Chapter 13-Dreamweaver:Take 2

Dreamweaver: Take 2:

Twilight Sparkle, private apprentice of princess Celestia awakes with a start, her eyes flying open as she rises from her sleeping bag in a blind panic. Her body covered in a cold sweat, as if awaking from a nightmare or haunting dream. After a few of such deep breaths the librarian once again gains her mental footing, her fever pitched heart slowing down to a normal rate as she observes her surroundings. Cautiously the mare scans the room around her, as she suddenly becomes aware of her friend’s loud conversations, the six of them eating breakfast and planning their day ahead. Twilight flinches from the sight of her friends as if something is deeply wrong with the scene before her.  Yet despite her unease the mare is unable to place a hoof on what is wrong, her thoughts turning inward as she tries to remember what brought her to this point.

‘Wasn’t I somewhere else?’ the errant thought passes through her mind ‘I was looking in the library and……. What happened after that?’

“Twilight!” Applejack turns to face the lavender mare as she hooves Twilight her mess tin. “Well it seems like some pony was as tired as a bear In fall! Now hurry an chow down Twi, we’ve got a busy day ahead.”

“Yeah egghead! I’m rarin to go today so you had better not slow me down.” Dash comments as she shoves more of her breakfast rations down her throat.

“Yeah!” Pinkie digs into her tray of food “It’s gonna be great! I can’t wait to see what happens this time!”

“This time?” Twilight cocks her head

Rarity takes a fashionably small bite of her meal before turning to Twilight “Ignore Pinkie deer she’s been acting strange ever since we got here. But then again when is Pinkie not a doll?”

“Silly Rarity!” Pinkie complains “I’m not a doll! At least not yet!”

Twilight rubs her head in confusion as she digs herself out of her sleeping bag. “Wait a second what happened last night? I went out to look through the castle I found the library and…..” Twilight’s head throbs causing her to rub her horn.

“Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy asks brushing her green mane out of her face “are you all right? You seem a little off? If you need to stay here and rest more, we understand. It was a very busy day yesterday.”

Twilight rubs her horn as the headache recedes “Yes Fluttershy I’m fine I must have just slept too long that’s……” Twilight does a double take scanning Fluttershy’s pink mane “….. All?”

“Well then ah know what’ll cheer ya up and get energy in ya fer the day ahead.” Applejack places a large brown pastry on Twilight’s tray “if you’re gonna be good yer gonna be better with some of mah Apple brown betties in ya! They’re perfect fer a long day of exploring!”

Twilight looks once at the pastry on her tray before scooping the brown betty into her mouth moaning with pleasure at the rich apple taste on her tongue. With ravenous hunger the unicorn finishes the pastry in record time downing the beaker of Applejack by her side. “Thanks Applejack, that was amazing, I guess I was just hungry.”

“Well shucks Twi from the looks of it I figure yawl could sit here all day an eat those things.” Applejack smiles as she props her Stetson on her head. “All right then, that’s it fer breakfast yawl. Now let’s get on with it, and git down ta the brass tacks.”

“Applejack’s right we had really start the search as soon as possible.” Twilight looks at the room around them with a newfound appreciation. “As nice as this place is I want to find out what’s up and get back to ponyville.”

“What’s the hurry?” Dash asks “We’ve got all day! Besides these Apple betties are delicious. Let’s just sit back and talk here. We have plenty of time.”

Twilight arches an eyebrow at Rainbow’s strange behavior. “Well I’m glad that you’ve learned some patience Dash but we need to get on with our jobs.”

Dash groans “All right fine but I call looking from the air! In case you forgot……” Dash strikes a cool pose putting a pair of sunglasses on her face only to take them off dramatically. “……flying is my specialty.”

“……Right….. Anyways……” Twilight looks to the rest of the group “All right everypony huddle in.”

With almost clockwork precision and speed the six mares and Twilight sit down as they listen to Twilight’s plan. “Alright everypony, yesterday before we came to the palace I was able to determine with the strange stone that the force that has been pulling all the strange stones and Red stones into the everfree is indeed near this palace. However the null stone that the palace is made off is interfering with the abnormality so the plan is simple.”

Twilight reaches into her pack pulling out small fragments of the Strange stones levitating a small piece in the hooves of every pony in the room. “We each will receive a strange stone and split up to cover more ground, the first pony to find the abnormality will call out for the others, and hopefully by day’s end we’ll be heading home.”

“Now any questions?” Fluttershy raises her hoof “Yes Fluttershy? What is your question?”

“Um I don’t mean to be a bother……..” Fluttershy asks “But……. Um, what was the plan again?”

Twilight face hooves “I just told you Fluttershy, we use the strange stones to locate the source that is drawing all these strange stones and Red stones into the Everfree. It’s literally that simple.”

“Oh no. I mean…… um what are we after?” The yellow mare begins to blush a bit “I mean, what are looking for the corpse fragments for? I mean it’s so dangerous here.”

Twilight opens her mouth to speak, to tell Fluttershy exactly why they are here, and exactly why they can’t chicken out halfway through, when her words freeze in her mouth. Twilight’s throat grows dry as a chilling feeling passes over her body, the feeling that something is very wrong, that everything is very wrong. However before she can voice her concerns her thoughts are cut off by an almost razor sharp voice, a voice that she can’t place.

“Ttttttttttwwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllliiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhhhttttttttttt?????? Are you Oooooookkkkkaaaaayyyyyy?”

The voice resounds through her mind like a gong, her thoughts becoming more sluggish with every syllable that echoes through her mind. A deep fog fills the unicorn’s head her thoughts becoming dismissive of her paranoid concerns. “I’m fine Fluttershy. Twilight recites as if reading the words off of a sheet of paper.

“It’s like I said before in the library.” Twilight says clearly and eerily. “The reason that we are looking for the corpse fragments is because we don’t know what they do. On the night of shooting stars the red stone fragmented across Equestria, when we attempted to Purify Princess Luna from the evil force that held her.”

Twilight looks at her hoof amazed that she had forgotten her fur was purple. “We think it succeeded so that’s good, but the Red Stones scattering across Equestria is very bad. We’ve spent our time gathering these Red Stones because of that, and These Strange stones are just more powerful versions of the Red Stones. So it’s part of our job to gather them too.”

Oblivious to her own ranting the purple unicorn drones on. “And more worrying Celestia seems to have no idea that these Strange stones even exist. So we need to find out what they are and how they work before we tell her about them.

As the fog that had dominated her mind before begins to disappear, Twilight fiddles through her bag handing small fragment of the Strange Stones to each one of her friends. “That’s why we’re investigating this phenomenon. Its’ a threat to the ponies of Equestria and it can aid us in finding out more information on how these stones work.”

‘Come to think of it…….’ A thought echoes through Twilight’s mind ‘wasn’t there something important about Princess Luna that …….. nah. Twilight quit being so paranoid.’

Applejack raises her hoof. “But why not tell Celestia? I mean you’re her student, don’t you trust her?” Applejack remarks as she puts her Stetson back on her head with her other hoof.

“Of course I do Rainbow dash! She’s my mentor, my idol…….. It’s just……..” Twilight’s mind flies in circles and this time it’s not from her situation but from her own mental turmoil. Why didn’t she tell Celestia about the strange stones? It would be so easy and she trusted her mentor with her life, so why didn’t’ she just come clean? Was it because she just didn’t want to turn in something half-finished and expect her to fill in the blanks. Or was it something else, something strange and surreal, something that made her head spin and her stomach ache. “It’s just that……. That…….”

“You just have your doubts.” A voice finishes “You are a smart mare Twilight Sparkle, and despite your love and adoration for Celestia it has not blinded you to the truth. Doubts are not always comfortable Twilight sparkle but they must be shouldered if one is to face the truth with unbiased sight.”

The voice responds with a mixture of impressed gratitude and wary superstition “Perhaps I misjudged you Twilight Sparkle, you are quite observant in addition to your mental prowess, it is no small wonder that Celestia chose you as her student. Me thinks that you might become an ally yet, but for now I must be sure of your intentions. The powers that you are toying with must not fall into the wrong hooves.”

“Yes that’s exactly it Fluttershy, I just have doubts that’s all. It’s nothing to be concerned about.” Twilight looks at her friends as she feels another headache coming on. Twilight rubs her head as if trying to remember a long lost lyric to a song from her fillyhood.

“Why did I say Fluttershy? That wasn’t Fluttershy’s voice, I’m sure of it.” The mare mutters under her breath “I’ve heard that voice before. But from where?” Twilight rubs her head as if trying to jog her memory “Was it canterlot? Ponyville? Where did I hear that voice? It sounded so familiar…….”

Twilight is suddenly snapped out of her mental fog by the calming touch of a friend. Twilight looks up to see Rainbow Dash placing a gentle hoof on her shoulder, her untamed mane flowing freely in the breeze. “Hey Egghead, are you okay? If yawl need to stay here an take a break than we totally understand.”

Twilight smiles, realizing that she is a very lucky mare to have friends like these by her side. “No Rainbow I think I’ll be fine.” Twilight turns to the rest of the group “All right everyone you know the drill scour the palace and its surroundings for any sign of the abnormality, and be back here in two hours.”

In perfect unison the entire group nods, each mare confirming their resolve to the task at hoof and their desire to see their task completed. That is every mare except Pinkie who blows the mother of all raspberries at Twilight’s boring speech. “PPPPPPPPPTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFHHHHHHHH, No way Twi, that’ way too boring!”

Reaching to a nearby stand of armor the pink mare dons the plate mail with speed that would make a wonderbolt shiver. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m going to slay a dragon and eat ice cream until I explode! See you all later!” before Twilight can even protest the pink mare flips the helm down and jumps out the open window next to her disappearing into a deep fog.

“Pinkie wait!”

Twilight prepares to rush after the pink mare but is stopped by Dash’s cerulean blue hoof “Let her go Twilight. She’s just being more Pinkie than usual today, she’ll be fine.”

Twilight looks into Dash’s bright green eyes as the future wonderbolt gives her a reassuring grin. Twilight looks between Dash and the window Pinkie jumped out of with skepticism. “Okay….. I guess you know her better than me Dash. So I’ll trust that Pinkie won’t get into too much trouble.” Twilight turns to the rest of the group “All right everyone you know the drill scour the palace and its surroundings for any sign of the abnormality, and be back here in two hours.”

In perfect unison the entire group nods, each mare confirming their desire to see the task completed. Like a well-oiled machine the five mares leave the room by each of its five hallways, each one watching the strange stone in their hooves for sign or anything out of the ordinary.

…………….

 “All right Twilight, no more pretending, something’s off here, I just can’t put my hoof on it.” Another flying fish passes the lavender mare as she looks through what must be the twentieth room she has checked today.

For what seemed like hours but in reality was probably only a few minutes the Lavender mare had followed the strange stone spinning on her hoof into five dead ends, six secret doors, seven stone slides, and a very angry shopkeeper who complained when she crushed his cabbages. Twilight groaned heavily this search, if it could still be called that, was getting her nowhere, rather she seemed to only be getting farther away from her goal as the stone in her hoof would periodically change directions as if on a whim, leading her around in circles. Suddenly as if sensing the irony of the situation, the stone in her hoof turns precisely one hundred and eighty degrees around leading her right back down the hallway she had been walking down for five minutes.

“GUAH!” With force that would surprise even her, the librarian chucked the stone down the hallway behind her the sound of the stone clinking like glass echoing through the empty hall. The librarian pants heavily as she slowly but surely works out the anger that has been building in her system for the past hour. Every ragged breath letting out her frustrations and allowing her to regain a sentience of her calm and collected self. “Okay Twilight, pull yourself together, things may not be going the way that you have planned, and you know something is wrong but that’s’ no excuse for losing your cool. Breathe in…… and breathe out……….”

With great self-restraint the mare regains her sense of calm her angry frustrated mood balancing itself out as her smile returns.  “Now let’s see if I can’t find that strange stone. Hunh?”

