To Dream in Redby DualSoul1423ChaptersA Lonely DoorA Strange ColtA Sinister ConditionA First FriendA Small ComfortA Thin VineerA Dark ObsessionA Good PonyA Lonely Door“May thou sleep peacefully tonight, little one,” cooed the Princess of the Night as she stepped through the door and out of the foal’s dreams, “Nightmare Moon is no more. Thou has nothing to fear. We promise.” The pink and blue filly snuggled deeper into her pile of oversized ursa plushes as she gave a timid wave. She did not seem wholly convinced, but was happy enough that Luna could leave her be. With the foal’s nightmare of Ursas dispelled, Luna could continue her rounds satisfied; and so the Princess closed the door gently behind her. Pacing the aetherial halls of Equestria’s dreamscape slowly, Luna searched for any signs of distress amongst her subjects. She had worked hard to restore order to this place over the course of the past month, and although her own sleep had suffered for it, she was happy to know that the ponies of Equestria rested easy now that she had returned to them. It was not easy, of course. Returning from her thousand year imprisonment had been… tumultuous, to say the least. Thankfully, her sister had prepared well, and there were worthy heroes waiting to meet her and restore order where Celestia had failed all those centuries ago. The defeat of Nightmare Moon was swift, even if recovery was difficult. Luna was thankful, of course, to once again be herself; but she felt deep pangs of guilt as she trotted along the psychic corridors. Had she been more mindful, more careful of her own misgivings and fears, the ponies of Equestria would not have had to fend for themselves in their sleep the past thousand years. Her first night in the dreamscape was as terrible as it was disheartening. All across the land of dreams there were dark tendrils of terror and misery that had spread and rooted themselves in the minds of countless ponies; an insidious corruption that infected their slumber with fear and dread. Her thousand years of absence had let it grow unchecked like weeds, and she was ashamed to see just how many such nightmares involved her more insidious alter ego. As Princess of the Night, it was her duty to tend to such things, and so she did with all the fervour and tenacity she could muster. It was exhausting work, to be sure; but seeing her beloved dreamland free of nightmares was worth the effort, even if not all denizens were particularly happy to see her at work. If nothing else, it helped her regain some good will, and it meant that perhaps someday soon she would be able to make public appearances again without foals running in fear of her. When she didn’t sense any more nightmares in her domain, Luna prepared to return to her own dreams for the night. Just before she slipped out of the Equestrian dreamscape, however, something stopped her. It wasn’t a nightmare, but something… strange. Off-putting, yet subtle enough that she wouldn’t have picked up on it while there were more obvious nightmares causing issues in the dream world. Unfurling her wings, Luna took off in the direction of the disturbance. She couldn’t determine what it was, but at the very least she could tell something wasn’t quite right. She flew for a long time, longer than she expected to. As she glided along the aetherial currents, she could slowly but surely feel the unease worsen the closer she came. Looking down, she saw that she was approaching the outskirts of the dream world. Fewer and fewer doors were visible, until none at all. Still, she hadn’t arrived yet. Luna flew for another several minutes until she had come to a strange island of dry and barren landscape floating amongst the starry space that made up the dreamworld. There, in the middle of the small platform was a single red door. It sat completely alone and completely disconnected from the rest of the minds of Equestria; a drop of crimson amongst a backdrop of charcoal. She wondered if it was even a pony to be hidden so far away that even she had trouble finding it. It was as she landed beside it that the smell struck her. It was faint, but eerily familiar to her. Like a perfume worn by a passerby from years ago. That proved to her that whatever was going on inside of this dream was extremely unusual. Such tactile sensations should be imperceivable from beyond the door, yet they were so potent here that it leaked out into the dreamworld beyond. Reaching forward, Luna pressed a hoof against the door to open it, but found that it did not move. Almost like the door was stuck, or even locked. She raised an eyebrow in confusion, as she had never encountered something like that before. She gave a sturdier push, and felt the door give slightly, but the scent hit her stronger now. It was harsh and bitter, but she still couldn’t quite place it. Frustration growing, Luna’s eyes burned with light as she mustered her strength. “Who art thou to deny us in this place? This is our domain, and thou shall yield to your Princess!” Rearing back, Luna stomped forward against the door, and finally whatever was stopping it gave way. With a satisfied grin, Luna took a step forward but was immediately stopped again by the scent that reached her nostrils, now paired with the sight of what laid beyond the door. Blood. That strange, disconcerting aroma she had smelled was blood. Not just a small amount, like a scrape from a fall or from a broken bone. It wasn’t the acrid bitterness of a single pony’s blood, but the choking miasma of an ocean of gore, like a hundred mass graves filled to the brim with eviscerated carcasses. The source of the scent was plain to see, as just beyond the threshold of the door was red. Pure, unending red. Luna shivered as she resisted the urge to retch at the sight of what seemed to be unending mountains of bodies. Ponies, dragons, griffons, and countless other species were stacked together in a display of bloodshed on a scale that she didn’t even think was conceivable. Her horn flared with magic as she yanked the door shut again, unable to bear the sight or scent for a second longer. Her gagging finally got the better of her as he emptied her stomach’s contents onto the dry ground beneath her; something she didn’t even know she could do in the dreamworld. The dead soil beneath her hooves mixed with her sick, turning into a foul slurry as questions flooded her mind, racing to understand what she had just witnessed. She glanced back at the crimson door again, wondering how whatever that was wasn’t a nightmare. She questioned why such a dreamland was here, so isolated from every other pony in Equestria. She knew that the world of dreams existed even before her, but she was so certain that in all of her years as a dreamwalker she had learned everything there was to know about the primordial place, but she was clearly sorely mistaken. She couldn’t approach it again, not now. She could tell at the very least, whatever was here was no threat to her subjects with how far away it was. Her heart filled with dread, Luna absconded away for now. She was determined to return someday, when she mustered the bravery to face whoever or whatever was beyond that door, because as horrible as it was, it was in her domain; and that made it one of her subjects. A Strange ColtIt wasn’t for another week that Luna was able to return to the crimson door. Each night when she did her rounds of the dream world, she would try her best to ignore the ever so subtle pull that she felt towards that place. She didn’t want to think about it, she wasn’t ready to face it. But it was as she helped several dozen more ponies face their fears, Luna became more confident. She was, after all, the Princess of the Night. All things frightening and terrible lurked in the darkness, and the dark was her domain. So, after nearly an hour of pacing and deliberation, Luna returned to that place. She found herself standing before the door again, with that vile stench wafting out from through the darkened wood. The Princess reached out slowly, doing her best to steel her nerves. Hopefully this time she wouldn’t vomit. She woke up in a puddle of her own puke that morning, which wasn’t pleasant. Opening the door this time wasn’t nearly as difficult this time as it was the first. Luna figured that whatever was blocking the entrance last time was dispelled by her, but a small part of her feared the implications of that. Pushing that thought aside, she moved forward into the valley of gore that awaited her. Her eyes watered at the strangling odour of the place, and she shivered at the feeling of soft, putrid flesh squelching underhoof. Not wanting to stand there any longer than she needed to, Luna unfurled her wings and kicked the door shut behind her before taking to the skies. While in the dream of another, she could sense their presence no matter where they were within that dream. Thus, the Princess of the Night flew straight for the owner of this disgusting fantasy. No matter how high she flew, she couldn’t escape the scent that seemed to reek to the heavens, but from a birds-eye view, it was easy to see why that was. The valley of gore was more like a continent; a mass of blood-red viscera that stretched to the horizon and beyond, with red oceans filling the space between. She didn’t even believe that there were enough bodies in the world to fulfill this dream, which only made her stomach churn. Every time she was reminded of the fact that this was in fact not a nightmare sent a shiver down her spine. By the time Luna approached the ground again, her nose had completely gone blind to the overwhelming stench. She assumed that even long after waking up, her nostrils would still burn with the stink of carcasses and blood. She hoped that she wouldn’t need to be here much longer as she spotted the object of her search. In a clearing, there was a sprawled body of an enormous dragon, and in its open chest cavity she could see a young colt writhing amongst the wet innards. He seemed to spot her too, and he waved at her as she approached. Landing on the dragon’s belly, Luna couldn’t help but grimace at the sight. A scrawny, blood-soaked colt was looking up at her with deep crimson eyes that matched the viscera that he sat in. There was a curious yet excited glimmer in his gaze as he regarded her presence. It told her that he didn’t recognize who she was, but was interested all the same. “No one has ever visited before,” he said, with a hushed voice that almost sounded parched. “Who are you?” Luna clenched her jaw, unsure what to make of the situation. She wasn’t used to this feeling. Every single other pony she had met in the past month had recognized her, and reacted with fear. How this foal did not was beyond her, as she had been certain that everypony knew the stories of Nightmare Moon. At the very least, he should have recognized her as Alicorn Royalty. Instead, he simply spoke with the same casualness of greeting a stranger. After several long seconds, she finally spoke. “We are Princess Luna.” She paused, the dozens of questions straining to push their way to the front of her mind. She decided to ask the simplest one first. “What is your name, little one?” He blinked twice at her, cocking his head slightly. Finally a small smile crept across his lips. “My name is Poppy Blanch. Are you really a princess?” Luna nodded slowly, mildly off-put by the sight of the colt smiling at her while red dripped from his scraggy form. “Yes, we are.” She looked around at their surroundings again, still trying to make sense of things. “Why are thou here? Surely this is no place for a foal such as yourself.” He quickly averted his eyes shamefully. “Oh… Well, I like it here. It’s nice. It makes me happy.” Luna’s snout scrunched in disgust at that. “Happy? What about this place could possibly make you feel happy?” Poppy Blanch’s ears flattened against his head. “I don’t know. It just does.” He seemed to cower from her, retreating slowly back into the dragon’s innards. “I’m sorry if I did something wrong. I can stop if you want.” The Princess opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. This place was no nightmare, but it was still wrong. But it was unlikely to be because of the colt himself, and chastising him was unlikely to help the situation. Taking a tenuous breath, Luna bowed her head slightly. “We are sorry, little one. Your dream… It confuses us. We have walked amongst the dreams of countless ponies over many years, and never seen anything like this place. We… Struggle to understand the appeal.” He looked up at her again, finally. He remained cautious, tapping his forehooves together nervously. “I don’t really know, Princess. I’ve always had these dreams. Though, my parents always told me never to talk to anypony about them. They said it’s bad that I dream of this stuff. Is it really bad? Should I stop?” Luna considered the door outside, and how it was completely disconnected from the rest of the Equestrian dreamscape. This entire circumstance was so