Chapter 4
Princess Luna walked through her realm of dreams, guarding it from the nightmares that lurked in the shadows. Walking through the streams of dreams, she conducted her nightly patrols, watching over her subjects and making sure that they have a good night’s sleep with lovely dreams.
It was her duty to protect her subjects the scaring effects of nightmares, since a ruler such as herself must care for the well-being of those she served for. After having been gone for a thousand years, leaving this duty vacant and unoccupied, she was glad that she was now back, as it gave her a sense of importance as well as having the bonus of helping her integrate to the citizens of Equestria.
Walking through the realm, a short shivering sense inched through her spin as she noticed a disturbing presence in her realm. Having felt the shiver multiple of times before, she knew that it was the force of a nightmare ripping through the dreams of one of her subjects. Having done this time and time before, she knew all too well what must be done.
So as quickly as she could, she started locating this dream. Searching through the countless amounts of dreams, she scanned each and every one of them, trying to locate the one that was bringing up a storm of nightmares. With each scan, the feeling grew and grew, telling her that she was getting closer with each dream she passed.
After a while, her efforts were rewarded by the sight of the troubled dream. Looking at it from a distance, Luna saw a swirl of darkness, as the nightmare forces shrouded the dream and disrupted it with its powers. She could feel the nightmare radiating as she drew closer and knew that this would be a tough one to fight.
But as she drew closer with each step, she suddenly stopped inches away from it when she suddenly saw through the dream in front of her. Although she had fought nightmares that have caused great pain to everypony in Equestria, the nightmare that was right in front of her was from somepony who wasn’t from their world. Instead, it was a nightmare from one of the new creatures who her sister just brought to their country.
Hesitating for a while, she debated on whether she should continue or not. She didn’t know what to expect one she entered, didn’t know what kind of nightmares creatures like them could conjure up. From what her sister had said, she chose to bring them to Equestria so that they could call upon their aid in the tactics of war. She explained to her that these creatures were experts in warfare and have fought in a war that had engulfed their nation.
Having seen war thousands of years before, Luna knew all too well of its horrors. She had seen it first hand and knew that she didn’t want to relieve those memories again. That was why she was so glad when she learned that Equestria hadn’t engaged in a war for a thousand years, as t meant she would not have to solve the nightmares of war shocked ponies.
But now, as she stood in front of the dream, she wondered if this creature was having nightmares of the war he fought. Knowing the dreams of the past soldiers of Equestria, she knew that they were often plagued by memories of way, and she feared that this creature was having the same troubles as any war shocked soldier she had seen.
She was tempted to trot away and save herself from the trauma, but the feeling deep inside her told her otherwise. As the Guardian of the Night, it was her duty to try and solve nightmares like this, no matter who the dream belonged to and how bad the nightmare was. IF she turned around and trotted away, then it would mean that she had broken her promise to safe guard the dream realm.
Knowing that her guilt will gnaw at her if she backed away, she gave a long sigh before jumping into the dream. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too bad. But if worse comes to worse, then she knew that she would have to drink a lot of hard cider to remove the memories that would possibly scar her.
Opening her eyes, she found herself in the middle of an open field, with the soft grass under her hooves, while the blazing sun hit her fur. This place looked and sounded strange, yet at the same time, it felt somewhat similar to Equestria. If this place was the world those creatures came from, then it must have been a world that wasn’t entirely different from their own.
Soft burst in the distance drew her attention, as she turned around to see puffs of smoke rising from a far off ridge in the distance. Its smoke was thick white, as it moved like a mist of smoke, slowly rising up to the air.
From those puffs of smoke, she saw small objects coming out of it, flying through the sky and heading towards her general direction. At first, she wasn’t sure what they were, as she squinted her eyes to get a better look. From what she was able to see, those objects seemed to be round and flying fast towards her. Keeping her gaze towards it, she watched as it grew closer and closer.
She watched the projectiles with great intent, marveling at the speed at which they were going. Despite the fact that the projectiles were heading towards her direction, she stood there as calm as possible, keeping her gaze towards the projectiles. Knowing all too well that she was in the realm of dreams, she didn’t fear of getting hit by them as they would just pass through her, leaving her unharmed.
So she followed the projectiles till they flew towards a long line of blue cladded creatures, who were slowly making their way through the field and towards the ridge. She saw the projectiles hover over the blue line before bursting into tiny bits, causing a loud explosion and bringing some of the blue cladded creatures down to the ground.
