Just... Another Nightmare

"Hey Twilight!" A voice from above called her.

"Huh?" Looking up, Twilight looked into the smiling face of Rainbow Dash. "Oh. Hi Rainbow." She smiled back.

"What's up?" Rainbow slowely lowered herself to the ground, next to Twilight.

"Not much." Twilight answered, putting the books back into the shelf. "I'm pretty much done with rearranging my library." She explained.

"Huh, cool." Rainbow answered, rolling her eyes. "I heard you go back to Canterlot High tomorrow?"

Nodding quietly, Twilight reached for another book. "Yeah. Visiting Sunset and the others. Apparently they have summer break and invited me to share a little time with them."

"Cool... cool." Rainbow raised a hoof, rubbing the back of her neck. "Sooo... could I come too?"

"What?" Twilight raised a brow.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow began to hover in front of Twilight. "All you do is go over, come back and tell us how cool everything seems to be on the other side. And we were wondering when we can come too! It's not fair you know?"

Twilight giggled, turning away to pick up the last book on the ground. "You know Rainbow... I don't know how-"

She stopped, looking at the book. It was a heavy, dark, leather-bound tome, a few dark cards were peaking out beneath it's heavy cover.

"What?" Rainbow asked, flying around to look at Twilight's face. "You don't know what?"

"I-I.... I..." She stuttered, looking up.

And the world around her changed. It was like a drop landed in water that changed her view. The crystalline walls of her castle were flaking away, turning into the dark riveted iron walls of the engine block as the scream of a child echoed through her mind.

Her eyes widened as she snapped around, staring into the dead eyes of Legion. He was smiling, his cane-sword pointed at her. He opened his bloodied mouth-

"For we are many!"

Twilight gasped. The voice was coming from behind her. Turning back around she-

Felt the heat of two, cyan coloured blades entering her chest, cutting deep until they reached the very core of her being.

Twilight screamed in pain, coughing up blood, she pushed against the owner of the two blades. Her good friend, the element of loyalty. Rainbow Dash.

Twilight?

Coughing again she looked into her smug grin, twisting her wings to inflict even more pain. She felt the heat going deeper, cutting deeper, ever deeper. She felt something burning, something deep inside. It was squirming and wriggling, trying in vain to flee the incredible heat that was radiating from the wings of her friend.

"No..." Twilight groaned. "Don't do this Rainbow."

Shaking her head, her smile widened into a wicked, manic grin. "Oh don't worry. Twilight." She leaned closer changing into Shiv, her human form, her hands burried deep in Twilight's human chest. The world around them changed into the bright white walls of the buildings Shiv had lived in.

Twilight!

"My little blood dispenser." She whispered. "Don't you worry your pretty little head." Twilight screamed in agony as Shiv pulled her right hand out of Twilight's broken ribs. "It won't take too long until you cherish this." She sunk the middle finger deep into her mouth, sucking at it with a deep lustful moan.

"No..." Twilight whined, feeling her mouth fill with blood. "No!" She began to sniffle. "Go... away!" She raised her arms pushing against Shiv with all her might, sending new waves of indescribable pain through her body.

"Yes! Yes!" Shiv screamed in lust, licking more and more of Twilight's blood off of her hands, her skin melting away, revealing a skull surrounded by rotting flesh. "This. Is. What. You. Wanted. Right?" She growled as Twilight felt the second hand exit.

She felt herself falling.

"This. Is. What. You. Want!" Something screamed at her.

Into darkness.

"This darkness. This evil. This... agony."

Deeper.

"Twilight!!"

Twilight opened her eyes, seeing the glowing lizard eyes of-

She screamed, scurrying away, she ignited her horn throwing up a barrier between her and-

"Twilight?" It asked again.

Spike.

"Twilight, you okay?" He asked, worry in his eyes. "You were screaming."

Twilight panted, raising her hooves to touch her chest. She found nothing.

No holes, no scars.

Nothing.

