"Through ordinary days, a truth has been hidden from the rest of the world. One that threatens to destroy all of Equestria. It has been buried under a fabric of lies, understood by only one pony.
It was a truth that was once known, yet chosen to forget."
The rustle of the bushes. The whisper of the wind. The howling of lost souls.
That was all Celestia could hear.
Everywhere she looked, she saw the greenery of the forest. It felt like any other old forest, yet there was hint of familiarity to it. It definitely wasn't the Everfree.
Celestia trotted through, clueless as to why she was here. The preceding events were just flashes in her memory. Nothing she could make out anyway.
Although there was nothing specific about where she was, there was a nagging feeling that she had been here before. Many, many years ago. Not due to a certain landmark or creature, but just this feeling in her gut.
Celestia had already tried teleporting out of here a thousand times. Her magic seemed to be completely disabled. Flying out wasn't an option either, as one of her wings was broken.
Yet again, there was absolutely no recollection of the events before that got her here. It was also nearly impossible to disable an alicorn's magic, much less her own.
She had to keep moving, though. Whatever entity did this to her could probably do worse. Now all that was on her mind was a way out. Which was a lot more difficult than once thought. Everything looked more or less the same, lots of trees and shrubbery. Again, this feeling came up. This undeniable sense that she may already know this area inside out. Yet something was keeping her from remembering.
Celestia noticed that the ground had changed. She was previously stepping on grass, but the ground had gotten wet and sticky. When Celestia looked down to see her hooves covered in mud, she noticed something else entirely. Hoofprints.
The hoofprints were much smaller than her's. It was obviously a filly. The princess did the dirtiest thing she had done for years and sniffed it. Once more, there was something about it, familiar. On the tip of her tongue, yet not quite there.
As she followed them, Celestia noticed that there was a sound that was constantly getting louder. The chirp of the crickets had also eerily stopped. The wind blew more and more into her ear. The other sound that was getting louder was the ticking of a clock.
Celestia was frightened the most by that. Wind and the silence of crickets may have explanations, but there wasn't a clock around.
Until she bumped into one.
It was bigger than most, almost as if it were to be hung inside a building.
The clock jittered as a spider the exact same size as it crawled out from underneath.
Celestia continued following the hoofprints, her heart practically about to jump off her mouth.
Previously, she had to maneuver a little bit around the trees. They were scattered around and made it almost feel like a labyrinth. Only now did she notice that it had stopped. The trees were arranged more symmetrically with the hoofprint path, looking like a sort of natural-made red carpet.
Celestia now had to stop to catch her breath. This feeling of being here before was at its strongest. To the point that it hurt. The details started to become more evident. She noticed things that were from her past. The way the trees were shaped. There was more of a distinct feature about them. Whatever was at the end of the path might answer just where in Equestria she is.
The path ended. No more hoofprints left. Instead, a cliffside that overlooked a nearly horizonless ocean. The moon was at its highest point, creating a striking image with its glittery reflection in the water.
Celestia saw that right at the edge of the cliffside, was already another pony. She sighed heavily, a sigh of relief. Finally somepony to tell her what was going on.
But as she approached her, she noticed she was looking at an alicorn as well. And while it was an alicorn with blue flowing hair, it was way too small to be Princess Luna.
Celestia went to the edge and prepared to greet herself, only to find out that it was Princess Luna, when she was but a small filly.
"Is that you, sister?" said Celestia, "Where are we?"
The filly didn't answer. Her body may have been small but her expression was the same as Luna ever was. Stern. The filly looked at Celestia for a few seconds.
"Come," said Luna, before leaping off the cliffside and falling in the water.
Celestia wondered whether she should even go down with her. As soon as she looked back at the forest, however, she made up her mind.
She fell into the water, sinking along with her sister. It wasn't the feeling of drowning, but more so losing consciousness. Her eyes began to close, and her body became limp.
Now, the Princesses were in a new location. Celestia saw herself in the train, currently passing through a tunnel, meaning the view from the window was obstructed.
Luna was sat next to Celestia, still a filly.
The train exited the tunnel, allowing Celestia to see where they were. The view outside showed the Crystal Castle glistening in morning sunlight, making Celestia feel much safer than before.
