Canterlot Royal Palace, the day of the incident, Princess Luna’s royal chambers.

In an exquisitely decorated circular room, Princess Luna was lying on her bed, deep in thought, her eyes looking up at the ceiling which was painted in a pattern of clear night sky, her gaze unfocused. Her starry mane spread across the sheets, making her look mysterious and tantalizing. A sight many of her subjects would be ready to die for, metaphorically.

“My sister just left me alone in the castle again, while she herself does something interesting…” Luna let out a slow deep sigh. “I won’t get any sleep today, but I’m an alicorn and can stay awake for three days straight without becoming too exhausted. Why does she treat me like a little foal who needs care? Not that I don’t like her attention, but sometimes she goes overboard. It’s decided then!”

She got up from the bed, put on her royal hoofwear and diadem, straightened up her hair with a slight flash of magic, and walked onto the large balcony from her room. She spread her dark wings and took to the skies, heading towards the town of Ponyville.

She did not care about ministers and other administrative and guard staff. Those ponies will be thrown into a panic in the absence of their royal rulers for sure, but she did not care, nor did she like all those bureaucratic things, anyway. “They should learn to act on their own and not rely on my sister and me all the time! Why does she still tolerate having to manage every single petty problem of theirs? And those greedy, useless aristocrats! Hmph!” Those were her thoughts on this problem at the moment. “And now I am going to do something more interesting than holing up at the castle!”

Ponyville, Castle of Friendship, early evening.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was in her room alone, enjoying reading a new book on advanced long-range teleportation theory she had borrowed from Royal Archives, writing some notes on a parchment with her telekinesis, without even taking her eyes off the pages. Puzzled, contemplating looks could be seen on her face from time to time. Light breeze from an open window caressed her dark, sapphire blue mane which was emphasized by a singled raspberry and purple strands. It was a pleasant season of late spring. The air brought traces of flower scent with it. Time was flying by as she was immersed in her studies.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a shadow flash by her window. “Rainbow dash?” she asked, while still reading the book. But then, white color filled her sight behind the pages of the tome. With a loud click of her royal golden hoofwear, Princess Celestia landed before her, having entered right through the window.

My eyes widened in surprise as slight panic filled my mind. “No! No! No! My room is messy! Did I forget some of her assignments? No, it can’t be. I always note those down! Then why is she here?!” Those thoughts rushed inside my head in quick succession, throwing me into a slight panic.

“Hello Twilight! How have you been? I haven’t seen you in person for so long already! I have missed you!” said Celestia.

With all my nervousness and chaotic thought rushing inside my head, old habits kicked in. I performed a bow, the one a loyal subject should perform before their ruler.

“Princess Celestia! Welcome! I’m doing fine! And I missed you too!” I blurted. My mental state must be obvious from the first glance and Celestia has noticed it, naturally. With a wry smile on her face, her hoof touched her forehead, and she shook her head lightly with a small sigh. She seemed a bit saddened by my too official greeting.

“Just Celestia will be fine. You are a princess yourself, and I am no longer your official mentor. Can’t I just visit my best student I ever had casually, without that pompous royal etiquette? And I entered from the window, mind you!” she said in a soothing voice, and slightly giggled after the last sentence. I jerked at this realization. With a wry smile appearing on my face, I pressed my ears backwards and let out a short laugh. Celestia continued, “We probably should continue our talk in a more relaxed atmosphere, right?”

“Ah! Of course pri… err… Celestia! Let’s go to our dining hall and have some tea!” Oh, how silly of me to forget about such simple things. Naturally, I should welcome Celestia at my castle properly, like a dear guest.

“What a wonderful idea, Twilight!” Celestia agreed with my arrangement. She was visibly happy to spend some time in my company. This actually makes me happy too. I walked out of the room, followed by Celestia.

Having seated the Princess at the table, I excused myself for a minute and left the room.

“SPI-I-IKE!” I called my assistant dragon. Was I too loud? Soon enough, I heard his running steps. Spike was disheveled and had a sleepy look.

Spike made a wide yawn and asked,“Ya-a-awwhat’s the emergency, Twilight?” Seems he was napping again, but that’s alright.

“We have a guest! Princess Celestia!” I answered. The reaction was instant!

“No way! The Princess! Oh, I should go greet her.” The dragon became a little agitated. His sleepy mood was nowhere to be seen.

“Yes, and please be so kind and make us some tea, the finest one! Oh, and also, please bring Starlight Glimmer along; you two will join us in the dining hall.”

“Sure thing, consider it done! And of course it would be the finest tea anyway. You don’t have to mention it. Who do you think I am? Hmph!” His voice was energetic and a bit grumpy.

“My best assistant?” I said with a smile.

“Exactly!” he said in a proud voice, straightened his spikes and hurried to offer his greetings to the Princess. I returned to my seat across Celestia. Spike already disappeared into the kitchen. She resumed our conversation.

“I see you are still dedicated to learning magic deeply, even with your extra responsibilities as the Princess of Equestria. Please, don’t push yourself too hard, I worry for your wellbeing!” Celestia said with concern in her words. Ah, she still cares about me like in those years I was studying from her personally… I should not upset her!

“Oh, that’s all right, C-Celestia!” It was still hard for me to call her just… Celestia, but I’ll still try to call her by the name if it’s her wish. “I’m doing fine, really. There is no need to worry about me!” I tried to reassure her.

“I’m glad to hear that, Twilight! But of course I did not come to you just for a simple friendly visit. At this moment I should be still working in my palace, but today, it can wait.” I was surprised by what she said. It’s really rare to see the Princess abandon her current duties at the palace and do something else, coming to my castle in this case, and it seems she made it by herself without anypony accompanying her. It must be something important. My brows were raised unconsciously.

“What could that be? Something serious has happened?” I said in a concerned tone.

At this moment, the doors of dining hall opened, and Spike walked in back from the kitchen. “I’ve made some tea and prepared some desserts. Will the cakes do?” he asked in a joyful voice.

“Of course they will do, Spike. Cakes are the best dessert! Thank you!” Celestia answered in a kind voice.

“Well, the tea will need some time to brew. I’ll bring Starlight meanwhile!” Spike said and walked out of the dining hall. I was conversing with Celestia about my everyday life and asked her questions about the happenings in the palace.

Spike has finally returned with Starlight in tow. She was lagging behind him and was obviously distressed about the meeting with the Princess. Well, that’s understandable, considering their past relationships, but now everything should be fine. I must help her get over it. Spike walked to the table and took a place to my left. Starlight performed an official bow and exchanged greetings with Celestia; she then proceeded to the table and sat on my right.

“Oh! The tea must be ready by now! I’ll be right back!” he said energetically and quickly trotted into the kitchen.

We were interrupted by the sudden knock on the doors. Then one side of the door has opened, and Princess Luna appeared before us.

“Oh, hello everypony! Excuse me for intruding without invitation, but the doors were unlocked. And it’s too boring for me to stay in the castle all alone!” she said joyfully. At this moment Spike came out of the kitchen with two trays in his hands, with a tea set and desserts.

“Hello, Luna! Your visit was unexpected, but I’m glad to see you at my place!” I was honestly surprised, but I was still happy to see her. I felt it was easier to converse with her casually, maybe because we both are junior princesses.

“Hi, Twilight! I’m happy to see you again too!” she spoke and smiled at me.

“Princess Luna! Greetings! I’m glad to see you in our castle!” Spike said grandly. He somehow performed a bow while still holding both trays. Starlight Glimmer followed suit and performed official greetings too. She was so tense she was almost shaking already. The appearance of the second Princess has added to her stress.

“Princess Luna! It’s an honor to see you!” said Starlight with shaky voice, her face were tense, she was trying hard to hide her uneasiness from the Princess.

