Excerpt: Nightmare

Thunder shattered the air around me. Lightning crackled under my hooves as I raced across the air, reveling in the electricity that charged the night. Clouds steamed around me as my hooves thudded against them, flashing the captured moisture into steam. I cried aloud in pleasure and folded my legs, diving through the cloud, racing a bolt of lightning towards the earth, my mane and tail of flame trailing behind me, my inky black coat blending with the night as my mane and tail blended with the lightning that flashed towards the earth.

I pulled up my dive, galloping inches above the prairie the lightning struck – letting the hint of dream guide my headlong rush.

This dream was a true nightmare – the kind that could go out of control, causing lasting damage. Tonight I was in a mood to contain the dream, steal its vitality and tame it to a more humanly manageable level.

And besides, the child had given me an apple.

I tossed my head, flaming mane sparking around me as I started to exert my control over the girl's dream.

Demons fought with excessively large blades, curved wickedly, tearing at each other and the landscape around them. In the way of dreams, the child was surrounded by them, yet sitting off to one side as they fought over her.

She cried, trying to get up, to get away but kept falling, invisible self doubt tugging at her feet and keeping her trapped.

I debated momentarily, wondering how I was going to rescue this child from her doubt. Finally I decided on the direct approach – my usual course of action and lept from the physical world and landed in her dream, dust flying up around me, sparks from my hooves flying as I crouched with the impact, almost cat-like then reared, screaming at the demons. They stopped fighting and turned in shock as the girl's mind struggled to keep up with the turn of events.

“Help!” she cried.

I swished my tail, lending her the strength to stand on her own, to escape while I distracted the worst part of her dream.

Then, maybe because of the apple, I decided to do a bit more.

Carefully I gained complete control of the dream, weaving my own thoughts delicately through the girl's. I didn't want her to know what I was doing. I wanted her to gain from this nightmare.

Carefully I had the demons attack me, dodging slow thrusts, that would never the less seem fast and deadly to the child.

This was a dangerous game, even completely controlled, dreams had their own life and I could be harmed. Maybe not killed, but I could be damaged if I wasn't careful.

The child screamed as the demon thrust his spear towards my heart.

I dodged, just quickly enough to avoid damage.

“Don't hurt her!”

I neighed, shaking my head, rearing in challenge.

The demon laughed.

Somewhere the girl's mind conjured up flowers and she brandished them like a weapon.

I forced the demon to shrink away.

It snarled in rage, and I started to get the feeling that this wasn't an ordinary nightmare. I hadn't meant for the demon to respond like that.

She thrust the flowers at the demon again, throwing them. I thrust the demons from the dream. They fought me, but this was my element, I was the stronger. They faded in a flutter of petals and the dream calmed, changed from a desperate struggle to a calm confidence.

“Thank you,” the girl said, coming to stand next to me.

Her head barely reached my chest. I reached my head down and snuffled her hand.

She giggled and produced a dreaming apple.

I couldn't help myself, I took the crisp treat gently from her hands, making sure my flame didn't burn her as my forelock fell forward down my nose.

I nudged her again then, impulsively knelt.

“Can I?” she asked, eyes wide – full of wonder.

I nodded and she wrapped my flaming mane around her hands and clambered onto my broad back. She settled herself and laughed.

“I'm ready.”

I held her with my magic, knowing my violent movement would dislodge her as I lept into the air from a crouch, again much like a hunting cat.

She screamed in delight, never feeling fear as I let her race through the night of her dreams.

It was early, false dawn kissing the deep black sky with a hint of light, when I returned the child to her slumber. She may not have had a restful night, but I imagined it would be one she remembered for a while, even if only in her dreams.

The girl giggled as she slid off my back and hugged my foreleg tightly.

I wrapped my head around her, cradling her with momentarily with my body before stepping away.

“Thank you,” she whispered, eyes still wide with delight. “I'll never forget.”

I nudged her stomach with my nose, flicking my ears forward, trying to let her know I was pleased, before I backed away and reared, screaming at the night.

When my forefeet touched the ground again she was gone, safely asleep once again – her dreams would no longer be troubled by anything but her own cares. Before I left I stepped from the dreaming world into the physical, placing one flaming hoof on her front step, burning a curved print into the concrete.

Her house would be protected, even when I was gone.

The strangeness of her dream bothered me. Demons were not supposed to come into the realm of Nightmares.