Face your fears

Chapters

The bad dream
The search through the shadows
The first meeting

The bad dream

The Princess of the night princess Luna was in the dream scape as she did he nightly dream walking so that she could help all of the ponies within their dreams where there thoughts turn into reality.

Luna holds her job in high regard, while yes Celestia gets recognition during the day Luna gets her pleasure from helping the ponies get through their problems that manifest into horrible nightmares and seeing the smiles on the ponies faces after her assistants, it's the only thanks she really needs.

As Luna continued or her stroll she saw more and more of her friends having nice and peaceful dreams. Discord was in a world similar to the way he manipulated the world over a thousand years ago, except this time he was sharing his creation with his pony friends as they all drank chocolate milk and ate cheese cake... While Luna found it very odd she was still glad that Discord could share his.. "creations" if you could call it that.

Twilight was having a dream where she was in the library of her castle as she studied magic with her idol and Luna's past leader Star swirl the bearded, Twilight had an extremely wide smile throughout the entire thing as if she was having the most amazing day day she'll ever have for a thousand years.

Rainbow Dash was having a dream where she was fighting the previous ruler of the changeling queen chrysalis, while in reality this situation would extremely worry her, however since this world practically followed the laws of the young wonderbolt Chrysalis seemed like a walk in the park. Luna chuckled slightly at the sight before she continued walking on.

Apple jack was having a dream where she was having a peaceful day in sweet apple acres with her family and friends, Luna couldn't help but smile to see that Apple Jack appeared to be as happy as she could be with what she had in her life.

Rarity was having a dream where she was preparing dresses and suits for every single pony in equestria, possibly even more as there seemed to have set ups for animals such as Bulls, Tigers, Lions, raccoons and much more, there was even a dress for Luna herself, it really fit with her title as the princess of night Luna had to admit.

Pinkie Pie was having a food fight with everyone in pony vill, it was something she liked to call her "falling asleep party" which she held in her dream every night, it seemed that she tried to make the event more hectic every day, she indeed had a special gift.

Fluttershy was having a dream where her and her friends were all playing with all of the yellow Pegasus's animal friends that Fluttershy held extremely dear to her heart, it was rare that Fluttershy would have a nightmare due to how peaceful her life was which was definitely a relief.

Luna continued to trot peacefully through her dreamscape, everything was going perfectly well and Luna had a bright smile on her face after seeing all of the ponies peaceful dreams.

However all of a sudden a strange feeling came to the princess of the night, it was a stinging feeling that was used as a warning to tell her that someone was having a nightmare that Luna had to assist them with, the more serious the nightmare was the more pain the stinging caused and this time it felt as if the feeling was going all over her upper body. It was sort of like a sixth sense to her, while it was a pain princess Luna always took it as a very serious thing no matter how tame the nightmare may be.

Luna quickly transitioned from a trot into a full on gallop as she followed her nightmare sense, as she ran she passed the dream of the princess of the day who was in her throne room which instead of being a wide clean and almost empty space it was now covered in cakes that Celestia was devouring with the spirit of chaos Discord.

Luna began to trot a bit slower as she began to come closer to her destination and discovered that the nightmare was coming from a door that was new to the dreamscape, this was odd as normally new doors signified a new born filly that had just been brought into the world.

However those doors were normally bland and did have any unique traits besides colour ad the door to one's dreamscape was normally structured to fit their personality or special talent or something of the sort.

What made this an even bigger surprise is the fact that Luna had a very clear idea on who's door this may be, it was completely black with shards of dark crystals coming out of the sides all accompanied by a red aura that spread along the door. Luna new exactly who this belonged to.. It was Sombra's! But how?! He was gone! In fact even when Sombra was ruling over the crystal empire he never had a door in the dreamscape, it was unknown to Luna if the unicorn king ever needed sleep or was he awake every passing second.

Luna was still determined however, if someone needed assistance within a Nightmare Luna was their to help, no matter who they may be, as Luna slowly began taking her last few steps to the door the thought loomed over her, what was Sombra afraid of? What scared the unicorn king so much to her point that it would manifest in his dream, not to mention that the nightmare would be so problematic that it would give Luna this pounding headache.

