Blood. How often did she dream of blood? Catching hoof-fulls of it as it poured down from above her, trudging through streams of it that rose up to her chest. The presence of viscera was almost passe at this point. She had tasted that familiar iron too often for it to have the same effect it did when she was just a filly. But this wasn’t just a dream about blood, no matter how hard she wished it was.
It started off innocuously enough, as most of her nightmares did. She was wandering around one of the many halls that made up the sprawling Royal Castle. Which hall it was proved to be difficult to tell for they all looked the same to her. Same ornate tapestries, same smooth grey stone, same marbled floors. She walked here and there, her hooves pulling her forward. The true nature of her dream began to reveal itself slowly, starting with a small splatter of blood on the wall just before a door.
She pushed the heavy oak door open and stepped into the hall, her horn charged with dangerous magic. Immediately to her right was the broken body of a Royal Guard. He was missing most of the fur on his chest and he was pierced in no less than three different places, rich red blood pooling underneath him. There were bloody hoofprints leading further down the hall but the attacker was nowhere to be seen. She stayed on the defensive.
Her cautious nature was not yet rewarded as a target for her aggression failed to present itself. The hall before her contained no dead bodies and no signs of struggle. The walls pointed clearly to a very angry and very powerful magic user. There were magic burns covering the ancient stone and all of the tapestries had been torn down and defiled. Whoever had done this was clearly not a big fan of the royalty.
She continued walking the halls, following her gut to lead her in the right direction. A turn presented itself and she took it, walking into a room of pure carnage. Before her were three more Royal Guard lying in a semi-circle. From a distance it was obvious that they died in the same fashion as the first Guard she had stumbled upon- vicious magic and multiple stab wounds. It took a particularly cruel unicorn to use their horn to take another ponies life. As she approached the tableau one of the Guards, an earth pony stallion, seemed to struggle back to life. As he set his tired sight upon Starlight his eyes shot wide open and he struggled to escape. It would seem both of his front legs were broken but still he strained to put distance between him and her. She stopped and tried to communicate with the terrified pony.
“Who did this to you?”
The stallion coughed out a mouthful of blood and stammered a few words. “I-I-t was.. It was you! YOU! It was YOU! IT WAS Y-” That was the last he would ever speak as the terror of her presence overwhelmed his failing heart and death finally claimed him.
“Well. I’d disagree with you but… No one’s left to disagree with.”
It worried her that she was so callous about another ponies life, even in a dream. She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the things Twilight had been teaching her simply weren’t sticking. She had practiced making friends and doing the right thing. She cared for the wellbeing of others deeply, really, but perhaps not deeply enough. She took a moment to rest and perform a mental inventory. It didn’t bother her much to be in the same room as a couple of dead bodies. It really wasn’t the worst she had ever seen. It was bad, sure, but try seeing your own body lying split open on the rocks below a cliff every day for weeks. It’s not a great time! She caught movement in the corner of her eye and it dragged her out of her reverie and then stunned her entirely. Standing at the other end of the hallway was… Herself. Covered in blood. Her doppelganger spoke first.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Starlight sprung to her hooves and prepared a spell but before she could cast it she felt something pierce her throat. She coughed and her mouth was wet and soaked in a bitter metallic taste. Dream-Starlight pulled back, her horn slick in fresh blood. It matted her already tangled and wild mane. What an unfortunate last face to see. Her vision tunneled and then went black entirely. She was dead.
<> II <>
When she came to she was out in the street of Canterlot. She checked her neck- no wound. She must still be dreaming. Usually her dreams weren’t this long but she had a feeling this one was important. Much to her curiosity, there was a crowd gathering in front of her. Many of them had newspapers and they all looked worried. Very, very worried. She wandered closer in an attempt to eavesdrop.
“Is it true? Did she really do something like that? Why would she?”
“You saw the picture, didn’t you? There’s no mistaking her Cutie Mark, even with that pair of wings. Never seen her like that but still… It must’ve been her.”
“I can’t believe Twilight would trust somepony like that. To think she never knew what she was capable of!”
What? What were they talking about?
“Excuse me, could you tell me what happened?”
Nopony heard her. She must be dead after all. Shrugging, she ambled over to the nearest newspaper stand and checked the headline.
ROYAL SISTERS FOUND DEAD, MURDERED BY STARLIGHT GLIMMER
A picture of her dream-self was justified right, displaying her blood-soaked coat and… spread wings? She was an alicorn in this dream? How strange. She continued down, reading intently. It talked about when it happened and the total death count and the feelings of various ponies. None of that mattered to her as a voice intruded on her thoughts. It was sinister, dripping with venom, but she could recognize it. It was her voice.
“You’ve felt trapped ever since you came here, haven’t you? Like you needed to escape. Break out of your false skin and into the real you. Well now you’ve seen what the real you is like. You are powerful and terrifying. Your friends, they think they know the real you. They think you’re straight as an arrow, don’t they? They’re wrong! You know what’s hiding underneath. You feel the howl of violence in your veins, late at night, calling for release. You must remember what they used to call you. You must remember how you felt when they finally drove you out. You felt truly hated. Don’t think they’ve forgotten that. After all, it’s still how they feel about you. They still don’t trust you. They never will. Not until you show them your true self. Not until you rise above them. There is nothing that you need to understand. You need now only to be.”
And then she woke up.
