Chapter 1: The Princess and the Star Warrior
It was a peaceful night. A night where the stars were aligned so brilliantly, one could not help but stop and gaze upon them as if they were a beautiful work of art. Not that anypony was awake to see them, that is.
In the past, nights like this would have infuriated Princess Luna, back when she was so preoccupied with her sister's accomplishments, she barely noticed the importance of her own. She was the guardian of the night and an observer of dreams. It was her duty to make certain the creatures of Equestria were safe while they slumbered and that nightmares didn’t plague their minds for too long. She didn’t receive much praise for the duties she performed, but unlike before, she didn’t really think she needed it. She knew many ponies cared about her and truly appreciated the work she did for her kingdom, and that was enough to make her feel satisfied.
Princess Luna was waking herself from the trace she normally put herself under most nights. The dreamscape was unusually calm tonight, meaning very few were having trouble with nightmares. This made the lunar princess very happy. If there were no nightmares, that meant every creature was happy, or at least at ease, with their current place in life.
No stress...no fear...no anxiety…truly a fine night to be alive.
The princess’s eyes opened, revealing her room in all its glory. Like the night sky, it was colored in many shades of dark blue and black, with several astral designs decorating it here and there. Waking here always reminded her of waking up in the evening on old camping trips she used to take with her sister and Starswirl back when they were very young.
Luna yawned and chuckled a little bit. She always found it funny how visiting other creatures’ dreams could make her feel so sleepy. Now was the time for her to rest so Celestia could take over and run the events of the day. She felt she didn’t fully deserve it, doing very little actual work this night, but a good day’s sleep was a welcome award she was always glad to accept.
Luna got up from her bed and walked towards her balcony. There was one thing she still had to do before she got her rest, besides brushing her teeth of course, and that was lowering the moon.
As she reached the railing, she looked up and stared at her beautiful midnight orb. It brought her no shortage of pride to stare at it every night. At risk of sounding narcissistic, she always considered the moon far more glorious than her sister’s sun.
For one thing, it was a far more enchanting color than her sister’s giant burnt orange, plus it was much easier to look at when it brightened up the sky.
Speaking of which…something seemed off about this morning. The sun would normally be peaking over the horizon at this time, in wait for her to lower the moon. Tonight however, there was no such thing. The sun was completely missing from the scene, leaving only Luna’s glorious moon and beautiful night.
Luna raised an eyebrow in confusion, “Perhaps sister is sleeping in again?” She openly questioned. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
She absentmindedly lowered her head and caught something equally as bewildering, a trio of guards passed out atop each other on the castle wall. Luna tilted her head. The night guards weren’t normally this lazy, and even if they were the day guards getting an early crack at their shifts, they wouldn’t be this tired coming into work.
Her brows furrowed, this required further investigation. Luna unfurled her wings and took off from her balcony towards the castle wall. She then landed and began to look over the guards.
She pushed them over so they laid next to each other rather than on top of one another. Upon further inspection she found they were indeed her night guards like she first surmised. They were breathing deeply, like one would do during slumber, and seemed completely oblivious to the world. Using her magic she opened the eyelids of one of the guards, seeing them to be dilated like one’s would be before becoming adjusted to the light.
“Curious…” Luna murmured. She placed her hooves on the guard closest to her and began to shake him. “Awaken guardsstallion!” She commanded. “An odd occurrence has befallen Canterlot and we require a platoon in case martial action is required.”
The guard wasn’t roused. Princess Luna sighed, it was worse than she feared. This was not a common slumber, the sleep that currently affected the stallions was magically induced. As a practitioner of advanced dream magic she could easily notice many of the signs.
Luna stood up and turned her eyes towards the city. She was certain that the guards were under some kind of spell, but was uncertain of the rest of the capitol. She’d need to look further into this before performing any other form of action. Not only would it allow her to gauge the full severity of the situation, but it would also allow her to decide what form of action to take. If anypony else went unaffected by this spell, then they perhaps could offer some helpful insight into how to dispel it...
...She hoped so anyways.
Taking back to the air, Luna dove down into the streets of Canterlot and ducked and weaved around its buildings like an owl in the night.
This was most certainly an odd place…not that he hadn’t seen odder. Despite his age, he had seen many strange planets over the years. He’d seen a frozen world full of working machinery, a kingdom accessible through the use of a magic beanstalk, even a dimension crafted entirely of yarn and fabric that was reachable through use of a magic portal in a sorcerer’s sock.
A world inhabited by multi-colored sleeping ponies and full of medieval architecture and devices seemed rather normal in comparison to all of that. Though the sleeping part may not fully be their fault.
He had been following the nightmare since he noticed his presence return to the Fountain of Dreams. He didn’t know how he did it or how he managed to return, but somehow the nightmare had infected the fountain. It still allowed all the creatures of his home world to dream, but now they could no longer wake up, and judging by their faces he had seen on them before he left, all his fellow beings were trapped in perpetual nightmares.
He was thankful that he had been busy eating late into the night while all this had occurred, otherwise he would be sharing the same fate as many of his friends and loved ones. Even still, he knew the importance of waking them up again, so he had picked up the star rod with the intent of destroying the nightmare once and for all this time. The only issue now was finding him.
He wandered through the streets in search of the nightmare, caringly making time for any downed pony he found on his way who had been taking a midnight stroll before falling flat on their faces due to the spell.
He was curiously checking the eyes of another sleeping pony before hearing the sound of flapping wings descending behind him. He turned to see a large pony, at least in comparison to others he had seen, with wings, a horn, an ethereal mane, and a glossy blue coat.
He tilted his ‘head’ and said the first thing that came to his mind upon seeing her...
“…Poyo?”
Luna blinked in surprise upon seeing the strange new creature in front of her. Of all the things she expected to see tonight, this creature was not one of them.
It was no larger than a filly or colt and appeared almost candy-like with its rounded body and nubby appendages. It was cute and didn’t appear dangerous to her at first. In fact it almost seemed child-like. But living a few millennia in a world populated by creatures like parasprites and pukwudgies had given her experience in not judging animals by their outward appearances.