“Oh… you should not do it so officially. This is a private visit after all.” She said mildly and moved to the table, choosing the place near her sister. This easygoing attitude reduced Starlight’s stress.

“Right! I’ll go get another cup!” Spike said promptly and disappeared into the kitchen to fetch another for Luna. It was not long before he returned. “Just a second!” he put the cups together, poured the tea for everyone and delivered cups filled with tea to everyone at the table.

“Thank you, Spike!” said Luna. Her gaze moved to Celestia. “And here I was thinking you were doing something important, my dear sister! But I should not be surprised, as the importance of the cakes is quite high on your list!” She giggled. “And now you’ll have to share them with me again!” A sly look appeared on her face.

“Ha-ha, Luna, I was not expecting you coming after me, but it’s fine if it’s what you desire! You did warn the palace staff, right?” she asked with a smile while seeping the tea.

“U-u-uh… no?” Luna said with an innocent smile, her eyes looking up at the ceiling. Celestia covered her forehead with her hoof for the second time in the last hour. It could soon become a habit if this continues. She spoke again after a deep sigh.

“Please, Luna, tell them next time. Well, I have forgotten about it too. They will manage, somehow, until we return.” Celestia has finally dropped this matter.

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you every time, sister. They should do those trivial things by themselves. You should concentrate on something more substantial than some puny territorial disputes of the aristocrats and other meaningless things.” Luna said with a serious face and thoughtful eyes, articulating with her right hoof, all while stealing a piece of cake from her sister’s plate, with a fork held by telekinesis.

“I know, Luna, I just can’t…” with a pondering look and a hoof under her chin, she finally noticed what her sister was doing. “Ha-ha Luna, you are doing this again while trying to pretend you tell me some serious things! What a foal you are!” she chastised her while laughing. All others present in the room were silently watching this scene in amusement. Spike could not hold it any longer and laughed out loud, followed by the muffled laugh of Twilight and nervous giggling of Starlight.

“Sorry, your Highnesses! I just couldn’t…” Spike’s speech was drowned in another fit of his laughter.

“Spike!” Twilight said with a loud hissing voice, frowning at his lack of respect for royalty, while trying to hold her own laughter in. The resulting look on her face with a twitching brow just made Spike to laugh even harder. Starlight just covered her face with her hooves and was shaking lightly. Spike was just too hilarious.

“All right, my little ponies, let’s talk about something else.” Celestia finally put a stop to all this chaos. She had a contented face. Luna’s antics and the reaction of others made her happy. Celestia rarely took part in conversations which had that atmosphere of freedom and carelessness with anyone except her own sister. She valued such opportunities to socialize with her former student and other acquaintances in a casual atmosphere.

“You must have already guessed that I did not come to spend my leisure time with you, albeit I really enjoy it!” As Celestia continued, everyone in the room fell silent, harking. “Around an hour and a half ago, I and Luna detected a magical anomaly somewhere to the south. The disturbance this event made in the magical flow of Equis is tremendous, but not harmful in any way, contrary to how it often happens when magic goes haywire inside some artifacts, so I ruled out the detonation of some powerful ancient artifact. We have no other conjectures yet.” Celestia narrated. “Twilight, Starlight, did you, by any chance, sensed something weird at the time?”

Twilight’s eyes, glittering with unbridled interest, instantly dimmed, and a saddened look appeared on her face. “I-I’m not sure…” Twilight was worried about her inability to detect the said magic disturbance in the overall magic flow. “I think there was something, but I was too immersed in that book you’ve recommended, so…” Her voice was obviously upset about it.

“I felt nothing at all. Sorry, your Highness.” Starlight Glimmer answered in a downcast voice.

“Oh Twilight, Starlight, it’s fine, you don’t have to worry about that. Your magical sensitivity is just yet unable to perceive the frequencies this magic anomaly was acting on. I could not pry much information about this event, too.” Celestia answered in a soothing voice and calmed down their uneasiness.

“You mean a magical resonance frequency we cannot perceive with our horns? Is it even possible?” Twilight had her burning interest back.

“Yes, exactly that, the resonance frequency to manifest this event was no less than… a million Swirls. I know it’s out of boundaries of common magic knowledge. We have some theory books which describe the possibility of it. It’s just… Let’s say it’s out of our abilities to prove the theory right. At the very least, such spells will require the power of five mature alicorns, but we have just two and two more which are too young yet. Not counting the complex magic diagrams enhanced by the rare gems.” She said with a wry smile on her face. At this stage, Twilight’s eyes became the size of saucers, her mouth agape. She lost contact with reality for several seconds.

“This is fascinating! And why didn’t you tell me about those books earlier?” Twilight was too elated. She even forgot about her usual etiquette problem when conversing with Celestia. “We must research this anomaly as soon as possible!” Twilight proclaimed with a determined face.

“That’s exactly why we are here, my dear Twilight! You and Starlight will assist us in locating this magic anomaly. While it did not bring harm to Equis yet, we can’t say it is safe for sure.” Celestia said calmly. Twilight was apparently happy with this turn of events, and she also piqued Starlight’s interest.

“Do you have any feasible method in mind?” Starlight asked. “I just can’t offer any working method to register such high frequencies.” While immersed in this scientific conversation, Starlight finally lost most of her wariness towards the Princesses, her mind working on the problem at hand.

With a serious bearing, befitting a being with millennia of experience, she started her explanations: “Yes, we have a way of doing it, but it will require three alicorns to power everything up. Magic resonance frequency triangulation method, tuned to detect magical traces. With such power of the anomaly, I’m sure we have no less than a week before the trace vanishes. We will work with three connected magical diagrams. The main magical diagram will be in your lab, connected to your devices. Those will help to process the data we would collect and pinpoint the location of the anomaly. You will work with this diagram, while Starlight will help with the devices, and I hope you, Spike, will assist them!” She turned towards Spike. “Twilight cannot do everything alone here.”

“Of course I will!” Spike said proudly, his hands folded before his chest.

“Then, the second diagram will be in our palace in Canterlot. I will manage it myself and the last one… Luna, sorry, but you will have to work in the open field.” She said, looking Luna in the eyes with a pleading look. “We need to create an equilateral triangle with our magic circles.”

“Alright, sister, you always send me to do the most ungrateful work.” Luna sighed, but did not argue. She knew too well that her sister will be overwhelmed with work in the palace after three days of skipping it, and her little expedition will be just a hiking trip compared to what awaited her sister in the palace.

“Please, take a small troop of your night guards to set up a camp and take care of your needs while you will work on your part of the ritual, Luna.” Celestia said with an apologetic look on her face. “I think we should finish our preparation by the day after tomorrow. We will activate the spell at midday. And this is for you two.” She looked at Twilight and Starlight, then put several magic tomes on the table. “These books may seem thick, but you will only need information about those diagrams we’ll be creating, so there should not be any trouble. And here,” she quickly scribbled something on a parchment with a feather she produced out of thin air, “this is a list of gems used in this magical diagram. Don’t make any mistakes when placing them.”

Twilight grabbed the books with her telekinesis, with fire burning in her eyes.

“Twilight! Don’t waste your time on reading irrelevant things and concentrate on your task! You can read those books after the ritual is complete, if you want!” Celestia said sternly. Twilight made a short giggle with a fake smile, pushing her ears to the back of her head again. Celestia knew her former student all too well, including her bad habits, and she got her red-handed right at the moment she just started to have those thoughts.

