A bright light, followed by the distinctive sound of sparks filled Mark’s room, Celestia herself showing in the room after the teleporting spell. She opened her eyes slowly, expecting to see him working in something, or just being in Nightmare’s company, which seemed to occupy most of the time he wasn’t working on his prince lessons.

Yet, as she finally finished inspecting the room, she couldn’t see the young prince anywhere. With that thought in mind, she exited the room. As she looked around, she couldn’t help but notice two things: The first one being the quite literally sparkling clean hall, and the second one the fact that Nightmare’s door was slightly open.

As she peeked through the door, a smile formed on her face as she saw both, Nightmare and Luna, chatting quite happily about something about the Pegasus constellation. Being as gentle as she could, she knocked on the door, instantly catching the attention of the two ponies in there.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your talk, sister and… sister?” Celestia asked, gaining a few chuckles from the filly.

“I think I am.”

“Yes, you are. We are the same pony after all.” Luna said with a smile and a giggle of her own.

Celestia raised an eyebrow upon seeing that. Not only Nightmare and Luna had been at each other’s throat even the day before that, but they couldn’t even be on the same room. Yet, they were actually laughing with each other, enjoying the company of each other.

“My, Luna. What made you change your mind about Nightmare?”

“Oh, well… after Caeruleo talked with us, he convinced us to give Nightmare a second chance. And We are glad he did so. If not, we would have never actually finished the new constellation for the next year.” Luna said with a smile as she turned toward Nightmare, and then to something akin to a blueprint on the wall, where a series of dots and lines were connected in a seemingly random pattern.

Yet, Celestia knew it wasn’t random… it was merely something akin to a sketch of something that, sometime later, Luna, and this time Nightmare, too, would transform into a beautiful constellation.

Even when it wasn’t her field, Celestia instantly became interested, eager to see this new constellation.

Celestia turned towards Luna, wanting to ask her about the new constellation. Her smile vanished as she saw her sisters’ ears drop to her head while her pupils turned into pins.

“Luna, is everything alright?”

“… Caeruleo.”

Even when she had magic, even when she had wings, she instantly decided to run as fast as her hooves could take her. Celestia barely had time to move out of the way before Luna sent her flying into a wall. Yet, even when Luna vanished from the room, Celestia opened her wings and flew after her.

She didn’t need to fly too far, as Luna literally kicked down a door a couple hooves away. Celestia arrived at the door, moments later followed by Nightmare, as they all looked at Luna, whose mane started to wave quicker in its non-existent breeze, like if a hurricane was hitting her at full force.

“ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno OHNO OHNO!!!” Luna’s horn seemed to be sending sparks towards his head, which seemed to have no effect on him.

“Caeruleo!” Celestia said as she kneeled at his side, instantly starting to shake him. “Luna, what did you do!?”

“I swear I was going to get him out! I just lost the track of time after being with Nightmare and then-!!”

“Luna!” Celestia shouted in a stern voice, shaking Luna out from her stupor. “Luna, I want you to think what is happening.” Luna took a few seconds to stabilize her breathing, calming down after a few seconds. Yet, as she looked more calmed and composed, she still had a frightened look on her face.

“… He’s in a special training.” Celestia turned her head towards her, her eyes wide and filled with shock. “He’s alive, sister, but he might have troubles on his dream. This can only happen on those who are totally aware of the fact they are in a dream. Therefore, the subconscious will try to fall asleep again, thinking the dreamer is actually awake, leading him to a deep sleep if they are forced unconscious within the dream.”

Celestia turned her head towards the prince, still waiting for any sign of him to waking up.

“He’s not waking anytime time soon, Tia. He’s in a deep sleep, a sleep one cannot escape from alone. He will need help.”

“Then what are you waiting for, Luna? Send us into his head!”

“We can’t.” Celestia almost started set herself on fire from the burning rage she felt. Yet, as she gazed at Luna, she noticed a concern, not for herself, but for Celestia. ”A deep sleep is a very dangerous place; it’s the first step into the unconscious of somepony, a part where the darker part of a pony starts to manifest itself in the form of monsters. Not to mention that’s where some things, very dangerous things exist.”

