Celestia and the mane six have been entrapped by a dream demon. As such, only Luna can truly save them but can she survive the world she wakes up in or will she be trapped forever in a nightmare world?
A dream demon. A creature able to force any being into a world where their worst dreams are made real. They have been all but exterminated, banished to pits of Tartarus.
Except for one, it seems.
Celestia and the Elements of Harmony have been captured by one such demon and Luna now must brave the twisted, warped world if she wishes to save those close to her heart. But can she survive this new world or will she enter a dream that will never end?
Teen for now, but it might change in the future. The sex tag for references done to the main character
Luna flew into the cavern in the mountain with the fool Discord flying in with her, his angered face mimicking her own.
How that demon managed to isolate not only the Elements of Harmony, but her sister as well was beyond her. She could not put any conceivable notion to how it managed to trick all of them near the gates of Tartarus, let alone overpower Celestia or Twilight. Thankfully, and she was still in disbelief that she was thinking this, Discord had not only spied on their little outing but decided to get her to face this dream demon instead of just ripping it apart while it fed.
Landing in her full armour without a sound, which only came after years of awkward experiences, she shot the being next to her a glare. She prayed that Discord would remain silent and let her deal with it, as she could simply cut the ties and defeat the demon with her superior mental prowess.
Discord, thankfully serious for once, floated with nary a sound or random act performed.
As the two made their way deeper into this random cavern near the very gates that Cerberus guarded when a certain performer mare didn't 'borrow' him, they started to hear the whimpers.
Growling, Discord started to fly forwards when Luna placed a hoof on his shoulder to calm him.
She briefly pitied the monster that had taken Fluttershy prisoner, but it was a fleeting thought as it had her friends and sister and it would face her wrath once they were safe.
As they turned around the bends, again thankful for Discord as she would have been lost in this massive cave system, they saw both their friends and family and it.
The seven ponies were all on the floor, withering from the demon’s nightmare. The demon had taken the form of a small cloud-like object, with tendrils attached to each of their heads. For Twilight, Rarity and Celestia, the near transparent tendril was attached to their horns and they were thicker on Twilight and Celestia. Already Luna could pick out some signs of battle; with Twilight laying on top of Celestia with Rainbow Dash next to her meant her sister was taken by surprise, with Twilight and Rainbow Dash jumping to the defence. By the few scorch marks, it seemed to indicate that the demon had captured Twilight quickly; most likely because she didn't have a mental fortress ready. The rest of the room showed the same scene, with Fluttershy behind Rarity and Applejack while Pinkie Pie was somehow sleeping cuddling a stalagmite in the air!
With a roar, Discord leapt forwards suddenly. Pulling out a hammer from nowhere and pulsing with chaos magic, he smashed the surprised demon into the ground before Luna could stop him.
“You fool!” she snarled out, flying over to the demon and frowned as she felt the unnatural life from it starting to drain away. “It’s near death now, and we do not have them free!”
“It took Flutters Lulu!” Discord sneered at her, brushing the pegasus’s mane gently. “I know I promised, but I-”
“Silence,” she snapped, pawing the floor. She stared at the demon; she had thought she had banished all of their ilk away in Tartarus long ago but it seems one escaped. “I must go into its realm now and you must keep it alive but out of control.”
“Wait, isn’t that a bi-Lulu!” She briefly saw Discord leap towards her as she attached her own magic strand to the demon’s being.
All went bright, as Luna forced her eyes open and took a deep breath of air.
Almost immediately, she felt the demon’s magic trying to force her mind to change into something else. Shoving it to the side with her own mental might, she tried to get rid of the white spots in her eyes, stretching out her wi-
She froze.
She couldn’t feel her wings. There was an aching emptiness where they should be, but they were not there!
Turning her head around, she nearly fainted from the sight. She had been Grounded, the ancient and ultimate punishment to criminal pegasi! Her wings had been cut to the joint, just enough for it to be impossible for her to hide the fact she had once had wings and enough to leave the taste of the air that her pegasus magic gave he-
She froze again, eyes widening even more now as her mind started to pick up on something else that was missing.
