The dreams is the true land of nightmares for the living and eager-minded
Imagination of all things from great, insufferable social kindness to the hunger of heinous acts that are considered inhuman.
The greatest tortures of the world known to all are all started with the mind and therefore was reinforced by the dreams -Professor McQuin, Fordhoof University.

Nothing but the same nightmare every night as I try to go to bed. The same vivid lucid dream replays in my mind as I think about the scene by scene memory. The same bloody colors, the sharp sound of knife and flesh, the pooling of blood beneath my hooves, and the unicorn guard stabbing me to cease my movements. I am in the bathroom of my house that is connected to the main bedroom. The sound of the water from the sink can be heard as I try to wash my face of the dreaded dreams that my magical talent haunts me with.

I wasn’t always a pessimistic stallion. Before I got my Cutie Mark, I was happy and playful with everyone around me. I would jump on the dirtiest mud pile and belly flop in the pool. I would laugh and make jokes and sparks out of my ill-trained horn for my friends' amusement. I would climb to the apex of the jungle gym and shower everyone in my youthful greatness. When it came time for cutie marks however, I was the last one to get mine and the other classmates laughed at me for that

I always had a knack for predicting outcomes and strange coincidences. I was everyone’s favorite classmate when I accurately guessed the pop quizzes in school. I would have a weird image in my daydream and it would always be the same position of the teacher and the objects in it. Completely unchanged and always accurate. My horn didn’t even need to glow for the prediction to come to mind; fillies would rub up against me just to get the heads up on tests they didn’t study for.

In fact, my ability was sought after by colts and fillies who wanted predictions on their love lives. I always refuse because these predictions are normally random and uncontrollable. I tell everyone in the class. The one time I predicted a filly liking someone in my class it was for me (Random so I am not being greedy with this strange ability). I met her and she refused at first, claiming she didn’t like me. Due to my prediction’s promise however, over time the circumstances lined up for us to be together as a very young couple. To add the icing on the cake, I got my cutie mark that same day we had our first date. I was happy and blessed for a period.

However, my paradise would turn to purgatory when the first time the “dream” occurred.

I remember seeing the dream of an oddly colored mare and filly. They both had unusual colors on their coats that aren't pony-like in nature: Their hair was gone and only a fleshy pink skin was the only thing that was left, baldness on her head as well. The mare’s cutie mark was faded and almost transparent and the room was dark and jaded; blinds drawn and windows shut.

The mare was sad looking in the dream I thought, because she was crying and shaking while holding the baby like I would my teddy bear. I looked around in the dream so more and a tall stallion stood over them. I tried to get a closer look at the stallion but the dream stopped right then and there. The next night I saw the dream again and then the next night again but I could only see the same scene over and over again.

Over the next set of months, I became distant from my peers and even my own fillyfriend; dumping her almost immediately because she had the same pink hue on her coat. My classmates were worried at first about me as I became much more distant from the main body of high school students. At first, colts and fillies thought I was going through a damage patch and of course they “understand” my teenage dilemma. As time in school went by the understanding dissipated and in its stay lie in confusion and pseudo-pity. The class then avoided me as the nightmares took a physical toll on me. My features now make me look like a churl in front of a class who deems my now misfortune gift a pernicious attraction to the other student body and their normalcy.

Even after it being 8 years after high school. The mind-eviscerating dreams only continued in fold.

All I remember from that one was the stabbing, the yelling, the stench of raw iron, and the sadistic smile on the stallion’s face. When I saw that dream when I was young, I had no clue that this wasn’t a dream but a prediction of fate.

And that is what my cutie mark was a symbol of… my fate.

I took a deep breath as I stepped away from the sink and approached my bathroom door. It has my favorite kind of wood which is rosewood with a gold and smooth doorknob. I entered the bedroom of my home as I saw the sleeping mass in my bed hadn't flipped sides yet and I smiled.

I looked at the empty space in my shared bed and I sighed a sad sigh. Everyday for the past 18 years I have had the same dream of my adult doing the heinous act of murder. My face shows examples of restless sleep and I only have the same dream which is now physically wearing me down. I don’t know I can change this fact about my magical ability: Sight seer. I can see the future that may or may not be changed. Seeing the coincidental and making it inevitable.

