Realms Undreamed Of

by Ardashir

Chapter 9

Realms Undreamed Of

Chapter 9

“So this is where we go when we dream, every night?”

“Aye, fair Rarity,” came Luna’s voice from above.

Two ponies flew and four galloped on nothing amid the myriads of tiny dream-worlds swirling around and below them, an ever-changing sea of multi-colored spheres. Six silver cords trailed behind them into infinity, like flowers in Mistmane’s legendary wake. Far below, a soft brightness like Celestia’s sun sparkled like millions of fireflies.

“An’ that’s the dreams o’ every pony and critter in Equestria, down there?”

“It is, Applejack.”

“Woah, Nelly…”

The light from Equestria’s dreams fell behind them; a warmth and comfort the five mortal ponies never knew they’d felt all their lives slowly faded. Darkness surrounded them, with other brighntesses faint in the distance. A beam of moonlight gleamed down from Luna’s horn; where it struck, a seventh silver cord stretched into the void before them.

Rainbow Dash flew, Fluttershy meandered, Rarity sashayed, Applejack galloped, Pinkie trotted with a small moon made of green cheese underhoof. None pulled ahead of the others or fell behind. Luna sensed their confusion and smiled.

“Tis the Realm of Dream,” the Moon Princess whickered. “Not the waking world. Have ye never tried to flee a nightmare, only to find thyselves at a snail’s pace? Or raced ‘round the world in a moment?”

“I do that when I’m awake,” Dash smugly tossed her head. Luna snorted.

The six raced through the darkness between Dreams, the five mortals remembering the briefing before they quaffed Luna’s potion:

“A herd of warlocks, of a race similar to John’s; they called themselves ‘Shonokin’. All appeared male, at least in their dream forms; I counted thirteen when they attacked us, casting in unison as if bearing Elements of Disharmony. Their lead stallion wore a red amulet, apparently a spell focus carried over into Dream.”

The Princess’s horn gleamed with moonlight, light which formed into an illusion image of a creature much like John. Except darker, with a lank black mane and coatless bare skin the shade of Celestia’s tea with a hint of roan, wearing more clothing than even a Diamond Dog – form-fitting like Thorn’s, topped with long black frock coat and wide-brimmed, high-crowned hat with beaded band. All black as Nightmare Moon except for an ivory blouse peeking through the open coat secured at the neck with a string tie such as stallions wore in the Far West. Dragon eyes blazed in its face as the image extended a hand outwards, five fingers like John’s but tipped with short sharp claws, the third from the thumb unnaturally long.

“Note the unusual finger; I saw none other like it during my time in John’s dream. I believe it to be unique to them.”

“They speak in voices like whispers, they walk Dream like Sombra walked Shadow, and their sorcery is potent.” Luna shuddered. “Dark Magic; much like Thorn’s, according to Twilight just before we – were separated. As I told my sister and ye, they near did force me back into the form of the Nightmare, within the Dream Realm if not in reality. If they knew the proper dark magics, they could have bound my darker self in a geas as Dee and Kelley attempted; and command her – me – as a puppet.” Luna shook herself, then started at a gentle nuzzle against her withers.

“We won’t let that happen, Princess Luna,” the Element of Kindness’s voice reassured her. The Elements of Honesty and Generosity joined in; “We’ll protect you as you will us.”

Ahead of them, another brightness grew; larger than Equestria’s, colder in some ways, but not unwelcoming. Gleaming in Luna’s moonlight, Twilight’s silver cord led directly into it.

“If attacked or in emergency, do what ye must. Stay together as a herd; we go into danger. If separated, follow thy silver cords back to thy real bodies. And be careful that other beings do not track you back.”

“Ah reckon we will. Don’t reckon we need any more crazy warlocks or monsters invading Equestria.”

The glow ahead was closer now, resolving into a myriad of individual points of light within the greater incandescence. Swarming fireflies, a whirlwind of lights circling a greater, brighter core.

“Where are Twi and John, anyway?” Pinkie piped up, twitching with Pinkie Sense. She rubbed her mane, and what looked like broken springs fell out. “I can feel them around, somewhere, like my Pinkie Sense is twitching but I can’t figure it out. Wow, but dreams are weird.”

“They are, Lady Pinkie.” Luna smiled, for the first time since they entered Dream.

Twilight’s silver cord led directly into the maelstrom, one of the swirling storms outside the core. Luna’s horn pulsed moonlight; the cord pulsed in response, bearing a feeling of libraries and friendship and worry. “She is there,” Luna pointed her horn, “or at least her cord is. Concentrate on getting there and on thy memories of her; ‘twill aid us in reaching her.”

“More than we already have?” Dash grumbled and rolled her eyes. “Geeze, okay, libraries and Daring Do and beating baddies and me teaching her how to fly – Hay!”

The world seemed to swirl around the ponies as in one instance they stood outside the swirling sphere of lights and the next were within it. The ponies shook themselves, with Dash and Applejack checking as though they expected pieces of their anatomy to be missing. Small lights circled them, some coming closer and others drifting away.

And before them, Twilight’s silver cord led to a vaguely-familiar image shimmering like summer heat – a vast ruined castle, overgrown by a dark and fell forest, stretching into the distance under a full moon.

Luna landed on nothing, folded her wings; Rainbow Dash hovered above, the castle below her like a playset on a table. The other four spread out, viewing it from different angles.

“Wait… Is that Equestria? The Everfree?”

“And the Castle of the Sisters?”

“Gotta be!” Dash whinnied from above. “There’s that rope bridge where the Shadowbolts almost tricked me!”

