Chapter 1View OnlineDreams Lead To SecretsChapter 1That dreadful noise...always....always in my dreams... That voice....always calling to me....always talking... I can feel the wind blowing through my mane and I'm afraid to open my eyes. I have been here before and know what will happen if I give into the voice, to the wind. I will not open my eyes this time. But I can feel them start to open on their own, the wind blowing fiercer, whipping my mane about. "Open....open them..." The voice echoes around me. I start to shake, the anticipation of what I know is coming next passing from my mind to the rest of my body. My eyes snap open and immidiately I look down, my hooves just on the edge of the cliff. I gasp trying to take a step back but my legs are stuck in place. "Jump...." The voice knows...I can hear the grin...it knows that I never learned....I stop my thought as I feel my hoof lift and start to take a step forward. I try to close my eyes but they are stuck open, forced to watch as I step down into the open air and start plummeting off the cliff down into the dark abyss. I scream as I hit the ground. "Noooo!" My eyes snap open to see that a very concerned pony is looking down at me. I look around to see that I'm laying in the dirt in the middle of Ponyville, my scream drawing the attention of every citizen. I quickly scramble up onto my hooves, blushing hard with embaressment and I nod to everyone before taking off toward home, not bothering with the groceries that fell from my back after my tumble. That had never happened before....not outside of sleeping....I don't even remember blanking out. I trot back and forth inside my house, pondering what just happened. "Ouwee.....I just don't know what to do anymore..." I address my old stuffed rabbit. And in its normal response it stares into nothingness. I sigh and trot to the fridge and pull out a juice box. The straw was always the hard part... I set it on the table and with my normal precision I ram the straw into just the right place that juice squirts everywhere, staining my white mane. "Great...just what I needed..." In a huff now, my head hung low I walk to the bathroom, turning on the water to the shower and jumping in, letting the warm water run over me. Watching as the juice rinses from my hair, turning the water a dark red color until most of it washes out. MY mane still stained with the juice. "This really sucks....first my dream hits me during the day while I'm still awake and then my mane is going to be stained red for weeks...." I know better than to ask if it could get any worse because I know it could. Then it hit me...maybe I could go ask somepony about my dream, since its re-occurring maybe someone can explain to me what it means. I quickly turn off the water, not bothering to dry myself, I run from my house to the pony I know would be my best bet at finding out information from. I knock on the door to Twilight Sparkle's house, shifting my hooves with impatience until she opens the door her smile immidiately contorting into a look of concern. "Aroule, are you ok?" She says. I look down at myself to see the dirt from the roads ad stuck to my wet coat, and the stain of the juice in my mane probably didn't help with my look as well. "Yeah, I'm fine Twilight, I just had a question to ask you and it is very important. I don't know why I didn't come to you sooner, I guess just the experience today drove me to come here now..." I try to brush some dirt off of me but only succeed to smear more dirt onto my coat. "I heard...please do come in, we will get you cleaned up, and while doing so you can askme your question, okay?" She smiles at me. What a great friend Twilight is, you could look half crazy and she would still help and listen to you...I walk in nodding my head greatfully, trying to scuff as much dirt as I can onto the welcome mat before taking a step into her library.
Chapter 2View OnlineDreams Lead To SecretsChapter 2I wipe the last of the dirt from my coat, giving a greatful smile to Twilight. "So what is it you wanted to ask about?" Twilight says as she puts books back up onto the shelves. "It's about...this dream I have been having...." I sit down on the floor. "It's always the same....I can feel a strong wind blowing, and my eyes are closed, a voice tells me to open my eyes, and no matter what I try I always listen, so there I am staring downward into darkness, I'm on a cliff, I try to step away but I have no control. The voice then tells me to jump...and...I always step forward....always waking up on the floor, and only today did I wake in the middle of Ponyville. That has never happened before..." I trail off, looking at Twilight as she squints her eyes in thought. Then, determinedly, she starts rummaging through her books, tossing them aside until she finds the book shes looking for, and sets it on the table. She starts to turn through it, her horn glowing as her magic turns the pages for her, I can see her eyes darting back and forth as she speed reads through the pages. "Aha!" She yells, pointing with her hoof at a passage in the book. "Re-occurring dreams are usually influenced by, powerful, unknown magical beings trying to get an important message across to the effected pony." I listen intently, trying to decipher what Twilight was saying to me. "If the pony tries to disregard the dream, it will occur more frequently, even during waking hours until the pony addresses the message." She looks at me as she finishes reading the passage. "And so...something is trying to tell me to...jump off a cliff...?" My tone is slightly sarcastic, confused by what Twilight has just told me. "I really don't know what to tell you Aroule, only that your dreams are trying to tell you something, and that something is for only you to figure out. Maybe try and listen closer to the voice? Maybe if you show you aren't afraid, the being will reveal more to you." "How can one be not afraid of jumping off a cliff...? Unwillingly...?" I raise my eyebrow at her. "Like I said, I don't know, this is for you to figure out Aroule, should I suggest having some time hanging out with friends? Maybe that will take your mind off things until you are ready to face this dream of yours." Twilight was making sense...fear was never a good thing to show, especially to powerful beings. And to influence a ponies dreams, this being must