Equestrian Thrones

Twilight rarely ever got ‘nightmares.’ Her ‘nightmares’ usually consisted of disappointing Celestia or messing up the order in the Camelot Royal Library by putting ‘Tales of Griffins Vol 1-20’ in the New History section and ‘Rebirth of Nightmare Moon As Princess Luna’ in the Old History section. So she was surprised when a usually good dream (in which Starlight Glimmer rattled off inspiring stories about friendship) was, without warning, suddenly switched to a different dream where she was an entirely different pony who said and did things Twilight had no control over. This one definitely checked off all the boxes of a ‘nightmare.’

From the speaking tone and short orange beard of the pony she seemed to be in, Twilight guessed this particular pony was Sunburst, Starlight’s best friend, magical advisor to Cadance, and crystaller to her niece, Flurry Heart. Though why Sunburst was in a completely frozen wasteland with a bunch of yaks made absolutely no sense. Neither did the dead bodies, or the undead bodies, or that weird wind-pony at the end. Through it all, Twilight was in Sunburst, unable to say or speak anything, just watch and think. It was like going through someone's memories, though that was impossible.

The dream cut when Sunburst (and Twilight) ran away, hopefully to safety. The dream soon cut to black, leaving Twilight to think in this dreamless state of thinking.’ What was that? Why did that pop up out of nowhere? Surely it had to mean something, didn't it?’ All these thoughts came at once to Twilight and threatened to set her in a panic attack (which would have been weird, considering that Twilight was in the state of her mind and having a panic attack inside nothing made no sense). For once though, Twilight waved off all her worries with one simple explanation: “Ask Luna. It was a dream. She would surely know what it means.”

With that, Twilight miraculously calmed down, and she expected she would go back to dreaming and everything should go back to normal. There was one problem. It was still black. No dream was coming. Twilight started to panic once again. ‘No, what’s going on! Am I doing something wrong? Why can’t I dream!?”

A raspy voice boomed out of nowhere, “Twilight Sparkle. The time is now when you shall realize your true power. An enemy is coming, you can see, and now you need your own enemy to beat them. Accept me fully, for I have waited so long to do so. It is your fate.”

The purple alicorn was confused. This must be a subconscious voice from her brain, but why show up now if it was saying it was there with her all along. Was it her evil side? If it was, Twilight had no problem keeping that in check; throughout all the threats she and her friends faced, she never once gave in to evil, and always did what was right.

“Well if there is any threat attacking Ponyville, it’ll be nothing that I and my friends can’t beat!” Twilight proclaimed proudly.

The raspy voice, which sounded like a mare who had gone weeks without proper food and shelter, let out a chuckle. “Oh you naive pony, already thinking you can take on anything with any other pony. Well, you can’t, this will turn everyone against each other. Your friends will leave and act as if they never met you. Observe."

The darkness gave way to light, finally. Twilight was on the balcony of her castle in Ponyville, looking out across the town which she called home for so many years. From this distance, she could see all the buildings which she became so familiar with over the years. The Carasoul Boutique where she got all the best dresses from Rarity. Sugarcube Corner where she got the tastiest sweets from and where she sometimes baked cupcakes with Pinkie. Of course, there was Town Hall, where the loyal Mayor Mare made sure the Town of Ponyville was as prosperous as it could be.

She glanced at where the Golden Oaks library used to be, and a sad frown crept on her face. Not only did it used to be the home for

She let out a little smile in spite of what the voice told her about the dream. Twilight grew anxious, wondering what was going to happen that would "show her" what the darkness was telling her about.

“Hey, Twilight.”

That was Rainbow Dash’s voice behind her. “Yes Rainbow?”, Twilight asked with a smile, turning around to face the pegasus. Once she saw Rainbow, her smile quickly turned into a horrified gasp.

All her friends were standing at the door from the main room to the balcony, all their eyes staring at her. It would have been normal if not for the blood on every one of them. Rainbow Dash’s wings had fresh cuts from the base of her wing and her skin, leaving her wings to flap lopsided even though Dash floated as normal as she ever did. Applejack had her hat on, but Twilight could see blood seeping from under the hat, trickling down the orange earth pony’s eyes,

Fluttershy was missing her beautiful purple hair and the skin of her muzzle, though the bone was somehow still intact. Pinkie Pie was entirely decapitated, holding her head in between her forehooves. Rarity had a long gash down her back, ruining her mane she was always so careful with.

Twilight was stricken with absolute horror. She began to stammer “Girls...wha-what hap..hap..” before her friend started talking.