completely unique, she wasn’t sure if this colt was even capable of dreaming about anything else. She furrowed her brow with concern as she spoke slowly. “Do you ever try to… do this in the waking world? Hurt other creatures?” “No!” he said quickly, with the heavy tone of guilt obvious in his hoarse voice. “Not anymore, I mean. I… I hurt a bunny once. But I haven’t done it since, I promise!” Luna’s eyes widened as her worry grew. “What did thou do to the bunny, Poppy Blanch?” The colt began to retreat away from Luna’s gaze again as he recalled the memory. “I… I hurt the bunny, but I didn’t mean to! He was just so soft and cute… And so I hugged him. I kept hugging him tighter and tighter until he stopped moving and-” Poppy Blanch couldn’t get anymore words out as tears began to stream down his face. The dream around them began to ripple and distort as the colt’s panic began to wake him up. Luna knew that she was too far from the exit, and if the dream collapsed while she was in it, it would be unpleasant for both of them. A light emanated from her horn as she cast a spell to hold the dream together a little while longer. Steeling herself once again, she stepped down into the bloody viscera of the dragon until she was submerged to her knees. Princess Luna trudged through gore until she was close enough to take the colt in her forelegs. At first, he resisted, but as she wrapped him in her wings and pulled him close, he began to calm, and the dream began to stabilize again. “We are sorry, little one. Thine heart is heavy with grief for something beyond thine own understanding. We do not hold it against you. It is clear that you mean no harm, and neither do we. Breathe easy, and be calm. We are here for thou now. No judgement, no anger, no fear.” Poppy Blanch’s crying subsided as the Princess spoke slowly and gently to him. Even as this soaked fur stained her own a deep scarlet, she held him tight. She knew better than anyone else what it was like to carry the guilt of a crime that you didn’t mean to commit. They stayed like that for several more minutes, until his breathing slowed. He pulled away from her, and she let him go after a second of hesitation. “You talk funny,” he finally said with a small smile. Luna was about to correct him to say that she only speaks in traditional tongue, but relented, instead nodding in agreement. Turning from her, he climbed out of the dragon’s chest, and she followed after him. He stood there, looking up at the darkened sky as the red began to drip off of his body. Climbing down after him, Luna realized that the blood left no stain on his coat as it drained away. She watched with curiosity as the red turned to the purest of white. The lanky colt looked almost skeletal with his white coat and short grey mane. Catching her gaze, Poppy Blanch turned back towards Princess Luna, a small smile on his cracked lips. “Will you come back to visit me again, Princess? It was nice to see someone new… And I’d like to talk to you again. You’re really nice.” Luna looked down at her blood-slicked hooves, where she could see the crushed bones of numerous creatures beneath them. Some part of her deep down found the crunch to be almost satisfying, but she pushed that part deeper down. After a moment, she looked back at him. “Time permitting, we shall, little one. There is still much about your dreams that we do not understand. We hope to, someday.” “Ok, Princess. I can’t wait.” With nothing more to say, Luna took off, flying back towards the entrance before the colt could wake up. She still was no closer to understanding why this dreamscape was so different from any other, or why Poppy Blanch was seemingly possessed with a love for the macabre, but at the very least she knew that there was no monster behind the door, just a confused foal. A Sinister ConditionAs time passed, Luna found herself becoming disconcertingly comfortable with the stench of putrid blood and rotting flesh. Desensitization was an inevitable side effect of her frequent visits with Poppy Blanch, but instead of making her feel better about the whole situation, it only made her feel worse. On the nights that she came to visit, she would always stumble upon the young colt doing something beyond reprehensible in his nightmarish refuge. Some nights he would be mashing flesh and bone underhoof in acts of mindless violence. Others he would be mangling the corpses like twisted art displays. One night, she even found him gnawing on the remains of a pony, to her utter revulsion. Always though, Poppy Blanch would stop what he was doing and greet her with complete polite lucidity, as if he had not just been committing acts that otherwise would have branded him as a raving lunatic. Luna would always do her best to hide her disgust, but even as weeks turned to months, he always managed to surprise her with new depths of depravity that she wouldn’t have considered even as Nightmare Moon. If it wasn’t for how calm and collected he seemed during her visits, she might have feared him. If anything, she was frightened by the fact that she still could not understand what drove him to such acts. During their time together, Luna would do her best to learn more about him, and as time went on, he became more receptive to questions prodding his mind. All but questions relating to his waking hours, which he always politely refused with a smile. The more she learned, however, the less she understood. She learned that for whatever reason, Poppy Blanch always had a fascination with the macabre, and for as long as he could remember, his dreams were violent and gruesome. He always made sure to emphasize that they were dreams, and that he never did any of it while awake. More curiously, he never had any nightmares. He would joke that the nightmares were too scared of his dreams to come for him, and yet Luna found herself agreeing. There was nothing that the nightmares could do to him that he hadn’t already gleefully done to one of the countless bodies littering his dreamscape. That being said, he seemed shockingly normal at times as well. Although he never gave details about his family or home, he would sometimes divulge her in his interests and hobbies. He had a keen mind for herbalism, and although he had not yet earned his cutie mark, he hoped it had something to do with that. Sometimes the two of them would play chess together, and although he never won, he was certainly improving. He was quite intelligent for his age, and almost reminded Luna of Celestia’s pupil, in a way. These seemingly conflicting aspects only compounded Luna’s curiosity and confusion in equal measure, however. When she was awake, Luna would spend many hours a day pouring over ancient scrolls and tomes in the Canterlot Library. She had hoped that in the past thousand years, some doctor or magician would have encountered some similar case and recorded it for study. Unfortunately, she found no such circumstance, regardless of how hard she looked. Even studies from foreign lands around the world failed to illuminate the mystery of Poppy Blanch’s disturbing impulses. When traditional medical and magical wisdom failed her, she turned to the restricted section of the library. Because it required both sisters to open, Celesita was of course curious as to what Luna was researching, but the Princess of the Night didn’t dare discuss the situation with her sister. Celesita had enough on her plate, and didn’t need the extra concern of Poppy Blanch on her mind. When Luna assured her that the situation was under control, Celestia begrudgingly agreed to trust her; a show of faith that did not go unappreciated by the younger sister, especially after the past thousand years of heartache. Unfortunately for Luna, even the most secretive knowledge of the forbidden wing bore no fruit. No matter what dark secrets she unveiled in a search for answers, she found none that resembled the plight of the young colt. She had uncovered deep evils and horrors from ages long past, but nothing quite like the curious case of Poppy Blanch. It seemed that against all reason, there was nothing particularly unusual about the colt, beside his uniquely disturbing fixation with murder. Whatever made him so special was beyond Luna’s reckoning, and although that in of itself terrified her, it did not frighten her as much as the fact that the young colt seemed perfectly content with his condition, as if it was the most typical thing in the world. A First FriendFinishing her rounds for the night, Luna stared off into the distance where she knew Poppy Blanch’s dreams resided. She had flown there often enough to know the place by heart, even if she didn’t feel that gentle pull towards it. She was certain that centuries from now, long after the colt was gone, her idle gaze would find its way to that spot on the horizon still. She hadn’t visited him for some time now, as her visits had slowly become less and less frequent the more sure she was that he was no threat. An enigma, to be sure, but not a dangerous one. He never minded the spaces between their meetings, of course. He was always happy to see her, whether it had been a day or a month. Deciding that today was as good a night as any to pay the strange colt a visit, Luna double checked that no nightmares remained active in her dreamland before she took off in the direction of Poppy’s scarlet sanctum. It didn’t take very long at all, and when she arrived she couldn’t help but notice that the rough edges of the craggy ground that his door rested upon seemed a little smoother today than usual. The door looked the same as ever, and upon pushing her way inside, she found herself faced once again with the stench of decay and the dripping red of death. Interestingly, like the exterior, the dream itself seemed different today. Instead of the endless mountains of bodies, she found that there were not so many this time. Still uncountable corpses piled high into rolling hills, but a magnitude fewer than the norm. Curiously, Luna set off to find the dream’s owner, and only within a minute’s time she found him in a clearing where he seemed to be playing jump rope with some creature’s entrails. Upon seeing her approach, he ended his morbid play and began to trot towards her with an unusually cheerful pep in his step. “I see your realm has changed, little one. Has something happened?” The scrawny colt looked around with a curious expression. “Everything looks the same to me, Princess Luna. I don’t know what you mean.” The alicorn pursed her lips, unsure of how he could have missed the change in landscape. However, her eyes lit up at another difference before her. “I see you have earned your cutie mark, Poppy Blanch!” As she said that, his face beamed happily as he twisted to better slow off the image on his flank. As he had hoped, his special talent had nothing to do with the bloodshed that surrounded him now. Instead, it showed a mortar and pestle alongside a bundle of herbs. “I almost can’t believe it, Princess! I got a cutie mark in medicine, just like how I wanted!” It was strange to see a foal celebrating earning their cutie mark whilst standing in a field of gore, but there was nothing typical about the colt in question. Instead of ruminating on that, Luna nodded her head proudly. “Do tell, Poppy Blanch, how did you discover your talent?” Poppy Blanch seemed to deliberate it for a moment, weighing within himself whether or not he should tell Luna. She noticed this, and was about to ask when he smiled again and began to speak. “Well, today I decided to sneak out of my house to explore the woods. My mom and dad don’t like me leaving without their permission, but they almost never give me permission, so I don’t bother to ask anymore.” Luna furrowed her brow at that, but let him continue his story. “While I was outside, I found a filly who had hurt her leg. She was exploring the woods too, and lost her balance and fell. Her leg was scraped up pretty bad, but there were some flowers nearby that I remembered from one of my mom’s books! I took some of the flowers and roots, and chewed them up into a paste and put it on her scrapes. She was grossed out at first, but when the pain went away she was really thankful!” Luna considered her next words carefully. “I… Have several questions. Those can wait, however. I am happy to hear that you’ve earned your cutie mark in a benevolent field. Perhaps this filly is also to be a friend of yours?” Poppy Blanch blushed at that, giving his pale face some colour. “I think so. We played for a little while before I had to go home. Her name is Jade Brook, and she said she wanted to play again sometime! She’s my first ever friend, I think.” He paused, before looking apologetically up at Luna. “Aside from you, Princess.” Luna was taken aback by this, not realizing that he had truly considered her a friend all this time. Her expression spoke volumes though, and Poppy Blanch read it well. “I know you probably haven’t considered me a friend, but I am happy that you’ve come to visit