Chapter 1 – Nightmares

I lay on Ditzy's floor a few feet away from the roaring fire and ditzy and her young filly. It was, after all, yet another freezing hearth's warming eve night. An excuse I can confess just to be snuggled up close to Miss Hooves. She had been travelling with me for some time now; must have been close to a year. Unlike my other companions I felt a special connection to ditzy; she managed to find me 3 times before becoming my companion. Very curious indeed. Some spend decades, even centuries waiting and searching for me and she managed it 3 times within a month. Only one man ever managed that. I often wonder where Wilfred is now.

I laid there as I watched ditzy and dinky stir in their sleep simultaneously, as if they were having the same dream. The same dream as I'm always watching ditzy have. Her body begins to shake and her legs start to flail. She was running, once again, running. Whether or not this was normal for a pony I was not sure but it just seemed unnatural to watch. Ditzy would start to sweat, fall into a hot temper. She would mumble in her sleep, always the same words silently erupting from her mouth. "Doctor… Help!"

Ditzy awoke in a hot sweat, panting as if she had just completed the running of the leaves in a record time. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves and began to look around the room. Her left eye observing little dinky whilst her right wandered the room, as usual.

I laid there soundless with my head resting on my hooves, gazing towards ditzy as she walked over to dinky and pulled her quilt over her as if to comfort her racing dreams. Ditzy immediately remembered that I was present, her sight moved upon me. One of the only times you could have ever seen both eyes concentrated on the same object. There was something about me which ditzy seemed to be fascinated about and was always interested in; most likely my cutie mark, I always caught her staring at it.

I remained tranquil, as if asleep and watched as ditzy smiled anxiously as she stumbled towards me, laying her tail over mine and resting her head upon my neck.

The next morning I awoke to see the room empty. I jumped up startled; I was always the first up. "Ditzy?... Dinky?..." I screamed in panic. I rushed to the kitchen; perhaps the two of them were baking muffins after awaking peckish in the early hours of the morning, it wouldn't be the first time that had happened. They were nowhere in the house to be found. I rushed out onto the landing, soaked in sweat; my recently combed light brown fur now stood on end from the fear induced by the disappearance of my girls.

I looked to my hooves to contemplate where in Equestria they could have gone. It was then I heard a creek. The door began to open behind me. A menacing shadow engulfed the room, the blackened figure standing in the doorway, as if a shadow himself. As I reached into my pocket to throw my sonic screwdriver into my mouth I heard hoof steps approaching from behind. The screwdriver fell from my mouth in shock. There was ditzy and dinky, as if they had materialised from nowhere walking down the stairs. Both with glazed over eyes. Knowing and yet clueless to what they were doing. I was frozen in place as they walked past me towards the darkened figure in the doorway. I turned around to convince them to stop but they kept on going. The two of them continued to move further away. The closer I got, the faster I travelled the further they appeared to walk. I stopped running forward and took a step back.

"Ditzy?" I yelled.

The grey mare looked back towards me, a tear running down her face. Ditzy turned back towards the figure and continue to move forward with her young filly. The girls left through the door and passed right through the figure. The door slammed shut but the figure still stood there, staring, wondering what to do next it seemed.

The figure began to grow in size. The ceiling and walls began to get further apart as the figure continuously grew to incomprehensible size. At first I slowly crawled backwards, not breaking eye contact with the figure.

The ground below me began to crack. Beams of molten light began to burst from the now cobblestone floor. The voices of 1000 ponies screamed out in pain with every crack that opened. Fear hit me like a tidal wave… I did that which I did best. I ran.

No matter how far or fast I ran, I never achieved any greater distance between myself and the figure. The cracks were still opening around me, rapidly getting larger and more explosive. I was afraid to look back, for the first time in a long time I was alone. Nopony was there to help me. There was no escape.

The newly emerged crack from in front opened into a crevice which soon overwhelmed the entirety of the room. I began to fall, ever faster into the bottomless pit beneath my hooves. As I fell towards my inevitable demise the entirety of my life flashed before my eyes; but these were not just my memories as of yet, but my regrets and my future; most likely shown to me by the TARDIS, she had a knack of announcing things at the last moment. People I have yet to meet, places I will soon see. These places were mostly dark and barren. There was however the occasional beam of light, the sense of happiness which I strived to propagate. The reasons to carry on, the reasons my death was untimely. The reason I must find a way.

But was there a way?

Time began to slow. The walls of the pit began to peel away to reveal ever blinding light. My vision became completely impaired. A great blur of white light… and then nothing. My eyes forced themselves shut due to the immense pain.

I opened my eyes to try to see beyond the light. It was ditzy. Sitting in front of me, smiling anxiously once more. I could see it in her eyes that she was worried about me. The floor around me was damp with sweat. My fur was still on end. A tear hastened down my face.

A knock. Another. Another. And another.