The creature suddenly ran up to her and gazed up at her like a child meeting a new adult for the first time. Luna briefly wondered if this creature could be the cause of this strange overabundance of sleep, or at least was some kind of residual effect of the spell?
Creatures like this were not commonly seen in Equestria, and for one to suddenly just appear at the same time as this situation seemed too incidental to be coincidence. That being said, Luna saw no maliciousness in the pink thing’s adorable eyes, only curiosity, like it was sharing with her the feeling of seeing something extraordinary for the first time.
Hesitantly, Luna decided to greet the creature, “Hail…young one. We are Princess Luna, diarch of the Kingdom of Equestria, architect of the night, and protector of dreams. To whom may I be speaking?”
The creature blinked at her and answered back in a much simpler manner, “...Kabii!” He shouted excitedly.
The corner of Luna’s mouth turned upwards in confusion, before the other corner rose up to meet it to help her form a smile. The creature was so happy just saying its name. There was no longer any doubt in Luna’s mind that this creature was anything more than an innocent child, and a young one at that, possibly no older than an infant.
She chuckled, “Your name is Kabii then?” The creature shook its head. Luna thought over the name she just was given. “Err...Kirby? Is that correct?” The creature nodded and clapped its nubby hands together over it’s head to show its happiness.
Luna chuckled again, more visibly this time. If she had learned nothing else from this Kirby, then she doubtlessly could say now that it was most certainly an infant. Or perhaps ‘he’ was the more appropriate pronoun? His actions did appear rather boyish in their charm.
A new thought suddenly overtook Luna’s mind. If Kirby was most certainly an infant, regardless of where he came from, he could be in great danger should the caster of the spell still be present within the city. As a princess of Equestria, it was her duty to protect all her subjects, especially ones that were too young to protect themselves. She’d need to get him to safety before continuing her surveyance of the city.
Luna lowered herself and tucked her legs under her body in order to speak to Kirby at his eye level. “Kirby, we don’t know how you got here nor how you managed to avoid the effects of the sleeping spell, but what we do know is it is not safe to be out in the streets at this time.” She spoke softly and in a manner she normally used to soothe ponies when curing them of their nightmares. “Please allow us to take you back to Canterlot Castle. You will be safe there while we are out dealing with matter. After which, we will personally come back and help you find your home and family, okay?”
Kirby only stared at her in confusion, as if what she said was the strangest course of action he could ever take. Luna just chalked it up to a childish mind wanting to play childish games. She assumed he probably wanted to accompany her and search for the evil sorcerer who had cursed these ponies in some form of grand adventure. He didn’t realize the danger, and if Luna had anything to say about it, he wouldn’t have to face it in the first place.
Luna smiled, “Just climb onto our back, and we will-”
She was suddenly cut off as a large gust of wind blew past them and a shadow blotted out the night sky. They both looked upwards and saw the tail end of something flying over the tops of the buildings. There was no doubt in Luna’s mind that whatever had caused this was connected to that flying creature, and though it worried her greatly to have to leave Kirby alone, she couldn’t risk allowing it to escape.
She got back to her hooves and glared at Kirby with the expression of a serious parent, “Kirby follow this street and make no turns.” She commanded. “When you see a large building in the distance, head towards it as fast as you can, okay?” Kirby didn’t answer, but Luna didn’t have time to wait for him to. “The drawbridge is down, so you should have easy access to the castle…” Her voice became much more severe, “…and if you see that creature flying over your head again, you hide as soon as possible, do you understand?” Again, Kirby didn’t reply.
Luna took to the air, “We will come and meet you there as soon as we can. Stay safe.” Luna then soared over the rooftops in pursuit of the creature, leaving Kirby alone in the alleyway.
Kirby looked left and right and considered Luna’s commands. He glanced at the night sky, he vaguely remembered that silhouette from his past and immediately knew Luna was in great danger. He also remembered having the weapon needed to defeat that danger and that Luna didn’t have it. If Luna was to survive, she would need that weapon...and his help.
Kirby furrowed his brows and sucked in a great deal of air, puffing himself up like an over inflated balloon, before flapping his arms to ascend into the night sky.
The nightmare flew over the city to look upon his handiwork. It filled him with a sense of pride knowing he was able to curse so many ponies in less than an hour. Soon he would do the same to the rest of this world and his allies in the dreamscape would reap the benefits by feasting on their nightmares.
He chuckled to himself as he rose up in front of the moon, “This is going far better than I ever could have imagined.” He began to survey the horizon for the closest settlement he could attack next, “And the best part of it is, there are no star warriors around to get in my way this time.”
A sudden blue beam of light quickly cut him off from his current train of thought as it shot under his nose and onwards into oblivion in the distant night sky. He turned, his expression filled with surprise. He saw a lone awake pony land on a building several rooftops away and his expression slowly shifted into a scowl, “It would appear I have spoken too soon…”
Luna stood upon her rooftop in a heroic battle-ready stance that mimicked the covers of most children’s adventure books. Her goal was to intimidate her foe before addressing him, but judging by his own ghastly appearance, her current methods may have been ineffective.
The beast that floated in front of her was like no creature she had ever seen before, even more so than Kirby. It was a vaguely humanoid creature, or at least how she assumed humans looked based on Princess Twilight’s description, with large silver pauldrons and a tall horned helmet with glasses that obscured his eyes. His head was crescent-shaped with an extremely defined cleft chin and long hooked nose. His body meanwhile was cloaked in a large cape of black fabric with stars decorating it. The cloak seemed to shift oddly as if the creature was housing a small tornado underneath it.
To Luna, this creature was truly hideous and could be considered nothing more than a nightmare given flesh. Thankfully she had much experience in banishing nightmares so dealing with the retch should prove no issue.