me so many times. It’s really nice of you.” He punctuated the statement with a small, earnest smile. “To be honest with you, Poppy Blanch, I am new to matters of friendship. Only just recently have I made my own first friends during last month's Nightmare Night celebration. They have been helping me adjust to… modern times.” Poppy’s smile grew a bit more. “I was wondering why you weren't talking funny tonight like you normally do. I guess we're both making new friends.” Luna nodded in agreement with a chuckle. “Yes, I suppose we are. Though, I am also more than happy to call you a friend as well, Poppy Blanch.” A Small ComfortLuna sat uncomfortably on a dead cow as she studied Poppy quietly. He hadn’t said much today, beyond his normal greeting. He hadn’t done very much either. He merely sat across from her atop a mule carcass, seemingly deep in thought. They had sat like that for some time now, and Luna wasn’t sure how to break the silence. Thankfully, Poppy spoke first. His voice was somber and barely above a whisper. “Do you know what’s wrong with me, Luna?” The question caught her off-guard, and while she tried to think of an answer, Poppy continued. “I know something is wrong with me. I’m not normal, I never have been. Today, I saw Jade Brook again. We were walking and talking together, and she asked me what I dream about at night. I asked her, and she said she dreams of cute animals, lots of candy and fun games. I told her I dream of the same things.” He paused, looking up at Luna. She saw the tired look in his eyes, but didn’t dare to stop him now. He rarely spoke of his waking hours, so it was undoubtedly important when he did. “Of course, we both know that it was a lie. I dream of this place. More than that, I dream of hurting ponies. Of hurting Jade. I just wish I knew why.” Luna had never before questioned where the mounds of corpses came from, but it only occurred to her just then that he must be making them himself. There had been a few times in the past where she could have sworn that a carcass he was playing with had been moving, but she always convinced herself it was her eyes playing tricks on her. It was easier to imagine that they merely spontaneously appeared as he slept. Even now, after months of study, she had no answers as to the source of his innate cruelty. “I do not know either,” she finally said. They sat in silence for a moment, both trying to think of what to say next. Finally, the colt asked, “Does this make me a bad pony?” The alicorn frowned. “Do you wish to bring harm to others? Do you want to be a bad pony?” Poppy Blanch hesitated. He hesitates for longer than Luna had hoped. “I like doing what I do here. Part of me wishes I could do it in real life too, but I also don’t want to be a bad pony either.” Luna narrowed her eyes at him, and he quickly added, “I know that these things are bad, and I won’t ever actually do any of it in real life, but I can’t stop myself from dreaming about it. From wanting to do it.” Luna couldn't help but think of her Tantabus, and how she relived her own personal nightmares every night. She considered what it must feel like for Poppy Blanch, and realized that the difference between him and her is that she had already acted on those impulses. She already became Nightmare Moon, and hurt other ponies in the past. He had yet to do any of this. He could still be saved before he ever walked down that path. He could be better than her. “I believe that regardless of why you may dream as you do, it does not define you, Poppy Blanch. Your dreams may be grim and full of bloodshed, but your heart is pure. You have done well to resist your temptations for this long.” She paused before adding, “It is not your desires that determine your goodness, but your actions. You have yet to hurt anypony; to act out these dark urges of yours. You are a good pony, as far as I am concerned.” He listened to her words carefully, and nodded when she finished her speech. He seemed to have taken the words in, but she couldn’t tell if they made any impact. His expression was still stern, and indecisive. “Thank you, Luna,” was the last thing he said that night. A Thin VineerSome time passes. Luna’s visits become irregular, and she never stays for long. Poppy seems fine with this. He is always glad to see her when she comes by, and he sometimes tells her about Jade Brook, although he still speaks little of his family or home. Luna knew that by knowing Jade Brook’s name, she could track down the troubled colt in the waking world if she wanted to, but chose not to. Regardless of how insistent she was, Poppy Blanch always assured her that he was fine at home. Unhappy, clearly, but fine. It was not her place to intrude on that against his wishes, and so Luna begrudgingly respected his wishes. As months turned to years, Luna grew more comfortable with the new world around her. She learned to better trust her own friends, and slowly repaired her relationship with her sister. Eventually, she even learned to forgive herself for her stint as Nightmare Moon, and all the heartache that came with it. It was strange to dream without the Tantabus, but it was refreshing. Like a weight had been lifted from her soul. When she thought about how horrible her own dreams had been for so long, she couldn’t help but cast her mind towards Poppy Blanch. She felt guilty, not visiting him in so long. She had good reasons, of course. She had been more busy than ever in the past few weeks, preparing for the coronation of Twilight Sparkle, and dealing with various national threats before even that. Pulling double shifts between the waking castle and the dreamscape left Luna far too exhausted to make courtesy visits. The only thing that gave her comfort was the fact that the last they had spoken, he was doing well. His friendship with Jade Brook was strong, and as far as she could tell, he slept as peacefully as ever in his far-off secluded spot in the dream lands. She never needed to quell nightmares in his dreams, which reminded her of a joke he told when they first met years ago. “The nightmares are too scared of my dreams to come for me,” he said. It seemed that even years later, there was truth in that. Without really thinking about it, Luna had flown back out to his strange red door once again. She was surprised to find that the dark, barren earth that grew around the door was now grassy and soft. Various flowers were even growing. Amongst the bright and flowing nebula of magic that made up the rest of the dream world, it was a peculiar sight for sure, but it was far more pleasing to the eye than the dry earth that was once there before. Pushing open the red door, Luna found herself stepping out into a completely unfamiliar place. Instead of the mountains of bone and viscera, Luna found that the door instead opened up into a fairly normal looking town. Unlike someplace like Ponyville, there were no thatched wooden cottages in sight. Instead, the town’s buildings were constructed from more modern brick and mortar; a detail that Luna took note of in case she needed to find Poppy’s home in the waking world. As she walked through the town, she noticed that the ponies who passed her by seemed to have no faces. They moved somewhat stiffly, but still turned to look at her as she passed with their vacant faces. For most ponies, such a setting would be prime breeding grounds for a nightmare, but she knew all too well that Poppy Blanch was no common pony. She followed her senses to the heart of the dream, knowing that he would be at the center of it all. The gentle, familiar pull brought her to a small home, and she stepped across the threshold of the front door. Just inside, Luna found Poppy Blanch playing chess with a green filly who she presumed to be Jade Brook. Thankfully, the filly had her face intact. Luna smiled at the sight of him. He seemed far healthier than when she had last seen him, with more weight on his lanky frame. His coat was shinier, and even his crimson eyes seemed to glisten with some more life to them. The skeletal, sickly-looking colt she once knew seemed a lifetime away now. Poppy looked up at Luna with wide eyes. “Princess! What are you doing here?” His voice no longer sounded coarse, and he spoke not with distress but merely surprise. “Checking up on you, Poppy Blanch,” replied the alicorn with a cautious tone. “I’m pleased to see that you’re no longer dreaming of… red.” The colt blinked twice at the Princess, before nodding with a smile. “Not lately, no. Things are much nicer around here, aren’t they?” He nodded his head toward the filly, who hadn’t moved since Luna arrived. “This is Jade Brook. Or at least, it’s the version of her I dream about. She’s much nicer in person.” Luna cast a passing glance at the approximation in front of her, before returning her gaze to the colt. “You look healthier. Taller.” Poppy Blanch looked himself over, before nodding again. “I guess I do. Things are better in real life. I’m living with Jade Brook now.” He blushed, quickly adding, “She’s my fillyfriend now too.” The Princess was surprised by that, and it showed clearly in her expression. “You live with her, you say? What happened to your parents?” Poppy turned his eyes to the ground solemnly. “They’re gone now… T-there was a fire.” Just as quickly though, his expression lit back up again. “Brook’s family took me in, though! They’re really nice!” Luna cocked her head curiously at the young colt. He didn’t seem very bothered at all about the loss of his parents, and the way that he so quickly changed the subject was another red flag for her. She wanted nothing more than to believe that it was just an accident, and that he was merely coping with it well. That’s what she wanted to believe. “I’m studying to become an apothecary,” said Poppy, snapping Luna out of her thoughts. “I want to be able to help ponies with my special talent.” He sounded earnest, but with everything else Luna had seen during this dream, it only seemed more uncanny. “I’m happy to hear that, Poppy Blanch. I think you’d make a fine medicine pony.” Her words felt uncertain now, and the colt seemed to notice that. Almost whispering, he asked “Do you trust me, Princess? Do you still believe I’m a good pony?” Luna opened her mouth to answer, but found the words failing to form. The hesitation spoke volumes, but she still managed to speak the words anyway. “I do.” He didn’t respond to that. Quietly, he studied her expression for a moment, until he gave a small, reassuring smile. After several more excruciating seconds of silence, Luna turned towards the door. “I’m glad you’re doing well, Poppy Blanch. I’m afraid I must take my leave now, there is much to do in Canterlot these days, and my free time is sparse. I will try to find time to see you again, however.” The colt gave a small wave, not bothering to get up from his spot on the floor. “Alright, Princess Luna. It’s always nice to see you. Come by anytime.” She left, closing the door behind her without another word. She looked up and down the street, still feeling uncomfortable with the faceless ponies that meandered about aimlessly. Luna had a heavy feeling in her gut, and she chose to investigate further. She made her way towards the alley beside the house, where she found the dumpsters. It all seemed a little too detailed for just a background prop in a dream. As she approached, a familiarly sickening scent wafted to her nostrils, and made her gag slightly. It was an odour she had almost forgotten, but not quite. Opening the dumpster, she found that it was full to the brim with eviscerated gore that resembled equine anatomy. Shredded skin, broken bones, and festering organs of a dozen ponies lay in a mouldering heap, just barely out of sight from the light of the sun. Just as she had suspected, nothing had changed about Poppy Blanch’s dreams of cruelty besides his methodology. He carefully hid his antics now, instead of leaving them on display as he once did. To Luna, that was far more concerning than if the streets were simply splattered with gore as they once were. After all, why would he hide it in the comfort of his own dreams? As she took to the skies and headed for the exit, Luna began to question if Poppy Blanch was as innocent as he claimed to be. She made a mental note to assign a guard to inconspicuously survey the colt until she had the time to investigate further herself. A Dark ObsessionA month later, Princess Twilight Sparkle became the sole ruler of Equestria, and the royal sisters retired from the throne. As happy as she was for Celesita’s protege, Luna was plagued by creeping thoughts of Poppy Blanch in the back of her mind. Even years later, the sights she had witnessed within the colt’s mind haunted her far worse than any other experience in her lifetime. At first, Luna struggled to find Poppy in the waking world. He seemed to not exist in official records, which only added a layer of strangeness to the colt. Eventually, Luna managed to pinpoint his location by finding not