“And when you look at it differently, you can see Ponyville in the distance.” Fluttershy pointed with a forehoof. “And the river, and Red Dragon Peak, and the Eponas, and Canterlot.”

“Maybe some foal is playing with her figurines?” Pinkie piped up; everypony blinked at her words. “Hay, I do it with the Cake Twins all the time – they made all those brushable figurines of us after the Day of Discord and the Royal Wedding and they were in all the stores –”

“Whatever’s goin’ on…” Applejack looked at the shimmering castle before her, “Why’s Twi dreamin’ about when we first met? Ah mean, it has to be her dream – John never saw the Castle.”

“Maybe she wants to show him how I and the rest of you saved Luna and everypony else?” Dash’s voice came from above. “He told us about his world, and Twi would probably want ta show him about ours.”

“When she was being attacked by those awful Shonokin?” Rarity shook herself. She caught her reflection in the surface of the sphere, preened a second, and caught herself. “I cannot believe Twilight would be that reckless, Rainbow Dash. Not even you would be that foolish.”

“Uhhh, Maybe she and John beat the Shonokin?” Fluttershy suggested. “Maybe they’re waiting to meet us.”

As the five whickered, the Alicorn Major with them walked on nothing around the image, examining it from all angles, like Rarity examining a new dress or Pinkie Pie a new pastry. Luna’s horn glowed as she cast spells, one after another. Their energy washed over the castle, disappearing as each touched the surface of the dream.

“A memory of Twilight, but not made by her magic.” Luna rejoined the others, gazed into the dream. It reflected her image, subtly distorted, giving her longer legs and a darker coat. “A trap, perhaps? But then why use her memories?” The Moon Princess drew herself up, stars sparkling in her streaming mane and tail; her horn began to glow with another, brighter spell.

“More talk will do no good; she was in great peril when I last saw, and if she is still in danger…”

Moonlight flashed from Luna’s horn to the dream-image – and a blinding flash of lightning shot back along its path. An ear-pinning equine scream that made them all cringe, and the Princess was gone. Now two faint silver cords led into the dream.

“IT SUCKED HER IN!” neighed Dash from above. “WE HAVE TO SAVE THE PRINCESS!” Then a cyan streak dived into the dream-image and vanished, leaving a third silver cord.

“Aw, horseapples!” Applejack neighed and reared to charge, then both her and Rarity charged in and disappeared. Five cords now.

Fluttershy stood there, eeping in shock, shaking like on the way to Red Dragon Peak. She’d seen Luna pulled into the dream, glimpsed an instant of her coat going blacker than black, mane and tail dissolving into Nightmare Moon’s as she vanished.

“Come on, Flutterbutter!” A pink equine blur tackled her and leaped in after the others, dragging a screaming yellow pegasus with her.

# # #

I reckon I felt my eyes go wide as I saw what and where I was. Had you been there I imagine you’d feel the same. Night, chill and dark all around. Moonlight turning it near bright as day, almost; as bright as airy night you’d see in the mountains at least. Stone buildings all about, gone into ruin til hardly any stone was standing upon another. Like those old-timey ones you can see in books of what used to be castles over the seas. Stones covered with carvings of little horses, some with horns and some with wings, grown all over with twisted elms and oaks and willows and other trees I knew would look darker in the daytime than they did at night. It minded me first of an old poem I’d heard once from Lee Cobbett.

“Elm he grieve,

Oak he hate,

Willow he walk if you stay up late.”

Then of a mountain song near as old, the one about the Ancients and their old mines in the high hills of Rebel Creek country.

“In the pines, in the pines,

Where the sun never shines,

And I shiver when the wind blows cold.”

I reckon I just frowned then and stopped. This didn’t seem to be air place that made you think pleasant thoughts.

First thing right off I checked myself. My usual old clothes and army boots and thank all that was good, my silver-strung guitar in my hands. Not my real one, Reuben Manco told me what I could expect, but the one I had in my head and memories from all the long years of a-carrying and a-playing it. I ran my fingers over the strings and felt right glad to hear the music they made.

“Chief,” I said to Reuben Manco where I thought him to be, “this is Equestria, or a dream of it, sure enough. How you reckon on us finding Twilight here, though?”

When he didn’t answer my inquire I turned to look and I saw something that didn’t make me the least bit happy. Wise old Reuben Manco wasn’t beside me, or airy other place I could see.

I looked all around, hoping my best that I’d see him somewheres nearby. No such luck. I remembered what he told me about the Shonokin, how they knew ways to use this sort of dream-magic that not even a wise old medicine man of the Cherokee, what educated folks call one of the Five Civilized Tribes, knew. I nair thought they’d know so much they could yank him away from me and send him of somewheres I might nair see him again. That thought gave me a turn and more than a turn.

I felt mighty low there a moment. And then I heard something like the sounds horses make, way far in the distance. I slipped as quiet as I could among the broken stones underfoot and from the deepest shadows, using all the cover I could, just like I’d learned back in my Army days. I wondered me as I did why I needed to be a-doing it thisaway. If this was a dream, then couldn’t I just make myself appear close by and howdy them, just for a-wanting it? But I couldn’t. Maybe I didn’t have the imagination for it, and maybe if I could then those sneaking Shonokin could go a-doing it too. I didn’t want a one of them jumping right up beside me, maybe with a knife in their hands.

One of the towers still stood. Or at least it wasn’t as gone to ruin as the others, standing two-three stories tall. I made for it, keeping to the shadows, whispering that charm from The Long-Lost Friend I’d said aloud while Chief Manco was putting me under.

