Eternal Nightmare

by Jgame

Chapter Sixteen

I most of the night wondering how I was going to trick my sister into telling me her problems, or at the very least, go on an extended vacation for her own sake.

I paced in my room, back and forth, back and forth.

My hooves were aching by the time I had stopped, and still no ideas came to mind, except one.

Ask my guards for an idea.

Could I trust them with my personal problems? They were my friends, but we had only been friends for a meager week or so.

If I cannot trust them, then I cannot trust anypony, I realized.

---

“You wanted me, Luna?” Infectious Cheer asked.

“I need you to help me think of a plan to trick my sister into telling me what exactly is ailing her,” I said.

“Why?”

“Because she shows signs of fatigue, even after sleeping. She trots along, claiming that everything is fine and that she does not require my help, but if she continues down the path she is taking she will be too exhausted to rule Equestria, while I sit here, doing nothing because she refuses my help!”

“So just tell her that.”

I blinked. “What did you say?”

“Just walk up to her tell her how you feel, and then just force her to take a vacation. If you really have a problem with somepony, then just telling them that you do and why is always the quickest and easiest way. It's called the direct approach.”

I hugged Infectious Cheer. “Oh, thank you! I had been puzzling over this conundrum for-”

“Luna... squishing me... and really loud...” Infectious Cheer moaned.

I realized I had slipped into the Royal Canterlot voice in my excitement as I let go. “Our apologies,” I said.

Infectious Cheer smiled. “It's fine. Good luck with Princess Celestia, though. You're going to need it.”

---

I marched up to my sister in her room the early morning after.

“You are on vacation,” I said.

“What?” my sister asked.

“You are exhausted from your work. I will take over all of it, and you will stay in your room and rest,” I said firmly.

“Luna, we've talked about this before, you need your re-”

“Sister, I am not a filly to patronize and hush. I am a Princess of Equestria, and it is beyond high time I resumed those responsibilities. You have carried the burden of raising both the Sun and Moon for a thousand years now, as well as ruling Equestria on your own in my absence and six and a half months afterwards.

“You are the one who needs her rest,” I said in a tone that brooked no argument.

My sister smiled. “Very well then. What am I going to do in the meantime?”

“Sleep,” I said gruffly, “or, failing that, read a book that piques your interest. If I catch a glimpse of you in the throne room, or even look at an official document, I will order guards to lock you in thy room!”

My sister laughed.

“What is so funny?” I asked.

“Perhaps you are ready to return to your responsibilities,” my sister chuckled, “I was waiting all this time for you to do something like this.”

My jaw fell to the floor. “You... you... what?”

“I thought that the sure sign of you being ready to rule Equestria with me once again was when you had regained your self-confidence, and had lost your fears and guilt of Night Mare Moon. I admit, I was starting to get worried that you would never come in and tell me off like that.”

“Just for that, sister, I'm ensuring that thy vacation lasts three months. I'm sending you off to...” I paused to think of a good locale.

“Ponyville,” I decided.

“Well, then, I suppose I should-”

“Rest,” I interjected, “I will deal with the letters to the mayor and to thy student, as well as all other preparations pertaining to your vacation.”

“In that case, I'm going to the library to borrow some Daring Do books,” my sister said in amusement, “I had been meaning to read those for years.”

As my sister left, I simply stared at where she had gone.

That went better than I had expected, I thought.

---

My first order of business was in the throne room. I sat where Celestia sat.

Everypony surreptitiously glanced at me, and then around the room.

“If you are looking to speak with Princess Celestia, she is unavailable,” I declared, “anypony that wishes to speak with her shall speak with me.”

Four armed guards that were stationed next to the throne exchanged glances with one another, and then carried on as if nothing was amiss.

The rest of the room was somewhat more expressive, but reached the same conclusion as well.

“I am glad we have all reached an understanding,” I said dryly, “can the first case step forwards, please?”

An earth pony farmer and a unicorn in a business suit stepped forwards. The farmer, claimed that his taxes by the landowner, the unicorn, were being driven too high. The landowner argued that the increase in cost was perfectly reasonable and that the farmer was being too greedy with his money.

I held back a grimace. If the first case was an indication of what was to come, this was going to be a lengthy and tiring three months.

---

The next two weeks were an overwhelming tsunami of responsibility. Between putting myself in charge of all of my sister's duties, (with the exception of raising and lowering the Sun, I still left that one thing to her,) and organizing a last-minute trip to Ponyville for my sister, I hardly had any free time to lounge about.