I can see short term predictions like me dropping my glass of water or stubbing my hoof or something. But they always came true no matter the circumstances of avoiding them. The exact image happens and the result is always the same. It's living your life walking on eggshells and that is no true way to live.. The dream that I have every night is the only long term prediction that haunts me no matter how many times I pray for it to stop. Well hopefully Princess Twilight Sparkle can help stop the painful nightmare, the long term vision from becoming a true prediction.

I look at the sleeping mass on my bed and kiss the covered head as I settle myself for some form of sleep. Hopefully a good dream for once.

“Nope no good dream at all” I started as I told Twilight Sparkle as she wrote the damning details down like a therapist.

“And you tried the Milk and cookies solution? The hot food solution?” Twilight asked me before writing down more notes. I shake my head to both of those solutions she proposed the last time I came here for some magical advice. The dream is of magical importance and the only pony that is reachable to the public that can help is Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Yes I have a princess yet the dreams don’t stop. The same ending keeps happening with me committing murder on two ponies. I even broke night, drank coffee which I hate, and used amphetamines to keep myself from sleeping the past week.” I said to her in a tired panic.
“I need magical help that therapeutic science cannot help with. I need some kind of magic to stop my magic or something to stop the bad dreams from happening” I half-lied to the Princess about my dreams being about sleep instead of my own magical ability. I worry that if I tell her what my magical ability is and the sordid circumstances involving it, then she would have to take drastic measures.

The room that was inhabited by the two ponies was silent and thick with an eerie silence. Twilight was lost in thought as she was thinking about that proposal and I was left to wonder about the future. Who was that mare and that filly really? I never really thought about who or what they could be to me if I would draw arms against them. To stab them so much that the raw and bloody flesh would perfume my olfactory sense in real life as well as the ethereal plane. I sighed as I rubbed my face with a hoof and gave in to my personal despair.

I do not wish to become that pony I see every time I close my eyes. Princess Twilight Sparkle is my true last hope of possibly getting a handle on stopping this prophecy. I felt a hoof on my shoulder as Twilight looked at me with a solid face. “Alright. I am going to send a letter and hopefully I can help you with this problem you have.” Twilight said in a warm smile.

“You will? You think you know of a way to help me?” I said with cheer.

Twilight awkwardly laughed and said this to me before I got ahead of myself. “Not ‘of a way’ more like ‘of a pony’”

“Thou has nothing to fear my little pony! Me and Sparkle will save you from your nightmares in a jiffy~” Princess Luna said in a booming voice as my head was snapped back into a neutral position on my shoulders. I looked at Twilight on the left side of my bed as she smiled awkwardly as I looked at Princess Luna. I smiled at her and tried to relax myself from showing how nervous I really am. I am in front of two of Equestria’s princesses and they are here to help me but this position could be dangerous if they read my thoughts and deem me an Equestrian criminal.

“The plan is simple,” Twilight Sparkle says to me from the corner of my bed. “We go in your subconscious, find the dangerous dream and eradicate it from your mind.” Twilight says in a calm manner of voice that soothes me. She did defeat Tirek and Discord. Two very eldritch like monsters. So her Ethos was good. I took a deep breath and said ‘I am ready’ to them. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off into the land of dreams. Hoping that they can stop the nightmares.

And possibly.. My future.

Twilight and Luna both watched as the stallion fell to a deep sleep. Twilight looks to her right to see Luna’s horn glowing a dim baby blue hue as the spell slips off her horn. A sleep spell was a bit underhanded of the stallion’s consent, but the dire situation and how it was presented by this civilian made it a necessity to start quickly Twilight thought. Luna apparently shared the same sentiment in terms of the situation. The night wind rolled by the only awake alicorns as the time to start the examination was now.

