You know her as Rarity, the fashionista who went from relatively unknown to staggering success virtually overnight. Her designs have been worn by everypony from celebrity to royalty, but her real claim to fashion fame was bringing her line Simple Elegance to the everyday pony. By making high-end fashion available to all she turned the industry on its head and knocked those who had been comfortable on their thrones out of their seats.

She has aided the princesses in saving Equestria more times than I can count; her generosity is known far and wide. Yet, it is that dark point in her history that brought all eyes of Equestria down upon her. The infamous story of Cut Throat, the stallion who murdered Fluttershy and attempted to kill her.

I am Ziya, and this is a Special Edition of Inside Equestria.

Thank you to Daemon of Decay and TheAspiringWriter93 for PreReading/Editing!

Something has come to Equestria. Something that hasn't been seen since before Nightmare Moon's banishment. Something that is possessing the destitute and the weak. Something that may explain Luna's inability to have dreams.

It would seem an old enemy has come out to play, and Luna can't take him on herself. She'll need to find friends if she is to beat it back.

All that is for certain is that she must again enter the world of dreams... and face her nightmares.

Undergoing rewrite as of 1/19/15

Originally written the story contest by Augiedog

Art by Dashiana

The words flowed across my tongue and out of my lips smoothly. They felt right, they felt... correct.

I felt the familiar thrum of magic throughout my body, a wondrous feeling, a beautiful feeling. It started as a warmth, then a tingle, then a flood of sensation... different feelings based upon the essences of the magic.

The pulsating purple shimmer surrounded my horn, and began to illuminate the different glyphs and geometric patterns I had painstakingly drawn out for the last few hours.

In my past I endeavored to force my magic, to bend it to my will for my own needs, but now it came effortlessly. Softly, gently, the magic lifted me up from the floor. I had closed my eyes previously in order to lessen the sensory input that could distract me, but now I opened my eyes to watch my ascent.

A faint haze encompassed my vision, but rather than clouding the objects around me everything was sharpened, brightened. I could see the aura of each object glowing faintly, and see the ordinarily imperceptible ley lines that connected everything.

I continued to chant, taking in the aromatic scents of fragrant herbs and incense, feeling the light tickle of the supernatural currents that danced through the air around me, tossing my mane this way and that.

I raised my forelegs forward, leaned my head backwards for the final words of power. I filled my lungs with air to expel that last essential command...

...and something went horribly, terribly wrong.

Celestia has more than a few skeletons in the closet, but most of them don't sneak up to bite her in the plot. Now she needs somepony who can help her, somepony powerful. Somepony she can trust.

Well, one for two counts for something, right?