//------------------------------// // Princess Luna, Guardian of Dreams // Story: The Guardian of Dreams // by Jamin P Rose //------------------------------// A golden wind whispers across a cosmic plain, stirring a wave of stars that flows like liquid glass. On a board of light a tall alicorn mare rides the wave of stars, her coat shimmers a beautiful blue as she rides along the slowly curling length of the wave. Her wings spread to scrape the wave as it fully curls over her, ripples of stars flow off her wingtips as she exits the curl of the wave. Those ripples of stars flow into her stary mane as she jumps from her board and lands on a floating island covered in the softest of grass. She settles down on the grass and looks over the endless ocean of stars, a mug of hot tea appears in her magic as she watches. The moon slowly rises over the edge of the horizon revealing an endless number of spheres, each containing a world—a dream—of a pony. She sips her tea as she watches the various spheres for disturbances. A few catch her eye, surrounded by the darkness of a nightmare. Her hiorn glows, a beam of magic reaching out to each of them slowly peeling away the darkness of the nightmare. All the while she sips her tea continuing to watch the dream spheres diligently. Eventually one of the spheres rises to the surface, nearly pitch black. Her eyes lock onto it as she sets her cup down and takes to the air. The golden wind carries her to the sphere, her horn piercing the surface and drawing her in. Her whole form vanishes in a flash. A cloud of stars slowly filters into the darkened world stretching and forming the shape of the alicon before molding back into her hair. Down below a small lilac pony stands cornered by dark, mindless, husks that slowly advance on them. The alicorn falls from the heavens, landing between the little pony and the mindless husks. A sword of shimmering black metal appears in her magic, slowly, methodically it cuts down the husks. Each one bursts into shadow that slowly drifts away until there are none left. Behind her the little pony, a young unicorn filly, slowly steps up to her side. “P-princess Luna?” “Hello little one,” Princess Luna says as the sword vanishes and she turns to look at the little filly.. “Thank you for saving me from them Princess,” the filly says as she leans against Princess Luna’s leg. Luna leans down and nuzzles the little filly’s mane. “You’re welcome, Dinky. I do hope your mom’s doing well.” “Uh-hu, she sure is.” Dinky says with a bright smile. “That is good to hear. Sadly I must move on, I have other nightmares to tend to, however before I go.” Luna’s horn light’s up and the world around them shifts from a dark and shadowed land to a bright beautiful field of flowers twice the size of Dinky. “I hope you enjoy the wonders of the Field of Dreams.” “Bye Princess Luna!” Dinky says before charging out into the field of flowers, only to jump up onto a giant poppy and bounce along the next flower. Luna waves to her before drifting back into the form of a cloud of stars and vanishing through a small door behind her. Back inside her personal realm Luna drifts above the endless dreams pheres searching out the most troubled of ponies. Some that were shrouded in darkness before have returned to normal, but a new one stood out amongst the crowd. A pitch black dream sphere giving off shadowy sparks sits nestled amongst a group of shadowy orbs. The sparks from the pitch black orb phase into the other shadowy orbs slowly making them darker. Luna floats down to the dark orb pressing her horn against it, her magic flowing from her horn. The brilliant light of her magic envelops the orb, all of the surrounding shadowed orbs and herself. The half dozen orbs in her magic slowly merge into one single dark orb that slowly pulls her inside. Unlike with the other orb she doesn’t disappear in a flash but instead sinks into it. Slipping through the shell of the dream and into the darkened world of the nightmare. As her tail finishes slipping through the shell she floats above six familiar ponies. Each one helped save her from the darkness of The Nightmare. The six of them are surrounded by a hodgepodge of enemies; changelings, diamond dogs, nightmarish ponies, centaurs, gem golems, and timberwolves. Their teamwork holds the enemies mostly at bay but it’s a losing battle. With a sigh Luna summons from the misty depths of her mane a glimmering silver armor that slowly unfolds across her body. From her tail comes a pair of cutlasses gleaming with the power of the moon as they enter her magic. When her armor finishes unfolding she falls like a meteor upon the creatures, the impact alone makes dozens of them burst into shadows and fade from existence. “Come now, creatures of nightmare, the Goddess of the Night has come to put you to rest.” Her swords lance out across the enemies cutting whole swaths of them away with each strike. The six ponies, Princess Twilight and her friends, look to see Princess Luna flowing across the battlefield, each motion taking out scores of the creatures that had plagued them. Seeing the princess there fighting for them ignites a power in them. Their elements appear on them projecting their power out across the dream. Rainbow waves form from their location, rising up and crashing down on the various enemies washing away their forms and sending the shadows they’re made of back into the darkness. When the waves reach Princess Luna they wash harmlessly over her, like a gentle hug from a loving mother. With no need to fight anymore the armor around her vanishes as do the swords, her coat glowing as it’s bathed in the rainbow light. As soon as the creatures have been completely swept away the light fades and the elements vanish again. The dark world that once consumed the dream is replaced by a grassy knoll upon which the seven of them stand. “Thank you for coming, Luna.” Twilight says as she waves Luna over. “You’re welcome, Twilight. It’s always good to see you and your friends.” Luna says as she takes to the air hovering above them. “While I would like to stay, I still have nightmares to tend to.”  “We understand princess,” Rarity says with a bit of a bow. “Have a good evening and thank you for helping us.” “You're awesome, princess!” Rainbow Dash cheers as she does a loop-de-loop. “Thank you princess.” Fluttershy’s soft voice joins the others. “Reckon we’re quite lucky you came by, Princess.” Applejack tilts her hat towards the princess. “Cupcake princess?” Pikie asks, floating next to Luna holding out a night themed cupcake. “We appreciate it, thank you.” Luna takes the cupcake in her magic and takes a bite of it. It’s the sweetest of cupcakes, made from pure love. “Thank you all, my saviors. Sweet dreams.” With that Luna leaves behind her six saviors to continue her work in the dream realm, a smile  firmly plastered across her face as the magic of their friendship carries her through the rest of the night’s work. A little piece of each of them aiding her in her work, bringing their own magic to aid her adding a touch of friendship wherever she went. At the end of the night, as she rests on her floating island amongst the sea of stars, their golden glow lulls her into her own restful sleep.