Twilight turns around to find the way she just threw the stone down obscured by a large door. “Okay now I know that something is wrong, I’m sure there wasn’t a door here the last time I checked.”

Her hooves shaking the Lavender mare reaches tensely for the door handle, her nerves betraying her current condition. Finally mustering enough guts the lavender mare closes her eyes and bolts through the door magical shield raised in preparation for any traps or surprises. After a few seconds of tense waiting the lavender mare slowly opens her eyes “Easy Twilight look everything is fine, see the door is open, the floor isn’t burning hot or freezing cold and there are no traps to speak of. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about……..”

Twilight’s eyes shoot open. “Wait why can’t I feel the floor?” Twilight looks down as she realizes the horrible truth that she is just standing on empty air. “Oh you have got to be kidding me!” The mare comically wiggles her hooves for a few seconds as gravity begins to kick in again. Yet Twilight sparkle is nothing if not resourceful, reaching out with her stand the mare manages to grab the edge of the ledge with her stand pulling herself up with just enough force to put her over the ledge she just walked off of.

Panting heavily from the exertion the mare flings the doors closed with her magic as she pulls herself up on her hooves. The mare breathes in and out once again calming her mentally fatigued body and mind as the mare assesses her situation calmly and clearly. “Will this madness ever end!?” Twilight screams “What’s next?”

BAM!

Twilight ducks instinctively to the floor as the wall beside her collapses into a heap of rubble a large red sleigh crashing through the wall with the force of a cannon ball. Twilight coughs up a storm of dust as she looks up to see the medium sided dragon that was pulling the sleigh lying unconscious underneath the weight of the half a ton sleigh on top of it.

“What the…..” Twilight watches as the dust clears revealing a bright pink earth pony sitting in the bright red sleigh. Decked out in a crimson red hat, coat and matching brown boots the pink pony lets out a loud bellowing laugh as the lavender mare looks on with no small amount of concern.

 \“…….Santa Pie?” Twilight asks hopefully, praying to dear Celestia that she hasn’t finally lost her mind to the force of nature only known as Pinkie pie.

“…. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one dragon open…..” The pink mare ceases her song to looks down at the frightened lavender mare. “Oh hey Twilight! What’s up? Did you want to go Dragon Sleighing with me? It’s really fun!”

“Pinkie……” Twilight gasps “I’m almost afraid to ask but……. Where did you get the dragon, the outfit and the big red sleigh? And how did you come crashing through the wall?!”

“That’s easy Twilight, I thought it up! Everything’s easy when you can use your IMAGINATION.”

“Right…….” Twilight rolls her eyes “And I’m princess Celestia.”

“Oh that’s a great idea Twilight! You can be Celestia and I’ll be her estranged lover that’s returned from the field of battle!” Ripping the red suit in half Pinkie reveals a smart officer’s uniform complete with war medals.

“Celestia, there was once a time in which I loved you.” Pinkie monologues in a tear-jerking performance “But that time can never come again for a pony who cares more for the masses than her knight. A knight who has vanquished his evil sister to keep your dirty secrets.” Pinkie sheds a single tear as she turns back to Twilight just as happy as before. “All right now you go!”

“GRGRH! Pinkie I’m trying to be serious here! Something is really wrong with, well everything! The rooms keep moving around, our friends aren’t acting like our friends, there are traps everywhere and there’s…… something watching us!”

Pinkie crosses her arms in a spoiled fashion “But I want to play!”

“Well I’m sorry Pinkie, but play time can wait until we are out of life threatening danger.”

“……Dashie would never pass up the chance to have fun……”

Twilight groans. “Well I am sorry but I’m not Dashie.”

A literal lightbulb appears over Pinkie’s Head as a very mischievous grin crosses her face. “Well you’re not Dashie now……” the pink mare creeps up on the lavender mare raising her hoof just as the lavender mare turns her back on her.

“I’m glad you see reason for once now do you think you can cut back on your silliness for half a minute and….” With expert precision and comic timing the pink mare pokes the lavender mare the instant Twilight turns her head, causing the lavender mare falling on her flank “…..Ow! Pinkie what the hay!”

Pinkie giggles as she walks up to the mare on the floor fluttering her eyelashes “So Dashie……how’s it hanging?” Pinkie asks in a curious tone of voice.

“What? Pinkie this is serious first you bop me on the head……” Twilight grabs her snout in surprise her eyes widening as she hears something very disconcerting “…… that’s not my voice.” A blue blob fills her vision as Twilight extends her hoof to swat it away only to realize that the blue blob is her hoof. “What the…….What’s going……”

Pinkie places her hoof over the now panicking Pegasus “Shhh, your voice is perfect Dashie. And just like your lips.”

“WHAT? Pinkie I don’t know what’s going on but I’m not……” Pinkie points to the other mare’s flank, causing her to turn around her vision coming face to face with a cutie mark of a single cloud pierced by a rainbow colored bolt of lightning. Twilight spreads her wings in shock as she realizes who she has been turned into “…..Rainbow Dash.”

Pinkie leans against the stunned Pegasus “So….. Are you doing anything later? Cause if you weren’t we might finally be able to get that chocolate smoothie you owed me.”

Twilight’s mind screams in terror as her body freezes up. The mare does not know what is worse, that she was transformed against her will by one of her best friends, or what her best friend intends to do with her ‘Dashie’. Neither thought is very comforting “Pinkie wait!”

Twilight waves her hooves to ward off the pink mare “I’m Twilight Sparkle! Your friend Twilight! I’m not really Dashie, I mean Dash! And I don’t want to play any games with you. At least not like this!”

“It looks like somepony is playing hard to ge-et!” Pinkie says in a sing song voice. “Well that’s okay, I know the real Dash has feelings for me so I know that you do to! This is just practice for the main event. So ‘Dashie’ what’s the best way to get ‘your’ attention, with the direct approach or a more subtle one?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” the Pegasus attempts to flee only to have her tail tugged by the strong jaws of the pink mare. The Pegasus tries to escape only to find herself pulled directly into the arms of the strong Pink Pony.

“Direct approach it is! That’s good because being subtle never got me anywhere!” The pink mare extends her muzzle closer to the captive romantic interest as the now blue mare struggles to free herself from Pinkie’s grasp.

“Pucker up Dashie!” The pink mare extends her lips, her eyes close as the Pegasus before her

However before the dreaded kiss can land, with speed and precision born from a truly desperate situation, Twilight manifests her stand FRIENDS and throws a strong right. The stand’s blow connects with the pink mare’s muzzle the impact not even denting her lips. Indeed all looks lost when all of a sudden the two mare’s minds connect for a single instant. Twilight’s false shape fades away; the two minds merge for a single second as thoughts from the two minds flow into each other. Yet the difference between the two minds and the suddenness of the connection causes the bond to shatter just as quickly as it is made, both mares falling to their rumps in psychic shock.

Twilight herself stares at her hooves with a newfound perception as her brain begins to readjust herself, her prefrontal cortex humming with life and power. Her mind now awake Twilight Sparkle, student to Princess Celestia realizes the simple, easy to understand reason why the world around her seems to make no sense, the reason that everything that she does seems to have no bearing on logic whatsoever. “Oh my gosh we’re dreaming.”

Pinkie Leaps off the floor with all the enthusiasm that a party pony can muster, throwing a cloud of streamers in the air with Ernest celebration “Well Duh! Of course we’re dreaming Twilight! See I knew we were dreaming all along, ever since breakfast cayuse Dash said she wanted to wait for you, and Dash never waits for anything! Plus I gave her a peck on the cheek and she didn’t freak out or anything so I knew that it was a dream.”

“Pinkie, you can lucid dream?” Twilight manifests her stand looking at its hooves “I get it. When I punched you we mind linked for a split second allowing your consciously awake mind to link to my mind still trapped in the throes of sleep. That and because I was able to recognize the fact that I was sleeping I was able to wake myself from my own dream, it makes perfect sense!”

“Yyyyeeeeaaaahhhh, let’s go with that. Whatever floats your boat Twilight.” Pinkie’s eyes bulge out of her head. “Wait TWILIGHT?! As in the real Twilight? You’re the real Twilight?”

“Um, Yes?”

“You’re not a fake dream Twilight?”

“Um, Yessssss?”

Pinkie Gulps heavily as the implications of what she just tried to do to her friend. “Oh my gosh Twilight I’m so sorry! I really thought that you were just a dream! I didn’t know that you were the real Twilight. I just thought that it wasn’t real and I was playing along and I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable and I understand if you don’t like me for what I did but PPPPLLLLLEEEEEAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE say you’ll still be friends with me! Cause it would be really awkward if we showed up and our friends asked why we weren’t friends anymore and I had to lie and say that Mmmpppphhhhhh!”

Twilight places her hoof on the pink mare not a moment too soon “That’s all right Pinkie I forgive you.”

Pinkie wipes an errant tear out of her eye “R-Really?

 “Really, really. I know how crazy dreams can get from this experience and you weren’t trying to be malicious or anything so of course I’m still your friend. In fact if it wasn’t for your……..” a cold shiver passes through Twilight’s frame. “…….Advances, I wouldn’t have finally figured out this was a dream.”

Twilight steals her voice in a solemn assurance. “I’m not upset at all Pinkie, I’m just surprised. I didn’t know that you and Dash were…… well frankly it’s none of my business but I wish you luck with asking her out on a proper date.” Twilight pulls the pink mare up to her muzzle her eyes burning with righteous fire as she picks the pink mare off the ground in a telekinetic grip. “On the condition that what just happened never leaves your lips. On pain of death.”

Pinkie either blind to Twilight’s threats or completely ignoring them salutes sharply. “Okey Dokie Lokie! My lips are sealed. That’s a Pinkie Promise.”

“I’m glad that we have an understanding.” Twilight promptly drops the pink mare “Now we can work on trying to get out of this dream.”

 “He he, silly Twilight there’s no reason to try and escape from a dream!” Pinkie grabs the librarian in a sideways hug “Dreaming is just your way of filtering through all those silly thoughts that go on through your head; there’s no reason to be afraid of dreaming. Dreaming is a natural healthy part of being a pony, even if it is a bit strange, I mean what if you were scared of going to the bathroom? That would be really weird. And if you ever are scared of a bad dream or start to have a nightmare that you think is too much for your little self , all you have to do is give yourself a little pinch and you wake up just like that. ”

Pinkie reaches over to her flank “See just watch just one little pinch and OW!” The party pony falls to her rump rubbing to sore area cautiously as a burst of real pain courses through her body.

 Pinkie rubs her head in genuine confusion. “Humph, that’s never happened before……. I’ve never felt pain in my dreams before. Maybe if I pinch again I’ll OW! Nope not that time, maybe if I pinch the other pinkie cheek than OW! Okay pinkie no need to panic, maybe if I..…”

Pinkie’s frantic pinching is stopped by the hoof of Twilight sparkle “I’m sorry Pinkie, but I don’t think that this is a normal dream.”

“But I don’t get it! I’ve never felt pain in a dream before.” Pinkie looks at Twilight with a look of concern on her face. “I mean this looks like a dream, it tastes like a dream and it even SMELLS like a dream. See watch I’ll imagine that I have a cone of ice cream and…….”

Pinkie extends her hoof the look on her face one of intense concentration, however after several seconds mare falls to her rump “I-I-I don’t get it! It worked before! I just had to dream up a super cool sleigh and now……. I can’t even make an ice cream cone appear? None of my Pinkie Pie dream powers are working! Twilight? Do you know what’s happening, I’m starting to not like this dream…….”

Twilight closes her eyes in deep thought, true everything Pinkie said is true. This is a dream, and she seemed to be able to make things change in the dream before. So why now? If this was a normal dream Pinkie should have been able to wake up by now. So why or rather what would be the point of depriving a pony of their ability to lucid dream and the ability to wake up?  With razor sharp speed Twilight comes to one irrefutable conclusion “it’s probably because this is a form of stand attack. The stand user is probably asserting more control over the dreamscape so that we can’t interfere with her plans.”

