Nightmare

      The moon was beginning to take the suns place in the now dark sky; Star Life looked at the moon with his usual dreaming eyes. Of course at the time he was just a Foal, he didn’t know any better to dream like this. He sat in the park staring at the moon for hours with his best friend Far Eyes, His name fit him well of course, he always had this distant, far away gaze that told every pony he was deep in thought. He normally was, Star Life looked at the moon comparing it to his tiny hoof. He wondered silently to himself if the moon was really so small. He had decided to make an oath to him and Far Eyes that minute.

“One day, I’m going to explore Luna’s Moon, I want to know how big it is.” He was of course young, naïve, and incredibly impressionable. He sincerely believed any pony could go there. But Far Eyes wasn’t so convinced by his oath. He believed you should be content with the cards you are dealt. He was the exact opposite of his name in one way, yet exactly the same in another. I guess you could say it was some sort of paradox.

“Star, you aren’t going anywhere; you know that the Moon is unreachable.” He sighed looking up at the moon wishfully; soon sleep overtook him dragging him into the peaceful blackness and serenity.

He awoke in the same area, it was of course day break, but something seemed off in the little park he sat in the darkness still remained, though he could see the bright sun in the sky It’s light didn’t illuminate the dark grass around him.

“What the hell is going on?” He gasped covering his mouth while squeezing his eyes shut; he knew his mom would kill him for swearing. He looked at his hoofs before getting up to his feet. He had a strange feeling that something bad was happening, something was going to happen to him. He trotted cautiously through the dark park seeing pitch black ponies walking to and fro. For some reason they had no physical traits, no faces, just pitch black. He kept walking uneasily through the crowd of black ponies until he saw one that looked different, he could tell she was a female pony but she looked pale, rather sick as a matter of fact.

He approached her cautiously taking slow steps as if he felt a sort of evil about her. He lightly tapped her back with his hoof hesitantly. She slowly turned towards him; he was horrified by what he saw. Her eyes where gauged out, blood dripping from her mouth. He took a step back his eyes wide with terror as she spoke.

“Why, why did you do this to me?” She took a step towards him seeming unbalanced on her hooves.

“What do you mean!? I didn’t do anything to you!” He took one step back for every step she took forward.

“You could have stopped him, you could have saved me, you could have saved me, you could have saved me.” She kept repeating that line as he covered his ears with his hooves. He was growing an increasing headache the more she spoke.

“No! No, stop it! Please stop!” He scooted away from her slowly crawling away on his back. He stared at her as her blood filled mouth opened incredibly wide. A dark figure emerged from her mouth extending its arm out towards him, for some odd reason the strange pony had five long, thin, bendy objects protruding from its hooves. The bendy bones wrapped around his throat beginning to choke him.

“Why?  Bright Light, Please! Tell me why you’re doing this!” She remained without an expression as she began to speak in her cold, sharp voice.

“You have to realize, you’re nothing.” With that the dark boney objects swallowed him whole sending him plunging into darkness.

He awoke screaming in his bed. He looked at his hooves tiredly. He had the same dream, it had been recurring for twenty four years now, and he had always dreamt he was a Foal being chased by that mysterious pony. He shuddered at the thought of it. He crawled out of bed walking downstairs to his kitchen; he quickly swiped an orange before leaving to work. Every day he walked to his sister’s grave before heading off to work. He had never known his sisters name. But his parents had always taken him every day to speak to his dead sister. They cried every time but I didn’t, how could I? I never even met the pony.

“Hey sis, I know I’m a little late, but I had that weird dream again, mom and dad are doing ok. They still live in Canterlot, I’m sorry we moved. I came right back as soon as I could but, I’m sorry.” He turned away from his sister’s grave walking along the maze of graves that filled the grave yard.

He walked over to Far Eyes to fly to work for the day. He worked with Far Eyes moving the clouds out of the sky or pulling the clouds in. He and Far Eyes both were a part of the Weather Team. He flew along the clouds kicking them off in different directions using the powerful muscles in his legs built only with years of hard labor. He had met up with Rainbow Dash also; a friend of his since Foalhood. He smiled at her as he whisked his forelegs behind his head effortlessly floating by her. She gazed at him with a cocked eyebrow. He had always loved to annoy her during working hours.

