Chapter 2: Dream Striders


The soft pallor of moonlight was rarely appreciated in Equestria. It had always been so, but as the pale rays stretch over the open fields beneath the mountaintop city, Luna couldn't help but feel a sombre tremor shiver from her ears to tail tip.

It had been much the same a millennia ago. Here she stood atop the world, and nopony cared. Sure, they could feign obeisance and bow in the market square, when they weren't still stock-still like she were a wayward lion that would wander off if not presented a challenge. She had always been seen as a predator while her sister was their stalwart guardian.

"I suppose it's a good things that times have changed, isn't it?"

She spoke to the breeze that wafted down the mountain slopes, bringing with it the chilly air off the alpine cliffs that towered above Canterlot. There was no reply, there never was as she stared out over the softly warmth of the evening gas lamps lit in the winding streets of the capital city. The quarters felt restful, quiet, demanding nothing of her.

Of course, she could always meander down to the throneroom and hold her night court, but nopony would come. Nopony ever did. The empty night of Equestrians were her court, and while ponies from near and far sought out her sister in the day, she came to her ponies in their dreams.

A sharp snorts blows from her nostrils.

'Why is that so feather-flicking galling?'

Predator princess, it may as well have been her title. Ages ago she was cheered on and vaunted, worshiped for her valour as she led ponies through the darkness of their earliest years: now she got that wry smile at best and given a matronizing pat on the head. It was the same polite but dismissive way that weary youths would deal with an aged grandparent to get them to be quiet. Appeasement, it never settled well in her stomach. Not on nights like this.

What had happened to the days of parading down liberated streets with squadrons of armoured guardsmares, and what about the songs that sprang to lips unbidden? She'd worked and bled to make Equestria what it-

'No'

She mentally reigns herself in.

'We worked and bled to make Equestria what it is today.'

Celestia, herself, the plethora of chieftains and nobles, all played a part. But something still washes part of that away. Celestia had her court and fawning sycophants while the nobles had their titles and privileges, a reminder of that laying just beyond Canterlot Castle's outer walls in the highest and most ostentatious districts. What did she have?

A languid sigh eases from her lips as a resigned scowl etches itself on her muzzle. Sure, the guttering flames of resentment towards her sister and their subjects had long since dimmed to fizzling embers. But, on quiet nights when the moon was full and her subjects absent, those tiny sparks softly glowed to life.

The vast expanse of her domain was well beyond ponykind's knowledge. And on soft summer nights, she let her gaze drift skyward towards the commanding orb in the heavens. It was bright, full, blue hazed in a corona of soft purples and bordered in a star spangled ribbon stretching to infinity. The somniferous princess leisurely paces across the wide balcony at the top of the castle's observatory. Her world was restful, peaceful.

It was, in a word, dull.

Taking in a breath of the quiet breeze that brought with it the refreshing chill off the mountainside, she closes her eyes and lets the meandering depths of her mind take charge.

Amid the veil of blackness the void coalesces. Time would slip by like a circle of waterfalls, wisps of luminous white lights slowly drift from the endless nothingness that connects them all. Luna settles on a shimmering band of russet and scarlet stars, feeling her physical burdens melt away.

One by one the mellow thoughts and dreams of her subjects flit by in ghostly pictures. Here and there she mentally nudges the lambent motes of manifested dreams, a guided caress that quiets overactive machinations or buoys the spirits of the troubled.

True, most dreams belonged to ponies. The vast majority living within the boundaries of Equestria were of the three pony tribes, and she was still a guardian charged with their well being. But other dreamers were hard to place, and harder still to affect. But the dreamscape didn't end with some geographical boundary of her and her sister's kingdom.

The spastic night terrors of a gryphon are shunted into a narrow stream that collapses the horrors into merciful nothingness. It was crude, but sometimes required. The gryphon's dream melts away with those further along the streams of unconsciousness.

Everything proceeds much the same, an hour or a lifetime passing in front of her eyes. The realm of sleep was malleable and time was anything but constant.

That was until all of those lights winked out of existence. One by one, the stream of stars and softly floating motes, vanish. They were small, but she knew when the dreamers stirred, and this was no bell that awoke a few, no.