“Stand attack?” Pinkie asks “Oh so you had a dream about stands! Well then there’s nothing to worry about then!”

“No Pinkie, Not a dream about stands, a stand of dreams. It’s a stand that possesses the ability to control our dreams.” Twilight grabs the party pony with her fore hooves “think about it! None of our friends recognize that this is a dream and our minds are incapable of waking us up!”

Twilight waves her hoof pointing to the world around them as if accentuating their situation. “This is the perfect opportunity for an enemy to attack us! Our bodies are helpless in the real world, and our minds are trapped in a space that’s under the complete control of somepony else. You couldn’t think up a better trap than this.”

“But this is just a dream right?” Pinkie rolls her neck to the side inquisitively “I mean it’s not like if you die in your dreams you die for real. If we just get hurt we wake up right?”

Twilight leans her head against the wall to her left breathing out in a long steady exhale. “I wish I could say that was the case Pinkie… But from the way this stand power works we should assume that our opponent can inflict lasting harm on us here.”

Pinkie’s face pulls itself into a deeply serious expression as she pieces together Twilight’s argument, “But that means….. Oh No! Our friends are in danger! We’ve gotta find them and use the buddy system! Nothing bad can happen if we use the buddy system.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you Pinkie!” Twilight protests with no small amount of exhaustion. “Even if the opponent can’t hurt us physically in here, if we can never wake up from this dream we lose no matter what!”

Twilight grabs the Pink mare in her hooves “We are literally trapped in the dreamscape unable to return to our own bodies. And if physical pain can’t snap us out of our dreams then we’re doomed to be trapped in our own minds for an eternity while Celestia only knows what plays around with our physical forms!”

“But….. But I can’t sleep for an eternity! As cool as that sounds I have parties to plan, and real ice cream to eat! And I still have to go steady with Dashie!” Pinkie grabs the lavender mare with her fore hooves the pink mare’s puffy mane beginning to straighten out. “What’s the plan Twilight?! You’ve got to have a plan to get out of this right? You always have a plan!”

Twilight looks up at the desperate mare before her and with shaking lips begins to utter the five words that she most hates, the five words she tries to avoid saying no matter what “I-I-I Don’t have a plan!”

“What?”

“I’m sorry Pinkie but I can’t think up a way out of this. I simply don’t know how we can escape from this. Dream magic is rare and very difficult unless you specialize in it, and I don’t know enough about the enemy’s stand power and……..”  Twilight’s head slumps down in defeat. “Maybe if we were all together. If all our friends put our heads together, than we might be able to think of a way out of this. But as we are now…… I just don’t know Pinkie.”

“……… So if you could find our friends you might be able to get us out of here? You would be able to come up with a plan then?” Pinkie asks with genuine curiosity, her fear evaporating as her mane begins to turn back to its poufy self.

“Well yes. But Pinkie you don’t get it.” Twilight looks down the halls of the dream castle. “They could be anywhere and the fact is that the pony controlling this dreamscape can change where they are at any time by manipulating reality.”

“Oh I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” Pinkie says dismissively. “Cause I already know where everypony is!”

“Then we’d have to……. Wait What?” Twilight said “Pinkie you know where Rarity and the others are? Did you see them before you came here?”

“Nope I’m seeing them right now!” Cutting off what would undoubtedly be another to Twilight’s rants on science and probability Pinkie cuts in with a rant of her own. “You see there was this one time I went with my parents to the city of Baltimare for a rock farming convention. And let me tell you Baltimare is a really big place, so its’ super easy to get lost so me and my older sister Maud went and….”

“The short version Pinkie.” Twilight demands with a cold stare.

The pink party pony gives a sharp salute. “Okie Dokie Twilight! All you had to do was ask.” Pinkie clears her throat “Anyway remember when you were asking why there were all these little eyes on my stand and I told you it was part of my super-secret power. Well that day I got lost I found out that I could see out of those eyes even when I pulled them off my stand.”

The pink mare begins to pace back and forth as she illustrates her point by manifesting her stand. “so I thought to myself: Pinkamena Diana Pie, this is a great way to find out what’s going on around town at all times so if a pony is ever sad or needs a party you could rush on over and cheer her up. So I placed these stickers all over so that I could see what was going on all around town!”

Pinkie Beams with pride “I call it my Pinkie Sense Cause it lets me sense when a pony needs a Pinkie. It’s how I know where my friends are. Just in case they would get in trouble or get lost in the woods on the way here I placed one of my Pinkie Eyes on them, and that’s how I know where they are.”

“Sooooooo you can see what every pony is doing every second of the day at all times?” Twilight asks skeptically.

“Pfft No silly!” Pinkie waves her hoof “That would be an enormous breach of privacy laws to see EVERYTHING ponies do at all times. I mean watching miss and Mr. Cake’s special time would be really weird, even for me!”

Twilight cautiously backs up “uhhhhh that’s… good Pinkie.”

“I know it’s good! Cause thanks to it I was able to help a whole lot of ponies, avoid opening doors and falling objects and things like that.” Pinkie continues her rant getting more and more enthusiastic by the second. “If  one is really close to me like one on the other side of a door it takes no trouble at all but for one like a really really long ways away I have to sit on my Pinkie bum (he he bum) and concentrate to see anything out of it. That and it’s really cool to see what everypony else is dreaming right now.  I mean I know that this is a serious situation Twilight, but come on you’ve got to admit that dreaming is fun! Look there’s the sticker I put on you!”

Twilight spins around to see a sticker on her cutie mark of a colorful eye, blinking back at her. With no small amount of creepiness the mare pulls the mark off of her “How did I not see that?”

“Maybe you’re just horrible at finding things?” Twilight gives Pinkie a glare that could boil water. “What? Some ponies just aren’t’ good at finding things! It’s like…….You know that feeling when you lose your car keys and you waste all the time looking for them when they’re right in front of your eyes?”

“Car keys? What are…..”

“That’s kind of how it works!” Pinkie finishes “You don’t know it’s there because you don’t know where and what to look for!”

“…... Okay even if that was true, we’re in a dream Pinkie! It’s not like the tags you put on our friends would carry into a dream.” Twilight states scientifically. “Right now we’re just mental representations of who we are in the real world so physical mater can’t enter a dream. And even if they did we’re in the dreamscape where time and space are distorted, so it should be impossible to…..”

“Hey I found them!” Pinkie shouts with her eyes closed sitting on her rump. “And they’re all in one place! Isn’t that awesome? We can pick up all our friends at the same time!”

“……..You know what, I don’t even know why I try and be logical anymore.” Twilight looks over to the Pink mare “All right fine, let’s roll with this, Pinkie can you guide me to the others? We need to meet up with them before something else happens.”

CRASH!

Suddenly as if awaiting a cue the two sturdy stone walls fall, surrounding the two mares boxing them in the hallway from both sides. Before Pinkie can even say that can’t be good the two walls start closing in on each other the two walls of their prison threatening to crush the mares flat.

 “WHY?! Why did I have to say that!? WHY?” Twilight cries out as she summons her shield to block the two walls from advancing. Despite the unicorn’s best efforts the shield begins to crack as the walls advance mercilessly.

“URGH! All right change of plans!” Twilight cries out as her horn strains to press against the walls. “I’ll try and teleport us to our friends. Pinkie where is everypony? Give me their exact coordinates and I’ll jump us there.”

Pinkie taps her chin as she begins to do the proper calculations in her head. “Let’s see. They’re forty Pinkie Pie bounces that way.” Pinkie points with her hoof at a slight angle downward. “And about three Pinkie Pie bounces to the left.”

“What?!” The desperate purple mare cries out “Pinkie your bounces aren’t a unit of measurement!”

“…….Are you sure?”

The shield keeping the walls from collapsing inward begins to crack as Twilight strains against the weight. “I need a real unit of measurement! Start by telling me the distance in yards to an area where there is a mass of empty space.”

“Um, Okay Twilight.” Pinkie salutes while still sitting on her rump. “Just one teeny tiny question, how long is a yard?”

CRINCK!

The shield begins to shatter around the two mares as Twilight begins to sweat from the exertion, at this rate they’ll be crushed before she can get anywhere with Pinkie Pie. This leaves a drastic and faster way of communication. “Pinkie listen to me, think calming thoughts.” Twilight manifests her stand while straining against the weight of the crushing walls. “I’m going to use my stand to mind link with you then I’ll know exactly where everypony is.”

“Okay?” Pinkie looks at the stand before her “But Twilight! Won’t that just give you a headache? I mean last time we tied that……”

“Last time neither one of us was about to be crushed to death!” Twilight yells over the din of the walls “You just have to calm your mind and think only about the coordinates for a second, and then I’ll teleport us out of here. Just focus like you do when you use your Pinkie Sense and it’ll be fine.”

Pinkie looks between the Lavender mare, the walls, and Twilight’s stand FRIENDS as she closes her eyes in a moment of silence. Suddenly the pink mare opens her eyes her vision focused and resolute and with a flick of her wrist manifests her stand touching Twilight’s stand briefly. Both mares’ eyes light up as their minds exchange crucial information their stands beginning to mesh into each other as the light from their eyes fills the shrinking room. Yet in by focusing on the mind link Twilight’s shield begins to falter and finally collapses, the walls of the crashing together with a thunderous noise as a flash of light rips through the room.

…………………..

Forty Pinkie bounces away two mares come out of a teleport neither of them worse for the wear as the mind link ends. Twilight looks around her at the familiar forms of her remaining four friends as she wipes the sweat from her brow. “Whew. Not a second too soon. Thanks Pinkie I really owe you this time.”

“It’s no problem Twilight!” Pinkie rises to her hooves, offering her hoof to help the lavender librarian up “After all what are friends for?”

Twilight smiles back as she grabs Pinkie’s hoof pulling herself back up to her hooves. “Thanks Pinkie. Now let’s hurry we have to snap our friends out of their day-dreams before this dream weaver decides to throw us into another crusher.”

Now out of danger the two mares give each other a curt nod as the two rush off down the hallways around them, their eyes peeled for any sign of their friends. The search does not take long however, as three pinkie bounces away Twilight finds the four ponies each trapped in a illusion of their own design. Fluttershy once small and timid now stands at a height that rivals Celestia, her body rippling with barely contained muscles. Covered hoof to head in steel plate armor and a sword that is so large it would be a weapons crime to even possess the barbarian Fluttershy stands talking amiably with her other friends at a Victorian style tea table. Dolled up in a baby bonnet and Bib sits a young filly around Applebloom’s age her golden blond mane tied up in ribbons and her orange coat groomed to perfection as she sits at the tea table like a good little filly. Ignorant to her sudden reversal of age Applejack sits talking with a Victorian dressed Rarity each one of them wearing a jeweled broach of their cutie mark and sitting around sipping tea like proper ladies. And Rainbow Dash…. Rainbow dash is sitting at the table with a large pair of thick rimmed glasses and an oversized ‘Indiana Colt and the temple of Floom’ shirt that practically screams ‘nerd’ with its sheer ridiculousness. To her side sitting in a chair is a life sized plushie of Pinkie Pie with the word ‘Waifu’ Tattooed on its head, its large googly eyes always focused on Dash herself.

These four friends completely oblivious to their own state sit at the table with a content and happy look on their faces unaware of the immense danger they are in. Mustering her most authoritative voice the librarian lets out a loud cry that could not possibly be ignored hoping that it will snap the four mares out of their illusion.

“Rarity! Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! Applejack!” Twilight yells, the sound causing the four mares to turn their heads to face the panicking purple mare “Listen to me! This is a dream, and you have to wake up now! You are all in incredible danger.”

All four mares look at each other and for a moment it looks as if they believe their friend. However not ten seconds later the four break out into loud mocking laughter that causes all hope that Twilight was taken seriously to fade instantly.

