She does not dream at night.
That is the curse of one who walks among them.
Princess Luna never saw it as such.
When she closed her eyes, she would move about the dreams of others; basking in the glow of their dreams and quelling the shadows of their nightmares.
She found herself in a room.
It was not uncommon for a dream to pull her from the nether without her consent. It took a powerful dream, one of great light or one of great dark.
This appeared to be the latter.
The room she found herself in was simple: a single bed, large enough for one, was tucked into the corner; a chest of drawers, dilapidated, in the opposite corner; a closed, dirty, four-paned window set between them, casting a muted and sickening glow from the moon outside, a travesty.
Luna stepped toward the window and attempted to open it with her magic.
Nothing.
She quirked a brow and tried to open it with her hooves.
Nothing.
She hit it.
Nothing.
She turned from the window in a huff and made her way to the drawers. A search of them turned up a simple saddlebag and a flashlight without batteries. Such modern contraptions felt pointless to her. She lit her horn and cast a light about to prove to herself as such.
Yet she was strangely compelled to take it. And she did.
The flashlight found its way into the saddlebag now strapped to her side.
She felt something. A pulling, a nagging feeling that she missed something.
She looked to the wall opposite the window where a solid wooden door seemed to mock her. How had she overlooked it? Was it even there before?
The realm of dreams is a place without logic.
Those that walk among them are tested.
Only the strongest maintain their sanity.
Luna pushed the questions of the door out of her mind and lit her horn to open it.
Nothing.
Frustrated, she turned the knob with her hoof.
It opened.
She stepped through the opening and into a hallway.
Had the room not been enough, the hallway confirmed her presence in a nightmare.
As Luna walked through the hall, passing wilting flowers atop sparsely placed tables, she grew increasingly unnerved. On the walls were hung portraits of ponies. The portraits seemed normal enough, but there was something wrong about them that she couldn’t place.
They were faded and she could not make out any details. This usually meant faded memories, but something was just off.
She couldn’t explain it.
She came across another door.
Testing her horn to no avail, she used her hoof to turn the knob and stepped inside.
She found herself in a room.
The room was identical to the previous one aside from one detail.
There was a slip of paper on the drawers.
She went to it, ignoring the travesty of the dirtied moon light, and lit her horn.
Nothing.
Resolved to not bother again, she took the letter in hoof.
What is a dream?
The single line disturbed her. It was not something she was used to coming across.
She slipped the note into her saddlebag and left the room.
Further down the hall was a set of stairs leading down. She had rightly assumed that she was on the second floor of this abode and descending the stairs proved as much. She could just feel it.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and found herself in the foyer.
She saw a set of double doors in front of her, likely the entrance to the house.
Testing it with her hoof proved a pointless endeavor; it was locked. It always was in dreams like this. The outside was an escape. A way to freedom that such a dream could not allow.
She turned and took in her surroundings.
To the left was a set of double doors leading to a dining room. To the right a study. And next to the stairway was a door presumably leading to the basement.
It was locked as well.
She took the path to the right.
A study, a source of knowledge that would aid in her… search? Why had she not left? She found no pony in fear, nor could she even sense one. But she couldn’t leave, not like this. This dream had pulled her toward it somehow. There may yet be a pony in need.
It was not because she was compelled to sate her curiosity..
It wasn’t.
A desk was against one wall of the study. It was fairly extravagant, a contrast to to the other parts of the house. Or it would had it not succumb to time. It was rotted. A shadow of what it once was.
There was no chair behind it.
She took a passing glance at the three bookcases and the dirty windows between them that matched their height.
She went to the desk and searched it.
She found a key and a note.
Why do we dream?
The unnerving note and the key found their way into her bag.
CRACK!
She jerked her head toward one of the windows. A crack had appeared across two of the panes in the upper right.
She took a few short breaths to slow her heart.
She moved to the window, but the grime made seeing beyond fruitless.
She took careful steps toward one of the bookcases, eyes never leaving the window.
After a few moments, she finally tore her gaze from the window and settled it on the books.
The titles stood out:
Psychology of Dreams
Dream Analysis
The Magical Power of Dreams
What’s in a Nightmare?
A Guide to Nightmares
The other books were all the same, all about dreams and nightmares.
The other bookcases were the same.
