Prologue: Dream a little dream of me
Just like every night, the princess was sleeping. However, instead of dreaming on her own, she watched over the dreams of her people, helping them putting some sense into their subconscious thoughts or simply conquering their inner fears. Sometimes it was quite an exhausting task to fulfill every night. But after all, this was her duty, wasn’t it?
The dreams of all the ponies were lying before her eyes, like pictures to choose from, while darkness was encasing everything around her. Luna always found the realm between dreams and nightmares to be kind of depressing, but there usually were a lot of fun dreams to watch over, so she didn’t really mind all too much. Anyhow, there were things that needed to be handled first: There were some bad dreams to vanquish.
The first one tonight was a young filly, named Glooming Star who dreamt about Timberwolves stealing all her cupcakes. With a chuckle, Luna explained that Timberwolves would never dare to take her beloved cupcakes, as long as she would stay at home, as her parents told her to. Overall Luna preferred visiting the dreams of children. Usually there were no heavy hearted life lessons involved and it all just seemed so much simpler. With a sigh, she left a much calmer Glooming Star and looked for her next candidate. She opened up her senses and let all the emotions flow through her. The joyful and happy dreams had to wait and Luna was specifically looking for the worst nightmares, since everypony had the right to enjoy some relaxing nighttime. After a few moments, Luna had decided where she would go next. The colt Harland Seed seemed to have heavy doubts about the course his life was taking, manifesting in his mind as a cataclysmic storm, laying waste to his farmland. Luna did a last check and then concentrated on her chosen dream. However, as she wanted to enter it, something let her hesitate and suddenly, for only a split-second, an overwhelming darkness embraced her and blackened out her senses.
In the realm of dreams madness lies waiting…lurking…
“Who speaks there?” replied Luna to the strange whisper, while the sudden darkness around her vanished.
Almost instantly, she realized that she was still alone. Of course, there weren’t exactly a lot of ponies that could enter the world of the sleeping minds, as she was able to. There simply was nopony to reply to and her imagination must be playing jokes on her. After all, she was dealing with nightmares all the time. She scratched her head. Maybe she should take a pause and let her sister handle the dreams for a few nights. Luna shrugged it off and got ready to jump into the dream she had chosen before. She started the spell and her horn began to glow, but instead of landing, where she had planned to, something strange happened. It was almost as if some invisible force sucked her in a completely different direction. For a brief moment, Luna wasn’t sure, what was going on, but before she could react, it was all over. She frowned. This certainly was some kind of dream, just not the one she had aimed for. Puzzled Luna was standing in some curved corridor, so dark she hardly could see her own hoof, while various voices simultaneously started to whisper into Luna’s ears. They were quiet and talking without any order, so it was hard to actually understand anything. However, from time to time some clear sentences slipped through the cacophony of voices.
Was it a star that drove the beast mad?
A shiver was running down her spine. It was the monotone voice of a Mare, which sounded strangely soothing.
I know what you have done…
This was one heck of a nightmare and she just wanted to leave. Yet, she couldn’t just leave behind, whoever was trapped in here. She shook her head and started going along the corridor. With her horn, she created a dim light, so she would actually see where to set her steps. She tried to ignore the voices and concentrated on her magic, but here and there some words slipped through.
The dark heart of the earth awaits…
This time the voice definitely was male. Luna stopped and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind, still the whispers didn’t seem to have any interest in just shutting up.
Your friends are weak…Can you trust them?
Luna took a deep breath. She needed to find whoever was dreaming up this nightmare. Usually it wasn’t too hard for Luna, but somehow it felt like the dreamer didn’t want to be found.
Give in to your innermost desires…CRUSH them…
Luna stopped. What in the name of Equestria was going on? It was almost like they were talking directly to her. Or did her own mind play tricks again?
Even the shifting Night-Mare trembles before the void…
Luna couldn’t make sense of all this. She never encountered a dream that was even remotely as hostile and creepy as this one. Slowly she continued her way through the dark corridor, carefully keeping an eye on her surroundings.
The sacred bond of blood, broken by hunger…
All she needed to do was ignore it. However, this was easier said than done as the voices kept hammering against her head.
Descend into the abyss of madness, where only the sinful sleep…
All those whispers seemed so random and most of them didn’t make much sense. Yet, they also seemed strangely familiar. Her heart began to beat faster and she constantly looked over her shoulder. She felt, as if someone or something was following every single one of her steps. Chilled to the bone, she stopped.
A black sun heralds, what was forgotten long ago…
Black Sun? Why would there be an eclipse in Equestria?
Even before Luna finished that thought, she heavily shook her head. Hell, now she was even trying to put some sense into the whispers of creepy voices in some bad dream. She definitely needed vacation. Luna took a stock of herself and concentrated on the light.
Can there be order without chaos?
Couldn’t they just shut up?
Soon they will all witness the true face of despair…
Luna shut out everything around her and with a sudden burst of magic, she pushed away the darkness and replaced with gleaming light. The voices instantly stopped.
Luna was a little mad at herself for almost letting a dream get the best of her. The princess calmed herself, before continuing her steps. Luna chuckled at how less creepy a dream could be, if one shed some light on it. No more voices, no more darkness. Just Luna and whoever was dreaming here and she had to find that someone.