The first to recover is Applejack taking off her baby bonnet on her head to wipe her teary eyes with. “Whohoe…….. Seriously Twi? A dream? That’s yer excuse ta make us take a break? A dream?” Applejack places her Stetson back on her head “Ah’m the element of honesty fer a reason ah think ah’d notice if in ah was dreamin.”

“Element of what?” Twilight blinks incredulously “No Applejack, listen to me I’m being completely serious.” Twilight pleads as she attempts to reach her friends using well founded logic. “You are all dreaming. We’re trapped in a dream where somepony else is in complete control! you have to snap out of it now before we’re attacked again.”

“Yeah Twilight is right!” Pinkie states reaching behind the lavender mare’s ear “After all if this wasn’t a dream, how could I do this?” With a single yank Pinkie pulls a long tied bandana rope out of the lavender mare’s ear, the librarian straining her neck against the sudden force of having a long rope yanked out of her ear.

Yard after yard of rope streams out of the lavender unicorn’s ear as she winces in pain against the force of Pinkie yanking on her head. Finally the end of the rope along with a half-ton anchor falls out of the purple unicorn’s ear with a loud thud and seizing the moment Pinkie bows to the audience. “TaDa! Look, see! I pulled an anchor out of Twilight’s ear, now you’ve got to admit there’s no way that this couldn’t’ be a dream!”

Releasing her sudden double negative Pinkie taps her chin. “Or is it there’s’ no way you could believe this is a dream? Or maybe there’s absolutely a way in which you could believe this wasn’t a dream once upon a time? Or maybe…”

 “………Um, Pinkie” Dash raises her hoof “You do the impossible all the time, that’s just you being you! I mean pulling an anchor out of Twilight’s ear definitely isn’t the strangest thing I’ve seen you do, even though it was pretty cool.”

Pinkie rubs the back of her neck “Awwwww! Thanks Dashie! You’ve gota admit, The Great and Powerful Trixie’s got nothing on the Great and Funny Pinkie Pie!

“What? Were you guys even watching?” Twilight groans in agony as she breaks the cricks out of her neck. “Pinkie just pulled an entire anchor out of my eardrum! Do you think that’s all right?”

“Well of course it’s all right, Twilight. Pinkie is our friend!” Rarity scoffs at Twilight’s notion as she takes another sip of her tea “She can pull as many anchors out of a pony’s ear as she desires!”

“Fluttershy the brave agrees!” A large hulking monstrosity covered in plated armor booms “Pinkie Pie is Fluttershy the brave’s friend, And Fluttershy the Brave is Pinkie Pie’s friend.”

“That’s right!” Applejack says as she takes another sip of her tea “Pinkie’s our friend yawls shouldn’t discriminate about what’s possible an all that if in it makes Pinkie sad. That’s as cruel as a cactus stew!” Applejack takes another deep sip of her tea as twilight gapes at her friend’s disregard of all logic “Great tea by the way Rarity!”

Rarity blushes from embarrassment as she pours Applejack another cup “it’s quite alright Applejack, I’m just glad that we’re together. More tea Fluttershy the brave?”

“Fluttershy the Brave would LOVE another cup!” The bulky monstrosity booms.

Dash fake gags at the girly display before her as she squeezes a life sized plush of Pinkie Pie “You guys can keep your fancy tea parties. Me and Pinkie are having a blast without your frou-frou tea parties!”

Twilight groans at her failure as she rubs her head, her headache worsening as she watches the embarrassing display before her. “Are dreams always like this?”

“Well my dreams always involve a lot of kissing and chocolate…….” Pinkie says as she looks at the display before her “So yes Twilight dreams are really crazy. After all I bet that you had some pretty weird dreams before.”

Twilight blushes fiercely as she remembers one especially embarrassing dream she had. She couldn’t’ look her teacher Celestia in the face for a week after that. “Never mind that. So what do we do now? Pinkie, you’re the expert on dreams do you have any ideas?”

“Well….. not really.” Pinkie shrugs as she looks at the ponies before her “Normally the old illogical stuff works, actually I wouldn’t know if it works or not cause I’ve never had a multiplayer dream before. That is I don’t know if I had a multi-player dream before cause all my dream versions of you guys were AI’s. Or your dream versions were of you but I couldn’t tell because you can’t remember your own dreams so even if we had the same dream you wouldn’t remember it. Which now that I think about it is pretty good because most of my dreams are about kissing and chocolate…..” Pinkie takes a deep breath “So what do we do now Twilight?”

Twilight looks over to her friends as she gags from the sickening display before her. Logic didn’t work, illogic didn’t work either and she was officially out of ideas. The worst part of the situation was her friends were completely oblivious to the encroaching threat, either they didn’t believe Twilight or they just didn’t care. They were trapped in a prison of their own crafting, so as long as they were enjoying their ‘torment’ then they would never want to wake up and they would never snap out their delusional fantasies. If only there was some way she could shock them out of their delusions somehow then……

Twilight stops her sudden disappointment morphing into twisted glee as she dons a diabolical smile of a pony that has just stolen Christmas from an orphanage. Rubbing her hooves together like a cliché supervillain the mare manifests her stand as she chuckles malevolently.

“Uh Twilight?” Pinkie waves her hoof in front of Twilight’s face the unicorn smiles malevolently at the sheer evil coursing through her brain. “Are you okay you sort of look….. Evil. Do you have a plan now? What do we do?”

“Now.” Twilight gets off her hooves as she trots over to the table where her friends are sitting, her stand’s hooves primed to punch. “Now I think that it's’ time for a little shock therapy.”

 Twilight cracks her stands’ hooves as she comes to a stop before the four mares looking straight at the white garbed Fashionista. “Hey Rarity, the joke’s on you! Me and applejack have been going steady for a week now, guess you shouldn’t have waited so long!”

Rarity’s mane explodes into flames as her dress around her disintegrates into dust “WHAT!! WHY YOU UNFORGIVABLE HUSSY!!! I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT….”

ORA!

In an instant the ivory Fashionista is flat on her back, the blow of Twilights’ stand sending her senses reeling as Twilight turns to Applejack without missing a beat.

“Applejack.” Twilight says in her most serious tone of voice as she places a reassuring hoof on the young filly’s shoulder. “Bad news, a blight has struck Sweet Apple aches! Your entire crop of Apples is gone! But don’t worry the blight can’t affect oranges so you can grow those from now on!”

Applejack’s calm demeanor is suddenly displaced by a face of pure hatred and rage as her sudden size growth causes her bib and bonnet to rip in half. “AH’D RATHER STARVE TA DEATH AND ALL PONYVILLE WITH ME THEN GROW THOSE PUTRID PEELED….”

ORA!

Twilight turns to Fluttershy the brave “Fluttershy can hardly fly!”

“W-W-W-WHAT!!” The titan figure shrinks down as the yellow mare’s self-esteem collapses around her. “T-T-That’s not very nic…”

ORA!

And with that the giant titan known as Fluttershy the Brave is slain. The gigantuous figure reverting back to old Fluttershy as the purple unicorn narrows her gaze on her last foe.

“And Rainbow Dash…” Twilight smiles evilly at the blue pegasus mare. “In the upcoming Indiana colt movie not only is Indiana colt going to be played by Row-Boat Paddleton but at the end of the movie you find out that Indiana colt died in the previous movie and is only possessing his son as a ghost!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” The blue pegasus screams to heavens as she rips off her Indiana Colt autographed t-shirt “Why has Hollyhoof betrayed us!?!”

ORA! ORA! ORAAAAA!

 And with that the four mares collapse to the ground as their delusions are blown to pieces by the purple mare’s stand. For a few seconds all the four mares are capable of doing is groaning in shock and nursing their shattered dreams and hopes.

Rarity is the first to recover rubbing her horn tensely as she rises shakily to her hooves. “Urgh, what happened?” Rarity groans “I can’t remember anything. I was having a tea party with Applejack and…..”

“Yawl were what now?” Applejack asks pulling herself off the floor dusting off her Stetson.

“Applejack!” the ivory mare instantly recovers “I was just urm, I mean it was…… Twilight now be a dear and tell us what’s going on!”

“What happened is that I snapped you out of your dreams.” Twilight says as she helps her fatigued friends up “When I hit Pinkie pie, the mind link allowed me to realize that I was dreaming. I hoped that a quick mind link with each of you would do the same.”

The purple unicorn snickers. “That and I hypothesized that intense discomfort of mental shock like what I experienced with Pinkie….” The pink mare waves from behind Twilight as the librarian shudders “…..could allow a pony a chance to ‘reject’ their dream creating not only an opportunity to mind link but creating a strong desire to ‘wake up’.”

Dash rubs her head as she look between the plushy she is holding and the real Pinkie Pie. “So we ARE dreaming? None of this is real?” The rainbow mare says as she quickly throws the life sized pinkie plushie away in a fit of embarrassment.

The yellow Pegasus falls to her hooves “But……. But I liked being Fluttershy the brave!”

The prone Pegasus quickly finds herself wrapped in a genuinely caring hug “And you still are darling.” Rarity hugs the pegasus tighter “You are just as brave as you always are Fluttershy, you….. you just come in a travel sized package.”

“You…. You mean that Rarity?”

“Well of course I do darling!” Rarity claims “After all one should never underestimate the power of a travel sized accessory!”

Both mares laugh at the fashionista’s joke each one forgetting the turmoil that they have been through. Suddenly Rarity’s eyes are pried from her friend before her as she looks back at the lavender mare who has just finished her conversation with Pinkie. “Fluttershy it has been marvelous dear. But if you excuse me I have to talk to Twilight.”

“… So.” Rarity Trots up to Twilight within whispering range as she looks back at Applejack “You and Applejack are…..”

“Hunh?” Twilight asks

“I’ll admit that I did not see it coming, you and her….” Rarity says as she paws her hoof to the ground “I have lived my life to insure Applejack is happy, I just thought that……. It doesn’t matter as long as she is happy then….”

“Rarity what are you talking about?” Suddenly Twilight’s own words from before come to the forefront of her mind “OH! Don’t worry Rarity that was just to help you snap out of your dream. None of that was true.” Twilight says reassuringly “Besides I already know your little secret!”

“Oh thank you Twilight! Thank….” Rarity stops her body breaking out in a cold sweat at the mention of the word ‘secret’. Rarity gulps heavily trying with all her might to suppress her welling up fear. “Wait what are you talking about Twilight dear?”

At this Twilight gives a coy smile “Oh don’t try and play dumb Rarity I know that…..”

“…… So…….” Applejack nudges the ivory mare from the side interrupting Twilight’s train of thought. “What’s this bout forcing me ta attend one of yer frilly tea parties hunh?”

The ivory fashionista goes as red as a tomato her vocal chords short circuiting from the tension. “Well, that is I really wanted to ask you over for tea and……. Well would you look at the weather here! Rainbow Dash did you work on the weather today?”

“……Rarity, we’re dreaming.” Dash says

“Well that’s what I mean did you manipulate the weather in the dream it looks wonderful!” Rarity chuckles nervously as she tries to divert the conversation away from her past dreams as possible. “Don’t you agree Applejack?”

Rarity epps as the orange mare places her hoof over her shoulder “aw come on there Rarity. Ya think that ah’m that slow? Now tell me all bout this little get together we had, maybe yawl can fill in some blanks fer me.”

“Applejack! There’s no reason to pick on Rarity like that.” Twilight says “it was just a tea party.”

“Yes Twilight’s’ right!” Rarity says clutching the rope that she has been thrown “I mean it was just a tea party, there’s absolute no ulterior motives to it at all!”

“Besides you shouldn’t’ read so much into it.” Twilight resumes as she cites a passage from ‘Dreaming and You’. “The dreamscape is subtly influenced by the subconscious the most random and unpredictable part of the psyche. And given the multitude of meanings and interpretations anything can mean anything else. Rarity probably wishes that you had more culture is all.”

