My Terrible Nightmare

Me, Ace, and Cherry all walked into the ball room laughing and chuckling, following Twilight and Rainbow Dash right behind.

"Hey ZJ! I know a bomb ass place we can go to after this party if your up for it, or now if ya wanna ditch the fancy getup?"

Cherry said, facing and nudging me in the ribs lightly. thought a bit. This place does seem a bit uptight, which I don't find myself really staying here at all much longer really.

"I guess so, I am getting a bit tired. Would be nice to wake up a bit."

"Ha sweet! Those suits do look expensive, so I guess you'll go back up to your room and get out of it huh?"

Cherry said, looking back and forth between my and Ace's clothes. Ace nodded.

"Yeah, Rarity made them for us. Pretty nice actually."

"That's why she's the element of generosity!"

Cherry replied back chuckling. I just chuckled a little. Eventually Cherry told us to meet him right back here, and he'll take us to the 'bomb ass place' he was talking about. We got back up to the room and neatly placed the tuxedo's on our beds and
slipped on my hoodie, then walked back down, seeing Cherry near the entrance.

"You guys ready to go? And hey! Nice hoodie!"

Cherry looked down and bopped my shoulder.

"Oh yeah, Ace got it for me."

I looked over at him, and he smiled, acting a bit shyly. I kinda smirked back, and Cherry snapped us out of our stare.

"COOL! Well, lets get goin' shall we? The place just opened 2 hours ago, goes until 3 in the morning which is pretty sick!"

Cherry started hopping a way, me and Ace following closely behind.

"Where is this place if I may ask?"

I asked, Cherry seized his hopping and looked towards me, continuing the walking instead.

"This is just a few trots out of the castle. I've been there many times to the point a lot of people know me, including the staff of course! Might want to work there if I wanna, but I already got a nice job."

Cherry explained. I nodded in response and grunted out for one as well.

"What's your job? Is it weather duty?"

Cherry whipped his head around and looked at me, making a scrunched version of a smile and smirk.

"Nahhhh, not every pegasus does 'weather' duty. My family actually owns a cherry farm. It's really neat actually. You should come by some time so I can show ya the ropes!"

"Oh yeah, I'd love to go. I've been to AppleJacks' apple farm and it seemed pretty cool."

"Yeah but that's apples! You're gonna love the cherry harvesting we do. Would you.. wanna try helping out sometime? Would love a friend to work and hang out with."

"Oh, uhm' yeah, I'll give it a shot."

"Sweet! never really had a magic user on the farm before! Gonna love how you harvest the cherries! Mother would be flabbergasted!"

My eyebrows furrowed, my head going down slightly, turning my head a bit towards Ace's direction and seeing him frown. We eventually made it to the bar. Seeing the neon sign saying 'Salty Lick' with booming music being heard.

"We made it! You ready to get your hooves shook and dancin' hard?"

Cherry jumped and looked at me and Ace.

"Ha yeah, I'll try my best!"

"Awesome! Go find a booth, I'll get some drinks going so we can party!"

Cherry flapped his wings a couple times while saying that, then skipped away to the bar, me and Ace finding a nice booth and scooching in. I nodded my head to the beat. Haven't heard good music in a while, and this was dubstep. The DJ was a white coated mare with a blinding blue mane. Vinyl.. I think was her name.

"Wow, I haven't been to a place like this in a bit! love to come back where whenever we come to Canterlot again."

I smiled at his reply, continuing to bop my head with the music. I felt him scoot a bit closer.

"You don't seem like the dancing type. Surprised you wanted to come here."

I shrugged a bit.

"Eh yeah, I mean, I don't usually go ape shit in the dance floor, unless I get really drunk."

I said it a louder tone, course with the music blasting all around us, we can still hear each other, but of course some part will get slightly muffled out. Cherry came back with to drinks in hand.. hoof.. and placed them in front of me and Ace. I looked down and the drink seemed to be a weird purple hue to it.

"Drink up! This one's called Midnight Malice!"

Me and Ace looked at the drinks, then looked up at each other. I made a smirk and slid my hoof into the cup handle, and Ace did the same, us clinking them together, chugging it down. This drink was dangerous. I didn't taste any of the alcohol, so I'd never know how much alcohol was in there. Ace stopped drinking, but I kept going, drinking it all in one go, slamming the cup down and seeing shocked expressions on both Ace and Cherry. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and made an awkward smile. Cherry then smiled widely.

