The Alicorn That Never Was

What will you do…when your destiny goes…wrong?

Twilight shot up from her sleep. She squeaked as she heavily panted, sucking air in and huffing it out with short snorts. Her eyes were as wide open as they could be, feeling as though they would pop out of her face. This terrible display of unkempt vanity and fear was unbecoming of a princess. Then again, even as an alicorn, Twilight Sparkle oftentimes only seemed to vaguely remember that her wings came with the added status.

It wasn’t as though it wasn’t apparent, after all. She had more responsibility, more power, heck, even a new castle. How could she forget?

A little head popped up at the foot of her bed. The green eyes glimmered and reflected back at her. “Twilight? Is everything okay?” It was Spike, her loyal little dragon.

She steadied her breathing until she felt the dizziness she had garnered begin to subside. “Spike? I… Yes. Yes, it was just a nightmare.”

“A nightmare? What about?” Spike asked as he crawled up onto the bed and along the quilt. “Was it a monster?”

“I don’t think so,” she replied with a gentle shake of her head.

“M-maybe it’s from all the excitement over the past year,” he suggested. “I mean, you gotta admit, that whole Tirek thing was pretty scary.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t Tirek.” She forced a smile, “It was nothing.”

“Then let me get you some warm milk!” He offered. She could barely reply before he was off to the kitchen to heat her up a cup. She rolled out of her bed and looked out the window with a bit of concern. It wasn’t like she never had nightmares before, but in the time since she had come to Ponyville, she had faced so many strange things. It was hard to take them so lightly anymore. This one, for as short and obscure as it was, was eerie and it sent a chill down her back.

Spike brought the cup of warm milk to her and she sipped on it, lost in thought. She didn’t even hear anything her little companion was saying. It probably wasn’t important, anyway. Oh, that was horrible. Spike was very important to her. Then again, she knew he was probably droning on about something he had read in a comic book or…she had no idea. Her thoughts were heavy and elsewhere. She pulled her snoot from the cup and managed to giggle at the milk mustache left behind.

“You look distinguished,” Spike chuckled.

“I do, don’t I?” She played along. She then licked the milk from her lips and wiped them dry on her foreleg. She then noticed that Owloycious was staring at her. He fluffed a moment and then seemed to relax, but that stare remained. It made her uncomfortable. She had never been known to fear him. She didn’t have a need to fear him now. Perhaps her nerves were still just not settled. She put the cup down and opened the window. Out the owl flew.

“Spike,” she began, staring out into the dark, sleeping town of Ponyville rather than at him. “I’m going to go out.”

“Out?” Spike asked with concern. “But, it’s in the middle of the night.”

“I just need some fresh air. You stay here and go back to sleep. Owloycious will keep me company.”

Spike crinkled up his face a bit. He had long since abandoned his fervent jealousy of the owl, but every now and again, it still irked him whenever Twilight would spend alone time with him. Well, perhaps that was the dragon in Spike, that greed to have her time all to himself. He said nothing, though. That was his own personal vice that he would deal with alone. It wasn’t that big of a deal, after all. “Okay…” What else could he say?

***

The night was cool. A little too chilly, in fact.  It was moist. That was a good sign that morning would come soon, with the beginnings of the cold dew beginning to form. There was still a few hours before the Celestia would even consider raising the sun. In this case, that was probably for the best. Twilight felt the need to walk the night streets. There was a spookiness and a cool comfort about being out at night. She didn’t do this too often without others being about. She would stargaze, sure, but she did prefer the company of her friends. They made her feel complete. Then again, wasn’t that the whole purpose of the whole herd of them?

She wasn’t sure what she was hoping to find. She just hoped that something would come to her. Why was this particular dream any different from any other? Why did this one feel more threatening than any other? It wasn’t the typical bad dream about taking a test she didn’t study for (like that would ever actually happen).

She heard a noise and spun around to look behind her. There didn’t seem to be anything there. Not a soul walked the streets. She was alone. She could only assume the sound was from an animal or that perhaps she had kicked a stone along the cobblestone road. She could hear some crickets in the distance. Maybe there were some frogs, but definitely the crickets. There was nothing to bring any concern, so Twilight continued on along the streets, walking alone upon that path she’s traveled day in and day out in the light of day. Owloyicious had flown off. He was likely still nearby, but she couldn’t see nor hear him at this point. Perhaps, he had gone to feed. The nature of that was a bit sad, but it was just that: nature, and she had to turn a blind eye to that cruel truth and could only take pity on whatever poor mouse the owl found.

A hiss suddenly startled her and she let out a small cry before galloping off. So, it wasn’t the most becoming or courageous thing for her to do, but the night had overtaken her senses. She wasn’t even sure what had made the noise and she didn’t bother to look back. She ran until she cleared the city limits of Ponyville Proper and tripped on a root at the base of the statue of Nightmare Moon. She let out a grunt and a moan, her hindquarters dangling in the air over her head before finally dropping to the grass, forcing another groan from the mare.

She sat up with a grumble, glad to be right side up again and readjusting her wings. For something so light and fragile on birds, she had to admire the strength and endurance of pony wings.  She peered up at the statue and considered it. As if the image wasn’t creepy enough, an eerie whistle of a breeze flew through, taking with it a few leaves, the early birds, so to speak, of the upcoming fall. In this atmosphere, she felt a twinge of fear. It only lasted a moment before that logical side of her that was generally so predominate finally took over. There was no reason to fear Nightmare Moon. She had long since fixed that issue. A visit from Luna at this point would have been more than welcome, as a matter of fact. She knew that the nightmare itself was silly and it was silly that she had let it bother her.

Then again, Twilight had to consider her own character. She was a control-freak. Everything had to be in order, and even her nightmares had to make some sort of sense, even if the logic was vague. There had to be something to accept, such as her non-studied exam dreams. She’d never be unprepared for a written test or an oral exam, but at least the strange plot of the dream was there and she could analyze it clearly. She couldn’t do that with this one. It had been so black and she saw nothing. That voice sounded so terrible and dry with eerie clanking and crackling like hollow, dry bamboo shafts clanking against each other. It was a lot like the bamboo wind chimes that Fluttershy had recently acquired. She had mentioned the bamboo was more soothing than the tinkling of the bell chimes. Maybe that’s why Twilight heard that noise. If that were the case, though, they weren’t soothing at all.

But, there was nothing. There was no answer. There was no Fluttershy. There was no Luna. All there was…was Twilight Sparkle, accompanied only by the dreary shadow at her side before the great statue of an enemy that no longer was.