him, but his fillyfriend Jade Brook. They lived together in Baltimare, and so Luna had a guard assigned there indefinitely to watch over the colt, and ensure that none of the macabre dreams were spilling over into reality. The guard, Shady Crest, would mail her letters regularly with observations on the matter, as well as his findings on investigating Poppy Blanch’s obscured past. Meanwhile, Luna herself would make occasional trips to Poppy’s dreams during her nightly bouts into the dream world. There, she would discreetly avoid him and only find more of the same: his crooked replica of Baltimare, complete with faceless ponies and dumpsters full of savaged corpses. There was one notable detail that Luna did discover about Poppy’s dreams, however. Every night that Luna would visit to observe him, she found that he would perform the same grim ritual. He would first murder Jade Brook in a horrific display of vulgar brutality, desecrate her corpse in indescribable manner, then use it to cook a meal. The only difference in this routine would be the details in how he killed her, what he did to her remains, and what meal he would prepare. It was astonishing how he never seemed to do the same thing twice. Most disturbing of all perhaps, was how he smiled lovingly at Jade Brook the entire time. All of that was more than enough reason to keep the guard posted in Baltimare. That being said, Luna couldn’t bring herself to make an arrest. Despite it all, she wasn’t convinced that Poppy was actually a threat; it was merely the implication that left her wary. A suspicious feeling and unusually grim dreams were not evidence, after all. The observations of Shady Crest seemed to support Poppy’s innocence, as over time the colt only proved himself to be an upstanding member of the community who served as a trusted and respected pharmacist. Even Shady’s investigations into the mysterious fire that claimed the lives of Poppy’s parents turned up nothing suspicious besides evidence of gross neglect and mistreatment of their son. The ruins of their razed home were demolished, but the stigma of the property meant it was never repurchased. As months dragged on into years, Luna continued her obsessive observation of Poppy Blanch. As the colt grew into a stallion, she continued to stalk his dreams, occasionally visiting him under the guise of a friendly visit. Each time, she tried her best to worm any additional information from the colt, and each time she failed to produce anything certain. All that was clear to her was how the darkness that resided in him as a foal was very much alive into his adulthood. Celestia had taken notice of this, of course. There were times when she urged Luna to cease her investigation into the seemingly innocent stallion, but Luna would always dismiss her sister. She meant well, but Celestia couldn’t understand. She never saw the things that Luna did. Five years of this. Five years of obsession. Obsession driven by the fear that she might have been wrong about the colt. That she had failed to lead him away from the darkness in his heart. That he would become like her. Until one day when Shady Crest’s monthly report came in. Luna poured over it, unsure what she hoped to find scrawled across the parchment. Part of her wished for vindication, for evidence that Poppy Blanch had succumbed to his dark instincts, whereas a more sane part of her hoped that she would never read those words. While there was no evidence of criminal activity, Luna was surprised to read that Poppy was soon to wed Jade Brook. Ironically, Shady Crest had been invited to the event, as he had long since made friends with the enigmatic stallion. Shady went on to explain that although he understood the importance of his mission, he also recommended ending the investigation, as five years later, nothing had changed. Poppy showed no signs of hurting anyone, and if anything, seemed to be completely well adjusted and happy, contrary to Luna’s own observations. He added, respectfully, that Luna should simply enjoy her retirement instead of worrying herself to death over a tragedy that seemed unlikely to come. Luna read the page over several times, almost as though the words might change under scrutiny. She laid it down on her desk, and sighed. Perhaps Shady Crest was right. Perhaps it was time to let go. Did she really intend to hound the strange stallion until the day he died? After sitting and pondering her choice for what felt like hours, Luna penned a response to Shady Crest, relieving him of his post. She read it once more, to make certain that she was ready for this decision. Not wanting to wait until she changed her mind, Luna placed the letter in an envelope, and brought it to the Silver Shoals post office to be mailed out in the morning. As she passed the letter on, Luna felt a weight lift itself from her shoulders. Upon returning home, even Celestia noticed that Luna seemed to have some pep in her step, and correctly assumed that Luna had finally put the investigation to rest. With a tender hug, the elder sibling congratulated Luna on finally moving on with her life before suggesting a share of congratulatory cake. Amused, but not hungry, Luna instead excused herself to bed, wanting to go to sleep early that evening. Curiously, when she went on her rounds through the dreamworld that night, she did not feel the pull towards Poppy’s door, nor did she cast even a single glance in its direction. In fact, she never would again. After all, he never had nightmares. A Good PonyAnother eight years had passed, with nary a worry about Poppy Blanch. Shady Crest would still occasionally send correspondence to Luna every few months, with updates on the young stallion and his wife. Apparently the wedding was lovely, and although Poppy did not expect Luna to make an appearance, the former Princess of the Night was still missed. He apparently made a toast to her, as his first ever friend that he met in his dreams, and who gave him the strength to make a new life for himself. She appreciated that. Ironically, the newlyweds went on to purchase the land that Poppy had been raised on. There, they built a handsome new home and forged new, happy memories in it. They would go on to have a daughter together, and spend the next several years as a picture-perfect suburban family against all expectations. Which only made the letter that arrived one morning all the more shocking. Celesita hadn’t seen her sister in such a frenzy in years, but when Luna explained the situation, the elder sibling understood. Luna left immediately after, not bothering to wait for a chariot. She began the flight across the continent, alone. She needed to see for herself. She arrived in Baltimare the next day, exhausted beyond words, but unflinching in her conviction. She still did not believe the letter. Surely it had to be wrong. Surely things could not have gone so, so wrong. Luna crossed the town, ignoring the awed stares and whispers around her. She knew from past correspondence where to go to find Poppy Blanch’s home, and it did not take her long to arrive there either. Shady Crest was right. The house was lovely. More importantly, there was a moving truck outside the house, as well as workers hauling out furniture and loading it into the back. Just as she suspected, the letter had taken many days to arrive at Silver Shoals. Outside the front of the house was a familiar-looking green mare with blue eyes and a yellow mane. When the mare saw Luna approaching, her eyes went wide with shock and horror. “Jade Brook,” said Luna plainly. It wasn’t a question, she knew who the mare was. “P-princess Luna. You-” the mare stumbled on her words, tears forming in her eyes, “You really came. He said you would.” “Please, just Luna. I am no princess anymore.” She paused, before asking, “I assume that it’s true then? Poppy Blanch has passed away?” The mare nodded slowly, trying her best not to become overwhelmed with emotion. “I- I still don’t understand why he did it. We were so happy together.” Luna knew Poppy Blanch well enough to know that likely wasn’t true, but she didn’t dare mention this to the grieving widow. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could have done. Is your foal well?” Jade took a deep breath, wiping the tears from her eyes. “She’s fine, she’s- She’s with my parents. She’s too young to understand right now, so she thinks that her father is just on a trip.” The young mare bit her lip so hard that Luna feared it would bleed. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell her when she’s older.” Luna wasn’t sure what to say. She looked past Jade Brook at the half-empty home behind her. The workers had apparently sensed the imminent drama, and wisely decided to take a break from their work, clearing out of the house. “He left a letter for you,” said the green mare finally. “He wrote one for me too, but he didn’t explain very much in it. It was mostly apologies and vague explanations, but he asked me to make sure not to read yours. He said it was for your eyes only.” She seemed almost frustrated as she said it, and it was as she took the letter out from a saddlebag and handed it to Luna that the alicorn understood why. It was addressed to “Princess Luna, My First Friend.” Luna felt her heart clench, as she read that. She looked back at Jade Brook, who seemed to be reigning in her emotions. After a moment, she asked, “How did he die, if I might ask?” What little composure Jade had cracked at the question, as she half-cried-half-gagged at the memory. “I… I can’t even describe it to you. I found him in the basement, and- Sweet Celestia, there was blood everywhere. They still haven’t managed to get the stains out! I just can’t understand how I didn’t hear him screaming…” Luna pursed her lips grimly. Holding the letter in her magic, Luna stepped past the widow and headed inside. When she wasn’t stopped, she looked for the stairs down to the basement. When she arrived at the bottom, she found what Jade had meant. A massive dark stain spanned half of the floor, and for the first time in nearly a decade, Luna recalled the fields of red that she witnessed in the mind of Poppy Blanch. She could only imagine what he did to himself down here, though she was certain that at the very least, he did not scream. He never seemed the type to flinch at pain. It was only after surveying the basement that Luna finally opened the letter. Unfolding it, she found that it was neatly penned with careful, deliberate precision atypical of an Earth pony. She could tell that Poppy had taken a long time to write it out. Dear Princess Luna, I’m sorry that it had to come to this. I’m sorry that you have to read this. More than that, I’m sorry that I couldn’t have been stronger. I think you understand, though. You were the only other pony who had ever seen my dreams. You knew exactly what sort of sickness I carried with me. I think you already know what I’m about to say next, but I need to say it anyway. It was no mistake that I killed that rabbit as a foal. I knew what I was doing. I crushed it to death, and I loved every second of it. My parents already kept me hidden away from the world, but when they found me covered in blood with a dead rabbit, they treated me worse than ever. I always wished they were better parents, but I couldn't fault them for their reaction. I still killed them, though. I slit their throats while they slept, and then I tore them apart. I burned down my home, and pretended it was an accident. I was a young colt, scared and hungry, so when the townsfolk found me, of course they believed me. When I told them what my parents did to me, it only made it easier. I wish I could say I regret it, I really do. But I don’t. I am sorry that I lied to you about it before, but I don’t think I could have handled your disappointment then. I’m only coming clean now, because I know I won’t be there to see it on your face. It hurts to imagine what you must look like right now, but that’s better than seeing it for real. As for why I’ve decided to end my own life… It’s because I can’t keep dreaming anymore. I can’t stand it. Every night, I kill my wife and child. Every night I do unspeakable things to them both, and I enjoy every moment of it. It was easy when they weren’t ponies I knew, but it’s different when they're ponies I love. Even now, as I write this, I’m resisting the urge to go back upstairs and well, I think you get the picture. I believed you back then, when you told me that I was a good pony. I doubted it sometimes, because I know good ponies don’t do bad things and then lie about them. But I think you always knew about those things, and you said it anyway. You always believed I was better than my urges. So before they can make me hurt anypony else, I’m going to take one last life. The life of the worst pony I know. Thank you again, Princess. For being my friend. Your friend, Poppy Blanch Author's Note This story is dedicated to everyone who has ever had dreams that they didn't want.