“When we start up the ritual, we will have a stable connection between us three and will be able to communicate freely, and even help each other control our magic, so you should not worry too much about failing. We will help you, Twilight, trust us.” Celestia said and looked with her gaze across everyone at the table. Twilight, who felt tense about her upcoming mission, visibly relaxed, and a determined look appeared on her face. Spike nodded his head in agreement. Starlight was silently contemplating with a puzzled look. “And, Starlight,” Celestia addressed Starlight, interrupting her deep contemplations and causing her to flinch, “you will find everything you need in these books too. If you encounter any problems, please send us a letter with Spike’s help! This is important!” Celestia offered her help to Starlight, making her feel more confident.

“Yes, your Highness! I will do my best!” she answered, having princess’ support gave her more confidence. She still had conflicting thoughts about it, but she won’t refuse Celestia’s help.

“Well then, we should start on our work now; send me a report tomorrow evening. If we’re out of schedule for any reason, we will postpone the ritual.” Celestia said and got up from her seat. “And thank you for the tea and desserts. Those were just perfect!” She thanked her hosts together with Luna and got ready to leave.

“See you later, guys!” Luna said. She was quite content with herself for being able to get rid of her old habit of using old royal speech style. Now she could have true friendly relations with her acquaintances. Maybe she will become genuine friends with someone one day. At least Celestia hoped she could, after a whole millennium of solitude.

Having seen them out, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike returned to the main hall.

“It’s so unusual! This anomaly seems so unique!” said Starlight Glimmer. “I just can’t imagine what we might find there! I’m excited!”

“Right, Starlight! We should not fail this ritual! We must start reading those books right away!” Enthusiasm was overflowing from Twilight Sparkle.

“Books again!” Spike commented in a grumpy manner. “Just give me that list of gems, and I’ll go check the storage. And give me a key for it!”

“Alright, Spike, but you are not allowed to eat the gems from this storage. They are all rare and expensive!” Twilight said sternly.

“But Twilight! Those are the most delicious!” Spike said with a pleading tone.

“No means no, Spike. Here is the key.” The key floated into the hands of Spike from the magic locker on the shelf, surrounded by purple aura.

“Alright, alright, I know this is important, so I will not mess things up, but you owe me some treats!” Spike answered to her quietly, and left for the storage. Twilight and Starlight giggled lightly, Twilight shook her head at Spike’s behavior and they have gone in the library's direction. Their work began.

Time flew by. Twilight, together with her student, was studying everything about the ritual: theory, magical diagrams, the use of gems for focusing magic flow and powering up secondary circuits. Starlight had to learn the methods of working with measuring devices too and their connection to the magic circuits. Poor Spike was exhausted with incessant requests to find specific books and materials. Everyone got tired by the end of the day, but they were sure they can start working on the magic circle tomorrow.

Ponyville, Castle of Friendship, 3rd day from the incident, half an hour before midday, Twilight’s laboratory.

“Twilight! We are checking all this stuff for the tenth time already!” I heard Spike complaining again about my checkup. But I just can’t leave everything to chance. We have to find every potential flaw in our diagram and devices.

“Alright, Spike, this will be the last time, I promise!” I answered to him. He must be really bored by now. I understand him, but we must do it properly. I was checking the last items on my list. Everything seems to be ready.

“I’ve finished checking the devices. All connections are in place, all the gems are charged.” Starlight reported with tiredness in her voice. We were working really hard yesterday, and we lack some sleep today, but this should not affect my magic power for the ritual.

“Alright! Everything is checked and should be working fine on my side! Turn on the devices. Let’s test them.” I’ve finally decided to start the entire process.

Starlight’s horn lit up, infusing her magic into the main power gem. The gem lit up, and strands of magic lit up the conductive channels of the devices, slowly powering everything up.

“The power is on and stable, Twilight, I’m turning on the devices now!” Starlight gave her report. With a shaking hoof, she toggled numerous switches. Magic machinery came to life, lighting up a multitude of screens and panels, exuding a soft low hum.

“Alright, can it record everything in real-time?” Twilight asked. She did not have time to delve too deeply into the workings of this equipment in relation to the diagram. She was somewhat ashamed of it, but the time was tight. She could not do everything by herself.

“Yes, it should, at least everything that is important.” Starlight’s inner tension has subsided, as everything was going smoothly. I sighed before starting on the most critical part.

“Alright, powering up the main diagram now!” I stood in the center of this magic circle, surrounded by the most complex diagram I ever made, or seen, in reality, not in the books. My horn lit up, and I started concentrating on four magic gems around me. My magic flowed from my horn into the gems with ever-increasing power. Not even a minute has passed, and my horn is already looking like a blazing magical fire, but then abruptly dimmed. By now, the gems were giving out a steady white light, powering the autonomous part of the diagram. “Seems the first phase is complete. Now we are waiting for the Princesses to do the same on their side. Did we start too early?” I asked a rhetorical question.

“Well, it does not matter that much. It’s almost time, anyway.” Starlight replied to me while looking at the wall clock.

At this moment we were interrupted by… Luna’s voice?

“Hello! Can you hear me? Anypony?” Seems we’re right on time!

“Luna! It’s Twilight! We can hear you loud and clear!” With no idle chatter, I said that we were ready on our side. We are doing serious research here, after all.

—“Good! Then we only have to wait for Celly…” but she was interrupted.

“Hello, my little ponies! Celestia is here!” Celestia’s mild voice resounded from the magic circle. “I can see you have done everything properly. Twilight, Starlight, I’m proud of you two! Oh, and of course of Spike, too!” Spike puffed out his chest with a boasting countenance, putting his hands on his hips. “Should we start then? Are everypony ready?” Celestia’s voice turned serious.

“Yes!” I and Luna answered simultaneously. I’m getting nervous. Oh, hay! I should calm down!

“I will lead and control the ritual. Focus on supplying your magic energy evenly. Do everything as written in the books, and everything should be fine!”

“Alright, Princess Celestia!” my tongue slipped, and I called her title again by the old habit. No! It’s not the time to think about such things!

“Then I’ll start the countdown. We will start at ‘one’. Thee… Two… One!”

I’ve activated my magic as per books. My horn instantly became a blinding violet star. The magic diagram started to consume and funnel my magic power into complex magic circuits. Bright magic started to illuminate the conductive paths of the diagram gradually and followed the lines we’ve drawn in a mesmerizing light show. The intensity of my magic power flow was rising in a steady tempo. It was already going on for several minutes. I levitated in this dense magic field as gravity disappeared inside the diagram. A column of bluish-white light was beaming upwards from the magic circle; it should be already visible far outside the town, shining into the sky, as physical obstacles should not impede its passage by much. Even my eyes shone with white light. I must look a bit frightening from the outside by now. I can see it from Spike’s reaction. Celestia’s voice interrupted my wandering thoughts.

“Stay focused, Twilight! I’m connecting our diagrams now!” Celestia said in a stern, commanding voice. I’ve never heard her use this tone! She is really serious now! I must not fail!

The diagram shone even brighter. Small streaks of whitish-blue electricity bolts appeared along the magic conductors intermittingly, flashing all across the drawn lines on the magic circle surface, with loud crackling noises, creating a disturbing sight. But this should be normal. Suddenly, I felt my magic increasing in intensity. I’m closing in on my limits!

“Starlight! Set the frequencies on one, three and seven millions Swirls now!” Celestia commanded.

“Got it!” Starlight manipulated the devices with quick movements. “All done, Princess!” Her answer was short, and she had a focused look on her face. “This is madness!” she whispered quietly under her breath.

“Good! Get ready, Twilight, we’re finally there!” Celestia gave her final alert.

At this moment, the whole diagram lit up with blinding white light. Now I could see nothing but white light. The light beaming up from the diagram should look almost solidified from the outside! My magic consumption broke through the roof; it was way beyond my limits! Was it the help Celestia and Luna were talking about? It must be! I’d never be able to give out this much power by myself! I felt our magic resonated with insane speed and intensity, spreading all over the land, far beyond the borders of Equestria, seeking something, which was similar to its own properties. A minute later, we got a response to our magic from somewhere far away. That’s it! It should be! There is no other known magic with such properties.

