Sleep forced itself on Rainbow Dash ; she had tried to fight it, not wanting to plunge into the world of dreams ; she closed her eyelids for the briefest of instants before realizing it was too late : she was already sleeping.

She abruptly found herself flying at high speed towards Zant, her body out of control : her hooves crushed his ribs against his lung in an atrocious noise resonating endlessly in the void. The scene repeated over and over, the sound echoing further and further until being deafening. At the edge of her virtual perception, Rainbow Dash glimpsed the five-dimensional objects ; they were being pulverized in an unending cycle of suffering ; over the sound of the bones shattering, she heard their cries of agony, repeated again and again : she screamed in terror, her voice transformed in an animalistic sound.

"Rainbow ! Rainbow !" The soft voice of Fluttershy broke the cycle and Rainbow Dash woke up brutally ; her face was covered with tears.

Fluttershy was next to her, her eyes reflecting the most intense worrying she had ever seen.

"Rainbow, what’s wrong !?"

Fluttershy tightly hugged her marefriend against her and finally, Rainbow Dash burst into uncontrollable sobs.

"Shhhh. Rainbow, I’m here…" Fluttershy whispered, pulling her lover closer.

"Just… just… a-a-a night-nightmare…" Rainbow Dash spluttered between her tears.

"Is… is that… what you did against Zant ?"

Sensing her lover shivering against her and her sobbing coming back, Fluttershy did not need an answer.

"Rainbow…"

"It’s… the-the-the same… Over a-a-and o-o-over a-and over… The-the sound… I-I-I-I hear it… e-e-every night…"

"You did what you needed to do. Anita wouldn’t be here without you. And maybe none of us would".

"I-I-I know…"

"That was the only solution. Zant would’ve… killed us all without you. Rainbow, you saved us. And… and maybe… in the near future you… we… we’ll have to do something like this to… to save our friends. I hate thinking about this Rainbow, I really do. But know that I’ll do what you did, a thousand times if I have to, to protect you. I’ll protect you, even if… even if it means trading my life for yours".

Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wildly, and she looked at Fluttershy with astonishment ; she felt better, but another shadow covered her regained confidence, and she wept again.

"But… the-the-the shapes… I-I-I…"

"They were not alive, Rainbow. I may not have seen them, but I trust Bowser on this one. Listen, I… I… I hate to say it and I… I don’t want to say it. I don’t even want to think about it but… that thing destroyed Anita’s world. And so much more. It’s… it’s probably destroying… universes full of life as we speak".

Fluttershy repressed a sob and continued.

"Rainbow, we… we can’t do anything for now… We can’t find that thing and stop it like we always do… Until we find a way to stop it, we… we have to… bear the weight of those destroyed worlds. It’s… it’s heavy but… we’re here for each other and… we have our friends to share that burden. All of our friends. We must stand strong against nothingness, it mustn’t shatter our bonds or else… everything will be over. We’ll win, Rainbow. We’ll win, because we’re all connected by friendship and love, and Darkness has nothing. No, Darkness is nothing".

Rainbow Dash slowly came back to her senses, Fluttershy’s words smothering her misery in a warm embrace ; she reciprocated the hug that was given to her ; she had not noticed it until now, but Fluttershy was almost crushing her with an unsuspected strength ; she finally realized that her lover’s hold would never break, not even under Darkness, and she smiled.

"You know", Fluttershy whispered, "I’m not Twilight or Starlight or Bowser, but I… I think I understand what Darkness… represents, just after nothingness : it’s absence. Absence of creation. Absence of love. Absence of friendship. Absence of… self. Absence of absence itself. We… we can’t fight what’s not really there. We can’t destroy what doesn’t exist. We can’t battle against a… against a hole. But we can fill it. Maybe… maybe we can fill it with good things, like friendship or love… I’m… I’m not sure about all of this but… I do know we’ll win, one way or another. And I do know that I’m here for you, because I love you…"

Fluttershy sensed Rainbow Dash warming up against her, her strong body regaining its toughness.

"Let them go Rainbow… Let the shapes and sounds go. For everyone. For me".

"I… I love you Fluttershy. You’re just… you’re just…" Rainbow Dash failed to find a word ; she instead kissed Fluttershy with the warmest kiss she was capable of ; they finally fell asleep, their lips still touching.

In the heart of the night, Rainbow Dash let the shapes dissolve into Fluttershy’s lovely silhouette and the sound being quieted by her sweet-scented breath ; this was her best sleep since she was born.

