Dream Sickness

Despite the twisting reality as bat-winged keys and tattered scrolls fluttered around the two dream walkers like prismatic birds. The last thing Twilight expected to find in the great Luna statue’s crumbling hind-hoof, was a set of winding stairs. At first, they appeared to be made from the same black marble as the rest of the structure, the pale veins and seems within the rock ebbing and flowing as if alive.

It was as curious as it was disturbing, while the second Twilight thought to take notes on the subject, a journal and quill flashed into reality beside her. Never before had she been so startled by mere paper, almost leaping out of her fur as she hopped left, impacting one of the dreamscape’s glassy walls with a ripple.

“One’s thoughts tend to manifest easily here,” Luna elaborated as she reached the base of the stairs, peering upwards. “Most of all in Warp Runner’s mind…” She paused to think for a second. “She has a way with creativity.”

“You’d know that better than most,” came the voice of the mare in question, right as a faded apparition of the bat pony flickered into existence beside the pair. “Having fun in my head?”

“I’d have thought you’d not see fit to accompany us,” Luna said, looking slightly put off by the mare’s presence.

How can she not expect Warp Runner to be in her own head? Twilight wondered, a miniature mimic of a very thoughtful-looking purple princess poofing into being beside her as she did so.

“You know you can’t enter this passage without me, Luna,” quipped the thestral as she tapped on the crystal floor. “Or maybe I just didn’t fancy seeing you two caught up in here forever.”

“I think you’ll find I can still take care of myself,” Luna responded, sweeping between Twilight and the smaller mare.

“Right, sure,” Warp Runner scoffed, trotting up the ruined stairs. “And I think you’ll find I’ve made a few changes. It’s a little crazy in here.”

“You could say that again,” Twilight responded, swatting the swarms of bothersome notebooks away, only for one to spit a spray of loose parchment at her, while the quill poked at her snout. “Ouch, hey!”

“Yeah they do that,” Warp Runner deadpanned, then looked at Luna levelly. “You didn’t think I’d leave your precious map in any old dream?”

“Your machinations aside…” Luna turned away from the thestral, waving the bothersome book off with a forehoof. “One can never be so… Physical when interacting with the dreamscape, Twilight.”

The tome swirled away in a puff of smoke, much to Twilight’s annoyance, while the quill turned blue and merged with the dark alicorn’s wings. “One must play upon this world with their mind, not their hooves.”

“How do I do that if anything I imagine just comes after me?” the smaller alicorn retorted, scampering up behind Luna before any more of the crazy realm’s denizens could assail her.

“It only does so because I made it that way, crafting a dream with purpose is just as hard as dream walking itself,” Warp Runner elaborated, her voice seeming to echo within the realm itself as she led the way, much to Luna’s apparent chagrin.

“I suppose it bears little difference to your organizational skills, in a manner,” Luna interjected as the two stood side by side in the warped stairway. “Take these stairs for example, what do you see?”

What does she mean by that, they’re just stairs? She thought, the little princess in her head shrugging to make sense of the question.

“Well… They’re…” Twilight rubbed her chin. “Moving, it’s like they’re alive, look.” She jabbed a forehoof at one of the pulsating seams, and almost like fluid, the marble recoiled from her touch. “Gah, by Celestia!”

“True, in a sense,” Luna added with a light chuckle as the smaller princess took a step back. “But the dream can sense your unfamiliarity with its lores, your desire to rationalize must be abandoned here. Organize things in a more… Loose manner.” The nightly mare waved a forehoof in the air, before taking another step.

Unlike it did for Twilight, the floor seemed to harden at Luna’s touch, forming a silver plate, while the rest of the dark marble writhed and twisted around it. Before her, the winding passageway bloomed, expanding upwards in a manner Twilight had failed to even see at first. Appearing less like a stairway to nowhere in seconds, the purple alicorn felt her muzzle work, and words fail to formulate.

“She means be less literal,” Warp Runner chimed in, tapping a forehoof on the solid stairs under her. “A dream responds to your thoughts as much as it does your touch.”