Inside a book on the bookcase closest to the entrance was another note:
Do they show our desires or our dreads?
CRACK!
A large crack had appeared on the second window.
She quickly left the room, note in bag.
She went, on trembling legs, to the basement door.
She instinctively lit up her horn to grasp the key in her bag. Her pounding heart temporarily shutting down her rational mind.
It worked.
Even with her magic being more precise, her fear caused her to miss the lock a few times. She took a moment to catch her breath before finally fitting the key in the lock. Fitting it half way. The same happened with the front door.
With the key not fitting, she went to the entrance of the dining room with a greater sense of trepidation. She didn’t quite know why she was so scared of such things, at least as scared as she was. Her best guess was that the dreamer’s fear was having an effect on her.
It took incredible fear for such a thing to be possible.
There were a set of double doors leading to the dining room.
She tried the key in the lock and mentally cheered when it worked.
The dining room was typical.
A rectangular table sat in the center with several chairs situated around it. There were candles strategically placed to allow maximum lighting. There was fine china and silverware placed on the table in front of each chair. The china was chipped and cracked. One was even split clean in two. There was a bowl of rotten fruit and a serving platter with a lid.
Luna lifted the lid and found a key.
She picked it up and placed it in her bag.
She heard a window shatter.
.
She turned her head toward the sound and saw a large window now with a large hole near its top.
CAW
Luna looked at the head of the table and saw a crow. It wasn’t acting like a typical bird though. It was near completely still.
It was staring at her.
It had unnatural, red, piercing eyes. It was like it was staring deep into her soul.
She heard another crashing sound and the beating of wings.
She looked up only for her vision to be clouded by black feathers.
Crows swarmed her. They clawed and pecked at her. Luna used her foreleg to cover her eyes as she made her way out of the room. The crows seemed to back off as she passed the room’s threshold and she took that moment of hesitation to slam the doors shut. She quickly locked it to make doubly sure that they did not follow.
She sat against the door; breathing heavily.
After she composed herself she headed for the front door.
She hoped that the new key worked, but was unsurprised when it didn’t.
She turned to look at the basement door.
One last door.
Basements were usually where the worst part of the nightmare took place. As were attics, though this house seemed to lack one. At least that she had noticed.
She tried the door and it opened revealing a set of stairs.
She lit her horn and descended the creaky, wooden stairs with trepidation.
As she stepped off the final step she found herself in a hallway.
Strangely, the hallway was made of concrete and was completely bare of any and all trappings.
She attempted to see the end of the hall, but all she saw was an expanse of black.
The halls in nightmares were always like that.
Despite her growing fear she rolled her eyes and set off down the hall
She walked for a time before she came to a slab of metal with door and a hole in the floor just in front of it.
She raised a brow at the scene. That was a different sight that she was used to.
She fluttered over the hole and examined the door. It was metal like the rest of the wall it was set in, but curiously it had no knob or keyhole. She put a hoof on the door and gave it a slight push. She could tell already that forcing it was impossible.
She turned to examine the hole next.
It was as if somepony dug it out with a shovel. Luna looked down into it but the light of her horn wasn’t enough to see the bottom.
She was loathe to do it, but Luna decided to remove her crown. She held it in her fetlock before letting it fall down the hole.
The crown didn’t take long to hit the bottom with a splash.
A water-filled hole that was probably ten to twelve feet deep. The hole was wide enough for her to fit and she seemed to have enough room to use her wings to return if she needed to.
Luna nodded. She’d come this far and it wasn’t like she could go back anyway. She had nowhere else to go.
She spread her wings and slowly lowered herself into darkness.
At the bottom of the hole she found herself knee-deep in water. Her hoof bumped something and she managed to fish out her crown.
She used her magic to remove the water and placed it back onto her head. She felt a bit better having it back.
In front of her was a tunnel.
If she were to guess she would say it led under the door and probably somewhere out behind it.
At least she hoped so. It would be very bad if it was a dead end.
She sighed and then steeled herself.
She trudged forward through the water-filled tunnel.
It wasn’t a perfect tunnel. She could tell with her horn’s light that the walls of the tunnel were uneven and jagged. Her hooves felt uncomfortable on the uneven ground.
The water was now up to her chest.
She hadn’t noticed the rising water, but now it was unmistakable.
