After witnessing Sirius' breakdown, Anastasia managed to fall back asleep only about an hour later. Thankfully, the night was still young and she would have hours of sleep until the next day came. At first, she slept peacefully by dreaming no dreams. Her chest rose and fell slowly and rhythmically, her breath was calm, her body relaxed and spread wide. Her eyes were closed, her expression neutral as her head lay on a soft pillow.

But then, a dream came. Anastasia found herself in the middle of a forest. It was night, the sky was clear and the moon shone brightly upon the trees and what little of the ground it could get to through the foliage. Soft shadows were cast by the moonlight and faint starlight.

However, something was amiss. The girl stood under a tree, her body human. She wore her usual attire and a hoodie to keep herself warm. She frantically looked around, her body tense, a frown forming on her face. She didn't remember getting there in the middle of the night.

Finally, she figured out what was wrong. The forest was deadly silent. No chirping, no wind, nothing. The only thing Anastasia could hear was her hushed breath and ever increasing heartbeat. What was she doing in the forest? She should've been at home asleep and dreaming as she lay in soft and comfortable bed, her head on a pillow and her body covered by a blanket.

Something landed on her nose. It was a speck of something harsh and dry. Anastasia used her finger to remove it and take a look at it. It looked like snow but was grayer and felt different. She pinched the speck and rubbed it against her fingers. It didn't go away or thaw.

A few other gray flakes landed on her. She looked up and immediately regretted it as a flake landed in her eye. She closed it and began rubbing the flake out of it. Her eye watered and eventually she got that thing out of it.

Anastasia remembered the sensation. One day, she and Stanislav were out in a forest all by themselves. It was a cold autumn day, gray clouds hung above them. And yet, everything was dry and looked lifeless as last leaves fell down from the trees. The girl and the boy walked through the forest, leaves crunching under their boots.

Stanislav suggested making a fire. The two found a fallen log, cleared the ground near it and prepared some sticks and dry plants for a fire. The boy carried a rather large knife with him and was able to chop off a few sticks from dead trees with it. He had a matchbox in his pocket as well, and soon the fire was rising. It took some time to get it going but eventually it started to burn hotly, wood cracking in it.

The girl remembered she got a flake of ash in her eyes as she sat too close to the fire.

It was ash falling from the sky. There was no fire, no smoke, no sound, and yet there was ash. Anastasia looked around, disbelief shown on her face. What was happening didn't make sense at all.

Maybe that ash came from a distant fire somehow? Anastasia wasn't sure but it could be possible that she wandered away from her friend on accident. She better return to him soon.

She began to walk in a random direction. She felt like she would find him eventually. Clouds of vapor escaped her mouth as she breathed, her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. Dry leaves and dead ash crunched under her feet as she walked through the forest, having no clear path or destination. She just hoped Stanislav was somewhere nearby.

She pushed away some branches as she came to an open space. She looked around and saw that it was a lake. Along its edges and on a rock close to it, plants of red color grew, their flowers blooming. The water seemed red from all those plants that surrounded it and grew under it, flooding it. The water was still, the moon and stars reflecting on it.

Suddenly, the moon blinked and a peculiar pattern of craters appeared on it. Something rustled right behind Anastasia softly and yet she immediately picked up and reacted to the sound.

She swiftly turned around. Her eyes went wide as she saw who was standing before her.

"P-princess Luna?" she stuttered in surprise and then blinked a few times. "Is it... a dream?"

The alicorn was silent, her gaze was fixed on something behind Anastasia. The girl turned around and saw that something was emerging from the lake. It was a tall, gaunt, and pale figure. It resembled a human but its eyes were sunken deep in the skull, an unnatural purple glow emanating from the eyeholes. The eyes also seemed glazed over as they reflected the light in a strange way. The figure was completely nude and covered in scars, some fresh and some old.

"Look at me." it demanded in a voice Anastasia immediately recognized. "Look at what you have done."