A Lonely Door“May thou sleep peacefully tonight, little one,” cooed the Princess of the Night as she stepped through the door and out of the foal’s dreams, “Nightmare Moon is no more. Thou has nothing to fear. We promise.” The pink and blue filly snuggled deeper into her pile of oversized ursa plushes as she gave a timid wave. She did not seem wholly convinced, but was happy enough that Luna could leave her be. With the foal’s nightmare of Ursas dispelled, Luna could continue her rounds satisfied; and so the Princess closed the door gently behind her. Pacing the aetherial halls of Equestria’s dreamscape slowly, Luna searched for any signs of distress amongst her subjects. She had worked hard to restore order to this place over the course of the past month, and although her own sleep had suffered for it, she was happy to know that the ponies of Equestria rested easy now that she had returned to them. It was not easy, of course. Returning from her thousand year imprisonment had been… tumultuous, to say the least. Thankfully, her sister had prepared well, and there were worthy heroes waiting to meet her and restore order where Celestia had failed all those centuries ago. The defeat of Nightmare Moon was swift, even if recovery was difficult. Luna was thankful, of course, to once again be herself; but she felt deep pangs of guilt as she trotted along the psychic corridors. Had she been more mindful, more careful of her own misgivings and fears, the ponies of Equestria would not have had to fend for themselves in their sleep the past thousand years. Her first night in the dreamscape was as terrible as it was disheartening. All across the land of dreams there were dark tendrils of terror and misery that had spread and rooted themselves in the minds of countless ponies; an insidious corruption that infected their slumber with fear and dread. Her thousand years of absence had let it grow unchecked like weeds, and she was ashamed to see just how many such nightmares involved her more insidious alter ego. As Princess of the Night, it was her duty to tend to such things, and so she did with all the fervour and tenacity she could muster. It was exhausting work, to be sure; but seeing her beloved dreamland free of nightmares was worth the effort, even if not all denizens were particularly happy to see her at work. If nothing else, it helped her regain some good will, and it meant that perhaps someday soon she would be able to make public appearances again without foals running in fear of her. When she didn’t sense any more nightmares in her domain, Luna prepared to return to her own dreams for the night. Just before she slipped out of the Equestrian dreamscape, however, something stopped her. It wasn’t a nightmare, but something… strange. Off-putting, yet subtle enough that she wouldn’t have picked up on it while there were more obvious nightmares causing issues in the dream world. Unfurling her wings, Luna took off in the direction of the disturbance. She couldn’t determine what it was, but at the very least she could tell something wasn’t quite right. She flew for a long time, longer than she expected to. As she glided along the aetherial currents, she could slowly but surely feel the unease worsen the closer she came. Looking down, she saw that she was approaching the outskirts of the dream world. Fewer and fewer doors were visible, until none at all. Still, she hadn’t arrived yet. Luna flew for another several minutes until she had come to a strange island of dry and barren landscape floating amongst the starry space that made up the dreamworld. There, in the middle of the small platform was a single red door. It sat completely alone and completely disconnected from the rest of the minds of Equestria; a drop of crimson amongst a backdrop of charcoal. She wondered if it was even a pony to be hidden so far away that even she had trouble finding it. It was as she landed beside it that the smell struck her. It was faint, but eerily familiar to her. Like a perfume worn by a passerby from years ago. That proved to her that whatever was going on inside of this dream was extremely unusual. Such tactile sensations should be imperceivable from beyond the door, yet they were so potent here that it leaked out into the dreamworld beyond. Reaching forward, Luna pressed a hoof against the door to open it, but found that it did not move. Almost like the door was stuck, or even locked. She raised an eyebrow in confusion, as she had never encountered something like that before. She gave a sturdier push, and felt the door give slightly, but the scent hit her stronger now. It was harsh and bitter, but she still couldn’t quite place it. Frustration growing, Luna’s eyes burned with light as she mustered her strength. “Who art thou to deny us in this place? This is our domain, and thou shall yield to your Princess!” Rearing back, Luna stomped forward against the door, and finally whatever was stopping it gave way. With a satisfied grin, Luna took a step forward but was immediately stopped again by the scent that reached her nostrils, now paired with the sight of what laid beyond the door. Blood. That strange, disconcerting aroma she had smelled was blood. Not just a small amount, like a scrape from a fall or from a broken bone. It wasn’t the acrid bitterness of a single pony’s blood, but the choking miasma of an ocean of gore, like a hundred mass graves filled to the brim with eviscerated carcasses. The source of the scent was plain to see, as just beyond the threshold of the door was red. Pure, unending red. Luna shivered as she resisted the urge to retch at the sight of what seemed to be unending mountains of bodies. Ponies, dragons, griffons, and countless other species were stacked together in a display of bloodshed on a scale that she didn’t even think was conceivable. Her horn flared with magic as she yanked the door shut again, unable to bear the sight or scent for a second longer. Her gagging finally got the better of her as he emptied her stomach’s contents onto the dry ground beneath her; something she didn’t even know she could do in the dreamworld. The dead soil beneath her hooves mixed with her sick, turning into a foul slurry as questions flooded her mind, racing to understand what she had just witnessed. She glanced back at the crimson door again, wondering how whatever that was wasn’t a nightmare. She questioned why such a dreamland was here, so isolated from every other pony in Equestria. She knew that the world of dreams existed even before her, but she was so certain that in all of her years as a dreamwalker she had learned everything there was to know about the primordial place, but she was clearly sorely mistaken. She couldn’t approach it again, not now. She could tell at the very least, whatever was here was no threat to her subjects with how far away it was. Her heart filled with dread, Luna absconded away for now. She was determined to return someday, when she mustered the bravery to face whoever or whatever was beyond that door, because as horrible as it was, it was in her domain; and that made it one of her subjects.
A Strange ColtIt wasn’t for another week that Luna was able to return to the crimson door. Each night when she did her rounds of the dream world, she would try her best to ignore the ever so subtle pull that she felt towards that place. She didn’t want to think about it, she wasn’t ready to face it. But it was as she helped several dozen more ponies face their fears, Luna became more confident. She was, after all, the Princess of the Night. All things frightening and terrible lurked in the darkness, and the dark was her domain. So, after nearly an hour of pacing and deliberation, Luna returned to that place. She found herself standing before the door again, with that vile stench wafting out from through the darkened wood. The Princess reached out slowly, doing her best to steel her nerves. Hopefully this time she wouldn’t vomit. She woke up in a puddle of her own puke that morning, which wasn’t pleasant. Opening the door this time wasn’t nearly as difficult this time as it was the first. Luna figured that whatever was blocking the entrance last time was dispelled by her, but a small part of her feared the implications of that. Pushing that thought aside, she moved forward into the valley of gore that awaited her. Her eyes watered at the strangling odour of the place, and she shivered at the feeling of soft, putrid flesh squelching underhoof. Not wanting to stand there any longer than she needed to, Luna unfurled her wings and kicked the door shut behind her before taking to the skies. While in the dream of another, she could sense their presence no matter where they were within that dream. Thus, the Princess of the Night flew straight for the owner of this disgusting fantasy. No matter how high she flew, she couldn’t escape the scent that seemed to reek to the heavens, but from a birds-eye view, it was easy to see why that was. The valley of gore was more like a continent; a mass of blood-red viscera that stretched to the horizon and beyond, with red oceans filling the space between. She didn’t even believe that there were enough bodies in the world to fulfill this dream, which only made her stomach churn. Every time she was reminded of the fact that this was in fact not a nightmare sent a shiver down her spine. By the time Luna approached the ground again, her nose had completely gone blind to the overwhelming stench. She assumed that even long after waking up, her nostrils would still burn with the stink of carcasses and blood. She hoped that she wouldn’t need to be here much longer as she spotted the object of her search. In a clearing, there was a sprawled body of an enormous dragon, and in its open chest cavity she could see a young colt writhing amongst the wet innards. He seemed to spot her too, and he waved at her as she approached. Landing on the dragon’s belly, Luna couldn’t help but grimace at the sight. A scrawny, blood-soaked colt was looking up at her with deep crimson eyes that matched the viscera that he sat in. There was a curious yet excited glimmer in his gaze as he regarded her presence. It told her that he didn’t recognize who she was, but was interested all the same. “No one has ever visited before,” he said, with a hushed voice that almost sounded parched. “Who are you?” Luna clenched her jaw, unsure what to make of the situation. She wasn’t used to this feeling. Every single other pony she had met in the past month had recognized her, and reacted with fear. How this foal did not was beyond her, as she had been certain that everypony knew the stories of Nightmare Moon. At the very least, he should have recognized her as Alicorn Royalty. Instead, he simply spoke with the same casualness of greeting a stranger. After several long seconds, she finally spoke. “We are Princess Luna.” She paused, the dozens of questions straining to push their way to the front of her mind. She decided to ask the simplest one first. “What is your name, little one?” He blinked twice at her, cocking his head slightly. Finally a small smile crept across his lips. “My name is Poppy Blanch. Are you really a princess?” Luna nodded slowly, mildly off-put by the sight of the colt smiling at her while red dripped from his scraggy form. “Yes, we are.” She looked around at their surroundings again, still trying to make sense of things. “Why are thou here? Surely this is no place for a foal such as yourself.” He quickly averted his eyes shamefully. “Oh… Well, I like it here. It’s nice. It makes me happy.” Luna’s snout scrunched in disgust at that. “Happy? What about this place could possibly make you feel happy?” Poppy Blanch’s ears flattened against his head. “I don’t know. It just does.” He seemed to cower from her, retreating slowly back into the dragon’s innards. “I’m sorry if I did something wrong. I can stop if you want.” The Princess opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. This place was no nightmare, but it was still wrong. But it was unlikely to be because of the colt himself, and chastising him was unlikely to help the situation. Taking a tenuous breath, Luna bowed her head slightly. “We are sorry, little one. Your dream… It confuses us. We have walked amongst the dreams of countless ponies over many years, and never seen anything like this place. We… Struggle to understand the appeal.” He looked up at her again, finally. He remained cautious, tapping his forehooves together nervously. “I don’t really know, Princess. I’ve always had these dreams. Though, my parents always told me never to talk to anypony about them. They said it’s bad that I dream of this stuff. Is it really bad? Should I stop?” Luna considered the door outside, and how it was completely disconnected from the rest of the Equestrian dreamscape. This entire circumstance was so completely unique, she wasn’t sure if this colt was even capable of dreaming about anything else. She furrowed her brow with concern as she spoke slowly. “Do you ever try to… do this in the waking world? Hurt other creatures?” “No!” he said quickly, with the heavy tone of guilt obvious in his hoarse voice. “Not anymore, I mean. I… I hurt a bunny once. But I haven’t done it since, I promise!” Luna’s eyes widened as her worry grew. “What did thou do to the bunny, Poppy Blanch?” The colt began to retreat away from Luna’s gaze again as he recalled the memory. “I… I hurt the bunny, but I didn’t mean to! He was just so soft and cute… And so I hugged him. I kept hugging him tighter and tighter until he stopped moving and-” Poppy Blanch couldn’t get anymore words out as tears began to stream down his face. The dream around them began to ripple and distort as the colt’s panic began to wake him up. Luna knew that she was too far from the exit, and if the dream collapsed while she was in it, it would be unpleasant for both of them. A light emanated from her horn as she cast a spell to hold the dream together a little while longer. Steeling herself once again, she stepped down into the bloody viscera of the dragon until she was submerged to her knees. Princess Luna trudged through gore until she was close enough to take the colt in her forelegs. At first, he resisted, but as she wrapped him in her wings and pulled him close, he began to calm, and the dream began to stabilize again. “We are sorry, little one. Thine heart is heavy with grief for something beyond thine own understanding. We do not hold it against you. It is clear that you mean no harm, and neither do we. Breathe easy, and be calm. We are here for thou now. No judgement, no anger, no fear.” Poppy Blanch’s crying subsided as the Princess spoke slowly and gently to him. Even as this soaked fur stained her own a deep scarlet, she held him tight. She knew better than anyone else what it was like to carry the guilt of a crime that you didn’t mean to commit. They stayed like that for several more minutes, until his breathing slowed. He pulled away from her, and she let him go after a second of hesitation. “You talk funny,” he finally said with a small smile. Luna was about to correct him to say that she only speaks in traditional tongue, but relented, instead nodding in agreement. Turning from her, he climbed out of the dragon’s chest, and she followed after him. He stood there, looking up at the darkened sky as the red began to drip off of his body. Climbing down after him, Luna realized that the blood left no stain on his coat as it drained away. She watched with curiosity as the red turned to the purest of white. The lanky colt looked almost skeletal with his white coat and short grey mane. Catching her gaze, Poppy Blanch turned back towards Princess Luna, a small smile on his cracked lips. “Will you come back to visit me again, Princess? It was nice to see someone new… And I’d like to talk to you again. You’re really nice.” Luna looked down at her blood-slicked hooves, where she could see the crushed bones of numerous creatures beneath them. Some part of her deep down found the crunch to be almost satisfying, but she pushed that part deeper down. After a moment, she looked back at him. “Time permitting, we shall, little one. There is still much about your dreams that we do not understand. We hope to, someday.” “Ok, Princess. I can’t wait.” With nothing more to say, Luna took off, flying back towards the entrance before the colt could wake up. She still was no closer to understanding why this dreamscape was so different from any other, or why Poppy Blanch was seemingly possessed with a love for the macabre, but at the very least she knew that there was no monster behind the door, just a confused foal.
