The Dreamrunner

“Happy birthday, Sweetie Belle!”

I had just blown out the candles on my cake and everypony was cheering. DJ Scratch blasted her newest mixtape as Pinkie Pie handed out the cake. I had thought that turning seventeen would make me feel something, like happiness or some sense of freedom.. All I felt was the repetitive beat of the music, my own heartbeat, and an inexpressible emptiness.  It’s difficult to explain exactly what I was feeling. I guess it was like feeling satisfied, yet horrible? That’s the basic idea. Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on with me. My life used to be so simple. It was so perfect before. I wish I could go back before the nightmares.

I started to be able to use my magic ‘properly’ on the same night I got my cutie mark. It was about three weeks before the party. I had always thought I would never use magic in my life, but one day it just started working. Princess Twilight explained that I was just a late bloomer, and usually late bloomers turn out to be some of the most powerful unicorns on the face of the planet. She revealed that Starswirl the Bearded was a late bloomer, too, and look how he turned out.

A strange thing happened, though. I had no dreams for about a week after the whole incident. Then, I started getting nightmares of grisly things happening to good ponies. I always try to help out in the dreams, but I can never move.

It started out being small things like arguments and accidents, but a couple weeks later they turned into house fires and robberies. Soon after that, they turned into dreams of foalnapping, and the night before last, the first murder. I woke up in a puddle of my sweat after I saw the murderer kill the other pony. I pulled my covers over my head and cried until my sister, Rarity, came in and tried to comfort me. I haven’t slept much since then.

I was exhausted, but terrified of falling asleep and experiencing the nightmares again. At least tonight my two closest friends, Scootaloo and Applebloom, are spending the night. We used to call ourselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, until we all got our cutie marks. Heh, I remember the day I got my cutie mark. It was such a happy day. I was singing at school one day and my teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, told me I should enter the school talent show. I would have joined with Scoots and AB, but it was apparently a solo talent show. Scootaloo and AB didn’t really know what to do for the show, so they decided to just watch me. Sweet Celestia, I was terrified. I shook so hard you could have probably felt me shake halfway across town.

After my name was called, I stepped onto that stage and everything changed. I knew the real reason AB and Scoots didn’t want to be in the talent show. Of course, they told me that later, but I had put two and two together. They had Ms. Cheerilee make it for me. They had seats in the very front to watch me. I remember feeling so happy that I felt like crying. I actually think I shed a tear or two. The microphone stood near the edge of the stage, so I walked over to it and adjusted it to my height.

The music started, and smoke poured from the sides of the stage. It was a song I’d written when I had a crush on this one colt from school. I was so stressed at that point on the stage. Thoughts of failure ran through my mind. What if I screw up? It’ll mess up everything. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon will never let me live this down if I mess this up. I’ll never hear the end of it. I’ll have to live in a box under a bridge or something. Maybe wear a paper bag over my head. I started to sing the first couple notes, but my voice felt really shaky. Probably because I was shaking so darn hard. The music continued, and so did I.

The loudest cheer I had ever heard in my life came roaring from the crowd. I couldn’t speak anymore, I was too dumbfounded to move.

“Thank all of you, so much” was all I could manage to say.

As the crowd cheered on, I felt something. I suddenly felt a radiant warmth in my chest, and then it was gone. I don’t know what happened, but the crowd cheered louder than before, which I thought was nearly impossible. I looked back at my flank, and… It was there. I did it.

It was beautiful, and it still is beautiful. It’s a pink heart with a treble clef sticking out the top and bottom. Both the left and the right sides have bass clefs sticking out of them. In the center of the heart, is a small, bright pink heart with a few notes surrounding the entire mark

AB and Scoots ran onto the stage and embraced me. They were both so happy for me, and all three of us had tears in our eyes. I was a very emotional filly at one point. Sad to say that I’ve seen enough to have lost most of it.

Scootaloo got her cutie mark a little bit before I did, she was showing off scooter tricks to Rainbow Dash when It appeared. It was a wheel with wings and the whole thing was on fire. She celebrated by rubbing it in Diamond Tiara’s and Silver Spoon’s face.

AB was the last one to get a cutie mark. She got a zap apple, after she harvested almost all of the zap apples by herself when the rest of her family was too sick to work. She was more modest, so she didn’t rub it in Diamond Tiara’s face like Scootaloo did, but she did have a pretty big party, and she invited all of her family. They literally came from everywhere. Some came from Appleoosa, and some came from Detrot. Some came from Cowpenhagen, and others from Stalliongrad. That was probably one of the best dinners I’ve ever eaten in my life.

