that Rainbow Dash kept knocking over. "Maybe you should go check on her, it was the Everfree after all."

"yea, your right, I should check on her." Dash said, flying out the door. She had an unnerving feeling that something was happening that she didn't want to happen.

Dash was flying around for what seemed to be hours, but she didn't see anypony in sight, except Fluttershy of course, who in which was headed to town. It looked like she was going shopping, though Dash did not think she would be able to get anything from all the ponies that were not out. Continuing to look for Twilight, Dash remembered that she was headed to Zecora's so she went to the edge of the forest, gulped, and went in. She was looking around a bit for her, but got kinda lost.

About 45 minutes passed before she heard a growl and a bunch of crashing sounds. She jumped up above the tree line, where she was surprised had no thick branches like most of the other canopy. Relieved that she could fly now, she looked in the direction of the crashing she had heard, and what she saw was two HUGE Timberwolves chasing a pony. Taking a closer look, she saw it was Derpy. Gulping, Dash did a swift dive, crashing into one of the Timberwolves, causing it to shatter into little bits. The second however ignored dash, and continued running after Derpy. Dash started to follow but stumbled over moving branch debris of the Timberwolf, obviously reconstructing, so Dash had to keep it down as long as she could. She however had no clue how Derpy was going to handle the other one, but at that, she did not know how 2 huge Timberwolves even got after her.

By the time the Timberwolf gave up, it was late at night, Dash was exhausted, and wanted to just go home. She flew away, a bit slower than normally but it felt good to her. She was slightly scanning the ground, when she caught site of Fluttershy and Twilight sitting in a field, this sight caused Dash to feel a jealous twinge run through her, and without hesitation she turned and flew off. She was unsure where she was going, but she was going somewhere to calm down, maybe that waterfall on the outskirts of Canterlot? It was sometime after midnight so she knew she couldn't go too far. She didn't care though, she just wanted to fly, as long and as fast as she could.

Taking off as fast as she could, she felt something twinging even stronger. Dash tried to ignore it, but it seemed odd. Nevertheless, she continued to fly until she could see the waterfall, at that point she started to soar through the air rather than actually flying, more like letting the air carry her from on her wings. She landed on a ledge about halfway up the falls, looking out, she saw some of the Everfree forest, but she also saw a greener forest, one she never explored, it surrounded the falls and the mountain to which Canterlot was latched to. Examining it from above, she could see a river running through it, slowly rippling with the soft flow of the wind.

Dash stood, closed her eyes, and stepped up to the edge of the ledge, feeling the misty air flowing through her mane, she turned her back to the forest, and with a powerful jump, she flung herself over the edge, head down, just feeling the air flowing through her, almost seeming like it was opening up everything about her, letting her fears and sorrow flow out like a flood gate being opened. She waited a few more seconds, waiting as her heart pounded faster with invigoration, joy, happiness, peace. When she felt her heart skip a beat, she thrust her hooves out in front of her, arced her wings in a v shape and felt the water rush around her as she glided through the pond that the waterfall melded into, then with a full stop under the water, dash opened her eyes, holding her breath, and, observing as her own thoughts seemed to project themselves within the water. Finding her worst fear within those thoughts, she urged her mind to overcome it, then, almost as fast as she entered the water, it seemed like it all disappeared, and she was standing before a large marble gate. The pillars that were beyond the gate looked to be made of light themselves.

Dash saw an image within the lights, it was her, being controlled, well more manipulated, and by none other than the Prince of Terror himself. Then behind her, she felt a hoof placed on her shoulder blade, looking back, she saw Luna, standing within a massive shadow, in which seemed to be resonating from Dash herself. "You are under my protection, you have no need to fear." Luna said to Dash, to which sent dash back to her consciousness in her own body. She swam back to the surface, and flew back to her cloud home. She felt renewed, but she was still tired, so when she landed she decided she was going to just sleep. Dash had no idea what to expect, but she knew that she could not just ignore it either, falling asleep, she had a pleasant dream, the last she will have for a while.

Things get interesting.

Morning came, and with it an unsettling displacement, almost like Dash wasn't awake at all, but she knew she was, somehow. Going to her balcony, she looked out over Ponyville. It looked peaceful enough to the eye, but it seemed to also have a haze over it, a cold, grimy haze that could not be directly felt, almost like sitting in water so long, that it cant be felt around you anymore, but you know it is there. This is what it felt like to Dash, and she did not like it. Looking for her saddlebag, she realized it was left at Twilight's place the last time she was there. "I haven't visited her in a while, I wonder..." She started to say, but then her mind regained its focus and she remembered what she saw, though she thought for sure it wasn't what it looked like, she still couldn't help but feel jealous.

Having these feelings made Dash confused, "No, I know Twilight, and she would never..." Dash gulped, "At least I hope not." she finished, lying down again, she started to feel like she was being left behind, and that was when she heard it.

"You are being forgotten by the very pony you love so dearly, she is going off to be alone with the other one, yet you cant do anything about it." The voice whispered with a sharpness that made Dash shiver. The voice started to make itself project from an area in the room, which happened to have a shadowy form appearing, and it spoke this time, but with a more clear voice. "You know you want to embrace her, you want to keep her to yourself, but that cannot happen now, and you know it. She is long gone," The figure continued, "but why fret? Why fear that in which is already passed?"

