From one world to another
Chapter 5

I woke up in a fright, sweat running down my face as I quickly scanned the room. Seeing that nopony was around, I took a moment to recollect my thoughts, remembering the nightmare that I had just woken up from. Now wishing that I didn’t remember my dream, I looked around the room. It looked like a simple hospital room. Besides the bed I was laying in, there was a door in front of me, as well as a few medical machines to my left, a window to my right, and a desk below it.

On the desk itself were a couple of cupcakes, along with my saddlebags, carbine harness, utility belt, and Stable-Tec suit. Surprised at this, I looked down at myself, not noticing the lack of apparel until now. All I had left on me was the pipbuck and a bunch of bandages that I didn’t remember being there. I tried to sit up to get a better look at my apparent injuries, only to fall back onto the bed as pain lanced through my chest and right foreleg.

‘Guess I’ll have to wait for the doctor to come back’.

So I waited…

...and waited…

...and waited…

…

‘OH FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA’S VIRGINITY COME IN ALREADY!’

20 minutes later

‘Finally!’ I thought as I heard the door start to open. Looking up from messing with my pipbuck, I saw a nurse walk in. She was an earth pony, with a white coat, blue eyes, pink mane, and a nurse’s cap on her head. Her cutie mark was a red medical cross with 4 small, pink hearts surrounding it.

When she saw that I was awake, she had a look of slight surprise and delight on her face before moving over to me. “Hello there, my name is nurse Redheart and I will be taking care of you for the duration of your stay. If you feel up to it, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

I contemplated whether or not to go ahead with it. On one hoof, I could gain their trust and avoid the possibility of explaining it later when they might catch on to any lies I might have to say. On the other hoof however, there are still some things I don’t have many excuses prepared to cover what I had. After a bit of thinking, I decided to go with it. After all, it’ll likely just be a few medical questions, so I’ll probably have a while after this to think up of excuses and small lies to cover anything that needs to be covered.

After saying yes to Redheart, she gave a soft smile before proceeding to ask me several questions. Most were things like ‘does this part hurt?’ or ‘what is your name?’. In the end, there were only a couple of questions that I was slightly unprepared for. One was what happened to the skin around my pipbuck. Deciding to go closer to the truth on this answer, I told her that I was an adventurer for the most part and had gotten that condition after having to go through a poisonous fog. I couldn’t tell what exactly her reaction was, but I saw a look of sympathy flash across her face momentarily before she continued.

The other was the scar on my neck. I was confused about it for a second before remembering that it was there, the part of the battle of Shattered Hoof where I got it surfacing for a moment before being put back down as I prevented myself to have one of those ‘war flashback’ moments. This one I stretched a bit, telling her that I had fought against an experienced bandit unicorn. I said I couldn’t remember whether or not it had come from the unicorn’s magic itself or a weapon they carried. Taking this for an acceptable answer, nurse Redheart wrote down the answer before excusing herself, saying that she needed to get a doctor to help assess the injuries I had.

Something had been nagging at me for a bit, so I stopped her before she left. “How long was I asleep for.”

Redheart gave a sad smile and said “About three days now, we were starting to expect that you were going to slip into a coma.” With that being said, she turned back around and left, leaving me shocked that I was so close to slipping into a coma. Shaking the shock off of myself, I looked around for something to do before remembering that there were a couple of pipbuck gaming crystals inside of my saddlebag. Giving a big smile, I levitated over the saddlebags and rummaged through them for a minute before finding the crystals and returning the saddlebags to where they previously were. Smiling, I looked at the three games I had before choosing ‘Balefire command’. I picked up the game and put it into my pipbuck, levitating the other two back to the saddlebags.

Thought: 'Let’s do this.' I thought as I started up the game.

Meanwhile in Canterlot

I frowned as I levitated the teacup back onto the table. I just sensed the end of the horrible nightmare in Ponyville. For a few days now I had noticed a terrible and reoccurring nightmare happening to one of my subjects. Sticking to my duty as the ‘guardian of dreams’, I went ahead to find this nightmare and stop it so the victim could be at ease. I stumbled onto a problem however. Normally I would be able to locate a nightmare in the dreamscape and get to that pony’s dreams. However, I couldn’t find it after hours of searching, leaving me frustrated.

This kind of situation has happened before a couple times in the past before I became Nightmare moon, but it was very uncommon. So accepting this as a challenge, I spent the next few days looking for the nightmare. Usually it would take weeks or even a month to locate it, but for some reason the victim had been sleeping straight through the last few days, letting the nightmare broadcast it’s evil aurora constantly. Just last night, I had managed to pinpoint who exactly was suffering from this. Some unicorn mare in Ponyville apparently.

I had tried to enter her dreams and see what was happening, but this pony had a thick mental barrier, something that I’ve only encountered in myself, my sister, some changelings, and a few ponies who have devoted much of their time to mental focus and defense. With these defenses in place, I didn’t want to risk harming the pony’s mind, so I had to leave. However, I did cast a spell to help wake her up, since I figured that it was the least I could do to help. That spell had only succeeded now, which concerned me even more. Usually it would only take an hour or so to wake the pony up, but this one had taken about five.

‘I hope it was just because of the mental barrier.’ I noted, levitating up a piece of toast and taking a bit out of it.

“Are you alright Luna?”

I turned around and saw my sister, Celestia, walk into the room, levitating a cup of tea and a small slice of cake with her, bringing a small smile to my face. She always had an obsession over the pastry, even before my banishment. Only habits die hard I guess.

“I’m alright, dear sister. I’m just a little concerned about a pony in Ponyville. From what we can tell, the poor mare is having the worst nightmare I’ve seen since I’ve returned.” I then proceed to tell Celestia about all that has happened about that nightmare, from me first discovering it to finally pinpointing the location. She looked particularly interested about the mental defenses she had.

As I finish up, I see a look in Celestia’s eyes. One that could be either very good or very bad, given the circumstances. “Sister, what has’t- I mean have you thought of this time?” Celestia then gives me a small smile, teleporting over a calendar. “Do you know what happens in a couple of days Luna?” After shaking my head, she points to October 31st, just a couple of days away. “Nightmare night will be soon, and I had been thinking about suggesting the idea of you visiting Ponyville during the festivities. Not only could it help you reintegrate yourself with the ponies and gain more trust, but you can meet this pony that you’ve been talking of.”

I was just about to argue against it, but paused as what she said fully hit me. There wasn’t much in the way of negatives except for maybe a little nervousness and such from the ponies when I first arrive. Damn you, Tia. “Very well, I suppose that would be a good idea. After all, two birds with one arrow is a good conviction.”

“Good. Well, I better head back to the throne room and prepare for day court, I’ll see you at dinner Luna.” Celestia started to walk out the door, before pausing and saying “Stone Luna, not arrow.” With that, she teleported out, leaving me to finish up breakfast before heading back to my quarters to sleep for the rest of the day.

Author's Note

Another chapter done! I probably won't release another chapter for a while do to me working on a oneshot story and having to deal with other work. At latest expect a new chapter by July 20 or sometime around then. Not only that, but I'm going to try to make the next chapter a bit longer than normal.

Also, before you talk about how Luna should be speaking with a more medival like speech, I added the little correct to her speech for a reason. I'm going with the assumption that she normally does okay with the speech just with Celestia or a close friend, but does more poorly when in front of a crowd or under pressure.

That's all for now.

Stay determined folks!