The Nowhere King

Gallus entered the throne room nervously. He followed a step behind Headmare Twilight. “Princess Celestia,” the smaller alicorn said, bowing low. Gallus hastily drew himself down into a similar pose. “We came as quickly as we could. What’s wrong?”

Princess Celestia motioned for them to stand. She levitated a small scroll towards them.

Twilight Sparkle accepted the scroll in her own magical grip, the air surrounding the paper shifting from yellow to pink. Gallus fought the urge to read over her shoulder. “Oh,” his headmare said simply. “And she hasn’t returned yet?” Princess Celestia shook her head slightly. “Oh no. Oh no, this is bad,” Twilight muttered. She turned to face Gallus, a worried look coloring her features.

The griffon swallowed roughly and waited to hear the bad news.

Something was throbbing in Luna’s head. The susurrating whispers of pain stirred her back to consciousness, and she opened her eyes. She immediately regretted the decision. Three ponies in dark, shape-melting capes sat around the edge of the glittering mind cage in which she sat.

“She’s awake,” the unicorn said. Luna looked in the mare’s direction, and the pony flinched, her eyes darting towards the ground.

Luna tested the boundaries of the cage with a prodding hoof. She was met with a small stab of a headache for her efforts.

“It’s quite secure, I assure you,” the rich-voiced pegasus said calmly.

Luna turned her glare on him. “You are much braver now that I am bound,” she observed. The pegasus’ eyes narrowed tightly. Good, Luna thought, his pride would make him sloppy.

Luna raised her right forehoof and tapped the edge of the cage, wincing at the resulting pain. As she flinched, she moved her left back hoof to the lower side of the cage and pushed gently. It was hard to tell over the searing assault on her brain from the first tap, but she didn’t think the steady pressure created any feedback. Which was good, but not enough with three ponies watching her.

“What spell activates the Amulet?” the unicorn asked calmly as she looked back up at the alicorn. Luna saw worry in her face.

The Princess gave an undignified snort in response.

The dark-coated unicorn sighed and shifted her posture uncomfortably. She waved a hoof at the large earth pony stallion sitting to her side. The earth pony stood and turned his backside to the cage. Luna’s eyes went wide, and she gritted her teeth, realizing what was coming. The stallion kicked the cage with his back legs.

Though less direct that the pain created when she prodded her own cage, the full impact of a grown stallion’s bucking legs made Luna’s head throb, the cage magically transferring the vibrations directly into her own brain.

It was a crazy idea. Pure, unadulterated madness, but Twilight Sparkle couldn’t see another way that they could rescue Princess Luna. “Princess Celestia,” she said, addressing her friend and mentor, “I agree. But it can’t be you who goes. Equestria can’t afford to lose both its rulers.”

The great white alicorn was quiet. To everypony else, it likely seemed stoic—Twilight, though, caught the little, almost imperceptible shifts in Celestia’s face that told her the cascade of emotions the ancient alicorn was working through. After a moment, she nodded her head. “Though it disturbs me greatly to not personally see to this task, I have the utmost faith in you, my most faithful student.”

Twilight felt herself blush. She never grew accustomed to Celestia’s praise, though the older alicorn was far from stingy with it.

The young griffon beside her shifted his stance nervously. Twilight drew herself up and turned to face Gallus. “And I, in turn, have every faith in my students.” She put an enormous effort into sounding confident. She was not even a little certain of a positive outcome, but she saw no reason to share those doubts with Gallus, and every reason not to do so.

“Remember the plan,” Gallus had said. Sandbar shifted uneasily from hoof to hoof. “I have no idea what this guy can do, but the ponies that help him are bad enough.”

Sandbar nestled down into some bushes just outside the Castle of the Two Sisters, cursing his luck. They had split up to cover the most ground possible in the Umbral Realm, and after spending what felt like hours wandering from city to town to lonely mountaintop, Sandbar had somehow come across the villains first. He touched the small bead hanging beside Gallus’ feather on his necklace. The translucent bed let out a small pulse of light and then fell dark, its form disintegrating into dust. Sweet Sunlight, he hoped it worked as intended.

