A Tale of Dreams and Nightmares

by Ivo

Chapter 4 - Two Dreamers and a Nightmare

In a short white flash he reappeared at his next destination.
The unicorn stallion took in the common sight around him. It was always relieving for him to leave Oneirica, as amazing and stunning it might was, but the City of Souls with its thousands of colorful cottages was his real home. And it was at least just as wondrous and enchanting as the land of phantasms. Every single one of the houses around him was unique, designed appropriate for the soul that lived inside them.

Most of them had very common features of normal houses like the ones back in Equestria, cottages made of wood, stone and mud. But sometimes there were some flamboyant and remarkable buildings.
One of these outstanding cottages for example was of course the giant book fortress of Twilight Sparkle´s soul with the big astronomical telescope peeking out of its roof. He could see it, the encyclopedia-walls peeping out between the cottages of a nearby hill.
Or the diamond mansion of her friend Rarity, the walls of her cottage consisting of pure gold, specked with thousands of gems, and behind the platinic windows were curtains made of a soft fabric finer than the finest silk in all Equestria.
She was the most loyal long-term user of Lady Thousand Bits´ Dreamessence.
It was a smidge too shiny in his opinion. Really, he even had to add a pair of sunglasses to his appearance whenever he was passing that house!

But there were also cottages that just looked…strange? Disturbing? Creepy?
The Dreamwalker instantly thought at the haunted castle that was the property of Prince Blueblood. His whole house consisted of, well, HIM! Thousands of statues of him created the walls and roof; the golden door had a stylization of him engraved in it and even the stained-glass windows showed mosaics of him!
Seriously, that was just intimidating!
A palace for an egomaniac!
And don´t even mention the Soulcottage of Pinkie Pie!
It was the most colorful gallimaufry of confectionary, party- and playthings he had ever seen! It was just…indescribable! A most colorful mix of a gingerbread-cupcake-gateau house paired with balloons, rubber duckies, joke devices and thousands of other things.
To describe it with as less words as possible:
It was a large fun house mutated to hyper-level.

Today, his destination was a rather normal-looking small house, formed like a big locomotive at the moment. Last time he visited the cottage it had looked like a princess´ palace.
It was nothing uncommon for the Soulcottages to change their appearance like that. Shape-changing houses were always a sign of souls that hadn´t found their destiny and special talents in life yet.
And hay, no cottage has ever changed so much like the ones of the famous Ex-Cutie Mark Crusaders Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo! Back then, their cottages´ shape had changed hourly!

But thinking of princesses´ palaces: He was still wondering how the Soulcottages of the two Equestrian princesses Celestia and Luna would look like. It was rather surprising to him that he never had found them.
And, speaking of the latter, he hadn´t seen the Princess of Night for some time now.
Of course, she had to attend royal business, but even she had to sleep betweenwhiles and really could visit him more often, especially now when he had to report the recent news to her. Things mustn´t get out of hoof like back at the incident with the nightmares, and Luna, being the Princess of Night, was after all a Dreamwalker as well, the only other pony he could talk to in this universe except to the souls and the phantasms of Oneirica.
It had come as a big surprise when, a few years ago, he all of a sudden had spotted her simply trotting through the City´s streets as it would be the most normal thing in the world.

Since then the two had become accustomed and now were some kind of friends.
Though, he did not see her very often. He even never had seen her using her dream magic, which, so he thought, had to be even more powerful than his one.
He took a mental remark to ask her for a demonstration next time he saw her.

But back to business!
There after all was a reason why he was there!

If he recalculated right, it had to be about mid-afternoon in Equestria right now. The more it surprised him that the Soulcottage he wanted to inspect - the very same the nightmare of Oneirica had shown up - was in use at the moment. Normally, the cottages were all empty at a time like this, maybe except the ones of a few students that had fallen asleep during their lessons or a bunch of young babies.
“Or a young filly that is taking its siesta…” he mumbled and shrugged.
It seemed like his inspection had to wait a little bit.
Well, no use in crying over spilled milk… the stallion thought with a sigh.
He just would seize the moment and play a little bit with her until she would awake.

He put his hoof on the doorknob…

…and suddenly flinched.