No, no, no, nonononono!
With a surprising hard to lift hoof, she tried to feel the tip of her horn.
She felt nothing but air.
Moving closer and closer to her head, she bit her lip to stop herself from crying out in fear of what she expected. Finally, she felt something and she had to bite deeper from crying out, trying to steady her already shaky breath.
It had been removed! She had been Silenced! Cut in the same fashion of the olden days as the most severe punishment, almost right to the bottom of the bone that gave unicorns their magic! There was just enough for her to sense magic, but she would never be able to do any sort of magic again! Even lifting a piece a lint would be beyond her!
She tried to get to her hooves, but found that to be a tremendously difficult task. Looking down made her cry out and nearly fall back on the sheet she had been laying on, tears starting to sneak out of her eyes. She had been Hobbled too; the last of the three ancient punishments! Her legs had been broken and healed improperly on purpose, thus preventing her from ever using her earth pony magic again and moving faster than a simple stroll!
Grounded, Silenced and Hobbled! Any one of those three old, horrible punishments was enough to scare Luna, but all three at once was terrifying beyond belief!
She was near immortal, and these were injuries that would never heal! A maimed crippled alicorn, confined in a small prison cell for all her -
No, she thought to herself. She would not pity herself, as this was not real! She needed to find her sister, the Elements and then find the demon’s host in this false world and defeat it!
The first step was to escape, find out what the lay of the lan-
“Oh look, the little traitor is up!” a male voice sneered, the door in front of her yanked open. She reared backwards, as the sudden light blinded her.
Without warning, she felt somepony’s magic grab her forelegs and throw her forwards. With a painful smack, her back hit something solid and circular, causing her body to bend around it. Letting out a whimper of pain, she tried to open her eyes, but a kick to her stomach forced them shut.
“Get up, you murderous traitor!” a new voice, also male, spat at her. “The Empress wants to hear if you will finally accept your banishment, you stinking bitch.” He then spat on her, stomping on her side, causing her to whimper in even more pain.
“I dunno Daily, she ain’t said yes in over a thousand years or so, I don’t know if she’ll finally get a brain!” The first voice mocked her, with the same magic from before lifting her upright only for somepony to smack her face with a metal shoe. “What is it, traitor? ‘Cause Daily over there is betting that you will finally see sense, and you know how rough he gets when you make him lose his money, eh?” Luna could sense him leaning towards her, his hot breath over her face.
Before she could respond, she felt another rush of magic grab the stallion in front of her and throw him to the side. With the sound of flapping wings, she heard the second pony, Daily, yelp in pain as he too was thrown to the side.
Falling to the floor and trying to get her breath under control, she managed to open her eyes to see her surroundings. She first saw the place where she was held. It was a tiny, concrete building with a metal door and a single slot on the bottom to slide food through.
Looking upwards, she saw she was leaning against a tree, devoid of its leaves. Turning her head to the side, she saw the two ponies had abused her in a heap, in golden armour- oh Faust no!
Reaching upwards, she felt her eye and let out sigh of relief. She was not her, thank Faust.
“You idiots!” a unicorn guard covered in black and gold armour thundered his voice at the two ponies, her champion and saviour taking the right actions against these two horrible excuses of guards- “I don’t give a flying buck what you do to her, but you morons know not to delay the Empress!”
The unicorn pushed off the pegasus and got to his knees, shoving the slowly waking pegasus to the unicorn. “General, sir, it was Daily that started it, he wanted to have a quick rut but I-“
Without warning, his red aura of magic cut the head off the unicorn mid-plea.
“Daily Run, if you do not get onto your hooves and bring your brother’s head to the Empress and let her know why she is going to be late by the time I finish my sentence I will cut you-”
The pegasus was already flying off with the dripping head in his hooves, leaving a blood trail behind him.
“Stupid runt,” the general spat on the corpse, using his horn to remove the armour from the slain unicorn before setting the corpse on fire. “Think I wouldn’t notice that you were thrown outside?” The unicorn glared at her, causing Luna to fold inwards in fear and disbelief. “If it was Daily that started it, you would still be in your cell.”