“I, John, go on a journey to-day. I walk upon God’s way, and walk where God Himself walks… I pray that no wolf bite me, no beast tear me, and no murderer secretly approach me…”

# # #

Two earth ponies, two pegasi, and one marshmallow unicorn picked themselves up from a floor of broken and crumbling stones overgrown with weeds, blinking at the lack of light. A mareless Moon rode high in the sky, shining a sickly silver glow over the shadowed ruins surrounding them; a chill night breeze ruffled five pony coats. And the silence – the sudden oppressive quiet of that long, long night almost five years before.

Rainbow Dash recovered first, spreading her wings as the other four looked around at an Everfree Forest of crumbling black stone. Rarity stopped to brush herself off and get her mane and tail presentable, sapphire aura dancing around her horn.

“I’m gonna take a look around.”

“No, you’re not!” Applejack whinnied in a low voice, grabbing the pegasus to keep her from taking off. “We don’t know who might be out there!”

“And if they’re sneaking up on us? Look AJ, I’ll stay real low, now leggo.”

“Girls?” Rarity turned around as Dash took off into a low hover; the other four huddled, facing outwards in primeval equine instinct. The aura of the unicorn’s horn burst into light that played over the broken wall of an old dry pool, illuminated wall frescoes in cracked obsidian and ivory of two rearing Alicorns Major, showed the plunder vines and twisted trees of the Everfree forcing their way through the paving stones. “Is this really the Castle of the Sisters?”

“It is,” Applejack answered. “This is where we helped Twilight save Luna an’ Equestria.” She looked around and snorted. “Those Show-no-family fellers are gonna be sorry they tried usin’ this memory against Twi an’ us. We won.”

“Unless they try changing it so we don’t?” Pinkie’s grin turned faded, a little, as her friends gave her horrified looks. “I mean, Luna said those meanies could try and make dreams turn out different. Maybe they want to make sure that Nightmare Moon gobbles us up like Nightmare Night candy this time?”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered above them, keeping her eyes roving around. “If that’s their plan, where the hay are they?”

Pinkie started vibrating, cotton candy mane and tail twitching every which way.

A sound broke the total silence – a soft, almost whispering voice.

“John?”

Fluttershy eeped; Dash shot up above the ruined walls, pointed with a forehoof as the others spun around – “There! In the shadow!”

The light tipping Rarity’s horn narrowed like a bullseye lantern, illuminating an upright figure twenty lengths away. It froze where it stood, where it had been moving in the shadow of a half-tumbled wall – a biped John’s height, John’s human shape.

But not John.

A sharp-featured face, the color of weak tea with a hint of roan or sorrel; straight shadow-black hair tied back to cascade like the crest of a pony’s mane without the forelock, one hand brushing against the stone wall as if it had been using it as a guide in the darkness.

Applejack and Dash focused on the small single-bitted axe in its free hand.

Rarity inventoried its wardrobe – leather pants and beaded slipper-like shoes, a decorative feather hanging from its mane-tie; no long frock coat, but a shorter jacket with shawl lapels, held by a waist-belt of Buffalo-like beadwork with matching knife sheath. An amulet hung against its chest, jade-green against the light-colored underblouse. Overdressed…

Dark eyes went wide; the human or Shonokin began a low rhythmic chanting that sounded almost – Appleoosan Buffalo?

“HE’S SPELLCASTING!” Rarity’s voice echoed around the ruins like she were channeling Luna.

“GET HIM!”

And with wild whinnies they charged.

# # #

The floors atop the tower could hold my weight; like I was taught in the Army, I peeked around the sides of the stones instead of over the tops, never looking out past the same one twice. No sign of Chief Manco, but…

To one side that dark forest stretched away forever, a rickety rope bridge still hanging over a chasm that looked so deep, it could reach down into Hell itself. To the other, a big hall still standing, looking like a temple or cathedral towering over the ruins. Beyond that more black tree-line and way beyond that, so far off I could just make it out, the lights of a city I’d seen once afore, set astride a mountain like it grew there.

I looked around another corner. Down below in some sort of courtyard, I saw six little horses by what looked to be an old fountain, with what looked to be the statue of some kind of fish-pony atop it made like to spray water up. No water now, of course, nothing but dust and moonlight and six ponies I knew a-standing about it. I won’t lie, I felt better to see them there. It’s always good to see friends.

Twilight went up to Applejack and hugged her horse-style, craning her neck around the little palomino.

Applejack stood kind of stiff, I thought, and so did the others – kind Fluttershy, ladylike Rarity, Pinkie Pie not bouncing all over for once, and Rainbow Dash right down on the ground on her all fours. I wondered me what happened to them beyond what Twilight told me to change them like this, or maybe it was just my eyes a-playing tricks.

I stood up, cupped my hands to my mouth, and howdied them. If they heard me, they made no sign.

I howdied them again, louder. Still naught.

Fluttershy whipped up her tail and snorted, all angry horse. Twilight looked around at them, said something I couldn’t hear, and the rest of them all glanced at each other. I wondered me why they were acting so stand-offish.

Rarity raised one leg and shook it like it hurt her. I saw Twilight lower her head to look at at it, and Rarity set it down right quick. All silent as the inside of a coffin, not even a word or whicker. Like I could see them but not hear them, and they couldn’t see or hear me.

The more I thought on it, the less sense it made to me.

Twilight turned and headed for that big hall I’d seen, going at a trot. Her friends followed her, as silent as shadows.