He had felt something.
Something inside his head.
It had been only a very subtle feeling.
A very decent throbbing in his brain.
The preadvice of the preannouncement of an incoming headache.

He sighed and his left hoof wandered to his temples, rubbing them.
Soon, he had to rest. It was the damnation of still being a soul and being subjected to the very same rules of every other soul.
Nearly three weeks had passed since the last time he rested. Normally, he could stay without rest for a little bit more than a month, but maybe he had put a little bit too much effort into the small show he had given to Lady Stardream. Forming such a mass of Dreamessence, especially the raw one of the cascade, cost rather huge amounts of magic and imagination. The former was what lacked him more than imagination.
Sadly, it was also what specified the duration until he had to rest.
And resting was hell for him!
It sounded funny, but it was just that.

He shook his head and shoved the unpleasant thought aside, promising himself to rest the next night, despite the fact that he hated it.
Maybe some distraction before would be good for him.

With this thought the black unicorn entered the Soulcottage…

…and found himself standing on the edge of a precipice.

Deep down he spotted a wide valley, surrounded on both sides by the towering grey cliffs. Dark trees of a coniferous forest threw wide shadows in the evening sun that hued the bright sky in a soft red and purple. A clear blue river wiggled itself along the dell, peaceful fitting into the beautiful landscape.
Next to the stream he eyed rail tracks, winding through the vale and following the river´s course, occasionally crossing its way over small wooden bridges.
It took him not very long until he found a small trail of white-grey smoke, leading the way to a quinquepartite train, consisting of the leading loc, a small coal wagon and three coaches.

Loudly the steam whistle made itself felt twice, three times, accompanied by the decent ‘Choo-choo!’ of an all too familiar voice.
So ‘train driver’ was the today´s game´s name!

The Dreamwalker smiled and stretched himself before he worked his magic to shift into his young-colt-shape. A small golden pulse was all needed and the younger version of him now overlooked the valley beneath.
All he had to do now was to somehow get to the train far beneath. It was always marvelous and still a mystery to him how the Soulcottages could be so much bigger inside than they looked outside. But, on the other hoof, this was the Dreamuniverse! Things hadn´t to make sense here.
He chuckled.
It would be pure hell to a stubborn scientist like Twilight! Thousands of mysteries that didn´t make sense and no way to ever solve them!

Anyhow, a pair of wings would be very useful at the moment…

Unfortunately even the power to control Dreamdust wasn´t enough to transform a unicorn-soul into an alicorn.
But luckily he had his cloak, a very special gift of Lady Thousand Bits!
He jumped.
Instantly he felt the joy one could only feel when flying in free fall. The cold wind stroking and playing with his yellow mane and streaming through his black coat, tickling him. And the great feeling of speed, his body becoming faster and faster as he approached the ground beneath. Oh how he had missed this! His front hooves were holding his trilby, watching out to not let the wind carry it away.
Soon he enlightened his horn again, the gap between him and the ground closing rapidly. A golden glow enveloped his black cloak. It began to shift, ripping slowly into two parts, starting at the bottom and going up to the shoulder blades. The top section shrank a little bit and clutched closer to his fur, intertwining with it. The two loosen ends continued shifting, fabric transforming into feathers; slowly creating a pair of expansive black wings that instantly caught his fall only a few meters before he reached the treetops. With three, four strong wing beats he flew a short bow and rose in the air again.

He was so jealous of every pegasus out there! Experiencing that wonderful feeling of weightlessness every day, soaring through the air and letting go every concern…Not to mention the stunning view of the world below! Oh he would give up all his magical skills to be one of them!
He even secretly crept into the cloud fortress that was Rainbow Dash´s Soulcottage to watch her flying and pulling out incredible tricks together with a bunch of Wonderbolt-phantoms, though never had the guts to ask if he could join up with them…

The steam whistle called him back to ‘reality’.
The colt now was hovering directly above the train and headed for its driving cab, where he spotted the cottage´s soul playing with some levers and small wheels and occasionally pulling on a rope for the whistle. She was enjoying her dream very much. It made the Dreamwalker happy.
Happy souls always made him happy.