How do I organize the unorganizable? She already said there’s no physics here, how do I make sense of that? She was infinitely glad her dragon self appeared to be taking a back seat, even if she hardly felt any smarter than her beastly side when confronted with such impossibilities. Think, if it’s all based on how I imagine it should be… Urg, my brain!

She dared not think about taking notes, lest the book and quill return to assault her once more. Therefore, she swiftly hopped up the solid steps after the pair, before the floor could sink into the umbral depths again. She was at least glad to be smaller in such a narrow passage. Unlike in Ironstal’s streets, she wasn’t blundering into everything. At least until the memory of the rugged alleys crossed her mind, and as if to spite her, shimmers of such places appeared in the glassy obsidian around them. She blinked, jabbing a forehoof at the faded reflection, as behind the three of them, the base of the stairway closed.

“A reflection of your thoughts, you were thinking about today, were you not?” Luna asked, glancing back. “The closer we get to the center of this dream, the more that may start to transpire.”

“It was just for a second, but yeah.” Twilight closed her eyes, doing her best to let her mind go blank, and just as Luna indicated, the image faded.

“The less you think of that place the better,” Warp Runner muttered as she tapped an odd rhythm out on the floor, as if they were codes to force her dream to expand deeper. “Ironstal has a certain way of capturing those who dwell on it too long.”

“And is that not what it did to you?” Luna asked, but the mare shrugged, the whole dream quivering as she did so.

If it’s that easy to think of nothing, it would explain why I’m not glimpsing Luna’s thoughts. Twilight considered that this may be how she discovered what the night princess was still hiding. Or Warp Runner too, this is her dream, after all.

At those thoughts, however, a new reflection materialized in the obsidian glass, instantly making the lavender mare’s cheeks fill with heat. Luna, beset by the radiant glow of a great moon, stood proud and mysterious, ethereal mane flowing like a dazzling constellation for all to see.

“O–oh, I see,” the true night princess observed, her real instance of shock not lost on Twilight as the smaller princess stammered, while Warp Runner rolled her eyes.

“I–it... It’s nothing, I was just thinking about how weird this place is, that’s all!” The lavender alicorn floundered to rub the image from the wall, only to smear it like thick paint, turning her hooves black with inky gel. “Gah, what is this stuff!?”

“This place is meant to play on your feelings, Princess,” Warp Runner called, almost a little too much pride in her voice for having seemingly conjured the trap.

“Calm yourself, Twilight.” Luna came between the two, breaking Twilight free of her stooper. The soft touch of the night princess’s dark wing on her shoulders as she coaxed the smaller princess along. “Do not allow your emotions to overwhelm you, here least of all.”

Yeah, because if I do, those I care about are going to turn into dragons or something! Part of her yelled, only to wonder what else she could conjure. Or they’ll become books… Just copies of Luna… What do I really look for in a partner!?

“How do you rationalize any of this?” she finally exclaimed, as the pathway ahead opened out. The left wall suddenly boasted grand arches that allowed an expansive view of the vast dreamscape far below.

“That’s the interesting part, you’re not supposed to.” Warp Runner laughed, gazing outward as the proud architect of this twisting place.

It felt as if they’d only been trotting upward for a few minutes, and already they had to be halfway up the statue. More odd birds flitted about the thestral-like clouds, while a fog drifted among glassy spires far below. Across the breach, the statue of Warp Runner herself was visible above the clouds. Positioned as if to gaze up at the last vestiges of the larger alicorn, the golden orb at the tip of her horn was poised for Luna’s shattered statue to receive.

“She is right, neither of us attempt to do so,” Luna admitted as she withdrew her wing. “But I do categorize what I know of it. Tia tells me often of your organizational skills, if anypony could make sense of it, it would be you.”

Twilight hated that as much as the credit from her former mentor made her chest swell with pride, Luna’s adorable faith in her made her cheeks redden almost as much. The feeling summoned several miniature Celestias, each flitting about on rapid wings as they chimed praise. Twilight closed her eyes, pressed a forehoof to her chest, then let out a breath, and they were gone. A refreshing motion the whole world seemed to share as an ethereal breeze blew by.

