Little Moon

by Mr101

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Human, Sad, Princess Luna, Original Character
Length: 10986

A being from ancient times, long before the Alicorns, teaches the young Princess Luna through her life the ancient way of protecting the dreams of children in order to become the next guardian of dreams.

Luna has been plagued by nightmares since she was very young, her parents and sister are concerned when no known spell shows any sign of helping the poor filly. Suddenly however, her nightmares seem to vanish and she seems a lot more cheerful. She tells them that her new friend is keeping the nightmares at bay and teaching her new things, but they simply believe that it’s a simple imaginary friend.

But he is very much real in her dreams.

Whenever Luna falls asleep, she wakes up in her dream world where her friend, Crescent, teaches her the ancient ability of protecting the dreams of children as well as a race that has nearly been forgotten.

For his time in this world is coming to an end and Luna, his ‘Little Moon’, is to become the new guardian of dreams.

A story from Luna's childhood into adulthood, inspired by the cover art.

Thank you to Berry Punch, Bocaj518, Rainbowbob and DVAN56 for their help.
Cover art found here by dawkinsia.

Published 2013-08-01 19:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-01 19:40:02 UTC

Dreams.

Little Moon.

“I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?” ― John Lennon.

Luna whimpered as she tossed and turned in her bed, her eyes were scrunched tightly shut and her mane was a complete mess, her covers had been kicked to the end of her bed in a crumbled heap as the filly shivered. She bit her lip as she let out another whimper and her limbs twitched frantically, as if she was trying to run away from something.

She rolled over violently and cried out softly as she gasped for air, her brow became damp with sweat. She suddenly bolted upright in her bed and screamed loudly, not stopping to take a breath as tears ran down her cheeks. The doors to her room burst open as two heavily armed guards rushed in followed closely by two alicorns with flowing manes that moved as if magic was controlling them, King Terra and Queen Aeterna, who quickly rushed to the young filly and wrapped her into a tight, protective hug.

“Shh... shh, Luna.... it’s ok, mummy’s here now,” Aeterna said as she rocked the filly in her front legs.

Luna sniffled and began to show signs of calming down, her cheeks damp from her crying as she nuzzled into her mother's chest whimpering softly.

“Another nightmare...” Terra sighed softly as he and the guards left the room.

As they left they walked past another alicorn who was slightly older than Luna and had a white coat and pink mane, the young alicorn looked tired and her half closed eyes looked into Luna’s room. She saw Luna in the embrace of her mother and frowned seeing her so sad, she trotted into the room and nuzzled into Luna’s side softly. Luna gasped in surprise but giggled gently as the other alicorn pulled a goofy face.

“Mother?” The white alicorn asked, “can I sleep in here with Lulu? I don’t want her to be sad anymore...”

Aeterna smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head.

“Of course Celestia... that’s very kind of you.”

“Don’t worry sister! No meanie monsters will scare you now, not with your big sister Tia protecting you!” Celestia cried bravely, puffing out her chest.

Their mother giggled before placing Luna back into her bed, Celestia scooted over to her sister and snuggled into her protectively as their mother pulled Luna’s duvet over the pair and kissed them both on their heads.

“Goodnight my children, I love you,” she smiled.

“Love you to mummy...” Luna yawned closing her eyes.

Celestia yawned as well and settled her head into the pillow as their mother quietly made her way out of the room and gently closed the door, waiting for her was Terra who had a worried expression on his face.

“I’m worried about Luna...” he said softly as they walked back to their room, “this is the third time this week.”

“I know dear... but none of the spells we have tried have worked, and the advisors have no explanation on why she is having these vivid dreams,” she replied.

“I guess we just have to wait until an answer is presented to us I suppose...” he sighed softly.

--x--

As the sun shone through the window, Luna murmured as she opened her eyes softly, trying to adjust them to the light. She let out a small, soft yawn and slowly sat up. She heard a soft snore coming beside her and looked down to see her sister sprawled out on her bed, her mouth open and tongue out and mane a mess, snoring away as a small pool of drool formed by her head. Luna couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.

She slipped out of her bed and stretched her back legs out before trotting out of her room and down the hallway of the castle, she soon bumped into a unicorn who she hadn’t seen and fell onto her rump.

The unicorn giggled and helped the little filly to her hooves as Luna grinned at who it was she had actually bumped into.

“Good morning Princess Luna,” she smiled.

“Morning Nanny Blackberry!” Luna smiled back.

Blackberry escorted Luna - who had demanded by royal decree she be allowed to sit on her back - down the hallways and into the main dining hall for breakfast. As Luna sat down at the table by herself, Blackberry noticed something about Luna was off, pulling out the chair beside Luna she sat down and placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder gently.

“Something bothering you sweetheart?” She asked.

“...No,” Luna lied.

“Luna, I’ve known you since you were a foal, I know when you’re lying to me,” Blackberry replied.

“It’s nothing...” Luna muttered.

“Nightmares again?”

“...Yeah...”

Blackberry leant over and gave her a warm hug to which Luna returned it, Blackberry smiled down at her and nuzzled her cheek gently.

“Now, tell me what happened...”

--x--

Soon after Luna had told Blackberry her nightmare, they were joined by a very tired looking Celestia who lazily plopped herself on a nearby chair yawning loudly. Blackberry tutted and fussed over Celestia’s very messy bed mane with a brush much to her protests as she tried to eat her breakfast, Luna couldn’t stop giggling as she watched her sister protest over the brushing.

After finishing off her breakfast, Luna excused herself and made her way out of the hallway. Today was a saturday which meant she didn’t have to worry about school, and today she was going to go explore the gardens!

“To the garden!” She declared to nopony in particular.

Luna hummed happily to herself as she made her way out of the palace and into the castle gardens, she loved spending her time here because it allowed her to pretend to be anything she wanted to be, last week she was a shipwrecked survivor exploring a new world and today, she was going to be an explorer exploring a new world.

As she began to head into the gardens, she felt something hit her on the back of the head causing her to yelp in surprise and rub where she had been hit. On the ground was an apple that had a bite taken from it and she turned round to see three ponies nearby, a unicorn, pegasi and an alicorn. Luna whimpered softly, recognising them as offspring to some of the high nobles in the castle.

“Hey look it’s the scaredy cat!” The pegasus teased.

“Your wimpy crying woke the castle up again last night,” the unicorn sneered.

“S-shut up, leave me alone,” Luna said.

“Ah come on now,” the alicorn smirked, “we’re just messing with ya, right guys?”

“Of course we are, I mean. It’s not our fault you happen to be a scaredy cat is it?” The pegasus asked his friends.