“First thing’s first” Twilight said as she lights up her horn to scan the stallion for his magic level and if this was a chaos magic menace. The times she found chaos magic as a main cause to a lot of problems for the small village made her adapt the habit of checking for that element. Discord and Pinkie Pie are the only two beings she knows that can cause great riffs in dimensions and space because they… are themselves.
After about a few moments of scanning for chaos magic being a direct cause for this stallion is a no-go, Twilight proceeds to scan for magic being generated in his sleep and how abnormal it changed versus him being awake. When examining this stallion earlier today at her castle, Twilight subtly scanned for any magic levels above the normal neutral level of 150 mana. A few more seconds until any sign of magic could be found and…

“Nothing..” Twilight whispered in disbelief.

“What nothing Sparkle?” Luna asked curiously as she stepped closer to her fellow alicorn princess. Eyes in a half-lidded, studious display.

“Nothing as in his mana is 0; zilch, the number unicorns have when they are..” Twilight begins but Luna cuts her off immediately. “In English or Lay mare’s terms Twilight” Luna asked patiently though her patience is slightly waning.

“Ok” Twilight begins as she takes a deep breath. “You see. Normal unicorns have different mana levels depending on the skill and training they have in terms of magic casting” Twilight begins as she unfurls her wings to stretch them quickly to relieve some slight tension. “The highest mana reading is an unknown variable but for all unicorns with different experiences have a neutral level that was discovered by Dr. Ph. D 40 years ago that starts at 100 mana. All healthy unicorns can go up above 100 because of their magic casting and mana training skills. Dr. Ph. D invented the spell to check for the mana levels in unicorns” Twilight inquired as Luna looked at her interestingly while hearing this information.

‘I wonder what mine and Celestia’s mana limits are’ Luna thought.

“However” Twilight said as she walked over slowly to the unconscious stallion as she saw his steady breathing. “Any number below 100 means that the unicorn could have mana deficiency syndrome, a form of magic caused diabetes which lowers the metabolism and thus the mana generation but those are above 0.” Twilight said as she looked at Luna with worry in her eyes.

“What happens if a unicorn or alicorn for that matter reaches 0 Sparkle?” Luna ask.

“Well… They die” Twilight Sparkle says with much difficulty.

The room grows silent as the news of the medical facts sinks in. Twilight is more surprised than she is worried. If this stallion has had these results for as long as he has said he has been having this nightmare of his, then he should be dead. He is a living contradiction to the medical findings that one of Equestria’s finest doctors have discovered which has saved thousands of lives that even Celestia was proud to see in action. The stallion let out a loud snore as he rolled over on his right side. Sleeping like a log is a sign that he is physically healthy. “This is something I gotta write down later but we have a mission to complete” Twilight said as she looked over to Luna with determination in her eyes to solve this mystery. Luna shared the sentiment but stopped Celestia’s most accomplished student before her next actions became rash.

“Hold fast Ms. Sparkle. We may be met with a mystery of magical and medical contradictions but we must wait for the signs” Luna began. “In order for our transport to the source of his nightmares is accurate, we can only go in subconscious when the nightmare or bad dream starts to show physical signs on his sleeping person” Luna ended as she gave Twilight a strong look. It wasn’t to shone the young alicorn, but to show that Luna wants to help as well; Patience was the enemy and the resource they needed to keep in check lest they make a grave mistake. A mistake that rips his mental state apart to sparks. Twilight lets out a breath and looks to Luna as she walks next to her and sits besides the night princess.

Minutes rolled by and the clock in everyone’s mental state were ticking different tones and gave different thoughts. Twilight was wondering why this stallion is still alive given the reading. She checked for any signs of mana spikes in 2 minute intervals and still nothing. Nothing physically has changed on him either. What is going on inside of his mind Twilight wonder and why does this mana mystery give her a strong sense of fear and dread due to how unnatural it is. Reality has rules that all mortal beings must follow yet this ordinary stallion who wants to be rid of the nightmares is showing grave signs that aren’t matching his physical description. Twilight was sweating bulbs of sweat due to her trying to mentally process this information as the waiting continued and the mental stress of her mental clock pounds on her fearful hypothesis of the unnatural.