“Hey there sweet cheeks, I see you’re running a little late hmm?” He grinned at her as he floated around her in circles. She sighed looking at him with an irritated look. But her gaze softened as she saw the bags under his eyes.

“What’s the matter Star, did you have another nightmare?” His expression began to harden as he looked at her with a distraught gaze.

“Yeah, same one as always, you should know by now I have them almost every night.” He sighed looking to Celestia’s bright sun. She tapped him on the shoulder looking at him with concern in her eyes.

“You need to see a therapist; you could suffer from sleep deprivation if you don’t get help soon.” He grinned at her tiredly trying to seem as awake as possibly

“Nah, those ponies creep me out. They keep on asking about my personal life. He looked off to the side as Rainbow Dash followed his head as he moved.

“Stop being so stupid, you need to do something Star.” He sighed kicking away a stray cloud that floated by him.

“I don’t need to see a damn therapist. I’m fine Dash.” She shrugged relenting as she floated away from him grinning devilishly.

“Well Star, you feeling a race?” I looked up groaning tiredly, he wasn’t really up for a race right now, he was incredibly tired.

“Nah, see if Far Eyes wants to race, I’m too tired from kicking all of these damn clouds.” He kicked away yet another stray cloud sending it flying off. She sighed at him relenting as she flew off to talk to Far Eyes. He looked down to see a mare walking along with her grocery bags wrapped around her neck as she trotted down the roads. He looked a little more up into the forest area seeing a masked pony running up to her, he pushed her aside grabbing her bags from her neck. He ran off down the street as she screamed for help. Star Life sighed, flying after the pony as fast as he could.

It was a weird coincidence, whenever he had the dream, no matter how bad it was there was one certain result. Something bad happened every time he had it. He flied further down to get in reach of the fleeing earth pony. He grinned as he easily caught up to him. He folded his fore legs behind his head as he cocked an eyebrow at the thief.  The thief looked surprised at him and ran even faster. Star Life sighed sticking hoof out to grab the bags; He ripped them from around the thief’s neck waving at him as he gained distance from him.

“I’ll take that sir, thank you for your cooperation.” He grinned at him flying upwards away from the thief who stopped in his tracks watching him fly off.

After returning the bags to the worried Mare he flew back up to Rainbow Dash who looked at him unsurprised.

“Why are you always such a hero?” She grinned at him cocking up one eyebrow suspiciously.

“I don’t know, hell I just don’t like jackasses, don’t give them what they want.” He sighed flying with Rainbow Dash as he helped her kick away the rest of the day’s clouds. After the job was finished the three ponies flew off to find a way to spend the rest of their day.

That night he had the same nightmare he always had. He saw the bright sun but the dark park, the mysterious black ponies moving to and fro, there was just one thing missing. He looked and saw a hooded pony which was in the dream sometimes instead of the odd eyeless pony.

“You don’t know the truth.” He kept on saying to him as he walked up to the hooded pony almost as if he were being forced to walk.

“What truth? What are you talking about! Tell me now!” The hooded pony looked to the side as a sharp blade slowly rose out of the sleeve of his right fore leg. He raised it up to point at Star Life slowly.

“Woah, what do you need that for!?” The pony walked towards him slowly bringing the blade slowly to his chest. He tried to turn and run but something kept his feet planted to the floor. The blade slowly stabbed into his chest, it was slow and agonizing.

“No! Stop please!” No matter how much he struggled the blade wouldn’t stop. His vision faded to black as he felt the specter of death looming over him. Soon the blackness overtook him sending him into darkness.

He awoke as usual screaming with cold sweats. He actually began to tear up in his bed; he was getting sick of it. He felt a hoof touch his shoulder comfortingly which made him turn in shock.

He turned to see Rainbow Dash sitting in his window eating an apple.

“Looks like the tough guy’s tearing up huh?” She smirked at him but he detected a source of sympathy in her eyes.

“I don’t know how much longer I can take it, the same dream every night. The same pain, same confusion.” He buried his face in his hooves and let out all of his distress in tears. He felt Rainbow Dash climb into a sitting position on the bed with her foreleg wrapped around his back for comfort.

“Hey, stop that crying Star, you know how I feel about seeing my friends cry.” He stopped looking at his hooves with a blank expression.

“I just want to be able to sleep through one night, one night is all.” She squeezed tighter smiling at him.

