"Autumn," a distant voice called.
The sunset pony was in an odd world. She saw the stars above her, but the sun was shining bright. Occasionally, the moon would pop out, and the clouds would come. Autumn had learned Discord did this quite some time ago, but in the book she was reading, it said he was reformed by a mare named Fluttershy.
"Autumn," it called again, it's voice hinting that the creature who was speaking was evil.
"W-what do you want?" Autumn finally brought enough courage to reply to the voice. "Who are you?"
"Oh. You don't remember reading about me?" the hooded creature stepped out of the darkness (the moon had shot the sun out of the sky) his bony hands feeling across Autumn's face.
"Get off me!" the mare slapped him and backed away.
"I would watch what you do, little filly," the hooded creature snapped.
"I ain't no little filly, ya hear?" Autumn shot back, her bottom lip curling in anger.
"Well you certainly aren't a mare yet. You're much too small."
"That's not the point. My size has nothing to do with it. And you're one to talk! You're smaller than my friend, and she's only eleven!"
"I might be small now," he brought his hood back, his eyes gleaming yellow.
Autumn gasped. She realized who it was, "Y-you're you're-"
"That's right," The centaur monkey cackled, growing in size. Horns bulged out of his head, and he grew to the size of a building. His laughs became deeper with his height. "I am Lord Tirek!"
Autumn started to run away, but Tirek's beefy hand grabbed her by the tail.
"Where do you think you're going, Autumn?" Tirek shouted.
As his sharp teeth went up and down while speaking, Autumn imagined herself being crushed in between them, and tried to leave those thoughts behind.
"H-how do you know my name?" she stammered.
"Needn't you worry about that. You should be worrying about all your friend's and family's magic being taken away," Tirek laughed and swiped his hand over the landscape. Millions of ponies appeared, all of them looking terrified. Some of them tried to run, but Tirek grabbed them with his dark magic.
"Put them down!" Autumn urged, trying to squirm out of his tight grip.
"How are you going to stop me?" Tirek looked over, his face engulfed in blue flames. His eyes were hollow, and his teeth were sharp and bony.
Autumn gave a terrified shout.
The centaur brought each of them up to his outstretched mouth and swallowed their magic. Then, he dropped them to the ground.
"You see, Autumn Glen, I have figured out a way to get even more powerful than I already am. First, I take all their magic. Next, I use their magic to fuel my brain flame. When it gets enough magic, I turn the way I am now. I don't need your magic to grow bigger any longer. I can do that by myself!" He chortled, spit flying onto Autumn's ears.
"And this may just be a dream, Autumn, but soon, it will be reality. So enjoy your pathetic world why you can!" Tirek dropped her as she started to fall toward the ground.
"Ahhh!" she screeched, certain she was going to plummet to the ground. Suddenly, her eyes shot open.
She was in her room; Her safe, cozy room. She snuggled into her blankets, her heart still shocked at what she had witnessed in her dream.
She had only read about Tirek in a story. She didn't know why he visited her in her dream. She didn't know why she was so scared. Part of her wished to go back to the dream, to find out what he would do next, but the other part wanted to stay in her quaint little room for the rest of the day.
"Autumn? Autumn?" Happy Blossom, her mother, called from downstairs.
"I'll be right down, Mom," Autumn called back, throwing herself out of the covers. She rubbed her eyes, put her slippers and robe on, and slumped into the kitchen.
"That was the latest you ever slept, I believe," Blossom set a plate of hot cakes drowning in syrup, and with a dab of butter at the top, down in front of Autumn.
"Just a bad dream," Autumn told her, biting into her sticky breakfast.
"Oh yeah," Blossom poured some orange juice into a cup and handed it to her daughter. "Tell me about it." She sat down next to her.
"Well, this guy named Lord Tirek, you've probably never heard of him-" Autumn was interrupted when she glanced at her mom and noticed she was sweating uncomfortably.
"Mom, are you OK?"
"Oh yes, dear, I'm fine. You're right, I've never heard of that," her mother's voice turned into a mumble. "Jerk who ran out after I had you.."
"Um.. Okay.." Autumn awkwardly shifted away from her mother. "Anyway, he started stealing everypony's magic, and then his head got all flamey, and it was really scary."
Blossom dabbed some sweat from her forehead, "Oh, well that's just a crazy dream hon. Why don't you go scamper along and play with that nice filly. What's her name.. Uh.. Rookie?"
"Her name's Cookie," Autumn corrected. "And I think I will, since it seems you haven't had your cup of coffee yet today." The red mare walked away from the table, her plate neatly cleaned, the only thing lingering was some syrup and melted butter.
Blossom flopped her head down on the table, "I can't keep this a secret from her anymore."
