Twilight had returned to the throne room to see all her friends seated, Pinkie’s cheek already being tended to.

“You okay Pinkie?” Twilight questions.

Pinkie massaged her cheek, “Yeah I’m fine, just burns a little bit.” She groans.

Twilight nods, “Do any of you know what Velvet was talking about?” She ask.

They all shook their heads, “But it’s clear that whatever she was talking about is real.” Applejack establishes, “I’ve never seen a filly act like that over anything in my life.” She repeats.

Starlight nods, “And I know she’s a child, but me and Twilight know better than anyone that she wouldn’t go this far talking about monsters.” She points out.

Twilight nods, “But the way she speaks of this is like it’s the first time, without any prior knowledge of this monster, then we have no idea how to help her.” She says.

Everyone nods solemnly except for Spike, who Twilight noted was surprisingly silent during the whole debacle that had occured.

“Have anything to share with us Spike?” Twilight questions.

Spike hesitantly nods, “This isn’t the first time Velvet had said anything about this monster.” He starts, “I remember I woke up once because I heard her screaming…”

(Flashback, 2 years ago)

It startled me because I’ve never heard her scream like this, and ran down the stairs to see what was happening, scared that some freak pedophile serial killer was in the room with her. But all I saw was nothing but her cowering under the blanket.

Spike was very pissed off right now, he was woken up from his wet dream involving a certain alabaster Unicorn because Velvet was scared of the dark.

“Mister Spike, I think there’s a monster in here.” She says.

Spike growls in annoyance, “You dumbfuck! How could you wake me up like that?!” He shouts, “And didn’t Twilight told you not to believe in monsters anymore?!” He adds.

Velvet shakes her head, “Mister Spike, I’m telling you, something else is here.” She replies, “I heard something tapping on the stone, I heard whispers, I saw white eyes, I swear to you that there’s something here!” She pleads for Spike to believe her.

I would’ve just left her and told you in the morning, but just one glance into her eyes told me that she was serious, that something was in this room with her before I came back.

And I won’t lie, I felt like something was watching us. Watching me, waiting for me to leave so it can do whatever it was planning to do with Velvet. But try as I might, I couldn’t see it at all.

It didn’t take much time for me to know what I had to do.

After some contemplating what to do, Spike decided what to do, “Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?” He offers.

Velvet waste no time nodding like a madman.

And there it was, the deal was sealed. No further confirmation needed.

Spike got in bed with Velvet who hugged the drake for dear life. Spike was taken aback by Velvet’s sudden show of affection, especially considered their rocky relationship, but he returned the embrace.

She fell asleep shortly afterwards, but even after she fell asleep, I didn’t leave because I felt like that whatever was watching her was still there and eventually, I fell asleep.

(Present Time)

“When I woke up, both me and Velvet were okay, surprisingly, but that monster that was watching Velvet and me was still in the castle.” Spike finishes his story.

The girls were all stunned by Spike’s tale, expressing their shock in grimacing faces and widened eyes.

Twilight remained a calm composure, “Did you ever see this monster?” She inquires.

Spike shook his head, “No, I’ve never seen it, but I can say one thing…” Spike starts, “Whatever it is, it’s after Velvet, I have no idea why, but it is.” He says.

Twilight nods, “I would like to help Velvet, but without knowing what we’re looking for, and it is after Velvet alone, I doubt it’d attack any of us.” She deduces.

Fluttershy winces, “So what will we do?” She questions.

Twilight sighs in solemn sadness, “We can’t do much, but just hope that it moves on and goes away.” She hopes.

The rest of the girls nods and the meeting is dismissed, all of them struggling to continue their day knowing what Velvet had to deal with.

Meanwhile, Velvet was having a strange dream…

(DREAM REALM)

Velvet felt strange. Very strange. She felt as if she was awake but her mind was still trapped in the subconsciousness that was the dream realm. What made her feel even stranger is the place she “woke up” was completely unfamiliar, yet familiar, at the same time.

She could have sworn that she saw this place somewhere, but her mind refused to open the locked doors that would provide her with the answers she sought.

Realising that she wouldn’t be getting any answers by just laying all day, Velvet removed the blankets from overtop of her and sat up.

She rubbed her eyes and surveyed her surroundings and saw that she was in a bedroom… obviously. This set off a red flag because she’s never had a dream where she was in a bedroom. And she means never.

Velvet continued to survey the bedroom and found these things: a ceiling fan, a single light, a picture of a pony with no face, a door in the wa-wait, what?! A pony with no face?! That wasn’t right at all.

Velvet returned her gaze to the picture and sure enough, there was a pony there, a Unicorn mare to be exact, and she had no face.

Intrigued, Velvet got out of the bed and began examining the picture. Even though the mare had no face, it was clear to Velvet that she was wearing a blank expression, but that was about it.

The picture of this faceless pony was both familiar and unfamiliar to Velvet, but just like with the room, her mind refused to give her the keys to those memories.

Sighing in frustration, the filly places picture back, but because she positioned it wrong, it fell and the glass broke into many pieces.

“Oooh, I’m so sorry, I’ll clean it up.” She panics and says to no one, saying it out of habit rather than anything else, and bends down to start picking it up when something happened that really made her freak out: the picture, broken frame and all, got up and returned to its perch on the nightstand, frame completely fixed. As if it did some kind of reverse or something.

Velvet wanted to scream, but the sight, along with everything else that had happened, denied her brain any response to the verbal freak out. She backtracked, eyes glued to the nightstand, to the picture, to the faceless pony, thinking something is going to jump out and grab her throat.