The three bullies laughed as Luna struggled to stop herself from crying, the alicorn saw the tears forming and laughed louder.

“Aww what’s the matter scaredy cat? You going to cry-”

He was interrupted by a sharp smack to his mouth, sending him to the ground and crying out in pain. The other two, who during their laughing had their eyes closed, opened them upon hearing the smack and their eyes went wide.

Celestia stood in front of them with a venomous glare and gritted her teeth, the alicorn looked up and like his friends, his eyes went wide.

“C-Celestia!” he cried.

“You sorry flanks have got ten seconds to get out of here, or do I have beat you guys up again?” She growled.

They all quickly scarpered off, not wanting to have their flanks handed to them again by a mare. Celestia smirked triumphantly as she watched them leave and then quickly turned to her sister and trotted over to her, nuzzling her cheek.

“You ok, Lulu?” She asked.

“I-I’m fine... thanks Tia.” She mumbled as she sniffled.

“Why won’t you tell mother and father about those bullies, or let me tell them?” Celestia asked her.

“I-I don’t want their parents getting in trouble...” She mumbled.

Celestia sighed as she shook her head, trust Luna to be thinking about somepony else's well being when something like this was happening, she smiled and gave her sister a playful ruffle of her mane.

“Come on, let’s see if we can sneak into the kitchens and get some ice cream.” Celestia grinned.

Luna giggled as she and her sister quickly headed back inside the castle, heading to the kitchens as they tried, and failed, to sneak in undetected.

--x--

As the afternoon began to give way for the night, Luna was carried to her room by Blackberry on the verge of passing out. After successfully sneaking into the kitchen only to be caught stealing some ice cream by the head chef, a unicorn called Deep Fry, they had managed to bargain their freedom and the right for their parents not to be told what they did, they had spent the majority of the day helping out in the kitchens. It wasn’t all bad, Deep Fry gave them some ice cream at the end of the day for all their hard work.

Luna had tried to protest to everypony that she was able to stay awake, but her little yawns every few seconds and heavy eyes were doing their best to prove her otherwise. She mumbled and yawned once more as Blackberry placed her into her bed and began to tuck her in.

“Nanny?” Luna asked sleepily.

“Yes, Luna?” She replied.

“Can you sing me, hush now?”

“Of course dear.”

Luna smiled as Blackberry finished tucking her in and gently cleared her throat, whenever she was sung the song, it made her feel somewhat safer against the possibility of having a nightmare attack. She snuggled her head into her pillow as she looked up at Blackberry.

“Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed.”

Luna blinked slowly as she let out another soft yawn as Blackberry continued.

Drifting off to sleep
Leave the exciting day behind you
Drifting off to sleep
Let the joy of dreamland find you...”

Blackberry smiled as Luna yawned one last time before her eyes closed and she heard her breathing softly, she gave Luna’s forehead a soft kiss and quietly left the room.

--x--

“More tea, M’lady?”

“Why thank you, Sir Fluffyton!”

Luna giggled as a fairly large plush manticore with a tiny top hat and a monocle poured her a cup of tea from a tiny teapot. Luna herself was wearing a blue dress and a pointed hat on her heard, surrounding her wasn array of plushes all wearing different formal outfits. They were having a tea party in a garden that contained large sweet shaped monuments, such as a large muffin and cake.

Everything was just perfect, the moon was in the sky but was bright enough that everything was seeable just as it would be during the day. Luna was having the time of her life.

“Would you like a biscuit Miss Sugar Heart?” She asked looking to a stuffed bear.

The bear didn't reply, Luna blinked and waited for it to reply but it never came. Instead a low ominous hum began to fill the air as the sky began to darken, Luna looked around in alarm as her eyes went wide with fear.

“N-No, not again!” She whimpered.

A tearing sound snapped her attention to her right as she watched the stuffed bear grow in size and the clothing rip off its body, a low growl rumbled from within it as its head grew large along with its body and its mouth slowly formed into a large, sadistic grin.

Luna screamed and scrambled away from the table as the other plush animals began to follow the stuffed bear’s suit and grow, she felt her heart beating rapidly as she ran through the darkness, the sweets deforming into rotting piles of waste and the trees lost their leaves, horrific demonic faces forming on the trunks.

She rounded a corner of what was one of the giant sweets and narrowly avoided a large claw slamming down at her, she looked up and screamed again at the twisted grin on the face of the plush bear that loomed over her. She scrambled to her hooves and tried to run back but stopped suddenly when the manticore appeared out of the shadows, hissing and snarling as its long, sharp fangs dripping with saliva.

Luna whimpered as she slowly backed up into one of the piles of waste as the creatures began to enclose on her, she shut her eyes tightly waiting for the inevitable end and broke down crying.

“BEGONE!”

Luna opened her eyes with a startled yelp as the loud, booming voice echoed through her nightmare, the creatures turned around and were instantaneously attacked by a bright, white light. Luna shielded her eyes from it as she heard the creatures scream in pain before daring to look again, she saw the creatures disappearing and turning into nothing but a shadow as it tried to escape whatever had attacked it.

Looking over to where they had looked she gasped and her eyes went wide in surprise, standing there was a bipedal creature, around the same height as her mother and father. It’s head was completely bald and had a crescent moon marking on its forehead, it was wearing blue robes that were the same colour as Luna’s coat that clung to its figure loosely, whilst keeping its right upper body and arm bare. In its right hand it wielded a long wooden staff with a twig jutting at the top out to the side which had a lantern dangling from it. She couldn’t see its pupils, instead all she could see was a glowing white where its eyes would’ve been.

As the shadow tried to escape, the creature raised the staff up, the lantern making a soft clunk as it bounced on the staff as its eyes glared at the shadows.

“Disappear...” it said.

The light from the lantern burst out and struck the shadows with deadly accuracy, there was a loud scream as the shadows wailed from the strike. Luna’s eyes widened further as the light retracted into the lantern, dragging the shadows with it which was screaming the whole time before being silenced as it was sealed in the lantern.

No sooner had it been trapped, the world changed back to before the nightmare. The piles of waste returned to form large sweets, the trees regained their natural look and the sky brightened up. Luna whimpered as she stared at the creature in terror, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. It saw her and smiled softly to her.

Instead of trying to attack her, as she thought it might do, it slowly knelt down and waved to her gently with its other hand.

“Please, do not be afraid, Little Moon. I mean you no harm,” it said in a soft, reassuring voice.

Luna blinked a couple of times, the voice it had first used was loud, terrifying even. It had reminded her of the voice her parents used during court sessions to get the attention of the nobles. But it was now soft and calming.

