Nightmares (By BC)

http://pastebin.com/ca4M4cim

>Twilight jerked awake, looking around her library bedroom.
>Sweat was staining her lavender coat and the plush bed, and her breathing was harsh and ragged.
>Tears were streaking from the corners of her eyes.
>She had that...dream again.
>No, not dream. A nightmare.
>Fourth night straight.
>Spike was still blissfully asleep and unaware, and Owlowiscious was off...doing owl things at the moment.
>She wasn't quite sure and, if the mare was honest with herself, she really didn't care right now.
>The window was open, so she simply stood and took a look outside, letting the cooling breeze calm her down.
>It wasn't really working.
>The mare looked at the nearby clock.
>It had been one year, three days, thirteen hours, and twenty-one minutes since Anonymous had vanished, caused by...a spell mishap.
>He was immune to magic for the most part, and they were both testing how far that immunity went.
>The human was eager to see just what she could hit him with that he could outright ignore.
>The mare would have been lying if she had said that she wasn't a little eager too.
>More than a little, actually.
---
One Year Ago
---
"So, where do you want to start, Anon?"
>"Hit me with your best shot!" He said, a wide grin plastered on his face.
"This isn't a joke, Anonymous." The alicorn had said flatly.
>"Pfft. 'The difference between science and fooling around is taking notes', Twilight." The human said, grin never leaving.
"Are all humans as reckless as you?"
>"Not even half."
>Smiling in return, she charged up a fire spell.
>The purple flames were completely magical in nature, and there was water nearby.
>The fires licked at his skin, but ultimately left him completely unharmed.
>"Pfft, c'mon now." Anon teased, chuckling.
"Just you wait. We're gonna find something else you aren't immune to, and you're gonna be hurting."
>"We already know I'm not immune to healing spells, so I trust you." The human replied warmly.
>A blush worked its way to her face.
"Er, ri-right, ah, n-next is...Anti-gravity."
>"Sounds cool."
>Twilight's horn charged up once more, and she unleashed the bolt.
>Anon's clothes were pulled towards the ceiling, but he was not.
>"Now now, Twilight, if you wanted to get me to strip, all you had to do was ask~!" He teased.
>The blush returned tenfold.
"S-stop, come on! I need to focus!" The mare whined, and Anon chuckled.
>"Alright, alright."
>His clothes fell to the ground as the spell wore off, and he put them back on.
>Next was the last one today.
>A teleportation spell.
"Hold still for this one. Don't want to teleport just your arm or leg."
>Anon grimaced at the thought, and did as she asked for once.
>The alicorn let the pulse of magical energy come from inside once more, building it up.
>Judging by his weight and size, she'd need a lot of power to teleport him just outside.
>"Uh, Twi, that's kinda getting blinding..."
>Twilight simply shouted in exertion, hitting the human with the glowing orb.
>He hadn't made a sound, simply winking out of existence.
>Twilight smiled and cheered, making some notes in her notepad.
>She should have figured that a little extra power was all she needed!
>It wasn't the actual effect, it was the magnitude!
>Looking outside at the target, her wide grin started to fade.
>No human.
"Anon?"
>She walked outside, looking around.
"Anon, hello?"
>Next was a search around town. Maybe a teeny bit more power than she intended.
"Anonymous, this isn't funny!"
---

