Princess Luna entered her sister’s bedchambers after an almost timid knock garnered no response. Because their schedules conflicted so heavily, the two sisters rarely saw one another, instead typically sharing little more than a polite “hello” and a hug before one relieved the other for their respective court. As such, Luna didn’t often get to see the sort of splendor her sister lived in, and was consistently awed at how mundane it was.
Though Luna hardly basked in her affluence, she was positively pretentious in comparison. Celestia had long ago realized how fleeting and unimportant her limitless wealth was and decided to instead surround herself with pleasant memories. Her bed was made of the finest materials and the carpet was some exotic imported material, but the walls did not hold one-of-a-kind paintings or glinting tapestries. Instead, they held cheaply framed photographs, drawings, amateur pottery, and dozens upon dozens of candles.
Each candle represented a friend, a student, or a colleague that Celestia had outlived, but the artwork and pictures were seemingly arranged with no semblance of categorization at all. It humbled Luna to see just how simple and sentimental the most powerful mare in the world was, and it helped embolden her as she approached the head of her sister’s bed.
“Um… ‘Tia?”
Celestia, regal even in her sleep, did not stir.
Luna nudged her sister’s shoulder with the tip of her diamond slippers. “’Tiiiiiia…”
Celestia snorted back a rather grotesque loogy and rolled over. That previous cloak of majesty took a nose dive off of her balcony.
Luna couldn’t contain how ridiculous the scene had been but suppressed her laughter as best as possible. “Sister… sister! Wake up, lest I pee.” Luna wiped away a tear as she nudged her sister yet again.
Celestia awoke this time with a loud exclamation of “...Storming the castle!” She regained her bearings much slower than someone of her stature would imply and her puffy eyes focused on Luna. She blinked once as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing and then slid a few feet to her right, patting the spot beside her.
“Oh, no! ‘Tia, I am not here to sleep with you. In fact, I have not done that in nearly three thousand years.”
“Oh. Then… I don’t mean to be rude Lulu but I’m very tired.”
“This is important,” Luna implored and seemingly oblivious to her actions, climbed up onto the bed and curled up beside her sister, who said nothing but offered a bemused grin. “The dreamscape is in turmoil. I hate to be presumptuous but… I strongly believe that I know the cause of this.” Luna nodded once the realization of her words dawned on a gobsmacked Celestia.
“You must be mistaken,” Celestia said, her voice thick with all the weight of her authority. “The nightmare was destroyed by the Elements of Harmony! Even if I hadn’t been there, you would know that better than anypony!”
“We do not know that for sure. It could have been banished; sent away to a realm where it could do no harm.”
“It’s only been two years, Luna! I banished you to the moon for a thousand with the very same elements!”
Luna’s visage immediately changed from one of determination to a saddened pout.
“I… I did not mean to bring that up. I’m sorry.”
“I know,” Luna said with a heavy sigh. “But as you said, I would know better than most, and I lived with the nightmare for a very long time. How could I be wrong?”
“But… how?” Celestia implored, still unable to make the connection.
To this, Luna merely shrugged. “The event began with the dusk. What other significant event occurred yesterday?”
Like a mother hen guarding her chicks, Celestia rose from beneath her blankets and the room was ablaze in the white magic of her horn. When it faded, she was as she usually appeared before her subjects: Resplendent, gorgeous, and infallible. But her expression was not of the wise and patient queen her subjects adored; rather, she was a storm of fury.
“Riven.”
She and Luna assembled the Royal Guard and an entire regiment took off toward Ponyville. When the time came, the sisters raised and lowered their corresponding celestial body but decided that they could not simply wait for the chariot to arrive in front of the hospital. Instead, she took her sister in hoof and teleported them directly into Riven’s hospital room.
Riven and all of the ponies present looked surprised but the expression on Celestia’s face could have silenced a blind bard. Luna stood behind her sister and was quite content to avoid the inevitable confrontation.
“What did you bring with you?”
Riven was aghast, having just put the pieces together herself. Still, she wouldn’t feign ignorance; she knew exactly what Celestia meant. “I can explain.”
“That you’re a spy? A saboteur? That you somehow orchestrated the events of the summoning and played yourself off as a victim?!” Celestia’s hoof stomped down on the aluminum bed frame, crushing it underhoof. “No, I will hear no more of your lies! You have endangered my kingdom, my subjects, and possibly my entire world by bringing that abomination here! AGAIN!”
Riven wasn’t often intimidated but Princess Celestia was more than capable of grabbing her most primal fears and dragging them to the surface. She wanted to argue but even though she knew she was innocent and could possibly explain, her voice was lost.
It was Twilight that stepped forward, now shaking both for fear of Spike’s life and for even being in the same room as Celestia’s wrath. “P-P-Princess… what is going on? What do you think Riven did?”
Celestia’s eyes focused on Twilight then, and the small unicorn withered beneath her gaze. “Riven is not who she claims to be! Luna has informed me that the nightmare has returned, despite the historically noble efforts of yourself and the other element-bearers.”
“That isn’t t—”
“SILENCE!”