“Would you mind coming here, child?” It asked her, smiling softly.

Luna slowly got up and made her way over to it, carefully watching its every move as she approached it. when she was a foot or so away from it, it smiled and gently stroked the top of her head. At first she cringed from the touch but sighed happily as its fingers found the back of her ear, she heard it chuckle softly and she blushed softly.

“What... are you?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“Actually... the proper question would be, ‘who am I?’” It chuckled, “But you are young...”

“Hey! I’m not that young! I can brush my teeth now without Nanny’s help!” Luna pouted.

The creature let out a chuckle and smiled, changing its position to sit on his backside. Luna blinked and tilted her head, before copying it and sitting on her own backside.

“So... who are you?” She asked, emphasising her question with a grin.

“My name is Crescent, Little Moon,” he replied with a smile, “guardian of dreams.”

“Guardian of dreams?” She asked with another tilt of her head, “what does that mean?”

Crescent chuckled, looking down at the filly who had a look of curiosity on her face.

“It means, Little Moon, that I am responsible for protecting the dreams of children from nightmares,” he said.

“But... if you protect dreams... why have I still been having nightmares?” Luna asked him with a frown.

Crescent sighed as he looked up into the sky, before returning his gaze to the young filly.

“Because, Little Moon, my powers are slowly fading from me. I am the last dream guardian, and the last of my people.”

Luna gasped as she looked up at him.

“W-what do you mean the last?”

“Tell me... Little Moon, what do you know of the race of men?” He asked her.

“The race of men?” She asked confused, “what race are you talking about, did you win?”

Crescent blinked a couple of times as he processed what she had said, he then grinned and burst into a loud joyful laugh at the young filly.

“No my child, the race of men, my race, humans. Such as you are part of the race of alicorns.”

“Oh...” Luna said embarrassed, “yeah... I know of them but mother and father said they all died ages ago.”

“Tell me, does everyone know of us?”

Luna placed a hoof to her chin as she thought about the question hard.

“I’m not sure... mother says that there are some ponies who don’t believe humans ever existed.”

“Then... we have truly almost been forgotten, this is good.” Crescent smiled.

“How is it good that everypony has nearly forgotten you?!” Luna asked, shocked.

“Because.. Little Moon, it means your people have almost learned to grow and develop their culture, without relying on my people as they once did,” He replied.

“That... doesn't help at all!” Luna pouted.

Crescent simply smiled at her, he reached over to her and scratched her ear again eliciting another happy sigh from the young filly.

“To answer your question, I would have to tell you a small bit about my people’s history.”

“Aww... but history lessons are so boring!” Luna pouted again.

Crescent chuckled as he tapped his staff on the ground, Luna’s dream world changing before her eyes.

“True, but do your history lessons show the actual past?”

Luna didn’t answer, she simply giggled with a large grin and scrambled into his lap and sat herself down, ready to listen to what he was going to say. Crescent smiled down at her and tapped the ground once more, the world changed and showed a large monastery sitting on top of a mountain surrounded by beautiful grasslands. The sheer size of it made Luna gasp in absolute awe, it was easily bigger than the castle she lived in, maybe bigger then one of the local towns.

“This was our home,” Crescent began, “The Temple of Eternity.”

The world shifted as they appeared inside of the temple, inside Luna watched in amazement as humans wearing similar robes to Crescent albeit different types of colours and each other them had a different marking on their forehead.

“We were the first God race, we used our powers to guide and help the younger races of ponies, griffons, changelings and many others with their ways of life. Helping them develop their cultures and their own kingdoms.”

Luna gasped as the next shift showed Crescent with four others, each all wearing the same colour robes he wore and each had a different marking on their forehead.

“These were my brothers and sisters, the other dream guardians,” he said with a hint of pride, “Each human was given a special role in the way the world worked.”

“Like how a cutie mark tells a pony what their special talent is?” Luna asked him.

“Yes, something like that,” he nodded, “ours was to guard the dreams of the children and to watch over the night.”

The scene changed once again, this time showing a bunch of humans talking with a couple of alicorns.

“They were the first two alicorns born...” Crescent whispered, “a new race born to a unicorn mare and her pegasus mate.”

Luna looked at humans in the scene, they looked happy as they talked to the alicorns but she could tell, even at her age, there was something more to it than just being happy about a new race. Luna was about to ask him some questions, but before she could, she felt herself getting light headed.

“C-Crescent, what’s happening?!” She panicked.

“You’re waking up, Little Moon.” Crescent smiled as he started to fade away.

“But what about what you were going to tell me!?”

“I shall tell you tomorrow, Little Moon...”

Luna tried to speak but the dream world went dark and her eyes closed.

--x--

Luna let out a gasp as she sat up panting softly. She looked around to see she was back in her bedroom, and judging by the sunlight creeping in. It was the next day.

“Was... that real?” She asked aloud.

There was a knock at the door followed by Blackberry walking in with a smile on her face.

“Good morning my dear-” she stopped seeing Luna’s state, “oh sweetie... did you have another nightmare?”

“No Nanny... “ Luna said, before smiling at her, “the complete opposite!”

“Is that so?” Blackberry smiled, “sounds like I need to hear this.”

Luna was about to tell her but Blackberry held her hoof up silencing her.

“But not until you have had a bath, you’re covered in sweat my dear.”

“But, but!”

“No buts young filly!”

Luna scrambled out of bed and tried to make a run for it but she felt something cover her. she looked over her body and saw a light black aura holding her in the air, she pouted as Blackberry’s horn glowed and she was floated beside her towards the bathroom.

--x--

Luna sat at the breakfast table, idly stirring the cereal in her bowl with her spoon. She wasn’t feeling very hungry and let out a sigh, she heard the chair next to her squeak as it was pulled out and lazily looked over to see a bright and upbeat Celestia sitting next to her.

“Morning Lulu!” She cheerful said.

“Morning Tia...” Luna replied.

“Something wrong? Is it those bullies again?”

“No... Nanny made me have a morning bath, I hate morning baths!” Luna whined.

“You only hate them because the water makes you wake up suddenly,” Celestia teased.

Luna stuck her tongue out as Blackberry came and sat beside them at the table, she smiled at the two fillies as she looked over to Luna.

“So Luna, would you like to tell me what you dreamt?”

Luna happily nodded, a big grin forming on her face.

“Uhuh! I met a human!”

“Human?” Celestia asked tilting her head, “isn’t that the race mother and father said are all dead?”

“That’s right dear.”

