Burning. My surroundings are burning.
There's a wooden wall beside me, on fire. The flames dance and lick their way up the side of the wall, reflecting the heat of the wood's combustion onto me. I can feel it on my fur, and the ashes and embers land in my mane only to be snuffed out by the protection spell I had cast. I turn around to run down the hall that is currently being enveloped in fire and smoke, only to gallop to the other end and find it leads to nowhere but a dead end. Panicked, I turn to face my oncoming demise as the dancing wall of fire rushes towards me, squeezing the oxygen out of the surrounding air as it eats it up to fuel its destructive tendencies. I'm dead. That's it. It's the last thing I'll ever see. The fire begins to crawl up my legs, the feeling of fur being burt from flesh and flesh from bone causing me to evoke a shriek from sheer terror before the feeble sounds of my own voice are snuffed out from the bounds of the real world and my vision fades to black.
And yet again, as my vision comes back, I find myself in the same room that was on fire mere moments ago. At least it seemed like moments; I couldn't tell if it had been hours, days, or minutes before my senses returned to me. I feel exhausted. I suddenly hear voices nearby, seemingly coming from downstairs. I attempt to stand up, but my legs fail me, pain shooting up through the joints. I try to cry out to the voices, but to no avail. "I'm here! Help!"
It's no more than a faint whisper in the distant black. It doesn't even bother to echo off the wooden walls of the building. I try once more to stand, but once again my legs seem to fail me. I cast a levitation spell on myself to float myself up, and before my legs can collapse, I spread my wings and bring myself to a hover as my legs dangle uselessly beneath me. I float down the hallway back from whence I came, turning at the stairwell to the foyer of the luxurious old manor that I found myself in. The voices are louder, and pretty soon I can make out several lights floating in and piercing through the smoke that clouded the room.
"Is anyone there?" they ask. This is repeated several more times, and upon further investigation, I am able to assume that they are looking for survivors.
I glide down to their location, and I am soon able to see that these ponies combing this burnt skeleton of a manor are firefighters; two unicorns and one earth pony, all of them muscular stallions clad in the standard yellow firefighting attire. They're calling out to somepony, in the hopes of finding a survivor. I try feebly to get their attention, waving one of my hooves in front of their faces, casting spells, and even trying to speak, but to them I am merely a phantom. It dawns on me that none of the firefighter brigade can see me, and upon this realization, I make my way around the old manor, also hoping to find some survivors.
Room after room I search, finding no trace of the ponies who once inhabited this place before it burned in a terrifying inferno. Eventually, when all seemed lost, I happened across a private study by pulling out a book on a bookshelf. When I pulled the book out, there came a thunderous clatter, as if the floor itself was splitting apart. Then, I saw the bookshelf turn around, and I found myself hovering in the aforementioned study. It was small, cramped, and dark, prompting me to cast an illumination spell in order to see where I hovered. And when the room lit up, I took notice of several things before making the mistake of glancing in the room's corner.
In the corner lay a pony in a pool of blood, a knife in his side. The blood trickled down the floor away from the body, and upon further investigation, I am able to clearly see that the poor unicorn stallion had been brutally and ruthlessly mutilated. I forced down the rising bile in my throat, flying over and examining the cadaver for any evidence of murder. Satisfied in my examination, and not wanting to see any more, I set out in search of a murderer.
I feel the bookshelf that led to the rest of the lavish manor, in search of an out switch but finding none. My mind begins to race as claustrophobia sets in, nearly sending me into a panic. But then, I remember my vast knowledge of spells and teleport myself out to the library.
Pain! Burning!
I feel a searing pain like none I have ever felt, again threatening to end my life. It was like I was on fire, yet there was no flame. I look around to see what the cause of this could be, finding no reason through my rapidly blurring vision. I knew one thing and one thing for certain. I needed to get out of this manor. I flew like a madmare in a futile attempt to escape, crashing into walls and eventually a doorframe that knocked me from the air. As I lay stunned, I hear the firefighters shouting, and frantic hoofsteps followed by a rumble and loud crashes as my surroundings began to collapse. I tried to fly, but my wings wouldn't lift me off the cold wood floor no matter how hard I tried. Once more I tried to shout out to the doomed firefighters as they suffered a grisly fate, but alas, to no avail. Once more, valiant heroes paid the ultimate price. And I could do nothing about it.
The collapse grew louder, and the doorway in front of me caved in. I begin to call out to anypony, hoping that somepony would hear my pleas. As the dust grows nearer, I call out to the pony I love, hoping she will hear.
"Lunaaaa!"
Wetness. My coat is drenched, and I am hyperventilating and trembling in a state of sheer panic. I hear a faint voice call out to me. "Twilight?! TWILIGHT!"
I feel magic around me, lifting me from my spot on the rug on the floor as I glanced around for any proof that I was still in that hellish nightmare. My half-asleep eyes find no proof, just the familiar walls of Luna's bedchambers. And soon, I find her. A look of concern is on her face, her cerulean eyes peering into mine. Her mouth is moving, but I cannot hear her words. She levitates me over to the bed, which is warm to the touch and soft beneath me.
As my hearing clears and I find myself once more in reality, I feel the bed shift and a wing curl around my back, pulling me in close. Then comes Luna's voice, whispering in my ear. "It's alright my love, it's just a dream."
I slowly regain control of my terrified and rapid breathing, shuddering as I feel the warmth of the mare who is gently holding me. "Was it a dream?" I whisper.
"Yes, Twilight," Luna replies softly, gently resting her head on top of mine. "You were just dreaming. You must have had a terrible dream, for I found you surrounded by your books on the floor and shuddering. Do you care to elaborate?"
I knew that Luna knows how utterly terrifying dreams can be, yet I didn't want to recount my dream, at least not yet. I sighed a shuddering sigh into my marefriend's chest fluff and closed my eyes, exhausted but not wanting to close my eyes for fear of having a repeat nightmare. "I'm scared."
Luna's wing strokes my backside, and she speaks once more. "Get some rest, Twilight. I'll be here next to you. There's no need to fear; I'll watch over your dreams."
With that being said, I feel safe once more, closing my eyes and falling asleep in Luna's soft embrace...
