The New Problem

Twilight Sparkle sighed as she laid down for the night, it wasn't easy for her to do the jobs of both the former Princesses. She knew that she would have to scan the dream realm to ensure that none of her subjects were having nightmares before she went to sleep, but she was just extremely tired. She closed her eyes and started to concentrate as Luna had taught her, she pushed her presence outwards towards the kingdom. Colors started to fade around her until they became a blue void with bubbles floating around her. Dreams of the myriad creatures that existed within the borders of Equestria. Everyone was having such pleasant dreams, a good change of pace for her. She thought that this job would be easy tonight and smiled about that.

One bubble floated in her face, it was her student, Luster Dawn. She was dreaming about writing a report to the Princess. This filled the alicorn with pride until she realized that the message in the dream was a doubtful one. Her student wasn't entirely sure that she was going to be able to share the message of friendship with one very stubborn unicorn. Twilight concentrated on the dream and entered it.

"Luster," she called out to her student.

"Princess, what are you doing here? I'm sorry that I'm failing you!" the pink unicorn exclaimed.

"You haven't failed me. But perhaps I could assuage your fears by having you come with me into Moonlight's dream. She has been asleep for a while," the princess said with a smile.

The younger unicorn walked over to the alicorn who wrapped her wing around her student and nuzzled gently. "I know that you have doubts that you can do this, this is normal. When I was your age, I had doubts about many things, Luster, but my friends were always there to ensure that I'd see things through and they always worked out in the end," Twilight assured her student.

"I guess I still have a lot to learn, then. Thank you, Princess," Luster replied.

Twilight's facial features suddenly sharpened, surprising her student and causing the unicorn to reel back. The pink pony was worried that she had failed her teacher. "The one who taught me how to dream walk was better at this than I am, but it would seem that Moonlight is having a nightmare," the princess reported.

The alicorn princess wrapped her wing around her student and concentrated, she brought the unicorn across the dreamscape and towards one particular bubble. "This is going to be a bit strange at first, but please bear with it," she said to calm her student.

The two of them entered the bubble and were greeted with nothing but darkness, they couldn't see anything that was near them. Twilight tried to concentrate and gather her magic, but that wasn't able to cut through the darkness around them. She looked around to try to find any sort of light, but she found nothing. She could hear nothing. When she looked down, she couldn't see or feel her own student with her. "Luster!" she exclaimed, terrified.

She started to look around, hoping that Luster Dawn had joined her in the dream and was only just lost in this shared dream. She had no idea what she'd be able to do if her student was lost in the dreamscape itself. The princess cursed herself for her carelessness. There was a rumbling behind her and she turned around to see a massive monster looking down at her. This didn't surprise the alicorn, she knew of Moonlight's other nightmares, none of them were what anyone could call mundane.
She lit up her horn and fired a magical blast at the creature, dispelling it immediately.

The shadows retreated to reveal her student standing in a field, the two ponies ran to each other and hugged each other. "I was so worried when I couldn't find you, Princess!" Luster exclaimed.

"I was scared that you had gotten lost!" Twilight said, fighting back tears.

The two shared a hug that was interrupted by distant sobbing. The two ponies looked towards the source and they silently nodded to each other. The alicorn led the unicorn towards the source of the crying. The two of them walked quietly as the sound became louder. Luster was surprised when she didn't see a pony as the source, but rather a young human woman. She had dark blue skin and faded yellow hair, but the unicorn couldn't believe this was the same Moonlight she knew.

A ball of flame flew through the middle of the three of them, causing the two ponies to look towards the source. It was a full grown woman with long faded yellow hair and dark blue skin. There was a sharp look in her eyes. "I don't think I invited either of you into my head. Now get away from me," she threatened.

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes and her horn lit up. A barrier formed around her and her student, she wasn't in the mood for fighting. Much to her surprise, Luster tried to break through it. "Luster!" she called out.

"Someone has to reach out to her, if I don't... then who will? She's angry, sure, but she's also alone!" the student replied bravely.

The barrier was dropped and Moonlight Gleam aimed the next fireball at the unicorn before her, a glare on her face. "You're not going to throw it at me Moonlight, I know that there is good within you. I know that you care about me, you were so happy at the party that Pinkie threw for you. Please, put the fireball away," Luster Dawn pleaded.

The fireball grew in size, turning blue. "Put the fireball down, Moonlight," Twilight finally threatened.

"Get out of my head," was the woman's only reply. Her voice as cold as ice.

"It's okay, my teacher. I don't think she'll throw it at me. She doesn't want to hurt me deep down," the unicorn reassured the Princess.

The alicorn nodded, but kept a spell at the ready in case her student was wrong. The fireball increased in size, but then suddenly shrank into a glowing white ball in Moonlight's hand. "Please Moonlight, let go of the fireball, let go of your anger. You can trust me, I'm your friend," the pink pony pleaded.

