A Tale of Many Worlds

Dipper tossed and turned in his bed, he let out gasps and groans, before beginning to speak. "No... No...! NO! Get... Get away from me...!" He shouted, waking not only Mabel, but Sonic and Fluttershy as well. Sonic entered the room, while Mabel shook Dipper in an attempt to wake him up.

"Dipper, you gotta wake up!" Mabel shouted, but turned to Sonic. "Oh thank goodness you're here! Something's wrong! Horribly, horribly wrong!" Mabel continued to yell, and Sonic lifted one of Dipper's eyelids.

"Looks like he's stuck in some kind of dream loop..." Sonic said, but this only confused Mabel.

"Wait, so what do we do to stop it?" She asked, and Sonic frowned.

"There's nothing we can do. Hopefully Princess Luna will get there soon and put a stop to it." Sonic explained, but the look of pure dumbfoundment made him realize that he should explain in greater detail. "Princess Luna can travel into the dreams of anyone, anypony, or anything. She's made it her goal to stop nightmares and provide good, healthy dreams to all. She's the only one that can stop this..." Sonic said, and Mabel began to grow suspicious.

"Sonic... How do you know this? Are you a villain in disguise!? Is the real Sonic still upstairs sleeping!?" She asked, quickly grabbing a Magic Eight Ball, and threw it at the hedgehog. It connected with his forehead and he let out a quick yelp of pain and shock. "All right, I guess you're the real Sonic after all." Mabel nervously said.

"I know this because it's happened to me before... That's the way that Princess Luna had explained it." Sonic said, before noticing that Mabel had started looking at Dipper again with a concerned expression. Sonic sighed and pulled a chair into the room. "I'll stay until he calms down, if he doesn't within an hour, I'll contact the Princess myself." Sonic said, which made Mabel give a weak smile. "I wonder what's causing this though... And what's so terrifying..." Sonic added.

Dipper couldn't believe it. Before him was Ponyville, only something horrible was happening. The end of everything. That's the only way he could describe it. Ponies, and creatures, and humans, and... and... monsters ran down the streets, and ran into buildings. Dipper could hardly believe the destruction and chaos being caused around him, but a triangular shadow fell over him, and looking up he saw Bill.

"Howdy there Pine Tree. You don't look so good. Is something wrong?" Bill asked, his voice seemed to boom with loudness, while softly whispering into his ear, with an echo, and this was all at once. Dipper noticed Bill was holding something. It appeared to be a chin, that led to a metal collar, that was around the neck of Discord. "You don't like the remodeling I've done around here? Shame. Discord, why don't we go and cause more chaos?" Bill turned his attention to his captive, for Discord's eyes were glossy, almost as if he was under some kind of spell.

"N-No... Please..." Discord said, it was barely audible, but Bill had heard him clearly.

"But I thought you loved chaos and disharmony. Isn't that what you are? The very embodiment of chaos and disharmony and destruction?" Bill asked, and Dipper noticed tears streaming down Discord's face.

"Dipper... Run... Turn and never look back... Run..." Discord whispered again, and Dipper ignored this advice, moving deeper into town. Dipper swore he heard Discord speak again. "You fool..."

What Dipper was greeted with terrified him, corpses littered the ground, many whole, but several half eaten. Humans, ponies, monsters, animals, even one that looked just like him. "What's happening?! Why is this happening!?" Dipper asked, although it came out in a very quiet tone, he just couldn't bring his voice to rise any higher, his throat was sore.

"Dipper, run!" Sonic's voice filled the air, and everything else seemed to go quiet. Whirling around, Dipper saw Sonic was lying on the ground while a large metal dragon stood over him with its massive claws raised. Dipper began to pick out certain details in the dragon. It's back was lined with weapons, large cannons, small blasters, even a few blades. It's eyes glowed blood red, with a fury that none would be able to match. Dipper backed away as the dragon brought its claws down quickly, slashing the hedgehog in half, while Dipper screamed in pure and utter fear.

"Help!" He heard Mabel's voice, and Dipper's eyes widened as he pivoted and began to run towards his sister's voice. "Dipper! Help me!" Dipper found himself running at her, but the two demons holding her, ran as well and they eventually took off with large leathery wings that were much too small when compared to their large muscular bodies.

"No... No...! NO!" Dipper yelled, but noticed the triangular shadow once again. Bill began rushing at him, with his thin black arms out stretched, ready to snatch him up. Dipper began to run, while Bill continued to accelerate and his horrible cackle filled the air. Dipper felt Bill's hand wrap around his shoulder, and begin to lift him upwards, before dropping him, causing the New Journal to fall out from his vest. Dipper scrambled to reach it, and began to flip through the pages, but found they all said the same thing.

"YOU'RE DOOMED!" Had been scrawled over everything in thick black ink that started to seep out of the pages and pool around Dipper's feet, but he continued to flip through page after page, despite the fact that they all said the same thing.

