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// CHAPTER 1 
// Story: NiGHTS: Equestrian Dreams 
// by Sirion123 
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Chapter 1
The Return of the Nightmare



In the land of Equestria, the night princess stood her vigil. As one of the oldest alicorns, tasked with the rising and setting of the moon, placement of the stars, and beauty of the night as a whole. Yet, by far and away the most important task the night alicorn had was the protection of the dreamscape, and safeguard her ponies from their fears, hatreds, and creatures that preyed on those emotions, as they slept the night away.
Just over a millennia ago, Luna had forgotten her sacred and dutiful purpose. She had let her jealousy grow of the misinterpretation of why her ponies slept. She felt her efforts in painting the night sky wasted, by the sleep the ponies did during her night. Playing in Celestia’s joyous day, too tired to partake in Luna’s night. what was lost in her growing envy was the fact her ponies trusted her with their most intimate secrets, their very souls, in a way that they could never do with the sun princess. The anger festered until it came to a head, as Luna attempted to place equestria in everlasting night, nearly ending all life on Equus. It wasn’t until after her banishment and being reminded of what mattered when the Elements of Harmony revealed the once discarded truth, that Luna felt comfortable in her purpose again. She no longer felt the jealousy that had tainted her in the past, what remained now was a fear of never again living up to that trust, of loosing her way again.
Within the dreamscape, on a night like any other, Luna did her typical rounds. From her meditation in her own quarters, Luna casted her dream magic, sensing the overall health of the dreamers. Warmth, heartfelt in nature, of her ponies that had pleasant dreams, a sour cold of those who’s nightmares had taken hold. As she floated in the misty landscape of almost shapes and almost touchables, a sense of dread could be felt. A cold sensation tingling down her spine, a creeping despair radiating from within the dream scape. Somepony is having a particularly bad nightmare thought Luna. With a grace, earned from centuries of practice, Luna eased further into her meditation, allowing her to enter into the dreamscape proper. Making her way further toward the cold aura.
As she drew nearer the source of the nightmare, Luna could feel her powers wain slightly. A cautious tone shown on her features, such a thing was not common, often the result of a horrible and very strong nightmare or of a dark being trying to influence her ponies. The extremely strong feeling of cold, meant only one thing to the vanguard of dreams, it was no natural phenomenon. Must proceed with caution, lest I be taken by surprise Luna thought. Drawing upon her nearly inexhaustible reserves of magic, Luna’s dark blue horn shown with a slightly lighter shade of blue aura, and moved toward the source. A cloaked figure, with what appeared to be a helmet made of silver, twisted spike like horns, and dark magic emanating like a fog of icy death. The cloaked figure laid in front of a dream bubble, turned the darkest black. Luna had found the source of the nightmare.
Wizeman was initially unaware of the night alicorn, his focus was on the equine dreamer and the ideya that laid within. Despite his power, experience, and his ability to influence to turn the dream into a nightmare, Wizeman could not breach what ever protective barrier that kept the ideya with the dreamer. Curious… thought Wizeman, Something protects these equine dreamers. The ideya, I can not take them despite being able to change the dream. Never have I come across such a thing. It is a puzzle I must solve. Wizeman studied the dream bubble further. I feel a source of magic surrounding the dream. It appears to be close by. Hullo… it is of the same equine nature as the dreamer. Wizeman turned toward the protective force, trying to determine what being could deter him from his goals. That protective force in the shape of one of the winged unicorns in the lavender mare’s dream.

“What arest thou? And what Arest thou doing to our subjects?” Luna asked, cold icy venom laced in her words. Her anger at the figure creating the nightmare bringing back the royal speech habits as well.

“It talks.” A smooth rich baritone, along with the sounds of scraping metal.

“Answer the question fiend!” Luna’s eyes narrowed to slits

“Conducting an experiment on these very peculiar equine dreams I happened across,” Wizeman answered dismissively, “What is of interest to me, is this force preventing me from collecting the ideya needed for my purposes. And it would seem, equine, this force stems from you.”

“Who Arest thou?” Luna’a anger quickly changing to fear the longer the figure spoke.

“Wizeman,” He stated dryly, “Ruler of Nightmare.” Wizeman paused for a moment, “Upon further inspection of your being, it seems your protection of these equines has left you venerable.”

