Running from the Past

It was very early in the morning, but Lloyd wasn't tired. He didn't know why, he didn't know how, but he just wasn't. He wondered why wouldn't he be tired, after all that had happened last night. Everything seemed to fall into place for him within the course of the past few days or so. Lloyd always had a tendency to overthink things. He got up out of bed slowly, streching as the sun rose up into the sky. He took a shower, got dressed, and went downstairs, as he had for quite a few times now.

"What to do for breakfast...." Lloyd muttered as he sifted through the various cabinets inside of Twilight's kitchen. He quickly picked something out, looked at it, and shrugged. Lloyd made his breakfast and eagerly started to eat it. While consuming his very delicous breakfast, Twilight walked out of her room. She didn't look too bad either, in terms of sleep. *Thank god, I really got to stop keeping Twilight up at night.*

"Good morning, Lloyd..." Twilight yawned.

"Morning, Twi." Lloyd casually replied as he looked back to his breakfast. After the two of them had breakfast, Lloyd got up and streched his wings slowly. He was happy, no doubt about it. He could tell that today was gonna be a good day. *What to do today..... Maybe I could talk to the Princess about what happened last night.* Lloyd recalled the events of last night again, and couldn't get the thought of Rainbow out of his head. He didn't want his....condition to jepordize their relationship in any way. He felt that if it did, he could never forgive himself. *Alright, Princess it is then.*

"Hey Twi?" Lloyd asked, turning around.

"Yes?" Twilight said, a look of concern on her face.

"I'm gonna go see Celestia. Need to talk about what's going on."

"Are you sure? We could just talk about it here..." Twilight said imploringly.

"Need to go, I'll talk about it later, Twilight. See ya." Lloyd said, walking outside before Twilight could say anything more. He sighed and looked up at the beauty of the nearby landscape. It was nice out, a few clouds here and there with the sun shining ever so brightly. Lloyd started to fly towards Canterlot.

Lloyd loved the view. He saw so much of the countryside on the way to Canterlot. *Welp, at least it's nice and warm out!*

*Hello, Lloyd.*

*Wassup, brain? How you doin'?*

*I'm fine, thank you. Still trippin' balls over what happened last night.*

*I know brain, I know.* Lloyd then flew faster and faster, gaining speed quickly. He reached Canterlot within fifteen minutes. He reached the gates, and was still amazed at the sight of a city built into a mountain. Lloyd quickly deviated his course towards the palace. *This is some Lord of the Rings shit right here, man.*

*Hells yeah, brain. Right on.* Lloyd decided to challenge himself. He was constantly trying to pull moves off of Assassins Creed, or Mirror's Edge or something. He landed on the top of a store. He was gonna try something risky. He was gonna sneak through to the palace, no wings. He would have to free-run on the rooves of various buildings, and sneak through a side door or window, or maybe even the roof of the palace. *Whaddaya think, brain?*

*Don't know, man. Your choice.* Lloyd sighed and started to run towards the palace.

While running, a few guards spotted Lloyd. They were instantly suspicous of him, even though they knew that the Princess had introduced him to everypony. The crowd of guards started to chase after him. Lloyd quickly looked back to see at least three guards in pursuit. He turned back and bit his lip. *Damnit, guards have to ruin the fun...don't they?*

*Who got their knickers in a bunch?*

*You're talking to him, brain.*

*Oh.....right.* Lloyd ran and ran, determined to get away from the guards. He decided against using his wings, they would bring more guards to his location. Even if he could go faster, there would be too many guards around for an escape. Lloyd eventually lost the slow guards. He was on the perch of a window, being careful to make sure he was as quiet and sneaky as possible. He took a quick glance inside to see Celestia sitting on her throne, reading a letter. Lloyd rubbed his hands together, and had a maniacal grin on his face. *Perfect...*

Lloyd quickly climbed to the roof of the building, using the various ledges and windows to his advantage. He eventually reached the top, and looked down. Celestia was still doing her thing. *Good...good.* Lloyd tried to find a latch, or lock, something he could use to get the window undone. He quickly found a release mechanism and slowly flipped the window over. *Booyah* He smirked. He stopped himself. He wanted to double-check and make sure that nopony was following him. *Again, better safe than sorry.* He took a look around, and saw something on the ground.