He frowned at her, anger still on his face. “What’s wrong, no threats or promise of my death too?” he snarled out, his horn lighting up.
Luna could only stare upwards in the face of the unicorn and the murderous gleam he had in his eye. It was truly terrifying to see Shining Armor wishing nothing more to kill her.
Luna gulped, trying to steady her already frayed nerves. This demon had thrown her into a vastly dangerous world, with the odds already stacked against her.
No doubt that this Shining Armor was a completely warped version of the real one. Dream demons would normally subjugate their victims into a world where everything was turned on its head; family either dead or at each other’s throats, friends were the bitterest of enemies and lovers would wish nothing more to kill each other. All to maximize the suffering of the victim so the demon could both feed on and enjoy the torment of the small part of the victim’s subconscious that was still aware of the reality of the situation.
It usually took a dream demon an hour to feed on one pony, but sadly for the victim, the dream would begin at their birth and end at their death. The fact that this demon had held multiple victims for an undetermined amount of time worried Luna that she might have a shorter window to work with than she had in the past, along with the fact that Discord had nearly killed it, which meant she couldn’t get into its mind directly to save them. What was worse was that she had no clue which one that demon had chosen for its host which meant she had to find all of them before she could truly act and form a plan.
Which meant she had to act her part for now.
With a shaky voice, she addressed the pony in front of her. “Na- nay, General Armor,” she tried to get onto her hooves, keeping her eyes on his. She saw them go slack slightly at her gentle tone, encouraging her on this gambit she was forming in her mind. This pony was not one of the victims, and she might be able to gain some help without alerting the demon if she bent the role she was placed in. “I thank you for your timely arriv-”
She let out a meep of shock and pain as his magic aura grabbed her by the neck and forced her against the dead tree, restricting her ability to breathe. “What game are you playing now, you murderous bitch?” he snarled out, his anger seemingly growing at her protests for air. “You’re never this nice, nor have you ever called me by my proper title.” He leaned in close, his horn near her right eye, threatening to blind her.
“I swear I am not!” While most beings would be paralyzed with fear at this point, Luna was among the few that had their minds working constantly against dangerous threats. Celestia was another such sort, after dealing with Discord’s first attack against their lands, ponies and sanity. The only being that had been able to completely surprise and attack her sister was a lucky changeling that clearly didn’t expect to win if what she’d been told of the wedding was true. Nightmare Moon didn’t count as she had drawn out her presence long enough that Celestia was able to form a defense plan against her.
His glare deepened, with two glyphs appearing in his magic aura as he let go of her neck. Both glyphs filled Luna with dread. One was for detecting truths known to both parties and the other was for electrical jolts of pain. The former worried her more than the latter out of a sense of practicality; it would be based partially on the caster’s knowledge and partially on her own. The problem would come from asking questions she had no way of knowing, but that the Luna that she taken over in her arrival would know. And once she failed to give the right answers, he would use the latter glyph on her.
With a shudder, both of them were placed on her head; the truth glyph staying put but the other was one roaming her body at random, preventing her from bracing herself from the oncoming pain.
“What is your name.” He seemed to tower over her, causing her weak legs to tremble even more than they already were.
She was able to see her own battered and bruised face in the reflection of his armour and eyes along with the glyph on her head, dirt clinging to her unwashed coat with her mane hanging limply down her side. She barely noticed that it didn’t have her stars in it, more disturbed of how long it was- oh. She quickly put together why it was so long with what Daily Run had planned to do to her and realized that a long mane meant they had an easier way of pulling her in if she tried to run or resist.
“Luna Nyx Selene,” she answered quickly, not wishing to risk add Princess if she was a prisoner, not if this Empress was who she thought it was. She bit her lip, bracing herself for any incoming pain but keeping an eye on the glyph that was on her head.
It glowed green. Truth. But what was more fascinating was the surprised look on the stallion’s face.
A picture might tell a tale of a thousand words, but this one told her something greatly important in a few short words. His surprised face told her that this world’s Luna was just as defiant as she was, and acting against the norm would be the true first step in freeing her sister and the Bearers of Harmony.