Dash, with disbelief, tried to ignore the figure, but she could feel its words gripping at her heart like icy cold claws. She was unable to speak, though she wanted to yell at it to stop, she wanted to scream for Twilight to save her, anypony, but she was unable to, she was afraid that it would put her in danger as well.

"Go, on, yell her name, tell me the name of your lover, so that I may unleash my rage upon her, so that I may make her scream like you so desperately want to scream. But she would not call for you, she would call for the other. Over and over, she would scream her name." Dash started to see images of Twilight being tortured, and just the sight made Dash want to scream out her name. Suddenly, all the pain she felt, all the fear, passed, and she was sitting alone on her bed. She looked out her window, and realized she had fallen asleep, how she did she did not know, but she slept clear through to night, and somehow she knew she was being watched, almost like there was somepony else in the room with her. She checked around her room a few times before she went to Princess Luna.

After she told Luna of her dream, Luna then decided it was far worse than she ever imagined. Dash saw a fear in Luna's eyes that made her even more unsure. "Princess, what do I do? I cant just act like nothing happened, not after what I saw." Dash said, lowering her head.

Luna lifted Dash's head, "Patience young one, you and your friends have a large task ahead of you, just as long as you know that any nightmare you may have, is likely a lie, and you should not pay too much attention to what they tell you, however, I do want to know if something happens to give indication of a return, so please, inform me of anything that happens." she said with a sincere look within her eyes, but there was also a small bit of uncertainty and fear within them too, and that made Dash nervous, but she trusted the Princess in her judgement.

Dash sat by the Princess for a couple hours, just striking up small talk here and there, which made dash feel a little better, seems how she was able to talk to somepony. The haze was still fallen upon the land, in which made her a little jumpy, and there seemed to be constant whispers coming from the tomb that was buried beneath Ponyville, at least according to Luna there was a tomb, but Dash did not want any details on it. For all she knew, it could contain the souls of all the most evil ponies in existence, so naturally, she did not want to wake them up too.

After what felt like ages of constant chatter, and the nerve wracking whispers, the sun started to rise and the moon fall, though it fell much slower than usual, this made Dash worry, was Luna really that exhausted from this work? "Worry not young mare, I will be fine," Luna said, "I am simply tired from constant surveillance, for you see, an Alicorn still needs to sleep, even if we are thousands of years old, we can be deprived of sleep, and though it may take longer than anypony else, we aren't immune to the effects of time on the body." she finished, smiling down at Dash. After a few more minutes passed, Luna looked around, taking in her surroundings, and finally said, "I however could use some assistance, if you would be willing to help." She said, which Dash jumped up to.

"I would be honored to help Princess!" Dash said, trying to keep her cool.

"Wonderful, can I get you to bring me a rain cloud, and a pool?" Luna asked. This request confused Dash, but she agreed to it nevertheless, wondering what Luna could want with a pool and a rain cloud, Dash got the requested items. Bringing them back to Luna, she paused, and looked around. "Ah, you have already returned, good, can I now get you to empty that into the pool?" Luna then asked. Dash complied, and was amazed at what she saw Luna doing afterword.

Luna's horn began to glow a stunningly beautiful shade of purple and blue, and the water within the pool began to shimmer. The water then turned a wonderful shade of red, then a darker shade, and it kept getting darker until it finally turned black, but still shimmering, it started to change again, this time to a bright blue color, almost like ice, and it began to lift into the air. Dash fell down at the amazing sight before her eyes, It was glimmering brightly within the morning sunlight, radiating the area in happiness, and calmness.

"This is what is known as liquid dreams, it is how My sister and I are able to remain awake for many days on end, and not show a glimmer of fatigue, for you see, this liquid renews the body, filling it with energy, and in turn, heightening your senses, making you more aware of what is going on around you, even the magic that is happening within that area, but the only way it can be finished, is if a Pegasus brings the water from a cloud, and a Unicorn touches it with a pure magic, and other than the guards that have returned to the castle, there is only one in Ponyville that can accommodate it, right now she does not have the means to complete the task however, the real task I need of you, is to go to the ruins in the Everfree Forest, and acquire the heart of the castle. It should be in the center corridor, there will be a passageway, and you must bring me this heart, otherwise it cannot be done." Luna finished, Dash still stunned at what she was seeing realized what was said, and instantly became confused.

"Can't Twilight do that?" Dash asked.

"Not anymore, as you see, another Alicorn would not be able to do the needed, I need a Unicorn's magic, or in this case, an earth pony will be giving the magic, and that is why I need the heart." Luna said, trying not to confuse Dash, who seemed not to be comprehending what she was meaning. But without any questions, Dash bolted into the forest, unknowing of what she faced, not physically, but mentally.

The mind's fancy

After Dash had gone into the forest she almost immediately regretted going alone, she almost felt like she was being watched the entire time, though she probably was. Even in her regrets of going alone she did, remembering all the things she had learned in the past. She would hear random whispers in which seemed to come from all directions, and all distances, even feeling like the source was right in her ear once, this freaked her out beyond belief, because for one, she didn't only hear a voice, but she felt a cold breath go into her ear. Telling herself it was the wind she continued however.