I began to start down and follow them. Because for all I couldn’t say what, something was deep-down bad wrong here, and I knew down in my bones one or maybe the all of those ponies would be needing my help as much as I was a-needing theirs.

# # #

“Girls, are you positive you’re okay?” Twilight looked around at her friends, walking around her as they did, keeping her in their midst. Not for the first time since leaving Canterlot last night or however long it’d been before, she wished she’d stayed an Alicorn Minor and kept her wings. She could have flown around briefly and taken a look at the ruined palace for any hiding places. Twilight felt some amusement to consider that she’d gone most of her life without them, but after a few short months of flight she felt almost trapped without it.

The quest for the Lost Elements of Harmony, over four years ago. When this all happened for real, I was still a unicorn. Figures…

“For the last time, Twilight,” Applejack said, pinning her ears back, “we’re all right. We just,” she looked thoughtful, “just want to get this all over and done with.”

“To help you meet John again,” Rarity half whispered the words. “We’re all so worried about him.”

“And find Nightmare Moon before we lose her forever,” Rainbow Dash chimed in where she walked along behind – doing the rearguard, she’d said when Twilight asked why she didn’t fly.

“Yes,” Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie spoke as one, sounding so similar Twilight couldn’t tell them apart.

“O-kay,” Twilight said. She wondered at their behavior, but this was a pretty scary memory they were in. She remembered the versions of the story she’d read that were meant for little fillies and colts, making it sound like the defeat of Nightmare Moon took just a few hours and involved only Ponyville and Canterlot rather than several days. Making the Nightmare a lot less terrible than she’d been when they faced her, too.

She felt relief that John wasn’t here, she thought; he knew how to handle the monsters and sorcerers of his world, but she doubted he’d be able to handle Tirek or Chrysalis or Nightmare Moon. Yeah, she dryly reminded herself. He’d do as well as you have with those Shonokin. Where are they anyway?

She looked up as they passed through what once was a wide entryway, the sides carved with images of ponies on their bellies before the princesses. Before Princess Celestia, anyway; every still-intact image she’d seen here, like on that long-ago night, showed a single Alicorn Major on a single throne, rather than the twin thrones Celestia had insisted be set in the Sun Palace in Canterlot after Luna returned. Hooves clip-clopped lightly over broken stones beneath, and the sound of their hoofsteps echoed off of the ruined bas-reliefs carved into the walls and the vaulted ceiling high above.

A sudden impulse made Twilight go over to the nearest such relief. It showed unicorns and pegasi and Earth ponies bowing low before a majestic Alicorn Major, her body and wings worked in ivory, traces of gold foil still shining faintly from her Royal Tiara and on the peytral about her neck and from the small sun shining at the tip of her horn. Head upheld, muzzle tilted back, even in ruin she looked majestic, almost haughty, as she permitted her ponies to bow and scrape at her hooves. It made Twilight shift uneasily. Is it just my imagination, or did nopony realize how arrogant they made Celestia look?

She glanced away and froze to realize that Luna wasn’t entirely forgotten in here, after all. Her form was worked in obsidian and sapphires, diamonds for the stars shining in her midnight mane, but she was definitely Luna. They even had some of her Night Guard thestrals with her, smaller than her but standing. The long-forgotten artist showed Luna glaring at her elder sister with a hatred and envy so intense and realistic Twilight wondered why she didn’t hear a hiss of spite. Her eyes were jade, her pupils merest slits as with her flanking bat-ponies, the fangs showing at their lips as though they lusted to hurl themselves onto the ponies around Celestia.

“Poor forgotten and betrayed Luna…”

“Gah!” Twilight turned and saw her friends looking at her and the carving. Despite their sympathetic words, they looked coldly intent. “Girls! A little warning next time?”

They looked at her coldly. Twilight shifted, wondering if she needed to use her magic. Then they relaxed and so did she.

‘Sorry, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. She nodded first at her friend and then at the fresco. “I guess we’re all just a little worried because of those Shonokin-guys. They might be doing something to Luna while we stand here.” She turned and looked out the door. “I’m kinda wondering if they’re following us right now. I thought I heard something back in the dark.”

“Maybe you better go and check then, Dash,” Applejack said, switching her tail off towards the darkness outside. “We don’t want to be getting any surprises when we blast Nightmare Moon again, do we?”

Dash got ready to fly back, but Twilight spoke up.

“Dash, I think it’d be better if we stuck together for right now.” Twilight looked at the chamber ahead. “If I remember right, this is where we met Nightmare Moon, anyway.” Twilight trotted forward, heading for the shadowed chamber just ahead. “The Elements were there, remember? If the Shonokin are anywhere, they’ll be there.”

“You’re probably right, Twilight,” Fluttershy said from behind her. “It is better we stick together right now. We want this mess to be ended quickly, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said as she entered the chamber. There they were before her, the stone spheres that contained the remains of the Elements as they’d existed in the days when the Princesses bore them. Another fresco carved into the far wall made her glance towards it as she said, “But we really have to heal Luna. Then, with her help, we can save John and get rid of those Shonokin before they cause more trouble and –“

And a fearfully familiar blue mist slithered into the chamber to stand behind the stone spheres containing the Elements. It rose up and solidified, becoming an ebon alicorn mare the size of Celestia, silver barding sparkling, green dragon-eyes glaring down at Twilight and her friends.

“Foals!” Nightmare Moon spat. She spread her wings and let her nebular mane and tail flare up, rising to the ceiling like twin bonfires, looking even darker and more terrifying than Twilight remembered. “You dare confront me here, in mine own castle? You have but one choice; serve me, or be destroyed!”