With a muted flash a limbless hand made its way into existence, rotated around some unseen axis near Wizeman’s center, followed by another, and another, until there were six hands in a framed ring. Once the hands stopped spinning in their rotation, in the back of each hand a burning spiraled patterned eye opened, all looking at one thing. All staring, unblinking, at Luna. The smoldering eyes all but paralyzing the dream princess in fear. Her anger gone entirely, an icy dread it’s replacement, felt in every cell of her body, from her fur to her bones. From one of the many hands a blackened violet beam swept across Luna’s form before returning into Wizeman’s detached hands. Luna felt violated, but couldn’t in her terror induced mind figure out why.

“How interesting. Your ideya are much stronger than the average dreamer. I must make use of them if I am to regain what has been lost.” 

Luna upon hearing this broke free from her fear induced paralysis, summoning her courage and mustering forth as much magic as she could. A bright, yet dark blue stream of magic coursed from her horn directly at the fiend impacting it at, given its shape, what Luna thought his chest. A small grunt of discomfort was heard, yet not the cries of pain Luna had associated with dispelling nightmare creatures. Wizeman returned the aggression with magic of his own, only to receive the same sounding grunt from the night princess' shielded form. Both gods of the dreamscape held to a stalemate.

"It appears your are quite stronger then I had originally thought, equine. However I am sensing fear, and it is what weakens you. So I have but to wonder equine, What do you fear?"