“You are accusing me of something I did not do knowingly!” Riven defended, leaning forward and exclaiming with her limited body language. “But yes… I brought ‘the nightmare’ with me.” Riven looked apologetic about that but her expression thereafter hardened. “After you brought me here, something that I had no say in. I haven’t accused you or anyo—pony of that yet! I have been patient because you all have been so kind! And now you threaten me without knowing the facts? How dare you!”
Now it was Celestia’s turn to be taken aback. She trusted her sister implicitly, which was why she was prepared to make those threats, believing the evidence unarguable. But she said nothing, merely turned to look at Luna behind her, who looked incredibly guilty merely by association.
“This isn’t the nightmare as in ‘Nightmare Moon’, is it?” Twilight asked, almost disbelieving. “You speak of it like it’s a separate entity but it wasn’t. Nightmare Moon was born of Luna’s jealousy and spite, not some…” she guffawed, suddenly amused. “… Possession!”
“You do not know the whole truth, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, ducking underneath Celestia’s flared wing and approaching Riven’s bed. She acknowledged the wounded Rainbow Dash with a wellspring of sadness, then directed her attention to Twilight. “In fact the nightmare was exactly that.”
“It would have been in the history books, no matter how obscure!”
“It would have been,” Celestia agreed, “If my administration and I hadn’t eliminated all public knowledge of the event, up to and including the war with the Lunar Dominion. The books are intentionally vague, my beloved student, because I did not want the world to know that my sister had been one of the greatest war criminals in Equestria’s history.”
Twilight literally stepped back, as if her idol and mentor had just burst into flames. “B-But that’s censorship! Your regime forbids it! I’ve been present for your public addresses and you constantly encourage protests and questions and the freedom of the press and—”
“I am not perfect, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia interrupted, looking uncharacteristically annoyed. “There is much that I have been present for that has been lost to memory. Horrific things that I wouldn’t wish on anypony. I have stifled freedom when it was in the best interests of my people! I have even been a tyrant when there was no other choice!” Celestia softened and she stepped closer to Twilight, like she had seen Fluttershy do toward a frightened animal. “Twilight… my beloved, irreplaceable Twilight… if you now see me as less of a princess I understand completely, for I see myself as flawed and tired, but please believe me when I say that this was for the good of all!”
Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment before she looked up into Celestia’s beautiful eyes and smiled. She crossed the distance between herself and the mare she considered her second mother and hugged her breast, to which Celestia responded by enveloping her in her wings. “Was it really so awful?”
“Worse,” Luna chimed in. “I recall events I was responsible for that surely even my sister forgets. Horrors that are unspeakable in this day and age.” She looked at Riven then, who she could tell hadn’t yet forgiven the accusations but was nevertheless anxious to forgive. “And now it has returned. Last time the nightmare assimilated my body and twisted my thoughts, and it could surely do so again. If not me than anypony else. Perhaps even Celestia should she let her guard down.”
“The nightmare feeds on the terror it sows,” Celestia explained, releasing Twilight and turning to address the group. So far, Fluttershy and Shining Armor had been quiet, not finding it proper to speak up in matters they knew so little about. Noteworthy, on the other hand, was still fast asleep. “It enters your dreams and exacerbates the negativities you feel the strongest. If you’re determined and knowledgeable enough, you can fight it off and ward your mind against its influence.”
“And if you’re not?” Twilight inquired.
“It can kill you,” she continued, grimacing at memories that had flooded back to the forefront of her psyche. Ponies with faces frozen in fear and physically mutilated, but they hadn’t ever woken up. “It can turn you against your closest friends. It can make you go insane and warp you into something unrecognizable.”
“That was what it did to me…” Luna explained, though her voice was small and remorseful. It was clear she hadn’t and never would forgive herself, though Fluttershy found the courage to nuzzle the underside of her princess’s muzzle. Luna basked in the affection and found the will to continue. “I was always a bit jealous of ‘Tia’s day and the adoration the citizens appeared to reserve exclusively for her. The nightmare basked in these relatively minor emotions and… fanned the flames, so to speak.”
The room was silent then, nothing interrupting it save the periodic beeping of Riven’s heart monitor.
“What do you know of the nightmare?” Celestia inquired to Riven, who immediately looked insulted. “Ah… I suppose I owe you an apology.”
“I would like that,” she said flatly.
“Then I do; my most sincere. But please understand, I was and still am so worried. I know you do not know our history Riven, but believe me when I tell you that to allow the nightmare to run amok again would be catastrophic. If you have any information about it, anything that might help us defeat it without resorting to more drastic measures…!”
Riven sighed, shaking her head. She could relate what she did know but it was so minor. Even had she researched the other champions of the League, the subject at hand was a complete mystery. “We called it Nocturne. But as to its origins? Its motives? The summoners who imprisoned it could only guess.”
Luna and Celestia were immediately in Riven’s face, practically kissing her. “You imprisoned it! HOW?! By what methods? Any magic can be replicated if we begin immediately!”