"Luna, what's going on? Where were we a few minutes before? I think I remebered the place. Was it from when we were fillies?"
Luna didn't answer, instead she just kept looking out of the train's window, but not in admiration.
In anticipation.
The towering castle had an explosion in the center, toppling it. Celestia looked on wide-eyed, as the castle fell.
Until another explosion happened in the carriage behind them.
Celestia woke up in her bed. It felt like an eternity since she was back in reality.
She sprung up, seeing Luna awake and lowering the moon.
"Did you purposefully infiltrate my dream last night?" Asked Celestia, slightly cross.
Luna looked back with an innocent confused look on her face.
"No, why?"
Celestia approached her, as she was still lowering the moon on the terrace.
"Because I had the most vivid dream in years, and I know well when somepony is messing with the dreamscape."
There was no response.
"So just tell me what's going on. Where was I in the beginning?" Asked Celestia.
Luna sighed audibly, "I can't. Anyway, you should get some more rest. You'll be raising the sun soon."
Celestia stared at Luna, dissapointment and confusion mixed together.
"Then can you at least tell me what it all means. Please."
Luna went back to lowering the moon, not looking at her sister.
In fumes, Celestia marched out of the door. She went straight to the Royal Library. Her first thought was to go to the section with Princess Luna's books.
Eventually she found it. A book titled 'Dreamscapes: What Do Events In A Dream Mean For You?'.
Celestia browsed through, knowing that certain images in a dream means somepony is trying to tell her something. She just had to find out what.
Her eyes fixated on a certain paragraph. As she read, it became increasingly apparent the gravity of what she saw.
"Spiders:
In nightmares, a very common topic is spiders. If you encounter a spider in your dreams, it means you have to be careful, as something is approaching that you have always feared.
If the spider is seen to have any association with a clock, then it means that you have to act fast, as time is rapidly running out. The spider's size relative to the clock is also a tool you can use to identify the magnitude of the problem. If it's an ordinary spider, enough to fit in your hoof, the problem is small. It could just mean you've forgotten something somewhere.
When the spider increases in size, that's where your mind is telling you that the problem is getting worse. When it's half the clock's size, there is reason to considerably worry.
However, once the spider is as big as the clock, you and ponies you love may be in life-threatening danger."
Celestia thought back to her dream. In the forest, she encountered a clock. Her heart froze when she remembered the humongous spider that crawled out of it.
She continued to read on, again stopping after skimming through a few pages.
"Familiarity:
When in a dream, you may find yourself in a place from fillyhood.
There are two reasons this happens.
If you know the place exactly, then it's you simply reminiscing.
But if you can only get hints of it, you might be being invaded by another pony. It is very hard to near impossible to access the dreamscape if your magic isn't amazingly strong. However, if you have the power, you can.
The explanation for why you are seeing that place cannot be answered in this textbook. Only whoever put it there could know."
Again, Celestia thought back to the dream. Just like what the book said, she couldn't remember exactly where she was. Only hints and small details, but not the bigger picture.
She thought back to the forest. Trying desperately to remember it. The trees. The cliffside. Luna as a filly.
Suddenly it hit her like a jackhammer.
It was her old home. They used to live near a forest when they were young. Before they became alicorns. Before the banishment of her sister and Twilight.
The last time she was there was nearly a thousand years ago.
Celestia paced back up the stairs, to go back to Luna. She had almost forgotten about raising the sun.
"Sister! I have a few questions to ask of---"
The princess was cut off by the sight of their room completely smashed up. Everything was either turned over or broken. The lamp near their bed was on the floor, shattered. The few pictures of them around the room were filled with cracks, almost specifically around Celestia.
Her attention was brought to the open window. The harrowing sight of the curtains blowing against the destroyed room.
Twilight was asleep in the Castle of Friendship. Her dreams had been rather rough in the past few days, except tonight. The current dream was actually one of Twilight's favorites.
In the dream she was having, Twilight saw herself at the ceremony of Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding.
She was drinking some fruit punch, watching her friends enjoying the night. She got startled when she felt a hoof touch her, but it was none other than Princess Celestia.
