Dreams, Nightmares, and Friendships

The first thing Luna noticed was the tired guards. They meandered through their duties with bags under their eyes, stifling yawns and occasionally drooping then snapping back up, trying to stay awake. Even Paladin, who always made it a point to get exactly twelve hours of sleep and was always well rested the next day and ready to go about his duties as one of Luna's personal daylight guards, began to slow down.

Second Luna noticed the staff. Maybe an odd spice here, a missed, uncleaned room there, a forgotten chore or a lost set of quills, all caused by apparent sleeplessness. They, like the guards, walked about tiredly, stumbling in each step and yawning frequently.

Soon she became suspicious when even her night guards began to show signs of exhaustion. The first time she caught a nightguard was when he was standing outside her room. He didn't move, not to salute nor open his eyes, when she approached, and when she tried to speak to him he snapped upwards, finally noticed her, and began apologizing profusely.

What was even happening, when even her night guards were becoming constantly tired?

So she began investigating. What she found was horrifying.

Every guard, staff member, or other inhabitant of the castle that'd recently begun showing up for work exhausted was having nightmares. Not the kind that fillies and young colts have, about monsters in the closet, but horrible, terrifying kinds, with some sort of massive creature with a white mane of cold fire, glowing, soul piercing blue eyes, with a face cradled by a jagged collar of blood red crystal, massive hooked claws that grabbed and tore, and a bone chilling laugh, asking for the nightmares of the weak and useless about their broken and abandoned dreams, the nightmares of the strong and proud about failure and rejection. Black, red, and white fire always ravaged these nightmares, arching and twisting but never touching the victim of the nightmare, always driving them closer and closer to the massive creature and his jaws of darkness, his evil grin as he swallowed the dreamer whole and screamed with demented laughter.

This was the last straw. She had to talk to Celestia and figure out what was causing this.

~-~-~

"Tia, when is Shining Armor next returning to Canterlot?" Celestia looked up and blinked at Luna as she walked into the throne room, ignoring the current other inhabitant, a business pony.

"Luna, can't this wait?" She asked. Luna shook her head and frowned.

"I must know now." She said. Celestia hesitated slightly before sighing.

"He'll be visiting soon; why?" She asked. Luna's frown deepened and she pointed a hoof towards one of the guards, who was currently leaning heavily on his spear with his eyes closed. Celestia's own face twisted into a frown.

"Guard?" The guard snapped away and quickly spun to face Celestia.

"My deepest apologies Princess Celestia; I've been unable to get a very good night's rest for almost a week now." He apologized, dropping his head slightly.

"There, sister, is my point. Nightmares. I want to know if Shining Armor's shield spells can prevent them. And I've seen them too. They aren't silly foal nightmares." Luna said loudly, pointing once again at the Guard as she then continued. "They're evil ones, caused by an exterior force, I've seen the same thing almost every night despite visiting a different pony every time." She finished. Celestia looked out the window, mulling her thoughts over, before turning to the guard. Now that she looked past the standard magic armor's identity hiding spell, she could tell that he was an earth pony stallion with a dark gray mane and tail as with a bluish silvery gray coat and a blacksmith anvil with a sword across it as his cutie mark. Now she remembered; Lieutenant Silver Sword, he often sharpened the guards' weapons and fixed them when they were broken and such.

"Lieutenant Silver Sword, would you please head up to the messenger room and have a courier take a summons to Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence? It appears we need their assistance." The Lieutenant quickly nodded and took off, only to release a foalish scream when he opened the door to be met with the very stallion that seemed to radiate darkness.

"...Your guards are very loud." Darkrai grumbled as he stepped past the shell shocked Lieutentant, knocking him out of the way rudely with a wing. Celestia flattened her ears at his actions in displeasure and frowned as he stepped forward.

"There's...something very different about you, Darkrai, since I last saw you. You've been locked away in your quarters for the past week, what have you been doing?" She asked. The black stallion gave her an irritated glare.

"What makes you think it's any of your business, PRINCESS? I don't recall ever swearing to bend my knee to YOU!" He growled venomously, forcing his words through his teeth. Celestia balked at the poison dripping from his voice and cleared her throat, fixing him with the glare she usually reserved only for serious criminals.

