Once again it was dark, but Willow could still see clearly all the way down the cobblestone road in front of her. The street was lit by several lampposts evenly placed along each side of it. Also, many of the surrounding buildings had windows facing the road and some of them had the amber glow of candles shining out from them. The collective result was a dark street softly illuminated by warm, gentle light.
Also gentle was the breeze flowing through Willow’s hair. It was cool yet not frigid, windy yet not blustering. The air carried on it the scent of autumn, as if colored leaves had littered the ground just earlier that day and were gingerly swept away by a good-natured groundskeeper.
Willow decided that she would walk down this road, despite having no clear objective for doing so. The further along she went, the more sounds she could hear coming from the buildings on either side. Most of them were faint and muffled by the walls that separated their sources from the road, but Willow could clearly make out the crackling of lit fireplaces and the clanking of kitchenware.
Every once in a while, Willow could hear voices as well. She could never make out what they were saying, but the tones ranged from nonchalant to friendly and upbeat. Willow could even hear laughter in some cases.
Still, there was no indication that any of these unseen ponies were aware of Willow’s presence and there was nopony on the street itself either. It was empty for as far as Willow could see.
With nopony else in sight, she was left to her own thoughts. Those thoughts latched themselves onto the peculiar designs of the buildings in this town. While each of them looked charming and cozy in its own right, each they also seemed antiquated and primitive. Everything was made of wood and most of that wood was less-than-expertly crafted. Each construction had more than a few splintered pieces and some were so crooked that it was miraculous they were still standing. It was as if the ponies living or working in each structure had built it themselves, whether they had cutie marks for carpentry or not.
In any case, they were clearly confident enough in their own works that they chose to stay inside them this night. To Willow that seemed a poor choice. The temperature was comfortable and the breeze was refreshing. Additionally, there was the beautiful sight that Willows eyes had just connected with. The moon was hanging overhead, its reflected light natural and assuring.
However, Willow’s eyes also spotted something strange in front of the moon. It was a tiny black dot, or at least it started that way. It grew rapidly, until it was a large dark shadow. Soon, it was obvious that it wasn’t growing physically, but rather growing closer. It started to take a more descript shape and Willow could see the legs, body and face of a pony. This pony had a horn on its head, as well as two very large wings. As it drew nearer, its colors shown, though they were not much brighter than the darkness they had emerged from.
The pony was close enough now that Willow could confirm it was Luna. The Alicorn glided towards Willow, descending closer to the ground as she went. Finally, the Princess of the Night flew just over Willow’s head, turned around behind her and then gently landed by her side. She so gracefully switched between flying and walking when her hooves touched the ground that Willow didn’t even notice that it happened.
“Are you aware that you are dreaming again?” Luna asked the traveling pony.
Willow started slightly, “I...I guess I am now.”
“It is all right,” said Luna, “Most ponies do not realize when they are dreaming.”
“I guess seeing you should’ve been my first clue,” said Willow.
Luna’s mouth curled upward slightly, “I suppose so.”
The two continued down the road in silence. Neither of them looked at each other. Occasionally Willow’s walk staggered a little and Luna’s march forward was far too rigid to be comfortable.
At long last, Luna made an attempt to break the ice. “So...do you recognize this place?” she asked her long-haired companion.
“Nope,” said Willow plainly, “Never seen any digs like these.”
“Strange,” said Luna, “Typically, ponies’ dreams are made up of their memories.”
“I ain’t got no memories,” Willow reminded the Princess, “At least nuthin’ from before I got out of that tube thingy.”
“Hmmm, well this quaint little town would certainly have been an earlier memory than that,” remarked Luna.
“Whattaya mean?” asked Willow. “Ya know this place?”
“I cannot identify the exact town but it looks like one of the original Equestrian settlements. There were many places like this when my sister and I first began our rule.” recalled Princess Luna.
“Far out,” said Willow.
“What is far out?” asked Luna, “I see nothing in the distance.”
Willow sighed, “Never mind.”
“I apologize,” said Luna. “Is this ‘far out’ another one of your Discordian idioms?”
Willow shrugged, “Beats me. That’s just how I wrap.”
“What are you wrapping?” asked Luna.
Willow groaned.
Luna started, “Oh my. I did it again. I am sorry. I was raised to speak in the traditional Canterlot voice. I am not well-versed in these lower forms of speech.”
“Lower, huh?” said Willow grimly.
Luna started again, “Oh, well, that is to say, er, commoner speech.”
“Not much better,” Willow remarked plainly.
Luna hung her head. Willow said no more. The awkward silence resumed. Eventually, however, it was broken again, this time by Willow.
