Only in my dreams

Two months ago

Twilight waited readily by the door to the library. It was late in the day and the time to close the doors to the library would soon come. Just another minute and she would turn the sign and call it a day.

Her excitement started to burn insider her, for today was monday. The day of the week that she had assigned herself to write a letter to Celestia about what had came from the past week. Oh how Mondays were a great time for the magenta mare!

Patiently, she counted down as the seconds pass. Her hoof hovered over the handle to the door, ready to turn the lock the moment the time came.

After all, second to trying to be as organized as ponily possible, she tried to be punctual as such as well.

Just a few more seconds, she thought to herself. Her back left hoof stomped on the ground for every second

Three, stomp.

Two, stomp.

One. Her hoof hit the ground for the final time as the door shut itself onto someponies hoof. She heard the groan of what sounded like an elder stallion outside the door. She threw the door open, nearly tearing the door from its brotherly hinges.

Just out side the wooden doorway, was an elder unicorn stallion. His coat had grayed and his beard could almost touch the ground. On his back, instead of the new, dual saddle bags, he carried a much older model that had a single bag the rested on the back of the pony.

“I’m so so so so sorry!” She blurted out. The stallion recoiled to her apologies, but said nothing. In a desperate attempt to show her sorrow, Twilight said, “ Please, come in. I’ll make you some tea.”

In response, the old stallion let off a light hearted chuckle and entered the library. “ I’ll take you up on that tea. I fear, both of us will need it.” Again, the stallion lead off a low laugh.

Twilight looked at the old pony, slightly confused. “ I’m sorry?”

“ I come with a warning from the Council.”

From confusion, to worry, there was no time to see the expression change on Twilight’s face. Before she could react, the stallion started on again. “ But before I go into detail, could I take you up on your offer?” The stallion rasped to make his point.

“Of course.” Twilight rushed off to the kitchen to get the tea ready. As she left the room, the stallion sat himself in one of the many nearby chairs.

oOo

Present Day

Luna, freshly woken from the depths of her slumber, looked up at her sister with a face somewhere between anger and curiosity. For the first, was because Celestia had woken her in the middle of the day. A time when she was always sleeping due to her staying up through the night.

The later was because Celestia had woken her in the middle of the day. Something that had never happened but once before, over a thousand years ago for reasons that were obscure to her. If Celestia had to wake her up at this time of day, it was going to be important.

“ What do you want, sister?” Luna asked with a lack of empathy.

Her sister stared back at her, unwavering despite the glare Luna had been sending her way.

“ I need your help with a spell.”

Luna sighed. She should have figured it would have been something to do with magic. After all, Celestia still lacked the ability to cast most beginning level spells.

“ Can’t it wait?” Luna pleaded.

“ No!” Celestia felt like shouting at her sister for being so unmotivated.“ This must be done now!”  She stomped her hoof on the tile flooring as to make a point.

Once more, Luna sighed in disdain. “ Fine. What is the spell that you wish me to cast?”

Celestia smiled in glee and turned to leave Luna’s chambers. “ Follow me.”

Luna rolled her eyes before leaving her room to follow Celestia.

oOo

Two months ago

Twilight returned to the elder stallion, hovering above her was a tray with two tea cups and a teakettle. She filled the cups for both of them, hovering one over to the stallion. He took it into his own magic grasp and took a sip from the small cup.

Twilight took a large gulp from her own and started the conversation. “ You said you came with a warning?”

The stallion chuckled at her urgency. “ So Celestia doesn’t lie. You truly are a pony that cuts straight to the point.” He took another sip from the tea. “ I like this tea. Perhaps you could tell me how you made it first?”

She shook her head. “ But the warning!” She whined.

The stallion sighed. “ I should have assumed you would want to knock out any small talk.” He looked down at his hooves. “ But I wont tell you just yet.”

Twilight steamed. “ What! Why not?

The stallion only smiled back at her. His beard bouncing as he did so. “ Because there is so much more that you need to know first.”

“Then start speaking” She growled

“ You know,” The stallion started, as if to agitate her further. “ I wouldn’t have thought of the princesses own protege to be so quick to anger.

Twilight pressed her hooves against her temple. “ Fine! Just fine!”

The stallion wore a smug look on his face. “ You are right to be eager Twilight. I was just looking to have a little bit of fun.” He stifled his laughter by holding a hoof up to his mouth. “ But let's progress. As I said, I have came with a warning.” He suddenly took a more serious pose. “ A warning about Celestia.”

oOo

Present day

Luna followed Celestia to her sister's own chambers. She instantly noticed a large pileup of scrolls that sat in the corner of Celestia's room. The pile easily stood as tall as herself, if not larger.

“ Are those your messages from your student?” Luna asked drowsily, catching her sister off guard.

Celestia followed Lunas eyes to the pile of scrolls that she was observing. “ Oh no. I keep those elsewhere. It would be impossible to fit that many scrolls in here WITH a shrinking spell.”

Luna nodded, not at all being surprised.

“In fact, those scrolls contain most of which you will need for the spell.”

Celestia could hear her sister gulp at the sheer amount of time and energy that it would take to cast such a large spell.

Luna turned back to her sister. “ And what kind of spell could require all… this?” She waved her hoof in the direction of the pile of scrolls.