“……yes….. “ the crest fallen Fashionista recites with a downtrodden expression  “…. Just a coincidence…”

Applejack grows red with fury as she realizes something that slipped her mind before. “Now hold on! Ya think that ah need more culture? Is that it?”

Rarity recoils from her friend’s accusations “No Applejack I like you just the way…..”

“Not you Rarity!” Applejack points her hoof to Twilight “You!”

“Me?”

“Yes you!” Twilight flinches from the accusation “So ya think that ah need some fancy lessons hunh?”

“What? No Applejack I think that you’re perfect just the way you are! I just thought that Rarity might think that you needed some lessons in etiquette.”

“I think no such thing!” Rarity Scoffs

“Rarity’s’ right she would never think a prissy thought like that.” Applejack snorts “But apparently some pony would.”

“Now hold on a second Applejack, I didn’t mean it like that I just think that some areas……. your use of southernisms perhaps, and your accent could use a little work. Some pony back me up on this!’

“Methinks that the farmer could use some assistance with her accent.”

“Ah do not have an accent Rarity! It’s a perfectly normal way o talkin.”

“Um Applejack I might agree a little with the mysterious voice’s sentiment, but that wasn’t me.”

“Oh really Rares? Cause I don’t see anypony else here with a fancy way of talkin like yours.”

Rarity’s eyes widen as her coat grows more pale than normal. “W-w-well then D-darling I think that you had better look behind you.”

Applejack sighs and turns her head behind her to humor her friend, yet the sight behind her stops the orange mare cold.

Applejack had only seen Celestia, the goddess of the Sun and ruler of Equestria once in her life, at the summer sun celebration in canterlot. It had been one of the last things that she had done with her parents, and the memory of the benevolent and beautiful goddess had only made it more memorable. To this day the mare could not forget the feeling of standing in her presence, no longer wondering why ponies revered her so much. ‘Forget moving the sun and the moon’, thought the orange farm filly. To be adored by all ponies regardless their of age, sex, or background, that was what made er a true goddess.

Which is why it took so much out of the orange farmer to admit that the figure floating before them on the currents of the dreamscape was genuine goddess in every meaning of the word. Her mane an ethereal and flowing dark blue cloud filled with drops of starlight. Her coat majestic Dark cobalt, that seemed to glisten in the right light. Her horn and wings both long and pointed each feather in its proper place, groomed to such perfection and detail one might think it was impossible. Her dark obsidian crown and regalia masterpieces of metalworking that fit snugly on her hooves signifying her will and divine right to rule over others. The ghostly figure behind her only accentuated the fact that this pony was divine, the stand’s bright white eyes looking down on the ponies, as if it were sent from above. The stand’s scaled armor reflecting all the colors of the sky, its silver braided mane, its armored hooves and its terrifying gaze. Being a mare of honesty Applejack hated half-truths, however the foalish side of the mare wanted more than anything to deny something she had just discovered about the mare before her.

She was truly a goddess.

And she was truly terrifying.

And she was looking right at them her eyes glowing white and her horn crackling with eldritch energies as a whirlwind of magical power circles around her.

Under such a presence an ordinary mare might flee in terror and indeed a part of Applejack wanted to do just that. However the unicorn in front of her, the lavender mare who had lead them there had her gaze and attention completely enraptured on the figure standing undaunted in the presence of a goddess.

Twilight Sparkle saw the majesty of the goddess before her, but she wasn’t cowed into submission or fearful of the fact that this creature could probably erase her from existence. To tell the truth she was actually peeved that she took so long to show up. “I think we’ve had enough of the light show, Nightmare Moon!” Twilight yells above the din “Your power does not scare me; you forget I have stood in the presence of a Goddess before, and I am not so easily frightened. I also know that if you wanted to we would be dead already so why don’t you come down and we can talk this out like civil ponies.”

A flash of anger fills the goddess’ eyes for a split second as she glares at the mare lavender mare before her. “If I were you Sparkle, I would know better than to use that name around me.” With grace and poise the goddess touches the ground her horse shoes clinking against the cold stone. Her eyes returning to their normal turquoise hue as the wind and storm die down around her. “That name is a blasphemy against everything that I am and wish to be. My title is Princess Nocturnes De Luna, empress of the night and warden of the dark. However if you must address me you may call me Luna.”

Twilight breathes a long exhale of relief, ‘well at least that went well, now for the hard part.’

“All right, you have our attention and we have ours.” Twilight shouts “So what do you want?”

“What I want is simple Twilight. I wish to know what my sister’s intentions are with the corpse.” The lunar monarch gestures around them with her hoof, the stone around her rippling at her slightest movement. “It is why I trapped you here in your dreams, to test you and determine your intentions

Twilight taps her chin “So…. Now that you see that we aren’t her to harm you, or that we aren’t her on Celestia’s behalf. You’re going to let us go right?”

“No, Twilight.” The lavender unicorn sags while Luna continues. “You may have said that you have no clue as to my sister’s intents and perhaps that is true in part.” The princess of the night nods affirmatively “But I cannot let you leave, if there is a chance that you will reveal my locations or if you know anything about my sister’s prize.”

“What? But-But, I told you the truth! I told you when you were posing as one of my friends when you first sent me to the dream realm. I couldn’t have faked that.”

The goddess flinches from the accusations of the lavender mare, but only for half a second “I commend you for seeing through my dream images as well as my subconscious suggestions; however that does not mean you are not on her side. Nor that you have not given our current location to her.”

The princess paces back and forth as the mentally works out her options and decision. “My wards and flaming braziers should have shielded this place from scrying so I had worried that you had somehow bypassed my barriers and revealed my location to my sister. Yet somehow you simply walked through them without setting a single one off, how?”

The princess ceases her pacing her eyes locked on the librarian with a paranoid gaze “Perhaps it is the ‘will’ of ‘that’? No but why would it ‘align’ with a mere fowl? Even in its unfinished form it should not be capable of this much.”

“I am not a fowl!” Twilight barks her tone growing softer as she tries to relate to the isolated princess. “And I am no fool either, and despite the fact that you are holed up in a castle in the middle of nowhere, I don’t think you are either- Princess Luna.”

The princess ceases her rapid pacing, her head craning slightly to the side as if considering things from a new perspective. “That name, I have not been called by that name in a long time. Part of me had expected to never hear it uttered again.”

The princess looks back at the entire group this time, not just the lavender mare. Her eyes grow less harsh has she looks over her subjects, her ponies who have traveled so much distance in search of the truth. Yet again though her suspicions take hold as she steels her resolve. “However it is not Paranoia to suspect an attack that has already been launched.” Princess Luna of the Night takes a strong step forward. “Nor is it foolishness to plan for the inevitable. My sister will never part with it and I have already lost too much to my sister’s arrogance to lose any more. The force that she attempts to wield is too beyond the keen of moral minds to use. Too many lives have suffered for it; therefore the Holy Corpse must be destroyed.”

In the wake of so much that she can’t understand Twilight can only launch flimsy arguments against the walls of Princess Luna’s paranoia. “Princess! You’re not making any sense!” Twilight pleads “You know that Princess Celestia hasn’t sent us! We don’t mean you any harm just let us out of this dream and we can talk this over!”

The princess of the night however stands unflinching. “It is true that while the subconscious has control over one’s dreams that one is more truthful, however you are a smart mare, therefore it is likely that you have a form of subconscious protection. Protection that would allow you to lie even in a situation in which you were not in control of your subconscious, like in a dream.”

Twilight flinches from the accusation, knowing it was accurate to a point. Her mind did have many forms of subconscious protection. It was standard issue for the high members of the military and government to have such mental protection that could protect them from giving away sensitive information against their will. Twilight being the Princess’ student was no exception and she had learned several methods to protect her mind against unwanted intrusions that could jeopardize Celestia’s safety. In fact Twilight had suspected it was due to these methods of protecting her thoughts that she was even able to suspect that something was wrong even while she was trapped in Luna’s Dreamscape.

It was ironic, the mental protection was taught to her to protect Celestia’s best interests, but because of that very mental protection she couldn’t get her mentor’s own sister to trust her. From the looks of things Luna was still very suspicious of her sister to say the least. Luna suspected her own sister of conspiring against her and though she was no longer held captive her own dark magics she was still a prisoner to her own fears. Luna truly believed her sister was hunting her down to destroy her, but Celestia, the face that she made when Twilight had asked her mentor about her sister…… that could never be faked. Right now her mentor only wanted her sister back, and all Twilight wanted was to get the bottom of the secret of the stones. And both of those things would never happen if she didn’t get Luna to trust her.

Swallowing her fear the lavender mare tries for one more desperate plea “But Princess Luna..….”

“Therefore this is my decision!” Princess Luna, Goddess of the night raises her wings as she brings her hoof down with the force of a judge’s gavel. “You all will stay here in the realm of dreams until I have deemed your captivity unnecessary or I have determined what you say is true.”

Every pony in the room immediately protests, a cacophony of voices protesting, however like always it is Applejack who beats the other ponies to the punch. “What in Tarnation!” Applejack yelps as she readies her fore hooves for a fight “Yawl can’t just……”

“Silence orange farmer mare!” the princess’s voice booms with the force of a thunderclap as the entire group backs off, all intentions of fighting for the moment blown out of their minds by the force a Goddess’ voice. “A Princess is to never be interrupted, and I shall not be denied my right to speak. Now as I was saying, after I have determined your innocence or your guilt, you will be released to the town of Ponyville no worse for your troubles. Then I will attempt move the heart to a more secure location where my sister cannot uncover it.”

“Don’t talk to Applejack like that! No pony talks to my friends like that.” Fluttershy steps up her eyes burning as she remains just on the verge of using the stare. “So you think that you can just imprison any pony you want just because you’re a princess? That you can trap any pony that you want forever? I mean I know you’re evil and all but to trap a pony in their dreams….. That’s really evil you should be ashamed of yourself!”

Fluttershy shakes in barely controlled anger at the injustice of the situation as she advances on Luna. “You have no right to keep us here! Now you be a good Pony and let us out missy, or I-I-I’ll do something that I’ll regret!”

 Thousands of years ago there were three things that the princess of the night hated: being questioned, being ignored, and eating bananas (or rather anything to do with bananas). And yet this mare had the gall to do two of those three things right in front of her, and in her own plane of existence no less. The princess’s feathers rustle as she looks the cheeky yellow mare before her.  “And I think you have made your point, ‘Fluttershy the brave’. But you would do well not to anger me, lest you forget that it is I who has domain over this realm, and all those who pass through it.”

“Oh and you think that I’m NOT angry? Or is it that you don’t care about anypony else’s feelings? Well you know what I think? I’ll tell you what I think!” The Pegasus says as she takes a step forward her eyes filled with righteous fury.

“Well I think….” The yellow mare’s coat ripples and bulges and pounds of muscles rush in as if from thin air to fill her supple frame.

“That you’re just a…….” The Alicorn takes a step back as the Pegasus begins to tower to her height.

“A big MEANIE!” the butter yellow Pegasus roars with the force an oncoming typhoon, as Fluttershy the Pegasus is replaced by the monolith known as Fluttershy the Brave.

With a dramatic roar the hulk leaps on the Goddess with primal fury, her muscles bulging in anticipation of tearing the mare in front of her apart with her bare hooves, her mouthwatering as the mare savors her bloodlust on her tongue. Yet In the face of such savagery the goddess merely smirks and waves her hooves causing Fluttershy the brave to instantly revert back to her normal form. The mare lands with a cute thump directly in front of the goddess who can’t help but smirk at the sudden change of fortunes.

“You were saying?” the lunar princess chuckles as the now depowered Pegasus hugs the ground in front of the goddesses’ hooves trying to seem as small as possible.  “Do not forget that you are in my realm Pegasus, I control all in this domain. Do you really think that you would be able to defeat me here?”