“Then, what can we do, Luna?”

“’Tis a thing only a truly experience pony can deal with.” Luna said as she gently pushed aside her sister from the unconscious prince. “We have seen many terrible things in the most horrible nightmares, Tia. It’s safer if we go alone and pull him out.”

Celestia wanted so badly to protest, so badly to insist that she should go, too. Yet, it was her sister’s field and specialty that she was speaking about. Reluctantly, she gave her sister a couple steps more of space before she could do nothing else but look.

“I wanna go, too!” The two sisters turned her head to the fourth pony on the room. “He has been very kind to me, and I wanna show him that kindness, too!” Nightmare said in a serious tone.

“I think it would be better if we-” Celestia was interrupted by Luna. She didn’t say a thing, she simply stretched her hand at her.

“We think it would be better if we had some help.”

“Luna!? What are you saying?”

“She’s us, sister. And as such, we are experienced beyond any other being to confront any of the challenges there might be.”

Celestia turned towards Nightmare, looking for anything to deny her request. Yet, much like with other ponies, she found none.

“Very well… You will go, but be careful. I might not be as good on this as you, Luna. But, please, if you need anything, call for me”

“We will do so, sister.” Luna said, stretching her hand towards Nightmare.

The moment their hands met, the room was filled with a blinding light for a few seconds. When the light faded, Celestia was met with the sight of three ponies, all in the same kneeling position and their eyes closed.

“Please, Luna. Be safe.” Celestia said as she kissed her sister on her forehead, just below her horn. As she was about to leave, she noticed Nightmare, too. Not by obligation or because her ethics demanded so, she leaned down and kissed her in the same place, whispering her good luck.

Finally, as she turned to the last pony in the room, she got on her knees, too, and embraced him with both, her arms and wings.

“Please, Caeruleo, be safe.”

???

Luna and Nightmare opened their eyes, finding themselves in the same place where Luna had left the prince. However, Luna became concerned as she saw signs of battle, and judging from the same signs, it had been quite the fight.

“What happened here?” Nightmare said as she walked forward.

Luna’s eyes widened as Nightmare’s dream form was exactly how she looked in her adult form. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t actually evil. Yet, she couldn’t avoid but be a little jealous at Nightmare’s figure. Luna was already what many described as “smoking hot” (whatever the tartarus that meant), but Nightmare was slightly curvier than her.

“Hey!” Luna turned her head as she noticed the look Nightmare was giving her. “We have far more important things than to see my figure, which will be recovered in a moon’s cycle.” Luna shook her head

“Yes, that is correct, Nightmare. We should leave.”

Luna nodded as she started to walk along with Nightmare.

“Umm…” Luna literally stumbled with her clone’s back, realizing that she had stopped suddenly. “Where do we go now?" Luna started to look around, realizing how bad the coliseum seemed. Another thing she realized was the huge hole on the timber door.

“We think that is a good sign of where we should look.”

Nightmare nodded as both of them started to walk away. Funnily enough, they didn’t even have to open the door. Whatever had happened, it seemed like it had been a very forceful fight.

“What happened here?” Nightmare said as she looked around. Luna started to get really concerned as she gazed upon what seemed to be rests of timberwolves, some in piles, some seemed to be slain in the middle of a battle.

“This… is our fault.” Luna said after a moment. When she saw Nightmare looking at her with a raised brow, Luna sighed. “We thought we would be done rather quickly with you, but we lost track of time and we left Caeruleo here with an endless torrent of timberwolves and other creatures as soon as he was done with a wave of enemies.”

Nightmare’s eyes widened in terror as she looked around once more, spreading her wings as she shot to the sky, looking everywhere she could in hopes of finding him, moments later joined by Luna.

“Look!” Nightmare said as she pointed to an obvious trace of dead creatures in the distance. Nothing else was said between the two of them as they flew towards where, they supposed, the trace ended.

Their flight suddenly stopped as Luna stopped Nightmare.