Walking was annoying to Dash, but she couldn't risk flying, because she knew that the moment her wings went out, something would try to break them, literally. "That's silly Rainbow, get a hold of yourself. This is going to be easy, all I have to do, is get to the old castle, and get the heart from the very center of the large, creepy, crumbling castle with death traps everywhere you turn," she said to herself, paused a bit, then continued, "Yeah, no problem, but why would you put so many deadly traps in a place you are going to live in yourself, its almost like you planned on abandoning it so that your enemies would fall into these death traps." Dash gulped, curious if there were any real enemies to the Princess, and whether or not she should be worried about it.

Dash paused her stride, realizing she was talking aloud, she looked around, checking to see if anypony was around to hear that. Seeing nopony, she sighed a breath of relief, but was quick to regret that sigh. "I heard every word." She heard from all directions, "And I delight in the possibilities I have to frighten you, maybe I can use you as my host, my vessel, after all, I don't need a horn to do magic anymore, I can simply will it to happen with my mind." Dash was frozen in terror, wondering if what she was hearing was her own mind playing tricks on her or not. Gaining a small amount of control of her body she decided to run, still keeping her wings tucked for fear of losing them. "Come on little one, you know you want to embrace the power I have, you want to be able to prove you are the best of all, that you don't need a horn to do the magic the unicorns, or alicorns can do." The voice said tempting her to break, "All I need you to do is stop resisting, you can become the most powerful of all, throwing down Celestia herself, and rising to a power even greater than all that exists."

Dash was almost to the point of crying, she felt the water welling in her eyes, the voice not outside of her body anymore, it was now within her own mind, almost like she wanted herself to give up, to stop fighting, to give up friendship, and become loyal to only herself, nopony else, but she knew it was not the case, she cared for her friends far too much, and she could not let this happen. Doing her best to block out the voice, she opened her wings, and took off, much to her surprise, her fears were wrong, only a trick of terror. Only one thing stood in her way now, she was in such a haze of terror that she lost her way. And before she knew it, she was being forced to slow down, smelling a foul gas, she knew that she was about to enter the swamp on the other side of the forest. She was about to completely turn away when she saw something in the swamp, it looked familiar, but the haze around her prevented her from making it out properly. Dismissing it, thinking it was a terror trick on her mind again, she flew away from the swamp.

Once she was far enough to speed up again, Dash bolted strait up, taking about 2 minutes to get a good height then scanned the area. She located the castle, her mind mostly clear, she decided she was going to make up some lost time, as she figured she was now 20 minutes away from the castle at her normal top speed, she started to fly strait down as fast as she could, building up pressure around her, she started to see the familiar cone form around her, picking up more speed, she started to see it forming a U around her, then she felt her adrenaline burst, like that of a fearful adrenaline in which temporarily increased ones stature, then suddenly everything became a blur of color, knowing she hit the incline of her speed she turned to make her way to the castle. Blinking she was able to regain full vision, and saw that she was only about a minute if even that from the castle, everything else below her seemed more like a dark shade of greenish blue zipping by.

She was about to come in for a smooth landing, when she heard something, not very loud, but nothing would prevent her from hearing it. It sounded like twilight saying 'its over Rainbow Dash!' This made Dash lose all balance in both her mind and body, she didn't even bother to slow down when she hit the ground in a giant cloud of dust and stone. Oddly enough Dash was unharmed, which she did not care about, she didn't even care if the landing shattered every bone and cell in her body, she felt like nothing without Twilight, she was lost, an empty shell, hardly even living anymore. Dash opened her mouth to ask why, but no sound came from it. She tried again, but was interrupted by a peculiar laughter, it sounded like Applejack. After the laughter subsided she heard in Fluttershy's voice "I claimed Twilight for my own, I stole her heart from you, what are you going to do about it?" The voice switched to Pinkie Pie's voice, "You might as well give up, we don't need you anymore, you left Ponyville without us, so obviously you don't need us either." Then as the voice faded, Dash saw a figure walking toward her, but when it came into view what she saw looked like Twilight, except behind her walked up Fluttershy. Dash wanted to yell to give Twilight back to her, but she couldn't speak, her voice failed her. She collapsed, and then, in Twilight's voice she heard, "You know, this would never have happened if you would have accepted the offer."

Dash started to cry, feeling like she was nothing, not wanting to deal with anything, she just wanted it all to end, cursing herself for leaving Twilight alone in Ponyville, not telling her what she was going to do, and asking for help. Maybe then, she would still be with her, and not have lost her. She was about to concede to her foe, when she felt a tugging, almost like she was being pulled out of reality. She felt the tug again but this time she was pulled into darkness, nothing else was around her, but it was not a scary darkness, it was soothing, almost like she was being cradled. She closed her eyes, about to give up, when she heard, "I told you that you were under my protection, everything you just saw was an illusion, a dream of sorts, you must wake quickly, or you will be in danger, you are still traveling at an extremely high velocity, now go, find the heart, quickly." With that, knowing it was Luna who saved her, she woke up, and instantly knew she had to slow down, like now, but with no other choice, she pulled up quickly, making a large loop, slowing down while doing it, and landed gently on the ground. She wondered how she had gotten into that situation, but continued on anyway, she had a heart to find.

