Dream Guards

Spike was awoken with a start by the sounds of Twilight thrashing in her sleep. She had been doing this a lot lately, but always refused to talk about it no matter how much he would plead with her to confide her troubles with him. He had a good guess what the nightmares were about, as they began soon after the changeling invasion at the Canterlot wedding. He had long since given up on waking her from these dreams. She always said it was no use and they only resumed again once she fell back into a fitful sleep.

Spike felt guilty about not telling Twilight sooner that he himself was plagued by nightmares once too. He wanted to be brave and handle his problems himself, but now saw that its only natural to want to help those you care about even when they don't want it. The small dragon couldn't remember why they had stopped, only that as he was fleeing his pursuers he heard a short scuffle and a blood curdling scream. When he turned around to look, expecting far worse to now be on his tail, he only saw a dark shadow with glowing yellow eyes disappear through a fog as his nightmares burst into a dark mist. When he quickly awoke, he heard the echoes of a stallion’s voice whispering "sweet dreams".

He had written to Princess Luna about it, as the night was her domain, and also out of fear that Nightmare Moon had something to do with it. He had seen eyes like that before. Her response was cryptic to say the least, and down right startling in its last words.

Dear, Spike

I am truly sorry that these nightmares had lasted so long. I only sensed them recently but did not have the time to deal with them myself. I have been incredibly busy with increased security at Canterlot. On that note we look forward to seeing you next week for the wedding. My sister and I are truly excited that our niece should wed someone as great our Captain. I am even more happy to hear you confirm that they have been taken care of. I would like to assure you that Nightmare moon has not returned. As long as I am here she can not exist. I do however see how you would have thought it was we and not I that you had seen. I am sure this is because Scootaloo has told you about the headless horse incident. I assure you that the purging of that nightmare was only collateral fun. The filly's real fears lay within herself as mine once had. I felt obligated to her and myself to guide her in the right direction as I wish one had done for me over a thousand years ago. Please let me know if you have any nightmares in the future and they will be dealt with much more promptly.

Sweet Dreams, Princess Luna

"Well that's a relief that Nightmare Moon is not back. But if that wasn't Luna in my dream, then who was it?" Spike said to himself as he discarded the letter.

Spike now felt he had to tell Twilight about his nightmares and the strange circumstance of their abrupt cessation, adamant that something evil was still amiss, but as usual she dismissed it as coincidence. Just because Pinkie had convinced her of the reality of the bizarre phenomena known as ‘Pinkie Sense’ didn't mean that she was going to start buying into conspiracy theories. So life went on. In the following weeks Spike forgot about the incident. He had his sweet dreams of Rarity back, which always helped him make sure he was the first to rise in the morning to do laundry amongst his other chores. He just wished that Twilight would be rid of her own nightmares.

"Stay away from me you monsters!" Twilight screamed as changelings pursued her through the library in their true, hideous forms.

"Give in, little pony. Your love could not save your friends, but your devotion still remains, and we want it!" the two changelings yelled in unison as they bared their fangs.

The chase had been going on for what felt like hours. The changelings were toying with her, as if they were playing with their food, enjoying every moment of her fear. The torment was relentless, with no end in sight.

"You can submit to us whenever you choose, unicorn," one of the monsters growled.

"We can chase you all day from the energy gained from feeding on your friends," the other hissed.

"Your brother alone was a buffet I shall never forget!"

Panic was in full force as Twilight narrowly dodged a pounce, and she felt fangs pass through the air inches from her throat. She was beginning to tire as she had used nearly all her magic in order to sustain her endurance. Combative magic had proved ineffective against her foes, and desperation had quickly taken a stranglehold on her usually disciplined mind. It all felt so real though. The burning in her legs, the tears in her eyes, and the stench of the bug-like creatures in hot pursuit.

Twilight knew the floor plan of the library by heart and used it to keep a hoofstep ahead of the monsters. However, in her panic she took a wrong turn and found herself at a dead end. With nowhere else to go she turned and put up a defensive posture. A snickering hiss emanated from the triumphant monsters as they deliberately took their time closing the distance with their trapped prey.

Twilight, however, did not plan on going quietly to her demise. She would make them work for it. She threw open a nearby closet door—and was met with a frightening pair of yellow eyes with black slits in place of pupils. She closed her own eyes and prepared for the end. Instead, she felt a rush of wind, followed immediately by the sound of crushing exoskeleton and a shriek behind her.