Just the hard, fast beating of her heart.

"Twilight!" He spoke loudly looking into her eyes. "Twilight, you alright?"

"I... I..." Twilight gulped, the light of her horn disappearing. "I... I guess..." She whispered, her throat sore from screaming. "It... was..."

"A nightmare." Spike nodded. "Again. This is the fifth so far..."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Twilight answered.

"Today, Twilight." He stated coldly. "The fifth today. You barely slept an hour."

Twilight looked at him in shock. A second later her eyes wandered to her nightstand. A small lantern resting on top of it illuminated a small clock which was telling her that it was late in the night. A few minutes till three.

"You need to get help Twilight." Spike looked at her in worry. "You barely sleep anymore... all you do is jump from nightmare to nightmare."

"I... I know Spike." She rubbed her throat. "I... just..."

Spike glared at her. "Don't you 'I know Spike' me. I'm telling you this for about a week now!" He climbed onto her bed, grabbing her by her shoulders and shaking her softly. "You need to find help Twilight or you might go crazy!" The claws against her coat stirred something in her.

A spark, an ember.

Something.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, looking at him.

"Don't touch me." She hissed at him.

"What?" He looked at her in surprise.

"Don't. Touch. Me." She hissed again, louder this time.

His eyes widened, fear reflecting in them. "Twilight... what-"

"DON'T. TOUCH. ME!" She shouted at him, igniting her horn she flung him across the room with her magic. And deep inside that something reacted, she felt the other magic wake up. One of her spikes materalized without her command.

She shook her head, still screaming at the little dragon in her magic. "Don't you ever... touch me again!"

"Twilight..." Spike groaned. "Please... I can't breathe..."

"Don't you worry." Her voice was silken, alluring. It reminded her so much of Shiv right now, for some reason she liked it, it felt so fitting for what she was about to do. "You don't need to anyway." She sighed almost lustful.

The spike flew through the room impaling the little dragon's chest.

Twilight snapped.

She was staring at the little dragon, pinned to the wall, right over her door, his wonderful blood dripping down, lubricating the way out.

"S... Spike?" She whispered.

No answer.

"Spike..." She stood up, walking closer, tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Say something..."

No answer again.

The shard shattered, ripping the little dragon apart, spraying his warm blood over Twilight's face.

Twilight screamed.

"Nooooo!" She sat up. She was still in her bedroom, sitting in her bed again, her scream still ringing in her ears. "No! No! No-no-no!" She ignited her horn, illuminating the room looking for the little dragon over her door.

But there was none, no dragon, no blood. Not even a hole in the wall.

She gulped, more and more tears rolling down the side of her face.

Throwing the blanket off of her she jumped out of the bed. Running to the door she pushed it open, almost unhinging it with her magic, sprinting through the eerily quiet castle.

A few moments later she slowed down, stopping in front of a door, heavily panting. Taking a deep breath she opened it, quietly glimpsing inside.

And felt more tears escaping as she saw the little sleeping form of her number one assistant in his bed, breathing steadily.

She fell to the floor, burying her face in her hooves, weeping quietly. Too happy that he was there. That it has just been a nightmare.

'Just another nightmare.' Her tired mind whispered. 'Just... Another nightmare.'

"And it's not even over yet." A strong female voice whispered.

With a shriek Twilight jumped up, pointing her horn at the other voice.

Her eyes widened.

"Princess... Luna?" She whispered.

The blue alicorn nodded. Quietly sitting down she looked around the castle and it's dark atmosphere. Twilight hadn't even noticed that the walls of her crystalline castle were made out of black bricks, reflecting the darkness of the asylum.

"They are getting... more vivid again." Her gaze landed on a particularly dark part of the wall which showed the outline of a giant humanoid figure. Following her gaze, Twilight gulped as the outline began to stir, slowly dripping out of the wall and onto the floor where it gathered into a dark puddle.

"Is it another creature you met back then?" Luna raised a brow.