For the second time, Twilight looked at her reflection in the mirror : she was still a mess : a sad and terrified mess. Her mane was disheveled, her fur drenched in cold sweat and her body was shivering. She sprayed her face with water and went back in her bed ; as she was lying down, Starlight’s voice, barely above the whisper, caressed her ear along with a warm breath.

"Twilight… Are you okay ? No, you’re not okay. You’re drenched, you’re cold, and you’re… scared ?"

Starlight hugged Twilight, and her lover turned around to be face to face with her ; she was in tears.

"What’s wrong ? Tell me…" Starlight tenderly wiped the tears away.

"We… we are… I-I-I mean… Most of our race… Ponies… Ponies aren’t warmongers. Ponies aren’t warriors. Ponies don’t kill. Ponies don’t fight Darkness… We… we are not like that. It’s not our nature. Of-of course we know how to defend ourselves but…"

"Twilight, those things were zombies ! They weren’t alive !"

"I-I-I know but… but even with that… we… we destroyed things, Starlight ! We pulverized them ! How are we different from Darkness if we do just like it !? We… we… I… I… that sword… on that knight… I… its head…"

"And what if we hadn’t ? Link, Zelda and Epona would be dead ! We fight to protect our friends, Twilight ! You fight to protect me, and I fight to protect you ! I’d take on entire universes to shield you from harm ! I’m ready to tear apart anything or anyone that’d put you in danger… I… I’ll be your shield, Twilight. But… but we won’t get through this if we don’t fight together, us, but all of our friends too ! If we're not united against Darkness we… we’ll lose for sure. Maybe we’ll lose anyways, and we’ll all disappear forever. But I’d rather try to fight with you and everyone else and lose than lose alone. We’ll probably have to kill in the future… maybe kill living things this time, but things that want to erase existence itself. We must not falter, Twilight. We’ll have to bear with it. It’s gonna be heavy. It’s gonna be painful. But we have love. We have friendship. We won’t kill under these, but we’ll fight to protect them. It’s true, we’re not a war-driven race like the Koopas, but we can’t let ourselves be slaughtered ! Will fighting against whatever this thing’s throwing at us stain Equestria’s name ? Maybe. But if we don’t fight and just resign to our fate, there won’t be any Equestria at all anymore".

Twilight put her forehead against Starlight’s ; their horns gently bumped ; she cuddled against her lover.

"I love you Twilight. Shhh. Let me be your dreams", Starlight whispered as she sensed her marefriend warming up ; they kissed tenderly.

"You’re the teacher now", Twilight chuckled once they separated. "You just taught me… hope. That’s what you are Starlight, even more so than Somnambula : hope. I wasn’t sure at the inn in the Mushroom Kingdom, but now I can see it. You are hope. My hope…"

Twilight let a hoof wandering on Starlight's body ; it shivered at the contact, and Starlight let out a moan of pleasure ; her belly filled up with an almost unbearable heat, prompting Twilight to kiss her on that spot. She went lower and Starlight’s mind finally drew a blank.

Just as Starlight was sinking into a blissful, ecstatic sleep, she heard Twilight’s voice uttering a few soft-spoken words :

"I love you Starlight".

"You sure Gummy’s alright ?" Pinkie Pie asked to Twilight while looking at Gummy, static on the counter of the bakery. "He’s not been very lively or chatty lately…"

Twilight bit her tongue to prevent a comment regarding Gummy’s usual behavior ; it was early in the morning, and she was at Sugarcube Corner with Spike, Starlight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

"Don’t worry, he’s fine", Twilight replied, waving her hoof in dismissal. "Is he ?" She whispered discreetly to Fluttershy.

"As usual. Catching his attention is hard. I think he’s out most of the time", Fluttershy answered just as discreetly.

"When Twilight was covering Equestria, I swear I could see him approach you and watching us", Twilight explained to Pinkie Pie. "That’s why I want to ask him if he remembers it. Sorry for the trouble, but you know me, when something’s in my head…"

"No problem ! But you could’ve just asked me ! I can talk to Gummy ! He’s slow to answer, but he answers eventually", Pinkie Pie replied.

"Of-of course. I just wanna huh… hear his… you know, his way of saying it. His… exact words with his exact tone", Twilight splutteringly justified. "Fluttershy, can you… ?"