*BUMP*

Velvet yelped at the sudden block force and turned around to see the door embedded in the wall she saw before. Wanting out of this room, she tugged at the door handle, but for some reason, the door would not budge, not one bit.

After many failed attempts, Velvet turns back around and falls on her flanks, buries her head in her knees, sobbing, wanting out of this strange nightmarish dream.

*DING DONG*

Velvet’s head jerked up at the sound of the… clock? Where was it coming from? It sounded so loud like it was close, but she saw no clock at all in the room. But what she did see was a white paper. Right where the picture fell.

Velvet got up and approached the nightstand and picked the paper up, all that was written on it was two words: “Break It”.

Velvet cocked an eyebrow, wondering where this thing came from, and why such an anonymous message. What did it mean by “Break It”? What did it want her to break?

Then her mind made a breakthrough: it meant the picture. She had no idea why, but if it meant she can get out of this place, she would do it anyways.

She violently punches the picture, not only breaking the frame, but this time, destroying the actual paper and the wooden stand as well. And just like before, the picture played reverse and fixed itself.

Having already seen the sight, Velvet paid it no mind when it was finished and her attention was pulled to the white paper, and as she expected, a new message was written on it.

The message read: “A door can only be opened with the mind”.

What?

What the hell is this?

Velvet was never one to opt to using that word, even in her mind, but this situation warranted such language.

What the hell did it mean by “A door can only be opened with the mind”? It was so puzzling and riddling that Velvet was about to just stay here until she woke up. But her mind circulating a million miles per hour allowed for another breakthrough.

Velvet crushed the paper in determination, knowing what she had to do. The Unicorn turns to the door and opens her palm, closes her eyes, and concentrating three words: Open the door.

While chanting this mantra, Velvet heard a strange sound accompanying the still ringing clock, it sounded as if something was being traced with a pencil on fire.

She opened her eyes to see that the door had not opened, which was a shame since that was the only door in the room.

Or so she thought...

When her eyes surveyed the room again, they came across the sight of a door literally forming itself. Doorknob and all, everything was there in a matter of seconds.

Velvet, knowing that this was the door the message was referring too, approached the door and opened it.

Velvet’s face turns into a smile, she succeeded, the door opened. And the clock’s ringing got louder, coming from the right of the hallway.

Finally able to get some answers, Velvet sprinted towards the sound, and just as she expected, he ringing got louder.

While Velvet was chasing the sound, the walls and other features of the place formed themselves, they looked familiar but she didn't dwell on them.

Velvet continued to pursue the sound and eventually came to a stop as a bright light made itself apparent. Velvet squinted and covered her eyes, not expecting this flash of light. It took her eyes about 15 seconds before they adjusted, and when she removed her hand, she was greeted by the back of a mare. She couldn't tell any features about this mare other than she was tall, very tall. Everything else was black because of the bright light.

“Who are you?” The filly inquires.

But the mare doesn’t respond, doesn’t turn around, it just stands there, docile and not moving.

Velvet reaches out to the mare, “Hey, can you hear me?” She questions.

But like before, no response.

Velvet’s hand reached the mare’s back, but when she touches it, the mare mysteriously moves about 3 feet away from the Unicorn.

Velvet, feeling very perplexed, reaches out for the mare once again, but this time, instead of waiting for Velvet to touch her, it moves 3 feet up again.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Velvet ask, starting to walk towards the mare who kept on moving away.

It got to the point where Velvet was sprinting towards the mare that still would not stop moving.

And the strangest thing was that, despite moving, the mare wasn’t actually moving, like it wasn’t walking, wasn’t running, wasn’t even flying. It looked like it was a picture that was constantly moving away.

The clock’s ringing also got louder and louder with each step, but didn’t even hinder her ability to hear.

Velvet continued to chase the mare, but the result seemed all the same, every step she took, the mare was 7 more ahead. It felt like this was going to stay like this for an eternity.

That was until Velvet unexpectedly bumped into the mare that had now stopped moving. The young Unicorn massaged her nose before gazing upon the mare who was in a sitting position, but still managed to tower over Velvet.

Another thing Velvet noticed was that the clock stopped ringing.

Velvet, ready for answers, reaches out to the mare, “Mind answering a few questions?” She questions.

But before Velvet could even touch the mare, she turns around completely, but before Velvet could get a good look at the mare’s face, the light becomes unbearably bright, forcing Velvet to cover her eyes.

Velvet could hear the bell get much, much, much, louder and feel the place around her disintegrate into ash.

Velvet opened her eyes to see that the world around her was indeed being reduced to ash. She jerks her head towards the mare in fear, but the light obscured any details the mare may have, refusing to yield anything to Velvet.

“Wait! I haven’t gotten any answers!” Velvet called out, reaching for the mare, but as her hand made contact with the mare, it phased right through like the mare wasn’t even there to begin with.

Velvet gritted her teeth in anger, “Who are you?! Where am I?! What’s going on?!” Velvet questions.

But instead of answers, the world around her burst into ash and was blown away by the non-existent dream wind, leaving Velvet in a completely white void.

And if the light couldn’t get any brighter, it became ten times brighter, completely hiding the mare.

But before Velvet was thrusted into awaken world, she heard the mare speak for once.

“Time to wake up, he is waiting.”

(In the real world)

Velvet shot awake in a ice cold sweat, her mind rapidly putting together what she just witnessed. But before she can comprehend everything, she felt a cold feeling crawl up her spine.

He was here...

Author's Note

Sorry for the late chapter, hope you like it.