They say you can learn new things simply from dreaming. Our minds still function even if we aren’t fully aware of it, basking in untold knowledge and deepest secrets. For me dreaming was another way of being awake; exploring make-believe realms that had formed in my imagination, a wild phenomenon that only Luna herself could possibly understand. In my dreams I was alive.
Darkness. Everything was shadowed as if somepony put a blindfold over my eyes, thick enough to not let a single minuscule trace of light in. Light. I could see it now as if a dim candle lit up revealing the world around me. Advancing towards me, the light grew stronger and stronger up until the point that it revealed its torch carrier. It was Luna.
Although Nightmare Moon was vanquished and sent to the Moon long ago, I knew it was her. Nightmare Moon…No Luna.
Her eyes pierced me with wisdom. Her sight jabbed me with curiosity. Her expression shot me with understanding. I don’t know how to explain it but this dream was different…It was real.
Although dreams had a tendency to feel real to me, there was something obscure about this one. I was truly awake even in my state of slumber.
Her eyes were now face-to-face with mine, reflecting my own image, drowning me within my own complexion. So full of knowledge yet so empty of life.
The room lit up, blinding me with its celestial lights.
After a few seconds of adjusting my eyes to the unfamiliar brightness, I could see clearly. I was in the very circular room that I was resting in before my awakening but it was now illuminated in a way that let know shadow escape its grandeur. Another pony stood beside Luna, her head down as if shame had stricken her, never letting her recover. It was her sister, Princess Celestia.
They were both alive!
“Luna?” I started catching my breath after the shocking event. “Celestia?”
Both pony nodded their heads together as if they were one.
It was the confirmation I needed to reassure myself that this event was in fact reality. This wasn’t an illusion or something my mind had conjured up in its slumber. The ruler of the sun and of the moon awaited me. By the expressions that they both shared, I could tell that this meeting was urgent.
“Eclipse Shine, the light in the darkness, the dawn in the dusk.” Celestia spoke first with a tone of superiority. “It is time to fulfill your destiny for the sake of Equestria and Ponykind.”
“The darkness isn’t hiding in the shadows; it is preparing itself to feast once more and feast it will.” Luna continued, her voice vibrating the very foundation of the room yet nopony rose from their slumber but me. “You must vanquish it. Time is fading quickly.”
“How are you here with me? Celestia, you were locked up and Luna; you were sent to the Moon. How is your presence even possible?” My breath was now fully relieved making it so that I could finally speak with ease.
“Dream state.” Luna was the one to answer. “You see, we are still controlled by the wicked but we can communicate through the sharing of dreams. It takes time to get used to, not everypony has the ability to communicate during sleep. Out of the three chosen ponies, you were the one to receive this gift. We do not give this ability; that is the job of something greater than us.”
“So you’re telling me that you’re here consciously but not physically?” Once again more questions would be asked than answered.
“Exactly,” Celestia paused. “You wouldn’t want us to be here physically since we are still tainted with evil. The dream state is the only part of the mind that evil can’t trespass, therefore we are still in control of are actions.”
“To explain dream state would be impossible. It’s not a concept that you are fully capable of grasping but you can control it if you wish.” Luna proceeded to further explain the fundamentals of what her sister was trying to explain. Luna was an expert in this field. “We may meet again in dream state therefore there are things that you need to know. Firstly, it is highly dangerous to stay in dream state for a prolonged period of time; most encounters last a few minutes even if they may seem like hours. Secondly, never get lost in dream state; it may seem real but it is still the work of your imagination. Anything could happen so be very cautious.” Luna proceeded to clap her hooves together, making the room around them disappear, revealing the Everfree Forest. “Thirdly, never attempt to kill somepony while they are in dream state unless it is absolutely necessary. Killing a pony while they are asleep will result in the death of their conscience, stopping all the functions in their body, making it impossible for them to ever wake up again.”
“You will get used to it once you’ve experienced it a few times. You can also use dream state alone to access parts of your distant memories so that you can relive parts of your life. This could prove to be useful since this function is not affected by your emotions at the time of an incident; so you can see things for what they truly were, not the way you remember them.” Celestia was explaining as she led us into a rockier part of the Everfree forest. Here we would find the tree of Harmony.
~
Something was different about the tree of Harmony. It was almost as if something had poisoned it, making it so that the tree could no longer stand on its own, awkwardly leaning on the rocky walls that surrounded it. Roots of the tree were barely visible since they had turned a pitch black, almost as if they were made of coal. The tree was slowly dying.
“This is in the near future.” Celestia broke the sound of silence that was growing within the walls of the ominous cavern. “You can prevent this from happening if you act quickly”
“This event isn’t carved in stone unlike your destiny; it has the opportunity to be avoided but you must act quickly!” Luna spoke with urgency giving off the true nature of the task. “This could be your only opportunity to start vanquishing the darkness that flooded our world.”
“There will be more to come but focus on saving the tree of Harmony first. If the darkness spreads throughout the tree like you can see here, it could ultimately gain the power it needs to escape its shackles. Remember, darkness isn’t hiding, it’s waiting for the right moment to charge.” Celestia faced me eye-to-eye the same way Luna did but instead of being pierced by wisdom as I was before; it was sorrow that I felt surge through my body. She still blamed herself for what had happened in the past.
~
I awoke, my sheets were drenched with swear while everypony, as I suspected, were still in deep slumber. I couldn’t find sleep after my divine experience and it served no use to wander around the ill lit castle.
I spent the rest of the night thinking about certain things that still remained unclear.
What are these dark forces? Where did they come from? Why are they rotting the foundation of Equestria?
It was useless to ask the darkness to reveal its motives. Its evil was as certain as sunrise and moonrise. Darkness has no reasoning; it has no morals or sense of remorse. Darkness doesn’t wait for its unwilling victim to be prepared. Darkness doesn’t send us a warning before its arrival. Darkness is as swift as a hawk and as merciless as a dragon. Darkness consumes the light in its wake leaving only destruction its path. Darkness is unpredictable like a bull; leading to the demise of those who aren’t brave enough to face it.
And Darkness is within us all.