As her mental grasp extends, she peers towards the writhing bands of darkness that extinguishes the dreams of her subject like a oozing black tide.

And it strikes her with the force of a tsunami. The tide engulfs her, swallows her in a morass, crashing into her conscious mental barriers with the squealing scrape of nails like rats clawing over a chalkboard.

A sightless bird screeches into the dark as countless eyes bubble and burst from its feathers, thousands of legged insects crawl over a rotting corpse that slowly mouths a long forbidden word, scintillating writhing half-beings twist and cavort around a morbidly obese creature that may be one of her kind, and amidst it all reverberates braying snarls and thundering hooves pounding arid earth.

'We aided you in your escape, now the hour draws near.'

A single blurry haze creeps over the dreams, blotting out even the endless rolling expanse of the void. A pair of eldritch eyes flicker into existence next to a smile that spans the stars and breathes a laugh as stale as the grave.

Luna stares up into the incalculable star-spanning face that leers at her from the abyss. Her stomach lurches as stabbing pains flick through her mind like nails. But after a grunt and twitch of pain, she regains her mental centre.

It was here, and instead of remaining an errant thought, Luna manifests herself in the dreamscape. Her equine form, armoured in glossy black plate, mane snapping behind her in the torrent of eldritch wind. Even next to the massive shape she was minuscule.

"W-we think not." she lapses into her antiquated mien as the dizzy concussive blast pulls her into the maelstrom. Her neck straightens as she lifts her chin, eyes narrowing at the apparition, "We tamed the Tantibus and shackled it. This is our realm and thou shalt obey us-"

Her voice wavers as a touch creeps along her spine like a tendril. Her back leg lashes out by instinct, as if to catch some unwary offender, and halts.

Her glance back catches the ragged decaying mirror of herself. The eyeless figure's rusted armour deteriorating as its withered face stares. Its mange ridden forelegs grasp her hock in its cracked and broken hooves. Its mouth opens as Luna's muscles tense.

F̵̢̑r̴̪͐ē̷͎ĕ̶͉ ̷̺̓u̶͈̇ş̴̒.̸̭̈ ̷̥͗ ̸̯̃H̴͎͂ḙ̴̈́l̶̰̂p̴̯͂ ̷̪̇ū̷̳s̴͍͋.̷͎̂ ̴̡̀ ̵̘̈́S̵̪̓a̸̙͘v̸͙̾e̷͑ͅ ̸̭̀u̸̠͒s̶̖͌.̷̲̀ ̶̠̃L̴̮͠e̵̡̿a̸̱͐v̵̗̀é̷̩ ̷̣͝ù̸͚ṣ̴̕.
Free us. Help us. Save us. Leave us
F̵̢̑r̴̪͐ē̷͎ĕ̶͉ ̷̺̓u̶͈̇ş̴̒.̸̭̈ ̷̥͗ ̸̯̃H̴͎͂ḙ̴̈́l̶̰̂p̴̯͂ ̷̪̇ū̷̳s̴͍͋.̷͎̂ ̴̡̀ ̵̘̈́S̵̪̓a̸̙͘v̸͙̾e̷͑ͅ ̸̭̀u̸̠͒s̶̖͌.̷̲̀ ̶̠̃L̴̮͠e̵̡̿a̸̱͐v̵̗̀é̷̩ ̷̣͝ù̸͚ṣ̴̕.

The apparition's mouth distends in a mournful scream that grips the very void.

And with a sharp gasp, Luna's eyes wrench open.


"Luna," a quiet cooing voice pipes from the doorway, "is something the matter?"

The nocturnal regent gallops across the dank chambers and plucks another tome from the sagging shelf.

'No time, no time. If she doesn't understand, then she doesn't understand.'

Luna had held her tongue at bay since that door first opened to allow a chambermaid entrance several hours ago. The red rimmed eyes and manic flicks of her head tell a different story, her lips pursing despite the gentle whispers.

"Did something happen?"

Silence again, but the alabaster mare finally lets out a frustrated sigh. Celestia takes a few steps in, watching her jittery sister flit back and forth like a mute songbird. Aged books, scrolls, and folded charts float across the room before they're casually discarded into three separate piles on the mildew crusted floor.