Quiet Dash, killer tree alert

Dash was wandering around the old castle ruins for what seemed like ages, it being dark and dusty, the floor tiles cracking under every step, and the walls moaning as they set in after every slight movement of the planet beneath them, all kinda made Dash want to curl up into a little ball and hide from all of the darkness. She, however, did not feel an actual urgency to hide, it was almost like she wanted to stay afraid, like a subconscious comfort was in being afraid. The only thing that consciously made Dash not want to fear, was the fact that she knew it would be a fatal mistake to allow it, but the more she resisted, the more she felt afraid.

Finding the library, Dash realized that she was close to the center of the ruins, in which, she realized, used to be a royal garden, long since overtaken by the Everfree Forest, it was no longer as beautiful as it once would have been, but she couldn't help but marvel at what remained. There, where the garden grounds sat, nearly unscathed by any castle debris, was a magnificent, but also eerily large, tree, with luminescent bark of a yellowish shade, and leaves nearly as large as one of Dash's wings, that had some variance in color, some the same yellow, and a few a dark, flowing shade of blue, almost like they were dripping shadows right off of them. At the base of the tree lay a broken pedestal, on its base, in which was oddly untouched by the vines that seemed to infest the whole garden, except for this tree, was an etched picture of many Alicorn-like beings all of which had ancient lettering underneath them, of which only a couple were recognizable by Dash due to Twilight's teaching her about them.

The one on the front said 'Faith' underneath it, then there was one almost faded at the very back that said 'Integrity', and on the far left side, it said, "Ambition', however, Dash could not understand what the other five said, and each one had a different stance. The one on the front was standing facing the viewer, with a portrayed glow of the horn symbolizing magic usage, its front left hoof -right to the one looking on- raised and its wings spread. The second one had what appeared to be a type of shield or bubble of magic flowing around it, and now the cutie mark was visible, though hard to make out without looking closely, It was a crescent moon with a finished sun on it, it also had seven stars surrounding it, five of which were on the blazes of the sun and the remaining two were positioned at the top and bottom of the crescent. Dash wondered what this meant, but continued to study the images. She noticed that the third image showed the wings disappearing, the symbol underneath it and the next one were identical, so she wrote it down in her notebook that she always kept with her in case she needed to take notes on her flight. The third image was in the same position as the second one, in which was an angled view of the first as far as Dash could tell, as were all the remaining images, but they all portrayed different events. the third one still had the magic bubble around its entire body, but the area around the wings was glowing.

In the fourth image, the bubble was smaller, burly covering half of the front of the body, but the wings were in tact, not glowing or anything, but this time, the horn was surrounded by the same further glow, in which was portrayed as brighter than her horns magical glow, and the horn appeared to be vanishing. This Dash found to be odd, because it looked as though all these images were stallions, not mares. Greatly confused by that she briefly glanced at the others and came to a pause on the last one. It had nothing, no wings, no horn, just a plain earth pony, but, around its neck was a chain. The chain links continued up the side of the pedestal until it stopped at the edge of the missing top half, though, inscribed along the chain in a more modern language read, 'beware, the tree, for none can flee', and on the opposite side it also read, 'Once the tree becomes aware, you cannot flee, its hateful glare.'

Dash looked up at the tree, noticing that the leaves that glowed yellow were slowly turning into the darker shade, and in the middle of the leaves, sat the top half of the pedestal. Dash could see the details clearly, the chain lead up to a crystalline ball, glowing a silver-gold color, flowing endlessly with a magic of its own, and Dash knew this was the heart of the castle. Dash was about to simply try to take the ball, when she heard a whisper, but not of the terrors that have been haunting her, it was literally through the wind in which the whispers came. "Do not wake the tree" she heard one say, "Its slumber cannot be interrupted" another one said, and Dash knew it was no lie, that the tree was dangerous, she could feel its energy radiating with doubt and anger, like it was feeding it to all who surrounded it. Having an idea, Dash started to flap her wings, creating a draft upward, bringing another whisper, "If you want the heart, you must be gentle." this made her realize that she was flapping a little too hard, but not quite hard enough to be seen as unnatural. She then decided to flap more gently but pinpoint the wind flow to the orb, this caused the orb to slightly rotate, recognizing it as a force of a living being, the orb allowed itself to be moved.

The heart rolled right off the edge of the pedestal and Dash quickly moved to catch it. "Run" Dash heard from a whisper, and, though not completely understanding why, she turned and ran, getting as much space between her and the tree as she could. Getting to an opening, she took off, getting high into the sky before looking back, she could see the ground starting to shake around the castle, and then it suddenly collapsed, the tree still standing, the whispers still whispering around, but she knew the tree was still asleep, it simply stirred a bit to adjust its position, though why trees would need to do that, Dash had no clue, but apparently this one did. Disregarding the tree for now, Dash decided to get out of the area, just in case the tree decided to wake up completely, so she started to fly as fast as she could to get out of the forest, but what she saw ahead of her caused her to stop, Ponyville was in flames.

Never again.