My party lasted one night, but it was one heck of a party. All the other foals from school were invited.

I like to think of good memories like those when I feel down or sick. Getting my cutie mark is my favorite.

“Sweetie Belle? Snap out of it, girl!”

I suddenly came back to my senses. Applebloom was waving a hoof in my face. When I shook my head to wake myself up, she stopped and smiled.

“Sweetie Belle, are you thinking of somepony? A colt, maybe?”

I looked at her with a smirk on my face. “Oh, be quiet, Applebloom. I’ve walked into you ‘having fun’ with Rumble in the barn before.” Applebloom shut up after that and blushed. Scootaloo, who had just walked in with a tan bag slung over her back, overheard us talking and fell over clutching her stomach in laughter. I couldn’t resist, and neither could Applebloom. We all rolled on the ground laughing like old times. We all had drifted apart after we got our cutie marks. Applebloom spent most of her time working on the farm or spending time with her coltfriend, and Scootaloo got into the junior flyer league at the Wonderbolt Academy. It was nice when we actually could get together again, and we usually discussed the increasingly dumb ways we tried to get our cutie marks.

“Remember that time where we all tried to get our cutie marks in graffiti art?” Scootaloo suggested.

“Ooooh, don’t remind me of that one!” Applebloom laughed. “Applejack made Sweetie Belle and I clean the side of the barn while you got off scot-free. You could have helped, you jerk!” I giggled at the face Scootaloo made

“Oh! do you guys remember the time John Mare came to ponyville for his concert?” I asked.

“Oh yeah!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “I was soooo pumped to see him. I remember Rarity obsessing over her backstage passes.”

“And then we spilled coffee on them,” we all said at the same time. We shuddered at the thought of Rarity’s face if she had actually discovered that.

“It’s a good thing we worked our flanks off and bought her new ones before she noticed.” I said.

A knock on the door of my room interrupted the conversation. Rarity popped her head through the door, and announced.

“Sweetie Belle, dear, take your medicine before you go to bed tonight. We don’t want to be up all night with our head in the toilet again, do we?” She brushed her mane back into it’s flawless position before adding, “well, I know you girls are nice and grown now, but even older mares need their beauty sleep, and it’s getting late. Good night!”

The moment she left, Scootaloo immediately demanded,

“Spill it.”

I sighed heavily. There’s no getting out of this one. Unless…

“Nothing! I just caught a bug earlier this week.” I quickly spat. I smiled, but then quickly regretted not telling the truth. I somehow forgot that I have this weird thing with my left ear twitching when I’m lying.

Applebloom stared at me sternly. “Sweetie Belle, I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re lying. Not to mention, living with my sister has taught me a few tricks. Spill it.” Scootaloo didn’t say anything, but nodded instead.

I sighed again. I’m not sure why exactly I’m disappointed. On the inside, I knew it was going to happen anyway. “Fine, but don’t throw up on me.” I told them everything in detail about the nightmares. They both looked a bit green, but they didn’t say anything. Scootaloo was the first to recover.

“S-Sweetie Belle, I-I think you should get some h-help. That’s n-not normal.” I don’t blame them for being so queasy. Heck, I’d thrown up so much, Rarity burned my sheets, and my mattress.

“Like I haven’t heard that one already,” I mumbled. I casually walked over to my dresser to open one of the drawers. I pulled out a homemade remedy for vomiting that Rarity cooked up with some of mom’s old medicine books. The green, sickly liquid was in a small glass jar. Small roots and pieces of broken flowers were floating around in it. I really didn’t want to drink it, but with the girls in the room, I didn’t want to bother them with any puking. I popped off the lid and stared at the substance for a second before chugging it.

“Hmm… Pretty minty, actually.” I explained, after finishing it off. “I’ll have to tell Rarity that she did a good job with this.

“Wait, so now you won’t have those dreams anymore?” asked Applebloom. She hadn’t spoken since I started telling my story.

“Well, I’m not sure about that... It just prevents vomiting.” I answered.

“Oh.”

Scootaloo then put down her sleeping bag and crawled into it. “Well, If you have bad dreams, then Applebloom and I will be here to comfort you when you wake up.”

