10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 1 - "In Dreams They Came"

by TP Night

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 36728

Part 1 in the "10D3A" Trilogy - This is the story about Twilight and Applejack, and their adventure in (Secret location)

During a 10-day period, the mane 6 split up into 3 duos and go on separate adventures.
This one is Twilights and Applejacks adventure.

Part 1 - In Dreams They Came
(You are here)
(Twilight and Applejack)

Part 2 - Manehattan Crime Story
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/280526/10-days-3-adventures---part-2---manehattan-crime-story
(Rarity and Pinkie Pie)

Part 3 - Cloudsdale Reunion
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/334926/10-days-3-adventures---part-3---cloudsdale-reunion
(Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy)

Published 2015-06-08 14:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-10 10:02:10 UTC

Chapter 2 - The Orb

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3 - Ice Cream And Research

“So why couldn’t you get any sleep, Spike?” Scootaloo asked as they all
walked toward the Ice cream shop.

“I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling tired at all, despite the fact I had worked
all day reorganizing book shelves with Twilight.”

“That’s weird...” Applebloom said. “It’s the same for me. I wasn’t feeling tired
at all last night, even after a full day of activities.”

“Me too...” Scootaloo added. “What if it has something to do with those black
balls?”

Spike looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Well, I guess that IS possible... I mean, they could be charged with magic
or something. Sweetie Belle, you’re a unicorn... Did you feel any magic from the orbs?”

“No, but I’m not good at all at detecting magic yet, I haven’t learned how to do that.
But if they are magic, I’m sure Twilight will be able to feel it.”

“Yeah, she will. She’s very good at the tracing spells, So if there’s even the tiniest amount
of magic in those things, Twilight will find it.”

After a few more minutes walk, they reached their destination. Spike, as the gentledragon
he often is, open the door and held it open for the fillies as they entered.

Behind the counter they saw an old mare, around Granny Smiths age.
She was pale blue with a grey mane knotted up in a hairnet.
On her muzzle was a pair of small round glasses.

“Welcome, welcome. What can I get you young ladies? And, dragon.”

“You can give us a few minutes to decide.” Spike said with a friendly smile.

“Jus’ tell me when you decided, I’ll go serve another customer in the meantime.”
The old mare responded and walked out into the shop and approached one of the
tables. Spike and the three fillies carefully considered their options.
This place had nearly thirty different flavors of ice cream.

After a few minutes, the old mare came back. “Decided yet?” She asked.

All of them nodded.

“Then, Line up and I’ll take your orders.”

Sweetie Belle went first. “I want two scoops. One lemon and one orange with chocolate
chips in it.”

Next up was Scootaloo. “Two scoops, both that dark-chocolate-and-mint.”

Then Applebloom. “One scoop raspberry and one scoop strawberry, please.”

Lastly, Spike came up to the counter. “I’m going with two scoops of plain old vanilla
today, I feel like something simple.”

The old mare scooped all their ice creams and gave them the bowls.
“That’ll be forty bits all in all, five per scoop.”

“I’ll pay now, and then you girls can pay me later, okay?” Spike said.
“It’s easier that way.”

The fillies just smiled and nodded, and grabbed their ice cream bowls.

“Now, let’s find a table...” Scootaloo said while looking around.

Sweetie Belle pointed toward a corner table. “That one is empty, and has four seats.
Let’s take that one. I like the corner seats, you can see the whole place from there.
And, I like watching other ponies, it’s fun to observe and see what others do.”

The others agreed, so they all sat down at the corner table and started eating their ice cream slowly, savoring the moment.

* * *

Twilight stood in the kitchen, waiting for the water to boil.
She was humming to herself as she did so, and did not notice the door open.

“Hey, Twilight? You in here?” A voice yelled, and Twilight turned her head to respond.

“I’m in the kitchen, Rainbow. Want some tea? The water just started boiling.”

“No time, I’m in a hurry. I just came by to see if you had any of the ‘Daring Do’ books
available. Me and Fluttershy are going on a trip to Cloudsdale, and we decided to take the
train most of the way and just fly the last bit, so I need something to do on the train.”

“Oh right, the school reunion, right?”

“Exactly, and the train’s leaving in 15, so I need a book, like, right now.”

“The Daring books are all placed in the shelf marked ‘800’, just check along the wall.”

“....800? What kind of label is that for a bookshelf?”

“It’s standardized book sorting, of course! I use the ‘Dewey Decimal System’,
in which the number 800 corresponds to ‘Literature’, which in turn includes fictional works.
I WAS planning to have Daring sorted in shelf 900, for History and Geography
due to being real-life events, but since Yearling wants to keep it secret that she’s
actually Daring Do for real, I decided to sort them as fiction.”

“Dew-whatimal system? You’re going egghead on me again, Twi.
Anyway, I’ll just grab a Daring book and then I gotta leave.”

“Okay, most of them should be available.”

While talking, Twilight had prepared a cup of steaming hot liquorice tea.
She lifted the teacup with her magic and carried it over to the desk where
the two black orbs lay resting next to a pile of parchments, a quill and a small ink bottle.

Rainbow Dash looked over at the table. “What you got there? New paper weights?”

“No, these are unknown objects. Spike found one, and the Crusaders found the other.
I’m spending my day examining them to see if I can find out what they are.”

“Okay... Have fun with that. I gotta go. I’m taking ‘Daring Do and The Iron Throne’.”

“Sure. Have fun on that reunion. See you in a few days.”

Twilight and Rainbow both waved goodbye at each other as Rainbow
trotted out the door, and took off into the air, flying toward the train station.

Twilight used her magic to close the door. She opened the nearby window to let some
fresh air in and started looking at the orbs. She started talking to herself, half mumbling.

“...Let’s see... Size... like tennis balls... Smooth, glass-like surface.. or possibly crystal,
not yet determined... Magic aura... none that can be seen, but... hmm...”

She let her horn shine, and started a scanning spell to determine if the orbs radiated any
magical energies.

“....Very faint... almost too faint for me to notice... and... it feels...”

At that moment, Spike came back.

“Twilight, I’m home!” he said as he came in through the door, smiling.

Twilight stopped the scanning spell and turned around.

“Oh, hi. The water is still hot if you want some tea.”

“No thanks, I’ll have a cup later. I’d prefer to get to work, so I can
get the sorting done. I still have the “Science and Magic” shelf to fix.”

“Oh, that reminds me. While you’re sorting that pile, could you give me
the books about crystals, and the ones about magic artifacts?
I want to check and see if these black orbs appear anywhere there,
or if there is something similar.”

“Sure.” Spike responded and started his work. Beside the shelf lay piles of books,
which were to be sorted by category, instead of alphabetically by author name like the
previous sorting system had been. Fiction was sorted by author and series.
Spike started checking the titles and subjects of the books, and placing them
in their corresponding section in the shelf. When he found the books Twilight
had requested, he handed them over to her and then continued working.

While Spike sorted the books Twilight kept examining the orbs and searching in
the texts for anything resembling them. After seven books and a number of scrolls
she sighed deeply.

“Everything okay?” Spiked asked. “I guess you’re not finding anything?”

“No. The closest I got was crystal balls and magically charged mineral
such as Spell Gems, but nothing about black orbs. Crystal Balls are always clear.
Spell gems are colour coded, different color for different magic.
Black is NOT listed as one of the colors. I think we need some expert help
with this if we’re going to find anything.”
I don’t have any books or scrolls here, and not to brag, but in Ponyville
I’m the local expert on spells, nopony here knows more than me.
We need to upscale and ask Celestia if there’s any books in the
Canterlot Public Library or the Castle library that might have answers, or if there are
any experts on the subject who knows more than me.”

Spike looked at her with anticipation, knowing what she would say next.

“Spike... Take a letter.”

Spike had already prepared. “Ready.”

“’Dear Princess Celestia’”, Twilight began...

Author's Note

Fun Fact:

The Dewey Decimal System Twilight talked about,
Is an actual book sorting system used by almost all libraries world wide.
800 IS the label for fictional works, and 900 is the label for Geography and History,
just like Twilight tried to explain to Rainbow Dash. I did NOT make that part up,
You can google "Dewey Decimal System" and check for yourselfs if you don't believe me.)

Chapter 4 - Meanwhile, In Canterlot

In Canterlot castle, things were going as usual.
Luna was still asleep after her night shift, Celestia was just ending a small
meeting with a banker from the outskirts of Canterlot.

“So Mr. Money Bags, we are in agreement?”

“Yes your highness, I believe we are. You will offer financial support for the
restoration of the banks office building after that unfortunate incident
with the robbery-gone-wrong.”

“Unfortunate indeed. It’s hard to believe so much damage could be done
by such a small creature.”

“Truly. I must say though, I never thought a pink breezie would
be able to even enter the building. Much less blow up half of it.”

“That specific breezie has a tendency to do things breezies should not
be able to. He’s a repeat offender. Anyway, I’m afraid I must cut
the meeting short now, I have many other matters to attend.
I hope you understand, Mr. Money Bags.” Celestia said with a polite smile.

“Oh, I understand completely. I myself do not have much free time
anyway, so I would have had to cut the meeting soon anyway.”

The old stallion bowed down slightly and then left the room.
Celestia stayed for a few more minutes before leaving,
and walked back to her throne in the throne room.
Just as she was about to sit down, a small burst of green fire appeared
in front of her and a rolled-up parchment materialized before her.

“Oh? A letter from Twilight?” She mumbled to herself as she took the
scroll and unrolled it.

“Dear Princess Celestia.

I am writing this letter to inquire about two black orbs,

made of glass or crystal (inconclusive data.) which were found

here in Ponyville. I found no record of them in any of my

available books here in this library, and thus I reach out to you.

First, I want to ask if you or Princess Luna know what these orbs

may be. Secondly, if you do not, I would like permission to visit

the castle as soon as possible to search for answers.

The orbs are, like I said, black and made of either glass

or glass-like crystal. They are both the same size, 2 1/2 inches.

They appear heavy for their size, which leads me to believe they are

NOT hollow. The outside is polished and shiny, despite the fact that

both orbs was dug up from beneath the ground.

I could feel a very faint trace of magic in both orbs,

but was not able to determine what type or level of magic,

only that it was something there.

As of this moment, that is all I can tell you. Hopefully YOU can tell ME

more regarding these orbs.

Awaiting response.

Best regards,

Twilight Sparkle”

Celestia looked at the letter for a moment after reading it.
“...Could it be?” She mumbled.

“Kibitz!” She said in a raised voice.
Her servant, an old stallion with a moustache, came in to the throne room.
He was dressed in a red suit jacket, his mane perfectly combed.
On his muzzle sat a small monocle over his left eye.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Is my sister awake yet?”

“Not yet, but she usually wakes up around lunchtime, which is
quite soon. If it is something important I can have her woken up.”

“No need, it can wait until she wakes of her own. However, as soon as
she does wake up, send her here after she’s had her coffee.”

“As you wish, Your highness.” Kibitz said and left the room.

* * *

Luna awoke slowly. The night had been long and demanding,
with many ponies needing her assistance within their dreams.
When she finally decided to get up, she called out for a servant.
“Moon Melody? Are you there?”

From outside the door she could her a female voice.
“Yes, Princess. I am here.”

“Come in, I wish to speak with you.”

The door opened, and a dark grey batpony walked in.
Her hair was silver, almost white. Her eyes were bright yellow.
“How may I be of service?”

“First, I need some coffee. Then, while I drink that, I want the daily update.
I need to know what to expect when I leave my room.”

“As you wish, Princess.”
Moon Melody bowed down and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Ten minutes later, the door opened again and she walked in pushing a small
cart in front of her. On it stood two cups and a pot of coffee.
Moon Melody was Luna’s personal servant, but often treated more like
a friend. Therefore, she usually had a cup of coffee with Luna when she
woke up, and told her the daily on-goings of the castle.

Luna stood at her open window looking out over the gardens below.

“How did my sisters meeting with the bank manager go?
That was today, was it not?”

“It was indeed, Princess. I was not there in person,
but Kibitz told me that the meeting went as expected and without
complications. As discussed, the Royal treasury will finance the repairs
of the damaged building.”

Luna smiled slightly.

“And what of other news? Has anything worth mention happened
elsewhere in Equestria while I slept?”

“The new chef-in-training burned Celestias toast. Again.”

“What is this now, his fourth burning?” Luna snickered.

“Fourth toast, fifth burning in total. He also managed to somehow
set the teapot on fire. I do not know the details, but if I understood correctly,
he spilled a bottle of cooking oil on the stove while making the tea.
The bottle must have stood near the stove and he stumbled into it somehow.”

“Sounds likely, yes.”

After they had finished their coffee, there was a knock on the door.

“Yes?” Luna said.

From the other side they heard Kibitz’ voice.

“Her Highness Celestia wishes to see you when you are done
with your coffee, Your highness.”

“Very well.” Luna answered. “Tell her I will be there within ten minutes,
I shall require some time to have my mane brushed.
It is... not quite presentable, to say the least.”

Moon Melody snickered. It was true, Lunas ‘out-of-bed’ mane
was a horrible sight unless you had seen it a few times and gotten used to it.

“You know what to do, Moon.” Luna said to her with a half-serious,
half-smiling expression while Moon grabbed a brush and a comb.

* * *

In the throne room Celestia sat waiting when Luna came in through the
side door from their private quarters.

“You wished to see me, Sister?” She said when she approached Celestia.

“Yes. Here, read this and tell me what you think.” She said and levitated
Twilights letter over to Luna, who took it in her magic and held it hovering
in front of her face.

After reading, she scratched her neck with one hoof, looking upwards.
“Hmm... It sounds like the Dream Stones, but can it really be?”

“That was my thought as well.”

“Those stones were lost over a millennium ago.. Around the same time
I was consumed by Nightmare Moon and banished.”

“Yes.. But her description sounds just like them, and they were found
in Ponyville. It does make sense.”

“Indeed... After all, our old castle was where the Everfree is now,
next to Ponyville. It is safe to assume the stones did not go far from
the castle, but rather went into the ground and went dormant.”

“Yes, but it seems they have awoken again.”

“Two of them has at least... Maybe the rest has too, or will soon.
We need to talk to the ones who found them. And we also need
to examine and make sure it it really is the Dream Stones.”

“I thought about that. I think you should go, since you know more than I
do about them. And if it is the Dream Stones, that means ‘They’ might
have awoken as well. If so, only you can stop them. I will stay here in
Canterlot and handle our usual business while you go handle this situation.”

“Very well, It’s settled. Write and inform Twilight. I leave tonight."

Author's Note

Fun Facts:

Kibitz is Celestias servant from the official comics.
Moon Melody is an OC of mine, who is in fact Lunas servant and hoofmaid within my OC headcanon universe - Thus, I decided to include her here since that scene needed Luna to have a servant.

Chapter 5 - Luna Arrives

In the library, Spike was finishing up the sorting the last bookshelf.
Twilight was working on her weekly planning for the coming week,
like she did every sunday evening. Spike gave out a burp of green fire,
and a scroll of parchment appeared. “Letter from the Princess.” He said
as she handed the scroll over to Twilight. She opened it and started reading.

“Dear Princess Twilight.

Due to minor complications I am unable to visit tonight,

but I need to examine the orbs as soon as possible.

Therefore, expect my arrival tomorrow, around lunch time.

I would also request that anypony else other than thou self

who touched the orbs be present. If they are what I and my sister

suspect, They will all need to hear about it.

I will explain more when we meet in person tomorrow.

For now, I advice that nopony - including those that already did,

touch the orbs until I have seen them.

Best Regards

Princess Luna”

“Very well, I guess she’s not coming tonight.” Spike said.

“I guess not.” Twilight said. “Anyway, we better go to bed early tonight,
since she is coming tomorrow.”

“You don’t mean right now, do you? Not this early?”

“No, but a bit earlier than usual. Maybe around eleven instead of midnight.
That sound fair, doesn’t it?”

“Fair enough, I guess.” Spike said smiling.

“By the way, are you done with the book sorting, Spike?”

“Yeah, it’s done. Every book in the library, sorted according to the
new system you wanted.”

“Dewey Decimal System.”

“Whatever. It’s done.” Spike smirked.

Time went by quickly, and the clock soon reached eleven.
Twilight and Spike both went to bed, but they both had trouble
falling asleep at first. They both lay awake for nearly an hour
before they finally fell asleep.

In the morning, they both got up just after seven.

“Good morning, Spike.” Twilight mumbled.

“...Morning...” Spike said, still half asleep.

“Sleep well?” Twilight asked.

“Not really... you?”

“No.. I couldn’t fall asleep at first, and when I did I only got a few hours of restless, light sleep..”

“Same here. I usually sleep much deeper, and dream.”

“You didn’t dream? Strange...”

“Why?”

“Neither did I, Spike.”

“So... what?”

“The orbs? Maybe they cause bad sleep. Luna warned us not to touch them
after all. Maybe that’s why?”

“Maybe... We’ll see what she says when she arrives in a few hours.”

“True. Speaking of which, We need to clean up a bit here before she does.
Dust the floors and such.”

“And by ‘we’, you mean me.”

“Well, it IS your job.” Twilight smirked.

“I know, I know... I’ll fix it after breakfast.”

* * *

The door to the library opened, and Applejack walked in.
She was followed by the three fillies. Spike had come by the orchard
earlier and told them about Lunas letter, and request that they all
be there when she arrived. Thus, they all decided to have lunch at the
library with Spike and Twilight and then meet Luna when she arrived.

“What’s for lunch?” Scootaloo asked.

“I made a leek pie.” Spike said with a proud smile.
“Although, I’ve never tried this particular recipe before,
So I don’t know if it’s any good.. it smells nice though.”

They all sniffed the air, followed by smiles.

“Smells mighty delicious to me.” Applejack said.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie said all at the same time.

“I’m sure it will be delicious, Spike.” Twilight said with an encouraging
tone and a smile. “You followed the recipe carefully, and you are quite
the chef. And it was a relatively simple pie after all.”

“What’s in it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Mainly leek, some shredded potato, molten cheese cover on top.”
Spike responded. “And some salt and pepper of course, but only a little
of each to enhance the leek-taste.”

They all sat down and started eating and talking.

“So what do you guys think?” Spike started.
“Anypony have any guesses what the orbs might be, or what they do?”

“Well, I suspect they cause sleep trouble, but I’m not sure.
And I also don’t know why.” Twilight said.

“What makes you think that?” Applejack said.

“Spike has had trouble sleeping since he touched it. So have I.
And Spike also mentioned you guys had trouble sleeping too, right?”
Twilight turned her head toward the three fillies.

“Well, Me and Applebloom.” Scootaloo said. “Sweetie Belle never actually
touched them, she only looked at them.”

“That explains my lack of sleep too.” Applejack said.
“So now we know what they do. At least, one thing they do.”

“Yes, but is it all they do, or just part of it? A side effect of something else?
And also, why? How? So many questions remain unanswered.”

As she spoke, the doors opened again and a blue alicorn walked in.

“Allow me then to present a few answers.” She said.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight said, smiling.

Applejack and the fillies all got up from the table and bowed lightly.
“Princess.” Applejack said.

Luna smiled and motioned toward them to rise again.
“No need for those formal things today, My little ponies.
What I DO need from you is your attention, As I am about to explain
a few things. But first, Allow me to see the orbs and determine if it
is indeed what I and Celestia suspect.”

Twilight led her in to the inner room where the orbs still rested on the
table. Lunas horn started glowing with its blue aura, and the same
aura surrounded the two orbs. For a few seconds she stood in silence,
with a focused look on her face. “Hmm...” She said.
“It is indeed the Dream Stones. Or rather, two of them.”

“Dream stones? And, you mean there are more than these two?” Twilight said. She had a curious look in her eyes.

“Yes, in total there should be five of them.” Luna said as she walked back
out to the larger room. She stood in the middle of the room.
“Is everypony present who touched them?” She asked.

“Yes, everypony is present. I touched both of them.” Twilight began.
“Spike found and touched one of them. Scootaloo and Applebloom found ad touched the other one,
and Applejack also touched that one.” She continued.

“I see. And you, young unicorn?” She looked at Sweetie Belle.
“Your name was... Sweet-something, correct?”

“Sweetie Belle.” She answered, a bit shyly.

“Ah, yes. And, you did not touch either of the orbs?”

“No, I only looked at them. But I wanted to be here, because Applebloom
and Scootaloo are my best friends, and also because I’m curious.”

“Very well.” Luna smiled. “Everypony who touched them, plus one more.
As I said, these are indeed what I suspected. They are called Dream stones.”
Luna began, as the others gathered in a circle on the floor around her.

“They are called Dream stones, and they were made over a
thousand years ago. They are not dangerous yet, but they might become
if they are not stopped. Luckily these were found early, and the remaining
three will be easy to find now that they are ‘awoken’. I will tell you the whole story.”

“How do you know so much about them?” Applejack asked.

“Simple.” Luna responded. “I made them.”

Chapter 6 - History Lesson

“What do you mean, ‘I made them’”? Applejack said with a somewhat
skeptical look on her face.

Luna looked at them all with a calm but serious expression.
“I mean exactly that. I am the one who made these objects.
Like I said, They are called Dream Stones. That name is only partially true
though. Allow me to guess... All of you who touched them had trouble
sleeping this night, did you not?”

“Yeah...” Applejack started.

“Yes, we all did.” Twilight continued. “Is that connected to the Dream
stones somehow?”

“It is one of their main functions, actually.” Luna responded.
“Let me give you all a history lesson. One that you will not find
in any of the history books.”

Twilights eyes widened at the idea of knowledge.

Luna sat down, with the others in a half-circle in front of her.

“First of all, I need to tell you a bit about Nightmare Moon.
Everypony in here knows that I was Nightmare. Or rather,
that Nightmare had infected and taken over my body.
The physical transformation happened almost instantly,
just like how I transformed during Nightmare Night.”

“I see...” Twilight said.

“However, the mental transformation was slower. She gradually
infected my head, piece by piece. Planting ideas, thoughts,
slowly corrupting my mind. Among other things was the jealousy
over my sister, and the fact that ponies were awake during her days,
but slept during my nights. This was the reason for my attempt to
keep the moon in the sky forever. But there was another plan before
that one. It involved these Dream Stones.”

“So technically, Nightmare Moon made them, not you.” Applejack said.

“Well, that is partly true. These were made by me, but under her influence,
during the period when she was still corrupting me but was not yet strong
enough to take my entire body. This was meant to be a first step,
before the eternal night. Basically, these stones are sensitive to
moon energy. When the moon is up, they awaken. When the sun is up,
they lay dormant and waiting.”

“And they cause bad sleep?” Spike asked. “Why?”

“Simply put... If you can’t sleep at night, you’d get tired and sleep
during the day, and your entire daily routine would gradually get turned
around until you sleep all day and stay awake all night.”