And then she noticed that water hadn’t risen. Instead it had become clear that the tunnel was shrinking.
She trudged forward until she was now crouched down with the water up to her chin. She started to breath heavily.
She never like enclosed spaces. The pegasus part of her demanded nice open areas where she could spread her wings.
Down there she could feel the sides of the tunnel against her feathers.
And then one of her back hooves got caught.
Her eyes widened and she let out an undignified squeak.
She pulled her leg and couldn’t budge it.
She was starting to panic.
She pulled and pulled on her leg as it felt like tunnel was enclosing around her. As the tunnel started to trap her down below.
The thought of being stuck underground in a water-filled graved spurred her on.
She was hyperventilating now, but with the help of her magic she was able to dislodge her hoof.
She rushed down the tunnel.
She needed out now. Right now.
It kept shrinking and she felt it press into her from all sides. She took a deep breath and dove into the water as the tunnel became too small for her to stay above water.
She crawled in the water and crawled and crawled.
Her lungs started to burn. She couldn’t hold her breath for much longer, but each time she tested the ceiling it was clear that the tunnel was completely filled with water.
She felt like crying.
Just when it felt like her lungs would explode, she pushed out of the tiny space into a wider expanse. She immediately shot up and her head broke the water’s surface.
She sucked in the wonderful air around her. She never felt so happy to breathe in her whole life.
After a few minutes of catching her breath Luna looked up.
She was at the bottom of a hole just like before.
She was able to spread her wings and she flew up and out of the sunken hell.
She was still in the hall, but as she turned to look behind her she saw that she was on the other side of the door.
Just on the other side.
Dreams, or nightmares did often have exaggerated sections. A tunnel that was longer than was possible given the aboveground length needed to do so wasn’t uncommon.
It wasn’t pleasant either.
On the wall next to the other side of the door was a lever. Luna pulled it and the door slid up into the ceiling.
At least she had a way back now.
She turned and started moving down the hall again, taking care to avoid falling into the hole.
As she reached the end of the hall she came across a strange sight.
An elevator.
It was already open too.
She walked inside and saw a crank to her right and a red button to her left. She pressed the button but nothing happened.
She lit her horn and started to turn the crank.
The doors slid slowly shut.
When they closed completely she pressed the button again. This time the elevator came to life started moving downward.
The elevator reached the bottom with a thump and Luna used the crank to open the doors again.
She stepped out into a hallway.
Unlike the one she had just came from it was more like the rest of the house. Old peeling wallpaper and faded pictures, just like above.
There was only one door and it was at the very end of the hall. She made her way down to the door and turned the knob. It was open.
She entered the room.
It was pitch black. The light of her horn failing to illuminate the room.
The door shut behind her.
She heard a loud click.
She tested the door and found that it was locked. She tried the key and found that it didn’t fit.
She rolled her eyes. This was getting irritating.
She decided that she finally had a need for the flashlight.
She used her magic, still working, to take the flashlight from her bag. She turned it on and swept it across the room.
The room was filled with boxes, a mirror, and an assortment of clothes. Just a typical basement.
She noticed something as she swept the light over the tops of the boxes. On the one nearest her was a key. She reached out with her magic and levitated it into her bag.
She heard a shuffling.
She whipped her light to the opposite side of the room and detected movement.
Something moved from behind the boxes.
It was a pony in basic shape only. It had pale gray fur, or was it skin? She couldn’t tell. It had long dark hair that appeared greasy and bedraggled. It had empty black eyes. Most terrifying in her eyes was its smile. It had a broad Pinkie-esque smile. But it lacked teeth. Its mouth a black void. It breathed slowly with a wheezing creaking sound
The thing slowly crawled across the floor in jerking, stilted movements. It stopped to look at Luna before it started crawling toward her at an increased pace.
Luna’s eyes widened and she shrieked.
She turned toward the door as she levitated the new key from her bag. She aimed her light toward the lock, the sound of crawling now that of hobbling.
Her magical grip gave out.
She dropped the key and the flashlight.
Her horn still lit up her immediate area.
She could just barely make out the outlines of the key and flashlight.
She snatched the key in her trembling mouth, the taste making her want to vomit, and attempted to slip it into the keyhole.
She missed.
The creaking groaning and hobbling was closer.
She dropped the key with a gasp.
She picked it up as the hobbling and groaning grew closer.
