"Celestia!" Twilight called as she burst through the doors of Canterlot Castle, you and the rest of her friends following closely behind. Surprisingly, she seemed to be in an even more worried and distressed state than Celestia's own sister, Luna.

The first room that she ran to check in was the throne room. It surprised you to see that all of the damage done by Null had been entirely repaired. The stone pillars that had been reduced to piles of rubble stood proudly once again, and the stained glass window that was meaninglessly shattered had been rebuilt and looked better than ever. Whoever had been in charge of reconstruction deserved way more credit than they would probably get.

Surprisingly, Celestia was not in her throne room. It always seemed like when you were searching for someone, they never appeared where you would expect to find them.

"Where is she? How much harm did Null do her?" Princess Luna asked, feeling her inner panic building.

"I left her with Spike and she seemed ok, but..." Twilight answered, double checking the throne room one last time. With a panicked sigh, she turned to leave the room with you and the rest of the Mane 6 still following, "You can never be too sure..."

As the seven of you left the throne room, a familiar baby dragon that you had not seen in a very long time stood in your way, causing Twilight to stop in her tracks.

"Guys, you're all okay!" Spike exclaimed, happily, "Storm! Rainbow Dash! I haven't seen you two since-"

"Yeah, yeah, how's Celestia doing?" Twilight interrupted, looking Spike dead in the eyes. You weren't sure whether it was intentional, but she was honestly being pretty intimidating.

"She's... okay?" Spike answered, nervously. Something about the way he spoke told you that he wasn't telling her the whole truth, and quite clearly Twilight knew it too. The unicorn gave him a stare, as if signalling to him that she didn't believe what he was saying, "She's not doing too good."

"Take us too her." Luna said in a somewhat demanding yet caring tone.

Immediately, Spike obliged, turning to lead the seven of you further down the corridor. Soon, you reached a winding staircase that eventually ended in another corridor with one large door at the end. You walked down the corridor, Spike and Luna already opening the door.
It lead to Celestia's bedroom, and you had to admit the architecture was grand. As amazing as the room looked, it was the first thing that caught your eye.

"Celestia!" Twilight called, hurrying over to the Alicorn princesses bed side. In the bed lay Celestia, significantly drained of colour and fast asleep. Her cutie mark, which usually looked like the sun, now looked like a dying rock, as if all of the suns energy had been drained.

"Spike, what's happened to her?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash hovered by your side, looking worriedly down at the exhausted Alicorn. Once again, Pinkie Pie's mane had deflated, returning to its straight, sinister appearance.

All eyes turned to Spike for an explanation, except for Twilight and Luna, who kept their attention on Celestia. The baby dragon stayed silent, unsure of what to say, until Luna answered for him, "I believe I know what's happening..."

Everypony, including Twilight, turned toward Luna, who looked to be deep in thought. She didn't look worried by her sister's condition anymore, more so reflective or acceptant.

"During their fight, I believe Null may have planted a failsafe in my sister's mind. A backup plan in case he were to fall. If he were to be defeated, the failsafe would activate, sending Celestia into a deep sleep." Luna opened her eyes, looking down at the sleeping Alicorn. Still, everyone's attention remained on her. Somehow, Luna seemed to know quite a lot about the situation, "During her sleep, her dreams would be drained of their magic energy. This magic would be similar to the kind that you possess, Storm. Eventually, this magic would form a portal between Celestia's dreams and Equestria, fulfilling Null's plan even after his death."

The seven of you stared at her, blown away by he knowledge of the situation. You wanted to ask how she knew all of that, but you figured that it wasn't really important. After all, she did already know all of Null's plans after being stuck in the dream world for so long.

"Princess, how are you so calm?" Fluttershy asked, trying to make her question seem as polite as possible.

Luna closed her eyes again, and, to the surprise of everyone, smiled.

"That's because I know how to stop it..." she explained. Everypony gasped, before starting to bombard her with questions. Most of those questions now started with 'How'.

Opening her eyes, a pouch of glowing golden powder appeared before her in a flash of purple magic, "This is dream dust, and it's why I took so long to leave the dream world. It can be found in every dream, but yours is special, Storm."