“So...any clue why I’m dreamin’ ‘bout really old places?” she asked her traveling partner.
“I am not sure, but—” Luna stopped her sentence and her eyes widened. “Willow! Look out!”
The Princess shoved Willow out of the way as a streak of purple smoke shot past them like a flaming arrow. Willow, caught completely off-guard by Luna’s shove, was still lying in a heap of hair on the road when she felt the projectile narrowly scrape the top of her head. It did her no harm, but it certainly grabbed her attention.
“Whoah! What was that!?” she exclaimed as she yanked herself off the ground, trying desperately to get her hair out of her eyes. Before she could complete that task, however, Luna pinned her down once again. She heard the whoosh of another streak of smoke passing above her and Luna.
“Stand still, you coward!” Luna demanded as her horn lit up and she arose from protecting her companion.
From the far opposite side of the street, the purple mist came shooting back towards Willow and Luna. This time, though, it stopped directly in front of them. Now that it was still, its glowing disembodied eyes were leering at the two ponies. The unnaturally wide mouth was smiling with demented glee.
“Okay, now what!?” Despise snapped rhetorically, “C’mon. What’re you gonna do?”
As soon as the phantom pony uttered the last word of her sentence, Luna fired a beam of light from her horn. Her aim was accurate, but the living cloud sidestepped it at the last second. Luna corrected her aim and fired again. The mist sidestepped it again. Luna aimed one more time, this time emitting a succession of three light blasts. Suddenly, Despise split her ghostly form into two pieces, each one with a copy of her malicious-looking face. Luna’s barrage of magic sailed between them, missing completely.
Then each of the two copies of Despise’s cloudy form split again, making four. Willow, now standing upright with her eyes cleared of hair, saw her multiplied attacker and gaped. Instinctively, she turned and ran in the opposite direction.
“Willow! Come back!” yelled Luna as she chased her.
Once Willow’s back was turned, the four dark purple clouds shot out into four separate directions, each going through a different alleyway among the nearest buildings.
Unaware of this, Willow made a right and turned down a different alley. She was galloping as fast as she could, but she was too panicked to avoid her unfortunate habit of tripping over her own hair. She landed face-first on the ground at the end of the alley, right before it met with another alley that led behind the buildings.
Willow struggled to get to her feet, an action that was quickened by screeching sound of Despise’s scream. It was coming from the back alley she was facing. As soon as she was stable, Willow took off in the opposite direction, the one she had just came from.
As she approached the main street again, though, she was met by another Despise turning the corner and heading straight for her. In a repeat performance from her previous nightmare, Willow dove and slid underneath the charging phantom. She resumed running as soon as she was clear of it.
She chose to turn right again and resume galloping down the main road. However, out from an alleyway a few hooves in front of her and to her left, another streak of dark purple wearing an evil grin darted out, made a sharp right turn and headed straight for her. Willow pushed her hooves forward in an attempted to stop herself, but she saw it was too late. The collision was imminent.
As soon as she closed her eyes and braced herself, though, she heard a loud clang in front of her along with a grunt from her approaching adversary. She looked up and saw a strange blue light spanning her view. It was transparent and through it she could see her misty attacker falling backwards, as if she had been deflected.
Willow whipped her head around and saw Luna approaching her swiftly with her horn lit. “Stay close to me, Willow!” commanded the Princess.
Willow obeyed without hesitation. She rushed towards Luna and got as close to her side as she could get, almost literally under her wing. She turned back to face the street she had attempted to run down. Now she could see that the blue transparent light she saw was part of a wall of magic the Princess had set up to protect her.
It wouldn’t be enough, though. Willow’s ears picked up the sounds of another living projectile coming from the opposite direction. Almost as soon as she heard it, Luna turned around and formed another wall of magic behind her and Despise’s prey. It formed so quickly that the self-aware missile had no time to react. It too collided with the barrier.
But then another came from the side. Luna put up another shield. Then, one came from above, raining down like a meteor. Luna sent yet another magical wall — or rather, ceiling — in to the air.
Her timing was perfect. Willow’s final two attackers couldn’t keep from bouncing off the barriers like misguided birds off a clean window. But then, each of the four apparitions doubled back and launched themselves again. Right in the middle of their charges, each of them split in two. The number assailants was now eight.
Quickly, Luna canceled the four barriers she had put in place and shot a beam of magic straight above her and Willow. It rapidly opened up and spread around them, forming a dome that touched the ground. All eight of Despise’s copies collided with the magical bubble and deflected upwards to the sky.
“Dang!” exclaimed Willow. “You’re pretty good at this, Spooky mare!”
“It has less to do with my skill,” said Luna, “and more to do with the incompetence of the enemy.”