“Oh, now I understand!” Twilight burst out.
“You wanted ponies awake at night, so you made it harder to sleep
at night. Simple but effective...”

“That was the intent, yes. And when ponies did sleep during nights,
these stones would make sure the sleep was restless and filled with
nightmares rather than pleasant dreams.”

“I’m assuming something went wrong...?” Applejack said.

“Yes... Something went very wrong. You see, in order to turn dreams
into nightmares, one must use dark magic. Magic I was not skilled enough
to fully control at that time, but the Nightmare Parasite was impatient and
did not want to wait. So it - we - unleashed ‘them’.

The three fillies looked at Luna with curious eyes.
“What’s ‘them’?” Scootaloo asked.

“The Nightlings.” Luna responded.

* * *

“Nightlings?” Scootaloo asked. “Are they like those.. changelings,
or whatever they were called?”

“Well...” Luna started. “Both yes and no, I suppose. First of all,
the Nightlings are non-corporeal.”

“Non-copro.. corky... korra-sami... non-koll...what did you say again?”
Sweetie Belle said, trying to understand the word.

“Non-corporeal. Cor-po-re-al.” Twilight said. “It means they have no solid
physical form.”

“You mean... Like ghosts?” Applebloom said with an unsure look.

“Similar to ghosts, yes.” Luna said. “You see, the Nightlings only exist
within the dream realm, they cannot take physical form and exist here,
in the physical realm.”

“But within the dream realm, they would be able to change the dreams,
is that correct?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, exactly. Their purpose is to change a dream and turn it to a nightmare.
A changeling is able to transform into what they see, like copying ponies
and other creatures. A Nightling on the other hand exists within the mind.
It can ‘see’ your fears and worries, and take the form of that.”

“How do you mean?” Applejack said.

“Let me make an example. Let us say... A pony might have arachnophobia.”

“Ara-what-nophob...” Sweetie Belle tried to copy the word again.

“Fear of... Spiders, I think?” Applejack responded.

“Correct, Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and spider-like creatures.”
Twilight said.

“As I was saying” Luna continued. “Let us say, a pony is afraid of spiders.
In such case, the Nightling would fill the dream with spiders.
Or, if the pony is afraid of heights, the dream might turn into a situation
where the pony stands on the edge of a tall cliff. A pony afraid of drowning
might find themselves in the middle of an ocean. Now do you understand?”

“I think so...” Scootaloo said. “The Nightling shows something you’re
scared of.”

“Exactly.” Luna said with a smile. “Thus, evey single dream would be a
nightmare, and you would wake up without rest. And since the stones
only work at night, you would get good sleep with pleasent dreams during
the days. Gradually, ponies would have realized this and switched their
sleep cycles. They would all have become nocturnal. Once that was
accomplished, I was going to raise the eternal moon and stop my sister
from ever raising the sun again. I was not planning to kill her though.
I was planning to fight her to weaken her, and then imprison her.
The prison would also shield her magic, rendering her unable to raise the
sun, and leaving my moon in the sky forever.”

“You said something went wrong though?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Well, yes. What I just told you, was how it was supposed to have worked.
That is, if I had been skilled and strong enough in the black arts to control
the Nightlings. But like I said, the Nightmare parasite was impatient,
and did not wait for me to gain full control before ‘she’ released the
Nightlings into the dream realm. And thus, we were only able to maintain
control for a few weeks. But as a last effort of sanity before the parasite
took over, I managed to capture and trap the Nightlings inside the
dream stones and bury them. They were never used. And after that,
Celestia banished ‘me’ and the parasite to the moon for a thousand years,
after which I returned, and you know the rest. The stones were never
found, and during my exile I had almost forgotten about them.
Celestia also knew about them, because I wrote everything down
while creating them, and after banishing me she found my research
and read everything. When I came back, she told me everything.
We thought the stones were lost forever. Until you found two of them.”

“So what now? Do we keep them, do we destroy them?” Twilight asked.

“Can we destroy them?” Applejack added.

“Well, first of all we should locate the remaining three.
After that I can determine what to do with them.” Luna said.

“Okay, so how do we locate the others?” Spike said after sitting silently
until now. “I mean, is there some special spell or something?”

“It is going to be relatively easy to find them. I can ‘sense’ them.”
Luna explained. “However, I can only sense the approximate area,
I can not pinpoint the exact location.”

“What kind of radius are we talking here?” Applejack asked.

“Within around twenty meters, fifteen if we are lucky.” Luna said.
“I am afraid that is the best I can do.”

“Twenty meters is better then ‘entire Ponyville’.” Spike said,
with a sly smile.

“True.” Luna smiled. “In any case, this should be done as soon as
possible. If you are all ready, we should in fact take care of it right now.”

“Well, I’m ready.” Applejack said.

Twilight nodded. “Same here.”

The three fillies all looked at each other for a brief moment,
then all three exclaimed, “Cutiemark Crusaders Dream Stone Finders!
Ready for duty!”

“Aaand, I’m ready too.” Spike added.

“Good. Then I will begin the ‘scanning’.. You might want to take
a tea break or something, this will take some time.”

Lunas horn started glowing, and the two stones started glowing as well.
They flew up from the table and started flying around Luna in a tight circle,
around her neck. She closed her eyes, her breath slowed down to deep,
slow inhales and even slower exhales. The others sat down around the
kitchen table, watching as Luna stood there.

“Well.. anypony want some tea while we wait?” Spike asked.

They all wanted some, so Spike boiled some water.
They sat in silence, sipping their tea while Luna stood like a statue.
At this point, her breath was so slow, she could have been mistaken for
a statue, and her horn shone so bright, it lit up the room in it’s blue light.

A few more minutes passed.

The stones slowed down and fell to the ground.

The light from the horn slowly dimmed, and Lunas breathing started to
become noticeable again. After another minute her eyes opened,
and she spoke. “I have located all three stones, within a twenty meter
radius of each. I suggest we split up into three groups and retrieve all
of them as fast as we can.”

“Okay, so how should we divide the groups?” Applejack asked.

“Spike, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. You three take the first stone.
Applejack and Applebloom, you two take the second.
Myself and Twilight will take the third.” Luna said after a moments thought.
“Unless somepony has a better idea?”

They all agreed, and after Luna had told them all where to find their
stones, they all set out to go and search for them, and bring them
back to the library.

Author's Note

Fun Fact:
This chapter contains a small reference to the ending of "The Legend of Korra".
If you have seen that show, you'll probably be able to find it.

Chapter 7-A - Luna And Twilight

Please note - Chapter 7 is divided into three sub-chapters, 7-A, 7-B and 7-C,
each following one of the three groups of ponies as they search for the orbs.
ALL THREE have the same opening scene, but each sub-chapter follows a different group of poneis after they split up.

“Okay.” Twilight started as they all walked out from the library.
“Me and Luna will go deep within the forest to find the stone
furthest away from here, since Luna knows the Everfree forest better
than anypony else here. Applejack and Applebloom, you two
head for the stone in or near the river west of here.
Spike, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, you three go east and try to find
the stone at the everfree outskirts near Fluttershys cottage.”

After she had given everypony directions, they all split up into their
respective groups and went away towards the direction they
had been assigned.

* * *

“Now then, where do we go?” Twilight asked.

“We have a long way to go, so I would suggest we begin our journey
flying over the forest rather than walking through it.” Luna said while
looking toward the forest. “In the past, the forest was just an ordinary forest.
So even though I still remember most of the layout, it has become much
more dangerous. Also, it is faster that way. Above we can go in a straight
line toward the area where the stone should be. On ground level,
we would have to find a path between all the trees and plants.”

“True. Let’s fly then. How far is it, by the way?”

“A little bit beyond our old castle.”

“I see.. I’ve never been deeper into the forest than the castle grounds
and its surroundings.”

“Then, you shall now see the other side. Not very far from the castle
though, we should still be able to see it from where we are going.”

They both spread their wings and took off, flying in a straight line upwards.
After they had reached twenty meters above ground, Luna stopped and
hovered in the air. Twilight stopped at the same height, next to Luna.

“Look.” Luna said, pointing her hoof toward the forest.
In the distance Twilight could see the upper parts of the castle ruins,
the old tower spire sticking up through the forest.

“Let us go there first, as a midway point. from there, I will cast the
scanning spell again to see if I can get a closer pinpoint of the stone.”

Luna started flying toward the castle spire at a medium speed.
Twilight followed shortly behind. After a couple of minutes they reached
the tower. Luna carefully landed on the pointy roof, but only stood there
for a moment before lifting herself into the air again.

“The tower feels unstable. I am unsure if it could hold my weight.
It is a miracle it still stands at all.” She said when she noted Twilights
questioning look.

Twilight looked at the tower, and flew closer. She gave it a push, and they
both watched as the upper half of the entire tower broke off and fell down,
becoming nothing more than a pile of rubble on the ground below.

“Better this way.” Twilight said. “Otherwise it may randomly fall at any
time, and somepony or some animal could get hurt, or worse.”

“Agreed. This entire castle is no more than a ruin anyway.
You should have seen it a thousand years ago, when it was still
in good shape. The tower you just knocked down used to be a small
storage area, but me and Celestia also used to hide from guards there
when we stole cookies from the kitchen.” Luna smiled and almost giggled
at the memories.

“I used to steal cookies too when I was a filly. Me and my brother.
We hid in a large bush outside in our garden. Then we ate the cookies and
read old ponytales from my books.”

“I believe most fillies and colts steal cookies at some point.” Luna said with
a small laugh. “At any rate, I will scan the area now. I must ask you to be
as silent as you can for a minute while I do so.”

“I understand.” Twilight said and fell silent,
except for the gentle flaps of her wings.

Lunas horn began shining brightly again, just like it had in the library
earlier when she used the same spell.

“Ah!” She exclaimed. “I have it. The location. Or, well, the area at least.
Look over there. Do you see the two trees that are slightly taller than
the rest?” She said while pointing a hoof north.

Twilight looked where Luna pointed, and noted the two trees.
“Yes, I see them.”

“The stone should be somewhere near those trees.” Luna said and began
flapping her wings, and took off toward them.

Again, Twilight followed just behind her.

They landed between the two tall trees and started looking around.

“How do we know where they are?” Twilight asked.

“The black flowers Spike and the fillies mentioned. Look for them.
They are indicators I created, to help me find the stones if I ever needed to.”

“I see.” Twilight said and started looking for the small black flowers.

They searched for a while, and eventually Luna called out for Twilight.

“Twilight! I have located the flowers. They are here, underneath these
shrubberies!”

Twilight came running, just as Luna started using her magic to dig away the
shrubberies, and the ground itself. A few hooflenghts down she
found what the were looking for. A shining black orb.

“Ah, yes. This is it. We should take this back to the library.”
Luna said as she lifted the orb up from the hole.

“Yeah.. Let’s go!” Twilight said, and they both took off once again
into the air, flying as fast as Twilight could manage.
Luna could have flown faster, but she held Twilights speed,
as to not leave her behind. After a few minutes flight, they both landed
outside the library and entered, finding that they were the first to return.

“Looks like we’re the first.” Twilight said as they entered.

“Indeed. Then we wait.” Luna responded.

“Want some more tea?” Twilight asked as she walked in to the kitchen.

“If you have peppermint tea, I would not say no to a cup.” Luna smiled.

Chapter 7-B - The Apple Sisters

Please note - Chapter 7 is divided into three sub-chapters, 7-A, 7-B and 7-C,
each following one of the three groups of ponies as they search for the orbs.
ALL THREE have the same opening scene, but each sub-chapter follows a different group of poneis after they split up.

“Okay.” Twilight started as they all walked out from the library.
“Me and Luna will go deep within the forest to find the stone
furthest away from here, since Luna knows the Everfree forest better
than anypony else here. Applejack and Applebloom, you two
head for the stone in or near the river west of here.
Spike, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, you three go east and try to find
the stone at the everfree outskirts near Fluttershys cottage.”

After she had given everypony directions, they all split up into their
respective groups and went away towards the direction they
had been assigned.

* * *

Applejack and Applebloom ran off at top speed.
Applejack was the fastest pony (on the ground) in Ponyville,
and during a P.E. class recently, it had been proven that Applebloom
shared the same speed, being the fastest filly in the whole school
during the hundred-meter-sprint.

“Every mare in the Apple family has been fast runners.” Granny Smith
had told them. “Even I used to be a good sprinter in my youth.”
she chuckled. “Strong and fast. That’s how the Apples have always been.”

Now, they made it to their designated location in just five minutes,
even though most ponies would have needed at least twice that.

“So... how do we find the stone? We forgot to ask that...” Applejack started.

“I think we should look for those small black flowers again. Both us
Crusaders and Spike found the stones under flowers.” Applebloom said.

“Yeah, sounds like a plan. Just tell me how they look so I know.”

“They look like ‘Forget-me-not’s, but with black petals instead of blue.”

“Okay, got it. black Forget-me-nots.”

They both started searching the ground near the small river.
Applebloom took a leap across to search on the other side.
They searched for a while, but came up empty-hoofed.

“We’ve been at it for ten minutes, and nothin’ yet.” Applejack sighed.
“Any luck on your side?” She asked in a raised voice to make sure
Applebloom could hear her.

“Nothing on this side.” She responded, also in a slightly raised voice.
She leaped back to Applejacks side and walked up to her.

“I wonder... We are at the edge of the Everfree, and this river continues
into the forest. Maybe we’re to far out? Maybe it’s closer to the forest,
or even on the inside of the forest edge?”

“Good thinking. We should move closer to the treeline and search there.”

Applebloom leaped back across the river yet again.

“I’ll take this side again, and you stay on that side.” She said to Applejack
when she landed. Applejack nodded. “Sure thing! Now let’s find that stone
so we can get done with this.”

They kept searching, carefully eyeing the ground as the slowly moved closer
to the forest meter by meter. When they were just a meter from the edge,
they heard bird sounds from the forest. It sounded like ravens.
Applejack looked up toward the treetops just in time to see one come flying
from within the forest, make a loop, and a dive straight toward her.
She dodged, but the raven managed to grab her hat by the brim and carry
it away several meters before loosing the grip and dropping it.
Inside the forest. In a tree.

“Dang it, that Celestia-damned bird stole my hat!” Applejack yelled.

“Look, he dropped it! Must’ve been too heavy for him.” Applebloom said as
they both watched the bird drop the hat.

“I’m getting it back. I’m NOT leaving that hat!” Applejack said in a serious
tone. “It’s the first thing I ever won in a contest! It’s my lucky hat!”

So she quickly ran in to the forest and started bucking the tree in which
the hat was now hanging on a branch in the crown. The tree was very old
and withered, even by Everfree standards. It had no leaves left, and it was all
dried up. When Applejack bucked it, it fell down. She went to pick her hat
up from underneath the fallen log, when Applebloom suddenly made a run
toward another tree nearby

“Look!” She said. “The flowers! They’re growing all around this tree!”
She pointed on the ground as she spoke.

Applejack grabbed her hat before she walked over to Applebloom.

“Hey, you’re right. Now.. Does that mean the stone is beneath the
tree?” She looked at the base of the tree as she spoke.

Applebloom jumped up on a nearby stone and looked toward the top
of the tree. “I see something shining in the branches up there.
I think the tree grew under the stone and lifted it up!”

“Hmm...” Applejack said and examined the tree a bit closer.
“Sturdy. Thick trunk, and thick branches too.. but not very tight-growing..
Almost no leaves.. Looks to be thorn-free as well... just a regular tree,
with somewhat darker bark.. This one’s not very ‘Everfree’-ish.”

She turned around toward her sister with a smirk.

“Hey, Applebloom...”

“....yes?” Applebloom asked with a mixture of curiosity and worry.
She recognized her sisters look. The look she had when she had an
idea. Her ideas were usually not the safest.

“How would you like to try to earn a cutiemark in aerial acrobatics?”

“...What do you mean?”

* * *

A little while later they arrived back at the library with the stone.
When they walked in, they saw Luna and Twilight sitting in a sofa
sipping tea and discussing old books.

“We’re back. We got the stone.” Applejack said as they walked in.

Twilight looked up. “Why is Appleblooms hair so messy and filled
with twigs?”

Applebloom said with a grin, “Applejack threw me like a hoofball
into a treetop. It was fun! I got the stone, it was in the treetop!”

Twilight offered them both some tea, and while they sat down
Applejack and Applebloom told Twilight and Luna about the
stone in the treetop.

Luna smiled. “Interesting indeed. Although I think you may have
found a safer way to get it down than to throw Applebloom...”

“Oh, no worries princess, She’s an Apple. We’re tougher than most!”
Applejack said with a grin. Applebloom grinned too. “Yeah!”

Twilight used her magic to take the stone from Applejack and
put it with the others. “Well, that makes four. Only the fifth left.
Spike and the others should be back with it any minute now.

And like she said, a few minutes later the door opened and Spike
walked in with the stone in his arms. After him followed Sweetie Belle
and Scootaloo. For some reason, Scootaloos mane and fur was soaking wet.

Author's Note

Fun Fact:
Forget-me-not is an actual flower, quite small and with blue petals.
They look like this - http://flowershd.com/forget-me-not/

Chapter 7-C - Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle

Please note - Chapter 7 is divided into three sub-chapters, 7-A, 7-B and 7-C,
each following one of the three groups of ponies as they search for the orbs.
ALL THREE have the same opening scene, but each sub-chapter follows a different group of poneis after they split up.

“Okay.” Twilight started as they all walked out from the library.
“Me and Luna will go deep within the forest to find the stone
furthest away from here, since Luna knows the Everfree forest better
than anypony else here. Applejack and Applebloom, you two
head for the stone in or near the river west of here.
Spike, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, you three go east and try to find
the stone at the everfree outskirts near Fluttershys cottage.”

After she had given everypony directions, they all split up into their
respective groups and went away towards the direction they
had been assigned.

* * *

Shortly after they all split up, Spike took the lead of his group.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed as the ran toward Fluttershys cottage.

“So.. Spike?” Sweetie Belle started.

“Yeah?”

“How... how did you know where to dig when you found yours?
The stone. I mean, You didn’t just look at the flowers and decide
to start digging, did you?”

“Well, actually.. That IS basically what happened. I was walking around
and saw the flowers. I didn’t really pay them much attention though.
Then, I closed my eyes for a few moments. I guess I dozed off for a few
minutes. Then, when I woke up, I felt this sudden urge to dig the flowers
away and make a hole there instead. It just felt like something I needed
to do, and I can’t really explain why. It just felt right.
And as I dug, I found the stone a hoof-lenght down in the ground.”

“That’s weird.” Scootaloo interrupted.

“What do you mean?” Spike said.

“I mean, how you dozed off and then suddenly wanted to dig when you
woke up. Me and Winona was resting for a while before she found hers too.
I’m not sure, but I think she slept a few minutes too. And then when she
got back up, we went for a run. She lead the way... and started digging
at the black flowers. Just like you did. And then Luna spoke of
creatures that only exist inside dreams...”

“You think it’s connected?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Sounds like something we should wait with, and ask Luna about when
we get back. No use discussing it now, we don’t know enough about
these things anyway. We should focus on just finding it.” Spike said.

They all agreed and continued their run to the cottage.

They arrived and started looking around.

“Now then.. Where can it be? Should we start near the forest?” Spike said
as he pointed to the edge of the woods. “After all, it’s supposed to have
come from within the forest, so it’s probably close to it. Maybe even
inside it.”

“What if we split up and take one section each?” Scootaloo suggested.
“One at the forest edge, one around the cottage itself, and one in the
inbetween field.”

“That’s a good idea.” Spike said. “I’ll take the forest edge. You take the
field, Sweetie can take the cottage surroundings.”

“Agreed!” They both said in determined tones. Spike went to the forest edge
and started looking at the ground to see if he could spot the flowers.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo carefully scanned the field, while Sweetie Belle
made her way in a circle around the cottage. They went bacl and forth
for a while, and Sweetie went around the cottage in expanding circles.

“Hey guys, I think I found them!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

Spike and Scootaloo quickly ran to Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie was pointing at what looked like a rabbit’s hole in the ground,
near a few small rocks. on top of, and around the opening was a few
black flowers. Spike examined them closer.

“Yeah, these look like the ones I found. I think they’re the same.”

“So, the stone is down in the rabbit hole?” Scootaloo said and moved closer
to the hole. “How do we get it out? Is it big enough to fit one of us crawling
in there to get it?”

“Looks big enough, but it’s deep. So it’s completely pitch black in there.”
Spike said. “I’d use my fire, but we don’t know if such strong heat can
damage the stones. Or if there are flammable roots or something in the
hole. Or food. Or even the rabbit itself.”

“Hm....” Scootaloo mumbled and glanced at Sweetie Belle.
Or more accurately, at Sweetie Belles horn.

Sweetie Belle noticed and her own eyes moved upwards.

“No...” She said. “I still can’t get the lamp-spell working. You know I’m
not very good at magic.”

“I know. But first of all, it’ll only take a few minutes at most.
Secondly, you don’t need light constantly, a few quick flashes would
be enough to see, and then you can ‘see’ with your hoofs.
Like we do at night when we stay awake. Just a flash to see how
deep the hole is, and if there’s a rabbit in there. Then another
flash when you’re in, to locate the stone and dig it out.”

“Come on, Sweetie.” Spike said with a smile. “I know you can do it.
And also, it would be good practice! And like Scoot said, you only need
to make a couple of quick flashes, not a continuous shine.” He added
and gave her an encouraging nudge. “We need you to do this, Sweetie.
We need that stone, and you’re the best option among us for getting it.”

Sweetie smiled a little, slowly gaining confidence from her friends.

“....Okay, I’ll give it a try!” She said.

She took a few deep breaths, and steeled herself.
She focused as she moved closer to the hole.
Her horn sparked a little, and suddenly there was a strong but short flash
of clear, white light. It lasted just a second, but it was enough for her
to see inside the hole and determine it was a few hoofs deep, but empty.
Deep inside she could also see the upper half of the stone sticking up,
still with the other half under ground.

“It’s in there, I saw it. It’s half covered and half free.” She told the
others, who stood beside the hole.

“Okay, so our plan still works.” Scootaloo said. “You crawl in
and get it, and then we get back to the library.”

“..Okay, here goes!” Sweetie Belle said, and disappeared into the hole.
They could hear her groan, grunt and sigh as she squeezed her small body through the barely-wide-enough tunnel.
They saw another flash of light in the hole. Then some scratching noises, like hoofs digging.
Then more groans, grunts and sighs as she moved backwards, squeezing
through the tunnel again. She emerged covered in dirt. She was holding the
stone carefully, trying not to touch it too much.

“I’ll take that.” Spike offered. “I’ve already touched one, So I don’t think
another will do any difference now.”

Sweetie Belle gave Spike the stone, and began dusting herself off.

