6:00 AM
"And I trust you will be dealing with these fears on your own from now on then Lotus?" Luna asked as she finished removing the remnants of the nightmare.
"Oh yes Princess Luna, thank you for helping me. I'm not sure what I would've done if you hadn't dealt with those dreadful frogs," Lotus said.
"Yes well it's not everyday that one finds themselves in such strange situations, but that's why I'm here". She did this pretty much every night, find somepony with a crazy fear of something (which strangely has some relation to their name) and then tell them to stop being so afraid of it. It was like she never could just stop working and it annoyed her more than anything. Honestly though, who dreams about being a lotus getting eaten by frogs? And shouldn't some psychiatrist handle it instead of the princess?
Luna realized that Lotus wasn't speaking up and took that as her cue to leave, "So, shall I be off then? Or did you need something else?"
"Oh no, I think you've helped me enough thank you," Lotus bowed.
"Your very welcome, it is my pleasure to help in any way I can," She lied, at least a little, it was a pleasure and privilege but it was also a nuisance to do this sort of thing. Still, rather than dwell on this Luna removed herself from the dream and sat in the void of her own subconscious to try and think of something fun to do.
Then the sun moved.
"Ugh, well then I guess I get no free time, again," Luna quickly threw a nice, big, flaming meteor at a dream version of Celestia and just closed off the dream entirely.
Luna woke up and clambered out of bed, she never really did like the day, which she guessed was only natural being the princess of the exact opposite time. She went straight to her balcony after she had officially woken up, her sister usually liked to raise the sun on the balcony across from her own and this always seemed the best way to have a morning talk, "Good morning Celestia! How was thy sleep?"
Celestia placed her mug of coffee on the edge of the balcony and smiled at Luna, "It was lovely sister, your night was absolutely splendid as always,"
Luna's horn glowed as she began lowering the moon, they were both well aware that Celestia could do it herself but she was kind enough to share the opportunity. The moon had just cleared the the horizon when Celestia stopped raising the sun, this was unlike her as the sun had not yet reached the proper position for the start of day, "Something wrong Tia?" she asked.
Celestia raised her head and looked to Luna, "Oh yes, everything's fine sister, just felt something off. What was I doing again? Oh right!" Her horn glowed again and the sun soon reached it's proper position for the start of the day.
Luna flew over to her sister, "You said you felt something off? What was it,"
"Hmm? Oh it was nothing I think, maybe I just did a little too much sun lifting or something," Tia laughed as sweat visibly appeared in her fur, she quickly averted her eyes.
"Are you hot sister? Perhaps I should go fetch some water?"
"That would be lovely Luna, thank you,"
Luna opened her sister's door and shouted, "Thy Princess requires water!"
Less than a minute later a pony entered the room and levitated a glass of water to Celestia who seemed much sweatier than before. She drank the glass and quickly asked for another, and another, and another, and ano- "So sorry princess but the pitcher is empty, shall I go get more?" the servant asked, sweating quite a bit more than his alicorn counter-part. He seemed to be glancing every so often at Luna for some reason.
"No thank you, I think that'll be enough," Celestia waits for him to leave before collapsing on her bed.
"What is the matter sister, are you ill?" Luna asked. Celestia's fur was now visibly soaked and she was apparently looking away from Luna purposefully.
"No no, everything's fine I'm certain, just a little hot is all. Would you please leave me alone for awhile? I need to think things over for a bit," Celestia asked as she continued keeping her back to Luna.
"Uh, sure thing Tia, I'll be back to check on you in an hour or so then?" Luna walked over to the door and looked back to see Tia visibly staring at the one thing Luna was certainly hoping she wasn't. "Um, Tia?" She was fairly certain that her face was red below her midnight fur at this point.
Celestia just kept staring, her mouth visibly drooling.
"Tia your scaring me, why are you drooling like a madmare?" Luna asked as she turned her body to face her sister, this didn't seem to be helping at all and it was getting to the point where she now felt she should be leaving, "Well then, ummm, bye!" Luna magicked the door open and slipped through just as Tia launched off the bed towards her, the sun goddess was unfortunately stopped by a door slamming right in her muzzle.
"Ok time to go! Let me know when your better!" Luna galloped down the spiral staircase and flew out the the main castle doors, completely oblivious to the castle staff staring at her longingly. She slowed down to a trot as she reached a respectable distance from the castle and started observing her surroundings. Everypony was watching her.
Literally everypony within viewing distance of her was currently watching her like she was a feast during famine, drool was visibly coming off of some of them and all their eyes seemed focused on her. Some were even advancing on her out of the corner of her eye, "Alright everypony, nothing to see here! Just go back to your daily activities and I'll be on my way!" Nopony was listening, time was running out fast. Luna started backing up and soon found her back against one of the many buildings in the area, things were not looking up right no- wait a minute! Luna looked up and mentally facehoofed from not realizing it earlier.
Luna spread her wings and gave one powerful leap into the air, soon clearing the herd of ponies. She went right over the buildings and straight towards the Canterlot walls, hoping to get out of the city and just relax in the fields near Ponyville or something.