I made use of my Lunar Guard as my personal pages, as the castle guard of my sister's provided the required security.

I expressed concern over whether I should be using the Lunar Guard as such, but Idle Hooves, Favourable Outcome, and Infectious Cheer all agreed that they would help me in any way they could, even if that was merely running messages from one end of the castle to another.

As I pored over countless papers in my room one late afternoon, I smelled smoke.

I whirled around to find the source of the scent, to find smoke coalescing together and forming a scroll, with the official Ponyville seal freshly stamped onto it.

I undid the binding and read it. It was a rather terse letter.

Dear Princess Luna,

Princess Celestia has collapsed. You are needed in Ponyville as soon as you can.

Signed, Twilight Sparkle

I heard a knock on the door to my room.

“Enter,” I said.

Favourable Outcome walked through the door. “I don't want to tell you bad news, but-”

“I have even worse news,” I interrupted, “get Idle Hooves and Infectious Cheer to my chariot as soon as possible. I'll explain once you're all gathered there.”

“But what about-”

“Everything else can wait. My sister may be in danger.”

---

It took only a quarter-hour to have the Lunar Guard assembled and in flight to Ponyville.

I landed in the town square of Ponyville, where Twilight Sparkle anxiously waited for me.

I instructed the Lunar Guard to keep an eye on the chariot.

Twilight Sparkle took me to the Ponyville Hospital, where my sister was lying in an expanded hospital bed. There were various wires attached to her wings and chest.

“What happened?” I asked Twilight Sparkle.

“I-I-I'm not really sure myself,” Twilight Sparkle stammered, “I was walking along the Everfree Forest with Princess Celestia, and she seemed a little... out of it, so I asked if she wanted to sit down and rest a bit instead of walking. She said no, and we kept on walking, and then she just... collapsed.”

“We took a test on her mental activity, right before you had arrived, Princess Luna,” a nearby doctor informed me, “as far as we can guess, she's in a dream that she literally can't wake up from.”

“A coma?” Twilight Sparkle guessed.

The doctor shook his head. “Not a coma, her brain signals are still intact and are in fact going on overdrive. If I had to guess, it would be a magically induced dream, or more accurately, a nightmare.”

“Thank you, doctor. I know for certain what my sister suffers from,” I said.

“You do?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

I nodded. “It is a spell simply called Eternal Nightmare. It puts you in a never ending nightmare that one cannot wake from, except if the caster voluntarily ends the spell, or one slips into the nightmare and frees the victim.”

“So what should we do, then?” the doctor asked.

“I will take her back to Canterlot Castle. As for you, doctor, and Twilight Sparkle, I need you to reassure the townsfolk that everything is under control,” I said.

The doctor detached all the wires my sister had on her. I levitated her through the hospital and onto the chariot, to the shock and fright of anypony who saw what was going on.

Behind me, I could hear Twilight Sparkle attempting to reassure the villager's, which would have been more effective if she didn't sound so nervous herself.

I told the Lunar Guard to fly my sister to Canterlot Castle and then bring her my room. I teleported myself back to Canterlot unceremoniously.

I would have taken my sister with me, but strong outside stimuli would affect the Eternal Nightmare, and I did not want to risk making things worse.

I checked the time. The Sun was scheduled to set soon.

Focusing my powers, I lowered the Sun and brought forth the night, and then waited anxiously for my sister to arrive.

---

Hours later, my Lunar Guard accompanied by three other guards brought my sister inside my room on a massive stretcher. I thanked all the guards and promptly dismissed them. All three of my Lunar Guard, however, hovered at the doorway.

“Are you going to be okay?” Infectious Cheer asked.

I bit my lip. “To be frank, I will be walking into a trap. At the very least, I will have to be cautious.”

“You'll be fine,” Favourable Outcome said, “I don't know what you're going up against, but you'll be fine. I mean, your worst enemy is a bedsheet. How bad can it be?”

“I thought it was Night Mare Moon,” I said.

“So?” Favourable Outcome said, “fear comes from tricking yourself to think something is real when it isn't. So just keep track of what's real, and you'll be fine.”

“Wow,” Infectious Cheer commented, “that's deep.”

“Star was really disappointed to find out she had missed you on Night Mare Night,” Idle Hooves said suddenly, “would you mind paying her a visit when you come back?”

“When I come back,” I agreed.

My sister thrashed violently before stopping just as suddenly as she began.

“Thank you for visiting,” I said, “but I need my concentration.”

The Lunar Guard nodded and left, shutting the door behind them.