Dash began to panic, she was sure that there was no way this could happen, Luna for sure would not allow it, but what could be so powerful to overcome the power that Dash did not completely comprehend about Luna, Dash did not know, but the feeling that washed over her was not of fear, or sorrow, but pure hatred. Dash wanted revenge, she wanted to destroy the one responsible for this devastation, for the loss of her home among friends. She started to sink down toward the trees, thinking hard about her hatred, so hard that it was slowly consuming her. She was being enveloped in a haze that she did not understand, but didn't care to either, it was quickly becoming her home, her comfort, and her life. It made her want to hate everything, including herself. Dash looked up again, but what she saw was not that of a devastation, but a reformation, the buildings were no longer on fire, and were instead replaced altogether with new ones. A crystal tree castle stood in the middle.

Seeing this drove a curiosity into her heart, such a great curiosity that she was no longer angry, she could not even remember why she was angry before, just that she was. Dash flew over the new city, and, to her surprise, the new buildings were all made of the same tree that the castle was, but these appeared to be the roots, not new trees altogether. Dash looked around a bit and saw a Magnificent blue spire grown from the ground, it twisted and turned for about 400 hoof lengths (about 100 feet) in the air and sprayed out like a vine flowering off of a pole making a whole new home, it was obviously for Dash, because it almost perfectly matched what her cloud home looked like, just, a bit more, well. plant-like, than before. The nectar from the roots of the tree was similar to that of rainbows, however, it had a soothing fruit smell to it, and to Dash's surprise, it tasted like fruit as well, different flavors per color.

Dash continued to explore her new home with growing curiosity, eventually even wanting to know what was between the seams in the growth itself. The sudden curiosity made Dash curious as to where it came from, so she was looking around for possible reasons, completely forgetting to check what she brought with her. Dash did not find anything to be a cause, and, setting down the heart which she was carrying this whole time, she feel a sudden need to pick it back up, it was like a strong desire to hold it forever, and without even thinking about it, she picked the orb back up and went to talk to Twilight. She left her home and started to fly to the castle tree, wanting to tell Twilight about how awesome the new house was and was suddenly no longer curious about anything, it seemed like all emotions had stopped.

Opening the door to the castle, Dash looked around, passively inspecting the marvels of the castle's interior, but not paying hardly any attention to it, feeling a small twinge of jealousy, wondering why Twilight lived somewhere so special and she couldn't. Opening the double doors at the end of the main hall Dash could see a large meeting room, with thrones placed all around an open center area. She saw the thrones each had a cutie mark on them, she saw hers, Aj's, Twilight's, Fluttershy's, Rarity's, and even Pinkie Pie's. Dash did not know what this was about, she was still thinking Twilight was lucky, and started to feel jealous of her.

A strong sense of jealousy was filling Dash, she even began to spurn Twilight for everything she had. 'Not only was she a princess, but she became an Alicorn, got an awesome castle, and got to live in it alone!' Dash thought to herself, forcing herself to feel more agitation to Twilight. She was looking for reasons to have a jealous hatred for Twilight, to make Twilight look like the show off that Dash never got to be. These thoughts caused Dash to become not only jealous, but the old hatred that she had forgotten became directed toward Twilight, making her hate twilight with such immensity that it started to tear at her very soul. She wanted to teach Twilight a lesson for being such a big shot, and she wanted it to be done slowly.

It was at that moment that she heard hoof steps behind her, and Twilight's voice said, "Hello there Rainbow Dash, come here to grovel at my hooves?" There was a slight growl in her voice at the end in which made Dash feel more angry. "Did you come here to try to belittle me, tiny Rainbow, to try and, however pointless it may be, dethrone me?" Twilight said, slightly giggling psychotically. "Well, you will have to try pretty hard to get out of here." Pausing for a second to lift Dash with her magic, flinging her against the far wall and pinning her there, she slowly walked over while laughing maniacally, then, standing mere inches from Dash's face, she finished the statement. "Alive."

Twilight's horn glowed with another layer of magic, this one quite a bit darker than the initial glowing, then she paused, "On second thought," She started to say, releasing Dash, and continued, "I'll give you a fighting chance." Dash then thrust herself at Twilight with all her might, swinging her hooves wildly trying to land a blow on Twilight, but none of them seemed to be able to make contact, not even the ones that seemed impossible to dodge, those somehow didn't make contact either, but Dash didn't think about it, her mind was filled with a haze of hatred. Twilight laughed, "Don't you realize, you are the one who must submit to the darkness." She started to say, then spun around at an incomprehensible speed, landing a rear hoof in Dash's gut, who tried to dodge by rearing up. "You don't know it yet, but I have already won your soul, nothing can sa--"

"You have been deceived, Rainbow Dash, and have been tricked by the evil of the Heart, it nearly consumed you." Dash heard from a voice as the whole scene turned white. "Now you must return to my sister, for she knows what to do." She heard the voice say, realizing it was Celestia speaking to her. "Never again will I allow for one to become destroyed by the evil of the Everfree Heart, go now, take it to Luna, and she will destroy it." Celestia finished saying to Dash before she realized that she was standing in the middle of an empty room with only the heart on a pedestal in the center. Realizing she was forced to see all of that by the heart, she decided to carefully take the heart wrapped in a random cloth from the castle, and carry it to Luna, who in which had long since received the notice from Celestia.