>Shaking more tears from her eyes, the alicorn went back to her bed.
>Even after asking Celestia for help, he hadn't turned up.
>The best thing that anypony could figure was that...Twilight had accidentally sent him back home.
>Not his home in Ponyville, either.
>Earth.
>The grief-stricken mare had begged Cadance to let her use the mirror again, but even after extensive searching THERE, she hadn't found him.
>In fact, she noticed differences between the human she knew and the humans from behind the mirror.
>It probably wasn't even the right universe, and 'altering' the mirror was impossible.
>Twilight had almost completely shut herself off from Ponyville in mourning.
>She still went out on occasion, but those were few and far inbetween.
>The alicorn was busy researching.
>If somepony had enchanted a mirror, surely there must be a way to do it AGAIN.
>Perhaps she could find HIS version of Earth, find HER Anon.
>And if not...she had a long, long time to do it.
>Eternity was a long time for an alicorn, after all.
"Buck it. Can't sleep." Twilight said to herself after tossing for a bit.
>She hopped off of her bed and went into her lab.
>Several mirrors were set up, and the alicorn figured she had the correct spell this time.
>She had found the tome with the spell on an old shipwreck, and the boat's name matched the one that Starswirl had last been seen on.
>Indeed, the musty, rotting tome bore the stallion's name.
>She cast the spell onto each mirror in turn, and noticed that it wasn't reflected.
>It had to have worked.
>Feeling giddy for the first time in months, she put her hoof to the glass...and was pleased to find that her hoof went through it.
>Without hesitation, she leapt through.
---
>Twilight landed in a room with...a small bed?
>Rain was lashing at the small window outside, the occasional flash of lightning splitting the sky.
>The mare also noted that her appearance hadn't changed to any degree.
>Perhaps the caster was immune to the changing effects?
>She didn't know.
"A-Anon?" Twilight said quietly, looking around.
>A human filly was definitely in the small bed, peacefully sleeping.
>The mare's hooves clopped against the wooden floorboards, and she had to step past the filly to get to the door.
>Silently taking wing, she fluttered to the door, opened it, and went into the hall.
>The next hallway was tiny.
>As in, her room in the treebrary was bigger than the entire hallway.
>It was obviously a city apartment, she had seen a few of these in Canterlot and Baltimare.
>Though, this one seemed to be almost falling apart.
>The smell of mold and mildew was almost overpowering.
>Scrunching her snout in an effort to ignore it, she landed and crept through the house.
"Anon?"
>She heard someone jerk awake upstairs.
>"Tw-Twilight...?"
>It was him!
>Though, something sounded...off.
>The mare trotted upstairs, where she had heard her human's voice.
"Anon, where are you?"
>"Shh...Twi, in here."
>The lavender alicorn opened the door...to find her Anon sitting in a chair, waiting.
>Her heart leapt into her throat...then immediately sank into her stomach.
>He looked...old. Not the youthful human she had seen a year before, but almost middle aged.
"Anon, what happened...?"
>He chuckled, that same smile lighting his face.
>"You sent me home by mistake, Twi."
>He sighed, leaning back in the chair.
>The human then patted his lap, and you hopped up into it, like you used to.
>"It's been fifteen years, Twily."
>Fifteen?!
"Anon, no, it's been one! One year, 3 days, twenty hours! You KNOW I know time!" The mare half-shouted.
>Anon sighed, a tired sigh that almost always was before something unpleasant was said.
>"Time must flow differently, then. I last saw you fifteen years ago, right before you hit me with that spell."
>He sighed again.
>"I couldn't find you or a way to get back, so I...settled down with a woman much like you. Smart, funny, sexy, all of those."
>Twilight's blood ran icy-cold.
"So that filly downstairs..."
>"Is my daughter, yes. I lost my wife during childbirth."
"No, no, this can't be...happening..."
>Twilight broke down sobbing as the human stroked her back.
>"Shh...there there..."
>He put his lips to her head, kissing it gently.
>"Everything's going to be alright..."
>That just made the mare sob louder.
>The two sat there for almost an hour, the human letting the mare cry her heart and soul out.
"Anon...I wanted f-foals of my own with y-y-you..." She eventually hiccuped, not looking at him.
>"I know you did. As dense as I might have seemed, I knew." He replied, tears of his own staining her coat and his cheeks.
"I had even...found a spell that would have worked...I wanted to try it that night..."
>The storm had cleared out, and dawn was beginning to break.
>"Twi...you can't stay here. You know that, right?"
"...I know..."
>The human picked her up, cradling her as he carried the mare downstairs.
>"I usually check on my daughter when I wake up anyway."
"...what's her name?"
>He paused for a moment.
>"Twilight."
>A fresh wave of tears threatened to spill over.
>Even after so many years, he never forgot.
>The lavender mare directed the human to his daughter's room.
"I...used the mirror in there." She said quietly.
>He simply nodded, pushing the door open and silently striding through the room.
>"D-daddy...?" Came a small voice.
>"Yes, princess?"
>"Who's that...?"
>He smiled, then set the mare down.
>"Twilight, meet...Twi. Twi, this is Twilight."
>"Pretty pony! Can we keep her?!" The child said, going from sleepy to alert in an instant.
>"I'm afraid we can't."
"I...have to go home now." Twilight said to the little girl. "But...here."
>The alicorn then plucked one of her larger wing feathers.
"Keep this, tell all your friends you met a unicorn today. I can bet they'll all be jealous." Twilight said with a bright yet intensely sorrowful smile.
>"I will! Thank you, pretty pony!"
>The child then gave Twilight a hug, and the alicorn nearly burst into tears again.
>"Go get ready for breakfast, daddy's feeling like making pancakes and eggs today."
>"YES!"
>The excitable little human then left the room, presumably to get breakfast.
>Waving goodbye, Twilight went to step through the mirror.
>"Twi, wait."
>She froze.
>Turning around, the mare was suddenly picked up and kissed deeply.
>For the first time in a year, Twilight felt a fiery blush light her cheeks.
>"I've never stopped thinking about you. If I could come with you, I would...but you know I can't."
>Twilight merely nodded as Anon sat her down.
>"Goodbye, Twilight. I love you."
"Goodbye, Anon...I love you too."
>She then stepped back through the mirror.
>Upon her return, she lit her horn with one final spell.
>A white-hot beam slashed through the mirror's frame, letting it fall onto the hard ground.
>It shattered into a million tiny shards, taking her heart with it.
>The lavender alicorn then collapsed, curled into a ball amidst the shrapnel, and sobbed for hours.
===