"HELL YEAH ZJ!!!"

Cherry screamed out, sticking a hoof out for a fist bump, well a hoof bump, and I hoof bumped him back! He tapped the table, saying he'd get more, and went on his way. Ace was still looking at me astonished.

"Sorry! I just tasted really good, kind of like candy! Like uh... Fruit By The Foot!"

"What? Oh! You mean Fruit By The Hoof! Yeah, my little brother loves those things! You getting tipsy already? What's even a foot?"

I chuckled slightly, course still having human knowledge in my head.

"Nah, just being funny I guess haha!"

I put a hoof on Ace's shoulder, laughing it out, and he laughed it out as well. Minutes later, Cherry got back and put 2 more drinks a little on my side, seeing that Ace's cup was still a bit full.

"Lets take another go! Ace keep up your pace dude!"

Cherry called out, Ace smirking slightly. He seemed like Cherry was annoying him slightly, but he grabbed his cup again, Cherry counting down and all of us chugging it down, Ace actually getting it all down. Cherry cheered at Ace, and I did as well, Ace feeling a bit more better.

"You guys can get more liquor if you want, drinks on me! I'mma go mingle with some friends of mine I see! Catch ya later!"

He finished a few drops from his drink and placing it on the table, hopping away, looking to see he was heading towards a purple pegasus mare. Ace let me finish his drink, seeing that he wasn't really in the mood to drink, and I guess to be sober enough to take me back to the room since it was a bit of ways away. More minutes passed, me jamming out in the booth, feeling more tipsy by the moment, Ace keeping a close eye on me. I then see 2 mares walking towards me, a yellow one, and a red one, both unicorns.

"Hey you two! We saw you both across the room and were wondering if you'd like to come dance with us, hm?"

The red unicorn said. They both seemed to have lustful eyes. Ace seemed a bit cautious, but my tipsy mind didn't want to make anyone feel bad, so I smiled at her.

"Oh hey!! I could possibly dance with ya but-"

She and the other mare both slid into the booth, the mares on each side of us, trapping us in the middle.

"That's alright darling. Sitting here is good enough for me and Lyla."

She looked over at her friend, both of them chuckling. Lyla placed her hoof on Ace's shoulder.

"Would you like to dance with us?"

She fluttered her eyelashes at him, and he seemed a bit uncomfortable, glancing over at me. I was distracted of course, the red mare putting her head on my shoulder, seeming to nuzzle me.

"Wa'ss your name?"

"The names Crimson. What about you sweetie?"

"Mmm, ZJ."

"Hmmm, well ZJ, I'm going to dance, come with me please? I'll be soooo lonely without you, hm?"

She said getting up slowly, hesitating to get her butt off the cushion then looking behind her and at me, then walking slowly away. In my mind I just wanted to party, so I started scooting out of the booth, heading off with her. Ace was a bit sad, me not knowing of course, him stuck with Lyla starting to nudge up against him. I didn't really remember much after that, having small memories of me staring at the ground, looking at Vinyl, putting my head under Ace's chin, and then the castle entrance.

"Aaacceeeee."

"What."

"Aaaaceeeeee."

"What is it ZJ?"

"I'm hungrryyyy."

"Yes I know, you said that 5 times in the past 10 minutes. That's all you keep saying. Also can you please walk on all fours? It's kind of hard when you walk on 2 legs."

"Whaaaat? I've always walked like this."

I lifted my arm off of his back and started walking on my 2 back legs, stumbling away and eventually falling into a patch of flowers. Ace rolled his eyes and sighed, trudging over and lifting me up. I looked at Ace, his face concerning. My mind couldn't register much around me, but I felt sad, my eyes slowly closing. I think I heard Ace call out to me, but everything sounded muffled, my head eventually falling to the side, and passing out.

It feels like I wake up, but I'm in a forest. I feel taller and look down, sure enough, I'm back being a human. I start to hear growls, my eyes darting around. Out of nowhere, a shadow with a terrifying face popped up right in front of me. I don't mind a good scare, but something about this face was not right. I fell down and scurried away, getting up on my feet and running as fast as I could. I could feel the presence of the creature right behind me, but when looking back it's not there. I then feel more creatures appear behind me, but of course looking back I see nothing. I looked back just in time to see a huge hole, stopping instantly. I hear my heart beat. I can only hear my heart beat. I look around frantically, those creatures soon appearing slowly. I feel the heel of my foot touch the edge, and quickly pull away, some part of the cliff falling off and falling into the void. My heart beat got faster and my legs felt weak. I fell on the side of my legs, keeping the front of my body up with my arms pressing against the ground. Tears starts to fill my eyes, but then, a flash of light comes out of nowhere. After it, I look up, tears still pouring out of my eyes. A silhouette of a pony appeared in the sky, with wings, and a horn. She landed hard and zapped the creatures away with a light. They disappeared. She turned and faced towards me.