The casual approach hadn't worked, "Luna," Celestia's voice stiffens, "The maid said you've been here since before daybreak. If something's bothering you, you know you can tell me anything... if you're working too ha-"

"That's not it!" Luna snaps a look back over her shoulder. The angry crimson veins in her eyes break the perfect aqua pools, and whatever flash of viciousness frame her features halts Celestia's careful pace.

The awkward pause between the two becomes palpable. Loosing a resigned sigh, Luna shakes her head. "Apologies, sister. Something interrupted last night's obligations."

"Interrupted?" Celestia quirks a brow, taking a few more paces towards the slighter mare before sidling up next to her.

"Yes." She opens her mouth, squints, and stammers, "I-It's nothing pedestrian. I know what you're going to say, and I'm not sick, I'm not tired, I'm not anything... Ugh, you know what I mean. So not a word about some petty malady."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Celestia smiles.

It's met by a glowering frown, "That's not funny."

"Sorry." Celestia's voice softens. "So, what happened?"

Luna finally stops and awkwardly shifts on her hooves. "Something hijacked the dreamscape and drove me out." The proclamation meets a shocked blink, but no interruption. "It was short, temporary, but something happened. It may have been a shared nightmare, something powerful."

Luna shifts her weight to lean against Celestia's stronger frame as the elder sibling remains silent.

"It was the Nightmare again, but I don't know if it's the same one or something different."

"Did it offer something?" Celestia's careful question draws Luna's wary glance.

Luna scans her sisters face, and detecting no accusation, she sighs.

"No. Nothing." Luna lifts a hoof to rub at her weary eyes. "At first I thought it had come to make a demand, but now I'm not so sure. Sister, something reached out for me. It was... I don't think I could describe it in a way you would understand." she sighs and clenches her jaw.

Celestia merely lifts a brow and shifts subtly enough so that she was able to settle in against Luna's side. The darker hued Alicorn instinctively leans into the gesture. "Luna, I might not understand all of your gifts, but if I can help in any way, I want too."

Luna's silence stretches out for nearly half a minute before she draws a resigned breath.

"It was something dark, but not the same matter as the Nightmare. It felt like a dreamer, but I didn't enter their dream, they reached out for me through the dreamscape itself. It wasn't a dream, but it was made of one."

Luna's frustrated sigh breaks Celestia's attention for a moment. The Lunar princess shuts her eyes and buries her face in her hooves.

Celestia gingerly bites her bottom lip and stares at her weary sibling. "Lulu," she gave her a soft nuzzle, "has this happened before?"

"Not this coherently, no. Sometimes there are feelings, collective worries of dreamers during difficult times. But not like this."

Luna's muffled admission coaxes a comforting hug from Celestia.

"I wish I could do more to help you. Perhaps Starswirl or Twilight might have some insight into these matters."

Celestia's affectionate chuckle melds with a warm circling rub against the younger mare's withers. "I can call Twilight to Canterlot to-"

"No!"

Luna interrupts sharply. Seeing her sister flinch back at the tone, Luna sighs and leans in with a nuzzle, "Apologies. But it would be best if I were the mare to make the request. There are a number of explanations, and I would like to be certain I am not wasting anypony's time. Perhaps it was merely a residual element of fear or apprehension."

The alabaster Alicorn bobs her head while remaining silent. Curious again, Celestia draws the frog of her hoof up her sister's neck to her cheek. "Was there anything else? Anything, my dear little Lulu?" softly directing her sister's gaze.

Luna's bloodshot eyes meet her own, thin red lines and a bleary unfocused glint betray her discomfort. Celestia's affectionate hug never wavered, she never drew back, and Luna falls deeper into the embrace with an exhausted shudder.

"I can make a few other inferences," she mutters into the elder diarch's shoulder, "but nothing I'm comfortable with. It might be nothing, it might have just been to shake my confidence and allow itself more control. I won't let it happen again."

A hoof caresses Luna's mane, lulling her further into the embrace. "You have my complete confidence, sister."