He silently landed behind her and transformed his wings back into a coat, suppressing a small wistful whine. He definitely had to use his wings more often!
Quietly he watched the soul dreaming for a few moments more. She was mumbling a happy tune to herself, a faster version of his favorite foalhood song.
Mentally he sang along.

Hush now! Quiet now!
It's time to lay your sleepy head!
Said hush now! Quiet now!
It's time to go to bed!

Driftin' off to sleep!
The exciting day behind you!...
…”Driftin' off to sleep!
Let the joy of dreamland find you!

Hush now! Quiet now!
Lay your sleepy head!
Said hush now! Quiet now!
This's time to go to bed!”

He smiled.
Yeah, the good old days where everything had been palmy…

In the next moment the nostalgic feelings were choked by a vise-like hug, pressing all air out off his lungs. Unwittingly he had sung along half of the song and disclosed his presence to the soul.
“SHADY!” the small filly squealed with joy. “I thought I would never ever see you again!”
“Can´t breathe…Need air…” he pressed out with the last bit of air he had.
Okay, granted, this statement was a lie.
After all, he was just a soul with no bodily needs. There was no lung, no blood inside him that demanded for oxygen. Breathing was just…an adopted habit and felt rather pleasant. The best proof for that statement was the fact that the last time he ate and drank something was about three years ago when he visited a pony that was reliving its birthday party in its dreams.
The chocolate cake had been excellent!
And that strawberry punch… - exquisite!
Not to mention, thinking about ingestion and the inevitable digestion afterwards, the last time he had needed the little colt´s room he couldn´t even remember. Had to be something about fifteen to twenty years ago, back when he indeed had been just a colt…

…back when he had a body…

“Oh!” the filly released her grip from him and took a step back, letting him rise back to his hooves. “I am sorry Shady…Uhm, I mean…Prince Shadow!” she took a quick bow.
Shady…
The name resounded in his head.
His mother always had called him like that…
Enough old memories for one day, Shadow! he exhorted himself.
The Dreamwalker held up a hoof. “Please, Shady is perfectly fine.”
Taking up the role of the gallant prince like in her last dream, he took her left front hoof and fluttered a kiss on it in perfect gentlecolt-style. “Especially for a princess as charming as you!”
The filly just snickered girlishly, a faint blush creeping to her cheeks which she tried to hide behind her long black mane.
“Sooo…I was wondering, uhm…What are you here for?” the young soul then asked inquisitive. “Did that dragon we defeated came back?”
“Oh, no, it´s nothing like that!” he placated her. “I just wanted to see if you´re alright and what you are doing.”
“Well…” came her response “…I have to drive this train to the other world´s end and search an antic shrine where a precious sapphire statue should be. Mommy and daddy didn´t want to come along, though. They said it would be ‘too expensive’!”
“Looks like very much fun.”
“Oh, it is!” the filly beamed and turned back to the levers, continuing her dream-game with a loud choo-choo of the steam whistle.
Shadow in the meantime looked out the window and watched the surrounding while they were crossing a bridge. He marveled about the many details of the dream. Since most souls weren´t even able to create a tree that looked less like a big lollipop with a thin brown stem and green top Stardust´s dream showed how much more phantasy she had. Her conifers even had single needles and her water wasn´t just a steady blue mass but even creating little waves and was really streaming and glistening in the sun. The sun itself was more than only a sole yellow fleck on a blue sky. It was indeed gleaming. He even thought he could feel warmth coming from it.
Occasionally he spied a few birds against the sky´s blue, soaring without worry completely free. He wished he could join them, fly along with them, to enjoy the sight and the wind caressing his coat…

