What Are Dreams?

by AMachineForRainbows

Rating: teen
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 2896

Rainbow Dash sets out to find the entity that has been haunting her dreams.

Rainbow Dash has been having nightmares for weeks, she asks her friend, Twilight Sparkle for advice, and receives a book called What Are Dreams? This book has all the answers she needs, and provides details of a dooms-day prophecy, and the location of an object that may be able to destroy the prophecy and save all of Equestria.

Published 2012-11-26 15:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-28 14:13:35 UTC

Chapter 1

“What?! NO! Stop! PLEASE STOP!” the poor young pony screamed as a knife seemingly about to be thrust into her lower abdomen. Screaming until her voice was lost, seeing her bloody reflection on the knives long shiny blade was the last thing she saw before it came rushing down. Before she could do anything, she woke up in a bloodcurdling scream, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

It seems that Rainbow Dash has been having these same nightmares every night, for weeks, but she never told any pony, these dreams of torture, death, agony, pain, whatever could possibly make a nightmare its worst. It’s always the same, one of her best friends, brutally murdering her, but she always woke up before her death, the pain though it felt so real. She wondered why? Was she losing sanity? No, she just kept telling herself, “It’s all in my mind, it’s all in my mind”, but, she knew it was something more. You don’t just have nightmares every night, right? There was something causing this mental pain. She wanted to find answers to why this happens, and even why nightmares occur. Reaching out to her best friend Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow wanted access to all of the library’s books. See, after their adventures when they were young, Twilight took over the largest library in Equestria, a library that also holds every known record of every known thing to the Ponies.

Rainbow went out to find Twilight, the time was around midnight. She went to Twilight’s house, but she wasn’t there, this was odd. She never misses a good night’s sleep? So she set off to the library. As she arrived, the door was creaked open, she ran inside screaming “Twilight! Are you okay! Where are you?!” hearing nothing, she sat on a bench, until she heard a faint cry, a small breath, the breath was cut off and felt distant, yet was only feet away. Rainbow Dash looked slowly to her right, and the horror of her nightmares was the image she saw. Twilight Sparkle lay there, bloody, with a hoof weakly raised to the air, gasping, coughing, the pain was immense. Rainbow rushed over quickly, with her hoof against Twilight, she felt her pulse. It was weak, and irregular. Beating fast, then slow, then in different patterns, Rainbow looked to Twilights chest, in horror, a single knife gashed full blade through her ribcage, she jumped in shock, then slowly looked back to Twilights face, the last thing she saw, was her bloody grin, she looked her in to the eyes and a twitch of her neck, pulled out the knife, and thrust it into Rainbows heart, the impact of the blade was a flash, and a fade to white.

As Rainbow awoke on the floor with a large gasp for air, she slung her hoof to her heart, felt around, there was nothing, no gash, and it was all just another dream, she had fallen asleep when she sat down on the small bench in the Library. She heard a sound to her right, Scared, she didn’t want to look, for she seemingly knew that her dream would come true. Rainbow slowly looked, with one eye clinched and the other wide open, and there was Twilight, walking to her, “Rainbow? Are you okay?” as she got to her. “Oh! Twilight! Oh!” She yelled as she hugged her tightly. As they caught up with each other, Rainbow explained everything that was going on, they talked for hours.

The Ponies looked out the window, the sun was beginning to rise, Rainbow looked back at Twilight, “Wow, we’ve been talking all night! I can’t believe it! She exclaimed, “Anyway, do you have what I’m looking for?” Twilight ran to her private bookshelf. “Here, it’s from my most secret collection, this book should be all you need for your questions” She said as handing a book to Rainbow Dash. Dash looked down at the book, blowing off the dust, the book was old, and rugged, she read the title aloud, “What are Dreams?”, Twilight looked at her, “Yes, now, get home! Go to bed! I’ve got work to do”. Rainbow ran all the way home holding the book in her snout. When she got home, she unlocked the door and went in, thinking, she needed to get some rest. She put the book into her nightstand, laid down, and closed her eyes.

“This book, this book will not save you, nor will anything, give up now” A grim dark voice called out from the dark, Rainbow could not tell where the sound was coming from, she was scared, she began to tremble forward. Rainbow stumbled into a door, she could see light coming from the bottom, and she was frantic. She did not want to, but she knew that it was the only way out, she creaked the door open, and a blinding light struck her. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the most frightening thing any Pony could ever dream of seeing, she saw the room, filled with flesh, and mutilated body parts, and an orb in the middle, on the orb was the flesh of a face, attached by veins and strings of skin, the eyes were rolled back in the head, and it began to talk. The only thing it said was, “I am the Master, I am your destruction, you will not succeed, give up” in a hush, hollow, dark voice.

