It was a quiet night in the small town of Ponyville; a light rain poured down with a gentle rhythm that acted as a lullaby for the inhabitants.  While most ponies were fast asleep dreaming their silly dreams and resting for the following day’s work, one particular unicorn was sat up in her library-house reading book after book on a topic most ponies wouldn’t even consider sane.  In the hooves of Twilight Sparkle rested a book she had ‘borrowed’ from the Canterlot Archives on her previous visit just a month ago.

Something hadn’t settled right with her after the first day of her visit.  In fact, the entire trip felt wrong, almost like déjà vu.  To the studious unicorn, the sudden change in attitude of the hesitant and otherwise annoying draconequus after their first day in Canterlot didn’t sit right in the pits of her mind.  So, wondering just what could have caused his sudden attitude adjustment, she went to work scanning book after book for something that reminded her of what she was feeling.

To her amazement, she had actually found a series of books that described the exact phenomenon she could have sworn she was experiencing.  Of course, the books had been in one of the restricted areas of the archives, and the topics were most likely considered extremely taboo and dangerous by most ponies, so she simply had to keep them a secret.  Even from her most loyal assistant, Spike.

The first book in the series was simply titled Doors, and offered the idea that more than one world could run alongside the one in which she lived.  To Twilight Sparkle, that theory only meant that there was an infinite amount of information to be learned in those other worlds.

The second book she had borrowed was titled Demons, and made references to grotesque-sounding bipedal creatures in glowing red suits of armor.  In the same book, she read passages regarding the manipulation of time and space, more powerful than even that of the Master of Chaos.  In fact, several of the beings mentioned in the book had power enough to completely erase entire worlds from existence.

Magik was the title of the third book in the series.  And when she began reading it, her heart sped up and her muscles twitched in excitement.  According to the book, there were thousands upon thousands of forms of magic in the universe, each one connected to the others by certain aspects and elements.  By using one form of magic in one world, you could potentially open a Door to another world with a similar form of magic.  This was the most amazing concept, and she continued reading the book well into the night.

With the rain beating on the roof of her home, and Spike sound asleep in his little basket/bed, Twilight read page after page of the interesting text.  The more she read, the more she was certain that what she had experienced was being described to her word for word in the tome.  And as the night continued on, her excitement kept her from drifting off into sleep, which she knew would come back to haunt her in the future.

Regardless, she kept reading.  One form of magic that was known to the author of the text was that of going back in time, if only temporarily.  Any act taken while in the past would directly alter the future, and anyone involved in that future would be left with a sense of forgetfulness and uncertainty.  Though it would take a trained mind to perceive its own alteration, someone with enough sense would easily come to the realization that things weren’t right.

When Twilight Sparkle had finished reading about the time magic, she knew without a doubt that somepony had used it to change the future.  She was certain that her weird feelings were caused by somepony trying to change something big.  And as she realized that something was wrong, she remembered something worse.

Deep in the back of her mind, she could hear an evil laugh.  An exotic voice called out to her, but its words were muddled and unintelligible.  Pieces of a face came to life in front of her eyes, a pink-skinned creature with two legs, similar to the demons in the second book.  It had hair covering its chin, a silver color shining against the sunlight pouring in from some window.  The figure spoke again, and this time she could hear its words.

"Of course I’m okay, you useless mule!"

The face of one of her friends replaced the face of the mysterious creature, but the voice didn’t change.  She’d seen Rainbow Dash mouth those words, but they weren’t her own…

Then, like a single ember sets and entire forest ablaze, memories came flooding back to Twilight.  Memories of a series of events that had apparently never happened.  A guard leaped upon a table and summoned a rain of cheese wheels.  Rainbow Dash sat upon Princess Celestia’s throne with a mad look in her eyes.  She had watched Princess Luna’s own magic rebound on her by the will of the mysterious being…

The flood of memories and emotions ended as quickly as they began, and Twilight’s knees buckled beneath her.  She felt sick and angry; she needed some kind of confirmation about her memories, and only one creature could possibly give her that.

“Discord!” she gasped as her body fell to the ground.  Everything started to spin around her; her eyelids grew heavy and her muscles began to ache.

Out of almost nowhere, the rain outside grew heavier.  A disgusting stench filled the air and the sky outside turned a dark shade of purple.  A mesmerizing voice flooded the unicorn’s ears, blocking out any other feeling her other senses could bring her.  All she could feel was the voice in her ears.  All she could see was the figure who spoke to her.

The room around her melted away as if made of wax, a single tall figure rising from the emptiness.  It was bipedal, like the being in her memories, and it was draped in a long black gown.  The face was smooth, youthful, with long gray locks of hair falling behind it.  The eyes were a deep black color, small red dots sitting where its pupils would be.

Twilight was filled with a fear she’d never felt before.  Her heart began to throb as it beat, her veins pulsing as adrenaline filled her every cell.  Everything in her being wanted to scream and run but she couldn’t budge a muscle.  She could only stare at the beautiful and horrendous being before her.  Even when two large snakes emerged from her gown, the unicorn could only stare.  She wanted to stare forever, but her heart raced ever faster in fear.

"So is the fate of those who gaze upon me, I’m afraid."

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere all at once.  In the emptiness of the once-library, the figure stared at Twilight with some mix of amusement and concern.

"My image is the most terrifying you shall ever witness.  Once my business in this mind is concluded, the rest of your world will meet the same fate.  I follow my brother, who failed before me."

So many questions fought for the front seat of Twilight’s mind, but still fear and newfound pain kept control.  She wanted to get away from the beautiful figure, but her entire body felt broken under the fear weighing on her mind.

"I have many names, all of which your world will soon know.  The name you may assign my terrifying image is Dreamweaver, for that is what I am."

In a flash of dark black demonic magic, the figure vanished from the emptiness.  Still Twilight was trapped there on the ground, heart pounding and body aching, waiting for the nightmare to end.  She wanted to be free, but her mind simply wouldn’t reason with her body, and she was paralyzed by the beautiful fright of the being she had seen.

“Dream…weaver…” she choked out as her body finally shut down.

It was there in the lobby of that library house that the poor unicorn laid, shivering and shuddering under the weight of the demons in her head.  A thin purple mist rested just off the ground, both around her and the entirety of Ponyville.  Even the rising sun was unable to pierce the veil effectively.  So she lay, unable to wake up and unable to escape the monsters of her own creations.

The voice whispered one final blessing as it journeyed away from its first true victim.

"Sweet dreams…" Next Chapter: One Unassuming Morning Estimated time remaining: 47 Minutes