They turned around to see the siblings parents walking into the room, each smiling as the two fillies rushed over to them to hug them.

“Good morning, your majesties.” Blackberry bowed to them.

“And to you Blackberry,” Terra smiled.

“Now what's all this about a human?” Their mother asked as she sat at the table.

“I met a human in my dreams! He got rid of my nightmares!” Luna giggled.

“Is that so?” Terra replied, “well I should thank him then.”

Their mother smiled to him softly, Celestia gave Luna’s mane a quick ruffle as she grinned.

“Its nice that you got an imaginary friend to look out for you Lulu,” Celestia said with a smile.

“Wait... what do you mean imaginary?” Luna asked.

“Well, mother and father did say the humans all disappeared ages ago.” Celestia shrugged.

“Crescent did say that...” Luna muttered in thought, “mother... what did happen with the humans?” Luna asked tilting her head.

Aeterna tapped a hoof to her chin as she thought, she didn’t actually know a lot about the race of men other than they had disappeared from the world nearly ten thousand years ago, the only thing they left behind was the ruins of their temple which was lost in what was now the bad lands.

“I’m not entirely sure dear... not many ponies still believe that their race even existed seeing as there is little to show of their existence. Maybe you could find something in the archives?” Aeterna suggested.

“Aww... but that will take ages!” Luna pouted.

“Come along now Luna,” Blackberry giggled, “I’ll come and help you.”

“Really Nanny?!” Luna gasped.

“Mhm.”

Luna giggled and got down from her chair and sped off quickly towards the direction of the archives, Blackberry and Luna’s parents chuckled as Blackberry turned to Celestia who was chomping away at some toast.

“Would you like to come as well Celestia?” Blackberry asked her.

“Spending my Sunday researching?” Celestia gave a mock thinking pose, “Nah.”

Blackberry rolled her eyes and followed after Luna, she soon found her inside the archives with two guards nearby who had seen the young filly running around the hallways alone and decided to follow her to keep an eye on her. Upon seeing Blackberry they nodded to her and dismissed themselves, Blackberry giggled to herself seeing Luna already surrounded by large books, clearly confused as to what some of them were about.

“Well aren't we keen?” She said.

“Nanny!” Luna whined, “I can’t find anything in these books...”

“You can’t expect to find everything immediately, Luna. You have to be patient,”she looked around and saw the head scribe at his desk, “come along, let’s ask Scribe Quill for some help.”

Luna nodded and they both made their way to the desk, the scribe looked up from his work and smiled warmly at the two.

“Well hello there, Blackberry. And good morning to you as well, Princess Luna.”

“Good Morning, Quill Scribe, Luna here wishes to know if you have any records on the old human culture,” Blackberry replied.

“Well... there might be one or two books but... the majority of the old records were lost during the Dragon rebellion five thousand years ago when they ransacked the old capital and razed it to the ground.”

Luna frowned as her heart sank slightly, Quill Scribe saw the disappointment on the young filly's face and smiled reassuringly at her.

“Well... lets go have a look and see what we can find shall we?”

Luna and Blackberry followed him as he walked down the long aisles filled with row upon row of old books, eventually they came to a very old looking part of the archives that had one or two cobwebs here and there. Quill looked around and pulled out one old book from a shelf with his magic and blew the dust from its covers, Luna felt the dust tickle her nose and she sneezed, scrunching her nose as she blinked.

Blackberry tittered as Quill placed the book down on the floor carefully, letting Luna lie down and look at it. He laid down beside her as did Blackberry and he flipped through the ancient pages until he came to the one he was looking for.

“Here we go...” he muttered before clearing his throat.

“There isn’t much we of ponykind know of the humans other than they might of existed ten thousand years ago and mysteriously vanished, what knowledge survived the great Dragon Rebellion. The humans were revered and rumoured to be the first ‘God’ race in our world, using their wisdom and powers to help stabilize and bring peace to every race. Living in a vast monastery that was know as ‘The Temple of Eternity.’”

Luna listened intently as Quill continued to talk.

“Sadly, because of the Dragon Rebellion, nopony knows where this old monastery resides, the only human ruin rumoured to exist. Only knowing that it is lost in what became know as ‘The Badlands’ when the Dragons razed everything they saw, turning the once lush grasslands into nothing more than desert lands. Scholars have long since debated in the last thousand years whether or not the humans did actually exist, there was never any physical remains and nopony knows what happened to them. They simply vanished from history, when the dragons finally calmed down they were given by the other races the right to control what was left of the badlands, effectively preventing a proper expedition.”

Luna frowned as Quill continued to read, the rest of the book was pretty much ponies theorizing on the existence of the human race and what they actually did, nothing to properly prove if they were real. But she knew they were real, they were real to her.

--x--

Luna yawned as she slowly made her way into her bed, it had been a long day for her. After spending the morning intensively reading the book Quill Scribe dug out for her and coming up with nothing more than what she had already been told she had given up and spent the remainder of the day moping about with Celestia trying to cheer her up. No matter how much Luna protested, nopony seemed to believe her that Crescent was real.

‘Maybe... it was just me dreaming?’ she wondered.

She let out a sigh and snuggled into her pillow, yawning once more as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

--x--

Luna opened her eyes and looked around, she was in a small forest that had lush green trees. Up in the sky was the sun and there were a few clouds, a few birds flew overhead as the wind gently blew past her, rustling the leaves on the trees as well as the grass under her hooves. Smiling to herself she decided to explore more of this forest, her young curiosity overpowering her decision making.

She soon came to a small wooden shack in a small clearing, dotting the four corners of the roof were four paper lanterns that gently blew about in the light breeze. Luna could hear the sounds of a bell ringing softly and upon closer inspection she could see a bell dangling on a piece of fabric that had a crescent shape on it, as she stepped onto the first wooden step she noticed that there was no door. Carefully peering inside, her mouth quickly formed into a grin seeing Crescent sitting outside the shack on the other side to where she was with his staff resting on a shoulder, the lantern dangling behind his back. Beside him was a pot that had some steam rising from the spout.

“Hello again, Little Moon,” Crescent said, peering over his shoulder with a smile.

Luna trotted over to him and took a seat beside him, she grinned up at him, happy to see the human again. He smiled back down at her and lifted the pot into her line of sight.

“Tea?”

“Yes please.”

He smiled again and poured her out a small cup, she thanked him and took it in her hooves and inhaled deeply. Unlike the tea in the palace, this smelt different, and it smelt delicious. Carefully sipping it she let out a happy sigh, feeling the warmth travel through her entire body.

“Thank you, Cresent.”

