To Live Again

Rainbow shot up off the grass ground she found herself on. She looked around and she saw an open field with grass that was three inches high and flowed with the wind.

It was day. But the sun wasn’t alone in the sky.

A massive planet that was ten times the size of the sun was next to it. Only the side that was getting light from the sun itself was visible and Rainbow had to imagine the rest.

She took in her surroundings and realized exactly how expansive and perfectly flat the field was. She stood up on her hooves and looked around.

‘Am I dreaming?’

She heard a distant rawring sound coming from the sky. She looked up to see a strange looking rocket with wings screaming across the sky above her.

“Whoa.”

“That’s a hornet.”

“AH!” Rainbow was so surprised by the sudden voice that she jumped five feet into the air. She looked at the source of the voice and immediately relaxed when she recognized it as the human form of the entity inside of her.

“Hello Rainbow Dash.”

“Sup Greymane. So this is a dream?”

“Yea you fell asleep while reading Daring Doo.”

Greymane turned back into a pony and took a seat beside Rainbow Dash’s take off position. Rainbow lowered herself to the ground and leaned up against Greymane.

“So what’s that?” she said regarding the object in the sky.

“That is an airplane. It’s what my species invented to be able to fly. That is based off a real plane. In fact it is a real plane.”

“Sweet…how fast does it go?”

“Beyond the speed of sound. Or if you prefer faster than you.”

“Pfft nopony is faster than me.”

“You’re right Dash nopony is faster than you…but that machine is.”

She regarded the flying object with interest. While she was watching it Greymane let himself lean into her. They didn’t feel anything for each other. But them being in the same body for so long made it feel unnatural for them to be apart.

“So Grey. I’ve only like, just met you yesterday. Why is it that I find you so important?”

“Maybe it’s because we share the same body.”

“Sure.”

*Thump*

“Well well well what do we have here?” Said an ominous voice from behind them. I turned around to get a good look at what landed behind us and on my way I caught Rainbow’s expression of fear.

“N-Nightmare Moon.” Said Rainbow Dash while grabbing my attention. “Don’t let her know what you are.” She whispered.

“OH what is this? Dreaming of the sun? Let me fix that.” Her horn glowed and she looked at the sky. She was surprised to realize that she couldn’t move the sun. “W-wa wa? What’s this? I’m princess of dreams and night! How is it I can’t change this dream!”

She looked back in anger at the cyan Pegasus only to find she wasn’t there. And the field wasn’t their either. It was a black void with no possible way to tell how far it goes. She franticly looked around trying to find any landmark but found nothing but darkness.

“W-what is this place?”

{b] “This…is my heart.”

“Who said that?!” She shouted angrily.

She spun around and found she was staring at the stoic expression of the grey stallion she saw leaning up against Rainbow.

“Who are you?” she said in a demanding tone.

The stallion continued to look at her with a stoic expression.

“TALK!”

He still stood there. But then he began to morph into a new creature. A terrifying creature. A creature that will haunt Nightmare moon to the end of her days.

He became a wolf with rotting flesh and a hanging eye. Its maw was half rotten and its right cheek was gone and clashed well with the hanging eye. Its rib cage was exposed and you could see its beating dusty and empty heart. What’s worse is that it stood there staring at her. Analyzing her.

Then it did something that would forever haunt Nightmare’s dreams. It stood there for a good few seconds to the point where Nightmare Moon believed it would stand there for eternity.

With a blink of an eye it exploded into movement and rushed toward her. But when it started moving it screamed at the top of its lungs like a mare who truly believes they were about to die. The scream made her heart fill with adrenalin and chill her to the bone. While the sudden burst in speed made a perfect jump scare that allowed the scream to push her nerves to the breaking point. But as it was only feet from Nightmare Moon it leaped into the air to snap at her throat.

Nightmare Moon tried to defend herself with her hooves but the mangled undead wolf disappeared. Not even a warning or a simple sign that it was going to leave. In fact it looked like it wanted to kill her.

Her prey instincts told her to look around for the threat that disappeared and she did just that. For the longest time her eyed darted in all directions. Finally she calmed down and decided it was time to leave.

Only to find that she couldn’t. She was being held there because of something that was holding her here. She thought she found Rainbow Dash’s mind and she wanted to remove the dreams of the sun. She couldn’t be dreaming this herself could she? Clould she?

“Could this all be my dream? No I could control it if it were.”

“Confused?”

“W-what? Yes what is going on!” The stallion appeared behind her and when she spun around and met his eyes…those dark hollow eyes.

“I’m here to offer my demands.”

“And if I refuse?” She said.

His grin took a shape of pure malice and an army of the rotting wolves appeared in a wide circle around Nightmare Moon and the Grey stallion with soulless eyes. The wolves all stood in their motionless and statue like composure unnerved her.

“I will offer you a battle you have no chance of winning.”