A tortured cry ripped through the air. The earth pony’s ears swiveled forward to the castle. It had to be Princess Luna. He found his hooves moving him forward. He had to help if she was hurt. He crept forward, nearer and nearer to the castle. The sound of something hard striking metal created a ringing sound, that was quickly followed by a pained yelp.

The sounds were coming from a room on the upper levels. Sandbar bit his lip. What he wouldn’t give for wings once in a while. He spotted a crumbled portion of a wall, though, that led up that direction. Swallowing past his fear, he approached the ancient wall.

The earth pony made his ascent carefully, and as quietly as possible. One hoof after another after another. Whimpering yelps and pained cries gave him the courage to keep climbing.

Somehow, some way, he finally made it. A small lip of stone let him walk along the exterior of the room, below a great, half-collapsed window. He peeked within. Princess Luna lay sprawled within a large cage, her head lying limply on one leg.

“Shade,” a large, gray coated stallion complained, “All this kickin’s makin’ me hungry. Why don’t you take a turn?”

The unicorn beside the stallion eyed him coolly. “Why don’t you try not being hungry? That’s a possibility here, remember?”

“Focus, fools,” a resonant voice commanded.

Sandbar felt his blood run cold. He knew that voice: the pony from his nightmare. He backed away and slipped on a loose stone.

“What was that?” A voice asked anxiously.

“ANOTHER INTERLOPER,” a thunderous voice boomed. Sandbar flinched and tried to back away quickly down the slope. The wall beside him ripped away, collapsing inward into the room. The earth pony fell to his knees and stared up into the face of terror—a huge monster with skin of shifting planes. Sandbar whinnied in fear.

“Sandbar!” the pegasus pony from his nightmare said, false warmth coloring his tone. “He accompanies the dreaming griffon, Great Nightmare.”

“NO MATTER,” the Nowhere King bellowed. A silver cage, much like the one around Luna, appeared around Sandbar.

“LITTLE PONIES,” the monster said, sounding amused. Sandbar struggled to escape the cage that had sprung up around him. He threw his body against the bars. All he got for his efforts was a splitting headache. The pony slumped, realizing it was no use. He was no match for the Nowhere King.

“YOU HAVE LOST,” the booming voice announced, the words shaking Sandbar’s entire body. “I HAVE CAGED THE MOON, THE MOST POWERFUL OF DREAMERS. YOU ARE ALONE AND POWERLESS.”

Sandbar lay of hoof on Gallus’ feather. He remembered what the griffon and Twilight had told him. He focused all his thoughts, all his needs. “My friends!” Sandbar screamed. He held onto a singular desperate hope that his boyfriend had been right.

In an instant, Gallus appeared by his side, just outside the cage. Then five more blue griffons appeared. Twenty. A hundred: All smiling and laughter as they ripped apart the Nowhere King’s cage around Sandbar. Suddenly Yonas appeared, the yaks growling and stomping and tripping over their braids. Ocelli, Silverstreams, and Smolders poured into the Realm by the hundreds, appearing from nothing until the space around the Nowhere King was crowded with shades of Sandbar’s friends. Sandbar smiled gratefully, deliriously happy for the help. The Nowhere King reared back, seemingly wary of this explosion of visions. Sandbar’s teachers began to appear. Headmare Twilight, leading the way, her friends and faculty triumphantly hollering and cheering loudly. A million variants of the heroes of Equestria struck heroic poses and stared fiercely at the Great Nightmare and his pony sycophants.

The three cloaked ponies stood warily, glancing between the thousands of newcomers, but the Nowhere King laughed darkly. “CHILD, YOU THINK TO SCARE ME WITH THESE SHADES?” He waved a huge, dark-taloned claw to his side, and the shades of his friends and teachers in the claw’s path faded away into darkness. “THESE TRICKS ARE IMPRESSIVE FOR ONE OF YOUR MEAGER SKILL. BUT THEY WILL NOT SAVE YOU.”

“You don’t get it,” Sandbar replied, a hint of amusement coloring the fear in his voice. “I’m never alone. My love, my friendship—it’ll always see me through.”