“Monster!” She shouted in her Royal Canterlot Voice, “I am Princess Luna, a ruler of Equestria and protector of its citizens! We find you guilty of the direct misuse of a sleeping spell!. How do you plead?!”
The creature only smiled at her with his wicked rows of sharp teeth, “Guilty as charged~” He smugly called back.
Luna’s brows furrowed, “Explain yourself!” She demanded. “Who are you and for what purpose are you attacking our ponies?!”
The creature snicked, “So it’s story time you want? Fine, it’s story time you’ll get. I am Nightmare, a wizard from far beyond the reaches of your galaxy. It is my desire, nay, my purpose, to spread fear and darkness all across the universe by subjecting pitiful worlds like this one to horrible nightmares.”
Luna scoffed at the clear signs of villainous bravado, she thought she had escaped this after the last time she helped defeat King Sombra, “Very up front, aren't you?” Luna mocked. “Regardless, we have heard similar claims made before by countless fiends before you, and they have all fallen just the same. What makes you think your attack will be any different?”
Nightmare laughed madly, “Because, my little pony, there is no possible way you can defeat me. I am a being of nightmares, nothing save for one special weapon can ever hope to harm me.”
Luna glowered at her enemy, “We shall see about that.”
The princess of the night took to the air and began firing lasers from her horn in rapid succession. All the blasts either flew past Nightmare as he tried to avoid them or were harmlessly dissipated by his cloak. Luna was aghast, the wizard only smirked at her.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Two bony arms slowly came out from Nightmare’s cloak, revealing to Luna’s shock that her assumptions were correct and a small tornado took the place of Nightmare’s body. He pointed his index fingers at his enemy, “Now this is what happens to naughty little princesses that don’t listen!”
Glowing rings shaped like stars suddenly began firing off Nightmare's fingertips. Luna’s eyes widened before she started darting in all directions to avoid the enemy fire. She was so distracted avoiding the incoming attacks that she barely noticed that Nightmare had teleported from his previous location to floating right behind her. Luna quickly pushed back just as Nightmare took a swipe at her with his bony hand.
Luna heaved with her breath as the strenuous exercise of avoiding with her enemies attacks caught up with her. “You're quick for a winged equine,” Nightmare mocked, “not that you have much competition, considering all the rest of your kind is asleep.” He broke out into booming laughter. Luna felt infuriated.
“They will be free soon enough, Nightmare!” Luna shouted with her Royal Canterlot Voice again, “Just as soon as I finish with you!”
“And how do you hope to do that Princess?” The tornado under his cloak began to whirl more violently. “Because the way I see it,” His cloak began to fly out around him like a collar as the winds became as violent as a cyclone, “you are completely outclassed!”
He launched himself at Luna and tried to dice her up with his razor sharp winds. But Luna thought quickly and teleported before he could touch her.
Nightmare paused in surprise, he wasn’t aware ponies could teleport like he could. A bright flash suddenly appeared out of the corner of his eye and he turned to see Luna standing back on the rooftops again. She charged up her horn and fired for the twister underneath his cloak, and for a brief moment Nightmare’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The blast hit true, sending a ripple up Nightmare’s body, but more importantly, caused the wizard to scream out in pain. Luna smirked, “It would seem you aren’t as invincible as you claim, Nightmare!”
Nightmare’s cloak fell back down to cover his body, “So you figured out I was lying, it matters little. Alone you are still no match for me!”
“Poyo!”
Nightmare suddenly froze as that familiar battle cry hit his ears. He turned, a feeling of pure rage suddenly coming over him, “YOU!”
Luna’s eyes widened as she saw Kirby run across the rooftops towards then. A sudden feeling of worry overtook her, “Kirby no! Get away from here! It’s too dangerous!”
Kirby didn’t listen and instead stopped at the foot of where Nightmare was floating. Much to Luna’s confusion, he was staring at Kirby with a hatred that she had only seen on the bitterest of enemies. She cocked a brow, how was it possible Kirby could incite such a reaction from this monster?
Nightmare released a deep angry growl, “So you did follow me then.”
Kirby nodded in affirmation, “Poyo!”
“I should have thought as much. After our last bout, I should have realized how much of a thorn in my side you would become if I ever did return.” Nightmare sighed, “But I suppose that was just me being optimistic. I hoped you would be one of the countless victims I put to sleep when I committed my second attack on the Fountain of Dreams. I also hoped you wouldn’t notice the attack until after I had made my escape, so you wouldn't know where to find me.”
Kirby suddenly spit out something that resembled a birthday candle. A pink and white striped rod with a glowing star on the end of it. Kirby picked it up and pointed it at Nightmare.
The wizard growled, “And you brought the star rod with you. How…clever.” The venom on Nightmare’s words was so thick it almost poisoned the air. Then a sudden burst of confidence returned to his voice, “But that won’t be enough to save you this time, Kirby.”
Kirby tilted his head and looked confused, “Aren’t you wondering how I managed to return, Kirby? After all, I’m sure you thought you destroyed me the last time we fought.” A wide wicked smirk soon spread across Nightmare’s lips. “An ally of mine has raised me, Kirby, an ally you don’t even know. He spoke to me after my destruction, and offered me a place in his court. The next thing I knew, I was lying in that crater you made on Popstar’s moon almost as if I had just woken up from a dream. You see Kirby, he feeds on nightmares just like me and now he is planning to monopolize on the dreams of all living creatures.”
Luna had heard enough, “Who are you talking about, monster?! What are you planning?!”
Nightmare chuckled, “You’ll see soon enough. In the meantime, I have plenty more dreams to harvest, so I don’t have time to fool around with the likes of you.”
He snapped his bony fingers and suddenly a portal opened above them. It resembled a cloud in shape with a swirling vortex of prismic colors swirling outwards from its center. It almost appeared soothing in its simple design, almost like a colitiscope, but because of Nightmare’s evil intentions for it, all those feelings were lost.
