Luna Nightmare

Twilight's eye lids flung open. She must've been knocked out- thank Celestia she didn't wake up. She groaned, and tried to stand up, but fell back down again as the train hit a bump and she was thrown into the air. She fell hard on her back, the air knocked from her lungs. She noticed that everypony else was conscious and grabbing hold of something.

"Twiligh'!" Applejack yelled. "Hold on ta somethin'!"

Twilight quickly got her breath back, and dived for one of the beds. It was on its side, and the railings were enough for her to put a hoof through and secure herself.

The windows at the bottom had already shattered, and they all watched in a horrified manner as the rough gravel and concrete mixture scraped against the window frames, passing under them at blurring speeds. Sparks were jumping everywhere, and some portions of the frames were glowing orange.

Without warning, the train hit something large, and was crashing through layers and layers of fancy hotel walls.

Twilight's hoof was jerked from the railing, and she was launched across the carriage, her eyes watching the chaos. Everything was flying everywhere, shattered remains of glass vases floated in temporary zero gravity as the train was abruptly stopped.

She watched a vase, floating across the carriage slowly, hit one of the bed railings, and slowly break apart into twenty pieces. She thought the dream's physics were corrupt at first, then the slow motion stopped and she slammed against what was once the ceiling. She crumbled down onto the floor, whimpering at her dislocated shoulder. She was quite grateful after thinking about it for a moment, since all she got was a dislocated shoulder.

"Y'all right sugar cube?" Applejack crouched next to her, a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry..." Twilight gasped at the pain. "Just a dream, right?"

"Oh you poor thing..." Fluttershy walked up to her like she was one of her injured animals. "I can help with that- just grind your teeth and..."

Twilight was about to protest, but didn't have the time to as Fluttershy grabbed hold of her arm, and yanked at it, twisting at the same time. Tears shot out of Twilight's eyes and she screamed in agony- but it was only instant. The pain was now gone, and her shoulder felt normal again. She waved her once injured arm around.

"Fluttershy... That was incredible. But next time, give me a warning." she said.

"I thought I did..." Fluttershy said quietly, but not sarcastically. She always meant what she said.

There was a clang from the ceiling, and one of the windows broke. Rainbow Dash poked her head through.

"You girls all right? And... A boy." Rainbow added, seeing the Doctor.

"We're fine! That was fuuuuun..." Pinkie said, bouncing around excitedly.

"We haven't much time though. The concentration of Nightmare Moon's minions here is still at a relatively low level. We only have six hours of the seven, so best we start moving straight away." the Doctor said.

"Seriously? No rest?" Rainbow complained.

"We're all sleeping, and constantly getting rest. In fact, a little too much for the day. Let's go." the Doctor said, using his sonic screwdriver on a wall. It fell apart, and they stepped through.

The group was immediately alerted by the amount of ponies casually walking by them.

"What's this about?" Twilight wondered.

"Subconscious." the Doctor murmured, Derpy following close behind as he paced around the area. "Give them a reason, and they'll swarm on you. This is Luna's subconscious, not Nightmare Moon's. The minions were hers."

"Right. So these gals are on our side?"

"These gals are on no one's side. And if somepony threatens them, they'll turn on that pony immediately. So best avoid contact." Doctor Whooves explained.

"Awww..." Pinkie seemed rather disappointed.

"Where do we go now?" Applejack asked.

"Try to get through this hotel. Nightmare Moon put it here, so we can't just make it disappear. It'll be dangerous even if we could because we're on the tenth floor with a bunch of ponies that will spring at us if we make a move." the Doctor said.

"Wait- tenth floor?" Twilight peered through a crack in the wall. The rest of the train was at the bottom on the streets, while the main carriage was stuck in the wall. It must've been launched up here by some kind of ramp.

"Wait- then how did Dashie get here?" Derpy frowned.

"Oh yeah. We could go out the same way." Daring said.

"No, cause a lot of us can't fly." the Doctor shook his head.

"Summon our hot air balloon?" Pinkie bounced excitedly.

"We'd be sitting ducks. Targets. We might get ambushed in here, but we're still not sitting ducks waiting to be picked out." the Doctor said. Pinkie lowered her head, disappointed yet again.

"Let's just go. We don't have much time left." Twilight said, and started moving forward into a corridor.

"Wait-" the Doctor began, but was cut off as a wall sprang up between Twilight and the other ponies.

"Doctor! Applejack!" Twilight's voice was faint on the other side.

"Nightmare Moon's trying to separate us. Meet you on the other end." Rainbow Dash said. "We went through this once with Discord, we can do it again."

"Yeah, except for last time it didn't end pretty." Twilight yelled from the other side, but what reached the ponies were just at normal volume.

"Whatever you do- don't get distracted!" the Doctor yelled. "Should've learned that by now!"

"Let's go. Come on, y'all. We need to stick together." Applejack said, and led the way towards a different corridor.

All the walls were painted white, and golden lights shone down from the ceiling above. The walls were lined with doors made out of expensive red wood, fitting in with their equally expensive frames.