"This was not how it was supposed to happen." Said Luna as she cast a spell with such radiance from her horn that even the sight of it made Dash feel like she was being cleansed. "Look away young one." Said Luna, "This could destroy even those who are pure of heart." So Dash looked away and waited for the spell to finish. Once it did, she looked back only to see the orb was, instead of being a flowing vortex of energy, was now a pure white radiant relic. Luna had a surprised look on her face, so Dash assumed this was not supposed to happen. "I thought it was beyond saving, that it was too corrupted to be pure again. The light was supposed to destroy it but instead, it made it pure again." Luna looked at Dash, smiled, and said, "We are quite fortunate today young one, it looks like the nightmares will soon stop, forever."

A long night.

Though Dash was quite curious about what Luna initially wanted to do, she was far to exhausted to do anything else, and for another fact, she was sick and tired of being pulled from reality by evil things. These things happening were very annoying, and not fun at all, but for some reason the last one bothered her the most, could Twilight ever do such a thing to her friends? Shaking her head to dismiss that thought, she knew that such a thing could never happen, not in a million years, Twilight was just too gentle, kind, and, egg-heady. These things made Dash realize how much she truly loved Twilight, she knew she had these feelings before, but they got warped by the mind tricks that were played on her. What really brought unease to her though was the fact that it happened so easily, she wasn't weak minded, even Twilight knew that, so what could have done such a thing to her? Fear? Thinking about it, she realized that she was only afraid after this all started to happen. Continuing to evaluate what could have made her so weak, she remembered seeing Twilight sitting with Fluttershy, the pain she had felt from what it looked like made her sad, then afraid, then after that, she lost herself to the darkness around everything.

Dash started to flap her wings to take off at a gentle pace, feeling the breeze in her mane, smelling the clean air around her with the subtle scent of the flowers that were growing in the fields, it was dark outside, and she could hardly make out the ground, but could still tell where she was going. She closed her eyes to let her thoughts roam free, and she was no longer afraid, not because of the presence being gone, but because she understood why she was afraid at first. She did not want to lose the love she cherished so dearly, she couldn't, the thought or idea of it alone was enough to make her shudder. Flying along, she heard a familiar sound, it was quiet, but still there. A gentle hum was flowing through the air around Ponyville, it was soothing, but irritating at the same time, not to the mind, but to the emotions, she was calm, but angry, happy, but sad, it was not a constant flow of hum however, it would eventually subside for a short time then continue as before. Knowing she had heard it before was driving Dash nuts, but she could not figure out from where she had heard it.

Dash continued to scan the almost invisible ground, noticing a few things here and there, nothing really interesting, but more than enough to keep her mind occupied. One of the items she saw, though it was the most plain, stuck out the most to her. It was a tin bowl, seemingly average in the size of any bowl with no additional features that Dash could tell, but somehow it stuck in Dash's mind more than anything. She looked back, but the only thing she could see was the moon reflecting off of a side of the rim. Looking forward again she realized that the only area in all of Ponyville that had a light on was the Treebrary, smiling, she flew toward the Treebrary, anxious to see Twilight. As she landed on the front porch, she got a nervous feeling in her heart, kind of like that one when you are meeting somepony new for the first time, but she didn't seem to realize it for a couple seconds. Knocking on the door she heard Twilight call out to come in, so she, without hesitation, walked in and pounced on Twilight the moment she saw her, feeling like it had been ages since she saw her.

Slightly giggling, Twilight said, "Well hi to you too." then she closed her eyes and kissed Dash gently, then rolled over on top of her. Smiling widely she said, "Feels like its been ages doesn't it?" She then paused, kissed Dash again, and continued, "Did you do anything exciting over the last couple days?"

"well, you see, its been rather annoying. You see, at first it was simple, then it got interesting." Dash said, at first trying to sound like it was a funny situation. After she started, she then decided to tell the story of what happened, in as many details as she could, with a serious tone. While talking about it Twilight first thought she was joking but remembered what had been happening around Ponyville with everypony hiding in their homes earlier that week, and it seemed possible, not probable, but possible. She kind of wondered what it was that was going to happen. Dash finally finished the whole story even to the point of her knocking on the door and starting to tell the story, in which seemed needless.

When Dash had finished the story she looked Twilight in the eye, giving her a look of need. Then turned away, somewhat disappointed that Twilight didn't understand that it was a need for comfort. "I'm just gonna go to sleep," She said, then trotted off to the upstairs room, and lay herself down to go to sleep. She was lying there for what seemed like hours before falling asleep, only to be woken from what seemed like it was supposed to be a nightmare, but she could not recall what it was she dreamed of, by Twilight curling up next to her. Rolling over she lay her hoof over Twilight, and tried to fall back to sleep, but she was afraid of what awaited her within her next dream, however, tonight seemed to feel different, it was more calm than anything else. She felt soothed by Twilight's presence, but at the same time, she was agitated, like her body knew something was astray but she did not know what. It wanted to keep her awake when she wanted nothing but to sleep calmly.

After about 20 minutes of laying there, failing to sleep, Dash rolled out of bed to get a breath of fresh air. She trotted up to the viewing balcony and sat looking over the quiet Ponyville, there was not a light in sight. She looked up to the night sky, seeing the stars twinkling brightly, they looked to be happy, almost like they were talking to each other, having a happy conversation. Dash wanted to know what it was about, and how the conversation would play out, and what the average day for a star would be like. Did stars have a need to communicate? If so what would each term be showed as? Dash was thinking about this for a long period of time, she did not even know why she thought about it, she only knew that she did. It seemed to fascinate her however. She started to imagine a conversation forming between each star, and it amused her.

