Nightmares of the Alicorn

Cadence dreamed she was falling. Purple, pink, and cream colored strands of her mane blocked her vision as she tumbled through the air. She could feel herself screaming, but heard nothing as the air screeched in her eardrums. Her hooves grasped aimlessly at the sides of the crystal void she was tumbling through but she could not find purchase. Wind forced the tears out of her eyes. She looked down at the crystal death that awaited her, seeing the bottom of the small tunnel that didn't look so far away. But the laughing was the worst part. She didn't know where it came from, but it tingled down her spine and into her brain, like an insect clicking across her skull. Like a wicked lullaby it blocked out all of her thoughts except one thing: she was going to die. Cadence was going to die, and no one would even know. The copy of her was going to marry Shining Armor, and everyone would cheer as the two kissed and the wedding bells rang. The happy couple would wave to the cheering crowd below the balcony they stood on and the other Cadence would paste on a fake smile. No pony would know that she had fooled every one of them.

Cadence stared at the hard surface of crystals and rock below. It wasn't too far now. In fact...

Cadence felt the air abruptly stop and prepared herself for the bone-smashing end to come.

Cadence jerked forward and screamed, waking Shining Armor next to her. Tears flowed steadily from her eyes as she clung to the blankets around her. She sucked in breath at a rapid pace and tried to stop crying as Shining Armor pulled her close to him, stroking her mane and telling her everything would be all right. She heard the door slam open and the melodic sound of armored hooves clacking on the floor. She heard the same words that had been spoken for the last week: "Princess, are you alright?" Cadence looked up to respond but Shining Armor answered for her.

"She's fine. The nightmare again. Go back to your posts." The guards stomped away and closed the door loudly behind them.

Cadence sighed and detached herself from her husbands embrace, collapsing tiredly back onto the bed. She wiped the tears away from her eyes and levitated a brush up to her hair, brushing the locks back into their everyday curls. She rearranged the blankets around her and closed her eyes, but there was no chance for sleep. She didn't want to sleep. She and Shining both knew that the moment she drifted off, she was falling again.

"You can't act like nothing is happening, Cadence. You can't just pass this off as meaningless dreams. Something is wrong. No pony, or alicorn for your sake, just has nightmares like that, over and over, every night." Shining sounded almost angry.

"What do you expect me to do? Clap my hooves and summon a fairy to bippidy boppidy boo away my nightmares? I can't control the subconscious and neither can you." Cadence heard Shining let out his breath in surprise at her sudden outburst.

"Listen to me Shining. Im going mad. Taking this out on you. Im sorry. Its just the nightmares keeping me up, haunting me, and its all so overwhel-" Shining leaned over and kissed her.

"Don't worry about it. I know the story. Im going to go down to my study and work on some paperwork. I want you to have some fun. Clear your mind. Why don't you talk to Twilight? She might be able to help you out. Invite some friends over, I don't care. Just try to forget." Shining gave her one more quick kiss and went to the bathing room to get ready. As the door to the bathing room closed, Cadence unraveled herself from the blankets and trotted out of the room and down to her study.

She closed the door of the tiny little workspace and flicked off the lights. The princess lit a lavender candle and set it on her desk, preparing a blank piece of parchment and a quill pen. With a deep sigh, Cadence began to write.