"You, aren't a pony, are you?"

I see her hooves in front of me, and I slowly look up.

"No, I am not. Is it a bad thing?"

She smiled and chuckles slightly.

"No, it is not. I haven't seen your species in a long while. Before I was.."

She shook her head, and used her magic to pick me up and put me back on my feet.

"Why does this feel so real?"

I wipe my eyes, then fold my arms, the tears still continuing to fall.

"It usually happens when I am around, I assure you. You are in no harm at this moment. But tell me, what has been troubling you?"

I start looking around, then at her.

"I... I'm not sure."

She looked around as well, and used her magic to change the scenery slowly shifting and changing into a nicer forest, brighter colors, and sounds of animals being heard.

"How did you come to Equestria? Do you remember?"

"No, It's been a few days. All I remember was waking up in a hospital with AppleJack and AppleBloom beside me because I apparently fell into the orchard. Not sure how though."

She nodded.

"What might your name be? I forgot to ask, my apologies. I am Princess Luna."

"Names ZJ.. I think."

"Well ZJ. I hope you like it here in Equestria. Do You remember anything before you arrived here?"

I shook my head slowly.

"Not much. I mean I do remember my family. That's pretty much it."

She nodded again.

"Can you please keep this a secret. I don't want anyone to know."

I looked into her eyes, and she understood what I was feeling.

"Of course, ZJ. I will not tell a soul. Ponies might figure out eventually though if you are not careful. Have you done anything humanish lately?"

I look around the ground for an answer as a bird flew on top of my head.

"Maybe just walking on my back legs. That's pretty much it. But since I'm a unicorn, ponies give me weird looks since I use my hooves for picking up things when of course they don't know why I'm not using my horn. Can you teach me how? I think I forgot to ask Twilight earlier for help but, things got in the way I believe."

A squirrel and a bunny hopped next to me and nuzzled my leg. I decided to sit down, and the bunny hopped on my lap. Luna sat down as well, and some bunnies and birds came to her as well. She smiled faintly.

"I am not sure in this realm since you do not have your horn, but I do remember my sister talking about you casting a firework explosion at Twilight's castle."

"I was reading one of her spell books and I guess one of the techniques did that.. but uhm.. that was the only magic thing I did. I can't even lift up a single hanger with a coat on it."

I pouted, pulling the grass on the ground out of frustration, the grass growing back afterwards.

"I guess that would make sense since you are not used to using a horn where you are from. No magic, correct?"

"None. Magic tricks are still a thing, but of course doesn't really count as 'magic'."

I shrugged at my explanation, Luna turning her head to one side.

"You are unique. You do know that, right?"

I look at her, Luna giving the kindest smile she could give, and I felt a bit warm inside. I let out a sigh, seeing a ferret hop towards my direction, I smile, picking up the ferret and it trying to climb all over me. I chuckled, the ferret nesting itself around my neck and under my hair.

"Can I see you, in the waking world? For help with my magic of course. I know Twilight can but.. I do feel more comfortable around you since, well you know why I can't use magic."

She smiled, putting a hoof on my knee.

"Of course I can. I'll do anything to help you feel at home here."

We both smiled at each other. Suddenly. Everything started to get dark, and all the animals started to dart away and scurry under bushes and into trees. I felt a weird ache in my head, holding my hands up to it. Luna got up quickly, her wings flapping, taking flight.

"Luna? What's happening?!"

"You are waking up ZJ! This kind of wake up happens when I am around. But do not fret., just see me whenever you have the time!"

She started to get blurry in the distance, I reached out for her, but knowing she was too far away for me to grasp her. I throw my hands back on my head, the dream seeming to spin around. The trees starting to disappear as well as the ground. Eventually, I was falling in the void, screaming, reaching up at a small glimpse of light. It disappeared, eventually my vision going as well as I could no longer see my body.