Nightmare moon looked around at the monsters and noted that there was indeed an army one hundred thousand strong. She tried to back out of the dream one more time but found she still couldn’t do it. She then tried to bring power into her horn and she couldn’t do that either. She flapped her wings and she fearfully realized she couldn’t take flight.

She looked into the soulless eyes of the grey stallion and fear flooded her system. There was only one course of action she could take.

“What do you want.” She said defeated.

“I want you recognize Ponyville as an independent city state.”

“Never!”

“So be it.”

The wolves screamed and sprinted toward Nightmare Moon.

“WAIT!” She tried to yell above the horde of rotting wolves but her voice was muffled out. Then they stopped only inches from her.

“You say something?” Said the deep voice that dripped with malice.

“Ok…I will let Ponyville do what it wants. I will turn a blind eye to the town as it hangs up decorations honoring the sun. I will even use my presence there only for its safety and not to oppress the citizens.”

The army blinked back to its original position and distance from Nightmare.

“Good good. I see we are making excellent progress. OH and maybe I’ll pay a visit to your castle at some point maybe this week. Or maybe never. But until then keep an open door policy or I will haunt your dreams. And maybe welcome you into my messed up mind.” He walked up to one of the mangled rotting corpses of the wolves and licked ones eye.

Nightmare shuddered in disgust.

“Good bye Nightmare.” Nightmare felt the veil that kept her in Rainbow’s mind lifted and she could feel her body again. Then the wolves charged while screaming their blood curdling scream and she hastily returned to her body.

“AH!” Nightmare Moon shot up from her bed and looked around the room. She let out a sigh of relief and got out of bed. She walked out onto the balcony and gazed at the moon for a few minutes and reflected on what happened in the dream.

‘It wasn’t real…it was just a nightmare.’ She turned around to go back into her room and she found herself face to face with a mangled wolf.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Whoa dude you totally scared Nightmare Moon herself!” Said an absolutely giddy Rainbow Dash. “I bet she’d never butt in on another ponies dreams again!” The field was back and Rainbow’s dream continued without incident. The same object in the sky was there as well.

“The best part about it is that I can go between you and her now. So I can haunt her as much as I want.”

“Hey how did you do that anyway?” She said landing next to the Grey stallion.

“Well when she put herself in our dream-well hold on leme think on explaining this…Ok well you know how easy it is to put your hoof in a bowl of water?”

“Uh yea?”

“Well that’s almost what she did. Only she stuck her head in your mind. I just grabbed onto her head and put a piece of myself in her head like how a piece of me is in you.”

“OH so you can now leave me alone and bother her?”

“Yea something like that. But I can be in two places at once. You know how there are two minds in your body? Well now it’s the other way around. I have one mind in two bodies.”

“Whoa that’s so cool! Can you take control of her?”

“No but I can make her see things. I can do the same to you but I never had a reason too.”

“Wait you could?”

“Yea I mean I do have control over your eyes. All I need to do is concentrate and imagine what it is you’re seeing.”

“I swear if you abuse that.” She folded her hooves.

“You’ll spank me, ok got it.”

“Bahahahahaha!”

“-hahaha!” Rainbow rolled out of bed and hit the cloud floor. “Whoa what happened?”

‘I think laughter wakes you up…well I wouldn’t know but it’s just a hypothesis.’

“Ugh you sound like Twilight right now.”

‘Thank you?’

“Egg head.”

‘Bitch.’

“Say wha? You jerk! I can’t believe I let you stay in my head!”

‘I can’t believe you can’t make good comebacks.’

“Shut up or I kick you out!”

‘I can just go into Nightmare Moon now.’

“Fine stay!”

‘OH? Did I strike a nerve or something? Or does it make you feel left out that she gets a spirit guide and you don’t?’

“Well I kinda like you…I mean your pony form is kind of a 7 or 6 you know?”

‘Well I know you don’t actually love me because I would feel that.’

“Ugh that’s so weird when you do that.”

‘Do what?’

“When you say you ‘feel’ me or something. It’s really creepy.”

‘Well I do feel you. To the tip of your nose to the inside of your vagina.’

“Dude don’t talk about that!” Now I can feel her genuinely getting mad.

‘Sorry but we need to accept the fact that I’m a part of you now. It’s like…getting a wart that you don’t have any cream to get rid of. Wait bad example. It’s like an ear ring. If you get rid of me the hole where I once was would still be there and you’d lose part of your image.’

“Still a bad example.”

‘Shut up, you know what I mean.’

“Umm let’s pretend I don’t.” Her attempt at hiding the grin wasn’t working…I can feel her trying to hide it.

‘Ok here’s a better example. A dog and a pony walk into a bar-‘

“How does this relate to us?”

‘What about us?’

“How you’re in me and all that.”

‘Eww Rainbow you make me feel uncomfortable when you say that.’

“H-hey wait a minute!”

Successfully trolled.

