The Dreamweaver's Game

Chapters

Prologue: Miasma
One Unassuming Morning
The Dreamweaver's Entrance
Princess Luna's Nightmare
A Burning Kingdom

Prologue: Miasma

It was a quiet night in the small town of Ponyville; a light rain poured down with a gentle rhythm that acted as a lullaby for the inhabitants. While most ponies were fast asleep dreaming their silly dreams and resting for the following day’s work, one particular unicorn was sat up in her library-house reading book after book on a topic most ponies wouldn’t even consider sane. In the hooves of Twilight Sparkle rested a book she had ‘borrowed’ from the Canterlot Archives on her previous visit just a month ago.

Something hadn’t settled right with her after the first day of her visit. In fact, the entire trip felt wrong, almost like déjà vu. To the studious unicorn, the sudden change in attitude of the hesitant and otherwise annoying draconequus after their first day in Canterlot didn’t sit right in the pits of her mind. So, wondering just what could have caused his sudden attitude adjustment, she went to work scanning book after book for something that reminded her of what she was feeling.

To her amazement, she had actually found a series of books that described the exact phenomenon she could have sworn she was experiencing. Of course, the books had been in one of the restricted areas of the archives, and the topics were most likely considered extremely taboo and dangerous by most ponies, so she simply had to keep them a secret. Even from her most loyal assistant, Spike.

The first book in the series was simply titled Doors, and offered the idea that more than one world could run alongside the one in which she lived. To Twilight Sparkle, that theory only meant that there was an infinite amount of information to be learned in those other worlds.

The second book she had borrowed was titled Demons, and made references to grotesque-sounding bipedal creatures in glowing red suits of armor. In the same book, she read passages regarding the manipulation of time and space, more powerful than even that of the Master of Chaos. In fact, several of the beings mentioned in the book had power enough to completely erase entire worlds from existence.

Magik was the title of the third book in the series. And when she began reading it, her heart sped up and her muscles twitched in excitement. According to the book, there were thousands upon thousands of forms of magic in the universe, each one connected to the others by certain aspects and elements. By using one form of magic in one world, you could potentially open a Door to another world with a similar form of magic. This was the most amazing concept, and she continued reading the book well into the night.

With the rain beating on the roof of her home, and Spike sound asleep in his little basket/bed, Twilight read page after page of the interesting text. The more she read, the more she was certain that what she had experienced was being described to her word for word in the tome. And as the night continued on, her excitement kept her from drifting off into sleep, which she knew would come back to haunt her in the future.

Regardless, she kept reading. One form of magic that was known to the author of the text was that of going back in time, if only temporarily. Any act taken while in the past would directly alter the future, and anyone involved in that future would be left with a sense of forgetfulness and uncertainty. Though it would take a trained mind to perceive its own alteration, someone with enough sense would easily come to the realization that things weren’t right.

When Twilight Sparkle had finished reading about the time magic, she knew without a doubt that somepony had used it to change the future. She was certain that her weird feelings were caused by somepony trying to change something big. And as she realized that something was wrong, she remembered something worse.

Deep in the back of her mind, she could hear an evil laugh. An exotic voice called out to her, but its words were muddled and unintelligible. Pieces of a face came to life in front of her eyes, a pink-skinned creature with two legs, similar to the demons in the second book. It had hair covering its chin, a silver color shining against the sunlight pouring in from some window. The figure spoke again, and this time she could hear its words.

"Of course I’m okay, you useless mule!"

The face of one of her friends replaced the face of the mysterious creature, but the voice didn’t change. She’d seen Rainbow Dash mouth those words, but they weren’t her own…

Then, like a single ember sets and entire forest ablaze, memories came flooding back to Twilight. Memories of a series of events that had apparently never happened. A guard leaped upon a table and summoned a rain of cheese wheels. Rainbow Dash sat upon Princess Celestia’s throne with a mad look in her eyes. She had watched Princess Luna’s own magic rebound on her by the will of the mysterious being…

The flood of memories and emotions ended as quickly as they began, and Twilight’s knees buckled beneath her. She felt sick and angry; she needed some kind of confirmation about her memories, and only one creature could possibly give her that.

“Discord!” she gasped as her body fell to the ground. Everything started to spin around her; her eyelids grew heavy and her muscles began to ache.

Out of almost nowhere, the rain outside grew heavier. A disgusting stench filled the air and the sky outside turned a dark shade of purple. A mesmerizing voice flooded the unicorn’s ears, blocking out any other feeling her other senses could bring her. All she could feel was the voice in her ears. All she could see was the figure who spoke to her.

The room around her melted away as if made of wax, a single tall figure rising from the emptiness. It was bipedal, like the being in her memories, and it was draped in a long black gown. The face was smooth, youthful, with long gray locks of hair falling behind it. The eyes were a deep black color, small red dots sitting where its pupils would be.

Twilight was filled with a fear she’d never felt before. Her heart began to throb as it beat, her veins pulsing as adrenaline filled her every cell. Everything in her being wanted to scream and run but she couldn’t budge a muscle. She could only stare at the beautiful and horrendous being before her. Even when two large snakes emerged from her gown, the unicorn could only stare. She wanted to stare forever, but her heart raced ever faster in fear.

"So is the fate of those who gaze upon me, I’m afraid."

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere all at once. In the emptiness of the once-library, the figure stared at Twilight with some mix of amusement and concern.

"My image is the most terrifying you shall ever witness. Once my business in this mind is concluded, the rest of your world will meet the same fate. I follow my brother, who failed before me."

So many questions fought for the front seat of Twilight’s mind, but still fear and newfound pain kept control. She wanted to get away from the beautiful figure, but her entire body felt broken under the fear weighing on her mind.

"I have many names, all of which your world will soon know. The name you may assign my terrifying image is Dreamweaver, for that is what I am."

In a flash of dark black demonic magic, the figure vanished from the emptiness. Still Twilight was trapped there on the ground, heart pounding and body aching, waiting for the nightmare to end. She wanted to be free, but her mind simply wouldn’t reason with her body, and she was paralyzed by the beautiful fright of the being she had seen.

“Dream…weaver…” she choked out as her body finally shut down.

***

It was there in the lobby of that library house that the poor unicorn laid, shivering and shuddering under the weight of the demons in her head. A thin purple mist rested just off the ground, both around her and the entirety of Ponyville. Even the rising sun was unable to pierce the veil effectively. So she lay, unable to wake up and unable to escape the monsters of her own creations.

The voice whispered one final blessing as it journeyed away from its first true victim.

"Sweet dreams…"

One Unassuming Morning

Dreams. Dreams are such magnificent things, wouldn’t you agree? Dreaming is such a beautiful action, taken when it is least likely to be remembered. In the realm of dreams, anything is possible, and reality is what you make of it. You can be a rich nobleman swimming in gold, or a knight beyond equal, or even a beautiful princess whom your subjects adore.

But not all dreams are good. The realm of dreams can be quite dangerous, to some ponies more than others. Nightmares, created by personal fears and follies, constantly threaten to swallow beautiful dream worlds with razor-sharp teeth. And for some ponies, those nightmares pose true threats, more so than any physical harm. The darker the past and deeper the doubts, the stronger a nightmare becomes.

Of course, nightmares never pose any real threat to anypony, not since the return of the Princess of the Night, who watches over the citizens of Equestria as they sleep. Princess Luna, the once-banished younger sister to the Princess of the Day, protects her subjects from the evils that lurk in the night, even within their own minds. If ever a nightmare becomes too gruesome, Luna steps forward to guide the victim away from the dangers of their own mind.

