Holy shit, I’m finally done! God, I hate shading. It takes forever and I’m not sure it is even lighted correctly. Anyway, I’m finally done with this. Woo!

*****

Skyla curled up in her sleep, her brows knitting as visions flashed before her eyes. She knew they weren’t real, not anymore but their sights never left her. They never let her rest for even a moment.

“Ah~ I finally found you.” A voice sighed, its voice small but clear as day. Skyla’s eyes snapped open, panting heavily as she took in her surroundings. She was in her room, on the floor. She was inside. She wasn’t out there…

“Damn it, how much longer is Oinky going to be gone…” She moaned, rubbing her eyes. She understood he had to be vaccinated. It made sense since he was a wild big but a week!? She couldn’t-

“Excuse me but could you stop having nightmares, please.” The voice asked, gaining the newly adopted princess’s attention. Skyla turned toward the sound, a growl on her lips. She tried to jump to her hooves but she couldn’t move. The blanket covering her felt heavy and immovable. Skyla was about to start struggling but the voice spoke again. “Also, ‘Oinky’? That is such a strange name for a pig. A bit… how you say, on the nose?”

Skyla looked up at the source of the voice. It was a small Pegasus bathed in the moonlight. She stood on a shifting black cloud, staring down at Skyla from outside the window. As she past through, her image because clearer. She wasn’t a Pegasus! She was a damn alicorn!

“What’s it to you?” She retorted, relaxing a bit as she watched her. Skyla was still wary but if she had wanted to hurt her, she could have attacked her in her sleep. Why wake her up then? The alicorn then did a strange series of things. She stared at the ground for a moment, sighing, before unfurling her wings and lifting herself off the blackish-blueish cloud.

“Tanti.” She muttered as the could disappeared. She landed softly, looking around as if unsure the floor would hold her. “Good job.” She muttered to the ground before turning her sleepy orange eyes on Skyla again. “I’m sorry, what were you saying again?” Skyla felt her wings twitch in anger. She was getting really annoyed now.

“Who the fuck are you?!” She demanded, glaring at the filly. It was only as she got closer that she realized that that voice couldn’t belong to a adult. Alicorn or not, the pony before her was a filly.

“Just a late night visitor.” She replied, staring at Skyla intently. “Anyway, would you mind giving some thought to me request?”

“Eh? What request?” She replied, trying to keep up with the sudden shift in subject. She thought for a second about the filly’s question before cocking a brow. “Wait, do you mean about my nightmares?” The filly nodded, her sleepy eyes never leaving her. “I thought only Princess Luna could look into dreams.” She challenged, a bit concerned. She could shield her mind from one pony, if she was far enough away but more than one? That would be difficult to keep up with.

“I suppose that’s one way of putting it.” She replied, looking away for a second before looking back. “Mother can do that but generally chooses not to. She dislikes intruding on others but she can feel your distress.” She explained, her voice lacking any inflections. She sounded so dead, it was creepy.

“That sounds like a personal problem to me.” Skyla snorted, rolling her eyes. No one had asked that nosy mare to intrude on her nightmares. They were hers. She’d had them for years before and would have them until the day she died. She had lived this long with them, she didn’t need any help.

“It is.” She replied, surprising Skyla as she hadn’t expected an agreement. “That is why I am here. I’d like for you to stop having nightmares. It’s annoying.” Skyla scowled at that, grumbling to herself. When the filly looked on, confused, she then chose to voice her mumbling.

“Oh, well excuse me, princess!” She snapped, watching the filly stare back with not change in expression. “I didn’t realize my mental turmoil was so bothersome.” At this, the filly gave her a small smile.

“As long as you know, that is all that matters.” She supplied magnanimously. Skyla felt her eye twitch in anger.

“You-! Grr, what do you know!?” She challenged, glaring at her. “Everyone knows you can’t dream walk like your mom, so what do you know about my nightmares?” She then gave Skyla a scary look. A look that was a lot more knowing than a child should ever have.

“I know everything about your nightmares, since Tanti adores yours.” She answered, stepping closer.

“Tanti?” She echoed, her desire to flee from her growing by the second. But like before, she was bound to the floor by her blanket.

