A moonless night sky. That's how Princess Luna would describe the Dream Realm to those curious and adventurous enough to question her about it. An endless, thought provoking, beautiful night sky where the dreams of every creature capable of dreaming become its stars, bringing light to this dark space that exists between the material realm in which the world of Equestria exists and the realms beyond.

A key difference between the material plane and the sky that is the realm of the dreams is the lack of gravity. In the real world if she were to stop flapping her wings in mid-flight, she would fall, pulled to the ground by this ever-present force of nature; in the Dream Realm her will and her will alone is what propels her. If in those moments her wings did move up and down from time to time, this was more of a reflex to keep at peace that part of her mind that would start telling her something wasn't right if she started flying without moving them.

In a truth she would never share with anyone, not even with her beloved sister —especially with her sister— is that the first time she managed to enter the Dream Realm, it took her a significant amount of time to understand and learn this small but important detail, glad that there was no one to witness the regal Princess of the Night forcefully and energetically sway all four of her legs and wings as if she were a frightened filly in her first day in the big ponies pool, applying the most ridiculous and desperate swimming movements as her initial means of propulsion.

She swears and would swear that thanks to the Elements of Harmony, that granted her a well needed peace of mind, to have been exorcised from those jealousies that long ago were the cause and origin of her fall and millennial banishment. It also helps to bear this weight on her spirit that this realm of dreams is accessible only to her and no one else.

And it is this that led her to take her self-imposed role as Guardian of the dreams very seriously, hunting down and banishing any nightmares that plagued her subjects and any other creatures, regardless of whether they were under her rule or not; such is her devotion and commitment to this task.

The Princess's musings were interrupted when a flash of crimson caught her attention. One of the nearby stars was flickering red, signifying that a dreamer's dream had turned into a nightmare.

As the Guardian of the dreams, Luna took a deep breath (another of the activities she did by reflex, since breathing is not necessary in the realm of dreams) and with a determined smile, she headed in the direction of that dream with the intention of purging it of the nightmare.

For the most part, this activity was limited to entering dreams and freeing dreamers from the nightmares that plagued them by simply transforming the nightmare into a pleasant dream. There are also particular cases, in which Luna takes on a role similar to that of a psychologist and helps dreamers understand the root of the fears or anxieties that are usually the main cause of their bad dreams. And even then, to Luna all of this was only a fraction of what it means to be a Guardian of the dreams.

Approaching the little star that was the dream, Luna touched it with the tip of her horn and with a flash of light, she was transported inside it.

Opening her eyes to the new sight, Luna finds herself on the wooden floor of a foal's room, if the colorful building blocks, a half-open chest with some toys and stuffed animals peeking out of it, the shelves where there should hold comics, action figures, some puzzles and other board games that instead were randomly scattered all around, and a poster of Princess Cadance hanging on the wall next to a messy bed shaped like a brightly colored vehicle from some popular science fiction story, were clues as to who the owner could be.

What made this dream scene interesting was that everything described and everything around her was of gigantic proportions. There was also the possibility that it was she who had tiny dimensions. This doubt would be removed from her mind once she found the dreamer.

It didn't take the Princess long to do so, because from her behind and not too far away she could hear the scream of someone who she assumed could not be anyone else but the dreamer and also the owner of this room.

It was a pegasus colt with a brown coat and a mane of darker shades.

The reason why this foal was screaming was because at that moment he was being chased by a bunch of Dust Bunnies, equipped with long ears, menacing yellow eyes and prominent buck teeth sticking out of mouths with which they threw bites with the clear intention of devouring their prey.

After laughing a little at this display, Luna spreads her wings and flies in his direction with the intention of helping him.

The Dust Bunnies manage to corner the colt who, cowering in fear, seems to have forgotten that he has wings with which he could fly to safety.

Closing the distance and feeling the irritating, dusty breath of the Dust Bunnies, the foal lets out a final cry for help. Immediately a shower of blue magic falls upon the dust creatures, making them explode and their dirty remains disappear from the dream.

Confused by this, the little pegasus begins to shine in a blue glow similar to the one that had just vanished the nearest Dust Bunnies, and is lifted out of the reach of the rest of his dusty pursuers, to the vicinity of the Princess.

"Princess Luna!" cheers the foal in relief and admiration upon learning who had come to his aid. But before any more words could be exchanged, Luna takes him and flies away from his pursuers.

Finally safe, hidden behind a set of cyclopean alphabet blocks, Luna finally lowers the pegasus to the ground, and as soon as he could stand on his own, he spoke:

"Princess Luna, I'm so glad you came to rescue me! Wait, does this mean I'm dreaming?" the foal asked, once it dawned on him what was happening.