At one time, the younger princess felt contempt for her sister, who ruled the day and remained in the public eye. That contempt led her to make regretful decisions, and in the end, it had cost her everything. Now that she’s returned, she does her duty with pride, accepting of her obscure status as the guardian of ponies’ dreams. It is this accepting attitude that allows her to save a pony from their own nightmares, as she had battled her own inner demons and won.

Though she tries her best to ensure a peaceful sleep for the citizens of her kingdom, the Princess of the Night can only do so much with what she’s given. The power of a princess only goes so far, as she has learned time and time again. Between her own inner demons, and countless other threats to the land of Equestria, a single pony’s power only counts for so much.

Her older sister couldn’t escape that inevitability, nor could the Elements of Harmony, or even the almost-omnipotent Master of Chaos. No, a single individual has only so much power, and more often than not it isn’t enough to combat a great evil.

Princess Luna protects the night to the best of her ability, but what should she do if her abilities just aren’t enough to save somepony from their nightmares? What could she do?

What will she do?

***

Princess Luna stood on the balcony at the top of one of Canterlot Castle’s many watchtowers, staring out over the city she called home. A light mist fell steadily, the sound of the water droplets acting as a lullaby for the ponies sleeping down below. The golden roofs of the more noble buildings reflected the light of the moon beautifully through a thin veil of clouds, sending comfortable warmth through her mind. On most nights, she would catch herself staring up at it, a spherical orb of peaceful light that beamed down at the world each night. Though she had once called it a prison, it now reminded her of the importance of her job, how she watched over the night and protected her kingdom.

She sometimes imagined herself standing there on that radiant orb, her dark blue coat shining in the light, her wings spread wide in excitement. Excitement for what, she never really considered, but she imagined herself as excited nonetheless. Each night she would imagine another piece to the puzzle: a castle here, a forest there, each resting on some other piece of the moon’s surface. Like a map leading to unimaginable treasures, she dotted it with imaginary landmarks. Above all else, she was herself on that cold rock.

But of course her imaginations were only temporary, as she would quickly recall the reality of her imprisonment there. There were no forests or castles. Neither were there subjects to give her existence meaning, nopony to talk to or play with.

Beyond anything else, her time trapped on that rock left her without her sister, the one pony she wanted the company of the most. As the dawn drew closer, she would wash away her fantasies and recount the reality of her banishment. She would whisper prayers to that prison that she would never lose control of her inner darkness, all in the hopes that she would never face the barren loneliness again.

And when she would meet her sister the following morning, the worries in her heart would wash away in the presence of her beloved sibling, the warm rays of the sun casting away the shadows of doubt and pain.

On that particular night, however, she never had a chance to look up to the moon with child-like wonder. Ponies all across the land, from Appleloosa to Manehattan, found themselves squirming in their sleep, dark demons and nasty memories running through their heads. And with each nightmare, Princess Luna would soar to their aid in their dreaming worlds, guiding them back to the safety of their more pleasant memories and aspirations.

More and more nightmares continued to surface, each more gruesome than the last. As she aided her subjects, the night carried on, slowly inching closer toward the dawn. When at last her sister awoke to do her duty and raise the sun, the nightmares ended and the ponies awoke. The thin clouds that had kissed the land with drizzle moved away with the moon, almost following it like a pet.

Nopony would have ever assumed that such a trivial night could be the precursor to a much more sinister turn of events…

***

“Good morning everypony!” Princess Celestia called as she landed ever so gracefully on the balcony outside of her royal chambers. The sun rested high in the sky, her job finished for the moment. With a bright smile, she trotted back into the castle.

Princess Luna landed outside of her own room, having finished the final nightmare for the night. Without a second glance at the sky, she hurried to the dining hall.

The princess passed by several of the castle’s staff as she made her way downstairs, each holding themselves in odd manners. Rather than standing at attention as they always do, many of the guards were hunched over, leaning against walls or weapons for support, as if they were on the verge of passing out.

Even the maids looked exhausted, their feather dusters hovering lazily over certain unimportant pieces of furniture. The further downstairs she got, the more ponies she saw, each groggy and otherwise zoned out. An alarm ringed in her head, though she didn’t quite hear it at the time.

As she trotted into the dining hall, she was greeted by the cheerful voice of her older sister, “Good morning, Luna! I trust all was well last night?” With a golden glow of magic, Celestia pulled the seat closest to her out, offering it to her sibling.

Passing several more abnormal guards on her way to join her sister, Luna hesitantly replied, “Nothing too far out of the ordinary happened, I suppose. There was an awful amount of nightmares popping up, but it was otherwise average.” She cocked an eyebrow as one of the castle chefs lazily dropped a platter of vegetables in front of them. He had dark bags under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“Perhaps that’s why everypony seems so out of it, then?” Celestia inquired, nodding gratefully toward the chef and preparing to bite into a particularly crisp leaf of lettuce.

Luna giggled, “So you’ve noticed then?”

“How could I not?” Celestia admitted with an almost-conspiratorial tone. “It looks as if nopony has slept in ages. I passed by one of the guard posts on my way down, and one of the guards was trying to wear a boot on his head!” Though her tone rang with annoyance, she carried a happy smile on her muzzle.

“And what of you, sister? How are your dreams treating you?”

“We both know that you know exactly how my dreams are.” The older sister was gnawing away at her plate of veggies with less grace than to be expected from royalty.

A sly grin graced Luna’s face as she whispered, “You only eat like that when you’re tired, sis.”

Celestia’s eyes opened wide, her cheeks adopting a red color, a carrot protruding slightly from between her teeth. Finishing her bite, she snapped, “So I haven’t slept much lately, it is nothing to be concerned with.”

“Is that so…” the suspicious princess muttered under her breath, turning away from her sister. A knot of dread tightened in her gut, replacing her appetite outright.

The sound of clanking armor filled the room as the guards on night duty came to eat before returning to the castle’s barracks. Just as Celestia had said, one of the guards had a boot hanging on his horn. Several others were barely wearing their armor at all, with a few missing critical straps and buckles.

And each one of them looked absolutely exhausted, more than usual for the night guard. Those soldiers were trained to go periods without sleep, and had never once left their posts with such worn expressions in all the days Luna had seen them come to breakfast. She cocked an eyebrow and stood from her seat, preparing to leave the room altogether.

As she turned to trot away, Celestia asked, “Aren’t you going to eat, sister?”

With a blunt “No,” she trotted off with a slow enough speed to not raise suspicion.

Princess Luna scoured the entirety of the castle, top to bottom, looking for somepony who didn’t look as if they were about to fall into a coma. And, to her disappointment, each and every resident was on the edge of consciousness, some so far gone that they didn’t even respond when she would nudge them out of the way of a door or two. The guards were keeled over in their posts. The maids were toppled onto dressers and bedposts. The chefs had fallen into piles of their own ingredients.

Eventually she took to the streets of Canterlot, hoping somepony somewhere was in their right mind. To her dismay, every last pony she crossed paths with was toppled over on something. They weren’t asleep, but they certainly weren’t awake. Just when she was on the verge of exploding in frustrated anger, mere seconds away from busting out the Royal Canterlot Voice, an amused chuckle filled the air.

The chuckle was all too familiar, and it sent a surge of annoyance through her body. She physically flinched as a flash of yellow light revealed a disturbing misshapen beast.

She greeted the beast with a tone of absolute intolerance, “Good morning, Discord.”