On the way back, they ran alongside the small river that goes past
Fluttershys cottage and runs all through Ponyville. But just as they
got back to the town, Scootaloo lost her grip and slipped on some
wet rocks on the edge of the river. She stumbled on her own hoofs
and fell into the water.

“Are you okay?” Spike asked with a mixture of worry and friendly gloat.

Scootaloo climbed up from the river, completely drenched.

“Yeah, I’m okay... Let’s just get back to the library and get me a towel.”

“I could always just dry you off with my fire.” Spike teased.

“I prefer to keep my fur intact, thank you.” Scootaloo teased back.
“Seriously speaking though, thanks for the offer bu I prefer
towels. It’s too hot for fires, it’s still summer. I’d just get drenched
in sweat instead of river.” She said and laughed.

Spike just smiled. “Fine, towel it is. Let’s go then, we’re almost there.”

As they opened the door to the library and walked in,
they say Luna and Twilight drinking tea, and the two Apple sisters
standing in the middle of the room, waiting for their return.

“We got the stone.” Spike said.

“Was it under water somewhere?” Applebloom asked when she
noticed Scootaloo.

“No, I slipped and fell into the river on the way back.
The stone was deep inside a rabbit hole. Sweetie got it.”
Scootaloo responded with a sheepish grin.

“What about you guys?” She then asked.

“Applejack threw me into a tree top!” Applebloom exclaimed with a
wide grin.

“Awesome!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle said with equally large grins.

Luna rose up from the couch and took the stone from Spike.

“I will take this, if you excuse me.”

She placed it with the other four.

“Now, we have all five. I can begin the next step.”

“What is the next step?” Twilight asked.

Chapter 8 - Five To One

“Princess Luna?” Sweetie Belle asked with an unsure, slightly shy tone.

“Yes, child?” Luna said with a smile.

“We.. uhm... Me and Scootaloo and Spike... We had a thought about
the stones, and.. We wanted to ask you if it makes any sense,
or if our theory is wrong...”

“I see. Then, tell me your theory and I will tell you what I think.”
Luna said, still smiling. “Oh, and you need not bother with “Princess”
while I am here on non-royal business. Simply call me ‘Luna’”.
She added with a small wink. She looked around the room.
“That goes same for everypony - and dragon - in here.
For the remainder of this... Adventure, shall we call it - You need not
use formal terms with me. Do you all understand?”

Everyone nodded and approved.

“Now then, your theory.” Luna turned her head back toward Sweetie Belle.

“Well... Spike said that when he found ‘his’ stone, he took a short nap
before doing so, and when he woke up he suddenly wanted to dig where
the black flowers were. And when Winona - the dog - found the other stone,
it was the same. She took a nap, and when she woke up she ran to the
black flowers and started digging.”

“And your theory to this?” Luna asked with a slightly curious
look in her eyes.

“We were wondering about those... Nightlings, was it? You said they were
inside the dream place. So we thought, maybe they somehow ‘told’ Winona
and Spike where to dig, in their dreams while they slept?”

Luna looked at Sweetie Belle with a curious smile.

“Interesting how you children came up with that idea.
I can not honestly say that I fully understand the Nightlings and their
abilities, but it does sound like a possibility. Perhaps they can give
subliminal suggestions through the dreams.”

Twilight came up to them.

“I overheard most of what you said, and I agree that it sounds possible.
I wonder though, why Spike and Winona? Why were they affected,
and nopony else?”

“You just answered your own question, Twilight.” Luna said.
“no PONY was affected.”

“So you mean, since Winona and Spike are not ponies, That’s why
the Nightlings could make them dig up the stones?”

“It all fits the theory of subliminal suggestion. Spike, What I am about to say
might sound a bit offensive, so try not to take it personal.
Ponies and Dragons have a slightly different mental construction.
We process thoughts differently. Dragons are actually closer to dogs in
that regard than they are to Ponies. However, in terms of intelligence
dragons and ponies are, on average, more or less equal.”

“So Dragons and dogs would be easier to suggest things to?”
Scootaloo asked, joining the conversation.

“In a matter of speaking, yes.” Luna said.
“Which is why Spike and Winona was affected, but no ponies in the
same areas were.”

“Anyway, now that we have all five of the stones,
what do we do with them?” Twilight asked as she turned her head
toward the five stones lying on her floor.

“First of all, I need to check if they are fully activated yet.
After that, I will attempt to fuse them together into one single,
somewhat bigger stone instead of five.”

“Why?” Applebloom asked.

“So that we may enter it.” Luna said.
“And by ‘we’, I mean myself, Twilight and Applejack.”

“Why can’t WE come?” Scootaloo whined.

“Spike can not come due to what we discussed just a minute ago.
I can not bring him into my dream realm. My powers only include ponykind,
not dragons, gryphons, or other species. And you three children I am
unwilling to bring due to the various risks involved.
Shortly and simply put, it is too dangerous. Or rather, might be.
There is no way of knowing what may happen inside, and I am not willing
to risk the safety of you three. But I am an Alicorn, and a former Element.
Twilight is an Alicorn too, and a current Element.
Applejack is also an Element, although not an Alicorn, but still an adult.”

“I agree.” Applejack said. “If we don’t know the risks, I’m not gonna
risk the safety of you three if we can avoid it.”

“I agree too, it’s simply too dangerous. Like Luna said, we do not know
what awaits in there.” Twilight added.

“Now then, I will check the stones.” Luna said as her horn started glowing.
The stones were surrounded by the same blue glow and flew in front
on Luna as she stood up and closed her eyes, focusing.

“They are only half-way activated. If we act now, we can stop them before
they regain their full strength.” She said and opened her eyes again.

“This will need a lot of my magic, so do not worry if I start to look tired
while I do this.” She said and sat down again. The stones flew into positions
around her. One in front, two on her sides, and two slightly behind.
Between them thin lines formed in the air, connecting them in a pentagonal
shape around Luna. Then, another set of lines appeared between them,
forming a pentagram as well, with Luna sitting in the middle.
The double Penta-shape started spinning. Slowly at first, but then gradually
increasing in speed. The Pentagram faded, and the pentagon lines started
bending outwards to form a circle instead as the stones still increased speed.
Now, they rose up above Luna, and the circle started shrinking,
the stones flying closer together until they touched.

They began shining in a bright white, and while still spinning,
they started fusing together into one. When they had fused completely,
the bright glow faded and the large sphere turned back into a pitch black.
It was the size of a bowling ball now, and had almost stopped spinning.
It moved from above Luna to just in front of her.

Luna did indeed look a bit tired.

“It is done.” She panted.

“You want some water or something?” Applejack asked.

”Yes please, I would like that very much.” Luna said with a tired smile.

“Are you sure you can go on?” Twilight asked. “You look really tired...”

“Do not worry. We can not proceed yet in any case. We must wait until
morning. It is soon time for me to raise the moon. When that happens,
the Nightlings will be in their strongest forms. But if we wait until
morning and go in when the sun is up, they will be weakened.
Remember, their purpose was to keep ponies away from sleep at night,
so that is when they are strongest.”

“Makes sense.” Twilight said. “But, will you go back to Canterlot?
Or will everypony stay here overnight?”

“I think it would be best if everypony remains here. Most of us has touched
the stones, and thus we are connected to them.”

“actually....” Sweetie Belle said in a nervous tone.
“I... touched ours too when we found it. As we said, I was the one
to get it from the hole...”

“Ah. Then we are all connected. So we shall all stay.”

“Will we be able to get any sleep?” Spike asked.

“You will, but it will most likely be filled with nightmares.
I can not protect you this time, because I too will need to sleep
if I am to regain my strength before we go inside.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Applejack said. “What about the moon though?
Can you do it from here? The raising I mean.”

“I can do it from anywhere in Equestria. The Castle simply amplifies
the spell slightly to make it somewhat easier.” Luna responded.

“So we’ll all have a sleepover, I guess?” Applebloom said.

“Yes, quite correct.” Luna said.

“And in the morning you adults will go inside the dream world...”
Scootaloo said, with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

“Also correct.” Luna said. “However, If you children do as you are told...
I would need to reward you after all this is done. You have been a great help
in all of this, after all.” She smiled.

“Rewarded?” the three fillies asked with big, curious eyes.

“What kind of reward?” Applebloom asked.

“Oh, I do not know.. We will have to discuss that and agree upon something
suitable once we are done, I think.” Luna said with a smile.

The three fillies smiled widely and nodded.

“Now, if you all excuse me, I must go outside and raise the moon.
Celestia will lower the sun any minute now.”

“Can we come and watch?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“It’s really not that much to see... My horn glows, the moon rises,
and that is all.”

“I still wanna see...”

“Very well. Anypony else?”

Scootaloo and Applebloom nodded and followed as Luna walked outside.

When the sun began sinking, Luna looked in the other direction.
Her horn started glowing brightly, and in the horizon they could
see the moon arise in sync with the setting sun. When the moon
was in the correct location, just above Canterlot, Lunas horn stopped
glowing and she turned to the three fillies.

“And that is all there is to it. Now you have witnessed me raise my moon.
If you want, I can wake you tomorrow just before I lower it again.”

The three fillies nodded in agreement, and Scootaloo spoke.
“Yes please, do that!”

“Then so be it. And now, I suggest we should all go to bed.
We need all the sleep we can get, and I am quite sure tonight we
will all have nightmares. Since I too will be sleeping, I can not stop
them from invading your dreams, or my own either.”

“We can handle a few nightmares! Right, girls?” Scootaloo said
to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. “Yeah!” they both responded.

They all walked back inside and found Twilight and Applejack
preparing sleeping bags that Twilight kept in a closet just in case
they became necessary.

“So, let’s just go over the plan one last time before we go to bed.”
She said when they were all gathered in the room again.

“Good idea.” Luna said.

“So... First of all, we try to get a few hours of sleep.
After Luna lowers the moon, we have some breakfast.
And after that, we should get started. Me, Luna and Applejack will
go inside the dream realm, while the fillies and Spike wait here.”

“I was wondering...” Applejack started. “How exactly DO we do that?
Do you like, go inside our heads... or do you take our entire physical
bodies along somehow, like a teleport spell?”

“I will explain all that in the morning during breakfast.
There is quite a bit to tell, and I am sure you will also have some
questions while I explain it. Now, let us go to sleep.”

So they all went to bed. Twilight and Spike took their regular beds upstairs,
while the others all took sleeping bags in the living room,
except Luna who instead opted for sleeping on the couch between
two of the bookshelves, saying that sleeping bags were to hot,
and she preferred sleeping ‘in the open’, so to speak.

They all found it hard to fall asleep, but they eventually all did.
And all of them had nightmares, just like Luna had suspected...

Chapter 9 - Nightmares

Spike slowly opened his eyes. He rose up and look around.
All he could see was a thick, silvery fog.

“Hello?” He called out. No answer. “Helloooo?” He tried again,
louder this time. Still no answer. He began walking.
Beneath his feet he could feel gravel. “must be a dirt road...” he mumbled
to himself as he kept walking straight ahead. After some time,
he saw something - or somepony - in the distance. Shadows, shaped
like ponies. “Hello? Can you hear me?” He shouted toward the shadows.
But they did not react. Spike assumed they had not heard him.
He kept walking, but the shadows did not seem closer.
He increased his speed, but the shadows still looked as far away as
they had when he first noticed them. He started a full sprint.
This time, the shadows did move closer. They were indeed ponies.
Townsponies, the Ponyville citizens. He walked up to a mint green
unicorn.

“Lyra?” He said as he approached her. But as he spoke, the unicorn did not react.
She did not look at Spike, she did not respond to him.
She looked over at another pony. Her mouth started moving,
but Spike could not hear any words. The other pony looked as if she
was laughing at something, and then her mouth moved, and Lyra “laughed”.
But Spike could still not hear them, it was as if they were just miming.
Spike waved his hands. “HELLO?! Lyra? Bon Bon? What’s going on?!”

Still no reaction from the two ponies. Spike gave up and started walking
away, deciding to find somepony else. After a short walk, he found
Twilight, sitting with a book. He again waved his hands. “Hi Twilight.”

But she did not notice him. He looked at the title of the book she was reading.
It was written in some language he did not know.
All it said was, ‘Hoc est somnium’... And then, everything went dark...
He woke up with a shock, sitting up in his sleeping bag.

* * *

Scootaloo was running along a narrow path. On both sides of the stone
road was tall stone pillars, overgrown with moss and dark green vines,
almost black. They were covered in white thorns. The pillars and thorn-
covered vines formed walls, several meters high.

She ran as fast as her hoofs could take her. In front of her, the road
seemed endless, and so did the two walls. But she kept running.

Only a few meters behind her, the walls and road was falling apart,
fallling down into a dark abyss. She did not know if there was
anything below, or if she could survive the fall, so she kept running.

Her hoofs hurt. Her breath was heavy. She had been running for...
She wasn’t sure how long, she only knew it was a long time.

When had she started running? Where was she? Where was the road
leading? She did not have any answers.

All she knew was that she had to keep running, if she wanted to survive.

Or did she? Could she survive if she let the road fall beneath her,
and let herself drop into the abyss below? Was there something
down there? Was the road a lie? Was there a road at all?

She began to question her own mind. Far away in the distance in
front of her, she could see a light. But before she could reach it,
the road and walls fell apart in front of her too. She made a sudden stop.

She was now standing on a lone pillar, surrounded by a deep
nothingness. The darkness grew closer. In the end, it covered her
and her pillar. She could hear something, a whisper. It seemed
to come from all directions at once, but it spoke words Scootaloo
could not understand... “Hoc est somnium... Hoc est somnium...”
the voice repeated. Then, the last sliver of light disappeared...
Scootaloo woke up with a shock, looking around her.

* * *

Sweetie Belle sat in school as usual, waiting for her friends.
Scootaloo and Applebloom came a few minutes later,
laughing and talking. Sweetie waved and cheered, but the other two
just glared strangely toward her, frowning. They did not come to her,
as they always had before. They always sat together. But today,
Scootaloo and Applebloom sat down in another part of the classroom.
With Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara...

Sweetie frowned and looked confused.
“Why... Why are you guys sitting over there, with them?” She asked.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Scootaloo said with a sneer. “We always do.
And YOU always cheer and try to be our friend. Get somepony else toannoy for once, blank flank.”

“B...but...what? You’re blanks too.. We’re crusaders...” Sweetie Belle said
with a sad voice, looking down at her desk.

“Us? Blanks? No way.” Applebloom said.
“Have you taken a look recently? We got our marks months ago.
You’re the only Blank flank in Ponyville. When me and Scoot got ours,
you became so jealous and annoying, we split up the stupid ‘Crusader’ thing.
Me and Scoot started hanging with Diamond and Silver.
Stop living in the past. Grow up.”

“But....” She looked at Scootaloo and Applebloom.
They both sighed and stood up, showing Sweetie Belle their flanks.
Like they said, they did really have their marks.
She looked at herself. Still nothing.

Diamond cut in to the conversation.
“You’re like, the only pony in town who hasn’t found your talent yet.
Maybe you don’t have one? Maybe you’re never getting a cutiemark?”

Sweetie Belle almost started crying, but managed to hold her feelings in.
At least, for now. She sat in silence. Cheerilee came in to the classroom.
She wrote something on the blackboard.

Hoc est somnium.

* * *

Applebloom walked downstairs in her house.
“Applejack? Granny?” She said in a raised voice.

Nopony answered. She walked around the rooms looking for them.

“Big Mac?”

Still nothing. She thought maybe they were all outside then,
so she walked out through the door. The porch was empty.
Granny Smith usually sat there in her rocking chair,
but not this time. “That’s strange...” Applebloom thought.
“Where are they?”

She looked around but could not see anypony from the porch.

“Maybe the barn...” She thought, and quickly trotted over to the large
wooden building. She opened the large heavy door with some effort and
walked inside. “Hello? Anypony here?” She asked, but all she heard was
a faint echo of her own voice.

She went back outside and started looking around in the other parts of the
farm, but she could not find any of her family, or Winona either.

She ran up to the apple fields, but there was nopony there either,
and all the trees were withered and dying.

She saw Sweetie Belle and Rarity coming along the old road between
the farm and the town, so she ran up to them.

“Rarity, Sweetie! Do you know where my family is?”

Rarity looked at her with a confused face.

Sweetie Belle spoke. “Your what? You don’t have any family...
You’ve lived alone on this farm as far as I’ve known you...”

Then, Rarity spoke, but her words did not make any sense to Applebloom.

“Hoc est somnium, Applebloom.”

* * *

Applejack stood in front of Mayor mare in the center of town just outside
the town hall. The mayor had a stern look on her face,
and a hint of sadness.

“Applejack...” She began. “How.. How could you? How could YOU of all
ponies do such a thing? You’re the last one I expected to make such idiotic
decision. Thanks to you, they now own the farm! They have already started
making offers and deals to buy out the rest of town too, piece by piece!
If you had just said ‘no’, we could have gotten rid of them!”

Applejack look confused. “What? Who? What did I do?!”

Mayor Mare looked at Applejack, her stern look turning into a disappointed
frown. “Oh Applejack.. First all that, and now you pretend you don’t even
know what you have done?”

Applejack turned her head and looked around. behind and beside her
stood the citizens of Ponyville, including her friends. Everypony had
various expressions of sadness or anger, some looked disappointed
or confused. What was going on?

“Can somepony please tell me what I did?!” Applejack almost shouted.

Twilight emerged from the crowd. “Applejack. You really don’t remember?”

“No, I don’t! Last I remember, I was at the farm working, and then suddenly
I stood here!”

“You put the farm down as a bet against Flim and Flam again...
They came back, and... this time they won...”

Applejack could not believe it. She forced her way through the crowds,
and ran back to the farm. As she was about to enter the gate,
she looked up. It no longer said ‘Sweet Apple Acres’.
But it also did not say anything about Flim, or Flam.

The large wooden letters read, ‘Hoc Est Somnium’.

* * *

Twilight slowly approached the guards and the large door.
She was in Canterlot, on her way to see Celestia regarding...
Well, she didn’t quite know what this was about, but Celestia had said
it was important, and that Twilight should come as soon as she could.

One of the guards nodded as a silent greeting when Twilight came
closer. He used his magic and opened the door. As she walked through,
an announcer pony on the inside said loudly, “Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

She walked across the red carpet up to the throne where Celestia sat
with a serious look on her face.

“Princess Twilight.” She said in a cold voice.
“It is my sad duty to inform you that Equestrias future depends on you.
You must leave, and never return. Never make contact with anypony here.”

“WHAT?” Twilight looked confused and shocked.

“Throughout your period as a princess, you have caused numerous
disasters, including giving Tirek our magic. Simply put, I was wrong.
You are not fit to be a princess. For your reckless behaviors,
You are hereby banished from Equestria. You may choose where
you wish to be relocated, as long as it is outside Equestria.
Dragonlands, Gryphon Kingdom, Zebra Lands, or some
unexplored island. Choose.”

“But... You can’t just throw me out like this!”

“I can. I do not want to, but I must. It is not my personal decision,
it is the will of the population based on votes.”

Just as Twilight was about to protest again, the door slammed open.
Nopony entered, but the announcer shouted “HOC EST SOMNIUM”,
and everything went black.

* * *

Luna stood alone in the tower, looking out through a small window.
Outside she could see the dark blue sky, filled with tiny white dots.
Above the tower, out of sight from her position, was the moon.

She smiled and gave out a relaxed sigh. It had been a rough day,
but it looked like the night would be calm, at least for a while.

Suddenly, she felt a vibration beneath her hoof.
She looked down, and then around her. The room itself - no, the entire
tower - was vibrating. The vibrations increased to a light rumbling.

Luna quickly ran out from the room and unto a balcony on the opposite side
of the tower, from which she took a leap into the air and spread her wings.
She made a quick dash and a complete turn, and stopped in mid-air,
looking at the tower from a short distance.

The tower crumbled and fell apart. She looked down, and saw
that not only the tower, but rather the whole castle was rumbling and falling
apart, section by section. She could see streams of guards and other
castle workers running and flying out from the doors and balconies,
the able ones helping the less able as best they could.

A guard pegasus came flying up to Luna.

“Your highness! Do you know what is going on? None of us guards know,
and neither does anypony else. The castle just started falling apart!”

“Mind that later! For now, we must focus on safely getting everypony out
before it all falls apart completely!”

“Agreed!” The guard gave a quick salute and flew back into the chaos.

From the rubble, a pony-shaped shadow rose up and screamed at Luna.

“Hoc Est Somnium, Luna Princeps!”

Unlike the other ponies, Luna understood this language.

She responded with a loud shout. “Ego sum somnium princeps!
Audite vocem meam, et disperdimini!”

The shadow stopped in his movements and froze.
Then, everything went black.

Author's Note

Fun Facts:

the "unknown language" is actually just Latin, which I do NOT speak or read, so I used Google translate.
Therefore, I can not guarantee that everything is correct. Anyway, here's what it's SUPPOSED to mean,
and hopefully does:

Hoc Est Somnium - This is a Dream.

Luna Princeps - Moon Princess / Princess Luna (Luna means Moon in several languages, including latin)

Ego Sum Somnium Princeps - I am the princess of Dreams

Audite vocem meam, et disperdimini - Hear My Voice, And Perish

So what Luna actually says in the end is, "I am the princess of dreams! Hear my voice, and perish!"

Chapter 10 - Into The Realm Of Dreams

They all woke up at the same time, all sitting up rather quickly.
Luna was very close to falling off the couch in a... not so royal way.

They all looked around, confused and somewhat shocked from their
nightmares. Once they had calmed down and realized they were
awake, they all decided there was no point in trying to go back
to sleep now. Luna was supposed to lower the moon in just
half an hour anyway, so they might just as well have an early breakfast.

Twilight came downstairs, sneaking softly with Spike on her back.
When she saw the others were already awake, she stopped her
sneak and resumed with normal walking instead.

“Morning..” She yawned.

Spike mumbled something that vaguely resembled “morning...”.

Applejack was tying her hair. “Mornin’, Twi. And you too Spike.”

Luna was trying to get her not-so-formal hair in order, with poor result.

“I hate my just-out-of-bed mane...” She mumbled. “Is anypony here able
to brush vast amounts of partially self-sentient magic hair?”

The three fillies looked at each other for a second and then all three said in
chorus, “Cutiemark Crusaders Royal Manestylists, GO!”

“Oh no you don’t.” Applejack interrupted.

“I’ll do it. I’ve helped both you and Celestia before.” Twilight interjected.

“So be it! Twilight shall fix this royal mess!” Luna exclaimed in a
half-serious, half-joking tone. “But first, I need coffee.”

“Me too.” Twilight smiled. “Anypony else?”

“I want some.” Applejack said.

“I’d like some tea instead, if that’s okay?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Of course.” Twilight said. “Coffee for the adults, and Spike.
Tea for the fillies.”