"That's right, you were having a nightmare, my little pony," Luna replied, gladdened by such a meaningful expression of appreciation coming from the little pegasus.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Princess! My name is Chill Breeze," Chill hurriedly introduced himself, slightly embarrassed by his faux pas in manners, falling to the floor in a clumsy bow.

"Rise, Chill," Luna commanded, then, softening her voice, she continued, "Now could you tell me what the origin of such a peculiar dream is?"

"Oh, it's my mom's fault," Chill began to explain, crossing his forelegs in annoyance. "Mom and Dad finally gave me my own room, but now Mom says it's my responsibility to keep it clean, otherwise the dust bunnies will form out of the dirt and come after me."

"There is wisdom in your mother's words, little Chill. Just as it falls upon my sister and I to keep the land of Equestria safe as its rulers, so it falls upon you as its master to keep your room clean and tidy," the Night Princess said in a didactic yet friendly tone.

"But cleaning is so boring," the colt whines, annoyed. Then something came to his mind and he jumped of joy: "But now you're here and you can make the Dust Bunnies go away, can't you?" He cheered.

"This is true," Luna replied stoically, unfazed at what could be interpreted as this colt wanting to use her as a cleaning maid. "But it's also true that this wouldn't solve your problem in the waking world and it's highly likely that the nightmare will return and be even worse."

"But cleaning is sooooo boring!" Chill complained again in a harsher tone.

"What if it wasn't?" Luna asked happily.

"What do you mean?" Chill asked back, curious, not understanding what the Princess meant by that reasoning that for him did not and could not make any sense. Luna was already smiling and her smile widened even more when the tip of her horn began to glow with magic.

Suddenly a flash of light shone from behind the gigantic wooden cubes.

A group of dustballs that were the living Dust Bunnies were moving around the room, looking for their prey, when suddenly, from above, they could hear an energetic battle cry approaching them.

Clad in a cloak made of cloth and a cleaning bucket for a helmet, Chill Breeze descended upon them wielding a duster, attacking the Dust Bunnies, which upon contact with the cleaning weapon were puffed out of existence.

More and more of the Dust Bunnies came forward to challenge little Chill, who was laughing, enjoying the fight.

But the Dust Bunnies' forces were relentless and gave the impression of being endless, with more and more making an appearance out of every corner, crevice and space that could hide more of the dust creatures.

When it seemed that the Dust Bunnies would finally get the victory over Chill Breeze, overwhelming him with their numerical superiority, a new figure entered the fray, doing a fine job of watching the little cleaning warrior's back by taking care of a large Dust Bunny that cowardly intended to attack the pegasus from behind.

It was Luna, wearing a set of armor similar to Chill's, except that the colt's clothes were red and Luna's were blue in coloration.

"Thanks for the help, Lady Luna!" using a knightly accent, Chill thanked her, standing back to back as they were being surrounded by enemy forces.

"Glad to help you, Sir Breeze," the warrior Princess replied with a determined look directed at her enemies and a big smile on her lips.

And for what felt like hours, Luna and Chill spent their time battling against the Dust Bunnies' army.

"This was the most fun I've ever had in my dreams!" Chill Breeze exclaimed once there were no more Dust Bunnies in sight to fight, with the same room from the dream looking cleaner and tidier.

"Indeed," agreed Luna, who had also found the activity exhilarating. "Now, Sir Chill, has your opinion regarding the activity of keeping one's own room clean changed?"

"Oh, yes, yes it has! Thank you so much Princess Luna for teaching me that with a little imagination any activity can be fun, even cleaning my room!"

Chill and Luna laugh together, enjoying the moment, but suddenly their laughter was cut short when the room suffered a considerable shake.

"What was that?", asked the pegasus colt, confused and a little scared.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Luna replied, completely serious, after a few seconds of scanning the surroundings with her gaze, hiding all traces of her growing concern. And there were plenty of reasons to be worried; that tremor had occurred outside of her control, worse still, it wasn't something that had its origin within Chill's dream. The shake had occurred in the Dream Realm.

Returning her attention back to the little pegasus and seeing that the dryness with which she had expressed herself did nothing to calm him down, Luna continued with a more reassuring tone and smile:

"It's been a fun time with you, little Chill, but duty calls. I need to go and take care of other dreamers' dreams. But before I leave, allow me to make your dream even better." And with that, Luna called upon her magic once more and in a new flash of light, Chill found himself inside a cockpit, piloting a gigantic vacuum cleaner, surrounded by all the Dust Bunnies they had defeated seconds before. But unlike how the dream had started, this time it was they who ran away in fear once Chill turned on the vacuum cleaner, beginning to chase them.

Then Luna left the dream, with all the urgency and intention of finding out what had happened in the Dream Realm.

Back in the Dream Realm, Luna, worried and on high alert, flies above the dreams with all her senses active, hoping to broaden her view of the Dream Realm space and thus be able to detect any anomaly that could be the cause or origin of that jolt within Chill's dream.