“What in Tartarus is WRONG with you Twilight?” Rainbow Dash yelled. Twilight cringed back. "Wha-what? Why would you s-"

“Celestia damn you to Tartarus!’ Rarity said with a snort.

“Ah’ reckon you can go and disappear, an’ we’ll be just alright,” said Applejack.

“You Party Pooper!’ exclaimed Pinkie Pie’s decapitated head.

“You big meanie,” Fluttershy muttered.

Twilight backed away from her friends with disbelief combined with absolute horror. She backed up into the balcony rails and looked back at Ponyville. The town Twilight loved so much was now in flames, buildings already collapsing from the extreme heat. Even here she could see burned and blackened corpses of ponies she could no longer justify. Twilight didn't know what else to do, so she just did what came naturally. She cried.

“Twilight!’

The alicorn turned around once more with tears in her eys, to see Starlight Glimmer standing right in front of her, closer than her friends were, smiling.

Twilight broke down on her knees, forgetting this was all a dream. “Starlight, please help me. I don't know what's going on. I think something's going to happen and I'm afraid. Please help!” Twilight grabbed Starlight’s left forehoof. “PLEASE!”

Starlight, still smiling, told Twilight kindly “Don’t worry. I am helping you.” With that, Starlight grabbed Twilight up and pushed her over the castle's balcony.
Twilight seemed to fall in slow motion, taking forever to die. As Twilight waited to hit the ground and be reduced to a bloody stain, she heard her friends back up in the castle sing in unison

‘Morning in Ponyville shimmers
Morning in Ponyville shines
And I know for absolute certain
That everything is certainly fine’

Then Twilight woke up

Twilight woke up screaming from her bed, practically swimming in her own sweat. Spike woke up with a start and instantly tried to comfort Twilight despite how tired it was. After all, the sun was just about to rise, and Spike usually slept near the afternoon. After a minute of screaming and kicking. Twilight finally calmed down, and she heard a frantic knock at the door.

“Everything’s fine. Nothing is wrong. You can go back to doing what you were….uh…...doing,” Spike said nervously. Then Twilight choked out “I’m good. It’s okay.” She heard grumbling from outside, then footsteps.

Spike turned his gaze from the door to Twilight, and let out a sigh. “Celestia Twilight, what in the name of Tartarus was that?” Twilight was now laying back in her bed, on her side facing Spike, and was still breathing heavily.”

“Nothing Spike, just a bad dream. I’m fine now.” Spike looked disbelieving. Twilight, you never had any nightmare as bad as this, it has to be something special.”

He was worried about her, Goddesses bless him, but she couldn't tell him what she dreamed of. Though she knew who she could tell. “Spike, it’s really fine. I was uh….. being chased by Bugbears…….while naked!” She mentally face hoofed. “Just go get me a glass of water, and ask Luna to come by this room. I need to talk to her.”

Spike was about to argue, but knew Twilight wasn't going to give up what she wanted to do so he simply said “Alright,” then left the room to do what she asked.

Once Spike was gone, Twilight rolled on her back and started to think about what happened. She knew that the final dream was just her conscience trying to scare her, but why her own brain would turn on her like that she had no idea. She thought for a second it could be the Nightmare, but got rid of that thought when she remembered that not only did she and her friends get rid of the Nightmare, but she had no previous history of ever provoking it to consume her.

What WAS important was the first dream. The one with Sunburst in that extremely cold place. The one that featured those terrifying dead ponies and the wind, along with that magic symbol Sunburst and the yaks found. What did it all mean? Could it just be a dream? Though Twilight wished it was all an illusion, she knew, somehow, it most likely wasn’t.

Twilight also needed to find out the need for the yaks to be up there and why they had Sunburst. The yaks stayed up in Yakyakistan, but the dream made it look like it was all the way up in the frozen wastes.

What was going on? Thankfully, at that moment, there was a knock at the door, and Twilight sat up from her bed, relieved she could finally get answers. “Come in.” Maybe she could finally get some answers.

Spike opened the door slowly, carrying a paper cup filled with cold water. He walked in and went to Twilight’s bed to hand her the water cup. With a word of thanks, she enveloped the cup in her magic and started to drink it when Princess Luna walked in; her midnight blue coat was a beautiful comparison to black splotches on her cutie mark on breasts. She gave a relaxing feeling to Twilight, like everything would be okay.

