Author's Note

Hey everycreature!

So we're back here and that's all there is to say!

First Nightmares

A few months passed since Precious' birthday and the two sisters were sound asleep in their beds or well at least one of them was... Precious was twisting and turning in bed as she was having some bad dreams.

"No... No... It's not possible..." Precious mumbled in her sleep as inside her mind...

Precious imagined herself, cold and alone in the Frozen North, outside the Crystal Empire, just having a thin cloak to protect herself from the howling winds that almost seemed to carry her, not being able to move by her own legs. The snow blew into her face, blinding her, not that she could see clearly in the first place since it was so dark, Precious just had a slight glow from her horn, to light her way and making sure she didn't fall into a ravine.

"So cold..." Was all Precious could say as her teeth clattered from the biting freezing wind. "Got to keep going, home can't be too far away..."

As Precious continued trotting through the deep snow, suddenly something began to happen in front of her...

Black smoke formed into a mass as a few seconds later, a pair of what seemed like green eyes showed, with dark purple smoke coming out from them, it towered above the unicorn filly, casting a shadow above Precious as she was very afraid now, cowering from the terrifying sight before her.

"Who are you..." Precious asked as she trembled more from fear than the cold now as in the back of her mind, she could hear someone else calling her, but she couldn't make out the voice or even what it was saying.

"You mean you don't recognize me? The shadow spoke, laughing deeply as its "head" was right above the filly, staring directly down at her. "You will soon enough..." And then the shadow dove down, heading straight for the filly as Precious tried to light up her horn and blast the shadow away, but she was too late as the black shadow engulfed her.

Precious found herself closing her eyes as the shadow somehow managed to possess her in a way, the filly finding out that her head hurt a lot as she held her hooves to her head, trying very hard to not submit, fighting the corrupting influence inside her. However it was too much for her, she kept hearing this background voice calling to her, still not clear as Precious had to force her eyes open, as she noticed her vision seemed to change, her eyes colored green as she saw the same dark purple smoke coming out.

"NO!" Precious screamed out as she then woke up in her real life, finding herself sweating, out of breath as she panted, feeling her throat all dry, and also feeling lightheaded. It took at least a minute before she could make sense of what was happening and see Flurry on her bedside, having a very concerned look on her face. Precious tried speaking, but found that she couldn't find the voice to speak, her throat being that dry.

"Breathe sister." Flurry told Precious, holding onto the younger filly's hoof. "Nice and easy." Flurry instructed her little sister as the filly did so, calming down as she felt her heartbeat go slower.

"Sis, I..." Precious began speaking through her dry throat, but Flurry stopped her.

"Don't talk yet, I'll get some water for you, be back in a minute." And Flurry teleported to the kitchen in the palace, before teleporting back with a glass full of cool water for her sister to drink. "Drink slowly." Flurry told her sister as Precious drank, feeling relieved as the water refreshed her dry throat.

"Thanks sis." Precious smiled as she finished the last sips of water.

"You're welcome, now are you alright?" Flurry asked, sitting down on her sister's bed. "I tried waking you up for awhile, but you didn't wake, I was starting to get really worried, I almost got mom and dad in here."

"I just had a bad dream, I'm fine now." Precious lied a little to her sister, which clearly wasn't enough to convince Flurry.

"Seemed like more than a bad dream to me..." Flurry expressed her worries. "Look sis, you know you can tell me anything right?" Flurry said in a comforting voice as she got closer to her sister, Precious knowing Flurry would just keep asking if she didn't say the whole truth.

"Okay, but you have to promise not to tell mom and dad, I don't know what they'll do if they know." Precious asked.

"I promise, like Auntie Pinkie Pie says, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Flurry confirmed, letting her sister know she wouldn't say a word.

"Okay, I imagined this black smoke creature, he possessed me, I guess he turned me into him, because I had the same green eyes with the dark purple smoke coming out of them, it was so scary it was like it was real and I couldn't get him out my head." Precious summed up.

"Sounds like something mom and dad once told me, about this evil unicorn king named Sombra who had that ability, but he has been gone for a long time now..." Flurry thought.

"I hope so, I really don't want that to happen to me for real." Precious started to shake with fright.

"Hey, as long as you're in here, you're safe sis and I'm not going to let anything hurt you, okay?" Flurry comforted her younger sister as she then hugged Precious.

"Thank you sis, I know you'll always be here for me." Precious replied as she hugged back. "Hey, do you mind sleeping with me in my bed tonight, I'll feel a lot better and maybe sleep during the night if you're next to me."