“Picture what I want, believe it can happen, right?” she asked, and both mares nodded as the lavender alicorn stepped forward. “Like a pathway to the top of this statue, I’m guessing?”

“It had been my intended destination, yes,” Luna confirmed, waving her horn towards Warp Runner.

“At least you remember some things,” the bat pony huffed, the chiseled-down horn hidden under her mane flaring into existence for a second as she jabbed it ahead.

Like a pair of vast stage curtains pulled aside, the dark walls rolled out of their way, revealing a long tunnel lined with wings of dark marble, while a silver floor bloomed out under their hooves.

“And if you learn to do so here, you may do so anywhere,” Luna added cryptically, as she followed Warp Runner up the ever-expanding tunnel.

“And why are her dreams different from anypony else’s?” Twilight asked, making sure her thoughts were always half focused on keeping the ground under her hooves solid. “Why hide the map in her head?”

“It is not such a simple thing to talk about.” Sighed the larger alicorn as she bowed her head, flickers of shame radiating in the walls around her.

“You could say that,” Warp Runner admitted with an equally downtrodden tone. Almost as if whatever had come between the two were still rather fresh to them.

At the latter’s confession, faint voices, muffled as if underwater, corresponded with faded images of the mysterious thestral. In all her leather-winged alicorn glory, similar to her dream’s statue, Warp Runner looked far more vibrant. Twilight also recognized a younger Luna, the two looked so happy together as they flew through a moonlit night. Another image of the two on a cloud, followed by them on the deck of the Night Shine. Until finally, the images became colder and darker. The two were shouting at one another.

“If you think any of that is going to protect me, you’re wrong!” snapped the vision of Warp Runner, while a similarly ethereal Luna stomped a forehoof, countering.

“To say such things. Thy doth not love us enough to see the truth!” Thundering away, the dark blue alicorn scoffed and spread her wings. “One day thou will be most grateful for what we will do.”

“Twilight?” The image faded, as Luna’s real voice drifted into Twilight’s ears, while Warp Runner’s eyes were totally averted. The princess blinked, then shook her head, looking over to see a very worried-looking set of blue eyes fixed on her. “What did I say, do not dwell.”

Don’t dwell on what you and Warp Runner are hiding? She wanted to say as much; pretty sure her dragon self would if it had a say right now. Or I wait, if she does care, she’ll have to tell me.

“Sorry.” Twilight winced as Luna swiftly turned away, looking to her bat-winged companion as she asked.

“I take it you cannot proceed as before?” Warp Runner gave her a knowing look, as if she should already know the answer to that question. “I see.”

“The seal is still intact, only you may go forward,” she stated, while Twilight glanced between the pair.

“What, you’re saying there’s parts of your own dreams you can’t get to?” she asked, and after a second of thought, both of them nodded.

“Only I could get you up the base of the statue, while only Luna can get to the map itself,” she began, nodding back the way they’d come, or what was left of it in the inky mass. “Therefore, we can only get it back when both of us agree.”

“And I thank you for allowing me,” Luna assured with a bow, before gesturing for Twilight to follow her.

“Make sure to wake up in one piece,” the thestral called, before adding. “And please don’t break anything up there!”

“We can’t actually break her mind, can we?” Twilight asked, finally emerging onto a vast platform that appeared to be grown from the crescent moon neck brace of the Luna statue. “I don’t remember seeing this from down there.”

“The sight you saw from below no longer exists. Dreams are in such flux that only the points around us are stable. Save for anchors such as these,” Luna explained, nodding to both the statue of her, and the opposite one of Warp Runner. “They represent her perception of me.”

Seldom had Twilight heard the night princess’s tone so solemn, as Luna stepped up to the precipice. She followed, gazing outwards across the radiant landscape, until her eyes fixed on the golden orb above the opposing statue’s horn, now perfectly level with the pair of them.

Makes sense why it’s so much bigger than her own statue then. She noted, before also realizing the dower implications of the Luna statue’s dilapidated condition. I wonder if there’s a statue of me in Luna’s dreams?