“Luna, Twilight, I’m concentrating our magic on the location of this resonance! Starlight, keep an eye on the measurements! We should miss nothing!” Celestia commanded, and started the final phase of the ritual. I was already feeling bad, I’m almost exhausted! We need to finish this quickly or else…

“I’ve locked on it. Increase the power output now, the location is too far and we’re lacking magic power!” Celestia’s voice had a trace of nervousness by now. I tried my best to provide every single bit of my remaining magic power. Seems Luna and Celestia are doing this too! The intensity of magic flow became insane; I heard some weird crackling and chipping noises from our devices and the diagram itself.

“No! The gems! The gems are starting to crack and magic power channels are already melting, Celestia, Luna!” I shouted in panic.

“Then we’ll go all out! At least we will get more information this way!” shouted Luna.

“I agree.” Celestia gave a short answer. “Hold on, Twilight!”

Then the whole magic construction flashed like a sun, held out for around ten more seconds and with loud booming and crackling noises, along with jingling of shattered gems, came to a halt, its magic channels dimmed and went out. The devices in the laboratory were in a sorry state, some of those emitting strands of smoke from within.

“Did we… fail? Did I… fail?” I uttered in a whisper. I was lying on the floor on my belly, my legs spread in a star shape on my sides, my cheek lying against the stone tiles of the floor, and I had no strength to get up. Tears rolled from my eyes. Was it my fault? Was I too weak? I’m pathetic!

“Twilight! Twilight, are you all right?” I saw Starlight’s face before mine, with a frightened. “We did not fail. At least not completely, so don’t be upset.” She tried to calm me down. But really, did we?

“We didn’t fail? What a relief…” My mental breakdown seemed to cease. I still had neither strength nor the will to stand up. “Please give me a few minutes. I’m exhausted and my magic is drained almost fully…” I had no more strength even to have any coherent thoughts. My mind went blank, and a dreamless sleep consumed me.

“…light? Twilight?” I heard a voice calling my name. Ahhh… where am I? Still in my lab? Oh, no, seems I’m in my bed. Was I carried back to my room by Starlight? I tried to open my eyes; the sunlight from the window forced me to squint. It seems the Sun is already setting down. Finally opening my eyes, I saw Princess Celestia before me, looking at me with her kind gaze.

“You are finally awake, Twilight! You did well! You really did! But now, you are exhausted and need some rest, so just listen.” Celestia must have known I thought I failed the whole ritual. “The ritual was not a failure, it’s just was not supposed to channel this much magic power. The conductors and gems could not hold for long, so I and Luna overloaded the entire system at the end. This way we could get more information, at the price of destruction of magic diagrams and equipment, but those were on the brink of destruction already, anyway.” Celestia explained to me.

“…and what results did we get?” I barely had any strength to ask her. Celestia had an unreadable expression on her face.

“Well, not exactly the results I hoped for, but at the same time we’ve detected nothing bad or dangerous, too. There were two splashes of magic power. The first one was of sheer magnitude and somewhere between three and three and a half million Swirls in frequency. It came from the sky, but we could not find any trace of the source. Nothing at all.” Celesia propped her cheek with her hoof.

“The second one was on the ground, at the same place. Its power was rather weak, but the frequency was an astonishing 7 million swirls, or more. Some very intricate spell of unknown nature should’ve been at work there. I doubt that anyone in this age can achieve it, seriously. I’m puzzled by these results. There were no traces of actual spells. It’s like the energy was accumulated, prepared for casting a spell and… vanished into nothingness! It should be impossible, but even so, it’s the only results we have.”

I was thinking about it for some time, but was too tired to produce any working theory.

“What about the location?” I asked.

“Somewhere in the Forbidden Jungle, Twilight, on the western half of it. The location could not be more accurate than that.” Celestia said with a sigh. The location was indeed troublesome, to say the least.

“Beyond the Big Macintosh mountain range? It’s not surprising we had to use so much magic…” So far away… “Should we go on an expedition there?” I suggested. “Ah, I’m so tired!” My eyes attempted to close by themselves.

“Rest for now, Twilight. We will talk about everything tomorrow. I’ll be returning to Canterlot now. Have a good rest.” Celestia leaned closer and kissed me on a cheek, and then left my room. “WHAT?” My cheeks went red, and I didn’t know what to say. She did it in the exact way she does with Luna sometimes. “Does she see me as her family?” I sighed. “I’m too tired. I’ll think about it another time.”My eyes closed, and again, I was embraced by calm, sweet dreams.

Canterlot Royal Palace. Late evening of the same day. Royal dining hall.

Celestia and Luna were having their late meal. Luna returned from her outdoor expedition recently with her guards, and Celestia was waiting for her to come back to have a meal together. They both were tired from all the magic expenditure they suffered today, so they were not very talkative at this moment.

“Celly, what will we do next?” Luna asked in a tired voice, her eyes wandering across her plate. She was languidly manipulating her fork with telekinesis and picked her food, her eyes half-closed.

Celestia sighed. “I don’t know, Luna, we should probably organize an expedition to that location, but it will be useless to send our army or some unicorns from the magic academy. They are just not up for this task. One of us should go for sure; Twilight and Starlight should go naturally, along with Spike, for easy communication. So, because Spike’s ability is currently sending letters to me only, the one who should go is you, Luna, if you want, of course, but let’s not talk about it today.” Celestia’s countenance was not expressing anything in particular. Her overall tiredness was the cause. She had to control everything in this ritual, and even cover up for Twilight’s lack of power, so she held the main brunt of the ritual. Her magic was drained almost to the same levels as Twilight, but their difference in power kept her from collapsing on the spot.

“Yes, sister, this is the only logical decision I can see… I’ll go, but not tomorrow. We all need a good rest, and preparations should be done too. Please give your orders to the palace staff about this tomorrow.” Luna’s regular joyfulness was nowhere to be seen. She had a stern, tired and somewhat sad look on her face. After all, she too, was an ancient being with countless years of experience, albeit a decent part of those experiences were not positive. An ancient sorrow could be read in her eyes.

Luna compensated her lack of positive experiences in her life by being cheerful and mischievous. It was not her ‘mask’, it was her original, old personality, that surfaced back after her return from the Moon after some time. But now, she temporarily reverted into her indifferent, melancholic state, caused by her sheer tiredness. It pained Celestia to see her like that again; she still blamed herself for harming her sister, imprisoning her on the Moon for a thousand years. Celestia was inundated in these thoughts for some time already. Her eyes were unfocused, but still turned in the direction of her younger sister.

“A thousand of years spent in consciousness, poisoned by hate. Unable to get out. Unable to speak to anypony. Unable to eat and drink anything but pure magic and magically produced food and water. Unable to even breathe, for there is no air on the Moon! Surrounded only by endless rocks and dark, grey dust, embraced by the endless bitter cold! What is it, if not torture?! Why did Elements of Harmony misfired? Why the hate inside my sister was not destroyed, was not purged? Instead, the Elements of Harmony tortured her body and mind for a thousand years! Why? Where is the Harmony in it? Were her wrongdoings that horrible? Was it even her to begin with?” Celestia could not get any answers, though.

Her eyes glittered and teardrops rolled down her face. The barrier holding up her usually suppressed emotions crumbled under the weight of her magic exhaustion, letting them all out.“And who was the one responsible for her sufferings? It was me, and I still am!” Celestia was voicelessly crying, no longer aware of her surroundings at the moment.

“Sister? Why are you crying, sister?” Luna’s worried voice returned her to her sorrowful thoughts.