After a few minutes wandering along the curved hallway, she could see a door on the right side of the corridor. A brilliant light, even brighter than Luna’s own magic, was shining out of it. As she approached the light, Luna started to hear voices again. Be that as it may, this time it wasn’t some creepy whispering inside her head. No, it sounded like real ponies.
“You are right my child. Nevertheless, we need to find and harness it, if we want to guide the world into the light. You need to find it”, commanded the steady voice of some unknown mare.
As Luna heard it, she felt completely calm. It was like a mother reading her child to sleep. This didn’t feel like a bad dream at all anymore. Curious on what was going on here, Luna made a few more steps towards the door and took a peek through it. A figure of light, shaped like a unicorn was standing before a stallion, turning its back to her. Luna had no idea, what she was looking at. It certainly didn’t seem like she had any business regarding this dream. Why was she even here again?
Oddly, she didn’t really care. The presence of this light was so miraculous, Luna was filled with warmth and ease. Overwhelmed by fascination, Luna stepped over the doorstep into the room that didn’t have any walls. As she further approached the glowing unicorn, it stopped talking for a brief moment. What was it even saying before? She couldn’t really wrap her mind around it. All Luna could think of, was being near this miraculous being.
“The princess of the night honors us with her presence. I am sorry, but I believe my invitations must have been wrongfully delivered”, the soothing voice explained as the figure spread its wings.
An alicorn?
That was strange. Luna was fairly certain, she would know if any other alicorn was involved in this dream. Now she felt the urge to see whoever took on clearing this nightmare of its darkness. Maybe it was her sister. Mesmerized by the light Luna further approached the alicorn.
“You have to stop right there, Princess. Do not disturb the light.”
Luna hesitated. Nopony in the right mind would disturb such beauty. Anyhow, if it was one of the other princesses, Luna had to know, she wanted to know. She got closer and in a few seconds, she would know.
The end light draws near…indomitable…inevitable…
Suddenly the strange, heavy presence Luna felt before in the hallway returned. The pure light surrounding the alicorn faded and Luna felt as if she had just woken up from a yearlong sleep. The pony standing only inches before her had lost all of her glory, but nevertheless kept radiating light. However, the light had turned black and darkness was creeping from her, trying to devour her surroundings. Luna squinted in an attempt to clear her thoughts of the mesmerizing light that was still lingering inside her head. Just now she realized that the stallion, the figure was talking to, was gone.
In the end, there will be nothing but void…
With the darkness, the whispers had returned and kept hammering against the insides of her head, effectively destroying all the ease, Luna had felt a few seconds ago. The warmth was replaced by bone chilling cold and the blackness leaking from the alicorn figure was advancing further and further, embracing the dream world around her. This wasn’t right. Not at all.
Luna cleared her thoughts and tried to put some sense into all this. She looked upon the black light shaped as an alicorn. Luna knew she wasn’t awake, but this didn’t feel like a dream either. It felt real. Way too real for that kind of nightmare.
“Who are you?” Luna wanted to know.
“You have disrupted the light! What have you done?” the mare screamed.
Luna felt somewhat guilty. Maybe she should have just left before. She looked around. The darkness had already taken hold over everything she saw. No! This definitely wasn’t right.
“I ask again. Who are you?” Luna repeated her question with emphasis.
The figure suddenly seemed way too calm as it answered.
“What an intriguing question. Who am I? Can you give a name to madness? Can you describe the void?”
Luna had no idea what it was rambling about. But she knew that wasn’t really what she wanted to know.
“Show. Me. Your face!”
For a few moments that felt like an eternity it was completely silent. There were no more voices, no more whispers. Only darkness. When the black alicorn started talking, her tone changed with every word and it was like many voices were trying to talk at the same time.
“I am the lucid dream…The fiend of a thousand voices…”
With those words, she turned around. But instead of a face, there were only shadows, shaped as a giant maw that made a leap towards Luna in an attempt to devour her. Luna’s eyes widened as the giant teeth crushed down on her. Hastily she turned around and ran as fast as she could. Luna wanted to scream, but nothing came out of her throat, as the dark maw engulfed her.
Panting, Luna awakened. Still trying to get away from the darkness, she fell out of her bed and landed on the hard floor. Covered in sweat and without orientation, Luna tried to conjure some light from her horn. What in the name of Starswirl was that?
Luna tried to bring some order to her thoughts that were running rampant in her mind.
She took a deep breath, as she finally realized: It was just a nightmare. A bad dream, nothing else. After dealing with countless nightmares of her children, she was finally haunted by one herself. Luna scoffed. She should have seen it right away. Most certainly, she needed some vacation. She stood up and rubbed her shoulder. It hurt a little. The very real aftermath of a dreamt up nightmare. Well, it would heal soon enough.
Luna climbed back into her bed as suddenly a lingering voice filled Luna's chamber with cold, so chilling even the Wendigos would shudder. Her blood froze as a disembodied whisper infused the air around her as the rumbling voice slowly faded away.
In due time even a princess will have to face the bitter truth: no reign lasts forever...only the void is eternal...
