Familiars, the companions that we summon to be by our sides, to be there for us when no one else will, to defend us when no one else can, can take any shape or form, relevant to our past, present, or future. Such as is their duty, to ensure our prosperity. -Starswirl The Bearded
Familiarus, an age old spell just recently rediscovered that summons up the warrior of your soul, to stand by your side, and serve you till the end of your days. Loyal to a fault, they will do anything for you without question, as is their purpose.
But what would you do if your familiar took on the shape of your most hated past? What if it looked like a horrible monster that you had hoped was gone forever?
The rainfall was loud and harsh as I ran along the path, the thousands of drops of water making the dirt trail muddy. Still I ran, ran as fast and as far as I could. He was right behind me. If he caught up, I was dead.
The path swerved this way and that, branching off at random intervals, leading off to other areas. There was a chance that he lost me, going down the wrong path, but I doubted it. He had a habit of finding me.
Soon the path ended, stopping at a large pond in front of a waterfall. It may have looked deep, but I knew the surface was just below the water. The place where the waterfall crashed was a massive opening that led underground. The water that didn't follow collected up here where, if you stood on it, it looked like you were walking on water.
To some, it was beautiful. To me, it was a grave.
‘At least I'll die somewhere pretty,’ I thought, but it didn't console me much. I walked into the water, shivering for but a moment at the cool of its touch. The rainfall held no signs of letting up, which was fine by me. I was about to die anyways.
“Finally stopped running huh?” I turned and saw my pursuer, standing a few feet away from me. He held two katanas in his hands, and his eyes held an evil glint.
“Figured I'd just face my death instead of running from it forever,” I replied turning to face him. “So, you gonna kill me?”
“Not yet.” He tossed me one of the swords and I caught it. I unsheathed it a little, peering at the black colored blade underneath. The sword of shadow that was my birthright. Yakan.
“Night,” I said, translating the name. “I'm guessing that means you've got Hiruma?”
“What else would I use?” he asked, unsheathing the pale white weapon.
“Kind of ironic you're using that sword, considering your intent.” I pulled Yakan from its confines, the katana making a high pitched noise as it was removed.
Hiruma and Yakan, the twin blades passed down by my family from generation to generation. The two katanas had been in our family for longer than could be remembered. How they were made, and what they were made of was a complete mystery, one no one had bothered to investigate. All we knew was that our family had always had them, passing them down from one son to the next. When my brother and I were born, our father gave me Yakan.
My brother, the insane man in front of me, received Hiruma.
“It's my birthright to wield this blade,” he replied, “just as it is yours to wield that one.”
“Tch, yeah, which was something you were always jealous of.”
“For generations, the eldest son would receive both swords. The fact that our bastard father decided to change things shows he wasn't worthy to lead our family.”
“And you think you are?”
“The one that wields the blades is the one to lead our family. By killing you, I'll be the only one that fits that description!”
“Oh yeah? And what about the many other lives you ended just to get to me?”
“Necessary casualties.” I growled in anger.
This murderer, this madman, had taken the lives of people that I cared about in his effort to hunt me down. I was going to make him pay before I left this earth.
‘Ugh, my head,’ I thought as my consciousness returned to me. I groaned at the feeling of a massive headache, my skull feeling too small for my brain. ‘What the hell happened last night?’
My eyes fluttered open, and I looked around, seeing nothing but an eternal expanse of darkness. I wasn't too sure where I was, so I tried to recall the last thing that I could remember. I had been running from… someone but I couldn't remember why, nor what happened when they caught up. It was all a blur.
Suddenly, I felt some sort of strange feeling. Like a wave of consciousness had swept over the darkened area that I inhabited. I know that's a weird description, but it's really the only way I can put it. Anyways, soon a portion of the shadows around me were swept away by a window of light.
The sudden banishment of the blackness fluttered on and off, like blinking eyelids that had just woken up. Soon they remained open, and when I looked into this new light, I was surprised at what I saw.
It was a ceiling. A rather fancy looking one too, like one that you might find in a royal bed chamber. The view was briefly closed off, and a loud yawn echoed all around me. It soon returned however, but now I was looking out into a bedroom instead of a ceiling.
