The Dream Guards

by Lusaminia

Chapter 3 – For Her Liege, the Knight Must Die

“So you have no idea what did this to you? None at all?”

Yolina nodded. It was one of the very few things that she had either not avoided answering, and one of the few things she hadn’t lied about. It was true, she couldn’t recall anything about the nightmare that had attacked. All she knew was that it had wanted her dead, and had almost succeeded. All and all, that was normal in her line of work.

“It certainly wasn’t a pony, I can tell you that,” Yolina joked, continuing her half-lie as far as she could. Considering the worried expression on Applejack’s face, the mare wasn’t the kind to joke about near-death experiences. “All I saw was a shadow, big and terrifying. Not sure if it was a thinking creature.”

That she knew was a straight up lie. If it was a living nightmare or living dream, it was as smart as a human being. It was that human element, along with the fact they didn’t act according to the rules of reality, that made them dangerous. It meant the thing that attacked her held malicious intent, and wasn’t some strange animal acting on instinct.

“A big, terrifying shadow… a manticore maybe?” Applejack asked herself, mumbling. “That wouldn’t fit with you being in the air. Same with Ursa Majors. Strange.”

Yolina tried her best to look small, pinning her ears back in a faux fear. “You don’t know either?”

Applejack shook her head. “Can’t say I do. Though I do know an alicorn that might.”

“An alicorn?”

“I’m friends with Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship.” The way Applejack stated it was so matter of fact it made Yolina swallow nervously. Neither Redheart or the earth pony had given her any hint they were friends with royalty. “If anypony would know of a giant flying beast capable of doing all this, its her.”

“Doesn’t sound like something a princess of friendship would know about.”

“Perhaps not to somepony from far away. Let me tell you though, that mare reads so many books you could ask her near anything and would probably be able to recall every detail.”

“That’s… impressive.”

“You got that right.” A laugh left Applejack’s muzzle. Yolina joined in, not so much because what the mare said was funny, but more due to Applejack’s laugh being unexpectedly contagious. “If anypony should know what it is that hurt you, it would be her.”

Yolina’s smile grew. “Then, as long as she isn’t too busy doing princess things, her help would be appreciated.”

“With the school of friendship still in construction, getting rid of some nasty critters would be high on her priority list. I don’t think you have to worry about a thing.”

Yolina sighed, both feeling a bit bad for lying to a mare so nice and extremely grateful. She knew she was in Equestria, and if this Twilight Sparkle pony was a princess that meant she knew Celestia and Luna. Even if she couldn’t reveal all the details, it was without a doubt in her mind this princess of friendship would be able to contact the only other Magral Knight she knew in Equestria.

Which left one last major thing for her to take care of: assuring her friends she wasn’t dead.

“Hey, Applejack?”

The earth pony quickly gained a concerned look. “What is it sugarcube?”

“When I fell out of the sky, was there a small box thing made of aluminum and metal? Anything else too?”

“This box, does it light up when you press a little knob on the side and show words sometimes.”

It took all of Yolina’s will to not jolt up at the description given to her. “Yes! It’s a communication device from my homeland that’s able to talk with ponies using words and voice.”

Applejack’s eyes went wide. “Then those words from “Melli” and “J.J.” asking if somepony is safe, those are–”

“My friends.” Yolina tried to push her head further into the pillow as her body relaxed. “The two you mentioned are Melissa and Jay; Melli and J.J. are nicknames.”

Applejack’s ears flattened, a look of sadness in her eyes that hadn’t shown itself previously. Yolina quickly realized what was going through Applejack’s mind, unable to help but suddenly feel bad herself. The mare had her phone for the past three days, noticing messages slowly get added to the various chat rooms she had with her friends and didn’t know it was her they were worried about.

“Applejack, it’s okay. You didn’t know what it was,” Yolina said reassuringly, doing her best to calm the mare with a smile.

“I know, but I still can’t help but feel like I should have tried to tell them you were okay,” Applejack replied, eyes falling to the floor. “They must be worried sick.”

“Even if you had known, you wouldn’t have been able to.” Applejack looked at her, somber and confused. “It has a lock on it that only I can open. Unless they contacted you by voice call, there would have been no way for you to be able to respond.”

Applejack closed her eyes and calmed herself. “Okay, if you say so. Celestia knows I’m not the right pony to be playing with things like that. I’d probably break it.”

“Hey, stop beating yourself up.” Yolina lifted a bandaged hoof up to the mare’s left shoulder, patting it. “I still have to thank you for holding onto it anyways, and if you wouldn’t mind bringing it with you next time you visit? It’s already been three days and I want to make sure none of them wind up like me.”