“I didn’t put this in here.” Luna said in awe as they gazed at the huge forest that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

“What do you mean? Almost nopony can control their dreams this way. Are you sure you didn’t put this here?”

“Very sure, Nightmare.” Luna said as both landed once again. “Then that means he is much more interesting than what we originally thought.”

Suddenly realizing what she had said, she took a hand to her muzzle as her cheeks turned slightly purple. Nightmare, meanwhile, merely grinned.

“He’s interesting, huh?” Nightmare asked with a grin plastered on her face.

“O-Of course he is! Everypony is interesting in their own ways, right?” Luna answered with a small blush on her face. “Have in mind that we would never think of him like that. He’s our nephew, remember?”

The grin on Nightmare’s face didn’t vanished, merely looking at her, still wanting to annoy her. Luna rolled her eyes as she started the descent towards the forest. When she was far, the grin on Nightmare’s face finally vanished, giving place to a small frown.

“Look!” Luna said to Nightmare, pointing her towards some point in the forest. Nightmare descended, trying to have the same perspective as Luna’s, only to notice some kind of trail heading towards the inner part of the forest, its sides adorned with multiple animals’ bodies.

“Let’s go.” Both of them said at the same time as they started to walk.

After a while, Luna and Nightmare found themselves in the inner part of the forest, facing a cave of some sorts, where only as far as the light would go, bodies still littered the floor.

“Why would he go inside?” Luna asked, more to herself than to other pony.

“Maybe he fights better in closed space. I have seen him fight in close quarter combat, and he’s rather good.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t explains why here. If the cave would become infested, then he would be at great disadvantage, not mattering if he has a sword or not.”

Immersed on her thoughts, both of them started to look around, trying to determine why the prince would do something as reckless as that, both mares started to walk towards the cave, lighting their horns to provide themselves with more light.

As they did so, the multiple shadows in the cave either vanished or became larger, depending on the angle of the light.

Multiple stalagmites filled the place, while the ceiling of the cave was with almost none stalactites, save for a few every now and then.

Yet, as they walked deeper into the cave, both mares suddenly turned around at the feeling of being followed. Turning around, both mares saw a shadow at a stalagmites’ side.

“Caeruleo?” Luna asked cautiously, causing the being to seemingly turn towards them. “Caeruleo, is that thou?”

Nightmare merely stared at the shadow, trying to see what it was. It was the form of a pony, alright. But how the shadow behaved didn’t seem to be that of a pony. Before Luna could proceed, Nightmare took her by her arm.

“I don’t like this, Luna.” Nightmare said as they tried to focus on the shadow, only for a pair of completely white eyes to open and stare at them.

“What is that?” Luna asked, having freed herself from Nightmare’s reach.

Luna’s ears perked as she heard something coming from the darkness. They were voices, but they seemed to be humming or chanting a single tune of a few notes. Soon, Luna’s mane stood up as she realized what she was seeing.

“Caeruleo is in danger…” Nightmare suddenly noticed the slight concern in Luna’s tone. Looking towards where she was seeing, she also started to noticed the many beings of white eyes moving all over the place.

“Are you sure Caeruleo is the only one in danger?” Nightmare said as her horn suddenly shone brighter, summoning herself a dark blue sword.

“Nightmare, these beings are no match for us.” Luna said as a smirk formed on her face, summoning a sword similar to that of Nightmare.

Luna started to walk back towards the entrance of the cave, being followed closely by Nightmare, staring intently at the countless pair of eyes that seemed to sparkle in the darkness. Suddenly, they stopped as they noticed the beings starting to move faster and faster while they got closer to the exit.

Both mares suddenly got nervous as all eyes suddenly vanished, and the chanting ended. The quietness in the place did nothing to appease the mares. Both mares stood at ready, in case something happened.

And something did happen.

A screech was heard suddenly, causing Nightmare to turn around quickly, slashing at whatever had dared to attack her. Almost instantly, the screech stopped as Nightmare simply caught a glimpse of a shadow splitting and vanishing from existence. Moments later, Luna did the same, vanquishing another shadow.