A sudden wet sensation at his right cheek stopped his train of thoughts. It vanished as sudden as it had appeared and he turned to face the smiling Stardust who had just kissed him and rubbed his cheek somehow embarrassed.
“Uhm…What was that for?”
Her gaze lowered, her hoof pawing sheepish the ground.
“I wanted to say ‘thank you’. For the last time you helped me, you know?”
“Oh…” he waved his hoof dismissively “…That was nothing, really. I couldn´t stand there watching you cry. It made me feel so sad...”
“But you helped me finding my parents! And I totally forgot to say ‘thank you’! Weren´t you very angry? My mommy always tells me to say ‘thank you’ when somepony helps me. And when I did not, I was so worried about to lose you as a friend and-“
“It´s okay!” he cut in and calmed her, laying a hoof comfortingly on her shoulder. “I am not angry with you. You had been distracted and I had left before you even had the chance to thank me. No need to worry young princess!”
She couldn´t stifle a chuckle.
“Thank you, young prince!” she snickered “You sound like an old stallion the way you said that.”
I am aged thirty-two! That´s not THAT old!
“Anyway…” the soul then said, locking her blue eyes firmly with his golden ones “…it was still very noble of you to help me, despite that you aren´t even a part of my dream…”
He took a short bow, taking his right hoof to his chest where his heart was meant to be. “Being quixotic is just what princes are there for, Milady!” he meant but then stopped short.
Wait! Did she just notice that I am not part of her dream? She knows this is a dream?
Unaware of his thoughts the filly snickered again. “’Quixotic’, that sounds funny!”
“It´s some kind of being chivalrous, romantic and adventurous at the same time.” he explained.
Inwardly he shrugged.
Maybe she´s just a permanent lucid dreamer. Souls after all are able to notice the absence of their body. I mean, I had been a permanent lucid dreamer as well! That´s just coincidence…Though, I wonder-
His internal monologue was one more time cut short, this time by a sudden trembling beneath his hooves…

The small earthquake lasted only about five to ten seconds, and then it was gone, leaving an absolute silence.

What the hay was THAT?
The Dreamwalker looked at the young soul and her face showed the same nervous surprise.
Strange. If she´s aware of the fact that this is her dream there shouldn´t be anything that could surprise her. Except…

The soul suddenly gasped loud and pointed out the window at something ahead of them.
“Shady! Look!”
I so absolutely don´t like the sound of that…
Shadow followed her hoof pointing at the horizon.
There, where the tracks meet the sky, he noticed something what appeared to be a small black slapping. And it was extending very fast, reaching out for the sun and the blue sky, which were slightly flickering.
Is that…
He felt how the soul next to him suddenly clutched tight onto him.
“That´s it! It´s coming back! Just like the last time!” she began to panic, trembling furiously.
Guess that´s a ‘yes’… he furrowed, lying his hooves around the soul to keep her calm.
“It´s coming for my mommy and daddy! It promised it would come back!”
Shadow braced himself for what was to come, stroking her gently and pressing her protectively to him.
“It´s all right…I won´t let anything hurt you…” he tried to calm her.

The rift meanwhile grew steadily, consuming the whole horizon, the train bearing down inevitable on it. The black fog behind the hole slowly began to dissipate, revealing the details of the land behind.
But instead of the obnoxious bog that would be Macabra´s realm it revealed a large dark level country, black charred trees stretched their long thin forked branches towards the gloomy dark gray sky. The bald dry ground, appearing in an even darker shade of gray than the sky, was waste and riddled with dry old skulls and bones.
On the top of a far hill, there he spotted an ancient black castle.
The Dreamwalker´s eyes widened in shock. He had visited this realm only once and that had been enough to make the decision of never going back there again! It was a place of ever-present fear and death! The cemetery of the worn-out phantasm´s and factory of the worst nightmares there are!

Deathdream´s realm!

The next thing the duo on the loc heard was a painful strident penetrating screech, frightening the young Stardust to her very core, filling it with fear and dread. He felt the wetness of her tears against his coat, felt her shuddering and squeaking.
And Shadow himself was greatly perturbed as well.
Because the black silhouette he spotted against the dark sky and moved quickly into their direction announced the upcoming arrival of another oneirican nightmare.
“So much for Somnala´s reparation of the Veil! Don´t make me laugh, Stardream!” he grumbled.
Another screech coursed throughout the two souls, even louder this time and more terrifying. And the flying phantasm came closer by the second!

Time to act!

