The New Problem

Twilight, Luster Dawn and Moonlight had left the castle, yet it wasn't undefended. From the shadows, Sunrise standing held a book in his hand and cursed his luck. This wasn't going to be easy, not by a long shot. He only needed to get to the courtyard, that was his main objective. He couldn't wait til night, he would have to get in and get out in the bright of day. He cast a spell on himself, it was a simple illusion spell. It wouldn't pass any real scrutiny, but this was the only solution he could think of. The vampony walked through the doors of the castle and a guardspony looked at him suspiciously, "Hey you!" the guard called out.

Sunrise tensed up a little, he was ready to fight his way through the castle to get to the courtyard. His red eyes turned towards the guard, "Yes?" he asked.

"Don't forget to return that book to the library, Princess Twilight's been looking for it," the guard said with a smile.

"Will do," the vampony lied.

He entered the castle grounds and made his way towards the courtyard, avoiding the patrols as he did so. Much to his annoyance Twilight's friends were there. If any of them would be able to spot him, it'd be them. Much to his relief though, none of them paid any attention. Without incident he reached his destination, the courtyard and one particular statue. It was of a changeling, a pegasus, and a centaur.

A smile crossed the features of the vampony. He opened up his book and concentrated, an aura formed around him as he opened his mouth. "You who have been wrongfully imprisoned in the stone, I free you!" he called out. The illusion spell dropped and he started laughing manically as the statue started to glow.

"Where is she!? I'll make her pay!" a female voice growled.

"Golly! I sure am glad to be free from that statue, thanks mister!" A filly's voice said to him.

"Are you a rescuer or another person trying to ally with me to take over Equestria," a male's voice said.

Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek, now free from their prison looked down at the vampony that had freed them. The changeling queen circled around the one who freed her, "Tell me why I shouldn't just feed off your love right now, pony?" she threatened.

The other two watched the aberration, none of the three of them were willing to make a move. But then Chrysalis decided to feign an attack. As her hoof came slamming down on Sunrise, he swiftly moved out of the way and onto her back. He gripped her neck in his magic and smiled cruelly, "Because if you don't follow me, you'll go back into that stone or worse," he threatened.

This commotion alerted the royal guard who swarmed the courtyard. In an instant, Cozy Glow realized which side was the better side to go with and she surrendered herself to the guard in the hopes that she wouldn't be turned back into stone or worse. Tirek looked at the two that had been fighting and slapped his face with a hand. "If it helps, I'm not with either of them, I tried taking over Equestria and all it's done is get me thrown into Tartarus twice and imprisoned in stone, I'm done," he stated as he stepped out of the way of the guard.

Chrysalis screamed in rage, "I will find you Starlight Glimmer! And when I do, I will make you pay for what you did to me!"

"You're not going to get anywhere without me. We're surrounded if you can't tell and two traitors are with the guards. Either we work together to get out of here and I help you get your revenge or we both end up captured here and now!" Sunrise warned.

The changeling queen was furious, but she knew the vampony was right. "Fine. What do you have in mind?"

The aberration didn't respond, his red eyes started to glow and he cast a spell that hit everyone within the courtyard, knocking them off their hooves. "Run!" he ordered as he jumped off her back.

The two of them ran out of the castle, being chased by the Royal Guards until they made their way into a nearby forest. They were safe for the time being. "So what's your plan, pony?" Chrysalis spat in anger.

"Let's start a new hive for you, your highness," was the aberration's only response.

The carriage continued on its path towards Silver Shoals with none of the occupants any the wiser about what had happened in the castle. Moonlight Gleam looked out the window, she couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened. She wanted to go back to find out, but she knew that in her condition, she was going to be able to help nopony. "Long ago, before either of you were born," Twilight started.

"I'm twenty-two," the investigator interjected.

"So you would've been born two years before they retired, this makes you older than Luster Dawn by four years," the princess observed.

"I thought you'd have been younger than that," Luster pointed out.

The dark blue mare arched a brow at the pink unicorn and the alicorn cleared her throat, getting both of their attention. "Before I was the Princess of Equestria, the land was ruled by the Princesses of the Sun and the Moon. The Princess of the Sun was my teacher back when I was a filly. She was a kind and wise leader that had ruled the land for a thousand years alone. Shortly after I had come to Ponyville, my friends and I had freed the Princess of the Moon from her anger and jealousy. She would become an ardent protector of Equestria, ensuring that her subjects had pleasant dreams and never had to worry about nightmares. We are going to see both of them, but your focus is the Lunar Princess, Moonlight," she said.

The investigator had climbed down onto the floor of the carriage, not wanting to see the sunlight or the outdoors. She rested her head against her tail, but a hoof gently shook her awake before she could go to sleep, "Huh, what?" she asked, a bit startled.

