A day of stupid, zany adventures in the old castle later, I teleported Twilight, Spike and myself back to the library.

"Well then," I groaned, wiping cream out of my eyes, "I'm gonna take a shower to get all of this cream, jam and dog feces off of me and then meet Dick-Horse in the spinning top world." I walked upstairs without waiting for them to reply and pushed my way into the bathroom psychically, the base of my horn still bruised from the Manticore swarm. Who knew their thighs were that strong? I'm just glad Unicorn horns are nearly indestructible...

I looked up and- AGH!

"What's wrong?" Laughed Queen Chrysalis. "Did I scare you?" I backed up, unable to speak, think or even blink. I-! She-! How-?! I...! I can't take it...! I need...! To get to Twilight...! NOW! In a burst of adrenaline, I tore my gaze away from her and galloped at full speed down the stairs. I skidded to a stop in front of Twilight and Spike, who hadn't moved from where I'd left them.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed, breathless from sheer terror. "H-Help me! It's... It's...! It's her!" Twilight just looked at me with a calm expression without speaking, blinking or even breathing? "T-Twilight?! Oh Realta, what did she do to you?!" At that moment, Twilight and Spike smiled simultaneously. Wait a mi- Oh... Oh no...

Twilight's skin was torn from her body, revealing a Changeling underneath as the same happened to Spike. No... No...! I tried to take a step back, only to collapse onto my hindquarters. Queen Chrysalis's horrific laughter washed over me, drowning me in a pit of fear as the walls of reality seemed to fracture and break. Hundreds- No, thousands of Changelings swarmed in through the cracks until the world was a shimmering mess of chitin.

"I can't..." I tried to say, "I..." It was no use. I was petrified from fear.

"Oh don't go falling asleep, now!" Cried Queen Chrysalis through the void of insects. "I want you to stay conscious as my subjects feed on your flesh!" The Changelings grew closer and closer, disgusting fluids dripping from their fangs. I slammed my eyes shut and began silently sobbing.

No...!

No...

NO! I tore my eyes open as magic surged through me. Chrysabitch's laughter faded.

"Wait," she said, the fear now in her voice, "what are you doing?" I didn't answer as my fear had become rage. My horn charged up more than it ever had before and magical energy exploded outward from me! Every bug the wave of energy hit disintegrated until only Chrysabitch herself remained. The tears in reality stitched themselves back together, but the world still shook from the power surging through me.

"If I can beat you once," I said, summoning a Support Circle and quadrupling the immense power I already had, "I can murder you the second time!" Chrysabitch grinned.

"Oh? The little morsel wishes to fight back?" She laughed curtly. "Then I shall tenderise your meat before I feast!" Before either of us could do anything, the front door slammed open and Luna tumbled through.

"Cloud!" She cried. "This is not reality! This is merely a nightmare! The same from- Agh!" Chrysabitch blasted her with a green beam of magic, sending her flying back out of the door which slammed behind her. Wait, if this is a dream, then-! I just went lucid. I grinned.

"What are you grinning at, worm?!"

"An ugly bitch!"

"Well that was uncalled for."

I blasted myself at her with immense levels of magical energy, tackling her through a wall and into...

Dun dun dun! Shut up and focus on fighting!

I didn't give her a nanosecond to fight back, hitting her with flurries of KC Punches, magic bolts, Majistamps, Razor Circles, beams, fire, electricity, Shield Bashes and good ol' fashioned bucks!

This continued for about ten minutes before I let up to catch my breath. Wow, I can fight for a lot longer in the dream world... It makes perfect sense, I'm not- Yeah, yeah, I know, I was just noting how interesting it is. Chrysabitch lay in a pool of blood, twitching every now and again. Slowly, cracks of light seemed to form in the fabric of reality starting at her body before spreading all around me. The light grew more and more intense until it was near blinding, forcing me to shut my eyes.

When I opened them, I found myself lying on the ground in the Everfree. The girls plus Spike and Luna were standing over me.

"Yo, Cloud," said Spike, "y'al-?"

"What the buck was that?" I asked as Rainbow helped me up.

"Do you recall when my sister's agent told you of the nightmares spreading through Equestria?" Asked Luna. I nodded. "That was one of them."

"Oh." There was a short silence. "I expected it to be more complicated than that."

"No, it's rather simple." But what was the point of it? Are they really happening to spread panic? The dream itself didn't make much sense, anyway. Chrysabitch only gets powerful from absorbing emotional... Energy... Holy shit... That's it!

"I know why the nightmares are happening!" Everyone except Twilight (who kept smiling creepily) looked surprised at my outburst.

"Divulge this information immediately!" Luna shouted.

"Demons haven't been sighted for centuries, not since around the time you went psycho!" I shout-answered. "They were a supposedly dying species! Then random people start having nightmares and demons start appearing again, but stronger than ever! Demons have a weird control over magical energy, but what if it's all energy?! What if the nightmares are to collect energy?!"

"No!" She stomped dramatically. "Demons could not create a dream that I could not enter!"

"Unless they were as or more powerful than you! Or, if they took power from something as or more powerful than you!"

"W-What are you saying?!"

"I'm saying that I need to see our fight right now or Equestria could fall!"

"That's not at all what you were saying!"

"I don't care! Just do it!"

"Fine!" A strange white light spun up and around her horn before shooting out and hitting me in the forehead. I collapsed.

Author's Notes:

Next time:
The truth is finally revealed!
Can anyone guess who Cloud was talking about or what his theory is?

---

Once again, sorry for delays but life stuff is getting more and more in the way.
Eventually it'll stop and we should be able to get back to the every 4-ish days thing but for now it's taking quite a bit longer.

---

Why does Cloud only realise conspiracies when he's with a version of Luna?