The draconequus laughed in response, “A fine how do you do to you too, Lu!” Taking a second to land in front of her, he added, “I see you’ve noticed the nice little change in pace around here as well!” He smiled with his weird muzzle, his single long fang sparkling for no apparent reason.

“Are you the one doing this?!” Luna snapped immediately. Whenever something bizarre happens in Equestria, the first instinct anypony has is to blame Discord, the Master of Chaos. Sometimes, they’re right.

The beast fell over in a melodramatic manner, claw on his chest, eyes shut tightly. He let out a deep sigh of disappointment and reassured her, “Oh heavens no, dear Luna! Why on earth would I do that?” With a snap of his fingers, he was upright again, a cup of steaming tea in his paw. “I’m not responsible for this, but I most certainly am feeling the effects.”

“You…are?” Luna questioned, the draconequus looking just as energetic as usual.

“Humph! And here I thought we were friends.” He leaned down closer to the princess and pointed at his antler. “It goes soft when I’m dreadfully tired! Quite a big deal, really. At any rate…”

“Why are you here?”

“To tell you a secret, of course! You see, I’m afraid that Ponyville has come down with a serious case of the sleepies.” He jumped back a few feet and manifested a model of the small town in midair.

“…’sleepies?’”

“That’s right! I did some looking around this morning, and it seems not a single pony woke up after sunrise.” Several dolls of important ponies landed in the streets of the model, each one with exes for eyes and tongues sticking out of their mouths. “What’s more, a thick fog has swallowed the town.” As he said it, the model showed it.

Luna’s eyes opened wide, realizing that the two happenings had to be connected. “Tell me about the fog!” she demanded, stamping a hoof.

Even she could see that her reaction was entirely unnecessary and perhaps a bit exaggerated, but the entire course of the last several hours had been bizarre and foreboding. There had been too many nightmares the previous night, coupled with the fact that everypony—even the ones that didn’t usually sleep—looked absolutely fatigued, couldn’t have just been coincidence. Now news of a strange fog and an entire town of sleeping ponies had reached her…

Discord chuckled dismissively, “Calm down, calm down. It was only fog, after all! Dark, thick, almost like it had stormed…” His dismissive chuckle faded away real fast as he suddenly remembered the last time he had seen a thick fog like that. “On second thought, perhaps we ought to panic.”

“P-Panic? Why should we panic?” The princess hastily looked around, wondering why Discord of all people would choose such a harsh word. “What is it?”

“Tell me, Luna,” he began slowly, adopting a serious tone for the first time she’d ever seen, “are we scheduled for rain again today?”

“Why?”

The draconequus pointed upwards, and the princess’s eyes followed the silent sign without hesitation. There, in the skies that had been sunny and clear mere moments ago, a massive sheet of clouds stretched as far as the eye could see. Dark, purple, and dangerously close to the ground, the clouds emitted an indescribable scent that sent burning pains through Luna’s nostrils. Drops of liquid fell from the clouds, thicker and hotter than normal rain. In a single flash of lightning the downpour began; the droplets of liquid fell heavier and hotter, stinging the princess’s coat like acid.

As she turned to instruct any ponies nearby to seek refuge in their homes, a bizarre sight met her gaze, and a simple gasp of air was her only reaction.

It’s all she could muster up.

The Dreamweaver's Entrance

There has always been a sort of unappreciated value in fear as an emotion. Being afraid allows you to know just when you are in danger, and how confident you feel in your current course of actions. Fear tells you even before you know whether or not you believe you can conquer a certain trial. Those whose fear weighs less heavy than others are labelled as brave, though that most certainly is not the case.

Those whose fears weigh light on them are fools.

Thankfully for the princess who had seen the acid rain descend onto her subjects, she was very afraid. She was more frightened now than she could ever remember being, and it was a poetic kind of fear. She couldn’t explain what she was afraid of, but she knew that the ponies on the ground shouldn’t be shining a dark purple color.

All of them, every last pony in her area of view was laying collapsed on the ground, a purple haze emanating from them. The rain continued to fall slightly less warm, while the smell never ceased for a moment. It was indescribable, putrid, and all around nauseating.

“W-what is happening Discord!?” Luna spun back around to face the draconequus, who had been so certain that the clouds were a cause for panic.

An answer was something she wouldn’t be receiving, however. There on the ground, just like the ponies, the beast was sprawled like a mat, purple smoke smothering his body. Up close she could see that he was shivering, his teeth chattering. Many of his muscles tensed up as he suddenly thrashed to the side. The fog never let him go as he moved, always adjusting to his bizarre contortions.

The princess’s reaction was somewhere between a scream and a gasp, her knees buckling underneath her as despair flooded her mind. What could she possibly do to remedy this situation? She didn’t even know what ‘this situation’ was! She only had one thought on her mind as the rain continued to fall.

What in Equestria could possibly cause all this?! Even Discord has fallen!

She closed her eyes for just a moment to collect her thoughts, forcing herself to her hooves. No matter what the situation, she had to do something! She launched into the air and took off, certain her sister would know something.

The rain can’t touch indoors, so she should be safe! the desperate princess reassured herself as she hurtled toward the castle.

Her hopes shattered instantly as clouds of thick purple fog smothered the halls of the interior just as bad as the outside streets. She could even still feel the rain beating down on her through the floors above. Her pace only slowed slightly as she approached the door to the throne room, hoping beyond all likelihood that her sister was still okay. She had to be!

The door swung open heavily, a thicker mist than usual keeping it shut with an intense pressure. It burst from the room as the seal was broken, and through it Luna could barely make out the glow of a tall robed figure…on two legs? It stood menacingly tall even as it bent over the fallen figure before it. Snakes wrapped around its arms and hissed violently, snapping their mouths toward the victim.

A sense of dread filled Luna’s gut, every muscle in her body telling her to turn around and run. And yet she pushed forward, curious about the robed figure and worried about the creature on the ground. Even the warped image of the throne room, engulfed in flames and smothered in a crimson coat couldn’t stop her advance.

“Well, this is quite intriguing…” a voice called out from everywhere. It sounded menacing and kind, warm and hateful, tied together with a frightening hiss. The figure at the end of the hall turned slowly, revealing a face of undeniable horror. A wide grin stretched across it, two rows of sharp fangs shining in the flames. Two black eyes stared at the approaching princess, dots of crimson locking with her pupils. “It seems we have a guest.”

The figure on the ground, white contrasting with the orange of the room, strained hard to look at the door. Through the kiss of flames, Luna could see the fear and sorrow in the pony’s eyes. The multi-colored mane of the alicorn waved violently as she contorted in a surge of pain.

“Celestia!” Luna screamed, her fears melting away instantly in a burst of rage. Without thinking about it, she broke into a mad dash toward her plagued sibling, who writhed even worse than Discord had.

“Afraid not, mysterious girl…” the voice tittered, a magical burst sending the advancing princess back several feet. “Who are you to resist my miasma?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but nobody harms my sister!” Luna shoved herself from the ground and released a burst of magical energy from her horn. As it hurtled toward the tall figure, the throne room around the beam reverted to its much more common state of color.

With a wave of its arm, the figure knocked the magic away, sending its own wave back at the offending pony. Any good the magical attack had done was immediately reversed by the menacing monster’s own power. Unable to react in time, Luna was sent flying into the nearest plume of fire by the dark blast. She yelped, expecting to be scorched by the fire, only to find that she couldn’t feel anything at all out of the ordinary, aside from a slight throbbing where she’d been struck.

“Wh-what is this?” The princess shook herself off, standing up in the center of the raging flames. It suddenly dawned on her that there was no extra heat in the room whatsoever. As a matter of fact, it was colder than it normally was!

