Doctor, it happened again, just like it keeps happening, and it just won’t stop... I had another one of those strange nightmare… daydream… I still don’t know what to call them.” There was a long pause before the colt continued: “I saw it again… I had a horn growing out of my head… it was glowing… and all around me, Ponyville was in ruins. Everything was all burned and the buildings were all ruined and everything was—”

“Sideralis… please, stop and calm down.”

“But Doctor Withers, I can’t calm down,” Sideralis retorted, his face scrunching up. He shook his head and blinked his vivid teal eyes. “That’s the problem, this keeps happening.”

“Sideralis, please, listen to me.” Doctor Withers cleared her throat. “You are an earth pony. All of the unicorns are gone. The plague took them. The dreadful, lying sisters are gone as well, everything that had a horn was taken by the plague.”

“Then why do we still dream? I thought Princess Luna controlled dreams.” Sideralis looked at his doctor and saw that she looked irritated. “Why do I still dream?”

“Luna had no more control over dreams than Celestia had over the sun. Celestia and Luna are gone… gone. And yet somehow, the sun continues to move without her and the moon continues its endless cycles, all without Luna. They lied, okay? They had no control over the sun, the moon, the stars, and dreams. It was all an act. A magic trick. A deception, and the world is better off without them. The plague put an end to all the fakers, the phonies, and the con artists.” Doctor Withers took off her glasses, set them down upon her desk, and then began to rub her nose. “Sideralis, look outside the window, and tell me what you see?”

Sideralis, humouring his doctor, hoping to get back in her good graces, turned his head and looked out the window. The sky was blue. Ponyville was as perfect as it ever was. The sun was shining.

“You see the sun, don’t you?” Doctor Withers asked.

“Yes.” Sideralis nodded, feeling somewhat ashamed and stupid.

“And is there a Princess Celestia or some group of unicorns controlling it?” The doctor, a pegasus, stared at the dark blue colt sitting before her and began to roll a pencil back and forth over her desk.

“No Ma’am,” Sideralis replied, hanging his head and causing his light blue mane to spill around his face. “She died. I watched the film where she said her goodbyes and apologised for her many deceptions, just like every other foal in school.”

“We’ll cure you of these persistent delusions and hallucinations yet, don’t you worry.” Doctor Withers gave the colt a smile. “Look, Sideralis, a lot of foals, fillies, and colts your age have this problem.” The doctor paused. “Well, not as bad as you can be sometimes, but they all have this anxiety. You grew up immediately after a traumatic event. A terrible plague went through the world and killed off all of the unicorns and struck down two terrible, horrible, unmerciful tyrants that kept their rule through treachery, deception, and trickery. There are ponies still alive that saw the plague with their own eyes, saw it take entire families, loved ones, some of them lost their own foals. It is going to take generations before this hurt is healed… and you… you are growing up in the shadow of it.”

“Doctor, it all feels so real when it happens,” Sideralis said, his voice almost a whine.

“I’m sure it feels real.” Doctor Withers gave Sideralis a sympathetic nod. “I could give you hallucinogenic compounds and your experience from them would feel very real as well.” The doctor cleared her throat, her wings fluttering, picked up her eyeglasses, and then put them on. “Now, how are you getting along with your mother and father?”

“Not well, I’m afraid,” Sideralis replied.

“Still having issues.” Doctor Withers sighed and stared once more into Sideralis’ bright teal eyes. “They are your parents and they love you a great deal. They’re paying for your therapy so you can get better.”

“I just feel… wrong when I touch them, I don’t know why.” Sideralis tore his eyes away from Doctor Withers critical gaze, feeling even more shame and guilt about his behaviour. “Look, I know my mother is a good mare, she goes off and does all manner of wonderful things for the community, visits the elderly, and does nice things for orphans. And dad just does whatever it is that he does at the office. I don’t even know… but I’ve never been comfortable with them… I don’t know why… I feel so guilty. I’m a bad colt.” Reaching up with his hoof, Sideralis brushed his pale blue mane out of his eyes. As he did, he waved his hoof in front of his forehead, expecting to see a horn.

“You have severe trust issues and issues with intimacy. How has your progress been in finding a fillyfriend? Have you tried asking out any of the fillies in your school?” Doctor Withers asked.