“You’re welcome, Little Moon.”

“Why do you call me that?” She asked tilting her head, “my name is Princess Luna but you call me Little Moon, why is that?”

“You know how your sister will be taught to raise the sun when she is old enough?” Crescent asked.

“Yeah...”

“And you will be taught how to raise the moon, so you both can take over from Night Sky.”

Luna nodded.

“That’s the reason I call you it,” he smiled at her as he sipped his tea, “because you essentially are a Little Moon.”

“Oh, I think I get it!” Luna smiled.

“There is another reason, though.”

“Huh?”

“It does involve another history lesson...” he smirked down at Luna, seeing her grin return.

Luna quickly scrambled into his lap again, eagerly waiting for the dream world to change once more. Crescent smiled and tapped his staff on the ground and the world began to change, Luna watched as three alicorns, two of which had crowns adorning their heads, two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies walked up to a small raised platform. On top of the platform sat two humans, one male and one female and in the centre sat a very old looking man, his beard reaching down to the ground and his eyes shrunken into his head, like Crescent he had a mark on his forehead but his mark resembled a blazing sun. He looked very skinny and frail but the raw power Luna could feel from him was overwhelming and little scary, she backed into Crescent’s body slightly with a soft whimper as he gently stroked her head reassuringly.

“That is Elder Infinitas, our leader...” he whispered to her.

Luna nodded and watched as the ponies and alicorns bowed to the human, Infinitas slowly stood up and shakily walked over to the two alicorns, using his staff for support. He lifted the heads of the alicorns and Luna could see he was smiling at them, the alicorns had tears in their eyes as she silently watched the exchange of words.

“I remember the day like it was yesterday... the day we made our choice.”

“What choice?” Luna asked.

“The day we decided our time in this world had come to an end, and it was time for the alicorns to take up the role of protectors of the world,” he replied.

Luna gasped softly as the scene changed again, this time she was watching as humans and alicorns appeared to be practising magic together. She saw the two alicorns from the previous scene training with the old man, she curiously tilted her head and gasps again as the female alicorn charged her horn and the sun began to move down slowly before rising up.

“We began to teach the alicorns our true power, we taught the King and Queen how to raise the sun and moon,”

The scene shifted once more to a large fleet of beautiful wooden ships, unlike anything Luna had ever seen before, they had large square like sails and each one had a long red banner like flag atop their masts. Luna noticed as the ships sailed away with the humans on board, a few were still on the shore, watching the others leave. She saw one of them was Crescent and leaned her head backwards to look up at him, he noticed this and pointed his staff out into the scene, the lantern clanking softly.

“Not all alicorns were ready for the power we had to give them... some of us, myself included, remained behind. Waiting for the right one to come along.”

The world began to rapid change, showing in rapid successions the different seasons coming and going as the last humans eventually disappeared. Leaving only one left.

“Why did you stay?” Luna asked him softly.

“Because, no matter how many alicorns came to be born, none of them had the right spirit to take over my role,” Crescent explained, “I waited for eight hundred and fifty years before my mortal body finally surcome to its old age... and I passed on into the Celestial realms of my ancestors.”

Luna watched as some tears formed in her eyes, a very old Crescent making his way through an old run down temple and settling cross legged by a large statue of a human and closing his eyes for the final time.

“But...” she asked with a sniffle, “if you died, how are you talking to me now?”

“Whilst my flesh become dust, my spirit flourished in the dream world... but even then I wasn’t truly saved.”

“What do you mean?”

“I waited in the dream world, protecting as best I could many childrens dreams but my powers are weaker than they used to be... I will soon be unable to remain in the dream world and finally pass into the Celestial realms with my brothers and my sisters.”

He wiped some tears that had formed in Luna’s eyes with his thumb and smiled.

“Do not be sad, Little Moon, for I have had a wonderous life. Made all the better with the birth of you.”

“Me? What’s so special about me?”

“You are being taught, just like the first alicorns, how to control the moon and thus the night when you turn sixteen. But unlike the others before you, who were not powerful enough to control dreams as well, you have something they didn’t.”

“What is it?” She asked.

“You have a close connection to the moon and the night themselves, you don’t just control the night, you are literally the night, in heart, soul and mind.” Crescent replied.

Luna’s eyes widened as she heard this, she felt a bubbly feeling inside of her and she giggled.

“So does that mean, like, I’m better than Celestia?” She asked with hope.

Crescent chuckled and gently poked her nose, she scrunched her face up and gave him a scowl.

“You are both good in your own ways, Little Moon.”

“So... you’re going to teach me how to protect dreams?” Luna asked, her evident excitement in her voice.

“Not yet,” he chuckled, “not until you have grown up a bit more.”

Luna pouted and he gave her another playful poke on the nose.

“Can... you show me some more of the past at least?” She asked him.

“Of course, Little Moon... of course.”

--x--

Luna yawned as she sat up in her bed, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and gave her wings a slight flap. She slunk out of her bed and headed for her dresser in order to brush her mane, today was a special day for her, her eighteenth birthday.

There was a knock on the door and Blackberry entered, her round spectacles balancing on her nose and a warm smile on her face.

“Morning dearie,” she said as she walked over to Luna, “happy birthday!”

“Thank you, Nanny,” Luna replied happily.

Blackberry embraced Luna and levitated a package that was out in the hallway into her room, placing it gently on Luna’s dresser. Luna looked at it and grinned like a child as she started to unwrap it quickly, Blackberry smiled as Luna levitated with her own magic a beautiful, blue necklace with her cutie mark made from a midnight sapphire dangling on the end.

“It’s... beautiful,” Luna whispered.

Blackberry chuckled as she helped Luna levitate the necklace onto her neck and clip it into place, Luna admired herself in her reflection and couldn’t help smile.

“You look so beautiful my dear...” Blackberry smiled to her.

The two left the room after Blackberry had brushed Luna’s mane and headed into the dining room to have breakfast, as they entered Luna saw her parents and sister already sitting there waiting for her.

Celestia hopped out of her chair and pulled her sister into a near bone crushing hug causing Luna to choke for air.

“Whoops, sorry, Lulu,” Celestia giggled, “Happy birthday!”

“Happy birthday, Luna,”Aeterna and Terra said as Aeterna, stepping down and nuzzling her daughters neck.

“Thank you mother and father,” Luna smiled to them.

“Score!” Celestia smirked, “first to say happy birthday again!”

“Actually, dear,” Blackberry chuckled, “I think you’ll find I said it first.”

“But that’s not fair!” Celestia pouted, “you got to see her first thing.”