“If either of you wish to follow me, please know the moment you do, you will be trapped in an endless nightmare that neither of you will ever wake up from. My allies in the dreamscape will see to that!” With one final chortle, he shot upwards and into the portal and vanished completely in the sea of brilliant colors above them.
Luna blinked and stared in disbelief at the adorable creature that managed to scare off her much stronger adversary. She had many questions to ask him, not that he would be able to answer, but currently more pressing issues were racking her brain. Specifically, the threats Nightmare made towards the waking world.
His words greatly worried her. Whatever it was he and his allies were planning, it obviously didn’t bode well from the living creatures of the world. Whatever was going on had to be stopped, she was certain of it, and with no one else around to take charge and deal with the situation, she felt that responsibility fell on to her.
She looked towards Kirby and watched as he swallowed the weapon known as the star rod again. She wasn’t sure why Nightmare was afraid of this creature, but clearly it was for good reason considering how powerful he was. Maybe she didn’t have to go on this journey alone?
Luna knelt down and placed her legs under her body again. Kirby turned towards her in confusion while Luna only smiled in reply. She decided to finish what she was going to say to Kirby back when they first met, “Climb onto our back, and we will take you where we need to go.”
Kirby smiled and jumped around like a colt getting presents on his birthday. It warmed her heart to see him so excited to get a ride on her, and it grew even warmer when he plopped himself right between her wings.
Perhaps what they were about to do wouldn’t be as much of an ordeal as Luna thought. Danger surely waited for them, no doubt, but if she stayed positive like Kirby, no threat would ever keep her down for long.
Luna furrowed her brows and took off towards the sky, and with this new sense of determination flowing in her heart, she knew nothing could hope to stand in their way. The two soon broke through the surface of the portal and disappeared from sight.
The portal soon closed behind them, leaving the world one princess and one star warrior short. Almost as if they had never been there in the first place, and their presence in Equestria had been all but a dream.
Author's Note
My second attempt at a multi-franchise crossover, hope you guys enjoy it.
Luna and Kirby soon landed in the realm she referred to as the dreamscape. From here the Princess of the Night was able to access the dreams of all the creatures sleeping in Equestria.
Admittedly, it wasn’t much to look at on the surface, its general appearance mostly being just a vast astral landscape with glowing particles scattered about the air and ground. The only thing really worth noticing at all in this empty plain of the subconscious were the plethora of doors that were peppered about. These were the gateways to different creatures’ dreams, each door representing one individual in particular through its design and color.
What worried Luna currently about them however was that they were all shaking and being beat on, almost as if something was trying to break out from the other side.
This wasn’t the usual behavior she searched for when inspecting dreamers’ minds for nightmares. Usually the signs were much more subtle, like she’d hear a faint scream or some creature talking in their sleep, but this was something far more severe. She was hesitant to even call the things attacking her subjects nightmares, because judging from how violent and fearful the sounds coming from the other sides were, night terrors seemed more appropriate.
The night princess was unsure where to go first, so many creatures sounded like they were all suffering at this very minute. And what was worse, Nightmare, the night terror they had been chasing, had vanished from sight before they even entered the portal. Without him to interrogate, they had no leads on where this outbreak could be originating from, leaving them with no direction or plan that would help them save all these dreamers.
Luna growled and stomped her hoof in anger, she hated the fact she could do nothing immediately to help these poor souls. She could attack and dispel these nightmares one at a time, but that would be a lengthy process and would leave so many others to be tormented by their fears while she helped someone else.
Her anxiety riddled mind soon fell into despair and she glowered at the ground because of how useless and indecisive she felt. She then felt a tug on her ethereal mane and she turned to see Kirby staring at her with a worried expression.
“Poyo?”
Luna grimaced, now feeling slightly embarrassed about how she’d been acting, “We are sorry, Kirby. It would seem we have let our emotions run away with us.” She looked back at the doors with disdain, “But we can’t be getting anxious in a time like this. Rest assured that our focus has been placed squarely back on the task at hoof.” Luna sighed, “We only wish we had some form of trail to follow, so we could get to solving this crisis before it becomes anymore out of hoof.”
Kirby nodded, he understood that they were now in search of Nightmare and that finding him was Luna’s top priority. He glanced at the shaking, growling doors in confusion. Luna must have thought that he was hiding behind one of them, but due to there being so many doors, she was not sure which one he had taken. Kirby could sympathize, he too had trouble finding where he needed to go a lot of the time.
Usually, the monsters he would fight would leave some kind of clue for him to follow or someone else would tell him where to go. Here they had no such luck and were being forced to make their own way forward, much like he did before when he fell into that underground labyrinth back on Popstar.
Kirby’s eyes furrowed and a new feeling of determination blazed in his heart.
He liked Luna, she was nice despite only just meeting him minutes ago and offered to take him to safety even though he fought and beaten Nightmare once already. He considered Luna his friend, and as his friend that meant Kirby would do anything to make her happy, even if that meant braving scary-looking doors with monsters behind them.
Besides, It wasn’t like he didn’t do the exact same thing daily anyways.
Kirby ran towards the closest door he could find and began to pry it open. But as soon as he did, a monstrously giant hairy ape hand was there to meet him. Kirby fell to the floor upon getting the door open and was unaware of the nightmare’s hand reaching out to grab him.
Luna gasped as the door-sized hand swatted down to grab him. Using her magic, she immediately pulled him out of the way as the hand hit the floor. She then shaped her magic into the form of a hammer and promptly smashed the hand underneath, causing whatever it was attached to cry out in pain and whimper as it pulled its appendage back through the door. Luna closed the door quickly behind it.
Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration as she turned to the star warrior, who seemed to be enjoying himself immensely floating around in Luna’s telekinesis. She lowered him down to the floor before scolding him, “Kirby, that was very dangerous! We have absolutely no idea where any of these doors lead, so we can’t just be opening them recklessly!”
Kirby looked saddened, making Luna’s ire fade, “We know you’re only trying to assist us, Kirby, but you have to consider the consequences that can come about from your actions. This means no more running off on your own and only opening doors when we give you the express command to. We do not wish to see you hurt, so please remain at our side from now on, okay?”