be very powerful. "Well...thank you Twilight, you gave me a lot to think about, I'll be sure to let you know if I figure it out." "You are quite welcome Aroule, and I would love to find out what's happening, it would be something interesting to write to Celestia about." She smiles at me and nods her goodbye. "See you Twilight~" I nod back to her before trotting out the door, feeling a little more cheerful than before. Almost looking forward to dreaming tonight so that I may be able to get to the bottom of this. The fear buzzes in the back of my skull, mixed with my anticipation. Finally I may get to the bottom of this... As I start walking back home, and not even a couple steps later, my stomach growls. I had forgotten about the groceries...they were dropped during my earlier black-out, and I failed to eat anything after my fiasco with the juice box. I find that I'm not too far from Sugar Cube Corner. Something sweet might be nice to distract me from my current worries. Maybe even Pinkie Pie would be there, she knows how to cheer up every pony. I step into the shop, Pinkie Pie doing her usually runs of the place, hopping from one batch of goodies to another, her high pitched giggle sounding every time she stares at one of the cakes. Eventually she recognizes that I am here, and acknowledges my presence with her usual hyper demeanor. "Hey Aroule! What's up buttercup~?" Her smile is huge as she stares me in the face. Pinkie has always creeped me out, always so happy, but that happiness usually rubbed off on others, so I learned to deal with it. "Oh nothing much Pinkie, I was wondering if I could get something to snack on, something sweet of course." "Well you have come to the right place~!" She dashes over to a display case and pulls out a platter of cookies and dashes back to me, the same huge smile on her face. "Here you go, help yourself~" I take one of the cookies and munch on it, the sweetness making me sigh. "Thanks Pinkie, I really needed that..." "Something bothering you then Aroule?" Her smile only dampening a little as she questions me. "Naw, it's silly Pinkie, just a dream." I munch down the rest of my cookie and pick up another one. "A dream~? I had a dream one time, that I was this huuuuge fish! And I swam around and ate little gum drop fish! And the water was jello! And, and, and...!"
Chapter 3View OnlineDreams Lead To SecretsChapter 3It takes me a few hours to get away from Pinkie, her talking never stops and if you ever try to move away from her while she's talking, she just follows right along. It wasn't until she remembered about having to make a cake for somepony's birthday did she finally dash off back to the shop, leaving me to wind down from the ever talkative Pinkie Pie's rain of nonsense. I was full of cookies though, can almost feel them shifting as I walk, and that whole ordeal with Pinkie did take my mind off my troubles, so I'm secretly thankful toward her... I make my way slowly home, some ponies giving me worried looks as I pass by them, those who either experienced or heard about my recent black-out in the middle of Ponyville. I give them all reassuring nods, showing them all that I am fine now. Some of them take it to heart and go back to their work while others keepa watchful eye on me as I walk. At least I know everypony cares... I get home to see my unlocked door ajar, I ran out in such a rush that I even forgot to close my own door. "Ouwee, I'm home!" I call out as I trot into my house closing the door behind me. I know I won't get a response but it always feels good to be able to call out to somepony when you get home. Celestia's sun is slowly sinking out of the sky now, being replaced by Luna's moon. It had taken a while for Celestia to trust her little sister with the moon again but eventually she gave control of it back to her. The day and night transition seems smoother now, more natural. But now I am not even looking forward to the night. For it will only bring me sleep, and sleep will bring the dream that I fear. I grab Ouwee and trot to my room, the cookies now sit unsettling in my stomach. Too many sweets was never good for any pony. I flop down onto my bed, laying my head on Ouwee and staring out the window, watching Luna's moon rise into the sky, the stars starting to twinkle into existance as the sky transitions into night time. I'v always loved the stars, and the night, the noises that come with it, the hoots of the owls and chirps of the crickets. It was all so calming. And I find my eyelids starting to droop closed, I fight it for a while, the fear still buzzing in the back of my mind until I give into the weight and fall into a deep sleep.... I can feel the wind blowing through my mane once again, the voice whispering unintelligibly into my ear, gradually growing in volume. "Open...." It echoes through my mind, bouncing off the dark corners of my consciousness, and taking Twilight's advice I immidiately open my eyes. A shiver runs through me as I find myself staring into the same dark abyss from the same cliff that I had viewed so many times before. I gulp at the sight, the voice once again speaking, unintelligible, the volume growing once more, the tone different from before. It sounds almost surprised, almost...impressed... "Aroule....why do you obey so quickly now when you didn't before...?" The voice was airy and whimsical instead of demanding as it was every time I had heard it before. I meekly respond to the best of my ability, my body still stiff and uncontrollable. "I....I don't fear you anymore...at least I'm trying not to..." I admit,my voice quiet even to myself. The wind dies down, changing into a soft breeze. "Trying not to fear me?" The voice chuckles. "Perfect, that is all that I wanted." The wind spirals around me, gathering into a physical ball of air that lands behind me, forming into a silhouette. Something with horns, and wings and claws. A shiver of fear works it's way across my body. Will this thing kill me, did I just give it reason to? "Jump Aroule....jump and don't be afraid...prove to me that you are not afraid..." The voice sounded with more meaning, more...reality. Prove to it that I am not afraid....jump...jump...jump... Willingly...I take a step forward, taking one last look back at the figure, shrouded in air, before I start plummetting to the ground, trying to relax my body as I fall...