Songs of Innocence

Chapter 8: Witching Hour

The Castle of Friendship, Ponyville

Sun had finally returned to the town, no doubt thanks to Zecora's help. The two approached the entrance of Twilight's crystalline castle, and noticed that not only the princess herself was standing outside waiting for them, but another alicorn as well - one Sun, of course, didn't recognize. The alicorn had a coat of dark sapphire blue, and a flowing, translucent mane. Her Cutie Mark was a white crescent moon with inky splotches of black around it. She seemed like someone important, but Sun obviously had no idea who she was.

"Oh, hello, Sun!" Twilight greeted. "And it's nice to see you again, Zecora." she quickly added. But then, she paused. "Did something happen? You don't look so good, Sun."

"I'm fine." Sun replied insincerely.

It was obvious from how Zecora had to help her stand up that she wasn't, but Twilight decided to take her word on it. 

"Alright... So, this is Princess Luna." Twilight said, gesturing towards the dark blue alicorn. "She doesn't just govern the night, but dreams as well. So, she's going to help you get Ultra Violet out of your dreams."

Luna spoke, continuing Twilight's explanation. "Yes. We will dive deep into the dreamscape in which Ultra Violet haunts, and stop her from feeding off of you."

"Wh-what? Feeding off of me?" Sun raised an eyebrow.

"She is feeding off of your psyche, regaining her power day by day... Or, rather, night by night. I feel nothing if not regret for creating her during my banishment to the moon, and I must be the one to stop her. But... I require your help to do so. You must fall asleep so that I may enter your dreams, and we can confront her together."

"How am I gonna sleep? Do you guys have some kinda potion that can make me fall asleep? Or some spell? An incantation, maybe?"

"Uh, no... We're gonna use melatonin." Twilight answered bluntly.

Later, in the castle

Sun rested on a couch, while the others stood around her. Zecora decided not to leave, and to stay and see what happened, by the way. 

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep in a bed instead?" Twilight asked, puzzled by Sun's decision.

"You don't understand, Twilight. I'm probably the best pony in Equestria when it comes to sleeping on couches." Sun joked in response.

The lights were turned off, and Sun took the medicine (I don't know how you take melatonin but it's a joke so who really cares if this is realistic to how melatonin is in real life or not), and quickly began to fall asleep without much issue. 

"Now, let's begin..." Luna said, her horn illuminating with magic.

Inside Sun's sleeping mind (A.K.A. her dream)

Sun found herself in a rather pleasant dream where she was having tea with Fluttershy on a train. Of course, she didn't realize it was a dream at first, so it felt like reality just like all dreams do when we're dreaming them. The train began to go through a jungle almost identical to the Everfree Forest, causing a wave of unease to wash over Sun. Outside of the windows, she saw countless monsters clawing at the train cars, and eyes watching her from the shadows cast by the trees. It startled Sun, but she knew she was safe as long as she was in the train.

But that sense of safety didn't last long. Suddenly, the top half of the train was sliced clean off, flying off into the distance, revealing Ultra Violet in a new form, more monstrous than the last, but similar to it. Its body was that of a giant spider with a body of onyx-like texture, with the bicorn's face looking almost unnaturally placed onto the head of the creature. Its body didn't look like any specific species of Araneae, looking like a mashed-together combination of all of them. The monster possessed needle-like/pincer-like legs, which it had obviously used to slice off the car's roof. It used those sharp points on its legs to keep its hold onto the train.

This time, Sun could scream, and so did the dream-Fluttershy.

Meanwhile, in Luna's realm of dreams

"Where could she be...?" Luna wondered out loud. She floated through a dimension with visions of different sleeping ponies' dreams, but she couldn't seem to find Sun's. She thought maybe the unicorn just wasn't dreaming as of yet. But the princess knew that she was feeling a bit distressed about Ultra Violet, and it might be distracting her from focusing on finding Sun's dream among the sea of others' dreams.

"I can't believe I could have forgotten about her... How could I be so foolish? That poor child... She must feel so angry, not being able to fulfill what I... made her for..." The alicorn sighed, thinking about the bicorn. She was a creation of Luna from back when she was Nightmare Moon, and it distressed her to have to think that she had to face her past that she thought she had confronted long before...

"No. I mustn't fear my past. I must face her."

Back in Sun's dream

Sun began to become lucid as she faced the monster right in front of her, while Fluttershy kind of just... disappeared. It was a dream, after all; it doesn't have to make sense all the time. 

"I WON'T LET YOU GET RID OF ME! I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE!" Ultra Violet growled with a lone tone through the beast's mouth. 

Sun wanted to ask how the bicorn knew of her plan, but she had no time, or any confidence to allow her to actually ask the question. Ironically, Ultra Violet decided to mock her for her fear as she noticed the unicorn's visible cowering. 

"Nothing to say? Good..." After a forced condescending laugh, the monster began to move towards Sun slowly but surely. She bolted from the spot she stood, running through the train cars which seemed to go on without end. Although Sun knew she was in a dream, she ran like her life actually depended on it. But just like a dream about an endless hallway, the train cars went on forever, and Sun could only hope that Luna could show up in time to save her.

But suddenly, a beam of a pure, dark energy erupted from the beast's mouth and blasted the ground with such force that it sent the whole train flying into the air. Again: it's a dream. The rules of reality don't always perfectly apply. It was in that moment, in which Sun was launched into the air, miles above the forest below her, that she knew this could only be a dream. It couldn't have been reality because it was too absurd, too impossible. It was as if time had stopped... and not just in a figurative sense.

Meanwhile, back at the Castle of Friendship, in the real world

"What kind of spell did you cast?! It better have been useful, unless you want Sun to breathe her last!" Zecora asked Twilight, filled with concern. The alicorn had just casted a spell to attempt to paralyze the misty phantom of Ultra Violet that appeared on Sun's sleeping body, but it fired right through the shadowy silhouette, and hit Sun instead. Twilight could only whimper, "Oh, no..."

In Sun's dream

Sun found herself unable to move for some reason, only being able to look around her as the rest of her body was paralyzed. She hoped it was some kind of sign that Luna had arrived... but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she was met with a much more dreadful revelation: Ultra Violet could still move in stopped time, and she was moving towards her, hopping onto the train's floating debris to reach her helpless victim.

And there was nothing Sun could do about it.