“I… I don’t know,” Riven admitted, and every ear in the room flattened. “I wasn’t privy to that information. I know it involved a shard of a Nexus. Those are large crystalline structures that can store souls and reconstitute the body of anything that dies if they’re attuned too it. But… I know even less about how those worked.”
Silence once again claimed the hospital room. The answer, if one existed, was elusive, and the only person or ponies who knew of Nocturne’s existence had no concept of how they might combat it. Though she had previously been offended that Princess Celestia would accuse her of attempting to subvert her realm, Riven also couldn’t shake the nagging suspicion that she was at least partially responsible. Thus, she offered the only idea that came to mind:
“Put me to sleep, Princess Luna. I’ll draw Nocturne into my dreams and you can use that ritual to send me back.”
“No,” came Celestia’s immediate reply.
“Why not?! You said it yourself, Nocturne will get stronger and stronger until it starts killing! I can stop it, right now!”
“Because we can’t,” Twilight interjected. “You were an accident, Riven. The ritual was never meant to summon you. We were trying to collect something mundane and inanimate for study not… not you.”
Riven had suspected as much. The reactions of those present for her appearance and the lack of security had told her that they were at the very least not expecting anything capable of fighting back.
“That wasn’t what I meant but that’s also a good reason.”
Riven was conflicted. Would she truly never see her home again? She turned an all-too hostile tone toward Celestia. “What did you mean?”
“I meant I wasn’t about to sacrifice your life to banish this creature.”
“But I’m not your citizen. I’m an alien; everyone has said it, no matter how often they’ve been cut off. You don’t owe me anything.”
“So long as you’re in my kingdom, you’re under my protection. And like any pony, I would happily throw my life away so that you might live.” Celestia gently brushed away a rogue lock of Riven’s silvery hair. “I also take full responsibility for stealing you from your home and every injury you received. If I could take your pain onto me, I would do so without a second thought.”
Celestia looked down at Rainbow Dash and her eyes partially closed. “Yours as well, my little pony,” she whispered.
“She and Spike were hurt,” Fluttershy said, practically a whimper. “Twilight said Spike was having a horrible dream, and the very same night, Rainbow Dash was hurt outside of my home. I think they’re related.”
“As do I.” Twilight pledged.
“Spike is far too young to shoulder such burdens,” Luna said, moving toward the door. “I can heal and cleanse him of the nightmare’s foul touch. ‘Tia, can you do the same for Rainbow Dash, please? If she is similarly troubled, comfort her as best you can and tell her that I will be back shortly to bring her the same peace of mind.”
“Thank you, dear sister.”
Twilight pointed Luna toward Spike’s surgical suite and she galloped off to perform a service she hadn’t done in millenia. Celestia’s horn glowed and bathed Rainbow in a soft, soothing light that seemed to bring relief to everyone’s woes, though it proved temporary when it came to Riven’s many wounds. Like a switch had been flipped, her color returned and her breathing became relaxed and regular. Her face showed contentment and before long, her eyes fluttered open.
It came as a surprise to no pony that upon not recognizing her surroundings, Rainbow became defensive and leapt to her hooves… and then immediately stumbled backward with a woozy “whoa”.
Riven caught her under the wing muscles. Rainbow’s hooves still bumped against her own, though to her credit, she bit back the cry of pain that had nearly forced its way through. “Are you all right, Rainbow Dash?”
“R-Riven? How…?”
“I brought you here,” Fluttershy spoke up. “You had a very nasty spill.”
“I… remember that. I had this awful nightm— dream. Uh… I beat Spitfire in a race and she didn’t talk to me for, like, a week. But it’s all cool. She forgives me… dream Spitfire, that is.”
“You don’t have to put on a brave face here, Rainbow. You were the victim of a brutal attack.” Twilight hopped up on Riven’s bed and nuzzled her friend, creating a confused blush in the pegasus. “So was Spike. We’re trying to figure out what to do about that now.”
“I was… attacked? By who?!”
“A monster,” came her rather blunt reply.
“Well, what are we sitting on our flanks for?! Let’s go get its ass!” She looked at Riven and slid off her lap. “Uh… well… most of us. No offense.”
Riven grinned.
Rainbow fluttered off the bed and landed beside Noteworthy, giving her cheek an unnecessarily rough flick with her hoof. “C’mon, lazy bones! What kind of a guard are you? Get up and follow me!”
Noteworthy didn’t move.
Rainbow turned to Shining Armor, who also noticed and was rather surprised. “Hey Armor! This is the best the Canterlot guard can do? You hired this slug?”
Shining Armor did the same, though his hit was practically a punch to Noteworthy’s gut. “Wake up, soldier! How you could have even slept through all of this is beyond me!”
Celestia, Twilight, and Fluttershy congregated around the unnaturally still mare and exchanged glances of slowly growing fear. “Oh no.”
Celestia and Twilight both prepared and released an insomniac spell. If it worked and Noteworthy really was just the world’s heaviest sleeper, she’d likely be awake for a month and require the monitoring of a medical professional… but she did not. It was only after all this that Fluttershy respectfully lifted up Noteworthy’s left fore hoof and checked her pulse… but found none.
Through immediate tears she confirmed what was already known: “She’s dead.”