I don’t remember her saying any of that! Twilight shook her head and stepped forward. “That’s where you’re wrong, Nightmare Moon – Princess Luna!” The Nightmare sneered at her words, fangs showing. Twilight said, “My friends and I are going to free you from your madness. Nopony here is going to serve you.”

“Speak for yourself, Twilight.” Rarity almost purred behind her.

What?!?

Twilight tried to turn, preparing a spell, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash were on her, driving her into the ground before she could move. A hoof cracked against her horn, disrupting any spell before she could cast. She tried to yell, to demand an answer, but as soon as she opened her mouth Pinkie Pie stuffed her hoof into it. Fluttershy flew – no, leaped – into the air and brought her hooves down hard into Twilight’s barrel, knocking the breath out of her.

The castle, the world, the dream exploded into a Luna’s mane of stars, spiraling down into blackness; Rarity watched from nearby, a cruel smile the real mare never could have borne on her lips.

And all of them showed those dragon-eyes of the Shonokin.

# # #

I hopped right down from that ruined tower. After what I’d been seeing, I knew I needed to be getting to Twilight right that moment. There was something mighty wrong with Applejack and Fluttershy and the rest, if it was even them she was a-speaking to.

Right as I dropped I felt something wrap around both my legs. Something that felt almost scaly, like an almighty big snake. I looked and wished it were a snake.

It was a thing like a long black vine coming up between the stones of the pavement, all set with sharp blue thorns. It hugged me the tighter and I felt those thorns bite deeper. They were a-hungering for my blood, thirsting for it.

I snatched my guitar around fast and played the strongest song I knew, the Last Judgment Song old Uncle T.P.Hinnard taught me when I was a tad.

“Three holy Kings, four holy saints,

At Heaven’s high gate that stand;

Speak out and bid all evil wait

And stir no foot or hand…”

Even as I played it, I wondered me if it’d work. It was strong against evil in the world I knew, and also two years ago in Equestria, but what about here?

Those vines had nair feet nor hands, but they drew back from me and let me move. I looked to see more of them afore me, growing from the cracks in the paving, twitching and clutching.

Still singing and playing my old guitar, I went right on ahead, one step at a time. It was slow going, mighty slow, but I had no other choice right then unless I wanted to sit down and let them be a-killing me or run off and leave Twilight to whatair end someone planned for her.

“The fire from Heaven will fall at last

On pride and wealth and power;

We will not know the minute,

And we will not know the hour…”

# # #

“What is this?” Nightmare Moon’s voice rang in Twilight’s ears. “Why do ye betray each other?”

“No betrayal, great spirit,” Rarity said, her voice changing in mid-whinny to the whispering voice of the Shonokin leader. “We are – not as we appear.” The hooves pinning Twilight to the floor shifted like a Changeling into clawed hands. “We are beings of another realm, seeking aid from one we can serve –”

With a snort, Twilight squirmed in their grips, mentally prepping a spell to throw them all off her – only to get stopped in mid-prep by another disrupting blow to her horn.

“Be bound,” that voice whispered in her ear, echoed by four – no, ten – others. “Be bound, be bound. Be still and silent. Until you can count the stars in the sky and the drops of water in the sea, be bound by my will.”

With a cracking of stone, plunder vines burst through the pavement to coil around her and tighten, thorns digging into her coat, binding her forelegs, hindlegs – and wings. Wings?

They’ve broken the script, it’s no longer that night, so now I have my wings back. Great.

More plunder vines bound her, stinking of the dark magic she’d felt in John’s nightmares. She opened her mouth to neigh, to scream…

The Shonokin leader stood upright in black hat and frock coat, stroked his amulet as the other four held her down.

“Silence.”

Another plunder vine shot across her mouth, through the equine gap between foreteeth and molars, coiled around her head and tightened into a thorny, woody, acid-tasting gag. The other Shonokin let go of her, the vines tying her to the shattered floor, and stood before Nightmare Moon.

“As I said before this beast interrupted,” he set one booted foot on trussed-up Alicorn Minor, “We are beings of another realm, seeking one we can turn to for aid. ‘Serve those Above in rejoicing, serve those Below in terror.’ You are the shadow of She we hoped to encounter…”

“The horror that haunts the blue horse,” the Nightmare replied. “A shadow of what I was, separated and given pseudo-life by the Tantabus you conjured and set upon her. A ‘tulpa’ or ‘egregore’ would be the word in your realm. A thought-construct or dream-sprite that has gained independent existence.”

“Yes, we are familiar with the concept, though this beast,” the leader gave Twilight a scornful kick, “seems ignorant.”

“I doubt it not,” Nightmare Moon grinned wickedly at Twilight, a grin of sharp fangs like a snake or Shonokin. “Such magic is little-known in their world; even my sister knows little of it. My other self was the Alicorn of Dreams, not her. I planned to strike at her later, but now?” She whipped the sparkling vapor of her tail in a gesture of contempt. “I may as well use the allies fate hath delivered unto me.”

The dark Alicorn Major returned their predators’ smiles with her own; the crash of sabatoned forehoof on stone echoed through the ruined hall.

“IF they can prove themselves loyal.”

The Shonokin leader just nodded once, gravely, then spoke.

“Let us show you how loyal we are,” He pointed at Twilight bound on the shattered floor. “We will give you the first of many sacrifices. Once back in our world, we will offer even more of our enemies to you. Does not the thought of blood please you, Nightmare?”