“We have to get off this train!” the black colt shouted. “You have to stop it!”
The young soul looked up at him with tearful eyes. “I…I can´t!” she sobbed. “I can´t do anything! Why can´t I do anything in my own dream?”
Damn!
Of course he could simply fly. But with the additional weight and the fact that he wasn´t a professional flyer made them stand without any chance against a flying phantasm. Imagination was all well and good, but one couldn´t ignore some logics.
It also would have been helpful to wake the young soul up and face the nightmare all by himself, but he didn´t know how to do so. Sure, every soul had a reflex that sent it back to its respective body immediately, induced by a threat caused by Dreamessence. He simply had to shove her off the loc so she would be threatened to crash against one of the conifers of her dream. The reflex should send her back before she´d even hit it.
But he couldn´t take the risk that it would not work and hurt her.

Then he noticed a bridge across the river in the distance and he made his decision.

Three.
Two.
One…

“Go!”
The Dreamwalker tightened his grip at the filly and jumped.
After a short fall down the bridge and a short surprised scream by Stardust the duo plunged into the streaming water with a plop.
For some moments their vision was filled with bubbles and blue streaming water, entraining them. Shadow closed his eyes and enlightened his horn. In a matter of seconds the drift decelerated and finally stopped. Another image he worked in his head let the riverbanks move farther apart, until they were out of sight and everything remained was a blue wide ocean, the sun´s light breaking through the surface and a few fishes swimming peaceful through the water. Enough place to face the nightmare.

He took a breath of relief, until he noticed the soul he still hold tight to him struggling in his grip, reaching desperate out for surface above with ballooned cheeks. But he couldn´t let her go or the nightmare would find them faster than he wanted it to.
Her struggling grew stronger, she kicked against him, broke his grasp, but he reacted fast enough and pulled her down before she could swim too far away. He turned her to lock his eyes with hers, who were pleading him with panic for her dear life to let her go.
“Just breathe.”
She shook her head furiously, knowing that breathing under water was impossible. That the Dreamwalker already did so she didn´t notice in her panicked state.
“Yes, you can. Believe me. This is your dream; you just have to believe you can breathe underwater.”
Reluctant and desperately in need for the feeling of air flooding her body the filly took an experimental breath. Only a second after that she took another deep, greedy breath, inhaling the water which surprisingly felt just like normal air.
Two more times she inhaled and exhaled deeply until she faced Shadows eyes again.
“Thank you.” she meant.
“No problem.”

“What was that scary thing at the sky?” she then asked. The jump out the train and the cold water had broken her state of shock and left an anxious state of nervousness. Everything seemed so much out of control for her, so confusing and frightening. What was that land she had seen? Where did it come from?
“It is a nightmare.” the Dreamwalker explained while they hovered in the water. “A very dangerous one.”
“It is like the last time. That strange hole, the strange land. And the scary nightmare. It took my mommy and daddy away and said I would never see them again! I was so scared I even forgot that I was just dreaming. And this time I know I am only dreaming but I can´t do anything, not even wake up!”
He nodded and laid one hoof soothing at her shoulder.
“I´ll protect you, Princess Stardust. I promise."
A shy smile was her answer.
“Pinkie Promise?"
Without hesitation he crossed his chest with one hoof and stuck the other into his eye, motioning Pinkie Pie´s special promise he once had seen in her dreams.
This time making sure to close his eye, unlike the first time.
“Pinkie Promise.”

And then, a giant shadow from above the surface fell on them…

“Wow, that´s a cool bow you created with your necklace!”
Aforesaid bow rested in his hooves, drawn, ready to fire the shining white arrow resting on its string at the phantasm above. Drifting on his back and facing the water surface above, the black colt waited eagerly for the shadow to move on and line its heart up with his arrow´s tip. It passed the nightmare´s head, chin, neck…jeez, that thing was huge! The Dreamwalker anticipated the perfect moment, let a few seconds more pass by, his eyes glued on the colossal target above.
Only one moment more…

This was it, the perfect moment! The bowstring left his hoof and shoot out, searching for its home, its peaceful resting position between the bow´s tips, translating all its power and joy about returning to its home place into the arrow, which was very happy to oblige and shoot out as well, rapidly ascending to breach the water surface and search for its destination, leaving small bubbles in its wake.
It reached the sky and a pained loud screech and flinch of the shadow above announced the successful search for the arrow´s new home.
Shadow smirked satisfied, enlightening his horn and sending out a magical wave after the arrow. It hit and the arrow exploded inside the nightmare´s chest, covering the sight above in a shining white cloud of Dreamdust.
“That´s it!” he cheered, punching the water with his hoof triumphantly.