Suddenly something that until a few seconds ago she would have considered impossible to happen in the realm of dreams shook her, literally; it was a shake, or rather a quake. The realm of dreams was shaking violently!

Regaining her balance, a task harder to do than to say when you consider that the idea of feeling an earthquake while floating in the air sounds like an unthinkable concept, Luna looked at it bewildered, unable to believe what her eyes were showing her.

The space above her crackled with a thunderous force, a dark red and purple lightning appeared from a place with no apparent origin, and from there a crack in the Dream Realm took form. A literal rift in the space that belongs to the Dream Realm.

Luna's eyes bulge with both shock and disbelief. And it's not like she didn't have reasons to do so. In all her years as a dream walker, she had never seen a single variation in the Dream Realm's state, of being a dark, near-infinite space in which only dreams could manifest.

And with each passing second this fissure expanded and grew, and suddenly, as it reached a considerable size, and with a loud, discordant sound that would send shivers down Luna's spine for the rest of her life, it split open and the Dream Realm shattered like glass, its pieces falling, being absorbed into the slash that formed in its place.

Luna's surprises and worries did not end there, they only increased. From within this rift, from that wound in the space of the Dream Realm, Luna saw glimpses of terrible things, things that imbued her with fear and a sense of dread, things not of the world she knew, and creatures she did not know nor she could fathom looked at her through the void, expectant.

And from all of them several ghastly shadows came forward through the accursed threshold and coalesced into one tall macabre form once in the Dream Realm. Luna could barely make out its shape, its shadow-like appearance making it difficult. From top to bottom, two long antelope-like horns twisted upwards; its face looked alien, flat, lacking a snout, and she could only identify it as such by a pair of small orbs that glowed in a spectral yellow that she assumed were its eyes. Six appendages sprouted from its torso; two straight spikes on its back, as if they were vestiges in pale imitation of the pegasi's wings; and the other four must have acted as its hands, although by their shape, they could hardly be identified —much less called— as such. The upper ones looked like really long arms of some long extinct creatures and that she had only seen exist (and she wholeheartedly believed they should only exist) in archeological museums, ending in two long clawed fingers. The lower ones looked more like equally long tentacles. Both, tentacles and arms, were joined by a membrane that barely extended from the point where they joined the torso. A sense of hip existed in the apparition, but no legs could be found where they should be, only what she could presume was a tail hung down as an extension of its spine.

Once this creature finished forming and examining its surroundings, it opened its dark jaws and began to devour the dreams of the dreaming creatures, swallowing them indiscriminately; not even nightmares were exempt from its appetite, making them disappear into the interior that was the truly dark void that proved to be its mouth.

Shaking off the stupefaction of witnessing so many inconceivable things in such a short notice, taking control of her emotions and steeling herself, the Princess of the Night and self-proclaimed Guardian of the dreams flew to meet this creature.

"Stop this instant, interloper," Luna shouted with the force of the Canterlot's Royal voice, both to get its attention and to display her authority and power, but prudently keeping a safe distance between her and the creature.

The shadowy creature, who dwarfs Luna in size, showing itself to be as tall or taller than the Lord of Chaos when he abandons his serpentine bodily contortions and stands up straight, stops swallowing a dream that shines pink, more out of surprise at hearing a voice where it was sure no one should be than to obey that order.

Following her older sister's teachings, Luna hoped that words could be used to reason with this creature and peacefully convince it to stop eating the dreams of the beings of Equestria, and go back to where it came from, never to return. Still, Luna did not hold out high hopes that this task could be accomplished so easily and as such, she prepared for the opposite.

As if the universe wanted to prove her right, once the invading creature set its sights on her, the few distinguishable features on its face contorted in aggression, shaking one of its long appendages in her direction with the clear intention of striking her.

Having seen this response coming, Luna moved with ample time to evade that attack.

She sighed. Well, nevermind, my sister was always the better of the two when it comes to diplomacy, The Princess of the Night thought bitterly.

Charging her horn with arcane power, the dark blue Alicorn launches her first attack, managing to land the first blow of the fight.

And while that attack was accurate, it proved to lack enough force to have an effect on the creature, which was unaffected by the magical impact, remaining in place.

In response, the horned entity continues its assault by swinging its arms and tentacles at Luna.

Determined to end this fight as soon as possible so she could return to the material plane and find out what damage and consequences could have befallen to the ponies and other creatures whose dreams had been devoured, Princess Luna charged a large amount of magical energy, and once she deemed the blow a sure thing, she released it upon the shadowy being.

This time the attack carried enough force to push and spin it out of its position, but other than that, the strike didn't seem to have had much of an effect on the creature.

On this occasion, the look of hatred that the great shadow beast casts upon her is accompanied by a furious roar that manages to resonate throughout what appears to be the entirety of the Dream Realm.