When the princess of the night peaked in through the door she was shocked, as the first thing she saw... Was herself, but it wasn't just her, Celestia, Cadence and even young twilight sparkle.. They were all there, looming over the unicorn king who had the distinct look of fear in his eyes.

Slowly as all the dream created versions of the princesses watched Sombra began to disappear, he began to turn to shadow as he... Begged, he was pleading to the princesses, pleading that they'd spare him.

Luna pulled open the door and quickly swooped into the dream of the unicorn king and flew as fast as she could to get to him on time and release him from this nightmare, but as she got closer the world started to disappear, showing that Sombra was waking from his hellish nightmare.

Princess Luna sprang out of her bed, her heart pounding as she gasped for air, she couldn't believe what she had just seen, it was horrific.

Guards suddenly burst into the room weapons in hoof as they glared around the princesses room "my princess what's wrong?!" one of the guards shouted as he waved his spear around the air as if trying to kill a ghost he thought was looming over the princess "we heard you scream! Is something the matter?" another questioned as he glanced around like he was waiting for something to pop out from nowhere.

Luna let out a sigh of relief before getting out of her bed and standing up straight in a royal fashion "no you are all alright my little ponies. I can assure you that all is well, I just had a bad experience within my dreams is all, you have nothing to concern yourselves with, though I appreciate your concern"

The solders all nodded and began walking out of Luna's bed Chambers one after another. Luna smiled before she herself excited her room, this situation did indeed have to be discussed with her elder sister Celestia.

Luna walked walked to the balcony outside of where the princesses usually had their breakfast where Celestia was lifting the sun. Celestia turned to her younger sister greeting her with a smile "morning Luna, I hope you slept well"

Luna raised an eyebrow as she held a cheeky smirk on her face "yes and I know you did, so how's 'dream discord'" Luna joked.

Celestia blushed slightly in embarrassment before walking away from the balcony and sat down at the table "um, yes I did indeed, uh sleep well thank you Luna, but I couldn't help but hear the solders who rushed too your room, why I felt they may have over reacted with how they took the situation" Celestia asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

The moon princess sighed before she sat opposite her elder sister as Celestia passed her a plate of moon shaped cupcakes "sister.. While I was in the dreamscape I saw something I never thought I'd see"

Celestia had not yet touched the cake that she had in front of her as she rested her head on her hoofs listening closely to her sister "is one of our friends troubled by something sister?" Celestia asked, more concern in her voice, even through some of the most troubling nightmares Luna never seen it as a problem or surprising, she could deal with all of her dream situations while staying calm cool and collected, every time Luna talked about someone's nightmares and how she helped Luna made it sound so simple wall Celestia was amazed on how the princess of the night could ever do it.

Luna took a deep and took a bite out of one of her cupcakes before she began "I saw the dream of.. Of King Sombra"

Celestia's mouth dropped in disbelief "a-are you sure Luna?" Celestia asked, her voice quivering but the younger princess nodded in confirmation "well um... What did.. What did you see?" Celestia asked still attempting to wrap her head around the thought of the same Sombra that took over an entire kingdom returning once again.

Luna took a deep breath once again "he.. He was having a nightmare.." if your eyebrows could ever go higher than your head Celestias eyebrows most certainly would have achieved this feat a the look of this belief only became more clear as Luna continued "you and I along with the other princesses turned him.. Into shadow.... He was scared.. Terrified even, I'm.. Worried about it, I'm worried about him. I think I should find him and see what's wro-"

"LUNA! YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" Celestia protested.

Luna raised an eyebrow "are you claiming that you don't trust my sense of judgement sister?" Luna questioned before taking another bite of her cupcake.

Celestia let out a sigh as she composed herself "I do trust you Luna... I'm just worried is all.. I mean.. This is Sombra we are talking abou-"

Celestia was cut off by her younger sisters hoof hitting against the table "he may be King Sombra! But I am princess Luna! It is my job to help ponies with their fears!" Luna protested.

