"Twilight, are you prepared?" Luna asks as I curl up beside her on the rug. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you. You know how difficult these spells are."
"I know," I reply, leaning into her as my horn begins to glow. "I'll be fine, I promise."
She nods. "I'll be right here if you need me."
I nod in reply and complete the spell. With a flash, I am suddenly transported from my physical body to somewhere outside of it, staring back at myself as if through another's perspective. It's an odd feeling being here in the astral realm, seeing my curled-up physical self appearing to be peacefully asleep on the floor, Luna sitting next to me. I move around a bit in the astral realm, testing my motion capabilities. To my astonishment, I find that I am fully capable of regular movement! I run and walk and trot, spread my wings and fly. It is a surreal feeling.
Soon, a ghostly hoof strokes my mane. I whip around to see Luna stroking the mane of my physical self, whispering into my ear. "Good job, love. Time to return to the real world. Remember the spell I taught you?"
In the astral realm, I nod, my horn lighting up. There is a pop, a violet flash, and soon I'm back in my physical form. I slowly stagger up on all four hooves, blinking my eyes to clear my blurred vision. It isn't long before Luna takes my hoof and helps me, rubbing my backside with a wing. Once I regain my sense of balance, she turns to face me, a proud smile on her features.
"You did it, Twily!" she says happily. "I'm so proud of you!"
"Thanks, Lulu," I reply, smiling sheepishly. We've been working on projection of oneself into the astral realms for some time now, and I can say for certain that it is a tough spell to master. Tonight I will be able to join her in the dream realm so that we can do some more research on dreams. The terrifying dream I had recently has been an enigma neither of us have been able to crack, but we both hope to find some answers.
"We'll visit the dream realm soon, after you've had a moment to catch your breath." She waits while I take care of necessities before we both climb into the four-poster bed we share, Luna holding me tightly as she pulls the duvet over us. I sigh contentedly as I nuzzle her downy chest fluff, her hooves caressing my backside as her horn lights up.
"Twilight, it's just like astral projection," she reminds me. "Just direct your spell towards your dreams and hold on to me."
I wrap my wings around her, directing the spell as told. Soon, there is a sense of falling, followed by an easy landing onto something below. Glancing around, I realise that I did it correctly. I'm in the dream realm.
"Hello, love. Follow me," Luna says as I successfully appear in the dream realm, leading me down a pathway of stars. As I oblige her, I glance around, taking mental notes on this strange location. Stars with various images float around us in the night sky, some of which I recognise as the dreams of my friends. My mind is working hard; it's a surreal experience being here, observing the dreams of other ponies. Some of the ones that float by are full of bliss, others sad, others frightening.
"Luna?" I ask as we reach the end of the path. "Is this how you monitor the dreams of Equestria's residents?"
"Indeed it is, Twilight," she replies, catching a star in her hoof and examining it for a brief moment before permitting it to float back into the starry sky. "I thought that by taking us here, we may be able to monitor your own dreams back in the physical universe. Perhaps then, we may be able to see what caused your nightmare."
I nod in reply, leaning into her and giving her an affectionate nuzzle. "Luna, I appreciate this so much. I know you do so much for me, you're always there to help me, and I just..."
A wing to the lips silences me. Luna peers into my eyes lovingly before moving in and planting a kiss. We stay locked this way for several long moments, neither one of us wanting to pull away. The kiss is soft, loving, reassuring, the feeling of her warm lips buffeting mine filling me with happiness. She pulls away from lack of breath; giving me the perfect opportunity to speak my mind.
"I love you, Luna."
"I love you too, Twilight," she says as she wraps a wing around me. "So much." She stares off for a moment, her thoughts seemingly having taken over. However, as I follow her gaze out into the star field, my eyes happen upon what she is looking at so intently.
It's a dream.
My dream. My physical self must be dreaming, back in our room. Luna reaches out with her magic, pulling the dream into her hoof. I see what looks to be a frightening mansion, deep in a forest, surrounded by twisted old trees. An apparition of me is dragging herself towards it, being chased by a pack of timberwolves. It's raining in the dream, and suddenly there's a sharp pain in my head.
"Twilight, are you alright, dear?" Luna asks as I begin to sway on the spot.
I fall to the starry floor, rubbing a hoof to my temple. "What in Tartarus..?!" I stammer as I notice a hoof begin to shake. Is there a connection between me and that other me? The head pain returns, sharper than ever. "Luna!" I call out as my vision begins to turn blurry. Everything grows suddenly muffled; I can barely hear my own breathing as slowly the blurred shapes fade away to blackness...
"Aaaah!!" I bolt up from a prone position, finding myself back in the castle, in bed with Luna. She sits up quickly, wrapping her wings around me as I glance around. She leans me back slowly, stroking me as I get a grasp on my location and surroundings. Everything hurts. "Lulu," I ask between shaky breaths, "W-what happened?"
"I am unsure," she begins, "But I do recall attempting to enter your dream. For some reason, I could not find a way in, and you started acting strange, saying things."
"What was I saying?" I ask as I caress her cheek with a hoof, just to make sure this isn't a dream.
Luna is silent once more. "You were mumbling something about working for SMILE. Do you happen to recall anything, any dreams about that?"
I rack my brain. "No, nothing. But I do have a theory. I believe there was a connection from the dream realm to that dream. I can't be sure though." I finish with a yawn, to which Luna answers by pulling me in tighter.
"Close your eyes, Twilight. Relax. I don't want you to feel any more pain."
I smile up at her as I drift off to sleep, grateful that she is there to keep me company. "Thank you, Luna," I mumble. "I love you."
Author's Note
To be continued...
Welcome back to TwiLuna, sorry this took a while to put out 