“Wohoo! You did it, Shady! You-“
Her sentence drowned and turned into a scream when suddenly a claw with four fingers, sharp as razorblades, and obviously consisting of the same material, broke through the surface above and shot at them.
DAMNIT!
He worked his magic again, this time using it on his cloak. Instantly it loosened and wandered to his hindquarters, clutching tightly around them. At the same time it became peppered with fish scales and the coat hems created a powerful tail fin.
He grabbed his ‘princess’ and one strong flap of his new-grown fin gathered enough distance to avoid the claw just in time.
“Wow, how did you do that?” she asked astounded.
“I´ll explain it later!” he meant, enlarging the distance between them and the phantasm.

With a big splosh and thousands of bubbles the nightmare´s body joined the talon and shot straight to the seabed. A loud thump confirmed its arrival. A big fissure showed how much force the nightmare had tied into the attack. As soon as the fissure had opened both felt a sucking from it and the water surface was coming closer to them.
“It wants to suck us in!” the filly cried.
“No! It wants to draw us close enough to strike!” he corrected.
“Isn´t both lethal?” she meant stubborn.
The colt rolled his eyes, thinking about a way to escape.

His gaze fixed the surface above.
“Cling on tight!” he commanded and flapped his fin as powerful as possible, gaining speed while he headed for the surface. Meanwhile he prepared for his next spell. They finally broke through the water surface with an impressive jump into the air. In this moment Shadow casted his spell and transformed his cloak again. In a moment it loosened around his hindquarters and gripped his torso, creating his black wings again which caught them in the air and protected them from the mortal suction of the fissure beneath.

The valley around them was gone a long time ago. Only the wide ocean and the hole to Deathdream´s realm in the distance they saw.
Slowly the water was sucked away, lowering by the second.
Tensed the Dreamwalker and the soul on his back waited for the moment the sea would reveal their assailant.

It began with a pair of large ivory horns, long and meandering, ending in two acute tips, enough to easily break through any sort of flesh. Next was the head, an ugly skull with two black holes for its eyes, a tiny red glow inside them, staring baneful at the duo and kindling the fear in the young soul anew. A long acuminated snout, not unlike a draconic one, pointed at them. Hidden behind, two rows of trenchant teeth.
The bony spine at the back of its head announced where its neck began, and pale ribs showed the beginning of its chest, one of them crushed where Shadow´s arrow had hit. A little bit above where the scapulas were sprawled long wings, consisting of pure sharp steel and looking like double-edged blades. It was a wonder it was able to fly with them.
And its arms looked the same, long slender swords designed to cut souls into functional small pieces. They ended in two osseous claws, each of them equipped with four dagger-like fingers.
The long legs and feet were designed the same way like it´s arms and claws, connected to its spine with a simple bony pelvis.

Dead silence was ruling while the two parties eyed each other up.

The filly on his back began to tremble again, now viewing the phantasm in all its glory - its ten-times-bigger-than-Celestia-raised-on-her-hind-hooves-glory.
“Just keep calm and focus.” he whispered to the young soul.
One second later the giant nightmare´s maw opened for another loud screech, ringing in their ears and shaking the earth around them.

The battle was opened.

And the dragon made the first move, raising one of his colossal claws and brandished it. The Dreamwalker instantly folded his wings, going into a free fall, drew his bow and fired three new arrows at the phantasm; which´s claw had missed their heads by an inch or two.
Exploding in a white cloud of Dreamdust when they hit its chest the arrows crushed three other ribs of the monster, but otherwise it stayed unharmed.
Shadow unfurled his wings again shortly before they reached the ground and caught their fall, landing softly. A movement above him let him roll to the side, avoiding the razor-sharp toes of the foot that had tried to squash them with a heavy thump.

Only a moment later he rose back to his hooves and took a quick series of sidesteps which reminded at dance-steps, avoiding the series of claw-strokes drawing bizarre lines into the ground with its sharp fingers.
“It is too strong!” the filly winced when another claw drew by only an inch behind them, accompanied by another disappointed scream of the dragon-nightmare.
“No, we can defeat him! We-“

*Plong*

One of the osseous talons hit them backhanded; sending both with pained screams several meters through the air and separating them.