‘HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! Hey you were reading a book right?’

“Hey don’t change the subject!”

‘Why not? You obviously lost.’

“Oh yea? How so?”

‘Because you’re boring me and I need entertainment. Daring Doo was your favorite pass time so why not adopt it?’

“What?”

‘READ THE DAMN BOOK!’

“Fine fine.”

She got back on the bed and I created another orb of light to give her while reading. She grasped the book in her right hoof and plopped herself on her back and flipped the pages open to the part where we left off.

“Ah we’re here.” Said Tidal Wave.

Daring Doo looked up from her careful steps over the poisonous plants. Her eyes were blessed with the sight of a great pyramid with one entrance. Gold outlined each stone and at the very top was a golden statue of an ape. But the most prominent feature was the entrance. It was held up by pillars and on those pillars were strange carvings.

But there was an army of lifeless bipedal statues. If their forms were real they would look like old mythical human full body armor. It was impressive because they all stood there without any supports.

“What is all this?” Said Daring Doo looking at the statues that surround the entrance in a military line formation. The army itself was large enough to lay claim to the base of another pyramid. But the lack of any supports to keep them upright was unnerving to Daring Doo. Wind should have easily pushed them over by now. But here they all stand untouched by time.

“I ain’t sure lass…Best not stick around.”

“Agreed.”

They went inside and the whole way there Daring Doo looked for traps. While Tidal Wave admired the art.

“How many bits do you think we can get out of all this stuff?” He said looking at the pottery that’s been sprinkled with gold to give it a yellow wavy look. “I’m sure a sailor would love this.” He said picking up the pot.

Daring Doo heard the pot be lifted from its place and she looked over with serious concern. She waited for a trap to trigger but none came. Tidal Wave looked at Daring Doo with a worried expression.

“Are you ok lass?”

“DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING! You could have triggered a trap!”

“Oh. Sorry about that. I was just examining.”

“You know the first time I did that I almost got killed so watch yourself.” She huffed and turned back down the long hall way.

Tidal Wave hung his head low the whole way to the main chamber.

“Something’s not right.” Said Daring.

“What?”

“Why are there no traps?”

“Well why should there be?”

“This is obviously made by ancient unicorns. More advanced than the ones I’ve seen so far. They are well known for setting up arcane traps to ward off pegasi and earth ponies.”

“Maybe they were so advanced they grew out of traps.”

“Nope they are the same as other civilizations. Unicorns banned rune magic in 1,400 B.C. but also stopped putting moonstone in their letters before that. See the glyphs on the walls?”

“Yes.”

“Moonstone is the rock used to form each picture.”

Tidal Wave took another closer look at the glyphs on the wall and found what Daring said to be true. Indeed there was a dirty white hue to the glyphs.

“What do these glyphs mean? Do you know by any chance?”

“No. This art style is nothing I’ve seen a pony make before. And those statues clearly depict a different race of intelligent beings entirely.”

“You don’t think humans?”

“I do actually.”

The rest of the trip was in silence before they came upon the grand mead hall. In said mead hall were old broken kegs and tables. But at the throne laid a golden amulet.

“This is way too easy. Humans are more brutal when it comes to traps. They don’t just make them so they kill you…but they make them so you can either starve to death or be crushed.”

Tidal Wave gulped.

“Yea. Exactly.”

She walked up to the throne and examined the amulet that rested on the cushion. She checked for trip wires but nothing more. A button would have been seen since the amulet goes around the neck. She picked it up and put it in her jacket pocket.

“Well that was…too easy.”

“I hope it will be like this from here on out.”

“Me too…but something feels wrong about this.” She checked behind the throne and tried to push it. She found it was just a fancy chair fit for a king…but what kind of king? It was too small for an alicorn to sit in and looked uncomfortable for any other pony to sit in. Could it have been made by humans?

“Come on miss Doo we should get going. If what you say is true then I would like to know that we can leave or not.”

“Sure let’s get out of here.”

They walked out of the mead hall and into the expansive hallway. They finally got to the exit and the sun’s rays blinded them on their way out. When the regained their composure and could look out into the sea of army statues they stood there speechless.

“Blimey.”

Each of the statues have moved and all of them faced the entrance.

“Creepy.” Said Daring while examining the statue on the right.

Then the closest one on the right sprinted towards them and swung its pike in a downward angle. They both dodged the blow. Daring flew up above the army to see its mass charging Tidal Wave.

“TIDAL WAVE!” She screamed in a vain attempt to warn him of the danger. It would do him no good. Once his eyes were off the current attacker he was struck down by the next one. The wedge of the Pike decapitated his head.

A teary eyed Daring Doo looked away and flew back to the ship.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Dash’s story time was interrupted by a shriek of fear coming from Ponyville it was muffled by the distance it traveled.

She rushed to the window and saw Ponyville…and smoke plumes were coming from the buildings.