“I suppose it is time to start our day,” a voice said. Wait, why was that voice familiar? Come to think of it, why did this room look familiar? I know for certain that I've never been here, and yet I knew I had seen this bedroom before.
My window into the bedchamber began to move around. It didn't take me long to figure out that this window was showing me a world through someone else's view. But, if that was true then, what was this darkness around me?
“I suppose it is time we raise the moon,” the voice said. Raise the moon? What the heck did that mean? Whoever I was watching the world from walked over to a balcony that had an amazing view over a city that I swear I recognized too. But from what?
The motion of my view stopped, which meant the person stopped, and simply waited. Before long, the sun dipped below the horizon.
“Alright, let us begin.” There was another sudden light behind me. When I turned, I saw an incredibly complex shape begin to take form. It was like a giant work of art, with lines and curves crossing together in beautiful designs. The silver strings of light connected together and formed shapes and angles in such a manner that made it not only seem like an artist’s masterpiece, but also like something that was devised from an incredibly complex equation.
Soon, the lines stopped, and the picture it created was beautiful. It seemed to depict the moon itself, surrounded by countless silver strings. The strings then began to move, causing the moon to shift upwards. Just as it did, the moon in the real world began to rise with it, and soon took its place high in the night sky.
Then, silver dots began to decorate themselves around the picture of the moon, and with each dot that came, a star would appear, matching its placement.
Quite honestly, it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Soon, the picture in the darkness faded, but its likeness remained in the night sky.
“There we are,” the voice said. “I believe I've outdone myself tonight.”
With a merry giggle, the person from whom I saw the world through went back into her room. The gears in my mind began to turn at this prospect. Who did I know could raise the moon, and dot the night sky with stars? Who did I know have a room like this, or live in a city like this?
“Lulu? Are you coming for dinner?”
“What is dinner for you dear sister is breakfast for us but yes I will be coming. Just let me freshen up.”
And that's when it hit me. Only one person could control the moon and stars like that. Only one person had a room like this and lived in a city like this. Only one person had the nickname Lulu.
“I best hurry,” she said stepping into the bathroom and standing before a mirror. “My sister was never a night pony.”
And as she stood there, my suspicions were confirmed. As of now, I was inside the mind of Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, and emissary of the moon.
As Luna proceeded down the hall to which one could presume to be the location of the dining room, my mind was on full insanity mode. What was going on? How was I here, in Equestria? Furthermore, why was I inside of Luna's head? I've heard stories and fanfictions of people coming to Equestria in strange ways, but nothing like this!
The more I questioned, the more confused I became. While all of this was happening, Luna happily walked into the dining room where the table had been set. Celestia sat at a seat near the middle. Since this wasn't a formal occasion, she hadn't taken the head of the table, but instead decided to settle in a spot where she could sit more closely to her sister, something only confirmed when Luna sat across from her.
“So, how has your day been?” Luna asked.
“Tiring to say the least. I had to open ten shops today! That, compiled with the fiasco that went during day court, and I'm just about ready to collapse!”
“What happened at day court?”
“Oh the usual noble demanding this and that.”
“Well if it was the usual then why was it such a problem?”
“Because I had to waist two hours explaining why I couldn't move Cloudsdale so some noble could sunbathe in his backyard.”
“What?”
“Well you know how Cloudsdale isn't anchored to anything, so it moves about all around Equestria. Today, it just so happened to pass over this pony’s house, and so he demanded that something be done so that never happens again. And so I had to take the time to explain that doing so could cause damage to Cloudsdale itself, rendering hundreds of pegasi homeless, but he didn't care! He even had the audacity to say, “If something happens to Cloudsdale, then they can just live on the ground.” Can you believe that?”
“Oh trust me sister, I've had worse. Once, I had a pony complain that the light of my moon shown right in his face at night, and so he wanted me to move it.”
“Couldn't he have just closed the curtains?”
“That's what I said, but he claimed that would take too much effort and moving the moon would be easier!”
As the two began to exchange stories of the absurdity of the nobles, like a waiter would complain about the people they serve, I was busy trying to come up with a reason as to how I ended up here. My most recent memories were still blurry, so they weren't helping any, and so I kept trying to come up with some way as to how I made it to a fictional world full of ponies! But the only thing I could think of was… reasons.