Kirby tilted his head, almost as if to visualize his contemplation of Luna’s request. Eventually he smiled and began to nod vigorously. Soon after he rushed over to Luna’s side and wrapped her left front leg in his nubby arms. Apparently, he really liked the idea of staying by her side.
Luna blushed, but hesitantly lifted her right leg to pat the young creature on the head. She had to admit, seeing the infant happy brought her a great deal of joy.
It was funny, but she kind of assumed this is how her sister felt whenever she visited her school for gifted unicorns. As the overseer of the night, Luna’s job didn’t allow her to fraternize with other ponies much, even less children. Though she was responsible for dispelling a good deal of their nightmares, she didn’t really reveal herself to dreamers unless an important lesson or message needed to be delivered. In public, she barely knew how to approach children without coming off as intimidating. But yet here one was, cuddling up to her like she was his closest friend or parental figure.
Luna began to smile, she finally understood why Celestia always looked so joyous and carefree when she visited her school. Seeing the eager young faces of those that look up to you…who care about you...was a feeling that could only be described as magical.
Using her magic, she lifted Kirby off the ground and placed him gently on her back. “Alright, since it seems you are unfamiliar with the ways of the dreamscape, it will be up to us to teach you.” Luna began to trot down the long line of doors in search of one that seemed safe enough to enter, all the while Kirby happily bounced upon her back.
“First off, the dreamscape is not bound by the same rules and physics as the reality we know.” She explained. “That means the capabilities of those sleeping are greatly altered here, allowing them to perform feats that seem almost impossible. But with that comes the variability of nightmares. With no rules to ground them, we could be set upon by any form of beast or danger imaginable by the mortal mind. This puts us at a great risk because we are physical beings who entered this world through a portal in the waking one. Our powers will be greatly limited when compared to the dreamers we may encounter on our journey.”
She turned her head back to look at Kirby, “Is this all making sense so far, young one?”
Kirby obliviously threw his arms in the air with his eyes pressed shut, “Poyo!” He excitedly shouted.
Luna giggled as she turned her head back to face the direction they were moving in, “Perhaps we are speaking in too complex a manner.” She began to ponder what would be the best way to explain their location to an infant, “It has been a while since we have had to resort to ‘baby talk’, but it may be our only option to make you understand. Hopefully young Flurry Heart will understand and not get too jealous if she finds out we have been spending time with another child.”
Before she could put her plan into action however, a new voice cut her off.
“Help me…” The voice sounded weak, but notably less terrified then what would be normal for someone having a nightmare. “Help me, please…” Luna and Kirby followed the sound towards an oddly-shaped doorway. It was a circular hole with no hinges or even a door to close it.
Normally this would have been problematic, since the doors were what kept the contents of one creature’s dream from spilling out into the rest of the dreamscape. Or that would have been the case, if there were anything on the other side trying to get out. Compared to the other doorways, this one was incredibly calm, which made it all the stranger why anyone within would feel the need to call for help.
“This is odd?” Luna stared at the doorway confusion, “We do not sense the influence of any vile nightmares in this dream..? Yet there is still someone on the other side in distress?” She turned to look at Kirby, “Do you think it’s a trap?
Kirby tilted his head at the question, “Poyo?”
“Yes, my mind is boggled as well.” Luna admitted, “Even still, we have no other leads to follow, and the longer we waste traversing the dreamscape, the more time the nightmares have to continue their ravenous spree. We have few options, but we believe the one in front of us is currently the most appealing. At the very least, we will be freeing one dreamer from the nightmares’ control, but if we’re fortunate, we might receive some valuable information on how this all came about. We believe it is in our best interest to enter this door. Do you agree, Kirby?”
The pink puffball stared at her for a moment before nodding his head vigorously in agreement, his warm, pleasant smile never leaving his face even after he decided to stop.
“Then it’s decided!” Luna unfurled her wings with the intent to fly, “Be this a trap or hapless civilian, we cannot ignore these cries any longer!” She took to the air and shot for the open doorway, “Stay close Kirby, we are uncertain what waits for us on the other side.”
“Poyo!” Kirby shouted in excitement.
Both soon broke through the pitch blackness that filled the circle, causing them to vanish completely from sight. What lay on the other end of this door was a mystery to them, but with any luck, it would be the start they needed to go about putting a stop to the nightmares attacks.
Meanwhile, in a realm composed of nothing but black storm clouds, darkness, and ruined stone structures of lost civilizations, a meeting was being held by a cabal of dark figures.
“You say you were chased away by the same warrior who bested you in the past and a princess of the world you had nearly just put to sleep?” The one speaking was certainly the largest of them all, nearly reaching the size of a building with a steel helmet with jagged spires coming off of it. He was cloaked in a blue, red, and purple fabric and was surrounded by six floating metal hands, each with a single eyeball in the palm that allowed him to express his emotions since his face held no features.
“I swear everything I tell you is true, Lord Wizeman!” Nightmare exclaimed, “I was battling the princess before the star warrior, Kirby, arrived. I would have easily dealt with her had he not had the star rod on his person. I had to retreat, if not only because I was outnumbered, but because I was hopelessly overpowered.”
Nightmare heard a snicker in the distance and turned to see a jester floating not far off from Wizeman’s side. He was dressed in an outfit of red and white and wore a golden mask over his eyes like a singer in the opera. His voice was snide as he spoke, “You speak of the damsel as if she were able to harm you. A creature of Nightmare should have nothing to fear from beings of the waking world.”
“But she was able to harm him.” Wizeman suddenly stated. All eyes soon turned to the jester, “He wouldn’t be as anxious as he is if he didn’t think the news he brought me was important.” His voice suddenly became more sinister, “I ingrain a sense in all the nightmarens I create that warns them against wasting my time. If he says he was harmed by her, then he is telling the truth.”
