Cold. If you were to ask anypony, yak, or even zebra what it was like out beyond Mount Everhoof, that was probably the first thing they would tell you. That being said, it was rare now for anypony to describe the great unknown in the north, because nopony ever really ventured there anymore. Ever since the birth of the Two Goddesses, the yaks were in charge of defending the rest of Equestria from the monsters and occasional wild pony/zebra tribes that inhabited the North in exchange for yearly supplies from the south so the yaks could build on their civilization.
However, after the disappearance of the Crystal Empire many years ago, the yaks became distant from the rest of Equestria. The many ponies that would come to Yakyakistan during the Crystal Empires initial reign would sometimes volunteer to go over the wall, but soon after King Sombra was first defeated, only one or two ponies would come, and most would just bring the necessary supplies and quickly leave.
Thus, the history of the Watchers of the Great Unknown faded with time, and soon, many ponies forgot about even the yaks. Only the Princesses knew, and became the sole bringers of the yaks supplies until the yaks asked for them to stop making the yearly visits around 50 years ago. Perhaps it was the yak's stubborn pride, but the true reason for this request is unknown.
Yet with the reappearance and pacifism of the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence learned about ancient tales of the yaks and the Great Unknown. She vowed to retain the friendship between ponies and yaks once more, which she accomplished thanks to the new Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle.
Even though the yaks and ponies were once again friendly and reunited in one land, the yaks believed the ponies could no longer handle themselves outside of Mount Everhoof since most ponies never experienced harsh winters. That was Starburst’s job, on orders from Princess Cadence and Shining Armour of the Crystal Empire where he lived. He would try to help prove to the yaks that ponies could still handle themselves in the Deep North by venturing with them into the unknown.
However, Sunburst would start to understand exactly why the yaks believed ponies couldn't handle themselves in the Frozen North. It was a living Tartarus for ponykind.
“Sunburst, your magical knowledge would help the yaks understand the north a great deal more than they already know. As my magic advisor, you could be of great use to them.”
Those were Cadance's exact words to Sunburst when she told him the news a week before he left for Yakyakistan. At first, he was too shocked to say anything. Not only did Cadance not inform him of her decision before she made it, but the realization that the Watchers did exist confused him. He always knew the North was dangerous, but never thought it had to be protected by yaks.
He asked what the yaks could possibly want him to investigate. The answer Cadance gave terrified him. She let out a sad sigh and told him “ I don’t know. When I mentioned your magical intellect , they immediately agreed to take you, and when I asked why, they simply told me it would be better if none of us knew.” She gave a soft chuckle. “You know how stubborn yaks can be. You don’t continue a conversation they never want to continue.”
Her words left a chill in the library that Sunburst was sitting in. He looked around at all the books that he realized he would have to soon abandon. A sudden flare of anger shot up in the unicorn. ‘Why should I have to go somewhere dangerous to check something that also might be dangerous,’ he thought. But he knew better than to yell at Cadance like that. Besides, he knew she didn't want him to leave. He took such good care of Flurry Heart and was well respected throughout the Crystal Empire. He understood she wanted to prove to the yaks that ponies could help out in the North, and Sunburst might help prove that. How he would prove that, he didn't know, but if it helped out Equestria and the Crystal Empire, he would gladly take the proposal.
“Alright I’ll go, though I’m still not happy you sprung this on me all of a sudden,” Sunburst responded. Cadance let out a sad smile, then thanked and apologized to Sunburst for everything. The last thing she did before she left the Crystal Empire Library was give him a letter she said was from the yaks. The Alicorn princess left then, so silently that when Sunburst looked at the letter and then back at where Cadance originally stood, she was gone.
Sunburst gave a deep sigh and broke open the seal to read the letter. He placed it on his reading desk and looked at it. It was written in incredibly messy PonyTounge, which obviously meant the writer was an incredibly prideful yak. He shifted his glasses to read the letter better, and after several seconds of constant maneuvering, he was able to make out the words. The first thing written on the letter was ‘COLD,’ which was obvious enough. There was also a list of living things to expect north, including Bugbears, Manticores, even Ursa Minors. Sunburst expected to be terrified by all of this, but shockingly, he wasn’t. He already expected all these things to be out there. He heard the stories like every young filly and colt had before, and if the Watchers truly did exist, then so did those stories.
