There has always been a sort of unappreciated value in fear as an emotion.  Being afraid allows you to know just when you are in danger, and how confident you feel in your current course of actions.  Fear tells you even before you know whether or not you believe you can conquer a certain trial.  Those whose fear weighs less heavy than others are labelled as brave, though that most certainly is not the case.

Those whose fears weigh light on them are fools.

Thankfully for the princess who had seen the acid rain descend onto her subjects, she was very afraid.  She was more frightened now than she could ever remember being, and it was a poetic kind of fear.  She couldn’t explain what she was afraid of, but she knew that the ponies on the ground shouldn’t be shining a dark purple color.

All of them, every last pony in her area of view was laying collapsed on the ground, a purple haze emanating from them.  The rain continued to fall slightly less warm, while the smell never ceased for a moment.  It was indescribable, putrid, and all around nauseating.

“W-what is happening Discord!?” Luna spun back around to face the draconequus, who had been so certain that the clouds were a cause for panic.

An answer was something she wouldn’t be receiving, however.  There on the ground, just like the ponies, the beast was sprawled like a mat, purple smoke smothering his body.  Up close she could see that he was shivering, his teeth chattering.  Many of his muscles tensed up as he suddenly thrashed to the side.  The fog never let him go as he moved, always adjusting to his bizarre contortions.

The princess’s reaction was somewhere between a scream and a gasp, her knees buckling underneath her as despair flooded her mind.  What could she possibly do to remedy this situation?  She didn’t even know what ‘this situation’ was!  She only had one thought on her mind as the rain continued to fall.

What in Equestria could possibly cause all this?! Even Discord has fallen!

She closed her eyes for just a moment to collect her thoughts, forcing herself to her hooves.  No matter what the situation, she had to do something!  She launched into the air and took off, certain her sister would know something.

The rain can’t touch indoors, so she should be safe! the desperate princess reassured herself as she hurtled toward the castle.

Her hopes shattered instantly as clouds of thick purple fog smothered the halls of the interior just as bad as the outside streets.  She could even still feel the rain beating down on her through the floors above.  Her pace only slowed slightly as she approached the door to the throne room, hoping beyond all likelihood that her sister was still okay.  She had to be!

The door swung open heavily, a thicker mist than usual keeping it shut with an intense pressure.  It burst from the room as the seal was broken, and through it Luna could barely make out the glow of a tall robed figure…on two legs?  It stood menacingly tall even as it bent over the fallen figure before it.  Snakes wrapped around its arms and hissed violently, snapping their mouths toward the victim.

A sense of dread filled Luna’s gut, every muscle in her body telling her to turn around and run.  And yet she pushed forward, curious about the robed figure and worried about the creature on the ground.  Even the warped image of the throne room, engulfed in flames and smothered in a crimson coat couldn’t stop her advance.

“Well, this is quite intriguing…” a voice called out from everywhere.  It sounded menacing and kind, warm and hateful, tied together with a frightening hiss.  The figure at the end of the hall turned slowly, revealing a face of undeniable horror.  A wide grin stretched across it, two rows of sharp fangs shining in the flames.  Two black eyes stared at the approaching princess, dots of crimson locking with her pupils.  “It seems we have a guest.”

The figure on the ground, white contrasting with the orange of the room, strained hard to look at the door.  Through the kiss of flames, Luna could see the fear and sorrow in the pony’s eyes.  The multi-colored mane of the alicorn waved violently as she contorted in a surge of pain.

“Celestia!” Luna screamed, her fears melting away instantly in a burst of rage.  Without thinking about it, she broke into a mad dash toward her plagued sibling, who writhed even worse than Discord had.

“Afraid not, mysterious girl…” the voice tittered, a magical burst sending the advancing princess back several feet.  “Who are you to resist my miasma?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but nobody harms my sister!”  Luna shoved herself from the ground and released a burst of magical energy from her horn.  As it hurtled toward the tall figure, the throne room around the beam reverted to its much more common state of color.

With a wave of its arm, the figure knocked the magic away, sending its own wave back at the offending pony.  Any good the magical attack had done was immediately reversed by the menacing monster’s own power.  Unable to react in time, Luna was sent flying into the nearest plume of fire by the dark blast.  She yelped, expecting to be scorched by the fire, only to find that she couldn’t feel anything at all out of the ordinary, aside from a slight throbbing where she’d been struck.

“Wh-what is this?”  The princess shook herself off, standing up in the center of the raging flames.  It suddenly dawned on her that there was no extra heat in the room whatsoever.  As a matter of fact, it was colder than it normally was!