Fluttershy approached Gummy, waving her hoof before his eyes : Gummy showed no reaction, but Fluttershy did not give up. Finally, the small alligator blinked and Fluttershy took it as a sign of acknowledgement.

"Gummy, do you remember, a few days ago ? When the night was suddenly replaced by Twilight ? Orange sky, black squares everywhere, and polygon-things and monsters in the streets. Pinkie had to leave you alone to save everyone. Do you remember ?"

“Please, talk ! Please, please, please ! Just a word, anything !” Fluttershy internally prayed.

Gummy blinked, but Fluttershy was not sure of the meaning, if it had any.

“I could… lie. Oh no ! No, no, no ! Never !”, she thought.

"Hey ! Hey ! Just to say that Bowser’s back ! Back !"

King Boo sudden appearance almost made the ponies scream in surprise, but Gummy did not react.

"Huh ? What’s that lizard-thing ?" The ghost interrogated when he saw the alligator lying motionless on the counter.

"Hey ! Don’t insult him ! He’s Gummy ! He’s my pet !" Pinkie Pie protested.

"Sorry ! But you’re weird. Having a dead animal for pet", King Boo shrugged.

"He’s ALIVE !" Pinkie Pie shouted, loudly enough for her friends to cover their ears.

"Is that so ? He seems pretty dead to me…" The ghostly king shuddered as he approached Gummy, who blinked.

"My bad. He is alive. Almost".

"Can… can you help us ?" Fluttershy timidly asked to the ghost. "I can talk to animals, but Gummy’s a… special case".

"Yes ! Yes ! I can help you ! I can pass his thoughts onto you, and you’ll translate along ! His thoughts will be heard in the room with his voice ! But I must touch him and you must touch me !" King Boo replied.

"That’s nice ! So let’s go Gummy. King Boo will touch you, it won’t be long, okay ?" Fluttershy kindly told the alligator : it simply blinked as an answer, and Fluttershy found herself uneasy under its vacant stare.

King Boo touched Gummy with his arm and Fluttershy put her hoof on the ghost : a rocky, laid-back voice immediately echoed in Sugarcube Corner :

"…forever lost, adrift in a timeless space ? And what is the meaning of time ? Is it just another construct, a mere chimera, the result of the fear of our demise, or a tangible proof of the inevitability of the latter ? Is it our way to have power over life ? Is time life ? Or is life time ? Are timeless things not alive ? And is death the end of time, or yet another step towards it, a way to become part of a phantasm about to lose its grip on reality ? What if the concept of time is but of higher knowledge, unreachable but only a few steps away, standing just beyond the limit of our minds ? And what of our minds, immaterial allegories of the struggle of our souls to apprehend the world, destined to slowly wither away under the passage of time, walking on the cold embers of uncertainty towards an unknown destination ? What is the nature of life ? Is it the sum of our experiences and memories, or an illusion, a fabrication of reality twisted by primordial, unknowable tantrums of long since forgotten forces, without purpose ? And what is reality ? Is it a feeble attempt…"

Everyone was visibly disturbed, but Fluttershy managed to interrupt the rambling :

"Gummy ! Gummy ! Sorry to interrupt your… thoughts but… I just want to ask you something. You… you remember that night with the Twilight, right ? Did you see something ?"

The voice resonated again :

"The paroxysm of the never-ending struggle between creation and destruction, shards of creativity thrown away amidst a pool of oblivion, senseless, tasteless forms born from nothingness, a wasted, pathetic try at creation. And beings of shadows, cloaked under their frayed, torn and miserable wings, grotesque birds from where a place light not knows".

"You sure Gummy ? You sure it was…"

Gummy cut Fluttershy off :

"…as the cover of shadows was spreading its smothering, formless wings, colorless parody of reality destined to dumb, blissful souls endlessly, unconsciously drowning in an unending misery, shapeless masses of cold, forgotten flames, among them a poor gator contemplating, almost at the edge of its perceptions, the tiniest spark of hope, the six..."

"We get it !" Starlight yelled to spare everyone another rambling.

Someone violently knocked at the door, and Rainbow Dash opened the wooden frame on Bowser.

"Hello. Sorry to disturb", the Koopa apologized.

"Hey ! Hey ! We have a case here ! I want you to do something !" King Boo exclaimed for him.

"Hmm ? You’re reading that reptile’s thoughts ? But it’s dead…"

"NO IT’S NOT !" Pinkie Pie screamed to the point of shaking the whole bakery.