“FUCK!” I shouted in frustration. Luna stopped eating and looked around in surprise. Apparently she heard me.
“What is it Luna?” Celestia asked worriedly.
“I just heard someone curse rather vehemently.”
“Really? I didn't hear anything.”
“Hmm… perhaps not.” Luna continued to eat, although I could sense that her guard was up, keeping an ear out for another exclamation.
‘Maybe I should keep the the shouting inside my head for now,’ I thought. Most at this point would make their presence known to the princesses, but I decided to keep myself hidden. After all, these two were the greatest defenders of their land and, unlike what many fanfictions tend to believe, they may not take kindly to an intruder inside of one of their heads.
As the mares finished up their dinner/breakfast, I started to study the world around me. I quickly found that, if I focused, I could see elsewhere besides Luna’s eyesight, mainly in nine other areas. The tip of her horn, any point on either of her wings, the base of her hooves, and, oddly enough, out of her flanks where her cutie marks were located. Not many of these spots made sense, especially being able to see out of her butt, but each did provide a good viewpoint to the world around us. Or rather, the world around Luna, from whom I could only observe.
I began to wonder, why the hell was I here? From every example I've read, humans would come to Equestria for some sort of purpose, but so far, I could see no reason for me to be here. I even began to wonder if I was actually present in Equestria, as being my only view of the world was Luna’s, perhaps I wasn't actually in Equestria. Maybe I was just watching the world from a different point of view than one I was used to.
Which reminds me, I have yet to describe myself. Well, what lack of self that I have.
When I looked down at my body, I saw nothing. Well, I saw something, but it isn't really something that can be described, only seen. Basically, just imagine a formless ball of midnight blue mist, and that's a basic idea of what I looked like.
Looking at it may have been weird, but controlling it was weirder. I don't have any limbs or anything, and I couldn't really move either. If I was moving, I couldn't tell because the only thing I had for reference was the screen in front of me, but that never seemed to move no matter what I did, so I could only guess that I no longer had the ability to move. Furthermore, the words I spoke seemed to transfer directly to Luna’s ears as, even when I whispered, she could hear me. Thankfully, my tests of quiet whispers saying nothing more than, “hey,” or, “hello,” seemed to be regarded as distant conversation by the castle staff. Thankfully, this didn't occur when I merely kept the monologues to my thoughts.
As I debated more on what I could now do and couldn't do, Luna had walked into something akin to an office and sat at a desk. Almost immediately a white unicorn with a black mane and blue eyes came in from a side room, her purple glasses balanced precariously on her muzzle, a stack of papers in her telekinetic grasp.
“Good evening Princess Luna.”
“Evening Task Master. What's tonight's schedule?”
“It's mostly the usual. A few papers to look over, a short session of night court, and then you're off to battle nightmares.”
“Oh goody, another average day.”
“An average day is a good day, as it means you don't have any extra difficulties.”
“Touché.” Task Master smiled as she took some papers from her stack and set them on Luna's desk. “And these are?”
“Most are just requests to renew company contracts, but there are a few reports from the northern border patrol.”
“Norse Wolves causing trouble again?”
“Not sure, didn't have time to look it over. I've got about a hundred staff relocation requests to go over, as well as a few guard reassignment approvals to confirm and send to the correct division. One of them is Night Chaser.”
“What? You mean the one that guards my door? But I loved our occasional conversations.”
“Yes but apparently his wife is pregnant and he wants to watch over the streets his child is going to play in.”
“Aw, how sweet. Well tell him congratulations for me.”
“Will do Princess.” As Task Master left, Luna started to look over the papers on her desk, leaving me to my thoughts.
This was pretty interesting. You constantly read stories about rising stars or incredible heroes whenever you go on sights like fimfiction. Hell, the show itself generally keeps things on a specific cast of characters. But sometimes, it's nice to hear about the everyday lives of ponies you've never met, and might not ever see again. It just makes everything seem more, I don't know, real.
And so the night went on, Luna going through paper after paper, grazing over some, and carefully reading others. It's funny, I read every word she did, and my reactions generally matched hers. Whenever it was some boring contract for some company to renew its license, my eyes would glaze over. But when a report came up about some suspicious activity in the north, I wanted to know more, and hopped that everything was okay. Guess it just goes to show, even when it isn't your world, you can still care deeply for something you love.