"Twilight Sparkle, I would just like to thank you on saving Equestria from the changelings. It really shows me that you are capable to rise up to me someday. In fact, I have a little surprise for you tommorow!"
Twilight looked at her, nearly screaming in joy.
"Thank you, Princess Celestia. I promise to work even harder for friendship than before. I will earn the title of Princess!"
Celestia and Twilight both shared a hearty laugh. Twilight loved to dream about a moment like this.
"Anyway, you should go enjoy the party with your friends. They're waiting for you."
Twilight smiled at Celestia, before going back to see her companions. But when she looked back, all of them were gone.
"Uh, Celestia. Where is every---
Twilight saw that Celestia wasn't there. Instead Chrysalis and her changelings all surrounded her. Chrysalis went closer to Twilight, stroking her hair.
"Oh Twily, when will you learn to never keep your guard down."
Chrysalis charged up her horn and aimed it right at the center of Twilight's face.
The Changeling Queen grinned at the terrified Twilight.
"Oh don't worry. You'll be joining your friends soon."
Twilight shot up out of bed. She was breathing heavily, practically sweating. It was the most vivid dream she had in years.
When she got her bearings, she noticed that none of her friends were beside her.
"Hello? Where did everypony go?" Twilight exclaimed.
She got up from the bed and noticed there was a sound downstairs. She heard shouting and what even sounded like fighting.
But when she heard what was undeniably magic being blast, Twilight rushed down.
"Rarity! Applejack! Pinkie! What's happening down there!"
Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs and could see blue magic being cast.
Rarity was attacking something
"What in Eque---
Twilight felt something grab her hair and throw her towards the Friendship map.
"Look out Twilight!"
Twilight ducked as a blue laser shot past her head and into a shadowy creature. The creature screamed in agony as it dissapated into thin air.
AppleJack came and grabbed Twilight up, asking if she was okay.
"Yeah, yeah I am. Thanks Applejack. Now, what the heck was all that?" asked Twilight.
"I don't know. Some darn spooky creature attacked Pinkie in the night, we've got no idea what it was."
Rarity came in and brushed some of the dirt and dust on Twilight.
"Well whatever it was darling, it's gone now."
"Uhh... Twilight." said Pinkie.
"What?"
"Look at the map."
The Friendship Map was glowing with all six of the Elements of Harmony's cutie marks. The location they pointed at was the Royal Castle.
"Well, it's nice to see you all again."
Princess Celestia greeted the Mane 6, as they exited the train that took them from Ponyville to Canterlot. The moon was still up, even though it should have set a while back, much to the confusion of Equestrian citizens.
Twilight Sparkle and her friends had come straight after the incident a couple hours ago. A strange shadowy creature had attacked Rarity, and even though they took care of the entity, none of them felt much safer. All they could wonder was how many more of those things were out there.
Celestia led the Mane 6 to the Canterlot Castle, preparing tea and cakes for them all. Even though Twilight didn't have much of an appetite. Her mind was filled with the image of what she saw. The shadowy figure. It seemed to be filled with a fiery rage, a rage that had been built up for years.
They all took a seat around a giant circular table, with expressions that showed Celestia she was going to be asked a lot of questions. Unfortunately, she didn't even know if she could answer all of them.
"So," spoke up Celestia, "I also have pressing news, but I would like to hear what exactly brought you here right now."
Twilight hesitated a bit as she didn't know how to simplify this too much, "Princess, as we were sleeping, I heard a noise from what sounded like downstairs. Normally we have one room where we all sleep on separate beds, but I noticed that none of my friends were near me. I called out to them, and heard what sounded like fighting near the Friendship Map. We saw this... shadow creature, and it was fighting with Rarity. Eventually, she sent a straight shot towards it that seems to have gotten rid of it."
Celestia thought about it for a moment. Twilight could tell that she was trying to analyze if she'd seen the thing before.
"Twilight, would you mind describing the figure more to me?" asked Celestia.
"Well, I didn't get much time to see it, but from what I remember, it didn't have too many distinct features. But many times, the shadow almost seemed to have a pony-like shape. There were no eyes or mouth, just a lot of darkness gathered together in one place."
