Have you ever felt that something is missing? That the world you see is not all there is? That, somewhere beyond your senses, there's a reality hidden in plain sight, waiting for a chance to emerge?

For Dusk, he’s been having these dreams lately. Dreams that felt more real than a dream should, and he has been seeing faces and events that he has never experienced, or remembered experiencing. He was in a place he had never been before and people he had never met before. Yet, it all feels so familiar, as if this was a distended memory, buried in his head, but forgotten for a reason as if it was an experience I'd rather forget.

It's the same story, the same sequence of events, over and over again, like a broken record. He was dim, ancient place, weathered by time's relentless touch, resembling a castle shrouded in mystery, reminiscent of Canterlot but from an era long faded. It was nighttime, and a bright, full moon loomed above, surrounded by a sea of stars, yet something about the moon felt... off. There was a dark, sinister air around it, like a monster watching your every move, waiting to strike.

Accompanied him were five girls of wildly differing appearance and demeanour. It was always five, always the same ones, never changing and they were all people he had never met before, and yet they all felt... familiar, like he had met them before, or should have.

Who were they? Why was he with them? Where were they?

No answers. No explanations. Nothing. Just a void where knowledge should have been. But it was clear to him that we were here for a reason. A very, very important reason that he knows, deep down, is vital to the fate of not only us but everyone in Equestria. How he knew this was beyond me, but he knew. It's a gut feeling, the kind you get when you know something is about to go horribly wrong.

And it does, every time as the dream ends the same way each and every time. Sprawled on the murky ground, a colossal shadow figure cloaked in malevolence icy, cold aura, the kind that can freeze the blood in your veins. He could feel it. It was like a living shadow with only its glowing monstrous yet oddly beautiful serene cyan eyes visible. They bore down at him with an intensity that pierced to the core, making his heart race and his body shake as a sensation of dread and fear that seeps into your soul and chills you to the very core.

Then the room and everything in it began to melt away as an all-encompassing, all-consuming blackness swallows everything up. Dusk tries to get away, but his legs refuse to budge as if he were bound to the earth itself, and no matter how hard he struggles, he cannot get free as the darkness washes over him. The darkest, the blackest, the absolute dark he has ever seen. Like the void between the stars. No light can pierce this eternal abyss. It was as if a blanket had been draped over the world, snuffing out all forms of life and light, leaving nothing in its wake.

He cannot hear anything. He cannot see anything. He cannot feel anything. All he could do was lie there, frozen as he felt the embrace of the living shadow as it brought him into a chillingly loving embrace as a lover would to their significant other. he could feel a heartbeat within it.

Strong, yet gentle feminine voice spoke with an emotion he cannot describe.

"It's almost time..."

And with a jolt, Dusk Shine shot awake from his slumber, gasping for air as if he had been submerged in a pool of water, his body soaked in a cold sweat, his breathing rapid and shallow. His heart was pounding a mile a minute, and his body trembled uncontrollably as he clutched his chest, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Just a dream... Just a dream..." He muttered to himself, taking deep, shuddering breaths. He looked down at his hand and at the tattoo emblazoned on the back of it, a symbol that served as his Cutie mark. The mark consisted of a six-pointed pink star overlaid on a white one with five small white stars surrounding the two largest. He traced a finger along the edge of it, feeling a slight rush of warmth coursing through his arm, a strange sense of calm and reassurance flowing through his veins, his heart rate returning to normal, his body no longer shaking and trembling, and his breathing returning to a normal pace.

Once down, he pulled himself up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his body sore and stiff as walking with a light grace, stepping before a full-length mirror, staring at his reflection.

In this world, Twilight Sparkle was never born…As female and instead was a young male unicorn lad named Dusk Shine, the princess's personal protégé, and was the single most promising student to enter the Grand School for Gifted Unicorns and the youngest to ever finish Star Swirl U's doctorate exams at the mere age of eighteen.

Despite, this Dusk was appearance-wise what many would describe as not traditionally "masculine", standing below the average height of a stallion and was a bit on the thinner and leaner side. Princess Celestia's insistence that he take part in the school's yearly athletic events to keep in shape and get to know his classmates paid off in more than one way. Never the star of any team, he had put in a fine performance at everything as long as it didn't require much physical strength or endurance He didn't have the rippling muscles of an athlete or the broad shoulders and barrel chest of a warrior like his older brother Shining Armor, but he was still far from what one would call scrawny as he was in shape for a bookworm.

Yet, he often hated how his people would say he could pass for a girl if he didn't cut his hair or was given a dress, and the idea of him being mistaken for one had bothered him more than a few times. His face, though still masculine, had a certain feminine beauty about it with soft, round features and a rather pretty complexion. His Dark sapphire blue hair was unkempt and shaggy spiking outward in the back and with a streak of moderate purple and brilliant raspberry red running through the left side. Bring a hand through it, pulling back the locks out of his moderate violet eyes revealing a small pale, light greyish mulberry oval gemstone embedded in the middle of his forehead.

"Another nightmare..." he said, shaking his head, looking at his reflection with an emotionless expression. "It's becoming more and more frequent."

He glanced out the window. The sun had barely risen, the sky bathed in hues of orange and pink as the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. Dusk sighed before heading into the washroom, preparing himself for a new day.

{Canterlot City, Dawn, 48 hours before the Summer Sun Celebration....AND THE RETURNED OF NIGHTMARE MOON!}

Author's Note

Alright! This is a first work so go easy but feel free to criticize. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly enjoyed. Written in about three hours, note that rewrites will likely come with time due to the rushed and haphazard nature of my creative moments!