“Ah? Oh… it’s nothing, Luna, it’s… nothing…” Celestia could not give her a straight answer, but her tears continued to run down, her voice quiet and hoarse. “I’m sorry, Luna! I’m so… sorry!” She whispered, her tears becoming an endless torrent.

“No, sister! You promised me not to blame yourself anymore! It was the Elements, not you!” Luna sighed, walked to Celestia from the back and softly covered her sister with her dark wings, hugging her with her hooves. They stayed like this for a few minutes before separating. Celestia’s tears stopped falling down from her mild magenta eyes; Luna carefully wiped Celestia’s face with a napkin with her magic.

“It’s all right, sister!” said Luna finally soothingly, “But we should no longer trust those things blindly. We should treat the Elements of Harmony as a last resort; except for the cases we use them on complete villains, of course!” Luna smiled at her sister.

“Yes, you are right, Luna!” Celestia finally calmed down, being distracted by Luna’s words from her own melancholic mood. “We, alicorns, become too emotional when we have symptoms of magical exhaustion…” She sighed, slowly shaking her head.

“Oh, by the way, I’ll try to check the dreamland around the Forbidden Jungle tonight. Maybe somepony have seen what happened there, if anypony lives there at all. I know there may be some small pony villages at the edges of the jungle, but I’ve never checked if it’s true.” Luna made a suggestion.

“Oh, good idea, but don’t have your hopes too high. This event is just too unusual, Luna.” Celestia said with a smile. “You never give up, aren’t you, sister?” she asked with a hint of joy in her voice.

“Ha-ha! I’m the same as you! We are sisters, after all!” Luna’s mood returned to her joyful state. It warmed Celestia’s heart.

“Of course we are, but we should go to rest now. But will you get enough sleep if you go scouting at the jungle’s dreamland?” Celestia asked in concern.

“Well, if I’m not trying to cover all of Equestria with my sense of nightmares, I’ll be able to scout this territory while my body sleeps in peace. Our citizens can manage a single night with a bit of nightmares. By the way, I rarely find a true nightmare, most of the time our citizens are scared by some trivial things, so it should be safe. Of course, I’d like to guard the dreams of our little foals, but I’m just too drained to stay on guard all night this time,” said Luna with a wry smile. They talked on the way from the dining hall until they reached the crossing in the hallway.

“We all are doing what we can, Luna. Today, we have to rest. Have a good sleep!” Celestia said to support her sister.

“Good night, Celly!” Luna replied and started walking towards her royal chambers. Celestia looked at Luna’s figure walking away for some time, then turned around and navigated to her own chambers. The hallway went quiet.

Forbidden Jungle, current time.

I was running wildly through the dense, dark jungle, escaping. Twilight already descended onto the land, making the jungle dark and gloomy, but still allowing some visibility. I had many cuts and scratches on my body, but I didn’t care. Hysterical laughing howls resounded all around me from all sides, even from the treetops. I could see their silhouettes between the branches and bushes. The shadow hounds. They have found me again, the whole pack! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!! I won’t get away this time!

I ran for a few more minutes, until stumbling into a bunch of those beasts, blocking my way in every direction. Some of them started to close in. Three monsters jumped at me at the same time. “Where is my weapon? Damn, sure, I’ve broken it like an idiot I am! This is it? The end?”

The surroundings blurred all of a sudden; the forest shifted and waved, the accursed dogs became just formless splashes of smoking black ink and entire parts of the surrounding landscape crumbled like shattered pieces of stained glass windows.

“Is this… a dream?” I breathed heavily with great relief. “So lifelike. Nevertheless, why am I still sleeping? Where is this? Time for a meeting with Falda’ar? Seems like that, but where is our palace?” A somewhat familiar black void was surrounding me at this moment, where I could see only myself. Well, I’ll just wait then.

The surrounding void shifted, slowly transforming itself into something else. “Well, this is not how it usually happened. Strange.” My sight and mind became muddled for a moment. I found myself in a dark… room? A rather familiar room. My room. That’s my room inside my home on Earth! I navigated easily in the darkness to the light switch and flicked it on. What I’ve seen before me was exactly my home as I left it on that day, when everything happened, but I’m sure it is… a memory? It must be. It’s very similar to those with Falda’ar, but why do I see my home? Whatever, maybe he has planned something unusual for me this time? Oh, and while I wait, why don’t I indulge in some little pleasant things of my old life? Excellent idea!

I turned on a relaxing music on my sound system and went to the kitchen to get some snacks and, of course, some booze! I looked into my cabinet where I store liquor. Ah! There it is! A present from my old friends, a bottle of whisky. An expensive one! I’m not sure the taste will match the contents, or if it will have any taste at all, but I’ll try, anyway. I poured myself half a glass, added some ice from the fridge and prepared for my chill-out session on the sofa. The smell told me it was a real deal. Yeah, just what I need after all this stress in the jungle! If Falda’ar comes, we’ll drink together before we start with our training again! I’m sure he won’t refuse my offer. I made myself comfortable and enjoyed my unexpected visit to my old home.

“M-m-m… bliss!” I told to myself while relaxing on my sofa, sipping from my glass from time to time, relaxing music washing away my worries. I could even get slightly tipsy in this illusionary place. It was night outside. I shifted my sight to the window, the curtains were folded to the sides, opening a night view from on the night city. I was living on the seventeenth floor, so I had quite a decent sight on the cityscape below. It was illuminated by the lights of your regular big city. Some will find this beautiful, others will loathe it, knowing what really lies beneath this colorful façade. Well, I cared little about such things, but the view is pleasing to my eyes. My hand moved to grab some snacks when I heard some noise from the hallway. Is he finally here? Well, I’ll just wait for him in the room.

I heard the sound again, this time it was louder. Someone is knocking on my door? “U-u-uh! Coming!” I rose from my sofa and walked to the door. As I was walking to open the door, I started ranting about Falda’ar’s terrible sense of humor.

“Falda’ar, your pranks are getting weirder as time passes! Couldn’t you just enter by yourself and…” I spouted my discontent at Falda’ar as I was opening the door, but my mind stopped processing my thoughts for a few seconds when I finally got my eyes on my visitor. My gaze shifted to the otherworldly landscape behind the door, then returned to the being before me. “Er-r-r, hi?”

After falling asleep, I have effortlessly entered the dreamland. Tonight, I won’t be hunting nightmares across Equestria. I was standing on the road made of moonlight, surrounded by the endless ocean of stars. A row of magical doors of different shapes and colors were hovering on both sides of this road. Every door is representing a dream of a pony, who sleeps somewhere in the surrounding lands. If I enter such a door, I’ll enter inside their dream.

“Well, this is not what I’ll be doing tonight.” With a slight movement of my hoof, the doors have disappeared, and a translucent landscape of the real world appeared in the space below. I was floating high over the lands of Canterlot. The moonlight road under my hooves shrank in length, became blurry and started to wave, now resembling a glittering cloud. I was ready to move to another part of the world, spreading wide my wings and, with a mighty flap, took into the starry space in the southern direction.

My speed in the dreamland was incomparable to the real world. I was flying fast like a comet and the moonlight road was following behind me closely, creating a beautiful trail behind me. I was enjoying this sensation of freedom and flight, unimpeded by anything. My mane waved behind me, slightly merging with the starry space around, as it had very similar pattern and colors with this sky.

In less than an hour, I’ve crossed Big Macintosh mountain range and finally got into the premises of Forbidden Jungle. It was the western part I should go to. Alright, I’m somewhere in the center. My sense should cover everything within this area and a little beyond the jungle. I’ve put some magic in my horn, and the surrounding landscape disappeared. The moonlight road under my hooves unfurled back and stretched to the horizon on both sides. I descended onto the road and looked around.