Princess Luna nodded towards Spike, who took the hint and walked out of the bedroom but not before giving a worried glance towards Twilight on the bed. Once Spike left, Luna walked over to the reading desk near the big window and sat down comfortably. She turned towards Twilight with a serious face. “Hello, Twilight. Tell me what happened. From beginning to end. I have a feeling this is pretty important”

So that’s exactly what Twilight did. At least the first dream. Twilight didn't want to share that with Luna just yet. She’ll ask her after. So she told all the details, everything she could remember, which was a surprisingly large amount. From the fire all the way to the running. When she was done with her story, Twilight realized she was sweating profusely. Embarrassed, she wiped her forehead with a hoof, then laid back down on the bed, still watching Luna as the Princess thought on Twilight’s story.

Luna looked out of the window as the sun was almost fully risen, reflecting a beautiful ray of sunlight over the tired Canterlot, rich buildings, and shops filling the stone-paved roads. After a long while, Luna turned back over to Twilight with a sad look in her eyes. “Oh, Twilight. I am so sorry, but it looks like your worst fears have come true. I am afraid to say this but your dream was a reality.” Twilight gasped and sat back up in the bed. She saw it coming, but it shocked her all the same. The fact that those…. things were real almost seduced Twilight to panic.

“Luna….. how? How do you know? Are you sure you not mistaken?” Luna nodded. “I’m afraid I’m not Twilight, for Cadance also woke up from her bed screaming and told me the exact same dream as you had. She has also confirmed she sent Sunburst to the north with the yaks to investigate something magical. It makes too much sense not to take seriously.” Now this REALLY shocked Twilight. Why would Cadance keep something like this from her? Did Celestia know about this dream? Most importantly, why were her and Cadance’s dreams connected? She asked these questions to Luna all at once. Luana was visibly overwhelmed by the sudden verbal barrage, but answered these questions all the same.

“No, my sweet sister does not know about this just yet, she is too busy raising the sun so I haven't had time to speak with her yet. I also have just recently learned about this from Cadance, your dragon caught me just as I left her room. Trust me, I will tell her once I get a chance. That being said, you cannot mention any of this to the officials during the meeting today, Spike, or your friend. Starlight Glimmer I believe she is called.” Twilight nodded, knowing already she could only tell royalty about the dream. Luna continued. “Cadance, including me and my sister, knew about the yaks. They go up to the Frozen Wastes every once in a while to make sure no beasts or wild ponies destroy their kingdom, and now Equestria. They have been doing that for thousands of years.”

“Wait, Princess!” Twilight interrupted. “You knew about the yaks? Why didn’t you tell me? I’m royalty now! I should know about this!” Her voice was sparked with anger and betrayal. Luna waved a hoof to calm her down, then began her explanation. “Twilight, I understand why you are mad. We only told Cadence because the Crystal Empire was near Yakyakistan, and we felt we should tell her the yaks didn't want pony coming to the mountains. Thankfully she didn’t listen, but still, she wouldn’t stop asking about it. If we told you Twilight, you would just stress about it and find a solution to something we thought was not a problem. If we told the public about the yaks and the Frozen Wastes, they would panic over the threats of the wild ponies and beasts up there. I am sorry Twilight, please forgive me.”

“I forgive you,” said Twilight reluctantly. She was still mad at the princesses, but at least understood their reasoning. She let Luna finish. “Finally Twilight, I believe Sunburst may have used a memory orb to send the dream to you two, as Cadance has told me the Crystal Empire has several of them in its magical storage. That may also mean Sunburst is alive, but we can only hope. That would also make sense as to why I could not see your two dreams.” Twilight gasped, and Luna nodded. “Memory orbs can only be viewed by the viewers themselves, not by any other pony.” Luna got up from her chair and stretched her wings. “Now if you excuse me Twilight, I’m going to have a chat with my sister about this dream. I will answer the rest of your questions soon.” As Luna went to leave, Twilight remembered something.

“Wait Princess Luna!” and Princess Luna turned to face Twilight. “What about that dream I had? You know, the scary one after the memory orb dream? Can you please tell me about that?” Princess Luna’s face was one of confusion. “I’m sorry Twilight, but you did not dream at all once the memory orb visited you. I would have known if you did. Don’t worry young one. Whatever it was, it was probably just a hallucination after waking up from that memory orb. Now excuse me, but I must go. If you still have trouble with anything, contact me later, but now I really must be off.”

Then Luna left, leaving Twilight to stand in the hallway, stricken with horror about what she just heard, before going back into her bed to process the new information and think about the second ‘dream’ in a new light. All thoughts went to one question: “What does all of this mean?”