Glancing over at the dark alicorn, silhouetted against the prismatic sky of the shimmering dreamscape as her majestic mane swirled in the ethereal wind, her curiosity about that hypothetical statue only grew.

“But they’re both still here, that must mean she still cares about you, right?” Twilight pressed as she followed Luna around the edge of the platform.

“It means that she has failed to forget me, at the very least,” she responded, yet after their evening of getting reacquainted, Twilight was sure forgetting the night princess was the last thing Warp Runner desired. “Though it matters not. Come, I always promised her I would go no further than the map required.”

“You mean this is the map?” Twilight asked, looking around, only for several scrolls to appear above her and topple down like rain. “Urg, I did it again!”

Despite her frustration, seeing the adorable look of amusement her antics summoned on Luna’s face, she was pretty sure tripping over her newfound dream skills wasn’t the worst thing.

Just how many ponies has she been able to do this with? She wondered, pretty sure Warp Runner had once been one such mare. No wonder she’s not forgotten her, that smile is way too cute!

Conflicting feelings aside, Twilight shook off the scrolls as Luna positioned herself in the very center of the platform.

“The Nightmare would have given anything to access this,” she began, standing tall with both wings flared as her horn glowed softly. “Warp Runner promised she would never see it come to pass. I can be thankful her faith in me was restored enough for her to lead us here.”

The words sounded more like a reformation for Luna herself as she closed her eyes, and around her the dream stilled. “Observe, dear Twilight, how one can manipulate this realm.”

Despite a spark of apprehension, Twilight glanced about as a deep rumble shook the world. As if mountains were moving, rocks ground against one another below. Peering over the edge of the platform, she could see why. The statue of Warp Runner began to shudder, animated stone moving as if alive, while it ebbed and flowed over the countless pale veins that had sprung up over its jagged surface. Odd birds flitted from the glassy formation in great waving flocks, while clouds were split like smooth butter as the monstrous idol’s monolithic hooves moved.

And here I thought moving as a dragon was cumbersome. Entire valleys were ripped away as the huge alicorn thestral stooped into a bow, the stomp of her hooves shaking the dream to its foundations as she presented the golden sphere up to the platform. I really hope this doesn’t count as breaking her dreams.

The submissive symbolism wasn’t lost on Twilight, even if Luna’s own statue failed to do little more than crumble further under the force of such titanic movements. Looking back at the dark mare in question, she observed the strained expression beginning to twist Luna’s features. Her eyes locked tight, her ears folded, while her brow and muzzle wrinkled as her horn grew brighter. Meanwhile, the great golden orb drifted closer.

“L–Luna?” she asked, barely able to pull her eyes away from the encroaching sphere as she glanced between the two. “Luna, are you alright?”

Around them, the whole world quivered. The sky above cracked like glass, exposing a dark void beyond. While the wicked landscape below was torn aside by great fissures of pulsating blue light.

“W–worry not, dear Twilight… The barriers we erected to safeguard… They’re still as strong as we intended,” Luna forced through her exertions, before the whole platform lurched.

Steadying herself, Twilight had just enough time to glance down, seeing one of the great Luna statue’s monstrous limbs vanish in a cloud of dust before the boom of impact surged up to shove her back from the edge.

“I thought she said she’d give it to you?” called the lavender mare as Luna forced open one tearful eye, teeth grinding as her muzzle scrunched tight.

“She is, these defenses are my doing…” A web of shimmering blue cracks spread up the wall behind her, sparking with eldritch flames as the whole statue leaned left. “The map must be seized before she wakes, or it will be lost to her. Twilight, when the sphere opens, you must grab it!”

“What!?” Twilight balked, flaring her wings awkwardly in an attempt to stay balanced as she floundered on the tilting surface. “When were you planning to tell me I need to do that!?”

“I admit, I did not anticipate it would prove this difficult,” Luna grunted, one foreleg slipping out from under in an odd mimicry of the statue’s own lost limb.

Twilight was at her side in a flash, supporting the larger mare as the golden orb smashed into the platform’s edge. She swore she could hear the disembodied voice of Warp Runner yell not to break anything. All the while, lines appeared along the orb’s shimmering surface. As if sliced by draconic claws, the rents bloomed wider and wider. Twilight’s eyes fixed on what appeared to be no more than an ordinary tattered scroll within.