Before long, exhaustion seemed to take place, so she went back and lay on the bed, and quickly found herself passed out, she had been having a long night of nerve wracking unease, now she could finally rest, or so she thought.

This is bad, very bad.

Dash suddenly woke up to the sound of a loud crash, no, more like an explosion followed by a crash as she saw a stream of an almost black mane fly into her face. Pushing the mane out of her eyes she saw that Luna had been flung from the site she was guarding, and standing where she used to be, was a shadowy figure, almost completely visible, but still somewhat ghostly and transparent. He was laughing maniacally for a good amount of time, so Dash knew it was not a good idea to go out there and get tangled up with him just yet, but she also knew that if he could easily, or so it appeared to be easy for him, knock an alicorn princess unconscious, then all of Equestria was in terrible danger.

Fearing the worst, Dash tried her hardest to wake Luna, but with little success, only seeming to get a groan here and there. Laying Luna down, Dash frantically looked around the room for something that could help her, but she could not see anything. Trying to keep her cool, Dash managed to get Luna downstairs into the basement where, hopefully, she would be okay, and then ran back upstairs. She only hoped that she could get help before anything VERY bad happened, not that something equally bad already did of course. Dash managed to get out the front door without being spotted and took off toward Canterlot before realizing that Twilight was not with her when she was awoken. She scanned the ground for her, but before long, she noticed an odd glow near the edge of the forest. Flying closer, she noticed that Twilight was casting an odd spell in which seemed to be doing nothing. Landing by her side, Dash nudged Twilight, breaking her concentration, "What are you doing? Don't you know what happened to Princess Luna?" Dash asked her in a worried rush.

"I am well aware of that Rainbow, I am trying to find where the shadows are actually emitting from. I realized that there was a powerful illusion spell being cast over the area Luna was guarding, and that illusion, caught Luna off guard when she got attacked from somewhere in the forest, but whatever it is, it seems to be moving fast, much faster than anything I have encountered, and it is flying from what I can tell." Twilight explained to Rainbow, who in which was trying to isolate the fact that the figure she saw was a fake.

"So wait," Rainbow said, then paused, "I thought we knew where it was coming from! Wasn't it the dead 'Lord of Terror' in the caves under ponyville?"

"That's what we thought but it is not true, you see, he is gone for good, his very soul has been devoured, or just gone missing in general, because I went down there and found nothing but a lot of turned graves, the magic long since cleaned out of there." Twilight said, then satisfied with her conclusion she continued, "I suspect that we are dealing with somepony who was feeding on that magic for a long time, somepony forgotten or neglected."

"LIKE WHO?!?" Dash yelled, even more confused now as to who it could be.

"I don't know, but they seem to be avoiding being traced by me very easily, all I have been able to obtain is that they are flying above ground, making no contact with anything touching the ground. Meaning they have wings, and magic." Twilight finished, nearly trembling.

Dash looked around quickly, trying to determine the best course of action. Unable to think of anything she bolted off the ground, strait into the air. She got to a height that would allow her to see the whole town in one view without having to move her eyes more than a twitch. She then started to watch the forest line, looking for the flying figure, and any movement, but nothing seemed to be happening that is until Twilight started her spell again, A shadow that was lingering above a tree shifted, normally it would have been unnoticeable, but this movement seemed to go against the normal movement of the shadows. Dash looked closer, trying to see into it, and just as she almost got a figure, it moved, flying forward at a remarkable speed, leaving a trail of darkness in its wake. Dash only knew of one way to come anywhere near matching the speed she just saw.

Rising higher in the air, and watching where the shadows settled in to, she could tell where her target was, all she needed to do was make sure she did not lose it. She kept rising until she could burly breath properly, and then she dropped, letting herself gain speed until she was at maximum natural speed, then she started to use her wings, increasing her velocity until she started to see the familiar cone forming around her body. The rush she felt as the wind soared through her mane was invigorating, almost as if she was atop the world, she could feel her heart rate increase, until it got to the point that it seemed to stop entirely, like the whole world was a frozen world in time, she knew this feeling all to well, it was part of her blood, it was the magic of her soul, bursting out, showing its glory, and shattering the bonds of reality, and the moment time seemed to move again, she was moving at the familiar speed that could hardly be matched by even the best fliers, and to her own pride, the boom that was produced as she reached this speed caught her prey off guard, the light of the rainbow seemed to destroy the shadows that were being created around her target, and she could see clearly what she was to catch.

Dash crashed into her target like a bowling ball to its pins, bringing it down to the ground, and into the open where Twilight jumped to the occasion to use her newest spell she learned, with the soft purple glow that Dash could so vividly remember even when away from Twilight, the culprit was pinned to the ground with a restraining magic. Stepping off of her prey, Dash took a look at what she caught, and gasped at the sight before her.

It was a Pegasus mare, with a dark blue coat, wearing what seemed like royal jewelry, the necklace however had a pitch black crescent moon on its golden base with a red and gold chain weave as the binding. She had Red and blue hair, with a braided tail, she had anklets of golden binding, but a deep crimson gem on the front, but she had no horn. This confused Twilight and Dash, but, something about this Pegasus ponies wings seemed off, they appeared to be shifting in consistency, one moment the feathers will be long and thin the next they will be shorter, and wider.