Luna smiled as she sat in a chair and watched as Blackberry continued to tease Celestia by saying she also gave Celestia her present first, something that made Celestia whine and stomp off, declaring she was going to get her present and it would be better than Blackberry's.

“Actually, Nanny... you technically weren’t the first...”

“Oh wasn’t I?” she asked, “then who was?”

Luna thought back to her previous dream, she had been learning how to do basic dream manipulation spells with Crescent since she had turned sixteen and had been getting the hang of it surprisingly quickly to her. Crescent had shown her nothing but absolute praise as she had mastered the art of being able to change the dreamscapes sky into a variety of colours as well as different types of weather. Before she had woken up, Crescent had wished her a very happy birthday and informed her that because she was now turning eighteen, the age of which an alicorn has their first major power spurt that he will be teaching her more advanced magic.

“Oh... just somebody- I mean somepony!” Luna giggled.

Blackberry raised her eyebrow but rolled her eyes and slowly shook her head with a soft smile.

“So, Luna,” Terra asked taking a bite from his food and swallowing, “are you ready for your lessons this afternoon?”

“Of course! Night Sky has been teaching me for five years now how to regulate my magic and today he promised I could try moving the moon! Will... you be there with me when I do it father?” Luna replied.

Terra chuckled as he got up from the table and walked over to her, giving her a light nuzzle.

“If I’m able to, dear.”

Luna grinned as she followed suit and got down from the table, she was lucky to have her birthday fall on a Saturday as it allowed her to goof off in the morning before her late afternoon-early evening lessons with Night Sky, the Royal advisor and the alicorn entrusted with raising the moon and lowering it.
As she made her way through the halls, she stopped and glared at the approaching three stallions, the ones that would bully her from time to time.

“Hey look guys its Princess loser,” the alicorn sneered.

“Even at her age she’s still a baby!” the unicorn teased.

They walked past her laughing to themselves as Luna carried on walking with her head held up high, she didn’t care for their words as she knew they were just that. She also smirked knowing that Celestia had been behind her and could hear the sounds of the bullies being beaten up by her. She giggled to herself as she made her way outside, determined to enjoy the sunny weather whilst it lasted before attending her evening lessons.

--x--

“Very good, Little Moon, very good!”

Crescent smiled as Luna’s horn glowed a light blue and the sky of the dream world swirled and continued to change from light colours to dark ones. Luna canceled her magic and beamed at Crescent. As Luna had gotten older and her powers over the dream world increased, she had noticed how with each passing trial she passed, Crescent was starting to look more and more older then when she had first met him. She had sadly worked out recently why this was happening, she didn’t want to believe it at first but she knew that Crescent was slowly dying and passing his own energy onto her. Luna had decided when she found out the truth, not to tell him she knew because she didn’t want the training sessions she spent bonding with him to become something depressing.

“It would appear you have mastered all of the basic dream spells already!” He chuckled, taking a seat in the steps of the wooden shack.

Luna giggled as she joined him, taking control of the boiling teapot nearby and pouring themselves a cup of tea.

“And how are your lessons with Night Sky going?” Crescent asked taking a sip, “is he teaching you well?”

“Of course,” Luna replied, “he’s a very wise and powerful alicorn and whilst he is a good teacher... his teaching isn’t as good as yours, but don’t tell him I said that!”

Crescent chuckled as she giggled and they both took another sip from their respective drinks, they remained in silence for a while as they listened to the wind rustle through the trees and the grass.

“So, Little Moon,” he said breaking the silence, “can you tell me the three basics of dream magic?”

Luna rolled her eyes, Crescent asked her this question every time she fell asleep, she knew he was just making suree she truly remembered but it did get a little annoying after awhile.

“For the sixty billionth time,” she poked his side with a cheeky grin, “I can.”

She took a sip of her tea and cleared her throat before carrying on.

“The first basic of dream magic is the mind, the knowledge of what should and what shouldn’t be within a dream.”

“Such as?” he asked.

“Demonic manifestations of the subconscious.”

“Very good, continue.”

“The second basic of dream magic is the heart, the power to truly understand the emotion that should be felt within the dream.”

“Example?

“If the dream is one of romance, the dream should feel romantic and not a negative energy such as sadness of jealousy.”

“Good, and the final one?”

“The third basic of dream magic is the soul, the actual power to hold, maintain and protect the dream itself. Not allowing it to fall from positive to negative.”

Before Crecent could say anything, Luna continued talking.

“Like preventing the dream from falling into a hellish nightmare,” she finished sticking her tongue out.

Crescent chuckled and scratched her ear lightly, Luna let out a happy sigh and leant into the scratch and closed her eyes.

“Very good, Little Moon, you are truly a fast learner.”

“Only because I have a great teacher,” she smiled at him.

“Now that you have mastered the basics, it is time to move onto something a little more tricky as well as advanced.”

Crescent stood up and tapped the ground with his staff, the dream world changed to nothing but a bleak empty void of pure white. Luna looked around curiously as Crescent tapped the ground once more with his staff and several things appeared.

A book, a deer that was frozen in placer, and a large tree.

“Crescent?”

“As a dream guardian, you have the power to not only defeat nightmares, but the power to manipulate the surrounding areas as well as the skies. The skies in a dream are a lot easier to control than what you would call simple objects, for example can you please give life to that deer, Little Moon. As if it was alive in the wild.”

Luna nodded and closed her eyes, she focused her magic and cast her spell over the deer, the deer made a strange gurgling sound and fell over on it’s side and its legs began to kick furiously. She opened her eyes and pouted as the deer continued to flail on its side, she looked to Crescent who was chuckling and gave him a glare.

He tapped his staff on the ground and the deer was placed back in its original position, he walked over to Luna and knelt down beside her.

“Don’t feel bad, Little Moon. I struggled with these spells when I was your age as well, with time you’ll get them,” he reassured her.

Luna sighed and nodded as he stood up and pointed to the tree.

“Perhaps an easier task, control the wind and without pulling them from the branch, make them rustle.”

“Easy! Wind manipulation is one of the-”

“Remember, Little Moon,” he interrupted, “dream magic is different from real world magic.”

Luna nodded and once again charged up her magic, she focused all her might and soon a fairly strong wind blew past them and towards the tree. She grinned as she heard the leaves rustle and bounced up and down on the spot.

“I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID-”

The tree suddenly was uprooted and was thrown across the dreamscape, Luna’s eyes widened as she looked to Crescent who shook his head and sighed but had a soft smile on his face.

“You need to-”

“Control my magic and be calm, I know.”

He chuckled as he tapped the ground and reset the tree in it’s place, now turning his attention to the book.