"You can't go to sleep before we get there, I'm sorry. We're almost there though," Twilight pointed out.

The carriage came to a stop and the occupants left. The three ponies walked into the retirement community with the Princess taking the lead and Luster Dawn close behind her. Moonlight Gleam however was lagging far behind. Something was wrong with her, she started growling and then Twilight felt a surge of magic behind her. The alicorn turned around and ignited her horn, but a spell intercepted the magic that was just cast. "While your visit was unannounced, it is pleasant, my former student," a gentle voice called out.

"This one is horribly sleep deprived, sister. I am not surprised that you have brought her here. She has been crying for help in her sleep, yet I assume you cannot reach her, Twilight," a different voice said.

"Her nightmares are too strong. I can't enter them, even with my friends," the lavender alicorn replied.

A dark blue alicorn revealed herself with a smile frown on her face. With a wave of her hoof, she put the dark blue unicorn to sleep. "She's not enduring normal nightmares. She's enduring something far deeper and far more connected to her psyche. I shall enter her dreams, Celestia, can you please carry her inside?" she asked.

"Very well, sister," replied an alabaster white alicorn.

Luna's eyes turned bright white as she entered the dreamscape. She followed the others to the place where her sister and them lived in the meantime.

The alicorn found herself in the dreamscape, it was a simple matter to find Moonlight's dream in the realm. She noticed the red spiked bubble that the dream was contained within and frowned, this was more serious than she thought. She focused her magic and entered the dream itself.

There she found Moonlight fighting a demonic copy of herself, the two of them were locked in battle. Spells flying towards each other. Luna could see that the unicorn favored fire magic while her opponent favored darkness. "You want to become me, I'll give you the power to exact your revenge!" yelled the demonic copy.

"I'll never be like you! I have ponies that I can count on! Ponies who care about me!" Moonlight screamed.

"Face it, Sunrise was right! You're nothing more than just an expendable asset! These ponies see you the same way!"

"You're wrong! Twilight Sparkle, Luster Dawn, Floral Blossom, Yarwood, Ginger, Gallop J. Fry! They're all there for me! I don't have to be alone anymore!"

"You're denying who you really are!"

"I'm denying you!"

The two ponies clashed one final time, there was a bright flash and the demonic copy seemed like it had come out on top. But it instead fell over, it was no more. It melted into a pool of black and rushed towards Moonlight who started to run away from it. It was to no avail, though. She only got three steps away before she found herself ensnared by the inky black pool. It started to engulf her and the unicorn screamed as much as she could.

This was the point where the nightmare was, Luna realized. She swiftly blasted the ooze off Moonlight and shifted the dream to a more pleasant one. "You are scared of becoming her, but you do not know how to stop it. The answer is within you, if you would just look," she stated.

The investigator was about to protest when she found herself face to face with herself. Something felt different about her, she was less withdrawn, less defensive.

"Just because you became her doesn't mean that you cannot become me. Your choices are your own and I know you want to do the right thing. I know you want to open yourself up to your friends and you want to trust them. I know this because, I am part of you," the figure said.

Moonlight was shocked slightly by this, but she looked at the dark blue alicorn. "Can you change this to a cliff overlooking a sunset?", she asked.

Luna nodded and waved her hoof, the unicorn watched as the scene before her changed. She walked to the edge of the cliff, "My entire life, I've been scared of one thing or another. I never really had the courage to stand up for myself or for others. Nor was I smart enough to realize that I was expendable. Some part of me knew that I would never get to see my parents again as their daughter. But... I didn't want to believe it. It's true that I'm scared that Sunrise will try to hurt the people that get close to me, but..." she started.

The alicorn could only watch as Moonlight leapt off the cliff. She rushed to the cliffside and watched as the unicorn had turned into an alicorn instead, rising back up with a smile. "Twilight was kind enough to bring you to me. She truly cares about me and the friends she wanted me to make feel the same way. I have been the one in the wrong, now I must dedicate myself to making this right. It won't be easy, but it is possible, all I need to do is take that leap," she said.

Luna smiled at the young unicorn as she flew about the dreamscape, she had found the courage within herself to take the first step. "If you need anyone, I will be here for you, the spell I cast on you will have you sleep for two days. You need it, badly," she stated.

The investigator came to a landing and folded her wings with a smile, "Thank you, your highness," she said with a bow.

"I am no longer a Princess of Equestria, I retired along with my sister," the Alicorn stated with a smile.

"Even if you aren't now, you are still royalty and it would be rude to not treat you as such. This place is wonderful and with my friends at my side, I have nothing to fear," Moonlight stated.

The two shared a sweet smile before the investigator took off to the skies again, for the first time since she became an adult, the loneliness felt distant. It was still there, but it wasn't suffocating her as it once did. She had friends to rely on and she promised to herself that the next time something happened, she'd let them know what was going on.