“Ok, you’re not going to work today, you got to stay back today and relax a bit, you’re starting to creep me out Star.” He looked at her with his eye brows raised, he was going to try to think of a witty come back but he was too tired. His eyes were half closed above his raised eyebrows.

“Oh, I’m too tired to do this right now.” She squeezed his shoulders a bit trying to comfort him a bit.

“Cheer up a little; you’re such a buzz kill some times. I got to go Star see you later on. She flew out of his window to begin her work for the day leaving him behind in his bed.

Today’s disaster was especially terrible. He was simply trotting along down the road tired as he was to get breakfast. He didn’t feel like eating an orange today. He wanted to gorge himself to make up for his lack of energy.

On his way there he heard a high pitched screaming sound. He rushed around the corner to see Sugar Cube Corners ablaze. He looked in horror as Mr. and Mrs. Cake came rushing out of the inferno coughing heavily. They both stared at each other in Horror as they realized they had forgotten the Foals. Without thinking about it he ran into the blazing cupcake store to retrieve the young Foals, there wasn’t a lot of time to think.

He dashed into the flame the bright light blinding his vision. He wandered aimlessly in the inferno his chest starting to hurt from the smoldering ash settling in his lungs. He ran up the stairs into the children’s bedrooms to gather them. The door was broken off the hinges on the floor in flame. He saw a mysterious pony cradling the two children in her arms. She slowly turned towards Star Life revealing her face. He stared in horror realizing she was the same eyeless pony from his dreams.

“No!” He exclaimed running for the children unconscious in her forelegs. He whisked them away from her sending a powerful kick into her chest. His legs went straight through her striking a long pillar that went up the length of the wall. The pillar snapped into two sending a large piece of wood swinging down from the roof. It struck him in the back sending stars into his vision. He slowly stumbled towards the window lazily. His eyes fluttered as he dropped the children out of the window into the forelegs of their worried parents. His forelegs went limp as he slowly slid down the wall into sweet unconsciousness. He looked up his vision blurred to the eyeless pony slowly walking over to him.

“Never forgive, never forgive, never forgive!” She struck him in the side of his head with her hoof sending him flying into unconsciousness. He saw only blackness, a shape in a strange cloak that blended in with the darkness walked towards him slowly. The same long blade was being lowered to him as the strange pony knelt to his level.

“Shave it.” The blade slit around his throat swiftly, he felt nothing as the strange pony disappeared from view.

He felt something prodding his left foreleg painfully which aroused him from unconsciousness. He looked to his side seeing a needle injected into his foreleg. He saw a nurse pony, not paying much mind to him; she simply administered his dose and left the room. He looked around lazily to see Rainbow Dash and Far Eyes looking at him concerned.

“You’re such an idiot.” Rainbow Dash said shaking her head at him, though he could see tears slowly coming from her eyes he didn’t say anything about it.

“I don’t know why I did it; I guess it was just adrenaline.” He said while folding his forelegs behind his head. Rainbow Dash shrugged while shaking her head at him irritated.

“Call it what you want it was still stupid.” He looked at her with my eyes brightened a little bit as he looked at her.

“What happened to no tears huh? I thought tears were for babies.” He grinned at her crazily looking up at the roof. His neck felt really sore, he rubbed it gritting his teeth as he did it. He pulled his hoof away to see blood staining it. He remembered the knife slitting his throat; it’s what sent him into unconsciousness he thought.

“My sister was there, in the fire holding the two children,” His eyes shot up. Did he just say his sister? Was that really his sister in the fire holding the two children? Rainbow Dash looked at him with a confused expression.

Sister? I never knew you have a sister Star.” He tapped his hoof to his chin thoughtfully.

“Yeah, she’s been dead for over 19 years.” Rainbow Dash looked at him with shock instead of confusion. Far Eyes eventually broke the silence which loomed over the room.

“Yeah, you were just a foal when she died weren’t you?” I nodded at him slowly rubbing his chin still in thought. He eventually felt his eyes begin to flutter. He was getting very tired, he needed to sleep but he didn’t want to, sleep now caused him fear. Rainbow Dash saw his eyes flutter and her expression changed to a concerned look.