“Now with the book...”

--x--

Luna stretched out her body as she made her way down the hallways of the palace, she had recently just turned twenty four and had already nearly mastered raising and lowering the moon, much to the surprise of Night Sky and her sister. She took sibling-rivalry based pride in the fact that Celestia, who was older, had been struggling to raise the sun at times.

“Morning Princess Luna.”

She raised her head to see the three ponies from her childhood walking towards her, the alicorn and pegasus were wearing royal armour whilst the unicorn was wearing noble robes of a scholar.

“And to you gentlecolts,” she replied.

She smiled as the trip walked past, around her twentieth birthday and about the fiftieth time she and Celestia had beaten them up - given she had gained new found confidence thanks to Crescent - they had finally pulled their heads from their flanks and realised that they had been wasting a fair amount of their lives, riding on the positions of their respective families and had decided to make a better life for themselves. They had also managed to work up the courage and bravery to apologise for their cowardice as foals for the way they treated Luna to which she apologised, being taught not to bear a grudge despite how much she had thought they had truly deserved it.

She entered the gardens to where she had planned to meet up with Celestia that day, it was a special anniversary that the girls never missed. Celestia saw Luna approaching and she stood up, slowly nuzzling her little sister on the cheek.

“Hey Lulu... you ready?”

“Of course...”

The two walked side by side, Celestia asked Luna how her training was going in the dream world. She had been told by Luna when she was twenty that she had been learning how to control and protect dreams to coinside with her role as the ruler of the night, Celestia had found this a bit far fetched until Luna kept popping up in her dreams and essentially annoying her and Celestia finally believed Luna had the power, especially when Luna would tell Celestia exactly what she dreamt about.

However, when Luna told her she had been taught by Crescent, Celestia brushed it off as something Night Sky was teaching her and refused to believe in her stories claiming she needed to grow up and stop with all this imaginary friend business. Luna had tried to ask Crescent if he would appear in Celestia’s dreams but he had told her he wouldn’t if it was just to get the one up on Celestia and she soon gave up arguing with the pair of them.

They soon passed through a pair of metal gates and came to their destination, standing in silence before speaking up.

“You know... I’ve gotten mastery over the sun now,” Celestia began, “Solar Flare tells me I’m the first alicorn in history to achieve it at such a young age.”

“And Night Sky tells me I’m the youngest at raising the moon, my dream walking training is going extremely well as well... you’d be proud of us... I know you would... we love you.”

Luna felt a few trickles of tears flow down her cheek as did Celestia as he looked down at a mound of dirt with a medium sized slab of stone that stood tall from the ground with the words.

‘Hear lies Blackberry,
Beloved friend, mentor and nanny to the royal family,
She will never be forgotten and always be loved and remembered,
May she rest in peace with the ancestors.’

The two stood in silence as their tears softly fell from their faces, both leaning against one another as they heard their parents soon joining them, placing a bouquet of red lilies onto the mound.

--x--

“Is something wrong, Little Moon?”

Luna looked up from where she was lying with some tears in her eyes to see Cresent looking down at her with concern on his face, he looked much older now than when Luna had first met him. Gone was his smooth skin and in its place were wrinkles that showed just how truly he had aged, Luna had wondered why he had started to change but she had a terrible gut feeling why and didn’t want to have it confirmed.

“I-It’s nothing Crescent... it’s just... just...”

Crescent silently sat beside her and she buried her face into his chest and broke down crying, the weather changing to heavy rain as she sobbed her heart out into his robes, staining them with her tears. Crescent silently stroked her back, whispering to her softly as he kept the rain from hitting them, letting her vent herself as he kept the dream from falling into a nightmare for her.

--x--

Luna sighed as she sat by her dresser and looked into her mirror, she stared back at the now twenty nine year old alicorn in the mirror and smiled softly as she started to brush her hair with her magic. Today was a very special and important day for both her and her sister Celestia, she heard a knock on the door and turned to face it.

“Come in.”

The door opened and two lunar guards entered and gave her a salute before standing to attention.

“Your majesty, we have come to escort you to the throne room.”

“Very well, thank you.”

Luna stood up and looked over herself one last time, she levitated a necklace from her dresser and clipped it around her neck, the midnight sapphire twinkling slightly as she placed a hoof over it and closed her eyes with a smile.

She followed the two guards out of the room and into the throne room, everypony that could be there from the noble houses of Canterlot were there. At the end of the room beside the throne was her sister and her parents, they smiled as she approached the throne and stood beside her sister, looking up to her parents.

“My loyal subjects...” Terra began, “as you know, after so many years an alicorn’s power wanes with age until they are unable to go on, such is the curse of our race.”

He paused as he reflected on the drawback of an alicorn, whilst powerful, they slowly lost their power as the years rolled by and he and his wife had been feeling their power slowly drifting away from them.

“And as by Royal decree, set down by the first King of our great nation, King Vitam, the rule shall be passed to the first born when the current ruler reaches their point in their life cycle... however, I along with my wife, Queen Aeterna, as well as our close advisors have decided that along with the crowning of our eldest born, Celestia. That our second born, Luna, be crowned both as joint Princess rulers of our kingdom.”

The room roared with approval as the sounds of hooves stomping echoed in the throne room, Aeterna stepped forward and a servant stepped along side her, carrying a pillow with two crowns, one golden and the other midnight.

“I, Queen Aeterna of Equestria, hereby crown thee, Celestia, Princess of the Day.”

She levitated the golden crown onto Celestia’s head carefully.

“And I, King Terra of Equestria, hereby crown thee, Luna, Princess of the night.”

Terra levitated the midnight crown up and onto Luna’s head carefully.

“With this, we further crown you as the new rulers of Equestria. All hail, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!” Terra finished.

“All hail, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!”

The room cheered before everypony bowed to the new rulers, as they did, Terra and Aeterna;s manes slowly returned to normal as Celestia and Luna’s began to change into ones similar to their parents. Gone was Celestia’s pink mane and was replaced with an array of colours as it gently danced in the air alongside Luna’s, whose mane changed from light blue to one rivaling a midnight sapphire as white dots resembling stars appeared on it.

--x--

Luna giggled as she walked up to Crescent, who was sitting on a rock and giving her a soft clap, a big grin on his face.

“So... I believe congratulations are in order, your majesty!” He said bowing dramatically and rolling his hand.

“Oh stop it you,” she giggled.

“What can I say... I’m proud of you, Little Moon.”