6:28 AM
~X~
After about half-an-hour of flying just to lose the all too persistent pegasus that followed her and another half-hour of trying to avoid detection from Cloudsdale, Luna finally found a nice, secluded tree among a field of grass and ~~crashed~~ landed roughly in the cool shade, certain she wasn't followed she looked around to get a feel of things. She could tell this wasn't the best place to stay for long periods of time, the Everfree wasn't as far as she would like and there is a well-trodden path just down the hill, but since she just flew for about an hour (which was quite a bit too much for an alicorn of her age) and was honestly too exhausted to even stand she just pushed the worries out of her mind and fell asleep right under the ancient branches.
7:46 AM
~X~
Luna found the strangest day-dreams during her sleep, every single pony she found had in some form or another fantasized about her. It was the most peculiar thing she had ever seen, even the married mares were fantasizing about her! As if seeing this wasn't bad enough she soon realized almost all of them were able to detect her, it was almost as if they could feel her presence and she literally could not escape them short of leaving their dream entirely. She was scared out of her wits in the one place she always felt safest and she was just about to hold up in her own dreams when... she felt something touch her flank.
Luna woke up with adrenaline pumping through her veins and shoved the bodily intruder off immediately, after a quick glance she had determined that he was a merchant that had apparently managed to sneak up on her during her dreamwalk. The sheer tenacity of this stallion was enough to make her want to vaporize him, but she knew that she couldn't hurt him on account of the now very obvious mind control being used. This entire day dripped with it and until she either found the one responsible or the spell wore off she would have to play pacifist. With her thoughts organized and the merchant stumbling towards her she took off once more and headed for the outskirts of Ponyville, there was only one being she knew who would do something like this and have the capacity to do it and she was determined to give him his dues.
11:54 AM
~X~
Fluttershy's cottage came into view as Luna grew ever nearer to Ponyville, she knew all to well that Discord was behind all this and she was determined to find him and give him what for. Naturally she knew that Discord wasn't a full time resident of Fluttershy's cottage but she knew that if Fluttershy hasn't completely given into the magical influence, than Luna might just be able to get the yellow pegasus to bring the draconequus to her.
Luna landed softly onto the bridge outside and quickly made her way to the door, after just one knock the door opened to reveal Fluttershy and Discord in the middle of tea.
"Oh hello Luna! We were actually just talking about you and your unfortunate situation," Disregarding Discord's smug welcome completely Luna started shouting at Discord, with the Royal Canterlot voice no less.
"End this enchantment NOW, I do not want the entirety of Equus trying to get at my flank because of your pranks!" Luna commanded.
"Why whatever do you mean Luna, I haven't done anything but drink tea with my friend here since the sun rose," Discord replied with a mock expression of being offended.
Fluttershy was now hiding under the couch she was sitting on when she replied meekly, "Y-yes, D-discord has been with me all d-day and hasn't done anything odd as f-far as I'm aware. R-right Discord?" Fluttershy looked Discord firmly in the eyes, he returned the look and then turned to Luna.
Discord put his tea down, "Look, I did not cast this enchantment, someone else did though I'm not entirely sure who. Even with the large influx of magic, it wasn't really something I bothered paying attention to it until I started feeling these, distasteful urges toward you."
Luna stared in disbelief, "So you actually are telling the truth than? Well can you at least explain to me how this spell works so I could try and defend myself against it?"
Discord sighed and then snapped his claw. In a flash Fluttershy, who looked just about ready to spring at Luna, was now bound to the floor in iron chains, "I can tell you about it, but I doubt you can defend yourself from it. The enchantment that has been cast over Equus is very powerful indeed, not just in scope but in power too. I'm sure you've noticed by now some creatures are a bit slower to act than others when your present?" Discord asked.
"I have, so your saying that some of them are able to resist these urges? If so then why are they jumping someone they know could punish them severely so fast? I figure I would dissuade such notions simply by my status,"
"As entitled as you sound right now, I'm just going to move along and then leave before me or Flutters here starts jumping you. You see, the spell isn't just toying with thoughts and emotions on such a surface level, it goes deep. So deep in fact that it becomes a very strong desire, as if ones very life depended on it. From what I can tell the only reason I'm not visibly drooling right now is the fact that I am of much stronger stuff magically than the common ponies out and about, I dare say I may even be stronger than Celestia judging by how quickly she caved,"
"Wait what?! You have been watching me?!"
"Well yes of course, I just never interfered, come on now, how could I not watch that sort of entertainment?" Luna's face reddened and she kept staring at Discord angrily but she stopped talking, "Anyways, that's beside the point, what you're looking at is a blanket spell all over Equus that has caused everyone to love specifically You and only you. That sort of spell takes knowledge, precision, power, resources, and some pretty extreme will; there's not that many ponies that can cast that sort of spell so finding your target won't be hard. But be warned, you should not go near anyone until your sure the spell has cleared or you absolutely have to am I clear?"