She awoke frightened, thinking that this figure could’ve been what’s been causing her nightmares. She immediately pulled the book out from her nightstand and began to read.

This figure in her dream, was known simply as… The Master. He was an entity that controlled dreams, and was once known as the god of sleep. But he wanted all control, this craving drove him insane, so he was cast away into another realm. And now he has come back. In the book, it said there was a way to destroy him, a weapon of a sort, but was lost. The last know location was the bottom of Equestria. Rainbow Dash knew what she needed to do. She packed everything she needed for the journey. Saying one last goodbye to her home, leaving a friend in care for it, she stopped at a gravestone. With a tear in her eye, “I have to go, I have to save Equestria, I’m the only chance, goodbye, I love you Spike” and she set off on another adventure, to find… “The Sunshine”

Chapter 2

Rainbow Dash ran all the way to the boating docks, waiting there was a young female pony by the name of Scootaloo, who agreed to take Rainbow Dash on the beginning part of her journey, who was now grown up and strong, Rainbow needed to take a boat because she has been having fainting spells recently, and was afraid of falling out of the sky. “Hey, Scootaloo, you ready? I got all of my things” said Rainbow calmly. “Alright Miss Dash, just say the word, and we’re off” responded Scootaloo. And so the two ponies set off into the sunset.

Rainbow Dash was lying on her cot, thinking of her adventures when she was young, smiling, thought to herself, “Oh, such great times, I miss those girls”. Suddenly she started to become dizzy, and her eyesight was going black, and in a moment, she fainted.

The voice came back, “Go back, there is no salvation”. Rainbow awoke on the floor, still slightly dizzy, and noticed a small bump on her head, she must have fallen and hit her head. She got up, and took out the book, and read on from where she stopped, the book had stated that the Master doesn’t just control your dreams, but he can control your physical form as well, causing you to sleep or faint at his command. So this must be the reason why she is fainting, and it says that the Master can only communicate with a mortal being through dreams. When he makes Rainbow faint, he is trying to give her a message. Rainbow ran up the boats staircase to see what was going on up top, Scootaloo was calmly piloting the vessel whistling with the sounds of the ocean in the background. She knew that it would be weeks before they reached her destination, so she went back to the lower deck and calmly waited.

Several months have passed, Rainbow Dash was feeling okay, she had no sickness, and had very little nightmares, and she thought that maybe they were close to “the Sunshine” and it was blocking the Master from infiltrating her mind, she heard a yell above, it was Scootaloo, who was yelling “Rainbow!, we’re here!”, Rainbow Dash galloped up to the top deck, and all she could see was a dense cloud of fog, and the boat was sitting next to a small piece of land, “Alright, this is where you go off, I need to leave, I have a bad feeli-“ Scootaloo said being cut off, “What?! No! You have to come back! You can’t leave me here?!” “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I just can’t stay here, I am not welcome, good luck” Scootaloo began to sail off, and disappeared through the mist.

Rainbow Dash turned around, with a concentrated look on her face, “Well, here I go” she said as she began to walk ahead. Within an hour, she arrived upon a cave, the cave had a large door on it, and a seal on it in the shape of a hoof, Rainbow Dash put her hoof against it, and the whole door began to light up, she backed away as it began to open. The first thing she saw was a staircase leading down; she could not see the bottom, but she knew this was the way. She headed down, as lights flickered on as she passed under them, she came upon a long hallway, a hallway full of pictures and monuments, these pictures and monuments told the stories of the first Ponies, and how they worshipped the Master as the God of sleep, showing images and paintings of the ponies bending down in his honor, he was a normal looking stallion back then, and not in his repulsing look now, Rainbow Dash wondered, what happened to him, why did he turn evil? She didn’t want to fall behind, so she went on, only hearing her own hoof steps, casually reading and looking at the history of her race, it was amazing to her, until she came upon a distinguishing image, she stopped and looked, it was the image of a dark room, a dark room with a single Pony in it, but this Pony wasn’t just a normal Pony, it was Rainbow Dash, and the Pony appeared dead. She quickly looked away, and began to shed tears.

