Nightmare in Equestria

"Celestia, our children are scared!" A mare declares in what's supposed to be a calm tone, but really is filled with hidden fear, "We know that the Timber Wolves were a rumor, but some of our children are dead from Timber Wolf attacks!"

"Yes, I know." Celestia says, "But I'm telling you that I had the Royal Guard, as well as Wonderbolt specialists, scan the Whitetail Woods for Timber Wolves. Every search party I send comes up with nothing."

"Then What Explains My Child's Scar, And The Stick He Woke Up With!?" The mare asks frantically, bursting into tears, "He Lost An Eye Because Of Them!!"

The matter of the Timber Wolves was a matter that was thought to be solved some time ago, almost an entire age has passed since the topic of those creatures has come up. However, Timber Wolves aren't natural to Whitetail Woods. In fact, the rumor from one hundred years ago and the rumor from recently were both started by ponies trying to spook the region because they thought it was funny. But now, children are apparently dying because of apparent Timber Wolf attacks. Celestia has seen and read the reports; fillies being violated, colts being chased and clawed, tough teenage stallions waking up crying, but one report didn't make sense. A teenage mare that had a pet Timber Dog, woke up with a brown hat, and spoke of being chased in an old boiler room. It wasn't anything like the other reports, the others described running through a forest...

"PRINCESS, PLEASE!!!" The scared mother says, bringing Celestia back to now, "HELP OUR CHILDREN!!!"

Celestia shakes her head and puts a hoof on her forehead. She lets off a sigh and looks into the mother's eyes.

"Listen, I understand your concern." Celestia says in all honesty, "If it will make you feel better, I will see if I can get my sister to spend some time in your town. She will watch over all of the children throughout the night to see that they wake up safe. How would that make you feel?"

The mare hugs Celestia tightly while leaking tears of joy.

"Thank you, Princess!" The mare says happily, "Thank you so much! I just hope that this nightmare can come to an end!"

With that, the mare lets go of Celestia and walks out of her throne room. Soon after, Luna walks in with her head down.

"Sister, you are just the pony I needed to see-"

"I know, dear sister." Luna says in a rather plain, almost low tone, "I have finished reading the reports. The Wonderbolts' survey, the Royal Guard's survey, and the interviews of the surviving children..."

"We haven't had reports like those since... Well, I can't even remember. I don't think anything like this has happened to Equestria before."

"It's almost like something other than me has entered their dreams."

"But I thought that you were the only pony in Equestria with the ability to walk between dreams?"

"I never said that it was the reason. I am just making an observation. I was even going to ask if I could go over to the Whitetail Woods so I could investigate the matter myself. But if I heard correctly, you would like me to go over there for the same purpose."

"Yes Lulu... I worry that we may need Twilight and her friends. I will write to my old student to ask if anything has come up on her castle's map and if she may assist you. But I worry that she may get hurt."

"Worry not sister, I will see to it that this threat is taken care of tonight."

"Please do... This situation already has death involved, and I would hate to see anymore than what has already happened. One death I consider to be unacceptable, but... Many... We can't allow the deaths of any of our subjects."

"Agreed." Luna says as she expands her wings, “In fact, I shall leave for the Whitetail Woods at once.”

“Tread carefully, dear sister,” Celestia warns, “I’m not sure what I’ll do without you.”

“You speak as if you will lose me,” Luna states as she approaches a nearby window, “If you’ll remember, it was me who nearly defeated you in combat. Before I became she who shan’t be named.”

With that said, Luna takes flight and heads for the Whitetail Woods.

“Oh Lulu, when will you accept you past,” Celestia says to herself out loud, “I fear that you’re old demons will swallow you whole one of these days...”

The time it took to get to the Whitetail Woods by flight was only around three hours, and a Princess’s appearance was expected to be a warm one...

But her arrival was bittersweet.

Everypony looked at her with a fearful look as if she was responsible for the recent horrors. Some even asked if she killed their children, while others ask why she would let such an atrocity happen. Eventually, the residents of the towns

Some parents of the surviving children let her see the rooms where all the attacks happened. All of the rooms belonging to those children were trashed. The sheets ripped and torn. The bookshelves are usually broken with the books shredded. The art hung on the walls has also been left utterly destroyed.