Luna was shocked by the sound of the explosions, but was even more shocked by the sight of the creatures falling to the ground, grave injuries all over their bodies. Like she had predicted, this was not any ordinary nightmare, as it was a nightmare about war.
But from the looks of things, it seemed to be a form of war that she was not familiar with. With her being gone for a thousand years, she knew that warfare has changed through the time she was gone. Instead of the spears and arrows that she was familiar with, these creatures were fighting a new form of warfare, as she watched more and more creatures fall, from the explosive projectiles, as they moved forward.
The burst from the ridge continued, as projectile after projectile exploded over the blue lines, shrouding them with explosions and bringing more of them down to the ground, as they fell with their weird looking weapons that they wielded.
These weapons drew Luna’s curiosity, as they looked their metal look blunt, as well as having a dominant wood platform. Deciding to investigate why they were using such an ineffective looking weapon, she trotted towards them, as the projectiles rained over them and blew pieces that tore gaps in the line.
She passed by one of the lines and approached one fallen body, who had his weapon sprawled out beside him. After a quick glance, she began to realize that this weapon looked similar to one of the new weapons she heard Equestria was using. A ‘gun’ they called it, as she remembered it being a topic in one of the books she read. Despite never having been used in actual battle in Equestria, it was said to be capable of shooting deadly projectiles out of its rifled tube, hitting the enemy without actually approaching them. Like an arrow, it could shoot from a distance, but had more force per shot. So much force, that it was said to penetrate even the thickest of armors.
Now, as she followed the blue line moving forward, she was half excited to see the weapon in action, while anxious to see the devastation they might produce. With such a deadly weapon, she knew that the possibility of it killing somepony was very high.
So she decided to follow the row of blue cladded creatures nearest to her, trailing behind them as they approached the ridge with every step. They marched in perfect rhythm, as the earth beneath them shook with every moment their legs hit the ground.
Luna had to give them props for bravery as she watched them, for they went on, despite showing fear within them. With each projectile that tore through their line, the blue cladded creatures formed up on the gap, closing it and leaving no spaces in their lines.
"Dress the gap! Come on, move and cover it!” One of them would shout, as the blue cladded soldiers sidestepped to make sure that the gap was fixed, while at the same time, maintaining their forward movement.
They worked with great efficiency, which amazed her, as they moved up till they managed to move up towards the ridge.
“Regiment…halt!” One of the creatures shouted, in a voice that made Luna think it was said using the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Reiment, halt.” The order echoed, as it was repeated till one of the lines stopped to a standstill. Now the blue line stood half way through to the top of the ridge, weapons pointing up and ready.
Luna wondered why this decision was made, as she knew that they would be standing targets if they just stood still. Having seen the devastating capability of the projectiles, she knew that they could easily target moving objects, so a standing one would not be too difficult to them.
Deciding to move a couple of steps forward, she moved through the line to see why they stopped. There, at the front of the line, she saw the obstacle the blocked any further advance. An obstacle that looked formidable with sight alone.
Right in front of them, hiding behind a thick stone wall, was a long line of gray cladded creatures, weapons drawn and pointing at them. Luna couldn’t help but gulp at the sight, as she stared at the force in front of them. If all the endorsement about the gun was true, then she was sure that the blue cladded creatures were in for a bad day.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of the guns going of erupted in front of her, as she couldn’t help but flinch at the overwhelming sound. Smoke rose from behind the wall as the weapons discharged, but her attention was immediately drawn away from the wall when a different sound came from all around her.
Thud! Thud!
The sound of the tiny projectiles hitting the bodies of the blue cladded creatures came from all around her, as the sound of painful screams of agony paired with it, filling her ears with a sound that was too hard and horrifying to describe.
The sight around her was no better, as she saw the blue cladded creature’s fall, clutching their wounds as a thick red liquid spilled out of them. They fell on the ground with limp bodies and Luna couldn’t help but stare at the lifeless eyes that were left open as their lungs tried to gasp the last breath of air that they would take.
A continuous spray of fire came from the grey cladded creatures from behind the wall, bringing more and more casualties to the blue line. Their blood would pool around them, as they squirmed and tried to reach for help. But their comrades were too busy to aid their fallen friends, as they shoved each other around; mending the gaps that were formed by the fire they were receiving. There were far more important thing to worry about, so the wounded were left helpless and screaming, their voices filling the air with their cries.
