//------------------------------// // The Dream Realm // Story: The Hunters of Secrets // by Arkantos //------------------------------// Back to the past The pack leader said in that same monstrous voice, "I assume this is yours?" Luna felt nothing but hatred towards the Werepony, so she chose her words carefully when she said, "What is your purpose in life?" The pack leader, with a puzzled expression, asked, "What do you mean?" "Come on! Every intelligent pony has a purpose in life. The Pegasuses are the caretakers of the weather, the Earth ponies are responsible for the food, and the Unicorns use their magic to better understand the world. The Threads keep the other ponies safe in the dark. I raise the moon and my sister raises the sun, and there are many more creatures who have a purpose in life, so I ask you again: what is your purpose in life?" The pack leader started to laugh and said, "Oh, you ponies don't get it. We are the true walkers of the land and the bringers of death." As she said this, several Wereponies began moving into the light and Luna saw how nervous they looked,  Luna looked back at their pack leader, who continued, "And as long as your ponies try to build settlements anywhere near me and my monsters, we will eat and destroy all that you treasure, because that is the rule of nature. That is the Wereponies’ way, and anypony who says otherwise is wrong." "I see, so you think your reason for existing is to cause destruction and death, but that isn’t a way of life; it’s a way to get you and your pack killed." Luna raised her sword and placed it in front of her face, closing her eyes. The Pack leader shouted, "Enough talk! Let's fight!" And the Werepony charged at her, her teeth and claws ready to dig into the Princess of the Night. Suddenly, Luna opened her eyes. A glowing white light of magic power followed by a magical shockwave came through her. The pack leader was pushed backwards by the magical output, by the constant waves of magical energy that the Alicorn of the Moon was directing at her. But they didn't stop her from crawling on the ground to get to Luna and she almost managed it. However, the dark blue Alicorn yelled in her great Canterlot voice, "YOU SHALL BE JUDGED!" Then Luna used her magic to grab the pack leader’s tail and drag her into the Dream Realm. She dropped her into a version of Canterlot that the Princess of the Night had created. "What is this?" was all the pack leader could say as she fell into the dream realm city. Luna glided down and landed softly while the pack leader went splat on the ground. The Werepony got up and looked around, noticing that the city had several white towers and it looked completely empty. Luna’s version of the capital city had absolutely no ponies in it, but the pack leader realized that she was in a dream, so of course it would look abandoned. She crashed into a pony stand, causing several bits of currency to roll into the street along with a couple of strawberries that either rolled in different directions or just got smashed by the Werepony as she got up and looked at the city around her. Her sightseeing was cut short when Luna landed on a bridge connected to one of the walltowers of the city. with her horn illuminated and charged up, she said, "You believe you are nature’s plan? Well, there's another word for you, and that is murder." The Werepony replied while licking her paws of dried blood, "I’ve been called worse." She realized that she hadn’t given Luna her name yet. "By the way, I'm Eclipse." "You think by having me know your name I would give you pity?" A sinister look appeared on Eclipse’s face. "Why, yes, because you're a princess and from what I remember a pony that I recently ate saying to me, Princess Celestia is a kind hearted soul and she would never stoop to violence. And according to the last words of a pony recently expired from high society, you can't kill a lower class pony." Luna pondered on her words for a little while before saying, "You’re right. However, that law is for Equestrian citizens only, not for monsters like you."  Then Luna summoned strength to move fast and used her sword to slash Eclipse on one of her legs. She then used her hind legs to kick Eclipse, which sent her crashing into a house built into a wall. The pack leader spoke from the wreckage of the collapsed house. "Is that all you got? Because I think you scratched my leg." As she said this, the Werepony stepped out of the ruined house and laughed. Luna’s eyes widened as she saw that her attack had done nothing to her opponent. But that didn't stop the Princess of the Night from flying up and firing off seven spells, one after another. Some of them hit Eclipse and some missed. Each one caused an explosion of fire and lightning.  As the explosion dust cloud began to clear, Luna used her horn to search for her target, in hopes that the pack leader was done for good. There were not many places to hide since the entire area, the wall and the marketplace, were completely leveled. Suddenly, Luna heard Eclipse’s voice saying, "Aww, it's like you care about me. Since You Threw Explosions At Me!"  Eclipse jumped from the ruined tower and used her claws to grab Luna by the mane, causing Luna to lose control of her flight. As they both came crashing down, Eclipse punched Luna in the face. Luna got up and saw a very black and burned Werepony in front of her. But then, several sparks of blue magic from the dream realm went into Eclipse and her entire body glowed bright blue. When the magical glow faded, the pack leader looked as good as new. Luna fired a very loud beam of lightning magic, which lasted for several minutes until Luna ran out of power to keep up the spell. She collapsed to the floor, sure that this time Eclipse must be gone. But alas, the Werepony was still standing and buzzing with electricity. She shook off the spell like it was nothing.   Flabbergasted, Luna said, "How? How are you still alive? I thought I was in charge of this dream realm, and that last attack should've obliterated you." Eclipse replied, "You are a real idiot. You think just because you're the Alicorn of Dreams that this realm should obey you?" Luna rose up from the floor and nodded. Eclipse yelled, "No! You want to know why? Well, the dream realm is alive and doesn't like it when you try to kill me or anypony here, because this realm is only used to solve problems; and not physical problems like killing it’s hosts. No! No! No. It solves the problems of the mind. So, yeah, as long as we remain here, you will be unable to kill me, and the same rule applies to me about killing you." As she said this, several sparkles appeared around Luna, quickly healing the damage that was done. Luna got up and thought about the Werepony’s words. "You're not the first one to try to use this place,” Eclipse continued. ”Heck, Discord himself tried something similar with a Sphinx and…" She paused for a second before continuing. "Let's just say the dream realm was changed in more ways than one. So let's leave this realm and continue the real fight outside." The dark blue alicorn sat down, realizing that no matter what she did here, the realm would protect her opponent. She let out a sigh and used her magic to bring herself and the pack leader back into the waking world. If nothing else, she did learn that this realm could solve the problems of the mind, even if it couldn’t solve  physical problems. Somehow, someway, she could use it to help her sister.