Celestia smiled and nodded "alright, if that's how you see it then I respect that, this is your choice that has to do with your role as princess and I can never change that" Celestia accepted and Luna smiled at her older sisters approval.

"thank you sister, I promise that I will be careful when dealing with Sombra and I will also make sure that he doesn't get up to anything that could be seen as problematic. But now onto something more interesting" Luna began with a smirk "Discord was dreaming about you last night"

Celestia coughed on her cake before spitting it back out on the plate.

Once the two immortal princesses finished their discussion they changed to much more uplifting matters, with the two princesses sharing laughs together as they enjoyed their meal, but as they enjoyed their food the question still loomed in Luna's mind. Could she really do this?

Author's Note

Well here we go my first real story on here, with the princess of the night and the king of shadows, how will this turn out? Only one way to find out!

The search through the shadows

After the two immortal princesses finished their breakfast and completed a few of their important morning duties Luna decided that it would be best to take her leave and head out to search for the unicorn king that she was determined to assist.

Celestia on the other hand still wasn't too sure if this was safe or not, but she also didn't want to try and convince Luna not to help Sombra because last time she tried that it did not work out in the elder sisters favour, but perhaps if she could keep Luna around a bit longer she'd reconsider and everything would go back to normal.

Celestia walked up to Luna as the princess of the night headed to the main door of the castle "you know Luna, it may be wiser to wait till the night, so you can talk to Sombra within the dreamscape" Celestia suggested.

Luna turned to her elder sister, practically glaring at her "we discussed this sister! I'm leaving to help Sombra and you aren't going to change that! Do you think I would wait till it is most convenient for me to assist someone! Would you do that if your student Twilight needed assistance or any citizen for that matter! This is my job so allow me to do it! "

With that Luna stormed out of the Castle and celestia was left there completely shocked and very disappointed in herself, what Luna was saying was correct, she wouldn't turn her back on one of her citizens who needed her assistance and she wouldn't wait till it was convenient for herself to help them either, she'd drop whatever she was doing and make sure they get the help they needed.

But this at the same time was king Sombra, a cruel and evil tyrant, she wouldn't even consider helping someone like that, so why would Luna.

Celestia pondered this question for a bit till all of a sudden her thoughts were cut off by a sudden explosion of smoke in front of her "OHH THE DRAMA IS REAL NOW" a very familiar voice came from the smoke as none other than Discord stepped out rubbing his beard "to think I'd get to see a princess argument that didn't involve me oh goody!" the draconequus squeezed excitedly but at the same time it was clear that he was just attempting to mock the princess.

Celestia gave him a dry look and Discord stopped "oh fine fine, jeez I hate that look from you Celestia so boring" Discord moaned in a bored tone.

Celestia then thought of an idea "Discord, why do you think that Luna is so determined to help Sombra?"

Discord paused at the unexpected question "me?" he asked genuinely not expecting Celestia to turn to him of all ponies "why would you ask me? You are her sister after all"

Celestia nodded "yes I know, but at the same time and please don't take this offensively in anyway but you have shown many times that you can indeed manipulate both my sister and I, so I'd imagine that you understand pretty well how we feel and how we think, so can you think of anything that could explain why Luna is so determined" Celestia asked looking up at Discord a hint of desperation in her eyes.

Discord noticed this and perhaps that maybe he should take this question seriously and actually give some sort of straight forward answer instead of making this big complicated riddle that no one can understand. The draconequus tapped his chin with his lion paw "hmmm, let me think let me think, perhaps it's because she's been in a similar situation before" Discord considered.

Celestias eyes widened slightly a look of disbelief on her face "you mean.. When she was Nightmare moon?" Celestia asked the memories of when she banished her sister to the moon rushing back to her.

