After banishing the previous Nightmare, Luna felt herself observing the delicate and dynamic environment around her with new perspectives.

Entities that were not present beforehand, were now terrifyingly visible, and it was clear that they had existed the entire time.

Fireflies were now flying ominously in demented patterns above the Relaxation Room balcony and the aurora emanating from the Paleblood Eclipse was now wavering and fluctuating as it once stood still, in the pitch black sky.

And once Luna was stood at the edge of the balcony, she could see all of the dark echoes of Nightmares being emitted from the minds of inhabitants and flowing freely from dwelling to dwelling, as if there were a devious and magical fog that was encroaching Canterlot.

Luna had not gained this much Insight before and the thought of it was quite chilling, as she felt as if she had only absorbed this Insight approximately five times.

Luna took time to observe the Nightmare echoes flowing from dwelling to dwelling, even witnessing it completely envelope sections of Canterlot Castle. And it was astounding, that Luna had only just realised the amount of Nightmares that were caused by Luna's glorious nightfall.

After taking in yet another discovery, Luna realised that she had absorbed a great amount of the powerful energy that she had encountered before her previous nightmare.

Luna slowly approached her bed and knelt down, beginning her meditation and process for harnessing this rare energy. She had decided to name this energy Nightmare Echoes, as they were all that remained of vanquished Nightmares.

Luna knew she had a great amount of Echoes, so she wanted to further increase efficiency with the Arcanium Blades and increase stagger time that was caused by her Blood Bolt spell.

Spending careful time manipulating and intertwining specific fibres of her skills, Luna had managed to make herself master rapid combo attacks with her Arcanium Blades, as well as furthering stagger time by half a second.

Luna knew this did not sound like a lot of time, but the investment could literally mean the difference between a fatal visceral attack, or a missed opportunity and a cruel audience with Death itself.

Satisfied with her choices, Luna reorganised her inventory, cleaned her Arcanium Blades and Hunter Attire before she set out to hunt the next Nightmare.

Feeling rejuvenated, Luna sharply exhaled and opened the enchanted door, granting her access to the Doorway Matrix once again. But what surprised Luna, was that one of the available doors that led to Nightmares, was not even a door.

Squinting, Luna approached the odd looking object in the distance, slowing recognising parts of the object until it was dead obvious what the object was.

It was another doorway towards another harrowing Nightmare, but not in the universe that Luna was familiar with. For what she had discovered, was the Reality Mirror that is kept under close observation by Princess Twilight Sparkle.

The beings within that universe too, also experience Nightmares and it seemed that the Echoes of this Nightmare were so vivid, that they were crossing the bridge between the two realities and were included within the events of the Paleblood Eclipse.

Luna had only heard of the Friendship Reports and rumours from within this universe and she was quite chilled to discover that there was the ability to enter a new reality whilst Dreamwalking.

But what frightened Luna the most, is that once the traveller has entered the other reality, their bodies are converted by the Mirror's magic so that their anatomy is identical to theirs.

And according to Princess Twilight Sparkle said regarding her previous adventures within this reality, is that they are bipedal beings, with opposing thumbs but are not capable of flight or magical abilities.

Could Luna take the risk? If her body is converted, all of her accuracy and even simple motor functions will cease to be the same and she'll have to take time to learn how to walk, let alone wield, utilise and master her Arcanium Blades once again.

But then again, Luna is in her own dream, so by using oneirology, she can manipulate some degree of the dream to her will, which could include her own physical anatomy.

And once again, the Mirror had only just became visible to Luna's naked vision due to the level of Insight she had been bestowed with.

Luna approached the mirror slowly until she was mere feet from the frame and stared deeply into the intriguing patterns that were being projected from the glass surface.

Looking all around the edges and even behind, Luna did not discover any other secrets regarding this mirror. It was present in her Doorway Matrix and it was yet another, metaphorical doorway to walk through.

Luna decided that regardless of disadvantages that may be present, those ponies or otherwise docile beings are experiencing Nightmares that are truly horrifying.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, Luna stepped forward and touched the Mirror's surface with a single hoof. She discovered that the Mirror did not bend or ripple, but felt as if the glass material itself was being torn apart by Luna's touch.

Steeling herself, Luna decided to not loiter and completely forced herself through the odd feeling of transversing the Mirror's material into the unknown world that this Nightmare had manifested.

As Luna crossed the realities before her, she watched as many vibrant colours were warped and bent around a cylindrical shape that seemed to manifest the wormhole.

But as the colours grew brighter for Luna, her vision began to fade away, and her body became numb. Her head began to feel light and direction was no longer an option.

Luna started to feel her body and consciousness awaken after an unknown amount of time. She was confused to begin with, but the memories of her entrance to the new reality became evident quickly and Luna rushed to open her eyes, scared for what her vision may bestow to her.