“Of course Yolina.” Applejack finally smiled again, giving the thestral a nod. Her gaze then turned outside, noticing how the sun had disappeared from outside the window. “Well, I got a farm to run. How about I get your little communication thingy and get it to you tomorrow?”

“Sounds good, and if some high strung… mare calls yelling about me, tell her I’m fine, okay?”

Applejack nodded, and then tipped her hat to the thestral. While many of the smiles Yolina had given the earth pony had been false up to that point, the one that dawned her face as she was once again left alone was real. Applejack was a pleasant individual, not to mention incredibly kind and hard working. For having such a heavy southern drawl, she certainly didn’t act like any southerners she knew. Melissa was the closest, though her anger and sarcasm came more from a bad childhood than being an American.

In the end, despite the various flaws her American friends had, they were still her friends. A bit overly casual and harsh at times, but never unpleasant or downright mean. She remembered the times she had secretly country-hopped from Ukraine to America just to spend an afternoon with them after their classes. Hanging out at the café Dragon’s adoptive parents ran, walking along Lake Champlain, or simply chatting in the common area of their dorms had turned what had been a terrifying last year into one to be remembered.

Which only made it harder every time she returned to her apartment in Ukraine. It didn’t matter if she was away from the Russian invasion or not, the worry and fear remained ever present. No matter how much Ukraine pushed back, a small piece of her feared that tomorrow might be that day. The day enemy forces rolled into her home; the day the Russian forces became competent enough to push back.

The day she fell asleep and never, ever woke back up again.

Somehow, despite fighting creatures that many would scream and run at, it was human beings that still scared her the most.

---

As Applejack walked out of Ponyville General Hospital, she found herself unusually conflicted. It didn’t have to do with the communication device Yolina had asked her to grab, as wary as the thing made her. It had nothing to do with her being from some far off land, especially when she would be a teacher for griffons, changelings, yaks, and more within the coming month.

No, her conflicting emotions came from the amount Yolina withheld and lied. No name for the mare's homeland, no mention of family, silence on the matter of what had brought her to Equestria in the first place. She understood it wasn’t her place to pry too much into the personal life of a pony she had just met, but the amount Yolina refused to say left a bad taste in her mouth. When Yolina had mentioned her friends, that was the first thing about herself outside of her name the mare had given her.

If she hadn’t been so truthful about how she had ended up in the state she was in, and the mare wasn’t seriously injured, she would have been a bit harsher for the amount of lying. Getting attacked in the middle of the night by a creature she didn’t recognize, flinging her from the heavens into Sweet Apple Acres; that much was true. The question was laid in how much faith she had in Yolina to tell the truth in the future.

She shook the thought from her head for the time. No matter what was going on, Yolina’s friends were doubtlessly worried about her. Getting her chores and farm work done for the day came first, followed by making sure she had Yolina’s communication device for after were higher on the priority list. Even higher though was informing Twilight of a possible creature running loose attacking ponies.

So with a pace somewhere between a walk and a jog, Applejack made her way through the streets of Ponyville. She waved to the ponies as she passed by, smiling and silent wishing them a great day. When she finally did reach the crystal majesty that her friend called home, she quickly gave a knock on the door and waited. Her mind took a guess on Spike opening the door… and was immediately proven wrong when it was Starlight who did instead.

“Oh, Applejack. Didn’t expect you to visit,” she said. “Is everything okay?”

“Kind of. Is Twilight around?” Applejack asked her friend’s student.

“Yes. Just sorting her library… again. Is it something private or can I ask why?”

“Nah, nothing personal. It’s just… the mare that crashed into Sweet Apple Acres three days ago woke up”

Starlight let loose a breath that she didn’t realize she was holding. “That's great to hear. I take it she’s recovering well?”

“About as well as can be expected given the injuries she sustained.” Applejack looked around to make sure nopony else was listening in, and then continued. “Actually, those injuries are why I’m here.”

Starlight’s eyes went wide. “That sounds… pretty bad.”

“Yeah. Which is why I don’t want the public overhearing us. We might have a monster on the loose.”

---

The realm of dreams was not a place held to the same laws as reality. In fact, much like Discord’s chaos dimension, the home of dreams and nightmares seemed happy to defy them at every single turn it could. Surfaces bent at impossible angles, doors leading to areas that were far to large for the space given, and the very environment shaped itself to its inhabitants instead of the other way around.

In other words, it was perfect for the nightmares and dreams that called it home. A place where impossibility did not exist, and those lucky creations of the minds of sleeping humans ponies strong enough to be remembered after sleep ended came to life. For each of them a domain – a home – that suited them was created, ranging from a lush jungle to the most twisted, filthy dungeons one could imagine.