There were some groups of doors here, probably small villages, and what is that? Right, I saw such doors before, those are changelings’ doors, there is no mistake! There must be a hive somewhere around, but is it possible for the changelings to live here? Local population is too low to sustain them! That’s a mystery. It’s impossible to get inside changelings’ dreams; their hive mind protects them well, but I should check the dreams of those villagers.

I sighed; this work sure took some time. It’s hard to ask those ponies something in their dreams without frightening them. Not only they are scared of the fact they can act freely in their dreams, my old reputation scares them even more. Most of my attempts failed, but I’ve got some results! One local earth pony, a farmer, saw something at the supposed time of the incident. He claims a bright white-green beam was spotted by him somewhere in the middle of the jungle. It was so bright the farmer could easily see it even during the day; it shined for a few seconds and then disappeared. There was no sound accompanying this event, and nothing unusual happened after. Interesting! At least now we know something about it!

I was already thinking about exiting the dreamscape and resting for the rest of the night when I felt something familiar. Yes! A nightmare! A true nightmare! Oh, really? In this Moon-forsaken place? I rushed along the moonlight road; only empty space was on both sides of this road. At last, I’ve seen something on the left side. It was a formless silhouette of the door, with black smoke circling around its frame, and there was no actual door, just a frame, a gaping black hole, leading straight into the nightmare. It is a very unusual door for a nightmare. “This is the first time I see something like that, something so scary.” I gulped and made a step inside. “I’m a mistress of dreams and I will not be scared of some puny nightmare!”

I appeared somewhere in the depths of the jungle. It was very dark here, and the owner of this dream was nowhere to be seen. How strange. Then, I’ll have to search for them, but as I finished my thoughts, surrounding space became inundated by horrible howling coming from all sides. What is this? Even I have had my coat bristled on my back. Then I saw it all: a bipedal creature in the distance was escaping from the swarm of horrible predators. I could not see it well. Is it its nightmare? Wait, I know what those are. Shadow hounds! If it sees this nightmare, then, most likely, it has survived their attack in real life. There are not much of those who can’t fly who met them and lived to remember their exact appearance! I need to stop this nightmare somehow. Its power is decent, so this task won’t be easy!

I have started my chase, flying under the trees. There were more and more of these monsters coming from all sides. Then I saw the creature surrounded by hounds at the clearing. It had no way of defending itself from the hounds, and they finally attacked. Three hounds jumped at the creature with gaping maws, but at this moment something has happened with the entire nightmare. It seemed like the time have stopped here. It’s not a normal occurrence when a person wakes up from his nightmare. Those monsters started to blur and evaporate into dense black smoke, surrounding landscape warped and waved, and then shattered and fell down into the black abyss. I was instantly thrown out of this nightmare back onto the moonlight road. The door was nowhere to be seen. I was astonished by this development. Such events have never happened to me before!

I just sat on the moonlight road and was pondering about this weird experience of mine, tapping my chin with a hoof, my eyes looking at the shining stars above my head. I’ve spent several minutes thinking about what it could be, and who it was. A diamond dog? A minotaur? It was slightly similar to both species, but at the same time differed from both. I didn’t see this being clearly, but it should be sentient. My dreamland does not provide access to animals’ dreams, there is no doubt about it, and it had survived the encounter with shadow hounds… Can it be strong and dangerous? Or it just got lucky? It can be heavily injured… so vivid nightmares usually happen not long after the traumatizing event. Well, I have no way to know for sure, and the door is closed. I’ll just wish it a good luck. It’s time to return from the dreamland and have some proper rest.

But when I’ve already lit my horn and was about to exit the dreamland, I saw something from the corner of my eye. “Huh? What is it this time?” I cancelled my magic and turned my head to look at what it was, and here I saw it. In place of the old door to a nightmare stood a large white door, decorated with emerald-like gems and golden ornament. “Exquisite! Whose door is this? It’s much larger than pony’s door. Is it this being’s dream door? The place is exactly the same! Probably it is, but why has it changed its appearance so much, and why had it had such ominous form before?” I went closer to the door to have a better view of it. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen bigger doors. For example, minotaurs’ doors are around this size, maybe even wider, but I’ve never seen such an intricate door design. Oh, maybe Celestia’s door is more extravagant and larger, like our palace doors, but it’s Celestia’s door, after all. Ah, it’s useless to think about these things now. I’m entering!”

I walked to the door and tried pushing it, then tried pulling it, but it was closed. “How? Why? Why can’t I enter?” I was thinking about it, but could not find any answers. I lit my horn and tried opening the door with my magic by force, but the feeling from my magic was like I was pushing empty space, like the door was a lie. Despite that, I can touch and see it! Oh, this is unusual! Just what’s wrong with this door? Then I… I just knocked on the door on impulse in an attempt to draw attention of whoever was on the other side. I don’t even know if it will work in the dreamland, but I was out of any other ideas at the moment. A few minutes elapsed, but nothing happened. I was a little upset by this development, but in the end I’ve knocked harder on the door, incited by my impatience.

I was already going to leave dreamland when I heard something from behind the door. My heart rate sped up in anticipation. “Wow! It worked? Really?” I heard a muffled voice from behind the door. The language was most likely equestrian, but the door dampened the sounds too much to understand the exact words. It was a pleasant, but a bit irritated, male voice. I heard the locks on the door click and it opened to the outside. I’ve made a step back and heard a voice from behind the door.

“… Couldn’t you just enter by yourself and…” Finally, the door opened, and I saw the one who was behind the door. He is definitely a stallion, or how they are called? Very high, higher than most minotaurs and diamond dogs. He had a lot of clothes on him. Does he like fashion? His face and… hands? Yes, that’s how those are called! In short, he has no coat. He does not have a mane too, how weird! We were staring at each other for some time already. I wanted to continue my observation, but he broke the silence.

“Er-r-r, hi?” he said with a puzzled look on his face. He obviously expected to see someone else. This stallion was not looking young, but he was not too old either, as much as I can say it about unknown species. He was fit, but not bulky as a minotaur.

I was flustered. This occurrence was beyond strange! First, I could not open this door with my powers! And the whole situation now looks really like I’m intruding into someone’s house! Seriously! I need to say something, something… But I just could not think of anything.

“Can I help you with something? You look lost. Well, I certainly look the same way, ha-ha!” His words threw my mind into even greater chaos! But he has some sense of humor, it seems!

“Hello! I… My name is Luna!” Seems he does not recognize me. He must be from outside Equestria then. I decided to not use my title, lest it will make our conversation troublesome.

“My name is Life Ray, but call me just Ray. I’m not a big fan of official conversations, to be honest.” He made a pause, thinking about something. Having come to some kind of decision, he said, “Oh, it’s not polite of me to talk to a visitor over the threshold! Miss Luna, please be my guest!” He made an inviting gesture with his hand and smiled. “Do they have this kind of tradition from where he comes? But it really makes sense to me! He is a gentlecolt, it seems!” I noticed small fangs in his mouth while he was smiling, but those were not fangs of the predator, as much as I know, so it did not alert me much.

“I won’t refuse your invitation then, Mister Ray!” I answered with a light smile in a somewhat playful tone to garner some interest from him to myself. It can make our conversation easier. Now I’ll finally see what was behind this door! I walked inside his… house? House in a dream, not an unusual dream, but this one is very detailed. I have a lot of questions in my mind, and I want some answers too.

It was an unusual house, the style was unfamiliar to me. The design was not rich, but was not poor either, and leaned on the side of practicality. All items were suited for the being of his stature. It will be hard to live here as a pony.

