Little Steppes in The Timeworn Trail

Does Nightmare Moon still oversee the dreams of sleeping ponies? This was a question which occasionally haunted Little Steppes, since she knew the stories of Princess Luna and her dreamwalking. A demigod who could traverse the realm of Sleep, entering and altering dreams to influence and help sleeping ponies. If Nightmare Moon did the same, would she do it for the opposite purposes?

The young mare looked around. She was in a darkened library, within an old, stone castle, far from Ponyville or any place she'd seen before, but made familiar through her dreams. There were signs of battle on the walls, and dim fires from burned books and ruined furniture provided what little illumination the chamber held.

Lilly's heart raced in her chest, she'd been here before, and she knew how this dream went.

"Come now, Little Steppes!" A voice called in the darkness. "Stop wasting my time and give me the shoes!"

Little Steppes didn't know the shadowy figure who pursued her in these dreams, but she always wanted the same thing: Nightmare Moon's old magic shoes. The glittering mithril hoofwear was laden with plenty of magical enchantments and augmentations which Lilly, in 7 years of owning them, still didn't understand. What mattered was that they were powerful, and the stalker in the shadows wanted them.

Lilly turned and started running in the opposite direction. Yes, this was how it always started, and it never seemed to work, but Lilly didn't have any choice. On more than one occasion when she'd been trust into this dream, she'd tried simply giving in and giving the shady character the shoes. The first time she tried this had been terrifying uniquely to Lilly, since the shoes refused to come off. She tried anything and everything she could in the dream to remove them. It was folly. Much like when she'd first fallen into their trap, they'd held fast, as though they simply ignored all rules of reality in a personal, stubborn bid to remain bound to her hooves. 'The Shoes will only do what their owner wants them to do, and only go where their owner wants them to go' Lilly never forgot those words, but this made no sense at all.

Lilly thudded with a groan against a large oak door, not seeing it in the darkness. It was locked, and it was locked every time. She cursed her foolishness for falling into this trap, again. There was the pony, her fur black, her face concealed by a similarly dark cloak, but glowing amber eyes rested underneath it. Lilly tried to throw something at her in a bid to distract the attacker, but in the flash of seconds, she'd produced a wand fastened to her hoof. With a flick of that hoof, the projectile froze mid-flight. She chuckled, flicking her hoof again, and the projectile screamed back towards Lilly, striking her beneath the flank, taking her hind legs out from under her.

The attacker advanced upon Lilly. Her wand remained pointed at Little Steppes as she laid on the floor. Her limbs were paralyzed, as much as she tried to get up, to run, the pointing of the wand and its magic was too strong, and Lilly's body refused to obey her, and remained in place despite her mind screaming for the contrary.

"Give me the shoes, Lilly." the voice hissed.

"I, I can't!" She cried. The attacker snorted.

"Then burn."

This was how the dream ended. Fire. The attacker uttered a spell and a motion of the wand, and Little Steppes was bathed in fire. Burning, torturing, cruel flames which licked at the earth pony until the pain grew too intense to bare, and everything went black.

Lilly jumped awake in her bed with a start, sweat beading on her forehead, looking around, and seeing her bedroom in her Ponyville home. She was in her bedclothes, her daywear thrown over a chair next to her desk, her shoes placed neatly at the bedside. Everything was normal, and she was safe, but Lilly still felt uneasy as you might expect.

Could Nightmare Moon still visit the dreams of ponies? It seemed logical that she might, though Lilly desperately hoped not. The reason was simple, if Nightmare Moon still could, then she was torturing her...