From one of the many orbiting, limbless hands, a streaking bolt of yellow stardust like magic coursed through the dreamscape, zig zagging it's way toward the vanguard of dreams. Wizeman's magic moving at an alarming speed, Luna did her best to dodge and avoid the yellow beam while simultaneously blocking Wizeman's offense and returning her own. Luna, princess of the night continued to engage as best she could, however she was fighting the inevitable. Her movements were slowing, her attacks weakening, she was spending far more energy then her opponent, so in a final gambit to gain a upper hand, Luna force more power to her spells. Far too soon for Luna's desperate mind and not soon enough for Wizeman's likening his yellowed bolt of magic struck home, at Luna's barrel. Almost immediately a haunting laughter echoed in her mind, a sound from her past and her sins.
NO!! I swore I would never again be the nightmare of the past, I must not fall
Steeling her resolve again, she laid another volley of spell fire, but the damage was done. Her self conscious desire not to fall prey to the darkness she once had, was hesitant in her casting, slower in her movements, Wizeman was winning. Soon enough, Wizeman's spells were beginning to connect and take their toll, causing Luna to stumble. Wizeman took full advantage, and made his move to steal Luna’s ideya. 
Slowly his disembodied began to orbit around the wicked ruler, turning faster and faster, soon energy trails followed the hands. a spinning beam of dark violet energy hurled forth to the mare of the night, draining what little energy Luna had left. Now, Wizeman’s many hands disappeared from his form and reappeared surrounding the fallen mare at impossible speeds. White lights formed a ring around Luna, seizing her in its magical grasp, immobile, before the hands stopped their movement altogether, with a bright flash. Lay lines formed a criss-cross pattern from hand to hand forming an arcane circle of power further binding the panicked mare. Then Luna’s world turned to pain.
Screams so loud and shrill echoed in the void between dreams. Even with the royal voice, Luna’s screams of pain were unable to showcase what pain she was truly suffering from. Several spheres faded into existence, a starburst patterned located in their center, came forth the sources of power Wizeman sought, the ideya. One by one the spheres were forcibly removed, making Luna scream even harder in agony, reducing Luna’s power as well. With each ideya removed, Luna’s fully matured form shrank, growing younger and younger, her regal alicorn form turned filly. With the ideyas of wisdom, growth, hope, and purity removed, small evil looking creatures popped into existence, Wizeman’s weakest nightmaren, spirited the ideya away. Wizeman looked at the now released, and significantly weaker, foal with satisfaction. Luna’s screams turned hoarse, then her voice failed her entirely. Wizeman had been victorious. Now with the Equestrian dreams laid bare he sought to further his powers.
Turning back to the Dream he had previously been influencing he focused his powers. Confusion would have covered his features if he had features to convey them. Though the barrier was reduced to almost nothing, Wizeman found entering the dreamers world incredibly difficult. With what he had experienced only his level two nightmaren could have any hope of entering. While it was acceptable, barely, it was far from efficient. 
“Quite curious, I have removed your ideyas, a great source of your power, yet you are able to still defend your fellow equines. None of my level 3 nightmarens can enter their dreams, making the process of retrieving the ideya more time consuming then should be. How is it you still have this much power?” Wizeman moved closer to inspect the now filly Luna. Wizeman gave a quick snarl, the grunted in dissatisfaction. 
One single ideya still circled around the princess in a lazy orbit. Courage, the red ideya had been spared Wizeman spell. It was to be Luna’s saving grace, though at the time, Luna had no clue as to why. Wizeman, just looked on in disappointment. The red ideya was by far the most elusive ideya Wizeman had ever hoped to capture, much less the most powerful of the five powers that formed dreams. The only magic Wizeman could never have despite his attempts to gather it.
“This…is unexpected, however, it will not stop my efforts. If the any more amongst your kind with such powerful ideya as you, they must be harvested. I trust your memories will hold that which I will need to point out those with the most powerful ideya.”
With a flash a single hand made it’s way to the defeated Luna’s face. The spiraled eye pattern adorn the hand began to spin, a tendril of black and red magic enveloped her head. Spikes of pain drove through her head as her memories were absorbed into the hand. Had there been anything left of Luna’s voice, her screams would be heard, instead only a hoarse croaking noise could be made. Every moment, from her childhood, to her confrontation with this wicked creature flash before her rapidly moving eyes, only to be taken into the hand for Wizeman to learn from. The process took mere moments in the sudo reality which they lay, but for Luna it was the length of her banishment lived at a snails pace.
“I find my self continually surprised by you, equine. That darkness that consumed you, was such a brilliant thing. It is a pity that such a being has been all but vanquished. No matter, At least it has not been entirely lost, if anything at all it’s image shall only prove useful to my endeavors.”
Tendrils of dark magic formed of shadow began to swirl and converge forming a shape that Luna had hoped never to see again. Slowly another alicorn formed, its body solid lightless black, Deep dark purple main glittering in a sick and pail starlight, parodying the pony that had originally given it life. The mane moving much like it’s original creator in some ethereal breeze. Slitted Turquoise eyes staring back at luna, before shifting it's gaze to Wizeman. Standing before Luna, seeing her for what was truly the first time, Nightmare Moon. And yet, something was amiss from when Luna had be possessed by her jealous rage, a mask of an intricate design adorn on her muzzle, made of turquoise, violet, and dark blue gems the accentuated her eyes.
“What do you wish of me master Wizeman?” A deep sultry and alluring voice spoke.
At the sight of Nightmare, and the physical and mental trauma hit its peak, Luna’s weakened body could handle no more. Luna passed out.
“For now, wait, Reala appear.” 
Fading into existence a black and red striped jester looking creature with slate blue skin, yellow claw like fingers extending from its non attached hands. bowed at the presence of its creator and master.
“Yes master Wizeman?” His voice neither male or female, she was like all nightmaren, Genderless.
“Gather Level 2 nightmaren and focus on retrieving the ideya from these equine dreamers immediately.” several spacial pockets formed around Reala, portals to the dreamers realms. “I am trusting this equine’s ideya to you. They will make the transition between the void and dreams more permissible. Do not loose them. They are our only possible means of entering the dreams of the equines. I will not tolerate their loss.”
“I understand and obey” Reala replied and disappeared to gather his forces. She had a few in mind that would do the trick.
“Now onto you, Nightmare Moon” Wizeman turned to his newest nightmaren,”Seal away this equine in the ideya palace. Her courage ideya may be troublesome if she is left to her devices. See to to it she is too distraught to properly use it.”
“I understand and obey” Replied Nightmare Moon before a swirling darkness consumed her and Luna. 
As Nightmare deposited her masters inspiration to her creation on the glass like black marble of the Nightmare side of the ideya palace, Luna dreamt of her confrontation of her sister. In this horrid memory only on thing echoed in her mindscape.

“…and the NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER!!!”