“This way, miss Luna!” He entered one of the rooms. I followed behind him, intrigued. He does not seem dangerous to me, he also does not have any claws or predator fangs, and while there was an unusual occurrence of me being unable to enter his door, I could not sense any strong magic from him. With my power I really have trouble discerning the difference between, for example, a regular unicorn and earth pony in terms of magic power, but he certainly does not exceed them. We entered some sort of living room. There was a sofa and a pair of armchairs around the tea table. There were some strange devices spread across the room, one of them produced a soft music, I’ve seen something similar in Ponyville, when that DJ pony… Ah, forget it! I’m not that good when it comes to those modern magical devices. My old arcane methods are still more powerful, combat-wise.

“Please, make yourself comfortable!” he said and sat on the far side of the sofa in a relaxed manner. I didn’t have to hesitate much, this situation caught my interest. It was rare to find something intriguing in our rather peaceful land of ponies, and especially in the palace! I got onto the other half of the sofa and got into a half-lying pose, leaning against the sofa’s back, looking at the host of this strange dream. I smiled at him.

“Thank you, Mister Ray!” I said, still intently observing him. He was doing the same thing, actually. His gaze was that of curiosity and… admiration? I’ve lived long enough on this land to discern certain things! It seems he likes me! That’s something new. The best attitude I can expect from our citizens is worship, but more often it is just fear, cautiousness and insecurity from being in my presence. This night might just become a pleasant one for a change!

“Oh, just Ray, please. Would you like something to drink, Miss Luna?” he asked with the same curiosity in his eyes and smiling countenance.

“Just Luna will suffice, to be even!” I said with my common mischievous voice. “And if you don’t mind, something mild, please, I would not want something like minotaur’s brew. It will burn my throat and the taste is not to my liking.” I had no reason to refuse; it is my dreamland, after all. What can go wrong?

“Then excuse me for a minute!” He stood up and left the room, leaving me alone for a while. I used this time to inspect his room in more details. The magical lights on the ceiling were quite unusual, but those were nothing unique at the same time. A window attracted my attention. It was night outside, but there were very little stars in the sky. From my low point of view, I could see the tops of a few high-rise buildings in the distance, illuminated by magical lights. The height must be substantial, not that we don’t have something like that in Canterlot or Manehattan, but this is exotic! Just where is this place? Or is it just his fantasy?

Chaotic thoughts filled my head at this moment.

“Holy shit! I don’t know what’s happening here, but it seems nothing bad will. My guest should be one of those… ponies I was told about earlier by Falda’ar. And this pony is a girl… and this girl has some seriously charming eyes and voice. Their eyes, including that bug-girl, just had to be this big? Of course! It’s an evil plan to get my cuteness meter out of commission! Hell, I just feel my preferences in terms of species are shifting, right at this goddamn moment! Or my hormones are just going wild in my body after my recuperation, and I can’t get her hair and tail out of my mind! Or should I call it a mane? It’s like her mane and tail were painted by the starry sky itself. Those were fluttering on their own, like a flag in the wind! Magic? It must be that damn magic again! I’m already tired of being surprised by this stuff, and even by my own abilities, and... by almost goddamn everything in my new life! Everything! Hah... well... it’s only just useless ranting; get yourself together already, Ray!” I made a few deep breaths.

“Yes… just like that! So, did I have something softer than a whisky in my special stash?” I started looking for something suitable. “Cognac, more cognac, vodka, leftovers of rum... Nothing? Shit! It’d be perfect if I still had that bottle of sweet red champagne. Girls are fond of it. And me? Honestly, I’ll drink anything I deem tasty and have a mood to drink at the moment, and it’s the reason this bottle is no more.” To my surprise, the said bottle materialized right before my eyes, and it was cold, too.

“What the?” I was stupefied for another time, but as I was already numb to such things, I snapped back to reality rather quickly, if I still can call all this a reality! “This is really not just my memories… Did I materialize it with my thoughts somehow? Whatever it may be, perhaps Luna could explain to me what’s happening here.” I took a wine glass, grabbed the bottle and returned to the room.

Luna was looking around the room when I returned. Her dark, glossy coat was shimmering with different shades of blue in the light of bright ceiling lamps. I should just stop staring at her like that. I put the glass on the table before her.

“I hope you’ll like it.” I started opening the bottle. Soon, it produced a loud pop. Luna flinched. “Sorry, it’s a little under pressure!” I’ve got a raised brow from her in return. “You’ll see why!” I filled her glass with a foaming and bubbling drink. I could already smell a pleasant, sweet, fruity aroma.

“Your drink, Luna!” I offered the glass to Luna. Her horn lit up with a dark blue aura, then the same aura enveloped the glass and took it from my hand. So… these things are natural to them, it seems, and here I thought I had some special powers in my arsenal, not so special as it seems! This world is more complex in that regard.

Luna held the glass before her face and made a light sniff. The smell was to her liking, obviously. She took a small sip and closed her eyes, enjoying the taste.

“Mmmmm, good. This wine is wonderful, and so bubbly. Thank you, Ray,” she drawled, with a mesmerizing voice. Is she doing this on purpose? I can’t do anything about the fact that I just love her voice! I sat back on the other side, slightly shaking my head, took my glass and sipped my drink before asking her anything.

“So, Luna, do you know where we are? And what were you doing at my… door?” I asked the most crucial questions I had.

“Oh, Ray! The first question is quite simple. We are in a dreamland, and for the second one, it will be a little more complicated.” I should have a puzzled look on my face by now. This news is something in its own right.

“Care to elaborate? I’m not exactly sure what you are talking about.” I said, taking another sip. This kind of information may be easier to accept with a bit of haze in my mind. My proper logic has gone into denial just now.

“Alright. I can navigate the dream world and enter the dreams of other ponies… and not… ponies, too.” She has started her explanation. “And I was alerted by your nightmare, the one with the shadow hounds. I wanted to help and get you out of it, but the nightmare just crumbled by itself. Honestly, I was scared when that happened; I’ve seen nothing like that before. And then I was thrown out of your dream.”

“Well, that makes everything somewhat more understandable, Luna. And thank you. You tried to help me, right?” I replied, trying not to think too deeply about all this. Not until I get a full story.

“Oh, that’s nothing; in the end I could not help you.” She said with a bit of sadness in her voice. “And, remembering your nightmare, did you encounter those shadow hounds in the jungle? Are you injured? Are you lost there?” she asked these questions in quick succession with a worried voice.

“Please calm down, Luna, I’m fine. But yes, I’ve got a few bites from them, but I’ve already treated them, nothing dangerous. I got lucky they were distracted by a group of changelings.” Her eyes grew wide at my statements.

“I’m glad to hear you are fine. Those monsters are very dangerous. They can be worse than manticores!” She was expressing a lively interest in my situation, but I better avoid certain details about my identity. I don’t feel any threat from this girl. In fact, I’m really enjoying our casual conversation!

“Yes, I’ve seen a manticore once from a distance, but the hounds are numerous, and it’s hard to run away from their pack indeed. So this beast is really called ‘manticore’?” I should have understood it sooner, as I already know this word in equestrian… Yeah, sometimes I can be a bit dense in my head.

“You said changelings? Here, in the jungle?” Her voice was puzzled.

“Yes, those bug-like… ponies? With bright yellow plates of chitin. I’ve seen them there.” I replied.

“Yellow? How strange! I’ll have to tell my sister!” she said, mulling.

“By the way, what are you doing around this place? You could not just accidentally stumble across me in this remote place.” I continued my trail of questions. I know too little of this world, and Luna can help me greatly with it!

“Oh, right! Actually, I’m seeking any available information about certain event… Did you, by any chance, seen or heard anything unusual around this jungle two days ago? Around the midday.” My heart started to beat faster at her question. Was I discovered by the locals? Not likely, but my arrival must have been noticed! I started to get nervous.