Celestia sighed. She knew that one day, Luna would have to know about her plans. Only, she hadn’t expected to be put into a position where she would have to rely on her sister to cast a spell she knew Luna wouldn’t like for reasons personal to her.

Before she could think of a proper response, Luna had already started to look through scrolls. The sound of her hoof clasping over her mouth resonated through the room.

“ Celestia, no.” She muttered to herself quietly. Silence fell over the room as Luna continued to read further on. “ Why would you do this?”

“It’s for the boy.” Celestia started, but her sister didn’t let her continue.

“ A BOY!” She screamed. Luna seemed to crumble piece by piece. “ You plan to bring a kid here! Away from his family! Away from his life!”

Celestia sheepishly looked down at her hooves. Her normal regal form failing her. Her once confident pose wore off, revealing one far from what it normally was.  “ Yes.”

“ And what would possibly make you think that this would be okay!”

Celestia stood still before her sister, trying to regain her posture. She thought ever all that had happened in his life to gain confidence in her decision.

Suddenly, Luna's face of pure anger changed to one of anger mixed with understanding. Her entire body shuddered at the realization and her eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

“Your dreams.”

Celestia nodded. “ Yes, you would be correct.”

“ Show me them,” Luna moved closer to her sister, “ Or I won’t cast the spell.”

Celestia sighed once more. There was no point in arguing with her sister. She was a stubborn one and wouldn’t budge on a decision even if it would save her life. But that may just be because she’s immortal.

No longer wasting time, Celestia approached to her sister, and brought the tip of her much shorter horn to Luna's. Both limbs lit for a short moment before either party backed away from the other.

Luna looked to nearly be in tears until Celestia approached to her, laying a hoof on her withers.

“ Now that you have seen what I have seen, what do you have to say?” Celestia questioned.

Luna shoot her eyes in every direction but her sister's, wondering about what she should do. Finally, she regained her composure and approached a conclusion. “ I’ll help you, but only on a few conditions.”

Celestia shot Luna a questioning glare. “Then what is it that you require?”

“ First, and foremost, I don’t want any relations with this human. I don’t want to see him, nor hear of him. I don’t even want to know of his existence.

“ Second, I understand his life is hard, but children are impressionable. Like father, like son. If he is anything like his father is, all the blame will fall on you alone. I don’t want anything that comes of this mistake to affect me.

“ Lastly, I want you to keep a constant eye on him. You will take responsibility for anything and everything that he does. If he ever hurts a pony, you will have to be there to DEAL with him.”

Celestia flinched at the last condition, but agreed nonetheless.

With the conditions agreed upon, Luna went back to reading the scrolls, letting silence befall the two princesses.

After several long moments, Luna broke the silence that had formed between the two. “ There are a few problems with this spell.”

“ Such as?”

“ It’s obviously not complete.” Luna started. “ And whomever created it, I’m guessing Bliss because of the style, was sending him far from this hold.”

“ Then it's a good thing you caught his mistake.” Celestia sighed, relieved that nothing harmful had come up.

“ This was no mistake, sister. This was completely intentional. This is too obvious of an error for Bliss Endeavor to not see. He is skilled in his ways and would never overlook a sore such as this.”

Celestia shook her head, hurt by the idea that one of her own ponies would betray her. She found it hard to believe a pony she had looked after for most of his life would do something of this sort.

Luna took a sudden turn to questioning Celestia. “ How much longer was it going to take before this spell was complete?”

Celestia quivered, still overtaken by the wretched idea. “ Ten for the entire council. But they managed to get this far in just Two. Bliss informed me that it would be just another year till the spell's completion.”

Luna shuddered from head to tail. “ This spell was made for you to cast Celestia. Bliss could read your urgence like it was written on paper. He knew you wouldn’t look the spell over. But even then, Bliss is smart, but not smart enough to make so much progress alone or for this matter, with the entire council.

“ But you wouldn’t have thought about that. He knew you would cast the spell the moment your horn had grown back and you had the spell in your hooves.”

Celestia, having lost herself halfway through Lunas short speech, caught one large piece of what she had said. “ But if Bliss couldn’t do it, that leave only one more that could.” Her jaw dropped at the realization that behind this entire ordeal, somepony of great magical ability had been guiding Bliss.

Luna nodded to confirm her sister's suspicions. “ But there's one more thing.”

“ And what is that?” Celestia asked.

“ There is a third party involved. I know it. Starswirl is too smart to make such an obvious plan

I think somepony who doesn’t share Starswirl's distaste for us, but would act as so if forced under certain circumstances, is that third party.”

Celestia looked down at her hooves, not sure what to think or feel. Infact, she was confused. Blinded almost. “ I couldn’t think of anypony that would do this.” Celestia trailed off, having reached a moment of deep thought.

Luna came up to her sister and laid a hoof on her withers. “ Twilight. Its been two months since you have received a letter from Twilight. And she is the only reason we even noticed.”

A long, pregnant pause fell over the two princesses. Celestia desperately tried to understand the situation, but failed completely. There was just too much that she didn’t understand.

The silence stretched another minute before Luna broke the silence.

“When you see her again, thank her for what she has done. But for now, i’ll fix the spell and bring the human here tonight. You can expect him when you arise on the morrow.”

Not waiting for a response, Luna left Celestia to her own devices, bringing the scrolls along her side.