At some point Luna reached the bottom of the pile, and with a relieved sigh, Luna stacked the papers up in a neat stack, presumably for Task Master to pick up later. She then walked out of her office and strolled onward the throne room, where night court was to be held. Sitting on the glorified chair, Luna cleared her mind, and signaled for the first pony to be let in.
The session wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Perhaps the ponies with actual, feasible requests were just patient enough to wait till night court, where the snooty nobles didn't show up as often. Not to say that none did, but they were quickly denied.
Soon night court came to a close, and the doors were shut to the public. With that job done, Luna moved on to her final task. Guarding the dreams of her subjects.
I suppose I should explain just how one enters what many describe as, “the dreamscape.” Basically, you have to go sleep, but not actually sleep. And no, I don't mean you need to lie in your bed and stay awake, I mean you actually need to fall asleep, and yet not lose consciousness. It's a really complicated and difficult process that can take centuries to master. Thankfully, Luna has lived long enough to figure out how one accomplishes such a feat, and thus she entered the dreamscape.
The dreamscape is an odd place. Basically, imagine a void filled with millions of balls of varying color, and that's the dreamscape. Each ball was actually the dream of a single pony, and their color described the type of dream they were having. Green was happiness, blue was lucid, white was long (the ones that feel like years go by), and pink was… well let's just call it love. Anyways, these spheres of unconsciousness swirled about all over the place, spreading a jovial presence throughout the void. Luna couldn't help but smile at the sight.
“Ah, it appears everypony is sleeping well tonight.” Then, out of the corner of her eye, Luna spotted another dream. This one stood out from the rest as, instead of the bright, happy colors the rest beheld, this one was black. “Well, almost everypony.”
Luna approached the dark ball. I could feel pure fear emanating from it, and it was beginning to affect the dreams around it. Luna quickly surrounded it in some sort of magical barrier, preventing the surrounding dreams from turning into nightmares. Then, touching it with her horn, Luna entered the dream.
The landscape in which Luna appeared in was dark and barren. A single, wooden house just barely stood, the planks it was comprised of old and cracked. The screams of a young filly could be heard inside, and without moment to lose, Luna galloped to her rescue.
Inside of the beaten down home, a young, bright yellow filly with a honey colored mane, sat in a corner, surrounded by spiders. The eight legged creepy crawlies slowly approached as the poor girl tried to back further into the corner. The multitude of arachnids hissed in hunger, and the filly screamed in terror. But, just before the spiders could pounce, a wave of blue flames swept through the house.
The spiders cried out in pain and shock as the magical fire burnt them away, causing them to disappear from sight. Once the flames had cleansed the home, a bright white light consumed all sight, and the filly opened her eyes to a beautiful green field.
“Are you alright little one?” The filly turned to see Luna, a kind smile on her face.
“Princess Luna!” the girl cheered as she raced towards the monarch. Luna caught the girl in a hug, in which the both of them laughed brightly. “Did you save me from all those spiders?”
“I did indeed. But tell me child, why do you fear such creatures?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you are much bigger than they are, far too big for them to do anything to you. No spider would want to challenge somepony such as yourself.”
“But they're all creepy and gross.”
“True, but they are necessary.”
“They are?”
“Of course, all livings things are necessary. Everything serves some sort of purpose, even spiders.”
“Oh. But that doesn't make them any less creepy.”
“Hmm, I suppose it doesn't. But whether or not they're creepy doesn't matter. Just know that you have no need to fear them, because no spider desires to harm you.”
“Okay princess.” For some reason, the filly looked a little disheartened, like she had just done something wrong. Seeing this, Luna decided to remedy the apparent sadness. And so, laying down, Luna took the little filly under her wing.
“Not to say that fearing them is ridiculous. After all, I too used to fear them.”
“Really?”
“Yes. When I was but a young child, spiders to me were nothing but creepy little bugs that wanted to get me. But soon I learned two things. One, they're not bugs, they're arachnids.”
“There's a difference?”
“Well, it is something Starswirl pounded into my head so I would assume so.” The filly laughed, causing Luna to chuckle in turn.
“So what was the second thing you learned?” the filly asked once the laughter had ended.