A Sinister ConditionAs time passed, Luna found herself becoming disconcertingly comfortable with the stench of putrid blood and rotting flesh. Desensitization was an inevitable side effect of her frequent visits with Poppy Blanch, but instead of making her feel better about the whole situation, it only made her feel worse. On the nights that she came to visit, she would always stumble upon the young colt doing something beyond reprehensible in his nightmarish refuge. Some nights he would be mashing flesh and bone underhoof in acts of mindless violence. Others he would be mangling the corpses like twisted art displays. One night, she even found him gnawing on the remains of a pony, to her utter revulsion. Always though, Poppy Blanch would stop what he was doing and greet her with complete polite lucidity, as if he had not just been committing acts that otherwise would have branded him as a raving lunatic. Luna would always do her best to hide her disgust, but even as weeks turned to months, he always managed to surprise her with new depths of depravity that she wouldn’t have considered even as Nightmare Moon. If it wasn’t for how calm and collected he seemed during her visits, she might have feared him. If anything, she was frightened by the fact that she still could not understand what drove him to such acts. During their time together, Luna would do her best to learn more about him, and as time went on, he became more receptive to questions prodding his mind. All but questions relating to his waking hours, which he always politely refused with a smile. The more she learned, however, the less she understood. She learned that for whatever reason, Poppy Blanch always had a fascination with the macabre, and for as long as he could remember, his dreams were violent and gruesome. He always made sure to emphasize that they were dreams, and that he never did any of it while awake. More curiously, he never had any nightmares. He would joke that the nightmares were too scared of his dreams to come for him, and yet Luna found herself agreeing. There was nothing that the nightmares could do to him that he hadn’t already gleefully done to one of the countless bodies littering his dreamscape. That being said, he seemed shockingly normal at times as well. Although he never gave details about his family or home, he would sometimes divulge her in his interests and hobbies. He had a keen mind for herbalism, and although he had not yet earned his cutie mark, he hoped it had something to do with that. Sometimes the two of them would play chess together, and although he never won, he was certainly improving. He was quite intelligent for his age, and almost reminded Luna of Celestia’s pupil, in a way. These seemingly conflicting aspects only compounded Luna’s curiosity and confusion in equal measure, however. When she was awake, Luna would spend many hours a day pouring over ancient scrolls and tomes in the Canterlot Library. She had hoped that in the past thousand years, some doctor or magician would have encountered some similar case and recorded it for study. Unfortunately, she found no such circumstance, regardless of how hard she looked. Even studies from foreign lands around the world failed to illuminate the mystery of Poppy Blanch’s disturbing impulses. When traditional medical and magical wisdom failed her, she turned to the restricted section of the library. Because it required both sisters to open, Celesita was of course curious as to what Luna was researching, but the Princess of the Night didn’t dare discuss the situation with her sister. Celesita had enough on her plate, and didn’t need the extra concern of Poppy Blanch on her mind. When Luna assured her that the situation was under control, Celestia begrudgingly agreed to trust her; a show of faith that did not go unappreciated by the younger sister, especially after the past thousand years of heartache. Unfortunately for Luna, even the most secretive knowledge of the forbidden wing bore no fruit. No matter what dark secrets she unveiled in a search for answers, she found none that resembled the plight of the young colt. She had uncovered deep evils and horrors from ages long past, but nothing quite like the curious case of Poppy Blanch. It seemed that against all reason, there was nothing particularly unusual about the colt, beside his uniquely disturbing fixation with murder. Whatever made him so special was beyond Luna’s reckoning, and although that in of itself terrified her, it did not frighten her as much as the fact that the young colt seemed perfectly content with his condition, as if it was the most typical thing in the world.
A First FriendFinishing her rounds for the night, Luna stared off into the distance where she knew Poppy Blanch’s dreams resided. She had flown there often enough to know the place by heart, even if she didn’t feel that gentle pull towards it. She was certain that centuries from now, long after the colt was gone, her idle gaze would find its way to that spot on the horizon still. She hadn’t visited him for some time now, as her visits had slowly become less and less frequent the more sure she was that he was no threat. An enigma, to be sure, but not a dangerous one. He never minded the spaces between their meetings, of course. He was always happy to see her, whether it had been a day or a month. Deciding that today was as good a night as any to pay the strange colt a visit, Luna double checked that no nightmares remained active in her dreamland before she took off in the direction of Poppy’s scarlet sanctum. It didn’t take very long at all, and when she arrived she couldn’t help but notice that the rough edges of the craggy ground that his door rested upon seemed a little smoother today than usual. The door looked the same as ever, and upon pushing her way inside, she found herself faced once again with the stench of decay and the dripping red of death. Interestingly, like the exterior, the dream itself seemed different today. Instead of the endless mountains of bodies, she found that there were not so many this time. Still uncountable corpses piled high into rolling hills, but a magnitude fewer than the norm. Curiously, Luna set off to find the dream’s owner, and only within a minute’s time she found him in a clearing where he seemed to be playing jump rope with some creature’s entrails. Upon seeing her approach, he ended his morbid play and began to trot towards her with an unusually cheerful pep in his step. “I see your realm has changed, little one. Has something happened?” The scrawny colt looked around with a curious expression. “Everything looks the same to me, Princess Luna. I don’t know what you mean.” The alicorn pursed her lips, unsure of how he could have missed the change in landscape. However, her eyes lit up at another difference before her. “I see you have earned your cutie mark, Poppy Blanch!” As she said that, his face beamed happily as he twisted to better slow off the image on his flank. As he had hoped, his special talent had nothing to do with the bloodshed that surrounded him now. Instead, it showed a mortar and pestle alongside a bundle of herbs. “I almost can’t believe it, Princess! I got a cutie mark in medicine, just like how I wanted!” It was strange to see a foal celebrating earning their cutie mark whilst standing in a field of gore, but there was nothing typical about the colt in question. Instead of ruminating on that, Luna nodded her head proudly. “Do tell, Poppy Blanch, how did you discover your talent?” Poppy Blanch seemed to deliberate it for a moment, weighing within himself whether or not he should tell Luna. She noticed this, and was about to ask when he smiled again and began to speak. “Well, today I decided to sneak out of my house to explore the woods. My mom and dad don’t like me leaving without their permission, but they almost never give me permission, so I don’t bother to ask anymore.” Luna furrowed her brow at that, but let him continue his story. “While I was outside, I found a filly who had hurt her leg. She was exploring the woods too, and lost her balance and fell. Her leg was scraped up pretty bad, but there were some flowers nearby that I remembered from one of my mom’s books! I took some of the flowers and roots, and chewed them up into a paste and put it on her scrapes. She was grossed out at first, but when the pain went away she was really thankful!” Luna considered her next words carefully. “I… Have several questions. Those can wait, however. I am happy to hear that you’ve earned your cutie mark in a benevolent field. Perhaps this filly is also to be a friend of yours?” Poppy Blanch blushed at that, giving his pale face some colour. “I think so. We played for a little while before I had to go home. Her name is Jade Brook, and she said she wanted to play again sometime! She’s my first ever friend, I think.” He paused, before looking apologetically up at Luna. “Aside from you, Princess.” Luna was taken aback by this, not realizing that he had truly considered her a friend all this time. Her expression spoke volumes though, and Poppy Blanch read it well. “I know you probably haven’t considered me a friend, but I am happy that you’ve come to visit me so many times. It’s really nice of you.” He punctuated the statement with a small, earnest smile. “To be honest with you, Poppy Blanch, I am new to matters of friendship. Only just recently have I made my own first friends during last month's Nightmare Night celebration. They have been helping me adjust to… modern times.” Poppy’s smile grew a bit more. “I was wondering why you weren't talking funny tonight like you normally do. I guess we're both making new friends.” Luna nodded in agreement with a chuckle. “Yes, I suppose we are. Though, I am also more than happy to call you a friend as well, Poppy Blanch.”