I focused on calming my mind, preparing myself to use Dream Travel. Dream Travel was a spell that was nearly impossible to perform. One had to keep absolute focus while completely asleep, a paradox that could only be overcome by powerful magical users, such as myself.

I shut my eyes, relaxed my body as much as I could, and drifted off to sleep. As I did, I cast Walking Dreams. I felt my conscious separate from my body, which gave me the sensation of feeling weightless.

I found myself in a dark corridor, with an endless expanse of doors lining either side with various names on them. The floor was covered by a black carpet with an ornate pattern. The ceiling wasn't there, it was simply a black expanse of nothing.

It had been over a thousand years since I went down this corridor, and it hadn't changed in the slightest.
I drifted down the corridor, the only light provided to me was by the multicoloured lights peeking out from the cracks of other ponies dreams. They were just bright enough to provide enough illumination to read what were written on the doors.

Without much searching, I found a door labelled Celestia Moon.

I grimaced. If the name had been distorted to include Night Mare Moon, then what else had she already done?

I stood right in front of the dark entrance, trying to peer inside without stepping hoof into it. The crack underneath the door showed no signs of light.

Steeling my nerves, I finally entered somepony's dream for the first time in a thousand years.

It was dark. Even for somepony like me that cherished the night, it was dark. I looked up, trying to find some semblance of a night sky, but even the Moon or the Sun wasn't there.

“I was wondering if you were going to show your face or not,” Night Mare Moon said.

I looked around, trying to find Night Mare Moon, but I could hardly see my hoof in front of my face, let alone her.

“Need a little light?” Night Mare Moon asked.

“Show yourself!” I said.

“If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have turned out the lights, now would I?” Night Mare Moon sneered, “but that's besides the point. I think you're looking for somepony else.”

A dim glow illuminated my sister, frozen in place. Her eyes told me one thing. Run.

“Sister!” I cried out.

“You see?” Night Mare Moon said, “I have your sister right where I want her. Your sister, the better one, the most loved one, the one who got all the attention and gifts, and then pitied you when you got nothing. She's good as gone, all thanks to me!”

Night Mare Moon laughed.

“No,” I said.

“No?”

“I won't let you do this,” I said.

“Oh please, I'm Night Mare Moon. I have total control over any nightmare, and there is nothing you can do to change that.”

I focused my concentration, and brought forth the Moon.

“Wait, what?” Night Mare Moon said, “what are you doing?”

The moonlight dispelled the darkness, revealing a grassy hill surrounded by forest. As the moonlight bathed the area, my sister began to stir.

“What did you do?” Night Mare Moon cried.

“I changed this place from a nightmare to a dream. You no longer have absolute power here,” I said, “I do.”

“But how?” Night Mare Moon cried, “the fear...”

“I am no longer afraid of you,” I said.

Night Mare Moon shimmered, and then appeared in front of me, her massive stature reduced to the size of a filly.

“I will be back,” Night Mare Moon growled, “I will exist in your subconscious for as long as you live, egging you on when you are weakest, and waiting as long as it takes for you to come back to me.”

“I have friends who will keep my doubts at bay,” I said, “and I will always have my sister.”

Night Mare Moon scowled, before flying away.

My sister walked next to me.

“Thank you,” my sister said, “for rescuing me from Night Mare Moon's grasp upon me.”

“You're welcome, sister,” I said.

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my nightmares. I had hoped they would go away in their own time, but I simply endangered everypony involved,” my sister said miserably.

I gave her a hug. “I'm simply happy to see that you're safe, big sister. I love you.”

“I love you too, little sister.”

We embraced for a long while, before stepping back and silently enjoying the moonlit view of the forest.

It was my sister who broke the silence. “Are you truly jealous of me?”

I had to think about what I said before replying. “Yes. I am. But I still love you, big sister.”

My sister thought for a moment before answering. “I suppose that in the end, that's what matters most.”

I nodded, before taking flight.

“Where are you going?” my sister asked.

“I have not walked through nightmares in a long time,” I said, “I believe it is high time I began. Sweet dreams, big sister.”

My older sister smiled at me. “Thank you.”

I turned around, and flew to another nightmare. Which one it was or whom it belonged to, I did not know.

But I knew that this was my responsibility, even if that meant I did not gain as much attention as my sister.

As long as I had friends and family, I would accept my responsibility without a singular doubt in my mind.

Comments

[Kairee]

I liked this. It was an interesting perspective.

[Randompegasus168]

Will there be a sequel