Luna smiled as she made some tea appear from nowhere, she had learned long ago how Crescent did the simple tea spell and would often do it for them, given that as she grew older and more powerful in the dream world, he had shown more and signs of aging. She had worked out what it had meant but as always, she didn’t want to say it. Just thinking about it was too painful for her to do.

“I just wish Nanny was still alive...” she whispered.

“I know, Little Moon, I know... I know that she is so very proud of you and always will be.”

Luna smiled up at Crescent who slid off the rock and walked past her hunched over using his staff for support.

“Little Moon...” he started turning to look at her, “you have mastered nearly all their is to master with dream magic... it’s time you now learn how to deal... with nightmares.”

Luna sat down on her rump slowly as Crescent turned away from her and tapped the floor with his staff, the world changed to show a large battle taking place between all of the known races on the planet excluding humans and alicorns.

“Before we arrived, this was what the world looked like, chaos thrived and evil was everywhere. Every race wanted total control of the world and gladly fought to the death over a simple patch of land.”

She watched as a dragon was brought down and killed by a large swarm of changelings before they took off again, heading for their next target. She gasped as a black shadow swarmed the dragons body and consumed it, leaving nothing behind.

“Before our arrival, evil was everywhere in the form of shadows. It would feast upon the dead and through the minds of the living, sparing absolutely no one.”

The world changed as he tapped his staff revealing a scene of him and many others in the temple being taught by Infinitas, the young Crescent was warping the objects around him with the other humans.

“Elder Infinitas taught us how to banish evil and from the moment we arrived that is just what I did along with my brothers and sisters, we thought we had defeated the shadows until the children of the younger races started having horrific dreams. We knew there and then that this evil had infiltrated the sanctity of their dreams, and we had to stop them.”

Once more the world changed, this time with Crescent in a large demonic forest facing off a large demonic looking shadow. Behind him was a small pony colt, curled up in a ball and was shaking. Luna watched as the shadow was destroyed and absorbed into the lantern on his staff, just like with her nightmare. The dream Crescent then comforted the colt and returned his dream to normal.

“This... is what you will be fighting, Little Moon... and you are ready to learn how to.”

Luna nodded as the world returned to the white void he used for her training sessions, she stood up as Crescent turned to face her.

“You must always remember, nightmares are a negative energy that will corrupt your mind and turn you into darkness. If you so much as lower your guard, for whatever reason be it pure anger or any other negative emotion. You must always remain vigilant and be aware of it, nightmares can retreat and form with other nightmares and wait for you to make a mistake. Little Moon... are you ready?”

“I am...” she replied softly.

“Then we shall begin.”

Crescent tapped his staff and the lantern shone brightly before a black shadow shot out and soared in the sky, he then vanished leaving Luna alone with the shadow. She began to panic at first, thinking he had abandoned her to take the trial without being their for her until he heard his voice in her mind.

“I’m here, Little Moon, remember the three basics of dream magic as well as believe in yourself...”

“So...” a loud booming voice that came from the shadow echoed, “YOU are to be the next so called dream guardian?”

The shadow roared in laughter as the sound of thunder boomed around it, Luna bit her lip remembering her nightmares as a filly.

“Stay strong, Little Moon.”

She nodded and began to focus her magic into her horn, the shadows just laughed at her and landed on the ground with a loud boom. Luna watched as it slowly transformed into a large reptilian creature that resembled a snake with red glowing eyes and fangs that were longer than her, each one dripping with saliva. Her eyes widened and she took a step back before gritting her teeth, she snorted and took a step forwards and stood her grounds.

“FOUL DEMON!” She bellowed in a booming voice of her own, much like the first time she heard Crescent speak, “YOU SHALL NEVER TAINT A CHILD'S DREAM EVER AGAIN!”

The shadow snake recoiled slightly, a tiny hint of fear twinkling in its eye before it regained its ground.

“You may speak like a guardian, but you are still weak compared to the power of nightmares!”

It lunged at Luna with it’s head, ready to take a bite out of her. Luna quickly opened her wings and shot into the air, easily dodging the attack as he horn glowed brighter.

‘Almost... almost’ she thought as she felt her spell nearing completion.

The shadow could feel the power growing in her horn and realised that she was nearly ready, it quickly weighed its options and decided to try and make a break for it. It slithered away quickly trying to break down the void and escape her dream and enter another.

“Now, Little moon!” Crescent’s voice rang in her head.

Luna let out a loud roar as her horn blasted a beam of pure white towards the shadow, before it could even react it let out a shriek as the beam pierced it. Luna noticed Crescent's lantern materializing beside her.

“Now seal it.”

Luna gritted her teeth as the lantern shone brightly and the shadow shot towards it, screaming as it did.

“Disappear...” Luna whispered.

The shadow screamed one last time before being sealed into the lantern and along with the lantern it vanished, Luna panted heavily as she slowly landed on the ground as the world changed to the small forest with the wooden shack.

She felt herself being helped up by her hoof and looked up to see Crescent, a smile of pride on his face as he walked her to the steps to sit down.

“You have done well, Little Moon... you are ready...”

“Thank you... Crescent...” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes.

“I’m so proud of you... my Little Moon...”

Crescent brought Luna into a tight embrace as Luna returned it, smiling happily to herself as her tears silently fell down her face.

--x--

“Hello, Lulu.”

Luna turned from where she was standing on the balcony of the palace to see Celestia coming up alongside her, she had just finished raising the moon and Celestia yawned softly.

“Good evening, Tia,” Luna smiled back.

“You ready for the night court?” Celestia asked her.

“Almost... there’s one thing I want to do first, you go ahead to bed Tia.”

“Ok, Luna... goodnight,”

Celestia and Luna nuzzled one another before Celestia headed off to her bedroom, Luna waited for her sister to be out of sight before she walked back out onto the balcony and took off, spreading her wings as she glided silently to the ground.

She walked through the gardens, listening to the sounds of the night as the wind blew softly and rustled the leaves of the trees and grass. She soon came to a small stone podium that was as high as she was and stopped, smiling up at it as a few tears formed in her eyes.

“I know I come here almost every night but... you meant so much more to me then you will never know, you were like a second father to me...”

She lowered her head and chuckled to herself as her tears silently fell to the grass.

“You protected me from the nightmares, taught me so much about our past and was always there for me if I needed you... I’m going to miss you Crescent... so much...I love you,”

She looked up at the podium again and smiled, wiping her tears away from her eyes and she turned around and walked away. Leaving what would look like a simple, old Lantern resting on a podium with no inscription alone, the lantern briefly shone a bright white before returning to what it looked like before.

The End.

Author's Note

[Edited version to come.] Any errors let me know!