“Eeeh… about that.” Sideralis reached up and scratched his itchy neck. He felt itchy all over all of a sudden and he became fearful. A feeling of nausea overtook him. It was happening again. He blinked, feeling his eyes go dry. When his eyes opened, he was sitting in a destroyed room. It was dark, but there was light shining through a crack in the ceiling and through a hole in the wall. The desk was smashed into pieces and scattered all over the floor. The chair he was sitting in was rotted through, damp, and sticky. A terrible smell was in the air, something like rot, something sickly sweet. His therapist was gone, nowhere to be seen. He blinked again.

Everything was normal.

“Are you okay?” Doctor Withers asked.

For a moment, Sideralis considered lying, but that wouldn’t help him get better. “No… no, it just happened again. I blinked my eyes because they felt dry and everything was ruined. When I blinked them again, everything was normal.”

“Well, at least you are being honest with me.” Doctor Withers lips pressed into a flat line, almost disappearing. “Look, you are a very sick pony, but we all love you and want you to get better. Your mother loves you a great deal. You are your mother’s hope… she gave you your name, ‘Sideralis,’ which means ‘starry.’ You are literally her shining star.”

Much to his surprise, hearing Doctor Withers words made Sideralis feel better. Something about them felt… honest. Something about them felt real. He took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out in a long, slow exhale.

“I would like for you to double up on your medication for a while. Keep trying to be affectionate with your parents. Make friends in school. Find a fillyfriend… or even a coltfriend if that is what you are after.” Doctor Withers glanced at a clock on the wall and then back at Sideralis. “Our time is almost up. Is there anything else you wish to talk about?”

The colt shrugged. “Nothing I can think of.”

“Very well then, we will meet again the day after tomorrow, same time as always.”

Opening the door, Sideralis was almost pounced by his mother, who threw her forelegs around his neck, squeezed him, and tousled his mane. He froze, his skin crawling with revulsion, and he felt his stomach churning. Why did he hate this? He didn’t know. Why did he hate her? Again, he didn’t know. She loved him. He felt queasy as she kissed him. Everything just felt wrong somehow.

“How was your visit with Doctor Withers?”

Blinking a few times, Sideralis glanced at his mother. She was an earth pony, like him. Violet, pink maned, with vivacious amber eyes. He looked nothing like her. She was short, somewhat heavy set, and she bounced everywhere she went, the happiest-go-luckiest pony there ever was.

Sideralis hated her.

He didn’t know why he hated her. She loved him. But there was no doubting it, he hated her. As she hugged him, his skin crawled and he wished that he could break free. He had to force himself not to shudder with revulsion.

“We talked just like we always do,” Sideralis replied. He took a deep breath, feeling relieved when his mother pulled away. “She doubled my medication and encouraged me to follow through with my therapy assignments.”

“My poor baby… don’t worry, you’ll get better.”

Sideralis stared at his mother, Wisteria, not wanting to look at her, but forcing himself, trying to make himself get better. She had survived the plague. She was young when it had happened, but she had survived. He felt his curiousity prickle him, and then he thought of a way he could make small talk with his mother.

“Mom, what was it like?” he asked.

“What was what like, dear?” his mother replied.

“The plague.” Sideralis glanced around, his eyes darting to and fro in a nervous manner. “Maybe I’m afraid of it, and if I face it, I’ll get better.” He saw his mother inhale, her barrel expanded, and her eyes narrowed as she studied him.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right.” Wisteria stepped away from her colt, crossed the living room, and sat down. She patted the sofa beside her.

Sideralis broke free from his paralysis and crept forwards. He sat in the overstuffed arm chair, and not beside his mother. He felt a stab of guilt when he saw her hurt expression. He thought about saying something, apologising perhaps, but chose to stay silent instead.

“Not all that long ago, Equestria was run by the two sisters, Celestia and Luna.” A pained expression crossed Wisteria’s face. “The sisters, who many believed to be beings of benevolent goodness, were actually cruel tyrants. They held the world hostage by claiming to move the sun and the moon. They were cruel to many who were not ponies, and made many enemies. Celestia had a school where she bent unicorns to her will, teaching them magic, and making them fanatically loyal to her.” Wisteria paused for a moment, allowing all of this to sink in for Sideralis.

