The princess tossed and turned as she fought in a nightmare she could not escape. She saw a darkness looming over her home, it’s form shifting and changing as it moved ever closer to her. She shot what magic she had at the formless shadow in a stream of light but it had no effect. She fled into the halls, moving at all speed as the darkness howled behind her. She felt the air behind her become cold as the darkness chased her and tried to slow her down, but she focused on movements in order to escape. Then it was around her hooves. The shadow clung on to her and began to slow her down. The princess shivers at the cold touch of the shadow along her legs as its tendrils moved up toward her body. In a panic the princess spread her wings and tried to take off into the air but felt a tug as the shadows clung on tight to her. She pulled hard, flapping her wings with all of her might but found herself being dragged back down against her will. Slowly the shadow pulled her into the cold darkness, moving up the legs to the body then up along the neck. She had time to let out a gasp of fear before it enveloped her entirely.
Princess Celestia woke in a cold sweat. She looked up at the clock above the door to her royal chambers. She had another three hours before she was needed, but that nightmare had all but erased her will to sleep. She sighed and decided to seek the wisdom of a pony with greater knowledge of dreams than herself. She pulled herself from her bed and adorned the vestments of her office: four golden horseshoes that pulled themselves above her fetlocks, a large breastplate with a simple jewel in the center, and the piece-de-resistance, her crown. She set it on her head and let out another, more exasperated sigh. She swore the crown grew heavier on her mind with every passing day, but that just might be her age showing. She chuckled at the thought of her age actually showing. She looked as young as the day she took the office if a bit taller and her mane more, as her sister once put it, whooshy. As she left her chambers she pondered whether Cadence or Twilight would develop the same type of mane in time. It would certainly be a sight to see her favorite student become as tall and regal as herself. This and other thoughts wormed into her mind as she walked the halls, nodding to the soldiers and nightly staff as she passed.
She finally came to the throne room, and found the doors cracked open. Celestia peaked inside and found her sister speaking with one of her advisers on some matter or other. She had really come into her own since her return. It had taken some time and a little training to help her unlearn some of the old ways of honor and respect and adjust her to a more modern perspective on such matters. Curiously though, she still insisted on using the royal We when speaking to the public and the staff. Only in private did she ever drop the charade and use more casual language. Celestia quietly walked into the throne room, trying her best not to disrupt her sister’s business as she approached. Luna noticed her elder sister just as she came within talking distance. She smiled at Celestia, surprised by her late night visit.
“Hello, sister. What brings you out of your room tonight? It’s rather early for you to be awake.”
Celestia smiled back. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been up this early, hasn’t it? If you’re not too busy, Luna, there’s something I would like discuss privately with you.”
Luna’s smile faltered for a moment before returning to normal. She waved a hoof to dismiss her aid, who bowed to both princesses before leaving the hall. She waved her other hoof and the honor guard that lined the hall bowed their heads and filed out, sealing the door behind them. The hall now held but two occupants, who both walked to the balcony that overlooked the garden.
After a tense moment, Luna spoke up. “If this about that nightmare, you’re not going to like what I found there.”
Celestia didn’t find it hard to contain her surprise. She knew her sister sometimes walked through her dreams, if she had any at all. The one’s that troubled her the most she would bring up at breakfast or dinner before they swapped duties. It used to upset her greatly, as it made her feel always under watch, but she found that it was more of a boon to have somepony who saw what you saw and could better sympathize .
“I had hoped you were watching. Please, tell me what that was.”
Luna’s face became like stone as she answered. “Sister, that was no dream. Something is trying to warn you of what is to come.”
Celestia gave Luna a surprised look. “How do you know?”
“Dreams are an amalgamation of memories and emotions.” Luna explained flatly. “When the two mix, dreams are created. This makes it easier for me to help out a pony who is in deep need of guidance. As I can read the emotion and surmise the problem by looking at the dream. You’re nightmare, however, didn’t come from you. It came from somewhere else.”
“So, whatever this is can enter dreams and manipulate them to send a message.”
Luna nodded. “It would appear so.”
Celestia shut her eyes for a moment and let the early morning breeze waft over her. “There’s something coming then, some darkness, and we need to prepare.”
Luna nodded in agreement. “I may know of a pony who could help, though you may not approve.”
Celestia gave her a curious look, then her eyes widened. “You’ve been looking for him, haven’t you?”
Luna nodded once more. “It took me a long time, but I know where he is for the moment.”
Celestia shook her head. “How do we even know if he’s still… well, you know...”
“Sane.” Luna said bluntly.
It was Celestia’s turn to nod. “Yes, sane.”
“I may have a way to find out.” Luna said quietly, before producing a small wooden box.
Celestia felt something emanating from the box, something strong, old and…
Celestia’s face dropped. “Luna, is that what I think it is?”
Luna nodded and opened the box. Sitting inside on a purple cushion was an intricate necklace. It was black and read with an alicorn shaped charm in the center. The raw power emanating from the artifact was enough to give Celestia chills. The Alicorn Amulet. She hadn’t seen it in decades, possibly a century by this point. She knew it had caused some trouble in Ponyville some time ago, but she had let her student handle it’s disposal. How Luna got a hold of it she was afraid to ask. She quickly shut the lid and shook her head slowly.
“Luna, what are you proposing?”
Luna’s face was passive, but her nervousness shone through her eyes like a light in the darkness. “We know where this belongs. If we send Princess Twilight and her friends to place it back in its home, we can be done with it altogether.”
“And how does that help prove his sanity?”
Luna shifted on her hooves. “Well, they’ll need a guide who can lead through the Outlands.”
Celestia rubbed her temple with her hoof and shut her eyes. That place was no place for her student and her friends, and she thought of a hundred alternatives that excluded their former colleague but none of them would help them decipher her nightmare like she knew he could. With a sigh she brought her hoof down and looked Luna straight in the eye.
“This is your plan, and thus your responsibility. So you will send that letter and you will come up with the explanation. I want no part of it.”
“But you won’t object to me putting my plan into action?” Luna asked.
“If you’re right, then we can stop whatever this is before it causes any damage.”
She turned away from her sister and looked out over the balcony. The early hours were calm and serene, the wind but a subtle breeze that danced along her cheek as she thought. She thought of all she had to gamble, all that she could lose, if this plan failed. She thought of her ponies, so innocent of the things that lay just over the hill and beyond the trees. She then turned to Luna, her face impassive as stone.
“If you are wrong, Luna, and he has fallen to that little treasure of his, then we cannot stand by and let him wander anymore. We will have to take action. You will have to take action. Do you understand?”
It was Luna’s turn to look over the balcony. Her face was empty of any emotion, save sadness. Celestia knew it was unfair of her to bring this point up, but it needed to be said. This thing was a danger to her ponies, but so was this stallion if left unchecked. They stood in silence for a tense moment, one lost in thought while the other waited patiently for an answer. Finally Luna turned from her sister and the calming breeze and walked back into the throne room. Celestia sighed and followed quietly behind her. Luna made for the door as Celestia moved to the throne itself. She wasn’t entirely happy with the result of their discussion, but she decided to indulge her sister, a habit she had come to regret in the past. Celestia rested upon her throne, threw on a polite, regal smile, and stamped her hoof upon the floor twice. The doors opened to the chorus of hoofsteps as guards took their positions and a small crew of aids came before the throne. As she got into her normal morning routine, the princess couldn’t escape a small niggle in the back of her mind. A memory, old but not forgotten, trying to worm it’s way into her mind. She suppressed it as best she could and tried to listen to her aids rattle off the daily reports.