"You told me that the breach in your castle, the one tied to a computer, closed. And you saw it. Can show it to that lizard ?" The ghost asked to Bowser.

"He’s an alligator", Rainbow Dash quickly corrected to avoid another fit of exasperation from Pinkie Pie.

"Whatever. Show it to that thing ! Show it !" King Boo insisted.

Bowser shrugged and brushed Gummy with his claws.

Twilight took the initiative to interrogate the tiny reptile :

"Say Gummy, you… you seem pretty smart. Do… do you know something about… Darkness ? Bowser gave you a vision of what he saw. You see shapes, right ? And what else do you see ? Err… I can’t believe I’m asking this to you…"

Gummy did not answer immediately, but after a minute, he spoke :

"Part, fragment of an empty infinity, unrecognizable, unknowable, incomprehensible but at the same time simple, familiar and plain blankness, a destroyer unlike anything else, bound and free by its non-existent nature, an absence of everything, a shallow void of nothing. And shards of creation, fusing, adapting, writhing, twisting and intertwining in a mass of nothingness, present sparks inside an absence, bits of creativity whirling endlessly in the vortex of a hole dug from oblivion itself, parts of imagination ripped, harnessed from and given by yet another forgotten one, opposite of emptiness but part of it, wanting for them to merge, fuse and become one but never did out of fear, fear from losing itself and becoming a remnant of what it is, an unfathomable force, the primordial power of creation who was cowering at the mere sight of his own end, end that was a beginning on its own, a start that could have birthed an infinity of limitless spaces and times at the expense of no one".

"Thank… thank you ve-very much Gummy ! We… we’ll let you think in peace now", Twilight spluttered.

For the first time for almost everyone, Gummy smiled ; King Boo ceased to touch him, and Fluttershy broke contact with King Boo.

"That was… unexpected", Starlight stammered.

Bowser teleported everyone to Canterlot’s castle before teleporting back to Ponyville to take Rarity, Anita and Applejack with him.

"We got some news about Darkness", Bowser declared to everyone ; he turned to Twilight who cleared her throat :

"Apparently, Darkness isn’t only void, nothingness, emptiness or absence : it’s also something more. It took away parts of creation from its sibling but… it seems that some of those bits were given willingly and that this sibling wanted to merge with its other part before, we don't know why".

"But it never did because it was scared. And that it missed to create something greater", Starlight concluded.

"Who… who told you all of this ?" Luna interrogated.

"Err… Princess Luna… Would you believe it if it was… huh… an animal ? A pet ?" Fluttershy asked shyly.

"That alligator-lizard thing, Gummy, was it ? He seems to be a deeply disturbed reptile", King Boo said.

The looks plastered on the face of Celestia, Luna, Applejack, Rarity, Anita, Peach, Mario, Luigi and Daisy made Bowser laugh.

"We’re telling the truth", he affirmed after calming down. "Who would've thought that some answers on a primordial force would’ve come from a pet alligator in Equestria ?"

"At least we know our foe a little bit better", Peach said. "I still do not know how this information will help us to stop that thing however".

"We’ll think about it in the days to come… Maybe detonating the shards of creation…" Bowser mumbled.

"We will inform Star Swirl and everyone working on that case of these new developments", Luna said.

"Hey, Peach, are you going to stay here ?" King Boo asked to the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"We will leave just after lunch", Peach replied. "If you or Bowser wants to teleport us…"

"No problem ! I’ll come back after lunch then !" King Boo exclaimed before disappearing.

"You should record all your information and theories about that thing on a journal, my faithful student", Celestia told Twilight.

"That’s a great idea, Princess Celestia, thank you ! With all these adventures and those new books in my library, I didn’t think of it", Twilight replied. "Better begin now".

"And we must go back to Ponyville too", Rarity added. "Some patterns are still not finished…"

"And Ah was buckin’ some apples at the farm", Applejack said.

"You should return to Ponyville, everypony", Luna advised. "If something noteworthy happens, send us a letter".

"We’ll come back to say goodbye to everyone, don’t worry", Twilight reassured the guests from the Mushroom Kingdom.

Bowser teleported everyone back to Ponyville.

Author's Note

It's 4:20am here... Saying "I'm tired" would be such a sweet euphemism...

Regarding the story, I just wanted to make Gummy (very) useful with his funny (hidden) personnality. Who but him could apprehend the sight of Darkness ? :D
As for implied sex, I think I can't go further with it without redefining my story as "mature".
Next chapter will introduce a new (original) character ;)