“SEE THROUGH THIS!” The Nowhere King roared, waving arms dramatically and throwing open his horrific, torn wings. The shades in the path of the motion withered and vanished. The scale of his power was terrifying. But Sandbar smiled suddenly, watching as a few of the shades dug in their hooves and claws, resisting the ethereal shear of the Nowhere King’s claws.

One of the few remaining Gallus shades rode the wave of the Nowhere King’s destructive attack, sliding back towards Sandbar. The earth pony watched the griffon’s talons slowly release the umbral dirt. Gallus put a claw on the pony’s shoulder, and his eyes shone with love. Sandbar’s heart soared, knowing Gallus was there with him—that he was no mere shade. “I love you,” he whispered.

“Awaken!” Gallus commanded, clapping his claws together.

The shockwave of the clap shattered the remaining shades of their friends, all except one of each.

The shades that remained blinked slowly, their eyes suddenly clear and bright. The faculty of the School of Friendship and their most accomplished students shook away the slumber that had clouded their eyes, disguising them as mere shades.

“WHAT?” the Nowhere King yelled. “NO!”

The Great Nightmare raised his claws, but too late. Sandbar smiled, feeling his connection with Gallus and his friends take physical form. The magic of Harmony was far too powerful for any one creature, no matter how legendary or frightening. Twice that balanced harmony from two powerful sets of friends, could move mountains. A massive coruscating wave of rainbow magic crashed into the Nowhere King. Even the most deadly of Nightmares stood no chance.

The Nowhere King screamed in fear and agony, the rapidly-shifting lines of his spectral form shattering. The Great Nightmare shrank, the Light of Friendship washing away every artifice that made him terrifying.

Until all the remained where the Nowhere King had stood was a scrawny-looking yellow dragon and a starved, black unicorn mare. The dragon cowered before the united friends and backed along the ground. A snarl curled his mouth around a cluster of sharp teeth. The unicorn wobbled on her hooves and promptly fell to the ground unconscious, her fire-red mane splayed about her face.

“You fools!” The dragon yelled, his voice mild and meager and scared. “What have you done?”

Gallus summoned a mirror from the ether and held it up to the dragon. “My job,” he said with immense pride. “I destroyed a nightmare to help you remember your true self.”

The dragon glanced at his reflection and immediately flinched. “A weak, useless dragon.”

Sandbar laughed nervously. “It took two sets of friends and the magic of Friendship to lay you low, I’d hardly call you weak.”

Princess Twilight approached slowly, her horn lit with pink magic. She glanced between the dragon and the unconscious unicorn mare. “What Sandbar says is true. You are a formidable dragon.” Her voice was cautious but optimistic. “Imagine what you could do in friendship instead of in rage.”

The dragon swiped a small claw in her direction. “Fool,” he cursed, “dragons don’t do ‘friendship.’”

A plume of fire filled the air and Smolder landed aggressively in front of her friends. “Maybe we didn’t use to,” she said harshly, “but you’re an idiot if you don’t see how powerful friendship is.”

Ocellus fluttered down timidly by the dragon’s side. She lay her head on the dragon’s shoulder, her eyes still warily watching the small dragon. “And love.”

From within a broken cage, Princess Luna stood on shaky legs. The movement caught the Nowhere King’s attention. “Moon pony!” he said in fear. He raised a claw in defense and began to shift away, his form beginning to fade. Gallus grunted and held up a claw. A luminescent cage suddenly surround the dragon. The griffon’s will held the dragon firm, bringing him back to solid form.

Luna’s eyes went wide as she spotted the dark unicorn on the ground. She turned her attention to the dragon, stepping towards the once Nowhere King. “I overestimated my own skills and dismissed yours. I attacked you without even knowing you, and for that I am sorry.” She offered a hoof through the bars of the cage in a friendly gesture. The dragon looked at it skeptically. He stood, slowly, and touched it with a closed fist.

“You offer me sympathy? Why?”

Gallus cleared his throat, getting the yellow dragon’s attention. “You could have killed Luna—instead you put her in a cage. You could have done the same to Sandbar when he was alone.” He wrapped the pony in a wing. Sandbar laughed nervously, only then fully realizing how much danger he had been in.