With great dismay, Luna notices how the stars —the dreams— near that invading creature begin to glow in a violent and intense crimson color, and once again sees as it feed on them.

Breathing heavily, Luna finally realizes the danger that this creature's existence in the Dream Realm truly means; nightmares are not only part of its diet, it turns out that it can cause them and they are this monster's favorite food. With just one of it screams, the dreams of an entire town, hundreds, probably thousands of individuals, had just been instantly transformed into horrible nightmares.

Wishing to save as many of Equestria's inhabitants from further sudden nightmares, the Dream Guardian Princess showers the entity with a barrage of magic missiles, and when she once again has its attention, she flies away, hoping the creature will chase her to a space free of dream clusters.

Luckily for Luna, the horned beast doesn't look as though it mind, care or realize her plan and takes off in her pursuit.

The dark blue Alicorn planned to continue the fight in a deserted place, where no one else could be affected by it, and consequently deprive the creature of dreams to feed on, thus being able to subdue it more easily.

What she didn't count on was the new and renewed strength and speed with which this monster moved thanks to its impromptu and sudden feast, and faster than the Princess could react, it was already upon her, sending her flying with a single blow into a dream.

"Princess Luna!? Princess Luna, are you okay?"

The faint sound of someone calling her name was the first thing Luna felt once she regained consciousness, and with a grunt of pain the Princess of the Night opened her eyes right away, quickly observing her surroundings.

She was lying on the floor, her back on the remains of what appear to have been pedestals that held urns and other types of ancient ceramic figures. In front and above her was a cream-colored stallion, with bushy eyebrows and a mustache that joined his mane through equally fluffy sideburns, all of this colored light brown. The stallion was looking at her with surprise and concern.

Rolling out of the rubble, regaining her stance and after dusting herself off, Luna properly faces the stallion.

"I am well, mister...?"

"Mr. History Curator, at your service," with a proper bow, the stallion introduces himself. Taking the opportunity, Luna manage to check his cutie mark, being a magnifying glass over an old, unrolled papyrus.

"Very well, Mr. History Curator, could you please tell Us where we are and what just happened?"

"Well, as my name suggests, I am the Director and Chief Curator of the Museum of History in Canterlot. I was checking the state and order of the exhibits in this wing of the museum, when suddenly I saw you fall through the ceiling and crash into some of the exhibits belonging to the preponyhistorical period of Equestria."

Luna looks around at the many and varied exhibits that surround them, realizing that they were indeed inside a museum, or to be more specific, a dream replica of one. And seeing the mounted skeletons that were standing all around them, Luna begins to worry.

"Is something wrong, Princess?" asks History Curator, seeing the apprehension creeping on his sovereign's face.

"Nothing is wrong, my little pony..." Luna starts to say, but before she can finish saying any more reassuring words, a primal roar coming from behind them interrupts her.

Jumping in fear and with their manes standing on end, Curator and Princess turn around to see how the skeletons of the creatures that were part of that exhibit came to life and looked in their direction.

Letting out a scream of pure terror, Mr. History Curator run for the exit, with the Princess of the Night not far behind.

Entering the exhibit that clearly belonged to the ancient land of Prince Hisan, rotting mummies of long-dead ponies emerge from their sarcophagi, producing eerie gurgling sounds, moving slowly but steadily in their pursuit.

"Princess, what is going on? If this is a nightmare, why aren't you stopping it?" asks History Curator, jumping from elevated points made of stools, pedestals and anything that would keep him off the ground, which had become infested with nightmarish snakes, scorpions, and other nasty beetles that sprang from the urns and jars that were also part of that exhibit.

"I don't think it would be wise or healthy for you, Mr. History Curator, to know anything beyond the fact that this is just a bad dream," Luna replied, mimicking the stallion's movements to keep herself safe from the critters that now infested the floor, walls and ceiling. And as for his second question, Luna really didn't want to make him privy of the fact that if the nightmare kept developing, it wasn't because she wanted it to or because of any lack of intention on her part (and she had been trying to stop the dream from the moment she knew she had fallen into a museum). How could she explain to this stallion that a creature, a beast, a monster not from this realm had trapped him and her, his Princess, the Guardian of the dreams, in a constantly worsening nightmare, not without traumatizing him and destroying all sense of trust and everything that entails in her? She wouldn't allow herself to do that.

Managing to jump out of that chamber, escaping from that exhibit, Luna and History Curator now find themselves in a long, inconspicuous corridor, filled with paintings hanging on the walls and at the end of it a door marked as the exit.