During breakfast they discussed the nightmares.

“....And, when I got to the farm the name above the gate was changed
to that ‘hook set insomnia’ stuff.” Applejack said.

“You mean, ‘Hoc Est Somnium’.” Luna corrected with a tone
that made her sound almost like a teacher correcting a student.

“Yeah, that. Seems we all saw or heard it at the end of our dreams...”

“Luna.. Those words. They sound like old Equestrian.. are they?”
Twilight asked with a curious tone.

“It is indeed the old language, used before this current Equestrian English.
The words ‘Hoc est somnium’ roughly translates to ‘This is a dream’.”

“But why?” Twilight asked. “Why would the dreams actively TELL
us it’s a dream?”

“That has to do with me again. You see, The Nightmare created the
Nightlings with my help while taking control, as I explained earlier.
However, they tended to make some of the dreams a bit too real.
Some ponies could no longer tell the difference. So as a solution,
I ‘implanted’ a command in the Nightlings’ minds.
From that day onwards, they always made a subtle but noticeable
hint to the dreamer that it was a dream. And since this was in te old
days when the old language was still known by almost every pony,
but luckily NOT by the Nightmare itself, I used that language
to send the small messages. To this day, that effect is still active
in their minds, so they still do it.”

“Excuse me for being blunt, but wouldn’t that make ponies
less afraid of the dreams and kinda ruin the whole plan you
and Nightmare had?” Applejack said.

“Well, both yes and no. The Nightmare did not really care about ponies’
health, mental or physical. As long as they were alive at all, and awake
at night, that was enough. I on the other hoof also wanted my subjects
to feel well, so they could be active and happy.”

“Oh, I see.” Applejack responded.

“Now, I have a moon to lower.” Luna said as she stood up.
“Thank you for the breakfast. When I get back in, we can attempt
to fix my hair, and then get started on our... I suppose ‘mission’
is a good term to use.” Luna said to Twilight.

The three fillies stood up quickly too.

“Don’t forget, you said we could watch this time too!”
Scootaloo said with some excitement in her voice.

“Hm.. I did indeed.” Luna smiled. “Very well then, come along.
I’m afraid it is not so exciting. It is in fact exactly like when I
raised it yesterday. The only difference is, this time it goes down
instead of up.”

“We know, we still wanna see.” Applebloom said with a grin.

“So be it.” Luna said, still smiling as she opened the door and walked
outside, followed by the fillies. Meanwhile Spike waited inside
with Twilight and Applejack. He had seen the royal sisters’
raising and lowering their sun and moon more times than he could
remember anyway, so to him it wasn’t anything special anymore.

Instead, he started cleaning off the table while Twilight took care of the
dishes, and Applejack went in to the larger room to check on the stone.

“Any noticeable changes?” Twilight asked from the kitchen.

“Nothin’ I can see.” Applejack responded while looking at the stone.

It was still the same size, it was still completely black with
a glass-like shine, and it was still in the same spot they had left it.

Outside, the fillies watched as Lunas horn shone brightly.
The moon started moving across the sky, sinking in the horizon.
They all turned around and saw the sun rising above the opposite
horizon, and Equestria was bathed in sunlight.

“And thus, it is officially morning.” Luna said with a small smile.
“Now, we must go inside. My mane is more troublesome than usual
this morning.”

The three fillies looked at Luna, and saw that her mane had now
‘decided’ to cover most of her face, only allowing the tip of
her muzzle to stick out. They all tried not to laugh,
but all let out tiny giggles and suppressed laughs.

They went inside, and Twilight - after some trouble - managed
to get the mane mostly in control and looking almost like normal.

“Sorry, I can’t get it completely fixed...” She said.

“This is close enough.” Luna smiled. “At least now it is kept away from
my face, and mostly contained.”

“Should we get started?” Applejack said. Her voice was a mixture
of nervousness and excitement.
“You said you would explain first though... What exactly are we doing?”

“Speaking in basic terms, I am going to teleport my own and your two
bodies into a sort of parallel dimension, called ‘The Dreamscape’.
Normally, only I can enter with my entire body and consciousness intact.
Every other pony, gryphon, dragon, and you-name-it, normally
only go there in a sub-conscious state. Or as you know it - dreaming.”

“So it’s like ‘lucid dreaming’?” Twilight asked.

“Almost, but a step further. Normal dreaming is sub-conscious.
Lucid dreaming is partly conscious, but still only within the mind.
What we are doing is the third step, ‘Dream Walking’.”

“Amazing...” Twilight said with obvious amazement in her voice.

“That’s... both interesting and scary at the same time.” Applejack smiled.
I’m.. like Pinkie would say, ‘nervocited’.”

“nervocited?” Luna asked, slightly puzzled.

“It’s a made-up term from Pinkie Pie. Basically when you’re
nervous and excited at the same time.” Twilight explained.

“Ah, I see.. A Pinkie thing. That explains it. She is a bit... unique.”

“I have another question.” Applejack said, holding her hoof up.

“Yes?” Luna turned toward her.

“I know you’re zapping us into the dream-something.
But how exactly? I mean, I only know a little about magic,
but one thing I DO know is that a regular teleport spell
can only teleport within this dimension.”

“How did YOU know that?” Twilight asked, surprised.

“two of my best friends, and one of my sisters best friends,
are all unicorns. Of course I’ve overheard a few things,
and read up on a few things to understand you guys better.”
Applejack winked and smiled.
“...Only a few basics though” She added.

“Oh, I see. But yes, that is in fact correct. I was wondering the same
thing, actually. I assume it’s some stronger or slightly altered version
of the teleport spell?” Twilight said.

Luna nodded. “Yes, it’s a unique alteration of the spell.
It requires a very unique magic, which currently I am the only
one who knows. Therefore, I must cast the spell on you two and myself
at the same time, to ensure we all end up in the same location
when we enter the Dreamscape.”

“So there’s a risk we get split up?” Applejack said in a slightly worried
tone, looking at Luna.

“Oh, No need to worry about that. Even if we re split up, we will be
within sight and hearing distance of each other, at most maybe 20
meters apart. Probably less. I can also - to some degree - control
where in the Dreamscape we arrive. I plan on setting
us in a simple field with nothing but grass. That way, we can ensure
even further that we stay together. Then, we start moving from there.”

Luna walked over to the stone and picked it up with her magic.

“Now... Children, Spike. I need you four to listen very carefully.
This part also affects you. The stone will remain here, in this
world. So will Applejacks hat. Only their actual bodies will
be teleported, no accessories or the stone itself.”

“Bloom, you take care of this while I’m gone then.” Applejack said
and took her hat off. She placed it on Appleblooms head instead.
It was slightly big, but just barely stayed from sliding over her face
due to her ears holding it up.

“Okay!” Applebloom said and gave her sister a small salute.

“Oh, and this.” Applejack added and untied her hair, and threw the
short red lace band at her sister.

“Spike.” Twilight said. “You and the girls stay here in the library while
we’re gone. It’s best if you don’t go anywhere.”

Spike nodded. “Sure, we’ll stay.”

“Luna.. One more question. What about time flow?” Twilight asked.
“I mean, in dreams you can seem to go on for hours, even though
just a short time actually passes here. Is that going to affect us in there?”

“It is indeed. Time in the Dreamscape moves in a different speed.
Basically, an hour in there is just a few minutes out here.”

“So if we’re gone for a few whole days in there, It’ll only be a couple of
hours out here?” Applejack said.

“Exactly.” Luna said. “I must also add, there is a chance we may actually
BE gone for days in there - or a few hours here - since we do not
know where the tower is. And when we find it, we must first get TO it,
then inside it, then to the top, or at least near the top, and then find
a way to remove or destroy the control stone up there.”

“So we have a long quest ahead...” Applejack said, her excitement growing.

“We do indeed.” Luna said. “Now, we must begin.”

She placed the stone on the floor. “Sit down in a triangle around it,
facing toward it.” She said, and they all did so.

“Close your eyes and focus on me.” Luna said.

Twilight and Applejack both did as they were told.

The three fillies and Spike all watched as a triangle shape formed
between the three ponies on the floor, connecting them.
From each of them, a line shot out into the stone itself too,
connecting them to the stone as well as each other.

The stone started glowing again, just like it had when it was fused
the night before. When it reached a clear white, the shine spread.
the lines on the floor began glowing in white as well.
And then, the three ponies did too, and the lines between them.

The three ponies faded away like ghosts, but all the lines remained
on the floor.

Spike turned to the three fillies.
“Okay girls.. I think it’s best if we DO NOT walk on, or even near
those white lines. That there is called a ‘Spell Circle’ - and yes,
it is called a circle even when it’s not circular. Spell circles
should never be disturbed.”

The three fillies nodded.

“So... What do we do now?” Applebloom asked.

“We can... read, draw, play some board games...” Spike said.
“aaand, I guess that’s all we have in here.”

“Bring the board games then!” Scootaloo said. “I challenge you all
to a BattleClouds tournament!”

* * *

Applejack shook her head and opened her eyes. She looked around.
She could see Princess Luna a few meters away. All around them was
a large empty field of grass, just like Luna had said.

“Luna? Twilight?” She said in a raised voice.

Beneath her she felt something move, and heard mumbles.
She looked down and saw a purple flank.
She quickly jumped off.

“Sorry Twi, I.. must have landed on you somehow..”

Twilight got up and dusted some dirt off of her fur.

“It’s okay, it didn’t hurt. the grass under me was quite soft.”

Luna approached them.

“Welcome to MY world, My little ponies...
Welcome... To the Dream Scape.”

Author's Note

Fun Fact - "Battle Clouds" is a parody of the classic board game, Battle Ships.

The only difference is, instead of ships in the sea, you play with clouds in the sky
and instead of shooting missiles, you have pegasi bucking the clouds.

Instead of "I sunk your battleship!", the winner "Bucked your biggest cloud!".

Chapter 11 - Nightmares And Dreamscapes

“So where do we go from now? Where do we begin?” Twilight said as she
looked around, seeing only the seemingly endless ‘ocean’ of grass.

“We begin with a short lesson, to teach you the basics of this world.
As you probably already know, nothing in here is what you would call
‘real’, it is all within ponies’ minds. Thus, theoretically, almost anything
can happen at any time, and we can meet almost any pony or other
creature - living or dead. Basically, anything anypony anywhere can
possibly dream of, can appear in this world at any time and place.
So you need to be very careful when you are here, and most of the time
you should stay close to me unless I specifically say otherwise.”

Twilight and Applejack nodded.

“I was wonderin’...” Applejack said, “What about physical damage
and such? I saw a horror movie once, where the ponies got killed or hurt
inside their dreams, and it happened in real life too. So I was wonderin’,
is there any truth to that?”

“Well, normally I would say ‘no’, but in your case... I am actually not sure.
I do know you can get hurt here. And, logically speaking, since you are
teleported here in your physical form, I would assume any wounds
you get here will also remain when we teleport back. After all,
it IS technically just a teleport spell.”

“So we probably CAN get hurt. Which means, we should be careful.”
Applejack said. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Yes, that does indeed sound logic.” She said, and then Luna added,

“That being said, do not completely trust in ALL logic here.
As I said, we are in a dream world. Which means the normal laws of
physics and gravity does not necessarily apply, or work the same way.”

“Like, for example what?” Applejack asked.

“For example, Twilight may not be able to fully use her magic in here.
Her magic is regular Alicorn and Unicorn magic. My magic is
infused with dream magic, which is a different kind.”

“How many kinds are there, anyway?” Applejack interrupted.

Twilight raised her hoof and began talking before Luna could react.

“First, there is two main categories. There is the ‘Dormant Magic’,
which can be found in every pony species. It’s the energy that allows
us to pick stuff up with our hoofs. Pegasi has another form as well,
which allows them to interact physically with clouds, and fly despite
their wing-to-bodymass ratio being far from aerodynamic.”

Applejack was about to stop her, but she continued.

“Then, there’s ‘Active Magic’, Unicorn and Alicorn magic.
Basically we have the same magic as everypony else, but our
horns allow us to channel and focus it into spells.
We also have a higher amount than Earth and Pega ponies.
THEN, we come to sub-categories!”

Again, Applejack tried to interrupt but failed.

“First, the most common is Unicorn of course. And then there’s
Black and White, and also Grey. Black is dark spells, curses, and offensive
spells. White is healing magic and protective spells, like shields.
Grey is common magic, such as levitation, Glowing horn, low-level
heat and freeze spells - stronger levels qualify as black - and such things.
Then, we have Alicorn White and Alicorn Black, which is basically just
stronger forms of those two. And then we have Chaos Magic,
which has no colour assigned. That’s what Discord uses by the way.
And, Dream Magic, which is the same as the normal Uni-and-Alicorn
magics, but it works inside the dream realm, where other magic doesn’t.”

The third time, Applejack simply shoved her hoof in Twilights mouth
to effectively block her speech.

“TWILIGHT!”

Twilight fell silent and looked at Applejack confused.

“As much as I appreciate the lesson, would you be quiet for a second
and listen to ME now?”

Twilight nodded, still with Applejacks hoof in her mouth.

“Look.” Applejack said, and pointed behind Twilight.
She turned her head around and looked.

Far away in the distance, the could see the outline of what seemed to be
houses of various sizes and shapes.

“Luna? Is that.. Ponyville?” Twilight said, when she recognized some
of the shapes and their layout.

“In a manner of speaking. Ponies often have dreams that take place in
or near their homes. Since we came from Ponyville, we are still technically
in Ponyvilles ‘location’. Thus, most of the dreams we will see is from
Ponyville citizens. Including yourselves.”

“You mean we might walk into my or Twilights dreams?” Applejack said.

“Yes, and nightmares too. But unlike last night, this time you will
be fully aware that it is not real, so even if things get scary, try to keep
that in mind.” Luna said.

“Now, We must find the tower.”

“About that...” Twilight said. “How do the towers look?”

“They differ slightly from time to time, but usually they are black
or dark in colour, and quite tall. At least 15 floors, sometimes more.
Sometimes spiky or crooked. Very hard to miss once we get within
seeing distance.”

“Should we go into ‘ponyville’ and ask ponies there?” Applejack asked.

“We can try, but it is not guaranteed to work. It is worth a try though.”
Luna responded and started walking toward the town.

The walk felt shorter than it had looked, and they soon arrived at the
edge of town. They started looking around, but they could not see or
hear anypony, or any animals. No sounds at all. It was like a ghost town.

“Okay, this is a bit creepy.” Applejack said as she looked around.

“An empty version of Ponyville.. Maybe someponys nightmare has
to do with abandonment, or ghost towns?”

“It is very possible.” Luna nodded. “But keep in mind, dreams and
nightmares often get mixed here. And also, not everything is from
the same ponys mind. For example, the town itself can be from one
dream, but the fact that it is empty can be from some other dream.
The stones has gathered dreams and nightmare from a thousand
years’ worth of sleeping ponies. There are countless possibilities.
Almost anything can happen, like I said earlier.”

“It’s still creepy to see Ponyville like this.” Applejack said.

“True.”

Twilight looked around a bit as they walked through the empty street.

Suddenly Applejacks ears peaked up. “I hear something!”

Twilight looked at her with a questioning expression.

“Over there.” Applejack said in a lower voice, pointing toward a few bushes.
Twilight looked at them, and there was indeed a rustling sound
coming from them. Perhaps someone - or something - was hiding under it?

They approached carefully. Suddenly something jumped out and landed
on Applejacks head. It was a small white bunny.

“Oh. It’s Angel!” Twilight said. “Fluttershy’s pet bunny.”

Angel pulled out a clock and looked at it. He got a very stressed,
almost panicked look on his face and ran away, disappearing into
a whole in the ground. As he ran, he made a noise that almost sounded like
“Late, late, late, late!!!”.

“Did he just speak...?” Applejack said in a puzzled tone.

“Remember, Dreamworld.” Twilight reminded her.

“Oh.. Right.. but still, I wasn’t expecting to hear that bunny talk.
Just imagine if Fluttershy heard... Oh wait, that part was probably
actually from her dream. Nevermind.”

“Or maybe Angel himself has dreams like that? Who knows what goes
on inside his head?” Twilight said, half-jokingly.

“Well anyway, seems like the town is empty.” Applejack said.
“Maybe we should move on? Should we check over at my place?”

“We might as well.” Twilight said. “I mean, there might be something
or somepony there. Luna?”

Luna simply nodded silently and started walking in the wrong direction.

“Uhm.. Excuse me, Princess...” Twilight said.

“What?” Luna asked.

“Sweet Apple Acres is that way.” Applejack said, waving her hoof
in the opposite direction from where Luna was headed.

“...Oh. My bad. I have only been in Ponyville a couple of times,
I do not quite remember its layout yet.”

They all started walking, almost trotting in the direction of the Acres.
As they came closer, they saw pillars of smoke rising from where
the apple orchards should have been, but the lands were barren and dead.
No trees remained, only smoking holes in the ground.
Where the house and barn used to be was now a deep crater.

“Okay...” Applejack said. “...What the buck?”

Author's Note

Fun Facts:
This chapter actually contains several references.

First, in the beginning, Applejack mentions a movie - She's talking about the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies.

Then, in "Ponyville" when they meet Angel Bunny, that is actually TWO references.
him saying "late late late late" is a reference to Alice in Wonderland,
in which a white bunny says the same - the bunny Alice follows into Wonderland.

Then, the part where they say that him speaking might be one of HIS dreams,
NOT one of Fluttershy's - That's actually a reference to one of MY OWN stories,
"Thoughts of an Angel" - found here --> https://www.fimfiction.net/story/208779/thoughts-of-an-angel

When Twilight speaks of different magic kinds...
The dormant magic theory is one that I've seen in various forums and other stories,
and which I myself consider canon. As for black and white, those are obvious.
And Chaos magic as well. Grey is less well-known, but still used, in the same way I used it here,
to describe neutral magic like levitation and shining horn.

And lastly, the chapter title, "Nightmares and Dreamscapes", is borrowed from a Stephen King novel collection by the same name.

Chapter 12 - A Strange Encounter

Applejack looked around at what used to be the orchard.
Her expression was a mixture of curiosity and nervousness,
and if you looked close you could see a hint of sadness.

“It’s just a dream... It’s just a dream...” She kept repeating to herself
a few times. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

“Applejack? Are you okay?” Twilight asked, a bit concerned.

Applejack nodded slightly. “Almost. It’s just... even if it’s a dream,
it’s still hard to see my home like this. I mean, the house is a crater
and the trees are all gone. This ain’t right.”

“I suspect this is most likely a nightmare from that older brother of
yours, or your younger sister. Maybe the old lady. Your... grandmother,
was she not?” Luna said.

“Yeah, Granny Smith. And yeah, this must be a nightmare from one
of them. Or possibly somepony else who really loves our apples and
apple products. Could be Rainbow, or Pinkie.”

“By that logic, it could be almost anypony in Ponyville. Most of them
love your apples. Myself included.” Twilight smiled.

“True...” Applejack said and gave a small smile.

“In any case I do not see any ponies here, so we might as well
move on to some other location.” Luna said as she looked around.
“All I can see here is smoking holes in the ground.”

“What about the forest?” Applejack said, glancing toward Everfree.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Could there be something in there? I mean, it’s a dream world,
so a lot is different. Maybe there’s something in the forest?”

Luna scratched her chin. “Well, it is possible. For one thing,
Everfree Village might still exist here.”

“Everfree Village?” Applejack asked.

“Yes. As you know, myself and Celestia had our old castle in the forest
before it became... ‘alive’, in lack of a better word. At that time there
was also a village surrounding the castle. And the stones has gathered
dream fragments ever since those times. Which means, in some
of the dreams, that village should still exist. That in turn means,
there is a chance we can find it. And maybe there are still ponies there.”

“I see. Well, sounds worth a try.” Applejack said.

“I agree. Let’s go!” Twilight said.

They all started toward the forest, but slowed down once they entered.

“We better be extra careful.” Twilight said. “This place is dangerous in
the real world... Just imagine what a decade’s worth of nightmares
can do to it.”

“I’d rather not imagine that, thank you.” Applejack said with a small sneer
but quickly changed it to a smirk. “Okay, Let’s do this!”

* * *

The trio made their way deeper in to the forest. Just like in the real world,
the trees seemed to be moving on their own, swaying whichever direction
they wanted with no regard at all for the wind. In the distance they could
hear wolf-like howls.

“Timberwolfs?” Twilight asked.

“Could be. Or something similar maybe.” Applejack said, looking in the
direction the howls had come from.

“In any case those howls sounded far away, So we should be safe.
At least relatively.” Twilight said.

After a while they came to a fork in the dirt road, and stopped.

“So, which way?” Applejack said and looked in both directions.
“I don’t see any signpost with directions... And I can’t see the village
from here either. That is, if it even exists here.”

“Although it has been over a thousand years since I was in that village,
I still remember the location. If this Dreamscape is geographically
accurate, it should be the left road.” Luna said and pointed.

“Well then, Left it is.” Applejack said. Twilight simply nodded and followed.

A little bit further ahead, they heard rustling sounds from some
nearby bushes. Twilight slowly moved closer to take a look.

“What the...” She said, with obvious surprise in her voice.

From the bush, a pony emerged. Or rather, it looked like a pony,
but it was made entirely from leafs, and a few thorns. Its tail looked
like a vine, with some kind of red flower at the end.
Its eyes were bright red.

“Some kind of plant-pony?” Applejack said, equally surprised.

The pony-shaped plant creature smiled.

“Hi!” It said. “I’m Tendeww Thowwn! Who awwe you?”

“Oh...uhm.. I’m Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you.” Twilight
said with a slightly nervous smile, not sure if the creature was
friendly or just seemed that way.

“I’m Applejack.” Applejack said, and extended her hoof
toward the creature. It looked at her hoof with a blank
expression. Appearantly it did not know how to shake hoofs
as a greeting.

“Tender Thorn?” Luna said. “Oh, great...”

Twilight looked at her surprised. “You know this... pony?”

“First of all, Yes. I do. Secondly, ‘she’ is technically not a pony.
It’s a pony-shaped plant that somehow became sentient and
started acting like one. Some mutation from the Everfree.”
Luna said. “Just wait and see.”

“OH! I know you!” Tender suddenly said and looked at Luna.
“You’wwe the pwwincess who wwaises the moon and takes away the
sun fwwom me evewwy night! I don’t like you!”

Luna sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Listen, Tender. In here, you’re just a figment of somepony’s dream.
We need some help. We’re looking for a village that is supposed to
be somewhere here. Can you tell us where it is?”

“Yes, I can. But I don’t want to tell you, sun-stealeww!”

“Can you please tell ME then?” Twilight said with a smile.

Tender seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“Okay, if you pwwomise we’wwe fwwiends now?”

“We are if you help us.” Twilight said, her smile turning more friendly
and warm. “We really need to find that Village, Miss Thorn.”