“Well then, what does that mean for us?” A new voice questioned, “If this princess was able to harm Nightmare with only her power alone, does that not mean she could harm us as well?”
Wizeman grew silent for a moment before speaking again, “It burdens me to say this, but there may be yet another defiler to our plans out there. This princess and the star warrior could prove meddlesome if not dealt with promptly. The only consolation is that we know they are traveling together and are currently traversing the dream world. As long as we remain vigilant we should be able to locate and destroy these intruders. Till then, we will remain on our current tasks and continue to collect ideya.”
The others all spoke in unison, “Yes, Lord Wizeman.”
One hand soon flew downwards to speak with the red-clothed jester, “Reala, I am appointing you in charge of finding these intruders and eliminating them. Do not disappoint me, or your punishment will be severe.”
The jester nodded, now sounding a lot more submissive in comparison to how he was talking before, “Yes, Lord Wizeman.”
His hand floated back upwards and joined in position with the others floating around the giant. “Now go, spread as many nightmares as you can throughout the dream worlds! He commanded, “Once we collect enough ideya, not even the barriers of sleep will be able to hold us. Our nightmares will last forever, and I will reign over this reality and the world of awake as a god eternal!”
His followers all began to vanish through the same rainbow colored portals that Nightmare had used when making his escape. Wizeman laughed in triumph as they left, feeling for certain that nothing, not even these intruders or nuisances from his past, would be able to get in his way this time.
Luna and Kirby fell through a black circular portal in the ceiling into a room with a floor far below them.
It took the princess a moment to realize the way she had entered the doorway from the dreamscape had caused her to literally swan dive into this next location, and by the time she realized it she had little time to adjust her descent. Luna righted herself so she would land on her belly. It was painful, sure, but at least it allowed her to keep her young ward safe.
She groaned as she turned to look at her back, “Are you alright, young one?” She was surprised to find that Kirby was nowhere to be seen behind her.
She shot to her hooves, “Kirby? Kirby?!” She began to dart around the circular room like a mother searching for her lost child, “Where are you?!”
Luna soon stopped moving when she heard an odd flapping-like sound. She looked up to see Kirby, now inflated like a novelty balloon and flapping his arms like some kind of bird. Whatever he was doing was slowing his descent, but it brought much confusion to the princess of the night.
As soon as Kirby landed, he exhaled the extra air and ran over towards Luna as if he had been separated from her for some time. He hugged her leg and enjoyed the feeling of her fur. Luna meanwhile gently patted him on the head, all the while mouthing the question, “What are you?”
Once Kirby felt fully satisfied with his hug, the two separated, allowing them to now look about the new location they found themselves in. They were inside an oddly-built ancient building with large stone rings making up the walls. Like a pyramid, the rings shrunk in size as they climbed upwards towards a solid point that made up the ceiling. Each of the rings were ornately carved with hieroglyphics and symbols that neither of the visitors recognized, but what really drew their attention was that every ring that made up the building was rotating in a slow horizontal fashion.
The two noticed no friction between the rings as they spun, and above them, the ceiling was the only thing remaining in place. Luna grimaced at the sight, she had never seen a dream structured quite like this one before. She was used to seeing surreal imagery when entering creatures’ dreams, certainly, but there was usually some form of theme or reasoning behind a dream’s structure. Here, unless the dreamer was currently imagining temples or modern art, the room appeared to have very little meaning except for looking strange yet visually appealing.
She turned towards the middle of the room and saw a raised stone platform with a small stone staircase leading up to it. Nothing was present on top of it, but it's mere presence here made Luna slightly more certain this was an ancient temple-themed dream. Her many lookins on Rainbow Dash and her Daring Do fantasies had made her very familiar with this sort of concept.
She began to wonder why there was no treasure waiting on the platform. If this was indeed a dream based around tomb raiding, there most certainly should have been a gloriously valuable treasure waiting for some adventurous explorer to pick up.
She would have pondered this further, but a new voice suddenly pulled her away from her musings, “Hello, Miss. Enjoying the sights?” Luna turned and immediately jumped back in surprise when she met eye-to-eye with a creature floating directly in front of her.
The creature smiled. They were dressed in a colorful coat and purple tights, and had an appearance vaguely resembling a jester. Their eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, but except for a mouth, they had no other visible facial features to speak of.
The creature flipped backwards and reclined in the air, hovering as if supported by a hammock, “Boy, you’re a jumpy little horse.” They smirked, “If I knew you were going to squeal so much, I would have slapped you on the withers or something…would’ve made your reaction all that more funny.”
A blush formed on Luna’s cheeks thanks to the filly-like squeal she had just released. She quickly regained her poise and glared at the creature, “Who do you think you address, cretin! We are Princess Luna, diarch of the Kingdom of Equestria and Guardian of the Night and its dreams! To sneak up and surprise us with such foalish tricks is an insult to our stature! We demand recompense!”
“Your name’s Luna, ah?” The creature asked while rubbing their chin. An impish smile soon broke across their face before their hands suddenly shot downwards to shake the Princess’s pointing foreleg. “Nice to meet you, Luna! I’m Nights.”
Luna scowled at the creature, “You are completely ignoring our-”
“Kabii! Kabii!” Kirby suddenly interrupted, pulling Nights’ focus away from the Princess and her increasingly reddening face.
“Your name must be Kirby then?” Nights greeted, Kirby nodded excitedly. Nights smiled and shook his nubby arms as well, “It's a pleasure to meet you too, little one!”
“Leave him alone, creature!” Luna demanded, “We have not yet finished our business nor have you apologized for your boorish act-”
“Oh wait! There’s someone else here that I need to introduce you to.” Nights suddenly shot into the air and few with their back towards the ground towards the other side of the platform.”
“STOP IGNORING US!” Luna shouted, clearly fed up with the clown’s antics.