“Hey Star, you need to go to sleep. You can’t keep trying to get away from it.”  She knelt inwards brushing back a strand of hair that fell out of his mane into his eyes.

“Ugh, I don’t really want to sleep.” The moment he said that his eyes were forced shut. They were way too heavy for him to resist it. He passed out on the bed almost immediately after he had said he wouldn’t go to sleep, kind of ironic. He had the same dream again, except this time they did nothing to harm him. The eyeless pony and the cloaked pony both stood side by side as they chanted the same line over and over again.

“Never forgive, never forgive, never forgive!” They kept on chanting it over and over again in unison. He simply stared at them dull eyed almost as if he felt he had deserved their chanting.

Rainbow Dash sighed looking down at Star Life who was clearly asleep.

“He’s so arrogant, isn’t he Far?” She looked to her side to see Far had already left. She wondered where he had gone. She sighed leaning in to Star Life lightly kissing him on the forehead.

“Goodnight, my little idiot.” She smiled down at him as she trotted out of the room leaving him behind in the hospital bed.

He awoke again with cold sweats, the same as any dream. He wondered what disaster was going to happen this time. This was one of the worst dreams he has ever had. He looked down at the blankets covered over him with distaste. He threw the blankets off of him stepping onto the floor. He looked around the hospital room suspiciously before flying out the open window. He hated hospitals; they always had a strange feeling of strangling him.

He flew around Ponyville in a bored fashion. He tried to find some sort of disaster what was going to occur now he had the dream again. He kept on flying until he saw a horrifying sight. It looked like the same thief from two days ago. But this time he was carrying a gun, and it was aimed directly at Rainbow Dash.

He didn’t know what to do. But adrenaline pumped through his body as he sky dived towards the thief. He dived as fast as he could. Rainbow Dash had her hooves raised high as she looked skyward she was obviously going to attempt to run for it, to get away from him. But by the time she was going to do it she saw Star Life diving down at the criminal.

“Star, no!” She yelled out as he impacted the thief from behind. The two of them tumbled down the side walk both trying to wrestle for the gun. Star Life tried to slap it out of his hand but it was too late. His hooves were far outstretched in a missed position over the Thief’s head. The gun aimed directly at his stomach. He had no time to react as he simply squeezed his eyes shut awaiting the fire. Eventually as he knew he would the Criminal shot him, directly in the stomach.

He heard Rainbow Dash’s scream as he faded into blackness. He had the exact same dream he had always had, except this time it was not a nightmare. He saw his sister standing next to the cloaked pony, her eyes a light blue color as she looked at him with a smile. The cloaked pony whisked the hood back off of his head to see himself staring at him. It was such a Déjà Vu moment for him. His sister held out her hoof to him with a soft expression on her face. I looked at her hoof with a goofy smile.

“I’m, I’m back!” He said to them both rubbing the back of his head as he grinned. The two ponies looked at him returning his smile back at him. His sister looked at him with her still soft expression.

“You’re home.” She said to him with her hoof still outstretched.  He grinned grabbing her outstretched foreleg pulling himself up to his hooves. They both looked at him as they began to chant again. Except this time the chant was a lot different.

“Forgive, forgive, forgive.” They chanted over and over as a bright light began to form behind them. The park began to brighten up as he saw a figure lying down in the grass blood dripping out of his mouth, eventually he recognized the man as the Thief who had shot him. He looked wide eyed at him as he realized that thief was the one who had killed his sister so many years ago. During the home invasion when she started to cry, he had shot her to shut her up. Her killer had just died. Memories from his Foalhood came running back into his mind as the bright light swallowed him whole sending him into peace.

He awoke taking in a deep breath being cradled in the arms of Rainbow Dash looking down at him with tears staining her face.

“That was a stupid stunt you just pulled.” She said as she shook tears out of her eyes, he looked at the bullet wound which marked his stomach still dripping blood. He looked to his left to see the thief dead on the road, his blood flowing from his mouth onto the floor slowly. He grunted in pain as he looked back up at Rainbow Dash. Blood dripped from his mouth, but oddly he knew he was going to be okay. Rainbow Dash had taken to flight almost immediately towards the Ponyville Hospital. He knew they wouldn’t be too pleased to see he had flown out of the window. He fell asleep as Rainbow Dash flew still cradling him. This time he didn’t have the nightmare, this time he slept in peace.