"Yes, point is well in-hoof,"
"Good, I need to go now, I'm getting a little too heated over this discussion and Flutters looks like she's about to bite off her own hooves. Please try to avoid romantic relations until you know their genuine and try to keep the movie at a teen rating if possible,"
And with that, Discord and Fluttershy disappeared. Along with them a illusion barrier disappeared in the next room which apparently contained several wild animals, knowing full well that the draconequus did this on purpose she threw open the door behind her and quickly closed it once she was through, cursing at the chaotic being as the animals clawed and smashed at the wood behind her. Now that she knew what was going on she needed to go somewhere secluded until she could find the pony responsible or simply try and wait this out, she began thinking of such a place as she took flight and soon decided on the perfect location...
1:03 PM
~X~
The flight wasn't terribly long, the Everfree forest was very close to Fluttershy's cottage so it only took a couple minutes to reach the ruins of the castle. The place didn't have great memories for her but Luna needed to be somewhere she knew nopony would go and this was it. She alighted on the front steps to the castle and trotted inside, her hooves clopping loudly against the old masonry as she went through the ancient halls to where her old chambers used to be.
As she entered her room she noticed just how out of shape it has become, dust stuck heavily to every surface and cobwebs were pretty much strewn everywhere. The whole place looked abandoned, which although very much expected, was just simply not a good place to rest. Luna's horn glowed as she began to organize any loose objects and remove any debris, she was sure to clean out her bed thoroughly and make sure no critters were around to interrupt her while she worked.
The entire endeavor took about thirty minutes before she finally felt somewhat satisfied with the place and she decided it was time to get to work. Luna flopped down onto her old bed, which creaked loudly but remained sturdy as she drifted off into sleep, determined to examine the minds of the most powerful beings in Equestria in order to find who was responsible for this dreadful day.
1:36 PM
~X~
Luna had been dreamwalking for several hours, exploring all known beings that would have the power to do this, she came up with absolutely nothing not even from the one mare she expected it to be. All she had found in her earlier dreamwalking was reflected here, literally all of the daydreams she entered revealed the same results and none of them seemed to have been unaffected by the spell. The nightly mare was a little bit crushed by this, if she couldn't find the source than she would have to wait for who knew how long until the spell broke. She figured it wouldn't last too long simply because of its power/duration ratio, but she also didn't know for sure just how much power would've been behind it.
Luna's entire day was ruined in the strangest way possible and she could literally do nothing, there was a silver lining though, however long the wait, she could without a doubt attest to it. She had experience in that field and was absolutely determined to not give into this sick humor, and besides, she did have the best source of entertainment available...
4:42 PM
~X~
She didn't really remember how much fun it was to just not worry about the world and play around in her dreams, she was playing target practice with meteors and those silly Discord lamps with servants doing her every whim. She even messed around with some dream versions of the other princess, she had Twilight obsessing over extremely short due dates, a miniature version of Celestia rolling around in a sun, and Cadence being a completely posh idiot complaining about the dirt in her mane. The entire scene was just absolutely glorious and it was several hours before she actually decided that she should probably check on thing in the real world.
Reluctantly she closed the dream off and started to wake up...
9:58 PM
~X~
Luna groaned as she stretched her stiff body and looked around to see if anything was different.
And it most certainly was...
"Oh you have got to be bucking kidding me..." Luna said with great frustration.
The entire room was filled with various residences from Ponyville and Canterlot, including the royals and the element bearers. Luna could only utter that one sentence before they pounced her and...
10:00 PM
They passed out.
There was a literal dogpile of ponies on her and she could barely breath from the weight of them all, the bed gave a loud groan before snapping and after some great confusion all the ponies hopped off of her. Never before had she heard so many apologies in such a sort amount of time and it took quite some time before the room calmed down enough for an entrance to be made.
A bright pink alicorn stepped into the room, laughing so hard that her sides hurt and looked as though she might pass out.
"Oh dear Luna you should've seen the look on your face, that was absolutely glorious!" Cadence said as she fell onto the ground, still laughing.
"Wait what? You orchestrated all of this?" Luna asked, gesturing to all the ponies that were slowly regaining there minds and emotions.
"Of course it was me! Who else would have used love magic like this?"
"Well a particular draconequus comes to mind..."
Cadence stood up, still laughing at a slightly less lethal rate, "Discord? I admit that the spell did borrow some inspiration from him but I'm fairly certain this was out of his league to do on his own. In any case you really were an absolute joy to mess around with Lu-"
Luna barreled into Cadence and stared her straight in the eyes, "Why!"
"Because it was funny, how could I resist?"
"How,"
"My spell, some unicorns to amplify the strength,"
"Why me?"
"Because you were really lonely, honestly it's quite depressing that you have even less social status than Twilight does!"
"Final question,"
Cadence smiled innocently, "Ask away,"
"Why shouldn't I break your teeth in and send all the unicorns responsible for this to the dungeon?"
Cadence went wide-eyed at that but was otherwise staying calm, "Well that's because I have a backup plan,"
"What plan?"
Cadence didn't answer with words, instead, her horn glowed as she canceled the spell. Signaling her mages to teleport her back to the crystal empire and erase all knowledge of the day from those directly affected by said spell.
"Well that was quite lovely, I suspect I might try something like that later. Much, much later," Cadence said as she collapsed onto her bed, the loyal unicorn magi leaving her in peace.