Princess Luna began to hover the pouch over Celestia, keeping it a certain distance away from her at all times. Everypony watched carefully as Luna's magic began to pull at the ribbon that kept the pouch together.

"This dream dust might just be able to reignite Celestia's dreams. If it works, she'll be up in no time." she explained, before finally releaseing the ribbon. Beautiful golden specs of light began to float gently down onto the resting Celestia, landing softly before settling. The dust began to gather, surrounding the princess in a golden glow that was remarkably similar to your own magic.
The dust began to vanish, slowly, along with the glow, until everything returned to how it was moments ago.

As for first impressions, you would've had to say that you weren't impressed. Celestia was still drained of colour, resting lifelessly on the bed, but you reminded yourself that all medicine takes time to take effect. It might've been magic, but those rules still applied.

"How long will it take?" Rainbow Dash asked, hovering above Celestia's bed.

"Only time will tell." Luna stated as the last of the dream dust disappeared. She looked down at her sister sadly for a moment, before lifting her head up and smiling, "Come on, we'd best leave her alone."

The princess left the room, with the majority of your friends following her, however you chose to stay behind, along with Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Spike.

"You doing okay?" you asked Twilight, who still had her lead lowered sadly.

"I'll be fine. That dream dust will change her back to her old self in no time!" she replied, managing to muster up a smile, "Sorry for being so demanding earlier, Spike."

"Don't worry about it, Twilight! I've seen that side of you more times than anypony else!" Spike joked, earning a chorus of laughter.

"How do we know that dream stuff will actually work?" Rainbow asked, looking at Celestia intently.

"It's Princess Luna," Twilight replied, trying her best to sound confident despite there being no clear improvement to Celestia's condition yet, "If anyone understands dreams, it's her."

Looking at Celestia laying there, drained off her energy, reminded you of a time that felt like years ago. Rainbow Dash had caught the Pegasus Plague, or atleast that was what you named it, and was unable to fly, yet the two of you still decided to venture into the Everfree Forest and almost payed with your life.
Even though Rainbow couldn't fly, and you had no experience fighting as a pony, the two of you still came out of that forest just fine, if not stronger. Although Rainbow was sick, she emerged more confident than ever, and the same could be said for Celestia.

"C'mon. I think we should actually leave her alone now." you suggested, causing your friends to nod in approval.

"Yeah. Probably for the best." Rainbow replied, already heading towards the door. You could tell that she cared a lot for Celestia's well being, but you could also tell that she wanted to hurry and get home.
It had been quite a while since she had last seen it.

Then the thought hit you.

Maybe it wasn't best that you went home just yet. Twilight and Spike definitely weren't going home yet, and as far as you knew, the rest of your friends weren't going home either. They would have to get a train from Canterlot, and that wouldn't be happening unless you and Rainbow Dash were with them.

"There's a hotel you can stay in until we're all ready to leave if you want." Twilight said, answering your question without the need to say it. Rainbow Dash frozen in mid-air, and you could already tell she wasn't a fan of the idea.

Turning around to face her, she replied, "Thanks, Twilight, but I think-"

"We'd love that, thanks." you said, interrupting Rainbow Dash before she could finish.

"But... Don't you wanna see our house again? It's been, like... forever!" she whined. Admittedly, you did want to see the house again, but this was far more important.

"I think us being here for the princess is a bit more important than that." you replied, already knowing that you had won the argument.

Rainbow let out a frustrated sigh, "Ugh. I guess you're right."

"Come on, I'll show you the way and we can meet everypony else there!" Twilight exclaimed, already seeming to be in a better mood than she had been moments prior.

The three of you went to leave the room, Spike following not too far behind, but you couldn't help but take one last look at Celestia. She would get through this. You just knew she would.

After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Author's Note

Happy new year!

The final mostly lore-focused chapter is here! I wanted to round out the story based chapters, aswell as the hellhole that was 2020, with a nice short chapter, focusing on Princess Celestia.

Next chapter will have more slice of life elements return, but it will still be a continuation from this, so not all of the lore elements will dissapear. We're in the home stretch now.

2 CHAPTERS LEFT