“Her unicorns enforced her rule. She had a student named Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn that became an alicorn, just like them. Twilight Sparkle was a horrific butcher that abused her authority and used her magic to dominate those who resisted the rule of the sisters.” Wisteria looked at her colt and could not read his expression. “Twilight Sparkle crushed many innocents because they resisted the rule of the sisters and she murdered a perfectly peaceful being named Tirek, a centaur that dared to publicly question the rule of the sisters.”

“But why would she do that, and if she murdered him, if she was such a horrible pony, why didn’t the sisters do something to banish her before she ruined their image as benevolent rulers?” Sideralis asked.

Wisteria shrugged. “I don’t know. But to reward Twilight, Princess Celestia gave her a massive crystal castle in the city of Ponyville. Not long after, the plague started. At first, the unicorns only started getting sick… but the plague grew worse. Many started dying. Many ponies blamed Twilight, but then, she died rather suddenly. Nopony knows who started the plague, but it affected the alicorns as well. Princess Cadance died next…” Wisteria’s voice trailed off and she looked sad for a moment. “Princess Cadance was a good alicorn… she had so much love.”

Something about his mother’s words made Sideralis shiver. Feeling the need to distract himself, Sideralis asked a question. “If there was a crystal castle in Ponyville, where did it go?”

“Oh, not long after Twilight died, when the rebellion began to happen, it was destroyed, smashed, and each and every shattered piece was carried away,” Wisteria replied. The earth pony mare sighed. “The rule of the alicorns came to end. Luna died. Not long after, Celestia made her deathbed confession for all of the world to see.”

A thudding painful ache began right in between Sideralis’ ears. He hated getting headaches. It was like having a second heart inside of his head, between his ears, and right behind his forehead. He felt itchy all over, and worried that he had another episode coming on… a big one by the feel of things. He was having trouble breathing. It was like his mouth, his throat, and even his lungs had something sticky in them. He saw his mother give him a strange look, and then, right before his eyes, she flashed with green flames, becoming something else entirely.

She was… a bug. There was no other way of describing it. She was black, covered in chitin, had insectoid eyes, a stubby horn, and a body covered in holes. He was having even more trouble breathing now, no matter how he tried, he felt as though he couldn’t get enough air. The world around him went weird, flashing in and out, going from nice living room to ruined rubble, and Sideralis worried that he was losing his mind. He clutched at his throat with his hooves, desperate for air. He coughed and different coloured spots filled his vision.

Everything was sticky and wet. Sideralis was soaked with some kind of slime. His vision was blurry and he couldn’t see very much of anything. He coughed and hacked, trying to rid his lungs of goop. He was cold, shivering, and his teeth began clattering. He heard a loud sound, he didn’t know what it was, but it made his ears and his head hurt. The ground shook and vibrated, Something was happening, he heard tearing sounds, like something was being ripped apart.

“Found him!” a voice shouted. “He’s survived the break! Let’s get him up and go!”

Sideralis’ had a hard time focusing. He peered ahead, confused, able to see light and darkness. There were spots in his vision. More light shone into his face and something was drawing nearer. There was another loud boom, an explosion perhaps, followed by screaming.

Looking up, much to his horror and surprise, Sideralis saw a long blue horn protruding from his forehead. It was fuzzy, blurry, hard to see, and there was slime dripping from it. Some kind of dark, spiky growths protruded from it. He coughed, gagged, and tried to kick around, to no avail. His whole body was paralysed and he was unable to move.

A face appeared before his, he could see it outlined in the light. It looked like… like a pirate perhaps. He saw scarring… and was that an eyepatch? He struggled to see. The face was purple. She had a horn. Was she a unicorn? He coughed some more, still trying to clear his airway.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m very glad to see you. More will be explained later, but I am your friend, so you need to trust me.”

There was a brilliant flash of magenta light from Twilight’s horn and Sideralis knew no more.

Author's Notes:

Feedback is most welcomed.

A word of warning. This is going to get a little dark and weird. It's going to start off dark and get progressively better. This is also going to be gory. Kudzu level gory. So this is bound to be disturbing. Especially the parts involving infestations.

I was taking a shower a while ago and then, out of nowhere, an idea hit me. A whole story all at once. And I was like freaking out and stuff.