“Inconceivable!” the voice echoed around the room. The tall figure vanished in a flash of dark purple, only to manifest itself directly in front of its opposition. It screeched, “How can it be that you are immune to my illusions?”

Staring the figure in the eyes, Luna found herself paralyzed in fear. Thoughts flooded her head, but her voice wouldn’t react to them. She couldn’t move or speak. All she could do was look on.

One of the snakes on the figure’s arms launched toward her with its teeth bared, seemingly intent on devouring her. To her shock, blue flames smothered the reptile as it approached her, turning to ash as it advanced. The rest of the snake simply vanished from the figure’s arm, as if some sort of ward had banished it from the room.

The voice simply sighed, “So you are immune to my powers…” The figure turned back toward the white alicorn curled on the ground, shivering violently. “I can see it in your face, now that I look. You have an affinity for the night…”

“The…night…” Luna choked out, her fear slowly dissolving as the figure turned away.

Its voice growled, “You have an affinity to the night on par with Nocturnal herself! Could that be it? Has my brother been here before me?” Luna blinked, and in that time the figure was once more in front of her, staring into her eyes.

“B-brother?” she squeaked as the fear flared up once more.

“No…” it shook its head, “your eyes scream of ignorance. You haven’t any clue of my brothers, nor do you understand what I am. You are clueless, less so than the white one, more so than the purple one. The beast outside radiates Madness while you smell of Shadow.” It glanced at Celestia briefly before continuing, “So that is your immunity. I can see it in your eyes. You have the ability to Dreamstride, to enter the realm of dreams and alter what is there.”

Luna thought about the nightmares she had helped cure the few hours before, and wondered about the figure’s knowledge of the ability only she possessed. She had no chance of vocalizing those questions, as her fear continued to keep her in check.

“Your presence here is evidence of that ability. In this, the Nightmare of the ruler of this kingdom, you interrupted my game. You even cut through my illusions with your magic, a feat most commendable…” The figure smiled slyly, its teeth glistening in the firelight and its eyes flaring brighter. “You can nullify my hold on these creatures. That makes you a threat. Only, I cannot kill you, not on my own. My magic cannot curse you, my powers cannot crush you.”

As the figure continued to speak, the fear in Luna’s mind dissipated, and she began to regain her senses. Her heart slowed down, her muscles relaxed, and she was finally able to speak. “Who are you? What do you want from us?” were the thoughts that took the forefront of her mind. They came out before she even realized they were thoughts.

The figure chuckled confidently, “Most of my servants call me Dreamweaver, as is fitting for my powers. But you…you may call me by my true name: Vaermina, Daedric Prince of Nightmares!” The fires and blood vanished from the room, replaced by the common appearance and layout.

On the floor in front of the throne, Celestia writhed and groaned, just as Discord had earlier. Again a cloud of purple mist swallowed her, following her every move and not allowing a single limb to escape its hold. Vaermina stood beside the fallen princess, smiling happily as her banished snake manifested itself once more.

She giggled grimly, “Though my illusions cannot harm you, I do not need them to. I saw many things in your eyes. Your past, your fantasies, your interests…and even your fears!” There was added venom as she hissed the final word. Something about her tone sent a shiver down Luna’s spine. “This is what you fear, isn’t it? I saw it in your past, the way you were banished. You do not fear monsters or demons. You do not fear pain or torture. No, you fear loneliness, don’t you?”

“I haven’t any idea what you mean, you monster!” Luna stamped a hoof, anger washing over her at the tone in the creature’s voice. She was having fun tormenting everyone, and couldn’t be allowed to get away with it. The princess stood her ground and readied herself mentally to attack again.

“You will soon enough. In a few measly hours, most of the minds in this world will be broken. They will submit to me, beg me to guide them, pray to me to silence their demons.” Vaermina reached down to touch the horn of the fallen alicorn, who moaned in pain. “I will own them, and their prayers will give me strength! I will succeed where Sheogorath failed before me. A world of my own, not limited by the laws of Nirn.”

A burst of cobalt magic shot from the mare’s horn as she growled, “Whatever you are, wherever you’re from, I will not sit idly by as you hurt innocent ponies!” Her eyes flashed white for just a moment as she poured power into her attack.

“And there it is!” Vaermina laughed as she allowed her snakes to take the blunt force of the spell. By the time they were gone, only a small sliver of magic was left to scratch her arm. A long bronze staff appeared in her hands, one end taking the shape of some form of demon with glowing red eyes, the other embedded with some large black gem. “You’ve shown me a critical weakness in your composure, Princess Luna.”

“And what would that be?” the princess snapped as she readied for another attack.

“My illusions may not affect you, true. However, I’m afraid, this is no illusion!” The monster waved her staff at the off-guard mare; a beam of black magic poured forth, smashing into its intended target without mercy.

After being knocked against the nearest wall, a cloud of pink engulfed Luna for several long moments. In the short time she was enveloped, a thousand memories poured into her head. Her concentration was shattered and her body writhed in uncomfortable sensations, some more painful than others. She felt her head throb and her teeth ache, while her hooves felt as if they were cracking and her coat itched like a thousand ants crawled over her.

In the end, she stood just as normal as always, facing the creature who would conquer Equestria and plunge all of its citizens into an endless nightmare. The sensations passed and her mind again focused on her attack, while the creature stood in unimaginable frustration.

“What is the meaning of this?! How could you not be corrupted? How could the Skull not affect you?” Vaermina stood with the staff outstretched, black energy swirling around the red eyes. The gem on the other end flashed black several times before shattering completely. As it shattered, a cloud of smoke billowed forth, taking the staff with it.

Luna unleashed the attack she’d been preparing with all her might; it could at least postpone the demon’s plot for a while. As the cobalt beam hurtled through the air, the cloud of smoke swirled directly into its line of fire, and with an ear-wrenching screech, the entire room flashed a bright white. The sound of explosions filled the air as the unmistakable heat of electricity shot around the room. For just a moment, Luna could have sworn her body was ripping itself apart.

When the light faded and the heat dissipated, all that was left of Vaermina’s staff was a tiny ring of bronze that had braced the black gem. The monster stood speechless, on the verge of wrathful anger and unexaggerated amusement.

Princess Luna stamped her front hooves in frustration and growled, “What kind of tricks are you trying to play, monster?!” Another burst of magic poured from her horn, the last remnants of the magic she used before, desperation draining her reserves.

And again, for a third time, her attack was rendered completely useless. A bolt of lightning crash to the ground from out of nowhere, a cloud of blue bursting from the impact point. As it manifested in front of the monster, it took the shape of a tall pony and absorbed the blunt force of the magical attack. More and more of the figure formed, details and colors replacing the bland blue shape.

Vaermina smiled as the figure formed in front of her. With amusement she jeered, “I’m not certain why it happened so melodramatically, but nonetheless the Skull did not disappoint. Immunity to my Nightmares is one thing, but immunity to your own is nonexistent!” With a wave of her arm, the mysterious demon vanished from the room, the blue figure of the pony now turning black at spots.

Before Princess Luna could object to the fleeing monster, the sounds of her sister in pain echoed throughout the room. She hadn’t enough magic to even bother attacking the cloud, and even if she had what threat did a cloud pose? No more than the purple mist, she reasoned. So, without hesitation, she ignored the manifestation of smoke and hurried to her sister’s side.