“Well the second thing I learned was that spiders had no business with me. They weren't out to get me, and, as long as I didn't bother them, they too would leave me alone. So don't think it's disgraceful to fear spiders. Just know that they aren't heartless creatures that desire to hurt you.”
“Okay!” the filly exclaimed. But then she paused, as if confused. “Hey princess?”
“What is it young one?”
“What's disgrace mean?” Luna paused, blinked, then burst into laughter, confusing the filly even more.
“Oh you young ones never cease to be adorable,” Luna said, nuzzling her. “Well, now that your nightmare has been dealt with, I must be off to help others that may suffer the same way.”
Luna stood, and her horn began to glow.
“I wish you good night, Sweet Honey.” And with that, Luna exited the dream in a burst of white light.
Luna's sleeping schedule has got to be the strangest part of her day. For the past week or so, I've watched her sleep at practically random intervals. Sometimes she's up and about during the day, and other times she around during the night. She tends to fall asleep after some random tasks are finished, and yet she makes it look as though every breath she takes was planned and dated.
‘Talk about stressful,’ I think. ‘How does she do all this?’
I suppose that's just the life of a princess in Equestria. It's all super fun, until you get bombarded with so many duties you no longer have a social life.
As of now, Luna was heading for the dining hall for breakfast, even though it was lunch time. The tired mare walked in, grabbed a pineapple with her magical grip, and inhaled the fruit in a single chomp.
“Morning Lulu,” Celestia said, gently lifting a fork with a piece of a salad toi her mouth. “Sleep well?”
“Meh.”
“Any special plans or activities today?”
“Meh.”
“I see… so I guess I can paint the walls of your bedroom pink?”
…
…
…
“Luna?”
Unfortunately, Luna had fallen unconscious, her face resting on her thankfully empty plate. Celestia simply chuckled at the sight, and walked up to her sleeping sister.
“I suppose I can take one or two of your duties today, let's see what you have.” Pulling a list from seemingly nowhere, Celestia looked over what I could only guess were Luna's duties. “Hmmm, the dinner with Fancy Pants and the meeting with the EEA shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Allow me to take these off your list dear sister.”
Crossing the two out, Celestia left the list for Luna on the table, clear for her to see what her sister had already claimed. After Celestia left, I took a look at the checklist myself.
‘Meeting with the Captain of the Night Guard, opening three shops, approving and/or denying company leases. Damn, what don't these princesses do?’ My wonderings went unanswered however, and so I just sat patiently, waiting for Luna to wake up.
Then five minutes passed. Then ten. Then thirty. The passing of an hour was coming up, and according to the checklist, Luna didn't have that kind of time. If she slept any longer, she'd miss her meeting with the Captain of the Night Guard. If she wanted to make it, then I had no choice.
“Luna…”
“...”
“Luna…”
“Mmm… mmph.”
“Luna!”
“I'm awake! I'm awake!” Luna shouted, roused from her slumber. She closed her eyes, a hoof rubbing her muzzle as she groaned internally. “Ugh… what time is it?”
A quick peak to a window to her left, and Luna was immediately able to register, don't ask me how, that it was getting close to three, which was when she was supposed to meet with the Captain of the Night Guard.
“Oh faust!” Luna shouted, scrambling from her seat and rushing out of her room. She bolted down hallways and corridors, servants and guards barely managing to get out of the way before she flew by them. Making it to her office in just under a minute, Luna grabbed several papers that had been placed on her desk and jettisoned them to the room next to hers. A sudden yelp from Task Master was all I heard before Luna shut her doors, organized the room with a whirlwind of magic, and then sat in her chair, like this rapid motion of panicked activity was some sort of practiced skill. And in a way, it was.
A moment or two later, the door to Luna's office opened, and a bat pony- no sorry, thestral, walked inside.
“Good day, your highness,” the stallion said bowing.
“Arise, Captain Black Wind. I trust you have a reason to call for this meeting?”
“Indeed, your highness.” After a quick glance backward, another creature came in and stood parallel to the pony soldier.
It was an odd beast. The creature had a feline form and eyes, but the ears, fangs, and wings of a bat, appearing to be some sort of cat-bat hybrid. In its mouth was some strange bottle, a green flame within it.