Twilight noticed that as she said this, Celestia would occasionally have bursts of recognition. There was no one moment in which she completely remembered, but there was something in her eyes that told Twilight that it wasn't completely unfamiliar to her. Still, Equestria has had evil creatures that didn't deviate too far from the appearance. Even then, why would one of them be at the Friendship Castle?
"So, what did you do after that?" Asked Celestia.
"The Cutie Map had lit up, and we saw all of our Cutie Marks pointing to this location. That's why we took the first train here. And considering you told us that there was pressing news, I'm thinking it might be related to that."
Celestia sipped her tea, but much slower that time.
"It is very likely they are related. I would also add that 'pressing' is a rather light term. What has happened might affect the future of Equestria as we know it."
Fluttershy cowered behind her seat, shivering, "Oh my goodness, what could it possibly be?"
"Princess Luna, my dear sister, has gone missing."
"WHAT!" They all simultaneously shouted.
"I'm afraid it's true. I may have discovered it by about the same time you fought that creature. I'm positive that it isn't a mere coincidence."
"Well, where could she have gone to?" Asked Applejack.
"That story is complicated. Even I have trouble understanding. All I can say is that it wasn't any sort of ponynapping. Luna would have been too powerful to be captured, not to mention she was wide awake. The apparent truth is that she left herself. To be frank with you, my sister had been acting strange."
"How?" Asked Twilight, her brow constantly furrowing in confusion and worriedness.
"Well, as I dreamt, Luna had infiltrated my dreams, putting me in a nightmarish forest. There was a lot of symbolism, clocks and spiders for example. Not to mention she made me dream about where I lived as a filly. Then it was a train, where we were in the middle of crossing the Crystal Empire. The Crystal Castle I was looking at from out the window exploded, and later so did the train. I've deciphered some of it, but not all. There's more meaning to everything."
"Why would Princess Luna infiltrate your dreams?" Chimed in Pinkie.
"Well, because she was trying to tell me something. In fact, that's her job. At night, she can actually design the dreams of ponies, and if they have a bad track record, such as thievery, they might have reoccurring nightmares."
"Actually," said Twilight, "I had a nightmare just before I woke up. If I had a pleasant dream, then I wouldn't have been awake to notice the monster."
"It could be possible that Luna was trying to save you, darling." said Rarity.
"Wait a minute," Twilight raised a suspicious brow, "How were you able to fight off that thing?"
"Uhh... darling, I don't know what you're talking about."
"She's right, sugarcube, you're not one to go into the face of danger so easily."
"I... WAS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU!"
Rarity's flared and she shot a magic beam at Celestia, knocking her back. Twilight shot back, and smoke started to plume from Rarity.
"It's one of those things again!" Shouted Twilight.
"Ce-Celestia," growled the shadow creature, still half-masked as Rarity, "You'll know where to find me."
The creature laughed and dissapated into thin air.
"What the hay was that!" Exclaimed Applejack.
"I have no idea, but whatever it was, it wasn't Rarity." said Rainbow Dash.
"Oh no... Rarity," Fluttershy was visibly worried and tearing up.
"We have to get her back!" Shouted Twilight.
"It seems that this situation is worse than I thought. With Rarity gone, she is in dire need of help, and I can only guess how far away she is. The shadowy imposter had told us we know where to find it. Well... she said I knew where to find it. I think I'm getting an idea of where we should go." Said Celestia.
"Princess, wherever it is, we can't go by train. If your dreams were telling you something, I think a train exploding isn't that subtle of a warning. We'd have to go on hoof." Twilight was thinking of Celestia's descriptions of the dream. The forest and the train.
"Celestia," said Fluttershy, "W-what could possibly be the reason that the monster took Rarity?"
"I can't say, but I'm sure the monsters have something to do with Luna. The only way for us to find out is to explore, and without the train, it's going to take a lot longer."
"Wait, didn't you say that the first place you found yourself in the dream was from your fillyhood? It could be that we'd have to go there. I mean, it couldn't be that far, right?" added Twilight.
"Ah! Of course! That's it! Pack your bags everypony, we're going," gleefully said Celestia.
"Where?" Asked Twilight.
"Beyond Equestria."
