Unfathomable Horror

Luna was a princess. With that title came many assorted duties and responsibilities. Most were tied to administration, others linked with social events and many the other mundane aspects of rulership. However, other objectives tied to her title were wed to her extraordinary abilities as an alicorn. They involved the raising and lowering of the moon, the weaving of new stars and constellations in the black fabric of space, and the vanquishing of nightmares that plagued her subjects’ dreams like a sickness.

Luna had taken safeguarding the dreamscapes of her subjects as one of her principal obligations. Ponies were safe enough in the real world, but within unreality she was the only one capable of keeping everypony safe. Some dreams were innocuous enough, some easier to vanquish than others. Scary monsters. Awkward situations. Losing a loved one. Words of comfort or a simple erasure of the horror-in-question were enough to assuage the afflicted. One-offs were more simple to defeat than long-running phobias, but Luna strove to help her subjects no matter how long it took. From a foal with a crippling fear of heights to a full-grown stallion terrified of their future. Luna practised no greater devotion than that of protecting ponies from their own psyches. Yet, there was a new challenge she faced. A pony, a unicorn scholar-initiate in the darkest corner of Canterlot.

She could remember his face vividly in her bed. His young face warped into a rictus, his eyes shut tight as his limbs curled around the sheets. He wasn’t merely in a coma; he was trapped in a prison of his own mind, his own making. His floors were covered in old paper, each page both front and back covered with nonsensical writings. And when he had run out of paper, he transcribed words upon the walls. Lines upon lines of reverent titles, his words emoting both fear and loving devotion. Luna could only remember a few of the titles he ascribed to the entity of his attention. ‘Consumer of Stars’, ‘The Void Colossus’, ‘The Abyss Eater’. However, one stood out amongst them in her head, comparatively simple and smaller in scope, yet packaging something deceptively enormous. ‘The Walker-Between-Realms’. In addition to the names, there were other parts of his apartment that were disconcerting. Sigils of unknown origin hastily scrawled in random locations, be it the ceiling or paint on his mirrors. His windows were also covered completely with duct tape, not allowing even a sliver of light through. It was hard to scare Luna, or even creep her out. She had seen too much, desensitised to the horrors of the mind. However, it left her almost completely unprepared for when she saw something so unnerving in the real world. She couldn’t scrub the images from her mind, which was part of the reason why she wanted to save the stallion.

She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply through her nostrils as she centred the image of the apartment squarely in her mind. She pictured her body as it floated away in intricate detail. She could see every sinew, every honed muscle, her body toned and fit. With her slimness, she was forced to acknowledge the round fullness of her ass, the impressive width of her hips. Her mane still shimmered with the life of the stars, even as she became dormant. Soon, she was pulled from her immaculate body, lapsing into a deep sleep…