Luna brought her hooves down on another shadow tentacle, dispersing it in a fine mist that slowly retreated to the whirling mass at the border of the dream. She snarled at the horrid thing, not really sure how to attack it. It was different from the usual nightmares, it didn't behave like a hunter or a trickster, it simply was there, immense, limitless. She wasn't sure she could stop it if it decided to advance with all it’s weight, but she wouldn't wield to it without a fight. She simply couldn't leave the old mare to that… that thing, whatever it was. She briefly looked over her shoulder, to the small boat on the ocean where the dreamer sat, unaware of the battle, resting under the warm kiss of the sun. It pained her that even in her own domain ponies looked upon her sister, but this wasn't the time nor the place for her wounded ego. She would simply take this disappointment and bury it deep down in her heart, along with all the others.

This was a last dream, the last thing that mare would ever experience before passing on to whatever came next, and she wouldn't let it be haunted by nightmares.

She faced again the oppressive mass, extending her senses to get a measure of her adversary. The front she faced the only defined surface she could discern, alien and cold, something unlike anything she ever had faced.. With all the power she could muster, she bellowed at it “Leave this dream, abandon my realm, the Dreamer is under my protection, and not for you to prey upon!”

The dark mass flowed, oily and black, and as it spoke it’s voice was the storm, washing over the princess. “SHE IS MINE, MOONCHILD, AND YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME.”

For the first time in centuries, Luna shivered. That words carried power unheard of, and a hint that her enemy was ancient, older than her, older than Discord, older than ponykind itself. Steeling her resolve, hiding the trembling she asked “What are you? You that lay claims on my subjects.”

“She is the sea.”

Luna blinked, then looked down at her side, where the old mare, a pallid blue earth pony, stood, straight and proud, her muzzle carrying the traces of long years, her cutie mark a bleached image of kelp. “What is the meaning of this?”

The mare looked at the boiling mass. “That is the sea, and she came only to collect what had been promised to her.” She looked up to Luna. “It was a bad time for us, many years ago. On our island nothing much grows, but the bounty of the sea had always been rich. And then something changed. The algae began to disappear, the boats sent out to other islands sometimes didn't return, the storms became worse every year.”

The scenery had changed, Luna and the mare stood on a rocky cliff overlooking a small island, a little village near the coast, the black entity was the ocean. “And so I got out on my boat, and called for her. I made a pact, prosperity for us in exchange of the promise I would join her when my time would come.”

Luna looked at the small hovels, at the barren landscape. “Why? Why didn't you come to us? Why didn't you simply leave this place? You would have been welcome everywhere in our reign.”

“This was our home. I know they say that ponies are not creatures of the sea, but they are wrong. She may be a harsh mistress, but she is just. She accepted my proposal, and now she is here to collect what I promised. There is nothing that you can or should do your Highness.”

“Why did she accept?”

“Who knows? We may learn to interpret her moods, but we can never truly understand her.”

They stood on a rocky beach.. “I don’t know what will become of me, but I will continue in death as during my life, as her subject, not yours. I am sorry your Highness, and I thank you for everything you and your sister have done for us, but this is not your choice.” With that the mare walked on, to the swirling dark tentacles, that softly embraced her. She turned a last time, smiling. “It has been a good life, do not be sad for me.” And so she disappeared, leaving a lone Luna in an ending dream.