The Jostled Flyer

My mane's been getting shorter for a while now. Reason being, my fever kept getting very bad when I woke up. With my two temperatures, one in the morning and one at night, the morning one was always higher. Cloudchaser told me that she kept hearing me scream across the hospital. I've gotten those five ponies' names down by now. Applejack had given me a full pack of iced tea bottles to cool myself and even put it in a fridge. Back to the screaming though, I think I've noticed a pattern. I had a dream about July the eighth, then a time warp would pull me straight to the Running of the Leaves back here in Las Pegasus and both felt identical. Both instances I lost my balance and I was being pinned to the ground being stomped on.

The nightmares have gotten so bad I thought I'd have to stay up the entire night. In my dreams, I've gotten a couple of visits from that one pony that flew overhead when I was walking through the edge of Hayseed Swamp. But it was often before I got pulled to the vibrating ground. Cloudchaser suggested I do otherwise. "Jostle, you need sleep. You said you haven't been getting enough sleep these days. You'll do fine. There's a star that will always guide your way every single day." Cloudchaser walked up to me a tucked me under her wing. I couldn't help but smile. "Tonight, I'm staying with you."

Tonight as usual, I got a nightmare and woke up Cloudchaser. I laid on my pillow that was covered in my mane shed. "Wow! That was a huge nightmare."

I don't know when I fell asleep with Jostle Jinx but I woke up at about two in the morning to some screaming and some of the remains of his mane he shed all over me. "What happened?!?" I saw Jostle Jinx flop his head back on his pillow now covered in his mane shed.

"Wow! That was a huge nightmare."

I frowned. "That's it. Go back to sleep. I've got to see what dream you're encountering."

He just laid there breathing heavily but starting to calm down. "But I keep having the same nightmare every-"

I stopped him. "I'm going into your dreams so I know exactly what that nightmare is. Okay? Okay. I don't care if you have the same nightmare. I care about what the nightmare is. I want to help you."

We got back to sleep only to see each other again. This time, we were at Hayseed Swamp. Walking north, I saw Manehatten right in front of me just off where Dodge Junction should be. But I saw a strange figure. All I know is that it was not a pony. In fact I'd never seen this species in my entire life. No mane, no fur, no ears, just spine scales. I reached to study it. But when my hoof came anywhere close to the creature, it vanished. That was when I saw Jostle Jinx.

"Phew! I'm glad I made it to your dream." I wiped my hoof through my forehead in relief. Now was the time to see what exactly the nightmare was like. We both saw six ponies and recognized them completely, well almost completely. He said these six ponies appeared in his first dream ever since he first woke up this September. But then they faded out and an alicorn took their place. When her horn started glowing, she flew up and faded. As soon as she was faded, we saw ponies coming toward us. We attempted to leap into the air but now a force kept us on the thumping ground, with a rumbling sound amplifying by the second until a light came from above. That was when we had awaken from the nightmare.