Umbra Memoria

by Lunaexcelsior

Nightmarish apparitions

“Very peculiar”, the creature spoke as Luna looked at it with fear. The night regal began to walk back, as if she were trying to run away from the monster in front of her.

“What an interesting specimen!” the Nightmare clicked, “Her fear seems to be of herself. How very interesting.”

The more this beast talked, the less Luna was afraid.

“What are you?” Luna asked as Gorgus quickly joined her.

He prepared his hammer to strike the beast in front of them.

“Don’t strike me!” the alicorn yelled as its form destabilized.

It recomposed from the fog into a slender bipedal being with a top hat and a skull cane in its hand. He had the eyes of Dormius which contrasted vastly on his pale, mask-like face which appeared to have a crack running through the middle of it. The rest of his attire was pretty much similar to a noble’s clothing; black and slick coat with a puffy shirt underneath, dark striped trouser ending with slick shoes. On his coat was clearly visible a medal of a screaming face.

Gorgus smiled as he placed down his axe.

Luna looked at Gorgus in surprise.

“Princess Luna, this is Insomnia Elysium”, Gorgus presented the tall creature as Insomnia gently bowed. He extended his long bony fingers towards Luna.

“Nice to meet you”, Luna said as he firmly grasped her hoof. She was a bit surprised at his firm grasp.

“So what do you do here? Aside from scaring innocent ponyfolk that is”, Luna said bitterly.

“My dear”, the creature’s crack moved upwards to form a smile, “That is precisely my job. Locate, expose and eliminate all signs of powerful fears that plague this stallion’s mind. Perhaps you could use my services as well”, he joked with Luna.

“I’ll think about it”, Luna responded, “So what are you doing here?”

“Well this is the birth place of his fears”, Insomnia explained.

He reached with one of his bony hands into Darkrim’s mind and pulled out a dream bubble. He then proceeded to expand the bubble, causing Darkrim’s dreams be exposed.

Inside this dream, Luna could see Darkrim as a ruler of Tartarus. Ponies and creatures alike were coming to him with all sorts of problems ranging from the failure of the crops to the war that he so blindly started. He tried to contain the unruly mass, but their problems overruled his consciousness. They were start to group up on him as a creature stood in front of them. The creature was a shadowed genral with boar like tusks, menacingly looking at Darkrim.

“For your crimes and uncaring nature, I sentence you to death! Off with his head!” he screamed as the mass of creatures launched themselves at Darkrim.

The dream stopped right there as Darkrim awoke with a gasp.

Luna was horrified by the sight she saw. Gorgus remained silent in disbelief.

Insomnia observed their utter shock with some twisted interest in his eyes as he approached Darkrim. Darkrim was inhaling and exhaling at an alarming speed, but he did not scream.

Cold sweat appeared on the young colt’s forehead as Insomnia took him into his arms.

He looked into Darkrim’s eyes with his dark pupils as if he were putting him in some sort of a trance.

Luna wanted to rush and stop him, but Gorgus prevented her.

“He knows what he is doing”, Gorgus said.

As Insomnia finished his séance, Darkrim began to feel much easier.

His eyes slowly began to shut down, until he was finally back to sleep.

Luna watched completely baffled.

“What just happened?” she whispered under her breath, much to Insomnia’s pleasure.

“Easing aura therapy”, Insomnia replied, “By sacrificing a part of my energy I managed to return Darkrim to his dream world. Sure, he won’t have any dreams tonight, but at least he will be fresh tomorrow to face them head on.”

“Well why didn’t you do that before the nightmare even began?” Luna asked.

“As I said, my job is to: locate, expose and eliminate! I can’t just use this magic willy nilly”, Insomnia explained, “Not to mention this is the first time I came into being.”

“This is how you were born?” Luna asked.

“Why of course!” Insomnia explained, “You see, Tartarus ponies do not have the same privileges as your ponies. They don’t have an omnipotent duo of princess that could create protectors to guard their minds. Like your Songbirds”, Insomnia said, much to Luna’s surprise.
“How did you--“, Luna wanted to ask, but Insomnia cut her off.

“I know more about you then I had lead on”, Insomnia said in a mysterious voice, “Anyways, like I said, Tartarus beings don’t have the same privileges as your Equestrian beings, so we come into play. Isdeuh, Eluvietta, Gorgus and I are just a few of the many Guardians in this pony’s mind alone. We have been personally selected by Necessity itself to Guard this pony’s mind. However our appearance varies from the state of his mind. This is his earliest and most powerful memory of fear and that is how I came to be”, Insomnia explained with a kind smile.

“Well if you are supposed to protect him from fear”, Luna said, slowly flaring up, “Why haven’t you stopped the advance of the shadow serpents?!”

Insomnia fell silent.

His cheery demeanor fell into a grim expression of sorrow, which took its place.

“They’re far too powerful”, Insomnia spoke somberly, as he noticed some shadows on the wall slowly growing larger, “We use the same magic, so mine can only slow the advances of these beasts, but not destroy them. Even as we speak they are regrouping”, Insomnia explained as he struck the ground with his cane.

A flash of lightning unveiled the infestation in the room.

All around them serpents were crawling like maggots over a deceased flesh.

Luna backed away slowly.