“Fluttershy isn’t the only one fighting Black snooty!” Luna turns her head just in time to see a rainbow missile headed straight towards her its’ hooves covered in a glimmering gauntlets of prismatic color. With a powerful twist of her body the rainbow mare torques her back legs at the Dream princess, her back hooves glistening with power as she turns a charging straight into a roundhouse kick.

However as fast as Rainbow Dash is, Luna is faster, her stand manifesting its’ scaled armored hide in defense of its owner. The two stands clash the prismatic blast of color sweeps across the room blowing away the castle around them in favor of a colorful expanse of the dreamscape. The light from the blast fades away as larger and larger cracks appear in the stonework of the castle around them, cracks that spread into the remaining pieces of the stone work surrounding the mares. Dash’s smile as a successful blow hits quickly fades away as the princess of the night raises her guard to look the Pegasus in the eyes.

“You are quite impressive Dashie. You were actually able to force me to block your blow.” Luna pushes the Pegasus away with a sweeping blow from her stand “And were we not in the realm of dreams that blow might have stood a chance at felling me. But as I said before this is my realm, no blade or blow can harm me here.”

“Well maybe I just have to try harder!” Rushing the Lunar Goddess from a ninety degree angle the Prismatic bolt closes distance from the side in preparation for a Rainboom powered punch.

Luna responds dramatically and with minimal effort she ducks under the punch delivering a powerful uppercut into the gut of the rainbow mare via her stand. As the rainbow mare lands with a thud at Applejack’s hooves, the prismatic speedster raises her hoof shakily groaning from the pain. “Ugh, alright Applejack, Tag in.”

Clapping the hoof of her cerulean compatriot, the Orange mare tilts her hat downwards as she narrows her gaze on the goddess before her. “Give me a Break, why’d ah have ta wake up this morning ta fight a goddess?”

“Um…. technically we’re still asleep Applejack.”

“Whatever Fluttershy!” Applejack spits a loogie off to her side as she cracks her hooves “Well Princess Luna as much as I was taught ta respect mah elders ah’m gonna have ta disagree with yawl’s little proposition. See ah got a little sis waitin on me so ah’m not very keen on stayin locked up here. An sides Yawl made one big mistake…..”

With lightning precision the Orange mare throws her hoof forward in a razor sharp jab, the lunar princess barely blocking with her own arm as the blow connects soundly. Applejack grins at her successful attack as she gazes down her stand’s arm, “Yawl just pissed me off. And fer that, yer getting a paddlin.”

Striking while the iron is hot Twilight prepares to give her friends battle commands “All right, you asked for this Princess! Everypony else attack as one! Keep Luna busy. Applejack we’re linking now you’ll understand the plan as soon as the link is complete.”

As if moving together as one, the ponies all react. Rarity throwing sharpened spines from her stand right at the Goddess, Pinkie firing round after round of projectile from her cannon, and Fluttershy…… who cheers silently from the background. Mildly amused the Lunar princess manifests her stand, and with godly precision catches every single projectile from sharpened silver knives to rubber chickens throwing them off to her side with supernatural speed. Not willing to let her attack be in vain Rarity lashes out with her whip of Quicksilver, only for the Goddess to dodge every attack by a margin, Punching the ivory mare in the gut. With a gasp the ivory mare falls to the ground at the hooves of the goddess, and unwilling to see her friend be crushed Fluttershy finally leaps into action with her Stare. Fluttershy locks eyes with the goddess signaling a successful use of her power. Yet One thousand years of mental discipline and training have refined the princess’ willpower to a fine point, allowing her to turn the tables on Fluttershy. The princess’s horn glows as she reverses Fluttershy’s own Stare at her, the yellow mare’s own stare freezing the her in her tracks. Seeing her friends in trouble Pinkie reacts reflexively, grabbing the prone Rarity and the mentally stunned Fluttershy and dragging them out of the range of the Goddess’s counter attack.

Princess Luna unimpressed by their best display of strength prepares to berate them on their tactics, when a sudden force presses on her from above causing even her godly form to shake from the weight. The Goddess tries to lift a hoof, to take to the air however the force only increases the ground beneath the Goddess Cracks from the strain as Princess Luna is pushed further and further into the ground. Assessing her situation Princess Luna looks over to the mare Twilight and her Friend Applejack watching as the two mare’s eyes glow in unison, the Orange mare’s stand taking on a new appearance and a new power that even now seems to be pushing her into a corner. Years of tactical experience flows through Luna’s brain as she instantly works on not only a way out of the force that is currently crushing her to death, but the reason for the orange mare’s sudden power increase.

“Give it up Luna.” Twilight says as the stand Foundation presses the gravity down on Luna harder.

“Yawl don’t’ stand a chance, now let us out o this crazy dream.” Applejack gestures threateningly at the prone mare.

Luna muses for a second as she watches the two mares move so well together, their focused bodies seeming to move as one. Suddenly in a flash of inspiration rare magic technique comes to the forefront of Princess Luna’s mind. “A mind link that boosts one’s power. That is an interesting ability no doubt.”

The lunar mare grunts heavily her horn glowing with a dark blue light as a spell charges and spreads across her from. As quickly as it descends the magic dissipates and she spreads her wings as a shockwave of force blows over the ponies like a gust of wind “But twenty earths of gravity is nothing here. Gravity has no power over one who has walked the heavens or have you not had a dream about flight? Adjusting one’s gravity in a dream is fowl’s play.”

Twilight and Applejack smirk collectively. “Well Princess have you ever had a dream…..”

Applejack points her hoof above the goddess “….where somthin was falin on yawl?”

Curious the princess of the night looks up to see a large storm of shattered stone and debris falling straight at her head the force of their fall augmented by the intense gravity of Foundation. Together both mares muster their strength increasing the force of the gravity even further sending the storm of masonry spreading towards their foe even faster. Both mares smile at their combined scheme, thousands of tons of Dreamscape rubble flinging towards the Princess faster than she can disperse it, and should the Princess Dodge to the side they can rush in from behind and finish her. Both mares coil their hooves preparing to jump in and attack at the slightest hint weakness, waiting for the Princess to dodge.

However the Lunar monarch does not run, she does not flee to the left or the right; she does not try to run and dodge from such an obstacle. Rather she smiles in the face of a decent challenge manifesting her stand the Princess primes her hooves and leaps off the ground plowing right into the center of the hail of rocks.

NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI! NOCTI!

Swinging her hooves like a frenzied fighter the princess punches the ruble to pieces the rainbow colors of the dreamscapes’ sky rippling from the force of her every blow. Boulder after boulder is sent flying at the goddess, and blow after blow shatters the rack until it is naught but gravel. The blows continue until not a stone remains the goddess of the night lowering her wings as she lands with a loud thud on the ground. Every mare in the room looks on the sight of the Goddess before them, Twilight and Applejack’s connection dispelling from the shock of what they have just seen.

“Huzzah! What a warm up! Our hooves have not had practice like this for millennium.” The princess lands on with a thud on the ground the shattered stones crushed into dust from the mere landing of the entity of the night. “Please kind ponies, If thou are so steadfast in attacking me I suggest ‘upping your game’. Otherwise I shall not even sweat a break!” The Princess of the night laughs uproariously in cheerful glee, however to the other ponies might as well be their dirge of defeat.

“What-What do we do Twilight?” Fluttershy quakes in her hooves as she looks at the invincible goddess before her. “How do we fight? How? This- This is a world with no rules.”

Applejack takes a step back “As much as ah hate ta admit it Fluttershy may be right.” Applejack gulps “This is a world with no rules of any kind! Common sense doesn’t work here! Its’ a world in which she can do whatever she wants.”

“She’s way too strong. We can’t win!” Rarity shivers in terror as she backs away.

The mares are about ready to retreat when they are stopped by the sound of ragged breathing that originates from behind them. Rising from her place in the dirt, Rainbow Dash places a strong hoof on the yellow Pegasus’s back. With cool practiced action, she wipes a small dribble of blood from her mouth, her body shivering as she struggles with the pain of her wounds.  With a cocky, steady voice she gives her a clear answer that is heard by every pony in the room.

“What do we do?” Dash asks her face resuming its trademark cocky smile “That’s easy we fight anyways. That’s what we do.”

With tremendous force the mare leaps off the ground, the rainbow Pegasus readying her stand to fight. She soars towards the goddess her eyes burning from resolve “So you wanted me to up my game? Well here’s my ‘A’ Game! Enjoy.”

Luna smiles, her heart pumping furiously and her veins throbbing from the excitement of the fight as well. Raising her wings the cobalt Alicorn pushes off the ground her stand priming her hoof to strike. “You are quite spirited Rainbow Dash. Tis not often that I get to face so worthy of an opponent as you. Thoust should make a good warm up after a thousand years of idleness.”

With the roll of thunder the two mare’s hooves collide the force of their impacts pushing against each other as both mares try to shove the other back on wing power alone. Dash smiles back at the cheeky mare in front of her “Warm up My flank! By the time I’m through kicking your but your throne will have to have an ice-bag for your fat flank!

 “That I would like to see!” Luna retorts as both mares continue to push harder and harder against each other, both their muscles straining as neither one gives an inch. Suddenly Luna’s stand raises its’ other hoof to strike, And Dash responding in kind, readies her hoof with her stand Valkyrie’s rainbow aura.

With a monumental explosion both mares punch the other straight in the muzzle the blow alone sends vibrations through the air. The resulting shockwaves that ripple through their own bodies impact with deafening force as both mares crash against the walls behind them from the force of the other’s blow. The walls crumble to dust behind them as the cracks in the reality of the dreamscape give way more and more, the dream castle fading into the eather around the two mares. Princess Luna ever resolute picks herself out of the rubble raising her hoof to lick her bloodied hoof staining her tongue a dark red as she savors the taste of battle. “Is that the best you have Dash? Thou thought thoust would kick mine flank?”

Dash picks herself from her respective pile of rubble, unable to keep a smile from her face. Despite how much she wanted to escape from this crazy dream world, even though she was fighting for her life, part of Dash didn’t want this fight to end. It was just that awesome. “heh! Me and my friends are just getting started Black Snooty!” Dash retorts “You’re the one who should throw in the towel!” With no more words to be said the rainbow mare rushes back at her opponent, the two of them trading blows yet again as she shockwaves from their punches echo through the dreamscape.

Yet despite Dash’s bravado it is clear that Luna has the upper hoof. Dodging Dash’s blows by a hair, countering only non-critical areas, her cool demeanor and guard firm guard that blocks Dash’s attacks give every pony watching the fight the impression that the goddess of the night is dominating the fight. Applejack turns to her friends in an attempt to spur them into action. “Now are we gonna let Dashie have all the fun? Come on and let’s help the gall!” Everypony nods as they all manifest their stands each and every one of them putting aside their fear to rush in and save their friend.

All save the Pinkie Pie, who is grabbed in mid jump by a familiar magical aura. “Not you Pinkie, I need your help here.” Twilight sparkle the unicorn adept watches as her four friends attack the Goddess who is getting respectively faster as each bow is thrown at her.

“But Tttwwwwiiiillllliiigggghhhhhtttttttt! My friends need me!” the pink filly wines and struggles against the field holding her without any success on her part. “Let, Me, GO!”

The lavender mare sighs as she sets the Pink mare on the ground. “I know our friends need our help, that’s why I need you to help me think. As much as I hate to admit it I’m not the dream expert and besides your ability to think outside the box is perhaps our only hope.” Twilight flinches as she watches Rarity take a strong blow sending her skidding on the floor, only for her to leap up to attack a moment later. “As you can see none of our attacks are working against her, and even if they were, she could just leave the dreamscape if she wanted and we’d lose no matter what then.”

“She can just leave?” Pinkie asks. “are you sure?”

