"Monster!" the mob shouted "She's a demon!"
The filly galloped as fast as she could, glancing back every now and then only to find, though she could hear them, she couldn't see her pursuers. She didn't know where she was, or how the ponies found her. She couldn't be caught; they'd destroy her if she was. "Please, leave me alone!" she begged "I'm not gonna hurt you!"
The hoofsteps only grew louder, as did the voices. "She'll kill us all!" Gulping, she ran even faster. She tried to spread her wings, but brier vines tangled around them, tearing her feathers.
"Where did those come from?" she wondered aloud. Looking around, she saw that a dense forest had sprung up around her. She paused for a moment, confusion clouding her face.
"She went this way!" somepony shouted. Again, she took off, trying to see her way through the darkness. Her legs were beginning to grow sore. How long had she been running? Panic began to set in. If she slowed down, the mob would catch her. Panting, she closed her eyes, letting a few tears squeeze out and trickle down her face, onto her hooves.
Wait, there was too much water underneath her hooves to be tears. Her eyes jerked open to reveal a lake shimmering in the Moonlight. Without a second thought, she plunged her muzzle into the cool water, gulping down as much as she could. When breathing became necessary, she shot her head up, gasping for air. Before she could lean down for more water, however, she caught sight of her reflection.
Her mane and tail were nothing but wisps of blue smoke. Her coat, once light blue, was now covered in growing black splotches. The black of her cutie mark had changed purple where ever the black splotches reached. The most terrifying change were her eyes: dragon shaped, whites reduced to a pale turquoise while the irises were a slightly darker shade, with slitted pupils. Her hoof flew to her mouth, stiffling a gasp.
"No!" she whispered, tears now running freely "Why now? Please, no!"
"She went that way!" the shouts and light from the torches caused the filly to lift her head. Turning, she dashed off into the darkness.
"Please," she silently prayed "don't let them catch me!" Suddenly, a wall of rock shot up in front of her and on both sides. She stood there for a moment, confused, before the cold, bitter realization hit: she was trapped. Heart pounding, breath shaking, she turned, wide eyed, towards the direction of the mob. She could see their shadows on the canyon wall, hear their frantic shouts calling for her death. Now completely facing their direction, she stepped back, pressing her shaking form against the cold wall. This was it, she could see them now. They moved slow, surrounding her. Her feathers were completely severed, flying now impossible. She'd use her horn, but she didn't trust her unstable magic.
Monster, demon, witch, kill her. The voices engulfed her, taunted her, destroyed her. Any hope she had was now gone, crushed and swept away by their words. Then, they stopped. Nopony moved, nopony spoke. Nothing but the wind to break the silence. The tension was thick, suffocating even. She was completely surrounded now. The mob was larger than she had thought; at least a hundred more ponies than she'd originally guessed. She glanced around, waiting for the inevitable. She locked eyes with a big Earth Pony stallion at the back. He wore a ratty old hat and overalls. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few moments, dark brown to turquoise dragon. He gave a slight nod.
The mob erupted to life, ropes flying everywhere. One landed around the filly's neck. She reared up with a screech, wings outstretched. She pawed at her neck, trying to pull the rope off. A second rope curled around her hoof, jerking it painfully from her neck. Two more grasped her wings. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she stood on three legs and dug her heels into the dirt, attempting to pull her hoof free. Out the corner of her eye, she could see a pony rush towards her. At the last second, the pony turned around and rammed their back hooves into her side. She toppled over, more ropes now tangled around each leg. She had no choice now; if she wanted to get out of this, she had to rely on her magic
Taking a deep breath, she flared her horn. It fizzled and sparked for a few seconds before going out. She glanced up with a gasp. Her horn was gripped in a foreign aura. Her head was slammed down, the left side of her faced ground painfully into the dirt. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to pull free. It was to no avail; the ropes had completely immobilized her. Her right eye opened and locked again with the big stallion. She stared at him, silently begging for mercy. His eyes were cold and unforgiving. He leaned down, his muzzle even with her ear.