Discord waved his hands dramatically "WOAH WOAH, it's just a possibility! I'm not saying anything for certa-"

Celestia teared up "no... Discord, that, has to be it... Luna understands the feeling of hatred, she experienced it for herself, she understands that one isn't just born evil! She believes that if someone can become evil they can return to normal!" Celestia then began to cry, her tears falling to the red rug that went from the entrance to her throne "how'd I not see this! This is all my fault! I didn't help her when she was feeling left behind! I didn't help her when she was transformed into nightmare moon! FOR GOD SAKES DISCORD I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE ELEMENTS WOULD TURN HER BACK TO NORMAL WHEN TWILIGHT AND HER FRIENDS USED THEM ON HE-"

Discord covered Celestias mouth" That's enough Celestia snap out of it already! "he snapped giving her a serious expression" quit feeling sad about what has happened and think about what will happen! For now stay out of your sister's way, now that that's out of the way" Discord clicked his fingers and a checkers board appeared in front of the two "CELESTIA I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL"

Celestia giggled and smiled at the draconequus "alright Discord, I accepted your challenge" and with that the two began peacefully playing with each other. While Celestia was still worried she was also glad to have Discord around to sort of balance her out a bit and help her think in a less protective manner.

Luna made it out of canterlot and decided that the first place she should go is the crystal empire, that is where Sombra last was before his demise after all, it would make sense for him to be around their somewhere, when Luna used a teleportation spell to quickly appear within the crystal empire she decided to use her horn to try and detect any strange energy around the area, once she did it didn't take too long for her to sense the feeling of dark magic.

As she followed it she was stopped multiple times by ponies who were curious on why she was there, she would have preferred just teleporting directly to Sombra however during to not knowing his exact location this would not work. As she feared however it didn't take too long for her presence to attract the attention of the princess of the crystal empire, princess Cadence who flew down to greet the princess of the night "Princess Luna, what a surprise.. But why are you hear? No disrespect princess, it's just unexpected"

Luna nodded, she wanted to think of some sort of excuse that she could use without mentioning Sombra "oh you see while I was in the dream scape I felt a strange presence, like something in the night was calling to me, I decided to come and investigate, I have a feeling it may be a pony who needs help with their nightmares" Luna replied, she didn't want to make some lie in fear that could cause for some problematic inconsistencies with her explanations.

Cadence nodded "oh I see, well I'll leave you to your work, you have far more knowledge about the dreamworld than I do after all" Cadence admitted.

Luna nodded and smiled with relief "thank you, but please remember Cadence, just because you don't understand the dreamscape doesn't make you any less of a princess, each of us have our own purpose, after all I doubt I could fill your shoes with your job"

Cadence smiled back with delight and nodded "thank you Luna! I appreciate you saying that a lot!" Cadence thanked, she couldn't help but sometimes feel out of place, kind of in the way Twilight did, so those words of encouragement always helped the princess of love believe what she was doing was indeed important.

With that Luna continued on her way, reaching a forest not too far outside of the crystal empire. The princess of the night examined the area until she discovered purple dark energy coming from a dark cave, Luna knew that this had to be him. She hesitated for a moment before entering and once she did, she discovered a beaten and tired unicorn king, he looked like he hadn't achieved a healthy sleep for a long time with bags under his eyes, on top of that he had many scars lining his body. This really just gave Luna more questions and made it more clear that she had to help Sombra... No matter what.

The first meeting

It took Sombra a few moments to fully realise he was looking at the princess of the night, however once he did the flames in his eyes flared up as he let out a menacing growl.

Luna back peddled slightly however she noticed that Sombra did not actually attack, she glanced up at his horn and found that there was indeed no magic coming from it, but why? She had expected this to turn into war as soon as they came into contact, why would he not prepare for an attack? Unless... He couldn't. To test her new theory Luna stepped forward, only for the unicorn King to recoil back slightly, so it was true then! Sombra would never run from battle, especially considering his magical prowess was far superior to the princess of the night, he was like a combination of many ponies, he had an intellect greater than that of Twilight Sparkle and maybe even Starswirl the bearded, power superior to Celestia and a heart darker than that of Chrysiles, he would not hesitate to rip Luna apart unless there was a reason he couldn't "Sombra I am not here to fight you, I'm just-"

Luna was cut off as Sombra stomped a hoof on the ground "just here to end me is that it, you don't need to fight with the power of the elements after all. I know you Luna, your petty lies won't work on me" Sombra warned with a low growl as he bared his fangs, fangs sharper than any other pony, fangs sharp enough to easily tare into any creature, how Sombra got fangs like that is still unknown due to no one really studying the tyrant, however that was besides the point.

