6 Harvest Moon

There was a grand plain, stretching out endlessly towards the horizon. It was grassy, the sort of grass you’d pass over without a second thought. There were barely any changes in height, save for one spot.

Flurry hadn’t ever seen something this flat before. Even the plains outside Crystal City hadn’t been this flat!

She had no idea where she was or how she got here, but somehow she wasn’t panicking. There was nothing to be afraid of here. It was just a plain.

Suddenly, the grass vanished! Flurry jumped back and found she wasn’t standing on anything anymore!

What’s going on?

Something bright and shining-blue appeared before her; a tree? But even the trees of Stardew Forest hadn’t been this blue!

Then, the tree shattered into a million shards without warning. Flurry turned away, but none of the shards hit her, somehow. When she looked back after a few seconds, she saw that the tree was completely gone, replaced by a void of darkness.

She awoke screaming.

|-x-X-x-|

6 Harvest Moon

‘’Was it Nightmare Moon again?’’ Emerald wondered aloud. ‘’But why? If she knows Flurry is here, why hasn’t she come here yet?’’

All questions that Star had no conclusive answer to. Oh, he would have liked to have answers to them, but the things he liked and the things he wanted often didn’t overlap in a positive way.

‘’I don’t know if it was Nightmare Moon,’’ he said. ‘’Your second question makes me think that it isn’t. But perhaps she does know we are here, and is merely waiting for the right opportunity. I cannot say with any certainty.’’

‘’So are we still safe here?’’

‘’Sunville’s as out of the way as you can get,’’ Star responded after a moment of thought. ‘’If need be, there are ways to escape.’’

‘’And where to? Besides, I’m not leaving Sunville behind so easily. You know what will happen to them.’’

She had a point there, as much as Star hated to admit it. ‘’I have friends across the continent,’’ he pointed out. ‘’But yes, we shouldn’t leave Sunville at the merest sign of danger, I agree with you on that. Still, if push comes to shove…’’

He let the end of that sentence dangle in the air, and Emerald didn’t bother to finish it for him. That was appreciated, if nothing else.

‘’In any case,’’ Star went on after a moment of silent introspection, ‘’until we know more, there is no need for undue panic. I will inform Jet Set of this and see what he thinks, but there’s no need for the rest of the town to know.’’

‘’You think?’’

‘’It would only make people afraid for no good reason.’’

‘’And what if she’s coming?’’

‘’Then why show that she knows where we are? I don’t think she can get to us, and if she could, I have faith that we could hold off any force she could send here that isn’t a full-scale invasion.’’

‘’And you think that Flurry can keep quiet about it?’’

‘’If we ask her to. She’s a smart filly, wouldn’t you agree?’’

Emerald let out a drawn-out sigh. ‘’Fine,’’ she agreed. ‘’But Amore help us if this goes wrong.’’

‘’Amore help us indeed,’’ Star agreed. ‘’Now, shall we go talk to Flurry?’’

‘’Let’s.’’

The filly was sitting in her room, holding Whammy rather more tightly than usual. Really, the poor thing would need some repairing in the future if this continued. Yet another concernto file away for later.

‘’Good morning, sweetheart,’’ Emerald greeted.

‘’Hello mummy!’’ Flurry replied, reaching up to nuzzle Emerald, who nuzzled the foal back. ‘’Are you done talking?’’

‘’We are,’’ Star confirmed as he gave Flurry’s cheek a customary nuzzle too. ‘’We’re going to have to ask you to keep that dream to yourself for now, alright? So don’t tell Magic or anyone else about it.’’

‘’Why?’’

‘’Well, we have a reason,’’ Star said, leaning into his ‘teacher’ voice a little. ‘’You didn’t like seeing that dream, right? And I don’t think that others will like hearing about it. It could make them afraid too, when we don’t even know what it means.’’

I have my suspicions, but I’d like to triple-check those first, thank you very much.

‘’Which doesn’t mean that you can’t talk about it with us,’’ Emerald picked up where Star left off. ‘’You can always come to us with anything, okay? But for now it’s better that you don’t talk about it with anyone else. Can you do that for us, please?’’

Flurry seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded very convincingly. ‘’Okay, mummy!’’

‘’Thank you, sunshine. Hug?’’

‘’Hug!’’

|-x-X-x-|

7 Harvest Moon

The light of the Moon danced through the windows of the Tower of Vision. Once, this had been Celestia’s suite, from where she looked out over her pathetic kingdom. Now it was being put to much better use.

‘’Love,’’ Chrysalis purred from the bed that had oh-so-conveniently been placed there. ‘’Come back to bed, hmm?’’

‘’I’m busy, starling,’’ Nightmare replied. ‘’There are so many things I need to take care of.’’

‘’Like me?’’

‘’Of course; you are a priority,’’ Nightmare admitted immediately, taking a moment to glance at Chrysalis’ form upon the bed. Then she looked away again, lest she be tempted even more than she already was. This work needed doing, no matter what her body wished for. ‘’But you are, sadly, far from the only thing that needs doing.’’

‘’And what is taking your attention at-’’ there was a pause, in which Chrysalis was presumably looking at the clock - ‘’three-thirty-one in the night?’’

‘’Dreamcrafting.’’

Chrysalis made a noise that was many emotions at the same time; Changelings were rather good at those kinds of noises, and many other noises besides - or so Nightmare had discovered, anyway. ‘’For anyone in specific?’’

‘’Mhm. Star Tower, little pest that he is.’’

‘’Are you still concerned about him?’’ Chrysalis yawned. ‘’We’ve won, love. If anyone, we should be focussing efforts on hunting down Twilight and her posse of fools.’’

‘’Twilight’s been countering my work,’’ Nightmare pointed out - like Chrysalis didn’t know that - with some small manner of chagrin. If she could just figure out what that damned jumped-up unicorn was doing…

‘’And Star has not? Isn’t he supposed to be one of the greatest magicians in Equestria?’’

‘’Even the greatest have flaws.’’

‘’Yet this seems like an obvious problem to fix for him, if Twilight Sparkle can do it.’’

‘’I think Twilight might have invented the magic herself,’’ Nightmare admitted, ‘’or perhaps her influence as an Element of Harmony is protecting her. Whatever the case, Star Tower evidently does not share her protection, even if I can only reach him incidentally due to the range and the fact that I am unsure of where exactly he is.’’

‘’So you’ve told me.’’ Chrysalis yawned again. ‘’Come back to bed?’’ she tried again.

‘’In five minutes.’’

‘’I’ll hold you to that.’’

Nightmare hummed, before turning her full attention back to her work. This was a delicate craft, and she would have to pour her full focus into it if her plan was to succeed. If it did, there would be no more rest for Star and his charge. But it would be an immense commitment, one that would most definitely test her limits and maybe even push them.

For five more minutes. Even Alicorns needed sleep at some point, after all.

Author's Note

Took me long enough, didn't it?