Conquest: Prologues

by pretty-pegasus-wings

Sweet Dreams and Nightmares too Real

Wind flowed between the crest of their feathers, manes whipped in tandem, and the setting sun beyond the horizon covered the sky in brilliant, warm color. The world stood still as they flew, swooping under the motionless clouds and through their soft forms, their tuffs still as they left their beings. Peaceful, the only word in her mind as the white alicorn twirls through the air, carefree as a child. Years melted from her eyes, a bright glow surrounded each sister not from the sun still past the shadowed hills, but shining from their souls. Gold and silver. Each danced and laughed with glee before falling like leaves onto a mass of cloud, embracing their presence.

The youngest sister stretched out in a cat like manor. “Could there be a time more perfect than this?”

“If only all could be this way forever….” The older one sighed, wings laid at rest across their bed. At the mere hint of how they would soon return to their duties, the weight returned, briefly, and soon fleeting once her eyes took in the sights before her. So calm. No monsters, no thieves ransacking villages, issues never ending. Calm.

“We don’t have to move the sun nor moon, time can be still for eternity; none would mind.”

“Dear sister,” she slapped her wing against her little sister playfully “always trying to skip on your duties.”

Lazily, the young waved her hoof. “Please. One of these days, you will have to loosen up.”

“If only.” Not that she didn’t have a point. What was there to return to other than the tired madness the world had spiraled into over these last years? She could see hints of it if she squinted right even now. Below her the tired old stallion wearily going into his home seeing another field lacking in worthwhile crop. Over to the west, monsters setting out for prowl. This wasn’t a true life as still as it is, her little ponies temporarily halted, forced to rest in an unconscious state.

“It’s not hard, dearest sister. Simply let go of all your worries, your fears.”

“How can I?” She couldn’t possibly know, the eldest looked thoughtful at the cloud above her. For a thousand years, I had to hold both positions. Regardless of her return, I still held most of it until she learned how the political system worked in present the time. Even so, she has always been so loose, so free… it’s hard not to envy an outlook like hers. Yet one of us has to be responsible when the other can’t.

The youngest was silent for a moment. “Stop thinking of them.”

“You say it like it’s so simple.” The oldest laid her head against the cloud floor, looking across the gentle landscape. The future concerns weighed upon her more and more as she identified the ways her ponies would come to them.

“If that’s too hard….” The cloud beneath the white alicorn shifted and tightened, a creeping sense of danger lurked against the back of her neck.

A darkness covered her, the shadow moved around her throat. “Then face them.” She let off a sharp gasp, eyes wide with terror at the familiar, dark tone. She didn’t need to look to see who it was causing the disturbance, the nightmarish form standing over her with devilish delight. Wings black as night, eyes turquoise, mane shifting about like mist; the image of her flashed over and over.

“No… no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!” Again, it’s happening again. Dear Luna…. Quickly, the elder sister shuffled to the edge of the cloud, multicolored tail dangled off the edge.

“All you’ve done, all you will do, your mistakes are piling Celestia.” The screams, the horrible screams. Not again! She refused to look, keeping her ears covered, eyes sealed shut. “Face them!”

The magic of the nightmare alicorn turned her around to the flaming hell beneath, faces appeared from the flames. “Celestia, please! Help! Help!”

More and more appeared. “Make it stop, make it stop!”

And more. “She damned us… she damned us all!” All manic, never ceasing.

“It’s your fault, all your fault.” The clouds scrunched and contorted, the white and pink shifted to a blood red as fleshy hooves grasped out, beastly faces surrounded her.

“Die, die, die, die, die.” Chanting madly, they drag her into its core. Desperately, she flailed her legs, wings, yanking her head as they grab for it. Yet they drag and drag her deeper until she’s falling. Faster, faster. Mad laughter, uncanny faces, and the cries. They never stop, their cries, their cries, their cries!

“SISTER!” A voice echoed through the torment surrounding her.

“Luna?” In a flash of deep blue, a figure caught her and flew her out taking her far away and above the nightmare.

“You can’t escape!” The nightmare alicorn pointed a hoof their way, the still clouds shot out at them. In one swift motion, Luna summoned a force field protecting them from their sinister grasp.

Celestia grabbed her sister tightly, eyes wide. “Get me out of here, Luna. Please, get me out!”

“Sister-”

“Now!” Luna lite her horn again and after a bright flash, Celestia opened her eyes, head leaped off the pillow. Deep breaths, deep breaths. It’s over…. Thank goodness it was only a mere nightmare…. She placed her face within her hooves, rubbing her eyes and forehead tiredly.

“Sister!” Luna barged into the room, Celestia jumped and squealed, pulling the covers close. “My apologies.”

“No, you’re fine….”

The dark blue alicorn gently walked over to her, sitting beside her troubled sister. “You should have stayed, we could have fought them together.”

Celestia pulled the covers closer, tightening her grip. “I can’t, not now….”

“They will only return.”

She heard the wise advice of her sister, yet was distracted, eyes still fixed on the wrinkles of her bed sheets. “That dream… it felt more than a nightmare….”

Luna gave a hefty sigh, looking to her sister with worry. “I felt the same, but it wasn’t a vision, it couldn’t.”

“A warning?” Both went silent, still.

A pained expression spread across Luna’s face. “Tia, I wouldn’t-”

“Goodness no!” Celestia waved her hooves frantically. “That will never happen, not while I’m here.” She brought her sister in for a soothing, warm hug. Luna gently pressed her head against her sister’s chest, closing her eyes a moment.

“I’m far more concerned for you, of that dream, what could be coming.”

Lacking any sense of worry or fear, Celestia gave her dearest sister a calm smile. “So long as I know your there guarding the dream realms, I have nothing to fear.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Luna pouted, giving her sister a hard glare.

As if challenged, the elder sister tapped and pressed the tip of her sister’s nose, sticking her tongue out playfully. “And you call me the worry wart.”

The younger sister sneered in response, mouth curled into a smile. “I wasn’t the one to throw a fit when the entertainers failed to arrive during the Saddle Arabian’s visit.”

“May I remind you who had the night saving idea?”

“Yes, you, but I was the one who got it together while you went through deep breathing techniques.” It was true, she was the one who got together a new performance, yet I had to stay behind and distract them which wasn’t easy when you have a room full of impatient nobles. She could have said this, continue their back and forth as they sometimes do, but she is tired. The sun must be raised soon, there was a long list waiting for her by her bedside, and now some warning to decipher.

“All right, I give up.” Celestia stretched her hooves out and yawned in an exaggerated manner. As she moved her hooves back to the bed, she pulled Luna in a tight hug and planted both of them upon the soft mattress.

“Tia!” Luna squirmed and struggled against her sister’s iron grip.

“What?” She mocked back, attempting to hold back a snicker.

“I have no time for your silliness!”

“Silliness? What are you talking about? I'm only snuggling my dearest sister.”

“Don’t give me that!” The more Luna struggled, the tighter her sister held her. Maybe next time, she’ll think twice before dropping her guard after one of their little spats.

She yawned louder this time, snuggling further under the covers. “Good night, Luna.”

“Errr… you will pay for this….” Oh, will I? If there’s one thing she knew about her sister, it's how she will take any excuse to get away from work; though Celestia would be lying if she didn’t either. Luna eventually relaxed, closed her eyes in defeat as both sister’s drifted into sleep.