Princess Luna had an idea now, and the first thing she had to do to make it work was close her eyes and concentrate on Salmon Run’s sister. Her pink fur, blonde fall of mane and tail, and the name Gilded Lily. A second of concentration later, instead of moving to the relevant dream, Luna found she’d gone nowhere. She wasn’t too surprised, though. There were several reasons the mare might not be dreaming. Ponies cycled in and out of REM sleep, after all, and spent most of their sleeping hours in non-dreaming stages. Hopefully, she didn’t have a nocturnal schedule, like Luna.

It was rather ironic, really, that the ponies who most enjoyed her night almost never got to interact with Luna, herself. The early hours of the dark were monopolized by the secular and political duties of a princess, and the rest were spent here, protecting the dream. Luna couldn’t even visit their dreams because she was too busy having her own! That had been the seed of inspiration behind the eternal night idea, rather than a simple coup.

Luna would have to wait a while before trying again. Fortunately, there was always plenty for her to do, every night. That in mind, the princess went patrolling for more nightmares to vanquish.

An hour and three foals’ nightmares later, Luna tried to find Gilded’s dream again, and this time, she found it without trouble. Surprisingly, it was also shining.

Or maybe not so surprisingly. It was nearly Hearts and Hooves Day, after all. And the week following that, mares would be going into season. All but those who didn’t enter a regular heat, for one reason or another.1

Luna could feel her own body starting to gear up for her fertile week. She was just glad that alicorns only had to suffer the one heat, each year. Unlike 80-85% percent of ponies, who experienced a second heat during the height of summer. Or the roughly five percent of the population—those with the weakest magic potential—who could find themselves suffering a third week, if a Buffalo Summer was scheduled.2

Peeking into the dream, Luna saw the pink and blonde mare making love orally and anally to one pony while cuddling against another, slowly nuzzling its neck. Or rather, another copy of the same pony. Though it wasn’t much of a pony. Faceless and markless. A generic, average, stallion-shaped body, with washed-out colors. Maybe the faintest hint of pink in the coat, but that might just have been the princess’s imagination. The grayish glow coming from the back of its neck and from its dock had the faintest hints of green to them, but Luna wasn’t completely sure of that, either. But she had an idea, and what she saw there was enough to test it, so she slipped into the dream.

Once inside, Luna started making some adjustments to the dream. Slowly, the pseudo-stallions started gaining color. Intensifying through the pastel range, until their coats were the same vibrant pink shade as Gilded Lily, herself. And the hints of gray on their necks and docks gained a distinct turquoise tint, and grew out to match Salmon Run’s short style. Luna didn’t give them cutie marks or faces, just yet, but she did add some violet to their heads. Not so much eyes, as an abstract suggestion of them having eyes like Gilded’s brother.

All of this went unnoticed, however, since Gilded had her eyes closed. But Luna could be patient when the occasion called for it. And besides, this was a nice break from the constant excitement and adrenaline rush of dealing with nightmares. She didn’t need to wait long before Gilded opened her eyes and started bobbing her head faster. If she noticed the similarity to her brother’s coloring, she didn’t react to it. And Luna didn’t know how she could’ve missed it, since her presence meant Gilded had to be at least mostly lucid.

At the same time, the stallion-figure she’d been cuddling with phased from beside to on top of her, and started nuzzling her mane. “Love you.” it muttered.

“Love you, too, Bro.” Gilded answered, without stopping what she was doing, funnily enough. At that, both dream constructs immediately gained faces, cutie marks, and everything else they needed to become perfect copies of Salmon Run. Then words started resonating across the dreamscape, as it gave voice to the mare’s thoughts. “I love you so much. I’ve always loved you, since we were foals. And I’ve wanted you since my first heat. It’s why I followed you to Our Town. Maybe if you hadn’t called me Sis when you first saw me, that crazy unicorn would’ve let us live together like a married couple. Not that I have the right to call anypony crazy, since I’m in love with my twin brother.”

As with Salmon, Princess Luna could feel the deep truth of the dreamy ramblings, and she was convinced her idea could work. That was no guarantee that it would, though. Dreams were one thing, but any degree of realizing them—even the limited amount she was planning to offer—was something else entirely. And pegasi had the strongest cultural resistance to incest, after all. Thanks to the now long-forgotten imperial age of Ancient Pegasopolis. But Luna would never find out if the twins would be agreeable to her idea if she didn’t take the first step. And since she could feel that Gilded was in no hurry to let the dream-Salmons finish, Luna decided there was no time like the present. But she was not a cruel pony, so she imagined the dream constructs reaching their climaxes. The dream resisted her change for an instant, but Princess Luna’s will was far too strong for Gilded’s to resist for long.

A moment later, Luna made the stallions fade away before revealing herself.

The disappearance of weight from her back made Gilded open her eyes, and she froze at the sight of the dark alicorn standing there, staring down her muzzle at her. And as those lips quirked into an imperious smirk, Gilded started quivering. Which only got worse as the royal personage sauntered forward to deliver—well-deserved—summary justice upon her disgusting, criminal self.

Luna approached Gilded carefully, wearing a Celestia-like, gentle smile, so as not to spook her terrified subject, but with a confidence required of royalty that she had trained back into herself over many, many moons. When she reached the shaking pony, Luna reached up one hoof to hold Gilded’s chin. She was glad to see Gilded Lily not flinch away, but tempered that with the consideration that she might be frozen with fear.

“Peace, Gilded Lily.” Luna whispered, pressing a kiss on top of her head, like a benediction. “I would not judge anypony for a dream such as this.” she reassured her. Luna then pulled away, but not without a quick swipe of her tongue over the pink chin, catching a stray bit of spillage. Like winking at Salmon Run, it was intended to prove that she wasn’t bothered by sex. And just like earlier, it left the target stunned, mouth open. Knowing there was nothing else she could do in the meantime, Luna just settled down on her belly to wait.

Author's Note

1. Aside from those who were inherently barren for physical or medical reasons, there was also the two or three percent of the population who ranked among the most magically powerful. That latter category, while not experiencing regular fertile periods, still had a chance to get with foal completely at random, though—like Granny Smith, who had been noticeably past the century mark when she’d gotten pregnant with Bright Mac. Many ponies considered decreased fertility a trade-off for the longer lifespan that came with greater magical power. The youngest known pony to ever die of natural causes was 89, and he’d had almost no magical ability at all. The oldest was 257. Just for reference, Granny Smith is in her 230’s. This only applies to non-alicorns, however.

2. This is a ponification, so to speak, of a term I was raised with. One which I am fully aware is probably not PC anymore. The term is Indian Summer, and for those of you who don’t know, it refers to a period of unseasonably warm weather in fall.