She turned to see a bat pony in full purple battle armor sending a final crushing hoof stomp to the skull of the shattered changeling it had pounced on. As the fatal strike was delivered, the body vanished in a dark cloud of smoke.

The second changeling instinctively fought back, sinking its fangs into the shoulder of the pony. The bat pony winced slightly before delivering a quick hoof strike to the changeling, dislodging the fangs and then pinning the creature to the ground. The changeling squirmed as the soldier calmly drew two blades and unceremoniously buried them to the hilt into the neck and chest of his subdued adversary.

As the final victim also burst into black fog, a scream broke the silence. The bat pony instantly took a combative stance. This scream, however, came from the now thoroughly terrified Twilight Sparkle. The slit-eyed pony relaxed his stance upon realizing there were no more threats to be dealt with and made eye contact with her.

This, however, was a mistake. He should have known that the princess' personal student had been around Canterlot's barracks. Her brother was the Captain of the Royal Guard, after all. He should have expected her to have a seen few of Luna's finest often enough to know who they were.

He was not supposed to be seen. He was a shadow warrior, meant to do a job that the princess herself wished she had the time for. Bat ponies had long been feared due to the legend of them siding with nightmare moon a millennia ago. It was a truth without guilt.

Twilight was surprised to see a bat pony in her own dreams, of all places. They were the outcasts of society—the disgraced race of a fallen monarch. Many had argued that they should have known better than to uphold their oath even after Luna's descent into darkness and should be banished. It did not matter to the masses that Celestia herself had pardoned them. Bat ponies were not welcome in society, and thus had clung to the shadows. They didn't mind. The dark had always been their domain.

Twilight was silent for a moment, and then slowly opened her mouth and whispered, "Night Shade? Is that you?"

"Oh buck me to Tartarus…" he whispered harshly to himself before he quickly pressed his hoof to the purple eye of his armor’s chest piece and vanished into thin air. As he faded, he smiled to Twilight, his voice echoing around the silence in the library.

"Sweet dreams."

* * *

Twilight awoke the next morning all but throwing herself out of bed to find Spike. When she found him, she sat him down quickly and quietly.

"Spike, we need to talk about last night."

"Oh… Oh jeez… You see… um, I thought you were asleep. I’m sorry, Twi, I didn't mean for you to see that. I just keep having the best dreams. I always do laundry after."

"What— Eww! No, Spike, this isn't about that!" she said in disgust. "But we do have to have a talk soon. You’re getting older."

"What’s this about then?" Spike asked curiously.

"What was it you saw when your nightmares stopped?"

"I told you, I didn't really see anything. It all happened so fast, like something just swooped in and turned my nightmares into mist."

"...Into mist. What else can you remember?"

"There were some yellow eyes. But they were shaped like mine, definitely not pony shaped."

"Maybe not your average pony…"

"What do you mean, Twilight?"

"Just a hunch. What else?"

"That's all I saw."

"What did you hear then?"

"Oh yeah, right! I know it sounds strange, but someone wished me sweet dreams".

Twilight stood there, too shocked to speak. There was no way this was coincidence. Her studies had taught her that even the impossible has to be true when there is overwhelming evidence. There was definitely something going on she wasn't aware about. But that couldn't be possible… could it? Princess Celestia had granted her a clearance level of top secret. There was nothing the princess hid from her… Nothing Princess Celestia hid from her.

"Spike, cancel all my plans for the day," she ordered her companion.

"It’s not like you ever have plans anyway…" Spike mumbled.

"What?"

"I said, your schedule is all clear for the rest of the day."

"Good. I need to go look into something."

"What is it?"

"Can't tell you, it may be a secret."

"Where are you going?" Spike asked, suddenly more than a little curious.

"I'm going to go visit the princess."

"Oh okay, you had me worried. You haven't gotten to see Princess Celestia for a while."

"I’m going to see Princess Luna," corrected Twilight.

"Oh… Um, about that…? I wrote her a letter the other week," Spike said in a matter-of-factly manner.

"You did? About what?" Twilight asked, surprised. "You never write to Luna."

"About the nightmares you have been having."

Twilight felt her hunch was being proven more and more correct. But if that was the case, why was she not informed? How long has this been going on?

Luna had some answering to do.

* * *