“Inconceivable!” the voice echoed around the room.  The tall figure vanished in a flash of dark purple, only to manifest itself directly in front of its opposition.  It screeched, “How can it be that you are immune to my illusions?”

Staring the figure in the eyes, Luna found herself paralyzed in fear.  Thoughts flooded her head, but her voice wouldn’t react to them.  She couldn’t move or speak.  All she could do was look on.

One of the snakes on the figure’s arms launched toward her with its teeth bared, seemingly intent on devouring her.  To her shock, blue flames smothered the reptile as it approached her, turning to ash as it advanced.  The rest of the snake simply vanished from the figure’s arm, as if some sort of ward had banished it from the room.

The voice simply sighed, “So you are immune to my powers…”  The figure turned back toward the white alicorn curled on the ground, shivering violently.  “I can see it in your face, now that I look.  You have an affinity for the night…”

“The…night…” Luna choked out, her fear slowly dissolving as the figure turned away.

Its voice growled, “You have an affinity to the night on par with Nocturnal herself!  Could that be it?  Has my brother been here before me?”  Luna blinked, and in that time the figure was once more in front of her, staring into her eyes.

“B-brother?” she squeaked as the fear flared up once more.

“No…” it shook its head, “your eyes scream of ignorance.  You haven’t any clue of my brothers, nor do you understand what I am.  You are clueless, less so than the white one, more so than the purple one.  The beast outside radiates Madness while you smell of Shadow.”  It glanced at Celestia briefly before continuing, “So that is your immunity.  I can see it in your eyes.  You have the ability to Dreamstride, to enter the realm of dreams and alter what is there.”

Luna thought about the nightmares she had helped cure the few hours before, and wondered about the figure’s knowledge of the ability only she possessed.  She had no chance of vocalizing those questions, as her fear continued to keep her in check.

“Your presence here is evidence of that ability.  In this, the Nightmare of the ruler of this kingdom, you interrupted my game.  You even cut through my illusions with your magic, a feat most commendable…”  The figure smiled slyly, its teeth glistening in the firelight and its eyes flaring brighter.  “You can nullify my hold on these creatures.  That makes you a threat.  Only, I cannot kill you, not on my own.  My magic cannot curse you, my powers cannot crush you.”

As the figure continued to speak, the fear in Luna’s mind dissipated, and she began to regain her senses.  Her heart slowed down, her muscles relaxed, and she was finally able to speak.  “Who are you?  What do you want from us?” were the thoughts that took the forefront of her mind.  They came out before she even realized they were thoughts.

The figure chuckled confidently, “Most of my servants call me Dreamweaver, as is fitting for my powers.  But you…you may call me by my true name:  Vaermina, Daedric Prince of Nightmares!”  The fires and blood vanished from the room, replaced by the common appearance and layout.

On the floor in front of the throne, Celestia writhed and groaned, just as Discord had earlier.  Again a cloud of purple mist swallowed her, following her every move and not allowing a single limb to escape its hold.  Vaermina stood beside the fallen princess, smiling happily as her banished snake manifested itself once more.

She giggled grimly, “Though my illusions cannot harm you, I do not need them to.  I saw many things in your eyes.  Your past, your fantasies, your interests…and even your fears!”  There was added venom as she hissed the final word.  Something about her tone sent a shiver down Luna’s spine.  “This is what you fear, isn’t it?  I saw it in your past, the way you were banished.  You do not fear monsters or demons.  You do not fear pain or torture.  No, you fear loneliness, don’t you?”

“I haven’t any idea what you mean, you monster!”  Luna stamped a hoof, anger washing over her at the tone in the creature’s voice.  She was having fun tormenting everyone, and couldn’t be allowed to get away with it.  The princess stood her ground and readied herself mentally to attack again.

“You will soon enough.  In a few measly hours, most of the minds in this world will be broken.  They will submit to me, beg me to guide them, pray to me to silence their demons.”  Vaermina reached down to touch the horn of the fallen alicorn, who moaned in pain.  “I will own them, and their prayers will give me strength!  I will succeed where Sheogorath failed before me.  A world of my own, not limited by the laws of Nirn.”

A burst of cobalt magic shot from the mare’s horn as she growled, “Whatever you are, wherever you’re from, I will not sit idly by as you hurt innocent ponies!”  Her eyes flashed white for just a moment as she poured power into her attack.

“And there it is!” Vaermina laughed as she allowed her snakes to take the blunt force of the spell.  By the time they were gone, only a small sliver of magic was left to scratch her arm.  A long bronze staff appeared in her hands, one end taking the shape of some form of demon with glowing red eyes, the other embedded with some large black gem.  “You’ve shown me a critical weakness in your composure, Princess Luna.”

“And what would that be?” the princess snapped as she readied for another attack.