His eye caught on the bullet point titled ‘WILDFOLK’. Now this shocked him. The monsters he could understand, but this? How could anypony live in such a harsh climate? He was told nopony lived beyond Everhoof, that it was barren except for the bloodthirsty beasts that lurked there. Now they did exist???? This sparked Sunburst’s curiosity. If he could research the ponies of the North, who knew what he could find. He realized maybe these wildfolk used a unique form of magic and that’s what led them to be able to live so long up there. That was probably what the yaks wanted him to research. Now excited from this new revelation, Sunburst began to roll the letter back up, starting from the top, until something at the bottom caught his eye.
It was incredibly small compared to the rest of the handwriting on the letter, so it made sense Sunburst didn't see it at first. Despite the size, the word was very well written, as if the yak wanted to show the reader that it was incredibly important. In shiny black ink, the word read ‘The Winter.’
Sunburst sat at his reading desk for 30 minutes, stroking his orange beard, trying to understand what that meant. If the yaks even knew what it meant. He looked at all the books in the library, but he couldn't find anything. The library was full of ancient books, but while plenty mentioned the Yaks, nothing mentioned the Watchers or the ‘Winter.’ Frustrated, Sunburst returned to his desk to try to somehow come up with the answer himself. He gave that up after a couple of minutes and realized it was after midnight. Usually, the library would be closed for everypony by this time, but Sunburst, being the Princess of Love’s Magical Advisor and all, was an obvious exception.
So there at his desk Sunburst slept, and refused to think about ‘The Winter’ during the week.
It was a week since he left the Crystal Empire and 3 days since he left Yakyakistan. His stay at the Kingdom of the Yaks was shockingly dull. The whole place was built inside a wooden wall, and inside was filled with a bunch of wooden huts that were either homes or inns. Despite the sheer size of the capital, that was all the kingdom was, a bunch of wooden homes and inns. The female yaks were nice enough, but the male yaks were incredibly grumpy towards the unicorn. Once Starburst arrived, he was taken to an inn by the yak guards where he would be told the plan
It was incredibly obvious that all the yaks in the inn, excluding the serving maids, were drunk. He sat at a table with incredibly big and muscular yaks, all talking and joking and sipping on Hard Apple Cider. When the yak guards brought Sunburst to the table, he was greeted with searching eyes from one of them. ‘That one must be the leader’, Sunburst thought.
The searcher let out a slight chuckle. “LOOK LIKE PONY FINALLY HERE TO MEET YAKS. SURPRISED SHE ISN'T ALREADY FROZEN.” If the yak's voice didn't already destroy Sunburst’s ears, the resulting laughter from all of the yaks at the table certainly did. The searcher stopped laughing abruptly, and the rest of the yaks followed suit. He leaned into Sunburst's ear and whispered “MY NAME YAWSAW. LET'S TALK OVER AT CORNER,” which still managed to be louder than most speaking voices. Sunburst suddenly realized the yak guards that accompanied him were gone. With a nod, Sunburst followed the Yawsaw in the corner of the base of the stairwell. There, in his semi-whisper voice, Yawsaw told him the plan
In 3 days, they would leave for the Great Unknown, going past Mount Everhoof to look for wildfolk villages spotted several miles from the mountain in past ventures. Sunburst would be given a cloak and boots to protect him from the cold as well as several heated undergarments underneath those cloaks. The yak then mentioned, rather grimly, how unicorn magic isn't very strong up there, as the cold makes unicorns too weak to cast any major spells. This didn’t really concern Sunburst, as he never could cast any difficult spells, only understand. Still, this made him mad. Why didn't they tell him this in the letter? What else did they forget to tell him? He wanted to ask Yawsaw why they didn't tell him in the letter, but knew better than to interrupt a yak to ask a stupid question like that. All of a sudden, Sunburst came up with an important question.
