Nightmare Return

Star's family had arrived in Canterlot a few hours before. They had a good afternoon; meeting up with relatives and goofing off with their friends.

Stellar Star was tired, but their was still one more event: dinner.

She didn't exactly look forward to dinner. It was way too formal, and normally was just a time for the parents to talk about their kids. That was usually boring and embarrassing.

At least the food is good, Star thought.

She picked up a dress that was laid out for her on the bed and sighed. She hated being fancy.

I can handle it for an hour, Star said to herself.

She hesitated for a second before slipping the dress over her head.

There was a knock at the door, and Flash Sentry stuck his head inside. "Are you ready, Stella? It's time for dinner."

Star sighed. "You know that I hate being called Stella."

Her father smiled. "Roger that, captain. But I'm serious about dinner."

"Alright, dad, I'm coming," Star giggled.

Flash stretched out his hoof towards her. "Nonsense. I shall assist you, my lady."  He bowed.

Star laughed as she took his arm. Maybe this evening won't be so bad, she thought as they walked down the stairs.

Well, never mind... Star thought.

They were halfway through eating, and none of the kids had said anything. Same old, same old.

Then...

Twilight spoke.

She smiled at Star. "You know, Stella's been training a lot recently. I'm sure that she'll make it into the royal guard."

"You know, I think that she should go to flight school." Rainbow Dash suggested.

Twight looked at her. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, she's such a good flyer. And, no offense, but the guard doesn't accept female officers very frequently."

The purple alicorn looked a bit offended. "Stella has always wanted to be in it!"

"In my opinion she needs a boyfriend," Cadence said under her breath.

"Mom!" Crystal Song chided her.

"Maybe there's a different route..." Celestia said gently.

Twilight shook her head. "No, i think..."

Star felt like her head was going to explode. They were all fighting over her future! She had never been so mad.

"But the royal guard isn't open to mares!" Rainbow argued.

"We can make arrangements. Did that ever occur to you?"

Spike looked over at Stellar Star. "Um...guys..."

"Not now, Spike! But really, Rainbow..."

Suddenly, something in Star snapped.

She slammed her hooves down on the table, hefting herself up.

"Everypony. Just. Shut. Up!!" she yelled.

The entire room was silent. Everyone stared at Stella.

"My future is none of your business," she said, breathing heavily. "I'll be the one who decides, thank you!"

"Stella..." Twilight said in a warning tone.

"Please! I could care less about what anypony else thinks! You don't even care what I want, do you?! No!"

she flipped her wings out. "I'll just leave, then!"

"Stella... " Twilight said again.

Star glared at her. Then she turned around, and bolted out the door.

"STELLA! COME BACK HERE!" Twilight shouted after her. But she was too late.

"I tried to warn you," Spike said.

Stella was really, really angry. However, she knew she would need a hiding place soon. Her mom was probably mad, and would make everyone go look for her.

She soared up high. The higher I go, the less likely it is that they'll find me, she thought. But what's high enough?

Even if she went really high up, there were lots of good fliers in their group. They would find her some time.

She looked up at the moon. Suddenly, she had an idea.

It's crazy, but it might just work... Star thought. She soared up closer to it.

Stella rememered when her mother and friends had gone to the moon by walking on a rope, when Miss Rarity had dissapeared there. If they could do that, she could definitely fly up there.

She glided sideways, drifting nearer and nearer to the white orb. Just a bit higher... she thought determinedly.

After a bit more flying, she rested her hooves on the hard, rocky surface. She was safe.

"I might as well do a bit of exploring," she said to no one in particular.

Squinting, she set eyes on a dark, looming castle.

"Huh. Didn't know there was anything up here. Might as well go check it out."  she said.

With that, Star began walking towards the building.

"Stella? Stella, where are you?"

Everypony was out in the garden, searching for the orange pegasus.

"I can't find her anywhere, mom!" Dusky said, running out of the bushes,

"We have to look everywhere!" Twilight said, panicking. She turned to Flash. "Are you sure that none of the pegasi have seen her?"

Flash shook his head. "They looked in every cloud. We can't seem to find her."

Twilight looked up at the sky. "Oh Stella, please be alright!"

Star was now standing right in front of the castle. It was dark and brooding, but did not seem unused.

"Who would posibly live here?" she wondered aloud.

"Why, us, of course!" someone piped behind her.

Star turned around. Standing there was a tiny owl, who seemed to be made of a dust cloud.

"What are you?" Stella asked.

"You mean who, dear," the owl said. "And I should be asking the same of you!" She glanced at Star's mane. "Hmm..I guess i could work with that."

"Um...what?"

The owl looked flustered. "Oh, sorry! I just love to braid hair...but, ahem! You asked who I am..." she fluffed her feathers. "I am Doran. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah...nice to meet you too. But really, what are you? Like, as a species." Star asked.

"Oh! I am a nyx. A bird nyx, to be precise." she laughed. "Here, we nyx produce dreams. We're kind of in partnership with the night princess, nowadays, but..." Doran paused, looking at Stella curiously.

"But..." Star prompted.

"Um, sorry...you reminded me of someone...a purple unicorn that came here a long time ago." she said.

"A purple unicorn? You mean Twilight Sparkle?"

Doran looked surprised. "Yes! You know her?"

Star sighed. "She's my mom."

The owl jumped. "Really?! Wow! I'll have to give you a special tour then! Come with me!" She scuttled into the castle.

"Alright then," Stella said, and followed her inside.

The interior of the castle was huge. All around were large pots of pinkish cloudy liquid, being watched over by nyx of different shapes, sizes, and colors.

"Um...what exactly do you do here?" Star asked.

"We make dreams, silly!" Doran giggled. "That liquid is the very culmination of a dream. Well, it's not actually a liquid, see. More like...fluffy dream clouds. We send those clouds down to earth at night!"

"Interesting." Star walked over to one.

Doran followed her. "I wouldn't touch, dear. It can send you to sleep instantly!"

Stella backed away. "So...do you have anything else you want to show me?"

The owl thought. "Hmm...there is another thing. Follow me!"

(There is a large sequence not included here, as it was rather uninteresting. The only things to be noticed on this walk was that Doran fell into a large moon crater full of hungry nyx wolves and had to be rescued. Nothing else is really of importance, unless you find the history of french braids fascinating.)

"Here we are!" Doran said.

She and Star were standing in front of a large glass capsule. Inside was sparkly blue smoke.

"What is it?" Stella asked.

"Well...I'm not actually sure," The owl blushed. "We just keep it here as an artifact. It's pretty though, yes?"

Star was intrigued by the smoke. It seemed to be calling to her...beckoning her closer. The swirling clouds

seemed to look through her soul.

She stepped towards it. "You don't mind if I take a closer look, do you?" she asked Doran.

The nyx smiled. "Go for it!" she encouraged.

Star slowly walked up to the capsule. The smoke bubbled inside. She reached out...

And touched it.

The capsule broke open. Blue smoke billowed out and slowly enveloped the orange pegasus while Doran watched in horror.

The smoke died down. A tall, shadowy figure where the container had been.

"Finally," it said. Then it laughed, long and loud.