Running at high speed towards it, the corridor lengthens and stretches, putting them even further away from the exit door. With each desperate step that the Princess and the Chief Director of the Museum took, the atmosphere around them became suffocating, disturbing and off-putting, filling them with anxiety, with the walls blackening, rotting as they advance, with maggots and blood oozing out everywhere. The paintings of elegant, smiling personalities of the past gradually transform, first following them with their eyes, then turning their faces into hideous grimaces, each one with an expression and a face more emaciated and grotesque than the last, with their skin, muscles and other organs peeling off and falling to the floor.

Just as they thought they would finally make it out, with the Princess's hoove less than half an inch away from the knob, the door disintegrated, sending the two of them crashing against the wall.

And once they managed to extricate from it, the entire space around them shakes with such force that, if it were a real museum, no exhibit that wasn't bolted down would have stayed in place.

Following the door's example, the rest of the surfaces that made up the hallway begin to crack and fade from existence, until a dark void surround them. And when nothing but Princess and Dreamer remain, they find themselves in the palm of the monster's bidactyl hand, now as large as a hydra, which lifts them up to its gigantic, ghoulish face.

"AAAAAAAAAH!!!" History Curator screams in fear, losing all traces of control and on the verge of madness.

Luna roars in fury and spreads her wings against her adversary, but that roar doesn't just carry a sense of defiance. It's also a cry of frustration, frustration at seeing how this monster had overpowered her to the point of toying with her in what she considered herself insurmountable, having reduced her to something incapable of doing anything to protect and save this poor, innocent stallion, let alone the rest of the inhabitants of her world.

But before the Princess concludes this as her last fight and leaps at the creature in a final act of defiance, the whimpers of History Curator reach her ears...

"I want to wake up! Please, I want to wake up from this nightmare!"

...That an idea occurs to her. She reasons that perhaps the monster can control the dream and keep it running, but if the dreamer were to somehow wake up, then there would be no more dream that it could control and both would be free of its influence.

Concentrating with all her might in order to gain at least a modicum of control over the dream, Luna manages to conjure a sharp, pointy needle.

"I'm so sorry, my little pony, and I hope you can forgive me for this," Luna preemptively apologizes to History Curator.

Raising the needle and closing her eyes so as not to witness what she's about to do, already cringing with guilt for this, Luna slams it fast and hard into the stallion's back side.

History Curator screams in pain as he feels the needle bite, but his scream is instantly cut off by his awakening, disappearing from the dream to, what Luna assumes, continue it in his bed, in the real world.

In an instant, Luna found herself feeling as if she was floating again, and with that, aware that her plan had worked and she had returned to the Dream Realm. Quickly she looked around for the creature, finding it soon enough and in its original size and with what she could only assume was an expression of surprise and confusion on its face, clearly not having expected the night Alicorn's unconventional maneuver to escape the nightmare.

Taking this opportunity, Luna launches a surprise magic attack, hitting the dream-eating beast right in the face, making it fall and roll through the Dream Realm space. Once the creature stops and manages to get up, it roars again, directing its hatred at the Guardian of the dreams, but this time there are no dreams in its vicinity that could be turned into nightmares by its ability and gain energy from them by eating them; and even if there were, Luna would not have allowed it to repeat that tactic, because just like in that hypothetical case, she dropped a rain of more magic beams on it.

Enraged, the shadow beast launches itself at Luna, who flies away, choosing to keep her distance from it, not wanting it to hit her again, still feeling the pain in her back and part of her side.

As she flew, locked in what could only be described as an aerial dogfight, dodging whip attacks and now some magical bolts launched through the creature's mouth, Luna responding with some of her own, couldn't help but think how, given its very similar appearance and actions, this entity reminded her of one of her own creations, the Tantabus. But while the Tantabus grew stronger by turning dreams into nightmares, this invader did so by consuming them completely.

But the biggest and most troubling difference she felt existed between the monster born from her pain and guilt and this one, was that the Tantabus, at its core, was nothing more than a thoughtless machine that only followed its programming, not unlike an animal that follows its survival instincts. And if Luna were to base her assumptions solely on what she experienced in her fight in the Dream Realm, she would have believed that this beast was exactly the same. But from what she could see and experience in History Curator's dream, it was obvious to her that this being carried a conscience and intelligence that made it capable of understanding and enjoying the pain and suffering it caused with its actions. Or in other words, it was evil.

A new shiver ran through the Princess's body and for an instant her blood ran cold at the thought of what could happen if, just as it could have happened with the Tantabus, this monster could reach the real world.

Originally, to defeat the Tantabus, Luna had recruited the help of the Elements of Harmony, sadly for her, on this occasion she did not think she could resort to that course of action, and something told her that self-reflection and forgiveness would not do to this enemy what they did to the Tantabus.

There was no other alternative, Luna had to stop this monster here and now, and she would have to do it alone.