"This is some hotel..." Daring murmured.

"Just keeping going straight in this direction, and we'll-" Applejack stopped- the corridor suddenly turned left. "Shucks."

"That could be a problem." Rainbow said.

"A maze, eh..." Daring looked around. "Heh, I guess princess Celestia was right in bringing me here after all." with years of experience solving mysteries and puzzles, Daring started leading the way. "This one's a lot more complicated than the others." she said, deciding whether to turn left or right at an intersection.

"Keep to the right wall, so they say." Rainbow looked temptingly at the right wall.

"I'm surprised you know that. Doing research?" Daring raised an eyebrow.

"Always wanted to be like you." Rainbow said with a shrug. "Didn't think you were real."

"Mmm." Daring said, and headed right, forgetting about waiting for the others. She yelped in surprise as a wall sprang from the ground, cutting her off from the rest of the group.

"Daring!" Rainbow yelled, smashing a hoof on the wall.

"Find your way through. I'll be fine." Daring Do said, and they heard her trot away.

Suddenly the lights above them flickered, sending shadows scattering over the walls. They didn't notice that none of the subconscious ponies were here- until now. Shadows danced across the corridor as the source of light constantly changed, and Fluttershy shuddered, covering her eyes with her hooves.

Shadows.

"Lookout everypony!" Applejack ducked down just as a blade of shadow swiped through the air where she was a second ago, cutting her beloved hat in half. "Well 'at just sucks." she said, looking at her shredded hat.

"Uh-oh. Here they come." Rainbow Dash said as the light returned to normal, but this time the room was crowded with shadow ponies.

One of them dashed at Rainbow, who briskly stepped aside and diverted the pony into the ground. These really were more like changelings- except they don't change. Well, they shape shift, but they can't put on a disguise.

"Keep Fluttershy in the center!" the Doctor yelled- Fluttershy was no fighter, and could barely defend herself.

One of the shadow ponies disappeared behind a cloud of confetti. Pinkie had summoned her party cannon, and was firing boxing gloves into the crowd of shadow ponies, knocking them back and keeping them at bay.

Applejack kicked with her back legs. "These legs are for buckin' 'em apple trees! Ya think ya stand a chance?" a shadow pony was launched off its feet as it took a hoof right in the chest.

"Girls! Stay together-" Rainbow Dash yelled, but the walls had already sprung. Now everypony was separated, with their own crowd of shadow ponies to deal with. "Keeps getting better." she muttered.

One of the shadow ponies bared its fangs at her, and lunged. Rainbow stepped aside like she did earlier, avoiding the biting teeth. She hooked her left hoof into the pony's arm, and reached all the way out until it passed its head, pulling it into an armlock, disabling it. Another sprang at her, and she simply swung the one she had in a lock around as a melee and slammed them both together- just like she read about in one of Daring's books. The two collided and vanished into dark mist.

She spun around, kicking back with her right leg and taking her left hoof off the ground, launching herself forward. The pony she kicked turned into mist, and she propelled herself into another shadow pony, taking it down.

However, Nightmare Moon, being Nightmare Moon; had way more tricks than simple shadows up her sleeves. A streak of lightning zapped at Rainbow Dash, and she barely dodged it in time, ending up with a fried tip on her tail.

"Not this again..." she muttered, the memory of Derpy bouncing on the rain cloud fresh in her mind.

The lightning attacks were coming from some of the shadow ponies- one of them raised its hoof, and that was enough a gesture for Rainbow to dodge sideways. The bright line of electricity hit the shadow pony behind her and It disappeared. The shadow pony that fired the shot sheepishly sank back into the crowd.

Using the ponies as shields, she was able to avoid the lightning bolts several times. She grabbed a shadow pony's hoof and twisted it around just as it was about to fire, sending the lightning bolt into another pony's chest.

She spotted something out of the corner of her eye, and was just in the process of reacting and turning around when a shadow pony tackled her, slamming into her side; sending them both through a wooden door and into a hotel suite. They tumbled onto the carpet, and Rainbow slammed the shadow pony into a cabinet. It vanished.

Now Rainbow Dash is in a position she doesn't want to be in. She was trapped inside the room, with a swarm of shadow ponies slowly filing in. She desperately looked around for something she could use.

A shadow pony charged in, and Rainbow shattered a glass vase against its head, knocking it into oblivion. She took down another few by flipping a cabinet at the door.

The room was quickly running out of stuff to hurl. Rainbow had already used up all the chairs, the tables, and even the bed- all that was left was the cabinet. She ripped the right cabinet door from its hinges, and threw it across the room. It exited the door, and a loud cracking noise erupted from somewhere out of sight.

Rainbow was about to take the other door when she spotted the railing inside the cabinet that held all the clothes- and a mischievous grin slowly spread across her face.

She ripped the railing away from the cabinet, shook off the clothes, and started using it as a pole. She balanced it in her hooves.

"Delicate." she said happily, and took a fighting stance Daring had told her once. The best part was, the pole was made of metal.