“Blood,” Nightmare Moon softly breathed the word out. Her turquoise dragon eyes drifted half shut. “Yes, the blood of mine enemies doth please me.”

Twilight struggled against the spell-vines binding her, mentally running through counters and dispels as the remaining Shonokin closed in.

# # #

“GET HIM!”

Rainbow Dash crashed into the pavement where the figure had stood an instant before.

“Wait! Where’d he go? AAAAAA!”

The blue pegasus shot back up into a low hover, the plunder vines that had reached up for her falling back against the broken stone.

Applejack leaped up onto the half-tumbled wall, looked around in the light from Rarity’s horn. Outside that glow, light from the fullest moon ever seen in Equestrian history cast shadows deep enough to hide an army of Show-whatevers.

“Ah can’t see him neither,” the palomino pinned her ears and looked around. She caught not even a hint of movement in the shadows. “He’s gotta be here somewheres, though. He can’t just vanish away.”

“Thorn did,” Rarity said as she joined Applejack by the ruined wall. If anything moved, they stayed out of her light. “If he can do what Thorn did, we might be in trouble here.”

“Yeah, but this is a dream,” Pinkie Pie added. Her friends blinked – once – to see her balancing on top of a standing pillar. She dropped over the side, ignoring their frightened gasps, only to bounce to her hooves when she landed on her poofy mane and rebounded to stand before them. “I mean, you can’t really get hurt in a dream, right?”

“Ah ain’t so sure o’ that,” Applejack frowned as she looked around. She trotted back out into the middle of the square, noticing that Dash stayed clear of her as she flapped around, making sure that even her soft wingbeats didn’t interfere with AJ’s hearing. “Princess Luna was mighty scared, an’ she’s th’ Alicorn of Dreams. If she’s scared, then maybe we oughta be worried a mite ourselves.”

“But are we sure he’s bad? I mean, I’m sure you all have very good reasons to think why you do,” Fluttershy turned away from one corner of the courtyard where she’d been looking. Noticing the looks Dash and Applejack gave her, she half hid her face behind her mane. “He didn’t do anything, he didn’t even threaten us. I wonder if he was scared to see us here. John was surprised by us when we first met.”

“That young lady speaks correctly.” The ponies froze as a voice spoke from the air around them. “If you are the – ladies, John the Balladeer told me about from that time he went missing a few years ago, then I think that perhaps we have some things to say to one another.”

“You know John?” Dash looked around the courtyard from above, scanning the ruined walls and deep shadows.

“I said I do,” that voice responded – wary, but not frightened. “We have been friends for many years. He has saved my life and I have saved his. Any friend of his is a friend of mine, if you can prove you are his friends.”

“Prove it?” Rarity seemed to smile with her voice as she spoke. She also kept her horn alight, looking around. It did no good. That voice came from everywhere and nowhere, echoing off the walls. “My good sir, John told us something of his world. Just how many talking ponies do you think know his name?”

“Before today, I would have said none,” the answer came back to them, dry as dust. “But this is the Dreamlands. My folk know something of the evils that can lurk behind fair faces, especially in dreams.”

“Evil? Us?” Dash flew around the pillars and statues, standing and fallen, looking behind them. “Hey, buddy, how do we know we can trust you? You might be one of those Show-whatevers that chased Princess Luna away, and that snatched her again for all we know. You sure look like one.” She paused and rubbed her mane. “Hey, how can we even speak to each other without magic?”

“If you had ever really seen a Shonokin, you would know better than that,” that voice sounded slightly insulted now. “The Night-Goers, the Moon-Eyed Ones. They have been enemies of my people from the beginning. Not only enemies, but ansigina. Monsters.”

“As for the speaking, your guess is as good as mine. This is the Dreamlands; things always work differently here. And you are right about trust. Very well then – how do we prove ourselves to each other?”

The ponies looked at each other and read confusion on each other’s faces.

“That’s rather a good question, dears,” Rarity said.

“Huh, yeah,’ Rainbow Dash looked uncertain. She dropped to stand by her friends. “Ask him more questions about John?”

“How much do we know about him?” Applejack said. She trapped her right forehoof against the stones as she ticked them off. “He plays a guitar with silver strings, he’s a human, he’s male, he’s a good sort o’ feller, he comes from the mountains in his own world… Anything else?”

“He sings those good songs,” Fluttershy said in her soft voice. “He told us about them, and we used them together –” The mares looked at each other. They conversed hurriedly and turned to speak to their questioner.

“Hey, Mister Hides-in-Shadows Guy!” Dash yelled. “You know about those songs John sings, right? The ones he uses to chase away monsters and bad magic?”

“I do.” The Element Bearers wondered if the speaker sounded a little warmer now. “I heard him use them many times. Why?”

The mares looked at each other before they nodded at Applejack.

“Okay,” she said, stepping out in front of her friends. “If y‘all know this song, let’s hear ya sing it.” She took a deep breath and with her friends joining in, sang that song John used to help keep them safe that long-ago night when they faced down Thorn.

“Three Alicorns, four holy saints,

At Summerland’s gate that stand.

Speak out and bid all evil wait,

And stir no hoof or hand…”

After a moment they heard the voice join in, singing the words along with them. The mares wondered if the night around them seemed less chill and the shadows less deep as they sang.

They let the tune fade away, and as they did the voice responded to them.

“You sing as beautifully as John said you did.”

Movement came in the shadows before them, and that lean figure stepped out into the moonlight, small axe now tucked into his beaded belt. He came closer, his movements cat-quiet and his dark eyes never leaving them. He stopped just out of their reach. The four ponies snorted and shifted uneasily at the sight of that, tails lashing the air as the fifth hovered above.