As for the parents who’s children have been killed, they all blame Luna for letting them die. Except for a single mother named Soft Lullaby, a mature earth pony mare with a baby blue coat and a soft green mane. She didn’t believe that Luna would kill her children, and she welcomed Luna with open arms.

“Thank you for inviting me over,” Luna says as she walks into the cabin belonging to the single mom, “After the welcome that I received upon my arrival, I didn’t think that anypony would be so kind.”

“Oh, it’s nothing really,” Soft Lullaby says a little cheerfully as she closes the door behind Luna, “You are a princess. You would never do anything to hurt anypony, so you aren’t responsible for my little Greenie’s death.”

“You seem to feel joy at a time of great loss,” Luna points out, “Why is this?”

“Oh, believe me,” Soft Lullaby starts to shed a tear, “I miss my Green Trail, your majesty. He would always have stories about the trails he hiked and all the things he found along the way... Can I tell you about what was happening before there were all the deaths and injuries?”

“I have already read all the interviews, and I remember reading your interview.”

“Yes, but I my son told me everything, and I think his perspective might help out.

Two weeks ago, there was a colt that decided to walk right into the center of the woods. Now, this is actually a regularly done activity as the Whitetail Woods aren’t dangerous by any means. In fact, the towns surrounding the forest seasonally maintain it. But when the colt came back, he was shivering and tired. The little colt’s father asked him if he was alright, but the colt said that he can’t sleep anymore or else something would kill him. This colt had a fear of Timber Wolves and would always have panic attacks about the things. Then during one of the panic attacks, he screamed out a name... I never heard what that name was though, but all the children that colt’s school started having nightmares and panic attacks around that time, and they were all about the same thing.”

Somehow the name was starting to be heard over at other schools and all the children there were all having panic attacks and started not wanting to sleep.”

Soft Lullaby’s warm and happy appearance changes to a very grim one as she looks to the floor. She looks up to Luna with eyes that are searching for some form of hope but are struggling to find anything.

“Did any of those interviews include a name,” Soft Lullaby asks, “I’d like to know the name of whatever’s doing all this. And know for a fact that it’s not Timber Wolves, those come from the Everfree and they couldn’t possibly be responsible for doing what they did to my son.”

“Thus far, we have no leads on what could possibly be doing this,” Luna admits, “And if my sister and I are honest, we have never seen anything like this. At least, not...” A harsh memory from Luna’s past comes back for a haunting moment, “Not since my past corruption.”

Memories shoot through Luna’s mind for only a second, but they feel like longer than that to Luna. They are all memories of Nightmare Moon eating children. She’s consumed many children when she was Nightmare Moon, and she ate them in their dreams by pulling them into a realm that’s in between reality and dreams. If she ate the children in that realm, then they were eaten in reality. However, Nightmare Moon could only accomplish this once a year on the thirty-first of October so at least everypony was safe for all the other days of the year. Eventually, the Ponies became accustomed to calling the thirty-first of October Nightmare Night to remind themselves of the threat that Nightmare Moon possessed at the time. But eventually, Celestia put a total end to Nightmare Moon’s feeding night somehow and made every day of the year safe from Nightmare Moon.

These memories give Luna an idea to how these children are being attacked, especially when she saw the conditions of all the rooms she saw, but she’s only seen rooms that belong to survivors. She needs to see a room where a child was found killed. Only then can Luna see if her theory is possible.

“I would like to see your son’s room now,” Luna says, ready to see the damage. Soft Lullaby leads Luna to Green Trail’s room, and what the Princess of The Night sees horrifies her. The worst Nightmare Moon has done was leave behind pieces of a partially eaten child. But this room has blood and claw marks everywhere. There’s even a sentence scratched into a wall. The sentence reads:

“Dear sister...”

“I don’t think Timber Wolves do that,” Soft Lullaby says in an oddly calm manner, “And that scratching on the wall is wrong. I might have raised Green Trail on my own, but I write letters to the stallion who helped me bear him. His father is proud of him, and even planned on actually seeing him next month. I should’ve told him.”

“H-how are you so calm about this,” Luna asks, finding disgust in the sight before her.

