With Tired Eyes We Dream

Twilight and Rainbow leaped to their hooves as they suddenly awoke in Celestia's royal chambers. A look of concern shot across their face as their hearts still raced from the battle. Was it over? Rainbow Dash quickly scanned her body for any wounds while Twilight carefully walked out onto the spire.

“Hey Twi. Did we win?” Rainbow flew to her friend's side to join her on the balcony.

“I honestly don't know, but I think we are home.” A slight beacon of dawn crept over the horizon blinding the mares as they stepped out into the newly formed day. The sun slowly climbed high into the sky as Celestia triumphantly stood in the cool breeze. “Celestia!”

Celestia turned toward Twilight only to find her wrapped around her chest in a warm embrace. Caught off guard Celestia lightly placed her head on Twilight's shoulder. “It is good to see you returned to the world of the waking. I am forever grateful for everything you and Rainbow Dash have done.” Celestia raised from the hug and proceeded to bow in appreciation of Rainbow's help. “You two have help bring harmony back to the realm of dreams as well as helped my sister regain her faith in herself.

With those words a winged image cast its shadow across the platform sending the two weary mares into defensive stances. Their journey was too long and painful for them to drop their guards so easily. Suddenly the shadow passed by again only to reveal Luna gently gliding down from the fleeting night. “Hello Tia, It is a lovely morning.”

“Welcome home Luna.” Celestia lightly bowed to her sister.

“Celestia? I am sorry.” Luna's head hung low as she shuffled her hooves.

“Oh Luna.” In a single motion Celestia had Luna wrapped in her hooves. “I am the one who should be sorry. I should have been more open to your feelings. I shouldn't have drove you away.”

“So what happened to the nightmares?” Rainbow Dash broke the mood of the loving scene as she slowly hovered around to the other side of the two princesses.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shot the rainbow pegasus a hateful look.

“What? We did just spent what feels like an eternity fighting that stupid thing. So forgive me for asking about it.” Rainbow returned the evil glare and carefully landed next to her friend.

“It is okay Princess Twilight, she has a right to know.” Luna turned away from her sister and stared at the two inquiring mares. “The nightmares have been defeated and locked away deep in the dreamworld. As long as ponies dream the nightmares will exist, but I believe we won't have to deal with them for along time. Maybe then I will be fully prepared to face them.” Luna's words trailed off as the last words left her lips. Though she had regained a lot of her confidence back, she still had a long way to go. In her mind she was still to blame for their recent events.

“No, next time, we will be ready to face them together.” Celestia placed her hoof under Luna's chin. “Luna I am proud of you for facing your fears.”

Luna's eyes watered as her heart soared inside. “I want to thank you all for everything, especially you two. Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight Sparkle, if it wasn't for your help I would still be lost in my emotions. Thank you.”

“You are welcome. You are our friend Luna, and we will always be there to help.”

“Yeah Luna if you ever need anything feel free to ask. Besides what were we doing today anyway?” Rainbow Dash froze instantly as she realized what she had just said. Rocketing into the air she fanatically circled the room. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”

“Rainbow Dash what's wrong?” Twilight's eyes swirled in her head as she attempted to follow the excited mare around the room.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight's horn turned a bright lavender as she froze Rainbow in mid flight. “There. Now tell us what's wrong.”

“What time is it? What time is it?”

“I have just raised the sun. Why do you ask?” Celestia's head tilted to the side as she try to figure out the connection between the time of day and Rainbow's sudden outburst.

“Before we got caught up with the whole dreamworld thing, Twilight and I were going to go check out the Daring Do convention. We were going to get there early so we would be first in line.” Rainbow trotted in the air as her glare shot back and forth between Celestia and Twilight.

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that. Well I bet we can still make it if you still want to go.”

“Ah yeah, I want to go. Daring Do is like my hero, but we will never get there in time.”

Twilight placed her hoof on Dash's shoulder as she gently pointed at her horn. “We could always teleport there.”

Without another word the two mares exploded out of the room with a flash of light leaving the two sisters to reflect on their relationship and the events that had transpired. Luna and Celestia look out over the balcony at the still waking kingdom and gave out a sigh of relief. “It looks like you have created another beautiful day Tia.”

“Thank you Luna. I think everything will be okay.”

* * *
Having just finished her daily weather duties Rainbow Dash shot through the sky so she could get back to reading the latest book in the Daring Do series. Weeks had past since Twilight and Rainbow had journeyed into the dream realm in search of Luna, and life had all but returned to normal. Racing at top speed Rainbow couldn't help noticing that Ponyville just did not seem as sharp as it normally did. The town just seemed blurry. Ever sense she had returned from the dream scape things just haven't been the same. Having experienced her own death had left her shaken and broken. Not only was she not sleeping well at night, but everything just felt wrong. Normally Rainbow would be flying high about her brush with death, but after having started a family she wanted something more meaningful. Mostly she wanted love.