It was within one of these domains that a mare, created from the despairing pleas of a pony one thousand years ago, grumbled. Before her was what had once been the throne room of a castle filled with symbols of her greatness. Now, much like the real thing, that castle was more of a ruin. A ruin formed when six weak little dreamers purged her from the body of her creator, destroying not just her chance at eternal night, but one mare's dreams to outshine her sister.

The irony of being a living dream and the ponies of reality calling her “Nightmare” Moon was not lost on her.

Currently, she sat contemplating an unfortunate turn of events that had unfolded within the past couple of hours. She swore that the Lazaran, the beast that kept the dreams, nightmares, and the dreamers from other planets from entering Equus, had dealt with what would be a thorn in her side. After all, it had never failed before and was stronger than even herself. It was one of the few beings she fully accepted was beyond her ability to destroy.

Which made it all the more worrying that it hadn’t managed to finish the job this time.

It had certainly roughed the so-called “Magral Knight” up, bur hours earlier that day the interloper had awoken. An interloper who had now made contact with Equestria’s heroes, making them aware of the Lazaran, and reconnecting to worlds that she had made sure were long separated. She was a threat to every plan the dream had, and their contact with her creator only proved to foil the very basis of every single one: eternal night, and the take over of Princess Luna’s body.

“Something must be done now, before she is truly able to fight,” Nightmare Moon told herself.

“My liege!”

Nightmare Moon’s gaze fell upon a form entering her throne room. It both looked like a pony and clearly wasn’t one at the same time, body morphing between being made of endless void and a brilliant red light. It had no eyes, no nose, no true distinguishing features that gave its queen to know who or what it is. A queen that it had just barged in on without permission.

“I do hope this is important, peasant,” the queen said, leaning back into the throne. “Your queen is currently contemplating a matter of utmost importance.”

“Forgive me, my liege, but this was important,” the nightmare pony replied.

“It better. Go ahead, speak!”

“We’ve received word that the sisters of one of the Elements of Harmony have made contact with ponies outside our planet. We believe them to be friends of the Magral Knight that arrived in Equestria days prior.”

Nightmare Moon snarled, showing off her sharp teeth to the creature before. Clearly the universe was working against her, stacking the odds in the favor of the ponies that should be her subjects. It dared to defy her of the power she was born to seek, of the spotlight she was desperate to obtain. How absolutely perfect.

“Peasant, do I look to be in the mood for bad news?” Nightmare Moon asked, the creature before her cowering. The sight of a strong nightmare so scared of her almost made up for her bad mood.

“N-no, my liege, but-”

“So tell me this. Why has filth like you, entered my throne room for the sole purpose of angering me!”

She stood, wings unfurling as energy both light and dark suddenly blanketed the area. It was so think it made the nightmare that had upset her gag, suffocating from the power exerted over it. It fell to the ground, barely able to lift its head as the hoof of its queen came into view. A hoof soon placed on its head, forcing it to eat the ground.

“I’m sure you now understand the gravity of your actions, of upsetting the queen you serve.” Nightmare Moon leaned her head down, dropping her voice low and quiet to make it clear how upset she was. “You did not mean to upset me, correct? Things would be a lot worse for you if you did.”

The nightmare hastily shook its head, and soon found itself able to breathe again. The dark energy Nightmare Moon had suffocated it was dispersed with a flick of her wings, her hoof removed from its place on their head. She turned away and walked back to her throne, still scowling.

“You shall deal with this filly yourself. Consider it your one and only chance to make up for displeasing me. Am I understood?”

“Y-yes, my liege.”

“Then get out!”

Like a scared animal, the nightmare crawled out of the throne room. The sight gave Nightmare Moon a single moment to smile, though it quickly faded away. An untrained peasant could deal with a filly, yes, but that wouldn’t be the case for a Magral Knight. She needed somepony strong, capable, and most importantly deadly. There were many in her legion of nightmares and dreams who fit that, but that still left her with the question of who.

After far too much thinking, she gave a dark, vicious smile. Tonight, she would personally watch for a distance as a valiant knight died.

Author's Note:

Huh, I guess I'm working pretty fast with this story right now. Nice! I'll keep at it for as long as possible.

Between Reality and Dream's villain, Bael, was written with the idea of making them feel like the classic mahou shojo antagonist, and I have some rather similar plans with how I'm gonna be handling Nightmare Moon here. The idea of her actually being a dream and not a nightmare was already too perfect to ignore considering how I represent them in BRD.

Speaking of which, since I've mentioned plenty of times that this is me having fun with a universe I've created, I wanted to let you all know that the first volume of Between Reality and Dreams is actually up on Royal Road for all to read! The link to it is right here for everyone interested.