“Oh, I’ve always been that way,” Soft Lullaby answers, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a wreck right now. I lost my son just last night, and the Local Guard only wrote me down as another mother who lost her child. Names are added to the list every morning. Whatever is doing this Princess, I pray that you stop it. It’s a horrible thing that we’re facing here in Charliehorseton. It’s gotten so bad now that we’ve found adult victims now. Our local pig veterinarian was found dead this morning with a hole in his chest, and his wife was... Found violently violated.”

“Then I know what I must do. I must take my personal investigation to your town’s dreams. Whatever this thing is, I will cleanse it from the dreams of my subjects. It cannot be allowed to continue.”

“I’ll help you,” Soft Lullaby says, “It hurts to know that this thing is capable of committing all that it has done, and it’s taken so many children away from their parents.”

“You will not sacrifice your life for me,” Luna says in a slightly commanding voice, “Death is unacceptable to my sister and I, and too many have died already...”

A few hours have passed, and it’s dark out. Princess Luna is walking around Charliehorseton, the population of the town now mostly in their homes to sleep. But Luna is waiting for a bad dream to arrive so she may investigate it and see if the “Timber Wolf” will be in one. But so far, no ponies have been having bad dreams let alone nightmares. Still, Luna wanders the town in the hopes that something will happen.

A nearby bat pony wearing a down vest notices the princess of the night and decides to approach her.

“Goodnight, princess,” the bat pony says with a smile.

“Goodnight, oh citizen,” Luna says, looking over to the bat pony, “I didn’t think that I would find your race here.”

“Oh, actually I’m the only bat pony here,” the bat pony says, “I moved here because my boyfriend lives here. He’s such a sweetheart, I don’t know what I’d do without him!”

“What is your name, if I may ask?”

“Chilly Down! I make down jackets and vests for a living. It gets cold over here year round, so I make a lot. But I’m a horrible salesstallion. My jackets basically sell themselves. You’re here because of the nightmares, aren’t you.”

“Indeed. But no pony’s been having even a bad dream tonight.”

“Well, I don’t worry much about sleep. You know us bat ponies, we can sleep at anytime without issues. I barely even sleep anyway, so those Timber Wolves won’t be getting me any time soon!”

“Maybe you’re a lucky one,” Luna says, finally feeling something, “Sorry to interrupt, but I must go. I believe I have found what I’m lookin for.”

“Good luck, princess!” The bat pony wishes as Luna turns into fading white light. Soon, Luna finds herself in the Whitetail Woods with the sound of a screaming child in the not-so-far distance. Luna makes her way over to the screaming child, but then the screaming stops.

Luna begins to run for where she thinks the screaming came from, fearing the worst until she found herself running through a cemetery. She makes a hard stop using her wings as air brakes, and looks around. All the headstones are the same shape, but the names on the headstones horrify Luna. The names are of all the dead that were in the reports. Fillies, colts, teenaged mares and stallions. Luna found herself backing up and bumping into a headstone with two names on it. The names are Green Trail and Soft Lullaby.

“W-what!?” Luna yells out in confusion and sadness, “N-no, this cannot be!”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Green Trail and Soft Lullaby say, digging themselves out of their graves.

“He’ll see you when he’s done more,” three white fillies with white manes and white dresses say in sync, “And this isn’t good enough yet.”

“You should really listen to them, Lulu,” a demented voice says, “But I’ll tell ya what! Catch!”

A headstone falls from nowhere and Luna catches it with her magic. The headstone has a name on it, as well as blood.

“W-what’s this?” Luna asks.

“The bitch I just killed,” The demented voice says, “Her name’s Cherry Pop. And I thought I’d pop her cherry!” Suddenly, the dark cherry body of a teenage mare falls in front of Luna, with the lower regions completely clawed out, “HAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Luna is thrown out the hole she tore open by a bipedal figure covered in too much darkness to be identified. All Luna can gather is that the figure sure as hell isn’t a Timber Wolf. But whatever it is, it’s waving at her with long claws on one limb.

“Sweet dreams, asshole!” The creature says before closing the tear. Luna finds herself getting up in front of a shaking Chilly Down.

“P-p-princess,” The bat pony says, quivering with fear, “I-I don’t want to be rude, but d-did that thing just kick your ass?”

“... I’m afraid so.”