“Tha- Why didn’t yo-” He shook his head, returning his glare at her again. “What is my name,” he ordered again, eyes narrowing at her.
“G- General Shining Armor-” she was able to see the glyph on her head flash red before the pain erupted near her left hind leg. She let out a shriek of pain, tears flowing from her face as the electricity raced through her body. Her weakened legs were unable to hold her upright, collapsing under her and sending her face into the ground.
But just as the pain began, it stopped. Thankfully, as Luna was sure a second longer and she would have soiled herself, something she not done since she was a little foal.
“My name is Scorching Armour,” his voice seemed oddly gentle now, a hint of compassion. Maybe her plan was work- “I changed it the day you killed her!” he snapped out, the venom roaring back as well as the feel of his magic at her throat, forcing her onto her hooves again.
Fear went through her. She couldn’t be dead, or everything would be lost. She had to be alive! “N- not Twi-” She only managed to get those words out before he slammed her against the tree again, her wing joints nearly crushed.
“How do you know her!” His face was inches from her own, pure rage just barely restrained now. “Are you planning anything to harm m-”
“Never!” she snapped before she could stop herself. “I would never harm her!”
He glanced upwards, towards the glyph. Luna briefly wondered if this would count that one random dream she’d had where Twilight was both Celestia’s only sister and lover while she was a simple maid being forced to watch them have sex only to be jealous of the attention Celestia was giving Twilight.
She would kill Discord for suggesting she have bananas and whipped cream before sleeping if it did.
Luna let out a sigh of relief, Discord would be safe from her hooves for one more day. Before she could rest, her neck was again strangled by the stallion’s magic aura and she was slammed against the tree.
“Tell me,” Shin- Scorching, she corrected herself, glared harder. “How the Tartarus do you know about my sister?”
Luna bit her lip, trying to think. She had only one chance to make an ally here and now, but she had to tread carefully lest she risk awakening the demon.
“How would you believe me if what I told you was the truth?” She kept her gaze steady, boring into his own eyes.
He blinked, the hardened soldier briefly replaced by a confused young stallion. “Wh- what do you mean?”
“What if I told you this was all but a falsehood, that everything here you see is but a dream?” Luna forced herself to remain calm, speaking in a normal, assured voice.
“Wha-”
“What if I told you, that whatever happened to your sister and family, is a cruel joke by an evil force?” Luna raised an eyebrow, holding out her right hoof. “You can either think I am lying to you and that this is a pitiful ploy or…” She raised her other hoof, wincing inwards as it was red from abuse. “That what I just said is the truth, and you are the one pony that can help me end this nightmarish world and save her.”
She gave a small smile to the greatly confused pony. “The choice is yours.”
He stared at her, studying her face. Luna had to keep her composure; she couldn’t flinch or he would never believe her again.
After what seemed for an eternity, he reached forwards and grabbed her left hoof, causing a spasm of pain to soar through her body.
“You had better not be lying to me,” he snarled out, his horn losing its magical glow. “Or I will let the entire Royal Guards rut you in a row, twice.” He grabbed her shoulder and shoved her forwards. Luna was barely able to keep herself from falling on the floor, her shaky legs managing to hold her upright at the last second. “Walk.” he snapped, sending a slap of magic against her flank.
Letting out a tiny yelp, she tried to run ahead, but her legs failed her, causing her to crash into the ground.
Hearing a huff behind her, she felt herself being lifted upright and her legs straightened out as Scorching walked up to her side.
“Either you learned how to act or you are not lying to me.” He kept his attention focused to the front, moving at a slow enough pace that Luna was able to match it. She was also able to finally take in her surroundings, and it worried her greatly.
She was in the garden of fallen foes of the Castle, if the sheer number of statues were anything to go on or the castle wall ahead. The grass and foliage were shoddy at best; clearly nopony cared or bothered to tend to them. As they walked through the statues showing a number of ponies from her past that were never there in the real world, she noticed something that nearly gave her a heart attack; Discord’s statue was nowhere in sight!
“What are you looking for?”
She shot him a scared look, his face was still harsh in his near draconic golden armour. “Di- Discord-”
“That old monster?” He gave her a confused look. “You killed him with the Empress eons ago.” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “The only good you ever did.”