From the thick mist she could feel a familiar magic emanating, one she had felt so many countless nights before: dreams. The magic that one releases when they dream, creating a dream world, some much stronger than others. The magic was unmistakably a dream, and a bad one at that. It pulsed with sadness and fear, like a nightmare should. Only this magic felt much worse than any other Luna had felt before, much darker and severely corrupted. This was an unnatural nightmare, and couldn’t have possibly been made by a pony’s own mind!

Luna drew in one long breath and shut her eyes so tight she felt they might burst, reaching ever deeper into her own body to draw upon what little magic she could. Beads of sweat formed on her head in the cold air of the smothered throne room; her legs began to wobble unsteadily as she drained her own energy. From all the struggling she pulled a single ball of magic, which burst from her horn and smothered the purple mist around her sister.

If she had to be honest with herself, she didn’t expect it to work. She didn’t even know what it was supposed to do. She could only hope some miracle would happen, and soon. Her entire body felt like lead, threatening to shut down on her after exhausting her own reserves of energy.

When the ball of magic finally dissipated, Luna was almost ecstatic to find that the mist didn’t return in its place. If she could have, she would have leaped to her hind hooves and done a dance. And although her sister didn’t wake up, the princess had to assume that dispelling the mist was the first step to saving her. A feeble grin stretched across her face as the mist in the room seemed to fly away, almost as if it were afraid of her magic.

As she smiled, her legs gave way under her. Out of curiosity, she struggled to see if the blue cloud was still trying to take shape. For a brief second she was able to register what she was seeing, and the shock of it all simply overloaded her exhausted body.

The figure of a tall black pony greeted her with a fanged grin as her vision faded.

Princess Luna's Nightmare

Regrets. It’s fairly safe to assume that everypony has done at least one thing in their life that they regret. Some regrets are trivial, like forgetting to do laundry. Others carry heavier consequences, such as failing an important exam or forgetting to feed a pet. In most cases, regret is caused by a simple little mistake that a pony has made, and the thought of a different outcome weighs heavily on them. In rarer cases, a pony may feel regret for setting off a chain reaction of bad happenings that echo throughout their lives.

When she had finally regained enough strength to wake up and open her eyes, Princess Luna was greeted by her biggest regret staring at her with large catlike eyes. The figure she had seen as she fell out of consciousness, a tall black mare with blue armor-like markings on its coat, towered over her collapsed body as she snapped back to the waking world.

Panic flared in the princess’s mind as she suddenly realized what she was seeing. Leaping to her hooves with hostile determination, she stammered, “Wh-who are you?” She had to know, to be certain, that she was seeing this pony right. It wasn’t possible! It simply couldn’t be true!

“Oh do calm down, little Luna. Are you not pleased to see me again?”

The voice was oh so familiar. Too familiar. It sent shivers up the princess’s spine and filled her with a fear that even Vaermina’s presence couldn’t compare to. Paralytic, perhaps not, but fear nonetheless. An otherworldly aura surrounded the mare where her mane should have been, a deep blue color that shimmered like the night sky. Compared to Luna’s own, it was darker and much less welcoming.

“How long has it been since we last spoke? One year? Two?”

Luna snapped, “Silence, you monster! Whatever sorcery this is, I will not be moved by it!” She sent a small burst of magic at the mare, hoping it would simply vanish like the rest of Vaermina’s wretched illusions.

The mare took the blast head first, her own horn soaking up the energy like a lightning rod. She giggled menacingly, “How cute, Luna. You of all ponies should know that wouldn’t work!” A bright wave of cyan poured from her horn, washing over the dumbfounded princess, sending her right to the ground without a hint of resistance.

How? Why? I don’t understand! Luna cried mentally, any ounce of optimism she’d gained from dispelling the mist melting away like ice.

“What’s a matter? The nostalgia too much for you?” the mare teased, pacing back and forth in front of the downed pony. “Just like old times, hmm? There’s you, lying useless like a paperweight seeking my power, and then there’s me, standing tall and regal as I manifest my magic. I know I’ve missed this.”

Luna struggled to her hooves under the blanket of the mare’s magic; she could stand, but her energy still hadn’t returned completely from her prior attacks on Vaermina.

“You never were very ambitious, not after our banishment. All you wanted was to go home, be with…” the mare shuddered, “…Sister.” She sent a small ball of energy into her current blanket, crushing the princess right back to the ground. “I can still hear your voice, sobbing in the back of my head, crying for Celestia’s forgiveness,” she condescended.

The princess called forth her admission, “That may be true, and the thought still scares me, but you cannot control me any longer!” With a surge of confidence and determination, she let loose a bolt of cobalt magic that ripped through the cyan blanket. In an instant, she was on her hooves and sprinting toward the ghost of her past.

“We’ll see about that!” the mare rebutted, beginning her own sprint.

The two unleashed bursts of magic as they spanned the short distance, one determined to prove her strength and the other certain she could win. The two attacks met at the midpoint, exploding in a flare of cobalt and cyan, otherworldly sparks swirling around the cloud of light. When the cloud cleared, the two mares were locked by the horns, butting heads and struggling to overcome the other.

The black mare growled, “We both know you can’t win, child!”

“You know nothing, monster!” Luna asserted as she dug her hind hooves into the marble of the throne room’s floor, pushing ever harder against her counterpart.

The game was beginning to get boring, and so the black mare bucked with her front hooves, spreading her wings and flying into the air to break the headlock. A burst of magic shot from her horn; it was a cheap shot against an off-guard opponent, tactically sound. Nonetheless the princess didn’t miss a beat, countering with her own magic as she launched into the air.

The two flew around the room, tackling one another in turn, beams of energy passing by once in a while. With each collision in the air a thunderous roar echoed throughout the sleeping castle, sometimes shattering windows or disturbing the mist that coated the floors.

The black mare broke her pattern of attacking and tackling and dodging in favor of an all-out strike against the smaller alicorn. She unleashed an arsenal of magic powers that she had yet to use, each striking from another angle or with impossible speed. To top off her powers, she rammed forward with her horn, tired of the games and more than ready to put her enemy to rest.

Luna took the blunt force of each magical blast, unable to twist and turn to avoid the fast ones, and too staggered by them to dodge the strong ones. In one quick barrage of magic, she was on the ground in a battered mess, her vision blurring as her energy began to run dry once more. The black mare was hurtling toward her with immeasurable joy in her eyes at the prospect of winning.

With what magic she could summon without completely draining herself, the princess conjured a minor magical barrier. She knew it would most likely be a vain sentiment, but it was all she could think to do.

An unprecedented idea flashed into Luna’s head as the mare’s horn breached the barrier. The thought of being impaled by her own past sent her mind into overdrive, the world around her practically stopping. Instead of having her life flash before her eyes as most ponies say, her mind began to rework her magical barrier into a single focused point. It condensed itself around the mare’s horn, solidifying in one thick block.

Her body had said its peace and her mind had worked out the idea, and so the world regained its normal pace. Miraculously—for that’s all it could have been—the monster was stopped hard in its flying tracks, her horn trapped by the concentrated magic and her body continuing to fly with momentum. A single sharp cracking sound thundered throughout the room, followed by the loudest and single most pain-filled screech any pony could have ever heard. Any glass that hadn’t shattered in the battle had most certainly been broken by the high-frequency waves of noise.

The black mare’s body crashed against the nearest wall, collapsing on the ground in excruciating agony as her entire head throbbed violently. Floods of pain shot through her body, originating from the severed shard of her horn, any magic she had built up to cast dissipating in chaotic spurts. She couldn’t even muster up words to cut through the wailing sounds her body insisted she produce.