Navigating the streets of her home a familiar alicorn princess was spotted traveling off in the distance. “Luna?” Brushing the sighting off at first Rainbow slowly started to think about the whole situation. Why would Luna be in Ponyville let alone walking down a random street? With a powerful loop through the air she rocketed after the moon princess. Landing forcefully on the dirt alleyway she quickly scanned the area. Confused Rainbow returned to the air hoping to catch another glimpse at the lunar alicorn. Luna was no where to be found, and she wasn't exactly the type of pony who blended in.

Rainbow grew frustrated as her efforts to find Luna came to an end after several minutes of turning up nothing. Wearily she slowly glided toward her home for she was ready to call it a day. Reaching the front steps of her floating home she carelessly dropped into the cloud's soft embrace. Taking a moment to shower and grab a bite to eat Rainbow finally settled into her bed with her beloved book. Lost in the words of her favorite writer she soon became unaware of the world around her. The room grew cold as she sat in silence upon her warm bed. Reacting to the shiver creeping up her spine Rainbow's eyes glanced over to the open doorway just as a faint specter passed through the hall. With a bright rainbow streak Rainbow rocketed off of her bed into the hallway. Sliding to a stop she caught only a second of what appeared to be Luna again. Trying with all of her might Rainbow took off after Luna searching every inch of her home only to find nothing.

She knew she wasn't crazy, but why would Luna be in her house? She had to be seeing things, but she was certain of what she saw. Closing her eyes she tried to draw some type of conclusion, but nothing made sense. Suddenly a light bulb went off in her head as her mind turned to her dear friend Twilight. If there was any pony who could help her with this it was her.

Stepping outside Rainbow was shock to find that the day had long since passed. The night's dark embrace was quick to greet the cyan mare as she plunged deep into its heart. Twilight's and Rainbow Dash's relationship hadn't really been the same since their kiss at the Wonderbolts Academy. The awkward tension was too much for either one of them to handle. Not to mention the annoying questions presented by their friends about their obvious discomfort. As time has gone on, the two mares just saw less and less of each other. It was never her wish to grow so distant with one of her closest friends, but being with her just brought up so many weird feelings. So much so that Rainbow just found it best to stay away.

Landing at the still stunning tree based castle Rainbow took a moment to think through what she was going to say. With a hard swallow she mustered up her courage and knocked on the massive front door. Finding that no pony was answering her knocks she flew up to an open balcony window and carefully walked inside. The window led to Twilight's personal bed room where there slept the young alicorn princess. Looking over the lightly sleeping mare Rainbow carefully stepped forward causing Twilight to erupt with a bloodcurdling scream.

“What in the name of Celestia are you doing in my bedroom? Were you watching me sleep?” Twilight stood up in her bed as she covered herself with her blanket. “Rainbow Dash what is your problem?”

Rainbow stood stunned as her face turned a bright red. Her embarrassment was clear to all as she attempted to form an understandable sentence. “No! I just need your help.”
“So you crept through my window. Have you ever heard of a front door.”

“Hey I tried knocking, and no one answered. So there!” Rainbow hovered around in the air as she tried to dig herself out of the hole she had dug.

“Well I guess I haven't gotten use to living in such a big house yet.” Twilight's anger slowly slipped away as she lowered her covers and climbed out of bed. “Okay Rainbow. What can I do for you?”

“Well.” Rainbow lowered to the ground as she search for the right words. Rainbow was never the type to open herself up to another, and to be fair she was scared. “I need your help Twi. Ever since we got out of the nightmares I haven't had a good night's sleep. Not to mention everything just seems off.”

“I know how you feel. The image of your death haunts me everyday. It is just so emotionally draining.” Twilight walked over to her friend and place a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “I keep getting this uneasy feeling like this whole experience isn't over.”

“I don't know anymore Twi. I spent what felt like years in those dreams, and it never seemed like this. Plus I never remember catching fleeting images of Luna at that time.”

“What did you say about Luna?” Twilight's eyes widened as she perked up from Rainbow's words.

“Yeah here recently I thought I have seen Luna creeping around in the background. Why do you ask?”

“Because I have been seeing her too!” The two mares stared at each other with a confused look on their faces.

“Why would Luna be stalking us like that?”

“Honestly I don't have the slightest, but I know someone who might. Let's go talk to Luna.”

The two ponies set off toward Canterlot when right behind them the moon princess appeared. Her face held no affect as she stood in silence before her friends. “Uhmm Luna? Are you alright?” Twilight cautiously stepped forward only to freeze in her tracks as the lunar alicorn opened her mouth.

“Twilight.” Luna's words were heavy and full of pain as they slipped from her lips.

“Yes Luna. I am here.”

“I'm so sorry.” Luna lowered her head and suddenly looked forward as she morphed into the horrible Nightmare Moon. With a powerful scream Nightmare Moon rocketed toward the stunned alicorn. Thinking fast Rainbow took off shoving both Twilight and herself to safety. Nightmare Moon disappeared from the room leaving the two mares uncertain of what they just saw.

The walls of the room shook and crumbled as the floors began to melt away. Twilight and Rainbow looked out on the town only to see the buildings collapsing around them, and the skies turned to black. Together they watch helplessly as Ponyville sank into oblivion. Their hearts bled inside as the hard truth ripped at their souls. They had never left the dreamworld, and their fight was far from over.