The only silver lining Luna could think of was that at that moment the creature was weaker than it had shown itself to be before, assuming that perhaps that trick of trapping and holding her inside that nightmare must have cost a great deal of energy; the fact that it was now also spending it by throwing those beams of magical energy could also be a factor in that, the Princess contemplated.

But this meant very little to Luna considering that she herself was also feeling on the verge of exhaustion. And with no way to definitively end this fight, Luna was fearing the worst.

Luna's gloom musings were interrupted when she realised that the flow of the fight had brought them back to the vicinity of the rift in the Dream Realm space through which the monster had entered, and to her surprise, the wound was closing. By the forces that be, the Dream Realm was healing itself!

This was both a sign of joy and worry for Luna. Joy because it means that once it closes completely, nothing else will be able to cross from that horrible place into the Dream Realm; worry because if it closes, that would mean that monstrosity will have free rein to roam freely in the Dream Realm... or much worse.

Seeing this as her last chance, the Princess of the Night devises a plan to get rid of this monster once and for all, and if Harmony deems it fit, forever.

First, moving quickly, Luna gets away from there, flying high above the invading creature.

"What's wrong with you, foul beast? Are you finally tired? Is this pathetic display of skill all you can do?" The dark blue Alicorn scoffs with well-feigned disdain. In truth, of the two sisters she was always the one with a flair for the acting and the theatrical, and right now the Princess of the Night was extremely grateful for this, not believing that Celestia's pranking skills would be enough to pull off what she intended to do.

Luna didn't know if the interloper could understand her, in all the time they had been fighting, the creature had never said a word to her, but seeing how it narrowed its small eyes as they sparkled with hate, told her that if it hadn't understood her words, at least it had grasped their meaning.

The shadow beast rose at high speed with every intention of ramming her, and when she considered it close enough, Luna placed her hoofs close to the center of her face and performed what was in fact one of her sister's inventions, the Solar Flare Spell, causing an intense white light to instantly emerge seemingly from her body.

Momentarily blinded, the monster thrashes violently, lashing out with its long claws and whipping its tentacles aimlessly around itself. Luna, meanwhile, flies down, placing herself between the beast and the hole it had come from.

Luna was on her final breath and this would be her last move, and failure was not an option. The hole, the rift behind her was still large, big enough to swallow the monster back, but this also meant that she was not big enough to hide it with her body. So, with great effort the Alicorn Princess begins to deposit as much of the few magical energies she has left into her mane and tail, causing them to increase in size, creating a veil of a starry view all around her, her body tensing with the effort.

Having regained it sight, this time the fiendish creature is quick to locate its hated enemy, and with every intention of ending the fight, it flew once again to meet her.

Below, Luna was trapped, fighting on not one, not two, but three sides.

The first was the monster in front of her, approaching her at high speed. If Luna acted too fast or too slow it would mean doom for her plan, either because the creature would realize her intentions and act in a way that would ruin it, or alternatively, it would manage to drag her down into the hole with itself. Both options and all the others in between she had to avoid.

The second, with herself. Pushing her body in one direction, stretching it enough to keep hidden the only chance of getting rid of her enemy, while simultaneously pushing it in the opposite direction to avoid losing control of the integrity of her body/essence, which would mean ceasing to exist.

And the third and the only one that Luna hadn't counted on and the one that was proving to be the hardest, the rift itself. Standing so close to it, Luna could feel multiple chilling presences crawling all over her body. Scratching the surface of her mind, wanting to break her will and make her lose her sanity. She could hear several voices whispering directly to the depths of her being. Some whispered to her that her plan was going to fail, some encouraged her to move, to escape and save her life, to convince her that hers as a Princess was more important than the others, or because they wanted to make her fail by making her believe that the precise time to act and succeed in her plan had already arrived; others to give up, that there was no point in continuing to fight and embrace failure. Some others, the most insidious, loudest and persistent ones, told her sweet words, offering her forbidden knowledge, enough power to kill and crush this and any other enemy that seeks to challenge her. All this and even more if only she would agree to make a deal with them.

Because of all this, Luna felt at a limit that she never imagined she could be in, much less endure.

And yet, she was doing it.

And she did it.

Luna had resisted the voices temptations. The shadowy monster was just a few hooves away, now it would be impossible for it to change direction and avoid entering the crevice.

And with this assured, the Guardian of the dreams released the tension she held within herself to maintain the integrity of her form while simultaneously expanding it, turning into a mist through which the beast passed without harming her, back to whatever damned dimension might have spawned it.

Seconds later, Luna regained her form, wheezing on the verge of exhaustion. But before any sense of relaxation or triumph could manifest in her, dread and horror claimed her.

The damn creature was climbing back up, and while the rift was closing, it was still large enough for it to enter back into the Dream Realm.

Luna's body felt rigid as if it was made of solid steel, her muscles aching with every movement she made, and her blood was boiling at those moments, but determined not to allow this evil to return, she gathers all the magical energy left on herself and fires it at the monster still inside the gash of the Dream Realm.

