Collision Theory

Tranquility dominated the cool autumn night. So peaceful was the night that even the most hazardous of places gave way to a restful slumber. For those who stayed awake the distant stars painted the magnificent night sky, deep and full. Yet it was here on the edge of a more often insignificant forest where the land's meditation broke from shaking ground. Suddenly a bright explosion rocked the sky, tearing bark from nearby trees and embedding them into the trunks of others.

Amid the epicenter of the brilliant lights stood, rather shakily, a gryphon. The gryphon was unusually big compared to the average found in this land, roughly twice the height and length, and had a more muscular build than that of his lean counterparts. He was covered top to bottom in soot. Through gritted teeth he Inhaled sharply, and coughed madly as he choked from the falling ash. He managed to recover from his fit and started stretching and checking for further injury. For the most part he came out unscathed. His copper feathers on his body were disorganized and poked out every which way but he felt no wounds. He sprained his hindleg but could walk on it. However when he tried to unfold his wings a sharp pain rattled his spine. Looking back at them he noticed his left wing could not fold properly to his back and hung a little loosely. His right wing looked fine at first but anytime he tried to spread it he could only get halfway before he felt intense pain from his wing joint. All in all he could walk, but flying was out of the picture for now. With himself in check he started observing his surroundings.

It was dark, too dark to see in much detail. Despite this it didn't take long to figure that he was in a forest. On his left the trees only grew thicker, yet on his right existed a small, if rather unusual clearing. It was almost as if someone walked through the forest and fell every tree along the way.

The gryphon stumbled out to observe the clearing and made a discovery. Along the ground were two parallel lines of steel rails occasionally crossing over blocks of wood connecting the two. Railroad tracks, the veins of an industrial civilization. This was good news. Following the tracks one way or another will eventually take him to a town where he can start his investigation. With any luck a train may come by and he could hitch a ride. He debated between starting out or camping for the night when his body answered him, hitting him with a wave of exhaustion. Deciding to begin his journey tomorrow the gryphon went back to the edge of the forest. After some time scouting for a comfortable and secure place to sleep the gryphon gave himself into the night and drifted off into the dream realm.

But the gryphon wasn't the only creature awake that night. Far away in a distant town a single pony paced around a large round table.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, was confused. She had been up all night in her library wrapped up in her reading. She nearly called it a night before something strange occurred. As she was walking to her room she noticed a soft light emitting from the map room. She peered inside to see the map lit up, a blue light shone over a single location. The map had done many exotic things in the past yet this was, different. Twilight couldn't describe the feeling exactly but something about this event seemed off and it made her uneasy. She made her way over to the map and discovered that the light hovered over the Whitetale woods. She tried to think of explanations for what the map may be trying to tell her. Was it calling her? It never done so like in a way like this. It would usually alert her or her friends and place their cutie marks over the location they needed to travel. What if it was a warning? Was something bad happening?

Twilight's thoughts were interrupted as the light disappeared and the map flickered dead. Before Twlight could react the castle shook and a continuous low rumbling filled the air. Twilight feared an earthquake and made a start towards the door. Before she even took a full stride the shaking stopped.

The map returned and all appeared to be back in order as she inspected it. No longer was there any soft light emitting over any location. Twilight concluded that whatever caused the earthquake the map picked up on it before it happened. This discovery fascinated Twilight, she thought that the map had found a way to predict immediate natural disasters. A new ability for the map and one worth studying in depth. Her stomach turned sour upon examining the location where the light first emitted. Where once there was a clear image of the Whitetale forest, now the image was blurred, fading both in and out of focus. What disturbed Twilight the most was what was not there. Near the center of the forset there wasn't any image projected at all, just the table itself. It was as if someone took a map of Equestria and cut a small hole where the forest was.

Twilight started pacing anxiously around the table. Her mind was filling with every worse possible situation that could have happened ranging from a glitch with the map to the complete existence of that spot being erased. Eventually her mind grew weary causing her to stop. Twilight took a few breaths and started planning her next steps. She took a quill and parchment and started writing a letter to the princesses. If anyone knew what was happening in the realm of Equestria it would be them. She wrote down in great detail the event that transpired. Luckily Twilight already had plans to visit Princess Celestia the following day. Twilight made a mental note to summon her friends tomorrow to discuss what happened and have them keep her updated with any alerts. Finally, although she rather not, Twilight knew she needed to get some sleep herself and headed off to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Princess Luna, ruler of the night, controller of the moon, and guardian of the dream realm. It is there in the dream realm where she was now. So far it was just a routine night for her with only a couple of bad dreams here and there that she quickly resolved. Just about everyone in the land of Equestria experienced peaceful and fulfilling dreams. So quiet was the night that Luna found that she actually had time just to wonder and observe. She even spent some time in her sister's dream to chat and share memories. So when a blinding light shown as Luna was walking through the realm she was caught completely off guard.

After the sudden flash subsided Luna stood face to face with a new door, her preferred method of entering dreams. The door was grand and elegant in design. Small images were carved into the dark wooden door. Luna approached the door with a high state of curiosity as never before had an event like this occurred before her eyes. She raised a hoof and placed it over the carved images. The designs were so smooth and contained such an attention to detail that is she didn't know any better Luna would have said that the door was crafted by an expert carpenter and that this work was his master piece. Luna took a step back to examine the images in detail. A crown, cracked in two, dominated the top part of the door. The lower left side showed a bouquet of shriveled roses as if they haven't ever been nourished. The lower right image was a heart with a texture that made it appeared to be made from stone. Fianally an image rested in the center of all three. The final image detailed an open book with no words but instead a picture of a grass hill with a single large and very old tree.

As Luna examined the door a presence began to swirl around her. It was cold and full of sadness and yet at the same time determination. A tormenting panic started to grow and overcome all other emotions. Luna knew what this was. Whomever rested on the other side of the door was starting to slip into a nightmare, a very bad, unforgiving nightmare. Luna quickly tried to enter into the dream so help the poor soul on the other side only to back off as one of the most shocking thing in her recent memory happened. The door was locked.

Never before did Princess Luna, Guardian of the dream realm, come across a dream she could not enter. She spent the next part of the hour trying to gain access to the dream with no result. All the while the creature on the other side began to suffer more and more. Finally the door vanished all together, signalling the ending of the dream. To say Luna was dumbfounded was an understatement. No explanation she came up with made any sense as to why she couldn't enter that dream. She made a note to keep an eye for that door should it ever appear again. Luna continued her rounds without incident yet with each passing hour her mind returned to that extraordinary enigma of a door. She did this until at last it was time to retire as the new day approached. It was time for the moon to yield to the sun.