You closed your eyes as you stepped through the portal, disappearing into what was essentially your own dream. It felt strange being in your own dreams despite being awake. The final thing you heard before entering the other world was Rainbow's pleads for you to not continue.

"Storm, don't you even-" Rainbow cried, but you didn't get to hear her finish her objection.

It felt horrible to put her in a situation like that, but you had to do it. If it was for the safety of Equestria, you would put yourself at risk.

Opening your eyes, you stepped out into the vast abyss of your dream, only this time the ominous presence of Null was completely missing. Turning around, the portal you entered through began to close, warping itself in a distorted flash of light before dissapearing completely.

Now that Null was defeated, you were alone in your dream.

But then you remembered the second reason you had stepped through that portal. Of course, you had to enter it for it to be closed and save Equestria, but you would also get to see Luna again.
It had been a while.

"Luna?" you called out into the empty abyss.

You had never seen a dreamscape so empty. Every other time you had entered the dream world, novas of yellow light would streak across the horizon like streamers, and small pieces of yellow stardust would sprinkle from above. Usually, it was quite beautiful, but this time...

Nothing...

Just darkness.

"Princess Luna?" you called out again. Once again, there was no response at first. Until a faint blue glow appeared in the distance.

"Over here." a familiar voice beckoned, seemingly coming from the direction of the dark blue glow. You recognised the voice instantly; it was the very pony you were looking for.

Not wasting time by giving a response, you began to gallop quickly towards the light, but it didn't seem to be growing any closer. Another twenty seconds passed, and still Princess Luna remained the same amount of distance away from you as she had done prior.

You began thinking that it was a trick, until out of nowhere, the blue light shot forwards, seemingly covering miles in mere seconds.

You stood in shock, staring at the blue glow. For the amount of times you had visited the dream world, you would think you'd be acquainted with the surprises that it brought with it, but nope. The light began glowing brighter and brighter, until finally out stepped Princess Luna.

"So you did it? You beat the dream demon?" she asked, walking down a pair of seemingly invisible stairs.

"I didn't," you replied, seeming to confuse the Alicorn, "We did it. If it wasn't for my friends, we surely would've lost."

Princess Luna's confusion quickly turned into a proud smile, one of which managed to make you feel proud of yourself and your friends, "You and your friends all learnt a lot about each other. I'm sure my sister would be proud."

Upon the mention of Celestia, your subtle smile quickly faded. You hadn't really asked Twilight for the details about how she was doing.

"How is she doing? My sister?" Luna asked, her voice changing to that of worry. You and your friends had won the battle against Null, but everything couldn't just go back to being normal just like that. This wasn't just a cartoon anymore. This was your life now.

"I... Don't really know," you said, sadly, "I didn't really get a chance to ask. One minute we're all fighting, and the next Equestria is being sucked in by a giant dream portal..."

Feeling as if you were about to rant about the events that had just unfolded, you glanced back up at Luna, who, to your surprise, was smiling, "Don't worry. Let's go see her now."

You had to admit, that confused you a little.

"But..." you began, already wondering how she planned to escape the dream world after being sealed in, "The portal closed behind me. How are you gonna get out?"

"I'm not," Luna said confidently, a warm smile still on her face, "This world is your dream, remember?"

At first, you weren't sure what she was getting at, but then you started to understand. Even now, the elements of harmony continued to help you. Moreso your own element, the element of determination, as the way you harnessed its magic may very well have been the way back to Equestria.

Princess Luna knew that you understood, and didn't need to say anymore. Instead, she simply stood back and watched.

One more time, you focused your energy. This time you weren't only focused on you, but the entire dream. You had always been told that you could change the world if you tried, and this time it wasn't to be taken lightly. Your wings began to glow yellow as you focused on the very fabric of the dream, channeling as much determination magic as you possibly could.

With a lot of focus, and even more determination, you eventually manage to rip a tear in the dreamscape, creating a portal back to the real world. This was a form of magic that could only ever be performed in a dream, and by the looks of things, Luna had already seen something similar as she seemed relatively unfazed.

You, on the other hand, were shocked at what magic was truly capable of in this world.

"Don't worry about it. Remember, this is your dream. Without Null, you have full control over your dreams again." Luna explained, putting your mind at ease.

You figured that the reason you felt so strange about being able to change your own dreams was because all this time, you had never been in control of them. Ever since your arrival in Equestria, Null had been in the background pulling all the strings. He was constantly manipulating your dreams, making you see what he wanted you to see.
It just felt strange being free of that.

"Enough thinking about the past," Luna said, looking ahead to the future and into the portals you had created, "Let's go see your friends."

And you couldn't have agreed more.

Author's Note

I'm back!

This chapter was intended to be part of the next chapter, but I decided to make this chapter seperate so that I could update the story. That was partly because it's been a month now and exams are over, but also because today is my birthday. Yay.

Anyway, what have I been doing during the month I stopped updating aside from exams? Well, the new Call of Duty has been pretty fun and I finally got a hold of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, but aside from that I've also been planning a few stories. I currently have a 4 part series planned that I'll probably write after this one, and it's a crossover.
This story is beginning to near its end, and there hopefully shouldn't be too much more left, maybe a few more chapters at the most.

Anyway, I hope you've all been well!