The creature takes the hit and is pushed back, but only slightly. Fighting against that pressurized jet of magical energy, it keep moving forward to reach the threshold between its dimension and that of the Princess of the Night, its advance slow but steady.

And when Luna thought she would fail and the monster that it would succeed, the forces that keep it open ceased to exist and the rift closed, all trace of its existence, or of the creature, nowhere to be seen.

There was nothing else in that instant that Luna wanted to do than to celebrate, but before a smile could form on her face, exhaustion claimed victory over her.

The last thing Luna felt before losing consciousness was her body falling and falling into an apparent infinity.

Loud, unsettling screams spread throughout Canterlot Castle, making the coats of all active staff who heard them stand on end, from the cleaning servants to the royal guard members on duty.

"Luna!?" Hearing her sister's terrifying screams, Celestia burst into the Moon Princess's room. "Sister, are you alright!?" the Solar Princess asked, alarmed, with her heart in her throat, frantically searching for her sister.

Having found her on the floor, wrapped in a cocoon of sheets, the older sister runs to embrace her younger sister, trying to calm her with the warmth of her body and calm, reassuring coos. The two of them stay like that for what seemed like hours, with Celestia listening worriedly to Luna's broken murmurs of visions of horrible places, a realm where pain and suffering are the anvil and the currency with which dark deals are forged and paid for, and warped creatures sing and dance and fight to the tune of an endless conflict.

"Sister, please tell me what has happened to leave you in such a terrible state?" Celestia asked once she felt Luna calm down, when the violent shaking of her body had reduced to something more manageable.

When her sister's words and concern finally reach her, Luna raises her head and look Celestia straight in the eyes. It is then that the white Alicorn can sense an urgency and panic like no other emanating from the dark Alicorn's eyes; and when she finally speaks, she has only one thing to say:

"Celestia, call the Elements of Harmony. Tell them to get ready. Because I feel ─no, I know─ that something, something evil is coming to Equestria."

In the Everfree Forest, lightning flashes and thunder rumbles as dark clouds gather over one of its deepest and most remote parts. And even though this electric long claws tore across the dark roiling clouds above, foreshadowing a torrential rainfall, no water came out of them, as they were only the prelude of something more ominous to come.

A sudden deathly hush has taken possession over the forest surface. Neither the howl of the Timberwolves, nor the splash of the Cragadiles in their bogs, nor the rustling of the bushes where the Cockatrices nest, can be heard; all manner of creatures have instinctively and unanimously deemed that the Everfree have become too dangerous to roam outside their burrows and lairs that night.

In a clearing hidden among the dense foliage of its trees, a great amount of energy begins to manifest, unlike any other that has ever existed in this world.

Discharges of multicolored sparks of eldritch light glistened and crackled for several seconds, increasing in strength, violence and intensity as they get closer and closer, condensing into a singularity. And once this bubble of otherworldly energy can no longer be contained, it implodes and a vortex takes its place.

And from this portal with the appearance of a black hole, since it gave the impression to distort, trap and consume the light around it, multiple figures emerge from within.

One could be described as the union of several animal parts. A large beast with a body and posture resembling that of a gorilla, with short, back legs that ended in strong, thick hooves; next to a bulky and wide torso, two long, muscular arms pounded the ground with their knuckles with each step it took. His fur and skin were dark shades of red and orange. Its face, with a perpetual scowl of anger, with a gaze that seemed capable ─and probably could─ burn anything in its path, looked like that of a wild bull, complete with long, pointed horns protruding from a lion's mane, and from its snout sprouted razor-sharp tusks like those of a boar.

The next, rather than a mixture of animal characteristics, was a mouth, a throat and a belly. Large, fat and round. Its skin was a sickly yellow. Several folds of jowls descended and rested on a coarse and obscene abdomen. Its mouth was evident and prominent, displaying several large and hard teeth, giving the impression that it could open wide and swallow anything whole. Its eyes, nose and ears looked to be hidden under some more folds of greasy flesh. And thanks to a group of small and stubby limbs, with equally short and stubby fingers, its walk was slow and clumsy.

At their side, the third figure was in many ways the opposite of the other two. With an ungainly posture, she was covered by an old, tattered monastic robe, tied by a rope that hung loose and sad from her waist. Inside it something could be seen crawling around her apparently fragile body. Her face was that of a bird, with black feathers all over her body, and above a short, thin, black-grayish beak, and in front of small and dark as void sunken eyes, rested some round spectacles. With a reserved and unconfident gait, the warm gave signs to flee from her presence.

The fourth was just a ball of ethereal energy that floated lazily around.

Behind these four, two more followed.