Princess Luna had similar thoughts in terms of this citizen. He being only a mere mortal and only living in the most casual way a pony can live shouldn’t have this severe of a plight. Nonetheless, Luna flared up her horn and opened the gateway between ethereal sleep and the contemporary real. Wind softly caresses the alicorn princesses as the magical hole opens to its widest apex. “Ok. Now we must go into his subconscious and find the source of these dreams. His sleep pattern currently should give us the safest entire to his subconscious. Let us make haste and be steadfast Twilight Sparkle” Luna says as she begins to walk forward in front of Twilight; entering the portal halfway. Twilight gets up off of her haunches from her cluttered thought to join her fellow princess into the unknown and the unseen.

The entry through the portal was a bit jarring as an experience. The shifting and warping of the reality bonds causes small amounts of nausea to Twilight as she feels her skin and muscles being warped in the refractive index of this dimension. Not even crossing the human mirror felt this discomforting. Twilight opened her eyes to spot Luna going through the portal with ease and confidence. The sight gave Twilight a small new form of respect and appreciation for the night alicorn’s abilities and responsibilities. The thought of one of her subjects being in grave danger replaced Twilight’s small bouts of discomfort, granting only a fresh wave of determination and resolve. A few seconds later they land in the subconscious of the stallion.

Twilight felt soft carpet as she landed on her hooves and looked around the scene only to find young fillies and colts; teachers giving lectures and exchanging test answers and the province required student classwork. This scene was that of an early elementary school memory. Twilight walks around looking up and down at all angles trying to see any abnormality to the whole scene. Nothing out of ordinary in plain sight. This is a normal elementary school classroom.

“Luna is this the cause of his sickness?” Twilight asked looking at Luna expectedly given this was her area of expertise. “Nay young Sparkle. This is merely the blanket that hides the monster. We are merely looking for the corner to pull the blanket off” Luna replied in a mysterious choice of an analogy. Twilight cocks her head to the side in confusion. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just pull from the blanket body if that’s the case?”

Luna looks at Twilight with a strong, authoritative glare. “Nay again Twilight Sparkle. It would work conventionally in the real world where our shared concepts of natural and reality is just. But we aren’t in our dimension of reality Twilight Sparkle. We are in the ethereal plane of an already mentally depleted individual mortal. If we do not treat his mind with strong tender loving care, it will rip his subconsciousness apart. While in this realm, we have rules that we must strongly follow. Kinda like an operation in a surgeon’s table: You don’t cut with a scalpel and expect a clean result” Luna finished her sentence off as she walked over to the children and examined them.

“Ok. So what do we do princess?” Twilight says as she walks around the room. Being careful of touching anything that could be ‘dream-breaking.’

“We are looking not for a sign, but a beacon. Something that doesn’t belong in this image of his memory. That beacon will lead us to the source of his nightmares” Luna said as she looks over a fold of papers on the teacher’s desk. “And yes Twilight, it is ok to touch anything in the scene. Just don’t be harsh to the items. Remember: Everything is a fragile material.” Luna finishes.

“Ok Luna.” Twilight said as she walked over to the small jungle gym in the classroom. After finding nothing of strong randomness, Twilight proceeds to go to the main exit and see if there might be something beyond this tiny classroom. As soon as the door opened, a great abyss of starry night sky as far as the equine eye can see was revealed to Twilight. A vast emptiness with no end in sight and the spire of stars was an alluring call to Twilight’s small senses. Twilight felt no control over her body as she tried to walk into the abyss for only Luna to grab her by the right wing and yanking her back inside the room.

“TWILIGHT!” Luna shouted to get Twilight out of her trance. “Uggh. EWhat?” Twilight said as she blinked. “Be very careful when opening these doors Sparkle. They can lead to the ‘id’” Luna said with heavy caution in her voice. Twilight got off the ground and asked what the ‘id’ is under her breath while she preens her wings from the force tug Luna provided to save her life. Luna in frantic action due to the adrenaline from almost losing her fellow alicorn proceeds to explain.

“The id is a vast emptiness in the mind. All discarded actions go to this place like a landfill and they can lead on for miles upon miles in this dimension’s concept of distance. Think of it as an astrological ‘space’ for the mind.” Luna says as she looks back.

“I am guessing there is an ‘however’ condition to it?” Twilight asked as she looked at Luna with a worried expression.