“Nopony has called me that befowwe... Sounds stwwange.”

“If you prefer, I can call you Tender instead.”

“Yes please, call me tendeww.”

“So where is the Village, Tender?” Applejack asked,
trying to sounds as friendly as possible.

“It’s oveww thewwe, on the otheww side of those vines.” Tender said,
and pointed toward what looked like a wall of vines.

“Okay, Guess we’ll have to find an opening somewhere...” Luna said as
she looked at the vine-wall. “That is too thick to crawl through,
and we can not burn or cut through either because we do not
know what is on the other side or how thick the wall is.”

“Or maybe we can walk around?” Applejack suggested.

“If you follow it to the wwight, thewwe’s a gate.” Tender said.

“Oh, thanks!” Twilight said.
“You’ve been really helpful, Tender. Thanks for all the help,
but we really must go now. Maybe we’ll see you again someday.”

The trio walked along the vines, giong to the right like the plant pony
had told them to.

Tender walked away in the other direction.

“Well, that was... Interesting...” Twilight said.

“To say the least, yeah.” Applejack agreed.

“Oh, you two just wait until the strange stuff starts happening.
A plant pony is quite an ordinary thing in this realm.” Luna said
with a small smirk on her face.

They foud the ‘gate’ in the wall - or rather, a large gate-shaped hole.
Luna glanced through it.

“Ah yes! The village! This wall must surround it!” She exclaimed.

“So do we walk in?” Applejack said.

“Yes.” Luna said shortly, and stepped through the ‘gate’.

Twilight and Applejack followed.

The village looked very old, and like Ponyville, it seemed abandoned.

“Okay, so.. No luck here either I guess?” Applejack said.

Lunas ears perked. “Shush.” she whispered.

She then grabbed both Twilight and Applejack gently
and pulled them with her, inside an old house.

“Stay quiet.” She whispered to them.

She glanced out through a small window.

Twilight looked at her with questioning eyes.

“Nightling.” Luna mumbled.

Twilight and Applejack also carefully looked out the window.

Outside the window was a shadow-y being.

It had dark red but translucent skin, and inside it had no
visible organs or muscles, or bones. All it had was a dark,
almost black gas. Where the eyes should have been,
the gas was more yellow. It was hard to see, but it looked
like it had sharp teeth. It looked around, sniffing the air.
It made hissing noises, almost snake-like.

“Did it notice us?” Applejack whispered to Luna.

“I do not think so.” Luna responded, also whispering.

The Nightling kept moving, and walked past the house,
making its way further down the street.

“Phew.. We’re safe for now..” Applejack said, still almost whispering.

“So that’s how they look...” Twilight said.

“Yes.. That is how the Nightlings look.” Luna said.

Author's Note

Fun Facts:

Tender Thorn is an OC from a friend of mine. Here's a link to his own picture of her:
http://ponycleverblue.deviantart.com/art/OC-Tender-Thorn-color-458382965

That guy is also my pre-reader, and helps me with ideas and such, so I gave his OC a cameo in the story.

Also check out his other stuff, he has some interesting OC's and such.

And, here's my old cover for this story, which shows the Nightling, designed and drawn by me.
(A new cover will be made and uploaded here later)
http://tp-night.deviantart.com/art/In-Dreams-They-Came-Front-Cover-527446971

Chapter 13 - Shifting Worlds

Luna moved her head just outside the door and carefully looked around.

“All is clear. The Nighting has gone away, at least for now.” She said.

They all went back outside the house.

“Twilight.” She said. “While we have been in this realm, I have been
thinking. I said earlier that your magic might not work here.
And so far, you have not needed to use it. But I think, now that we
have confirmed the Nightlings presence, you should try and see if you can
or can not use your magic. It would be good to know in advance,
in case we need to battle any of them.”

“I agree.” Twilight said. “I’ll begin with something basic, like....”
She looked around a bit. “Like lifting this rock.” She said, pointing at a
rock on the ground near her hoofs.

She focused on it, and her horn sparked. Its glow was unstable,
flickering like a broken lamp. The rock moved, but just barely.
Twilight stopped her spell.

“That’s all I can do.. I can’t seem to get my magic focused.”

Luna watched with thoughtful eyes. “Hm.. Yes, as I suspected then.
Regular magic becomes unstable in the Dreamscape.”

“So in other words, I’m magic-less as long as we’re in here.”

“...Maybe not. There might be a way. I can try to give you a small
amount of my Dream-magic. I do not know if it will work,
but under the circumstances I would say it is worth a try.”

“Yes, I agree. I might need magic later. So how does this work?”

“Before we begin, I feel I should warn you. I have never attempted
to transfer this type of magic to somepony else before.
First of all, I do not know if it will work at all.
Secondly, I do not know how it will feel.
It may be a pleasant feeling, or it might be very painful.
And that is if you feel anything at all.”

“Only one way to find out, I suppose...”

“Indeed. Do you still want to do it, knowing that it may cause you pain?”

“I don’t think it’s much of a choice. I might need the magic later. Do it.”

Twilight braced herself and closed her eyes.

Luna moved closer, close enough to touch Twilights horn with her own.
She bowed her head toward Twilight and just barely touched the tips
of their horns together. Lunas horn started glowing intensively,
almost like when she had fused the stones into one earlier.
There was a few quick flashes of even brighter light.

Twilight twitched and her legs gave in.
She lost her balance and fell into a sitting position, rubbing her horn
with one hoof. “oouch...”

Luna shook her head. “Are you okay, Twilight?”

“Yes...”

“How did it feel?” Applejack asked.

“At first it felt warm, almost like my body was filled up with
hot liquid.. flowing from the horn and throughout my entire body..
And then when the flashes came, I felt as if I was given electric shocks.
That’s when I lost balance. I guess this is what the Royal Guards’ Taser Spell
must feel like..”

“Try your magic now. It may feel a bit different, if this worked.”

Twilight focused on the same rock again. Her horn gave a small spark,
and a steady glow emitted from it. But it wasn’t her usual dark pink magic.
This was a dark blue shade, like Lunas. And this time,
it surrounded the rock too, which levitated up in front of Twilight.

“...My magic... Are my eyes wrong, or is my magic blue?”

Luna smiled. “It worked. And yes, your magic is blue, like mine.
That is the dream magics’ aura. So now, you can use magic in this
world. However, once we leave the Dreamscape,
your magic should return to its normal colour.”

“It feels a bit different too. It’s not harder to use, or easier...
It just feels different somehow.”

“In any case, now Twi can use magic again. We should get back to
our duties and find that tower thing.” Applejack said.

“You are right. We need to locate the tower.”

A few seconds later, the whole place was rapidly covered in a thick fog.

“What the hay?” Applejack said.

Luna extended her wings toward Applejack and Twilight.

“Grab my wings, before we completely loose sight!”

The both took hold of one wing each. the fog increased, and within
less than a minute, all the could see was grey and the tip of their muzzles.

“What’s going on?” Applejack asked.

“The Dreamscape is shifting.” Luna said.

“Shifting?” Twilight asked.

“Yes... When the fog disappears, you will see what I mean. Things will look
different. The village will still remain, but it may be in other colours,
it may be in ruins, it may be futuristic, or upside down. Or covered in
sand. I will try to explain once the fog has gone.”

* * *

A minute passed, and the fog started fading. They all looked around.
The village looked the same, except the houses no longer seemed to
have doors. at least not visible ones.

“What’s going on here?” Applejack asked. “Luna? Care to explain now?”

“Yes. Shortly and simply speaking, this Dreamscape is a sort of collection
of various dreams and nightmares. That means it is made of countless
different dreams. And, since many ponies dream about the same places,
but have different dreams - One pony might see Ponyville as it is today,
while another pony might dream of the earlier days when it was just a
settlement. Somepony might dream of it as a large, bustling city.”

“So... You’re saying this Dreamscape ‘switches between
different versions’?” Twilight said, looking around.

“In a matter of speaking, yes. Though, the entire Dreamscape does not
change all at once, it happens piece by piece. For example, what we
just experienced was a shift in this village. As you can see,
the houses lost the doors, but the rest looks the same.
So whenever you see the thick fog, something will be changed when
the fog disappears.”

“Good to know. But I wonder.. Can anything change?” Twilight added.

“No, not everything. Most smaller things can, but larger details do not.
For example the houses, this village will always be here.
But the way the village LOOKS can change. Some things are ‘locked’,
so to speak, and other things are not.”

“And what about us? Any risk of us changing?” Applejack said.

“No. Since we are not from the Dreamscape, we do not change even if
we stand inside the fog like we did now.” Luna answered.
She looked upwards.

“It appears more than the village shifted this time though.”

“What do you...?”Twilight began, but stopped herself as she looked up.
“Oh. I see... The sky is lime green...”

Applejack climbed up on a pile of barrels to get a better view around.
“The forest is greener too, and it’s not moving as much. I’d say it’s
just a normal forest now.”

“Perhaps it reverted back to how it was when the castle and village still
stood here, before it became ‘alive’.” Luna pondered.

“Sounds likely.” Applejack said and jumped down from the barrels.
“Anyway, where do we go from here? I mean, the village is empty.
Where can we find any clues to the tower?”

“What about your old castle? It should be near here, right?”
Twilight said. She took a leap and flew upwards into the air
and started looking around.

“See anything useful?” Applejack asked.

“Not yet.. Oh wait, I think I see the castle! It’s hard to tell...
It’s... kinda see-through. As if the entire thing was made of glass.”

“Ah.. I actually recognize that. Last year, my dear sister had a dream
that our old castle was made of glass. This must be a part from her dream.”

“So, do you think there might be anything useful in the glass castle?
Any point in going there?” Applejack asked.

“I do believe we should make our way there, yes. Even if no ponies are
there we may still find other clues to the Towers’ location.”

“Oh, about that.” Twilight said as she landed. “I’ve been thinking.
Is there any radius limit for where we may find the tower?
I mean, can it only be in some specific areas, or can it be anywhere?”

“Both yes and no. It can be anywhere within the Equestrian borders.”

“So in theory, we might have to go all the way to Crystal Empire,
or Manehattan, or Fillydelphia...” Applejack said.

“In theory, yes. But if we DO need to travel great distances,
we can use my dream magic to travel faster. Do not be worried,
At the very most we should only need to be here a couple of days.”

“That’s a couple of days in this time, right?
Not a couple of real-world days?”

“No, Dreamscape time. In real-world time, maybe a few hours.”

“Very well. Now, let’s get goin’.” Applejack said with a small smirk,
and started walking along a gravel road that lead toward the caste.

Twilight and Luna followed close behind.

Chapter 14 - Castle Crashers

The trio reached the wall which surrounded the village.
It was no longer made of vines and thorns, they noticed.
In the shift, it had turned into logs and timber, held together with
ropes and iron nails.

“Can you guys see any gate toward the castle?” Applejack said as they
came closer to it.

Luna leaped into the air and hovered a couple meters above ground,
looking along the wall in both directions.
“No gate. I do however see the gravel road from the village to the castle
grounds. Tell me Applejack, do you have any fears of heights?”

“Not really, why?”

Suddenly Lunas horn started glowing. “Oh, nothing...”
The glow surrounded Applejack, who suddenly hovered above ground.

“Hey! What are you doing?” She said with a hint of shock in her voice.

“Lifting you above the wall so that we may proceed to the castle.”
Luna responded with a small smirk. She didn’t bother hiding the fact
that she liked pulling small tricks and pranks like this.

Applejack facehoofed while being lifted over the wall.
“You could have told me before doing it, you know.”

“Oh, I could have, yes. But if I had, I would not have gotten to see
the surprise on your face when you left the ground.”

Twilight smiled and giggled. “You must have been a bit of a prankster
as a child, weren’t you?”

“Ask my sister about that someday, she can tell you about me.
And herself too for that matter. We had full-scale prank wars.
Our servants and guards were usually... let us just say,
not quite impressed with our not-so-royal behavior.”
Luna giggled, and at the same time set Applejack down on
the ground. Twilight flew over too, and Luna landed beside them both.
She pointed along the gravel road that now lay before them,
surrounded by forest on both sides. The trees on the left side were all
green and full of life, while the other side was red, yellow, and in some
cases leaf-less, as if that side was in autumn while the left side was in
summer. “Well, that’s interesting...” Applejack said as she looked at
the trees. “First time I’ve seen summer leafs and autumn leafs side by side
like this. Usually the change is more gradual, not two straight rows.”

“We must get going” Luna said and started walking.
“We have around ten minutes walk at normal pace.”

“I say we make it in five, then.” Applejack smirked and started jogging.

Luna and Twilight simply nodded and matched Applejacks speed.

Four minutes later, they reached the castle garden. Or rather, the area
that usually was a garden.

“Nice desert. It even has cactuses.” Applejack noted and looked around
at the fields of sand.

“The plural term is ‘Cacti’.” Twilight corrected. “One cactus, Several Cacti.”

“Yeah yeah, never mind that now. We need to get inside.”

They all entered the desert garden, walking across the sand.
Suddenly, the cacti started shaking violently.

“What the... HEY! The cactus is shooting at me!” Applejack shouted
as she jumped sideways to dodge a small barrage of thorns from one
of the cacti, that had indeed shot them at her.

“They’re like some kind of defense turrets!” Twilight gasped,
as she too dodged a barrage from another cactus.

“Enough of this! Both of you, close to me, Now!” Luna said,
as her horn shone up in its usual blue glow.

When they were all gathered close, she raised a shield bubble around them.

“Twilight. Do you know any offensive spells you can use against the cacti
while I maintain this shield?”

“I... hmm.. Yes, I know a fire spell I normally use to ignite the stove
and fireplace. I can try that on the cacti!”

Her horn shone in the same blue as Lunas, and underneath each of the cacti
a small burst of fire ‘exploded’, igniting them from below. All of them
burned rapidly and within minutes only smoking piles of ash remained.
Luna lowered the shield, but did so slowly just in case something else
would come now when the cacti were gone. Nothing did.

“Phew. That was intense! Nice fires, Twi! And Luna.. Thanks for the shield.
I’m glad I’m with you two. I could’nt have handled those things myself.”
Applejack said as she carefully looked around for more traps.

“No problem. I’m just glad it worked.” Twilight smiled.

“It seems those cacti were the only defense outside.
But the fact there even was a defense makes me think there really
is something, or someone inside who can lead us to the tower.”

“Yeah, that seems most likely.” Applejack said.
She walked up to the castle doors. They were closed and bolted from
the inside. Luna approached her and looked at the doors.

“No getting in here, I suppose. But maybe we can fly in through a
window or enter via the servants entrance on the backside...”

“No princess, Allow me. This time it’s my turn to be useful!”
Applejack gave Luna a confident smile, and then turned toward the
wooden doors. “You see, the wood in these doors... Is beginning to
rot, so some spots are softer...”

Applejack turned around and positioned herself with her flank near the
doors. “Now then, Time to open this - Apple Family Style!”

* * *

Inside the castle, two sentient skeletons were standing by the large
wooden door - They had just locked it from their side.
When they had seen the trio of ponies approaching the castle,
they had immediately realized they had to keep them outside.
If they found the Statue, it would help them find the tower,
and if that happened, the Nightmare would surely punish them,
very severely.

Once they were done, they decided to stay put were they stood,
to make sure the door and locks held tight.

They started talking in rasping voices.

“Hey.” The first one said.

“Yeah?” The second replied.

“You ever wonder why were here?”

“It's one of lifes' great mysteries, isn't it? Why ARE we here?I mean...
Are we the product of some cosmic coincidence,
or is there really a Lauren Faust, watching everything?
Y'know, with a plan for us and stuff.
...I don't know, man... But it keeps me up at night.”

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds,
before the first one spoke again.

“What...? I meant why we are HERE, in this castle!”

“Ohh, I....Yeah.”

“What was all that stuff about Faust?”

“uuh.. huh? Nothing..”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No.” The second one shrugged his shoulders, barely noticeable.

“Sure?”

“Yeah.”

All of a sudden, the door was destroyed from some outside force.
Splinters and rubble flew everywhere. The entire door fell apart
into a pile of broken wood and metal hinges.

When the dust cloud settled, an orange Earth pony with blonde mane stood
on top of what used to be a door.

“BUCK YEAH! Come on girls, Door’s open!” it said.

The two skeleton guards stood silently, shocked, staring at the
pony atop the remains of the door.

“What the...” the first one gasped.

* * *

Applejack aimed her hoofs. She had found what seemed to be the weakest spot in the door.
With a loud crash she kicked a large hole, and the entire
door fell apart, becoming only a pile of broken wood, and a few metal
hinges the door had hung on. She climbed over the rubble, stopping for
a moment when she stood on top of it all.

“BUCK YEAH!” She exclaimed loudly. “Come on girls, Door’s open.”

Luna climbed up beside her, looking at the wood beneath her hoofs.
“The door is gone.”

“Same thing.” Applejack smiled.

“Not quite the same, no..” Twilight said as she too made her way across
the woodpile.

“Close enough.” Applejack chuckled. “Got us in, didn’t I?”

“Fine.” Twilight sighed with a smile.

“Girls. We have company.” Luna said as she noticed the two skeleton
guards standing in the room, staring at them with their jaws dropped.

“Friends, enemies or neutrals?” Applejack asked.

“Good question. I have no idea.” Luna said.
She turned toward the skeletons. “Who dost thou serve, Undying ones?”

The guards looked at her puzzled, then at each other.

“She’s speaking in that old-fashioned way.” The first one said.
He was standing to the left, from Lunas point of view.

“She must be the one called Luna then. Master said she’s like,
thousands of years old.” The second said.

Luna facehoofed and started speaking in a slightly more modern way.
“Okay. So you are not from the old days. Who is the ‘Master’ you speak of?”

“Give us one reason why we should tell you.” The first one said.

“Because if you do not, I will personally destroy you both.” Luna said
in a calm tone.

“Think you can scare us? We’re already dead. Look at us. We’re
SKELETONS for Faust’s Sake!”

“Look at what happened to your door.” Luna said and waved a hoof
toward the rubble behind them. “That was done by a single kick
from this pony here.” She now waved at Applejack, who started grinning
eagerly toward the two skeletons.

Luna remained perfectly calm.

“If you do not answer our questions, I will let her kick you the same way
she kicked that door. Now, will you talk?”

The two guards looked at each other.

“Who’s more scary?” Applejack said. “Me or your master?”

The skeletons didn’t respond. Instead, they turned around and dashed
away surprisingly fast across the hallway towards another large wooden
door at the other end of the room. Lunas horn glowed, and a barrier
appeared in front of them.

“....Ooooh shiiiiit...” they both said.

Applejack made a dash too, straight towards them.
She grinned. Just as she came up to them, she leaped and turned in the air,
landing with her face away from them. She used the momentum to make
the landing mainly on her front hoofs, and used the landing as a spring
effect to increase power as she reared up and kicked one of the skeletons
in its chest bone. The skeleton broke into pieces and flew across the floor.

Applejack paused and turned around to face the second one.

“Now... You WILL tell us what we want to know... Or else I’ll grind
you to powder. Do I make myself clear?”

The second skeleton shivered and stared at Applejack.

“Fine! I surrender! Just don’t destroy me! I’ll answer any questions!”

Applejack looked over her shoulder. “Luna, Twi. You guys handle
the questions, You two understand this world more. You’ll know what to ask.
I’ll just stand here, So he won’t get any stupid ideas, like running or lying..”

Luna and Twilight walked up to the Skeleton. “Very well.” Luna said.
“Let us begin then. First of all, tell me who ‘Master’ is.
I suspect I know already, but I want to make sure.”

The skeleton hesitated. Applejack grunted and stretched her back legs.
“Answer.” She mumbled. “Or else...”

“Fine...” The skeleton said, still hesitant. “My master is Nightmare Moon.”

Author's Note

Fun Facts:

The chapter title is borrowed from a game, also named Castle Crashers.

The entire conversation between the skeleton guards before AJ kicks in the door
is directly lifted from the first episode of the Halo-based webseries "Red VS. Blue".
All I did was change two minor details. The guards speak of Lauren Faust,
but in RvB, they speak of God. Also, the guards say "Here, in this Castle",
while in RvB the line is "Here, in this canyon".
Other than that, it's a word-by-word rip-off / tribute / easter egg / call it whatever you like.

In case you have not seen / have seen but do not remember it, Here's a link to the episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N8IpxO6rKs

Chapter 15 - Riddles

The Skeleton guard looked at Luna. He had no eyes or a face, so it was
hard to determine his emotions - if he had any, but he seemed to.
They could only guess, based on his tone and body language when he moved
and talked.

“So you say Nightmare Moon is your master.” Luna said, still very calm.
“If that is true, you must know where it is hiding.”

“...She.” the skeleton said.

“Hm?”

“Nightmare. She prefers being referred to as female, even though
she’s technically a gender-less entity.”

“That explains why it usually targets mares when it seeks hosts.”

“Can I go now?”

“You can try.” Luna waved toward Applejack.

“...Never mind.”

“Now, tell us where Nightmare Moon is. Or rather, tell us where her
Tower is. That’s where we want to go.”

“If I do she’ll destroy me.”

“If you don’t, WE will destroy you. If you do, WE will destroy HER.”

“Yeah right. No offense, but I don’t really believe that. I’m sure you’re
all strong and such, but Nightmare has magic. Strong magic.”

“So do we. Two of us anyway.”

“Cute. Your ‘real world’ spells don’t work in here.”

“Oh, I am very aware of that. I am the Dream Princess.”

“Sure you are. And I’m Santa Claus.”

“What’s a ‘santa claus’?” Applejack whispered to Twilight.

Twilight shrugged. “Beats me, I have never heard of something called that before.
Must be something somepony made up in their dreams.”

Luna closed her eyes and sighed lightly.

“Now listen very carefully. First of all, I just raised a shield, did I not?
That proves we DO have magic that works here.
Secondly - Right now, I am still in a - relatively - good mood.”

She paused for a moment.

“But,” She continued, “If you do not start answering my questions,
I am going to start loosing patience soon. If I do, my mood will sink.
In other words, I will be irritated, maybe even agitated.
And I can assure you, You do not wish to experience that.”

The skeleton tried to not look scared, but he was shaking.

“I... I.... Okay, fine! I can’t say where the tower is, but I can give you a lead.
A... sort of hint, to get you a step further. That’s all I can do!
I swear Nightmare didn’t tell me where the tower actually is, but there is
someone here who does! The Owl statue!”

“Owl statue? Ring any bells, Luna?” Twilight asked.

“It does. In the room behind the thrones, there used to be a bust of
an old owl. That is the only owl statue I can think of. We should check
that first.”

“That’s him, yeah! But, good luck getting anything from that old creep.”

“What do you mean?” Luna asked.

