Princess Luna just sat there in her bedroom. Her pet possum Tiberius just looked at her master who was just sitting there, believing there was something wrong. Luna was depressed. Her life was the same old routine, raising and lowering the moon, helping fillies with nightmares and other royal fluff she had to do every now and then. She just wanted a little more. She saw that sunset was happening. She then walked to the throne room to where her sister was. There she saw Celestia writing a letter to her old student Princess Twilight. At that moment Luna realized what she wanted. A student! What an idea!
'A student could be fun, I wonder if I could do it.' she thought. 'Celestia did several students over my years of being imprisoned but that doesn't mean I can't have a student.'
Luna returned to her room. She then looked at her pet possum and began talking, “Tiberius, what do you think about my idea?” Tiberius just looked at her. “Now that I think about it, the unicorns Celestia chose were very talented unicorns with great magic power.....Could I find somepony like that? Especially a filly...” she said, pondering.
Tiberius walked up to her and hugged her and than gave her an expectant look. “You're right Tiberius, I shouldn't give up before I even start.”
Luna looked at the window and saw the sun was setting. Luna's horn glowed as she then began raising the moon. “All right Tiberius, the night has begun. I'll have to look for a student later, I first need to see if any fillies need my help with nightmares.”
Tiberius just looked at her as her horn began glowing and then she disappeared. Luna then entered the realm of dreams. Luna then began walking through the realm, the realm of dreams was a world filled with windows. Luna began looking into multiple windows, seeing if nightmares had happened yet. With every window also had a door, in order to go into that dream. Her work than began. She quickly went thru dream after dream, helping each and every filly with their nightmares. As hours began passing, she then saw a peculiar dream window. The filly in the dream was a sad unicorn yet the dream was not a nightmare. Luna stopped for a second, she wondered if she should go in. She looked at the other windows, she couldn't find any other nightmares for right now.
'Hmm...Maybe I should try to help this filly. It's no nightmare but...the filly is sad.' she thought and then opened the door.
The dream was on an island. The island was filled with candy, money, and tons of fillies having fun. It seemed as if this would be a great dream for any filly. But the filly dreaming the dream was sitting at the beach of the island, alone. Luna then walked up and sat down by the little unicorn.
“Are you alright little one?” she asked.
The filly looked and saw her, “P-p-princess Luna?! What are you doing here?!”
“Yes, I am the Princess of Dreams and I am here to help you.”
“Oh, um, I don't need any help..”
“Why not little one?”
“I don't need anypony's help, I'm fine.”
“Then why are you sitting here at this beach crying?”
“....I don't know.”
“What is your name?”
“Little Dream.”
“Tell me Little Dream, this island is filled with other fillies having fun. This little island is filled with things fillies love, so why are you sad?”
“.....”
“Do you want to be sad?”
“I don't know.”
“That's not answer little one, if you don't want to be sad, let me help you little one.”
“.....Okay.”
“Why are you sad?”
“I just, well, I..”
Luna put her wing over her, “Its okay to tell me, I won't tell anyone.”
“Thank you Princess. Well, let's see, how do I tell you this..” she said as she sat there thinking.
Little Dream then looked at Luna directly and started telling why she was sad, “I'm the daughter of two very rich noble ponies in Canterlot. They both are great at making tons of money and love spoiling me. I love them.”
“They sound like good parents.”
“Well, I don't have my cutie mark yet, and well my parents want it to be about money. My family are all big money makers. They want me to be in big business and, well, I'm not sure..”
“Don't know what you want?”
“Yes.”
“That's fine little one, every pony has fears about their future.”
“Even an alicorn like you?”
“Yes, even I have fears of the future.”
“Wow, I can't believe it...”
“Tell me more Little Dream.”
“Oh right, well, you see that I'm an unicorn, right?”
“Oh yes.”
“I can't use magic, at all...”
“Why not?”
“I've read books about and tried training but nothing works...I can't use magic, my horn won't even glow.”
“Don't worry, all unicorns at some point will be able to use magic with their horn.”
“I know, its just, I feel like such a failure, no cutie mark, no magic, and I don't even know what I want to do with my life..” she said and then slumped down into the sand.
“....Let me tell you something about myself, Little Dream.”
Little Dream looked up at Luna with a confused look. “Me?”
“Yes, just don't tell anypony.”
“Um, okay.”
“Many moons ago, I thought I had lost my purpose in life. I am the Princess of the Night and yet no one appreciated that.”
“You mean when you became Nightmare Moon?”
“Yes, it was a long time ago. I believed I was no longer needed, I was just a tool to raise the moon.”
“You thought that?”
“Yes, I regret it now but back then I really believed it. Not only that, I started believing I had no future worth having.”
“You thought your future was just to be a tool forever?”
“Yes...”
“That's horrible!”
“It's in the past now Little Dream. I lost myself back then but then I was saved, I found a new future.”
“You mean I could find a future too.”
“Yes, but you can not do it alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you are looking for your future, do you want your parents to be part of it?”
“...Yeah, well, I'm not sure what I want...”
“It's fine then little one. You don't have to choose right now, you have your life ahead of you.”
“I know, I just wish I could at least know what maybe some of my destiny is.”
“It will be okay.”
Little Dream got back up and then looked out at the sea surrounding the island.
“If only I could use magic.” she said as she looked out into the water. Luna watched her as Little Dream kept standing there. Then Luna saw a small glow on Little Dream's horn.
“Little Dream, your horn?!”
“Hmm..?” remarked Little Dream with a puzzled look. She then looked up at her horn which then started glowing. The light grew brighter and brighter.
“Slow down little one, that much power will be to much for your horn!” yelled Luna.
Then the dream around the two began warping around them. The magic from her horn began changing the entire dream. The island and sea became warped, twisting and turning. Luna's horn began glowing as she cast magic around Little Dream.
“Please calm down Little Dream!”
Then her horn stopped as Little Dream collapsed from the strain.
“Are you alright?”
“I'm sorry Princess, I just suddenly, it was like all this energy just exploded inside me.”
“That was no ordinary magic Little Dream. That was dream magic.”
“Dream magic? Like what you do?”
“Not quite but very similar...You have a very special talent little one.”
Little Dream blushed, “Really?”
“Yes, maybe I found what I was looking for...” said Luna and then spoke directly to Little Dream. “You see, I'm looking for a filly who can become my student. You have a talent for dream magic, I can tell for sure now.”
“You mean?” Little Dream said with disbelief.
“Yes, would you like to be my student?”
Little Dream stood there in disbelief. Then she said, “Yes.”
It was then, at that very moment, her cutie mark appeared in the shape of a pillow.