"S-stas?" the girl stuttered as she took a step back in fear and shock. A wave of terror washed over her as the figure blinked slowly.

It was motionless as a mannequin, its sickly glowing eyes glaring at Nastya and at the same time staring at nothing.

"Begone, nightmare!" Princess Luna proclaimed, her horn charging up with energy. A bolt of magic shot at the figure.

It didn't move as magic went right through it without dealing any damage. For a split second, its eyes turned slightly and looked at the attacker. The figure returned its attention to the girl and raised a hand, a revolver held in it.

Anastasia yelled in fear as she heard a click. Something of blue color appeared in front of her immediately after.

Four consecutive shots were fired, all of them absorbed by the magical shield Luna conjured. The air around them rang as the booming gunshots reverberated around the lake.

The girl fell down as shock washed over her body like a way, adrenaline of fear coursing through her bloodstream. She shook violently, the palms of her hands covering her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. Incapacitated by overwhelming fear and sadness, Anastasia could do nothing but sob and cry in despair.

The figure pressed the revolver against its chin and fired. Fragments of bones, blood, and brains sputtered from the back of its head as the figure fell into the water, leaving nothing behind, the gurgling of its throat soon silenced as water closed above it. It took no more but a moment but it seemed so slow that Anastasia could still feel the glare on herself.

For a few moments, everything was silent as the water calmed down and became still again.

A gust of cold, harsh wind blew from the lake, making leaves rustle. The ash circled above the lake and landed on its barely moving surface. The water began to boil.

The figure reemerged, the back of its head gone. The cold purple eyes of the creature glared at Anastasia, making her scream as if someone tried to pry open her skull with a crowbar. She fell down on the ground, clutching her head in pain.

The figure had its upper body and arms covered in blood, and in the left hand the creature held a longsword. The water became still again as a crust of reddened ice formed on it, making the surface completely smooth.

The figure assumed a fighting stance by placing its right foot forward while slightly turning the whole body, making it seem thinner. The sword was held in two hands and kept deceivingly low. As another moment passed, the figure started walking towards the girl.

https://youtu.be/c4ZthWTadJ8

Luna stood in front of Anastasia and summoned her own blade. It was a longsword, a shortened version of the greatsword she's given to Sirius as a reward for the victory at the tournament. The crescent-shaped silvery guard reflected the light of the moon, the blade catching spots of moonlight and amplifying them.

"You cannot stand in my way." the figure spoke in a gravely tone, its voice accompanied by gurgling as blood streamed out of its mouth and from under its chin. "She must pay for what she had done to me."

The alicorn of dreams could see that Anastasia believed herself to be guilty of making Sirius commit suicide. Luna figured it out quickly due to what the nightmarish figure spoke and the way it presented itself.

Luna knew she better keep the figure away. She lunged forward and thrusted her sword. Her opponent swiftly dodged to the side and swung its own sword. The alicorn could immediately see it was the fighting style of Sirius. Aggressive, swift, and full of quick movement to dodge or attack. However, he was slower than she expected.

The two exchanged a few hits before the figure tried to grab Luna by the neck. She used magic to push it away, but it only angered the nightmarish figure. Immediately, it lunged forward for a thrust and then quickly followed up with a horizontal swing. The figure dodged backwards to avoid counterattack.

Luna decided to take the lead and swung her longsword, trying to get to the figure. However, it was agile and quick, managing to avoid her hits without blocking. Its movements were fluid but broken at the same time. Unnatural, twitchy movements accompanied its precise and swift strikes. Grunts and groans as well as gurgling sounded from the creature as it attacked.

Anastasia lay on the ground, her head pressed against her knees as she tried not to look at the horrifying fight. Seeing the one who looked like her friend fighting with someone as helpful and friendly as Luna brought tears of confusion and shock to the eyes of the girl. Why would they be fighting? She couldn't understand it. Was it her fault?

The pace of the fight increased as exchanges became longer and more powerful. It seemed like the figure grew in power and strength as time passed. Its movements became even faster, little energy was spent on anything other than being effective in the fight. The figure was gaining the upper hand in the duel.