“You’ll see. Will you let me go now? I need to hide somewhere where
not even Nightmare can find me, or else I will be destroyed.
You’ll be destroyed too anyway.”

“Applejack.” Luna said.

“Yeah?”

“Would you kindly dispose of our prisoner? There is nothing more we can
get from him anyway. He is no longer useful, and letting him free is
too risky, he might send more Nightlings or other dangers here.
Or send word to Nightmare Moon. If possible I would prefer
not to face her, at least not sooner than necessary.”

“As you wish.” Applejack said and approached the skeleton.
With a well-placed kick to its chest, it shattered and became a pile of
bones on the floor.

They made their way through the hall and into the throne room.
It looked like the one in Canterlot. As they walked toward the thrones,
the room started filling with the grey fog they had seen earlier,
in the village.

“Shift.” Luna said, extending her wings. “Grab my wings again.
We would not want to get separated.”

Twilight and Applejack grabbed hold of the wings,
and they waited in silence while the fog thickened, remained a few
moments, and thinned out again. When it disappeared, the ponies
looked around to see if there was any big changes.

“The walls look like stone again.” Applejack noted.
“And the floor and ceiling too. The windows look like glass though.
Castle seems to be back to normal.”

“Indeed. This is the castle as I remember it.” Luna said.
“We should keep going.”

They walked into the next room, where they found a large owl statue.

* * *

Luna looked at the statue. A feeling of nostalgia washed over her.

“I remember this statue. But as I recall, it used to be smaller
in the real world. This Dreamscape version is bigger.” She said.

“The skeleton said it could help us. Do you think its alive?”
Twilight asked while looking at the statue.

As if to answer her, the statues head turned around and faced her.

“...Okay, It is.” She said.

Luna cleared her throat and spoke.

“I am Luna, Princess of the Moon, and of this castle.
I have questions, and I was told you have answers.”

The owl statue turned back toward Luna. This time it opened its
beak and a raspy, very old-sounding voice spoke.

“I may. What is the question?” it said, speaking slowly.

Luna responded.

“We are looking for the Tower in which Nightmare has hidden
this realms Source Stone. Can you tell us where it is?”

“I can, but on one condition.”

“What is the condition?”

“Answer my riddles. If you can answer correctly, I will give you your
directions - But if you fail, I will fly away, And you will never find me.”

Luna glanced at Twilight and Applejack.

Twilight nodded. “We have to take the chance, there’s no other way.
Either we succeed, or he flies away... And a few riddles shouldn’t be too
hard for us. I’m booksmart, Applejack is ‘street smart’, and YOU have
thousands of years’ wisdom.”

“I agree, let’s do this. Just one thing.” Applejack said and turned to the
statue. “Is there any time limit and such involved?
What exactly are the rules?”

Twilight smiled. “Good thinking.”

The owl statue spread his wings wide and tilted his head upwards for a
second, and then tilted the head back down, wings still spread.

“The rules are as follows...
First Rule - You get THREE riddles.
Second Rule - You must get at least TWO answers correct.
Third Rule - There is NO time limit. After each riddle, take your time,
talk, be sure of your answer.”

The own paused for a moment.

“Shall we begin?” it asked.

“Yeah, we’re ready. Give us the first riddle.” Twilight said.

“Then... Listen carefully.” The owl started.

It was silent for a few seconds, then spoke slowly and clearly.

“I have three letters. Cut one off and I become stronger. Cut two off and I become ten. What am I?”

The three ponies looked at each other.

“Any ideas?” Applejack asked.

“Three letters.... Cutting one makes it stronger... cutting TWO makes it Ten... hmm...” Twilight mumbled...

Luna too looked very deep in thoughts.

Applejack soon rubbed her head. “I can’t do this... I don’t have the slightest idea! Twilight, Luna? What about you guys?”

She looked over and saw Twilight scribbling something on the floor,
in the dust. suddenly she jumped up. “I GOT IT!” She said.

“Girls! Circle, now!”

Applejack and Luna joined her in a small circle, and she told them
her thoughts. “Well I’ll say...” Applejack said. “That has to be it!”

Luna agreed and approached the Owl statue.

“We have the answer for the riddle.”

“I have three letters. Cut one off and I become stronger. Cut two off and I become ten. What am I?” The statue repeated.

“A Fox.” Luna said. “Cut away the ‘F’, and it becomes OX. A stronger,
larger animal. Cut away the ‘O’ as well leaves the ‘X’,
which in Old Equestrian numerals is the number ten.”

“Correct.” The statue said.

“Second Riddle...” It continued.

“Which one has the correct grammar?
The yolk of an egg IS white.
The yolk of an egg ARE white.”

Again the three ponies started thinking. After just a few seconds,
Applejack called circle. “I got this one.” She said.
She told Luna the answer.

“We have the answer. It is neither. It is a trick question, because the yolk
is the YELLOW part of an egg, not the white.”

“Correct. Final Riddle.”

The three ponies listened carefully.

The owl spoke again.

“Sometimes, I am a Sphere.
Sometimes, I am a banana.
Sometimes, I am not visible at all.
What am I?”

Luna facehoofed. “I already know the answer, girls.”

She spoke. “The Moon.”

The owl nodded. “Correct.”

“How did you figure that out?” Applejack asked Luna.

“The sphere is a full moon. And long ago ponies used to say a crescent moon
looked like a banana. And, during the day the moon can not be seen.”

“Now give us the answer. Where is the tower?” Luna asked the owl.

The owl spoke.

“In the basement, you will find a door. If you can enter, you will
find the tower you seek, Deeper in the realm.”

“Deeper in the realm?” Twilight asked.

“Like floors in a building. We’re on the first floor. The tower
is on a different floor. However, if things are like I suspect...
The second floor is very different from this place.
Far less real. And also, more dangerous. This place is mainly
the good and the weird dreams.. I suspect the door leads
to the Dark dreams.. the nightmares and terrors, the dark fantasies,
the twisted minds...”

Chapter 16 - Dark Side

The trio made their way downstairs and after some times’ searching,
Applejack found a large stone door.

“Guys? You think this is it? It’s the only one made of stone, so my guess
is that this is the one we’re looking for.”

Luna walked up to it and examined it a bit.

“Indeed this is the one. I feel a strong magic radiating from it.”

Twilight walked closer.

“I can feel it too.. this must be it. But how do we get it open? There is no
handle or anything, at least none I can see...”

Suddenly the door started vibrating, and changing shape. A face emerged,
made of stone. Its mouth moved, and a deep voice echoed through the
almost empty hallway.

“Who goes there?” The door asked. “I can not see.. My eyes are stone.”

“We are Princess Luna, ruler of the Moon and the Dreams!” Luna exclaimed
in a very regal tone and the royal plural form.

“And I... I am The Gate.”

“Open thyself and allow passage for us and our two followers, Gate!”
Luna said, still using the regal tone and plural.
“We demand it! We have business to attend on thy other side!”

“I can not.” The Gate said. “I can only open to those with Dream Magic.
One of you does not possess it. That one can not follow.
Without the magic, it would die when it passes through me.”

Applejack looked at the two others.
“Well, what now then? I don’t have the magic, and I’m no unicorn,
so you can’t zap over some of it to me like you did with Twi.”

Luna looed as if she was deep in thought, sometimes glancing at the door
and sometimes at Applejack, and at Twilight. At one point she glanced
upwards, as if looking at her own horn.

“I have an idea, but it is risky. I have not attempted this variation of this
spell before, and to my knowledge nopony has ever done so.
However, it is a spell you are familiar with.”

“What do you mean...?” Applejack asked in a mixture of worry and
curiosity. Luna looked at them both.

“A couple of years ago, Twilight used a spell on you and the other elements
to turn you into breezies, temporarily. When she did, you inherited all
of the breezies strengths, weaknesses and other attributes.”

“...Yeah...?” Applejack said, starting to suspect where Luna was
going with this.

“My magic is tenfold that of Twilight. In theory, I should be able to
turn you into an Alicorn, for as long as you are in this realm.
When we leave the Dreamscape, all Dream magic will fade away.”

“You wanna turn me into an alicorn...” Applejack said with a dead-eyed gaze. “Are you bucking kidding me?!”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Applejack stood between Luna and Twilight,
looking at her new body parts - Specifically, she was looking at her wings,
with a somewhat skeptical expression. “Are you guys sure this is necessary?” She asked.

Luna nodded. “It is. However, as I said earlier, it is only for as long as we
stay in here, in Dreamscape. Also, you will most likely not be able to
actually cast any spells, you will basically just be storing the magic.

Twilight inspected Applejacks wings and horn.

“I know it feels strange to suddenly have new body parts.
Remember, I was a unicorn before, and now I’m an alicorn.”

“Yeah, but at least you had the horn already.” Applejack said.

“How do you feel?” Luna asked. “Any pain, nausea, headache, dizziness?”

Applejack stretched her whole body, including the new wings.

“No pain or such, but I feel strange.” Applejack said.
“Every ten or so heartbeats, I feel like something warm washes through my
whole body, starting in the heart and expanding outwards.”

“That is the magic energy. Unicorns and Alicorns do not feel it,
Since we are born with it. But since you normally do not have that
amount of magic, your body notices it. It is harmless. You just need
to get used to it.”

“Well alright then. I also feel I should probably not try flying.
I don’t feel confident I could control these wings.”

“Yeah, flying takes a lot of practice.. Just look at how it was for me.”
Twilight smiled. “Anyway, we should get going through Gate now.”

The trio of alicorns approached the faced stone door.

Luna spoke to it.

“Open thyself. We intend to walk through now. We all have magic,
so we should all be able, correct?”

The stone faced answered in the same deep, echoing voice as before.

“Yes... The magic is strong in each of you know... You may proceed,
but be warned... Beyond me lies the Nightscape. There, nightmares
and dark fantasies are real.”

The door slowly split in the middle, sliding open with a creaking noise.
As it opened, the face faded away as if it was never there.

In the opening, they could see nothing but pure darkness.

“Okay...” Applejack began. “We gotta go in there?”

Luna nodded. “I am afraid so, yes.”

“Let’s get going then!” Applejack said, sounding confident.
“We got a job to do!”

Luna and Twilight quickly gained confidence too, and they all lined
up side by side, facing the dark doorway.

Luna extended her wings.

“Just in case.” She said.

The other two nodded and grabbed the wings, like before.
They all walked through the doorway into the darkness.

Beneath their hooves they could feel and hear the stone floor
continuing as they walked, but they could not see anything.

Lunas horn started glowing like a lamp.

Now they could see the stone floor in front of them,
but no walls or a ceiling. Only complete blackness.

They kept walking for what felt like roughly ten minutes.
Then, they noticed the stone floor was gradually changing into grass.
Dark, cold, wet with dew drops, like a field early in the morning mist.

The darkness around them started gradually fading into trees and bushes.
They were standing in a forest clearing.

“Well... ‘Welcome’ to the Nightscape...” Luna said.

* * *

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t like this.. I feel a dark aura all over this place...”

Luna looked up toward the sky, noticing that it was a dark tone of
orange. She saw a black moon and black clouds drifting slowly across
the orange sky. It reminded her of sunsets, but more sinister.

“I feel it too. This entire world is made up of dark energies.
Like I said earlier, this is the true nightmarish side,
where all nightmares, dark fantasies and fears become real.
Here, I advise you to be even more careful than before.
In the regular Dreamscape, there are still dangers, but nothing too bad.
In here on the other hoof, many of the creatures - and inanimate objects too -
will actively try to hurt you. This is where all monsters and such are.”

“I don’t often feel afraid, but this place scares me...” Applejack said
as she looked around, seeing the trees move.

A lonely raven sat on a branch, observing the trio. It sat quietly, just looking.
They didn’t notice it, and after a minute it flew away.
As it left the branch, it broke off and fell to the ground with a small thud.
Applejacks ears peaked. “Did you guys hear that?”

Luna turned around. “Nothing to be worried about, Applejack.
Just the forest animals moving around.”

They started walking along a path they found, which seemed to lead
out of the forest. After a few minutes they reached the edge.

But just as they were about to exit, they heard noises in the bushes
behind them. They all turned around and saw four Nightlings
standing there. One of them spoke, with a weak hissing voice,
almost whispering, and pronouncing every “s” really stretched out.

“Ssstop right there, Poniesssesss! You won’t go any further than thisss!”

“Oh yeah? Wanna bet on that?” Applejack said in a confident tone.
Twilight and Luna took a defensive stance.

“We will ssstop you! Thisss will be your end!” another one of the
Nightlings said.

Luna raised a shield around them, and Twilight cast her fire spell
once again, like they had done with the Cacti turrets earlier.
However, the Nightlings seemed immune to fire.

“Flamesss doesssn’t hurt, Poniessess!” One of them said, almost shouting.

The one most to the right made a quick leap, tackling the shield.
He did not make it through, but the energy was interrupted for a split second,
and the shield became unstable for almost a whole second.

“Damn!” Luna exclaimed. “Their bodies somehow disrupt the flow
of magic in the shield!”

“Your bubble won’t hold againssst usss!” the Nightling shouted,
and tackled it again. This time, a second Nightling charged at the
same time, hitting the shield during the unstable moment.
That was enough to completely break it. The bubble of magic disrupted
completely, and the two remaining Nightlings both tackled Luna,
holding her down. Twilight tried to tackle one of the other two,
but it dodged her attack.

Applejack took a deep breath.

“Luna... Thanks for Alicornifying me! I have an idea!
Magic don’t seem to work on these guys, so we go Earth Style!”

With those words, Applejack charged head-on at full speed,
ramming one of the Nightlings with her horn, piercing its red,
translucent skin. The grey gases inside it leaked out and dispersed
in the air, the empty skin falling to the ground and dissolving.

Twilight had sen what happened. A Nightling came running toward her.
Applejack saw it and shouted, “Twi, Watch out, on your left!”

Twilight reacted instantly, using her wings to leap up into the air.
The Nightling missed its charge, and Twilight made a diving attack,
piercing the Nightlings neck with her horn.

The two that held Luna did not seem to notice, being too busy with
holding Luna, who kept struggling.

Twilight and Applejack looked at each other for a second,
and then at the two Nightlings.

“On three?” Applejack asked.

“On three.” Twilight responded.

“One...” Applejack said.

“Two...” Twilight continued.

“THREE!” They both yelled and charged together, making a twin attack.
Both of them tackled and pierced one each of the Nightlings,
who fell to the ground while leaking gas. Luna stood up and shrugged,
shaking off some dirt from her fur.

“Thanks.” She said. “Now we know how to destroy these things.”

“Yeah” Applejack said. “Sometimes magic doesn’t work.
In those cases, you can always try doing things the Earth pony way.”

“Being a Alicorn, it is easy to forget or underestimate the power
of non-magic ways. However, you have proven just how effective
such techniques can be. So now we know we can use our horns
as manual weapons against Nightlings.”

“I think Lunas will be even more effective though.” Applejack said.

“Why? the magic doesn’t matter, that was the entire point of this.”
Twilight asked in a skeptical but curious tone.

“Her horn is pointier than ours.” Applejack said with a small smirk.

Twilight facehoofed. Luna smiled and giggled.

“Anyway, When I leaped up I saw a tower far away in the distance.
I think that might be the one we’re looking for.” Twilight said.

“Most likely, yes. We should go there right away.” Luna said.

Twilight pointed them in the direction she had seen the tower, and they
started walking.

Author's Note

Fun Fact:

"The Gate" in this chapter is based on the "Demon Doors" from the FABLE game series.

Chapter 17 - Brute

After walking for a while, They all saw the tower. It was still far away,
but at least now it was within eyesight.

“What you think, girls? ‘nother half hour at this pace?” Applejack said,
looking toward it.

“Yeah, something like that.” Twilight agreed.

“Well, if we fly we can make it in half that time.” Luna pointed out.

“I told you, I’m not trying these wings. And you’re not wasting
your magic on helping me. We’ll continue on hoof.” Applejack said.

“Very well.” Luna said. “I understand your reluctance to use the wings,
so we will continue like this.”

“Hold up...” Twilight said, looking around. “Looks like the fog is returning.
I guess this dark part of the Dreamscape changes as well.”

“Ah yes, now that you mention it, I too see the fog approaching.
It seems slower here though...” Luna said, looking to her left.

She extended her wings and the others grabbed them, just like before.
The fog slowly approached, and eventually covered the area completely.
Like Luna had suspected, it was slower on this side, and lingered for almost
five minutes this time before slowly fading away.

“Now let’s see.. What’s different?” Applejack said and started examining
the area around them. “The grass is gone. Only sand and rocks now.
Mostly red and orange.”

Twilight looked at the ground. “Probably rich in copper and iron.”

“Indeed. Also, beware of whatever those are.” Luna said and pointed at
some black vines sticking up from the ground.

“They look kinda like the roots that appeared in Ponyville a couple
of years ago, those things Discord planted in the past, remember?”
Applejack said. “but a bit thinner though, more like actual vines instead
of thick roots. And the thorns look sharper on these ones.”

“Yeah, and.. oh..” Twilight said, looking at some of the vines.

“What?” Applejack asked.

“Some of these move.” Twilight said and pointed at a few of the vines,
crawling in snakelike motions.

“Lovely... We better keep our distance.” Applejack said.

They all took a few steps away and proceeded on their path, safely avoiding
the black vines. Twilight looked in the direction of the tower.

“Oh, thats just fantastic...” She said in a clearly sarcastic and slightly
annoyed tone. “Look...”

Luna and Applejack looked, seeing that the tower, though remaining in the
same location, had risen up as the ground beneath it had grown into a
mountain instead of a flat surface. There was a narrow road leading up to
the castle, and on each side there was a waterfall - or rather, a lavafall.
Around the mountain, a lake of molten lava had formed, and pillars of fire shot up from it every few minutes.

“That... that’s just fantastic, like you said...” Applejack sighed.
“But at least there’s a road, so I still won’t need flying.”

“WATCH OUT!” Luna shouted, and pushed Applejack sideways with a
blast of magic. The next second the ground burst where Applejack had stood,
and a pillar of steam shot out from the ground, several meters tall.

Applejack quickly got back on her hoofs. “Thanks, Luna..”

“No problem. And from now on, we’ll need to keep our eyes on the ground.
Apparently, there are pockets of steam underneath the ground.”

“So basically it’s a minefield.” Applejack said.

“Well, I suppose you could call it that, yes.” Luna replied. “Watch your
steps, and if you see or feel even the smallest crack or tremble,
quickly move away. Steam like this is hot and pressurized enough to cause
severe burn damage. I do not recommend it.”

They carefully navigated the ‘minefield’, taking each step careful and slow.

After a few minutes they made it to a large area covered entirely in sand.

“Okay, we’re safe from those steam holes now.” Luna said,
using a spell to scan the ground around them.
“From here on it’s just sand and stone, no more steam pockets.”

They kept walking, but as the came closer to the mountain,
another Nightling approached. It was running toward them fast,
with it’s head tilted down like a charging bull. As it came closer,
they noticed it was bigger than the ones they’d encountered earlier.

“The normal Nightlings look like regular ponies, but that one reminds me
more of that bodybuilder...Bulk Biceps, was it?” Twilight said.

When the huge Nightling came charging, they all jumped aside,
dodging it.

“Yeah, Bulk’s his name. And yeah, this one really does look more like him.”
Applejack said.

The Nightling kept running after he passed them, but made a U-turn
and came back charging again, this time aiming more directly at Luna.

Luna leaped up and hovered a few hooflenghts above ground,
as the changeling ran past beneath her. Once again in kept running for
a little bit, turned back, and this time aimed at Twilight.
She too leaped up and hovered.

The large Nightling made another turn, and charged toward Applejack.

“Applejack, you have to use your wings!” Twilight shouted to her.

“Nope!” Applejack responded. “I have another idea!”

“Something dangerous, reckless and crazy, I assume?” Twilight said.

“That’s the only way I do things!” Applejack shouted, with a confident smirk
on her face. When the large Nightling came back charging she leaped up,
but not as high as Luna and Twilight. She only used the wings as a ‘catapult’
to make the leap softer and more fluid, but instead of hovering she timed
the leap in such way that she landed on top of the charging Nightling.

She grabbed it around the neck with her hoofs and held on.

The Nightling barely noticed her at first, but when he did he stopped
dead in his tracks, and instead of running he started trying to throw her
off from his back.

“YEEHAAAAAW! COME ON, you can do worse than this, can’t you?!”
Applejack shouted from atop the Nightlings back. “Just like the rodeo!”
She added.

Twilight and Luna watched for a few moments, stunned.

“We need to help her!” Twilight said when she regained focus.

“Agreed, but how?” Luna asked.

“Applejack! Can you hold on a few more moments while we use a
summoning spell?” Twilight asked.

“No problem, just make it something strong. This guy’s not gonna fall
from just a couple of stabs, we’ll need more! He’s a tough one!”

“I know, just hold on!” Twilight said, and her horn started glowing.
“Luna! I’m gonna summon a chain to hold him! You summon
something to kill it with!”

Luna nodded and her horn started glowing too. Meanwhile, Applejack kept
holding on to the Nightlings neck, getting tossed around but never letting go.
She almost lost her grip a couple of times, but only almost.

“It’s getting difficult to hold this guy, hurry up with your magic!”
Applejack shouted.

“Almost done, just a few more seconds!” Twilight shouted back.

A few seconds later just as promised, several large glowing chains
appeared from nowhere, moving like snakes and surrounding the large
Nightling. Applejack let go and leaped away from it as the chains tightened
around it, holding it in place. It struggled and tried to break free,
but it was pointless. Nonetheless, it kept trying.

Meanwhile, Luna had summoned a whole row of ‘Ballistae’ - medieval weapons,
Large mounted crossbows that fires whole spears.

“This should be enough...” She panted with some exhaustion.

“Yeah, I’d say that’s enough.” Twilight said.

The seven ballistae fired all at once, piercing the Nightling with spears.
From the holes, its gaseous inside started leaking.
It still struggled, but as the gas gradually dispersed, its movements
calmed as well, and soon it was completely still. When all the gas had leaked
out, the translucent skin faded away like a ghost, and the glowing chains
fell to the ground. Both the chains and the ballistas faded away too a few
moments later.

“How about a few minutes rest before we move on?” Twilight suggested.

Applejack sat down on the red ground. “Sounds good to me, my whole
body feels exhausted.. Been a while since I had a rodeo like that.”
She smirked a bit. “I know it was serious, and dangerous, but I gotta admit...
it actually was a bit fun too.”

“What was that thing? Some kind of larger Nightling?”

“Indeed.. Me and the Nightmare sometimes considered making
several different types of the nightlings...our two main ideas were ‘Regulars’ and ‘Brutes’.
This one must have been one of those brutes.”

“Anyway, we defeated it.” Applejack said with a victorious smile.

“We did indeed, but I’m afraid this might not have been the only one.
And I also do not know which other types Nightmare Moon
has created, if any.”