After her initial reaction of flinching at the snapping sound, Luna smiled widely at the knowledge of having, perhaps temporarily, beaten the monster. Her magic dot vanished from the air, the sharp half of the broken horn falling to the ground like lead. Magic surged in its point, waiting for the signal to release that would never come again. Unfocused by a concentrated mind, the raw magic released itself from the horn, forming a field of harmless energy. Luna had never seen such a phenomenon, though most ponies probably hadn’t either.

The mare screeched and wailed, her body wanting nothing more than to shut down entirely while the pain kept her mind alert to her surroundings. In this case, the surroundings included an exhausted princess and a bunch of glass shards, but still she remained alert. She tried to summon some kind of magic to numb the pain, but anything she conjured fizzled out as it reached the edge of her horn.

Luna pushed herself up, not quite as drained as she had been earlier. “I’m not as weak as you remember, am I?” she boasted, trotting cautiously toward the field of energy.

“How dare you!” the mare snarled through gritted teeth, between whimpers, of course.

The tip of the princess’s horn lit up with her signature cobalt energy as she leaned down toward the mare’s own lost magic. Like an electric current, the host-less power leaped from its field onto her horn, using it as a channel with which to enter her body. As it soaked into her and merged with her own reserves, Luna felt almost fully recharged and ready to tackle whatever other trials she might face.

With a wide grin she turned to face the fallen mare. I’ve beaten my own past, so I know I can stop Vaermina! she thought with certainty.

“I’m not certain how you came to exist, nor do I care. The only thing that matters is that you have been beaten again. And now you shall leave this land!” Bracing her hooves on the ground, she pooled one last blast of magic into her horn, ready to finish her dark past off once and for all.

”Perhaps I underestimated your powers, girl!” the voice of the demon from before echoed throughout the room. The floor rippled from the center like a pool of water, the figure of Vaermina emerging from it with a black haze around her.

Luna stopped her attack immediately, knowing that it would only be wasted magic in the demon’s presence. Instead she scoffed, “Your tricks can’t beat me that easily, monster.”

“Do not pretend you should not be dead!” the demon hissed angrily. “Your ability to refocus your magic was nothing shy of miraculous, as you are aware.”

“I still defeated her!” Luna insisted, her confidence not waning even in front of the Prince of Nightmares. “It was a nice trick, and you almost had me beat!”

The demon chuckled darkly, “That was no trick of mine, equine. It was the Skull’s magic that ripped your inner darkness from you. The mare is no illusion. She is a piece of you, as she has always been.” With a wave of her arm, black clouds billowed from the ground and swallowed the broken mare. “You created her, and you defeated her. But her defeat is inconsequential to me.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“The shadow of your past did not act according to my will; she acted upon her own instincts as the piece of you that was left behind… In doing so, she distracted you long enough for me to adequately begin converting your dear subjects to my side!”

In that moment, a thousand screams erupted in Luna’s ears, each filled with paralyzing fear and crushing sorrow. The voices of innocent fillies and foals echoed louder than any other, children lost in nightmares they didn’t even know they could have. Parents screamed their children’s names, and children cried for their parents. So many voices blended together in painful harmony as whatever demons they kept buried surfaced in the illusions of the Daedric Prince.

It was…too much! The princess’s front hooves instinctively grasped at her head, trying in vain to block the sound of the poor victims’ screams. She roared in a mixture of pain and anger, “What sort of sick monster are you?! How can you do this to those innocent ponies?!”

Vaermina giggled, her voice drowning out all of the screams, “They each know my name, that I am responsible for their pain. In time, they will beg me to rescue them, or they will perish by their own demons.” With that, she vanished from the room, leaving Luna to listen to the hopelessness of the victims’ words.

On the verge of tears, she fell to the ground, the voices grating against her mind, wearing away at her composure and confidence. Each innocent voice clawed at her mental conditioning, their fears trying to seek refuge in her own mind. Even if she could somehow tune the voices out, there was no way she could save all of the dreaming ponies in time.

Too many voices, too many screams! The pain and sadness is too deep! Those poor ponies are being tormented, and I can’t save them! her thoughts bounced around, barely audible above the dreams of the ponies calling for help.

Princess Luna’s hooves closed harder over her ears, her spirit breaking just as surely as her mind. She felt it in her heart, the loneliness that she’d be left with if everypony succumbed to the demon’s tricks. She understood that if she didn’t act, all of her subjects would suffer, and yet her body wouldn’t respond to her commands. Once more, she was powerless over her own actions, paralyzed by the machinations of Vaermina.

Silence washed over her. At that moment when her determination was virtually dead and her hopes shattered, silence washed over her. The screams went away; the ponies stopped crying. Warmth radiated around her in the cold eeriness of the sleeping castle. A voice, much more gentle than Vaermina’s, called to her.

No. It commanded her. “Rise, child who would deny the Daedric Prince!”

Its voice surged through her body with energy, smothering every muscle in its warmth.

“Listen not to the voices you cannot save. Follow those that can carry you further in your fight! Your power cannot best the demon, but neither can it defeat you! Follow the voices that need you most, and they shall empower you!”

Without thinking about it, she stood to her hooves, any fear or sadness washed away with the voice’s words. She didn’t stop to question where it was coming from or to whom it belonged; she listened as it guided her from the bombardment of evil.

”I give you my blessing in this troubling time. Follow my crest and it shall lead you on your way!”

As the voice faded away, a light radiated from the throne. There, the source of the light was a red rose engraved on top, shining a brilliant crimson. Instinctively, Princess Luna approached, placing a cautious hoof over it. Warm energy pulsated through her once more, and a single familiar voice came to life in her ears.

“Damn you, Vaermina!”

A Burning Kingdom

Princess. Caesar. President. Fuhrer. Empress. King. Count. Pharaoh.

No matter what title they choose to bear, each and every one of them holds a single trait in common: they govern over their land as a leader. Any pony with a basic education could most likely give you an example of each one, if only from fairy tales or books. Though some are seen as tyrannical and corrupt, others can be described as kind and just.

Some leaders use their people for personal gain and power. Others govern their lands for the sake of freedom and peace. Still others want nothing more than to protect their people from harm. Very rarely will one find a leader willing to die in place of their citizens. Many would rather their entire kingdom fall than to fall alone, and some would prefer to lose their kingdom before their own life.

Princess Celestia had fallen asleep on her throne; that much she remembered. She had been so exhausted that she could barely recall her conversation with her sister a mere hour prior. When her body hit the throne, there was no stopping her transition into unconsciousness. Though it had barely felt like she had been asleep for a minute, she was snapped from her stupor by the weirdest sound.

Screaming. Her eyes shot open as her ears registered the panicked and pained screams of ponies. An orange glow blinded her temporarily as she awoke, intense heat washing over her. When at last her mind registered that the throne room was on fire, she leaped from her seat with panic coursing through her body. A thousand thoughts ran across her mind, each fighting for priority.

Finally she decided on the only appropriate course of action: leave the room in hopes of gaining information on what had transpired in her sleep. Her body carried itself toward the door, her mind still barely awake; the screams grew ever louder as she approached the exit.

The door burst open in a flurry of screams and flames, a single guard collapsing into the threshold of the throne room. His body was swallowed in flames, his coat burning in spots as his armor melted over him. The sight alone was enough to stop Celestia in her tracks, her stomach churning in disgust. It took everything in her power to keep from spewing her breakfast, the scent of burning flesh tearing at her bowels.

The pony whined pitifully as his body fried under the fire, “Please, gods make it stop!” As the last syllable escaped his lips, his helmet burst into a flood of molten gold, molding around his raw skull and leaving a macabre decoration in its place.