Opening her eyes, Luna discovered her vision was blurred and disorientated, unable to focus on a single entity just yet. After a few moments of adaptation, her vision became clear once more and Luna immediately checked her anatomy, fearing the worst.

Four hooves, dark blue fur, blackened and thick Hunter Attire. Luna was still an Alicorn and she could not express how thankful she was that she could retain her natural form, as this made fighting the Nightmare much more easy.

Looking around her nearby environment, it was exactly how Princess Twilight Sparkle described on earlier instances. Luna was led on her barrel in front of a stone statue that was mounted on a large base, one of the walls seems to be the exit to the Reality Bridge.

Behind her was the infamous Canterlot High School, but the finer details were even more chilling, even to Luna's standards.

There were evident signs of battle that surrounded the areas outside of the building and there also seemed to be more conflict within the school building. Blood splatters and thick pools of blood were abundant and the bodies that were either the obvious source of the blood pool or the splatters, were massacred in beastly ways.

These bodies were the bi-pedal beings that Princess Twilight Sparkle spoke of, and they had a much higher capacity of gore. Their bodies seemed much more frail and less resistant to lacerations.

Checking for her Arcanium Blades, that were still locked into her wings, Luna got up and started to progress into the school building to search for the source of the nightmare.

But as Luna edges closer, the bodies of the victims that were still in one piece, albeit deep lacerations and lowered bodily functions, started to reanimate and raised to their feet, moaning from the throat with a mystical green tint to their eyes.

They proceeded to shamble towards Luna's direction, fixated on her with every move. Luna counted no more than seven bodies now trying to block her direction, as Luna had no idea if these beings withheld malice intentions.

Letting one of the beings approach Luna within a metre resulted in bad judgement as the body lunged at her, trying to swing with all of the strength the rotting corpse could possibly summon.

Fortunately for Luna, she was much faster than them and took a quickstep back, drawing her Arcanuim Blades into an offensive stance as the body continued to shuffle towards her.

Slicing upwards, the corpse staggered and took a step back out of instinct, but Luna sensed that the stagger was not caused by pain, but by the momentum caused by the slash.

The corpse was now bleedingv heavily from the chest, towards the facial region that Luna managed to lacerate, but did not back down and continued its assault on Luna's personal space with no regard for blood loss or the intense pain that a laceration that deep and large would cause.

Leaving Luna no choice, she proceeded to initiate a deadly combo that she had learned by manipulating the Echoes from the previous Nightmare, causing the corpse to keel over and cease movement altogether.

Luna looked up to see the other six corpses advancing on her position and decided that a crowd-controlling technique would be most effective in this situation.

Using her powerful pirouette attack, Luna managed to mortally wound four of the corpses, but not without sustaining a slight amount of damaged from a conveniently timed attack from one of the corpses.

Stepping back and allowing herself some space, Luna glanced at the heavily bruised area that she sustained the blunt attack. Convinced that she could do nothing about the injury, Luna continued to engage the corpses.

But when Luna looked into one of their dark green eyes, she saw evidence of a trapped soul that was forced to endure the reanimations many times.

Feeling sorry for the victims, Luna proceeded to put the corpses to rest once more, not knowing whether if they shall return to their bodies again.

Standing over the now dead bodies, Luna felt the Echoes being absorbed into her body, being stored away until she could manipulate them into her fibres after this Nightmare had been vanquished.

It was then, that Luna heard a scream that felt welcoming for once. It was a scream from a young female that didn't sound beastly in any shape or form.

Coming from inside the school building, Luna decided to investigate further, as this could be the Nightmare's dreamer and could lead to the end of another tormented soul.

Entering the building, Luna saw more corpses that had been freshly laid to rest scattered all over the lobby, accompanied by foreign entrails, thick blood splatters and even missing limbs.

Luna's stomach was strong, but the stench was extremely foul, causing her to wrinkle her snout in disgust.

Looking down one of the few corridors presented to Luna, she saw shadows of corpses that were shambling around ominously, as if they were attracted to a sound or a sudden movement nearby.

Luna travelled down that corridor, passing various empty but otherwise bloodied classrooms on the way down. To think that some Nightmares take place in a sanctuary optimised for learning was twisted, even to Luna.

Approaching the corner of the corridor, Luna heard the shuffling sounds of corpses grow much louder, indicating that there was a magnitude of them around that very corner.

Making sure to not draw attention to herself, Luna looked around the corner and saw at least twenty-five corpses shambling in this tight corridor or scratching at a locked and fortified door that belonged to another classroom.

Focusing on her hearing and not her vision, Luna could distinct a slight cry coming from behind the locked door, explaining the reason for the mass gathering of enemies outside the door.