“Two days ago, a small town about ten miles south of the Crystal Empire was found demolished. The buildings had been burnt to the ground, and whatever remained was still burning with these green flames. The fires don't seem to go out, no matter what we do, and our familiars are wary of the flames. My familiar Nocturnis is only holding the flames in the bottle because I directly ordered him to.”
Luna grabbed the bottle with her magic and lifted it to herself with suspicion. As she investigated that however, my attention was drawn to the cat-bat, who I shall henceforth address as batcat.
If I heard him right, batcat was Black Wind’s familiar, which was interesting, since I had never seen nor heard of familiars existing in the My Little Pony universe before. The being was definitely unnatural, even by Equestria's standards, and sat patiently as if waiting for some sort of command. If I focused hard enough, I could see strands of light connecting batcat to Black Wind.
‘Weird,’ I thought. ‘I wonder if Luna has a familiar?’
“- but we still have yet to find the source.” In my focus of batcat, I hadn't realised Black Wind had been talking.
“Hmmm… this is very troubling indeed,” responded calmly.
“How shall we respond?”
“Hmmm, how to indeed?” Luna pondered the question for a bit before coming up with what she believed to be at least a temporary solution. “Increase the amount of guards in the cities and towns up north, and start circling patrols in the area.”
“Very well princess.”
“If your men do find the source of the flames, they are not to engage unless the creature is attacking civilians understood? We need to know what we're dealing with if we want a chance in subduing it.”
“Yes your highness. I'll make the arrangements right away.” And with that, Black Wind left, batcat jumping onto his back and riding away with him. Luna took another look at the bottled green flames, before calling out. “Task Master! Take this to the vault!”
The white unicorn calmly walked forward from her office and grasped the bottle in her magic before leaving without a word. Luna sat back, searching her memories, which I could visibly see as she looked, in case this was some old foe who had risen once more. Unfortunately, the past yielded nothing, so Luna dropped her inquiries. She could ponder the attack later, for now, she had other duties to attend to.
As Luna went on her way, I decided to try and figure out what else I could do here. I was in the mind of princess Luna, there must be something I can do other than watch her think.
It took me a while, but I eventually found that I could access Luna’s memories myself. Hundreds of small panels appeared in front of me, allowing me to cycle through them like a slideshow. These panels were labeled according to what was in them: good memories, bad memories, favorite memories, important memories. I decided to search through some of her favorites.
Tapping that panel, the other slides seemed to disappear as more slides came to replace them. Cycling through those, I stopped at one that occurred around 1500 years ago. The memory was titled, a new kingdom. Wondering just what this new kingdom was, I tapped it, and the memory began to play.
Luna was walking down the streets of a town, buildings being erected almost everywhere you looked. In the distance, I could see some sort of castle being constructed.
“So dearest sister, whatist thou think of our kingdom thus far?” a voice to the left asked.
“Methinks it is all coming about wonderfully mine sibling.” The way they were talking, as well as the time period, made me wonder if this was when they were first building the castle of the two sisters.
“Indeed,” the pony from the left responded, stepping into view. The multicolored hair and the white fur pretty much gave away that this was Celestia I was looking at. “The city of Everfree, the first settlement erected after that monster’s defeat, shall henceforth stand as a symbol of freedom for all to see!”
‘If only they knew.’ The memory would've continued, but I decided to search other visions of the past. Scrolling through those windows of history, I took in glimpses of battles and warfields, of politics and foreign nations, of ponies and places long gone.
But my viewings were soon interrupted when something Luna was doing caught my eye. Luna, at some point, had made her way to her personal quarters. She trotted briskly onto her personal balcony, and watched the sun as it shone in the sky.
Soon the golden ball of warmth and light began to dip towards the horizon, and once it disappeared, that same magical construct formed itself in Luna’s mind, raising the moon from its position beyond the mountains and placing itself high above the earth it watched over.
“There we are, another beautiful night,” Luna said, dotting the sky with stars. With that done, Luna turned to return to her duties.
But then she stopped.
Quickly pulling out her list, I thought perhaps Luna had forgotten where to go. But after checking her next task and rolling up the paper, the lunar monarch smiled to herself.