Luna shook her head before stepping forward "then look me in the eye and tell me if I'm lying!" She commanded "I'm not here to fight, I am not here to hurt you, instead I'm here to help you, I saw your dreams last night, I saw the fear in your eyes, fear that would never show in your true face even when facing death, so tell me Sombra, what part of that is a lie" Luna explained in a stern tone, she needed to be ready for anything and that meant showing as little emotion as possible, magic or no magic this was still Sombra she was speaking to.

Sombra stepped forward and studied her face, most importantly he studied her eyes, there was no sign of uncertainty, no sign of a silver lining or half truths, no sign of any lies or deceit, it was genuine "..very well" he finally replied, his voice was slightly softer now however there was still a hint of his venomous tone like some sort of mix between a demon and a pony. With that he then turned to trot into his cave without a word.

Luna was slightly hesitant however she followed behind him, it was a slight bit warmer within the cave however if was still freezing, Luna's horn only rust managed to not hit off the ceiling while Sombra had to duck down to trot around freely, he then lay down on his stomach, likely he just wanted to be comfortable, he seemed completely exhausted and if these nightmares were a regular thing then that would explain it. Luna sat down opposite him, her legs nestled under her as she began "thank you, before we start discussing the nightmares I need to ask...how did you return? From what I heard you were blown to pieces, no one could survive that!" Luna asked with a slight bit of amazement in her tone.

Sombra let out a slight chuckle, it seemed that now he would have an opportunity to stroke his massive ego "did I die? Yes, was I blown to pieces? Yes, however while my body was turned to dust, my horn remained" Sombra put extra emphasis on his words by tapping his horn with a hoof "before I engaged in my final battle with you and your sister I used a resurrection spell on myself, meaning if I died the spell would automatically take effect as long as my horn remained and it did so now I'm here...the only problem being the spell was made to return ones life...not bring an entire body and thus I expended far too much magic and in tern I lost it all, leaving me....like this" he scoffed in annoyance "in truth I was planning on leaving soon, all it would take is one patrol from guards and they'd surely find me and I would be finished" he explained.

Luna gulped slightly, she couldn't imagine a spell that could possibly recreate somepony from nothing, the resurrection spell was originally researched by Starswirl the bearded, however he found that it was seemingly impossible, when you die you are finished, but Sombra took it a step beyond...incredible "I see....so about these dreams, how long have they been happening?" Luna asked, tilting her head slightly.

Sombra let out a long sigh "approximately 3 and a half weeks give or take, when I was ruling over the crystal empire I put a spell on myself to prevent me from dreaming, after all dreams are ruled by you and I refuse to be ruled by anyone, so once I returned that spell was no longer in tact and thus the nightmares began, likely stemming from my demise, I tried to ignore them so you would be unable to sense them within the dreamscape, however...that plan did not last forever as I'm sure you are aware" Sombra explained, glancing away from the princess of the night, he did not trust her, he could never trust her, any and all information could go straight back to Celestia or just used to exploit him later, he had to be cautious about this.

Luna's eyes widened "Sombra that is dangerous!! If you don't allow your mind to express its feelings through dreams your fears will only become more powerful and effect you more when you finally dream again! No wonder you haven't slept, have you managed to get any proper sleep since your return?" The far away look in Sombra's eyes gave her all the answers she needed "why would you need to hide your fears Sombra? What did you fear that long ago?.. What are you running from-"

"Nothing!" Sombra barked back almost causing Luna to jump up from her position "I fear nothing and even if I did I most certainly wouldn't tell you!" Sombra let out a low growl before rising to his hooves, his head hitting off the ceiling as he did so, causing him to have to pull his horn out from the rock above them.