“I see…” Luna muttered softly.
“Wait, are you telling me that he lives in your so called real world?” He shot her an amused, smug look.
“Yes, but Twilight and her friends have managed to stop him each time an-”
“Wait.” He placed a hoof against her chest, gently. He stared at her, eyes pleading. “She has friends, a life?”
Luna froze, wondering what horror that this demon had done to Twilight to cause this drastic and abrupt change in his hostile manner. “Ye- yes, she does.”
He paused, closing his eyes. He did not speak for a moment, breathing deeply.
“Listen to me carefully,” he spoke with a sharp tone, but there was some worry in his voice now. “Only talk to the Empress if she starts and only if you think it is a wise move. If you have the slightest of a doubt, do not say a word at all.” He guided her into the castle proper, casting a small soundproof and shield mixture around the two of them. “I will help you, but do not say anything to me. She will ask if you will take your punishment. You must reject it if I am to help you. Do you understand me?”
“Why did you believe me all of a sudden?” Luna asked him with a raised eyebrow, seeing scared servants scuttling away from them, with guards glaring at her. “I do understand but I must know why.”
“Listen to me carefully,” he stopped and stared at her, with pure indignation in his eyes. “If I had to choose between a world where I exist but Twilight is like what she is now or a world where I don’t but she has a life and friends, I will always pick the second one. And if I find out you lied to me, not even the Empress could save your hide from my flames.”
Luna smiled despite herself. “Scorching, you just proved to me that you are just as real a pony as the Shining I know. He would say the same and do the same for Twilight.” She reached out to pat his shoulder, with him flinching at her touch. “I swear that I will do all that I can to help Twilight to escape this world, along with the others.”
“What do you need to do, to get them out of here?” He raised an eyebrow at her, going down an empty pathway that Luna dimly noticed was the servants’ hallway.
“I cannot say,” Luna answered sharply, wincing from his glare and glowing horn. “I cannot as there is no place safe for me to say until I know more.”
His glare changed into a frown, although he still had a very dangerous, if not murderous, aura around him. “Can you at least tell me who we will be looking for?”
“Her friends; Applejack, Rarity Belle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and of course Celestia, although I do not know where or how we will find the first five.”
“What about this Celestia you mentioned? Who’s she?”
That caused Luna’s blood to chill; fear and dread running through her mangled body. A disgusting, horrifying reason was forming for why the Empress had seemingly discarded her name if she thought the demon had done what it did to her sister in this false world.
“Thy sister.” She barely managed to squeak it out. “In my world, she was Celestia’s student.” This caused him to be even more interested in what she had to say. “She, Celestia, is my sister, a kind and just mare that-”
Scorching let out a snort, shaking his head. “That is not the Empress. The Empress is a cruel, twisted mare who only cares about satisfying her own desires and making sure everypony knows exactly what she’s like. Beyond keeping you in your cell, there is not much to admire. But isn’t she powerful,” he let out a sigh, shaking his head. To Luna, it looked like he was somehow being both truthful and sarcastic at the same time.
“It is the work of what is making this dream world,” Luna said. “The creature responsible delights in its victims’ suffering; it twists everything into a mockery of its victims’ true lives. But some small part of them remains aware of how wrong things are.” She shuddered. “The enemy feasts on the torment that they feel, along with their magic, and the more miserable they are, the more powerful it becomes.”
“That’s if you are telling the truth,” Scorching snorted at her, dragging her along the halls.
Luna frowned inwards, wondering if she should do what she had in mind. It could backfire horrifically, alerting the demon of her presence and causing so many issues but she could use an ally, she had to take the risk.
“Scorching, if you will allow me,” she said, tilting her head towards his. Before he could react, Luna placed her head against his, binding him to her ever so slightly.
Snorting loudly, he slammed her into the wall and glared at her. “What did you do?”
“I widened your eyes, Scorching,” she told him. “You were a part of this world, unable to see the truth behind it. You will be able to now.”
