Author's Note

Hey there.

Sooooo, I was supposed to publish this chapter two weeks ago, but I was too lazy to even copy the text to the site (I had already finished writing the chapter). So, have an update. In the future, I'll try to publish a new chapter for this story every Wednesday until it's completed.

Enjoy.

Dreams of Fear

Twilight came to on a hard surface similar to stone. All around her, a thick fog gently rolled, obscuring her view of her surroundings.

Grunting, Twilight got to her hooves.

"Where am I?" she asked the fog, her voice echoing.

Giggling was the only answer she received. Turning around, she started walking, hoping she was heading towards the giggling.

She walked. She kept walking for what felt like an eternity, yet like no time passed at all, without finding anything other than the fog.

Eventually, the giggling grew louder, and she came across a familiar pink pony.

"Pinkie!" Twilight called out.

As the word left Twilight's mouth, the giggling stopped. Pinkie turned around and looked at Twilight, her eyes hard.

"You abandoned us," Pinkie stated, her voice flat. "You could have saved us, yet you did nothing."

"Bu-but... I'm trying!I'm so close to finding it!" Twilight cried.

"And yet, you did nothing," Pinkie replied.

"I-I... I swear I'll save everyone!" Twilight pleaded. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

"It's no use, Twilight. You'll fail," Pinkie said.

Twilight fell to her haunches, feeling defeated.

Slowly, shadows crept up to Twilight, swallowing the fog and Pinkie within their inky darkness.

Screams of agony echoed all around Twilight, making her try to block them out while uttering "I'm sorry," over and over, to no avail. The screams kept coming, assaulting her ears, and refusing to give her rest..

The scene shifted.

Twilight sat in her usual spot, waiting for Princess Celestia to come for the lesson.

The window was unnaturally black, not even a single ray of light coming to dispel the darkness.

Growing impatient, Twilight got up and left the room to wander in the dark, foggy corridors of the palace in the hope she could find her mentor.

Trotting as fast as her legs allowed her, she wandered. She wandered around for an eternity and not, finding no signs of Celestia or Guards, only the neverending, dark corridors filled with fog, the same all-absorbing darkness outside every window.

Eventually, she found her mentor standing in front of a window, her back to Twilight.

"Princess!" Twilight called happily as she got close.

"Tell me, Twilight," Celestia said. "What do you see?"

"W-what are you talking about, Princess?" Twilight asked, confused.

"Answer me, Twilight."

Twilight swallowed nervously. "D-darkness."

"Exactly," Celestia said, voice flat. "You had a way to prevent this, yet you did nothing."

Before Twilight could reply, shadows lept towards Celestia, swallowing her whole. Screams of agony echoed in the empty void in which Twilight stood with tears running down her cheeks.

The scene shifted.

Twilight stood under an apple tree, thick fog rolling gently at the roots of the tree and around the hooves of the two ponies present.

Applejack spun around to face Twilight. "Ya could'a' done somethin' ta stop tha darkness," she said, voice flat. "An' yet, ya done nothin'."

Applejack's words mixed with screams of agony as shadows engulfed the farm mare.

Twilight dropped to the ground, whimpering and covering her eyes with her forelegs..

The scene changed.

"You are just as bad as her." The speaker's voice was flat.

Twilight looked up, teary eyed, at the pony who had spoken.

Standing a few paces from Twilight and facing away from her was Princess Luna.

Around them, a thick, black, tar-like fog roiled and swallowed the possible scenery.

"I'm trying as hard as I can!" Twilight cried.

"That is not what it looks like," Luna countered. "You knew It was coming, yet you did nothing, Twilight Sparkle."

The dam broke. Tears flowed freely down Twilight's cheeks as she wept and sobbed uncontrollably.

A wing was draped across Twilight's withers. She opened her eyes, unaware that she had closed them, to see the smiling face of Luna.

"Are you feeling better, Twilight?" Luna asked calmly.

Twilight nodded, only then realising it was only a dream.

"Can you tell me what it's all about?" Luna inquired.

Twilight explained everything she knew, about each of the dreams, about her research for an artefact to save her friends, and about what little she knew of 'The Darkness'.

Luna hummed thoughtfully while Twilight explained.

"I may have a lead for your research, Twilight," Luna said once Twilight was done.

"Really?"

"Yes," Luna confirmed. "It is a story about a stallion who, in order to save his beloved, crafted a powerful protection charm to safeguard her from darkness. Unfortunately for him, the darkness took him instead, and it left his beloved completely heartbroken.

"Stricken with grief and guilt, she tried to take her life several time, only for the charm, whicb she still wore as a memento, powered by the fallen stallion's love, to save her from death."

Twilight looked at Luna with a dumbfounded look. "I already know that story."

"You do?"

"Yes. Cadance used to tell it to me to put me to sleep as a filly," Twilight explained. "But I don't see how that story can help my research."

Luna giggled. "Maybe you should give it another read. Who knows what you will discover," Luna said cryptically.