But with all the cries and explosion mixing in the air, there was one voice that managed to pierce through all of it. Deep, loud, and commanding, the voice caught Luna’s attention, as her gaze turned to one of the blue cladded creatures. Staring at him, Luna saw that he wore a different hat from the others, as his was a large black hat, compared to the blue caps the others wore. Another difference she noticed was the bright steel saber he had, which he wielded with his right hand, while waving it in the air.
“Regiment!” He shouted, before looking both on both sides of the line. “Present arms!”
The sounds of rifles clattering echoed through the line, as Luna watched them perform their ritual of order and execution.
“Take aim.” The black hatted commander then shouted, as he pointed his saber forward towards their enemy, who were hiding behind the wall.
Enemy fire was still raining upon the line, but they followed orders and pointed their rifles at their foes. Even under fire, they still managed to keep their cohesion and follow the orders given to them.
“Fire!” She heard him bellow, as the sound of rifles going off filled her ears, while the flashes of their muzzles created a light that seemed to be as bright as her sister’s sun.
After having fired their weapons, a large cloud of smoke shrouded them, making almost impossible to see what was in front of them. But despite the wall of smoke, the fire from the enemy continued, as the sound of bodies being hit echoed time and time again.
“Reload! Reload! Reload and fire at will!” The black hatted commander ordered, as he moved though the line, trying to encourage his men as bodies fell all around them. But despite the amount that fell, the black hatted commander managed to pull the lines together, keeping all gaps covered as well as preventing anyone from the line to run and fall back in cowardice.
Taking great interest on him, Luna decided to follow the black hatted commander, keeping close behind him on wherever he went.
“Keep up the fire! Keep it up. Make it nice and hot for them.” She heard him say, as spurts of fire came from the blue line, only to have a large volley as a reply from the gray line.
“Load! Load! Load!” He would shout, as he went along the line. As he paced from left to right, he encountered a young soldier, who was struggling to reload his piece. His hand was shaking as he held his paper cartridge, while powder spilt off to the edge as he brought it towards the muzzle, trying to pour its contents into it. But due to his nerves, his attempt was met with failure, as all the powered was thrown into the ground instead of the barrel.
Noticing this, the black hatted commander moved towards the young soldiers and tried to calm him down.
“Take it easy now, boy.” He told him, causing the young soldiers to look at him. “Just take a breath and remember your training.”
The young soldier gave a shaky nod as he tried to reach for another cartridge in his pack. But he would not be able to accomplish this task, as a bullet hit his face, spilling blood, bone, and brains all over. Chunks of flesh and brain were splattered on the black hatted commander’s face, as Luna’s eyes stared at the sight with eyes wide open.
She watched as he brought his hands upon his face to wipe off the blood from his face. Doing so, he looked at the reddened hand and stared as he began top to shake in fear. At first it was only his hand that was shaking, but soon his entire body shook, as fear engulfed him.
Sensing the fear emitting from him, Luna finally realized that this was his dream. His nightmare. His memories of this awful moment.
Normally, she would have tried to solve this, to help the one plagued by nightmare in resolving their troubles. But after seeing all of this, she was left clueless on what to do. It had been a long time since she last helped a war shocked soldier, and by now she had forgotten what to do.
Even if she did remember, it would still have been a challenge, as no war in Equestria had been this bloody and devastating. This was a war that was different from before. A war with new weapons and tactics, weapons and tactics that were more deadlier than before. he had never seen killing conducted in such an efficient way. She did not know how to remove memories as horrifying as this, as she herself has been traumatized by it.
Not knowing what else to do to help, she decided that the best problem solver would be the easiest one.
So she snapped him out of his dream and woke him up.
Newman shot awake, sweating and gasping for air. He had been hit by the nightmare again, as the terrible memories of that battle plagued him once more. The sight, the sounds, the feeling…it just felt all too real to him, despite the fact that he knew that it was only a dream.
Staring at his hand, he tried to remove the terrible images. But the memories of the young boy’s blood and brains all over his face and hands were scarred into his memory, forever there to haunt him.
The thought of his men going through another encounter such as that horrified him, as the memory flashed before him in flashes of blood and cries. With the terrible circumstances they were bring trust into, he feared that his men would die in a war that they weren’t supposed to be involved in.
Although Celestia said their souls will return home if they died here, it still didn’t reassure him that they would be alive if they returned home as souls alone. If their souls returned without their body, then they would be equivalent as dead.
The only way for them to return home safely was for them to help Celestia’s nation, survive the upcoming war, and hope that they would find a way to bring them home.
“Oh, please protect them.” He cried out in prayer, as he closed his eyes and looked up. “Please protect them and let them see their homes once more.”