“Worry not for me, Twilight. Seize the scroll!” Luna called as the whole world started to fall out under the two of them. “Leap for it, I will greet you when we wake!”

Wind began to tear at Twilight’s mane as she fought to stand, let alone jump. No calm breathing exercise was going to slow her racing heart now.

“That’s it, but what if I miss?” she asked, clinging to Luna more for her own support, rather than the other way around.

“This is a dream, you will not!” Luna insisted as Twilight gulped, spread her wings, and kicked off, moments before the statue fell away.

Screaming, she floundered through the air, both magic and forehooves grasping for the tattered paper as the dream fell away in a flurry of dusty starlight.

“I got it!” roared the dragoness, covers cast flying in all directions as she surged up, only to slam her head hard on the cave roof. “Ouch, pony feathers!”

Flopping back, she rubbed the tender scales between her horns, wincing at the few stones that toppled from the ceiling. Only then did she notice the sensation of something in her opposite foreclaw, and glancing over, she unfurled her clasped claws to find a dusty, old scroll.

“Good morning, Twilight.” Luna’s propensity for stealth was ironically on full display even in her disguised form. The sound of her voice right next to the dragoness, almost had Twilight jumping into the roof again. “My apologies, I did not mean to startle you.”

“L–Luna. But you… I… We were just…” Twilight’s stammering once again drew the most adorable giggle from Luna, regardless of the unicorn persona she currently boasted. “How are you already awake?”

“The time between dreams and the waking world is seldom constant. Though, I have only been awake for a few minutes,” she elaborated, straightening her rough mane. “I will say, you were quite the sight for a first-time dream walker.”

Okay, is she saying that because I was actually good, or because she just liked the fact I was there? She thought, while her dragon side scoffed at the idea. Don’t think just because you can hide in dreams you don’t have to act like a real dragon.

“Speak for yourself,” groaned Warp Runner as she rubbed her head, mane a total mess as she sat up from her hammock, weary complexion little better than a zombie pony. “My head is killing me, I told you not to make a mess up there!?”

“I had to override the temporal locks. They were still in place,” Luna admitted, looking down at one of her forehooves. “I did not anticipate collapsing that part of your dreamscape, I apologize.”

“It’ll grow back. For the better, without that dumb thing in there,” the thestral huffed as she rolled out of bed, dribbled to the floor like a scruffy waterfall, then stood, and shook herself. “Still, let it never be said we didn’t do a good job, looks the same as the day we left it.”

The mysterious mare nodded to Twilight’s foreclaw, drawing each set of eyes to the scroll. Slightly perplexed as to how she could have literally grabbed something from a dream, the thing appeared far more mundane in the waking world than it had been while Warp Runner’s subconscious had been collapsing around them.

“I can’t believe I actually managed to grab it,” Twilight admitted, lifting the thing to discover a ring of runic markings on one side, while the other side boasted the icon of a crescent moon. “I thought you said it takes a lot of magic to retrieve something from a dream?”

“It does, you saw just how much the Tantabus had to generate in an effort to escape,” Luna responded, as both she and Warp Runner lurched at Twilight’s claws running over the paper. “Just… Take care, Twilight. Such things are irreplaceable.”

The dragoness blinked, opening her talons towards Luna. “Maybe you should take it, I’d rather save priceless magical artifacts for when I can actually study them properly.”

Horn flaring, Luna took the thing in her magic, holding it out before her while rotating it left and right. Her eyes passed over it with an urgency that caused Twilight’s spines to prickle with apprehension, while Warp Runner tied back her mane loosely, and trotted over to peek.

“Trust me, Princess. Some things are better not studied,” she warned cryptically as she snatched a glimpse at the scroll over Luna’s shoulder. “All still there, I’m guessing?”

“It would seem so, you performed your charge admirably,” chimed the princess as the thestral rolled her eyes.