The trio rested for a few more minutes, and then decided to get going.
They were close now. Very close.

Author's Note

Fun Fact:
A Ballista (or Ballistae in plural form) was an actual medieval weapon,
used by greeks and romans. They are often seen in movies and games,
and there were several variations of them.

For more information, Here's a Wikipedia link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballista#Greek_weapon
You can also try searching Ballista on youtube.

Chapter 18 - The Tower

As the three ponies approached the base of the mountain,
the felt the heat from the lava lakes. Twilight took a closer look at the
lava falls flowing from the mountain.

“I thought this looked wrong somehow.. Now I see what it was.”
She said, half to herself and half to the others.

“What do you mean?” Luna inquired in a curious tone.

“Look at those lava falls and tell me what you see.”

“I see lava flowing... upwards, FROM the lakes... Okay, I see your point.”
Luna allowed herself to smile. “Reversed lava falls. Quite the sight,
wouldn’t you both agree?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, feels like something Discord would do.”

Applejack looked at the falls too. “Yeah, definitely has a ‘Discord’-y feel
to it. Could it be something from one of his dreams? Does Discord even
have dreams?”

“He does, but I stay out of his head. His mind is... Unique, to say the least.”

As they talked, they kept walking up the road toward the tower.
At its base it was wide, but it gradually narrowed the higher up they reached.

When they finally came to the top, it was just barely wide enough for two
of them to stand side by side. Luna and Twilight moved up in front,
with Applejack close behind. They started examining the door.

“Need me to buck it open like the last one?” Applejack asked.

“Maybe...” Twilight said, deep in thought. “But this one looks sturdier...
I think this one we’ll need magic to open instead of brute force.”

“I think I see a solution.” Luna said, pointing upwards.

Applejack and Twilight both looked up, seeing a small window above
the door.

“If one of us were to move in through that window, the door could maybe
be opened from the inside.” Luna said.

“That window is rather small.. No offense Luna, but your body wouldn’t
fit through that. Mine, however, would just barely fit.” Twilight said.

“That decides that, then. Unless somepony has a better idea?” Luna said.

“Nope, none here.” Applejack said. “Twi goes in and unlocks the door,
you and I enter once she’s got it opened.”

Twilight stretched her wings. “Very well, see you inside girls.”

She leaped up and flapped her wings, gripping the window opening with her
front hoofs. Once she had found her grip, she folded her wings back and
dragged herself up, into the window. Just like she had suspected,
she just barely fitted through it, with only a few centimeters to spare around
her body as she crawled in. The wall was thick, so the window felt more like
a short tunnel. She reached the inside and carefully leaned inside,
looking around to see if there was any guards in the room.

Next to the door, she saw a lonely skeleton guard, like the ones they had
met in the castle earlier. She looked around and perked her ears to listen.
That skeleton seemed to be the only one in the room.

She decided to make a silent takedown. She made a careful, silent leap,
extending her wings and hovering slowly without a sound.
She slowly started descending toward the skeleton from above.
When she was just over a meter above it, She folded her wings and dropped
her entire body weight upon it, with her hoofs held together.

She could feel the skeleton shattering into pieces beneath her hoofs
as she made contact. When she landed on the ground, there was a pile
of bones and armor around her. “Well, that worked out well...” she thought
to herself, and then turned around to inspect the inside of the door.

She found a lever, seemingly connected to the doors, and decided to pull
it and hope for the best. As she did, the doors slowly started sliding apart.
However, the sliding was noisy. Rusty gears and pulleys in the opening
mechanisms made a loud sound. Luna and Applejack moved in as soon as
the doors had slid far enough apart for them to pass through.

“That noise will probably attract more guards...” Applejack said as they
moved in. “We better keep moving!”

“Agreed!” Luna and Twilight said at the same time, and they all
started running toward a small side door. Just as they closed it, they heard
hoofsteps in the room, lots of them. Twilight estimated it had to be at least
ten skeletons, based on the sounds. Maybe more.

“We’ll need to fight them.” Applejack said.

“Yes, I agree. We need to get to the main door, which they came from.
And the only way would be to fight our way through them to get there.”
Luna nodded.

“So, surprise attack? Just rush out and overwhelm them?” Applejack said,
a small grin forming on her face.

“Sounds as good as any other tactic.” Twilight said.

“Then, I’ll count to three - on three, we swing this door open and
just run in and start kicking their bony flanks!” Applejack said.

“Okay!” Twilight said, a confident grin forming on her face too.

“One... Two...” Applejack began.

The three ponies all took their battle stances.

“THREE!”

* * *

Ten minutes later, the battle was over. Piles of bones lined the walls
of the room. Applejack kicked a skull away from under her hoof.

“Well, that was easy..” Twilight said, looking around at the bones.

“Yes, I admit I might have underestimated the effectiveness of the
pulse wave spell...” Luna said with a sheepish smile. “I did not expect them
to all get thrown into the walls quite so.. violently.”

“What did you expect?” Applejack asked.

“Well, I intended to just push them away a bit, to give us some room
for movement and a few moments to prepare attacks... However I think
this was an acceptable outcome as well, do you not agree?”

“Sure, makes it simpler for us. Now we now the skeletons are sensitive
to being hurled 50 miles per hour into concrete walls.” Twilight joked.

Luna and Applejack giggled a bit at the joke, and then they all regrouped
in the middle of the room to plan their next move.

“Okay, so.. They came from over there.” Twilight pointed at a door.
“Can we assume that door leads to a staircase?”

“Well, I can check.” Applejack offered. Before Twilight could answer she
had already ran off to take a look.

She waved her hoof to the others. “Staircase.” She said.

Twilight and Luna walked over and entered the door just behind Applejack,
who was already a few steps up. “I assume we’re going up, right?”
She said and turned her head to the others.

Luna nodded. “Yes, most likely the crystal ball would need to be far up,
in order for its magic to spread wider across the realm.”

“Makes sense.” Twilight agreed. “So it would be on the top floor.”

“Which means a lot of walking.” Applejack said. “For all of us.
Not enough room in these narrow stairs for flying.”

“True. Based on the ceiling height in the room we were,
and the approximate height of the tower as viewed from outside
when we got here, I’d say... ten, maybe eleven floor, if all floors
have the same height.” Twilight said.

They kept on walking, mostly in silence, making their way further and
further up the tower. A few floors up, the stairs ended.

“Okay... There’s no way we’re on the top yet.” Twilight said.
“I would guess, maybe halfway.”

“Which means these stairs only went halfways, and there’s another set
somewhere that goes from here to the top. It’s a common design
in tall constructions to have separate staircases that each cover a few floors
each instead of having one that covers the entire height.
It’s a safety design, so that if a stair breaks or is blocked, only some floors
get affected, not all of them.” Applejack said.

Twilight looked at her with a surprised smile.
“That sounded unusually egghead-y to come from you, A.J.
I didn’t know you knew about architecture."

“Well, It’s from back in my school days. I took a class in basic architecture
to get some extra points I needed to pass. And, some of that stuff stuck in my
memory, even though I don’t normally need it in my daily work.”

“Well, in any case.. I’ve read the same things, and if my memory serves
me right, the stairs usually get located on opposite sides of the building
when using this design, which means we’ll probably find the second set
of stairs across this hall we’re standing in.” Twilight said and pointed
across the room.

”Yeah, that’s how I remember it too, so let’s get to the other side.”

“Hmm...” Luna mumbled.

“Something wrong?” Applejack asked.

“I have a bad feeling about this hallway...” Luna responded,
looking upwards. “For starters, I can barely see the ceiling at all,
there’s some kind of darkness covering it.”
She lowered her head, looking closer at the floor.
“Secondly, this floor..”

“What’s wrong with the floor?” Twilight asked, looking at it.

“Downstairs, the floor was plain stone. Here, it has patterns and
symbols carved in to each stone. I suspect only some of these are safe
to walk on, and the others might trigger traps or do direct damage.”

“Sounds like something from a Daring Do story.” Twilight said.

“True... Nonetheless, I think we need to examine the floor a bit
before we walk across, just in case.”

“Any suggestions?” Applejack asked.

“We could just use magic to ‘press’ the floortiles, and see if any of them
are pressure sensitive traps.” Twilight suggested.

“Luna can raise a shield in front of us, and you press the tiles.
That way we’re safe if some tiles are in fact traps and stuff starts shooting.
I’ve read Daring Do, I know about the rooms with arrows and spears
launching from the floor and walls, and the room with poison darts from all
directions, and the one where the floor splits open and there’s an acid pit
below, and so on, and so on.” Applejack said.

“I agree. I shall raise a shield, and Twilight can use a reversed levitation
spell to press each tile, one by one. Thus we can see which ones are safe.”

They all got in position, and Lunas horn glowed brightly.
In front of them, a translucent blue panel appeared, almost like a sheet of
faintly glowing blue glass. Standing behind the shield, Twilights horn
started glowing too. One by one, the floor panels glowed for a few seconds
each, and then the next started, in a basic grid pattern, moving from left to
right and from the nearest row and away from them. No panels reacted to
the pressure.

“Okay, so... not pressure sensitive. Maybe they can distinguish between
magic and actual hooves touching them?” Applejack suggested.
“Is that sort of thing possible if you use magic?”

“It is, yes.. advanced magic though, but then again.. Nightmare Moon
has quite advanced magic, so she would most likely be able to cast spells
like that.” Luna answered.

“Wait, I have a safer idea.. We could just fly across, and carry Applejack
with a levitation spell again.” Twilight said.

She flapped her wings and left the ground, slowly moving in over the tiles.
But as she did, she suddenly felt ten times heavier, and was forced to land.
She took ground on the tiles, but nothing more happened.

“Okay, scratch that, we can’t fly here. the tiles makes our bodies feel
several times more dense, it’s impossible to fly. We’ll have to walk if
we’re gonna get across.” Twilight said.

She walked back to the others, moving slowly until she got off the tiles,
at which point she moved normally again.

“Okay, so now what?” Applejack said.

“I think I have an idea...” Luna said, examining the room.

* * *

Applejack looked across the tiles, measuring the distance
with her trained eyes.

“I could probably toss you across, Twilight.” She joked.
“You know, like in that movie, ‘Lord of the Horse shoe’.”

“I already told you. When we’re on or above those tiles, gravity increases by
roughly tenfold.”

“Yeah well.. can’t we just walk across then? I mean, even with increased
weight, it’s just a matter of getting across.” Applejack asked.

“It would be very exhausting, and we might not even make it all the way
before it gets too tiresome and quite literally painful.” Twilight explained.

“Any chance you or Luna can do some kind of spell to lower our weights
to match the increase and make us feel normal-weighted?”
Applejack suggested

“That was actually similar to what I had in mind.” Luna said.

“So what’s the plan here?” Applejack continued.

“A bridge.” Luna replied shortly.

“Hmm.. I think I see what you’re thinking.” Twilight said with a
thoughtful tone.

“Care to explain?” Applejack asked with a small smirk. “You know I’m
not that good with magic stuff.”

Twilight pointed at the tiles. “See these symbols?”

“Yeah.” Applejack said, looking where Twilight pointed.

“They work a bit like vents. From them, magic energy flows upwards,
all the way to the ceiling. Up in the darkness there, I’m guessing there
are similar tiles to which the energy flows. Like those reverse lava falls
outside. And within the magic stream, gravity increases.”

“...And a bridge would...?”

“Effectively block the magic flow, making it so that on the bridge,
no gravity-magic would flow, and we could walk normally across
while the magic flows up on the sides around us. Like a reversed umbrella
repelling rain.”

“Oh, now I see.. That actually sounds like it would work!” Applejack said
with sudden clarity noticeable in her tone.

“That IS what you plan, right?” Twilight asked, turning to Luna.

“Indeed.” Luna said.

Her horn started shining, and a bridge appeared. It looked like
the shield she had raised earlier, but horizontal and longer.
It spanned across the entire tiled part of the floor.

“You two go across first. It is easier for me to keep the bridge stable that
way. While you to cross, I need to keep very focused and maintain the entire
length of the room. When I cross myself, I only need to keep it stable in
front of me, I can disperse the bridge behind me as I walk.”

“I’ll go first, and when I reach the other side I can help stabilize it from the
other side.” Twilight said.

“Good idea. That way I can preserve some of my magic. We will probably
need it when we reach the top. The crystal is most likely guarded.”

Twilight stepped up on the bridge, and started walking across.

“Hm.. some traces of the magic still sips through,
but not nearly the same amount.
I feel.. maybe a few kilos heavier, at most.”

“Understood.” Luna nodded.

“A few kilos more or less is nothing.” Applejack said with a confident smile.
“At least not enough to be a problem.”

Twilight made it across within a minute, after which she took position
and her horn started glowing. The blue magic in the bridge was infused
with a few strands of a dark purple glow. Applejack jumped up and quickly
jogged across. Luna walked at a moderate pace, making it across in a couple
of minutes. After they were all safely across, the bridge vanished.

They walked out through a door, and found the staircase, leading upwards.

After a few floors, the reached the end of the staircase.

“This must be the top floor.” Twilight said, entering a large hallway.

“Indeed. Look.” Luna said, pointing across the room. At the far end they
saw a black pillar rising up from the ground, looking like twisted metal.
And on top of that - or rather, a few centimeters above it, hovering in
the air - was a black crystal ball, like the one they had used to enter the
Dreamscape. They all ran up toward it, but just as Luna was about to grab it,
it became surrounded by a wall of fire. They heard a booming, female voice
echoing through the entire room.

“YOUR LITTLE ADVENTURE ENDS NOW! YOU HAVE COME
FAR ENOUGH, YOU WORTHLESS EXCUSES FOR PRINCESSES!
THAT CRYSTAL SPHERE BELONGS TO ME!”

They all turned toward the end of the room, where the voice seemed to
originate. It was covered in darkness. The darkness slowly moved back,
revealing a black alicorn, with dark blue flowing mane and darker blue
armor covering parts of her body.

Luna stood in front of Twilight and Applejack, spreading her wings to
protect them.

“So it was you, just like we suspected...” Luna said. “Nightmare Moon!”

Author's Note

Fun Facts:

The idea for the floor with symbols is a mixture of two references.
The symbols themselves are based on Indiana Jones, while the gravity part is
inspired by the old SNES game, "The Lost Vikings", in which there where areas
with decreased gravity. I simply did the opposite.

The "bridge" is based on the energy bridges in the HALO games and PORTAL 2,
with the added magic-blocking effect.

"Lord of the Horse Shoe" is obviously a "Lord of The Rings" ponyfication.

Chapter 20 - Epilogue

When the three ponies entered the library, Applebloom ran up to her sister.

“....Why are you an alicorn?”

Applejack gave a sheepish smile as an answer. “Luna, do you mind explaining?”

Luna smiled and nodded. “You see, Applebloom, I had to turn your sister
into an alicorn temporarily to fill her body with magic.
Without it, she would not have been able to cross a certain point in the dream world,
so we had no choice. However, she will return into an earth pony soon.”

“Speaking of which...” Applejack said, “You never actually explained HOW
that’s gonna happen. Will the wings and horn just fall off, or fade away, or “grow in?”

Luna looked thoughtful for a few moments. “Honestly I do not know. I have never
attempted a temporary alicornification before. We will have to wait and see.”

Meanwhile, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had also approached and was looking at
Applejacks temporary additional body parts.

Scootaloo noticed the damaged wing.

“What happened with the wing?” She asked. “looks burned.”

“Well, yeah.. When we were fighting Nightmare Moon, she used some fire spells,
among other things. My wing got hit by one. Luckily for me, the wing is
not one of my real body parts, so the damage should go away when the wing does.
Worst case scenario, I might get a burn scar where the wing used to be.”

Twilight sat down at the table. “Well.. Now what?”

Applejack sat down on the opposite side. “I vote for a few days rest,
Before everypony else comes home. I mean, Rarity, Pinkie, Flutter and Dashie
Were all gonna be back on the same day, right?”

“Rainbow and Flutter will be back in five days, Rarity and Pinkie Pie will be back
in six. They’re all leaving the same day though, but Rarity and Pinkie is taking
a night train. Rainbow and Fluttershy are taking a day train.”

“So, we’ll all be back together in six days... Which is also the same day as
the annual Apple Acres party - Whole town’s invited. Which in turn means,
I can’t stay too long, I gotta get back home and start preparing,
‘cause it’s gonna take days to get everything set up. And you’re helping too,
Applebloom.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo smiled. “We can help too, if you need a few extra hoofs!”

Applejack smiled. “We need all the hoofs we can get if we’re gonna have the orchard
ready for a party of that size. And when she gets back, Pinkie will take care of
final details, so everything is in good hoofs.”

“Well, I’m not much of a party planner, and I have a lot to do here in the library....
So I’ll stay here for a few days, but I will join you at the party.” Twilight said.

“Same here.” Spike added.

Twilight turned to Luna. “What about you? Will you join us at the party?”

“Alas, I can not. Not this year. Too much paperwork back in Canterlot,
I need to write a literal ton of reports and journals regarding everything we did,
in extreme detail. I will be stuck in my office for at least a week, probably more.
However, you say it is annual? I could plan ahead for the coming year and make
sure to have some free time for the next time, but not this time.” Luna smiled.

She started walking toward the door. “Now if you all excuse me, I need to return
to Canterlot and get started on all those papers. I also expect my dear sister would
like a detailed report from you two, so when you have the time and strength,
please write and send a letter to her, would you?”

“Of course, I was already planning to.” Twilight replied with a smile.
“Well, it was nice seeing you, and I hope we meet again soon.”

“Likewise. And, it was also nice meeting the rest of you. And fillies...”

Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle suddenly stood in full attention.

“Oh, and Spike too.” Luna added, upon which Spike also stood with the three fillies.

“Yes?” They all asked.

“As a way of thanking you all, You can each expect some very pleasant dreams
for the next few days. I will personally make sure of that.”

“Yaaay!” They all cheered, and thanked Luna before she left the house.

Shortly after, Applejack and all the Crusaders left the house too, while Twilight
sat down to write her letter.

“Dear Princess Celestia.
I am sure you will also hear Lunas side of this story, but we all agreed - her included
that it might be good if you also have mine and Applejacks perspective on the events
relating to the orbs. First of all, Lunas suspicions were correct, and they were in fact
the dream stones she created while influenced by Nightmare Moon, before her
banishment...”

The letter went on for a few full pages, and reminded spike of a short-novel collection
when it was finally done. At Twilights request, he took it in his claw and gave it a
breath of the green magic fire, which instead of destroying the papers, transported them
to Celestias room in Canterlot.

* * *

A few days passed during which not much happened. In the library, Twilight and Spike
cataloged some old books and scrolls. The crusaders did as promised and helped
with the party preparations at the farm, which also occupied Applejacks full attention.

On the day of the party, Twilight and Spike got ready to go there.
They did not bother dressing up, since it was a farm party, not a fancy gala.
Nopony else would be dressed up either, except probably Rarity, but since she dressed
up for nearly ANY occasion, it didn’t really count.

They arrived to find Applebloom sitting at the gates of the Acres, with a long scroll
of parchment and a quill.

“Guest list.” She explained when Twilight asked.
“Basically, anypony who goes in has to sign their name, so we know afterwards
how many guests we had. So, sign here please.” She said and pointed at the scroll,
right below the rows of names.

Spike signed his name and waited for Twilight, who did the same.

“Hey Bloom. Before we enter, I have a question.” Spike said.

“Sure!” Applebloom replied.

“Where’s all the food and drinks? I’m already getting a bit hungry, we had a
very light lunch so we could eat more here...”

“Foodtable’s lined up along the barn walls, Cider is inside where it’s shadowed
to keep it cold. Ya’ll better hurry though, Dash’s already there...” She laughed a bit.

Twilight and Spike entered the farm and went to the barn, where they found
Rarity looking thoughtfully at the various baked goods - pies, cakes, cookies, fritters,
and all sorts of other stuff.

“Hi Rarity.” Twilight began. “Trouble choosing?” She nodded toward the table.

“Oh, Hi Twilight, Hi Spike.” She smiled. “Ah, yes, indeed.. everything looks quite
delicious, and I’m not sure what I feel like. I can’t quite decide if I want the apple
and pecan pie, or if I want a piece of the apple cream cake.”

“I’ll have some of that cake!” Spike said with a grin, and started cutting a piece.

“hmm... Oh, I shall have the same! Spike, would you mind...?” Rarity gave him
the slightly flirty puppy eyes.

“Of course!” Spike said, almost blushing a little as he cut another piece of the cake
and gave to her.

“Keep cutting, I want a piece too!” A voice behind them said. As they turned around, they saw Rainbow Dash with a tray of ciders for each of them, as well as three more.
Behind her came Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and from another part of the farm
they saw Fluttershy moving toward them.

They all joined up and sat down at a table, each with a mug of cider and a piece
of the cake.

“So, how was your week guys?” Pinkie Pie asked openly.

“Well, I had quite an adventure. Or rather, me and Applejack.. and princess Luna.”
Twilight began.

“We had an adventure too!” Pinkie interrupted. “We solved a crime!”

“What?” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Me and Flutters too! well, sort of... more like a sabotage,
but still!”

“Well, We fought Nightmare Moon inside the Dream world.” Applejack said.

Spike interrupted everyone. “Okay, okay! Let’s all stop talking in each others mouth.
Let’s take turns telling our stories! Who wants to go first?”

“ME!” Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all yelled at the same time.

Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy all laughed. Shortly after, the others joined in too,
and after they stopped laughing they all told their stories.

// The End... of THIS part.

Author's Note

And thus, we reach the end of Twilights and Applejacks story...

The second part (currently being written) is Rarity and Pinkie Pies story.

Chapter 1 - A Discovery At Sweet Apple Acres

Author's Note

Before we begin, I would like to take a moment and fill you in on a coule of details you need to know.

This story takes place during season 4, but before the finale. Which means, Twilight is an alicorn,
and the library still stands. The crystal castle in Ponyville does not exist.

Secondly - "10 Days, 3 Adventures" is planned as a trilogy, and can be read in any order.
This one is simply the first one written, but storywise they all take place at the same time.

All three will contain a whole bunch of easter eggs and references to games, movies and such.
See if you can spot them all, and tell / ask me in the comments if you think you found one.

Now, I hope you'll enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter 1 - A Discovery At Sweet Apple Acres

Applejack walked down the stairs from her room, and entered the kitchen.
At the table, she found Granny Smith and Big Mac, eating breakfast.

“Mornin’”, she said, yawning loudly.
“Where’s Applebloom? Still sleeping, or already gone?”

Big Mac answered.
“She said something about the clubhouse, and ran off.”

“Well, I suppose she’s meeting Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle there.
They probably have some plans to get their cutiemarks, as usual.” Applejack said,
while sitting down and preparing a cup of tea and some toast.