Moonlight glared at her and thrust her hand forward to throw the fireball, but the hand closed into a fist instead. The flames vanished as quickly as they had erupted to the relief of Twilight Sparkle and Luster Dawn. The two ponies watched as the woman they were familiar walked towards them much to their surprise. She didn't look pleased at all with their presence, but at least she wasn't threatening either of them anymore.

The unicorn backed up a few steps as the woman closed the distance quickly. The princess readied a telekinetic hold to stop the dark blue skinned woman. The two ponies were caught off guard when Moonlight instead walked past the pink unicorn. "I will be watching you both carefully, if you do something I dislike, I will throw you both out of my head," she warned.

Twilight didn't like Moonlight's tone, but she accepted her words. Luster however felt upset, she had tried time and time again to help the investigator, but nothing worked. She looked down at the ground and dug at it with a hoof and a frown, but the crying from before caught her attention. She walked towards the woman who couldn't have been older than eighteen.

"Moonlight?" was the only question that escaped the pony's mouth.

"Y-yeah?" replied the young woman.

It was a surprise to the student of Twilight, these two were indeed the same person. "What are you crying about?" the unicorn asked.

"I lost the person I looked up to the most and my best friend has been lost as well. I'm never going to get to see my family or friends again and I just feel so alone," the dark blue young woman replied.

"You are not alone, Moonlight. You might feel like it sometimes, but you are no longer in the world you came from. Here in Equestria, people are trying to be your friends, but you keep pushing them away," said the calm voice of the princess herself.

Twilight Sparkle walked over to the younger Moonlight and offered a hoof with a smile on her face, "You just need to take one of the hooves we've offered in friendship. You won't ever have to be alone again," she said with a smile on her face.

"I... I don't know, the other me tells me not to trust you. She doesn't like you very much and she says that if we allow you to get close it'll put you in danger. But, I want to have friends again, I want to have a family again," the young woman said sadly as she looked away.

"I understand your pain, you don't have to respond immediately. Take your time and talk to us when you are ready," Twilight stated calmly.

The older Moonlight walked back towards the three of them and the two Moonlights looked at each other. Luster found it confusing, but the princess knew exactly what was going on. They were different aspects to the personality of the woman. One of them had lied dormant until she had come to Equestria and became a pony. "Luster, what you have been doing has been having an effect on her. You just need to keep trying to awaken her dormant nicer side," she said.

The student nodded and then turned to the two versions of Moonlight gleam that stood before her. One of them wore a suit, the other wore simple clothes.

"You can't keep yourself isolated forever," said the servant girl.

"I can try," replied the cold voice of the investigator.

"Then why have I resurfaced. Why do you yearn to be me. Why do you allow yourself to be vulnerable?" replied the younger Moonlight.

The older one didn't have anything to say to this. She was right and there was nothing that she could do. She stormed off with a scowl and her fists balled up tightly. The servant girl turned to Luster Dawn and got on her knees, motioning towards the unicorn. The pink pony walked towards the nicer version of the one she had tried to be friends with for a while and was shocked when she felt two hands wrap around her in a hug.

"Luster, thank you for being nice to me. I don't know if you'll ever hear me say those words in the waking world, but I want you to know that I really do appreciate what you have done for me from the bottom of my heart. It'll be a difficult process, but I'm certain that you will be able to defrost the ice queen in due time," she said.

The unicorn returned the hug, closing her eyes and smiling, "Anything for a friend. My teacher told me that friendship lasts forever if you make it work, so I'm going to do everything I can to ensure that you and I become lifelong friends!" she replied.

Twilight Sparkle walked over and joined the hug. The three of them noticed the investigator watching this scene unfold before her very eyes. "Whatever, it's true. I do care about you guys, that's why I keep trying to keep my distance from you. If Sunrise were to find out that you were close to me, he'd go after you in order to ensure that I suffer," was the frustrated comment from the woman.

"Sunrise would be a fool to try to attack me, and if he tried to harm Luster, I would not only know, but be there in an instant. You do not have to worry about us, Moonlight, just please give friendship a chance," Twilight assured her.

"I can make no promises, but I would appreciate it if the two of you were to get out of my head. I have to reconcile with my other self," the investigator stated.

The princess nodded and grabbed her student, "Thank you, Moonlight," she said.

She left the dream of Moonlight gleam and deposited her student to her rightful dream. With no more nightmares to deal with, she exited the dreamscape and retreated to her bedchambers. The sight of a sleeping dragon on the bed next to hers caused her to smile. "Sorry I'm late, Spike," she whispered as she climbed into her bed to fall into her own dream for the night.