"Sure thing sis." Flurry smiled as she got in the bed next to her sister and even thought it was a tight fit, the two fillies managed to stay on the bed, Flurry putting the covers over them with her magic as the young alicorn yawned. "Goodnight sis."

"Goodnight." Precious replied as with her sister's loving warmth nearby, Precious managed to sleep properly, although that lingering thought of Sombra stayed in the back of her mind...

About a week passed and the two sisters, with Cadance and Shining Armor, were currently in the town of Ponyville, more specificallly the School of Friendship, the royal couple were invited to be guest speakers for a class and Flurry and Precious were left to go about by themselves, provided, with promises to their parents, that they would stay inside the school. It was expected that the two might play a trick on another class or play hide and seek or something like that, but now they were actually going to do something else...

Ever since the family arrived at the school and the two sisters were free to roam about by themselves, they took this opportunity to try and solve Precious' problem, for the younger filly, ever since that night a week ago has been having sleeping issues. Flurry very much wanted to tell her parents, but kept the promise, and well when they got to the school, Flurry told her sister that they could talk to someone else who would be helpful and not tell mom and dad if they asked her to keep it a secret.

"Sis, are you sure about this?" Precious asked Flurry as the two were standing by a rather large set of doors.

"Yes, I'm sure our Auntie can help and promise not to inform mom and dad." Flurry answered as she knocked on the door.

"Come in." The voice called as Flurry opened it, Precious following as the two entered and at the opposite end of the room, sitting behind a desk was a pinkish color coated mare, with a purple mane that had pale light blue streaks in it. "Oh, look who it is, my two favorite nieces." The mare smiled as she put down the paperwork she was currently attending to.

"Hello Auntie Starlight." The two fillies smiled as Starlight got off her chair and trotted over to the two, accepting their hugs before breaking them.

Starlight wasn't really one of the two sisters' aunties, but she was a very good friend to their actual auntie Twily, in fact Twilight handed over leadership of the School of Friendship to Starlight, entrusting her with being in charge of the school once Twilight took over rulership of all of Equestria. Flurry and Precious both loved their Auntie Starlight, they felt comfortable sharing things with her and she offered great advice when they needed it and no one else was around.

"So, what can I help you two with?" Starlight asked.

"Well first Auntie Starlight, can you promise that whatever we say, you wouldn't tell mom and dad." Flurry asked seriously.

"Okay, I promise, but it sounds like you two have something serious to say..." Starlight putting a hoof to her chin.

"Go ahead sis, tell Auntie Starlight." Flurry urged Precious as the younger filly took a deep breath before speaking.

"Okay, you see Auntie Starlight, I been having these bad dreams, nightmares about this black smoke creature, possessing me and controlling my actions and I couldn't fight back." Precious revealed.

Just like everyone else, Starlight knew about the filly's true origin, but just like everyone else, she saw a little filly who needed a home and new life, accepting her for what she was, in fact Starlight very much understood the filly because she went through similar times, having been shown a better way by Twilight and given a second chance, which she used it and didn't regret it.

"I may have just the thing to try and help." Starlight said. "Hypnosis, if I can get into your mind I can convince it to forget these nightmares you been having, want to give it a try?"

"I guess I have no other option right now." Precious replied.

"Okay, take a seat." Starlight told the filly as Precious took the seat in front of the desk while Starlight returned to her chair behind the desk, Flurry grabbing hold of her sister's hoof to let her know she was right next to her. "Okay, all you have to do is keep your eyes on the star." Starlight taking out a gold, metal star on a chain, starting to swing it in front of Precious.

Precious focused her eyes on the star, watching as it moved from left to right and back again, as she started to feel her eyes go heavy and her eyelids started to drop.

"You should begin to feel sleepy any moment, just listen to the sound of my voice." Starlight spoke as to Precious, her auntie's voice sounded like echoes to her ears.

As Precious closed her eyes, her mind drifted off as she heard Starlight's voice, but it seemed to trail off as the filly opened her eyes, only to see the black smoke creature, known as Sombra, in front of her...

"NO!" Precious shouted out as she didn't want to see that creature again, shooting her eyes open and surprising both Flurry and Starlight, cowering down as she felt her sister's hoof resting on her back, looking up as she didn't say anything.

"This is worse than I thought..." Starlight said in her head, knowing this wasn't anything she witnessed before.