“I’m afraid I didn’t. You can barely see through the vegetation when inside the jungle. If there was anything, I must have missed it…” I tried to lie as persuasively as I could. It’s really hard when those big cyan eyes are staring right into yours.

“What a pity!” she said shortly, “And may I ask who you are? I’ve never seen anyone of your kind.” she asked inquisitively. “You look like a minotaur, but your head and your face are different, and you have no horns. To be honest, I like you much more than minotaurs. They are so rude, and I find their faces not to my liking, too, and I can’t even think of comparing you to diamond dogs.” Luna laughed in a pleasant voice. “Just no! The cats are out of question, too, and you are definitely not a dragon! There are not much bipedal species on Equis, you know!”

“Uh-h-h… my… tribe is really small. I am from another continent.” My mind raced to make up some legend for myself. Falda’ar said there should not be a single occurrence of a human appearing on Equis before. So I’m free to use the word ‘human’. “I’m not sure if we have some connection with minotaurs, but our anatomy can be called somewhat close. And yes, we don’t have hooves like them.” I looked at my boots, Luna followed my gaze.

“Yes, I’ve already noticed, you resemble dragons with this part… and another certain somepony… it is called foot, right? Do you have claws there, like dragons do?” Her questions elicited a smile from me.

“Yes, they are called so, and no, there are no claws! Just nails, the same as here!” I showed her the backside of my hand and played with my fingers. She was looking attentively.

“And how is your tribe called?” she continued to drown me in question about my species. I should change the topic somehow.

“Humans.” I replied. “We like seclusion and don’t like to travel much. Well, I am the exception, as you can see. I was participating in the private expedition to this jungle.” At this time, I noticed she had finished her glass. “Want another one, Luna?”

“Oh, please, be so kind!” she graciously replied. She must know some form of local etiquette; she can’t be a simple citizen. Too bad I’m a complete oaf in these things. All I know is some basic courtesy of my old world. I filled her glass once more.

“Please!” I put the glass before her and returned to my seat. “A wish of a lady is a law.” I had an uncontrollable broad smile on my face. She was visibly very pleased with my conduct. Maybe, I’m not that bad for this world in terms of my manners.

“So, you are a traveler, an adventurer, even? Interesting! Was your expedition comprising other members from your tribe?” she asked with interest.

“Ah, no, there were just griffons apart from myself.” I had to make things up on the fly. Did I call them right? Griffons, griffins? I think did it right. Good mercenaries, willing to do dangerous work for money.

“I see.” she paused, hesitating.

“What’s the matter Luna? If you want to ask something, just ask!” I guessed she wanted to ask something she deemed uncomfortable for me.

“I’ve seen your teeth. Do you, perhaps, eat meat?” Her face had an unreadable expression. Well, I’ll just answer as it is. But this question obviously has more to it. Don’t tell me there are cases of cannibalism here?

“Yes, I do. Meat, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, cereals, dairy, some of the green plants. I may have forgotten something, though. In case of meat and fish, we don’t eat those raw, if you wanted to know, and no, I will never hunt or agree to eat a sapient being, if you were hinting at that, just the thought of such an action makes me nauseous!” A series of expressions changed on Luna’s face, stopping at the expression of relief. She smiled again.

“Oh, sorry, Ray, I meant nothing like that, but it’s true. It was what I wanted to know…” she said with a bit of guilt in her voice.

“Forget it, Luna, I understand, but that pretty up sums up everything about my overall ration,” I stated as a matter of fact.

“You sure have a diverse diet!” She said, “But remember, in the lands of Equestria, the hunt is outlawed in most places. Many wild animals there have some degree of sentience, but fishing is fine!” She thought for some time and added: “Of course, the places like the Forbidden Jungle are another story. Most beasts living there are completely feral, so it’s fine to hunt there. The only downside is the fact that the hunter can quickly become the hunted.” She said with a wry smile.

“You cannot be more right about that. I’m a good example of this case!” I answered with a similar expression and laughed lightly. Luna sipped her champagne.

“You are laughing at your misfortunes. You have a strong spirit!” she remarked.

“How can I not? I’d go crazy if I didn’t laugh at my hardships. It helps to carry on.” I said with a slight smile.

“Oh, Ray, you don’t even know how well I can understand you on this matter…” A reminiscing look appeared on her face. She fell silent for some time, sipping from her glass. Her eyes had a touch of sadness to them. I did not interrupt her thoughts.

“By the way, how is your expedition going? What were you seeking in the jungle?” her interest returned to what I was doing in the jungle. I paused for a while to think about my answer.

“We were searching for an ancient pyramid somewhere around these parts of jungle.” I was expanding my legend, telling her half-truths.

“Oh, did you find it?” she asked.

“Well, you can say so. I was separated from my group when the hounds attacked. Griffons must have already left the jungle, I suppose. It’s not a big deal for those who can fly. And I stumbled upon this pyramid when I was escaping, but at that time the pyramid was the last thing on my mind, so I never entered it, and to make things worse, the pyramid is sunk in a lake!” I made up some things to cover my arrival in this world. I was feeling somewhat bad about lying to this girl, but I had to.

“So, you are lost in this jungle? We have to find you!” Did she say ‘we’? What will it mean to me if I’m found by the group of… ponies? And they are searching for the clues to the effects my arrival created? Will this result in some kind of trouble for me? I don’t know, but I’m getting nervous about it. I still remember Falda’ar's words about some folks losing their lives after being discovered by locals. He said this won’t happen, ponies should be quite friendly, but it still can spell trouble for me. My circumstances are just too out of this world, literally!

“Yes, I’m kind of lost. But how do you plan to find me, anyway?” I inquired. Perhaps Blue will be able to lead us out of this godforsaken place. We’ll have to act fast if I want to avoid the search group. My nervousness was growing at the thought of being found out. Should I be this nervous about it? Probably not, but I still am. Seems Luna detected my nervousness somehow, judging by her worried face.

“That’s simple! I’ll find you right through the dreamland! Let’s do it right now!” her horn started to glow in deep blue aura. I felt my adrenaline kick in… Adrenaline? In the dream world? No, that’s my actual body is waking up. I felt a surge of ‘Life Essence’ flood my energy channels like a tide. The surrounding space of my old home distorted slightly and the colors of surrounding objects started to shift.

“Ray, no! Don’t wake up! No! I won’t have enough time to…” Seems I’m really waking up. I interrupted her while I still could.

“Sorry, Luna, I hope we’ll meet again in better circumstances. Good bye!” The room wobbled and lost colors.

“But Ray! I…” Her voice faded gradually until there was only silence and grey fog around.

“I hope she will not be too worried about me.” was my last thought until my mind started the process of truly waking up.

Canterlot Royal Palace, end of the night, Luna’s personal chambers.

“NO!” I shouted, abruptly waking up from my journey into dreamland. Tears pooled in my eyes, slowly wetting my coat. “Why? Why did you wake up? Did something bad happen in reality?” I was really upset by this turn of events. He was really nice to me. And it was interesting to spend time with him. Sure, he has a strange look, but I’d prefer his company to most of the other non-ponies. I rarely have the chance to socialize in such a relaxed atmosphere, except for my sister, Cadence and, rarely, Discord. I hope he will be fine out there.

“I must hasten the preparations for the expedition!” I said to myself with a confident voice. There will be no time to search for him during the next night, and I have my own duties to fight nightmares across Equestria. “I will try to find him along the way on our expedition! The chances are slight, of course, but I must at least try!”

It was almost time to lower the Moon and raise the Sun. Only because of this, I had to distract myself from my thoughts and plans and do my royal duties.

I left my room to wake up Celestia. She needs to know the information about the green beam and changelings. With this thought in mind, I walked away through the hallway. A new day awaits us, full of bothersome chores.

Author's Note

Edited 17 march 2022.