He raised his hand, and Yawsaw seemed pleased Sunburst chose the respectable route to ask a question. “Why can’t the monsters and wildfolk just go around the Yaket Range and follow the river to the Celestial Sea?” The Yak gave gave a booming chuckle and explained that most monsters in the unknown are built for frigid weather only and cant survive in warm temperature. As for the wildfolk, they apparently don't go over there much as bugbears from the opposite side of the Celestial Sea can end up on the other side of the river and attack wildfolk. If wildfolk did somehow manage to make it past the bugbears, they would be forced to follow a mountain seperated in the middle with a waterfall, rendering the would be invader unable to cross, and a round circle of mountains would block the wildfolk from going east. The main way wildings would escape would be to go west where a low mountain pass which would allow the wildings to land near Luna Bay, so it was important that the yaks do a sweep in the west every so often. With an angry snort, the yak also mentioned how more and more frequently than usual wildlings were trying to cross to Luna Bay for an unknown reason. Satisfied with the answer, Sunburst continued to listen to the yak explain everything else in the North. By the end of the conversation, he believed that he was ready for the north.
He was sadly mistaken.
The journey to the border that separated the great unknown from Yakyakistan was simple enough. Sunburst woke from his bed with undergarments, boots and a cloak at the foot of his mattress. Sunburst put them on and instantly felt much warmer. ‘This surely will keep me warm out there.’ He had no idea what the cloak was made out of that kept the wearer so warm. The yaks never told, just called it ‘yak cloak.’ He hoped it wasn’t yak fur, because how in tatuarus the yaks would do that was something Sunburst didn’t want to think about.
He should ask that pony in Ponyville about these cloaks, Starlight Glimmer’s friend, that white pony who was a prodigy when it came to clothi-
Starlight Glimmer
The orange unicorn stopped in his tracks. He forgot to contact her before he left. He facehoofed. How? They were talking more than ever nowadays, and yet he still forgot? ‘Sorry Starlight, I guess I just forgot to tell you I went away to the frozen noth for several weeks for something you could honestly probably do better than me. Let’s still be friends!’ That wouldn’t go over well. Well, now was not the time to think about that. Sunburst unattached one of many wizard cloaks he wore. ‘Won’t need that up there,’ he reasoned. He did need his glasses though, and put on his strongest ones.
He left with Yawsaw and the yaks shortly after, and after a quick number count (18 in total, including Sunburst), they left for the other side of the yaks wall. The guards quickly let the group by and they made their long trek to the border. It gradually got colder, but not unbearable like Sunburst thought. In fact, it was quite beautiful, the early morning combined with the frozen trees and snow capped mountains ahead.
After an hour or two, the group made it to a sub mountain west of Mount Everhoof, significantly smaller than the massive mountain, but still relatively huge. As the group came close, Sunburst saw a wooden door in the mountain that surely must lead to a tunnel to the other side.
Yawsaw made the group stop suddenly. “ WE TAKE THE #3 TUNNEL TODAY. EVERYAK TAKE THEIR TORCHES AND LIGHT WAY. PONY, USE HORN”
Sunburst nodded and sent a slight beam of light from his horn and followed the yaks as they opened the door to the tunnel. The tunnel was pitch black, but the torches and Sunburst’s horn lit the way a little bit. Besides the darkness, there was still nothing special about this tunnel. The walls were a rough rock base, and the floor was just a dirt walkway made hard from years of travel. After what seemed like forever, the group reached the end of the tunnel without even really seeing any bats or the like. Sunburst started to be disappointed in this trip, wondering if anything interesting would happen at all.
The yaks opened the door and they were all greeted with fearsome snowy winds that must have swung near 80 miles an hour. Sunburst gaped at the winds, but the yaks stood unimpressed and continued like nothing was wrong out there at all. Sunburst took a loud gulp and reluctantly continued on. He soon decided he would take a rather boring trip actually, thank you very much.
Sunburst sat at the campfire that the yaks decided to settle out, trying to keep warm. Like the yaks said, Sunburst magic was at a fault here. He was to cold to concentrate, and it even took several minutes just for him to start a fire. Most of the other yaks went out gathering and found several edible shrooms that they were cooking into a stew.
The winds stopped a couple of hours ago, but the effect still stayed. Sunburst felt like he was on the edge of frostbite many times throughout the trip, and he constantly had to keep his head down so the snow didn’t whip him in the eyes. He was still shocked he came out an hour later in one piece. It should have been late in the afternoon by now, but the clouds found over in the Great Unknown made it seem like it was in the evening.
The group was lucky they had not encountered any monsters or wildings, but Sunburst could tell it would only be a matter of time before they would find trouble.