“And if you know of the Shonokin, you know about their third fingers.”

He held up his free hand, his palm towards them; his fingers were the same length as John’s, without the extra-long one from Luna’s briefing.

Lowering his hand, he looked them in their faces. His eyes were like John’s but darker. Not Shonokin.

“My name is Reuben Manco, a medicine man of the Tsalagi and a mutual friend to John. I came here with him to help him, and a young lady he called Twilight. Do you know her?”

They just started at him, and the next thing anypony knew the man was giving a yell as five excited ponies all but knocked him down.

“Twilight! Do ya know if she’s okay?”

“Ya mean John an’ her was in here?”

“Oh, Mister Manco, we were so worried about her!”

“Oh, good sir, please tell us that Twilight is alright!”

“Ooh, can I be ‘it’ the next time?”

“What?” Manco blinked at that last comment. Then he smiled. “Pinkie Pie, isn’t it? Well, I can see John didn’t exaggerate about you, at least. As for the rest of you, no, I’m trying to find John in here.” He looked around and frowned. “Something separated us as we entered. I know something about dream realms and dreamwalking from my studies both as a medicine man and scholar, but this is far beyond anything I’ve ever seen before.”

“Dang,” Applejack frowned and stomped one forehoof. “We were kinda hopin’ ya could tell us where Twi an’ John were.”

# # #

Twilight lay still in the plunder vines, mentally running through counters and dispels. Magic like Thorn’s, without the acculturation to Equestria – different enough that Equestrian magic won’t have an effect… John’s spells and songs have to be sung or spoken aloud… Come on, you’re the Element of Magic! There has to be something!

Six Shonokin crouched in a semicircle behind where she lay bound in the vines, facing Nightmare Moon. The leader and four others – the five who had posed as her friends – stood between her and the Nightmare. The leader was as he’d appeared in his memory palace, except for a larger and brighter amulet – and a long stone knife in his hand. Twilight’s eyes widened as she recognized the knife. It came from the Shonokin leader’s memory palace, from that wall art of the Shonokin butchering beasts and men for the old powers they venerated.

The other four wore bad Nightmare Night costumes. One a tinfoil helmet and breastplate, a cheap toy sword in his hand. One a long robe and mortarboard hat with tassel. One a tailcoat like a Canterlot noble at the Gala and a top hat like some Appeloosans in the Western Desert, leaning on a gem-tipped cane. And one an elaborate robe and tall mitred hat with an equally-elaborate long staff ending in a spiral tip.

Beyond them, Nightmare Moon watched from atop the dais.

What did John tell me so long ago, that one counter-charm from his world? She began working it over in her memory as the five Shonokin conferred with the Nightmare.

The cross in my fore hoof, umm…

Twilight tried flexing her forehoof, mentally envisioning herself in the form she’d bore beyond the mirror.

That I may be blessed, and safe from every wicked man or beast…

No good. She didn’t remember enough of the spell.

“Hold.”

All froze as Nightmare Moon trotted over to stand over her as if she were a Nightmare Night candy offering, dragon – or Shonokin – eyes gleaming. Twilight winced at her breath, not sweet like most ponies but with that undercurrent of rot from a predator. The black alicorn smiled, displaying the tips of her fangs.

“I remember this one. She defeated me when we first met. I will enjoy watching what happens here.”

Twilight shuddered as she remembered a picture from one of the Daring Do books, of the Pegasus adventurer looking up at hungry monsters as they got ready to eat her.

Come on, she got out without magic, you can too! She remembered old Professor Ink Well’s classes at Celestia’s School. If all else fails, sometimes repeating the verbal element of a spell but changing it can aid in weakening its effects.

The Nightmare returned to her dais with a snort; Twilight began going through the Shonokin spell in her mind.

Be bound, be bound – no, “Be free, be free”… She wondered if she felt her left cannon twitch. She tried moving the hind leg again, was sure she felt a shiver run along it. And the vines seemed to give. A little. Not enough.

Be free, be free… No stillness, no silence…

“This creature.” One of the Shonokin crouching in the semicircle interrupted the others’ soft whispering chant. “She moved.”

The others scowled at him, as did Nightmare Moon. “So what if she did?” Their leader said. “All her movements will soon be at an end. You make our guest impatient.” He nodded at the Nightmare.

“Continue.”

Gaudy Robe with the long crozier-staff stepped forward and faced the other three; Top Hat, Tin Helmet, and Flat Hat all dropped to one knee. He made some sort of spell gesture with his free hand, the long Shonokin finger extending farther than the others, and repeated some sort of chant:

“End without World…Forever and Now…Be shall ever it as…Beginning the in was it as…Glory the and Power the…” It made very little sense to Twilight, sounding all twisted around. She focused on her own work.

For I have counted every star in the heavens, and every drop of water in the sea…

She definitely felt the vines loosen, this time along her wings. Just a few moments more and – she’d be loose with almost a dozen Shonokin and the dream-version of Nightmare Moon.

“HOLD!”

Again, all froze at the whinny of Nightmare Moon.

“This ritual is an old one,” the black alicorn said. “Old in your world, anyway. I remember it from the time Dee called me there. Was it not called the Mass of Saint Secaire?” She looked at the Shonokin and snorted. “A mockery used to flatter – and control – corrupted spirits? As Dee and Kelly attempted! THIS is how you say you will honor ME?”

The Shonokin shifted, almost rustling. Twilight wondered if they looked suddenly uneasy. Their leader stepped forward.