“I know you dream of a scorching sun burning the skin on your back.” She said, watching Skyla flinch. “You are tougher than most but even you falter under his unending blaze. Your throat burns with every breath, your body begging for just a drop of water to ease its suffering. You look up, just as you have many times before. You plead, beg the apathetic gods you cursed the day before for just a bit of mercy. A cloud, a traveler, something that would save you from another day of hardship. With no more tears left to cry, you lower your head, staring at the dry earth beneath you, feeling the predators who hunger for you beneath your feet. Some days, you wish they’d find you and end this.”

“H-how could you-”

“Then comes the hunger…” She continued.

“S-shut up…” Skyla begged, the heat of that unforgiving sun burning through like a lance.

“Your wings, they hurt, don’t they? They are far too weak to even rise off the ground let alone carry you.” She looked down at her pityingly, as if she can see this all unfolding before her. “Your limbs creak under your meager weight. ‘Is this it?’ You wonder. ‘Will I finally fall after this? Will I be able to wake up? Is today the day this body of mine finally gives up? It hurts, doesn’t it? The feeling of starvation? To feel your body begin to eat itself slowly to keep itself alive. The constant agony as you struggle to find something, anything, to fill that emptiness.

“Stop it.” Her pleas fell on deaf ears as the princess drew closer until they were face to face. Skyla couldn’t make out anything other than her orange eyes and snow white mane.

“You had to do it, didn’t you?” She whispered in her ear. “It was the only way to survive. It wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t fun but it was either that or waste away like all the other dead that had fallen in those merciless wasteland. Just another life extinguished under the sun’s merciless gaze. It watched, you know. The sun god watches us all. He saw your transgression. The blood of innocents are on your hooves. You ate their flesh, drank their blood and cried upon their corpses. Then to add insult to injury, you tried to take his life as-”

“Fuck you!” She snapped, glaring straight into the filly’s eyes. Skyla wasn’t sure what the filly saw there but something about them made her stop. Her look of surprise eased back into calm indifference.

“… I know more about you than anyone else will ever know, ‘Skyla’.” She said, stepping back into the moonlight. “I know who you really are and I can help you… if you let me.” It took Skyla a minute to reply. She was still reeling from vividness of the filly’s words. She could feel the crackling dirt beneath her hooves again, the vast nothingness all around her and that all consuming hunger. Never ending and seemingly eternal.

“…I can tell there is a but somewhere in there.” She grumbled, her voice small from the memories. She wasn’t looking up but she could tell the filly was smiling. Which was weird considering what she was saying.

“There is. If I find out that you try to do something like you did back then, I will reveal you to everyone.” She stated with no fear. “I will unmask your crimes and leave you to the wolves. And believe me, no one will defend you. You will have burnt way too many bridges for anyone to stick their neck out to you.”

Skyla wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. She was terrible to everyone. To her ‘subjects’, to her ‘family’ and even to herself. There was no one in the world who should stick their neck out for her. Which begged the question.

“Then why bother? Why not reveal me now?” She asked, looking up. The filly was still smiling.

“Because you haven’t burnt those bridges yet.” She answered, turning away. “You still have your sister… and me.”

“You?!” She shouted, her glare returning with a vengeance. “Why would I get along with some bitch who threatens me? You think I won’t remember this?!”

“Of course you won’t. This is all just a dream.” She whispered, her words lulling the older filly to back to sleep. Or not, since Skyla’s head snapped up. She looked around from her spot beside ‘her’ bed. She frowned, feeling annoyed but recalling why.

“Ugh, another bad dream?

*****

As promised, the first meeting of Skyla and Desert Moon. I know I said they met at a fair after Desert mistook Skyla’s mane for cotton candy but that also happens. Skyla just doesn’t remember meeting Desert in her dream, which makes sense since, you know, dream.

As stated elsewhere, Desert can’t dreamwalk like her mother but Tanti allows her to watch others as it consumes their nightmares. A frequent stop is Skyla, since she has nightmares every night unless Sir Oinks-a-lot is with her. At this point, her pet pig is forced to remain elsewhere while it is being vaccinated so Skyla is alone for a few days. To make herself feel better, she sleeps on the floor. Somehow, it makes sleeping easier for her.

Note: Desert is quite a bit younger than Skyla despite her size. If Skyla is 12 in this, Desert is 7. Sphinx’s just tend to grow faster than ponies through exposure to sunlight. While Desert is nocturnal, she does like to sleep in the sun in order to grow naturally. She’s like a plant that way.