“As you can see, my powers keep them at bay”, Insomnia sighed, “but they still continue to thrive like vicious vermin”, Insomnia said with disgust as he used his cane to deflect one of the serpents that got a bit too close.

The slimy reptile went flying across the room, but it got up just as fast.

Luna couldn’t believe the amount of these creatures just in this memory.

“How come there are so many of them?” Luna asked in confusion, “This is a rather old memory, there shouldn’t be this many of them!”

“That may be the case, but the memory is very strong and it contains his first fears surfacing. Two of the things these beasts seem to love the most”, Insomnia explained.

Luna watched as the serpents continued to circle around them.

“Why don’t they attack us?” she asked.

“We’re in moonlights way here”, Insomnia said as he looked up, “They really don't like that."

As Insomnia said that his face suddenly lit up.

He looked at Luna.

At first she was confused, but in a matter of seconds she understood exactly what Insomnia wanted.

Gorgus watched them with a blank look on his face.

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Insomnia asked with his crack transforming into a sly grin.

“Definitely”, Luna nodded her head and shone him the same grin.

“Well I have no idea what you are talking about!” Gorgus said.

“Just follow us, alright, big guy?” Insomnia spoke condescendingly.

Gorgus gave him an angry look, slowly tapping his hammer against the palm of his hand.

“Alright, here’s what we will do”, Luna began to explain, “Insomnia you will have to lead the serpents in here. The moonlight won’t kill them, but it will severely weaken the horde.”

“Already on it”, Insomnia said as he began to morph into Nightmare Moon.

Luna looked at him with an expression of amusement and slight irritation.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that!” Night- I mean, Insomnia said angrily, “Those things will be drawn to the sheer horror this creature has over you. See”, he pointed one of his hooves at the oncoming den of black serpents who were slowly taking notice of him stepping into their domain.

Luna waved her hoof and continued.

“Gorgus, I’ll need you for this next part. More precisely your hammer”, Luna said.

“Why?” Gorgus asked suspiciously.

“Your hammer will serve as the conductor for my electricity. If I zap you with my lightning it should get more concentrated in your hammer and thus usher a powerful enough blast to destroy the serpents”, Luna explained.

“So let me get this straight. You want to shoot me with Necessity only knows how many volts of electricity in some vain attempt to destroy all those things in one blast?” Gorgus said as he tried to process Luna’s instructions.

“Precisely”, Luna exclaimed calmly, “It shouldn’t harm you, considering you were able to take a direct hit when I zapped that gargoyle.”

“I’m going to hate myself in the morning for this”, Gorgus mumbled under his breath as he shook his head, “Fine! Use me as a conductor.”

“Great!” Luna clicked.

Meanwhile, Insomnia was trying to gather the serpents. In his Nightmare Moon form the serpents seemed to flock to him, but they would not attack. Instead they stood beneath his feet, eagerly following every move he made.

“The beasts are reacting to me as if I were their leader”, Insomnia thought to himself as he stood tall and proud over the shadow serpents,

“What is it about this body that drives them to complacency? They didn’t react like this to any of my other forms”, Insomnia continued his train of thoughts.

He slowly began to back away from the serpents as they followed suit. It was like they were entranced by his appearance. He looked back as Luna winked at him.

Just as he was about to enter the moonlit are, Insomnia transformed into his original shape. The serpents, enraged, rushed towards him.
Insomnia just smiled and jumped high up.

The serpents were confused only for a second as Luna charged her lightning magic. In mere moments Luna unleashed one of the most powerful blasts she could muster.

It zapped right through Gorgus’ body, making him clench his teeth in pain.

However the electricity was amplified just enough that the hammer unleashed one huge wave of energy, frying every serpent in sight. Those which did not fry at first were indirectly hit by transmitted electricity. Insomnia turned his head away as a bright flash of light filled the room. As the light died down, Insomnia opened his eyes. Next to him laid a passed out Luna and Gorgus. Soon enough they gained consciousness.

“Remind me to never do that again”, Luna commented to Gorgus.

“Agreed”, Gorgus said as he dusted himself off. His fur was still charred a bit from where the lightning had entered his body, but aside from that he was as fine as summer wine.

“I think you should see this”, Insomnia commented as he looked on the desolate land in front of him.

Comments

[Weavers of Dreams]

So metaphysical helpers come to life in Tartarus by necessity, rather than birth and innovation. Interesting. If Luna ever told Darkrim about all these people in his head, he might go crazy

Also interesting that Darkrim's greatest fear is failure and being hated by everyone. That would be a nightmare

[Lunaexcelsior]

6252952 As a prince his duty is his loyalty to his people and he fears what such high prestige could hold. Tartarus' past, before the arrival of Terragon, wasn't exactly stellar, so he has quite a lot on his plate

[The Psychopath]

Awwww. Insomnia has teen tiny fans. That's cute. Or maybe they're in love?

---

Commas. Again.

pale, mask like, face

*pale, mask-like face

You see Tartarus ponies

You see, Tartarus ponies

His cheery demeanor fell into a grim expression of sorrow took its place.

*sorrow which took

“Just follow us, alright big guy”

Assuming this is a question, it would be *alright, big guy?"

Just as he was about enter the moonlit

*about to enter

[EbonyDanger]

This scene was humerous. Best sentence: "I am going to hate myself in the morning for this." Is it okay that I laugh in a dangerous situation?