Big Mac just smiled. “eeyup.”

Granny was mumbling to herself, her face buried deep in the daily newspaper.

“Any news worth sharin’, Granny?” Applejack asked.

“Nuttin’ special, jus’ the usual boring politics and some wannabe bank robber
in Manehattan. Local news is just the usual too, nothin’ much ever happens here.”

“Well, a lot does happen here, Granny. You just manage to not be there
When stuff happens since you’re mostly hangin’ around here at home.”

“Shut yer piehole, missy. If I say nuttin’ happens, nuttin’ happens!”

“Fine, have it your way.” Applejack said, snickering.
“Anyway, I better get goin’, I have a lot of apples to buck today.”

And with that, Applejack finished her breakfast and got up from the table, and went outside. The sun was already high in the sky, shining brightly. A few small clouds could
Be seen further away, but above the farm the skies weer clear.

Applejack looked around for a bit, trying to decide where to start.
The farm was quite large after all. She decided that the best way would probably
Be to do it “the Twilight way”, and do it systematically. Imagine a grid system,
And take the trees one area at a time. She imagined in her head, a dividing line
Between some of the trees, and then got her baskets from the barn.

“Here goes! Applebuckin’ Time!”

She trotted away along one of her imagined lines, planning to work from the far end
and buck her way toward the farm itself. That way, her trips would be shorter each time
she needed to empty the baskets. She reached the far end, and set up her baskets
underneath the trees. She started bucking, and watched as the apples fell, almost all
of the straight in to the baskets, with only a couple missing. And even those that did,
only did so with a small margin, or even just bouncing off the baskets edge.

She kept bucking until all baskets were filled above the brim, and then started carrying
them back one by one to the barn, where she emptied them in large containers.

After that was done, she set the baskets up under the next row of trees, and repeated the process over and over, row by row. A few hours went by, and she decided to take a break.
Lunch would probably be ready any minute now anyway, so she started walking back toward the house, leaving the baskets half-filled under the trees. She would continue
where she left off after the lunch break.

“I’m back”, she said, as she walked in to the house again.
From the kitchen she could hear a sizzling sound, and smell the aroma of pancakes
being made. She walked in to the kitchen to see Granny standing at the stove.

“Lunch is almost ready, Applejack. Be a dear and take the strawberry jam out from
the fridge while I fry the last pancakes, would you? and get something to drink too.
Should be some lemonade left from yesterday.” Granny said when she noticed Applejack.

“Sure thing!” Applejack answered, and went over to the fridge. She brought up te requested items and put them on the table, and sat down.

Shortly after, Big Mac came in with Applebloom riding on his head.

Applejack looked over at Applebloom.

“Remember, you promised to take care of Winona after lunch.”

“I know.” Applebloom responded, smiling. “I’ll just take her with me when I go back to
the clubhouse, me and Sweetie and Scoot can play with her. Scoot can race her,
me and Sweetie Belle can play fetch with her, we can play tug-of-war with a piece of
rope or a stick...”

“Yeah yeah, I know. You have lots of ideas. Just remember to take her with you when you leave, both me and Big Mac have too much to do today to look after her, and Granny
is too old to play with her.”

They all sat down, just as Granny finished the last pancake and put them on the table.
They ate and talked, laughing and enjoying the food, like they usually did.

* * *

After lunch, Applejack returned to her applebucking.
Big Mac went into town to get supplies to repair the old gazebo... again.
That old gazebo seemed to need a repair every other year or so.
He had been seriously considering just tearing the whole thing down
and rebuild from the ground up instead of just doing patchwork and touch-ups
all the time. However, not this year. But maybe the next.
“eeeyup, that would be for the best.” He thought to himself as he walked.

Meanwhile, Applebloom had as promised taken Winona with her to the clubhouse.
The dog was always very energetic, and always excited to play.
Scootaloo was also a very energetic filly, most of the time.
Thus, as soon as Winona saw scoot and caught her scent, She ran over and jumped
into Scootaloos now opened hoofs.

“Winona!” Scoot said as she caught the jumping dog. In response Winona barked once
and started licking Scootaloos face. “Wanna play, Winona?” Scootaloo asked.
Winona barked some more and her tail started wiggling rapidly.
“Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo said in a raised voice.
From the club house above, they could hear some noise and then Sweetie Belles head
stuck out the window.

“Yeah?” She asked.

“Can you throw down a ball or something, Applebloom brought Winona!”

“Oh! Yes, I’ll find a ball, just wait a second!” she said with an excited voice,
as her head disappeared back in to the clubhouse. A few moments later a yellow ball
came flying out the window and bounced next to Winona.

She immediately jumped and caught the ball in her jaws before it could
bounce a second time. It just barely fit in her mouth, but that did not stop her.
Scoot grabbed it while Winona still held it between her teeth and started pulling.
Winonas grip tightened around the rubber ball and she let out a playful growling sound.
Scoot took a tighter grip as well and pulled harder.
The tug-of-war had begun. Pony versus dog. Scootaloo and Winona was very
evenly matched in strength and grip, and they were both very stubborn
once they got started on something, so this would last for a while.

Applebloom looked at them for a few moments and then said to scootaloo,
“I’m going inside the clubhouse to see what Sweetie Belle is doing.”

“Okay, I’ll stay here with Winona. Can’t let her win!” Scootaloo said.

Applebloom went up the stairs and inside the clubhouse, where she found
Sweetie Belle with her face burried in a couple of scrolls.

“What’cha reading?” She asked.

“Oh, this? It’s a coupe of basic spells, Twilight said these are the two simplest
to learn so they’re perfect for a beginner unicorn like me.”

“Which spells?”

“Levitation and the one that makes the horn shine like a lamp.”

“And how is it going?”

“So far, I can lift small stuff like papers, Winonas ball, pens...
And I can ALMOST get the horn shining. I can get the shine to start,
but I can only make it remain lit for a couple of seconds...
I need more practice.”

“Well, at least you’re getting somewhere!” Applebloom said with a large smile.

From outside they could still hear Winona and Scootaloo battling for the rubber ball.

Half an hour passed.

Sweetie Belle was still studying, Applebloom was reading comics and Scootaloo
was lying on the grass outside with Winona lying beside her, both of them looking at
the clouds above. Scootaloo stood up, and raised her voice so Sweetie Belle and Applebloom could hear her.
“Hey guys. Whadda ya say we take Winona with us and go for a walk?
I’m starting to feel restless, and I think Winona does too.”

“I can’t.” Sweetie Belle said. “I need to keep practicing my spells.”

Applebloom added, “I’ll come with you.
That way, Sweetie Belle can get some more peace and quiet
so she can study easier, and then she can meet up with us
somewhere later.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Scootaloo said.

Applebloom came down and started walking.
Scootaloo and Winona walked up alongside her.
They increased their speed, and soon they all ran between the trees.
On the way they passed near Applejack.

“Where are ya’ll going?” She asked as the fillies and the dog ran past her.

Without stopping, Applebloom answered with just two words.

“Just running!”

Winona barked once.

Applejack kept bucking the apples.

* * *

After a little while, Winona suddenly stopped and started sniffing around.
She looked as if she was searching for something.

“What are you sniffing for, Winona? Did you pick up the scent of some animal
or something?” Scootaloo asked. Winona barked once in response and kept sniffing.
She dug her nose into a nearby shrubbery but did not seem to find what she was looking
for in it, so she kept on sniffing around it. Then she moved on a few decimeters
and started sniffing a small patch of tiny black flowers.

“I’ve never seen flowers like those before...” Applebloom said with a curious tone.
“Neither have I.” Scootaloo said.

Winona started digging where the flowers were. She kept digging for a little while,
and then suddenly stopped. She backed away a few steps and sat down.
She barked once, pointed a paw at the newly made hole and looked proud of her
achievement. Applebloom walked closer and looked into the small hole.

“There’s something down there. It looks like a black glass ball.”

“That’s weird.” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah...”

“I wonder what it is? Maybe it’s a magical thingy, or maybe it’s
just a fancy paper weight?”

“Well... We could bring it home and ask Applejack if she knows anything,
or if she can help us find out. And if it’s magical, maybe Twilight or Rarity can
help us figure out what it does, since they’re unicorns.”

“Good idea!”

Scootaloo started digging to widen the hole, so they could get the black glass
ball out from there. It was roughly the size of a tennis ball and very shiny,
but not see-through at all. They finally got it out from the hole.

“It’s heavier than it looks.” Scootaloo said as she lifted it.
“I don’t think it’s hollow, it’s too heavy to be. Maybe it’s not glass either,
but some kind of black crystal.”

“Are there black crystals?” Applebloom asked.

“Honestly, I have no idea. I know there are all sorts of different ones,
so there might be.”

They started walking back toward the house, Applebloom carrying the black ball.
On the way back they met Sweetie Belle.

“Hi guys.” She said. “What’s that?”

Scootaloo answered.

“We’re not sure. Some kind of black glass or crystal ball, Winona dug it up.
She found it in the ground. We’re taking it to Applejack.”

Chapter 19 - Versus Nightmare Moon (The Final Battle)

The trio of ponies all stood in battle stance, ready for anything to happen.
Nightmare Moon took a step closer, but stopped.
She looked closer at Applejack, noticing her horn and wings.

“Are you kidding me? You actually DID turn the orange one into an
alicorn? That explains how she survived the energy flow here.”

Twilight looked slightly confused. “You speak as if you knew we did it..
How did you...”

“Oh, OBVIOUSLY I’ve kept you under surveillance ever since you entered
my dark realm. My guards DO keep me informed, and when you crossed
through that moronic enchanted gate, my raven noticed you and flew
here, telling me that three alicorns were on their way.”

“We should’ve known you would be spying on us...” Applejack said,
gritting her teeth.

“But WHY are you doing all this?” Twilight asked.

Nightmare Moon smirked.

“To gain control over Equestria again, of course. I was so close last time.
If it hadn’t been for that pesky white alicorn and those
Elements of Harmony, I would have ruled the lands.”

“But we defeated you when you returned from the moon, using the same
elements against you again!” Twilight said in a raised voice.

“Pfffth, that only released my connection with Luna. And she was my
physical body in the ‘real’ world. You did not defeat me, you simply
sent me back into the dream realm. Back here, to be specific.
But, before you did so, I re-activated the stones which I created a thousand
years ago, before the banishment. We never quite finished them back then.
But when I returned, I added the last few spells to activate the stones.
And then, I made my appearance in the castle, as foretold by that
prophecy. After that, I was going to use the stones to gain further power.
However, I only had time to do the initial activation before you came
with your friends and the Elements awoke again. My plan was to combine
the Elemental stones with MY stones, creating the Nightmare Elements.”

Applejack looked at Luna. “Is this true? Was THAT what you were
planning!?”

Luna sighed, with noticeable regret. “Technically, I was completely
overtaken by Nightmare Moon at the time, so it was completely her idea.
I, however, WAS still fully aware of everything, I was just NOT in control
of my own body anymore. It was as if we shared the body, and she was
the one in control. I was... a passenger in my own body. I could see and
hear everything, but I could do nothing. But yes, she DID plan to create
Nightmare elements, and use them to increase her powers by nearly a
hundred times.”

“I was... until you stopped me, because somehow the elements chose YOU
and your friends instead of ME when you broke them free.
If you had not come and interrupted me, I would have succeeded!”

Nightmare Moon almost growled when she spoke now,
her anger becoming more and more noticeable with each sentence.

“But why are the stones activating now then?” Twilight asked.

“Because she added spells to give them a delayed automatic activation
if anything went wrong. A sort of fail safe. If she was cast back to the
dream realm, the stones would activate themselves after a few years,
to give her enough power to reclaim control over somepony through
their dreams, just like she did with me when she took my body.”
Luna explained.

“Enough talking!” Nightmare growled. “Surrender, or face the
consequences!”

The trio re-assumed their battle stance. Luna and Twilight both charged
their horns, readying them for quicker spells, while Applejack focused
her mind, staring at Nightmare Moon, noticing every movement.
Nightmare Moon laughed, spreading her wings and flying up near
the ceiling. Her horn started glowing in its dark blue aura.

“You think YOU can defeat ME?! And especially HERE, in my own
realm?! What a joke!!”

“We’ll see about that! We’ve won against seemingly impossible odds
before, many times! Including defeating YOU!” Applejack shouted,
with her voice full of confidence. Her confidence also rubbed off on
Twilight and Luna. They had no doubt at all in their minds that they
would win in the end, even if it took a while.

Nightmare Moon charged her horn, blasting a large ball of pure energy
toward them. They all jumped in different directions, dodging the blast.
It made a black mark on the floor, as if the stones had been scorched by
intense flames.

The trio shouted a battle cry and charged, from three directions.

“FOR EQUESTRIAAAA!!!”

* * *

“Really?!” Nightmare almost shouted. “Such lame battlecry! If I wasn’t
so focused on destroying you, I might even have laughed!”

Another blast of energy shot out, grazing Twilights wingtip slightly as
she flew near the ceiling. It was enough to hurt, but not quite enough to lose
control, luckily.

“Ouch!”

“You okay?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, just a few burnt feathers, no real damage. But those blasts are really
hot, I think it’s some sort of fire spell... Although it doesn’t look like one...”

“It is a form of dark magic, similar to fire
spells. Simply put, it has the same energy as a fire spell, but without the
actual shape of flames.” Luna explained.

Nightmare kept blasting, seemingly half-randomly. Twilight suspected
it was a tactic to make herself less predictable, and thus harder to dodge.

Luckily for Twilight, Luna and Applejack, they were all fast and nimble,
able to dodge the attacks faster than Nightmare could shoot.

“This is easier than I thought it would be.” Twilight mumbled to herself.
“Almost too easy... as if...oh buck... GUYS!”

Luna and Applejack turned their attention to her for a brief second,
but still managed to keep dodging Nightmares attacks.

“This is just a trick! This is not her full power! She’s doing this to tire us!
When we’ve spent our energy, she’ll attack more seriously!”

“I suspected that.” Luna said. “I was going to inform you soon,
when I made sure of it. Nightmares energy... I can see it.
She is not even spending half of it on these blasts. She has some other
spell planned, and I suspect she’s saving her energy for that!”

Applejack made a quick jump, and then used her wings to push off the
ground to make a higher jump, getting her straight above Nightmare.
When she reached peak height, she used the wings again, but this time
she pushed herself down, with all her weight focused.
She stomped Nightmare straight on the head, but all it accomplished
was a small dent in Nightmares helmet. As soon as Applejack took ground,
Nightmare took her chance and blasted her left wing. Applejack cried out in
pain as the blast burned the wing.

“AAAAARGH!!!”

“APPLEJACK!” Twilight burst out, quickly running to her friend and raising
a shield around them. She then cast a freeze spell to extinguish the flames,
and to numb the pain, at least a bit.

“Are you okay?”

“A bit better now, thanks to you... and also, it was just the wing,
not one of my ACTUAL body parts.. That wing was gonna go away
after we leave this realm anyhow. But it DID hurt a lot..
So I would not want to get blasted again. Close quarter attacks seems
to risky, at least as long as she can use her...wait.. That’s IT!”

“What? You have a plan?” Twilight looked at Applejack.

“I think I might, if it’s possible to do what I have in mind.. But you or Luna
has to do it. LUNA. GET OVER HERE!”

Luna moved closer, and she too raised a small barrier between them and
Nightmare, who now took her chance to recharge some of her magic
and plan her own next attack.

“Listen carefully, and then tell me if it can be done...” Applejack started.
“Is there any, ANY, possible way that you could block her magic,
or break her horn off, or something like that? Her main - maybe ONLY -
strength is her magic. Without that, she can’t defeat all three of us.”

“Blocking magic is a very difficult technique. It CAN be done, but not under
these current circumstances, it takes too long and requires calmer conditions.
But that break-the-horn-idea would work. Without the horn, she’d still have
her magic, but she would be unable to focus it into spells.”

“Can one of you shield Twilight and keep the shield moving with her movements, so she can get one of those
fly-kicks in, but aimed at the horn this time?”

“Wait. Do not aim directly at the horn straight on. Look here.” Luna said,
and pointed at Applejacks temporary horn as a reference.
“Here.. just at the base, where the horn and the head meet. And from a angle,
so that you can ‘break it off’ with you hoof, instead of striking on the tip.
That way will be much more efficient, and easier to aim as well.”

“Well, we gotta move fast! Nightmare looks like she’s almost done
recharging, which means any second now there’s gonna be more of those
hot energy blasts!” Twilight said. “Get ready...”

Nightmare once again ignited her horn and started blasting, but this time
it was different. She was shooting different blasts now, several kinds.
Among them were the same dark balls of heat, but now there were
balls of other colours and sizes too. When they hit the ground or the walls,
their various effects showed - Ice, electricity, fire, explosions, binding vines.

Luna raised a small shield in front of Twilight, who leaped into the air.
Like Applejack, she made a diving kick toward Nightmare, But this time
she was ready - almost. She raised a shield herself, but she was a half second
too slow. Twilights kick DID hit, but her aim was thrown off by the
emerging shield. She hit the horn at too much angle, and instead of breaking
off entirely at the base, it became crooked and dented at the middle.
Nightmare screamed, in a mixture of surprise and pain.

“AAAGH! FOOLS! YOU THINK THAT WILL BE ENOUGH?!
ALL YOU HAVE DONE IS MAKE ME ANGRY! YOU WON’T
LIKE ME WHEN I’M ANGRY!”

Despite being crooked, her horn seemed to glow even stronger.
The ceiling filled with thunderclouds, and lightning bolts started
randomly striking all over the room, except where Nightmare stood.

“I have another idea!” Luna said. “I need you two to distract her for a full
minute.. can you do that?”

“Worth a try, whatever your idea is!” Applejack said while dodging the
lightning bolts.

“I agree!” Twilight said, raising a small shield above herself.

“What IS the plan though, out of curiosity?” Applejack asked.

“You’ll see.” Luna said in a somewhat cryptic voice.

In order to distract Nightmare, Twilight started shooting energy blasts
toward her, similar to the ones she herself had used moments ago.
Twilights blasts where smaller, but she was able to shoot relatively many
in each blast, making it like a magic shotgun.

Meanwhile, Applejack ran around and kept dodging Nightmares attack,
taunting her in an effort to draw Nightmares attention to herself.

“That the best you can do, Nighty? Hah! I’ve fought timberwolfs
tougher than you!”

“THOU ARROGANT, WORTHLESS LITTLE INSECT!!
THOU SHALT FEEL OUR WRATH!! THOU SHALT EXPERIENCE PAIN
SO INTENSE THOU SHALT WISH DEATH TO COME AS THY
SAVIOR! BUT NAY, WE SHAN’T LET THEE DIE, WE SHALL KEEP
THEE ALIVE AND CONTINUE THE TORTURE FOR YEARS!!”

“Okay Luna, whatever you’re gonna do, you better get going fast!
She’s reverted back to old speech, and Royal Canterlot Voice,
AND gruesome threats!” Twilight said in a raised voice.

“Almost done! When I tell you to, I need you both to jump AWAY from
Nightmare, and from me. Clear the path between us!”

Both ponies nodded. “Understood!” They both replied.

Lunas horn grew brighter than ever before. “NOOOW!!!”

Applejack and Twilight jumped as far away as they could to either side.
Behind Nightmare, some kind of vortex opened up, and from Lunas
horn a powerful blast pushed Nightmare into the vortex. The room filled
with a blinding light, forcing all ponies to close their eyes for a few whole
seconds before the light faded back to normal in the room.
When they opened their eyes and looked around, they did not see
Nightmare anymore, But Luna was lying on the floor.

“Luna?!” Twilight said in a worried tone.

“Are you alright?” Applejack added.

Luna coughed but remained lying on the floor.
She spoke in a tired, almost exhausted tone.

“I am fine... Those two spells... just drained... a lot of my energies...
both magical and.. non-magical..” She coughed again.
“I ust need... a few minutes... rest.. and then, we’ll... end this...”

“What about Nightmare?” Twilight asked.

“No worries... She is... gone now...” Luna replied.
“I will.. explain soon, when.. I regain.. some strength.”

* * *

Five minutes passed, after which Luna slowly stood up again.

“So, about Nightmare...” Twilight asked.

“The simplest way to explain what I did...
I banished her essence to Tartarus. And before you ask - Yes, I can do that.
It is, as you noticed, a very exhausting spell to cast though,
and used only in the worst cases. Such as Nightmare Moon.
Tartarus has a sort-of prison, where the most dangerous villains are banished.
At least, the immortal ones that cannot be dealt with in.. ‘other ways’.”

“So, she’s gone forever now?” Twilight asked.

“Hopefully. There HAS been escape attempts..But so far, no one has
succeeded in escaping the deepest prison, even if some admittedly
did come close. That is where I sent her. The deepest, most secure level.”

“So what now? We need to do something about that power stone, right?”
Applejack said and pointed toward the dark pillar with the stone still
hovering above it.

“Indeed, but this should be a simple deed now that Nightmare is gone.
Her powers was shielding it, but without her it should be relatively
simply to literally just break the stone.”

“You mean, I can just buck it to pieces?”

“It may take a few bucks, even for you, but yes. That should work.
Also, you need not break the stone itself, but rather that pillar-thing
beneath it. The stone is purely a source of energy, the pillar is what
harnesses the energy and spreads it through the realm.”

“Okay then.” Applejack said, and started bucking the pillar.
A few good strikes later, it cracked. Another few strikes, and it
broke off into small pieces. When it did, the whole realm started
quaking, mildly at first but increasing over time.

“The realm is crumbling without the energy to keep it stable.”
Luna explained. “It is time for us to leave. Hold my wings,
and hold on tight. We’re leaving the Dream Scape.
And just like when we entered, we might not land exactly where we plan..
And for safety reasons, I will put us outside the library rather than in it.”

“Sounds good to me, I’m just happy to get back home!” Applejack said.

“Me too..” Twilight agreed, as they both grabbed Lunas now extended
wings. Her horn glowed, and everything started spinning and turned a
blinding white. A few moments later, They were standing in a pond near the
library.

“Everypony okay?” Luna asked.

“I still have the wings... uh.. wing-and-burned-remains... and the horn.”
Applejack said. “You said once we go home, they’ll go away.”

“I said, once we go home they’ll begin to fade. It still might take an hour or
so until they’re actually gone.”

“Oh well... better late than never I suppose.”

Twilight took a few deep breaths. “Feels good to be back though...
Now, let’s get back to the Golden Oaks and tell the kids we’re back and
everything is fixed now.

“Yeah..” Applejack said.

They all started walking back, and after five minutes they entered the
Golden Oak Library.

“We’re back!” Twilight said as she opened the door.

Author's Note

Fun Fact:

There is a fairly obvious reference to The Hulk in this chapter.
If you're familiar with Hulk, you most likely noticed it.