To the right was the tallest figure in the group. A long, tenebrous trench coat covered a massive build. Beneath a wide-brimmed hat that matched the rest of his outfit was another bird-like face, with black feathers and a thick, strong beak. The only thing that broke the grim darkness of this countenance were two cunning yellow eyes, and yet black pupils were in them, with which he calculated the value and utility of everything. His steps were stiff and measured, with an air of menace, warning all who dare cross his path. All his actions meant business and nothing more.

To his left, a tall, feminine, draconic figure crossed the portal, advancing with grace and elegance, with the attitude of someone who is ready to enjoy the trip. Her scales shone in magenta colors, while those in her lower jaw, under-neck, and chest were more clear in coloration. Her head was triangular in shape, with an elongated snout with two fang-like projections on each side of its strong lower jaw. Her eyes were pink and almond-shaped, with slit pupils, displaying a predatory gaze. Two small protruding horns on the back of her head leads to a set of long, draping hair-like veil of the same color, which extend to a slim waist that gives way to well-developed hips and a tail. Wearing a provocative and revealing long, strapless dress with a plunging neckline. The dress bust line was decorated with fur and had long flared sleeves and a hem that trailed along the ground. Various pieces of jewelry dangled all around her body, particularly in her hairstyle, neck and wrists.

"So, this is the target realm? It looks nice," the dragon lady said, looking at the surrounding area with mild interest.

"It is," the tall raven-headed being replied, his voice and tone as deep and dry as a grave.

"Of course it is! Can’t you feel it?" The chimerical beast shouted angrily, steam rising from its body.

With that instruction, everyone present closed their eyes and expanded their senses, almost immediately feeling the embodiment of all the dreams and hopes, desires and illusions, emotions and feelings of each and every living creature around that world.

"It feels so calm and peaceful", the ball of light was the first to speak, its comment having turned into a lazy yawn by the end.

"I can feel it, so warm and blissful", said the one with the glasses, tears welling up in her eyes, leaving a stream of wet feathers beneath them, caressing her pet snake that had peeked out from under her robe.

"I agree! I can't wait to spread all sort of fun activities," the voluptuous reptile said with eagerness, imagining all sort of debaucheries, hiding a smile full of strong, conical and curved fangs, behind an ornate fan that she pulled out of her sleeve.

"I can already savor it, it taste succulent," sticking out a huge tongue and licking its teeth and lips, the stomach creature said with a desperate craving, her front limbs moving like hungry hands.

"Ready to be exploited and harvested for what it has to offer," said the darkest figure of the group, adjusting his black leather gloves.

"Ha, ha, ha! It is, indeed it is! But let us bear in mind that we have an obligation to fulfill first; we will claim what is due, once we conclude our dealings here." Came a joyous voice from behind. All eyes turned to look with varying degrees of attention at the one who had spoken.

Veiled in a luminous glow, the last of them crosses the portal.

All forest creatures unfortunate to witness this assembly were gripped by an indescribable dread at this new presence. Even the raging storm that only seconds ago threatened to turn into a torrential downpour cowed.

Once fully in Equestria, the golden aura cloaking the figure steadily dimmed as if receding back into the burning core of his being, revealing its form.

"Really, Boss? Our avatars can take any form we want and you choose to keep using that same one!" Rolling his eyes in grumpiness, the bull-headed one growled.

"This was the appearance I was cursed with, and as such, I will wear it with pride." The individual in question responded in a casual and charming tone, not showing any signs of being bothered by the derisiveness of that comment.

Taller than most, he wore a purple three-piece suit, trousers, a waistcoat and a long jacket, and a matching top hat adorned with some peacock feathers on the band. But what was most striking about this figure was what was under the hat. A face of sublime beauty, every feature the very picture of majesty. Smooth, radiant, almost golden-like skin, wide, expressive eyes, a refined nose, pronounced cheekbones, plump lips, and a mesmerizing smile formed by the whitest, brightest, most perfect teeth. The very facade of someone who could offer you the world and tempt you to take his word for it.

"And what better time to begin our work than the here and now," he said, twirling a cane with a golden lion's head as a handle, advancing ahead of the rest, striding towards Canterlot, looking specifically at the white and golden castle that lies on the side of a mountain.

"Let us go and pave the path that will lead this world to hell with sinful intentions!" He exclaimed as all trace of numinosity leave his countenances, his features twisting into a menacing sneer, his eyes burning with unbridled ambition and cunning, his teeth becoming sharp and pointed. An aura of pure wickedness emanating from him.

The Everfree Forest was soon dyed red as hundreds of thousands ─a legion─ of hellish imp creatures poured out of the portal.

Author's Note

This is the second story I came up with while thinking about MLP.

This one is very old, having been in my head for quite a few years.

I hope you like it and enjoy it.

And as always, any comments and feedback are welcome.

Thanks for reading.