“Remember what she said Pinkie? She said she was going to leave us here, that means that she could leave us trapped in the dream  anytime she wishes.” Twilight watches the fight before her with rising worry “She’s just toying with us Pinkie, that’s why we need a plan to get out of here, or force Luna to let us go, and you’re the expert on dreams, so I need your help. Do you have any idea on how we could escape?”

Pinkie taps her chin as she drums up another of her Pinkie Ideas before shrugging helplessly. “I got nothin, It's’ just too bad too. Princess Luna seems like a real crazy pants, but I don’t think that she’s a bad guy.” The pink mare watches the cobalt goddess as she takes one of Applejack’s powerful bucks only for the goddess to bounce back a second later. “Plus from what you said Princess Celestia is really worried about her, if only we could make friends with her……”

A lightbulb goes on above the Unicorn’s head her brain churning with a rapidly forming idea. “I have an idea Pinkie. Remember how I beat Dash in the first place? I just have to show Luna like I showed Dash that we aren’t her enemies!” the lavender mare’s optimistic demeanor returns as she pats Pinkie on the head “Thanks for the lightbulb by the way Pinkie. It always helps me come up with ideas.”

The Pink mare smile as she puts the light bulb back in the storage of her own stand. “No problem Twilight I’m always happy to help with metaphorical gags!”

Twilight nods as she puts her large brain to use in working the kinks out of her plan. “All right if this is going to work at all I need to get into point Blank range with the Princess. First I need to get past her guard so she can’t defend herself, but Luna’s defenses are too strong to just wink in with teleporting.”

The lavender mare muses as she analyzes the Princess of the Nights’ fighting style. “In order to get in I’ll need a distraction and an attack that is capable of blowing past her guard. But She took Applejack’s an my attack like it was nothing, I’d need an incredibly destructive stand power to get into range.”

As if summoned by fate Rainbow dash lands with a thud at Twilight’s hooves, Her head spinning as she tries to right her sense of balance. Both mares look down at Dash then back at each other as Pinkie smiles sheepishly.

 “Pinkie NO.” Twilight waves her hooves “Absolutely NO.”

“Aw come on Twilight! Why not?”

“Pinkie, were you even there the last time we combined powers?” Twilight extends her hooves in exasperation. “It blew a hole in the library wall! And I personally enchanted the wood to be stronger than steel! Dash’s power nearly killed us and you want us to fire it off like this?!”

“But you said that you needed a stand with a lot of destructive power.” Pinkie picks up the dazed Cerulean mare with her hooves presenting her to Twilight like a lost puppy “And no stand is more destructive than Dashie’s.”

“After what happened to my library!? Do we have to?” Twilight whines, knowing there is really no way around it. “Grah, fine Dash come here.”

“Who’s that, what?” The mare says woozily.

Twilight signs as she ignites her horn filling Dash’s vision with lavender light. Not a second later the rainbow mare comes too, shaking her head to get out the last remnants of the fog from her mind. “Twilight, mare am I glad that you are okay!” Dash turns back to the goddess of the night with a fierce look on her face. “Now if you’ll excuse me I need to kick some pony’s flank.”

Dash tries to fly off only for her tail to be grabbed by Twilight’s Telekinesis much to Dash’s frustration at being dragged back to earth. Placing the gouchy blue mare gently on the floor Twilight clears her throat. “I know Dash, I know, that’s why I need you to……”

The lavender mare’s voice drones out, much to the Cerulean mare’s disappointment. “What was that? Speak up Egghead. Princess Snooty’s flank isn’t going to kick herself.”

“I need you to fuse with me!” Twilight blurts out.

“We’re fusing?” Dash asks “But didn’t you say that my power was way too…..”

Twilight places her hooves over Rainbow’s trap. “I know what I said. But there’s no time to talk. Let’s fuse.”

Dash looks at the mare in front of her for a second before she breaks out in a cocky grin. “About time. All this warming up, and I couldn’t bring out the big guns till now.” Dash looks over at the Lunar Princess “Well if my A game didn’t do anything, I guess it’s time for my A+ game!”

A short distance away breathing heavily from exertion that would drop a normal pony the Monarch of the night stands victorious. Her foes defeated and unconscious, lie at her hooves bested in glorious battle. And though they all attacked as one with flawless teamwork, none could stand against her and her divine power. Her breath returning to its normal rate as Princess grins, it had been a long time since she had enjoyed a fight this much, perhaps once things cool over she and that Rainbow maned one, Dash, could spar again. And perhaps next time the speedster might be able to actually wind her.

Luna stops as she looks at the ponies around her “Wait, where is that Dash mare? She couldn’t have vanished could she?” Princess Luna watches as the other three mares disappear in a flash of lavender light their unconscious bodies moving through space away from the Goddess. Raising her head towards the origins of the teleportation Luna smiles as she come face to face with her Sister’s Protégé, and the brave warrior Dash.

“All right Black Snooty!” Dash points her hoof at the princess “Listen it’s been great and all, this little hoedown.” The blue mare yawns “But I’m afraid, it’s past my bedtime so I’m gonna have to end this match so I can get some real sleep.”

“Interesting.” The princess of the moon readies herself “it seems that you still have some spirit left. Very well, I too have grown tired of this warming up. Come this let us see how strong you power can become. I take it that you and Twilight will be performing that mind link power boost you used on the orange farm mare.”

Luna spreads her wings her stand manifesting itself as she readies for Twilight and Rainbow's combination attack. “However it makes no difference! Thoust best attacks shall break upon mine coat like water on the cliffside and once thrust are defeated thoust shalt reveal mine sisters’ plotting schemes to me so we might thwart her twisted ambitions!”

Twilight however can’t help but smile at Luna’s predictability as she readies her own stand.“Luna I know it, I know what your next line is.” Twilight exclaims as her stand reaches over to touch Dash’s arm. “Your next line is…”

The two ponies connect their eyes glowing as Dash finishes the line “……Bring it on, I shall be the one to blow you away!”

“Bring it on! I shall be the one to… What!?” Luna states in awe.

“And the line after that is….” Dash says as the rainbow aura peels off her hooves its’ prismatic energy taking on a new form.

“…..How did thoust predict mine words?! What sorcery is this!?” Twilight exclaims as Twilight’s stand bends and buckles it’s pony like shape taking a far more humble form.

“How did thoust predict mine words!?” Luna snaps as her guard begins to break down “What sorcery is this?!”

“WHAT!?!” Luna exclaims as she watches the rainbow formed stand change shape into a simple ribbon of seven colors. Twilight and Dash can’t help but smirk as the Rainbow ribbon takes its’ complete and proper shape around their forms its sleek lithe form belying its radiant beauty as the rainbow circles around the two mares who stand before the princess of the Night.

“Can-Can it be?” Luna Stutters as she tries to back away from the sentient rainbow that circles around the two mares “The mythical Rainbow of light? It exists?!”

Suddenly faster than the alicorn's eyes can follow the rainbow arches up into the air its speed unrivaled by any earthly thing as it comes crashing down directly on the Alicorn’s head. The Princess watches in part fear and part awe as the majestic beam of light speed towards her at 299,792,458 meters per second. Faster than it takes for light to circle the earth nine times the rainbow hits the royal point blank her stand’s armor shredded by the sheer force of the blow as the rainbow seems to rip through her very soul. The light courses over the princess the shockwave of the blow resounding through her solid frame like a jackhammer pure white fills her vision.

Then just as quickly as it struck the rainbow disperses reduced back to ordinary light by its sudden explosion of power, leaving behind only a steaming smoking crater where Princess Luna once stood. Twilight and Rainbow Dash collapse on the ground completely exhausted by their sudden last burst of power as the gasp for air. For a moment it looks as though after all their efforts it is finally over no living creature could survive such an onslaught surely anything struck with such destructive force must have been defeated without the shadow of a doubt.

Yet the night is not so easily vanquished.

Rising from the mist with a dreadful mien her breath ragged, her pelt scorched, her mane disheveled and her body bruised the Goddess of the night Picks herself out of the dirt as she emerges from the dust. The Goddess’s horn ignites with powerful magic and the power of her stand as she pours the magic of the dreamscape around her into her wounds. Princess Luna watches with gratitude as her wounds evaporate her body healing itself at an exponential rate as she rises to her hooves “I truly commend you both, that was a devastating attack. Were we in the real world even I would have been unable to defend against it, even with my strongest shield. I was a fool to try and take such an attack head on with no magical defenses.”

Spying Rainbow Dash lying off to the side the Princess of the night channels her healing magic and the power of the dreamscape towards patching her wounds as she advances menacingly on her. Dash utterly exhausted in every sense of the word lies prone on the ground, unable to move in the slightest as the Princess of the night stomps closer to the rainbow mare. “But as I said before in this world I cannot be felled. No Physical blow can harm me.”

The lunar monarch, her gaze so occupied on the cerulean mare before her,  that her peerless senses fail to notice the Lavender mare falling from the sky right on top of her. Princess Luna turns her head just in time to see Twilight Sparkle grasp onto her with her hooves with an iron clasp. Twilight grins ion the Princess’ face as she manifests her stand. “Phase one Complete. Now commencing phase two.”

With practiced precision Twilight touches the Princess with her stand pouring all her power into making a link no matter how tumultuous between the two mares. before either mare can adjust to the suddenness of the mind link, of their two minds brushing against each other, both double over in pain as both of their minds scrape against each other like sandpaper on a chalkboard.

In contrast to the link between Twilight and Dash before that had created such beauty the link between Twilight and the Princess of the night is forced, artificial and the strain of both minds pushing against each other create mental agony. Both mares writhe on the ground their minds each struggling for control and dominance over the other, Twilight struggling to show the princess her good intentions and Luna trying with all her might to destroy the invader that would violate her mind. Twilight tries to show the Princess that she is not a pony to be feared, while Princess Luna pushes against the lavender mare with all her strength as they each vie for control over the other.

 “N-No…..” Twilight whispers “N-Not yet…… can’t let it, end like this…..”

With phenomenal willpower the Lavender mare holds on the Goddess her mind blazing with pain, begging the purple unicorn with every throb of pain that passes between them to let the bond break. Yet just as the lavender mare is about to collapse a familiar and old memory enters the minds of the two mares at once as pure white fills their perspective visions.

…………..

Two minds scream as one, both falling through the shifting void in front of them. Their perceptions stretch and bend as they try to make sense of their surroundings. Suddenly the Lavender mare and the azure goddess lands belly first on a cold tile floor. The room around them though regal and well adorned is empty and devoid of any pony. Yet the room itself seems to give the presence and warmth of a sunrise on a dark night. The white tapestries emblazoned with the golden stitching of the sun princess flutter in the cold night air, the brilliant moon shining through the window and reflecting off the white washed tile. However all these small details are currently lost on the two mares as they struggle to pull the pieces of their rattled minds together.

“Ow, my aching head……” Twilight rubs her horn as she is able to slowly pick herself off the ground. “Where… where are we?”

“You do not know where we are Twilight?” Luna says rising to her hooves prepared to fight. “We thought that you had better control thine powers but it seems that were mistaken.” The princess of the night unused to being taken anywhere against her will stomps on the illusionary floor with such force Twilight fears it may shatter. “Now deliver us forth from this room!”

“I don’t know where we are Princess.” Rubs her sore horn. “The last time this happened I landed in Dash’s memory and saw something that she remembered from a long time ago.”

“Then how did thine escape last time from the shifting world of memories? And whose mind have we landed in.” The lunar princess looks uncomfortably off to the side. “we are not comfortable with you sifting through our memories like this.”

“Look I don’t know how to get out. Last time it sort of happened by……”

Twilight’s words are cut off as the sound of a creaky door opens behind the two visitors to the past. Both mares turn to the source of the sound as a small filly and the majestic monarch of the sun enter the room the filly balancing a medium box in her telekinesis.

“Wait I know where we are now!” Twilight exclaims “We’re in MY memories. I remember this! This is the night I finally convinced Celestia to stay up stargazing with me. And this is Celestia’s room at the castle!”