"You're a monster, and ain't nopony gon help you now." He straightened up, turning behind him. When his face came back into view, he had an ax gripped between his teeth. The filly's eye widened in horror.
"Please..." she struggled to speak. The stallion's glare remained hard as the ax came down.
"NOOOOO!" Luna screamed, jerking awake. She panted, trying to calm her racing heart. It'd been three years since Moon had cursed her, but the nightmares were still strong. As she struggled to untangle herself from the sheets, she looked to the other side of the room. Three years ago, if she'd had a nightmare, her sister would've been holding her by now. But that was before the curse. Before her parents deemed it too dangerous for them to share a room. Before she'd been given a new room. Three years since she'd last seen Celestia.
After kicking herself free of the web of sheets, Luna wiped her eyes, sniffling. She missed her sister. She missed not being afraid. She missed not having to hide herself away. She missed the time before Moon. Moon... Luna's eyes narrowed, the pupils turning to slits. Moon did this to her. Moon took her future away. Moon made her a monster. Monster. More tears fell as her eyes returned to normal.
"That's all I am." she whispered bitterly "All I'll ever be...a monster..." The filly curled up in a ball as sobs racked her body. She laid there for a long time, sobbing, but her room was far away from everyone else. Nopony would be able to hear her. She wanted nothing more than to run to Celestia; to tell her what had happened. She wanted her big sister to hold her close and tell her that everything was going to be alright, and that she'd keep her safe. But she didn't know; she couldn't know. It was too risky. So she laid there, afraid of transforming, afraid of the angry mobs that'd be sure to come, but most of all, afraid of herself.
It wasn't until she'd opened her eyes that she noticed her horn had flared to life. Normally when that happened, a star-etched black beam would shoot from her horn. But this was different. Everywhere she looked, there was nothing but a black abyss.
"Where am I?" Luna whispered to herself. She stood, suddenly feeling like she was underwater. Panicked, she fought to pull herself up for air. Nothing she tried, however, could make her rise. A million thoughts swam across her consciousness. Had somepony found out? Was this some spell designed to end her life? The terror from her dream again knotted in her stomach, inducing a new bout of fearful clawing motions as she tried desperately to swim. Her efforts were proven futile as she remained suspended in the black abyss. She couldn't hold her breath forever, and she was growing weak from lack of oxygen. With one final reach upward, she allowed her eyes to flutter closed and, with her mouth open, she took a deep breath. Breath. Air.
Her eyes shot open. She could breath. She still felt the illusion of being underwater, but she could breathe. She took a step forward; she could move as she could on land. The black was now dotted with shimmering white specks, much like the curse-induced beams that often erupted form her horn. It looked almost like the night sky.
Night sky, feeling of being underwater, lucid, surreal...' she thought, putting the pieces together. She gasped with the realization. 'This is the Dreamscape.' She'd heard stories of powerful beings entering the Dreamscape; even going as far as entering dreams. She scanned the world around her again. 'It's beautiful...'she thought. Eager to explore, she started walking. She moved closer to the stars. No, not stars, but something else. Each one, she noticed, became images as she got closer. 'Dreams...' Luna realized. The ones closest to her being of those nearest to her current position, the ponies in the castle; the others reaching out to the farthest corners of Equestria. The more vivid each images was, the deeper asleep the pony was.
She walked for what felt like hours, maybe even days, too fascinated to leave. Something then caught her eye. A single image close to where she'd first entered the Dreamscape. It wasn't very clear, or was it? She stepped closer. It was vivid, possibly the most vivid she'd seen so far, but it rippled and twisted, making the scene hard to make out. A nightmare. And a voice came wailing through. A voice calling her name. Squinting, she leaned forward, trying to get a clearer view.