“We use the ways of our enemies to destroy them,” he said. He set his hand on his amulet, bowed his head towards the Nightmare, raised the knife in a ritual salute. “Once we are returned to our proper realm, we will show you true rituals of our kind. You will see how we will serve, and how you can serve us.”

“I think not,” Nightmare Moon said, taking several steps back, ears flattened and pinned. At the same time the Shonokin fell back before her.

“Creature,” the Shonokin leader said in a wary voice, “what are you doing?”

“THIS!”

Nightmare Moon reared and gave the scream of a pony in full battle fury. Her horn and eyes blazed like they had that night five years before; her wings flared. The Shonokin fell back in terror as she neighed, “Ye seek to use night and darkness and dreams against ME? Ye creatures only hide in the night – I AM THE NIGHT!”

And a blast of chain lightning lashed out from her horn to envelop the Shonokin. The four in those ridiculous Nightmare Night outfits fled shrieking, their costumes ablaze. The rest of the Shonokin followed them like leaves swept up by a whirlwind, dashing down the hall and away from the chamber. Waves and ripples of their dark magic vanished like sound through a slamming door, and they were gone.

They’re gone… Then she realized she was alone in the hall with Nightmare Moon, still bound in the plunder vines.

“MMMMMMMPH!”

The vines holding Twilight began to fade – not fast enough. She started squirming, feeling thorns pierce her coat and inside of her mouth as Nightmare Moon stepped towards her.

“HFFF HFFGRRPH!”

# # #

I felt like I’d been playing and singing near forever and airy place I looked, more of those ugly vines came towards me moving and wriggling like a snake someone cut in half. I was wondering whoair or whatair was a-running this show just meant for them to kill me or just tire me down. Right then, a voice like God on Judgment Day spoke out.

“I AM THE NIGHT!”

And the whole world around me went bright white like the world’s almightiest thunderbolt came down aside me. That voice sounded like thunder, too, you felt it echo inside your head. The only time I air heard its like was the one time I heard Twilight’s Princess Celestia using it on Thorne and his haunt helpers.

When I could see and hear again those vines were gone like they’d been burned off by a lightning strike. I wasn’t sorry to see them gone.

Right afore me I saw where that lightning had come from, striking up into the sky rather than down from it. From the tallest hall where Twilight and the others had gone. Lights came from the windows on it, sudden flashes like someone set off a whole hobby of fireworks at once. Yells in with it too, some of them panicked, and what sounded like an almighty angry horse.

I ran for the hall, guitar in my hand like my rifle in Korea. Something told me Twilight was going to be in the middle of it all.

# # #

“I AM THE NIGHT!”

The Royal Canterlot Voice echoed through the ruined courtyard as a blast of lightning lit the sky, blinding and deafening five ponies and one Cherokee.

Rainbow Dash was first to recover, spreading her wings and shooting into the sky while Fluttershy cringed. She hovered for a moment about thirty lengths up, then dropped back to a low hover, wings spreading dust devils on the broken pavement.

“It’s coming from the old Throne Hall, where we zapped Nightmare Moon!”

“Whatever is happening there, I doubt it’s anything good,” Manco said in a grim voice. He looked at the five ponies. “I don’t know about your friend Twilight, but John is likely there or nearby.”

“If John’s there, like as not Twi is too,” Applejack whinnied agreement past the ringing in her ears. Then Pinkie shot past her at a bouncing gallop.

“WhatAreYouWaitingForLetsGo!!!”

Dash shot ahead; Fluttershy followed her a moment later, airborne for once. The others broke into a gallop after them.

“Come on, girls! You too, Mister Manco!”

“I agree, young miss,” he said, and then saved his breath for running as he followed the ponies towards the tower and whatever waited inside, tomahawk and medicine-bag amulet at the ready.

# # #

Twilight cringed as Nightmare Moon towered over her, looking down with furious blue eyes. Blue pony eyes, not turquoise dragon eyes.

PONY eyes?

“Twilight Sparkle! Do not move!” The Nightmare’s horn glowed again, and the vine gag lifted from her mouth. She spat blood where its thorns scraped her mouth and tongue. “Are thee wounded?”

Twilight looked up at the Alicorn Major.

“P-Princess Luna?”

The Nightmare’s face relaxed. “Be still, Twilight Sparkle. We shall have thee free in a moment.”

The dark alicorn bent over her, biting through the remaining plunder vines; they disintegrated at the touch of her teeth. Hooves but not hooves sounded in the hall, like a single Shonokin returning; the Nightmare’s ears perked up at the sound, then her head snapped upright.

Just in time to get a face full of silver-strung guitar.

KA-BONG!!!

Comments

[TitaniumTao]

El-Ka-Bong! Well at least all the heroes are together. Now comes the counter attack. I'm very much enjoying this one. But yeah, the Shonokin really underestimated the princes of the night.

[Ardashir]

8941823
Yeah, their disregard and contempt for everything and one that isn't them gets them in a lot of trouble in the original stories as well. You think they'd learn after a while to be a bit less contemptuous of their enemies.

And thanks for the comment.

[Winterbeast]

Oh, this is fun. What was John supposed to think? He may well not be familiar with the Luna/Nightmare Moon split. but then Nightmare Moon was False Advertising. you can't really moon someone in a society that normally does not wear clothing, anyway.

[redmar]

The Shonokin were idiots for thinking that they could use the old binding spells again and that they would not be recognized.

[Ardashir]

9463109
That they are. And thanks for all the comments, I'm glad you like the story so much.