He glared at her for a long time before snorting and letting her fall to the ground hard. “Move,” he growled. “The Empress is waiting and we are late as it is.”
“Very well,” she said, forcing herself up onto her broken legs and following the stallion down the halls, passing more and more guards that were glaring acidly at her.
Finally, they reached the throne room, and as she heard Scorching Armour announcing the arrival of “the Empress’s prisoner”, Luna raised her head. Then, her eyes went to the mare in the golden throne and she felt her stomach drop.
If she had to describe the Empress in one word, it would be decedent. She was adorned with jewels on blindingly gold armour over each joint of her wings and legs, and wore a thick necklace with an absurdly sized ruby sitting the middle, surrounded by smaller emeralds.
Luna had joked that eating so many cakes would fatten her sister up, but this pony was plump on purpose; showing that she ate well enough to be noticed by all regardless of whether or not they had enough for a simple breakfast, let alone were starving to near death like she had been in this false world. Done on purpose to rub in the fact that she was on top and they were not. To show how greater she was than her sister.
Looking up at her face, Luna bit her lip to keep from crying out. There was a pretence of kindness that was over another face; the real pony had a face of kindness with only kindness beneath it as well. It was the eyes that sold Luna to the truth; her sister’s eyes had love and warmth for all but this pony’s only had cold, heartless steel.
Scorching knelt before the throne, bowing before the Empress. Luna stood where she was, refusing to give this mockery that satisfaction.
“Kneel before your better.” The Empress spoke with the same voice of Celestia, but there was a sharpness in it that would cow any other pony hearing it, making them fall to obey and serve her.
Luna did nothing, simply looking over the pony on her sister’s throne - she nearly flinched when she saw the tentacle. Looking upwards, she saw the unconscious form of the dream demon hovering above her head, with a few tentacles still attached to the Empress’s horn and head, enough to keep it in control.
This was a mockery of everything her sister was, and at that moment she felt a hatred for the creature responsible that was greater than any she had felt before in her life.
“Kneel,” The Empress spat, food falling out her mouth. Luna flicked her eyes back to the Empress, remaining quiet and upright.
“The Empress told you to kneel,” Scorching spat, kicking her legs out from under her and causing her to fall to the floor.
The Empress chortled at this, more food falling down her barrel and staining her coat. Luna’s eyes darted over to Scorching and she saw a bit of unease in his eyes which calmed her as it showed her plan was working.
“So have you decided to accept the punishments for your many crimes?” she asked Luna, with the mare remaining stoically silent. At that, The Empress let out a disappointed sigh, shaking her head. “I wonder how you can stand her Scorching, after she killed your beloved Cadance.”
“The daily beatings I give her help ease the pain,” Scorching replied in a dark tone.
The Empress laughed, a chilling laugh that sent shivers up Luna’s spine. “That is always a pleasure to hear,” she said before turning to look at Luna. “Your death would make so many happy, should you face the executioner's block and rid of us your loathsome presence at long last.”
Luna narrowed her eyes, staying silent when Scorching stepped forwards.
“My Empress; she has been locked away for years; how is she to know how much better off your ponies will be without her alive?”
The Empress raised an eyebrow at this, tapping her chin. “How true,” she said, ripping off another piece of… whatever it was she was eating, Luna couldn’t quite tell, and shoveling it into her mouth. “I have an idea in mind; Scorching, as you are the only competent guard I have here along with being the only one that keeps her alive while my eye was not on her...”
“My Empress?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I am ordering you to take her out to show how much happier my ponies will be without her remaining alive and how much they despise her.”
“Your will be done,” he said, bowing low before glaring at Luna, using his magic to create a lead around her neck. “Come.”
Luna made no effort to resist as he led her out of the room; the sooner she was away from that… thing that her sister had been turned into, the better.
Scorching waited until they were alone before he looked at her. “I saw that thing on her,” he spat at her. “You were telling the truth. This world is nothing but a construct of a monster…”
“As I sa-”
“I do not care what you have to say; as long as you can give my sister back that life you claim she has, I will help you,” he growled at her. “Now come, we have to move quickly before she changes her mind.”
Nodding her head, Luna followed him down the hallway.