//------------------------------// // The Nightmare // Story: Lingering Shadows // by Yoru-the-Rogue //------------------------------// Dark shrouds of deepest gray rose from the ground like living mist, vanishing at chest height. The mist rippled and shimmered, not unlike the Northern Lights visible in the winter. Soft snatches of strange whispers floated upon the air, falling silent before their secrets could be shared. The sky was a midnight-blue, starless void, and the path stretched forward, like a narrow trail cut into the Everfree Forest. But if this were a forest, the trees were only visible far, far ahead, and the closer one got to them, they vanished. A normal pony would have been puzzled to find themselves in such a place, possibly even frightened by it. But to Princess Luna, this sight was nothing new. The ever-shifting dreamscape was more familiar than anything she could recall from thousands of years ago, and dream-walking was as natural for her as breathing. For a fleeting moment, she was overcome with apprehension, but quickly she recovered. Her subjects needed her, and she had no time to worry over whether or not King Sombra was influencing the dreamscape. And if he was, then she would no longer be caught off-guard. He had another thing coming if he was of a mind that she would cower in fear from a bad dream. On her own, Luna was nearly as formidable as her elder sister. In the dreamscape…she was a force to be reckoned with. “Do not be afraid, my subjects, ” she spoke into the ethereal mists, her words reverberating through the air, filling the Road of Dreaming with an immense, benevolent power. “Your Princess of the Night shall shelter your dreams, ‘till my sister brings the dawn. ” She treaded the path with caution and a careful, searching gaze. The further she walked down the path, the more and more she saw the gates leading to each of her subjects’ dreams. They were glittering, transparent portals that sparkled with a great many colors, blurring the sights around them. If a pony stepped through one, they would be taken into somepony else’s dream. There, the dreamscape shifted according to the individual dreamer, to fill their dreams. The dreamscape was nothing short of labyrinthine, and many unicorn magicians who sought to traverse this strange place of otherness ran the risk of getting lost forever, trapped in dreams from which they could not wake. But never Luna. She was the sole sovereign this place knew, and even should the Road of Dreaming try to shift beyond her recognition, she could bend it to her will with a thought. Her duties took her past the dreams of several ponies she recognized. There was the dream of her sister’s beloved pupil, Twilight Sparkle, who was clearly having anxiety over having possibly miscataloging a book, even in her sleep. With a chuckle, Luna touched her horn to the gate to Twilight’s dreams. “Be at ease, my friend. ” She whispered. Next to Twilight dreamed the dragon she was raising. Spike’s dream patterns were slightly different from that of a pony, but his dream was hardly difficult to interpret. He dreamt of being a handsome adult, a strong, brave dragon warrior, to impress a unicorn friend of Twilight’s. Luna smiled and shook her head in a good-natured, knowing sort of way. Pony or dragon, boys would be boys. She walked on, her heart light and her spirit merry. This felt good, natural. Most importantly of all, it felt right. She was beginning to feel more like herself again. Perhaps her subjects would never look at her as they did Celestia, but she was beginning to accept that. After all, the sun and the moon cast two different lights. The sun brought forth heat and powerful illumination, but it could not be looked at for its blinding rays. The moon was further away, giving no heat to the ponies of Equestria, but its light was soft and its glow enchanting in a way the sun could not match. Why should this not also be mirrored in Luna and her sister, then? Celestia was a sweet and caring monarch in her own way, and Luna was a sweet and caring monarch in hers. “Heh! I do believe I am beginning to sound like Twilight Sparkle and her friends. ” She laughed to herself, her giggle ringing like gentle, musical chimes. Her hooves were taking her unerringly toward the dreams of one particular young Pegasus filly she had grown fond of, when an icy wind blasted through the Road of Dreaming. Luna let out a ragged gasp as the cold seized her chest and stole the breath from her lungs. She shifted her weight from hoof to hoof anxiously, spreading her wings open wide to buffer herself against the unnatural wind. “What in the name of the stars…?” She managed to gasp out. The ice on the wind began to sink mercilessly into the feathers of her wings, and around her, the dreamscape began to turn pitch-black. “No! ” She whispered in horror, looking desperately to the ponies’ dream gates. Thankfully they endured, still shimmering despite the sudden darkness, and from what she could tell, the sleep of her subjects remained undisturbed. She let out a sigh of relief, then threw all of her will and focus against the magic of the Road of Dreaming, ordering it to return to its natural state. It didn’t. If anything, the darkness only continued to grow. Luna began to grind her teeth in frustration, when she noticed a silvery glow emanating from her body. She glanced down, stunned. She had not cast her spell of moonbeams and starlight. Why was she glowing in the dreamscape? A familiar, rolling laugh rose and fell in the dark shadows, and a spark of rage ignited in her. “I may not be able to see you, Sombra, but I can sense your presence in this gloom. Give up this pointless display! I am the dreamscape’s master, and no other! ” she shouted. “Hardly a pointless display, sweet princess.” King