"No..." Twilight stood up, slowly walking towards the growing puddle. "Nothing I saw back there even resembled this."

"Then it's not entirely formed yet or a construct of your imagination." Luna followed Twilight, standing next to her, she looked down at the smaller alicorn. "Do you want to wake up?" She asked quietly.

Twilight looked up into the teal eyes of the princess. "I... I wish to forget." Twilight answered honestly. "I wish I could just wake up and forget this ever happened."

"That, as sad as it is..." Luna answered. "Is out of reach of my powers."

Twilight nodded. "I know."

Luna looked back at the still growing puddle, noticing how big the puddle actually had gotten. It was by now big enough to swallow Celestia.

"Anything of that size back in deadside?" She asked.

Gulping softly, Twilight nodded. "A few things... but-"

A massive bone-claw errupted out of the darkness, eliciting a shriek from Twilight which scurried away as fast as possible. Crashing into the floor the claw screeched over it, ripping thick depressions into it. Luna stood up as the floor around the claw started to crack and the mass of darkness began to grow in size, quickly growing bigger than Celestia.

"What is this Twilight?" Luna looked back at the purple alicorn, completly unfazed, her voice calm, almost bored.

"No..." Twilight whined. "No..." She curled into a ball. "I don't want to..."

"What is this monstrosity, Twilight?" Luna asked again, walking closer.

"No!!" Twilight screamed as the creature, a big mass of rotting flesh crawled out of the pool, it's fists crushing into the ground, breaking it.

"What. Is. This. Twilight?!" Luna was almost screaming at her. "Tell me!"

"NOOOOO!" Twilight screamed.

And woke up yet again, this time into the soft, dark blue coated arms of a much bigger mare.

"Relax Twilight." Luna whispered, trying in calm Twilight. "It's okay... shhh."

"No..." Twilight felt tears rolling down her cheeks. "No... no-no-no... Nothing is okay..." She sniffled, crying into Luna's shoulder. "It's... not okay."

"Shhhh." Luna whispered, stroking Twilight's back as softly as possible. "You're awake now, nothing can hurt you here." Her voice was calm, strong almost maternal.

Twilight shook her head, burying her face deeper into Luna's coat.

It had been almost six months since Twilight returned from deadside, and about four months since her welcome back 'party'.

After Luna had noticed her recurring nightmares she had tried to soothe the smaller alicorns dreams. To her disappointment, the nightmares got only more vivid, sometimes even turning into exact replica's of the occurences.

A few weaks ago Luna had finally approached her. She had explained that it became impossible for her to soothe her dreams and that Twilight needed to confront the dreams head on. Which the bigger alicorn didn't count on was how scared Twilight actually was of that time. The crippling fear that was afflicting her was destroying any chance she might have to deal with the dreams.

It was hopeless.

"Twilight." Luna whispered. "Tell me what that creature was."

Shaking her head softly she lifted her head just enough to talk. "I... don't know." She answered. "I only saw two of them and nobody told me what they were."

Luna nodded, still stroking Twilight's back. "And... in the dreams before that? The blonde haired... woman, it's called?"

Nodding quietly, she sniffled. "That was the hyena, Reticent Shiv."

Luna nodded, she had read up on the case of the insane guard. "The wounds she inflicted upon you..."

Twilight gulped. "No... they were not the same." She felt Luna nod again. "But... her behaviour... the things she said to me.. were almost the same."

Another nod. "And... Spike?"

"I...I..." Twilight stuttered. "I don't know."

She felt Luna stop, softly pulling her away from the embrace to look deep into her eyes.

"Twilight... are there things you haven't mentioned?" Her bright teal eyes were filled with worry. "Every feeling that was residing in these dreams..." She shook her head in disbelief. "The last time I felt so much anger or hate was during the time were I was still Nightmare Moon."

"I..." Twilight looked down.

Luna lifted her chin with her hoof. "Tell me."