“Yes… You see. The id is an endless abyss that grants no exits. Once one enters… one will never come out” Luna said as a flash of melancholy hits her face. “It’s the reason why I destroyed all magical texts, techniques, and portals that can access this realm. I lost too many friends trying to solve the mystery of the minds of many.” Luna shared as she walked past Twilight and continued her search for the beacon in silence. Twilight may be a literal rocket genius, but she does not need to be to know she pulled a heartstring with her bold curiosity of this realm.

In silence they continued their search for this beacon. Checking everything that is to offer in such a cluttered space of a classroom. The last place the duo haven’t checked was the closet, but that was because of Twilight’s earlier error. Running out of options, Luna looked at the closet in vain and decided to open it just to sate her curiosity. The click of the doorknob upon her hoof was the first sign that this door shouldn’t belong in this memory.

“This is the object that doesn’t belong. Sparkle” Luna said as she continued to open the doorknob. “Equestria has stopped making doorknobs because they were expensive to make and sometimes inconvenient to some of our… outside country guests. No one in this stallion’s age group should know of them or have them used casually in school” Luna said as the door fully opened to a black void.

“Ah man. It's the id” Twilight first assumes.

“No it's not Twilight. No sign of the spiral of stars in the center. This is part of his subconscious mind. Our journey continues from here.” Luna says as she takes a leap forward into the blackness. Twilight quickly follows Luna after shouting “wait for me” as the fall below happened.

However what they found at the bottom was not so welcoming to the dream explorers.

The two alicorns landed gracefully on their hooves after the descent down from his memory. Both of them looked happy to see some actual development of progress in fixing this stallion. As Twilight smiled at Luna and Luna at Twilight, they both saw a flash of light in the corner of their eyes. Quickly turning to the flash they saw, they both looked upon the apparition that is causing the stallion’s behavior. What they got instead was behind any mental cognitive conclusion.

Bulbs that depict ponies' outcomes and fates are displayed before the alicorns in an unbridled unceremonious display of awesome power. The amount of bulbs in this realm abounds to an infinity that mere eyes and magical ability can never truly see. Bulbs shine with a bright and almost blinding light as the imagery rapidly changes on each of the stemless bulbs that connect to no real foundation. The future and the present being predicted for all beings of mortal presence is right in front of them. Seeing all possible endings for all possible outcomes for all possible beings made the great power indisputable in unnatural magical all the more alluring. Twilight couldn’t even yell or scream in mortal fright as the unctuous beauty of the sight melted her mind and unravelled all the teachings of reason she has known. The knowledge has washed away as the future telling bulbs continue to amaze her and render her into a lawless mess of a once educated alicorn. The variables to the unknown magic were so unscrupulous that the mere thought of how it is even existing has Twilight wanting to know more of its universal secrets. Perhaps the magic is a new element waiting to be found and discovered. Twilight is now twitching, eyes shrunken to pin needles, tall flapping with reckless abandon, and mouth forming while twitching with grins begins to walk into the infinite.

Princess Luna could only watch as the concept of time in this warped space has her locked in a mental prison with what felt like hours with her curious observation of the future telling bulbs of light.. She has never encountered power this vast, power this strong, power this... beautiful.

“Beautiful” Luna said as she followed Twilight into this unknown abyss of unspoken knowledge but also a well of unspoken horrors when it’s secrets began to be learned.

The morning of what would have been a normal Monday was met with panic, fear, and great shock. In the middle of Ponyville square in giggling, laughter of mania, messes of their reserved and calm selfs, Princesses Twilight and Luna were withered husks of their original selfs. Their bodies malnourished to close starvation, hair thinned with rapid aging, hooves full of lined bones and their veins have become varicose. The sight of mortal decay was frightening for the fragile minded civilians of Ponyville as they perceived this as a great sign of worry: immortals have been aged by an unknown evil that lurks among their contemporary community. The rest of the Mane six came to their friend’s aid only to see her in this state of being. Rarity was shocked and Fluttershy vomited at the unholy sight of her good friends. Twilight was giggling and rapping in tongues that even alluded the highly strange Discord when he accompanied the main guardians of Ponyville. Spike the dragon whelped with despair at the whole scene.