"What's your name?" Dash asked, a little too friendly for the seemingly dire situation.

The pony glared angrily at Dash, then sighed. "My name, is Nightwing, Nightwing Moon's Light. But I prefer to be called Moon." Sighing again, Moon then started, "And before you go interrogating me, allow me to formally show you why nopony has mentioned me before." Moon's wings shifted in size, becoming large enough to envelop her entire body, and then she vanished turning into nothing but shadow, becoming nothing but a fast slipping memory, and before either could do anything, Twilight and Dash collapsed, entering what seemed to be an eternal Nightmare.

A simple misunderstanding.

Dash and Twilight awoke in a shifting darkness, one that seemed to go on forever. Dash looked around feeling like she was being strangled, yet at the same time, she could breathe better than ever before, this place was disorienting her, but before she could ask where they were, the voice of Moon echoed around them.

"This is my shadow realm, much like a separate plane of existence, but this one is only as big as I will it to be, for you see, I am not a pony, I only take the form of one when I need to get away without being suspicious in town, but today was different, you see, you may think I am to blame for what has been happening around here, when in reality, I was trying to stop it, much like you were Rainbow Dash." She paused, causing a stillness to fall upon the two ponies, "I needn't explain to you why I am trying to help, as you may not see any reason for me to, but the one you are against is not who you thought it was, he is much more powerful, and needless to say, he is dangerous."

Dash looked over at Twilight, then asked, "Then why did you attack Princess Luna?"

"She attacked me, not the other way around, my shadows simply reflected her attack back at her, so she is to blame for becoming harmed, not me. As for why I tried to avoid you as I did, I simply did not want to engage you without any reason, and I wanted to deal with the situation at hand without anypony getting involved more than they already are." Moon stopped talking, and the ponies saw the shadows fade, and shift into an image of the castle of the royal sisters, and to Dash's surprise, it was completely in tact, no collapse, nothing. "You have been tricked multiple times to think something bad was happening around you, when in reality it was all in your head, like a daydream, but if you had fallen to the ways you envisioned, you would surely not have survived, for your mind is a powerful thing, if it thinks you are drowning, you will drown, if it thinks you are being crushed to death, your heart will compress until you die. Be wary of these apparitions, find only that in which is familiar, and what you know to be the truth and you will succeed. If you fall for a lie, I can only try to pull you out of it, but there is only so much I can do."

Moon's voice faded, and Twilight and Dash were standing in Ponyville again, Moon standing in front of them as a Pagasus. She nodded at Dash, and flew away, fading into the shadows of the forest, and Dash, who in which was still processing everything that just happened, sat down fast, then said, "I don't believe it, everything that we thought was happening was just a lie?" She looked at Twilight who was frantically trying to explain to herself how that just happened, and realizing that there was no getting through to Twilight, Dash decided she was going to go help Luna, and flew over to the Treebrary. Pulling Luna out to the grass, she sat over her, and watched diligently to be sure she was going to be alright, as if what Moon had said was true, then Luna could be a target too, but Dash didn't really know. After a few hours Luna finally woke with a start, looking around frantically trying to find Moon. Dash put a hoof on her and said "Its fine, she isn't here anymore, but she wasn't the enemy, or at least, I don't think she was. She said there was somepony else who was doing everything around here that made me see things or dream things, that it isn't who we thought it was." Dash finished, and seeing Luna's shocked look she knew what Luna was about to do, so she backed away, to which Luna took off, flying back to Canterlot as fast as possible to inform her sister of her findings.

Watching Luna disappear into the distance, Dash wondered, who is it that we are fighting against? Also, what do they hope to achieve? Exhausted, Dash returned to her home, flopping down on her cloud bed, she did everything she could to hold back the tears of stress that were welling up in her eyes, all the while asking herself how she could be so stupid to fall for something like that, first the castle collapsing, then the crazier apparitions, she didn't know if Moon was even real, and if she was, was she telling the truth? Dash was afraid to find out, but before she could think any harder about it, she fell into a deep sleep, and for once in a while, no dreams came to her, she would wake up the next day to face the challenges. She only woke once during the night, to which she thought about a couple of things, what was the intention of the enemy, and how did they intend to do whatever they were planning, it didn't make any sense to her. She tried to brush it off, and laid back down, and just before she fell asleep, she felt a warmth flow through her body, relaxing her and making her feel at ease. It seemed familiar, as a mothers arms feels familiar around her child, or a sibling hugging their sibling to support them, but it was different too, and she heard in her head, 'I told you I would try to help you, and if that includes helping you to get a good nights sleep, then I shall.' Dash knew immediately that it was Moon, but rather than becoming alarmed, she felt more relaxed, and fell asleep quickly. Moon remained by her side the whole night, making sure no illusions were to be played on Dash again, as that is what she promised, and she wanted to see this evil destroyed.

"In the morning, I will show you what I am talking about when I say that your enemy is something else." Moon said, directed toward Dash, but knowing that only she heard it. "I only hope you and your friends can overpower it in time, we all need you." Moon then faded into the shadows again, watching over Dash until morning in complete silence.