“I suppose I have a little time.” She approached a drape that hung against her wall. Moving it aside revealed a hidden door, one she opened and trotted up the stairs it revealed.
Up and up to the tip of the tower, Luna continued to ascend. Finally reaching the very top, she pushed open a trapdoor, revealing a small room illuminated by the moonlight coming in from a single window.
The room had two large, strange, arcane symbols in the center of the floor. Candles surrounded the edges, and incense was placed about the room. Luna sat in the middle of one of the circles, closed her eyes, and began to focus.
“Dicentem,” She began to chant. “Exite de bellator spiritus, custos animae meae. Bekon dico vobis: protector meus, imago mea spiritualis patronum, te, ut ostendam in me unum atque unicum tuum, dominus aeternam. Fac tibi nota mihi, quam levasti manum tuam ut ille solus protegere et voco hic et nunc!”
With each and every word, the candles began to go out, soon replacing the flames of amber, with plumes of blue. I could practically feel the magic gathering in the room, encompassing everything it touched.
And that's when I felt the pull.
“Revela ante te, ostende te vero forma, et stabit sicut primum et ultima defensionis forma! Familiarus!” And with that sentence ended, I felt my body, my essence, being pulled somewhere else. It hurt, it felt wrong, and I was not okay with being subjugated to this magic of which I had no understanding. So instead of letting it consume me, I fought tooth and nail against the magical draw, and soon the pulling stopped. The flames of the candles went out, and the magic dissipated.
A brief moment of silence filled the air, only to be filled by an angry growl.
“Argh! Why can I not get this spell to work? Why will you not show yourself my familiar?”
‘Familiar? What the hell is she-’ then I remembered batcat from earlier, and that made all the more confusing.
Why the hell would a spell used to create a familiar affect me in any way? I get that Luna's magic passed through here, but no spell she ever cast had ever seemed to involve me in any way, so why would-
And then something clicked. Something that answered all of my questions.
Why was I here? Why was I trapped in Luna’s mind? Why did that spell affect me? It all made perfect sense to me now.
This… was understandably weird. I’ve read stories and fanfictions of people coming to Equestria due to magic or spells, but never because they technically were a spell. I can’t even begin to fathom the concepts of what that means. First of all, am I my own being? I have my own memories, especially of this place being a kids show, and I can think and feel for myself. But since I’m part of a spell, doesn’t that mean I’m a part of Luna’s magic, and thus Luna herself? Or was my presence just summoned forth into Luna’s head by said spell?
“Ugh, all this is giving me a headache.”
“Huh?” Luna exclaimed looking around. Gotta remember that Luna can hear me. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”
But naught a soul was there to respond. Well, I was, but you know what I mean. Anyways, Luna searched for a while longer, going so far as to use her own magical senses to attempt to detect an intruder, but she found nothing. Certain that no pony was around, Luna left to continue on with her next important duty.
Which left me to sit in wonder. I rambled on for hours, curious of my own existence now that I was nothing but a spell. But are familiars spells? Or are they creatures summoned by spells? Now that was an inner debate that could've lasted whole night.
But soon my attention was drawn back to reality as Luna prepared for her last job of the night. The dreamscape.
Once again delving into the realm of slumber, Luna searched for any nightmares that were present, her magical senses searching farther than her eyes could see. Thankfully, everypony seemed to be resting well, which allowed Luna time to relax.
… I debated on whether or not I should reveal myself. But I still didn’t know exactly what I was at this point. I knew, or at least had reason to believe, that I was a familiar, but what did that mean? What was I now, and what was I to her? I also wondered if other familiars were like me, beings from other worlds, somehow brought here.
I almost did it. I almost called out to her, to let her know I was there, but something held me back. I was too afraid of what might transpire should I let myself be know.
Then, Luna gasped.
She began searching around frantically, then flew off in some random direction, and ended up at a dream orb I had never seen before. It was black, like the nightmares, but red cracks spread throughout it, pulsating like a heartbeat.
I would eventually learn that these were called black dreams.
There are bad dreams, there are nightmares, and then there’s these puppies. Black dreams are rare, but when they occur, they bring incredible danger. The magic that flowed throughout Equestria also flowed within the dreamscape, and that wasn’t always a good thing.