Sombra’s voice floated back out to her. “My powers may be shattered, but they are far from destroyed. I already recover in the Shadow where you have imprisoned me, and you and your sister are fools for not realizing this. This…oversight on your part shall be your undoing.” “You forget one thing, Sombra, ” she pointed out, “Celestia and I have bested you before. T’would be small effort to do so again. ” “You bested me in a battle of sheer power,” he replied coolly, beginning to form from a coil of gray shadows, “You are sorely underestimating me, princess. Raw magical power is not the only thing I have at my disposal.” “You’re bluffing. ” “You don’t believe me?” He asked in amused tones, an easy smile making its way onto his face. He strode near one of the dream gates, his legs trailing dark mists that stank of his foul magic. He glanced at her, brows narrowing and his smile becoming poisonous. His horn lit up with a sickly red glow, and his eyes flashed, emanating the glowing shadows of his magic. “A demonstration of fear’s power, then.” Before she could cry out, Luna watched in horror as the unicorn king’s dark magic shot toward the dream gate. The gate shivered, letting out a low, ill hum, and solid, jagged black crystals formed around its edges. “Sometimes,” Sombra crooned, looking upon his work with pride, “The fear in one heart is all that is needed to incite mass terror in many.” The black crystals shot from the gate shadows edged in a red glow, which quickly spread and attacked all the other dream gates in sight. In moments, the Road of Dreaming was filled with the cracking sound of dozens of dream gates forming the same black crystals. Luna shifted as she watched, her heart pounding, tears starting to form in her eyes. “Stop it! ” She yelled furiously at Sombra, lowering her horn and advancing on him. “What do you want, you villain?! Tell me! ” “Power.” He answered, tilting his head and arching a brow, the smile never leaving his face. “A throne. I am a king, and I shall rule again. It is my right!” “You will never hold the Crystal Empire or any place in Equestria under your iron hoof again, King of No Kingdom! Not so long as my sister and I still draw breath. ” She promised in a low threat. “Then how lucky for me that can be arranged.” King Sombra said with a dark laugh, red tendrils of his magic rippling from his horn like ribbons, embracing and wrapping themselves around the black crystals that choked the dream gates. “You shall all watch as your beloved sun monarch DIES.” Luna jerked her head upward, and everything around her vanished, replaced by the image of Celestia attending the royal bath house, looking just as regal as ever, even shroud in her bathrobe as she was. She strode past her attendants, never once noticing that they all bore Sombra’s wicked, bewitched eyes. She settled down into a hot bath, sighing with relief as her tense muscles started to unknot themselves, and she called for one of the attendants to bring her bath salts to her. Before she even suspected anything was amiss, all of the ponies there attacked her, throwing themselves at her and upon her, strangling her about her gleaming white neck and forcing her beneath the water. “TIA! TIA!! ” Luna screamed, desperately trying to interfere, to keep her sister from being drowned. But try as she might, she passed through the images as though she were little more than a ghost, and she watched in heartbroken fear as her sister struggled and thrashed. “It takes so little to snuff out the light of Celestia,” Sombra’s voice echoed all around her, “And even less to devour and steal the power you possess, Luna. You cannot stop me. The shadows are my throne, fear and mistrust are my bread, hatred and anger my offering wines, and my darkness shall thrive and spread as your precious lights die.” “No! “ She snarled, shutting her eyes and forcing the images from her mind, shattering them over and over to rid herself of them. “No! NO!! ” She was jolted awake sharply, forcing herself out of the dreamscape, Sombra’s triumphant laughter still echoing in her mind. She inhaled and exhaled raggedly, over and over, her heart racing. “That nightmare again…” she whispered to herself as she panted, slowly rising from her bed, shaking as cold sweat dripped down her back. This was the fourth time she had had this dream in a week. Always it was the same—the nightmare would start as she tended to her dream-walking, Sombra would appear and claim that he would take back his status as a king, and he would force her to watch Celestia drown as he threatened to snuff out Luna’s own power—yet her horror at it never lessened. Pulling on her cloak that hung nearby, Luna slipped from her room swiftly and silently, moving through the palace to her sister’s chambers. The first time that she had had the nightmare, she was positive it had truly happened, and nearly burst into the royal bath house itself, ready to fight to the death her sister’s attackers. When she had realized the nature of what she had seen, she instead had decided that she would check on her sister whenever the dream occurred, just to be certain it had not truly happened. She arrived in short order, nodding to the guards standing on either side of the doors. Gently, she nudged the door open with her magic, peeking inside fretfully. Upon her bed, Celestia slumbered on, peaceful and content, never suspecting that her younger sister had just witnessed her death moments ago in a malignant dream. Luna sighed, relieved to find her sister safe for the moment. Then she turned and prepared to leave. “Your Highness?” One of the guards asked, apprehensive and worried. “Is everything alright?” “No,” she answered, her voice like steel, “I must descend to the oubliette. There is a unicorn witch-king I am going to have a word with.”