Seconds later, the jester flew back with another strange creature within their arms. He resembled a cat with large floppy ears like a dog or rabbit. He stood on his two back legs, and wore a pair of red shorts and a collar that was several sizes too large for him. His hands were covered by a pair of yellow gloves, his feet wore a pair of red sneakers, and his head had a blue baseball cap atop it. Had Luna not recently been disgruntled by Nights’ childish behavior, she might have considered this creature the cutest thing she had ever seen...second only to Kirby, of course.
The creature greeted them, “Hello, Nights told me you had just arrived here. My name is Klonoa.” He waved at them with a large gold ring he held in his right hand, “I’m sorry for not coming out to greet you earlier, I wasn’t aware we were going to be having any more guests.”
The creature’s politeness was enough to quell Luna’s ire, “Your good manners are certainly refreshing in comparison to other being’s current behavior.” She glowered at Nights, while they snickered behind their closed fist. Luna took in a deep breath before exhaling, calming her completely before she continued speaking, “Our name is Princess Luna and this is our traveling companion, Kirby.” She raised her hoof to shake the cat boy’s hand, “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Kirby jumped up and down in joy, thankful for being introduced. “Kabii! Kabii!”
Luna smiled at his adorable actions, she then turned to observe the building once more. It confused her that the structure they found themselves in had only one door--once again, in comparison to the rest of the building, it was not rotating--but she and Kirby had not arrived through it. She began to wonder if the same could be said for the two other visitors here.
“Praytell Klonoa, Nights, how exactly did you two find your way to this place?”
Klonoa scratched his ear as he thought about the question, “Well...If I remember correctly, your majesty, I was in the middle of a dream when I noticed a black portal open up with someone calling for help from the otherside. I immediately rushed to see what was troubling this person and jumped in. The next thing I knew, I woke up here with nobody else around.”
Nights nodded, “The same thing happened to me actually. I was in the middle of flying around in my own dimension when I noticed the same black portal. I heard some crying for help, so I immediately decided to jump in and save them. Next thing I knew I popped up here where Klonoa was running around like his head had been cut off.”
Klonoa growled, “Give me a break, Nights!” He shouted, “I woke up from a nice dream in a place I didn’t recognize, with absolutely no knowledge of how I got there. That would scare anyone if they found themselves in that situation.”
Nights rubbed the cat boy’s head as they laughed, “If you say so, kid.”
“...AND STOP CALLING ME KID!” Klonoa shouted.
Luna ignored their arguing as she contemplated their stories, “The same thing happened to us.” She mused. “It would seem someone was very adamant about getting us all together in one place. But whom exactly could this someone be?”
“I can answer that question...” They all turned towards the pedestal as white particles of light began to fall from the air above them like snow. Above the pedestal a shining, vaguely humanoid shape appeared. It flashed a couple times before finally exploding outwards with light, revealing a new creature had entered the room.
She was a tiny creature, roughly no taller than Kirby in height and far thinner. She had a pink body with white legs and a pair of red gems and a horseshoe like decoration on her chest and forehead. On her head she looked like he was wearing a helmet with two nubby horns and she possessed a pair of shining fairy-like wings to keep her aloft.
The four stared at her with looks of amazement. The fairy only smiled back at them, “Greetings travelers, my name is Lumina Flowlight. Welcome to Maginaryworld.”
“Maginaryworld..? So that is where we are located.” Luna stated. She turned to Lumina with a curious expression, “You knew to greet us upon Kirby’s and our arrival. Would it be wise to assume you are the one who was calling for help?”
Lumina nodded, “Yes, I was the one calling to you from the otherside of the portal. I originally was intending to summon four other heroes to this world, until I discovered they were currently indisposed. I was forced to spread my influence to other worlds in order to find someone still awake to aid me.”
“Other worlds?” Klonona questioned, “To do that, you must be someone really powerful. Just entering another being’s dream is a feat in and of itself to accomplish.”
Lumina giggled, “Thank you.” Her voice grew more sorrowful, “But to be honest with you, I’ve only been at half my full strength ever since the Precioustone was destroyed and my brother was separated from me.”
“Precioustone..?” Nights asked.
“Brother..?” Luna questioned. A feeling of guilt came over here. Whenever she heard another creature mention the loss of a sibling, it always reminded her of bad memories she had with Celestia. She shook her head and cleared her mind of those thoughts, other things were more important at the moment.
“What exactly is this Maginaryworld, and why did you summon us all here?”
Lumina’s expression soon grew to match her voice, “I suppose it would be best to tell you the whole story.” She raised her arms and suddenly caused the rings that made up the walls to fall past the floor. The world outside the building was now revealed to them, and they stared in awe at the majesty of it all. Like a planetarium, they all seemed to be located at the center of a sphere with a bright blue view of outer space surrounding them. In this space several images of different worlds were in view, each looking more breathtaking and fantastical than the last.
...As I said before, this place is called Maginaryworld, a world created by the dreams of beings from other dimensions. The place you now stand in is called the Temple of Light, the once holding place of the Precioustone, a crystal responsible for Maginaryworld’s existence.
Since the first dream was ever conceived by a creature in its sleep, the Precioustone has had the power to make everyone’s dreams come true here in Maginaryworld. Illumina, the goddess of dreams, has acted as its protector since stone came into being and has been a dedicated minder of everyone’s dreams.
But once, very long ago, Illumina had lost her way and was overcome with feelings of self-doubt causing her to lose sight of her own dreams. She couldn’t handle the idea of fears, worries, or doubts infecting her beautiful utopia of dreams and scaring the residence within them. So stricken was she with fear that the Precioustone actually made them come true, splitting her apart into two beings representing her power over dreams. One being represented the positive aspects of dreaming, all the hope, love, and merriment that came with living out your wildest fantasies, and the other represented all the negative feelings, like fear, doubt, anxiety, and hopelessness that made dreamers want to imagine better futures.
These beings were me and my brother, Void. We had lost our memories after the separation, and as a result battled each other for sometime until a group of four heroes reminded us of how important both aspects of dreaming were. We recombined and promised to use the Precioustone to make Maginaryworld the utopia it once was again with the new knowledge we accrued.