“As if I’d ever do otherwise.” Warp Runner took a step back, turning to rummage through the many sacks and crates littering her cave. “I’m making breakfast.”

“What, I thought you said we were to leave when we awoke?” Luna protested, only for the bat pony to glance up at her with a flat expression.

“You have reading to do, besides…” She nodded to the gloom outside. “Don’t you have some duties to attend to, or has big sis’ relieved you of those?”

Twilight winced, feeling that such talk may be a little too harsh. Yet Warp Runner only smirked as Luna pouted, setting the scroll down.

“I will have you know Tia’ has trusted me with the moon since the day I returned,” she declared, pressing a forehoof to her chest. “Surely you noticed the shift in dawn and dusk’s grace over the past few years.”

“I might have,” the bat pony cooed, naught but her tail visible as she dove back into her bags.

She speaks to her as if she’s not a princess at all. It’s like she’s never been. Twilight noted, bristling a little as she noticed Luna’s eyes linger on Warp Runner’s flanks. What, am I jealous… I’m not jealous!

“Twilight?” The sound of the nightly mare’s voice suddenly broke the dragoness’s stooper.

“I… wasn’t looking!” She blurted, then winced, stammering. “I mean cooking, what are you cooking…? You know, for breakfast?” Both mares peered at her with perplexed expressions, as Warp Runner lifted an eyebrow.

“I was just gonna go for hay soup again,” she responded with a shrug. “Hardly anything better out here.”

“That sounds great,” Twilight declared, tapping her claws together as she masked her awkwardness with a toothy smirk.

It was a disguise Luna apparently saw right through as she asked. “Are you certain you’re alright? Present form a side?”

The look of care in the disguised mare’s eyes left the dragoness stunned for a long moment. Most of all when Luna reached out a silver hoof to Twilight’s claws.

I’ve never seen anypony look at me like that. It’s just how Rainbow looks at Applejack… Or Spike with Ember… Her mind felt more chaotic than it was back in the dreamscape as she forced.

“Sure, sure…” She waved off the notion with a wing, before rapidly diverting back to the previous topic. “But you did tell Celestia about the moon before we came out here, right?”

“I… In a sense.” Luna finally sighed as she stood up and shook herself. “I told her I may be predisposed,” she added, and Warp Runner snickered, earning a sharp glare. “I will be but a moment.”

Hooves clopped on the rotten dock as Luna made her way to the end of the pier by the Night Shine. The silver coat of Eclipse shimmered in the growing dawn’s light as the radiant orange glow began to fill the cave mouth. Watching one of her idols raise the sun never got old, yet after learning what she knew now about Luna, Twilight couldn’t help but see the transition in a new light.

Maybe I’m attracted to power too, the radiant, majestic kind? Celestia is regal, but Luna is mysterious. She wondered, pretty sure if their places were actually reversed, there was nothing her subconscious could change about Luna to make her more perfect. How have I never noticed how gorgeous she is?

It was apparent that the feeling wasn’t solely hers. Warp Runner lifted from her satchels to gaze out at the new dawn, eyes shimmering as if filled with as many stars as Luna’s mane.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that,” she muttered, and for a moment, it was as if all the animosity between the two washed away, right up until the bat hopped down with three more bowls.

“What is it between you two?” Twilight asked, sure if Luna wasn’t going to open up about it, Warp Runner might.

“Like I said, we go way back, Luna and I,” she began, eyes constantly shifting to the scroll as she went about making breakfast. “But there’s no history books for me, no songs. I was always just hers.”

“You loved her, didn’t you?” She was pretty sure it was the dragon side of her that made the question so blunt, at least sure enough to slam a forepaw over her snout before she could be any more rude. “Sorry, sorry… I didn’t mean to ask that!”

Warp Runner stopped, lifting her head and remaining still as the rocks around her for a second. Twilight felt like doing nothing more than sinking into the cliffs to be free of the tension. It was almost as awkward as her final transformation in Sugar Cube Corner, until Warp Runner finally let out a small chuckle.

“Once maybe,” she said simply, looking at one of her unfurled leathery wings. “But she loves you.” If she’d felt like melting away seconds ago, the moment the thestral’s bicolored eyes set on her, she felt like she really would just wither into dust. “Those wings and scales are proof of that.”

