Five Dances in Dreamland

Swirling, tumbling mist. Then clear. The hill had become night. The stars were points of sparkling ice in the black infinity, hung in galactic circles. In the center, beholden to but one alone, the perfect gaping light of the white moon. That knee-bending silent planet.

Twilight found herself alone on the hill. She pushed herself off of the grass and stood up. She stared in—out—through forever. She looked down. She wore over her underwear night robes—glowing with their own stars. She clasped her hand: skin. Through her robes: wind. She felt. Still a dream?

The ground softened, then almost gave in beneath her feet. A dream. Then how...

A gust of ice. Up. A piercing silhouette descended from the moon's light. Hooded, caped, but pure black against the moon. Descending further, then landed upon the hill ahead of her. Twilight started towards it, then appeared just before it. A woman. Navy blue adorned full military dress, black cape thrown over one shoulder, saber by her side. She brought up her gloved hands to remove her hood. A towering crown of true black. Long, flowing, mystical blue hair of stars. Face like the warmth of the pale-white moon. Eyes like crystal-blue event horizons of the soul. Princess of the Night.

"Princess Luna... She couldn't tell if the words actually came out.

The princess smiled. "Well met, my child." Her soft commanding voice. "How hast thou done these days?"

Twilight stumbled towards her. "Princess! Princess Luna! I-it's been so long!"

"Indeed, it has. What cruel fate hath brought us to wake while the other sleepeth?"

Twilight chuckled. "Sometimes I wonder that myself."

Princess Luna gazed around the misty night hills. "This is a beautiful scene thou hast created."

Twilight looked around too. "I made this?"

"Some deep part of thy mind findeth this to be beautiful, and thus painted it for thee. Whether or not that part of thy mind is part of thyself is a fickle question."

Twilight looked back to Luna. "But what are you doing here?"

"I come here for the same reason I visit all of my subjects: to help those in need."

"Y-you think I'm in need somehow?"

"I know thou art, Twilight Sparkle. I have sensed thine anguish as thou sleepst."

"So...does that mean you've been in my dreams before...?"

"I cannot say that I have. Thou hast lately dreamed very little."

"Yeah, well, I haven't slept much lately." Twilight chuckled.

"But I do indeed know that thou art in need. And if my sister in fact knoweth as well, then she hath certainly not shown that she does."

"But wait, I'm asleep now, right? How can I know that I'm asleep but not wake up?"

"I take care not to disturb the rest of my subjects when I visit them. More importantly, thou art unable to wake for thou hast unsettled thy mind with thy magic. It hath been fatigued too much for it to awaken."

"So...that means that I'm the one who did this...."

"Indeed."

"But that means...that means that you saw everything that I was dreaming about just now...."

"Indeed."

"Oh...." Twilight took a breath. She chuckled. "Sorry. It's just a little embarrassing, is all...."

"Twilight Sparkle, here, there is nothing to be ashamed of. This is the land of dreams: a world without the terror of the boundaries of other people. There are no secrets. There are no fears. This is the place where our minds melt together. Therefore fear nothing, hold back nothing, let it all out."

Twilight stared into Luna's infinite eyes. She laughed again. "Thank you so much, Princess Luna."

Luna raised her gloved hands to her head and lifted her crown from her head. It faded into a black mist. "Thou mayst address me here as simply 'Luna,' Twilight Sparkle."

"Okay. Sure thing."

Luna sat herself on the grassy night hill, and beckoned for Twilight to sit by her. Twilight climbed up the hill and sat herself a few feet away from the princess.

Twilight turned to Luna. "So, do you know everything that I'm thinking while you're here?"

"I know whereon thou thinkest just as much as thou dost I. I can know only what thy mind chooseth to show me."

Twilight looked down at her knees and smiled a little. "I guess that makes me feel a bit better."

"I respect thy privacy, Twilight. However, I am here for thee. It is in your interest not to keep secrets."

"I won't. I mean, I guess I'll try not to."

Luna stared out across the black night landscape. "So it would seem that thou hast fallen for your friend, Fluttershy."

"...Yeah, I suppose."

"Hast thou not, then?"

"...I dunno. Maybe she's just too perfect. I mean, maybe the two of us is too perfect.... She's never had a boyfriend or girlfriend before, just like me.... I think that's just the kind of person I want to be with."