It was Celestia, or her dream at least. The older filly sat in a dark hallway, the only light coming from a large window behind her. It looked like it was raining. She was staring at a white door decorated with various Moon phases. She was singing, calling out for Luna. Her voice cracked every now and then, caused unmistakably by the tears trailing down her face. Her head lowered and a sob escaped her mouth
Luna knew what this dream was about. Every day, Celestia would sit outside her bedroom door, singing for her to come play. She'd sounded sad before, she'd never cried. Luna reached a hoof out to touch the shimmering edge of the dream.
"Don't cry..." she whispered. Celestia's head shot up, looking around. Was it possible? Did she hear her? Luna tried again, a little louder. "Please don't cry."
Celestia sniffled, wiping her face with the back of her hoof. "Why not?" she asked bluntly. Luna's breath hitched slightly. Her power was enough to get her to the Dreamscape, but would it be able to get her into a dream? She reached up, stepping past the shimmering dream edge. The door in the dream opened as she did so, appearing to Celestia that Luna was leaving her room.
"Because I don't like it when you cry."
Celestia's jaw dropped, tears drying instantly as the Sun broke through the clouds outside the window behind her. "L-luna!?" she cried in surprise.
The younger filly gave a shy smile. "Hi, Tia." Celestia's surprise quickly turned to utter joy. With an excited squeal, she launched herself at her sister, gripping her in a crushing hug and causing them both to fall backwards. The scene around them twisted and morphed into the bedroom they'd shared years ago.
Breaking away, Celestia looked the younger filly over. "What are you doing here?"
"I missed you."
Celestia helped her sister to her hooves. "But why now? Didn't you miss me then?"
Luna bit her lip. Celestia can't know the truth. She needed to choose her words very carefully. "I did...I still do. But, I've been....sick...really sick, and Mama and Papa don't want you to get sick too, so I have to stay away 'till I'm better. I still can't leave my room, so dreams are the best I can do. Even still, I don't think I can stay very long."
Her sister's face fell. "Oh." she stared at her hooves before looking back up with a warm smile. "Still, I'm really glad to see you, even if it's only for a little while. While you're here, though," she waved a hoof over to the toy chest that'd appeared out of no where next to them. "you wanna play?"
"Sure." For what felt like hours, the sisters galloped around the room, playing with various toys and costumes. Laughing, singing, dancing; they'd both missed this tremendously. Now, tired, they curled up together in the center of the room. "I don't think I have much longer." Luna whispered sadly.
"Before you go," the scene once again shifted, this time taking them to the castle courtyards. They were both dressed for winter as the world around them was blanketed in snow. "Do you wanna build a snowmare?"
Luna's grin was all the answer Celestia needed. They rolled out four small balls of snow, arranging them to be legs. Next came the large body, neck, and head. Using twigs of various sizes, the fashioned a mane and tale. Rocks were placed in hollowed out eye sockets, and the drew a snowflake on their creation's flank for a cutie mark. Two large leaves were attached to the sides for wings, and a carrot was used for the horn. Finally, their masterpiece was complete.
The dream was beginning to fade out; Celestia was waking up. "It's time." Luna sighed. The sisters looked at each other. They smiled, going through the motions of their old hoofshake while chanting simultaneously.
"One, two, three, together. Clap together, flash together. You and me, together. Knees together, freeze together. Up or down, together. Princess crown together. Always be together," they each blinked back tears, "you and me." The wrapped their forelegs around each other's neck, hugging as the world around them finally faded away.
When Luna's eyes opened, she was still on her bed. The Sun was streaming through the window. Soon her parents would arrive with her breakfast tray, and soon after, Celestia would come singing. Maybe she won't sound as sad today. Though she'd been up all Night in the Dreamscape, Luna was fully rested. She smiled. She knew she'd never forget that time spent with her sister. It was Moon who placed the curse on her. It was the curse that gave her dangerous power. It was the power that took her to the Dreamscape. It was the Dreamscape that let her see her sister for the first time in three years.
Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
Author's Note
I have not yet seen Frozen Fever, so I doubt it's plot is in any way even remotely similar to this one-shot. This was written in honor of, not based on, Frozen Fever. Hope you enjoyed. Bye!