“My illusions may not affect you, true.  However, I’m afraid, this is no illusion!”  The monster waved her staff at the off-guard mare; a beam of black magic poured forth, smashing into its intended target without mercy.

After being knocked against the nearest wall, a cloud of pink engulfed Luna for several long moments.  In the short time she was enveloped, a thousand memories poured into her head.  Her concentration was shattered and her body writhed in uncomfortable sensations, some more painful than others.  She felt her head throb and her teeth ache, while her hooves felt as if they were cracking and her coat itched like a thousand ants crawled over her.

In the end, she stood just as normal as always, facing the creature who would conquer Equestria and plunge all of its citizens into an endless nightmare.  The sensations passed and her mind again focused on her attack, while the creature stood in unimaginable frustration.

“What is the meaning of this?!  How could you not be corrupted?  How could the Skull not affect you?”  Vaermina stood with the staff outstretched, black energy swirling around the red eyes.  The gem on the other end flashed black several times before shattering completely.  As it shattered, a cloud of smoke billowed forth, taking the staff with it.

Luna unleashed the attack she’d been preparing with all her might; it could at least postpone the demon’s plot for a while.  As the cobalt beam hurtled through the air, the cloud of smoke swirled directly into its line of fire, and with an ear-wrenching screech, the entire room flashed a bright white.  The sound of explosions filled the air as the unmistakable heat of electricity shot around the room.  For just a moment, Luna could have sworn her body was ripping itself apart.

When the light faded and the heat dissipated, all that was left of Vaermina’s staff was a tiny ring of bronze that had braced the black gem.  The monster stood speechless, on the verge of wrathful anger and unexaggerated amusement.

Princess Luna stamped her front hooves in frustration and growled, “What kind of tricks are you trying to play, monster?!”  Another burst of magic poured from her horn, the last remnants of the magic she used before, desperation draining her reserves.

And again, for a third time, her attack was rendered completely useless.  A bolt of lightning crash to the ground from out of nowhere, a cloud of blue bursting from the impact point.  As it manifested in front of the monster, it took the shape of a tall pony and absorbed the blunt force of the magical attack.  More and more of the figure formed, details and colors replacing the bland blue shape.

Vaermina smiled as the figure formed in front of her.  With amusement she jeered, “I’m not certain why it happened so melodramatically, but nonetheless the Skull did not disappoint.  Immunity to my Nightmares is one thing, but immunity to your own is nonexistent!”  With a wave of her arm, the mysterious demon vanished from the room, the blue figure of the pony now turning black at spots.

Before Princess Luna could object to the fleeing monster, the sounds of her sister in pain echoed throughout the room.  She hadn’t enough magic to even bother attacking the cloud, and even if she had what threat did a cloud pose?  No more than the purple mist, she reasoned.  So, without hesitation, she ignored the manifestation of smoke and hurried to her sister’s side.

From the thick mist she could feel a familiar magic emanating, one she had felt so many countless nights before:  dreams.  The magic that one releases when they dream, creating a dream world, some much stronger than others.  The magic was unmistakably a dream, and a bad one at that.  It pulsed with sadness and fear, like a nightmare should.  Only this magic felt much worse than any other Luna had felt before, much darker and severely corrupted.  This was an unnatural nightmare, and couldn’t have possibly been made by a pony’s own mind!

Luna drew in one long breath and shut her eyes so tight she felt they might burst, reaching ever deeper into her own body to draw upon what little magic she could.  Beads of sweat formed on her head in the cold air of the smothered throne room; her legs began to wobble unsteadily as she drained her own energy.  From all the struggling she pulled a single ball of magic, which burst from her horn and smothered the purple mist around her sister.

If she had to be honest with herself, she didn’t expect it to work.  She didn’t even know what it was supposed to do.  She could only hope some miracle would happen, and soon.  Her entire body felt like lead, threatening to shut down on her after exhausting her own reserves of energy.

When the ball of magic finally dissipated, Luna was almost ecstatic to find that the mist didn’t return in its place.  If she could have, she would have leaped to her hind hooves and done a dance.  And although her sister didn’t wake up, the princess had to assume that dispelling the mist was the first step to saving her.  A feeble grin stretched across her face as the mist in the room seemed to fly away, almost as if it were afraid of her magic.

As she smiled, her legs gave way under her.  Out of curiosity, she struggled to see if the blue cloud was still trying to take shape.  For a brief second she was able to register what she was seeing, and the shock of it all simply overloaded her exhausted body.  

The figure of a tall black pony greeted her with a fanged grin as her vision faded. Next Chapter: Princess Luna's Nightmare Estimated time remaining: 25 Minutes