It was too much for the princess. She had seen her kingdom veiled in would-be eternal night. She had seen her subjects cocooned for the sake of being fed on at the hands of Changelings. She had even seen ponies’ bodies warped and distorted at the hands of Discord’s chaos. But this horror, this grotesque destruction, she couldn’t handle.

She collapsed; her body struggled to keep itself stable under the circumstances. When the floor rippled like water and a grotesque creature emerged, the princess turned to face it, wearily channeling magic into her horn with the pathetic notion of defending herself.

The figure’s voice flooded the room like the screams of the ponies, “So this is your hell? Interesting. Your greatest fear is not a loss of your family or power…” The tone shifted to one of admiration, a silent hiss echoing behind the words. “You fear that you will fail your subjects. How sweet!”

Celestia’s magic dissipated, a ball of lead dropping in her stomach. A fear that she wholeheartedly believed could not be measured surged through her, smothering the panic she had felt moments ago. Any notion she had of attacking melted away like the flesh of the guard in the presence of the beast before her. Its face was beautiful and smooth and youthful, but at the same time it was evil and demonic and grotesque. The beast had two faces, both existing at the same time in the same place, one of beauty and the other death.

It paralyzed her to see the faces of the beast.

“I am the Dreamweaver, Vaermina, the Daedric Prince of Nightmares, and your kingdom is now mine, mortal.”

Celestia stared on, the demon’s black eyes tearing into her soul. It was reading her mind, feeding off of her fear and hopelessness. She could feel it burrowing into her heart but she couldn’t do anything to stop it. She couldn’t even help her subjects that were dying outside the room because her own fear paralyzed her. What chance did she stand against this demon?

Vaermina motioned with her arm, the princess flying through the air and landing just in front of the throne in a helpless heap on the ground. With her other arm, she slammed the door of the room tight, a plume of flames smashing against it as if to seal it shut. Her demonic face stretched into a grin, the spirit of the princess shattered into shards of hopelessness.

“Such is the fate of those who gaze upon me,” she giggled darkly.

Snakes manifested themselves around her arms, snapping at the fallen pony as if threatening to devour her. Though, by that point, they were more for show than for practicality. She had located the princess’s weakness and manifested it into the illusion.

Her fun diminished greatly when the door burst open and the plumes of flame choked away. Everything was silent in the halls outside, the orange flames replaced by purple mist. The Dreamweaver’s eyes opened wide in frustration and confusion as a small blue pony, winged and horned just like her current victim, stepped into the room.

She sighed, “Well, this is quite intriguing… It seems we have a guest.”

Celestia craned her neck with all the strength she could gather and met eyes with the intruder. Just as a smile threatened to replace her scowl, her body contorted in pain and fear, the demon’s magic regaining a grip on her. She heard her sister scream her name before the door slammed shut. She no longer felt the presence of her demonic torturer, though her fear didn’t falter one bit.

Instead, as the presence faded, the screams of dying ponies slowly reemerged from every corner of the room, each growing louder and more desperate as time passed on. For what felt like hours the princess laid there, unable to help her people or end their suffering. She was useless, pathetic and condemnable, unable to even speak out against the beast who had caused all of the ponies’ pain!

So she suffered there, a heap on the floor before her burning throne, tears running from her eyes as her mind flooded with thoughts of self-loathing and hatred. The fires in the room couldn’t begin to compare to the flame of anger in her heart at her own weakness.

The anger swelled. It built up more and more, uncharacteristic thoughts bouncing around her mind and words touching her tongue but still unable to escape. The anger swelled.

And a single thought tore through the fires and screams and fears that smothered her every nerve.

“Damn you, Vaermina!”

***

Princess Luna tore her hoof away from the crest, the unimaginable anger in her sister’s voice sending panic through her mind. Never, in all the years she’d helped rule Equestria, had she ever heard her sister speak with such incensed language. Never once did she curse Discord, or even the Changelings who threatened to feed on innocent ponies. Never, no matter how grim the situation, had Luna ever imagined her sister spewing such hateful words. Though she had to admit they rang out with one certain truth: whatever was happening in Celestia’s mind was tearing away any sanity she had. Luna needed to act, and soon.

The mysterious, commanding voice rang out in the emptiness of the hall, ”Heal her sorrows and your path shall open! Go now, brave equine!”

Fresh determination and courage washed over the younger princess, who approached her sister’s collapsed body with steady hooves. Leaning down close and prodding the tip of her horn against the body, she channeled a gentle needle of magic to act as an access point.

If it were night, she pouted, I could simply use the moon’s light…

Focusing her magic carefully, she pushed further into her sister’s body, a magical rift opening to allow her entrance. As she stepped through, an intense heat washed over her; screaming ponies called Celestia’s name with vehemence and blame. The dark purple of the room flashed into a burnt orange, her muscles tensing up at the scent of burning flesh.

She took the final step into the dream world, her horn charged to attack any illusion that awaited her. She was there, just inside the throne room, staring at her sister’s body as she had been when she first encountered Vaermina. Uncontrollable spasms met her eyes as grunts of painful anger escaped her sister’s lips. Even from her distance, she could see the sweat pooling around the plagued pony.

The entire room was engulfed in flames. Ponies screamed from the halls of the castle, slow deaths being their only respite. It didn’t really surprise Luna that her sister’s nightmare involved the kingdom, but she was shocked by just how gruesome the illusion was. She pulled the door behind her open, expecting desperate ponies seeking useless refuge. Instead she was met with the golden-skulled soldier, whose hooves were cracked by the apparent clawing at the golden plating.

The younger princess staggered back in no way prepared for such a morbid image. I always knew she feared her kingdom’s destruction…but this is just too much… I can’t begin… She shook her head in disgust as she realized just how horrific the demon’s illusions might be.

“Why have you forsaken us!?”

A voice pumped full of unmistakable rage roared from down the hall beyond the golden soldier. Like mirages in a desert, ponies engulfed in flames and melting coats appeared in the dark orange of the castle. Even through the flames she could see the betrayal in their eyes, each carrying some improvised weapon or another.

“Princess Celestia! Answer us!” There was venom in the title. So much venom that it sent a shiver up Luna’s otherwise sweating spine.

Turning on her hind hooves and breaking into a sudden dash, she slammed the doors shut with her magic and held them there, a wall of energy standing between the throne and the heated illusions. In an instant she was at her sister’s side, sweat bathing her hooves as she stood with her head lowered.

“Celestia, you must wake up!” she called desperately. Hoofsteps were growing louder through the door, angry voices piercing even the magic barrier. She placed a hoof on her sister’s face, scanning the body for any signs of illness. Surely there had to be something keeping her frightened outside of Vaermina’s presence

There, on the elder princess’s flank, rested a symbol that anypony would recognize. A sun with flames around it, a symbol of the job Celestia performed each and every morning for the ponies of Equestria, the mark that proved to her subjects just what she was. Her cutie mark, as they were called: an image that appears on a pony’s flank when they discover whatever it is they are best at doing.

Only the sun that met Luna’s eyes was not a yellow core inside a bright orange corona, darker orange flames sprouting from it. In fact, it sent a sick anger through her body as she stared it down, taking in each and every ounce of corruption in the image. The center of the sun was a solid black, with a navy blue corona around it. The flames were a deep purple, eerily identical to Vaermina’s demonic mist.

And it made sense. The corrupted cutie mark made perfect sense. The darkness of the sun so clearly represented the power Vaermina held over her victim, black in place of orange, just as her clouds had blocked the sun earlier that morning. But it was more than that.