Willow looked up at the sky beyond the transparent shield and spotted the eight ghostly projectiles, still traveling upward. Each of their trajectories was angled and they eventually collided with each other. The collision produced a loud crashing sound like the clap of thunder and flash of light more blinding than any streak of lightning. It forced Willow’s eyes to close.
While her eyes were shut, Willow’s ears were still at attention. However, they picked up nothing. The noise of the collision above her had dissipated and all that was left was silence. Her body relaxed as she opened her eyes once again. She returned her gaze to the sky and saw no sign of her attacker. The green pony bowed her head and let out a long exhale.
But then a new sound emerged from the point of impact. It started as a low rumble, but quickly grew into a earth-shaking roar. Willow looked up once again. She gasped. A single, dark purple cloud wearing that same old demented face was firing itself straight down at her and Luna. It was larger than any of the previous eight, as if they had all combined and compounded into one.
Luna clearly saw it as well and despite still being protected by her own magical shield ducked. Willow followed suit.
As soon as the cloudy meteor hit the shield, there was another explosion. Luna and Willow were both blown clear as the barrier of blue light shattered like glass.
Both ponies landed hard on the cobblestone several hooves away. Willow tried to get up, but she struggled. Luna, on the other hand, stood up immediately. She turned her head and saw Despise’s latest form still very much active. In fact, it was barreling straight towards them at full speed.
Quickly, Luna levitated Willow onto her back, spread her wings and took flight. Willow wrapped her forelegs around Luna’s neck and held tightly. It wasn’t long before they were soaring through the air, passing the lampposts and eventually the buildings themselves. As they ascended, Willow could see the bay area just outside of this evidently coastal town. It wasn’t long before Luna was directly over the water and Willow could see a reflexion of the moon itself in it. The sight made her tilt her head upward to look at the moon directly. It was closer and larger than she had ever seen it before.
A scream coming from behind drew Willow’s attention away from the scenery. She turned her head around and saw Despise still giving chase, launching herself into the air like a firework. Luna was maintaining her distance, but the malicious creature was picking up speed.
“Hold tight, Willow!” commanded Luna.
Willow clenched her legs around the Princess’ neck as Luna made a tight right turn, eventually turning her and her passenger completely around to face the town they had just escaped. Luna stopped and hovered in the air, her eyes fixed on the incoming enemy.
Despise continued to charge into the sky directly at her and Willow. Luna lit up her horn. The spark at its tip grew bigger and bigger as the Alicorn channeled more magic into it. It kept growing and growing as Despise flew closer and closer. Soon the spark on Luna’s head was a large as a boulder and Despise was so close that she could have easily swallowed both Luna and Willow. She was screaming with a wail so piercing that Willow felt like she was being scratched with bear claws. She buried her head in Luna’s back and braced herself.
Right before Luna and Despise made physical contact, Luna released the enormous spark of magic from her horn. The spark hit Despise right in the middle of her demonic face. There was a deafening explosion punctuated by Despise’s cry of agony and huge burst of white light covered the entire field of vision. And despite not being on the ground, Willow was certain that she felt an earthquake.
However, within a few seconds, all was silent again. Willow cautiously lifted her head up from Luna’s back. She saw absolutely nothing — no town, no Despise, no water. There was nothing save for Luna a very familiar empty blackness. She also noticed that Luna was no longer flying, but standing on a nonexistent ground.
It took a few seconds for everything to register, but eventually Willow grasped Luna’s neck once again, this time in a hug.
“Thank you, Spooky mare!” shouted Willow to Luna as she were across the room.
Luna bowed her head and produced a timid smile. “You are quite welcome, my child.”
Willow slid off of the Alicorn’s back and joined her on-hoof. “So...ya think we got her this time?”
Luna briefly stood still and closed her eyes before answering. “I no longer sense her presence.”
“Far. Out!” Willow said ecstatically. “So am I free? Can I go now?”
“Not quite,” said Luna, “I still want to observe you for the remainder of the 27-day period that was discussed.”
“Aw, mare!” pouted Willow.
“Despise was clearly much stronger in this dream than she was in your previous one,” explained Luna, “and just because I no longer sense her does not mean that she is destroyed. She could simply have been severely weakened.”
Luna then put her hoof on the clearly disappointed pony’s shoulder. “However, I feel far more confident this time that Despise is finished. I have decided that I will once again not inform my sister.”
Willow smiled at her rescuer. “You know, you’re actually pretty groovy for a Princess.”
Luna smiled for an unprecedented third time. “Why,er, thank you. I am...glad that you believe I am full of grooves.”
Willow groaned.