“This is Celly’s room?” Luna’s eyes gaze at the paper filled monstrosity of a desk, the rumpled sheets and the stacks upon stacks of romance novels piling in the corner of the room. “Mine sister’s tastes have certainly changed in these past thousand years. In the past she would never have let a room get this messy, and she would have never have had a room with so few booby traps. What if somepony decided to try and fill her bed with acid in the middle of the night?”

Twilight opens her mouth to berate her on the effectiveness of the royal guard in protecting their princess when she is curtly cut off by her past self.

“Well I am glad that I finally get to take you stargazing!” the little filly Twilight hums “For some reason you don’t seem to stargaze very often. And since I got this nifty telescope tonight is the perfect night for it.”

“That’s because I raise the sun Twilight. If you didn’t know already I’m more of a morning pony, than a night owl. But I did promise you one activity of your choice so stargazing it is.” Celestia leans in to whisper in the ear of her student mischievously “however that’s only if you keep your end of our little arrangement.”

“Don’t worry Princess. You taught me to never go back on my word remember? Even though my dad caught you with icing on your crown I’ll claim that I ate my entire birthday cake, no matter how many times he asks!” Twilight hops and skips through the room eager to spend time with her most favorite pony in the world. “I’m just glad that you want to spend time with me, for a moment I thought…….”

“Humh?” Celestia stops in her tracks “Thought what Twilight?”

“Well, It’s just sometimes…..” The lavender filly rubs her arm as if ashamed to talk about a sensitive topic “I mean what you do is so important and everything but I’m, well not. I mean you move the sun and the moon and run a kingdom that hasn’t ever seen a war or had a major disaster in hundreds of years. I just feel that sometimes I am wasting your time with looking at stars and stuff.”

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia shouts in her most authoritarian teacher voice “I can assure you that I love spending time with you, you aren’t a bother in the slightest.” The celestial monarch pulls her student into an embrace “And I couldn’t’ be prouder to have such a smart young mare as my student.”

“I know that….” The filly begins “it’s just that I, well it’s silly but I can’t help but think that well that you only made me your student for some crazy reason or something. Pretty stupid hunh?”

At Twilight’s words the Monarch stops her cheerfulness beginning to erode as she takes on a much more serious tone of voice. “….Tell me, Do you know why I chose you as my student Twilight sparkle?”

The filly tilts her head “because my grades were the best in all of canterlot?”

Celestia chuckles “Well that certainly helped matters, your knowledge of the arcane and your passion for learning are phenomenal for your age. I can’t remember the last student who simply loved learning and magic as much as you.”

The solar monarch picks up the filly in her telekinesis causing the lavender filly to flail about in the air for a bit. Celestia lets loose a small burst of laughter as she lies down on her bed cuddling into the bedspread of the room in preparation for a long story. Placing the filly on the covers between her forelegs the monarch begins her tale. “Do you remember the qualifying test for the magical exams? Where everypony was required to bring something to prove their magical talent?”

The Little filly nods her face the exact picture of a perplexed little filly waiting on an answer only the teacher can give.

“That was only a year ago” the monarch reminisces with pride “But to tell you the truth, I can’t even remember what everypony else brought and did. It was all the same thing that I had ever seen, self-righteous nobles trying to fluff up their sons and daughters with petty performances to show how much better they were than the competition.”

 Poking her student gently in the tummy the monarch smiles at the accomplishment of her student, “Except for you Twilight, the moment I heard what you had brought and why you had made it I knew you were the most special and perfect pony there.”

Twilight sags “And I brought a plant……” only for her to perk up a second later “Wait, you mean my lunar flower? But you rushed out of the hall right after. I thought you hated it!”

Celestia places a soft hoof on the lavender unicorn’s head “No Twilight, it was the greatest gift that I have ever known. It was then that I knew that you were the one I needed, the one who would be my greatest apprentice.”

Twilight gaps almost unable to understand Celestia’s reasoning as the Goddess continues without a hitch. “The reason I had to leave the hall is because it moved me, the monarch of the sun to tears.” Celestia smiles gently “And if I was seen crying by a bunch of little fillies somepony might have hesitated to become my apprentice.” Celestia and twilight chuckle at the thought of Celestia crying in front of an entire audience, Celestia’s cheerful demeanor returning with every giggle.

“I’ll never forget what you said.” Celestia closes her eyes, her millennium old mind recalling a simple child’s project, yet the smile on her face makes one think that she were remembering the secret to eternal life. “You had heard about how once upon a time a demon had been banished to the moon, a demon known as Nightmare Moon. So you had spent weeks and weeks making a plant that could survive the cold chilling vacuum of space. However it was what you said in that moment that let me know just what a kind and noble filly you were.”

“You said and I quote ‘Well if I was all alone trapped on the moon for thousands of years, I’d be pretty lonely. So I thought that If she had something to take care of, like this flower she wouldn’t be so lonely. I mean even if she did something really bad I bet she’s still get lonely and sad, and who knows maybe she could be nice if somepony got to know her.’”

The stunned Lunar monarch turns to the Adult Twilight sparkle her face a mask of disbelief and joy. “You….. you were the one who sent those Ambrosia flowers? I remember those even when I was devoured by a nightmare…… that, that was you?”

Twilight rubs the back of her head embarrassingly “Well we all do pretty silly things when we’re kids. I never really tested them so they probably just died anyways.”

“No they didn’t!” the lunar princess claims “in face I loved them, they were one of the first things that I had to eat in a thousand years. And since they grew like weeds I was able to eat a full meal without worry for the first time in ages.” With all the grace of a princess can muster the previous mare in the moon bows curtly “Twilight Sparkle I thank you. I thank you for such a treasure.”

The lavender mare waves her hooves with embarrassment “it’s like I said it was nothing just a random gift there’s no reason to get all worked up about it.”

Luna’s further protests are cut off as the memory of her sister clears her throat drawing both of their gazes to the Goddess of the Sun before them.  The solar monarch brushes a sole tear from her eye as she resumes her praise of her student. “You a little pony in the prime of her life were willing to slave away to make a priceless gift for a pony that was vilified as a monster for a thousand years. It was then I knew that out of all the ponies in Equestria that you were the one I wanted as a student.”

Celestia smiles as she looks out of the window at the dark and scarred moon outside emblazoned with the face of a dark alicorn. “If only I was as kind and considerate as you are Twilight, then maybe, maybe it wouldn’t have been necessary to seal Nightmare Moon away. Had I been more patient, and listened to her when I had the chance, then perhaps the world would have been a much better place.”

The little filly’s eyes pop out of her head as she looks at her starstruck mentor before her, unwilling to believe that she is regretting her most famous victory aside from her defeat of Discord. Surely she can’t regret vanquishing the demon that tried to destroy the world? “But that was a good thing right? Banishing Nightmare Moon and imprisoning her on the moon saved all Equestria. I mean that was before I found out that Nightmare Moon tried to kill everypony on the planet!” Twilight yells extending her hooves to the heavens “She’s big, scary and a big fat…”

“Nightmare Moon is my sister.”

“…..Nice pony to be around!” Twilight finishes “Also, WHAT?! How could a pony like Nightmare Moon be…… Princess are you crying?”

Present Twilight and Luna both watch the scene before them as the monarch of the sun begins to visibly weep her mask of perfect calm breaking before the filly in front of her. Luna stands visibly affected her eyes watering along with her sister’s as both sister who have inflicted so much pain on each other for the very first time cry together.

“P-Princess? Why are you crying? Was it something that I said?”

Realizing that her student is clearly in distress the Monarch of the sun quickly brushes off her tears, however her sorrowful demeanor remains. “I’m sorry Twilight I didn’t mean to bother you with my problems. It’s just that, well I may have not been entirely truthful when I said that I chose you as your student without an ulterior motive.”

“Y-You mean that you really don’t want me to be your apprentice?” Twilight gasps in fear as her eyes begin to fill with tears. “It was all a big joke?”

“No Twilight! In fact it was because of those reasons that I knew that you were the only one who could help me.” Celestia quickly assures her student, brushing her mane with her hoof in a calming manner. “You are the kindest, gentlest, most considerate mare that I have ever met, and I would never regret taking you on as a student.”

The princess claims with complete honesty as she brushes the errant tears out of Twilights’ eyes. “Not only that but your experience in magical theory is leagues above every other pony and growing by the day, perhaps in time your knowledge of magic will be equal to my own.”

The celestial monarch gently pushes up the filly’s muzzle upwards so that she is looking directly in her eyes “And that is why I needed you Twilight. I have discovered a way in which I can save my sister from herself. But I need the help of a smart and caring mare like you, a mare who was willing to give a thoughtful gift to a pony that she had never even met.”

The filly fidgets in the arms of the solar monarch doubtless confused by her teacher’s rapid changes in mood. “I-I don’t understand?”

Celestia watches her student her newfound uncertainty as clear as day break to the experienced monarch. “Let’s put it this way, If your brother Shining Armor and you got in a fight, would you do anything to set things right between you two?”

Without a second’s hesitation the filly nods emphatically. “Good, and that is why I need your help Twilight.” Celestia claims “I need you Twilight Sparkle to help me make things right between me and my sister, between me and her.”

“I-I-I made a mistake Twilight.” Celestia admits with shame as she looks sorrowfully out at the moon. Her wounds still as fresh as the day she and her sister were separated. “I chose the world over my own sister without a second’s thought. It was more painful than death, but I thought that I had made the right decision, but when I listened to her claims and studied the Holly Cor..…. I mean when I learned what I had really done to her, I realized that she was right.”

Celestia bows her head the weight of her shame overcoming her strength. “I chose them over her, I abused my position as a ruler, and more horribly I abused a power that was not mine even when I knew that all magic has consequences. And because of it, I lost someone irreplaceable to me.”

“Twilight, I do not ask this easily, and I do not demand it as your ruler or your mentor or an immortal ruler of the sun.” Discarding her poise and discipline the Goddess kneels before the filly Twilight sparkle her heart bare and her secrets exposed. “No in fact I am begging you, as a sister who has made a terrible, awful mistake. I make this request of you as a pony that has hurt somepony she loves.”

Every mare in the room, both past and present, look on the solar goddess completely stunned. Each and every pony watching as small rivers form on the muzzle of the most powerful creature short of Discord  to ever walk the mortal plane crying in front of a powerless filly begging for help.

“Will you help me?” Celestia wails “Will you be willing to pour years into your life to atone for a mistake that I have made? For a crime that I have committed? Would you be willing to sacrifice time that should be spent with family and friends, slaving away for a broken old mare such as me? Even knowing that nopony else would ever learn of your sacrifice? Would you……”

A warm small pair of arms envelops the large neck of the goddess the immortal goddess recovering from the shock as a little filly looks up into the eyes of her hero. Celestia looks down in shock the own filly’s tears mixing with her own. “….you had me at ‘ruler of the sun’ Princess. Of course I’d help you.”

No words need be said, no words could describe the complete pricelessness of the moment. For both the Twilight of the past and the Twilight of the present this moment would be always hold a place inside her heart. Whenever she would doubt whether or not her mentor was a pony to follow, whether Celestia was some pony that she could look up to, she would look here to this very moment in her memories and say ‘YES’ without a shadow of a doubt. Because in her heart of hearts Twilight knew that deep down Princess Celestia was a pony like any other, a pony who made strived towards the best for her little ponies a pony who loved and cared, a pony who never stopped fighting for what was right.

As for the other pony in Twilights’ mind, the cold princess of the night, she had been bawling her eyes out for what must be minutes now. Her mind in complete turmoil as every suspicious thought, every hateful word and distrustful view she ever had about her sister in her thousand year isolation is blown to shreds by a picture of overwhelming Love.

“She……” Luna sobs, snot and tears running down the muzzle of the goddess “She loved me……. She never stopped…… Loving me…..”

Both mares look on the scene before them and in a flash of white light, as the connection ends and the heartwarming memory fades back to the black.