Stardust groaned when she landed hard on the brown ground. Slowly she rose back to her hooves. Her right shoulder where the nightmare had hit her was aching, but luckily Shady had protected her mostly from the impact.
Shady!
Frantically she searched for him and found him in the distance, simply lying there limp, his eyes closed in unconsciousness.
“SHADY!”

The giant dragon raised his head to utter a triumphant screech towards the blue sky and then focused its red gleaming eyes back on the Dreamwalker.
It took one step towards him.
And then another.
“No! Shady, wake up! Please!” the filly screamed and begged desperately.
But he didn´t move. And the phantasm got ever closer.
“No! Go away! Leave him alone you big mean monster!”
It was of no use.
Finally the dragon was standing right in front of the knocked out colt and looking down on him. With an eager glow in its eyes it raised its claw, the razor tips of its finger pointing at him.
“NO! SHADY!” she cried, little tears of helplessness and anger appearing in the corners of her eyes. She had to do something to help her friend! He had rescued her so often this last few minutes, and now it was her turn and she wasn´t able to do ANYTHING! She couldn´t just stand there and watch the nightmare destroy her friend!
But what should she do?
It was so frustrating; she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, emitting an angry growl.
The nightmare´s claw brandished.
“I. Said. STOP IT!”

Something unexpected happened.

The earth began to tremble, announcing another earthquake. Irritated the phantasm stopped the deadly punch and looked around confused. The tremor got worse; the fissure from before beneath the nightmare´s feet began to expand. It grew wider and wider, creating a huge black hole.
The dragon fought a moment for his balance, but another seismic shock made him loose balance and topple over into the hole with a desperate scream.
Though, the fissure was not bottomless. A loud thump announced that the phantasm had reached the ground with its feet when only his shoulders and skull were left visible. Before it got the chance to crawl out of the hole another earthquake closed the gap rapidly, trapping the monster which now was struggling heavily to get free.
When it recognized that it was useless, its frustrated eyes fixed on the little filly.

There she was standing in front of the scary nightmare, a furious gaze in her eyes and her horn brightly alight.
“I told you to stop you big bad meanie!” she shouted angry. “You were a very very bad dragon! And now I will make sure that you can´t hurt anypony ever again!”
Confused the nightmare looked up when it noticed a shadow from above. It screamed one last time when it noticed the object levitating over it - a giant wooden hammer, ready to slam down and bury it underneath.
And exactly that did it in the next second.

One loud last thump could be heard, and then there was just silence again…

With narrowed eyes she took in the sight in front of her.

The compilation of unusual loud noises was what drew her here. It was simply unbelievable! A hole in the Veil, here, in her realm! So Macabra had been serious when she had reported about it to her. She never thought this could be even possible, not to mention happening in her own realm!

But the fact was that she couldn´t deny her eyes seeing the battlefield in front of her. Huge furrows showed where the claws of her beloved pet had hit the brown ground. The white shimmering Dreamdust floating in the air was the remaining thing of her lapdog, eliminated by a small helpless filly.
Her brain couldn´t take it. How had been a small filly like her defeating her most powerful and sweetest pet so easily? No phantasm of Oneirica could cope with her cute Soulcrusher!
And now he was gone.
She shook her head. There was no sense to have strong feelings about such petty nothings. There were enough phantasms to take his place as Oneirica´s Grim Reaper.
Her eyes fixated the foal. She lay there, leaned over a small black colt with yellow mane, the very one she knew was the only existing Dreamwalker, gently nudging and grooming him, trying to wake him up from his unconscious state.
How sweet…and totally useless!

“This won´t wake him up.” she simply stated, approaching her.
The filly startled surprised, turning around to face the newcomer…
…and get into fighting position one more time.
“Nightmare Moon! You sent that dragon, didn´t you?”
She chuckled amused.
This foal was tough, there was no doubt.
Nightmare Moon, the black slender horse with the stardust mane, iron helmet, necklace and horseshoes was a common form Dreamers gave her. But she bet that her true being was even worse than the one of Nightmare Moon, way more intimidating.