As darkness laid down on the snowy landscape, Yawsaw sneaked up and scared the shit out of Sunburst. “ YAKTAT FOUND THING WE NEED YOU FOR. COME PONY.”
Sunburst looked around at the campfire. Hopefully he wasn't going to be too late for dinner. He got up, pushed his glasses back on his muzzle, and followed Yawsaw to this mystery location. Every couple minutes, Sunburst would have to shake himself from the excess snow he obtained from the winds, which was still buried in his forehooves and back hooves.
Sunburst tried to keep himself warm but it was such a challenge. He felt everything on his body frozen, and his cheeks felt they would fall off any minute. ‘Relax Sunburst, you'll be fine. Survive this and you will be back in Equestria soon. Everything is going to be fine.’
Sunburst walked over heaps of rocks randomly jutting out from the snow. On the horizon was even mrw snowy hills and mountains, but to Sunburst’s right was a huge forest filled with White trees with red leaves. Sunburst wondered why there was a forest randomly in the middle of this rocky terrain, but he pushed that thought into the back of his mind. He would ask the yaks about it later.
After several minutes of walking, Sunburst came across a large rock who’s roof carried off from the rest of the rock, causing what looked like a claw and forming a sort of shelter. As Sunburst got closer, he realized that a group of ponies called this place their home. The frozen corpses gave that away.
Most of the bodies were left in an upside down u shape that connected to the ends of the rock. Some only wore gigantic slashes on their bodies or face, but Sunburst caught limbs from every which way and even a decapitated head a couple feet from the slaughter. Under the roof was more scenes of madness, but what stook out was a young filly with a grey mane and dark ble coat cradling a little brown foal. The filly died from a gigantic sword slash across the belly with only a sliver of flesh to keep the body seem complete, while the foal obviously died from the cold a couple hours ago.
The whole picture disgusted Sunburst and he threw up right then and there. He just wanted to curl up and be sent away from this place. This was easily worse than the pain, even though it was a different type of pain, he experienced from the mountain winds. The yaks seemed unscathed however, and Yaktat was simply moving the bodies aside to investigate. Even though they were dead, Sunburst wanted to shout to leave the dead alone, but he thought better of it. The killers might still be near after all.
“PONY COME HERE. YAKTAT NEEDS YOU TO INVESTIGATE THIS.” With all his might, Sunburst got to his hooves and went to the center of the masacre. What he saw shocked him. A giant symbol laid diagonally inside the circle: three parallel scratch marks. All of different sizes and extremely roughly drawn, but Sunburst knew that they were meant to be grouped together
“WHAT IT MEAN PONY?”, Yaktat yelled loudly.
“ Its definitely the result of something magical, but I think it's just an imprint left by a spell. Whatever was here is something with a huge magical po-”
Sunburst stopped. He realized the gravity of the situation. Magic wasn't strong up here, and yet, this…. Things that obviously took a lot of magic to leave just showing up? Sunburst wanted to throw up again. There is something dangerous stirring here.
“ This doesn't make any sense….. This shouldn't be possible.”
Yaktat snorted, his long brown hair separated for a second, showing troubled eyes. “YAKS KNOW THAT. MANY MORE LIKE THIS. FEARED THE WORST, AND SEEMS WORST COME TRUE.” Sunburst hoped that the yak would keep his voice down, but knew that probably wasn't going to happen. Suddenly, Sunburst heard Yawsaw say something.
“COME YAKTAT, WE MUST GO TO THE FOREST AND CHECK FOR ANY UNORDINARY OCCURRENCES. PONY INVESTIGATE MAGIC.” Yaktat nodded and made the motion to leave towards the strange forest. “NO, don’t go! Don't leave me here with these ponies alone!” Sunburst pleated.
Yawsaw gave a low (yet still loud) laugh. “THE DEAD ARE DEAD PONY. DEAD CAN'T HURT YOU. WE YAKS COME BACK IN COUPLE MOMENTS.” With that, the yaks went into the forest, leaving Sunburst freezing and alone with the mauled corpses of the wildfolk.
Trying to calm down, Sunburst started to control his breathing, and looked at the marks more closely. Despite the obvious knowledge that this was caused after a great spell, Sunburst couldn't tell anything else about it, and he was too weak to cast an identification spell. Sunburst kicked a mound of snow. ‘Damnit. Why did they choose me. My magic is useless here. They should have gotten someone like Princess Twilight, or even Starlight!”
