“A long, long time ago, in the distant past, Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon and was banished to the moon for the next thousand years. As her sister Celestia took her duties and ruled Equestria alone, the nights became colder and darker than before. The warmth of Luna’s meticulous caretaking had gone, replaced by an emptiness devoid of love…”
Lavender Rose recited the words in her mind as she brushed her amethyst mane and brushed her teeth. They came to her every night when she readied for bed no matter if she’d had a good day or bad, if she was happy or sad, if her work was easy or hard. She didn’t know why, and it was driving her crazy.
She finished cleaning up and turned off the light, tucking herself under her blankets and drifted off to sleep.
Lavender felt her tail brush against a tree as she backed away from a group of Timberwolves that had caught her scent. One of them sniffed at her nose and snarled, its ghastly breath running right up her nostrils. She nearly fainted from the smell but managed to stay awake out of pure fear. Her heart pounded in her chest.
Suddenly, the Timberwolf exploded to the side in a beam of light. It was gone before it had a chance to howl. Lavender clamped her eyes shut, waiting for the newcomer to inevitably attack her. She heard the other wolves howl and run away. Whatever had come, it could focus all its attention on her.
“It is alright, Lavender Rose,” a melodic, fantastical voice said. “I will not harm you.”
Lavender risked a peek. A dark blue alicorn mare, somewhat larger than a normal pony, stood before her. She wore a pitch-black crown and a similarly colored necklace with the image of a crescent moon and four silvery blue shoes. Her cutie mark matched the crescent on her necklace, and her rich blue mane and tail flowed, glimmering with twinkling stars. Finally, her turquoise eyes showed no intent of harm, only a mild curiosity and deep care.
“Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu…” Lavender trembled. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
The mare smiled softly and knelt beside her. “You are safe. This is only a dream.”
“I-i-it felt so real,” Lavender managed.
“Unfortunately, our minds have a habit of bringing our deepest fears to the forefront of our imaginations,” the mare said. “As Princess of the Night, it is my duty to watch over minds such as yours to ensure that such dreams do not get out of hoof. I apologize. I was almost too late to help you.”
“Too…too late?”
“Yes. A moment later, and you would have awoken in a cold sweat and unable to return to sleep for the rest of the night. As part of my duties, I work to ensure that all ponies in Equestria are able to sleep well so that they may enjoy my sister’s sun better.”
“You’re…you’re Princess Luna.” Lavender slowly regained control of her breathing as the pounding in her chest subsided.
“Indeed.”
“But you retired.”
Luna laughed. “Normally, Cadence would do this, but she herself has been wracked with nightmares as of late, and as such is unable to perform her duty. Her daughter Flurry Heart is a promising successor when she matures, but until then, it is between her and Twilight Sparkle to dreamwalk. As Twilight is often occupied with the day-to-day rulings of Equestria, she has asked me for assistance.”
Lavender sighed. “It must be annoying to come out of retirement.”
“Less than you would imagine. I quite enjoy it, to be truthful. And as the pony with the most experience, both Twilight Sparkle and Cadence call me to care for the more extreme cases. Chronic and recurring nightmares, for example, or particularly active minds.”
“Am I one of those ‘active minds’?”
Luna paused, not speaking for several moments. The silence felt more and more oppressive until she said, “Yes. I would say you are.”
“But I’m a flower merchant. I sell bouquets to stallions on Hearts and Hooves. I sell lavender to mothers wanting a soothing scent in their homes. I sell poppies and roses and winterblooms and moonblossoms. My parents did it, and their parents before them. I’m not an active pony.”
“And yet your imagination is mature and vivid, Lavender Rose.” Luna’s horn glowed as she cast a small spell. “You can see ponies you will never meet. Places you will never visit. Creatures you will never encounter. Events you will never witness. Things that either cannot possibly exist or you will never know outside of your mind. Things created by your imagination, Lavender Rose.”
“I don’t want it. How do I stop it?”
“Unfortunately, there is no way to stop a vivid imagination outside of vigorous brainwashing and intellectual destruction, both things my sister and I have kept far from Equestria since its inception and that our successors have stopped as well. You need not stop it, Lavender, only listen to it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those words circling your head. They are the start to something greater if you follow the path they began.”
“I don’t know how,” Lavender complained.
“That is the secret to creativity and imagination,” Luna said. “Nopony truly knows how to start. How to continue. How to finish. There are tips and tricks, but they are not for everypony. And that is where your own mind comes into play.”
Luna’s spell intensified, and the world around them reconstructed itself, turning into an image of Lavender’s home. They stood outside the house in the light of a street lamp, next to the winter snows and various Hearth’s Warming decorations. Above them, a first-quarter moon glowed bright despite an early-morning twilight on the horizon, shining down from the heavens, and the stars twinkled in beautiful constellations.
“Why are we here?” Lavender asked.
Luna said nothing but opened the door to the house and walked inside. Lavender followed her to her bedroom, where she lay peacefully in bed, murmuring in her sleep. The room was exactly as she remembered it down to the specks of dust on the top of her vanity.
“Why here?” she repeated.
“Listen,” Luna said quietly.
Lavender did as she was told and heard…nothing. Then her own sleeping self began to ramble:
“Replaced by an emptiness devoid of love…The dreamscape was barren and cold…Why is it cold? Who will scare away the nightmares? Nightmares…What is a nightmare? What is a dream? How will the ponies cope with losing their caretaker? The dreamscape is lawless now. The nightmares can travel to other dreams and scare the fillies and colts. Who will keep them safe now that Luna is gone…?”
Lavender raised an eyebrow. “Is this really me?”
“It is,” Luna replied softly. “All ponies have the gift of imagination, Lavender. Some, like you, are more active than others even in your sleep. Artists, writers, singers, theorists—anypony can be a creator.” She looked around as the scene around them began to fade to white. “You are waking. Remember my words, Lavender Rose. Take them to heart. You may be content selling flowers, but your mind yearns for more. Use it. Exercise it. You may be delighted by the results.”
With that, she disappeared, and the dream completely faded away.
Lavender felt her eyes open slowly. She gently moved her blankets aside and looked out the window. The early-morning twilight she’d seen in her dream was in full effect, glinting off the winter snow. Fillies and colts played outside, throwing snowballs and building forts. She smiled contentedly and pulled herself out of bed.
After her morning routine, she walked to her work desk with a steaming mug of coffee and sat. She grabbed a pencil and paper and began writing:
“A long, long, time ago, in the distant past, Princess Luna became the evil Nightmare Moon and was banished to the moon for the next thousand years. As her sister Celestia took her duties and ruled Equestria alone, the nights became colder and darker than before. The warmth of Luna’s meticulous caretaking had gone, replaced by an emptiness devoid of love…”
She stopped. Where was this going? She could toss it aside and forget it, but Princess Luna’s words rang in her mind. She sat back in deep thought for several minutes as the words and ideas began to flow. They pieced themselves together nicely. She smiled.
“Nightmares, once confined to the individual dreams of frightened ponies, were freed by Luna’s disappearance, and they began to infest minds across the dreamscape…”
Author's Note
Just a simple one-shot I thought I'd share while I'm still working back into the post-holiday groove. I should do more of these. They're quite fun.