“Yeah, Sweetie Belle, we’re both here for ya,” Applebloom added, spreading out her own sleeping bag.

I actually felt very touched by their loyalty, and was forced to hold back tears. “Thank you guys so much. You have no clue how much it means to me.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, sis. You’d have done the same for either of us.” Applebloom said before getting in her own bag.

My mattress was missing because somepony burned it! So instead, I pulled out extra covers I kept in my closet and crashed on the love seat. I hadn’t realized how incredibly exhausted I was until now. The second I pulled up the covers, my eyes suddenly felt a million times heavier. I shook a little bit, but not from the cold. I shook from the thoughts of falling asleep again. Would I have more dreams like the last one? Or would I have those great rainbow and cupcake dreams? Before I dozed off, I remember muttering “goodnight” as I turned out the lamp.

I was standing in front of Sugarcube corner, but something was off. There was something fishy here… Was it the air? Yes, I think so. It seemed darker than normal. The smell, too. There was something strange about that. It smelled like smoke. Like something was burning!

I now saw that the entirety of the building was expelling a ghastly dark smoke. Mrs. Cake was the first to emerge from the burning bakery. Her shocked face smothered in ash. She ran straight out without a word and stood outside the building. Mr. Cake was the second to come barreling out.

“Where are the children!?” She shrieked. Her face was a disaster. Her black eyeliner ran down her cheeks, smeared by her tears. if Rarity saw her mane, she would most likely gag

Mr. Cake then looked at her with a sad, but grim look. It was almost as he would have saved them, but something had stopped him from it. “I don’t know. I’m sorry! I couldn’t find them!” He turned and scrambled away from the fire as fast as he possibly could. Mrs. Cake seemed to have gave up hope completely, but then her face screwed into a determined look. She ran back into the bakery. I watched with sweat dripping down the side of my face. I could almost feel the heat of the fire radiating off the building.

BOOOOM!

Standing there in horror, I witnessed the building explode into massive, roaring flames.

I could make out three different voices screaming in agony. But they only lasted for mere moments before finally dying off.

Breathing heavily, my eyes snapped open. It took some time before I adjusted to the darkness of the room. Good. AB and Scoots aren’t awake.

I’ve never had a dream about ponies I know dying these horrible deaths before. Am I going insane? Am I going to be thrown into the psycho ward?

I’ve been awake for a few hours now. Applebloom and Scoots are still sleeping in their sleeping bags, snoring softly. I’ve decided to just stay awake for the rest of the night. No point in going back to sleep now. I move to the window and lay my face on the cool, refreshing glass. The clouds block the moon, but that doesn’t stop it’s beauty from showing through the gaps every once in a while.

“Look, Rarity!” I pointed at the big, round and cratered circle in the sky. “It’s the moon! Make a wish!”

Rarity smiled, and whispered in my ear, “See, Sweetie Belle, usually it’s the shooting stars that grant you your wishes,” She pulled me into an embrace and pointed to that gorgeous, silver orb. “But it’s different for you, Sweetie Belle. You’re a special filly. You get to wish on the shooting stars, and you get to make a wish on the moon if you want to. Poor old Rarity isn’t special enough to wish on the moon. Go ahead, Sweetie, make your wish.”

“Thanks Rarity, you’re the best.”

“Maybe, just… Maybe…”

I put my hoof on the window and stare out. Shutting my eyes, I faintly whisper, “Oh,  Moon, please take these nightmares away from me. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this. If this is the very last wish I ever make, please make this one come true. Make the nightmares go away.”

The door to my cell opened up again, blinding me for a few seconds.

“It’s time for the white room.” A grey Griffon said deviously.

“NO! Not again!” I screamed, hugging the bed. Of all the torture tecniques these griffons used, the white room was the worst. If you think my cell itself is enough to make you go insane, then you’re so very wrong. The white room is just simply enough a completely white room with one door and no windows. Solid white. They make you sit in it for 24 hours, but they give you food and everything. It seems like a super easy punishment right? Wrong. If you try to speak to yourself to break the silence, your own voice will echo off the walls and drive you insane. The silence of the room messes with your head. Your brain tries to fill in the silence by giving you hallucinations. It is the worst you can get in this place. The physical beatings have stopped working on me, so they just drop me in the white room and watch me from a camera in the top corner as I see my worst nightmares come to life.

The grey griffon picked me up and tossed me into the room and quicky shut the door. All I could scream as he shut it was

“Please! No!”

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