She positioned the key and thrust it forward.
Success.
She threw the door open. She slipped through the threshold and quickly slammed the door behind her, abandoning the flashlight. She spit out the vile tasting key.
She pressed her back against the door and just as she did she felt the thing slam against it.
She pushed back against the door with all her might in order to counter the attacks of the thing.
Her eyes shifted to the elevator that led her to the hall.
She had no choice. She had to run for it.
She felt one more slam against the door before she pushed off from it and bolted down the hall.
She made it halfway to the entryway when she heard the door burst open.
She dove into the entrance to the elevator and turned to the crank. She lit her horn and tried to grasp the crank to no avail.
She heard the speed of the hobbling increase.
She moved to the crank and grabbed the handle in her mouth. It tasted worse than the key. She moved it in a circular motion; her head moving forward then back in a fairly uncomfortable way.
She turned it as fast as she could. Sweat was now seeping into her eyes and she shut them tightly.
This only caused her to hear the rusty crank and the groaning and hobbling more clearly.
The thing was almost upon her.
She turned the crank faster than she thought possible.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the thump of the door closing.
She jumped back when the thing smashed against the metal door.
It slammed and clawed and groaned.
Luna was hyperventilating as she reached up to the button.
The elevator made it to the top with a ding.
The taste of the key and crank along with the fear caught up with her and she threw up in the corner of the elevator.
Luna just sat there, curled in a ball, for several minutes.
She was crying now.
This was a nightmare worse than she had even seen. If this was so hellish for her then the dreamer must be… she couldn’t think of a word that could describe what the dreamer must be feeling.
It was too horrible to imagine.
Worst of all was the fact that she no longer cared.
She needed out of this hell. The dreamer could have this nightmare. She would never come here again.
She found that her magic decided to work again and she quickly opened the elevator doors.
She bolted from it and down the hall.
She hopped the second hole, went through the opening in the metal wall, and leapt over the first hole.
She charged up the creaky, wooden stairs and threw open the door.
She stopped in her tracks.
The foyer was filled with crows.
She looked over and saw that the dining room doors were open one of which had a broken hinge.
She looked around and noticed that the crows were ignoring her.
She looked at the front door.
She gulped.
If she moved slowly and quietly she may be able to avoid disturbing them. Although how they didn’t notice her slamming open the door she didn’t know.
She crept forward.
It was surprisingly easy. The crows didn’t seem to notice her at all or just decided to ignore her. She reached the door and breathed a sigh of relief
And then she heard a quiet cawing behind her.
She turned and saw a red-eyed crow, the same red-eye crow, sitting on the stair railing just looking at her.
Their eyes met.
Luna gulped.
She fished the key out of her bag with her thankfully still working magic.
She moved the key to the lock and turned it. A loud click caused her to flinch, but the other birds paid her no mind.
Her eyes never left the crow’s as she opened the door and slid outside.
She closed the door, turned, and ran.
She payed no mind to the dark woods surrounding her. She only cared about the worn path through it. She wanted to get as far away from there as she could.
She ran for a long time with no end to the woods in sight. And then she finally felt a warmth fill her.
Her eyes widened and she ground to a halt.
Her horn flared and a glowing, white tear appeared in front of her.
She leapt through it.
And then she shot up in bed.
She was covered in sweat and she felt tears falling from her eyes. She threw off her quilt and hopped down from her bed. She went to her door and threw off her saddlebags before exiting her room.
She jogged down the halls of Canterlot Castle all the way to her sister’s room.
She knocked on the double doors and when she received no reply she did so harder.
The doors opened and Luna entered.
She leapt at her yawning sister and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.
She poured her heart out. She detailed the dream in all its horror and cried all the while.
Her sister just sat there, her hooves wrapped lovingly around her, and listened.
Her sister was always a good listener.
As Luna stopped her story and was left just crying, her sister spoke.
“It’s OK little one,” she said. “We’re here for you.”
Luna nodded and sniffled.
“You have nothing more to fear. We’ll always be here.”
Luna started to nod, but stopped herself.
She pushed off from her sister in order to look her in the eyes.
“What did you say?”
Her sister smiled a big smile. An unsettling smile.
“There’s nothing left to fear little one. We’re here,” she said. Her voice lowered. “And we always will be.”