I however was not filled with any empathy, pity towards my would be savior, but was filled with umbrage with myself because of this awesome power. My curse is more grave than I can ever fathom as the princess of magic had her ass kicked by whatever is inside of my magical ability. Twilight only shouting about Seeing the fantezie! And Sfârșitul este acum and slowly stopped speaking our common speech wasn’t gonna get me anywhere to solve my own problems. I only shudder as the horror they saw could render them in this state.

After that Monday a week ago, my marefriend has beget news to me: She is with child. The sweat hitting my brow harder than before as the prophecy steadily came true. Weeks turned to Months and change went the seasons and my opinions. Maybe the curse was a fragment of my worries of adulthood. Maybe I was anxious for the restricted freedoms I will grant myself when I have given the seed to her egg. Maybe.. This curse won’t come true after all. I have hoped this would be the case as I am now painting the nursery of our home. My wife is in intensive care as the pregnancy has reached a few complications, but that just gave me time to make this house a home.

A knock was left on my door as I went to go see the pony behind it. I look through the peephole to see Dr. Peek-a-boo is on my porch; the fertility doctor. “May I come in sir?” The doctor asked me as I unlocked the door to greet him. “Sorry for the random drop by but I have critical news to tell you about your wife and the foal.” The doctor said as he got his breath back. “I’ll be quick and blunt sir: You wife has had a mutation. Her hair has fallen out like she has cancer and it can never return. It has also spread to the child” Peek-a-boo said as he looked to me as if I understood his diagnosis. I nodded with understanding. As long as the foal, my daughter was alright, then I am determined.

“Also… about your foal…” The doctor started and I began to ask the normal worry-parent-medical-questions in rapid succession that would make Pinkie Pie proud of me. Peek-a-boo was quick to answer them. “No the foal is physically fine.” Doctor started “However that foal isn’t of your seed sir” The doctor said as I slowly took in the news. Of course I laugh at the news because there is no way that the foal couldn’t be mine. I was the stallion my wife has married and was with for 2 years. There’s no possible way she would have done that to me.

Doctor Peek-a-boo kept a straight face as he took a deep sigh and continued his news giving. “The chromosomes inside the child weren't even 1 when we tested your blood for the baby’s. And the truth is… you are sterile. You don’t have any living sperm that could get your wife, my patient, pregnant since she has known you.” The doctor gave me the medical paper he had in his coat pocket and showed me my test results. “Hope you don’t mind me asking your doctor for your info by the way. I had to make sure you were healthy and your wife gave me her consent after you guys married 10 months ago.” Doctor Peek-a-boo’s voice was just a distant whisper to you as you looked at the results.

The color washed off my face as the documents told me the cold hard truth was harsher than the doctor outside of my foyer. I began to breath heavy as the news now hit me harder than I could have ever imagined. She cheated on me

She cheated

She cheated

She..cheated

I wept in front of the doctor as my trust was destroyed and betrayed. Here I am trying to stop this horrible curse as the universe itself was now pushing me to do the grave crime. The doctor looked at me and said nothing as the news continued to flood my mind with heinous inquisitions. Horrible thought after horrible thought slowly morphed my mind into that of a depraved beast looking for an answer to a desperate question. Over the course of hours, the thoughts turned into bulbs of the same fate that have long plagued my mind since I was in highschool. However, only this time, I was weak enough to listen to the sick temptations. This continued on for 2 weeks until the same day my wife and her bastard child would return to this place that I made their home. The front door squeaked open as the ‘queen of the castle’ returned “Honey! I am home! AND WITH GUMDROP!!” I hear her call to me with extreme excitement in her voice.

I sigh happily as I was chopping up onions with my favorite knife for dinner. Chopping and the shine off of my knife’s surface. Chopping the small onion cubes to perfection.

Chopping
Slicing
Smiling

“Honey? Are you ok?” My wife asked me from the hallway.

“Yes I am alright baby!” I said as a wickedly smile grew on my face as I finished dicing the onions and feeling the rough edge of my chef’s knife with strong intrigue. “I am Alllllllright~” I sang out as I left the kitchen to go meet the pair. Knife tight in my hoof as I left the kitchen.

Author's Note

A horror to help calm my universe inside of my personal madness