To The Stars

Time seemed to drag on forever as the ponies continued to travel down the roadway, determined to reach the city of Marwari as soon as possible. It was on the eve of the second day since they had left the border village behind that they decided to find shelter inside a cave in the hills. Exhausted, everypony trudged inside. "Finally." Rainbow Dash murmured.
"This looks like a good spot to rest." Twilight yawned as they came to the center of the cave to find surprisingly smooth ground. As they all went about setting up camp for the night, Twilight smiled at Spike, who had fallen asleep on her back sometime earlier. Using her magic, she lifted the baby dragon off her back. It didn't take long before everyone had their bedrolls set up and tucked themselves in for the night. Twilight sighed and smiled as she looked around at her friends. She settled down on her bedroll, sighing in relief as she finally got to relax. It took almost no time at all before her eyes drifted shut, and she fell into a deep sleep.

***

Twilight Sparkle found herself standing on a massive, open plain. She could hear crowds of ponies all around her, but she couldn't see anything. It was pitch black. "Hello?" She called out. There was no answer, and yet the sounds of ponies chattering to one another continued. What was happening? Suddenly, the steady sound of hoof steps rang out, clear as a bell. Twilight squinted, and sure enough, she saw the shape of a pony off in the distance. "Hello?" She called, galloping up to the stranger. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could help me." The stranger didn't answer, only kept walking.
As Twilight grew closer, she began to see that this was no ordinary pony. For one, this pony was very tall; at least as tall as Princess Celestia, if not taller. The stranger's form was concealed beneath a black cloak, making her blend into the shadows. Intrigued, Twilight continued to follow this mysterious pony. The pony led the way onward into a forest. The trees loomed, dark and menacing, and Twilight felt a cold shiver race down her spine. For what seemed like ages, the two ponies walked, the only sounds being the leaves and twigs crunching beneath their hooves. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the scenery changed again, and Twilight found herself following the mystery pony into an ancient, ruined temple. She imagined that this must have been a grand place once. Now, there only remained a few standing pillars and walls, with scattered mounds of debris and ancient, faded frescoes and paintings.
In one particular fresco that they passed, Twilight could have sworn she saw an image of Equestria. Only it was an ancient image, probably from the time of Equestria's founding. On and on they went, until finally, the two ponies followed a spiral staircase down, down, down into an underground chamber. In the center of the room stood a massive alter, lined around the base with a row of lit candles. As they approached the alter, the mystery pony was joined by another, also hidden beneath a black cloak. As Twilight began to wonder just what they were doing, the bottoms of their cloaks started rustling, and a small voice called out. "Mudhas?"
Twilight swore she heard her jaw hit the floor and a pair of tiny fillies emerged from beneath the cloaks of the two larger ponies. Both of them possessed little stubs of horns, and tiny little wings. "Mudhas? Fedhas?" Cried one of them, a white filly with a pink mane and tail. "I'n rsesan. Whasa esa wa?" Though Twilight couldn't understand a single word they said, the little one sounded like she was on the verge of bursting into tears.
The pony Twilight had been following lowered her head, gently nuzzling the fillies. "Hirh, nirr nesrailrr. Eyasirrdhailr wairr fa llaila." Murmured the soft, melodious voice of a mare.
The second pony lifted their head to the roof of the chamber, and the deep, baritone voice of a stallion rang out. "Wa nird farail. Taina air sillailr uid."
"Fedhas..." Murmured the second filly, possessing a dark blue coat with a lighter blue mane and tail. "Praera nul'd ru!" Twilight had to rub her eyes to make sure she was seeing this correctly. Were those two fillies... Come on, Twilight! That's ridiculous! She scolded herself. Before she could think on it further however, a blinding white light suddenly filled the chamber. Twilight had to shut her eyes against it. When she opened them again, she was back in the cave with her friends, who were all still asleep. So it had all been a dream then. Twilight slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes again.
She got up, walking out to the cave entrance for some fresh air. It was still night. The crescent moon still hung in the sky, the stars glittering like thousands of tiny gemstones in a sea of blackness. She was still trying to wrap her head around what she had seen. Who were those strange ponies? The two fillies she had seen looked very, very familiar, but she dismissed the thought. There was absolutely no way it was the same ponies. Still, she began to wonder. Was it possible that Celestia had known what the ponies would be walking into? If this was only the beginning, what else awaited them in Marwari? And just what else did Equestria's rulers know about Vitela that they weren't telling? As Twilight brooded over these thoughts, she suddenly looked around to see Spike had woken up, and walked out to sit next to her. "Twilight? What are you doing out here?" He murmured sleepily.
"Sorry Spike." Twilight replied, wrapping one of her wings around the baby dragon. "Just a bad dream." Well, she wasn't sure if bad was the right word for it. More like incredibly strange. She continued to think on what she had seen. She couldn't help thinking that what she had seen in her dream was paramount of things to come.