“I… I… I’m still just trying to work that part out,” the dragoness stammered, while the draconic side of her brain yelled at her to stop acting so cowardly. “But I think she does, yeah.”

“Ha, so naïve,” quipped the mare as she went back to making the food, while the minor jest summoned Twilight’s mental drake into action.

“Naive, what about you? If she made me a dragon, is that why you’re a bat pony alicorn?” She didn’t even have time to slam a paw over her muzzle, nor mutter an apology before the thestral’s eyes were back on her.

By Celestia, it’s like staring down Nightmare Moon herself again! For some reason, the aura was uncanny, as if the full weight of the night were behind Warp Runner, despite the rising sun at her back. What, you’re scared of her? She’s smaller than you even when you’re not a dragon!

“Love is a complex thing.” Twilight had never been more glad to hear Luna’s voice as the silver mare slipped in to rescue her. “Is it not, Warp Runner?”

“You’d know,” countered the bat pony, as she slowly went back to cooking. “Just get that map read and get out of here.”

The way Luna wilted at those words made Twilight’s heart ache. Yet neither mare said anything as Luna levitated up the scroll. “Let us hope this works the same as it did before.”

Suspending the parchment before her, she took a step back, while her horn started to glow brighter. For a second, Twilight was worried she was about to witness a repeat of the dreamscape’s struggle, yet Luna bore little strain as the runes on the paper began to glow too. All the while, Warp Runner shot periodic glances at the magical display. Twilight, on the other hoof, couldn’t take her eyes off the swelling mass of blue radiance. The air around it almost appeared to darken, as if the three of them were plunged back into the gloom of dusk.

The glow at the core of the spell failed to allow the darkness to utterly take hold, however, as it blossomed outward into a web of sparkling stars and dusty specks of dancing illumination. Like a swarm of a million fireflies, the weaving coils grew, conjuring swirling pathways, before lines like the constellations of Luna’s divine mane were weaved into the ethereal display.

No, it looks exactly like her mane. Twilight noted, spying comets, tiny levitating islands, and even whole moons within the bubble. So this is a map of where dreams come from?

Transfixed, she almost wished to have her dreamy powers of notebook conjugation back. If only to take every observation she could, from Luna’s glowing eyes, to the way one line of constellations lit up a brilliant gold.

“There it is,” rumbled the night princess’s voice, reverberating with magic might as her glowing eyes peered blindly into the cosmos. “And the doorway still lies across the Expanse, behind the tempest. Night Shine could reach it in days.”

“Lucky you,” Warp Runner grumbled as she strode through the spell, seeming to pick out every detail as if she’d seen it a hundred times. “But she can only take you as far as the gateway, she’s not cut out to go beyond the vale.”

“A trivial obstacle, once we enter, we need only find my connection to Twilight and temper it,” Luna boomed, the thrum of her voice sending a small shiver down the lavender dragonesse’s spine as she glanced from the empowered mare, to the Night Shine.

She barely caught the worried expression Warp Runner shot her way, at least until the thestral’s tufted ears perked. Her head shot up, eyes fixed on the horizon, hardly visible beyond the shroud of Luna’s spell. The enchantment failed to mask the acrid smell of spark-engine smoke, however, as the grim hulls of the wicked ships loomed into view of the cave mouth.

Cutting through the fluffy pink clouds of dawn like poisoned daggers, the crude things were the total opposite of Luna’s elegant vessel. Rust gnawed at the gnarled-green plates, while wicked silver barbs jutted outwards like the angry spines of a manticore. Twisted rudders tilted below the rattling thrusters that protruded from below the tilted cabins. Blades like meat hooks curved across the impaling bows, while baleful green furnaces and crooked chimneys belched foul black smoke into the air with the ferocity of a dragon.

“Tell me you know those guys?” Twilight asked meekly, jabbing a wing out at the encroaching pair of skyships.

“Oh, I know them,” Warp Runner hissed, narrowing her eyes. “But that’s not going to make things go any smoother.”