Darkrai glared right back, just as fiercely, and he flicked a wing as Celestia broke eye contact to look towards Luna for support.

"I am going to leave Canterlot." He stated coldly, flattening his ears. Instantly Celestia stood, flattening her ears and glaring at him once again.

"No you aren't; our business together hasn't finished yet, Darkrai, and until it is finished you are to remain here-"

"Is that so Celestia?" A slow growl crawled out of Darkrai's throat and he took a couple of steps forward.

"I am not one of your subjects, Celestia. You don't know anything about me, except the fact that I am not normal. Let me tell you right now, Princess. I do not respect you, you do not scare me, and trust me on this, Celestia. Our business is done." Darkrai's wings flared as Celestia opened her mouth to argue and he narrowed his eyes.

"...I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but it appears as though I don't have much of a choice. Guards, please escort Darkrai to the dungeon, and make sure he stays there." Celestia ordered quietly. Instantly the three guards left near her throne shot towards Darkrai and he smirked faintly.

"I came in here almost hoping you would do this, princess~" Instantly Darkrai rose onto his hind legs and let out an unequine roar, stopping the guards in their tracks as his eyes began to glow ice blue. With a thundering crash his front hooves met the ground again and massive walls of darkness rose around him, trapping the guards.

Luna instantly leapt forward, horn aglow with power, only for Darkrai to slam into her and pin her to the ground, growling, even as he smiled.

"I could sense you watching my nightmares, Luna~ If you'd been just a bit faster, you might've been able to stop me. But now? After feeding off of your ponies' nightmares for a solid week with no interference, expanding my reach past your castle walls and into the streets!" He snarled loudly. Only the faint glow in his peripheral vision warned him in time to Celestia's offense. One of the guards that were trapped, now possessed by darkness, threw himself into the path of the solar magic, instantly vaporizing his body, and Celestia wheeled back in horror as Darkrai turned to face her, eyes pulsing with jet black power.

"And here I thought that a Princess was always supposed to keep her temper." He taunted. Celestia stared at the guard's severely burned body in horror, only able to tear away her gaze upon the sound of shattering glass. Darkrai's figure stood out in front of one of the windows, outlined in sunlight as his wings swept the air.

"Farewell Celestia. It hasn't been a pleasure at all. In all honesty, you remind me harshly of somebody that I hate immensely." The dark stallion growled.

With a final huff and a thrust of his wings against the air, he was gone, little more than a shadow.

~-~-~

Darkrai had no idea how long he'd been flying. It had to have been for a terribly long time, for he'd started in the morning, and now it was well through the night, approaching the dawn of the next day. His wings began to shorten their strokes, and soon his hooves touched the ground and he laid down under the shelter of a tree, rubbing his head gently.

Fool Celestia thinks she can oppose me I am the King of Nightmares nobody can stand against me!

I don't like this...why was I flying for so long? Why am I so tired?

I'll show her...no 'princess' lives while I stand, either they bow to me or die!

Who is that...?

I'll kill her! I'll track down those two explorers and kill them too! I don't even need to go back, this world is just as good if not even better!

Wh at am I...talking ab o    ut...

A groan shoved itself out of Darkrai's throat and he stood again, his eyes sharpening and narrowing as they became tinted with blackness.

I'll have to wait though...collect more nightmares. More power. I can wait easily though; I am eternal, and will exist until nightmares do not plague the innocent anymore. It's easy to wait. It will make claiming the prize that much sweeter. The black coated stallion strode forward into the early dawn light, frowning, then huffed.

If him and his shadows were anything to go by, he would have to avoid sunlight if he wanted to avoid being found by Celestia.

"Pah; easy." One of his hooves crushed a flower underneath it and, unknown to the naked eye, darkness snaked into the ground, destroying and reorganizing the earth until beneath Darkrai's very hooves was a massive castle. With nothing but a ghost of a breath, his shadow leaked into the pitch black hallway and he formed once again. His eyes unaffected entirely by the darkness, he retreated into the shadows, the only evidence of his presence being the glow of his eyes and the glint of his ruby red collar.

"I have some collecting to do. Surely Celestia won't notice one or two ponies going missing~"