"Nastya, you must let go!" Luna said as she deflected figure's hits. "We can sort everything out together!"

The girl continued to sob but her breath began to calm down aa her mind rushed to think. She opened her eyes and lowered her hands to look at the field of battle. There, Luna and the nightmarish figure fought to death. Both moved swiftly and tried to hit each-other. It looked like the figure was doing good at it as its attacks became more and more aggressive, its defense lowering as it left no room for Luna to counterattack.

"No matter what you think, do not let it get into your head!" the princess continued trying to break Anastasia out of stupor and freezing fear.

And yet, the girl was unmoving as she stared with her eyes full of tears. It was all her fault. Stanislav became a monster because of her. She shouldn't had left him when he was in such a dire need for a friend. They could try to at least stay friends. He wouldn't had been completely isolated and alone. She had known him, she knew he had issues, she knew he hated being alone. Why did she leave him? They could reason and find the truth.

The duel continued with the nightmarish figure delivering aggressive and powerful strikes, too fast to retaliate. Luna was forced into defense

Anastasia's eyes darted from Luna to the figure. What could she do? What must she do? What was right to do?

Stanislav had become someone very different. He was not her friend, not anymore. He was fighting out of spite and rage, not in defense of himself and others. Maybe Nastya could stop it, bring it to an end?

No, something was very wrong. It wasn't Stanislav, it was just his body. It looked like him but wasn't him in the slightest. The girl knew he would never hurt anyone unless they hurt him first. He didn't avoid fights and never hesitated to bring harm upon those who tried to attack him or those he cared about.

Anastasia stood up. She reached into her pocked and pulled out a knife. She unfolded it with a satisfying click and went to the nightmarish figure with confidence in her steps. She knew it could come to this at any moment, Stanislav warned her many times. She had to defend herself with force.

The figure's back was facing her as she approached it, the knife gripped tightly in her right hand. She had to do it. Stanislav had taught her that there would be times when there was no other choice but to make sure that the one who attacked her was dead. Anastasia feared such a thought but her friend was right in the end. She knew that many different people lived on Earth, some of them good, others — bad. Some of them were ready to hurt others for whatever they needed: emotional satisfaction, belongings or even sick pleasure. Anastasia could meet any of them and she was aware of it.

In the heat of the duel, the figure didn't notice the girl appearing behind it. She raised the knife, holding it in an icepick grip. She put as much force behind stab as she could, thrusting the blade between the ribs of the figure. Anastasia let go of the sword and backed off as the figure stopped. It dropped the sword and then fell to the ground, its body turning to ash and then was scattered by the wind.

Anastasia breathed heavily as he looked at the bloodied knife on the pile of ash. She did it. She protected herself and others. She did the right thing.

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. It was over. Warm, welcoming light encompassed her as her mind drifted into peaceful, undisturbed dreams. The forest, the lake, the steel, and the ash were gone.

Luna stood in the middle of the dreamscape, panting heavily. It was a very intense fight for her that left her body shaking from the amount of adrenaline distributed into her bloodstream. She dropped her sword and sat on the ground.

Humans dreamed differently, she realized. No magic would help with their nightmares. Either they gather up courage and deal with them or they don't. There was no way around it.

She looked at the door close to the one she had entered a few minutes ago. A chained door that had dried-up blood at its bottom. What hid behind it? What nightmares were there to be fought? Were they worse than what the princess of dreams had witnessed in the nightmare of Anastasia?

Luna woke up, exiting the nightmare. She sat up on her bed and sighed heavily.

*plop*

She looked at the source of a sudden sound. It was a speck of liquid that dropped on the floor. She lit her horn to look at it and saw that it was blood. Suddenly, she felt something itching on her foreleg. She looked at it and her eyes widened in shock.

There was a wound.

Author's Notes:

Dreams exaggerate the experience. But what if dreams can do something they shouldn't?