"How would it be to be with someone else?"

"I don't want to be with someone who's done it all before.... I don't want to be some inexperienced burden on someone else....  I liked what me and Fluttershy had back there. It was...just really nice...."

"...'But?'"

Twilight looked up again at her. "'But?'"

"It seemed as if something had happened—like thou were uncomfortable."

"Back then? Right, you saw all that...."

"You two were very beautiful."

Twilight looked back down and laughed. "Um, thanks, I guess!" She couldn't control her smile. "I mean, it's not like it was me and a real person out there. She was just a projection of Fluttershy in my head...." Twilight looked up to the stars. "...Why would I dream about the two of us...doing that...and not dream about it being perfect...? Like how...like how...you know how it was kinda weird at first, kinda awkward...then all that stuff at...at the end, or whatever...."

Luna looked up with her. "At times we dream of things whereon we worry. And at times our dreams serve to ready us for these things where they to happen in reality."

"Well," Twilight smiled and looked back to her knees, "I don't know how good practice that was. I don't exactly know what Fluttershy...or anyone really, would do in that situation...." She put her head on her knees, staring out past the hills. "Why wouldn't I know something like that about her? Or everyone else?"

Luna looked to Twilight. Twilight buried her face in her knees. Then she looked up and turned to Luna's eyes, then turned her eyes down. "I mean, it kinda sounds like a stupid question, but now that I'm thinking about it, it's really weird. I have this really close circle of friends, and I've learned so much about them...but there are things about them I'll never learn if I just stay friends with them.... I'll never...I'll never know what Fluttershy kisses like.... I'll never know how she likes to be touched.... And I'd very much like to know those things, especially," she smiled, "especially so I don't screw up in real life like I did with dream-Fluttershy."

"So what happened, then?"

Twilight turned and put her face back in her knees. "I-I think I made Fluttershy feel uncomfortable. Like I went to far, or too fast or something. It's not like I know what I'm doing anyway, and it wasn't even with a real person. I mean, I said that the two of us might be too perfect—because we've both never dated and everything—but I don't know if it's possible for me to get the real Fluttershy to open up...."

"'Open up?'"

"She might be to reserved for it to work between us."

"Twilight, thou art a smart child. Thou knowest that no matter how much one might wish, no perfect person will ever exist. Thou knowest that no matter what person one might meet, one wilt always in that person faults find."

"'I'll always find faults in them...?' But," Twilight looked at Luna, "there...I know there's a perfect person out there...."

"Who, then?"

Twilight looked away again. "I-I shouldn't have brought that up. It's not relevant anyway."

"Come, tell now."

"...I-I was just thinking about...about my friend...my friend, Rarity...."

"The fashion girl?" Twilight nodded. "Yes, I remember her. Thou sayest she is 'perfect?'"

"I...I dunno. She just is. I don't really get it myself."

"Well then, why is it that thou dreamest not of her? Shouldst thou not be instead with her?"

"Maybe...I mean, I don't exactly control my dreams. There's no point in me dreaming about her anyway; it can't ever happen for real."

"Why not?"

"I-It just can't. There's—someone..."

"Someone?"

"It's just impossible. There's no way I could ever be with Rarity." Her heart dropped down her throat like iron. "But, I'd really like to...."

"Doth she know that thou lovest her?"

"'Love...?' I-I...no. She doesn't know that—that I—she doesn't know that."

"Dost thou plan to confess her?"

"'Confess...?' Confess to her...?" Sur la Pont... Twilight stood up. "...I have get out of here. I have to wake up."

"'Tis impossible, Twilight."

"How can I get out of here?"

"Thou canst not; thy mind must rest!"

"But, there's something I have to do!"

"What, then?"

"I-I uh..." Sur la Pont...

Luna had stood up and put a gloved hand on Twilight's shoulder. "No secrets."

"...I-I have to get hurry and get back, so I can write something down, before I forget it. I have to. If I don't, s-she and I will never..."

"Didst thou not say 'twas impossible?"

"...Yeah, I did. But..." Sur la Pont...

Luna sat back down on the black grass. "I am certain thou wilst not forget it. It is the reason thou art unable to wake in the first place, is it not? Thou hadst strengthened thy memory, hadst thou not?"

Sur la Pont... "I guess.... There's no way it'll happen anyway."

