Princess Luna's Dream

The convoy arrived back at Cloudsdale as the sun was setting over Equestria. The sun slowly lowered from the sky giving way to the stars and moon. Maybe the ponies could relax knowing they could now rest as night fell upon them. The ponies disembarked the carriage with the equipment and the thing they had discovered in the cave.

"Take the research equipment to my lab, and bring the new discovery too" Princess Twilight said as soon as she set  hoof on the cloud."Where is Princess Celestia and Luna" she asked a nearby guard.

"Her majesty Celestia has retreated to her quarters for the night while Luna is in the war room" he responded. Twilight set off in the direction of the war room as soon as the guard finished his sentence. She passed many ponies along the way who all bowed to show their respect. Twilight ignored this as she hated all the formality that came with being a princess. She prefered just being plain old Twilight. She eventually came to the war room and went inside. She found it empty except for Princess Luna who was reading over files and charts. She put down one of the files and looked up to see Twilight.

"You have returned" she said, keeping her always serious tone."Did you find out anything in the caves".

A wide smile grew on Twilight's face."Oh we found something, although we are not sure what it is". Princess Luna frowned at her."If you would follow me to my lab I shall show you what I mean. The two ponies left the war room in the direction of Twilight's lab. Upon reaching the lab they were met by two guards. They stood tall and fierce.

"What is the password" one guard boomed.

"Hay fries with a splash of apple cider" Twilight responded earning a strange look from Princess Luna.

"You may enter" the guard said and the two guards stepped out of the way. They entered the room and closed the doors behind them.

"What is that password" Luna asked Twilight suspiciously.

"It was Starswhirl the Bearded's favourite food" she said sheepishly. Princess Luna giggled at the other princess's answer.

"Now what's this thing that you don't know what it is" Princess Luna said, the seriousness returning to her voice.

"It's right over here under this sheet" Twilight said using her magic to lift up the sheet. The two ponies stared at the table before Luna spoke.

"Is it supposed to be invisible" she questioned.

Twilight looked around the room worriedly."No" she spoke softly."It was supposed to be dead". Luna's eyes widened and immeadiatly scanned the room in search of what would be only described as a thing.

Out of the corner of her eye Luna saw something move. She instantly tunred around and shot a spell in the direction of the movement. When the smoke cleared there was nothing there except the singed walls.

"Did you see it" Twilight asked.

"I thought I did but I guess it was nothing" she responded frowning at the singe marks on the wall.

"How could it have escaped" Twilight said still looking around the room.

"I'm not sure, but we will have to put the whole base on alert. Until we know what we are dealing with I am authorising a kill on sight order" Princess Luna said as she turned towards the door."Stay here incase we get lucky and manage to recapture the creature". After she spoke those words she left the lab leaving Twilight to think of how the creature escaped.

Princess Luna headed straight for her sister's chambers. On the way she warned every guard to be on the lookout for something that was not from Equestria. Most of the guards were puzzled by this order, but by the seriousness in her majesty's tone they knew to keep their guard up. She barged through the doors into her sister's chambers, the opening of the doors causing her sister to awake.

"Luna" Celestia said as she raised a hoof to wipe her eye."What troubles you to disturb my slumber".

"Twilight's specimen has escaped and we do not know where it has gone. According to Twilight it was supposed to be dead. I have put all guards on high alert. They have orders to kill the creature if nessessary".

Celestia arose from her bed after hearing these words."Where was the creature last spotted" she asked as she put her crown on.

"In Twilight's lab. We went there after she returned from Canterlot. When we arrived at the lab it was gone".

"Did the guards not spot the creature leaving".

"No. They reported that nothing left the lab since it was brought in" Luna said to her sister.

Celestia thought of where the creature could of went. Then a thought entered her mind."What if the creature is still in there".

Luna turned to look at her sister."Impossible, we would have seen it".

"Not if it could hide itself" Celestia said. The two sisters looked at each for a second before running off in the direction of Twilight's lab.

Twilight looked around the lab once more in search of the creature. After a few minutes she went back to her other research on the cave and the newly discovered information they had gotten from their recent trip to Canterlot. She looked at the charts showing the data of the Tree Of Harmony and the Crystal Empire. They seemed to have almost idenical power drainage which was impossible. She put the charts back on her desk before going over to one of the machines used to read the magic levels. She grabbed the latest report from it and headed back over to her desk to compare it with the other charts. She reached for the charts to find that they weren't there. Twilight looked at where she had left the charts and a puzzled look came across her face."I'm sure I left them there" she thought to herself."Maybe they fell on the floor". She looked under the desk to see if they were there but they weren't. She looked around the lab looking for the charts to find them perfectly placed on the table where the creature was. She looked at the charts and slowly moved towards the table. As she was doing this Princess Celesita and Princess Luna burst throught the door.

"Twilight" they shouted in unison. Celestia cast a spell which locked the door.

"Are you alright" Luna asked Twilight as she trotted over to her.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be" she asked.

"Because, Celestia and I have come to believe that the creature is still in here" Luna said .

"How can that be, we searched the whole lab".

"We did indeed but what if the creature could shield itself from our sight. I thougth I saw something move in the corner of my eye last time. That must be the fault in it's design" Luna said.

"Well we don't have time to see things in the corner of our eyes" Celestia said."I offer this last warning to you creature, come fourth or suffer the price" she shouted at the room. After getting no response Celestia cast a spell which engulfed the room in light which lasted for a few seconds. The three princesses looked around the room for the creature.

"What spell was that" Twiligth asked.

"That was a magical pulse spell which cancels out all spells in a certain range" Celestia responded.

The door opened and the two guards on watch burst in."Is everypony alright" they asked.

"We are fine" Luna said to the guards.

"How can we still not see it" Twilight asked.

It must of fled the room once the seal on the door was removed" Celestia said."Did you guards see anything" she asked.

"We saw a stallion run out of the room with smoke coming out of his mane. We immeadiatly ran in to see if everypony was alright".

"A shapeshifter" Luna said, suprise in her voice."I did not think they still existed".

"We do not know for sure it is a shapshifter Luna. But until we find out what it is I want this base locked down. Nopony leaves" Celestia said as she walked out the doors.

Twilight turned and looked at Princess Luna."You really think that was a shapeshifter".

"I do, althought how I'm not quite sure" Luna responded.

"I read about them in one of my books" Twilight said."Beings that could change their form at will. Nopony knows what their true form looks like. They lived thousands of years ago".

"You are well informed. Shapeshifters appeared in Equestria thousands of years ago but nopony knows for sure. Nopony knew they were there you see. They were only discovered when alicorns came to be. They were able to sense them and they removed them from Equestria" Luna said a sligth harshness in her voice.

"Why were they removed" Twilight asked.

"Twilight you need to understand, if this is a shapeshifter nopony in Equestria is safe. They lived thousands of years ago back when Equestria had foes we could not defeat. It could easily take the form of one of those creatures. We are defenceless against it".

"But it didn't take any of those forms. Why not" Twilight asked still confused by all of this.

"I wish I knew Twilight. Maybe Celestia can answer that. For know we need to tell everypony that we are in lockdown". She exited the lab, shortly followed by Twilight and the two guards.