She had stopped crying, and gotten to a large room, with a large door on the other end, the room was completely empty, but had glowing spots all over it; it was overwhelming to her, she wondered, “What if the Master is right? What if there isn’t a way to stop him?” she dreaded, but just thought that he was getting into her mind, no, she had to continue, she could not quit this far in. she arrived at the door, on it was a small circular hole, it seemed some sort of key was need, she searched the room, and there it was laying on the floor, she quickly picked it up and slid it into the keyhole.

The door had lit up like the one on the outside, and opened, behind the door was a blinding light, but her eyes adjusted, in the middle of the room was a short stand, on the stand was an orb, she knew, that this brightly glowing orb was the Sunshine that could stop it all, she was scared to grab it, for , she did not know what was going to happen to her. But she walked forward, and placed one hoof on it, and the orb emitted beams of light all over the room, and she fainted.

“You should have listened, you should have gone back” Rainbow awoke, but in a different place, it was a long white hall, she could not see the walls, the floor, or the ceiling, and she saw the orb lying next to her, she knew that she had somehow teleported to the Masters location, she looked down the large bright hallway, and there was yet another large door, she arose and put the orb in her mouth and galloped as fast as she could towards the door, she heard a sound behind her, the hallway began to give away, falling apart behind her, she galloped faster, and came upon the door, it had a ball like key hole, and she knew the Sunshine was the key, she placed it in, and all of a sudden, the room stopped falling apart, but it was strange, it was like everything had stopped in time, the pieces of the room that were falling were now stuck in air.

The door opened, and inside, was her goal; there was the Master, in his disgusting form. He began to speak to her, “You should have returned… you will now witness your own failure” he said. In a moment, Rainbow Dash collapsed on the ground and was paralyzed. The Master began to explain everything, all of why she would fail. “You see, I am not just in this form, not just in myself, I am in everypony, they all hold me inside them, there is no way to destroy me, besides killing every pony in Equestria, but that would be my mission, See? You have failed, and now you will witness every one of your best friends murdered, by me” he told her. Her vision became dark, and she started seeing all of Equestria crack open and spit fire into the air, she saw images of Ponies being murdered all over, she began to cry, for she knew she had failed. Then an image came across, it was Twilight sparkle, she was laying on the ground, bloodied, and weak, she raised a hoof, and it quickly fell, her lifeless body now lay there, and same with Rainbow’s other friends, she witnessed them all killed. She was hoping it was all another dream, but it wasn’t, it was for real. As the Master killed off the last of the Pony race, he said one last thing to Rainbow before he ended her life, “This… This is what dreams are”

Alternate Ending

Rainbow had awoken in a bright hallway, the hallway seemed slightly translucent, she could barely see through, but she saw what seemed like the planet of Equestria below, it was an amazing sight, but she knew she must press on, so she walked forward until she arrived upon another door, with the sunshine gripped tightly in her mouth, the door started to light up, and began to open slowly, the room was bright, but like always, her eyes began to adjust, there, she saw the silhouette of the Master, in his full form, he was a large steed again, Rainbow Dash walked in scared, as she got closer, the Master’s appearance became clearer, he began to speak to her, “Rainbow Dash, you have come to destroy me, and in my defense, I can only say that I did not want to do this” he said as he became depressed, and spoke again, “I just wanted her back, she was my everything, he promised, that if I fulfilled his prophecy, he would give her back, but what is it worth? Destroying the whole Pony race for her, I hope the life after death is good, now please, give me peace Rainbow Dash, and destroy me” he sobbed, Rainbow Dash began to feel guilt, but did not ask any questions, as the Master stepped to the side, a large obelisk showed, with an empty shelf in the middle, she knew this is where the Sunshine would go, she stepped forward, and hesitantly placed the Sunshine in the obelisk. It glowed, in slow beams of light, then a large explosion, which sent Rainbow Dash against the wall, this jarred her, as she lay against the wall, she looked up, and saw the Master staggering, and lights being projected from inside his body as he slowly fell apart, the last thing he said as his glowing eyes gazed upon Rainbow was, “Thank you, Rainbow Dash” as he exploded in light, Rainbows vision gave away, as she was thrown unconscious.

Rainbow Dash awoke upon her bed, thinking, this was quite a dream, being thankful that it was not real, she looked to her left and saw a slightly glowing object, it was a book, she was shocked, the book was partially burned, but read “What are Dreams?” On the cover, there was an extra page in it, the page said, “And so there was a hero, and a villain, the hero destroyed the villain, with the Sunshine, the Master was now defeated, and the prophecy was destroyed, the hero will be known forever, only in this book.” And Rainbow Dash’s heart sunk into her stomach, as she knew that the dream she had, was not a dream after all.