After this action Luna glanced up to the ceiling, many similarly shaped holes were also dug into the ceiling, from this Luna took a closer inspection of the room, Sombra's 'bed' simply a bears coat as a blanket and a large rock cut into a sort of U shape as a pillow and judging from the horrible smell coming from the King it was clear he hadn't bathed for weeks, his coat and mane were completely messy, his cape was filthy, his armour looked practically pressed into him but his crown...surprisingly looked as good as it always did, as if Sombra put looking after it over his own well being.
She wanted to ask Sombra to come with him to Canterlot, he needed to get out of these horrible conditions that would easily lead to infection, however there's no way Sombra would agree to that, his actions alone was proof of that, that's when Luna got an idea "wait here" she stated, breaking the silence before standing up and trotting out of the cave before taking to the sky.

Meanwhile Celestia and Discord had finished their dual, Discord coming out as the victor due to shenanigans Celestia was unaware of, she let out a disappointed sigh with a nod "well played Discord" she giggled, struggling to hold back her laughter while Discord did a celebration dance. Luna then tilted her head to the side only to find Luna come in from the balcony, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity Celestia stood up "if you'll excuse me Discord I'll be back in a moment" Celestia explained before trotting off with Discord simply giving her a slight grin and a wave before disappearing with a loud pop.

Celestia trotted up to her sister immediately asking "did you manage to locate Sombra?" She asked, in reality Celestia wished for Sombra to face trial for his crimes.

Luna shook her head "I found him sister but I cannot tell you his location, I wish to gain his trust and the only way I can do that is to not have you evolved" Luna remarked. It was no secret that between Celestia and Luna Sombra hated Celestia the most, though his reasoning was rather unclear it was obvious, that's why she had to do this alone, if she tried bringing Celestia with her there would likely be war.

Celestia let out a sigh "Luna I understand helping ponies with their fears is your duty as princess...however this is Sombra, he's far too dangerous to ever be truste-"

"What about Discord?" Luna cut her off, when it came to Discords reformation the two sisters had a similar conversation, except it was Luna trying to convince Celestia not to try and reform such a dangerous and unpredictable being "if Discord is worthy enough to take part in reformation then so is Sombra, he may be more dangerous but at least he can be reasoned with using logical thinking" Luna spat, feeling quite frustrated "if I choose to try and help someone with their fears that is my decision, you cannot stop me, now if you excuse me I need to help Sombra" With that Luna trotted off, there were some important things that she knew Sombra needed.

Sombra was laying down feeling rather bored when he heard the sound of wings flapping causing his eyes to dart to the entrance of the cave, in came Luna who hate a pillow and a blanket which she placed down in the corner of the 'room' she then opened a box revealing it was filled with food, before she could explain what it was Sombra lunged at it and immediately began eating the food as fast as possible.

Luna was shocked, not necessarily because of how he lunged at her but more so at how desperate Sombra was just to eat, it was crazy however sadly made sense, Sombra was normally about as broad as shining armour, now she could see his ribs clearly, he looked absolutely horrible.

Luna placed a hoof on Sombra's back, feeling parts of his spine "how are you feeling Sombra?" She asked with a kind smile.

The unicorn King gave a slight nod once he finished his food "I must admit I was not expecting all this..therefore I shall allow you to help me with my situation" he replied causing Luna to smile with glee.

Luna hugged Sombra closely "thank you thank you thank you!" She giggled with glee.

Sombra rolled his eyes "ok ok let go before I change my mind" he warned with a slight groan. Luna took the message before letting go of the unicorn King who let out a sigh, it made sense, after all he was still clearly weak.

Luna trotted towards the exit of the cave and turned back to Sombra with a kind smile "I'll return tomorrow with more food, just try and stay here and be safe and we can go further into these nightmares of yours, with that I will leave you, fair well!" With that Luna took off to the sky's and returned to Canterlot, she perhaps now she could find a way to connect with Sombra, become friends with him and help everyone become more safe.... She has to find a way. No matter what.