Luna nodded. “From all we have heard, you never hurt any creature—scared them half to death, maybe, but never really hurt anyone. I do not think you a monster. Believe me when I say I understand how sometimes the worst of ourselves can control us. Fear and loathing can make us think we are something we are not. Until we have a friend remind us of our better selves.” She directed a radiant smile at Twilight, who blushed fiercely.

Smolder put her claws on her hips. “The Dragon Lord could use a Dream Strider like you.” She paused. “If, you know, you stop giving everyone nightmares.”

The yellow dragon frowned. “He would accept a weakling Dreamer in his Court?”

A puff of smoke jetted from Smolder’s nostrils. “She, dumbass, and yeah. Dragon Lord Ember’s helping us figure out all new ways of being powerful—we’re more than teeth and claws.”

Tears suddenly filled the tawny dragon’s eyes. “I could go home?”

“Perhaps,” Princess Luna said imperiously. “First, though, there is a great deal you for which you and Lilith must answer.” Sandbar heard Gallus gasp in surprise. Luna’s horn lit and levitated the unconscious black unicorn into the air. “I believe you each have much to tell us. Starting with the identities of your erstwhile Dream Striders.” Sandbar noticed with a shock that the ponies in the dark capes were gone. They must have slipped away during the fight.

After Gallus and Luna had returned everyone to the physical realm, the griffon and his boyfriend had decided to walk back from the forest instead of taking Twilight’s offer of teleportation. “I’ve been thinking about home” Sandbar said, interrupting the griffon’s thoughts.

“What, like your parent’s place?” Gallus asked, clearly confused.

The pony shrugged. “Sort of. I’ve been thinking how that’s, ya know, not really home anymore.”

Gallus nodded. He thought he could understand the sentiment, but then, he had never really felt that attached to any part of Griffonstone. “What about it, though?”

“Well, it just…” Sandbar seemed to struggle with his words. “When I touched your feather in the Umbra…” Gallus felt his heart warm at the mention of the necklace. He touched the jade turtle around his neck and let his pony think. “You said to think of you and hold one word in my head.”

Gallus nodded. “Yeah. I’m just glad it worked like Twilight thought. The Realm seems to bend to our will when we’re there—using Twilight’s little magic locator bead focused that ability. I thought that if you cleared your mind of everything except one thought, one word, maybe it would make it easier for me to find you and bring everyone else along.”

Sandbar’s face flushed red beneath his eyes. “I know.” He stopped and looked at Gallus. “And when I was reaching out to you, that word I thought of, the one thing I kept in my head—that word was ‘Home.’”

Gallus’ stomach dropped and he felt tears spring to his eyes. He reached a claw over and touched his pony’s face. He loved this silly green pony more than he ever could have imagined. It was time, he realized. There would never be a more perfect moment.

Gallus blew out a shaky breath. He reached into the small bag hanging at his side. He pulled out a pink day lily. His claw was shaking as he moved it front of Sandbar’s muzzle. “F-for now,” he said.

Sandbar gasped and his eyes went wide at hearing the traditional offer.

“Don’t cry,” the griffon commanded in an uneven voice. “I’m already about to lose it.”

The earth pony opened his mouth and took a bite of the flower. Gallus’ heart raced.

He reached back into the bag and pulled out a clawful of various plant seeds. He offered them to Sandbar. “For later,” he said.

The earth pony was crying. Gallus felt his own eyes getting wet.

“Forever!” Sandbar said, taking the seeds and gathering Gallus into a tight hug. The griffon gave his pony several small kisses on his neck.

“Did I do it right?” Gallus asked.

Sandbar pulled back and grinned wildly. “You did great,” he said enthusiastically, wiping the tears from his face. He kissed the griffon passionately. “Although…”

Gallus groaned. “What?”

“Giving me ten kinds of seeds would usually mean you hoped we’d have at least five kids.”

“WHAT?” the griffon squawked.

“Don’t worry,” the pony replied with a laugh, “I don’t think either of us is getting knocked up anytime soon.”

Gallus made an effort to settle his startled feathers. He cleared his throat. “Maybe we could go give it a try anyway, though?”

Sandbar smiled blissfully, a small glint of mischief in his eyes. “That sounds amazing, future husband.”

Gallus’ heart fluttered mightily, and he pulled the pony into another long, passionate kiss.