Sometimes, someone or something would have a dream so bad, a black beast is born within it. These are monsters of the dreamscape, and if left unchecked they could wreak havoc upon the inhabitants of the world, as they left nightmares everywhere they went. When Luna had turned into Nightmare Moon, these creatures roamed free for centuries, only to be quashed upon her return. Most gave up.
Some still struggled.
Luna quickly entered the dream, and happened upon devastation.
Everywhere she looked, she could see Canterlot, burning in red fire, colored crimson as though made of blood. The flames danced as they coated the sky in smoke, and the screams of terror of faceless ponies rang throughout the chaos. And in the distance, she could see it.
The black beast.
A giant monstrosity of a hundred heads, half of them eyes, half of them mouths, and from its body extended countless arms and legs, mismatched so you couldn’t tell the front of the creature from the back. And the dreamer was right in front of it.
“BACK MONSTROSITY!” Luna shouted in her royal voice, her war cry drawing the beast’s attention. It roared in rage, seeing its old jailor, and several of its mouthed heads flew forwards at her. But Luna nimbly dodged them all, sweeping in to rescue the dreamer, and fly away as fast as possible.
The dreamer was some kid, a young colt with and emerald coat, and a brown mane.
“Verdant!” Luna cried, flying quickly as the black beast began to give chase. “Verdant you must wake up!”
“Princess Luna? What’s-”
“There is no time my little pony! You must wake!” A shrill cry from the monster alerted Luna just before the creature puked a black substance that seemed to be acidic. She barely dodged it, and returned the attack with one of her own, firing back a beam of magic at one of the eyes. Fortunately, she hit her target, but that only seemed to piss it off. “It’s too strong to fight off! You must wake!”
“I-I’m trying!” The monster launched more of that black sludge. Luna attempted to maneuver out of the way, but she ended up being too slow, and the substance nailed her wing. With a cry, the lunar princess fell.
She crashed to the ground, tumbling as she wrapped herself around the colt, doing her best to protect him. If the pony died in his dream, the beast would be free.
Standing, Luna faced the monster, pushing the colt behind her.
“You must wake Verdant! We cannot let it get out!”
“I’m trying! I-I just can’t!” The monster roared, its quarry cornered. Time to get rid of the jailor.
Several of its arms and legs gathered up into some kind of tentacle, and made a rush for Luna and her charge. Without a moment to lose, Luna turned to protect the colt, and hoped for the best.
WHAM!
Luna waited for the force of the impact, and for the pain, but neither came. Opening her eyes, she saw the tentacle had been stopped…
By a hand of blue mist, coming from her shadow.
In my panic, I had reached out, wanting to stop the whip of flesh, and had done exactly that. My hand, formed from a dark blue fog, reached out from Luna’s shadow, and caught the attack.
The black beast made a grunt of confusion. I only smiled.
My turn.
Using an unnatural amount of strength, I used the tentacle as leverage to fling the dream monster up and over the two ponies and up into the air, where it sailed for a moment, before crashing down into the earth. I bent my magical arm low over Luna’s form, ready to protect her, and the colt, from any further dangers.
After all, I was her familiar.
“Princess Luna? What’s that?”
“That, my dear colt, is something I’ve been waiting for.” Luna stood tall, a lot more confident with my arm by her side. “Now try to wake up, I’ll keep this thing distracted.”
Without wait for a response, Luna shot into the air. Flying faster than I had ever seen, she soared high above her foe, before shooting down directly at it. She began to flip forwards, and almost by instinct I knew what to do. Helping her spin faster, we built up momentum until we were close enough, and Luna planted her front hooves into the monster, while I plunged into it with my fist. The black beast screamed in agony, and Luna lifted off as it began to spew more of the dark acid.
Sensing she wouldn’t be fast enough, I somehow formed my arm into an extra set of wings and used them in tandem with her own to boost her speed. Getting up into the air, Luna focused her magic into her horn, and I poured my own power into it, allowing her to release a blast of magic more powerful than any she could have created alone. The shot hit its mark, and the black beast was driven further into the earth, its screams practically music to my ears. But just before things could become more exciting, everything went white.
The dream was over. And although Luna may have been celebrating over the fact that she defeated a black beast, and got a response from her familiar, I had but one question.