Soon, Nightmare and Luna realized they were actually in troubles. They were fast, and they had weapons, but they lacked the numbers the shadows seemed to have.

“We must go to the exit! Now!” Luna shouted as she fired several bolts at random places, instantly vanishing more shadows.

They both ran towards the exit, where they soon realized wouldn’t be of much help. Somehow, the dream was simulating a night.

“Oh, no.” Nightmare said as the chanting started again, only this time, it wasn’t coming from one direction. It was coming from everywhere.

“We are at a terrible disadvantage, Nightmare.” Luna said as she summoned yet another sword, Nightmare mimicking her moments later.

“No doubt about that, sister.” Nightmare said, earning a curious look from Luna upon her calling her “sister”.

Yet, Luna merely nodded to her as they stood behind each other, ready to face anything that was approaching them.

Moments passed before the creatures started to open their eyes, focusing on their preys. Nightmare watched them carefully, trying to read their movements, preparing herself to confront them. Yet, there was something with these creatures; they seemed awfully familiar to her.

Before the creatures could do something else, many of them started to screech loudly. Yet, Luna and Nightmare could hear there was something else with that shout. It wasn’t a battle cry, but a fear cry.

Nightmare and Luna realized it was because of the waver of a torch in the distance, causing many of the shadows to flee towards the natural shadows the many trees made upon the touch of the light. Seeing a way out, the pair of mares started to run towards the light, Nightmare turning around every now and then, trying to understand why these beings were so familiar to her.

Finally, after a while, both mares finally stood in front of what seemed to be a small campsite. Yet, there didn’t seem to be a single soul in there.

“Is anypony here?” Luna asked curiously, trying to see if there was somepony in there.

“Why not simply ask for him, Caeruleo?” Nightmare said, turning her head towards Luna.

“That’s because we aren’t the only ones here. Not even Caeruleo. And We are not talking about the shadow ponies, either.”

“The shadow ponies?”

“Yes, Nightmare. The shadow ponies live in a different plane, one where only the soul can reach when it’s in a very deep sleep, which is achieved either by magic or by practice.”

“And how did Caeruleo get in this plane?”

“We aren’t sure. Shadow ponies normally target foals, as their magic field isn’t strong enough to protect them from magic influence. Otherwise, it is more commonly when a pony is in an…” Luna stopped for a moment, seemingly in deep thought. “Oh, we are such a foal!”

“What do you mean?”

“When in an induced coma, ponies tend to be far more susceptible to the shadow ponies’ influence. The pony’s mind becomes connected to the dream realm, and allows shadow ponies to foalnap the dreamer’s soul.”

“The dreamer’s soul!?” Nightmare asked as she stood up.

“Yes and worse thing is we really don’t have any idea if Caeruleo’s still around here.” Luna said as her ears flattened against her head. “We should really get some rest. Do not worry, as long as the fire is lit, the shadow ponies won’t get close.”

Nightmare sat down, almost mimicking Luna in her sitting, concerned expressions on their faces as they thought of Caeruleo.

Those thoughts were interrupted as they noticed the chanting starting once again. Both mares turned around to find the multiple forms of the shadow ponies watching them from the distance, seemingly in a place where the light didn’t reach.

That brought some relief to both mares’ hearts.

Nightmare felt a chill run down her spine as she stared at the multiple white orbs of their eyes, not even blinking as they stared at them, much like a predator. Yet, the more Nightmare watched them closely, that same feeling of knowing them somehow returned. It wasn’t exactly Luna’s memory, but it was more like her very own memory.

A memory of Luna staring up at her with a scared expression, in a dark forest much like the one they were right at that moment.

Author's Note

Sorry for the huge delay, but with the end of the last school period, Christmas, new year, the start of another school period, getting everything I needed (not to mention the annoyance family can be every once in while), it was a huge weight on my shoulders.
But everything's alright now.

Hopefully, I'll be able to upload more constantly from now on. (That what I said last time, though. )