Crunching of dead leaves and fallen branches could be heard in the dark, lonely forest. The only source of light for the pony walking through it was the silver full moon that shone from above. She was very thankful for it since it illuminated the path ahead. Her ears twitched every second with every little sound they could perceive. A timberwolf? A manticore? Cockatrice?

...Oh, just a bunny.

Twilight Sparkle was in a constant state of alert that kept her from falling asleep in the middle of the forest, which could be catastrophic. However, she knew she would eventually be so tired she would fall asleep even on poison joke. The bags under poor Twilight's eyes only emphasized her state.

Lesson learned; Twilight was going to put some limits to these favors. Seriously? Look for some legendary flowers that probably didn't even exist in the middle of the night at the Everfree Forest for a dress? And at full moon and with nothing more than a pair of saddlebags with some water, a small shovel and some flower pots? She didn't want to admit it, but Rarity owed her a big one.

What kept her from simply returning to Ponyville was that her own curiosity had made her accept Rarity's request... and that she was lost.

The "Sapphire Ghost Flower", a flower that looks like a sapphire and disappears like a ghost. The legend said these flowers had sprouted on a mountain in the Everfree Forest from Luna's tears of sorrow, days or even hours before her transformation into Nightmare Moon. They only appear at full moon.

There were a couple of testimonies from anonymous ponies written in the book; all of them claimed these blueish crystal flowers seemed to shine, reflecting the mystical light of the full moon. Ponies thought they were hallucinating, dreaming, or even seeing a cruel illusion cast by a prankster unicorn long ago, or even by Princess Luna herself. They would "wake up" but the flowers would be nowhere to be seen.

Twilight began to question her actual motives. She was pursuing a legend in an unexplored, dangerous territory alone, in the middle of the night. There wasn't a single bit of proof backing up the presumed existence of these flowers, like most of the myths in that book. On top of that, many obviously fake stories surrounded the Royal Sisters just to give their sole existence some... wonder, fantasy and mystery, something more exquisite to their characters instead of just "the powerful immortal sisters who rule our kingdom."

And it worked; Princess Luna was actually one of Twilight Sparkle's biggest enigmas, probably the biggest. Maybe it's in her nature as the Princess of the Night, when everything is dark and uncertain. The possibilities of what may lie in this dense veil of black can make a pony's imagination run wild.

Twilight used to be scared of darkness until she met Princess Luna. She actually understood that it was in the middle of this darkness where she could find the real light; the one that guides and illuminates the path ahead instead of blinding you. The darkness provided the silence, serenity and privacy needed. It cleared your mind and shut it away from the rest of the world.

Then, in that internal peace, you could find the truth.

There was some other kind of truth Twilight wanted to find, though. It was the truth of the enigma that was Princess Luna. All those mysteries spoken by the books in her library seemed so false, but when she saw her she actually felt like they could be true.

And maybe it was true; sorrow could bloom into those mystical flowers that Twilight could see on top of that hill...

She had found them. The Sapphire Ghost Flowers.

Was she hallucinating? Or dreaming? Was this a cruel illusion cast by a prankster unicorn long ago or was this from Princess Luna herself?

Wait... is that?

"Princess Luna?" Twilight swore she could see the indigo princess, lacking her regalia, weeping in the middle of the crystal flower bed.

It was...

Gorgeous.

Twilight was spellbound. She could only stand there, agape, watching the beauty in front of her eyes. She felt a pang at her heart as she watched tears streaming down this majestic beauty's cheeks.

Was this a dream? The projection of the strong sorrow the Moon Princess had left behind a thousand years ago? Twilight could only stare, and keep building hypotheses, trying to explain the scene she beheld in front of her; the perfect combination of the mist, the moon, the stars and the shinning flowers made it surreal to a level, it looked like a professional painting made long ago by a gifted pony, or even like a vision from the past.

The long sought flowers now seemed like a simple background that helped the Night Princess stand out; an accompaniment to a greater melody. However, the audience was too far away, she wanted to hear more of it and to take a closer look; to keep delighting her five senses with its harmony.

Twilight gave a step forward, then two. Two became four, and four became eight. Eight shaky steps, but eight never became nine; the ninth step made a sound that interrupted the perfect performance of pure sorrow.

The performer gasped.

"...T-Twilight?" The melodious shaky voice whispered, and its owner turned her head towards the scared audience, showing fear and confusion. "Twilight Sparkle?"

"I-I'm sorry if I interrupted something..." Suddenly, everything around Twilight began to dissipate...

Twilight gasped, opening her eyes in horror. Yes, she had fallen asleep standing up and in the middle of the infamous Everfree Forest. Twilight wanted to be disappointed because it had all been a dream, but she was too scared to even worry about that...

She could hear a growl right behind her...

What would you do if you were in a situation like this? Depends. You could stay completely still, or you could back away slowly... But Twilight Sparkle ran. She ran away from a timberwolf as fast as a librarian could. The thing was, she was no normal librarian. The element of Magic and her friends had even run away from hydras!

However, no matter how fast she ran, the timberwolf was getting her and more timberwolves were joining him. Her lungs were starting to hurt, and her legs began to burn. Teleportation spell... oops. Poison Joke. Twilight cursed those flowers, and her wobbly, blue-dotted, useless horn.

A loud shriek scared away numerous of the forest's smallest animals. Twilight felt hopeless.

Twilight turned her head slightly sidewards, and saw the pack of timberwolves almost right behind her. Was this it? Was she going to die because of a silly dream and a non-existent flower?

Suddenly, Twilight couldn't hear their the timberwolves any more. Looking back, she found that somepony had cast a magical barrier right behind her, making the wolves crash against it and give up the chase.

Oh, their eyes... Twilight could clearly understand they said, "'Till next time..."

Tired, she reduced her gallop to a brisk trot. She didn't want to stop; another hideous creature would see that as a big chance.

"Twilight!" Was that Rarity's voice? Twilight looked up and saw she had somehow made it out of the Everfree Forest. She threw herself into the pasture, right in front of Rarity's hooves. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Do I look okay to you?" The tired mare stood up, annoyed, and started making her way to her tree house. She needed a bath, a blanket and a generous amount of sleep.

"I'm sorry, darling! I just started feeling so guilty for sending you there alone for some... flowers... Did you find them?"

"...I" Twilight remembered what she had seen. The flowers, the weeping beauty... She felt really strange... she felt a pain in her heart. "No, I couldn't find them."

Author's Note

Another two-shot. Next chapter will be up soon. This one is a TwiLuna. Tell me what you think.

I am very unsure if I captured the beauty I wanted with the drawing, though...