A Small ComfortLuna sat uncomfortably on a dead cow as she studied Poppy quietly. He hadn’t said much today, beyond his normal greeting. He hadn’t done very much either. He merely sat across from her atop a mule carcass, seemingly deep in thought. They had sat like that for some time now, and Luna wasn’t sure how to break the silence. Thankfully, Poppy spoke first. His voice was somber and barely above a whisper. “Do you know what’s wrong with me, Luna?” The question caught her off-guard, and while she tried to think of an answer, Poppy continued. “I know something is wrong with me. I’m not normal, I never have been. Today, I saw Jade Brook again. We were walking and talking together, and she asked me what I dream about at night. I asked her, and she said she dreams of cute animals, lots of candy and fun games. I told her I dream of the same things.” He paused, looking up at Luna. She saw the tired look in his eyes, but didn’t dare to stop him now. He rarely spoke of his waking hours, so it was undoubtedly important when he did. “Of course, we both know that it was a lie. I dream of this place. More than that, I dream of hurting ponies. Of hurting Jade. I just wish I knew why.” Luna had never before questioned where the mounds of corpses came from, but it only occurred to her just then that he must be making them himself. There had been a few times in the past where she could have sworn that a carcass he was playing with had been moving, but she always convinced herself it was her eyes playing tricks on her. It was easier to imagine that they merely spontaneously appeared as he slept. Even now, after months of study, she had no answers as to the source of his innate cruelty. “I do not know either,” she finally said. They sat in silence for a moment, both trying to think of what to say next. Finally, the colt asked, “Does this make me a bad pony?” The alicorn frowned. “Do you wish to bring harm to others? Do you want to be a bad pony?” Poppy Blanch hesitated. He hesitates for longer than Luna had hoped. “I like doing what I do here. Part of me wishes I could do it in real life too, but I also don’t want to be a bad pony either.” Luna narrowed her eyes at him, and he quickly added, “I know that these things are bad, and I won’t ever actually do any of it in real life, but I can’t stop myself from dreaming about it. From wanting to do it.” Luna couldn't help but think of her Tantabus, and how she relived her own personal nightmares every night. She considered what it must feel like for Poppy Blanch, and realized that the difference between him and her is that she had already acted on those impulses. She already became Nightmare Moon, and hurt other ponies in the past. He had yet to do any of this. He could still be saved before he ever walked down that path. He could be better than her. “I believe that regardless of why you may dream as you do, it does not define you, Poppy Blanch. Your dreams may be grim and full of bloodshed, but your heart is pure. You have done well to resist your temptations for this long.” She paused before adding, “It is not your desires that determine your goodness, but your actions. You have yet to hurt anypony; to act out these dark urges of yours. You are a good pony, as far as I am concerned.” He listened to her words carefully, and nodded when she finished her speech. He seemed to have taken the words in, but she couldn’t tell if they made any impact. His expression was still stern, and indecisive. “Thank you, Luna,” was the last thing he said that night.
A Thin VineerSome time passes. Luna’s visits become irregular, and she never stays for long. Poppy seems fine with this. He is always glad to see her when she comes by, and he sometimes tells her about Jade Brook, although he still speaks little of his family or home. Luna knew that by knowing Jade Brook’s name, she could track down the troubled colt in the waking world if she wanted to, but chose not to. Regardless of how insistent she was, Poppy Blanch always assured her that he was fine at home. Unhappy, clearly, but fine. It was not her place to intrude on that against his wishes, and so Luna begrudgingly respected his wishes. As months turned to years, Luna grew more comfortable with the new world around her. She learned to better trust her own friends, and slowly repaired her relationship with her sister. Eventually, she even learned to forgive herself for her stint as Nightmare Moon, and all the heartache that came with it. It was strange to dream without the Tantabus, but it was refreshing. Like a weight had been lifted from her soul. When she thought about how horrible her own dreams had been for so long, she couldn’t help but cast her mind towards Poppy Blanch. She felt guilty, not visiting him in so long. She had good reasons, of course. She had been more busy than ever in the past few weeks, preparing for the coronation of Twilight Sparkle, and dealing with various national threats before even that. Pulling double shifts between the waking castle and the dreamscape left Luna far too exhausted to make courtesy visits. The only thing that gave her comfort was the fact that the last they had spoken, he was doing well. His friendship with Jade Brook was strong, and as far as she could tell, he slept as peacefully as ever in his far-off secluded spot in the dream lands. She never needed to quell nightmares in his dreams, which reminded her of a joke he told when they first met years ago. “The nightmares are too scared of my dreams to come for me,” he said. It seemed that even years later, there was truth in that. Without really thinking about it, Luna had flown back out to his strange red door once again. She was surprised to find that the dark, barren earth that grew around the door was now grassy and soft. Various flowers were even growing. Amongst the bright and flowing nebula of magic that made up the rest of the dream world, it was a peculiar sight for sure, but it was far more pleasing to the eye than the dry earth that was once there before. Pushing open the red door, Luna found herself stepping out into a completely unfamiliar place. Instead of the mountains of bone and viscera, Luna found that the door instead opened up into a fairly normal looking town. Unlike someplace like Ponyville, there were no thatched wooden cottages in sight. Instead, the town’s buildings were constructed from more modern brick and mortar; a detail that Luna took note of in case she needed to find Poppy’s home in the waking world. As she walked through the town, she noticed that the ponies who passed her by seemed to have no faces. They moved somewhat stiffly, but still turned to look at her as she passed with their vacant faces. For most ponies, such a setting would be prime breeding grounds for a nightmare, but she knew all too well that Poppy Blanch was no common pony. She followed her senses to the heart of the dream, knowing that he would be at the center of it all. The gentle, familiar pull brought her to a small home, and she stepped across the threshold of the front door. Just inside, Luna found Poppy Blanch playing chess with a green filly who she presumed to be Jade Brook. Thankfully, the filly had her face intact. Luna smiled at the sight of him. He seemed far healthier than when she had last seen him, with more weight on his lanky frame. His coat was shinier, and even his crimson eyes seemed to glisten with some more life to them. The skeletal, sickly-looking colt she once knew seemed a lifetime away now. Poppy looked up at Luna with wide eyes. “Princess! What are you doing here?” His voice no longer sounded coarse, and he spoke not with distress but merely surprise. “Checking up on you, Poppy Blanch,” replied the alicorn with a cautious tone. “I’m pleased to see that you’re no longer dreaming of… red.” The colt blinked twice at the Princess, before nodding with a smile. “Not lately, no. Things are much nicer around here, aren’t they?” He nodded his head toward the filly, who hadn’t moved since Luna arrived. “This is Jade Brook. Or at least, it’s the version of her I dream about. She’s much nicer in person.” Luna cast a passing glance at the approximation in front of her, before returning her gaze to the colt. “You look healthier. Taller.” Poppy Blanch looked himself over, before nodding again. “I guess I do. Things are better in real life. I’m living with Jade Brook now.” He blushed, quickly adding, “She’s my fillyfriend now too.” The Princess was surprised by that, and it showed clearly in her expression. “You live with her, you say? What happened to your parents?” Poppy turned his eyes to the ground solemnly. “They’re gone now… T-there was a fire.” Just as quickly though, his expression lit back up again. “Brook’s family took me in, though! They’re really nice!” Luna cocked her head curiously at the young colt. He didn’t seem very bothered at all about the loss of his parents, and the way that he so quickly changed the subject was another red flag for her. She wanted nothing more than to believe that it was just an accident, and that he was merely coping with it well. That’s what she wanted to believe. “I’m studying to become an apothecary,” said Poppy, snapping Luna out of her thoughts. “I want to be able to help ponies with my special talent.” He sounded earnest, but with everything else Luna had seen during this dream, it only seemed more uncanny. “I’m happy to hear that, Poppy Blanch. I think you’d make a fine medicine pony.” Her words felt uncertain now, and the colt seemed to notice that. Almost whispering, he asked “Do you trust me, Princess? Do you still believe I’m a good pony?” Luna opened her mouth to answer, but found the words failing to form. The hesitation spoke volumes, but she still managed to speak the words anyway. “I do.” He didn’t respond to that. Quietly, he studied her expression for a moment, until he gave a small, reassuring smile. After several more excruciating seconds of silence, Luna turned towards the door. “I’m glad you’re doing well, Poppy Blanch. I’m afraid I must take my leave now, there is much to do in Canterlot these days, and my free time is sparse. I will try to find time to see you again, however.” The colt gave a small wave, not bothering to get up from his spot on the floor. “Alright, Princess Luna. It’s always nice to see you. Come by anytime.” She left, closing the door behind her without another word. She looked up and down the street, still feeling uncomfortable with the faceless ponies that meandered about aimlessly. Luna had a heavy feeling in her gut, and she chose to investigate further. She made her way towards the alley beside the house, where she found the dumpsters. It all seemed a little too detailed for just a background prop in a dream. As she approached, a familiarly sickening scent wafted to her nostrils, and made her gag slightly. It was an odour she had almost forgotten, but not quite. Opening the dumpster, she found that it was full to the brim with eviscerated gore that resembled equine anatomy. Shredded skin, broken bones, and festering organs of a dozen ponies lay in a mouldering heap, just barely out of sight from the light of the sun. Just as she had suspected, nothing had changed about Poppy Blanch’s dreams of cruelty besides his methodology. He carefully hid his antics now, instead of leaving them on display as he once did. To Luna, that was far more concerning than if the streets were simply splattered with gore as they once were. After all, why would he hide it in the comfort of his own dreams? As she took to the skies and headed for the exit, Luna began to question if Poppy Blanch was as innocent as he claimed to be. She made a mental note to assign a guard to inconspicuously survey the colt until she had the time to investigate further herself.