“Our world has been at peace since then…” Her wings began to flap slower, causing her to descend until she rested her knees upon the ground.
“...That is until a new threat came and shattered the Precioustone a second time.” Lumina’s voice suddenly grew more sullen, “A wicked monster calling himself Wizeman had entered our world not too long ago and told Illumina he was in search of allies to help him spread nightmares across the dream worlds of every dimension. Illumina wanted no part of it, and intended to banish the monster from her world using the Precioustone, but she underestimated Wizeman’s power.”
Tears began to well up in Lumina’s eyes, “I’m not sure how, but he was somehow able to read the fears of the goddess and used his powers to make her relive that horrid time that happened so long ago. He separated me from my brother and broke the Precioustone into pieces before scattering them to every corner of this dream world and beyond.”
Everyone’s expression started to grow more worried, while Nights’ appeared to grow more furious. Luna noticed this and was quick to ask him about his sudden change in mood, “Nights is something the matter? You seem quite disturbed all of a sudden.”
Nights sighed, “Let’s just say I am very familiar with this Wizeman guy. He and I have had many disputes with each other in the past, and let me tell you, if he’s appearing in person to destroy this Precioustone and the Goddess Illumina, then that means he’s got something truly terrible planned for every dream world involved.”
Luna scoffed, “Just sounds to us like yet another despot bent on conquering the world. We have dealt with such foes in the past, no matter how powerful they claim to be there always exists a means of defeating them.”
Lumina seemed to perk up after hearing Luna’s statement, “I believe Wizeman destroyed the stone because he believes it has the power to directly oppose him. The Precioustone is composed of all the good dream energy given off by creatures in their slumber, which means it is capable of easily eradicating nightmares from any dreamscape.”
Klonoa nodded, “Which explains why you summoned us all here. You want us to collect all the Precioustone pieces for you so you can use it to destroy him.”
Lumina still appeared sullen, but nodded her head all the same, “Yes, that is one of the reasons I sent for you, but there still is another…”
“Your brother?” Luna surmised.
Lumina nodded, “After Wizeman attacked, he took Void away with him. I’m afraid he intends to use the powers he possesses to help him fill the other dream worlds with terrible nightmares. Not only that, but without Void, we won’t be able to combine into the Goddess Illumina again and fully utilize the power of the Precioustone.”
Luna furrowed her brows, “You speak of your brother’s powers with great disdain. Exactly what is he capable of, Lumina.”
“Void in the antithesis of all positive emotions that come from dreaming. His mere presence in a dream causes its structure to become warped and distorted, until the dream becomes the exact opposite of what its original purpose was. If Wizeman already knows about these powers, I have no doubt that he’ll try to use Void to destroy as many dream worlds as possible in his quest to conquer the land of sleep.”
Nights tapped their chin as they thought about the situation, “It isn’t normal for Wizeman to employ help outside of the Nightmarens he creates, but then again this is a much grander scale plan then he’s normally known for coming up with. I guess those last few defeats taught him to no longer pull his punches.”
Luna nodded, “It would seem this crisis spands farther than just our kingdom. The dreams of all creatures are at stake, and as a guardian of dreams we refuse to let these nightmares run amuck any longer!” Luna glared determined at Lumina before extending her hoof, “Lumina Flowlight, positive half of the Goddess Illumina, we will lend you our aid.”
Nights nodded and did a flip in midair, “I can’t say no to kicking Wizeman’s nonexistent butt. You can count me in too!”
Klonoa too nodded, “If it means more people will be able to enjoy a good night's sleep, then I’ll gladly give you as much help as I can.”
Kirby jumped up and down in excitement, “Poyo! Poyo!”
Luna giggled, “...And we think the young Kirby would like to help us along as well.”
Lumina once again felt tears well up in her eyes, but this time in joy, rather than sadness, “Thank you all. You don’t know how much this means to me!” Lumina suddenly took to the air again and began flying in a loop. Suddenly a new black portal appeared, where it led however was still a mystery.
“The first piece of the Precioustone should be on the other side of this portal.” Lumina explained, “Please find as many as you can and return them to me. As soon as you do, I’ll get to work putting them back together.”
Luna looked at the portal, the inky blackness of its center made her hesitant to just jump in, “Do you have any knowledge of where this portal may lead?” She asked.
Lumina only shook her head, “As I am, I’m only able to sense where the Precioustone pieces are located. I can’t fully visualize the worlds they are in, I’m sorry to say.”
Nights smiled at this, “That’s okay. After all, what’s life without a little adventure.” They suddenly floated down and plucked Luna’s crown off her head, “Isn’t that right, Princess?”
“Hey!” Luna shouted, “Give us that back! That is an expensive piece of royal jewelry!”
“You’ll have to catch me first!” Nights then flew through the portal with Luna in hot pursuit.
“Irksome clown! When we get our hooves on you, we’ll-” Luna’s voice cut off as soon as she charged through the portal. Kirby giggled and was quick to follow his newest group of friends.
Klonoa began to chase after them, before stopping just before the portal and turning towards Lumina. He gave her a bow, “Thank you for having us, Ms. Lumina. I promise we will have this entire mess sorted out as soon as we can.”
Lumina smiled, but before she could reply the cat boy jumped through the portal, causing it to close.
Lumina blinked and found she was now all alone again. She failed to tell them that the fate of her world also hung in the balance if they failed to collect all the Precioustone pieces. But that didn’t matter right now, what was more important was that they knew their mission and were now on route to completing it. She just hoped these strange dreamers had the strength to not be overtaken by the nightmares. Because if she lost them, then there would be no one left to stop Wizeman’s reign.
Author's Note
So a lot of new characters have been introduce into this chapter as well a music score. I've also added some music to the first chapter to keep everything congruent. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter. 
A special thanks to Heavens_Angel for the suggestion of using Lumina Flowlight and Void from Sonic Shuffle, as well as many other character suggestions.