If she leaves a piece of herself in the thing that reminds a pony what makes them special, they’ll be forced to remember her visage! It’s as if she never leaves them!

Luna dropped her head all the way, her horn all but tearing into the flesh of the cutie mark, magic running down into the coat with controlled intentions. Her magic seeped into the mark, sparks of black energy bouncing out of the skin and onto the marble of the room. With each pulse of cobalt, more black leaped away, like frightened bunnies from a fox. In a matter of seconds, the entire image was filled with Luna’s magic, actively repelling Vaermina’s own.

Princess Celestia shot awake as the last spark of black fled her body. For only a moment, any ounce of fear she had felt melted away under the gentle radiance of her sister’s magic.

“L-Luna?” she stammered, uncertainty in her words and caution in her heart.

The younger princess sighed, “Well, that was certainly easier than I expected. It is I, sister.”

The door shook violently, all but breaking under the weight of whatever had just hit it. Metal-on-metal echoed around the hall, barely muffled by the magical barrier. The voices that had once showed anger now snarled in absolute loathing, revenge flooding their tones as they chanted.

“Why have you forsaken us?!”

Princess Celestia leaped to her hooves, confusion and panic reasserting itself in her mind now that her fear was gone. She snapped, “What’s happening out there, sister? Where have you been?” Her eyes glistened with concern, her heart heavy in her chest. She wasn’t afraid, but she certainly wasn’t happy.

“That’s why I’m here Celestia; you have to listen to me. You have to try and understand what I’m about to tell you.” Luna took her sister’s head in her hooves, their eyes locked in an unmistakable seriousness. “This isn’t real, none of it is!”

In a rush of disgust, Celestia pulled away from the condescending hold. “This is a serious issue, Luna! We have to help those ponies!”

“No, we don’t! They aren’t real!” Luna countered, suddenly realizing just how deep the rabbit hole went. Denial. “You have to trust me, sister! This is all an illusion!”

A shattering sound filled their ears as the magical barrier fell to pieces under the bombardment of dying ponies. The door flew open, improvised weaponry slicing through the air toward the princesses with no regard for accuracy. Even without their flesh to portray their emotions, the hollow or otherwise gilded skulls of the burning ponies radiated with anger and pain. Just as she considered vomiting, Princess Luna’s mind caught the one thing that could make the entire scenario impossible, and it was her trump card.

Even Celestia can’t deny this!

“Do you see that, sister? Those ponies’ skulls? If this were real, they’d all be dead! The fact that you can hear them scream is nothing but an illusion!” She placed a hoof on her sister’s back, trying to physically force her logic.

“If you aren’t going to…” Celestia began to argue, until her panicked mind settled and reevaluated the situation. Her muscles relaxing were the only sign Luna needed to know she had won. “You…You’re right, sister. They can’t possibly be real…”

And just like that, the mob of vengeful ghouls vanished in a puff of smoke, their weapons falling to the ground like marbles. The door slammed shut in the absence of the illusory ponies.

“But that only means those ponies are really trapped somewhere, or dying! We have to help them!”

Luna insisted, “No we don’t Celestia. Can’t you see that this isn’t real? This castle isn’t really ours. These flames aren’t deadly!” She placed the tip of her horn against the elder princess, letting magic flow from her. She whispered, “Close your eyes and feel my magic. Together we can silence these lies.”

Celestia wasn’t certain why, but a comforting coolness washed over her as she listened to her sister’s voice. She closed her eyes without second thought.

Through the darkness, a blue light appeared, illuminating the room they were in. Luna took several steps toward it as she explained, “This is where we really are. This is our home. And you are there.” Her hoof pointed at the ground where Celestia stood, anchored to her physical body.

“So what is that other place? Is it a dream? How could that even be possible?”

“There’s some monster that’s come to Equestria, I’m afraid. She feeds on nightmares, and has trapped everypony in one, including you.” Luna’s hoof breached the light, the entire room fading away as an orange blaze surrounded them. “Her illusions are powerful, enough to cripple even the mighty Celestia. It’s only because of my mastery of dream walking that I’m able to resist.”

The burning throne room replaced the hollow darkness of the real one, and Celestia had no choice but to accept her sister’s explanation as fact. She sighed, “I’ve felt so cold and hopeless ever since I first awoke in this nightmare… Is it safe to assume that my subjects are suffering the same torments?” Her expression dropped as she reflected on her own crippling fear.

The countless screams of haunted fillies and colts echoed in Luna’s ears, stinging reminders of her mission. Casting them aside, she chuckled, “You should concern yourself with escaping this prison before worrying about others. Even if they are, you can’t help from in here.” The younger princess placed a hoof on her sister’s head and smiled lovingly, envious of the constant sense of duty she had never managed to muster up.

“How do I get out? You obviously weren’t able to wake me up from out there.”

“Right!” Luna cheered as she stomped around toward the door. “The illusions are gone—more or less—but I can’t just wake you up. After all, there’s nothing stopping Vaermina from putting you back under her spell.” Her eyes darted back and forth across the room, searching for any kind of chink in the illusory walls.

A quiet, muffled ringing sound caught her attention as she scanned the door again. It was barely audible, foreign even amidst the crackle of fire. It almost called to her.

“Her magic can’t seem to actively affect me, so if I could create a sanctuary here in your mind…” she stepped toward the ringing sound, “…perhaps you would be immune to her magic.”

The elder sister shook her head in uncertainty, “If you say so, Luna. I don’t see where I have any other option.”

With a gentle hoof, Luna pushed the door ajar. Immediately following the breaching of the threshold the ringing rocketed in volume, almost making the ponies cover their ears in discomfort. A light poured in from the hall, much more welcoming than the orange aura that smothered everything: red, with a shade of green.

It can’t be, can it? The glow felt familiar as the ringing settled into a steady hum. Isn’t this…?

The door burst open completely, a wave of refreshingly cool air sending Luna backwards toward her sister. The fires extinguished one by one, the scorch marks and ash washing away in the light. The entire throne room was swallowed in peace and comfort, any ominous or otherwise disconcerting properties draining from the unreality.

There, hanging in the air in the threshold, rested a rose-shaped crest. Its light poured forth like water, the hum shifting into one of melodious beauty.

The familiar, commanding voice spoke through the melody, ”A loyal leader has been blessed with the power to dispel Daedric influence. Use your magic, equine, and seal this pony in a blanket of rest!” The crest lowered slowly to the ground, eye level with Luna, who inched toward it almost instinctively.

Magic pooled into her horn without her command, streaming calmly toward the rose. She could only barely form the words through her awe, “Who are you? Why are you helping me?” Even as she questioned the voice’s motives, she did nothing to stop her magic flow.

”Who I am is of no consequence to you, equine. All you must know is that we share a common enemy.” As the magic wrapped around the crest, the throne room exploded into nonexistence, replaced by a field of flowers and grass. The sun flickered to life as the corruption in Celestia’s cutie mark drained away. ”Go now, Princess of Equestria, and face your next trial!”

The crest shattered into pieces as its light faded away. The melody continued to play in relaxing tempo as the field expanded ever further toward the horizon. And in its center lay Celestia, cutie mark restored and nightmares erased, in a calm stupor on the ground. Her muzzle stretched into a smile as her eyelids grew heavier.

Luna approached, not a hint of worry in her mind; she somehow knew that this place was safe from any demons. So instead the young princess nuzzled the top of the elder’s head with sisterly comfort before disappearing in a flash of cobalt energy.

As she fell from consciousness, Princess Celestia let out a sigh of contentment.