A Dark ObsessionA month later, Princess Twilight Sparkle became the sole ruler of Equestria, and the royal sisters retired from the throne. As happy as she was for Celesita’s protege, Luna was plagued by creeping thoughts of Poppy Blanch in the back of her mind. Even years later, the sights she had witnessed within the colt’s mind haunted her far worse than any other experience in her lifetime. At first, Luna struggled to find Poppy in the waking world. He seemed to not exist in official records, which only added a layer of strangeness to the colt. Eventually, Luna managed to pinpoint his location by finding not him, but his fillyfriend Jade Brook. They lived together in Baltimare, and so Luna had a guard assigned there indefinitely to watch over the colt, and ensure that none of the macabre dreams were spilling over into reality. The guard, Shady Crest, would mail her letters regularly with observations on the matter, as well as his findings on investigating Poppy Blanch’s obscured past. Meanwhile, Luna herself would make occasional trips to Poppy’s dreams during her nightly bouts into the dream world. There, she would discreetly avoid him and only find more of the same: his crooked replica of Baltimare, complete with faceless ponies and dumpsters full of savaged corpses. There was one notable detail that Luna did discover about Poppy’s dreams, however. Every night that Luna would visit to observe him, she found that he would perform the same grim ritual. He would first murder Jade Brook in a horrific display of vulgar brutality, desecrate her corpse in indescribable manner, then use it to cook a meal. The only difference in this routine would be the details in how he killed her, what he did to her remains, and what meal he would prepare. It was astonishing how he never seemed to do the same thing twice. Most disturbing of all perhaps, was how he smiled lovingly at Jade Brook the entire time. All of that was more than enough reason to keep the guard posted in Baltimare. That being said, Luna couldn’t bring herself to make an arrest. Despite it all, she wasn’t convinced that Poppy was actually a threat; it was merely the implication that left her wary. A suspicious feeling and unusually grim dreams were not evidence, after all. The observations of Shady Crest seemed to support Poppy’s innocence, as over time the colt only proved himself to be an upstanding member of the community who served as a trusted and respected pharmacist. Even Shady’s investigations into the mysterious fire that claimed the lives of Poppy’s parents turned up nothing suspicious besides evidence of gross neglect and mistreatment of their son. The ruins of their razed home were demolished, but the stigma of the property meant it was never repurchased. As months dragged on into years, Luna continued her obsessive observation of Poppy Blanch. As the colt grew into a stallion, she continued to stalk his dreams, occasionally visiting him under the guise of a friendly visit. Each time, she tried her best to worm any additional information from the colt, and each time she failed to produce anything certain. All that was clear to her was how the darkness that resided in him as a foal was very much alive into his adulthood. Celestia had taken notice of this, of course. There were times when she urged Luna to cease her investigation into the seemingly innocent stallion, but Luna would always dismiss her sister. She meant well, but Celestia couldn’t understand. She never saw the things that Luna did. Five years of this. Five years of obsession. Obsession driven by the fear that she might have been wrong about the colt. That she had failed to lead him away from the darkness in his heart. That he would become like her. Until one day when Shady Crest’s monthly report came in. Luna poured over it, unsure what she hoped to find scrawled across the parchment. Part of her wished for vindication, for evidence that Poppy Blanch had succumbed to his dark instincts, whereas a more sane part of her hoped that she would never read those words. While there was no evidence of criminal activity, Luna was surprised to read that Poppy was soon to wed Jade Brook. Ironically, Shady Crest had been invited to the event, as he had long since made friends with the enigmatic stallion. Shady went on to explain that although he understood the importance of his mission, he also recommended ending the investigation, as five years later, nothing had changed. Poppy showed no signs of hurting anyone, and if anything, seemed to be completely well adjusted and happy, contrary to Luna’s own observations. He added, respectfully, that Luna should simply enjoy her retirement instead of worrying herself to death over a tragedy that seemed unlikely to come. Luna read the page over several times, almost as though the words might change under scrutiny. She laid it down on her desk, and sighed. Perhaps Shady Crest was right. Perhaps it was time to let go. Did she really intend to hound the strange stallion until the day he died? After sitting and pondering her choice for what felt like hours, Luna penned a response to Shady Crest, relieving him of his post. She read it once more, to make certain that she was ready for this decision. Not wanting to wait until she changed her mind, Luna placed the letter in an envelope, and brought it to the Silver Shoals post office to be mailed out in the morning. As she passed the letter on, Luna felt a weight lift itself from her shoulders. Upon returning home, even Celestia noticed that Luna seemed to have some pep in her step, and correctly assumed that Luna had finally put the investigation to rest. With a tender hug, the elder sibling congratulated Luna on finally moving on with her life before suggesting a share of congratulatory cake. Amused, but not hungry, Luna instead excused herself to bed, wanting to go to sleep early that evening. Curiously, when she went on her rounds through the dreamworld that night, she did not feel the pull towards Poppy’s door, nor did she cast even a single glance in its direction. In fact, she never would again. After all, he never had nightmares.
A Good PonyAnother eight years had passed, with nary a worry about Poppy Blanch. Shady Crest would still occasionally send correspondence to Luna every few months, with updates on the young stallion and his wife. Apparently the wedding was lovely, and although Poppy did not expect Luna to make an appearance, the former Princess of the Night was still missed. He apparently made a toast to her, as his first ever friend that he met in his dreams, and who gave him the strength to make a new life for himself. She appreciated that. Ironically, the newlyweds went on to purchase the land that Poppy had been raised on. There, they built a handsome new home and forged new, happy memories in it. They would go on to have a daughter together, and spend the next several years as a picture-perfect suburban family against all expectations. Which only made the letter that arrived one morning all the more shocking. Celesita hadn’t seen her sister in such a frenzy in years, but when Luna explained the situation, the elder sibling understood. Luna left immediately after, not bothering to wait for a chariot. She began the flight across the continent, alone. She needed to see for herself. She arrived in Baltimare the next day, exhausted beyond words, but unflinching in her conviction. She still did not believe the letter. Surely it had to be wrong. Surely things could not have gone so, so wrong. Luna crossed the town, ignoring the awed stares and whispers around her. She knew from past correspondence where to go to find Poppy Blanch’s home, and it did not take her long to arrive there either. Shady Crest was right. The house was lovely. More importantly, there was a moving truck outside the house, as well as workers hauling out furniture and loading it into the back. Just as she suspected, the letter had taken many days to arrive at Silver Shoals. Outside the front of the house was a familiar-looking green mare with blue eyes and a yellow mane. When the mare saw Luna approaching, her eyes went wide with shock and horror. “Jade Brook,” said Luna plainly. It wasn’t a question, she knew who the mare was. “P-princess Luna. You-” the mare stumbled on her words, tears forming in her eyes, “You really came. He said you would.” “Please, just Luna. I am no princess anymore.” She paused, before asking, “I assume that it’s true then? Poppy Blanch has passed away?” The mare nodded slowly, trying her best not to become overwhelmed with emotion. “I- I still don’t understand why he did it. We were so happy together.” Luna knew Poppy Blanch well enough to know that likely wasn’t true, but she didn’t dare mention this to the grieving widow. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could have done. Is your foal well?” Jade took a deep breath, wiping the tears from her eyes. “She’s fine, she’s- She’s with my parents. She’s too young to understand right now, so she thinks that her father is just on a trip.” The young mare bit her lip so hard that Luna feared it would bleed. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell her when she’s older.” Luna wasn’t sure what to say. She looked past Jade Brook at the half-empty home behind her. The workers had apparently sensed the imminent drama, and wisely decided to take a break from their work, clearing out of the house. “He left a letter for you,” said the green mare finally. “He wrote one for me too, but he didn’t explain very much in it. It was mostly apologies and vague explanations, but he asked me to make sure not to read yours. He said it was for your eyes only.” She seemed almost frustrated as she said it, and it was as she took the letter out from a saddlebag and handed it to Luna that the alicorn understood why. It was addressed to “Princess Luna, My First Friend.” Luna felt her heart clench, as she read that. She looked back at Jade Brook, who seemed to be reigning in her emotions. After a moment, she asked, “How did he die, if I might ask?” What little composure Jade had cracked at the question, as she half-cried-half-gagged at the memory. “I… I can’t even describe it to you. I found him in the basement, and- Sweet Celestia, there was blood everywhere. They still haven’t managed to get the stains out! I just can’t understand how I didn’t hear him screaming…” Luna pursed her lips grimly. Holding the letter in her magic, Luna stepped past the widow and headed inside. When she wasn’t stopped, she looked for the stairs down to the basement. When she arrived at the bottom, she found what Jade had meant. A massive dark stain spanned half of the floor, and for the first time in nearly a decade, Luna recalled the fields of red that she witnessed in the mind of Poppy Blanch. She could only imagine what he did to himself down here, though she was certain that at the very least, he did not scream. He never seemed the type to flinch at pain. It was only after surveying the basement that Luna finally opened the letter. Unfolding it, she found that it was neatly penned with careful, deliberate precision atypical of an Earth pony. She could tell that Poppy had taken a long time to write it out. Dear Princess Luna, I’m sorry that it had to come to this. I’m sorry that you have to read this. More than that, I’m sorry that I couldn’t have been stronger. I think you understand, though. You were the only other pony who had ever seen my dreams. You knew exactly what sort of sickness I carried with me. I think you already know what I’m about to say next, but I need to say it anyway. It was no mistake that I killed that rabbit as a foal. I knew what I was doing. I crushed it to death, and I loved every second of it. My parents already kept me hidden away from the world, but when they found me covered in blood with a dead rabbit, they treated me worse than ever. I always wished they were better parents, but I couldn't fault them for their reaction. I still killed them, though. I slit their throats while they slept, and then I tore them apart. I burned down my home, and pretended it was an accident. I was a young colt, scared and hungry, so when the townsfolk found me, of course they believed me. When I told them what my parents did to me, it only made it easier. I wish I could say I regret it, I really do. But I don’t. I am sorry that I lied to you about it before, but I don’t think I could have handled your disappointment then. I’m only coming clean now, because I know I won’t be there to see it on your face. It hurts to imagine what you must look like right now, but that’s better than seeing it for real. As for why I’ve decided to end my own life… It’s because I can’t keep dreaming anymore. I can’t stand it. Every night, I kill my wife and child. Every night I do unspeakable things to them both, and I enjoy every moment of it. It was easy when they weren’t ponies I knew, but it’s different when they're ponies I love. Even now, as I write this, I’m resisting the urge to go back upstairs and well, I think you get the picture. I believed you back then, when you told me that I was a good pony. I doubted it sometimes, because I know good ponies don’t do bad things and then lie about them. But I think you always knew about those things, and you said it anyway. You always believed I was better than my urges. So before they can make me hurt anypony else, I’m going to take one last life. The life of the worst pony I know. Thank you again, Princess. For being my friend. Your friend, Poppy Blanch Author's Note This story is dedicated to everyone who has ever had dreams that they didn't want.