Luna needed to help that poor soul that was trapped, before the mass began to buckle the door and force their entrance. So Luna took it upon herself to combine her Blades and use the Greatsword in an efficient crowd controlling manner.

Walking calmly behind the corpses seemed to not disturb them and granted Luna the powerful element of surprise and she planned to use it to the greatest extent.

Utilising the powerful thrust move that she executed on the Headless Horse in a previous Nightmare, Luna thrusted the Greatsword in the densest population of corpses, maximising damaging and requiring less finesse to finish off a larger number of adversaries.

Immediately after causing a multitude of corpses to keel over, Luna brought the Greatsword back and swung with a sweeping attack at chest height, which happened to kill at least five corpses outright and damaging a further three.

Luna clearly had the upper hand, as corpses were either recoiling from the thrust attack, damaged from the sweep attack, already dead or haven't even noticed her assault yet.

Not relenting her attack or running out of stamina, Luna converted back to her Blades and proceeded to complete a flurry of attacks that locked the corpses in a state of recoil that could not be escaped unless Luna had exhausted herself.

After the last corpse had fallen, Luna inhaled deeply and let the Echoes overflow her body and enter her bloodstream, granting her a feeling of euphoria.

The fur on the back of her neck stood up and she could feel her heartbeat throughout her body.

After regaining control of her senses, Luna knocked on the classroom's window three times in an orderly fashion to signal that the corpses had been taken care of.

"Hello..?" A shaky female voice muttered from behind the barricaded door.

"The beasts are gone. You are free." Luna spoke regally, expecting the same Nightmare collapse she knew all too well.

But no collapse came. The Nightmare remained still.

"You... You killed all of those people?" The voice spoke, expressing clear fear.

"They are no longer people. They are beasts. Everything you once knew about these people is no longer apparent." Luna expressed clearly, occasionally glancing over her shoulder.

"How can I trust you then?" The voice said, suddenly going stern.

"Because I am the Ruler of the Night." Luna replied simply.

"Ruler of the Night... Lu-Luna? Is that you?" The voice spoke, sounding surprised.

"It is me, Princess Luna of Castle Canterlot. How do you know of me?" Luna asked cautiously.

The question was quickly followed by the sound of collapsing furniture and the multiple unlocks of tumblers within the door. The door was pulled open by a bi-pedal being on the other side.

The being presented a fiery red and yellow hairstyle and was accompanied by turquoise eyes. Distinctly female, she was sporting a crude gym kit that looked to be used within sporting events that take place within this reality, but seemed an option due to the extra padding and protection that was granted by the outfit.

"Oh my.. Luna! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!" The female spoke, kneeling before Luna.

"Thank you, but such pleasantries are not required within Nightmares. And your name is?" Luna asked, scanning her surroundings as she spoke.

"Sunset Shimmer, your highness." Sunset replied promptly.

"Ahh yes, you were the infiltrator when Princess Twilight Sparkle's Element of Magic was stolen back in The Crystal Empire." Luna spoke with disappointment.

"Yeah.. But I have turned a new leaf! I am living a great new life, until I am stuck in this dream every night." Sunset said sorrowfully, looking down.

"Is there anyway you could suggest that would bring this Nightmare to a swift end?" Luna questioned.

"I did have an argument with a friend of mine before I started to have this dream. It was in the Gym Hall. Perhaps we should start there?" Sunset replied, drawing her defensive weapon.

It looked to be a crudely sharpened rapier with a crossbow mechanism attached by a sticky substance that was grey in colour, but no bows were evident.

"You positive that you can use your... Weapon... Efficiently?" Luna questioned, still inspecting the homemade weapon from afar.

"It has handled everything so far, and all of the sharper weapons are in the Gym. But there has been far too many of those people to get through." Sunset added.

"Then let us make haste." Luna added before making her way to the source of the Nightmare.

After a few corridors were transversed, the entrance to the Gym Hall was evident, but before the door was a mass horde of corpses before the double doors.

Luna immediately drew her Blades and engaged in crowd controlling tactics while Sunset tackled one or two corpses at a time. Usually ending in Sunset activating the strange object attached to her rapier, which was very loud and aggravated all corpses towards Sunset, granting Luna more opportunities to strike.

Utilising this tactic, Luna and Sunset eventually dispatched all corpses that were loitering besides the entrance, granting them full access to the Gym Hall.

Opening the door, Luna and Sunset saw one figure in the middle of the hall, sporting an attire similar to Luna's, but was extremely bloodied. They also were sporting an Siderite Scythe, alongside a sheathed Saw Cleaver.

Noticing their presence, the figure rotated and stared down the duo, brandishing the Scythe with high skill before taking on an offensive stance.

"Pinkie... Is that you...?"

Author's Note

Conclusion chapter coming very soon indeed.