A White Stallion

Twilight's eyes were closed, and it seemed like they would stay that way forever. 'Where am I?' she thought as she unsuccessfully attempted to open her eyes. 'Why can't I open my eyes?' She tried to open them again, still to no avail.

As she was about to give up trying to open her eyes, they snapped open, just like that. There was a mirror in front of her, and she was horrified at what she saw. For the most part, she looked just the way she expected to....except for her eyes. They had a look about them, a look that showed none of Twilight Sparkle's usual calm, cool, intelligent demeanor, but instead, they showed a look of bloodlust. From behind herself in the mirror, she spotted a pony that seemed to be shaking and cowering in fear. A pony that looked oddly familiar...

Twilight turned around slowly, although she didn't mean to. It was at this moment that Twilight knew that although she was in control of her own thoughts, she was not in control of her actions, as if she were a different pony looking through her own perspective. 'I must be dreaming.' she thought. 'This is the only explanation I can think of.'

Dream Twilight kept her head down as she turned around, as if she didn't want the real Twilight to see the pony that was cowering in fear. "Hee hee hee.." giggled Dream Twilight. She then turned her head, which allowed the real Twilight to get a good view of her surroundings. She was in what resembled a small tent, and in one corner of the tent was a lever with wires running out of it that seemed to connect to the ceiling itself.

"Can you feel the sunshine..." Dream Twilight said slowly as she approached the lever. "DOES IT BRIGHTEN UP YOUR FUCKING DAY?!!!?!?!?!?!" She pulled the lever and then turned to face the pony that was cowering in fear. The real Twilight was shocked to see who it was.

It was Rade. Many thoughts ran through her mind at this point. Why was she having a dream of herself torturing Rade? This seemed like a complete role reversal to her. If anything, Twilight was terrified of Rade, not the other way around. This made no sense to her.

Dream Twilight laughed manically as a hole opened up in the ceiling. Dream Twilight looked up for the real Twilight to see what looked like a massive magnifying glass attached that intensified the sunlight. The intensified sunlight fell upon Rade, and it started singeing his fur. He screamed and was about to jump out of the way, until Dream Twilight used her magic to hold him in place.

The torture went on until Rade's fur had almost completely burned off, and he was covered almost head to hoof in charred skin. Dream Twilight abruptly threw Rade to the side, causing him to shriek in pain from charred skin making rough contact with a hard concrete floor, leaving a large blood stain on the floor.

"I give....I give...please don't hurt me anymore..." Rade begged for Dream Twilight to stop.

"Oh, you want it to end?" Dream Twilight asked, amused. "So soon? But we're only just beginning..." And then Dream Twilight reached into a cupboard and withdrew a bucket.

"This-" began Dream Twilight as she showed the bucket to Rade. "Is sulfuric acid. It'll help with those burns..." Dream Twilight then started walking towards Rade...

Without warning, the dream started fading, much to the real Twilight's relief.

Twilight Sparkle awoke with a start. "Oh, thank Celestia." she muttered under her breath." The dream terrified her, and only raised questions. Why did she have such a terrifying, and not to mention strange dream? Dream Rade looked nothing like the Rade that she saw in real life. Dream Rade looked so vulnerable and innocent, while the real Rade looked exactly the opposite. Twilight had no idea what this dream could mean, but she figured that it might be related to what Rade said about her taking his innocence. Twilight was going to need some answers, and she was determined to find them. Alone.

She quietly let herself out the door and walked swiftly to the library to begin searching again. As soon as she arrived, she immediately began scanning through books again.

"No..." she mumbled after she scanned a couple of books. "No..." she mumbled again. "No, no, NO! Ugh!" She grunted after she had searched for what felt like forever. She began to feel despair.

"Maybe I should just go to Rade." she thought out loud, sinking into despair. And then she saw it. A book that seemed to stick out among the thousands that cluttered the shelves. She walked over to it and took it off the shelf.

"Encyclopedia of Innocence." She flipped it open and immediately began reading it.

"What is innocence? Innocence is defined as a lack of guile or corruption. Innocence nowadays is rare, but those that still have it are often advised to cherish it and protect it. There are those that wish to destroy innocence and corrupt it, and they will stop at nothing to do so. One famous case of innocence being stolen was of a white stallion. His name was Radiating Innocence, but most people called him Rade-"

'Rade?' thought Twilight. 'That can't be right.' She read the name again several times just to make sure that she didn't read it incorrectly. After that, she continued reading.

"-Rade was a gentle pony, one of the kindest stallions to have ever lived. Until one day, someone took his innocence. And his life. The ghost of Rade is said to now roam the land in search of the one who stole what was rightfully his."

'So, revenge is what he wants.' Twilight concluded. 'But why me? I never took anyone's innocence before. Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding....' She wanted answers. She contemplated going to Rade, but then quickly dismissed the idea. She was still too terrified to face him. But then she thought about Fluttershy, and her fresh corpse from last night.....and then she made her decision.

"I'm going to face Rade." she said out loud to nopony in particular. "I have to."

Twilight then began writing a note to leave on the table, in case Pinkie Pie and Applejack decided to come looking for her. After she finished writing the note, she took the map that Rade gave her, and then she walked out the door, taped the note to it, and then began the walk to Rade's location.