That’s when he saw it. On the wall- the one with the dead filly-, Sunburst could make out a strange symbol. Sunburst walked closer, careful not to step on any bodies on the way for fear of absolutely losing it, and examined it. It wasn't from the result of magic like the scratch marks. This was a carving, a very common one at that. It depicted Luna and Celestia circling around a mesh of sun and moon. Normal enough, Sunburst decided. But then he looked more closely, and was shocked.
Those weren't Celestia and Luna. they were replaced with…...something else. Before Sunburst could put his hoof on the answer, he heard a loud crack come from the forest. As Sunburst turned to look at the woods, he felt something cold grab his back hoof. He looked down.
The dead filly was alive, and her dead hand now grabbed Sunburst with a vice like grip. Her torso still threatened to get thrown off from her body if the filly made any quick movements, but it didn't bleed. The foal she carried in her death stance was dropped carelessly to the floor. Her eyes were pure white, though the border between the eyeballs and her whites were still somehow visible, devoid of any emotion.
Sunburst gave a yelp of fear, and tried to break away from the young mare, but the filly held him down with surprising strength. Sunburst smacked back down into the snow, and then he saw something that shouldn't have been possible. All the dead ponies were now somehow alive, all looking at Sunburst without the slightest hint of any feeling at all. Some ponies who had entire limbs chopped off were now alive. He even saw a decapitated head staring at him. Each and every one of them had white eyes. Sunburst also thought he saw the claws glowing a light blue color.
Sunburst just stood there immobilized with fear, unable to think of anything productive. He suddenly felt an icy cold wind pass him, and it, similar to the crack, also came from the forest. Sunburst managed to look over the dead ponies and saw a white wind, whiter than even the snow in the ground, grab something from the forest and hurled it at the center of the dead circle. It landed near Sunburst, and he realized it was the decapitated head of Yawsaw, his orange hair covering what was most likely eyes of fear.
Fear somehow gave way to adrenaline, and Sunburst suddenly knew what to do. He weakly floated his knife from his cloak belt and slashed it at the filly’s arm. In one swift motion, the hand came off, but the filly gave no sign she felt anything. At that moment, one of the dead let out a piercing shriek, and all at once, the dead slowly walked (or crawled) towards Sunburst, while the wind, starting to materialize into….. something, watched.
A horn coming from behind the rock sounded, and Sunburst realized somehow that the yaks knew what was going on and may have decided to fight. Or it could have been something else. Sunburst didn't care; it was a distraction. He ran towards the dead, and managed to push through them, as they were all distracted and looking towards the horn.
Sunburst didn't look back. He just ran away from the forest, away from the rock, away from the yak camp, away from “The Winter”, and ran towards the Great Unkown.
He didn't know how long he ran; it could have been hours, but it felt like days. He forgot what it was like to feel safe in the Crystal Empire, and on his first day out here, not only does his magic prove useless, but now knew a major threat could threaten to destroy Equestria, and he couldn’t do anything but run away.
He now stayed in a cave he found amongst the rock terrain. It was dirty and smelled like shit, but at least it was semi warm, which allowed Sunburst to make a fire with relative ease. The running also helped solve the cold a bit.
Sunburst knew he couldn't do anything against that threat, but he knew those who could. He floated out something from his saddlebags, which shockingly stayed under his cloak through the whole ideal, and brought out an orb. He put a little magic into the orb and it began to grow a bright purple. Still holding it with his magic, he transferred his memories from the fire to escaping the dead. The orb changed to a bright orange glow for a second, then back to purple.
Sunburst let his magic go, and the orb dropped, but floated mere inches from the rock ground. “Go to the princesses. Now!” The orb seemed to obey, and flew off into the distance, and after several seconds, it vanished from Sunburst’s field of vision.
Sunburst let out a hollow sigh and leaned against the wall of the cave, the fire lighting the walls in a yellow-orange glow. If fate should have it, that should reach the princesses dreams and notify them about the danger. Sunburst remained awake, ready for the worst to come.
*************
In Camelot, inside the VIP guest bedroom, a sleeping Twilight Sparkle stirred in her sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED……….
Chapter 1- Twilight Sparkle
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?”