She dashed outside into the corridor again, knocking down shadow ponies with her new weapon as she charged out.

The shadow ponies seemed a lot more wary now that their opponent had a weapon that basically changes everything. One of them fired a lightning bolt at her- and she didn't bother dodging it.

Rainbow pointed one end of the pole at the lightning bolt, it made contact, and started traveling down the length of the pole. She twirled it around, and the lightning bolt was fired off from the opposite end and it hit a shadow pony.

Unstoppable. Rainbow thought.

A shadow pony leaped up, and its hooves turned into two blades. It slashed down, and Rainbow brought the pole up to block both of them. The blades failed to cut through the inch-thick metal, but they did get embedded. Rainbow twirled it around, flinging the shadow pony back into the crowd. There weren't many of them left now.

*

Daring Do was sprinting through the corridor, and slid on the ground as a dark blade passed right in front of her face. She stopped to get up for a second and caught her breath, then kept running. The maze seemed quite massive, and she must get to the end as fast as she can- time is of the essence in this situation, after all. Nightmare Moon grows stronger by the second.

A shadow pony tried to block her way. She took off her hat and spun it into the pony's face. While it was distracted, she slammed a hoof into its nose, taking the hat and placing it on her head again as she ran past; listening to the satisfying thud behind her as it dropped.

She heard a whistling noise, and jumped up just in time to avoid a swarm of arrows that passed by her feet.

This is all becoming disturbingly familiar... She thought as she trampled over another shadow pony.

A shadow pony crashed through a wooden door, clearly involuntary as it didn't get back up. Something white flashed as Daring passed the door, and she instinctively brought her hooves up to protect herself. A second later she found herself in a lock with Rainbow Dash, who was holding a pole.

"Nice find." Daring said, releasing the pole.

"Thanks." Rainbow Dash said, lowering her weapon.

Both of their eyes widened, and instantly they both knew what to do. Rainbow brought the pole up and stabbed forth. Daring stepped aside, spinning and bringing her leg up for a decent kick. Both attacks struck the shadow ponies that tried to sneak up on them from behind.

"Good move." Daring said, back to back with Rainbow, her hooves ready to strike down any more enemies should they be in the vicinity.

"Thanks." Rainbow Dash scanned the area.

"Now, which way was I going again?"

"You forgot?"

"You distracted me."

"I lunged at you from the right. So it must be this way." Rainbow Dash pointed down the corridor.

"Ah-ha." Daring said, and started running down that way, followed by Rainbow.

"Poor Fluttershy." Rainbow muttered as they turned a corner.

"She'll be alright. She'll just wake up." Daring said, galloping at a consistent pace.

"Very reassuring." Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Forgive me. I'm not used to having a partner around me."

That made Rainbow smile, since Daring considered her a partner now. To be the partner of Daring Do- now that, is cool.

*

Everything around Twilight was purple, lit up by her horn. She tried changing the color before, but didn't find a spell that would allow her to do so in her books- and now she regretted that she didn't try harder, because the purple was of a slightly darker shade and didn't do much to help her see in the dark. Everything was dark. The lights had decided to fail earlier on, and now she was starting to see things. Hear things. Like just then, there was the scrambling of footsteps behind her. She wondered if she was being paranoid.

She had her horn ready, just in case something did leap at her. The spell was all charged up, ready to be released. Despite knowing that this was only a dream, and if she gets killed she'll just wake up; it didn't comfort her the slightest bit. It was equally haunting.

Equally real.

She listened to her own footsteps, so loud in the silence. No pony else was here. She was all alone.

More noises. Teeth- no, fangs- grinding together. They were coming closer.

Twilight let out a nervous chuckle, hoping her own voice could provide some comfort, some sort of presence other than the shadows that tried to break through the light.

Her steps were controlled and restrained by her fear. She didn't dare gallop and attract attention, nor walk slowly and let whatever was behind her catch up.

She just wanted to curl up in bed with her Smarty Pants doll, and lie there for hours; knowing there's nothing watching her from the shadows. Most of all, she wanted her friends here.

She shook her head vigorously. Don't get distracted.

But she couldn't help it. The shadows were giving her the creeps.

A door suddenly creaked open, and she yelped in surprise; letting out a blast of energy from her horn that fried the ceiling. Nothing came out of the door, and she was left with cold sweat sticking to her skin, panting with fear. She gingerly tip toed around it, gazing in, afraid of what she might find. To her relief, there was nothing there.

Come on, come on... She thought to herself. We defeated her once, plus Discord, we can do it again.

Uncertainty rose inside her, and she tried to shake it off. It stayed quite stubbornly, but eventually Twilight was able to overcome it with her fear, giving her mind something else to worry about.

More scrambling behind her. She dared herself to peek behind her, but all she saw was the darkness beyond the light of her horn, and the shadows that feasted on the light.

Shadows that don't make any sense.

She panicked, and started backing away. The shadows twisted and turned, not of her doing. They ate at the light, swallowing it, curling around and herding it away.

Twilight let out a whine as they began to circle around her.