"There has to be one! There has to be one!" Dipper yelled, and he found the only page that did not have the message. It was an entry... On the Chaos Emeralds, and then he found another, one on the Elements of Harmony, and finally one on the Journal itself. Dipper didn't understand how these things tied together, how they all connected. In his deep thought, he had failed to notice that ink had risen to his knees and showed no signs of stopping. The ink continued to rise, and Dipper finally noticed this when his hands began to become submerged in it, Dipper let out a gasp and lifted the journal above his head, hoping to finish reading the current entry.

This Journal was given to Dipper Pines on the date of X/XX/XXXX. He had taken it despite the fact that it was possibly a trap and found that this was a wise decision. Now he's currently reading this entry in hopes that it will explain what is happening, although he should be searching for its higher purpose.

"Higher purpose?" Dipper asked, but suddenly began to cough and sputter as the ink began to flood into his mouth. He needed to find this higher purpose.

Little does Dipper know that this journal holds the key to preventing... Dipper's eyes began to burn as the ink started to cover them, and he was forced to close his eyes, clocking out the journal, and soon felt the ends of his hands sink under the rising ink. Suddenly the ground beneath his feet disappeared, and he began to fall. It was slow, but he could feel himself falling, and knowing that it would burn, had to open his eyes in an attempt to see what was happening now. He slowly peeled his eyelids apart and felt no burning sensation. He looked around and then attempted breathing. He found that he could, despite still being submerged in ink. Then something familiar came into his view, it was a wooden door that was covered in splinters, despite that it was structurally sound, and had a silver knob. Dipper began to swim towards the door, and quickly flung it open, sending him sliding within as ink began to fill the room like water, but he managed to shut the door and prevent the room from flooding, leaving only a puddle around his feet.

"This is... Me and Mabel's room... Back in Gravity Falls..." He said to himself, and looked at the journal. Nothing here was making sense, and Dipper just wanted to know what was going on.

"You're dreaming." A voice said. Dipper's eyes shot back up and looked at his bed. There sat Princess Luna, she wore the same long blue and black dress that he had seen when they first met. She had her mane flowing freely at the moment, and looked at Dipper with her blue eyes. "Rather, you're trapped in a nightmare." Luna added, but this confused Dipper.

"Does this mean that you're a dream too?" Dipper asked, and Luna began to chuckle.

"No, I am not part of the nightmare. It should be over now, but it's been long since I've seen such a nightmare. Dark, mysterious, and chilling to the bone." Luna replied, and Dipper nodded slowly. He moved and sat down on Mabel's bed.

"So why are you here? Did you stop the nightmare?" Dipper asked, and Luna nodded.

"It is my duty to make sure that everyone, everypony, and everything in our world has pleasant dreams, but ever since the first Merge sometimes there are even nightmares that I cannot stop. They are usually like yours, which is why I am confused. I haven't been able to stop a nightmare like this for almost three years." Luna explained, and Dipper could see why she was confused.

"Do you think it means something?" Dipper asked, and Luna was startled by this question.

"Do I think what means something?" Luna asked, back, knowing what he meant.

"The nightmare. Do you think it means something?" He asked again.

"N-no. I do not. It was simply a nightmare." Luna lied. Dipper let out a loud sigh.

"That's a relief. I think... I think I'm ready to wake up now... If that's all right." Dipper said with a weak smile.

Luna nodded and Dipper noticed everything began to glow white, before he was unable to see anything at all.

Dipper shot upwards gasping, which startled Mabel and Sonic.

"Dipper!" Mabel happily yelled, nearly tackling her twin.

"Don't worry Mabel. I'm fine. I was just having a nightmare." Dipper said with a grin, but then noticed Sonic approaching.

"We're glad to have you back buddy. We were..." Sonic suddenly stopped and inhaled sharply, before finishing. "Afraid you wouldn't wake up... Luckily Princess Luna was able to break through, otherwise you might have had the same nightmare over... And over... And over... And over..." Sonic frowned, before kneeling so he was eye level with Dipper. "You want to tell us what it was about?" Sonic asked and Dipper quickly shook his head. "That's fine. I just thought I'd offer. Come on, I've got breakfast ready. I may not be as good of a cook as Fluttershy, but I tried right?" Sonic asked exiting the room. Dipper and Mabel both rose to go and eat, while something tugged at Dipper's mind.

"Luna? May I ask what's bothering you?" Celestia asked, as her sister was preparing to sleep.

"Nothing. Nothing at all..." Luna replied, but Celestia grabbed her sister by the shoulder.

"Luna. I'm going to ask you again. What's wrong?" Celestia said, with a frown.

"It's the Pines child. Dipper." Luna replied, but this only led to more questions.

"What about him?" Celestia asked, and Luna sighed.

"He had a nightmare... Although... I fear it is more. A bad omen of things to come. There was fire, and destruction, and most of all... Death." Luna answered, and Celestia let out a soft gasp.

"I can... I can see you aren't ready to talk about it. Just let me know when you are. Sleep well." Celestia said as she exited the room.

"I'll try..." Luna muttered, as she closed her curtains and let darkness fill the room.