Lloyd had no idea how it got there, nor why it was there. It looked like a mask, although it was quite...odd. It was white, and had two sides to it. The left side and right side of the mask were dramatically different, it looked like something you would see in a horror film. The left side of the mask was cracked,  with a very evil looking grin on it. (facing the mask) The cracks on it were actually cracks, Lloyd realized as he touched them. The other side was plain, in comparison. It had a blank expression, with what seemed to be a scar on it. There were three of what appeared to be scratch marks going through the eye. The scratches were even painted red. The detail was so intricate that it seemed like a real wound. *This is hella creepy.* Lloyd quickly formed an idea in his head. He smiled. Lloyd put on the mask.

Ever so slowly lowering himself, Lloyd flew down to her, making sure not to be seen, while also being as quite as possible. Nopony could see him. Eventually, he was a few inches away from Celestia's head. He was just floating above her, poised to strike. He slowly raised his hand, tapping her on the shoulder. Celestia sat there for a few seconds, speechless. She slowly looked up to find an upside down, masked assailant staring back at her. Celestia screamed, absolutely trerrified of the unknown threat literally staring her in the face. Before she could do anything more, the figure dropped to the floor. It was in hysterics, clearly amused by just what happened. The look on Celestia's face was a mixture of curiosity, anger, and concern.

Lloyd was laughing so hard. He was laughing his ass off so much that he was crying. He couldn't stop laughing, it was just too funny. The royal Princess, scared to death. Who would have thought?

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! The look on your face!" Lloyd said, rolling on the ground.

"What?!" Celestia yelled, clearly not amused. Lloyd got up, wiping a tear from his eye.

"I just pranked you. You got owned. Lloyd-1 Celestia-0." A smile quickly formed on Celestia's face. She tried to stiffle her laughing. She started to laugh. Lloyd was amused, and broke out into more laughter. The two of them laughed together.

"Well played, Lloyd. well played."

"Why thank you, milady." Lloyd said, bowing. Just as he finished his bow, multiple guards burst into the room.

"THERE HE IS! SEIZE HIM!" One of the guards yelled, charging at Lloyd. The guards quickly realized that Celestia was okay, and that the situation wasn't what it appeared to be. Every guard shared a look of confusion on their faces.

"Calm down, guards. Everything is fine." Celestia said, reassuringly.

"Are you sure, Princess?" The head guard asked, still cautious.

"Yes, leave us be. I have business to attend to."

"Yes Princess." The guard bellowed, signalling for his fellows to walk on out. After the guards left, Celestia spoke up.

"All else aside, why are you here, Lloyd? I wasn't expecting visitors." Celestia said, baffled. After a few seconds of silence, Lloyd sighed and began.

"It's about the nightmares. I think they're really getting to me. They're affecting the physical world." After a few more seconds of grim silence, Celestia spoke up.

"I see. I think they foretell something. It all has to mean something, no doubt." Celestia said, thinking to herself.

"I don't know, Princess. The nightmares...they...they cause great pain. It hurts. The pain is almost unbearable." Lloyd then filled her in on the rest of the situation, including all that had happened last night. Well, except for him and Rainbow.

"Do you need help? There has to be something we can do."

"I don't know, I just don't know." After some time of silence, Celestia gestured to the mask that he hadn't yet taken off.

"Where did you get that horrifying thing?" Celestia said, still the tiniest bit creeped out by it.

"I found it on the roof. Come to think of it, it's quite strange that it is in the shape of a human's face aswell." Lloyd said, taking it off, and looking at it.

"Hmm...do you think it has to do with your nightmares?"

"I think so. After all, masks don't just pop up out of nowhere on rooftops." Lloyd said, turning it over. The two of them talked for a while longer, concerned with what was going on. Lloyd then decided to leave.

"I'll be seeing you, Princess."

"Goodbye, Lloyd." Lloyd heard as he walked outside. Just as he closed the door, Lloyd took a breath in. It was quite a bit to take in. Lloyd began his flight back to Ponyville. *That was fun.*