Because she was the ruler of all nightmares, the dark mistress of Oneirica.
She was Deathdream!

“I am not here to do you any harm. I am just investigating.” she stated honestly. It had been indeed her curiousness which had brought her here in the first place.
But the little filly only snorted in disbelief.
“Don´t try to lie at me! You sent that nightmare and now want to end things and-“
She was cut short by Deathdream´s horn touching her brow.
“You have had enough adventures for today. Your dreams are over.” she explained calm and worked her magic. “It´s time to wake up for you…”
And in the very same moment a small magical pulse of her horn made the soul vanish in front of her, sending it back to her body in Equestria.

Then she fixated the Dreamwalker. He was lying on his side, his trilby off his head a few meters away. The cloak around his shoulders had back its normal form, just as the Dreamwalker for himself. His younger form was gone and replaced by his natural stallion-form. Around his neck rested his weapon, transferred back into his usual necklace.
He was dying, she sensed it.
Rest was what he needed, but she wasn´t able to give it to him. She had to get back to her realm before Somnala would close the rift.
She sighed.
It was the simple rule of the souls. They had to rest; otherwise they would simply vanish with time and stop to exist. It began with headaches, which after a while transformed into a slight light-headedness. The soul would begin to start acting like it was drunk. Next would be a strong feebleness, ending in unconsciousness, were the soul started to slowly dissolve back into Dreamdust.
The hit he had gotten from Soulcrusher must have jumped all these steps.

She materialized a shining sword next to her.
She would put him out of his misery; his end was inevitable nonetheless without any help.
The sword rose.

“Don´t you dare do him any harm!” a sudden voice commanded behind her.
She knew it, though it had been a long time since she had heard it the last time.
“Why should I listen to the words of a traitor to Oneirica?” Deathdream stated nearly emotionless, turning around to face the newcomer.
“I am NO traitor!” the mare in front of her growled, a reaction to which she only could cock an eyebrow.
“No? Then look into my eyes and tell me you didn´t try to destroy Oneirica in the past.”
Silence.
“That wasn´t truly me…” the mare then muttered low.
“Or tell me that you didn´t leave Oneirica so selfishly!"
The mare gave no answer. She didn´t know how to respond to the accusation since it was partially true.
“Didn´t you just leave us because you were bored of your task and tried to escape it until you finally recognized it´s necessity?”
“That´s a lie!” the mare protested and snorted with anger. “I would never deny the necessity of my task! But learning more about the Dreamers´ lives and associate with them is as important as well!”
“And at which point you decided it would be necessary to rule over them, huh?" Deathdream continued merciless. "Tell me, Lunatisma! Tell me about the necessity to rule their land when all you wanted was to learn?”
The mare´s gaze sank defeated to the ground, accompanied by a heavy exhalation.
“They simply decided it. They saw our strength, our power and simply chose us to lead them. There had been many dangers, other phantasms that had followed us and they wanted us to protect them.”

Deathdream watched her, wanted to see her face, to see the remorse the mare felt.
“And after all that, after things had settled down, you didn´t even bother to visit your home, that is what hurts me most, dearest daughter. You even shed your original shape, trashed your connection to Oneirica. I am sure you can´t even remember it, do you?” she continued bitter, showing all the built up disappointment gathered in uncounted centuries.
The mare in front of her only closed her eyes and shook her head.
Silence was what followed for a long time, until Deathdream again spoke up.
“Take him to his Soulcottage. He needs rest most urgently. Oneirica needs its Dreamwalker at a time like this! Go now! I´ll make sure no other of my nightmares pass this rift!”

The mare nodded and levitated the stallion onto her back, trotting through the now empty Soulcottage towards its door and stopping there, turning around to face her mother one last time.
There was one thing she wanted to know, needed to know.
“Will you ever forgive me?” she asked reluctantly.
The Realmkeeper´s gaze fixated her daughter´s shining regretful eyes.
“I already forgave you many centuries ago…now hurry!”

Her daughter nodded and finally opened the door, leaving the Soulcottage with a faint and hopeful smile on her lips…