"Then there is no need to hurry." Twilight and Luna stared off into the black. Twilight sat herself back down next to Luna in the dreamgrass.

"I mean, she's beautiful...and kind...."

"Yes, indeed."

Twilight's body jumped—her head darted around—"Wait, what just happened?"

"Most likely thou hadst slipped into a lower state of sleep while we talked. We talked for probably a minute without you being aware of it."

"I-is that normal?"

Luna chuckled. "Little of this night's sleep will be normal. But 'tis nothing to worry over."

"Okay...what were—"

"I had asked thee about Fluttershy."

"Right. I mean, okay."

"Dost thou still love her?"

"I mean...So, yeah, the reason I said the two of us is too perfect is because I found out that neither of us has ever been in a relationship or anything with anyone before.... Yeah, and for all I know, we're the only two people our age in town who haven't before.... But..." Twilight sighed. "I dunno. I...I-I think I've...I think my problem now is that I like all of my friends now. I can't stop thinking about them. And I have to see them everyday...and..."

"Thou canst no longer stand to be with them?"

Twilight nodded.

"I see."

"I don't even know how that should be possible. I thought the whole point of this whole stupid love thing was that there's supposed to be one person that you want to be with, or whatever.... And I can't just pick one. Why can't all of us just be together anyway? Like, "together" together I mean. I don't see why not."

Luna stared off into black space. She sighed. "Long ago, before any one of you was ever born, when I still lived on this Earth, I met my first lover: a young dragon-blooded man. He was a man of great power, and the people of Canterlot did fear him. And so he was forced to live in a cave high in a mountain, and walk the night, living off the scraps of those who walked the day. I was the only person he mighteth find awake at night, and so we met in the light of the moon.

"One night, as we walked through the woods, we came upon a water sprite swimming in a lake. She was a beautiful young thing, blue, webbed, her sleek naked body. The three of us made love there on the lakeshore. From that night on, we would meet together on that lakeshore, all three of us together, sometimes simply I and the dragon-blood, sometimes simply I and the water sprite. He and she could do things mere men and women never could." Luna smiled, shifting her legs as she wrapped her hands around her

knees.

Her smile faded. "One night, I had met with the water sprite on the lakeshore, just the two of us, and in came the dragon-blood. He burned with jealousy, and from his mouth spewed forth a white-hot river of flame, which boiled the lake. The sprite was consumed by flames in an instant, right before mine eyes. I stood there before the black crater, and when I was forced to inhaled the steam and smoke, the little water that remained in the lake was drawn ever weakly towards my body—it mocked me and my murdered love.

"Naturally, my sister did see to it that the dragon-blood was immediately captured and put to death."

Luna's fists clenched as she tugged on her knees, still staring into the distant nothing. Twilight stared at her. "That's an amazing story, Princess.... It's almost like a fairy-tale or something...."

Luna smiled. "Well, it did happen a very long time ago. One can never remember the details of these things. But not one soul wrote this down when it happened. I am the only witness to its events. And thus, I am forced write the story for myself. Perhaps the dragon-blood was put to death, perhaps he was exiled. It matters not. I can only write this story with the memories that sit behind the fog of over a thousand years that hath passed, and the mist of the tears I shed that day.

But since then, I have taken so many more lovers, and I have learned so many more things."

"Wow." Twilight looked back down at her own knees.

"Does it make thee jealous?"

"A little."

"It is only natural. Thou hast never a lover before taken, yet thou hast such beautiful women for friends to enjoy, and they are only friends to thee."

"I can't stand to be with them anymore."

"Then confess them."

"I can't just—! I-I..." Twilight groaned and fell back onto the grass. "...And I guess you mean...just one of them, right...?"

"I do."

Twilight covered her eyes. She sighed. "I don't even know which one I would confess to...."

"Not to Rarity?"

"Not to her."

"Twilight, thy body—"

Twilight lifted her hands—"AH!"—a black fog enveloped her right arm.

Luna jumped to her feet—"Do not worry! Thou slipst merely into a deeper sleep!"

Twilight's arms grew heavy—she dropped them to the grass. She felt the ground melting beneath her, the air melting around her. "I-I'll see you again, right...?"

"I am certain."

Twilight's vision grew dark, everything about to fall. "I...I...what..."

"Search thine heart, Twilight Sparkle," Luna's voice echoed, "no matter how much it may hurt!"