Twilight nodded. "Back... then, when it started I was... undead." Luna nodded quietly. "My heart had stopped working and my whole body was rotting away. A little bit later we, Michael and I found something called 'Govi'. Inside it, sealed away was something he and everyone else called a 'Dark Soul." Luna nodded again, so far she had heard the story.

"But... to overcome the trials the world threw at me..." Twilight sniffled again. "At one point... I..." She stopped.

"You... achieved one of them, correct?" Luna's expression had turned stern.

"Yes..." Twilight sighed. "I... I did, yes."

"If I remember correctly." Luna stood up and began to pace in front of Twilight. "The Dark Souls are beings of eternal darkness and evil, correct?" Twilight nodded. "Then tell me why did you take one of them?" She stopped her pacing, looking sternly at Twilight. "If you knew what they were than..."

"I was... desperate." She answered, more tears escaping. "I just wanted to feel my heartbeat again. To have a chance..."

Luna sighed in defeat. "Twilight. This is a massive problem. I can't help you if the root of your dreams, your nightmares, is your very soul." She nodded. "And now I understand where the accusations are coming from." Luna sat down in front of her. "Did you really attack one of your guards?"

Twilight looked at the bigger alicorn in shock. "What?"

"Twilight, one of your personal guards is accusing you of attacking him." She levitated a piece of paper over. "He even says that you tried to kill him." Her voice was calm but Twiligh could see the worry in her eyes.

"I... don't remember." She answered honestly. "Since my return I'm having blackouts from time to time. Sometimes I just wake up-"

"Did one of your blackouts maybe end here in Canterlot?" Luna asked, her expression cold as stone.

"Yes..." Twilight nodded.

"When?" Luna's voice became harsher.

"Last week..." Twilight answered. "In the lower distri-"

"Near the Marien Gold-Street?" Luna was now standing, looking at Twilight with shock.

"Yes..." Twilight ducked. "Why are you asking Princess...?"

Luna took a step away from Twilight looking at her with a mix of disbelief and even fear.

"Princess?" She asked in fear. "What's wrong?"

"You..." Luna cleared her throat. "You said that... you can also use magic that you found in deadside?"

Twilight nodded.

"And... this magic's prime form comes... in spikes?" Luna gulped.

"Y-yes." Twilight nodded again.

Luna's shocked expression returned. For a few moments she stood there just looking at the smaller alicorn with her mouth agape.

A moment later she closed her mouth and her shocked expression changed into a pained and sad one.

"Twilight Sparkle." Luna's horn ignited and Twilight could feel energy building up. "By royal decree..."

"You are hereby under arrest for fourteen cases of murder all across Equestria."

Twilight looked up to the alicorn.

"M-murder?"

"I'm... so very sorry Twilight." Luna admited with a sad voice. "Back when we started these session I was hoping..."

"You... suspected me... from the very beginning?" Twilight felt another tear escaping.

"I'm so very sorry." The magic around Luna's horn began to glow brighter and Twilight could feel the magical shackles appear around her hooves, wings, neck and horn. "But I have to do this..."

"Don't worry..." Twilight stated, her voice had turned into a soft purr.

"After all... this is just another nightmare." She smiled brightly.

"No Twilight..." Luna shook her head. "It's not."

"Oh it is." Twilight's smile cracked, turning into a wicked grin. "But not for me..." She whispered.

Something warm splattered across Twilight's face.

"No... don't you worry." Twilight giggled. "This is not my nightmare." She leaned down to whisper into Luna's ear. "It's yours."

A second later Twilight blinked.

And screamed in shock at the blood in her face and on the floor.

And the warm, fuzzy, happy feeling she had deep inside.

Author's Note

And with that, welcome to Twilight's personal nightmare.

Let's just hope, right now, that this won't descend into another gore fic just for the sake of gore like my first attempt at writing something mature.

I really hope that everything feels good too. That everyone is able to understand the what and why right now.

Well...

Whatever...

See ya next chapter.